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Pedro Menendez paid for the first Franciscan missionaries in Florida

Source: Situado and Sabana #82

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As was said in Chapter 3, the first mission of Franciscans to Florida arrived in 1573, their expenses underwritten by the Adelantado. Other missions followed at three- to five-year intervals. In 1606 the Order raised the rapidly growing mission field to the rank of a custodio, a dependent administrative district. In accordance with the Franciscan constitution, the friars elected one of their number padre custos, to be their superior for a triennium. In 1609 the custodies of Florida and Cuba were combined into the Custody of Santa Elena with headquarters in Cuba and jurisdiction over friaries in Bayamo, Havana, and Santiago as well as St. Augustine. Three years later the custody advanced to the rank of provincia, becoming the Province of Santa Elena. In their triennial chapter meetings the friars now elected as their superior a padre provincial. He was advised by a council of definidores made up of his predecessors. The contemporary mission field of New Mexico, comparable to Florida in number of convents and converts, never attained provincial status. It remained a custody subject to the Franciscan Commissary General of New Spain, who resided at the convento grande of Holy Gospel Province in the heart of Mexico City.
(Bushnell SS)