The life of this prelate had been humble in the extreme, not differing from that of the lowliest missionary. He was held to have denied himself many of the necessaries of life; to have worn none but the coarsest of garments, and voluntarily to have made his long and frequent episcopal visits on foot, attended by but few, lest he should be a burden to any; and though while officiating in his sacred calling he would maintain the dignity and exhibit the splendor of his station, at all other times he was the servant of all. Oblivious of self, he was profuse in providing for the convents of Mexico, and liberal in alms. He loved books, though he hated the Aztec manuscripts; it was in his collection of devotional works, and in the study of them, that he took the greatest delight. He was a man preëminently just, according to the light that had been given him; austere, to the full mortification of the flesh; chaste, not suffering a woman to enter his house on any pretence whatever. Gonzalez Dávila says that he had no occasion to make a will, being destitute of worldly possessions. But this I find was not true. There was a will, and there was property.[1] There were the houses which the bishop possessed in Mexico and Vera Cruz; the encomienda of Ocuituco; numerous personal male and female slaves, held contrary to law; horses and mules; with important money donations and many minor matters, directions for the distribution of which were fully set forth.[2]
- ↑ It was duly executed before a notary and witnesses on June 2, 1548, one day before his death. An attested copy of the whole document may be found in Ramirez, Doc., MS., 77-112.
- ↑ In the will Zumárraga speaks of a house he had leased to his majordomo, Martin de Aranguren, for ten years; of several other houses he owned in Vera Cruz; of female slaves, one of whom he had given to Aranguren personally and now wishes exchanged; of a man slave who is to work six years and then be manumitted; of other slaves whose services had been hired by Father Torres; of his own attendant slaves, and provision is made for their emancipation. The episcopal building is set apart for hospital purposes, to which he gives for the use of the sick three of his chairs, but is careful to mention that 'they are not to be taken from the sick ones.' To Juan Lopez he donates 100 pesos de oro de minas, for having married, at that price, a
made to introduce those unseemly dances in the Corpus Christi procession, he moved the heavens to pour down incessant rain, which made them impossible. Vetancvrt, Menolog., 62.
