[Chapter l mentions the intermediary chapter of May 1, 1700, and the state of the Philippine and other missions of the order. In Cagayan the missions of Zifun and those to the Mandayas are in a flourishing condition. Through the efforts of Fray Francisco de la Vega,[24] the earnest work of Fray Pedro Ximenez is carried on, and the fierce dwellers of the village of Calatug are reduced to the faith. The assembly earnestly charges the missionary at Fotol to bend all his energies to the conversion of the Mandayas. Fray Vicente de el Riesgo[25] is appointed to the mission of Ytugug, and he is charged with the reduction of Yogat and Paniqui; and well does he obey those injunctions. Not only does he reduce again the villages of Ytugug, Santa Rosa, and San Fernando, but also villages of Cagayan. “Besides that mission of Ytugug or Paniqui, another harvest field, no less abundant, had been discovered, in the very center of those mountains, on the side looking toward the east, in an extensive field called Zifun. There the venerable father, Fray Geronimo Ulloa, vicar of the village of Tuguegarao, filled with zeal for the reduction of those infidels, had made various raids in those mountains. That father was very fond of missions and had labored in others with zeal and fervor, and although he was now very old, and had in his charge so large a village as Tuguegarao, and was very far from those mountains, yet he was unable to restrain his zeal, and his desire for the welfare of souls. Hence burning with the ardor of youth, as soon as he was freed from the obstacles of the necessary occupations of his ministry, he entered those mountains alone in search of those straying souls in order to lure them to the flock of Christ, without stopping to consider dangers or discomforts in order that he might gain some souls for heaven.” So great is his success, and so many the souls that he reduces that the intermediary chapter gives him an associate, in order that the father may give all of his time to the mission work of Zifun.]
[Chapters li–lvii (which complete the volume) treat of the lives of various fathers and sisters of the order. In the biographical notices of these chapters, as well as in all the other biographical chapters of this volume, there is necessarily much on the mission work of the Dominicans; but the method of treatment is almost entirely from the standpoint of the individual, and offers no view of the mission work as a whole, or at least nothing new is added to the broader aspects of the work. Consequently, we do not present anything from those chapters in this survey of Dominican missions.]
[1] The translation of the title-page of the above book is as follows: “History of the province of Santissimo Rosario de Philipinas [i. e., most holy rosary of the Philipinas], China, and Tunking, of the holy order of the Preachers. Third part. In which are treated the events of said province from 1669 to 1700. Composed by the Reverend Father Fray Vicente de Salazar, rector of the college of Santo Thomas of the city of Manila, and chancellor of its university. Dedicated to the sovereign queen of the angels, the most holy Mary, in her miraculous image of the rosary, which is venerated with the universal devotion of the people in the church of Santo Domingo of the said city of Manila. Printed by the press of the said college and university of Santo Tomas of the said city, in the year 1742.” The first two parts of this history (those by Aduarte and Santa Cruz) have been given in translation and synopsis in preceding volumes in this series.
Fray Vicente Salazar was born in Ocaña and professed at Valladolid. He became a professor in Spain. Arriving in Manila in 1727, he became a professor in the college of Santo Tomàs and in 1742 was its rector. Later he became prior of the Manila convent. The last years of his life were spent in the Ituy missions, his death occurring between the years of 1755–1759. See Retana’s edition of Zúñiga’s Estadismo, ii, p. 615.
[2] For sketches of the members of this mission, see Reseña biográfica, ii, pp. 101–194.
[3] See Reseña biográfica, ii, pp. 194–230, for sketches of these missionaries.
[4] See the Recollect account of these transactions in VOL. XLI.
[5] Fray Alarcón was a native of Archidona, and professed in the convent at Madrid June 30, 1661. On arriving at the islands (1666), he was assigned to the province of Pangasinan. In 1669 he was appointed master of novitiates in Manila, but resigned the post that same year. In 1673 he went to Formosa intending to enter the Chinese missions, but finding that impossible he returned to Manila in 1674. From 1675–1678 he labored in the missions of the province of Bataán, being sent the latter year to the Chinese missions; but finding it necessary to return to Manila shortly after, his subsequent efforts to return again to China were unavailing. He died in Manila September 15, 1685, after a lingering illness. See Reseña biográfica, ii, pp. 59–61.
[6] The Zambals were not Negritos, although they may have been a mixture of Negrito blood. They were probably somewhat the same as the Igorots, and hence a race of Malay extraction.