Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/723

Rh in founding convents was afforded them, the poorer of such establishments receiving presents from the king of chalice and paten, wine and oil, while the sick among them were supplied with medicines.

Papal concessions to members of the regular orders in New Spain were on a scale still more liberal. The peculiar position of these missionaries required that they should be endowed with prerogatives which had hitherto belonged solely to the church. Hence the pope conceded to them rights and powers which the regulars in Europe could never obtain. The secular clergy were too few in number to perform the rites of the church throughout the length and breadth of the land, and bulls were issued granting to friars the privilege of exercising, in the towns where they established themselves, all the duties of a parish priest. They could hear confessions, and give absolution and dispensations; could administer the sacraments and celebrate marriages; could preach, teach, and confirm.

Such concessions appeared desirable at first, but when the church became more fully established, and bishoprics were erected in widely distant provinces, a collision was the inevitable result. To the humble isolated convents of the first missionaries year by year others of costly structure were added, and custodias created. These in turn had developed extensive provincias, and broad lands and much treasure had been acquired by the orders. Monastic simplicity gave way to luxury, assumption of authority, and abuses.