Another letter from Otaço, dated February 18, 1620, says: “There has been a very heated discussion (which still continues) regarding aid for the Philipinas, between the lords of the Council and all the procurators and agents of those islands.”
3
Translated: ”[This blow upon us], beyond measure, still we are the Lord’s and He is just, and His judgment is upright.”
4
So in the MS., but apparently a copyist’s error for Leatum, the form given in later pages; apparently a phonetic blunder for Liao-tung, the name of the province where the contest between Russia and Japan is now centered (May, 1904).
5
W. Winterbotham gives, in his
6
Referring to the Manchu chief Noorhachu (see Vol. XVIII, note 63). His grandfather was named Huen.
7
Gabriel de Matos was born at Vidigueira, Portugal, in 1572, and entered the Jesuit order at the age of sixteen. He spent twenty years in the Japan missions, and later was provincial of Malabar; and he filed in January, 1633, either at Cochin or at Macao (according to differing authorities).
8
Nicolas Trigault was born at Douai, France, in 1577, and became a Jesuit novice when seventeen years old. As a student, he made a specialty of Oriental languages, and in 1610 entered the China mission, of which he was long in charge—meanwhile becoming versed in Chinese history and literature, concerning which, as well as the Jesuit missions there, Trigault wrote various books and memoirs. He died November 14, 1628, at either Nanking or Hang-tcheou.
9
Matheo de Curos was born at Lisbon in 1568, and became a Jesuit when fifteen years old; three years later, he left Europe for Japan, where during many years he occupied high positions in his order. He died at Fuscimo (Fushimi?), October 29, 1633.
10
11
Cf.
12
Probably referring to St. Francis Xavier, who had been, seventy years before, so prominent a missionary in Japan and India. The word “saint,” however, is here used by anticipation, as Xavier was not canonized at the time of this document. That ceremony was performed, for both Xavier and Ignatius de Loyola, on March 12, 1622; they had been beautified on July 27, 1609.
13
The two Latin phrases read thus in English respectively: “in the bowels of Jesus Christ,” and “that I may be counted worthy of suffering reproach [or ignominy] for the name of Jesus.”
14
This is a reference to the celebrated scholastic Duns Scotus.
15
The text reads thus:
16
The Order of Theatins was founded in 1524, by St. Cajetan of Chieti or Teate (whence Theatinus) and three others, one of whom later became Pope Paul IV. Their vows were very strict, for they were even forbidden to solicit alms. They were the first congregation in the Church of regular clerics or canons regular (
17
The preachers of Charles V said to the Council of the Indias, in speaking of the repartimiento system in America: “We hold that this most great sin will be the cause of the total destruction of the state of Spain, if God does not alter it, or we do not amend it ourselves.” See Helps’s
18
St. John’s day is June 26, and St. Peter’s June 29.
19
Span.,
20
In 1621, the flagship of which Fernando Centeno was commander, “Nuestra Señora de la Vida,” was wrecked in Isla Verde. See Colin,