[23] Spanish, apostola de los apostoles. One of the word-plays of which the old religious writers were so fond. No literal translation conveys the meaning here implied; but apostola is used (as also in English) with the primitive meaning of “apostle,” as one who first introduces the gospel—in this particular instance, one who first announces the good tidings, i.e., of Christ’s resurrection.
[24] Spanish, lector, literally, “reader;” applied to one who gave lectures in theology, especially moral theology.
[25] Amaranthus; see Delgado’s Hist. Filipinas, pp. 724, 725; and Blanco’s Flora, p. 491. Cf. VOL. XV, p. 111.
[26] Probably referring to the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, which fell on August 15.
[27] See portrait of Dasmariñas here presented; it is a photographic facsimile of an old painting (possibly a later copy of an authentic original) which was displayed in the Manila house in the Philippine exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis, 1904). The inscription on the scroll held by the page reads thus, in English: “Don Luis Perez Dasmariñas, knight of the Order of Alcántara, governor and captain-general of these Filipinas Islands for the king our lord, and founder and owner of this village of Binondo. He obtained this land by purchase, March 28, 1594, from Don Antonio Velada, husband of Doña Sebastiana del Valle, for the sum of $200. This sale was authorized by the certificate of Gabriel Quintanilla, a notary-public, one of the number allotted to this very illustrious and loyal city; and the grant of feudal rights over the Sangleys and mestizos of this said village, on May 29, 1594.”
[28] See account of the first printing in the islands (1593), in vol. ix, p. 68; and that of printing in China, in vol. iii, p. 206.
[29] Tomás Mayor came to Manila with the Dominican mission of 1602, and spent several years in their residence of San Gabriel among the Chinese; he composed a useful catechism in that language. In 1612 he went to Macao, at the summons of the bishop there; but finding it impossible then to found a Dominican house at Macao, he departed thence for Europe—dying, however, in that same year, before reaching his destination.
[30] Francisco de la Mina, an Andalusian, was a missionary among the Mexican Indians during forty years. Coming to Manila in 1589, he labored in Bataán for a time; and was afterward made prior of the Dominican convent in Manila, where he died in 1592.
[31] A topic then of special interest to the Dominicans, since Bishop Salazar (who belonged to their order) had but recently been involved in a hot controversy with Dasmariñas over the collection of tributes from the Indians (see correspondence between them at end of VOL. VII and beginning of VOL. VIII). All the missionaries in the islands had opposed slavery, whether among the Indians or the Spaniards; and the latter had adopted this practice to such an extent that Gregory XIV commanded them in 1591 to cease it entirely (VOL. VIII, pp 70–72).
[32] A cape (now known as Piedra Point) at northwest extremity of Zambales peninsula, Luzón; name also applied to the narrow channel between that cape and Purra Island.