Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/40

20 were destroyed in different parts, notably at Mexico, involving the loss of several lives.

Although Velasco ruled until the day of his departure, the successor to the viceroyalty was already to be found at Mexico in the person of Archbishop García Guerra, a Dominican, born about 1560 at Fromesta, near Valencia, of a noble house. As prior at Valladolid he managed to gain favor in the eyes of Felipe III., and a first result was his appointment to the vacancy caused by the death in October 1606 of García de Santa María y Mendoza, archbishop of Mexico. This prelate had been prior of the convent at the Escorial, general of the Jeronimite order, and a great favorite of Philip II., who named him one of his executors. The successor to the throne extended this favor by conferring on him the archdiocese in New Spain which he administered in a satisfactory manner, living ever the humble life of a friar, yet staining his memory by the bigoted act of defacing native sculptures. While the destruction was not so serious as that caused by the iconoclast Zamárraga, Santa María deserves even greater condemnation than this earlier bishop, whose vandalism finds excuses to a certain extent in the conversion-zeal of his period, and in its inferior enlightenment.

Guerra made his entrance into Mexico as prelate September 29th, and by his wise rule confirmed the royal choice to such extent that with the promotion of Velasco came his own appointment as twelfth