The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 51, July 1947 - April, 1948 Page: 36
406 p. : ill., ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
officially by the government in Spain. Santa Maria took posses-
sion of his office on April 26, 1810.40
At the same time that Bishop Marin de Porras was appealing
to the viceroy for relief from the military and political despotism
of the officials of the Eastern Interior Provinces, he was having
trouble with their interference in his ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
In writing to the viceroy, he spoke of the "repeated insults,
which I suffer daily from the new governor of Texas, the absolute
despotism with which he disposes at will with my priests, holding
them in shameful oppression, by boasting of and broadcasting
their weaknesses."41 One such instance of interference caused
the bishop to issue a sentence of excommunication against Don
Manuel Salcedo and against all those who had carried out
the governor's order to arrest a priest.
Manuel Salcedo, governor of Texas, had had the subdeacon,
Juan Manuel Zambrano, arrested and imprisoned in San Antonio
de Bexar. Bishop Marin de Porras held that the action of Salcedo
was an infraction of ecclesiastical immunity. In the sentence
of excommunication, he said:
Being aware of the apparent excuses produced in the different
letters and messages (which the said governor has written us and
which are attached to this document) and the multiple contradictions
which they contain with the given purpose of not recognizing our
jurisdiction in the delivery of the accused, by giving illusory and
worthless replies, unworthy of the gravity of the case and of the
respect due by law to our jurisdiction, we should declare and do
declare that he [the governor] has broken openly and with complete
knowledge, the ecclesiastical immunity. ... For which cause and
protesting with the greatest sincerity the due respect to civil admin-
istration and all royal jurisdiction which we appreciate and swear
to be the most zealous defenders, in spite of our pacific character,
we declare said Lt. Col. Don Manuel Salcedo, governor of the prov-
ince of Texas, to be liable to the highest excommunication late
sententie, which we impose with all its spiritual and political effects,
unless within thirty days, he appeals with due submission to ask us
for absolution of the censure with satisfaction to the offended party.42
4rGonztlez, Obras completas, III, 192.
41Primo Obispo del Reyno de Leon, Saltillo, October 23, 18o9, to Exmo. e
Illmo. Sor. Arzobispo de M6xico y virrey de esta Nueva Espafia, in W. B. Stephens
Collection at the University of Texas.
42This sentence signed by Primo Obispo del Nuevo Reyno de Leon, Saltillo,
October 4, 18o9, was attached to the bishop's letter to the viceroy, October 23,
18o09, in W. B. Stephens Collection at the University of Texas.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 51, July 1947 - April, 1948, periodical, 1948; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101119/m1/54/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.