Father Fray Luis Gandullo, his entrance upon the religious life, and his coming to this province
[The events which happened in the case of this father are such as God rarely manifests, even in the case of those who are nearest to Him; and I should not dare to bring them to the light if they were not attested by three notable circumstances. The first is that he never formed his own judgment about what happened, but submitted the matter to a learned and spiritual man. The second is, that father Fray Luis kept such silence about these things that he only revealed them under the solemn mandate of his superior. The third is the innocence of his life, and his marvelous virtue. A formal certificate as to these three circumstances is given at length; it is by Fray Juan de Sancto Thomas, and is dated at Manila, August 10, 1615. Father Fray Luis Gandullo was a native of the town of Aracena in the archbishopric of Sevilla, and was born of a rich and noble family. At the age of fourteen he made a vow to assume the habit of the Dominican order. This vow he was unable to carry out for eight years, because of his duties to his widowed mother and his two sisters. While still a youth, he was favored with a vision of the Virgin, which was followed soon after by a vision in which the devil appeared to him. After his two sisters were settled in life a certain trouble befell him in his own country, which obliged him to leave it and to go to the Indias. He dwelt for some time in Nueva España, where he lived with some freedom, the Lord preparing to drive him, by the very thorns which he should find in this road, to the religious life. His ancient desires to become a friar of St. Dominic returned to his mind, and he began to arrange with the prior of the convent of the city of Puebla to assume the habit. The prior and the friars of the convent, being asked by him if a secret business pledge which he had made had any validity, declared that it had no force in conscience, and would not hold him in a court of law if the party concerned would tell the truth of the case. He assumed the habit and waited for fourteen months to be professed. While he was looking for his profession to take place his creditor entered the convent, declaring that they were taking away his money by permitting the novice to enter the profession, since he could earn what he owed in the secular life. Upon this, the superior commanded Luis to lay aside the habit; but the Lord punished the creditor by burning a great deal more of his property than the debt amounted to. Luis, who knew that the obligation was merely a confidential agreement, refused to pay it because he did not owe it. He was ordained as priest, having determined to become a secular clergyman. Under this condition he prayed God to help him fulfil his vow; and afterward had visions, among them a dreadful one of the devil in the form of a snake. Being constantly attended by visions, he determined to carry out his vow, and one night heard a voice calling to him, “Luis!” He answered, “Lord!” and the voice went on to say, “Rise, and go to Mexico to assume the habit.” It seemed to him that it was the voice of his dead brother. His conduct when he came to the convent was such that the brethren there decided to grant him the habit and the profession together, since he had already completed his novitiate. When the founders of this province went through Puebla, father Fray Luis desired to accompany them, but was unable to carry out his wish at that time. He received intimations from a holy woman, a penitent of his, that the Lord favored his desire to come to this province; and to this intimation were added other supernatural signs. A great scandal having arisen because of violence shown by the viceroy to a superior of a certain religious order,[59] father Fray Luis felt called upon to preach against the viceroy; he was condemned to exile in the Philippinas, and received the sentence with joy. He accompanied father Fray Juan Cobo, who was exiled for the same cause, as is narrated in chapter twenty-four of this history.]
(To be concluded.)
[1] i.e., “The holy synod commands parish priests and other preachers to the Indians to instruct them often and earnestly in the doctrine of this mystery;” and, “To those whom the parish priest shall regard as sufficiently instructed, and made fit by the correctness of their lives, he shall not fail to administer the holy eucharist, on the first Easter following.”
[2] Francisco Blancas de San José was a native of Tarazona, and entered the Dominican order at Alcalá de Henares. He came to Manila with the mission of 1595, and was sent to Bataán; afterward he spent several years in the Manila convent, preaching to Indians and Chinese, as well as Spaniards. He also gave especial attention to the instruction of the negroes and slaves there, of whom there were many thousands. He also labored in Cagayán and (1609) in Mindoro and Balayan. In 1614 he sailed for Spain, but died on the voyage, before reaching Mexico. (Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 172–177.)
[3] Jacinto de San Jerónimo came to the islands with the mission of 1604. The rest of his life was spent mainly in the missions of Cagayán; near its end, he went to the new mission of Ituy (now Nueva Vizcaya), where he died in 1637. (Reseña biográfica, i, p. 327.)
[4] Probably referring to the expedition sent from Mexico early in 1559, to conquer Florida, under command of Tristan de Luna y Arellano; it included 500 Spanish soldiers and a considerable number of Indian allies. This attempt proved unsuccessful, and most of the Spaniards were slain by the warlike Florida Indians.
[5] The sketch of Salazar’s life given in Reseña biográfica (i, pp. 35–49) states that he obtained permission to carry twenty religious with him to the Philippines, all of whom he procured from the convent at Salamanca. But twelve of them died (apparently from ship-fever) before reaching Mexico; and the others were so prostrated by sickness that they could go no farther.