AYACUCHO
164
AYMARA
Near the cathedral is a square enclosure with a pillar
at each of its angles, and in the centre twelve stones
that Abyssinian tradition says were for the twelve
judges of Prester John, but are probably the bases of
ancient triumphal thrones of the Kings of Axum.
Among the valuable Ethiopic manuscripts found in
Abyssinia in modern times is the Book of Axum, or
Abyssinian Chronicles, brought back by the traveller
Bruce. In 1805 the English traveller. Salt, discovered
at Axum a bilingual inscription in Greek and Gheez
(the religious language of Abyssinia) of which only
the Greek (thirty-one lines) remains. It refers
to the exploits of King Aeizanes, already mentioned.
In 1833 the German traveller, Riippell, discovered
two other Gheez inscriptions, referring to the deeds
of a monarch of Axum in the sixth century. These
Gheez inscriptions are valuable for the history of the
Semitic alphabet. Some Greek coins, older than the
fourth century have been found there, also Ethiopic
coins of a somewhat later date, bearing the title,
"Negush Aksum", or King of Axum.
Lequien, Orims Christ. (1740), II, 641-660; Smith, Diet, of Greek ami Roman Geogr., I, 347: Tillemont, M^moires. etc.. VII. 284-289; Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (Edinburgh, 1788), I, 476; S.^lt, Travels in Abyssinia, 510; Bent, The Sacred City of the Ethiopians (London, 1896), 152-197.
Thomas J. Shahan.
Ayacucho, or Guamanga, Diocese of. — A Pe- ruvian diocese, suffragan to Lima. The See of Gua- manga was erected by Paul V, 20 July, 1609, was vacant from 1821 to 1838, when it was transferred to Ayacucho. It has 200,610 Catholics; 96 parishes, 120 secular priests, 212 churches or chapels.
Battandieb, Ann. Pont. Cath., 1907.
Ayeta, Fray Francisco de, a Spanish Franciscan of the seventeenth century, and (while time and
Elace of his birth and death are not known as yet, is memorable deeds having been overlooked and neglected until now) one of the most deserving and energetic characters of the end of that century in New Spain or Mexico. He became successively Visitor of the Province of the Holy Evangel of New Mexico, and its Procurator at Madrid; also Com- missary of the Inquisition in New Spain. The de- cline in useful activity among the regular orders in Mexico, which began about the middle of the seven- teenth century, being taken as a pretext by the secular authorities for despoiling the regulars of their missions, Ayeta became one of the most fervent de- fenders of the Franciscans, and he wielded a very aggressive pen. Three books are known to liave been publislied by him, all without date and place; an "Apologia del orden de San Francisco en America", which is supposed to have appeared about 1690; "Defensa de la provincia del Santo Evangelic de Mexico sobre la retenci6n de los curatos y doctrinas"; and "Ultimo reeurso de la provincia de San Jose de Yucatan sobre despojo de parroquias ". Ayeta investigated in person the most remote missions, especially those of New Mexico, and he w'as the first to warn the Spanish authorities of the storm then preparing among the Pueblo Indians. His report, from 1678, in which he exposed the defenceless con- dition of the New Mexican colony as against the wild Indians, and the dangerous impression which it had made upon the sedentary tribes, induced the au- thorities of New Spain to reinforce the garrison at Santa Fe, but it was too late. The Pueblos broke out on the tenth of August, 1680, and for fourteen years New Mexico was lost to Spain. Ayeta hurried to El Paso, and when the fugitives from the North reached that post, to the number of two thousand famished and attenuated persons, Ayeta was the first to tender them the needed relief in food and clothing. He was a man of superior mind and indomitable energy, entirely devoted to his task and to his order.
BETANCOrrRT, Cronica de la provincia del Santo Evanqelio de
Mexico (2d ed., Mexico. 1871); Beristain de Souza, Ilibliuteca
Hispano-americana setentrional (Mexico, 1816), 1; Sahinana
Y CuENCA, Oracion funehre . ... en las ezequias de veinte
xtno reliffiasos de la observancia & ca, que murieron a manos d
los Indios apdstatas del Nuevo Meiico (Mexico, 16SI). This
sermon is manifestly based upon the data furnished by Ayeta
in a yet unpubUshed report on the priests who were murdered
in 1680. — Bandelier, Histcire de la colonisation et des i
sions du Sonora, Chihuahua, Nouveau Mexique, et Arizt
jusq'ri fan 1700 (MSS. at the Vatican. 1S88). See also Docu^
mentos para la historia de Mexico (third series, very rare);
and Bandelier, Docum&ntary History of the Zuhi Tribe, in
Journal Am, Arch,, No, 1,
Ad. F. Bandelier.
Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez de, the Spanish discoverer of Chesapeake Bay, and the first of those daring navigators who tried to find a north-west passage from Europe to Asia, date of birth uncertain; d. 18 October, 1526. He w-as a member of the Superior Council in San Domingo. He sent an expedition to Florida under Francisco Gordillo, who, in June, 1521, landed in lat. 33° 30', somewhere near Cape Fear in North Carolina. In quest of the north-west passage, Ayllon came up from Hispaniola in 1524, and tried the James River and Chesapeake Bay. He received from Charles V a grant of the land he had discovered, and, in 1526, founded the settlement of San Miguel de Guandape, not far from the site of the city of Jamestown, built by the English fully eighty years later. The employment of negro slaves in this work is perhaps the first instance of negro slave-labour within the present territory of the United States. Ayllon died of ship fever, and of the colony of 600 souls he had brought with him only 150 survivors made their way back to Hispaniola.
FisKE, Discovery of America (Boston, 1902), III. .121; Lee (ed.) History of N. America (Philadelphia, 1903). I. 33S- 341; WiNSOR {ed.)j Narrative and Critical History of .-Itncrica (Boston, 1884), IV.
Edward P. Spillane.
Aylward, James Ambrose Dominic, theologian and poet, b. at Leeds, 4 April, 1813; d. at Hinckley (England), 5 October, 1872. He was educated at the Dominican priory of Hinckley, entered the Order of St. Dominic, was ordained priest in 1836, became provincial in 1850, first Prior of Woodchester in 1854, and provincial a second time in 1866. He composed several pious manuals for the use of his community and "A Novena for the Holy Season of Advent" gathered from the propliecies, anthems, etc., of the Roman Missal and Breviary (Derby, 1S49). He re- edited (London, 1867) a "Life of the Blessed Virgin St. Catherine of Sienna ", translated from the Italian by the Dominican Father John Fen (Louvain, 1609), also an English translation of Father Chocarne's "Inner Life of Lacordaire" (Dublin, 1867). His essays "On the Mystical Elements in Religion, and on Ancient and Modern Spiritism" were edited posthumously by Cardinal Manning (London, 1874). Father Aylward's principal monument is his tran.s- lation of Latin hymns, most of which he contributed to " The Catholic Weekly Instructor ". In his "Annus Sanctus" (London, 1884) Orbey Shipley has re- printed many of them. He says of Father Aylward that he was "a cultured and talented priest of varied powers and gifts."
Julian, Diet, of Hymnology (New York, 1892), 105; Gil- low, Bibl. Diet, of Eng. Cath., I, 90, 91.
Thomas J. Shahan.
Aymara, also Aym.\r.\ (etymology imknown as yet), a numerous tribe of sedentary Indians inhabit- ing the northern sections of Bolivia, part of the east- ern declivities of the Andes of that republic, and the sections of Peru bordering upon Lake Titicaca, except its northern extremity, which is held by Quichua-speaking Indians. It is not safe as yet to give their numbers, since white blood has been liberally introduced during three centuries, while on the eastern slopes, in the so-called Yungas, mixture
