The Cathedral in Mexico City houses two separate archives, one of which contains the records of the cathedral chapter, and the other the papers and correspondence of the archbishops. Neither collection is complete, due to the fact that large numbers of documents have been removed at various times, particularly during the Juárez administration, when whole sections were confiscated by the civil authorities.1 All the archiepiscopal documents were taken away at this period, and it is for this reason that the Cathedral now contains no archiepiscopal papers earlier than 1870.2 Many papers were also removed from the archives of the chapter, but sufficient remain to be of interest to the historian. It is these which form the subject of the present article.
The chapter records are kept in the office known as the Haceduría de Diezmos, which is concerned with the administration of tithes. The records are those of the chapter itself and the several offices formerly involved in the collection of tithes and other related clerical revenue. In addition to these two main sections, there are many other volumes which concern various aspects of secular and religious life during the colonial period. The archives have retained approximately five hundred volumes of documents, most of which are from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, although a few items date from earlier periods. Apart from several layers of dust, all were found to be in a good state of preservation. They are stacked on twenty-one shelves and in several locked cupboards in which certain records considered of particular importance are carefully guarded. Most of the loose documents have been sorted and placed in parchment covers with a general title written in the spine. There are also several works, mostly modern, on theological doctrine, and some recent account books.
The records of the chapter consist of seventy numbered volumes which occupy the upper twelve shelves. Volumes 1-32 could not be reached in the cramped circumstances of the office and therefore only the general titles are noted here. Unfortunately, a major item in the archives, the minutes of the meetings of the chapter, remains under lock and key, and scholars, with rare exceptions, are not permitted to examine them. However, there are several other volumes of documents which deal with the day-to-day activities of the Church. Those covering the immediate post-independence period are of particular interest and value, for the see in effect was vacated in 1822 with the departure to Spain of Archbishop Pedro José de Fonte and governed by the chapter until the appointment of Dr. D. Manuel Posada y Garduño as Vicario Capitular in 1838. Other volumes of miscellaneous papers offer a great deal of information on the almost continuous financial negotiations between Church and State which took place throughout the first half of the nineteenth century
The lower nine shelves contain mainly the records of the financial administration of the Church, in particular those concerning the collection of tithes. These volumes are not in order, and although almost all date from the nineteenth century, the records are far from complete; for example, the general accounts compiled from the annual tithe product are missing as is most of the correspondence between the individual collectors and the central office.3 In spite of these deficiencies, the records of tithe collection probably contain more accurate and detailed information than any other source on the agriculture and rural economy at the close of the colonial period.
In the following list the original divisions in the archive have been followed as far as possible. The first seventy volumes are in the order in which they appear on the shelves. The remainder have been sorted and grouped and do not necessarily appear in the order given here. Explanatory comments on the contents of some of the more important volumes have been added where appropriate.
Vols. 1-32.
Libros de cédulas de citación desde 1576 (vols 1-5) Votos (6); Partituras de los señores ministros, varias cartas. Donativo (7); Cartas del Secretario del Rey; citaciones, certificaciones, cauciones desde 1782 (8); Provisiones y billetes del Superior Gobierno; Colaciones (9); Presentaciones del Rey (10); Colaciones, mesadas, donativos (11); Providencias del Cabildo (12-15); Concordato mexicano (16); Escritos y peticiones de ministros; siglo XVII-1888 (17-24); Cartas, 1568-1634 (25); Cartas y cuentas de la Corte (26); Cartas y varias asuntos (27-28); Gobierno del Sr. Vizarrón; cartas, 1730-1737 (29); Cartas de virreyes, arzobispos, obispos y particulares, 1760-1789 (30); Cartas de los agentes; Miranda y Sáenz; del apoderado del Sr. Duque de Yorch, del Sr. Vives, del Micheo y otros particulares desde el ano de 1782 (31); Agente Molinillo. Diezmos, vacantes menores (32).
The remaining numbered volumes are not directly related to the affairs of the chapter. They are as follows:
Three volumes from the lower shelves would seem to be from the records of the chapter but have not been numbered:
One volume of decrees. 1771.
Chapter: miscellaneous papers. 1843-1857. 1 vol.
Notes on the statutes of the Cathedral chapter. 1919-1939. 1 vol.
The documents on the lower shelves have not been put in order. Most of them are in book form with bindings of hide although there are a few loose ones scattered around the shelves. The largest group of volumes concerns the collection of tithes, and the records that have survived are mainly from the tithe accountant’s office. Annual accounts were remitted by each collector from his respective district but with five exceptions only those of the nineteenth century have survived. Each book lists in great detail the people paying tithe, the yield of every rural property in the district, and the price which the crop or stock realized. There is one account book for each of the following years:
Apan. 1821-1829, 1832, 1834, 1835, 1837-1839, 1841, 1844, 1845.
Chalco. 1846-1852, 1854-1856, 1858.
Coyoacán. 1845, 1852.
Cuatitlán. 1844-1855.
Cuautla. 1845, 1849, 1855-1857, 1863, 1864.
Cuernavaca. 1834-1836, 1848, 1851, 1853-1855, 1868.
Huejutla. 1838-1840.
Huichapan. 1825, 1833-1835, 1840, 1848-1850, 1855, 1856.
Ixmiquilpan. 1843-1845, 1848-1855, 1857, 1859.
Ixtlahuaca. 1794, 1821-1826, 1829-1833, 1835-1843, 1845, 1846.
Lerma. 1843, 1857, 1858.
Ocuituco. 1821, 1822, 1824-1842.
Querétaro. 1851-1854, 1856-1858, 1862-1864.
San Juan del Río. 1832.
Tacuba. 1844.
Tasco. 1847, 1848.
Temascaltepec. 1765, 1772, 1831, 1834, 1835, 1844, 1845, 1847-1853.
Tenancingo. 1767, 1768, 1806, 1821-1834, 1837, 1838, 1840-1844.
Tepeacuilco. 1821-1826, 1828, 1829, 1832, 1834-1841, 1844.
Tianquistengo. 1850-1852, 1864.
Toluca. 1836, 1842, 1847, 1849-1851, 1853, 1855, 1856, 1860, 1862, 1866.
Tula. 1821.
Tulancingo. 1844-1846, 1848-1853, 1855-1857.
Inside most of the above account books, there are letters and statistical tables which contain a wealth of information on the condition of agriculture during the early decades of the independence period. Many of the letters give vivid accounts of the harm done to agriculture by the marauding soldiers of the various revolutionary armies. There are a few other account books as follows:
Account of an unnamed collection district. 1705.
Miscellaneous accounts from several districts. 1747-1748, 1762-1771, 1866-1869, 1872. 4 vols.
Account containing the annual tithe product from each district covering the years 1816-1836. 1 vol.
Book of accounts and correspondence. 1868.
Miscellaneous accounts from several parochial districts. 1910-1925. 1 vol.
The income from tithes was divided into various parts and distributed. There are some accounts of this annual distribution:
One volume of model accounts to be used by the clerical accountants in apportioning the distribution of the tithe product. Undated but written by Ignacio Belaunzarán who was Royal Tithe Accountant from 1790-1809.
General accounts of the distribution of tithes. 1725-1743, 1747-1764, 1765-1784, 1796, 1803-1810. 5 vols.
The salaries paid to individual members and employees of the Cathedral were carefully noted and some volumes of these accounts have survived:
Income of ministers and capellanes. 1780-1793. 4 vols.
Income of members of the chapter. 1790-1804, 1799, 1810-1854. 3 vols.
Income of ministers, employees of the choir, and accountancy officers. 1783-1787. 1 vol.
Income of ministers, musicians and others. 1790-1793, 1797-1799, 1810-1817, 1817-1821. 4 vols.
Income of ministers in the accountant’s office, in the treasury, capellanes and acolytes. 1793-1796, 1799-1803. 2 vols.
Adjustments to amounts paid in years 1807 to 1820. 1 vol.
Adjustments to amounts paid to ministers, employees, and musicians in the Cathedral. 1842-1862. 1 vol.
Adjustments to amounts paid to prebendaries. 1821-1837. 1 vol.
Occasionally a survey was made of the collection districts within the diocese and the ownership, extent, and type of produce of virtually every rural property was noted. A few of such surveys remain:
A list of collection districts. 1868. 1 vol.
Alphabetical list of parishes in the diocese, containing also the collection districts, sub-collections districts and posts in them. 1873. 1 vol.
Book listing the haciendas and ranchos in each district. 1817. 1 vol.
The administration of the tithe collection organization was directed by two members of the Cathedral chapter known as Jueces Hacedores. Four volumes of correspondence between the latter and the collectors are all that remain. The hundreds of volumes that must have been accumulated during the colonial period have disappeared.5
Copies of correspondence and answers between the Jueces Hacedores and the collectors. 1810-1829. 1 vol.
Correspondence from the collectors. 1861, 1867. 2 vols.
Correspondence of the Jueces Hacedores to the collectors. 1863-1867. 1 vol.
The tithe accountant was responsible for checking the accounts remitted by the collectors. Again only nineteenth-century material remains :
Copies of advisory memoranda, reports, liquidation of accounts, etc. 1797-1806, 1840-1844. 2 vols.
Copies of reports made by the accountant on the collectors’ annual accounts. 1839-1840, 1841-1846. 2 vols.
One volume concerning the internal affairs of the accountancy office; employees, salaries, length of service, commissions, etc. 1792-1809.
There are printed copies of two important new regulations issued during the nineteenth century concerning the organization of the collection system:
Regulation for the tithe collection districts in the archbishopric of Mexico. 1831. 6 pp.
Regulation for the collectors of the Metropolitan Church of Mexico. 1846. 5 pp.
Committees were established in the nineteenth century to find ways of halting the decline in ecclesiastical revenue. A few of their records remain:
One volume entitled Juntas de Hacienda, containing minutes of meetings held in 1819 and 1836-1842.
Correspondence of the Committee on tithes and other branches of clerical revenue. 1846. 1 vol.
Volume containing the decisions of the Committee on tithes. 1847. 1 vol.
Several other volumes are related to tithe collection:
Miscellaneous papers on tithes and other matters. 1618-1724. 1 vol.
Legal treatise in defense of the jurisdiction belonging to the Prelate and Chapter of this and other Churches; and by their appointment the Jueces Hacedores, who in accordance with the bulls of erection are appointed and charged with the collection of tithes and other revenue which belongs to the said Churches. 1735. 1 vol.
Memorandum and extract of the decrees issued by the Jueces Hacedores of the Metropolitan Church of Mexico, concerning the collection of tithes which the Society of Jesus must pay and is owing in that archbishopric, from the produce and harvest of the haciendas, ranchos, and mills that the said Society possesses. 1736. 1 vol.
Pastoral letter on tithes of Archbishop Dr. D. Manuel Joseph Rubio y Salinas. 1764. 1 vol.
Copy of the judgment pronounced by the Count of Villanueva on the litigation concerning tithes with the Society of Jesus. 1766. 1 vol.
List of priests to whom letters have been sent urging them to hasten the collection of tithes. 1921. 1 vol.
The building fund of the diocese received a part of the tithe revenue and its administration was directed by the Jueces Hacedores. Hence some of its records have survived along with those of the tithes:
Building fund accounts. 1717, 1748, 1823-1826, 1827-1835, 1837-1839, 1839-1844, 1847 (July-December), 1852. 8 vol.
Accounts of building fund revenue. 1738, 1748, 1765-1768. 3 vols.
Accounts of income and expenditure of the building fund. 1727, 1751. 2 vols.
Accounts of authorized payments from the building fund. 1771-1787, 1789. 2 vols.
General account of the possessions of the building fund. 1739. 1 vol.
Account of revenue from houses belonging to the building fund. 1739. 1 vol.
Papers concerning the building of the Metropolitan Church of Mexico. 1536-1736. 1 vol.
Work carried out on the church. 1804-1806, 1809. 2 vols.
Copies of papers concerning the work done on the façade and towers, and other papers. 1786-1795. 1 vol.
One volume of accounts and another of documents to support the accounts submitted for the work done on the façade and towers. 1786-1795.
Accounts relating to bells and cemetery; paving and action that the Church should take in this matter. 1786-1795. 1 vol.
General account of work and repairs to altars, organs, stonework, ornaments, etc. 1737. 1 vol.
Work done on the library. 1796-1810. 1 vol.
List of individuals who have contributed with maize towards the cost of building the parochial church of San Martín Obispo. 1801. 1 vol.
Account of expenditure on the construction of the cathedral pavement. 1898. 1 vol.
Work carried out on the cathedral. Door of the north façade and adjacent arch. 1904-1905. 1 vol.
One inventory survives indicating the former contents of the archives :
Inventory of the manuscripts in the archives of the Cathedral chapter of Mexico. 1619. 1 vol.
There are two other catalogues :
Inventory of the papers, ordinances, deeds, royal decrees, and other documents in the office of the chapter. 1746. 1 vol.
Catalogue of the library of the Cathedral chapter. 1909. 1 vol.
Inventories of the Cathedral’s contents are as follows:
Inventory of precious stones, ornaments, etc. 1713, 1735, 1819. 3 vols.
Inventory of the Metropolitan Church of Mexico. 1746, 1926. 2 vols.
Inventories of the sacristry. 1864, 1872, 1877. 3 vols.
Inventories of the parish of the Sagrario Metropolitano. 1926, 1927. 2 vols.
Some volumes seem to have found their way into the present collection from the archiepiscopal archive:
Report of Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza to his Majesty. 1647.
Vacant sees. 1572-1747. 1 vol.
One volume concerning the administration of Archbishop Lanciego. 1713-1728.
One volume concerning the administration of Archbishop Vizarrón. 1730-1747.
Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe composed by Archbishop Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana. 1770.
Pastoral letter by Francisco Fabián y Fuero, Archbishop of Valencia. 1773.
One volume of epistles. 1897.
Constitutions of the archbishopric, by Archbishop Alonso de Montúfar. Undated. 1 vol.
Several volumes concern ecclesiastical councils held in Mexico:
Preliminary consultations and resolutions of the Council. 1771. 1 vol.
Acta et Decreta Concilis Provincialis Mexicani Quinti. 1898. 1 vol.
Cita al Concilio. Undated. 1 vol.
Acta Concilia Provinc. Mexicana. Undated. 1 vol.
The remaining volumes in the archives are from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and cover a wide variety of topics. They do not easily fit into sections and are therefore listed below in chronological order. Except where indicated they are all of one volume:
Miscellaneous papers. 1710-1748.
Representation to the king by Miguel Bentura Gallo y Pardinas, Prebendary of the Cathedral. 1725.
Account of the expenditure involved in receiving Archbishop Juan Antonio Bezarrón as far as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 1731.
Decrees issued by the Venerable Dean and Chapter on the foundation of the College of Our Lady of the Ascension and St. Joseph. 1734.
Information given by D. Bustrín Mendieta, inhabitant of this city, to prove himself of pure and noble lineage. 1738.
Miscellaneous documents concerning the cathedral. 1751.
Index of penal cases. 1765-1789.
Accounts of the College of Our Lady of the Ascension. 1774.
Accounts of the Colegio de Infantes. 1782, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1796, 1798-1813. 6 vols.
Catalogue of members of the Colegio de Santa María de Todos Santos . . . with a brief note on the origin and foundation of the college and of the honorary posts which each of its members has held to the present day. 1796.
Copy of the representation which the Bishop of Valladolid, Michoacán, and his chapter, sent to the king in defense of the personal immunity of the American clergy against the attacks of the Real Sala del Crimen de México. 1799.
General account of the houses and censos belonging to the cathedral. 1811-1813.
Declaration of the Holy Apostolic Roman Catholic Faith, with all the articles it contains for the assuming of simple and collative benefices. 1807.
General register of the sick who entered the Hospital Real, with their names, origin and neighborhood, and number of bed occupied on the day of death. 1810.
List of clergy in this archbishopric. 1813.
Authentic collection of bulls, papal briefs and other Roman documents belonging to the Archicofradía del Santísimo Sacramento. 1844.
Regulation for the sounding of bells. 1848.
Register noting the remissions of the Holy Unction. Book 1, 1854-1859, Book 2, 1859-1861.
Personal accounts of Presbyter José Manuel María Huerta, Sacristán Mayor of the Cathedral. 1870-1875.
Sobre vacantes mayores y menores. Undated.
To the king from the Province of the Society of Jesus in New Spain, in reply to a book by the Visitador Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza. Undated.
One volume of miscellaneous papers. Undated.
Various judicial and extrajudicial papers belonging to D. Miguel Bustrín y Plaza. Undated.
The investigator who has the opportunity to consult the manuscripts which have been listed above will find that many of the gaps in the collection can be filled by reference to the section Papeles de Bienes Nacionales in the Archivo General de la Nación. This contains one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six bundles of documents which have been removed from several ecclesiastical archives including that of the chapter. In fact, there are probably more papers in the section from the records of the chapter than there are in the cathedral itself.6
Most of these papers are now to be found in the section entitled Papeles de Bienes Nacionales in the Archivo General de la Nación.
For this information I am indebted to P. José Espinosa Gutiérrez.
Similar correspondence has survived in the bishopric of Oaxaca: cf. W. Borah, ‘The Cathedral Archive of Oaxaca,’ HAHR, XXVIII (1948), 640-645.
Some interesting items in vol. 62 are: Expediente formado sobre la recaudación del Préstamo abierto por la Hacienda Pública el año de 1811. One of several documents in this volume indicating the support given to the civil authorities during the early years of the independence war. In this instance the Cathedral chapter loaned 100,000 pesos: there is also an account dated Oct. 15, 1812 which lists the loans the see had given to the king since 1792; the amount totalled 675,172 pesos.
Some of this correspondence is in the section Bienes Nacionales, Archivo General de la Nación: cf. for example, leg. 1610, exp. 8 and leg. 1738, exp. 1.
My sincere gratitude is due to Mons. Octavio Valdés, Secretary to the Archbishop, for allowing me to use the archives, and also to Professor J. I. Rubio Mañé, Director of the National Archive, for constant assistance during my stay in Mexico.
Author notes
The author is a graduate student in the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
