[Chapter vi deals with the life of Andrés del Espiritu Santo. That valiant worker was born in Valladolid in January 1585, his father being Hernando Tanégo. He made his vows in the convent of Portillo in 1601, and joining the first Philippine mission arrived at the islands in 1606. There he was sent immediately to the Zambales coast, where he founded the village of Masinloc, from which as a center he carried on his work. In 1609 he was elected vicar-provincial, which office he kept until 1612. He was elected vicar-provincial for the second time in 1615; and on the completion of that office in 1618, being elected procurator, he went to Spain for new missionaries, of whom he obtained a fine band, returning to Manila in 1622. The following year he was elected vicar-provincial for the third time, and in 1624 first definitor. The highest office of the province, namely, that of provincial, came to him in 1626 and at the end of his provincialate he asked permission to go to Japan, but in vain; he therefore continued the work among the Philippine missions until 1632, when he was again elected provincial. In 1635 he was again definitor, and at the expiration of that office he was appointed prior of the Manila convent; thence he retired to the Cavite convent where he worked with the most vigorous men, although worn out by his excessive toil. He finally retired to the Manila convent, where he died at the end of 1657 or the beginning of 1658, at the age of 78.]
[Chapter viii records the death, in 1659, of Nicolás de la Madre de Dios, who had labored in Cagayán, where he had accomplished most in quieting an insurrection that had broken out under a native heathen priest called Salúr.]
[Chapter x contains a bull promulgated by Alexander VII, dated August 5, 1660, confirming a decree of the congregation Propaganda fide of June 28, 1660 (inserted in the bull) forbidding Recollect religious who had been sent to the Philippines from turning aside on the way or unnecessarily delaying their journey. The penalty imposed by the decree is that such fugitives are to be deprived of all active and passive vote, and can never hold any dignity or honorary charge in the order. That same year of 1660, a mission left Spain for the islands but did not arrive there until 1664.]
[1] i.e., “within two days’ journey.”
[2] i.e., “When officiating in his duties, and as far as it relates to the care of souls.”
[3] The Negritos (who have been frequently mentioned in previous volumes of this series), or Aetas, form part of the Eastern division of the pygmy race of blacks. In the Philippines, the Negritos are tound mainly in Luzón and Panay, and in northeastern Mindanao; in smaller numbers they also inhabit districts in Palawan and Negros, and in some small islands besides. As in our text, they are, in Luzón, often mentioned in connection with the Zambals—who “were the most indolent and backward of the Malayan peoples,” and “who, in the days before the arrival of the Europeans, were in such close contact with the Negritos as to impose on them their language, and they have done it so thoroughly that no trace of an original Negrito dialect remains.” See W. A. Reed’s study of the “Negritos of Zambales,” vol. ii, part i of Ethnological Survey Publications (Manila, 1904); it contains valuable information, based on actual field-work among those people, regarding their habitat, physical features, dress, industrial and social life, amusements, superstitions, etc., with numerous illustrations.
[4] Apparently this comparison of financial statements was inserted by Fray Pedro de San Francisco de Assis, the editor of Santa Theresa’s work.
[5] Agutaya is the principal island of the northern Cuyos group, and contains a town of the same name.
[6] There are several places of this name in the islands; the reference in the text is probably Taytay, the chief town of northern Palawan.