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The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 31, 1640: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth centuryAduarte, Diego

History

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 31, 1640: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

Name: The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 31, 1640: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
Author: Aduarte, Diego

Aduarte, Diego

Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources

[Death fell heavily upon our fathers in this year, seizing the best on
every side. In Manila it cut short the thread of the life of father
Fray Bartolome de Nieva. Father Fray Bartolome was a native of Nieva
in Castilla la Vieja. While still a layman, he went to the Indias in
the search for wealth. He spent some years in Mexico; and in spite of
the great wealth of that country, the luxury of life there, and the
agreeable climate, he could not be satisfied or find peace. Hence he
determined to change his course of life, that he might find the calm
for which he sought. Though he was already a grown man, he became
a child in following the duties of a religious order. He assumed
the habit in the convent of Sancto Domingo in that illustrious
city, and began not only upon the elements of the religious life,
but upon those of grammar. He did well in the studies of arts and
theology, and by the aid of the Lord he came forth a religious of
great spiritual qualities--prayer, penitence, and prudence, both
spiritual and temporal. He joined a company of religious who passed
through Mexico in the year 1594, on their way to the Philippinas. He
was too old to learn the language of the Indians, but he accompanied
the brother who taught and baptized the Chinese in the hospital for
that people; and thus assisted the other minister, whose duty it was to
live in the hospital. When he determined to go to the Philippinas his
companions in Mexico strove to prevent him, because he suffered from
several infirmities, and the labors in the Philippinas were known to
be very severe. The Lord, however, gave signs that He desired him to
go. He showed especial devotion to the holy Virgin and was a useful
and devoted minister. The Lord gave father Fray Bartolome wonderful
powers of spiritual conversation, and of insight into character; and
even some powers of prophecy, of which a number of illustrations are
given. Through him the Lord healed not a few sick. A letter of his is
reported at length, in which he incites a sinner to give up his evil
way of life, and shows a knowledge of the man's heart which could only
have been given him by God. Other instances of the same sort are cited
and an account of the holy death of father Fray Bartolome is given.

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