193
Escandon and Settlement of Lower Rio Grande, r738-r779
seat of the proposed diocese, its climate being temperate, its inhabitants numerous and industrious, and its church good. 75 The petition of Escandon went unheeded until 1765, when the matter was suddenly brought forcefully to the attention of the viceroy by a royal cedula issued the year before. On March 11, 1764, the king explained in a long decree that on July 18, 1761, the C abildo of Guadalajara had complained that many families from Nuevo Leon had moved to the new Province of Santander and settled chiefly on lands claimed by Nuevo Leon, but that since their migration they had refused to pay tithes. Furthermore, Bishop Martinez de Tejada had protested in 1760, after his visitation of Dolores and Laredo, against the conditions found in these places, and particularly the practice of Zacatecan missionaries in ministering to the settlers as parish priests. He had declared that they had no right to marry the settlers and perform the duties of parish priests without faculties. Lastly, the king declared that custom had established a period of ten years for missionaries to complete their work, at the end of which time the missions were generally turned over to the Ordinary. In the case of the Province of Nuevo Santander, fourteen years had elapsed and the missions were still in charge of missionaries. He ordered the viceroy, therefore, to inform him whether the new province lay within the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Mexico or the Bishop of Guadalajara and what its exact boundaries were. 76 The viceroy ordered that all documents pertaining to the matter be immediately assembled. When the question was referred to the Fiscal, he pointed out that the cedula of 1764 and that of 1753 constituted two different problems. One was the question of the erection of a new diocese and the other was the determination of the fact, which diocese or dioceses now extant had jurisdiction over the Province of Nuevo Santander. It would be best, therefore, to consult the Archbishop of Mexico, and the Bishops of Guadalajara and Michoacan. He recommended that copies of the original proposal of Altamira, the royal cedula of 1753, the letter of Escandon of 1760, and the recent ced1'la of 1764 be sent to each one of them. The recommendations were followed and the first to reply was the Archbishop of Mexico. On September 24, 1766, he gave his formal 75 Escand6n to the Viceroy, March 1, 1750. A.G. M., Provincial /11t4r11QS, v. 173, pp. 123-125. 76 Royal Cedula, March II, 1764. A. G. M., Provincial /nt4r"4t, v. 173, pp. 128-130. .
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