Francisco de Ayeta, missionary, was born in
Pamplona,
Spain, in 1640. He entered the Franciscan order at the age of nineteen, he became successively Visitor of the Province of the Holy Evangel of
New Mexico, and its Procurator at
Madrid as well as Commissary of the Inquisition in
New Spain. Ayeta investigated remote missions personally, especially those of
New Mexico, and he was the first to warn the Spanish authorities of the incipient
Pueblo revolt. His report, from 1678, induced the authorities of New Spain to reinforce the garrison at
Santa Fe, but it was too late. The Pueblos broke out on 10 August, 1680, and for 14 years New Mexico was lost to Spain. Ayeta hurried to
El Paso, and when 2000 fugitives from the North reached that post, Ayeta was the first to offer them the needed relief in food and clothing. Ayeta died in 1690 in Spain. ==Works==