Chapter XXXIV
Of the election of our father Fray Miguel García
Since the province, as we have seen, was so extensive, and all the houses had a vote, except that there were some few convents which were vicariates, the men who collected for the chapter were numerous; and if I do not deceive myself, they were difficult to count—that is, they were more than sixty. And among so many men (although it is true that it was always thought that the province was to be for our father Fray Miguel García), there are different tempers, and factions, and they say those things which afterward it were well that they had not said. They found the president inclined not to make our father Fray Miguel García provincial—not because there were demerits in his person, but because he had already governed, and he considered that enough. Such discussions, although they were in good point, did not have any effect; for the waters flowed in their usual channels, and this talk served only to disquiet some. In short, our father Fray Miguel García was declared elected on the twenty-third of April, of the year 1611, all votes concurring in his election with great good-will; for they saw that he was the one of whom the province had need for those times. Thereupon, our father Fray Miguel García performed an action most worthy of his devout heart, namely, to kneel down before our president, and with tears to resign his office, confessing himself as unworthy and insufficient for it, while he did not have the grace or rather the age for it. This he did with so many tears that his devotion made many others weep. The bishop-elect of Sugbú, who was present, caused our father visitor to dispense him in whatever obstruction he had by reason of his age, and to confirm him in the election. The bishop coöperated, and considered it good that the province had elected him; and the province itself insisted on it by universal acclaim. Consequently, our father visitor confirmed our father provincial Fray Miguel García, first dispensing him for the impediment of the lack of age, which was but little. That lack was more than supplied by his excess of prudence.
The definitors elected at this chapter were the reverend fathers: first, Fray Francisco Bonifacio; second, Fray Juan de Tapia; third, Fray Vicente de Sepúlveda; and fourth, Fray Estacio Ortíz. The absolute provincial, father Fray Diego Gutiérrez, received a vote. The visitors who were elected in this definitorio were father Fray Bernabé de Villalobos and father Fray Antonio de Porras22, the latter being adito.23 All the above in assembly made excellent regulations, and established for that time very good acts and laws; and they charged our father provincial with the execution of them, since on that depended the universal good of all the province.
It was proposed in this chapter, and, in fact, it was so ordered, for reasons that were very apparent there, that the chapters in the future should be held every four years, and the intermediary chapters every two years. The main consideration that influenced them was the great deficiency that the fathers create in their convents during the time when they come to the election, and they deemed it advisable to obviate this injury as much as possible, since it could not be entirely remedied—concluding that the expenses, if they could not be avoided, at least would be delayed as late as possible. This was agreed upon at that time, but later it was considered unadvisable, and consequently the enactment in this matter was repealed.
After the election, and the departure of the vessels to Castilla, our father visitor undertook to go to visit the province of Bisayas, which he did very slowly. He took as his associate our father Fray Hernando Becerra,24 then a recent arrival. He visited the island of Panay very leisurely. When about to go to the convent of Sugbú, he took as associate our father Fray Alonso de Méntrida,25 then without office, as he had refused any. He established an excellent system in that convent, of which he had great care. He caused its annuities to be raised, for it was very poor and overburdened. Father Fray Hernando Becerra went to Manila to read theology. Although he did this only for a short time, yet he became very renowned throughout the islands, and in consequence was cordially received by the other orders. Thence the father visitor came to Manila to assist in the superior government of the province, although the government of our father, Fray Miguel García, was such that, when he was there, no one else was needed.
In the year 1613, the ships with the reënforcements arrived in good shape from Nueva España. In them came that company of religious above mentioned as being sent by Bishop Solier. Father Fray Juan de Montemayor, their leader, who brought them from Nueva España, did it as well as he could; but there most of the religious, finding themselves tired out by the severe voyage, and the breadth of the land and its mildness and beauty inviting them, and that first courage having been lost with which they had left their native land and country, separated in a thousand directions, so that very few of that flock were left. These embarked and set sail in the port of Acapulco, March 25, 1613, without enough provisions; and even in what provision they had so little judgment was shown that they arrived as if by a miracle. Such was their need that when they arrived at the Embocadero, which is about eighty leguas from Manila, they had to disembark, and go from island to island, selling what few clothes they had left. There the fathers of the Society, who have charge of those missions, performed toward them a thousand acts of charity, by means of which they sustained life until, thus broken and with innumerable necessities, they reached Sugbú. Of a truth, they were ill advised; for, since they were already in the islands, they would have been delayed much less in the ships, which were retarded because of the route that they took, which was full of dangers and not a little troublesome. But the government does not learn. It is a gift given by God to those who please Him. Two fathers who remained in the ships arrived promptly and many months before their associates.
The religious in that company were as follows:
1. The father master, Fray Pedro García, own brother of our father Fray Miguel García. He did not come as master, but his brother negotiated that for him upon going to España.
2. Father Fray Juan de Montemayor, one of the greatest preachers who have been in the islands.
3. Fray Jerónimo Medrano.
4. Fray Nicolás de Herrera, a preacher, and a prominent religious.
5. Fray Cristóbal de Miranda. He was the one who, together with the master, Fray Pedro García, refused to disembark. That religious has been very useful.
6. Father Fray Hernando de Aguilar, a very honored religious.
7. Father Fray Bartolomé de Salcedo.
8. Father Fray Jerónimo de Oro.
9. Father Fray Antonio de los Santos.
10. Father Fray Juan Cabello.
11. Father Fray Juan de Pareja Mejía, very skilled in the Ilocan tongue. I mean that the following year, when the father master went, he again sent his associate, Fray Lúcas de Atienza, with some religious whom he found from the other companies whom I have already named, some of them being in my company.
Others were Fray Juan de Mena and Fray Lúcas de Rivera.26
With this the government of our father Fray Miguel García was, we might say, fortunate; for he found himself with two companies, all of whom, with the half company, numbered more than forty religious. With that number he was able to supply the missions which now were suffering for the need of workers. He was able to add new strength to the house at Manila, so that the choir could be assured—which is, as one might say, the fort of the province, where prayer is offered to God day and night for the needs of the province. There they gather those who find that they have but little strength in the ministry, where with some more rest they can attend to the profit of their own souls. Our father Fray Miguel García, considering that our father Fray Diego de Guevara had visited the provinces so slowly, did not choose to cause more trouble to the convents, or to spend more on his visits. Consequently, he was not excessive in this matter, but very mild.
In the intermediary chapter held in Manila within two years, as had been determined in the full chapter, it appeared that the province complained about the [term of the] chapter being lengthened one year. They advanced not a few reasons in support of this complaint, and so many that