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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
A patente, in the ecclesiastical sense of the term, was an official letter expedited by a prelate and addressed to his religious subjects. Both the Father Guardian of the College of San Fernando in Mexico City and the Father President of the Franciscan missions in Alta California were regarded as prelates in the canonical sense of the term. Consequently, the friars who worked in these missions were held by religious vows to obey the admonitions and instructions in such documents. Patentes sent by the guardian of the college to his missionaries in Alta California dealt with the administration of the missions and the observance of the religious life and were supposed to be transcribed or at least summarized in a book intended for that purpose and called a Libro de Patentes.
1 Lopes, J.M., Bensley, E.R. et al., Nuevo Diccionario Inglés-español y Español-Inglés (Paris: Garnier Hermanos, 1882), p. 469.Google Scholar
2 Murphy, R.J., “Prelate,” New Catholic Encyclopedia, (Cited hereinafter as NCE), 11: 734–5.Google Scholar
3 The Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library includes in its holdings partial Libros de Patentes for the following missions: San Carlos de Borromeo (Carmel), San Antonio, San Luis Obispo, Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (beginning from 1811), and San Juan Bautista (beginning from 1809).
4 Catoir, J.T., “Documents, Papal,” NCE, 4: 946–7.Google Scholar Dealing with matters of less important nature than a papal bull, a brief is a document of parchment, signed by the secretary of briefs, and sealed with red wax upon which is impressed the pope’s ring.
5 The Commissary-General of the Indies was a delegate of the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor in Rome. The Commissary General had his residence in Madrid and exercised jurisdiction over the Franciscan Order in the Spanish empire.
6 Maynard Geiger, O.F.M., “The Internal Organization and Activities of San Fernando College, Mexico (1734–1858),” The Americas, 6 (July 1949), 3–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7 Gente de razón meant people who followed a European way of life, whatever their racial complexion may have been.
8 As Fray José Gasol clearly states, instructing the neophytes in Christian doctrine was the most important obligation the missionaries had.
9 Chapter One of the Rule of St. Francis, of Assisi says, “The rule and life of the Friars Minor is this: to observe the holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without anything of our own, and in chastity. ” The Rule and General Constitutions of the Order of Friars Minor (Pulaski, Wisconsin: The Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Conference of America, 1988), p. 2.Google Scholar
10 The missionaries were supposed to make a retreat every year. The spiritual exercises generally lasted for about a week.
11 The purpose of the canonical visitation, which took place every three years, was to see to the spiritual and temporal welfare of each individual friar and to check on the management and success of each mission.
12 Reports on Spiritual Matters. Special Collections. Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library (Cited hereinafter as SBMA).
13 Ibid.
14 Guest, Francis F., O.F.M., “Serra and His Approach to the Indians,” Southern California Quarterly, 67 (Fall 1985), 223–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15 Catechismus Romanus Ex Decreto Concilii Tridentini Ad Parochos Pii V Pontificis Maximi Jussu Editus (Ratisbon: Pustet, 1907), p. 196. The Latin text is as follows: “Postulat etiam tanti sacramenti dignitas, ut, qui matrimonio juncti sunt, aliquot dies a concubitu uxorum abstineant…” Except for two slight differences, one of punctuation, the other of spelling, the text of the Turin edition of 1914 is the same. In preparing their text, the translators used both editions. Consult Mchugh, John A., O.P. and Callan, Charles J., O.P., Catechism of the Council of Trent For Parish Priests (New York: Wagner, 1934), p. 248.Google Scholar
16 Miguel Venegas, S.J., Manual de parrocos para administrar los Santos Sacramentos y executar las demas sagradas funciones de su ministerio (México, 1811), pp. 420–7.Google Scholar Lobera, Antonio y Abio, , El Porqué de Todas las Ceremonias de la Iglesia, y sus Mysterios … (Madrid, 1770), pp. 535–42.Google Scholar
17 Escriche, Joaquin, Diccionario razonado de legislación civil, penal, comercial, y forense … Quotations, notes, and additions by de San Miguel, Juan Rodriguez (Madrid, 1842), p. 69.Google Scholar
18 Arrazola, Lorenzo, et al., Enciclopedia española de derecho y administración, ó Nuevo Teatro Universal de la legislación de España e Indias (13 vols.; Madrid, 1848–72), 5: 348–55.Google Scholar
19 Ibid.
20 Diccionario de la lengua Castellana compuesto por la Real Academia española (3rd ed.; Madrid, 1791), p. 124.
21 Maynard Geiger, O.F.M., and Meighan, Clement W., As The Padres Saw Them: California Indian Life and Customs as Reported by the Franciscan Missionaries, 1813–15 (Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library, 1976), p. 114.Google Scholar The documents translated in this book are known as Preguntas y Respuestas and are among the Special Collections of the archive-library. The document quoted here was written by Fray José Señán at Mission San Buenaventura on August 11, 1815. Fray José wrote, “ … y los Padres misioneros atienden a su corrección, y conveniente castigo, como un Padre natural de sus hijos. Los delitos criminales son castigados por la Justicia Real.”
22 Guest, Francis F., O.F.M., “An Inquiry Into the Role of the Discipline in California Mission Life,” Southern California Quarterly, 71 (Spring 1989), 1–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Lothrop, Gloria Ricci, “El Viejo: Serra and His Missions in Context,” The Californians, 7(Nov.-Dec. 1989), 16–27.Google Scholar
23 Guest, Francis F., O.F.M., “Principles for an Interpretation of the History of the California Missions,” Hispània Sacra, Revista de Historia Eclesiástica, 40 (1988), 791–805.Google Scholar
24 Guest, Francis F., O.F.M., Fermín Francisco de Lasuén (1736–1803): A Biography (Washington, D.C.: Academy of American Franciscan History, 1973), pp. 236–7.Google Scholar
25 Guest, “An Inquiry.”
26 The Rule, p. 6.
27 Ibid., p. 4.
28 Haring, CH., The Spanish Empire in America (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1947), p. 114.Google Scholar
29 Browne, J.P., “Smuggling,” NCE, 13: 307–8.Google Scholar
30 Curran, CE., “Civil. Law, Moral Obligation Of,” NCE, 3: 894–97.Google Scholar David Cowan Bayne, S.J., Conscience, Obligation, and the Law: The Moral Binding Power of the Civil Law (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1966), pp. 31–40.Google Scholar Echarri, Francisco, Directorio Moral (2 vols.; Madrid, 1776), 1: 82–5.Google Scholar
31 Fray José Gasol, author of the patente, is identified in the Introduction.
32 The Franciscans of the College of San Fernando belonged to the Friars Minor of the Observance. Lynch, C.J., “The Franciscans,” NCE, 6: 38–46.Google Scholar
33 A lector of sacred theology was someone who had obtained either a licentiate or a doctorate in that subject.
34 The Order of Friars Minor is divided territorially into provinces. At the head of each province is a provincial. The Province of The Holy Gospel was founded in Mexico City in 1535. Mc-Closkey, Michael B., O.F.M., The Formative Years of the Missionary College of Santa Cruz of Querétaro, 1683–1733 (Washington, D.C.: Academy of American Franciscan History, 1955), p. 6.Google Scholar
35 A cloister meant that part of a religious house which was reserved for the exclusive use of the religious who dwelt there. The cloister could include gardens and recreational areas. Excluded from the cloister were the church, sacristy, guest quarters, parlors, and public offices. Ryan, W.B., “Cloister, Canonical Rules For,” NCE, 3: 959–60.Google Scholar
36 Discretorium, a Latin term, meant the friars elected as counsellors of the guardian. There were four of them. In addition to the counsellors, however, the Discretorium included the vicar of the friary, the master of novices, and the procurator of the missions. Consult Geiger, “The Internal Organization and Activities.”
37 Although the phrase “did so much to create” is not a literal translation of tanto procuraron, it conveys the concept which the text is designed to communicate.
38 The parish books included the baptismal, marriage, and burial registers.
39 As note 5 points out, the gente de razón were the people who, whatever their racial complexion may have been, followed a European way of life.
40 The practice of all the faithful receiving blessed ashes on their heads on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, has been universal in the Church since the Synod of Benevento in the year 1091. Johnson, E.G., “Ashes, Liturgical Use Of,” NCE, 1:. 948–9.Google Scholar
41 Candlemas is a festival day celebrated on February 2 with the blessing of candles and a procession to commemorate the presentation of Christ in the temple at Jerusalem and the legal purification of Mary, his mother, forty days after his birth. Smith, C., “Candlemas,” NCE, 3: 23.Google Scholar
42 Palm Sunday, traditionally the Sunday before Easter, was the day on which the entry of Christ into Jerusalem to consummate the work of Redemption was commemorated. A procession was held before Mass began and, during the Mass, the Passion was read. O’Shea, W.J., “Palm Sunday,” NCE, 10: 934–5.Google Scholar
43 Rogation Days were days on which a procession of penance and supplication was held. The processions were conducted on April 25, the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, and on the three days preceding Ascension Thursday. Miller, J.H., “Rogation Days,” NCE, 12: 551.Google Scholar
44 Corpus Christi, which in Latin means the Body of Christ, is a feast held in honor of the Holy Eucharist. It emphasizes adoration of the reserved Sacrament of the Altar. O’Shea, W.J., “Corpus Christi” NCE, 4: 345–7.Google Scholar
45 The Sacred Triduum of Holy Week means the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before Easter.
46 Examples of feasts celebrating the principal mysteries of the faith would be the Sacred Triduum of Holy Week together with Easter Sunday, which celebrate the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ; the feast of Pentecost, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles; Christmas, which honors the birth of Christ; Corpus Christi, which has already been mentioned; the feasts of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her Assumption, and the like.
47 de la Peña Montenegro, Alonso, Itinerario para parochos de indios (9th ed.; Amberes: Hermanos de Tournes, 754), p. 78.Google Scholar
48 The Christian Indians at the missions were called, in Spanish, neofitos, a word which meant persons recently baptized or recently conerted to Christianity. The English translation of neofitos is neophytes.
49 The neophytes customarily recited a brief compendium of Christian doctrine which included, in order, the following: the sign of the cross, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Apostles’ Creed, the prayer in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary entitled Hail, Holy Queen, the ten commandments of God, the five precepts of the Church, the seven sacraments, the fourteen articles of faith, the seven corporal and the seven spiritual works of mercy, the seven capital sins and the virtues opposed thereto, the three enemies of the soul, the three theological virtues, the four cardinal virtues, the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the four last things. Sánchez, Manuel, Regla de N.S.P.S. Francisco, y breve declaración de sus preceptos (México, 1725), pp. 11–16.Google Scholar The Alabado was a hymn sung by the neophytes at the missions.
50 The Way of the Cross, also called Stations of the Cross, is an exercise of piety in honor of the passion and death of Christ. It centers on fourteen chosen representations of Christ on his way to Calvary. The devotion is practised in pious imitation of the pilgrims who, in the Holy Land, visited the places hallowed by Christ’s sufferings. Brown, B., “Way of the Cross,” NCE, 14: 832–35.Google Scholar
51 Pope Paul III (1534–49) limited the number of holy days of obligation for Indians to twelve. In the Third Council of Lima (1582–83) more festival days were added, i.e., the feast days of the twelve apostles, the feasts of All Saints, the Holy Trinity, the Immaculate Conception, Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint Michael the Archangel, and local feasts of titular saints. León, Antonio Ybot, La Iglesia y los eclesiásticos españoles en la empresa de Indias (2 vols.; Barcelona: Salvat Editores, 1954), 1: 739. The number of holy days of obligation for gente de razón was greater than it was for the Indians.Google Scholar
52 The Franciscan crown was a seven-decade rosary honoring the seven joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Laughlin, M.F., “Franciscan Crown,” NCE, 4: 483.Google Scholar
53 Holy Communion meant the reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist under the form of bread. Today the Holy Eucharist is often received under the forms of both bread and wine. Megivern, J.J., “Communion Under Both Species,” NCE, 4: 44–46.Google Scholar
54 Holy Viaticum means the reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist when one is in imminent danger of death.
55 The council referred to here is the Council of Trent, the sessions of which were held from 1545 to 1552 and from 1562 to 1563. Jedin, H., “Trent, Council Of,” NCE, 14: 271–8.Google Scholar
56 See the introduction for the ceremonies of veiling. Miguel Venegas, S.J., Manual de parrocos para administrar los Santos Sacramentos y executar las demas sagradas funciones de su ministerio (México, 1811), p. 420–7.Google Scholar
57 Governor Pablo Vicente de Sola describes the whip used for the punishment of neophytes in the California missions as “un especie de disciplina de dos ramales.” (a type of discipline consisting of two strands of hempen rope). Manifesto of Governor Pablo Vicente de Solà, Monterey, June 2, 1816, SBMA. The manual of pastoral theology used by the Franciscan missionaries of Hispanic California taught that if the corporal punishment inflicted on an Indian for a fault he had committed was excessive and resulted in grave injury to him, then the person who had imposed such a punishment committed a mortal sin. Consult Alonso de la Peña Montenegro, Itinerario, pp. 180–1.
58 The reference is to St. Francis of Assisi, whose title is the Seraphic Saint. A seraph, in Christian art, is represented as a manlike being with six wings. Christian tradition regards the seraphim as the highest and most ardent of the angelic orders. Fallon, T.L., “Seraphim,” NCE, 13: 104–5.Google Scholar Toward the end of his life St. Francis of Assisi, while living in the hermitage on Mount Alverna, had a vision of a man in the likeness of a crucified seraph and, from him, received on his hands, feet, and side wounds like those of Christ. Habìg, Marion (ed.), St. Francis of Assisi: Writings and Early Biographies: English Omnibus of the Sources for the Life of St. Francis (3rd ed.; Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1972), pp. 308–9.Google Scholar
59 The Father Procurator was the priest who purchased supplies both for the college and for the missions.
60 The syndic was a layman who kept accounts and conducted business transactions both for the college and for the missions.
61 The term “manifest necessity” occurs in the third Rule of St. Francis of Assisi, Chapter Three. The Rule, pp. 4–5.
62 The laws that prohibited smuggling were regarded by the friars as purely penal laws. “The distinguishing characteristic of the purely penal law, despite varied explanations and definitions, is the absence of moral obligation except with regard to the penalty imposed.” Curran, CE., “Civil Law, Moral obligation Of,” NCE, 3: 894–7.Google Scholar See p. 896, col. 2.
63 In the Spanish text of the patente the term “ Ynocenianas” refers to the reform laws enacted by Pope Innocent XI (1676–89). Espasa Calpe, , Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada, 28: 1663, col. 1.Google Scholar
64 Fray Francisco Pangua is identified in the Introduction.