Who Was Martyred in 1576?

Eager to know why the Historical and Nautical Archaeology Foundation (HNAF) search vessel was scouring the depths along the northeastern shores of Catanduanes, instead on Nagngangang Buaya reefs in Bato, looking for the wreckage of galleon Espiritu Santo. I made my own research and was surprised to find some articles relating to Fray Diego de Herrera's life and death.

"In 1569, it was the turn of Fray Diego de Herrera to return to Mexico. He was accompanied by Fray Pedro de Gamboa, since Herrera had suffered from poor health ever since they arrived in Cebu. Before Fray Herrera's departure he was elected the first provincial of Cebu, although there were no more than six Augustinians there. Fray Martin de Rada became his successor. A late-nineteenth-century Augustinian historian criticized Fray Herrera and his Augustinian colleagues for arbitrarily creating a province without consulting the head of Augustinian order. Nobody, however, questioned Fray Herrera when he presented himself in Mexico as the Augustinian provincial from the Philippines.

Fray Herrera returned to Cebu again in 1570 together with two missionaries. He left for Spain two years later and petitioned Philip II for more clerics. Thirty-six were selected, but only six eventually joined the Philippine mission. In 1573, while approaching Manila, the ship carrying Fray Herrera was wrecked because of pilot error. Many drowned, including Fray Herrera, and the ship's cargo was lost. The accident was a huge blow to the fledgling Spanish settlement in Manila since it was in dire need of people and supplies."

Ref: Basques in the Philippines by Marciano R. De Borja, William A. Douglass, Chapter 5 Missionaries, page 43

If were to believe this historical account that Fray Diego de Herrera was drowned in 1573, who was then martyred in 1576?


RELATED LINKS:

• The Batalay Shrine - Site of what is believed as the site of the first cross in Catanduanes