[50] Spanish, del tropel de los caballos—literally, “from the trampling of the horses.”
[51] “He said that those were true monks who, stifling their own wills, wished or refused nothing, but desired only to obey the commands of the abbot.”
[52] Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, x, 30.—Coco.
[53] Psalms civ, 15.—Coco.
[54] Fray Alonso Rincón professed in the convent of San Felipe el Real, and after going to the Philippines became preacher at Arévalo in 1607, and was minister in Betis in 1609 and 1626. After administering the villages of Pórac in 1611, Macabebe in 1614, and Guagua in 1615, he was appointed definitor, visitor, and prior of the convent of Manila in 1617. He was commissary-procurator to Spain and Rome in 1618, and returned to Manila in 1622. He was elected definitor for the second time in 1629, and died at Manila in 1631. See Pérez’s Catálogo, p. 77.
[55] The native dish of rice.
[56] See Pérez’s Catálogo for sketches of these friars.
[57] Spanish, Rutenos—a now obsolete name for Ruso (“Russians”). The term Ruthenians is applied to the people of Little Russia (also known as Ukrania and Ruthenia), dwelling in the steppes of Southern Russia, mainly in the valley of the Dnieper River; they have also extended into Hungary and Galicia. The reference in the text to “Russians” probably indicates only somewhat vague or erroneous notions as to the geography and political condition of Western Asia at that time: for it was not until 1722 that the Russians advanced beyond the Black Sea into Asia, conquering the province of Caucasus. Medina’s “Diego Rodrigo” apparently means Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel (Vol. XXI, p. 116), who spent some time in Persia and Chaldea, and converted many “schismatic Christians” there to the Roman Catholic Church. On his return to Rome, he carried a letter addressed to the pope, from “the Chaldean Christians of Bassora.” See Vol. XXI, note 62.
[58] Fray Diego del Aguila, a master of the number in the ecclesiastical province of Andalucía, was, in spite of his protests, elected superior of the province of Mechoacán in Mexico while en route for the Philippines; but he finally followed his first determination, and sailed for the islands in 1618. He there became visitor, definitor (1623), vicar-provincial, prior of Guadalupe (1620), and president of the provincial chapter in 1626. He died at Manila in 1628. See Pérez’s Catálogo, p. 98. Pérez has evidently confused Diego del Aguila with Lúcas de Aguilar, who was definitor in 1650. See Diaz’s Conquistas (Valladolid, 1890), p. 516.
[59] Fray Hernando Cabrero professed at the Córdoba convent in 1601. He became sub-prior of Manila in 1609, and of San Pablo de los Montes in 1618, 1626, and 1629. He also acted as definitor, examiner, and definitor-general, and died at sea while en route to Nueva España. See Pérez’s Catálogo, pp. 78, 79.