Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/187

Rh ; and a third, drawn up in a more familiar manner, for the use of children. The whole was under the skilful direction of the archbishop Santo Toribio, who availed himself of the aid of many learned men, then residing in Lima, more particularly of that of father Juan De Acosta, of the order of Jesuits, by whom the acts of the council were framed, and who is considered as the author of the catechism in dialogues. Finally, the council combined the views of the two preceding ones, with whatever have been dictated by an experience of thirty years, in such a way as to claim the public applause, the royal approbation, and the confirmation of the holy apostolic see.

Many were, notwithstanding, to be found who were greatly exasperated at the censure fulminated, in the third act, against every ecclesiastic engaged in commercial pursuits. It was, indeed, a spectacle equally novel and pleasant, to see a considerable number of priests repair to the council of the Indies, and to Rome even, to pray that the excommunication pronounced by the council of Lima should be taken off, at a time when the decree of the council of Trent, which renewed in the most rigorous manner the prohibitions and penalties that have been constantly pronounced by the canons of the church, at all times and in all countries, were in their greatest vigour, and in full observance. The result was, that the appellants failed in the object of their solicitations, as well before the council, as at Rome, where the decree was confirmed in all its particulars. The same thing occurred relatively to the protests against another article, which excommunicated the visitors who should conceal or mutilate the proceedings, in the visitation to which the priests were subjected, to the end