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Rh that some of its former property was restored; but there is no account of their opening missions. Santa Anna's decree of September 19, 1853, was repealed on June 7, 1856, congress ordering the expulsion of the Jesuits from the country.

The society of Saint Vincent de Paul had been allowed in 1845 to found establishments in the republic. The orders of San Juan de Dios, Bethlehemites, and other hospitallers had been suppressed since 1820. The Franciscans proper, barefooted Franciscans of San Diego, Augustinians, Dominicans, the order of Mercy, and others continued till the final general suppression took place.

The advent of the sisters of charity was in 1844, and with the special favors shown them soon spread throughout the country. In 1861, when stringent measures were adopted toward the religious orders, the sisters of charity were allowed to continue their work under government inspection, made amenable to the civil laws, forbidden to act as a religious order, and warned to attend strictly to their legitimate duties. In February 1863 nunneries and communities of female devotees were suppressed, and the next year regulations were decreed for repaying them their dowers. In 1877 all communities of nuns were dispersed.

The mission system, formerly so extensive, in the course of time became reduced to small proportions. In 1834 the government decreed their secularization;