The first founders of this province were discalced religious, sons of the province of San Joseph, whose principal convent is San Gil at Madrid; and accordingly this province was governed for some years as a custodia of the said province of San Joseph, its founder. And, since this was its custodia, the province of San Joseph sent to it the orders for its government. The other discalced provinces of España also sent their religious, in order to have a share in the abundant fruits of the conversion that have always been enjoyed in this province. The province of San Joseph, considering, then, that it was now time that this province—at that time its custodia—should govern itself and have its own government, petitioned his Holiness, Gregory Thirteenth, to erect it into a province. His Holiness did so by his special bull, by which he makes it a participant in all the apostolic briefs that have been or may be hereafter conceded by the apostolic see to the said province of San Joseph. In words truly weighty, and worthy of so great a pontiff, he charged this province and its superiors with the zeal that they ought to have in attending to the conversions in their care. His Holiness especially charged the conversion of the great empire of China upon them. In accordance with that action, father Fray Pablo de Jesus was elected as the first provincial of this province in the year 1590. From that time until our days it has been preserved as a province, and it has been supplied with Observantine religious. The latter in order to aid their brothers have offered, with especial spirit, their health and lives to the Lord, and have busied themselves in preaching His gospel; so that almost all the provinces of España, both of the Discalced and of the Observantine, have religious sons who have been martyrs in this province.
This province was founded in the rigor and poverty which the Discalced of España profess. In order to better preserve themselves so, they petitioned his Majesty (may God preserve him) to be pleased to aid them with his paternal alms, in order that they might avoid in that way, as much as possible, the handling of money, which is so contrary to the purity of our holy rule. His Majesty did that with so holy and paternal a zeal that he ordered his governors and viceroys by his royal decree to aid this province with what was needful to clothe and cure the sick. This has been done and is being done, so that his Majesty spends annually more than two thousand five hundred pesos from his royal treasuries in sackcloth for habits, and in medicines, for the sick in México and Manila. This province, recognizing so extraordinary an alms, and the other favors that his Majesty is doing for it, considers his Majesty as its special patron; and refused the patronage that the dukes of Medina Sidonia and Escalona asked for—who offered their alms, favor, and protection. This province sought excuse from their Excellencies by saying that they could not make any innovation about that matter without an order from his Majesty, for the said reasons.
While Don Pedro de Acuña was governing these islands by the force of his valor and arms, he placed a garrison in the forts of Therrenate. The soldiers being disconsolate without a convent of our father St. Francis, the governors accordingly founded in those forts the convent of San Antonio outside the walls of the city. Its first beginning was poor and slight. Afterward, when Master-of-camp Cristoval de Ascueta was governing the forts, he bought at his own cost some good plank houses, in that same locality, which were owned by a Spaniard. Therein, at his own cost and by his energy, he founded a church and convent of planks, which had a spacious garden. That convent was burned, as well as a hospital which the religious had built near it. The religious, seeing themselves thus destitute, tried to come to Manila, but Don Juan Niño de Tavora, who was governing this kingdom at that time, would not allow them to come. Accordingly, he sent an urgent order to Admiral Don Pedro de Heredia to rebuild their house with especial care. The said admiral did so, with so singular devotion that he rebuilt it in a short time, all of stone. Thus the convent was founded and the religious sustained at the expense of his Majesty (may God preserve him).
The religious of this convent have not been content with attending to the consolation of the soldiers of those fortresses, and administration of the sacraments to them, as the chaplains of his Majesty, but they have always endeavored to plant the holy gospel in the surrounding kingdoms. Fathers Fray Cristoval del Castillo, Fray Martín de San Juan, Fray Gregorio de San Esteban,[14] Fray Pedro de la Concepción, and a lay-brother, Fray Benito Díaz, entered the kingdom of Manados, where at various times they tried to convert that kingdom to the holy gospel. Father Fray Diego de Roxas died there, occupied in the same preaching of the holy gospel, with so much approbation of life that the natives of the kingdom buried his body in a new sepulcher, which they inclosed and preserved with so great veneration and respect that, although our religious of Therrenate have gone there for his bones, the natives have always refused to give them up. Father Fray Bias de Palomino (of whom we made mention above) also returned from this kingdom, to Therrenate, and, since he had already learned the languages of those kingdoms, wished to preach in the kingdom of Tagalanda. He disembarked for that purpose, trusting to those islanders, who, being barbarians, killed him as above stated. Some of our religious of Therrenate have entered the kingdom of Macasar for the same purpose of preaching the gospel, and of offering the word of God on various occasions to the kings of that kingdom. Although the latter did not receive the word, they did not maltreat the religious. On the contrary, some villages, called Meados, which have preserved peace with our Spaniards of Therrenate in the said kingdom of Manados, have been very favorable to our religious. They have aided the forts with what provisions they had there. In the years of the Lord, forty-three and forty-four, some Spaniards who had gone to get provisions were in those villages. The Indians rose up against them. Two religious were also in the said villages, namely, father Fray Juan Yranzo and Fray Lorenzo Garalda,[15] who had gone thither to convert the people. The Indians killed some of the Spaniards. Father Juan Yranzo escaped with some Spaniards, but father Fray Lorenço was killed at that time. When father Fray Vicente Argente,[16] then the provincial minister of that province, investigated the matter and how it had happened, the witnesses declared that the Indians had refused to kill father Fray Lorenço, but that the priests of their idols insisted upon it, by saying that they were very angry because priests had been admitted into their kingdom who prevented their idolatry. That was the reason why he suffered so many hardships. He died seven days after. His body was found upon its knees, and the Indians hid and kept it refusing to give it up. That religious was always considered a man of excellent spirit and zeal. Father Fray Bartolomé de San Diego[17] and brother Fray Miguel de San Buenaventura have been preaching to those islanders in the islands of Calonga. Our religious have been in those kingdoms and in others near Therrenate, on various occasions and at various times, ever trying to reduce people so barbarous to the knowledge of our true God, although always with but little fruit. May the will of God be done in all things! The father reader Fray Ginés de Quesada[18] and father Fray Juan Yorillas,[19] emulating the holy zeal of so many martyrs as Japón has had, entered that country with remarkable courage, and died there in the year 1633. Although we know that their death is certain, we do not know how it happened. There are many reports, but they are alike only in saying that those fathers were killed by torture.
When Don Juan Niño de Tavora was governing these islands, the emperor of Japon sent hither as many as one hundred and fifty exiled Christian lepers. It is said that his intent was to spread that leprosy among the natives of these islands, for it is a very common disease in Japón. But whether that was the intent or no, it is a fact that they were exiled because they were Christians; and as good Christians they preferred to leave their country and their relatives rather than their Christian worship and religion. All the city of Manila was greatly edified at sight of them. But at length those who received them into their charge were our holy order, who took them to the garden or site of the hospital for the natives, built by the religious. They are and have always been in that hospital, and the religious have sought alms with which to sustain them, for they have cost no little care, and do still. The governor assigned them alms from the royal treasury in the name of his Majesty; and his Majesty, upon learning it, ordered, since he is so good a Catholic, that two hundred ducados be given them annually from his royal treasury.
Nothing can be done in the missions if the religious do not learn the language of the natives. The religious of this province have always occupied themselves in this with great assiduity, as they are so free from property and business. The first missionaries left many writings in the Tagálog and Bícol languages, the best of which are those left by fathers Fray Juan de Oliver, Fray Juan de Plasençia, Fray Miguel de Talavera,[20] Fray Diego de la Asunción,[21] and Fray Gerónimo Monte.[22] Mention is here made of the above fathers because they were the first masters of the Tagálog language, and since their writings are so common and so well received by all the orders. They have not been printed, because they are voluminous, and there are no arrangements in this kingdom for printing so much. Those things that have been printed, as being urgently needed for the instruction of the natives, are the following. In the year 1613, father Fray Pedro de San Buenaventura[23] printed a Tagálog vocabulary. In the year 1610, father Fray Gerónimo Monte printed in the Tagálog tongue Oraciones devotas para Comulgar y Confesar [i.e., “Devout prayers for Communion and Confession”]. Father Fray Alonso de Santa Ana[24] explained and printed the Misterios de nuestra Santa fe [i.e., “Mysteries of our Holy faith”] in the same Tagálog language in the year 1628. In the year 1637, father Fray Joseph de Santa Maria translated into the same language the Doctrina of Cardinal Bellarmino. In a different style father Fray Antonio de San Gregorio tried to explain the principal mysteries of our holy faith, in the year 1648. Father Fray Andrés de San Agustín[25] printed a grammar of the Bícol language in the province of Camarines in the Bícol language (which is the commonest and most universal of that province), in the year 1647; and the translation that he made into that language of the Doctrina of the same Cardinal Bellarmino,[26] in the same language and in the same year. Father Fray Juan del Spiritu Santo printed another Tratado de Comunión y de Confesión [i.e., “Treatise on Communion and Confession”] with which the father ministers and these natives have sufficient for study—the first, the so important barbaric languages of these kingdoms; and the second, the so necessary mysteries of our holy faith. The above is what has been printed in the Bícol language; and since the writings left by fathers Fray Marcos de Lisboa[27] and Fray Diego Bermeo,[28] the first ministers of that province and the first masters of that language, have not been printed, we shall make no mention of them.
In the year nineteen or twenty his Majesty sent a goodly reënforcement of men and money to this kingdom by his general Don [blank space in MS.] de Huesola. That aid was lost on leaving Cádiz.[29] In all of the galleons were sailing our religious, who had been assigned as chaplains. Father Fray Juan de Noves, with another priest, and a lay-brother, Fray Joseph de los Santos, took passage in the galleon San Joseph. That galleon was wrecked on the coast, as were the others. Its captain and pilot retired to the stern, which is the highest part of the vessel. They had the religious summoned who were down below, hearing confessions on the quarterdeck. Father Fray Juan de Noves answered that he could not go, for they were confessing the people, and that they could not leave all those men without consolation. The lay-brother went, since he was not a confessor, and was saved, with those who were at the stern. The two religious who were confessors were lost, on account of hearing confessions, with the others who were below decks. Most extraordinary was the zeal displayed in this by father Fray Andrés de Puertollano.[30] Returning to España as custodian of this province, he embarked at Vera Cruz in the almiranta of the fleet. That vessel was lost in a storm on some hidden rocks, and was beached. The admiral went in his falúa with what Spaniards he could take, and father Fray Andrés embarked with him. When the poor wretches who were left behind in the wrecked galleon saw father Fray Andrés in the falúa, they commenced to cry out, saying: “Father Fray Andrés, why do you leave us in these troubles?” The religious, overmastered by impulse, sprang into the water without saying anything; and went to the galleon to confess those poor wretches, where he perished with the others. Reverend Father Fray Juan de Prado, then commissary-general of the order in México, advised this province of that event. His most reverent Paternity adds in his letter that he also had been advised, in the report made to him of the matter, that the men aboard of the falúa saw father Fray Andrés walk upon the water when returning to the ship, just as if he were upon the land. The truth is, as we all know, that father Fray Andrés could not swim; and even had he known how, he would have swum but ill, clad in a habit of sackcloth so voluminous as that worn by the discalced religious. May His Divine Majesty be pleased by it all, and may He give us His holy Spirit so that we may all serve and praise Him!
O divine Providence! O eternal Predestination! we men work as men; but Thou, O Lord, ordainest our works to incomprehensible ends, as an omnipotent God! In the shipyard of Bagatas, which was established in the province of Camarines, the Mindanao enemy (whose worship is the law of Mahomet) made a sudden attack. The galleon which was being built was burned; and among other persons captured was father Fray Domingo de los Mártires, who was the confessor of the shipyard, and a lay-brother, his associate and the nurse of the same shipyard. They offered and sacrificed the lay-brother to their god or idol, in a storm that burst upon them. They took the priest with them, he preaching to them all the time and teaching them our evangelical law whenever he saw a convenient opportunity for so doing. It happened that a woman near his apartment who was pregnant came to her time; she had a very painful labor, and bore an infant, still alive but breathing its last. The religious begged leave of the mother to baptize it. He was granted permission and baptized it, and shortly afterward it died and went to heaven. Many blows and knocks did it cost the religious to baptize it; but he afterward returned to this province where he died, and where he recounted the above. Thus did the Mindanao enemy go to Bagatas, burned the shipyard, captured two religious, sacrificed the lay-brother to their idols, and preserved the life of the priest; and for what end? Why did they not sacrifice them both? Because God had predestined that infant for His glory, and likewise that the [Moro] king should go to Bagatas, and attain his design, namely, the burning of the shipyard; and that God should also attain His, namely, to take that infant to His glory. Inasmuch as that had to be by the medium of baptism, [He ordained] that the king should take a priest from Bagatas, preserve his life, give him lodging near the pregnant mother, and that the mother should have a painful birth; that the religious should learn of it, and with the mother’s permission baptize the infant; and that it should die at that instant, so that it should instantly be translated from its Mahometan kingdom to that of Glory, for so has divine Providence disposed and ordained.
Not less important was that which happened in the province of Tuy. That province has some valleys enclosed by rough mountains, which are bounded on the north by the province of Cagayán, and on the east by the village of Casiguran, (he last of our missions. Father Blas de la Madre de Dios,[31] during his provincialate, heard of these people while in the province of Tagalos, and in order to reduce them to civilization and to obedience to our God and our king, sent fathers Fray Pedro de la Concepción and Fray Joseph Fonte to them, as well as the brothers Fray Pedro de Sacedón and Fray Baltasar de N. to act as nurses. Those religious lived in that province for two years, and the Indians furnished them with what was necessary, with all respect and kindness. A man already aged fell sick, and, being harassed by his illness, begged to be taken to the religious, who were in another village. On arriving he begged for holy baptism, with tears in his eyes, and scarcely had he received it when he died and went to heaven. This is the fruit that was drawn from that journey, besides some small children who were baptized when in danger of death, for whose predestination divine Providence seems to have thus arranged. The same father provincial, Fray Blas de la Madre de Dios, went with other religious to visit that province. Considering how poor were the facilities for that conversion—for the people were scattered in groups of huts, and had no villages or government—and that between the said village of Casiguran and the said valleys of Tuy intervene thickets and mountains inhabited by savage Cimarrones; and that those mountains in themselves are very rough, so that no one could go to and return from Tuy without undergoing the worst kind of trouble and danger: therefore the father provincial returned to his mission at Casiguran with all the religious. The fathers of St. Dominic also went to those people by way of Cagayán, and also abandoned them for the same reasons as we. From the above examples many others can be inferred in each conversion, which are without doubt special and remarkable. In them and in all things may our God and Lord be blessed and praised; and may His Divine Majesty give us His holy grace so that we may praise and serve Him in this and in the eternal life as His children! Amen.
I look at the conversion of this kingdom of Philipinas in this way: The happy day arrived on which God had determined to reduce all América to the bosom of His holy Church. The kings of Francia and Inglaterra disregard its conquest; the Catholic sovereign, although in those times poorer and less powerful, receives it. América having been conquered, reports are sent from Asia to Madrid testifying of the islands of Salomón and their wealth of gold and pearls. The fleets of España go to discover them, and although they discover other kingdoms and islands of infidels, they do not halt therein. The islands of Luzón having been discovered, they are conquered; and, having been conquered, are preserved. “Then, Sire, if the islands of Luçon do not contain the gold and pearls that one imagined, why are they preserved?” “That makes no difference,” replies his Catholic Majesty, “for I am working as an instrument of divine Providence. The gold and pearls are a very accidental object. The chief end is the conversion of the kingdom of Luçón, which God has specially predestined; and He has chosen me, His king, as the instrument. And since the principal end for the greater service of my God has been attained with so great glory to myself and to my crown, the islands of Luçón will be preserved, although my treasures are exhausted in their preservation.” O, great God! how incomprehensible by the usual means are Thy hidden purposes!—or, Altitudo divitiarum sapientiae et scientiae, Deo quam incomprehensibilia sunt indicia cuis et investigabilis vid [sc., vis?] eius![32]