Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/736

716 of the missions established after 1744 with provisions and tools to prevent the Indians from deserting the settlements. Notwithstanding the great interest displayed in such cases both by private persons and friars, in several instances the padres either abandoned the missions or delivered them to the secular clergy. But the secularization system was also applied, and eighteen establishments of the Tampico jurisdiction, merely because of their advanced condition, were transferred to the ecclesiastics of the church. That such changes were not always advantageous is certain, for in several instances missions were subsequently restored to the orders, and at the close of the century only a portion of those secularized were in charge of the secular clergy, the remainder being intrusted to the friars.

In Yucatan the Franciscans were almost the only order represented, for though the Jesuits attempted to establish colleges in that province, their influence was only temporary and never important. With the field of labor to themselves the Franciscan friars gained almost absolute direction. Their missionary zeal led them on several occasions to undertake the conversion of the wild tribes in the centre of the Peninsula, but their labors were only partially successful, and several of them gained only the crown of martyrdom.

Less prominent than the followers of St Francis of Assisi were the barefooted friars of the same name