Chapter LVIIIThe election as provincial of father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho and the coming of religiousOn May 9, 1604, father Fray Juan de Santo Thomas having completed his term as provincial, there was elected in his place father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, a religious of much prudence, great virtue, and a mind greatly inclined to goodness, and one who loved and honored those who were good. He exhibited in the course of his office great talent in governing, watching over the order with great care, and filling his office with much affability and simplicity, which caused the religious to love him, and to feel particular satisfaction in him because they had shown so much wisdom in appointing him as superior of the province, out of all the many candidates who had been put forward at that election. His excellent and prudent manner of governing was not displayed on this occasion for the first time; for he had previously exhibited his high abilities in such offices when he was elected by his associates as their superior on the journey from España, that position having been vacated by the death in Mexico of father Fray Alonso Delgado, who had come as their vicar. In spite of the youth of father Fray Miguel, he filled this office so much to the satisfaction of all that they regarded themselves as fortunate in having found a superior who looked out so carefully for the advantage of every one without ever forgetting the general good of the order—which, as being more universal, takes precedence and commands higher esteem. In the affairs of the voyage, which are many and full of difficulty, he conducted himself sowell and anticipated them with such accuracy that it seemed as if all of his life had been spent in the office of conducting religious. This is a function that calls for many diverse qualities, difficult to find united in a single person unless he is a man of so superior a nature as was father Fray Miguel. When he arrived in the province, they sent him to the district of Nueva Segovia. Here he was one of the first missionaries and founders of this conversion; and was one of the best and most careful, most beloved by the Indians, and most devoted to his duties as a religious, who had ever been in that province. He suffered all the hardships and necessities, the poverty and the lack of sustenance, which have been recounted. From them, although he was a man of strong constitution and fitted to endure much, the want and the lack of food resulted in causing severe pains of the stomach. This evidently resulted from hunger, for as soon as he had a moderate amount of food he was well; but this happened seldom, and most of the time they had nothing to eat but some wild herbs which they gathered in the fields, and which were more suited to purge their stomachs than to sustain their lives. Hence in jest father Fray Gaspar Zarfate, who was his associate, said to him that he was greatly in doubt whether they were properly keeping the fasts prescribed by the constitutions, because they ate the same thing for supper in the evening as for dinner at noon; for, as they had nothing else, they ate quilites at noon for dinner, and quilites at night for supper. There were received at this chapter the church and house of Nuestra Señora del Rosario [i.e., “Our Lady of the Rosary”] in the kingdom of Satzuma in Japon; and,in the province of Nueva Segovia, those of San Vicente in Tocolano, San Miguel in Nasiping, San Pedro in Tuguegarao, San Raymundo in Lobo, Sancta Ynes de Monte Policiano in Pia, Santa Cathalina de Sena in Nabunanga (which is now in the village of Yguig), and Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion [“Our Lady of the Assumption”] in Talama. These were all villages which had been waiting for religious; and as the bishop of that region, Don Fray Diego de Soria, a religious of the order and of this province, had written that he was about to come back to it with a large following of religious, the new provincial was encouraged to take the charge of so many new churches and villages which were so much in need of teaching, for they had never had any, and were nearly all heathen. The good bishop did not fail of his promise. He had been one of the first and most prominent founders of this province, had seen and passed through the great sufferings which the establishment of it required, and had likewise had his share in the great harvest which the religious had reaped in these regions. He therefore loved it much, and strove with all his might to increase it; and hence, when he was about to come to his bishopric, he endeavored to bring with him a goodly number of excellent religious. The vicar in charge of them was father Fray Bernabe de Reliegos, a son of the distinguished convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where in the course of time he went after some years to die, leaving the religious highly edified by his happy death, which was to be expected from his very devoted life. The example which they gave on the way from their convents to Sevilla was such that it highlyedified the people of the towns through which they passed. The religious who set out from San Pablo at Valladolid were four in number, and they made their way to the port on foot, asking alms and sustaining themselves solely by what the Lord gave to them as to His poor. Although on some occasions they suffered from need because there was no one to give them sufficient alms, they never made use of the money which the superior had sent them for the journey—esteeming more highly that which was given them for the love of God, and putting aside the shame which begging alms at the doors brings with it. They came to a small hamlet in the Sierra Morena, and, though they went two by two to search for lodgings, they found none, and still less did they find any food. Hence in their need, which was great because they had gone on foot, they went to find the alcalde, to lay their necessities before him. After he had several times refused to see them, he at last admitted them at night, and sent them to a house with orders that they should receive the friars. A gentleman from Baeca was there, who, seeing that they were poor, had compassion upon them and sent a page to invite them to eat dinner, although he had already dined before the religious could reach the house. They thanked him for these alms, but declined them, saying that the alcalde of the town had provided for their dinner and lodging; and the gentleman sent them forty reals in charity, saying that he did not send them more because he was journeying on business to the court, where the expenses were so great that they left him no more with which he could help the friars, as he wished to do. That the Lord permits such needs is not due to His lack ofpower or of love, and He ordinarily makes up for them with similar or greater recompenses. In Baylen they went around the town two by two, and when they had all come together, without obtaining more than two or three cuartos in alms, night came upon them without any inn or lodging. A man was following their path who had noticed what happened to them, and he offered them his house. They thanked him, and accepted his charity; but the house was nothing but a poor peddler’s shed, three brazas long and two wide, and, that he might take them in, he sent his wife that night to sleep elsewhere. But a house of charity could not fail to be large and spacious, and hence the religious rested in it with much satisfaction and joy. In the morning the Lord paid the charitable host for the lodging; for the conde, learning of what had happened, called him to appear in presence of the religious, thanked him for what he had done, and, promising him his favor for the future, forced a man who had done our host some wrong, some days before, to recompense him for it immediately. Thus he went away happier than if it had been a feast day, though this is not the principal pay for such works, for they earn glory in the sight of God. All the religious reached Sevilla, and set sail on St. John’s day in a small vessel to go to Cadiz and take ship. At noon they were at a considerable distance from land, and the master of the ship was very inattentive. The religious saw three vessels with lateen sails following them, and were amused at these because they had never seen that kind of sail before. This called the attention of the master, and he went up and looked at them. Seeing that they were Moorish vessels, he trimmed hissails, and turning the helm, set out to run ashore. When he succeeded, he said: “Some saint is sailing in this boat, on whose account our Lord has delivered us today from falling into the hands of Moors; for it is they who were chasing us with their light sails and swift boats, from which it was impossible that this heavy bark with its heavy load should have escaped, if some superior power had not been watching over us by some saint who has been traveling with your Reverences.” On the following day it was learned that at that very same place some people who had taken the same voyage had been captured, wherefore they saw themselves obliged anew to render most humble thanks to the Lord for His singular mercy and kindness. They went on board the ships; and when the fleet was sailing in the gulf which on account of its restlessness and the many waves which are always there, is called Golfo de las Yeguas [i.e., “Gulf of the Mares”], two sailors fell overboard from the flagship—an accident which often happens when they are working in confusion at a critical moment. The flagship—not being able to help them, since it was carried on and separated from them by the wind—gave a signal, by discharging a piece, to the ships that followed it that they should try to pick up the men. As none of the other ships was able to go to their help, that one on which were the bishop and the religious hove to; but, on account of the excitement of the moment, they failed to do so with proper caution and prudence. The rudder was brought over with all the sails up so that the head of the ship was brought down dangerously, and the whole bow as far back as the foremast went under water. That there might not be one accident only,the violence of the wind and the burden of the sails and the force of the waves jerked the tiller [pinçote] from those who were at the helm, and swung it across fast under the biscuit hatchway, leaving the ship without means to steer it when that was most needed. The hatchway was closed, and no key was to be found. The ship was going to the bottom, being submerged in the water, and the waves, which were like mountains, were beating on its sides, so that the mariners in alarm were shouting, “We are lost, we are going to the bottom and cannot help ourselves, for want of a rudder and direction.” “Let us turn,” said the bishop, “to our Mother and Lady, the mother of God, and let us promise to fast in her honor for three days on bread and water if by her help we may receive our lives.” The religious did so, and, falling down in prayer, they supplicated her for aid; and instantly—a proper work for the divine pity and that of the Mother of Compassion—the tiller, or stem of the rudder, came out, of itself, from the hole into which it had gone. This was contrary to the common expectation in the ordinary course of similar cases; for the hole was very small, and therefore it was very difficult for anything which had once entered it to be brought back again. Four men quickly caught it, and, bringing it across with great strength, turned the ship back into its course. The seamen were in amazement at this extraordinary event; and, as they had had experience in like cases, they regarded it as the favor and benefit of our Lady who had been invoked by her afflicted and unhappy chaplains. Therefore to her the religions rendered devout and humble thanks, and with great joy fulfilled the vow which they had made.On its voyage the fleet touched at the island of Guadalupe for wood and water. This island was inhabited by a barbarous and inhuman race, bare of any sort of clothing, and (what is worse) bare of any sort of pity; for they had no pity upon those who, without doing them any harm, came there to get water which would be wasted in the sea, and wood for which they had no use whatsoever. There were in the fleet the Marqués de Montes Claros, going to be viceroy of Nueva España, and, as commander, Don Fulgencio de Meneses y Toledo; and on the eve of our father St. Dominic, twenty-five soldiers having gone ashore as a guard with an ensign in command, all those on board the fleet went ashore and mass was said as the religious had desired. After that, the religious and all the rest went to wash their clothes and to bathe themselves, of which there was great need. The sailors went to get wood and water. Being all more widely scattered than was proper, they failed to keep a proper lookout, when they ought to have been more on their guard against the peril which menaced them. The islanders, taking advantage of the opportunity to carry out their evil purpose, came down close to them, being hidden in the thick undergrowth of the mountain. They began to shoot arrows at the Spaniards when the Spaniards were not keeping a lookout, and when they themselves had the advantage. This they did so rapidly and in such numbers that it seemed as if it rained arrows. When the Indians were perceived many were already wounded, and much blood had been shed. The surprise and confusion threw the crew into a panic, and huddling together in a frightened group they fled, each man striving to put himselfin safety—one leaping into the boat to go back to the ship; another throwing himself into the sea, which was then regarded as more pitiful than the land; still another hiding himself among the trees and letting the savages pass as they shot their arrows at those whom they found ahead of them, and letting them pick up as spoils the clothes which he had been washing, or which were now being dried after the washing. Those who could do least to resist the attack of the islanders were the religious; and hence many of them fell wounded and others dead, for it was easier to draw their souls from them than to draw out the arrows. Three of them hid themselves in a thicket, where the Lord delivered them from a shower of arrows which were shot after them as they went to hide. Holding a little [image of] Christ in their hands, they begged him earnestly that he would blind the savages that they might not see them and might pass them by. The Lord heard them, and thus, though the islanders saw them hide themselves and shot many arrows after them, yet the arrows did not strike them; and the Indians, who are keener than mastiffs in discovering people, could not find them, though they passed the place where they were.The wounded were: father Fray Juan Luis de Guete, a son of the convent of Preachers in Valencia, in whose spine an arrow was fastened, being stopped by the bone; father Fray Juan Naya, a son of the convent of San Pedro Martyr at Calatayud, who escaped with a wound in his arm where an arrow had passed through it; and father Fray Jacintho Calvo, who was struck twice. He was a son of the convent of La Peña de Francia, where in course oftime he hung up one of the arrows. The wounds were not so penetrating as to take their lives; but they made the fathers very happy because here, with this blessed beginning, they had begun to shed their blood for the Lord who had redeemed them with His own, and for the gospel which they were going to preach in His service. The religious who died there were six. They were so picked and selected among all the rest that, as they were the cream of all the others, it was plain that that which the islanders had doneen massewas, so far as concerned the Lord, a most particular providence of His who had directed the arrows against the best and the ripest of the religious that they might be offered as early fruit on the table of the supreme Father, as something in which one may safely assert that He takes much pleasure. Three of these holy martyrs were children of the most religious convent of Preachers in Valencia, which, as it is so prolific in saints, naturally had here the greater share. The first was father Fray Juan de Moratalla, a native of Murcia, a religious of noble example, great mortification, silence, modesty, and composure. [He was devoted to prayer and solitude, and to the good of others. The second was father Fray Vicente Palao Valenciano, a religious very precise in his observance of the rules, and such as a priest ought to be. The third was Fray Juan Martinez, a priest, an Aragonese, a religious of purest and holiest life. The fourth was Fray Juan Cano, a native of Burgo de Osma, a son of San Pablo de Valladolid, young in age, old in virtue. The fifth religious was Fray Pedro Moreno, a deacon, a native of Villalba, a son of the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, anda member of the most illustrious college of San Gregorio at Valladolid. He was devoted to prayer and to silent meditation. At his death the Lord wrought a miracle by enabling him to make his way to the seashore, where he died in prayer, and was afterward found beneath the water in the attitude of prayer. The sixth religious was Fray Jacintho de Cistenes, a son of the convent at Valencia, and a native of that noble city. He was young in age but venerable for his virtue. The Lord had revealed to him that he should die on the day of St. Lawrence, as he actually did, after suffering for some time from his mortal wound.39]
Chapter LVIIIThe election as provincial of father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho and the coming of religiousOn May 9, 1604, father Fray Juan de Santo Thomas having completed his term as provincial, there was elected in his place father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, a religious of much prudence, great virtue, and a mind greatly inclined to goodness, and one who loved and honored those who were good. He exhibited in the course of his office great talent in governing, watching over the order with great care, and filling his office with much affability and simplicity, which caused the religious to love him, and to feel particular satisfaction in him because they had shown so much wisdom in appointing him as superior of the province, out of all the many candidates who had been put forward at that election. His excellent and prudent manner of governing was not displayed on this occasion for the first time; for he had previously exhibited his high abilities in such offices when he was elected by his associates as their superior on the journey from España, that position having been vacated by the death in Mexico of father Fray Alonso Delgado, who had come as their vicar. In spite of the youth of father Fray Miguel, he filled this office so much to the satisfaction of all that they regarded themselves as fortunate in having found a superior who looked out so carefully for the advantage of every one without ever forgetting the general good of the order—which, as being more universal, takes precedence and commands higher esteem. In the affairs of the voyage, which are many and full of difficulty, he conducted himself sowell and anticipated them with such accuracy that it seemed as if all of his life had been spent in the office of conducting religious. This is a function that calls for many diverse qualities, difficult to find united in a single person unless he is a man of so superior a nature as was father Fray Miguel. When he arrived in the province, they sent him to the district of Nueva Segovia. Here he was one of the first missionaries and founders of this conversion; and was one of the best and most careful, most beloved by the Indians, and most devoted to his duties as a religious, who had ever been in that province. He suffered all the hardships and necessities, the poverty and the lack of sustenance, which have been recounted. From them, although he was a man of strong constitution and fitted to endure much, the want and the lack of food resulted in causing severe pains of the stomach. This evidently resulted from hunger, for as soon as he had a moderate amount of food he was well; but this happened seldom, and most of the time they had nothing to eat but some wild herbs which they gathered in the fields, and which were more suited to purge their stomachs than to sustain their lives. Hence in jest father Fray Gaspar Zarfate, who was his associate, said to him that he was greatly in doubt whether they were properly keeping the fasts prescribed by the constitutions, because they ate the same thing for supper in the evening as for dinner at noon; for, as they had nothing else, they ate quilites at noon for dinner, and quilites at night for supper. There were received at this chapter the church and house of Nuestra Señora del Rosario [i.e., “Our Lady of the Rosary”] in the kingdom of Satzuma in Japon; and,in the province of Nueva Segovia, those of San Vicente in Tocolano, San Miguel in Nasiping, San Pedro in Tuguegarao, San Raymundo in Lobo, Sancta Ynes de Monte Policiano in Pia, Santa Cathalina de Sena in Nabunanga (which is now in the village of Yguig), and Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion [“Our Lady of the Assumption”] in Talama. These were all villages which had been waiting for religious; and as the bishop of that region, Don Fray Diego de Soria, a religious of the order and of this province, had written that he was about to come back to it with a large following of religious, the new provincial was encouraged to take the charge of so many new churches and villages which were so much in need of teaching, for they had never had any, and were nearly all heathen. The good bishop did not fail of his promise. He had been one of the first and most prominent founders of this province, had seen and passed through the great sufferings which the establishment of it required, and had likewise had his share in the great harvest which the religious had reaped in these regions. He therefore loved it much, and strove with all his might to increase it; and hence, when he was about to come to his bishopric, he endeavored to bring with him a goodly number of excellent religious. The vicar in charge of them was father Fray Bernabe de Reliegos, a son of the distinguished convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where in the course of time he went after some years to die, leaving the religious highly edified by his happy death, which was to be expected from his very devoted life. The example which they gave on the way from their convents to Sevilla was such that it highlyedified the people of the towns through which they passed. The religious who set out from San Pablo at Valladolid were four in number, and they made their way to the port on foot, asking alms and sustaining themselves solely by what the Lord gave to them as to His poor. Although on some occasions they suffered from need because there was no one to give them sufficient alms, they never made use of the money which the superior had sent them for the journey—esteeming more highly that which was given them for the love of God, and putting aside the shame which begging alms at the doors brings with it. They came to a small hamlet in the Sierra Morena, and, though they went two by two to search for lodgings, they found none, and still less did they find any food. Hence in their need, which was great because they had gone on foot, they went to find the alcalde, to lay their necessities before him. After he had several times refused to see them, he at last admitted them at night, and sent them to a house with orders that they should receive the friars. A gentleman from Baeca was there, who, seeing that they were poor, had compassion upon them and sent a page to invite them to eat dinner, although he had already dined before the religious could reach the house. They thanked him for these alms, but declined them, saying that the alcalde of the town had provided for their dinner and lodging; and the gentleman sent them forty reals in charity, saying that he did not send them more because he was journeying on business to the court, where the expenses were so great that they left him no more with which he could help the friars, as he wished to do. That the Lord permits such needs is not due to His lack ofpower or of love, and He ordinarily makes up for them with similar or greater recompenses. In Baylen they went around the town two by two, and when they had all come together, without obtaining more than two or three cuartos in alms, night came upon them without any inn or lodging. A man was following their path who had noticed what happened to them, and he offered them his house. They thanked him, and accepted his charity; but the house was nothing but a poor peddler’s shed, three brazas long and two wide, and, that he might take them in, he sent his wife that night to sleep elsewhere. But a house of charity could not fail to be large and spacious, and hence the religious rested in it with much satisfaction and joy. In the morning the Lord paid the charitable host for the lodging; for the conde, learning of what had happened, called him to appear in presence of the religious, thanked him for what he had done, and, promising him his favor for the future, forced a man who had done our host some wrong, some days before, to recompense him for it immediately. Thus he went away happier than if it had been a feast day, though this is not the principal pay for such works, for they earn glory in the sight of God. All the religious reached Sevilla, and set sail on St. John’s day in a small vessel to go to Cadiz and take ship. At noon they were at a considerable distance from land, and the master of the ship was very inattentive. The religious saw three vessels with lateen sails following them, and were amused at these because they had never seen that kind of sail before. This called the attention of the master, and he went up and looked at them. Seeing that they were Moorish vessels, he trimmed hissails, and turning the helm, set out to run ashore. When he succeeded, he said: “Some saint is sailing in this boat, on whose account our Lord has delivered us today from falling into the hands of Moors; for it is they who were chasing us with their light sails and swift boats, from which it was impossible that this heavy bark with its heavy load should have escaped, if some superior power had not been watching over us by some saint who has been traveling with your Reverences.” On the following day it was learned that at that very same place some people who had taken the same voyage had been captured, wherefore they saw themselves obliged anew to render most humble thanks to the Lord for His singular mercy and kindness. They went on board the ships; and when the fleet was sailing in the gulf which on account of its restlessness and the many waves which are always there, is called Golfo de las Yeguas [i.e., “Gulf of the Mares”], two sailors fell overboard from the flagship—an accident which often happens when they are working in confusion at a critical moment. The flagship—not being able to help them, since it was carried on and separated from them by the wind—gave a signal, by discharging a piece, to the ships that followed it that they should try to pick up the men. As none of the other ships was able to go to their help, that one on which were the bishop and the religious hove to; but, on account of the excitement of the moment, they failed to do so with proper caution and prudence. The rudder was brought over with all the sails up so that the head of the ship was brought down dangerously, and the whole bow as far back as the foremast went under water. That there might not be one accident only,the violence of the wind and the burden of the sails and the force of the waves jerked the tiller [pinçote] from those who were at the helm, and swung it across fast under the biscuit hatchway, leaving the ship without means to steer it when that was most needed. The hatchway was closed, and no key was to be found. The ship was going to the bottom, being submerged in the water, and the waves, which were like mountains, were beating on its sides, so that the mariners in alarm were shouting, “We are lost, we are going to the bottom and cannot help ourselves, for want of a rudder and direction.” “Let us turn,” said the bishop, “to our Mother and Lady, the mother of God, and let us promise to fast in her honor for three days on bread and water if by her help we may receive our lives.” The religious did so, and, falling down in prayer, they supplicated her for aid; and instantly—a proper work for the divine pity and that of the Mother of Compassion—the tiller, or stem of the rudder, came out, of itself, from the hole into which it had gone. This was contrary to the common expectation in the ordinary course of similar cases; for the hole was very small, and therefore it was very difficult for anything which had once entered it to be brought back again. Four men quickly caught it, and, bringing it across with great strength, turned the ship back into its course. The seamen were in amazement at this extraordinary event; and, as they had had experience in like cases, they regarded it as the favor and benefit of our Lady who had been invoked by her afflicted and unhappy chaplains. Therefore to her the religions rendered devout and humble thanks, and with great joy fulfilled the vow which they had made.On its voyage the fleet touched at the island of Guadalupe for wood and water. This island was inhabited by a barbarous and inhuman race, bare of any sort of clothing, and (what is worse) bare of any sort of pity; for they had no pity upon those who, without doing them any harm, came there to get water which would be wasted in the sea, and wood for which they had no use whatsoever. There were in the fleet the Marqués de Montes Claros, going to be viceroy of Nueva España, and, as commander, Don Fulgencio de Meneses y Toledo; and on the eve of our father St. Dominic, twenty-five soldiers having gone ashore as a guard with an ensign in command, all those on board the fleet went ashore and mass was said as the religious had desired. After that, the religious and all the rest went to wash their clothes and to bathe themselves, of which there was great need. The sailors went to get wood and water. Being all more widely scattered than was proper, they failed to keep a proper lookout, when they ought to have been more on their guard against the peril which menaced them. The islanders, taking advantage of the opportunity to carry out their evil purpose, came down close to them, being hidden in the thick undergrowth of the mountain. They began to shoot arrows at the Spaniards when the Spaniards were not keeping a lookout, and when they themselves had the advantage. This they did so rapidly and in such numbers that it seemed as if it rained arrows. When the Indians were perceived many were already wounded, and much blood had been shed. The surprise and confusion threw the crew into a panic, and huddling together in a frightened group they fled, each man striving to put himselfin safety—one leaping into the boat to go back to the ship; another throwing himself into the sea, which was then regarded as more pitiful than the land; still another hiding himself among the trees and letting the savages pass as they shot their arrows at those whom they found ahead of them, and letting them pick up as spoils the clothes which he had been washing, or which were now being dried after the washing. Those who could do least to resist the attack of the islanders were the religious; and hence many of them fell wounded and others dead, for it was easier to draw their souls from them than to draw out the arrows. Three of them hid themselves in a thicket, where the Lord delivered them from a shower of arrows which were shot after them as they went to hide. Holding a little [image of] Christ in their hands, they begged him earnestly that he would blind the savages that they might not see them and might pass them by. The Lord heard them, and thus, though the islanders saw them hide themselves and shot many arrows after them, yet the arrows did not strike them; and the Indians, who are keener than mastiffs in discovering people, could not find them, though they passed the place where they were.The wounded were: father Fray Juan Luis de Guete, a son of the convent of Preachers in Valencia, in whose spine an arrow was fastened, being stopped by the bone; father Fray Juan Naya, a son of the convent of San Pedro Martyr at Calatayud, who escaped with a wound in his arm where an arrow had passed through it; and father Fray Jacintho Calvo, who was struck twice. He was a son of the convent of La Peña de Francia, where in course oftime he hung up one of the arrows. The wounds were not so penetrating as to take their lives; but they made the fathers very happy because here, with this blessed beginning, they had begun to shed their blood for the Lord who had redeemed them with His own, and for the gospel which they were going to preach in His service. The religious who died there were six. They were so picked and selected among all the rest that, as they were the cream of all the others, it was plain that that which the islanders had doneen massewas, so far as concerned the Lord, a most particular providence of His who had directed the arrows against the best and the ripest of the religious that they might be offered as early fruit on the table of the supreme Father, as something in which one may safely assert that He takes much pleasure. Three of these holy martyrs were children of the most religious convent of Preachers in Valencia, which, as it is so prolific in saints, naturally had here the greater share. The first was father Fray Juan de Moratalla, a native of Murcia, a religious of noble example, great mortification, silence, modesty, and composure. [He was devoted to prayer and solitude, and to the good of others. The second was father Fray Vicente Palao Valenciano, a religious very precise in his observance of the rules, and such as a priest ought to be. The third was Fray Juan Martinez, a priest, an Aragonese, a religious of purest and holiest life. The fourth was Fray Juan Cano, a native of Burgo de Osma, a son of San Pablo de Valladolid, young in age, old in virtue. The fifth religious was Fray Pedro Moreno, a deacon, a native of Villalba, a son of the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, anda member of the most illustrious college of San Gregorio at Valladolid. He was devoted to prayer and to silent meditation. At his death the Lord wrought a miracle by enabling him to make his way to the seashore, where he died in prayer, and was afterward found beneath the water in the attitude of prayer. The sixth religious was Fray Jacintho de Cistenes, a son of the convent at Valencia, and a native of that noble city. He was young in age but venerable for his virtue. The Lord had revealed to him that he should die on the day of St. Lawrence, as he actually did, after suffering for some time from his mortal wound.39]
Chapter LVIIIThe election as provincial of father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho and the coming of religiousOn May 9, 1604, father Fray Juan de Santo Thomas having completed his term as provincial, there was elected in his place father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, a religious of much prudence, great virtue, and a mind greatly inclined to goodness, and one who loved and honored those who were good. He exhibited in the course of his office great talent in governing, watching over the order with great care, and filling his office with much affability and simplicity, which caused the religious to love him, and to feel particular satisfaction in him because they had shown so much wisdom in appointing him as superior of the province, out of all the many candidates who had been put forward at that election. His excellent and prudent manner of governing was not displayed on this occasion for the first time; for he had previously exhibited his high abilities in such offices when he was elected by his associates as their superior on the journey from España, that position having been vacated by the death in Mexico of father Fray Alonso Delgado, who had come as their vicar. In spite of the youth of father Fray Miguel, he filled this office so much to the satisfaction of all that they regarded themselves as fortunate in having found a superior who looked out so carefully for the advantage of every one without ever forgetting the general good of the order—which, as being more universal, takes precedence and commands higher esteem. In the affairs of the voyage, which are many and full of difficulty, he conducted himself sowell and anticipated them with such accuracy that it seemed as if all of his life had been spent in the office of conducting religious. This is a function that calls for many diverse qualities, difficult to find united in a single person unless he is a man of so superior a nature as was father Fray Miguel. When he arrived in the province, they sent him to the district of Nueva Segovia. Here he was one of the first missionaries and founders of this conversion; and was one of the best and most careful, most beloved by the Indians, and most devoted to his duties as a religious, who had ever been in that province. He suffered all the hardships and necessities, the poverty and the lack of sustenance, which have been recounted. From them, although he was a man of strong constitution and fitted to endure much, the want and the lack of food resulted in causing severe pains of the stomach. This evidently resulted from hunger, for as soon as he had a moderate amount of food he was well; but this happened seldom, and most of the time they had nothing to eat but some wild herbs which they gathered in the fields, and which were more suited to purge their stomachs than to sustain their lives. Hence in jest father Fray Gaspar Zarfate, who was his associate, said to him that he was greatly in doubt whether they were properly keeping the fasts prescribed by the constitutions, because they ate the same thing for supper in the evening as for dinner at noon; for, as they had nothing else, they ate quilites at noon for dinner, and quilites at night for supper. There were received at this chapter the church and house of Nuestra Señora del Rosario [i.e., “Our Lady of the Rosary”] in the kingdom of Satzuma in Japon; and,in the province of Nueva Segovia, those of San Vicente in Tocolano, San Miguel in Nasiping, San Pedro in Tuguegarao, San Raymundo in Lobo, Sancta Ynes de Monte Policiano in Pia, Santa Cathalina de Sena in Nabunanga (which is now in the village of Yguig), and Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion [“Our Lady of the Assumption”] in Talama. These were all villages which had been waiting for religious; and as the bishop of that region, Don Fray Diego de Soria, a religious of the order and of this province, had written that he was about to come back to it with a large following of religious, the new provincial was encouraged to take the charge of so many new churches and villages which were so much in need of teaching, for they had never had any, and were nearly all heathen. The good bishop did not fail of his promise. He had been one of the first and most prominent founders of this province, had seen and passed through the great sufferings which the establishment of it required, and had likewise had his share in the great harvest which the religious had reaped in these regions. He therefore loved it much, and strove with all his might to increase it; and hence, when he was about to come to his bishopric, he endeavored to bring with him a goodly number of excellent religious. The vicar in charge of them was father Fray Bernabe de Reliegos, a son of the distinguished convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where in the course of time he went after some years to die, leaving the religious highly edified by his happy death, which was to be expected from his very devoted life. The example which they gave on the way from their convents to Sevilla was such that it highlyedified the people of the towns through which they passed. The religious who set out from San Pablo at Valladolid were four in number, and they made their way to the port on foot, asking alms and sustaining themselves solely by what the Lord gave to them as to His poor. Although on some occasions they suffered from need because there was no one to give them sufficient alms, they never made use of the money which the superior had sent them for the journey—esteeming more highly that which was given them for the love of God, and putting aside the shame which begging alms at the doors brings with it. They came to a small hamlet in the Sierra Morena, and, though they went two by two to search for lodgings, they found none, and still less did they find any food. Hence in their need, which was great because they had gone on foot, they went to find the alcalde, to lay their necessities before him. After he had several times refused to see them, he at last admitted them at night, and sent them to a house with orders that they should receive the friars. A gentleman from Baeca was there, who, seeing that they were poor, had compassion upon them and sent a page to invite them to eat dinner, although he had already dined before the religious could reach the house. They thanked him for these alms, but declined them, saying that the alcalde of the town had provided for their dinner and lodging; and the gentleman sent them forty reals in charity, saying that he did not send them more because he was journeying on business to the court, where the expenses were so great that they left him no more with which he could help the friars, as he wished to do. That the Lord permits such needs is not due to His lack ofpower or of love, and He ordinarily makes up for them with similar or greater recompenses. In Baylen they went around the town two by two, and when they had all come together, without obtaining more than two or three cuartos in alms, night came upon them without any inn or lodging. A man was following their path who had noticed what happened to them, and he offered them his house. They thanked him, and accepted his charity; but the house was nothing but a poor peddler’s shed, three brazas long and two wide, and, that he might take them in, he sent his wife that night to sleep elsewhere. But a house of charity could not fail to be large and spacious, and hence the religious rested in it with much satisfaction and joy. In the morning the Lord paid the charitable host for the lodging; for the conde, learning of what had happened, called him to appear in presence of the religious, thanked him for what he had done, and, promising him his favor for the future, forced a man who had done our host some wrong, some days before, to recompense him for it immediately. Thus he went away happier than if it had been a feast day, though this is not the principal pay for such works, for they earn glory in the sight of God. All the religious reached Sevilla, and set sail on St. John’s day in a small vessel to go to Cadiz and take ship. At noon they were at a considerable distance from land, and the master of the ship was very inattentive. The religious saw three vessels with lateen sails following them, and were amused at these because they had never seen that kind of sail before. This called the attention of the master, and he went up and looked at them. Seeing that they were Moorish vessels, he trimmed hissails, and turning the helm, set out to run ashore. When he succeeded, he said: “Some saint is sailing in this boat, on whose account our Lord has delivered us today from falling into the hands of Moors; for it is they who were chasing us with their light sails and swift boats, from which it was impossible that this heavy bark with its heavy load should have escaped, if some superior power had not been watching over us by some saint who has been traveling with your Reverences.” On the following day it was learned that at that very same place some people who had taken the same voyage had been captured, wherefore they saw themselves obliged anew to render most humble thanks to the Lord for His singular mercy and kindness. They went on board the ships; and when the fleet was sailing in the gulf which on account of its restlessness and the many waves which are always there, is called Golfo de las Yeguas [i.e., “Gulf of the Mares”], two sailors fell overboard from the flagship—an accident which often happens when they are working in confusion at a critical moment. The flagship—not being able to help them, since it was carried on and separated from them by the wind—gave a signal, by discharging a piece, to the ships that followed it that they should try to pick up the men. As none of the other ships was able to go to their help, that one on which were the bishop and the religious hove to; but, on account of the excitement of the moment, they failed to do so with proper caution and prudence. The rudder was brought over with all the sails up so that the head of the ship was brought down dangerously, and the whole bow as far back as the foremast went under water. That there might not be one accident only,the violence of the wind and the burden of the sails and the force of the waves jerked the tiller [pinçote] from those who were at the helm, and swung it across fast under the biscuit hatchway, leaving the ship without means to steer it when that was most needed. The hatchway was closed, and no key was to be found. The ship was going to the bottom, being submerged in the water, and the waves, which were like mountains, were beating on its sides, so that the mariners in alarm were shouting, “We are lost, we are going to the bottom and cannot help ourselves, for want of a rudder and direction.” “Let us turn,” said the bishop, “to our Mother and Lady, the mother of God, and let us promise to fast in her honor for three days on bread and water if by her help we may receive our lives.” The religious did so, and, falling down in prayer, they supplicated her for aid; and instantly—a proper work for the divine pity and that of the Mother of Compassion—the tiller, or stem of the rudder, came out, of itself, from the hole into which it had gone. This was contrary to the common expectation in the ordinary course of similar cases; for the hole was very small, and therefore it was very difficult for anything which had once entered it to be brought back again. Four men quickly caught it, and, bringing it across with great strength, turned the ship back into its course. The seamen were in amazement at this extraordinary event; and, as they had had experience in like cases, they regarded it as the favor and benefit of our Lady who had been invoked by her afflicted and unhappy chaplains. Therefore to her the religions rendered devout and humble thanks, and with great joy fulfilled the vow which they had made.On its voyage the fleet touched at the island of Guadalupe for wood and water. This island was inhabited by a barbarous and inhuman race, bare of any sort of clothing, and (what is worse) bare of any sort of pity; for they had no pity upon those who, without doing them any harm, came there to get water which would be wasted in the sea, and wood for which they had no use whatsoever. There were in the fleet the Marqués de Montes Claros, going to be viceroy of Nueva España, and, as commander, Don Fulgencio de Meneses y Toledo; and on the eve of our father St. Dominic, twenty-five soldiers having gone ashore as a guard with an ensign in command, all those on board the fleet went ashore and mass was said as the religious had desired. After that, the religious and all the rest went to wash their clothes and to bathe themselves, of which there was great need. The sailors went to get wood and water. Being all more widely scattered than was proper, they failed to keep a proper lookout, when they ought to have been more on their guard against the peril which menaced them. The islanders, taking advantage of the opportunity to carry out their evil purpose, came down close to them, being hidden in the thick undergrowth of the mountain. They began to shoot arrows at the Spaniards when the Spaniards were not keeping a lookout, and when they themselves had the advantage. This they did so rapidly and in such numbers that it seemed as if it rained arrows. When the Indians were perceived many were already wounded, and much blood had been shed. The surprise and confusion threw the crew into a panic, and huddling together in a frightened group they fled, each man striving to put himselfin safety—one leaping into the boat to go back to the ship; another throwing himself into the sea, which was then regarded as more pitiful than the land; still another hiding himself among the trees and letting the savages pass as they shot their arrows at those whom they found ahead of them, and letting them pick up as spoils the clothes which he had been washing, or which were now being dried after the washing. Those who could do least to resist the attack of the islanders were the religious; and hence many of them fell wounded and others dead, for it was easier to draw their souls from them than to draw out the arrows. Three of them hid themselves in a thicket, where the Lord delivered them from a shower of arrows which were shot after them as they went to hide. Holding a little [image of] Christ in their hands, they begged him earnestly that he would blind the savages that they might not see them and might pass them by. The Lord heard them, and thus, though the islanders saw them hide themselves and shot many arrows after them, yet the arrows did not strike them; and the Indians, who are keener than mastiffs in discovering people, could not find them, though they passed the place where they were.The wounded were: father Fray Juan Luis de Guete, a son of the convent of Preachers in Valencia, in whose spine an arrow was fastened, being stopped by the bone; father Fray Juan Naya, a son of the convent of San Pedro Martyr at Calatayud, who escaped with a wound in his arm where an arrow had passed through it; and father Fray Jacintho Calvo, who was struck twice. He was a son of the convent of La Peña de Francia, where in course oftime he hung up one of the arrows. The wounds were not so penetrating as to take their lives; but they made the fathers very happy because here, with this blessed beginning, they had begun to shed their blood for the Lord who had redeemed them with His own, and for the gospel which they were going to preach in His service. The religious who died there were six. They were so picked and selected among all the rest that, as they were the cream of all the others, it was plain that that which the islanders had doneen massewas, so far as concerned the Lord, a most particular providence of His who had directed the arrows against the best and the ripest of the religious that they might be offered as early fruit on the table of the supreme Father, as something in which one may safely assert that He takes much pleasure. Three of these holy martyrs were children of the most religious convent of Preachers in Valencia, which, as it is so prolific in saints, naturally had here the greater share. The first was father Fray Juan de Moratalla, a native of Murcia, a religious of noble example, great mortification, silence, modesty, and composure. [He was devoted to prayer and solitude, and to the good of others. The second was father Fray Vicente Palao Valenciano, a religious very precise in his observance of the rules, and such as a priest ought to be. The third was Fray Juan Martinez, a priest, an Aragonese, a religious of purest and holiest life. The fourth was Fray Juan Cano, a native of Burgo de Osma, a son of San Pablo de Valladolid, young in age, old in virtue. The fifth religious was Fray Pedro Moreno, a deacon, a native of Villalba, a son of the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, anda member of the most illustrious college of San Gregorio at Valladolid. He was devoted to prayer and to silent meditation. At his death the Lord wrought a miracle by enabling him to make his way to the seashore, where he died in prayer, and was afterward found beneath the water in the attitude of prayer. The sixth religious was Fray Jacintho de Cistenes, a son of the convent at Valencia, and a native of that noble city. He was young in age but venerable for his virtue. The Lord had revealed to him that he should die on the day of St. Lawrence, as he actually did, after suffering for some time from his mortal wound.39]
Chapter LVIIIThe election as provincial of father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho and the coming of religiousOn May 9, 1604, father Fray Juan de Santo Thomas having completed his term as provincial, there was elected in his place father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, a religious of much prudence, great virtue, and a mind greatly inclined to goodness, and one who loved and honored those who were good. He exhibited in the course of his office great talent in governing, watching over the order with great care, and filling his office with much affability and simplicity, which caused the religious to love him, and to feel particular satisfaction in him because they had shown so much wisdom in appointing him as superior of the province, out of all the many candidates who had been put forward at that election. His excellent and prudent manner of governing was not displayed on this occasion for the first time; for he had previously exhibited his high abilities in such offices when he was elected by his associates as their superior on the journey from España, that position having been vacated by the death in Mexico of father Fray Alonso Delgado, who had come as their vicar. In spite of the youth of father Fray Miguel, he filled this office so much to the satisfaction of all that they regarded themselves as fortunate in having found a superior who looked out so carefully for the advantage of every one without ever forgetting the general good of the order—which, as being more universal, takes precedence and commands higher esteem. In the affairs of the voyage, which are many and full of difficulty, he conducted himself sowell and anticipated them with such accuracy that it seemed as if all of his life had been spent in the office of conducting religious. This is a function that calls for many diverse qualities, difficult to find united in a single person unless he is a man of so superior a nature as was father Fray Miguel. When he arrived in the province, they sent him to the district of Nueva Segovia. Here he was one of the first missionaries and founders of this conversion; and was one of the best and most careful, most beloved by the Indians, and most devoted to his duties as a religious, who had ever been in that province. He suffered all the hardships and necessities, the poverty and the lack of sustenance, which have been recounted. From them, although he was a man of strong constitution and fitted to endure much, the want and the lack of food resulted in causing severe pains of the stomach. This evidently resulted from hunger, for as soon as he had a moderate amount of food he was well; but this happened seldom, and most of the time they had nothing to eat but some wild herbs which they gathered in the fields, and which were more suited to purge their stomachs than to sustain their lives. Hence in jest father Fray Gaspar Zarfate, who was his associate, said to him that he was greatly in doubt whether they were properly keeping the fasts prescribed by the constitutions, because they ate the same thing for supper in the evening as for dinner at noon; for, as they had nothing else, they ate quilites at noon for dinner, and quilites at night for supper. There were received at this chapter the church and house of Nuestra Señora del Rosario [i.e., “Our Lady of the Rosary”] in the kingdom of Satzuma in Japon; and,in the province of Nueva Segovia, those of San Vicente in Tocolano, San Miguel in Nasiping, San Pedro in Tuguegarao, San Raymundo in Lobo, Sancta Ynes de Monte Policiano in Pia, Santa Cathalina de Sena in Nabunanga (which is now in the village of Yguig), and Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion [“Our Lady of the Assumption”] in Talama. These were all villages which had been waiting for religious; and as the bishop of that region, Don Fray Diego de Soria, a religious of the order and of this province, had written that he was about to come back to it with a large following of religious, the new provincial was encouraged to take the charge of so many new churches and villages which were so much in need of teaching, for they had never had any, and were nearly all heathen. The good bishop did not fail of his promise. He had been one of the first and most prominent founders of this province, had seen and passed through the great sufferings which the establishment of it required, and had likewise had his share in the great harvest which the religious had reaped in these regions. He therefore loved it much, and strove with all his might to increase it; and hence, when he was about to come to his bishopric, he endeavored to bring with him a goodly number of excellent religious. The vicar in charge of them was father Fray Bernabe de Reliegos, a son of the distinguished convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where in the course of time he went after some years to die, leaving the religious highly edified by his happy death, which was to be expected from his very devoted life. The example which they gave on the way from their convents to Sevilla was such that it highlyedified the people of the towns through which they passed. The religious who set out from San Pablo at Valladolid were four in number, and they made their way to the port on foot, asking alms and sustaining themselves solely by what the Lord gave to them as to His poor. Although on some occasions they suffered from need because there was no one to give them sufficient alms, they never made use of the money which the superior had sent them for the journey—esteeming more highly that which was given them for the love of God, and putting aside the shame which begging alms at the doors brings with it. They came to a small hamlet in the Sierra Morena, and, though they went two by two to search for lodgings, they found none, and still less did they find any food. Hence in their need, which was great because they had gone on foot, they went to find the alcalde, to lay their necessities before him. After he had several times refused to see them, he at last admitted them at night, and sent them to a house with orders that they should receive the friars. A gentleman from Baeca was there, who, seeing that they were poor, had compassion upon them and sent a page to invite them to eat dinner, although he had already dined before the religious could reach the house. They thanked him for these alms, but declined them, saying that the alcalde of the town had provided for their dinner and lodging; and the gentleman sent them forty reals in charity, saying that he did not send them more because he was journeying on business to the court, where the expenses were so great that they left him no more with which he could help the friars, as he wished to do. That the Lord permits such needs is not due to His lack ofpower or of love, and He ordinarily makes up for them with similar or greater recompenses. In Baylen they went around the town two by two, and when they had all come together, without obtaining more than two or three cuartos in alms, night came upon them without any inn or lodging. A man was following their path who had noticed what happened to them, and he offered them his house. They thanked him, and accepted his charity; but the house was nothing but a poor peddler’s shed, three brazas long and two wide, and, that he might take them in, he sent his wife that night to sleep elsewhere. But a house of charity could not fail to be large and spacious, and hence the religious rested in it with much satisfaction and joy. In the morning the Lord paid the charitable host for the lodging; for the conde, learning of what had happened, called him to appear in presence of the religious, thanked him for what he had done, and, promising him his favor for the future, forced a man who had done our host some wrong, some days before, to recompense him for it immediately. Thus he went away happier than if it had been a feast day, though this is not the principal pay for such works, for they earn glory in the sight of God. All the religious reached Sevilla, and set sail on St. John’s day in a small vessel to go to Cadiz and take ship. At noon they were at a considerable distance from land, and the master of the ship was very inattentive. The religious saw three vessels with lateen sails following them, and were amused at these because they had never seen that kind of sail before. This called the attention of the master, and he went up and looked at them. Seeing that they were Moorish vessels, he trimmed hissails, and turning the helm, set out to run ashore. When he succeeded, he said: “Some saint is sailing in this boat, on whose account our Lord has delivered us today from falling into the hands of Moors; for it is they who were chasing us with their light sails and swift boats, from which it was impossible that this heavy bark with its heavy load should have escaped, if some superior power had not been watching over us by some saint who has been traveling with your Reverences.” On the following day it was learned that at that very same place some people who had taken the same voyage had been captured, wherefore they saw themselves obliged anew to render most humble thanks to the Lord for His singular mercy and kindness. They went on board the ships; and when the fleet was sailing in the gulf which on account of its restlessness and the many waves which are always there, is called Golfo de las Yeguas [i.e., “Gulf of the Mares”], two sailors fell overboard from the flagship—an accident which often happens when they are working in confusion at a critical moment. The flagship—not being able to help them, since it was carried on and separated from them by the wind—gave a signal, by discharging a piece, to the ships that followed it that they should try to pick up the men. As none of the other ships was able to go to their help, that one on which were the bishop and the religious hove to; but, on account of the excitement of the moment, they failed to do so with proper caution and prudence. The rudder was brought over with all the sails up so that the head of the ship was brought down dangerously, and the whole bow as far back as the foremast went under water. That there might not be one accident only,the violence of the wind and the burden of the sails and the force of the waves jerked the tiller [pinçote] from those who were at the helm, and swung it across fast under the biscuit hatchway, leaving the ship without means to steer it when that was most needed. The hatchway was closed, and no key was to be found. The ship was going to the bottom, being submerged in the water, and the waves, which were like mountains, were beating on its sides, so that the mariners in alarm were shouting, “We are lost, we are going to the bottom and cannot help ourselves, for want of a rudder and direction.” “Let us turn,” said the bishop, “to our Mother and Lady, the mother of God, and let us promise to fast in her honor for three days on bread and water if by her help we may receive our lives.” The religious did so, and, falling down in prayer, they supplicated her for aid; and instantly—a proper work for the divine pity and that of the Mother of Compassion—the tiller, or stem of the rudder, came out, of itself, from the hole into which it had gone. This was contrary to the common expectation in the ordinary course of similar cases; for the hole was very small, and therefore it was very difficult for anything which had once entered it to be brought back again. Four men quickly caught it, and, bringing it across with great strength, turned the ship back into its course. The seamen were in amazement at this extraordinary event; and, as they had had experience in like cases, they regarded it as the favor and benefit of our Lady who had been invoked by her afflicted and unhappy chaplains. Therefore to her the religions rendered devout and humble thanks, and with great joy fulfilled the vow which they had made.On its voyage the fleet touched at the island of Guadalupe for wood and water. This island was inhabited by a barbarous and inhuman race, bare of any sort of clothing, and (what is worse) bare of any sort of pity; for they had no pity upon those who, without doing them any harm, came there to get water which would be wasted in the sea, and wood for which they had no use whatsoever. There were in the fleet the Marqués de Montes Claros, going to be viceroy of Nueva España, and, as commander, Don Fulgencio de Meneses y Toledo; and on the eve of our father St. Dominic, twenty-five soldiers having gone ashore as a guard with an ensign in command, all those on board the fleet went ashore and mass was said as the religious had desired. After that, the religious and all the rest went to wash their clothes and to bathe themselves, of which there was great need. The sailors went to get wood and water. Being all more widely scattered than was proper, they failed to keep a proper lookout, when they ought to have been more on their guard against the peril which menaced them. The islanders, taking advantage of the opportunity to carry out their evil purpose, came down close to them, being hidden in the thick undergrowth of the mountain. They began to shoot arrows at the Spaniards when the Spaniards were not keeping a lookout, and when they themselves had the advantage. This they did so rapidly and in such numbers that it seemed as if it rained arrows. When the Indians were perceived many were already wounded, and much blood had been shed. The surprise and confusion threw the crew into a panic, and huddling together in a frightened group they fled, each man striving to put himselfin safety—one leaping into the boat to go back to the ship; another throwing himself into the sea, which was then regarded as more pitiful than the land; still another hiding himself among the trees and letting the savages pass as they shot their arrows at those whom they found ahead of them, and letting them pick up as spoils the clothes which he had been washing, or which were now being dried after the washing. Those who could do least to resist the attack of the islanders were the religious; and hence many of them fell wounded and others dead, for it was easier to draw their souls from them than to draw out the arrows. Three of them hid themselves in a thicket, where the Lord delivered them from a shower of arrows which were shot after them as they went to hide. Holding a little [image of] Christ in their hands, they begged him earnestly that he would blind the savages that they might not see them and might pass them by. The Lord heard them, and thus, though the islanders saw them hide themselves and shot many arrows after them, yet the arrows did not strike them; and the Indians, who are keener than mastiffs in discovering people, could not find them, though they passed the place where they were.The wounded were: father Fray Juan Luis de Guete, a son of the convent of Preachers in Valencia, in whose spine an arrow was fastened, being stopped by the bone; father Fray Juan Naya, a son of the convent of San Pedro Martyr at Calatayud, who escaped with a wound in his arm where an arrow had passed through it; and father Fray Jacintho Calvo, who was struck twice. He was a son of the convent of La Peña de Francia, where in course oftime he hung up one of the arrows. The wounds were not so penetrating as to take their lives; but they made the fathers very happy because here, with this blessed beginning, they had begun to shed their blood for the Lord who had redeemed them with His own, and for the gospel which they were going to preach in His service. The religious who died there were six. They were so picked and selected among all the rest that, as they were the cream of all the others, it was plain that that which the islanders had doneen massewas, so far as concerned the Lord, a most particular providence of His who had directed the arrows against the best and the ripest of the religious that they might be offered as early fruit on the table of the supreme Father, as something in which one may safely assert that He takes much pleasure. Three of these holy martyrs were children of the most religious convent of Preachers in Valencia, which, as it is so prolific in saints, naturally had here the greater share. The first was father Fray Juan de Moratalla, a native of Murcia, a religious of noble example, great mortification, silence, modesty, and composure. [He was devoted to prayer and solitude, and to the good of others. The second was father Fray Vicente Palao Valenciano, a religious very precise in his observance of the rules, and such as a priest ought to be. The third was Fray Juan Martinez, a priest, an Aragonese, a religious of purest and holiest life. The fourth was Fray Juan Cano, a native of Burgo de Osma, a son of San Pablo de Valladolid, young in age, old in virtue. The fifth religious was Fray Pedro Moreno, a deacon, a native of Villalba, a son of the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, anda member of the most illustrious college of San Gregorio at Valladolid. He was devoted to prayer and to silent meditation. At his death the Lord wrought a miracle by enabling him to make his way to the seashore, where he died in prayer, and was afterward found beneath the water in the attitude of prayer. The sixth religious was Fray Jacintho de Cistenes, a son of the convent at Valencia, and a native of that noble city. He was young in age but venerable for his virtue. The Lord had revealed to him that he should die on the day of St. Lawrence, as he actually did, after suffering for some time from his mortal wound.39]
Chapter LVIIIThe election as provincial of father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho and the coming of religiousOn May 9, 1604, father Fray Juan de Santo Thomas having completed his term as provincial, there was elected in his place father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, a religious of much prudence, great virtue, and a mind greatly inclined to goodness, and one who loved and honored those who were good. He exhibited in the course of his office great talent in governing, watching over the order with great care, and filling his office with much affability and simplicity, which caused the religious to love him, and to feel particular satisfaction in him because they had shown so much wisdom in appointing him as superior of the province, out of all the many candidates who had been put forward at that election. His excellent and prudent manner of governing was not displayed on this occasion for the first time; for he had previously exhibited his high abilities in such offices when he was elected by his associates as their superior on the journey from España, that position having been vacated by the death in Mexico of father Fray Alonso Delgado, who had come as their vicar. In spite of the youth of father Fray Miguel, he filled this office so much to the satisfaction of all that they regarded themselves as fortunate in having found a superior who looked out so carefully for the advantage of every one without ever forgetting the general good of the order—which, as being more universal, takes precedence and commands higher esteem. In the affairs of the voyage, which are many and full of difficulty, he conducted himself sowell and anticipated them with such accuracy that it seemed as if all of his life had been spent in the office of conducting religious. This is a function that calls for many diverse qualities, difficult to find united in a single person unless he is a man of so superior a nature as was father Fray Miguel. When he arrived in the province, they sent him to the district of Nueva Segovia. Here he was one of the first missionaries and founders of this conversion; and was one of the best and most careful, most beloved by the Indians, and most devoted to his duties as a religious, who had ever been in that province. He suffered all the hardships and necessities, the poverty and the lack of sustenance, which have been recounted. From them, although he was a man of strong constitution and fitted to endure much, the want and the lack of food resulted in causing severe pains of the stomach. This evidently resulted from hunger, for as soon as he had a moderate amount of food he was well; but this happened seldom, and most of the time they had nothing to eat but some wild herbs which they gathered in the fields, and which were more suited to purge their stomachs than to sustain their lives. Hence in jest father Fray Gaspar Zarfate, who was his associate, said to him that he was greatly in doubt whether they were properly keeping the fasts prescribed by the constitutions, because they ate the same thing for supper in the evening as for dinner at noon; for, as they had nothing else, they ate quilites at noon for dinner, and quilites at night for supper. There were received at this chapter the church and house of Nuestra Señora del Rosario [i.e., “Our Lady of the Rosary”] in the kingdom of Satzuma in Japon; and,in the province of Nueva Segovia, those of San Vicente in Tocolano, San Miguel in Nasiping, San Pedro in Tuguegarao, San Raymundo in Lobo, Sancta Ynes de Monte Policiano in Pia, Santa Cathalina de Sena in Nabunanga (which is now in the village of Yguig), and Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion [“Our Lady of the Assumption”] in Talama. These were all villages which had been waiting for religious; and as the bishop of that region, Don Fray Diego de Soria, a religious of the order and of this province, had written that he was about to come back to it with a large following of religious, the new provincial was encouraged to take the charge of so many new churches and villages which were so much in need of teaching, for they had never had any, and were nearly all heathen. The good bishop did not fail of his promise. He had been one of the first and most prominent founders of this province, had seen and passed through the great sufferings which the establishment of it required, and had likewise had his share in the great harvest which the religious had reaped in these regions. He therefore loved it much, and strove with all his might to increase it; and hence, when he was about to come to his bishopric, he endeavored to bring with him a goodly number of excellent religious. The vicar in charge of them was father Fray Bernabe de Reliegos, a son of the distinguished convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where in the course of time he went after some years to die, leaving the religious highly edified by his happy death, which was to be expected from his very devoted life. The example which they gave on the way from their convents to Sevilla was such that it highlyedified the people of the towns through which they passed. The religious who set out from San Pablo at Valladolid were four in number, and they made their way to the port on foot, asking alms and sustaining themselves solely by what the Lord gave to them as to His poor. Although on some occasions they suffered from need because there was no one to give them sufficient alms, they never made use of the money which the superior had sent them for the journey—esteeming more highly that which was given them for the love of God, and putting aside the shame which begging alms at the doors brings with it. They came to a small hamlet in the Sierra Morena, and, though they went two by two to search for lodgings, they found none, and still less did they find any food. Hence in their need, which was great because they had gone on foot, they went to find the alcalde, to lay their necessities before him. After he had several times refused to see them, he at last admitted them at night, and sent them to a house with orders that they should receive the friars. A gentleman from Baeca was there, who, seeing that they were poor, had compassion upon them and sent a page to invite them to eat dinner, although he had already dined before the religious could reach the house. They thanked him for these alms, but declined them, saying that the alcalde of the town had provided for their dinner and lodging; and the gentleman sent them forty reals in charity, saying that he did not send them more because he was journeying on business to the court, where the expenses were so great that they left him no more with which he could help the friars, as he wished to do. That the Lord permits such needs is not due to His lack ofpower or of love, and He ordinarily makes up for them with similar or greater recompenses. In Baylen they went around the town two by two, and when they had all come together, without obtaining more than two or three cuartos in alms, night came upon them without any inn or lodging. A man was following their path who had noticed what happened to them, and he offered them his house. They thanked him, and accepted his charity; but the house was nothing but a poor peddler’s shed, three brazas long and two wide, and, that he might take them in, he sent his wife that night to sleep elsewhere. But a house of charity could not fail to be large and spacious, and hence the religious rested in it with much satisfaction and joy. In the morning the Lord paid the charitable host for the lodging; for the conde, learning of what had happened, called him to appear in presence of the religious, thanked him for what he had done, and, promising him his favor for the future, forced a man who had done our host some wrong, some days before, to recompense him for it immediately. Thus he went away happier than if it had been a feast day, though this is not the principal pay for such works, for they earn glory in the sight of God. All the religious reached Sevilla, and set sail on St. John’s day in a small vessel to go to Cadiz and take ship. At noon they were at a considerable distance from land, and the master of the ship was very inattentive. The religious saw three vessels with lateen sails following them, and were amused at these because they had never seen that kind of sail before. This called the attention of the master, and he went up and looked at them. Seeing that they were Moorish vessels, he trimmed hissails, and turning the helm, set out to run ashore. When he succeeded, he said: “Some saint is sailing in this boat, on whose account our Lord has delivered us today from falling into the hands of Moors; for it is they who were chasing us with their light sails and swift boats, from which it was impossible that this heavy bark with its heavy load should have escaped, if some superior power had not been watching over us by some saint who has been traveling with your Reverences.” On the following day it was learned that at that very same place some people who had taken the same voyage had been captured, wherefore they saw themselves obliged anew to render most humble thanks to the Lord for His singular mercy and kindness. They went on board the ships; and when the fleet was sailing in the gulf which on account of its restlessness and the many waves which are always there, is called Golfo de las Yeguas [i.e., “Gulf of the Mares”], two sailors fell overboard from the flagship—an accident which often happens when they are working in confusion at a critical moment. The flagship—not being able to help them, since it was carried on and separated from them by the wind—gave a signal, by discharging a piece, to the ships that followed it that they should try to pick up the men. As none of the other ships was able to go to their help, that one on which were the bishop and the religious hove to; but, on account of the excitement of the moment, they failed to do so with proper caution and prudence. The rudder was brought over with all the sails up so that the head of the ship was brought down dangerously, and the whole bow as far back as the foremast went under water. That there might not be one accident only,the violence of the wind and the burden of the sails and the force of the waves jerked the tiller [pinçote] from those who were at the helm, and swung it across fast under the biscuit hatchway, leaving the ship without means to steer it when that was most needed. The hatchway was closed, and no key was to be found. The ship was going to the bottom, being submerged in the water, and the waves, which were like mountains, were beating on its sides, so that the mariners in alarm were shouting, “We are lost, we are going to the bottom and cannot help ourselves, for want of a rudder and direction.” “Let us turn,” said the bishop, “to our Mother and Lady, the mother of God, and let us promise to fast in her honor for three days on bread and water if by her help we may receive our lives.” The religious did so, and, falling down in prayer, they supplicated her for aid; and instantly—a proper work for the divine pity and that of the Mother of Compassion—the tiller, or stem of the rudder, came out, of itself, from the hole into which it had gone. This was contrary to the common expectation in the ordinary course of similar cases; for the hole was very small, and therefore it was very difficult for anything which had once entered it to be brought back again. Four men quickly caught it, and, bringing it across with great strength, turned the ship back into its course. The seamen were in amazement at this extraordinary event; and, as they had had experience in like cases, they regarded it as the favor and benefit of our Lady who had been invoked by her afflicted and unhappy chaplains. Therefore to her the religions rendered devout and humble thanks, and with great joy fulfilled the vow which they had made.On its voyage the fleet touched at the island of Guadalupe for wood and water. This island was inhabited by a barbarous and inhuman race, bare of any sort of clothing, and (what is worse) bare of any sort of pity; for they had no pity upon those who, without doing them any harm, came there to get water which would be wasted in the sea, and wood for which they had no use whatsoever. There were in the fleet the Marqués de Montes Claros, going to be viceroy of Nueva España, and, as commander, Don Fulgencio de Meneses y Toledo; and on the eve of our father St. Dominic, twenty-five soldiers having gone ashore as a guard with an ensign in command, all those on board the fleet went ashore and mass was said as the religious had desired. After that, the religious and all the rest went to wash their clothes and to bathe themselves, of which there was great need. The sailors went to get wood and water. Being all more widely scattered than was proper, they failed to keep a proper lookout, when they ought to have been more on their guard against the peril which menaced them. The islanders, taking advantage of the opportunity to carry out their evil purpose, came down close to them, being hidden in the thick undergrowth of the mountain. They began to shoot arrows at the Spaniards when the Spaniards were not keeping a lookout, and when they themselves had the advantage. This they did so rapidly and in such numbers that it seemed as if it rained arrows. When the Indians were perceived many were already wounded, and much blood had been shed. The surprise and confusion threw the crew into a panic, and huddling together in a frightened group they fled, each man striving to put himselfin safety—one leaping into the boat to go back to the ship; another throwing himself into the sea, which was then regarded as more pitiful than the land; still another hiding himself among the trees and letting the savages pass as they shot their arrows at those whom they found ahead of them, and letting them pick up as spoils the clothes which he had been washing, or which were now being dried after the washing. Those who could do least to resist the attack of the islanders were the religious; and hence many of them fell wounded and others dead, for it was easier to draw their souls from them than to draw out the arrows. Three of them hid themselves in a thicket, where the Lord delivered them from a shower of arrows which were shot after them as they went to hide. Holding a little [image of] Christ in their hands, they begged him earnestly that he would blind the savages that they might not see them and might pass them by. The Lord heard them, and thus, though the islanders saw them hide themselves and shot many arrows after them, yet the arrows did not strike them; and the Indians, who are keener than mastiffs in discovering people, could not find them, though they passed the place where they were.The wounded were: father Fray Juan Luis de Guete, a son of the convent of Preachers in Valencia, in whose spine an arrow was fastened, being stopped by the bone; father Fray Juan Naya, a son of the convent of San Pedro Martyr at Calatayud, who escaped with a wound in his arm where an arrow had passed through it; and father Fray Jacintho Calvo, who was struck twice. He was a son of the convent of La Peña de Francia, where in course oftime he hung up one of the arrows. The wounds were not so penetrating as to take their lives; but they made the fathers very happy because here, with this blessed beginning, they had begun to shed their blood for the Lord who had redeemed them with His own, and for the gospel which they were going to preach in His service. The religious who died there were six. They were so picked and selected among all the rest that, as they were the cream of all the others, it was plain that that which the islanders had doneen massewas, so far as concerned the Lord, a most particular providence of His who had directed the arrows against the best and the ripest of the religious that they might be offered as early fruit on the table of the supreme Father, as something in which one may safely assert that He takes much pleasure. Three of these holy martyrs were children of the most religious convent of Preachers in Valencia, which, as it is so prolific in saints, naturally had here the greater share. The first was father Fray Juan de Moratalla, a native of Murcia, a religious of noble example, great mortification, silence, modesty, and composure. [He was devoted to prayer and solitude, and to the good of others. The second was father Fray Vicente Palao Valenciano, a religious very precise in his observance of the rules, and such as a priest ought to be. The third was Fray Juan Martinez, a priest, an Aragonese, a religious of purest and holiest life. The fourth was Fray Juan Cano, a native of Burgo de Osma, a son of San Pablo de Valladolid, young in age, old in virtue. The fifth religious was Fray Pedro Moreno, a deacon, a native of Villalba, a son of the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, anda member of the most illustrious college of San Gregorio at Valladolid. He was devoted to prayer and to silent meditation. At his death the Lord wrought a miracle by enabling him to make his way to the seashore, where he died in prayer, and was afterward found beneath the water in the attitude of prayer. The sixth religious was Fray Jacintho de Cistenes, a son of the convent at Valencia, and a native of that noble city. He was young in age but venerable for his virtue. The Lord had revealed to him that he should die on the day of St. Lawrence, as he actually did, after suffering for some time from his mortal wound.39]
Chapter LVIIIThe election as provincial of father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho and the coming of religious
On May 9, 1604, father Fray Juan de Santo Thomas having completed his term as provincial, there was elected in his place father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, a religious of much prudence, great virtue, and a mind greatly inclined to goodness, and one who loved and honored those who were good. He exhibited in the course of his office great talent in governing, watching over the order with great care, and filling his office with much affability and simplicity, which caused the religious to love him, and to feel particular satisfaction in him because they had shown so much wisdom in appointing him as superior of the province, out of all the many candidates who had been put forward at that election. His excellent and prudent manner of governing was not displayed on this occasion for the first time; for he had previously exhibited his high abilities in such offices when he was elected by his associates as their superior on the journey from España, that position having been vacated by the death in Mexico of father Fray Alonso Delgado, who had come as their vicar. In spite of the youth of father Fray Miguel, he filled this office so much to the satisfaction of all that they regarded themselves as fortunate in having found a superior who looked out so carefully for the advantage of every one without ever forgetting the general good of the order—which, as being more universal, takes precedence and commands higher esteem. In the affairs of the voyage, which are many and full of difficulty, he conducted himself sowell and anticipated them with such accuracy that it seemed as if all of his life had been spent in the office of conducting religious. This is a function that calls for many diverse qualities, difficult to find united in a single person unless he is a man of so superior a nature as was father Fray Miguel. When he arrived in the province, they sent him to the district of Nueva Segovia. Here he was one of the first missionaries and founders of this conversion; and was one of the best and most careful, most beloved by the Indians, and most devoted to his duties as a religious, who had ever been in that province. He suffered all the hardships and necessities, the poverty and the lack of sustenance, which have been recounted. From them, although he was a man of strong constitution and fitted to endure much, the want and the lack of food resulted in causing severe pains of the stomach. This evidently resulted from hunger, for as soon as he had a moderate amount of food he was well; but this happened seldom, and most of the time they had nothing to eat but some wild herbs which they gathered in the fields, and which were more suited to purge their stomachs than to sustain their lives. Hence in jest father Fray Gaspar Zarfate, who was his associate, said to him that he was greatly in doubt whether they were properly keeping the fasts prescribed by the constitutions, because they ate the same thing for supper in the evening as for dinner at noon; for, as they had nothing else, they ate quilites at noon for dinner, and quilites at night for supper. There were received at this chapter the church and house of Nuestra Señora del Rosario [i.e., “Our Lady of the Rosary”] in the kingdom of Satzuma in Japon; and,in the province of Nueva Segovia, those of San Vicente in Tocolano, San Miguel in Nasiping, San Pedro in Tuguegarao, San Raymundo in Lobo, Sancta Ynes de Monte Policiano in Pia, Santa Cathalina de Sena in Nabunanga (which is now in the village of Yguig), and Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion [“Our Lady of the Assumption”] in Talama. These were all villages which had been waiting for religious; and as the bishop of that region, Don Fray Diego de Soria, a religious of the order and of this province, had written that he was about to come back to it with a large following of religious, the new provincial was encouraged to take the charge of so many new churches and villages which were so much in need of teaching, for they had never had any, and were nearly all heathen. The good bishop did not fail of his promise. He had been one of the first and most prominent founders of this province, had seen and passed through the great sufferings which the establishment of it required, and had likewise had his share in the great harvest which the religious had reaped in these regions. He therefore loved it much, and strove with all his might to increase it; and hence, when he was about to come to his bishopric, he endeavored to bring with him a goodly number of excellent religious. The vicar in charge of them was father Fray Bernabe de Reliegos, a son of the distinguished convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where in the course of time he went after some years to die, leaving the religious highly edified by his happy death, which was to be expected from his very devoted life. The example which they gave on the way from their convents to Sevilla was such that it highlyedified the people of the towns through which they passed. The religious who set out from San Pablo at Valladolid were four in number, and they made their way to the port on foot, asking alms and sustaining themselves solely by what the Lord gave to them as to His poor. Although on some occasions they suffered from need because there was no one to give them sufficient alms, they never made use of the money which the superior had sent them for the journey—esteeming more highly that which was given them for the love of God, and putting aside the shame which begging alms at the doors brings with it. They came to a small hamlet in the Sierra Morena, and, though they went two by two to search for lodgings, they found none, and still less did they find any food. Hence in their need, which was great because they had gone on foot, they went to find the alcalde, to lay their necessities before him. After he had several times refused to see them, he at last admitted them at night, and sent them to a house with orders that they should receive the friars. A gentleman from Baeca was there, who, seeing that they were poor, had compassion upon them and sent a page to invite them to eat dinner, although he had already dined before the religious could reach the house. They thanked him for these alms, but declined them, saying that the alcalde of the town had provided for their dinner and lodging; and the gentleman sent them forty reals in charity, saying that he did not send them more because he was journeying on business to the court, where the expenses were so great that they left him no more with which he could help the friars, as he wished to do. That the Lord permits such needs is not due to His lack ofpower or of love, and He ordinarily makes up for them with similar or greater recompenses. In Baylen they went around the town two by two, and when they had all come together, without obtaining more than two or three cuartos in alms, night came upon them without any inn or lodging. A man was following their path who had noticed what happened to them, and he offered them his house. They thanked him, and accepted his charity; but the house was nothing but a poor peddler’s shed, three brazas long and two wide, and, that he might take them in, he sent his wife that night to sleep elsewhere. But a house of charity could not fail to be large and spacious, and hence the religious rested in it with much satisfaction and joy. In the morning the Lord paid the charitable host for the lodging; for the conde, learning of what had happened, called him to appear in presence of the religious, thanked him for what he had done, and, promising him his favor for the future, forced a man who had done our host some wrong, some days before, to recompense him for it immediately. Thus he went away happier than if it had been a feast day, though this is not the principal pay for such works, for they earn glory in the sight of God. All the religious reached Sevilla, and set sail on St. John’s day in a small vessel to go to Cadiz and take ship. At noon they were at a considerable distance from land, and the master of the ship was very inattentive. The religious saw three vessels with lateen sails following them, and were amused at these because they had never seen that kind of sail before. This called the attention of the master, and he went up and looked at them. Seeing that they were Moorish vessels, he trimmed hissails, and turning the helm, set out to run ashore. When he succeeded, he said: “Some saint is sailing in this boat, on whose account our Lord has delivered us today from falling into the hands of Moors; for it is they who were chasing us with their light sails and swift boats, from which it was impossible that this heavy bark with its heavy load should have escaped, if some superior power had not been watching over us by some saint who has been traveling with your Reverences.” On the following day it was learned that at that very same place some people who had taken the same voyage had been captured, wherefore they saw themselves obliged anew to render most humble thanks to the Lord for His singular mercy and kindness. They went on board the ships; and when the fleet was sailing in the gulf which on account of its restlessness and the many waves which are always there, is called Golfo de las Yeguas [i.e., “Gulf of the Mares”], two sailors fell overboard from the flagship—an accident which often happens when they are working in confusion at a critical moment. The flagship—not being able to help them, since it was carried on and separated from them by the wind—gave a signal, by discharging a piece, to the ships that followed it that they should try to pick up the men. As none of the other ships was able to go to their help, that one on which were the bishop and the religious hove to; but, on account of the excitement of the moment, they failed to do so with proper caution and prudence. The rudder was brought over with all the sails up so that the head of the ship was brought down dangerously, and the whole bow as far back as the foremast went under water. That there might not be one accident only,the violence of the wind and the burden of the sails and the force of the waves jerked the tiller [pinçote] from those who were at the helm, and swung it across fast under the biscuit hatchway, leaving the ship without means to steer it when that was most needed. The hatchway was closed, and no key was to be found. The ship was going to the bottom, being submerged in the water, and the waves, which were like mountains, were beating on its sides, so that the mariners in alarm were shouting, “We are lost, we are going to the bottom and cannot help ourselves, for want of a rudder and direction.” “Let us turn,” said the bishop, “to our Mother and Lady, the mother of God, and let us promise to fast in her honor for three days on bread and water if by her help we may receive our lives.” The religious did so, and, falling down in prayer, they supplicated her for aid; and instantly—a proper work for the divine pity and that of the Mother of Compassion—the tiller, or stem of the rudder, came out, of itself, from the hole into which it had gone. This was contrary to the common expectation in the ordinary course of similar cases; for the hole was very small, and therefore it was very difficult for anything which had once entered it to be brought back again. Four men quickly caught it, and, bringing it across with great strength, turned the ship back into its course. The seamen were in amazement at this extraordinary event; and, as they had had experience in like cases, they regarded it as the favor and benefit of our Lady who had been invoked by her afflicted and unhappy chaplains. Therefore to her the religions rendered devout and humble thanks, and with great joy fulfilled the vow which they had made.On its voyage the fleet touched at the island of Guadalupe for wood and water. This island was inhabited by a barbarous and inhuman race, bare of any sort of clothing, and (what is worse) bare of any sort of pity; for they had no pity upon those who, without doing them any harm, came there to get water which would be wasted in the sea, and wood for which they had no use whatsoever. There were in the fleet the Marqués de Montes Claros, going to be viceroy of Nueva España, and, as commander, Don Fulgencio de Meneses y Toledo; and on the eve of our father St. Dominic, twenty-five soldiers having gone ashore as a guard with an ensign in command, all those on board the fleet went ashore and mass was said as the religious had desired. After that, the religious and all the rest went to wash their clothes and to bathe themselves, of which there was great need. The sailors went to get wood and water. Being all more widely scattered than was proper, they failed to keep a proper lookout, when they ought to have been more on their guard against the peril which menaced them. The islanders, taking advantage of the opportunity to carry out their evil purpose, came down close to them, being hidden in the thick undergrowth of the mountain. They began to shoot arrows at the Spaniards when the Spaniards were not keeping a lookout, and when they themselves had the advantage. This they did so rapidly and in such numbers that it seemed as if it rained arrows. When the Indians were perceived many were already wounded, and much blood had been shed. The surprise and confusion threw the crew into a panic, and huddling together in a frightened group they fled, each man striving to put himselfin safety—one leaping into the boat to go back to the ship; another throwing himself into the sea, which was then regarded as more pitiful than the land; still another hiding himself among the trees and letting the savages pass as they shot their arrows at those whom they found ahead of them, and letting them pick up as spoils the clothes which he had been washing, or which were now being dried after the washing. Those who could do least to resist the attack of the islanders were the religious; and hence many of them fell wounded and others dead, for it was easier to draw their souls from them than to draw out the arrows. Three of them hid themselves in a thicket, where the Lord delivered them from a shower of arrows which were shot after them as they went to hide. Holding a little [image of] Christ in their hands, they begged him earnestly that he would blind the savages that they might not see them and might pass them by. The Lord heard them, and thus, though the islanders saw them hide themselves and shot many arrows after them, yet the arrows did not strike them; and the Indians, who are keener than mastiffs in discovering people, could not find them, though they passed the place where they were.The wounded were: father Fray Juan Luis de Guete, a son of the convent of Preachers in Valencia, in whose spine an arrow was fastened, being stopped by the bone; father Fray Juan Naya, a son of the convent of San Pedro Martyr at Calatayud, who escaped with a wound in his arm where an arrow had passed through it; and father Fray Jacintho Calvo, who was struck twice. He was a son of the convent of La Peña de Francia, where in course oftime he hung up one of the arrows. The wounds were not so penetrating as to take their lives; but they made the fathers very happy because here, with this blessed beginning, they had begun to shed their blood for the Lord who had redeemed them with His own, and for the gospel which they were going to preach in His service. The religious who died there were six. They were so picked and selected among all the rest that, as they were the cream of all the others, it was plain that that which the islanders had doneen massewas, so far as concerned the Lord, a most particular providence of His who had directed the arrows against the best and the ripest of the religious that they might be offered as early fruit on the table of the supreme Father, as something in which one may safely assert that He takes much pleasure. Three of these holy martyrs were children of the most religious convent of Preachers in Valencia, which, as it is so prolific in saints, naturally had here the greater share. The first was father Fray Juan de Moratalla, a native of Murcia, a religious of noble example, great mortification, silence, modesty, and composure. [He was devoted to prayer and solitude, and to the good of others. The second was father Fray Vicente Palao Valenciano, a religious very precise in his observance of the rules, and such as a priest ought to be. The third was Fray Juan Martinez, a priest, an Aragonese, a religious of purest and holiest life. The fourth was Fray Juan Cano, a native of Burgo de Osma, a son of San Pablo de Valladolid, young in age, old in virtue. The fifth religious was Fray Pedro Moreno, a deacon, a native of Villalba, a son of the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, anda member of the most illustrious college of San Gregorio at Valladolid. He was devoted to prayer and to silent meditation. At his death the Lord wrought a miracle by enabling him to make his way to the seashore, where he died in prayer, and was afterward found beneath the water in the attitude of prayer. The sixth religious was Fray Jacintho de Cistenes, a son of the convent at Valencia, and a native of that noble city. He was young in age but venerable for his virtue. The Lord had revealed to him that he should die on the day of St. Lawrence, as he actually did, after suffering for some time from his mortal wound.39]
On May 9, 1604, father Fray Juan de Santo Thomas having completed his term as provincial, there was elected in his place father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, a religious of much prudence, great virtue, and a mind greatly inclined to goodness, and one who loved and honored those who were good. He exhibited in the course of his office great talent in governing, watching over the order with great care, and filling his office with much affability and simplicity, which caused the religious to love him, and to feel particular satisfaction in him because they had shown so much wisdom in appointing him as superior of the province, out of all the many candidates who had been put forward at that election. His excellent and prudent manner of governing was not displayed on this occasion for the first time; for he had previously exhibited his high abilities in such offices when he was elected by his associates as their superior on the journey from España, that position having been vacated by the death in Mexico of father Fray Alonso Delgado, who had come as their vicar. In spite of the youth of father Fray Miguel, he filled this office so much to the satisfaction of all that they regarded themselves as fortunate in having found a superior who looked out so carefully for the advantage of every one without ever forgetting the general good of the order—which, as being more universal, takes precedence and commands higher esteem. In the affairs of the voyage, which are many and full of difficulty, he conducted himself sowell and anticipated them with such accuracy that it seemed as if all of his life had been spent in the office of conducting religious. This is a function that calls for many diverse qualities, difficult to find united in a single person unless he is a man of so superior a nature as was father Fray Miguel. When he arrived in the province, they sent him to the district of Nueva Segovia. Here he was one of the first missionaries and founders of this conversion; and was one of the best and most careful, most beloved by the Indians, and most devoted to his duties as a religious, who had ever been in that province. He suffered all the hardships and necessities, the poverty and the lack of sustenance, which have been recounted. From them, although he was a man of strong constitution and fitted to endure much, the want and the lack of food resulted in causing severe pains of the stomach. This evidently resulted from hunger, for as soon as he had a moderate amount of food he was well; but this happened seldom, and most of the time they had nothing to eat but some wild herbs which they gathered in the fields, and which were more suited to purge their stomachs than to sustain their lives. Hence in jest father Fray Gaspar Zarfate, who was his associate, said to him that he was greatly in doubt whether they were properly keeping the fasts prescribed by the constitutions, because they ate the same thing for supper in the evening as for dinner at noon; for, as they had nothing else, they ate quilites at noon for dinner, and quilites at night for supper. There were received at this chapter the church and house of Nuestra Señora del Rosario [i.e., “Our Lady of the Rosary”] in the kingdom of Satzuma in Japon; and,in the province of Nueva Segovia, those of San Vicente in Tocolano, San Miguel in Nasiping, San Pedro in Tuguegarao, San Raymundo in Lobo, Sancta Ynes de Monte Policiano in Pia, Santa Cathalina de Sena in Nabunanga (which is now in the village of Yguig), and Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion [“Our Lady of the Assumption”] in Talama. These were all villages which had been waiting for religious; and as the bishop of that region, Don Fray Diego de Soria, a religious of the order and of this province, had written that he was about to come back to it with a large following of religious, the new provincial was encouraged to take the charge of so many new churches and villages which were so much in need of teaching, for they had never had any, and were nearly all heathen. The good bishop did not fail of his promise. He had been one of the first and most prominent founders of this province, had seen and passed through the great sufferings which the establishment of it required, and had likewise had his share in the great harvest which the religious had reaped in these regions. He therefore loved it much, and strove with all his might to increase it; and hence, when he was about to come to his bishopric, he endeavored to bring with him a goodly number of excellent religious. The vicar in charge of them was father Fray Bernabe de Reliegos, a son of the distinguished convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, where in the course of time he went after some years to die, leaving the religious highly edified by his happy death, which was to be expected from his very devoted life. The example which they gave on the way from their convents to Sevilla was such that it highlyedified the people of the towns through which they passed. The religious who set out from San Pablo at Valladolid were four in number, and they made their way to the port on foot, asking alms and sustaining themselves solely by what the Lord gave to them as to His poor. Although on some occasions they suffered from need because there was no one to give them sufficient alms, they never made use of the money which the superior had sent them for the journey—esteeming more highly that which was given them for the love of God, and putting aside the shame which begging alms at the doors brings with it. They came to a small hamlet in the Sierra Morena, and, though they went two by two to search for lodgings, they found none, and still less did they find any food. Hence in their need, which was great because they had gone on foot, they went to find the alcalde, to lay their necessities before him. After he had several times refused to see them, he at last admitted them at night, and sent them to a house with orders that they should receive the friars. A gentleman from Baeca was there, who, seeing that they were poor, had compassion upon them and sent a page to invite them to eat dinner, although he had already dined before the religious could reach the house. They thanked him for these alms, but declined them, saying that the alcalde of the town had provided for their dinner and lodging; and the gentleman sent them forty reals in charity, saying that he did not send them more because he was journeying on business to the court, where the expenses were so great that they left him no more with which he could help the friars, as he wished to do. That the Lord permits such needs is not due to His lack ofpower or of love, and He ordinarily makes up for them with similar or greater recompenses. In Baylen they went around the town two by two, and when they had all come together, without obtaining more than two or three cuartos in alms, night came upon them without any inn or lodging. A man was following their path who had noticed what happened to them, and he offered them his house. They thanked him, and accepted his charity; but the house was nothing but a poor peddler’s shed, three brazas long and two wide, and, that he might take them in, he sent his wife that night to sleep elsewhere. But a house of charity could not fail to be large and spacious, and hence the religious rested in it with much satisfaction and joy. In the morning the Lord paid the charitable host for the lodging; for the conde, learning of what had happened, called him to appear in presence of the religious, thanked him for what he had done, and, promising him his favor for the future, forced a man who had done our host some wrong, some days before, to recompense him for it immediately. Thus he went away happier than if it had been a feast day, though this is not the principal pay for such works, for they earn glory in the sight of God. All the religious reached Sevilla, and set sail on St. John’s day in a small vessel to go to Cadiz and take ship. At noon they were at a considerable distance from land, and the master of the ship was very inattentive. The religious saw three vessels with lateen sails following them, and were amused at these because they had never seen that kind of sail before. This called the attention of the master, and he went up and looked at them. Seeing that they were Moorish vessels, he trimmed hissails, and turning the helm, set out to run ashore. When he succeeded, he said: “Some saint is sailing in this boat, on whose account our Lord has delivered us today from falling into the hands of Moors; for it is they who were chasing us with their light sails and swift boats, from which it was impossible that this heavy bark with its heavy load should have escaped, if some superior power had not been watching over us by some saint who has been traveling with your Reverences.” On the following day it was learned that at that very same place some people who had taken the same voyage had been captured, wherefore they saw themselves obliged anew to render most humble thanks to the Lord for His singular mercy and kindness. They went on board the ships; and when the fleet was sailing in the gulf which on account of its restlessness and the many waves which are always there, is called Golfo de las Yeguas [i.e., “Gulf of the Mares”], two sailors fell overboard from the flagship—an accident which often happens when they are working in confusion at a critical moment. The flagship—not being able to help them, since it was carried on and separated from them by the wind—gave a signal, by discharging a piece, to the ships that followed it that they should try to pick up the men. As none of the other ships was able to go to their help, that one on which were the bishop and the religious hove to; but, on account of the excitement of the moment, they failed to do so with proper caution and prudence. The rudder was brought over with all the sails up so that the head of the ship was brought down dangerously, and the whole bow as far back as the foremast went under water. That there might not be one accident only,the violence of the wind and the burden of the sails and the force of the waves jerked the tiller [pinçote] from those who were at the helm, and swung it across fast under the biscuit hatchway, leaving the ship without means to steer it when that was most needed. The hatchway was closed, and no key was to be found. The ship was going to the bottom, being submerged in the water, and the waves, which were like mountains, were beating on its sides, so that the mariners in alarm were shouting, “We are lost, we are going to the bottom and cannot help ourselves, for want of a rudder and direction.” “Let us turn,” said the bishop, “to our Mother and Lady, the mother of God, and let us promise to fast in her honor for three days on bread and water if by her help we may receive our lives.” The religious did so, and, falling down in prayer, they supplicated her for aid; and instantly—a proper work for the divine pity and that of the Mother of Compassion—the tiller, or stem of the rudder, came out, of itself, from the hole into which it had gone. This was contrary to the common expectation in the ordinary course of similar cases; for the hole was very small, and therefore it was very difficult for anything which had once entered it to be brought back again. Four men quickly caught it, and, bringing it across with great strength, turned the ship back into its course. The seamen were in amazement at this extraordinary event; and, as they had had experience in like cases, they regarded it as the favor and benefit of our Lady who had been invoked by her afflicted and unhappy chaplains. Therefore to her the religions rendered devout and humble thanks, and with great joy fulfilled the vow which they had made.
On its voyage the fleet touched at the island of Guadalupe for wood and water. This island was inhabited by a barbarous and inhuman race, bare of any sort of clothing, and (what is worse) bare of any sort of pity; for they had no pity upon those who, without doing them any harm, came there to get water which would be wasted in the sea, and wood for which they had no use whatsoever. There were in the fleet the Marqués de Montes Claros, going to be viceroy of Nueva España, and, as commander, Don Fulgencio de Meneses y Toledo; and on the eve of our father St. Dominic, twenty-five soldiers having gone ashore as a guard with an ensign in command, all those on board the fleet went ashore and mass was said as the religious had desired. After that, the religious and all the rest went to wash their clothes and to bathe themselves, of which there was great need. The sailors went to get wood and water. Being all more widely scattered than was proper, they failed to keep a proper lookout, when they ought to have been more on their guard against the peril which menaced them. The islanders, taking advantage of the opportunity to carry out their evil purpose, came down close to them, being hidden in the thick undergrowth of the mountain. They began to shoot arrows at the Spaniards when the Spaniards were not keeping a lookout, and when they themselves had the advantage. This they did so rapidly and in such numbers that it seemed as if it rained arrows. When the Indians were perceived many were already wounded, and much blood had been shed. The surprise and confusion threw the crew into a panic, and huddling together in a frightened group they fled, each man striving to put himselfin safety—one leaping into the boat to go back to the ship; another throwing himself into the sea, which was then regarded as more pitiful than the land; still another hiding himself among the trees and letting the savages pass as they shot their arrows at those whom they found ahead of them, and letting them pick up as spoils the clothes which he had been washing, or which were now being dried after the washing. Those who could do least to resist the attack of the islanders were the religious; and hence many of them fell wounded and others dead, for it was easier to draw their souls from them than to draw out the arrows. Three of them hid themselves in a thicket, where the Lord delivered them from a shower of arrows which were shot after them as they went to hide. Holding a little [image of] Christ in their hands, they begged him earnestly that he would blind the savages that they might not see them and might pass them by. The Lord heard them, and thus, though the islanders saw them hide themselves and shot many arrows after them, yet the arrows did not strike them; and the Indians, who are keener than mastiffs in discovering people, could not find them, though they passed the place where they were.
The wounded were: father Fray Juan Luis de Guete, a son of the convent of Preachers in Valencia, in whose spine an arrow was fastened, being stopped by the bone; father Fray Juan Naya, a son of the convent of San Pedro Martyr at Calatayud, who escaped with a wound in his arm where an arrow had passed through it; and father Fray Jacintho Calvo, who was struck twice. He was a son of the convent of La Peña de Francia, where in course oftime he hung up one of the arrows. The wounds were not so penetrating as to take their lives; but they made the fathers very happy because here, with this blessed beginning, they had begun to shed their blood for the Lord who had redeemed them with His own, and for the gospel which they were going to preach in His service. The religious who died there were six. They were so picked and selected among all the rest that, as they were the cream of all the others, it was plain that that which the islanders had doneen massewas, so far as concerned the Lord, a most particular providence of His who had directed the arrows against the best and the ripest of the religious that they might be offered as early fruit on the table of the supreme Father, as something in which one may safely assert that He takes much pleasure. Three of these holy martyrs were children of the most religious convent of Preachers in Valencia, which, as it is so prolific in saints, naturally had here the greater share. The first was father Fray Juan de Moratalla, a native of Murcia, a religious of noble example, great mortification, silence, modesty, and composure. [He was devoted to prayer and solitude, and to the good of others. The second was father Fray Vicente Palao Valenciano, a religious very precise in his observance of the rules, and such as a priest ought to be. The third was Fray Juan Martinez, a priest, an Aragonese, a religious of purest and holiest life. The fourth was Fray Juan Cano, a native of Burgo de Osma, a son of San Pablo de Valladolid, young in age, old in virtue. The fifth religious was Fray Pedro Moreno, a deacon, a native of Villalba, a son of the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, anda member of the most illustrious college of San Gregorio at Valladolid. He was devoted to prayer and to silent meditation. At his death the Lord wrought a miracle by enabling him to make his way to the seashore, where he died in prayer, and was afterward found beneath the water in the attitude of prayer. The sixth religious was Fray Jacintho de Cistenes, a son of the convent at Valencia, and a native of that noble city. He was young in age but venerable for his virtue. The Lord had revealed to him that he should die on the day of St. Lawrence, as he actually did, after suffering for some time from his mortal wound.39]