When the time arrived, Governor Don Diego de Salcedo embarked, taking with him the most distinguished train of people that has been seen on any occasion. For of captains alone there were twenty-six, and I think it advisable to inscribe their names here, because of the great honor and prestige that they brought to the community of Manila. They were as follows: Don Antonio Sanchez de Quirós, ex-captain of cuirassiers in Flandes; Juan Martinez Corrionero, alférez and adjutant in Flandes; Don Francisco de Moya, Don Juan de Briones, and Don Tomás de Castro Andrade;[65] Don Pedro de la Peña Maceda, a soldier of Flandes; Don Antonio Xigundi; Don Francisco and Don Martín de Tejada, brothers; Don Luis Matienzo, Don Juan de Guzman, Don Pedro Mendiguerren, and Don José Alsara; Don José Cornices, and Don Gonzalo Samaniego; Juan de Alquica, a brave Vizcayan; Juan de Palomares Castro, Don Juan de Pimentel, Don Feliciano Velázquez, and Don Joaquin Ramírez; Don Francisco Vanderváez, Don Alonso Valdés, and Don Juan Giménez; Don Pedro de la Mancha, Don Diego Castañeda, and Don Miguel de Alegría; the chief pilot, Leandro Cuello; and others. Two auditors embarked, namely, Licentiate Don Francisco de Coloma Maceda, and Licentiate Don Francisco de Mansilla Montemayor; and many other persons of account.
Father Fray José de Paternina, whom the Inquisitors of Méjico had appointed commissary of the Holy Office for the city of Manila, embarked with eleven of our religious; and father Fray Cristobal de Santa Mónica, of the discalced religious of our father St. Augustine, with another fine and more numerous mission—among whom was that virtuous and erudite preacher, Fray Isidoro de Jesús María, one of the best preachers of that century, whose sermons might arouse admiration in Europa. Where he surpassed, moreover, was in those that he preached, for twenty consecutive years, on the sorrows of most holy Mary. But his sermons did not have the good fortune to be printed, except the first on that subject, and a few others on other festal occasions.
Governor Don Diego was very angry at the affront that the viceroy had put upon the commander, Francisco García del Fresno, without any authority for it beyond the mere authority of viceroy. Therefore, as soon as the galleon left the port of Acapulco and had lost sight of land, he ordered the drums to be beaten, and deprived the commander Don Andrés de Medina of his office, which he restored to Francisco García. When that was learned in the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, his Majesty approved of it, and issued a new decree ordering the viceroys of Nueva España not to change the commanders or those who were to succeed in the second place [as governor]. Don Andrés de Medina, being a wise and prudent man, made no resistance, except that he retired to the quarters of the boatswain, from which he did not emerge until the galleon after many months cast anchor at Cavite.
The galleon “San José” sighted these islands late, and, as the vendavals had set in, could not make port in either Palapag or Lampón. After having suffered many storms they were obliged to make port in the most remote and unsuitable harbor—namely, that of Pasipit, in the province of Cagayán, which lies in 19 degrees north latitude. The governor, the auditors, and the two missions disembarked, and after many hardships traversed five provinces by land, three of which (Ilocos, Pampanga, and Bulacán) were in our charge, and two (Cagayán and Pangasinán) in charge of the religious of St. Dominic. Our small mission was so unfortunate that three of them died in the province of Ilocos: namely, father Fray Tomás de Villanueva, a religious already aged, of the province of Castilla; brother Fray Bartolomé de Grecia, a native of La Mancha; and father Fray Juan de Ezquerra. The other eight reached Manila after so long a journey; and these were received there [with the demonstrations] that the great lack of religious in the province demanded. They were as follows:
The father-commissary of the Holy Office, Fray José de Paternina, son of the convent of Badaya, forty years old. He became prior of Manila and Guadalupe, and died at sea in the year 1674.
Father Fray Juan García, of the convent of Burgos, and a native of Álava. He was an excellent and efficient minister in the province of Ilocos. He went to España and Roma as procurator for this province, whence he returned with a plentiful mission of religious in the year 1679. He returned to the province of Ilocos, where he died in the year 1699 with the reputation of great virtue.
Father Fray Pedro Martínez, son of the convent of Burgos and native of Las Encartaciones;[66] an able minister in the province of Ilocos, where he was vicar-provincial, and came to be definitor of our province. He was a religious of great virtue, mildness, and peaceableness. His death occurred in Manila, in the year 1683.
Father Fray Juan de Guedeja, native of Salamanca, son of that convent, and thirty years old. He was a minister in Pampanga, and very skilful in that language. He was a religious of various capacities, and was greatly beloved for his gentleness. He was occupied in honorable posts in this province, and died in the year 1689.
Father Fray Francisco Muñoz, son of the same convent of Burgos and native of Álava, thirty years old. He was a zealous minister in the province of Ilocos, where he died in the year 1687.
Father Fray Diego Gutiérrez, native of Madrid, son of the convent of San Felipe, twenty-eight years old and eight years in the habit. He was an excellent minister in the province of Tagalos, and died in the year 1676.