Other events which happened at this time in Japon and the Philippinas
[The circumstances in Japon were such that many of the converts
were obliged to spend six, or eight, or even fifteen years without
confessing, while some of them had not seen a confessor within
forty years. Hence the fathers Fray Thomas and Fray Alonso were
anxious to go up into the country to continue the good work which
they had begun. The vicar-provincial, Fray Francisco de Morales,
sent father Fray Alonso de Mena to the kingdom of Fixen, [49] where
there had been no church up to this year 1606. A certain captain,
Francisco Moreno Donoso, had taken some Franciscan fathers with him on
a journey, and on the voyage had been delivered from great danger by
the intercession of our Lady of the Rosary. He was therefore devoted to
this our Lady. Although the kingdom of Fixen is very near Nangasaqui,
the king had always been unwilling to admit preachers of Christianity;
but this king had a great regard for Captain Moreno Donoso, who went to
visit the king with father Fray Alonso; and the captain made the king
many gifts, refusing to accept anything in return except a chain. The
king showed him such favor that the captain took advantage of the
opportunity to ask permission that father Fray Alonso might establish
convents and churches in the kingdom. The king was pleased to grant
it, insisting only that the sanction of a great bonze, named Gaco,
should first be secured; he was a native of Fixen, and was the most
highly regarded man in Japan because of his learning. The king sent
his own secretary to go before the bonze, to tell him of the poverty,
the penitence, the contempt for the things of this world, the modesty,
the humility, and the courteous behavior of the father. The bonze,
seeing that it was the pleasure of the king, said that such a man might
very well receive this permission. In conformity with it three poor
churches and houses were built--one in Famamachi under the patronage
of our Lady of the Rosary; the second in the city of Caxima [i.e.,
Kashima]. named for St. Vincent; and, after some time, another one
at the king's court [i.e., Saga], for which at that time permission
had been refused. Father Fray Alonso and his companion, when he had
one, got the little they needed for their support from Portuguese
and Castilians in Nangasaqui, that they might avoid asking for alms
from the Japanese, and might thus give no opportunity for the bonzes
to complain against them, and to find a pretext for sending them out
of the country. Father Fray Alonso remained in this kingdom; and the
order persevered until the persecution, when all the religious who
had been hiding there were ordered to depart from Japon. Father Fray
Alonso found in this kingdom some Japanese who had been baptized in
other kingdoms, but had not been well taught in the faith, or who
had forgotten the good teachings that they had received at their
baptism. They were guilty of much irregularity in their marriages;
and some of them had assumed to baptize others without knowing the
essence of the baptismal form, so that it was difficult to determine
which of them had received valid baptisms. These imperfectly prepared
converts had also done harm by endeavoring to sustain arguments against
the opponents of Christianity, and, being insufficiently grounded
in the faith, they had spread false impressions of the Christian
religion. Notable cases of conversion occurred, there being some
instances well worthy of remark in the court; and finally the sanctity
of the life of the missionaries caused them to be called xaxino padre,
"fathers who despise the world." The father Fray Juan de Los Angeles,
or Rueda, came to live at Fixen in the following year, 1607.
In this year 1606 of which we have been speaking, there died at
sea father Fray Domingo de Nieva, who was on his way to act as
procurator of the province. He had labored much and well among the
Indians of Bataan and among the Chinese. Father Fray Domingo was a
native of Billoria in Campos, and a son of the convent of San Pablo
at Valladolid. He was a man of ability and of good will. When nearly
all the lecturers in theology from that convent, together with the
lecturers in arts, and many of their most able and learned disciples,
determined to go to the Philippinas, father Fray Domingo joined his
masters. He suffered his life long from headache. Being sent to Bataan
in company with three other fathers, he, as the youngest, had to carry
a very heavy burden of duties. He was fortunate enough not to suffer
from any further diseases, the Lord being pleased not to add any to
his constant headache. His mortification, fasting, and discipline were
very great. He wrote some devout tracts in the language of the Indians,
and some others in that of the Chinese. He had printed for the Chinese
in their language and characters an essay upon the Christian life,
with other brief tracts of prayer and meditation, in preparation for
the holy sacraments of confession and the sacred communion. He wrote
a practically new grammar of the Chinese language, a vocabulary, a
manual of confession, and many sermons, in order that those who had
to learn this language might find it less difficult. He was prior
of Manila; and in the third year of his priorate the news arrived
of the death of father Fray Pedro de San Vicente, who was going to
España as definitor in the chapter general and as procurator for
this province. Since it was necessary to send another in his place,
father Fray Domingo received the appointment to the duty. Like his
predecessor, he died on the voyage from the islands to Mexico.]