e fact that Aduarte, who recorded in detail events
of far less significance, did not speak of the Doctrinas at all. The
best--and it is a most unsatisfactory best--that we can do is ascribe
the omission to the frailty of man, and record that there is no notice
of the Dominican Doctrina of 1593 in the most complete contemporary
Dominican history of the Philippines.

The first members of the Order of St. Dominic [95] to land in the
Philippines were Bishop Salazar and his assistant, Christoval de
Salvatierra. But they were fully occupied with the administration of
the bishopric and could not devote themselves to regular missionary
work. It was not until July 25, 1587 that working Dominican
missionaries came. Then fifteen [96] under the leadership of Juan de
Castro arrived, and established the first Dominican province [97]
of the Philippines and China, thus consummating the hope expressed
as early as 1579. [98]

In consultation with the other orders it was decided that the
Dominicans should be given the ministry of the territories of
Pangasinan and Bataan, which had theretofore been spiritually
exploited by few priests. Almost immediately, on September 15, 1587,
the vicariate of Bataan was founded and settled. In speaking of it,
Aduarte stressed the importance of a knowledge of the language of the
natives, which there would have been Tagalog, to the success of the
mission. Domingo de Nieva, one of the four members of the mission,
learned it rapidly and well, and soon began to preach to the Indians
in their own tongue. His aptitude for languages and its usefulness to
the Dominicans must have been very great, for Aduarte in listing the
priests who originally volunteered in Spain makes few comments about
individuals, but of Nieva he remarks that he "was afterwards of great
importance because of the great ease and skill with which he learned
languages, whether Indian or Chinese." [99] Unfortunately Nieva was
only a deacon, and so could not hear confession, a fact which was
greatly deplored, because during that first year no other priest
mastered the language sufficiently well to do it, but in September
1588 he reached the requisite age and was ordained. About that time
the friars in Bataan--one had died and another was ailing--were joined
by Juan de la Cruz, "who, being young, succeeded very well with the
language," [100] and also succeeded in surviving the climate.

Early in 1588 Juan Cobo [101] arrived from Mexico. Shortly