ed, and brighter is the
crown. I do not say this in order that we should publish our martyrs,
or that we should so talk with those outside (for it is better for
us to limit ourselves in that direction), but for our consolation
and assurance, I am persuaded that after this pilgrimage we shall
recognize that glory in some or many of the fathers of this province
who have preceded us--as in the case of the fortunate father Juan
Dominico Bilancio, who died a captive of the Mahometan [king of] Jolo,
the harsh treatment and sufferings of his captivity being the cause
of his death; and Father Juan de las Missas, [who perished] at the
hands of the hostile Camucones; besides other fathers. I regard it
as superfluous to expatiate further on this, or to attempt to spur
on those who are running so gloriously. Therefore I conclude with
the words, which the glorious bishop and martyr, St. Cyprian, wrote
in a similar case in his epistle number 81, to Sergius Rogatianus
and his companions: _Saluto vos fratres charissimi [ac beatissimi]
optans ipsse quoque conspectu vestro frui, si me ad vos pervenire
loci condicio permiteret. Quid enim mihi optacius et lecius pocet
[i.e., posset] accidere, quam nunc vovis inhaerere? ... Sed quoniam qui
[sc. huic] laeticie interesse facultas non datur has pro me ad aures et
[ad] oculos vestros vicarias literas mito, quibus glatulor pariter,
et eshortor, ut yn comfessione selestis glorie fortes et estabiles
perseberetis et ingressi viam Dominice dignacionis ad acipiendam
coronam espirituali virtute pergatis_. [27] Manila, February 1, 1635.

_Juan de Bueras_

LETTER TO FELIPE IV FROM FATHER ANDRES DEL SACRAMENTO

Sire:

Since I have passed thirty years in this province of the discalced
Franciscans of San Gregorio of Filipinas, and, since I am a father
of this province, I regard it as my obligation to advise your
Majesty of its present condition; so that, since you are the one who
sends the ministers at the cost of your royal treasury, you might
apply the corrective that necessity demands. It is a fact that,
although the said province has been established by the discalced
religious, and always maintained in its first perfection by the
religious sent it by the discalced provinces of Espana, among those
who come some Observantines are generally found, under pretext of
going to Japon--who, although they change the habit, do not change
their inclination to their own observance. This mingling [of