Chapter LXI: The exercises with which the Lord prepared these saints for martyrdom

[The Lord in general requires a holy life to precede a martyr's death. Father Fray Antonio Gonçalez was a native of Leon, bred up for the Lord like another Samuel. He showed great capacity in his studies, and became the master of the students in the most religious convent of Piedrahita. Before his conversion, he was devoted to poetry and such matters, which, though they do not take away the grace of the Lord, choke the good seed of His special counsels and the way of perfection. But before long father Fray Antonio gave up these trifles, which, though they were not grave faults, were grave impediments to the perfection to which the Lord called him. Considering how God might best be pleased, it seemed to him that the best offering he could make was the offering of martyrdom. As a means to attain this end, he considered that coming to this province offered the best opportunity for becoming a martyr. He devoted himself to virtuous company, and was most useful as a minister in España. He begged his way from door to door, and set out for the Philippinas when he was just recovering from a severe illness. He was greatly given to works of mortification, and most patient, kind, and obedient. He was devoted to be service of the Rosary, and offered a special devotion, among many saints, to St. Peter Martyr, whom he desired to imitate in life and in death. His martyrdom had been predicted while he was in España.

Father Fray Guillermo Cortet was a native of Visiers, a city of France. He was the child of noble and wealthy parents. While still a young layman he heard of the glory of our holy martyrs in Japon, which made such an impression upon his heart that he determined to give up all that he had and might hope for in the world, and to assume the habit of the order which contained such saints, hoping that he himself might be one of them. He therefore requested the habit from father Fray Sebastian Michaelis, who at that time governed the strictest congregation in France. In time he professed, and became notable for religion, virtue, and learning. So closely did he observe the rule that, when the famous convent of the order in Aviñon was to be reformed, father Fray Guillermo was sent there for the purpose. All this time he was sighing for Japon, and finally set out on foot for España, making the journey in the winter through rain, cold, and snow. He was greatly esteemed in the court, but left it to come to the Philippinas as a member of the congregation. This he abandoned when he heard the convincing reasons with which the province, though obeying the most reverend general and his letters, suspended the execution of them until they could give him information as to the surreptitious manner in which they were obtained, the many impossibilities which they contained within themselves, and the harm which would be done to the work of conversion by the establishment of the congregation. The province directed him to teach theology in the college of Sancto Thomas at Manila, which he did obediently, putting aside his desire to go to Japon. That he might have more time and ease in the holy exercise of prayer, he never undressed at night during the last twenty years of his life, but slept seated in a chair. This country is infested with multitudes of annoying mosquitos; but he did not take advantage of the common means of preventing them, which is a tent, something permitted to all the religious. He would not accept one, but offered to the Lord the stings of the gnats, which is no small mortification and penance. It was no wonder that he paid small attention to the stings of mosquitos, as he often wore next to his skin a girdle bearing fifteen rosettes in honor of our Lady of the Rosary and her fifteen mysteries, with points so sharp that they drew blood when they were touched with the finger. Besides this he wore an iron chain, which was kept bright by wear and gleamed as if it were polished; and in addition to all these things he sometimes wore next his skin a hair shirt, with points of iron so cruel and large that the mere sight of them shocked some religious who happened to see them, as being the most severe thing that they had ever seen in their lives. He was most abstinent, full of devotion for the mass, and above measure humble. He was also very kind and gentle, especially to repentant sinners. He was scarcely a year in this province when his ardent desire to go to Japon was finally gratified.

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. He was very industrious, and skilful in the management of business; and had much to do with the management of the affairs of the shipload of religious with which it was intended to begin the new congregation. When he came to the province, and more clearly understood the condition of affairs here, he left the congregation and was incorporated into the province. For this he obtained the reward of martyrdom for which he sought. No opportunity for him to go to Japon immediately offering, he was directed to learn an Indian language, and to minister to the Indians; this he did with humble obedience, not looking down upon this despised ministry. At the same time he studied the Japanese language. His fortitude in martyrdom was supernatural and divine.]

Father Fray Vicente de la Cruz, whose Japanese name was Xivozzuca, was a native of Japan, the child of devoted Christians of long standing, and was the youngest of seven brothers. He was offered to God before his birth; for, while he was still in his mother's womb, his parents promised that, if they should have a son, they would offer him like a second Samuel to the service of the church. They bred him in this way as one dedicated to such a service, never permitting him to wear any colored clothes like other boys of his rank, that he might grow up with the sense of being dedicated to God, and of being bound to serve Him with all care and devotion. At the age of nine he was given to the fathers of the Society in fulfilment of the vow; and from that tender age began to be trained in Nangasaqui in the college of the fathers there--studying grammar, and the other moral teaching given by the fathers of the Society to those who are to aid them in their preaching. This Vicente did for many years, up to the persecution which broke out, with the fury described, in the year 1614. At this time Vicente went to Manila, when the ministers were exiled, returning soon afterwards to Japon; but like the dove in the ark, not finding a place whereon to set his foot, because of the persecution, he returned again to this city, seeking some established way in which he could serve the Lord as a minister of the church. He suffered great need, and was tempted by friends and acquaintances to change his plans and to marry; but he did not consent, preferring to be poor and needy in the house of the Lord than to live with ease among laymen. The Lord, who never fails those who put their trust in him, helped him by making him acquainted with the bishop of Zubu, Don Fray Pedro de Arce, a master of such virtue that the virtues of Vicente could not fail to advance under him. Father Fray Luis Sotelo afterwards came to this city with the purpose of taking preachers to Japon, and Vicente joined him, being prepared for every good work, even at the expense of the hardship and danger required by the preaching of the faith in Japon. It was not yet time for this holy man to suffer, and hence he was prevented by sickness from accompanying the holy martyr Fray Luis Sotelo when he went to Japon; so he remained in this country, teaching the language to the religious who were to go to that realm. In this and in all his actions his conduct was so virtuous that the Christian Japanese offered him a liberal support, so that he was ordained priest and gave them his spiritual aid, preaching to them and administering the holy sacraments. That he might live with great perfection, he followed the rule of the tertiary Order of the noble St. Francis. The expedition of these holy martyrs was about to take place, and the superior of it endeavored to have father Fray Vicente accompany and guide them, as he was a native Japanese who had had experience in the preaching of the gospel in that realm. He not only readily agreed to this, but earnestly begged for the habit of the order; and he wore it--in such manner as he could, since he was going to preach in Japon--for more than a year; he professed and suffered, as has been described. May the Lord give us for the merits and intercession of these glorious martyrs, [73] and of all the other holy martyrs and confessors who have been in this province, something of the divine grace which made them such as they were. Thus, as up to this time the present members of the province have not belied the holy beginnings with which it was established, but rather seem to perfect themselves with each new increase, so may we not fall off in the future; but may our love toward God and our fellow-men, and our devotion to the rule of our order, forever preserve the perfection which has been found hitherto in the sons of the province, to the glory of the Author of all good, who is the same Lord God to whom belongs all glory forever and ever. Amen.

After the fifty years of this history were completed, there came the following letter from his Majesty, which settled the matter which had disturbed the religious of this province and kept them in affliction. This letter was received, as has been said in the history, without any representation from the province having come to the royal ears; hence it is a most certain proof that it was given by the special providence of the Lord, and by the aid of our great patroness the Virgin Mother; and that it is worthy to be placed as a conclusion to this history.

Letter written by his Majesty to the venerable and devout father provincial of the Order of St. Dominic of the Philipinas Islands.

(Copied faithfully from the original.)

The King. To the venerable and devout father provincial of the Order of St. Dominic of the Philipinas Islands. From different reports which I have received, I have learned of the disturbance and disquiet caused among the religious of that province by the division of it that was made by virtue of letters obtained from the general of the order by Fray Diego Collado, and by the aid given him for the purpose by Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, my governor and captain-general of these islands. I desired that the said briefs should not be executed, since they were not approved by my royal Council of the Indias; and hence, looking rather to the conformity of the religious with the rule of the order, and to the quiet of that province, and perceiving that the said division must cause some relaxation therein, I have commanded my said governor and captain-general of these islands, and my royal Audiencia, to suspend the said brief and all other briefs brought by the said Fray Diego Collado, without permitting them to be executed. And I have commanded that the division of the provinces which has been made shall be annulled, and that they shall return to the condition in which they were before the said division. I accordingly request and direct you to attend to it, on your part, that these said provinces shall be placed in the state in which they were before Collado to España immediately. That this may have effect, I have in a letter of this day commanded my said governor to have him provided with passage. You will inform me at the first opportunity of what you shall have done in execution of what I thus request of you. Dated at Madrid, February first, in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-seven.

I the King

By command of our lord the king:

Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

For bibliographical data of Aduarte's Historia, which is concluded in the present volume, see Vol. XXX.

NOTES

[1] i.e., "In the beginning was the Word." The other quotation reads, in English, "May the reading of the gospel be health and protection to thee."

[2] Karatsu is a town in Hizen, north of Nagasaki; it possesses large deposits of coal and kaolin. It was formerly called Nagoya.

[3] The shôgun at that time was Hidetada (1605-1623); but his father Iyeyasu, although nominally retired from the government, still inspired its proceedings in great degree, until his death in 1616.

[4] For description of the Kuwantô, see Vol. XVI, p. 47. This group of provinces lies near the center of Hondo, and includes the city of Tôkio (Yedo).

[5] According to Rein (Japan, p. 304), he had put away his Christian wife to marry a daughter of Hidetada, and had become an apostate. Then he removed his residence from Arima to Shimabara, and began a fierce persecution of the Christians.

[6] Evidently referring to Santiago de Vera.

[7] Notwithstanding this fierce persecution--which, thus begun, culminated in the massacre of Shimabara (1637), and lasted as long as Christians could be discovered by the Japanese authorities--a considerable number of Japanese converts maintained their Christian faith, unknown to their rulers, handing it down from one generation to another until 1868, when their existence became known to the government, and for a time they were exiled from their homes, but were restored to them a few years later. This Christian church was at Urakami, about seven miles north of Nagasaki.

[8] Rein states (Japan, p. 306) that there were 22 Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians (agreeing with Aduarte's total), 117 Jesuits, and nearly 200 native priests and catechists; and that these were shipped to Macao. Murdoch and Yamagata say (Hist. Japan, p. 503) that 63 Jesuits were sent to Macao; and 23 Jesuits, all the Philippine religious, and several distinguished Japanese exiles, to Manila.

[9] Cf. Vol. IX, p. 68, for mention of earliest printing in the islands.

[10] See Vol. XII, p. 222.

[11] Angelo Orsucci e Ferrer was born in Lucca, Italy, in 1570, also entering there the Dominican order. Hearing of the Filipinas missions, he went to Valencia, in Spain, to join them, and arrived at Manila in 1602. He labored successively in the Cagayán and Bataán missions, and in 1612 went to Mexico to take charge of the Dominican hospice there. In 1615 he returned to Manila, conducting the mission band which Aduarte had brought to Mexico. He went again to Bataán for a time; but, hearing of the persecutions in Japan, determined to go thither, reaching that country in August, 1618. In the following December he was arrested, and imprisoned in Omura. He remained there nearly four years, and was burned alive on September 10, 1622. He was beatified in 1867.

See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 211-214.

[12] This was Juan de Silva, who died on April 19, 1616 (see Vol. XVII, p. 279).

[13] A letter written by the Franciscan Fray Pedro de Alfaro to Fray Juan de Ayora, commissary in Manila, under date of Canton, October 13, 1579, and existing (in copy) in Archivo general de Indias (with pressmark, "Simancas-eclesiastico; cartas y expedientes de personas eclesiasticas vistos en el consejo; años 1570 á 1608; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 42"), says of the Ilocos district: "Also it should be noted by your charity and the superiors who shall come that the province of Ylocos is the destruction and sepulcher of friars; for it is known how the first who went there returned, while I found the next ones, although they had come there so short a time before, with very ill-looking, flabby, and colorless countenances, and brother Fray Sebastian (may he rest in glory), smitten with stomach trouble. His sickness began there, and there was its ending. In consideration of this, and of the common rumor and report of all, I do not believe that it is a district where we can live." The sick friar here mentioned was Sebastian de Baeza, who, at the time Alfaro wrote, had just died on a ship in Canton Bay.

[14] Melchor Manzano came to Manila in 1606, and ministered in the Cagayán missions until he was chosen provincial in 1617. In 1621 he was appointed procurator of the province at Madrid; and he died in Italy, about 1630, as bishop-elect of Nueva Segovia.

[15] After the battle of Sekigahara (1600) Iyeyasu had left Hideyori (the infant son of Hideyoshi), with his mother, in the castle of Osaka. After this child grew to manhood, he incurred the jealousy of Iyeyasu, which was doubtless aggravated by his intimacy with the Jesuits, and the shelter given by him to many discontented Japanese, both heathen and Christian. Armies were raised on both sides, and on June 4, 1615, the castle of Osaka was carried by assault, and burned, Hideyori and his mother both perishing. See Murdoch and Yamagata's full account of this war, its causes, and its immediate results (Hist. Japan, pp. 507-567); cf. Rein's Japan, p. 306.

[16] i.e., "the lord shogun;" it is only a title of honor, not a personal name. It here refers to Hidetada, who had been associated with his father Iyeyasu in the government.

[17] Later (at the beginning of chap. xiiii) Aduarte states that under Safioye were two officials in charge of the Nagasaki government--Antonio Toan, a Christian; and Feizó, a renegade Christian. After Safioye's death, dissensions arose between these two; and finally the emperor made Feizó and Gonrozu (a nephew of Safioye) joint governors of the city, who proceeded to persecute the Christians with renewed severity.

[18] This sentence may be a later addition by Aduarte himself; but is more probably written by his editor, Fray Domingo Gonçalez.

[19] Among these Korean captives were numerous potters, who were carried to Kiôto, Hagi, Satsuma, and other towns of Japan, in order to introduce into that country the ceramic arts of Korea. Descendants of these potters are still living in Tsuboya, a village of Satsuma, where they still carry on their craft. See Rein's Japan, pp. 289, 527.

[20] Jacinto Calvo came to Manila in 1604, from the convent of Peña de Francia; but he soon returned to Spain, on business of his order. It is probable that he spent the rest of his life there, except for some years while he was in charge of the hospice at Mexico; it is not known when he died.

[21] The Babuyan and Batan Islands, groups lying north of Luzón, extend northward to near the southern end of Formosa. From near the northern end of that island, the Riu-Kiu Island stretches in a long northeastward curve to the vicinity of Kiushiu Island, in southern Japan.

[22] A vulgar appellation of the fish called rompecandados ("padlock-breaker"), according to note by Retana and Pastells in their edition of Combés's Mindanao, col. 770. Taraquito may possibly be a diminutive form derived from tarascar, meaning "to bite, or tear with the teeth."

[23] The tribe best known as Mandaya are found in Mindanao; but the same name is conferred by some Spanish writers on the Apayaos (a head-hunting tribe in northwestern Cagayán and the adjoining portions of Ilocos Norte and Abra)--with doubtful accuracy, according to Blumentritt (Native Tribes of Philippines, p. 531). In U.S. Philippine Commission's Report, 1900, iii, p. 19, is the following statement: "In the hamlets on the western side of the river [i.e., Rio Grande de Cagayán], Itaves, Apayao, and Mandayo are spoken;" but there is no further reference to a Mandaya tribe in Cagayán. See Aduarte's mention of Mandayas in later chapters.

[24] Juan de San Lorenzo came to Manila with the mission of 1618; he labored in the Cagayán missions, and died at Lal-ló in 1623.

[25] A sort of trousers, generally made of cloth, covering the legs as far as the knees, buttoned or hooked together on the outside. It has also a dust-guard, which extends to the shoe. It is mainly used by laborers, carriers, and the like. (Dominguez's Diccionario nacional.)

[26] See book i of Aduarte's work, chapters xii-xv (in Vol. XXX of this series).

[27] Blumentritt characterizes the Gaddanes as "a Malay head-hunting people, with a language of their own, settled in the provinces of Isabela and Cagayán." Landor mentions them (Gems of the East, p. 478) as having delicately chiseled features, and being now civilized and christianized.

The bulk of the population of Nueva Vizcaya is made up of converts from two of the mountain Igorot tribes, the Isinay and the Gaddang or Gaddan. This valley was called Ituy or Isinay. There are but three or four thousand people in each of these tribes, the rest of the christianized population of this province being made up of Ilocano immigrants. (U. S. Census of Philippines, i, pp. 449, 471. 472.)

[28] Constantius, second son of Constantine the Great; he reigned from 337 A. D. to 361, and adopted the Arian doctrine, of which he was a powerful supporter.

[29] Pedro de Zúñiga was a native of Sevilla, and a son of Marqués de Villamanrique, viceroy of Mexico; he entered the Augustinian order at Sevilla, in 1604. He came to Manila in 1610, and spent several years as a missionary in Pampanga. Fired with zeal for the Japanese missions, he entered them in 1618, only to be sent back to Manila the next year with other priests banished from Japan; but, as recounted in our text, Zúñiga returned to that land to end his life as a martyr (August 19, 1622). He was beatified in 1867. See Pérez's Catálogo, p. 82.

[30] Probably a reference to the ronins, men who had left their masters, under the old feudal system in Japan, and spent their time in low company and in idleness and excesses; see Griffis's Mikado's Empire, p. 278.

[31] This brother's proper name was Mangorochi. The term donado, like the French donné (in each case meaning, literally, "one who is given") was applied to devout persons who voluntarily entered the service of the missions, giving themselves (often for life) to that cause, and sharing the lot of the missionaries. All the martyrs whose fate Aduarte describes were afterward beatified.

[32] Diego de Rivera came to Manila from Córdoba, in 1615. He ministered in Bataán at first, but was lecturer in Santo Tomás from 1619 to 1623--in which year he lost his life as described in our text.

[33] Francisco Galvez, a native of Utiel, made his profession in the Franciscan order in 1600, at the age of twenty-six. In 1609 he departed for the Philippines, where for some time he ministered to the Japanese Christians resident near Manila. He went to Japan in 1612, but was banished thence in 1614; after several vain efforts, he succeeded in returning to that country in 1618. He was arrested by the Japanese authorities, and after great sufferings in prison was burned alive at Yendo, December 4, 1623. (See Huerta's Estado, pp. 391, 392.)

[34] Aparri is a port of entry on the northern coast of Luzón, at the mouth of the Rio Grande de Cagayán. It is the chief port of coast and ocean trade in that region, and the starting-point for inland river navigation.

[35] Alonso García came from Córdoba to Manila, in 1622; he was sent to the Cagayán missions, where he died as here related. Onofre Palau was a native of Valencia, but entered the Dominican order at Manila, in 1620. In the following year he made his profession, and was sent to Cagayán, where he died with García. (See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 294, 373.)

[36] i.e., "Island of Fishermen," indicating the occupation of nearly all the 50,000 inhabitants (of Chinese race) of the group known as Pescadores Islands, west of Formosa, and under the jurisdiction of that island (which has been, since 1895, a possession of Japan). The location of the Pescadores is such as to make them of strategic importance, and Japan is now (1905) fortifying them.

[37] The Chinese refused to allow the Dutch to trade with them unless the latter would depart from the Pescadores, but permitted them to occupy Formosa. The Dutch settled there in 1624, at Tainan (formerly Taiwan) near Anping, remains of old Dutch forts still existing at both places; and this island was their headquarters for trade with Japan and China. See Basil H. Chamberlain's account of Formosa in Murray's Handbook for Travelers in Japan (4th ed., New York and London, 1898), pp. 536-542; Davidson's historical sketch in Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xxiv, pp. 112-136.

[38] One of the small islands in the bay of Kelung.

[39] Francisco Mola was born in Madrid, and there made his profession as a Dominican, in 1600. He came to the Philippines in 1611, and spent many years in the Cagayán missions; afterward having charge of the mission in Formosa. After 1643 his name is not mentioned in the provincial records, as he returned to Spain about that time. (Reseña biográfica, i, p. 339.)

[40] Juan García Lacalle entered the Dominican order at Manila, in 1602; he spent many years in the Cagayán missions.

[41] Apparently a misprint for 1611. Sanchez remained in the Cagayán missions until his death, which must have occurred about 1640. The missionaries brought by him in 1626 numbered sixteen, sketches of whom are given in Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 375-381.

[42] A play upon words, the Spanish hierro ("iron") having almost the same pronunciation as yerro ("error").

[43] Both these missionaries came to Manila in the mission of 1609. Fray Francisco labored in the villages of Balete and Polo--the former being originally a village of Japanese, formed in 1601 by Tello from that of Dilao, near Manila, but again restored to Dilao in 1626. Fray Francisco went to Japan in 1623, and was burned at the stake on August 17, 1627. Fray Bartolomé served in a hospital (probably that at Los Baños), went to Japan in 1623, and met the same fate as befell Fray Francisco. See Huerta's Estado, pp. 395, 557.

[44] He had come to Manila in 1618, and labored in the Cagayán missions and the Babuyanes.

[45] In this band were twenty friars; for sketches of their lives, see Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 381-390.

[46] Spanish, castillo ("little castle"); apparently an imitation of the castillo de fuego, a contrivance built of wood in the shape of a castle, to which are attached various fireworks.

[47] The reference in our text is to Go-Midzuno-o, who was mikado from 1611 to 1630; in the latter year he abdicated that dignity, forced to this step by petty persecutions and interference by the shôgun Hidetada, and lived in retirement for the rest of his life, dying in 1680. The statement as to cutting off his hair is hardly accurate in regard to its rarity, as it was then the custom for potentates of various degrees to abdicate their office at an early period therein, and retire into a Buddhist monastery, on which occasion the head of the candidate was shaved. Dairi is merely one of the appellations bestowed upon the mikado of Japan (see Vol. XIX, p. 51). The term mikado is practically the equivalent of "Sublime Porte;" the first to bear this name was Jimmu-Tennô (660-585 B. C.), and his dynasty has continued to the present day. After the conquest of Korea (202 A. D.) Chinese influences began to affect Japan; and the mikado's authority was gradually diminished by powerful chiefs and lords, until the dignity of shôgun--a military title of honor--was conferred (1192) upon Yoritomo, and made hereditary in his family. From that time dates the dual monarchy which ruled Japan--the mikado being but the nominal sovereign--until 1868; the revolution of that year suppressed the shôgunate, and restored to the mikado his rightful authority. The mikado's residence was established at Kiôto in 793, where it remained until 1868, being then transferred to Yedo (now Tôkiô). The comparison of the mikado to a pope arose from his possessing certain prerogatives in religious matters, and because a sort of divine character was ascribed to him from the claim of the first mikado that he was a descendant of the sun-goddess Amaterasu. See Rein's Japan, pp. 214, 224, 315-317; also Murdoch and Yamagata's Hist. Japan, chap. i, and pp. 697-700.

[48] A variant form of Alcarazo, as the name is spelled elsewhere. These variations, which occur in numerous cases, may be due to additions made by Aduarte's editor; or possibly to his employing more than one amanuensis.

[49] The modern province of Nueva Vizcaya.

[50] Juan Arjona came from the convent at Córdoba, in the mission of 1628, and was assigned to the Pangasinan field. In 1637-38 he was ministering in Ituy, and in 1639 was appointed to a station in Formosa. Afterward he returned to Pangasinan, and, after filling various offices in Manila, died there on September 4, 1666, at the age of eighty-four.

[51] There are more than a hundred different varieties of rice, some of which are lowland, cultivated by irrigation, and some upland, grown in the dry lands (these being more numerous than the former). See U. S. Philippine Commission's Report, 1900, iii, pp. 244, 245.

[52] The province of Nueva Vizcaya (Ituy) is drained by the great river Magat and its tributaries, which fertilize its soil; this stream flows into the Rio Grande de Cagayán, which Aduarte seems to regard as the continuation of the Magat.

[53] Jerónimo de Zamora came to the islands in 1615, and labored thirty-eight years in the Cagayán missions; at times he occupied various offices, among them that of commissary of the Inquisition. He died at Lal-ló about 1655.

[54] i.e., "Equal shall be the portion of him that went down to battle and of him that abode at the baggage, and they shall divide alike;" in I Kings (of the Douay version; I Samuel of the Protestant versions), xxx, v. 24.

[55] Hidetada died in 1632, hut he had, following the usual custom, abdicated the shôgunate in 1623, in favor of his son Iyemitsu--retaining, however, as Iyeyasu had done, the actual control of the empire until his death.

[56] i.e., "That which decayeth and groweth old is near its end" (Hebrews, viii, 13).

[57] i.e., "The old man carried the child, but the child directed the old man."

[58] The torment of the pit (French, fosse, Spanish, hoyo); a hole six feet deep and three in diameter was dug, and a post with a projecting arm was planted by its side. To this arm the victim was suspended, being lowered head downward into the pit, and left thus until he either died or recanted; his body had been previously tightly corded, to impede the circulation of the blood, but one hand was left free, to make the sign of recantation. This horrible torment did not bring death until two, three, or even six days; but most of the religious endured it unto death, rather than recant. Of the few who did so was Christoval Ferreira (Vol. XXIV, note 91). See Murdoch and Yamagata's Hist. Japan, pp. 632-633.

[59] Jacobo Somonaga (in religion, de Santa Maria) was born in Omura of Christian parents; he had ability as a speaker, and often preached while a student. He came to Manila, and at first became an Augustinian; afterward, he entered the Dominican order (August 15, 1624), being then forty-three years of age. In 1627 he was in Formosa; in 1632 he went from Manila to Japan, and in the following year died as a martyr. (See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 256, 257.)

[60] Domingo Ibañez de Erquicia was born about 1587, in San Sebastian, Spain, and entered the Dominican order there. He came to the islands in 1611, and was sent to Pangasinan. From 1616 he remained in Manila--except 1619-21, at Binondo--until 1623, when he went to Japan--where he labored, in spite of persecution and sufferings, until his martyrdom, August 18, 1633. (See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 235-241.)

[61] Spanish, de grãde estampida; literally, "causes a great stampede thither."

[62] Alluding to the cathedral El Pilar at Zaragoza, in which is a famous statue of the Virgin descending upon a pillar. It soon became a rival of the noted shrine of St. James at Compostella, in the number of pilgrims attracted thither, and miracles performed. Maria del Pilar is a favorite name for girls in Spain, commonly abbreviated to Pilar.

[63] Carlos Clemente Gant made his profession at Zaragoza, in 1602. He came to Manila in 1611, and spent most of his life in the Cagayán missions, filling many high offices in that region; he was also provincial for two terms. He died at Lal-ló, in 1660, at the age of seventy-two.

[64] Luis Oñate made his profession at Sevilla, in 1626, and came to the islands in 1632. He spent the rest of his life in the Cagayán missions; and he died at Manila on June 18, 1678, at the age of almost seventy.

[65] Juan Bautista Morales was born in 1597, at Ecija; he entered the Dominican convent there, but was ordained in Mexico. In 1618 he came to Manila, and was assigned to the ministry among the Chinese there. In 1628 and 1629 he was in Camboja, but was unable to establish a mission there. In 1633 he went to China; after spending several years in the missions there, he was sent (1640) by his order to Europe, to make complaint regarding the practice of the "Chinese rites" by the Jesuits in China. Taking the overland route from Goa, Morales arrived in Italy in January, 1643; five years later, he escorted a band of missionaries to Manila, and in 1649 returned to China. He spent the rest of his life there, dying at Fo-Kien, September 17, 1664. (See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 358-369.)

[66] Francisco Diaz was born near Valladolid, October 4, 1606, and entered the Dominican order there. Coming to Manila in 1632, he spent some time in the Chinese hospital; and in 1635 he entered the China mission, where he spent the rest of his life, dying at Ting-teu, November 4, 1646. (See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 393-411.)

[67] Referring to the Chinese moralist and teacher Kôshi, usually known to Europeans as Confucius. His teachings have exercised a powerful influence on the history and national character of Japan; and Iyeyasu's celebrated code of laws was modeled thereon.

[68] Mateo de la Villa, born in the province of Oviedo, made his profession in the Dominican convent at Salamanca, in 1600. Six years later he came to the islands, where he spent many years in the Cagayán missions. In 1622 he was appointed procurator at Madrid and Rome, a charge which he held as late as 1665; but it is not known when and where he died. (See Reseña biográfica, i, p. 330.)

[69] This was Fray Diego Collado, who had come to the Philippines in 1611; see sketch of his life in Vol. XXV, p. 158. The band whom he led were called "Barbones" (see Vol. XXV, p. 161).

[70] Allusion is here made to the famous town of Santiago de Compostela, formerly the capital of Galicia. Its foundation was due to the alleged discovery (in the ninth Century) of the burial place of St. James the apostle, who afterward became the patron saint of Spain. A church was built over the tomb of the saint, by Alfonso I, but was destroyed by the Saracens; the present cathedral was begun about 1080. It soon became a noted resort of pilgrims, being visited by many thousands every year, and has continued to be such to the present time.

[71] Referring to Fray Francisco de Zamudio, an Augustinian, the bishop of Nueva Caçeres--of whom bare mention (and that only as a confessor) is made in Pérez's Catálogo. Cf. the earlier controversy on this question between Archbishop Serrano and the religious orders (1624), for which see Vol. XXI, pp. 32-78.

[72] The Japanese was named Lazaro; he was one of the lepers who had been formerly exiled from Japan for the faith, and came with the Dominicans as a guide. Although at first he denied the Christian faith, under pressure of torture, he afterward recovered courage, and died as a martyr, September 29, 1637. The mestizo was Lorenzo Ruiz, a native of Binondo; he had left Luzón on account of a murder that he had committed there. He also was martyred, at the same time as Lazaro. (See Reseña biográfica, i, p. 276, note.)

[73] Biographical sketches of all these martyrs are given in Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 258-276.

It is well to note, in this connection, the fact that the persecutions of Christians in Japan were not, in the main, on religious grounds. The Japanese government was tolerant to the new religion until it had reason to fear that its authority was being subverted by the influence of the missionaries, and the independence of the nation threatened by the foreign nations who sent to Japan the priests and traders. See Griffis's Mikado's Empire, pp. 247-259, Rein's Japan, pp. 290-293, and Murdoch and Yamagata's History of Japan, pp. 457-506. The last-named cites at length the writings of Charlevoix, Léon Pagés, and other historians.