Parish Perquisites and Funerals in Novohispanic Bishoprics. The Parish of Jalostotitlán, 1771-1825

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the provisions and practices associated with funerals in New Spain during the last decades of the colonial era and to compare the parish fees of the archbishopric of Mexico and the bishopric of Guadalajara. Funeral services were of enormous consequence for the people of New Spain, both because of their significance in the community and because of the participation of the parish priest and his ministers. Two sources intersect here, the first being the taxes approved by the Church authorities of Mexico and Guadalajara, which established the amounts the faithful had to pay on the death of their relatives according to their status and the area where the bodies would be laid to rest. The second is the data from the records kept in the burial books of the parish of Jalostotitlán of the bishopric of Guadalajara to highlight the differences between the parochial rights of the two bishoprics, and some of the changes funerals underwent at the end of the viceregal period.