. . .mission supplies, but few goods for the common settler. By the end of the 18th century, Spanish authorities thought of the northern colonies (provincias internas) primarily as missionary fields and military buffer zones.[11]

Cultural traditions and an insecure environment caused Spanish colonists to turn to religion for comfort. Again, however, a supply problem arose. Individual ranchos were too scattered for clerical visits, and even settlements that were grouped for greater security, poblaciones or plazas, became visitas on little more than an annual basis, sharing two dozen Franciscan clergy with missions assigned to Indian pueblos and Spanish villages. Before 1800, a shortage of friars prompted the Bishop in Durango to send secular clergy into the Franciscan enclave of New Mexico. In 1821 the Mexican Revolution formalized secularization with a new constitution. In brief, the traditional religious patterns of the Hispanos were threatened. They needed reinf. . . Read More