The election as provincial of father Fray Bartholome Martinez, and
the deaths of some religious
On the nineteenth of April, 1625, the vigil of the glorious virgin
St. Inez de Monte Policiano, the fathers having votes assembled for the
election of a provincial, since father Fray Miguel Ruiz had finished
his term. On the first ballot the votes were divided almost equally,
since there were so many religious worthy of the post as to cause
difficulty in the selection. But this did not last long, for on the
second ballot those who had the largest number of ballots withdrew, and
father Fray Bartholome Martinez was unanimously elected. He had been
vicar of the Parian of the Chinese, and was their special minister. He
was recognized by all, both religious and laymen, as worthy of this or
of greater offices, because of his great virtue, learning, prudence,
and devotion. At the same time no one had talked about or even thought
of such a choice, because, in truth, there were many others who well
deserved the post and who were much older than he. The Lord, who does
not look at these exterior things alone, but at the heart and the soul,
turned their eyes upon this father as upon another David, so that by
being placed in a post of government he might do great things. It was
the Lord who caused them all, as if moved by a spirit from above,
to elect him with great good-will, and with general applause from
within and without the order, all recognizing the hand of the Lord in
a choice which was at once so wise and so far from the thoughts of
all. In particular, the archbishop of this city was greatly pleased
with it, for he knew well the great virtues of the person chosen, and
sent to give his most special congratulations to the fathers. Father
Fray Bartholome was a son of the famous convent of San Estevan at
Salamanca. He was a great theologian, and a man of superior virtue,
devotion to the rules of the order, and mortification. He underwent
many extraordinary sufferings. Some were voluntarily assumed, and
although these were many, they were (as we shall see afterwards)
easier to bear because voluntary. At the same time, it was necessary
to train and try him for much which the Lord desired to work through
his means; and hence the Lord gave permission to the devil to torment
him--so severely that, when he was still very young, his hair grew
white. In the first year of this assault he lost his strength, and was
dying without suffering from any other disease. He was living in the
convent of novices in Salamanca, and revealed his sufferings to his
confessor and spiritual master alone. This was the holy Fray Diego de
Alderete. He, being of much experience in such sufferings, consoled
and encouraged him, but commanded him not to speak of the matter with
any person. This direction he observed so carefully that it was never
possible to learn any more than these general facts, although there
must have been many very remarkable things which, if known, would have
been highly edifying. But he, striving for more humility, and obeying
the order to keep silence, never revealed them, and no one else ever
knew them. He was seen to be growing weaker, being without strength and
without health, and when he was taken to the infirmary the physicians
corroborated what all knew with regard to the danger in which he was;
but they were never able to find out the cause, since it was beyond
the limits of their science. All this, and much more which was added
to it, was necessary, and helped him much to bear the bitter hardships
which in time he suffered, and which would have broken his heart. Our
Lord conducted father Fray Bartholome through all his life by a way
of suffering, and in suffering he ended it--as will be narrated in due
time, when we reach the year of our Lord 1629, when his virtue and his
abstinence will be specially treated. During his term as provincial,
the province lost by death several religious of superior qualities,
and suffered from several insurrections of villages. Both of these
things were severely felt in a region where the religious are so few
that the loss of a single one is a notable loss; and where all energy
is turned toward converting souls, so that the perdition of a single
one causes great sorrow. For these sufferings our Lord brought some
comfort in the martyrdom of some sons of the province, and in the
extension of the holy gospel to the island of Hermosa.
[Among the religious who died at this time was father Fray Francisco de
Cabrera, vicar of San Miguel de Nasiping; he was a native of Carmona,
and a son of the convent at San Lucar, whence he was sent to pass
his novitiate in Sancto Domingo at Xerez. He was stationed in Nueva
Segovia and was an exemplary minister. His name is honorably mentioned
on the records of the chapter in the year 1625. At the same provincial
chapter honorable mention was made of father Fray Pedro Blazquez,
vicar of the convent of Manavag. He was a native of Marchena in
Andalucia. He assumed the habit of the order in the famous convent
of San Pablo at Sevilla and was sent as a collegiate to Almagro. He
left his convent of Sevilla to come to this province in 1613, and was
regarded by those who accompanied him as a saint. On the fifteenth
of May, 1624, died father Fray Thomas Vilar. He was a native of
Castellon de la Palana in the kingdom of Valencia, where he assumed
the habit. He was sent to the college of the order in Origuela, and
came to the Philippinas in 1601. He was assigned to the province of
Nueva Segovia, and afterwards was appointed rector of the college
of Sancto Thomas at Manila. In the following November, as fathers
Fray Miguel de San Jacintho (a man who was twice provincial) and Fray
Diego de Toro, vicar of San Jacintho at Camalaniogan in Nueva Segovia,
testify, a marvel happened in the village of Apari, [34] a port in
that province in the district of Camalaniogan. A fire occurred here
one night, and a sea breeze was sweeping it throughout the village,
when the vicar, taking in his hands the little image of our Lady of
the Rosary which they were accustomed to carry in the processions,
made a vow and turned it toward the fire, when the wind immediately
died down and the fire began to go out.]