Note 16 — The Camacho Ecclesiastical Controversy, 1697–1700

He declared that he must command, and he did command, that the practice be continued, as hitherto, of the separation and division [of the records] in three different books: one for recording the baptisms and confirmations only, another for the marriages and nuptial benedictions,16 and a third for the deaths; and that in no case should these be recorded in one book only; and that in the book of baptisms the names of the parents and the sponsors of the person baptized must always be set down, and whether he were a legitimate child; and note must be made of a child of unknown parents, or of the Church.17 At the same time, they must never fail to set down in the margin the names of those who are baptized, and of the villages to which they belong, so that it may be easier to search for and find them. In no case shall men be allowed to stand as sponsors [saquen de pila] for women, or women for men, on account of the grave difficulties which have been experienced from this cause, especially among Indians. Moreover, in the records of weddings and burials must be set down the fees of the minister, so that in future visits it may be easy to compute the eighths18 which belong to the churches, in consideration of having a new tariff to which their fees must conform. With this, in the said records must be noted in the margin the names of both deceased and married persons; and in every instance it must be explained whether the deceased person received the sacraments at the hour of death, and, if he did not receive them, the reasons therefor. Likewise, in the records of marriages not only must the names of the contracting parties be set down, and those of their parents, and those of their former consorts, if the parties are widowed; but also those of the witnesses who made affidavits in the investigations which always ought to precede a marriage—whether these be verbal, in the case of ordinary Indians; or in writing, when practice [in that art] enables this to be done. Thus, if at any time [a legal] impediment should remain, those persons can be found and punished as perjurers. Also it must be specified whether the three publications of the banns19 preceded, which the law ordains.