Early American Dioceses. 205 



policy the plan came to nothing. On August 8, 1511, these 

 three dioceses were suppressed, and three others were established 

 at Santo Domingo and Concepcion de la Vega, in Hispaniola, 

 and at San Juan, in Porto Rico, and placed under the jurisdic- 

 tion of the archbishops of Seville, where the government of the 

 colonies had its seat. 



" In August and September, 1513 (see five letters of that date), 

 John of Quevedo, a Franciscan friar, was appointed to the see 

 of Banta Maria del Antiqua, or Darien, and his appointment 

 announced to the authorities and people. He was the first 

 bishop of a diocese on the American continent. He died at 

 Barcelona about December 5, 1520. 



"Already a considerable body of priests, both secular and regu- 

 lar, were working for the religious good of the colonists and to 

 convert the natives. The popes, however, and the rulers of 

 Spain iwishecl to increase the number of these laborers and to 

 provide for their government. A letter of Clement VII, dated 

 June 7, 1526 (letter 22), the better to effect their wish, urged the 

 general of the Franciscans to visit personally the members of 

 his order in the new world. By another letter (letter 23) Clement 

 authorized the emperor, Charles V, who had asked for mission- 

 aries, to send one hundred and twenty Franciscans, seventy 

 Dominicans, and ten Serougmites to the lately discovered islands, 

 even without the permission of their respective superiors, grant- 

 ing to those who should be sent many privileges and exemptions. 

 With like solicitude the kings of Spain and Portugal continued 

 to fulfill the condition under which they had received the papal 

 grants of newly discovered, or to be discovered, territories." 



Pope Julius II Recommends Bartholomew and Diego Columbus to 

 the King of Spain. 



On the death of Christopher Columbus (May 20, 1506) began 

 for his heirs the difliculties which, aggregated by the character- 

 istic tenacity of the family, occasioned the endless lawsuit, well 

 known as Los Pleitos de Colon. AVith a hope of ending these 

 difficulties. Bartholomew, the brother, and Diego, the son, of the 

 discoverer, determined to join King Ferdinand, then at Naples. 

 Passing through Rome, on their Avay thither, they were kindly 

 received by Pope Julius II, and obtained from him a recom- 

 mendation to Ferdinand, who seems already to have been 

 favorably disposed toward them. 



