The Franciscans probably never filled all 70 of their authorized plazas, nor would that have been in their best interests. Inflating the rolls of missionaries, as of soldiers, was the Florida way of writing extra money into the budget. The defect of the system was not that there were more friars on the books than in the doctrinas, but that, when guardians were indulgent and governors and bishops inattentive, the friars did not stay in their doctrinas. By law, no pueblo of Christian Indians was supposed to be without a minister for more than four months (Recopilacion, 1681). Among Florida Franciscans, four-month sick leaves were common. In the opinion of Bishop Altamirano, the friars in Florida worked only when they felt like it. Emboldened by his attitude, Governor Ybarra criticized their father superior for not making the doctrineros stay in their doctrinas. To get them out of the friary in St. Augustine and back into the field the governor suspended their rations when they were away from their posts-or so he told the Crown in 1615. (Bushnell SS)