Mediation and Fidelity: the Jesuit Lorenzo de Arizábalo and the Mercedarian Ramón de Morales (Santiago–Madrid, 1666–70)

The Jesuit correspondence from Chile encountered difficulties during the summer of 1664. Matias de Zerpa (dates unknown), a guard, successfully inter- cepted Jesuit Álvaro Fernández (dates unknown) during his attempt to tra- verse the Andes Mountains from east to west with the purpose of delivering correspondence destined for Spain, using the Buenos Aires route. One of the letter-writers was Diego de Rosales (1601–77), director of the Colegio Máximo de Santiago. He addressed his letter to Pedro de Salinas (dates unknown), an agent of the procurator general of the Indies and former travel compan- ion of Alonso de Ovalle (1603–51), a former Jesuit and Chilean procurator. In the letter, Rosales described the abuses taking place in the Kingdom of Chile during the governorship of Francisco de Meneses (1615–72). After reading the intercepted letter, Governor Meneses became increasingly hostile toward the Society of Jesus.