Dominicans remained,[1] and the Franciscans, after a stay with them of six weeks, due partly to the easter celebration, proceeded to San Juan de Ulua, Valencia being invested with the additional power of inquisitor.[2]
They arrived on May 138th,[3] and although Cortés hastened to send officers and servants with orders to attend to their reception and comfort, the friars modestly declined every indulgence, and marched barefooted toward the capital, attracting no little attention from the natives. "Who are these so humble, yet so revered?" "What coarse and patched robes!" "Poor men!" Among the expressions thus employed was frequent the term motolinia. "What means the word?" asked Friar Benavente. "Poor," replied a soldier; '"'and it is applied, reverend father, to the humbleness of your appearance." "Then shall it be my name," rejoined the friar; and henceforth he called and signed himself Toribio Motolinia, a name spread far and wide during the following years as that of a zealous apostle.[4] At Tlascala they sought, with the aid of an interpreter, to give the wondering natives an idea of their mission, and as they approached Mexico,[5] its impor-
- ↑ To await their prelate, it is said, though their long delay implies that New Spain had not yet been definitely accepted as their destination. They followed the Franciscans only in 1526. The equipment so far had been in common for both orders, with a view to promote a good understanding. The king had given to each garments of frieze and other necessaries, including 900 ducats for church paraphernalia, 800 being payable in the Indies. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 10.
- ↑ His title was comisario of the inquisition for New Spain, conferred by the inquisitor Pedro de Córdoba, vicar-general of the Dominicans, then at Santo Domingo. The slightly restricted authority lasted till the Dominicans arrived in 1526. Id., 41.
- ↑ On Friday before pentecost, says Mendieta. Motolinia writes 12th. The landing may have taken place on the 13th.
- ↑ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 210-11; Molina, Vocabulario. According to Bernal Diaz, the name was applied by Mexican chiefs for the reason that Toribio gave to the natives everything he received. Hist. Verdad., 191. But this version is less credible. Vazquez points out that the friar generally signed 'Motolinia Fr. Toribio,' with true allusion to the meaning. Chron. de Gvat., 527, 534.
- ↑ June 23d, Not. Mex., in Monumentos Dom. Esp., MS., 322, though others intimate a few days earlier.
sertim illi duodecim, qui missi sunt vna mecum.' Peter Martyr, De Insvlis,146. The looseness of utterance in some parts of Motolinia and others has, however, misled most subsequent authorities, and Gomara, Gonzalez Dávila, Fernandez, and Cavo, all pronounce for 13.
