Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/576

556, and it flourished from the beginning. The fame of the mines spread rapidly over the country, and other parts of New Galicia were almost depopulated for a season, the Zacatecan reales, in their turn, suffering from the superior attractions of Guanajuato, Catorce, and the regions to the north.

The diocese of Mexico was raised to an archdiocese by papal bull of July 8, 1547, with jurisdiction over the suffragan bishoprics of Tlascala, Michoacan, Oajaca, Nueva Galicia, Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Bishop Zumárraga was designated first archbishop; but after the bull and the appointment he declined the position on account of advancing age. Nine days after the arrival of these documents, on June 3, 1548, he died, being then in his eightieth year. His death was said to have been miraculously made known all over New Spain on the day of its occurrence; it certainly excited universal interest and produced wide-spread sorrow. A pervading sense of impending loss had caused profane dances, which hitherto formed an important feature in the Corpus Christi procession, to be omitted in the one immediately preceding his demise. The odor of sanctity which had clung to him in life embalmed his memory.