The ship “Concepción,” which had sailed from these islands in the previous year of 1666, in charge of Commander Don Juan de Zalaeta—who remained in Nueva España, where he took the habit of Santiago, and was alcalde-mayor of the city of La Puebla de los Angeles, and castellan of Acapulco—also arrived in safety at these islands. (Afterward Don Juan returned to these islands, in the year 1684, as judge of the residencia of Governor Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado. That residencia was very tedious and occasioned that judge great troubles.) On that voyage he had taken with him the famous and valiant commander Francisco de Estéybar who also remained in Méjico, where he lived blind for many years.... On its return trip that galleon carried Doctor Don Diego de Corbeta, his Majesty’s fiscal, and Doña María Jiménez, his wife. A mission of the discalced religious of our father St. Augustine also came. The galleon was in great danger, for some of the criminals who were being sent in it for the galleys and presidios of these islands tried to mutiny; but this was checked in time, and the guilty were punished.
Those and other like troubles have occurred in Filipinas because so many criminals and persons who have committed various crimes have been sent from Méjico, and form in these islands the sink [of the iniquity] that prevails here. For those who sometimes merited the punishment of the gallows are confined here, under pretext that they are sent to serve in the galleys, of which we generally have none. And since the need of men is so great, because of the lack of Spaniards, the authorities are compelled to enlist them as soldiers; and from that they continue to advance to the highest military rank, for they are the ones to whom Fortune is more favorable than to others who are more worthy of taking precedence of them.... It is true that there is some relief from that abuse at present. For, on petition of the governors of these islands, the viceroys of Nueva España now send those condemned for such crimes to the conquest of Pansacola [i.e., Florida], which was discovered in the time of the Conde de Galber [i.e., Galves].
That year the galleon “Buen Socorro” sailed from Albay after it was completed, under its commander Diego de Arévalo and its chief pilot Juan Rodríguez. It sailed August 28, and was in great danger for it ran aground as it left the harbor; but it was gotten off easily by the great energy and skill of the commander. The galleon was the best that was ever built thus far in these islands; and its size, beauty, and swiftness were amazing. It had two tanks of water, so large that one of them was more than enough for the entire voyage to Acapulco, and the other served for the return, and a quantity of water was left—a great convenience for the sea, when one suffers so great lack of water. From this it is inferred that the water of Filipinas does not become foul, either going or coming, as the English say of the water of the river Támesis of Londrés [i.e., Thames, of London]. The patache “San Diego” left the port of Cavite, under command of Admiral Bartholomé Muñoz,to go in its convoy—the fortunate Argo that was to conduct those chosen heroes, the apostles for the Marianas Islands, the associates of the venerable father Diego Luís de San Vitores.
[The following chapter contains the biography of the Augustinian father Fray Luís López de Amezquita, who died June 26, 1667.]
CHAPTER XXXII
Election of our father provincial Fray Dionisio Suárez; of the mission that arrived that year; and the imprisonment of the governor.
(1668–69)
The time assigned by our sacred rules for the election of a new provincial came. The fathers who had votes, having assembled in the Manila convent, held their chapter on April 21, 1668, under the presidency of father Fray Tomás de Villanueva, as he was the senior definitor of the preceding chapter. He was assisted by the rector provincial, our father Fray Alonso Coronel. Our father Fray Dionisio Suárez a celebrated minister of the provinces of Tagalos, son of the convent of Salamanca, who came to these islands in 1627, was elected provincial, to the general satisfaction of all. As definitors were elected fathers Fray Juan de Vergara, Fray Francisco de Medina Basco, Fray Andrés de Salazar,[90] and Fray Pedro de Mesa.[91] The visitors, Fray José de Mendoza, and Fray José Duque, were present—in whose place were elected fathers Fray Cristóbal Marroquí and Fray Carlos Bautista.
They enacted ordinances and statutes of great utility for the better administration of the missions in our charge, and for the better government of the province, which, as they were so good and proved so useful, have been reënacted in many subsequent chapters. At that time this province was in great need of religious to serve in the ministry of the missions. Consequently, it was necessary to pile work upon them till they were overburdened (that addition being the most grievous part of the load); and therefore many fathers were entrusted with two districts, and only one was placed in other large districts that needed two or three. The other orders were suffering from the same diminution, and the secular clergy was almost a cipher. Consequently, there was no recourse but to abandon some missions, so that those which remained in our charge might be better administered. But divine Providence hastened to our relief in that great affliction with an abundant reënforcement, the greatest that this province had obtained since its origin.