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674 to systematize the administration of the archbishopric and parochial churches.

In 1565 a second ecclesiastical council was convoked by the archbishop, the chief object being the recognition of the acts promulgated by the ecumenical council of Trent in 1563. The suffragan bishops who attended it were those of Chiapas, Yucatan, Tlascala, Nueva Galicia, and Oajaca. Twenty-eight chapters were enacted, many of them constituting amendments of declarations passed at the previous council, which had proved in a great measure to be but a mere display of authority without effect.

On the 7th of March 1572 the venerable Archbishop Montúfar died at an advanced age, after a painful and lingering illness of eighteen months, and was buried in the Dominican convent. The fatherly solicitude which he had ever displayed for his flock caused his death to be deeply regretted. He had devoted himself earnestly to the duties of his calling, and never lost sight of the fact that the church in New Spain needed much reformation and a more