[64] Allusion is here made to the famous town of Santiago de Compostela, formerly the capital of Galicia. Its foundation was due to the alleged discovery (in the ninth Century) of the burial place of St. James the apostle, who afterward became the patron saint of Spain. A church was built over the tomb of the saint, by Alfonso I, but was destroyed by the Saracens; the present cathedral was begun about 1080. It soon became a noted resort of pilgrims, being visited by many thousands every year, and has continued to be such to the present time.

[65] Referring to Fray Francisco de Zamudio, an Augustinian, the bishop of Nueva Caçeres—of whom bare mention (and that only as a confessor) is made in Pérez’s Catálogo. Cf. the earlier controversy on this question between Archbishop Serrano and the religious orders (1624), for which see Vol. XXI, pp. 32–78.

[66] The Japanese was named Lazaro; he was one of the lepers who had been formerly exiled from Japan for the faith, and came with the Dominicans as a guide. Although at first he denied the Christian faith, under pressure of torture, he afterward recovered courage, and died as a martyr, September 29, 1637. The mestizo was Lorenzo Ruiz, a native of Binondo; he had left Luzón on account of a murder that he had committed there. He also was martyred, at the same time as Lazaro. (See Reseña biográfica, i, p. 276, note.)

[67] Biographical sketches of all these martyrs are given in Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 258–276.

It is well to note, in this connection, the fact that the persecutions of Christians in Japan were not, in the main, on religious grounds. The Japanese government was tolerant to the new religion until it had reason to fear that its authority was being subverted by the influence of the missionaries, and the independence of the nation threatened by the foreign nations who sent to Japan the priests and traders. See Griffis’s Mikado’s Empire, pp. 247–259, Rein’s Japan, pp. 290–293, and Murdoch and Yamagata’s History of Japan, pp. 457–506. The last-named cites at length the writings of Charlevoix, Léon Pagés, and other historians.

Bibliographical Data

For bibliographical data of Aduarte’s Historia, which is concluded in the present volume, see Vol. XXX.

Table of Contents