Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/206

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
186
APOSTOLIC LABORS.

apostolic zeal was so great that, although approaching the age of seventy, the confined limits of New Spain were evidently too narrow for him, and he made more than one attempt to go to China.[1] As if disheartened by the failure, he retired to a spot near Tlalmanalco to meditate and mortify the flesh. So severe was the self-imposed penance that he fell sick, and on being removed for nursing to Mexico, he died on the way, and was buried at Tlalmanalco.[2]

His dress and other belongings were preserved as relics, and his grave was for years a point of attraction to worshippers.[3] No less revered figures are to be found

  1. The plan was conceived in common with bishop Zumárraga and the Dominican Betanzos. The first attempt was frustrated by the rotten condition of the vessel for which he had been waiting some seven months at Tehuantepec. Id., 394-8, 584-8.
  2. He died at Ayotzinco, the 21st of March, 1534, and was taken back to Tlalmanalco convent. The journey to Tehuantepec in 1533, barefooted, had broken his health. Motolinia, Hist. Ind., 158-9; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 595-6, 601-2; Vetancurt makes the date Aug. 31st. Menolog., 95.
  3. The corpse was several times disinterred. In 1567 it suddenly disappeared, by a miracle, it was said, as a chastisement for curiosity and lack of reverence. Up to that time it had shown no putrefaction. Mendieta writes that only one of his several letters had been preserved, but in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. x. 224, and in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 155, are others, speaking well for his zeal. Authorities, in addition to those elsewhere cited, that treat wholly or in part of church history: Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iv. 456, 568-9; v. 449-50; viii. 19; xii. 281-3, 485; xi. 50-1; Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. pp. xlv. cxix. 487-8; Puga, Cedulario, 21, 40; Grijalva, Crón. S. Aug., 1, 2; Oviedo, iii. 469-71; Cartas de Indias, 54-6, 712, 780-857; Libro de Cabildo, MS., 63-6; Ixtlilzochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., ix. 429-47; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 9, 10, 41; TernauxCompans, Voy., série i. tom. x. 199-200; Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 2-3, 19, 20, 527-35; Col. Doc. Inéd., lvii. 181; Archivo Mex., Doc., i. 49-50, 92, 150-62; ii. 178-83; Recop. de Indias, i. 29 etc.; Ramirez, Proceso, 246-8, 299-302; Cortés, Hist. N. Esp., 208, 389-95; Peter Martyr, de Insvlis, 145-6; Prov. Sto Evangelio, pt. i. Mi. v.-vii. xvii.; Monumentos Domin. Esp., MS., 63, 255-79, 322, 360; Mex. Extr. de Cédulas, MS., 1; Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 45-65; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., 66-74; Rivero, Mex. in 1842, 225-7; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 20, 25, 74-5; Frejes, Hist. Conq., 70; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 103, 112-14; Medina, Chrón. San Diego, 9; Mex., Not. Ciudad, 66; Figueroa, Vindicias, MS., 22-4, 98-110; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, i. 180-1; Prescott's Mex., ii. 96-8, ii. 265-8, 380-9; also notes in Mex. eds.; Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 26-7; Cabrera, Escudo Armas, 404-8; Alaman, Disert., i. 198, 209, app. 109-12; ii. 109-91, app. 26-48; Heredia, Serm. y Disert. Guad., pt. i. 139; Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 102-10; Zamacois, Hist. Mex., iv. passim; v. 168-71, 496; Vetancvrt, Trat. Mex., 22; Id., Menologia, 32, 54-105, 149, 297-304; Id., Chrón. Sto Evangelio, 4-10; Id., Teatro Mex., ii. 146; Mex. Hieroglyphical Fist., 1138; Granados, Tardes Am., 270-4, 298, 327-9; U. S. Cath. Mag., 1344, 488-93; Id., 1846, 263-5; Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex., 125-30; Quart. Rev., 1. 214; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, i, 84-5; Marshall's Christian Missions, ii, 224-35;