THE CHURCH AND ITS CEREMONIES. 1 f/J 



smith of the Maulo. In 1836 the government determined to create two new ees; and 

 having nominated individuals ns bishops of Serena and Ancud, one was confirmed by the Pope 

 in 1843; the other not until five years afterward. Meantime, baving been urged by the 

 Metropolitan Diocess, Gregory XVI erected Santiago into an archbishopric in 1841 ; and tbe 

 seat is now occupied by a native of the city, who was consecrated in 1848 by a bull of Piiw IX. 

 When vacancies occur in these high offices, three persons are nominated by the Council of State, 

 one of whom the President selects, and submits his name to the Senate for confirmation. 1: 

 confirmed by that body, it is then sent to the Pope for final ratification. Besides the extraor- 

 dinary powers especially delegated to the bishops of America in the early days of the church on 

 this continent, the archbishop has the control of all benefices, and is the superior of all the 

 monasteries and religious orders whatsoever within the republic. 



In addition to the archbishop, the metropolitan establishment comprises: a secretary and 

 two clerks to his reverence; an ecclesiastical council, composed of one dean, an arch-dean, a 

 chanter,, a teacher of ecclesiastical science, and treasurer; six canons; three prebends and 

 three sub-prebends; an ecclesiastical court, consisting of a judge and vicar-general; an associate- 

 fiscal and a notary ; a conciliary college, with a rector and vice-rector ; eight chaplains in the 

 choir, and eight acolytes. 



Under a former system there was collected, exclusively for the support of the church, a tenth 

 of all the produce of the country ; but this has been abolished, and the government, though 

 continuing the tax, apportions such incomes as they think proper to the maintenance of the 

 metropolitan and suffragan bishops, and those curacies which do not obtain in fees a given sum. 

 To these ends, including also repairs of the cathedrals and other churches, the appropriations, 

 by Congress, for 1850 amounted to $195,600; of which $62,800 was for the metropolitan 

 establishment alone. Inmates of the convents and monasteries are supported from the income 

 of their property, in all cases more thau ample. With a view to ameliorate the moral condi- 

 tion of the people, growing out of their poverty and the refusal of curates to perform marriage, 

 baptismal, or burial services without the fixed stipend, a proposition was made in Congress that 

 the whole system of fees should be abolished, and parochial churches as well as missionaries 

 be paid from the public treasury. So long as an exclusive church exists, it is greatly to be 

 regretted that the proposal should have failed through the influence of the church itself. But 

 it was a result to have been anticipated ; because it is scarcely probable that government would 

 have assigned salaries large enough to gratify the propensities of some of the vicious curates. 

 These now manage to accumulate property, and live discreditably by forcing payment from the 

 poor guasos of $12 for marriage, $2 for baptism, and $4 for interment, without which the souls 

 of the latter will inevitably descend to the place of torture. However, there were in Congress 

 some who really desired reformation in the church, but who at the same time opposed the 

 measure, on the ground that if the parochial duties were shamefully attended to, even under 

 the stimulant "no work no pay," they would be infinitely more so when payment should be 

 made certain, whether the parishioners were attended to or not. During the discussion in the 

 Chamber, a late Minister of Worship and Public Instruction said: "I have never hesitated to 

 state that the parochial service is badly administered, and fear not to repeat it, because the fact 

 is public and notorious. Whenever the occasion offers, I write it without regarding who may 

 think ill of me. Every time that I have made a journey, I have personally witnessed the neglect 

 of the parishes. The churches of nearly every curacy were in worse condition than the most 

 miserable ranchos ; uncleanliness was notable in the furniture destined for worship ; and even 

 cloths serving to cover the altars were unwashed. I am aware that exaggerated criticisms have 

 been made; that the curates, if 'not wicked, are said to be so; and that their private conduct is 

 the subject of espionage, without the right for such act for I dispute the right of any one to 

 pry into their private affairs. My strictures are animated by no mean passions. Curates by 

 their mission should occupy themselves mainly with what belongs to their religion. I have 

 seen for myself that they do not attend to it, and this is sufficient for me to augur ill of the zeal 



