The prestige of both the Church and the army was at the zenith when Pizarro conquered Peru; and as soon as Spain took formal possession of the country, the Church established its authority throughout the land,—an authority that dominated all the affairs of the colony, secular as well as spiritual. The viceroy was, in reality, head of the government only by right of his office as vice-patron of the Church. The Sovereign of Spain, as patron of the Church,—an honor granted by Pope Julius IV.,—reserved the right to provide all ecclesiastical benefices; the building of churches, monasteries, and other places of worship was prohibited without royal licence; and papal briefs, resolutions of the generals of religious orders, or any other decision issued under ecclesiastical authority required the sanction of the Council of the Indies to give it value. The viceroy Toledo was the first to be appointed vice-patron of the Church, receiving the royal seal in 1574. The bishops of Peru were the chief authorities in their dioceses, the priests had full charge of the schools, and the missionaries represented the government in the _reducciones_. A historian of the viceroyalty estimates that the clergy, friars, and nuns formed more than the seventh part of the entire population of Lima. [Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, LIMA.] When Pizarro founded the capital of Peru, his first act was to fix the site of the metropolitan church, of which he, himself, laid the corner-stone. As materials were scarce at that time and there were few facilities for such a work, the building was very unpretentious, though five years were spent in its construction. The ceremony of dedication was performed in 1540 by Father Valverde, then bishop of Cuzco and all Peru. According to the chronicles of the period, “the Emperor Charles V. humbly besought His Holiness, Pope Paul III., to grant the title of ‘city’ to the town denominated ‘of the Kings,’ which had been erected in the provinces of Peru, and to establish in it a cathedral church.” The pope granted this request and made Lima a metropolitan see, Fray Geronimo Loayza being appointed the first archbishop of the colony. Within a short time it was found necessary to rebuild the Cathedral, and the work was begun under the most favorable auspices; but so many were the interruptions, changes of plans, and other causes of delay that not until 1625 was the edifice completed, the consecration being solemnized by Archbishop Ocampo, with such pomp and grandeur that the ceremony lasted from sunrise to sunset. As soon as the Spanish sovereign was informed of the completion and consecration of the Cathedral, he ordered that the bones of the Conqueror, Francisco Pizarro, should be disinterred and removed to the sacred edifice, where all that is mortal of the great discoverer of Peru is still preserved.