ugh the government of our father, Fray Miguel
Garcia, was such that, when he was there, no one else was needed.
In the year 1613, the ships with the reenforcements arrived in good
shape from Nueva Espana. In them came that company of religious
above mentioned as being sent by Bishop Solier. Father Fray Juan de
Montemayor, their leader, who brought them from Nueva Espana, did it as
well as he could; but there most of the religious, finding themselves
tired out by the severe voyage, and the breadth of the land and its
mildness and beauty inviting them, and that first courage having
been lost with which they had left their native land and country,
separated in a thousand directions, so that very few of that flock
were left. These embarked and set sail in the port of Acapulco,
March 25, 1613, without enough provisions; and even in what provision
they had so little judgment was shown that they arrived as if by a
miracle. Such was their need that when they arrived at the Embocadero,
which is about eighty leguas from Manila, they had to disembark,
and go from island to island, selling what few clothes they had
left. There the fathers of the Society, who have charge of those
missions, performed toward them a thousand acts of charity, by means
of which they sustained life until, thus broken and with innumerable
necessities, they reached Sugbu. Of a truth, they were ill advised;
for, since they were already in the islands, they would have been
delayed much less in the ships, which were retarded because of the
route that they took, which was full of dangers and not a little
troublesome. But the government does not learn. It is a gift given
by God to those who please Him. Two fathers who remained in the ships
arrived promptly and many months before their associates.
The religious in that company were as follows:
1. The father master, Fray Pedro Garcia, own brother of our father Fray
Miguel Garcia. He did not come as master, but his brother negotiated
that for him upon going to Espana.
2. Father Fray Juan de Montemayor, one of the greatest preachers who
have been in the islands.
3. Fray Jeronimo Medrano.
4. Fray Nicolas de Herrera, a preacher, and a prominent religious.
5. Fray Cristobal de Miranda. He was the one who, together with the
master, Fray Pedro Garcia, refused to disembark. That religious has
been very useful.
6. Father Fray Hernando de Aguilar, a very honored religious.
7. Father Fray Bartolome de Sal
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