Since there were many ecclesiastics and men of the law in the Indies, there was no lack of intellectuals to man the institutions of higher learning, both royal universities and academies or seminaries attached to the orders, that were soon established in the regional capitals. Except for some chairs of Indian languages, the content and form of instruction were the same as in Spain; the basic purpose of the schools was to train up members of the second and succeeding Spanish generations as lawyers, churchmen and physicians. The early Franciscans of Mexico, such great students of Indian language and culture, had little to do with the schools for Spaniards, and only rarely did these institutions attain the distinction seen in a few Jesuit professors of the latter sixteenth century, but at least they were there, giving some second sons of encomenderos or ambitious offspring of other Spaniards the qualifications to hold a church benefice or a post with one of the royal courts.

In the present letter our Augustinian friar and professor of theology tells us little about his teaching, though in his shameless preaching at his brothers he gives us a good sample of his pulpit style. Some interesting things emerge about the ecclesiastical world, which shows itself as a network of communications, not unlike the mercantile organizations, since the friar's letters to Spain often go through the sister of the Mexican archbishop. The church is even to some extent a business network, and fray Juan could see to the sale of some bibles now in demand in Mexico City. As a person who has made it, no less so than encomendero Andres Chacon (Letter 11), fray Juan is, like him, prepared to send his relatives gifts and dowries, and would like to have a nephew or two around him. Family ties were an important constituent element in all Spanish organizations, including the intellectual and ecclesiastic.

Gentlemen and very beloved brothers:

May our good God ever dwell in your spirits and give you the health, grace and peace that I desire for you and all your families and households.