Some very virtuous fathers who died at this time
[In the hospice belonging to the province in the City of Mexico,
there died at this time father Fray Athanasio de Moya, a near relative
of the holy archbishop of Valencia, Don Fray Thomas de Villanueva. He
assumed the habit in the royal convent of Sancta Cruz at Segovia, where
he showed great courage and devotion in the great plague of 1599. In
1601 he came to this province, and was assigned to the ministry of
Bataan. From here he was sent back to care for the hospice of San
Jacintho at Mexico, where he constantly followed the rigorous rules
of the province of the Philippinas.
In the next vessels which left for Nueva España the superior of
this province sent father Fray Juan Naya to take the place of the
father who had just died. The Lord, who had carried father Fray Juan
throughout his life through great sufferings, ordained that he should
not fight the last fight in the delightful clime of Mexico; and hence
was pleased to take him to himself before the voyage to Nueva España
was concluded. He was a native of Aragon, and assumed the habit
of the order in our convent of San Pedro Martyr at Calatayud. His
proficiency and scholarship was such, and such was his virtue, that
he was appointed master of novices while still very young. The Lord
wrought miracles through him. He cast out a demon from a sick woman
in España; was miraculously protected from death on the island of
Guadalupe; and was delivered from an illness which afflicted him
in the Philippinas, by [making a vow to our Lady, as follows:] "I,
Fray Juan Naya, being afflicted by this severe infirmity, and seeing
that I am very much hindered from carrying on the ministry for which
I came from España, vow and promise, as humbly and devoutly as I may,
to the most blessed Virgin Mary, my Lady, that I will minister to the
Indians in this ministry, remaining and assisting in it at the command
of my superior, in reverence and honor for this most sacred Virgin,
my Lady, for seven continuous years from the day of her Visitation,
the second of July, 1605, if she will deign to obtain for me from
her most holy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, comfortable and sufficient
health for me to be able to accomplish that which is necessary in
this ministry; and I vow that, if I shall gain this health, I will
exercise the ministry." This humble supplication was heard at that
tribunal of mercy, and our Lady of Compassion granted him his health
so completely that at the end of the month he was well and strong
enough to learn the language, and in three months was fit to render
service and labor in it. As a memorial of this marvelous goodness,
he kept this vow written in his breviary, and, as often as he read
it there, he used always to give devout thanks to her who had gained
that health for him; and with great devotion he fulfilled his vow,
to the great gain of the Indians in this province. At the end of
the seven years he was afflicted with a flux of the bowels, with
abundance of blood; and on the same day of the Visitation he made
another vow to serve four years more in the ministry in the honor
of this Lady. He received complete health, so that he was able to
labor in it for that time and much longer, as one of the best of the
ministers of religion, giving a great example of holiness and virtue
wherever he was. When he was living in the district of Ytabes, in a
village of that province named Tuao, he was once burying a dead man
in the cemetery when a venomous snake came out from the grass and,
amid the noise and alarm of the people, entered between his leg and
his breeches--which was an easy thing for the snake to do, since these
garments are worn loose in this province and resemble polainas. [25]
Although the Indians, who knew how poisonous the snake was, cried out
and gave him over for dead, father Fray Juan continued with the act
which he was performing, because of his duty as a religious, until
he had finished burying the Indian; and then, putting his hand in his
breeches, he caught the snake by the neck, and drew it out and threw
it away, without receiving any harm from it. [When father Fray Juan
was vicar of Yrraya, and was living in a village called Abuatan, a
fire broke out. Father Fray Juan threw himself on his knees and prayed
that the fire should turn away from the village, as it did--making its
way straight toward the tambobos, or granaries where the Indians kept
their food, the loss of which would have been a greater damage than
the burning of the village. In response to the prayers of father Fray
Juan, the wind fell and the fire ceased. On one occasion his guardian
angel came to accompany him in his prayers. When he was assigned to
the vicariate of San Jacintho at Mexico, he embarked in the flagship
sent back that year, in which more than sixty persons died because of
the hardships and length of the voyage. Father Fray Juan was attacked
by some malignant fevers, and when he asked for extreme unction, on
the day of St. John the Evangelist, the sailors were so much alarmed
at the fear of losing his prayers that they declared that if he died
they would not continue their voyage, but would go back to the island
of the Ladrones, that they might not perish in the dreadful storms
to which they would be exposed if they had not the aid and comfort
of father Fray Juan. At the demand of the sailors, the general asked
father Fray Juan if they should continue their voyage. The sick man
was grieved at being asked that which was reserved for God alone;
but he was persuaded to tell what God had given him to know, and
made a sign for them to go on. His poor possessions were shared among
those of the ship as precious relics; and on the octave of St. John,
on the third of January, 1620, a fair wind began to blow. The sailors
cried out joyfully: "Father Fray Juan has seen God, and has sent us
fair weather." On the seventh of the same month, they began to descry
signs of land coming from the coast of Nueva España, whereupon they
regarded as fulfilled that which the holy religious had promised them.
Father Fray Gaspar Zarfate was a native of the City of Mexico, and
assumed the habit and professed in the convent of that city. He was a
teacher of the arts in the convent at Puebla de los Angeles, whence he
volunteered to come to this province. He reached the islands in 1595,
and was one of the first founders of Christianity in the province of
Nueva Segovia. Here he labored much, with great results. He devoted
himself to the study of the language of the Indians in that region,
and his attainments in it were very great. He was the first to make a
grammar of this language, and he knew a very large number of words in
it. Thus he opened the way for the other religious, that they might
as a result of his labors more easily learn this language, and preach
the holy gospel in it. He was most penitent and devoted to prayer;
and so completely master of his passions that, though by nature he
was very choleric, he seemed excessively phlegmatic. At one time when
he was vicar of Camalaniugan an Indian saw our father St. Dominic
praying in his company, and surrounded by light from heaven. In the
village of Nasiping it was said that father Fray Gaspar had raised a
child from the dead. The verification of this matter was neglected,
but father Fray Gaspar's reputation for sanctity was such that no one
regarded the statement as incredible. He was made preacher-general
of the province, in which there was only one such preacher. He was
definitor, vicar-provincial, and twice prior of the convent of Manila,
in which city he had the name of "the holy prior." He suffered greatly
from a urinary disease, from which he finally died. He received
honorable mention on the records of the provincial chapter during
this same year.]