She may have had my interests at heart, but from my standpoint at the time, her less than tender approach to parenting was the equivalent of bamboo torture treatment.
The soldiers whip the old friar and he falls to the ground. Don Diego is very angry because Friar Felipe is his friend. He returns to his father's hacienda.
The village is kept subdued by the twin forces of a strict, self-flagellating religion and a cruel feudal system that seeks to disempower residents at every step.
In fact, the ascetics and flagellants of the world belong nowhere in the main stream of civilization — and are of dubious utility and service in any civilization.