Thus the efforts of the Spaniards to subjugate the natives of Costa Rica were but partially successful; but meanwhile great progress had been made in the pacification of the province by the efforts of the Franciscan friars. About the year 1555 Fray Pedro Alonso de Betanzos laid there the foundation of the province of San Jorge de Nicaragua.[XXIV‑19] Betanzos came to New Spain in 1542, being one of the two hundred friars who formed the mission of Jacobo de Testera, and was assigned to Guatemala. He had labored there with great zeal and success, translating the catechism into the Indian vernacular, converting many, and inducing others to quit their nomadic life and form regular settlements. Four friars, among whom were Juan Pizarro from Guatemala and Lorenzo de Bienvenida from Guatemala, the latter having previously labored in company with Testera in Yucatan,[XXIV‑20] accompanied Betanzos to Costa Rica.[XXIV‑21] Bienvenida soon afterward departed for Spain, and bringing thence thirty ecclesiastics returned to Costa Rica. The bishop of Nicaragua furnished a like number, and when all were assembled the province was founded in 1575, and four years later its establishment was confirmed by a general chapter of the order held in Paris in 1579, the number of convents assigned being twelve.[XXIV‑22] Betanzos was a man of ability and tireless industry. In a short time he had made himself master of twelve Indian dialects, speaking them as fluently as did the natives themselves.[XXIV‑23] "When first he went to Costa Rica," says Vazquez, "he would not allow soldiers to enter the territory. He travelled barefoot and accompanied only by a little boy. In two or three months he returned with many natives, all baptized and converted, bringing great store of provisions for the Spaniards. This he did many times, until by the word of God alone he pacified great multitudes. During the sixteen years which he thus labored, there remained not a palm of territory in the province which he did not traverse in search of souls." After laboring for thirty years he was attacked by fever and died near the town of Chomez in 1570, his remains being interred in a convent which he himself had founded at Cartago.[XXIV‑24] * * * * * [Sidenote: ANOTHER MARTYR.] The year 1586 was made memorable by the martyrdom of Juan Pizarro, an aged and venerable friar of the Merced order, friend and associate of Betanzos, and one who first established the Mercenarios in Costa Rica. On the day of the immaculate conception he was preaching in one of the Indian towns, when a band of natives rushed upon him, disrobed him, bound him naked to a post, and flogged him unmercifully. Not satisfied with this, they fastened a rope round his neck, beat him senseless, hanged the bruised and bleeding body to a tree, and when life had fled flung the corpse down a neighboring chasm. * * * * *