In January 1573 Antonio Cortés, the cacique of Tlacopan, with three thousand natives built them at his own cost a church one hundred and fifty-seven feet square, with three aisles, and covered with shingles. It was dedicated under the advocacy of Saint Gregory. The Jesuits called it San Gregorio de Jacalteopam.[1]
Inasmuch as the other religious orders had charge of the Indians, and little was done for the education of the Spaniards, the provincial resolved to found colleges in the several cities and chief towns, and by educating the young and preaching against the avarice and other vices of the adult Spaniards, he hoped also to aid indirectly in the spiritual conquest and happiness of the native race. Whether it was accident or design, whether the Jesuits were really superior in their foresight and shrewdness, it was certainly a master-stroke of policy. The natives were fast fading, and the Spaniards increasing and becoming stronger. To have the education of the Spanish children was of far more consequence than to have charge of the Indians. But the king had sent them hither at his own charge specially to convert the natives, and was it right now to neglect them? Thus asked the Jesuits themselves, particularly those who came later. But Father Sanchez did not propose to neglect the natives, for in this very way he could throw the largest number of missionaries into the field in the shortest possible time, that is, by educating Spaniards to be missionaries. A field was already chosen, almost before coming to Mexico; that is, to start from Sinaloa through Sonora and New Mexico, and gradually extend the conversion toward Florida.[2]
In November 1573 the provincial established in the
- ↑ The Dominicans, fearing that the close proximity of the Jesuits would prove injurious to their order, obtained a cédula of May 26, 1573, to compel their removal to another site, on which Father Sanchez afterward founded a college. But the viceroy intervened, and the Dominicans desisted. Ramirez, Not. Mex., in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS., No. 6, 333.
- ↑ In the mean time the fathers learned Indian languages, preached, and taught Christianity to children in Mexico and neighboring towns. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, i. 151-4.
