The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 37, 1669-1676 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

by Unknown

CHAPTER XIV

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

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

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