The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 32, 1640

Chapter XLI
Father Fray Angel leaves the city of Ucheo for the town of Fuhan, trusting solely in God; the success of his journey

[Father Fray Angel, knowing that there were some Christians in the village of Fuhan and the province of Funinchiu, decided to set out thither on foot. He met with no interference on the way. In Fuhan he found some Christians, and met Father Julio Aleni of the Society of Jesus. Like father Fray Angel, he was an Italian; and he showed the father much kindness. Here father Fray Angel made a number of conversions, and found everything promising for the future of Christianity in China. The Lord showed the father grace, for, though he was naturally weak, he received strength for many labors. He begged for a companion, saying in one of his letters which he wrote from Fuhan, December 24, 1632: “Laborers! laborers! laborers! for the harvest is ready and it is great.” There was sent him as companion father Fray Juan Baptista de Morales, a son of the convent of San Pablo de Ezija, for the province could spare no more.]

Chapter XLII
The lives and deaths of fathers Fray Marcos de Saavedra and Fray Juan Rodriguez

[January 6, 1631, died in the convent of Sancto Domingo father Fray Marcos de Saavedra, a native of Villamayor in the district of Veles, a son of Sancta Cruz at Villa Escusa in La Mancha. He left España in 1623, in which year he was ordained priest in Mexico. He was a minister in Nueva Segovia, and understood the language of the natives very perfectly. He composed in it a book of sermons for the whole year; and a grammar for those who might learn it later, abbreviating the old grammar. He was a devout and zealous religious, and patiently suffered the long illness which preceded his death.

On the seventh of May in this same year father Fray Juan Rodriguez departed from this wretched life for a happier one, in the convent of Sancto Domingo at Nueva Segovia. He was a native of the bishopric of Salamanca, and assumed the habit in the famous convent of San Estevan in that city. After he finished his course in arts and theology, he was assigned to the convent of Sancto Domingo in the city of Guadalaxara. He was a friar of exceptional devotion and received great favors from the holy Virgin and from St. Joseph and St. Dominic, who visited one of his penitents and directed his life. With the approbation of the Lord, father Fray Juan desired to go to the convent of the order in the town of Aranda de Duero, which was famous for its observance of the rule. Here he was master of the novices, and hence he was called by God to this province. He was sent to Nueva Segovia, where he learned the language of the natives, and within five months was able to preach to them in it. He was much beloved by the natives, and also by the religious, who all desired to be in his company. His devout and exemplary life edified all wherever he went. After he had been attacked by an illness which proved to be his last, he was sent with some Spanish soldiers to bring back some Christians Indians who were in the mountains, and who wished to return, but were prevented by their neighbors, who threatened them with death. In spite of his illness, he accepted the responsibility and went with the troops. The soldiers, growing impatient with the delay of the Indians, who feared them, desired to capture them with the aid of some friendly Indians who accompanied the expedition. The father, however, persuaded them to wait for another day; and after he had spent the night in prayer he succeeded by his gentleness and his arguments in persuading those Indians to give up their lost way of life and to return. There were in all more than one hundred and thirty persons. After his return his illness grew rapidly worse, and he died in the month of May.]

Chapter XLIII
A second expedition made by two fathers to the province of Sinay, otherwise known as Ytui, and the result of it

Eighty years had passed since Christianity was first planted in this country in the island of Luçon, the chief island of the Philippinas. From here it had spread to other islands; and in Luçon it had spread from one province to the next, for in this one island there are many nations and languages. Yet the province of Ytui⁴⁹– as we shall call it in future, since it is better known by that name – had not had the good fortune to receive regular preaching before this late date, namely, the beginning of the year thirty-three. This delay was not due to the fault of the natives, for they have often manifested a desire to receive the gospel, and have asked several religious orders for ministers to teach them; but to the fact that all the orders were so poor in ministers, on account of the great number of people whom they must aid. That country also is so rough and so difficult of access for the visitations of the superiors, that all the orders have avoided assuming the charge of it. For some years the order of the glorious father St. Francis sent religious there to cultivate it, but without any good result. They made a beginning, but could not carry it on – some of the fathers being taken away by death, and others leaving the region because of sickness. The natives have constantly persisted in their request for ministers of the gospel to teach them, and have been particularly urgent with our sacred order – because they have some commerce with the province of Pangasinan, which is in our charge; and because they know how much that is advanced in all matters, both temporal and spiritual, as a result of the labors of the fathers who minister to it, though the population was previously the most barbarous known in these islands. Once, some years ago, some chiefs came here to Manila during a chapter when a provincial was elected, to place their request before it. The fiscal of the king (who was also that of the royal Chancillería), Don Juan de Bracamonte, offered a petition to the definitors, supporting this request for ministers for that province, since the Indians were vassals of the king and paid him their tribute, and his Majesty was bound to provide them with Christian instruction. The answer was a hopeful one, saying that if his Majesty would send ministers from España they would then very readily be assigned to this duty, as he desired; but in the meantime the order could scarcely fulfil the requirements of the regions which they had already in charge, for the Indians were many and the ministers few. On another occasion when the father provincial of the province, Fray Baltasar Fort, was making his visitation to this province of Pangasinan, the inhabitants of Ytui learned of the fact; and there came to meet him, in a village called Calasiao, some thirty of the chief Indians of that country – among them he who was, as it were, their king. He brought with him his wife and his sister; and they proffered their request with much feeling and many tears, complaining of their misfortune that when they were so near – the provinces were about four days’ journey apart – they were not worthy to receive the fathers, though they had several times striven to obtain them with all possible urgency. The provincial could but feel pity when he saw these heathen Indians becoming preachers to us, in so urgently persuading the preachers to come and teach them the law of God; yet he was totally unable to give them what they asked, but gave them his promise that he would do so as soon as possible. They returned to their country with this answer, very disconsolate. Father Fray Thomas Gutierrez – a minister who was then in Pangasinan and of whom an account will be given later – learned of this, and volunteered to undertake an expedition thither. A second father, Fray Juan Luis de Guete, offered to go as his companion. The father provincial granted their request, in spite of the need of them that would be felt in the posts which they left; but he commanded them that they should go at this time simply to explore the country, and should return within a few days to report their opinions to him, according to the impression made upon them by the natives. They did this, and went about through the villages of the province, setting up in the public squares large crosses, to the great delight of the Indians; this act was a token that the fathers took possession of them for the Lord who was crucified on the cross. That the devil might begin to give up his ancient possession of the natives, the fathers taught them the worship which they should perform, and some prayers out of the “Christian Doctrine” translated into the language of Pangasinan. That language they half understood, though it was different from their own. They understood it all so well that they immediately began to say the prayers they knew, around the crosses, seated on cane benches which they made for the purpose – two of them intoning the prayer, and the rest repeating it. With these excellent beginnings, which gave proof of the fitness of the soil for receiving the seed of the faith, the two explorers returned to report to their superior as he had commanded them, and offered themselves anew to return to that region. The provincial, when he heard their report, was not unwilling to grant their pious desires, although it seemed that these were contrary to what the strength of the province could sustain. So trusting in the power of God, and with the permission and benediction of the father provincial, they prepared themselves for the return; but they were interfered with by someone who disturbed them by indiscreet zeal, for the devil sometimes appears clothed in the garments of an angel of light. The project was not carried out, but not from the fault of the order or of its sons, who are not accustomed to be slothful before such opportunities. Perhaps those peoples were not yet ready in the sight of God for that which they desired; for in such matters the what, the when, and the how are understood by God alone and are determined according to His divine foreknowledge. The natives of Ytuy were not weary of being persistent in presenting their requests, as in such matters it is well to be. It happened that in the month of December in the year 1632 the father provincial, Fray Francisco de Herrera (now commissary general of the Holy Office for all these Philipinas Islands), was traveling in that region on his visitation to the province of Pangasinan. The natives of Ytuy, who must have had scouts to inform them, learned of this; and there immediately came in search of him some twenty-four Indians, four or six of them being leading chiefs in the province. In the name of all the rest of the natives, they put forward their old request. He did not make them the answer which they had received before – “Wait, wait again;” but gave his instant approval, drawing strength from the weakness of the province – which, in the matter of laborers, is great for such a harvest as it has upon its hands, and as it sees every day increasing; and which, therefore, has to pass by much for lack of ability to achieve it all. The father who seemed most suited for this mission was father Fray Thomas Gutierrez, who some years before had filled the office of explorer in this country. His companion was father Fray Juan de Arjona,⁵⁰ a son of the convent of San Pablo de Cordova – a man of middle age, but of more than middling spirit. They both took up the enterprise with great delight, without any objections or requests; and went back with the Indians who had come thence, taking no larger outfit than was absolutely necessary to equip them for the journey. This chapter will give a brief account of the events of the journey and their arrival at Ytuy, drawn from a letter written by both fathers and dated at Ytuy January 21, 1633. The letter was directed to the father provincial, and contains the following narrative:

They left Pangasinan for Ytuy December 6, 1632, the day of St. Nicholas the bishop; and since there is but little communication between the two countries – none at all, in fact, except that occasionally some natives on each side visit the other – there is no open road from one to the other, since the Indians have no need of one, making their way like deer through the thickets of the mountains. By their account, the journey takes four days; but this is estimated by their mode of travel, which is twice as rapid as ours. Father Fray Thomas was so eager to reach that region that he even wished to make the journey shorter, and he asked the Indians if they did not know some short cut. One of them responded that he did; the father asked him to guide them, and they all followed him. This was in an evil hour, for the short cut did nothing but to increase their labor, as it took them out of their way. The journey occupied nine days, over mountains and across valleys, and through rivers, streams, and marshes, which they came upon at every step – for the guide did not know where he was going, and yet they were obliged to follow him. The provision which they carried was but for a few days, since they did not expect so long a journey, and they carried it all on their own shoulders that they might not burden the Indians. Since the journey took twice as long as they had expected, they became very hungry, and thus suffered much, hunger being added to exhaustion. The sky was not kind to them on their journey, for it rained constantly on all these days and they had no protection; and the ground was as cruel, for the thickets abounded with leeches who attached themselves to the faces, the hands, and the feet of the travelers, and drew blood like a physician’s blood-letting. The Indians were not distressed by any of these things, or by the necessity of carrying the fathers on their shoulders across rivers or very bad places in the road, which shows the pleasure and affection with which they were taking the religious to their country. The fathers endured this no less well, being certain that they were not putting into a torn sack what they suffered for God.

They derived some relief from their sufferings from one happy circumstance provided them by God, who seemed to have designed all these wanderings. This was that in the midst of these wildernesses they found a tiny village of Christian Indians; for this jurisdiction was under the charge of other ministers, but was very little visited by them, since it was at so great a distance and over so rough a road. They baptized two children, and heard the confessions of some adults – among them that of a woman who had not confessed for some years, having no one to confess to. Though she seemed well and healthy, she died that same day. This was a marked token of her predestination. They finally reached the principal village of the province, which is called Ytui, and takes its name from the village. The Indians received them with great demonstrations of joy, after their manner; and they remained there for eight days resting, and receiving visits from all the villages in the province, who sent ambassadors to bid them welcome with some presents of the fruits of the country. They set out afterwards to visit all the villages in it. Great and small, they visited eleven, that they might become acquainted with the temper of the Indians. In all they were received with the same tokens of pleasure. From what they saw and learned from the Indians, they had much to say in their report of the excellence of the country. They said that it was cool, so that by day the sun’s heat was pleasant at times, and a covering was agreeable at night. This is something new in these islands, which have the fault of being very hot. They reported that the country was so fertile that when Indians desired to plant their rice they only burn over a part of the mountain⁵¹ and, without any further plowing or digging, they make holes with a stick in the soil, and drop some grains of rice in them. This was their manner of sowing; and, after covering the rice with the same earth, they obtained very heavy crops. They said that some good fruits grew there, and that in their opinion that country would yield all the fruits of Spain, if the seeds of the latter were planted. There were, they affirmed, pleasant valleys with quiet rivers and streams in them from which the natives obtain some gold, and that the Indians are wont to wear golden earrings. They are not acquainted with silver, and do not care for it. They have no sort of money, so that all their sales and purchases are carried on by barter. They keep their villages very clean and in good condition – a new thing among the Indians. They also remarked that there was great fraternity between different villages. This is something even more unusual, for generally these nations live after the law of “Might makes right” [viva quien vence], at the expense of their heads. Hence these Indians walk alone over their roads without fear of being injured or robbed, for they are very safe in this respect – so much so that they leave the rice which they gather, each one in his own field, heaped up in the spike and covered with straw. They go there and carry what they want to their houses, to grind and eat, without fearing that anyone will take what is not his. They readily offered all their infants to the fathers to be baptized, so that within about three months, during which the religious went about visiting the villages, they baptized some four hundred. It would have been the same with the adults, if it had not been necessary to prepare them with the catechism. The fathers have been slow in this, because they have been obliged to translate the prayers into the native language, of which they have not a good command. They are spending their time in learning it, and on this account and no other are delayed in beginning baptism. In order that so few ministers may be able to teach the Indians, it is necessary to bring them together into a smaller number of villages, conveniently arranged so that the people may be visited and helped in their necessities. Since the country is very mountainous, the fathers have determined to bring and gather them in large settlements, at sites convenient for their fields, near a river which rises in this country, and which, increased by others, grows to be a very large stream, crossing the whole of Nueva Segovia to the ocean.⁵² This river, on account of its fish (upon which most of the Indians live), is also of great value to them. This is the only point as to which they are somewhat obstinate, because they are greatly grieved to leave their ancient abode. However, most of them have accepted it, and it is hoped that the rest will come, and in this way in a short time much will be gained by the aid of the Lord. Through the mountains next to this province, which are many and very rough, there wander a tribe of Indians known as Alegueses, a vagabond people having no settled places of abode. Father Fray Thomas sent word to them by an Indian chief of Ytuy that if they wished to come and settle one of the new sites which he indicated, he would receive them there as sons, and do them all the good he could. They answered in the affirmative, and he waited for them for some time; but before they came the holy man finished his days, full of years and of heroic works, as will soon be seen. This is the work which these apostolic men of God accomplished in only three months, as appears from the aforesaid report. They conclude their report with another case similar to that referred to above, of the woman who died so soon after she had confessed. In the goings-out and comings-in of the fathers among the Indians that they might become acquainted with them, they found in one village, called Palar, a very aged Indian woman who was dying. She had eaten nothing for five days. Father Fray Thomas went to see her, and began to talk with her of becoming a Christian for the salvation of her soul. He expounded to her briefly what she had to believe, and called upon her to repent of her sins. She answered as well as might be desired, and he accordingly baptized her on that day, which was the last day of her earthly life and the first day of her Christian one. It was a happy day, so far as can be judged; for, being newly baptized, she had merely to be recorded in purgatory. Not only in these new provinces where the dawn of the gospel’s light now begins to shine do extraordinary cases happen like those which have been mentioned, to the great glory of God and the joy of his ministers; but they also occur in many others where the dawn has risen high but has not yet bathed all the horizon, though it is covering it, little by little. From the province of Nueva Segovia father Fray Geronimo de Zamora,⁵³ a native of the city of Zaragoça, wrote me a letter dated February 25, 1633. In it are these words: “Before Lent I went up the river of Mandayas” (this is the name of a part of that province), “to try to teach many Indians who were without Christian instruction in heathen darkness, but who paid tribute to the king our lord as his vassals, without even being sons of the Church. I asked them if I might visit them, and they received my request kindly and asked that I or some other father should remain among them. In token of the heartiness of their wish, they gave me, as a sort of hostages, ten sons of their chiefs to be baptized; and after having sufficiently instructed them, I baptized them, to the great joy and delight of my soul. I hope in God that in this way thousands of them may be redeemed from the power of the devil, for there is no one who will declare that they are not his.” He afterward asked aid from his neighbors to draw the net which was laden with so many fish as are promised by the casts already made there. Many are needed, but we may say here, “Where are those good men?”

It is not to be understood that only these new events are the good ones, or that among Christians who have been so for some time there are but few occurrences to rouse joy. This is not the case, for there are so many which have occurred among these latter that a very large book might be made of the account of them, if it were necessary to report what has happened hitherto, and what happens every day anew, to the holy old ministers of the gospel who have been and are among them, whose beards have grown, and whose hair has become white among the Indians. They are good witnesses to this truth, and to the growth that the Spirit is wont to cause in these clods of earth. As for those who grow weary quickly and leave the ministry, there is no necessity to say anything. It is certain that among those who have been Christians steadily for years there are fewer dangers; yet the care of them is of no less merit, and consequently the reward will be no less, since, as King David has well said (I Kings, xxx), Aequa pars erit descendentis ad praelium et remanentis ad sarcinas, et similiter divident.⁵⁴

Here in Manila the order has under its care a hospital for the Chinese, in which the sick of that nation are cared for. The province may place this at the head of its possessions, since there is scarcely a day in which some soul or souls of newly baptized do not pass to heaven. Very few are they who die without baptism, and very many are they who give their souls to God before the baptismal waters are dry on their heads. This is accomplished with so little effort on the part of the minister that it calls upon him only to make a little effort, and to go from his cell to the infirmary. I do not know whether there is any other hospital in Christendom of the character of this hospital, its principal end being the cure of souls, while for the cure of bodies it has its physician, its medicines, and everything needed within its gates, besides the food and the dainties called for by the palates of the sick. The effects of the divine predestination which are beheld in it are so many that they are almost ordinary, and are therefore not mentioned.

[In Japon the persecution was increasing in fierceness, and very few letters were received. One of these, from father Fray Domingo de Erquicia, gives an account of the death of the emperor and the succession of his son, who was even more cruel than the father.⁵⁵ He tells of the deaths over a slow fire of a father of the order of the calced Augustinians, and of two discalced; of a Japanese Franciscan priest of the tertiary order, and of a Franciscan brother; and of a Japanese father of the Society of Jesus – the remains of all being burned, and the ashes cast into the sea. On another occasion two Augustinian Recollects were burned. Two Franciscan fathers were captured, while two Dominicans were hidden in caves or cisterns, and did not see the sun or the moon for many days. From a Dominican at Macao, Fray Antonio del Rosario, testimony was received as to the great achievements of father Fray Domingo Erquicia.]