Note 4 — Chapter V

The father vicar-provincial had already chosen his workers, men like himself. They were among the choicest and best men that the Reform then had in their convents. They were as follows: Fathers Fray Andres de San Nicolàs, who was called de Canovas, an apostolic man, and a great preacher in word and deed; Fray Miguel de Santa Maria, a most exemplary man, and devoted to the rigorous life; Fray Geronimo de Christo,4 very austere and observant; Fray Pedro de San Fulgencio, a capable and very clever man for all things; Fray Diego de la Anunciacion,5 adorned with very singular virtues, [106] and regarded as a saint; Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel,6 most keen-witted and erudite in all learning; Fray Francisco Baptista, a penitent to excess, and regulated by conscience; Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios, most zealous for the discalced, and for the welfare of his brethren; Fray Andres del Espíritu Santo, a religious, although very young, [107] very modest and retiring.7 The father superintendent also chose four other religious, lay brethren, who were of use and a great credit to the Reform, on the voyage, and at the time when they came, whose names are as follows: Fray Simon de San Joseph; Fray Joan de San Geronimo; Fray Geronimo de la Madre de Dios; and Fray Joan de San Guillermo. They all assembled in Madríd on the fifteenth or sixteenth of May. Thence they left for Sevilla, and from there went later to San Lucar. They were detained there until they could embark in one of the ships of the Nueva España trading-fleet, which set sail from the great bay of Cadiz, July twelve, and commenced its voyage happily. The zealous missionaries [108] were going, very full of God, and consequently did not abate one point of their observance, fulfilling their religious obligations as if they were in the most retired house of those which they had left behind in their province, notwithstanding that they were going in the midst of the traffic and excitement that seem to be inevitable in sea-voyages, and more so in so long ones as are those of the Indias. They did not discontinue the two hours’ mental prayer or the choral divine office, at their proper times, and the silence, fastings, and discipline. If they were given any moment from those holy exercises, they employed it in preaching, and in caring for the sick. They cared for and served the latter with what they needed, and as well as they could. They did not content themselves only in their own ship, for when good weather and the quiet of the sea permitted, they went in the small boat or lancha to the others, in order to console and confess those in need of it. They gave them wholesome counsels, and encouraged them to serve God our Lord as they ought. By such course they succeeded in gaining great credit and esteem. The commander himself always approached them with his flagship to salute them, and to ask after their health, and whether they needed anything, while he commended himself very earnestly to their petitions and prayers. He visited them in the island of Guadalupe with the great following of his men, charging to them the prosperous outcome of the fleet. Finally they reached the port of San Juan de Lua, September seventeen, with the rejoicing common to those who sail, and especially on those seas. They disembarked and, after having rested for some little time, they took [109] the road; this they moderated by stopping several days in La Puebla de los Angeles,8 as guests of our calced fathers, where they received the friendly reception and love that that province has shown to the discalced very often because their beginning was in that form.