Philip II letter, 1578 Dec. 2.

ALS, written in Madrid, to Pedro Moya de Contreras, Archbishop of Mexico. Philip II complains to the Archbishop of Mexico City about his practice of appointing monolingual priests to Indian benefices. Philip had previously ordered the archbishop not to appoint clergy unskilled in Indian tongues. Despite the king's command, the archbishop had still allowed many monolingual priests to hold Indian benefices. At best, these ill-prepared priests had memorized formulae and phrases from standard works, but they were in no way bilingual. The king orders this and similar practices to halt so that the genuine conversion and the reformation of the Indians can occur. Counter-signed by the King's secretary, Antonio de Eraso.
King of Spain.
In Spanish.
Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
Provenance: Gift of Jay I. Kislak Foundation.
NUCMC/kislak
NUCMC/vm01
Kislak accession no.: 1993.220.00.0001