Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/709

Rh there had been no limitation, either as to offences, or the number of privileged places. The facility for escaping the penalties provided by law for the gravest crimes had augmented the number of these asylums in countries where churches, shrines, cemeteries, and other places under ecclesiastical control abounded. From time to time modifications were obtained by the king of Spain from the Roman pontiffs. Popes Gregory XIV., Benedict XIII., Clement XII., and Benedict XIV. excluded from that privilege murder, robbery in public places and highways, mutilations of limb, forgery, heresy, high treason, and other grave offences; and Clement XIV. by his brief of September 12, 1772, which was ordered to be enforced by royal decree of November 2, 1773, very considerably diminished the number of churches that were available as asylums for offenders against the law.

The cathedral church, described elsewhere, possessed large wealth in silver, gold, and precious stones. The sagrario, an appendage of the cathedral, was also a fine edifice. The descendants of Cortés furnished elegant carriages and costly teams of mules for