Of the entry of the religious into the city of Manila, and of their
occupations there until they went on their various missions.
The previous chapter has caused some digression; but it was necessary,
in order to give an account of the voyage, and of the career of
these important religious. We now return to those on the other ship,
which we left at the port of Cavite--whence the news was immediately
carried to Manila, which is two leguas from that port. The bishop of
this city, Don Fray Domingo Salazar, was, as has already been said,
a religious of this order. He was greatly delighted when he learned
that religious of his own order had come to found a province, which
was the thing that he most desired in this life. He sent immediately
to a nephew of his to ask him to welcome them and to bring them to
the city, which they entered on the day of the apostle St. James. This
was a happy omen for those who came with so great a desire to imitate
the great zeal of this holy apostle, by which he was so distinguished
among the other apostles that the enemies of the gospel opposed him
more than the others, and that he was the first among the apostles
to lose his life. When they entered the city there came out to meet
them Doctor Sanctiago de Vera, governor and captain-general of these
islands, together with the most noble and illustrious of the city,
showing in the joy of their faces and their loving words the delight
that they felt at the arrival of the brethren--of whose sanctity
they had already been informed and felt assured by the modesty of
their appearance, faithful witness to the heart. Accompanied by
these friends, they went to the chief church, where the bishop was
waiting for them; and he gave them his benediction, full of tears
of joy. Here they offered to the Lord the thanks they owed to Him
for having brought them to the destination which they had so long
desired; and for the great honor which, as to His servants and for
His sake, had been shown them. Immediately after, the holy bishop
took them to his house, and, making them welcome to everything in it,
entertained them as well as he could; for he desired for occasions
such as this and for giving to the poor, that his episcopate should
be rich. Since this day was wholly given up to visits, it was not
very pleasant for him; but when he was alone with his brethren he
lifted up his voice with tears, like another Joseph, and said to them:
"Is it possible that I have seen the order of my father St. Dominic
established in this country? Is it possible that my eyes have seen
the thing which I so much desired?" After he had said these words, he
remained for a long time unable to speak, his words being followed by
an abundance of tears, which he shed from tenderness and the emotion of
his soul. Everything else that followed was conformable to this, both
in his conversation and his acts, which were those of an affectionate
father. He gave them all their sustenance in his house, without growing
weary of such guests. They, however, were not seeking comfort such as
the good bishop provided them, but labors for themselves and souls for
God; and after resting a few days they begged the bishop to put them
in the way of attaining what they had come to find, as his bishopric
was so rich in it. The festival of our father St. Dominic was at
hand; and they resolved to celebrate it before separating, asking the
blessing of the Great Father on that important act. Having no convent,
they celebrated the festival in church, with the utmost solemnity and
devotion; and in the evening they had some theological discussions,
father Fray Pedro de Soto maintaining several positions, in which
he displayed his admirable ability and great learning. Father Fray
Miguel de Venavides presided, a man who surpassed those who in that
period were of mark in virtue and scholarship, by the shoulders and
more, like Saul in bodily presence among his subjects. The purpose
of the discussions was to show that preaching the gospel (which was
to be their occupation), even to the simple race of Indians, does
not interfere with scholarship, but requires it, and much study;
the contrary is a manifest error, for the smaller the capacity of
the Indian, the greater should be the capacity of the minister. He is
called on to make the Indian capable of the loftiest mysteries taught
by the faith; and we see by daily experience among Indians cases and
matters which cannot be solved except by a man of great knowledge,
learning, and ability. Since all cannot be so highly endowed, it is
essential to have some ministers of superior attainments to whom the
others may resort with their difficulties, and whose responses they
may safely follow. The good bishop took particular pleasure in being
present at and encouraging the discussions, and in perceiving that
those who sustained theses and the others (who likewise exhibited their
abilities) might aid him in weighty matters in the difficult duties
of his office. This was afterward proved to be true in this province
and in Espana, where he who presided accompanied the bishop and was
of great assistance to him, as we shall see. After the festival was
over, it was determined that father Fray Christoval de Salvatierra,
who was the bishop's companion--and who was of the same pattern in
virtue, prudence, and zeal for the common good and especially for the
good of souls (as will hereafter be recounted)--should take some of
these fathers to some villages of Indians who had no one to instruct
them, and whom he therefore had taken under his own charge. He went
to visit and teach them when he had leisure from his heavy labors as
vicar-general. The labor of his office, being in a new country, full of
entanglements with regard to the conquistadors and new encomiendas and
the collection of tributes, would have been intolerable for others; yet
he took his vacation by working at other kinds of labor, teaching new
Indians, working with them, and introducing among them Christian policy
and civilization so far as they were capable of receiving them. This
avocation of his would have sufficed most men for their full duty,
but he did it in addition to his regular work as vicar-general. The
villages were at such a distance from Manila that it took more than
a day to go there by sea, and much more by the rivers. [32] In order
to teach the new fathers the manner of working with the Indians, and
to begin to acquaint them with the language of the natives, which he
knew very well, he went with them to the villages commonly known as
Bataan. Those who had the fortune to go with father Fray Christoval
were very well pleased, inasmuch as they were beginning to obtain
that which they had followed with such desire from Espana. The rest of
them, desiring greater convenience for living according to the custom
of friars than could be afforded them in the house of the bishop
(although he was a holy man), went to the convent of St. Francis,
where they were received and entertained as might have been expected
of fathers so religious and so zealous in following the rules of their
great father and ours, which we accepted exactly as if we were of the
same habit. Nothing less could have been expected, since those fathers
then had as custodian the holy Fray Pedro Baptista, afterwards the
most glorious martyr in Iapon, and as guardian father Fray Vicente
Valero--another Nathaniel in guilelessness of soul, joined with a
most solid virtue and devotion to his vows, which caused him to be
esteemed and venerated among lay and religious. Some days afterward
the Indians of Pangasinan were entrusted to our religious. They lived
forty leguas distant, and, being all heathen, had need of someone to
labor among them. The order likewise took charge of the Indians of
Bataan, to whom, as has been said, the father provisor ministered
because he had no one to send; as also of the Chinese or Sangleys,
who up to that time had had no ministry. Many thousands of them
had come and were still coming every year from their own country,
on account of their trade and commerce in this colony, which is very
great. Many of them were traders, and many were mechanics. No one
desired to undertake the ministry to them, because of the great labor
and the little fruit; but since the new laborers had come fresh, and
were eager for work, this claim of itself was sufficient for them to
regard it as a great favor to be permitted to occupy themselves where
the toil was greatest. The father vicar-general sent for the absent
brethren, and gathered all together in the convent of St. Francis;
and there offered a long prayer for them, asking for the grace of the
Holy Spirit. He then made them a spiritual and devout address. After
it was concluded, he who in lesser things had never been accustomed
to proceed without consultation, now, without further consultation
than that which he had had with God, assigned and distributed them
after the following manner. To the district of Bataan he sent as
vicar father Fray Juan de Sancto Thomas (or de Ormaca), with three
associates: father Fray Alonso Ximenez and Fray Pedro Bolanos, and
Fray Domingo de Nieva. To the province of Pangasinan he assigned,
as vicar, father Fray Bernardo Navarro (or de Sancta Cathalina),
with five associates: fathers Fray Gregorio de Ochoa, Fray Juan
de Castro (nephew of the vicar-general), Fray Pedro de Soto, Fray
Marcos de San Antonio, and father Fray Juan de la Cruz. The father
vicar-general remained with the others in the convent which was to
be established in Manila, and was intended for the conversion of the
Chinese. It was only necessary for him to give the directions and to
arrange all things, every man doing that which fell to his lot. The
reason was not only their great virtue of obedience, but the fact
that the holy old man had held this chapter in a manner so spirited
and so extraordinary as to convince them that in his address he had
said to them that which it was their duty to do, and that it was
God who had thus given them their commands. The father vicar-general
immediately began to give his attention to the convent which was to
be established in Manila; but when he looked for a situation he did
not find a suitable one. That part of the city that was submerged at
high tide did not seem desirable; but that which was not submerged was
so taken up by the cathedral and the other convents that the matter
was a very difficult one. Being such, the good bishop laid it before
the Lord in his prayers; and having earnestly besought His help,
he arose from prayer with great happiness, and went, though it was
late at night, to his sub-chaplain and steward, Francisco Zerbantes,
telling him that he had the site for the friars, and directing him
to see if he could obtain three hundred pesos, which the owner asked
for the place; for the bishop had not even one peso with him. The
steward--whose accounts were always indicating a deficit, because
every third of their yearly income [33] scarcely fell due before the
poor took it away from the bishop--frankly responded that he did not
dare attempt to get that sum and did not see how he could, because even
for their ordinary subsistence the means were frequently insufficient,
so that he was embarrassed. The bishop was not disconcerted by this,
but (though it is not known how or where) he quickly procured the
three hundred pesos; and he told the steward to give the money to a
Spaniard called Gaspar de Isla, who was diking a small place which
was all flooded, and much more the land about it. For this reason,
though many had looked at it, no one had regarded it as good for a
convent. But the bishop, with great insistence, directed the steward to
take the next morning a stole, some holy water, and two sticks to make
a cross; and he embarked in a banca, or little canoe, and went to the
place (for it was overflowed to that extent), and blessed it. He took
possession on August 16, 1587, and set up a cross in token that the
convent should be built there, as it was; and the site has turned out
to be very healthful, with very pleasant views. It has been surrounded
by very good houses, and has had other advantages. The bishop gave
for the building two thousand pesos--a thing apparently impossible,
because of his poverty, but worthy of his great soul, and of the
great affection which he felt toward the friars. They immediately
began to build a house there and a poor little wooden church. They
finished soon, and the religious began to occupy it on the first day
of the following year, 1588, to the great joy of themselves and of
the whole city. The first superior of the convent, with the title of
vicar, was father Fray Diego de Soria, a great preacher, and a very
devout man, so that he immediately made many persons greatly devoted
to him. The new convent began to be very much frequented, and to be
so well assisted by alms that for many years there was no occasion
to cook food; because every day the amount of cooked food which was
provided was too great rather than too small. There were many who came
to its assistance with alms, some one day, some another; but Captain
Francisco Rodriguez sent every day, so that the religious were as
sure of this supply of food as if they cooked it at home. The Lord
paid His accounts, as He is accustomed to, promptly. The captain had
lived for ten years in marriage without any children, for whom both
husband and wife were most desirous, and they had some in payment
for these alms; for there is nothing that the Lord denies to those
who have mercy on the poor. As the number of the religious increased,
it became necessary to do the cooking in the convent; but the devotion
of the city and the contribution of alms has always continued and still
continues. Thus the convent has been and is maintained solely by them,
having been unwilling always to accept an endowment, though many have
been offered to it. Thus without endowment or possessions they get
what they need, with greater certainty than if they had these. For,
however certain such things may be imagined to be, they may fail,
as many others have failed; but the word of God, in whom the fathers
trust, cannot fail. This has been so clearly observed that when our
lord the king commanded that this convent, like the others in the city,
should receive as a contribution to its support four hundred pesos
a year and four hundred fanegas of rice (which takes the place of
wheat in this country), they for a long time declined to collect it,
since it seemed to them that it was in the nature of an endowment, as
being something sure and certain; yet afterward, when they saw that it
was pure charity, and that he who gave it could take it away when he
chose, they accepted it--on condition, however, that if the ministers
of the king take it from us, even unjustly, we shall not ask for it as
a right. At this time this has been done, the allowance having been
taken away; but the Lord in return has given much more than that. In
these first years Dona Ana de Vera, wife of the master-of-camp Pedro
de Chaves, and Dona Marina de Cespedes were great benefactors of the
religious; and to them the convent, in gratitude, has given chapels in
the church for their interment. In general, both poor and rich have
given alms to the convent out of good-will; and the religious have
paid them all very fully, not only by commending them to the Lord
in all their masses and prayers, but by earnestly laboring for the
good of their souls with sermons, advice, and exhortation, as well as
other spiritual exercises. This was soon evident in the reformation
that began to be seen in their habits, and in the improvement in
their life. Accordingly, one of the citizens wrote to Captain Chacon
(who was at that time governor of the province of Nueva Segovia)
telling him as news that the Dominican friars had come to Manila;
and that the city was turned into a monastery in the reformation of
the lives and morals of the inhabitants, and, in particular, in the
abstraction of the women from worldly concerns. This was indeed the
case; one reason was, that the example given by the religious was of
great influence, and, though they were few in number, they effected
as much as if they were many. They acted in harmony, and devoted
themselves to the divine offices as systematically as in great and
well-ordered convents. They were all men of education (some of very
superior education), all virtuous men, all given to prayer, all very
penitent, very harmonious, very zealous for the salvation of souls,
very poor, and disengaged from the things of this world. Therefore,
all esteemed them and desired them as guides of their souls; and
they performed this office with so much care and diligence that the
reformation of the aforesaid city resulted. For those who confessed to
them were either obliged to reform, or were dismissed by them; for in
the conduct of the penitents they refused to consent to deceit, in the
collection of tributes they would not allow extortion, in women they
would not suffer frivolity or impropriety of manners. As learned men,
they revealed the evils in such acts, and could make these understood
by their penitents; and as men without any personal motive they held
themselves ready to dismiss those who with vain and plausible reasons,
with the pretext of evil customs, or with other like cloaks strove to
cover their acts of injustice, and to justify the wrongs which they
committed through evil desires. Hence those persons who confessed in
the Dominican convent came to be known and esteemed, as they still are;
and there came to exist in the city more light in regard to things
to which previously no attention had been given, and more care was
taken of conduct. This was the reason why they said that the city
had become a monastery; and in truth, in many cases the conduct of
those who confessed there deserved that name--for example, that of
Dona Ana de Vera, Dona Marina de Cespedes, Catalina de Villegas,
and many other women very well known and esteemed in the city on
account of their virtue. In this they all owed no little to the aid of
their holy confessors, who with great care, much teaching, and their
own examples, did the work of God, and succeeded in attracting many
people to the knowledge of Him and to His service. Many, in health,
did not follow their counsels, regarding them as too severe, and
sought for confessors who feared to lose their penitents, and who,
by making their theology liberal, unburdened the consciences of those
who confessed to them. Yet even these persons in the hour of death,
when their desires had lost some of their force, called for the
Dominicans and gave to them the charge of their souls, fearing to
lose them by following the road which they had taken in health. And
this freedom and courage has always been maintained in this convent;
and they have used it without respect of persons--with rich and poor,
with governors and other officials. Hence it is necessary for them
to live in such a manner that no reproach can be cast upon them,
and to be content with but little for their sustenance, since that
little cannot fail them. Withal they have no regard to pleasing men,
for to Saint Paul it seemed that with that desire it was impossible to
unite the service of God--mankind being in general greater lovers of
themselves than of God, and hence he who is very desirous to please men
being necessarily at enmity with God. Therefore, these religious were
very careful in this respect, and strove so to conduct themselves
toward men that the supreme place should always be held by God;
and on this account they had the reputation of rigor--though they
were not rigorous, except to those who through their own desires or
selfishness tried to cast aside their duties to God.