Chapter IX
_Father Fray Gregorio de Santa Catalina goes to Roma, and presents his [claim for] justice in the tribunal of the supreme pontiff. The end of the chapter is concerned with a mission that Ours tried to make to the Philippinas Islands, the founding of two convents, and the deaths of two great religious_.
[The provincial's mission to Roma results disastrously at first, for he is doomed to many months of dreary waiting is denied audience with the pope, and even ordered to quit the city. But finally the tide turns; the pope, having learned of his mission, grants the long-desired audience, and after hearing the humble representations of the pleader, looks favorably upon the Reform branch. Although the Augustinians in Spain attempt to suppress entirely the Reform, public opinion is too powerful, and the Recollects have too many influential friends; and consequently, the general of all the Augustinian order, then Juan Baptista de Asti, orders opposition to cease. Meanwhile, Father Pedro de San Fulgencio comes as procurator from the Philippines to request more missionaries. He finds the Reform in almost its last throes, but, nothing daunted, departs for Rome to urge his mission before the pope. Being favorably received and his pretensions granted, after a considerable stay in the Roman court, where he also assists the provincial Gregorio de Santa Catalina, he sets out on his return to Spain, but dies at Milan; and, for lack of anyone to carry on his work everything is lost for the time being. Now Augustinian agents from Spain take the opportunity to arouse animus against the Reform and to thwart their designs by saying "that the discalced were unnecessary in the Philippinas Islands; and that those who had gone were few and hitherto of no use in the preaching, as they were persons who could in no way prove advantageous to the Indians. The contrary was seen then; and by the mercy of God, we have since seen it here, and shall see it, very clearly, in due course of time. We note here only, for the confusion of those who boldly devised such a proposition, the testimonies that have come on different occasions in regard to the credit and praise of Ours, who have shed luster amid those rude and very barbarous provinces, with so much glory to themselves, by illuminating them with the light of the gospel." These testimonials, some of them later than the period which the present volume covers, follow:]
Let the first be that of an inquiry made in Manila, at the time that the above-mentioned calumny was learned, before Captain Martin de Herrera, alcalde-in-ordinary of the same city. The report of this was approved afterward by the city's cabildo, its justices, and magistrates, the witnesses being fully qualified to act as such: namely, the master-of-camp, Don Bernardino del Castillo Maldonado, castellan of the fort; Master-of-camp Don Pedro de Chaves; General Don Joan Esquerra; Captain Christoval Guiràl; General Don Joan Manuel de la Vega; Don Joan Sarmiento, chancellor of the royal Audiencia; Don Francisco Gomez de Arellano, dean of the cathedral there, and commissary-general of the crusade; Don Joan de Aguilar, archdean of the same church; Captain Hernando de Avalos y Vargas; Licentiate Rodrigo Guiràl, secular priest; Admiral Don Joan de Valmaseda; Don Luis Enrriquez de Guzman; Don Diego de Leòn, school-master of the said church; Captain and sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Ayala; Don Luis de Herrera Sandoval, treasurer also of the same church; Luis de Barrasa, regidor of the city; Captain Melchor de Ayllòn; and Don Antonio de Arze, also regidor of Manila. All those so illustrious persons deposed that the discalced Augustinian religious who were living and who had lived there, were serious, learned, spiritual, beloved men, and that they were gladly seen and heard by those who lived and dwelt in the Philippinas Islands; and that, by their good life and example, they had gathered and were gathering much fruit in the community, and among the natives of the province of Zambàles. Those people had been most fierce enemies of the Spaniards and other nations before Ours had taken charge of their reduction. By the excellent instruction of our religious, they had become so tamed and gentle that now one could pass through their coast; while before one could not even approach them without evident risk of those people killing him, with great gusto, as they were so barbarous. Consequently, it would be well to keep and increase those religious in that archipelago, for the salvation and profit of souls.
The second testimony is that of the royal Chancillería of Manila, in a letter to the Catholic king of the Españas, and affirms the following:
"The discalced religious of the Order of St. Augustine, who are employed in these islands in preaching the holy gospel, are held in great esteem in this city of Manila because of their virtue and good example. They have three or four provinces of Indians in their charge, and, moved by holy and pious zeal for the welfare of souls, they continue daily to establish new convents among the most unconquerable people of the islands. Thus have they been seen to gather most considerable fruit for the service of God and of your Majesty."
In another letter are also noted these words, which affirm the above:
"The discalced religious of St. Augustine are very observant in their ministries, and attend to the service of your Majesty, on occasions of enemies by sea and land, where some have been killed and captured."
Before proceeding further, it will not be an impertinent digression to mention and explain briefly the services above mentioned, stating first that our religious serve as chaplains in the forts of Tandag, Calamiànes, Bagangàn, and Linào, with notable sacrifice both of their liberty (for they are often captured and illtreated) and of their lives, because of the bad voyages on, and hardships of, the seas. When Don Fernando de Silva was governing the islands, a fleet was sent against the Bornean and Camucònes enemy, who were devastating the coasts, seizing numbers of captives, and committing other depredations. As chaplains went fathers Fray Diego de San Joan Evangelista, native of Zaragoça, and Fray Joan de la Cruz. They bore themselves so devotedly amid the military excitements, and gave so good examples, that the chief commander, one Captain Bartolome Diaz, finding it necessary to absent himself, in order to leave his men with security and in quiet appointed, with well recognized prudence, the first above named. For that religious, not as a substitute for the commander, but as a father, cared for all, and they were satisfied. And they were surprised, because it happened that, the supply of water falling short, they sought it, but were unable to find any in various parts of the islands, and were suffering the anguish and affliction that can be imagined in such an extremity, when one day the said father said mass, begging our Lord for help in such need. It happened, then, that after performing his ministry he returned to the men and told them to be very joyful, and to look in the direction that he pointed out to them for a spring that was there. They found it immediately, not very far away, and praised God for so great a mercy. In the insurrection of Caràgha a numerous fleet was also prepared; Captain Joan Mendez Porras was accompanied, for the common consolation of the soldiers, by fathers Fray Lorenço de San Facundo and Fray Diego de Santa Ana. By their efforts the villages of Bislìn, Careèl, and Bagangan were conquered and that land again reduced. In another fleet that set out from the same province of Caràgha, Captain Joan Nicolas chose father Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio, whereupon many villages surrendered to the service of the king; and the Indians of the island of Dinagàt, Baybayòn, and Sandegan requested ministers, and five hundred were baptized. Besides such occasions, which are generally quite common, Ours have served in divers fleets that have been prepared to oppose the Dutch who were infesting the shores. Lastly, in two expeditions made by Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuèra--one to the kingdom of Jolo, and the other to that of Mindanao--he took, in the first, fathers Fray Joan de San Nicolàs, and Fray Miguel de la Concepcion; and in the second, father Fray Lorenço de San Facundo and father Fray Joan de San Joseph. The last-named religious was very useful, for he served as ambassador to the Moro king, to whom he was a friend, as he had been his captive in former times.
Returning to our narration, and the relation of the security of Ours, now comes Don Fray Hernando Guerrero, archbishop of Manila, in a letter to the Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith, [40] and he confirms the work of the same, while he says:
"The discalced Augustinian religious who live in these Philippinas Islands are gathering a very large harvest here in the conversion of souls. Not less known are the advances that Christianity is making in the kingdoms of Japan by their preaching and teaching, where in the years one thousand six hundred and twenty-nine and thirty, six religious of the same institute suffered martyrdom, together with many others, members of the third order, [41] or _Mantellatos_, and confriars of the girdle [_correa_] of our father St. Augustine, all converted to the faith and instructed by the same discalced religious who are in those regions. Now, to relate the news that we have just received, two of the same religious are suffering the most exquisite torments that can be imagined, after two years of the hardest kind of imprisonment. They are suffering also, in the ministries and convents which they maintain in these islands, great discomfort and hardship; for the Indians in their charge are the most unbridled and fierce of all those known in this archipelago, as experience of last year proved, when the Indians killed four religious. Their death and the evident danger of their lives did not frighten the others, and therefore other missionaries did not hesitate to go."
While that prelate was bishop of Nueva Segovia, he also wrote two letters, one to the Catholic king of España, and the other to the above congregation, of the following tenor:
"The Order of the discalced religious of the Order of our father St. Augustine are of considerable importance in these islands, and they are gathering much fruit with their teaching and their good example. They have many missions in districts remote from this city, as they were the last who came to the islands, etc."
"The discalced Augustinian religious," he says in the other, "who reside in these Philippinas Islands are gathering large harvests in all parts in the conversion of the souls of these pagans, as they have done in the kingdom of Iapon. Two years ago six professed religious of the same order were slain there, by fire and sword, for the preaching of the gospel, and the conversion of souls, in addition to seventy other persons who suffered the same death, in the same kingdom, for the preservation of the faith, which they had received then through the ministry of two Spanish religious of the same institute, who were preaching it there. The two latter are also now in prison for the same reason, and it is thought will already have perished by fire or in some other way."
Don Fray Pedro de Arze, bishop of Zugbù, was more minute in describing the labors and efforts of our religious, in a letter informing the sacred Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith, in which he says the following:
"For some years past the discalced Augustinian fathers of the congregation of España have been, and are, gathering very large harvests in the conversion of the infidels of these islands; for, besides the many others that they have in other bishoprics, they have more than ten convents in my diocese alone. They are laboring therein in the cultivation of the vineyard of the Lord, with the best of example, strict observance, and care. This is in the newest and most dangerous posts of these islands, where their lives are exposed to great risk, as the islands are hostile. But notwithstanding all these dangers and hardships, they have converted a very great number of infidels, both adults and children, to our holy Catholic faith. I trust, God helping, that the conversion of the infidels--and especially those of one island where those holy religious have their missions, as it is one of the largest islands of these regions--will, in the future, by means of their care and industry, advance and increase to much greater, etc."
Besides the above, there are three other letters to the same congregation, of the following tenor:
"The discalced religious of the Order of our father St. Augustine have worked hard as long as they have been in these islands (which is many years), and with good example, in the preaching of the holy gospel; and they have gathered a great harvest of souls. They have established many convents in the islands, for which they should receive honor from your Excellencies, and receive protection, so that his Holiness, as master and father, may concede them rewards and favors, so that they may be encouraged to complete what they have begun."
The second letter contains the following points:
"The Recollect fathers of the Order of our father St. Augustine in these Philippinas Islands are laboring faithfully in the vineyard of the Lord, with good example and prodigious danger, as the people whom they instruct are harsh and fierce. In some districts, they are making much gain in the conversion of souls; in Japon they have made a very great gain, and have converted many, both men and women, who have given their lives for the confession of our holy faith, as will be seen there by the authentic report that is being sent to his Holiness. Consequently, they deserve that your most illustrious Lordships show them every grace and protection, and that you encourage them to proceed in a work so holy by writing to the king of España to protect and aid them, for that their example and good life deserve it."
The third letter is of the tenor that is set down here:
"The Recollect fathers of the Order of our father St. Augustine in these Philippinas Islands are faithfully cultivating, in most exemplary manner, the vineyard of the Lord, and are preaching His holy gospel with great hardship and danger to their lives; for those people whom they have in charge are so harsh and fierce that they killed four religious the past year. But the others did not fear on that account to send new ministers to preserve the fruit that they were gathering among those souls, through their hope that, by their teaching, they will convert all of those people to the true knowledge. They have also made much gain in Japon, as has been seen; since a great number of pagans, abandoning their errors, have embraced our holy faith through the preaching of the religious of this order who are in those kingdoms. For their confession, six religious of that institute, accompanied by many, suffered martyrdom, after they had taken the habits of Mantellatos, or tertiaries of the same order, with other confriars, and others who wear the girdle."
This prelate confirmed the same in two other letters to the Catholic monarch, in the following manner:
"The Recollect fathers of the Order of our father St. Augustine, from their first arrival in these islands, have gathered a plentiful harvest in souls by their good example. They have many convents and many missions in their charge. In their care are the islands of Calamiànes, and they have charge of a great part of the island of Mindanao, where they have convents and labor with great zeal for the salvation of souls."
In the second letter he wrote these words:
"The Recollect fathers of the Order of our father St. Augustine have many convents in these islands, where they administer, with great care, Christian instruction to the natives of the islands, to whom they furnish a good example and whom they treat with great gentleness. Their missions are very dangerous and the people of some of them are harsh and fierce. They have had very good success in Japon, and have given many martyrs to the Church, who fortified their lives by the confession of our holy faith, as will appear there [_i.e._, in Europe] by the report made here in regard to this. They merit the aid and protection of your Majesty, so that they may be encouraged to serve our Lord."
The ecclesiastical cabildo of Manila, occupying the vacant see, testified to the same king of España in another letter:
"The discalced Augustinian religious are very austere in their institute, and in their ministrations to the natives in the missions under their charge--who, as they are among the most untamable and fierce people in these regions, have killed and captured several of the religious. Consequently, they are very short of men, but have not failed in the service of your Majesty on the occasions that have offered by land and sea."
It would be an evident ingratitude not to record here three letters, which the unconquerable city of Manila wrote to their king and sovereign, giving him a definite relation of the condition of Ours.
_First letter_
"The order of the discalced Augustinians, which has extended into these islands, has been and is of great fruit in the spiritual by their general virtue, their exemplary lives, and their excellent teaching--both in the settlements of the Spaniards, where they have convents, and in those of the natives where the ministration and preaching of the holy gospel results in a very great harvest of souls. Because they were the last order to settle in these regions, they had to build some of their convents among the most rude and warlike natives of these provinces. They have had so good success with those natives that, through their efforts and the loving treatment which they have shown them, they have so converted them to the faith and so subjected them to the obedience of his Majesty, that the fervent spirit which those religious have infused into both those tasks is very evident. The order has a great lack of ministers to occupy their many missions; and they need the favor and protection of your Majesty, in order to attain their desire of carrying very far the conversion of souls, and of preserving those who have been converted to the faith. Therefore, this city is under obligations to represent it to your Majesty, and to petition your Majesty, as we do, with all humility, to be pleased to have a goodly number of religious sent to them, so that they may continue and carry on their good intentions in the service of God and that of your Majesty. For, besides that the number of religious here is very few, as they have scarcely enough for their missions, they fall sick and die, as many of the sites and posts to which they go are not very healthful; for which reason, the lack of ministers in their order is greater each day. This is felt so much the more keenly as the importance of it is known."
_Second letter_
"This city of Manila has informed your Majesty on other occasions of the great results produced in these islands by the discalced Recollect religious of the Order of St. Augustine. Their exemplary devotion is daily increasing this Christianity, as they strive for it with so great energy. In regions so remote, and so full of enemies and of heathen people, they, losing the fear of the violent deaths that they suffer daily, with the holy zeal which accompanies them, have founded many convents. From that has resulted a very great conversion of those rude people, they being the most turbulent that are known in these regions. May our Lord, for whom is this work, decree that they continue to increase, since so many blessings result from it for the glory of our Lord and the service of your Majesty. To you we represent the aforesaid, and their great need of religious so that they may continue. For two alone who went to Japon have been the cause of sending seventy Japanese to heaven--some already religious, and others brothers of the girdle--while the said two fathers were arrested and destined for martyrdom, and it is expected will by today have achieved the happy end of it."
_Third letter_
"This city of Manila has informed your Majesty on various occasions of the great importance to these islands of the order of the discalced Recollects of the Order of St. Augustine; of the apostolic men in it; of the great harvest that they are gathering by the preaching of the holy gospel; of the excellent example which they have always given, and are giving, with their strict and religious life, and their so close observance of their rules; and of the so considerable results that have been achieved by them in the service of our Lord and in that of your Majesty, with the aid of your royal arms, in the great number of infidels who have been converted to our holy Catholic faith, and have been subdued so that they render your Majesty due homage and tribute. Those people have generally paid that tribute and pay it every year. [We have written you] that those religious have exercised and exercise with especial care in all things the spiritual earnestness that concerns their profession, both in the maintenance or their work and in their continual desire, notwithstanding the innumerable annoyances which they endure, to carry this work onward. They are ever converting new souls to the service of our Lord and the obedience of your Majesty, while they preserve great harmony and concord among themselves. Consequently, that order has always been and is one of the most acceptable orders and one of the most welcome in these islands. They are the poorest of all, as all their ministries are in remote regions very distant from this city, and among the most warlike people in all the provinces of these islands, as they have been but lately reduced. [We have told you] of the risk of their lives on account of this, because it has happened at times that those who seemed to be pacified have rebelled; while at other times the religious have fallen into the hands of those who were not pacified, when preaching to them the holy gospel. There have been many others also who have suffered martyrdom in the kingdom of Japon, thus enriching the church of God with such noble actions, as well as the crown of your Majesty. Above all, they have no income except the alms given them by the faithful. There is no fleet in which they do not sail for the consolation of the infantry, etc. This city petitions your Majesty to be pleased to concede permission to the said order, so that religious may pass from those kingdoms to these islands to the number that your Majesty may decree, in consideration of the fact that the need for them, in ministries so distant as theirs, is very great. In those ministries, through the little nourishment of the food which they use for the sustenance of human life, for they live as those who are truly poor, and with great abstinence, which they observe, without reserving any time because of discomforts, whether of sun or shower, going through dense forests and inaccessible mountains in order to reduce the many millions of souls of those districts to our holy Catholic faith, not one of whom has any light, etc."
Don Joan Niño de Tavora, governor and captain-general of the above-named islands, and president of the royal Chancillería of Manila, says in another letter to the same king:
"The Recollect Augustinian fathers who reside in these islands, inasmuch as they arrived last, have taken the districts most distant from this city. They are extending their labors into the district of Caràgha, and Calamiànes, with success among those Indians, etc. During the last four years, more than four thousand persons have been baptized by that order alone. I petition your Majesty to be pleased to order that their procurators be despatched with the greatest number of religious possible, etc."
Lastly, Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, who exercised the aforesaid office, concludes in another letter, in which he affirms the proposition:
"The order of discalced Recollects of St. Augustine who reside in these islands and the districts of them, preserves in its members, with all virtue and exemplary life, its obligations for the service of God, in the protection and instruction of their parishioners, the Indian natives; and in what regards the service of your Majesty, they show the efficacious zeal of good vassals. For during the time of my government they have not at all embarrassed me in any way. On the contrary, as I recognize their good conduct, I am obliged to represent it to your Majesty; and will your Majesty be pleased to show them every favor and grace, in whatever opportunity may occur to your Majesty."
A letter came with those that are here given as addressed to the sacred Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith, who ordered the two following letters to be written, which we place at the end, in order to qualify better the labor of Ours, and to conquer the calumny of those who attempted to obscure and stifle the fervor with which the Reform commenced the reduction of the barbarous infidels.
_To the vicar-general of the discalced Augustinians_
"Very reverend father:
"Your Paternity will have learned that a letter was presented and read in the assembly of the sacred Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith, received from the bishop of Zibù, etc. The most illustrious lord cardinals have received most special pleasure in learning from it the great number of convents that the religious of your order have built in the Philippinas, and also the great harvest that they are gathering in the conversion of those heathen by their example and their good and holy customs. Inasmuch as the said bishop lives with steadfast hopes of greater progress and advancement if he were again aided and reënforced with other laborers of their order, such as they, and resembling them, the sacred Congregation, attentive to this, petitions your Paternity, with the affection and earnestness that the salvation of so many souls merits, to effect and strive anew, with all the earnestness and care possible, to provide new religious and workers for those so remote and needy regions. We assure your Paternity that it will be a great service to God and to the holy apostolic see. And also that act will be one of great pleasure to their Excellencies the cardinals. The latter advise you that, in the missions conducted by your Paternity, the contents of the decree enclosed herewith should be observed and obeyed. Besides this, the sacred Congregation, in consideration of the services that your Paternity's order has rendered to the holy apostolic see, has thought best to protect that order with great pleasure and good-will, etc.
_Cardinal Ludovisi_ _Francisco Ingoli_, secretary."
_To the very reverend fathers the father provincial and the definitors of the discalced Augustinians in the Philippinas Islands_
"Very reverend fathers:
"The relation of the progress that your Reverences have made in those districts in the conversion of the heathen, and of the efforts put forth and the hardships suffered for the said object, having been referred to this sacred Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith, his Holiness and these my most illustrious Lordships, after having received most special consolation from so good news, have praised not a little the zeal and piety of your Reverences. They also exhort you to continue in the future with the same fervor, especially in the care of the mission destined for Japòn. In the same manner they have ordered that an urgent message be sent to the papal legate [_nuncio_] of España to try to procure prompt despatches for the multiplication of the ecclesiastical workers in those regions. His Holiness, in particular, has willingly offered them his consolation with eight thousand benedictions, etc.
_Cardinal Borxa_ _Francisco Ingoli_, secretary."
In order to conclude all this with the destruction of the calumny that their opponents invented, in regard to the presence of Ours in Philippinas being without fruit, we might quote certain authors who have spoken in no uncertain voice in their praise. But we forbear, except in the case of master Fray Thomas de Herrera, whom, as he is worth a thousand men, it will be well to cite. In regard to the aforesaid, he speaks in the following manner in his _Alphabeto_:
"These fathers, who were not slothful laborers, kindled with zeal for the Catholic faith, and desirous for the salvation of souls, crossed the seas in the year 1605, to remote regions of this world, although at the eleventh hour." (Folio 181, volume i.)
"The discalced fathers of Hispania crossed the seas in the year 1605, kindled by their zeal for the salvation of souls (and at times by the shedding of their blood in the kingdoms of Japonia) to those remote islands, as planters of the Church or as spreaders of its tents." (Folio 127, volume ii.)
"The congregation of the discalced of Hispania, which extends its vineyards even to the seas and to the Philippinas Islands, sent laborers about the year 1588 to remote colonies, who preached the gospel to the Japanese; and with their own blood, shed most profusely, they either planted or watered the Church in various kingdoms, and illumined the Augustinian order with a great number of glorious martyrs." (Folio 485, _ibidem_.)
[A section devoted to the founding of the convent of Calatayud in Aragon follows, and the narration of the work in the Philippines is taken up again in the succeeding section, entitled:]
_Foundation of the convent of Bolinao_
The missionary religious in the Philippinas Islands had complete and quiet peace, although those who were living in España, opposed by miseries and misfortunes, were trying with all earnestness to recover their lost quiet. A great field was offered to them, in which to give vent to the ardor of their desires; but being few in number, they could not accept as much as was given them. They determined finally to take the island of Bolinào, near the province of Zambàles and of Tugui, whose warlike and fierce inhabitants, although less so than the others, gave father Fray Geronimo de Christo, vicar-provincial at that time, and his associate, father Fray Andres del Santo Espiritu, sufficient occasion to exercise their patience; for, not wishing to hear them, they tried daily to kill them. The two fathers persisted in softening those diamond hearts with their perseverance, after having lived for some months on only herbs of the field, when the natives deprived them of food so that, thus needy, the fathers should be compelled to leave them and go away, or so that they might die of hunger. That might have happened if God our Lord had not aided them with His grace, as is His wont in times of greatest stress. The patient endurance of Ours conquered the barbarians; and, recognizing that those who were so long-suffering and so kind could not fail to be right in what they said, they submitted to the yoke of the gospel, very gladly and joyfully receiving the Christian instruction and baptism. For that reason it became necessary to found a convent there, and that was accomplished through the conversion of one thousand six hundred souls, who are directed, together with those of other villages near by. In that place occurred a circumstance resembling that of father Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel, which we have recounted above; for while all the Indians of the village were not yet converted, our religious learned that those of the village had gone to a bamboo plantation not very distant, in order to worship it and to venerate their bamboos, as if they were gods. They followed the Indians, and found them occupied with their blind observances. The more the religious persuaded them, they could not induce them to cut a single bamboo, because of the error which they had accepted from the mouth of the devil, namely, that they would surely die if they touched the canes. Thereupon the fathers, although at the evident risk of their lives, amid the great shouting and lamentations of the Indians, ordered a good Christian servant, who acted as their guide, to begin to fell the thicket. Proceeding at first with the fear of those foolish people, the servant felled the entire thicket to the earth, and then the barbarians were assured of their error, and without delay they more joyfully accepted Christianity.
[Two sections follow, treating of the lives of Fathers Geronimo de Christo and Diego de Jesus, the first of whom was a missionary in the Philippines and the second in Mexico--who, being captured by the English, passed through many stirring adventures.]
[Chapter x contains nothing touching the Philippines except a brief survey of the life and death of the founder of the Philippine missions, Father Joan de San Geronimo. He died near Ormuz, while returning to Spain in order to secure more workers for his mission.]
Third Decade
[The first chapter recounts that papal permission was given to erect four novitiates in the convents in the four Spanish cities of Madrid, Valladolid, Zaragoza and Valencia.]