Note 28 — Chapter LIII

[Soon after the provincial chapter, one of the definitors, father Fray Damian Balaguer, died. He had lived but a short time in the province, but had gained great reputation in it; and his early death was much mourned. He was a native of the kingdom of Valencia, and had two brothers in the same order—one, the present Fray Pedro Martyr de Balaguer; and the other master Fray Andres Balaguer, at one time bishop of Albarracin and afterward of Origuela. Father Fray Damian took the habit in the convent of the Preachers in Valencia, which has been happy in giving saints to the church. During all his novitiate, the master of the novices never had occasion to discipline him, even for the merest trifle—although by the advice of another father he assigned him some discipline, without any fault on the part of Fray Damian, but not without a cause; for it is necessary for the novices to be initiated in these punishments of the order, that they may not afterward be new and strange to them. He was constant in prayer and fasting, given to speaking of the things of God, and to mortification. For many years he was accustomed to repeat the whole of the Psalter of David daily, in imitation of St. Vincent of Ferrara. He studied at Origuela, becoming a lecturer in arts in the same college, and afterward in theology—having a singular grace given him to declare with clearness the gravest and most profound difficulties of this holy science. He was an excellent and a moving preacher, having the power to change the hearts of many of his hearers, who selected him as their spiritual guide. Whenever he left the convent, which he did only on important occasions, he was followed by a troop of his disciples, who gathered not only to honor him, but to profit by what they heard him say. He showed all his life the greatest humility, and from day to day did not change, except by the augmentation and advance of his virtue. Being eager for the conversion of souls, he went to Mexico with master Fray Alonso Bayllo, who was going out to Mexico with authority to divide the province of Vaxac from that of Santiago.28 For the space of two years he directed the schools in the city of Vaxac; but, as that was not the end which he had intended, he was dissatisfied. When he heard that many ministers of the holy gospel were needed in the Philippinas, he took advantage of the arrival in Mexico of father Fray Francisco de Morales to ask that he would take him to the islands with the rest of the company whom he was bringing over. Arriving in 1598, he was assigned to Nueva Segovia, where in a short time he learned enough of the language to be able to hear confessions. Father Fray Damian was first vicar and superior of the mission of Abulug. As such, he was a definitor in the provincial chapter, and returned to Nueva Segovia as vicar of the village of Pata. He died greatly mourned.