A mission sent by the province to Japon, and the result of it
[Though the province rejoiced in having so many glorious martyrs,
it was grieved to see the preachers of the holy gospel in Japon come
to an end, for without them it was impossible for the faith to be
continued. These true sons of our father St. Dominic strove therefore
to fill up the number of those who, after having fought valorously,
had departed to heaven with the crown of martyrdom. The project was
one of great difficulty. The law directed that not only the preachers
should be burnt to death, but that all those who brought them should
suffer the like penalty, and that the vessels and cargo should be
confiscated. The Dutch and English heretics watched with great care
to see if any religious attempted to enter the kingdom. The emperor
decreed that a registry should be kept of all on board the vessels
which came to the kingdom. And finally there were many, even in
Catholic countries, who for the sake of trade with Japon endeavored
to prevent the religious from going to that country. The commerce of
that kingdom with the Philippinas Islands had been almost destroyed,
so that the very archbishop himself endeavored to prevent preachers
from going from these islands to Japon. They were even more rigorous
in Macan. But the holy martyrs from their prisons sent back calls for
religious to aid the Japanese in their extreme spiritual need. Hence
in the year 1623 the superiors of three religious orders determined
to buy a ship, and to give large pay to the pilot and the sailors to
take the religious to Japon. The risk of death was great in Japon,
and scarcely less in these islands, because the voyage was contrary to
the will and the command of the governor. Finally, ten priests were
embarked--four from our order, four Franciscans, and two Augustinian
Recollects. Many obstacles were placed in the way of the journey,
but the voyage finally took place. The province sent of its best:
father Fray Diego de Rivera, [32] a son of the convent of San Pablo
at Cordova who was at the time teaching theology, as he had done for
many years in the college in Manila; father Fray Domingo de Erquicia,
who was at that time the principal preacher in Manila; father Fray
Lucas del Espiritu Sancto, lecturer in arts in the aforesaid college;
and father Fray Luis Beltran or Exarch, minister to the Chinese and
the Indians. They suffered much on the voyage. They followed the course
by the Babuyanes and the islands of the Lequios, from which they were
driven by a storm to the coast of China, where they took on water and
wood at a point named Sombor. They tried to make port to get fresh
ship-stores, but were attacked by the Chinese. Father Fray Diego
de Ribera was shot in the leg, by accident, by one of his own men,
and finally died. On the nineteenth of June they landed in Satzuma,
and were directed to go to Nangasaqui. They immediately set about
learning the language, and had been there but a short time when the
emperor issued a decree expelling all the Spaniards who had come to
Japon from Manila. The fathers pretended to return to Macan, but left
the vessel to come back secretly to Nangasaqui. The persecution was
going on, seventy persons being martyred in 1623--among them father
Fray Francisco Galvez, [33] a Franciscan; and Father Geronimo de los
Angeles, a Jesuit. Father Fray Pedro Bazquez was taken prisoner; and,
as the other fathers had not yet learned the language, all the labors
of the Dominican order fell upon father Fray Domingo Castellet. The
fathers encouraged the Japanese, a number of whom confessed bravely and
suffered death by burning, among them being some of noble birth. The
accounts of matters in Japon during this period are drawn in the
main from the letters of father Fray Domingo de Erquicia. The fathers
were obliged to be most secret, to go from house to house by night,
and to expose themselves to cold and snow. What happened to this
father and his companion was not known here until August in this year
1626. We turn from the account of the works of these fathers to give
a narrative of the experience of some who had been in Japon longer,
and who had thus far escaped martyrdom. One was Fray Pedro Vasquez,
a son of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha at Madrid; and the
other Fray Domingo Castellet, a son of the convent of Sancta Catalina
Martir at Barcelona. As the persecution advanced, the Portuguese who
lived in the kingdom were expelled from it.]