The Franciscan martyrs of 1680. Funeral oration over the twenty-one Franciscan missionaries killed by the Pueblo Indians, August 10, 1680

I

University of Calif ornia • Berkeley

HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OF NEW MEXICO.
No. 7.

THE

FRANCISCAN MARTYRS

Of 1680.

Funeral Oration over the Twenty-one Franciscan

Missionaries Killed by the Pueblo Indians,

August 10, 1680.

Preached by

DOCTOR YSIDRO SARI&ANA Y CUENCA,
March 20, 1681.

SANTA FE, N. M.

NEW MEXICAN PRINTING COMPANY

1906.

ft-

HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OF NEW MEXICO.

No. 7.

I

THE

FRANCISCAN MARTYRS

Of 1680.

Funeral Oration over the Twenty-one Franciscan

Missionaries Killed by the Pueblo Indians,

August 10, 1680.

Preached by

DOCTOR YSIDRO SARI^ANA Y CUENCA,
March 20, 1681.

SANTA FE, N. M.
NEW MEXICAN PRINTING COMPANY
1906.

OFFICERS OF THE

HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OF NEW MEXICO.
1906.

President — HON. L. BRADFORD PRINCE, LL. D.
Vice-President — HON. WILLIAM J. MILLS.
Corresponding Secretary — Miss BERTHA STAAB.
Kecording Secretary — WILLIAM M. BERGER, ESQ.
Treasurer — COL. MAX FROST.
Curator — MR. HENRY WOODRUFF.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.

No. 1.— 1881— Inaugural Address of Hon. W. G. Ritch.
No. 2.— "Kin and Clan," by Adolph F. Bandelier.

No. 3.— 1896— "The Stone Idols of New Mexico." (Illus
trated. )

No. 4.— 1903— "The Stone Lions of Cochili," by Hon. L.
Bradford Prince.

No. 5. — 1904 — Biennial Report; English.
No. 6.— 1904— Biennial Report; Spanish.
No. 7.— 1906— "The Franciscan Martyrs of 1680."

PREFACE.

Tliis Sermon is OIK- of the most interesiing documents
connected with early New Mexican history, as it gives a
cotemporary account of the killing of the twenty-one Fran
ciscan missionaries, who lost their lives at the opening of
the Pueblo Revolution of 1680, on August 10th. The list
which it contains of those Christian martyrs is beyond
question exactly correct, as it comes from their brethren
of the Order of St. Francis; and the statements of the
Sermon set at rest any doubts that existed as to the cause
of the uprising, and show that it wa< principally religious.

No copy of this Sermon existed in New Mexico, and
none has been obtainable in the City of Mexico for many
vears ; so that it is considered a piece of special good for
tune that this copy was found in Santiago d<1 Chile and
obtained from there. It is understood that there is only one
perfect copy available in South America, and that is val
ued at one thousand francs. The one acquired had been
somewhat injured by mice, though not enough to lessen
its practical usefulness, and its price \vas therefore with
in the means of the Societv.

In publishing this edition of this Sermon, in Knglish.
the title page is reproduced in full as a specimen of the
original typography. The reproduction is necessarily re
duced in size, but shows this typography clearly, and the
work of the mice in the upper corner. The capitaliza
tion, and the spelling of proper names, are preserved :
and the Latin sentences printed in italics are those which
are similarly distinguished in the Mexican edition.

The memorial service wa,< held in the Cathedral of the
City of Mexico in the proencc of the Viceroy of V 1
Spain and other high officials. March 1, 1681, and the
Sermon was published during the same year, with a pre
liminary address to the King by Frawisco de Ayefa.
Franciscan Visitador of the Custodia of New Mexico: ,i
certificate of approbation from Bernardo Vardo. the Pro
vincial head of the Society of Jesus in Mexico: and other
introductory documents.

L. B. P.

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SERMON.

IN DOMINO CONFIDO.

"In the Lord put I my trust. How say ye to my soul,
Flee as a bird to the mountains?" (From Psalm XL)

In the Lord put I my trust; I put my trust in the
Lord. How then dost thou say to me that I should
imitate the cowardice of a bird, and that, with fear giving
me wings, I should flee to the mountains ?

Who, with such a courageous and generous resolution,
founded not on his own strength, but on his confidence
in God, resolves boldly to face all danger, disregarding
the counsel of those who advise him to avoid every risk ?

Thus literally speaks David, who, when pursued by
Saul, resists the counsel of those who would persuade
him to return to Judea, where the fury of his enemy con
cealed by craft and cunning, menaces him.

Thus speaks, allegorically, Christ, our Lord, returning
with noble intrepidity to Jerusalem, where the cruel in
gratitude of the Hebrews treacherously lays wait for him.

Thus speaks the tropological understanding of the Cath
olic pursued by impiety.

Thus speaks the Holy Eeligion of the most Glorious
Patriarch and Seraphic Padre, St. Francis, which, though
cruelly persecuted by confederated evil, yet regardless of
this temporal life, in order that the glory of God should
suffer no detriment, determined to bare its breast to all
dangers, and went again to the same place where it had
already experienced the danger and where the blood of its
sonis had been wickedly shed, and refused to be influenced
by those who with specious reasoning would dissuade it
from returning.

Thus says Jansen, in the argument of the Psalm: "Se
se hoc Psalmo consoldri potest Justus quisque, cui sua-

8

tli'lur. i/l fi^ojilcr unfnoruni tnnli'sfins. <-f ]>i'rx

derelinquat Innuii suum, impiisque t-n/nf nun th'lrimt'ntn
gloruu Ih'i."

Insisting, then, on this ; ropological or moral sense, let
us see on what reasons the counsel which those who would
have persuaded David to escape like a coward from the
persecution of Saul, was founded.

In truth, the- Prophet explains this in such a \vav that
it seems simply a description of the sad event which we
mourn over to-day.

Is not this a secrel con-piracv of the 'Indians of Xew
Mc\ic<>. who, departing from the Christian religion, secretly
prepared the how and treacherously made readv the arrow-
within the quiver, ungratefully designing them for the
innocent breasts of the sons of Francis, who with rectitude
of heart, as Minister.- of the Gospel, were instructing them
in the knowledge of God; and this with such artful dis
simulation that it was concealed till the moment of exe
cution, no premonition coming hel'ore the blow itself, when
on the same day. twenty-one Ministers of the (lo-pd wen-
cruelly slain.

I do not know anv better wav in which this event can
be expressed, in other words, than in those which the
Prophet adds as those which were used to him by the
men who would dissuade him from returning to .Judea:
"Quonian ecce peccatores intenderunt aivum. paraverunt
-airittas suas in- pharetra, ut sagittent in ohseuro rectos
corde."

"For lo. the imn'odlv bend their bow. and make readv
their arrows within the quiver: that thev mav privily -hoot
at them which are true of heart."

The most lamentable part of this sad event was that
rvervthing which the merciful hand of God. by the medium
of his Ministers, in a hundred years* had brought to per
fection. whether in spiritual matters, in adding to the
Church such a number of sons, begotten b\ the (Gospel

*0riginal Note l'n Sermon — The first KYliginus entered
\ew Mexico in the vear 1.">S1. ToTQUemada •">-)>. lilt. '.I. e. !'.

to fervent devotion in this Sacred Religion; or in mate
rial affairs, of so many Temples, erected, and so appro
priately furnished; all was destroyed in one day.

So, also, the Prophet, talking with God, lament's the
mysterious dispensation in these words : "Quoniam qua?,
perfecisti, destruxerunt." As if he would say, "Ah ! Lord,
they tell me not to return, because those ingrates, bar
barously and impiously breaking Thy holy laws, and dis
regarding Thy Gospel, pursue Thy servants even to the
death, destroy everything that has been erected and burn
Thy temples to ashes/'

Almost all this, Jansen says in his paraphrase of this
verse: "Quoniam quae perfecisti destruxerwit. Leges,
quas servandas constituisti, impii dissipaverunt, legibus
gue tuis neglectis, inique justos persequetur ad mortem."

Giving careful attention to the words of the Royal
Prophet, and having consulted with diligent study the
Doctors who have expounded them, they lead to the chief
intent of my oration : That we bear in mind all the de
plorable circumstances of the case, which we lament; and
comfort ourselves in pious confidence of that' better life,
to which those who died at the hands of such sacrilegious
impiety have passed.

"The ungodly," says the text, "'bend their bow and make
ready their arrows within the quiver, that they may privily
shoot at them t'hat are true of heart." These are the words
translated into Spanish from the Latin: "Quoniamecce
peccatores intenderunt arcum, paravenmt sagittas suas
in pharetra, ut sagittet in obscuro rectos corde."

But, to give more attention to the signification than' to
the sound, the phrase "in obscuro" means, as it is ex
pounded by Lyra and Dionisio Cartusiano, ffLatenter et
insidiose;" as this is the sense intended to be conveyed:
"They prepared the arrows and made ready the bows with
such caution, that, concealing the intent! and deceiving
as to the object, the notice came at the same time as the
wound." It could not come sooner or later, as it was
borne on the swift wings of the arrows, which were al-
roadv on their mission of destruction.

10

That Kingdom was then, as the Governor says, in his
letter of September 8th of last year, "entirely foreign in
character from the event which was so soon to occur,
judging from the peace and tranquility which prevailed."
He speaks of what appeared as the outward cloak of hypoc
risy. Everything seemed to be peaceful outwardly; but
inwardly all was rabid passion, instigated by the devil;
for, on the 10th day of August, dedicated by our Holy
Mother Church to the honor of the Most Glorious Spanish
Protomartyr, St. Lawrence, the fury of the nefarious sac
rilegious wickedness, which had been hidden in the quiver
of the heart, suddenly broke forth.

On this day, the venerable Padre Fray Juan Bautista
Pio, a native of the City of Victoria in the Province of
Alaba, having gone to celebrate the holy sacrifice of the
Mass at the Pueblo of Tesuque, which is a mission of the
City of Santa Fe, the Capital of that Kingdom, wa>
killed by the Indians of that very pueblo.

This is the death which is first mentioned in> the authen
tic accounts of the conspiracy. If confederated cruelty
was wickedly pursuing innocence, it is clear that there
had to be a Pio as the first target of the arrows which
impiety and apostasy shot against the Christian Religion.

Passing from sacrilege to robbery, they carried away
the scanty supplies which the Convento had for its own
subsistence, and like the wicked in the proverb, without
knowing who pursued them, they fled to the mountains.

"Fugite imius nemine persequentc." Proverbs 28:1.

On that same morning they killed in different and dis
tant Conventos twenty other Religious.

In Santa Cruz de Galisteo, the Reverend Fathers Fray
Juan Bernal, the actual Custodian, and Fray Domingo de
Vera, natives of the most noble City of Mexico.

At San Bartolome de Xongopavi, the Rev. Padre Fray
Joseph de Truxillo, a man of exemplary virtues, the knowl
edge of which induced the higher Prelates to elect him
First Guardian and Prelate of the Convento of San Cosme
without the walls of this citv, when it was erected as a

11

memorial, under the title of Nuestra Senora de Conso-
lacion.

At the Convento of Porciuncula, the Rev. Padre Fray
Fernando de Velasco, who had served thirty years as a
missionary in that Holy Custodia; both of these latter be
ing natives of Cadiz.

In that of Nambe, the Reverend Padre Fray Thomas de
Torres, a native of Tepozotlan.

In that of San Ildephonso, the Reverend Parde Fray
Luis de Morales, a native of Ubeda or Baeza ; and in com
pany with him, the brother Fray Antonio Sanches de
Pro, a native of this city, who from the order of the Des-
calces passed to the Observancia, with the object of going
to serve in that Holy Custodia.

In that of San Lorenzo de Picuries, the Reverend Padre
Fray Mathias Rendon.

In that of San Geronimo de Taos, the Reverend Padre
Fray Antonio de Mora; both the last named being natives
of the City of Los Angeles; and in the same Convento de
Taos, Brother Fray Juan de la Pedrosa, a native of
Mexico.

In that of San Marcos, the Reverend Padre Fray Man
uel Tinoco, a son of the Province of San Miguel in Estre-
madura.

In that of Santo Domingo, the Reverend Padres Fray
Francisco Antonio Lorenzana, a native of Galicia; Fray
Juan de Talaban, Custbdio habitual, a native of Seville,
who had been a missionary almost twenty years, and Fray
Joseph de Montesdoca, a native of Queretaro.

In that of San Diego de Jemez, the Reverend Padre
Fray Juan de Jesus, a native of Granada.

In that of San Estevan of Acoma, the Reverend Padre
Fray Lucas Maldonado, Difinidor actual, a native of Tri-
bugena.

In that of the Purisima Concepcion of Alona, the Rev
erend Padre Fray Juan del Val, of the Kingdom of
Castile.

In that of Aguatubi, the Reverend Padre Fray Joseph
de Figueroa, a native of Mexico.

In that of Oraibe, the Reverend Padre Fray Joseph de

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Espeleta, Custodio habitual, a native of Kstcla ii; the
Kingdom of Navarre, who had been thirty years a mis
sionary, and the Eeverend I'ndiv Krav Agu>tin de Santa
Mafia, a native of Pasquaro.

Now then, all of these murder- wen- committed on the
same day. It is clear that to attain that result, tlvj prpp-
arations must! have been made long hefore. How, then,
can we best explain a revolutionary uprising so long pre
meditated and so can-Cully concealed? How explain that
deceptive humility and ceremonious submissiveness so ob
servable among the Indians on the 9th of Angus'-, and
that insane fury which characterized them on the loth?

Xot in any other manner than that which follows: The
very instruments that they used are 'the best hieroglyphics
or emblems of the secret deceptive simulation with which
they proceeded. The quiver in which the arrows are hid
den is the symbol of dissimulation, in which treason i?
concealed; and thus in the met'aphor of the quiver, tin-
Prophet describes it: "Paraverunt sagittas siias in /;//</-
retro,!' Daughters of the Quiver, Jeremiah called vhe
arrows in Chapter . 3 of the Book of Lamentations:
"Tetendit arcum suum, et posuit me quasi xifjnitni ad
MpUtam.l Misit invenibit* inn's /iJins /ihnretrae suae."

I see that in this place Jeremiah uses the words "Quiver
of God," "pharetrae suae," for those most mysterious
Divine judgments and secret designs from which God
permitted that He should suffer, like arrows which piercect
Him through, in all the calamities, which in His persecu
tion afflicted Him. And thus says Saint Jerome. "Pha-
ri'/ni Di'i f.sV nmlliuH Dei indicium."

But the same quiver which symbolizes the mysterious
judgment of God in the sufferings of His Servants, may
also be a symbol of the dissimulation with which tho-i- who
malignantly pursue then) hide their depraved intent ion<:
as the bow which in the hands of the sinner represents
the cunning of malignit'y: "PttCdtore* iiifniiln-nnt ar-
rinn :" and in the hand of God. where .Jeremiah looked
upon it, {vointed in an entirely different direction, to the
persecution which His Providence permits. "Trlnulll <ir-
cum xuinn. t(: //ox//// ni-e (/unsi sif/niim ml s<i</iftam"

13

Daughter of the Quiver is the name used for the ar
rows, because they are in it! as in the womb, which con
ceals them, until, when they are placed on the bow-string,
the power of the hand which shoots them brings them
to light. The Doctissimo Padre .Martin Del Rio remarks,
"filias pharetrae vocal more hebraeo sagittas, co quod in
pharetrae obserratae., velut in utero custodiantur, & inde
promptae, velut proles in lucem mittantur." And it may
even be that from the Hebrew source came the phrase used
by Horace, who calls a quiver full of arrows a womb preg
nant with darts. An observation of the same Doctor, not
alluded to before by the commentator of this poet is the
following : "Nee venenatis gravida sagittis.,
"Fusee, pliarctra."

The Quivers, then, which were arranged beforehand, were
symbols of the treason which they concealed; because that
as one hides the arrow in the quiver until the occasion ar
rives for the shooting to bring it to light, even so in
these men, the treason' concealed in their depraved souls
was hidden until the appointed day in which their fury
broke forth unexpectedly and swiftly. "Et inde promptae,
velut proles in lucem mittantur."

But even a clearer symbol of their treason was the arrow.
Who does not know that naturally submissive manner in
which the Indians, before the Spaniards, and especially
before the Ministers of the Word, humiliate themselves in
outward observances in which they profess obedience with
bowed heads. In giving attention to the ceremonious man
ner of this obsequiosness truly one might say that they arch
themselves, because they bend themselves like bows. It
is plain that on the 9th day of August, adding artificially
to their natural manner in order the better to conceal
their intentions, they made use of these ceremonies before
those Religious Ministers of the Gospel.

Of each one of those Indians, individually, the author
of Ecclesiastes seems to have been speaking, in Chapter 12,
when, as if speaking to each of the Missionaries, he says:
"Et si liumiliatus vadat currvfi. adiice animum tuum} ei
cmtodite ad illo."

"Although obsequiously humbling himself, he bends be-

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fore Thee, or bending with reverence he humbles himself,
take good heed and guard Thyself from him."

The erudite Padre Salvador de Leon, of the Sacred So
ciety of Jesus, speaking of these words, says that the
word "curvus" applies equally to the deceptive enemy and
the bow, for, while the wood is useless for shooting while
it is straight, and then gains in power the more violently
one pulls the string and bends the bow, thus a concealed
treason succeeds best when it bends the body with most
affected humility.

"Similitude aucus haec est, ut cum armatur, incurvatur
ad jacienda majori impetu sagittam, sic inimicus sim-
ulaius"

And in whom, let me ask, can the craft of treason find
with most certainty the victim of its blow? In the true
of heart; ".Ut sagittent in obscuro rector corde"

If righteousness is opposed to duplicity, how much more
is the soul which is true and pure, less suspicious and less
fearful of those whom it believes to be thankful for bene
fits bestowed.

Says the same Doctor, referring to another text', which
agrees with mine, from the same Prophet : "Ut sagittent
in oculifis immaculatum. Immaculatum vocat nihil tale
suspicantem, nihil ciusmodi ab illis timentem. Facilius
immaculatus el simplex insidiis, et fraudibus capitur"

By this the target experiences the certain fury of the
arrows, for they are directed against the guileless breast
of a pure religion.

Let us give attention to and admire the case of the Ven
erable Custodio Fray Juan Bernal. The Indians entered
his cell, telling him that the Pueblos of the Province had
risen in revolt, and that they were of a "bad heart," an
idiomatic phrase in their language by which they signi
fied that they were of bad inclinations or intentions: that
they had thought it best to give this information* of the
conspiracy in order that he might send notice of the facts
to the Governor, and that, if he would write it immediately
and would give them the letter, they would carry it to the
Governor themselves in testimony of their fidelity. He
made it and gave it to them ; but scarcely had they received

15

it, when with the cruelty of barbarism and with atrocious
sacrilege, they took his life.

"Facilius immaculatus, et simplex insidiis, ei fraudibus
capitur.

It is right that we should shed tears of tenderness over
the death of these martyrs, and the sigh of sorrow should
take the form of funeral demonstration. But even -over
sorrow, consoling thoughts should prevail, from the well-
founded hope that those who have thus suffered have passed
to the better life.

In the very letter, placed by Jeremiah, before the verse
in which he laments the persecution of Christ and his
Church, which he prophetically saw in the future, he man
ifests in words appropriate to alleviate the sorrow and pain
of the heart, a mystical reason for moving to consolation.
In- this verse, in which, under the metaphor of the arrows
which pierce, his compassion gives rise to sighs and tears
over the persecution of Christ and the tribulation of the
Church, "Missit in renibus meis filias pharatrae suae" he
places the Hebrew letter of the alphabet ''He," where this
letter gives an emphatic warning.

"11 e" is very appropriate for the sorrows of those who
lament, just as the similar sound in Latin, "Hei" which
is ad interjection expressive of sadness and a representa
tive of sorrow.

But as this very letter, like all the other Hebrew letters,
has its appropriate significance, what is the meaning of
the letter 'He?' The same as that of the Latin word
"Vivo" "I live, I have life."

So then, in the case of a verse whose words signify future
persecution of the Faithful, under the metaphor of arrows,
which pierce them, why then does he place before it a let
ter which signifies "Life?" For this precise reason, be
cause this suffering is joyous — it is the sure ro<ad to life;
because the better title corresponding to such deaths is to
call them lives.

On this subject, Cardinal Hugo says :

"Misit in renibus meis filias pharatrae suae. Huic claus-
ualae, praeponitur He, quae interpretatur vivo, velesse, et

1C.

rectc. (jui a ///c ai/ilur >lc tfibufation ihii* ('linsti. <•/ /v-
clesiae."

In the obsequies, then, of these religious men, Minister.-
of the (Jospel, killed through the violence of a secret con
federated apostasv, Jeremiah lends to our >orrow and fo
our confidence, this letter "!/<'," in order that with it. at
the game time that our sorrow weeps over the death, we
may be consoled by our hope of a better life.

This hope of the better life is much strengthened by
the manner of their death. For. though to declare it mar
tyrdom, as I have said, is a matter which belongs ex
clusively to the sovereign judgment of the Holy Apostolic
See, without whose supreme determination, our ex press i on -
are merely human and fallible; yet. remembering all that
and limiting ourselves to what is permissible to the pru
dent human judgment, we may say that their lives were
sacrificed to simply hatred of the Christian Religion: and
as this was the motive of the conspiracy, it is natural for
Christian men, priests and Religious, to believe that, out of
respect for the Faith, they should feel an affection for the
dead who thus suffered.

If the hatred of the conspirators distinguished as to per-
.-ons. they would only kill those whom they dislike: exe
cuting their intention on some and not on others.

But they did not hate the individual, but. only th
tian, as the Jemex Indians clearly explained to the
able aged Frav Juan de Jesus, when gathering in
of their pueblo they separated themselves into tw
some in favor of killing him and other- of defe
and seeing the danger of manv deaths which was occasioned
hv their dissension, he said: "Children, 1 am a poor old
man. do not fight, do not kill each other in order to pro
tect me; do what God permit-. And then. pierciiiLT him
through with a sword, and giving him numberless blows
with macanas. they took his life.

1 have enlarged on this human probability, in mv dis
course, because, if the hatred had existed against individ
uals, thov would not have made contemptuous ridicule of
-acred things: and would not have intoned with mockery
and scoffing the Alabado (hvmn smii: in honor of the Sac-

17

rament) and the other prayers of the Church, as the Gov
ernor states in his letter; nor would they have burned the
Temples. So then, their mad action came from a hatred
of the Religion ; and as at the same time that the Ministers,
who were living Temples of God, were sacrificed by the
strokes of the arrows, so likewise the material temples
were reduced to ashes by the voracity of the flames, so
that the words of the Prophet might apply to this terrible
havoc: "Sagittae potentis acutae cam car~bombus desola-
toriis."

Speaking, then, without going beyond limits, and con
sidering those Venerable Men in their conflict with per
secution, and in the anguish which they suffered, permit me
to express this thought :

That in the circumstances in which the wounds caused
suffering, they filled up the measure of what was lacking
in the suffering of St. Francis from his wounds.

For the purpose of this discourse it is important to con
sider the benefits which those Indians had received from
the Holy Religion, as well in temporal matters as in spirit
ual, which were so ungratefully returned. The least is,
and this certainly is much, to take them out from the
treacherous forests where1 they lived like wild beasts, to a
civilized life, when they were exposed to all the inclemency
of the weather and were wandering naked through the
woods, to teach them the cultivation of the soil in order
that it might furndsh an abundance of food, which their
labors1 and the toils of the household had afforded to them
before that time only in great scarcity.

The greatest is in- instructing them in the knowledge of
God, bringing them to the Church for the Waters of Bap
tism and keeping for their benefit, during a hundred years,
a sufficient number of Ministers for the administration of
the Holy Sacraments at such extended distances.

I suppose also that Saint Francis wounded is a living
copy of Christ wounded. For this, that wonder of our
century in the Oratoria, that palm of all times in the pu-
pit, the Reverend Padre Antonio de Vieyra, of the Sacred
Society of Jesus, in a sermon on the wounds (Llagas),
which ho preached at Rome on this text from St. Paul:

18

"Ad impleo ea, quae dessunl 1'a.^wnum L'ltristi in rurne
mea." (Coles. 1.) He discoursed concerning two impres
sions of the wounds of Christ, one in his own body, the
other in that of His Servant, Francis. And as, when tin
impression is repeated, the defects which occurred in the
first are corrected in the second, it was made the effort of
his oration to argue that in the wounds of St. Francis,
some errors were amended, not of the original, but of the
impression; because that in the wounds of Christ there
were not, nor could there be, defects to be corrected. That
there, on Calvary, those who made the impression were
the Ministers of the Synagogue, armed with anger, injus
tice, cruelty and hatred ; but in the wounds of St. Francis,
there was only the impress of Love.

I am well assured that it was from the peculiar tender
ness of Christ, that He wished that only by His love there
should be given the second impression of His wounds in
the body of His Servant; however, I would say, that for
the reason that in the wounds of St. Francis, Love was the
only impresser, something of suffering was lacking in them
which Christ suffered in His, because that in those of
Christ, together with the love of the Father which wounded
Him for our benefit, there existed also the hatred of those
who imposed the impression, and the ingratitude of men.
. The sin which is committed by the persecutor is not
loved by God ; but the patience of the persecuted He loves ;
and thus we see one of the most admirable points of his
most high Providence, that without loving the wrong of
the hand which wounds, He may love the suffering of the
wound. But however much the ingratitude of those who
wound may increase the agony of him who suffers, without
doubt, he suffers most who receives wounds from both
hands; from the hand of God who loves while bestowing
suffering and also from the hand of man, who ungrate
fully causes it; and if not, let us observe the words of
Christ in Psalm XLVIII, where in considering his afflic
tions He says to the Father : "Quoniam quern tu percusisti,
persecutisunt, et super dolorem vulnerum meorum addi-
derunt"

19

"They persecute him whom Thou hast wounded, and add
sorrows -to the suffering of my wounds."

Observe the difference in the words. Of the Father, He
only says that He wounded Him " percussisti." Of His
enemies, He says that they persecuted Him, <f persecute."

Because wounding may be done in love, but persecution
cannot exist without hatred; and as to persecute where
one ought to love, was to add the sorrow for ingratitude
to the suffering of the wound, Christ says, that those who
persecute Him ungratefully add this sorrow to the suf
fering of His wounds; "Et super dolorem vulnerum me-
orum addiderunt."

Now, Saint Francis wounded is the image of Christ
wounded; if we examine him, himself, we see that some
thing is lacking in the copy to' make it exactly like the
Original. There is no doubt of this, as in his body Love
was the only impresser of his wounds; as Juan Bautino
expresses i'ti, "in Christo invidia, et amor haec fecerunt,
invidia Judaeorum, et Charitas Dei, * * * in Fran
cisco solus amor"

And thus it lacked the sorrow which ingratitude added
to the wounds.

But here behold the love of God to Francis ; for whereas,
in his actual, physical body Love alone was the impresser
of his wounds, yet in the body of his Religion, in twenty-
one sons, not only was the love of God, the impresser of
his wounds from which He willed that he should suffer,
but hatred was allowed to do its work,, by which ungrateful
men, who ought to have lived most thankfully in this Holy
Eeligion, were the instruments to inflict the suffering.
Yes, we may learn from the contemplation of the love of
Christ for Francis, that in all things he should be like
unto Him; and Christ has in the mystical body of His
Church a St. Paul, who says: "Ad impleo quac desunt
passionum Christi in came mea pro corpore eius, quod est
Ecclesia" In order that there should not lack even this
resemblance in the copy, Francis has, in the body of his
Religion, that which fulfills in its wounds all that he had
suffered in his own.

I pass now from the funeral honors to the deceased, to

20

the well-earned honors of the living; but without losing
sight of the former. I pass to the generous resolution with
which this Holy Keligion returns to the same place in
which it had suffered persecution, and I say :

"That if to profess the institution of Francis is to pro
fess the imitation of Christ according to the Gospel, in
no better way can His sons show forth this imitation than
when, without avoiding the risks through fear, they obedi
ently bare their breasts to the dangers."

I n : us add to the eulogies of the Seraphic Beligion one
feather from the wings, which, although they be those of
Lyra, yet are not out of place amid our flow of tears. This
Doctor, in commenting on the passage which is the foun
dation of this discourse, alludes to the fact that one of
the reasons which they stated to David in* order to prevent
his return to Judea, where he had suffered from the perse
cution of Saul, was that they had destroyed that which the
hand of God had created.

((Quoniam quae perfecisti, destruxerunt." And in ex
plaining what destruction had taken place, which would
put David in fear of returning, he says in his commen
taries on the Psalm, that this destruction which they saw,
this havoc to which they alluded, was that which Saul
executed in his hatred for David, whom he killed Achime-
lech, as is narrated in Chapter 21, of the First Book of
Kings (I Samuel) : "Quoniam quae, perfecisti, dcxlru.r-
erunt. Scilicet Saul et Doeg, et alii complices, ut habetur
primo Regum 22 in odium David."

Let us briefly examine this case in the Book of Kings,
and we will find that it is almost exactly the same as our
own. I will not detain yon with an application of all the
circumstances, for when an orator has an audience like
this, ho on joys the privilege of touching lightly on the
subject.

Saul had some kind of information that Achimelech was
favorable to David. mid he sent for Aehiinolooh and for
the other priests of his family, to the City of Xobo: ".!//>•>•//
cryo rex ad accersendiim."

They ramo into hi? presence, and after some talk, giving
place in his hreast to the fury of ansrrr and the niachiees

21

of his wrath, he said to the servants whom he had sent to
bring them, "Turn and slay these priests of the Lord:"
"Ait rex emissarUs, qui circunstabant cum; convertimini
et interficite Sacer dotes Domini/'

The more he perverts the will in the execution of a
crime, the more will reason always represent his deformity.

He recognized them as priests of the Lord, and called
them so when he ordered them to be slain : " Interficite Sac-
erdotes Domini/'

Those servants resisted such a terrible sin and were not
willing to lay hands sacrilegiously on the Priests of Gk>d.
"Nolverunt autem servi regis extendere mantis suas in
Sacerdotes Domini." They were wearing the linen Ephod,
the garb (as Tbstado observes) of the minor priests, by
which they were distinguished from the High Priests:
"Quidam erat Sacer dos Magnus, et alii minor es, sed nulla
de vestibus Summi Sacerdotis pertinebat ad minores"
And why were they dressed in that manner? Because it
is the ecclesiastical dress, which was used solely by the
priests assigned to conduct the worship of their religion,
to lift up their hands to move the heart of Saul from its
furies to good deeds.

Hugo gives this paraphrase: ffUt per liabitum Relig-
ionis moveretur animus regis ad pietate"

Then Saul, turning to Doeg, the Edomite, told him to
kill them; and he fell upon them and slew them bloodily
accordinng to this atrocious command of Saul: "Conversus
que Doeg Idumeus irriut in Sacerdotes, et trucidavit"

How could one do this to so many? Because not one
(answers el Tostado) defended himself; because they did
not attempt to resist; because it was simply their duty to
suffer.

Here, again, is another circumstance that is worthy of
attention. Why did Deog execute this sacrilege which the
other servants were not willing to perform ? Because they
were old in their knowledge and profession of the Law of
God. Doeg was a man from Idumea, recently converted,
a Neophite, inexperienced in his knowledge of God; and
in these matters, when the faith is new, irreverence has
more audacity against the priests.

22

Hence arose the advice to David that he should not re
turn to Judea where they had experienced the persecution
of Saul in the case referred to; which has so many points
of jesemblance to our own.

Now let us pass from the actual to the allegory. Bishop
Christopolitano adjusting that which was figured to the
figure itself, says: "That here David returning to Judea
represented Christ returning to Jerusalem, and that as
they attempted to dissuade David from returning by set
ting forth the dangers which had already been experienced,
so likewise the disciples represented to Christ the danger
which awaited Him in Jerusalem, where a little while be
fore they had wished to kill him; and that as David, dis
regarding their counsel, obeyed that of the Prophet Gad,
who told Him to return; so Christ, im obedience to His
Father, returned to Jerusalem against the persuasion of
His disciples.

Now we have the letter and the allegory, and from the
two together appears the moral, that in the imitation of
Christ, His Ministers, not allowing danger to make cow
ards of them, should return to the same place where they
have experienced the danger of persecution.

Now, then, let us observe one of those occasions in which
the counsel which Christ gave to Peter, of love to his
Master, agrees with the obedience of Christ Himself to
His Father. Befer to the Sixteenth Chapter of St. Mat
thew, where immediately after the rebuke of Christ to St.
Peter, because he attempted to dissuade Him from enter
ing Jerusalem to suffer, said to them, "If any man will
'come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me."
<"Tunc Jesus dixit Discipulis suis, Si quis milt" etc.

Observe that word "Time," "Thru." Then Ho said these
words, when they were endeavoring to dissuade Him from
•returning to Jerusalem; that is to say. that the imitation
of Christ is most brilliant, when, without bein.2; intimi
dated by the risk incurred, one returns with his Cross to
the very place of dan^r.

' .--Now, here is tho singular losson. These words of Christ
have I know not what special relation with the sons of St.
Franeis. It is a case of singular value to which St. Bona-

23

venture refers in Chapter 3 of his life. He tells us that
that Venerable man Bernard, the first born of the Glorious
Father St. Francis, desired to renounce the world in his
imitation, and besought his advice in order to execute this
intention ; and the Saint answered him :

"•A Deo est hoc concilium requirendum." "God is the
one who must give this advice."

The next morning he went with Bernard to the Church
of St. Nicholas, and making a prayer before proceeding to
the matter that he had in hand, in the Name of the Most
Holy Trinity, he opened three times the Book of the Gos
pel, praying to God that with three testimonies of His
Gospel the holy intention of Bernard might be confirmed.
The first time he found these words, in which Christ tells
of the high perfection of evangelical poverty. ffln prima
libra a pertione illud occurrit : Si vis perfectus esse, vade
et vende omnia quae habes., et da pauribus."

In the second the following appeared: "Nihil tuleritis
in via/' in which Christ instructs His servants, the mis
sionaries, as to journeys.

In the third, these words: Qui vult venire post me,
abneget semetipsum, et tollat Crucem, suam quotidie, et
sequatur me!'

And then St. Francis added, "This is our life; this is
our rule; this is to be followed by all who wish to be my
companions." Thus the life of the sons of St. Francis,
as he testified himself, is Poverty, Journeying and the
Cross ; and the Cross exemplified by the words which Christ
Himself said, that they should return to the place to which
they were told not to go on account of persecution.

If, therefore, to profess the institution! of Francis, is to
profess the imitation of Christ according to the Gospel,
his sons can never show forth this institution in a better
manner, than when, without endeavoring to avoid any
risks, they obediently bare their breasts to all danger.

But in whom can this Holy Keligion place its hopes for

such an arduous task? In' God. "In Domino confido:

Quomodo dicitis animaemeac: Transmigra in montem

sicut passer/'

; To what instrument in the hand of God can its poverty

24

have recourse, for its sustenance in so wide a iield, and in
so distant a mission, and to provide soldiers and guarantee
its defence against new dangers? To the Catholic King
of Spain, DON CARLOS SEGTJNDO, our Lord, in whose
name, and with whose good will, not prefunctory but
morally certain, your Excellency has already appropriated
ninety-five thousand dollars for the support of the Priests
who will return, of 2,000 persons who are awaiting them
in' El Paso del Rio del Norte, and of 50 soldiers of the
garnsotti.

This recourse to the liberal hand of a Catholic Kinu.
when the Christian Religion suffers persecution, in order
that the Ministers of the Gospel may be sustained when
they are being persecuted, if it is realized as expected, this
is one of those occasions in which it seems to be fulfilled.

I call attention to the great Father of the Church, Saint
Augustine, in the Epistle Number Fifty of Volume Two
of his works. In his time, the Ministers of the Gospel,
harassed by the Donatists, appealed to the Christian Em
peror, for protection against persecution, not for the sav
ing of their lives, but that the permanent preaching of
the Gospel might be assured. This was such an evident
duty, says the Saint, that it would have been culpable to
neglect it. "Cum igitur his angustiis afligeretur Ecclesia,
quisquis exist imat omnia potius sustinenda, quam Dei
auxilium, ut per Christianvs Imperatores ferretur, fuisse
poscendum, parum attendit, non bonam de hoc negligentia
reddi potuisse rationem." The enemies of the Church
argued that the appeal was against the custom of the Apos
tles, as they never sought the protection of the Kings of
the earth, nor their patronage nor defence; "Dicunt
non petisse a Regibus terrae Apostolos talia."

St. Augustine showed the fallacy of this objection, and
answered them, "In the time of the Apostles and in the
primitive Church, it was these very Emperors and Kinirs
who were the persecutors and how then could they ask
them to be their protectors? Which of the Emperors then
believed in Christ, that they could be of use in the de
fense of piety against impiety? Could the Church, per-
chamce, ha\v applied to Xero or Domitian or Trajan or

25

Antoninus, or any other of those whose hatred of Religion
was such that with all the shedding of Christian blood,
the relentless thirst of their cruelty was never satisfied?"

Do you not see that in these early times of the Church,
it was simply complying with the prophecy of David, in
which he predicted that the Princes and Kings of the
earth were to gather themselves together against the Lord,
they were to combine themselves against Christ? "Quis
enim tune in Christum crediderat Imperator, qui ei pro-
pietate contra impietatem serviret. Quando adhuc illud
propheticum complebatur. Astiterunt Reges terrae, et
Principes convenerunt in unum adversus Dominum, et
adversus Christum eius"

But if this were then, observe a "now" which the Prophet
adds, and understand that the times now have improved,
in* that the Catholic Kings, for the service of God, defend
the Ministers of the Gospel, and thus they can take ad
vantage of the protection which they lacked before. "Non
dum autem agebatur quod paulo post in eode Psalmo dic-
itur: Et nunc Reges intelligite, erudimini, qui judicatis
terram, servite Domino in timore."

Now we enjoy that happy time in which there are Kings,
who serve as Kings. Et tune Reges servite Domino."
That is, who employ in his service the same royal power
which they enjoy, because happily they use it in the exten
sion of worship, in the propagation of the Faith, in the
spreading of the Gospel, their power being then most gem^
erously noble, when that power is most humbly the slave
of the Christian Eeligion.

"Illos felices Reges" said St. Augustine in another place,
"Et beatos judicat Christiana Religio, qui sua pot estate ad
Dei cultum maxime dilatandum maistati eius famulam
faciunt"

So this Seraphic Religion has recourse to the pious muni
ficence of the King our Lord, this being one of the occa
sions iint which, to the glory of our Catholic Kings of Spain,
is seen fulfilled that which David prophesied.

And this is obtained also by the other Sacred Religions,
whose ardent zeal in the conversion of the infidels, and
whose vigilance in the ministry, and whose diligence in

26

doctrine, makes them highly worthy of the protection and
magnificent liberality with which the King, our Lord,
favors them.

Could there be a nobler example of an evangelical mis
sionary than St. Paul? No. Then, in truth, (says St.
Augustine, continuing to controvert the objection of the
Donatists), as is read in Chapter 23 of the Acts of the
Apostles, he gave an account to the Tribune of the con
spiracy, with which the Hebrews intended to kill him;
and it resulted from this that the Tribune provided him
with a guard of soldiers as a protection both at home and
abroad, whenever the fury of the conspiracy endangered
his life.

It is clear that the Apostle does not refer here to the
saving of his temporal life, but the service of the Church ;
because where the conspiracy is feared, it is not that
the Ministers of the Gospel should be defended, but that
they should be preserved in order to increase the preaching
of the Gospel.

"Neque enim, et Apostolus Paulus vitae suae transito-
riae consulebat, sed EccUsiae Dei, quando contra illos, qui
eum occidere conspira verant, consilium illornm Tribuno
ut proderetur, efecit. Unde factum est ut eum ad locum,
quo fuer at perducendus, deduceret miles armatus, ne illo-
rum pateretur inMias"

The Saint here puts the singular for the plural, some
what in imitation of Virgil : "TJterumque armato milite
complent:" as will appear from the text of the Acts of the
Apostles, in which history it is mentioned that the guard
of soldiers which the Tribune put in charge of the person
of St. Paul were many.

When, therefore, this most religious Seraphic Family
sought and found succor in the zeal of the King, our Lord,
and was protected, it is clear that the object was not to
preserve m its sons this transitory life, but to restore to
spiritual life the souls of those miserable apostates, whom
its fervor had begotten, by the Gospel, at the cost of such
.great labor.

The Holy Church is a tree of such size, that its branches
extend over all the compass of the earth, but, like a mother,

27

it laments for every branch, which, by reason of heresy or
apostasy, is broken .off, and thus this Religion weeps for
the branch broken from its lost Christianity, just as Augus
tine mourned for a little separated branch, which, with
mateimal affection he succeeded in engrafting once more
in the trunk, restoring it again to the root of Faith, with
out which it is impossible to gain the better life.

"Utiq ex ipsa magna art ore, quae ramorum suorum por-
rectione toto orbe diffunditur., iste in Africa ramusculus
•fractus est, eum eos charitate parturiat, ut redeant ad radi-
cem sine qua veram vitam liabere non possunt"

They .also accused the Donatists of covetousness and
greed: "Obiiciunt quod res eorum concupiscamus"

And how if I should respond in defense and applause
of this sacred Religion, when it seeks again the glory of
God in the reduction of those whom we deplore as Apos
tates, and say : "If we have the 'necessary means, it is not
for ourselves, for with us to hold property is an execrable
offense, but we wish it only to distribute to the poor, whose
agents we are to procure it."

"Si autem privitam, quae nobis sufficiant possidemus,
non sunt ilia nostra, sed pauperum, quorum procurationem
modo gerimus., non proprietatem nobis usurpatione damn-
abili vendicamus"

What other thing can the zeal of this religion seek in a
few naked Indians, except to bring them to God?

Seek them then again ; clothe them again; and filled with
a desire for their restoration, exclaim in the words which
St. Augustine adds, fflpsi potius foris positi * * * in-
trent in unitatis societatem, ut pariter gubernemus, non
ilia tanium, quae dicuntur sua, verum etiam, quae dicuntur
et nostra."

Oh ! that they would return to the unity of the Church,
so that with us they may enoy not cmly that which they
call theirs, but also that which is called ours, but yet is
not so, because we have no ownership in anything.

Oh ! that they would return ; for then would be the
greatest consolation to the martyrs whom we lament to
day, to see them once more within the pale of the Church,

in which, by the aid of GodV o-r;i,v. th.-y could be restored
to the path of Glory.
Ad quam, etc.

t O.S.C.S.M.E.C.R. f