of the missions established after 1744[1] with provisions and tools to prevent the Indians from deserting the settlements. Notwithstanding the great interest displayed in such cases both by private persons and friars,[2] in several instances the padres either abandoned the missions or delivered them to the secular clergy. But the secularization system was also applied, and eighteen establishments of the Tampico jurisdiction, merely because of their advanced condition, were transferred to the ecclesiastics of the church.[3] That such changes were not always advantageous is certain, for in several instances missions were subsequently restored to the orders, and at the close of the century only a portion of those secularized were in charge of the secular clergy, the remainder being intrusted to the friars.
In Yucatan the Franciscans were almost the only order represented, for though the Jesuits attempted to establish colleges in that province, their influence was only temporary and never important. With the field of labor to themselves the Franciscan friars gained almost absolute direction.[4] Their missionary zeal led them on several occasions to undertake the conversion of the wild tribes in the centre of the Peninsula, but their labors were only partially successful, and several of them gained only the crown of martyrdom.
Less prominent than the followers of St Francis of Assisi were the barefooted friars of the same name
- ↑ Friars of the college of San Fernando at Mexico had established the missions of Xalpa, Purísima Concepcion, San Miguel, San Francisco, and Nuestra Señora de la Luz, but they declined owing to the death of several friars and the return of others to the college. In 1750, however, others were sent, among them the famous California missionaries Junipero Serra and Francisco Palou, who resumed the work with good success. Palou, Vida, 24-9, 34-5. See also Arias, in Pinart, Col. Doc. Mex., MS., 329-30.
- ↑ The settlement of Divina Pastora in the jurisdiction of Rio Verde was made at the expense of the count de Santa Maria Guadalupe del Peñasco and maintained by him for about 20 years. Michoacan, Informe, in Id., 136-7; Arias, in Id., 323.
- ↑ See Pinart, Col. Doc. Mex., MS., 457. The total number of missions in Tamaulipas in 1787 was 48, partly belonging to the custodia of Tampico, partly to that of New Mexico. Ylzarbe, in Id., 345-60.
- ↑ In 1687 a mission of 20 friars was sent to Yucatan, and the king granted them the usual alms of oil and wine. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., ii. 58.
