The journey of the father provincial, Fray Juan de Castro, and of father Fray Miguel de Venavides to the kingdom of China.
[The unexpected success of the mission to the province of Pangasinan encouraged the father provincial to undertake the mission to China which had been the principal object of their departure from España. He was the more desirous to carry out his purpose of undertaking the conversion of this kingdom, because of the superior intelligence of the people, and the readiness to accept the faith which had been shown by the Chinese in Manila. His determination was confirmed by visions seen by father Fray Luis Gandullo. In April, 1590, the provincial laid his plans before the religious of the province and with their consent undertook his journey. He appointed father Fray Diego de Soria as procurator of the province, to represent it in España and at Roma. He designated as superior of the province, with all his own authority in his absence, father Fray Juan Cobo. To take the place of this father in the mission to the Chinese in Manila he designated father Fray Juan de San Pedro Martyr. After making these arrangements, he selected as his own companion father Fray Miguel de Venavides; and, with the approval of the bishop and the governor of the islands, he began to make arrangements for his voyage. This was very difficult to do, because of the strict and severe laws of the Chinese empire against admitting foreigners. Finally, however, two courageous Chinese, Don Thomas Seiguan, a ship-captain who had been converted at Manila, and another Chinese known as Don Francisco, agreed to run the risk of taking the fathers to China. At the very outset, the miraculous nature of the voyage was shown by the fact that the devil whom the sailors consulted with regard to the success of the voyage would not give his ordinary responses, being frightened away by the presence of the servants of the true God. As soon as they reached the coast of China, the two religious were arrested by officers who searched the ship, manacled, and taken to the city of Hayteng, the chief port of China. The venerable age of Fray Miguel de Venavides, and his ability to speak the Chinese language, caused him to be treated with kindness and respect; but the provincial received much abuse and violence. After being in prison for a time in a temple of the goddess of the sea, whom they called Neoma, they were taken before the tribunal. The judge was a man of great dignity and gravity, and around him stood twelve grave personages in ample robes with flowing sleeves, their rank being distinguished by a certain difference in their hats. Father Fray Miguel answered the question why they had come to that country with great boldness and frankness, declaring that they had come to teach and to preach the true religion of the Christians in that kingdom, and that in it only and in no other was salvation to be found. When they said “teach,” the judge without waiting for another word replied, Bo ly, which in their language means, “You are wrong;” and without further delay they were remanded to prison. The temple being flooded, they were removed to a hut near the wall of the city, where they suffered from want and were exposed to rain and wind. The provincial was taken ill, and twice almost died. The Lord, however, moved the heart of a rich and noble captain, who had been twice at Manila, to give them a refuge in his house. Here they set up an altar where they celebrated mass, the sacramental wine being miraculously preserved. The two Chinamen who had brought them over were severely punished. Don Thomas was about to be flogged, but at the intercession of the religious, who begged that they might receive the punishment in his place, he was spared this part of his chastisement, being condemned for life to serve in the army—which is regarded in China as a great dishonor, and brings with it much hardship. False charges were brought against the religious, that they had come as Spanish spies; and these charges were supported by false testimony and by forged papers. Father Miguel, by the help of God, was enabled to write his petitions in the court language of that country, to the great surprise of the officials. Finally the judges set the religious free, commanding them to depart from the realm, as foreigners. This they were obliged to do after some days, feeling that their presence there would do no good. The father provincial was greatly impressed by the dignity, composure, sound judgment, and superior intelligence of the Chinese magistrate. As he had seen the leading personages of both Españas, and had been acquainted with the court of the prudent King Felipe, he was qualified to form an opinion of the merits of this judge.]
Chapter XXX
Events in the province during the absence of the provincial in China
[Great was the loneliness felt by the province during the absence of the provincial, because of his holy life and the love they felt for him. Father Fray Juan Cobo, though not wholly equal to the provincial, was a man of great ability and great devotion. His first act was to strengthen the ministry to the Chinese, by appointing to it father Fray Domingo de Nieva, an able and virtuous religious, and a perfect master of both the Chinese and the Indian languages. He labored and wrote much in both of them, to the great advantage of the ministers who succeeded him and of his own disciples. He suffered all his life long with a severe headache, which began to afflict him in youth and never left him till his death. Father Fray Juan Cobo also appointed to the hospital of the Chinese brother Fray Pedro Rodriguez, a lay religious of much charity, who found his delight and his spiritual profit in serving the sick. Though he was not the founder of the hospital, he was the cause of its great increase. He restored and rebuilt it two or three times, as was necessary, because it had been built at first very poorly, and hence was very frail and not durable. At this time a fire broke out in the village of Baybay. A wooden cross fastened in the gable of a house was miraculously preserved from burning. The power of God was exhibited in marvelous incidents connected with the baptism of several children.]
Father Fray Juan Cobo went on a visitation of the province, and found the religious in the district of Bataan suffering no little discomfort, because they could not visit the Indians who were in it without great hardship and risk to their health. The reason was that the Indians lived in hamlets so distant one from another that it was often necessary to travel six leguas when they were called to confess a sick person. As the number of Christians kept increasing, they were called more and more often. The roads were very bad and marshy, which increased the difficulty and made it more certain that the ministers would suffer from disease. He planned to arrange them in such a manner that the ministers could visit them better and with less hardship; and gathered several little villages into others somewhat larger, placing in the midst of all the two chief villages, Aboucay and Samal, which were the places where the ministers resided, and from which they went out to serve the neighboring places. There was some difficulty in carrying out the plan, but God our Lord showed that He was pleased with it, not only by making easy for them that which they asked from Him so much to their own good, but by giving them several very fertile years, those that had preceded having been so barren that they scarcely yielded enough for the tribute. The crops were now very abundant, giving the Indians enough to eat and something to sell; and they began to lift up their heads, having hitherto lived in great poverty. The health of the district was also greatly improved, and many more of their sick were cured than before the religious came. Both of these results came from the better years which the Lord had given them, because as a result of these they had better sustenance and fewer sicknesses. To this happy result the hospitals also contributed, which had been established by the religious, as did also the care which the religious took that the sick should not lack anything needed for their care and sustenance—of which there had previously been a very great want, so that fewer had recovered. As they experienced these benefits which had come to them with the religious, they came to love the latter very much; and with their love for them they came afterwards easily to a change of heart, which at first they had greatly opposed. The religious were a great help to them, not only in spiritual matters (which was the principal thing), but also in everything else, providing seed every year for those who had none, and greatly increasing the arable land above what they had had previously. The result was, that not only did those Indians who were there live better, but many came to them from other districts, drawn by the report of their prosperity. Accordingly, though in the country at large the Indian districts exhibited a decreased population, the population here has constantly increased, and so steadily that there are today twice as many Indians there as there were when the religious came to it. When these villages in Bataan were provided for, the father vicar of the province went to Pangasinan, where he found those Indians somewhat more nearly tamed than they had been, though there were still many of them in their ancient hardness of heart. He was greatly delighted at seeing how much the religious had achieved, and at perceiving their great labors. He was still more delighted at seeing the many miracles wrought by our Lord by the means of father Fray Luis Gandullo and by other religious, in order to give credit to His gospel. Thus the Indians had formed a high idea of the law of God, the heathen were being converted, and the Christians were being perfected in the faith which they had received a short time before. Of all this matter a fuller account will be given in the lives of these religious. They were certainly very holy men, as was demanded by the hardness of heart of this tribe, whose hearts had to be softened and who had to be brought into the bosom of the church much more by the example of a good life than by sermons and words.
[At this time died at Manila father Fray Juan Chrisostomo, the founder of the province, who had sacrificed his health to the establishment of it. He had twice labored in this foundation, twice at Roma obtained for it the sanction of the sovereign pontiffs and generals of the order, and in Spain had twice obtained the royal approval. For a third time he saw his work practically brought to an end in Mexico, to his great sorrow. He had then been obliged to suffer the unhappiness of remaining in Mexico without being able to visit the province which he had established, until at the end of two years the Lord rewarded him by permitting him to spend his last days in the province which he had done so much to establish, and which he so much loved. He was a remarkable preacher, having a fine voice, a good command of language, and natural energy; and there was much substance in what he said. He made such an impression in Spain that the king appointed him to be one of four bishops who were to be consecrated if China should open its doors to the preaching of the gospel. He lived a life of great asceticism, in spite of his bodily infirmities. He took upon himself the painful and laborious work of the office of vicar, giving the honorable duty to father Fray Juan de Castro. In order to keep up his health for his work, he continued to apply remedies against his old sickness, until part of one side became as black as a coal. His death was holy and devout.]