holy days. The total group of friars associated with a doctrina was called a custodia and led by one of them, called a custodio. By 1602 the San Juan del Puerto doctrina had set up nine associated visitas. Pareja's doctrina was on present-day Fort George Island near the mouth of the St. Johns River in what is now Jacksonville. A cacique or chief ruled the Timucuan village that was associated with San Juan del Puerto; the people spoke the Mocama dialect. In 1603 a Saturiwa whom the Spanish named Maria was cacica; the following year she told the Spanish that her people were pleased with Father Pareja. She may have ruled into the 1620s. Pareja achieved some success with the Saturiwa; in 1602 he had 500 Christians within his custodio. Nearly that number were confirmed during a visit in 1606 by Bishop Altamirano, including Cacica Maria and five of her subordinate caciques from the area. Developing written Timucuan In his most significant achievement, Pareja developed a form of written language for Timucua. His catechism in Spanish and Timucua, published in 1612, was the first book written in an indigenous language of the United States. Through 1627, he published several other works in both languages. Due to his books and teachings, both Timucuan men and women learned to read and write in less than six months. They were able to write letters to each other in their own language. His works were distributed to other Franciscans and enabled them to teach literacy and Christianity to the Timucua. Since the twentieth century, his work has also been studied for insights into the ethnography of the indigenous people. Pareja also worked at Mission San Pedro de Mocama on Cumberland Island (present-day Georgia), where he served the Tacatacuru, another Mocama-speaking group. He was there at the time of the Guale revolt in 1597. He later became guardian, or an officer, of the monastery of the Immaculate Conception at St. Augustine. From 1609-1612 he served as custodio of the Franciscans in Florida. When the Franciscan church organization in Florida and Cuba was elevated to the rank of a province (provincia), named Santa Elena de Florida, Pareja was elected as provincial in 1616 by his fellow Franciscans. Seeking more financial support of the Franciscans, he wrote to the colonial government, which seemed to favor soldiers: "we are the ones who bear the burden and heats, and