The Prelate's Proposal

THE PRELATE'S PROPOSAL After the bishop had examined the whole dossier and while acknowledging the evidence of the needs expressed by both the members of the Board and the archpriests, since the careful pastoral visit he had made to the whole diocese had made it known to him, and also being aware of the impossibility of carrying out the reform as requested, Rey Redondo, in his desire to be able to harmonize in the best possible way the pretensions, which were clearly just, with the urgency of the situation and the meagre budget available, drew up a proposal, making some modifications in the archpriesthoods because he considered that the civil division, new means of communication, increase of the population and the comfort of the faithful demanded it. On the island of Tenerife, in the archdiocese of La Laguna, he considered it convenient to segregate the parish of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves de Taganana and its boundaries, as well as the payment of Catalans in the hills, which he also separated from the parish of the Tabernacle Cathedral, to unite them to the archdiocese of Santa Cruz, because the municipal jurisdiction of that city extended to the limits of the parish of Taganana and to the payment of Catalans. as well as because they had their communication routes and postal service through Santa Cruz. And since the new parishes of El Rosario and Valle Guerra were created in the archdiocese of La Laguna, no loss was suffered in the number of parishes. From the archdiocese of the town of La Orotava, the parish of San Juan de la Rambla and its boundary were segregated and joined to that of Icod, both because of its proximity to that town and ease of communications, and because without diminishing the parishes of La Orotava, the archpriesthood of Icod, which until then had been quite reduced and which in the opinion of the bishop it was convenient to preserve, was increased. both because of its traditional importance and because of its large population. From the archdiocese of Daute, which from then on would be called Garachico, because Daute was at that time only a payment of the municipality of the former, he segregated the territory of the parish of Santa Úrsula de Adeje to join it to the newly created one, which would be called Granadilla, a reform that he made based on the fact that Adeje was part of the south of the island. so it was not normal that it belonged to Garachico, which was located in the northern part, as well as because the communication and postal service routes were made in the south; and as, on the other hand, the archpriesthood of Garachico gained a parish with the creation of that of San Juan Bautista de Chío, in the opinion of the bishop, no harm was caused to it. The old archdiocese of Güímar, Nicolás Rey Redondo divided it into two, which would be called Güímar and Granadilla, the first corresponding to the parishes of Arafo, Candelaria, Escobonal, Fasnia and Güímar, and to the second those of Adeje, Arico, Arona, Granadilla, Río, San Miguel and Vilaflor, rugged and quite extensive territories, which justified, in the bishop's opinion, the division, which was necessary, moreover, in order that the archpriests might better perform their functions. With regard to the smaller islands, in the case of the only archpriesthood on the island of La Palma, because it is the largest and most mountainous in the diocese of Nivaria, the bishop considered it absolutely necessary to divide it in two. He justified his decision in the following way: It is necessary to go through this island town by town to understand the inconveniences that the faithful have to suffer in the dispatch of their ecclesiastical affairs, there being only one subordinate tribunal established in the city on the island. These reasons and others that cannot go unnoticed, such as the danger of crossing the peaks in winter time and the great distances that the diocesan faithful have to travel, oblige us to divide the present archpriesthood in two... 3 Thus, according to this proposal, the island of La Palma would be divided into two archpriesthoods, one with its headquarters in Santa Cruz de la Palma and whose demarcation would include, in addition to that of the church of El Salvador in the capital of La Palma, the parishes of Barlovento, Breña Alta, Breña Baja, Francés, Mazo, Las Nieves, San Andrés, Los Sauces, Puntallana and Tigalate, and another archdiocese based in the town of Los Llanos, which would encompass the parishes of Garafía, Fuencaliente, Los Llanos, El Paso, Puntagorda, Tazacorte and Tijarafe. In the other smaller islands of the diocese, La Gomera and El Hierro, Bishop Rey Redondo considered that there was no need to introduce any modification with respect to the archpriesthoods, so they would remain as before, with only one. Although aware of the need to create new parishes, as was demanded of him, the bishop justified his position of not being able to carry it out, due to the limitation of the budget that had been assigned to him, being therefore forced to create independent parishes only in those places where the need for the number of neighbors, extreme distance and difficulties of communication imperatively demanded it. leaving in other places, help from parishes or subsidiary parishes, whose priests who attended them he would invest with all the faculties that the law granted him for the spiritual care of the parishioners. In the case of the city of Santa Cruz, many were the requests he had received from numerous people and corporations, and even through the press, for two more parishes to be created in the then capital of the Canary Islands, but although the bishop knew of such a need, especially because of the increase in population he had experienced, The aforementioned limitations of the budget prevented him from doing so: It has been a matter of the periodical press and translated into expositions that we have received from corporations and very respectable people, the creation of a greater number of Parishes in our City of Santa Cruz, capital of the province of the Canary Islands. We shall need no encouragement to endow our City with the two Parishes which have been demanded of us with so much interest and such plausible eagerness, if it were in our power to grant them; for, persuaded of the reason that assists Santa Cruz in view of the number of inhabitants resulting from the last census of population, there is no doubt that the two parishes that are requested correspond to it. But this supposes an increase in personnel and material of six thousand pesetas a little more, a little less, and as we are obliged and constrained to finalize the parish arrangement within the current budget, it is not possible to add that amount to that which said budget indicates to cover the obligations of the personnel and worship of our Diocese. without being rejected by the Government and without exposing ourselves to the fact that the parochial arrangement, so necessary to other towns, would be disapproved after having been made and reformed so many times.4 He also justified his decision in the fact that more urgent creations of parishes than in Santa Cruz, demanded the payments of El Rosario, Valle Guerra, Escobonal, and Chío in Tenerife, Tazacorte, Franceses and Tigalate in La Palma, Valle Gran Rey in La Gomera and El Golfo and Pinar in El Hierro, for while these were separated from their parishes by distances of two to six hours by road in very bad conditions, the most distant part of Santa Cruz, not counting the neighborhoods of San Andrés and Taganana, Each had its own independent parish, and was only 20 to 30 minutes away from the churches of La Concepción and San Francisco, along comfortable streets. The bishop clarified that what Santa Cruz really needed in the first place was, more than the increase of two parishes, ministers and evangelical workers, which the prelates could use to carry out missions in the villages, to assist the parish priests, to assist the sick, and for other works of charity and public utility, as contemplated in article 29 of the concordat of 1851. This was an imperative need which he had faced, establishing in the church of the Pillar of Santa Cruz and in the adjacent building that was being built, the religious congregation of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, "whose excellent fruits in their first foundations already rejoice our spirits and make us hope in God's favor for the greatest spiritual goods, not only for our beloved City of Santa Cruz, but also for the Diocese in general, which until now has lacked that auxiliary element so recommended by both powers to care in faith for souls converted to God and to improve their morals." Regarding the creation of new mother and branch parishes, in the case of the archdiocese of La Laguna, capital of the diocese, he considered the creation of a parish in El Rosario to be urgent, as well as in the payment of Valle Guerra, a need that had been felt even before the division of the bishopric, and taking into account that the former was a town with a municipality and other bodies of such, its category would be from the outset, while that of Valle Guerra would be rural, each with a congregation of 2,800 and 1,000 inhabitants respectively. Regarding the demand to create a parish in Las Mercedes as the most central point for the care of the Mountains, the bishop regretted not being able to carry it out, but the small number of inhabitants that the payment had, which did not reach 500, from which had to be deducted the 72 of Catalanes, which joined the ecclesiastical demarcation of the parish of San Francisco de Santa Cruz, the difficulty of the passage from one hamlet to another, which was almost as much trouble as going directly to one of them from La Laguna, and the proximity of the payment of the Mercedes to the ecclesiastical capital, clearly indicated, in the opinion of the bishop, that although it was still convenient and in accordance with the legislation, Such a parish was not for the time being in urgent need, the only cause which it was proposed to remedy. For the same reason, he only declared the church of San Agustín de Tacoronte to be a branch, which would be served from the headquarters of Santa Catalina, because in addition to these churches being 10 minutes away from each other, he had the jurisdiction of that town, the advantage of being one of the best parishioners to attend in the bishopric. for which reason, and taking into account its large population, which reached almost 4,000 souls, it was more convenient to increase human resources than to create new parishes in San Agustín and in the hermitage of La Caridad, as requested in the 1867 file. Likewise, within the ecclesiastical district of La Laguna, he created as subsidiaries, the churches of Cristo de La Laguna and that of Espíritu Santo or San Agustín, both important, the first because of the deep devotion that the inhabitants of the ecclesiastical capital professed to the Holy Christ and the second because it was the temple with the best architecture in the city. In addition, in both cases, with very little expense, a dwelling could be provided for the coadjutors, priests who would be responsible for the care of these churches and their worship, all under the immediate care of the parish priests, thus doing great good to the faithful, and on the other hand, As the former was not allotted any endowment for worship, since this would be sufficiently covered by the alms of the devotees, and the latter would be given the sum of the small surpluses resulting in the proportional discount, all this resulted in both erections being made without prejudice to anyone. In the archdiocese of La Orotava, the bishop considered that, due to the proximity of its towns and the ease of communication routes, it was the district in which the least modifications should be made, although nevertheless and for the greater comfort of the faithful, he created two subsidiary churches with the residence of a coadjutor, in the payments of the Holy Cross and Icod el Alto. The shortness of the neighborhood of the first payment and the consideration that dismembering the second of its parent of El Realejo Bajo would reduce this important parish to almost nothing, did not allow for any other type of division at that time. To the archdiocese of Icod, he joined the parish of San Juan de la Rambla, but for a better service to the inhabitants of the head of the archpriesthood, Icod, he erected the sanctuary of Nuestra Señora del Amparo as a subsidiary church, considering that from that place it was more convenient for the residents of the Vega estate to meet their spiritual needs. and where a coadjutor would also reside permanently, while that of San Agustín remained as a subsidiary parish, being attended by the parish priest and coadjutor of the mother church of San Marcos. The bishop considered that it was much more useful to create these two subsidiary parishes than that of an independent one in the church of St. Augustine, as requested in the previous arrangements, because the short distance separating that church from that of St. Mark, was not in his opinion a reason for the creation of an independent parish. which, if it could be established, would be more convenient in the sanctuary of Amparo. In the archdiocese of Garachico, the parish with the largest territory was that of Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Guía. In it there was a very important estate, Chío, with 890 inhabitants and a skilled hermitage dedicated to San Juan Bautista. These, together with the 453 that the immediate payments of Chiguergue and Alcalá had, gave a population of 1,343 inhabitants, which is why Bishop Rey Redondo created an independent parish in this hermitage classified as first class rural. However, since the needs of that vast jurisdiction were not covered by this, since the southern part of it, composed of the payments of Tejina, Vera de Erque, Las Fuentes, Acajeja, and others of lesser importance, constituted a population of 729 inhabitants, who were separated from the parish by a distance of about two leagues, and in a terrain frequently cut by deep and dangerous ravines, the bishop considered it absolutely necessary to create in the hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Tejina, a subsidiary church where a coadjutor would reside, being in the care of the parish priest, the center of the town and the payments of Faral, Chirche, Aripe and San Juan, which together formed a population of 2031 inhabitants. In the archdiocese of the island of La Gomera, the most necessary thing was the lack of ecclesiastics, but as such a need could not be remedied, Valle Gran Rey being the only place where the circumstances of the number of inhabitants and the great distance from the parish concurred, the bishop created the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de los Reyes of that area in a subsidiary church. with a coadjutor with a fixed residence. On the other hand, in Hermigua, as the parish was divided into two large hamlets, the Valle de Arriba, where a good temple belonging to the old Dominican convent was located, and the Valle de Abajo in which the parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación was located, due to the frequent and deep enmities between the two neighborhoods, to such an extent that the residents of the Upper Valley refused to fulfill their religious duties in the parish church, to remedy this evil, Bishop Rey Redondo declared the suppressed convent of Santo Domingo a subsidiary church, which would be attended by the parish priest of the Lower Valley in the manner that the bishop disposed. With regard to the rural parishes, in the new archdiocese of Güimar he created a parish classified as such in El Escobonal and in that of Granadilla another in the Pago del Río, basing these erections on the need that had existed for a long time, as well as on the growth of their populations, which at that time numbered, with 1,389 inhabitants in the first and 1,032 in the second. both separated from their respective parishes by long distances and hard roads. He made the same reform in the archdiocese of El Hierro, creating two rural parishes in El Golfo and El Pinar, both with a population of 1,415 and 1,853 inhabitants respectively, being of urgent need, in the bishop's opinion, to establish them, due to the distance and ruggedness of the roads. In the archdiocese of Santa Cruz de La Palma, it was also essential to create a rural parish in the payment of the French, demarcation of Garafía. It was demanded by the neighborhood and the distance that separated him from the nearest parish, six hours of dangerous paths, and the parish priest had to spend the night whenever he went to administer the sacraments. On the other hand, the village of San Andrés y Sauces was divided into two population groups, separated by a deep ravine and an hour's bridle path. Since ancient times, almost as a result of the conquest, San Andrés, which was located on the seashore, and Los Sauces, which was at the top, had their own independent parish with a special endowment each, although governed by a single priest. The population of both parishes had grown significantly, but much more so that of Los Sauces, it was impossible for a single priest to attend to it, which is why since all the political bodies of the town were established in Los Sauces, the bishop created this population group, an urban parish from the beginning. On the other hand, Tigalate, jurisdiction of the town of Mazo, was assigned a first-class rural parish, because there were almost the same reasons in favor of its establishment as in that of Francés. In the new archdiocese of Los Llanos on the island of La Palma, he created the parish of San Miguel de Tazacorte with the category of first class rural and although the bishop considered that it should be from the outset because it was a census population with 2,000 inhabitants, economic reasons did not allow it. Thus, in his project, Nicolás Rey Redondo created two new entrance parishes for the diocese, Nuestra Señora de El Rosario in the town of his name in Tenerife and Nuestra Señora de Montserrat in the town of San Andrés y Sauces on the island of La Palma. Nine first-class rural areas, namely: Valle de Guerra, Chío, Río and El Escobonal in Tenerife, Tazacorte, Franceses and Tigalate in La Palma, El Golfo and El Pinar in El Hierro. Five branches with a coadjutor's fixed residence, in Cruz Santa, Icod el Alto, Nuestra Señora del Amparo (Icod), Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Tejina (Guía), all of them on the island of Tenerife, and Valle Gran Rey in La Gomera. Four branch churches served from the head office; the Holy Christ and the Holy Spirit in La Laguna, the Christ of Sorrows in Tacoronte and San Agustín in Icod, all four in Tenerife, and on the island of La Gomera, that of Santo Domingo in Hermigua. The proposal, as contemplated, was made known to the chapter and the ecclesiastical attorney general, the former adhering to it in everything, except for a small exception with regard to the new archdiocese of Granadilla that was created, consisting of the fact that the cabildo through its doctoral expressed the convenience that the rural parish that was created in the payment of the river should be made in that of Arico el Nuevo. based on the fact that the jurisdiction of Arico was the largest in territorial extension of the island of Tenerife and had only one parish, that of San Juan Bautista, located in El Lomo, in the southern part of the municipality. Its population, which was relatively small, was scattered in various places, villages and hamlets very distant from each other, many of them separated from the parish by leagues of very bad roads, circumstances that they considered more than sufficient to create another parish in that jurisdiction. On the other hand, the opinion of the doctor was not shared by the ecclesiastical attorney general, who considered that the proposal of the former should be rejected and the creation of the parish object of the question, in El Río, a place where since 1867 Bishop Lluch y Garriga had also located it, considering that its location was more useful and advantageous since in this way the spiritual needs of the bishop could be remedied. the extreme places of the two parishes of Arico and Granadilla, since the distance from the river to the parish of Arico was more than five kilometers of very bad road and that from Arico to Arico el Nuevo was on the other hand only three and of good road. Finally, the bishop accepted the initial proposal for the creation of the parish in the payment of the River, and it was sent to the ministry. With regard to the endowments, the bishop indicated the following amounts: For the parish priests of La Laguna and Santa Cruz, the ecclesiastical capital and of the province respectively, 1,750 pesetas as endowments and 1,500 for the rest of the same category of the diocese. To those for promotion, 1,375, 1,250 and 1,125 pesetas. At the entrance fee, 1,000 and 825 pesetas. Rural women: 750 pesetas. Depending on the towns in which they worked, the coadjutors were endowed with 750 and 550 pesetas. Depending on the importance of the church and the needs of worship, the parish factories would also be endowed with different quantities. The dossier was finalized and decided by Nicolás Rey Redondo, on January 20, 1897, but many more years would have to pass, until 1924 and 1929, when another bishop, Fray Albino González Menéndez Reigada, was at the head of the diocese for several of the proposed creations to become a reality.