Brotherhood in the colonial era

The Confraternities

Under the current canon law during the colonial era, a brotherhood was "a meeting of number of faithful to engage in the common practice of good deeds and charity ... Fraternities can not be established without the proper authorization of the prelates in dioceses in which they are embedded." Decrees of the Council of Trent and the Third Mexican Council ordered the election of officers of the fraternity and the administration of their finances should be monitored by the pastor. "The establishment of the guilds is an act of episcopal jurisdiction, entirely reserved to the bishop, as the caretaker of souls". Therefore, the property of the guilds approved by the bishop stood for the type of church property and as such without the alleged inalienable formalities.

Fraternities should have statutes approved by the bishop in which their pious activities are described and the cash and religious obligations of its members (Called brothers). These congregations used to depend on the monthly contributions from his brothers, and this was called cornadillo alms. Each member received a patent on a form would consist belonging to the brotherhood and contracted obligations and rights: generally free and Mass burial to his death and the granting of indulgences. The brotherhoods devoted to Christ, the Virgin Mary and the souls of the faithful departed (Blessed Souls) were the most common and had the most substantial boards. There were also guilds (less) dedicated to the patron saint of the village and other saints.

In the territories of the Spanish monarchy, due to royal patronage, confraternities, and church organizations had to comply with civil law, since they were subject to the supervision of the Spanish government. These laws took precedence over ecclesiastical legislation. In 1591 and 1618 the king gave the bishops the power to establish guilds for the Indians in 1682 and then extended this power to stop forming partnerships pious Spaniards and castes. However, more importantly, applicable to all fraternities, Spanish or Indian, was the 1600 law mandating that their constitutions enviaren the king to receive the license, without which there could exist. In America the law of 1682 and not 1600, a somewhat contradictory situation that caused no major problem between the church and government authorities were followed.

In 1791 the bishop of Michoacán, Fray Antonio de San Miguel, based on the royal decree of 1682, the king explained the legitimacy of the guilds established by the bishops, because the actual authorization was implied by such foundations.

As for the erection of these guilds, you can almost certainly assume that none of them has been erected with the express permission of his majesty that prevents law of the kingdom ... They are so rare and unique that there brotherhoods throughout the kingdom founded this requirement ... But even if true this defect in the particular erections almost all the fraternities and sororities of the kingdom, though not without the approval of His Majesty ... It follows that even the most are staying grounded unlicensed king , yet have that approval, it is enough that , with Regular [that is, the bishop ] who has appeared in all of them , will be entitled to erect estimate and retained ...

It is therefore of everything related to the fraternities, sororities and congregations of this diocese, and the Americas, have however the general approval of his majesty.

Nowadays in Mexico there are several confraternities. An example is Morismas of Bracho

Christians versus the moors

(Morismas of Bracho)

From data offered by some 500 cases, Moors and Christians' dramas are approached as a morphological and ethno historical research object, as well as a symbolic expression. Their permanent and variable elements are identified. From a compilation of 130 ritual theater plays, their denominations, patron saints, characters and plots are briefly analyzed, in search of their real and literal models. Their historical developments are drawn, connecting them with other conquest rituals and related festivities.

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