[31] Pedro Chirino was born in 1557 in Osuna of Andalucía. He graduated in both civil and canon law at Sevilla, and entered the Society of Jesus at the age of twenty-three. Having been appointed to the mission in the Filipinas in place of Father Alonso Sanchez, he arrived there in 1590 with the new governor, Gomez Perez Dasmariñas. He acted as missionary to the Tagalos and the Pintados, and was superior of the Jesuit colleges at Manila and Cebú. He cultivated the friendship of Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa, whom he advised to found the college of San Ignacio and the seminary of San José in Manila. On July 7, 1602, he left Cavite for Acapulco by the vessel "San Antonio" with appointment by Visitor Diego Garcia as procurator of the mission, in order to take immediate action in the affairs of the mission at both the royal and pontifical courts. He obtained a decree from Father General Claudius Aquaviva, by which the mission in the Filipinas was elevated to a vice-province, independent of the province of Mexico. His relation was written in 1603, and passed the censorship of vice-provincial Luis de la Puente in Valladolid. On July 17, 1606, he returned to Manila. The village of Taitai was removed to its present site by him. His death occurred September 16, 1635. His biography was written by Father Juan de Bueras in the annals of the province of Filipinas for 1634-35, signed by the author in Manila, May 26, 1636; and by Father Pedro Murillo Velarde in part ii, book ii, chap, i, of Historia de la Provincia de Philipinas de la Compañía de Jesús.
Of the many manuscripts left by Father Chirino, I possess the most
important. It is the original manuscript, and is entitled Primera
Parte de la Historia de la Provincia de Philipinas de la Compañía de
Jesus.—Pablo Pastells, S.J.
[32] Referring to Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Philipinas (Mexico, 1609). I have seen the only copy of the new edition of this work published in Madrid, by Justo Zaragoza, in 1880—the only copy, because the balance of the edition was sold as waste-paper, as its sale was anticipated by the edition of Dr. Rizal published in Paris in 1890.—Pablo Pastells, S.J.
[33] His death occurred in Mactan, on the morning of April 28, 1521.—Pablo Pastells, S.J.
[34] Chirino writes here somewhat inaccurately. Magalhães and Loaisa sailed directly from Spain, and went through the Strait of Magellan; Saavedra was the first who went to the Philippines from Nueva España (1527), and was followed in this route by Villalobos in 1542. See accounts of these voyages in Vols. I and II of this series.
[35] Cárlos V disapproved of Villalobos entering the Malucos, and on this account was on the point of depriving the viceroy of Nueva España, Don Antonio de Mendoza, of his office, as the latter had given instructions as to the manner of performing the expedition.—Pablo Pastells, S.J.
[36] Cosmo de Torres was born in 1510 at Valencia; he departed for India in 1538, and was admitted to the Jesuit order by St. Francis Xavier, on March 20, 1548. He was afterward sent to Japan, where he began the work of christianizing that people. He died on October 10, 1570, after a long and arduous missionary career. (Sommervogel's Bibliothèque, viii, p. 112.)
St. Francis Xavier's ministry in the Indias and Japan began in 1542, and lasted ten years; he died on December 2, 1552.
[37] The name "Philipinas" was given to the islands by Villalobos, and confirmed by Felipe II in a decree dated at Valladolid, and directed to the viceroy of Nueva España, Don Luis de Velasco, September 24, 1559.—Pablo Pastells, S.J.
[38] The others were Andres de Urdaneta, Andres de Aguirre, Diego de Herrara, Pedro de Gamboa. The sixth died at the port of Navidad. Father Rada also died at sea, while returning to Manila from an expedition to Borneo. Felipe II ordered his manuscripts to be collected and preserved in the archives.—Pablo Pastells, S.J.