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Show 142 BY PATH AND TRAIL. in the lonely desert. The world, and America in particu lar, will never repay or be able to repay its debt to the sons of St. Francis. Indeed, I doubt if Columbus could have sailed out of the harbor of Palos on his providen tial mission of discovery had he not enlisted the co- oper ation and influence of Francis of Calabria, confessor to Isabella, the queen of Spain, and a member of the Fran ciscan order. It was this Spanish Franciscan who appealed to the queen to outfit the great Genoese for his daring ex periment. Then the first and most influential pro tector in Spain of the great Admiral was that noble and generous Franciscan, Perez de Marchena. Eeturn-ing from his first wondrous voyage of discovery, Colum bus obtained from Pope Alexander VI. the privilege of selecting missionaries to accompany him on his second voyage to America. He chose several Franciscans, in cluding Father Perez, the astronomer, and, arriving at Hispaniola, now the Island of Haiti, laid, in conjunc tion with the Franciscans, the first stone of the city of San Domingo. Here, too, came, in 1505, the Franciscan Father Eemi, the King of Scotland's brother, accompa nied by members of his order, who established for the conversion of the Indians of Hispaniola and those of the Antilles the monastery and headquarters of the Holy Cross. It was a Franciscan priest, Jean Bernard Cas-tori de Todi, the astronomer, who offered up the first mass on the virgin soil of America. It was also a Fran ciscan priest, Jean Berganon, who first addressed the Indians in their own language, and the first missionary to die and be buried in America was a member of the order, Father Allesandro. Diega de Landa, missionary to the Quiches of Ta- |