in professing he acted of his own free will. That declaration he subscribed in the presence of the father-guardian, the master of novices, and two other priests as witnesses. Newly professed friars were formally notified in the presence of the members of the convent assembled in chapter, that if at any time it should be discovered that they were descendants, within the fourth degree of lineage, of Moors, Jews, converts, or heretics sentenced to be burned alive or in effigy, their profession would become null, and they would be ignominiously expelled from the order. The friars thus warned were then required to sign their names to the declaration together with the guardian, master of novices, and others.[1]
In 1585 it was ordered that friars assigned to a province in the Indies could not be detached therefrom and sent to another by the ordinary prelates dwelling in any part of the Indies. Friars were to go direct to the places of their appointment. The comisarios who had procured such friars in Europe for the Indies could not bestow on them the degrees of preacher or confessor, nor give them a license to be ordained. Any religious who had gone to Spain from the Indies could not return unless his visit to Spain had been by the prelate's orders on special business.[2] And in a cédula of October 20, 1580, the king forbade the departure of any priest for Spain, without first obtaining a royal license; and demanded information as to the number of religiosos actually needed, so that he might provide them.[3]
- ↑ The Libro de Recepciones of the convent of San Francisco of Mexico, which in the original is in my library, is full of such declarations.
- ↑ Estatvtos Generales de Barcelona, para la Familia Cismontana, de la Orden de nuestro Seraphico Padre S. Francisco. Mexico, 1585, sm. fol., 125 fol. and 15 l., unpaged. This is a rare work, which contains the general rules of the Franciscan order, decreed by Father Francisco Gonzaga, minister general of the order; later reformed and recompiled by a number of priests who had been deputed therefor, and accepted and approved at the intermediate general chapter of the cismontane family, held at Toledo in the convent of San Juan de los Reyes of the province of Castile, in 1583, and confirmed by the general. The book contains nine chapters of rules, and much other information for the use of the Franciscan order.
- ↑ The cédula was addressed to all orders, including the Jesuits. Órdenes de la Corona, MS., ii. 40.
