The Martyrdom of San Miguel de Aozaraza. Oil on canvas based on the estampita given by the Parish Priest of Oñate, Spain. Artwork by Danilo Santiago
“Fr. Miguel de Aozaraza was a religious of the Order of St. Dominic, and he suffered martyrdom for the Faith in Jesus Christ in Nagasaki, Kingdom of Japan, in the year 1637. He was born in the town of Oñate and baptized on February 7, 1598."
Father Miguel was assigned to a pastoral ministry in the Philippines, which Fr. Domingo Gonzalez, to whom it belonged to make all the assignations as Provincial Superior, does not reveal his short biographical notes. He only says that Aozaraza, obedient and humble, went “to learn the language of the natives and to administer to them,” and in this “he put great care and effort, learning the language with perfection and being a good minister.” Since no provincial chapter was celebrated during the stay of Father Miguel in the Philippines, his assignation does not appear in any capitular acta. But in the necrology dedicated to the martyr’s death in the provincial chapter of 1639, it is said that his mission was “in Doctrina Batanensi minister fidelissimus” (a most faithful minister in the Vicariate of Bataan).
An interesting question may be asked here: During his stay in Bataan in 1635, without any Japanese mentor, how could Father Miguel learn Nippongo so proficiently by himself? The answer is simple: To a certain degree he must have learned some basic knowledge from the Vocabulario de Japón, a Japanese-Spanish dictionary translated from a Japanese-Portuguese vocabulary printed by the Jesuits in Japan in 1603. The Spanish translation was printed in 1630 by the UST Press, the printer being no other than Tomas Pinpin, who in that year shared his job with Jacinto Magarulau. - Fr. Fidel Villarroel, OP
editor's note: Tomas Pinpin is a native of Abucay, Bataan. Celebrating the 400th anniversary of the first book authored and printed by a Filipino, Librong Pag-aaralan Nang Manga Tagalog Nang Uicang Castilla.
(Published in Peninsula of Faith and Valor: Bataan Through the Centuries)
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