Pious Fund of the Californias facts for kids
The Pious Fund of the Californias (Spanish: Fondo Piadoso de las Californias) is a fund, originating in 1697, to sponsor the Roman Catholic Jesuit Spanish missions in Baja California, and Franciscan Spanish missions in Alta California in the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1769 to 1823, and originally administered by the Jesuits. It became the object of litigation between the US and Mexican governments in the 19th century, with the resolution making legal history in The Hague in 1902.
Origin
It originated with voluntary donations made by individuals and religious bodies in Mexico to members of the Society of Jesus, to enable them to propagate the Catholic Faith in the upper Las Californias Province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, present day U.S. state of California. The early contributions to the fund were placed in the hands of the missionaries, the most active of whom were Juan María de Salvatierra (founder of many missions in Baja California) and Eusebio Francisco Kino (founder of many missions in the Sonoran Desert and Baja California). The later and larger donations took the form of agreements by the donors to hold the property donated for the use of the missions, and to devote their income to that purpose. In 1717 the capital sums of practically all the donations were turned over to the Jesuits, and from that year until the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Mexico the Pious Fund was administered by them.
In 1768, with the expulsion of all the members of the Society from Spanish territory by the Pragmatic Sanction of King Charles III of Spain, the crown of Spain assumed the administration of the fund and retained it until Mexican independence was achieved in 1821. During this period (1768–1821) missionary work in California was divided, the territory of Upper California being confided to the Franciscans, and that of lower California to the Dominicans. Prior to the expulsion of the Jesuits, thirteen missions had been founded in Lower California, and by the year 1823 the Franciscans had established twenty-one missions in Upper California. In 1821 the newly established Government of Mexico assumed the administration of the fund and continued to administer it until 1840.
In 1836 Mexico passed an Act authorizing a petition to the Holy See for the creation of a bishopric in Alta California, and declaring that upon its creation, "the property belonging to the Pious Fund of the Californias shall be placed at the disposal of the new bishop and his successors, to be by them managed and employed for its objects, or others similar ones, always respecting the wishes of the founders". In response to this petition, Pope Gregory XVI, in 1840, created the Diocese of the Two Californias and appointed Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno (then president of the missions of the Californias) as the first bishop of the diocese. Shortly after his consecration, Mexico delivered the properties of the Pious Fund to Bishop Diego, and they were held and administered by him until 1842, when General Antonio López de Santa Anna, President of Mexico, promulgated a decree repealing the above-mentioned provision of the Act of 1836, and directing that the Government should again receive charge of the fund.
The properties of the fund were surrendered under compulsion to the Mexican Government in April, 1842, and on 24 October of that year a decree was promulgated by General Santa Anna directing that the properties of the fund be sold, and the proceeds incorporated into the national treasury, and further provided that the sale should be for a sum representing the annual income of the properties capitalized at six per cent per annum. The decree provided that "the public treasuries will acknowledge a debt of six percent per annum on the total proceeds of the sale", and specially pledged the revenue from tobacco for the payment of that amount "to carry on the objects to which said fund is destined".
See also
In Spanish: Fondo Piadoso de las Californias para niños
- Spanish missions in Baja California
- Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert
- Spanish missions in Arizona
- Spanish missions in California
- The Roman Catholic Church and Colonialism
- Spanish colonization of the Americas
