The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an…
sudden that he had not eventime to confess his sins; may God have mercy on his poor soul!
Amen!
While all this was going on in Spain, Cortes was very busily employedin rebuilding the city
of Mexico, and he strove by every possiblemeans to increase its population by holding out
rewards to the inhabitants of the country to settle there. For this purpose he declared the
town free from all tribute, until all the buildings should be completed, the causeways,
aqueducts and bridges repaired, and the churchesand the hospitals were entirely finished
both inside and out. [44] The superintendence of the latter he gave to the excellent father
Olmedo, who had already brought together all the Indians who were suffering from ill
health, and attended to them with the most affectionate care. But about this time there
likewise arrived in Vera Cruz twelveFranciscan monks from Spain, who were accompanied
by the verypious father, Martin de Valencia, whom his holiness had appointedvicar-general
of New Spain. He was a native of the village of Valencia de san Juan, in the district of
Campo, and we shall see in the followingchapter how this reverend father was received in
Mexico.
CHAPTER CLXXI.
How twelve monks of the order of St. Francis, with the vicar-general and
father-superior Martin de Valencia, arrive at Vera Cruz, and how they are
received by Cortes.
The reader will remember my mentioning in a former chapter that we begged of his
imperial majesty to send to New Spain some reallygood and pious monks of the Franciscan
order, that they might assistus to convert the Indians to Christianity, and preach the doctrine
ofour holy faith to them, in which father Olmedo had made so good abeginning. Cortes
and the whole of us Conquistadores had also on thesame occasion written to the general of
the Franciscan order, who was afterwards the cardinal, brother Francisco de los Angeles,
and beggedof him to send us some very pious men of his order, that we might beenabled to
fulfil our promise to the Indians, whom we had so often assured that the emperor would
despatch to them religious men, wholed a much more pious life than we did. This we had
repeatedly told the Indians, and they always inquired of us in return if those men would
possess the same good qualities as father Olmedo. To which weanswered in the affirmative.
[Pg 222]
It was in compliance with this, our request, that the general ofthe Franciscan order sent the
twelve monks, with their superior, whoarrived in Vera Cruz. Among these religious men
was also the fatherToribio Motalma, to whom the caziques and distinguished personagesof
Mexico gave the name of Motolinia, [45] which signifies the poor brother, because he
distributed everything he received among the Indians; so that it often happened he had
nothing left to still hishunger. He was always clad in the meanest garments, went barefoot,
and was continually preaching to the Indians, who became greatlyattached to him, and they
revered him as a holy person.
When Cortes received intelligence of the arrival of these reverendpersonages in Vera Cruz,
he gave orders that they should be receivedwith the profoundest respect in every town they
passed through on their road to Mexico, whether Indian or Spanish. If they halted at a
distance from any habitations, huts were to be constructed for them;in every township they
came to the bells were to be rung, the whole ofthe inhabitants were to go out to meet them
with crosses, wax lights,and flying colours; and in order to give the Indians some notion of
humility and veneration, the Spaniards were particularly instructed to fall down on their
knees before them, and to kiss their hands andtheir cowls.
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