_Information by father Fray Diego Aduarte, concerning the journey
that he made in the year 1605 from Spaña to the Philipinas, with 38
religious of his order; and, further, that made by father Fray Gabriel
de San Antonio in the year 1008; and, further, what is necessary that
there should not be failures in such journeys_.
By command of Señor Don Luis de Belasco, viceroy of this country
of Nueva Spaña, in compliance with a clause of a letter from his
Majesty--whereby he was commanded to advise his Majesty of the
religious who, going under his orders to the Philipinas, have remained
here, and what was the occasion of it; and in particular of those who
remained of my company, two years ago--I, Diego Aduarte, declare as
follows, having come as his vicar; and I call God to witness that in
all I tell the truth.
In the month of July of 1605 I sailed from Spaña, with thirty-eight
religious of my order, whom I was empowered by his Majesty's decrees
to convey thither; and none were lacking. Among these there were only
four lay brethren; and of the rest, who were priests (they being the
majority), all except one were preachers and confessors; and those who
were not such had studied sufficiently to be ordained as priests for
mass--as all of them now are, and actual ministers, who preach and
hear confessions in various languages which they have learned, much
to the service of God and the increase of His church. I arrived in
this country of Nueva Spaña with all the said thirty-eight religious,
where two of my priests died. One of them was named Fray Dionisio
de Rueda, who had come from Valencia, of which he was a native;
the other, Fray Pablo Colmenero, who came from Salamanca, and was
a native of Galicia. [60] Both of them were religious of excellent
abilities. I embarked at the port of Acapulco for the Philipinas,
with only twenty-eight. Although it is true that at the time of
embarkation some nine were absent, who had not yet arrived at the
port, yet even if they had arrived they could in no wise have been
embarked; for the ship which was given me was very small, and had
accommodations for no more than twelve friars at the most. So true
is this, that the treasurer of his Majesty of this City Of Mexico,
one Birbiesca, who was then at the port to despatch the ships by
command of the Marques de Montesclaros, told me not to embark more
than twelve. This I swear to be true _in verbo sacerdotis_. I left
in that very port several religious, with permission and order to
return to Mexico until they could go to the Philipinas; and I was
many times sorry for those whom I had embarked, on account of the
poor accommodations that we had. Four of them died at sea, between
here and the Philipinas (three of these being priests, and the other
not), all of them being friars from whom much was hoped. I have made
information of all this before the notary of the ship itself (who was
called Francisco de Vidaurre), with witnesses who were aboard--which,
with the favor of God, I myself shall take to España, as I am now on
the way there. This was in the year of 1606.
The very next year two religious of my company--priests, confessors,
and preachers, Fray Jacinto Orfanel and Fray Joseph de San
Jacinto--went to the Philipinas with Don Rodrigo de Mendoza, nephew
of the marques, who was commander for two patajes; and this year, 608,
I sent four others of the same qualifications with the lord governor,
Don Rodrigo de Bibero.
Thus of all my company, except six who have died, only one has failed
to go to the Philippinas. To this one, I confess, I gave permission
to remain; and he is at present in the province of Oaxaca as minister
and interpreter, and so has not been obtained for it unfairly, since
religious go from Spaña to this province also at the cost of the
royal exchequer. It was at the time expedient and even necessary
to give the permission; and if his Majesty should try to tie the
hands of him who takes the religious in charge, in this matter, it
would be the occasion of many grave injuries to his royal service,
and still more to that of God, for the new church in the Philippinas
can be entrusted only to ministers with the apostolic spirit. For,
in order to persuade to the faith, the lack of miracles must be
made good by the life of the minister, which, when apostolic, is
so much the more a power, as the ability to work miracles is less;
for the force of example, and that of miracles which the apostles
had to convert the world then, must now be contained in the life of
the minister. In truth this is more important for the heathen than
are miracles, if it be what it ought. But it is impossible for the
superior who takes them in his charge to become acquainted with them
before he engages them, as there is no opportunity for that in Spaña,
or hardly even to know their names; for after procuring his decrees at
court, almost all his time is necessary, up to the embarkation, to get
his ship-supplies in Sevilla and set affairs in order there. And if
he must go about seeking religious in one house and another, through
all Castilla and Aragon, as far as Barcelona, how can he have time to
become gradually acquainted with them, as he should do? Although it is
true that, if he supplies religious to this country by his authority,
when he has become acquainted with them, it is a loss to the royal
exchequer, to the amount that he has spent for them without carrying
out his Majesty's intentions; yet, if they should go on farther,
that purpose would be much less successful, and the expenses would
be greater. It is less harmful to spend some money ill, than a great
deal to the loss, perhaps, of souls, whose welfare is the object
of these expenditures. In the government of man, to attempt to flee
from difficulties is the greatest hindrance of all; accordingly, the
difficulties that may be encountered in this matter can best be avoided
by not entrusting this work to anyone except some very trustworthy
religious; then his Majesty, being thoroughly informed in regard to
him, can place entire confidence in him. For as he must do this with
men in his royal service, there is no reason why he should not do as
much here, for his agent is a priest and a religious, with greater
obligations to keep his conscience pure than has a secular minister;
nor is he ignorant of the fidelity which he owes his king and lord,
and how great a sin it would be against justice, and what obligation
there would be for restitution of money ill spent. The truth is that
anyone to whom his Majesty entrusts this could, if he did not proceed
with great exactness, very legitimately excuse himself by saying that
what was ordered to be given him for the despatch is not enough,
by far, and so he is spending on a few what is given him for the
many; since it is hardly enough for even the few--having recourse,
for the external forum, to equivocal answers. It is actually true,
that the provision that his Majesty orders to be given, in Sevilla
and in Mexico, for supplies on the two seas, and for the support of
the religious in these two cities, is extremely scanty; and if his
Majesty does not increase it he can have no just complaint against
the religious who may act thus. In Sevilla he orders that two reals
be given for each religious, every day; but three are necessary, at
the least. In Mexico, he orders that four be given; but it is certain
that six to each man would be little for their food, clothing, and
shoes, and for the ordinary expenses of a house. In Sevilla there
is assigned, for the supplies of each religious on the voyage, 22
ducats; whereas 40 at least are necessary, and, if it be a year of
high prices, 50. In Mexico, for supplies on the other sea, and to pay
the charges to the muleteers who transport the goods to Acapulco,
and the expenses of the journey to that point with the religious,
there is given for each one 150 pesos; but 200 are needed, and even
that does not suffice. The reason for all this is, that these rates
were set a long time ago, when things were much cheaper than at
present; for goods could be bought for these sums to a much greater
amount. This would be cause for the religious to plead that the
[actual] expenses incurred for him should be allowed; and there is
no other way [in which this difficulty can be settled].
Of both things we have illustration enough in this journey which
was begun by father Fray Gabriel de San Antonio (whom may God keep
in heaven), for, on account of the scanty aid that was given him at
Sevilla, he left there a debt of one thousand two hundred ducados;
and if his Majesty does not pay this, I know not whence his creditors
will procure it. Then, as he had not the necessary freedom to dispose
of his friars, seeing that there was no fleet that year, which is a
second instance, he did what he should not have done--namely, among
twenty-four religious whom he embarked with him, he took seven laymen,
and, of the rest, one was insufficiently educated, and others were
ill suited for the work in the Philipinas; so that counting those who
were well fitted to go, they would not number twelve. It seems that he
wished only to make it appear to the Council that he was embarking with
friars, since this was commanded so insistently. He had, as I have been
told, thirty religious quite suitable for the journey, ready to embark
in the fleet; but as there was no fleet, and they saw that according
to the orders of the Council they must embark in the heart of winter,
and in weak craft, they, being discreet, returned to the houses from
which they had come; and father Fray Gabriel, to comply with his
orders, sought others in their places, most of whom did not fill the
places of the others, or come near doing so. From this resulted many
expenses that might have been avoided; for if those who returned had
been left in the convents of Andalucia, to come over in the fleet
this year, all the expenses that were incurred would be obviated,
and they would arrive at the proper time to go to the Philippinas,
as they would come in the patages. Even if not all came, most of
them could come, and none of these would have to be refused, as we
have to do now--for, if the lord viceroy does not give permission to
leave some, there is no use to consider sending religious there. Then
I, who am going to seek them in España, for the second time, with
so many labors and dangers, would find them half way, without the
least cost to myself. Supplicate and beg this from his Excellency,
by the bowels of Christ. The objection raised is that it will not be
expedient for them to go; but I hope through God that it will be so,
and that it will be explained to his Majesty that it is very important
for his service. This is the truth, which I am bound to tell my king
and lord, as his faithful vassal and servant, which I am.
_Fray Diego Aduarte_
_Jesus, Mary_
Father Fray Antonio de Santo Angel, procurator-general of the order
of the discalced friars of our father St. Augustine, declares that
in the year 1608 your Majesty gave permission to father Fray Pedro
de San Fulgencio, of the said order, to return to the Philipinas
Islands, taking with him thirty religious of his order, and six
servants for their service. In the said year he was obliged to
go to Rome to secure some favors and jubilees from his Holiness;
but an illness attacked him, and our Lord saw fit to take him unto
Himself. For this reason his embarkation for the Philipinas did not
take place, as he died on the way; and the funds that were given him
for the purpose were lost. Since it has pleased the divine Majesty
that the discalced Augustinian religious who are in those parts [61]
should succeed in so satisfactory and exemplary a manner, preaching
the holy gospel and giving the light of our holy Catholic faith, and
so earnestly striving for its increase--as your Majesty is informed by
the archbishop of Manila, and the city and cabildo, and the bishop of
Santissimo Nombre de Jesus. For all point out to your Majesty the great
importance of sending religious of this holy order to the Philipinas;
and that it is better to maintain there those who have been discalced,
than those who enter from among the calced and are not instructed in
the austerity to which the discalced are obliged. For this reason our
very holy father, Paul V, separated and divided us from the calced
fathers; and accordingly our father-general sent them a notification
that his Holiness had separated them, and had sent an order that they
should form a chapter and appoint a provincial--as will appear from
the papers which I present, and from the letters of the archbishop of
Manila, and from the bishop of Santissimo Nombre de Jesus, and from
the letter from the city of Manila. From the letters of the religious
it will be plain to your Majesty how important it is for the service
of our Lord to have a head and superior of the same penitent mode of
life, so that this reformation may be preserved, and they may with
fervor continue to gain souls for heaven and the increase of our holy
Catholic faith. I therefore beg your Majesty to grant us the same
despatches that were given to us for the said voyage, so that we
may receive the favor of it. I likewise present the letter written
by the Audiencia of Manila, in which your Audiencia states what are
its intentions when anything is asked on the part of the Recollects.