According to this document it is manifest that Zumárraga was a prosperous citizen as well as an honored prelate; that he conducted a regular trade with the Indians through his majordomo, Martin de Aranguren, advancing money on future crops at good interest, and that these transactions and others of a similar kind had been systematically carried on for a number of years. The old man finds himself cumbered with many things when he comes to die, and yet, on the day of this last distribution of his estate, he indites a farewell letter to his king, in which he reiterates the oft-made statement of his poverty,[1] as though to the last he would preserve this painful contrast between the outward life of the prelate and the inward and real life of the man.
But all else we could readily forgive the bishop, even the occasional burning of a few old witches, but the destruction of the Aztec libraries, the mountains of native historical documents and monumental works at Tlatelulco, must ever be regarded as an unpardonable offence. We cannot deplore deeply enough this irreparable loss, the hieroglyphic history of nations unknown, reaching back a thousand years or more. In conclusion we may say that the business ability of the bishop assisted somewhat to temper his zeal in certain directions, and to guide his labors as administrator and head of the church, whose interest he ably promoted.[2]
- ↑ He also begged the king to pay any debts he might leave, and Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 28, says an order to that effect was subsequently issued.
- ↑ In connection with Zumárraga may be mentioned Andrés de Olmos, a Franciscan, who was selected by him as a fellow-laborer when appointed
daughter of 'Fray Gutierrez,' undoubtedly a conqueror who had taken the habit; this gift was made with reluctance, but the bishop had promised it. To others he gives his horses and mules with appurtenances, and to some, for services rendered, various sums of money; to the nuns he gives fifty fanegas of wheat. To the majordomo he leaves all the tithes of the prebend, and directs him to pay therewith the debts he may deem proper, and no others, and no accounting shall be required of him; there are many minor provisions and bequests which the viceroy is asked to execute. There is no doubt that Zumárraga had given a building for hospital purposes, besides the episcopal dwelling, but it is also shown that he had received it from a deceased Spaniard for that very purpose. Ramirez, Doc., MS., 77-112, 134-200.
