friars in New Spain appointed Father Nicolás de Agreda as provincial vicar pending further action in Spain. [1] At a chapter of the order held in 1540, Father Jorge de Ávila, one of the first seven, was chosen provincial vicar. A season of increased activity followed, as is evidenced by the numerous convents founded at the time. It was not until 1541 that the Augustinians began to build their convent in the city of Mexico. A royal grant had enriched the order with the revenue of an Indian town, and that of Tezcuco had been assigned to them by the viceroy Mendoza. The building was not completed before 1587, and cost one hundred and sixty-two thousand pee the whole of which sum was provided by the king.[2]
The establishment of bishoprics, the organization of provincias of the regular orders, the encouragement held out to them to found convents, and the gradual but continued erection of churches[3] were far more effective in the suppression of idolatry than had been all the labors of itinerant friars, who, howsoever many converts they baptized, left impressions of no very durable character. The encomendero and the exacting tribute-collector followed in the footsteps of the missionaries, which tended to render the teachings of the latter distasteful. Thus it was that during the decade from 15380 to 1540 more lasting conversion was
- ↑ This friar afterward returned to Spain, attended the chapter held at Dueñas in 1543, and was elected prior of Pamplona, where he died. Grijalua, Cron. S. August., 36.
- ↑ There being already two convents in the see it was at first considered by the king inexpedient to found a third, which was the cause of the delay. The first stone was laid by the viceroy, the second by Bishop Zumárraga, the third by the prior of Santo Domingo, the fourth by the guardian of San Francisco, and the fifth by the vicar of San Agustin. Id., 11, 50. Consult also Salazar, Mex. en 1554, 248-9; Medina, Chron. San Diego de Mex., 10; Monumentos Domin. Esp., MS., No. vi. 328.
- ↑ A royal cédula, dated August 2, 1533, ordered that places of worship, where Indians might be instructed, were to be erected in all principal towns, whether pertaining to the crown, the marqués del Valle, or encomenderos, the expense of construction to be defrayed by the tributes paid by the natives. Mex., Col. Leyes, i. xlv. — vi.
