The province sent father Fray Matheo de la Villa, who has several times been mentioned with praise. Thereupon father Fray Diego, after obtaining the necessary licenses and decrees, gathered twenty companions and came to live and die with them in this province—nearly all the members of which were his sons, whom he had sent or brought from España, as has been recounted. Hence he was received as the general father of all, and was by all much beloved for the great good which he had wrought for all of them, for each one in particular, and for the whole province in general, by means of many royal decrees and grants which he had obtained at court for medicine for the sick, wine for the masses, oil for the lamps which burned before the most holy sacrament, and habits for the religious, which are great sources of relief in our great poverty. Among these things the provision for the dress of the religious ought not to be passed over in silence. Neither the province nor any house within it had any regular source of income; and it provided for all its expenses entirely with alms received from the faithful. Since serge for our habits had to be brought from Nueva España, it was a difficult thing for the province to send every year the money for all the clothing of the religious, at the price in Mexico. The province provides the religious with clothing, for no member of it cares for himself, or has any deposit or anything else of his own, not even with the permission of his superior. Hence the province sent directions to father Fray Diego to ask his Majesty to give as alms the clothing for all the religious of the province—and this not for one year or two, but forever, since the same need and poverty were to continue forever. Father Fray Diego, who was acquainted with the heavy demands upon the royal treasury, regarded it as impossible to obtain this; and he put off asking for it until he felt obliged to send an answer to the province. Feeling practically certain that it would not be granted, he asked for it in a memorial of his own, sending in other memorials in which he asked for things which seemed to him very easy to grant; and when he looked over the answers he found that the royal Council had unhesitatingly allowed the grant and gift of the clothing (which he had regarded as impossible), but had refused everything which he asked for in the other memorial. From this it was plain that it was God who had in His hand the heart of the king; and that He had done more than what human prudence might hope for. This truth was all the more confirmed by the fact that when the royal decree came to be presented before the royal officials in Mexico, who were always accustomed to put a thousand difficulties and contingencies in the way of such grants, they not only did not put any such in the way of this grant; but, seeing that the religious had from mere timidity asked much less than they needed, urged them to ask for a sufficient amount. The matter was immediately settled on this footing, and has remained so ever since, a plain token that the Lord is pleased that the religious of this province shall wear the habits which they have always worn—poor, humble, rough, made of coarse and heavy serge; a penance for the religious, and a good example for others, as have always been the poor and rough habits of religious orders. At the first vacancy of the position of prior in Manila father Fray Diego was a second time elected prior. He filled the post to the great benefit of the religious and the convent, to the needs and obligations of which he attended with great care and charity. He was by nature taciturn and somewhat rigid, but by virtue was so corrected and mild that he left no necessity unremedied, no afflicted whom he did not strive to console, no weak or fallen one for whom he did not pray. With all he was gentle, and to all he desired to do good. While he was in this position, and very far from thinking of changing his condition, he received in the year 1632 the royal decree appointing him bishop of Nueva Segovia. He hesitated long before accepting this dignity, presenting many arguments against his acceptance. But, since all the others were opposed to him in this matter, he gave up his own opinion and accepted the episcopate, with the most firm determination not to abandon his character as a friar vowed to poverty and to observe the manner of living which he had previously maintained—and even to improve it by far, as the superior station upon which he entered required of him; and this determination he most perfectly fulfilled, as will be seen. Someone very much devoted to the order sent him a diamond cross for a pectoral; and he returned it, saying that it was very rich for so poor a bishop, for whom a pectoral of wood would be sufficient. The bulls did not reach him that year; so he waited for them without leaving the cell in which he had lived in the hospital of the Chinese. He took no servant, and made no change in his poor manner of living, dress, and clothing. He went to the choir and performed the other obligations of religious in this poor habit, and did everything else, whether by day or in the midst of the night, that he had promised. He was consecrated and went to his bishopric; and giving himself up wholly to his obligations as bishop he personally visited all his bishopric, leaving in all parts a lively memory of his sanctity, devotion, and alms-giving. His common custom was to spend one hour of prayer before mass, raising his fervor by mental devotion that he might say it with a greater spiritual elevation. This was in addition to many other hours of prayer by day and by night. After mass was finished, he spent another hour in giving thanks to the Lord for what he had received; and then he went immediately to his study of holy scripture, which likewise is prayer. He did not rise from his work until something happened which compelled him to. His expenses were almost nothing, so that the poor income of his bishopric was wholly spent upon charity and upon the adornments of his church; for in these two matters he spent as if he were rich. Hence in the short time during which he governed the bishopric (which was only a year and a half), he gave it more ornaments and jewels than others who had been superiors there had given in many years. He was most humble; and when father Fray Carlos Clemente Gant was vicar of the convent, the bishop used to go almost daily from his residence to our house to confess to him. When father Fray Carlos begged him to remain at home, and said he would go to hear his confession every day, the bishop declined, saying, “Your Reverence is very busy. I, who am less so, will come,” and on this footing this matter always continued. He took less food than when he was in the order, giving up one meal when he accepted the bishopric. He said that his position brought more obligations; therefore his food ought to be less. He always ate fish, if necessity did not force him to take something else. His bed was a piece of felt for a mattress and a blanket for covering, without any other pillow than the mat used by the poor Chinese, or one of the native mats—which was given a coat of a sort of varnish, so that the perspiration might be washed off and the pillow kept clean. In his whole house he had no other bed-clothes, so that even in his last sickness he had no mattress nor sheets, nor even a linen pillow upon which to rest his head; it was therefore necessary to bring that which was kept ready in the poor infirmary of the convent, for no such comforts were used or were to be found in the bishop’s house. When he went on visitation, he always took with him some bundles of cloth to distribute among the poor, and these and other good works which he did for them constituted the sole profit of his visitation. He highly esteemed the ministers whom he had in his bishopric, and was greatly pleased to see that they were practically all religious—not only of his own order, but also of that of our father St. Augustine. He loved both tenderly, and always had much good to say of all of them. During his time another bishop[65] (who was a member of an order) put forward a claim that the royal decrees should be put in execution which provide that the religious who have charge of Indians shall be subject to the inspection and visitation of the bishop or his visitors. When this matter was discussed before the royal Audiencia, our good bishop was present—yielding, so far as his bishopric was concerned, the favor granted in these royal decrees. He declared and proved with many strong arguments that, though the execution of the decrees would greatly increase the dignity and temporal profit of the bishops, it was to the spiritual and temporal injury of the Indians. Hence, to avoid these greater injuries, he renounced with a good will these inferior gains, as a prelate who felt that all his gains were secured by procuring the proper ministry for those subject to him. The whole income of his bishopric he collected for the poor, without taking from it more than the labor or dividing it among the needy; for his own maintenance, he asked alms as one of the poor. When on any account he was absent from his bishopric, he left someone in it to distribute alms to the poor, that they might not be injured by his absence.
The habit which he wore was of serge, and he wore an old frieze cloak which had served one of the religious on his way from España. His shoes were old and patched, and his breeches poor and mean, like those used in this province. He wore no rings, and did not spend a real for them or for a pectoral, being contented with those which were offered to him as to a bishop in such a state of poverty. When he entered our convents, he prostrated himself on the floor to receive the blessing of the superior, as the other religious do; and he joined the community and took no precedence in seating himself, just like any of the other brothers. He did not permit them to give him anything special in the refectory; and he remained in all things as humble and as perfect in his duties, as a member of the order, as he had been before becoming a bishop. The happy end of all his many arduous labors was at hand; and after only three days of sickness he went to receive the endless reward of his toils, leaving those who were subject to him above measure sad at the loss of such a superior, father, and common benefactor of all. But those who displayed the greatest feeling, and with the greatest reason, were the religious of this province, who had in him an honor, a defense, and an example, which incited them to all virtue, and to strict observance of their rules. [His death caused great sorrow, not only in his diocese but in Manila, where he was beloved by all; and notable honors were paid to his memory, even by the other orders.]
Chapter LX
The glorious martyrdom of four religious of this province, and two laymen, their companions, in Japon.
May 2, 1637, there was elected as provincial father Fray Carlos Clemente Gant, a native of the famous city of Zaragoça, and a son of the illustrious convent of Preachers in that city, a person of much virtue and superior prudence, of which he had given evidence in many offices which he had filled with great praise. He was elected in this chapter on the first ballot, and the wisdom of his election was soon shown, the Lord choosing him as a principal instrument to bring to an end the congregation—which, as has been narrated, had already begun to be planned, to the great harm of these conversions.
[This year, which concludes the number of fifty since the foundation of this province, is closed, as with a precious key, by the marvelous martyrdom of four religious belonging to the province—father Fray Antonio Gonçalez, father Fray Guillermo Cortet (who here bore the name of Fray Thomas de Sancto Domingo), father Fray Miguel de Ozaraza, and father Fray Vicente de la Cruz. With the martyrdoms (already narrated) of father Fray Jordan de San Estevan and Fray Thomas de San Jacintho, the Japanese persecutors of the church had spilled the blood of all the Dominican friars of that kingdom; yet they had not, as they expected, caused the souls of the religious to fear, or cooled their fervent desires to go to Japon. Of all those who asked for permission to go thither, these four only received the desired license. Two of them were teachers of theology in the college and university of the province, in the city of Manila; and both of them had lectured on theology before coming to this province—father Fray Antonio in that of España, and father Fray Guillermo in his native country of France. Thus the province has sent its best to Japon. Father Fray Francisco de Morales was for many years lecturer on theology, and at the time of his mission was prior of the convent of Manila; and father Fray Jacintho de Esquivel, father Fray Domingo de Erquicia, father Fray Lucas del Espiritu Sancto, and father Fray Diego de Rivera had all been lecturers on theology. There was great difficulty in sending these four religious to Japon, which was finally overcome by the determination of the religious. In the year 1634, some Spaniards had been cast on shore on the islands of the Lequios, which are subject to Japon. They were examined to see if they were religious or no; but, as it did not appear that they were, they were set free. Many Japanese came to them by night, asking them if they were priests to hear their confessions; and, being assured that they were not, they begged for priests to come to them. Father Fray Vincente de la Cruz and a Christian Japanese offered to take the religious whom the province might send and to make their way from the Lequios Islands to Japon. The governor, learning that the expedition was about to be equipped, burned the vessel which had been prepared, and set sentinels at the mouth of the bay to prevent the religious from setting out. By God’s aid they succeeded in eluding him, and after meeting with storms made their way to the islands of the Lequios, where they landed July 10, 1636. No certain reports have been received as to what occurred in the islands; but the fathers seem to have been arrested as soon as they revealed themselves, and to have been sent as prisoners to Japon.
On September 13, 1637, fathers Fray Guillermo Cortet, Fray Miguel Oçaraça and Fray Vicente de la Cruz, dressed in secular clothes, were brought from Satzuma to Nangasaqui, to be tried for their crime. Father Fray Antonio Gonçalez was not with them, having sailed in another vessel, and not having yet arrived. They answered boldly, declaring that they had had no assistance from any government; and that their very pilot had been a religious who had known something of seamanship before entering the order. They were subjected to terrible torture, especially the torture of water, which they bore bravely. Their tortures were prolonged, and the text describes them with fulness. On the twenty-first of the same month, father Fray Antonio Gonçalez, the superior of the religious, arrived in Nangasaqui in another funea. He was accompanied by two lay companions—one a mestizo, the son of a Chinese man and an Indian woman; the other a Japanese, who had been exiled for the faith.[66] As soon as father Fray Antonio set foot on the soil, he made the sign of the cross, in sight of all the Portuguese trading there and of a great multitude of people. The holy father, being of noble stature, towered above the company about him like another Saul. He was taken directly before the judges, confessed who he was, was cruelly tortured, and subjected to insult. The mestizo at first feared the torments, but afterward plucked up his courage to endure them. The Japanese wretchedly fell away from fear. Father Fray Antonio suffered the torture of water, to which he was subjected when he was very sick of a fever; and he died in the prison, his body being burnt and the ashes cast into the sea. On the twenty-seventh of the month the prisoners were taken out to be martyred, being gagged to prevent their preaching. They were all suspended by the feet, and while they hung in their pits they chanted praises to God; and the ministers of justice, in admiration of their courage, caused them to be taken out from the holes still alive and to be beheaded, that they might no longer suffer torture. The ashes of the five holy martyrs were cast into the sea, three leguas from the port of Nangasaqui, on the same day, September 29, 1637.]