ABSTRACT
Quinones were a crucial figure for the rise of eremitic spirituality to prominence among the Franciscans, he was no less important for the launch of the mission enterprise in New Spain. Indeed, when word arrived of Cortes's conquest of Tenochtitlan, Quinones was one of the first to seek permission to embark for the new territory. Quinones issued the Instruccion on that first day, the feast of Saint Francis. It is written in Spanish and contains the practical modus operandi for the mission, while the later Obediencia is written in Latin and contains the formal canonical commission. The Franciscan Province of Santa Cruz was centered on the island of Hispaniola and covered all the Caribbean territories conquered before New Spain. Quinones began his meditation by acknowledging the eremitic Guadalupan spirituality that these missionaries had practiced and by acknowledging that he had asked them to step down from those spiritual heights.
