Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/297

Rh the court his opinion, advocating sentence of death. But before this sentence could be either pronounced or executed, civil and canonical law required, as in the case before mentioned, that the prisoner should be degraded and formally handed over by the ecclesiastical judge to the secular authorities. Bishop Olivares was unable from age and infirmity to undertake the tedious journey in order to perform these ceremonies in person, and a further delay was caused by the demurs of Dr Valentin, who hesitated to act upon the authorization first extended him by the bishop, and suggested that Hidalgo should be sent to Durango. The prelate, however, explained his right to delegate his powers under certain difficulties to another, and confirming Valentin's previous commission, expressed the expectation that he would at once proceed in the matter. Accordingly, on the 27th of July, with the cura, the chaplain of the army, and the local superior of the Franciscan convent as his associates, he pronounced the sentence of degradation against Hidalgo, and on the 29th proceeded to carry it into execution by divesting him of his sacerdotal robes, according to the prescribed form of the church.

In clerical habit Hidalgo was conducted into the presence of the ecclesiastical commissioner judge, and for the first time since the day of his capture was released from the fetters which oppressed him. Then he was robed in the sacred vestments of his priestly