Juan Ortega y Montañés

Education and ecclesiastical career

Ortega y Montañés was a native of

In February 1696 he was named interim viceroy of New Spain, to succeed Gaspar de la Cerda, 8th Count of Galve.

One of the first challenges of his administration was the suppression of an uprising of university students. On March 27, 1696, they tried to burn the scaffold in the Plaza de Armas, which they saw as "an annoying manifestation of the power of the monarchy." This caused great alarm in Mexico City. The constables broke up the demonstration, arresting a youth named Francisco González de Castro. The students tried to rescue him as he was being escorted to jail, pelting the constables with rocks.

The other important event of this viceroy's first term was the sending of a Jesuit expedition to evangelize and colonize the Californias. This expedition included the famous missionary fathers

A new viceroy,

Second term as viceroy

A ship arrived in Veracruz on March 6, 1701, carrying the news of the death of King Charles II of Spain on November 1 of the previous year. Charles II left no heir. The War of the Spanish Succession, between Spain and France on the one hand and Austria, England and Holland on the other, began to determine his successor. The viceroy at the time, Sarmiento y Valladares, was a supporter of the Habsburg claims to the Spanish throne. (The Bourbons were in control in Spain.) He was removed from office and Ortega was once again named interim viceroy.

Ortega y Montañés's formal consecration as archbishop of Mexico occurred January 6, 1702, while he was again serving as viceroy. The archbishop was distinguished for his devotion to the

He suspended the transportation of prisoners from New Spain to Puerto Rico, which his predecessor Sarmiento y Valladares had begun.

The viceroy received word that the conde de Chateau-Renaud had arrived in

On November 18, 1702, Archbishop Ortega left Mexico City for Otumba to welcome the new viceroy, Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque, and turn over temporal power to him.

Ortega died in 1708, still occupying the see of Mexico. He left behind various writings. These included Informe del Estado de la Nueva España, written for his first successor, José Sarmiento y Valladares. It was a report on the state of the colony at the end of the seventeenth century.

References

• (in Spanish) García Puron, this needs more information, México y sus gobernantes, v. 1. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrua, 1984.
• (in Spanish) Orozco L., Fernando, Fechas Históricas de México. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1988,
  ISBN 968-38-0046-7
  .
• (in Spanish) Orozco Linares, Fernando, Gobernantes de México. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985,
  ISBN 968-38-0260-5
  .

• Cheney, David M. "Archdiocese of Durango".
  ^{[self-published]}
• Chow, Gabriel. "Archdiocese of Durango (Mexico)". GCatholic.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018. (for Chronology of Bishops)
  ^{[self-published]}
• Cheney, David M. "Archdiocese of Guatemala".
  ^{[self-published]}
• Chow, Gabriel. "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala". GCatholic.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018. (for Chronology of Bishops)
  ^{[self-published]}
• Cheney, David M. "Archdiocese of Morelia".
  ^{[self-published]}
• Chow, Gabriel. "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Morelia (Mexico)". GCatholic.org. Retrieved March 25, 2018. (for Chronology of Bishops)
  ^{[self-published]}