CHAPTER FIRST

Book second of the second part of the first century and history of the province of Santo Rosario of the Order of Preachers, in Filipinas, Japon, and China.CHAPTER FIRSTChapter, and election of provincial; and events in those timesOn April 20 of the year 1652, the members of the chapter were assembled in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila, and elected as provincial the reverend father Fray Pedro de Ledo, then prior of that said convent and vicar-provincial of Tagalos. He was a person of all good qualities, a native ofMexico, and of noble parentage in that city. He took the habit and professed in this convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. In his studies he gave so good an account of himself that he lectured in arts and theology, and became regent in our college of Santo Tomas. He always had the name of an excellent student and learned man. On that account, and because of his great prudence, known to us by experience, the religious elected him to the post of provincial, which he filled very successfully and with great credit. Among the special events of that chapter was the announcement of the new university of Santo Tomas and its apostolic erection by a bull which his Holiness Innocent Tenth, of blessed memory, was pleased to promulgate at the instance of the king our sovereign, Felipe Fourth the Great. His Majesty, as sole patron, was pleased to put his hand to that—an honor very worthy of publication by the chapter; and, although it was current in all the province, that solemnity was still to be performed. The house of San Miguel of Ituy, in the province of Nueva Segovia, was also accepted. That is a great stretch consisting of heathen settlements for the greater part, although there are some Christians among them, some of whom are those who flee from other villages. It lies on the eastern border of the province of Cagayan, and extends from some high mountain chains to the coast; and, as it is so rough a land, it has not yet been possible to conquer it, although many attempts have been made, the religious going sometimes with and sometimes without soldiers. Missionaries have also been appointed on various occasions; but although they have baptized many persons, they have not been able to convertthem all. As vicar of the said house, the chapter then appointed father Fray Teodoro de la Madre de Dios, and gave him some priests as companions. They went thither with a presidio of Spanish soldiers at the command of the governor, who so ordained it. Many of the soldiers and two of the religious—father Fray Bernardo Cejudo and father Fray Manuel Rincon—died because of the poor climate or poor food. They all remained there, that time, for two years, and baptized many people there; and those natives long continued to embrace the law of God. But either because of the sickness, which had developed into a plague; or because those Indians were at war continually with other people of the interior, more powerful, who greatly persecuted them, and the faith of Christ: for all those causes, and because they could not cope with so many dangers and troubles so long as the natives were not quiet, the presidio that was still left retired to Cagayan, and the fathers returned, as they had lost hope of obtaining more fruit. However, our religious are accustomed to return there every little while, where some are baptized, and those who have made their decision do not fail to come; and the province does not lose sight of those posts, for the time when the Lord shall be pleased to summon them, and when they shall respond with resolution. They are numerous; and, since they live so far inland in this same island, it is well seen that it is very pitiable to behold them so buried in their darkness—or not to see them, for they flee from the light. It is not easy to form a judgment on what passes in this very island; for, since it extends for almost two hundred leguas, and all of the seacoast in all parts is subdued, all the fastnessesof the mountains are inhabited by numerous peoples of various nations and languages, morally impossible to subdue, although great efforts are being and have been made. The reason therefor is, that since it rains so much in these lands, in addition to the so powerful heat of the sun, and there is so little stone, such thickets and undergrowth spring up that one can penetrate them with difficulty, and [it is even difficult] for the very animals of the forest. Consequently, nature has defended those people with a thousand walls. Then too they are children of idleness, and live on roots, the fruits of trees, and the flesh of game. They have no other granaries than those of their own bellies, nor more clothing than that which they get from their mothers. At the most, they wear a bajaque or breechcloth made from the bark of a tree, and which conceals but ill the token of their sex. They have no villages, but live in rude collections of huts or in camps, and in certain shacks which rise a vara above the earth, where they take refuge when it rains. When they feel the cold too keenly, they light fires and sleep in the ashes. Their life is as follows: When they rise in the morning, the robust ones go hunting the deer with arrows or dogs. If they kill one, they take it to their camp; and there they all eat it, half raw, half roasted, without salt or bread. If they do not have meat, they find roots and fruit, and so do they satisfy their hunger without further exercise of reason. And, since they are totally without reason, they have no form of religion or worship, except certain superstitions concerning the flight and songs of birds. Such is their wretched existence; and therefore do they grow up with the understanding of brutes, without care orforesight. Some descend the mountain to trade with our Christian Indians. The latter approach them, and carry iron for their arrows, and rice and other things which they know well—especially tobacco, but which they are not accustomed to sow. Neither do they accustom themselves to any other kind of work. This island so abounds with these people that they are encountered at six leguas from Manila. By means of such communication they hear our Christians, who talk to them of our holy faith, and they approve it. But when they hear that the Christians pay tribute and bandalas, and that here are personal services (which it is necessary to have, for a civilized and domestic life) they return to their liberty. Some are reduced, but it is generally a fact that this becomes continually more difficult so long as the Lord who died for them does not drive from their side that enemy who makes them daily more obstinate and hard.Late in July of the year 1653, the ship from Nueva España anchored in the port of Cavite, more fortunate than most of the vessels that have been seen since the discovery of these islands. It brought four personages—no less than the archbishop, the governor, the bishop of Cagayan, and an auditor. It had been some years since a ship had entered Cavite, for they all had to put back to other ports because of the bad weather. And although, wherever they finally enter, they discharge their cargo and assure the safety of the money, yet doubtless it is always a considerable loss that the ship does not come direct to Cavite, and, being laden with expenses and averías, at least one-third of its good fortune is dissipated. It had been twelve and more years since these islandshad had an archbishop; for one who came to them consecrated during that time, namely, his Excellency Don Fernando Montero de Espinosa, was obliged to come overland, as the ship anchored in the port of Lampon; and, when he arrived at the lake of Bay six leguas from this city—whither some persons from the cabildo had gone beforehand to receive him—he was suddenly overtaken by a severe illness, from which he soon died without the Church, his spouse, having enjoyed anything except letters and good news. And, lastly, came the evil of its widowhood before he had taken possession of it or seen it. For that reason all through that period there was considerable trouble, wherever trouble exists. But there is more here, where before a successor is obtained another six or eight years elapse. Now indeed did the lack become doubly felt, for not even one of the three suffragan bishops of this metropolitan was left; for if there are any bishops it is a great consolation. For then, although it is after the trouble of making voyages, students, religious, and secular priests are ordained, and there is recourse for all that episcopal dignity demands, and it is the shadow of a great relief for all Christians, although the bishops are distant. It was God’s will to allow his Excellency Doctor Don Miguel de Poblete—a native of Mexico, in whose cathedral and in that of La Puebla de los Angeles he had held the greatest dignities—to arrive at that time. He was received here with great demonstrations of joy. The governor was Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, a native of Malaga. He filled his post excellently, and was generally well liked by all; for he was very affable, pious, and not at all harsh likethe former governor. He had his troubles, of which we shall speak; and having governed for more than ten years his residencia was satisfactorily finished, and he had the good fortune to return to his country. The bishop of Cagayan was his Excellency, Master Don Fray Rodrigo de Cardenas, of our holy order and from the province of Perù, of whom we shall speak in the proper place. The auditor who came in that ship was Don Salvador de Espinosa, a learned and zealous man; and so much so that he began to work at matters of government before the proper time. For he immediately, seeing that there were but few Spaniards in the country, thought that he had learned all about it in a short time; and went about passing sentences and issuing manifestos, more a result of his erudition than from any necessity for it. His last offspring bore the character of admonition and was printed. All estates were grievously wounded by it—a serious matter when there is no one to take up the defense. His zeal might have been useful, but assuredly no service to God or the king followed; for his Majesty does not desire his vassals to be maltreated, but will consider it a great service if his ministers employ their great erudition in maintaining justice, observing it in all the villages, and honoring all, especially the ecclesiastical religious, and not in saying pretty things (with which they load one down when they consider that it will make their own dignity more estimable)—especially with these printed papers, which, since they are printed, give us more permission to make public complaint. Like that of another paper which was printed in the year 1671—which finally brought its author to the earth, even before knowing the names,it left persons both ecclesiastical and religious badly besmirched. In order to vaunt his erudition, he despoiled the living altars of their best ornament, namely, honor; and he did not hesitate to dedicate and send it to the feet of the greatest Majesty. But he will have had his answer already. The other admonitory pamphlet, when it was issued, seemed so foul to its very author that he himself went about collecting and burning it. Supposing the first an arbitrary statement, the second was Catholic and made by a person erudite and desirous of salvation. He lived for a while, for a mortal accident happened, and he paid his debt and had himself buried in the convent of Santo Domingo. To the great luck of so fortunate a ship, which brought so grave persons and those of the greatest distinction for these lands, was added the relief of money, which was larger than usual, as well as that of individual persons....[This chapter records the death (in 1653) in the Manila convent of father Fray Juan del Villar, a native of Luzena, and son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova. He went to the Philippines in 1635, and applied himself to the study of Chinese and taught in the college of Santo Tomás.]Among other ordinances passed by that chapter, as they were necessary, was one that declared that no one could be employed in the office of lecturer in our college of Santo Thomas unless he first learned some one language native to that country—not because there is any logic in it, which must precede the sciences, but, since the first foundation of this province is that of the preaching and missions, all must know a language. He who does not know one, even if he be a very learned theologian, does not renderall the service that he can; and he does not have the good fortune to be sent by his prelates or to have a change of climate, which is perhaps important to his health. On arriving from España it is the custom for all to be divided, according to the arrangements made by the prelate, in the study of the various languages. With their pious desire and the master that is given them, he who can not learn enough in one year in order to make himself understood as a preacher and confessor in a language must be very dull. With such sound beginnings they are not embarrassed afterward in other occupations, since, when a place in the ministry becomes suitable, the greatest difficulty is found to have been conquered. Of greatest use on the sea is he who knows the duties of sailor and artilleryman; and as time goes on it becomes a matter of disconsolation for a religious to find himself without a language, and at an age when it is impossible to learn it, while it is a matter that might have been overcome in a brief time at the beginning.[Chapters ii–iv treat of Chinese affairs and missions.]CHAPTER VOf the intermediary junta, and of a new mission sent to the kingdom of ChinaIn the junta held in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila in the year fifty-four, there was no new ordinance to pass; for all matters were well ordered, and this holy province always refrains from making new laws, which (like the impositions of new tributes) the obedience of the subjects always considers with more annoyance than respect. For since theyare the life of the monarchy, when there is any need, and its health, so also are they generally feared when they can be avoided; and when new ones are imposed, the old ones become distasteful. The provincial (who was then father Fray Pedro de Ledo, a man of great devotion and zeal), seeing that no ministers had left these islands for Japon since the year thirty-seven, as the gates had been shut to them and even walled up for our sins and those of that wretched land, tried to get together a mission for it; and, in order that he might not have cause to envy the explorers, he determined to go himself as prelate. But he always urged secrecy in the plan as the essential part, and only revealed it to those interested—namely, father Fray Raymundo del Valle, father Fray Pedro de Ansa (an oldtime minister of Cagayan), and father Fray Antonio de Barrios. He also shared the secret with the person who was to remain as vicar-general during his absence. With that intention, which was facilitated by his courage and pious desire, he bought a champan under pretext that it was to be used for the service of the province of Cagayan, and that he was lading it with supplies and ship’s-stores for the said province (as was a fact). He spent a large sum in that, and even despoiled some churches of their money. That was without any doubt a harsh measure; for although the property of the convents is common here, and the provincial can take from one to aid another, in accordance with the ordinances of this province, yet that kind of goods and property are generally bought with the alms of the natives of the villages, given by them especially for their churches. Consequently an injury was done, even though it be as was allegedon that occasion, namely, that he thought that there was a superabundance of alms. Since all the adornment of the tabernacle and of Solomon’s temple falls short for divine worship, and these natives do not remember or take much note of leaving or not leaving their property in immemorial writings, their memories are indelibly impressed by seeing that they have given it by their sweat to the church, and they leave an honorable luster on a lamp and some candlesticks which they gave, and which remain, making a barangay honorable. The father-provincial, who was a prudent and erudite man, must have considered it all; yet notwithstanding, as he thought that the common right of a mission so important as Japon was greater than are the alms and the said gifts, the matter could not be regulated, and he used it all. The end was most lofty, the means which he chose very fitting—as were the three religious, who were the most suitable in the province; and the champan was staunch. All being concluded, the essential wheel of those plans was lacking, namely, the will of God without which one can never succeed. [The efforts to attain the Japanese mission proved fruitless, but the provincial succeeded in sending five missionaries to China. The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][Chapter vi relates in part the work of the mission to China. Chapter vii mentions certain missionaries who have died. The lay-brother Raymundo de la Cruz died gloriously after earnest labor. Geronimo de Zamora died in Cagayan province after a ministry among the natives of thirty-eight years, besides serving as commissary of the Holy Office. His native city was Zaragoza, and he professed in the conventof that city. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomás, definitor in the year 1652, vicar-provincial four times in Cagayan, and ordinary in nearly all the houses of that province. Juan de las Casas also died in the same part of the province. Bernardo Cejudo died while engaged in the conversion of Ituy. He had reached the Philippines in 1648, and his life was one of austerity and earnest endeavor. Matias de Armas also died in 1655 in the province of Cagayan. He was born in the island of Tenerife in the city of Laguna, where he took the habit. In the Philippines he became a master of the Cagayan and Tagálog tongues, acting as vicar in Cagayan, and as vicar of Abucay in 1645. In the years 1638–39 he was in the island Hermosa, where he studied that language while awaiting an opportunity to go to China (which was unsuccessful). At his death in 1655 he was vicar of Afulug. Alonso Navarro, president of the Chinese hospital of San Gabriel, died that same year in the Manila convent. During his thirty years in the Dominican province he ministered to the Filipinos (being very fluent in the Tagálog language); served as definitor, vicar of many houses, and vicar-provincial; and built the church in the village of Binondoc. In Cagayan also died that year Pedro de Aniza, an earnest missionary who had acted as vicar-provincial and ordinary of many houses. He solemnized many baptisms among the hostile people of Irraya and those in the mountains.]In 1656 father Fray Jacinto Gali of the province of Aragon, son of the convent at Girona in Cataluña, was elected provincial. By his excellent qualities, and the proofs that he had shown of his great prudenceand devotion in the course of the twenty-four years that he had spent in this holy province, he was worthy of the supreme dignity of its government. He learned very perfectly the difficult language of the Chinese, to whom he ministered often in the Parián and in Binondoc. He also knew the Tagálog language thoroughly; and thus accomplished much in both languages. The province, desirous of elevating to the highest pinnacle the one who would advance their order with the activity and integrity that such an office demands, elected him their head. His election was well received both within and without the house, for all were acquainted with him and knew that his merits had called for so honorable an occupation many years before. He began to exercise it, but God, satisfied with his holy desire, blocked his steps in a short time; for at his first departure, when he went to visit Cagayan, having arrived there a mortal illness attacked him in Lalo. There, after he had received the sacraments, and had taken farewell of his province with most tender and paternal speeches—not unaccompanied by the sobs of all the religious, who had hastened at the report of his illness—he gave his soul to the Lord in the eighth month of his provincialate, on New Year’s day of the year 1657. That [such was his death] is understood by the tokens that his great virtue and devotion left to us. That was a perfect New Year’s day for his soul, which will never grow old in his time. Before he went upon the said visit, Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and the royal Audiencia, urged by their narrow-minded zeal as ministers of his Majesty, put a new pressure upon us. Through the fiscal of the king it was intimated to usand to all the orders that we were to make a presentation of the lists of the chapters, as is done in the other provinces of the rest of the Indias. This is a very delicate thing to treat in a history, and it has cost many entreaties before God and His most holy mother our patroness—not because of the inconveniences that are feared from the royal piety of his Majesty, the king our sovereign, nor of the impartiality and justice of his ministers, who will know how to govern this matter with that fear of God and with prudence, as they do other matters; but because we ourselves fear in these conversions which are so tender, where perhaps the tying of the hands of the mother will mean the loosening of those of the children, which will render them restless, with greater difficulty in subduing them than in other provinces less remote from relief and remedy. What happened in that case was that we petitioned with due submission, and stated our reasons (although all our reasons cannot be taken to so lofty and grave courts); and as a consequence the royal Audiencia allowed us to continue our present custom, which we maintain not only from our rules, but from the foundation of this province, and sent the records to the royal Council of the Indias, where the matter was examined. In that year the province sent as definitor to the general chapter father Fray Juan Lopez, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, lecturer in theology, and regent of the college of Santo Thomàs of Manila. He later became the most illustrious bishop of Zibu and ascended to the archbishopric of the said city of Manila. We shall discuss him more in detail in the year of his death, which occurred lately, to the universal sorrow of these islands. Authority as procurator-generalwas given to father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad in order that he might accompany the former. He was already in Madrid, and afterward became the most meritorious bishop of Santa Marta. The provincial having died, the prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, where the chapter of the coming election was to be held, namely, father Fray Lucas Montanero, became vicar-general according to our rules. Having called the conference or junta of the province, he set the time and day for the following chapter, namely, April 21, 1657, and it was held by arrangement of the said conference and its vicar-general.[Chapter viii deals with the life and death (July, 1656), of Diego Rodriguez in China, and Chinese affairs. Chinese matters are discussed also in the three following chapters.]CHAPTER XIIGreat earthquake of San Bernardo’s day; and the mission which arrived at the provinceIn the year 1658, when the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles was prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, another great and formidable earthquake occurred on the twentieth of August. In the opinion of all it was worse than that of the day of St. Andrew which we have related, which occurred in the year 1645; except that this one came alone in the quality of its greatness (for the shocks that accompanied it were much less severe than in the former; it is a natural thing to have these earthquakes come with a retinue, and they are among the evils that can never come singly). Thesecond reason why this one was less was based on the fact that the city of Manila was in a sad condition, and those lofty edifices of stone were on the ground, which then robbed the city of much of its pride. Therefore, although some people were killed and many met with accidents and bodily injury, it was not so bloody. However it did not fail to exercise its commission, and many edifices were violently overthrown and great disorder was occasioned not only in Manila but in all these islands.... Our convent of Santo Domingo was hardly used; and as the religious had no cells, as those which were left were full of water, they went along that street seeking corners where they could stay, even at great inconvenience. When the mission (of which we shall speak immediately) arrived, lodgings had to be arranged in the galleries of the new church, where beds and curtains were distributed among the various collateral naves. A better manner of lodging could not be found for many days, because the rainy season (which was a great drawback) had set in. The convent was very fortunate in having there its superior, who repaired so great a disaster with all courage and fortitude, and encouraged his subordinates by repairing their house with great skill and energy, notwithstanding that it was under heavy expenses. God performed miracles by his hand, and has continued the same in the other posts which he has held. Truly he is one of the most careful and indefatigable workers of this holy province, and as he is yet living, this remark must suffice.That year arrived an excellent mission which had been collected in España by father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad, who had remained there as bishop-electof Santa Marta, and Father Matheo Bermudez, who conducted it to Mexico, where he remained as vicar of San Jacinto. The latter entrusted his office to father Fray Juan de Polanco, who brought that mission safely to Filipinas to the great joy of all the religious. The mission consisted of thirty-eight,1and their names, occupations, and native places are as follows in order of age: father Fray Joseph Duriach, son of the royal convent of Santa Catalina Martir in Barcelona, former lecturer in the arts in Girona; father Fray Luis Alvarez, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and lecturer in the arts in the said his convent of San Pablo; father Fray Juan Polanco, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and former master of students in Santa Maria la Real at Trianos, who came as vicar of that mission from Mexico; father Fray Alonso de Leon, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Domingo de San Pedro, son of [the convent of] Santa Zita in Palermo, lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Mantua, and lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Diego de San Roman, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Victoria, and lecturer in logic in Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; father Fray Antonio Calderon, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, and fellow of Santo Tomàs in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Francisco Sanchez, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martirin Toledo, and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Felipe Leonardo, son of the Preachers in Valencia; father Fray Tomàs Butiel, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Hipra [i.e., Ypres] in lower Germania; father Fray Salvador de Santo Tomàs, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Domingo de Villamide, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Martin de Trigueros, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Ocaña; father Fray Pedro del Barco, son of [the convent of] La Madre de Dios in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Jayme Berge, son of [the convent of] Corpus Christi at Luchente in the kingdom of Valencia; father Fray Juan Teodoro, son of [the convent of] San Vicente at Calcha, in the province of Flandes; father Fray Agustin Garcia, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid; father Fray Diego Serrano, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Joseph de Noriega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Leonardo Marquez, son of [the convent of] San Agustin in Padua; father Fray Nicolas Merlo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Antonio Martinez, son of the convent of Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Tomàs de Leon, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid, and brother of father Fray Alonso de Leon above mentioned; father Fray Fernando de Melgar, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Lorenzo del Rosario, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Bartolome de Quiroga, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Lugo;father Fray Victorio de Almoynia, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; Fray Bernardo Alvarez, dean, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Estevan de Rivera, son of [the convent of] Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; Fray Melchor Vigil, dean, son of the said convent in Trianos; Fray Lucas de San Vicente, lay-brother, native of Salamanca, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Those who remained sick in Mexico came the following year. They were as follows: father Fray Manuel de Guzman, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla; father Fray Gregorio Ortiz, son of the Preachers in Zaragoza; Fray Domingo de Flores, dean, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Zamora; Fray Andres de los Angeles, lay-brother, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Oajaca. That fine mission arrived very opportunely, composed of religious who possessed so excellent abilities; they were young, and well fitted to advance the credit of this holy province. After the joyful congratulations which welcomed them, they were assigned by the arrangements of the prelate, then the father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, to the study of a language. They have gone forth as excellent ministers and missionaries, both those who are living and some who have already died.[Chinese affairs again engross our author for the remainder of this chapter, as well as for the thirteenth.]CHAPTER XIVJunta of the year 1659; father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales goes to take part in it; and prior events in Zubinkeu.The intermediary junta was held in 1659 in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Among other matters that were decided there, we must not pass in silence the response made to the fathers of China to a question or memorial presented by them. [This memorial, in view of the disturbed state of China and the slender support that was received by the missionaries in China from the province in the Philippines, asks that whenever cultivated lands are given them as an alms they may accept them. The memorial or petition was not allowed, for the bad effects that might ensue from it; as the Chinese might misconstrue it and imagine that the missionaries go to their country for the sake of the lands alone, and not for the welfare of souls—the decision giving great satisfaction to Juan Bautista de Morales, vicar-provincial of China. The remainder of the chapter relates wholly to Chinese matters.][The insurrections in the provinces of Pangasinán, Ilocos, and Cagayan of the year 1660 are discussed in chapters xv and xvi (the latter treating also of the Chinese pirate Kuesing). They will be sufficiently related elsewhere in this work. Chapter xvii is a summary of the life of father Fray Joseph de Madrid, who was born in Cebú. After studying at Santo Tomás in Manila, he entered the order in that city. He was soon sent to the Chinese missions, but was unable to remain there on account of the climate and hence returned to Manila, where hedied a violent death at the hands of the Chinese of the Parián—who had revolted on account of the threatening messages of Kuesing in the year 1662. He was a natural linguist, speaking fluently Cebúan, Visayan, Tagálog, and the language of Ituy, beside the most difficult dialect of the Chinese, namely, that spoken about Canton. Chapters xviii and xix treat of the Chinese pirate Kuesing and Chinese affairs. Chapter xx contains accounts of the lives of various religious who died in the Dominican province during this time. Carlos Clemente Gant died in the province of Nueva Segovia at the age of more than seventy, having arrived in the Philippines in 1611. He was a native of Zaragoza, and professed in the same city. His mission field was in the province of Cagayan, whither he returned both times after his terms as provincial (1637, and 1648). He also became commissary of the Holy Office after the death of the commissary Fray Domingo Gonzalez. Joseph de Santa Maria (or Navarro), a son of the convent of San Pedro Martir at Marchena in Andalucía, went to the Philippines in 1648. He was vicar of the islands of Babuyanes, where he fell ill and had to go Lalo-c for treatment; on returning to his convent he was killed by the insurgents. Pedro de la Fuente, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos, served as lecturer in theology in the college of Santo Tomás in Manila, and regent and prior of the Manila convent, and was minister in various places in Cagayan. At his death he was vicar of the village of Pata. The father commissary, Fray Salvador Mexia, son of the Sevilla convent, went to the islands in 1648. He acted as vicar-provincial of Pangasinán, and was remembered for his zeal.Francisco Martir Ballesteros, of the convent of Santo Domingo in Murcia, died in the province of Pangasinán at the age of more than seventy, being vicar-provincial of Pangasinán. He was a zealous minister, and left a number of sermons and other pious writings which circulated among the friars in manuscript. Rafael de la Carcel of the province of Aragon, a native of Mallorca, who went to the Philippines in 1632, also died in Pangasinán. Among other posts that he held he was prior of the Manila convent, for a while prior vicar-general, and vicar of Calasiao. His death occurred soon after the disaffection of that village, and was probably hastened by that loss. Rodrigo de Cardenas, bishop of Nueva Segovia, died in May, 1661. He had arrived at the Philippines in 1653, and held the office of bishop for eight years. He died greatly regretted by all.]CHAPTER XXIThe holding of the provincial chapter for the election; death of Kuesing; father Fray Victorio [Riccio] returns to China with the reply to his embassy.The father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, ended his term as provincial, and on April 7, 1661, the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, then prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, was elected in that convent. That was the first time when he rose to the government of this province as provincial. He filled that office so well that after twelve years (in 1673) he was elected for the second time, and is at present in that office. He came to this province in the mission of 1648, for which heleft his convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where he exercised the office of master of students. The province always kept him employed here in the offices of lecturer of morning classes, regent, and rector of the college of Santo Tomas; president of the hospital, and prior of Manila. Although he has filled all of them with great credit to his person, and has been useful and creditable to the order, yet the honor of commissary of the Holy Inquisition has given him greater prestige—both because any service for that holy tribunal (and especially that of commissary), means so much, and because of the circumstances of the time. For he was the first commissary elected after the disturbance, as famous as harmful, which was occasioned in these islands by the preceding commissary, who arrested the governor at that time without those orders that he ought to have awaited after having consulted—or, more correctly, having informed—the holy tribunal of Mexico. The father provincial commenced his first government with so much spirit and energy that much and even most of it was left for his second government. For the already-mentioned insurrection of the Parián happened in his term, as did the incident of our ambassador,2together with the measures taken in the offended provinces of the insurgent Indians, although those provinces are now quiet. In that and in the sending out of missions, in which he has always manifested his great love and inclination, and in maintaining them with aid, he could well boast of his great zeal and capacity—besides [carrying] theusual weight [of the province] which is always heavy. He sent father Fray Jayme Berge (who came in the mission of the year 1658) to become an associate to father Fray Victorio Riccio, and ordered father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, who desired it, to come to Manila. At the same time he gave orders and letters commanding father Fray Juan Polanco, whom the chapter had appointed definitor for Europa, and procurator-general, to come [to Manila]. He also conveyed a generous aid to our religious, as well as what the order of our father St. Francis gave him for their religious. That did not have the success that was desired, for the greater part was lost in the conveying of it through that so disturbed country. [The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][The four following chapters also treat of Chinese matters, including political and missionary affairs.]CHAPTER XXVIOf the intermediary junta; the arrival of a new governor in Filipinas; affairs of China; and of Mother Maria de Jesus.The intermediary junta was held in our convent of Santo Domingo, on April fourteen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-three. Besides the usual arrangements, no especial thing was ordained in it except to entrust to the father provincial the printing of the ritual, and, when that was done, to see that the religious used it and no other. That is a very important provision, and one in which the zeal of our superiors is very well occupied, so that our procedure may be uniform, as we are charged in the beginning of ourholy constitutions. It is not advisable that this matter of ceremonies be free, since they are so necessary; and piety and opinion have no vote in this matter, in which the decree of the superiors has explained their decision. The worst results will follow if neglect occasions it, since the administration of the holy sacraments is the most essential point of the ministries; and they need rules and regulations, care in their study, and punctuality. In the year 1669, a very suitable ritual was published, which was quite uniform with the Roman ritual of Paul V....That year of 1663 our governor, the master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, came to these islands. He was a worthy soldier of Flandes, where he had attained honorable posts; and since he had filled them so well his Majesty entrusted to him the influential post of captain-general and governor of these islands. If these islands were three thousand leguas nearer, that office would doubtless not be second in importance to those of America. The ship put in at Nueva Segovia, and consequently the said governor came overland—being received very hospitably by our ministering religious and those of our father St. Augustine, who are established along the way. On that journey also they were received by the natives with feasts, dancing, and music, in which they are very entertaining. His Lordship gained a good name in [receiving] those tokens of welcome, inadequate as they were, by the great affability and generosity that he displayed to the natives. He reached Manila and assumed his office amid great acclamation and pomp on the festal day of September eight, the day consecrated to the birth of the most holy Virgin. That was a great consolation to all people, and goodauguries were indicated although not all of them were fulfilled to the letter. He was beyond doubt a capable man, and one of great intellect. In but few days he understood whatever concerned his obligation, and never departed from it so long as it concerned the king’s service. He made the despatches of the ships to España very punctually, and with foresight; for he recognized that the ship that left here annually to get the situado is the one that ought to have the greatest care, and demands activity [in preparation] so that it may not be pushed for time, but that one or two months shall be gained. Consequently, there always was a ship [on that line]; and God took charge of them and brought them in, seeing that people here were doing their utmost.3In respect to the good fortune with which he began [his term], he became faint-hearted, and cared little for being liked, for that post cannot be free from cause for harshness. The devil entered, upon seeing the necessary wall of love somewhat fallen; and he put complaints into the minds of the traders, which soon spread to the other estates. That enemy sowed dissension, which is his own seed; and the number of those disaffected increasing, much opposition to the governor arose. At the end of the year 1668 (October tenth) the governor was arrested by the commissary of the Inquisition, Fray Joseph de Paternina, an Augustinian....[Further references to the Chinese missions and politics are made, and the chapter ends with notices regarding a Spanish beata or devout woman, Maria de Jesus, who died in Manila in 1662. Her parents, Albaro de Angulo Tobar and Isabel de Morales, were old settlers in the islands, who had lived first in Cebú; and their daughter was born in Arevalo, in the island of Panay. The latter took the habit of beata in the tertiary order of the Dominicans, somewhat against the will of her parents. She gave many alms, spent the greater portion of her wealth in the building of the church of Santo Domingo, and reared orphan girls in her house.][The life and labors of the famous missionary to China, Juan Bautista de Morales, who died in 1664, fill chapters xxvii-xxxii. The following chapter is devoted to Fray Francisco de Paula, commissary of the Inquisition and twice provincial, and other fathers. The former was born in Segovia and took the habit at Salamanca. Enlisting in the Philippine mission in 1618, on arriving there he began to study Chinese in the Parián; but was soon transferred to the college of Santo Tomás, where he taught for eighteen years. He was a successful and eloquent preacher to the Spaniards, and in consequence was elected preacher-general of the Manila convent. The office of vicar-provincial, as far as Manila is concerned, was conferred on him; and in the year 1641 he was elected provincial. In 1647, while exercising his duties in the Manila college of Santo Tomás, whither he had returned after his office had expired, he was elected commissary of the Inquisition. In 1657 he was again elected provincial. Pedro de Santo Domingo, who took the habit in Milan, Italy,went to the Philippines in 1658, at the age of forty, and was sent to the Chinese missions; but, being unable on account of his age to learn the language, he was sent back to Manila and became vicar of the convent of Santelmo in Cavite. Illness, however, pressing on him, he was assigned as vicar to the Philippine hospice of San Jacinto in Mexico, but died ere reaching his destination.]CHAPTER XXXIVThe election of a new provincial in the person of the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles; and the great troubles in China.The capitular members assembled in the year 1665 to elect a provincial, as the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, had completed his office. On the twenty-fifth of April they elected the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, of the province of Andalucia, and a son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in the village of Zafra in Estremadura. He had come to this province in the year 1635, and had been minister of Tagalos in the district of Bataan, and afterward in the island Hermosa, where he remained six years (the time when the Dutch captured that fort and drove us from the land). He returned to Manila by way of Jacatra and Macasar, and to his former ministry of Tagalos. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomas, twice prior in our convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, at various times vicar-general, and definitor in 1661 and 1673. In the year that we mentioned, the province elected him as its prelate, to the general satisfaction of all. This is as much as we can say at present, for he is still living.We can also say that since being provincial, he has undertaken the charge of the college for boys of San Juan de Letran. He has provided for them a very suitable and spacious house within the walls of Manila, that has gained repute and esteem for the pious education in virtue and the studies of those children, which is the object [of that college]. This holy province was struggling manfully at the time of that election, but both hands were busy in wiping off the tears that were shed before God for two reasons. [The first reason was the effort of the governor to make the orders publish the lists of ministries,4as was the custom in the other parts of the Indias. In 1665 the vessel which arrived brought his Excellency, Don Fray Juan Lopez, consecrated bishop-elect of Cebú. He brought with him the acts of the general chapter held in Rome in 1656; the execution of the measures for the government of the Indias in general were suspended, as the Philippines were not included in them unless mentioned specially. The second great trouble of the province was the cruelty practiced on the missionaries in China. The chapter ends with accounts of China and the work there.][Chinese affairs are continued in chapters xxxv–xl.]CHAPTER XLIA new mission arrives in the province; and events of these times in Filipinas and China.The bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco (who was not yet bishop-elect) went to España with the usual powers conferred by the province, following Don Fray Juan Lopez, bishop of Zibu and afterward archbishop of Manila, who had gone the preceding year with the same powers. But because of accidents, and since the province was so lacking in religious, a second procurator was despatched. That was an excellent measure, as the result showed; for the bishop of Zibu was embarrassed by his new promotion and by his despatches, so that he could not get the mission ready, although he had made a good start at it upon the arrival of Don Fray Juan de Polanco. The latter was very well received in the provinces of España, and all of them showed him great love and reverence because of the good impression that he gave by his virtues, which have without doubt the greatest attracting power for those spiritual soldiers. The commission is one of danger which only the loftiest object and obedience can make peaceful; for besides being the sample, as they say, of the cloth, such a person is not only looked at but spied upon by all; and it is necessary above all to bear God in mind and keep oneself acceptable to Him for so long and even almost desperate voyages, so that He may give health in so many hardships, climates, and paths of the earth, and [enable him to furnish] a good example for so many different kinds of persons with whom one must confer and voyage, in the midst of so many cares as he always has in his charge. The task ofmaking religious is that of the greatest difficulty; for so long as the men [sought] have the greatest abilities, their convents, who have reared them, feel it more, and say farewell to them to see them no more, where natural love does its duty and the devil is not careless—although, in fine, our holy provinces have always nourished this daughter of theirs in the belief that to give her a religious is to make God careful to send her many, and to preserve them with the wealth of their virtues. They send their sons to this honorable warfare, and the latter gain new blasons for them and get their first share of the spoils in the service of God and the welfare of souls. Therefore, the procurator who is securing men needs many lights of virtue, prudence, and affability, and great patience, for accidents that happen, and for the suitable choice of routes, and for guidance when they go astray; then the essential part of presenting the things in his care to the princes, and the latter’s councils and counselors to whose questions he must make answer with truth and candor. The fear of God is master in all; for, if he swerve from that line, he cannot make a good voyage. For the other despatches by tribunals and accountancies, he needs to attend upon them without being troublesome, and enduring delays, civilities, and courtesies; for they are ministers of the king and worthy of all esteem, and he must await his time amid the so many cares entrusted to them. Just at present we all enjoy the ministry of a perfect procurator of Filipinas in our venerable bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco, who must have been a model of procurators; for by his example and virtue alone, he found himself freed from all the difficulties that accompany that honorable office. Intheir very beginnings he found them solved and conquered; and he made the very judges of his causes, and even those who were opposed to him, his attorneys. This is not imagination but the pure truth; and there are many witnesses still living now in the holy city of Roma (where he went as definitor in 1668), and in the royal court of Madrid—where he was favored by princes, and esteemed and respected as an apostolic and holy man in their councils and tribunals; where he was listened to as a learned orator of this province; and where his causes were heard with the notable grace that God gave him wherever he went, and with the highest honor in both the said courts. The time will come for recounting his life and death, and then a longer account will be given of his virtues. Suffice it to say for the present that he collected two famous missions for this holy province, which he accompanied to Mexico (which is the rough place in the ascent of the hill), and returned for the third time [to España] for more soldiers—[whom he would have brought] had not the giant footsteps of envious death intercepted him in Sevilla. He entrusted the first mission to one of its religious, namely, father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz. They reached Manila safely in August, 1666, and their names in order of age are as follows: father Fray Juan de Velasco, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz el Real in Granada, and master of students, who was then in the convent of San Lucar; father Fray Joseph de Isussi, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos and fellow of [the convent of] San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Diego Nuñez, son of [the conventof] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Christoval de Montenegro, son of the convent and college of Nuestro Señora del Rosario in Almagro, fellow of Santo Thomas in Sevilla, and teacher of logic there; father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Sevilla, and lecturer in logic there, former fellow of Santo Thomas of Alcalà de Henares (this father remained in Mexico because of illness, and came the following year); father Fray Christoval Pedroche, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Juan Romero, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Juan de la Cueva, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz in Granada; father Fray Pedro de Alcalà, son of the same convent in Granada; father Fray Manuel de Mercadillo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Alonso Blasco, son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in Estremadura; father Fray Domingo Perez, son of the convent of Santa Maria de Trianos, fellow of Alcalà [de Henares]; father Fray Juan Peguero, son of the convent of Porta Cœli in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Ximenez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Joseph de Solis, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Francisco de Olmedo, son of the same convent in Palencia; father Fray Pedro Sanchez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Antonio de San Juan, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Agustin Garcia de Ortega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Pablo Marchan, son of the same convent of San Estevan; fatherFray Andres Gonzalez, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; father Fray Bernabe Rodriguez, son of the same convent in Valladolid; father Fray Francisco de Villalva, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos; father Fray Pedro de Alarcon, son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha; father Fray Antonio Rego, son of the convent of San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Andres Lopez, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Diego de Castro, son of the convent at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Joseph de San Jacinto, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Joseph de la Torre, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Rio Seco; father Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, son of the convent in Ocaña; father Fray Juan de Santa Maria, son of the convent of San Pedro in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Gonzalez, son of the convent of Aranda in Duero; father Fray Juan de Castellanos, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Logroño; father Fray Bernardo de Noriega, son of the convent of San Pablo in Palencia; Fray Antonio de la Purificacion, lay-brother, of the convent of Santa Cruz in Granada; Fray Joseph de la Villalva, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Juan Fernando, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos, who remained in our hospice of San Jacinto [in Mexico]; and Fray Sebastian del Rosario, lay-brother, son of the said convent of San Jacinto in Mexico. In all they number thirty-nine.5This fine mission came in the ship “La Concepcion,” that year of 1666. The same ship also broughttwo other missions, one of our father, St. Francis, and the other of the Society of Jesus; two religious of St. John of God, and secular priests; also captains, and very honorable persons—in charge of the commander Joseph de Zamora. The ship was unable to make the Embocadero because the vendavals which had set in prevented it. Therefore it was very fortunate in making the port of Palapa, which is located on the southern side.6They anchored there on the day of St. Lawrence, and it was considered a very special providence of God that they disembarked there on that land, for all arriving in great need and worn out after four months and more of continual navigation, they found, especially the religious, that they had arrived at the land so oft desired and the land of promise. They found in that village, which is in charge of the fathers of the Society, a father rector whose charity challenged the needs of all of them and was victorious. This was the ever venerable father Melchor de los Reyes, a native of Puerto Rico, who, although very poor in that ministry of his, yet settled the difficulty as a very rich man. He lodged eighty religious without even remotely expecting one. He received them all with the ringing of bells, with playing on wind instruments, and music. He supported them abundantly and daintily until boats were found to take them to Manila (which could not be done in a few days). He also succored the ship with rice and other supplies, and with dainties, according to their persons. Ours were the best served, for boats were not found; and although it was thought that the ship could soon proceedupon its voyage, the bad weather was so obstinate that it was unable to sail until March of the following year. Therefore they remained in that holy house with the same satisfaction that they could have had in the most wealthy convent of our order. Sufficiently accommodated in those lodgings, they all said mass; and then those who wished had their breakfast. All the food was supplied abundantly, with the utmost cleanliness and punctuality. They were sheltered in the choir and galleries with great quiet. A pleasant and crystal river flowed near the college, for recreation and bathing. There were books in great abundance, according to the taste of each one. Above all was the affability of the holy religious, and of the others who attended to those residences belonging to their ministry. Truly there are no words to imagine the consolation that the Lord gave there to our tired religious, or the obligation under which all this province remained at so generous charity. The religious who served as superior of Ours, seeing the length of time that they were staying there, and the so excessive expense that was being incurred, although fearful of a bad outcome, finally, to satisfy his ill-founded fear, took one hundred pesos from the scanty hoard of the mission, and resolved to give them to the father rector. They were not sufficient even to cover the cost of the rice, but in the end would be some aid in meeting the expenses. He followed the rector alone into his apartment, and, changing color, after some arguments which he endeavored to offer he concluded by asking pardon, and asked him to please take that trifle to pay at least the porters and cooks, since our mission was detained so long there. The father rector assumed a serious countenance then,and in brief, sorrowfully proceeded to give the father a severe reproof, by telling him that nothing worthy of payment had been done there; that the father vice-provincial had ordered him to attend to that obligation; that the fathers of his residences had brought the supplies, each in accordance with his several ability; that, thanks to God, nothing was owed to the Indians; that God was giving for everything; and that he rather was the gainer, for, without knowing how, he found his pantries full; that during those days two dugongs had been caught (a thing which had not been seen before since he had been there, for never had those fish been seen there, for it was by a great miracle). Thus did he minimize all that he had done; but our religious, still insisting and placing the hundred pesos on the table, witnessed that the venerable father fell on his knees, and clasping his hands, with tears in his eyes, said to him: “No, no, father, you must not leave that money here for me. I beg that of you in the name of the most holy Virgin. She will not permit your Reverence to give me such affront, at least for the good-will with which I have served you.” Thereupon, the religious begged pardon, and kept his money without knowing how to pay that debt, unless it be paid in the divine treasuries of God, for whom it was all done. Our religious went out in seven bands, and for each band the rector solicited a boat, a good pilot, and a store of supplies for some days. All came [to Manila] singing the praises of so religious an Alexander, who was finally reared in so holy a school as that of the Society of Jesus—where, although one is taught all kinds of knowledge so completely, we can say that charity is that which is not taught, because it is inspired. Godwill now have paid that pious father, for already has He taken him to himself. The religious consumed two more months in going from Palapa to Manila because of the bad weather. However, they passed almost always through ministries belonging to our father St. Francis, where they found themselves detained and hindered more by the great love with which they were welcomed, and the regret with which they were allowed to depart, than by the roads and the difficulties of travel. They arrived at the desired place at last and were received by the father provincial, then the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, with that paternal love which his natural affability and his obligation dictated to him. When he saw that they were rested, he began to assign them occupations.On September 27 of the former year 1665, our most reverend father-general, Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, wrote a loving and thoughtful letter from Roma to the venerable father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales. That letter reached the province in 1667, and, although the father was dead, it will be proper that so precious a thing—to the credit of the paternal providence of its author, and of the reputation that this noble although so retired a member had gained with the supreme head of the order—shall not perish or be lost; and it is also to the credit of this holy province, for they so hold his name in memory as to honor it through its sons, our supreme heads. The letter reads as follows: “Reverend father in Christ: Health, and grace from the Holy Ghost. The news that I have received from the father provincial of that our province of the Filipinas is a great consolation to me. He gives me news of your Reverence’shealth, and of the perseverance with which you are aiding in those conversions without any relaxation to your labors in your so advanced age. I thank the Lord therefor, from whom comes all good; and applying to your Reverence the sufferings of all the order, and giving you the benediction of our glorious St. Dominic, I thank you again and again for having served in our ministry for the conversion of souls, which is the object of our institute, and which your Reverence and your companions are, with the divine grace, accomplishing. Forty-two religious sailed in the mission which left Cadiz on July 5 of this year, for which the father lecturer, Fray Juan Polanco, procurator of the province, worked zealously and diligently. The consolation that I have had in the selection of those missionaries will increase if your Reverence will take them under your teaching, and encourage and exhort them so that, as sons of so good a father, they may give bread to those who, desirous of spiritual sustenance, beg it. May God please that it be so, for such is my desire. In regard to the labors of government, it will relieve us to receive letters from your Reverence, and to have news of the progress of so loving sons as it has been God’s pleasure to give me. I have sent breviaries and a formulary of devotion to the twelve associates of your Reverence, which is as a token of my love, so that you may be mindful of me in your prayers, and ask God to give me the success that I desire in the fulfilment of my obligation. I am sending to your Reverence documents containing the many thanks that the holy apostolic see has given us; and I inform you that his Holiness in our Lord, Alexander VII, who is auspiciously governing this Church, is granting us veryloving favors; and I hope to receive even greater ones from his munificence. I shall give him an account of the extensive labors of your Reverence, and of the happiness that we may expect because an entrance has been made into the island Hermosa, whence the passage to China and to Japon will be facilitated. May God continually preserve and accompany your Reverence and all those my sons—to whom I say that the cause of the holy martyrs of Japon is proceeding felicitously;7and that I hope that the laurel of their martyrdom will be a motive to the others, so that, if it should prove necessary for the maintenance of our holy faith to suffer as martyrs they may do so with gladness. Roma, September 27, 1665.“Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, master of the order.”This is the letter written ex-officio by the general of the order to a poor missionary under him, giving place to this care before so many and imperative cares as claim his attention—so that one may see even in this life the honors that God has prepared for those who are employed in so apostolic an occupation.In the year 1667, on the day of the immaculate conception of our Lady, December 8, the most illustrious doctor Don Miguel de Poblete, archbishop of Manila, died in that city, to the universal sorrow of all these islands; for during the time of fourteen years while he had occupied the see, he acted as the loving father and pastor of his church. He was a very amiableman, pious, and possessed of great charity; for notwithstanding the poverty of this archbishopric, and its dependence upon the condition of a royal treasury that is so poor and has so many creditors, he gave liberal alms, which he took from the sustenance of his own person, his household, and his family. He was very anxious for the building of his cathedral, which he found completely ruined since the earthquakes. With grave importunity and the amount that his Majesty ordered to be paid to him, he left a church that was very sumptuous (as much so as these islands permit), almost finished. It has three naves, all of free stone and rubble-work masonry. It was finished a short time after his death; and its venerable dean and cabildo occupied it to the great consolation and credit of the city. On the day of his death occurred the ceremony of taking the oath of allegiance to the king our sovereign, Carlos Second;8and God made that occasion propitious for us, for with that his venerable body, embalmed, was exposed for three days, and the faithful had time to go with tearful piety to say farewell to their most loving shepherd, whose hands and feet they kissed until he was buried with due pomp. It was the common report, and an established fact, that he died a virgin, and beloved to the utmost degree9for his so beautiful virtue. This and his piety, not at all embarrassed by personal considerations,were sufficient to compose a palm10for him; and after it was placed it appeared very fitting. God will give his fame a special history, as ours cannot go into greater detail.In those two years God took from us valuable associates of long experience, who served this holy province much by their example and work for the welfare of the Indians. Father Fray Juan de Arjona, son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova, [was one]. He had been occupied with great earnestness in the ministries of Pangasinan and Ytui, and there he performed great deeds for the service of God, as those ministries were new. He died at an advanced age in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Father Fray Juan Pabon, native of Montaruches in Estremadura, son of the convent at Truxillo in the province of España, was most accomplished in the language of Nueva Segovia, and suffered great hardships in the conversion of the Indians of Irraya and in the administration of other villages. The love and respect of all who came in contact with him was very great; and the province entrusted to him many posts of honor, and grieved not a little at his death, for he was a model for ministers, and in every respect a pattern of his obligation.CHAPTER XLIIOf the intermediary junta of the year sixty-seven; and of other news of this period of our history.On April thirty of the year 1667 was held and celebrated the intermediary junta [in the term] of the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles, in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila—and with new vigor because of the fervor imparted to the province by the fresh nourishment received from its late reënforcement. They proceeded to arrange the ministries, and one more which it seemed advisable to separate, namely, San Miguel at Orion, in the district of Bataan. After knowing the new soldiers for a year, the old and new stones were assigned to their places in order to render this spiritual edifice firm and beautiful. The new rules made were but few, but they were very carefully thought out. The first was that no inferior or subordinate official of the order should visit or write to the alcaldes and superiors of the provinces, and least of all to the governor, without first making known his intention and explaining it to the father provincial—or, in his absence, to the vicars-provincial—respectively. That was and ought to be a necessary measure; and the attempt to carry out the decisions that each minister reaches in his seclusion may be the cause of greater troubles. We must not make a passion of our zeal for defending the Indians, for that is a virtue that essentially demands to be moderated by prudence. An angry letter, or (what is worse) a visit, founded perhaps on a misrepresentation, generally disquiets a superior. He, in his own opinion offended, is vexed; and the Indians themselves, and the rest of the religious,are wont to pay doubly [for the intrusion]. Consequently, it is proper that such matters be managed with much caution and in accordance with obedience, and in the council [of the order], keeping in view the object, which must be the first aim of every good intention. Everyone does what he is able in his ministry and profession, and the apostle says that we should give offense to no one. The heads of the province, being in an exalted position, discover many things and efficient remedies for all troubles; and hence it is necessary to place such affairs in their hands. For the same reason and one greater, that junta repeats the order that no one should preach against the government and the persons busied in it without consulting with the same superiors. For that means consultation with God, because words are very important in that most lofty and consecrated place—where by favor of the sovereign principles of a wisdom whose master is the fear of God, and general doctrines, one may say whatever there is to say. Our father San Vicente Ferrer did not preach more than the judgment, but he reformed the world, kings, and chiefs. And only a St. John the Baptist, who by credit of his virtue pointed out with his finger a divine Person, could point out from the pulpit a person so wicked and scandalous as a Herod; for the latter was, in fine, king, and his dignity protected him. God placed our superiors in their positions (and kings rule through God) and gave that honor to their councils and magistracies; and consequently it is proper for ministers to honor them without flattery (which is another and worse extreme) without curing them with salt, and with respect where the community does not feel it—so that by preaching to thepeople at large, they will know where their pain is. We have already touched on this point in another place; but, since our province repeats it so often in its ordinances, the historian is also permitted to repeat it, since it is advice so important. A petition was addressed to our most reverend father not to allow dispensations to be introduced into our provinces, nor anything that savored of [differences between] individuals or degrees. For since it had seemed to his paternal piety that the procurators-general who went from this province to those of Europa had immense work therein, he planned to grant to them officially some sort of reward, by conferring on them the rank of the more recent fathers of the province. Receiving this favor with submission and gratitude, they nevertheless protested in this junta against it. At the same time Don Fray Juan de Polanco made a humble resistance in Roma, as he knew that the order had already been sent. But he obtained that new favor from our most reverend father; and, before our petition arrived, the said grace was revoked.In the following year of 1668 two relief ships reached these islands, which came from Nueva España. In one of them came father Fray Antonio Calderon, who had obtained permission to return to España the preceding year, because of illness. But later, as he regained strength in Nueva España, and as he knew the lack that one religious makes here, and the need of the province, he was filled with no small doubt, seeing that this was coming to be a second vocation. Therefore, he determined to return, and did so; and entered the province for the second time with great courage and went to his ministries in Nueva Segovia, where he is and was an excellentlinguist. The devil is very subtile, and, because he sees the evil that is caused him by this province, he causes sickness, and makes sufferings greater than what they are in themselves. Since also the magnanimous nature of man falls short, and he takes it ill to see himself set in a land like this—as shut out from intercourse and repose as contrary to the liberty of our España—with the little attention given to him, he imagines insuperable hardships in the rules, aggravates his sickness in so great retirement; and by a door that is lawful, he disturbs the common cause and even endangers that of the individual. The said father now found himself strong, and consequently chose to return, to exercise his strength in this his province. In the other ship came father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, who had, as we have remarked above, remained in Mexico sick, and was now coming very strong and well—to a place where the only consolations and pleasures that went out to meet him were a peril and sudden catastrophe, which would have been the last had not God aided him almost miraculously. Because of the difficulty that the ship had in entering the strait or Embocadero of San Bernardino—and those difficulties are very great and usual in those seas in that season—the father took a small boat called a caracoa; and, embarking in it with a father visitor-commissary of our father St. Francis, who was coming as visitor, and another, his associate, with rowers and other Spanish passengers, they tried to cross the strait, in order to continue their course to Manila more quickly than they could by the ship, if they waited for it. Those boats are not only swift but weak, and, in order to give them greater safety, some long timbers are crossed at intervals over the sides;at the ends of these they suitably place some bamboo sails calledcates, so that, by thus making the vessel wider, they may better resist the waves and sustain them. They were beginning their crossing, which is a distance of about six leguas, and in the very middle of it so strong a gust of wind struck them, as well as so opposing currents—which, in those regions, are such that they will turn a ship of high free-board clear around, with or without favorable winds, moving it from side to side and disarranging the [trim of the] sails, with the accompanying horror that only sailors can imagine—that that boat (for it was not even a patache, but a very weak vessel) capsized, because of the currents and the violent wind that they encountered in the midst of the open expanse, after a few contrary blasts, and filled with water. It was the Lord’s will that the buffeting of the sea should soon strip it of weight, carrying away whatever it contained. Thereupon the men in it remained astride of the said timbers andcates, and many of them were up to their breasts in water, rigging it. In such wise they allowed themselves to drift along with the said current, wherever it chose to take them, sustained only on those timbers poorly fastened together with rattan. Night came; day followed; and in all that time they were unable to make the land—on the contrary, the currents carried them away from it. When they got out of one current they were seized by one opposed to it, so that they were continually going, round and round in those waters. Father Fray Arcadio, who was still convalescent, suffered the most; and doubtless would soon have given up, had it not been for the said father commissary. A bamboo enclosure was made as well as possible on those timbersand there the father found some retreat from the water, mainly in the arms of the said father commissary. The latter’s name was Fray Antonio Godinez, son of the religious province of San Diego in Mexico. With the same suffering did they pass the following night—without water to drink in the midst of so much water, nor more food than a few grains of rice, which the wrath of so rigorous a fortune that assailed those miserable beings had forgotten. At last, on the third day, the Lord, as a Father of mercy, listened to them and they reached the land; where, more beaten by the waves of the sea than assisted by what the rowers could do, they reached the sacred sand in a stripped condition. Three men were drowned, who tried to quit the boat too soon, and the sea made them pay for their ingratitude with their lives; for their weakness had already forbidden them [from reaching land]. It is always a rule of sailors that only wood can swim on such occasions. All is as God ordains; but already deposit was made of life, and a good account, by means of his Majesty, must be given. Our religious landed, or rather those who shared his fortunes drew him ashore half dead. But the land performed its miracles, and they hastened to the first village, where they all recovered and were despatched to Manila. The pious commissary lost there all the papers of his commission, so that, when he reached the province, great difficulties were raised, and he returned without making his visit. Father Fray Arcadio reached this our province, where he was gladly received, and the prelate assigned him to the study of the Chinese language, in which he took the courses that will be related at the end of this chapter.[The provincial receives a letter dated Roma, February19, 1668, from the father-general of the order, Juan Bautista de Marinis, in which concessions to the order by Pope Clement IX are related. The beatified Luis Beltran and Mother Rosa de Santa Maria have been canonized; universal prayerad libitumto San Vicente Ferrer has been conceded; and other concessions of general importance to the order are granted. August 1, 1673, four religious embark for the Chinese missions—namely, Arcadio del Rosario, Pedro de Alcala, Pedro de Alarcon, and Alonso de Cordova. The rough weather experienced causes the superstitious Chinese crew to imagine that it is caused by the fathers; but after many hardships China is finally reached in twenty-four days. After various adventures they return to Manila, May 4, 1674. Two Dominican religious, namely, Arcadio del Rosario and Francisco Lujan, and two Franciscans, namely, Miguel Flores and Pedro de Piñuelo, sail for China on Corpus Christi day, 1676.]At the same time, religious are being occupied in two glorious missions in this same island of Manila. One near the city, to the north, is to the Zambals, whom we have not yet been able to subdue. Now two of our religious are there, and are bringing in those of the mountains to form villages. They possess churches and many of the people are converted. The religious write that they have been received very well, and it is hoped that this will be a grand work for the service of God and for these islands, for those people are very courageous and bloodthirsty, and have always done great harm to those who go to other provinces and to the villages near them; and, if the faith of Christ once subjects them, great advantages present themselves for all. The other mission is located in the same region, in the province of Nueva Segovia,in the district of the mountains called Irraya, of which this history has already given repeated notices. Most of those people are heathen, although there are many Christians among them who have fled from our villages. They have been subdued at times, but their misfortune has immediately roused them to rebellion. Now we are considering how to attract them by love, and with security; and our religious are moving alone in this matter, with none of the horrors that soldiers bring. Consequently, we trust that they too will be subdued. Such is our special vocation in this holy province, where we profess especially to fight the wars of God. And thus as the good soldier loses spirit when peace is declared, and is inspirited at the rumor of a battle, It is an evident fact that these spiritual soldiers are aroused to unusual ardor when the arms of the missions are in use, just as the silence of these voices depresses them. And, if their sufferings and efforts reached at least half as far as do their desires, there would be no province in Asia now which had not yielded to God and to His holy faith in accordance with the honorable designs with which the beautiful sky of these islands inspires them.This news has been anticipated, because it is so recent; but the history only relates matters to 1669, so that the third part11will begin with the provincial chapter celebrated on May 11 of the said year, when the reverend father Fray Juan Camacho was elected provincial.[The chapter ends with the recital of certain benefits that have been received by the order at large, in canonizations, beatifications, etc.]Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’s Orbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini (Paris, 1639)Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’sOrbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini(Paris, 1639)[From copy in Library of Congress]

Book second of the second part of the first century and history of the province of Santo Rosario of the Order of Preachers, in Filipinas, Japon, and China.CHAPTER FIRSTChapter, and election of provincial; and events in those timesOn April 20 of the year 1652, the members of the chapter were assembled in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila, and elected as provincial the reverend father Fray Pedro de Ledo, then prior of that said convent and vicar-provincial of Tagalos. He was a person of all good qualities, a native ofMexico, and of noble parentage in that city. He took the habit and professed in this convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. In his studies he gave so good an account of himself that he lectured in arts and theology, and became regent in our college of Santo Tomas. He always had the name of an excellent student and learned man. On that account, and because of his great prudence, known to us by experience, the religious elected him to the post of provincial, which he filled very successfully and with great credit. Among the special events of that chapter was the announcement of the new university of Santo Tomas and its apostolic erection by a bull which his Holiness Innocent Tenth, of blessed memory, was pleased to promulgate at the instance of the king our sovereign, Felipe Fourth the Great. His Majesty, as sole patron, was pleased to put his hand to that—an honor very worthy of publication by the chapter; and, although it was current in all the province, that solemnity was still to be performed. The house of San Miguel of Ituy, in the province of Nueva Segovia, was also accepted. That is a great stretch consisting of heathen settlements for the greater part, although there are some Christians among them, some of whom are those who flee from other villages. It lies on the eastern border of the province of Cagayan, and extends from some high mountain chains to the coast; and, as it is so rough a land, it has not yet been possible to conquer it, although many attempts have been made, the religious going sometimes with and sometimes without soldiers. Missionaries have also been appointed on various occasions; but although they have baptized many persons, they have not been able to convertthem all. As vicar of the said house, the chapter then appointed father Fray Teodoro de la Madre de Dios, and gave him some priests as companions. They went thither with a presidio of Spanish soldiers at the command of the governor, who so ordained it. Many of the soldiers and two of the religious—father Fray Bernardo Cejudo and father Fray Manuel Rincon—died because of the poor climate or poor food. They all remained there, that time, for two years, and baptized many people there; and those natives long continued to embrace the law of God. But either because of the sickness, which had developed into a plague; or because those Indians were at war continually with other people of the interior, more powerful, who greatly persecuted them, and the faith of Christ: for all those causes, and because they could not cope with so many dangers and troubles so long as the natives were not quiet, the presidio that was still left retired to Cagayan, and the fathers returned, as they had lost hope of obtaining more fruit. However, our religious are accustomed to return there every little while, where some are baptized, and those who have made their decision do not fail to come; and the province does not lose sight of those posts, for the time when the Lord shall be pleased to summon them, and when they shall respond with resolution. They are numerous; and, since they live so far inland in this same island, it is well seen that it is very pitiable to behold them so buried in their darkness—or not to see them, for they flee from the light. It is not easy to form a judgment on what passes in this very island; for, since it extends for almost two hundred leguas, and all of the seacoast in all parts is subdued, all the fastnessesof the mountains are inhabited by numerous peoples of various nations and languages, morally impossible to subdue, although great efforts are being and have been made. The reason therefor is, that since it rains so much in these lands, in addition to the so powerful heat of the sun, and there is so little stone, such thickets and undergrowth spring up that one can penetrate them with difficulty, and [it is even difficult] for the very animals of the forest. Consequently, nature has defended those people with a thousand walls. Then too they are children of idleness, and live on roots, the fruits of trees, and the flesh of game. They have no other granaries than those of their own bellies, nor more clothing than that which they get from their mothers. At the most, they wear a bajaque or breechcloth made from the bark of a tree, and which conceals but ill the token of their sex. They have no villages, but live in rude collections of huts or in camps, and in certain shacks which rise a vara above the earth, where they take refuge when it rains. When they feel the cold too keenly, they light fires and sleep in the ashes. Their life is as follows: When they rise in the morning, the robust ones go hunting the deer with arrows or dogs. If they kill one, they take it to their camp; and there they all eat it, half raw, half roasted, without salt or bread. If they do not have meat, they find roots and fruit, and so do they satisfy their hunger without further exercise of reason. And, since they are totally without reason, they have no form of religion or worship, except certain superstitions concerning the flight and songs of birds. Such is their wretched existence; and therefore do they grow up with the understanding of brutes, without care orforesight. Some descend the mountain to trade with our Christian Indians. The latter approach them, and carry iron for their arrows, and rice and other things which they know well—especially tobacco, but which they are not accustomed to sow. Neither do they accustom themselves to any other kind of work. This island so abounds with these people that they are encountered at six leguas from Manila. By means of such communication they hear our Christians, who talk to them of our holy faith, and they approve it. But when they hear that the Christians pay tribute and bandalas, and that here are personal services (which it is necessary to have, for a civilized and domestic life) they return to their liberty. Some are reduced, but it is generally a fact that this becomes continually more difficult so long as the Lord who died for them does not drive from their side that enemy who makes them daily more obstinate and hard.Late in July of the year 1653, the ship from Nueva España anchored in the port of Cavite, more fortunate than most of the vessels that have been seen since the discovery of these islands. It brought four personages—no less than the archbishop, the governor, the bishop of Cagayan, and an auditor. It had been some years since a ship had entered Cavite, for they all had to put back to other ports because of the bad weather. And although, wherever they finally enter, they discharge their cargo and assure the safety of the money, yet doubtless it is always a considerable loss that the ship does not come direct to Cavite, and, being laden with expenses and averías, at least one-third of its good fortune is dissipated. It had been twelve and more years since these islandshad had an archbishop; for one who came to them consecrated during that time, namely, his Excellency Don Fernando Montero de Espinosa, was obliged to come overland, as the ship anchored in the port of Lampon; and, when he arrived at the lake of Bay six leguas from this city—whither some persons from the cabildo had gone beforehand to receive him—he was suddenly overtaken by a severe illness, from which he soon died without the Church, his spouse, having enjoyed anything except letters and good news. And, lastly, came the evil of its widowhood before he had taken possession of it or seen it. For that reason all through that period there was considerable trouble, wherever trouble exists. But there is more here, where before a successor is obtained another six or eight years elapse. Now indeed did the lack become doubly felt, for not even one of the three suffragan bishops of this metropolitan was left; for if there are any bishops it is a great consolation. For then, although it is after the trouble of making voyages, students, religious, and secular priests are ordained, and there is recourse for all that episcopal dignity demands, and it is the shadow of a great relief for all Christians, although the bishops are distant. It was God’s will to allow his Excellency Doctor Don Miguel de Poblete—a native of Mexico, in whose cathedral and in that of La Puebla de los Angeles he had held the greatest dignities—to arrive at that time. He was received here with great demonstrations of joy. The governor was Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, a native of Malaga. He filled his post excellently, and was generally well liked by all; for he was very affable, pious, and not at all harsh likethe former governor. He had his troubles, of which we shall speak; and having governed for more than ten years his residencia was satisfactorily finished, and he had the good fortune to return to his country. The bishop of Cagayan was his Excellency, Master Don Fray Rodrigo de Cardenas, of our holy order and from the province of Perù, of whom we shall speak in the proper place. The auditor who came in that ship was Don Salvador de Espinosa, a learned and zealous man; and so much so that he began to work at matters of government before the proper time. For he immediately, seeing that there were but few Spaniards in the country, thought that he had learned all about it in a short time; and went about passing sentences and issuing manifestos, more a result of his erudition than from any necessity for it. His last offspring bore the character of admonition and was printed. All estates were grievously wounded by it—a serious matter when there is no one to take up the defense. His zeal might have been useful, but assuredly no service to God or the king followed; for his Majesty does not desire his vassals to be maltreated, but will consider it a great service if his ministers employ their great erudition in maintaining justice, observing it in all the villages, and honoring all, especially the ecclesiastical religious, and not in saying pretty things (with which they load one down when they consider that it will make their own dignity more estimable)—especially with these printed papers, which, since they are printed, give us more permission to make public complaint. Like that of another paper which was printed in the year 1671—which finally brought its author to the earth, even before knowing the names,it left persons both ecclesiastical and religious badly besmirched. In order to vaunt his erudition, he despoiled the living altars of their best ornament, namely, honor; and he did not hesitate to dedicate and send it to the feet of the greatest Majesty. But he will have had his answer already. The other admonitory pamphlet, when it was issued, seemed so foul to its very author that he himself went about collecting and burning it. Supposing the first an arbitrary statement, the second was Catholic and made by a person erudite and desirous of salvation. He lived for a while, for a mortal accident happened, and he paid his debt and had himself buried in the convent of Santo Domingo. To the great luck of so fortunate a ship, which brought so grave persons and those of the greatest distinction for these lands, was added the relief of money, which was larger than usual, as well as that of individual persons....[This chapter records the death (in 1653) in the Manila convent of father Fray Juan del Villar, a native of Luzena, and son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova. He went to the Philippines in 1635, and applied himself to the study of Chinese and taught in the college of Santo Tomás.]Among other ordinances passed by that chapter, as they were necessary, was one that declared that no one could be employed in the office of lecturer in our college of Santo Thomas unless he first learned some one language native to that country—not because there is any logic in it, which must precede the sciences, but, since the first foundation of this province is that of the preaching and missions, all must know a language. He who does not know one, even if he be a very learned theologian, does not renderall the service that he can; and he does not have the good fortune to be sent by his prelates or to have a change of climate, which is perhaps important to his health. On arriving from España it is the custom for all to be divided, according to the arrangements made by the prelate, in the study of the various languages. With their pious desire and the master that is given them, he who can not learn enough in one year in order to make himself understood as a preacher and confessor in a language must be very dull. With such sound beginnings they are not embarrassed afterward in other occupations, since, when a place in the ministry becomes suitable, the greatest difficulty is found to have been conquered. Of greatest use on the sea is he who knows the duties of sailor and artilleryman; and as time goes on it becomes a matter of disconsolation for a religious to find himself without a language, and at an age when it is impossible to learn it, while it is a matter that might have been overcome in a brief time at the beginning.[Chapters ii–iv treat of Chinese affairs and missions.]CHAPTER VOf the intermediary junta, and of a new mission sent to the kingdom of ChinaIn the junta held in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila in the year fifty-four, there was no new ordinance to pass; for all matters were well ordered, and this holy province always refrains from making new laws, which (like the impositions of new tributes) the obedience of the subjects always considers with more annoyance than respect. For since theyare the life of the monarchy, when there is any need, and its health, so also are they generally feared when they can be avoided; and when new ones are imposed, the old ones become distasteful. The provincial (who was then father Fray Pedro de Ledo, a man of great devotion and zeal), seeing that no ministers had left these islands for Japon since the year thirty-seven, as the gates had been shut to them and even walled up for our sins and those of that wretched land, tried to get together a mission for it; and, in order that he might not have cause to envy the explorers, he determined to go himself as prelate. But he always urged secrecy in the plan as the essential part, and only revealed it to those interested—namely, father Fray Raymundo del Valle, father Fray Pedro de Ansa (an oldtime minister of Cagayan), and father Fray Antonio de Barrios. He also shared the secret with the person who was to remain as vicar-general during his absence. With that intention, which was facilitated by his courage and pious desire, he bought a champan under pretext that it was to be used for the service of the province of Cagayan, and that he was lading it with supplies and ship’s-stores for the said province (as was a fact). He spent a large sum in that, and even despoiled some churches of their money. That was without any doubt a harsh measure; for although the property of the convents is common here, and the provincial can take from one to aid another, in accordance with the ordinances of this province, yet that kind of goods and property are generally bought with the alms of the natives of the villages, given by them especially for their churches. Consequently an injury was done, even though it be as was allegedon that occasion, namely, that he thought that there was a superabundance of alms. Since all the adornment of the tabernacle and of Solomon’s temple falls short for divine worship, and these natives do not remember or take much note of leaving or not leaving their property in immemorial writings, their memories are indelibly impressed by seeing that they have given it by their sweat to the church, and they leave an honorable luster on a lamp and some candlesticks which they gave, and which remain, making a barangay honorable. The father-provincial, who was a prudent and erudite man, must have considered it all; yet notwithstanding, as he thought that the common right of a mission so important as Japon was greater than are the alms and the said gifts, the matter could not be regulated, and he used it all. The end was most lofty, the means which he chose very fitting—as were the three religious, who were the most suitable in the province; and the champan was staunch. All being concluded, the essential wheel of those plans was lacking, namely, the will of God without which one can never succeed. [The efforts to attain the Japanese mission proved fruitless, but the provincial succeeded in sending five missionaries to China. The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][Chapter vi relates in part the work of the mission to China. Chapter vii mentions certain missionaries who have died. The lay-brother Raymundo de la Cruz died gloriously after earnest labor. Geronimo de Zamora died in Cagayan province after a ministry among the natives of thirty-eight years, besides serving as commissary of the Holy Office. His native city was Zaragoza, and he professed in the conventof that city. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomás, definitor in the year 1652, vicar-provincial four times in Cagayan, and ordinary in nearly all the houses of that province. Juan de las Casas also died in the same part of the province. Bernardo Cejudo died while engaged in the conversion of Ituy. He had reached the Philippines in 1648, and his life was one of austerity and earnest endeavor. Matias de Armas also died in 1655 in the province of Cagayan. He was born in the island of Tenerife in the city of Laguna, where he took the habit. In the Philippines he became a master of the Cagayan and Tagálog tongues, acting as vicar in Cagayan, and as vicar of Abucay in 1645. In the years 1638–39 he was in the island Hermosa, where he studied that language while awaiting an opportunity to go to China (which was unsuccessful). At his death in 1655 he was vicar of Afulug. Alonso Navarro, president of the Chinese hospital of San Gabriel, died that same year in the Manila convent. During his thirty years in the Dominican province he ministered to the Filipinos (being very fluent in the Tagálog language); served as definitor, vicar of many houses, and vicar-provincial; and built the church in the village of Binondoc. In Cagayan also died that year Pedro de Aniza, an earnest missionary who had acted as vicar-provincial and ordinary of many houses. He solemnized many baptisms among the hostile people of Irraya and those in the mountains.]In 1656 father Fray Jacinto Gali of the province of Aragon, son of the convent at Girona in Cataluña, was elected provincial. By his excellent qualities, and the proofs that he had shown of his great prudenceand devotion in the course of the twenty-four years that he had spent in this holy province, he was worthy of the supreme dignity of its government. He learned very perfectly the difficult language of the Chinese, to whom he ministered often in the Parián and in Binondoc. He also knew the Tagálog language thoroughly; and thus accomplished much in both languages. The province, desirous of elevating to the highest pinnacle the one who would advance their order with the activity and integrity that such an office demands, elected him their head. His election was well received both within and without the house, for all were acquainted with him and knew that his merits had called for so honorable an occupation many years before. He began to exercise it, but God, satisfied with his holy desire, blocked his steps in a short time; for at his first departure, when he went to visit Cagayan, having arrived there a mortal illness attacked him in Lalo. There, after he had received the sacraments, and had taken farewell of his province with most tender and paternal speeches—not unaccompanied by the sobs of all the religious, who had hastened at the report of his illness—he gave his soul to the Lord in the eighth month of his provincialate, on New Year’s day of the year 1657. That [such was his death] is understood by the tokens that his great virtue and devotion left to us. That was a perfect New Year’s day for his soul, which will never grow old in his time. Before he went upon the said visit, Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and the royal Audiencia, urged by their narrow-minded zeal as ministers of his Majesty, put a new pressure upon us. Through the fiscal of the king it was intimated to usand to all the orders that we were to make a presentation of the lists of the chapters, as is done in the other provinces of the rest of the Indias. This is a very delicate thing to treat in a history, and it has cost many entreaties before God and His most holy mother our patroness—not because of the inconveniences that are feared from the royal piety of his Majesty, the king our sovereign, nor of the impartiality and justice of his ministers, who will know how to govern this matter with that fear of God and with prudence, as they do other matters; but because we ourselves fear in these conversions which are so tender, where perhaps the tying of the hands of the mother will mean the loosening of those of the children, which will render them restless, with greater difficulty in subduing them than in other provinces less remote from relief and remedy. What happened in that case was that we petitioned with due submission, and stated our reasons (although all our reasons cannot be taken to so lofty and grave courts); and as a consequence the royal Audiencia allowed us to continue our present custom, which we maintain not only from our rules, but from the foundation of this province, and sent the records to the royal Council of the Indias, where the matter was examined. In that year the province sent as definitor to the general chapter father Fray Juan Lopez, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, lecturer in theology, and regent of the college of Santo Thomàs of Manila. He later became the most illustrious bishop of Zibu and ascended to the archbishopric of the said city of Manila. We shall discuss him more in detail in the year of his death, which occurred lately, to the universal sorrow of these islands. Authority as procurator-generalwas given to father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad in order that he might accompany the former. He was already in Madrid, and afterward became the most meritorious bishop of Santa Marta. The provincial having died, the prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, where the chapter of the coming election was to be held, namely, father Fray Lucas Montanero, became vicar-general according to our rules. Having called the conference or junta of the province, he set the time and day for the following chapter, namely, April 21, 1657, and it was held by arrangement of the said conference and its vicar-general.[Chapter viii deals with the life and death (July, 1656), of Diego Rodriguez in China, and Chinese affairs. Chinese matters are discussed also in the three following chapters.]CHAPTER XIIGreat earthquake of San Bernardo’s day; and the mission which arrived at the provinceIn the year 1658, when the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles was prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, another great and formidable earthquake occurred on the twentieth of August. In the opinion of all it was worse than that of the day of St. Andrew which we have related, which occurred in the year 1645; except that this one came alone in the quality of its greatness (for the shocks that accompanied it were much less severe than in the former; it is a natural thing to have these earthquakes come with a retinue, and they are among the evils that can never come singly). Thesecond reason why this one was less was based on the fact that the city of Manila was in a sad condition, and those lofty edifices of stone were on the ground, which then robbed the city of much of its pride. Therefore, although some people were killed and many met with accidents and bodily injury, it was not so bloody. However it did not fail to exercise its commission, and many edifices were violently overthrown and great disorder was occasioned not only in Manila but in all these islands.... Our convent of Santo Domingo was hardly used; and as the religious had no cells, as those which were left were full of water, they went along that street seeking corners where they could stay, even at great inconvenience. When the mission (of which we shall speak immediately) arrived, lodgings had to be arranged in the galleries of the new church, where beds and curtains were distributed among the various collateral naves. A better manner of lodging could not be found for many days, because the rainy season (which was a great drawback) had set in. The convent was very fortunate in having there its superior, who repaired so great a disaster with all courage and fortitude, and encouraged his subordinates by repairing their house with great skill and energy, notwithstanding that it was under heavy expenses. God performed miracles by his hand, and has continued the same in the other posts which he has held. Truly he is one of the most careful and indefatigable workers of this holy province, and as he is yet living, this remark must suffice.That year arrived an excellent mission which had been collected in España by father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad, who had remained there as bishop-electof Santa Marta, and Father Matheo Bermudez, who conducted it to Mexico, where he remained as vicar of San Jacinto. The latter entrusted his office to father Fray Juan de Polanco, who brought that mission safely to Filipinas to the great joy of all the religious. The mission consisted of thirty-eight,1and their names, occupations, and native places are as follows in order of age: father Fray Joseph Duriach, son of the royal convent of Santa Catalina Martir in Barcelona, former lecturer in the arts in Girona; father Fray Luis Alvarez, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and lecturer in the arts in the said his convent of San Pablo; father Fray Juan Polanco, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and former master of students in Santa Maria la Real at Trianos, who came as vicar of that mission from Mexico; father Fray Alonso de Leon, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Domingo de San Pedro, son of [the convent of] Santa Zita in Palermo, lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Mantua, and lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Diego de San Roman, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Victoria, and lecturer in logic in Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; father Fray Antonio Calderon, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, and fellow of Santo Tomàs in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Francisco Sanchez, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martirin Toledo, and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Felipe Leonardo, son of the Preachers in Valencia; father Fray Tomàs Butiel, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Hipra [i.e., Ypres] in lower Germania; father Fray Salvador de Santo Tomàs, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Domingo de Villamide, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Martin de Trigueros, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Ocaña; father Fray Pedro del Barco, son of [the convent of] La Madre de Dios in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Jayme Berge, son of [the convent of] Corpus Christi at Luchente in the kingdom of Valencia; father Fray Juan Teodoro, son of [the convent of] San Vicente at Calcha, in the province of Flandes; father Fray Agustin Garcia, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid; father Fray Diego Serrano, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Joseph de Noriega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Leonardo Marquez, son of [the convent of] San Agustin in Padua; father Fray Nicolas Merlo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Antonio Martinez, son of the convent of Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Tomàs de Leon, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid, and brother of father Fray Alonso de Leon above mentioned; father Fray Fernando de Melgar, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Lorenzo del Rosario, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Bartolome de Quiroga, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Lugo;father Fray Victorio de Almoynia, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; Fray Bernardo Alvarez, dean, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Estevan de Rivera, son of [the convent of] Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; Fray Melchor Vigil, dean, son of the said convent in Trianos; Fray Lucas de San Vicente, lay-brother, native of Salamanca, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Those who remained sick in Mexico came the following year. They were as follows: father Fray Manuel de Guzman, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla; father Fray Gregorio Ortiz, son of the Preachers in Zaragoza; Fray Domingo de Flores, dean, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Zamora; Fray Andres de los Angeles, lay-brother, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Oajaca. That fine mission arrived very opportunely, composed of religious who possessed so excellent abilities; they were young, and well fitted to advance the credit of this holy province. After the joyful congratulations which welcomed them, they were assigned by the arrangements of the prelate, then the father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, to the study of a language. They have gone forth as excellent ministers and missionaries, both those who are living and some who have already died.[Chinese affairs again engross our author for the remainder of this chapter, as well as for the thirteenth.]CHAPTER XIVJunta of the year 1659; father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales goes to take part in it; and prior events in Zubinkeu.The intermediary junta was held in 1659 in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Among other matters that were decided there, we must not pass in silence the response made to the fathers of China to a question or memorial presented by them. [This memorial, in view of the disturbed state of China and the slender support that was received by the missionaries in China from the province in the Philippines, asks that whenever cultivated lands are given them as an alms they may accept them. The memorial or petition was not allowed, for the bad effects that might ensue from it; as the Chinese might misconstrue it and imagine that the missionaries go to their country for the sake of the lands alone, and not for the welfare of souls—the decision giving great satisfaction to Juan Bautista de Morales, vicar-provincial of China. The remainder of the chapter relates wholly to Chinese matters.][The insurrections in the provinces of Pangasinán, Ilocos, and Cagayan of the year 1660 are discussed in chapters xv and xvi (the latter treating also of the Chinese pirate Kuesing). They will be sufficiently related elsewhere in this work. Chapter xvii is a summary of the life of father Fray Joseph de Madrid, who was born in Cebú. After studying at Santo Tomás in Manila, he entered the order in that city. He was soon sent to the Chinese missions, but was unable to remain there on account of the climate and hence returned to Manila, where hedied a violent death at the hands of the Chinese of the Parián—who had revolted on account of the threatening messages of Kuesing in the year 1662. He was a natural linguist, speaking fluently Cebúan, Visayan, Tagálog, and the language of Ituy, beside the most difficult dialect of the Chinese, namely, that spoken about Canton. Chapters xviii and xix treat of the Chinese pirate Kuesing and Chinese affairs. Chapter xx contains accounts of the lives of various religious who died in the Dominican province during this time. Carlos Clemente Gant died in the province of Nueva Segovia at the age of more than seventy, having arrived in the Philippines in 1611. He was a native of Zaragoza, and professed in the same city. His mission field was in the province of Cagayan, whither he returned both times after his terms as provincial (1637, and 1648). He also became commissary of the Holy Office after the death of the commissary Fray Domingo Gonzalez. Joseph de Santa Maria (or Navarro), a son of the convent of San Pedro Martir at Marchena in Andalucía, went to the Philippines in 1648. He was vicar of the islands of Babuyanes, where he fell ill and had to go Lalo-c for treatment; on returning to his convent he was killed by the insurgents. Pedro de la Fuente, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos, served as lecturer in theology in the college of Santo Tomás in Manila, and regent and prior of the Manila convent, and was minister in various places in Cagayan. At his death he was vicar of the village of Pata. The father commissary, Fray Salvador Mexia, son of the Sevilla convent, went to the islands in 1648. He acted as vicar-provincial of Pangasinán, and was remembered for his zeal.Francisco Martir Ballesteros, of the convent of Santo Domingo in Murcia, died in the province of Pangasinán at the age of more than seventy, being vicar-provincial of Pangasinán. He was a zealous minister, and left a number of sermons and other pious writings which circulated among the friars in manuscript. Rafael de la Carcel of the province of Aragon, a native of Mallorca, who went to the Philippines in 1632, also died in Pangasinán. Among other posts that he held he was prior of the Manila convent, for a while prior vicar-general, and vicar of Calasiao. His death occurred soon after the disaffection of that village, and was probably hastened by that loss. Rodrigo de Cardenas, bishop of Nueva Segovia, died in May, 1661. He had arrived at the Philippines in 1653, and held the office of bishop for eight years. He died greatly regretted by all.]CHAPTER XXIThe holding of the provincial chapter for the election; death of Kuesing; father Fray Victorio [Riccio] returns to China with the reply to his embassy.The father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, ended his term as provincial, and on April 7, 1661, the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, then prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, was elected in that convent. That was the first time when he rose to the government of this province as provincial. He filled that office so well that after twelve years (in 1673) he was elected for the second time, and is at present in that office. He came to this province in the mission of 1648, for which heleft his convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where he exercised the office of master of students. The province always kept him employed here in the offices of lecturer of morning classes, regent, and rector of the college of Santo Tomas; president of the hospital, and prior of Manila. Although he has filled all of them with great credit to his person, and has been useful and creditable to the order, yet the honor of commissary of the Holy Inquisition has given him greater prestige—both because any service for that holy tribunal (and especially that of commissary), means so much, and because of the circumstances of the time. For he was the first commissary elected after the disturbance, as famous as harmful, which was occasioned in these islands by the preceding commissary, who arrested the governor at that time without those orders that he ought to have awaited after having consulted—or, more correctly, having informed—the holy tribunal of Mexico. The father provincial commenced his first government with so much spirit and energy that much and even most of it was left for his second government. For the already-mentioned insurrection of the Parián happened in his term, as did the incident of our ambassador,2together with the measures taken in the offended provinces of the insurgent Indians, although those provinces are now quiet. In that and in the sending out of missions, in which he has always manifested his great love and inclination, and in maintaining them with aid, he could well boast of his great zeal and capacity—besides [carrying] theusual weight [of the province] which is always heavy. He sent father Fray Jayme Berge (who came in the mission of the year 1658) to become an associate to father Fray Victorio Riccio, and ordered father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, who desired it, to come to Manila. At the same time he gave orders and letters commanding father Fray Juan Polanco, whom the chapter had appointed definitor for Europa, and procurator-general, to come [to Manila]. He also conveyed a generous aid to our religious, as well as what the order of our father St. Francis gave him for their religious. That did not have the success that was desired, for the greater part was lost in the conveying of it through that so disturbed country. [The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][The four following chapters also treat of Chinese matters, including political and missionary affairs.]CHAPTER XXVIOf the intermediary junta; the arrival of a new governor in Filipinas; affairs of China; and of Mother Maria de Jesus.The intermediary junta was held in our convent of Santo Domingo, on April fourteen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-three. Besides the usual arrangements, no especial thing was ordained in it except to entrust to the father provincial the printing of the ritual, and, when that was done, to see that the religious used it and no other. That is a very important provision, and one in which the zeal of our superiors is very well occupied, so that our procedure may be uniform, as we are charged in the beginning of ourholy constitutions. It is not advisable that this matter of ceremonies be free, since they are so necessary; and piety and opinion have no vote in this matter, in which the decree of the superiors has explained their decision. The worst results will follow if neglect occasions it, since the administration of the holy sacraments is the most essential point of the ministries; and they need rules and regulations, care in their study, and punctuality. In the year 1669, a very suitable ritual was published, which was quite uniform with the Roman ritual of Paul V....That year of 1663 our governor, the master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, came to these islands. He was a worthy soldier of Flandes, where he had attained honorable posts; and since he had filled them so well his Majesty entrusted to him the influential post of captain-general and governor of these islands. If these islands were three thousand leguas nearer, that office would doubtless not be second in importance to those of America. The ship put in at Nueva Segovia, and consequently the said governor came overland—being received very hospitably by our ministering religious and those of our father St. Augustine, who are established along the way. On that journey also they were received by the natives with feasts, dancing, and music, in which they are very entertaining. His Lordship gained a good name in [receiving] those tokens of welcome, inadequate as they were, by the great affability and generosity that he displayed to the natives. He reached Manila and assumed his office amid great acclamation and pomp on the festal day of September eight, the day consecrated to the birth of the most holy Virgin. That was a great consolation to all people, and goodauguries were indicated although not all of them were fulfilled to the letter. He was beyond doubt a capable man, and one of great intellect. In but few days he understood whatever concerned his obligation, and never departed from it so long as it concerned the king’s service. He made the despatches of the ships to España very punctually, and with foresight; for he recognized that the ship that left here annually to get the situado is the one that ought to have the greatest care, and demands activity [in preparation] so that it may not be pushed for time, but that one or two months shall be gained. Consequently, there always was a ship [on that line]; and God took charge of them and brought them in, seeing that people here were doing their utmost.3In respect to the good fortune with which he began [his term], he became faint-hearted, and cared little for being liked, for that post cannot be free from cause for harshness. The devil entered, upon seeing the necessary wall of love somewhat fallen; and he put complaints into the minds of the traders, which soon spread to the other estates. That enemy sowed dissension, which is his own seed; and the number of those disaffected increasing, much opposition to the governor arose. At the end of the year 1668 (October tenth) the governor was arrested by the commissary of the Inquisition, Fray Joseph de Paternina, an Augustinian....[Further references to the Chinese missions and politics are made, and the chapter ends with notices regarding a Spanish beata or devout woman, Maria de Jesus, who died in Manila in 1662. Her parents, Albaro de Angulo Tobar and Isabel de Morales, were old settlers in the islands, who had lived first in Cebú; and their daughter was born in Arevalo, in the island of Panay. The latter took the habit of beata in the tertiary order of the Dominicans, somewhat against the will of her parents. She gave many alms, spent the greater portion of her wealth in the building of the church of Santo Domingo, and reared orphan girls in her house.][The life and labors of the famous missionary to China, Juan Bautista de Morales, who died in 1664, fill chapters xxvii-xxxii. The following chapter is devoted to Fray Francisco de Paula, commissary of the Inquisition and twice provincial, and other fathers. The former was born in Segovia and took the habit at Salamanca. Enlisting in the Philippine mission in 1618, on arriving there he began to study Chinese in the Parián; but was soon transferred to the college of Santo Tomás, where he taught for eighteen years. He was a successful and eloquent preacher to the Spaniards, and in consequence was elected preacher-general of the Manila convent. The office of vicar-provincial, as far as Manila is concerned, was conferred on him; and in the year 1641 he was elected provincial. In 1647, while exercising his duties in the Manila college of Santo Tomás, whither he had returned after his office had expired, he was elected commissary of the Inquisition. In 1657 he was again elected provincial. Pedro de Santo Domingo, who took the habit in Milan, Italy,went to the Philippines in 1658, at the age of forty, and was sent to the Chinese missions; but, being unable on account of his age to learn the language, he was sent back to Manila and became vicar of the convent of Santelmo in Cavite. Illness, however, pressing on him, he was assigned as vicar to the Philippine hospice of San Jacinto in Mexico, but died ere reaching his destination.]CHAPTER XXXIVThe election of a new provincial in the person of the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles; and the great troubles in China.The capitular members assembled in the year 1665 to elect a provincial, as the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, had completed his office. On the twenty-fifth of April they elected the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, of the province of Andalucia, and a son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in the village of Zafra in Estremadura. He had come to this province in the year 1635, and had been minister of Tagalos in the district of Bataan, and afterward in the island Hermosa, where he remained six years (the time when the Dutch captured that fort and drove us from the land). He returned to Manila by way of Jacatra and Macasar, and to his former ministry of Tagalos. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomas, twice prior in our convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, at various times vicar-general, and definitor in 1661 and 1673. In the year that we mentioned, the province elected him as its prelate, to the general satisfaction of all. This is as much as we can say at present, for he is still living.We can also say that since being provincial, he has undertaken the charge of the college for boys of San Juan de Letran. He has provided for them a very suitable and spacious house within the walls of Manila, that has gained repute and esteem for the pious education in virtue and the studies of those children, which is the object [of that college]. This holy province was struggling manfully at the time of that election, but both hands were busy in wiping off the tears that were shed before God for two reasons. [The first reason was the effort of the governor to make the orders publish the lists of ministries,4as was the custom in the other parts of the Indias. In 1665 the vessel which arrived brought his Excellency, Don Fray Juan Lopez, consecrated bishop-elect of Cebú. He brought with him the acts of the general chapter held in Rome in 1656; the execution of the measures for the government of the Indias in general were suspended, as the Philippines were not included in them unless mentioned specially. The second great trouble of the province was the cruelty practiced on the missionaries in China. The chapter ends with accounts of China and the work there.][Chinese affairs are continued in chapters xxxv–xl.]CHAPTER XLIA new mission arrives in the province; and events of these times in Filipinas and China.The bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco (who was not yet bishop-elect) went to España with the usual powers conferred by the province, following Don Fray Juan Lopez, bishop of Zibu and afterward archbishop of Manila, who had gone the preceding year with the same powers. But because of accidents, and since the province was so lacking in religious, a second procurator was despatched. That was an excellent measure, as the result showed; for the bishop of Zibu was embarrassed by his new promotion and by his despatches, so that he could not get the mission ready, although he had made a good start at it upon the arrival of Don Fray Juan de Polanco. The latter was very well received in the provinces of España, and all of them showed him great love and reverence because of the good impression that he gave by his virtues, which have without doubt the greatest attracting power for those spiritual soldiers. The commission is one of danger which only the loftiest object and obedience can make peaceful; for besides being the sample, as they say, of the cloth, such a person is not only looked at but spied upon by all; and it is necessary above all to bear God in mind and keep oneself acceptable to Him for so long and even almost desperate voyages, so that He may give health in so many hardships, climates, and paths of the earth, and [enable him to furnish] a good example for so many different kinds of persons with whom one must confer and voyage, in the midst of so many cares as he always has in his charge. The task ofmaking religious is that of the greatest difficulty; for so long as the men [sought] have the greatest abilities, their convents, who have reared them, feel it more, and say farewell to them to see them no more, where natural love does its duty and the devil is not careless—although, in fine, our holy provinces have always nourished this daughter of theirs in the belief that to give her a religious is to make God careful to send her many, and to preserve them with the wealth of their virtues. They send their sons to this honorable warfare, and the latter gain new blasons for them and get their first share of the spoils in the service of God and the welfare of souls. Therefore, the procurator who is securing men needs many lights of virtue, prudence, and affability, and great patience, for accidents that happen, and for the suitable choice of routes, and for guidance when they go astray; then the essential part of presenting the things in his care to the princes, and the latter’s councils and counselors to whose questions he must make answer with truth and candor. The fear of God is master in all; for, if he swerve from that line, he cannot make a good voyage. For the other despatches by tribunals and accountancies, he needs to attend upon them without being troublesome, and enduring delays, civilities, and courtesies; for they are ministers of the king and worthy of all esteem, and he must await his time amid the so many cares entrusted to them. Just at present we all enjoy the ministry of a perfect procurator of Filipinas in our venerable bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco, who must have been a model of procurators; for by his example and virtue alone, he found himself freed from all the difficulties that accompany that honorable office. Intheir very beginnings he found them solved and conquered; and he made the very judges of his causes, and even those who were opposed to him, his attorneys. This is not imagination but the pure truth; and there are many witnesses still living now in the holy city of Roma (where he went as definitor in 1668), and in the royal court of Madrid—where he was favored by princes, and esteemed and respected as an apostolic and holy man in their councils and tribunals; where he was listened to as a learned orator of this province; and where his causes were heard with the notable grace that God gave him wherever he went, and with the highest honor in both the said courts. The time will come for recounting his life and death, and then a longer account will be given of his virtues. Suffice it to say for the present that he collected two famous missions for this holy province, which he accompanied to Mexico (which is the rough place in the ascent of the hill), and returned for the third time [to España] for more soldiers—[whom he would have brought] had not the giant footsteps of envious death intercepted him in Sevilla. He entrusted the first mission to one of its religious, namely, father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz. They reached Manila safely in August, 1666, and their names in order of age are as follows: father Fray Juan de Velasco, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz el Real in Granada, and master of students, who was then in the convent of San Lucar; father Fray Joseph de Isussi, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos and fellow of [the convent of] San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Diego Nuñez, son of [the conventof] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Christoval de Montenegro, son of the convent and college of Nuestro Señora del Rosario in Almagro, fellow of Santo Thomas in Sevilla, and teacher of logic there; father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Sevilla, and lecturer in logic there, former fellow of Santo Thomas of Alcalà de Henares (this father remained in Mexico because of illness, and came the following year); father Fray Christoval Pedroche, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Juan Romero, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Juan de la Cueva, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz in Granada; father Fray Pedro de Alcalà, son of the same convent in Granada; father Fray Manuel de Mercadillo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Alonso Blasco, son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in Estremadura; father Fray Domingo Perez, son of the convent of Santa Maria de Trianos, fellow of Alcalà [de Henares]; father Fray Juan Peguero, son of the convent of Porta Cœli in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Ximenez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Joseph de Solis, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Francisco de Olmedo, son of the same convent in Palencia; father Fray Pedro Sanchez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Antonio de San Juan, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Agustin Garcia de Ortega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Pablo Marchan, son of the same convent of San Estevan; fatherFray Andres Gonzalez, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; father Fray Bernabe Rodriguez, son of the same convent in Valladolid; father Fray Francisco de Villalva, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos; father Fray Pedro de Alarcon, son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha; father Fray Antonio Rego, son of the convent of San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Andres Lopez, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Diego de Castro, son of the convent at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Joseph de San Jacinto, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Joseph de la Torre, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Rio Seco; father Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, son of the convent in Ocaña; father Fray Juan de Santa Maria, son of the convent of San Pedro in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Gonzalez, son of the convent of Aranda in Duero; father Fray Juan de Castellanos, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Logroño; father Fray Bernardo de Noriega, son of the convent of San Pablo in Palencia; Fray Antonio de la Purificacion, lay-brother, of the convent of Santa Cruz in Granada; Fray Joseph de la Villalva, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Juan Fernando, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos, who remained in our hospice of San Jacinto [in Mexico]; and Fray Sebastian del Rosario, lay-brother, son of the said convent of San Jacinto in Mexico. In all they number thirty-nine.5This fine mission came in the ship “La Concepcion,” that year of 1666. The same ship also broughttwo other missions, one of our father, St. Francis, and the other of the Society of Jesus; two religious of St. John of God, and secular priests; also captains, and very honorable persons—in charge of the commander Joseph de Zamora. The ship was unable to make the Embocadero because the vendavals which had set in prevented it. Therefore it was very fortunate in making the port of Palapa, which is located on the southern side.6They anchored there on the day of St. Lawrence, and it was considered a very special providence of God that they disembarked there on that land, for all arriving in great need and worn out after four months and more of continual navigation, they found, especially the religious, that they had arrived at the land so oft desired and the land of promise. They found in that village, which is in charge of the fathers of the Society, a father rector whose charity challenged the needs of all of them and was victorious. This was the ever venerable father Melchor de los Reyes, a native of Puerto Rico, who, although very poor in that ministry of his, yet settled the difficulty as a very rich man. He lodged eighty religious without even remotely expecting one. He received them all with the ringing of bells, with playing on wind instruments, and music. He supported them abundantly and daintily until boats were found to take them to Manila (which could not be done in a few days). He also succored the ship with rice and other supplies, and with dainties, according to their persons. Ours were the best served, for boats were not found; and although it was thought that the ship could soon proceedupon its voyage, the bad weather was so obstinate that it was unable to sail until March of the following year. Therefore they remained in that holy house with the same satisfaction that they could have had in the most wealthy convent of our order. Sufficiently accommodated in those lodgings, they all said mass; and then those who wished had their breakfast. All the food was supplied abundantly, with the utmost cleanliness and punctuality. They were sheltered in the choir and galleries with great quiet. A pleasant and crystal river flowed near the college, for recreation and bathing. There were books in great abundance, according to the taste of each one. Above all was the affability of the holy religious, and of the others who attended to those residences belonging to their ministry. Truly there are no words to imagine the consolation that the Lord gave there to our tired religious, or the obligation under which all this province remained at so generous charity. The religious who served as superior of Ours, seeing the length of time that they were staying there, and the so excessive expense that was being incurred, although fearful of a bad outcome, finally, to satisfy his ill-founded fear, took one hundred pesos from the scanty hoard of the mission, and resolved to give them to the father rector. They were not sufficient even to cover the cost of the rice, but in the end would be some aid in meeting the expenses. He followed the rector alone into his apartment, and, changing color, after some arguments which he endeavored to offer he concluded by asking pardon, and asked him to please take that trifle to pay at least the porters and cooks, since our mission was detained so long there. The father rector assumed a serious countenance then,and in brief, sorrowfully proceeded to give the father a severe reproof, by telling him that nothing worthy of payment had been done there; that the father vice-provincial had ordered him to attend to that obligation; that the fathers of his residences had brought the supplies, each in accordance with his several ability; that, thanks to God, nothing was owed to the Indians; that God was giving for everything; and that he rather was the gainer, for, without knowing how, he found his pantries full; that during those days two dugongs had been caught (a thing which had not been seen before since he had been there, for never had those fish been seen there, for it was by a great miracle). Thus did he minimize all that he had done; but our religious, still insisting and placing the hundred pesos on the table, witnessed that the venerable father fell on his knees, and clasping his hands, with tears in his eyes, said to him: “No, no, father, you must not leave that money here for me. I beg that of you in the name of the most holy Virgin. She will not permit your Reverence to give me such affront, at least for the good-will with which I have served you.” Thereupon, the religious begged pardon, and kept his money without knowing how to pay that debt, unless it be paid in the divine treasuries of God, for whom it was all done. Our religious went out in seven bands, and for each band the rector solicited a boat, a good pilot, and a store of supplies for some days. All came [to Manila] singing the praises of so religious an Alexander, who was finally reared in so holy a school as that of the Society of Jesus—where, although one is taught all kinds of knowledge so completely, we can say that charity is that which is not taught, because it is inspired. Godwill now have paid that pious father, for already has He taken him to himself. The religious consumed two more months in going from Palapa to Manila because of the bad weather. However, they passed almost always through ministries belonging to our father St. Francis, where they found themselves detained and hindered more by the great love with which they were welcomed, and the regret with which they were allowed to depart, than by the roads and the difficulties of travel. They arrived at the desired place at last and were received by the father provincial, then the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, with that paternal love which his natural affability and his obligation dictated to him. When he saw that they were rested, he began to assign them occupations.On September 27 of the former year 1665, our most reverend father-general, Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, wrote a loving and thoughtful letter from Roma to the venerable father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales. That letter reached the province in 1667, and, although the father was dead, it will be proper that so precious a thing—to the credit of the paternal providence of its author, and of the reputation that this noble although so retired a member had gained with the supreme head of the order—shall not perish or be lost; and it is also to the credit of this holy province, for they so hold his name in memory as to honor it through its sons, our supreme heads. The letter reads as follows: “Reverend father in Christ: Health, and grace from the Holy Ghost. The news that I have received from the father provincial of that our province of the Filipinas is a great consolation to me. He gives me news of your Reverence’shealth, and of the perseverance with which you are aiding in those conversions without any relaxation to your labors in your so advanced age. I thank the Lord therefor, from whom comes all good; and applying to your Reverence the sufferings of all the order, and giving you the benediction of our glorious St. Dominic, I thank you again and again for having served in our ministry for the conversion of souls, which is the object of our institute, and which your Reverence and your companions are, with the divine grace, accomplishing. Forty-two religious sailed in the mission which left Cadiz on July 5 of this year, for which the father lecturer, Fray Juan Polanco, procurator of the province, worked zealously and diligently. The consolation that I have had in the selection of those missionaries will increase if your Reverence will take them under your teaching, and encourage and exhort them so that, as sons of so good a father, they may give bread to those who, desirous of spiritual sustenance, beg it. May God please that it be so, for such is my desire. In regard to the labors of government, it will relieve us to receive letters from your Reverence, and to have news of the progress of so loving sons as it has been God’s pleasure to give me. I have sent breviaries and a formulary of devotion to the twelve associates of your Reverence, which is as a token of my love, so that you may be mindful of me in your prayers, and ask God to give me the success that I desire in the fulfilment of my obligation. I am sending to your Reverence documents containing the many thanks that the holy apostolic see has given us; and I inform you that his Holiness in our Lord, Alexander VII, who is auspiciously governing this Church, is granting us veryloving favors; and I hope to receive even greater ones from his munificence. I shall give him an account of the extensive labors of your Reverence, and of the happiness that we may expect because an entrance has been made into the island Hermosa, whence the passage to China and to Japon will be facilitated. May God continually preserve and accompany your Reverence and all those my sons—to whom I say that the cause of the holy martyrs of Japon is proceeding felicitously;7and that I hope that the laurel of their martyrdom will be a motive to the others, so that, if it should prove necessary for the maintenance of our holy faith to suffer as martyrs they may do so with gladness. Roma, September 27, 1665.“Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, master of the order.”This is the letter written ex-officio by the general of the order to a poor missionary under him, giving place to this care before so many and imperative cares as claim his attention—so that one may see even in this life the honors that God has prepared for those who are employed in so apostolic an occupation.In the year 1667, on the day of the immaculate conception of our Lady, December 8, the most illustrious doctor Don Miguel de Poblete, archbishop of Manila, died in that city, to the universal sorrow of all these islands; for during the time of fourteen years while he had occupied the see, he acted as the loving father and pastor of his church. He was a very amiableman, pious, and possessed of great charity; for notwithstanding the poverty of this archbishopric, and its dependence upon the condition of a royal treasury that is so poor and has so many creditors, he gave liberal alms, which he took from the sustenance of his own person, his household, and his family. He was very anxious for the building of his cathedral, which he found completely ruined since the earthquakes. With grave importunity and the amount that his Majesty ordered to be paid to him, he left a church that was very sumptuous (as much so as these islands permit), almost finished. It has three naves, all of free stone and rubble-work masonry. It was finished a short time after his death; and its venerable dean and cabildo occupied it to the great consolation and credit of the city. On the day of his death occurred the ceremony of taking the oath of allegiance to the king our sovereign, Carlos Second;8and God made that occasion propitious for us, for with that his venerable body, embalmed, was exposed for three days, and the faithful had time to go with tearful piety to say farewell to their most loving shepherd, whose hands and feet they kissed until he was buried with due pomp. It was the common report, and an established fact, that he died a virgin, and beloved to the utmost degree9for his so beautiful virtue. This and his piety, not at all embarrassed by personal considerations,were sufficient to compose a palm10for him; and after it was placed it appeared very fitting. God will give his fame a special history, as ours cannot go into greater detail.In those two years God took from us valuable associates of long experience, who served this holy province much by their example and work for the welfare of the Indians. Father Fray Juan de Arjona, son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova, [was one]. He had been occupied with great earnestness in the ministries of Pangasinan and Ytui, and there he performed great deeds for the service of God, as those ministries were new. He died at an advanced age in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Father Fray Juan Pabon, native of Montaruches in Estremadura, son of the convent at Truxillo in the province of España, was most accomplished in the language of Nueva Segovia, and suffered great hardships in the conversion of the Indians of Irraya and in the administration of other villages. The love and respect of all who came in contact with him was very great; and the province entrusted to him many posts of honor, and grieved not a little at his death, for he was a model for ministers, and in every respect a pattern of his obligation.CHAPTER XLIIOf the intermediary junta of the year sixty-seven; and of other news of this period of our history.On April thirty of the year 1667 was held and celebrated the intermediary junta [in the term] of the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles, in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila—and with new vigor because of the fervor imparted to the province by the fresh nourishment received from its late reënforcement. They proceeded to arrange the ministries, and one more which it seemed advisable to separate, namely, San Miguel at Orion, in the district of Bataan. After knowing the new soldiers for a year, the old and new stones were assigned to their places in order to render this spiritual edifice firm and beautiful. The new rules made were but few, but they were very carefully thought out. The first was that no inferior or subordinate official of the order should visit or write to the alcaldes and superiors of the provinces, and least of all to the governor, without first making known his intention and explaining it to the father provincial—or, in his absence, to the vicars-provincial—respectively. That was and ought to be a necessary measure; and the attempt to carry out the decisions that each minister reaches in his seclusion may be the cause of greater troubles. We must not make a passion of our zeal for defending the Indians, for that is a virtue that essentially demands to be moderated by prudence. An angry letter, or (what is worse) a visit, founded perhaps on a misrepresentation, generally disquiets a superior. He, in his own opinion offended, is vexed; and the Indians themselves, and the rest of the religious,are wont to pay doubly [for the intrusion]. Consequently, it is proper that such matters be managed with much caution and in accordance with obedience, and in the council [of the order], keeping in view the object, which must be the first aim of every good intention. Everyone does what he is able in his ministry and profession, and the apostle says that we should give offense to no one. The heads of the province, being in an exalted position, discover many things and efficient remedies for all troubles; and hence it is necessary to place such affairs in their hands. For the same reason and one greater, that junta repeats the order that no one should preach against the government and the persons busied in it without consulting with the same superiors. For that means consultation with God, because words are very important in that most lofty and consecrated place—where by favor of the sovereign principles of a wisdom whose master is the fear of God, and general doctrines, one may say whatever there is to say. Our father San Vicente Ferrer did not preach more than the judgment, but he reformed the world, kings, and chiefs. And only a St. John the Baptist, who by credit of his virtue pointed out with his finger a divine Person, could point out from the pulpit a person so wicked and scandalous as a Herod; for the latter was, in fine, king, and his dignity protected him. God placed our superiors in their positions (and kings rule through God) and gave that honor to their councils and magistracies; and consequently it is proper for ministers to honor them without flattery (which is another and worse extreme) without curing them with salt, and with respect where the community does not feel it—so that by preaching to thepeople at large, they will know where their pain is. We have already touched on this point in another place; but, since our province repeats it so often in its ordinances, the historian is also permitted to repeat it, since it is advice so important. A petition was addressed to our most reverend father not to allow dispensations to be introduced into our provinces, nor anything that savored of [differences between] individuals or degrees. For since it had seemed to his paternal piety that the procurators-general who went from this province to those of Europa had immense work therein, he planned to grant to them officially some sort of reward, by conferring on them the rank of the more recent fathers of the province. Receiving this favor with submission and gratitude, they nevertheless protested in this junta against it. At the same time Don Fray Juan de Polanco made a humble resistance in Roma, as he knew that the order had already been sent. But he obtained that new favor from our most reverend father; and, before our petition arrived, the said grace was revoked.In the following year of 1668 two relief ships reached these islands, which came from Nueva España. In one of them came father Fray Antonio Calderon, who had obtained permission to return to España the preceding year, because of illness. But later, as he regained strength in Nueva España, and as he knew the lack that one religious makes here, and the need of the province, he was filled with no small doubt, seeing that this was coming to be a second vocation. Therefore, he determined to return, and did so; and entered the province for the second time with great courage and went to his ministries in Nueva Segovia, where he is and was an excellentlinguist. The devil is very subtile, and, because he sees the evil that is caused him by this province, he causes sickness, and makes sufferings greater than what they are in themselves. Since also the magnanimous nature of man falls short, and he takes it ill to see himself set in a land like this—as shut out from intercourse and repose as contrary to the liberty of our España—with the little attention given to him, he imagines insuperable hardships in the rules, aggravates his sickness in so great retirement; and by a door that is lawful, he disturbs the common cause and even endangers that of the individual. The said father now found himself strong, and consequently chose to return, to exercise his strength in this his province. In the other ship came father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, who had, as we have remarked above, remained in Mexico sick, and was now coming very strong and well—to a place where the only consolations and pleasures that went out to meet him were a peril and sudden catastrophe, which would have been the last had not God aided him almost miraculously. Because of the difficulty that the ship had in entering the strait or Embocadero of San Bernardino—and those difficulties are very great and usual in those seas in that season—the father took a small boat called a caracoa; and, embarking in it with a father visitor-commissary of our father St. Francis, who was coming as visitor, and another, his associate, with rowers and other Spanish passengers, they tried to cross the strait, in order to continue their course to Manila more quickly than they could by the ship, if they waited for it. Those boats are not only swift but weak, and, in order to give them greater safety, some long timbers are crossed at intervals over the sides;at the ends of these they suitably place some bamboo sails calledcates, so that, by thus making the vessel wider, they may better resist the waves and sustain them. They were beginning their crossing, which is a distance of about six leguas, and in the very middle of it so strong a gust of wind struck them, as well as so opposing currents—which, in those regions, are such that they will turn a ship of high free-board clear around, with or without favorable winds, moving it from side to side and disarranging the [trim of the] sails, with the accompanying horror that only sailors can imagine—that that boat (for it was not even a patache, but a very weak vessel) capsized, because of the currents and the violent wind that they encountered in the midst of the open expanse, after a few contrary blasts, and filled with water. It was the Lord’s will that the buffeting of the sea should soon strip it of weight, carrying away whatever it contained. Thereupon the men in it remained astride of the said timbers andcates, and many of them were up to their breasts in water, rigging it. In such wise they allowed themselves to drift along with the said current, wherever it chose to take them, sustained only on those timbers poorly fastened together with rattan. Night came; day followed; and in all that time they were unable to make the land—on the contrary, the currents carried them away from it. When they got out of one current they were seized by one opposed to it, so that they were continually going, round and round in those waters. Father Fray Arcadio, who was still convalescent, suffered the most; and doubtless would soon have given up, had it not been for the said father commissary. A bamboo enclosure was made as well as possible on those timbersand there the father found some retreat from the water, mainly in the arms of the said father commissary. The latter’s name was Fray Antonio Godinez, son of the religious province of San Diego in Mexico. With the same suffering did they pass the following night—without water to drink in the midst of so much water, nor more food than a few grains of rice, which the wrath of so rigorous a fortune that assailed those miserable beings had forgotten. At last, on the third day, the Lord, as a Father of mercy, listened to them and they reached the land; where, more beaten by the waves of the sea than assisted by what the rowers could do, they reached the sacred sand in a stripped condition. Three men were drowned, who tried to quit the boat too soon, and the sea made them pay for their ingratitude with their lives; for their weakness had already forbidden them [from reaching land]. It is always a rule of sailors that only wood can swim on such occasions. All is as God ordains; but already deposit was made of life, and a good account, by means of his Majesty, must be given. Our religious landed, or rather those who shared his fortunes drew him ashore half dead. But the land performed its miracles, and they hastened to the first village, where they all recovered and were despatched to Manila. The pious commissary lost there all the papers of his commission, so that, when he reached the province, great difficulties were raised, and he returned without making his visit. Father Fray Arcadio reached this our province, where he was gladly received, and the prelate assigned him to the study of the Chinese language, in which he took the courses that will be related at the end of this chapter.[The provincial receives a letter dated Roma, February19, 1668, from the father-general of the order, Juan Bautista de Marinis, in which concessions to the order by Pope Clement IX are related. The beatified Luis Beltran and Mother Rosa de Santa Maria have been canonized; universal prayerad libitumto San Vicente Ferrer has been conceded; and other concessions of general importance to the order are granted. August 1, 1673, four religious embark for the Chinese missions—namely, Arcadio del Rosario, Pedro de Alcala, Pedro de Alarcon, and Alonso de Cordova. The rough weather experienced causes the superstitious Chinese crew to imagine that it is caused by the fathers; but after many hardships China is finally reached in twenty-four days. After various adventures they return to Manila, May 4, 1674. Two Dominican religious, namely, Arcadio del Rosario and Francisco Lujan, and two Franciscans, namely, Miguel Flores and Pedro de Piñuelo, sail for China on Corpus Christi day, 1676.]At the same time, religious are being occupied in two glorious missions in this same island of Manila. One near the city, to the north, is to the Zambals, whom we have not yet been able to subdue. Now two of our religious are there, and are bringing in those of the mountains to form villages. They possess churches and many of the people are converted. The religious write that they have been received very well, and it is hoped that this will be a grand work for the service of God and for these islands, for those people are very courageous and bloodthirsty, and have always done great harm to those who go to other provinces and to the villages near them; and, if the faith of Christ once subjects them, great advantages present themselves for all. The other mission is located in the same region, in the province of Nueva Segovia,in the district of the mountains called Irraya, of which this history has already given repeated notices. Most of those people are heathen, although there are many Christians among them who have fled from our villages. They have been subdued at times, but their misfortune has immediately roused them to rebellion. Now we are considering how to attract them by love, and with security; and our religious are moving alone in this matter, with none of the horrors that soldiers bring. Consequently, we trust that they too will be subdued. Such is our special vocation in this holy province, where we profess especially to fight the wars of God. And thus as the good soldier loses spirit when peace is declared, and is inspirited at the rumor of a battle, It is an evident fact that these spiritual soldiers are aroused to unusual ardor when the arms of the missions are in use, just as the silence of these voices depresses them. And, if their sufferings and efforts reached at least half as far as do their desires, there would be no province in Asia now which had not yielded to God and to His holy faith in accordance with the honorable designs with which the beautiful sky of these islands inspires them.This news has been anticipated, because it is so recent; but the history only relates matters to 1669, so that the third part11will begin with the provincial chapter celebrated on May 11 of the said year, when the reverend father Fray Juan Camacho was elected provincial.[The chapter ends with the recital of certain benefits that have been received by the order at large, in canonizations, beatifications, etc.]Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’s Orbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini (Paris, 1639)Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’sOrbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini(Paris, 1639)[From copy in Library of Congress]

Book second of the second part of the first century and history of the province of Santo Rosario of the Order of Preachers, in Filipinas, Japon, and China.CHAPTER FIRSTChapter, and election of provincial; and events in those timesOn April 20 of the year 1652, the members of the chapter were assembled in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila, and elected as provincial the reverend father Fray Pedro de Ledo, then prior of that said convent and vicar-provincial of Tagalos. He was a person of all good qualities, a native ofMexico, and of noble parentage in that city. He took the habit and professed in this convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. In his studies he gave so good an account of himself that he lectured in arts and theology, and became regent in our college of Santo Tomas. He always had the name of an excellent student and learned man. On that account, and because of his great prudence, known to us by experience, the religious elected him to the post of provincial, which he filled very successfully and with great credit. Among the special events of that chapter was the announcement of the new university of Santo Tomas and its apostolic erection by a bull which his Holiness Innocent Tenth, of blessed memory, was pleased to promulgate at the instance of the king our sovereign, Felipe Fourth the Great. His Majesty, as sole patron, was pleased to put his hand to that—an honor very worthy of publication by the chapter; and, although it was current in all the province, that solemnity was still to be performed. The house of San Miguel of Ituy, in the province of Nueva Segovia, was also accepted. That is a great stretch consisting of heathen settlements for the greater part, although there are some Christians among them, some of whom are those who flee from other villages. It lies on the eastern border of the province of Cagayan, and extends from some high mountain chains to the coast; and, as it is so rough a land, it has not yet been possible to conquer it, although many attempts have been made, the religious going sometimes with and sometimes without soldiers. Missionaries have also been appointed on various occasions; but although they have baptized many persons, they have not been able to convertthem all. As vicar of the said house, the chapter then appointed father Fray Teodoro de la Madre de Dios, and gave him some priests as companions. They went thither with a presidio of Spanish soldiers at the command of the governor, who so ordained it. Many of the soldiers and two of the religious—father Fray Bernardo Cejudo and father Fray Manuel Rincon—died because of the poor climate or poor food. They all remained there, that time, for two years, and baptized many people there; and those natives long continued to embrace the law of God. But either because of the sickness, which had developed into a plague; or because those Indians were at war continually with other people of the interior, more powerful, who greatly persecuted them, and the faith of Christ: for all those causes, and because they could not cope with so many dangers and troubles so long as the natives were not quiet, the presidio that was still left retired to Cagayan, and the fathers returned, as they had lost hope of obtaining more fruit. However, our religious are accustomed to return there every little while, where some are baptized, and those who have made their decision do not fail to come; and the province does not lose sight of those posts, for the time when the Lord shall be pleased to summon them, and when they shall respond with resolution. They are numerous; and, since they live so far inland in this same island, it is well seen that it is very pitiable to behold them so buried in their darkness—or not to see them, for they flee from the light. It is not easy to form a judgment on what passes in this very island; for, since it extends for almost two hundred leguas, and all of the seacoast in all parts is subdued, all the fastnessesof the mountains are inhabited by numerous peoples of various nations and languages, morally impossible to subdue, although great efforts are being and have been made. The reason therefor is, that since it rains so much in these lands, in addition to the so powerful heat of the sun, and there is so little stone, such thickets and undergrowth spring up that one can penetrate them with difficulty, and [it is even difficult] for the very animals of the forest. Consequently, nature has defended those people with a thousand walls. Then too they are children of idleness, and live on roots, the fruits of trees, and the flesh of game. They have no other granaries than those of their own bellies, nor more clothing than that which they get from their mothers. At the most, they wear a bajaque or breechcloth made from the bark of a tree, and which conceals but ill the token of their sex. They have no villages, but live in rude collections of huts or in camps, and in certain shacks which rise a vara above the earth, where they take refuge when it rains. When they feel the cold too keenly, they light fires and sleep in the ashes. Their life is as follows: When they rise in the morning, the robust ones go hunting the deer with arrows or dogs. If they kill one, they take it to their camp; and there they all eat it, half raw, half roasted, without salt or bread. If they do not have meat, they find roots and fruit, and so do they satisfy their hunger without further exercise of reason. And, since they are totally without reason, they have no form of religion or worship, except certain superstitions concerning the flight and songs of birds. Such is their wretched existence; and therefore do they grow up with the understanding of brutes, without care orforesight. Some descend the mountain to trade with our Christian Indians. The latter approach them, and carry iron for their arrows, and rice and other things which they know well—especially tobacco, but which they are not accustomed to sow. Neither do they accustom themselves to any other kind of work. This island so abounds with these people that they are encountered at six leguas from Manila. By means of such communication they hear our Christians, who talk to them of our holy faith, and they approve it. But when they hear that the Christians pay tribute and bandalas, and that here are personal services (which it is necessary to have, for a civilized and domestic life) they return to their liberty. Some are reduced, but it is generally a fact that this becomes continually more difficult so long as the Lord who died for them does not drive from their side that enemy who makes them daily more obstinate and hard.Late in July of the year 1653, the ship from Nueva España anchored in the port of Cavite, more fortunate than most of the vessels that have been seen since the discovery of these islands. It brought four personages—no less than the archbishop, the governor, the bishop of Cagayan, and an auditor. It had been some years since a ship had entered Cavite, for they all had to put back to other ports because of the bad weather. And although, wherever they finally enter, they discharge their cargo and assure the safety of the money, yet doubtless it is always a considerable loss that the ship does not come direct to Cavite, and, being laden with expenses and averías, at least one-third of its good fortune is dissipated. It had been twelve and more years since these islandshad had an archbishop; for one who came to them consecrated during that time, namely, his Excellency Don Fernando Montero de Espinosa, was obliged to come overland, as the ship anchored in the port of Lampon; and, when he arrived at the lake of Bay six leguas from this city—whither some persons from the cabildo had gone beforehand to receive him—he was suddenly overtaken by a severe illness, from which he soon died without the Church, his spouse, having enjoyed anything except letters and good news. And, lastly, came the evil of its widowhood before he had taken possession of it or seen it. For that reason all through that period there was considerable trouble, wherever trouble exists. But there is more here, where before a successor is obtained another six or eight years elapse. Now indeed did the lack become doubly felt, for not even one of the three suffragan bishops of this metropolitan was left; for if there are any bishops it is a great consolation. For then, although it is after the trouble of making voyages, students, religious, and secular priests are ordained, and there is recourse for all that episcopal dignity demands, and it is the shadow of a great relief for all Christians, although the bishops are distant. It was God’s will to allow his Excellency Doctor Don Miguel de Poblete—a native of Mexico, in whose cathedral and in that of La Puebla de los Angeles he had held the greatest dignities—to arrive at that time. He was received here with great demonstrations of joy. The governor was Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, a native of Malaga. He filled his post excellently, and was generally well liked by all; for he was very affable, pious, and not at all harsh likethe former governor. He had his troubles, of which we shall speak; and having governed for more than ten years his residencia was satisfactorily finished, and he had the good fortune to return to his country. The bishop of Cagayan was his Excellency, Master Don Fray Rodrigo de Cardenas, of our holy order and from the province of Perù, of whom we shall speak in the proper place. The auditor who came in that ship was Don Salvador de Espinosa, a learned and zealous man; and so much so that he began to work at matters of government before the proper time. For he immediately, seeing that there were but few Spaniards in the country, thought that he had learned all about it in a short time; and went about passing sentences and issuing manifestos, more a result of his erudition than from any necessity for it. His last offspring bore the character of admonition and was printed. All estates were grievously wounded by it—a serious matter when there is no one to take up the defense. His zeal might have been useful, but assuredly no service to God or the king followed; for his Majesty does not desire his vassals to be maltreated, but will consider it a great service if his ministers employ their great erudition in maintaining justice, observing it in all the villages, and honoring all, especially the ecclesiastical religious, and not in saying pretty things (with which they load one down when they consider that it will make their own dignity more estimable)—especially with these printed papers, which, since they are printed, give us more permission to make public complaint. Like that of another paper which was printed in the year 1671—which finally brought its author to the earth, even before knowing the names,it left persons both ecclesiastical and religious badly besmirched. In order to vaunt his erudition, he despoiled the living altars of their best ornament, namely, honor; and he did not hesitate to dedicate and send it to the feet of the greatest Majesty. But he will have had his answer already. The other admonitory pamphlet, when it was issued, seemed so foul to its very author that he himself went about collecting and burning it. Supposing the first an arbitrary statement, the second was Catholic and made by a person erudite and desirous of salvation. He lived for a while, for a mortal accident happened, and he paid his debt and had himself buried in the convent of Santo Domingo. To the great luck of so fortunate a ship, which brought so grave persons and those of the greatest distinction for these lands, was added the relief of money, which was larger than usual, as well as that of individual persons....[This chapter records the death (in 1653) in the Manila convent of father Fray Juan del Villar, a native of Luzena, and son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova. He went to the Philippines in 1635, and applied himself to the study of Chinese and taught in the college of Santo Tomás.]Among other ordinances passed by that chapter, as they were necessary, was one that declared that no one could be employed in the office of lecturer in our college of Santo Thomas unless he first learned some one language native to that country—not because there is any logic in it, which must precede the sciences, but, since the first foundation of this province is that of the preaching and missions, all must know a language. He who does not know one, even if he be a very learned theologian, does not renderall the service that he can; and he does not have the good fortune to be sent by his prelates or to have a change of climate, which is perhaps important to his health. On arriving from España it is the custom for all to be divided, according to the arrangements made by the prelate, in the study of the various languages. With their pious desire and the master that is given them, he who can not learn enough in one year in order to make himself understood as a preacher and confessor in a language must be very dull. With such sound beginnings they are not embarrassed afterward in other occupations, since, when a place in the ministry becomes suitable, the greatest difficulty is found to have been conquered. Of greatest use on the sea is he who knows the duties of sailor and artilleryman; and as time goes on it becomes a matter of disconsolation for a religious to find himself without a language, and at an age when it is impossible to learn it, while it is a matter that might have been overcome in a brief time at the beginning.[Chapters ii–iv treat of Chinese affairs and missions.]CHAPTER VOf the intermediary junta, and of a new mission sent to the kingdom of ChinaIn the junta held in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila in the year fifty-four, there was no new ordinance to pass; for all matters were well ordered, and this holy province always refrains from making new laws, which (like the impositions of new tributes) the obedience of the subjects always considers with more annoyance than respect. For since theyare the life of the monarchy, when there is any need, and its health, so also are they generally feared when they can be avoided; and when new ones are imposed, the old ones become distasteful. The provincial (who was then father Fray Pedro de Ledo, a man of great devotion and zeal), seeing that no ministers had left these islands for Japon since the year thirty-seven, as the gates had been shut to them and even walled up for our sins and those of that wretched land, tried to get together a mission for it; and, in order that he might not have cause to envy the explorers, he determined to go himself as prelate. But he always urged secrecy in the plan as the essential part, and only revealed it to those interested—namely, father Fray Raymundo del Valle, father Fray Pedro de Ansa (an oldtime minister of Cagayan), and father Fray Antonio de Barrios. He also shared the secret with the person who was to remain as vicar-general during his absence. With that intention, which was facilitated by his courage and pious desire, he bought a champan under pretext that it was to be used for the service of the province of Cagayan, and that he was lading it with supplies and ship’s-stores for the said province (as was a fact). He spent a large sum in that, and even despoiled some churches of their money. That was without any doubt a harsh measure; for although the property of the convents is common here, and the provincial can take from one to aid another, in accordance with the ordinances of this province, yet that kind of goods and property are generally bought with the alms of the natives of the villages, given by them especially for their churches. Consequently an injury was done, even though it be as was allegedon that occasion, namely, that he thought that there was a superabundance of alms. Since all the adornment of the tabernacle and of Solomon’s temple falls short for divine worship, and these natives do not remember or take much note of leaving or not leaving their property in immemorial writings, their memories are indelibly impressed by seeing that they have given it by their sweat to the church, and they leave an honorable luster on a lamp and some candlesticks which they gave, and which remain, making a barangay honorable. The father-provincial, who was a prudent and erudite man, must have considered it all; yet notwithstanding, as he thought that the common right of a mission so important as Japon was greater than are the alms and the said gifts, the matter could not be regulated, and he used it all. The end was most lofty, the means which he chose very fitting—as were the three religious, who were the most suitable in the province; and the champan was staunch. All being concluded, the essential wheel of those plans was lacking, namely, the will of God without which one can never succeed. [The efforts to attain the Japanese mission proved fruitless, but the provincial succeeded in sending five missionaries to China. The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][Chapter vi relates in part the work of the mission to China. Chapter vii mentions certain missionaries who have died. The lay-brother Raymundo de la Cruz died gloriously after earnest labor. Geronimo de Zamora died in Cagayan province after a ministry among the natives of thirty-eight years, besides serving as commissary of the Holy Office. His native city was Zaragoza, and he professed in the conventof that city. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomás, definitor in the year 1652, vicar-provincial four times in Cagayan, and ordinary in nearly all the houses of that province. Juan de las Casas also died in the same part of the province. Bernardo Cejudo died while engaged in the conversion of Ituy. He had reached the Philippines in 1648, and his life was one of austerity and earnest endeavor. Matias de Armas also died in 1655 in the province of Cagayan. He was born in the island of Tenerife in the city of Laguna, where he took the habit. In the Philippines he became a master of the Cagayan and Tagálog tongues, acting as vicar in Cagayan, and as vicar of Abucay in 1645. In the years 1638–39 he was in the island Hermosa, where he studied that language while awaiting an opportunity to go to China (which was unsuccessful). At his death in 1655 he was vicar of Afulug. Alonso Navarro, president of the Chinese hospital of San Gabriel, died that same year in the Manila convent. During his thirty years in the Dominican province he ministered to the Filipinos (being very fluent in the Tagálog language); served as definitor, vicar of many houses, and vicar-provincial; and built the church in the village of Binondoc. In Cagayan also died that year Pedro de Aniza, an earnest missionary who had acted as vicar-provincial and ordinary of many houses. He solemnized many baptisms among the hostile people of Irraya and those in the mountains.]In 1656 father Fray Jacinto Gali of the province of Aragon, son of the convent at Girona in Cataluña, was elected provincial. By his excellent qualities, and the proofs that he had shown of his great prudenceand devotion in the course of the twenty-four years that he had spent in this holy province, he was worthy of the supreme dignity of its government. He learned very perfectly the difficult language of the Chinese, to whom he ministered often in the Parián and in Binondoc. He also knew the Tagálog language thoroughly; and thus accomplished much in both languages. The province, desirous of elevating to the highest pinnacle the one who would advance their order with the activity and integrity that such an office demands, elected him their head. His election was well received both within and without the house, for all were acquainted with him and knew that his merits had called for so honorable an occupation many years before. He began to exercise it, but God, satisfied with his holy desire, blocked his steps in a short time; for at his first departure, when he went to visit Cagayan, having arrived there a mortal illness attacked him in Lalo. There, after he had received the sacraments, and had taken farewell of his province with most tender and paternal speeches—not unaccompanied by the sobs of all the religious, who had hastened at the report of his illness—he gave his soul to the Lord in the eighth month of his provincialate, on New Year’s day of the year 1657. That [such was his death] is understood by the tokens that his great virtue and devotion left to us. That was a perfect New Year’s day for his soul, which will never grow old in his time. Before he went upon the said visit, Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and the royal Audiencia, urged by their narrow-minded zeal as ministers of his Majesty, put a new pressure upon us. Through the fiscal of the king it was intimated to usand to all the orders that we were to make a presentation of the lists of the chapters, as is done in the other provinces of the rest of the Indias. This is a very delicate thing to treat in a history, and it has cost many entreaties before God and His most holy mother our patroness—not because of the inconveniences that are feared from the royal piety of his Majesty, the king our sovereign, nor of the impartiality and justice of his ministers, who will know how to govern this matter with that fear of God and with prudence, as they do other matters; but because we ourselves fear in these conversions which are so tender, where perhaps the tying of the hands of the mother will mean the loosening of those of the children, which will render them restless, with greater difficulty in subduing them than in other provinces less remote from relief and remedy. What happened in that case was that we petitioned with due submission, and stated our reasons (although all our reasons cannot be taken to so lofty and grave courts); and as a consequence the royal Audiencia allowed us to continue our present custom, which we maintain not only from our rules, but from the foundation of this province, and sent the records to the royal Council of the Indias, where the matter was examined. In that year the province sent as definitor to the general chapter father Fray Juan Lopez, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, lecturer in theology, and regent of the college of Santo Thomàs of Manila. He later became the most illustrious bishop of Zibu and ascended to the archbishopric of the said city of Manila. We shall discuss him more in detail in the year of his death, which occurred lately, to the universal sorrow of these islands. Authority as procurator-generalwas given to father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad in order that he might accompany the former. He was already in Madrid, and afterward became the most meritorious bishop of Santa Marta. The provincial having died, the prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, where the chapter of the coming election was to be held, namely, father Fray Lucas Montanero, became vicar-general according to our rules. Having called the conference or junta of the province, he set the time and day for the following chapter, namely, April 21, 1657, and it was held by arrangement of the said conference and its vicar-general.[Chapter viii deals with the life and death (July, 1656), of Diego Rodriguez in China, and Chinese affairs. Chinese matters are discussed also in the three following chapters.]CHAPTER XIIGreat earthquake of San Bernardo’s day; and the mission which arrived at the provinceIn the year 1658, when the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles was prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, another great and formidable earthquake occurred on the twentieth of August. In the opinion of all it was worse than that of the day of St. Andrew which we have related, which occurred in the year 1645; except that this one came alone in the quality of its greatness (for the shocks that accompanied it were much less severe than in the former; it is a natural thing to have these earthquakes come with a retinue, and they are among the evils that can never come singly). Thesecond reason why this one was less was based on the fact that the city of Manila was in a sad condition, and those lofty edifices of stone were on the ground, which then robbed the city of much of its pride. Therefore, although some people were killed and many met with accidents and bodily injury, it was not so bloody. However it did not fail to exercise its commission, and many edifices were violently overthrown and great disorder was occasioned not only in Manila but in all these islands.... Our convent of Santo Domingo was hardly used; and as the religious had no cells, as those which were left were full of water, they went along that street seeking corners where they could stay, even at great inconvenience. When the mission (of which we shall speak immediately) arrived, lodgings had to be arranged in the galleries of the new church, where beds and curtains were distributed among the various collateral naves. A better manner of lodging could not be found for many days, because the rainy season (which was a great drawback) had set in. The convent was very fortunate in having there its superior, who repaired so great a disaster with all courage and fortitude, and encouraged his subordinates by repairing their house with great skill and energy, notwithstanding that it was under heavy expenses. God performed miracles by his hand, and has continued the same in the other posts which he has held. Truly he is one of the most careful and indefatigable workers of this holy province, and as he is yet living, this remark must suffice.That year arrived an excellent mission which had been collected in España by father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad, who had remained there as bishop-electof Santa Marta, and Father Matheo Bermudez, who conducted it to Mexico, where he remained as vicar of San Jacinto. The latter entrusted his office to father Fray Juan de Polanco, who brought that mission safely to Filipinas to the great joy of all the religious. The mission consisted of thirty-eight,1and their names, occupations, and native places are as follows in order of age: father Fray Joseph Duriach, son of the royal convent of Santa Catalina Martir in Barcelona, former lecturer in the arts in Girona; father Fray Luis Alvarez, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and lecturer in the arts in the said his convent of San Pablo; father Fray Juan Polanco, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and former master of students in Santa Maria la Real at Trianos, who came as vicar of that mission from Mexico; father Fray Alonso de Leon, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Domingo de San Pedro, son of [the convent of] Santa Zita in Palermo, lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Mantua, and lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Diego de San Roman, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Victoria, and lecturer in logic in Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; father Fray Antonio Calderon, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, and fellow of Santo Tomàs in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Francisco Sanchez, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martirin Toledo, and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Felipe Leonardo, son of the Preachers in Valencia; father Fray Tomàs Butiel, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Hipra [i.e., Ypres] in lower Germania; father Fray Salvador de Santo Tomàs, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Domingo de Villamide, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Martin de Trigueros, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Ocaña; father Fray Pedro del Barco, son of [the convent of] La Madre de Dios in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Jayme Berge, son of [the convent of] Corpus Christi at Luchente in the kingdom of Valencia; father Fray Juan Teodoro, son of [the convent of] San Vicente at Calcha, in the province of Flandes; father Fray Agustin Garcia, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid; father Fray Diego Serrano, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Joseph de Noriega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Leonardo Marquez, son of [the convent of] San Agustin in Padua; father Fray Nicolas Merlo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Antonio Martinez, son of the convent of Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Tomàs de Leon, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid, and brother of father Fray Alonso de Leon above mentioned; father Fray Fernando de Melgar, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Lorenzo del Rosario, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Bartolome de Quiroga, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Lugo;father Fray Victorio de Almoynia, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; Fray Bernardo Alvarez, dean, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Estevan de Rivera, son of [the convent of] Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; Fray Melchor Vigil, dean, son of the said convent in Trianos; Fray Lucas de San Vicente, lay-brother, native of Salamanca, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Those who remained sick in Mexico came the following year. They were as follows: father Fray Manuel de Guzman, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla; father Fray Gregorio Ortiz, son of the Preachers in Zaragoza; Fray Domingo de Flores, dean, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Zamora; Fray Andres de los Angeles, lay-brother, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Oajaca. That fine mission arrived very opportunely, composed of religious who possessed so excellent abilities; they were young, and well fitted to advance the credit of this holy province. After the joyful congratulations which welcomed them, they were assigned by the arrangements of the prelate, then the father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, to the study of a language. They have gone forth as excellent ministers and missionaries, both those who are living and some who have already died.[Chinese affairs again engross our author for the remainder of this chapter, as well as for the thirteenth.]CHAPTER XIVJunta of the year 1659; father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales goes to take part in it; and prior events in Zubinkeu.The intermediary junta was held in 1659 in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Among other matters that were decided there, we must not pass in silence the response made to the fathers of China to a question or memorial presented by them. [This memorial, in view of the disturbed state of China and the slender support that was received by the missionaries in China from the province in the Philippines, asks that whenever cultivated lands are given them as an alms they may accept them. The memorial or petition was not allowed, for the bad effects that might ensue from it; as the Chinese might misconstrue it and imagine that the missionaries go to their country for the sake of the lands alone, and not for the welfare of souls—the decision giving great satisfaction to Juan Bautista de Morales, vicar-provincial of China. The remainder of the chapter relates wholly to Chinese matters.][The insurrections in the provinces of Pangasinán, Ilocos, and Cagayan of the year 1660 are discussed in chapters xv and xvi (the latter treating also of the Chinese pirate Kuesing). They will be sufficiently related elsewhere in this work. Chapter xvii is a summary of the life of father Fray Joseph de Madrid, who was born in Cebú. After studying at Santo Tomás in Manila, he entered the order in that city. He was soon sent to the Chinese missions, but was unable to remain there on account of the climate and hence returned to Manila, where hedied a violent death at the hands of the Chinese of the Parián—who had revolted on account of the threatening messages of Kuesing in the year 1662. He was a natural linguist, speaking fluently Cebúan, Visayan, Tagálog, and the language of Ituy, beside the most difficult dialect of the Chinese, namely, that spoken about Canton. Chapters xviii and xix treat of the Chinese pirate Kuesing and Chinese affairs. Chapter xx contains accounts of the lives of various religious who died in the Dominican province during this time. Carlos Clemente Gant died in the province of Nueva Segovia at the age of more than seventy, having arrived in the Philippines in 1611. He was a native of Zaragoza, and professed in the same city. His mission field was in the province of Cagayan, whither he returned both times after his terms as provincial (1637, and 1648). He also became commissary of the Holy Office after the death of the commissary Fray Domingo Gonzalez. Joseph de Santa Maria (or Navarro), a son of the convent of San Pedro Martir at Marchena in Andalucía, went to the Philippines in 1648. He was vicar of the islands of Babuyanes, where he fell ill and had to go Lalo-c for treatment; on returning to his convent he was killed by the insurgents. Pedro de la Fuente, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos, served as lecturer in theology in the college of Santo Tomás in Manila, and regent and prior of the Manila convent, and was minister in various places in Cagayan. At his death he was vicar of the village of Pata. The father commissary, Fray Salvador Mexia, son of the Sevilla convent, went to the islands in 1648. He acted as vicar-provincial of Pangasinán, and was remembered for his zeal.Francisco Martir Ballesteros, of the convent of Santo Domingo in Murcia, died in the province of Pangasinán at the age of more than seventy, being vicar-provincial of Pangasinán. He was a zealous minister, and left a number of sermons and other pious writings which circulated among the friars in manuscript. Rafael de la Carcel of the province of Aragon, a native of Mallorca, who went to the Philippines in 1632, also died in Pangasinán. Among other posts that he held he was prior of the Manila convent, for a while prior vicar-general, and vicar of Calasiao. His death occurred soon after the disaffection of that village, and was probably hastened by that loss. Rodrigo de Cardenas, bishop of Nueva Segovia, died in May, 1661. He had arrived at the Philippines in 1653, and held the office of bishop for eight years. He died greatly regretted by all.]CHAPTER XXIThe holding of the provincial chapter for the election; death of Kuesing; father Fray Victorio [Riccio] returns to China with the reply to his embassy.The father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, ended his term as provincial, and on April 7, 1661, the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, then prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, was elected in that convent. That was the first time when he rose to the government of this province as provincial. He filled that office so well that after twelve years (in 1673) he was elected for the second time, and is at present in that office. He came to this province in the mission of 1648, for which heleft his convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where he exercised the office of master of students. The province always kept him employed here in the offices of lecturer of morning classes, regent, and rector of the college of Santo Tomas; president of the hospital, and prior of Manila. Although he has filled all of them with great credit to his person, and has been useful and creditable to the order, yet the honor of commissary of the Holy Inquisition has given him greater prestige—both because any service for that holy tribunal (and especially that of commissary), means so much, and because of the circumstances of the time. For he was the first commissary elected after the disturbance, as famous as harmful, which was occasioned in these islands by the preceding commissary, who arrested the governor at that time without those orders that he ought to have awaited after having consulted—or, more correctly, having informed—the holy tribunal of Mexico. The father provincial commenced his first government with so much spirit and energy that much and even most of it was left for his second government. For the already-mentioned insurrection of the Parián happened in his term, as did the incident of our ambassador,2together with the measures taken in the offended provinces of the insurgent Indians, although those provinces are now quiet. In that and in the sending out of missions, in which he has always manifested his great love and inclination, and in maintaining them with aid, he could well boast of his great zeal and capacity—besides [carrying] theusual weight [of the province] which is always heavy. He sent father Fray Jayme Berge (who came in the mission of the year 1658) to become an associate to father Fray Victorio Riccio, and ordered father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, who desired it, to come to Manila. At the same time he gave orders and letters commanding father Fray Juan Polanco, whom the chapter had appointed definitor for Europa, and procurator-general, to come [to Manila]. He also conveyed a generous aid to our religious, as well as what the order of our father St. Francis gave him for their religious. That did not have the success that was desired, for the greater part was lost in the conveying of it through that so disturbed country. [The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][The four following chapters also treat of Chinese matters, including political and missionary affairs.]CHAPTER XXVIOf the intermediary junta; the arrival of a new governor in Filipinas; affairs of China; and of Mother Maria de Jesus.The intermediary junta was held in our convent of Santo Domingo, on April fourteen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-three. Besides the usual arrangements, no especial thing was ordained in it except to entrust to the father provincial the printing of the ritual, and, when that was done, to see that the religious used it and no other. That is a very important provision, and one in which the zeal of our superiors is very well occupied, so that our procedure may be uniform, as we are charged in the beginning of ourholy constitutions. It is not advisable that this matter of ceremonies be free, since they are so necessary; and piety and opinion have no vote in this matter, in which the decree of the superiors has explained their decision. The worst results will follow if neglect occasions it, since the administration of the holy sacraments is the most essential point of the ministries; and they need rules and regulations, care in their study, and punctuality. In the year 1669, a very suitable ritual was published, which was quite uniform with the Roman ritual of Paul V....That year of 1663 our governor, the master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, came to these islands. He was a worthy soldier of Flandes, where he had attained honorable posts; and since he had filled them so well his Majesty entrusted to him the influential post of captain-general and governor of these islands. If these islands were three thousand leguas nearer, that office would doubtless not be second in importance to those of America. The ship put in at Nueva Segovia, and consequently the said governor came overland—being received very hospitably by our ministering religious and those of our father St. Augustine, who are established along the way. On that journey also they were received by the natives with feasts, dancing, and music, in which they are very entertaining. His Lordship gained a good name in [receiving] those tokens of welcome, inadequate as they were, by the great affability and generosity that he displayed to the natives. He reached Manila and assumed his office amid great acclamation and pomp on the festal day of September eight, the day consecrated to the birth of the most holy Virgin. That was a great consolation to all people, and goodauguries were indicated although not all of them were fulfilled to the letter. He was beyond doubt a capable man, and one of great intellect. In but few days he understood whatever concerned his obligation, and never departed from it so long as it concerned the king’s service. He made the despatches of the ships to España very punctually, and with foresight; for he recognized that the ship that left here annually to get the situado is the one that ought to have the greatest care, and demands activity [in preparation] so that it may not be pushed for time, but that one or two months shall be gained. Consequently, there always was a ship [on that line]; and God took charge of them and brought them in, seeing that people here were doing their utmost.3In respect to the good fortune with which he began [his term], he became faint-hearted, and cared little for being liked, for that post cannot be free from cause for harshness. The devil entered, upon seeing the necessary wall of love somewhat fallen; and he put complaints into the minds of the traders, which soon spread to the other estates. That enemy sowed dissension, which is his own seed; and the number of those disaffected increasing, much opposition to the governor arose. At the end of the year 1668 (October tenth) the governor was arrested by the commissary of the Inquisition, Fray Joseph de Paternina, an Augustinian....[Further references to the Chinese missions and politics are made, and the chapter ends with notices regarding a Spanish beata or devout woman, Maria de Jesus, who died in Manila in 1662. Her parents, Albaro de Angulo Tobar and Isabel de Morales, were old settlers in the islands, who had lived first in Cebú; and their daughter was born in Arevalo, in the island of Panay. The latter took the habit of beata in the tertiary order of the Dominicans, somewhat against the will of her parents. She gave many alms, spent the greater portion of her wealth in the building of the church of Santo Domingo, and reared orphan girls in her house.][The life and labors of the famous missionary to China, Juan Bautista de Morales, who died in 1664, fill chapters xxvii-xxxii. The following chapter is devoted to Fray Francisco de Paula, commissary of the Inquisition and twice provincial, and other fathers. The former was born in Segovia and took the habit at Salamanca. Enlisting in the Philippine mission in 1618, on arriving there he began to study Chinese in the Parián; but was soon transferred to the college of Santo Tomás, where he taught for eighteen years. He was a successful and eloquent preacher to the Spaniards, and in consequence was elected preacher-general of the Manila convent. The office of vicar-provincial, as far as Manila is concerned, was conferred on him; and in the year 1641 he was elected provincial. In 1647, while exercising his duties in the Manila college of Santo Tomás, whither he had returned after his office had expired, he was elected commissary of the Inquisition. In 1657 he was again elected provincial. Pedro de Santo Domingo, who took the habit in Milan, Italy,went to the Philippines in 1658, at the age of forty, and was sent to the Chinese missions; but, being unable on account of his age to learn the language, he was sent back to Manila and became vicar of the convent of Santelmo in Cavite. Illness, however, pressing on him, he was assigned as vicar to the Philippine hospice of San Jacinto in Mexico, but died ere reaching his destination.]CHAPTER XXXIVThe election of a new provincial in the person of the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles; and the great troubles in China.The capitular members assembled in the year 1665 to elect a provincial, as the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, had completed his office. On the twenty-fifth of April they elected the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, of the province of Andalucia, and a son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in the village of Zafra in Estremadura. He had come to this province in the year 1635, and had been minister of Tagalos in the district of Bataan, and afterward in the island Hermosa, where he remained six years (the time when the Dutch captured that fort and drove us from the land). He returned to Manila by way of Jacatra and Macasar, and to his former ministry of Tagalos. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomas, twice prior in our convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, at various times vicar-general, and definitor in 1661 and 1673. In the year that we mentioned, the province elected him as its prelate, to the general satisfaction of all. This is as much as we can say at present, for he is still living.We can also say that since being provincial, he has undertaken the charge of the college for boys of San Juan de Letran. He has provided for them a very suitable and spacious house within the walls of Manila, that has gained repute and esteem for the pious education in virtue and the studies of those children, which is the object [of that college]. This holy province was struggling manfully at the time of that election, but both hands were busy in wiping off the tears that were shed before God for two reasons. [The first reason was the effort of the governor to make the orders publish the lists of ministries,4as was the custom in the other parts of the Indias. In 1665 the vessel which arrived brought his Excellency, Don Fray Juan Lopez, consecrated bishop-elect of Cebú. He brought with him the acts of the general chapter held in Rome in 1656; the execution of the measures for the government of the Indias in general were suspended, as the Philippines were not included in them unless mentioned specially. The second great trouble of the province was the cruelty practiced on the missionaries in China. The chapter ends with accounts of China and the work there.][Chinese affairs are continued in chapters xxxv–xl.]CHAPTER XLIA new mission arrives in the province; and events of these times in Filipinas and China.The bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco (who was not yet bishop-elect) went to España with the usual powers conferred by the province, following Don Fray Juan Lopez, bishop of Zibu and afterward archbishop of Manila, who had gone the preceding year with the same powers. But because of accidents, and since the province was so lacking in religious, a second procurator was despatched. That was an excellent measure, as the result showed; for the bishop of Zibu was embarrassed by his new promotion and by his despatches, so that he could not get the mission ready, although he had made a good start at it upon the arrival of Don Fray Juan de Polanco. The latter was very well received in the provinces of España, and all of them showed him great love and reverence because of the good impression that he gave by his virtues, which have without doubt the greatest attracting power for those spiritual soldiers. The commission is one of danger which only the loftiest object and obedience can make peaceful; for besides being the sample, as they say, of the cloth, such a person is not only looked at but spied upon by all; and it is necessary above all to bear God in mind and keep oneself acceptable to Him for so long and even almost desperate voyages, so that He may give health in so many hardships, climates, and paths of the earth, and [enable him to furnish] a good example for so many different kinds of persons with whom one must confer and voyage, in the midst of so many cares as he always has in his charge. The task ofmaking religious is that of the greatest difficulty; for so long as the men [sought] have the greatest abilities, their convents, who have reared them, feel it more, and say farewell to them to see them no more, where natural love does its duty and the devil is not careless—although, in fine, our holy provinces have always nourished this daughter of theirs in the belief that to give her a religious is to make God careful to send her many, and to preserve them with the wealth of their virtues. They send their sons to this honorable warfare, and the latter gain new blasons for them and get their first share of the spoils in the service of God and the welfare of souls. Therefore, the procurator who is securing men needs many lights of virtue, prudence, and affability, and great patience, for accidents that happen, and for the suitable choice of routes, and for guidance when they go astray; then the essential part of presenting the things in his care to the princes, and the latter’s councils and counselors to whose questions he must make answer with truth and candor. The fear of God is master in all; for, if he swerve from that line, he cannot make a good voyage. For the other despatches by tribunals and accountancies, he needs to attend upon them without being troublesome, and enduring delays, civilities, and courtesies; for they are ministers of the king and worthy of all esteem, and he must await his time amid the so many cares entrusted to them. Just at present we all enjoy the ministry of a perfect procurator of Filipinas in our venerable bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco, who must have been a model of procurators; for by his example and virtue alone, he found himself freed from all the difficulties that accompany that honorable office. Intheir very beginnings he found them solved and conquered; and he made the very judges of his causes, and even those who were opposed to him, his attorneys. This is not imagination but the pure truth; and there are many witnesses still living now in the holy city of Roma (where he went as definitor in 1668), and in the royal court of Madrid—where he was favored by princes, and esteemed and respected as an apostolic and holy man in their councils and tribunals; where he was listened to as a learned orator of this province; and where his causes were heard with the notable grace that God gave him wherever he went, and with the highest honor in both the said courts. The time will come for recounting his life and death, and then a longer account will be given of his virtues. Suffice it to say for the present that he collected two famous missions for this holy province, which he accompanied to Mexico (which is the rough place in the ascent of the hill), and returned for the third time [to España] for more soldiers—[whom he would have brought] had not the giant footsteps of envious death intercepted him in Sevilla. He entrusted the first mission to one of its religious, namely, father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz. They reached Manila safely in August, 1666, and their names in order of age are as follows: father Fray Juan de Velasco, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz el Real in Granada, and master of students, who was then in the convent of San Lucar; father Fray Joseph de Isussi, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos and fellow of [the convent of] San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Diego Nuñez, son of [the conventof] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Christoval de Montenegro, son of the convent and college of Nuestro Señora del Rosario in Almagro, fellow of Santo Thomas in Sevilla, and teacher of logic there; father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Sevilla, and lecturer in logic there, former fellow of Santo Thomas of Alcalà de Henares (this father remained in Mexico because of illness, and came the following year); father Fray Christoval Pedroche, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Juan Romero, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Juan de la Cueva, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz in Granada; father Fray Pedro de Alcalà, son of the same convent in Granada; father Fray Manuel de Mercadillo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Alonso Blasco, son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in Estremadura; father Fray Domingo Perez, son of the convent of Santa Maria de Trianos, fellow of Alcalà [de Henares]; father Fray Juan Peguero, son of the convent of Porta Cœli in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Ximenez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Joseph de Solis, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Francisco de Olmedo, son of the same convent in Palencia; father Fray Pedro Sanchez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Antonio de San Juan, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Agustin Garcia de Ortega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Pablo Marchan, son of the same convent of San Estevan; fatherFray Andres Gonzalez, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; father Fray Bernabe Rodriguez, son of the same convent in Valladolid; father Fray Francisco de Villalva, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos; father Fray Pedro de Alarcon, son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha; father Fray Antonio Rego, son of the convent of San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Andres Lopez, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Diego de Castro, son of the convent at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Joseph de San Jacinto, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Joseph de la Torre, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Rio Seco; father Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, son of the convent in Ocaña; father Fray Juan de Santa Maria, son of the convent of San Pedro in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Gonzalez, son of the convent of Aranda in Duero; father Fray Juan de Castellanos, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Logroño; father Fray Bernardo de Noriega, son of the convent of San Pablo in Palencia; Fray Antonio de la Purificacion, lay-brother, of the convent of Santa Cruz in Granada; Fray Joseph de la Villalva, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Juan Fernando, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos, who remained in our hospice of San Jacinto [in Mexico]; and Fray Sebastian del Rosario, lay-brother, son of the said convent of San Jacinto in Mexico. In all they number thirty-nine.5This fine mission came in the ship “La Concepcion,” that year of 1666. The same ship also broughttwo other missions, one of our father, St. Francis, and the other of the Society of Jesus; two religious of St. John of God, and secular priests; also captains, and very honorable persons—in charge of the commander Joseph de Zamora. The ship was unable to make the Embocadero because the vendavals which had set in prevented it. Therefore it was very fortunate in making the port of Palapa, which is located on the southern side.6They anchored there on the day of St. Lawrence, and it was considered a very special providence of God that they disembarked there on that land, for all arriving in great need and worn out after four months and more of continual navigation, they found, especially the religious, that they had arrived at the land so oft desired and the land of promise. They found in that village, which is in charge of the fathers of the Society, a father rector whose charity challenged the needs of all of them and was victorious. This was the ever venerable father Melchor de los Reyes, a native of Puerto Rico, who, although very poor in that ministry of his, yet settled the difficulty as a very rich man. He lodged eighty religious without even remotely expecting one. He received them all with the ringing of bells, with playing on wind instruments, and music. He supported them abundantly and daintily until boats were found to take them to Manila (which could not be done in a few days). He also succored the ship with rice and other supplies, and with dainties, according to their persons. Ours were the best served, for boats were not found; and although it was thought that the ship could soon proceedupon its voyage, the bad weather was so obstinate that it was unable to sail until March of the following year. Therefore they remained in that holy house with the same satisfaction that they could have had in the most wealthy convent of our order. Sufficiently accommodated in those lodgings, they all said mass; and then those who wished had their breakfast. All the food was supplied abundantly, with the utmost cleanliness and punctuality. They were sheltered in the choir and galleries with great quiet. A pleasant and crystal river flowed near the college, for recreation and bathing. There were books in great abundance, according to the taste of each one. Above all was the affability of the holy religious, and of the others who attended to those residences belonging to their ministry. Truly there are no words to imagine the consolation that the Lord gave there to our tired religious, or the obligation under which all this province remained at so generous charity. The religious who served as superior of Ours, seeing the length of time that they were staying there, and the so excessive expense that was being incurred, although fearful of a bad outcome, finally, to satisfy his ill-founded fear, took one hundred pesos from the scanty hoard of the mission, and resolved to give them to the father rector. They were not sufficient even to cover the cost of the rice, but in the end would be some aid in meeting the expenses. He followed the rector alone into his apartment, and, changing color, after some arguments which he endeavored to offer he concluded by asking pardon, and asked him to please take that trifle to pay at least the porters and cooks, since our mission was detained so long there. The father rector assumed a serious countenance then,and in brief, sorrowfully proceeded to give the father a severe reproof, by telling him that nothing worthy of payment had been done there; that the father vice-provincial had ordered him to attend to that obligation; that the fathers of his residences had brought the supplies, each in accordance with his several ability; that, thanks to God, nothing was owed to the Indians; that God was giving for everything; and that he rather was the gainer, for, without knowing how, he found his pantries full; that during those days two dugongs had been caught (a thing which had not been seen before since he had been there, for never had those fish been seen there, for it was by a great miracle). Thus did he minimize all that he had done; but our religious, still insisting and placing the hundred pesos on the table, witnessed that the venerable father fell on his knees, and clasping his hands, with tears in his eyes, said to him: “No, no, father, you must not leave that money here for me. I beg that of you in the name of the most holy Virgin. She will not permit your Reverence to give me such affront, at least for the good-will with which I have served you.” Thereupon, the religious begged pardon, and kept his money without knowing how to pay that debt, unless it be paid in the divine treasuries of God, for whom it was all done. Our religious went out in seven bands, and for each band the rector solicited a boat, a good pilot, and a store of supplies for some days. All came [to Manila] singing the praises of so religious an Alexander, who was finally reared in so holy a school as that of the Society of Jesus—where, although one is taught all kinds of knowledge so completely, we can say that charity is that which is not taught, because it is inspired. Godwill now have paid that pious father, for already has He taken him to himself. The religious consumed two more months in going from Palapa to Manila because of the bad weather. However, they passed almost always through ministries belonging to our father St. Francis, where they found themselves detained and hindered more by the great love with which they were welcomed, and the regret with which they were allowed to depart, than by the roads and the difficulties of travel. They arrived at the desired place at last and were received by the father provincial, then the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, with that paternal love which his natural affability and his obligation dictated to him. When he saw that they were rested, he began to assign them occupations.On September 27 of the former year 1665, our most reverend father-general, Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, wrote a loving and thoughtful letter from Roma to the venerable father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales. That letter reached the province in 1667, and, although the father was dead, it will be proper that so precious a thing—to the credit of the paternal providence of its author, and of the reputation that this noble although so retired a member had gained with the supreme head of the order—shall not perish or be lost; and it is also to the credit of this holy province, for they so hold his name in memory as to honor it through its sons, our supreme heads. The letter reads as follows: “Reverend father in Christ: Health, and grace from the Holy Ghost. The news that I have received from the father provincial of that our province of the Filipinas is a great consolation to me. He gives me news of your Reverence’shealth, and of the perseverance with which you are aiding in those conversions without any relaxation to your labors in your so advanced age. I thank the Lord therefor, from whom comes all good; and applying to your Reverence the sufferings of all the order, and giving you the benediction of our glorious St. Dominic, I thank you again and again for having served in our ministry for the conversion of souls, which is the object of our institute, and which your Reverence and your companions are, with the divine grace, accomplishing. Forty-two religious sailed in the mission which left Cadiz on July 5 of this year, for which the father lecturer, Fray Juan Polanco, procurator of the province, worked zealously and diligently. The consolation that I have had in the selection of those missionaries will increase if your Reverence will take them under your teaching, and encourage and exhort them so that, as sons of so good a father, they may give bread to those who, desirous of spiritual sustenance, beg it. May God please that it be so, for such is my desire. In regard to the labors of government, it will relieve us to receive letters from your Reverence, and to have news of the progress of so loving sons as it has been God’s pleasure to give me. I have sent breviaries and a formulary of devotion to the twelve associates of your Reverence, which is as a token of my love, so that you may be mindful of me in your prayers, and ask God to give me the success that I desire in the fulfilment of my obligation. I am sending to your Reverence documents containing the many thanks that the holy apostolic see has given us; and I inform you that his Holiness in our Lord, Alexander VII, who is auspiciously governing this Church, is granting us veryloving favors; and I hope to receive even greater ones from his munificence. I shall give him an account of the extensive labors of your Reverence, and of the happiness that we may expect because an entrance has been made into the island Hermosa, whence the passage to China and to Japon will be facilitated. May God continually preserve and accompany your Reverence and all those my sons—to whom I say that the cause of the holy martyrs of Japon is proceeding felicitously;7and that I hope that the laurel of their martyrdom will be a motive to the others, so that, if it should prove necessary for the maintenance of our holy faith to suffer as martyrs they may do so with gladness. Roma, September 27, 1665.“Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, master of the order.”This is the letter written ex-officio by the general of the order to a poor missionary under him, giving place to this care before so many and imperative cares as claim his attention—so that one may see even in this life the honors that God has prepared for those who are employed in so apostolic an occupation.In the year 1667, on the day of the immaculate conception of our Lady, December 8, the most illustrious doctor Don Miguel de Poblete, archbishop of Manila, died in that city, to the universal sorrow of all these islands; for during the time of fourteen years while he had occupied the see, he acted as the loving father and pastor of his church. He was a very amiableman, pious, and possessed of great charity; for notwithstanding the poverty of this archbishopric, and its dependence upon the condition of a royal treasury that is so poor and has so many creditors, he gave liberal alms, which he took from the sustenance of his own person, his household, and his family. He was very anxious for the building of his cathedral, which he found completely ruined since the earthquakes. With grave importunity and the amount that his Majesty ordered to be paid to him, he left a church that was very sumptuous (as much so as these islands permit), almost finished. It has three naves, all of free stone and rubble-work masonry. It was finished a short time after his death; and its venerable dean and cabildo occupied it to the great consolation and credit of the city. On the day of his death occurred the ceremony of taking the oath of allegiance to the king our sovereign, Carlos Second;8and God made that occasion propitious for us, for with that his venerable body, embalmed, was exposed for three days, and the faithful had time to go with tearful piety to say farewell to their most loving shepherd, whose hands and feet they kissed until he was buried with due pomp. It was the common report, and an established fact, that he died a virgin, and beloved to the utmost degree9for his so beautiful virtue. This and his piety, not at all embarrassed by personal considerations,were sufficient to compose a palm10for him; and after it was placed it appeared very fitting. God will give his fame a special history, as ours cannot go into greater detail.In those two years God took from us valuable associates of long experience, who served this holy province much by their example and work for the welfare of the Indians. Father Fray Juan de Arjona, son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova, [was one]. He had been occupied with great earnestness in the ministries of Pangasinan and Ytui, and there he performed great deeds for the service of God, as those ministries were new. He died at an advanced age in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Father Fray Juan Pabon, native of Montaruches in Estremadura, son of the convent at Truxillo in the province of España, was most accomplished in the language of Nueva Segovia, and suffered great hardships in the conversion of the Indians of Irraya and in the administration of other villages. The love and respect of all who came in contact with him was very great; and the province entrusted to him many posts of honor, and grieved not a little at his death, for he was a model for ministers, and in every respect a pattern of his obligation.CHAPTER XLIIOf the intermediary junta of the year sixty-seven; and of other news of this period of our history.On April thirty of the year 1667 was held and celebrated the intermediary junta [in the term] of the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles, in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila—and with new vigor because of the fervor imparted to the province by the fresh nourishment received from its late reënforcement. They proceeded to arrange the ministries, and one more which it seemed advisable to separate, namely, San Miguel at Orion, in the district of Bataan. After knowing the new soldiers for a year, the old and new stones were assigned to their places in order to render this spiritual edifice firm and beautiful. The new rules made were but few, but they were very carefully thought out. The first was that no inferior or subordinate official of the order should visit or write to the alcaldes and superiors of the provinces, and least of all to the governor, without first making known his intention and explaining it to the father provincial—or, in his absence, to the vicars-provincial—respectively. That was and ought to be a necessary measure; and the attempt to carry out the decisions that each minister reaches in his seclusion may be the cause of greater troubles. We must not make a passion of our zeal for defending the Indians, for that is a virtue that essentially demands to be moderated by prudence. An angry letter, or (what is worse) a visit, founded perhaps on a misrepresentation, generally disquiets a superior. He, in his own opinion offended, is vexed; and the Indians themselves, and the rest of the religious,are wont to pay doubly [for the intrusion]. Consequently, it is proper that such matters be managed with much caution and in accordance with obedience, and in the council [of the order], keeping in view the object, which must be the first aim of every good intention. Everyone does what he is able in his ministry and profession, and the apostle says that we should give offense to no one. The heads of the province, being in an exalted position, discover many things and efficient remedies for all troubles; and hence it is necessary to place such affairs in their hands. For the same reason and one greater, that junta repeats the order that no one should preach against the government and the persons busied in it without consulting with the same superiors. For that means consultation with God, because words are very important in that most lofty and consecrated place—where by favor of the sovereign principles of a wisdom whose master is the fear of God, and general doctrines, one may say whatever there is to say. Our father San Vicente Ferrer did not preach more than the judgment, but he reformed the world, kings, and chiefs. And only a St. John the Baptist, who by credit of his virtue pointed out with his finger a divine Person, could point out from the pulpit a person so wicked and scandalous as a Herod; for the latter was, in fine, king, and his dignity protected him. God placed our superiors in their positions (and kings rule through God) and gave that honor to their councils and magistracies; and consequently it is proper for ministers to honor them without flattery (which is another and worse extreme) without curing them with salt, and with respect where the community does not feel it—so that by preaching to thepeople at large, they will know where their pain is. We have already touched on this point in another place; but, since our province repeats it so often in its ordinances, the historian is also permitted to repeat it, since it is advice so important. A petition was addressed to our most reverend father not to allow dispensations to be introduced into our provinces, nor anything that savored of [differences between] individuals or degrees. For since it had seemed to his paternal piety that the procurators-general who went from this province to those of Europa had immense work therein, he planned to grant to them officially some sort of reward, by conferring on them the rank of the more recent fathers of the province. Receiving this favor with submission and gratitude, they nevertheless protested in this junta against it. At the same time Don Fray Juan de Polanco made a humble resistance in Roma, as he knew that the order had already been sent. But he obtained that new favor from our most reverend father; and, before our petition arrived, the said grace was revoked.In the following year of 1668 two relief ships reached these islands, which came from Nueva España. In one of them came father Fray Antonio Calderon, who had obtained permission to return to España the preceding year, because of illness. But later, as he regained strength in Nueva España, and as he knew the lack that one religious makes here, and the need of the province, he was filled with no small doubt, seeing that this was coming to be a second vocation. Therefore, he determined to return, and did so; and entered the province for the second time with great courage and went to his ministries in Nueva Segovia, where he is and was an excellentlinguist. The devil is very subtile, and, because he sees the evil that is caused him by this province, he causes sickness, and makes sufferings greater than what they are in themselves. Since also the magnanimous nature of man falls short, and he takes it ill to see himself set in a land like this—as shut out from intercourse and repose as contrary to the liberty of our España—with the little attention given to him, he imagines insuperable hardships in the rules, aggravates his sickness in so great retirement; and by a door that is lawful, he disturbs the common cause and even endangers that of the individual. The said father now found himself strong, and consequently chose to return, to exercise his strength in this his province. In the other ship came father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, who had, as we have remarked above, remained in Mexico sick, and was now coming very strong and well—to a place where the only consolations and pleasures that went out to meet him were a peril and sudden catastrophe, which would have been the last had not God aided him almost miraculously. Because of the difficulty that the ship had in entering the strait or Embocadero of San Bernardino—and those difficulties are very great and usual in those seas in that season—the father took a small boat called a caracoa; and, embarking in it with a father visitor-commissary of our father St. Francis, who was coming as visitor, and another, his associate, with rowers and other Spanish passengers, they tried to cross the strait, in order to continue their course to Manila more quickly than they could by the ship, if they waited for it. Those boats are not only swift but weak, and, in order to give them greater safety, some long timbers are crossed at intervals over the sides;at the ends of these they suitably place some bamboo sails calledcates, so that, by thus making the vessel wider, they may better resist the waves and sustain them. They were beginning their crossing, which is a distance of about six leguas, and in the very middle of it so strong a gust of wind struck them, as well as so opposing currents—which, in those regions, are such that they will turn a ship of high free-board clear around, with or without favorable winds, moving it from side to side and disarranging the [trim of the] sails, with the accompanying horror that only sailors can imagine—that that boat (for it was not even a patache, but a very weak vessel) capsized, because of the currents and the violent wind that they encountered in the midst of the open expanse, after a few contrary blasts, and filled with water. It was the Lord’s will that the buffeting of the sea should soon strip it of weight, carrying away whatever it contained. Thereupon the men in it remained astride of the said timbers andcates, and many of them were up to their breasts in water, rigging it. In such wise they allowed themselves to drift along with the said current, wherever it chose to take them, sustained only on those timbers poorly fastened together with rattan. Night came; day followed; and in all that time they were unable to make the land—on the contrary, the currents carried them away from it. When they got out of one current they were seized by one opposed to it, so that they were continually going, round and round in those waters. Father Fray Arcadio, who was still convalescent, suffered the most; and doubtless would soon have given up, had it not been for the said father commissary. A bamboo enclosure was made as well as possible on those timbersand there the father found some retreat from the water, mainly in the arms of the said father commissary. The latter’s name was Fray Antonio Godinez, son of the religious province of San Diego in Mexico. With the same suffering did they pass the following night—without water to drink in the midst of so much water, nor more food than a few grains of rice, which the wrath of so rigorous a fortune that assailed those miserable beings had forgotten. At last, on the third day, the Lord, as a Father of mercy, listened to them and they reached the land; where, more beaten by the waves of the sea than assisted by what the rowers could do, they reached the sacred sand in a stripped condition. Three men were drowned, who tried to quit the boat too soon, and the sea made them pay for their ingratitude with their lives; for their weakness had already forbidden them [from reaching land]. It is always a rule of sailors that only wood can swim on such occasions. All is as God ordains; but already deposit was made of life, and a good account, by means of his Majesty, must be given. Our religious landed, or rather those who shared his fortunes drew him ashore half dead. But the land performed its miracles, and they hastened to the first village, where they all recovered and were despatched to Manila. The pious commissary lost there all the papers of his commission, so that, when he reached the province, great difficulties were raised, and he returned without making his visit. Father Fray Arcadio reached this our province, where he was gladly received, and the prelate assigned him to the study of the Chinese language, in which he took the courses that will be related at the end of this chapter.[The provincial receives a letter dated Roma, February19, 1668, from the father-general of the order, Juan Bautista de Marinis, in which concessions to the order by Pope Clement IX are related. The beatified Luis Beltran and Mother Rosa de Santa Maria have been canonized; universal prayerad libitumto San Vicente Ferrer has been conceded; and other concessions of general importance to the order are granted. August 1, 1673, four religious embark for the Chinese missions—namely, Arcadio del Rosario, Pedro de Alcala, Pedro de Alarcon, and Alonso de Cordova. The rough weather experienced causes the superstitious Chinese crew to imagine that it is caused by the fathers; but after many hardships China is finally reached in twenty-four days. After various adventures they return to Manila, May 4, 1674. Two Dominican religious, namely, Arcadio del Rosario and Francisco Lujan, and two Franciscans, namely, Miguel Flores and Pedro de Piñuelo, sail for China on Corpus Christi day, 1676.]At the same time, religious are being occupied in two glorious missions in this same island of Manila. One near the city, to the north, is to the Zambals, whom we have not yet been able to subdue. Now two of our religious are there, and are bringing in those of the mountains to form villages. They possess churches and many of the people are converted. The religious write that they have been received very well, and it is hoped that this will be a grand work for the service of God and for these islands, for those people are very courageous and bloodthirsty, and have always done great harm to those who go to other provinces and to the villages near them; and, if the faith of Christ once subjects them, great advantages present themselves for all. The other mission is located in the same region, in the province of Nueva Segovia,in the district of the mountains called Irraya, of which this history has already given repeated notices. Most of those people are heathen, although there are many Christians among them who have fled from our villages. They have been subdued at times, but their misfortune has immediately roused them to rebellion. Now we are considering how to attract them by love, and with security; and our religious are moving alone in this matter, with none of the horrors that soldiers bring. Consequently, we trust that they too will be subdued. Such is our special vocation in this holy province, where we profess especially to fight the wars of God. And thus as the good soldier loses spirit when peace is declared, and is inspirited at the rumor of a battle, It is an evident fact that these spiritual soldiers are aroused to unusual ardor when the arms of the missions are in use, just as the silence of these voices depresses them. And, if their sufferings and efforts reached at least half as far as do their desires, there would be no province in Asia now which had not yielded to God and to His holy faith in accordance with the honorable designs with which the beautiful sky of these islands inspires them.This news has been anticipated, because it is so recent; but the history only relates matters to 1669, so that the third part11will begin with the provincial chapter celebrated on May 11 of the said year, when the reverend father Fray Juan Camacho was elected provincial.[The chapter ends with the recital of certain benefits that have been received by the order at large, in canonizations, beatifications, etc.]Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’s Orbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini (Paris, 1639)Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’sOrbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini(Paris, 1639)[From copy in Library of Congress]

Book second of the second part of the first century and history of the province of Santo Rosario of the Order of Preachers, in Filipinas, Japon, and China.CHAPTER FIRSTChapter, and election of provincial; and events in those timesOn April 20 of the year 1652, the members of the chapter were assembled in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila, and elected as provincial the reverend father Fray Pedro de Ledo, then prior of that said convent and vicar-provincial of Tagalos. He was a person of all good qualities, a native ofMexico, and of noble parentage in that city. He took the habit and professed in this convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. In his studies he gave so good an account of himself that he lectured in arts and theology, and became regent in our college of Santo Tomas. He always had the name of an excellent student and learned man. On that account, and because of his great prudence, known to us by experience, the religious elected him to the post of provincial, which he filled very successfully and with great credit. Among the special events of that chapter was the announcement of the new university of Santo Tomas and its apostolic erection by a bull which his Holiness Innocent Tenth, of blessed memory, was pleased to promulgate at the instance of the king our sovereign, Felipe Fourth the Great. His Majesty, as sole patron, was pleased to put his hand to that—an honor very worthy of publication by the chapter; and, although it was current in all the province, that solemnity was still to be performed. The house of San Miguel of Ituy, in the province of Nueva Segovia, was also accepted. That is a great stretch consisting of heathen settlements for the greater part, although there are some Christians among them, some of whom are those who flee from other villages. It lies on the eastern border of the province of Cagayan, and extends from some high mountain chains to the coast; and, as it is so rough a land, it has not yet been possible to conquer it, although many attempts have been made, the religious going sometimes with and sometimes without soldiers. Missionaries have also been appointed on various occasions; but although they have baptized many persons, they have not been able to convertthem all. As vicar of the said house, the chapter then appointed father Fray Teodoro de la Madre de Dios, and gave him some priests as companions. They went thither with a presidio of Spanish soldiers at the command of the governor, who so ordained it. Many of the soldiers and two of the religious—father Fray Bernardo Cejudo and father Fray Manuel Rincon—died because of the poor climate or poor food. They all remained there, that time, for two years, and baptized many people there; and those natives long continued to embrace the law of God. But either because of the sickness, which had developed into a plague; or because those Indians were at war continually with other people of the interior, more powerful, who greatly persecuted them, and the faith of Christ: for all those causes, and because they could not cope with so many dangers and troubles so long as the natives were not quiet, the presidio that was still left retired to Cagayan, and the fathers returned, as they had lost hope of obtaining more fruit. However, our religious are accustomed to return there every little while, where some are baptized, and those who have made their decision do not fail to come; and the province does not lose sight of those posts, for the time when the Lord shall be pleased to summon them, and when they shall respond with resolution. They are numerous; and, since they live so far inland in this same island, it is well seen that it is very pitiable to behold them so buried in their darkness—or not to see them, for they flee from the light. It is not easy to form a judgment on what passes in this very island; for, since it extends for almost two hundred leguas, and all of the seacoast in all parts is subdued, all the fastnessesof the mountains are inhabited by numerous peoples of various nations and languages, morally impossible to subdue, although great efforts are being and have been made. The reason therefor is, that since it rains so much in these lands, in addition to the so powerful heat of the sun, and there is so little stone, such thickets and undergrowth spring up that one can penetrate them with difficulty, and [it is even difficult] for the very animals of the forest. Consequently, nature has defended those people with a thousand walls. Then too they are children of idleness, and live on roots, the fruits of trees, and the flesh of game. They have no other granaries than those of their own bellies, nor more clothing than that which they get from their mothers. At the most, they wear a bajaque or breechcloth made from the bark of a tree, and which conceals but ill the token of their sex. They have no villages, but live in rude collections of huts or in camps, and in certain shacks which rise a vara above the earth, where they take refuge when it rains. When they feel the cold too keenly, they light fires and sleep in the ashes. Their life is as follows: When they rise in the morning, the robust ones go hunting the deer with arrows or dogs. If they kill one, they take it to their camp; and there they all eat it, half raw, half roasted, without salt or bread. If they do not have meat, they find roots and fruit, and so do they satisfy their hunger without further exercise of reason. And, since they are totally without reason, they have no form of religion or worship, except certain superstitions concerning the flight and songs of birds. Such is their wretched existence; and therefore do they grow up with the understanding of brutes, without care orforesight. Some descend the mountain to trade with our Christian Indians. The latter approach them, and carry iron for their arrows, and rice and other things which they know well—especially tobacco, but which they are not accustomed to sow. Neither do they accustom themselves to any other kind of work. This island so abounds with these people that they are encountered at six leguas from Manila. By means of such communication they hear our Christians, who talk to them of our holy faith, and they approve it. But when they hear that the Christians pay tribute and bandalas, and that here are personal services (which it is necessary to have, for a civilized and domestic life) they return to their liberty. Some are reduced, but it is generally a fact that this becomes continually more difficult so long as the Lord who died for them does not drive from their side that enemy who makes them daily more obstinate and hard.Late in July of the year 1653, the ship from Nueva España anchored in the port of Cavite, more fortunate than most of the vessels that have been seen since the discovery of these islands. It brought four personages—no less than the archbishop, the governor, the bishop of Cagayan, and an auditor. It had been some years since a ship had entered Cavite, for they all had to put back to other ports because of the bad weather. And although, wherever they finally enter, they discharge their cargo and assure the safety of the money, yet doubtless it is always a considerable loss that the ship does not come direct to Cavite, and, being laden with expenses and averías, at least one-third of its good fortune is dissipated. It had been twelve and more years since these islandshad had an archbishop; for one who came to them consecrated during that time, namely, his Excellency Don Fernando Montero de Espinosa, was obliged to come overland, as the ship anchored in the port of Lampon; and, when he arrived at the lake of Bay six leguas from this city—whither some persons from the cabildo had gone beforehand to receive him—he was suddenly overtaken by a severe illness, from which he soon died without the Church, his spouse, having enjoyed anything except letters and good news. And, lastly, came the evil of its widowhood before he had taken possession of it or seen it. For that reason all through that period there was considerable trouble, wherever trouble exists. But there is more here, where before a successor is obtained another six or eight years elapse. Now indeed did the lack become doubly felt, for not even one of the three suffragan bishops of this metropolitan was left; for if there are any bishops it is a great consolation. For then, although it is after the trouble of making voyages, students, religious, and secular priests are ordained, and there is recourse for all that episcopal dignity demands, and it is the shadow of a great relief for all Christians, although the bishops are distant. It was God’s will to allow his Excellency Doctor Don Miguel de Poblete—a native of Mexico, in whose cathedral and in that of La Puebla de los Angeles he had held the greatest dignities—to arrive at that time. He was received here with great demonstrations of joy. The governor was Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, a native of Malaga. He filled his post excellently, and was generally well liked by all; for he was very affable, pious, and not at all harsh likethe former governor. He had his troubles, of which we shall speak; and having governed for more than ten years his residencia was satisfactorily finished, and he had the good fortune to return to his country. The bishop of Cagayan was his Excellency, Master Don Fray Rodrigo de Cardenas, of our holy order and from the province of Perù, of whom we shall speak in the proper place. The auditor who came in that ship was Don Salvador de Espinosa, a learned and zealous man; and so much so that he began to work at matters of government before the proper time. For he immediately, seeing that there were but few Spaniards in the country, thought that he had learned all about it in a short time; and went about passing sentences and issuing manifestos, more a result of his erudition than from any necessity for it. His last offspring bore the character of admonition and was printed. All estates were grievously wounded by it—a serious matter when there is no one to take up the defense. His zeal might have been useful, but assuredly no service to God or the king followed; for his Majesty does not desire his vassals to be maltreated, but will consider it a great service if his ministers employ their great erudition in maintaining justice, observing it in all the villages, and honoring all, especially the ecclesiastical religious, and not in saying pretty things (with which they load one down when they consider that it will make their own dignity more estimable)—especially with these printed papers, which, since they are printed, give us more permission to make public complaint. Like that of another paper which was printed in the year 1671—which finally brought its author to the earth, even before knowing the names,it left persons both ecclesiastical and religious badly besmirched. In order to vaunt his erudition, he despoiled the living altars of their best ornament, namely, honor; and he did not hesitate to dedicate and send it to the feet of the greatest Majesty. But he will have had his answer already. The other admonitory pamphlet, when it was issued, seemed so foul to its very author that he himself went about collecting and burning it. Supposing the first an arbitrary statement, the second was Catholic and made by a person erudite and desirous of salvation. He lived for a while, for a mortal accident happened, and he paid his debt and had himself buried in the convent of Santo Domingo. To the great luck of so fortunate a ship, which brought so grave persons and those of the greatest distinction for these lands, was added the relief of money, which was larger than usual, as well as that of individual persons....[This chapter records the death (in 1653) in the Manila convent of father Fray Juan del Villar, a native of Luzena, and son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova. He went to the Philippines in 1635, and applied himself to the study of Chinese and taught in the college of Santo Tomás.]Among other ordinances passed by that chapter, as they were necessary, was one that declared that no one could be employed in the office of lecturer in our college of Santo Thomas unless he first learned some one language native to that country—not because there is any logic in it, which must precede the sciences, but, since the first foundation of this province is that of the preaching and missions, all must know a language. He who does not know one, even if he be a very learned theologian, does not renderall the service that he can; and he does not have the good fortune to be sent by his prelates or to have a change of climate, which is perhaps important to his health. On arriving from España it is the custom for all to be divided, according to the arrangements made by the prelate, in the study of the various languages. With their pious desire and the master that is given them, he who can not learn enough in one year in order to make himself understood as a preacher and confessor in a language must be very dull. With such sound beginnings they are not embarrassed afterward in other occupations, since, when a place in the ministry becomes suitable, the greatest difficulty is found to have been conquered. Of greatest use on the sea is he who knows the duties of sailor and artilleryman; and as time goes on it becomes a matter of disconsolation for a religious to find himself without a language, and at an age when it is impossible to learn it, while it is a matter that might have been overcome in a brief time at the beginning.[Chapters ii–iv treat of Chinese affairs and missions.]CHAPTER VOf the intermediary junta, and of a new mission sent to the kingdom of ChinaIn the junta held in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila in the year fifty-four, there was no new ordinance to pass; for all matters were well ordered, and this holy province always refrains from making new laws, which (like the impositions of new tributes) the obedience of the subjects always considers with more annoyance than respect. For since theyare the life of the monarchy, when there is any need, and its health, so also are they generally feared when they can be avoided; and when new ones are imposed, the old ones become distasteful. The provincial (who was then father Fray Pedro de Ledo, a man of great devotion and zeal), seeing that no ministers had left these islands for Japon since the year thirty-seven, as the gates had been shut to them and even walled up for our sins and those of that wretched land, tried to get together a mission for it; and, in order that he might not have cause to envy the explorers, he determined to go himself as prelate. But he always urged secrecy in the plan as the essential part, and only revealed it to those interested—namely, father Fray Raymundo del Valle, father Fray Pedro de Ansa (an oldtime minister of Cagayan), and father Fray Antonio de Barrios. He also shared the secret with the person who was to remain as vicar-general during his absence. With that intention, which was facilitated by his courage and pious desire, he bought a champan under pretext that it was to be used for the service of the province of Cagayan, and that he was lading it with supplies and ship’s-stores for the said province (as was a fact). He spent a large sum in that, and even despoiled some churches of their money. That was without any doubt a harsh measure; for although the property of the convents is common here, and the provincial can take from one to aid another, in accordance with the ordinances of this province, yet that kind of goods and property are generally bought with the alms of the natives of the villages, given by them especially for their churches. Consequently an injury was done, even though it be as was allegedon that occasion, namely, that he thought that there was a superabundance of alms. Since all the adornment of the tabernacle and of Solomon’s temple falls short for divine worship, and these natives do not remember or take much note of leaving or not leaving their property in immemorial writings, their memories are indelibly impressed by seeing that they have given it by their sweat to the church, and they leave an honorable luster on a lamp and some candlesticks which they gave, and which remain, making a barangay honorable. The father-provincial, who was a prudent and erudite man, must have considered it all; yet notwithstanding, as he thought that the common right of a mission so important as Japon was greater than are the alms and the said gifts, the matter could not be regulated, and he used it all. The end was most lofty, the means which he chose very fitting—as were the three religious, who were the most suitable in the province; and the champan was staunch. All being concluded, the essential wheel of those plans was lacking, namely, the will of God without which one can never succeed. [The efforts to attain the Japanese mission proved fruitless, but the provincial succeeded in sending five missionaries to China. The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][Chapter vi relates in part the work of the mission to China. Chapter vii mentions certain missionaries who have died. The lay-brother Raymundo de la Cruz died gloriously after earnest labor. Geronimo de Zamora died in Cagayan province after a ministry among the natives of thirty-eight years, besides serving as commissary of the Holy Office. His native city was Zaragoza, and he professed in the conventof that city. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomás, definitor in the year 1652, vicar-provincial four times in Cagayan, and ordinary in nearly all the houses of that province. Juan de las Casas also died in the same part of the province. Bernardo Cejudo died while engaged in the conversion of Ituy. He had reached the Philippines in 1648, and his life was one of austerity and earnest endeavor. Matias de Armas also died in 1655 in the province of Cagayan. He was born in the island of Tenerife in the city of Laguna, where he took the habit. In the Philippines he became a master of the Cagayan and Tagálog tongues, acting as vicar in Cagayan, and as vicar of Abucay in 1645. In the years 1638–39 he was in the island Hermosa, where he studied that language while awaiting an opportunity to go to China (which was unsuccessful). At his death in 1655 he was vicar of Afulug. Alonso Navarro, president of the Chinese hospital of San Gabriel, died that same year in the Manila convent. During his thirty years in the Dominican province he ministered to the Filipinos (being very fluent in the Tagálog language); served as definitor, vicar of many houses, and vicar-provincial; and built the church in the village of Binondoc. In Cagayan also died that year Pedro de Aniza, an earnest missionary who had acted as vicar-provincial and ordinary of many houses. He solemnized many baptisms among the hostile people of Irraya and those in the mountains.]In 1656 father Fray Jacinto Gali of the province of Aragon, son of the convent at Girona in Cataluña, was elected provincial. By his excellent qualities, and the proofs that he had shown of his great prudenceand devotion in the course of the twenty-four years that he had spent in this holy province, he was worthy of the supreme dignity of its government. He learned very perfectly the difficult language of the Chinese, to whom he ministered often in the Parián and in Binondoc. He also knew the Tagálog language thoroughly; and thus accomplished much in both languages. The province, desirous of elevating to the highest pinnacle the one who would advance their order with the activity and integrity that such an office demands, elected him their head. His election was well received both within and without the house, for all were acquainted with him and knew that his merits had called for so honorable an occupation many years before. He began to exercise it, but God, satisfied with his holy desire, blocked his steps in a short time; for at his first departure, when he went to visit Cagayan, having arrived there a mortal illness attacked him in Lalo. There, after he had received the sacraments, and had taken farewell of his province with most tender and paternal speeches—not unaccompanied by the sobs of all the religious, who had hastened at the report of his illness—he gave his soul to the Lord in the eighth month of his provincialate, on New Year’s day of the year 1657. That [such was his death] is understood by the tokens that his great virtue and devotion left to us. That was a perfect New Year’s day for his soul, which will never grow old in his time. Before he went upon the said visit, Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and the royal Audiencia, urged by their narrow-minded zeal as ministers of his Majesty, put a new pressure upon us. Through the fiscal of the king it was intimated to usand to all the orders that we were to make a presentation of the lists of the chapters, as is done in the other provinces of the rest of the Indias. This is a very delicate thing to treat in a history, and it has cost many entreaties before God and His most holy mother our patroness—not because of the inconveniences that are feared from the royal piety of his Majesty, the king our sovereign, nor of the impartiality and justice of his ministers, who will know how to govern this matter with that fear of God and with prudence, as they do other matters; but because we ourselves fear in these conversions which are so tender, where perhaps the tying of the hands of the mother will mean the loosening of those of the children, which will render them restless, with greater difficulty in subduing them than in other provinces less remote from relief and remedy. What happened in that case was that we petitioned with due submission, and stated our reasons (although all our reasons cannot be taken to so lofty and grave courts); and as a consequence the royal Audiencia allowed us to continue our present custom, which we maintain not only from our rules, but from the foundation of this province, and sent the records to the royal Council of the Indias, where the matter was examined. In that year the province sent as definitor to the general chapter father Fray Juan Lopez, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, lecturer in theology, and regent of the college of Santo Thomàs of Manila. He later became the most illustrious bishop of Zibu and ascended to the archbishopric of the said city of Manila. We shall discuss him more in detail in the year of his death, which occurred lately, to the universal sorrow of these islands. Authority as procurator-generalwas given to father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad in order that he might accompany the former. He was already in Madrid, and afterward became the most meritorious bishop of Santa Marta. The provincial having died, the prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, where the chapter of the coming election was to be held, namely, father Fray Lucas Montanero, became vicar-general according to our rules. Having called the conference or junta of the province, he set the time and day for the following chapter, namely, April 21, 1657, and it was held by arrangement of the said conference and its vicar-general.[Chapter viii deals with the life and death (July, 1656), of Diego Rodriguez in China, and Chinese affairs. Chinese matters are discussed also in the three following chapters.]CHAPTER XIIGreat earthquake of San Bernardo’s day; and the mission which arrived at the provinceIn the year 1658, when the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles was prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, another great and formidable earthquake occurred on the twentieth of August. In the opinion of all it was worse than that of the day of St. Andrew which we have related, which occurred in the year 1645; except that this one came alone in the quality of its greatness (for the shocks that accompanied it were much less severe than in the former; it is a natural thing to have these earthquakes come with a retinue, and they are among the evils that can never come singly). Thesecond reason why this one was less was based on the fact that the city of Manila was in a sad condition, and those lofty edifices of stone were on the ground, which then robbed the city of much of its pride. Therefore, although some people were killed and many met with accidents and bodily injury, it was not so bloody. However it did not fail to exercise its commission, and many edifices were violently overthrown and great disorder was occasioned not only in Manila but in all these islands.... Our convent of Santo Domingo was hardly used; and as the religious had no cells, as those which were left were full of water, they went along that street seeking corners where they could stay, even at great inconvenience. When the mission (of which we shall speak immediately) arrived, lodgings had to be arranged in the galleries of the new church, where beds and curtains were distributed among the various collateral naves. A better manner of lodging could not be found for many days, because the rainy season (which was a great drawback) had set in. The convent was very fortunate in having there its superior, who repaired so great a disaster with all courage and fortitude, and encouraged his subordinates by repairing their house with great skill and energy, notwithstanding that it was under heavy expenses. God performed miracles by his hand, and has continued the same in the other posts which he has held. Truly he is one of the most careful and indefatigable workers of this holy province, and as he is yet living, this remark must suffice.That year arrived an excellent mission which had been collected in España by father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad, who had remained there as bishop-electof Santa Marta, and Father Matheo Bermudez, who conducted it to Mexico, where he remained as vicar of San Jacinto. The latter entrusted his office to father Fray Juan de Polanco, who brought that mission safely to Filipinas to the great joy of all the religious. The mission consisted of thirty-eight,1and their names, occupations, and native places are as follows in order of age: father Fray Joseph Duriach, son of the royal convent of Santa Catalina Martir in Barcelona, former lecturer in the arts in Girona; father Fray Luis Alvarez, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and lecturer in the arts in the said his convent of San Pablo; father Fray Juan Polanco, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and former master of students in Santa Maria la Real at Trianos, who came as vicar of that mission from Mexico; father Fray Alonso de Leon, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Domingo de San Pedro, son of [the convent of] Santa Zita in Palermo, lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Mantua, and lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Diego de San Roman, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Victoria, and lecturer in logic in Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; father Fray Antonio Calderon, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, and fellow of Santo Tomàs in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Francisco Sanchez, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martirin Toledo, and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Felipe Leonardo, son of the Preachers in Valencia; father Fray Tomàs Butiel, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Hipra [i.e., Ypres] in lower Germania; father Fray Salvador de Santo Tomàs, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Domingo de Villamide, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Martin de Trigueros, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Ocaña; father Fray Pedro del Barco, son of [the convent of] La Madre de Dios in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Jayme Berge, son of [the convent of] Corpus Christi at Luchente in the kingdom of Valencia; father Fray Juan Teodoro, son of [the convent of] San Vicente at Calcha, in the province of Flandes; father Fray Agustin Garcia, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid; father Fray Diego Serrano, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Joseph de Noriega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Leonardo Marquez, son of [the convent of] San Agustin in Padua; father Fray Nicolas Merlo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Antonio Martinez, son of the convent of Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Tomàs de Leon, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid, and brother of father Fray Alonso de Leon above mentioned; father Fray Fernando de Melgar, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Lorenzo del Rosario, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Bartolome de Quiroga, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Lugo;father Fray Victorio de Almoynia, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; Fray Bernardo Alvarez, dean, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Estevan de Rivera, son of [the convent of] Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; Fray Melchor Vigil, dean, son of the said convent in Trianos; Fray Lucas de San Vicente, lay-brother, native of Salamanca, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Those who remained sick in Mexico came the following year. They were as follows: father Fray Manuel de Guzman, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla; father Fray Gregorio Ortiz, son of the Preachers in Zaragoza; Fray Domingo de Flores, dean, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Zamora; Fray Andres de los Angeles, lay-brother, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Oajaca. That fine mission arrived very opportunely, composed of religious who possessed so excellent abilities; they were young, and well fitted to advance the credit of this holy province. After the joyful congratulations which welcomed them, they were assigned by the arrangements of the prelate, then the father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, to the study of a language. They have gone forth as excellent ministers and missionaries, both those who are living and some who have already died.[Chinese affairs again engross our author for the remainder of this chapter, as well as for the thirteenth.]CHAPTER XIVJunta of the year 1659; father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales goes to take part in it; and prior events in Zubinkeu.The intermediary junta was held in 1659 in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Among other matters that were decided there, we must not pass in silence the response made to the fathers of China to a question or memorial presented by them. [This memorial, in view of the disturbed state of China and the slender support that was received by the missionaries in China from the province in the Philippines, asks that whenever cultivated lands are given them as an alms they may accept them. The memorial or petition was not allowed, for the bad effects that might ensue from it; as the Chinese might misconstrue it and imagine that the missionaries go to their country for the sake of the lands alone, and not for the welfare of souls—the decision giving great satisfaction to Juan Bautista de Morales, vicar-provincial of China. The remainder of the chapter relates wholly to Chinese matters.][The insurrections in the provinces of Pangasinán, Ilocos, and Cagayan of the year 1660 are discussed in chapters xv and xvi (the latter treating also of the Chinese pirate Kuesing). They will be sufficiently related elsewhere in this work. Chapter xvii is a summary of the life of father Fray Joseph de Madrid, who was born in Cebú. After studying at Santo Tomás in Manila, he entered the order in that city. He was soon sent to the Chinese missions, but was unable to remain there on account of the climate and hence returned to Manila, where hedied a violent death at the hands of the Chinese of the Parián—who had revolted on account of the threatening messages of Kuesing in the year 1662. He was a natural linguist, speaking fluently Cebúan, Visayan, Tagálog, and the language of Ituy, beside the most difficult dialect of the Chinese, namely, that spoken about Canton. Chapters xviii and xix treat of the Chinese pirate Kuesing and Chinese affairs. Chapter xx contains accounts of the lives of various religious who died in the Dominican province during this time. Carlos Clemente Gant died in the province of Nueva Segovia at the age of more than seventy, having arrived in the Philippines in 1611. He was a native of Zaragoza, and professed in the same city. His mission field was in the province of Cagayan, whither he returned both times after his terms as provincial (1637, and 1648). He also became commissary of the Holy Office after the death of the commissary Fray Domingo Gonzalez. Joseph de Santa Maria (or Navarro), a son of the convent of San Pedro Martir at Marchena in Andalucía, went to the Philippines in 1648. He was vicar of the islands of Babuyanes, where he fell ill and had to go Lalo-c for treatment; on returning to his convent he was killed by the insurgents. Pedro de la Fuente, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos, served as lecturer in theology in the college of Santo Tomás in Manila, and regent and prior of the Manila convent, and was minister in various places in Cagayan. At his death he was vicar of the village of Pata. The father commissary, Fray Salvador Mexia, son of the Sevilla convent, went to the islands in 1648. He acted as vicar-provincial of Pangasinán, and was remembered for his zeal.Francisco Martir Ballesteros, of the convent of Santo Domingo in Murcia, died in the province of Pangasinán at the age of more than seventy, being vicar-provincial of Pangasinán. He was a zealous minister, and left a number of sermons and other pious writings which circulated among the friars in manuscript. Rafael de la Carcel of the province of Aragon, a native of Mallorca, who went to the Philippines in 1632, also died in Pangasinán. Among other posts that he held he was prior of the Manila convent, for a while prior vicar-general, and vicar of Calasiao. His death occurred soon after the disaffection of that village, and was probably hastened by that loss. Rodrigo de Cardenas, bishop of Nueva Segovia, died in May, 1661. He had arrived at the Philippines in 1653, and held the office of bishop for eight years. He died greatly regretted by all.]CHAPTER XXIThe holding of the provincial chapter for the election; death of Kuesing; father Fray Victorio [Riccio] returns to China with the reply to his embassy.The father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, ended his term as provincial, and on April 7, 1661, the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, then prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, was elected in that convent. That was the first time when he rose to the government of this province as provincial. He filled that office so well that after twelve years (in 1673) he was elected for the second time, and is at present in that office. He came to this province in the mission of 1648, for which heleft his convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where he exercised the office of master of students. The province always kept him employed here in the offices of lecturer of morning classes, regent, and rector of the college of Santo Tomas; president of the hospital, and prior of Manila. Although he has filled all of them with great credit to his person, and has been useful and creditable to the order, yet the honor of commissary of the Holy Inquisition has given him greater prestige—both because any service for that holy tribunal (and especially that of commissary), means so much, and because of the circumstances of the time. For he was the first commissary elected after the disturbance, as famous as harmful, which was occasioned in these islands by the preceding commissary, who arrested the governor at that time without those orders that he ought to have awaited after having consulted—or, more correctly, having informed—the holy tribunal of Mexico. The father provincial commenced his first government with so much spirit and energy that much and even most of it was left for his second government. For the already-mentioned insurrection of the Parián happened in his term, as did the incident of our ambassador,2together with the measures taken in the offended provinces of the insurgent Indians, although those provinces are now quiet. In that and in the sending out of missions, in which he has always manifested his great love and inclination, and in maintaining them with aid, he could well boast of his great zeal and capacity—besides [carrying] theusual weight [of the province] which is always heavy. He sent father Fray Jayme Berge (who came in the mission of the year 1658) to become an associate to father Fray Victorio Riccio, and ordered father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, who desired it, to come to Manila. At the same time he gave orders and letters commanding father Fray Juan Polanco, whom the chapter had appointed definitor for Europa, and procurator-general, to come [to Manila]. He also conveyed a generous aid to our religious, as well as what the order of our father St. Francis gave him for their religious. That did not have the success that was desired, for the greater part was lost in the conveying of it through that so disturbed country. [The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][The four following chapters also treat of Chinese matters, including political and missionary affairs.]CHAPTER XXVIOf the intermediary junta; the arrival of a new governor in Filipinas; affairs of China; and of Mother Maria de Jesus.The intermediary junta was held in our convent of Santo Domingo, on April fourteen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-three. Besides the usual arrangements, no especial thing was ordained in it except to entrust to the father provincial the printing of the ritual, and, when that was done, to see that the religious used it and no other. That is a very important provision, and one in which the zeal of our superiors is very well occupied, so that our procedure may be uniform, as we are charged in the beginning of ourholy constitutions. It is not advisable that this matter of ceremonies be free, since they are so necessary; and piety and opinion have no vote in this matter, in which the decree of the superiors has explained their decision. The worst results will follow if neglect occasions it, since the administration of the holy sacraments is the most essential point of the ministries; and they need rules and regulations, care in their study, and punctuality. In the year 1669, a very suitable ritual was published, which was quite uniform with the Roman ritual of Paul V....That year of 1663 our governor, the master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, came to these islands. He was a worthy soldier of Flandes, where he had attained honorable posts; and since he had filled them so well his Majesty entrusted to him the influential post of captain-general and governor of these islands. If these islands were three thousand leguas nearer, that office would doubtless not be second in importance to those of America. The ship put in at Nueva Segovia, and consequently the said governor came overland—being received very hospitably by our ministering religious and those of our father St. Augustine, who are established along the way. On that journey also they were received by the natives with feasts, dancing, and music, in which they are very entertaining. His Lordship gained a good name in [receiving] those tokens of welcome, inadequate as they were, by the great affability and generosity that he displayed to the natives. He reached Manila and assumed his office amid great acclamation and pomp on the festal day of September eight, the day consecrated to the birth of the most holy Virgin. That was a great consolation to all people, and goodauguries were indicated although not all of them were fulfilled to the letter. He was beyond doubt a capable man, and one of great intellect. In but few days he understood whatever concerned his obligation, and never departed from it so long as it concerned the king’s service. He made the despatches of the ships to España very punctually, and with foresight; for he recognized that the ship that left here annually to get the situado is the one that ought to have the greatest care, and demands activity [in preparation] so that it may not be pushed for time, but that one or two months shall be gained. Consequently, there always was a ship [on that line]; and God took charge of them and brought them in, seeing that people here were doing their utmost.3In respect to the good fortune with which he began [his term], he became faint-hearted, and cared little for being liked, for that post cannot be free from cause for harshness. The devil entered, upon seeing the necessary wall of love somewhat fallen; and he put complaints into the minds of the traders, which soon spread to the other estates. That enemy sowed dissension, which is his own seed; and the number of those disaffected increasing, much opposition to the governor arose. At the end of the year 1668 (October tenth) the governor was arrested by the commissary of the Inquisition, Fray Joseph de Paternina, an Augustinian....[Further references to the Chinese missions and politics are made, and the chapter ends with notices regarding a Spanish beata or devout woman, Maria de Jesus, who died in Manila in 1662. Her parents, Albaro de Angulo Tobar and Isabel de Morales, were old settlers in the islands, who had lived first in Cebú; and their daughter was born in Arevalo, in the island of Panay. The latter took the habit of beata in the tertiary order of the Dominicans, somewhat against the will of her parents. She gave many alms, spent the greater portion of her wealth in the building of the church of Santo Domingo, and reared orphan girls in her house.][The life and labors of the famous missionary to China, Juan Bautista de Morales, who died in 1664, fill chapters xxvii-xxxii. The following chapter is devoted to Fray Francisco de Paula, commissary of the Inquisition and twice provincial, and other fathers. The former was born in Segovia and took the habit at Salamanca. Enlisting in the Philippine mission in 1618, on arriving there he began to study Chinese in the Parián; but was soon transferred to the college of Santo Tomás, where he taught for eighteen years. He was a successful and eloquent preacher to the Spaniards, and in consequence was elected preacher-general of the Manila convent. The office of vicar-provincial, as far as Manila is concerned, was conferred on him; and in the year 1641 he was elected provincial. In 1647, while exercising his duties in the Manila college of Santo Tomás, whither he had returned after his office had expired, he was elected commissary of the Inquisition. In 1657 he was again elected provincial. Pedro de Santo Domingo, who took the habit in Milan, Italy,went to the Philippines in 1658, at the age of forty, and was sent to the Chinese missions; but, being unable on account of his age to learn the language, he was sent back to Manila and became vicar of the convent of Santelmo in Cavite. Illness, however, pressing on him, he was assigned as vicar to the Philippine hospice of San Jacinto in Mexico, but died ere reaching his destination.]CHAPTER XXXIVThe election of a new provincial in the person of the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles; and the great troubles in China.The capitular members assembled in the year 1665 to elect a provincial, as the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, had completed his office. On the twenty-fifth of April they elected the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, of the province of Andalucia, and a son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in the village of Zafra in Estremadura. He had come to this province in the year 1635, and had been minister of Tagalos in the district of Bataan, and afterward in the island Hermosa, where he remained six years (the time when the Dutch captured that fort and drove us from the land). He returned to Manila by way of Jacatra and Macasar, and to his former ministry of Tagalos. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomas, twice prior in our convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, at various times vicar-general, and definitor in 1661 and 1673. In the year that we mentioned, the province elected him as its prelate, to the general satisfaction of all. This is as much as we can say at present, for he is still living.We can also say that since being provincial, he has undertaken the charge of the college for boys of San Juan de Letran. He has provided for them a very suitable and spacious house within the walls of Manila, that has gained repute and esteem for the pious education in virtue and the studies of those children, which is the object [of that college]. This holy province was struggling manfully at the time of that election, but both hands were busy in wiping off the tears that were shed before God for two reasons. [The first reason was the effort of the governor to make the orders publish the lists of ministries,4as was the custom in the other parts of the Indias. In 1665 the vessel which arrived brought his Excellency, Don Fray Juan Lopez, consecrated bishop-elect of Cebú. He brought with him the acts of the general chapter held in Rome in 1656; the execution of the measures for the government of the Indias in general were suspended, as the Philippines were not included in them unless mentioned specially. The second great trouble of the province was the cruelty practiced on the missionaries in China. The chapter ends with accounts of China and the work there.][Chinese affairs are continued in chapters xxxv–xl.]CHAPTER XLIA new mission arrives in the province; and events of these times in Filipinas and China.The bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco (who was not yet bishop-elect) went to España with the usual powers conferred by the province, following Don Fray Juan Lopez, bishop of Zibu and afterward archbishop of Manila, who had gone the preceding year with the same powers. But because of accidents, and since the province was so lacking in religious, a second procurator was despatched. That was an excellent measure, as the result showed; for the bishop of Zibu was embarrassed by his new promotion and by his despatches, so that he could not get the mission ready, although he had made a good start at it upon the arrival of Don Fray Juan de Polanco. The latter was very well received in the provinces of España, and all of them showed him great love and reverence because of the good impression that he gave by his virtues, which have without doubt the greatest attracting power for those spiritual soldiers. The commission is one of danger which only the loftiest object and obedience can make peaceful; for besides being the sample, as they say, of the cloth, such a person is not only looked at but spied upon by all; and it is necessary above all to bear God in mind and keep oneself acceptable to Him for so long and even almost desperate voyages, so that He may give health in so many hardships, climates, and paths of the earth, and [enable him to furnish] a good example for so many different kinds of persons with whom one must confer and voyage, in the midst of so many cares as he always has in his charge. The task ofmaking religious is that of the greatest difficulty; for so long as the men [sought] have the greatest abilities, their convents, who have reared them, feel it more, and say farewell to them to see them no more, where natural love does its duty and the devil is not careless—although, in fine, our holy provinces have always nourished this daughter of theirs in the belief that to give her a religious is to make God careful to send her many, and to preserve them with the wealth of their virtues. They send their sons to this honorable warfare, and the latter gain new blasons for them and get their first share of the spoils in the service of God and the welfare of souls. Therefore, the procurator who is securing men needs many lights of virtue, prudence, and affability, and great patience, for accidents that happen, and for the suitable choice of routes, and for guidance when they go astray; then the essential part of presenting the things in his care to the princes, and the latter’s councils and counselors to whose questions he must make answer with truth and candor. The fear of God is master in all; for, if he swerve from that line, he cannot make a good voyage. For the other despatches by tribunals and accountancies, he needs to attend upon them without being troublesome, and enduring delays, civilities, and courtesies; for they are ministers of the king and worthy of all esteem, and he must await his time amid the so many cares entrusted to them. Just at present we all enjoy the ministry of a perfect procurator of Filipinas in our venerable bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco, who must have been a model of procurators; for by his example and virtue alone, he found himself freed from all the difficulties that accompany that honorable office. Intheir very beginnings he found them solved and conquered; and he made the very judges of his causes, and even those who were opposed to him, his attorneys. This is not imagination but the pure truth; and there are many witnesses still living now in the holy city of Roma (where he went as definitor in 1668), and in the royal court of Madrid—where he was favored by princes, and esteemed and respected as an apostolic and holy man in their councils and tribunals; where he was listened to as a learned orator of this province; and where his causes were heard with the notable grace that God gave him wherever he went, and with the highest honor in both the said courts. The time will come for recounting his life and death, and then a longer account will be given of his virtues. Suffice it to say for the present that he collected two famous missions for this holy province, which he accompanied to Mexico (which is the rough place in the ascent of the hill), and returned for the third time [to España] for more soldiers—[whom he would have brought] had not the giant footsteps of envious death intercepted him in Sevilla. He entrusted the first mission to one of its religious, namely, father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz. They reached Manila safely in August, 1666, and their names in order of age are as follows: father Fray Juan de Velasco, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz el Real in Granada, and master of students, who was then in the convent of San Lucar; father Fray Joseph de Isussi, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos and fellow of [the convent of] San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Diego Nuñez, son of [the conventof] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Christoval de Montenegro, son of the convent and college of Nuestro Señora del Rosario in Almagro, fellow of Santo Thomas in Sevilla, and teacher of logic there; father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Sevilla, and lecturer in logic there, former fellow of Santo Thomas of Alcalà de Henares (this father remained in Mexico because of illness, and came the following year); father Fray Christoval Pedroche, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Juan Romero, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Juan de la Cueva, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz in Granada; father Fray Pedro de Alcalà, son of the same convent in Granada; father Fray Manuel de Mercadillo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Alonso Blasco, son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in Estremadura; father Fray Domingo Perez, son of the convent of Santa Maria de Trianos, fellow of Alcalà [de Henares]; father Fray Juan Peguero, son of the convent of Porta Cœli in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Ximenez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Joseph de Solis, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Francisco de Olmedo, son of the same convent in Palencia; father Fray Pedro Sanchez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Antonio de San Juan, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Agustin Garcia de Ortega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Pablo Marchan, son of the same convent of San Estevan; fatherFray Andres Gonzalez, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; father Fray Bernabe Rodriguez, son of the same convent in Valladolid; father Fray Francisco de Villalva, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos; father Fray Pedro de Alarcon, son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha; father Fray Antonio Rego, son of the convent of San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Andres Lopez, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Diego de Castro, son of the convent at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Joseph de San Jacinto, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Joseph de la Torre, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Rio Seco; father Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, son of the convent in Ocaña; father Fray Juan de Santa Maria, son of the convent of San Pedro in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Gonzalez, son of the convent of Aranda in Duero; father Fray Juan de Castellanos, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Logroño; father Fray Bernardo de Noriega, son of the convent of San Pablo in Palencia; Fray Antonio de la Purificacion, lay-brother, of the convent of Santa Cruz in Granada; Fray Joseph de la Villalva, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Juan Fernando, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos, who remained in our hospice of San Jacinto [in Mexico]; and Fray Sebastian del Rosario, lay-brother, son of the said convent of San Jacinto in Mexico. In all they number thirty-nine.5This fine mission came in the ship “La Concepcion,” that year of 1666. The same ship also broughttwo other missions, one of our father, St. Francis, and the other of the Society of Jesus; two religious of St. John of God, and secular priests; also captains, and very honorable persons—in charge of the commander Joseph de Zamora. The ship was unable to make the Embocadero because the vendavals which had set in prevented it. Therefore it was very fortunate in making the port of Palapa, which is located on the southern side.6They anchored there on the day of St. Lawrence, and it was considered a very special providence of God that they disembarked there on that land, for all arriving in great need and worn out after four months and more of continual navigation, they found, especially the religious, that they had arrived at the land so oft desired and the land of promise. They found in that village, which is in charge of the fathers of the Society, a father rector whose charity challenged the needs of all of them and was victorious. This was the ever venerable father Melchor de los Reyes, a native of Puerto Rico, who, although very poor in that ministry of his, yet settled the difficulty as a very rich man. He lodged eighty religious without even remotely expecting one. He received them all with the ringing of bells, with playing on wind instruments, and music. He supported them abundantly and daintily until boats were found to take them to Manila (which could not be done in a few days). He also succored the ship with rice and other supplies, and with dainties, according to their persons. Ours were the best served, for boats were not found; and although it was thought that the ship could soon proceedupon its voyage, the bad weather was so obstinate that it was unable to sail until March of the following year. Therefore they remained in that holy house with the same satisfaction that they could have had in the most wealthy convent of our order. Sufficiently accommodated in those lodgings, they all said mass; and then those who wished had their breakfast. All the food was supplied abundantly, with the utmost cleanliness and punctuality. They were sheltered in the choir and galleries with great quiet. A pleasant and crystal river flowed near the college, for recreation and bathing. There were books in great abundance, according to the taste of each one. Above all was the affability of the holy religious, and of the others who attended to those residences belonging to their ministry. Truly there are no words to imagine the consolation that the Lord gave there to our tired religious, or the obligation under which all this province remained at so generous charity. The religious who served as superior of Ours, seeing the length of time that they were staying there, and the so excessive expense that was being incurred, although fearful of a bad outcome, finally, to satisfy his ill-founded fear, took one hundred pesos from the scanty hoard of the mission, and resolved to give them to the father rector. They were not sufficient even to cover the cost of the rice, but in the end would be some aid in meeting the expenses. He followed the rector alone into his apartment, and, changing color, after some arguments which he endeavored to offer he concluded by asking pardon, and asked him to please take that trifle to pay at least the porters and cooks, since our mission was detained so long there. The father rector assumed a serious countenance then,and in brief, sorrowfully proceeded to give the father a severe reproof, by telling him that nothing worthy of payment had been done there; that the father vice-provincial had ordered him to attend to that obligation; that the fathers of his residences had brought the supplies, each in accordance with his several ability; that, thanks to God, nothing was owed to the Indians; that God was giving for everything; and that he rather was the gainer, for, without knowing how, he found his pantries full; that during those days two dugongs had been caught (a thing which had not been seen before since he had been there, for never had those fish been seen there, for it was by a great miracle). Thus did he minimize all that he had done; but our religious, still insisting and placing the hundred pesos on the table, witnessed that the venerable father fell on his knees, and clasping his hands, with tears in his eyes, said to him: “No, no, father, you must not leave that money here for me. I beg that of you in the name of the most holy Virgin. She will not permit your Reverence to give me such affront, at least for the good-will with which I have served you.” Thereupon, the religious begged pardon, and kept his money without knowing how to pay that debt, unless it be paid in the divine treasuries of God, for whom it was all done. Our religious went out in seven bands, and for each band the rector solicited a boat, a good pilot, and a store of supplies for some days. All came [to Manila] singing the praises of so religious an Alexander, who was finally reared in so holy a school as that of the Society of Jesus—where, although one is taught all kinds of knowledge so completely, we can say that charity is that which is not taught, because it is inspired. Godwill now have paid that pious father, for already has He taken him to himself. The religious consumed two more months in going from Palapa to Manila because of the bad weather. However, they passed almost always through ministries belonging to our father St. Francis, where they found themselves detained and hindered more by the great love with which they were welcomed, and the regret with which they were allowed to depart, than by the roads and the difficulties of travel. They arrived at the desired place at last and were received by the father provincial, then the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, with that paternal love which his natural affability and his obligation dictated to him. When he saw that they were rested, he began to assign them occupations.On September 27 of the former year 1665, our most reverend father-general, Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, wrote a loving and thoughtful letter from Roma to the venerable father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales. That letter reached the province in 1667, and, although the father was dead, it will be proper that so precious a thing—to the credit of the paternal providence of its author, and of the reputation that this noble although so retired a member had gained with the supreme head of the order—shall not perish or be lost; and it is also to the credit of this holy province, for they so hold his name in memory as to honor it through its sons, our supreme heads. The letter reads as follows: “Reverend father in Christ: Health, and grace from the Holy Ghost. The news that I have received from the father provincial of that our province of the Filipinas is a great consolation to me. He gives me news of your Reverence’shealth, and of the perseverance with which you are aiding in those conversions without any relaxation to your labors in your so advanced age. I thank the Lord therefor, from whom comes all good; and applying to your Reverence the sufferings of all the order, and giving you the benediction of our glorious St. Dominic, I thank you again and again for having served in our ministry for the conversion of souls, which is the object of our institute, and which your Reverence and your companions are, with the divine grace, accomplishing. Forty-two religious sailed in the mission which left Cadiz on July 5 of this year, for which the father lecturer, Fray Juan Polanco, procurator of the province, worked zealously and diligently. The consolation that I have had in the selection of those missionaries will increase if your Reverence will take them under your teaching, and encourage and exhort them so that, as sons of so good a father, they may give bread to those who, desirous of spiritual sustenance, beg it. May God please that it be so, for such is my desire. In regard to the labors of government, it will relieve us to receive letters from your Reverence, and to have news of the progress of so loving sons as it has been God’s pleasure to give me. I have sent breviaries and a formulary of devotion to the twelve associates of your Reverence, which is as a token of my love, so that you may be mindful of me in your prayers, and ask God to give me the success that I desire in the fulfilment of my obligation. I am sending to your Reverence documents containing the many thanks that the holy apostolic see has given us; and I inform you that his Holiness in our Lord, Alexander VII, who is auspiciously governing this Church, is granting us veryloving favors; and I hope to receive even greater ones from his munificence. I shall give him an account of the extensive labors of your Reverence, and of the happiness that we may expect because an entrance has been made into the island Hermosa, whence the passage to China and to Japon will be facilitated. May God continually preserve and accompany your Reverence and all those my sons—to whom I say that the cause of the holy martyrs of Japon is proceeding felicitously;7and that I hope that the laurel of their martyrdom will be a motive to the others, so that, if it should prove necessary for the maintenance of our holy faith to suffer as martyrs they may do so with gladness. Roma, September 27, 1665.“Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, master of the order.”This is the letter written ex-officio by the general of the order to a poor missionary under him, giving place to this care before so many and imperative cares as claim his attention—so that one may see even in this life the honors that God has prepared for those who are employed in so apostolic an occupation.In the year 1667, on the day of the immaculate conception of our Lady, December 8, the most illustrious doctor Don Miguel de Poblete, archbishop of Manila, died in that city, to the universal sorrow of all these islands; for during the time of fourteen years while he had occupied the see, he acted as the loving father and pastor of his church. He was a very amiableman, pious, and possessed of great charity; for notwithstanding the poverty of this archbishopric, and its dependence upon the condition of a royal treasury that is so poor and has so many creditors, he gave liberal alms, which he took from the sustenance of his own person, his household, and his family. He was very anxious for the building of his cathedral, which he found completely ruined since the earthquakes. With grave importunity and the amount that his Majesty ordered to be paid to him, he left a church that was very sumptuous (as much so as these islands permit), almost finished. It has three naves, all of free stone and rubble-work masonry. It was finished a short time after his death; and its venerable dean and cabildo occupied it to the great consolation and credit of the city. On the day of his death occurred the ceremony of taking the oath of allegiance to the king our sovereign, Carlos Second;8and God made that occasion propitious for us, for with that his venerable body, embalmed, was exposed for three days, and the faithful had time to go with tearful piety to say farewell to their most loving shepherd, whose hands and feet they kissed until he was buried with due pomp. It was the common report, and an established fact, that he died a virgin, and beloved to the utmost degree9for his so beautiful virtue. This and his piety, not at all embarrassed by personal considerations,were sufficient to compose a palm10for him; and after it was placed it appeared very fitting. God will give his fame a special history, as ours cannot go into greater detail.In those two years God took from us valuable associates of long experience, who served this holy province much by their example and work for the welfare of the Indians. Father Fray Juan de Arjona, son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova, [was one]. He had been occupied with great earnestness in the ministries of Pangasinan and Ytui, and there he performed great deeds for the service of God, as those ministries were new. He died at an advanced age in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Father Fray Juan Pabon, native of Montaruches in Estremadura, son of the convent at Truxillo in the province of España, was most accomplished in the language of Nueva Segovia, and suffered great hardships in the conversion of the Indians of Irraya and in the administration of other villages. The love and respect of all who came in contact with him was very great; and the province entrusted to him many posts of honor, and grieved not a little at his death, for he was a model for ministers, and in every respect a pattern of his obligation.CHAPTER XLIIOf the intermediary junta of the year sixty-seven; and of other news of this period of our history.On April thirty of the year 1667 was held and celebrated the intermediary junta [in the term] of the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles, in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila—and with new vigor because of the fervor imparted to the province by the fresh nourishment received from its late reënforcement. They proceeded to arrange the ministries, and one more which it seemed advisable to separate, namely, San Miguel at Orion, in the district of Bataan. After knowing the new soldiers for a year, the old and new stones were assigned to their places in order to render this spiritual edifice firm and beautiful. The new rules made were but few, but they were very carefully thought out. The first was that no inferior or subordinate official of the order should visit or write to the alcaldes and superiors of the provinces, and least of all to the governor, without first making known his intention and explaining it to the father provincial—or, in his absence, to the vicars-provincial—respectively. That was and ought to be a necessary measure; and the attempt to carry out the decisions that each minister reaches in his seclusion may be the cause of greater troubles. We must not make a passion of our zeal for defending the Indians, for that is a virtue that essentially demands to be moderated by prudence. An angry letter, or (what is worse) a visit, founded perhaps on a misrepresentation, generally disquiets a superior. He, in his own opinion offended, is vexed; and the Indians themselves, and the rest of the religious,are wont to pay doubly [for the intrusion]. Consequently, it is proper that such matters be managed with much caution and in accordance with obedience, and in the council [of the order], keeping in view the object, which must be the first aim of every good intention. Everyone does what he is able in his ministry and profession, and the apostle says that we should give offense to no one. The heads of the province, being in an exalted position, discover many things and efficient remedies for all troubles; and hence it is necessary to place such affairs in their hands. For the same reason and one greater, that junta repeats the order that no one should preach against the government and the persons busied in it without consulting with the same superiors. For that means consultation with God, because words are very important in that most lofty and consecrated place—where by favor of the sovereign principles of a wisdom whose master is the fear of God, and general doctrines, one may say whatever there is to say. Our father San Vicente Ferrer did not preach more than the judgment, but he reformed the world, kings, and chiefs. And only a St. John the Baptist, who by credit of his virtue pointed out with his finger a divine Person, could point out from the pulpit a person so wicked and scandalous as a Herod; for the latter was, in fine, king, and his dignity protected him. God placed our superiors in their positions (and kings rule through God) and gave that honor to their councils and magistracies; and consequently it is proper for ministers to honor them without flattery (which is another and worse extreme) without curing them with salt, and with respect where the community does not feel it—so that by preaching to thepeople at large, they will know where their pain is. We have already touched on this point in another place; but, since our province repeats it so often in its ordinances, the historian is also permitted to repeat it, since it is advice so important. A petition was addressed to our most reverend father not to allow dispensations to be introduced into our provinces, nor anything that savored of [differences between] individuals or degrees. For since it had seemed to his paternal piety that the procurators-general who went from this province to those of Europa had immense work therein, he planned to grant to them officially some sort of reward, by conferring on them the rank of the more recent fathers of the province. Receiving this favor with submission and gratitude, they nevertheless protested in this junta against it. At the same time Don Fray Juan de Polanco made a humble resistance in Roma, as he knew that the order had already been sent. But he obtained that new favor from our most reverend father; and, before our petition arrived, the said grace was revoked.In the following year of 1668 two relief ships reached these islands, which came from Nueva España. In one of them came father Fray Antonio Calderon, who had obtained permission to return to España the preceding year, because of illness. But later, as he regained strength in Nueva España, and as he knew the lack that one religious makes here, and the need of the province, he was filled with no small doubt, seeing that this was coming to be a second vocation. Therefore, he determined to return, and did so; and entered the province for the second time with great courage and went to his ministries in Nueva Segovia, where he is and was an excellentlinguist. The devil is very subtile, and, because he sees the evil that is caused him by this province, he causes sickness, and makes sufferings greater than what they are in themselves. Since also the magnanimous nature of man falls short, and he takes it ill to see himself set in a land like this—as shut out from intercourse and repose as contrary to the liberty of our España—with the little attention given to him, he imagines insuperable hardships in the rules, aggravates his sickness in so great retirement; and by a door that is lawful, he disturbs the common cause and even endangers that of the individual. The said father now found himself strong, and consequently chose to return, to exercise his strength in this his province. In the other ship came father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, who had, as we have remarked above, remained in Mexico sick, and was now coming very strong and well—to a place where the only consolations and pleasures that went out to meet him were a peril and sudden catastrophe, which would have been the last had not God aided him almost miraculously. Because of the difficulty that the ship had in entering the strait or Embocadero of San Bernardino—and those difficulties are very great and usual in those seas in that season—the father took a small boat called a caracoa; and, embarking in it with a father visitor-commissary of our father St. Francis, who was coming as visitor, and another, his associate, with rowers and other Spanish passengers, they tried to cross the strait, in order to continue their course to Manila more quickly than they could by the ship, if they waited for it. Those boats are not only swift but weak, and, in order to give them greater safety, some long timbers are crossed at intervals over the sides;at the ends of these they suitably place some bamboo sails calledcates, so that, by thus making the vessel wider, they may better resist the waves and sustain them. They were beginning their crossing, which is a distance of about six leguas, and in the very middle of it so strong a gust of wind struck them, as well as so opposing currents—which, in those regions, are such that they will turn a ship of high free-board clear around, with or without favorable winds, moving it from side to side and disarranging the [trim of the] sails, with the accompanying horror that only sailors can imagine—that that boat (for it was not even a patache, but a very weak vessel) capsized, because of the currents and the violent wind that they encountered in the midst of the open expanse, after a few contrary blasts, and filled with water. It was the Lord’s will that the buffeting of the sea should soon strip it of weight, carrying away whatever it contained. Thereupon the men in it remained astride of the said timbers andcates, and many of them were up to their breasts in water, rigging it. In such wise they allowed themselves to drift along with the said current, wherever it chose to take them, sustained only on those timbers poorly fastened together with rattan. Night came; day followed; and in all that time they were unable to make the land—on the contrary, the currents carried them away from it. When they got out of one current they were seized by one opposed to it, so that they were continually going, round and round in those waters. Father Fray Arcadio, who was still convalescent, suffered the most; and doubtless would soon have given up, had it not been for the said father commissary. A bamboo enclosure was made as well as possible on those timbersand there the father found some retreat from the water, mainly in the arms of the said father commissary. The latter’s name was Fray Antonio Godinez, son of the religious province of San Diego in Mexico. With the same suffering did they pass the following night—without water to drink in the midst of so much water, nor more food than a few grains of rice, which the wrath of so rigorous a fortune that assailed those miserable beings had forgotten. At last, on the third day, the Lord, as a Father of mercy, listened to them and they reached the land; where, more beaten by the waves of the sea than assisted by what the rowers could do, they reached the sacred sand in a stripped condition. Three men were drowned, who tried to quit the boat too soon, and the sea made them pay for their ingratitude with their lives; for their weakness had already forbidden them [from reaching land]. It is always a rule of sailors that only wood can swim on such occasions. All is as God ordains; but already deposit was made of life, and a good account, by means of his Majesty, must be given. Our religious landed, or rather those who shared his fortunes drew him ashore half dead. But the land performed its miracles, and they hastened to the first village, where they all recovered and were despatched to Manila. The pious commissary lost there all the papers of his commission, so that, when he reached the province, great difficulties were raised, and he returned without making his visit. Father Fray Arcadio reached this our province, where he was gladly received, and the prelate assigned him to the study of the Chinese language, in which he took the courses that will be related at the end of this chapter.[The provincial receives a letter dated Roma, February19, 1668, from the father-general of the order, Juan Bautista de Marinis, in which concessions to the order by Pope Clement IX are related. The beatified Luis Beltran and Mother Rosa de Santa Maria have been canonized; universal prayerad libitumto San Vicente Ferrer has been conceded; and other concessions of general importance to the order are granted. August 1, 1673, four religious embark for the Chinese missions—namely, Arcadio del Rosario, Pedro de Alcala, Pedro de Alarcon, and Alonso de Cordova. The rough weather experienced causes the superstitious Chinese crew to imagine that it is caused by the fathers; but after many hardships China is finally reached in twenty-four days. After various adventures they return to Manila, May 4, 1674. Two Dominican religious, namely, Arcadio del Rosario and Francisco Lujan, and two Franciscans, namely, Miguel Flores and Pedro de Piñuelo, sail for China on Corpus Christi day, 1676.]At the same time, religious are being occupied in two glorious missions in this same island of Manila. One near the city, to the north, is to the Zambals, whom we have not yet been able to subdue. Now two of our religious are there, and are bringing in those of the mountains to form villages. They possess churches and many of the people are converted. The religious write that they have been received very well, and it is hoped that this will be a grand work for the service of God and for these islands, for those people are very courageous and bloodthirsty, and have always done great harm to those who go to other provinces and to the villages near them; and, if the faith of Christ once subjects them, great advantages present themselves for all. The other mission is located in the same region, in the province of Nueva Segovia,in the district of the mountains called Irraya, of which this history has already given repeated notices. Most of those people are heathen, although there are many Christians among them who have fled from our villages. They have been subdued at times, but their misfortune has immediately roused them to rebellion. Now we are considering how to attract them by love, and with security; and our religious are moving alone in this matter, with none of the horrors that soldiers bring. Consequently, we trust that they too will be subdued. Such is our special vocation in this holy province, where we profess especially to fight the wars of God. And thus as the good soldier loses spirit when peace is declared, and is inspirited at the rumor of a battle, It is an evident fact that these spiritual soldiers are aroused to unusual ardor when the arms of the missions are in use, just as the silence of these voices depresses them. And, if their sufferings and efforts reached at least half as far as do their desires, there would be no province in Asia now which had not yielded to God and to His holy faith in accordance with the honorable designs with which the beautiful sky of these islands inspires them.This news has been anticipated, because it is so recent; but the history only relates matters to 1669, so that the third part11will begin with the provincial chapter celebrated on May 11 of the said year, when the reverend father Fray Juan Camacho was elected provincial.[The chapter ends with the recital of certain benefits that have been received by the order at large, in canonizations, beatifications, etc.]Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’s Orbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini (Paris, 1639)Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’sOrbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini(Paris, 1639)[From copy in Library of Congress]

Book second of the second part of the first century and history of the province of Santo Rosario of the Order of Preachers, in Filipinas, Japon, and China.

Book second of the second part of the first century and history of the province of Santo Rosario of the Order of Preachers, in Filipinas, Japon, and China.

CHAPTER FIRSTChapter, and election of provincial; and events in those timesOn April 20 of the year 1652, the members of the chapter were assembled in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila, and elected as provincial the reverend father Fray Pedro de Ledo, then prior of that said convent and vicar-provincial of Tagalos. He was a person of all good qualities, a native ofMexico, and of noble parentage in that city. He took the habit and professed in this convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. In his studies he gave so good an account of himself that he lectured in arts and theology, and became regent in our college of Santo Tomas. He always had the name of an excellent student and learned man. On that account, and because of his great prudence, known to us by experience, the religious elected him to the post of provincial, which he filled very successfully and with great credit. Among the special events of that chapter was the announcement of the new university of Santo Tomas and its apostolic erection by a bull which his Holiness Innocent Tenth, of blessed memory, was pleased to promulgate at the instance of the king our sovereign, Felipe Fourth the Great. His Majesty, as sole patron, was pleased to put his hand to that—an honor very worthy of publication by the chapter; and, although it was current in all the province, that solemnity was still to be performed. The house of San Miguel of Ituy, in the province of Nueva Segovia, was also accepted. That is a great stretch consisting of heathen settlements for the greater part, although there are some Christians among them, some of whom are those who flee from other villages. It lies on the eastern border of the province of Cagayan, and extends from some high mountain chains to the coast; and, as it is so rough a land, it has not yet been possible to conquer it, although many attempts have been made, the religious going sometimes with and sometimes without soldiers. Missionaries have also been appointed on various occasions; but although they have baptized many persons, they have not been able to convertthem all. As vicar of the said house, the chapter then appointed father Fray Teodoro de la Madre de Dios, and gave him some priests as companions. They went thither with a presidio of Spanish soldiers at the command of the governor, who so ordained it. Many of the soldiers and two of the religious—father Fray Bernardo Cejudo and father Fray Manuel Rincon—died because of the poor climate or poor food. They all remained there, that time, for two years, and baptized many people there; and those natives long continued to embrace the law of God. But either because of the sickness, which had developed into a plague; or because those Indians were at war continually with other people of the interior, more powerful, who greatly persecuted them, and the faith of Christ: for all those causes, and because they could not cope with so many dangers and troubles so long as the natives were not quiet, the presidio that was still left retired to Cagayan, and the fathers returned, as they had lost hope of obtaining more fruit. However, our religious are accustomed to return there every little while, where some are baptized, and those who have made their decision do not fail to come; and the province does not lose sight of those posts, for the time when the Lord shall be pleased to summon them, and when they shall respond with resolution. They are numerous; and, since they live so far inland in this same island, it is well seen that it is very pitiable to behold them so buried in their darkness—or not to see them, for they flee from the light. It is not easy to form a judgment on what passes in this very island; for, since it extends for almost two hundred leguas, and all of the seacoast in all parts is subdued, all the fastnessesof the mountains are inhabited by numerous peoples of various nations and languages, morally impossible to subdue, although great efforts are being and have been made. The reason therefor is, that since it rains so much in these lands, in addition to the so powerful heat of the sun, and there is so little stone, such thickets and undergrowth spring up that one can penetrate them with difficulty, and [it is even difficult] for the very animals of the forest. Consequently, nature has defended those people with a thousand walls. Then too they are children of idleness, and live on roots, the fruits of trees, and the flesh of game. They have no other granaries than those of their own bellies, nor more clothing than that which they get from their mothers. At the most, they wear a bajaque or breechcloth made from the bark of a tree, and which conceals but ill the token of their sex. They have no villages, but live in rude collections of huts or in camps, and in certain shacks which rise a vara above the earth, where they take refuge when it rains. When they feel the cold too keenly, they light fires and sleep in the ashes. Their life is as follows: When they rise in the morning, the robust ones go hunting the deer with arrows or dogs. If they kill one, they take it to their camp; and there they all eat it, half raw, half roasted, without salt or bread. If they do not have meat, they find roots and fruit, and so do they satisfy their hunger without further exercise of reason. And, since they are totally without reason, they have no form of religion or worship, except certain superstitions concerning the flight and songs of birds. Such is their wretched existence; and therefore do they grow up with the understanding of brutes, without care orforesight. Some descend the mountain to trade with our Christian Indians. The latter approach them, and carry iron for their arrows, and rice and other things which they know well—especially tobacco, but which they are not accustomed to sow. Neither do they accustom themselves to any other kind of work. This island so abounds with these people that they are encountered at six leguas from Manila. By means of such communication they hear our Christians, who talk to them of our holy faith, and they approve it. But when they hear that the Christians pay tribute and bandalas, and that here are personal services (which it is necessary to have, for a civilized and domestic life) they return to their liberty. Some are reduced, but it is generally a fact that this becomes continually more difficult so long as the Lord who died for them does not drive from their side that enemy who makes them daily more obstinate and hard.Late in July of the year 1653, the ship from Nueva España anchored in the port of Cavite, more fortunate than most of the vessels that have been seen since the discovery of these islands. It brought four personages—no less than the archbishop, the governor, the bishop of Cagayan, and an auditor. It had been some years since a ship had entered Cavite, for they all had to put back to other ports because of the bad weather. And although, wherever they finally enter, they discharge their cargo and assure the safety of the money, yet doubtless it is always a considerable loss that the ship does not come direct to Cavite, and, being laden with expenses and averías, at least one-third of its good fortune is dissipated. It had been twelve and more years since these islandshad had an archbishop; for one who came to them consecrated during that time, namely, his Excellency Don Fernando Montero de Espinosa, was obliged to come overland, as the ship anchored in the port of Lampon; and, when he arrived at the lake of Bay six leguas from this city—whither some persons from the cabildo had gone beforehand to receive him—he was suddenly overtaken by a severe illness, from which he soon died without the Church, his spouse, having enjoyed anything except letters and good news. And, lastly, came the evil of its widowhood before he had taken possession of it or seen it. For that reason all through that period there was considerable trouble, wherever trouble exists. But there is more here, where before a successor is obtained another six or eight years elapse. Now indeed did the lack become doubly felt, for not even one of the three suffragan bishops of this metropolitan was left; for if there are any bishops it is a great consolation. For then, although it is after the trouble of making voyages, students, religious, and secular priests are ordained, and there is recourse for all that episcopal dignity demands, and it is the shadow of a great relief for all Christians, although the bishops are distant. It was God’s will to allow his Excellency Doctor Don Miguel de Poblete—a native of Mexico, in whose cathedral and in that of La Puebla de los Angeles he had held the greatest dignities—to arrive at that time. He was received here with great demonstrations of joy. The governor was Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, a native of Malaga. He filled his post excellently, and was generally well liked by all; for he was very affable, pious, and not at all harsh likethe former governor. He had his troubles, of which we shall speak; and having governed for more than ten years his residencia was satisfactorily finished, and he had the good fortune to return to his country. The bishop of Cagayan was his Excellency, Master Don Fray Rodrigo de Cardenas, of our holy order and from the province of Perù, of whom we shall speak in the proper place. The auditor who came in that ship was Don Salvador de Espinosa, a learned and zealous man; and so much so that he began to work at matters of government before the proper time. For he immediately, seeing that there were but few Spaniards in the country, thought that he had learned all about it in a short time; and went about passing sentences and issuing manifestos, more a result of his erudition than from any necessity for it. His last offspring bore the character of admonition and was printed. All estates were grievously wounded by it—a serious matter when there is no one to take up the defense. His zeal might have been useful, but assuredly no service to God or the king followed; for his Majesty does not desire his vassals to be maltreated, but will consider it a great service if his ministers employ their great erudition in maintaining justice, observing it in all the villages, and honoring all, especially the ecclesiastical religious, and not in saying pretty things (with which they load one down when they consider that it will make their own dignity more estimable)—especially with these printed papers, which, since they are printed, give us more permission to make public complaint. Like that of another paper which was printed in the year 1671—which finally brought its author to the earth, even before knowing the names,it left persons both ecclesiastical and religious badly besmirched. In order to vaunt his erudition, he despoiled the living altars of their best ornament, namely, honor; and he did not hesitate to dedicate and send it to the feet of the greatest Majesty. But he will have had his answer already. The other admonitory pamphlet, when it was issued, seemed so foul to its very author that he himself went about collecting and burning it. Supposing the first an arbitrary statement, the second was Catholic and made by a person erudite and desirous of salvation. He lived for a while, for a mortal accident happened, and he paid his debt and had himself buried in the convent of Santo Domingo. To the great luck of so fortunate a ship, which brought so grave persons and those of the greatest distinction for these lands, was added the relief of money, which was larger than usual, as well as that of individual persons....[This chapter records the death (in 1653) in the Manila convent of father Fray Juan del Villar, a native of Luzena, and son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova. He went to the Philippines in 1635, and applied himself to the study of Chinese and taught in the college of Santo Tomás.]Among other ordinances passed by that chapter, as they were necessary, was one that declared that no one could be employed in the office of lecturer in our college of Santo Thomas unless he first learned some one language native to that country—not because there is any logic in it, which must precede the sciences, but, since the first foundation of this province is that of the preaching and missions, all must know a language. He who does not know one, even if he be a very learned theologian, does not renderall the service that he can; and he does not have the good fortune to be sent by his prelates or to have a change of climate, which is perhaps important to his health. On arriving from España it is the custom for all to be divided, according to the arrangements made by the prelate, in the study of the various languages. With their pious desire and the master that is given them, he who can not learn enough in one year in order to make himself understood as a preacher and confessor in a language must be very dull. With such sound beginnings they are not embarrassed afterward in other occupations, since, when a place in the ministry becomes suitable, the greatest difficulty is found to have been conquered. Of greatest use on the sea is he who knows the duties of sailor and artilleryman; and as time goes on it becomes a matter of disconsolation for a religious to find himself without a language, and at an age when it is impossible to learn it, while it is a matter that might have been overcome in a brief time at the beginning.[Chapters ii–iv treat of Chinese affairs and missions.]

CHAPTER FIRSTChapter, and election of provincial; and events in those times

Chapter, and election of provincial; and events in those times

Chapter, and election of provincial; and events in those times

On April 20 of the year 1652, the members of the chapter were assembled in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila, and elected as provincial the reverend father Fray Pedro de Ledo, then prior of that said convent and vicar-provincial of Tagalos. He was a person of all good qualities, a native ofMexico, and of noble parentage in that city. He took the habit and professed in this convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. In his studies he gave so good an account of himself that he lectured in arts and theology, and became regent in our college of Santo Tomas. He always had the name of an excellent student and learned man. On that account, and because of his great prudence, known to us by experience, the religious elected him to the post of provincial, which he filled very successfully and with great credit. Among the special events of that chapter was the announcement of the new university of Santo Tomas and its apostolic erection by a bull which his Holiness Innocent Tenth, of blessed memory, was pleased to promulgate at the instance of the king our sovereign, Felipe Fourth the Great. His Majesty, as sole patron, was pleased to put his hand to that—an honor very worthy of publication by the chapter; and, although it was current in all the province, that solemnity was still to be performed. The house of San Miguel of Ituy, in the province of Nueva Segovia, was also accepted. That is a great stretch consisting of heathen settlements for the greater part, although there are some Christians among them, some of whom are those who flee from other villages. It lies on the eastern border of the province of Cagayan, and extends from some high mountain chains to the coast; and, as it is so rough a land, it has not yet been possible to conquer it, although many attempts have been made, the religious going sometimes with and sometimes without soldiers. Missionaries have also been appointed on various occasions; but although they have baptized many persons, they have not been able to convertthem all. As vicar of the said house, the chapter then appointed father Fray Teodoro de la Madre de Dios, and gave him some priests as companions. They went thither with a presidio of Spanish soldiers at the command of the governor, who so ordained it. Many of the soldiers and two of the religious—father Fray Bernardo Cejudo and father Fray Manuel Rincon—died because of the poor climate or poor food. They all remained there, that time, for two years, and baptized many people there; and those natives long continued to embrace the law of God. But either because of the sickness, which had developed into a plague; or because those Indians were at war continually with other people of the interior, more powerful, who greatly persecuted them, and the faith of Christ: for all those causes, and because they could not cope with so many dangers and troubles so long as the natives were not quiet, the presidio that was still left retired to Cagayan, and the fathers returned, as they had lost hope of obtaining more fruit. However, our religious are accustomed to return there every little while, where some are baptized, and those who have made their decision do not fail to come; and the province does not lose sight of those posts, for the time when the Lord shall be pleased to summon them, and when they shall respond with resolution. They are numerous; and, since they live so far inland in this same island, it is well seen that it is very pitiable to behold them so buried in their darkness—or not to see them, for they flee from the light. It is not easy to form a judgment on what passes in this very island; for, since it extends for almost two hundred leguas, and all of the seacoast in all parts is subdued, all the fastnessesof the mountains are inhabited by numerous peoples of various nations and languages, morally impossible to subdue, although great efforts are being and have been made. The reason therefor is, that since it rains so much in these lands, in addition to the so powerful heat of the sun, and there is so little stone, such thickets and undergrowth spring up that one can penetrate them with difficulty, and [it is even difficult] for the very animals of the forest. Consequently, nature has defended those people with a thousand walls. Then too they are children of idleness, and live on roots, the fruits of trees, and the flesh of game. They have no other granaries than those of their own bellies, nor more clothing than that which they get from their mothers. At the most, they wear a bajaque or breechcloth made from the bark of a tree, and which conceals but ill the token of their sex. They have no villages, but live in rude collections of huts or in camps, and in certain shacks which rise a vara above the earth, where they take refuge when it rains. When they feel the cold too keenly, they light fires and sleep in the ashes. Their life is as follows: When they rise in the morning, the robust ones go hunting the deer with arrows or dogs. If they kill one, they take it to their camp; and there they all eat it, half raw, half roasted, without salt or bread. If they do not have meat, they find roots and fruit, and so do they satisfy their hunger without further exercise of reason. And, since they are totally without reason, they have no form of religion or worship, except certain superstitions concerning the flight and songs of birds. Such is their wretched existence; and therefore do they grow up with the understanding of brutes, without care orforesight. Some descend the mountain to trade with our Christian Indians. The latter approach them, and carry iron for their arrows, and rice and other things which they know well—especially tobacco, but which they are not accustomed to sow. Neither do they accustom themselves to any other kind of work. This island so abounds with these people that they are encountered at six leguas from Manila. By means of such communication they hear our Christians, who talk to them of our holy faith, and they approve it. But when they hear that the Christians pay tribute and bandalas, and that here are personal services (which it is necessary to have, for a civilized and domestic life) they return to their liberty. Some are reduced, but it is generally a fact that this becomes continually more difficult so long as the Lord who died for them does not drive from their side that enemy who makes them daily more obstinate and hard.Late in July of the year 1653, the ship from Nueva España anchored in the port of Cavite, more fortunate than most of the vessels that have been seen since the discovery of these islands. It brought four personages—no less than the archbishop, the governor, the bishop of Cagayan, and an auditor. It had been some years since a ship had entered Cavite, for they all had to put back to other ports because of the bad weather. And although, wherever they finally enter, they discharge their cargo and assure the safety of the money, yet doubtless it is always a considerable loss that the ship does not come direct to Cavite, and, being laden with expenses and averías, at least one-third of its good fortune is dissipated. It had been twelve and more years since these islandshad had an archbishop; for one who came to them consecrated during that time, namely, his Excellency Don Fernando Montero de Espinosa, was obliged to come overland, as the ship anchored in the port of Lampon; and, when he arrived at the lake of Bay six leguas from this city—whither some persons from the cabildo had gone beforehand to receive him—he was suddenly overtaken by a severe illness, from which he soon died without the Church, his spouse, having enjoyed anything except letters and good news. And, lastly, came the evil of its widowhood before he had taken possession of it or seen it. For that reason all through that period there was considerable trouble, wherever trouble exists. But there is more here, where before a successor is obtained another six or eight years elapse. Now indeed did the lack become doubly felt, for not even one of the three suffragan bishops of this metropolitan was left; for if there are any bishops it is a great consolation. For then, although it is after the trouble of making voyages, students, religious, and secular priests are ordained, and there is recourse for all that episcopal dignity demands, and it is the shadow of a great relief for all Christians, although the bishops are distant. It was God’s will to allow his Excellency Doctor Don Miguel de Poblete—a native of Mexico, in whose cathedral and in that of La Puebla de los Angeles he had held the greatest dignities—to arrive at that time. He was received here with great demonstrations of joy. The governor was Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, a native of Malaga. He filled his post excellently, and was generally well liked by all; for he was very affable, pious, and not at all harsh likethe former governor. He had his troubles, of which we shall speak; and having governed for more than ten years his residencia was satisfactorily finished, and he had the good fortune to return to his country. The bishop of Cagayan was his Excellency, Master Don Fray Rodrigo de Cardenas, of our holy order and from the province of Perù, of whom we shall speak in the proper place. The auditor who came in that ship was Don Salvador de Espinosa, a learned and zealous man; and so much so that he began to work at matters of government before the proper time. For he immediately, seeing that there were but few Spaniards in the country, thought that he had learned all about it in a short time; and went about passing sentences and issuing manifestos, more a result of his erudition than from any necessity for it. His last offspring bore the character of admonition and was printed. All estates were grievously wounded by it—a serious matter when there is no one to take up the defense. His zeal might have been useful, but assuredly no service to God or the king followed; for his Majesty does not desire his vassals to be maltreated, but will consider it a great service if his ministers employ their great erudition in maintaining justice, observing it in all the villages, and honoring all, especially the ecclesiastical religious, and not in saying pretty things (with which they load one down when they consider that it will make their own dignity more estimable)—especially with these printed papers, which, since they are printed, give us more permission to make public complaint. Like that of another paper which was printed in the year 1671—which finally brought its author to the earth, even before knowing the names,it left persons both ecclesiastical and religious badly besmirched. In order to vaunt his erudition, he despoiled the living altars of their best ornament, namely, honor; and he did not hesitate to dedicate and send it to the feet of the greatest Majesty. But he will have had his answer already. The other admonitory pamphlet, when it was issued, seemed so foul to its very author that he himself went about collecting and burning it. Supposing the first an arbitrary statement, the second was Catholic and made by a person erudite and desirous of salvation. He lived for a while, for a mortal accident happened, and he paid his debt and had himself buried in the convent of Santo Domingo. To the great luck of so fortunate a ship, which brought so grave persons and those of the greatest distinction for these lands, was added the relief of money, which was larger than usual, as well as that of individual persons....[This chapter records the death (in 1653) in the Manila convent of father Fray Juan del Villar, a native of Luzena, and son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova. He went to the Philippines in 1635, and applied himself to the study of Chinese and taught in the college of Santo Tomás.]Among other ordinances passed by that chapter, as they were necessary, was one that declared that no one could be employed in the office of lecturer in our college of Santo Thomas unless he first learned some one language native to that country—not because there is any logic in it, which must precede the sciences, but, since the first foundation of this province is that of the preaching and missions, all must know a language. He who does not know one, even if he be a very learned theologian, does not renderall the service that he can; and he does not have the good fortune to be sent by his prelates or to have a change of climate, which is perhaps important to his health. On arriving from España it is the custom for all to be divided, according to the arrangements made by the prelate, in the study of the various languages. With their pious desire and the master that is given them, he who can not learn enough in one year in order to make himself understood as a preacher and confessor in a language must be very dull. With such sound beginnings they are not embarrassed afterward in other occupations, since, when a place in the ministry becomes suitable, the greatest difficulty is found to have been conquered. Of greatest use on the sea is he who knows the duties of sailor and artilleryman; and as time goes on it becomes a matter of disconsolation for a religious to find himself without a language, and at an age when it is impossible to learn it, while it is a matter that might have been overcome in a brief time at the beginning.[Chapters ii–iv treat of Chinese affairs and missions.]

On April 20 of the year 1652, the members of the chapter were assembled in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila, and elected as provincial the reverend father Fray Pedro de Ledo, then prior of that said convent and vicar-provincial of Tagalos. He was a person of all good qualities, a native ofMexico, and of noble parentage in that city. He took the habit and professed in this convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. In his studies he gave so good an account of himself that he lectured in arts and theology, and became regent in our college of Santo Tomas. He always had the name of an excellent student and learned man. On that account, and because of his great prudence, known to us by experience, the religious elected him to the post of provincial, which he filled very successfully and with great credit. Among the special events of that chapter was the announcement of the new university of Santo Tomas and its apostolic erection by a bull which his Holiness Innocent Tenth, of blessed memory, was pleased to promulgate at the instance of the king our sovereign, Felipe Fourth the Great. His Majesty, as sole patron, was pleased to put his hand to that—an honor very worthy of publication by the chapter; and, although it was current in all the province, that solemnity was still to be performed. The house of San Miguel of Ituy, in the province of Nueva Segovia, was also accepted. That is a great stretch consisting of heathen settlements for the greater part, although there are some Christians among them, some of whom are those who flee from other villages. It lies on the eastern border of the province of Cagayan, and extends from some high mountain chains to the coast; and, as it is so rough a land, it has not yet been possible to conquer it, although many attempts have been made, the religious going sometimes with and sometimes without soldiers. Missionaries have also been appointed on various occasions; but although they have baptized many persons, they have not been able to convertthem all. As vicar of the said house, the chapter then appointed father Fray Teodoro de la Madre de Dios, and gave him some priests as companions. They went thither with a presidio of Spanish soldiers at the command of the governor, who so ordained it. Many of the soldiers and two of the religious—father Fray Bernardo Cejudo and father Fray Manuel Rincon—died because of the poor climate or poor food. They all remained there, that time, for two years, and baptized many people there; and those natives long continued to embrace the law of God. But either because of the sickness, which had developed into a plague; or because those Indians were at war continually with other people of the interior, more powerful, who greatly persecuted them, and the faith of Christ: for all those causes, and because they could not cope with so many dangers and troubles so long as the natives were not quiet, the presidio that was still left retired to Cagayan, and the fathers returned, as they had lost hope of obtaining more fruit. However, our religious are accustomed to return there every little while, where some are baptized, and those who have made their decision do not fail to come; and the province does not lose sight of those posts, for the time when the Lord shall be pleased to summon them, and when they shall respond with resolution. They are numerous; and, since they live so far inland in this same island, it is well seen that it is very pitiable to behold them so buried in their darkness—or not to see them, for they flee from the light. It is not easy to form a judgment on what passes in this very island; for, since it extends for almost two hundred leguas, and all of the seacoast in all parts is subdued, all the fastnessesof the mountains are inhabited by numerous peoples of various nations and languages, morally impossible to subdue, although great efforts are being and have been made. The reason therefor is, that since it rains so much in these lands, in addition to the so powerful heat of the sun, and there is so little stone, such thickets and undergrowth spring up that one can penetrate them with difficulty, and [it is even difficult] for the very animals of the forest. Consequently, nature has defended those people with a thousand walls. Then too they are children of idleness, and live on roots, the fruits of trees, and the flesh of game. They have no other granaries than those of their own bellies, nor more clothing than that which they get from their mothers. At the most, they wear a bajaque or breechcloth made from the bark of a tree, and which conceals but ill the token of their sex. They have no villages, but live in rude collections of huts or in camps, and in certain shacks which rise a vara above the earth, where they take refuge when it rains. When they feel the cold too keenly, they light fires and sleep in the ashes. Their life is as follows: When they rise in the morning, the robust ones go hunting the deer with arrows or dogs. If they kill one, they take it to their camp; and there they all eat it, half raw, half roasted, without salt or bread. If they do not have meat, they find roots and fruit, and so do they satisfy their hunger without further exercise of reason. And, since they are totally without reason, they have no form of religion or worship, except certain superstitions concerning the flight and songs of birds. Such is their wretched existence; and therefore do they grow up with the understanding of brutes, without care orforesight. Some descend the mountain to trade with our Christian Indians. The latter approach them, and carry iron for their arrows, and rice and other things which they know well—especially tobacco, but which they are not accustomed to sow. Neither do they accustom themselves to any other kind of work. This island so abounds with these people that they are encountered at six leguas from Manila. By means of such communication they hear our Christians, who talk to them of our holy faith, and they approve it. But when they hear that the Christians pay tribute and bandalas, and that here are personal services (which it is necessary to have, for a civilized and domestic life) they return to their liberty. Some are reduced, but it is generally a fact that this becomes continually more difficult so long as the Lord who died for them does not drive from their side that enemy who makes them daily more obstinate and hard.

Late in July of the year 1653, the ship from Nueva España anchored in the port of Cavite, more fortunate than most of the vessels that have been seen since the discovery of these islands. It brought four personages—no less than the archbishop, the governor, the bishop of Cagayan, and an auditor. It had been some years since a ship had entered Cavite, for they all had to put back to other ports because of the bad weather. And although, wherever they finally enter, they discharge their cargo and assure the safety of the money, yet doubtless it is always a considerable loss that the ship does not come direct to Cavite, and, being laden with expenses and averías, at least one-third of its good fortune is dissipated. It had been twelve and more years since these islandshad had an archbishop; for one who came to them consecrated during that time, namely, his Excellency Don Fernando Montero de Espinosa, was obliged to come overland, as the ship anchored in the port of Lampon; and, when he arrived at the lake of Bay six leguas from this city—whither some persons from the cabildo had gone beforehand to receive him—he was suddenly overtaken by a severe illness, from which he soon died without the Church, his spouse, having enjoyed anything except letters and good news. And, lastly, came the evil of its widowhood before he had taken possession of it or seen it. For that reason all through that period there was considerable trouble, wherever trouble exists. But there is more here, where before a successor is obtained another six or eight years elapse. Now indeed did the lack become doubly felt, for not even one of the three suffragan bishops of this metropolitan was left; for if there are any bishops it is a great consolation. For then, although it is after the trouble of making voyages, students, religious, and secular priests are ordained, and there is recourse for all that episcopal dignity demands, and it is the shadow of a great relief for all Christians, although the bishops are distant. It was God’s will to allow his Excellency Doctor Don Miguel de Poblete—a native of Mexico, in whose cathedral and in that of La Puebla de los Angeles he had held the greatest dignities—to arrive at that time. He was received here with great demonstrations of joy. The governor was Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, a native of Malaga. He filled his post excellently, and was generally well liked by all; for he was very affable, pious, and not at all harsh likethe former governor. He had his troubles, of which we shall speak; and having governed for more than ten years his residencia was satisfactorily finished, and he had the good fortune to return to his country. The bishop of Cagayan was his Excellency, Master Don Fray Rodrigo de Cardenas, of our holy order and from the province of Perù, of whom we shall speak in the proper place. The auditor who came in that ship was Don Salvador de Espinosa, a learned and zealous man; and so much so that he began to work at matters of government before the proper time. For he immediately, seeing that there were but few Spaniards in the country, thought that he had learned all about it in a short time; and went about passing sentences and issuing manifestos, more a result of his erudition than from any necessity for it. His last offspring bore the character of admonition and was printed. All estates were grievously wounded by it—a serious matter when there is no one to take up the defense. His zeal might have been useful, but assuredly no service to God or the king followed; for his Majesty does not desire his vassals to be maltreated, but will consider it a great service if his ministers employ their great erudition in maintaining justice, observing it in all the villages, and honoring all, especially the ecclesiastical religious, and not in saying pretty things (with which they load one down when they consider that it will make their own dignity more estimable)—especially with these printed papers, which, since they are printed, give us more permission to make public complaint. Like that of another paper which was printed in the year 1671—which finally brought its author to the earth, even before knowing the names,it left persons both ecclesiastical and religious badly besmirched. In order to vaunt his erudition, he despoiled the living altars of their best ornament, namely, honor; and he did not hesitate to dedicate and send it to the feet of the greatest Majesty. But he will have had his answer already. The other admonitory pamphlet, when it was issued, seemed so foul to its very author that he himself went about collecting and burning it. Supposing the first an arbitrary statement, the second was Catholic and made by a person erudite and desirous of salvation. He lived for a while, for a mortal accident happened, and he paid his debt and had himself buried in the convent of Santo Domingo. To the great luck of so fortunate a ship, which brought so grave persons and those of the greatest distinction for these lands, was added the relief of money, which was larger than usual, as well as that of individual persons....

[This chapter records the death (in 1653) in the Manila convent of father Fray Juan del Villar, a native of Luzena, and son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova. He went to the Philippines in 1635, and applied himself to the study of Chinese and taught in the college of Santo Tomás.]

Among other ordinances passed by that chapter, as they were necessary, was one that declared that no one could be employed in the office of lecturer in our college of Santo Thomas unless he first learned some one language native to that country—not because there is any logic in it, which must precede the sciences, but, since the first foundation of this province is that of the preaching and missions, all must know a language. He who does not know one, even if he be a very learned theologian, does not renderall the service that he can; and he does not have the good fortune to be sent by his prelates or to have a change of climate, which is perhaps important to his health. On arriving from España it is the custom for all to be divided, according to the arrangements made by the prelate, in the study of the various languages. With their pious desire and the master that is given them, he who can not learn enough in one year in order to make himself understood as a preacher and confessor in a language must be very dull. With such sound beginnings they are not embarrassed afterward in other occupations, since, when a place in the ministry becomes suitable, the greatest difficulty is found to have been conquered. Of greatest use on the sea is he who knows the duties of sailor and artilleryman; and as time goes on it becomes a matter of disconsolation for a religious to find himself without a language, and at an age when it is impossible to learn it, while it is a matter that might have been overcome in a brief time at the beginning.

[Chapters ii–iv treat of Chinese affairs and missions.]

CHAPTER VOf the intermediary junta, and of a new mission sent to the kingdom of ChinaIn the junta held in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila in the year fifty-four, there was no new ordinance to pass; for all matters were well ordered, and this holy province always refrains from making new laws, which (like the impositions of new tributes) the obedience of the subjects always considers with more annoyance than respect. For since theyare the life of the monarchy, when there is any need, and its health, so also are they generally feared when they can be avoided; and when new ones are imposed, the old ones become distasteful. The provincial (who was then father Fray Pedro de Ledo, a man of great devotion and zeal), seeing that no ministers had left these islands for Japon since the year thirty-seven, as the gates had been shut to them and even walled up for our sins and those of that wretched land, tried to get together a mission for it; and, in order that he might not have cause to envy the explorers, he determined to go himself as prelate. But he always urged secrecy in the plan as the essential part, and only revealed it to those interested—namely, father Fray Raymundo del Valle, father Fray Pedro de Ansa (an oldtime minister of Cagayan), and father Fray Antonio de Barrios. He also shared the secret with the person who was to remain as vicar-general during his absence. With that intention, which was facilitated by his courage and pious desire, he bought a champan under pretext that it was to be used for the service of the province of Cagayan, and that he was lading it with supplies and ship’s-stores for the said province (as was a fact). He spent a large sum in that, and even despoiled some churches of their money. That was without any doubt a harsh measure; for although the property of the convents is common here, and the provincial can take from one to aid another, in accordance with the ordinances of this province, yet that kind of goods and property are generally bought with the alms of the natives of the villages, given by them especially for their churches. Consequently an injury was done, even though it be as was allegedon that occasion, namely, that he thought that there was a superabundance of alms. Since all the adornment of the tabernacle and of Solomon’s temple falls short for divine worship, and these natives do not remember or take much note of leaving or not leaving their property in immemorial writings, their memories are indelibly impressed by seeing that they have given it by their sweat to the church, and they leave an honorable luster on a lamp and some candlesticks which they gave, and which remain, making a barangay honorable. The father-provincial, who was a prudent and erudite man, must have considered it all; yet notwithstanding, as he thought that the common right of a mission so important as Japon was greater than are the alms and the said gifts, the matter could not be regulated, and he used it all. The end was most lofty, the means which he chose very fitting—as were the three religious, who were the most suitable in the province; and the champan was staunch. All being concluded, the essential wheel of those plans was lacking, namely, the will of God without which one can never succeed. [The efforts to attain the Japanese mission proved fruitless, but the provincial succeeded in sending five missionaries to China. The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][Chapter vi relates in part the work of the mission to China. Chapter vii mentions certain missionaries who have died. The lay-brother Raymundo de la Cruz died gloriously after earnest labor. Geronimo de Zamora died in Cagayan province after a ministry among the natives of thirty-eight years, besides serving as commissary of the Holy Office. His native city was Zaragoza, and he professed in the conventof that city. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomás, definitor in the year 1652, vicar-provincial four times in Cagayan, and ordinary in nearly all the houses of that province. Juan de las Casas also died in the same part of the province. Bernardo Cejudo died while engaged in the conversion of Ituy. He had reached the Philippines in 1648, and his life was one of austerity and earnest endeavor. Matias de Armas also died in 1655 in the province of Cagayan. He was born in the island of Tenerife in the city of Laguna, where he took the habit. In the Philippines he became a master of the Cagayan and Tagálog tongues, acting as vicar in Cagayan, and as vicar of Abucay in 1645. In the years 1638–39 he was in the island Hermosa, where he studied that language while awaiting an opportunity to go to China (which was unsuccessful). At his death in 1655 he was vicar of Afulug. Alonso Navarro, president of the Chinese hospital of San Gabriel, died that same year in the Manila convent. During his thirty years in the Dominican province he ministered to the Filipinos (being very fluent in the Tagálog language); served as definitor, vicar of many houses, and vicar-provincial; and built the church in the village of Binondoc. In Cagayan also died that year Pedro de Aniza, an earnest missionary who had acted as vicar-provincial and ordinary of many houses. He solemnized many baptisms among the hostile people of Irraya and those in the mountains.]In 1656 father Fray Jacinto Gali of the province of Aragon, son of the convent at Girona in Cataluña, was elected provincial. By his excellent qualities, and the proofs that he had shown of his great prudenceand devotion in the course of the twenty-four years that he had spent in this holy province, he was worthy of the supreme dignity of its government. He learned very perfectly the difficult language of the Chinese, to whom he ministered often in the Parián and in Binondoc. He also knew the Tagálog language thoroughly; and thus accomplished much in both languages. The province, desirous of elevating to the highest pinnacle the one who would advance their order with the activity and integrity that such an office demands, elected him their head. His election was well received both within and without the house, for all were acquainted with him and knew that his merits had called for so honorable an occupation many years before. He began to exercise it, but God, satisfied with his holy desire, blocked his steps in a short time; for at his first departure, when he went to visit Cagayan, having arrived there a mortal illness attacked him in Lalo. There, after he had received the sacraments, and had taken farewell of his province with most tender and paternal speeches—not unaccompanied by the sobs of all the religious, who had hastened at the report of his illness—he gave his soul to the Lord in the eighth month of his provincialate, on New Year’s day of the year 1657. That [such was his death] is understood by the tokens that his great virtue and devotion left to us. That was a perfect New Year’s day for his soul, which will never grow old in his time. Before he went upon the said visit, Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and the royal Audiencia, urged by their narrow-minded zeal as ministers of his Majesty, put a new pressure upon us. Through the fiscal of the king it was intimated to usand to all the orders that we were to make a presentation of the lists of the chapters, as is done in the other provinces of the rest of the Indias. This is a very delicate thing to treat in a history, and it has cost many entreaties before God and His most holy mother our patroness—not because of the inconveniences that are feared from the royal piety of his Majesty, the king our sovereign, nor of the impartiality and justice of his ministers, who will know how to govern this matter with that fear of God and with prudence, as they do other matters; but because we ourselves fear in these conversions which are so tender, where perhaps the tying of the hands of the mother will mean the loosening of those of the children, which will render them restless, with greater difficulty in subduing them than in other provinces less remote from relief and remedy. What happened in that case was that we petitioned with due submission, and stated our reasons (although all our reasons cannot be taken to so lofty and grave courts); and as a consequence the royal Audiencia allowed us to continue our present custom, which we maintain not only from our rules, but from the foundation of this province, and sent the records to the royal Council of the Indias, where the matter was examined. In that year the province sent as definitor to the general chapter father Fray Juan Lopez, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, lecturer in theology, and regent of the college of Santo Thomàs of Manila. He later became the most illustrious bishop of Zibu and ascended to the archbishopric of the said city of Manila. We shall discuss him more in detail in the year of his death, which occurred lately, to the universal sorrow of these islands. Authority as procurator-generalwas given to father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad in order that he might accompany the former. He was already in Madrid, and afterward became the most meritorious bishop of Santa Marta. The provincial having died, the prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, where the chapter of the coming election was to be held, namely, father Fray Lucas Montanero, became vicar-general according to our rules. Having called the conference or junta of the province, he set the time and day for the following chapter, namely, April 21, 1657, and it was held by arrangement of the said conference and its vicar-general.[Chapter viii deals with the life and death (July, 1656), of Diego Rodriguez in China, and Chinese affairs. Chinese matters are discussed also in the three following chapters.]

CHAPTER VOf the intermediary junta, and of a new mission sent to the kingdom of China

Of the intermediary junta, and of a new mission sent to the kingdom of China

Of the intermediary junta, and of a new mission sent to the kingdom of China

In the junta held in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila in the year fifty-four, there was no new ordinance to pass; for all matters were well ordered, and this holy province always refrains from making new laws, which (like the impositions of new tributes) the obedience of the subjects always considers with more annoyance than respect. For since theyare the life of the monarchy, when there is any need, and its health, so also are they generally feared when they can be avoided; and when new ones are imposed, the old ones become distasteful. The provincial (who was then father Fray Pedro de Ledo, a man of great devotion and zeal), seeing that no ministers had left these islands for Japon since the year thirty-seven, as the gates had been shut to them and even walled up for our sins and those of that wretched land, tried to get together a mission for it; and, in order that he might not have cause to envy the explorers, he determined to go himself as prelate. But he always urged secrecy in the plan as the essential part, and only revealed it to those interested—namely, father Fray Raymundo del Valle, father Fray Pedro de Ansa (an oldtime minister of Cagayan), and father Fray Antonio de Barrios. He also shared the secret with the person who was to remain as vicar-general during his absence. With that intention, which was facilitated by his courage and pious desire, he bought a champan under pretext that it was to be used for the service of the province of Cagayan, and that he was lading it with supplies and ship’s-stores for the said province (as was a fact). He spent a large sum in that, and even despoiled some churches of their money. That was without any doubt a harsh measure; for although the property of the convents is common here, and the provincial can take from one to aid another, in accordance with the ordinances of this province, yet that kind of goods and property are generally bought with the alms of the natives of the villages, given by them especially for their churches. Consequently an injury was done, even though it be as was allegedon that occasion, namely, that he thought that there was a superabundance of alms. Since all the adornment of the tabernacle and of Solomon’s temple falls short for divine worship, and these natives do not remember or take much note of leaving or not leaving their property in immemorial writings, their memories are indelibly impressed by seeing that they have given it by their sweat to the church, and they leave an honorable luster on a lamp and some candlesticks which they gave, and which remain, making a barangay honorable. The father-provincial, who was a prudent and erudite man, must have considered it all; yet notwithstanding, as he thought that the common right of a mission so important as Japon was greater than are the alms and the said gifts, the matter could not be regulated, and he used it all. The end was most lofty, the means which he chose very fitting—as were the three religious, who were the most suitable in the province; and the champan was staunch. All being concluded, the essential wheel of those plans was lacking, namely, the will of God without which one can never succeed. [The efforts to attain the Japanese mission proved fruitless, but the provincial succeeded in sending five missionaries to China. The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][Chapter vi relates in part the work of the mission to China. Chapter vii mentions certain missionaries who have died. The lay-brother Raymundo de la Cruz died gloriously after earnest labor. Geronimo de Zamora died in Cagayan province after a ministry among the natives of thirty-eight years, besides serving as commissary of the Holy Office. His native city was Zaragoza, and he professed in the conventof that city. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomás, definitor in the year 1652, vicar-provincial four times in Cagayan, and ordinary in nearly all the houses of that province. Juan de las Casas also died in the same part of the province. Bernardo Cejudo died while engaged in the conversion of Ituy. He had reached the Philippines in 1648, and his life was one of austerity and earnest endeavor. Matias de Armas also died in 1655 in the province of Cagayan. He was born in the island of Tenerife in the city of Laguna, where he took the habit. In the Philippines he became a master of the Cagayan and Tagálog tongues, acting as vicar in Cagayan, and as vicar of Abucay in 1645. In the years 1638–39 he was in the island Hermosa, where he studied that language while awaiting an opportunity to go to China (which was unsuccessful). At his death in 1655 he was vicar of Afulug. Alonso Navarro, president of the Chinese hospital of San Gabriel, died that same year in the Manila convent. During his thirty years in the Dominican province he ministered to the Filipinos (being very fluent in the Tagálog language); served as definitor, vicar of many houses, and vicar-provincial; and built the church in the village of Binondoc. In Cagayan also died that year Pedro de Aniza, an earnest missionary who had acted as vicar-provincial and ordinary of many houses. He solemnized many baptisms among the hostile people of Irraya and those in the mountains.]In 1656 father Fray Jacinto Gali of the province of Aragon, son of the convent at Girona in Cataluña, was elected provincial. By his excellent qualities, and the proofs that he had shown of his great prudenceand devotion in the course of the twenty-four years that he had spent in this holy province, he was worthy of the supreme dignity of its government. He learned very perfectly the difficult language of the Chinese, to whom he ministered often in the Parián and in Binondoc. He also knew the Tagálog language thoroughly; and thus accomplished much in both languages. The province, desirous of elevating to the highest pinnacle the one who would advance their order with the activity and integrity that such an office demands, elected him their head. His election was well received both within and without the house, for all were acquainted with him and knew that his merits had called for so honorable an occupation many years before. He began to exercise it, but God, satisfied with his holy desire, blocked his steps in a short time; for at his first departure, when he went to visit Cagayan, having arrived there a mortal illness attacked him in Lalo. There, after he had received the sacraments, and had taken farewell of his province with most tender and paternal speeches—not unaccompanied by the sobs of all the religious, who had hastened at the report of his illness—he gave his soul to the Lord in the eighth month of his provincialate, on New Year’s day of the year 1657. That [such was his death] is understood by the tokens that his great virtue and devotion left to us. That was a perfect New Year’s day for his soul, which will never grow old in his time. Before he went upon the said visit, Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and the royal Audiencia, urged by their narrow-minded zeal as ministers of his Majesty, put a new pressure upon us. Through the fiscal of the king it was intimated to usand to all the orders that we were to make a presentation of the lists of the chapters, as is done in the other provinces of the rest of the Indias. This is a very delicate thing to treat in a history, and it has cost many entreaties before God and His most holy mother our patroness—not because of the inconveniences that are feared from the royal piety of his Majesty, the king our sovereign, nor of the impartiality and justice of his ministers, who will know how to govern this matter with that fear of God and with prudence, as they do other matters; but because we ourselves fear in these conversions which are so tender, where perhaps the tying of the hands of the mother will mean the loosening of those of the children, which will render them restless, with greater difficulty in subduing them than in other provinces less remote from relief and remedy. What happened in that case was that we petitioned with due submission, and stated our reasons (although all our reasons cannot be taken to so lofty and grave courts); and as a consequence the royal Audiencia allowed us to continue our present custom, which we maintain not only from our rules, but from the foundation of this province, and sent the records to the royal Council of the Indias, where the matter was examined. In that year the province sent as definitor to the general chapter father Fray Juan Lopez, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, lecturer in theology, and regent of the college of Santo Thomàs of Manila. He later became the most illustrious bishop of Zibu and ascended to the archbishopric of the said city of Manila. We shall discuss him more in detail in the year of his death, which occurred lately, to the universal sorrow of these islands. Authority as procurator-generalwas given to father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad in order that he might accompany the former. He was already in Madrid, and afterward became the most meritorious bishop of Santa Marta. The provincial having died, the prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, where the chapter of the coming election was to be held, namely, father Fray Lucas Montanero, became vicar-general according to our rules. Having called the conference or junta of the province, he set the time and day for the following chapter, namely, April 21, 1657, and it was held by arrangement of the said conference and its vicar-general.[Chapter viii deals with the life and death (July, 1656), of Diego Rodriguez in China, and Chinese affairs. Chinese matters are discussed also in the three following chapters.]

In the junta held in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila in the year fifty-four, there was no new ordinance to pass; for all matters were well ordered, and this holy province always refrains from making new laws, which (like the impositions of new tributes) the obedience of the subjects always considers with more annoyance than respect. For since theyare the life of the monarchy, when there is any need, and its health, so also are they generally feared when they can be avoided; and when new ones are imposed, the old ones become distasteful. The provincial (who was then father Fray Pedro de Ledo, a man of great devotion and zeal), seeing that no ministers had left these islands for Japon since the year thirty-seven, as the gates had been shut to them and even walled up for our sins and those of that wretched land, tried to get together a mission for it; and, in order that he might not have cause to envy the explorers, he determined to go himself as prelate. But he always urged secrecy in the plan as the essential part, and only revealed it to those interested—namely, father Fray Raymundo del Valle, father Fray Pedro de Ansa (an oldtime minister of Cagayan), and father Fray Antonio de Barrios. He also shared the secret with the person who was to remain as vicar-general during his absence. With that intention, which was facilitated by his courage and pious desire, he bought a champan under pretext that it was to be used for the service of the province of Cagayan, and that he was lading it with supplies and ship’s-stores for the said province (as was a fact). He spent a large sum in that, and even despoiled some churches of their money. That was without any doubt a harsh measure; for although the property of the convents is common here, and the provincial can take from one to aid another, in accordance with the ordinances of this province, yet that kind of goods and property are generally bought with the alms of the natives of the villages, given by them especially for their churches. Consequently an injury was done, even though it be as was allegedon that occasion, namely, that he thought that there was a superabundance of alms. Since all the adornment of the tabernacle and of Solomon’s temple falls short for divine worship, and these natives do not remember or take much note of leaving or not leaving their property in immemorial writings, their memories are indelibly impressed by seeing that they have given it by their sweat to the church, and they leave an honorable luster on a lamp and some candlesticks which they gave, and which remain, making a barangay honorable. The father-provincial, who was a prudent and erudite man, must have considered it all; yet notwithstanding, as he thought that the common right of a mission so important as Japon was greater than are the alms and the said gifts, the matter could not be regulated, and he used it all. The end was most lofty, the means which he chose very fitting—as were the three religious, who were the most suitable in the province; and the champan was staunch. All being concluded, the essential wheel of those plans was lacking, namely, the will of God without which one can never succeed. [The efforts to attain the Japanese mission proved fruitless, but the provincial succeeded in sending five missionaries to China. The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.]

[Chapter vi relates in part the work of the mission to China. Chapter vii mentions certain missionaries who have died. The lay-brother Raymundo de la Cruz died gloriously after earnest labor. Geronimo de Zamora died in Cagayan province after a ministry among the natives of thirty-eight years, besides serving as commissary of the Holy Office. His native city was Zaragoza, and he professed in the conventof that city. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomás, definitor in the year 1652, vicar-provincial four times in Cagayan, and ordinary in nearly all the houses of that province. Juan de las Casas also died in the same part of the province. Bernardo Cejudo died while engaged in the conversion of Ituy. He had reached the Philippines in 1648, and his life was one of austerity and earnest endeavor. Matias de Armas also died in 1655 in the province of Cagayan. He was born in the island of Tenerife in the city of Laguna, where he took the habit. In the Philippines he became a master of the Cagayan and Tagálog tongues, acting as vicar in Cagayan, and as vicar of Abucay in 1645. In the years 1638–39 he was in the island Hermosa, where he studied that language while awaiting an opportunity to go to China (which was unsuccessful). At his death in 1655 he was vicar of Afulug. Alonso Navarro, president of the Chinese hospital of San Gabriel, died that same year in the Manila convent. During his thirty years in the Dominican province he ministered to the Filipinos (being very fluent in the Tagálog language); served as definitor, vicar of many houses, and vicar-provincial; and built the church in the village of Binondoc. In Cagayan also died that year Pedro de Aniza, an earnest missionary who had acted as vicar-provincial and ordinary of many houses. He solemnized many baptisms among the hostile people of Irraya and those in the mountains.]

In 1656 father Fray Jacinto Gali of the province of Aragon, son of the convent at Girona in Cataluña, was elected provincial. By his excellent qualities, and the proofs that he had shown of his great prudenceand devotion in the course of the twenty-four years that he had spent in this holy province, he was worthy of the supreme dignity of its government. He learned very perfectly the difficult language of the Chinese, to whom he ministered often in the Parián and in Binondoc. He also knew the Tagálog language thoroughly; and thus accomplished much in both languages. The province, desirous of elevating to the highest pinnacle the one who would advance their order with the activity and integrity that such an office demands, elected him their head. His election was well received both within and without the house, for all were acquainted with him and knew that his merits had called for so honorable an occupation many years before. He began to exercise it, but God, satisfied with his holy desire, blocked his steps in a short time; for at his first departure, when he went to visit Cagayan, having arrived there a mortal illness attacked him in Lalo. There, after he had received the sacraments, and had taken farewell of his province with most tender and paternal speeches—not unaccompanied by the sobs of all the religious, who had hastened at the report of his illness—he gave his soul to the Lord in the eighth month of his provincialate, on New Year’s day of the year 1657. That [such was his death] is understood by the tokens that his great virtue and devotion left to us. That was a perfect New Year’s day for his soul, which will never grow old in his time. Before he went upon the said visit, Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and the royal Audiencia, urged by their narrow-minded zeal as ministers of his Majesty, put a new pressure upon us. Through the fiscal of the king it was intimated to usand to all the orders that we were to make a presentation of the lists of the chapters, as is done in the other provinces of the rest of the Indias. This is a very delicate thing to treat in a history, and it has cost many entreaties before God and His most holy mother our patroness—not because of the inconveniences that are feared from the royal piety of his Majesty, the king our sovereign, nor of the impartiality and justice of his ministers, who will know how to govern this matter with that fear of God and with prudence, as they do other matters; but because we ourselves fear in these conversions which are so tender, where perhaps the tying of the hands of the mother will mean the loosening of those of the children, which will render them restless, with greater difficulty in subduing them than in other provinces less remote from relief and remedy. What happened in that case was that we petitioned with due submission, and stated our reasons (although all our reasons cannot be taken to so lofty and grave courts); and as a consequence the royal Audiencia allowed us to continue our present custom, which we maintain not only from our rules, but from the foundation of this province, and sent the records to the royal Council of the Indias, where the matter was examined. In that year the province sent as definitor to the general chapter father Fray Juan Lopez, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, lecturer in theology, and regent of the college of Santo Thomàs of Manila. He later became the most illustrious bishop of Zibu and ascended to the archbishopric of the said city of Manila. We shall discuss him more in detail in the year of his death, which occurred lately, to the universal sorrow of these islands. Authority as procurator-generalwas given to father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad in order that he might accompany the former. He was already in Madrid, and afterward became the most meritorious bishop of Santa Marta. The provincial having died, the prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, where the chapter of the coming election was to be held, namely, father Fray Lucas Montanero, became vicar-general according to our rules. Having called the conference or junta of the province, he set the time and day for the following chapter, namely, April 21, 1657, and it was held by arrangement of the said conference and its vicar-general.

[Chapter viii deals with the life and death (July, 1656), of Diego Rodriguez in China, and Chinese affairs. Chinese matters are discussed also in the three following chapters.]

CHAPTER XIIGreat earthquake of San Bernardo’s day; and the mission which arrived at the provinceIn the year 1658, when the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles was prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, another great and formidable earthquake occurred on the twentieth of August. In the opinion of all it was worse than that of the day of St. Andrew which we have related, which occurred in the year 1645; except that this one came alone in the quality of its greatness (for the shocks that accompanied it were much less severe than in the former; it is a natural thing to have these earthquakes come with a retinue, and they are among the evils that can never come singly). Thesecond reason why this one was less was based on the fact that the city of Manila was in a sad condition, and those lofty edifices of stone were on the ground, which then robbed the city of much of its pride. Therefore, although some people were killed and many met with accidents and bodily injury, it was not so bloody. However it did not fail to exercise its commission, and many edifices were violently overthrown and great disorder was occasioned not only in Manila but in all these islands.... Our convent of Santo Domingo was hardly used; and as the religious had no cells, as those which were left were full of water, they went along that street seeking corners where they could stay, even at great inconvenience. When the mission (of which we shall speak immediately) arrived, lodgings had to be arranged in the galleries of the new church, where beds and curtains were distributed among the various collateral naves. A better manner of lodging could not be found for many days, because the rainy season (which was a great drawback) had set in. The convent was very fortunate in having there its superior, who repaired so great a disaster with all courage and fortitude, and encouraged his subordinates by repairing their house with great skill and energy, notwithstanding that it was under heavy expenses. God performed miracles by his hand, and has continued the same in the other posts which he has held. Truly he is one of the most careful and indefatigable workers of this holy province, and as he is yet living, this remark must suffice.That year arrived an excellent mission which had been collected in España by father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad, who had remained there as bishop-electof Santa Marta, and Father Matheo Bermudez, who conducted it to Mexico, where he remained as vicar of San Jacinto. The latter entrusted his office to father Fray Juan de Polanco, who brought that mission safely to Filipinas to the great joy of all the religious. The mission consisted of thirty-eight,1and their names, occupations, and native places are as follows in order of age: father Fray Joseph Duriach, son of the royal convent of Santa Catalina Martir in Barcelona, former lecturer in the arts in Girona; father Fray Luis Alvarez, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and lecturer in the arts in the said his convent of San Pablo; father Fray Juan Polanco, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and former master of students in Santa Maria la Real at Trianos, who came as vicar of that mission from Mexico; father Fray Alonso de Leon, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Domingo de San Pedro, son of [the convent of] Santa Zita in Palermo, lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Mantua, and lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Diego de San Roman, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Victoria, and lecturer in logic in Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; father Fray Antonio Calderon, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, and fellow of Santo Tomàs in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Francisco Sanchez, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martirin Toledo, and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Felipe Leonardo, son of the Preachers in Valencia; father Fray Tomàs Butiel, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Hipra [i.e., Ypres] in lower Germania; father Fray Salvador de Santo Tomàs, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Domingo de Villamide, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Martin de Trigueros, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Ocaña; father Fray Pedro del Barco, son of [the convent of] La Madre de Dios in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Jayme Berge, son of [the convent of] Corpus Christi at Luchente in the kingdom of Valencia; father Fray Juan Teodoro, son of [the convent of] San Vicente at Calcha, in the province of Flandes; father Fray Agustin Garcia, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid; father Fray Diego Serrano, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Joseph de Noriega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Leonardo Marquez, son of [the convent of] San Agustin in Padua; father Fray Nicolas Merlo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Antonio Martinez, son of the convent of Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Tomàs de Leon, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid, and brother of father Fray Alonso de Leon above mentioned; father Fray Fernando de Melgar, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Lorenzo del Rosario, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Bartolome de Quiroga, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Lugo;father Fray Victorio de Almoynia, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; Fray Bernardo Alvarez, dean, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Estevan de Rivera, son of [the convent of] Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; Fray Melchor Vigil, dean, son of the said convent in Trianos; Fray Lucas de San Vicente, lay-brother, native of Salamanca, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Those who remained sick in Mexico came the following year. They were as follows: father Fray Manuel de Guzman, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla; father Fray Gregorio Ortiz, son of the Preachers in Zaragoza; Fray Domingo de Flores, dean, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Zamora; Fray Andres de los Angeles, lay-brother, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Oajaca. That fine mission arrived very opportunely, composed of religious who possessed so excellent abilities; they were young, and well fitted to advance the credit of this holy province. After the joyful congratulations which welcomed them, they were assigned by the arrangements of the prelate, then the father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, to the study of a language. They have gone forth as excellent ministers and missionaries, both those who are living and some who have already died.[Chinese affairs again engross our author for the remainder of this chapter, as well as for the thirteenth.]

CHAPTER XIIGreat earthquake of San Bernardo’s day; and the mission which arrived at the province

Great earthquake of San Bernardo’s day; and the mission which arrived at the province

Great earthquake of San Bernardo’s day; and the mission which arrived at the province

In the year 1658, when the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles was prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, another great and formidable earthquake occurred on the twentieth of August. In the opinion of all it was worse than that of the day of St. Andrew which we have related, which occurred in the year 1645; except that this one came alone in the quality of its greatness (for the shocks that accompanied it were much less severe than in the former; it is a natural thing to have these earthquakes come with a retinue, and they are among the evils that can never come singly). Thesecond reason why this one was less was based on the fact that the city of Manila was in a sad condition, and those lofty edifices of stone were on the ground, which then robbed the city of much of its pride. Therefore, although some people were killed and many met with accidents and bodily injury, it was not so bloody. However it did not fail to exercise its commission, and many edifices were violently overthrown and great disorder was occasioned not only in Manila but in all these islands.... Our convent of Santo Domingo was hardly used; and as the religious had no cells, as those which were left were full of water, they went along that street seeking corners where they could stay, even at great inconvenience. When the mission (of which we shall speak immediately) arrived, lodgings had to be arranged in the galleries of the new church, where beds and curtains were distributed among the various collateral naves. A better manner of lodging could not be found for many days, because the rainy season (which was a great drawback) had set in. The convent was very fortunate in having there its superior, who repaired so great a disaster with all courage and fortitude, and encouraged his subordinates by repairing their house with great skill and energy, notwithstanding that it was under heavy expenses. God performed miracles by his hand, and has continued the same in the other posts which he has held. Truly he is one of the most careful and indefatigable workers of this holy province, and as he is yet living, this remark must suffice.That year arrived an excellent mission which had been collected in España by father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad, who had remained there as bishop-electof Santa Marta, and Father Matheo Bermudez, who conducted it to Mexico, where he remained as vicar of San Jacinto. The latter entrusted his office to father Fray Juan de Polanco, who brought that mission safely to Filipinas to the great joy of all the religious. The mission consisted of thirty-eight,1and their names, occupations, and native places are as follows in order of age: father Fray Joseph Duriach, son of the royal convent of Santa Catalina Martir in Barcelona, former lecturer in the arts in Girona; father Fray Luis Alvarez, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and lecturer in the arts in the said his convent of San Pablo; father Fray Juan Polanco, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and former master of students in Santa Maria la Real at Trianos, who came as vicar of that mission from Mexico; father Fray Alonso de Leon, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Domingo de San Pedro, son of [the convent of] Santa Zita in Palermo, lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Mantua, and lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Diego de San Roman, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Victoria, and lecturer in logic in Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; father Fray Antonio Calderon, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, and fellow of Santo Tomàs in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Francisco Sanchez, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martirin Toledo, and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Felipe Leonardo, son of the Preachers in Valencia; father Fray Tomàs Butiel, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Hipra [i.e., Ypres] in lower Germania; father Fray Salvador de Santo Tomàs, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Domingo de Villamide, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Martin de Trigueros, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Ocaña; father Fray Pedro del Barco, son of [the convent of] La Madre de Dios in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Jayme Berge, son of [the convent of] Corpus Christi at Luchente in the kingdom of Valencia; father Fray Juan Teodoro, son of [the convent of] San Vicente at Calcha, in the province of Flandes; father Fray Agustin Garcia, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid; father Fray Diego Serrano, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Joseph de Noriega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Leonardo Marquez, son of [the convent of] San Agustin in Padua; father Fray Nicolas Merlo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Antonio Martinez, son of the convent of Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Tomàs de Leon, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid, and brother of father Fray Alonso de Leon above mentioned; father Fray Fernando de Melgar, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Lorenzo del Rosario, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Bartolome de Quiroga, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Lugo;father Fray Victorio de Almoynia, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; Fray Bernardo Alvarez, dean, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Estevan de Rivera, son of [the convent of] Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; Fray Melchor Vigil, dean, son of the said convent in Trianos; Fray Lucas de San Vicente, lay-brother, native of Salamanca, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Those who remained sick in Mexico came the following year. They were as follows: father Fray Manuel de Guzman, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla; father Fray Gregorio Ortiz, son of the Preachers in Zaragoza; Fray Domingo de Flores, dean, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Zamora; Fray Andres de los Angeles, lay-brother, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Oajaca. That fine mission arrived very opportunely, composed of religious who possessed so excellent abilities; they were young, and well fitted to advance the credit of this holy province. After the joyful congratulations which welcomed them, they were assigned by the arrangements of the prelate, then the father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, to the study of a language. They have gone forth as excellent ministers and missionaries, both those who are living and some who have already died.[Chinese affairs again engross our author for the remainder of this chapter, as well as for the thirteenth.]

In the year 1658, when the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles was prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, another great and formidable earthquake occurred on the twentieth of August. In the opinion of all it was worse than that of the day of St. Andrew which we have related, which occurred in the year 1645; except that this one came alone in the quality of its greatness (for the shocks that accompanied it were much less severe than in the former; it is a natural thing to have these earthquakes come with a retinue, and they are among the evils that can never come singly). Thesecond reason why this one was less was based on the fact that the city of Manila was in a sad condition, and those lofty edifices of stone were on the ground, which then robbed the city of much of its pride. Therefore, although some people were killed and many met with accidents and bodily injury, it was not so bloody. However it did not fail to exercise its commission, and many edifices were violently overthrown and great disorder was occasioned not only in Manila but in all these islands.... Our convent of Santo Domingo was hardly used; and as the religious had no cells, as those which were left were full of water, they went along that street seeking corners where they could stay, even at great inconvenience. When the mission (of which we shall speak immediately) arrived, lodgings had to be arranged in the galleries of the new church, where beds and curtains were distributed among the various collateral naves. A better manner of lodging could not be found for many days, because the rainy season (which was a great drawback) had set in. The convent was very fortunate in having there its superior, who repaired so great a disaster with all courage and fortitude, and encouraged his subordinates by repairing their house with great skill and energy, notwithstanding that it was under heavy expenses. God performed miracles by his hand, and has continued the same in the other posts which he has held. Truly he is one of the most careful and indefatigable workers of this holy province, and as he is yet living, this remark must suffice.

That year arrived an excellent mission which had been collected in España by father Fray Francisco de la Trinidad, who had remained there as bishop-electof Santa Marta, and Father Matheo Bermudez, who conducted it to Mexico, where he remained as vicar of San Jacinto. The latter entrusted his office to father Fray Juan de Polanco, who brought that mission safely to Filipinas to the great joy of all the religious. The mission consisted of thirty-eight,1and their names, occupations, and native places are as follows in order of age: father Fray Joseph Duriach, son of the royal convent of Santa Catalina Martir in Barcelona, former lecturer in the arts in Girona; father Fray Luis Alvarez, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and lecturer in the arts in the said his convent of San Pablo; father Fray Juan Polanco, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid, former fellow of San Gregorio, and former master of students in Santa Maria la Real at Trianos, who came as vicar of that mission from Mexico; father Fray Alonso de Leon, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Domingo de San Pedro, son of [the convent of] Santa Zita in Palermo, lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Mantua, and lecturer in arts in the said his house; father Fray Diego de San Roman, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Victoria, and lecturer in logic in Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; father Fray Antonio Calderon, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca, and fellow of Santo Tomàs in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Francisco Sanchez, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martirin Toledo, and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Felipe Leonardo, son of the Preachers in Valencia; father Fray Tomàs Butiel, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Hipra [i.e., Ypres] in lower Germania; father Fray Salvador de Santo Tomàs, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Domingo de Villamide, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Martin de Trigueros, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Ocaña; father Fray Pedro del Barco, son of [the convent of] La Madre de Dios in Alcalà de Henares; father Fray Jayme Berge, son of [the convent of] Corpus Christi at Luchente in the kingdom of Valencia; father Fray Juan Teodoro, son of [the convent of] San Vicente at Calcha, in the province of Flandes; father Fray Agustin Garcia, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid; father Fray Diego Serrano, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Joseph de Noriega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Leonardo Marquez, son of [the convent of] San Agustin in Padua; father Fray Nicolas Merlo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Antonio Martinez, son of the convent of Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Tomàs de Leon, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomàs in Madrid, and brother of father Fray Alonso de Leon above mentioned; father Fray Fernando de Melgar, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Lorenzo del Rosario, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Guzman de San Lucar; father Fray Bartolome de Quiroga, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Lugo;father Fray Victorio de Almoynia, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Santiago in Galicia; Fray Bernardo Alvarez, dean, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Estevan de Rivera, son of [the convent of] Santa Maria la Real in Trianos; Fray Melchor Vigil, dean, son of the said convent in Trianos; Fray Lucas de San Vicente, lay-brother, native of Salamanca, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Those who remained sick in Mexico came the following year. They were as follows: father Fray Manuel de Guzman, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla; father Fray Gregorio Ortiz, son of the Preachers in Zaragoza; Fray Domingo de Flores, dean, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Zamora; Fray Andres de los Angeles, lay-brother, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo in Oajaca. That fine mission arrived very opportunely, composed of religious who possessed so excellent abilities; they were young, and well fitted to advance the credit of this holy province. After the joyful congratulations which welcomed them, they were assigned by the arrangements of the prelate, then the father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, to the study of a language. They have gone forth as excellent ministers and missionaries, both those who are living and some who have already died.

[Chinese affairs again engross our author for the remainder of this chapter, as well as for the thirteenth.]

CHAPTER XIVJunta of the year 1659; father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales goes to take part in it; and prior events in Zubinkeu.The intermediary junta was held in 1659 in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Among other matters that were decided there, we must not pass in silence the response made to the fathers of China to a question or memorial presented by them. [This memorial, in view of the disturbed state of China and the slender support that was received by the missionaries in China from the province in the Philippines, asks that whenever cultivated lands are given them as an alms they may accept them. The memorial or petition was not allowed, for the bad effects that might ensue from it; as the Chinese might misconstrue it and imagine that the missionaries go to their country for the sake of the lands alone, and not for the welfare of souls—the decision giving great satisfaction to Juan Bautista de Morales, vicar-provincial of China. The remainder of the chapter relates wholly to Chinese matters.][The insurrections in the provinces of Pangasinán, Ilocos, and Cagayan of the year 1660 are discussed in chapters xv and xvi (the latter treating also of the Chinese pirate Kuesing). They will be sufficiently related elsewhere in this work. Chapter xvii is a summary of the life of father Fray Joseph de Madrid, who was born in Cebú. After studying at Santo Tomás in Manila, he entered the order in that city. He was soon sent to the Chinese missions, but was unable to remain there on account of the climate and hence returned to Manila, where hedied a violent death at the hands of the Chinese of the Parián—who had revolted on account of the threatening messages of Kuesing in the year 1662. He was a natural linguist, speaking fluently Cebúan, Visayan, Tagálog, and the language of Ituy, beside the most difficult dialect of the Chinese, namely, that spoken about Canton. Chapters xviii and xix treat of the Chinese pirate Kuesing and Chinese affairs. Chapter xx contains accounts of the lives of various religious who died in the Dominican province during this time. Carlos Clemente Gant died in the province of Nueva Segovia at the age of more than seventy, having arrived in the Philippines in 1611. He was a native of Zaragoza, and professed in the same city. His mission field was in the province of Cagayan, whither he returned both times after his terms as provincial (1637, and 1648). He also became commissary of the Holy Office after the death of the commissary Fray Domingo Gonzalez. Joseph de Santa Maria (or Navarro), a son of the convent of San Pedro Martir at Marchena in Andalucía, went to the Philippines in 1648. He was vicar of the islands of Babuyanes, where he fell ill and had to go Lalo-c for treatment; on returning to his convent he was killed by the insurgents. Pedro de la Fuente, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos, served as lecturer in theology in the college of Santo Tomás in Manila, and regent and prior of the Manila convent, and was minister in various places in Cagayan. At his death he was vicar of the village of Pata. The father commissary, Fray Salvador Mexia, son of the Sevilla convent, went to the islands in 1648. He acted as vicar-provincial of Pangasinán, and was remembered for his zeal.Francisco Martir Ballesteros, of the convent of Santo Domingo in Murcia, died in the province of Pangasinán at the age of more than seventy, being vicar-provincial of Pangasinán. He was a zealous minister, and left a number of sermons and other pious writings which circulated among the friars in manuscript. Rafael de la Carcel of the province of Aragon, a native of Mallorca, who went to the Philippines in 1632, also died in Pangasinán. Among other posts that he held he was prior of the Manila convent, for a while prior vicar-general, and vicar of Calasiao. His death occurred soon after the disaffection of that village, and was probably hastened by that loss. Rodrigo de Cardenas, bishop of Nueva Segovia, died in May, 1661. He had arrived at the Philippines in 1653, and held the office of bishop for eight years. He died greatly regretted by all.]

CHAPTER XIVJunta of the year 1659; father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales goes to take part in it; and prior events in Zubinkeu.

Junta of the year 1659; father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales goes to take part in it; and prior events in Zubinkeu.

Junta of the year 1659; father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales goes to take part in it; and prior events in Zubinkeu.

The intermediary junta was held in 1659 in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Among other matters that were decided there, we must not pass in silence the response made to the fathers of China to a question or memorial presented by them. [This memorial, in view of the disturbed state of China and the slender support that was received by the missionaries in China from the province in the Philippines, asks that whenever cultivated lands are given them as an alms they may accept them. The memorial or petition was not allowed, for the bad effects that might ensue from it; as the Chinese might misconstrue it and imagine that the missionaries go to their country for the sake of the lands alone, and not for the welfare of souls—the decision giving great satisfaction to Juan Bautista de Morales, vicar-provincial of China. The remainder of the chapter relates wholly to Chinese matters.][The insurrections in the provinces of Pangasinán, Ilocos, and Cagayan of the year 1660 are discussed in chapters xv and xvi (the latter treating also of the Chinese pirate Kuesing). They will be sufficiently related elsewhere in this work. Chapter xvii is a summary of the life of father Fray Joseph de Madrid, who was born in Cebú. After studying at Santo Tomás in Manila, he entered the order in that city. He was soon sent to the Chinese missions, but was unable to remain there on account of the climate and hence returned to Manila, where hedied a violent death at the hands of the Chinese of the Parián—who had revolted on account of the threatening messages of Kuesing in the year 1662. He was a natural linguist, speaking fluently Cebúan, Visayan, Tagálog, and the language of Ituy, beside the most difficult dialect of the Chinese, namely, that spoken about Canton. Chapters xviii and xix treat of the Chinese pirate Kuesing and Chinese affairs. Chapter xx contains accounts of the lives of various religious who died in the Dominican province during this time. Carlos Clemente Gant died in the province of Nueva Segovia at the age of more than seventy, having arrived in the Philippines in 1611. He was a native of Zaragoza, and professed in the same city. His mission field was in the province of Cagayan, whither he returned both times after his terms as provincial (1637, and 1648). He also became commissary of the Holy Office after the death of the commissary Fray Domingo Gonzalez. Joseph de Santa Maria (or Navarro), a son of the convent of San Pedro Martir at Marchena in Andalucía, went to the Philippines in 1648. He was vicar of the islands of Babuyanes, where he fell ill and had to go Lalo-c for treatment; on returning to his convent he was killed by the insurgents. Pedro de la Fuente, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos, served as lecturer in theology in the college of Santo Tomás in Manila, and regent and prior of the Manila convent, and was minister in various places in Cagayan. At his death he was vicar of the village of Pata. The father commissary, Fray Salvador Mexia, son of the Sevilla convent, went to the islands in 1648. He acted as vicar-provincial of Pangasinán, and was remembered for his zeal.Francisco Martir Ballesteros, of the convent of Santo Domingo in Murcia, died in the province of Pangasinán at the age of more than seventy, being vicar-provincial of Pangasinán. He was a zealous minister, and left a number of sermons and other pious writings which circulated among the friars in manuscript. Rafael de la Carcel of the province of Aragon, a native of Mallorca, who went to the Philippines in 1632, also died in Pangasinán. Among other posts that he held he was prior of the Manila convent, for a while prior vicar-general, and vicar of Calasiao. His death occurred soon after the disaffection of that village, and was probably hastened by that loss. Rodrigo de Cardenas, bishop of Nueva Segovia, died in May, 1661. He had arrived at the Philippines in 1653, and held the office of bishop for eight years. He died greatly regretted by all.]

The intermediary junta was held in 1659 in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Among other matters that were decided there, we must not pass in silence the response made to the fathers of China to a question or memorial presented by them. [This memorial, in view of the disturbed state of China and the slender support that was received by the missionaries in China from the province in the Philippines, asks that whenever cultivated lands are given them as an alms they may accept them. The memorial or petition was not allowed, for the bad effects that might ensue from it; as the Chinese might misconstrue it and imagine that the missionaries go to their country for the sake of the lands alone, and not for the welfare of souls—the decision giving great satisfaction to Juan Bautista de Morales, vicar-provincial of China. The remainder of the chapter relates wholly to Chinese matters.]

[The insurrections in the provinces of Pangasinán, Ilocos, and Cagayan of the year 1660 are discussed in chapters xv and xvi (the latter treating also of the Chinese pirate Kuesing). They will be sufficiently related elsewhere in this work. Chapter xvii is a summary of the life of father Fray Joseph de Madrid, who was born in Cebú. After studying at Santo Tomás in Manila, he entered the order in that city. He was soon sent to the Chinese missions, but was unable to remain there on account of the climate and hence returned to Manila, where hedied a violent death at the hands of the Chinese of the Parián—who had revolted on account of the threatening messages of Kuesing in the year 1662. He was a natural linguist, speaking fluently Cebúan, Visayan, Tagálog, and the language of Ituy, beside the most difficult dialect of the Chinese, namely, that spoken about Canton. Chapters xviii and xix treat of the Chinese pirate Kuesing and Chinese affairs. Chapter xx contains accounts of the lives of various religious who died in the Dominican province during this time. Carlos Clemente Gant died in the province of Nueva Segovia at the age of more than seventy, having arrived in the Philippines in 1611. He was a native of Zaragoza, and professed in the same city. His mission field was in the province of Cagayan, whither he returned both times after his terms as provincial (1637, and 1648). He also became commissary of the Holy Office after the death of the commissary Fray Domingo Gonzalez. Joseph de Santa Maria (or Navarro), a son of the convent of San Pedro Martir at Marchena in Andalucía, went to the Philippines in 1648. He was vicar of the islands of Babuyanes, where he fell ill and had to go Lalo-c for treatment; on returning to his convent he was killed by the insurgents. Pedro de la Fuente, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos, served as lecturer in theology in the college of Santo Tomás in Manila, and regent and prior of the Manila convent, and was minister in various places in Cagayan. At his death he was vicar of the village of Pata. The father commissary, Fray Salvador Mexia, son of the Sevilla convent, went to the islands in 1648. He acted as vicar-provincial of Pangasinán, and was remembered for his zeal.Francisco Martir Ballesteros, of the convent of Santo Domingo in Murcia, died in the province of Pangasinán at the age of more than seventy, being vicar-provincial of Pangasinán. He was a zealous minister, and left a number of sermons and other pious writings which circulated among the friars in manuscript. Rafael de la Carcel of the province of Aragon, a native of Mallorca, who went to the Philippines in 1632, also died in Pangasinán. Among other posts that he held he was prior of the Manila convent, for a while prior vicar-general, and vicar of Calasiao. His death occurred soon after the disaffection of that village, and was probably hastened by that loss. Rodrigo de Cardenas, bishop of Nueva Segovia, died in May, 1661. He had arrived at the Philippines in 1653, and held the office of bishop for eight years. He died greatly regretted by all.]

CHAPTER XXIThe holding of the provincial chapter for the election; death of Kuesing; father Fray Victorio [Riccio] returns to China with the reply to his embassy.The father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, ended his term as provincial, and on April 7, 1661, the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, then prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, was elected in that convent. That was the first time when he rose to the government of this province as provincial. He filled that office so well that after twelve years (in 1673) he was elected for the second time, and is at present in that office. He came to this province in the mission of 1648, for which heleft his convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where he exercised the office of master of students. The province always kept him employed here in the offices of lecturer of morning classes, regent, and rector of the college of Santo Tomas; president of the hospital, and prior of Manila. Although he has filled all of them with great credit to his person, and has been useful and creditable to the order, yet the honor of commissary of the Holy Inquisition has given him greater prestige—both because any service for that holy tribunal (and especially that of commissary), means so much, and because of the circumstances of the time. For he was the first commissary elected after the disturbance, as famous as harmful, which was occasioned in these islands by the preceding commissary, who arrested the governor at that time without those orders that he ought to have awaited after having consulted—or, more correctly, having informed—the holy tribunal of Mexico. The father provincial commenced his first government with so much spirit and energy that much and even most of it was left for his second government. For the already-mentioned insurrection of the Parián happened in his term, as did the incident of our ambassador,2together with the measures taken in the offended provinces of the insurgent Indians, although those provinces are now quiet. In that and in the sending out of missions, in which he has always manifested his great love and inclination, and in maintaining them with aid, he could well boast of his great zeal and capacity—besides [carrying] theusual weight [of the province] which is always heavy. He sent father Fray Jayme Berge (who came in the mission of the year 1658) to become an associate to father Fray Victorio Riccio, and ordered father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, who desired it, to come to Manila. At the same time he gave orders and letters commanding father Fray Juan Polanco, whom the chapter had appointed definitor for Europa, and procurator-general, to come [to Manila]. He also conveyed a generous aid to our religious, as well as what the order of our father St. Francis gave him for their religious. That did not have the success that was desired, for the greater part was lost in the conveying of it through that so disturbed country. [The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][The four following chapters also treat of Chinese matters, including political and missionary affairs.]

CHAPTER XXIThe holding of the provincial chapter for the election; death of Kuesing; father Fray Victorio [Riccio] returns to China with the reply to his embassy.

The holding of the provincial chapter for the election; death of Kuesing; father Fray Victorio [Riccio] returns to China with the reply to his embassy.

The holding of the provincial chapter for the election; death of Kuesing; father Fray Victorio [Riccio] returns to China with the reply to his embassy.

The father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, ended his term as provincial, and on April 7, 1661, the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, then prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, was elected in that convent. That was the first time when he rose to the government of this province as provincial. He filled that office so well that after twelve years (in 1673) he was elected for the second time, and is at present in that office. He came to this province in the mission of 1648, for which heleft his convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where he exercised the office of master of students. The province always kept him employed here in the offices of lecturer of morning classes, regent, and rector of the college of Santo Tomas; president of the hospital, and prior of Manila. Although he has filled all of them with great credit to his person, and has been useful and creditable to the order, yet the honor of commissary of the Holy Inquisition has given him greater prestige—both because any service for that holy tribunal (and especially that of commissary), means so much, and because of the circumstances of the time. For he was the first commissary elected after the disturbance, as famous as harmful, which was occasioned in these islands by the preceding commissary, who arrested the governor at that time without those orders that he ought to have awaited after having consulted—or, more correctly, having informed—the holy tribunal of Mexico. The father provincial commenced his first government with so much spirit and energy that much and even most of it was left for his second government. For the already-mentioned insurrection of the Parián happened in his term, as did the incident of our ambassador,2together with the measures taken in the offended provinces of the insurgent Indians, although those provinces are now quiet. In that and in the sending out of missions, in which he has always manifested his great love and inclination, and in maintaining them with aid, he could well boast of his great zeal and capacity—besides [carrying] theusual weight [of the province] which is always heavy. He sent father Fray Jayme Berge (who came in the mission of the year 1658) to become an associate to father Fray Victorio Riccio, and ordered father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, who desired it, to come to Manila. At the same time he gave orders and letters commanding father Fray Juan Polanco, whom the chapter had appointed definitor for Europa, and procurator-general, to come [to Manila]. He also conveyed a generous aid to our religious, as well as what the order of our father St. Francis gave him for their religious. That did not have the success that was desired, for the greater part was lost in the conveying of it through that so disturbed country. [The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.][The four following chapters also treat of Chinese matters, including political and missionary affairs.]

The father commissary, Fray Francisco de Paula, ended his term as provincial, and on April 7, 1661, the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, then prior of the convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, was elected in that convent. That was the first time when he rose to the government of this province as provincial. He filled that office so well that after twelve years (in 1673) he was elected for the second time, and is at present in that office. He came to this province in the mission of 1648, for which heleft his convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where he exercised the office of master of students. The province always kept him employed here in the offices of lecturer of morning classes, regent, and rector of the college of Santo Tomas; president of the hospital, and prior of Manila. Although he has filled all of them with great credit to his person, and has been useful and creditable to the order, yet the honor of commissary of the Holy Inquisition has given him greater prestige—both because any service for that holy tribunal (and especially that of commissary), means so much, and because of the circumstances of the time. For he was the first commissary elected after the disturbance, as famous as harmful, which was occasioned in these islands by the preceding commissary, who arrested the governor at that time without those orders that he ought to have awaited after having consulted—or, more correctly, having informed—the holy tribunal of Mexico. The father provincial commenced his first government with so much spirit and energy that much and even most of it was left for his second government. For the already-mentioned insurrection of the Parián happened in his term, as did the incident of our ambassador,2together with the measures taken in the offended provinces of the insurgent Indians, although those provinces are now quiet. In that and in the sending out of missions, in which he has always manifested his great love and inclination, and in maintaining them with aid, he could well boast of his great zeal and capacity—besides [carrying] theusual weight [of the province] which is always heavy. He sent father Fray Jayme Berge (who came in the mission of the year 1658) to become an associate to father Fray Victorio Riccio, and ordered father Fray Pedro de Santo Domingo, who desired it, to come to Manila. At the same time he gave orders and letters commanding father Fray Juan Polanco, whom the chapter had appointed definitor for Europa, and procurator-general, to come [to Manila]. He also conveyed a generous aid to our religious, as well as what the order of our father St. Francis gave him for their religious. That did not have the success that was desired, for the greater part was lost in the conveying of it through that so disturbed country. [The remainder of the chapter treats of Chinese affairs.]

[The four following chapters also treat of Chinese matters, including political and missionary affairs.]

CHAPTER XXVIOf the intermediary junta; the arrival of a new governor in Filipinas; affairs of China; and of Mother Maria de Jesus.The intermediary junta was held in our convent of Santo Domingo, on April fourteen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-three. Besides the usual arrangements, no especial thing was ordained in it except to entrust to the father provincial the printing of the ritual, and, when that was done, to see that the religious used it and no other. That is a very important provision, and one in which the zeal of our superiors is very well occupied, so that our procedure may be uniform, as we are charged in the beginning of ourholy constitutions. It is not advisable that this matter of ceremonies be free, since they are so necessary; and piety and opinion have no vote in this matter, in which the decree of the superiors has explained their decision. The worst results will follow if neglect occasions it, since the administration of the holy sacraments is the most essential point of the ministries; and they need rules and regulations, care in their study, and punctuality. In the year 1669, a very suitable ritual was published, which was quite uniform with the Roman ritual of Paul V....That year of 1663 our governor, the master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, came to these islands. He was a worthy soldier of Flandes, where he had attained honorable posts; and since he had filled them so well his Majesty entrusted to him the influential post of captain-general and governor of these islands. If these islands were three thousand leguas nearer, that office would doubtless not be second in importance to those of America. The ship put in at Nueva Segovia, and consequently the said governor came overland—being received very hospitably by our ministering religious and those of our father St. Augustine, who are established along the way. On that journey also they were received by the natives with feasts, dancing, and music, in which they are very entertaining. His Lordship gained a good name in [receiving] those tokens of welcome, inadequate as they were, by the great affability and generosity that he displayed to the natives. He reached Manila and assumed his office amid great acclamation and pomp on the festal day of September eight, the day consecrated to the birth of the most holy Virgin. That was a great consolation to all people, and goodauguries were indicated although not all of them were fulfilled to the letter. He was beyond doubt a capable man, and one of great intellect. In but few days he understood whatever concerned his obligation, and never departed from it so long as it concerned the king’s service. He made the despatches of the ships to España very punctually, and with foresight; for he recognized that the ship that left here annually to get the situado is the one that ought to have the greatest care, and demands activity [in preparation] so that it may not be pushed for time, but that one or two months shall be gained. Consequently, there always was a ship [on that line]; and God took charge of them and brought them in, seeing that people here were doing their utmost.3In respect to the good fortune with which he began [his term], he became faint-hearted, and cared little for being liked, for that post cannot be free from cause for harshness. The devil entered, upon seeing the necessary wall of love somewhat fallen; and he put complaints into the minds of the traders, which soon spread to the other estates. That enemy sowed dissension, which is his own seed; and the number of those disaffected increasing, much opposition to the governor arose. At the end of the year 1668 (October tenth) the governor was arrested by the commissary of the Inquisition, Fray Joseph de Paternina, an Augustinian....[Further references to the Chinese missions and politics are made, and the chapter ends with notices regarding a Spanish beata or devout woman, Maria de Jesus, who died in Manila in 1662. Her parents, Albaro de Angulo Tobar and Isabel de Morales, were old settlers in the islands, who had lived first in Cebú; and their daughter was born in Arevalo, in the island of Panay. The latter took the habit of beata in the tertiary order of the Dominicans, somewhat against the will of her parents. She gave many alms, spent the greater portion of her wealth in the building of the church of Santo Domingo, and reared orphan girls in her house.][The life and labors of the famous missionary to China, Juan Bautista de Morales, who died in 1664, fill chapters xxvii-xxxii. The following chapter is devoted to Fray Francisco de Paula, commissary of the Inquisition and twice provincial, and other fathers. The former was born in Segovia and took the habit at Salamanca. Enlisting in the Philippine mission in 1618, on arriving there he began to study Chinese in the Parián; but was soon transferred to the college of Santo Tomás, where he taught for eighteen years. He was a successful and eloquent preacher to the Spaniards, and in consequence was elected preacher-general of the Manila convent. The office of vicar-provincial, as far as Manila is concerned, was conferred on him; and in the year 1641 he was elected provincial. In 1647, while exercising his duties in the Manila college of Santo Tomás, whither he had returned after his office had expired, he was elected commissary of the Inquisition. In 1657 he was again elected provincial. Pedro de Santo Domingo, who took the habit in Milan, Italy,went to the Philippines in 1658, at the age of forty, and was sent to the Chinese missions; but, being unable on account of his age to learn the language, he was sent back to Manila and became vicar of the convent of Santelmo in Cavite. Illness, however, pressing on him, he was assigned as vicar to the Philippine hospice of San Jacinto in Mexico, but died ere reaching his destination.]

CHAPTER XXVIOf the intermediary junta; the arrival of a new governor in Filipinas; affairs of China; and of Mother Maria de Jesus.

Of the intermediary junta; the arrival of a new governor in Filipinas; affairs of China; and of Mother Maria de Jesus.

Of the intermediary junta; the arrival of a new governor in Filipinas; affairs of China; and of Mother Maria de Jesus.

The intermediary junta was held in our convent of Santo Domingo, on April fourteen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-three. Besides the usual arrangements, no especial thing was ordained in it except to entrust to the father provincial the printing of the ritual, and, when that was done, to see that the religious used it and no other. That is a very important provision, and one in which the zeal of our superiors is very well occupied, so that our procedure may be uniform, as we are charged in the beginning of ourholy constitutions. It is not advisable that this matter of ceremonies be free, since they are so necessary; and piety and opinion have no vote in this matter, in which the decree of the superiors has explained their decision. The worst results will follow if neglect occasions it, since the administration of the holy sacraments is the most essential point of the ministries; and they need rules and regulations, care in their study, and punctuality. In the year 1669, a very suitable ritual was published, which was quite uniform with the Roman ritual of Paul V....That year of 1663 our governor, the master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, came to these islands. He was a worthy soldier of Flandes, where he had attained honorable posts; and since he had filled them so well his Majesty entrusted to him the influential post of captain-general and governor of these islands. If these islands were three thousand leguas nearer, that office would doubtless not be second in importance to those of America. The ship put in at Nueva Segovia, and consequently the said governor came overland—being received very hospitably by our ministering religious and those of our father St. Augustine, who are established along the way. On that journey also they were received by the natives with feasts, dancing, and music, in which they are very entertaining. His Lordship gained a good name in [receiving] those tokens of welcome, inadequate as they were, by the great affability and generosity that he displayed to the natives. He reached Manila and assumed his office amid great acclamation and pomp on the festal day of September eight, the day consecrated to the birth of the most holy Virgin. That was a great consolation to all people, and goodauguries were indicated although not all of them were fulfilled to the letter. He was beyond doubt a capable man, and one of great intellect. In but few days he understood whatever concerned his obligation, and never departed from it so long as it concerned the king’s service. He made the despatches of the ships to España very punctually, and with foresight; for he recognized that the ship that left here annually to get the situado is the one that ought to have the greatest care, and demands activity [in preparation] so that it may not be pushed for time, but that one or two months shall be gained. Consequently, there always was a ship [on that line]; and God took charge of them and brought them in, seeing that people here were doing their utmost.3In respect to the good fortune with which he began [his term], he became faint-hearted, and cared little for being liked, for that post cannot be free from cause for harshness. The devil entered, upon seeing the necessary wall of love somewhat fallen; and he put complaints into the minds of the traders, which soon spread to the other estates. That enemy sowed dissension, which is his own seed; and the number of those disaffected increasing, much opposition to the governor arose. At the end of the year 1668 (October tenth) the governor was arrested by the commissary of the Inquisition, Fray Joseph de Paternina, an Augustinian....[Further references to the Chinese missions and politics are made, and the chapter ends with notices regarding a Spanish beata or devout woman, Maria de Jesus, who died in Manila in 1662. Her parents, Albaro de Angulo Tobar and Isabel de Morales, were old settlers in the islands, who had lived first in Cebú; and their daughter was born in Arevalo, in the island of Panay. The latter took the habit of beata in the tertiary order of the Dominicans, somewhat against the will of her parents. She gave many alms, spent the greater portion of her wealth in the building of the church of Santo Domingo, and reared orphan girls in her house.][The life and labors of the famous missionary to China, Juan Bautista de Morales, who died in 1664, fill chapters xxvii-xxxii. The following chapter is devoted to Fray Francisco de Paula, commissary of the Inquisition and twice provincial, and other fathers. The former was born in Segovia and took the habit at Salamanca. Enlisting in the Philippine mission in 1618, on arriving there he began to study Chinese in the Parián; but was soon transferred to the college of Santo Tomás, where he taught for eighteen years. He was a successful and eloquent preacher to the Spaniards, and in consequence was elected preacher-general of the Manila convent. The office of vicar-provincial, as far as Manila is concerned, was conferred on him; and in the year 1641 he was elected provincial. In 1647, while exercising his duties in the Manila college of Santo Tomás, whither he had returned after his office had expired, he was elected commissary of the Inquisition. In 1657 he was again elected provincial. Pedro de Santo Domingo, who took the habit in Milan, Italy,went to the Philippines in 1658, at the age of forty, and was sent to the Chinese missions; but, being unable on account of his age to learn the language, he was sent back to Manila and became vicar of the convent of Santelmo in Cavite. Illness, however, pressing on him, he was assigned as vicar to the Philippine hospice of San Jacinto in Mexico, but died ere reaching his destination.]

The intermediary junta was held in our convent of Santo Domingo, on April fourteen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-three. Besides the usual arrangements, no especial thing was ordained in it except to entrust to the father provincial the printing of the ritual, and, when that was done, to see that the religious used it and no other. That is a very important provision, and one in which the zeal of our superiors is very well occupied, so that our procedure may be uniform, as we are charged in the beginning of ourholy constitutions. It is not advisable that this matter of ceremonies be free, since they are so necessary; and piety and opinion have no vote in this matter, in which the decree of the superiors has explained their decision. The worst results will follow if neglect occasions it, since the administration of the holy sacraments is the most essential point of the ministries; and they need rules and regulations, care in their study, and punctuality. In the year 1669, a very suitable ritual was published, which was quite uniform with the Roman ritual of Paul V....

That year of 1663 our governor, the master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, came to these islands. He was a worthy soldier of Flandes, where he had attained honorable posts; and since he had filled them so well his Majesty entrusted to him the influential post of captain-general and governor of these islands. If these islands were three thousand leguas nearer, that office would doubtless not be second in importance to those of America. The ship put in at Nueva Segovia, and consequently the said governor came overland—being received very hospitably by our ministering religious and those of our father St. Augustine, who are established along the way. On that journey also they were received by the natives with feasts, dancing, and music, in which they are very entertaining. His Lordship gained a good name in [receiving] those tokens of welcome, inadequate as they were, by the great affability and generosity that he displayed to the natives. He reached Manila and assumed his office amid great acclamation and pomp on the festal day of September eight, the day consecrated to the birth of the most holy Virgin. That was a great consolation to all people, and goodauguries were indicated although not all of them were fulfilled to the letter. He was beyond doubt a capable man, and one of great intellect. In but few days he understood whatever concerned his obligation, and never departed from it so long as it concerned the king’s service. He made the despatches of the ships to España very punctually, and with foresight; for he recognized that the ship that left here annually to get the situado is the one that ought to have the greatest care, and demands activity [in preparation] so that it may not be pushed for time, but that one or two months shall be gained. Consequently, there always was a ship [on that line]; and God took charge of them and brought them in, seeing that people here were doing their utmost.3In respect to the good fortune with which he began [his term], he became faint-hearted, and cared little for being liked, for that post cannot be free from cause for harshness. The devil entered, upon seeing the necessary wall of love somewhat fallen; and he put complaints into the minds of the traders, which soon spread to the other estates. That enemy sowed dissension, which is his own seed; and the number of those disaffected increasing, much opposition to the governor arose. At the end of the year 1668 (October tenth) the governor was arrested by the commissary of the Inquisition, Fray Joseph de Paternina, an Augustinian....

[Further references to the Chinese missions and politics are made, and the chapter ends with notices regarding a Spanish beata or devout woman, Maria de Jesus, who died in Manila in 1662. Her parents, Albaro de Angulo Tobar and Isabel de Morales, were old settlers in the islands, who had lived first in Cebú; and their daughter was born in Arevalo, in the island of Panay. The latter took the habit of beata in the tertiary order of the Dominicans, somewhat against the will of her parents. She gave many alms, spent the greater portion of her wealth in the building of the church of Santo Domingo, and reared orphan girls in her house.]

[The life and labors of the famous missionary to China, Juan Bautista de Morales, who died in 1664, fill chapters xxvii-xxxii. The following chapter is devoted to Fray Francisco de Paula, commissary of the Inquisition and twice provincial, and other fathers. The former was born in Segovia and took the habit at Salamanca. Enlisting in the Philippine mission in 1618, on arriving there he began to study Chinese in the Parián; but was soon transferred to the college of Santo Tomás, where he taught for eighteen years. He was a successful and eloquent preacher to the Spaniards, and in consequence was elected preacher-general of the Manila convent. The office of vicar-provincial, as far as Manila is concerned, was conferred on him; and in the year 1641 he was elected provincial. In 1647, while exercising his duties in the Manila college of Santo Tomás, whither he had returned after his office had expired, he was elected commissary of the Inquisition. In 1657 he was again elected provincial. Pedro de Santo Domingo, who took the habit in Milan, Italy,went to the Philippines in 1658, at the age of forty, and was sent to the Chinese missions; but, being unable on account of his age to learn the language, he was sent back to Manila and became vicar of the convent of Santelmo in Cavite. Illness, however, pressing on him, he was assigned as vicar to the Philippine hospice of San Jacinto in Mexico, but died ere reaching his destination.]

CHAPTER XXXIVThe election of a new provincial in the person of the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles; and the great troubles in China.The capitular members assembled in the year 1665 to elect a provincial, as the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, had completed his office. On the twenty-fifth of April they elected the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, of the province of Andalucia, and a son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in the village of Zafra in Estremadura. He had come to this province in the year 1635, and had been minister of Tagalos in the district of Bataan, and afterward in the island Hermosa, where he remained six years (the time when the Dutch captured that fort and drove us from the land). He returned to Manila by way of Jacatra and Macasar, and to his former ministry of Tagalos. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomas, twice prior in our convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, at various times vicar-general, and definitor in 1661 and 1673. In the year that we mentioned, the province elected him as its prelate, to the general satisfaction of all. This is as much as we can say at present, for he is still living.We can also say that since being provincial, he has undertaken the charge of the college for boys of San Juan de Letran. He has provided for them a very suitable and spacious house within the walls of Manila, that has gained repute and esteem for the pious education in virtue and the studies of those children, which is the object [of that college]. This holy province was struggling manfully at the time of that election, but both hands were busy in wiping off the tears that were shed before God for two reasons. [The first reason was the effort of the governor to make the orders publish the lists of ministries,4as was the custom in the other parts of the Indias. In 1665 the vessel which arrived brought his Excellency, Don Fray Juan Lopez, consecrated bishop-elect of Cebú. He brought with him the acts of the general chapter held in Rome in 1656; the execution of the measures for the government of the Indias in general were suspended, as the Philippines were not included in them unless mentioned specially. The second great trouble of the province was the cruelty practiced on the missionaries in China. The chapter ends with accounts of China and the work there.][Chinese affairs are continued in chapters xxxv–xl.]

CHAPTER XXXIVThe election of a new provincial in the person of the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles; and the great troubles in China.

The election of a new provincial in the person of the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles; and the great troubles in China.

The election of a new provincial in the person of the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles; and the great troubles in China.

The capitular members assembled in the year 1665 to elect a provincial, as the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, had completed his office. On the twenty-fifth of April they elected the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, of the province of Andalucia, and a son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in the village of Zafra in Estremadura. He had come to this province in the year 1635, and had been minister of Tagalos in the district of Bataan, and afterward in the island Hermosa, where he remained six years (the time when the Dutch captured that fort and drove us from the land). He returned to Manila by way of Jacatra and Macasar, and to his former ministry of Tagalos. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomas, twice prior in our convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, at various times vicar-general, and definitor in 1661 and 1673. In the year that we mentioned, the province elected him as its prelate, to the general satisfaction of all. This is as much as we can say at present, for he is still living.We can also say that since being provincial, he has undertaken the charge of the college for boys of San Juan de Letran. He has provided for them a very suitable and spacious house within the walls of Manila, that has gained repute and esteem for the pious education in virtue and the studies of those children, which is the object [of that college]. This holy province was struggling manfully at the time of that election, but both hands were busy in wiping off the tears that were shed before God for two reasons. [The first reason was the effort of the governor to make the orders publish the lists of ministries,4as was the custom in the other parts of the Indias. In 1665 the vessel which arrived brought his Excellency, Don Fray Juan Lopez, consecrated bishop-elect of Cebú. He brought with him the acts of the general chapter held in Rome in 1656; the execution of the measures for the government of the Indias in general were suspended, as the Philippines were not included in them unless mentioned specially. The second great trouble of the province was the cruelty practiced on the missionaries in China. The chapter ends with accounts of China and the work there.][Chinese affairs are continued in chapters xxxv–xl.]

The capitular members assembled in the year 1665 to elect a provincial, as the father commissary, Fray Felipe Pardo, had completed his office. On the twenty-fifth of April they elected the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, of the province of Andalucia, and a son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in the village of Zafra in Estremadura. He had come to this province in the year 1635, and had been minister of Tagalos in the district of Bataan, and afterward in the island Hermosa, where he remained six years (the time when the Dutch captured that fort and drove us from the land). He returned to Manila by way of Jacatra and Macasar, and to his former ministry of Tagalos. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomas, twice prior in our convent of Santo Domingo of Manila, at various times vicar-general, and definitor in 1661 and 1673. In the year that we mentioned, the province elected him as its prelate, to the general satisfaction of all. This is as much as we can say at present, for he is still living.We can also say that since being provincial, he has undertaken the charge of the college for boys of San Juan de Letran. He has provided for them a very suitable and spacious house within the walls of Manila, that has gained repute and esteem for the pious education in virtue and the studies of those children, which is the object [of that college]. This holy province was struggling manfully at the time of that election, but both hands were busy in wiping off the tears that were shed before God for two reasons. [The first reason was the effort of the governor to make the orders publish the lists of ministries,4as was the custom in the other parts of the Indias. In 1665 the vessel which arrived brought his Excellency, Don Fray Juan Lopez, consecrated bishop-elect of Cebú. He brought with him the acts of the general chapter held in Rome in 1656; the execution of the measures for the government of the Indias in general were suspended, as the Philippines were not included in them unless mentioned specially. The second great trouble of the province was the cruelty practiced on the missionaries in China. The chapter ends with accounts of China and the work there.]

[Chinese affairs are continued in chapters xxxv–xl.]

CHAPTER XLIA new mission arrives in the province; and events of these times in Filipinas and China.The bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco (who was not yet bishop-elect) went to España with the usual powers conferred by the province, following Don Fray Juan Lopez, bishop of Zibu and afterward archbishop of Manila, who had gone the preceding year with the same powers. But because of accidents, and since the province was so lacking in religious, a second procurator was despatched. That was an excellent measure, as the result showed; for the bishop of Zibu was embarrassed by his new promotion and by his despatches, so that he could not get the mission ready, although he had made a good start at it upon the arrival of Don Fray Juan de Polanco. The latter was very well received in the provinces of España, and all of them showed him great love and reverence because of the good impression that he gave by his virtues, which have without doubt the greatest attracting power for those spiritual soldiers. The commission is one of danger which only the loftiest object and obedience can make peaceful; for besides being the sample, as they say, of the cloth, such a person is not only looked at but spied upon by all; and it is necessary above all to bear God in mind and keep oneself acceptable to Him for so long and even almost desperate voyages, so that He may give health in so many hardships, climates, and paths of the earth, and [enable him to furnish] a good example for so many different kinds of persons with whom one must confer and voyage, in the midst of so many cares as he always has in his charge. The task ofmaking religious is that of the greatest difficulty; for so long as the men [sought] have the greatest abilities, their convents, who have reared them, feel it more, and say farewell to them to see them no more, where natural love does its duty and the devil is not careless—although, in fine, our holy provinces have always nourished this daughter of theirs in the belief that to give her a religious is to make God careful to send her many, and to preserve them with the wealth of their virtues. They send their sons to this honorable warfare, and the latter gain new blasons for them and get their first share of the spoils in the service of God and the welfare of souls. Therefore, the procurator who is securing men needs many lights of virtue, prudence, and affability, and great patience, for accidents that happen, and for the suitable choice of routes, and for guidance when they go astray; then the essential part of presenting the things in his care to the princes, and the latter’s councils and counselors to whose questions he must make answer with truth and candor. The fear of God is master in all; for, if he swerve from that line, he cannot make a good voyage. For the other despatches by tribunals and accountancies, he needs to attend upon them without being troublesome, and enduring delays, civilities, and courtesies; for they are ministers of the king and worthy of all esteem, and he must await his time amid the so many cares entrusted to them. Just at present we all enjoy the ministry of a perfect procurator of Filipinas in our venerable bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco, who must have been a model of procurators; for by his example and virtue alone, he found himself freed from all the difficulties that accompany that honorable office. Intheir very beginnings he found them solved and conquered; and he made the very judges of his causes, and even those who were opposed to him, his attorneys. This is not imagination but the pure truth; and there are many witnesses still living now in the holy city of Roma (where he went as definitor in 1668), and in the royal court of Madrid—where he was favored by princes, and esteemed and respected as an apostolic and holy man in their councils and tribunals; where he was listened to as a learned orator of this province; and where his causes were heard with the notable grace that God gave him wherever he went, and with the highest honor in both the said courts. The time will come for recounting his life and death, and then a longer account will be given of his virtues. Suffice it to say for the present that he collected two famous missions for this holy province, which he accompanied to Mexico (which is the rough place in the ascent of the hill), and returned for the third time [to España] for more soldiers—[whom he would have brought] had not the giant footsteps of envious death intercepted him in Sevilla. He entrusted the first mission to one of its religious, namely, father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz. They reached Manila safely in August, 1666, and their names in order of age are as follows: father Fray Juan de Velasco, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz el Real in Granada, and master of students, who was then in the convent of San Lucar; father Fray Joseph de Isussi, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos and fellow of [the convent of] San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Diego Nuñez, son of [the conventof] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Christoval de Montenegro, son of the convent and college of Nuestro Señora del Rosario in Almagro, fellow of Santo Thomas in Sevilla, and teacher of logic there; father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Sevilla, and lecturer in logic there, former fellow of Santo Thomas of Alcalà de Henares (this father remained in Mexico because of illness, and came the following year); father Fray Christoval Pedroche, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Juan Romero, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Juan de la Cueva, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz in Granada; father Fray Pedro de Alcalà, son of the same convent in Granada; father Fray Manuel de Mercadillo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Alonso Blasco, son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in Estremadura; father Fray Domingo Perez, son of the convent of Santa Maria de Trianos, fellow of Alcalà [de Henares]; father Fray Juan Peguero, son of the convent of Porta Cœli in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Ximenez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Joseph de Solis, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Francisco de Olmedo, son of the same convent in Palencia; father Fray Pedro Sanchez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Antonio de San Juan, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Agustin Garcia de Ortega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Pablo Marchan, son of the same convent of San Estevan; fatherFray Andres Gonzalez, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; father Fray Bernabe Rodriguez, son of the same convent in Valladolid; father Fray Francisco de Villalva, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos; father Fray Pedro de Alarcon, son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha; father Fray Antonio Rego, son of the convent of San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Andres Lopez, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Diego de Castro, son of the convent at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Joseph de San Jacinto, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Joseph de la Torre, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Rio Seco; father Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, son of the convent in Ocaña; father Fray Juan de Santa Maria, son of the convent of San Pedro in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Gonzalez, son of the convent of Aranda in Duero; father Fray Juan de Castellanos, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Logroño; father Fray Bernardo de Noriega, son of the convent of San Pablo in Palencia; Fray Antonio de la Purificacion, lay-brother, of the convent of Santa Cruz in Granada; Fray Joseph de la Villalva, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Juan Fernando, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos, who remained in our hospice of San Jacinto [in Mexico]; and Fray Sebastian del Rosario, lay-brother, son of the said convent of San Jacinto in Mexico. In all they number thirty-nine.5This fine mission came in the ship “La Concepcion,” that year of 1666. The same ship also broughttwo other missions, one of our father, St. Francis, and the other of the Society of Jesus; two religious of St. John of God, and secular priests; also captains, and very honorable persons—in charge of the commander Joseph de Zamora. The ship was unable to make the Embocadero because the vendavals which had set in prevented it. Therefore it was very fortunate in making the port of Palapa, which is located on the southern side.6They anchored there on the day of St. Lawrence, and it was considered a very special providence of God that they disembarked there on that land, for all arriving in great need and worn out after four months and more of continual navigation, they found, especially the religious, that they had arrived at the land so oft desired and the land of promise. They found in that village, which is in charge of the fathers of the Society, a father rector whose charity challenged the needs of all of them and was victorious. This was the ever venerable father Melchor de los Reyes, a native of Puerto Rico, who, although very poor in that ministry of his, yet settled the difficulty as a very rich man. He lodged eighty religious without even remotely expecting one. He received them all with the ringing of bells, with playing on wind instruments, and music. He supported them abundantly and daintily until boats were found to take them to Manila (which could not be done in a few days). He also succored the ship with rice and other supplies, and with dainties, according to their persons. Ours were the best served, for boats were not found; and although it was thought that the ship could soon proceedupon its voyage, the bad weather was so obstinate that it was unable to sail until March of the following year. Therefore they remained in that holy house with the same satisfaction that they could have had in the most wealthy convent of our order. Sufficiently accommodated in those lodgings, they all said mass; and then those who wished had their breakfast. All the food was supplied abundantly, with the utmost cleanliness and punctuality. They were sheltered in the choir and galleries with great quiet. A pleasant and crystal river flowed near the college, for recreation and bathing. There were books in great abundance, according to the taste of each one. Above all was the affability of the holy religious, and of the others who attended to those residences belonging to their ministry. Truly there are no words to imagine the consolation that the Lord gave there to our tired religious, or the obligation under which all this province remained at so generous charity. The religious who served as superior of Ours, seeing the length of time that they were staying there, and the so excessive expense that was being incurred, although fearful of a bad outcome, finally, to satisfy his ill-founded fear, took one hundred pesos from the scanty hoard of the mission, and resolved to give them to the father rector. They were not sufficient even to cover the cost of the rice, but in the end would be some aid in meeting the expenses. He followed the rector alone into his apartment, and, changing color, after some arguments which he endeavored to offer he concluded by asking pardon, and asked him to please take that trifle to pay at least the porters and cooks, since our mission was detained so long there. The father rector assumed a serious countenance then,and in brief, sorrowfully proceeded to give the father a severe reproof, by telling him that nothing worthy of payment had been done there; that the father vice-provincial had ordered him to attend to that obligation; that the fathers of his residences had brought the supplies, each in accordance with his several ability; that, thanks to God, nothing was owed to the Indians; that God was giving for everything; and that he rather was the gainer, for, without knowing how, he found his pantries full; that during those days two dugongs had been caught (a thing which had not been seen before since he had been there, for never had those fish been seen there, for it was by a great miracle). Thus did he minimize all that he had done; but our religious, still insisting and placing the hundred pesos on the table, witnessed that the venerable father fell on his knees, and clasping his hands, with tears in his eyes, said to him: “No, no, father, you must not leave that money here for me. I beg that of you in the name of the most holy Virgin. She will not permit your Reverence to give me such affront, at least for the good-will with which I have served you.” Thereupon, the religious begged pardon, and kept his money without knowing how to pay that debt, unless it be paid in the divine treasuries of God, for whom it was all done. Our religious went out in seven bands, and for each band the rector solicited a boat, a good pilot, and a store of supplies for some days. All came [to Manila] singing the praises of so religious an Alexander, who was finally reared in so holy a school as that of the Society of Jesus—where, although one is taught all kinds of knowledge so completely, we can say that charity is that which is not taught, because it is inspired. Godwill now have paid that pious father, for already has He taken him to himself. The religious consumed two more months in going from Palapa to Manila because of the bad weather. However, they passed almost always through ministries belonging to our father St. Francis, where they found themselves detained and hindered more by the great love with which they were welcomed, and the regret with which they were allowed to depart, than by the roads and the difficulties of travel. They arrived at the desired place at last and were received by the father provincial, then the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, with that paternal love which his natural affability and his obligation dictated to him. When he saw that they were rested, he began to assign them occupations.On September 27 of the former year 1665, our most reverend father-general, Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, wrote a loving and thoughtful letter from Roma to the venerable father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales. That letter reached the province in 1667, and, although the father was dead, it will be proper that so precious a thing—to the credit of the paternal providence of its author, and of the reputation that this noble although so retired a member had gained with the supreme head of the order—shall not perish or be lost; and it is also to the credit of this holy province, for they so hold his name in memory as to honor it through its sons, our supreme heads. The letter reads as follows: “Reverend father in Christ: Health, and grace from the Holy Ghost. The news that I have received from the father provincial of that our province of the Filipinas is a great consolation to me. He gives me news of your Reverence’shealth, and of the perseverance with which you are aiding in those conversions without any relaxation to your labors in your so advanced age. I thank the Lord therefor, from whom comes all good; and applying to your Reverence the sufferings of all the order, and giving you the benediction of our glorious St. Dominic, I thank you again and again for having served in our ministry for the conversion of souls, which is the object of our institute, and which your Reverence and your companions are, with the divine grace, accomplishing. Forty-two religious sailed in the mission which left Cadiz on July 5 of this year, for which the father lecturer, Fray Juan Polanco, procurator of the province, worked zealously and diligently. The consolation that I have had in the selection of those missionaries will increase if your Reverence will take them under your teaching, and encourage and exhort them so that, as sons of so good a father, they may give bread to those who, desirous of spiritual sustenance, beg it. May God please that it be so, for such is my desire. In regard to the labors of government, it will relieve us to receive letters from your Reverence, and to have news of the progress of so loving sons as it has been God’s pleasure to give me. I have sent breviaries and a formulary of devotion to the twelve associates of your Reverence, which is as a token of my love, so that you may be mindful of me in your prayers, and ask God to give me the success that I desire in the fulfilment of my obligation. I am sending to your Reverence documents containing the many thanks that the holy apostolic see has given us; and I inform you that his Holiness in our Lord, Alexander VII, who is auspiciously governing this Church, is granting us veryloving favors; and I hope to receive even greater ones from his munificence. I shall give him an account of the extensive labors of your Reverence, and of the happiness that we may expect because an entrance has been made into the island Hermosa, whence the passage to China and to Japon will be facilitated. May God continually preserve and accompany your Reverence and all those my sons—to whom I say that the cause of the holy martyrs of Japon is proceeding felicitously;7and that I hope that the laurel of their martyrdom will be a motive to the others, so that, if it should prove necessary for the maintenance of our holy faith to suffer as martyrs they may do so with gladness. Roma, September 27, 1665.“Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, master of the order.”This is the letter written ex-officio by the general of the order to a poor missionary under him, giving place to this care before so many and imperative cares as claim his attention—so that one may see even in this life the honors that God has prepared for those who are employed in so apostolic an occupation.In the year 1667, on the day of the immaculate conception of our Lady, December 8, the most illustrious doctor Don Miguel de Poblete, archbishop of Manila, died in that city, to the universal sorrow of all these islands; for during the time of fourteen years while he had occupied the see, he acted as the loving father and pastor of his church. He was a very amiableman, pious, and possessed of great charity; for notwithstanding the poverty of this archbishopric, and its dependence upon the condition of a royal treasury that is so poor and has so many creditors, he gave liberal alms, which he took from the sustenance of his own person, his household, and his family. He was very anxious for the building of his cathedral, which he found completely ruined since the earthquakes. With grave importunity and the amount that his Majesty ordered to be paid to him, he left a church that was very sumptuous (as much so as these islands permit), almost finished. It has three naves, all of free stone and rubble-work masonry. It was finished a short time after his death; and its venerable dean and cabildo occupied it to the great consolation and credit of the city. On the day of his death occurred the ceremony of taking the oath of allegiance to the king our sovereign, Carlos Second;8and God made that occasion propitious for us, for with that his venerable body, embalmed, was exposed for three days, and the faithful had time to go with tearful piety to say farewell to their most loving shepherd, whose hands and feet they kissed until he was buried with due pomp. It was the common report, and an established fact, that he died a virgin, and beloved to the utmost degree9for his so beautiful virtue. This and his piety, not at all embarrassed by personal considerations,were sufficient to compose a palm10for him; and after it was placed it appeared very fitting. God will give his fame a special history, as ours cannot go into greater detail.In those two years God took from us valuable associates of long experience, who served this holy province much by their example and work for the welfare of the Indians. Father Fray Juan de Arjona, son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova, [was one]. He had been occupied with great earnestness in the ministries of Pangasinan and Ytui, and there he performed great deeds for the service of God, as those ministries were new. He died at an advanced age in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Father Fray Juan Pabon, native of Montaruches in Estremadura, son of the convent at Truxillo in the province of España, was most accomplished in the language of Nueva Segovia, and suffered great hardships in the conversion of the Indians of Irraya and in the administration of other villages. The love and respect of all who came in contact with him was very great; and the province entrusted to him many posts of honor, and grieved not a little at his death, for he was a model for ministers, and in every respect a pattern of his obligation.

CHAPTER XLIA new mission arrives in the province; and events of these times in Filipinas and China.

A new mission arrives in the province; and events of these times in Filipinas and China.

A new mission arrives in the province; and events of these times in Filipinas and China.

The bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco (who was not yet bishop-elect) went to España with the usual powers conferred by the province, following Don Fray Juan Lopez, bishop of Zibu and afterward archbishop of Manila, who had gone the preceding year with the same powers. But because of accidents, and since the province was so lacking in religious, a second procurator was despatched. That was an excellent measure, as the result showed; for the bishop of Zibu was embarrassed by his new promotion and by his despatches, so that he could not get the mission ready, although he had made a good start at it upon the arrival of Don Fray Juan de Polanco. The latter was very well received in the provinces of España, and all of them showed him great love and reverence because of the good impression that he gave by his virtues, which have without doubt the greatest attracting power for those spiritual soldiers. The commission is one of danger which only the loftiest object and obedience can make peaceful; for besides being the sample, as they say, of the cloth, such a person is not only looked at but spied upon by all; and it is necessary above all to bear God in mind and keep oneself acceptable to Him for so long and even almost desperate voyages, so that He may give health in so many hardships, climates, and paths of the earth, and [enable him to furnish] a good example for so many different kinds of persons with whom one must confer and voyage, in the midst of so many cares as he always has in his charge. The task ofmaking religious is that of the greatest difficulty; for so long as the men [sought] have the greatest abilities, their convents, who have reared them, feel it more, and say farewell to them to see them no more, where natural love does its duty and the devil is not careless—although, in fine, our holy provinces have always nourished this daughter of theirs in the belief that to give her a religious is to make God careful to send her many, and to preserve them with the wealth of their virtues. They send their sons to this honorable warfare, and the latter gain new blasons for them and get their first share of the spoils in the service of God and the welfare of souls. Therefore, the procurator who is securing men needs many lights of virtue, prudence, and affability, and great patience, for accidents that happen, and for the suitable choice of routes, and for guidance when they go astray; then the essential part of presenting the things in his care to the princes, and the latter’s councils and counselors to whose questions he must make answer with truth and candor. The fear of God is master in all; for, if he swerve from that line, he cannot make a good voyage. For the other despatches by tribunals and accountancies, he needs to attend upon them without being troublesome, and enduring delays, civilities, and courtesies; for they are ministers of the king and worthy of all esteem, and he must await his time amid the so many cares entrusted to them. Just at present we all enjoy the ministry of a perfect procurator of Filipinas in our venerable bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco, who must have been a model of procurators; for by his example and virtue alone, he found himself freed from all the difficulties that accompany that honorable office. Intheir very beginnings he found them solved and conquered; and he made the very judges of his causes, and even those who were opposed to him, his attorneys. This is not imagination but the pure truth; and there are many witnesses still living now in the holy city of Roma (where he went as definitor in 1668), and in the royal court of Madrid—where he was favored by princes, and esteemed and respected as an apostolic and holy man in their councils and tribunals; where he was listened to as a learned orator of this province; and where his causes were heard with the notable grace that God gave him wherever he went, and with the highest honor in both the said courts. The time will come for recounting his life and death, and then a longer account will be given of his virtues. Suffice it to say for the present that he collected two famous missions for this holy province, which he accompanied to Mexico (which is the rough place in the ascent of the hill), and returned for the third time [to España] for more soldiers—[whom he would have brought] had not the giant footsteps of envious death intercepted him in Sevilla. He entrusted the first mission to one of its religious, namely, father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz. They reached Manila safely in August, 1666, and their names in order of age are as follows: father Fray Juan de Velasco, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz el Real in Granada, and master of students, who was then in the convent of San Lucar; father Fray Joseph de Isussi, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos and fellow of [the convent of] San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Diego Nuñez, son of [the conventof] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Christoval de Montenegro, son of the convent and college of Nuestro Señora del Rosario in Almagro, fellow of Santo Thomas in Sevilla, and teacher of logic there; father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Sevilla, and lecturer in logic there, former fellow of Santo Thomas of Alcalà de Henares (this father remained in Mexico because of illness, and came the following year); father Fray Christoval Pedroche, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Juan Romero, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Juan de la Cueva, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz in Granada; father Fray Pedro de Alcalà, son of the same convent in Granada; father Fray Manuel de Mercadillo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Alonso Blasco, son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in Estremadura; father Fray Domingo Perez, son of the convent of Santa Maria de Trianos, fellow of Alcalà [de Henares]; father Fray Juan Peguero, son of the convent of Porta Cœli in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Ximenez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Joseph de Solis, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Francisco de Olmedo, son of the same convent in Palencia; father Fray Pedro Sanchez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Antonio de San Juan, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Agustin Garcia de Ortega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Pablo Marchan, son of the same convent of San Estevan; fatherFray Andres Gonzalez, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; father Fray Bernabe Rodriguez, son of the same convent in Valladolid; father Fray Francisco de Villalva, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos; father Fray Pedro de Alarcon, son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha; father Fray Antonio Rego, son of the convent of San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Andres Lopez, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Diego de Castro, son of the convent at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Joseph de San Jacinto, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Joseph de la Torre, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Rio Seco; father Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, son of the convent in Ocaña; father Fray Juan de Santa Maria, son of the convent of San Pedro in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Gonzalez, son of the convent of Aranda in Duero; father Fray Juan de Castellanos, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Logroño; father Fray Bernardo de Noriega, son of the convent of San Pablo in Palencia; Fray Antonio de la Purificacion, lay-brother, of the convent of Santa Cruz in Granada; Fray Joseph de la Villalva, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Juan Fernando, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos, who remained in our hospice of San Jacinto [in Mexico]; and Fray Sebastian del Rosario, lay-brother, son of the said convent of San Jacinto in Mexico. In all they number thirty-nine.5This fine mission came in the ship “La Concepcion,” that year of 1666. The same ship also broughttwo other missions, one of our father, St. Francis, and the other of the Society of Jesus; two religious of St. John of God, and secular priests; also captains, and very honorable persons—in charge of the commander Joseph de Zamora. The ship was unable to make the Embocadero because the vendavals which had set in prevented it. Therefore it was very fortunate in making the port of Palapa, which is located on the southern side.6They anchored there on the day of St. Lawrence, and it was considered a very special providence of God that they disembarked there on that land, for all arriving in great need and worn out after four months and more of continual navigation, they found, especially the religious, that they had arrived at the land so oft desired and the land of promise. They found in that village, which is in charge of the fathers of the Society, a father rector whose charity challenged the needs of all of them and was victorious. This was the ever venerable father Melchor de los Reyes, a native of Puerto Rico, who, although very poor in that ministry of his, yet settled the difficulty as a very rich man. He lodged eighty religious without even remotely expecting one. He received them all with the ringing of bells, with playing on wind instruments, and music. He supported them abundantly and daintily until boats were found to take them to Manila (which could not be done in a few days). He also succored the ship with rice and other supplies, and with dainties, according to their persons. Ours were the best served, for boats were not found; and although it was thought that the ship could soon proceedupon its voyage, the bad weather was so obstinate that it was unable to sail until March of the following year. Therefore they remained in that holy house with the same satisfaction that they could have had in the most wealthy convent of our order. Sufficiently accommodated in those lodgings, they all said mass; and then those who wished had their breakfast. All the food was supplied abundantly, with the utmost cleanliness and punctuality. They were sheltered in the choir and galleries with great quiet. A pleasant and crystal river flowed near the college, for recreation and bathing. There were books in great abundance, according to the taste of each one. Above all was the affability of the holy religious, and of the others who attended to those residences belonging to their ministry. Truly there are no words to imagine the consolation that the Lord gave there to our tired religious, or the obligation under which all this province remained at so generous charity. The religious who served as superior of Ours, seeing the length of time that they were staying there, and the so excessive expense that was being incurred, although fearful of a bad outcome, finally, to satisfy his ill-founded fear, took one hundred pesos from the scanty hoard of the mission, and resolved to give them to the father rector. They were not sufficient even to cover the cost of the rice, but in the end would be some aid in meeting the expenses. He followed the rector alone into his apartment, and, changing color, after some arguments which he endeavored to offer he concluded by asking pardon, and asked him to please take that trifle to pay at least the porters and cooks, since our mission was detained so long there. The father rector assumed a serious countenance then,and in brief, sorrowfully proceeded to give the father a severe reproof, by telling him that nothing worthy of payment had been done there; that the father vice-provincial had ordered him to attend to that obligation; that the fathers of his residences had brought the supplies, each in accordance with his several ability; that, thanks to God, nothing was owed to the Indians; that God was giving for everything; and that he rather was the gainer, for, without knowing how, he found his pantries full; that during those days two dugongs had been caught (a thing which had not been seen before since he had been there, for never had those fish been seen there, for it was by a great miracle). Thus did he minimize all that he had done; but our religious, still insisting and placing the hundred pesos on the table, witnessed that the venerable father fell on his knees, and clasping his hands, with tears in his eyes, said to him: “No, no, father, you must not leave that money here for me. I beg that of you in the name of the most holy Virgin. She will not permit your Reverence to give me such affront, at least for the good-will with which I have served you.” Thereupon, the religious begged pardon, and kept his money without knowing how to pay that debt, unless it be paid in the divine treasuries of God, for whom it was all done. Our religious went out in seven bands, and for each band the rector solicited a boat, a good pilot, and a store of supplies for some days. All came [to Manila] singing the praises of so religious an Alexander, who was finally reared in so holy a school as that of the Society of Jesus—where, although one is taught all kinds of knowledge so completely, we can say that charity is that which is not taught, because it is inspired. Godwill now have paid that pious father, for already has He taken him to himself. The religious consumed two more months in going from Palapa to Manila because of the bad weather. However, they passed almost always through ministries belonging to our father St. Francis, where they found themselves detained and hindered more by the great love with which they were welcomed, and the regret with which they were allowed to depart, than by the roads and the difficulties of travel. They arrived at the desired place at last and were received by the father provincial, then the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, with that paternal love which his natural affability and his obligation dictated to him. When he saw that they were rested, he began to assign them occupations.On September 27 of the former year 1665, our most reverend father-general, Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, wrote a loving and thoughtful letter from Roma to the venerable father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales. That letter reached the province in 1667, and, although the father was dead, it will be proper that so precious a thing—to the credit of the paternal providence of its author, and of the reputation that this noble although so retired a member had gained with the supreme head of the order—shall not perish or be lost; and it is also to the credit of this holy province, for they so hold his name in memory as to honor it through its sons, our supreme heads. The letter reads as follows: “Reverend father in Christ: Health, and grace from the Holy Ghost. The news that I have received from the father provincial of that our province of the Filipinas is a great consolation to me. He gives me news of your Reverence’shealth, and of the perseverance with which you are aiding in those conversions without any relaxation to your labors in your so advanced age. I thank the Lord therefor, from whom comes all good; and applying to your Reverence the sufferings of all the order, and giving you the benediction of our glorious St. Dominic, I thank you again and again for having served in our ministry for the conversion of souls, which is the object of our institute, and which your Reverence and your companions are, with the divine grace, accomplishing. Forty-two religious sailed in the mission which left Cadiz on July 5 of this year, for which the father lecturer, Fray Juan Polanco, procurator of the province, worked zealously and diligently. The consolation that I have had in the selection of those missionaries will increase if your Reverence will take them under your teaching, and encourage and exhort them so that, as sons of so good a father, they may give bread to those who, desirous of spiritual sustenance, beg it. May God please that it be so, for such is my desire. In regard to the labors of government, it will relieve us to receive letters from your Reverence, and to have news of the progress of so loving sons as it has been God’s pleasure to give me. I have sent breviaries and a formulary of devotion to the twelve associates of your Reverence, which is as a token of my love, so that you may be mindful of me in your prayers, and ask God to give me the success that I desire in the fulfilment of my obligation. I am sending to your Reverence documents containing the many thanks that the holy apostolic see has given us; and I inform you that his Holiness in our Lord, Alexander VII, who is auspiciously governing this Church, is granting us veryloving favors; and I hope to receive even greater ones from his munificence. I shall give him an account of the extensive labors of your Reverence, and of the happiness that we may expect because an entrance has been made into the island Hermosa, whence the passage to China and to Japon will be facilitated. May God continually preserve and accompany your Reverence and all those my sons—to whom I say that the cause of the holy martyrs of Japon is proceeding felicitously;7and that I hope that the laurel of their martyrdom will be a motive to the others, so that, if it should prove necessary for the maintenance of our holy faith to suffer as martyrs they may do so with gladness. Roma, September 27, 1665.“Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, master of the order.”This is the letter written ex-officio by the general of the order to a poor missionary under him, giving place to this care before so many and imperative cares as claim his attention—so that one may see even in this life the honors that God has prepared for those who are employed in so apostolic an occupation.In the year 1667, on the day of the immaculate conception of our Lady, December 8, the most illustrious doctor Don Miguel de Poblete, archbishop of Manila, died in that city, to the universal sorrow of all these islands; for during the time of fourteen years while he had occupied the see, he acted as the loving father and pastor of his church. He was a very amiableman, pious, and possessed of great charity; for notwithstanding the poverty of this archbishopric, and its dependence upon the condition of a royal treasury that is so poor and has so many creditors, he gave liberal alms, which he took from the sustenance of his own person, his household, and his family. He was very anxious for the building of his cathedral, which he found completely ruined since the earthquakes. With grave importunity and the amount that his Majesty ordered to be paid to him, he left a church that was very sumptuous (as much so as these islands permit), almost finished. It has three naves, all of free stone and rubble-work masonry. It was finished a short time after his death; and its venerable dean and cabildo occupied it to the great consolation and credit of the city. On the day of his death occurred the ceremony of taking the oath of allegiance to the king our sovereign, Carlos Second;8and God made that occasion propitious for us, for with that his venerable body, embalmed, was exposed for three days, and the faithful had time to go with tearful piety to say farewell to their most loving shepherd, whose hands and feet they kissed until he was buried with due pomp. It was the common report, and an established fact, that he died a virgin, and beloved to the utmost degree9for his so beautiful virtue. This and his piety, not at all embarrassed by personal considerations,were sufficient to compose a palm10for him; and after it was placed it appeared very fitting. God will give his fame a special history, as ours cannot go into greater detail.In those two years God took from us valuable associates of long experience, who served this holy province much by their example and work for the welfare of the Indians. Father Fray Juan de Arjona, son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova, [was one]. He had been occupied with great earnestness in the ministries of Pangasinan and Ytui, and there he performed great deeds for the service of God, as those ministries were new. He died at an advanced age in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Father Fray Juan Pabon, native of Montaruches in Estremadura, son of the convent at Truxillo in the province of España, was most accomplished in the language of Nueva Segovia, and suffered great hardships in the conversion of the Indians of Irraya and in the administration of other villages. The love and respect of all who came in contact with him was very great; and the province entrusted to him many posts of honor, and grieved not a little at his death, for he was a model for ministers, and in every respect a pattern of his obligation.

The bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco (who was not yet bishop-elect) went to España with the usual powers conferred by the province, following Don Fray Juan Lopez, bishop of Zibu and afterward archbishop of Manila, who had gone the preceding year with the same powers. But because of accidents, and since the province was so lacking in religious, a second procurator was despatched. That was an excellent measure, as the result showed; for the bishop of Zibu was embarrassed by his new promotion and by his despatches, so that he could not get the mission ready, although he had made a good start at it upon the arrival of Don Fray Juan de Polanco. The latter was very well received in the provinces of España, and all of them showed him great love and reverence because of the good impression that he gave by his virtues, which have without doubt the greatest attracting power for those spiritual soldiers. The commission is one of danger which only the loftiest object and obedience can make peaceful; for besides being the sample, as they say, of the cloth, such a person is not only looked at but spied upon by all; and it is necessary above all to bear God in mind and keep oneself acceptable to Him for so long and even almost desperate voyages, so that He may give health in so many hardships, climates, and paths of the earth, and [enable him to furnish] a good example for so many different kinds of persons with whom one must confer and voyage, in the midst of so many cares as he always has in his charge. The task ofmaking religious is that of the greatest difficulty; for so long as the men [sought] have the greatest abilities, their convents, who have reared them, feel it more, and say farewell to them to see them no more, where natural love does its duty and the devil is not careless—although, in fine, our holy provinces have always nourished this daughter of theirs in the belief that to give her a religious is to make God careful to send her many, and to preserve them with the wealth of their virtues. They send their sons to this honorable warfare, and the latter gain new blasons for them and get their first share of the spoils in the service of God and the welfare of souls. Therefore, the procurator who is securing men needs many lights of virtue, prudence, and affability, and great patience, for accidents that happen, and for the suitable choice of routes, and for guidance when they go astray; then the essential part of presenting the things in his care to the princes, and the latter’s councils and counselors to whose questions he must make answer with truth and candor. The fear of God is master in all; for, if he swerve from that line, he cannot make a good voyage. For the other despatches by tribunals and accountancies, he needs to attend upon them without being troublesome, and enduring delays, civilities, and courtesies; for they are ministers of the king and worthy of all esteem, and he must await his time amid the so many cares entrusted to them. Just at present we all enjoy the ministry of a perfect procurator of Filipinas in our venerable bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco, who must have been a model of procurators; for by his example and virtue alone, he found himself freed from all the difficulties that accompany that honorable office. Intheir very beginnings he found them solved and conquered; and he made the very judges of his causes, and even those who were opposed to him, his attorneys. This is not imagination but the pure truth; and there are many witnesses still living now in the holy city of Roma (where he went as definitor in 1668), and in the royal court of Madrid—where he was favored by princes, and esteemed and respected as an apostolic and holy man in their councils and tribunals; where he was listened to as a learned orator of this province; and where his causes were heard with the notable grace that God gave him wherever he went, and with the highest honor in both the said courts. The time will come for recounting his life and death, and then a longer account will be given of his virtues. Suffice it to say for the present that he collected two famous missions for this holy province, which he accompanied to Mexico (which is the rough place in the ascent of the hill), and returned for the third time [to España] for more soldiers—[whom he would have brought] had not the giant footsteps of envious death intercepted him in Sevilla. He entrusted the first mission to one of its religious, namely, father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz. They reached Manila safely in August, 1666, and their names in order of age are as follows: father Fray Juan de Velasco, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz el Real in Granada, and master of students, who was then in the convent of San Lucar; father Fray Joseph de Isussi, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos and fellow of [the convent of] San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Diego Nuñez, son of [the conventof] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Christoval de Montenegro, son of the convent and college of Nuestro Señora del Rosario in Almagro, fellow of Santo Thomas in Sevilla, and teacher of logic there; father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Sevilla, and lecturer in logic there, former fellow of Santo Thomas of Alcalà de Henares (this father remained in Mexico because of illness, and came the following year); father Fray Christoval Pedroche, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Juan Romero, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Juan de la Cueva, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz in Granada; father Fray Pedro de Alcalà, son of the same convent in Granada; father Fray Manuel de Mercadillo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Alonso Blasco, son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in Estremadura; father Fray Domingo Perez, son of the convent of Santa Maria de Trianos, fellow of Alcalà [de Henares]; father Fray Juan Peguero, son of the convent of Porta Cœli in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Ximenez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Joseph de Solis, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Francisco de Olmedo, son of the same convent in Palencia; father Fray Pedro Sanchez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Antonio de San Juan, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Agustin Garcia de Ortega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Pablo Marchan, son of the same convent of San Estevan; fatherFray Andres Gonzalez, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; father Fray Bernabe Rodriguez, son of the same convent in Valladolid; father Fray Francisco de Villalva, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos; father Fray Pedro de Alarcon, son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha; father Fray Antonio Rego, son of the convent of San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Andres Lopez, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Diego de Castro, son of the convent at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Joseph de San Jacinto, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Joseph de la Torre, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Rio Seco; father Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, son of the convent in Ocaña; father Fray Juan de Santa Maria, son of the convent of San Pedro in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Gonzalez, son of the convent of Aranda in Duero; father Fray Juan de Castellanos, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Logroño; father Fray Bernardo de Noriega, son of the convent of San Pablo in Palencia; Fray Antonio de la Purificacion, lay-brother, of the convent of Santa Cruz in Granada; Fray Joseph de la Villalva, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Juan Fernando, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos, who remained in our hospice of San Jacinto [in Mexico]; and Fray Sebastian del Rosario, lay-brother, son of the said convent of San Jacinto in Mexico. In all they number thirty-nine.5

This fine mission came in the ship “La Concepcion,” that year of 1666. The same ship also broughttwo other missions, one of our father, St. Francis, and the other of the Society of Jesus; two religious of St. John of God, and secular priests; also captains, and very honorable persons—in charge of the commander Joseph de Zamora. The ship was unable to make the Embocadero because the vendavals which had set in prevented it. Therefore it was very fortunate in making the port of Palapa, which is located on the southern side.6They anchored there on the day of St. Lawrence, and it was considered a very special providence of God that they disembarked there on that land, for all arriving in great need and worn out after four months and more of continual navigation, they found, especially the religious, that they had arrived at the land so oft desired and the land of promise. They found in that village, which is in charge of the fathers of the Society, a father rector whose charity challenged the needs of all of them and was victorious. This was the ever venerable father Melchor de los Reyes, a native of Puerto Rico, who, although very poor in that ministry of his, yet settled the difficulty as a very rich man. He lodged eighty religious without even remotely expecting one. He received them all with the ringing of bells, with playing on wind instruments, and music. He supported them abundantly and daintily until boats were found to take them to Manila (which could not be done in a few days). He also succored the ship with rice and other supplies, and with dainties, according to their persons. Ours were the best served, for boats were not found; and although it was thought that the ship could soon proceedupon its voyage, the bad weather was so obstinate that it was unable to sail until March of the following year. Therefore they remained in that holy house with the same satisfaction that they could have had in the most wealthy convent of our order. Sufficiently accommodated in those lodgings, they all said mass; and then those who wished had their breakfast. All the food was supplied abundantly, with the utmost cleanliness and punctuality. They were sheltered in the choir and galleries with great quiet. A pleasant and crystal river flowed near the college, for recreation and bathing. There were books in great abundance, according to the taste of each one. Above all was the affability of the holy religious, and of the others who attended to those residences belonging to their ministry. Truly there are no words to imagine the consolation that the Lord gave there to our tired religious, or the obligation under which all this province remained at so generous charity. The religious who served as superior of Ours, seeing the length of time that they were staying there, and the so excessive expense that was being incurred, although fearful of a bad outcome, finally, to satisfy his ill-founded fear, took one hundred pesos from the scanty hoard of the mission, and resolved to give them to the father rector. They were not sufficient even to cover the cost of the rice, but in the end would be some aid in meeting the expenses. He followed the rector alone into his apartment, and, changing color, after some arguments which he endeavored to offer he concluded by asking pardon, and asked him to please take that trifle to pay at least the porters and cooks, since our mission was detained so long there. The father rector assumed a serious countenance then,and in brief, sorrowfully proceeded to give the father a severe reproof, by telling him that nothing worthy of payment had been done there; that the father vice-provincial had ordered him to attend to that obligation; that the fathers of his residences had brought the supplies, each in accordance with his several ability; that, thanks to God, nothing was owed to the Indians; that God was giving for everything; and that he rather was the gainer, for, without knowing how, he found his pantries full; that during those days two dugongs had been caught (a thing which had not been seen before since he had been there, for never had those fish been seen there, for it was by a great miracle). Thus did he minimize all that he had done; but our religious, still insisting and placing the hundred pesos on the table, witnessed that the venerable father fell on his knees, and clasping his hands, with tears in his eyes, said to him: “No, no, father, you must not leave that money here for me. I beg that of you in the name of the most holy Virgin. She will not permit your Reverence to give me such affront, at least for the good-will with which I have served you.” Thereupon, the religious begged pardon, and kept his money without knowing how to pay that debt, unless it be paid in the divine treasuries of God, for whom it was all done. Our religious went out in seven bands, and for each band the rector solicited a boat, a good pilot, and a store of supplies for some days. All came [to Manila] singing the praises of so religious an Alexander, who was finally reared in so holy a school as that of the Society of Jesus—where, although one is taught all kinds of knowledge so completely, we can say that charity is that which is not taught, because it is inspired. Godwill now have paid that pious father, for already has He taken him to himself. The religious consumed two more months in going from Palapa to Manila because of the bad weather. However, they passed almost always through ministries belonging to our father St. Francis, where they found themselves detained and hindered more by the great love with which they were welcomed, and the regret with which they were allowed to depart, than by the roads and the difficulties of travel. They arrived at the desired place at last and were received by the father provincial, then the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles, with that paternal love which his natural affability and his obligation dictated to him. When he saw that they were rested, he began to assign them occupations.

On September 27 of the former year 1665, our most reverend father-general, Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, wrote a loving and thoughtful letter from Roma to the venerable father Fray Juan Bautista de Morales. That letter reached the province in 1667, and, although the father was dead, it will be proper that so precious a thing—to the credit of the paternal providence of its author, and of the reputation that this noble although so retired a member had gained with the supreme head of the order—shall not perish or be lost; and it is also to the credit of this holy province, for they so hold his name in memory as to honor it through its sons, our supreme heads. The letter reads as follows: “Reverend father in Christ: Health, and grace from the Holy Ghost. The news that I have received from the father provincial of that our province of the Filipinas is a great consolation to me. He gives me news of your Reverence’shealth, and of the perseverance with which you are aiding in those conversions without any relaxation to your labors in your so advanced age. I thank the Lord therefor, from whom comes all good; and applying to your Reverence the sufferings of all the order, and giving you the benediction of our glorious St. Dominic, I thank you again and again for having served in our ministry for the conversion of souls, which is the object of our institute, and which your Reverence and your companions are, with the divine grace, accomplishing. Forty-two religious sailed in the mission which left Cadiz on July 5 of this year, for which the father lecturer, Fray Juan Polanco, procurator of the province, worked zealously and diligently. The consolation that I have had in the selection of those missionaries will increase if your Reverence will take them under your teaching, and encourage and exhort them so that, as sons of so good a father, they may give bread to those who, desirous of spiritual sustenance, beg it. May God please that it be so, for such is my desire. In regard to the labors of government, it will relieve us to receive letters from your Reverence, and to have news of the progress of so loving sons as it has been God’s pleasure to give me. I have sent breviaries and a formulary of devotion to the twelve associates of your Reverence, which is as a token of my love, so that you may be mindful of me in your prayers, and ask God to give me the success that I desire in the fulfilment of my obligation. I am sending to your Reverence documents containing the many thanks that the holy apostolic see has given us; and I inform you that his Holiness in our Lord, Alexander VII, who is auspiciously governing this Church, is granting us veryloving favors; and I hope to receive even greater ones from his munificence. I shall give him an account of the extensive labors of your Reverence, and of the happiness that we may expect because an entrance has been made into the island Hermosa, whence the passage to China and to Japon will be facilitated. May God continually preserve and accompany your Reverence and all those my sons—to whom I say that the cause of the holy martyrs of Japon is proceeding felicitously;7and that I hope that the laurel of their martyrdom will be a motive to the others, so that, if it should prove necessary for the maintenance of our holy faith to suffer as martyrs they may do so with gladness. Roma, September 27, 1665.

“Fray Juan Bautista de Marinis, master of the order.”

This is the letter written ex-officio by the general of the order to a poor missionary under him, giving place to this care before so many and imperative cares as claim his attention—so that one may see even in this life the honors that God has prepared for those who are employed in so apostolic an occupation.

In the year 1667, on the day of the immaculate conception of our Lady, December 8, the most illustrious doctor Don Miguel de Poblete, archbishop of Manila, died in that city, to the universal sorrow of all these islands; for during the time of fourteen years while he had occupied the see, he acted as the loving father and pastor of his church. He was a very amiableman, pious, and possessed of great charity; for notwithstanding the poverty of this archbishopric, and its dependence upon the condition of a royal treasury that is so poor and has so many creditors, he gave liberal alms, which he took from the sustenance of his own person, his household, and his family. He was very anxious for the building of his cathedral, which he found completely ruined since the earthquakes. With grave importunity and the amount that his Majesty ordered to be paid to him, he left a church that was very sumptuous (as much so as these islands permit), almost finished. It has three naves, all of free stone and rubble-work masonry. It was finished a short time after his death; and its venerable dean and cabildo occupied it to the great consolation and credit of the city. On the day of his death occurred the ceremony of taking the oath of allegiance to the king our sovereign, Carlos Second;8and God made that occasion propitious for us, for with that his venerable body, embalmed, was exposed for three days, and the faithful had time to go with tearful piety to say farewell to their most loving shepherd, whose hands and feet they kissed until he was buried with due pomp. It was the common report, and an established fact, that he died a virgin, and beloved to the utmost degree9for his so beautiful virtue. This and his piety, not at all embarrassed by personal considerations,were sufficient to compose a palm10for him; and after it was placed it appeared very fitting. God will give his fame a special history, as ours cannot go into greater detail.

In those two years God took from us valuable associates of long experience, who served this holy province much by their example and work for the welfare of the Indians. Father Fray Juan de Arjona, son of the convent of San Pablo el Real in Cordova, [was one]. He had been occupied with great earnestness in the ministries of Pangasinan and Ytui, and there he performed great deeds for the service of God, as those ministries were new. He died at an advanced age in the convent of Santo Domingo in Manila. Father Fray Juan Pabon, native of Montaruches in Estremadura, son of the convent at Truxillo in the province of España, was most accomplished in the language of Nueva Segovia, and suffered great hardships in the conversion of the Indians of Irraya and in the administration of other villages. The love and respect of all who came in contact with him was very great; and the province entrusted to him many posts of honor, and grieved not a little at his death, for he was a model for ministers, and in every respect a pattern of his obligation.

CHAPTER XLIIOf the intermediary junta of the year sixty-seven; and of other news of this period of our history.On April thirty of the year 1667 was held and celebrated the intermediary junta [in the term] of the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles, in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila—and with new vigor because of the fervor imparted to the province by the fresh nourishment received from its late reënforcement. They proceeded to arrange the ministries, and one more which it seemed advisable to separate, namely, San Miguel at Orion, in the district of Bataan. After knowing the new soldiers for a year, the old and new stones were assigned to their places in order to render this spiritual edifice firm and beautiful. The new rules made were but few, but they were very carefully thought out. The first was that no inferior or subordinate official of the order should visit or write to the alcaldes and superiors of the provinces, and least of all to the governor, without first making known his intention and explaining it to the father provincial—or, in his absence, to the vicars-provincial—respectively. That was and ought to be a necessary measure; and the attempt to carry out the decisions that each minister reaches in his seclusion may be the cause of greater troubles. We must not make a passion of our zeal for defending the Indians, for that is a virtue that essentially demands to be moderated by prudence. An angry letter, or (what is worse) a visit, founded perhaps on a misrepresentation, generally disquiets a superior. He, in his own opinion offended, is vexed; and the Indians themselves, and the rest of the religious,are wont to pay doubly [for the intrusion]. Consequently, it is proper that such matters be managed with much caution and in accordance with obedience, and in the council [of the order], keeping in view the object, which must be the first aim of every good intention. Everyone does what he is able in his ministry and profession, and the apostle says that we should give offense to no one. The heads of the province, being in an exalted position, discover many things and efficient remedies for all troubles; and hence it is necessary to place such affairs in their hands. For the same reason and one greater, that junta repeats the order that no one should preach against the government and the persons busied in it without consulting with the same superiors. For that means consultation with God, because words are very important in that most lofty and consecrated place—where by favor of the sovereign principles of a wisdom whose master is the fear of God, and general doctrines, one may say whatever there is to say. Our father San Vicente Ferrer did not preach more than the judgment, but he reformed the world, kings, and chiefs. And only a St. John the Baptist, who by credit of his virtue pointed out with his finger a divine Person, could point out from the pulpit a person so wicked and scandalous as a Herod; for the latter was, in fine, king, and his dignity protected him. God placed our superiors in their positions (and kings rule through God) and gave that honor to their councils and magistracies; and consequently it is proper for ministers to honor them without flattery (which is another and worse extreme) without curing them with salt, and with respect where the community does not feel it—so that by preaching to thepeople at large, they will know where their pain is. We have already touched on this point in another place; but, since our province repeats it so often in its ordinances, the historian is also permitted to repeat it, since it is advice so important. A petition was addressed to our most reverend father not to allow dispensations to be introduced into our provinces, nor anything that savored of [differences between] individuals or degrees. For since it had seemed to his paternal piety that the procurators-general who went from this province to those of Europa had immense work therein, he planned to grant to them officially some sort of reward, by conferring on them the rank of the more recent fathers of the province. Receiving this favor with submission and gratitude, they nevertheless protested in this junta against it. At the same time Don Fray Juan de Polanco made a humble resistance in Roma, as he knew that the order had already been sent. But he obtained that new favor from our most reverend father; and, before our petition arrived, the said grace was revoked.In the following year of 1668 two relief ships reached these islands, which came from Nueva España. In one of them came father Fray Antonio Calderon, who had obtained permission to return to España the preceding year, because of illness. But later, as he regained strength in Nueva España, and as he knew the lack that one religious makes here, and the need of the province, he was filled with no small doubt, seeing that this was coming to be a second vocation. Therefore, he determined to return, and did so; and entered the province for the second time with great courage and went to his ministries in Nueva Segovia, where he is and was an excellentlinguist. The devil is very subtile, and, because he sees the evil that is caused him by this province, he causes sickness, and makes sufferings greater than what they are in themselves. Since also the magnanimous nature of man falls short, and he takes it ill to see himself set in a land like this—as shut out from intercourse and repose as contrary to the liberty of our España—with the little attention given to him, he imagines insuperable hardships in the rules, aggravates his sickness in so great retirement; and by a door that is lawful, he disturbs the common cause and even endangers that of the individual. The said father now found himself strong, and consequently chose to return, to exercise his strength in this his province. In the other ship came father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, who had, as we have remarked above, remained in Mexico sick, and was now coming very strong and well—to a place where the only consolations and pleasures that went out to meet him were a peril and sudden catastrophe, which would have been the last had not God aided him almost miraculously. Because of the difficulty that the ship had in entering the strait or Embocadero of San Bernardino—and those difficulties are very great and usual in those seas in that season—the father took a small boat called a caracoa; and, embarking in it with a father visitor-commissary of our father St. Francis, who was coming as visitor, and another, his associate, with rowers and other Spanish passengers, they tried to cross the strait, in order to continue their course to Manila more quickly than they could by the ship, if they waited for it. Those boats are not only swift but weak, and, in order to give them greater safety, some long timbers are crossed at intervals over the sides;at the ends of these they suitably place some bamboo sails calledcates, so that, by thus making the vessel wider, they may better resist the waves and sustain them. They were beginning their crossing, which is a distance of about six leguas, and in the very middle of it so strong a gust of wind struck them, as well as so opposing currents—which, in those regions, are such that they will turn a ship of high free-board clear around, with or without favorable winds, moving it from side to side and disarranging the [trim of the] sails, with the accompanying horror that only sailors can imagine—that that boat (for it was not even a patache, but a very weak vessel) capsized, because of the currents and the violent wind that they encountered in the midst of the open expanse, after a few contrary blasts, and filled with water. It was the Lord’s will that the buffeting of the sea should soon strip it of weight, carrying away whatever it contained. Thereupon the men in it remained astride of the said timbers andcates, and many of them were up to their breasts in water, rigging it. In such wise they allowed themselves to drift along with the said current, wherever it chose to take them, sustained only on those timbers poorly fastened together with rattan. Night came; day followed; and in all that time they were unable to make the land—on the contrary, the currents carried them away from it. When they got out of one current they were seized by one opposed to it, so that they were continually going, round and round in those waters. Father Fray Arcadio, who was still convalescent, suffered the most; and doubtless would soon have given up, had it not been for the said father commissary. A bamboo enclosure was made as well as possible on those timbersand there the father found some retreat from the water, mainly in the arms of the said father commissary. The latter’s name was Fray Antonio Godinez, son of the religious province of San Diego in Mexico. With the same suffering did they pass the following night—without water to drink in the midst of so much water, nor more food than a few grains of rice, which the wrath of so rigorous a fortune that assailed those miserable beings had forgotten. At last, on the third day, the Lord, as a Father of mercy, listened to them and they reached the land; where, more beaten by the waves of the sea than assisted by what the rowers could do, they reached the sacred sand in a stripped condition. Three men were drowned, who tried to quit the boat too soon, and the sea made them pay for their ingratitude with their lives; for their weakness had already forbidden them [from reaching land]. It is always a rule of sailors that only wood can swim on such occasions. All is as God ordains; but already deposit was made of life, and a good account, by means of his Majesty, must be given. Our religious landed, or rather those who shared his fortunes drew him ashore half dead. But the land performed its miracles, and they hastened to the first village, where they all recovered and were despatched to Manila. The pious commissary lost there all the papers of his commission, so that, when he reached the province, great difficulties were raised, and he returned without making his visit. Father Fray Arcadio reached this our province, where he was gladly received, and the prelate assigned him to the study of the Chinese language, in which he took the courses that will be related at the end of this chapter.[The provincial receives a letter dated Roma, February19, 1668, from the father-general of the order, Juan Bautista de Marinis, in which concessions to the order by Pope Clement IX are related. The beatified Luis Beltran and Mother Rosa de Santa Maria have been canonized; universal prayerad libitumto San Vicente Ferrer has been conceded; and other concessions of general importance to the order are granted. August 1, 1673, four religious embark for the Chinese missions—namely, Arcadio del Rosario, Pedro de Alcala, Pedro de Alarcon, and Alonso de Cordova. The rough weather experienced causes the superstitious Chinese crew to imagine that it is caused by the fathers; but after many hardships China is finally reached in twenty-four days. After various adventures they return to Manila, May 4, 1674. Two Dominican religious, namely, Arcadio del Rosario and Francisco Lujan, and two Franciscans, namely, Miguel Flores and Pedro de Piñuelo, sail for China on Corpus Christi day, 1676.]At the same time, religious are being occupied in two glorious missions in this same island of Manila. One near the city, to the north, is to the Zambals, whom we have not yet been able to subdue. Now two of our religious are there, and are bringing in those of the mountains to form villages. They possess churches and many of the people are converted. The religious write that they have been received very well, and it is hoped that this will be a grand work for the service of God and for these islands, for those people are very courageous and bloodthirsty, and have always done great harm to those who go to other provinces and to the villages near them; and, if the faith of Christ once subjects them, great advantages present themselves for all. The other mission is located in the same region, in the province of Nueva Segovia,in the district of the mountains called Irraya, of which this history has already given repeated notices. Most of those people are heathen, although there are many Christians among them who have fled from our villages. They have been subdued at times, but their misfortune has immediately roused them to rebellion. Now we are considering how to attract them by love, and with security; and our religious are moving alone in this matter, with none of the horrors that soldiers bring. Consequently, we trust that they too will be subdued. Such is our special vocation in this holy province, where we profess especially to fight the wars of God. And thus as the good soldier loses spirit when peace is declared, and is inspirited at the rumor of a battle, It is an evident fact that these spiritual soldiers are aroused to unusual ardor when the arms of the missions are in use, just as the silence of these voices depresses them. And, if their sufferings and efforts reached at least half as far as do their desires, there would be no province in Asia now which had not yielded to God and to His holy faith in accordance with the honorable designs with which the beautiful sky of these islands inspires them.This news has been anticipated, because it is so recent; but the history only relates matters to 1669, so that the third part11will begin with the provincial chapter celebrated on May 11 of the said year, when the reverend father Fray Juan Camacho was elected provincial.[The chapter ends with the recital of certain benefits that have been received by the order at large, in canonizations, beatifications, etc.]Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’s Orbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini (Paris, 1639)Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’sOrbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini(Paris, 1639)[From copy in Library of Congress]

CHAPTER XLIIOf the intermediary junta of the year sixty-seven; and of other news of this period of our history.

Of the intermediary junta of the year sixty-seven; and of other news of this period of our history.

Of the intermediary junta of the year sixty-seven; and of other news of this period of our history.

On April thirty of the year 1667 was held and celebrated the intermediary junta [in the term] of the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles, in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila—and with new vigor because of the fervor imparted to the province by the fresh nourishment received from its late reënforcement. They proceeded to arrange the ministries, and one more which it seemed advisable to separate, namely, San Miguel at Orion, in the district of Bataan. After knowing the new soldiers for a year, the old and new stones were assigned to their places in order to render this spiritual edifice firm and beautiful. The new rules made were but few, but they were very carefully thought out. The first was that no inferior or subordinate official of the order should visit or write to the alcaldes and superiors of the provinces, and least of all to the governor, without first making known his intention and explaining it to the father provincial—or, in his absence, to the vicars-provincial—respectively. That was and ought to be a necessary measure; and the attempt to carry out the decisions that each minister reaches in his seclusion may be the cause of greater troubles. We must not make a passion of our zeal for defending the Indians, for that is a virtue that essentially demands to be moderated by prudence. An angry letter, or (what is worse) a visit, founded perhaps on a misrepresentation, generally disquiets a superior. He, in his own opinion offended, is vexed; and the Indians themselves, and the rest of the religious,are wont to pay doubly [for the intrusion]. Consequently, it is proper that such matters be managed with much caution and in accordance with obedience, and in the council [of the order], keeping in view the object, which must be the first aim of every good intention. Everyone does what he is able in his ministry and profession, and the apostle says that we should give offense to no one. The heads of the province, being in an exalted position, discover many things and efficient remedies for all troubles; and hence it is necessary to place such affairs in their hands. For the same reason and one greater, that junta repeats the order that no one should preach against the government and the persons busied in it without consulting with the same superiors. For that means consultation with God, because words are very important in that most lofty and consecrated place—where by favor of the sovereign principles of a wisdom whose master is the fear of God, and general doctrines, one may say whatever there is to say. Our father San Vicente Ferrer did not preach more than the judgment, but he reformed the world, kings, and chiefs. And only a St. John the Baptist, who by credit of his virtue pointed out with his finger a divine Person, could point out from the pulpit a person so wicked and scandalous as a Herod; for the latter was, in fine, king, and his dignity protected him. God placed our superiors in their positions (and kings rule through God) and gave that honor to their councils and magistracies; and consequently it is proper for ministers to honor them without flattery (which is another and worse extreme) without curing them with salt, and with respect where the community does not feel it—so that by preaching to thepeople at large, they will know where their pain is. We have already touched on this point in another place; but, since our province repeats it so often in its ordinances, the historian is also permitted to repeat it, since it is advice so important. A petition was addressed to our most reverend father not to allow dispensations to be introduced into our provinces, nor anything that savored of [differences between] individuals or degrees. For since it had seemed to his paternal piety that the procurators-general who went from this province to those of Europa had immense work therein, he planned to grant to them officially some sort of reward, by conferring on them the rank of the more recent fathers of the province. Receiving this favor with submission and gratitude, they nevertheless protested in this junta against it. At the same time Don Fray Juan de Polanco made a humble resistance in Roma, as he knew that the order had already been sent. But he obtained that new favor from our most reverend father; and, before our petition arrived, the said grace was revoked.In the following year of 1668 two relief ships reached these islands, which came from Nueva España. In one of them came father Fray Antonio Calderon, who had obtained permission to return to España the preceding year, because of illness. But later, as he regained strength in Nueva España, and as he knew the lack that one religious makes here, and the need of the province, he was filled with no small doubt, seeing that this was coming to be a second vocation. Therefore, he determined to return, and did so; and entered the province for the second time with great courage and went to his ministries in Nueva Segovia, where he is and was an excellentlinguist. The devil is very subtile, and, because he sees the evil that is caused him by this province, he causes sickness, and makes sufferings greater than what they are in themselves. Since also the magnanimous nature of man falls short, and he takes it ill to see himself set in a land like this—as shut out from intercourse and repose as contrary to the liberty of our España—with the little attention given to him, he imagines insuperable hardships in the rules, aggravates his sickness in so great retirement; and by a door that is lawful, he disturbs the common cause and even endangers that of the individual. The said father now found himself strong, and consequently chose to return, to exercise his strength in this his province. In the other ship came father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, who had, as we have remarked above, remained in Mexico sick, and was now coming very strong and well—to a place where the only consolations and pleasures that went out to meet him were a peril and sudden catastrophe, which would have been the last had not God aided him almost miraculously. Because of the difficulty that the ship had in entering the strait or Embocadero of San Bernardino—and those difficulties are very great and usual in those seas in that season—the father took a small boat called a caracoa; and, embarking in it with a father visitor-commissary of our father St. Francis, who was coming as visitor, and another, his associate, with rowers and other Spanish passengers, they tried to cross the strait, in order to continue their course to Manila more quickly than they could by the ship, if they waited for it. Those boats are not only swift but weak, and, in order to give them greater safety, some long timbers are crossed at intervals over the sides;at the ends of these they suitably place some bamboo sails calledcates, so that, by thus making the vessel wider, they may better resist the waves and sustain them. They were beginning their crossing, which is a distance of about six leguas, and in the very middle of it so strong a gust of wind struck them, as well as so opposing currents—which, in those regions, are such that they will turn a ship of high free-board clear around, with or without favorable winds, moving it from side to side and disarranging the [trim of the] sails, with the accompanying horror that only sailors can imagine—that that boat (for it was not even a patache, but a very weak vessel) capsized, because of the currents and the violent wind that they encountered in the midst of the open expanse, after a few contrary blasts, and filled with water. It was the Lord’s will that the buffeting of the sea should soon strip it of weight, carrying away whatever it contained. Thereupon the men in it remained astride of the said timbers andcates, and many of them were up to their breasts in water, rigging it. In such wise they allowed themselves to drift along with the said current, wherever it chose to take them, sustained only on those timbers poorly fastened together with rattan. Night came; day followed; and in all that time they were unable to make the land—on the contrary, the currents carried them away from it. When they got out of one current they were seized by one opposed to it, so that they were continually going, round and round in those waters. Father Fray Arcadio, who was still convalescent, suffered the most; and doubtless would soon have given up, had it not been for the said father commissary. A bamboo enclosure was made as well as possible on those timbersand there the father found some retreat from the water, mainly in the arms of the said father commissary. The latter’s name was Fray Antonio Godinez, son of the religious province of San Diego in Mexico. With the same suffering did they pass the following night—without water to drink in the midst of so much water, nor more food than a few grains of rice, which the wrath of so rigorous a fortune that assailed those miserable beings had forgotten. At last, on the third day, the Lord, as a Father of mercy, listened to them and they reached the land; where, more beaten by the waves of the sea than assisted by what the rowers could do, they reached the sacred sand in a stripped condition. Three men were drowned, who tried to quit the boat too soon, and the sea made them pay for their ingratitude with their lives; for their weakness had already forbidden them [from reaching land]. It is always a rule of sailors that only wood can swim on such occasions. All is as God ordains; but already deposit was made of life, and a good account, by means of his Majesty, must be given. Our religious landed, or rather those who shared his fortunes drew him ashore half dead. But the land performed its miracles, and they hastened to the first village, where they all recovered and were despatched to Manila. The pious commissary lost there all the papers of his commission, so that, when he reached the province, great difficulties were raised, and he returned without making his visit. Father Fray Arcadio reached this our province, where he was gladly received, and the prelate assigned him to the study of the Chinese language, in which he took the courses that will be related at the end of this chapter.[The provincial receives a letter dated Roma, February19, 1668, from the father-general of the order, Juan Bautista de Marinis, in which concessions to the order by Pope Clement IX are related. The beatified Luis Beltran and Mother Rosa de Santa Maria have been canonized; universal prayerad libitumto San Vicente Ferrer has been conceded; and other concessions of general importance to the order are granted. August 1, 1673, four religious embark for the Chinese missions—namely, Arcadio del Rosario, Pedro de Alcala, Pedro de Alarcon, and Alonso de Cordova. The rough weather experienced causes the superstitious Chinese crew to imagine that it is caused by the fathers; but after many hardships China is finally reached in twenty-four days. After various adventures they return to Manila, May 4, 1674. Two Dominican religious, namely, Arcadio del Rosario and Francisco Lujan, and two Franciscans, namely, Miguel Flores and Pedro de Piñuelo, sail for China on Corpus Christi day, 1676.]At the same time, religious are being occupied in two glorious missions in this same island of Manila. One near the city, to the north, is to the Zambals, whom we have not yet been able to subdue. Now two of our religious are there, and are bringing in those of the mountains to form villages. They possess churches and many of the people are converted. The religious write that they have been received very well, and it is hoped that this will be a grand work for the service of God and for these islands, for those people are very courageous and bloodthirsty, and have always done great harm to those who go to other provinces and to the villages near them; and, if the faith of Christ once subjects them, great advantages present themselves for all. The other mission is located in the same region, in the province of Nueva Segovia,in the district of the mountains called Irraya, of which this history has already given repeated notices. Most of those people are heathen, although there are many Christians among them who have fled from our villages. They have been subdued at times, but their misfortune has immediately roused them to rebellion. Now we are considering how to attract them by love, and with security; and our religious are moving alone in this matter, with none of the horrors that soldiers bring. Consequently, we trust that they too will be subdued. Such is our special vocation in this holy province, where we profess especially to fight the wars of God. And thus as the good soldier loses spirit when peace is declared, and is inspirited at the rumor of a battle, It is an evident fact that these spiritual soldiers are aroused to unusual ardor when the arms of the missions are in use, just as the silence of these voices depresses them. And, if their sufferings and efforts reached at least half as far as do their desires, there would be no province in Asia now which had not yielded to God and to His holy faith in accordance with the honorable designs with which the beautiful sky of these islands inspires them.This news has been anticipated, because it is so recent; but the history only relates matters to 1669, so that the third part11will begin with the provincial chapter celebrated on May 11 of the said year, when the reverend father Fray Juan Camacho was elected provincial.[The chapter ends with the recital of certain benefits that have been received by the order at large, in canonizations, beatifications, etc.]Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’s Orbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini (Paris, 1639)Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’sOrbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini(Paris, 1639)[From copy in Library of Congress]

On April thirty of the year 1667 was held and celebrated the intermediary junta [in the term] of the father commissary Fray Juan de los Angeles, in our convent of Santo Domingo in Manila—and with new vigor because of the fervor imparted to the province by the fresh nourishment received from its late reënforcement. They proceeded to arrange the ministries, and one more which it seemed advisable to separate, namely, San Miguel at Orion, in the district of Bataan. After knowing the new soldiers for a year, the old and new stones were assigned to their places in order to render this spiritual edifice firm and beautiful. The new rules made were but few, but they were very carefully thought out. The first was that no inferior or subordinate official of the order should visit or write to the alcaldes and superiors of the provinces, and least of all to the governor, without first making known his intention and explaining it to the father provincial—or, in his absence, to the vicars-provincial—respectively. That was and ought to be a necessary measure; and the attempt to carry out the decisions that each minister reaches in his seclusion may be the cause of greater troubles. We must not make a passion of our zeal for defending the Indians, for that is a virtue that essentially demands to be moderated by prudence. An angry letter, or (what is worse) a visit, founded perhaps on a misrepresentation, generally disquiets a superior. He, in his own opinion offended, is vexed; and the Indians themselves, and the rest of the religious,are wont to pay doubly [for the intrusion]. Consequently, it is proper that such matters be managed with much caution and in accordance with obedience, and in the council [of the order], keeping in view the object, which must be the first aim of every good intention. Everyone does what he is able in his ministry and profession, and the apostle says that we should give offense to no one. The heads of the province, being in an exalted position, discover many things and efficient remedies for all troubles; and hence it is necessary to place such affairs in their hands. For the same reason and one greater, that junta repeats the order that no one should preach against the government and the persons busied in it without consulting with the same superiors. For that means consultation with God, because words are very important in that most lofty and consecrated place—where by favor of the sovereign principles of a wisdom whose master is the fear of God, and general doctrines, one may say whatever there is to say. Our father San Vicente Ferrer did not preach more than the judgment, but he reformed the world, kings, and chiefs. And only a St. John the Baptist, who by credit of his virtue pointed out with his finger a divine Person, could point out from the pulpit a person so wicked and scandalous as a Herod; for the latter was, in fine, king, and his dignity protected him. God placed our superiors in their positions (and kings rule through God) and gave that honor to their councils and magistracies; and consequently it is proper for ministers to honor them without flattery (which is another and worse extreme) without curing them with salt, and with respect where the community does not feel it—so that by preaching to thepeople at large, they will know where their pain is. We have already touched on this point in another place; but, since our province repeats it so often in its ordinances, the historian is also permitted to repeat it, since it is advice so important. A petition was addressed to our most reverend father not to allow dispensations to be introduced into our provinces, nor anything that savored of [differences between] individuals or degrees. For since it had seemed to his paternal piety that the procurators-general who went from this province to those of Europa had immense work therein, he planned to grant to them officially some sort of reward, by conferring on them the rank of the more recent fathers of the province. Receiving this favor with submission and gratitude, they nevertheless protested in this junta against it. At the same time Don Fray Juan de Polanco made a humble resistance in Roma, as he knew that the order had already been sent. But he obtained that new favor from our most reverend father; and, before our petition arrived, the said grace was revoked.

In the following year of 1668 two relief ships reached these islands, which came from Nueva España. In one of them came father Fray Antonio Calderon, who had obtained permission to return to España the preceding year, because of illness. But later, as he regained strength in Nueva España, and as he knew the lack that one religious makes here, and the need of the province, he was filled with no small doubt, seeing that this was coming to be a second vocation. Therefore, he determined to return, and did so; and entered the province for the second time with great courage and went to his ministries in Nueva Segovia, where he is and was an excellentlinguist. The devil is very subtile, and, because he sees the evil that is caused him by this province, he causes sickness, and makes sufferings greater than what they are in themselves. Since also the magnanimous nature of man falls short, and he takes it ill to see himself set in a land like this—as shut out from intercourse and repose as contrary to the liberty of our España—with the little attention given to him, he imagines insuperable hardships in the rules, aggravates his sickness in so great retirement; and by a door that is lawful, he disturbs the common cause and even endangers that of the individual. The said father now found himself strong, and consequently chose to return, to exercise his strength in this his province. In the other ship came father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, who had, as we have remarked above, remained in Mexico sick, and was now coming very strong and well—to a place where the only consolations and pleasures that went out to meet him were a peril and sudden catastrophe, which would have been the last had not God aided him almost miraculously. Because of the difficulty that the ship had in entering the strait or Embocadero of San Bernardino—and those difficulties are very great and usual in those seas in that season—the father took a small boat called a caracoa; and, embarking in it with a father visitor-commissary of our father St. Francis, who was coming as visitor, and another, his associate, with rowers and other Spanish passengers, they tried to cross the strait, in order to continue their course to Manila more quickly than they could by the ship, if they waited for it. Those boats are not only swift but weak, and, in order to give them greater safety, some long timbers are crossed at intervals over the sides;at the ends of these they suitably place some bamboo sails calledcates, so that, by thus making the vessel wider, they may better resist the waves and sustain them. They were beginning their crossing, which is a distance of about six leguas, and in the very middle of it so strong a gust of wind struck them, as well as so opposing currents—which, in those regions, are such that they will turn a ship of high free-board clear around, with or without favorable winds, moving it from side to side and disarranging the [trim of the] sails, with the accompanying horror that only sailors can imagine—that that boat (for it was not even a patache, but a very weak vessel) capsized, because of the currents and the violent wind that they encountered in the midst of the open expanse, after a few contrary blasts, and filled with water. It was the Lord’s will that the buffeting of the sea should soon strip it of weight, carrying away whatever it contained. Thereupon the men in it remained astride of the said timbers andcates, and many of them were up to their breasts in water, rigging it. In such wise they allowed themselves to drift along with the said current, wherever it chose to take them, sustained only on those timbers poorly fastened together with rattan. Night came; day followed; and in all that time they were unable to make the land—on the contrary, the currents carried them away from it. When they got out of one current they were seized by one opposed to it, so that they were continually going, round and round in those waters. Father Fray Arcadio, who was still convalescent, suffered the most; and doubtless would soon have given up, had it not been for the said father commissary. A bamboo enclosure was made as well as possible on those timbersand there the father found some retreat from the water, mainly in the arms of the said father commissary. The latter’s name was Fray Antonio Godinez, son of the religious province of San Diego in Mexico. With the same suffering did they pass the following night—without water to drink in the midst of so much water, nor more food than a few grains of rice, which the wrath of so rigorous a fortune that assailed those miserable beings had forgotten. At last, on the third day, the Lord, as a Father of mercy, listened to them and they reached the land; where, more beaten by the waves of the sea than assisted by what the rowers could do, they reached the sacred sand in a stripped condition. Three men were drowned, who tried to quit the boat too soon, and the sea made them pay for their ingratitude with their lives; for their weakness had already forbidden them [from reaching land]. It is always a rule of sailors that only wood can swim on such occasions. All is as God ordains; but already deposit was made of life, and a good account, by means of his Majesty, must be given. Our religious landed, or rather those who shared his fortunes drew him ashore half dead. But the land performed its miracles, and they hastened to the first village, where they all recovered and were despatched to Manila. The pious commissary lost there all the papers of his commission, so that, when he reached the province, great difficulties were raised, and he returned without making his visit. Father Fray Arcadio reached this our province, where he was gladly received, and the prelate assigned him to the study of the Chinese language, in which he took the courses that will be related at the end of this chapter.

[The provincial receives a letter dated Roma, February19, 1668, from the father-general of the order, Juan Bautista de Marinis, in which concessions to the order by Pope Clement IX are related. The beatified Luis Beltran and Mother Rosa de Santa Maria have been canonized; universal prayerad libitumto San Vicente Ferrer has been conceded; and other concessions of general importance to the order are granted. August 1, 1673, four religious embark for the Chinese missions—namely, Arcadio del Rosario, Pedro de Alcala, Pedro de Alarcon, and Alonso de Cordova. The rough weather experienced causes the superstitious Chinese crew to imagine that it is caused by the fathers; but after many hardships China is finally reached in twenty-four days. After various adventures they return to Manila, May 4, 1674. Two Dominican religious, namely, Arcadio del Rosario and Francisco Lujan, and two Franciscans, namely, Miguel Flores and Pedro de Piñuelo, sail for China on Corpus Christi day, 1676.]

At the same time, religious are being occupied in two glorious missions in this same island of Manila. One near the city, to the north, is to the Zambals, whom we have not yet been able to subdue. Now two of our religious are there, and are bringing in those of the mountains to form villages. They possess churches and many of the people are converted. The religious write that they have been received very well, and it is hoped that this will be a grand work for the service of God and for these islands, for those people are very courageous and bloodthirsty, and have always done great harm to those who go to other provinces and to the villages near them; and, if the faith of Christ once subjects them, great advantages present themselves for all. The other mission is located in the same region, in the province of Nueva Segovia,in the district of the mountains called Irraya, of which this history has already given repeated notices. Most of those people are heathen, although there are many Christians among them who have fled from our villages. They have been subdued at times, but their misfortune has immediately roused them to rebellion. Now we are considering how to attract them by love, and with security; and our religious are moving alone in this matter, with none of the horrors that soldiers bring. Consequently, we trust that they too will be subdued. Such is our special vocation in this holy province, where we profess especially to fight the wars of God. And thus as the good soldier loses spirit when peace is declared, and is inspirited at the rumor of a battle, It is an evident fact that these spiritual soldiers are aroused to unusual ardor when the arms of the missions are in use, just as the silence of these voices depresses them. And, if their sufferings and efforts reached at least half as far as do their desires, there would be no province in Asia now which had not yielded to God and to His holy faith in accordance with the honorable designs with which the beautiful sky of these islands inspires them.

This news has been anticipated, because it is so recent; but the history only relates matters to 1669, so that the third part11will begin with the provincial chapter celebrated on May 11 of the said year, when the reverend father Fray Juan Camacho was elected provincial.

[The chapter ends with the recital of certain benefits that have been received by the order at large, in canonizations, beatifications, etc.]

Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’s Orbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini (Paris, 1639)Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’sOrbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini(Paris, 1639)[From copy in Library of Congress]

Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; photographic facsimile of engraving in Lubin’sOrbis Augustinianus ... ordinis eremitarum Sancti Augustini(Paris, 1639)

[From copy in Library of Congress]

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