Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/321

Rh The Franciscans did not long labor alone, for other orders hastened to share in the promising harvest. Early among these were the Dominicans, twelve of whom were sent from Spain, in company with the twelve Franciscans. Their head, Vicar-general Tomás Ortiz, was detained at court for a time, and his associates waited for him at Santo Domingo. He joined them finally with an additional number, and from the whole selected the symbolic twelve with whom he reached Vera Cruz in June 1526, in company with Ponce de Leon.

The malady which brought to his death this prominent personage wrought havoc with the friars, as well as others, and soon their number was reduced to seven. Friar Tomás, who on a former occasion had evinced little regard for the glories of martyrdom, hereupon took alarm and hastened to depart with three of his companions, leaving Padre Betanzos alone with Deacon Lucero and the novice Casas.

Among those who accompanied Ortiz, chiefly on account of ill health, was Vicente de Santa María, a favorite of the Dominican general. Finding himself safe again on his native shore, his missionary zeal blazed up anew, and with assistance from the sovereign he returned to New Spain in 1528, at the head