there had been no limitation, either as to offences, or the number of privileged places. The facility for escaping the penalties provided by law for the gravest crimes had augmented the number of these asylums in countries where churches, shrines, cemeteries, and other places under ecclesiastical control abounded. From time to time modifications were obtained by the king of Spain from the Roman pontiffs. Popes Gregory XIV., Benedict XIII., Clement XII., and Benedict XIV. excluded from that privilege murder, robbery in public places and highways, mutilations of limb, forgery, heresy, high treason, and other grave offences; and Clement XIV. by his brief of September 12, 1772, which was ordered to be enforced by royal decree of November 2, 1773,[1] very considerably diminished the number of churches that were available as asylums for offenders against the law.[2]
The cathedral church, described elsewhere, possessed large wealth in silver, gold, and precious stones. The sagrario, an appendage of the cathedral, was also a fine edifice. The descendants of Cortés furnished elegant carriages and costly teams of mules for con-
- ↑ Rescriptos Realex, MS., 62-74; Reales Órdenes, v. 244-59; Cedulario, iii. 226-33; Cédula Real, 1815, 1-21.
- ↑ In 1787 the king decreed that criminals of whatever condition in life, who had taken refuge in churches, should be at once taken thence with the permission of the priests in charge, or the nearest ecclesiastical authority, or without it if the request were not promptly complied with, by the proper official, under a bond {written or verbal, at the prisoner's option), that life and limb would be respected until the immunity plea had been decided. The prisoners would be confined in the public prisons, and supported at their own cost, if they bad means; otherwise at the expense of the public, or the royal treasury. In no instance was sentence to exceed 10 years' labor in chain gangs or navy yards, service in the army or navy, or exile. If the offence were debarred of privilege, then the ecclesiastical court must surrender the prisoner to be dealt with by the proper authorities. Differences arising as to the nature of the crime were to be decided by the audiencia. All authorities were required to aid one another to secure the punishment of crime, and to avoid all abuse of the ecclesiastical immunity. Cedulario, MS., i. 77-8, iii. 221-6; Méx. Provid. Dioces., MS., 46-50, 252-60, 351-62; Rescriptos Reales, MS., 1-8, 147-8; Provid. Reales, MS., 89, 280-1; Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 212-13; Órd. de la Corona, MS., i. 82-7; Colon., Juzgados Milit., i. 238, 327-8; Recop. Ltd. i. 35; Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., iii 589-93.
