ners of the church was fully recognized by the crown, and in 1709 a royal cédula was issued enjoining viceroys, governors, bishops, and prelates of the regular orders zealously to aid in increasing the number of missions.[1] The impulse thus given was not without effect, many missions being established from the Atlantic to the Pacific by different orders.
Though few in number in proportion to their zeal, the Jesuits had previously to their expulsion already penetrated into Sonora and California, and during the two decades from 1723 to 1742 they established no less than eight missions in the wild district of Nayarit.[2] The Franciscans, however, may lay claim to having founded more institutions of this kind than any other order. In 1789 they occupied no less than one hundred and fifty-eight missions scattered over the territory lying to the north of Mexico, while others in great number had been secularized by the church.[3]
The system of church secularization of missions, however successful and profitable when applied to the more civilized pueblos of New Spain, was attended with failure when extended to the remoter regions. But the Catholic hierarchy was blinded by the desire
- ↑ Ordenes de la Corona, vii. 14.
- ↑ Villa-Señor narrates that in 1718 a Nayarit chief visited the city of Mexico and tendered his submission to his Catholic Majesty, requesting that missionaries accompanied by a sufficient force might be sent with him on his return. This was done; but preparations were hardly commenced for founding the mission under the superintendence of Jesuit fathers, when the worthy chief and his people abandoned their new friends, carrying off with them most of the Spaniards' baggage. The soldiers pursued them into the mountains, where they found that human sacrifices had been recently offered. Here, too, they discovered seated on a throne the skeleton of an ancestor of the existing chief, 'el qual estaba ricamente adornada de pedrer. . . con tahalí, brazaletes, collares, y apretadores de plata,' with a crown of many-colored feathers and all the insignia of royalty. Having captured some of the Indians they returned to the capital, where the prisoners were tried for sacrilege. In 1723 they were 'penitenciados' at an auto de fé, and on the following day the skeleton, an object of their former worship, was burnt in the plazuela de San Diego. A presidio company was then formed, and missions established by the Jesuits. Teatro Amer., ii. 268-71. On the expulsion of the Jesuits their missions were placed under the charge of the Franciscans in Jalisco. Razon de Misiones, 1768 & 1789, in Soc. Mex. Geog., 2da ep., i. 572. The author of the Razon mentions only seven missions.
- ↑ Id., 570-3.
