Our father provincial entered upon the exercise of his office with
the same wisdom and prudence as in his first term, attending to
it with all his might. However, his second term was not apparently
so successful as the first--caused perhaps by various casualties,
which have no place here, and do not affect the matter at all. In
short, the affair was running badly and the body of the province was
becoming laden with humors. I well believe that our father knew it all,
and that he could have been less rigid, and that without dividing
the forces that were forming. He thought that they were religious,
and he the superior; and that all dissent, however violent, would be
only murmur--just like certain huge clouds that predict great storms,
but finally and at the end, the entire storm is expended in clouds
of dust, thunders, and lightnings, so that that storm ends with only
noise. But such did not happen here, but the matter went farther; and
the father definitors, within one and one-half years, after meeting,
deposed our father Fray Lorenzo de León. They sent him to España; but
he remained in the province of Méjico, without wishing more than to
serve our Lord, and ended his days there, as one may understand of so
renowned a religious, leaving his cause in the hands of God. I leave
it likewise; for, if we glance at the definitorio which assembled
there, there is no doubt that it was one of the most sober-minded
councils ever assembled in the province. And even were there none
other in it than our father Fray Pedro de Arce, who presided in it,
he was sufficient to ensure that; but it was much more creditable,
for the others were very erudite. Father Fray Juan Bautista de Montoya
was the most notable man in laws and moral causes that has been in the
islands, and was no less a very great theologue. Father Fray Estéban
Carrillo, as we have said already, was a great orator, and the other
fathers were very learned. On the part of our father provincial,
it was known that he was very devout, very punctual in attending