Note XX‑58 — Chapter XX · MARROQUIN AND LAS CASAS IN GUATEMALA AND VERA PAZ. 1541-1550.

Remesal enlarges on the tragedy. He states that the cacique of the neighboring village was grieved that the murdered friars had not been taken alive, in order that he might have conversed with them, and that he caused the skins of the victims to be stripped off and stretched upon the walls of his house, while their heads were stuffed with cotton and suspended from a tree. He then adds 'y comieronse la carne en vn gran combite, despues de muchos bayles y fiestas.' Hist. Chyapa, 516. According to the same author, between 1566 and 1600 four unsuccessful attempts were made by Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans to christianize Florida. In these efforts nearly all the missionaries lost their lives. In a second attempt made by the Franciscans they gained a foothold in the country, and in 1612 a province called Santa Élena was founded by the chapter general at Rome. Id., 518-19. Dávila Padilla, 179-89, states that Fray Louis Cancer was a native of Saragossa in Spain. He was of noble family, and proficient in various branches of learning. He first went to Española, thence to Puerto Rico, where he founded a convent, and a few years later proceeded to Guatemala. Both this author and Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 150, assert that on a voyage from Mexico to Spain he was captured by Turkish pirates, but ransomed. To judge from his letters Cancer was a single-minded and devout missionary, filled with religious ardor, and sanguine of success.