19. This was brother Fray Juan Bautista, a native of Genova, but a devoted servant of God, as he has proved in the time while he has lived in the Filipinas Islands, in the confidential offices that the order has entrusted to him.17
Our father visitor-general, seeing that many religious were necessary, and that very few were going to Manila, resolved to bestow some habits in the port of Acapulco. It served no other purpose than to bring to the table those who had to leave it next day, and to give a better passage to those who would have come exposed to the wretched lot endured by the soldiers; and, when they wish to give habits, there is no lack [of men] here in Manila. Therefore, scarcely were they come to Manila when they left. That year the first archbishop who has belonged to the islands sailed, namely, Don Pedro Vazquez de Mercado, a secular. He had been bishop in Nueva España, and, although any office there is better, accepted this office, as he had been reared in Filipinas (where he had enjoyed prebends and health), and because his Majesty ordered it.
No other order came then. The voyage was fortunate, for, without furling our sails, day or night, we reached Manila, June 6, 1610; and no voyage like ours has been made here since, as we sailed on March 25. Both vessels were very swift, the winds strong, and the rain-showers must have been a help.
We were welcomed cordially in Manila, as they were not expecting a company, for the procurator sent by the province—namely, the father reader Fray Juan de Pineda18—was detained in Nueva España. When we arrived, already the favor bestowed upon the province by his Majesty (in a time when, as ran the news, little was expected) was already being extended; for the news that circulated through the court was not very reliable. But his Majesty, better informed, attended to everything as a pious king. He sent religious to the province, and gave the bishopric to Don Fray Pedro de Arce, as above stated. He gave also an alms of two thousand pesos to the Manila house, and joined to it a visitor-general, with orders to attend to whatever needed remedy. His Majesty should be considered as a most kind benefactor of the orders, and very thankful for the services that our order has performed in these regions for him.
The first thing given attention was the examination of the papers of our father master Fray Diego de Guevara. When they had been examined in the definitorio, there were no objections possible. Therefore, with humble mien, the venerable father definitors were very obedient, and complied with the letters of our most reverend father. They were much beholden for the favors received from our pious king, and served him likewise in this thing that he ordered. Thus was our father visitor-general received by the definitorio. He was visitor-general for the entire province, since necessarily the body must obey the movements of its head.
Our father visitor was especially charged by the court to inquire into our Father Solier’s acts; and, if necessary, he was to deprive him of his office and declare it forfeited. But he found matters quite different from those reported there, for he found Father Solier’s province under his government very much reformed, and his devotion admirable. For our Father Solier was in all things a remarkable man; and by his letter to the province and his systematic conduct of it, and the manner in which he conserved it, one can see how well he played his part. Thus if he had lost any of his luster in his dispute with the chapter of the past intermedium, he more than made it up. And this being so understood by our father visitor-general, he congratulated Father Solier highly, and honored him to the utmost.
It appears that our Father Solier was obliged to give account of himself. Therefore leaving the province so well conducted with a so honored superior, who came to it to honor and to investigate it, he determined to go to the kingdoms of España. Accordingly, having obtained leave for this from the father visitor, he set sail that year, with authorization from the province to take care of its causes and plead them in the court. Then, accompanied by father Fray Lúcas de Atienza,19 an aged religious, and at that time prior of the convent of Ibabay in the Pintados, he set sail in the vessels which left that year, in the first part of August. The galleon “San Juan” was to sail; it had been built to fight the Dutch enemy. Gaining the victory on St. Mark’s day, April 24 of the same year, it had been repaired again and was to make the voyage. One of the Dutch vessels captured was to go as almiranta; but it did not make the voyage, as it was unseaworthy. The trip was prosperous and the father reached España, attended by the same fortune. There he gave so satisfactory an account of himself that not only did they not find him deserving of reprimand, but honored him, by making him bishop of Puerto Rico. Later he was promoted to the archbishopric of Santo Domingo. He gave the proofs that all the order promised itself from his great goodness and fervor. His zeal in conducting the affairs of this province of Filipinas was very great. He always recognized this province as his mother, and as that from which his higher station had originated. Therefore, although now a bishop, he looked after the interests most important to him, namely, the sending of ministers and missionaries. And indeed he did this by securing a fine company, whom he sent in charge of father Fray Juan de Montemayor, a most illustrious preacher, who was living in Andalucía, and wished to come to these regions. He considered the offer made to him, to be prior of that company, as not bad; and conducted it to the Filipinas, as we shall see later.
The father master Solier appointed our father Fray Miguel García (then prior of Manila) his vicar in the province of Filipinas; and left for him letters-patent, and all the authority that he could. As we have said, he could not have left anyone more suitable, nor one who more completely filled the vacancy made by Father Solier’s departure. Father Garcia governed during the one remaining year [of Father Solier’s provincialate], with great prudence, and proved what an excellent provincial he would have made. Yet he was not, on that account, neglectful of his house of Manila, but governed it with strictness, which even became greater. He enriched the choir with beautiful stalls of inlaid work and wood, which, after many years, are still in excellent condition. He built the largest room in Manila, namely, the porter’s room. Afterward, while provincial, he aided in the further progress of the work. That house owes more to him than to any other. Our father visitor chose as his associate father Fray Estacio Ortíz,20 who had also been his associate when he went to begin the [work of the] order in Japón. As he knew his talents and prudence through that long association, the father visitor thought that he could make no better choice of one to whom to entrust an office of so great secrecy than this man whom he considered so good. Therefore as soon as he reached Manila, he appointed Father Ortíz as such, and therein he did exceeding well. For, as has been proved, he is the most prudent man who has come to the Filipinas, very silent, very long-suffering, and above all, a most devout religious. The province, aware of this, has never allowed him any rest, but has always entrusted to him the offices of greatest weight and honor; and he has given most strict account of them, to the very signal interest of the order. He has twice been prior of Manila, which place is the rock of experience, and where each one shows his talents. Both times he labored hard, performed much, and ruled that convent in all strictness. He was prior of Sugbú, as well as visitor and definitor of the province at the same time, and prior of many convents. He ever bore the name of provincial, to which office he was not elected—not for lack of merit, but of fortune, which is not always equal; and the lots go by pairs.
Our father visitor-general began, then, his visit through the Tagál province Pampanga, and Ilocos, and kept for the following triennium what remained in the Pintados. He was not limited in time, and therefore, went slowly. Everywhere he exhibited great prudence and wisdom, as the religious recognized, and he knew how to carry himself with them. He provided what he saw was most essential to the perfection of the province, which he thought to establish with the earnestness demanded by his care and devotion, and by disposing their minds to observe what he was teaching them by word and precept.
When he was in Manila he was an excellent chorister, and in the other convents he assisted in the same manner. When he saw what was advisable, he approached Manila to arrange what was needful in the chapter affairs, for the true reformation is, that the superior be such. If the superior be perfect, then he must try to see that all whom he rules be perfect also. Qualis rector est civitatis, tales et inhabitantes in ea.