(Charles IV, King of Spain)

In the new regulations that His Majesty issued on Jan. 1, 1796 for the government of the "Monte Pio Militar" in Spain and the Indies, the articles X, XI, XII, and XIII of chapter 9 order the following:
Article X. That the persons concerned must present for each payment the corresponding certificates of their Pastors stating that they are either widows or unmarried women and that the former take care of their children or "entenados."
Article XI. That if they change their residence or parish, they must take with them an explicit justification and present it immediately to the new Pastor in order that he may certify afterwards the state of the new parishioners.
Article XII. a) That the Pastors or their substitutes must be sure of the truth of their statements when they give certifications of widowhood or celibacy. Accordingly, they must check the secret and public books of matrimonies and registers. b) That they must also get information from creditable persons because the payment of the pensions is destined only to widows and those unmarried women and not to those who being secretly married try to use pious funds.
Article XIII. That the widows, orphans, and mothers who after having got married, continue claiming the pensions, are obliged to give back the sum and will suffer the punishment of losing afterwards any right whatsoever to the benefits of the "Monte." In the case of frauds like this are discovered, the persons implicated will have to indemnify with their own goods the usurped sums of the funds of the "Monte Pio." (There are seventeen printed copies of the above document in the New Orleans papers).

IV-5-f (Printed) D 1p. 8vo. (Spanish)
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