Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/706

686 of this nature which had not been duly passed by that body.

Nevertheless occasional violations of the royal privilege occurred, two of them as late as 1746, when the archbishop of Mexico published two papal briefs without the royal exequatur, whereupon both he and the audiencia were reprimanded, and ordered to rescind them. Later, in 1777, it was ordered that popes' bulls, briefs, and kindred instruments, even if provided with the council's exequatur, were never to be circulated without the permission of the viceroy, or local governor, as vice-patrono.

The royal prerogative never failed to assert itself. Even in God's temple special honors were paid the viceroy, because of his being the viceregal patron. The appointment of provisores and vicarios generales had to be submitted to the crown for approval. Competitions for vacant stalls in cathedral chapters must be in presence of an asistente real, appointed by the vice-patron. In the selection of parish priests or curates, a ternary of names was to be laid by the ordinary before the vice-patron, who usually chose the first on the list, to avoid giving offence, and because he seldom knew who was the worthiest.

The secular clergy held a privileged jurisdiction, known as fuero eclesiástico, with special courts, and until near the close of the eighteenth century personal exemption from the control of other tribunals. Ecclesiastical courts were, however, not only forbidden