CHURCH CHRONICLERS.
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Of the Aparato above alluded to, Bustamante (C. M.) published an edition, Historia del Descubrimiento de la America Septentrional por Cristóbal Colon, escrita por R. P. Fr. Manuel de la Vega, of the Franciscan province of the Santo Evangelio de México, Mex., 1826, 4to, an incomplete, untrue, and useless edition. Vega, placed as the author, was but the owner of the MS. which served Bustamante as original. Beristain does not know of the Crónica, but refers to the author as a doctor and man of the world before he took the habit.
The authorities I have consulted on church affairs, utilizing facts pertinent to the subject, have been; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Eclesiástico, and Torquemada. Monarchia Indiana, on the history of the older dioceses and the religious orders; Concilios Provinciales, 1° y 2°, and Concilios Mexicanos, iii. iv., for the general rules adopted by the several episcopal councils of Mexico for the government of the church, and for biographies of bishops; Vetancur, Tratado de la Ciudad de México, and Vetancurt, Menologio; Grijalva, Chrónica de San Agustin; Medina, Chrónica de San Diego; Michoacan, Provincia de San Nicolás, Basalenque, Historia de San Nicolás, Florencia, Historia de la Compañía de Jesus, and Alegre, Historia de la Compañía de Jesus; for the chronicles of the religious orders to which the authors respectively belonged. Humboldt, Essai Politique, has furnished much valuable matter on general history and statistics. Another contributor, valued for his well considered opinions upon religious policy and history is Lúcas Alaman, Historia de Méjico, and Disertaciones. Other writers of more modern date, and entitled to more or less credit for arriving at the view taken by them of ecclesiastical policy and conduct from both the Spanish and Mexican standpoint, have been duly considered. Among these the chief one is Francisco Sosa, Episcopado Mexicano, who gives biographies of the archbishops of Mexico from the earliest colonial time to the latest days; out of this work I have obtained a great deal of information on the rule of each archbishop, and consequently on the relations of church and state, thus at the same time furnishing much interesting matter of a secular nature. As the reader will perceive, a very long list of writers has been carefully read, and some important item culled out of each. But among the sources that have afforded me useful and incontrovertible data, and to which I must give a prominent place, have been the several collections of papal briefs or bulls, and royal cédulas for the government of the church, that I possess; some of them being in print, such as Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbi, Recopilacion de Indias, Beleña, Recopilacion, Montemayor, Sumarios, and Zamora, Biblioteca de Legislacion Ultramarina, and a large number in manuscript; the reports of several viceroys to their immediate successors, and edicts of the court of the inquisition issued with the view of checking immoral practices of the clergy, and generally for the promotion of public morals. Some of the original manuscripts throw light upon the mode of procedure of that dread tribunal. Other important sources have been also the Gacetas de Mexico, from 1784 to 1805, and several preceding and succeeding numbers. The manuscripts alluded to are: Papeles Franciscanos, Figueroa, Vindicias de la Verdad, Providencias Diocesanas, and Disturbios de Frailes, which are filled with ecclesiastical matter, particularly laws and decrees; Órdenes de la Corona, Rescriptos Reales, Disposiciones Varias, Cedulario, Reales Cédulas, Providencias Reales, Varias Anotaciones de las Leyes, and other collections, the names of all of which indicate their contents.
