[1] Lorenzo Goreto was born at Ferrara, November 1, 1592, and entered his novitiate at Rome, December 8, 1608. He went to the Philippines (1622), and labored in the Visayan missions, where he died June 17, 1638. Murillo Velarde says that he was master of theology in Manila, and that he was a very learned man. See his Hist. Philipinas, fol. 102 verso-103; and Sommervogel’s Bibliothèque.
Luis de Pedraza was a native of Baeza, Spain, and entered the Jesuit order in the province of Andalusia. He was a prominent laborer in the Visayan missions, and held important posts in the college of Manila. Later, he went to Mindanao, and died at Zamboanga, October 22, 1639. (Murillo Velarde, Hist. Philipinas, fol. 107.)
[2] Maestro de prima: prima was the name applied to the first three hours of the day, the term being extended to universities and studies, indicating the lessons that came during that period, or the professor who gave his lectures during that period.
[3] i.e., “as a precautionary measure.”
[4] Lucas García, who belonged to the mission of 1615, performed missionary duties in Cagayan, and was also vicar of Fotol, of Maquilá, and jointly rector of Santo Tomas, and procurator-general. He was later vicar of Gattoron, of Fotol, of Tocolana, and of Lallo-c, and also served in the province of Cagayan for a number of years. He was also definitor several times, and vicar-provincial in Cagayan. In 1633 and 1635 he was vicar-provincial in Formosa, being also vicar of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, at Tanchui. After thirty-six years’ labor in the Indias, he died at Lallo-c about 1651. See Reseña biográfica, i, p. 349.
[5] The ringing of bells at a certain hour (usually sunset), which admonishes the faithful to pray for the souls in purgatory. The alabado meant a hymn sung in praise of the sacrament when it was placed within the tabernacle.
[6] The only Burguillos mentioned by Huerta is Pedro, a lay brother connected with the Japanese missions, who died at Manila in 1615—apparently therefore, not the one mentioned in our text.
[7] The Cistercian Order was founded by St. Robert, the son of a gentleman of Champagne, who had taken the Benedictine habit, at Cistercium (the modern Citeaux) in 1098, and professed the rule of St. Benedict. The rule was very austere, but despite various reforms, it gradually became relaxed and approached the observance of other orders. The Trappists are an offshoot of this order. See Addis and Arnold’s Catholic Dictionary, pp. 186–188.
[8] An ambassador (generally a cardinal or bishop) sent by the pope to a foreign prince, with full powers.
[9] The following royal decree on this subject was issued in 1637: “Inasmuch as I have been informed that many soldiers and sailors who are in my service in the Filipinas Islands are becoming, and have become, religious, while indebted in large sums of maravedis to my royal treasury for pay which has been advanced to them; and that, after having been for some years in the orders, they leave them and wander about as vagabonds with the utmost freedom, and refuse to reënter my service: desiring to apply a corrective to such delinquencies, and the matter having been conferred over in my royal Council of the Yndias, I have considered it fitting to issue the present. By it I request my very reverend archbishop in Christ, the father of the metropolitan church of the city of Manila, and charge the venerable and devout fathers-provincial and other superiors of all the orders in the territory of his archbishopric, to note that they are to inform my governor of the said islands whenever such cases shall occur to the prejudice of my treasury, and that the culprits be punished as is fitting. No one may take the vows of religion without first satisfying the amount that he shall thus owe. In order that the contents of this my decree may be well known to all, I order my governor and captain-general of the said Filipinas Islands to publish it in all the necessary places, and to send a copy of it to the provincials of the orders throughout the said islands, in order that they may give to its fulfilment the earnest attention to which they are obliged; for such is my will. Madrid, December 23, 1637.”