Career
lieutenant is not certain whether Córdova was his family name, or whether he assumed it from his native city after he became a Dominican. He was first a soldier, serving in Flanders as ensign. He then went to Mexico, and accompanied Coronado to New Mexico in 1540-1542.
He was named provincial in 1568.
Brought up under military discipline, he administered as provincial with such severity, that there were many complaints against him to the chapter that congregated at Yanhuitlan in 1570. He refused to comply with the admonitions of his superiors and change his methods, and was accordingly suspended.
With the exclamation: "Benedictus Deus!" he received the notification of his deposition, and, declining the interference of the Viceroy Enriquez in his favour, retired to his convent at Tlacochauaya in Oaxaca, where he died after twenty-five years spent in retirement and in the study of the Zapotecan language and the customs of the natives.
