therefore becoming a bad one; and the number of noviciates will, of course, decrease in the same ratio as the inducements to enter upon a Monastic life.
It appears, farther, that the total amount of the capital possessed by the Regular Clergy of New Spain, computing the value of their lands, (fincas urbanas y rusticas) and of their capitals, by the annual produce as given by the table, (428,764 dollars)[1] at five per cent interest, and adding the value of their consolidated fund, (649,735 dollars), does not exceed 9,225,015 dollars; a very moderate sum when compared with the immense wealth of the Monastic Orders in some parts of Europe, and particularly in Old Spain.
For this advantage, Mexico, according to Mr. Ramos Arizpe, is indebted to the circumstance of never having received into her territory the Orders of the Basilians, and the Carthusians, or the Monks of St. Bernard, and St. Geronimo, who are all great proprietors in the Peninsula, and hold there, with immense estates, all the privileges of temporal jurisdiction. The only Orders established in New Spain are the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Augustins, the Unshod Carmelites, and the Merceda-
- ↑
Produce of houses in towns 216,002 dollars. Of property in the country 129,723 Interest of capitals 83,039 ———— Total 428,764
