Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/149

Rh with grass, and the abandoned houses are offered rent free.

The first church established in the city was the edifice known to-day as the chapel of the college of La Purísima Concepcion, and in it Rivera placed the image of the santísima vírgen in 1557. A few years later another chapel was erected near by, and these two buildings were used as hospitals, the first one for the Tarascans and the second for the Otomis, a third being built for the benefit of the Mexican settlers. In 1671 was commenced the parish church, which was completed and dedicated in 1696, and thither was conveyed in the same year the image of our lady from the church of the hospital. The parish church of Guanajuato is one of the finest edifices of the kind in the Mexican republic. The ecclesiastical government of the province is under the bishopric of Michoacan. In 1663 Viceroy Serda and Bishop Ramirez del Prado granted permission to found the Franciscan convent of San Diego, but the work was stopped by order of the council of the Indies in the following year, because it had been begun without royal license. In 1667, however, the king's permission was granted, and the convent was erected into a guardianía in 1679. This church and convent were almost destroyed by the inundation of 1780, but were restored by the conde de Valenciana and some members of the brotherhood of el Cordon.

On the 18th of September, Intendente Riaño received intelligence from Iriarte of the occurrences in Dolores and San Miguel. He immediately ordered the call to arms to be sounded, believing that Hidalgo was already on his march against the city. The