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

Chapter XXIV
A mission sent by the province to Japon, and the result of it

[Though the province rejoiced in having so many glorious martyrs, it was grieved to see the preachers of the holy gospel in Japon come to an end, for without them it was impossible for the faith to be continued. These true sons of our father St. Dominic strove therefore to fill up the number of those who, after having fought valorously, had departed to heaven with the crown of martyrdom. The project was one of great difficulty. The law directed that not only the preachers should be burnt to death, but that all those who brought them should suffer the like penalty, and that the vessels and cargo should be confiscated. The Dutch and English heretics watched with great care to see if any religious attempted to enter the kingdom. The emperor decreed that a registry should be kept of all on board the vessels which came to the kingdom. And finally there were many, even in Catholic countries, who for the sake of trade with Japon endeavored to prevent the religious from going to that country. The commerce of that kingdom with the Philippinas Islands had been almost destroyed, so that the very archbishop himself endeavored to prevent preachers from going from these islands to Japon. They were even more rigorous in Macan. But the holy martyrs from their prisons sent back calls for religious to aid the Japanese in their extreme spiritual need. Hence in the year 1623 the superiors of three religious orders determined to buy a ship, and to give large pay to the pilot and the sailors to take the religious to Japon. The risk of death was great in Japon, and scarcely less in these islands, because the voyage was contrary to the will and the command of the governor. Finally, ten priests were embarked – four from our order, four Franciscans, and two Augustinian Recollects. Many obstacles were placed in the way of the journey, but the voyage finally took place. The province sent of its best: father Fray Diego de Rivera,³² a son of the convent of San Pablo at Cordova who was at the time teaching theology, as he had done for many years in the college in Manila; father Fray Domingo de Erquicia, who was at that time the principal preacher in Manila; father Fray Lucas del Espiritu Sancto, lecturer in arts in the aforesaid college; and father Fray Luis Beltran or Exarch, minister to the Chinese and the Indians. They suffered much on the voyage. They followed the course by the Babuyanes and the islands of the Lequios, from which they were driven by a storm to the coast of China, where they took on water and wood at a point named Sombor. They tried to make port to get fresh ship-stores, but were attacked by the Chinese. Father Fray Diego de Ribera was shot in the leg, by accident, by one of his own men, and finally died. On the nineteenth of June they landed in Satzuma, and were directed to go to Nangasaqui. They immediately set about learning the language, and had been there but a short time when the emperor issued a decree expelling all the Spaniards who had come to Japon from Manila. The fathers pretended to return to Macan, but left the vessel to come back secretly to Nangasaqui. The persecution was going on, seventy persons being martyred in 1623 – among them father Fray Francisco Galvez,³³ a Franciscan; and Father Geronimo de los Angeles, a Jesuit. Father Fray Pedro Bazquez was taken prisoner; and, as the other fathers had not yet learned the language, all the labors of the Dominican order fell upon father Fray Domingo Castellet. The fathers encouraged the Japanese, a number of whom confessed bravely and suffered death by burning, among them being some of noble birth. The accounts of matters in Japon during this period are drawn in the main from the letters of father Fray Domingo de Erquicia. The fathers were obliged to be most secret, to go from house to house by night, and to expose themselves to cold and snow. What happened to this father and his companion was not known here until August in this year 1626. We turn from the account of the works of these fathers to give a narrative of the experience of some who had been in Japon longer, and who had thus far escaped martyrdom. One was Fray Pedro Vasquez, a son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha at Madrid; and the other Fray Domingo Castellet, a son of the convent of Sancta Catalina Martir at Barcelona. As the persecution advanced, the Portuguese who lived in the kingdom were expelled from it.]

Chapter XXV
The harvest reaped in Japon by the holy father Fray Pedro Vazquez; his life and virtues

[The holy Fray Pedro Vazquez was born in Berin in the kingdom of Galicia, in the county of Monterrey. He assumed the habit in the famous convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha at Madrid, and studied arts and theology in the royal convents of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, and Sancto Thomas at Avila. He came to the Philippinas with the second body of religious which I brought over, the first having come in 1613. His first work in the Philippinas Islands was in Nueva Segovia, where he reaped a great harvest. When the news of the happy death of the holy martyr Fray Alonso Navarrete reached him, he strove to be permitted to go to Japon, and after two years received license to do so. The ship arrived in Nangasaqui after a voyage of only eleven days. This was on the twenty-second of July, 1621. Hearing of the great number of martyrdoms, he strove with all his might to learn the language, until he knew enough of it to go to the prisons and confess the prisoners, as he did boldly. Within one year he heard the confessions of more than seven thousand persons.]

Chapter XXVI
A more detailed account of the imprisonment of the holy Fray Pedro Bazquez, the time while it lasted, and the sufferings which he endured in it; and finally his glorious martyrdom, in company with four other martyrs

[When father Fray Domingo Castellet had finished the interment of the relics of the holy martyr Fray Luis Flores, and father Fray Pedro was speaking with him in somewhat loud tones, two heathen officers happened to hear them speaking Spanish. They arrested father Fray Pedro, but father Fray Domingo escaped. They offered to let the father go for a bribe, which he refused to give them; and he suffered greatly in prison. The Christians mourned and grieved when they saw that he was arrested. He was taken to the prison of Omura, where the holy Fray Luis Sotelo was in prison. Here they were happy in each other’s company, though the imprisonment was very severe. Finally the servant of God and his four companions, Father Miguel Caraballo, father Fray Luis Sotelo, and two Japanese Franciscans, were taken from prison and burnt, intoning the litany during their sufferings. In spite of the care of the officers, some small relics of the holy martyrs were rescued by father Fray Domingo Castellet.]

Chapter XXVII
The election as provincial of father Fray Bartholome Martinez, and the deaths of some religious

On the nineteenth of April, 1625, the vigil of the glorious virgin St. Inez de Monte Policiano, the fathers having votes assembled for the election of a provincial, since father Fray Miguel Ruiz had finished his term. On the first ballot the votes were divided almost equally, since there were so many religious worthy of the post as to cause difficulty in the selection. But this did not last long, for on the second ballot those who had the largest number of ballots withdrew, and father Fray Bartholome Martinez was unanimously elected. He had been vicar of the Parian of the Chinese, and was their special minister. He was recognized by all, both religious and laymen, as worthy of this or of greater offices, because of his great virtue, learning, prudence, and devotion. At the same time no one had talked about or even thought of such a choice, because, in truth, there were many others who well deserved the post and who were much older than he. The Lord, who does not look at these exterior things alone, but at the heart and the soul, turned their eyes upon this father as upon another David, so that by being placed in a post of government he might do great things. It was the Lord who caused them all, as if moved by a spirit from above, to elect him with great good-will, and with general applause from within and without the order, all recognizing the hand of the Lord in a choice which was at once so wise and so far from the thoughts of all. In particular, the archbishop of this city was greatly pleased with it, for he knew well the great virtues of the person chosen, and sent to give his most special congratulations to the fathers. Father Fray Bartholome was a son of the famous convent of San Estevan at Salamanca. He was a great theologian, and a man of superior virtue, devotion to the rules of the order, and mortification. He underwent many extraordinary sufferings. Some were voluntarily assumed, and although these were many, they were (as we shall see afterwards) easier to bear because voluntary. At the same time, it was necessary to train and try him for much which the Lord desired to work through his means; and hence the Lord gave permission to the devil to torment him – so severely that, when he was still very young, his hair grew white. In the first year of this assault he lost his strength, and was dying without suffering from any other disease. He was living in the convent of novices in Salamanca, and revealed his sufferings to his confessor and spiritual master alone. This was the holy Fray Diego de Alderete. He, being of much experience in such sufferings, consoled and encouraged him, but commanded him not to speak of the matter with any person. This direction he observed so carefully that it was never possible to learn any more than these general facts, although there must have been many very remarkable things which, if known, would have been highly edifying. But he, striving for more humility, and obeying the order to keep silence, never revealed them, and no one else ever knew them. He was seen to be growing weaker, being without strength and without health, and when he was taken to the infirmary the physicians corroborated what all knew with regard to the danger in which he was; but they were never able to find out the cause, since it was beyond the limits of their science. All this, and much more which was added to it, was necessary, and helped him much to bear the bitter hardships which in time he suffered, and which would have broken his heart. Our Lord conducted father Fray Bartholome through all his life by a way of suffering, and in suffering he ended it – as will be narrated in due time, when we reach the year of our Lord 1629, when his virtue and his abstinence will be specially treated. During his term as provincial, the province lost by death several religious of superior qualities, and suffered from several insurrections of villages. Both of these things were severely felt in a region where the religious are so few that the loss of a single one is a notable loss; and where all energy is turned toward converting souls, so that the perdition of a single one causes great sorrow. For these sufferings our Lord brought some comfort in the martyrdom of some sons of the province, and in the extension of the holy gospel to the island of Hermosa.

[Among the religious who died at this time was father Fray Francisco de Cabrera, vicar of San Miguel de Nasiping; he was a native of Carmona, and a son of the convent at San Lucar, whence he was sent to pass his novitiate in Sancto Domingo at Xerez. He was stationed in Nueva Segovia and was an exemplary minister. His name is honorably mentioned on the records of the chapter in the year 1625. At the same provincial chapter honorable mention was made of father Fray Pedro Blazquez, vicar of the convent of Manavag. He was a native of Marchena in Andalucia. He assumed the habit of the order in the famous convent of San Pablo at Sevilla and was sent as a collegiate to Almagro. He left his convent of Sevilla to come to this province in 1613, and was regarded by those who accompanied him as a saint. On the fifteenth of May, 1624, died father Fray Thomas Vilar. He was a native of Castellon de la Palana in the kingdom of Valencia, where he assumed the habit. He was sent to the college of the order in Origuela, and came to the Philippinas in 1601. He was assigned to the province of Nueva Segovia, and afterwards was appointed rector of the college of Sancto Thomas at Manila. In the following November, as fathers Fray Miguel de San Jacintho (a man who was twice provincial) and Fray Diego de Toro, vicar of San Jacintho at Camalaniogan in Nueva Segovia, testify, a marvel happened in the village of Apari,³⁴ a port in that province in the district of Camalaniogan. A fire occurred here one night, and a sea breeze was sweeping it throughout the village, when the vicar, taking in his hands the little image of our Lady of the Rosary which they were accustomed to carry in the processions, made a vow and turned it toward the fire, when the wind immediately died down and the fire began to go out.]

Chapter XXVIII
Father Fray Juan de Rueda and de los Angeles, who died a martyr

[Father Fray Juan de Rueda was a native of the mountains of Burgos, and had assumed the habit in San Pablo at Valladolid, whence he came to the Philippinas in the year 1603, being sent, as soon as he arrived, to the kingdom of Japon. Here he assumed the name of Fray Juan de los Angeles. When the priests were banished, father Fray Juan was one of those who remained in hiding to aid and fortify the Christians there. In 1619 he came to Manila in order to obtain more religious. He reaped a great harvest in Arima. He was devoted to the holy rosary. He translated into Japanese the devotion of the holy rosary while he was in Manila. His anxiety to return was such that he strove to make his way back by the islands of the Lequios, where his arguments in favor of Christianity convinced those who heard them that he was a Spanish priest. He was therefore imprisoned for a time in an island called Avaguni, where he profaned a thicket which was dedicated to an idol, and for this suffered death, but on what day was never known.

While this provincial chapter was being held in Manila, there died in Nueva Segovia father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, a native of Caceres in Estremadura. He was a son of the convent of San Estevan at Salamanca. He volunteered for the Philippinas in 1594, and in Mexico was elected a superior of the company, the vicar who had led them having died; he was assigned to Nueva Segovia. He was a most devoted minister, a diligent student of the language of that nation, and a most zealous and devoted religious. He prayed the Lord that he might not die a superior, and his prayer was granted; for after he had been vicar of many convents, vicar-provincial of Nueva Segovia, prior of the convent of Manila, and twice provincial of the province, the Lord called him to himself when he was living in Masi, one of the first villages which he converted. He died suddenly, on the twenty-fifth of April. The Indians of the villages of Abulug, Masi, Pata, and Cabacungan gave him the most costly funeral honors within their power, and made up a subscription for more than five hundred masses, which at four reals apiece come to more than two thousand. This they did as a token of their great love for him, and the great debt which they owed him for bringing them to the Catholic faith.]

On the eighth of June, the first Sunday after the most Holy Trinity, a great misfortune occurred in the revolt of some Indians of the province of Nueva Segovia. Turning their backs on the faith, they gave it up and fled to the mountains – a thing which caused great grief to the ministers of the holy gospel. In that province, above a village named Abulug, near a river which comes down from the mountain, two villages had been formed by gathering the inhabitants together. They were called Nuestra Señora del Rossario de Fotol, as has been recounted in this history, and San Lorenço de Capinatan. In the latter there lived some Indians known as Mandayas, a wild and fierce tribe whose native abode was in mountainous places about the bay of Bigan in Ylocos. The religious ministered to them and assisted them in their necessities, taught them the law of God, and baptized many people, for these people generally asked holy baptism from them. Their evil nature, which was perverse and restless, and their affection for their ancient places of abode so attracted them that it seemed as if in that village they were caught fast by the hair. Three times they endeavored to escape to the mountains; and though they were prevented twice, and their efforts came to nothing, this last time they so planned their attempt, and kept it so secret, that they carried out their evil purpose. With this object, they stirred up the old inhabitants of Capinatan, and persuaded those of Fotol, bringing them to join them by means of threats and prayers. Some of the people of Fotol became so obstinate that they were worse than the Mandayas, the first movers of the insurrection. Afterward the Mandayas who were in Capinatan rose; and two of them, Don Miguel Lanab and another chief named Alababan, set the enterprise in motion by going to the church to speak to the religious who was there at the time. This was father Fray Alonso Garcia,³⁵ a son of the convent of San Pablo at Valladolid, who had said a first mass in the village of Fotol, and a second in Capinatan, and was now at dinner with brother Fray Onofre Palao, a lay religious from the convent of Manila. They were seated at their meal in a little corridor of the house. Their assailants came up, and each one standing beside the religious whom he was to decapitate, they made a pretense of asking permission to go to some villages on their ancient lands. Father Fray Alonso, who had but recently come, referred the request to the regular minister of the village, and asked them to wait till he should come, because he was in another village. At this point Alababan raised his arm, and with his balanao or knife he struck such a blow on the neck of Fray Onofre that he cut off his head to the backbone, leaving it hanging by only a little bit of skin. Don Miguel Lanab, who had not acted so promptly, lifted his knife, and father Fray Alonso naturally raised his hand to protect his head. The knife cut through this and the blow went on and reached his head. Father Fray Alonso rose from the table and fell on his knees like a gentle lamb; and the Mandaya traitor repeated the blow, giving him another on the head. The Indian boys who served at the table began to scream; and the transgressors, that they might not be caught in so perfidious an act, made their escape. Some Indians who were ignorant of the conspiracy came, and took father Fray Alonso to the house of a chief, where some medicines were applied to the wound. As they were preparing a barge in which to take him down to the village of Abulug, the Mandayas came, and prevented them from doing so by threats. They took him back to the house of the chieftainess: and while father Fray Alonso was exhorting the people to come back to obedience, and expounding to them the evil of which they were guilty in apostatizing from the faith, three Mandayas came in, and with their keen balanaos or knives cut to pieces the confessor of Christ. They afterward threw out the pieces from the house, to be eaten by the swine who were there. As a result of this atrocious deed, the Mandayas rose in a body and roused the Capinatas; and, coming down to Fotol, they forced the people there by menaces to flee with them to the mountains. They set fire to the churches, and, as members of Satan, they defiled them by a thousand sacrileges. They struck off the head of a Christ, and cut the body down the middle, dividing it into two parts, which were afterward found by the religious who came to bring them back to obedience. The religious buried these, the uprising of the Mandayas (of whose severe punishment we shall soon hear) allowing no opportunity for anything else. With regard to Fray Alonso Garcia, several matters worthy of remark were noted. The first was this. Some months before, while he was living in the convent in Capinatan, he one night had put himself into the posture of prayer in the dormitory, with his breviary in his hand. At this time the convent was disturbed by an imp who caused so much trouble that he would not give the religious any rest, and from whose visitations there was not in all the convent any place that was free. He disturbed them in the dormitory, he made a noise in the cells, he feigned the noise of a struggle in the church; and sometimes he let himself fall with a clatter that was heard in the village, and he would throw himself down from the choir. He used to walk up and down in the church, and he made his appearance in the larders, where he broke all the plates there were; he made a noise under the beds, and struck the heads of the bedsteads; and sounded the strings of a harp which they had for use at masses on some feasts. This disturbance lasted until the breaking-out of the uprising, and must have been a prognostication of it, and a sign of what the devil was devising to disquiet the Christians of this village. Now while father Fray Alonso was praying, the imp came to him, invisible to everyone in the dormitory, and struck the father a heavy blow, so that he felt pain in the same hand and wrist, in the place where the blow afterward fell which cut it off. This was the first of the things referred to. The second was that he thought so little of himself, and had so little confidence in his own works, that he was accustomed to say that if he did not die by some fortunate blow which should take away his life and despatch him to heaven, he did not know whether he should go there. This he said because of his humility, and the event was as he said.

Another matter was that, although father Fray Alonso was not a very skilful linguist, and not one of those who had made the greatest progress in speaking the language of that tribe, yet when he was wounded by the first blows and was urging the Indians not to flee, and telling them of the harm which would come to them if they did so, he spoke with such elegance and precision that the Indians were amazed to hear him; and they noted this as a striking fact at the time, and told of it afterward. He was very charitable, and was in the habit of praising all and of speaking of the defects of himself alone. He came to the Philippinas in the year 1622, and lived in the province of Nueva Segovia – where, in his third year, he met with the happy death which keen knives, directed by hands of apostates from the faith, bring to ministers of the holy gospel. The intermediate chapter of 1628 made mention of these two religious in the following words: “In the province of Nueva Segovia father Fray Alonso Garcia, a priest, and brother Fray Onofre Palao, a lay brother, died happily by the hands of impious apostates, an uprising of the Indians to whom they ministered having occurred.” In the place where father Fray Alonso was cut to pieces, there was afterward raised in his honor a small shrine. The Indians were brought back in the following year, and this tribe used devoutly to frequent this shrine. The dwelling of the religious had stood where Fray Onofre had been killed, and here it was erected again. Since the first building was burned, it was supposed that the fire had consumed his body at the same time – although some Spaniards have some small bones which they value, believing that these are his, because they found them where he was decapitated.