Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/113

Rh position of Querétaro on the borders of the unconverted Chichimecs attracted at an early date the attention of the regular orders. The first monastic establishment was the Franciscan convent of Santa Cruz, the date of the founding of which is, however, uncertain, although its origin was the humble hermitage which was constructed at the time when the miraculous stone cross was erected on the Sangremal. The first convent and its church were in time replaced

by larger buildings, and in 1666, when the new edifices were completed, the convent was made the casa de recoleccion of the provincia under the name of San Buenaventura. In 1683 it was converted into the apostolic college of propaganda fide, founded by Fray Antonio Linaz de Jesus María—the first establishment of the kind in the Indies.