Note XXX-57 — Chapter XXX · INTELLECTUAL ADVANCEMENT. 1800-1887.

Anselmo Llorente y Lafuente was the first called to fill the position of bishop of San José de Costa Rica, April 10, 1851. He had not been long in office when he tried to collect tithes on coffee, but failed, and his course greatly displeased the people and lowered their regard for the church. The matter was finally settled by a concordat entered into at Rome, Oct. 2, 1852, and tithes were declared abolished. He died in 1872; and the government soon after proposed a successor, who was not approved of by the Roman curia. Finally, Oct. 11, 1879, the government nominated Bernard August Thiel, a native of Germany, and professor of the university of Costa Rica, for the office, and he was confirmed by the pope Feb. 27, 1880. During the vacancy the see was under the guardianship of the bishop of Abydos, in part. infid. Costa R., Col. Ley., v. 155-60; Marure, Bosq. Hist. Rev. Cent. Am., 208; Montúfar, Reseña Hist., ii. 247-9; Costa R., Mem. Min. Rel., 1851, 1-2, 10-12; 1854, 11-12; Id., Informe Sec. Rel., 1872, 19-20; 1873, 19; 1874, 12; 1880, 19-20; Molina, Bosq. Costa R., 63, 111-12; El Siglo, July 18, 1851.