Diego Aduarte

“ When he was vicar of the convent of Nueva Segovia, a father visited him as his guest, bringing with him two crawfish, which he boiled and put on the table; but father Fray Luis would not permit them to be eaten, saying it was not a feast, that they should have anything so unusual. He scourged himself every night, with the energy which was his by nature. ”

“ When they sometimes came to Nueva Segovia to do their poor little trading, the hearts of the religious were grieved when they saw those people of a natural disposition so excellent, so humble and peaceable; while their souls were left totally without assistance because they were poor and few, and widely scattered over many islands in the midst of the sea, without hope that any other preachers would undertake their conversion if our religious neglected them. ”

“ Noble religious were his companions, eager to act and to suffer for the conversion of souls; but father Fray Bernardo was the head and superior of these religious, the one who first began to succeed in christianizing those Indians, the one who perfected them and carried them on to a high state of Christian excellence. His life and his doctrine were alike marvelous and efficacious in influencing the souls of those Indians. He was devoted to his charge, seeking alms from the Spaniards for his Indians, and defending them with all his might from the wrongs which were committed against them. ”

“ Full of pity, he told the sick man of the great error which he was committing, and the frightful sin against God which would result; the uselessness and unreasonableness of striving to obtain health for an old man by bathing him in the blood of a child; the indignation of the Spaniards if they should hear of this act; and the vengeance which they would take for this unjust and cruel murder, if not upon his person, at least upon his gold and treasure. Guiab admitted his error, and ordered the child to be given to father Fray Francisco. ”

“ The earth vomited out great masses of sand, and trembled so that people could not stand on their feet, but sat on the ground; and were as seasick on land as if they had been in a ship at sea in a storm. In the high lands of the Indians named Mandayas17 a mountain fell and, catching a village below it, overwhelmed it and killed the inhabitants. ”

“ Father Fray Miguel de Ozaraza was a native of Vizcaya; and because of his virtues, devotion, and prudence he was much beloved in the convent of Sancto Thomas at Madrid, where he lived for some years in great quiet, with all the comfort that a good religious could desire. But as many laymen have been moved by the desire of worldly riches to leave their comforts in España and to go to the Indias, so the desire for spiritual profit caused father Fray Miguel to come to this most distant part of the world. ”

“ At one time when a very rich man was sick, and feared death and the judgment, he sent to call father Fray Diego to him that he might confess; but the father refused to go, sending back as an answer that the rich man must return the tribute which he had wrongfully taken from an encomienda, and must give the Indians there a minister. The sick man put himself in father Fray Diego’s hands, and thus his conscience was composed, to the great advantage of the wronged Indians. ”

“ Here in Manila the order has under its care a hospital for the Chinese, in which the sick of that nation are cared for. The province may place this at the head of its possessions, since there is scarcely a day in which some soul or souls of newly baptized do not pass to heaven. Very few are they who die without baptism, and very many are they who give their souls to God before the baptismal waters are dry on their heads. This is accomplished with so little effort on the part of the minister that it calls upon him only to make a little effort, and to go from his cell to the infirmary. ”

“ Not only in these new provinces where the dawn of the gospel’s light now begins to shine do extraordinary cases happen like those which have been mentioned, to the great glory of God and the joy of his ministers; but they also occur in many others where the dawn has risen high but has not yet bathed all the horizon, though it is covering it, little by little. From the province of Nueva Segovia father Fray Geronimo de Zamora,47 a native of the city of Zaragoça, wrote me a letter dated February 25, 1633. ”

“ In May, 1629, father Fray Francisco de Herrera was elected as provincial of this province, on the first ballot. He was a son of the convent of San Gines at Talabera, and afterward a student of San Gregorio at Valladolid. At the time of his election he was commissary of the holy Inquisition in all these islands, and prior of the convent in this city of Manila. Since he is still living, we must be silent about him, and not say the things in his praise which are so well known, and which are said by those who enjoyed his peaceful and religious government. ”

“ During his term as provincial, the province lost by death several religious of superior qualities, and suffered from several insurrections of villages. Both of these things were severely felt in a region where the religious are so few that the loss of a single one is a notable loss; and where all energy is turned toward converting souls, so that the perdition of a single one causes great sorrow. For these sufferings our Lord brought some comfort in the martyrdom of some sons of the province, and in the extension of the holy gospel to the island of Hermosa. ”

“ During this period this sea is not navigable, for it is very stormy; and the boats which they have there, being the boats of poor persons, are small. Yet all this, and the fact that those natives have a different language from all the rest, and many other inconveniences which they suffered there, the religious bore with pleasure, being good and devout Christians. They are in two little villages, with a church and a convent in each, sufficient for its needs. Though the Indians provided the labor, all the rest was a gift which the religious had made and are making to them. ”

“ We have sent there some of our best religious; and they have converted very few of the Indians, in proportion to the number of noble religious who have been lost there. Yet to him who will judge aright, and who understands the worth of the soul, it will not seem much to have spent the blood of martyrs and the sufferings of holy religious for the sake of those souls which have passed from this island to heaven. Among the martyrs on the island a high place is taken by father Fray Luis Muro, who died gloriously at this time by the hands of these Indians. ”

“ The chiefs kept boasting that their village was the finest in the island, since they had Spaniards, a father and a church, as the others had not. They desired to return the invitation of the captain with one to a feast after their own manner—which is a repast of dogs rather than of men, since they eat nothing except meat so rotten that the bad odor of it serves them as salt. After the feast the soldiers, the captain, and father Fray Jacintho returned to Tanchui; while father Fray Francisco and brother Fray Andres remained as a guard of honor to the Virgin. ”

“ At the same time, another mission was planned to the kingdom of Corea; for it seemed likely that there would be a great and noble conversion in that kingdom, the people of which have a very good character by nature, being very simple, and free from duplicity and deceit. That kingdom is between Great China and Japon, so near to each that it is separated from them only by some very narrow arms of the sea, like large rivers. The people have the intelligence and ability of the Chinese, without their duplicity. They are for the most part tillers of the soil. ”

“ The religious not only of this province, but of España and Nueva España, have had their hearts [87] set upon the conversion of the kingdom of China, the population of which is of incredible vastness, and the people there exhibit very acute intelligence and have an excellent civilization and government. They even establish their authority in all the neighboring kingdoms: Corea, Siam, Camboja, Cochinchina, and others; and they communicate their system to these as far as possible. Their character and their moral doctrines also fit them for the gospel. ”

“ My sons, among whom I have so long been, and to whom I have so many years preached the true doctrine, which you ought to follow, and have taught you that which you ought to observe for the good of your souls, I am greatly grieved to see the mistaken path which you take, casting yourselves over precipices where destruction is certain, and from which your rescue is difficult. ”