San Francisco De Quito

Extract

One of the most ancient cities of the New World, a tribal centre from time immemorial, a seat of government long before the coming of the Spaniards, witness its ruins of the buildings of the Incas, San Francisco de Quito, to give it its full title, is one of the highest-placed capitals in the world. It lies at an altitude of over 9,300 feet, at the foot of the volcano of Pichincha and is almost on the equatorial line. The name Quito is said by some to be derived from the term Quitu given to the chief or cacique of the tribe of the Quichua who. inhabited it. Since their evangelization by Spain—it was annexed to the crown of Charles V in 1534 by Sebastian de Benalcazar, a lieutenant of Pizarro, and erected into a bishopric some nine years later—the inhabitants have ever been conspicuous for their loyalty and devotion to Holy Church. Its university rivalled that of Lima; its beautiful churches and monasteries are still remarkable. When that glory of the Western Hemisphere, Saint Rose of Lima, was called to her heavenly home, she would seem to have cast her mantle on the neighbouring capital, for shortly after was born there Blessed Mariana of Jesus, the ‘Lily of Quito,’ who spent her twenty-six years of heroic charity among its favoured people. During the last century it was a veritable beacon of light to the whole of Christendom. In the October number of Blackfriars reference was made to the official protest which, alone among nations, the Government of Quito issued against the unjust usurpation of Rome in 1870.