De limosna---General Digest, Vol 26, Issue 15

As Tomas mentioned--Often people are very poor and can not offer a
donation. This is when they annotated "de limosna."

The Church does NOT charge for "services" or better said charge for
receiving Sacraments. Since the Catholic Church does not make people
tithe any percentage of their wages, nor request W-2 forms of their
congregation, it ran and does run on donations given by people of
whatever they feel they can afford. These donations were/are mainly
collected (collection basket) during Church services.
When receiving sacraments, you give/gave the priest a donation for the
Church which in my experience has NEVER been solicited in Mexico, nor
here in the U.S.A.

When I was Confirmed in Mexico at the ripe age of 16, I showed up to the
Basilica in San Juan de los Lagos (Jalisco) with my mother and
Godmother. The Bishop made his rounds as we accepted the Sacrament of
Confirmation, and he NEVER asked for any donation, nor did I see money
exchange hands. There is NO way he could have annotated who gave and
who didn't either. Maybe in the old days before Independence, these
sacraments were more individualized.... So donations would have been
more apparent?
I have only seen this--de limosna and race annotated before Mexico's
Independence from Spain, and not after. Of course, I've only researched
Los Altos, so I can't speak for other areas.

"De limosna" meant that the individual(s) were not able to give a
donation pure and simple. I agree that I have run into old records in
my research that "smelled" of racism or disdain, and this saddens me
greatly too. We have to remember that priests are/were human, and that
Mexico is/was a very class conscious society, especially in Los Altos
and especially at this time before the Independence.

Irma
Sacramento, CA.

-----Original Message-----
From: general-bounces@lists.nuestrosranchos.com
[mailto:general-bounces@lists.nuestrosranchos.com] On Behalf Of Erlinda
Castanon-Long
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 10:07 AM
To: general@nuestrosranchos.com
Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] Mas de Villegas

I'm hoping, like Tomas, that someone can translate the phrase "de
Limosna"
for me. My Spanish is poor but I did understand most of what Tomas
shared and I also have ancestors who were listed as Indio/India
laborio/laboria but don't understand the phrase de Limosna.

Someone else in the group once said that if you had money then it
didn't matter what your nationality was. I have a line in Jerez
Zacatecas listed in the earlier records as Indio and Indio laborio but
they married "Espanol"
and within 1 generation they were classified as Espanoles. My Indio
Garcia line married into the Caldera line and an Indian was never seen
again.... I guess the lesson is just like today.. money talks.

Linda in Everett

Tom?s Alejandro Villegas G?mez wrote:
En Espa?ol:
ponian al
final de las actas o fes de bautismo o matrimonio las leyenda "Se
Bautizo de Limosna" ose "Caso de limosna", para dejar eso si, la
evidencia de que estos "indios laborios" eran muy pobres.

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