The election as provincial of father Fray Melchior Mançano, and the
situation in Japon at this time.
When the sad news of the death of the provincial was learned, the
electors assembled at Binalatongan, a village of Pangasinan, on the
fifteenth of April, 1617, and elected as head and superior of the
province father Fray Melchior de Mançano, [14] who was at that time
vicar of the convent of the city of Nueva Segovia. He was a very
prudent and devout character, a professed son of the convent of the
order in Ocaña; and had been made, on account of his great ability
and his successful studies, a theologue at the college of Sancto
Thomas at Alcala. In this province he had governed many of the best
convents with great approbation; and his term as provincial was very
useful to the province, augmenting it greatly, as will be narrated.
[Now that the churches in all Japon were torn down and all the
priests expelled, as Safioye supposed, it seemed to him time to
begin the persecution of Christianity. The commencement was made in
the kingdom of Arima, which was under the direct government of the
emperor. The officers upon whom was laid the carrying out of this
persecution did their work with cruelty and insolence. When the news
of the beginning of the persecution reached Figen, twenty courageous
Japanese went from Nangasaqui to Arima to confess the faith, and died
a glorious martyrdom. Some others who purposed to follow in their
footsteps had not the courage, and recanted when they saw the dreadful
torment which awaited them. As soon as father Fray Thomas del Espiritu
Sancto, or Zumarraga, the vicar-provincial of our religious who were
in hiding, heard of this persecution in Arima, he despatched father
Fray Jacintho Orfanel to go to the aid of the persecuted Christians,
and soon afterward sent father Fray Juan de Los Angeles Rueda to go
thither also. They were followed by the father commissary of the Order
of St. Francis, with three other religious of his order. The efforts
of the religious in hearing confessions, giving the sacraments, and
comforting and strengthening the persecuted Christians, were of great
value. It seemed unwise, however, to enter the city of Arima itself,
where guards had been set to prevent entrance and egress; for if the
emperor should learn that any religious had remained in Japon, the
persecution was likely to be very much more severe. The Christians in
Nangasaqui prepared themselves, and were prepared by the religious,
for the beginning of the persecution in that city. When everything was
ready, the persecution was suspended on account of a war between the
emperor and Fideyori, the son of the previous emperor and the true heir
to the throne. [15] The officers contented themselves with publicly
burning a great number of rosaries, crosses, and other Christian
emblems taken from Arima. Father Fray Alonso Navarrete had assumed
the dress of a Spanish layman and was beaten for trying to rescue from
the fire some rosaries. Our religious obtained the sacred relics of a
number of the blessed martyrs. The emperor was victorious over Fideyori
by treachery. During the progress of the war the Christians had peace;
and the fathers did a mighty work in strengthening their courage, and
in perfecting them in the faith. Many, however, of the Christians,
for the lack of ministers, had begun to forget the matters of the
faith and even their own Christian names. Some of the Franciscan
fathers were captured, and thrown into prison; but the fathers of our
order escaped. After the fall of Usaca and the disastrous close of
the war, the persecution broke out again. The fathers were scattered
among various kingdoms, but were prevented, by the very close watch
which was kept, from entering Satzuma. The father vicar-provincial
alone, with father Fray Francisco de Morales and father Fray Joseph,
remained in Nangasaqui, going out at night only, in secular dress. This
lasted until the death of the emperor, in the year 1616. Nangasaqui
being the metropolis of Christianity in Japon, where the number of
Christians was greatest and their spirit resolved and determined,
the emperor did not dare to treat the Christians there with as much
severity as elsewhere. In spite of the exposure of our ministers
in Japon, not one of the members of our order died a natural death,
but all were crowned with the crown and aureole of martyrdom.]