Note 5 — Chapter XX

Diaz does not give the Christian name of this missionary, but Murillo Velarde says (ut supra, fol. 300 b), that it was Juan de Esquivel; this name, however, is not again mentioned by that author. On fol. 284 he gives the following account of Diego de Esquivel (of whom Juan may have been a brother): “On the sixth of June, 1665, died at Manila Father Diego de Esquivel, at the age of forty-two years, after seventeen years as a member of the Society; he was a native of the said city, and it was there that he entered the Society, in the year 1648. He finished his studies there, and, having been ordained as a priest, was sent to Ternate—where he learned perfectly the language of the natives, of which he wrote a grammar and a vocabulary. Thence he went to Tydore, and afterward to Siao, where the natives were living more as barbarians than as Christians; and he suffered greatly in that island, on account of the poverty of the country. He had his heart set on planting the faith and good morals among that people, by means of preaching, the good example of his life as a religious, and the charity with which he ministered to all; and he gained thereby the great affection of the people of Siao. This was known by Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, and therefore after the death of Don Bentura, the king of that island (who left a young son), the governor commissioned Father Esquivel with the government of that kingdom, as it was under the royal protection, to the great satisfaction of the chiefs of its villages; and the superiors [of the order] gave him permission, in so far as it was in accordance with the sacred canons, to act as counselor of the said kingdom. This caused the preservation in our holy faith of the many and glorious missions which this province has in the Orient—which are the island and kingdom of Siao, and the provinces of Manados or Cauripa (which are in the great island of Celebes, or Macazar), with other islands and missions, which he frequently visited, by which he gained many souls to God. He was sent to Ternate as rector, but, moved by affectionate desire for the salvation of his Siaos, he left a father as vice-rector of the college [at Ternate], and returned to Siao. At this time, orders were given to withdraw the garrison from Ternate, and Father Esquivel returned to Manila, and many of those natives accompanied him—in order not to lose the faith, nobly abandoning their native land. They settled in Maragondong, La Estacada, and other places, with the name of Mardicas, and I knew in Maragondong some of them who had been born in Ternate. Through the hardships of this voyage Father Esquivel contracted an illness, which lasted during the remainder of his life. He spent some time as minister at Barás, where his sickness became worse; they carried him to Manila, where he died with great peace and resignation.”

Manuel Español was born in Aren, May 11, 1639, and entered the Jesuit order on November 21, 1656. Seven years later he came to the Philippine Islands. He was minister at the college of Manila two years, and afterward labored in the missions of Siao and Ternate for many years. He died in Manila, on March 10, 1684. (Murillo Velarde, ut supra, fol. 356.)