This provincial
died twenty days after his election. He died, as some say (and this
opinion seems not without foundation, as we shall see further on),
from poison that they gave him, and consequently his death was very
sudden. By the death of this Fray Geronimo de Salas, Fray Vicente de
Sepulveda returned to the office of provincial, as their regulations
provide. It seemed to some religious who were not of his party that it
was too much for him to govern three more years, so they planned to
cut the thread of life for him--by means of poison, since this would
not betray them. They gave it to him more than eight times in his
food and drink--in his chocolate, and even in the wine with which
he was consecrated. The poison was ground glass, and it resulted
in eruptions over his entire body and in illness for several days,
but it did not produce death. When the conspirators saw that their
attempts so far had been unsuccessful, four of them planned to kill
him with their own hands. The affair was so public that not only was
the conspiracy noised about among the friars but also among the laity
of Manila. Thus it came to the ears of the provincial himself, who
had not lived as prudently as he should have done for the safety of
his person. After this, he was very careful about his food and drink;
he locked himself in at night, and entrusted the key of the apartment
to only a few. He ordered one, who was the author of the treason
(and he was the one that was suspected), that in virtue of his [the
provincial's] holy precept, he should not come into the convent of
Manila, but that he should prepare to embark for Nueva Espana where
they should take from him the cowl.
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