The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 31, 1640. Aduarte Diego
need of the favor which they always received from this pious bishop. Don Fray Domingo de Salacar was born in La Rioja in Castilla, and had assumed the habit in the distinguished convent of San Estevan at Salamanca, where he was contemporary with some who afterward became famous professors of theology in this illustrious university – the father masters Fray Domingo Bañes and Fray Bartholome de Medina [Fray Domingo de Salacar was not inferior to them in scholarship, but his heart was set more on sanctity than on learning; and hence he desired to go to the province of Santiago de Mexico, which seemed to have renewed the primitive austerity of the time of our father St. Dominic. When he reached Mexico, though he wished to labor among the Indians, the orders of his superior kept him from doing so, and he became a teacher, and finally a master of theology, the highest degree of this kind which can be reached in the order. His virtue was such that during all the time while he was in Nueva España (namely, forty years), he never broke any of our sacred constitutions in any point. As one of the popes has said, a religious who thus follows the constitutions of our order, has done enough to be canonized. When the directions of his superiors at last permitted him to give the reins to his desire, he devoted himself to missionary work among the Indian tribes in the province of Vaxac. He suffered deeply from every wrong that the Spaniards did to the Indians; and his suffering was doubled because he could not remedy their wrongs. However, he did what he could for those that were under his charge by comforting them and encouraging them to patience; and it is no small consolation for the unfortunate to see that there is someone who pities them and sympathizes with their suffering. So desirous was father Fray Domingo of laboring for the Lord that he joined the expedition to Florida,4 accompanying the holy Fray Domingo de la Anunciacion in the hardships which he endured, which he felt the more because he could not make the conversions which he hoped for among those Indians. Before beginning his journey, he asked the superior to bless all the waters of the streams and rivers from which he should have to drink, that he might not break the constitution which directs us not to drink without permission and a blessing. The want of food from which they suffered was such that they were obliged to boil the leather straps of their helmets and of the other parts of their armor that they might have something to keep them alive, or to delay death a little. When they had exhausted this supply they ate roots and the bark of wild trees. On this journey our Lady of the Rosary showed her favor to father Fray Domingo by assisting him in a remarkable way on several occasions. Once she enabled him to save the life of a poor soldier who had been condemned to death, and once gave him grace to change the heart of a man who intended to commit suicide. Although he desired to give himself to work among the Indians, he was obliged by the orders of his superiors and by his vow of obedience to assume several honorable posts in the province of Mexico, becoming prior and vicar-provincial, and finally the chief consultor of the Holy Office; but he gave up these positions as soon as he could to devote himself to the work which he preferred among the natives. He spent thirty-eight years in laboring for those poor people, teaching them, and protecting them against wrong. He was at one time sent to España by his superiors on matters of important business connected with the missions to the Indians. Here he met many difficulties, as vested interests and great wealth were arrayed against him; and on one occasion the nuncio of his Holiness, to whom he had complained, commanded him not to visit the palace. But, though he did not attain the end for which he set out, he made a great impression upon his Majesty, who appointed him first bishop of the Philippinas.] His Majesty felt a particular affection for these islands, because their conversion had begun in his time and as a result of his initiative. As they had received their name from his, he desired also to give them a bishop with his own hand. He chose a man whose learning, virtue, and deep zeal for the good and the protection of the Indians qualified him to be the father and first shepherd of regions so new and so remote from the presence of their king. In such regions it is very easy for the wrongs which the powerful do to the weak to be more and greater than in others; hence they needed a valiant defender, and a strong pastor and master to contend with the great difficulties which are always met with in new conquests. At first father Fray Domingo did not venture to accept the bishopric, and consulted learned and able religious. They all advised him to accept it, as being a very heavy charge, but one in which he could do great service to God and be of great advantage to the Indians. They suggested that, if he were the bishop of the Indians, he could help them better in the great sufferings which it might be expected that they would have to endure, as all newly-conquered people have endured them. These sufferings he saw and deplored when he went to his bishopric; and he strove to remedy them as completely as he could. He accepted the dignity for the labor and the banishment which it offered him, knowing well that there was no honor and profit to be expected from it. At this time he strove to bring with him religious of his own order, feeling that they would be more closely allied to him and under greater obligations to him; and that thus they would help him to carry his burden. His Majesty granted them to him, and they reached Mexico;5 but here there were so many who died or fell ill that he had left but one companion, father Fray Christobal de Salvatierra – who was a wonderfully helpful associate, and aided him greatly in the government of his bishopric, as well as in everything else which had to be done; and these additional duties were neither few nor pleasant. He went to the city of Manila and built in it his cathedral church, assigning prebends and arranging everything necessary for the service of the cathedral – although poorly, because he had no ecclesiastical income, and because the royal income in these islands was very small. He found his bishopric like sheep without a shepherd, and strove to gather them together and bring them to order; but, as they had learned to live without control, they took his efforts very ill. Some of them broke bounds entirely, one of them going so far that he dared to tell the bishop to his face that he would better moderate his enthusiasm; for that if he did not, the speaker could hit a mitre at fifty paces with his arquebus. But the good bishop in these and similar cases followed the commands of St. Paul to his disciple St. Timothy: Argue, obsecra, increpa, in omni patientia et doctrina.6 The good prelate put his shoulder and his breast to the wheel against all these difficulties, and with all his heart strove to reform the morals of the colony. By his example he animated the preachers and confessors to tell the truth with greater clearness and courage than before; and, that this might be the better and more effectively done, he called a conference, or quasi-synod, composed of the superiors from all the religious orders and of the learned men who were in the land, both theologians and jurists. This conference sat for a long time. In it there were also six captains who had had experience in that country, and in the conquests which had been made there. These officers were added to the conference that they might give information with regard to many matters of fact upon which the determination of justice and conscience in the case depended; and that the truth and righteousness of the proceedings of the conference might be more apparent. It was hoped that in this way the decisions of the conference would be better received. In this assembly the holy bishop showed his great capacity, his great knowledge and the clearness of his mind; and skilfully directed and disposed of a great variety of matters which were there very effectively decided. Many questions were there propounded and settled; and from the decrees of the conference there resulted a sort of general list or set of rules by which the confessors were to govern themselves in assigning penance to all sorts of people in that country. These rules affected the governor, the auditors, the royal officials, the alcaldes, the corregidors, those who had taken part in the conquest, the encomenderos, the collectors of tributes, and people of all ranks – in a word, all the inhabitants of the country. It had validity for what had been done as well as for what was to come. This was a very helpful matter, because it dealt with affairs which offered no precedents, did not regularly happen, and could not be understood by everyone because of their great difficulty. On this account those who understood them best, and desired to deal with them as truth and reason required, were not respected by those who were most concerned. The latter, in order that they might avoid their obligations, ordinarily tried to find confessors who would show leniency, to their own harm and to that of their penitents. But as soon as these decrees appeared, having been voted by so many learned and holy men, they were such that neither confessors nor penitents dared oppose them. This conference was accordingly a very important one; and in a few days it was possible to see the new light which had come to these islands and to perceive how thoughtful and careful, and how full of knowledge, was the new shepherd and spouse of this church. The holy bishop afforded
Probably referring to the expedition sent from Mexico early in 1559, to conquer Florida, under command of Tristan de Luna y Arellano; it included 500 Spanish soldiers and a considerable number of Indian allies. This attempt proved unsuccessful, and most of the Spaniards were slain by the warlike Florida Indians.
The sketch of Salazar’s life given in