Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/105

Rh for which is deposited with His Majesty, and his Council for the Indies, that they may recognise as valid the said concession. I desire, and it is my will, that my successor or successors, may have and preserve forever the said right of patronage. As, at the time I solicited the concession from His Holiness, it was my intention that the natives of those towns should be better instructed in the doctrines of our Holy Catholic Faith, I direct and charge Don Martin, my son, and successor and successors, to have very special care of this, conferring the benefices of the said towns upon able men of good life and example, with the obligation to daily instruct the said natives; and that they take great care to oversee and ascertain very particularly how this is done and fulfilled. As the said concession from His Holiness says that I and my heirs and successors should have and receive the tithes and first fruits from the said towns, comprised in the right of patronage for the endowment of the churches, I direct that dowries, vestments, and other things necessary for the cult, and the wine for the administration of the Sacraments, be all provided for out of the said tithes and first fruits. During such time as this is not complied with, through no fault of my successor or successors, the said tithes and first fruits may not be employed otherwise, for, from this time forth and forever, I destine and apply these to provide the said churches with all whatsoever belongs to or concerns them in so far as may be necessary for the purposes above expressed, the control and enjoyment of the said right of patronage remaining to my successors the same as it has been conceded to me; hence it is my will that whatever may remain of the said titles and first fruits of these churches, over and above the expenses above set forth, being properties dedicated to God Our Lord, and to His holy temples, shall be used and distributed in works of His service, and for no other purpose I say therefor and direct that such surplus of tithes and first fruits, after each year's expenditure for the above mentioned objects, shall be adjudged perpetually by my successor or successors or their deputies as follows:-one half to the endowment of the said college, and the remainder divided equally between the said monastery, and the said hospital, in the same proportion as the