The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 32, 1640. Aduarte Diego

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      Chapter LXXII

      Some special favors received by father Fray Luis from the Lord, and some temptations which he suffered from the enemy

      [However glorious the success of father Fray Luis in this country, he was desirous of going to Great China, the conversion of which the religious of this region had most at heart. He was taught in a vision that the conversion of China was soon to be attempted and saw also a vision of a man such as the missionaries to China ought to be. He was constant in prayer and had frequent visions which guided him in his religious life. The Lord granted him the blessing of great purity. At one time, having been careless in prayer, he was visited by the Lord with a punishment of strange trembling which went from the feet to the top of his head, and seemed as if it would shatter his bones. When the fathers of this province decided to send two to make an exploration of the great kingdom of China, father Fray Miguel de Benavides asked for the prayers of father Fray Luis – and, in particular, that the idols might fall to the earth before the presence of God. Father Fray Luis offered his prayers, and received from God the reply that he asked much. But he answered, “Thou canst do it, O Lord.”

      It is not only favors which the Lord grants His servants; hence father Fray Luis suffered many temptations of the devil, which were permitted by the Lord that the virtues of the father might take firmer roots. At one time the devil appeared to him in the form of Christ; but father Fray Luis, not being moved by the affection which he commonly felt for holy visions, said to him, “Thou art not that which thou seemest.” When father Fray Luis made the sign of the cross, the devil took the form of a great cat, fierce, black, and terrible, which by sending fire from its eyes and mouth exhibited its rage and torment. “That is your real form, I think,” said the father, and without paying any further attention to him, he went on with his holy exercises. The devil strove to interfere with him in his prayer, but he was able to drive him away. He was at times tempted to be guilty of improprieties in saying mass, such as looking into the chalice, but the angels protected him. The devils at times strove to make him flee from the church where he was performing his discipline.

      Father Fray Luis suffered as much from the temptations of others as from his own. He comforted Brother Juan de Soria of Manila, who, under the direction of God, laid aside the habit of the order. On another occasion, he assisted a novice who was moved by affection for a woman. He had a vision of Christ crucified, with drops of blood falling from his head upon his breast, but not upon the ground; this signified that the novice should leave the order, but not to his destruction.. He did so, and was married; but in a few days he was left alone, his wife going to the aid of her poor and widowed mother. This the Lord seemed to have ordained. On another occasion, father Fray Luis succeeded in converting a Spanish sinner of the most obstinate sort, who had been exiled from Nueva España to the Philippinas for his scandalous life. The wretch confessed, and received communion, girt himself with a haircloth garment, and, during the rest of his life (during which he was confined in prison), he fasted often on bread and water.]

      Chapter LXXIII

      The fervor of spirit of father Fray Luis, and his expedition to China

      [Although grace perfects nature, it may work so vehemently that it weakens it and takes from it health and even life. This happened in the case of father Fray Luis, who, although he was of robust constitution, sometimes lost his health and was in great danger of death as the result of the vehemence of his spirit in receiving the favors of God. He prayed to the Lord to moderate this vehemence of spirit, and begged that he would take it from him. Father Fray Juan de Soria prayed the Lord to take from father Fray Luis this intensity, and to give it to Don Luis Perez das Mariñas. From that day forward the father lived with the greatest calmness, while the knight became so fervent of spirit that he seemed like a living fire; and finally he said to father Fray Luis that he should die of the love of God. Father Fray Luis, after having received this peace and calm, became eager to go to the conversion of China. Father Fray Juan had a vision of Christ our Lord, seated upon a very spirited horse, which was biting the bit and leaping about. The saddle, the girths, the reins, and all the other accoutrements all seemed so weak that saddle and horseman were sure to fall to the ground; but he held his seat firmly, and made charges in one direction and another, brandishing a lance with great dexterity. The horseman said to the father, “Who, think you, can control this horse?” He answered, “Thou only knowest, Lord.” “It is I alone,” said the Lord, giving him an inward understanding that this horse represented China, and the weak accoutrements signified the scarcity of ministers for its conversion. He added aloud, “Go straightway and tell Fray Luis what thou hast seen, which is a corroboration of what has at other times been said to him.” Visions were manifested to others, which ratified the visions which had already shown Fray Luis that he was to go to China. Before the departure of the governor Gomez Perez, Cathalina Diaz – a Spanish woman of holy life, to whom God vouchsafed to see the future in visions, at times – had a vision of the governor with his head cut open and bathed in his blood, the death of the governor by treachery being prophesied in this way. Although the difficulties of going to China seemed as a result of this act of treachery to be greatly increased, in reality the Lord made it the means by which father Fray Luis was sent there; for he received a commission as ambassador, in company with father Fray Juan de Castro. The ambassadors, reaching the province of Canton instead of that of Chincheo, for which they were bound, were arrested as pirates. Father Fray Luis thus had the opportunity to convert an apostate Christian among the Chinese. He also found many slaves from Macan who had apostatized in that country; and to them he preached with much spirit, but little fruit. The voyage was one on which they suffered greatly, particularly father Fray Luis, who traveled with nothing but the habit in which he was clothed; and they were exposed to the rain and to the cold, which was excessive. The viceroy of Canton was very wrathful with them because they did not show him the courtesy customary in that country, threatened them, and commanded them to leave the province within fifteen days, taking with them not more than twenty-five picos of rice. On his way back to the port he found a number of apostates, but was unable to bring them back to the faith.

      There is a law of the king of China that any poor foreigner shall be supported at the public expense so long as he is in the kingdom; but that, if he desires to depart, he shall pay the mandarin the cost of his clothing, and something more. The allowance was twelve maravedis a day. This is sufficient for three meals, since things are cheap in that country. It is plain from this that there is no law in China against admitting foreigners. On the contrary, there is a law to attract them and to keep them. Knowing this, the slaves of the Portuguese in Macan flee to China, where they have their liberty and are well received. Father Fray Luis made one or two conversions. Neither in Chincheo nor in Canton did they find a trace of the galley which they sought, because it had gone to Cochinchina. The mandarins in Chincheo played a trick upon them, when the fathers asked permission for religious to go from Manila to their country. Pretending to give it, the mandarins handed them a plate of silver with some Chinese characters upon it, for which they received large payment. The father obtained this money as alms from the Spaniards who accompanied him on the voyage; but, when he showed the plate in Manila, it was found only to give permission to buy food there without hindrance. At the time of this journey father Fray Luis was actually prior of the convent of Manila. On one Easter day he had a vision of the Holy Spirit coming down upon all the religious of the convent of Manila. After his term was at an end, he was assigned to Nueva Segovia, where the faith had been newly planted.]

      Chapter LXXIV

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