TO:    Fr. Diego de Sandoval

The Monastery of St. John of the Rock

Santa Cruz de la Seros, Jaca

Province of Huesca, Aragon

Kingdom of Spain

My dear brother,                             20 November, Anno Domini 1519

I pray your studies of St. Augustine are going well. I, for my part, have found both my patron saint and my adoptive father in Hernan Cortez. The men all call him “stout,” and this is an accurate description of the good soldier. The way he deals with the savages is most admirable. As soon as we saw the heathens massed together worshipping one of their grotesque idols, without a moment’s hesitation the great man turned to me and said, ‘my son, can you build a fire?’ Together, he and I led the men forward and set about their temple-fortress with burning brands. In a day we razed it to the ground, gods and all.

Hail Mary,

Gonzalo de Sandoval