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Show 340 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY THE been converted and 86,000 baptized, where over 100 friars were at work in 150 pueblos, where there were no clergymen and none authorized to administer the right of confirmation. A bishop would save much expense and would be easily suppor ted by the tithes, particularly as rich mines had been found and the population was rapidly increasing. The viceroy was ordered to investigate and report on the desirability of this change; but long delays resulted and nothing was accomplished. The most important authority of the events of this period is Fr Benavides, who made a trip to Spain, and his report to the ‘ite dated Madrid, 1630, while much colore d Sad REPORT OF FR. ALONZO certainly exaggerated in many respec ts DE BENAVIDES must be taken as a fair expression of bn ditions as they then existed in N ew Mexico . He says that there were about fifty friars, serving over sixty thousand natives who had accepted Christianity; that these lived in ninety pueblos, grouped into twenty-five conventos, or missions. and that each pueblo had its own church. This seems ‘ most reinavee ie record for church building in such a country, and with so few Spanlards to supervise the construction of the edifices. It must be re- pidiendole su fabor como todo lo qe hiso con el ag basallos de su m agd y de nuebo dieron la obidiencia encla como tan chritianismo Agee Translated reads: ** The Captain General of the Provinces of New Mexico passed through here on his return eit Ge be yin hin f i year 1629, and put them in peace at their ng ,par icular y gallardo soldado de inac abable y loada memo.’’ Pi “tie aga Zuni ov request, pledged ee & jum tor his favor as vassals of his Majesty, and again they Draden e es 40 Chvaccom eeepetfo med with the seal, gentleness, and particular and gallant soldier of unenda ot in his Cronica, p. 300, states that Niet 0 was governor in 1629. pivbue be all ss ae mentioned in the inscription, was undoubtedly for the In the year following, according to Vetaneurt, Menologio ive a. ve a .S tig:» theiio Zuiis revolte d and killed the missionary. Bandelier ers ae aoe killing of the missionary was in 1630 but does not say Thies is aes with Vetaneurt. The missionary was Fr. Francisco Letrado of governor who Boaea 5 Says was sobre Guscas i i: The above inaerilibe: oon i Ds Segal de Archuleta y and com leted Bancroft does not mention this date 1636. Francisco Martinez Baeza, and cites Autos del Nuevo Mexico, Ms., 1636, as his authority. is: pried visited the Rock the word co i Ma Francisco secretary to Geant Foancie gento mayor was probably por aqui ‘*Pasamos el Aiudante ori ieee leg ‘< Barba’? i i ian me followed the above Says thati Diego ; Martin Barba was naa: ee ee hee Dah aee CONQUEST OF NEW MEXICO 341 membered that, as far as the record shows, no church building had been erected in New Mexico prior to 1598, when Onate built one at San Gabriel, and in less than thirty-five years ninety had been constructed by these friars using the labor of the Indians for the purpose. The accuracy of Fr. Benavides’s statement as to the number of churches and native converts may well be doubted. Benavides refers to the church which had but recently been completed at Santa Fé; gives the number of the garrison at the capital, and refers to the tribute paid by the natives for their support.**° He classifies the wandering tribes as Apaches de Gila, Apaches de Navaj6, and Apaches Vaqueros, and says that these had given the Spaniards no trouble of any consequence. The friar personally visited the Apaches on the Gila,*4° and reports that at the time a missionary was among those Indians working with success. He goes into the details of the conversion of the Jumanos,**! living 112 leagues east of the capital. He has something to say of Quivira and a tribe of Indians who lived east of the Jumanos, called the Aijaos. Bena839 Benavides, Memorial, 1630, p. 26: ‘‘Villa de Santa Fé, cabeca deste Reino, adonde residan los gobernadores, y Espafioles, que seran hasta dozientas y cin cuenta, aunque solos cinquenta se podran armar por falta de armas : & este presidio sustenta V. M. no con pagas de su caxa real, sino haziendo los encomenderos de aquellos pueblos, por mano del governador; el tributo que les dan los Indios, es cada casa una manta, que es una vara de liengo de algodon, y una fanega de maiz cada afio, con que se sustentan los pobres Espafioles; tendran de servuicio setecientas almas de suerte, que entre Espaiioles, mestizos, y Indios acerca mil almas.’’ These Indians, then living at the capital, had their houses in the immediate vicinity of the present chapel of San Miguel. As will be seen, they were not Pueblos, but Indians from New Spain. Some were ‘‘ Mestizos.’’ 340 In the report of the friar the name Gila is first used. He says that the provinee was thirty leagues west from the Rio Grande (Senect). 841 Bancroft, H. H., History of Arizona and New Mexico, p. 163: The author recounts the miraculous conversion of the Jumanos . . . through the supernatural visits of Sister Luisa de la Asencion, an old nun of Carrion, Spain, who had the power of becoming young and beautiful, and of transporting herself in a state of trance to any part of the world where were souls to be saved. In Spain Fr. Benavides found out that he was in error about the woman. He had an interview with Maria de Jesus, abbess of the convent of Agreda, who often since 1620 had been carried by the heavenly hosts to New Mexico to preach the faith. Sometimes she made the trip several times in twenty-four hours. Vetancurt, Cronica, p. 96, also speaks of this remarkable conversion of the Jumanos; he says that P. Juan de Salas and Diego Lopez went from San Antonio de Isleta after the miraculous operations of this lady. Fr. Benavides never returned to New Mexico, but became archbishop of Goa, in Asia. |