Santiago Manuel de Alday y Aspée (1712, Concepción

Concepción, Chile

Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...

 – 1789, Santiago

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

) was a Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an Roman Catholic priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

. He served as Bishop of Santiago

Archbishop of Santiago (Chile)

The Archbishop of Santiago de Chile is a Roman Catholic title given to the archbishop of the church in the Diocese of Santiago de Chile. From 1561 to 1840 the title was a bishop but since 1840 with Manuel Vicuña Larraín it was elevated to archbishop status....

 from 1755 to 1788. He is considered the most important bishops of Santiago during the eighteenth century.

Moral diatribes

Alday is best remembered for his frequent polemics on moral

Morality

Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...

 issues, and campaigned against particular aspects of women's fashion

Fashion

Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...

 at the time –such as short skirts reaching down to the calf of the leg or very short sleeves. He also opposed the opening of the theater in Santiago; he claimed that attending comedies there was a mortal sin

Mortal sin

Mortal sins are in the theology of some, but not all Christian denominations wrongful acts that condemn a person to Hell after death. These sins are considered "mortal" because they constitute a rupture in a person's link to God's saving grace: the person's soul becomes "dead", not merely weakened...

. He also condemned the game known as palín or chueca, a form of field hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 of Mapuche

Mapuche

The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...

 origin, as well as the thick winter clothes worn by some clerics during cold weather, and the use of the sacramental bread

Sacramental bread

Sacramental bread, sometimes called the lamb, altar bread, host or simply Communion bread, is the bread which is used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist.-Eastern Catholic and Orthodox:...

 by some people as a sealing wax

Sealing wax

Sealing wax is a wax material of a seal which, after melting, quickly hardens forming a bond that is difficult to separate without noticeable tampering. Wax is used to verify something such as a document is unopened, to verify the sender's identity, for example with a signet ring, and as decoration...

 on letters.

Alday, in a famous pastoral letter about women's fashions, ordered in 1782 that "...all women of whatever station or class extend the length of their clothes, employing round petticoats or half circle shaped skirts both inside and outside of their homes in a manner that reaches their ankles… and also, in the same manner, that women cover their arms up to the mid-point between the elbow and the wrist every time they leave the home or when they receive visitors at their home."

Administrative work

In 1780, Alday revitalized the building program associated with the Cathedral of Santiago de Chile, placing the program in the hands of the architect Joaquín Toesca

Joaquín Toesca

Joaquín Toesca y Ricci , born Gioacchino Toesca, was an Italian architect who worked for the king and governors of the Spanish Empire, especially in colonial Chile....

. Alday was also concerned with the building of new churches in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, including the third church built in the Marian sanctuary of Andacollo

Andacollo

Andacollo is a city and commune in the Elqui Province, Coquimbo Region, Chile.-History:Andacollo is a copper and gold mining city located in the mountains of the Small North in Chile. It was founded in 1891....

 as well as the completion and consecration of the principal church in Mendoza, Argentina

Mendoza, Argentina

Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993...

, in 1760.

Alday founded new parrishes as he traveled across his extensive diocese, visiting, for example, Copiapó

Copiapó

Copiapó is a city in northern Chile, located about 40 miles east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region....

 and Cuyo

Cuyo (Argentina)

Cuyo is the name given to the wine-producing, mountainous area of central-west Argentina. Historically it comprised the provinces of San Juan, San Luis and Mendoza. The term New Cuyo is a modern one, which indicates both Cuyo proper and the province of La Rioja...

. He founded San Lázaro (1775) in the suburbs of Santiago, and parishes in more distant areas, such as Paredones

Paredones

Paredones is a Chilean town and commune in Cardenal Caro Province, O'Higgins Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Paredones spans an area of and has 6,695 inhabitants . Of these, 2,195 lived in urban areas and 4,500 in rural areas...

 (1765), Combarbalá

Combarbala

Combarbalá is a Chilean city and commune, located in the Limarí Province, Coquimbo Region. The overall population of the commune is about 14.000 inhabitants, while the population of the city is about 6000 inhabitants...

 (1757), Pelarco

Pelarco

Pelarco is a town and commune in Talca Province, Maule Region of Chile. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:According to data from the 2002 Census of Population and Housing, Pelarco had 7,266 inhabitants; of these, 1,822 lived in urban areas and 5,444 in rural areas. At that time, there...

 (1787) and Renca

Renca

Renca is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It was founded on May 6, 1894.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Renca spans an area of and has 133,518 inhabitants , making the commune an entirely urban area...

 (1764).

He organized a diocesan synod

Synod

A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

 in 1763, hoping to enact clerical reforms and discuss the immoral customs of his flock.

Theological work

He received a good education, receiving a doctorate in Law at the University of San Marcos de Lima

National University of San Marcos

The National University of San Marcos is the most important and respected higher-education institution in Peru. Its main campus, the University City, is located in Lima...

. He possessed one of the largest libraries in Chile during the colonial era of 2,058 volumes, which today is conserved in the Museum of Carmen de Maipú. He wrote various treatises and participated in a discussion on Probabilism

Probabilism

In theology and philosophy, probabilism refers to an ancient Greek doctrine of academic skepticism. It holds that in the absence of certainty, probability is the best criterion...

, in the synod of Lima

Lima

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

 of 1772, in which he opposed this philosophy. He was a major participant in this synod.

Works

• Regla de la gloriosa virgen Santa Clara: según la observan las religiosas, que no son descalzas, aprobados por la santidad de Urbano IV (1773)
• Visitatio ad limina apostolorum Illmi. D. D. Emmanuelis de Alday Episcopi Chilensis, Catholicae Majestatis à Consiliis (1763)
• Synodo discesana (1763)