[Section ii of the following chapter treats of the life of father Fray Thomàs de San Geronimo. This father was born at the village of Yebenes, in the archbishopric of Toledo, his family name being Ayàla. He took the habit in the Madrid convent, July 28, 1646. Upon going to the Philippines he was sent to the missions of the Visayas. Devoting himself there to the study of the languages he learned several of the Visayan tongues, especially the Cebuan, “the principal Visayan tongue.” In that language he translated the catechism, which was printed at Manila in 1730; compiled an explanation of the Christian Doctrine, which was printed in 1730; and composed a vocabulary in the Cebuan tongue, and another in the dialects spoken in Cagayàn and Tagalòan. In addition he left two volumes of sermons in the vernacular of the country. He served as prior for six years in the convent of Billig, Mindanao; six years in Cagayàn, and various times at the island of Romblon, and finally in Siargao. In 1680 he was elected provincial, and served his term so faithfully and well, visiting and working assiduously, that he was reëlected in 1686 against his will. But he was destined not to fill that office again for death took him May 19, 1686. After his first term he served in the island of Romblòn. He was a most zealous missionary. The remainder of the chapter and chapter vii following do not deal with Philippine affairs.]
Chapter VIII
Our missionaries illumine the islands of Masbàte with the preaching. The fourteenth general chapter is held. Two excellent religious die in the province of Aragon.
The year 1688
§ I
Our province of Philipinas takes charge of the spiritual administration of three islands, namely, Masbàte, Ticào, and Burìas, with no little luster to the Catholic religion.
... 1108. In the great archipelago of San Lazaro, as one enters the Philipinas from Marianas, the islands of Luzòn, Mindòro, Panài, Zebù, and Lèyte form among themselves an almost perfect circle which has a circumference along the beaches from the center of about two hundred leguas encircling the above-named islands, which are very near one another. Within this circumference, toward the part of Mindòro and Panay, are located the islands of Romblòn, and toward the part of Lèyte those of Masbàte, Ticào and Burìas, which belong to the bishopric of Nueva Càceres in ecclesiastical matters, and to the alcaldeship of Albay in political matters. Masbàte, which is the chief island, is sixty leguas southwest of Manìla. It lies in a latitude of about sixty degrees, has a circumference of fifty leguas, a length of nineteen, and a breadth of five or six.[49] The island of Ticào is about nine leguas long, four and one-half wide, and about twenty-three leguas in circumference.[50] That of Burìas has a circumference of twenty-six leguas, four wide and twelve long.[51] Masbàte has the reputation of having the richest gold mines that were found by the first Spaniards, and from which they benefited to a great extent. Their working has not been continued, either for lack of people suitable for this work or for other reasons which do not concern us. That of Buriàs abounds in the palm called Buri, of whose fruit and even of whose trunk, the Indians make an extraordinary bread. That of Ticào produces many woods, excellent for the construction of medium-sized boats. The natives of those three islands are of the same qualities as the rest of the Philipinas. However, they have become very sociable because of the almost continuous intercourse that they have with the Spaniards, on account of the many who pass on their way to other countries.
1109. Those islands were reduced to the crown of España in 1569 by Don Luis Henriquez de Guzman, a knight of Sevilla, whose conquest made them thoroughly subject in everything to Captain Andrès de Ibarra. Thereupon, scarcely had the way been opened by arms, when the venerable father, Fray Alonso Ximenez, an Observant of our order, entered Masbàte to preach the law of grace. He, as is asserted by father Fray Gaspàr de San Agustin, may be called the apostle of that island, in consideration of the great amount of his labors therein for the extension of the Catholic faith. Other apostolic workers of the same institute followed his tracks later, and they went to Ticào and Burìas. Consequently, in the year 1605, the province of Santo Nombre de Jesus founded a mission composed of the above three islands. The first prior appointed was father Fray Francisco Guerrero, instructor of Christian doctrine, who was of well-known zeal. But our calced fathers kept the care of their administration only until the year 1609, when the intermediary chapter resigned that district and its villages into the hands of the bishop of Nueva Càceres, Don Pedro de Arce, in order that he might appoint secular clergy as he wished, who could attend to the Christian Indians with the bread of the doctrine.[52] From that time until the year 1688, various curas had successive charge of the administration of those souls in order to teach them the road of glory. But notwithstanding that that district had only two hundred and fifty families when they took charge of it (as the above-cited Father Gaspar confesses) whose number continued to decline afterward because of the Moro invasions, one cura could in no way be maintained, and scarce could one be found to take charge of that church.
1110. Things were in this condition, then, when the most illustrious master, Don Fray Andrès Gonzales, who deservedly ascended to the bishopric of Nueva Càceres from the ranks of the Order of Preachers, represented to the king on May 28, 1682 that in order that the villages of his diocese might be rightly administered spiritually, it would be indispensable to assign its curacies in another manner and give some of them into the charge of religious. In consideration of that he petitioned his Majesty to commit the approbation of the new plan considered to his governor of those islands, so that as vice-patron, he might proceed in it. The king conceded what that prelate asked by his decree dated Madrid, August 13, 1685, and his Excellency presented the new formation of districts to the governor with all its changes. By it he applied to our province all the mission of Masbàte, and its adjacent islands, as well as the villages of Ingòzo, Catanavan, Vigo, and the rancherias contiguous, all located in the island of Luzòn, which hitherto had belonged to the curacy of Pìriz, so that another new mission might be formed under charge of our discalced order. The governor was the admiral of galleons, Don Gabriel de Cruceleygui, knight of the habit of Santiago. By an act of November 26, 1686, he approved in toto the idea of the bishop, and, as a consequence, the assignation made to us of the above-mentioned villages, so that we might administer them as curas. However, because of several troubles that resulted, our province accepted only the mission of Masbàte, and renounced the right that they might have had to the other villages of the island of Luzòn, for they could be administered by the fathers of St. Francis with less trouble.
1111. The constant reasons for the acts by which the bishop assigned to us the above-mentioned district were reduced to the fact that there was but one secular priest in it, and he was insufficient for its administration. For it was proved that only four persons had died with the sacraments within the long space of four years, while those who had passed to the other life without that benediction numbered one hundred and eighteen. Add to this that the baptism of small children had been delayed many months as the parish priest did not go but very seldom to visit the distant villages. This ought not to induce inferences against the well-proved zeal of those venerable priests, that they had neglected their duties in attending to the obligations of the ministry. For since there was but one ecclesiastic in all three islands, and those islands occupy so great an extent, and the villages are so distant from one another, how could he attend to so many parishioners with the pastoral food? It is a fact that even after our religious had entered there and three or four were kept busy continually, scarce could they fully attend to all their duties as spiritual directors, without some inculpable lack being evident; and that notwithstanding that each one labored as many, for not few of them have lost their health because of the work, as we shall see hereafter. Consequently, one ought not to be surprised if those Indians were poorly administered before, for it is undeniable that one person cannot attend to so many laborious cares, as can many, although he may equal them in zeal.