Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/178

158, who had studied theology and assisted at service. Only two, however, stand forward as teachers and ministers, Olmedo and Diaz, the latter already member of the previous expedition under Grijalva, during whose voyage he performed mass and baptized a native. Even he was forstalled by the priest Alonso Gonzalez, of Córdoba's party, to whom belongs the highly prized honor of performing the first Christian rites in New Spain.

Juan Diaz labored under a disadvantage as a churchman through his pronounced loyalty to Velazquez, which caused him to meddle in plots, and brought upon him the disfavor even of the natives. He became the first parish priest in Mexico, but resigned to follow Alvarado to Guatemala for a short time, after which he returned to Mexico, only to be killed in a tumult at Quecholac a few years later.