Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/738

718 The years between 1623 and 1626 were marked by prosperity and peace both internal and external. This period was accordingly signalized by the appellation of 'el feliz.' The debt with which the provincia had been encumbered was paid off, and money accumulated in the coffers of the convents; twenty-five thousand pesos were expended on a chapel and sacristy for the convent at Valladolid; work on nine different churches was vigorously carried on, and the new priories of Guadiana and Ytuquaro established. About the year 1626 the prosperity of the provincia of San Nicolás appears to have reached its culmination.

In the annals of the provincia of Santísimo Nombre de Jesus the year 1650 is memorable on account of an extraordinary disturbance occasioned by disputes as to the successor of the provincial Fray Diego Pacheco who died during his term of office. On his demise the friars Francisco de Mendoza and Diego de los Rios provincial ad interim, together with the definidores, elected Fray Andres de Oñate of the provincia