The voyage of the holy Fray Luis Flores to the kingdom of Japon
[Father Fray Luis Flores was for many years engaged in the ministry
to the Indians of Nueva Segovia. Though his work was rewarded with
much fruit, he felt that it was not such as he desired it to be;
and he asked and received license to return to Manila, where,
by devoting himself to prayer and the reading of holy books, his
soul might obtain strength to be more fit for his labors. While he
was living in the convent in great quietude of spirit, the news of
the imprisonment of some of our religious in Japon reached Manila;
and--like that Antonius who, in the time of Constantius the Arian
emperor, [28] left the desert and went to Alexandria to confound the
heretics--father Fray Luis determined to leave his beloved quiet and
to go to Japon. Having received permission to go on this enterprise,
he departed without having had any companion assigned to him. God
provided one in the person of father Fray Pedro de Zuñiga, [29] an
Augustinian friar who had been driven from Japon at the time of the
banishment of the religious. They embarked as secretly as they could,
June 5, 1620. They dressed themselves in secular habits, and disguised
themselves as completely as possible. They met with storms and contrary
winds, and were obliged to land at Macan to renew their stores. They
reëmbarked July 2, and on St. Magdalen's day anchored off the island
of Hermosa to get wood and water. They were still within sight of
the island when they were captured by a ship of Dutch pirates. The
Japanese, when they saw that these were Dutch, were at ease because
of the peace between the Dutch and the Japanese; but the fathers and
the two Spanish passengers aboard were in great fear, because of the
mortal enmity between the Dutch and the Spanish. The Japanese tried to
hide them in the cargo, which was almost entirely composed of the hides
of deer, many of which are bought by the Japanese in the Philippinas
to be made into breeches. The moisture caused the stench from the
skins to be horrible, and the fathers suffered much from it during
the day and night while they were there. The Dutch caught them and,
suspecting them of being religious, offered them meat to eat on Friday,
and tried them with theological arguments. They also made prize of the
ship and cargo, for carrying Spanish friars. There were seven other
vessels, Dutch and English, with whom they divided their captives and
their booty. The fathers were threatened with death, and the letters
accrediting them to the religious orders in Japon were found. Although
these were in cipher, they increased the suspicion against them. On
the fourth of August they landed in the port of Firando in Japon,
where the Dutch and English had their factories. They were subjected
to a most rigorous imprisonment and to very severe treatment, being
stripped to their waists with their hands tied behind their backs,
and their feet fastened to some small cannon. The Spanish and Japanese
Christians in Nangasaqui were greatly grieved when they heard of the
imprisonment of the religious; and made plans to rescue them, which
came to nothing. The Dutch were desirous of giving their prisoners to
the emperor, for they wished, as he did, to root out Christianity from
Japon, and at the same time to bring to an end all commerce between
the Japanese and the Spaniards, hoping in this way to have the commerce
to themselves, and caring nothing for the loss of all these souls.]