CHAPTER XI. 

 THE MEXICAN CHURCH. 



RELATIONS BETWEEN THE MEXICAN CHURCH AND THE POPE. 



CLERGY, MONKS, NUNS, MONASTERIES, CONVENTS. WEALTH 



OF THE CHURCH. RATIO OF CLERGY AND PEOPLE. HIGH 



AND LOW CLERGY THEIR HISTORY VICES. MONKS RURAL 



CLERGY THEIR CHARACTER. CONDUCT OF CLERGY, PUBLIC 



AND PRIVATE. MISSIONS IN CALIFORNIA MODE OF CONVER- 

 SION. MONKS IN MEXICO ZAVALA's STRICTURES. PAZo's 



STRICTURES ON SOUTH AMERICAN CLERGY. CHURCH IN THE 



UNITED STATES AND IN MEXICO. CONSTITUTIONAL PROTEC- 

 TION OF CATHOLICISM. DUTY OF THE CHURCH BULLS 



PAPER MONEY. 



The relations existing between the Mexican church and the 

 Papal throne were interrupted by the revolution. Spain and her 

 monarchs had ever been distinguished and faithful defenders of the 

 Catholic church, and had maintained its power carefully through- 

 out all their American possessions. The pope therefore regarded 

 the revolution not only as unfavorable to the interest of his allies, 

 but as calculated in all probability to introduce ecclesiastical as 

 well as political liberty into regions of which his ministers pos- 

 sessed the entire dominion. Hence the famous encyclical letter 

 of his Holiness of the 24th of September, 1824, directed to the 

 Heads of the American church, in which he anathematizes the 

 doctrines and principles upon which the revolution was founded. 

 But, yielding in the end to circumstances, and probably reassured 

 by the article in the first constitution of Mexico — not yet promul- 

 gated when his letter saw the light — by which the Catholic faith 

 was permanently confirmed as the national religion, to the exclu- 

 sion of all others, he received the rebellious nation once more into 

 his flock, as soon as the Mexican government sought readmission. 

 This reconciliation was negotiated upon the same terms that ex- 

 isted during the Spanish dominion. 



Even from the epoch of Iturbide's rule this delicate subject had 

 engaged the attention of the rulers, and in 1825 an envoy was sent 



