Note 62 — The Pardo Controversy

On Saturday, December 10, the ecclesiastical cabildo, which had governed the see, was notified of all these matters, and that it must be regarded as suspended and under censure62 for having accepted the government. At the same time, edicts were posted making null all the confessions made to the members of the cabildo or to those persons to whom they had given license [to hear confessions], and all other things that had been effected by their authority—as marriages, [the bestowal of] chaplaincies and curacies, etc.63 These edicts commanded that, under penalty of major excommunication, latæ sententiæ, all [persons concerned] should present themselves within six days, with the documents and other papers [in the case];64 thereupon many men who were dissatisfied with their wives, and women tired of their husbands, tried to find other spouses who were more congenial. The scruples of people regarding their confessions may well be imagined; and this, too, when Lent was past. But the most astute (although harsh) measure was the command, under the same penalty, that no one should speak, assert, or teach anything contrary to the tenor of the said edict. The Dominican fathers, moreover, even said in the pulpits, when exultant tanquam victores capta preda,65 that there is no person in these islands, except the Dominican religious, who has the ability or learning to make a decision in a case of morals. Thus the poor prebends are suspended; nor have they any recourse, since the royal Audiencia is now disarmed. The archbishop proceeded to welcome them with much kindness, telling them that now they came to his illustrious Lordship, because they had recourse in no other direction—words which have aroused much comment, as being insulting to the king and inimical to his royal patronage; and he added, that they deserved to be degraded from office and handed over to the secular power. Above all, he tried to deprive them of their prebends, and to thrust into the cathedral that dealer in fireworks, Caraballo, and others of that stamp. The worst is, that he declares that they cannot be dispensed from their irregular administration [of the see]—nor can appeal be taken to the delegate of his Holiness, or to any other—by any bishop of these islands, since all four are Dominicans and follow the lead of the archbishop; and all the four cities and bishoprics of these islands are entirely unsettled with lawsuits and excommunications at every step. No attention is paid to the officials of his Majesty, the more discreet of whom acquiesce. It is necessary to apply a very exemplary corrective; for they [i.e., the ecclesiastical authorities] have gone to such an extreme that to issue royal decrees to them is the same as to throw caps at the tarasca.66 They act with contempt for the royal authority, which even the most remote barbarians fear and reverence.