In the summer of 1591, a major meeting in Madrid showed up
serious differences of opinion in the Teresian reform. John seems to have
regarded some policies of the central government as unfairly harsh, and he
objected strongly. While much is unclear, the fact is that John came out of the
meeting without effective voice in the central running of the reform. Instead,
he was on course for the mission in Mexico, ‘the Indies’. He asked for
volunteers (significantly, ‘friends’) who would willingly go with him.
Some weeks later the volunteers’ signatures had been
collected; but John’s own destination had changed. A letter of his to one of
them (‘The letter consoled me immensely’) announces that John was embarking for
‘other, better Indies’, where the treasures are ‘eternal’, and was preparing
his luggage for the voyage. He died later that year.
Iain Matthew, O.C.D. – The Impact of God, Chap. 10
Sixty years before John prepared to leave for Mexico, the Blessed
Virgin appeared to Saint Juan Diego