“This dispute and combat lasted a day and a night, during which time the father maintained such resolution and firmness that when the governor tried to be stern, in order to make him change his opinion of that idolatry, the father told him, undeceiving him, that he was striving in vain, for in no way could he win him over. On this account, the next day he was sent back to the prison. But as the governor’s servants knew that he desired to succeed in his endeavor, one of them asked that the father be called out again and delivered to him, for he hoped to subdue him. Accordingly the father himself, as well as the others, was persuaded that this second time he was called out to be tortured, that he might deny his faith and reveal the other religious and their households, for this had been the practice in the city for some time past. With astonishing courage the father went out, resolved to suffer any torment whatever before he would deny Christ or reveal his brothers.
“When he arrived at the house of the governor there came out to meet him the servant who had sought to see him, who had been present at the late dispute, and at one which the father had formerly had with the governor, when they arrested him. Although now the same means of controversy were attempted, finding that, nevertheless, the more they argued the more convinced he was, the principal means which they used was to explain to the father how much the governor desired to grant him life and to favor him, as he could have seen every time he discussed this matter. He was promised in behalf of the same governor great riches and position; and they strongly insisted that not only on account of what he owed to the friendship which the governor showed him, but for what concerned his own welfare and interest, he ought to abandon the faith of God, outwardly only, and to follow it in his heart, as any man of good judgment would do—saying that he would show himself to be such by using this expedient, for he would not abandon the faith which he followed, and would attain riches and repose. The answer was that even if the governor should give him all the riches that he possessed and all that there are in the world, and should make him lord of all, by no means would he turn his back to God or abandon His most holy faith—no, not even outwardly.
“The governor, finding then that he could not win the father over by arguments, advice, or promises, ordered him to be taken back to the prison, determined to use other more rigorous measures, with which he considered it certain that he would overcome him and the other religious who were in prison. This was by ordering them to be tortured in a spring of exceedingly hot water, at the mountain Unjen;[3] for although some told him that this also would not win over either Father Antonio or the others, it appeared impossible that they should not yield under this most extreme torture—as experience had shown him in the year 1629, when he ordered the Christians of Nangasaqui to be tortured in this way. Accordingly, he ordered the aforesaid five religious to be conveyed to that mountain, there to be tortured with hot water until they should deny the faith, but in such wise that they should not die. By the same order he sent likewise in their company Beatriz de Acosta, the wife of Antonio de Silva, and Maria her daughter; for they would not deny their faith, although they had long been labored with—and this notwithstanding the fact that Beatriz de Acosta was Japanese only on the side of her mother, and the daughter much less so, as her father was a Portuguese, and her mother a half-Portuguese; and they do not proceed in this persecution [except] against Japanese and ministers of the gospel.
“On the third of December they left Nangasaqui alone, and started for Unjen. The two women rode in a litter, and the five religious on horseback, each one in the habit of his order, accompanied by many people as a guard; they were very joyful as they took leave of a multitude of people who came out to see this spectacle, in spite of the fact that the governor had rigorously prohibited it. When they arrived at the point of Fimi, a league distant from there, their arms were tied, fetters were put upon their feet, and each one was put on board separately, being tied to the boat. On this same afternoon they arrived at the point of Oharna, which is within the boundaries of Tacacu, and at the foot of the mountain Unjen. The next day they ascended the mountain, where they immediately erected a number of huts; then they placed the seven prisoners therein, each in a separate one, without allowing them to see each other again so long as they were there, so that they might not encourage one another. They kept them day and night with fetters on their feet, and manacles upon their hands, watched by guards.
“Besides the men of the governor of Nangasaqui, the governors of Tacacu sent theirs likewise to be present at this act, as well as to aid whenever necessary. Beside these, there were a number of others as sentinels on all the roads through which this mountain could be approached, who let no person pass by without a written permission from the officials who were assigned to this duty.
“On the next day, the fourth of the same month, the torture commenced in the following manner: They took each one of the seven by himself to the most furious pool there, and, showing him the boiling water, tried to persuade him to leave the faith of Christ before undergoing that most horrible torture, which certainly they would not be able to endure. Father Antonio writes that, notwithstanding the severity of the cold that then prevailed, the water in the ponds did [not] cease boiling, with such fury that the sight of it alone would strike dismay to any one who was not greatly comforted by the grace of God; but they were comforted in such manner that all, with extraordinary courage, answered without delay that they would be tortured, for in no wise would they abandon the faith which they profess. When this steadfast answer was heard, they were stripped naked and, tied hand and foot with four cords, were borne each by four men. They took some of the water which was boiling most furiously, in a wooden dish which held about a half-arroba; this water they poured upon each one from the dish thrice filled—not all at once, but little by little, opening a minute hole in the bottom so that it would last longer. The constancy, courage, and valor with which the confessors of Christ suffered that most horrible torment was such that they never made the slightest movement of their bodies, to the great fright of those who saw and heard them. Maria alone, as she was young and delicate, was dismayed by the severity of the torture, and fell to the ground and the torturers, who only desired some pretext whereby they could say that she had recanted, and misrepresenting this fall, cried out, saying, ‘She has yielded, she has yielded!’ Thereupon they took her back to her hut, and the next day to Nangasaqui—although she opposed them violently and protested that she had not given up the faith, and that they had no reason for torturing her, or for tormenting and killing her mother and the rest.
“The other six remained on that mountain, where they spent twenty-three days, during which Father Antonio, father Fray Francisco, and Beatriz de Acosta were tortured, each one six times, with hot water in the manner that I have described. Father Fray Vicente was tortured four times, father Fray Bartolome and brother Fray Gabriel twice, without any one of them having made the least movement during the whole time; or shown any sign of feeling the torture. On the contrary, with wonderful cheerfulness and courage they gave thanks to their torturers, and sometimes told them that the torture had been slight; at others, that they should find some other and more cruel torment, so that their desire to suffer for Christ might be further fulfilled. As a result, the infidels were as if astounded, for they found them each time more constant, cheerful, and desirous of suffering; and in Nangasaqui and Tacacu nothing was talked of but the invincible courage and valor with which they suffered the torture, whereupon the Christians were full of joy and remained firmer in the faith. Several of the heathen began to complain and sneer at the governor of Nangasaqui, who had tried to make them deny their faith. Accordingly Father Antonio writes[4] that, during the time while he was on that mountain, several were brought to the faith; and among the heathen who saw him and listened to the continual sermons which he preached to them, many gave him their word to receive the faith, and all conceived the highest opinion of the faith of God.
“The reason for torturing some oftener than others was that Father Antonio, being a Japanese, had disobeyed the mandate of the emperor, and would not follow the counsels and persuasions of the governor of Nangasaqui and his ministers, nor be affected by the tortures. Father Fray Francisco suffered because he spoke to them with much Christian freedom, sang, and prayed in a loud voice, contrary to their prohibition; and Beatriz de Acosta because, although a woman, she showed more than a man’s courage, both in the tortures and in resisting the advice which they gave her—for which reason, beside the torture of boiling water, they inflicted others upon her. They made her stand upright a long time upon a small rock, threatening her with insults and affronts; but the more they insisted, the stronger they found her. The others, being weak and infirm, were not tortured so long, because the tyrant did not intend to kill them, but only to conquer them; and for this reason they had, during the whole time, a physician upon the mountain to cure their hurts.
“Finally the governor saw that he could by no means conquer them; but, on the contrary, his men informed him that, judging by the courage and valor which they showed, they would suffer till all the pools and wells in Unjen were drained, rather than give in. He therefore lost all hope of a victory over them, and decided to order that they be taken to Nangasaqui, although he would not do so before his departure for the court at Meaco; for he thought that it would diminish his prestige to have them enter as victors into that city while he was there. After his departure, therefore, he sent on the way advice to his deputy whom he left there, to bring them to Nangasaqui. This he accordingly did on the fifth of January, placing Beatriz de Acosta in a certain house, and putting the five religious into the public prison, where they still remain. Such was the victorious end of this battle, wherein our holy faith was nobly vindicated, the Christians encouraged, and the tyrant overcome and confounded, quite the contrary of what he had expected and promised.
“During the same time this governor seized and sent to Sendo[5] the wives and daughters of the holy martyrs who have perished in Nangasaqui from the year 1617 to the present one, one thousand six hundred and thirty-two—separating many of them, who were already married, from their husbands and sons. They all accepted captivity for so holy a cause with a good will, and before leaving protested before the governor that they were and always would be Christians. Three Christians were taken prisoners for the faith in Fingo at the beginning of the year 631. One of them died most happily in the prison, a short time ago; and the other two, father and son, remain in captivity. In Xiqui there were thrown alive into the sea for the faith, on the twelfth of February past, Thome and Ynes, his wife; likewise in Firando, a short time ago, another man was thrown into the sea for the same cause.