PROVINCIAL COUNCILS. 



the a6ls of which have been pubHshed, that of 1583 may be 

 considered as the principal one, insomuch as it comprises 

 whatever belongs to the good government of the metropolitan 

 church and its suffragans. It is substantially the code of the 

 ecclesiastical laws of Peru. 



Santo Toribio died in 1606, at which time the provincial 

 councils had been discontinued both in Europe and America, 

 for reasons that are well known to the learned. This circum- 

 stance did not, however, abate the zeal of the prelates. Lobo- 

 Guerrero, the immediate successor of Santo Toribio, published 

 the synodical discourses which have since been augmented and 

 improved by the other archbishops. The pastoral letters they 

 have left behind them are replete with piety and learning. 



A wish having been, however, posteriorly expressed, that 

 the councils should be again convened, his Catholic Majesty, 

 Charles III. dispatched a royal schedule, named Tomo Regio, 

 directed to the archbishops and bishops of South America, to 

 the end that the former should convoke, and the latter be pre- 

 sent at, a council which was to be holden in each respe6live 

 province. In consequence of this royal mandate, that of 

 Lima was holden in 1772. The bishops of Santiago De Chile, 

 of la Concepcion, of Guamanga, and of Cusco, were present; 

 but those of Truxillo, Arequipa, and Panama, sent procura- 

 tors. The proceedings of this august assembly were condu6led 

 with a concord which is known to all, since it happened in 

 our times. The a£ts have not, however, been published ; a 

 circumstance which prevents us from entering into a detail 

 of the particulars. We shall merely add, that immediately 

 after the convocation, the archbishop Don Antonio De Pa- 



rada, 



