Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/693

Rh dwelling with them. This decree was to have a temporary effect until the issue of a final decision.

It was during Montúfar's occupation of the archiepiscopal seat, and under his direction, that the first ecclesiastical council proper was held in Mexico. The efforts of the missionary friars at their convention in 1526 to establish rules for the guidance of ecclesiastics had, from the want of an organized government and the spiritual condition of the natives, been attended with few results; and after the lapse of thirty years, and the extension of the church, the necessity of a provincial synod became urgent. The archbishop therefore formally convoked a synodical council, and it began its labors on the 17th of November 1555. This council, over which Montúfar presided, was attended by the bishops of Tlascala, Chiapas, Michoacan, and Oajaca, by the viceroy and royal audiencia, and by a number of other officials both ecclesiastic and civil.

At this meeting ninety-three chapters of declarations and rules adapted to the requirements of the period were passed. The aim was to regulate the conversion of the natives, and defend them from irregular exaction of tribute; to reform society and the mode of life followed by many of the clergy, to whom gambling, mercantile pursuits, and the practice of usury were forbidden under heavy punishments; and