The election of the first provincial, and the first provincial chapter
[Though the religious had come in the previous year, and though
the second Sunday after Easter of the year 1588 had gone by
(which is the usual day on which provincial chapters are held),
the fathers, being so few, had waited for the arrival of those
who came from Mexico. Accordingly, the chapter was convoked by the
father vicar-general on the twelfth of June, and there were chosen
as definitors father Fray Diego de Soria, vicar of the convent at
Manila, where the chapter was held; Fray Juan Cobo; Fray Juan de San
Thomas, vicar of Bataan; and Fray Bernardo de Sancta Catalina, vicar
of Pangasinan. They and the rest elected, as the first provincial of
the new province, father Fray Juan de Castro. The first act passed
in this chapter was to accept the general ordinances made for the
foundation of this province when the founders were in Mexico. The
chapter provided that special care was to be taken that no ministerial
duties were to be accepted as curacies, but merely as charity--with
liberty of removal, due notice being given to the bishops. It also
determined that these ordinances should be read and declared to the
religious who were to be brought over from Espana, so that if they
approved of them they might come, while if they did not venture to
undertake them they might remain; and no one might complain that he
had been deceived, if he should find himself obliged to keep them. In
this chapter the province was given the glorious name of our Lady of
the Rosary, to whom all the religious desired especially to belong;
they also chose as special advocate and patroness her who was the
apostle [41] to the apostles, Saint Mary Magdalen, on whose day they
had reached port in these islands, and by whose aid (which they had
a thousand times experienced in the order) they hoped for the most
complete and glorious success in that which they were undertaking. The
religious were warned to treat the Indians with great charity and
a spirit of kindness, as beloved sons, showing them the love that
we feel for them not only by words but by deeds, and striving to
attract them by love. If punishment should at any time be necessary,
it was not to be by our hands, that it might not happen to us, as
Saint Gregory said, that corrections should be converted to arms
of wrath. To the convent of Manila they gave the title of priory,
and appointed as the first prior father Fray Diego de Soria. They
accepted the vicariate of our Lady of the Rosary of Macan, and named
as vicar thereof father Fray Antonio de Arcediano. They likewise
accepted the vicariate of our father Saint Dominic of Binalatongan,
appointing as vicar thereof father Fray Bernardo de Sancta Catalina;
likewise the vicariate of our father Saint Dominic of Bataan, the
vicar whereof was father Fray Juan de Sancto Thomas; likewise the
vicariate of Gabon, the vicar whereof was father Fray Juan de San
Pedro Martyr. They appointed as preacher-general father Fray Miguel
de Venavides; and as lecturer [42] of the convent the same person,
on account of his great ability and talent. This father and father
Fray Juan Cobo were very successful in learning the Chinese language,
and assumed responsibility for the mission to the Chinese, to which,
on account of its great difficulty, no one before these fathers had
devoted himself. Father Fray Juan Cobo preached the first sermon to
the Chinese. Finally, at this chapter the father provincial and the
definitors sent a full report to the most reverend general of the
order--who responded, confirming the new province, and most nobly
congratulating the founders thereof. The translation of this letter
into Spanish is given at length. The substance of it is as follows:
"Very Reverend Fathers: Your letters from the Philippinas Islands,
dated June 22, 1588, have been received and read with great pleasure
in the general chapter of the order, held in this year, 1592, at the
convent of San Juan and San Pablo in Venecia. We rejoice that your
fervor and zeal for the propagation of the Catholic faith are about
to restore the order from the ruin which we here see and experience
every day, because of the great pest of the heresies. Ye go down in
ships to the sea, and see the great wonders of God. Ye are like the
mystic animals whose wings are joined between themselves, which make
others fly aloft while they walk upon the ground. We approve your
erection of a province in the Philippinas Islands, confirming it in
the graces and privileges enjoyed by the other provinces of the same
order; we also confirm as provincial of the said province the very
reverend father Fray Juan de Castro. All this would have been inserted
in the acts of the general chapter, except for the carelessness of the
printer." The letter is dated Milan, November 3, 1592, and is signed by
Fray Hipolyto Maria Vicaria, master-general of the Order of Preachers;
and master Fray Pablo Castrucio, provincial of the Holy Land.
Soon after the election of the first provincial, father Fray Gregorio
de Ochoa died. He lived a holy, scrupulous, and devout life. He was
one of those assigned to the conversion of the province of Pangasinan,
where the exposure and hardship and the lack of necessities brought
sickness upon all of the brethren except father Fray Bernardo de
Sancta Catalina. Father Fray Gregorio suffered more than any of the
rest. They had no physician, medicines, or comforts. They wished
to make a broth with which to take the quilites [43] they used as
purgatives, but the Indians, desiring to drive them away, refused
them the game that they needed to make the broth; and father Fray
Gregorio grew so ill that he had to be sent back to Manila to be
cured. Here he grew somewhat better, and undertook for the order the
work of instruction in grammar; but was taken ill again, and died.]