perity, and it flourished from the beginning. The fame of the mines spread rapidly over the country, and other parts of New Galicia were almost depopulated for a season, the Zacatecan reales, in their turn, suffering from the superior attractions of Guanajuato, Catorce, and the regions to the north.
The diocese of Mexico was raised to an archdiocese by papal bull of July 8, 1547, with jurisdiction over the suffragan bishoprics of Tlascala, Michoacan, Oajaca, Nueva Galicia, Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Bishop Zumárraga was designated first archbishop; but after the bull and the appointment he declined the position on account of advancing age. Nine days after the arrival of these documents, on June 3, 1548, he died, being then in his eightieth year.[1] His death was said to have been miraculously made known all over New Spain on the day of its occurrence; it certainly excited universal interest and produced wide-spread sorrow. A pervading sense of impending loss had caused profane dances, which hitherto formed an important feature in the Corpus Christi procession, to be omitted in the one immediately preceding his demise. The odor of sanctity[2] which had clung to him in life embalmed his memory.
- ↑ Four days before his death, on May 30, 1548, Zumárraga wrote to the emperor that the letters and bulls making Mexico an archbishopric had arrived five days previous, but that he was too feeble to accept, and he felt that his end was near at hand. Carta, in Ramirez, Doc., MS., 387-9. Here the good bishop also states that he performed an ecclesiastical feat which, if true, would certainly make his last days eclipse the glory of his former achievements. 'I es verdad que havra quarenta dias que con ayuda de Religiosos comenze a confirmar los Yndios desta Cibdad i mui examinados que no recibiesen mas de una vez la confirmacion; pasaron de quatrocientas mill animas los que recibieron el olio.' It was indeed severe work closely to examine 400,000 souls during 40 days, and to see that they had not been previously baptized. Other authorities on the elevation of Mexico to an archsee, and the appointment and death of Zumárraga, are: Vetancvrt, Ciud. de Mex., 22; Giraua Tarragonez, in Apiano, Cosmog., 76; Dicc. Univ., x. 1132-3; Dávila, Continuacion, MS., 307; Torquemada, iii. 454; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 635-6; Beaumont, Crón. Mich., iii. 248-52; v. 61-3; Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 60; Calle, Mem. y Not., 45-6; Medina, Chron. S. Diego, 236; Villa Señor, Theatro, i. 28. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 23, assumes that Zumárraga actually was archbishop.
- ↑ Among the miracles attributed to him was that, when an attempt was
