The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 32, 1640
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Title: The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 32, 1640
Editor: Emma Helen Blair
Author: Diego Aduarte
Commentator: Edward Gaylord Bourne
Editor: James Alexander Robertson
Release date: April 1, 2013 [eBook #42458]
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, 1493-1898: VOLUME 32, 1640 ***
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
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