Chapter XXI
The arrest of the holy Fray Jacintho Orfanel; the narrowness of his prison, and the great miseries of it; his martyrdom, and the marvelous fruits which followed from his captivity.
[Though most of the fathers had remained in the cities of the Japanese, others wandered through the mountains and in thinly populated places, where they suffered even greater hardships than the former class, as they ministered to their faithful sons in those desolate regions. Among these was the holy Fray Jacintho Orfanel. Being lean, swarthy and tall, it was difficult for him to disguise himself, since the Japanese are generally short, broad-shouldered, and fair-skinned. Even if his secular habit had disguised him so far as his external appearance went, the modesty and gravity of his behaviour would have been sufficient to betray him. While he was resting in Nangasaqui for a time to recover from an illness, he was betrayed by a renegade Christian and arrested. Boldly avowing who he was, he was sent to the prison of Omura to join the rest of the prisoners, who received him with the Te Deum laudamus, as at the entry of a prince or papal legate. Merely to hear the description of their prison causes horror, it was so small and so wretched. The persecutors permitted them no materials for writing, and no implements made of iron, so that their nails and their hair grew long. They were not allowed to wash or to change their clothes. The guards were changed constantly, that they might form no friendship with the prisoners. This severity, which was intended to alarm the other ministers of the gospel who were in Japon, if there were any, had no such effect. The imprisoned Japanese showed the greatest courage, and their wives desired to follow them into their imprisonment. The captive Christians spent all that time in holy exercises, prayers, the singing of psalms, the keeping of the hours, and the celebration of the mass. The conduct of the Spanish prisoners was such as to overthrow the false opinion spread through Japon by the Dutch, that the fathers were spies of the king of España. Their sufferings and their martyrdom encouraged the Christians in the faith. From the prison the fathers wrote encouraging letters to the suffering Christians of Japon. They also wrote to their brethren in Manila.]
Chapter XXII
The giving of the habit to three Japanese by the holy captives; and the martyrdom of the fathers Fray Francisco de Morales, Fray Alonso de Mena, Fray Angel Ferrer (or Orsuchi), Fray Jacintho Orfanel, Fray Joseph de San Jacintho, and two of those who had professed in prison (all members of the order), besides many others.
[The fathers, desiring those to be their equals in condition who were so in virtue, determined to give the habit to some of the holy Japanese, their companions. Three therefore, among those of the best capacity and the highest virtue, passed their novitiate in the prison, and at the end of their year professed. These saintly men feared that their penalty would be banishment, not death. On the ninth of September, 1622, the judges called before them many of the prisoners, offering them life and liberty if they would renounce Christianity, and at this time they brought before them some of the prisoners from Omura. As they came to Nangasaqui a great crowd of Christians came to welcome and escort them. On the following day, the martyrs were brought out to be slain; there were, in all, thirty-three. Before those who were condemned to the stake were burned, the others were decapitated in their sight. There were seven of our order in this company: fathers Fray Francisco de Morales, Fray Alonso de Mena, Fray Angel Orsuchi, Fray Jacintho Orfanel, Fray Joseph de San Jacintho, and the lay brothers Fray Thomas del Rosario and Domingo (a donado),[25] both Japanese. The two lay brothers were decapitated, and the fathers were burned at the stake, twenty-five men in all being burned. All the sufferers died with the most cheerful courage. The judges did all they could to keep the holy relics from being venerated by the Christians, some of whom lost their lives in the effort to obtain these.]