T/ee Field and Its Workers
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memorial and other documents to the Council of the Indies and found so hearty a welcome, that in a few days Philip V issued a decree authorizing the new college. "Having been informed," declared the monarch, "by Fray Pedro de la Concepcion y Urtiaga, apostolic preacher of the Order of Saint Francis, and legal representative of the missionary colleges of La Santa Cruz de Queretaro and of Guatemala, that the missionaries of these two colleges have under their care the missions recently founded in the Province of Coahuila; that through their preaching and instruction they ha\"e baptized numerous Indians; that they expect to attain the same end among other different nations that are found in that vicinity; that they expect to settle the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers to do likewise in the Province of Texas and many others adjoining; and that having preached a mission in the city of Zacatecas, the citizens urged them to found a college in a hermitage of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, located about a league from the said city of Zacatecas, which has been placed temporarily in the care of missionaries from the College of La Santa Cruz de Queretaro; and having been further explained [by the said Fray Pedro de la Concepcion] that it was highly advisable that the religious should found a college there in order to be nearer to the Indians who need their services in the Province of Coahuila and others in that vicinity; that this establishment would require no expense from the royal treasury, since the hermitage had a church with a nave and tower and all the ornaments required for divine services, and the modest friary in which the missionaries are to live will be made with alms offered by the faithful ... these things were considered in my Council of the Indies with all the confirmatory documents, for which we have seen fit to grant the desired permission solicited by the College of La Santa Cruz de Queretaro to found another one [as proposed]." In the meantime, while awaiting the arrival of the royal decree, Father Joseph Guerra proceeded to build a friary and a wall on the land granted by the city for the new college. Although the royal decree was issued on January 27, 1704, it was not until 1706 that the decree arrived in Mexico, together with an order from the Commissary General of the Indies, naming the saintly Father Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus as President in capite of the new College of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas. At this time, however, the indefatigable missionary was busily engaged among the natives of Guatemala. Upon receipt of the order, without loss of time, the obedient Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus immediately set out for Queretaro, where he arrived in November. For two months he stayed
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