Francisco de Toral

Francisco de Toral, O.F.M. (1502–1571) was a Franciscan missionary in New Spain, and the first Bishop of Yucatán.

Biography De Toral was ordained a priest in the Order of Friars Minor. In addition to his overseeing of these artifacts’ destruction, he actively tortured Mayans in order to produce confessions of idolatry. Mayans that confessed to idol worship faced severe penalties, ranging from flogging to ten years of forced labor for minor offenses.

Toral arrived in 1562 to a province that was in a great state of unrest. There was a large controversy among Mayans and secular government officials with regards to Landa’s treatment of allegedly idolatrous Indians. Toral was shocked by the violent behavior of the Franciscan friars. He believed that the clergy had both a right and duty to physically punish Mayans resisting conversion, but Toral was skeptical that the confessions Landa elicited were legitimate and the resulting punishments were an overreaction to the situation.

Toral’s distrust of Franciscans and his inability to control the friars still holding authority resulted in a large amount of tension between himself, the Franciscan order, and local government authorities, namely Governor Luis de Céspedes y Oviedo. Charges were brought against him by Governor Céspedes for usurping royal jurisdiction as animosity towards him as a religious leader began to grow. Landa was eventually absolved of his charges in 1569. Following this and his ongoing dilemmas in Yucatán, Toral requested he be relocated to serve in Mexico City before ultimately abdicating his position in 1570 and dying in Mexico.