Alcanzar justicia. El documento del pleito entablado por el obispo de Cartagena de Indias para recuperar el derecho de patronazgo y administración del hospital San Sebastián

Abstract

During the early colonial period, conflicts between civil and Church authorities over control of colonial institutions were quite frequent throughout Hispanic America. One such case, practically unknown to this day, was the one that faced Dionisio de Sanctis, Bishop of Cartagena de Indias, against members of the city council in 1577, as the prelate believed that the civil authorities had usurped the right to patronage and administer the hospital in San Sebastian from the ecclesiastical authorities. This work presents the transcription of the file of the lawsuit filed by the Bishop of Cartagena, something of great historical relevance because it allows us to know, firstly and from the local perspective, the strategies adopted by the Bishops in the solution of the conflicts that confronted them with the civil power, and secondly, to know the operation of the judicial system during the early colonial period. Likewise, some aspects, until now unexplored, of the history of the San Sebastian hospital and the Episcopal ministry of Dionisio de Sanctis are revealed.

Keywords

• Dionisio de Sanctis
• colonial hospitals
• Cartagena de Indias
• New Kingdom of Granada
• justice administration