priest,[1] and to Deacon Minaya, who in the middle of 1529 founded the first convent at Antequera,[2] about the time that Betanzos had undertaken his apostolic tour to Guatemala, there to lay the foundation of Dominican labors.[3]
When Cortés returned from Spain in 1530 he brought twelve friars of the order of mercy, endeared to him by the sage and gentile influence of Father Olmedo. Their leader, Juan de Leguízamo, acted as confessor to his family.[4] Under the special care of the marchioness came besides a number of Concepcion nuns, who founded the first nunnery under the name of Concepcion Purísima. It was endowed by four young ladies who had already sought shelter from the world in the house of Andrés de Tapia, and who now assisted in spreading the order throughout New Spain, and in training its noble maidens.[5]
Cortés had meanwhile embarked with friends, and after touching at the Islands to display his retinue and riches, he entered the famous little seaport of
- ↑ Born at San Juan del Cuerno, Andalusia, of poor parents. He perfected his education after admittance to the order. After 1535 he was removed from Oajaca to Miztecapan, where he died. Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., 1. 8-20.
- ↑ Twelve building sites were granted on July 24, 1529. The establishment became a priory in 1549. Id., Palestra, 1-15; Carriedo, Estudios Hist., 98, 121.
- ↑ As early as 1527, says Remesal, though it must have been a little later. He returned to Mexico in 1531, thence to undertake an important mission to Rome. Hist. Chyapa, 51-8; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., 380-5, 396-7. Betanzos was of a noble family from Leon, educated for the law, but turned pilgrim, and, being disowned by his father, he took the habit in 1514. Although occupying no very prominent office, he ranked high in the order for his austere virtue, his apostolic zeal, and his efforts to promote its interests. Dávila Padilla, Hist, Fvnd. Mex., 5-32; Torquemada, iii. 41-2, 94, 106, 454-5.
- ↑ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 231.
- ↑ By order of July 12, 1530, the audiencia had been enjoined to found an establishment of beatas for teaching Indian maidens. Puga, Cedulario, 42. Vetancurt gives to Friar Antonio de la Cruz the credit of bringing the first three nnns; namely, Paula de Santa Ana, Luisa de San Francisco, and Francisca Evangelista. Trat. Mex., 41. Gonzalez Dávila names Elena de Medrano as leader. Teatro Ecles., i. 7; Medina, Chrón. S. Diego, 237. Beaumont assumes that Augustinian nnns also came with Cortés. Chrón. Mich., ii. 264. Brotherhoods were fostered to encourage a religious feeling, and the Archicofradía de Caballeros de la Santa Vera Cruz is claimed to have been founded as early as 1523, by Cortés, See names and other information in Pap. Var., xlvi., pt. iii. 4.
