Volume 24 — Chapter XLIII
Reading edition
Continuation of the preceding
The trade and commerce of the Japanese Islands has always been considered of great importance in these islands; for, as the former are rich in metals and foods, what is needed here can be brought thence at moderate prices. Formerly the Manila traders made much more profit by sending their goods to Japón than to España, for they saw the returns from them more quickly and at less risk. The governors have sought this trade very earnestly. Don Alfonso Fajardo sent two ambassadors, namely, Don Juan de Arceo and Don Fernando de Ayala, who were very influential men of Manila; they carried a goodly present with them. But that barbarian refused to admit them, whereupon they returned abashed, without effecting anything. All this rancor has arisen through his expulsion of the orders [from Japan], and his prohibition against preaching any new religion in his country. Although the emperors have done this in their zeal for their idolatries, the credence given to a falsehood told them by the Dutch has aided greatly in it. The Dutch told the emperor, in short, that he should beware of the European religious, for that by their means the king of Castilla made himself sovereign of foreign kingdoms; for after they had entered the country and reduced it to their religion, the rest was easy. It is not necessary to prove the falsity of this, so apparent is it. Disguised religious have not on that account discontinued going to Japón, but continue that work, although the severity of the persecution is ever increasing.
That same year certain splendid feasts were celebrated in Manila for the holy martyrs of Japón who were canonized by his Holiness Pope Urban VII. There were twenty-one of them. Three were dogicos of the Society; the others belonged to the order of our father St. Francis. The religious marched in glittering vestments, all at the cost of the pious and religious inhabitants of Manila. The orders invited one another. There was a general procession in which the altars were excellent. As for that of our house, if it were not the best one, none of the others were ahead of it. It is certain that the dances, comedies, and the other things which made the festival magnificent, could have been envied by the best cities of España, to the honor and glory of its sons; for they have so pacified this earth that even at the limits of the world may be seen so many grandeurs to the honor and glory of the Author of all. Of this not a little redounds to the Catholic sovereigns of España; for by their expenses of men and money the banners of the Church have floated over the most remote and unknown parts of the world. Our kings of España deserve much, no doubt, since God has made use of them for so great affairs in His service.
It was reported as certain that those Indians, desirous of throwing off the yoke from themselves, revolted because of the result in Solog, aroused by what they saw in Joló, among a people less resolute than themselves, as well as by the lack of bravery that they had witnessed in the Spaniards. The natives gathered, and held assemblies and tried to ally themselves with the Joloans, Mindanaos, and all the other neighboring natives that could help them. Things were not in the condition that they wished; so they were gathering, and biding their time. The above opportunity was presented, and they hurled themselves to their own greater loss, since they began what they could not finish. It was permitted by God, so that the many souls whom the fathers have baptized and hope to baptize there may not apostatize; for thereabout are multitudes of heathen Indians, among whom the worship of Mahomet has not yet entered, and with the care of the fathers the harvest, without doubt, will be very plentiful.
The Recollect fathers returned to visit, or rather, to rebuild their house burned in Sugbú. They built it better, and roofed it with tile, whereby it will be safer than a roofing of nipa, which is so exposed to fire and flames.
In August, 1629, the governor sent Captain Don Sebastián de Libite—a very noble Navarrese knight, who had been a very good soldier in Flandes—to the Pintados as commander-in-chief. He went with his wife and household to the city of Santísimo Nombre de Jesús. The weather was very stormy, and they were often menaced by death. This lady, Doña Catalina de Aguilar, and her whole household were very devoted to the most Holy Child, and called upon Him with great anxiety. Finally, in a disastrous storm that struck them, where death was facing them, this lady said to her husband: “Listen, Don Sebastián, promise something to the Holy Child, so that He may help us, and may allow us to see Him.” He promised one hundred pesos. “What, no more than that?” replied Doña Catalina; “If we are drowning, for what do we love Him?” Finally, he promised five hundred pesos. The most Holy Child beheld their devotion, and miraculously saved them from their danger and conveyed them safe to Sugbú, where they fulfilled their vow. And it is a fact that although they were persons of great wealth of spirit and nobility, they are people who have less of the temporal. But what they possess is greater, which, at the end, will be a pledge of their reaching heaven.
[Father Medina’s editor, Father Coco, follows the narrative with a list of the Augustinian provincials in the Philippines from 1632–1893—eighty-two in all.]