In that most horrible crime were
implicated three religious--one a priest, one a chorister, and one
a lay-brother, namely, the creole who gave the poison to the father,
and whom his relatives hid; and, as he had money, they helped him to
escape out of these islands. The lay-brother was a European, and the
father priest, Fray Juan de Ocadiz, an American. They [_i.e._, the last
two] were hanged near the atrium of our church, in front of the well,
after we had first unfrocked, expelled, and disgraced them. The two
said men were buried beneath the cloister of our convent, near the
porter's lodge, before the altar of St. Nicolas de Tolentino. [43]
In the interval from the death of our father provincial, Fray Jeronimo
de Salas, which occurred on May 17, until our father rector-provincial
Sepulveda was killed, a singular case happened in our convent, which
was apparently a presage of the said fatality. It happened that in
the fine infirmary of the said convent, which looks toward the sea,
a white cat was found which was rearing three rats at its breasts,
feeding them as if they were its own kind of offspring, and giving a
complete truce to the natural antipathy of such animals.
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