old altar on account of repairs, when attention was attracted to its extraordinary weight. Examination revealed the fact that it was attached to the top of Zumárraga's table, on which was an inscription by the bishop, certifying this to be the true and original picture.[1]
Among the most assiduous propagators of the faith was the Franciscan friar, Toribio Motolinia, who kept a record of baptisms from 1524 to 1539. In the city of Mexico and the surrounding villages more than a million children and adults were baptized, an equal number in the district of Tezcuco, and in Michoacan and other provinces over three millions more. In the single year of 1537 above five hundred thousand received the faith. These conversions were the result of the labors of the Franciscans alone, several members of which order, it is claimed, baptized individually numbers varying from one hundred thousand to three hundred thousand. [2] The number of friars employed in this work did not exceed sixty, for though in 1539 the members of the order present amounted to about eighty, not all of them were occupied in baptizing, owing to a want of experience and a knowledge of the language. In spreading the gospel these evangelizers received much aid from native converts,[3] who, as well as the native traders, carried tidings of the
- ↑ The painting had been stretched upon five boards, solidly joined together by treenails, and at the back was the inscription: 'Tabla de la mesa del Illmo. Sr. Zumárraga, y en la que el dichoso néofito puso la tilma en que estaba estampada esta maravillosa imágen.' The carpenter, who accompanied the committee, testified to the antiquity of the boards, while the wooden nails were like those used by the Indian carpenters in the bishop's time. Aparic. Guad., 27-9.
- ↑ Motolinia, Hist. Ind., 108-9; Mendicta, Hist. Ecles., 275. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 25, states that by the Dominican and Franciscan friars 10,500,000 natives were baptized, not including those converted by other orders. According to Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 47, the Franciscans baptized 1,000,000 during the first eight years. Torguemada, ii. 156.
- ↑ In the year 1530 a school for the religious instruction of Indian girls was established with a similar good result, the young women assisting in the work of conversion as soon as sufficiently taught. This seminary was under the management of six pious sisters sent out by the queen of Spain. It existed for about ten years. Id., 48. Also Motolinia, 224-6, and Medieta, 482-3.
