Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/422

402 friars in New Spain appointed Father Nicolás de Agreda as provincial vicar pending further action in Spain. At a chapter of the order held in 1540, Father Jorge de Ávila, one of the first seven, was chosen provincial vicar. A season of increased activity followed, as is evidenced by the numerous convents founded at the time. It was not until 1541 that the Augustinians began to build their convent in the city of Mexico. A royal grant had enriched the order with the revenue of an Indian town, and that of Tezcuco had been assigned to them by the viceroy Mendoza. The building was not completed before 1587, and cost one hundred and sixty-two thousand pee the whole of which sum was provided by the king.

The establishment of bishoprics, the organization of provincias of the regular orders, the encouragement held out to them to found convents, and the gradual but continued erection of churches were far more effective in the suppression of idolatry than had been all the labors of itinerant friars, who, howsoever many converts they baptized, left impressions of no very durable character. The encomendero and the exacting tribute-collector followed in the footsteps of the missionaries, which tended to render the teachings of the latter distasteful. Thus it was that during the decade from 15380 to 1540 more lasting conversion was