Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 11).djvu/197

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1599–1602]

ANNUAL LETTERS BY VAEZ

193

having been one of the first members of the Society formerly sent thither; he trained our ministers with fruitful results. Although we have heard nothing certain with regard to the details of his death, yet, as he took great delight in the duty of hearing confessions and helping souls, it is likely that with great devotion he aided all in that extremity of danger.^[1]

In another disaster we have lost another priest and a brother, if loss be the proper name to give to the death of those who have been slain for the gain of souls, and while aiding their brethren in a just war against heretic pirates. These were Hollanders and Zeelanders who were driven to the Philippine Islands in the year 1600, and came to get booty on the sea called the Northern Ocean, or "Mar del Norte" (for they had already made spoil of a Portuguese ship), and, after passing the Strait of Magellan, had, in that southerly ocean called "Mar del Sur," done likewise with a small vessel from Peru. Their leading vessels, the flagship and the almiranta, took a station six leagues from Manila, where the Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese ships had to unload their cargoes, and to which all the smacks and other small boats that left the city had to hold their course. Against these ships of the enemy there were sent out from Manila two ships provided with three hundred

↑ Pedro Lopez de la Parra was a native of Salamanca; entering the Jesuit order, he completed his studies and was ordained at Mexico—where for some years he was both an instructor and preacher, being regarded as an unusually eloquent orator. Desiring to be a missionary in the Philippines, he came to the islands, but found that he could not master the language of the natives; discouraged by this, and finding that no other employment was available, he obtained permission from the visitor Garcia to return to Mexico; and on the voyage perished by shipwreck, as here related. (La Concepción, Hist. de Philipinas, iii, pp. 391, 392.)

[1] Pedro Lopez de la Parra was a native of Salamanca; entering the Jesuit order, he completed his studies and was ordained at Mexico—where for some years he was both an instructor and preacher, being regarded as an unusually eloquent orator. Desiring to be a missionary in the Philippines, he came to the islands, but found that he could not master the language of the natives; discouraged by this, and finding that no other employment was available, he obtained permission from the visitor Garcia to return to Mexico; and on the voyage perished by shipwreck, as here related. (La Concepción, Hist. de Philipinas, iii, pp. 391, 392.)

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