and vice versa.[1] The fathers were successful in making converts among the natives, aided in their efforts by a bull of Pope Paulus IV.; but after a time new idolatrous rites sprang up under the garb of Christianity, and in the Ávalos province among the Teules incendiaries sought in 1558-59 to thwart their work by destroying the church of Chapulac, the hospital at Zapotlan, and the convent at Jala. Supernatural manifestations were not wanting to lend interest to the religious history of this province. Comisario general Ponce reports sorcerers in Zapotlan, and tells of the flames coming up in a hole dug by an Indian; they were extinguished by the alcalde mayor, by pouring in holy water.[2]
The custodia of Zacatecas was created in 1566 with five convents, namely, Nombre de Dios, San Juan Bautista in Durango, San Pedro y San Pablo in Topia, one in the San Bartolomé Valley, and San Buenaventura of Peñol Blanco, later San Juan del Rio. Its first custodio was Father Pedro de Espinareda, famous for his work in Durango and beyond.[3] This district had been controlled by the province of Michoacan, but, Santo Evangelio friars prevailing in number, it was transferred to their province, the convent owned at Zacatecas by the Michoacan friars being exchanged for one at Querétaro.[4] Such was the beginning of the afterward famous province of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas.[5] Zacatecas thus became the head, which till then had been Nombre de Dios. The Franciscan order lost many of its most pious and energetic members during the second half of the century, sacrificed by the savages
- ↑ This custom, however, had been discontinued lately. It was clear that the province should be divided into two, each under its own prelate. Ponce, Rel., in Col. Doc. Inéd., lvii. 517-19.
- ↑ Ponce, Rel., in Col. Doc. Inéd., lviii. 101.
- ↑ About 1596 it had 14 monasteries. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 545.
- ↑ The exchange was not actually completed till 1578. Arlequi, Chrón. Zac.,
- ↑ In 1736 it already had 54 convents. Arlegui, Id., 51-130; Iglesias y Conventos, 312-16; Mex. Rel., in Prov. S. Evang., MS., No. 1, 1; Beaumont, Crón. Mich., v. 567.
