ure, great strength and endurance, and swarthy complexion, the prelate was indefatigable in his efforts for the advancement of Christianity, particularly among the Indians, who alluded to him affectionately as Tata Vasco. He visited even the remotest parts of his vast diocese, setting his hand personally to rude tasks, erecting churches and schools for children and artisans, and giving to all the example of a humane and moral life.[1]
Monterey's administration was also marked by the extension of Spanish settlements in the north, particularly in the region then called the Nuevo Reino de Leon, whose conquest and settlement proper fall within this period, though earlier attempts more or less successful had been made. The territory was inhabited partially by some of those wild tribes coming under the general name of Chichimecs with whom Viceroy Velasco had concluded a treaty, and by others properly belonging to the adjoining province of Tamaulipas.
We are told that in the year 1580 Franciscan missionaries came from Jalisco to Nuevo Leon in charge of Fray Lorenzo de Gavira; and after preaching for some time in different places, they retired to Saltillo, where in 1582 they founded the convent of San Estévan. Gavira then returned to Jalisco. Two years later we find established in the territory Diego de Montemayor, said to have come to Saltillo in 1575, whence he petitioned Gaspar de Castaño, alcalde
- ↑ He died aged 95, March 14, 1565, at Uruapan, whilst on a pastoral tour, and was buried in his favorite town of Patzcuaro, where he had endowed the college of San Nicolas. At the time the cathedral was removed to Valladolid the chapter attempted to take away the bishop's remains, but the Indians of Patzcuaro prevented it; the bones were preserved in silk bags in the church which had been placed in charge of the Jesuits. Valladolid, now Morelia, possessed the staff wherewith, according to tradition, he struck the rock from which sprang the potable water used in that city; also his hat bearing the marks of perspiration. Several portraits exist in Michoacan, and represent him as of dark complexion and gigantic stature. Villa Señor, Theatro, ii. 7 et seq.; Romero, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, viii. 538-40; Florencia, Hist. Prov. Jesus, 210, 226-7; Alegre, ii.; Hist. Comp. Jesus, 132-3. The fullest account of his life is given in Moreno, Fragmentos de la Vida ... de Quiroga, Mex. 1766, 202, 30, written by a canon of Guadalajara, and containing also interesting matter on the history of the province.
