QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MUNICIPIO BRAND 



203 



erected as an independent parish in July of 1847. 

 If this notation is correct** Juan de Dios Torres 

 (who was teniente de cura beginning in September 

 of 1842) was the first proprietary curate, July 1847 

 to April 1853 (see footnote 1 to list below). Other 

 curas have been: 



Rafael Acuna 1853-54. 



Fr. Francisco Aguirre 1854-55. 



Clemente Vilchis 1855. 



Zeferino Sdnchez 1855-56. 



Rafael Acufia 1856. 



Andres Zannettini 1856. 



Jos6 MaHa Reyes 1856. 



Jos^ Leonides Ddvalos 1856. 



Jos6 Maria Reyes 1857. 



Bias Le6n 1857. 



Jos6 Maria Reyes 1857-59. 



Pablo Ramirez 1859. 



Jer6nimo Hurtado 1859 . 



Francisco N. de Medina.-- 1859-60. 



*Juan B. Men^dez ' 1860-65. (Preached against 



the civil register.) 



Pablo Ramirez 1865. 



*Porfirio Herrera 1865-68. (Preached against 



the republican govern- 

 ment.) 



**Francisco de Paula Pla- 1868-89. (Unified the town, 

 sencia. developed charity, died as 



cura of Quiroga. Univer- 

 sally revered.) 



Francisco Ponce 1889. (Curate of Santa Fe, 



temporarily over Quiroga.) 



Jos6 Maria Villalobos 1889-90. (Born in Chucdndiro.) 



Francisco Ponce 1890. (Temporarily again.) 



**Eucario Farias Herrera.. 1890-1901. (Born in Angan- 



gueo.) 



**Jos6 Otilio Vivanco 1901-1913. Born in Santa 



Ana Maya. Constructed 

 the chapel of San Vicente. 

 Founded several religious 

 organizations.) 



Rafael Garcia 1913-14. 



Erasto Portillo 1914-16. (Born in Huetamo.) 



♦Francisco de Paula 1916-19. (Bom in Celaya.) 

 Gonzd,lez. 



Fabidn Martinez 1919. 



Rafael Lemus 1919-21. (Born in Pdtz- 



cuaro.) 



Francisco Aguilera 1921. 



**Catarino Vivanco 1921-30. (Born in Santa Ana 



Maya.) 



Damidn Alvarez 1930-31. Born in Pichd- 



taro.) 



Francisco F. Rubio 1931-35. 



Gregorio Coronado.. 1935-36. (Born in Quiroga.) 



**Jos6 Jesiis Olivares 1936-. (Born in Tancltaro 



in 1880.) 

 ' An asterisk has been placed before the names of the curates who were most 



influential in the life and affairs of Quiroga. Two asterisks indicate the 



priests who most conditioned life in Quiroga. 



RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS 



The oldest secular or lay religious organizations 

 were the hospital of the Indians and the associated 

 cofradias or confraternities. Unfortunately the 

 archives of the hospital cannot be located. Prob- 

 ably next in antiquity were the occupational guilds 

 or gremios, which are nearly defunct even in the 

 purely religious aspects. Quite ancient was the 

 organization of the community into religious 

 groups by barrios, and as late as the first half of 

 the nineteenth century we find mention that the 

 barrio of San Francisco paid the expenses of the 

 Saturday masses. At present there is little left 

 of such areal organization excepting a dichotomy 

 of the town with respect to the ceremonies pertain- 

 ing to the patron saint San Diego de Alcala. 

 Undoubtedly old, and with an unbroken history 

 since some time in the colonial period, is the Third 

 Order of Saint Francis (Venerable Orden Tercera 

 de San Francisco) to which belong many of the 

 leading citizens of Quiroga. During the second 

 half of the nineteenth century several members of 

 the ayuntamiento were removed because they were 

 members of this order and refused to take the oath 

 of office which implied carrying out anticlerical 

 laws. 



At present there is a variable number of lay 

 reUgious organizations many of which last but a 

 few years and then are replaced by other groups 

 organized for some special purposes. Probably 

 more than 90 percent of the adult population be- 

 long to one or more of these religious organiza- 

 tions. These groups go by various titles, such as 

 sodality or confraternity (cofradia and confrater- 

 nidad), brotherhood {hermandad) , asociacion, con- 

 gregacion, and culto. There is some confusion in 

 the titles used by these pious associations and 

 popular devotions and the titles used locally 

 do not always agree with official church rulings 

 and definitions. The following list contains the 

 names of most of the organizations which have 

 been active dming the past 20 years. One 

 asterisk indicates that the organization was active 

 in 1945, and two asterisks mean that the organi- 

 zation is known to be more than a century old 

 in Quiroga. 



*Acci6n Cat61ica. 

 *Adoraci6n Nocturna. 



*Apostolado de la Oraci6n. (This is known in Eng- 

 lish as League of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.) 

 **Archicofradia del Inmaculado Coraz6n de Maria. 



