S J

The Life And Martyrdom Of Diego Luis De San Vitores, S.J. (2Nd Edition) S J 1st edition

Francisco Garcia's book is of a genre that has no modern equivalent. Although its title would seem to stamp it as a biography, the book might better be described as part history, part hagiography, part travel adventure, and part devotional literature. It is easy to understand why Garcia's biography was translated into English piecemeal. Three different translators extracted from the volume what corresponded to their own interests: Margaret M. Higgins selecting what touched on the local history and culture of the Chamorro people, Sr. Felicia Plaza excerpting those parts that touched directly on the life of San Vitores, and Fr. Juan Ledesma translating the remainder. Garcia's original was intended as a testimony to the saintliness of Diego Luis de san Vitores, the man who introduced the Christian faith to the Marianas. It was written as a tale of personal heroism, its hero the Jesuit missionary priest whose virtues were not allowed to speak for themselves but were authenticated by, numerous instances of divine intervention. Miracles, those extraordinary instances of God's action in the world, were regarded as rather common occurrences in the day in which Garcia wrote, and the volume offers many examples. But such excesses, as we would regard them today, and the simplistic world view that inspired this style of writing should not blind us to the fact that the book rests on a solid historical base. We should recall that Garcia drew upon the missionaries' own letters and annual reports to fashion his biography. The scope of the book includes not just the four brief years of San Vitores's life on Guam, but another ten years of missionary work following his death. The volume offers a detailed narrative of the early critical years of mission activity between 1668 and 1682 in this earliest of mission fields in Oceania. As a historical source for this period Garcia's book is indispensable. -- Francis X. Hezel, S. J.