Note 60 — The Pardo Controversy

Everyone promised himself an Octavian peace; but in ten or twelve days war made its appearance, and the more experienced were continually in dread. On the twenty-eighth of November, the eve of the feast of the table of the blessed sacrament, notification was sent to the cabildo, the superiors of the religious orders, and all the curas and missionaries within and without the walls, that no one should admit into any of their churches the auditors, Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado, and many other persons, both citizens and military officers,60 as having incurred the penalties in the bull De la cena. At this the entire community felt as the pious reader can understand, recognizing that the royal authority had been trampled under foot and outraged—and the more so, that some persons who promptly came to him for absolution were required to swear upon the holy gospels that they would never aid in the banishment, exile, or imprisonment of an ecclesiastic, even though this be ordered by the king himself, in person. Thereupon, they frankly declared that they would not take such an oath, and returned to their homes, scandalized at such a reply. Those who most resented this stroke were the auditors, especially as, on the following day, when their platform was already placed in the cathedral, and all had resolved to go there, the archbishop sent them a message that they should suspend their attendance there for a time, until these affairs were adjusted. Thereupon, coram omni populo [i.e., “in the presence of all the people”] who had gathered to see what was going on, the platform was removed [from the cathedral]. The auditors keenly resented this; but since they are to blame in having done what they could not be forced to do, let them pay the penalty.