[That chapter framed a memorial on the death of father Fray Diego Quero, who died in the Dominican convent at Manila. He took the habit at the island Española [i.e., San Domingo] and lived a life of great austerity and poverty. Being of an advanced age when he went to the Philippines, he was employed as master of novices, and afterward as a minister. Other religious who have yielded up their lives in the mission work are the following: Lorenço Alduayen of the province of Aragon, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir at Calatayud (Spain), who labored in the province of Cagayan, where he was greatly beloved. Juan del Moral, son of the convent of San Pablo in Cordova, native of La Rambla, who died at the Manila convent in 1642, where he had been master of novitiates. Geronimo de Belem, who died March 31, 1642, was a native of Beya, Portugal, and had fled to the Indias on account of a murder which he committed in his youth, taking the habit in the Mexican convent of the Augustinians because the Dominicans refused him. However, he was soon dismissed or left that order, and shortly after was given the Dominican habit in La Puebla de los Angeles; and on reaching the Philippines became a laborer in Bataan. He held several important positions in the order, being vicar-provincial, twice definitor, and minister in the province of Tagalos for many years. He was sent on an evangelical mission to Camboja, and after various other employments met his death by accident in an Augustinian convent in Pampanga, to which province he had been sent to adjust some repartimientos that had been imposed on the natives. Manuel de Berrio was a native of the town of Santa Maria el Real of Nieva, and son of the convent of Santa Cruz el Real at Segovia. He accompanied Diego Collado in his mission when still a young man, but deserted that body immediately upon his arrival. He was sent to Nueva Segovia in Cagayan, where he was well known for his virtue. He was vicar of Fotol at the time of his death. Chapter xv treats of certain troubles in 1642 growing out of the late Chinese insurrection. The governor had ordered the new Parián to be built on the other side of the river northeast of Manila in a barrio of the village of Binondo, between the sea and an estuary called La Estacada by the Spaniards, and Bayuay (or Baybay) by the natives.[1] Although it occasioned grave disadvantages to the city, as the people would be inconvenienced in going thither to supply their needs, and the natives would be in danger with so many infidels near by, the change was ordered; but in 1642 the Parián was accidentally destroyed by fire, with great wealth belonging to the Spaniards, and a large part of Binondo. This chapter recounts also the loss of the island Hermosa, which has been fully treated elsewhere.]
CHAPTER XVI
A shipload of religious reaches the province; and notices of events in China are given
After the fearful round of so many calamities, our Lord hastened to open the treasury of His mercies by bringing to this province a band of chosen religious in the year 43. Although they were not many, yet they were all of estimable qualities; and they have greatly honored this province as well as all the order. The circumstance of the time of their arrival made that mission all the more precious; for it was not thought that the province of the king our sovereign, Felipe Fourth the Great, would fathom our necessity at a time when the wars with Portugal and Cataluña kept him much embarrassed, and his royal treasury empty. But God, who moves the hearts of princes, places in their hearts those works of charity, in order to render eternal the grandeur of their monarchies. David’s zeal and reverence to God conquered more for him than did the sword; while the sword served Roboan [i.e., Rehoboam], who had neither zeal nor reverence for God, rather for embarrassment, and ten kingdoms in ten provinces fell away from his crown at the first movement.
[Certain pious reflections follow. Continuing, Santa Cruz says:]
That mission was arranged in España by father Fray Francisco Carrero, procurator for this province. He conducted it to Mexico, where, reënforced by valiant and suitable men who arrived there, he committed it to father Fray Joseph de la Madre de Dios; for the said father procurator could not come here, and hence left them where they embarked at Acapulco. The mail-packet and letters of the ship arrived on the ninth of July; and on the twenty-first, eve of the glorious Magdalena, our patroness, the said mission entered Manila. The religious included in it were as follows: the father vicar, Fray Joseph de la Madre de Dios (alias de la Vega), a native of Rioseco, and son of [the convent of] San Pablo at Burgos; father Fray Pedro de la Fuente, lecturer on the arts in the province of España, son of the same convent, fellow of San Gregorio, and native of the bishopric of Logroño; father Fray Francisco de Molina, son of [the convent of] Santo Tomas at Madrid, and native of the same city; father Fray Juan Pabon, son of our convent at Truxillo, and native of Montanches; father Fray Bernardo Lopez, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir el Real at Toledo, and native of a town near the said city; father Fray Juan Lopez, native of the town of Martin Muñoz de las Possadas, son of [the convent of] San Estevan at Salamanca, who afterward became the most illustrious bishop of Nombre de Jesus [i.e., Cebú] whence he ascended to the archbishopric of Manila, and of whom we shall treat in due time; father Fray Domingo del Castillo, son of [the convent of] San Pablo at Valladolid, and native of the mountain region of Burgos; father Fray Geronimo de Sotomayor, son of [the convent at] Mexico, lecturer in morning classes in the college of Porta-Celi, and native of the said city; father Fray Juan Cuenca, son of [the convent of] La Puebla de los Angeles (where he lectured on theology), and native of the same city; father Fray Antonio de Velasco, son of the convent of Mexico, and native of the same city; father Fray Juan Marquez, of the same convent and city; father Fray Diego de Figueroa, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at Mexico, and native of the same city; father Fray Felipe Muñoz, native of Mexico, and son of our convent of Santo Domingo in the same city; brother Fray Antonio Sanchez, an acolyte, son of the convent of Santo Domingo of La Puebla, and native of the same city; brother Fray Jacinto Altamirano, a lay-brother, son of [the convent of] Santo Domingo at La Puebla, and native of that town. From the province of Andalucia came only father Fray Raymundo del Valle, son of Ronda, from our convent of San Pedro Martir. It is not known here where he was born, for he was soon sent to the province of China, where he is at present. We shall discuss him later. In that mission came also a boy named Sebastian Galvan, a brother of Archbishop Don Fray Juan Lopez, who took the habit on arriving at a proper age.
An intermediary chapter had been held on April 25 of that year 43. Our Lord, beholding this his province so sad, was pleased in His charity to visit it by sending the said mission as well as the other small mission that came by way of Macasar. Allowing for their misfortune, it proved a great consolation to see our so beloved brothers come safely through the storm, although they came swimming and naked; for immediately they honored us greatly in the employment in which obedience placed them.
[The remainder of the chapter concerns Chinese affairs.]