Minister Sampson to the Secretary of State.

No. 415.]

Sir: In answer to your instruction of April 5, 1905,a inclosing copy of letter from Rev. John Lee, who wishes to know what progress has been made in favor of religious liberty in Ecuador during the past sixteen months, I inclose a copy of the law passed by the last Congress, to which reference was made in the clipping taken from the Chicago Record-Herald of March 28, 1905. It is clear and explicit, showing the advance made in religious liberty in this country since November, 1903.

I also inclose chapter 3 of the police code relating to the duty of the police with regard to religious services, etc., as published in the year 1904.

I have, etc.,

Archibald J. Sampson.
[Inclosure 1.—Translation.]

law of religions.

Section I.—Concerning religions.

  • Article 1. The state permits the exercise of every religion which is not contrary to its laws nor to morality.
  • Art. 2. An attack on a religion or the persons of its ministers in the exercise of a worship permitted in the Republic shall be punished conformably to the provisions of the police law.
  • Art. 3. The ministers of whatever religion shall be established in the country, in order to enter upon the enjoyment of the guaranties which the constitution and the present law authorize, shall be obliged to bring to the knowledge of the executive the regulations which are observed, or to be observed, in their religious practices.
  • Art. 4. Religious beliefs shall be no obstacle to the exercise of civil and religious duties, but the ministers of a religion or those who partake of an ecclesiastical character, shall not be competent to exercise public charges which proceed directly from popular election.

Section II.—Concerning religious communities.

  • Art. 5. Conformably with the constitution of the Republic, the immigration of religious communities is prohibited.
  • Art. 6. The foundation of new religious orders is also prohibited, as well as a continuous novitiate in a cloister of perpetual closure or of a contemplative life.
  • Art. 7. In no city of the Republic shall there exist more than two monastic institutions of indefinite closure, except in the capital, in which four may subsist.
  • The executive power, in conjunction with the ecclesiastical authority, shall consider the means of reducing the number of the monastic institutions.
  • Art. 8. All of the convents and monasteries shall be subject to the examination and supervision of the boards of health and hygiene and of the police authorities, under the terms of the law on the subject, after the ecclesiastical authority has been previously adviséd.
  • Art. 9. Only native Ecuadorians entitled to the rights of citizenship may exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction or discharge the duties of archbishop, bishop, apostolic administrators and vicars, capitulary vicars, dignitaries, canons and prebends, as well as the provincials, rectors, priors, guardians, and in general superiors of the religious orders or congregations admitted in Ecuador.
  • Art. 10. In the communities in which a novitiate is not prohibited ingress in the character of novices shall only be permitted to persons who have attained their majority of eighteen years.

Section III.—Concerning ecclesiastical property.

  • Art. 11. All the property situated in the territory of the nation shall be subject to the contributions and burdens imposed by the laws and shall be protected by the latter.
  • Art. 12. Only the Congress shall have power to authorize the sequestration or sale of ecclesiastical property, but if a mortgage or other lien, either with or without a consideration, is to be placed upon it, then the executive authority with the consent of the cabinet shall grant the authority.
  • The Congress, in order to grant such authority, shall require an inventory and appraisal of the thing to be alienated or encumbered, and the sale shall be made by public auction, in conformity with the code of civil procedure.
  • Art. 13. Rural estates now owned by the ecclesiastical orders and communities shall be rented out at public auction and for a period of time not exceeding 8 years.
  • Art. 14. In order to rent out real estate it is necessary to make an inventory and appraisal thereof, and the tenant can not enter into possession unless he gives a mortgage bond which shall insure the fulfillment of the contract.
  • Art. 15. The property mentioned in the preceding article which is not or can not be rented out shall be administered by “procuradores.”
  • These “procuradores” or administrators shall be appointed by the executive on the recommendation of the owner of the property, but if such recommendation is not made, or the person presented is not suitable, the appointment will be made by the executive himself.
  • The administrators or tenants, as the case may be, shall cover directly the estimate approved by the executive and shall deliver the surplus to the collectors appointed by the latter.
  • In order to enter on the administration of the property, the administrators shall give bond according to the financial law, and shall draw up an inventory of the property in accordance with the provisions of the code of civil procedure.
  • Art. 16. When the present law is promulgated, bidders shall be invited for the administration or renting of the ecclesiastical property, through the press, in the province in which the property is situated, and, besides, in the “Official Register.”
  • Art. 17. The inventory and appraisal of the things which are to be administered or rented out shall be presented to the proper treasury board, by the holders of the property, and in default thereof by experts appointed by the treasury board.
  • Art. 18. The decisions of the treasury board concerning appraisals, bids, acceptance of bonds, and other acts relating to the administration of ecclesiastical property, shall be approved by the executive, without which requisite they shall be of no effect.
  • Art. 19. The proceeds of the administration or renting of the ecclesiastical property shall be employed each year, firstly, in covering the estimate of expenditures of the respective order or community owning the property, and, secondly, in the maintenance of the Catholic religions and clergy throughout the Republic.
  • If there should be a deficit in the budget allotted to religion and the clergy, this shall be supplied from fiscal funds and charged to the item of extraordinary expenditures. The surplus in case there is such shall be employed in the work of charity or public works, as designated by the executive in the section of the country where the property is situated.
  • Art. 20. The estimates referred to in the foregoing article shall be prepared by the respective orders, communities, and cathedral chapters, and submitted to the ministry of worship for its approval and order for payment.

Section IV.—General provisions.

  • Art. 21. The right to impose taxes or incumbrances on persons or things belongs solely to Congress or to the authorities designated by the law.
  • Consequently the collection of tithes, first fruits, and mortuary or other similar dues is prohibited.
  • Art. 22. Those who violate the provisions of the foregoing article shall be punished according to the penal and police codes.
  • Art. 23. Foreigners who continue discharging prelacies or the offices of superiors in religious communities or orders, and foreigners who offer resistance to the execution of the present law, shall be punished in accordance with the law on foreigners of August 25, 1892.
  • The executive shall grant a discretionary period to the religious communities and orders within which to comply with the provisions of this article.
  • Art. 24. Alienations of real estate made without the permission of the government, as prescribed in Art. 19 of the concordat, or without the authorization of Congress, according to Art. 16 of the patronato, shall be null and void.
  • Likewise void shall be incumbrances of all kinds placed on ecclesiastical property in violation of the provisions of par. 3 of art. 16 of the patronato law.
  • Art. 25. The executive shall provide for the enforcement of the present law, and through the ministry of worship shall inform the next legislature regarding its observance and effects.
  • Art. 26. The concordat ceases to exist and all laws contrary to the present law are hereby abrogated.

  • Carlos Freile Z.,
    President of the Senate Chamber.
  • Modesto A. Peñaherrera,
    President of the Chamber of Deputies.
  • José Maria Ayora,
    Secretary of the Senate Chamber.
  • Enrique Bustamente L.,
    Secretary of the Chamber of Deputies.

National Palace, Quito, October 13, 1904.

Let it be executed.

  • Leonidas Plaza G.,
  • G. S. Córdova,
    Minister of the Interior, Worship etc.

[Inclosure 2.—Translation.]

Section III (of the Police Code).—Associations.

Article 23.

The police shall be obliged to protect every class of civil and religious associations; but they shall prevent and dissolve those whose object is to disturb the public peace or commit an infraction thereof, or if it is presumed that the individuals who compose them will be armed or will cause a conflict.

Likewise the police shall be obliged to see that the exercise of every form of worship and its ceremonies are respected, in conformity with the constitution of the Republic.

Article 24.

Those who ridicule any religious act or the outward manifestations of any worship shall be punished by a fine of from five to twenty-five sucres.

Article 25.

They shall be punished by a fine of from ten to one hundred sucres and imprisonment for from three to thirty days—

1.
Who in any way assail the ceremonies of a worship which shall not have been prohibited by the regulations of worship.
2.
Who interfere with the work of a minister of religion in the exercise of his worship.
3.
Who by violence, disorder, or scandal impede or disturb the exercise of a form of worship.
4.
The ministers of a worship who, in their temples or religious places, streets, or plazas, shall speak against the constitution or laws of the Republic, or against an established political party, by instigating to rebellion or dissatisfaction with the constituted authorities.

  1. Not printed.