possession on August 16, 1587, and set up a cross in token that the convent should be built there, as it was; and the site has turned out to be very healthful, with very pleasant views. It has been surrounded by very good houses, and has had other advantages. The bishop gave for the building two thousand pesos--a thing apparently impossible, because of his poverty, but worthy of his great soul, and of the great affection which he felt toward the friars. They immediately began to build a house there and a poor little wooden church. They finished soon, and the religious began to occupy it on the first day of the following year, 1588, to the great joy of themselves and of the whole city. The first superior of the convent, with the title of vicar, was father Fray Diego de Soria, a great preacher, and a very devout man, so that he immediately made many persons greatly devoted to him. The new convent began to be very much frequented, and to be so well assisted by alms that for many years there was no occasion to cook food; because every day the amount of cooked food which was provided was too great rather than too small. There were many who came to its assistance with alms, some one day, some another; but Captain Francisco Rodriguez sent every day, so that the religious were as sure of this supply of food as if they cooked it at home. The Lord paid His accounts, as He is accustomed to, promptly. The captain had lived for ten years in marriage without any children, for whom both husband and wife were most desirous, and they had some in payment for these alms; for there is nothing that the Lord denies to those who have mercy on the poor. As the number of the religious increased, it became necessary to do the cooking in the convent; but the devotion of the city and the contribution of alms has always continued and still continues. Thus the convent has been and is maintained solely by them, having been unwilling always to accept an endowment, though many have been offered to it. Thus without endowment or possessions they get what they need, with greater certainty than if they had these. For, however certain such things may be imagined to be, they may fail, as many others have failed; but the word of God, in whom the fathers trust, cannot fail. This has been so clearly observed that when our lord the king commanded that this convent, like the others in the city, should receive as a contribution to its support four hundred pesos a year and four hundred fanegas of rice (which takes the place of wheat in this country), they for a long time declined to collect it, since it seemed to them that it was in the nature of an endowment, as being something sure and certain; yet afterward, when they saw that it was pure charity, and that he who gave it could take it away when he chose, they accepted it--on condition, however, that if the ministers of the king take it from us, even unjustly, we shall not ask for it as a right.