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379

GARCIA


379


GARCIA


of the seven nuns selected for the introduction of the order into France (October, 1604). The French superiors, desirous of sending her as prioress to Pon- toise, obliged her to pass from the state of lay sister to that of choir sister. So unusual a step met with the disapproval of her companions, but as St. Teresa had foretold it many years previously Anne offered no resistance. She had also been forewarned that the same step would cause her great sufferings, and indeed her priorship at Pontoise (January to September, 1(505), Paris (October, 1605, to April, 1608), Tours May, 1008, to 1611) brought her heavy trials, not the least of which were differences with her superiors. At the expiration of her last term of office she returned to Paris, but warned by a vision, she proceeded to Bel- gium (October, 1611), where she founded and became prioress of a convent at Antwerp (27 Oct., 1012), which she governed to the end of her life. Twice she was instrumental in delivering the town from the hands of the enemy. In 1735, Anne of St. Bartholo- mew was declared Venerable ; her process of beatifica- tion is not yet completed. Her writings include a number of letters still preserved, an autobiography now at Antwerp, edited by M. Bouix (Paris, 1869-72), and several treatises on spiritual matters, which appeared at Paris in 1646.

Enriquez, Hisloria de la Vida etc. (Brussels, 1632, Fr. tr. at Paris, 1633); La Vie el les instructions de la Vcn. Mhe Anne de S. Barthclemy, par un solitaire de Marlaigne (Brussels, 1708; new ed., Paris, 1S95).

B. Zimmerman.

Garcia, Gonsalo, Saint; b. of a Portuguese father and a Canarese mother in Bassein, East India, about the year 1556 or 1557; d. 5 Feb., 1597. His early training was entrusted to the Jesuits, who brought him up in their college in Bassein Fort. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five he went to Japan in the company of some Jesuit fathers who were ordered, in 1580, to leave Bassein, and join their mission in the former country. He quickly acquired a knowledge of the language ; and as he was of an amiable disposition he won the hearts of the people and did great service as a catechist for eight years. He then left this kind of work and betook himself to Alacao for trading pur- poses. His business soon flourished and branches were opened in different places. During his frequent visits to Manila he made the acquaintance of the Franciscans, and being drawn more and more to- wards them he finally joined the Seraphic Order as a lay brother. He sailed from the Philippine Islands with other companions in religion under Petrus Bap- tista, 26 May, 1592, on an embassy from the Spanish Governor to the Emperor of Japan. After working zealously for the glory of God for more than four years, the Emperor Taiko-Sama, suspecting the mis- sionaries were aiming at the overthrow of his throne, ordered St. Garcia and his companions to be guarded in their Convent at Miaco on 8 December, 1596. A few days afterwards, when they were singing vespers, they were apprehended and with their hands tied be- hind their backs were taken to prison. On 3 January, 1597, the extremities of the left ears of twenty-six con- fessors, St. Garcia amongst the number, were cut off; but were with great respect collected by the Chris- tians. On 5 February of the same year, the day of the martyrdom, St. Garcia was the first to be ex- tended on, and nailed to, the cross, which was then erected in the middle of those of his companions. Two lances piercing the body from one side to the other and passing through the heart, whilst the saint was singing the praises of God during the infliction of the torture, put an end to his suffermgs and won for Garcia the martyr's crown. In 1627 these twenty-six servants of God were declared venerable by Urban VIII ; their feast occurs on 5 February, the anniversary of their sufferings ; and in 1629 their veneration was permitted throughout the Universal Church. The people of


Bassein practised devotion towards the saint; after the severe persecution to which Christianity was sub- jected in that region, from about 1739 he was grad- ually entirely forgotten until a well-known writer recently undertook to write the history of the place, and drew the attention of the public to St. Garcia Gonsalo. Owing to the praiseworthy endeavours of a secular priest, and the great interest evinced by the present Bishop of Damaun in the promotion of the devotion towards the saint, the feast of St. Garcia is now annually celebrated with great solemnity; and pilgrims from all parts of Bassein, Salsette, and Bom- bay flock to the place on that occasion.

The Bull of Canonization; Bihliolheca Historica Filipinai Supplement to Ribadeneira, Ilistori/ of the Eastern Archipel- ago: GuERlN. Lires of the .'faints; Fernandes, Life of Saint Gonsalo Garcia; De Monte Alverne, Panc(j'/ric on St. Gonsalo Garcia; Bombay Catholic Examiner for 1903, 1904; O Anglo Lusitano for 1903, 1904.

Mangel D'S.i.

Garcfa Diego, Francisco. See Diego y Moreno,

Francisco.

Garcia Moreno, Gabriel, Ecuadorean patriot and statesman ; b. at Guayaquil, 24 December, 1821 ; assas- sinated at Quito, 6 August, 1875. His father, Gabriel Garcfa Gomez, a native of Villaverde, in Old Cas- tile, had been en- gaged in com- merce at Callao before removing to Guayaquil, where he married Doiia Mercedes Moreno, the mo- ther of the future Ecuadorean martyr president. Gabriel Garcia Gomez died while his son was still young, and the boy's education was left to the care of his mother, who appears to have been a wo- man of unusual ability for her task ; she was, moreover, fortunate in securing as her son's tutor Fray Jos6 Betancourt. the famous Mercedarian, under whose tuition young Garcia Moreno made rapid prog- ress. A great part of his father's fortune having been lost, it was not without some considerable sacri- fices that the youth was able to attend the university course at Quito. These material obstacles once over- come, he passed brilliantly through the schools, dis- tancing all his contemporaries, and on 26 October, 1844, received his degree in the faculty of law {Doctor en Jurisprudencia) from the University of Quito.

In less than a year after his graduation young C5arcia Moreno had begun to take an active part in Ecuador- ean politics, joining in the revolutionary movement which eventually replaced the Flore.s administra- tion by that of Roca (1846). He soon distinguished himself as a political satirist by contributions to "El Zurriago", but what more truly presaged the achievements of his riper life was his good and useful work as a member of the municipal council of Quito. At the same time he was studying legal practice, and on 30 March, 1848, was admitted advocate. Imme- diately after this the deposed Flores, supported by the Spanish government, made an attempt to regain the presidency of Ecuador; Garcia Moreno unhesitatingly came forward in support of the Roca administration, and when that administration fell, in 1849, he entered upon his first period of exile. After some months


L Garcia Moreno