themselves in Chilapan, Father Borja[1] had been sent to Santa Fé, a town founded by Quiroga, two leagues from the city of Mexico.[2] Thus five of the seven Augustinians were placed in different parts of the country, while in Mexico the prior and Padre Oseguera labored to support their brethren by the collection of alms,[3] and by forming a system of government for their prospective province.
In June 1534 La Cruz convoked a meeting of his brethren at the central convent of Ocuituco, to consider the prospects of the order and consult upon future measures.[4] Some months later La Cruz returned to Spain and obtained further assistance from his order, which had previous to his arrival appointed him provincial vicar in New Spain. But the prior did not live to fulfil the duties of this higher position. Assiduous labor, rigorous fasts, and exhausting journeys on foot broke his health, and shortly after his return to Mexico he died, on the 12th of July, 1536.[5]
During the absence of La Cruz in Spain, Father Agreda had arrived in Mexico bearing letters addressed
- ↑ Alonso de Borja, born at Aranda, of noble parentage, was uncompromisingly austere in his habits, fasting thrice a week and sleeping on bare boards. Feeling his end approaching, he set out on foot for Mexico city, 19 leagues distant. Having received the last sacraments he died shortly afterward in 1542, and was buried in the convent of his order. Grijalua, Cron. S. August., 62-4.
- ↑ In the district under his charge there were 12,000 families, the members of which observed great regularity in their devotions. At Santa Fé a convent was founded by Father Borja. Id., 15-17.
- ↑ From the Lady Isabel de Montezuma, daughter of the great emperor, and married to Pedro Cano, they obtained great favors; she assumed the entire maintenance of their house, and contributed so lavishly that the priests remonstrated until told to give the surplus to the poor. Id., 17.
- ↑ At this convocation regulations for their future guidance were drawn up; and it was agreed that La Cruz and Oseguera should occupy the convent of Ocuituco, inasmuch as they had not yet been engaged in the work of conversion.
- ↑ Fernandez gives June 11, 1535, as the date of his death. Hist. Ecles., 124-5. Fray Francisco de la Cruz was born in Ciudad Rodrigo, in Estremadura, and took the habit of the order in Salamanca. Though not a learned man he possessed the gift of preaching to an excellent degree. Miracles are attributed to him after death. On one occasion he even rose from his grave in the convent of San Agustin in Mexico to save a novitiate from the clutches of the devil, who had already dragged him through a narrow grating and was carrying him off. Passing by La Cruz's tomb, however, the friar arose, and having put the evil one to flight, took back the novitiate to the convent through the same grating. Id.
