lar, who had studied theology and assisted at service.[1] Only two, however, stand forward as teachers and ministers, Olmedo and Diaz, the latter already member of the previous expedition under Grijalva, during whose voyage he performed mass and baptized a native. Even he was forstalled by the priest Alonso Gonzalez, of Córdoba's party, to whom belongs the highly prized honor of performing the first Christian rites in New Spain.[2]
Juan Diaz labored under a disadvantage as a churchman through his pronounced loyalty to Velazquez, which caused him to meddle in plots, and brought upon him the disfavor even of the natives. He became the first parish priest in Mexico, but resigned to follow Alvarado to Guatemala for a short time, after which he returned to Mexico, only to be killed in a tumult at Quecholac a few years later.[3]
- ↑ Cabrera, Escudo de Armas, 215, omits Urrea, and dignifies Aguilar as dean, though his later record is rather of a worldly character. He was made regidor of Segura in 1520, in reward for services as interpreter, and obtained a land grant from the municipality of Mexico on November 28, 1525. Libro de Cabildo, MS. In 1529 he figured as a witness against Cortés, who had failed to meet his expectations of reward. Cortés, Residencia, ii. 178-83. Bernal Diaz, who supposes him dead in 1524, casts a slur on the moral character of this professed anchorite by saying, 'murid tullido de bubas.' Hist. Verdad., 244.
- ↑ See Hist. Mex., i. 6, 9, 25. Great rivalry existed among the different orders, each exaggerating its share in the work of conversion. The Franciscans and Dominicans exhibit actual bostility in their relations, and the former do not hesitate in their writings to claim the primacy as first comers, to which end they either ignore the first laborers in the field, or argue that they came without authority, and must consequently be regarded at most as spiritual guardians of the soldiers alone. This spirit is apparent throughout the volumes of Motolinia, Mendieta, Torquemada, Vetancurt, and Gonzalez Dávila. Even special papers have been written to defend the claim, among which may be mentioned Vendicias de la Verdad. MS., 1773, by Francisco Antonio de la Rosa Figueroa, wherein even the three Flemish friars who arrived in 1523 are ignored in their claim to primacy among Franciscans, on the ground that they were not under the papal bull authorizing the great twelve who came in 1524. The real objection was probably that they were Flemings, not Spaniards. Olmedo, of the order of Mercy, was undoubtedly the first friar, but the organ which proclaimed his fame did not command many hearers. His best champion is the editor of Bernal Diaz' Historia Verdadera, who does not scruple, like his rivals, to invent and interpolate in this history statements wherewith to extend the merits of his order. The learned Sigüenza y Góngora devotes much attention to the subject, particularly in his Anotaciones Criticas, MS., wherein he refutes the claims of the Franciscans, yet fails to exhibit sufficient facts for his argument. Grijalva, Crón., 1, 2.
- ↑ Figueroa, Vindicias, MS., 164-5, following a doubt of Vetancurt, supposes with several others that he left New Spain forever shortly after the fall of Mexico, but on returning from Guatemala he appeared on October 27,
