[The father provincial, father Fray Bartholome Martynez, after building a church in the new city of San Salvador, went on to Tanchuy, a province of the same island and a port known to the vessels which come to it from China. It is fourteen leguas from the chief city in it. When the fort was built there, to which the name of St. Dominic was given, he was present, doing all he could to prevent damage to the natives. Many of the latter fled away to Senar, where he followed them and built a church. The ministry in this province of Tanchuy was entrusted to father Fray Francisco de Sancto Domingo, a son of the convent of Zamora. His companion was brother Fray Andres Ximenez. They went by sea, having a perilous voyage, and were met when they landed by father Fray Jacintho de Esquivel.] The three went with Captain Luis de Guzman and some soldiers, to set up in the village of Senar a beautiful image of the Virgin of the Rosary. They went on foot and with great difficulty, as it had rained the day before and was still raining, and part of the way they went mid-leg deep. Not a single soldier said the things which are usually heard on such occasions. On the contrary, loaded as they were with mud, they comforted themselves by saying: “At last we are going to establish the faith.” The captain, Luis de Guzman, to whom this region owes much, because of his valor and Christian spirit, and his kind treatment of the natives in it, marched barefoot, encouraging them and saying: “Come on, my children; doubtless there is much good here, because the beginning is so hard.” A messenger was sent ahead to notify the Indians, and by their help the streets were covered with branches; they fitted up a half-castle[40] with powder, which they had prepared, and they arranged for a graceful sword dance. When the image, which they carried as ceremoniously as possible, reached the village, they placed it in the church. The sky cleared, and the sun came out as if to rejoice in the festival; and after a mass of the Virgin of the Rosary had been said, they bore her in procession—the soldiers firing off their arquebuses, and the castle discharging its salute, and the dance being performed in token of the possession taken of this country by the queen of heaven, and of the conclusion of the devil’s ancient control over it. [The Indians rejoiced greatly, the chiefs being invited to dine with the captain. After this they gave a ball after their fashion—a very disgraceful one in our eyes, because at every turn they drink a draught of a very bad wine which they have. This kind of ball or dance they keep up for six or eight hours, and sometimes for whole days. The chiefs kept boasting that their village was the finest in the island, since they had Spaniards, a father and a church, as the others had not. They desired to return the invitation of the captain with one to a feast after their own manner—which is a repast of dogs rather than of men, since they eat nothing except meat so rotten that the bad odor of it serves them as salt. After the feast the soldiers, the captain, and father Fray Jacintho returned to Tanchui; while father Fray Francisco and brother Fray Andres remained as a guard of honor to the Virgin. Father Fray Francisco, thinking that the Spaniards would be lonely without their holy image, thought best to return it; but the Indians were so much grieved that it was given back to them, and they rejoiced greatly, though they were not yet Christians. A great part of the labor of the conversion fell upon the brother. The Lord wrought miraculous works through his hands, keeping the sick alive until they might receive holy baptism, and doing wonderful works of healing. The kindly treatment of the fathers at last made the Indians feel sufficient confidence in the Spaniards to return to their previous places of abode, whence they had fled from fear. One lay brother was in the island of Hermosa for five years among the Indians, who, although they had not been pacified, never harmed him. He baptized a number, brought down from the mountains many who had fled from fear of the Spaniards; and with them formed a village of moderate size named Camuarri, which is constantly increasing in numbers, and greatly needs a church.]
Chapter XXXVI
The election as provincial of father Fray Francisco de Herrera, commissary of the holy Inquisition; and the beginning of an account of father Fray Bartholome Martinez.
In May, 1629, father Fray Francisco de Herrera was elected as provincial of this province, on the first ballot. He was a son of the convent of San Gines at Talabera, and afterward a student of San Gregorio at Valladolid. At the time of his election he was commissary of the holy Inquisition in all these islands, and prior of the convent in this city of Manila. Since he is still living, we must be silent about him, and not say the things in his praise which are so well known, and which are said by those who enjoyed his peaceful and religious government. In this chapter nothing of importance was done in laying down ordinances for the province; but there was much cause to give thanks to the Lord for the peace and quiet with which the religious strove to fulfil their obligations as members of the order and as ministers of the holy gospel. The Lord gave them special relief and comfort, that they might find light and pleasant the great sufferings which they endured in both capacities. Hence the electors returned to their posts very promptly, feeling that in them the hand of the Lord had delivered to them their own profit and that of their fellow-men.
[At the beginning of the following August occurred the death of the venerable father Bartholome Martynez, who, being engaged in the conversion of the island of Hermosa, was unable to attend this chapter. Father Fray Bartholome was a native of a village of Raoja called El Rasillo, a hamlet of some twenty poor inhabitants. He was a son of Sant Estevan at Salamanca, and a student in the college of Sancto Thomas at Alcala. He took advantage of the opportunity of coming to this province in company with the holy Fray Alonso Navarrete. He gave his chief attention in the province to learning the Chinese language, hoping to become a missionary to the kingdom of China. He was so devoted to the Chinese that he was beside himself with anger whenever a wrong was done by a Spanish soldier to any Chinaman. As this seemed to be an impediment to the conversion, he resolved to restrain his anger, and learned, as the law of the Lord teaches us, to be angry but not to sin. It was father Fray Bartholome who built the beautiful wooden church in the Chinese Parian. The cost was above twenty thousand Castilian ducados, and it was all raised by offerings. The Lord wrought miracles by father Fray Bartholome in the building of this church, and on other occasions. On some occasions he displayed the gift of prophecy.]
Chapter XXXVII
The virtues which God granted him, and particularly some in which he excelled; his labors and death.
[Father Fray Bartholome was notable for humility, patience, penances, and zeal. When he was elected provincial in 1625, he prostrated himself on the ground, and begged them to put him in jail rather than make him provincial. His habit was poor and mean, his tunics full of sweat and blood and all tattered. He would never permit the Indians to carry him across streams or to wash his feet. He subjected his body to the severest mortifications, beating himself cruelly and wearing chains of various kinds, some with sharpened links. He went always on foot, even crossing swollen streams in this way. He had so accustomed himself to abstinence that when he felt obliged to set the other religious the example of eating a little more than was habitual to him, that they might not injure their health, he suffered greatly as a result. He slept as little as he ate. He suffered greatly from asthma, but was most patient. Although he was often insulted on the expedition to Hermosa for interfering with the soldiers, he overcame all this by his great patience. The Chinese or Sangleys were devoted to the father, because of his affection for them. He gave them alms of his poverty, and was once almost drowned in the effort to rescue some heathen Chinese. In spite of the failure of his two efforts to enter China, he was not discouraged, but hoped that the way might be opened through Hermosa. In the effort to carry out the plan of sending an expedition to Hermosa, he exposed himself to dangerous storms, but was rescued by the Lord. To bring the expedition to success, he labored with his own hands like a slave. On the way he brought from Bigan, on the coast of Ylocos, to Nueva Segovia the remains of Bishop Don Fray Diego de Soria. The efforts of this father on this journey seemed superhuman. The soldiers when told of the real object of the expedition believed that they were deceived, and were on the point of mutiny. When a storm broke out soon after they had landed on the island of Hermosa, and the soldiers were exposed to hardship, and when the Indians made some resistance, the soldiers cursed and swore at the father again; but afterward they came to love him. It was with the idea of getting nearer to the coast of China that the father suggested that possession be taken of the port in Tanchuy. It was fortunate that this suggestion was made and carried out by the commander, Don Juan de Alcarazo; for if they had waited a week they would have found the port in possession of the Dutch, who came there with three vessels of war, but were forced to retire. Happy in the good results of the expedition, the father set sail to cross an arm of the sea, in a small boat in which there were eight persons, the father and the commander among them. The boat was caught by a wave and capsized; five, including the general, were saved, and three, among them father Fray Bartholome, were drowned. The death of the father caused great grief among the soldiers, the Chinese—both Christian and heathen—the religious, and all who knew him.]