Ch. 7 The Governor and the Church Among the governor’s many titles was royal vice-patron of the church. It was his obligation as the most important civil official in Florida to attend to the religious welfare of his province—to aid the regular clergy in their missionary activities and to support the secular clergy in the performance of their duties in Saint Augustine, Apalache, and Fort San Marcos. In most areas of the Spanish Empire the vice-patron was a significant figure, for he controlled both clerical appointments and the tithe. In Florida the governor had no such duties. He made no clerical appointments and collected few tithes. Appointive power rested with civil and religious officials outside of Florida, and the Saint Augustine populace was too impoverished to contribute more than a few mites to the church. Like the military, the religious were dependent upon the subsidy and outside contributions for their sustenance. As vice-patron the governor’s chief duties were to administer this aid and to resolve religious controversies. The 18th century was a difficult period in the religious life of the Floridians. After 1670 the Franciscans laboring in the missions along the Georgia coast and in Apalache had to give up their work and retreat to the safety of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception in Saint Augustine. AN398 Raids of English frontiersmen and their Indians made it impossible for the dedicated brown-robed friars to continue their work among the Indians and restricted the Franciscans to the areas under the guns of Fort San Marcos. The shrinking of the missionary frontier had serious repercussions in Florida. It reduced the territory under Spanish control in the Southeast and was at least partially responsible for a general loss of religious fervor in the colony. Organization of the Regular and Secular Clergy The regular clergy in Florida were organized according to the Franciscan pattern and had close ties with the order in Cuba. In the 18th century Florida was a part of the larger Franciscan province of Santa Elena, which included all missions and convents in Florida and those in Cuba at Havana, Santiago, Bayamo, Puerto Principe, Guanabacoa, Sancti Spiritus, and Trinidad. A provincial, elected every three years in chapters (capitulos), directed the activities of the friars in the province. Elected advisers (definadores) and the guardians of the convents counseled and assisted him. A procurador acted as a kind of recruiting and supply officer for the entire province. Over all Franciscan provinces in the Indies sat a commissary general residing in Madrid. He, in turn, was responsible to the minister general of the order in Rome. In Florida Franciscan activity centered at the Convent of the Immaculate Conception. Here lived a comisario provincial, the guardian of the convent, a quartermaster (sindico), an evangelical preacher (predicador), three interpreters (atiquis) of Indian languages, a primary teacher (maestro de gramatica) for the children of Saint Augustine, a lay brother, and a few ailing and elderly friars. In the 17th century many Franciscans worked among the Indians of Apalache, Georgia, and the area around Saint Augustine, but as the English and French extended their influence in the Southeast, the number of friars laboring in native villages diminished sharply, and by 1706 the only Franciscans in the field were those working with tribes located near Saint Augustine. The secular clergy had a small establishment in Florida. As part of the diocese of Cuba, the province fell under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Cuba, who was charged with making periodic visitations to Saint Augustine to make confirmations and to give the Floridians the benefit of his spiritual counsel. As the parochial church of San Francisco in Saint Augustine to curate (cura vicar) administered the sacraments and directed the religious life of the colonists. Assisting him were a sacristan (sacristan major), an organist, and later in the 18th century two altar boys. A chaplain served in the small Saint Mark’s chapel of the Castillo and later at San Marcos de Apalache. [Note 6: In San Marcos de Apalache the Franciscan friar serving among the Indians sometimes doubled as chaplain for the garrison stationed there.] Creation of a Bishopric in Florida It was difficult for both the regular and secular clergy to maintain close ties with their superiors in Cuba. The distance and the dangers of the voyage from Havana to Saint Augustine prevented the two provinces from establishing strong religious bonds. (Tepaske GSF)