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Before the establishment of commercial banks in Mexico in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the aspiring merchant or impecunious landowner had few sources from which he could borrow capital. Funds were available within the country but the rich preferred speculation in government bonds and securities to investment in agricultural or industrial enterprises. Financial deals in which enormous interest rates were paid by the government to private individuals became almost a matter of public scandal and were widely condemned by politicians of all parties. The only institution to operate an extensive lending policy was the Roman Catholic Church which, through the offices of its Juzgado de Capellanías, continued after independence its practice of lending money to any person able to provide adequate security for a loan. Although the contractual terms demanded were by no means onerous to the borrower, nevertheless there was much criticism of these fiscal activities by the clergy. The liberals in particular attacked the Church’s control of the land which was a direct consequence of its lending operations. The Church’s defense against these attacks was based firstly on its rights under both civil and canon law, and secondly, on the benefits which the nation’s economy received from the widespread clerical investments. Furthermore, the clergy insisted that they were genuinely interested in utilizing their wealth for the advantage of the people and country as a whole. Hence their funds were invested by way of loans in every kind of industrial and agrarian venture.

O-N January 11, 1847, Valentin G6mez, Farias, vice president of Mexico, signed a law which authorized the government to appropriate ecclesiastical property and goods to the maximum value of fifteen million pesos.' One third of this sum was to be taken from the regular and secular clergy within the archbishopric. The purpose of this radical measure was to obtain the funds which General Antonio L6pez de Santa Anna had insisted were necessary if he was to continue to prosecute the war against the invading United States army. In spite of the military danger, both public and clerical reaction to the law was immediately hostile, and within four days rumors of imminent armed rebellion to force repeal of the law were reported in the press.2 Faced with this threat, G6mez Farias moved a regiment and a battalion of the National Guard, suspected of revolutionary intentions, to barracks located at some distance from the National Palace.3 Then on January 16 the clergy, who had been openly condemning this latest assault on the wealth of the Church, were forbidden by the government to make political speeches. Still the bishops and their chapters in every Mexican diocese continued to denounce the law in numerous representations hurriedly dispatched to the central government and to the Congress.4 Furthermore, the proclerical press lost no time in rousing

T HE 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 Juarez administration, when whole sections were confiscated by the civil authorities.' 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 Haceduria 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 Juzgado de Capellanias was the most important fiscal institution within the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. It operated in each diocese as a type of bank, receiving clerical revenues from various sources and investing them by way of loans at interest. The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico was both a cause and a victim of the political and economic chaos of this period. The liberals alleged that the concentration of much of the country's wealth in the hands of the clerical corporations hindered the political and economic progress of the nation. The clergy argued that they utilized much of their property and capital to the direct benefit of both society and the economy. Dr Costeloe examines these different views in relation to the Juzgado in Mexico. He discusses its complex internal administration, skilled employees, sources of revenue and the procedure for obtaining loans from it. Since the borrower was obliged to guarantee repayment of his loan by offering a property as security, the Church, through the Juzgado as creditor, gained control of the mortgaged property. Dr Costeloe analyses the effects of this investment and subsequent control of real estate via the clergy. In the final section, the author discusses the relations between the Juzgado and the State.

The activities and business undertaken and conducted by the employees described in the previous chapter involved and were dependent upon the revenue of the Juzgado , which resulted mainly from the three sources mentioned in the title of the institution, namely wills, capellanias , and pious works. To some extent these three sources overlap, for benefices and pious works were usually established by will. Indeed, income from legacies was throughout the colonial period a most important branch of ecclesiastical finance and bequests of enormous amounts were made. It seems probable that almost every person who was financially able to do so did leave some form of legacy to a clerical corporation. The administration of the majority of these donations was entrusted to the Juzgado . The most common form of bequests were the capellania and the pious work. The latter requires little comment. Many people left funds or property, the income from which was to be devoted to a pious work. For example, in the year 1796 Juan Acosta left 200,000 pesos to the Church and this sum was to be invested to yield an annual income of 8,000 pesos. Half of the income was to be devoted each year to the establishment of a capellania , and the other half was to be used for the dowry of a novice wishing to take the final vows. Most of the charitable institutions managed by the clergy were supported by monetary gifts and legacies, and money was often left towards the maintenance of an orphanage or hospital.

The person who established a capellania did so in the hope and expectation that it would endure perpetually, for the purpose of the benefice was that the principal would provide an income to enable a cleric to say a stipulated number of masses each year for the soul of the founder. Although the capellania would die, the monetary fund providing the income would endure, and, therefore, a succession of capellanes would continue in perpetuity to pray for their benefactor. The pious works were likewise intended to provide a continuous source of income with which to carry out the desired charity. As the Church was the only institution which could be considered honest, permanent and perpetual, the trusteeship of these foundations was inevitably given to it, and within the Church the Juzgado was the specific organization charged with the management of the finances involved. Therefore, the nature of the revenue which the Juzgado received caused it to act as a type of investment company or bank. The other ecclesiastical corporations, notably the convents, also received large sums in the form of legacies and other sources of revenue, for example, alms and dowries yielded considerable amounts, particularly in the colonial period. One of the ways chosen by the convents for utilizing their surplus income and for safeguarding their future needs was investment at interest. The method adopted by the Juzgado for safely investing the capital and acquiring the necessary interest on it was to extend loans at interest to any person who could offer sufficient security to guarantee the loan.