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The regular and secular clergy competed for minorities' patronage

Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida #122

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The Governor as Arbiter of Religious Controversies
As royal vice patron of the church, the governor occasionally stepped in to settle clerical disputes in Florida. Generally these quarrels did not erupt into major colonial issues and were crucial only to the officials involved. In the period 1700-1763 two such controversies arose. One involved the right to administer sacraments to Christian Indians, the other the use of two choir boys assigned to the parochial church.

The quarrel over the administration of the sacraments to the Indians broke out in 1701 between the regular and secular clergy. In November the guardian of the Franciscan convent complained to the king that the curate had usurped his right to say Mass, hear confessions, and render other religious services to the Indians, mestizos, and mulattoes residing in Saint Augustine. On the other side the curate objected violently to charge, claiming that he had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all Christians residing in Saint Augustine—Spaniards, Creoles, Indians, mestizos, [Note 77: In Florida an individual of mixed Indian and Spanish blood, usually born of a Spanish father and an Indian mother.] mulattoes, and Negroes. [Note 78: gov to king 11/15/1701] Called in as arbiter, Governor Zuniga refused to take sides and run the risk of incurring hostility of one of the clergymen. Instead of deciding the matter himself, he referred it to the king, who decided in favor of the Franciscans. [Note 79: king to bishop of Cuba 7/21/1702]

(Tepaske GSF)