Father Fray Francisco de San Joseph Blancas
[Though father Fray Francisco de San Joseph was not one of the first
founders of this province, he came in the second shipload from
España. Because of his great virtue he is worthy of an important
place in this history. For this purpose it has pleased God that there
should come to my hands from the bishop of Monopoli, Don Fray Juan
Lopez, an accurate account of the first years of this father, which
follows. Father Fray Francisco was born at Tarazona in Navarra. His
parents were exceptionally pious. From his youth father Fray Francisco
showed signs of exceptional devotion. He fled from the sight of women,
and even declined to accompany his mother, excusing himself on the
ground of his studies. At the age of thirteen he was sent to Alcala
de Henares to continue his studies; and at the age of fifteen he
assumed the habit, and showed the behavior of a man at that youthful
age. An account is given of his sisters; and the testimony of persons
of superior virtue to the sanctity of father Fray Francisco is cited.
In course of time he came to be reader of arts in the religious
convent of Piedrahita, where he was made master of the students. He
had even greater gifts as a preacher than as a teacher, having a fine
voice, natural rhetoric and powers of action, a great gift of words,
good memory, and skill in systematic arrangement. He was master of
the hearts of all those who heard him. His first pulpit was that
of San Antonino at Yepes, and later he was appointed as preacher to
the convent of Alcala. While here he felt the impulse to go to the
Philippinas, and, in spite of the efforts of the convent to retain him,
he carried out his purpose. When he reached Manila, his superiors,
desiring that the Spaniards of Manila might not be deprived of his
great talents as a preacher, assigned him to the ministry of Bataan,
which is near Manila. Here he learned the common language of the
Indians, called Tagal, so rapidly that he was able to preach in it
within three months, and taught others the language within six. He
was constantly studying the exact signification of the words of the
language and the method in which the Indians used them, so that he
might become a consummate master of this tongue.]
It is their custom when they are rowing their boats, or when many
are gathered together on any occasion, to sing in order to beguile
and relieve their labors. As they had no others, they used their old
profane and even pernicious songs. He composed many songs in their
language, after their own manner of verse, but on sacred themes--for
he had a particular gift for this--and introduced these among them,
so that they might use them on such occasions. He hoped in this way
to make them forget their old ballads, which were useless or noxious,
without taking from them their pleasure--rather, indeed, to increase
their delight by the devout sentiments of the new songs. He wrote
many books of devotion for them; and since there was no printing in
these islands, and no one who understood it or who made a trade of
it, he planned to have the printing done by means of a Chinaman,
a good Christian. This man, seeing that the books of father Fray
Francisco were sure to be of great use, bestowed so much energy upon
this undertaking that he finally succeeded with it. He was aided by
some who told him what they knew, and thus in time learned everything
that was necessary to do printing; and he printed these books. [9]
[The good father so delighted in seeing the fruit of his teaching
among the Indians that when he was directed to come back to the city,
to preach to the Spaniards, it was a severe penance for him. However,
he did so, especially in Lent. He was very severe in rebuking vice,
and it gave him pain to be obliged to preach to vicious Spaniards,
as it seemed to him that he was toiling in sterile soil. He usually
came down from the pulpit bathed in sweat, but continued to wear his
heavy tunic and to observe the rules of the order rigorously. Although
he had seemed to be of delicate constitution in España, his health
was always very good, so that for more than twenty years during which
he was in this province he did not even have a headache, except once,
when he struck himself by accident. He spoke with intense energy, in a
grave, sententious, and clear manner. He learned the Chinese language,
in addition to the other two in which he preached; and he took as his
especial charge the duty of teaching the many negroes and slaves in
Manila. He was most humble, in spite of his great abilities. When
he was vicar-provincial of Manila, he received a letter from the
provincial, who was making a visitation in the province of Nueva
Segovia. He asked father Fray Francisco, as vicar-provincial, to see
if some of the religious in his district could not be spared for that
needy region. Father Fray Francisco, thinking that he was himself
the least necessary person in the district of Manila, took with
him one father as his companion, and set out for Nueva Segovia. In
the year 1614 he was sent to España as procurator of the province,
but died on the voyage to Mexico. Just before and after his death
his body gave signs by the beauty of its appearance of the sanctity
and purity of his life. He printed a grammar of the Tagal language,
and in that language he printed a memorial of the Christian life,
a book on the four last things, [10] another of preparation for the
communion, a treatise on confession, a book on the mysteries of the
rosary of our Lady, and another to teach the Tagal Indians the Spanish
language. He also left behind him many devout and valuable compositions
in the language of those Indians, particularly many sermons for Sundays
and saints' days, which were highly regarded because of their doctrine
and their language, which is very elegant and pure. He had also made a
collection of sermons in the Spanish language for a whole year, with
the purpose of printing them. The letter of the dean and chapter of
the holy church of Manila (dated May 12, 1614), given him as he was
about to set out for España, corroborates Aduarte's account of him,
and is therefore printed by that writer in full.]