Note 5 — Chapter XLI

The bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco (who was not yet bishop-elect) went to España with the usual powers conferred by the province, following Don Fray Juan Lopez, bishop of Zibu and afterward archbishop of Manila, who had gone the preceding year with the same powers. But because of accidents, and since the province was so lacking in religious, a second procurator was despatched. That was an excellent measure, as the result showed; for the bishop of Zibu was embarrassed by his new promotion and by his despatches, so that he could not get the mission ready, although he had made a good start at it upon the arrival of Don Fray Juan de Polanco. The latter was very well received in the provinces of España, and all of them showed him great love and reverence because of the good impression that he gave by his virtues, which have without doubt the greatest attracting power for those spiritual soldiers. The commission is one of danger which only the loftiest object and obedience can make peaceful; for besides being the sample, as they say, of the cloth, such a person is not only looked at but spied upon by all; and it is necessary above all to bear God in mind and keep oneself acceptable to Him for so long and even almost desperate voyages, so that He may give health in so many hardships, climates, and paths of the earth, and [enable him to furnish] a good example for so many different kinds of persons with whom one must confer and voyage, in the midst of so many cares as he always has in his charge. The task of making religious is that of the greatest difficulty; for so long as the men [sought] have the greatest abilities, their convents, who have reared them, feel it more, and say farewell to them to see them no more, where natural love does its duty and the devil is not careless—although, in fine, our holy provinces have always nourished this daughter of theirs in the belief that to give her a religious is to make God careful to send her many, and to preserve them with the wealth of their virtues. They send their sons to this honorable warfare, and the latter gain new blasons for them and get their first share of the spoils in the service of God and the welfare of souls. Therefore, the procurator who is securing men needs many lights of virtue, prudence, and affability, and great patience, for accidents that happen, and for the suitable choice of routes, and for guidance when they go astray; then the essential part of presenting the things in his care to the princes, and the latter’s councils and counselors to whose questions he must make answer with truth and candor. The fear of God is master in all; for, if he swerve from that line, he cannot make a good voyage. For the other despatches by tribunals and accountancies, he needs to attend upon them without being troublesome, and enduring delays, civilities, and courtesies; for they are ministers of the king and worthy of all esteem, and he must await his time amid the so many cares entrusted to them. Just at present we all enjoy the ministry of a perfect procurator of Filipinas in our venerable bishop Don Fray Juan de Polanco, who must have been a model of procurators; for by his example and virtue alone, he found himself freed from all the difficulties that accompany that honorable office. In their very beginnings he found them solved and conquered; and he made the very judges of his causes, and even those who were opposed to him, his attorneys. This is not imagination but the pure truth; and there are many witnesses still living now in the holy city of Roma (where he went as definitor in 1668), and in the royal court of Madrid—where he was favored by princes, and esteemed and respected as an apostolic and holy man in their councils and tribunals; where he was listened to as a learned orator of this province; and where his causes were heard with the notable grace that God gave him wherever he went, and with the highest honor in both the said courts. The time will come for recounting his life and death, and then a longer account will be given of his virtues. Suffice it to say for the present that he collected two famous missions for this holy province, which he accompanied to Mexico (which is the rough place in the ascent of the hill), and returned for the third time [to España] for more soldiers—[whom he would have brought] had not the giant footsteps of envious death intercepted him in Sevilla. He entrusted the first mission to one of its religious, namely, father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz. They reached Manila safely in August, 1666, and their names in order of age are as follows: father Fray Juan de Velasco, son of [the convent of] San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz el Real in Granada, and master of students, who was then in the convent of San Lucar; father Fray Joseph de Isussi, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos and fellow of [the convent of] San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Diego Nuñez, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Christoval de Montenegro, son of the convent and college of Nuestro Señora del Rosario in Almagro, fellow of Santo Thomas in Sevilla, and teacher of logic there; father Fray Arcadio del Rosario, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Sevilla, and lecturer in logic there, former fellow of Santo Thomas of Alcalà de Henares (this father remained in Mexico because of illness, and came the following year); father Fray Christoval Pedroche, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir el Real in Toledo; father Fray Juan Romero, son of the convent of San Pablo in Sevilla and fellow of San Gregorio in Valladolid; father Fray Juan de la Cueva, son of [the convent of] Santa Cruz in Granada; father Fray Pedro de Alcalà, son of the same convent in Granada; father Fray Manuel de Mercadillo, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Alonso Blasco, son of the convent of Santo Domingo del Campo in Estremadura; father Fray Domingo Perez, son of the convent of Santa Maria de Trianos, fellow of Alcalà [de Henares]; father Fray Juan Peguero, son of the convent of Porta Cœli in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Ximenez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Joseph de Solis, son of [the convent of] San Pablo in Palencia; father Fray Francisco de Olmedo, son of the same convent in Palencia; father Fray Pedro Sanchez, son of the convent of La Peña de Francia; father Fray Antonio de San Juan, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Agustin Garcia de Ortega, son of [the convent of] San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Pablo Marchan, son of the same convent of San Estevan; father Fray Andres Gonzalez, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; father Fray Bernabe Rodriguez, son of the same convent in Valladolid; father Fray Francisco de Villalva, son of the convent of San Pablo of Burgos; father Fray Pedro de Alarcon, son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha; father Fray Antonio Rego, son of the convent of San Estevan in Salamanca; father Fray Andres Lopez, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Toledo; father Fray Diego de Castro, son of the convent at Santiago in Galicia; father Fray Joseph de San Jacinto, son of the convent of Santa Cruz in Segovia; father Fray Joseph de la Torre, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir in Rio Seco; father Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, son of the convent in Ocaña; father Fray Juan de Santa Maria, son of the convent of San Pedro in Sevilla; father Fray Pedro Gonzalez, son of the convent of Aranda in Duero; father Fray Juan de Castellanos, son of the convent of Santo Domingo in Logroño; father Fray Bernardo de Noriega, son of the convent of San Pablo in Palencia; Fray Antonio de la Purificacion, lay-brother, of the convent of Santa Cruz in Granada; Fray Joseph de la Villalva, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Valladolid; Fray Juan Fernando, lay-brother, son of the convent of San Pablo in Burgos, who remained in our hospice of San Jacinto [in Mexico]; and Fray Sebastian del Rosario, lay-brother, son of the said convent of San Jacinto in Mexico. In all they number thirty-nine.5