Diego Aduarte

“ Paul, who bids us give place to wrath, he left the hall that he might not more inflame the wrath of this man. After a while, when he thought it was time, he went in again, and with great serenity of countenance and with gentleness of heart and words, he said to him: “Bend your knees, because my heart does not permit me to leave you under so heavy a condemnation;” and he added: “By virtue of a brief of the Supreme Pontiff which I have for this purpose, I absolve you from the most dreadful excommunication which you have incurred.” ”

“ The city of Manila is the finest and richest of its size known in all the world. It is of great strength, being almost surrounded by the sea and by a large river, which wash its walls. It is the capital and court city of these islands, where the governor and captain-general of them has his residence, as well as the royal Audiencia and Chancillería. Here is situated the largest garrison of soldiers, with its master-of-camp, sargento-mayor, and captains. ”

“ All of these actions of the father were accompanied by such prudence, purity of life and manners, and by such love and such good works for the people, that although at the time those who were blinded and carried away by their passions suffered greatly, and were very angry with the man who interfered with their vices, still afterwards, when their minds became calmed, they could not fail to recognize the goodness of father Fray Christobal. He even gained the hearts of these people, and forced them to love and esteem them. ”

“ Father Fray Juan Cobo joining him immediately, they began to teach the Chinese, amazing those people that anyone should have been able to succeed with their language and to preach to them in it. Much greater was their amazement, however, at the extraordinary virtue and charity which they beheld in these two religious. They did not content themselves with the labor of teaching them—which was not small, for soon many were converted and began to be baptized; but they proposed to build a hospital where the sick poor could be cared for. ”

“ His Majesty felt a particular affection for these islands, because their conversion had begun in his time and as a result of his initiative. As they had received their name from his, he desired also to give them a bishop with his own hand. He chose a man whose learning, virtue, and deep zeal for the good and the protection of the Indians qualified him to be the father and first shepherd of regions so new and so remote from the presence of their king. In such regions it is very easy for the wrongs which the powerful do to the weak to be more and greater than in others ”

“ The bishop alone was silent—so much so that his religious became anxious, and felt obliged to ask him the reason. He answered: “I am afraid, fathers, that the Lord does not look upon us as His own, so much happiness does He grant us in so cramped a ship. Such fair weather, and not more than one religious sick; we are not what we ought to be, for the Lord has sent us no hardships. My coming was sufficient to prevent you from receiving that blessing.” When they reached Mexico, he planned to buy a house where the religious who came to this province from that of España might be cared for. ”

“ Even if the religious in this province of Nueva Segovia had done no other good than bringing to an end or preventing so many sins of idolatry as these Indians used to commit, every day and every hour, by adoring the devil and offering him superstitious reverence in all the ways which have already been described, a very great service indeed would have been done to the Lord, to whom all such actions as these are directly offensive. ”

“ It frequently happens that a man accused in a court of law denies the accusation, and that the religious is unable to draw anything else from him; while in confession the same man will clearly accuse himself of the same fault which he had previously denied, and will deny again if the same question is asked him on another trial. It not infrequently happens that if they have any ill-will against the religious, or have said anything against him, they confess to that very man, telling him of the ill-will that they have felt against him. ”

“ It seemed that for a second time the purpose of the bishop and the religious had been frustrated and their labor wasted; but God sent them a patache or fragata, with only one deck, which was to carry the baggage and the ship’s stores; but it had no accommodations for passengers, and was not designed to carry them, because of its small size. In spite of this, their willingness to suffer even greater evils for God made them despise the hardships which they might suffer by making so long a voyage on so uncomfortable a vessel, and they determined to sail in it. ”

“ Fray Alonso Ximenez and myself were proposed. They urged the great devotion, virtue, and prudence of the holy old man, and the many sufferings which we had both undergone from favoring the king’s own cause; and they said that, if he sent to call us back, we would very readily come to preach the holy gospel. As for the second purpose they said that he ought to send an embassy to the governor of Manila; and, as a sign of the beginning of this friendship, that he ought to ask for some soldiers, by whose aid he might easily complete the pacification of his country. ”

“ Great as was the labor of bringing these souls from darkness to light, they have come to understand their duties, worshiping the Lord with great devotion, and regularly attending His holy sacraments. They go beyond the commandments of God and of His church to do additional works of devotion—especially the women, for they can more easily come to be instructed, and can more easily do what they are told, as they are less occupied than the men are with things to distract their minds and thoughts. ”

“ It was no wonder that two Christian princes should have been overwhelmed when thousands of heathen had suffered the same overthrow, but the idol priests passed that over. The emperor intervened, and enacted a decree that no king or tono, and not even any gentleman of distinction, should become a Christian. The king of Satzuma, however, would not banish the religious, but gave them permission to build a church and a house. ”

“ The king of Sian had made war against the king of Camboja, with eight hundred thousand men. This number should not astonish anyone, because the kings could make war almost at no expense, their vassals providing their own arms and food. The king of Camboja did not dare to wait for so great a multitude of enemies, and retreated up the river to another kingdom known as that of the Laos. The king of Siam made himself master of the country, and after burning it all returned to his own country, being harassed by hunger, which made more war upon him than did the king his enemy. ”

“ The religious sometimes brought in the sick whom they found lying on the streets, without power to move themselves and with no one to pity them. In this way the fame of the virtue of father Fray Miguel and his companions was very widely spread, and there were many of the Chinese heathen who were converted and baptized. The fragrance of this great charity spread so far that it reached Great China and proclaimed in trumpet tones what was done for their sick in the Philippinas. ”

“ This doctrine is very well suited to human prudence but is contrary to divine Providence, to that which the Lord has ordained in His gospel, and even to the very nature of the faith, which demands a pious affection in those who hear it. This is not to be acquired as the result of the violences, murders, and conquests wrought by soldiers. On the contrary, as far as in them lies, they make the faith to be hated and abhorred; and hence the Lord commanded that the preachers should be as sheep among wolves, conquering them with patience and humility, which are the proper arms to overcome hearts. ”

“ The name of this mountain was Cavite, and from it he promised to bring back to China ships laden with gold. The mandarins made their investigations, for which purpose they carried Tiongong with them; and when they reached the place which he described, they found no mountain of gold, nor any sign of one. When they accused him of fraud and deceit, he answered, “If you wish it to be gold, it is gold” (referring to the ornaments which the Indians wear, and much more to the wealth of the Spaniards) ; “if you wish it to be sand, it is sand.” ”

“ He labored much in the ship, hearing confessions, and preaching and teaching; for as in voyages there are so many kinds of people, there is need of all of these things, while many of the people need them all at once, because they do not know the doctrine which it is their duty to know and believe, and do not take that care of their souls which they ought to take. Some of them do not even desire to have such things spoken of, that their ignorance may not be known; and hence there [254] is much labor in teaching them, and it is a great service to God not to refuse this labor. ”

“ At this time there died in the same province of Nueva Segovia brother Fray Domingo de San Blas, a lay religious of much virtue and known sanctity, a son of the convent of San Pablo at Sevilla, who came to these islands in the year 1594. He was of much use to the Indians, of whose language he learned enough to be understood by them and to teach them to pray, to attract the Christians to the church, and to teach the heathen the knowledge of the doctrine of Christianity. He was fervent in prayer, being often moved to sighs and tears during his devotions. ”

“ Within a few months, there was not a heathen within the village—a clear proof that the presence of heathen in the country is due solely to a lack of missionaries. Wherever the missionaries are, all are immediately baptized; and not only those of that village which has the missionaries, but some of their neighbors also, participate in the teaching of the religious, and in the favors of our Lady of the Rosary. This is plain from a miracle which occurred a few years after, and was verified before the vicar-general of this country, who at that time was father Fray Pedro de Madalena. ”

“ The virtue of patience, which is in all circumstances very desirable, and no less difficult to acquire and maintain, was that which the bishop most needed, for at every step occasions offered themselves for the exercise of this virtue. Since he was by nature wrathful and hot-tempered, and was always engaged in defending the right, it cost him much to control himself and to be patient. ”

“ We then set sail, Don Luis and the rest to Manila, and I to Macan, for I was in such a condition of ill health as a result of hardship and exposure that I did not dare to undertake the voyage to Manila. At this time father Fray Alonso Ximenez died in Macan. His death was caused by the hardships and exposure which he had undergone in endeavoring to evangelize the kingdom of Camboja. Though he was almost seventy years of age when he set out on the expedition, he endured everything that befell him with patience and courage, consoling the others, though he had always himself the most to suffer. ”

“ He followed the same plan with the Indians, directing them to prepare themselves with arms and arrows, to be ready if they should be needed. None of this was conceded from the Chinese, for it could not be kept secret from so many; and they even heard with their own ears the most prominent people in Manila say: “We cannot go out against the Chinese, if they come with a fleet, and leave behind us such a multitude as there is around the city; so, if we have news that there is a fleet of the Chinese, we shall have to kill all there are here, and go out and meet those who are coming.” ”

“ This is a function that calls for many diverse qualities, difficult to find united in a single person unless he is a man of so superior a nature as was father Fray Miguel. When he arrived in the province, they sent him to the district of Nueva Segovia. Here he was one of the first missionaries and founders of this conversion; and was one of the best and most careful, most beloved by the Indians, and most devoted to his duties as a religious, who had ever been in that province. He suffered all the hardships and necessities, the poverty and the lack of sustenance, which have been recounted. ”

“ In Tular, or Abulug, a village of more than a thousand inhabitants, in which there were more communicants than in the other villages, the religious taught many of them to strive to meditate every day upon some of the mysteries of the rosary. This was an exercise to which the first founder of the province, father Fray Juan de Castro, was very much given, and in which many of his disciples and subjects have followed him. Thus these Indians day by day meditate upon one after another of the fifteen mysteries of the rosary. Other Indians lay aside part of their daily food for charity. ”

“ Becoming an archbishop did not change that poor and humble manner of living which he had followed as bishop and as religious. He continued to wear the same habit of serge and tunics of wool. His food was always fish, unless he had a guest, which happened seldom; or unless he was afflicted by some infirmity. Whenever he had a journey to take on land—for traveling in these islands is usually carried on by water—he was accustomed to go on foot; and, that he might travel with more abstraction from the world, he used to walk uttering prayers. ”

“ In proof of this lie they called their attention to some facts which the Sangleys could see—for instance, that all the Spaniards were getting ready their weapons, and [186] the Indians were making new ones, though they had no other enemies, unless it were the Chinese. At last, more out of fear than from any purpose of their own, they rose in revolt, insomuch that some of them were seen to go where others had fortified themselves, weeping bitterly because they saw their destruction, but feeling that there was no other means to save their lives. ”

“ As secular ambassador went Don Fernando de Castro, cousin of the governor who sent the embassy, and nephew of the dead governor. A storm blew them out of their course toward the province of Chincheo, to which they had intended to go, and drove them to the province of Canton, one of the thirteen into which the Chinese realm is divided. As the Chinese there had had no dealings with the people of Manila, they did not receive the ambassadors with the respect due their office, or with the kindness which ought to be shown to men who had suffered so from the storms of the sea. ”

“ When he heard that the Ytabes Indians, his neighbors, had religious of St. Dominic who taught them a sure and certain road to salvation, and to the gaining of perpetual happiness for the soul in heaven by serving God in peace and quietude, he strove with all his heart to enjoy so great a good. He discussed the matter with his Indians, and with their approval went down many times to the city of [266] the Spaniards to carry out his religious purpose, endeavoring to have the father provincial, Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, give him a religious for his village. ”

“ Chapter XLIII The marvels wrought by our Lord for His servants while in this life, and the happy death of the bishop.
[It is not strange that the Lord should have honored the virtues of the bishop by working many marvels through him. Many of these have fallen into oblivion because he strove to keep them concealed, and also because there has been no one to keep a record of them. Several times his prayers have saved men in imminent danger of death; among these was father Fray Miguel de Venavides, who fell overboard on the voyage from Manila to Nueva España.] ”