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Title: The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XXXII, 1640
Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the
islands and their peoples, their history and records of
the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books
and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial
and religious conditions of those islands from their
earliest relations with European nations to the close of
the nineteenth century
Author: Diego Aduarte
Editor: Emma Helen Blair
James Alexander Robertson
Release Date: April 1, 2013 [EBook #42458]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS ***
Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed
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Gutenberg.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898
Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and
their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions,
as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the
political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those
islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the
close of the nineteenth century,
Volume XXXII, 1640
Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson
with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord
Bourne.
The Arthur H. Clark Company
Cleveland, Ohio
MCMV
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXII
Preface 9
Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden
de Predicadores (concluded).
Diego Aduarte, O.P.; Manila, 1640 19
Bibliographical Data 299
ILLUSTRATIONS
Indiæ orientalis nec non insularum adiacentum nova descriptio
(map of Indian archipelago), photographic facsimile of part
of map by Nicolaus Visscher [1660?], from copy in library of
Wisconsin State Historical Society 153
Map of the East Indies; photographic facsimile, from the
French edition of Mercator's Atlas minor of 1635; from
copy of original map in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris 169
Autograph signature of Diego Aduarte, O. P.; photographic
facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias,
Sevilla 297
PREFACE
In the present volume is concluded the excellent Historia of the
Dominican writer Diego Aduarte, begun in Vol. XXX, and continued in
XXXI; the period of mission history here covered being 1608-37. Aduarte
died in 1636; but the events subsequent to 1634, with a sketch of
Aduarte's life, are added by the hand of his editor, Fray Domingo
Gonçalez.
Continuing the life of Fray Luis Gandullo, who was prominent among
the founders of the Dominican province, Aduarte narrates the marvelous
conversions and even miracles wrought by him, and many of his visions
and other wonderful experiences. In 1612, the chapter again elects
Fray Miguel de San Jacinto as provincial. The persecutions in Japan
become more widespread and severe; various incidents therein are
related. Our writer sketches the life of Fray Diego de Soria, the
second bishop of Nueva Segovia; and of another early missionary in
that province, Francisco Minayo.
Book ii of Aduarte's history recounts events from 1614 on, beginning
with Japan, where a new and more cruel persecution of the Christians
begins with that year; and orders are given by the shogun that all
priests and religious must be banished from Japan. When this order
is carried out, many of the missionaries remain in the country,
in hiding and disguised--traveling through the country to instruct
and console the Christians, suffering great hardships and dangers,
and finally, in most cases, dying as martyrs for their faith. In
the long biography of Fray Francisco de San Joseph Blancas, the most
interesting point is his linguistic achievements in the Tagal language,
and the introduction of printing in the Philippine Islands, which
Aduarte here ascribes entirely to Fray Francisco. This father also
learned the Chinese language, and assumed the charge of instructing
the negroes and slaves in Manila.
In 1615, the Cagayán mission is much disturbed and injured by the
flight to the mountains of many Indians who had been gathered into
the mission reductions; this is caused by the machinations of the
aniteras, or priestesses of the old idols, who try to draw these
half-tamed Indians back to their old superstitions. In this year come
a large company of religious; and in 1616 the provincial elected is
Fray Bernardo de Sancta Catalina--who dies soon afterward, and of
whom Aduarte writes a long biographical account. He is succeeded
as provincial (April 15, 1617) by Fray Melchior de Mançano. The
persecutions in Japan steadily increase in severity, in 1615-16,
in which latter year Iyeyasu dies. In 1617 two missionaries--one
a Dominican, the other an Augustinian--deliberately go to Omura to
rebuke the daimiô for his cruelty to the Christians, and to preach
the gospel in public; they, with other captive religious, are put to
death. Their example in so bravely enduring martyrdom encourages and
strengthens the Japanese Christians, many of whom give their lives for
the faith, and compels the respect of the heathen. Other missionaries
are arrested, and suffer great privations while in prison.
Aduarte recounts the progress of the work undertaken by the Dominicans
for the Chinese in Manila. For many years the missionaries live at
Binondoc, the village to which the Christian Chinese go to live when
they receive the new faith; but they conclude that it would be better
for all concerned to build a convent and church within the Parián. In
1617 they begin to erect these buildings, and priests of the order
take up their residence therein, in the midst of that great market
and its crowd of traders and artisans. Their labors are crowned with
notable and prompt success--not only in securing the baptism of the
sick and dying, but in the instruction of those who are in health,
who carry the gospel into their own country, wherein the missionaries
hope to effect a great conversion some day. The church first erected
is a poor and unsubstantial affair; but afterward a large and very
handsome church is built--in the Chinese fashion, of wood shaped and
fitted without any nails. When the Parián is burned in 1628, the church
is saved by placing an image of the Virgin in front of the approaching
flames. Later, the timbers begin to decay, and another building is
erected, with stone pillars; its walls are covered with paintings,
which serve greatly for the instruction of the heathen. During fifteen
years, the number of baptisms in this church amounts to 4,752. The
Dominicans win the great respect and affection of the Chinese, who
seldom die without having received baptism.
This order extends its labors to some other countries. China is, of
course, the chief goal of its desires; but the Dominicans are unable
to effect an entrance therein. One of the friars, attempting to go
there (1618), is obliged by storms to land on Formosa; and to his
subsequent report of the advantages of this island is ascribed its
later acquisition by the Spaniards. Another mission sets out for
Korea, but is unable to go farther than Nangasaki, and is thus
frustrated. Twenty-four new missionaries arrive this year from
Spain. A new residence is established at Cavite, the priests in which
accomplish much good, among both Spaniards and natives. A new mission
is begun in the Babuyan Islands, north of Cagayán; it is very arduous
and full of privations, but the religious gladly labor therein, and
find the people excellent Christians, although they are most poor and
needy. The fathers often ask alms from the convents and the Christians
in Nueva Segovia, to help these poor disciples of the Lord. Some of the
religious who have remained in Japan are martyred in this year of 1618;
yet amid the fierce persecutions new converts are made, and the native
Christians show much loyalty and generosity to their spiritual fathers.
In 1619 the intermediate chapter session meets at Nueva Segovia,
on which occasion the college of Santo Thomas at Manila is formally
added to the province; an historical sketch of this institution
is presented. In November of that year occurs an unusually severe
earthquake in Luzón, of which various features and incidents are
recorded. Among the buildings overthrown is the Dominican convent in
Manila, all its inmates, however, escaping in safety. In 1621 Fray
Miguel Ruiz is elected provincial. On November 6 of that year occurs a
revolt among the Gadanes in northern Luzón, of which a full account is
given. One of the Dominican missionaries, Fray Pedro de Santo Thomas,
courageously goes alone and unarmed, to the mountain stronghold of
the insurgents, to win them back; and some months later he returns
with three hundred families of these rebels, who settle peaceably
on the lower lands. Aduarte fills chapters xviii-xxvi with accounts
of martyrdoms of Dominicans in Japan, during 1621-23, and sketches
of their lives--matter which is presented to our readers in brief
synopsis, as but indirectly concerning the Philippines.
The election of provincial in 1625 elevates to that dignity Fray
Bartholomé Martinez, who has long labored among the Chinese of
Manila. In this year occurs another revolt among some of the Cagayán
Indians; two religious are treacherously slain by them, and then they
flee to the mountains. In 1626, Fernando de Silva sends an expedition
to conquer Formosa, which is accompanied by Dominican missionaries, who
hope to find in Formosa a stepping-stone to an entrance for them into
China. A fortified post is established in the island by the Spaniards;
the Dominicans act as spiritual guides for the soldiers, and, after
learning the native language, are able to win the confidence of the
inhabitants and begin instructing them. Many of the missionaries
in the province die, but a reënforcement comes to them in this same
year. In 1627 is held the intermediate chapter-session. By that time
the revolted Mandayas have been pacified, and by the efforts of their
Dominican pastors induced to return to their villages and to the care
of the missionaries. In this year occur many martyrdoms in Japan, of
which accounts are given. In 1628, the four orders of friars in the
Philippines unite to send a reënforcement of missionaries to Japan, but
this attempt is frustrated by the wreck of their ship. Aduarte at this
time arrives at Manila with a large company of religious. A Spanish
expedition is sent to Camboja, and the Dominicans send missionaries
thither; but both enterprises result in failure. In Formosa they are
making some progress.
The provincial elected in 1629 is Fray Francisco de Herrera. Soon
afterward dies Fray Bartolomé Martinez, of whom Aduarte writes
a long biography; he ends his life in the Formosa mission, which
he had established. The persecutions in Japan continue (1629-30),
hundreds being martyred for the faith, and rigorous search being made
everywhere for all Christians. It is with difficulty that any news of
events there can be sent from that country. At the end of 1630, some
Spaniards, accompanied by two Dominican friars, go on an embassy to the
Chinese city of Ucheo; on the way, the Chinese crew mutiny, and kill
most of the Spaniards. Four of these, including one of the friars,
escape to the Chinese coast; the father remains there, and labors
among the heathen. In December, 1633, the preaching of the gospel
is introduced into Itui, in Luzón; two Dominican friars go thither,
of whose mission, and of that region and its people, some account is
given, followed by a long biography of Fray Tomás Gutierrez, head of
the mission. The new provincial this year is Fray Domingo Gonçalez,
Aduarte's editor; at this session of the chapter an important change
is made, the abolition of the intermediate chapter. The missions
are extended farther than ever before, but new workers are greatly
needed. Many religious meet a martyr's death in Japan this year,
and the persecution steadily increases in severity; biographical
sketches of several martyrs are given, one of whom had achieved much
in Formosa. In that island arises a rebellion among the natives,
who murder (1633) one of the missionaries.
Aduarte describes the mission to the Mandayas of northern Luzón, begun
in 1631; it has been very successful, and many of those fierce and
warlike people are now quite tamed and Christianized. The martyrdoms
(in 1634) of several missionaries and Christian women in Japan, with
sketches of their lives, are related. Two chapters are devoted to an
account of the Dominican missions in China, which contain many devout
Christians; at times, the missionaries are in danger of being slain
by mobs. The Dominican mission in Formosa has not accomplished many
conversions, and it has lost many devoted missionaries.
At this point ends Aduarte's own work in this history; the remaining
chapters are added by his editor, Fray Domingo Gonçalez. He relates in
full the late effort made by Fray Diego Collado to divide the province
of Filipinas, and to appropriate its best posts and revenues for his
congregation of "Barbones." This attempt greatly disturbs Aduarte,
whose last days are saddened, and perhaps even shortened, thereby. But
not long after his death this cloud passes away, and the province
is restored to its former condition--a result mainly ascribed to
the intervention of the Virgin Mary; and Collado's new congregation
melts away. Gonçalez then presents a long and elaborate biography
of the illustrious Aduarte, which we abridge considerably, retaining
especially such information about that prelate, and such account of
the missions, as has not already appeared in his Historia. His virtues
are recounted at length, and the many benefits which he secured for
his order, for the poor and needy everywhere, and for the Indians.
Fray Gonçalez completes Aduarte's history up to the year 1637, thus
comprising the first fifty years of the history of the Philippine
Dominican province. In that year, Fray Carlós Gant is elected
provincial; and in Japan the last Dominican friars remaining there
are martyred, of whose lives and deaths sketches are given. At the
end of the book is printed a letter from Felipe IV to the Dominican
provincial at Manila, ordering that the recent partition of the
province be annulled, and Collado sent back to Spain.
The Editors
August, 1905.
HISTORIA DE LA PROVINCIA DEL
SANCTO ROSARIO DE LA ORDEN
DE PREDICADORES
(Concluded)
By Diego Aduarte, O.P.; Manila, 1640.
Source: Translated from a copy of the above work in the possession
of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago.
Translation: This is made by Henry B. Lathrop, of the University
of Wisconsin. This volume includes chaps. lxxi-lxxviii of book i,
and all of book ii--partly in synopsis.
HISTORY OF THE DOMINICAN PROVINCE OF THE HOLY ROSARY
By Fray Diego Aduarte, O.P.
(Concluded)
CHAPTER LXXI
The arrival at Manila of father Fray Luis, his assignment to Pangasinan
and the events there
[Father Fray Luis was assigned to the province of Pangasinan and
went there in the company of the two other fathers who were sent
to the same place. Suffering from disease as a result of exposure,
he was miraculously cured. The Lord wrought miraculous conversions
by means of father Fray Luis, and supported him in his sufferings
and illness with visions. Being taken back to Manila for care, and
fearing that he might be sent to some other province, he prayed God
to renew his strength that he might return to Pangasinan. The Lord
heard his prayer and he was able to return to the duties which he
loved. The Lord blessed the mere word of father Fray Luis, sometimes
even more than the great labors of other religious; and he took as his
special charge those Indians who had been given up by others. At one
time when news came that smallpox was raging in one of the villages
named Bimmalay, and that many children were dying in it, father Fray
Luis instantly went there to baptize as many of the children as he
could. The fathers were not usually permitted to baptize the children,
except in cases where it was certain that they were not going to live,
and then they were permitted to do so only as a result of prayers
and importunities. At one time a soldier came to Binalatongan with
news that Don Luis Perez das Mariñas was dying in the province of
Ylocos. He sent word to father Fray Luis, but without asking him to
come, as the sisters of Lazarus wrote to the Lord. Father Fray Luis
went to his choir to intercede for his friend, and there remained
constantly in prayer and sacrifice until he received news that he
was better. From the very day when the soldier reached father Fray
Luis, the governor began to recover his health. On many occasions
sick children were healed by the prayers of father Fray Luis. He
was ready to risk his life for his duties. In many cases it seemed
as if God had kept children alive only until they received baptism
that they might be saved.]
A case which illustrates this point happened to father Fray Luis
in Calasiao. He would never tell of this unless compelled by his
obedience. He was called upon to see a child who had been baptized,
and who was dying; and he went there with a boy named Andresillo,
and with others. When they came near the house where the child was,
they heard a great lamentation with which they were weeping over him;
and in another house very near they heard a great noise of people who
were drinking, as was then very common among the heathen. Among others
was their chief named Catongal, a man fierce by nature, and furious
when he had taken wine. On this occasion he came up with the others,
full of wine, and said to the father, "You kill many"--intimating
that he killed them with baptism, because few of those who received
it escaped. The father replied that the reason of this was, that the
Indians did not permit the children to be baptized until there was no
hope for their lives; and he said that the good that the religious did
to them would cause them to rejoice greatly if they knew it. Catongal
was not mollified by this; and the father tried to leave him to go on,
but it seemed best to have the child shrouded first that he might
take it and bury it--to prevent superstitious acts, such as were
customary. He saw it lying dead in the arms of an Indian woman; and,
looking upon it as such, he directed them to shroud it. But a voice
within him seemed to say that he should repeat a gospel. He went
to look at it again, found upon it all the marks of death, and said,
"Why should I say a gospel for it?" They shrouded it; but he was still
more urged on by that inner impulse to repeat the gospel, until at last
he did so. It was the gospel of St. John, In principio erat verbum. [1]
After he had repeated this he made the sign of the cross upon the brow
of the infant, saying, "O Lord, I ask no miracles of thee; but if it
is to thy glory, the credit of thy faith, and the conversion of these
heathen, I pray thee to work them." He added, Evangelica lectio sit
tibi salus et protectio, placing his hand upon the head of the child;
and, before he took away his hand, the Lord looked upon the child and
gave it life. All were astonished, and the father in confusion said, in
order to humiliate himself, that it could not have been dead; and the
chief was convinced that the fathers did not kill children. The child
sucked immediately, like a well and healthy child. It would have been
a miracle, even though it were not dead, for it so suddenly to have
recovered its health. Father Fray Luis passed the rest of that day in
great embarrassment, being anxious lest some part of what had happened
should be attributed to him, as the instrument of it. On the following
day he went to ask how the child was, and found it well and strong. He
asked the Indians who were there what they thought of the event,
and, before they replied, the Lord gave him an answer from within:
"This is excessive curiosity." He blamed himself severely, and was
so ashamed that he went away immediately, and never more looked upon
the child or spoke of the matter; and on the occasions which offered
themselves for any father to make any reference to it (because it had
been public), he changed the subject of conversation, without appearing
to understand. [In the villages of Gabon and Magaldan, father Fray
Luis succeeded in overcoming the hardness of heart of the heathen.]
CHAPTER LXXII
Some special favors received by father Fray Luis from the Lord,
and some temptations which he suffered from the enemy.
[However glorious the success of father Fray Luis in this country,
he was desirous of going to Great China, the conversion of which the
religious of this region had most at heart. He was taught in a vision
that the conversion of China was soon to be attempted and saw also a
vision of a man such as the missionaries to China ought to be. He was
constant in prayer and had frequent visions which guided him in his
religious life. The Lord granted him the blessing of great purity. At
one time, having been careless in prayer, he was visited by the Lord
with a punishment of strange trembling which went from the feet to the
top of his head, and seemed as if it would shatter his bones. When the
fathers of this province decided to send two to make an exploration of
the great kingdom of China, father Fray Miguel de Benavides asked for
the prayers of father Fray Luis--and, in particular, that the idols
might fall to the earth before the presence of God. Father Fray Luis
offered his prayers, and received from God the reply that he asked
much. But he answered, "Thou canst do it, O Lord."
It is not only favors which the Lord grants His servants; hence
father Fray Luis suffered many temptations of the devil, which were
permitted by the Lord that the virtues of the father might take
firmer roots. At one time the devil appeared to him in the form of
Christ; but father Fray Luis, not being moved by the affection which
he commonly felt for holy visions, said to him, "Thou art not that
which thou seemest." When father Fray Luis made the sign of the cross,
the devil took the form of a great cat, fierce, black, and terrible,
which by sending fire from its eyes and mouth exhibited its rage
and torment. "That is your real form, I think," said the father, and
without paying any further attention to him, he went on with his holy
exercises. The devil strove to interfere with him in his prayer, but
he was able to drive him away. He was at times tempted to be guilty
of improprieties in saying mass, such as looking into the chalice,
but the angels protected him. The devils at times strove to make him
flee from the church where he was performing his discipline.
Father Fray Luis suffered as much from the temptations of others as
from his own. He comforted Brother Juan de Soria of Manila, who,
under the direction of God, laid aside the habit of the order. On
another occasion, he assisted a novice who was moved by affection for a
woman. He had a vision of Christ crucified, with drops of blood falling
from his head upon his breast, but not upon the ground; this signified
that the novice should leave the order, but not to his destruction.. He
did so, and was married; but in a few days he was left alone, his wife
going to the aid of her poor and widowed mother. This the Lord seemed
to have ordained. On another occasion, father Fray Luis succeeded
in converting a Spanish sinner of the most obstinate sort, who had
been exiled from Nueva España to the Philippinas for his scandalous
life. The wretch confessed, and received communion, girt himself with
a haircloth garment, and, during the rest of his life (during which
he was confined in prison), he fasted often on bread and water.]
CHAPTER LXXIII
The fervor of spirit of father Fray Luis, and his expedition to China
[Although grace perfects nature, it may work so vehemently that it
weakens it and takes from it health and even life. This happened
in the case of father Fray Luis, who, although he was of robust
constitution, sometimes lost his health and was in great danger of
death as the result of the vehemence of his spirit in receiving the
favors of God. He prayed to the Lord to moderate this vehemence of
spirit, and begged that he would take it from him. Father Fray Juan de
Soria prayed the Lord to take from father Fray Luis this intensity,
and to give it to Don Luis Perez das Mariñas. From that day forward
the father lived with the greatest calmness, while the knight became
so fervent of spirit that he seemed like a living fire; and finally he
said to father Fray Luis that he should die of the love of God. Father
Fray Luis, after having received this peace and calm, became eager
to go to the conversion of China. Father Fray Juan had a vision of
Christ our Lord, seated upon a very spirited horse, which was biting
the bit and leaping about. The saddle, the girths, the reins, and all
the other accoutrements all seemed so weak that saddle and horseman
were sure to fall to the ground; but he held his seat firmly, and
made charges in one direction and another, brandishing a lance with
great dexterity. The horseman said to the father, "Who, think you,
can control this horse?" He answered, "Thou only knowest, Lord." "It
is I alone," said the Lord, giving him an inward understanding that
this horse represented China, and the weak accoutrements signified
the scarcity of ministers for its conversion. He added aloud,
"Go straightway and tell Fray Luis what thou hast seen, which is a
corroboration of what has at other times been said to him." Visions
were manifested to others, which ratified the visions which had already
shown Fray Luis that he was to go to China. Before the departure of the
governor Gomez Perez, Cathalina Diaz--a Spanish woman of holy life,
to whom God vouchsafed to see the future in visions, at times--had
a vision of the governor with his head cut open and bathed in his
blood, the death of the governor by treachery being prophesied in
this way. Although the difficulties of going to China seemed as a
result of this act of treachery to be greatly increased, in reality
the Lord made it the means by which father Fray Luis was sent there;
for he received a commission as ambassador, in company with father
Fray Juan de Castro. The ambassadors, reaching the province of Canton
instead of that of Chincheo, for which they were bound, were arrested
as pirates. Father Fray Luis thus had the opportunity to convert an
apostate Christian among the Chinese. He also found many slaves from
Macan who had apostatized in that country; and to them he preached
with much spirit, but little fruit. The voyage was one on which they
suffered greatly, particularly father Fray Luis, who traveled with
nothing but the habit in which he was clothed; and they were exposed
to the rain and to the cold, which was excessive. The viceroy of
Canton was very wrathful with them because they did not show him the
courtesy customary in that country, threatened them, and commanded them
to leave the province within fifteen days, taking with them not more
than twenty-five picos of rice. On his way back to the port he found
a number of apostates, but was unable to bring them back to the faith.
There is a law of the king of China that any poor foreigner shall
be supported at the public expense so long as he is in the kingdom;
but that, if he desires to depart, he shall pay the mandarin the
cost of his clothing, and something more. The allowance was twelve
maravedis a day. This is sufficient for three meals, since things
are cheap in that country. It is plain from this that there is
no law in China against admitting foreigners. On the contrary,
there is a law to attract them and to keep them. Knowing this, the
slaves of the Portuguese in Macan flee to China, where they have
their liberty and are well received. Father Fray Luis made one or
two conversions. Neither in Chincheo nor in Canton did they find
a trace of the galley which they sought, because it had gone to
Cochinchina. The mandarins in Chincheo played a trick upon them,
when the fathers asked permission for religious to go from Manila
to their country. Pretending to give it, the mandarins handed them a
plate of silver with some Chinese characters upon it, for which they
received large payment. The father obtained this money as alms from
the Spaniards who accompanied him on the voyage; but, when he showed
the plate in Manila, it was found only to give permission to buy food
there without hindrance. At the time of this journey father Fray Luis
was actually prior of the convent of Manila. On one Easter day he had
a vision of the Holy Spirit coming down upon all the religious of the
convent of Manila. After his term was at an end, he was assigned to
Nueva Segovia, where the faith had been newly planted.]
CHAPTER LXXIV
The silence, occupation, and virtues of father Fray Luis, and his
happy death
[Father Fray Luis had the three virtues which St. Ambrose, the
doctor of the Church, affirms to be fundamental ones: the power to
keep silence, the power to speak in due time, and the contempt for
worldly things. His habit of silence seemed excessive to some, but
when it was necessary he spoke with great spirit; and he so contemned
worldly things that, in spite of the high offices which he held in
the order, he had not even, as many good religious have, an image
or any other trifling thing of his own. When he was ambassador in
China, he left the rich table of Don Fernando de Castro and sustained
himself, as one in poverty, by the allowance granted to the poor in
China. Contrary to his nature, he was very humble. He was devout in
prayer, and careful in saying the divine offices. He distributed his
time with the greatest accuracy. He was most modest in the presence of
women, and, though he sometimes had to speak to them, he never looked
upon their faces. He was so charitable and tender-hearted that, when
the judges were about to execute any rigorous sentence, they always
concealed it from father Fray Luis, because they knew they could not
resist his prayers for pity and pardon. He could not bear offenses
against God, however willing to suffer wrongs to himself. He slept
on a mat on the floor of his cell. His pillow was a piece of wood
hollowed to make it light. Though the rules of the order permitted
him two blankets, one to lie on and the other to cover himself with,
he contented himself with one, folding it so that it would fulfil
both offices. He wore his serge tunic a month without changing it,
which in such a hot country causes great annoyance, because of the
great amount of perspiration. He said that custom had made it not
uncomfortable for him. He constantly wore a hair-shirt next his skin,
and over that a corselet of mail. In his extreme old age, the bishop
of Nueva Segovia compelled him to lay this last aside. He wore his
breeches in such a way that the fastenings cut into the flesh of
his legs. He was very sparing in his eating, giving his suppers,
when the constitutions permit them to us, to the poor; and his noon
allowance was more theirs than his. His lunch was two biscuit crusts
and a banana, or two guavas, when there were any; and except at these
times he neither ate nor drank. When he was vicar of the convent of
Nueva Segovia, a father visited him as his guest, bringing with him
two crawfish, which he boiled and put on the table; but father Fray
Luis would not permit them to be eaten, saying it was not a feast,
that they should have anything so unusual. He scourged himself every
night, with the energy which was his by nature. He was most patient,
and, though his body was mortified, his spirit was open to divine
influences. He had great power of insight into the souls of those
whom he saw. At one time he caused the bishop of Nueva Segovia, whose
vicar-general he was, to dismiss two youths of his household--saying
that he saw in them the marks of wickedness, and that one of them
was a thief and the other a traitor. This was not known at the time,
but the truth was afterwards discovered, one of them having ransacked
a desk of the bishop's and the other having been condemned to be
hanged for murder. When he was engaged in contemplation, his mind
was so absorbed that he could hear and see nothing else than the
visions of God. This life of penitence continued from his youth to an
old age of almost eighty years. In his last illness he was taken to
the convent of Sancto Domingo at Manila, where he died. Testimony of
miracles wrought by him during his life was given after his death. He
is mentioned with honor in the records of the provincial chapter of
1612 and in the general chapter held at Bolonia in 1615.]
CHAPTER LXXV
The election as provincial of father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho,
and the condition of the province and Japon.
On the thirteenth of May, 1612, father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho was
a second time elected as provincial, not because there was any lack
of religious of much virtue, knowledge, and prudence to take the place
of father Fray Baltasar Fort--who had just completed his term, and had
governed like an angel--but because father Fray Miguel had left all the
religious of the province so devoted to his good government that they
finally determined to elect him again. They regarded it as more prudent
to select one whom they knew by experience to be of great skill in the
government of the province, than to try the government of others who,
though they gave good hopes, could not offer so much certainty.
[At this time the bishop of Macan, Don Fray Juan de la Piedad,
was in Manila. He was a religious of our order; and when he saw the
interest of our religious here in the conversion of the Chinese, he
was desirous that some of the fathers of the order who understood the
Chinese language might be given to him to enter the kingdom by way of
Macan. Two fathers, Thomas Mayor--a very successful minister among the
Chinese race, and excellent in their language--and Bartolome Martinez,
were assigned for this purpose; but they met with so much opposition
at Macan from the religious of another order that they were unable
to carry out their purpose. Father Fray Thomas went to España, and
father Fray Bartholome returned to the Philippinas. Their voyage was
not entirely without fruit, inasmuch as it resulted in the conversion
of one Chinaman from Chincheo.
At this time, although our religious and the Christian people in
the kingdom of Figen in Japon enjoyed peace and quiet, there were
persecutions in other kingdoms of that realm. After the death of Father
Gregorio Cespedes of the Society of Jesus in the kingdom of Bugen,
in 1611, the tono of that region, who had protected Christianity
out of respect for the father, banished two other fathers who were
there, and tore down the churches. The tono of Firando martyred in
October of this year three Christians; and that of Caratzu, [2]
a cruel renegade, banished many. Thus the devil began that which
afterwards took place. The Lord gave warning, by means of crosses
miraculously found, of the persecution which was to occur. In this
year there went to Japon father Fray Alonso Navarrete and father
Fray Domingo de Valderrama, sent there by father Fray Baltasar Fort;
and in the following year father Fray Baltasar himself, at the end
of his term as provincial, went as vicar-provincial to this kingdom.
For a long time the emperor of Japon [3] had shown much dislike to
Christianity, and in the year 1612 he began to persecute it. Don
Pablo Dayfachi, the secretary of a man who was very intimate with
the emperor, received a great quantity of money from Don Juan, tono
of Arima, to help him in the recovery of some lands which had been
lost by his ancestors in war. Don Pablo, who was a Christian, could do
nothing for the cause of Don Juan, who complained to the emperor. The
emperor commanded that Don Pablo should be burned alive in the sight
of his wife, and that his son should be killed. The emperor thereupon
began to persecute the Christians, saying that deeds like these were
not done by the Japanese, and that Don Pablo had degenerated from
them because he was a Christian. Fourteen knights with their wives
and families and servants were exiled. The tono of Arima was banished,
because he had endeavored to get back by favors lands which others had
gained by war, and was finally executed. A certain English heretic,
named Guillermo Adam [i.e., Will Adams], who knew the Japanese
language and who pleased the emperor by giving him an account of
European affairs, vomited forth the hate which he felt against our
holy faith whenever he had opportunity. He told him that the plan of
the king our lord to conquer kingdoms is to send religious first,
that they may make the way plain for soldiers, citing for example
Nueva España and the Philippinas--although, in point of fact, neither
there nor here did religious precede, but invaders who intended to
conquer the country. In addition to this, Safioye, the governor of
Nangasaqui, had difficulties with certain fathers, and had complained
of them to the emperor. The result was that the hatred of the emperor
for Christianity grew greater and greater. He finally commanded all
the churches in that part of Japon known as Cami to be demolished,
and gave the same commands for the kingdom of Quanto. [4] He required
the Christians in certain parts of the country to deny their faith. A
number of the Christians proved weak; while of those who refused to
obey the commands some were martyred, some banished, and some driven
to the mountains. The conduct of the governors in different parts of
the country varied from very great rigor to as much kindness as was
consistent with obeying the commands of the emperor. The tono of Figan,
who had shown so many favors to our order, directed the religious of
our order to leave the kingdom, but did not at that time persecute
the Christians. The command to depart was received by the religious in
September, 1613. Two of the religious retained their habit, and went on
to Nangasaqui; but the third, disguising himself in Japanese costume,
fled to the country of Omura, and went about secretly animating and
encouraging the Japanese Christians. Don Miguel, the tono of Arima,
who had married a granddaughter of the emperor, [5] requested eight
gentlemen of his household to pretend to have abandoned the faith,
in order that he might satisfy the emperor that he had ceased to be
a Christian. Five finally consented. The other three were executed
with their wives and children, eight persons in all, in October,
1613. They were burned alive with a slow fire. The religious having
been driven out from nearly all the kingdoms and having assembled
in Nangasaqui, two of our religious were sent out to go secretly to
comfort the persecuted Christians, to hear their confessions, and to
celebrate the sacraments.]
CHAPTER LXXVI
The servant of God, Don Fray Diego de Soria, bishop of Nueva Segovia,
and one of the founders of this province.
[Among the most highly honored religious in this province a very
important place is taken by Don Fray Diego de Soria, second bishop of
Nueva Segovia. It was he who began the conversion in this province,
and who might therefore be called the father in Christ of that
church. Father Fray Diego was a native of Yebenes, near Toledo,
and professed religion in the convent of the order at Ocaña. Giving
signs of promise as a student and a preacher, he was sent to the
college of Alcala, where he continued to follow the rigorous rules of
the order forbidding the eating of flesh. When the holy and prudent
vicar-general, Fray Juan de Castro, assigned his companions to their
various duties, he gave father Fray Diego the chief place by making
him superior of the convent which was to be founded in the city of
Manila. The number of the religious at that time was so few that
the superior of Manila rang the bells, assisted in the singing, took
messages to the sacristy, and was general confessor of the many who,
influenced by the great virtue of the new religious (the Dominicans),
came to put their consciences in their care. The Lord had endowed
father Fray Diego with two qualities which appear to be opposed to
each other. The first was natural freedom of speech in rebuking evil
with great courage and zeal; the other was marked gentleness and
suavity of nature. At one time when the governor of Manila--who was
a very good Christian and a learned man [6]--was confessing to him,
a certain difficulty arose in which it seemed to father Fray Diego
that the governor had erred. When the governor strove to defend his
conduct, father Fray Diego said to him that in this matter he was,
although learned, not a judge but a party, and indeed defendant;
that in cases of conscience the confessor alone was the judge; and
that, after reflection, he had formed his conclusion, which was that
the governor's conduct could not be approved. He required him to
accept his decision or to seek a confessor elsewhere. The governor,
with tears in his eyes, professed his readiness to obey. At one time
when a very rich man was sick, and feared death and the judgment, he
sent to call father Fray Diego to him that he might confess; but the
father refused to go, sending back as an answer that the rich man must
return the tribute which he had wrongfully taken from an encomienda,
and must give the Indians there a minister. The sick man put himself
in father Fray Diego's hands, and thus his conscience was composed,
to the great advantage of the wronged Indians. When the bishop of these
islands, Don Fray Domingo de Salaçar, was about to set out for España,
he asked for father Fray Diego as a companion; but the governor at
that time [i.e., Gomez Perez Dasmariñas], being very different from
the previous one, refused to permit him to go to España, fearing
the freedom with which he might speak there. Father Fray Diego was
therefore sent to Pangasinan, where he learned the language of the
Indians; thence he went to Nueva Segovia, being the first minister to
the Indians there. Among them he made many conversions, especially that
of the most important Indian in that region, Don Diego Siriban. He was
afterward elected prior of Manila, and was then sent as procurator
to España. He went on his voyage in complete poverty, trusting in
the Lord for what he might need. He received enough not only for the
support of himself and his companion, but for the purchase of the
convent and garden of San Jacintho--where, from that time forward,
the religious who came from España to this province were lodged. This
was so important a matter that if father Fray Diego had done nothing
else for this province, this would have been enough to entitle him to
its gratitude and perpetual thanks, since it receives here a perpetual
benefit whenever new religious come. He had planned for other similar
prudent arrangements in España, but the province declined them for the
time, failing to see the advantage of them; and afterward, when they
were desired they could not be obtained, because there was no Fray
Diego de Soria in España. In that country, great and small thronged
to consult him in regard to spiritual matters, for he had singular
power in prudent counsel. He gave his chief attention to sending many
good religious to the Philippinas, and for this purpose went on to
Roma clad in the same lowly fashion as in his poor province. He was
very small of stature, and went clothed in a habit of serge which
was short and patched. In spite of his unfavorable appearance, he
made a great impression, not only upon the general of the order,
but upon the supreme pontiff, who at that time was Clement VIII. The
pope desired to retain father Fray Diego with him in Roma, in order
to put into execution the reformation of all the religious orders;
but the father was unable to remain, because he was very much occupied
with assembling religious for this province. It usually happens that
many of those religious who have purposed to come to the Philippinas
have fallen off; but in the case of father Fray Diego not one of those
who had been assigned and prepared for this journey failed him, while
many others came to see if they might be accepted. This happened at
the time of the great plague of 1601, which raged with especial fury
in Sevilla, where the religious were to assemble. Father Fray Diego was
highly regarded at court, especially by Queen Margarita. The bishopric
of Nueva Caceres in these islands was vacant, and was offered to father
Fray Diego, who declined to accept it because he did not understand
the language of the Indians of that region. But when the bishopric
of Nueva Segovia was offered to him, he could find no excuse for
declining it. It was desired to keep him in España in some bishopric;
but, as he wrote, he would not give up his poor apostolic bishopric
for the chief bishopric in España. When he became bishop, he did
not change his manner of living or lay aside his serge habit. The
only thing which he did to maintain his dignity as a bishop was to
keep one servant. He kept his pectoral covered with his scapular,
until the nuncio directed him to make his appearance more dignified,
and to wear his pectoral openly. His prudence was so highly regarded
that he was asked to carry the news of her mother's death to the
daughter of the Duchess of Lerma, the wife of the Conde de Niebla,
which he did with such discretion that she accepted her bereavement
with Christian resignation. On his departure from España, he brought
with him a good company of religious. On the way he was delivered,
as by the hand of God, from some Moorish galliots. When the others
were rejoicing at the opportunity of disembarking at the island of
Guadalupe to get wood and water, the bishop was in great anxiety, as if
he saw the evil that was to follow; and strove, but without success,
to keep the others from going on the land. The bishop disembarked,
and after saying mass instantly returned to the ship. The rest of the
religious, following the usual custom of those who go to that island,
remained till evening. Five of them lost their lives, and four came
back wounded, by the arrows of the Indians on that island. Somewhat
later, a storm attacking the fleet, some of the other vessels were
lost; but that in which the bishop was came safe to land--as it
seemed, miraculously. In Nueva España he inspected the convents of
the province, under direction of the pope, the general of the order,
and the king; and he performed this visitation with such justice
that even those who were grieved by his chastisement were obliged
to admit that he was a saint. On the way a mule laden with a number
of rich and exquisite pieces of cloth which had been given him in
España by many lords, and by the queen herself, for his pontifical
vestments, was drowned. All that the bishop said was Dominus dedit;
Dominus abstulit--"The Lord gave it, and the Lord has taken it away;
let Him be praised for all things." The muleteer was overcome with
shame; but the bishop consoled him, and caused him to be paid as if
he had delivered his entire load safely.]
CHAPTER LXXVII
The personal habits of Don Fray Diego de Soria and other matters in
regard to him up to his death.
[After reaching his bishopric, Don Fray Diego made a visitation of
it. Striving so far as possible to relieve the Indians of burdens and
of other labor, he made these visitations with as little baggage as
possible. He immediately paid those whom it was necessary to cause to
carry loads, and put the Indians to no expense whatsoever, even in
matters in which he might justly have done so. He constantly wished
to give them much, and not to ask even for the little which was his
due. He delighted in labor, and rejoiced particularly when there
were many to be confirmed. He observed the discipline and the rules
of prayer of this province. He rose at dawn and prayed until six,
when he said mass and gave devout thanks. If there was any business
to be done, he gave audience or attended to necessary matters. When
he was not obliged to attend to any of these occupations, he read
and meditated upon holy books and upon the sacred scripture and its
expositors. He did not generally write, but read and meditated, and
received the Lord. Thus he was occupied up to the time for saying
prayers at the sixth and the ninth hour; and then he ate some eggs
and fish, as if he were still in the convent of the order. After
his meal, he conversed with his companion upon some useful subject;
and, after resting awhile, returned to the exercise of prayer until
the time of saying vespers. Then, if necessary, he gave audience,
or engaged in works of piety; and then he returned to his sacred
reading and contemplation. He never had any other entertainment
or amusement, however lawful, nor did he go out to refresh himself
in the garden, or in the chase, or in fishing, taking pleasure in
none of these things. He made a personal visitation of his bishopric
every year, and confirmed many Christians, sending word beforehand,
that the ministers might prepare those who were to receive this holy
sacrament. He gave much to his church and to his convent of Manila,
in spite of the poverty of his bishopric, but gave very little help
to a poor brother of his. In the province of Pangasinan he gave great
alms, and sent a large sum of money to buy rice to be kept on deposit,
as it were, in the cities, and to be distributed in times of famine. He
spent but little upon the persons of his household, directing them to
eat as he did, twice a day, eggs and fish, and to be clothed plainly
as suited ecclesiastical persons. He lived in such poverty that he
sometimes lacked tunics to make a change. He was given to ejaculatory
prayer. At the festival of Pentecost in the year 1608, a dove lighted
on his head, which he was unable to drive away, the Lord thus showing
him honor. In the following year, at the celebration of this festival
in Abulug the dove came and sat upon the shoulder of the bishop. When
the fever with which his last illness began came upon him, he knew
that his death was approaching. So far as he could, he followed the
constitutions of the order even in his sickness. After twenty-seven
days of sickness, and twenty-seven years of labor in these regions,
his works were at an end, and he went to receive the reward of them. In
his last illness he gave to the college of Sancto Thomas, at Manila,
his library and three thousand pesos.]
CHAPTER LXXVIII
Father Fray Francisco Minaio and his death
[At this time the death of father Fray Francisco Minaio was much
regretted in the province. He was a native of Arevalo in Castilla la
Vieja. He assumed the habit and professed in Palencia, and was sent
to finish his studies in arts and theology to the convent of Sancta
Cruz at Segovia. He came to the province, very near its beginning,
with the bishop Don Fray Miguel de Benavides. He was assigned to
the province of Nueva Segovia, which was practically all heathen. He
labored much and with good results, and was stationed at the utmost
borders of the province, in the village of Pilitan. He learned
the language well, and was very devoted and compassionate to the
Indians. He labored most affectionately with the poor and sick, and
cared for the latter with his own hands. He and his associate, father
Fray Luis Flores, went about through all that region, searching for,
and burning the huts where superstitious sacrifices were offered to
the devil, who was consulted as an oracle in these places. These
huts were generally hidden among the mountains and crags in the
midst of bushes. The servants of God traveled over the rough paths,
and all the rest that they could take was in finding one of these
huts and in burning it. The devils were greatly angered by these
insults; and the Indians heard, in their fields, the complaints of
the devil because they believed in these men with white teeth. But
they were obliged to confess their weakness to the Indians, who in
this way were converted to the true faith. Father Fray Francisco,
not contented with work in these villages, began upon the conversion
of the idolatrous tribes of the great and spacious plains in the
neighborhood of Pilitan, which are known as Zimbuey. So diligent was
he that churches were built on those plains, and practically all were
baptized and became good Christians.] At one time when the father went
to visit them he found one of the principal chiefs of that country,
named Guiab, lying sick. He talked with him about matters of the
faith and his salvation; and Guiab, although he did not listen to
them with displeasure, was still unwilling to embrace them. Since
his sickness was not at that time severe, father Fray Francisco left
him, telling him that if his disease grew worse he should send for
him. Father Fray Francisco returned to his village of Pilitan. The
sickness of Guiab increased in severity; and the physicians who were
there--perhaps the aforesaid sorceresses--told him that the cure for
his disease consisted in killing a child and in bathing himself in
its blood. He immediately sent for the child; but so great was the
respect which they had for father Fray Francisco that, although they
supposed that the life of Guiab was departing, they were unwilling to
put this order into execution without first asking permission from the
father, and sent for some one to ask it. The father heard the message,
and, without letting the messengers return, went with them, fearing
that even if he refused his permission they would go on and kill the
child. At this same time Guiab heard, perhaps from the devil, that
the father was coming. He sent other messengers to say that there was
no necessity of the father's taking the trouble to go to the village;
that if he was not pleased that they should kill the child, they would
not kill it. This message reached the father while he was still on
the way, but he did not stop on that account, and kept on with all the
rest. When he entered the house of Guiab he found it full of people;
and immediately beheld there, weeping bitterly and hoarse with crying,
the child who was designed for the inhuman remedy which should slay its
soul. Full of pity, he told the sick man of the great error which he
was committing, and the frightful sin against God which would result;
the uselessness and unreasonableness of striving to obtain health for
an old man by bathing him in the blood of a child; the indignation
of the Spaniards if they should hear of this act; and the vengeance
which they would take for this unjust and cruel murder, if not upon
his person, at least upon his gold and treasure. Guiab admitted his
error, and ordered the child to be given to father Fray Francisco. In
the course of the father's conversation, Guiab received instruction as
to matters of the faith, which the father explained to him, taking as
the principle and subject of what he said the control of God our Lord
over the lives of men. The father took the child in his arms, and,
on his way back with him, he found a man tied fast to a ladder. This
was the father of the child, who was placed thus that he might not
interfere with the killing under the influence of his natural paternal
love. He had him untied, and left him in freedom and in great happiness
with his son. The sickness of Guiab was mortal, and the father taught
him thoroughly and baptized him. Following the directions of the new
Christian in his will, father Fray Francisco divided his gold among
his relatives, and gave liberty to many slaves whom he wrongfully
held. To the child whom the religious had ransomed (at the price
of six reals), he likewise gave baptism; and named him Feliz [i.e.,
"fortunate"], since he had been fortunate in being rescued from the
gates of eternal damnation, where he was already standing, and placed
by baptism in the beauty of grace and on the right path for glory. [It
could but be that the devil should burn with infernal wrath against
one who did so much against him; and that the Lord should reward him,
as He rewards His servants in this world, with sufferings which result
in their spiritual good. A bad man brought a false accusation against
father Fray Francisco of most nefarious wickedness, and supported it
with evidence so plausible that it seemed as if the father must be
guilty. The author of this charge exchanged a religious letter which
father Fray Francisco had written to his superior, for a forged one
very contrary to father Fray Francisco's real manner of writing. In
this way father Fray Luis Gandullo, at that time vicar-provincial,
was convinced of the truth of the charge. The innocent man took this
so much to heart that one day, when he was saying mass before his
Indians, he fainted and fell on the floor, as if he were dead. The
Indians fled from the church, in fear that they should be charged with
having caused the death of their minister. He was withdrawn from his
ministry and placed in confinement; but in the course of the trial
the truth was made clear, and father Fray Francisco was set free with
honor. Some years afterward, he was appointed prior of the convent at
Manila, and afterward, was very nearly elected provincial. He greatly
augmented the devotion to our Lady of the Rosary, and adorned her
image with rich vestments and jewels, and her chapel with a large
retable and other ornaments. He was not forgetful of the necessities
of the poor, and greatly increased the alms which were ordinarily
given at the door of the convent. After he had finished his term as
prior, he returned to Nueva Segovia. When he came back, the Indians,
learning that their good father and teacher had returned, came fifty
leguas to visit him. The Lord gave him a peaceful death, and he was
buried in the church of our father Sancto Domingo at Nueva Segovia.]
[End of Book I]
BOOK SECOND OF THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF THE HOLY ROSARY
CHAPTER I
The sufferings of the religious in Japon in the persecution which
arose against Christianity
[The church in Japon was like the primitive church as it was founded
by our Lord, which from the beginning suffered persecutions. The
first persecutions of the church were not so severe but that the
disciples when persecuted in one city could flee to another; thus, by
sinking its roots deep, it was able to endure the greater persecutions
which followed in the days of the Neros and the Domitians. All the
persecutions in Japon up to the year 1614 were like those in the
infancy of the early church--tempered, and without much shedding of
blood; and giving the ministers an opportunity, when they were expelled
from one kingdom, to flee to another. That which arose in this year
was like the universal persecution of the church. The emperor, seeing
that it was impossible to cut off the trunk of Christianity in Japon,
and that to martyr a few would only give the creed greater strength,
decided (perhaps advised by the devil) that it would be better and
easier to cut off only the roots--namely, the religious, by whose
teachings Christianity in Japon had been brought into existence and
was sustained. In the beginning of January in this year he sent out
an edict to all his tonos that the priests and religious in their
lands should be gathered together and sent to the port of Nangasaqui,
to the governor Safioye, to be put on board ship and banished to
Maccan or to Manila, so that not one should be left in Japon. After
this the rosaries, images, and other sacred objects were to be taken
from the Christians; and they were to be compelled to worship idols,
the disobedient being tortured and put to death. Great care was to be
taken that the bodies of the martyrs should not be permitted to fall
into the hands of the Christians, who might venerate them. This decree
was thoroughly carried out, and the Christians, deprived of ministers
and sacraments, went out of the cities and fled--some to the mountains,
others to caves, others to thick woods; and others set sail in little
boats for other countries. It made the heart burn simply to hear the
cruel destruction wrought by the emperor among the faithful. Some were
hung alive by one foot to high trees; others were tied to stakes and
exposed to the rigors of winter by night and by day; the ears and the
noses of others were cut off. Others were branded on the brow with hot
irons. Men and women were being put to shame by being exposed naked,
and chaste women were threatened with being sent to the brothels. Some
were put in sacks of straw, dragged about the streets and derided;
and others were hung up in panniers and baskets. Others suffered
confiscation of their goods, and were banished, all people being
forbidden to give them food or lodging. These last were, for the most
part, noble and rich persons who had been brought up in luxury. [7]
The religious, laying aside their habits, went in secret throughout
Japon, animating and strengthening the persecuted Christians to suffer
for the Lord. Among these religious there were three of our order.
In this extremity of persecution confraternities were formed, for the
mutual support of their members. They took pledges to be faithful,
and were likely to be of great use because the Japanese, being a
people who think much of their honor, would be ashamed to lapse
from such agreements and promises. They made many processions, and
subjected themselves to severe disciplines. On the second of June,
Safioye was visited by all the superiors of the religious orders,
whom he received with courtesy and a great show of kindness. As soon
as they had returned to their convents, he sent them word from the
emperor that they should prepare all the members of their order to
go to Macan or Manila in the following autumn; and an inspector was
sent to see that the mandate was carried out. All the officials of
the city of Nangasaqui were compelled to sign a paper to the effect
that they would not conceal any religious or secular clergymen, or
show them favor, or assist them to remain in Japon. It was pitiful
to see the Japanese Christians as the time for the departure of the
religious approached. On the fourteenth of October, our religious
tore up the crosses which had been erected, and burned them,
together with other things from the church, that they might not be
profaned by the heathen. After partaking of the holy sacrament on
the following day, they put out the lamps and left the altars. They
put on board the ships the relics and the bodies of the saints, and
most of the ecclesiastical ornaments and things from the sacristies,
though of these they left some to the Christians who were to remain
in hiding. They were able to take only a few of the bells. On the
twenty-fifth, they were ordered to leave the city for the port of
Facunda, till their ships should be ready. After they had set sail,
certain priests returned in small boats. There were five secular
priests out of seven. Six of the ten Franciscan priests remained,
and seven out of the nine priests of our order. Of three Augustinian
fathers, one remained. Of seventy priests of the Society, eighteen
or twenty remained. [8] More would have returned to land if it had
not been for the failure of one of the boats agreed upon. The names
of the fathers who remained are given in all cases, except in that
of the Jesuits. After the departure of the clergy, the profanation
of the churches was begun. The fathers disguised themselves as well
as they could, and went out upon their mission. Many of them were
obliged to remain in Nangasaqui and its vicinity, because the greater
number of Christians were there. They traveled secretly, however,
all over Japon. They labored chiefly at night, and suffered greatly,
being obliged to travel much, and lacking food and sleep.]
CHAPTER II
Father Fray Francisco de San Joseph Blancas
[Though father Fray Francisco de San Joseph was not one of the first
founders of this province, he came in the second shipload from
España. Because of his great virtue he is worthy of an important
place in this history. For this purpose it has pleased God that there
should come to my hands from the bishop of Monopoli, Don Fray Juan
Lopez, an accurate account of the first years of this father, which
follows. Father Fray Francisco was born at Tarazona in Navarra. His
parents were exceptionally pious. From his youth father Fray Francisco
showed signs of exceptional devotion. He fled from the sight of women,
and even declined to accompany his mother, excusing himself on the
ground of his studies. At the age of thirteen he was sent to Alcala
de Henares to continue his studies; and at the age of fifteen he
assumed the habit, and showed the behavior of a man at that youthful
age. An account is given of his sisters; and the testimony of persons
of superior virtue to the sanctity of father Fray Francisco is cited.
In course of time he came to be reader of arts in the religious
convent of Piedrahita, where he was made master of the students. He
had even greater gifts as a preacher than as a teacher, having a fine
voice, natural rhetoric and powers of action, a great gift of words,
good memory, and skill in systematic arrangement. He was master of
the hearts of all those who heard him. His first pulpit was that
of San Antonino at Yepes, and later he was appointed as preacher to
the convent of Alcala. While here he felt the impulse to go to the
Philippinas, and, in spite of the efforts of the convent to retain him,
he carried out his purpose. When he reached Manila, his superiors,
desiring that the Spaniards of Manila might not be deprived of his
great talents as a preacher, assigned him to the ministry of Bataan,
which is near Manila. Here he learned the common language of the
Indians, called Tagal, so rapidly that he was able to preach in it
within three months, and taught others the language within six. He
was constantly studying the exact signification of the words of the
language and the method in which the Indians used them, so that he
might become a consummate master of this tongue.]
It is their custom when they are rowing their boats, or when many
are gathered together on any occasion, to sing in order to beguile
and relieve their labors. As they had no others, they used their old
profane and even pernicious songs. He composed many songs in their
language, after their own manner of verse, but on sacred themes--for
he had a particular gift for this--and introduced these among them,
so that they might use them on such occasions. He hoped in this way
to make them forget their old ballads, which were useless or noxious,
without taking from them their pleasure--rather, indeed, to increase
their delight by the devout sentiments of the new songs. He wrote
many books of devotion for them; and since there was no printing in
these islands, and no one who understood it or who made a trade of
it, he planned to have the printing done by means of a Chinaman,
a good Christian. This man, seeing that the books of father Fray
Francisco were sure to be of great use, bestowed so much energy upon
this undertaking that he finally succeeded with it. He was aided by
some who told him what they knew, and thus in time learned everything
that was necessary to do printing; and he printed these books. [9]
[The good father so delighted in seeing the fruit of his teaching
among the Indians that when he was directed to come back to the city,
to preach to the Spaniards, it was a severe penance for him. However,
he did so, especially in Lent. He was very severe in rebuking vice,
and it gave him pain to be obliged to preach to vicious Spaniards,
as it seemed to him that he was toiling in sterile soil. He usually
came down from the pulpit bathed in sweat, but continued to wear his
heavy tunic and to observe the rules of the order rigorously. Although
he had seemed to be of delicate constitution in España, his health
was always very good, so that for more than twenty years during which
he was in this province he did not even have a headache, except once,
when he struck himself by accident. He spoke with intense energy, in a
grave, sententious, and clear manner. He learned the Chinese language,
in addition to the other two in which he preached; and he took as his
especial charge the duty of teaching the many negroes and slaves in
Manila. He was most humble, in spite of his great abilities. When
he was vicar-provincial of Manila, he received a letter from the
provincial, who was making a visitation in the province of Nueva
Segovia. He asked father Fray Francisco, as vicar-provincial, to see
if some of the religious in his district could not be spared for that
needy region. Father Fray Francisco, thinking that he was himself
the least necessary person in the district of Manila, took with
him one father as his companion, and set out for Nueva Segovia. In
the year 1614 he was sent to España as procurator of the province,
but died on the voyage to Mexico. Just before and after his death
his body gave signs by the beauty of its appearance of the sanctity
and purity of his life. He printed a grammar of the Tagal language,
and in that language he printed a memorial of the Christian life,
a book on the four last things, [10] another of preparation for the
communion, a treatise on confession, a book on the mysteries of the
rosary of our Lady, and another to teach the Tagal Indians the Spanish
language. He also left behind him many devout and valuable compositions
in the language of those Indians, particularly many sermons for Sundays
and saints' days, which were highly regarded because of their doctrine
and their language, which is very elegant and pure. He had also made a
collection of sermons in the Spanish language for a whole year, with
the purpose of printing them. The letter of the dean and chapter of
the holy church of Manila (dated May 12, 1614), given him as he was
about to set out for España, corroborates Aduarte's account of him,
and is therefore printed by that writer in full.]
CHAPTER III
Events in this province at this time
In the year 1615 this province, which from the beginning had sailed
with a fair wind, and had proceeded with the conversions which it had
undertaken in these Philippinas Islands without meeting any storm,
began to feel a hurricane which caused much anxiety and pain. It was
of great value in teaching the religious to open their eyes, and to
know that in dealing with heathen and new converts they should not
be content with the simplicity of the dove, but should strive to add
the wisdom of the serpent, as our Lord charged His disciples and His
preachers. Seven years only had passed since the village named Batavag,
which is the furthest village in the province of Nueva Segovia,
had been formed by assembling a population of mountaineers. Many of
these were still heathen; while the adult Christians (who were the
minority in the village) had been educated in their idolatries, and
therefore had not completely rooted out from their hearts their ancient
customs. Thus in time of sickness the former priestesses of the devil,
or witches, found their way into many of their hearts. These women,
coveting payment, came to offer on the part of the devil, health to
the sick if they would observe the ancient superstitions which he had
taught them. These sorceresses killed certain birds, anointed the sick
with their blood, practiced other superstitious ceremonies which the
devil accepted as a sacrifice, and performed other similar acts. Some
sick persons were guilty of these things in their desire for health,
not giving heed, since they were not firmly rooted in the faith,
to the grave offense which in this way they were committing against
God, the author of life and health; and not considering the injury
to the faith or the serious harm to their own souls and consciences,
which would follow. Yet their condition was such that they ought
to have considered this matter all the more carefully, as the death
that they feared brought them nearer to the time when an account of
all this would be demanded from them. If the evil had been confined
to this village, it would not have been very great, because Batavag
was small and had not a very large population, and a majority of the
adults were not yet Christian; but the evil spread to other villages
which were larger and older in the faith, such as Bolo, Pilitan, and
Abuatan, each of which had two thousand inhabitants or more. Hence
the matter was of greater importance, and caused more anxiety to
the ministers and preachers of the law of God. When they received
information as to what was occurring, they went with great secrecy to
make an investigation into the evil; and they wrote down the names of
the old aniteras or witches, in whom was the whole foundation of this
sin. One of the persons who took part in this investigation warned
the guilty old women in the village of Batavag; and they, to escape
the punishment which they feared, began to stir up the inhabitants
of that village. When the religious went there with the purpose of
remedying one evil, they found another greater one; for the people of
the village of Batavag were in tumult and alarm because of what the
witches had said to them, and had determined to flee to their mountains
and their ancient dwelling-places. They had been brought to the one
that they now had, that they might be more easily, and more to the
profit of their souls, taught and baptized and given the sacraments,
in sickness and in health; for so long as they were divided as they
had been, into tiny hamlets at great distances from each other, it
was impossible to do that. But being (as at this time they were)
disturbed and alarmed by the witches, and desirous of abandoning
the faith, they returned to their ancient sites, which more readily
permitted each one to live in the law which he preferred, and none in
that which would have been well for him. Yet, in spite of all this,
the religious had dealt so well with them, and had shown them so much
love and benevolence, that the Indians could not cease to feel and
to show kindness for them. Hence, though they were able to kill the
religious or to do them any harm they pleased, because the fathers
were alone among them without any other protection than their good
consciences--which is a great safeguard--the Indians not only did them
no harm, but laid hands on nothing of theirs or of their convent. This
was, as it were, a declaration that they had fled, not on account of
any harm that the ministers had done them, but on account of their
fear of the punishment which their bad consciences caused them to
dread--a fear increased by what the aniteras or witches, as the most
guilty, had falsely said to them with the purpose of alarming them. In
point of fact, the religious had had no idea of severe punishment,
but simply of remedying such pernicious evils. They pitied them as
being new in the faith, and pitied even the very witches as being
persons deceived by the devil, little exercised in the law of God,
and many of them not even baptized. The religious were greatly grieved
by this event, and carried down to the nearest village the adornments
of the church which they had there, taking with them some Indians
who feared God and did not wish to follow the pernicious behaviour of
those who fled from God to the devil. They made some efforts to bring
back with kindness those who had fled; and in this way some of them,
enlightened by God, returned to the bosom of the Church and the easy
yoke of the divine law. They made continual efforts to bring back
the rest, declining no labor, no journeys, and no discomforts, in
order to gain some soul from among these lost ones. The flight of
these Indians took place on the day of the ascension of the Lord,
May 28. Since they had retired into the mountains, the Spaniards,
as they were few, did not pursue them, deeming that on account of
the roughness of the country where they were the pursuit would have
little effect, and would cause many deaths, much suffering, and great
expense. Hence many of them remained apostates from the faith and
the baptism which they received, which is a cause of great grief.
On the nineteenth of the following month in the same year, ships
arrived from Mexico with thirty-two religious to aid in the work of
conversion upon which this province was engaged. On the following day,
Saturday, in the morning, they entered the convent, to the great joy
of themselves and of those who dwelt in it. Their vicar and superior
from Mexico hither had been father Fray Angel Ferrer, [11] who was
afterward a glorious martyr in Japon. When this company of religious
arrived in Mexico, he was vicar of the convent of San Jacintho, which
this province has near that noble city, as a hospice for the religious
who come to it from España. Since he who was conducting them [i.e.,
Aduarte] went back thither, father Fray Angel undertook the very useful
duty of conducting them to the Philippinas, in order that the former
might fulfil his office as procurator of the province. The Lord led
him, without his knowing it, that He might give him a glorious martyr's
crown, which he received a few years afterward, as will be told later.
These religious reached Mexico in the year 1613. Since in that year
there had been no ships from the Philippinas, it was necessary to
detain them there until the following year, with great risk that those
who were coming to these islands might remain in that kingdom, which
has so attractive a climate and is so abundant in all things; but as
these fathers did not come to seek for pleasures, but for the souls of
their fellow-men and labors for themselves, it was not hard to overcome
this and other difficulties which were met. To this good result the
excellent administration of the superiors greatly contributed, and the
constant occupation of the friars in holy exercises, prayer, fasting,
and disciplines. Thus they not only prevailed against the temptations
of ease and comfort, but were prepared so that the Lord might raise
them to higher things--some of them even to the glory of martyrdom,
which, as St. Augustine says, is the greatest glory of the church.
[In order to inspire in them a longing for these things, the Lord gave
them grace in the meantime to save some lost souls. Two notable cases
of this sort occurred, one in Cadiz and the other in Mexico. Two of
them rescued and returned to her convent, a wretched woman, eighteen
years old, whom a dissolute lieutenant had enticed from a convent
in Xerez. In Mexico there was a wretched man, a person of acute
intellect and learning, who had been guilty of an infamous crime
with a boy. He had refused to confess, and, when he was tortured,
had charged a number of innocent persons with complicity with his foul
actions. The president of the alcaldes de corte [i.e., "judges of the
high court"] was at this time Dr. Morga, who had a very kind feeling
for the religious of this province, since he had come to know them by
his long residence here as an auditor. By his assistance, and by that
of one of the officers of the prison, father Fray Pedro Muriel obtained
access to this unfortunate man; and by his wise and kindly conferences
softened his heart, so that he confessed his original guilt and also
his malice in making false charges against innocent persons. Both
before and after his execution, there were manifest signs that the
Lord had been pleased to grant him salvation. In the following year,
1616, father Fray Bernardo de Sancta Catalina, or Navarro, commissary
of the Holy Office in these islands, and one of the first founders of
the province, was a second time elected provincial. In the following
month, at a feast of the Visitation, there died in the city of Nueva
Segovia father Fray Garcia Oroz, a Navarrese by nation; he was a
son of the convent of our Lady of Atocha in Madrid, and a religious
old in virtue as in years. When he made his first efforts to come
to the province he had been hindered, but afterward carried out his
intention; and although, because of his years, he was unable to learn
the language, he was of great use to his companion who understood it,
by his assistance and by the good example of his life.]
CHAPTER IV
The life and death of father Fray Bernardo de Sancta Cathalina,
or Navarro
[The new provincial had but a short time in which he could exercise his
office, as he died in November of the same year, on the octave of All
Saints. Father Fray Bernardo was a native of Villanueva de la Xara. He
was much inclined from his earliest years to letters and the Church; he
assumed the habit in the convent of Sancta Cruz at Villaescusa. After
he had professed, he was sent to study in the college of Sancto Thomas
at Alcala, which was the highest honor that the convent could bestow on
a student. Here he so distinguished himself that the college gave him
charge of the conduct of a theological discussion in the provincial
chapter, which is the highest honor that a college can give its
theologues. While at the college, he did not take advantage of the
privilege of eating meat, which is granted to students in consideration
of their labors and study. He was a successful and beloved preacher,
and lived a life of the severest mortification. He was most devoted
to the holy sacrament. At one time when a sick person had received
the Lord and had afterward vomited forth the sacramental species,
which was carelessly swept into a rubbish-heap, father Fray Bernardo
rescued the precious treasure. He was most successful in uprooting
the vices of the villages in España where he preached. When he came
to this province he was one of the best of the ministers, and one
of those who labored in the conversion of these tribes with the
greatest results. He was assigned to be superior of the religious
who preached to the barbarian Indians in Pangasinan--an indomitable,
untamed, and bloody race; and above measure opposed to the gospel,
since that was above measure opposed to their vices, cruelties,
lewdnesses, superstitions, and idolatries. Noble religious were his
companions, eager to act and to suffer for the conversion of souls;
but father Fray Bernardo was the head and superior of these religious,
the one who first began to succeed in christianizing those Indians,
the one who perfected them and carried them on to a high state of
Christian excellence. His life and his doctrine were alike marvelous
and efficacious in influencing the souls of those Indians. He was
devoted to his charge, seeking alms from the Spaniards for his Indians,
and defending them with all his might from the wrongs which were
committed against them. It was only in defense of his Indians that
he was seen to give up his ordinary gentleness of demeanor, which was
like that of a dove. The Lord blessed his efforts for the conversion
of those Indians by miraculous healing wrought by his hands. He was
visited by the saints, in particular by our father St. Dominic and
St. Vincent Ferrer, who were seen to come and say matins with him. He
was given miraculous insight into the souls of those who confessed to
him; was miraculously preserved from fire and water; and had power
given him to see devils who had taken possession of those who were
confessing to him, or whom he desired to convert. It was declared
that he even had a vision of the holy Virgin. He lived a life of
abstinence, penance, and the greatest devotion; and translated into
the Indian language a hundred and fifty brief devout treatises. He
also wrote in their language a number of spiritual letters, afterward
collected by father Fray Melchior Pavia, who made a goodly volume of
them that they might serve as an example of the manner to be followed,
in writing to the Indians, by the religious who came after. In temporal
matters he likewise assisted those Indians in all ways in his power;
for in addition to their poverty they were his dearest sons, engendered
in Christ with mighty but successful labors.
Although father Fray Bernardo would have been pleased to be left
forever among his Indians, the province felt that it had need of him
for higher duties, and elected him as provincial in 1596. He gave
a noble example as head of the province, and was most wise, kind,
and prudent in his visitations. At one time, finding it necessary
to chastise one of his subordinates, he began the punishment upon
himself, compelling the guilty person to scourge him severely while
they two were alone. Then he proceeded to scourge the man who was in
fault, who, considering what had preceded, received his chastisement
with great humility and amended his life. The fervent love of God of
father Fray Bernardo was manifest in all that he said and did. The
high esteem in which he was held spread from the Philippinas to Nueva
España, so that the tribunal of the Holy Office in Mexico made him
its commissary-general in all these islands. On some occasions he
showed the gift of prophecy, foretelling the deaths of some persons,
or declaring the deaths of those who were at a distance. Once when
a governor assembled a great fleet against the Dutch enemies, he
was obliged to obtain the necessary revenue by great oppression of
the Indians and the poor, since the royal treasury did not yield
a sufficient amount for the undertaking. Father Fray Bernardo was
greatly grieved by this course of procedure, and strove to remedy
it without success. When the governor was about to set out, father
Fray Bernardo declared to him that he would never return; and, in
point of fact, he died in Malaca without ever seeing the enemy. [12]
The persecution in Japon was revealed to him before it occurred. Being
asked how he knew of the threatening danger, he said that he inferred
it from certain stars in the sky, which resembled a comet threatening
Japon. His companion when he had looked was unable to see any comet,
or anything like one. His love and charity kept constantly increasing,
and there were continually on his lips the words, "Let us love God;
let us love God." He sent what he could to the needy and persecuted
Christians in Japon, and wrote to Mexico to get such assistance for
them as he could obtain. He was always most loving and kindly to all
the religious.
At the end of his term as provincial, he would have been glad to live
and die among his children in Pangasinan, but was detained in Manila
by his duties as commissary of the Holy Office. Yet every year he used
to make a visit to Pangasinan, where he was received as an angel from
heaven, and sometimes carried almost by force to distant villages, by
Indians who came more than twenty leguas for the purpose. His arrival
was like a feast-day. The people crowded to confess to him, and to
listen to his spiritual exhortations. They put off the settlement of
their most weighty differences to submit them to his judgment. They
sometimes crowded about him to kiss his hand or his scapular so that
he could not move. When he was a second time elected as provincial,
his devotion to the duties of his office resulted in his death. The
stormy weather preventing him from going by sea to Nueva Segovia, he
made the journey by land, traveling through the swamps and lowlands of
Yllocos [13] and over the Caraballos, some rough and lofty mountains,
where he was caught by a baguio or hurricane. The rivers rose so
that he was unable to go on. Captain Pedro de Rojas, his son in the
faith, had gone with him to keep him company. The hardships of their
journey were such that both men fell sick; and father Fray Bernardo,
in fear of immediate death, kept praying to the Lord that he would
prolong his life until they reached a place where he could receive the
sacraments. Arriving in Abulug, Captain Pedro de Rojas was given up by
the physician; but the father, in spite of his advanced age, seemed
likely to recover. He was deeply grieved that he--who was of no use
in the world, as he said--should be saved, while the captain had given
up his life simply to accompany him. He prayed the Lord that he might
change places with the captain, who soon afterward began to amend;
while father Fray Bernardo within twenty-four hours fell sick again
in Camalayugan, and felt that his disease was mortal. On the eighth
of November, the octave of All Saints, he departed from this vale
of tears, to be with those who are in glory. His death caused great
grief in Pangasinan and Manila. Double honors were shown to him in
our convent, first as provincial, and second as commissary-general of
the Holy Office. At the latter service father Fray Antonio Gutierrez
preached, recounting much of what has here been written. After his
death, a religious had a vision of his soul going to glory. In the
provincial chapter in the following year, honorable mention is made
of father Fray Bernardo in a Latin eulogy, recording his illustrious
virtues, his marvelous success in the conversion of the province of
Pangasinan, and the sacrifice of his life to the duties of his office.]
CHAPTER V
The election as provincial of father Fray Melchior Mançano, and the
situation in Japon at this time.
When the sad news of the death of the provincial was learned, the
electors assembled at Binalatongan, a village of Pangasinan, on the
fifteenth of April, 1617, and elected as head and superior of the
province father Fray Melchior de Mançano, [14] who was at that time
vicar of the convent of the city of Nueva Segovia. He was a very
prudent and devout character, a professed son of the convent of the
order in Ocaña; and had been made, on account of his great ability
and his successful studies, a theologue at the college of Sancto
Thomas at Alcala. In this province he had governed many of the best
convents with great approbation; and his term as provincial was very
useful to the province, augmenting it greatly, as will be narrated.
[Now that the churches in all Japon were torn down and all the
priests expelled, as Safioye supposed, it seemed to him time to
begin the persecution of Christianity. The commencement was made in
the kingdom of Arima, which was under the direct government of the
emperor. The officers upon whom was laid the carrying out of this
persecution did their work with cruelty and insolence. When the news
of the beginning of the persecution reached Figen, twenty courageous
Japanese went from Nangasaqui to Arima to confess the faith, and died
a glorious martyrdom. Some others who purposed to follow in their
footsteps had not the courage, and recanted when they saw the dreadful
torment which awaited them. As soon as father Fray Thomas del Espiritu
Sancto, or Zumarraga, the vicar-provincial of our religious who were
in hiding, heard of this persecution in Arima, he despatched father
Fray Jacintho Orfanel to go to the aid of the persecuted Christians,
and soon afterward sent father Fray Juan de Los Angeles Rueda to go
thither also. They were followed by the father commissary of the Order
of St. Francis, with three other religious of his order. The efforts
of the religious in hearing confessions, giving the sacraments, and
comforting and strengthening the persecuted Christians, were of great
value. It seemed unwise, however, to enter the city of Arima itself,
where guards had been set to prevent entrance and egress; for if the
emperor should learn that any religious had remained in Japon, the
persecution was likely to be very much more severe. The Christians in
Nangasaqui prepared themselves, and were prepared by the religious,
for the beginning of the persecution in that city. When everything was
ready, the persecution was suspended on account of a war between the
emperor and Fideyori, the son of the previous emperor and the true heir
to the throne. [15] The officers contented themselves with publicly
burning a great number of rosaries, crosses, and other Christian
emblems taken from Arima. Father Fray Alonso Navarrete had assumed
the dress of a Spanish layman and was beaten for trying to rescue from
the fire some rosaries. Our religious obtained the sacred relics of a
number of the blessed martyrs. The emperor was victorious over Fideyori
by treachery. During the progress of the war the Christians had peace;
and the fathers did a mighty work in strengthening their courage, and
in perfecting them in the faith. Many, however, of the Christians,
for the lack of ministers, had begun to forget the matters of the
faith and even their own Christian names. Some of the Franciscan
fathers were captured, and thrown into prison; but the fathers of our
order escaped. After the fall of Usaca and the disastrous close of
the war, the persecution broke out again. The fathers were scattered
among various kingdoms, but were prevented, by the very close watch
which was kept, from entering Satzuma. The father vicar-provincial
alone, with father Fray Francisco de Morales and father Fray Joseph,
remained in Nangasaqui, going out at night only, in secular dress. This
lasted until the death of the emperor, in the year 1616. Nangasaqui
being the metropolis of Christianity in Japon, where the number of
Christians was greatest and their spirit resolved and determined,
the emperor did not dare to treat the Christians there with as much
severity as elsewhere. In spite of the exposure of our ministers
in Japon, not one of the members of our order died a natural death,
but all were crowned with the crown and aureole of martyrdom.]
CHAPTER VI
The great devotion in Japon to the rosary of our Lady; the death of
the emperor, and the state of the church there.
[In the beginning of the year 1616, the confraternity of our Lady
of the Rosary, which had been established in 1602, when the order
of our father St. Dominic entered Japon, was very greatly increased,
and the devotion to the rosary became much more intense. This order
and the devotion connected with it spread from Nangasaqui through all
parts of Japon, and much improvement in the lives of those who devoted
themselves to the rosary was perceived. Miraculous strength was also
given to the members of the confraternity to hold to their faith. In
July the emperor died by poison, which was given him by mistake
from a box of medicine. The emperor being succeeded by his son,
Xogunsama, [16] the persecution was continued, and even increased
in severity, the officers exerting themselves to invent ingenious
tortures. Sometimes the very tormentors themselves, though they
did not abandon their idolatry, were compelled by the virtue of the
martyrs, and the aid rendered them by the Lord, to admit the truth
of our holy faith. Particulars are given of the deaths of a number of
martyrs. In course of time the persecution extended to Nangasaqui. It
was discovered by accident that there were religious in the city. This
was one cause for the beginning of the persecution. Another cause
was the contentions of two governors in the city, one Christian and
the other heathen. [17] Great efforts being made to capture some of
the religious, father Fray Pedro de la Asumpcion of the Order of
St. Francis, and Father Juan Baptista Tavora of the Society, were
caught and suffered martyrdom, being decapitated May 22, 1617. This
caused great joy among the religious, who had feared that, if they
should be captured, they would merely be sent out of the kingdom,
but were now encouraged to hope for the crown of martyrdom.]
CHAPTER VII
The expedition of father Fray Alonso Navarrete, vicar-provincial of
our order in Japon, and father Fray Hernando de San Joseph, or Ayala,
vicar-provincial of the order of our father St. Augustine, for the
aid of the Christians of Omura.
[The persecutors were satisfied with these deaths, thinking that they
would frighten the ministers of the gospel and either drive them out
of Japon or greatly curtail their activity. May 24, 1617, on the eve
of Corpus Christi, father Fray Alonso Navarrete, vicar-general of our
order, set out for Omura, where the other priests had been martyred,
with the purpose of openly preaching the gospel there. He took with him
a courageous Japanese servant named Pablo. The landlord of his house
also volunteered. Father Fray Hernando de San Joseph, vicar-provincial
of the Augustinian order, who was his close friend, decided to
accompany him. After examining their consciences carefully, father
Fray Francisco de Morales of our order approved their enterprise.]
CHAPTER VIII
The capture of the holy martyrs
[The two fathers set out, traveling slowly, encouraging the Christians
and recovering some of those who had recanted. The number of those
who came to be confessed was very great, and the religious heard
their confessions at the risk of their lives. The fathers rejoiced
to lay aside their secular garments; and the Christians who saw
them in religious habits were greatly delighted. Five persecutors
came to arrest the fathers, who received them with great joy and
gave them presents. Father Fray Alonso wrote a letter to the tono,
informing him that the fathers had come to give him an opportunity
to repent of his great sin in martyring the fathers who had been
executed, and to deliver him from the pains of hell. Some Japanese
boldly offered themselves for martyrdom. The Christian inhabitants of
the city showed the greatest devotion to the fathers, crowding about
them and offering themselves for martyrdom with them; and they showed
the greatest grief at the thought that the fathers were to be taken
from them by death. The tono of Omura was in the greatest grief and
perplexity, feeling that there would fall on him the obligation to
martyr Christians after Christians who would come to offer themselves
in his kingdom. He finally determined to take their lives, but with
the greatest secrecy, in order to prevent an uprising in the city. The
fathers were accordingly taken to a desolate island named Usuxima; and
in spite of the efforts of the heathen to keep the place secret, they
were followed by a great number of Christians, who confessed to them.]
CHAPTER IX
The death of the three holy martyrs
[From this island the three fathers were removed to another named
Coguchi. They received with great joy the news that they were to
die, and were carried to another island still more solitary. Here
they showed great courtesy and kindness to those who were to slay
them. They left letters for their provincials, desiring them to send
religious to Japon at any cost. In spite of the care of the tyrant,
some Christians were present at the execution. The two were beheaded on
Thursday, the first of June, the octave of Corpus Christi. Their very
executioners looked upon them at such men of virtue that they dipped
their handkerchiefs and bits of paper in their sacred blood, to keep
these as relics. The bodies of all the martyrs were put in coffins
laden with stones, and cast into the sea. In spite of the danger, many
Japanese went to the place of the martyrdom to venerate the relics of
these saints; and the Confraternity of the Rosary offered continual
prayers that they might recover the bodies of these holy martyrs. At
the end of two months the bodies of the holy and blessed Fray Pedro
de la Asumpcion and Fray Hernando were cast up on the shore.]
CHAPTER X
The virtues of these blessed fathers, their fitness to obtain the
crown of martyrdom, and the fruits which followed therefrom.
[The holy Fray Hernando was especially devoted to the souls in
purgatory, and gave a notable example of poverty and obedience to the
rules of his order. Father Fray Alonso was very pious, almsgiving,
and compassionate. Although the lords in Japon are very rich, the poor
people are very needy; so that the heathen often slay their new-born
children, and the Christians cast them out in the street. The heart
of the holy man was so afflicted by this that, at his persuasion,
a Spanish captain named Pablo Carrucho settled a certain income
upon the pious work of maintaining these children. Just before
his death the holy martyr, not forgetful of this, wrote a letter
to the captain, urging him not to forget the alms for the exposed
children. Father Fray Alonso was one of the first ministers of Nueva
Segovia; he returned to Europe, to bring with him a number of new
religious to the Philippinas. After he had been assigned to Japon
he once returned to the Philippinas. He suffered greatly in these
voyages, since he was of delicate constitution. He was a charitable
and most beloved minister, very bold, and especially distinguished
for his gratitude. From this martyrdom the Christians of Nangasaqui
received new courage, as did also those of Omura, who were greatly
strengthened in the faith. Some, indeed, who had feared to do so
before, boldly confessed Christianity. Throughout Japon the example
of this martyrdom was a great source of strength to the Christians,
and forced the heathen to respect the Christian faith. The heathen
also were cured of their error of supposing that the fathers had come
to this region because of temporal ambitions. The persecution which
was feared in Nangasaqui ceased when the courage of the holy men was
seen. The last result of this martyrdom was the many more martyrdoms,
which soon followed, of those who by the example of these saints
openly avowed Christianity. The names of several of the confessors
and martyrs are given, with a brief account of their deaths.]
CHAPTER XI
The state of affairs in Japon after the martyrdom of the saints Fray
Alonso Navarrete and Fray Hernando de Ayala.
[After the martyrdom of these holy religious the Christians of Omura,
ashamed of their weakness, desired to follow their example. Father
Fray Thomas del Espiritu Sancto and father Fray Juan de Los Angeles,
religious of our order, and father Fray Apolinario Franco, commissary
of the Order of St. Francis, went to take spiritual charge of these
Christians in Omura. Fathers Fray Apolinario and Fray Thomas were
arrested, with their servants, and imprisoned. Father Fray Juan de Los
Angeles was not found. The landlord of father Fray Alonso Navarrete
in course of time won the crown of martyrdom by the boldness of his
confession; and he and another Christian were carried to an islet,
and secretly executed at midnight on the last day of September. The
tono of Omura, in perplexity, went to the court of the emperor to
confer with him in regard to the questions raised by the arrest of
the two fathers. The Christian faith extended, and some remarkable
conversions of persecutors took place. The holy fathers suffered
in prison from the rigors of winter, having been deprived of their
clothes, and having no bed or any protection against the cold; for the
prison was made of wood, and did not protect them against the cold,
wind, or snow. They suffered equal tortures from hunger, having but a
small ration of boiled rice without other food--the Christians having
been forbidden to assist them.]
CHAPTER XII
The building of the church of Los Sanctos Reyes in the Parian
As soon as the order entered these islands, it took upon itself the
charge of evangelizing and teaching the Chinese who came to these
islands, every year, in pursuit of their business and profit. They
all lived in a sort of alcaicería, or market, called in this country
a Parian; and here there were usually ten thousand Chinese, and at
times as many as twenty thousand. Here they not only store their
merchandise, which is very rich, but maintain all the trades required
for a very well ordered and provided community. They were at that
time all heathen, because up to that time as soon as any Chinaman
was converted and baptized he was obliged to leave this idolatrous
place and to go to live in another village, of baptized Chinese,
which was near there. In this way the effort was made to separate the
newly-baptized from the heathen, so that they might not follow the bad
example of their heathen neighbors while their Christianity, being
new, had not sufficient strength to resist this temptation and free
themselves from the danger of this scandal. The town of the heathen
was not forgotten on this account; for the religious went from the
town of the Christian Chinese, called Binondoc, where they lived,
to preach every Sunday to those who lived in the Parian. This course
was followed up to the year 1617, when it was remarked, with reason,
how advantageous it would be that preachers should be constantly in
residence in this multitude of people. Thus by having more intercourse
with them, and being in closer relations with them, they might reap a
greater spiritual harvest among the Chinese, and the number of those
who should be baptized, in both sickness and health, might be greatly
increased. The father provincial conferred with the two estates,
ecclesiastical and secular, receiving the approval of everyone. The
usual licenses were obtained, and a small wooden church and convent
were begun. Everything was done at the expense of the order, that
it might not be necessary to ask anything from the heathen Chinese,
for whose benefit and advantage the buildings were erected. The Lord
straightway began to manifest that the work was very acceptable to Him,
by showing marvelous favor to a Chinaman who was occupied as overseer
of the building. A Spaniard, enraged because he had been bitten by
a dog, asked the Chinaman "whose dog that was," intending to avenge
upon the owner the pain which the dog had caused him. The Chinaman
answered that he did not know whose it was, and the angry Spaniard
said: "It must be yours, because you do not tell me." Drawing his
sword he thrust it at his chest; but the Lord, who was pleased with
the care which the Chinaman gave to the building of His poor temple,
guided the sword so that it struck an ebony cross which the Chinaman
wore under his clothes. The blow made a deep mark upon this cross,
while the Chinaman was untouched--the Lord receiving the thrust
upon His own cross that it might not harm His votary. The Chinaman
recognized this as a very special mercy, and a great reward for his
labor; and he and all those who knew of the fact praised the Lord,
wonderful in His works.
The poor church was finished, and being the edifice of those vowed to
poverty it lasted but a short time. The beams which served as columns
and held up the building were not strong, and the soil was marshy and
unstable; hence the beams were unable to carry the load of the tiling,
but gave way, in such a manner as to threaten the downfall of the
church. To prevent this, so that no one might be caught beneath, it
was planned to take down the tiling; and while the church was being
untiled, and there were nineteen persons on the roof, the building
(which was already on the point of falling) broke open with this
additional weight, and the whole roof came down--key-beams, ridge-pole,
and tiles. Even some of the largest beams were broken into very small
fragments; and many of those who were on the peak of the roof were
caught and buried in the lumber and tiles, so that of some there
was nothing to be seen except some part of their clothing. A great
multitude of people ran to the noise. Most of them were heathen, and
stood looking on with much alarm at the ruin which had been wrought;
but they did not dare to show any kindness, or to disinter the poor
workmen who had been overwhelmed. Hence the men remained for a long
space of time covered in this way, all supposing that they were not
only dead, but horribly mangled. However, this was not the case;
for the Lord was desirous of teaching these heathen the omnipotence
of His providence and the care that He takes of those who serve Him;
and all were taken out, unconscious indeed, but uninjured and in
health, without the slightest wound upon any one of them, although
some very heavy key-beams had been broken to pieces. They soon came
to themselves and gave thanks to Him who had so marvelously preserved
them; while all those present, who were innumerable, both Christians
and heathen, were astonished, and the heathen said aloud: "Great is
the providence of the God of the Christians." Thus the Lord drew from
these His enemies the highest praises, and changed into honor to His
name that which might have caused offense among these idolaters if
these men had been killed while working on the house of God. It was
believed that the fervent prayer of father Fray Bartholome Martynez
aided much in bringing about this result; for the work was going
on under his direction, and when he saw that a good account of it
could not be given, if the Lord did not remedy this misfortune, he
begged this grace of Him most affectionately. And this was not the
only time when the Lord granted to his faithful and devout prayers
very marvelous things, as will be narrated in due time.
A small portion of the land belonging to the convent was made ready to
serve, as well as possible, for a tiny church for the few Christians
who were there. The harvest reaped here by the religious, in this
multitude of heathen and idolatrous people, was marvelous. They taught
them constantly by day and night in the church, in the squares, in
their houses, without losing an opportunity to do them good--though
they labored beyond their strength, trusting in the Lord whose work
they were doing. Marvelous results immediately followed, to the great
service and honor of the Lord and the profit of souls. Of the many
sick in the Parian, who before the residence of the fathers had all
departed in their heathen state, now, since they have had these devoted
fathers among them and have heard their teaching, practically none
have died without being baptized. Such is the fruit of the fathers'
care in expounding the faith to them, explaining to them the great
good and the spiritual benefit of baptism, and the eternal misery of
those who have neglected it. Often even the heathen relatives and
friends of the sick have persuaded them to be baptized; and they,
like the persons of their own nation whom the fathers have appointed
for that purpose, take great care to ascertain if there are any sick,
and to inform the fathers, that the latter may visit them and teach
them the way to heaven.
In addition to these who are baptized in sickness, many are baptized in
health and take back the news of the gospel to their own country. In
this way, it is hoped, the entry of preachers into China will be
somewhat facilitated, if it is once known that we are persons who,
in addition to loving and helping them, are not desirous for our
temporal profit, but for the good of their souls. This is an argument
of great weight with the Chinaman, who is excessively avaricious,
and hence regards as a very divine virtue the contempt of that which
he esteems so highly. Since they are very intelligent, they are easily
persuaded that that is truth which we preach to them as to the great
reward in the other life for those who are good, since they see that
their preachers take such pains and undergo such penances to become
good, and despise all temporal gain in the firm hope of an eternal
one. If their eternal reward were not to be much the vaster, great
would be their imprudence to cast aside for it all temporal reward;
and they would be, as the apostle has said, of all men most miserable.
Father Fray Bartholome Martynez afterward erected on the same site a
sumptuous and handsome church, which was intentionally made large and
capacious, that there might be room in it for the many whom he hoped to
baptize; and beautiful, that the very magnificence of the edifice might
give some sign by its appearance of whose it was. In order that it
might please the Chinese better, it was constructed entirely after the
manner of the best buildings in China, out of wood, the pieces framed
together with joints, without any nails in the entire frame. This
was accomplished, in spite of the fact that the number of pieces
which entered into the frame came to more than three thousand. They
were wrought with marvelous skill, and with superior craftsmanship;
indeed, before they began to be put in place they were all shaped,
with their joints so fitted that, although the architect at the time
of erecting the building happened to be unable on account of illness
to rise from his bed, and had to give his directions from it as to
what had to be done, yet everything was found to be so exact that
his presence was not needed. Everything was fitted exactly as it was
planned and worked out by the designer from the beginning. This is
something which aroused great admiration in the Spanish architects
who saw it, and they were amazed, and with reason. It is reckoned
a matter worthy of the wisdom given by God to Solomon that the same
thing is recounted of the temple which he built, as is narrated in
holy scripture. The architect was a heathen, very old and infirm;
but God prolonged his life until this work was finished. Afterward,
as his illness grew worse, he asked for holy baptism; and, having
received it devoutly, he died happy in being a Christian, and was
buried in the church which he had built for God.
[While the church was being built, some very notable events
happened. One Sunday, after the Christians had heard mass, they and
a number of heathen who helped them were dragging a very large beam
which was to serve as a column in the building. As they went down
a little hill, it began to roll on some round sticks which they had
placed under it in order that they might move it with less difficulty,
and came at one of those who were dragging it with such force that,
as it seemed, he could in no way avoid being caught by it. The Lord
heard the prayers of some religious who were present, and delivered
him from his danger. In the same church the workmen were setting up
the beams which were to support the four corners of the transept like
columns--which beams were much larger, longer, and thicker than any
of the others. A great number of people were stationed on each of
the four sides of one, to draw it so that it might go straight. The
cables which they used were new and heavy, and there was a workman
seated on the head of the beam to watch the hitches of the cables to
be sure that they did not slip. The weight of the beam was so great
that one of the cables gave way, and when it was broken the others
began to become loose. The workmen dropped their work and fled in
alarm, leaving the man on the head of the beam beyond help, as it
seemed. Father Fray Bartholome Martinez prayed to the Lord for this
man, and the beam rested upon some bamboos standing there, which were
strong, but not strong enough to carry such a weight; and the man got
down by them unhurt, but with his blood curdled by fright. The church
was finished and was most beautiful, being a notable piece of work in
its style. It caused great joy to the Spaniards, and to the Chinese,
both Christian and heathen. In the course of time another event which
greatly edified these Chinese occurred; for on Monday, March 13, 1628,
at one o'clock at night, a fire broke out in the Parian which burnt
down practically the whole of it--since it was at that time built of
reeds and nipa, or of dry boards, which burn like a torch. The only
houses saved were some which were protected by green trees, and some
other small ones which were somewhat isolated. The fire bore directly
toward the church, and had already begun to scorch the wood of it,
when the religious carried out the image of our Lady of the Rosary,
and turned her face toward the fire. The wind instantly changed,
and the church was saved. Although in the construction of this most
beautiful church care had been taken to build it of durable wood,
yet within a few years some of it rotted, and it seemed as if it
would be with this church as with the others. Hence it was deemed
necessary to tear it down, for fear of accident; and another church
was built, with strong pillars of stone.] Since this is very near the
city, we did not fail to build it with stronger frame. But it is very
beautifully decorated, its walls being covered from top to bottom with
paintings, in which is depicted everything which may instruct these
heathen in the knowledge of that which is of consequence for them to
understand. There is represented the whole life of Christ our Lord,
and His most holy Mother; there are many pictures of the judgment,
purgatory, glory, and hell; much instruction as to the seven holy
sacraments; many miracles pertaining to them, and especially to the
greatest of all; many martyrs, and many holy examples. All this,
in addition to beautifying the church, is of great use, serving as
devout books wherein these people (who are very inquisitive) may see
and understand that which is taught to them by word of mouth; and very
great benefit is thus wrought for them. Many incidents have occurred
which have made clear the great usefulness of having this church in
the midst of this idolatrous population, to preach the true God with
so loud a voice that it may be heard in the great kingdom of China,
and may dispose it to be converted.
[One of those who had been baptized here was accused, when he returned
to his country, of being a Christian. When the Christian replied that
there was nothing evil in Christianity, the judge asked him how he
could say that being a Christian was not evil. He handed the judge
a little card printed in the Chinese language, containing the first
prayers, the ten commandments, and directions for works of charity,
and told him that this was the Christian law. The judge, when he
had read it over, dismissed the Chinaman, retaining the card, and
saying: "Who has deceived me by saying that Christianity is evil? On
the contrary, it is very good." Thus the knowledge of Christianity
spreads in that great kingdom. The Lord wrought miracles in defense
of the new converts, punishing with death a heathen who had insulted a
Chinaman that had given up his litigious habits after his baptism; and
other miracles of healing and protection were wrought, and marvelous
conversions took place, evidently by the hand of God.] There have been
baptized in this church, from the year 1618, when baptisms began, up to
the year 1633, when this is written, four thousand seven hundred and
fifty-two Chinese, all adults. Of these, two thousand and fifty-five
were baptized in health, and two thousand six hundred and ninety-seven
in sickness, in addition to some whose names were accidentally omitted
from the registry. Since that time [18] baptisms have continued at
a proportional rate, where, before they had the church, all died
in their idolatry, and there were very few who went hence in health
to be baptized in other churches. Such persons usually went to our
church in Minondo for the Christians of their nation; but those who
went from the Parian were very few, because they did not at that
time have the constant intimacy and stimulus of the presence of the
religious, as now. The result has been a very great increase of the
affection which the Chinese have always felt for our order, and the
high regard which they have for our holy faith. This is so great that
even the heathen, who themselves are not baptized because of worldly
considerations, generally desire the sick with whom they are connected
by relationship or friendship to become Christians. Hence it is rare
that anyone dies in this great multitude of heathens without first
being baptized; while those who return to their great kingdom give
in it a very good report of our faith and of the doctrine of Christ,
to the no small credit of our religious community, with the members
of which they generally have most to do, and receive from them the
greatest benefits, both in spiritual and in temporal matters; for we
are often able to be of assistance to them. They recount all this
in their own country; and this is an excellent preparation for the
rapid advance of the holy gospel, which has already entered it.
CHAPTER XIII
Some missions sent to various kingdoms
[Since the establishment of this province was intended not only for the
Philippinas, but also for the neighboring heathen kingdoms, advantage
was taken of every opportunity to send out religious to these other
kingdoms. Our order had planned to labor in the conversion of the
kingdom of Macasar, whose king manifested some signs of desiring
to have religious sent to him. This kingdom is very powerful, and
has a large population. The people of it have an excellent natural
disposition, which is a good foundation for the faith; but, because
of disturbances which arose, this mission did not take effect.
The religious not only of this province, but of España and Nueva
España, have had their hearts set upon the conversion of the kingdom
of China, the population of which is of incredible vastness, and the
people there exhibit very acute intelligence and have an excellent
civilization and government. They even establish their authority in
all the neighboring kingdoms: Corea, Siam, Camboja, Cochinchina,
and others; and they communicate their system to these as far as
possible. Their character and their moral doctrines also fit them
for the gospel. In spite of the failure of previous efforts to enter
this kingdom, our religious were not discouraged. In this year (i.e.,
1618) an opportunity was offered when the governor, Don Alonso Fajardo
de Tença, was about to send an embassy to inform the Chinese that
their enemy and ours, the Dutch, had taken up their station in the
straits through which the merchant vessels of China sail on their way
to this city, richly laden; and that the enemy intended to capture
and pillage the ships there. Our order was asked to send a religious
who understood the language, and who had worked among the Chinese
in the islands; father Fray Bartholome Martinez was chosen for the
post. After some days sailing the vessel met with a furious storm, in
which it lost the mainmast; and afterward struck upon a large rock,
losing the rudder and part of the poop. Some leaped into the water,
and some made their way to land in the boat; the rest remained on
board the vessel, and father Fray Bartholome remained with them to hear
their confessions. The next morning they all succeeded in getting to
land, not far from Pangasinan. Here father Fray Bartholome preached
to the Chinese who had come to that region to carry on business,
and succeeded in converting twenty. From Pangasinan he made his
way with great difficulty to Nueva Segovia, where he was directed
to embark in another royal vessel, and to carry out his embassy by
way of Macan. On this voyage they also met with dreadful storms,
and he landed twice on the island of Hermosa. This island had not
yet been taken possession of for his Majesty; but the Lord willed
that the father should see it and carry to Manila a full report as to
its character, the result of which was that the island was afterward
acquired. He finally reached Macan, where he met with so many obstacles
to carrying out his mission that he was obliged to return to Manila,
and thus failed to gain that entry into China which he had desired.
At the same time, another mission was planned to the kingdom of Corea;
for it seemed likely that there would be a great and noble conversion
in that kingdom, the people of which have a very good character by
nature, being very simple, and free from duplicity and deceit. That
kingdom is between Great China and Japon, so near to each that it
is separated from them only by some very narrow arms of the sea,
like large rivers. The people have the intelligence and ability of
the Chinese, without their duplicity. They are for the most part
tillers of the soil. They have some of the valor of the Japanese,
without their ferocity. It happened in 1593 that Taycosama determined
to make war against this kingdom of Corea, in order to strengthen
himself by diminishing the power of some princes of his own state,
whom he sent to make this war at their own expense. The war was most
cruel and destructive, and the kingdom of Japon was full of Corean
slaves. [19] Among these was one who was converted and who came to
Manila. The father of this convert (who was called Tomas) reached the
post of secretary to the king, and, taking advantage of his wealth
and high office, spared no pains in the search for his son. The son,
in spite of his love for his native country and his father, and the
hope of the wealth which he would have if he returned, was still
more devoted to his own soul; and was therefore unwilling to return
to his own country without taking with him some religious. The father
provincial, thinking this a good opportunity to begin this conversion,
assigned three religious, who set sail, on the thirteenth of June in
this year (i.e., 1618) in a ship for Japon, since there was no ship
direct to Corea. At Nangasaqui the officials, detecting the purpose
of the religious, detained them and finally prevented them from going
on. Tomas was obliged to go on without them, promising to send for
them; but affairs in Japon became so disturbed that nothing more was
ever heard of him. Two of the three religious who were to go to Corea
returned to Manila. The third, father Fray Juan de Sancto Domingo,
remained in Japon and learned the language, that he might aid the
afflicted Christians there; and he was rewarded by the Lord with the
palm of martyrdom.]
So eager was the province to extend our holy Catholic faith throughout
all regions, to introduce it into the kingdoms of the heathen,
to enlighten their souls and show them the way to heaven, that the
Lord aided them by sending in this year twenty-four new laborers,
religious who had been gathered in España by Father Jacintho Calvo
[20]--a religious who had been in this province, and who on account of
the severe heat in the islands, which was dangerous to his health,
sent the fathers on from Mexico, whither he had brought them,
under the leadership of father Fray Antonio Cañiçares. They arrived
here very opportunely; for by the missions which have been mentioned
several ministries had been much interfered with, and were now filled
up from this new company. Even some new convents were established;
for instance that of San Telmo at Cavite. This town is the port where
all those go aboard who sail from these islands to Nueva España or
to Yndia or to other regions--except in the case of small vessels,
which are able to sail from the city. In Cavite there is accordingly a
large town of Spaniards, Indians, Chinese, and Japanese. At that time
they were in greater need of Christian teaching because they had only
one convent, that of the seraphic father St. Francis; and, besides,
our order needed to have a convent there in which the religious might
remain while waiting to go aboard the vessels. On this account this
convent of San Telmo was established there at that time, and did great
good to those who lived in the town. The Confraternity of our Lady of
the Rosary was immediately carried thither; and this holy devotion was
greatly revived, and other very good effects were wrought. Thus for the
Virgin's sake the people of the town have come to have a great regard
for her chaplains; and a fine church, with rich altar decorations and
ornaments, and a convent sufficient for the religious who are obliged
to be at Cavite, have been built there. This is supported very well by
alms, without any other income; and the religious with their sermons
and good example have wrought much good, not only among the Spaniards,
but also among the natives. There has been a great reformation of
morals among both, as is always effected by the devotion to the Virgin
of the Rosary, wherever care is taken to give due heed to preaching
it, and to using it as a benefit come from heaven, by the hands of
the Virgin, to correct the sins and reform the excesses of the world.
During this year a beginning was also made in an undertaking which
had been much desired by good and spiritual religious, as being
worthy of and proper to that charity with which the religious of
this province usually took up enterprises involving great labor,
that they might in return offer souls to the Lord and bring heathen
into the church. There are near the province of Nueva Segovia certain
islands, called Babuianes, following each other in a line toward the
northeast until they approach near those which are called Lequios,
which are near Japon. [21] These latter are innumerable, and some
of them are very large and very fertile. Their inhabitants are of
excellent natural dispositions, so that, being heathen, they cause
wonder in all of those who go there. They are extremely kind, loving,
docile, and free from self-interest--excellent foundations for their
becoming noble Christians if the happy day of the faith shall dawn upon
them. The islands near Nueva Segovia are not fertile, being plagued
with fierce winds, which, sweeping over them without any defense,
do them great damage. The inhabitants, however, are very ingenuous
and simple. When they sometimes came to Nueva Segovia to do their
poor little trading, the hearts of the religious were grieved when
they saw those people of a natural disposition so excellent, so humble
and peaceable; while their souls were left totally without assistance
because they were poor and few, and widely scattered over many islands
in the midst of the sea, without hope that any other preachers would
undertake their conversion if our religious neglected them. They had
a Spanish encomendero, who went duly every year to demand his tribute
from them; but he paid no attention to providing them with Christian
teaching, civilization, or justice. He saw them only when he collected
his tribute, without caring about them all the rest of the year,
and without trying to do them any good, as he was bound to do. The
religious had many times conferred about the conversion of these poor
people, but their purposes had never taken effect until this year,
when the religious came from España; and then preachers were sent
to them. That it might be possible to reach them, the inhabitants of
many islands were gathered on one, where they could more conveniently
be taught; they were baptized, and became very good Christians. In
this way the great labor was somewhat diminished, and the religious
were enabled to bear the almost total absence of comfort among them;
for they were imprisoned on a small island from which during many
months of the year it was impossible to have any communication with
other people. The land was so scanty and in every way so poor that
it did not produce even enough rice for the food of the inhabitants;
but yielded only borona and other grains of less excellence than rice,
or even something inferior to this. The people generally sustained
themselves on roots, potatoes, and such things. If this fails, as often
happens, it is necessary for the religious to support them by giving
them the little they themselves have, and asking alms from the other
convents of Nueva Segovia. All this was evident before the religious
went to convert them, as was also the inconvenience which results
if the religious are ill--as they must inevitably be much of the
time--for there is no physician there, nor are there any medicines;
and for nearly half the year it is not possible for a religious to
go thence to be cared for where he can have them, or even to send a
letter. During this period this sea is not navigable, for it is very
stormy; and the boats which they have there, being the boats of poor
persons, are small. Yet all this, and the fact that those natives have
a different language from all the rest, and many other inconveniences
which they suffered there, the religious bore with pleasure, being
good and devout Christians. They are in two little villages, with
a church and a convent in each, sufficient for its needs. Though
the Indians provided the labor, all the rest was a gift which the
religious had made and are making to them. Since they had religious,
there have been several attacks of smallpox in various years, which
is almost like a plague among the Indians--attacking practically all
of them, and being very fatal. On these occasions great numbers of
baptized children have gone to heaven; and there have been many cases
of the special providence with which the Lord takes hence those who
are predestinated. The love and devotion with which the ministers
strive for their salvation is so great that he only who has seen
it can believe it. On the one hand the people were good Christians,
humble and devout, and on the other hand so poor and needy that it
seemed as if the people and their country had been rejected by all
lands and men. Hence the religious, taking them in charge, pitied
their miseries and strove to provide relief for them in both their
temporal and their more important spiritual necessities. Thus, in
times of need, the religious have come to Nueva Segovia to ask alms
from house to house, sometimes undergoing manifest danger of drowning
to help these Indians. As for their souls, the care which they take of
them may be inferred from the following case. The principal minister,
father Fray Jacintho de San Geronimo, learned that a poor woman was
in the fields about to give birth to a child. She had not come to
the village, as they commonly do, perhaps because she could not. The
religious pitied her, and went to find her and bring her to the town,
so that in her need she might find someone to help her when she should
be delivered. With all this solicitude it took him some days to find
her, so far away from all companionship did she live. When she had
been brought to the village she was provided for by the religious,
and brought forth two children. They were baptized by the religious,
and both died within a short time, going to enjoy God forever because
of the devoted care given to them by their spiritual father while their
natural parents left them on the road to perdition; for without doubt
they would have been lost, if the religious had not had the mother
brought to the village for her delivery.
CHAPTER XIIII
The capture of father Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, and his happy death
in prison in Japon
[After the death of Safioye, other enemies of Christianity held the
government of Nagasaki. With great acuteness the persecutors set
about capturing the religious who were concealed in the city. On the
thirteenth of December, 1618, they found two convents and captured four
religious, two of our order, Fray Angel Ferrer and Fray Juan de Sancto
Domingo, with some Japanese. At the same time they captured Father
Carlos Espinola and Brother Ambrosio Hernandez of the Society of Jesus,
with their Portuguese landlord. The fathers, on being interrogated,
confessed who they were. The two Japanese youths, the servants of
the religious, whom the judges desired to set free, insisted that
they were Christians, and declared that they were not ignorant of
the profession of the religious, so that the judges were obliged
to imprison them. The Japanese Christians crowded in and shouted,
and some of them made a bold confession of faith. The persecution of
the Christians throughout the kingdom of Japon increased greatly in
severity, but the Christians protected the fathers and did not give
them up. Even in the midst of the persecution many were converted and
baptized, and other religious came into the kingdom to carry on the
work. The fathers in prison were treated with great severity. Father
Fray Juan de Sancto Domingo fell ill in prison, and finally died
there. His imprisoned brethren desired to keep his body as that of a
saint; but, being unable to do so, cut off a foot and a hand, keeping
them for their comfort. The Japanese took the body, intending to burn
it and to scatter the ashes in the sea; but though they built a great
funeral pyre they were unable to burn it, and finally threw it into the
ocean, weighted with chains. The holy martyr was a native of Castilla
la Vieja, of the region of Campos near Sanabria, and assumed the
habit in the convent of San Estevan at Salamanca. He came to this holy
province in the year 1601. He was assigned to the ministry of Bataan,
where he learned the language quickly, as he did also the language of
Pampanga. Hence he was sent to Pangasinan, where he learned a third
Indian language. When he was afterward sent to preach the holy gospel
in the kingdom of Corea, he remained in Japon to assist the afflicted
Christians there, being persuaded to do so by the holy Fray Francisco
de Morales. He was engaged in the occupation of learning the Japanese
language when he was captured by the persecutors.]
CHAPTER XV
The intermediate chapter, and the death of father Fray Juan de Leyva
In the year of our Lord 1619 the intermediate chapter in the term of
father Fray Melchior de Mançano was held, on the twentieth of April,
in the convent of our father St. Dominic at Nueva Segovia. In it
many important ordinances were passed, which were of assistance in
supporting the observance of the rules and in making illustrious our
order. This was the first provincial chapter held in that province
[i.e., of Nueva Segovia], and it was accordingly conducted with
much dignity and was attended by many of the religious of this
province. Their number was great, but greater was the divine Providence
and the paternal affection with which the Lord sustained them, showing
forth His greatness so plainly that it was obvious to all that He
it was who provided the religious with their daily food. [During the
session of the chapter, there was a wonderful catch of excellent fish
called taraquitos. [22] On this occasion they were so large that they
weighed ninety libras, and so abundant that they sufficed not only
for the whole chapter, but for all the Spaniards. All that beheld
this were amazed, because the fish of this kind which had hitherto
been caught there were but few and small, never weighing more than
four libras. No fish so large, and no such numbers of these fish,
had been seen before, or were seen afterwards. The very Chinese
fishermen who were heathen were the most amazed; for being desirous
of continuing the fishery for gain after the close of the chapter,
they did not catch a single fish of this kind.]
In this provincial chapter was received and incorporated into the
province the college of Sancto Thomas at Manila, which had been
in process of erection for some years, and was now ready to be
occupied. The first man to plan this great work was the archbishop
of Manila, Don Fray Miguel de Benavides. Being a learned and a
holy man, he was grieved that there was in his province no fixed
and regular school of learning--as there was not at that time, the
fathers contenting themselves with carrying on instruction when there
was need of it. This was only when among the religious who came from
España there were some who had not finished their studies; and in such
cases they were given to masters to teach them. The places of masters
were filled with as much system as in the schools in España, by the
fathers Fray Juan Cobo, Fray Juan de San Pedro Martyr, Fray Francisco
de Morales, and others. When the religious had completed their courses,
the schools were brought to an end; and the masters with their pupils,
who were now sufficiently instructed, went to preach the gospel to
these peoples. This was the end for which schools were established,
and for which both pupils and teachers had come from España, many of
them leaving behind them the chairs from which they lectured--coming
here not to lecture, but to convert souls. All this did not satisfy
the great mind and the charitable heart of the archbishop. He declared
that lecturing and teaching were matters of great importance in the
Order of St. Dominic, and were ordained to a lofty end; and that they
had as their purpose not only ministering and preaching the gospel,
but also the creation of ministers and preachers, which is a superior
and creative work, as the degree of the bishops is superior to that
of the priests. Therefore, though the priests have the lofty duty
of consecrating and offering the most sacred body of Christ, the
bishops are those who make these priests. Likewise the lecturers and
masters of theology in this land surpass the ministers and preachers
of the gospel, since with their teaching they make them fit for this
very office. On this account lecturers might well come from España to
lecture in this country, to their own great advantage; since in España
they make preachers for that kingdom, where there is not so great a
need of persons to preach, and where the effect of their sermons is
not so great or so certain as here. Further--and this he repeated many
times--our constitutions, made after consideration and reflection upon
this matter, require that there should be no convent of ours in which
there is not a doctor or master who is actually engaged in teaching;
they require that in the provinces there shall be organized, settled,
and permanent schools of higher learning. Hence, as our province lays
so great stress upon the observance of our sacred constitutions, it
ought not to regard itself as released from the obligation to carry
out this one. This requirement, as is evident from the constitutions
themselves, is one of the most important and one for which a very
special observance and regard is commanded. With this argument
he convinced the minds of the religious, and they began to try to
establish the schools. The death of the archbishop soon occurred,
after he had held his office for only two years. He did what he could
by leaving to this work his library and all that he had, the whole
of which, as befitted one vowed to poverty, came to only two thousand
pesos. However, it did much toward making a beginning to this holy and
necessary work. This institution was so beneficial to his archbishopric
that it may be said that since it was established there are competitors
for benefices, who have studied so that they may be able to hold them;
while previously there were no such persons, and even no persons who
desired to study--because, since no one had studied, it was necessary
to appoint men to benefices, even if they had not learning. On this
account they did not understand the obligation which rested upon them
if they received the benefices, and were unwilling to spend time or
labor upon study when they could obtain benefices without. Since the
establishment of this college there are competitors for benefices who
have studied; and hence those who come into competition with them are
obliged to study--being certain that a benefice will not be taken away
from a good student to give it to one who has no knowledge. After this
good beginning made by the archbishop, the province entrusted to the
holy Fray Bernardo de Sancta Catalina the care of this work. Since
he was beloved and esteemed by all, there were many to aid him with
great benefactions. Everything that was given was bestowed without
any conditions, though the college keeps these benefactions in
memory--feeling obliged to commend the benefactors to God all the
more carefully, on account of the confidence in the religious which
they showed. This was so great that they asked for no more security
than their own knowledge that the religious would do this for them,
which was without doubt a better security than any other that they
could ask in return for their benefactions. The building was begun
and the college was founded during the term of the father provincial
Fray Baltasar Fort. The title of founder was given to him who was
the cause of the foundation and who gave the first gift for that
purpose. This was, as has been said, the archbishop Don Fray Miguel de
Venavides, as appears from the document of foundation which is in the
same college. Some years later the bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray
Diego de Soria, being near to death, left to the college his library,
and three thousand eight hundred pesos which he possessed. With this
sum the building was continued, and in this year [i.e., 1619] on the
day of the Assumption of our Lady, twelve lay collegians entered on
residence. Father Fray Balthasar Fort was appointed as rector, with
two lecturers in theology, one in arts, and one in grammar; and the
college was opened with great formality, and with the same care and
attention as in the best institutions in España. The lecturers and
the rector had all been trained in distinguished schools belonging to
our religious order; and they carried on their lectures, conferences,
and other academic exercises in the same manner in which they had
followed the courses in España. The same system has been persevered
in and carried further. Afterward, to encourage the students, the
sanction of his Majesty and a brief from the supreme pontiff were
obtained, granting this college authority to give all the degrees
which are given in other universities, with all the privileges which
the graduates of those universities have throughout the Indias. The
students have performed their exercises for graduation as brilliantly
as they could be performed in the best conducted universities in
España; and the examination is regarded as even more rigorous, in the
judgment of many persons of authority who have seen both of them. The
income of the college has increased steadily with the course of time,
in proportion to the number of collegians, of whom there are now
usually about thirty; and in buildings, income, and instruction,
the college may compete with the finest in España.
[In the month of October in the same year, father Fray Juan de Leyva
died in the province of Nueva Segovia. Father Fray Juan was a native
of La Rioja, and was born in a village named Grañon. He lost his
mother when he was a very young child, but had been so carefully
trained in the devotion of our Lady, that he immediately chose her
as his mother. He left his own country while very young, and went to
Madrid, the country of all, being commended to an honorable person
who took him thence to Valencia del Cid. Here by the death of his
benefactor or from some other cause he was left alone, a child of
twelve in a strange country. He determined to make his way back to
Madrid on foot. He reached the convent of our Lady at Atocha, where
he was overcome with fatigue. In response to his prayers, our Lady
opened the way to him to enter the convent of our Lady at Atocha,
by the patronage of a noble person. He was an excellent student, and
as such was sent to our college of Sancto Thomas at Alcala. Here in
the year 1605 he heard the voice that called him to the mission of the
Philippinas, and he was most humble and obedient. After he had begun to
study the language of the Chinese in the mission of Binondoc, he was
called upon to go to Nueva Segovia because of the need of religious
there; and he uncomplainingly obeyed, without giving a thought to the
great amount of labor which he had given to learning the new language
which he now laid aside. He succeeded well with the language of Nueva
Segovia, although on account of his age it was difficult for him to
learn it. He was most devoted to the care of the altars, the adornment
of the church, and the holy sacraments. When he gave extreme unction,
he was accustomed to wash with his own hands the feet of the Indian
who was to receive the sacrament. He never entrusted the lamp of the
most holy sacrament to boys, but himself provided it with oil, raised
the wick, and cleaned the vessel. He was most constant in prayer,
adding an hour to the two hours universally observed in the province;
and he usually made this hour so long that it lasted from one to five,
at which time he went to complines. He was so sparing in eating that
the little which he ate at a meal often lasted him for twenty-four
hours, so that in time his stomach came to be so reduced in size that
any little thing overloaded it. He was prior of the convent of Manila,
and definitor in a provincial chapter. Being elected as procurator,
he was unable to fulfil his office, inasmuch as the vessel in which
he was to go did not sail. He therefore returned to his Indians in
Nueva Segovia. Here by his hand the Lord wrought miraculous works,
granting children to childless parents and healing the sick. He died
a holy death, and was honorably mentioned in the provincial chapter
that followed.]
Toward the end of November in this year, on St. Andrew's day, a
terrible earthquake occurred in these islands. It extended from Manila
to the extreme limits of the province of Nueva Segovia, a distance
of two hundred leguas. This earthquake, which was such as had never
been seen before, did great damage throughout all of this region and
made a great impression. In the province of Ylocos palm-trees were
buried, leaving only their tops above the ground. Some mountains struck
against others, with the great force of the earthquake, overthrowing
many buildings and killing people. Its greatest violence was in Nueva
Segovia, where the mountains opened and new fountains of water were
uncovered. The earth vomited out great masses of sand, and trembled
so that people could not stand on their feet, but sat on the ground;
and were as seasick on land as if they had been in a ship at sea in a
storm. In the high lands of the Indians named Mandayas [23] a mountain
fell and, catching a village below it, overwhelmed it and killed the
inhabitants. One large tract of land near the river which previously
had contained little mountains, as it were, most of it being at a
considerable elevation, sank downward, and is now almost level with the
margin of the water. The movement in the bed of the river was so great
that it raised waves like those at sea, or such as are aroused by the
blasts of a furious wind. The stone buildings suffered the greatest
damage. Our church and convent in the city were totally overthrown,
the very foundations giving way in places, because of the sinking
of the earth. It was no small comfort to be able to find the most
holy sacrament in this most pitiful ruin, with the consecrated loaves
unbroken and unharmed. There were nine religious at that time in the
convent, three of whom were outside of the house--the rest escaping,
not without a special providence of God. Father Fray Ambrosio de la
Madre de Dios was protected in the arch of a window, everything on
all sides of him having fallen. There were persons who declared that
they had seen above the walls of the enclosure a matron in the dress
and mantle which our Lady is accustomed to wear. It was no new thing
for the sovereign princess to come to the protection of her friars in
their great distress; but because of the great disturbance, and the
carelessness ordinarily shown about such things in religious orders,
the verification of these facts was neglected. Only one religious,
named Fray Juan de San Lorenço, [24] who was sick in bed, had his arm
broken by a beam which fell upon it; and only one Indian boy who was
waiting upon him was killed. This religious lived for some years, and
offered a noble example of patience in enduring the cruel miseries and
the terrible pains occasioned by the blow, of which he finally died.
CHAPTER XVI
Some very virtuous fathers who died at this time
[In the hospice belonging to the province in the City of Mexico,
there died at this time father Fray Athanasio de Moya, a near relative
of the holy archbishop of Valencia, Don Fray Thomas de Villanueva. He
assumed the habit in the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, where
he showed great courage and devotion in the great plague of 1599. In
1601 he came to this province, and was assigned to the ministry of
Bataan. From here he was sent back to care for the hospice of San
Jacintho at Mexico, where he constantly followed the rigorous rules
of the province of the Philippinas.
In the next vessels which left for Nueva España the superior of
this province sent father Fray Juan Naya to take the place of the
father who had just died. The Lord, who had carried father Fray Juan
throughout his life through great sufferings, ordained that he should
not fight the last fight in the delightful clime of Mexico; and hence
was pleased to take him to himself before the voyage to Nueva España
was concluded. He was a native of Aragon, and assumed the habit
of the order in our convent of San Pedro Martyr at Calatayud. His
proficiency and scholarship was such, and such was his virtue, that
he was appointed master of novices while still very young. The Lord
wrought miracles through him. He cast out a demon from a sick woman
in España; was miraculously protected from death on the island of
Guadalupe; and was delivered from an illness which afflicted him
in the Philippinas, by [making a vow to our Lady, as follows:] "I,
Fray Juan Naya, being afflicted by this severe infirmity, and seeing
that I am very much hindered from carrying on the ministry for which
I came from España, vow and promise, as humbly and devoutly as I may,
to the most blessed Virgin Mary, my Lady, that I will minister to the
Indians in this ministry, remaining and assisting in it at the command
of my superior, in reverence and honor for this most sacred Virgin,
my Lady, for seven continuous years from the day of her Visitation,
the second of July, 1605, if she will deign to obtain for me from
her most holy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, comfortable and sufficient
health for me to be able to accomplish that which is necessary in
this ministry; and I vow that, if I shall gain this health, I will
exercise the ministry." This humble supplication was heard at that
tribunal of mercy, and our Lady of Compassion granted him his health
so completely that at the end of the month he was well and strong
enough to learn the language, and in three months was fit to render
service and labor in it. As a memorial of this marvelous goodness,
he kept this vow written in his breviary, and, as often as he read
it there, he used always to give devout thanks to her who had gained
that health for him; and with great devotion he fulfilled his vow,
to the great gain of the Indians in this province. At the end of
the seven years he was afflicted with a flux of the bowels, with
abundance of blood; and on the same day of the Visitation he made
another vow to serve four years more in the ministry in the honor
of this Lady. He received complete health, so that he was able to
labor in it for that time and much longer, as one of the best of the
ministers of religion, giving a great example of holiness and virtue
wherever he was. When he was living in the district of Ytabes, in a
village of that province named Tuao, he was once burying a dead man
in the cemetery when a venomous snake came out from the grass and,
amid the noise and alarm of the people, entered between his leg and
his breeches--which was an easy thing for the snake to do, since these
garments are worn loose in this province and resemble polainas. [25]
Although the Indians, who knew how poisonous the snake was, cried out
and gave him over for dead, father Fray Juan continued with the act
which he was performing, because of his duty as a religious, until
he had finished burying the Indian; and then, putting his hand in his
breeches, he caught the snake by the neck, and drew it out and threw
it away, without receiving any harm from it. [When father Fray Juan
was vicar of Yrraya, and was living in a village called Abuatan, a
fire broke out. Father Fray Juan threw himself on his knees and prayed
that the fire should turn away from the village, as it did--making its
way straight toward the tambobos, or granaries where the Indians kept
their food, the loss of which would have been a greater damage than
the burning of the village. In response to the prayers of father Fray
Juan, the wind fell and the fire ceased. On one occasion his guardian
angel came to accompany him in his prayers. When he was assigned to
the vicariate of San Jacintho at Mexico, he embarked in the flagship
sent back that year, in which more than sixty persons died because of
the hardships and length of the voyage. Father Fray Juan was attacked
by some malignant fevers, and when he asked for extreme unction, on
the day of St. John the Evangelist, the sailors were so much alarmed
at the fear of losing his prayers that they declared that if he died
they would not continue their voyage, but would go back to the island
of the Ladrones, that they might not perish in the dreadful storms
to which they would be exposed if they had not the aid and comfort
of father Fray Juan. At the demand of the sailors, the general asked
father Fray Juan if they should continue their voyage. The sick man
was grieved at being asked that which was reserved for God alone;
but he was persuaded to tell what God had given him to know, and
made a sign for them to go on. His poor possessions were shared among
those of the ship as precious relics; and on the octave of St. John,
on the third of January, 1620, a fair wind began to blow. The sailors
cried out joyfully: "Father Fray Juan has seen God, and has sent us
fair weather." On the seventh of the same month, they began to descry
signs of land coming from the coast of Nueva España, whereupon they
regarded as fulfilled that which the holy religious had promised them.
Father Fray Gaspar Zarfate was a native of the City of Mexico, and
assumed the habit and professed in the convent of that city. He was a
teacher of the arts in the convent at Puebla de los Angeles, whence he
volunteered to come to this province. He reached the islands in 1595,
and was one of the first founders of Christianity in the province of
Nueva Segovia. Here he labored much, with great results. He devoted
himself to the study of the language of the Indians in that region,
and his attainments in it were very great. He was the first to make a
grammar of this language, and he knew a very large number of words in
it. Thus he opened the way for the other religious, that they might
as a result of his labors more easily learn this language, and preach
the holy gospel in it. He was most penitent and devoted to prayer;
and so completely master of his passions that, though by nature he
was very choleric, he seemed excessively phlegmatic. At one time when
he was vicar of Camalaniugan an Indian saw our father St. Dominic
praying in his company, and surrounded by light from heaven. In the
village of Nasiping it was said that father Fray Gaspar had raised a
child from the dead. The verification of this matter was neglected,
but father Fray Gaspar's reputation for sanctity was such that no one
regarded the statement as incredible. He was made preacher-general
of the province, in which there was only one such preacher. He was
definitor, vicar-provincial, and twice prior of the convent of Manila,
in which city he had the name of "the holy prior." He suffered greatly
from a urinary disease, from which he finally died. He received
honorable mention on the records of the provincial chapter during
this same year.]
CHAPTER XVII
The election as provincial of father Fray Miguel Ruiz, and events in
the province at this time
On the first of May, 1621, father Fray Miguel Ruiz was elected as
provincial, to the great satisfaction of the province. He was a son
of the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia; and at the time of
his election was prior of the convent of Manila, which position he
had held twice. He exhibited in it and in other important dignities
the excellent qualities which are desired in a good superior--much
virtue and learning, great prudence, and natural gravity and kindness,
which, while rendering him much beloved, did not allow others to lose
respect for him. In this chapter many ordinances were enacted which
were helpful for the quiet and calm of the religious. During this
year two religious went from Nueva Segovia to Japon, and, after having
suffered much in that kingdom, they had the fortunate end of glorious
martyrdom--being burnt alive by a slow fire, as will be seen later. A
fortunate provincialate was promised because it had begun so joyfully;
for at that time the verification of a most famous miracle wrought
by our Lady of the Rosary was being concluded. She went, in her holy
image which she had in the convent of Manila, to give aid. (as she
did most marvelously) to a votary of hers by the name of Francisco
Lopez, who called upon her in the extreme necessity of his soul. The
narrative, with the most marvelous circumstances which accompanied her
act, has already been given in the part of this history which treats
of the foundation of this convent--where something has also been
narrated with regard to the great deeds of this most holy image, and
some account has been given of the innumerable miracles which it has
wrought and still works. Among them this, which was the most famous,
has been described. [26] On account of it, this most holy image was
brought out during the procession which was made to the cathedral
on the first Sunday of the chapter-meeting, and with its beauty and
the special joy of that day, the city was filled with delight and
devotion. The miracle was made the subject of sermons, and was painted
upon a canvas, and thus the devotion of all to this sovereign lady
was greatly increased; and she, as if by grace omnipotent, from that
day forward conferred more and greater favors on her votaries. She
so greatly multiplied the working of manifest miracles that, although
many of them have been recounted in the place referred to, there were
incomparably more which were omitted on account of their number; and
she has never ceased and will never cease to work the like marvels,
until the devotion of this city for her shall cease. This provincialate
was also very happy in the great number of holy martyrs which the
province had during it. A detailed account of them will be given,
so far as we have been able to learn the facts, though many great
and edifying matters must remain in silence because the disturbances
of the persecution gave no opportunity for verifying them. Yet that
which is certain is so much that it alone would be sufficient to
give glory to an entire religious order; and how much more to a small
province--so small that there were many convents in España which alone
contained more religious than this entire province. Under all these
circumstances, for the Lord to give so many and so great saints to
it is a special mercy; and however much we may strive to praise and
give thanks for it, our praise and gratitude will never reach the
obligation, which is far and beyond measure above our feeble strength.
All these new causes of joy were necessary to temper the sorrow
caused among the religious of this province by the rising of a large
number of Indians, which happened on the sixth of November in this
year in the most distant parts of the province of Nueva Segovia,
in the region known as Yrraya. On the Friday before, a very large
and beautiful cross had been set up in the court or cemetery of the
church in the largest village there, which was called Abuatan. At
this time the Indians gave every evidence of joy and pleasure and
even of devotion to the Lord who redeemed us on the cross; but on the
following Sunday, instigated by the devil, they burnt their churches
and villages, and avowed themselves enemies of the Spaniards, and even
of God, whom they left that they might return to their ancient sites
to serve the devil in exchange for the enjoyments of the liberties and
vices of their heathen state. Practically all those in this village,
and many of those in another near it called Pilitan, belonged to a
tribe called Gadanes. [27] This tribe was always regarded as one on
a lower plane of civilization than the others, and more devoted to
freedom, and enemies to subjection; for they were a race bred in the
most distant mountains and the wildernesses of that province, and they
had less communication and commerce than did the other tribes--not
only with the Spaniards, but even with the rest of the Indians. It
was these Gadanes, then, who became restless, and disquieted the
other inhabitants of that region, though these others had always
been very faithful to God and the Spaniards. They had even sustained
many bloody wars with the neighbors by whom they were surrounded that
they might not be lacking in the friendship which they had with the
Spaniards, or in the subjection which they had promised them. But now
these revolted and joined the insurgents, partly as the result of
force applied by the Gadanes--for the latter greatly excelled them
in numbers, and caught them unprepared for defense--and partly also
carried away by their own natural desire for liberty, to which they
were invited by the safety of the mountains to which they proposed to
go. The mountains, being very rough, offered opportunities for easy
defense; and, being very fertile, promised them an abundant living. The
Gadanes had planned this revolt far ahead, and had appointed a day
for it to occur some time later. Their purpose was to try to get
back first certain chiefs who were held as hostages in the city of
the Spaniards; and they had already sent there one of their chiefs,
named Saquin, who had the influence of a father over the rest, that he
might bring away these chiefs, with great dissimulation and pretended
arguments of necessity. It happened that the father vicar of Abuatan
had grown weary of his work, and wished to resign his office. He had
gone down at that time to the city to ask the father provincial, who
happened to be there then, to give this office to someone else and
to permit him to take some rest by being under his directions. The
Gadanes, accused by their own bad consciences, supposed that he
had detected their purpose of rising, and had gone down to ask for
soldiers to prevent it. In fear of interference, they hastened on
their treacherous act; and, without waiting for the appointed period,
or for the return of him who had gone down for the hostages (their
relatives), they decided to rise at once. Without further deliberation
or delay, they began active operations. Father Fray Alonso Hernandez,
who was at Abuatan, heard the tumult; and being above measure sad at
what was happening, he tried his best to quiet them. He told them
how foolish their proceedings were, and how they were deceived by
the devil, not only as to the good of their souls, but also as to
the many temporal advantages, which they possessed in their trade,
with the Spaniards as well as with the rest of the Indians--in which
they gained so much that they were the richest and most prosperous
Indians in all that region. All this, he said, and their own quiet,
peace, and comfort would be destroyed by their rising; while if they
would keep quiet they would preserve it all, for he assured them that
no harm would happen to them for what they intended to do. But the
chiefs who led the insurgents said to him that he should not waste
his time by talking about this; and that it was now too late, since
they were determined to carry on what they had begun. "What is it
that moves you," said the religious, "to so imprudent an act? If the
religious have done you any wrong, you have me here in your power;
revenge it upon me, take my life in pay for it, and do not cast away
your souls." "It is not because of any wrong from the religious,
or resentment toward them," said the Indians, "but because we are
weary of the oppressive acts of the Spaniards. Depart hence in peace;
for though it is true that our rising is not against the religious,
we cannot promise that some drunken Indian may not try to take off
your head." The religious perceived the obstinacy of the Gadanes,
and the fact that arguments would be useless in this matter, and
went away to watch over the village of Pilitan, which was under
his care. He found it quiet, but that peace continued for a very
short time; for presently--this was early Sunday morning--he heard
a very great noise and a loud Indian war-cry. They came in a crowd,
after their ancient custom, naked, and thickly anointed with oil,
and with weapons in their hands. It was the insurgents from Abuatan,
coming to force the Indians of Pilitan to join the uprising, in order
that they might have more strength to resist the Spaniards when the
latter should make war upon them to bring them to subjection. One of
the chiefs who were leading the insurgents, named Don Phelippe Cutapay,
a young man of about twenty-three, came forward. He had been brought
up from infancy in the church with the religious, and when he was a
mere child had aided in mass as sacristan, and afterward as cantor;
and at this time he was governor of Abuatan. He went direct to the
church to speak to the religious, intending to inform him as to what
they were about to do, and to advise him to go down the river, for
fear that someone might get beyond control and harm him. While he
was talking with the religious in the cloister, his elder brother,
named Don Gabriel Dayag, who was acting as guide to the others, came
in. Being somewhat nervous and excited, he approached the religious
with little courtesy; Cutapay rebuked him for the way in which
he was acting, saying to him that he should remember that he was
before the father, to whom he owed more respect. The elder brother
answered: "Cutapay, if our minds are divided we shall do nothing;"
however, he grew calm and behaved respectfully in the presence of
the religious. The shouting increased, and there were now in the
courtyard of the church about eight hundred Indians armed and prepared
for battle. The religious roused his courage, and, laying aside all
fear, went out to them; and standing in the midst of this multitude,
as a sheep among wolves, he caused them to sit down, and addressed
them for more than an hour. He urged upon them what would be for
their good, and strove to persuade them to see the great error into
which they were falling. Among other things in the utterances which
the Lord is accustomed to impart under such circumstances, he said:
"My sons, among whom I have so long been, and to whom I have so
many years preached the true doctrine, which you ought to follow,
and have taught you that which you ought to observe for the good
of your souls, I am greatly grieved to see the mistaken path which
you take, casting yourselves over precipices where destruction is
certain, and from which your rescue is difficult. If your wish to
run away is on account of the bad treatment which you have received
from us religious--and from me in particular, as being less prudent
than others--here you have me alone and defenseless. Slay me then,
slay me, and do not cast away your souls. Let me pay with my life
the evil which you are about to do; and do not lose your faith and
your hope of salvation, nor pay in hell for the sin of this uprising,
and for the many sins which you will add to it in your revolt." Some
of them made the same answer as before; that they had not done this
because of ill-will toward the religious; but on the contrary, they
felt for them affection and love, and therefore did not intend to do
them any harm. This they said was plain because, although they had him
alone in the midst of them, no one was rude to him, but even in the
midst of the tumult showed him respect. "The reason of our uprising,"
they said, "is that we are weary of the oppressions of the Spaniards;
and if you or any other religious desire to come to our villages, any
one of you may come whenever he pleases, providing he does not bring
a Spaniard." The religious responded by offering that the Spaniards
would do them no harm, especially for what they had already done,
promising himself to remain among them as security, so that they might
take away his life if the least harm should come to them from that
cause. But they were very far indeed from accepting this good advice;
and some of them went away and set fire to some houses, upon which
a great outcry arose in the village. Cutapay stood up and greatly
blamed what had been done, saying that it was very ill considered
and a daring outrage to set fire. "I call your attention," he said,
"to the fact that the father is in the village; and so long as he is
here nothing should be done to grieve him;" and he commanded people
to go and put out the fire and to calm the village. The religious
began to preach to them again; but, though there were so many people
before him, he was preaching in the desert, and hence could accomplish
nothing with them. They asked the father to depart, and to take with
him the silver and ornaments of the sacristy of this church and of
that of Abuatan. This was no small generosity from an excited body of
insurgents. They provided him with boats, and men to row them, and the
friars went down the river to the friendly villages. The insurgents
immediately began to commit a thousand extravagances. They set fire to
the houses, they drank, and they annoyed the people in the village. If
any were unwilling to join them, they threatened them with death by
holding lances to their breasts. The result was that many joined them,
being forced by the fear of instant death, and waiting for a better
time when they could again have religious. A few of them succeeded in
hiding, and going down the river after the fathers, some leaving their
sons and others their fathers. There was one chief who, despising
his wealth and his gold, left it all and came with the religious,
taking with him only his wife. His name was Don Bernabe Lumaban. Doña
Agustina Pamma, who was a member of one of the most noble families
of the region and the wife of one of the chiefs, hid herself in a
marsh--standing in it up to her neck that she might be left behind,
and might go to a Christian village. However, she was discovered,
and was taken along by the insurgents. But the Lord did not fail to
reward her pious desires, for within a few years she accomplished
them, and lived for a long time, as she desired, in the church. The
insurgents did not cease until they had roused all the villages in
their vicinity. As men abandoned of God and directed by the devil,
they were guilty of horrible sacrileges. In the village of Abuatan
they sacked the church and the sacristy, and made a jest and derision
of the things which they found there. They treated irreverently
that which they had a little before reverenced: the women put on the
frontals as petticoats [sayas], and of the corporals and the palls of
the chalices they made head-kerchiefs. They dressed themselves in the
habits of the religious, and even went so far as to lose their respect
for the image of the Virgin. The feet and hands of this image were of
ivory, and it was one of the most beautiful in all that province and
in all the islands. There was one man who dared to give it a slash
across the nose, saying, "Let us see if she will bleed." They also
committed other sacrileges, and even greater ones, as a barbarous
tribe of apostates. Afterward an Indian, finding an opportunity to
flee from them to a Catholic region, did so; and he went not alone,
for he carried with him the holy image of the Virgin of the Rosary
which had been slashed across the face. Although it was received with
great rejoicings by the Christians, they could but shed many tears to
see it so outraged. All this grieved the hearts of the religious who
had trained and taught them, and who now saw them lost irremediably
and without reason; for although they said that they could not endure
the oppressions of the Spaniards, these were not so great but that the
profit which the Indians gained by their commerce with them was very
much greater. The man who at that time used to collect the tributes
was so kind a man and so good a Christian that, confident of his own
innocence and of the fact that he had never wronged them, he went
up when he heard this news, to try to bring them back by argument;
but they no sooner saw him than they killed him.
One of those who were most grieved by this disastrous uprising was
father Fray Pedro de Sancto Thomas, for he had dwelt for a long
time among this tribe, and had been the vicar and superior of those
churches, and loved each one of the insurgents as his spiritual
son. Hence this misfortune hurt his soul, and he determined to
strive to remedy this great evil as completely as he could, without
shrinking from any danger or effort for the purpose. The places
where the insurgents had betaken themselves had been selected as
particularly strong and secure, and were in the midst of mountains
so high and so craggy that they might be defended from the Spaniards,
if the latter should try to bring them back or to punish them. Hence
the journey to them was long and excessively difficult. Yet in spite
of this, without hesitating at the hardships of the road, and at
the great danger which he ran by passing through villages of other
Indians--with whom he was not acquainted, and who were generally
looking out for an opportunity to cut off some head without running
any risk--he made his way through everything, went among them alone,
and tried to arrange for bringing them back, and made agreements with
them. No Spaniard dared appear among them, for they were certain
to kill him, but father Fray Pedro was admitted and entertained;
and in the following year, 1622, he brought back in peace with him
some three hundred households of those who had rebelled. These had
gone with the body of insurgents from the villages of Pilitan and
Bolo. Most of them had been compelled to do so, as has been said,
and they were accordingly brought back as a result of the earnest
efforts and the courageous boldness of father Fray Pedro. Returning
to a pacified region, they were settled at the mouth of the river of
Maquila. After this was accomplished, he went further up the river
of Balisi, where it was most difficult, with the alcade-mayor and
the troops who were advancing against the rebels. He went before,
trusting in God, to speak with the enemy; and he was so confident
that he was able to say, like St. Martin among the highwaymen, that
he had never had less fear in all his life, because fear had been
taken from him by the Lord, for whose sake he had placed himself in
this situation. The leader of the revolted enemy, Don Gabriel Dayag,
came to him and kissed his scapular with great reverence, and embraced
him. Repenting for what he had done, Don Gabriel planned to return;
and although at that time he did not carry out this project, he
finally came down in peace later, and revealed to the father some
ambuscades on the road in some dangerous passes where the Indians
intended to kill the Spanish soldiers, which danger was avoided by
his information. At that time this father was vicar-provincial, and,
that he might be able to have more time to attend to these necessary
and arduous labors, the provincial relieved him from the office--to the
great satisfaction of father Fray Pedro, who esteemed most highly that
which was most laborious and least honorable. He paid little attention
to his bodily health, all his solicitude being given to the spiritual
health of himself and his fellow-men. He treated himself very ill,
and would take no comfort even when he needed it. He never complained
when he was suffering from illness, until the increase of the disease
obliged him to keep his bed, in a condition of such infirmity that,
even when in bed, he was unable to move. The hardships which he endured
at this time by going (always on foot) over very difficult paths were
most trying. The heat of the sun was terrible; he was obliged to be
awake much; and he had but little food, and that bad--so that nothing
could be looked for except a severe illness or death. He was reduced
to skin and bones, and yet he strove to give himself spirit to return
to that destroyed vineyard, that he might restore it to its ancient
beauty and verdure; but his exhausted strength was insufficient to
resist so severe a disease, and they accordingly had him carried down
to be cared for in the city of Nueva Segovia. The medicines, however,
came so late that he was no longer susceptible to them. Being nothing
but skin and bone, he was like a living image of death. He was greatly
grieved by his sickness, and his grief was greater since the disease
immediately exhibited its deadly malice; yet it was not a rapid one,
and hence he had time for preparation for the dreadful journey. He
received the holy sacraments very calmly, and he made his confession
quite at leisure. Since it was the last one, and there were now no
stumbles to be feared, he declared that he went from this world in
the virginal purity with which he had entered it. He died on the day
of St. Peter the Apostle; on that day he assumed the religious habit;
and finally, on that day he ended this miserable life, in the hope
of going to eternal felicity by the aid of that same holy apostle,
to whom he had always been devoted. This father was a son of the
convent of Villaescusa, and, after a life in España in which he had
a special reputation for virtue, he continued the same course in
this province, with great spiritual progress, for more than twenty
years. He was always beloved by all, and always distinguished in his
labors for the spiritual good of his fellow-men--not only in Yrraya,
but wherever he lived. This was especially true in the district of
Malagueg, where another uprising occurred, and where, though he was
in great danger of being slain by the insurgents, he showed great
courage and readiness to die for the holy gospel. But here the Lord
delivered him for more labors, greater merits, and higher glory. In
the provincial chapter which followed, the following record was
entered on the minutes: "In the convent of our father St. Dominic at
Nueva Segovia, died the reverend father Fray Pedro de Sancto Thomas,
an aged priest and father, vicar of Yrraya. He was beloved by God and
man, and most observant of the rules of the order; and, although he
suffered from disease, yet he underwent the greatest hardships for
the conversion of the Indians and for sustaining them in the faith."
CHAPTER XVIII
The voyage of the holy Fray Luis Flores to the kingdom of Japon
[Father Fray Luis Flores was for many years engaged in the ministry
to the Indians of Nueva Segovia. Though his work was rewarded with
much fruit, he felt that it was not such as he desired it to be;
and he asked and received license to return to Manila, where,
by devoting himself to prayer and the reading of holy books, his
soul might obtain strength to be more fit for his labors. While he
was living in the convent in great quietude of spirit, the news of
the imprisonment of some of our religious in Japon reached Manila;
and--like that Antonius who, in the time of Constantius the Arian
emperor, [28] left the desert and went to Alexandria to confound the
heretics--father Fray Luis determined to leave his beloved quiet and
to go to Japon. Having received permission to go on this enterprise,
he departed without having had any companion assigned to him. God
provided one in the person of father Fray Pedro de Zuñiga, [29] an
Augustinian friar who had been driven from Japon at the time of the
banishment of the religious. They embarked as secretly as they could,
June 5, 1620. They dressed themselves in secular habits, and disguised
themselves as completely as possible. They met with storms and contrary
winds, and were obliged to land at Macan to renew their stores. They
reëmbarked July 2, and on St. Magdalen's day anchored off the island
of Hermosa to get wood and water. They were still within sight of
the island when they were captured by a ship of Dutch pirates. The
Japanese, when they saw that these were Dutch, were at ease because
of the peace between the Dutch and the Japanese; but the fathers and
the two Spanish passengers aboard were in great fear, because of the
mortal enmity between the Dutch and the Spanish. The Japanese tried to
hide them in the cargo, which was almost entirely composed of the hides
of deer, many of which are bought by the Japanese in the Philippinas
to be made into breeches. The moisture caused the stench from the
skins to be horrible, and the fathers suffered much from it during
the day and night while they were there. The Dutch caught them and,
suspecting them of being religious, offered them meat to eat on Friday,
and tried them with theological arguments. They also made prize of the
ship and cargo, for carrying Spanish friars. There were seven other
vessels, Dutch and English, with whom they divided their captives and
their booty. The fathers were threatened with death, and the letters
accrediting them to the religious orders in Japon were found. Although
these were in cipher, they increased the suspicion against them. On
the fourth of August they landed in the port of Firando in Japon,
where the Dutch and English had their factories. They were subjected
to a most rigorous imprisonment and to very severe treatment, being
stripped to their waists with their hands tied behind their backs,
and their feet fastened to some small cannon. The Spanish and Japanese
Christians in Nangasaqui were greatly grieved when they heard of the
imprisonment of the religious; and made plans to rescue them, which
came to nothing. The Dutch were desirous of giving their prisoners to
the emperor, for they wished, as he did, to root out Christianity from
Japon, and at the same time to bring to an end all commerce between
the Japanese and the Spaniards, hoping in this way to have the commerce
to themselves, and caring nothing for the loss of all these souls.]
CHAPTER XIX
The many efforts made for the rescue of the prisoners without any
good results, and rather to their cost; the martyrdom of the prisoners.
[Several of the fathers who were in Japon made efforts to rescue
the prisoners. At one time father Fray Pedro de Zuñiga and the two
Spaniards were slipped past the guard, but were soon caught again and
driven back. When the Japanese sent to ask if they were religious,
father Fray Luis sent an answer complaining of the Dutch for plundering
the ship and taking him prisoner, and alleging that they were rebels
and pirates. The Dutch, in anger, determined to force the father by
torture to confess that he was a religious. They bound his body and let
water drip upon a cloth over his face until he lost consciousness. The
prisoners were afterward actually rescued from prison, but were
soon caught again and were beaten. It may be asked how priests
were justified in concealing the fact that they were priests. To
this it may be answered, as St. Thomas says (22, sec. 3, art 2),
that the priesthood is a free state, which may be assumed by anyone
who desires; and when they were asked if they were priests or not,
they had a right to conceal it, or to deny it in some good sense true
according to their own meaning, without following the meaning of him
who asked the question--which they were not bound to follow, because
the question was unjust. In making this denial they did not deny that
they were Christians. Indeed, they expressly confessed that; they
denied only that they were fathers, as they were not in the natural
sense. This declaration did not scandalize or injure the Japanese
Christians. They were satisfied that it was not a lie, but a prudent
and lawful artifice. As there is a time to be silent, there is also a
time to speak, and as the evidence against father Fray Zuñiga became so
strong that the truth could not be denied except to his own discredit,
he confessed in December, 1621. Father Fray Pedro was then handed over
to the Japanese to be put in prison; and father Fray Luis, seeing that
nothing would be gained by further concealment, confessed to the king
of Firando that he was a religious of the Order of St. Dominic. The
two friars were imprisoned on the island of Quinoxima. The other
Christian prisoners were visited by a priest, a Japanese by nation,
named Thomas Araqui, who had studied at Roma, but who upon his return
to his own country had apostatized. He was laboring at Nangasaqui to
induce the Christians to recant, that the work of persecution might
be carried on with less bloodshed. On the seventeenth of August,
the fathers and the Japanese who had tried to rescue father Fray Luis
were taken to Nangasaqui. Here it was impossible to find Christians
who would bring the wood for the pyre of the fathers; and finally the
officials found some heathen of low life who lived among the brothels,
who consented to do it. [30] The apostate Thomas Araqui strove to
pervert the fathers, and the holy prisoners were offered their lives
if they would recant, but they boldly refused. Finally sentence was
passed upon fifteen Christians. Three, including the fathers, were to
be burnt alive, and the others were to be burnt after decapitation. On
the following day, the twentieth of August, the sentence was executed
in the presence of a great multitude. When the heads of the twelve
were shown to the multitude in order to strike terror into the hearts
of the Christians, the contrary result was attained, for they shouted
aloud that the saints were happy and victorious. The Japanese by the
name of Joachim who suffered the extreme of torture with the fathers
spoke boldly to the crowd, as the fathers did also. The death of the
fathers came by noon; and this great multitude remained there all
that time without breaking their fast, accompanying the saints with
prayers and groans. At this time the women and children went home,
while the men remained to obtain the holy relics, which were kept
for five days that they might be shown to the Dutch as evidence that
the sentence had been carried out. The Christians afterward secured
the relics. His own holy religious order will take care to provide
an account of Fray Pedro de Zuñiga. The holy Fray Luis Flores was
a Fleming by nation, a native of Gante (i.e., Ghent). He went to
España in company with his relatives, and from there to the Yndias,
assuming the habit of the Order of St. Dominic in the convent of the
illustrious City of Mexico. When he came to the Philipinas he was sent
to the province of Nueva Segovia, where he was an excellent minister.]
CHAPTER XX
The captivity of other religious in Japon
[The first of the religious to join father Fray Thomas del
Espiritu Sancto in prison was father Fray Angel Orsuchi, who called
himself in España and here Ferrer, from devotion to the glorious
St. Vincent. He was an Italian, a native of the distinguished city
of Luca, in Toscana. He was born of noble ancestry and assumed the
habit and was a student in the college of La Minerva at Roma. Seeing
the great lack of ministers of the gospel in these regions, and the
great devotion of this province, he desired to enter it. For this
purpose he went to España under color of pursuing his studies, that
his voyage might not be hindered by his relatives or by the religious
of his own province. He took advantage of his first opportunity to
come to these regions from España, which was in the year 1601. He was
assigned to Nueva Segovia, and after learning the language reaped a
great harvest of converts. Being afflicted by a severe illness he
returned to Manila, where his illness kept him for more than two
years. After his recovery he went to the district of Bataan. The
Lord restored his health to him in response to a vow. Father Fray
Angel learned the language of Bataan, and ministered to the Indians
of this region, without leaving it--except for a short time, when
he went to Pangasinan as vicar-provincial--until he was assigned
to the duty of superior of the hospice of our order in Mexico. In
Mexico he advanced greatly in the things of the spirit, and after
a time became very desirous of returning to this province. He took
advantage of the opportunity offered him by the return to España
of the superior of a company of religious, to take his place and to
lead the religious to the Philippinas. In the following year, 1616,
it was proposed to make him provincial, but he himself objected so
strongly that he was not elected. Father Fray Angel was definitor
at this chapter. The news of the sufferings of the Christians of
Japon, and of the glorious martyrdoms of so many religious there,
aroused in the mind of this blessed father such lively desires to go
to the aid of these faithful and courageous Christians that he could
neither sleep nor eat nor take any rest. He submitted his purposes
to a religious of the Society of Jesus named Father Calderon, who had
been in Japon almost thirty years. This father approved his designs;
and then father Fray Angel desired his superior to determine whether
or not he should go--fearing, on the one hand, that his strength
might not be sufficient for the purpose; and being, on the other,
desirous of undertaking this glorious work. His superior accordingly
commanded him to take the journey to Japon. He assumed a secular garb,
and after many hardships and sufferings on the voyage reached Japon
in August, 1618. While he was still studying the language he was
captured by the ministers of Satan on St. Lucy's day in December,
at midnight. With him were also captured father Fray Juan de Sancto
Domingo and a number of Japanese. The fathers admitted that they were
religious, and were sent to the prison of Omura, where father Fray
Thomas de Sancto Dominico and Fray Apolinario Franco, a Franciscan,
had been confined for two years. They were commanded to lay aside
their habits, which they had again assumed, and to dress in lay
garments. It was intended to prevent the Japanese Christians from
reverencing the fathers, but this act of the judges increased the
devotion of the multitude. One of the most devoted of the fathers,
father Fray Alonso de Mena, was betrayed on Thursday, March 14;
and was bound and taken, with his landlord and a number of Japanese,
before the judge. He admitted that he was a religious of the Order
of St. Dominic. On the following day, they tortured a boy until he
revealed the hiding-place of father Fray Francisco de Morales. He
was immediately arrested. This caused much grief among the Japanese
Christians, many of whom showed great courage and boldness in
confessing their faith. On the following Sunday, which was Palm
Sunday, the two fathers were sent to the island of Yuquinoxima,
where the holy martyrs, Fray Luis Flores and Fray Pedro de Zuñiga,
had been burned. In spite of the efforts of the judges to prevent
the faithful from venerating these holy prisoners, the pious Japanese
showed the greatest devotion and reverence to them. The fathers were
thus made happy in their prison; and father Fray Francisco de Morales
sent home a letter to Manila rejoicing in his imprisonment--which was
very severe, and in which they were subjected to great suffering for
lack of proper food, from the discomfort of their lodging, and from
the indecent and insulting behaviour of the guard. In the month of
August all the prisoners were brought together to the prison of Omura,
and they rejoiced to meet one another. Soon after was captured the
holy Fray Joseph de San Jacintho. He was seized on the seventeenth
of August, 1621; he confessed that he was a religious, and told his
name. On August 19 he was brought ignominiously bound to the prison
of Omura, followed by a crowd of sobbing Christians.]
CHAPTER XXI
The arrest of the holy Fray Jacintho Orfanel; the narrowness of his
prison, and the great miseries of it; his martyrdom, and the marvelous
fruits which followed from his captivity.
[Though most of the fathers had remained in the cities of the Japanese,
others wandered through the mountains and in thinly populated places,
where they suffered even greater hardships than the former class, as
they ministered to their faithful sons in those desolate regions. Among
these was the holy Fray Jacintho Orfanel. Being lean, swarthy and
tall, it was difficult for him to disguise himself, since the Japanese
are generally short, broad-shouldered, and fair-skinned. Even if his
secular habit had disguised him so far as his external appearance went,
the modesty and gravity of his behaviour would have been sufficient
to betray him. While he was resting in Nangasaqui for a time to
recover from an illness, he was betrayed by a renegade Christian and
arrested. Boldly avowing who he was, he was sent to the prison of Omura
to join the rest of the prisoners, who received him with the Te Deum
laudamus, as at the entry of a prince or papal legate. Merely to hear
the description of their prison causes horror, it was so small and so
wretched. The persecutors permitted them no materials for writing, and
no implements made of iron, so that their nails and their hair grew
long. They were not allowed to wash or to change their clothes. The
guards were changed constantly, that they might form no friendship with
the prisoners. This severity, which was intended to alarm the other
ministers of the gospel who were in Japon, if there were any, had
no such effect. The imprisoned Japanese showed the greatest courage,
and their wives desired to follow them into their imprisonment. The
captive Christians spent all that time in holy exercises, prayers,
the singing of psalms, the keeping of the hours, and the celebration of
the mass. The conduct of the Spanish prisoners was such as to overthrow
the false opinion spread through Japon by the Dutch, that the fathers
were spies of the king of España. Their sufferings and their martyrdom
encouraged the Christians in the faith. From the prison the fathers
wrote encouraging letters to the suffering Christians of Japon. They
also wrote to their brethren in Manila.]
CHAPTER XXII
The giving of the habit to three Japanese by the holy captives; and
the martyrdom of the fathers Fray Francisco de Morales, Fray Alonso
de Mena, Fray Angel Ferrer (or Orsuchi), Fray Jacintho Orfanel, Fray
Joseph de San Jacintho, and two of those who had professed in prison
(all members of the order), besides many others.
[The fathers, desiring those to be their equals in condition who
were so in virtue, determined to give the habit to some of the holy
Japanese, their companions. Three therefore, among those of the best
capacity and the highest virtue, passed their novitiate in the prison,
and at the end of their year professed. These saintly men feared
that their penalty would be banishment, not death. On the ninth of
September, 1622, the judges called before them many of the prisoners,
offering them life and liberty if they would renounce Christianity,
and at this time they brought before them some of the prisoners from
Omura. As they came to Nangasaqui a great crowd of Christians came
to welcome and escort them. On the following day, the martyrs were
brought out to be slain; there were, in all, thirty-three. Before
those who were condemned to the stake were burned, the others were
decapitated in their sight. There were seven of our order in this
company: fathers Fray Francisco de Morales, Fray Alonso de Mena, Fray
Angel Orsuchi, Fray Jacintho Orfanel, Fray Joseph de San Jacintho, and
the lay brothers Fray Thomas del Rosario and Domingo (a donado), [31]
both Japanese. The two lay brothers were decapitated, and the fathers
were burned at the stake, twenty-five men in all being burned. All the
sufferers died with the most cheerful courage. The judges did all they
could to keep the holy relics from being venerated by the Christians,
some of whom lost their lives in the effort to obtain these.]
CHAPTER XXIII
The martyrdom of the holy Fray Thomas de Zumarraga, brother Fray Mancio
de Sancto Thomas, and a Japanese; and those of other Japanese in Omura.
[Father Fray Thomas de Zumarraga and brother Fray Mancio de Sancto
Thomas were greatly grieved that they should have been left behind
when the other fathers and brethren went to martyrdom; but soon
afterward their grief was taken away, and the door of the prison
opened that they might go forth to be executed at Nangasaqui. It was
no small grief to the saints not to see the Christians in the streets,
who had withdrawn themselves from fear of the emperor's edict. The
martyrs died courageously. The holy Fray Francisco de Morales was a
native of Madrid. He assumed the habit in the convent of San Pablo
at Valladolid, where he professed and began his studies. He was
afterward a student in the college of San Gregorio in the same city,
and became afterward a lecturer in arts in his own convent. Thence
he went to the Philipinas, where he spent some time as a teacher of
theology and as preacher to the Spaniards in the city of Manila. One
Good Friday some Japanese happened to enter the church; and father
Fray Francisco was so much affected by the sight that when he returned
to his cell he was sighing and sobbing, and repeating, "To Japon, to
Japon!" At the provincial chapter in the convent in 1602 he was prior,
and was appointed definitor. At this time one of the subjects discussed
was the answer to be made to the king of Satçuma, who had earnestly
begged for friars of St. Dominic for his kingdom. The holy friar Fray
Francisco de Morales was appointed superior to the missionaries in
Japon, by the voice of all. In time of peace he built many churches;
he gained many souls for God, and at last he attained the martyr's
crown. The holy Fray Thomas de Zumarraga was a native of the city
of Victoria in Vizcaya, and a son of the convent of the Order of
St. Dominic in that city. He studied in the college of San Gregorio
at Valladolid. He accompanied Father Francisco de Morales to Japon
and attained an elegant mastery of the language of that country, in
which he lived twenty years, five of them in prison. The holy Fray
Alonso de Mena was a native of the city of Logroño; he was a son of
the famous convent of San Estevan at Salamanca, whence he went out to
the Philippinas. Here he was occupied for some time in the ministry to
the Chinese, and the Lord conveyed him thence to Japon. He suffered
from illness for a number of years, and from a profound melancholy,
which did not prevent him from fulfilling his ministry with great
joy. The holy Fray Joseph de San Jacintho was a native of the town
named Villarejo de Salvanes, in La Mancha, and was a son of the
convent of Sancto Domingo at Ocaña. He went out to the Philippinas
from the royal convent of San Pedro Martyr at Toledo, when he had
finished his studies there. He was sent immediately to Japon, where
he accommodated himself in all things to the Japanese manner of life,
dressing and eating like the Japanese, employing their civilities,
speaking their language with as much propriety as they, and in the
same sing-song voice. In all this he surpassed the other fathers,
insomuch that he was taken by the Japanese as one of themselves. The
holy Fray Jacintho Orfanel was a Valencian by birth, and was by his
habit a son of the convent of Sancta Cathalina Martyr at Barcelona. He
was a religious of the greatest modesty and patience.]
CHAPTER XXIV
A mission sent by the province to Japon, and the result of it
[Though the province rejoiced in having so many glorious martyrs,
it was grieved to see the preachers of the holy gospel in Japon come
to an end, for without them it was impossible for the faith to be
continued. These true sons of our father St. Dominic strove therefore
to fill up the number of those who, after having fought valorously,
had departed to heaven with the crown of martyrdom. The project was
one of great difficulty. The law directed that not only the preachers
should be burnt to death, but that all those who brought them should
suffer the like penalty, and that the vessels and cargo should be
confiscated. The Dutch and English heretics watched with great care
to see if any religious attempted to enter the kingdom. The emperor
decreed that a registry should be kept of all on board the vessels
which came to the kingdom. And finally there were many, even in
Catholic countries, who for the sake of trade with Japon endeavored
to prevent the religious from going to that country. The commerce of
that kingdom with the Philippinas Islands had been almost destroyed,
so that the very archbishop himself endeavored to prevent preachers
from going from these islands to Japon. They were even more rigorous
in Macan. But the holy martyrs from their prisons sent back calls for
religious to aid the Japanese in their extreme spiritual need. Hence
in the year 1623 the superiors of three religious orders determined
to buy a ship, and to give large pay to the pilot and the sailors to
take the religious to Japon. The risk of death was great in Japon,
and scarcely less in these islands, because the voyage was contrary to
the will and the command of the governor. Finally, ten priests were
embarked--four from our order, four Franciscans, and two Augustinian
Recollects. Many obstacles were placed in the way of the journey,
but the voyage finally took place. The province sent of its best:
father Fray Diego de Rivera, [32] a son of the convent of San Pablo
at Cordova who was at the time teaching theology, as he had done for
many years in the college in Manila; father Fray Domingo de Erquicia,
who was at that time the principal preacher in Manila; father Fray
Lucas del Espiritu Sancto, lecturer in arts in the aforesaid college;
and father Fray Luis Beltran or Exarch, minister to the Chinese and
the Indians. They suffered much on the voyage. They followed the course
by the Babuyanes and the islands of the Lequios, from which they were
driven by a storm to the coast of China, where they took on water and
wood at a point named Sombor. They tried to make port to get fresh
ship-stores, but were attacked by the Chinese. Father Fray Diego
de Ribera was shot in the leg, by accident, by one of his own men,
and finally died. On the nineteenth of June they landed in Satzuma,
and were directed to go to Nangasaqui. They immediately set about
learning the language, and had been there but a short time when the
emperor issued a decree expelling all the Spaniards who had come to
Japon from Manila. The fathers pretended to return to Macan, but left
the vessel to come back secretly to Nangasaqui. The persecution was
going on, seventy persons being martyred in 1623--among them father
Fray Francisco Galvez, [33] a Franciscan; and Father Geronimo de los
Angeles, a Jesuit. Father Fray Pedro Bazquez was taken prisoner; and,
as the other fathers had not yet learned the language, all the labors
of the Dominican order fell upon father Fray Domingo Castellet. The
fathers encouraged the Japanese, a number of whom confessed bravely and
suffered death by burning, among them being some of noble birth. The
accounts of matters in Japon during this period are drawn in the
main from the letters of father Fray Domingo de Erquicia. The fathers
were obliged to be most secret, to go from house to house by night,
and to expose themselves to cold and snow. What happened to this
father and his companion was not known here until August in this year
1626. We turn from the account of the works of these fathers to give
a narrative of the experience of some who had been in Japon longer,
and who had thus far escaped martyrdom. One was Fray Pedro Vasquez,
a son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha at Madrid; and the
other Fray Domingo Castellet, a son of the convent of Sancta Catalina
Martir at Barcelona. As the persecution advanced, the Portuguese who
lived in the kingdom were expelled from it.]
CHAPTER XXV
The harvest reaped in Japon by the holy father Fray Pedro Vazquez;
his life and virtues
[The holy Fray Pedro Vazquez was born in Berin in the kingdom of
Galicia, in the county of Monterrey. He assumed the habit in the famous
convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha at Madrid, and studied arts and
theology in the royal convents of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, and Sancto
Thomas at Avila. He came to the Philippinas with the second body of
religious which I brought over, the first having come in 1613. His
first work in the Philippinas Islands was in Nueva Segovia, where he
reaped a great harvest. When the news of the happy death of the holy
martyr Fray Alonso Navarrete reached him, he strove to be permitted
to go to Japon, and after two years received license to do so. The
ship arrived in Nangasaqui after a voyage of only eleven days. This
was on the twenty-second of July, 1621. Hearing of the great number of
martyrdoms, he strove with all his might to learn the language, until
he knew enough of it to go to the prisons and confess the prisoners,
as he did boldly. Within one year he heard the confessions of more
than seven thousand persons.]
CHAPTER XXVI
A more detailed account of the imprisonment of the holy Fray Pedro
Bazquez, the time while it lasted, and the sufferings which he
endured in it; and finally his glorious martyrdom, in company with
four other martyrs.
[When father Fray Domingo Castellet had finished the interment of the
relics of the holy martyr Fray Luis Flores, and father Fray Pedro
was speaking with him in somewhat loud tones, two heathen officers
happened to hear them speaking Spanish. They arrested father Fray
Pedro, but father Fray Domingo escaped. They offered to let the father
go for a bribe, which he refused to give them; and he suffered greatly
in prison. The Christians mourned and grieved when they saw that he
was arrested. He was taken to the prison of Omura, where the holy
Fray Luis Sotelo was in prison. Here they were happy in each other's
company, though the imprisonment was very severe. Finally the servant
of God and his four companions, Father Miguel Caraballo, father Fray
Luis Sotelo, and two Japanese Franciscans, were taken from prison
and burnt, intoning the litany during their sufferings. In spite of
the care of the officers, some small relics of the holy martyrs were
rescued by father Fray Domingo Castellet.]
CHAPTER XXVII
The election as provincial of father Fray Bartholome Martinez, and
the deaths of some religious
On the nineteenth of April, 1625, the vigil of the glorious virgin
St. Inez de Monte Policiano, the fathers having votes assembled for the
election of a provincial, since father Fray Miguel Ruiz had finished
his term. On the first ballot the votes were divided almost equally,
since there were so many religious worthy of the post as to cause
difficulty in the selection. But this did not last long, for on the
second ballot those who had the largest number of ballots withdrew, and
father Fray Bartholome Martinez was unanimously elected. He had been
vicar of the Parian of the Chinese, and was their special minister. He
was recognized by all, both religious and laymen, as worthy of this or
of greater offices, because of his great virtue, learning, prudence,
and devotion. At the same time no one had talked about or even thought
of such a choice, because, in truth, there were many others who well
deserved the post and who were much older than he. The Lord, who does
not look at these exterior things alone, but at the heart and the soul,
turned their eyes upon this father as upon another David, so that by
being placed in a post of government he might do great things. It was
the Lord who caused them all, as if moved by a spirit from above,
to elect him with great good-will, and with general applause from
within and without the order, all recognizing the hand of the Lord in
a choice which was at once so wise and so far from the thoughts of
all. In particular, the archbishop of this city was greatly pleased
with it, for he knew well the great virtues of the person chosen, and
sent to give his most special congratulations to the fathers. Father
Fray Bartholome was a son of the famous convent of San Estevan at
Salamanca. He was a great theologian, and a man of superior virtue,
devotion to the rules of the order, and mortification. He underwent
many extraordinary sufferings. Some were voluntarily assumed, and
although these were many, they were (as we shall see afterwards)
easier to bear because voluntary. At the same time, it was necessary
to train and try him for much which the Lord desired to work through
his means; and hence the Lord gave permission to the devil to torment
him--so severely that, when he was still very young, his hair grew
white. In the first year of this assault he lost his strength, and was
dying without suffering from any other disease. He was living in the
convent of novices in Salamanca, and revealed his sufferings to his
confessor and spiritual master alone. This was the holy Fray Diego de
Alderete. He, being of much experience in such sufferings, consoled
and encouraged him, but commanded him not to speak of the matter with
any person. This direction he observed so carefully that it was never
possible to learn any more than these general facts, although there
must have been many very remarkable things which, if known, would have
been highly edifying. But he, striving for more humility, and obeying
the order to keep silence, never revealed them, and no one else ever
knew them. He was seen to be growing weaker, being without strength and
without health, and when he was taken to the infirmary the physicians
corroborated what all knew with regard to the danger in which he was;
but they were never able to find out the cause, since it was beyond
the limits of their science. All this, and much more which was added
to it, was necessary, and helped him much to bear the bitter hardships
which in time he suffered, and which would have broken his heart. Our
Lord conducted father Fray Bartholome through all his life by a way
of suffering, and in suffering he ended it--as will be narrated in due
time, when we reach the year of our Lord 1629, when his virtue and his
abstinence will be specially treated. During his term as provincial,
the province lost by death several religious of superior qualities,
and suffered from several insurrections of villages. Both of these
things were severely felt in a region where the religious are so few
that the loss of a single one is a notable loss; and where all energy
is turned toward converting souls, so that the perdition of a single
one causes great sorrow. For these sufferings our Lord brought some
comfort in the martyrdom of some sons of the province, and in the
extension of the holy gospel to the island of Hermosa.
[Among the religious who died at this time was father Fray Francisco de
Cabrera, vicar of San Miguel de Nasiping; he was a native of Carmona,
and a son of the convent at San Lucar, whence he was sent to pass
his novitiate in Sancto Domingo at Xerez. He was stationed in Nueva
Segovia and was an exemplary minister. His name is honorably mentioned
on the records of the chapter in the year 1625. At the same provincial
chapter honorable mention was made of father Fray Pedro Blazquez,
vicar of the convent of Manavag. He was a native of Marchena in
Andalucia. He assumed the habit of the order in the famous convent
of San Pablo at Sevilla and was sent as a collegiate to Almagro. He
left his convent of Sevilla to come to this province in 1613, and was
regarded by those who accompanied him as a saint. On the fifteenth
of May, 1624, died father Fray Thomas Vilar. He was a native of
Castellon de la Palana in the kingdom of Valencia, where he assumed
the habit. He was sent to the college of the order in Origuela, and
came to the Philippinas in 1601. He was assigned to the province of
Nueva Segovia, and afterwards was appointed rector of the college
of Sancto Thomas at Manila. In the following November, as fathers
Fray Miguel de San Jacintho (a man who was twice provincial) and Fray
Diego de Toro, vicar of San Jacintho at Camalaniogan in Nueva Segovia,
testify, a marvel happened in the village of Apari, [34] a port in
that province in the district of Camalaniogan. A fire occurred here
one night, and a sea breeze was sweeping it throughout the village,
when the vicar, taking in his hands the little image of our Lady of
the Rosary which they were accustomed to carry in the processions,
made a vow and turned it toward the fire, when the wind immediately
died down and the fire began to go out.]
CHAPTER XXVIII
Father Fray Juan de Rueda and de los Angeles, who died a martyr
[Father Fray Juan de Rueda was a native of the mountains of Burgos,
and had assumed the habit in San Pablo at Valladolid, whence he came to
the Philippinas in the year 1603, being sent, as soon as he arrived,
to the kingdom of Japon. Here he assumed the name of Fray Juan de
los Angeles. When the priests were banished, father Fray Juan was
one of those who remained in hiding to aid and fortify the Christians
there. In 1619 he came to Manila in order to obtain more religious. He
reaped a great harvest in Arima. He was devoted to the holy rosary. He
translated into Japanese the devotion of the holy rosary while he was
in Manila. His anxiety to return was such that he strove to make his
way back by the islands of the Lequios, where his arguments in favor
of Christianity convinced those who heard them that he was a Spanish
priest. He was therefore imprisoned for a time in an island called
Avaguni, where he profaned a thicket which was dedicated to an idol,
and for this suffered death, but on what day was never known.
While this provincial chapter was being held in Manila, there died
in Nueva Segovia father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, a native of
Caceres in Estremadura. He was a son of the convent of San Estevan
at Salamanca. He volunteered for the Philippinas in 1594, and in
Mexico was elected a superior of the company, the vicar who had led
them having died; he was assigned to Nueva Segovia. He was a most
devoted minister, a diligent student of the language of that nation,
and a most zealous and devoted religious. He prayed the Lord that he
might not die a superior, and his prayer was granted; for after he
had been vicar of many convents, vicar-provincial of Nueva Segovia,
prior of the convent of Manila, and twice provincial of the province,
the Lord called him to himself when he was living in Masi, one of
the first villages which he converted. He died suddenly, on the
twenty-fifth of April. The Indians of the villages of Abulug, Masi,
Pata, and Cabacungan gave him the most costly funeral honors within
their power, and made up a subscription for more than five hundred
masses, which at four reals apiece come to more than two thousand. This
they did as a token of their great love for him, and the great debt
which they owed him for bringing them to the Catholic faith.]
On the eighth of June, the first Sunday after the most Holy Trinity, a
great misfortune occurred in the revolt of some Indians of the province
of Nueva Segovia. Turning their backs on the faith, they gave it up
and fled to the mountains--a thing which caused great grief to the
ministers of the holy gospel. In that province, above a village named
Abulug, near a river which comes down from the mountain, two villages
had been formed by gathering the inhabitants together. They were
called Nuestra Señora del Rossario de Fotol, as has been recounted
in this history, and San Lorenço de Capinatan. In the latter there
lived some Indians known as Mandayas, a wild and fierce tribe whose
native abode was in mountainous places about the bay of Bigan in
Ylocos. The religious ministered to them and assisted them in their
necessities, taught them the law of God, and baptized many people,
for these people generally asked holy baptism from them. Their evil
nature, which was perverse and restless, and their affection for
their ancient places of abode so attracted them that it seemed as
if in that village they were caught fast by the hair. Three times
they endeavored to escape to the mountains; and though they were
prevented twice, and their efforts came to nothing, this last time
they so planned their attempt, and kept it so secret, that they
carried out their evil purpose. With this object, they stirred up the
old inhabitants of Capinatan, and persuaded those of Fotol, bringing
them to join them by means of threats and prayers. Some of the people
of Fotol became so obstinate that they were worse than the Mandayas,
the first movers of the insurrection. Afterward the Mandayas who were
in Capinatan rose; and two of them, Don Miguel Lanab and another chief
named Alababan, set the enterprise in motion by going to the church to
speak to the religious who was there at the time. This was father Fray
Alonso Garcia, [35] a son of the convent of San Pablo at Valladolid,
who had said a first mass in the village of Fotol, and a second in
Capinatan, and was now at dinner with brother Fray Onofre Palao, a
lay religious from the convent of Manila. They were seated at their
meal in a little corridor of the house. Their assailants came up, and
each one standing beside the religious whom he was to decapitate, they
made a pretense of asking permission to go to some villages on their
ancient lands. Father Fray Alonso, who had but recently come, referred
the request to the regular minister of the village, and asked them to
wait till he should come, because he was in another village. At this
point Alababan raised his arm, and with his balanao or knife he struck
such a blow on the neck of Fray Onofre that he cut off his head to the
backbone, leaving it hanging by only a little bit of skin. Don Miguel
Lanab, who had not acted so promptly, lifted his knife, and father Fray
Alonso naturally raised his hand to protect his head. The knife cut
through this and the blow went on and reached his head. Father Fray
Alonso rose from the table and fell on his knees like a gentle lamb;
and the Mandaya traitor repeated the blow, giving him another on the
head. The Indian boys who served at the table began to scream; and the
transgressors, that they might not be caught in so perfidious an act,
made their escape. Some Indians who were ignorant of the conspiracy
came, and took father Fray Alonso to the house of a chief, where some
medicines were applied to the wound. As they were preparing a barge
in which to take him down to the village of Abulug, the Mandayas came,
and prevented them from doing so by threats. They took him back to the
house of the chieftainess: and while father Fray Alonso was exhorting
the people to come back to obedience, and expounding to them the
evil of which they were guilty in apostatizing from the faith, three
Mandayas came in, and with their keen balanaos or knives cut to pieces
the confessor of Christ. They afterward threw out the pieces from the
house, to be eaten by the swine who were there. As a result of this
atrocious deed, the Mandayas rose in a body and roused the Capinatas;
and, coming down to Fotol, they forced the people there by menaces to
flee with them to the mountains. They set fire to the churches, and,
as members of Satan, they defiled them by a thousand sacrileges. They
struck off the head of a Christ, and cut the body down the middle,
dividing it into two parts, which were afterward found by the religious
who came to bring them back to obedience. The religious buried these,
the uprising of the Mandayas (of whose severe punishment we shall soon
hear) allowing no opportunity for anything else. With regard to Fray
Alonso Garcia, several matters worthy of remark were noted. The first
was this. Some months before, while he was living in the convent in
Capinatan, he one night had put himself into the posture of prayer in
the dormitory, with his breviary in his hand. At this time the convent
was disturbed by an imp who caused so much trouble that he would not
give the religious any rest, and from whose visitations there was
not in all the convent any place that was free. He disturbed them
in the dormitory, he made a noise in the cells, he feigned the noise
of a struggle in the church; and sometimes he let himself fall with
a clatter that was heard in the village, and he would throw himself
down from the choir. He used to walk up and down in the church, and
he made his appearance in the larders, where he broke all the plates
there were; he made a noise under the beds, and struck the heads of the
bedsteads; and sounded the strings of a harp which they had for use at
masses on some feasts. This disturbance lasted until the breaking-out
of the uprising, and must have been a prognostication of it, and
a sign of what the devil was devising to disquiet the Christians
of this village. Now while father Fray Alonso was praying, the imp
came to him, invisible to everyone in the dormitory, and struck the
father a heavy blow, so that he felt pain in the same hand and wrist,
in the place where the blow afterward fell which cut it off. This was
the first of the things referred to. The second was that he thought
so little of himself, and had so little confidence in his own works,
that he was accustomed to say that if he did not die by some fortunate
blow which should take away his life and despatch him to heaven,
he did not know whether he should go there. This he said because of
his humility, and the event was as he said.
Another matter was that, although father Fray Alonso was not a very
skilful linguist, and not one of those who had made the greatest
progress in speaking the language of that tribe, yet when he was
wounded by the first blows and was urging the Indians not to flee,
and telling them of the harm which would come to them if they did so,
he spoke with such elegance and precision that the Indians were amazed
to hear him; and they noted this as a striking fact at the time, and
told of it afterward. He was very charitable, and was in the habit
of praising all and of speaking of the defects of himself alone. He
came to the Philippinas in the year 1622, and lived in the province of
Nueva Segovia--where, in his third year, he met with the happy death
which keen knives, directed by hands of apostates from the faith,
bring to ministers of the holy gospel. The intermediate chapter of
1628 made mention of these two religious in the following words: "In
the province of Nueva Segovia father Fray Alonso Garcia, a priest, and
brother Fray Onofre Palao, a lay brother, died happily by the hands of
impious apostates, an uprising of the Indians to whom they ministered
having occurred." In the place where father Fray Alonso was cut to
pieces, there was afterward raised in his honor a small shrine. The
Indians were brought back in the following year, and this tribe used
devoutly to frequent this shrine. The dwelling of the religious had
stood where Fray Onofre had been killed, and here it was erected
again. Since the first building was burned, it was supposed that the
fire had consumed his body at the same time--although some Spaniards
have some small bones which they value, believing that these are his,
because they found them where he was decapitated.
CHAPTER XXIX
The foundation of a church in the island of Hermosa and the holy
deaths of some religious
[The Order of St. Dominic has always had its eyes fixed upon Great
China; and father Fray Bartholome Martinez was especially anxious
for the conversion of that great realm. In this conversion he was
like Moses, who came in sight of the promised land; for he carried
religious and planted the faith in the island of Hermosa, from
which that most populous realm is almost in sight. This island had
been greatly coveted by Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and Dutch. The
king of España was the first to undertake to conquer it; and by his
order there were prepared two ships of moderate size with a force of
two hundred soldiers and sailors. The leader was Don Juan Zamudio,
who came to the Philippinas in 1593. He chose the time of his voyage
unfortunately, and was driven back to the coast of Batan; but he was
rescued by the intervention of our Lady of the Rosary. The emperor of
Japon in 1615, after his victory over Fideyori, sent an expedition
against the island. It left Nangasaque in 1616 and wintered in the
Lequios Islands. Setting sail again in the following November [sic],
it was scattered by storms upon the coast of China. The Dutch,
desirous of weakening the power of España and of interfering with
the work of the preachers of the holy gospel, had taken possession
of an uninhabited island called Island de Pescadores, [36] which lay
off the coast of China. This was in 1624. By the Chinese the Dutch
were persuaded to go thence to another island (Formosa) running from
northeast to southwest, sixty-four leguas in length, and extending
from latitude twenty-one to latitude twenty-five, and being thus twenty
leguas in breadth. They established themselves at the southern point,
in latitude twenty-three, in a port called Taiban, opposite Hayteng
in Chincheo. From this post they could scour the seas and capture
the vessels sailing from China. Here they built a small fort from
which they could do much damage to the inhabitants of Manila and
might close very important gateways to the holy gospel. [37]
In the year 1625 Don Fernando de Silva was governor of the
Philippinas. He determined to send a fleet to take possession of a
port in the island of Hermosa, in the name of the king of España, that
the designs of the Dutch might be frustrated. He counseled with the
provincial of the Order of St. Dominic, Fray Bartholome Martinez, who
promised to go to the island of Hermosa and to take religious there,
hoping in this way to gain an entry into China. In order to keep
the design secret it was said that the troops were going to pacify
the rebellious Indians of Yrraya, who had fled to the mountains. On
February 8, 1626, the fleet sailed from the port of Cavite; it was
composed of twelve champans and two galleys. There were three captains
of infantry and their companies, and the force was under the command
of the sargento-mayor, Antonio Carreño de Valdes. The ecclesiastical
authority was in the hands of the provincial, Fray Bartholome Martinez,
who took with him five religious, including those whom he later brought
from Nueva Segovia. They anchored in the port of Nueva Segovia on
the fifteenth of March, and remained there for some time. During the
interval troops were sent to the river of the Mandayas, the Indians of
which had rebelled in the previous June, as was said in the foregoing
chapter. In order to reduce them, a great number of palms were cut
down, that they might more easily be brought to subjection for lack
of food. Since the reduction of the Mandayas took more time than was
expected, and the voyage to the island of Hermosa was urgent, this
matter was left without being brought to a conclusion. To carry out
their principal purpose they sailed on the fourth of May, coming in
sight of the island on the seventh of the same month. They coasted
the island for three days, and on the tenth of May anchored on an
estuary which they named Sanctiago. The provincial and Pedro Martin
Garay, the chief pilot, went in two small vessels to the northern
headland, exploring the coast. Within five hours they discovered
a port which they called La Sanctissima Trinidad. They took back
the news to the fleet, which came on to the port and in the divine
name of the most Holy Trinity took the port under the protection
of España. They built a fort upon an islet [38] a little more than
a legua in circumference. This they called San Salvador. They also
constructed a rampart on the top of a hill three hundred feet or more
in height, which made the place impregnable. The Dominicans erected
a humble church, dedicating it to St. Catharine of Siena. Here they
heard the confessions of the Spaniards, preached, taught, and filled
the office of parish priests, up to the year 1635. The inhabitants of
this region had fled from fear of the arquebuses of the Spaniards,
and desired to avenge themselves for the wrong which they felt
that they had suffered because the soldiers made use of the rice
which the natives had left behind them. To quiet and satisfy them,
the religious set about learning their language; and, although they
knew very little of it, they began to communicate with the natives,
caressing them and giving them presents. The Lord prospered their work,
and the barbarians, who had lived the lives of savages, drinking the
blood of their neighbors, and eating the flesh of their enemies, were
tamed by the treatment of the religious. They brought their wives and
children to be baptized. The first fruits were delicate and tender
children, many of whom, after being laved in the baptismal font, went
to enjoy the possession to which they had acquired a right from the
waters of the holy Jordan. The convent of All Saints of the island of
Hermosa was accepted in the intermediate chapter of the year of our
Lord 1627, and was erected into a vicariate, father Fray Francisco Mola
[39] being appointed as its vicar and superior.
On the fourth of February of this year father Fray Alonso del Castillo,
a native of Andalucia and a son of Sancto Domingo de Sant Lucar,
set sail from his convent in the islands of the Babuyanes to go to
Nueva Segovia. The distance is a little more than six leguas, but
the crossing is dangerous at some times. His vessel was swamped,
and the father and those who were with him were all drowned. He
was an abstemious and devoted religious. Father Fray Alonso lived
in the islands of the Babuyanes. He was at one time tempted by a
thought which was unworthy of his state as a religious, and the
purity which he maintained--the devil urging him to it, and putting
before him the means of carrying out the design, and the method of
keeping it in secrecy during the absence of the superior. Father
Fray Alonso, recognizing from whose bow this arrow had been shot,
went to his superior and told him the temptation of the devil with
all the details. He and the superior laid the matter before God
with prayers and scourgings. The devil was unable to oppose such
humility, and in a few days father Fray Alonso was able to assure the
vicar that there was nothing to fear. In the following April died
father Fray Ambrosio de la Madre de Dios, a native of Guatimala,
a son of the convent of Sancto Domingo at Mexico. He came to the
Philippinas in the year 1595, and was assigned to the province of
Nueva Segovia. Without any controversy, it is he who up to the present
day has most accurately learned the language there, and who was the
teacher of those who understood it best. No one surpassed him in his
pronunciation and his choice of words. He wrote a methodical grammar,
arranged a vocabulary, translated the gospels, various examples of
holy life, an explanation of the articles, the passion of our Lord,
and other works highly esteemed for the elegance of the writing and the
propriety of the words. He was a religious of great virtue, and our
Lord wrought many miracles by his prayers. It was in response to his
prayers that when the lime-kiln in Abulug fell, those upon whom it fell
did not lose their lives. In Pata occurred two cases, as it seemed,
of resurrection; and in Tocolana he saved the church from burning.
At the last of May, father Fray Diego Carlos, a native of Guatimala
and a son of the convent at Puebla de Los Angeles, died in the
same province. He suffered much at the time of the insurrection of
the Mandayas Indians, whose minister he had been, and whom he had
brought down from their mountains. In the provincial chapter of 1621
he twice received half the votes in the election for provincial. In
the month of June, father Fray Juan de San Jacintho, a native of Los
Guertos in Segovia, and a son of San Estevan at Salamanca, fell ill
in the province of Ytuy. He lived a devout and a devoted life in the
province of Pangasinan. He was greatly beloved by all. Some Indians of
the province of Ytuy having asked for baptism, he went thither twice,
suffering greatly from the hardships of the journey. The second time,
he fell ill; and it was rumored that the Indians had given him poison,
as they often do. He died at Manila. In the year of our Lord 1627,
toward the end of March, died in the province of Nueva Segovia brother
Fray Juan Garcia, [40] a lay religious, a native of Yebenes in La
Mancha, and a son of the convent of Sancto Domingo at Manila.]
To aid in supplying the want of these noble ministers, and to fill up
the gap caused by the death of many more, our Lord gave us in July,
1626, a reënforcement of religious, who had been assembled in España
by father Fray Jacintho Calvo, and whom he had entrusted in Mexico
to father Fray Alonso Sanchez de la Visitacion--a son of the convent
at Ocaña, who had come to the Philippinas in the year 1613. [41]
He was at the time vicar of San Jacintho, where he had been sent
by the chapter of the year 1623; and he now undertook the charge of
conducting the religious, returning to the ministry of Nueva Segovia,
where he had previously been. He had been appointed by the Inquisition
of Mexico as its commissary for the cases which might arise in the
said province pertaining to that holy tribunal.
CHAPTER XXX
The state of the province, and the persecution in Japon
For the holding of the intermediate chapter [in 1627], an
ancient custom in the Order of St. Dominic, devout fathers had
assembled. Although the day was at hand, the provincial was absent,
being occupied in the new conversion in the island of Hermosa. He had
not returned from there since the previous year, when he had made the
journey. As the accidents of the sea are so various, the religious
were anxious; but the Lord relieved them from their anxiety on the
day before the holding of the chapter, the morning of Thursday. The
coming of father Fray Bartolome caused joy in all the community; and
in recognition of the good news which he brought and of the labors
which he had undergone, the governor Don Juan Niño de Tavora, invited
him and the fathers who constituted the chapter to dine with him on
the following day, which was Friday. That evening they discussed that
which they were to do on Saturday the twenty-fourth of April; and on
that day they elected as definitors fathers Fray Balthasar Fort and
Fray Miguel Ruiz, who had been provincials; Fray Antonio Cañiçares,
vicar of Babuyanes, and Fray Marcos Saavedra, a son of Villaescusa,
vicar of San Raymundo de Malagueg. By this time the Indians who not
long before had revolted and apostatized from the faith in Mandayas
(and especially those of Fotol and Capinatan) had been reduced to
subjection, and, as a result of the efforts of the religious, had
gone down to their old villages. Recognizing the error which they had
committed, and desirous of atoning for it by amending their lives,
they built churches, reëstablished the villages, and returned to the
quiet which they had enjoyed in their earlier age of gold, giving up
their age of hard iron [42] which they had been deluded into entering.
[The religious in Japon were at this time greatly afflicted. One of the
persecutors, Feyzo, strove to force his own mother by hunger to give
up the faith from which he was himself a renegade. This man captured
Father Baltazar de Torres, a religious of the Society of Jesus,
who had been his own father in the faith, and imprisoned him. On the
twentieth of July four religious of the Society of Jesus, with five
of their servants, were burned at the stake. The persecution was most
bitter at Omura, where the holy father Fray Luis Beltran (of Exarch)
then was. He was a native of Barcelona, and received the habit in
the convent of Sancta Catarina Martir in that city. He was sent to
the college of Origuela, where even during the time of his studies
he devoted himself to prayer and spiritual exercises. He volunteered
for the Philippinas, reaching Manila in 1618. After learning the
language of the Indians of that region, who are called Tagalos, he
also learned that of the Chinese, ministering in both languages up to
the year 1622, when he was sent to Japon to assist in consoling the
afflicted Japanese. He came in disguise, and very soon learned the
language of that country; and he labored for three years with great
effect in the kingdom of Omura. He foresaw that he was to suffer death
by martyrdom. He was serving in a hut of lepers when he was betrayed
to the judge. While in prison his very jailers showed him respect.]
CHAPTER XXXI
The state of affairs in Japon; and the martyrdom of father Fray Luis,
Fray Mincio de la Cruz, Fray Pedro de Sancta Maria, and some other
persons of the tertiary order of St. Dominic.
[Besides father Fray Luis, father Fray Francisco de Sancta Maria,
and brother Fray Bartholome Laurel, [43] his companion in the Order
of St. Francis, were captured, together with their landlords and
others in their house. The bitterness of the persecution increased,
and the ministers of the gospels went out into the fields, ascended
the mountains, and hid themselves in the caves of the earth. Father
Fray Lucas del Espiritu Sancto had no food for forty days except some
boiled roots. The Christians were forbidden to assemble, and were
brought in scores before the ministers of Satan, to recant or suffer
martyrdom. The number of the holy martyrs cannot be counted. The poor
were driven out from their houses, and were compelled to suffer the
rigors of winter, from which many of them died. The persecution came to
be so severe that this year of 1627 was adorned with martyrs. On the
sixteenth or seventeenth of August, eighteen Christians of all ages
and conditions received the palm of martyrdom, among them father Fray
Francisco de Sancta Maria. Among those executed were some children of
three and five years of age. Details are given of the martyrdoms of a
number of Japanese, with the horrible tortures which were inflicted
upon them. Father Fray Luis gave the habit to some of the Japanese
who were confined with him; and on July 29, 1627, the father and the
nine professed, and three poor women who rejoiced that the time had
come when they were to be freed from their leprosy, were executed by
burning at the stake.]
CHAPTER XXXII
The great persecution in Japon, and the care of the province to send
ministers there
[There were three of our religious in Japon at this time, who comforted
the Christians and kept in hiding from the ministers of the law. It
was with great difficulty that they could be assisted. In the year
1628 the four religious orders in these islands, the Franciscans,
the calced Augustinians, the Recollect Augustinians, and our order,
put forth all their energies to send religious to Japon as secretly
as possible. The expense was enormous, amounting to more than ten
thousand pesos from the common purse of these four orders. They
embarked twenty-four religious; among these were six of our holy
order, one of whom died after two days of sailing--father Fray Antonio
Corbera, a native of La Mancha, who had come within a short time to
the Philippinas from the college of San Gregorio at Valladolid. The
ship was wrecked by the carelessness of the pilot. Though the fathers
escaped from drowning, two of ours died from injuries received in
the wreck, and from sunstroke after reaching land. One was father
Fray Antonio Cañizares, a native of Almagro and a son of the convent
of our order there, who had labored nobly among the Indians of these
regions for some years. [44] The other was father Fray Juan de Vera,
a native of the city of Sancta Fee in the kingdom of Granada. He
studied in España at the convent of San Pablo at Valladolid. He came
to this province, learned the Chinese language, and was occupied in
the ministry to the Chinese when he was assigned to this duty. The
Franciscan fathers, not dismayed by the failure of this enterprise,
strove to make the journey to Japon by themselves. During two years,
no news reached us from Japon, except that the persecution had attained
such a point that not even a letter could get in or out.
Finally father Fray Domingo Castellet was captured by the diligence
of the persecutors. He was born in a village named Esparraguera, in
the principality of Cataluña, October 7, 1592. He assumed the habit
of our order October 23, 1608, in the convent of Sancta Cathalina
Martir at Barcelona. He pursued his studies in the very religious
convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, where he showed great ability. In
the year of our Lord 1613, when I was about to make a voyage to the
Philippinas Islands as procurator-general for the province of the
Holy Rosary of the Order of St. Dominic, and when I came to Sancta
Cruz at Segovia searching for religious to accompany me, one of the
first who enlisted was father Fray Domingo Castellet. He was assigned
to the province of Nueva Segovia, where he taught for six years in
the new villages called Los Mandayas. In 1621 he was directed to go
to Japon, where he showed the greatest intrepidity in danger, and
wrought a marvelous work. He was taken by surprise, and was followed
to prison by several confessors.]
CHAPTER XXXIII
The martyrdom of the servants of God, Fray Domingo Castellet, Fray
Thomas de San Jacintho, Fray Antonio de Sancto Domingo, and some
persons of the tertiary order of St. Dominic.
[The blessed Fray Domingo spent all his time in preparing himself for
his last journey, the journey from this world to heaven, and in doing
his duty by the holy company who were in prison with him. There were
many Christians in the prison of Nangasaqui, among them two Japanese
lay novices, who afterward made their profession before the holy
religious who was vicar-provincial of Japon. He prayed many hours in
the day, and took a daily discipline in company with the brethren,
in addition to special exercises of devotion and penance. On the day
of the Nativity of the most blessed Virgin, he was taken out to the
place of execution and born into heaven. Many Japanese Christians were
burned alive or decapitated, the church in Japan being illustrious in
noble martyrdoms, and no less triumphant than the primitive church,
and the Order of St. Dominic having a great share in this glory.]
CHAPTER XXXIV
The voyage in this year of religious of the province to Camboja,
in the effort to convert it; and the progress of the conversion of
the island of Hermosa.
In this year, twenty-eight, I came for the third time from España
to the Philippinas, not alone, but with a good company of excellent
religious, [45] who, desirous to advance themselves in virtue, left
their land and their kin and their comforts, like Abraham, that
they might assist in their spiritual necessity, these tribes which
depended so much upon such ministers. There was no lack of hardships
on the way, for the Lord knows of how much importance it is for us to
find persons who will accept these as they ought; He does not lose
the opportunity to apply them, and does not desire that His gift
should be useless. When we reached Manila we were heartily received,
for we had been desired because of the great lack which had resulted
from the deaths that had taken away religious just when they were
most needed by the Indians whom we had under our care. There were
also many others under our eyes who still were heathen for lack of
preachers, but who would have been Christians if they had anyone to
teach them the truth and the Catholic religion. The vacancies were
filled up with these reënforcements. As might be expected of those
who were heartily desirous of converting their fellow men, the more
they labored the more labor they desired; and there were many who were
very eager to go on new missions and to reap new harvests of heathen.
[The opportunity was offered for making another attempt to convert
Camboja. A Chinaman who had lived in the kingdom of Camboxa brought
word that the good reputation which the fathers of St. Dominic had
left in that country would cause them to be kindly received there
if they went again. The kingdom of Camboxa is the one which has
given religious rites, though false ones, to China, Japon, and the
most civilized of the surrounding nations; and the people of that
kingdom are naturally much inclined to religious devotion. Hence it
was hoped that they would be the better Christians because they were
so devout heathen. A letter was written to the king of Camboxa, asking
permission to preach the gospel in that country. The reply which was
received was courteous, but did not grant the desired permission. At
this time the governor of Manila was thinking of sending Spaniards
to Camboja to build a ship there, because of the excellence of the
wood of that region for such a purpose, and the abundance of workmen
there. That the Spaniards who went might not be deprived of sacred
ordinances, he asked the superior of our order for religious to
accompany the expedition. There were strong arguments against sending
the religious to that kingdom. The Cambodians had twice exhibited their
fickleness, having striven to kill the Spaniards and the religious
who had been invited to enter the kingdom. The same fickleness would
make it unlikely that converts would hold to the faith in times of
persecution. The people were unintelligent, and most vicious; and
the country was very hot and unhealthful. On the other hand, it did
not seem consistent with Christian charity not to take advantage of
every opportunity to attempt to save these people, in spite of their
natural fickleness, their low intelligence, and their inveterate
vices. Three religious were accordingly assigned to this expedition,
the superior of whom was father Fray Juan Baptista de Morales, a son
of the convent of San Pablo at Ecija. He was a master of the Chinese
language, which is of great importance in that kingdom. Two other
religious volunteered to go on this service. They set sail December
21. The voyage, though a dangerous one, was fortunate; and they sailed
four hundred leguas up the famous river of that kingdom (the Me-Kong
River), the source of which is unknown. The religious were courteously
received by the king. Factious quarrels broke out among the Spaniards,
which threatened so grave results that father Fray Juan Baptista de
Morales felt obliged to return with them when they came back to the
islands, for fear of an outbreak on the way. The king refused to give
permission for the baptism of his subjects, allowing only the Chinese
and Japanese to be converted; and the ministers, feeling that they
could be of greater use in these islands, returned to take up their
ministries here, where they have been of the greatest use. This was
the third time that this province actually placed religious in the
kingdom of Camboxa, in addition to the expeditions which set out for
that kingdom but failed.
At this time our religious in Hermosa were engaged in the most
laborious work of all these ministries, the learning of a new and
extraordinary language without grammar or vocabulary, or any other aid
even in the country itself; for at the beginning they were not able
by payment to keep an Indian who would merely permit them to listen
to him as he spoke and to catch up a word here and there. Although at
the beginning these people were like wild beasts, without the least
trace of human civilization, the religious have now domesticated them
to such an extent that they can go among them--although a few years
before no stranger could enter their country without their drinking
his blood like fierce wolves. Some infants have been baptized, and the
children of some villages, though not baptized, know the creed and pray
every night at the foot of the cross. The children learned to laugh at
the old superstitions, which have a strong hold on their elders. The
hardest thing of all has been to bring them back to their old villages,
from which they fled in fear of the arms of the Spaniards; but as they
learned the gain to be acquired from trading with the Spaniards--which
is a lodestone that attracts hearts of iron--they are returning to
their old abodes. The religious have erected two little convents and
churches, about like shepherds' huts in appearance. One is near the
presidio of San Salvador, in a native village called Camaurri, and is
dedicated to St. Joseph. The other is half a legua from the village of
Tanchuy (i.e., Tamsui), and is dedicated to the Virgin of the Rosary.]
CHAPTER XXXV
The foundation of the first church among the Indians of Tanchuy,
a district of the island of Hermosa, and the events which happened
among those Indians.
[The father provincial, father Fray Bartholome Martynez, after
building a church in the new city of San Salvador, went on to Tanchuy,
a province of the same island and a port known to the vessels which
come to it from China. It is fourteen leguas from the chief city in
it. When the fort was built there, to which the name of St. Dominic
was given, he was present, doing all he could to prevent damage
to the natives. Many of the latter fled away to Senar, where he
followed them and built a church. The ministry in this province of
Tanchuy was entrusted to father Fray Francisco de Sancto Domingo, a
son of the convent of Zamora. His companion was brother Fray Andres
Ximenez. They went by sea, having a perilous voyage, and were met
when they landed by father Fray Jacintho de Esquivel.] The three
went with Captain Luis de Guzman and some soldiers, to set up in the
village of Senar a beautiful image of the Virgin of the Rosary. They
went on foot and with great difficulty, as it had rained the day
before and was still raining, and part of the way they went mid-leg
deep. Not a single soldier said the things which are usually heard on
such occasions. On the contrary, loaded as they were with mud, they
comforted themselves by saying: "At last we are going to establish the
faith." The captain, Luis de Guzman, to whom this region owes much,
because of his valor and Christian spirit, and his kind treatment of
the natives in it, marched barefoot, encouraging them and saying:
"Come on, my children; doubtless there is much good here, because
the beginning is so hard." A messenger was sent ahead to notify the
Indians, and by their help the streets were covered with branches;
they fitted up a half-castle [46] with powder, which they had prepared,
and they arranged for a graceful sword dance. When the image, which
they carried as ceremoniously as possible, reached the village,
they placed it in the church. The sky cleared, and the sun came out
as if to rejoice in the festival; and after a mass of the Virgin of
the Rosary had been said, they bore her in procession--the soldiers
firing off their arquebuses, and the castle discharging its salute,
and the dance being performed in token of the possession taken of
this country by the queen of heaven, and of the conclusion of the
devil's ancient control over it. [The Indians rejoiced greatly,
the chiefs being invited to dine with the captain. After this they
gave a ball after their fashion--a very disgraceful one in our eyes,
because at every turn they drink a draught of a very bad wine which
they have. This kind of ball or dance they keep up for six or eight
hours, and sometimes for whole days. The chiefs kept boasting that
their village was the finest in the island, since they had Spaniards,
a father and a church, as the others had not. They desired to return
the invitation of the captain with one to a feast after their own
manner--which is a repast of dogs rather than of men, since they eat
nothing except meat so rotten that the bad odor of it serves them
as salt. After the feast the soldiers, the captain, and father Fray
Jacintho returned to Tanchui; while father Fray Francisco and brother
Fray Andres remained as a guard of honor to the Virgin. Father Fray
Francisco, thinking that the Spaniards would be lonely without their
holy image, thought best to return it; but the Indians were so much
grieved that it was given back to them, and they rejoiced greatly,
though they were not yet Christians. A great part of the labor of the
conversion fell upon the brother. The Lord wrought miraculous works
through his hands, keeping the sick alive until they might receive holy
baptism, and doing wonderful works of healing. The kindly treatment
of the fathers at last made the Indians feel sufficient confidence
in the Spaniards to return to their previous places of abode, whence
they had fled from fear. One lay brother was in the island of Hermosa
for five years among the Indians, who, although they had not been
pacified, never harmed him. He baptized a number, brought down
from the mountains many who had fled from fear of the Spaniards;
and with them formed a village of moderate size named Camuarri,
which is constantly increasing in numbers, and greatly needs a church.]
CHAPTER XXXVI
The election as provincial of father Fray Francisco de Herrera,
commissary of the holy Inquisition; and the beginning of an account
of father Fray Bartholome Martinez.
In May, 1629, father Fray Francisco de Herrera was elected as
provincial of this province, on the first ballot. He was a son
of the convent of San Gines at Talabera, and afterward a student
of San Gregorio at Valladolid. At the time of his election he was
commissary of the holy Inquisition in all these islands, and prior of
the convent in this city of Manila. Since he is still living, we must
be silent about him, and not say the things in his praise which are
so well known, and which are said by those who enjoyed his peaceful
and religious government. In this chapter nothing of importance was
done in laying down ordinances for the province; but there was much
cause to give thanks to the Lord for the peace and quiet with which
the religious strove to fulfil their obligations as members of the
order and as ministers of the holy gospel. The Lord gave them special
relief and comfort, that they might find light and pleasant the great
sufferings which they endured in both capacities. Hence the electors
returned to their posts very promptly, feeling that in them the hand
of the Lord had delivered to them their own profit and that of their
fellow-men.
[At the beginning of the following August occurred the death of
the venerable father Bartholome Martynez, who, being engaged in
the conversion of the island of Hermosa, was unable to attend this
chapter. Father Fray Bartholome was a native of a village of Raoja
called El Rasillo, a hamlet of some twenty poor inhabitants. He was
a son of Sant Estevan at Salamanca, and a student in the college of
Sancto Thomas at Alcala. He took advantage of the opportunity of coming
to this province in company with the holy Fray Alonso Navarrete. He
gave his chief attention in the province to learning the Chinese
language, hoping to become a missionary to the kingdom of China. He
was so devoted to the Chinese that he was beside himself with anger
whenever a wrong was done by a Spanish soldier to any Chinaman. As
this seemed to be an impediment to the conversion, he resolved to
restrain his anger, and learned, as the law of the Lord teaches us,
to be angry but not to sin. It was father Fray Bartholome who built
the beautiful wooden church in the Chinese Parian. The cost was
above twenty thousand Castilian ducados, and it was all raised by
offerings. The Lord wrought miracles by father Fray Bartholome in the
building of this church, and on other occasions. On some occasions
he displayed the gift of prophecy.]
CHAPTER XXXVII
The virtues which God granted him, and particularly some in which he
excelled; his labors and death.
[Father Fray Bartholome was notable for humility, patience, penances,
and zeal. When he was elected provincial in 1625, he prostrated
himself on the ground, and begged them to put him in jail rather
than make him provincial. His habit was poor and mean, his tunics
full of sweat and blood and all tattered. He would never permit the
Indians to carry him across streams or to wash his feet. He subjected
his body to the severest mortifications, beating himself cruelly and
wearing chains of various kinds, some with sharpened links. He went
always on foot, even crossing swollen streams in this way. He had so
accustomed himself to abstinence that when he felt obliged to set the
other religious the example of eating a little more than was habitual
to him, that they might not injure their health, he suffered greatly
as a result. He slept as little as he ate. He suffered greatly from
asthma, but was most patient. Although he was often insulted on the
expedition to Hermosa for interfering with the soldiers, he overcame
all this by his great patience. The Chinese or Sangleys were devoted
to the father, because of his affection for them. He gave them alms
of his poverty, and was once almost drowned in the effort to rescue
some heathen Chinese. In spite of the failure of his two efforts to
enter China, he was not discouraged, but hoped that the way might be
opened through Hermosa. In the effort to carry out the plan of sending
an expedition to Hermosa, he exposed himself to dangerous storms,
but was rescued by the Lord. To bring the expedition to success,
he labored with his own hands like a slave. On the way he brought
from Bigan, on the coast of Ylocos, to Nueva Segovia the remains of
Bishop Don Fray Diego de Soria. The efforts of this father on this
journey seemed superhuman. The soldiers when told of the real object
of the expedition believed that they were deceived, and were on the
point of mutiny. When a storm broke out soon after they had landed
on the island of Hermosa, and the soldiers were exposed to hardship,
and when the Indians made some resistance, the soldiers cursed and
swore at the father again; but afterward they came to love him. It
was with the idea of getting nearer to the coast of China that the
father suggested that possession be taken of the port in Tanchuy. It
was fortunate that this suggestion was made and carried out by the
commander, Don Juan de Alcarazo; for if they had waited a week they
would have found the port in possession of the Dutch, who came there
with three vessels of war, but were forced to retire. Happy in the
good results of the expedition, the father set sail to cross an arm
of the sea, in a small boat in which there were eight persons, the
father and the commander among them. The boat was caught by a wave
and capsized; five, including the general, were saved, and three,
among them father Fray Bartholome, were drowned. The death of the
father caused great grief among the soldiers, the Chinese--both
Christian and heathen--the religious, and all who knew him.]
CHAPTER XXXVIII
The death of father Fray Miguel Ruiz, and the state of affairs in Japon
[On Friday, June 7, 1630, died father Fray Miguel Ruiz, a son of the
royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, who had come to the province
of the Philippinas toward the end of April in 1602. At the time of his
death he was vicar of San Gabriel at Binondoc. He was several times
vicar of the district of Bataan; he was once vicar-general of the
province, was definitor in many provincial chapters, vicar-provincial,
several times prior of Manila, and provincial of the province,
which office he filled with justice and gentleness. He was a devout
religious, much given to penance, and indefatigable in teaching the
Indians--in whose language, in addition to a book of the Holy Rosary
which was printed, he wrote several tracts, made the abridgment of
the grammar which is still printed, and made a careful vocabulary,
which at the end of his life he was desirous of augmenting. It
was said that he died by poison, given him by a person whom he had
chastised for scandalous living. It is most likely that the pains in
the stomach from which he suffered came from the fogs which are so
common in the Philippinas.
The persecution in Japon had reached such a point that it was
impossible to enter the kingdom. The religious orders did all in their
power to replace the holy martyrs with new laborers. They went to great
expense for this purpose, and many religious died in the effort to make
their way to Japon; but the kingdom remained so closely shut up that
their efforts were without result. Information as to the condition
of affairs there in this year 1630 was received from father Fray
Lucas del Espiritu Sancto. The religious in the empire were even
unable to meet one another, and were hunted from place to place,
exposed to wind and weather. Under these circumstances the peace
between the religious orders was of great utility to the ministers
in Japon. The religious were constantly exposed to being captured,
being obliged to lodge in the houses of renegades and heathen; but
the constancy and devotion of the fathers caused even these men to
respect them. The Japanese were absolutely controlled by the devil
of idolatry. Every false sect was tolerated, Christianity alone was
persecuted. Among the fathers in Japon at this time was a native
Japanese, who had completed his course in arts and theology in the
college of Sancto Thomas at Manila. He profited well by his studies,
and had been given the habit, had professed, and had passed through
all the orders. He had been taken by father Fray Bartholome Martinez,
during his term as provincial, to the island of Hermosa--not to remain,
but to make his way from there to Japan, if possible, by the islands
of the Lequios. He was dressed after the Japanese fashion, with two
swords, and succeeded in making his entry into Japon, from which he
wrote a letter to the provincial, dated January 3, 1630. In this he
says that he reached his country on the eve of St. Martin; but that
he has been unable to get into communication with his superior,
who was at that time father Fray Domingo de Erquicia. He later
writes that it is dangerous to send letters, because of the severe
punishment of those who are caught with letters of the fathers upon
them. If it had not been for the return of this father in this way,
no information would have been received with regard to the fate of
Father Juan de Rueda in the islands of the Lequios.
The third religious at this time in Japon was father Fray Domingo
de Erquicia, who also sent back a letter in this year. He says that
the savage persecution which was designed to root out Christianity
from Japon made many weak, but brought out the bravery of many noble
martyrs. In November, 1629, father Fray Bartholome Gutierrez, of the
Order of St. Augustine, was captured in Arima; and in the same month
there was captured in Nangasaqui a father of the Society of Jesus,
named Antonio. Somewhat later an Augustinian Recollect named Fray
Francisco de Jesus, and afterward his companion, Fray Vicente de
San Antonio, were captured, a mountain having been burnt over in
pursuit of them. Father Fray Domingo de Erquicia writes that a man
recognized him and set out to betray him, but that he was rescued by
the courage of his landlords. In March, 1630, they captured a brother
of the Order of St. Francis; so that there were in that year five
religious imprisoned in Omura, together with forty lay Christians,
besides those in Nangasaqui. In his letter father Fray Domingo
gives a record of the executions of which he knew. The total within
a year and a half is over two hundred. In this year the daire [47]
(who in Japon is like the pope in our Church), on account of various
causes for offense against the emperor, caused his hair to be cut
off, to indicate that he renounced his high office--something that,
it is said, had never been seen in Japan; and thus that realm is now
without a head in spiritual affairs. No Dutch ship came to Japon in
this year, and the Dutch who had come in the two previous years were
all put in prison. The Japanese desire that the Dutch surrender to
them the fort which they have in the island of Hermosa, where some
of them have been sent, while others remain in Japan as hostages.]
CHAPTER XXXIX
The life and death of father Fray Matheo de Cobissa
[Though sufferings and persecution refine the gold of the church, yet
there are many rich and pure spirits who appear in time of peace. Of
these latter we are now to give an example. There were but few years in
which father Fray Matheo de Cobissa lived in this province. He reached
the province toward the close of July, 1628, and was sent directly to
the island of Hermosa where he spent less than three years, but those
were full of glory. Fray Francisco Mola, vicar-provincial of the order
in Hermosa, and Fray Angel de San Antonio, vicar of the convent of All
Saints in that island, wrote a formal certificate testifying to the
facts in the case of father Fray Matheo. They give an account of the
marvelous visions which the father beheld, in which the Lord explained
to him what was to come. The Lord had previously revealed the future to
him, giving him notice beforehand of the coming of the English fleet
to Cadiz in 1625; of the great inundation in España in 1626; and of
the unfortunate death of the reverend father Fray Bartholome Martinez,
the provincial, on his return from the island of Yama. To these fathers
the dying father gave an account of other visions that he had had. He
told them further that his rigorous penances had never weakened his
bodily strength. He received the extreme unction, and told the fathers
who were listening that when he was coming from España he saw by the
mizzenmast of the vessel the patriarchs St. Dominic and St. Francis,
and that he had had a vision of the three holy kings. Not satisfied
with this evidence uttered by this father's mouth, these fathers
added other information. Father Fray Angel told of cases which had
been revealed to him by father Fray Matheo, in confession, which he
had received permission to publish for the glory of God. Such were
the coming of the Dutch enemy against Tanchuy and the death of the
provincial. When the fathers asked if his dreams, which signified that
which was to come, were always clear, or were of indistinct figures,
he answered that they were generally clear; but sometimes only such
that he could understand that something was prognosticated, though he
could not tell immediately what it was. He was most devoted to prayer,
and most rigorously abstinent. Father Francisco Mola testified to
the religious devotion of the friar. Brother Fray Andres Ximenez,
who accompanied the father from España and was very intimate with
him, testified to his life of mortification and penance, and to his
devotion. He was reckoned a saint, and the high esteem in which he
was held in this province is shown by the words of the provincial
chapter in recording his death.]
CHAPTER XL
The entrance made from the island of Hermosa to the great kingdom of
China by two fathers of St. Dominic.
[If this island were of no value, its spiritual promise would make
it important; and if it were poor in material things--and it is not,
because it has many mines of gold and silver, and is fertile--it would
still be well that our nation has set foot on it. It is of spiritual
use because it is from hence, as it appears, that the conversion of
the great kingdom of China is to have its rise. It is of importance in
a material way, because of its nearness to the trade of that kingdom,
which is so rich and so abounding in merchandise. That both spiritual
and temporal ends might be attained, Don Juan de Arcaraço, [48] who
was commandant of the island at that time, decided to send an embassy
to the viceroy of Hucheo, the capital of the nearest province, with
a view to opening up trade with it, but without saying anything about
matters of faith. He offered our religious an opportunity to go on the
embassy. Two religious were accordingly sent--the father vicar of the
convent, Fray Angel Coqui, a Florentine by birth, who had assumed the
surname of San Antonino; and, as his companion, father Fray Thomas
de Sierra, who was called here "de la Magdalena." He was a native
of Cerdeña. His natural gifts were but small, but his spiritual ones
were great, as will be seen. They set out accompanied by two soldiers
and seven Indians, carrying their letter of embassy and a present
for the viceroy. They took what they needed to say mass, and a very
little money for their support; and embarked (December 30, 1630)
in two very small vessels. On the way a heathen Chinese, master of
the vessel in which the religious were, planned to kill them in order
to rob them. The signal being given, the Chinese killed five of the
members of the expedition, and wounded two with the clubs which they
used as weapons--for, among the Chinese, soldiers only are permitted
to carry weapons of iron. Father Fray Thomas was one of those who lost
his life. The narrative may pause for a moment to give some account
of him. He was a native of Cerdeña, and a son of the convent there. He
was destined to the Order of St. Dominic from his mother's womb. Since
the schools in his part of the country were not very good, he strove
to be assigned to the province of Andalucia, and went to the convent
of San Pablo at Cordova. Hearing of the devout manner of life of the
religious in this province, he desired to enter it, and departed from
España in the year 1627, at which time I was bringing over a body of
religious. This was the third company which I led (besides the first,
in which I came with others under leadership, which is now about forty
years ago). I accepted his application, thinking that he could complete
his studies in this province as well as in España. He was of most
gentle and patient disposition. He suffered greatly from headaches,
and was unable to carry on his studies, though in some cases of moral
theology he showed ability. He was sent to the island of Hermosa,
in the hope that the cooler climate would benefit him. His health
improved, and he devoted himself to learning the mandarin language,
which is the language used in China by the learned, and takes the
place of Latin among us. Nicolas Muñoz, a native of Mexico, a soldier,
was one of those killed at this time. He was a man of the greatest
piety. God in His infinite pity delivered father Fray Angel from
this terrible danger. He fled to the cabin in the poop, and there
he and the three others who survived were able to defend themselves
against the seventeen Chinese, who fastened them up there, hoping to
kill them of starvation. The vessel was captured by pirates, to whom
father Fray Angel owed his liberty and his life. The mutineers on the
vessel told the pirates that the persons in the poop were captives
taken in lawful war, whom they were going to sell into slavery. The
pirates planned to make an assault upon them, but decided not to,
because they would be certain to meet with some damage, and resolved
to scuttle the ship, leaving the captives to drown. They took off
the sail and the rudder, anchored the vessel that it might not be
carried ashore, and abandoned it. The prisoners were left fastened
up and unable to get out, while the vessel filled with water up to
the poop. The imprisoned men found a chisel in the cabin, with which
they worked a hole between two boards, and finally escaped from their
confinement. They made their way to an island, and on the other side
found an arm of the sea wherein there were many vessels, among them
a fisher's boat. They went up to the fishermen, who fled from them,
but who came back again in response to their prayers, and let them have
some food. These men warned them not to stay on that island that night,
for fear of tigers; and said that if they survived until morning they
would meet with other worse tigers--namely, soldiers from the fleets
which were always moving about that coast, who would certainly kill
them. In fear of both dangers, they asked the fishermen to take them
to terra firma, and to bring them before some mandarin. A thousand
difficulties were raised which were quickly conquered with a few bits
of money which had escaped the recent robbery. Being brought before
a mandarin, they were sent to the city of Ziumcheo with letters of
safe-conduct and provision for the journey--which according to the
custom of this kingdom, is afforded to every poor man who in any
way comes to it. The letter which accompanied them described them
as four robbers who had been caught on the seashore. The second
mandarin before whom they were brought sent them to the third; and
he despatched them to the viceroy, forty leguas away in the city
of Ucheo. Father Fray Angel was taken ill, as a result of all his
hardships, but recovered by the help of God. As all the papers had
been lost, the viceroy directed the father to return to the island of
Hermosa for satisfactory credentials, providing him with a vessel and
everything necessary for the purpose. The father, unwilling to leave
China, and being afraid that the viceroy had some design against him,
sent in his place a Christian Japanese who understood the mandarin
language very well. He was one of a number who were scattered over
China, and who desired to make their way to a Christian country. He
dressed this man in a religious habit and caused him to pretend to be
ill, so that he might be left quiet in a dark part of the ship. By
the laws of the kingdom the father thus exposed himself to death or
to perpetual imprisonment, which in China is a prolonged death. The
curiosity of the Chinese is such that nothing escapes it. The viceroy,
the mandarins, and all knew of the return of the father, and even knew
where he was lodged; but no disturbance arose, and the authorities
paid no attention to the matter. The father decided to change his
dress, and to assume such a one as was worn by the most honorable of
the natives, who pay great attention to such matters. He permitted
his hair and beard to grow in their manner, as some fathers of the
Society of Jesus have done--who have performed many useful labors
here, as is known throughout Europe. During four months the father
was unable to say mass, having been robbed of what was necessary.]
CHAPTER XLI
Father Fray Angel leaves the city of Ucheo for the town of Fuhan,
trusting solely in God; the success of his journey.
[Father Fray Angel, knowing that there were some Christians in the
village of Fuhan and the province of Funinchiu, decided to set out
thither on foot. He met with no interference on the way. In Fuhan
he found some Christians, and met Father Julio Aleni of the Society
of Jesus. Like father Fray Angel, he was an Italian; and he showed
the father much kindness. Here father Fray Angel made a number
of conversions, and found everything promising for the future of
Christianity in China. The Lord showed the father grace, for, though he
was naturally weak, he received strength for many labors. He begged for
a companion, saying in one of his letters which he wrote from Fuhan,
December 24, 1632: "Laborers! laborers! laborers! for the harvest is
ready and it is great." There was sent him as companion father Fray
Juan Baptista de Morales, a son of the convent of San Pablo de Ezija,
for the province could spare no more.]
CHAPTER XLII
The lives and deaths of fathers Fray Marcos de Saavedra and Fray
Juan Rodriguez
[January 6, 1631, died in the convent of Sancto Domingo father Fray
Marcos de Saavedra, a native of Villamayor in the district of Veles,
a son of Sancta Cruz at Villa Escusa in La Mancha. He left España
in 1623, in which year he was ordained priest in Mexico. He was
a minister in Nueva Segovia, and understood the language of the
natives very perfectly. He composed in it a book of sermons for
the whole year; and a grammar for those who might learn it later,
abbreviating the old grammar. He was a devout and zealous religious,
and patiently suffered the long illness which preceded his death.
On the seventh of May in this same year father Fray Juan Rodriguez
departed from this wretched life for a happier one, in the convent of
Sancto Domingo at Nueva Segovia. He was a native of the bishopric of
Salamanca, and assumed the habit in the famous convent of San Estevan
in that city. After he finished his course in arts and theology,
he was assigned to the convent of Sancto Domingo in the city of
Guadalaxara. He was a friar of exceptional devotion and received great
favors from the holy Virgin and from St. Joseph and St. Dominic,
who visited one of his penitents and directed his life. With the
approbation of the Lord, father Fray Juan desired to go to the convent
of the order in the town of Aranda de Duero, which was famous for its
observance of the rule. Here he was master of the novices, and hence
he was called by God to this province. He was sent to Nueva Segovia,
where he learned the language of the natives, and within five months
was able to preach to them in it. He was much beloved by the natives,
and also by the religious, who all desired to be in his company. His
devout and exemplary life edified all wherever he went. After he had
been attacked by an illness which proved to be his last, he was sent
with some Spanish soldiers to bring back some Christians Indians who
were in the mountains, and who wished to return, but were prevented
by their neighbors, who threatened them with death. In spite of his
illness, he accepted the responsibility and went with the troops. The
soldiers, growing impatient with the delay of the Indians, who feared
them, desired to capture them with the aid of some friendly Indians
who accompanied the expedition. The father, however, persuaded them
to wait for another day; and after he had spent the night in prayer
he succeeded by his gentleness and his arguments in persuading those
Indians to give up their lost way of life and to return. There were
in all more than one hundred and thirty persons. After his return
his illness grew rapidly worse, and he died in the month of May.]
CHAPTER XLIII
A second expedition made by two fathers to the province of Sinay,
otherwise known as Ytui, and the result of it.
Eighty years had passed since Christianity was first planted
in this country in the island of Luçon, the chief island of the
Philippinas. From here it had spread to other islands; and in Luçon it
had spread from one province to the next, for in this one island there
are many nations and languages. Yet the province of Ytui [49]--as we
shall call it in future, since it is better known by that name--had
not had the good fortune to receive regular preaching before this late
date, namely, the beginning of the year thirty-three. This delay was
not due to the fault of the natives, for they have often manifested a
desire to receive the gospel, and have asked several religious orders
for ministers to teach them; but to the fact that all the orders
were so poor in ministers, on account of the great number of people
whom they must aid. That country also is so rough and so difficult
of access for the visitations of the superiors, that all the orders
have avoided assuming the charge of it. For some years the order of
the glorious father St. Francis sent religious there to cultivate it,
but without any good result. They made a beginning, but could not
carry it on--some of the fathers being taken away by death, and others
leaving the region because of sickness. The natives have constantly
persisted in their request for ministers of the gospel to teach them,
and have been particularly urgent with our sacred order--because they
have some commerce with the province of Pangasinan, which is in our
charge; and because they know how much that is advanced in all matters,
both temporal and spiritual, as a result of the labors of the fathers
who minister to it, though the population was previously the most
barbarous known in these islands. Once, some years ago, some chiefs
came here to Manila during a chapter when a provincial was elected,
to place their request before it. The fiscal of the king (who was
also that of the royal Chancillería), Don Juan de Bracamonte, offered
a petition to the definitors, supporting this request for ministers
for that province, since the Indians were vassals of the king and
paid him their tribute, and his Majesty was bound to provide them
with Christian instruction. The answer was a hopeful one, saying that
if his Majesty would send ministers from España they would then very
readily be assigned to this duty, as he desired; but in the meantime
the order could scarcely fulfil the requirements of the regions which
they had already in charge, for the Indians were many and the ministers
few. On another occasion when the father provincial of the province,
Fray Baltasar Fort, was making his visitation to this province of
Pangasinan, the inhabitants of Ytui learned of the fact; and there
came to meet him, in a village called Calasiao, some thirty of the
chief Indians of that country--among them he who was, as it were,
their king. He brought with him his wife and his sister; and they
proffered their request with much feeling and many tears, complaining
of their misfortune that when they were so near--the provinces were
about four days' journey apart--they were not worthy to receive the
fathers, though they had several times striven to obtain them with
all possible urgency. The provincial could but feel pity when he
saw these heathen Indians becoming preachers to us, in so urgently
persuading the preachers to come and teach them the law of God; yet
he was totally unable to give them what they asked, but gave them
his promise that he would do so as soon as possible. They returned
to their country with this answer, very disconsolate. Father Fray
Thomas Gutierrez--a minister who was then in Pangasinan and of whom
an account will be given later--learned of this, and volunteered to
undertake an expedition thither. A second father, Fray Juan Luis de
Guete, offered to go as his companion. The father provincial granted
their request, in spite of the need of them that would be felt in the
posts which they left; but he commanded them that they should go at
this time simply to explore the country, and should return within a
few days to report their opinions to him, according to the impression
made upon them by the natives. They did this, and went about through
the villages of the province, setting up in the public squares large
crosses, to the great delight of the Indians; this act was a token that
the fathers took possession of them for the Lord who was crucified on
the cross. That the devil might begin to give up his ancient possession
of the natives, the fathers taught them the worship which they should
perform, and some prayers out of the "Christian Doctrine" translated
into the language of Pangasinan. That language they half understood,
though it was different from their own. They understood it all so well
that they immediately began to say the prayers they knew, around the
crosses, seated on cane benches which they made for the purpose--two
of them intoning the prayer, and the rest repeating it. With these
excellent beginnings, which gave proof of the fitness of the soil for
receiving the seed of the faith, the two explorers returned to report
to their superior as he had commanded them, and offered themselves anew
to return to that region. The provincial, when he heard their report,
was not unwilling to grant their pious desires, although it seemed
that these were contrary to what the strength of the province could
sustain. So trusting in the power of God, and with the permission and
benediction of the father provincial, they prepared themselves for
the return; but they were interfered with by someone who disturbed
them by indiscreet zeal, for the devil sometimes appears clothed in
the garments of an angel of light. The project was not carried out,
but not from the fault of the order or of its sons, who are not
accustomed to be slothful before such opportunities. Perhaps those
peoples were not yet ready in the sight of God for that which they
desired; for in such matters the what, the when, and the how are
understood by God alone and are determined according to His divine
foreknowledge. The natives of Ytuy were not weary of being persistent
in presenting their requests, as in such matters it is well to be. It
happened that in the month of December in the year 1632 the father
provincial, Fray Francisco de Herrera (now commissary general of the
Holy Office for all these Philipinas Islands), was traveling in that
region on his visitation to the province of Pangasinan. The natives
of Ytuy, who must have had scouts to inform them, learned of this;
and there immediately came in search of him some twenty-four Indians,
four or six of them being leading chiefs in the province. In the name
of all the rest of the natives, they put forward their old request. He
did not make them the answer which they had received before--"Wait,
wait again;" but gave his instant approval, drawing strength from the
weakness of the province--which, in the matter of laborers, is great
for such a harvest as it has upon its hands, and as it sees every
day increasing; and which, therefore, has to pass by much for lack
of ability to achieve it all. The father who seemed most suited for
this mission was father Fray Thomas Gutierrez, who some years before
had filled the office of explorer in this country. His companion was
father Fray Juan de Arjona, [50] a son of the convent of San Pablo de
Cordova--a man of middle age, but of more than middling spirit. They
both took up the enterprise with great delight, without any objections
or requests; and went back with the Indians who had come thence, taking
no larger outfit than was absolutely necessary to equip them for the
journey. This chapter will give a brief account of the events of the
journey and their arrival at Ytuy, drawn from a letter written by both
fathers and dated at Ytuy January 21, 1633. The letter was directed
to the father provincial, and contains the following narrative:
They left Pangasinan for Ytuy December 6, 1632, the day of St. Nicholas
the bishop; and since there is but little communication between the
two countries--none at all, in fact, except that occasionally some
natives on each side visit the other--there is no open road from one
to the other, since the Indians have no need of one, making their way
like deer through the thickets of the mountains. By their account, the
journey takes four days; but this is estimated by their mode of travel,
which is twice as rapid as ours. Father Fray Thomas was so eager to
reach that region that he even wished to make the journey shorter,
and he asked the Indians if they did not know some short cut. One
of them responded that he did; the father asked him to guide them,
and they all followed him. This was in an evil hour, for the short
cut did nothing but to increase their labor, as it took them out of
their way. The journey occupied nine days, over mountains and across
valleys, and through rivers, streams, and marshes, which they came
upon at every step--for the guide did not know where he was going, and
yet they were obliged to follow him. The provision which they carried
was but for a few days, since they did not expect so long a journey,
and they carried it all on their own shoulders that they might not
burden the Indians. Since the journey took twice as long as they had
expected, they became very hungry, and thus suffered much, hunger being
added to exhaustion. The sky was not kind to them on their journey,
for it rained constantly on all these days and they had no protection;
and the ground was as cruel, for the thickets abounded with leeches
who attached themselves to the faces, the hands, and the feet of
the travelers, and drew blood like a physician's blood-letting. The
Indians were not distressed by any of these things, or by the necessity
of carrying the fathers on their shoulders across rivers or very bad
places in the road, which shows the pleasure and affection with which
they were taking the religious to their country. The fathers endured
this no less well, being certain that they were not putting into a
torn sack what they suffered for God.
They derived some relief from their sufferings from one happy
circumstance provided them by God, who seemed to have designed all
these wanderings. This was that in the midst of these wildernesses they
found a tiny village of Christian Indians; for this jurisdiction was
under the charge of other ministers, but was very little visited
by them, since it was at so great a distance and over so rough
a road. They baptized two children, and heard the confessions of
some adults--among them that of a woman who had not confessed for
some years, having no one to confess to. Though she seemed well
and healthy, she died that same day. This was a marked token of
her predestination. They finally reached the principal village of
the province, which is called Ytui, and takes its name from the
village. The Indians received them with great demonstrations of joy,
after their manner; and they remained there for eight days resting,
and receiving visits from all the villages in the province, who sent
ambassadors to bid them welcome with some presents of the fruits
of the country. They set out afterwards to visit all the villages
in it. Great and small, they visited eleven, that they might become
acquainted with the temper of the Indians. In all they were received
with the same tokens of pleasure. From what they saw and learned from
the Indians, they had much to say in their report of the excellence of
the country. They said that it was cool, so that by day the sun's heat
was pleasant at times, and a covering was agreeable at night. This
is something new in these islands, which have the fault of being
very hot. They reported that the country was so fertile that when
Indians desired to plant their rice they only burn over a part of
the mountain [51] and, without any further plowing or digging, they
make holes with a stick in the soil, and drop some grains of rice in
them. This was their manner of sowing; and, after covering the rice
with the same earth, they obtained very heavy crops. They said that
some good fruits grew there, and that in their opinion that country
would yield all the fruits of Spain, if the seeds of the latter were
planted. There were, they affirmed, pleasant valleys with quiet rivers
and streams in them from which the natives obtain some gold, and that
the Indians are wont to wear golden earrings. They are not acquainted
with silver, and do not care for it. They have no sort of money, so
that all their sales and purchases are carried on by barter. They
keep their villages very clean and in good condition--a new thing
among the Indians. They also remarked that there was great fraternity
between different villages. This is something even more unusual,
for generally these nations live after the law of "Might makes right"
[viva quien vence], at the expense of their heads. Hence these Indians
walk alone over their roads without fear of being injured or robbed,
for they are very safe in this respect--so much so that they leave
the rice which they gather, each one in his own field, heaped up in
the spike and covered with straw. They go there and carry what they
want to their houses, to grind and eat, without fearing that anyone
will take what is not his. They readily offered all their infants to
the fathers to be baptized, so that within about three months, during
which the religious went about visiting the villages, they baptized
some four hundred. It would have been the same with the adults, if
it had not been necessary to prepare them with the catechism. The
fathers have been slow in this, because they have been obliged to
translate the prayers into the native language, of which they have
not a good command. They are spending their time in learning it,
and on this account and no other are delayed in beginning baptism. In
order that so few ministers may be able to teach the Indians, it is
necessary to bring them together into a smaller number of villages,
conveniently arranged so that the people may be visited and helped in
their necessities. Since the country is very mountainous, the fathers
have determined to bring and gather them in large settlements, at
sites convenient for their fields, near a river which rises in this
country, and which, increased by others, grows to be a very large
stream, crossing the whole of Nueva Segovia to the ocean. [52] This
river, on account of its fish (upon which most of the Indians live),
is also of great value to them. This is the only point as to which
they are somewhat obstinate, because they are greatly grieved to
leave their ancient abode. However, most of them have accepted it,
and it is hoped that the rest will come, and in this way in a short
time much will be gained by the aid of the Lord. Through the mountains
next to this province, which are many and very rough, there wander
a tribe of Indians known as Alegueses, a vagabond people having no
settled places of abode. Father Fray Thomas sent word to them by an
Indian chief of Ytuy that if they wished to come and settle one of
the new sites which he indicated, he would receive them there as sons,
and do them all the good he could. They answered in the affirmative,
and he waited for them for some time; but before they came the holy man
finished his days, full of years and of heroic works, as will soon be
seen. This is the work which these apostolic men of God accomplished
in only three months, as appears from the aforesaid report. They
conclude their report with another case similar to that referred to
above, of the woman who died so soon after she had confessed. In the
goings-out and comings-in of the fathers among the Indians that they
might become acquainted with them, they found in one village, called
Palar, a very aged Indian woman who was dying. She had eaten nothing
for five days. Father Fray Thomas went to see her, and began to talk
with her of becoming a Christian for the salvation of her soul. He
expounded to her briefly what she had to believe, and called upon
her to repent of her sins. She answered as well as might be desired,
and he accordingly baptized her on that day, which was the last day
of her earthly life and the first day of her Christian one. It was
a happy day, so far as can be judged; for, being newly baptized,
she had merely to be recorded in purgatory. Not only in these new
provinces where the dawn of the gospel's light now begins to shine do
extraordinary cases happen like those which have been mentioned, to the
great glory of God and the joy of his ministers; but they also occur
in many others where the dawn has risen high but has not yet bathed
all the horizon, though it is covering it, little by little. From the
province of Nueva Segovia father Fray Geronimo de Zamora, [53] a native
of the city of Zaragoça, wrote me a letter dated February 25, 1633. In
it are these words: "Before Lent I went up the river of Mandayas"
(this is the name of a part of that province), "to try to teach many
Indians who were without Christian instruction in heathen darkness,
but who paid tribute to the king our lord as his vassals, without even
being sons of the Church. I asked them if I might visit them, and they
received my request kindly and asked that I or some other father should
remain among them. In token of the heartiness of their wish, they gave
me, as a sort of hostages, ten sons of their chiefs to be baptized;
and after having sufficiently instructed them, I baptized them, to
the great joy and delight of my soul. I hope in God that in this way
thousands of them may be redeemed from the power of the devil, for
there is no one who will declare that they are not his." He afterward
asked aid from his neighbors to draw the net which was laden with so
many fish as are promised by the casts already made there. Many are
needed, but we may say here, "Where are those good men?"
It is not to be understood that only these new events are the good
ones, or that among Christians who have been so for some time there
are but few occurrences to rouse joy. This is not the case, for there
are so many which have occurred among these latter that a very large
book might be made of the account of them, if it were necessary to
report what has happened hitherto, and what happens every day anew,
to the holy old ministers of the gospel who have been and are among
them, whose beards have grown, and whose hair has become white among
the Indians. They are good witnesses to this truth, and to the growth
that the Spirit is wont to cause in these clods of earth. As for those
who grow weary quickly and leave the ministry, there is no necessity to
say anything. It is certain that among those who have been Christians
steadily for years there are fewer dangers; yet the care of them is of
no less merit, and consequently the reward will be no less, since, as
King David has well said (I Kings, xxx), Aequa pars erit descendentis
ad praelium et remanentis ad sarcinas, et similiter divident. [54]
Here in Manila the order has under its care a hospital for the Chinese,
in which the sick of that nation are cared for. The province may
place this at the head of its possessions, since there is scarcely
a day in which some soul or souls of newly baptized do not pass to
heaven. Very few are they who die without baptism, and very many are
they who give their souls to God before the baptismal waters are dry on
their heads. This is accomplished with so little effort on the part of
the minister that it calls upon him only to make a little effort, and
to go from his cell to the infirmary. I do not know whether there is
any other hospital in Christendom of the character of this hospital,
its principal end being the cure of souls, while for the cure of
bodies it has its physician, its medicines, and everything needed
within its gates, besides the food and the dainties called for by
the palates of the sick. The effects of the divine predestination
which are beheld in it are so many that they are almost ordinary,
and are therefore not mentioned.
[In Japon the persecution was increasing in fierceness, and very
few letters were received. One of these, from father Fray Domingo
de Erquicia, gives an account of the death of the emperor and the
succession of his son, who was even more cruel than the father. [55]
He tells of the deaths over a slow fire of a father of the order
of the calced Augustinians, and of two discalced; of a Japanese
Franciscan priest of the tertiary order, and of a Franciscan brother;
and of a Japanese father of the Society of Jesus--the remains of all
being burned, and the ashes cast into the sea. On another occasion
two Augustinian Recollects were burned. Two Franciscan fathers were
captured, while two Dominicans were hidden in caves or cisterns,
and did not see the sun or the moon for many days. From a Dominican
at Macao, Fray Antonio del Rosario, testimony was received as to the
great achievements of father Fray Domingo Erquicia.]
CHAPTER XLIV
The life and death of father Fray Thomas Gutierrez, vicar provincial
of the province of Ytuy
[Father Fray Thomas Gutierrez was a native of the city of Origuela
in the kingdom of Valencia; and he assumed the habit in the convent
and college of the order there. When the opportunity offered he went
to the province of Sant Hipolito de Oaxaca in Nueva España. Here he
learned the language of the Mistecs, whose minister he was for some
years. Coming to the Philippinas, he was assigned to the province of
Pangasinan, where in a few months he learned the language so well that
he surpassed many of the very natives. He rebuked the vices of the
Indians with such efficacy that they called him "Thunder," because
he frightened them like the thunder, which they greatly fear. He
was a rigid observer of the rules of the province and was notable
for his modesty. He went courageously among the savage Indians, who
often attack those who are traveling along the paths--not for their
purses, but for their heads, he who cuts off the greatest number
being the most highly esteemed among them.] On one occasion he came
to a village of these Indians called Managuag. While he was there,
more than four hundred of these Zambales, as they are called, appeared
in the village, with their bows, arrows, lances, and daggers such as
they use--which are so keen that in a single instant they strike a
head to the earth. They came into the unsuspecting village with such
a noise and shout that the poor inhabitants, being unarmed, almost
died of fear. Some fled to the mountains, and some sixty Christian
Indians took refuge in the house of a chief. When they saw that they
were lost, having no weapons nor any means to defend themselves,
they put themselves in the hands of God, and decided to make use of
prayers in place of weapons; so they fell on their knees, and began in
a loud voice to pray in their language. The Zambales, hearing them,
surrounded the house and undertook to go up to it. Without knowing
what held them back, they were several times obliged to retreat when
they were half-way there. They finally set fire to it, though against
their will, for they thought much of being able to take with them the
heads of its inmates. It was burned to the ground in a few moments,
with those who were within. Although God did not deliver them from the
fire, He showed by a miracle that He had delivered them from the fires
of hell, and perhaps from the fires of purgatory, exchanging those
for this fire; for they were all found dead in a circle, untouched
by the fire, and on their knees, with their elbows on the ground and
their heads on their hands. Most of them took refuge in the church
under the protection of the father and of God. These availed them;
and the father, without attempting to close doors or windows, took
in his hands a Christ that was on the altar, from whom he and the
people (who were about him) all begged for mercy, which the Father
of Mercies granted them. It was a marvelous thing that though the
cemetery in front of the church had a wall the height of which was
only from a few palmos up to two varas, the enemy were unable to cross
it; and one of them, who leaped over it, was struck dead by a stray
arrow. The roof of the church and the convent was of nipa, which is
like so much dry straw to the fire. Upon it fell many brands and more
than fifty burning arrows, none of which kindled it, though it was
so inflammable. God, choosing to show who it was that defended this
place, by the prayers of His servant Fray Thomas, permitted an Indian
who was with him in the church, and who thought he was not safe there,
to go out, thinking that he might escape by running. The enemy caught
him and cut off his head in an instant. Not an arrow touched even the
clothes of one of those who remained with the father, though these
fell as thick as grass, and though many arrows passed among them,
for they came in at the doors and windows of the church like showers
of rain. Finally the enemy, frightened--although, being barbarians,
they could not understand--when they saw that the fire would not catch,
though there was nothing to prevent it, and that their arms would not
injure these people, though disarmed, retreated with some heads (the
spoils which they most desire) and with some captives. The father,
when the disturbance was over, immediately set about burying the
dead and putting the village in a situation to defend itself from
any other similar attack.
On a mountain chain near two villages, one of which is one of the
most important in the province of Pangasinan, which are called
Binalatongan and Balanguey, there were some unpacified Indians so
savage and barbarous that they knew no occupation but cutting off
heads. They were even more cruel than the ones just referred to,
and came down into the valleys, to the fields of the peaceful Indians
and to the roads, to hunt the latter like so many deer. Father Fray
Thomas was much grieved by this, and did not know what to do to
prevent it. To keep them back by arms he had not the strength; and,
as for arguments, these were not people who would accept them. He
therefore made use of a means which the event showed to have been
revealed to him from above, because according to carnal reason it
seemed to be very contrary to the rules of prudence. He directed two
Christian Indians to go up the mountains to the settlements of their
enemies, totally unarmed, and to carry to them a certain message from
him. They went, for the Indians did not know how to refuse to do what
the father directed them; but they went as if they were going to the
slaughter. When they came to the place, they made signs of peace;
but the barbarians, who knew no more about peace than about theology,
were on the point of killing them without listening to them. But one
of the savages themselves diverted them from this purpose by saying
that they would better listen to them first; that there would be time
to kill them afterwards, because they could not escape. They called
our Indians, and asked them what they wished; and they answered that
they were bringing a message from father Fray Thomas their father;
this was, that he begged them earnestly to do no more harm to these
Indians their neighbors, who were to him as sons. He desired them to
come down and settle in the plains wherever they pleased, promising
that he would regard them likewise as his sons, and would show them
great kindness. They were not acquainted with the father, and did
not know his name; and some of them were of the opinion that they had
better slay the simple ambassadors. Others, contrary to their usual
practice, defended the latter, treated them well, and showed them
hospitality. Among those who were thus kind to them were two chiefs,
of whom one--who was, as it were, the leader of all--was named Duayen;
the other was named Buaya. Their hearts, which were harder than the
hearts of tigers, God softened without any other application than
that which has been described. They sent back his ambassadors to the
father with an escort to defend them in dangerous places, and to take
them safe to his presence; and by them they sent the answer that they
were very ready to do with a good will what he commanded them, and
that they would come down to the plain and settle in three places,
so situated that the father might visit and teach them. They did not
delay in carrying out their promise. They built their villages, and
in them churches and dwellings for the father. In one of the churches
were baptized immediately a son and two daughters of Duayen, together
with many other children, twenty of them boys. Thus was sown the seed
of the gospel, which has grown luxuriantly, at no further cost than
has been recounted. Father Fray Thomas was indefatigable in striving
for the good of souls. For the benefit of souls he made journeys of
twelve leguas on foot, over very bad roads and in the heat of the
sun. He sometimes went among warlike Indians who cut off the heads of
others, while he and those who went with him saved theirs. It seemed
to his companion, when he took one, that even though the companion was
weak, a contagion of strength went out from the father, so that his
associate was able to follow him, and they both went on long journeys
without being much exhausted. Father Fray Thomas was not grieved
that the direction of his superior occupied him in different posts,
and called him from one place which was already cultivated well to
another which was not so, but very ill--an effect which might have
resulted from various causes. In the province of Ylocos--which is
next to that of Pangasinan, and between it and that of Nueva Segovia,
all of them being in this island of Luçon--there is a large village
called Nalbacan, the instruction of which was entrusted to secular
clergy. As they were quickly changed, one after the other, and as some
of them did not know the language of the natives, the village was in
great lack of religious instruction. The bishop of these provinces,
Don Diego de Soria, determined to give this village to the order,
that it might minister to it. The father provincial who held that
office at the time, charged father Fray Thomas with this duty. He set
out there immediately, and began on the way to learn something of the
language of the country, of which he had already a vocabulary and a
grammar. Though it is different from that of Pangasinan, he preached
in it at the end of twenty days after he arrived there, and before
the bishop and other priests who were there, and before the natives,
to the wonder of all. He began to fill his office so acceptably to the
Indians that some came from the most remote parts of the province to
confess to him and to receive his counsels. He was given the name of
"the holy father," and, whenever they spoke of him, they used this
name. As this is the appellation of the supreme pontiff of the church,
whom the Indians had never seen, and still less had any dealings with
him, those who were not acquainted with the secret were surprised
to hear them speak until they came to understand it. Father Fray
Thomas remained here a year, and his teaching and example were easily
perceived in the improvement of the Indians and of those who were
under his direction. All this province of the Indians is under the
care of Augustinian fathers, who have in it many places where they
give Christian instruction. They accordingly claimed this of Nalbacan,
which was the only place outside of their jurisdiction. The order was
very willing to yield it, and in exchange for it the Augustinians
gave to our order another, which they had among our ministries in
Pangasinan; and thus each order remained with its province complete,
with its own tribe and language. When the Augustinian fathers came
to take possession of the house of father Fray Thomas, as they did
somewhat in advance of the time, he departed with nothing but his
cloak, his hat, his breviary, and his staff, setting out for the
province of Nueva Segovia, which was very near, to wait for the
order of his superior, and to be disposed of as he pleased. Desiring
not to be idle in the interim, for he did not wish to be idle a
single hour--and if he did not know the language he would have to
be idle many hours--he learned the language of that country with the
facility which God had given him. He was aided by the fact that the
languages of these three provinces of Indians are somewhat alike,
and resemble each other in their idioms and in their syntax--which
does not seem to have been invented by a barbarous people, but by a
race of intelligence and keenness of mind. He remained but a short
time in this province, being sent by the order of his superior to
his former province of Pangasinan, whose language he understood as
if it were his mother-tongue. In this language he wrote many books
of devotion, sermons, and treatises, which he distributed while
he was alive among the fathers who were ministers to that people;
and he left others behind him at his death, as his estate, for he
had no other estate except instruments of penance. From these long
journeys on foot, through these rough and hot regions, a sickness
resulted in Pangasinan which threatened to be the last of his life,
and obliged him to give up the ministry to the Indians, much against
his will. He suffered from this very much more than from the pain
of the illness; but what he could not gain in this life he laid up
for the other by his admirable patience and fortitude. Finally God
restored his health, without medicines or comforts, for which there
is little provision here; and there was less then, because things
were nearer the beginning, when everything was barrenness and extreme
poverty. With all these merits, he still lacked one thing to fill up
the measure of his deserts. The common enemy of souls guessed this,
and once appeared to him, while he was reading a book of devotion,
in a hideous and shocking form; and although the father made the
sign of the cross, the enemy did not flee so quickly but that he
had time to say that, if it were not for the stones on the father's
neck, he would be revenged upon him. This was the rosary, which the
father took off neither by night nor by day, that he might be at
all hours armed against him who may attack at any hour, and will do
so whenever he is permitted. His zeal for souls increased with age,
contrary to what often happens; for with the old age of the body,
the weakening of the strength, and the increase of infirmity, old
age often attacks the spirit--as St. Paul says (Hebrews, viii),
Quod antiquatur et senescit prope interitum est [56]--which is as
true of the spirit as of the body. When the father had reached the
age of seventy years, he implored father Fray Francisco de Herrera,
who was provincial at the time, to send him to Japon on the occasion
when the large mission thither was planned which, afterward, God did
not see fit to permit to be carried out. I think that this was not
the first time that he proffered this request to his superiors. In
proportion to the dangers and hardships promised by this mission,
of which father Fray Thomas was not ignorant, was his earnestness
in the desire to be a member of it. This is a proof of his vigorous
spirit in venerable old age. His urgent request was not admitted, on
the ground of his age; but he did not lose the merit of it, since he
made it without any hypocrisy. God preserved him for another mission
(that described in the previous chapter), which he undertook in the
province of Ytui. He had made a beginning there in former years, but
had not carried it on because of the obstacle there mentioned. He had
now come to three years beyond seventy, and undertook the difficult
expedition already described with as much spirit and energy as if
he had only half his years. Yet he was much bowed with infirmities,
as well as with age; and between them he seemed, as he walked,
to be dragging along his body and his bowels. The words which the
church sings of the holy old Simeon are not inappropriate, Senex
puerum portabat; puer autem senem regebat. [57] This same God whose
name he, as His vassal, desired to carry to all regions, directed
him and strengthened him, so that he undertook enterprises so far
beyond the strength of one bowed with years and infirmities. In this
period of his life he began to learn the language of this province,
accomplishing his purpose in three months, and beginning to preach
to the natives in it. He went to attend them in their spiritual needs
whenever they summoned him, however far away he was, without heeding
rain, or sun, or difficult roads. Though very compassionate to all,
he was rigorous to himself alone, and that throughout his life. Every
night he took a rigorous discipline; and never after he entered the
order did he eat meat, except in case of grave necessity. He did not
complain of his food when it was scanty or ill prepared, in sickness
or in health. To the fasts of the order he added others. After the
festival of the Resurrection he added another Lent up to Whitsunday,
and another afterwards to the day of our father St. Dominic, so that
the whole year was to him fasting and Lent. On Wednesdays, Fridays,
and Saturdays throughout the year, and on the eves of the festivals
of Christ our Lord, of the Virgin his most holy Mother, and of our
father St. Dominic, and of the saints of the order, he fasted on
bread and water. As a result he possessed that which follows such
fasting--a heroic degree of chastity. Finally the last illness of
his life came upon him, being occasioned by a fall from a precipice,
while he was in the work of his ministry. During the whole time of
his illness, his companion could not persuade him to accept a sheet
of very coarse cotton, or to permit his bed to be changed. On the bed
which he had in health, which was a frame of cane-work covered with
a patched blanket, he desired to await the hour of his death. Before
his death he made a general confession, covering his whole life from
the time before he reached years of discretion. Though his confession
covered so many years, it lasted about a quarter of an hour. After
he had most devoutly received the other sacraments, he died in the
Lord, March 30, 1633. The following provincial chapter, in giving
notice to the province of his happy death, said: "In the province of
Ytui father Fray Thomas Gutierrez ended his days, an aged priest and
father, most observant of the rules of the order, severe to himself
and most gentle to others. He labored in this province for the good
of souls for the space of five and thirty years, with such devotion
that the very Indians, by whom he was most beloved, held and regarded
him as pious and a saint. This aroused the ill-will of the devil,
who appeared to him while he was at prayer; and the wicked enemy was
able to arouse in him great fear and terror, but not to harm him,
because he found him protected with the impregnable rosary of the
Virgin. Of him we have the pious faith that, full of years and of
virtue, he has flown to heaven."
CHAPTER XLV
The election as provincial of father Fray Domingo Gonçalez, and the
state of the province
On the sixteenth of April in this year 1633, the fathers of the
province assembled in Manila to elect a superior. Their minds were in
such agreement that without difficulty they unanimously elected, on the
first ballot, father Fray Domingo Gonçalez, prior of the same convent,
not one vote being lacking for the election but his own. He was very
acceptable to the estates, both secular and ecclesiastical, of this
region, as have been all of the other provincials; since the electors
have always exhibited great zeal for the good of the order, and have
made their choice without considering personal predilections. In
general, the election has not previously been discussed, so that
the provincial is elected before anyone suspects who he is. Often a
person is elected with regard to whom no one imagined any such thing,
so that the city is not a little edified. He who was elected at that
time was in España a student at the college of San Gregorio, where
he was for many years a teacher of theology. After filling all the
offices of the order, he became commissary of the Holy Office in these
islands--as he still is, with which we must bring to an end all that
may be said with regard to him.
The provincial and the definitors found nothing to occupy themselves
with in the reformation of the province. Advice was received of a
new ordinance of the chapter-general held in Roma in 1629, in which
permission is given to the provinces to discontinue the intermediate
chapter as being the source of much expense and trouble to all
the order--and, in this province, of much interference with the
systematic instruction of the Indians in our charge, many of whom
are entirely without ministers during the whole time spent in coming
to these intermediate chapters. In their place were very prudently
substituted the councils, which, being reduced to a much smaller
number of religious, the picked men of the province, are almost
as useful and much less expensive, and are not followed by the bad
results spoken of. This permission was accepted, and the precedent
has since been followed.
In this year the order was extended so far throughout these kingdoms
that it had never before reached such limits. Although the number of
the religious of this province is very small, they have taken up a
jurisdiction so extended and so large that, even though many hundreds
and even thousands of companions were to come to their aid, they
would have enough to provide all these with labor, without needing to
seek for or even to accept anything else, all of them being occupied
with that which has already been acquired and gained. For the lack
of ministers, the Indians are still untaught, and remain in their
heathen state; while if they had ministers they would embrace and
follow the law of God, as those have admitted and professed it who
by the favor of heaven have been able to obtain ministers.
[The persecution in Japon was still increasing in intensity and
cruelty. The authorities of Japon now offered a reward of a thousand
taes (which amount to almost as many ducados of Castilla) to anyone
who would reveal the place of hiding of a minister, in addition to full
pardon for all offenses previously committed. Besides this, a new and
dreadful method of execution was devised for the Christians, inasmuch
as their crime was regarded as so vile that the ordinary methods of
execution--decapitation, or burning alive over a slow fire--should
not be used as a punishment for them. The condemned Christians were
hung, head downward, in a pit, in such a manner that they could not
move their bodies, and that the blood ran out of their mouths, noses,
eyes, and ears until they bled to death in horrible torment. [58] In
this way father Fray Domingo de Erquicia was martyred. Father Fray
Jacobo de Sancta Maria, [59] a Japanese by nation, who had assumed
the habit in our convent of Manila, August 15, 1624, was martyred in
this year. He had returned to Japon in 1632. He went by way of the
islands of the Lequios; and the champan in which he traveled with some
Japanese fathers of the Society encountered storms, and was cast upon
the shores of Coria. The sufferings of this voyage were such that his
hair turned gray. At the end of five months he reached Satzuma, where
he labored for about three months. His father, who was a Christian,
was tortured by water until he revealed the place where his son was
hidden; and on the seventeenth of August father Fray Jacobo died,
after three days of torture, by the method of hanging described. In
this year two preachers of our order made their way to Japon. One was
the glorious martyr, father Fray Jacobo; the other was a Sicilian,
a very thorough master of the Chinese language, who was called Fray
Jordan de San Estevan. He had assumed the habit in Sicilia, after
having studied arts and theology in Aragon and Castilla. He barely
escaped capture immediately on his arrival; and the whole crew of
Chinese who had been hired to bring him were executed for the crime
of bringing a priest into the kingdom.
In this year, thirty-three, the cruel old emperor died; and in the
commotions which followed it seemed as if all parties turned their
hands against the Christians. Many other martyrs of other orders
were executed at this time. Among them were Father Manuel Borges,
of the Society of Jesus; fathers Fray Melchor and Fray Martin,
Augustinian Recollects--Spaniards, who were caught before they learned
the language; father Fray Jacobo Antoni, a Roman, of the Society of
Jesus; fathers Fray Benito Fernandez (a Portuguese) and Fray Francisco
de Gracia, of the Order of St. Augustine; and a Japanese father of
the Society named Pablo Saito, who had accompanied father Fray Jacobo
from Manila. In this year father Fray Thomas de San Jacintho reported
that thirteen religious were captured in Nangasaqui, besides two of
the Order of St. Francis who were prisoners in Usaca. Besides these,
there were Fathers Antonio de Sousa and Juan Mateos, and Father
Christoval Ferreyra, all Portuguese Jesuits; father Fray Lucas del
Espiritu Sancto, a father of our order; besides many Japanese, both
lay and religious.
Father Fray Lucas del Espiritu Sancto was a son of the convent of
Sancto Domingo at Benavente. An account is given of his labors in the
chapter dealing with the year thirty-one. From his prison he wrote
an account of his labors and travels in Japon, in which he told how
he had gone through the most distant parts of the empire from east
to west. Most of these fathers and many of their companions were
tortured while in prison, and father Fray Lucas wrote a long letter
describing their imprisonment and torture. In this letter he makes the
following statement: that if he should die on the day of St. Luke,
he would be exactly thirty-nine years of age; that he assumed the
habit in 1610 in the convent of Sancto Domingo at Benabente, whence
he went to study at Trianos and hence to Valladolid, coming to the
Philippinas in 1617, and being assigned to duty in Nueva Segovia. He
reached Japon in 1623. His letter is dated October 16, 1633, and
two days later he was put to the torture of the hanging described,
being respited for a time and afterward executed.]
CHAPTER XLVI
The holy Fray Jacintho de Esquivel or De el Rosario, martyred on the
way to Japon; and his holy life.
[To the six or seven holy martyrs of our sacred order--Fray Domingo
de Erquicia, [60] Fray Lucas del Espiritu Sancto, Fray Jacobo
de Santa Maria, and three or four lay brothers, should be added
another who, though he did not die in Japon, died on the journey
thither, at the hands of traitorous heathen. This was father Fray
Jacintho de Esquivel. He was a Basque by nation, noble in lineage
and nobler in virtue. He assumed the habit in the convent of San
Domingo of the city of Victoria. While he was a novice I happened,
in returning from the chapter-general in Paris in 1611, where I was
definitor for this province, to rest in his convent for a week; and
at that time he conceived the desire to come to this province. He
was sent to the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid, and
distinguished himself in his studies, becoming a teacher of arts when
still very young. In Manila he was appointed as lecturer in theology
in the college of Sancto Thomas; and in this position he did not
take advantage of the dispensations allowed, but rigorously observed
the severe rules of the province. While he was teaching theology he
studied the Japanese language, under the teaching of father Fray
Jacobo de Sancta Maria. With his aid he printed, at the expense
of the college, a Japanese-Spanish vocabulary--a large book, which
required very great resolution and labor. As a result of abstinence,
he had lost the sense of taste. He dressed poorly and roughly, and
his modesty and chastity were such that he once said that he had
never looked a woman in the face. In order to make his way to Japon
he went to the island of Hermosa. On the very night of the arrival of
father Fray Jacintho occurred a heavy storm, which overthrew a small
convent of ours with its church, which had been erected in the Parian
of the Chinese. The other fathers attributed this to the wrath of
the devil because of the coming of the father; but he rejoiced that
materials were provided for building a church in Taparri, for which
the ruins of these buildings might be used. This village of Taparri
was populated by the worst tribe in the whole island; for they were
all pirates, who committed as much robbery and murder on the sea as
they could. It was less than a legua from the presidio of San Salvador,
and strict orders had been issued that no one should go there without
permission, and that those who went should always go in company and
armed. The father asked permission to go and build a church in that
village, where he soon learned a few of the words. When the Indians
asked him where his wife and sons and land were, he answered that
the religious had none, to which they replied that he was a great
liar. At another time, when he told them of the resurrection of the
dead, they called him mad. Afterward, when they came to have a great
deal of affection for him and offered him several marriages, and saw
that he would not accept them, or even admit a woman into his house,
they began to believe in him. He afterward set about building a church
in another village on the same coast, nearer the presidio, and named
Camaurri. He established peace between the two villages though they
had always been enemies before. He was afterward sent to Tanchuy. He
lived a life of great mortification, and labored strenuously to learn
the language of this country. In a few months he succeeded, and made
a grammar and a very copious vocabulary. Being sent back from Tangchuy
to Sant Salvador, he obeyed most readily, and his labors were attended
with great results. He exposed himself to dangers by sea and by land,
and preached to Spaniards as well as to Indians. He established in the
island of Hermosa the holy Confraternity of La Misericordia. The good
cavalier Don Juan de Alcaraso gave four thousand pesos for the purpose;
and father Fray Jacintho gave two thousand, which he had received in
alms. He also established a school for the bright Chinese and Japanese
children, and those of other nations in that country, where they might
be taught the matters of our faith, and where those who are capable of
them might learn Latin, the liberal arts, and theology. He hoped thus
to train up children who might carry the faith into China and Japon. He
finally embarked for Japon in a Chinese vessel, with a Franciscan;
and after they had been at sea for a few days the Chinese, unwilling
to wait and put them ashore in Japon, killed them and took their
noses and ears to the judges in Nangasaqui, who paid them liberally.]
CHAPTER XLVII
The martyrdom of the holy friar Fray Francisco de Sancto Domingo in
the island of Hermosa, and the death of the venerable father Fray
Angel de San Antonino in Great China.
[In the course of time arose a persecution of the Christians in the
island of Hermosa. An Indian chief in Tanchuy excited some villages to
rebel, and to kill some Spaniards from an ambush. They first employed
their weapons upon the holy martyr Fray Francisco de Sancto Domingo,
who had never done them anything but kindness, and who had just rescued
from prison the man who excited all the others. This man had been
placed there because his evil purposes had been detected. Father Fray
Francisco was a native of Portugal, and a son of the convent of Zamora
in the province of España, whence he went in 1615 to study theology in
the royal convent of Sancto Thomas at Avila. He came in my company on
the second expedition which I made with religious from España to this
country. He was assigned to duty in Nueva Segovia, where he learned
the language of the natives, and labored gloriously among them for
some years. He was a lean man but had very good health and great
strength. He was taken by the father provincial, Fray Bartholome
Martinez, as his companion, and the conversion of the island of
Hermosa was begun. He suffered from headache, in addition to which he
subjected himself to the most severe penances. He was most kindly and
charitable, especially to the Indians. When the Indians attacked him,
he sank on his knees before them; and they shot at least fifty arrows
into his body. The Indians cut off his head, leaving the tongue and
lower jaw on the body; and with the head and the right hand they went
to the mountains, to celebrate the festival of head-cutting. On the
way the head wept miraculously, and there was a dreadful earthquake,
so that the Indians in alarm cast the head into the river. The holy
martyr died January 27, 1633, the Lord working miracles upon his body
after his death.
In this same year, there died in Great China father Fray Angel de San
Antonio, who before coming to this province used his family name, which
was Quoqui (or Cocci). He was of noble Florentine descent. Some mention
of his virtues has been already made, when I spoke of the entrance of
our order into the kingdom of China. By the assistance of miracles, he
succeeded in carrying out the great desire of the province to preach
the gospel in that most populous and wealthy country, the people of
which have so much intelligence and such fine natural gifts. He was
minister to the Indians of Bataan, whose language he understood; but by
the direction of his superiors he undertook the study of the Chinese
language, and, in spite of its difficulty, he obeyed with alacrity
and promptness. Before he had thoroughly mastered this language he
was sent to Hermosa, from which the governor, Don Juan de Alcaraso,
sent him on an embassy to the viceroy of Ucheo. The treachery of the
Chinese on the way has already been described; and an account has
been given of the events which occurred in China. In the year in which
the order sent him a companion (1633), he was taken sick, and died.]
CHAPTER XLVIII
The beginning of the conversion of the Mandayas, mountaineers of
Nueva Segovia
Although the conversions of the kingdoms of Japon and China turns
thither much [missionary] effort [61] in España, since these kingdoms
are so magnificent, and summons many noble spirits, that is not the
only conversion; nor ought the others to be despised where the Lord
more quietly (and perhaps in a humbler way) works marvelous effects
among the heathen who are converted--and also among the ministers,
who profit greatly by so noble a work. Many examples of this have
been written in this history, which are confirmed by the events of
this year among the Indians called Mandayas, who inhabit some remote
and craggy mountains in the province of Nueva Segovia. Though this
island of Luçon is the first which received the faith in these regions,
having done so at the time when the Spaniards invaded it, there are
still many regions in it where for lack of ministers the faith has not
been preached, and where the inhabitants have never heard more of the
gospel than if Christians had never come hither. This is true not only
of a village here and there, but of whole provinces, each inhabited
by its own race and each possessing its own language, though they
are all within this great island. Such were these Mandayas Indians,
the conversion of whom was begun in this year by father Fray Geronimo
de Zamora, a native of Zaragoça, a son of the most religious province
of Aragon--from whose report, and from that of two other fathers who
for some time accompanied him, the following facts are drawn. In the
provincial chapter of the year 1631 obedience sent this father as
superior to the villages of Fotol and Capinatan, which are in Nueva
Segovia near the aforesaid mountains. He had great joy in going there,
for he immediately entertained great hopes of the conversion of these
Mandaya tribes. They were as completely given over to their errors
as if there had never been a preacher of the faith in this country,
for they lived in mountains which were very rugged, although they
were near the villages above mentioned. When father Fray Geronimo
came thither and saw that these heathen sometimes came down for trade
with the villages, he began to show them kindness, and to give them
some trifles that they thought much of, until at last he secured
their good will. For the time he did not speak of anything else, for
they were not inclined to matters of the faith, much less to accept
ministers who would interfere with the vices in which they lived and
had been brought up. In this way a year passed, and at the beginning
of the next year, seeing that they were more kindly disposed to him,
it seemed to him that he could trust them; and he determined to go up
to their villages. He was confident that even though they would not
admit him as a teacher and preacher, they would receive him kindly as
their friend and benefactor, who was not coming to take or to ask for
what they possessed, but merely to provide them with a good which they
were without. That he might not make a mistake by following his own
opinion, he consulted first with the father vicar-provincial of that
region and some grave fathers of it; and after they had conferred,
and discussed the case, they resolved that father Fray Geronimo should
make the journey, while the others should pray to the Lord for a good
result. Hereupon he most courageously went up into the mountains,
about the end of January, taking with him some Indians whom he could
trust and who were of good intelligence--acquaintances and friends of
the Mandayas. It took him a day and a half of most laborious traveling
to reach their first village, for they had to row up stream against
the current, which is always strong and in some places terrible. The
river runs between high mountains on both sides and in the middle of
the stream there are great rocks, which make it very dangerous to go
up--and still more so to go down, because the rapid current carries
the boat against the rocks. They received him with great pleasure,
and lodged him in one of their best houses, though it was built of
thatch, after the custom of the country. Next to it the father had
a building erected where he could say mass; and he sent round to the
chiefs of the other villages to ask them to come to that one, and there
he waited for them. They did so readily, because of their good will
toward him; and, when they were all together, the father--standing in
the midst of them in an open place, like St. Paul in Athens--expounded
to them the mysteries of our faith, demolishing the delusions of their
errors and the teaching of the devil, the Father of Lies, and saying
much that was suitable for both purposes. To this they listened with
attention, although the doctrine was new to their ears. God enlightened
them within, and hence they did not answer as the Athenians did to
St. Paul--some making a jest of it, and others saying that they would
hear him another time as to this matter, while there were few that
believed; but here all said at once that they believed what they were
taught, and wished to receive this holy law, placing themselves in
his hands to be disposed of as he thought best. Great was the joy
which father Fray Geronimo felt at this answer, which was beyond
his hopes; and he gave many thanks to the Lord, seeing that it was
he who had accomplished the matter so well, so quickly, and with so
little effort, though it was a great matter. He also thanked them,
and confirmed them as much as he could in their good purpose; and
he asked them as a proof of the validity of the promise which they
had given him, to grant him, as sureties that they would not retract
it, their infant sons in baptism. Without hesitation ten of their
chiefs on the following day brought ten infants, their sons, whom
father Fray Geronimo immediately baptized, offering them to God as
the first-fruits of this new conversion. As a token that in the name
of Christ our Lord and of his most holy Mother he assumed possession
thereof, he said mass, and assigned to the village as their patron
the Virgin of the Pillar of Zaragoça. [62] It was surely a prudent
thought to fasten this tender church to this strong pillar, upon which
from of old that noble city has been supported, and has stood firm
without being overthrown by the storms that have assailed it since
its foundation, though it be as many years in age as the days of the
same Virgin in this mortal life; and it shall last to the end of the
world. Throughout that whole day the father spent his time in converse
with his new sons, encouraging them to go on with what they had so
happily begun; but he was obliged to leave them for the time, that
he might return to the villages under his care, for Lent was at hand
and it was necessary for him to listen to confessions. The ministers
are so few that their strength and power cannot reach as far as their
desire. The Indians were greatly grieved when they saw that they were
to be without a guide just as they were beginning a path which they
had never trod; but the father was more grieved at being obliged to
leave them. He promised to come back and live among them as soon as he
could; and they determined to go to his superior to beg for a minister
and a teacher to instruct them in the way of salvation. They carried
out their plan at such a fortunate time that they found the fathers
preparing to go to the provincial chapter, which was at hand. The
religious promised to help the Indians in their good purpose, and
did so, as will soon be seen. Father Fray Geronimo departed from
them with many tears on both sides--the Indians weeping from sorrow
at being left behind; the father partly from grief at leaving them,
and partly from joy at seeing his desires realized and his labors so
well begun, for this meant that the work was half done. The fathers
of the chapter complied with the promise that had been given, and
recounted to the definitors the good beginning of this conversion
which they had seen, and the great desire with which these heathen
Indians asked for ministers to teach and baptize them. The result was
that the definitors felt obliged to grant so just a petition, and to
give them as minister and preacher the same Fray Geronimo de Zamora,
who offered to dwell in those solitary mountains in order to carry
on what the Lord had begun through his ministry and diligence. That
he might be able to go, he was provided with two good companions--a
great number where the religious were so few, and where there was so
much calling upon them for their help. The convent and convents which
might be established there were accepted; and the patronage of the
Virgin of the Pillar was extended over all the Christian churches which
might be formed there. This last request was so just that it brought
its favorable answer with it; and, even if father Fray Geronimo had
not presented it, there was a definitor in that chapter who would have
made it, because he was likewise a native of the same city of Zaragoça,
and a son of the famous convent of preachers of that city. His name
was Fray Carlos Clemente Gant, [63] long an excellent minister of the
province of Nueva Segovia. It is well that the sons of that noble city
never cease, wherever they are, to see within their souls that great
sanctuary which the city enjoys and in the shade of which they were
bred. Though father Fray Geronimo was eager to carry out the orders of
the chapter, he was unable to do so until the beginning of September,
on account of the obstacles placed in his way by the devil, who saw
how much he was to lose by the expedition. He finally embarked to go
up the river with one of his companions, father Fray Luis de Oñate,
[64] who called himself here by the name of del Rosario; he was a
native of Sevilla, and a son of the convent of Portaceli in the same
city, a religious of much virtue though of few years, and therefore
very well suited to such enterprises. All of his qualifications were
necessary, because in the midst of that voyage, at one most dangerous
passage, full of great rocks, where the waves are high and the current
is stronger, they were unable for three days to make a yard of headway
by the greatest efforts that they could put forth, such was the force
of the current--or of the devil, who, being unable to do more, strove
in this way to interfere with the fathers on their journey. At last
by patience and perseverance, which conquer everything, they reached
the end of their difficulty. They arrived in the first village of
the Mandayas on September 7, the eve of the Nativity of our Lady--a
feast which, among the other feasts of the Virgin, is celebrated in
Zaragoça with the greatest solemnity by the chapter and the clergy of
the holy church of the Pillar. The Indians received them with great
demonstrations of joy, after their fashion; and with much greater joy,
though a spiritual one, the fathers celebrated on the following day
the birth of the Virgin--for it seemed to them wonderfully appropriate
to begin the foundation of this conversion on this day--the Virgin
herself adopting it, so that, as if it were her own, she might look
upon it with the eyes of a mother, and of one so tender. The material
(that is, the minds of the listeners) being so well disposed, it was an
easy thing for the word of God to kindle in it; for it is like fire,
as St. Jerome says in his comment upon the prophet Abdias [i.e.,
Obadiah], which consumes the straw and purifies the grain for the
Lord. Hence the first thing which father Fray Geronimo did, because
of his deep spiritual insight and his great experience as a minister,
was to get at them under the straw of their vices and superstitions,
and to place before them immediately the pure grain and clean seed of
the faith. He began, as St. Paul did, in the eleventh chapter of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, with the knowledge of and belief in one sole
God, the great reward which He has prepared for those who serve Him,
and the dreadful punishment with which He chastises the unbelief of
the heathen and the sins of those who offend Him. With such force did
he explain the greatness of the reward of glory, and the horrors of
eternal punishment decreed for the heathen, that all those who heard
desired to be baptized immediately. But as this was not possible
for the adults, who must first be instructed in the matters of our
holy faith, and relieved and unburdened from their previous sins
and superstitions, they immediately offered their infant children,
who might receive holy baptism without these preparations. Within
a few days were baptized some three hundred and more, who learned
the whole of the Christian doctrine with strange quickness, a clear
indication of the great willingness with which they were converted to
their Creator. On the first Sunday in October, which came very soon,
an Indian chief and his wife were baptized; and four days later his
brother, a youth. It was attributed to the particular favor of the
Virgin of the Rosary, whose festival is celebrated on that Sunday,
that so barbarous a race, without knowing how to read or write,
and bred in those mountains without commerce or communication even
with other Indians, should so quickly learn so many prayers. This
is still more wonderful because they were not taught them in their
own language, which is a savage one, but in that of more highly
civilized Indians, which is quite different from theirs. Although
they usually all understand this latter, they never speak it among
themselves, which increased the difficulty of this matter, and the
grace shown by enabling them to conquer it in so short a time. The
religious went on to two other villages higher up, and were received
by the Indians with the same welcome and signs of rejoicing as in
the first village. These Indians listened as readily to the teaching
of the faith as the others. Here was founded a tiny church under the
advocacy of St. Antoninus--for when lots were cast for this glorious
saint, St. Jerome, and St. Francis, that of our holy archbishop came
out; and, mass being said in his honor, the church was dedicated
to him. Then followed the baptism of many children, whose fathers
readily brought them for the purpose--and indeed desired to be the
companions of their children in baptism, but were obliged to wait
until they could be prepared. The religious could not remain here,
and wait until they had prepared them, because they were called back
by their obligations to minister to those who were already Christians
in the older villages of their district, to whom a single religious
could not attend sufficiently. As only one had been left behind, the
fathers were obliged to leave them after making so good a beginning,
promising to return afterward and to perfect them in Christianity,
after fulfilling these duties. It may perhaps seem to some a cause
for offense when they shall read that these fathers left this growing
grain in the blade, without protection or anyone to care for it, when
there was danger that the enemy might come and sow tares in the field;
but if the reader will consider how few ministers the province had,
and how much they had to attend to, he cannot fail to see that they
did not only what they could, but many times more--God giving them
courage for that to which their natural strength, as it seemed, could
not attain. Yet, even so, they were sometimes compelled guiltlessly
to fail in that to which charity would have obliged them if they had
been able to do it.
[When the fathers informed the Mandayas of their intention, the
Indians were so much grieved that the chiefs and the council resolved
to keep the fathers by force if they would not remain with them
willingly. Father Fray Geronimo called their attention to the fact
that, as a good father, he must attend to all his sons alike. They
replied that it would be enough for one to return, and the companion
of father Fray Geronimo was accordingly left behind. He was but new
in the ministry, and was now to be left alone in the midst of these
mountains to cope with the difficulties of a new conversion. Father
Fray Geronimo separated from him and the Indians with little less
grief and tears, on both sides, than when St. Paul departed from the
inhabitants of Ephesus. Father Fray Luis, the minister who remained
behind, determined to guide himself by the instructions and the
example of father Fray Geronimo. From father Fray Luis is obtained the
report which follows. As it deals with matters in which he was himself
concerned, it was very short, and he was greatly opposed to publishing
it; but the truth of history requires us not to pass over the glory of
his works. He was not to baptize any adults, however well instructed,
until father Fray Geronimo returned, for fear of meeting with the
impediments which are so frequent in such cases--irregularities in
marriage, or the guilt of unjust enslavements and of wrongs done by the
more powerful to the weaker, or any of a thousand other impediments
which only those who are skilful and experienced in the ministry of
new conversions can detect and settle. Father Fray Luis continued to
exercise his office, and found in the Indians a wonderful hunger and
thirst for the matters of the faith, and great readiness in learning
it. Some Christians who were older in the faith, who had accompanied
the fathers, were astonished. One of these was Don Francisco Tuliao, at
present master-of-camp for the Indians of the whole province of Nueva
Segovia; he had accompanied the religious, and his influence was of
great importance in achieving the conversion of these people. When he
saw the fervor of the Mandayas, and the ease with which they learned
Christianity, though they were regarded even by the other Indians as
rude and barbarous, he declared that the hand of God could be seen
in this work. The Lord took to himself the tithe of the first ten
baptized children; but the Indians who in their heathen days had been
accustomed to spend a week in weeping and mourning their dead children,
with a thousand superstitions and extravagances, before burying them,
now accepted readily from the hand of the Lord the death of baptized
children who departed in their innocence; and, without a sign of
grief, they themselves took the little bodies of their children to
be buried in the church. In the case of adults also, some of them
showed marvelous devotion and were baptized on their deathbeds. Even
those who were not baptized believed, and helped the baptized to die
blessedly. Many signs of true conversion were shown by these Indians;
the Virgin showed special grace to some of the converts, in particular
assisting one poor woman of small intelligence to learn the prayers,
with which she had great difficulty; and miracles were wrought in
order that those predestined by God might not die unbaptized. By the
twelfth of January of the following year more than five hundred of
this tribe had been baptized; and though it would seem that such a
number would have justified the permanent residence of a minister
among them, father Fray Luis was obliged to leave the Mandayas, to
go to aid in hearing the confessions of those in the lower villages,
where there were only six confessors for more than eight thousand
penitents. He departed from them with grief, and left behind for
their instruction some Indians qualified for the purpose, among them
the master-of-camp Don Francisco Tuliao (who was an Indian). He had
accompanied the religious in their good work, being also directed
by the civil authorities to lead in a war for the reduction of
some Indians near the Mandayas, in villages called Ysson.] They had
risen; and, being favored by their location in the midst of rugged
mountains, had refused the obedience and the tributes which they
had been accustomed to pay to their encomenderos. This difficulty
was happily settled by Don Francisco, as a result of his prudence and
authority. The truth is that the thing was already practically settled,
father Fray Geronimo de Zamora having arranged it when he came up for
the first time to the Mandayas. At this time he summoned the chiefs of
the villages of Ysson along with the rest; and the arguments of this
father had such an influence upon them that they immediately yielded
to them and put themselves in his hands. As a token of their fidelity
they cut off their hair, which is much cherished by these heathen;
and this was as much as to say that they renounced their ancient
customs and the laws of their ancestors, and that they desired to
embrace the law of God, whose servants did not wear their hair long,
as did all the heathen. Would that there had been ministers and
preachers to give them; for they would have been able to enter this
region immediately, and to go among the heathen villages, baptizing
the Indians as if they had never served the devil. It is a pity that
many of them should be still completely given up to their errors,
for lack of someone to declare the truth to them. As soon as father
Fray Geronimo and his companion were able to leave the confessions
and the communion of the elder Christians, they returned to the aid of
these new ones who so greatly required their presence. It did not seem
that their absence had caused any great evils, for they found them well
taught and prepared for baptism. Accordingly, a few days afterward,
on one of the feasts of the Virgin, namely, the Purification, they
were able to baptize eighty-three persons who had come to years
of discretion, belonging to the leading families in that country;
and in two days more, forty others, elderly men. They took as great
pains as they could to keep these solemn baptisms for festivals of
our Lady, in recognition of her patronage, and with the purpose that
after their spiritual birth these tribes might remain very devoted to
her and continue under her protection. Music to make these baptisms
joyful there was not in these villages, because they were so new;
but there was no lack of music in heaven, for if the conversion of
one sinner causes rejoicing there, the conversion of so many heathen
could not fail to cause great joy indeed.
In the following April, father Fray Geronimo de Zamora reported
that the conversion of the Mandayas was advancing; and that their
Christian character was, by the grace of our Lady of the Pillar,
becoming better and better established. These Mandayas Indians were
little esteemed in the province of Nueva Segovia, being regarded as
fickle and inconstant, and of small capacity--so that some venerable
and prudent ministers thought it was not wise to extend Christianity
so rapidly among them. But the proofs which they gave of being aided
by heaven relieved their ministers of these fears, and caused them to
baptize them without delay. They learn the faith rapidly, readily give
up their old superstitions, and are much devoted to prayer. Before
baptism they paid their debts, gave liberty to their slaves who were
unjustly held, and did many other things that are very hard. They
have given up killing and wronging their neighbors, and are now
so friendly and peaceful that they visit and entertain each other
without suspicion--even in the case of persons, who a short time ago,
were hunting each other with the purpose of committing murder. Under
all these circumstances, was there any reason for prohibiting their
baptism?
CHAPTER XLIX
The beginning of the account of the glorious martyrdom of four
illustrious martyrs--fathers Fray Jordan de Sant Estevan, Fray Thomas
de San Jacintho, and two religious of our tertiary order in Japon.
[Father Fray Thomas de Sant Jacintho was a native of Firando in
Japon, and was the son of Christian parents. He learned Latin and
began ecclesiastical studies, and even commenced to preach, under
the direction of the fathers of the Society. The breaking-out of the
persecution obliged him to go to Manila to carry out his studies;
so that he pursued the study of theology under the religious of
St. Dominic in that city, where he assumed the habit. He showed great
keenness of mind, and advanced far in learning. He was a companion of
father Fray Jacobo de Sancta Maria, whose glorious martyrdom has been
described. The native pride and hauntiness of the Japanese are very
much opposed to the religious state, but father Fray Thomas in his
novitiate and throughout his life exhibited the greatest humility. He
spoke Spanish like a native, and took delight in fulfilling the duties
and performing the offices of a friar. He made his profession August
16, 1635, being thirty-five years of age, and continued to carry on
the study of theology afterward. Under these circumstances he was
selected by the father provincial, Fray Bartholome Martinez, as one
of those to go to the island of Hermosa. On the way, the expedition
was detained for some months in the province of Nueva Segovia, the
climate of which is well known to be most adverse for the Japanese,
who generally fall sick and die there. This had happened only a
short time before to two priests, companions of his and devout
religious. Father Fray Thomas, however, said nothing of his fears,
and the Lord preserved him for the acceptable sacrifice which he was
to make in Japon. There was great difficulty in sending religious
to Japon; out father Fray Thomas went, disguised in Japanese dress,
to the island of the Lequios, which is subject to the Japanese. Here
by the death of his companion he was left alone, with ornaments and
money, and with the direction to go to Japon at the first opportunity
and to present himself to his superior, at that time the holy martyr
Fray Domingo de Erquicia. In the letter which father Fray Thomas
wrote back, he briefly mentions being in the island of the Lequios,
making no allusion to the great sufferings which he must have passed
through on this journey. He reached Japon in the year 1630, remaining
there to the end of the year 1634, four years in all. He was a great
help and comfort to the afflicted Christians. The authorities sought
after him with great diligence, offering large rewards for his capture,
and displaying the greatest severity against those who harbored the
ministers of the faith.]
CHAPTER L
The coming of the venerable father Fray Jordan de San Estevan to this
province, and his entry into Japon.
[Father Fray Jordan de San Estevan was a Sicilian, who had assumed
the habit of our order in his native country. Hearing of the crowns
of martyrdom which had been attained in Japon, he went to España,
hoping that he might make his way thence to this province and have
the opportunity of offering his life for Christ. He carried on his
studies in the convent of our order in the city of Truxillo, and
was a religious of the utmost devotion, abstinence, and spiritual
elevation. Submitting his purposes to persons of learning and virtue,
he received their approval, and set out for these islands. He formed
a most intimate friendship with father Fray Jacintho de Esquivel,
or del Rosario, who afterward was a holy martyr. To pass his time
when in Mexico--for he was a great enemy of idleness--he wrote an
elegant Latin summary of the lives of the saints of our order. When
he reached these islands he postponed to his obedience his eagerness
to go to Japon; and was assigned to minister to the Chinese, whose
language and letters he learned, being acquainted with many thousand
characters. The Lord had given him a great gift of languages; for in
addition to his native language he knew Latin, Greek, Spanish, Chinese,
that of the Indians of Nueva Segovia, and finally the Japanese. He
generally lived in the hospitals of the Chinese, obeying the whims
of the sick Chinese with the greatest charity and kindness. At last
he received permission to go to Japon, passing for a Chinese. In
1632 he set sail, reaching Japon in the following year. He met with
many dangers and wandered about through the mountains. As a result
of exposure he was afflicted by a severe illness, but was cured by
the grace of God.]
CHAPTER LI
The capture and martyrdom of the fathers Fray Jordan de San Estevan,
and Fray Thomas de San Jacintho.
[The persecutors at this time were seeking with extraordinary
diligence for an Augustinian father named Miguel, a Japanese by
nation. The inquisition brought the officers of the law to the house
where fathers Fray Jordan and Fray Thomas were lodging; and though,
being informed of its approach, they fled, they were caught on the
day of our father St. Dominic, August 4, 1634. When examined in court
they answered briefly and boldly, and with Christian liberty showed
no reverence to their unjust judges, denying the accusation of being
spies of España. After a severe imprisonment and being ignominiously
treated by the judges, before whom they were called several times,
they suffered from the dreadful torture of water, which was poured
down their throats until they swelled out like bags. They were then
laid on the ground and a plank placed upon them, with two men on it,
who trod on the plank and thus forced the water out of their mouths,
ears, nostrils, eyes and other parts, with such torture as may be
imagined. Afterward they again filled them with water, and forced it
out again. They were subject to other tortures of the most horrible
nature. November 11, 1634, sixty-nine persons, men and women,
were taken out of prison to suffer for Christ, some by burning,
some by beheading, and our glorious martyrs by being suspended head
downward. As they passed through the streets, the Christians showed
them secret signs of respect. The martyrs who declared their faith
were brought to a place of execution. Father Fray Jordan lingered for
seven days, and father Fray Thomas somewhat less. During his lifetime
father Fray Jordan had received marked signs of the divine favor,
having power to reveal their secrets to guilty hearts, and receiving
other special revelations.]
CHAPTER LII
The glorious martyrdoms of the illustrious Marina and Magdalena,
religious of the tertiary order
[The Christian Japanese who had been well prepared in the faith yielded
many confessors; and the religious decided to admit into religious
orders some of these of the most advanced virtue. Among these was a
certain Sister Marina, admitted by father Fray Luis Exarch--a most
holy woman. She was arrested and charged with being a Christian, and
with protecting the religious. They revived in her case a torture which
had long been given up as barbarous, exposing her naked to the public
view and then subjecting her to other tortures by dragging her about
from town to town, and causing her to suffer from thirst. Her valor
and courage caused even the heathen to respect her. She was condemned
to be burned by a slow fire, and her ashes were cast into the sea.
Sister Magdalena was the child of two martyrs; she departed to the
desert, and gave herself up to devotion. She received the habit
from father Fray Jordan, and, though the officers were not seeking
for her, she came before them and confessed Christianity, forcing
them to imprison her. After subjecting her to frightful tortures,
the tyrant judge finally grew weary and sentenced her to death,
directing her to be hanged by her feet. She lived in this torture,
without food or drink, for thirteen days and a half.]
CHAPTER LIII
The condition of the Christian Church lately established by our
religious in Great China
[Though the religious of our order who had recently entered Great
China had not enjoyed entire freedom from disturbance, they had met
with no such opposition as they had expected. They baptized many
who became devout Christians. The Christians converted in China are
better Christians than those converted in these islands, being of
higher rank and greater intelligence. They live a life of devotion,
and do much penance. They often ask acute questions, which cause the
minister difficulty in answering; and they are very constant in times
of persecution. Up to this year 1634 our province has had in China
only two priests; while the Order of St. Francis has sent two others,
who have at our request labored in company with the members of our
order. Our religious have gone to cities which do not belong to any
other order, in order to avoid collisions. The Chinese women are kept
in such seclusion that their conversion has been very difficult,
though their husbands sometimes bring them; and the Lord has in
some remarkable cases shown special favor to the preaching of his
gospel by the members of our order. The Lord also works miracles
by the hands of His preachers, showing that He is the true God,
and that the idols are vanity. In especial, He has cast out devils
by His ministers. At times the Chinese heathen have risen against
the Christians, and have spread false tales about them. Three such
uprisings are described, the church being torn down in one of them,
some Christians being maltreated, and a few being slain. The judge
punished the rioters, but directed the religious to leave the city. The
women are devoted Christians. Father Fray Juan Baptista de Morales [65]
and father Fray Francisco Diaz [66] were both exposed to the danger
of death at the hands of the Chinese rioters, and a number of weak
Christians fell away; but even under these circumstances the presence
of the missionaries achieved much. The Chinese are great idolaters,
especially the women, for they believe that after death they shall
come to life again in new form, even men taking the form of brute
animals, and good women becoming men--which is something which they
regard highly, because of the subjection and inferiority of women in
China. The Chinese in the region where the fathers were at work were
given to horrible vices and to excessive and superfluous courtesy. The
converted Chinese departed from their vices, and did much penance.]
CHAPTER LIV
The discovery by the religious of many superstitions concealed by
some new Christians
[The greatest of the griefs of the Christian ministers in China
was the discovery of a number of superstitions concealed by their
converts. Many of these had to do with matters which were requisite for
them to retain their honor and their positions in the state. They were
obliged to offer the adoration yielded by everyone in this kingdom
to their deceased ancestors and to worship a certain great teacher
of theirs, Congchu [67] by name, who has left for them admirable
laws full of excellent moral teachings and political virtues, and
defective only from the lack of the divine illumination. The superiors
of the religious orders went secretly to behold the mode in which
the ancestors were worshiped, of which a full description is given in
the text. The magistrates are required to render special worship to
an idol named Chinhuan, the Christian magistrates, in order to hold
their office, being obliged to perform sacrifices to this idol. Among
the flowers they conceal a small cross, thus thinking that they may
be able to satisfy their consciences and to keep their offices. All
the Chinese scholars are obliged to sacrifice to Conchu. This worship
is required of the mandarins and all public officers. Our religious
informed the Christian Chinese that the mere exterior performance
of these rites was a mortal sin, incapacitating them to receive the
sacrament. It is affirmed by the Chinese that the fathers of the
Society of Jesus permitted them to render this sacrifice, but this
is not the case. The religious, by opposing these superstitions, met
with many difficulties. At this time books were printed in Chinese
against our faith, and the superiors of the two orders went to visit
the author of the books, who, angry at the correction of the fathers,
declared that they had attempted to kill him. Worse books were issued,
one of them by a magistrate. The fathers openly opposed what was said,
and were in danger of death, but were delivered by the hand of God.]
CHAPTER LV
The life of father Fray Luis Muro, and his martyrdom at the hands of
heathen Indians in the island of Hermosa.
[To the judgment of flesh and blood it would not seem that the success
of our order in the island of Hermosa was worthy of our efforts. We
have sent there some of our best religious; and they have converted
very few of the Indians, in proportion to the number of noble religious
who have been lost there. Yet to him who will judge aright, and who
understands the worth of the soul, it will not seem much to have spent
the blood of martyrs and the sufferings of holy religious for the sake
of those souls which have passed from this island to heaven. Among the
martyrs on the island a high place is taken by father Fray Luis Muro,
who died gloriously at this time by the hands of these Indians. He
assumed the habit of the order in the famous convent of San Pablo at
Valladolid, where he professed. Feeling the great need of preachers
of the gospel in this province, he left all that he had to come to
these islands (in 1626). He was desirous to go to Japan, but the Lord,
not granting him that, permitted him to attain martyrdom in another
way. He was a most devoted and successful minister in Bataan, whence he
was sent to the island of Hermosa. Here he strove to bring back to the
church those who had martyred father Fray Francisco de Sancto Domingo,
and he obtained their pardon and safe-conduct. At this time there was
a great lack of provisions in the chief town of the island, because
of the failure of the ship sent with provisions from Manila. Troops
were sent out with money and cloths (which the Indians prefer) to
buy provisions justly, and without inflicting wrong. Father Fray Luis
accompanied the troops, to restrain them from harming the Indians, and
especially from driving back those whom he was striving to regain for
the church. God was pleased that six Chinese vessels laden with rice
should arrive at the time, thus relieving their needs. A small guard,
with whom father Fray Luis remained, was put in charge of the rice,
the rest of the company returning with as much as could be taken at
one time to the chief camp. Father Fray Luis went out to make an
attempt to reconcile some other Indians who had risen against the
Spaniards. The Indians, seeing the Spaniards very few in number,
conspired to attack them. A detachment of troops were attacked in
an ambush, and one of the first who was shot by an arrow was father
Fray Luis. The Indians cut off his head, his feet, and his hands,
and washed them with his own blood. Miracles were wrought upon the
holy body, and the provincial chapter gave special attention to his
happy death and his excellent life.]
This was the last life written in this history by the venerable lord
bishop Don Fray Diego Aduarte. He was taken away by death at the
conclusion of it, that it might not be printed without the life of its
author, and that his memory might be eternal--not only as a result of
the labor which he spent upon it, but also of the many labors which
he undertook for the Lord and the good of souls, so greatly to the
honor of this province. Some of these have been recounted in the
course of this his book; but many have remained in silence because
they took place in España where he dwelt many years, filling with
great distinction the post of procurator general of this province. Of
what we have seen and known here, something will now be said, a great
tribulation which came upon this province at this time, and which was
in no small degree contributory to his death, being first dealt with.
CHAPTER LVI
A new congregation of religious which was proposed in these islands
at this time
In the ships which reached these islands in this year 1635 there came
twenty religious, sent by his Majesty at the request of the procurator
then at the court, father Fray Matheo de la Villa. [68] This father had
for many years filled that office with great excellence, because of the
great love which he always had for the province--in which he had been
many years a devoted minister of the gospel, prior of the principal
convent in this city, and definitor in its provincial chapters. This
was the only office which the province could give him, though it was
far below his deserts. His merits attracted so much attention in the
court that, without his having any idea of it, as the event showed,
his Majesty nominated him as bishop of Nueva Segovia. The humble
father never accepted the appointment, although strongly urged to do
so; and thus his virtue was better known, and received the higher
glory. When these religious were about to come to this province it
seemed, to one who had been in it and who was then resident at court,
[69] that this was a good opportunity to put into execution a certain
purpose which he had; and he so disposed matters that father Fray
Matheo de Villa accepted this religious as vicar of the shipload of
twenty ministers sent by his Majesty to the province. This religious
seemed to father Fray Matheo to be a person who would fill the office
excellently, as he had been in these regions. He did not imagine that
in the fair words which he heard was concealed the deceit which he
afterwards learned. The fact was that this religious, perhaps with
a good intention, had for many years striven to divide this little
province, by dismembering from it Japon, China, and the other heathen
kingdoms in which it had new conversions, not considering that these
could not be kept in existence apart from the conversion which the
province maintains here. He had discussed this matter with our late
general, the most reverend father Fray Seraphino Sicco, of Pavia--who
having governed the whole order with much prudence for many years,
thoroughly knew and understood what would be for its advantage; and
who therefore immediately perceived how destructive to the province
and how harmful to the order this division would be, and imposed
perpetual silence upon him with regard to the matter. For other reasons
added to this, he took from him his authority as procurator of this
province and commanded him to have no more to do with matters of the
Indias. Because of this mandate, and for other reasons concurrent
with it, the royal Council of the Indias commanded him not to go to
them. On these accounts he gave over his purpose for the time being,
until the election of a new general of our order, to whom he went. As
he was new in the government and very zealous for the conversion of
the heathen, the religious was able, by making great offers in that
regard, to persuade the father-general to make the aforesaid division;
and to take from the province the said conversions, and to give them
to a new congregation of fathers established for the purpose. The
said father was appointed vicar-general of this congregation, and
for its beginning and support it received all the houses belonging to
this province for which the new vicar proffered his request. These,
excluding the convent of the city of Manila, were the best in the
province. All this was done because of the contention that this
province, being much occupied with the conversions of Indians which
it has undertaken in these Philippinas Islands, could not attend
to the conversions of the said heathen regions. On a bosom so pious
and so desirous for the good of souls as that of the most reverend
general of the order, this made so great an impression that without
knowing anything of the province, not even the procurator that it
had in España, he granted everything that was asked. The suitor knew
very well that this division could not be made without the consent
of our lord the king as patron (in which relation he stands to all
the religious orders in the Indias); so he tried all expedients at
court to obtain this assent, but was not successful in any of his
efforts. The prudent counselors of his Majesty, with whom in particular
he discussed the matter, declared that the royal Council would by no
means consent to so great an innovation without first being informed by
the prominent personages of this region with regard to the advantage
or disadvantage of the plan proposed. This caused him to despair of
attaining any of his desires by this road; for he had no hope that
any person acquainted with the facts would declare in favor of his
purposes, because of their thorough impracticability. He therefore
determined to obtain by artifice what he could not obtain by reason
or justice. An opportunity being afterwards offered for religious to
come to this province, he strove to go as their superior, carefully
hiding his purpose from the procurator of this province. Then, just as
they were about to embark from Sevilla, he sent to the court notice of
a mandate and act of excommunication from our most reverend general,
commanding that this new congregation should not be interfered with on
any pretext or cause. This was done at a time when it was impossible to
put any obstacles in his way, because he would already have embarked
beforehand. After leaving Sevilla, and even before going there,
he already had on his side some of the religious, to whom he had
declared his purpose. While at sea he revealed his plan to all, thus
endeavoring to draw them into agreement with him. He placed before them
the opportunity of being taken directly to Japon and to Great China,
a most efficacious bait for the fervor with which the new religious
set out from España to the conversions of those regions. At the same
time he strove to disgust them with the ministries to the Indians,
declaring that the province had now no other ministries, and that he
was the only one who could now send them to those kingdoms and to the
conversion of those heathen regions. In this way he alienated them
from the province, to which it was his duty to take them; for it was
for that province that our lord the king had given them and paid their
expenses, and to which our most reverend general had granted them. He
reached the province, and presented only the letters-patent dividing
the province and establishing the congregation, which were couched
in very strong terms. The provincial, who had already been advised
of the whole matter and of what he ought to reply, listened to them
and made the following response. He was ready to obey the letters and
the mandate of the most reverend general, as his higher officer and
lawful superior, when and in the manner in which his Reverence desired
that they should be obeyed and put into execution. This was by asking
and first obtaining the consent of our lord the king, as patron of
all the orders in all the Indias. Without this consent the division
proposed could not be made, and new provinces and congregations could
not be established; and our most reverend general would not desire to
contravene the right and patronage of the king, because that would be
contrary to justice. The father replied that this matter was now being
attended to, and desired the provincial to show immediate obedience to
these letters by transferring to him the contents of the province which
by the letters were assigned to the congregation. This obedience could
not be shown, and therefore his claim was without effect. As nothing
more could be done, the business remained in this condition for about
nine months, during which this father, taking advantage of a certain
opportunity, very inconsistently with his function of propagating the
faith, asked and obtained a force of soldiers, with which he violently
seized by force the houses of this province which he claimed, contrary
to the royal patronage and the will of the most reverend father. When
the general gave those letters with such authority as he had a right to
claim, he desired first that the consent due by justice should first
be asked of the patron, whom he in no wise intended to wrong. In
addition, there were many other reasons making everything done in
virtue of these letters unjust. They were notoriously surreptitious,
and obtained by false information. It was manifest that the province,
although it attended to the ministry to the Indians of this country,
was not forgetful of the ministry to Japon and China. On the contrary,
it gave so much attention to them that it was constantly suffering
from suits and vexations because the governor, the Audiencia, and the
city, and sometimes even the ecclesiastics, declared that the province
went to excess in that direction. It not only sent preachers of its
own order to those realms, but encouraged and stirred up the other
orders to do the same thing, without shrinking from the excessive
expenses necessary for the purpose. To this end it never imagined
itself poor, though it was so poor that it had not and has not any
income more than what the Lord sends it in alms. Hence the pretext
for establishing the new congregation was manifestly false; and the
letters were so clearly surreptitious that, in order to prove that
they were so, no other evidence was necessary than the evidence of the
governor himself, of the royal Audiencia, and of the councils which
were often held against the province on account of this. Under these
circumstances, our most reverend general did not desire to have his
letters put into execution until he had received information, as is
expressly laid down (even with reference to the commands of the supreme
pontiff) in the law, chap. Siquando, de rescriptis, and chap. Super
litteris, eodem. Much more is this true if most grave inconveniences
would result (as they would) to the conversions of those realms,
which inconveniences our most reverend father by no means desired
to bring about. It was his will that the execution of his letters
should be suspended, as they were suspended, until information was
sent to him with regard to the facts; and it was his will that his
determination as superior should be awaited with humility. Further,
in conformity with our constitution (distinction 2, chap. 1), no
religious house may pass from one province to another unless the
transference be approved in three chapters-general; and hence this
great number of houses and of conversions was not to be immediately
transferred at the first direction to that effect, without further
approbation--especially since the evils which would have followed
from this change were so many, so grievous, and so certain, as they
were instantly proved to be by experience. It is true that the most
reverend general said in his letters that he proceeded in this matter
with the authority of the supreme pontiff, or of the Congregation de
Propaganda Fide; and this would be enough for his letters to receive
entire authority if they were against particular persons, and did not
include spiritual harms and evils to the aforesaid conversions. But as
they were the destruction of this province, and would have produced
the most grievous mischief in the conversions, the most reverend
general did not desire that his letters should be executed until he
had been advised. There was no obligation to do this, the commission
not coming as is expressly said that it should come in the chapter
Cum in iure, de officio et potentia iudicis delegati. This is the
common judgment of doctors, from which may be seen how unreasonable
it was to take violent possession of the aforesaid houses. This and
other disturbances which followed caused great grief throughout this
colony, for it was regretted that by information designed to effect
an evil purpose, and in an improper manner, a province should have
been so disquieted which had continued from its foundation in the
greatest harmony, without any disturbances. The archbishop of Manila
and three bishops in this country, the religious orders, and the city,
all wrote to the most reverend general, testifying as eyewitnesses
that the information given to him was not in conformity with that
which was actually known to occur in point of fact. On the contrary,
it was declared that the province had always shown great care and
watchfulness in sending preachers to Japon, Great China, Camboja, the
island of Hermosa, and other heathen realms near these islands; while
the congregation which it was intended to establish not only could
not surpass it in this matter, but could not even achieve as much,
as is shown by the many martyrdoms which the province has experienced
in these conversions. This will always be plain, for by the grace of
God they have not ceased nor are they ceasing, as we shall see even in
these very years. The one who suffered most from the disquiet caused
by the new congregation was the bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray Diego
Aduarte; for he was one who had most complete knowledge of the province
of which he had written the history, and he understood him who now
disquieted it, for he had had acquaintance and dealings with him for
many years, and that intimately. He accordingly came directly from his
bishopric, the capital of which is distant from this city of Manila
a hundred and fifty leguas, and strove with all his might that the
evil done should be undone. Though at the time he could not succeed,
it is to be believed that he brought it about afterward, when he went
to be with the Lord. For, returning in deep sadness to his bishopric,
he came to his death before many days; and after this there were not
many months before the matter was cleared up, and affairs were set
upon their ancient basis, by the return to the province of the houses
which had been taken from it. This was notably to its honor and caused
the most universal rejoicing through the country that had been seen in
many years. The people in the villages where missions were established
which had been taken from the province and given to the congregation,
were particularly delighted, and held public festivals for many days,
when, after having experienced the method in which the congregation
carried on its work, they saw the convents and the ministries returned
to the religious of the province--whose manner of conducting their
affairs was so much better, that it had caused great grief to
the Chinese and the Indians to be deprived of such teachers and
ministers. Therefore, when the religious returned, those people
displayed their delight by costly public rejoicings, carried on for
many days.
When the evil befell the province--which was on the fourth of May, the
first Sunday in the month, and the day of our great saint Catharine
of Siena in the year 1636--all the religious of the province went to
beg the favor of their patroness, the Virgin of the Rosary; and in
all the houses of the order her holy litany was recited every night,
in unison, with this purpose. This means was so efficacious that,
contrary to every human hope, matters were settled and arranged as if
by the hands of this great lady; and without any effort on the part
of the province so many things were cleared up, and put together in
its favor that finally, by the aid of one who was not expected to
give aid, the truth was victorious; and the houses returned to their
ancient and legitimate possessors, and the province to its longed-for
quiet, September 6, 1637, after having remained in the power of the
congregation one year and four months. The religious being grateful
for this restitution to the Virgin, from whose generous hands they
had received so great a gift, rendered public thanks to her in all
the convents. In the convent of Manila a feast of an octave was most
solemnly celebrated, this lady being drawn in procession with great
majesty, like a triumphant conqueror. As such she remained all those
days in the midst of the main chapel, with the richest adornments and
the finest of decoration. In this we were aided by those outside of
the order to give to this lady our highest thanks, recognizing her
supreme grace, which could have been granted by none but her powerful
hand. The duty of writing with all care to the most reverend general
was not neglected now, as it had not been neglected before; and a
full account and report were sent to him showing how experience
had manifested that the information in virtue of which the new
congregation had been obtained was impossible. After the congregation
had been placed in possession, and was under the obligation of going
to the aid of Japon and China and other kingdoms, it did not do so;
and there was no hope that it would do so, nor even that it would
so much as have religious to maintain the houses which it had taken
from the province. It was not to be expected that his Majesty would
send them from España, and there was no other way or manner in which
they could come. The vain expectation of giving many habits here was
immediately disappointed, for even if they desired to give these,
there was no one to whom they could be given, nor was there anyone
suitable for the purpose. This would have been much more true if,
as had been said to the most reverend general, the habit was to be
given to Indians. This was something unworthy of thought; but it was
actually stated in the very patent, because information to that effect
had been given to the most reverend general, though it is contrary to
the judgment of all those of ability who have been in the Indias, and
contrary to the demonstration of experience ever since there have been
religious orders in these regions. As soon as it saw itself possessed
of the houses, it saw also the great difficulty or impossibility of
this project; and even to maintain them it found itself obliged to
disquiet the religious of the province by persuading them to enter the
congregation. Some were even received, contrary to the express mandate
of our most reverend general laid down in this patent itself. It is
plain from this that these proceedings must have been the cause of
great annoyance and of many difficulties, for there was nothing but
lawsuits with the province, and disturbances, which left no time to
pay attention to the greater fruit of the conversions of the heathen
which had been promised. On the contrary, it interfered with them,
as the Lord, who was offended with these acts revealed, however
secret the interference was kept. There must be added to all this
that the congregation, from its very beginning, began to relax and
to give up the supports which the prudent and holy founders of the
province set up in holy manner for the maintenance of the evangelical
ministry which it exercised. These are prayers, the disciplines, the
rigorous abstinence, and the like, commanded by the constitution and
ordained in the same law. The congregation did not accept them; and on
this account, and because of the results which followed, it could not
continue, and was brought to an end, the Lord not permitting that to
go further which set out with so bad a beginning. Even before seeing
these evil results by experience, nearly all the religious brought
by this father from España foresaw them; and, leaving him, they were
nearly all incorporated with the province. Generally speaking, the
more religious and intelligent of them did not desire to go to the
congregation; for they judged with much prudence that a thing which
was so ill founded could not have a good end, as it did not. Some of
these have obtained the reward of this wise decision, for they have
been sent to the province of Japon, and became most glorious martyrs,
as we shall soon tell. One of those who were appointed for this most
holy and happy mission lost and abandoned it by abandoning the province
and joining the congregation. As a penalty for this act, he lost the
crown of martyrdom, which his companions gained by remaining in the
province. Thus the Lord manifested the truth of what we said when
we declared that the province was more careful and even more able to
attend to these missions than was the congregation which was formed
for them. At the very time when the province sent out this mission,
the congregation regarded it as impossible, and even strove to impede
it, as has been said.
CHAPTER LVII
The life and death of the venerable bishop Don Fray Diego Aduarte,
a religious of this province
For those who knew the great virtues of the most religious father and
most perfect bishop Don Fray Diego Aduarte, this history must certainly
fall under the condemnation of being incomplete, not only because
it passes over in silence the great good which he wrought in España
before coming to this country, but also because he showed singular
dexterity, in hiding, because of his humility, the admirable works
in which he exercised himself, though when in the province he much
surpassed others. In this he was much aided by his nature, which was
not a little taciturn; and although he corrected this fault by virtue,
and those who dealt with him intimately found him always most kind, and
extremely glad to do good to all, yet in himself at first sight and in
one's first conversation with him he did not seem so, and did not even
give signs of the great devotion which he concealed within himself. Yet
after no long time he revealed himself to one who had to do with him;
and his devotion was the more admirable and the more esteemed the more
it exceeded his nature and the less it was exhibited. At the same time,
his great care to hide his own good works and his taciturn nature have
concealed from us many deeds and writings of great edification and good
example. He was a native of Zaragoça, and was of noble birth. At the
age of sixteen he came to Castilla; and, as he was passing casually
through Alcala de Henares, he fell into conversation with a religious
of the order, who told him how, though he was a student in the college
which the order has there, he was giving up this position, with all
the hopes which it offered him, and was leaving all his kinsmen and
friends in España to go to the Philippinas. The religious said that a
new province was about to be established there, under the strictest
rules, and on a basis of so extensive charity as to strive with all
diligence and care for the conversion of the many heathen regions
there. [This conversation, and certain other reasons, decided the
young Diego to ask for the habit in that convent which the order has
in Alcala; and they very willingly gave him the habit immediately,
April 9, the day of St. Peter Martyr in the year 1586. He made his
profession, and, being well instructed in the matters of religion
and virtue, after the custom of the order went to study, reaching
high attainments in scholarship. He was ordained priest in the year
1594, and returned to Alcala on some business, without thinking of
journeying to these regions. In spite of the incident described, he
had never had any inclination to it, or to any other of the Indias;
but was possessed by a particular love for the quiet and calm caused
by retirement in the cell.] At that time there arrived there one of
the religious who had founded this province in the beginning, Fray
Alonso Delgado; he had returned to España, to assemble companions to
carry on the many conversions of the heathen which had been happily
begun. A few days before, the patents of the general of our order
had been read in this convent, giving him authority to take with
him those who might enlist in so holy a work. Father Fray Francisco
Blancas, who was afterward called here "de Sant Joseph," had offered
himself. The prior and the friars of the convent had tried to hinder
him because of the need of him which they should feel; for it seemed
to them that there was scarcely anyone in the province who in life,
spirit, and teaching could fill his place. Father Fray Alonso Delgado
had complained of their interference, and was now returning with new
directions that no one should disturb those who desired to go on this
holy expedition. This brought to an end the force brought to bear
by the prior and the convent, but not their prayers and persuasions
that the said father would remain. Father Fray Francisco Blancas
and father Fray Diego Aduarte were very fond of each other, being
natives of the same kingdom of Aragon, sons of this convent of Alcala,
and being almost of one age and of one mind. [Accordingly the prior
asked father Fray Diego to persuade father Fray Francisco to remain;
but both of them were induced to go to Filipinas by the arguments of
father Fray Alonso. With great content the two began their journey
from Toledo on the first of June, and reached Sevilla in a fortnight
walking poorly and humbly, and setting a noble example. They caused
great joy in all the companions who, expecting father Fray Francisco
alone, saw him arrive with so good an associate. When they set sail
they met with great hardships. The ship was very inconvenient, being
small and having no quarter-deck. They met with contrary winds and
heavy seas the first fortnight of the voyage, which is the hardest
for inexperienced sailors. They met with the heaviest weather in
the gulf well named the Gulf de las Yeguas (i.e., "of the Mares")
because of the kicks which it generally gives to those who sail through
it. On the land journey, before they reached the City of Mexico four
of the religious fell sick, among them father Fray Diego, who alone
escaped. The rest of the chapter consists of a somewhat abbreviated
repetition of the accounts of journeys already given in the body of
the work. A few details are added. For instance, we are told that,
in the prayers of the fathers, father Fray Diego was usually the one
to wake the others up by beginning the singing of the Te Deum. Those
next him observed that he spent nearly all of the night on his knees
in prayer. The only additional information as to his life in Manila
before the first of his many voyages is, that he was assigned to
the ministry to the Chinese. He learned the language, though he
found it very difficult, hearing confessions and preaching in it
within a few months. The narrative of the first journey to Camboxa
is given as in chapters xlvi-xlviii of book i, with the addition of
some new information. When the Spaniards left Camboxa they passed
by the contiguous kingdom of Champa, because of the savagery of the
inhabitants, and went on to Cochinchina. The cruelties of the ruler of
this kingdom are described at some length; and we are informed that on
the return voyage the vessel in which father Fray Diego was sailing
was obliged to take refuge in one of his ports. An account is given
of a miracle wrought by the habit of father Fray Diego, which had been
left behind with four soldiers in a boat at the time of the attack on
the king of Camboja. These soldiers were shot at with volleys of arrows
from the shore, but were protected by the holy habit as by a wall. The
great respect felt by the religious of Malaca for father Fray Diego
when they become acquainted with his virtue and learning is recounted.]
CHAPTER LVIII
Other voyages and sufferings of father Fray Diego Aduarte under the
direction of his superiors and for the preaching of the gospel.
[This chapter contains an account of the unsuccessful expedition
to Camboxa undertaken by Don Luis Perez Das Mariñas, as narrated
in book i, chapters xlix and l, of this history. In that narrative,
given by father Fray Diego, he breaks off in the account of his own
experience at the point where he was separated from the rest of the
company, having gone to Macan to be cured of his illness while the
others returned to Manila.]
He was not able to remain very long in Macan because many Chinese
mandarins frequently came to that city, and to the convent where
father Fray Diego was, since the city is in China itself; and it did
not seem to him that he was safe from the inspector. As there was no
opportunity for him to make a voyage in any other direction, he set out
for Malaca, a city of India about as far from Manila as Macan is. As
we shall see, he went away partly that that ship and all in it might
not perish. They set sail in the middle of January; and as they were
crossing from the gulf of Haynao to the coast of Cochinchina, Champa,
and Camboja, there was a furious storm at the same place where he
had met a storm two years before, and on the same night, between the
eighth and ninth of February. [This stripped the ship of its rigging,
and threw them into great distress; however, as it was strong and
steered well, it soon righted itself and reached Malaca. Here father
Fray Diego remained, and the vessel sailed again for Goa, but came back
again after struggling for forty days with heavy seas and unfavorable
winds. Having lost this opportunity it was obliged to winter there,
and departed with the next monsoon, in the middle of the following
December. In it there went three Portuguese religious of our order,
taking with them father Fray Diego, who, because of his poverty, was
not provided with ship-stores. After they had passed the famous island
of Zeilan (i.e., Ceylon), and were in latitude six, they encountered
so heavy a sea that they were driven back to the equator, under the
lee of the Maldive Islands, where a ship never lands. Caught in that
archipelago of reefs and atolls, the Portuguese are long delayed
before they can make their way out. At last they reach the harbor
of Kocchi in India, "after having spent five months in sailing four
hundred leguas;" and, if they had arrived a few hours later, could
not have entered the port over the bar, although they emptied the
ship. Father Fray Diego waited in India for the season when he could
voyage to España.] He was not idle, but was occupied with many devout
exercises, which he had continued even when he was at sea. Yet this
was not what he most desired, and not what was most suitable to his
wishes, and to his calling as a religious. Hence when he found himself
in convents of devoted religious, his spirit was greatly rejoiced;
and he strove there to lay up some provision of devotion for the
long voyage, in the service of God and of these new conversions,
which he proposed to undertake to España for preachers. He visited
first the Christians converted by the apostle St. Thomas, whose
Christianity has endured from his time to the present in India, and
is now purged from its errors, which it incurred only for lack of
Catholic preachers. There are in that country matters to arouse great
devotion, and anyone who was so devout as father Fray Diego could not
go that way without visiting them, even at the cost of many days of
journey and hardship. This was not in vain, but brought with it much
spiritual reward. He embarked January 15, 1603, in the "San Roque,"
a very large ship with four decks and two quarter-decks. They had
favorable weather to the latitude of Cape de Buena Esperança [i.e.,
of Good Hope]; and thus a long vacation from hardships was provided
for father Fray Diego, who had been inured to suffering them in the
service of Him who was his comfort in them. [But here they encountered
first calms, and then fearful tempests, which almost wrecked the ship;
and, to save their lives, they were compelled to lighten the ship,
casting into the sea pepper and rich stuffs valued at fifty thousand
ducados. Finally, they passed the Cape of Good Hope on May 12. The
rest of the voyage was peaceful, save that they encountered a storm off
the coast of Portugal; but they escaped from this and landed at Vigo,
which is in Galicia, September 17, after having passed eight months
in navigation. They all went barefoot to church to give thanks to the
Lord, who had delivered them from so many and such great perils; and
father Fray Diego went to visit the church of the apostle of España,
[70] which is fourteen leguas from there, because it would not have
been proper to miss this devotion on account of so short a journey.]
CHAPTER LIX
Other journeys of father Fray Diego in the service of the Lord,
for the advancement of the conversions of these tribes.
After all these hardships and perils, which were suffered with such
great patience, father Fray Diego went to the court of España--not to
gain honor or wealth, or rent, or any other temporal thing; but because
of love of the Lord, for His glory, the extension of the gospel, and
the salvation of these tribes. Since he had already passed through so
many difficulties, divine Providence did not see fit that he should
find them there, where there are ordinarily so many; and the royal
Council immediately gave him permission and direction to convey
a number of religious to this province at his Majesty's expense,
that they might there carry on the excellent work which had been
begun by the religious of this order, and that they might continue
to draw heathen from the darkness of unbelief to the light of the
gospel. Father Fray Diego was not of a character to regard himself as
exhausted, although he had so many reasons to be so; and therefore,
without more delay, he traversed the [ecclesiastical] provinces of
España, Aragon, and Andalucia, seeking for laborers for this part of
the vineyard of the church, or this new vine in it. [As this was a
work of God, He moved the hearts of many good religious to volunteer
to undertake this arduous enterprise. They were greatly influenced by
hearing from father Fray Diego and others of the great need and lack
of religious in this province, to accomplish the vast work with which
it is charged; and of the good done by our order in these regions,
which follows the primitive order in the strict observance of the
rule, and which is like the primitive church in the conversion of
the peoples. This company embarked near the first of July, 1605; and,
after suffering the ordinary discomforts of two long voyages following
so closely one after the other, they reached Manila the next year,
six having died in the voyages and journeys. One of these was father
Fray Pedro Valverde, a student in the college of San Gregorio, a
son of San Pablo at Cordova, and a religious of superior virtue. He
died as the vessel was just beginning to come among the islands, and
was buried in an Indian hamlet near the port of Ybalon. Some years
afterward, when the father provincial sent a religious for his bones,
he found the body still entire, without a foul odor or any decay,
just as if it had been newly buried; but neither the Indians nor their
encomendero would permit him to take it away, keeping possession of
it as a holy body. The day after they arrived, the superior gave them
their assignments throughout all the province because of the great
need of religious; and many were sent to Nueva Segovia.] Ere long,
many of the religious wrote to him thanking him for having brought
them to so devoted a province, where they had so much opportunity
to serve God and to do good to their fellow-men. In particular,
father Fray Matheo de la Villa, a son of Sant Esteban at Salamanca,
wrote to him. He was in a large village, the whole population of which
was composed of heathen who desired to become Christians. He taught
them what they desired much, and he desired more. He wrote that on
Holy Saturday he had been obliged to baptize six hundred of them in a
church which they themselves were making; and that he now understood
the language of the natives sufficiently, though he had been only six
months learning it. In spite of this diligence, they were not able to
attend to this great spiritual harvest, for the laborers were few;
and so, though new and old were apportioned, there were not enough,
although they did all in their power, for many villages of heathen who
begged for them with great urgency. The provincial, grieved by this,
and seeing that he had no answer to make except that he would pray
God to bring religious from España, wrote to father Fray Francisco
de Sant Joseph, whom he had left in Manila as vicar-provincial,
and to the other religious, an account of affairs. In particular he
told them that the Indian chiefs from inland had come to him begging
him, on their knees and in tears, to give them a religious to teach
them the way to heaven; and that one of them had offered to make a
village of two thousand inhabitants and the other of nine hundred, in
order that the religious might with greater ease give them Christian
instruction. The Indians in their heathen condition live in farmsteads
and tiny hamlets, where it is very difficult to teach them; and it
is impossible that teaching shall enlighten them, because of the
inability of the religious to care for and attend to so many small
villages. Hence, to make good Christians of them, it is necessary
to gather them in larger villages. At the beginning, there was great
difficulty in causing the Indians to leave their ancient abodes; though
by the help of God, and of that spirit of gentleness and kindness
which He gives to His disciples, the religious overcame it. These
heathen Indians were so eager to have teachers that, unlike the rest,
they did not wait to be asked; but, to succeed in obtaining religious,
themselves offered by anticipation to remove this difficulty, which
is generally so great. The provincial wrote, in addition, that if the
ministers at Manila should be reduced somewhat in number he could
send someone, or someone could go, to help in this extreme need,
to which he could not give aid from there. Father Fray Francisco
de Sant Joseph called together the fathers who formed the council;
and they, after considering the case, found only one religious who
could go. This was father Fray Jacintho de Sant Jeronimo. Because
of this father Fray Francisco de Sant Joseph--as one who always
thought of himself that he did little, and that he would be little
missed--set out with this religious at the time of his embarcation,
without consulting anyone else. In this he acted as superior, which he
then was. After he had sailed eight leguas, he wrote to the religious
of Manila that he was going to supply this lack, since it seemed to
him that he would not be much missed here. But the father-provincial
did not approve, because he knew that for the Indians about Manila,
whose language he understood admirably, he was a St. Paul. On this
account he was called, even by the religious of other orders, "the
apostle of the Indians." For the Spaniards he was a second St. John
Chrisostom in preaching and life; and hence the provincial was not
slow in sending him back to his former post.
The position of prior of the principal convent in the province of
Manila was vacant, and the religious in it unanimously elected father
Fray Diego as their superior. He declined the position as long as he
could, and accepted it only when he was compelled to do so by the rule
of strict obedience. He filled the position remarkably well, though
he did not hold it long; for in the following year the vessels from
Nueva España brought news of the death of father Fray Domingo de Nieva,
who had gone in the preceding year as procurator of this province in
España. He had left the cares of this life to enjoy the quiet which,
because of his great virtue and charity, the Lord had kept for him in
heaven. Since it was very necessary for the province to have someone
in España to send them religious--for without this supply the province
could not be maintained--they immediately arranged to send another; and
no one was found so suitable as father Fray Diego. He was accordingly
asked to return and begin his labors anew by embarking for España,
where he was to act as the procurator of this province in all matters,
and was especially to provide them with religious.... Notwithstanding
the hardships and dangers of that voyage, his love to God and the
province, and his perception of the need which forced them to do this,
outweighed these other considerations; and he immediately prepared
himself for the departure which was at hand. With only three woolen
tunics in place of shirts, and the ship-stores for the first voyage,
without a real or anything else for the remainder of the journey, he
embarked in the middle of July, having remained in Manila not quite
a full year. They had good weather until they reached the latitude
of Japon, and from there such furious winds as lifted the sea up to
the sky.... Since they had come from so hot a climate as that of this
country, and had so suddenly entered this other, which was so cold,
they could not fail to suffer from many diseases. Many died on this
voyage, among them the commander and the master of the ship, and a rich
merchant who was a passenger. He, perceiving father Fray Diego's holy
way of life, his great virtue, poverty, contempt for temporal things,
devotion toward God, and charity toward his fellow-men, gave him all
his wealth, which amounted to seventy thousand pesos, that he alone,
at his own pleasure, without being obliged to render account to anyone,
might distribute the whole of it in pious works. He told him that,
though he had no heirs to whom he was obliged to leave anything,
he had some poor relatives in Portugal (whence he had come), and he
charged him to aid them. Father Fray Diego gave so much attention
to the fulfilment of his wish that he went in person to Portugal
solely for this purpose, sought with great care for the relatives of
the deceased, relieved their necessities, and left them all in good
circumstances, considering their estate, and very content. He also
fulfilled the rest of the desires of the testator in accordance with
the trust given him, without applying to himself or to any relative
of his more than the trouble and the reward from God, which would not
be small. [Father Fray Diego went on to España, and thence to Francia,
that he might for his province, and personally, yield obedience to the
most reverend general of the order, at that time Fray Agustin Galamino,
a holy man, who as such took particular delight in hearing what father
Fray Diego related as an eyewitness of the devotion of the province
of the Philippinas and of the great services which it wrought for the
Lord in the conversions of these idolatrous tribes. The pious general
gave him all the documents necessary for taking religious thither;
and father Fray Diego was about to return with the documents, that
he might not lose a moment in the execution of his trust, the great
importance of which he perceived. But his superior obliged him to
remain for the general chapter, which was to be held in the middle of
the year in Paris (in which he was a definitor)--to the great regret
of father Fray Diego at losing all this time from the affairs of
the province of which he thought so much. For ten years he filled
this office of procurator for the province in España, setting an
admirable example to lay and religious, who saw him always humble,
devout, and in poverty, and putting forward no claims for himself,
either within or without the order. This made him freely able to
express his judgment with holy and religious liberty before the royal
Council and to the president and members of it. They all looked upon
him with special respect. He aided in sending the religious brought
to this province by father Fray Alonso Navarete, who afterward was a
holy martyr, the first one of our order to suffer in Japon, and the
one who opened the door of martyrdom for so many as afterward followed
his good example. He later sent another shipload, with father Fray
Jacintho Calvo; and the same father Fray Diego, after sending these
first two, afterward set out to bring other religious with him. But,
when he arrived in Mexico, he received letters from the provincial
of this province, desiring him to return to España and continue his
functions as procurator-general in it. Here he could be of use only as
one man; there he could do the work of many, by sending so many good
religious. He went back to the labor which he had desired to give up;
and abandoning a life of contemplation in a cell, for which he was
eager, he returned to the publicity of tribunals, and the distraction
of journeys, from which he desired to flee. At all times, however,
he was instant in prayer, and in other devout exercises. As a reward
for this care, he received from the Lord success in the business
which he undertook, a successful despatch of it being furthered by
his prayer--which, it seemed, would have taken off his attention from
his business and interfered with it. In spite of all this experience
of the pleasure of the Lord in this exercise, he still desired to
retire and to prepare himself for a holy death; and he constantly
begged the superior of this province to send him a successor, that
he might return to it.]
The province sent father Fray Matheo de la Villa, who has several
times been mentioned with praise. Thereupon father Fray Diego,
after obtaining the necessary licenses and decrees, gathered twenty
companions and came to live and die with them in this province--nearly
all the members of which were his sons, whom he had sent or brought
from España, as has been recounted. Hence he was received as the
general father of all, and was by all much beloved for the great good
which he had wrought for all of them, for each one in particular, and
for the whole province in general, by means of many royal decrees and
grants which he had obtained at court for medicine for the sick, wine
for the masses, oil for the lamps which burned before the most holy
sacrament, and habits for the religious, which are great sources of
relief in our great poverty. Among these things the provision for the
dress of the religious ought not to be passed over in silence. Neither
the province nor any house within it had any regular source of income;
and it provided for all its expenses entirely with alms received
from the faithful. Since serge for our habits had to be brought
from Nueva España, it was a difficult thing for the province to
send every year the money for all the clothing of the religious,
at the price in Mexico. The province provides the religious with
clothing, for no member of it cares for himself, or has any deposit
or anything else of his own, not even with the permission of his
superior. Hence the province sent directions to father Fray Diego to
ask his Majesty to give as alms the clothing for all the religious of
the province--and this not for one year or two, but forever, since the
same need and poverty were to continue forever. Father Fray Diego,
who was acquainted with the heavy demands upon the royal treasury,
regarded it as impossible to obtain this; and he put off asking for
it until he felt obliged to send an answer to the province. Feeling
practically certain that it would not be granted, he asked for it in
a memorial of his own, sending in other memorials in which he asked
for things which seemed to him very easy to grant; and when he looked
over the answers he found that the royal Council had unhesitatingly
allowed the grant and gift of the clothing (which he had regarded as
impossible), but had refused everything which he asked for in the
other memorial. From this it was plain that it was God who had in
His hand the heart of the king; and that He had done more than what
human prudence might hope for. This truth was all the more confirmed
by the fact that when the royal decree came to be presented before
the royal officials in Mexico, who were always accustomed to put a
thousand difficulties and contingencies in the way of such grants,
they not only did not put any such in the way of this grant; but,
seeing that the religious had from mere timidity asked much less than
they needed, urged them to ask for a sufficient amount. The matter was
immediately settled on this footing, and has remained so ever since,
a plain token that the Lord is pleased that the religious of this
province shall wear the habits which they have always worn--poor,
humble, rough, made of coarse and heavy serge; a penance for the
religious, and a good example for others, as have always been the
poor and rough habits of religious orders. At the first vacancy
of the position of prior in Manila father Fray Diego was a second
time elected prior. He filled the post to the great benefit of the
religious and the convent, to the needs and obligations of which
he attended with great care and charity. He was by nature taciturn
and somewhat rigid, but by virtue was so corrected and mild that he
left no necessity unremedied, no afflicted whom he did not strive
to console, no weak or fallen one for whom he did not pray. With
all he was gentle, and to all he desired to do good. While he was in
this position, and very far from thinking of changing his condition,
he received in the year 1632 the royal decree appointing him bishop
of Nueva Segovia. He hesitated long before accepting this dignity,
presenting many arguments against his acceptance. But, since all the
others were opposed to him in this matter, he gave up his own opinion
and accepted the episcopate, with the most firm determination not
to abandon his character as a friar vowed to poverty and to observe
the manner of living which he had previously maintained--and even
to improve it by far, as the superior station upon which he entered
required of him; and this determination he most perfectly fulfilled,
as will be seen. Someone very much devoted to the order sent him a
diamond cross for a pectoral; and he returned it, saying that it was
very rich for so poor a bishop, for whom a pectoral of wood would be
sufficient. The bulls did not reach him that year; so he waited for
them without leaving the cell in which he had lived in the hospital
of the Chinese. He took no servant, and made no change in his poor
manner of living, dress, and clothing. He went to the choir and
performed the other obligations of religious in this poor habit,
and did everything else, whether by day or in the midst of the night,
that he had promised. He was consecrated and went to his bishopric;
and giving himself up wholly to his obligations as bishop he personally
visited all his bishopric, leaving in all parts a lively memory of his
sanctity, devotion, and alms-giving. His common custom was to spend
one hour of prayer before mass, raising his fervor by mental devotion
that he might say it with a greater spiritual elevation. This was in
addition to many other hours of prayer by day and by night. After mass
was finished, he spent another hour in giving thanks to the Lord for
what he had received; and then he went immediately to his study of
holy scripture, which likewise is prayer. He did not rise from his
work until something happened which compelled him to. His expenses
were almost nothing, so that the poor income of his bishopric was
wholly spent upon charity and upon the adornments of his church; for
in these two matters he spent as if he were rich. Hence in the short
time during which he governed the bishopric (which was only a year and
a half), he gave it more ornaments and jewels than others who had been
superiors there had given in many years. He was most humble; and when
father Fray Carlos Clemente Gant was vicar of the convent, the bishop
used to go almost daily from his residence to our house to confess to
him. When father Fray Carlos begged him to remain at home, and said
he would go to hear his confession every day, the bishop declined,
saying, "Your Reverence is very busy. I, who am less so, will come,"
and on this footing this matter always continued. He took less food
than when he was in the order, giving up one meal when he accepted
the bishopric. He said that his position brought more obligations;
therefore his food ought to be less. He always ate fish, if necessity
did not force him to take something else. His bed was a piece of felt
for a mattress and a blanket for covering, without any other pillow
than the mat used by the poor Chinese, or one of the native mats--which
was given a coat of a sort of varnish, so that the perspiration might
be washed off and the pillow kept clean. In his whole house he had
no other bed-clothes, so that even in his last sickness he had no
mattress nor sheets, nor even a linen pillow upon which to rest his
head; it was therefore necessary to bring that which was kept ready in
the poor infirmary of the convent, for no such comforts were used or
were to be found in the bishop's house. When he went on visitation,
he always took with him some bundles of cloth to distribute among
the poor, and these and other good works which he did for them
constituted the sole profit of his visitation. He highly esteemed
the ministers whom he had in his bishopric, and was greatly pleased
to see that they were practically all religious--not only of his own
order, but also of that of our father St. Augustine. He loved both
tenderly, and always had much good to say of all of them. During his
time another bishop [71] (who was a member of an order) put forward a
claim that the royal decrees should be put in execution which provide
that the religious who have charge of Indians shall be subject to the
inspection and visitation of the bishop or his visitors. When this
matter was discussed before the royal Audiencia, our good bishop was
present--yielding, so far as his bishopric was concerned, the favor
granted in these royal decrees. He declared and proved with many
strong arguments that, though the execution of the decrees would
greatly increase the dignity and temporal profit of the bishops,
it was to the spiritual and temporal injury of the Indians. Hence,
to avoid these greater injuries, he renounced with a good will these
inferior gains, as a prelate who felt that all his gains were secured
by procuring the proper ministry for those subject to him. The whole
income of his bishopric he collected for the poor, without taking
from it more than the labor or dividing it among the needy; for his
own maintenance, he asked alms as one of the poor. When on any account
he was absent from his bishopric, he left someone in it to distribute
alms to the poor, that they might not be injured by his absence.
The habit which he wore was of serge, and he wore an old frieze cloak
which had served one of the religious on his way from España. His
shoes were old and patched, and his breeches poor and mean, like those
used in this province. He wore no rings, and did not spend a real for
them or for a pectoral, being contented with those which were offered
to him as to a bishop in such a state of poverty. When he entered our
convents, he prostrated himself on the floor to receive the blessing of
the superior, as the other religious do; and he joined the community
and took no precedence in seating himself, just like any of the other
brothers. He did not permit them to give him anything special in the
refectory; and he remained in all things as humble and as perfect in
his duties, as a member of the order, as he had been before becoming
a bishop. The happy end of all his many arduous labors was at hand;
and after only three days of sickness he went to receive the endless
reward of his toils, leaving those who were subject to him above
measure sad at the loss of such a superior, father, and common
benefactor of all. But those who displayed the greatest feeling,
and with the greatest reason, were the religious of this province,
who had in him an honor, a defense, and an example, which incited
them to all virtue, and to strict observance of their rules. [His
death caused great sorrow, not only in his diocese but in Manila,
where he was beloved by all; and notable honors were paid to his
memory, even by the other orders.]
CHAPTER LX
The glorious martyrdom of four religious of this province, and two
laymen, their companions, in Japon.
May 2, 1637, there was elected as provincial father Fray Carlos
Clemente Gant, a native of the famous city of Zaragoça, and a son of
the illustrious convent of Preachers in that city, a person of much
virtue and superior prudence, of which he had given evidence in many
offices which he had filled with great praise. He was elected in this
chapter on the first ballot, and the wisdom of his election was soon
shown, the Lord choosing him as a principal instrument to bring to
an end the congregation--which, as has been narrated, had already
begun to be planned, to the great harm of these conversions.
[This year, which concludes the number of fifty since the foundation
of this province, is closed, as with a precious key, by the marvelous
martyrdom of four religious belonging to the province--father Fray
Antonio Gonçalez, father Fray Guillermo Cortet (who here bore the name
of Fray Thomas de Sancto Domingo), father Fray Miguel de Ozaraza, and
father Fray Vicente de la Cruz. With the martyrdoms (already narrated)
of father Fray Jordan de San Estevan and Fray Thomas de San Jacintho,
the Japanese persecutors of the church had spilled the blood of all the
Dominican friars of that kingdom; yet they had not, as they expected,
caused the souls of the religious to fear, or cooled their fervent
desires to go to Japon. Of all those who asked for permission to go
thither, these four only received the desired license. Two of them were
teachers of theology in the college and university of the province, in
the city of Manila; and both of them had lectured on theology before
coming to this province--father Fray Antonio in that of España,
and father Fray Guillermo in his native country of France. Thus
the province has sent its best to Japon. Father Fray Francisco de
Morales was for many years lecturer on theology, and at the time
of his mission was prior of the convent of Manila; and father Fray
Jacintho de Esquivel, father Fray Domingo de Erquicia, father Fray
Lucas del Espiritu Sancto, and father Fray Diego de Rivera had all
been lecturers on theology. There was great difficulty in sending
these four religious to Japon, which was finally overcome by the
determination of the religious. In the year 1634, some Spaniards had
been cast on shore on the islands of the Lequios, which are subject
to Japon. They were examined to see if they were religious or no;
but, as it did not appear that they were, they were set free. Many
Japanese came to them by night, asking them if they were priests
to hear their confessions; and, being assured that they were not,
they begged for priests to come to them. Father Fray Vincente de la
Cruz and a Christian Japanese offered to take the religious whom the
province might send and to make their way from the Lequios Islands
to Japon. The governor, learning that the expedition was about to be
equipped, burned the vessel which had been prepared, and set sentinels
at the mouth of the bay to prevent the religious from setting out. By
God's aid they succeeded in eluding him, and after meeting with storms
made their way to the islands of the Lequios, where they landed July
10, 1636. No certain reports have been received as to what occurred
in the islands; but the fathers seem to have been arrested as soon as
they revealed themselves, and to have been sent as prisoners to Japon.
On September 13, 1637, fathers Fray Guillermo Cortet, Fray Miguel
Oçaraça and Fray Vicente de la Cruz, dressed in secular clothes,
were brought from Satzuma to Nangasaqui, to be tried for their
crime. Father Fray Antonio Gonçalez was not with them, having sailed
in another vessel, and not having yet arrived. They answered boldly,
declaring that they had had no assistance from any government; and
that their very pilot had been a religious who had known something
of seamanship before entering the order. They were subjected to
terrible torture, especially the torture of water, which they bore
bravely. Their tortures were prolonged, and the text describes them
with fulness. On the twenty-first of the same month, father Fray
Antonio Gonçalez, the superior of the religious, arrived in Nangasaqui
in another funea. He was accompanied by two lay companions--one a
mestizo, the son of a Chinese man and an Indian woman; the other a
Japanese, who had been exiled for the faith. [72] As soon as father
Fray Antonio set foot on the soil, he made the sign of the cross,
in sight of all the Portuguese trading there and of a great multitude
of people. The holy father, being of noble stature, towered above the
company about him like another Saul. He was taken directly before the
judges, confessed who he was, was cruelly tortured, and subjected
to insult. The mestizo at first feared the torments, but afterward
plucked up his courage to endure them. The Japanese wretchedly fell
away from fear. Father Fray Antonio suffered the torture of water,
to which he was subjected when he was very sick of a fever; and he
died in the prison, his body being burnt and the ashes cast into the
sea. On the twenty-seventh of the month the prisoners were taken out
to be martyred, being gagged to prevent their preaching. They were all
suspended by the feet, and while they hung in their pits they chanted
praises to God; and the ministers of justice, in admiration of their
courage, caused them to be taken out from the holes still alive and
to be beheaded, that they might no longer suffer torture. The ashes
of the five holy martyrs were cast into the sea, three leguas from
the port of Nangasaqui, on the same day, September 29, 1637.]
CHAPTER LXI
The exercises with which the Lord prepared these saints for martyrdom
[The Lord in general requires a holy life to precede a martyr's
death. Father Fray Antonio Gonçalez was a native of Leon, bred up for
the Lord like another Samuel. He showed great capacity in his studies,
and became the master of the students in the most religious convent
of Piedrahita. Before his conversion, he was devoted to poetry and
such matters, which, though they do not take away the grace of the
Lord, choke the good seed of His special counsels and the way of
perfection. But before long father Fray Antonio gave up these trifles,
which, though they were not grave faults, were grave impediments to
the perfection to which the Lord called him. Considering how God might
best be pleased, it seemed to him that the best offering he could
make was the offering of martyrdom. As a means to attain this end, he
considered that coming to this province offered the best opportunity
for becoming a martyr. He devoted himself to virtuous company, and
was most useful as a minister in España. He begged his way from door
to door, and set out for the Philippinas when he was just recovering
from a severe illness. He was greatly given to works of mortification,
and most patient, kind, and obedient. He was devoted to be service
of the Rosary, and offered a special devotion, among many saints, to
St. Peter Martyr, whom he desired to imitate in life and in death. His
martyrdom had been predicted while he was in España.
Father Fray Guillermo Cortet was a native of Visiers, a city of
France. He was the child of noble and wealthy parents. While still
a young layman he heard of the glory of our holy martyrs in Japon,
which made such an impression upon his heart that he determined
to give up all that he had and might hope for in the world,
and to assume the habit of the order which contained such saints,
hoping that he himself might be one of them. He therefore requested
the habit from father Fray Sebastian Michaelis, who at that time
governed the strictest congregation in France. In time he professed,
and became notable for religion, virtue, and learning. So closely
did he observe the rule that, when the famous convent of the order
in Aviñon was to be reformed, father Fray Guillermo was sent there
for the purpose. All this time he was sighing for Japon, and finally
set out on foot for España, making the journey in the winter through
rain, cold, and snow. He was greatly esteemed in the court, but left
it to come to the Philippinas as a member of the congregation. This
he abandoned when he heard the convincing reasons with which the
province, though obeying the most reverend general and his letters,
suspended the execution of them until they could give him information
as to the surreptitious manner in which they were obtained, the many
impossibilities which they contained within themselves, and the harm
which would be done to the work of conversion by the establishment
of the congregation. The province directed him to teach theology in
the college of Sancto Thomas at Manila, which he did obediently,
putting aside his desire to go to Japon. That he might have more
time and ease in the holy exercise of prayer, he never undressed at
night during the last twenty years of his life, but slept seated in a
chair. This country is infested with multitudes of annoying mosquitos;
but he did not take advantage of the common means of preventing them,
which is a tent, something permitted to all the religious. He would
not accept one, but offered to the Lord the stings of the gnats, which
is no small mortification and penance. It was no wonder that he paid
small attention to the stings of mosquitos, as he often wore next to
his skin a girdle bearing fifteen rosettes in honor of our Lady of
the Rosary and her fifteen mysteries, with points so sharp that they
drew blood when they were touched with the finger. Besides this he
wore an iron chain, which was kept bright by wear and gleamed as if it
were polished; and in addition to all these things he sometimes wore
next his skin a hair shirt, with points of iron so cruel and large
that the mere sight of them shocked some religious who happened to
see them, as being the most severe thing that they had ever seen in
their lives. He was most abstinent, full of devotion for the mass,
and above measure humble. He was also very kind and gentle, especially
to repentant sinners. He was scarcely a year in this province when
his ardent desire to go to Japon was finally gratified.
Father Fray Miguel de Ozaraza was a native of Vizcaya; and because
of his virtues, devotion, and prudence he was much beloved in the
convent of Sancto Thomas at Madrid, where he lived for some years
in great quiet, with all the comfort that a good religious could
desire. But as many laymen have been moved by the desire of worldly
riches to leave their comforts in España and to go to the Indias,
so the desire for spiritual profit caused father Fray Miguel to come
to this most distant part of the world. He was very industrious,
and skilful in the management of business; and had much to do
with the management of the affairs of the shipload of religious
with which it was intended to begin the new congregation. When he
came to the province, and more clearly understood the condition of
affairs here, he left the congregation and was incorporated into the
province. For this he obtained the reward of martyrdom for which he
sought. No opportunity for him to go to Japon immediately offering,
he was directed to learn an Indian language, and to minister to the
Indians; this he did with humble obedience, not looking down upon
this despised ministry. At the same time he studied the Japanese
language. His fortitude in martyrdom was supernatural and divine.]
Father Fray Vicente de la Cruz, whose Japanese name was Xivozzuca, was
a native of Japan, the child of devoted Christians of long standing,
and was the youngest of seven brothers. He was offered to God before
his birth; for, while he was still in his mother's womb, his parents
promised that, if they should have a son, they would offer him like
a second Samuel to the service of the church. They bred him in this
way as one dedicated to such a service, never permitting him to wear
any colored clothes like other boys of his rank, that he might grow
up with the sense of being dedicated to God, and of being bound to
serve Him with all care and devotion. At the age of nine he was given
to the fathers of the Society in fulfilment of the vow; and from that
tender age began to be trained in Nangasaqui in the college of the
fathers there--studying grammar, and the other moral teaching given
by the fathers of the Society to those who are to aid them in their
preaching. This Vicente did for many years, up to the persecution
which broke out, with the fury described, in the year 1614. At this
time Vicente went to Manila, when the ministers were exiled, returning
soon afterwards to Japon; but like the dove in the ark, not finding a
place whereon to set his foot, because of the persecution, he returned
again to this city, seeking some established way in which he could
serve the Lord as a minister of the church. He suffered great need,
and was tempted by friends and acquaintances to change his plans and
to marry; but he did not consent, preferring to be poor and needy
in the house of the Lord than to live with ease among laymen. The
Lord, who never fails those who put their trust in him, helped him by
making him acquainted with the bishop of Zubu, Don Fray Pedro de Arce,
a master of such virtue that the virtues of Vicente could not fail to
advance under him. Father Fray Luis Sotelo afterwards came to this city
with the purpose of taking preachers to Japon, and Vicente joined him,
being prepared for every good work, even at the expense of the hardship
and danger required by the preaching of the faith in Japon. It was not
yet time for this holy man to suffer, and hence he was prevented by
sickness from accompanying the holy martyr Fray Luis Sotelo when he
went to Japon; so he remained in this country, teaching the language
to the religious who were to go to that realm. In this and in all
his actions his conduct was so virtuous that the Christian Japanese
offered him a liberal support, so that he was ordained priest and gave
them his spiritual aid, preaching to them and administering the holy
sacraments. That he might live with great perfection, he followed the
rule of the tertiary Order of the noble St. Francis. The expedition
of these holy martyrs was about to take place, and the superior of
it endeavored to have father Fray Vicente accompany and guide them,
as he was a native Japanese who had had experience in the preaching
of the gospel in that realm. He not only readily agreed to this, but
earnestly begged for the habit of the order; and he wore it--in such
manner as he could, since he was going to preach in Japon--for more
than a year; he professed and suffered, as has been described. May
the Lord give us for the merits and intercession of these glorious
martyrs, [73] and of all the other holy martyrs and confessors who
have been in this province, something of the divine grace which made
them such as they were. Thus, as up to this time the present members
of the province have not belied the holy beginnings with which it
was established, but rather seem to perfect themselves with each new
increase, so may we not fall off in the future; but may our love toward
God and our fellow-men, and our devotion to the rule of our order,
forever preserve the perfection which has been found hitherto in the
sons of the province, to the glory of the Author of all good, who is
the same Lord God to whom belongs all glory forever and ever. Amen.
After the fifty years of this history were completed, there came
the following letter from his Majesty, which settled the matter
which had disturbed the religious of this province and kept them
in affliction. This letter was received, as has been said in the
history, without any representation from the province having come to
the royal ears; hence it is a most certain proof that it was given
by the special providence of the Lord, and by the aid of our great
patroness the Virgin Mother; and that it is worthy to be placed as
a conclusion to this history.
Letter written by his Majesty to the venerable and devout father
provincial of the Order of St. Dominic of the Philipinas Islands.
(Copied faithfully from the original.)
The King. To the venerable and devout father provincial of the Order of
St. Dominic of the Philipinas Islands. From different reports which I
have received, I have learned of the disturbance and disquiet caused
among the religious of that province by the division of it that was
made by virtue of letters obtained from the general of the order by
Fray Diego Collado, and by the aid given him for the purpose by Don
Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, my governor and captain-general of these
islands. I desired that the said briefs should not be executed, since
they were not approved by my royal Council of the Indias; and hence,
looking rather to the conformity of the religious with the rule of the
order, and to the quiet of that province, and perceiving that the said
division must cause some relaxation therein, I have commanded my said
governor and captain-general of these islands, and my royal Audiencia,
to suspend the said brief and all other briefs brought by the said
Fray Diego Collado, without permitting them to be executed. And I
have commanded that the division of the provinces which has been made
shall be annulled, and that they shall return to the condition in which
they were before the said division. I accordingly request and direct
you to attend to it, on your part, that these said provinces shall
be placed in the state in which they were before Collado to España
immediately. That this may have effect, I have in a letter of this
day commanded my said governor to have him provided with passage. You
will inform me at the first opportunity of what you shall have done
in execution of what I thus request of you. Dated at Madrid, February
first, in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-seven.
I the King
By command of our lord the king:
Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA
For bibliographical data of Aduarte's Historia, which is concluded
in the present volume, see Vol. XXX.
NOTES
[1] i.e., "In the beginning was the Word." The other quotation reads,
in English, "May the reading of the gospel be health and protection
to thee."
[2] Karatsu is a town in Hizen, north of Nagasaki; it possesses large
deposits of coal and kaolin. It was formerly called Nagoya.
[3] The shôgun at that time was Hidetada (1605-1623); but his father
Iyeyasu, although nominally retired from the government, still inspired
its proceedings in great degree, until his death in 1616.
[4] For description of the Kuwantô, see Vol. XVI, p. 47. This group
of provinces lies near the center of Hondo, and includes the city of
Tôkio (Yedo).
[5] According to Rein (Japan, p. 304), he had put away his Christian
wife to marry a daughter of Hidetada, and had become an apostate. Then
he removed his residence from Arima to Shimabara, and began a fierce
persecution of the Christians.
[6] Evidently referring to Santiago de Vera.
[7] Notwithstanding this fierce persecution--which, thus begun,
culminated in the massacre of Shimabara (1637), and lasted as long
as Christians could be discovered by the Japanese authorities--a
considerable number of Japanese converts maintained their Christian
faith, unknown to their rulers, handing it down from one generation
to another until 1868, when their existence became known to the
government, and for a time they were exiled from their homes, but
were restored to them a few years later. This Christian church was
at Urakami, about seven miles north of Nagasaki.
[8] Rein states (Japan, p. 306) that there were 22 Franciscans,
Dominicans, and Augustinians (agreeing with Aduarte's total), 117
Jesuits, and nearly 200 native priests and catechists; and that these
were shipped to Macao. Murdoch and Yamagata say (Hist. Japan, p. 503)
that 63 Jesuits were sent to Macao; and 23 Jesuits, all the Philippine
religious, and several distinguished Japanese exiles, to Manila.
[9] Cf. Vol. IX, p. 68, for mention of earliest printing in the
islands.
[10] See Vol. XII, p. 222.
[11] Angelo Orsucci e Ferrer was born in Lucca, Italy, in 1570, also
entering there the Dominican order. Hearing of the Filipinas missions,
he went to Valencia, in Spain, to join them, and arrived at Manila
in 1602. He labored successively in the Cagayán and Bataán missions,
and in 1612 went to Mexico to take charge of the Dominican hospice
there. In 1615 he returned to Manila, conducting the mission band which
Aduarte had brought to Mexico. He went again to Bataán for a time;
but, hearing of the persecutions in Japan, determined to go thither,
reaching that country in August, 1618. In the following December he was
arrested, and imprisoned in Omura. He remained there nearly four years,
and was burned alive on September 10, 1622. He was beatified in 1867.
See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 211-214.
[12] This was Juan de Silva, who died on April 19, 1616 (see Vol. XVII,
p. 279).
[13] A letter written by the Franciscan Fray Pedro de Alfaro to Fray
Juan de Ayora, commissary in Manila, under date of Canton, October
13, 1579, and existing (in copy) in Archivo general de Indias (with
pressmark, "Simancas-eclesiastico; cartas y expedientes de personas
eclesiasticas vistos en el consejo; años 1570 á 1608; est. 68, caj. 1,
leg. 42"), says of the Ilocos district: "Also it should be noted by
your charity and the superiors who shall come that the province of
Ylocos is the destruction and sepulcher of friars; for it is known
how the first who went there returned, while I found the next ones,
although they had come there so short a time before, with very
ill-looking, flabby, and colorless countenances, and brother Fray
Sebastian (may he rest in glory), smitten with stomach trouble. His
sickness began there, and there was its ending. In consideration of
this, and of the common rumor and report of all, I do not believe that
it is a district where we can live." The sick friar here mentioned
was Sebastian de Baeza, who, at the time Alfaro wrote, had just died
on a ship in Canton Bay.
[14] Melchor Manzano came to Manila in 1606, and ministered in the
Cagayán missions until he was chosen provincial in 1617. In 1621 he
was appointed procurator of the province at Madrid; and he died in
Italy, about 1630, as bishop-elect of Nueva Segovia.
[15] After the battle of Sekigahara (1600) Iyeyasu had left Hideyori
(the infant son of Hideyoshi), with his mother, in the castle of
Osaka. After this child grew to manhood, he incurred the jealousy
of Iyeyasu, which was doubtless aggravated by his intimacy with the
Jesuits, and the shelter given by him to many discontented Japanese,
both heathen and Christian. Armies were raised on both sides, and on
June 4, 1615, the castle of Osaka was carried by assault, and burned,
Hideyori and his mother both perishing. See Murdoch and Yamagata's
full account of this war, its causes, and its immediate results
(Hist. Japan, pp. 507-567); cf. Rein's Japan, p. 306.
[16] i.e., "the lord shogun;" it is only a title of honor, not a
personal name. It here refers to Hidetada, who had been associated
with his father Iyeyasu in the government.
[17] Later (at the beginning of chap. xiiii) Aduarte states
that under Safioye were two officials in charge of the Nagasaki
government--Antonio Toan, a Christian; and Feizó, a renegade
Christian. After Safioye's death, dissensions arose between these two;
and finally the emperor made Feizó and Gonrozu (a nephew of Safioye)
joint governors of the city, who proceeded to persecute the Christians
with renewed severity.
[18] This sentence may be a later addition by Aduarte himself; but
is more probably written by his editor, Fray Domingo Gonçalez.
[19] Among these Korean captives were numerous potters, who were
carried to Kiôto, Hagi, Satsuma, and other towns of Japan, in order
to introduce into that country the ceramic arts of Korea. Descendants
of these potters are still living in Tsuboya, a village of Satsuma,
where they still carry on their craft. See Rein's Japan, pp. 289, 527.
[20] Jacinto Calvo came to Manila in 1604, from the convent of Peña de
Francia; but he soon returned to Spain, on business of his order. It
is probable that he spent the rest of his life there, except for
some years while he was in charge of the hospice at Mexico; it is
not known when he died.
[21] The Babuyan and Batan Islands, groups lying north of Luzón,
extend northward to near the southern end of Formosa. From near the
northern end of that island, the Riu-Kiu Island stretches in a long
northeastward curve to the vicinity of Kiushiu Island, in southern
Japan.
[22] A vulgar appellation of the fish called rompecandados
("padlock-breaker"), according to note by Retana and Pastells in
their edition of Combés's Mindanao, col. 770. Taraquito may possibly
be a diminutive form derived from tarascar, meaning "to bite, or tear
with the teeth."
[23] The tribe best known as Mandaya are found in Mindanao; but the
same name is conferred by some Spanish writers on the Apayaos (a
head-hunting tribe in northwestern Cagayán and the adjoining portions
of Ilocos Norte and Abra)--with doubtful accuracy, according to
Blumentritt (Native Tribes of Philippines, p. 531). In U.S. Philippine
Commission's Report, 1900, iii, p. 19, is the following statement:
"In the hamlets on the western side of the river [i.e., Rio Grande
de Cagayán], Itaves, Apayao, and Mandayo are spoken;" but there is
no further reference to a Mandaya tribe in Cagayán. See Aduarte's
mention of Mandayas in later chapters.
[24] Juan de San Lorenzo came to Manila with the mission of 1618;
he labored in the Cagayán missions, and died at Lal-ló in 1623.
[25] A sort of trousers, generally made of cloth, covering the legs
as far as the knees, buttoned or hooked together on the outside. It
has also a dust-guard, which extends to the shoe. It is mainly used by
laborers, carriers, and the like. (Dominguez's Diccionario nacional.)
[26] See book i of Aduarte's work, chapters xii-xv (in Vol. XXX of
this series).
[27] Blumentritt characterizes the Gaddanes as "a Malay head-hunting
people, with a language of their own, settled in the provinces of
Isabela and Cagayán." Landor mentions them (Gems of the East, p. 478)
as having delicately chiseled features, and being now civilized and
christianized.
The bulk of the population of Nueva Vizcaya is made up of converts
from two of the mountain Igorot tribes, the Isinay and the Gaddang or
Gaddan. This valley was called Ituy or Isinay. There are but three
or four thousand people in each of these tribes, the rest of the
christianized population of this province being made up of Ilocano
immigrants. (U. S. Census of Philippines, i, pp. 449, 471. 472.)
[28] Constantius, second son of Constantine the Great; he reigned
from 337 A. D. to 361, and adopted the Arian doctrine, of which he
was a powerful supporter.
[29] Pedro de Zúñiga was a native of Sevilla, and a son of Marqués de
Villamanrique, viceroy of Mexico; he entered the Augustinian order at
Sevilla, in 1604. He came to Manila in 1610, and spent several years as
a missionary in Pampanga. Fired with zeal for the Japanese missions,
he entered them in 1618, only to be sent back to Manila the next year
with other priests banished from Japan; but, as recounted in our text,
Zúñiga returned to that land to end his life as a martyr (August 19,
1622). He was beatified in 1867. See Pérez's Catálogo, p. 82.
[30] Probably a reference to the ronins, men who had left their
masters, under the old feudal system in Japan, and spent their time
in low company and in idleness and excesses; see Griffis's Mikado's
Empire, p. 278.
[31] This brother's proper name was Mangorochi. The term donado, like
the French donné (in each case meaning, literally, "one who is given")
was applied to devout persons who voluntarily entered the service
of the missions, giving themselves (often for life) to that cause,
and sharing the lot of the missionaries. All the martyrs whose fate
Aduarte describes were afterward beatified.
[32] Diego de Rivera came to Manila from Córdoba, in 1615. He
ministered in Bataán at first, but was lecturer in Santo Tomás from
1619 to 1623--in which year he lost his life as described in our text.
[33] Francisco Galvez, a native of Utiel, made his profession in
the Franciscan order in 1600, at the age of twenty-six. In 1609 he
departed for the Philippines, where for some time he ministered to
the Japanese Christians resident near Manila. He went to Japan in
1612, but was banished thence in 1614; after several vain efforts, he
succeeded in returning to that country in 1618. He was arrested by the
Japanese authorities, and after great sufferings in prison was burned
alive at Yendo, December 4, 1623. (See Huerta's Estado, pp. 391, 392.)
[34] Aparri is a port of entry on the northern coast of Luzón, at the
mouth of the Rio Grande de Cagayán. It is the chief port of coast
and ocean trade in that region, and the starting-point for inland
river navigation.
[35] Alonso García came from Córdoba to Manila, in 1622; he was sent
to the Cagayán missions, where he died as here related. Onofre Palau
was a native of Valencia, but entered the Dominican order at Manila,
in 1620. In the following year he made his profession, and was sent
to Cagayán, where he died with García. (See Reseña biográfica, i,
pp. 294, 373.)
[36] i.e., "Island of Fishermen," indicating the occupation of nearly
all the 50,000 inhabitants (of Chinese race) of the group known as
Pescadores Islands, west of Formosa, and under the jurisdiction of
that island (which has been, since 1895, a possession of Japan). The
location of the Pescadores is such as to make them of strategic
importance, and Japan is now (1905) fortifying them.
[37] The Chinese refused to allow the Dutch to trade with them unless
the latter would depart from the Pescadores, but permitted them to
occupy Formosa. The Dutch settled there in 1624, at Tainan (formerly
Taiwan) near Anping, remains of old Dutch forts still existing at both
places; and this island was their headquarters for trade with Japan
and China. See Basil H. Chamberlain's account of Formosa in Murray's
Handbook for Travelers in Japan (4th ed., New York and London, 1898),
pp. 536-542; Davidson's historical sketch in Transactions of Asiatic
Society of Japan, vol. xxiv, pp. 112-136.
[38] One of the small islands in the bay of Kelung.
[39] Francisco Mola was born in Madrid, and there made his profession
as a Dominican, in 1600. He came to the Philippines in 1611, and
spent many years in the Cagayán missions; afterward having charge of
the mission in Formosa. After 1643 his name is not mentioned in the
provincial records, as he returned to Spain about that time. (Reseña
biográfica, i, p. 339.)
[40] Juan García Lacalle entered the Dominican order at Manila,
in 1602; he spent many years in the Cagayán missions.
[41] Apparently a misprint for 1611. Sanchez remained in the Cagayán
missions until his death, which must have occurred about 1640. The
missionaries brought by him in 1626 numbered sixteen, sketches of
whom are given in Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 375-381.
[42] A play upon words, the Spanish hierro ("iron") having almost
the same pronunciation as yerro ("error").
[43] Both these missionaries came to Manila in the mission of
1609. Fray Francisco labored in the villages of Balete and Polo--the
former being originally a village of Japanese, formed in 1601 by
Tello from that of Dilao, near Manila, but again restored to Dilao
in 1626. Fray Francisco went to Japan in 1623, and was burned at
the stake on August 17, 1627. Fray Bartolomé served in a hospital
(probably that at Los Baños), went to Japan in 1623, and met the same
fate as befell Fray Francisco. See Huerta's Estado, pp. 395, 557.
[44] He had come to Manila in 1618, and labored in the Cagayán missions
and the Babuyanes.
[45] In this band were twenty friars; for sketches of their lives,
see Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 381-390.
[46] Spanish, castillo ("little castle"); apparently an imitation of
the castillo de fuego, a contrivance built of wood in the shape of
a castle, to which are attached various fireworks.
[47] The reference in our text is to Go-Midzuno-o, who was mikado from
1611 to 1630; in the latter year he abdicated that dignity, forced
to this step by petty persecutions and interference by the shôgun
Hidetada, and lived in retirement for the rest of his life, dying
in 1680. The statement as to cutting off his hair is hardly accurate
in regard to its rarity, as it was then the custom for potentates of
various degrees to abdicate their office at an early period therein,
and retire into a Buddhist monastery, on which occasion the head of
the candidate was shaved. Dairi is merely one of the appellations
bestowed upon the mikado of Japan (see Vol. XIX, p. 51). The term
mikado is practically the equivalent of "Sublime Porte;" the first
to bear this name was Jimmu-Tennô (660-585 B. C.), and his dynasty
has continued to the present day. After the conquest of Korea (202
A. D.) Chinese influences began to affect Japan; and the mikado's
authority was gradually diminished by powerful chiefs and lords,
until the dignity of shôgun--a military title of honor--was conferred
(1192) upon Yoritomo, and made hereditary in his family. From that time
dates the dual monarchy which ruled Japan--the mikado being but the
nominal sovereign--until 1868; the revolution of that year suppressed
the shôgunate, and restored to the mikado his rightful authority. The
mikado's residence was established at Kiôto in 793, where it remained
until 1868, being then transferred to Yedo (now Tôkiô). The comparison
of the mikado to a pope arose from his possessing certain prerogatives
in religious matters, and because a sort of divine character was
ascribed to him from the claim of the first mikado that he was a
descendant of the sun-goddess Amaterasu. See Rein's Japan, pp. 214,
224, 315-317; also Murdoch and Yamagata's Hist. Japan, chap. i,
and pp. 697-700.
[48] A variant form of Alcarazo, as the name is spelled
elsewhere. These variations, which occur in numerous cases, may be due
to additions made by Aduarte's editor; or possibly to his employing
more than one amanuensis.
[49] The modern province of Nueva Vizcaya.
[50] Juan Arjona came from the convent at Córdoba, in the mission
of 1628, and was assigned to the Pangasinan field. In 1637-38 he
was ministering in Ituy, and in 1639 was appointed to a station in
Formosa. Afterward he returned to Pangasinan, and, after filling
various offices in Manila, died there on September 4, 1666, at the
age of eighty-four.
[51] There are more than a hundred different varieties of rice,
some of which are lowland, cultivated by irrigation, and some upland,
grown in the dry lands (these being more numerous than the former). See
U. S. Philippine Commission's Report, 1900, iii, pp. 244, 245.
[52] The province of Nueva Vizcaya (Ituy) is drained by the great river
Magat and its tributaries, which fertilize its soil; this stream flows
into the Rio Grande de Cagayán, which Aduarte seems to regard as the
continuation of the Magat.
[53] Jerónimo de Zamora came to the islands in 1615, and labored
thirty-eight years in the Cagayán missions; at times he occupied
various offices, among them that of commissary of the Inquisition. He
died at Lal-ló about 1655.
[54] i.e., "Equal shall be the portion of him that went down to battle
and of him that abode at the baggage, and they shall divide alike;"
in I Kings (of the Douay version; I Samuel of the Protestant versions),
xxx, v. 24.
[55] Hidetada died in 1632, hut he had, following the usual
custom, abdicated the shôgunate in 1623, in favor of his son
Iyemitsu--retaining, however, as Iyeyasu had done, the actual control
of the empire until his death.
[56] i.e., "That which decayeth and groweth old is near its end"
(Hebrews, viii, 13).
[57] i.e., "The old man carried the child, but the child directed
the old man."
[58] The torment of the pit (French, fosse, Spanish, hoyo); a hole six
feet deep and three in diameter was dug, and a post with a projecting
arm was planted by its side. To this arm the victim was suspended,
being lowered head downward into the pit, and left thus until he
either died or recanted; his body had been previously tightly corded,
to impede the circulation of the blood, but one hand was left free,
to make the sign of recantation. This horrible torment did not bring
death until two, three, or even six days; but most of the religious
endured it unto death, rather than recant. Of the few who did so was
Christoval Ferreira (Vol. XXIV, note 91). See Murdoch and Yamagata's
Hist. Japan, pp. 632-633.
[59] Jacobo Somonaga (in religion, de Santa Maria) was born in
Omura of Christian parents; he had ability as a speaker, and often
preached while a student. He came to Manila, and at first became an
Augustinian; afterward, he entered the Dominican order (August 15,
1624), being then forty-three years of age. In 1627 he was in Formosa;
in 1632 he went from Manila to Japan, and in the following year died
as a martyr. (See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 256, 257.)
[60] Domingo Ibañez de Erquicia was born about 1587, in San Sebastian,
Spain, and entered the Dominican order there. He came to the
islands in 1611, and was sent to Pangasinan. From 1616 he remained
in Manila--except 1619-21, at Binondo--until 1623, when he went to
Japan--where he labored, in spite of persecution and sufferings,
until his martyrdom, August 18, 1633. (See Reseña biográfica, i,
pp. 235-241.)
[61] Spanish, de grãde estampida; literally, "causes a great stampede
thither."
[62] Alluding to the cathedral El Pilar at Zaragoza, in which is a
famous statue of the Virgin descending upon a pillar. It soon became
a rival of the noted shrine of St. James at Compostella, in the number
of pilgrims attracted thither, and miracles performed. Maria del Pilar
is a favorite name for girls in Spain, commonly abbreviated to Pilar.
[63] Carlos Clemente Gant made his profession at Zaragoza, in 1602. He
came to Manila in 1611, and spent most of his life in the Cagayán
missions, filling many high offices in that region; he was also
provincial for two terms. He died at Lal-ló, in 1660, at the age
of seventy-two.
[64] Luis Oñate made his profession at Sevilla, in 1626, and came to
the islands in 1632. He spent the rest of his life in the Cagayán
missions; and he died at Manila on June 18, 1678, at the age of
almost seventy.
[65] Juan Bautista Morales was born in 1597, at Ecija; he entered
the Dominican convent there, but was ordained in Mexico. In 1618 he
came to Manila, and was assigned to the ministry among the Chinese
there. In 1628 and 1629 he was in Camboja, but was unable to establish
a mission there. In 1633 he went to China; after spending several years
in the missions there, he was sent (1640) by his order to Europe,
to make complaint regarding the practice of the "Chinese rites" by
the Jesuits in China. Taking the overland route from Goa, Morales
arrived in Italy in January, 1643; five years later, he escorted a
band of missionaries to Manila, and in 1649 returned to China. He
spent the rest of his life there, dying at Fo-Kien, September 17,
1664. (See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 358-369.)
[66] Francisco Diaz was born near Valladolid, October 4, 1606, and
entered the Dominican order there. Coming to Manila in 1632, he spent
some time in the Chinese hospital; and in 1635 he entered the China
mission, where he spent the rest of his life, dying at Ting-teu,
November 4, 1646. (See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 393-411.)
[67] Referring to the Chinese moralist and teacher Kôshi, usually
known to Europeans as Confucius. His teachings have exercised a
powerful influence on the history and national character of Japan;
and Iyeyasu's celebrated code of laws was modeled thereon.
[68] Mateo de la Villa, born in the province of Oviedo, made his
profession in the Dominican convent at Salamanca, in 1600. Six years
later he came to the islands, where he spent many years in the Cagayán
missions. In 1622 he was appointed procurator at Madrid and Rome,
a charge which he held as late as 1665; but it is not known when and
where he died. (See Reseña biográfica, i, p. 330.)
[69] This was Fray Diego Collado, who had come to the Philippines in
1611; see sketch of his life in Vol. XXV, p. 158. The band whom he
led were called "Barbones" (see Vol. XXV, p. 161).
[70] Allusion is here made to the famous town of Santiago de
Compostela, formerly the capital of Galicia. Its foundation was due
to the alleged discovery (in the ninth Century) of the burial place
of St. James the apostle, who afterward became the patron saint of
Spain. A church was built over the tomb of the saint, by Alfonso I, but
was destroyed by the Saracens; the present cathedral was begun about
1080. It soon became a noted resort of pilgrims, being visited by many
thousands every year, and has continued to be such to the present time.
[71] Referring to Fray Francisco de Zamudio, an Augustinian, the
bishop of Nueva Caçeres--of whom bare mention (and that only as a
confessor) is made in Pérez's Catálogo. Cf. the earlier controversy
on this question between Archbishop Serrano and the religious orders
(1624), for which see Vol. XXI, pp. 32-78.
[72] The Japanese was named Lazaro; he was one of the lepers who had
been formerly exiled from Japan for the faith, and came with the
Dominicans as a guide. Although at first he denied the Christian
faith, under pressure of torture, he afterward recovered courage,
and died as a martyr, September 29, 1637. The mestizo was Lorenzo
Ruiz, a native of Binondo; he had left Luzón on account of a murder
that he had committed there. He also was martyred, at the same time
as Lazaro. (See Reseña biográfica, i, p. 276, note.)
[73] Biographical sketches of all these martyrs are given in Reseña
biográfica, i, pp. 258-276.
It is well to note, in this connection, the fact that the persecutions
of Christians in Japan were not, in the main, on religious grounds. The
Japanese government was tolerant to the new religion until it had
reason to fear that its authority was being subverted by the influence
of the missionaries, and the independence of the nation threatened by
the foreign nations who sent to Japan the priests and traders. See
Griffis's Mikado's Empire, pp. 247-259, Rein's Japan, pp. 290-293,
and Murdoch and Yamagata's History of Japan, pp. 457-506. The
last-named cites at length the writings of Charlevoix, Léon Pagés,
and other historians.
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