A Harvest of Reluctant Souls: Fray Alonso de Benavides's History of New Mexico, 1630

Letter from Fray Juan de Santander to the King of Spain

• xxiii MY LORD I,FrayJuandeSantander,of theOrderof SaintFrancis,Commissary General of the Indies, do say: That, having in hand the narrative that was given me by Fray Alonso de Benavides, custodian of the conversions of New Mexico, this past year of 1626 on the 20th of June, concerning the great increases that those mission fields were undergoing and the lack of priests to minister to them, I informed Your Majesty of the situation. And with the kind of zeal always exercised by so Catholic a King and Lord, Your Majesty saw fit to issue a Royal Cedula as follows: To the Marques de Cerralvo, my kinsman, my Viceroy and Governor, and Captain General of the Provinces of New Spain, or to the person or persons in whose charge the government may be: Fray Juan de Santander, Commissary General of the Indies, has sent me a narrative describing over thirty years of effort toward the conversion of New Mexico on the part of the priests of his order. They were in New Mexico longer than twelve years without bearing any fruit among those souls. Nevertheless, the Province of the Holy Gospel1 had always been careful to send a commissary and priests to that land. About five years ago, by act of the Provincial Commission, we celebrated in the Province of the Holy Gospel the elevation of New Mexico to a custody, and at the same time the appointment of Fray Alonso de Benavides as its custodian . A cleric who had always served as a good example, living a good life, Letter from Fray Juan de Santander to the King of Spain xxiv • Letter from Fray Juan de Santander to the King of Spain you sent him an order to take twenty-six ministers to the mission fields of New Mexico. This he did. There are at present in those parts only sixteen priests and three lay brothers , the rest having died. They are quite few, and the road through the district in which this custody lies goes on for more than a hundred leagues. It is a harsh place and mountainous, and the Indians living there number thirty-four thousand and three hundred and twenty. The fathers simply cannot minister to all of them. Fray Alonso begged that I might be pleased to order that you and your Audiencia send to that custody up to thirty new ministers and several lay brothers. Should they go beyond these existing mission fields, he asked that you also continue supplying necessities. Having reviewed this matter in my Royal Council of the Indies, I have developed a favorable opinion of it. And so I order that you send to the said custody thirty priests for the aforesaid conversion and religious teaching of the Indians, and from this time forward you are to take great care that they are provided with all necessities, as that is my will. Madrid, fifteenth November, 1627. And in fulfillment of and conformance with this Catholic cedula and order, thirty priests of exemplary background left the Province of the Holy Gospel of Mexico this past year of 1629 for New Mexico. And with the great enthusiasm of those who had preceded them, and the preaching and hard work of these thirty, who again set out as Your Majesty had ordered, Our Lord has worked many marvels and miracles . He has made great discoveries of riches, both secular and spiritual. It seemed to the Viceroy of New Spain and the Commissary General2 of those parts that Fray Alonso de Benavides, the person whose steady hand governed those conversions these past few years, should go in person to show Your Majesty the great fruits of the zeal with which Your Majesty favors and assists the work of conversion. These fruits represent in this life a portion of the infinite reward that Your Majesty waits for and has earned. Well, in addition to the treasure of five hundred thousand souls3 converted to our Holy Catholic Faith and newly subject to Your Majesty, there are now more than eighty-six thousand baptized. And on the temporal side, Our Lord has rewarded Your Majesty with the discovery of rich treasure out of flourishing mines. Letter from Fray Juan de Santander to the King of Spain • xxv The said padre has arrived at this court in this year of 1630 with the intention of relating these wonders after having traveled more than two thousand six...