ABSTRACT
The uneasy interaction between mission work and Franciscan spirituality has appeared in this second period in the flight of the eremitic Insulana friars and the bitter fights with the secular clergy. The former case shows that eremitic spirituality was still a strong presence after twenty-five years of New Spanish mission work and that many of its practitioners had concluded that they could not find the spiritual depth they craved without abandoning their active mission work. In the latter case, the extensive testimony generated by the conflicts reveals several specific areas in which the demands of the friar's regular observance clashed with the practical exigencies of their ministry, in addition to the general spiritual malaise that resulted from the strife. Ultimately, this testimony led to the conclusion that eremitic spirituality may yet have an ideal at mid-century but was by no means the norm among the friars.
