Читать книгу The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Volume 19 of 55 - Unknown - Страница 9

I will begin my account of the affairs of this kingdom with the cruel and bloody persecution against Christianity which is now at such a height, and in which they put so many to death for the faith that, to me, it seems a picture of what happened in the primitive church during the early persecutions by the emperors. What I have said may be realized from part of a letter dated in Nangasaqui October 14, 1619, from Father Matheo de Couros,9 provincial of Japon, to Father Valerio de Ledesma, provincial of these islands. Translated from Portuguese into Spanish it is as follows: “In regard to news from Japon I will not write you at length, since I understand that the father visitor has done so. In temporal affairs everything is quiet. Persecution of Christians has been and is very severe in Meaco, where almost sixty are prisoners for the faith. Five or six of these Christians died in prison there, thoroughly resigned to the divine will. In this city of Nangasaqui there are twenty-eight imprisoned for Christ, in three prisons. In Omura seven religious are imprisoned, four of the Order of St. Dominic, one of the Order of St. Francis, and two of our Society. With them are imprisoned ten other Christians. Of the inhabitants of the same city of Omura three were martyred—Lino, Pedro, and Thome—the first, because when he was guarding the prison in which the religious I have mentioned were confined, he allowed too much food to be given to the holy prisoners, as he was a Christian at heart himself; the second, because from time to time he sent food to them; and the third, because he carried the food. All three were promised their lives if they would renounce our holy law; but they chose rather to die, in order that they might live forever in heaven.”

In another letter dated November 10, 1619, the same father writes: “On the sixth of October, Meaco offered to heaven the richest gift that has ever been seen in that great and populous city. The gift consisted of fifty-four Christians, who were burned alive for the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have already written how there was in the public prison at Meaco a large number of the faithful, incarcerated because they would not bend the knee to Baal. Nine of these died in the prison on account of the excessive labors and hardships which they suffered there. They died thoroughly resigned to the divine will, and rejoicing in their happy fate. When the emperor came to the court of the Dayri,10 the metropolis of the whole of Japon, they told him of the imprisoned Christians; and since he is an implacable enemy of our holy faith, he ordered that they should all be burned alive. Thereupon twenty-six stakes were set up in a public place in front of the temple of Daybut, a large and magnificent building, at a distance from the river that flows by the place. On Sunday, the sixth of October, they took the holy prisoners from the jail, not sparing even the tender young girls nor the babes at their mothers’ breasts. They marched them through the principal streets of Meaco, accompanied by a crier who announced that they had been condemned to be burned alive because they were Christians. Most of the soldiers of Jesus Christ were dressed in white, and their faces were so happy and so resolute that the power of the divine grace which upheld them was plainly shown. They encouraged one another for the trial, and with great calmness bade good-by to the friends and acquaintances whom they met along the way. From time to time they proclaimed aloud that they were dying for the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. When they had come to the place where they were to offer their lives to the Lord as an acceptable sacrifice, they appeared more joyful, as does one who is about to gain the eternal reward. Two by two they were now tied to the stakes, the women with their babes in their arms. Some of our daiicos—people of our Society like lay brothers, who aid us in preaching11—as well as other Christians who went to the place to encourage the martyrs, were present. But the servants of the Lord showed such remarkable strength that they really encouraged the spectators. When the wood was finally set on fire, the majority of these fortunate martyrs turned their eyes toward heaven, and, without moving them in the least, remained in this posture after death. During the first few days a strict watch was kept over the blessed bodies to prevent the Christians from taking them away, but through the efforts of our fathers who live in that city some have already been recovered.” So far I quote from the father provincial. To this I will add some points taken from other letters and relations.

The above-mentioned father provincial is a strong pillar in Japon, and an excellent interpreter. He is director of the Christian community there, by virtue of a brief from his Holiness, which arrived last year, and in which, it is ordered that in default of a bishop in japon the provincial of the Society who may be in office at the time shall rule that bishopric and Christian community. Therefore, although the bishop has come; the provincial has governed up to the present time, and continues to govern, because, as I have said, conditions in Japon do not admit of the bishop’s going there, since it is feared that the situation may be aggravated and persecution increased thereby. Consequently his Lordship is now in Macan.

About two years ago our father general appointed Father Francisco Vieira as visitor of Japon. He is a man already past sixty, and, indeed, is nearing seventy; but in spite of this he is so vigorous that when the persecution was at its height he, with great courage, went from Macan to Japon. He was often in imminent danger of being imprisoned. He took refuge in Canzuça, a place in the lands of Arima, where he abode in a hut of straw. Here, on account of the hardships he endured, he was frequently attacked by a kidney disease which caused him great pain. Once he had so violent an attack that he sent in great haste to get holy oil in order that he might take the holy sacrament. Again the same disease, accompanied by a severe pain above the heart, attacked him with such violence that he could scarcely breathe. So he determined that extreme unction should be administered to him; but, remembering that he had a written signature of our holy father, he placed it with great devotion over his heart and commended himself to the saint12—through whose merits the Lord caused the pain to be assuaged within an hour, and he became entirely well. From Canzuca the father visitor went to Nangasaqui, to take ship to return to Macan. He was kindly received, and with due precaution taken into the house of a certain Portuguese. But still he ran great risk of being imprisoned by the servants of the heathen president, who were searching for another religious, named Fray Bartholome Gutierrez, of the Order of San Agustin, who was wearing the Spanish dress. They suddenly entered three Portuguese houses, and the father visitor scarcely had time to retire from one house to another. In short, the labors and dangers that he suffered in Japon were great. But they had no power to turn him from so glorious an undertaking until he had been there fourteen months. During that time he had visited all the Christians and all the posts that are ordinarily visited during times of peace. He had to visit Macan, where most of our fathers were taking refuge from the persecution; the missions of Cochin China, and of China, where there was also persecution, were likewise under his charge. Moreover, the bishop of Japon and the two procurators of China and Japon, who were returning from Rome, had arrived at Macan. For all these and other reasons he was obliged to leave Japon with great grief in his heart, and even with copious tears. Accordingly, on the twenty-sixth of October, 619, he embarked in a patache which went as flagship of five galeotas. He finally reached Macan, where, a few days after, on Christmas eve, he died. Father Geronimo Rodriguez, who was there, and who had been appointed by our father general in the private assignment, succeeded him in office.

Father Carlos Espinola, of our Society, is still in prison, waiting each day for the crown. It has incurred to me to insert here a letter which he wrote to the father provincial of this province of Filipinas. It reads as follows:

“The Lord so ordained it that at midnight after St. Lucia’s day I was made a prisoner, together with Brother Ambrosio Fernandez, my companion, and Domingo Jorge, a Portuguese at whose house we were seized. The soldiers told us that they wished us to go on board a ship that was about to sail for the city of Manila. On the one hand I regretted this, because I was being driven from Japon, and was losing a good opportunity to give my life for the service of God, which for many years I had desired to do. On the other hand, I was delighted because His most holy will was being fulfilled in me. We made a very different voyage [from the one promised], for we were carried from Nangasaqui to this prison of Omura, in company with two religious of St. Dominic and three of our Japanese servants. They took us through some of the streets of Nangasaqui and finally embarked us for this place, handcuffed and with chains about our necks. It was daytime, and all the city turned out to see the spectacle and to take leave of us with cries and tears. Father Fray Thomas, of St. Dominic, and father Fray Apolinar, of St. Francis, with six Japanese, had already been here for some time. Here we are in great concord, just as if we were of the same religious order. And although there is no lack of suffering, because the house affords us but poor shelter, and although at times the guards will not allow anything to come in from outside except the little given us as rations (which is just enough to starve on), yet at times it is ordered by the Lord, in His fatherly care, that in the gifts sent us by the devout we have more than we could desire. Above all, suffering for the love of God, and the expectation of the happy fortune that may befall us, makes it all easy to us and hardships a source of joy. I am most content with the favors received, and, although I fear that because of my sins—because I have not worked in this vineyard as I should have done, and because of my great ingratitude for the many mercies that the Lord has bestowed upon me—I have been driven from Japon as useless, still I console myself that I have come to be manacled and imprisoned in the service of God, which is no small mercy. I also trust that His Divine Majesty, who in awarding these crowns sometimes does not consider the merits of men, but in His infinite mercy bestows them generously, will consider it right to reward this poor beggar as well as these holy religious that deserve more than I. I beg that your Reverence, in visceribus Iesu Christi, will help me to give due thanks to the Lord, quod dignus factus sim pro nomine Iesu contumeliam pati,13 and to obtain for me my profession for this novitiate with holy sacrifices, etc. From this prison of Omura, March 5, 1619. From your servant in the Lord,

Carlos, a prisoner for Christ.”

This ends the letter of Father Carlos. I have nothing to add to it except that this Domingo Jorge, whom he mentions therein, was burned alive, in November, in Nangasaqui, because he sheltered preachers of the holy gospel in his house. Brother Leonardo, a Japanese who had been imprisoned for three years, and four others, were burned with him. After this, eleven other Japanese were beheaded. Later on, in January, 620, Brother Ambrosio Fernandez, a Portuguese who was the companion of Father Carlos Espinola, died in jail from hunger, and excessive cold, and the hardships and discomforts of the prison, and thus gained the martyr’s crown. He was seventy years old.

Although so many in Japon have thus become blessed martyrs, two persons bent the knee to Baal and miserably recanted for fear of torture. A Japanese religious who was in Rome and Spain, and who is now an apostate, did the same thing. He often says that when he was in Madrid he knew that certain religious were persuading the king to conquer Japon, but that our fathers dissuaded him from this. He adds that, although it is a fact that religion is our primary motive for entering Japon, yet it is our intention through religion to prepare matters for conquering the country. With this and other lies this apostate has done great harm to Christianity. The governors and principal men of Japon are so thoroughly convinced of our evil intentions that they say that one of the principal reasons for keeping the Hollanders in Japon is for their own greater security and to annoy us. They even have begun to discuss the possibility of conquering the Filipinas, in order not to have the Spaniards so near. On the other hand, it is said that in Japon they are thinking of driving out all Europeans from that kingdom—Spanish, Hollanders, Portuguese and English. If this is done it will not be possible for any of our fathers to remain there. At present they escape notice among other Europeans by wearing European dress—I mean that of Castilians and Portuguese; but if the Europeans are driven from Japon this will no longer be possible.

Passing from spiritual affairs to those temporal affairs of Japon that concern these islands, let me say that on the twelfth of July, 619, there arrived at Firando, a port of Japon designated for the trade of the Hollanders, four of their ships, which, as I informed you last year, have been off the coast of Manila. When our fleet prepared to sally out, the Dutch ships withdrew in good order, carrying with them a great many sick, beside the large number who had died from disease and from an infection which they say was given them in Bigan, a village on the coast of Manila. Since this is not known here, it must be their own imagination. Many of their people were drowned, also. In one ship which sank suddenly many people were drowned, among them a large number of Japanese, who were brought from Japon in the service of the Hollanders. These ships plundered nothing but three Chinese vessels of little value, which were coming to this city. A ship and a patache were sent from this coast of Manila to Maluco. It is well known that the ship was lost on the same coast by running aground, although the Hollanders hide the fact. The patache, driven by contrary winds, soon put into harbor. It reached Firando on the fourteenth of July; and as soon as it secured munitions, provisions, and people was sent to wait for the Portuguese galeotas which were going from Macan to Japon. But it was the Lord’s will that it should not find them, and so it returned to Firando. On October 3, however, it was sent to Pulocondor [i.e., Condor Island], opposite Camboxa, with thirty men, fourteen pieces of artillery, munitions and provisions, to search for the crew and artillery of a ship that the Hollanders lost there.

On the twelfth of October of the same year, 619, another ship, greatly injured and with its crew wounded and crippled, came to the same port of Firando from Patane, on the further side of Malaca. It, with two other Dutch ships, had fought, in the port of Patane, two English ships that were there. Although anchored and unprepared, the latter fought to the death, over the anchor-ropes. The smaller English vessel, seeing that it could not defend itself, and that there was no help for it, blew itself up by setting fire to the powder. The larger ship, when nearly all the crew were dead, and the general himself had been killed by a ball, was overcome and boarded by the Hollanders. They say that they secured two hundred thousand pesos in that ship. It may be true, but I do not vouch for that. Two Portuguese had gone from the shore, on the preceding day, to see the English ships. They were seized by the Hollanders, who carried them to Japon in the ship which I mentioned, together with some Englishmen. When the prisoners reached Firando they formed a plot and escaped to land in that kingdom, where all the world is allowed.

The quantity of munitions and provisions which the Hollanders secure every year from Japon for supplying all their fortifications is very great, and therefore if they were not harbored there, it would be a great injury to them and of much benefit to these islands.