1
CRÓNICAS OAR
In our Recoleto tradition, the Spanish term Crónicas
(‘Chronicles’, in English) is used to designate the volumes in which the
General History of the OAR is recounted. At present there are twelve
volumes: the first appeared in 1664 and the latest volume in 1974.
All these volumes were written in Spanish. An English translation
has been over due.
Fortunately enough, in the 55-volume collection entitled The
Philippine Island 1493-1898, edited during the first decade of the last
century by Emma Blair and James Robertson, an English translation of
the Crónicas appears. It is the volumes I-IV which cover the period
from 1606-1700.
The translation is limited only to the portions concerning the
Philippines. Chapters and paragraphs not concerned with the
Archipelago are offered in outline between brackets.
1
2
INDEX
1605 First Mission
Our Religious reach Luzon… Zambales
First Convent of Manila
Zambales and Tagui
Foundation of Masinloc
Removal of the Convent of Manila
“Testimonials “ credit and praise of our Religious
Foundation of Bolinao
1612 Foundation of Santa Cruz (Sigayan)
1616 Foundation of Cavite
1621 Cebu
Foundation of S. Sebastian
Caraga
Butuan
Calamianes and Cuyo
Cagayan
Foundation of the convents of the above mentioned
provinces (Tandang, Butuan, Cuyo, Cagayan, Siargao
Calamianes or Taytay, Bislig… Binalbagan…)
Some hardships which our religious have suffered
1624 Election of the first Provincial of the Philippines
1625 Preaching in Bayug and Malanao
Four of our Religious suffer martyrdom in Caraga
1631 Some dangers suffered in Caraga
Romblon
Lake of Malanao
1646 The Venerable Sister Isabel (Butuan)
Hospice in the City of Mexico
The Convent of Tandag
The Insurrection in the Village of Linao
The XI Mission
1656 Practice in the Spiritual Administration
Visitation of Ordinaries
1661 Insurrections in Pampanga and Pangasinaan
Insurrection of the Sangleyes (Chinese)
1662 Preaching in the “Contracosta “ (Casiguran)
Persecutions in the Philippines (1640-1668)
Continue. . . Fr. Antonio de S. Agustin
1670 Preaching in Zambales
Conversions in Bislig (Surigao)
1677 Preaching in Linao, Cagayan…
1679 Mindoro. Spiritual conquest
1681 Calamianes
1682 Efforts to extend to China
The 1683 Mission
1688 Masbate, Ticao, Burias
2
1
EARLY RECOLLECT MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
(Blair & Robertson, Vol. 21, 111-259)
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE DISCALCED AUGUSTINIAN FATHERS,
BY FRAY ANDRÉS DE SAN NICOLÁS
Decade II
Chapter V
Now the second provincial Chapter is held. The mission to the
Philippines Islands is effectively discussed. The college of
Zaragoça and the con vent of Pedroso are founded
Reference to the life of Sister Polonia de los Santos.
Year 1605
[At the second provincial. chapter meeting of the
Augustinian Recollects, held in April, 1605, at the Convent at
Madrid, father Fray Joan Baptist de Vera was chosen provincial.
At that chapter meeting,
1
2
the question of the rules of the young order was taken up,
with other business. After the conclusion of their business the
convention dissolved, “while father Fray Joan de San Geronimo1
was effecting his passage to the Indias, with his good companions
“ (pp. 396, 397).]
First mission of our religious to the Philipinas Islands
To his arduous labor in the formation and growth of the poor
discalced Augustinians, the first provincial [i. e., Fray Joan de San
Geronimo] gave a heroic end by beginning the very observant
province of San Nicolás2 de Tolentino, in the islands adjacent to
Asia which we commonly call Philippinas.
[A short narrative of the early discoverers follows, and the
beginnings of the Augustinian missions. That order proving
inadequate to cope with the immense number of the infidels, the
other orders are also given a part in their conversion. But the need
1
Fray Juan de San Jerónimo was born at Malagón, Spain; he became a
priest, and when already in middle life entered the discalced Augustinian order
at Talavera, in 1593, making his profession in the following year. He soon
attained high standing in this new order, and was the envoy sent to Rome to
negotiate its separation from the regular Augustinians and secure approval for
its constitution. In 1602 he was elected its first provincial, and under his rule the
order flourished and spread in Spain. He was nominated to the bishopric of
Chiapa, in Nueva España, but declined this honor that he might devote himself
to foreign missions. Arriving at the Philippines in 16o6, he organized there his
mission, built a convent at Bagunbayan, and undertook the conversion of the
natives in the province of Zambales. The convent expanded into a college, but
its buildings were demolished in 1644. Being soon afterward rebuilt, it lasted
until the eighteenth century, when it was again torn down. San Jerónimo had
charge of it during two years; but, his health being much enfeebled, he set out
on the return to Spain. when in sight of Ormuz, he died, in 161o. See account of
his life in San Nicolás’s Historia, pp. 469, 470; and in Provincia de S. Nicolas
de Tolentino (Manila, 1879), pp 20-23.
2
This and various other accents which are grave instead of acute follow
the text of the original work.
of other laborers is still felt, and King Felipe II assents to the
petition of Fray San Geronimo “to go to the Indias with twelve
associates to preach the gospel, in that part that he should deem
best.” King Felipe “immediately decreed that he should get ready
to go to the Philippinas Islands, and ordered his ministers to give
him the despatches immediately. The noted and pious father had
the despatches in hand before the celebration of the chapter, where
after it was called to order, he presented there the decree, which
received prompt obedience.”]
The memorial of this circumstance is found in the old
register, and is in the following form: “May first, one thousand six
hundred and five, while the very reverend fathers were in session,
etc. Our father Fray Joan de San Geronimo, outgoing provincial of
this province, presented certain royal letters of the king our
sovereign, and of his royal Council of the Indias, in which his
Majesty gives permission to the said father Fray Joan de San
Geronimo to take twelve religious to the Philippinas Islands to
preach the holy gospel, and to found -monasteries of our holy
order in those Philippinas Islands. Having examined and read
them, the expedition seemed to us to be one of great service to
God, and we, the entire body of definitors, resolved that it should
be under taken accordingly; and that all the documents and
authority necessary should be given to him so that he should go as
superior and vicar-provincial of the said Philippinas Islands; that
he may found monasteries there
2
3
and in all parts of the Indias with the following proviso,
namely, that he shall not have more authority than that which this
province shall give him; and that those houses that shall be
founded there, and the religious in them, shall always be subject to
the father provincial who is, or shall be, over this province. He
shall always correspond with the latter, and at each chapter held
they shall send the elections of vicar-provincial and priors, and the
acts that they shall pass, so that the father provincial of this
province may confirm them, or refuse to confirm, as he shall deem
best. Advice shall be given of all the deceased of those houses, so
that the office may be performed for them, at the time when the
elections of the vicar-provincials shall be sent, etc.” Then, lower in
the roll of those elected-or in the catalogue, as we commonly call
it-one reads at the end the words that follow: “As vicar provincial
of the Indias, we nominate the venerable father, Fray Joannis de
Sancto Hieronymo, and assign to him fourteen religious, who shall
always be subject to this provincial of this province of Hispania.”
This arrangement having been made (which was made by the
intervention of the royal decrees that were despatched at
Valladolid, April three of that year, and which contained, in fact,
the permission for such, and general authority to found as many
convents there as the new Augustinian Recollect missionaries
were able and desired; to which were added other messages
touching spiritual matters which the pontiff’s legate generously
conceded), the father provincial, Fray Joan. Baptista, decreed the
issue of his, warrant, on May two. In this document, after
mentioning that he was ordered and commanded by the king, and
also by the said legate, to send the said father as superior of the
religious, who were about to set out for the help of those who were
occupied in the vineyard of the Lord in the cultivation of those
islands, the father provincial entrusted to him all his authority,
without reserving anything whatever; but with the conditions that
we mention, in the records and other minutes which are generally
made on such occasions, the permissions that are despatched.
The father vicar-provincial had already chosen his workers,
men like himself. They were among the choicest and best men that
the Reform then had in their convents. They were as follows:
Fathers Fray Andres de San Nicolás, who was called de Canovas,
an apostolic man, and a great preacher in word and deed; Fray
Miguel de Santa Maria, a most exemplary man, and devoted to the
rigorous life; Fray Geronimo de Christo3, very austere and
observant; Fray Pedro de San Fulgencio, a capable and very clever
man for all things; Fray Diego de la Anunciacion4, adorned with
very
singular
virtues,
and
3
Andrés de San Nicolás died at sea, when the ship was in sight of the
Ladrone Islands.
Miguel de Santa María, after reaching Manila, was assigned to the
settlement of. Mariveles; but the natives were angered at his preaching, and
stoned him so severely chat he died from the effects of this attack, in the Manila
convent. Jerónimo de Christo was an old man when he departed for the
Philippine mission, but was noted for his learning and ability. He was elected
prior of the Manila convent, and afterward vicar-provincial in San Jerónimo’s
absence; and died while in active service in the missions, in 16o8.
4
Pedro de San Fulgencio soon afterward returned to. Europe, to obtain
more missionaries; having made arrangements for their voyage he died on
reaching Milan Diego de la Anunciacion, born in 1565, made his profession in
the Recollect convent at Madrid, in 1597; and held several high positions in his
order before he entered the Philippine mission. He was superior of the convent
at Bagunbayan, and afterward prior. After some years he returned to Spain,
where he spent the rest of his life, dying December 13, 1625.
3
4
regarded as a saint; Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel5, most
keen-witted and erudite in all learning; Fray Francisco Baptista, a
5
Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz (in religion, Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel)
was born in Valladolid-or, according to some authorities, in Orio of Guipuzcoa
in 1584, and entered the discalced Augustinian order at the age of fourteen
years. Joining the Philippine mission in 16o6, he ministered to the natives in
various districts of Luzón with great acceptance, employing his poetical talents
in teaching the Christian faith to the Indians. In 1614 he went to Spain for more
missionaries, returning to the islands in 1617-18. Again voyaging to Europe
(1622), he went, via India and Persia, to Rome, where he arrived in 1626.
Declining the pope’s offer to make him a bishop and patriarch in the Indias, he
planned a mission to Chaldea; but he died at Orio, while en route to Madrid,
December 26, 1626. He left several manuscript works, mainly historical, among
which was Historia general de las islas occidentales á la Asia adyacentes,
llamadas Philipinas; this was published in Documentos inéditos para la
historia de España, tomos lxxviii and lxxix (Madrid, 1882), but it was
apparently left unfinished by the author, the part that is extant treating mainly of
the early explorations by Magalhaes and Villalobos, and of the history of the
Moluccas.
In the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla, is the following letter from
Felipe IV to a brother of Fray Rodrigo:
“The King. It has been learned in the Council of the Indias that father
Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel, a discalced Augustinian religious, who is said to
be a brother of your Grace, brought from the Yndias a general history of the
Filipinas Islands, compiled with great care, as, in order to write it, he had
examined the archives and authentic memoirs of those regions; that it has been
lately our Lord’s pleasure to take father Fray Rodrigo, who has died in Vizcaya;
and that your Grace was given two of his books, especially the above history.
And inasmuch as that work would be very important for what is written on the
general history of the said islands by order of his Majesty, the matter having
been discussed with the father provincial of the said order, in which the latter
has declared that the said history is in possession of your Grace; the Council has
directed me to write to your Grace, in its name, that it would be greatly to the
service of his Majesty for your Grace to send me the said history for the said
purpose. And if your Grace wish remuneration for it, or that it be returned after
having used it for the said purpose, your Grace will advise me of what you
desire in this matter, so that those gentlemen may know it, and so that the’
penitent to excess, and regulated by conscience; Fray Francisco de
la Madre de Dios, most zealous for the discalced, and for the
welfare of his brethren; Fray Andres del Espiritu Santo, a
religious, although very young very modest and retiring6. The
father superintendent also chose four other religious, lay brethren,
who were of use and a great credit to the Reform, on the voyage,
and at the time when they came, whose names are as follows: Fray
Simon de San Joseph; Fray Joan de San Geronimo; Fray
Geronimo de la Madre de Dios; and Fray Joan de San Guillermo.
They all assembled in Madrid on the fifteenth or sixteenth of May.
Thence they left for Sevilla, and from there went later to San
Lucar. They were detained there until they could embark in one of
the ships of the Nueva España trading-fleet,: which set sail from
the great bay of Cadiz, July twelve, and commenced its voyage
happily.
The
advisable measures may be taken. May God preserve your Grace, as I desire.
Madrid, May seventeen, one thousand six hundred and twenty-seven.
Antonio González de Legardo
On the receipt of this letter, I beg your Grace to advise me immediately,
for the Council anxiously awaits a reply because of the history.” (Pressmark: “
est. 139, caj. I, leg. 15.”)
6
“Andrés del Espíritu Santo was born at Valladolid in 1585, and made
his profession at Portillo in 1601. Entering the Philippine mission, he began his
labors with the natives in the province of Zambales, where he was very
successful. In 1609, and again in 1615, he as chosen vicar-provincial. Afterward
going to Spain for more missionaries, he returned to the islands in 1622, and
four years later became provincial, as again in 1632. The rest of his life was
spent at Manila; where he died in 1658.
4
5
zealous missionaries were going, very full of God, and
consequently did not abate one point of their observance, fulfilling
their religious obligations as if they were in the most retired house
of those which they had left behind in their province,
notwithstanding that they were going in the midst of the traffic and
excitement that seem to be inevitable in sea-voyages, and more so
in so long ones as are those of the Indias. They did not discontinue
the two hours mental prayer or the choral divine office, at their
proper times, and the silence, fastings, and discipline. If they were
given any moment from those holy exercises, they employed it in
preaching, and in caring for the sick. They cared for and served
the latter with what they needed, and as well as they could. They
did not content themselves only in their own ship, for when good
weather and the quiet of the sea permitted, they went in the small
boat or lancha to the others, in order to console and confess those
in need of it. They gave them wholesome counsels, and
encouraged them to serve God our Lord as they ought. By such
course they succeeded in gaining great credit and esteem. The
commander himself always approached them with his flagship to
salute them, and to ask after their health, and whether they needed
anything, while he commended himself very earnestly to their
petitions and prayers. He visited them in the island of Guadalupe
with the great following of his men, charging to them the
prosperous outcome of the fleet. Finally they reached the port of
San Juan de Lúa, September seventeen, with the rejoicing
common to those who sail, and especially on those seas. They
disembarked and, after having rested for some little time, they
took the road; this they moderated by stopping several days in La
Puebla de los Angeles7, as guests of our calced fathers, where they
received the friendly reception and love that that province has
shown to the discalced very often because their beginning was in
that form.
Since the strictness of that convent was then extreme, it lit
up in great measure the devotion and modesty of ours, the will of
all going well alongside the rare mildness of their customs. The
more serious inmates of the house did not fail to praise the
humility, poverty, and circumspect behavior of our fathers; and
consequently not a few of them were determined to follow their
purpose and accompany them on that holy undertaking, and to
enjoy so good examples. They requested this from the father
commissary, but he, being so exact in matters of attention and
courtesy, excused himself prudently, in order not to anger the
prelates of the province; and, besides, because he had no order
from the king, nor any subsidy with which to pay the expenses of
any more persons than he had brought from España, although he
esteemed the desire that they showed to aid him. He went
immediately to Mexico, leaving the fathers of La Puebla very
enamored and sad. They were received in that magnificent city
with kindness and extraordinary devotion by the most learned
father, Fray Diego de Contreras to whom was given, after a few
years, the church of Santo Domingo, the primatial church of the
7
A city between Vera Cruz and Mexico City, more commonly known as
Puebla; it was founded about 1530, and became the seat of the diocese in 1550,
and soon was a flourishing agricultural and manufacturing center.
5
6
Indias. He was then professor of rhetoric in the noted university,
and rector of the college of San Pablo whose venerating
community went out to meet them in solemn procession and with
pomp, when they entered their gates. The learned master gave
proof of his ardent charity in his hospitality and cordial kindness,
making them very happy. He prepared a room for them, in which
they remained, where they received all comfort and aid, until the
father vicar-provincial rented a comfortable house, into which he
and his subordinates, and the brethren whom he had with him
moved, in order not to give occasion for so much ceremony and so
many compliments; hoping for the near opportunity to depart for
the port of Acapulco.
That one-although formerly a secular lodging, now a very
strict convent-could rival the most famous monastery in the matter
of observance; for, giving themselves to continual prayers,
rigorous fastings, harsh mortifications, and severe penances, all of
them were opposing themselves to the best of their ability in the
war against the flesh. They did not leave the house unless
summoned for some work of charity, such as to confess or to
preach, which they performed very willingly, and to the profit and
good of souls. They voted unanimously not to strive to obtain for
themselves or for others, under any -pretext, in person or through
others, any offices within the order, or out of it -in order to give, as
was actually seen, a solid foundation to the province which they
afterward erected so humbly. Their rigid mode of life there was
bruited through the city, and the most noble and the wealthiest,
with simple earnestness, asked them to remain. Some of such
persons offered to endow their house, and others to contribute very
ample alms. They begged our fathers at least to leave them the
number sufficient to give a good beginning to the convent that
they desired to establish. The master, Fray Diego de, Contreras,
whom we mentioned above, was aiding and encouraging those
arguments, promising that they would become discalced, and that
he would carry forward our Institute8, with his great authority and
power, in that kingdom. Father Joan de San Geronimo was
tempted by those pious offers of generosity, but he did not deceive
himself; for many souls would have been lost if he had desisted
from that opportune and holy voyage, or if he had lessened the
number of the helpers whom he took with him -who were but few
for the abundant harvest that they set about gathering, as we shall
note with the lapse of years, in the manner in which it occurred.
Accordingly, having closed his ears to all the proposed
advantages, he undertook to go to the port at the end of that year,
where we shall leave him continuing with his observance f rules
and pious devotions on the roads, although these were horrible, as
if he had been in the most comfortable and most quiet convent of
all those which he had lately left well established in España.
[The remainder of chapter V is concerned with matter that
does not touch the Philippines, namely, the founding of the college
of Zaragoza, that of the convent of Pedroso, and the life of Sister
Polonia de los Santos.]
8
“Instituto: constitution, or rules of observance, adopted by the Order.
6
7
Chapter VI
Our religious reach Luzon, after the death of Father Andres de
San Nicolas in sight of the islands. They found the convent, which
is located outside the walls of Manila, and undertake the
conversion of the barbarous Zambales, in which three of their men
die from the hardships, and father Fray Alonso de la Anunciacion
at the house of Portillo.
We left father Fray Joan de San Geronimo and his twelve
associates, anxious to finish their journey, continuing their road
from Mexico to the port commonly called Acapulco, because it
was necessary to embark once more in order to reach Philippinas,
where God our Lord had prepared many souls who, oppressed by
the demon, had no ministers to lighten their darkness. There was
already in the said port a ship ready to sail, called “Espiritu Santo,
“ and they were accordingly detained but a short time. They
finally set sail on the twenty-second of February, that year of one
thousand six hundred and six, in all safety, and all being overjoyed
at seeing them selves nearer the land that they were seeking. Some
incidents happened on that voyage which were after ward regarded
as miracles, and all attributed them to the good company of ‘so
notable religious whom they carried. The first one was that, the
ship being all but sent to the bottom by burning, the fire having
approached near some barrels of . powder, warning was given in
so good time that it could be extinguished, when if there had been
but little more de lay, this would have been impossible. The
second seemed more prodigious; for on a certain very, clear and
serene night, shouts came from the bow from those who were
stationed there, crying, « Land! land ! “ The pilot and sailors were
thunderstruck as soon as they saw themselves upon some shoals or
sunken rocks, and already lost beyond all remedy. Thereupon
bewailing their misfortune, they tried to seek confession, as
quickly as possible. They thought that all efforts were useless;
therefore they cared for nothing else. However they tried to cast
the line, but uselessly, for their lines were cut, and they the more
confounded by their slight hopes of life. The ship went ahead into
that chasm [rebentaçon] -as it is called- as if it were passing
through a strait; and after having sailed a goodly stretch without
accident, among so many reefs, they found themselves on the high
sea, free from everything.
Father Fray Andres de San Nicolas had preached the
previous afternoon with great energy against the great
licentiousness and shameless conduct of the passengers and the
other people, who had no fear of God. He severely censured their
excesses, and the little anxiety that they showed in that time of
greatest danger. With burning words, he exhorted them to do
better, representing to them their danger and begging them,
finally, to confess, since they did not know what was to happen
that night. The fruit that proceeded from that sermon was large,
for, his audience becoming terrified and contrite, many of them
confessed, and others proposed to do the same by having their
entangled consciences examined as soon as possible. After a few
hours, what is described above was experienced, whereby all
thought that the good preacher had had a revelation of that event;
and they could not thank our Lord sufficiently for having granted
to them the company of so good religious, but more specially the
company
of
him
who
7
8
preached to them of their danger whom they regarded as a
distinguished servant of God, as he was. Some certified afterward
that that place through which the boat had passed had been a rocky
islet, and that they had seen it on other voyages; and they were
astonished at having escaped on that occasion with life, attributing
it, beyond doubt, to a manifest miracle, which the Lord wrought at
the intercession of those fathers. They desired, therefore, to listen
to their teaching daily, and especially to that of the father who
announced to them what we have seen. Consequently, not sparing
themselves at all, the fathers gave in alternation their inspired
discourses, which were the health and medicine of the many who
were there-the ship so conforming itself to these that it seemed a
reformed convent, where before it had been a house of confusion
and bluster, with soldiers, mariners, and seamen.
The same father, Fray Andres, among the continual sermons,
preached a very fervent one on a certain day, and gave them to
understand that he would live but a short time, and that he was not
to reach the land of promise, for his faults and defects. That
happened so, for not long after, he fell sick, before sighting the
islands called Ladrones. His sickness in creasing, when he was
told that the islands were in sight, he arose ‘from his bed, and
looking at them, through a porthole of his cabin, immediately lay
down again, saying, “Nunc moriar laetus “ 9. -His weakness was
already very great, and, as he had al ready received the holy
sacraments, and was in great resignation and joy of soul, and all
our fathers were present, he begged father Fray Joan de San
Geronimo to have the passion of Jesus Christ our Lord read to him
very slowly. That was done, in the manner that he desired: He,
holding an image of the same crucified Lord in his hands, broke
out into very glowing utterances of love, and shed many tears
9
during those moments. After the passion was finished -which
lasted until near dawn, on account of so many pauses-he begged
pardon of all for his omissions and neglect. He asked them to
remember him in their masses and prayers. They recited the
penitential psalm and other prayers, at the end of which, the sick
man, very happy, conversed with his brethren with great affability.
He charged them to keep their vows and the observance of the
rules of the order. He persuaded them to persevere steadfastly in
their purpose, and to be mindful of the zeal with which they had
been ready to leave their fatherland for the welfare and
conservation of many souls. He encouraged them to place their
confidence in God, for His Sovereign Majesty had especial
providence and care over that small flock. Accordingly, they were
not to become disconsolate with the thought that they had no
house or convent in Philipinas, for already a lodging suitable for
their purposes was being prepared for them. He concluded by
urging them to commend their souls to Him, and then became very
calm. All obeyed him, surprised, and desirous of such a death;
and, at the end of the prayer, that chosen spirit went out in peace
and quiet from the waves and shipwrecks of this world, and
reached the safe and calm harbor of glory.
Upon beholding his death, one cannot imagine the grief of
both religious and laymen; for, venerating him as a father, they
bewailed
him
universally,
and
in
all
truth,
“ Now I shall die happy.”
8
9
there was not one, who did not show great affliction. The corpse
remained in such manner that it caused gladness to all who looked
at it. Various opinions-were expressed as to whether they should
bury it in the sea or not. The laymen promised that they would
deposit it in a fitting place, until they should cast anchor in the
islands now near. Father Fray Joan de San Geronimo did not
consent to this, in order to avoid innovations and especially when
they were going to countries where they had no home, and where
they knew no one. Therefore, placing the body in a closely. sealed.
wooden box, with an inscription written on a certain sheet of lead,
which denoted his name, country, and virtues, amid their
lamentations and tears the body was cast into the sea, without
having added the weight which is used to draw the body to the
bottom of the water. On account of that carelessness the box
should have remained on the surface of the water, without being
able to sink at all; but on that occasion the Lord permitted that the
waves should receive such deceased without any violence. As the
ship was in a calm, consequently, all were witnesses that it settled
to the bottom very gradually, and easily. Certain violent fevers
were raging in that vessel, from which about forty had already
died, at the time that the noted Aragonese and observant religious
finished the navigation of his life. But from that instant all had
health, becoming better and recovering very soon. That was
attributed to his prayers in heaven in fulfillment of the word that
he gave them, during the last moments, of his life, namely, that he
would commend them to God in glory, provided that he went
there, as he ‘had good hopes of doing. ‘After the conclusion of the
services for a death so fortunate and so bewailed, they soon
arrived -May tenth at the islands that they were seeking. Having
disembarked first, according to the order that they bore, on the
island of Zibü, the discalced were lodged in the convent of our
calced fathers, the venerable bishop, and that example of prelates,
Don Fray Pedro de Agurto, as we saw in his life, having gone out
to receive them in procession. That most illustrious man desired
that the new missionaries should not go further, and offered them
a foundation and whatever they wished, in order to exercise
themselves in the conversion and salvation of the infidels. It was
impossible to assent to so many kindnesses, for their immediate
passage to Manila was unavoidable, in order that the governor
might see the despatches and the decrees from España, which it
was necessary to present to him. After having given the bishop the
thanks due, they had to set out as soon as possible.
Before proceeding with our relation, it will not be out of
place to tell our readers, although in few words, something about
the island of Luzon and the city of Manila, as it is the metropolis
of the kingdoms that the crown of Castilla has there. It was given
that name, then, since the Spaniards have owned it, from a chief
village so named, distant two leguas, from Manavilis, which is
corruptly called Marivelez. It was also called Nueva Castilla. It is
the largest island in the Philippinas, and extends farthest north of
all those islands. It is the most; populous in nations and tribes,
who exceed the others, both in bravery and in the light of reason,
with,well. . ’. known advantages. Its, least altitude is scant thirteen
9
10
degrees, and its greatest ten or nine and one-half. Its circuit,
without taking into account certain bays, comprehends four
hundred and twelve leguas. Those who make it three hundred are
in error, for they do not consider its position. It is all very fertile,
and has many large rivers, that of Cagayan or Nueva Segovia
being more swollen than the others. They are all navigable, more
or less. Ships enter that of Manila at full tide with one-half their
cargo, but the galleys enter it generally without any trouble. It
furnishes a location for the aforesaid city, on a certain very
pleasant and beautiful site on the shores of the sea. It is a point
made by the Pasig River insight of the bay. That bay is affirmed to
be one of the largest and best that men can see in all the world, for
it is thirty leguas in circumference, and has an island of six miles
at its mouth, where a sentinel is always stationed. It sustains more
than one hundred thousand persons daily with fish, counting the
Sarngleys and Japanese, and the villages that are settled on its
shores. When Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legaspi took it by
force of arms, May nineteen, one thousand five hundred and
seventy, ten thousand houses beautified it, and it was the court of
the king, Ladya [sic] Solimàn, a follower in part of the religion of
Mahomet. The same general rebuilt the city, and left it its former
name of Manila also the proper name of the island -in the
following year of seventy-one. He made it the capital of the rest of
the archipelago, as it was very suitable for the concourse and
commerce of China. Its streets are pleasant and spacious, and
without crossways or turns; for they are all straight, and have
beautiful buildings of stone, which vie,with those of España that
are considered well made. It is strong by art and by nature,
because of the many creeks and swamps that surround it, together
with the great wall of stone built according to the style of the
moderns, with not a few ramparts. It is well defended with
artillery, and has an excellent and important fortress, supplied with
all that is necessary, even as the most noted forts that are
renowned in Europa. Finally, it is now the finest and richest city of
all those of its class that are known in the world. It enjoys a
cathedral with its archbishop, a royal Chancilleria, a presidio with
numerous soldiers, and in short, all the products that the regions of
the Orient yield for the pleasure, health, and comfort of this life,
without having to envy anyone for anything. That city alone
makes the name of España very glorious and formidable there; and
what is more, it is that city which maintains the Catholic religion
in chose very remote and out-of-the-way hemispheres.
Writing this brief relation in order to give a beginning to the
entrance of ours, we shall go after them immediately, and shall
find them safe at the gates of Manila, after a journey of four
thousand eight hundred leagues by the course that they pursued
from Espuma. That country was then very joyful over the good
news of the success that their governor, Don Pedro de Acuña, had
had in the capture of Terrenàte, one of the enviable islands of
Malúco. They were sheltered in a small house, until they found,
better accommodations; and although the whole city, upon hearing
of their arrival, came in throngs to visit them and offer them more
suitable lodging, as also did the holy orders already settled there,
with singular affection, they refused to accept it-except
10
11
the infirmary, which they consented to take for some [sick men],
in the convent of the most exemplary Dominican fathers, who
immediately gave it with the greatest charity. At this juncture the
victorious governor arrived, and amid all his victories and
triumphs, as soon as he heard of Ours, he went to visit them and to
regale them, as he was so Catholic and devout a gentleman. Time
was wanting to present the royal despatches to him, for while he
was in the height of his glories, sudden death assaulted him,
brought him to his feet, and cast him into the gloom of a
sepulcher. For that reason the recognition of the decrees and
orders was suspended for sometime. But at last, having been
examined and ordered by the royal Audiencia and other officials
to be observed, permission was freely given to father Fray Joan de
San Geronimo to erect the establishments that he wished.
Foundation of the first convent of Manila
The announcement made by father Fray Andres de San
Nicolas while on his deathbed to his brethren was fulfilled without
any failure namely, that they should not despair, for divine.
Providence was al ready arranging a house for them, which would
give great pleasure to all. The fact was that, in verification of his
words on the same day on which the des patches for their voyage
were made in España, the deceased governor began to build a very
fine summer-house, which had its garden and its ponds, in a site
called Bagunbaiàn, only three hundred paces from the walls. It
was just being finished when he returned from his conquest, and
when he ended the pleasures and joys of this life: The retreat and
pleasantness of this place were very welcome to Ours;
consequently they tried to buy it, and did so -having collected the
alms in two afternoons. During that time two religious went
through the city, accompanied by certain influential persons, [and
collected] more than three thousand pesos, with which they paid
the sum asked, a great portion of what they should have given
having been forgiven to them. Accordingly, they immediately took
possession of their convent on the day of St. Nicolás de Tolentino,
to whom they dedicated it by a special vow, which all took at the
beginning of their navigation from the shores and coasts of
España. Under such good horoscope was born the happy province
of the Philipinas Islands. And thus we should not wonder at the
great luster that it has cast, shedding its rays by its zeal through the
darkest and most forgotten districts, where a notable number of
pagans, who were living like wild beasts in a blind barbarism,
received the truth of the faith which we profess.
The apostolic men first settled the firm foundation of their
house not in the material of it but in the direction of their solid
virtues. They lived in the greatest poverty and contempt of
[earthly] things, without other end than the seeking of God in
prayer, and in making Him known and loved in their talks and
examples. There was some opposition on the part of our calced
fathers in regard to the title that they gave to the new church, that
of the miraculous Father San Nicolás de Tolentino; for his
devotion was practiced in a chapel of the principal convent and
was very popular, and they thought that it would be lessened or be
done away with altogether. Ours, being 16 good men, disapproved
greatly
litigation;
and,
11
12
although with great grief, they talked of consenting to change the
title, commending the matter to our Lord very earnestly, with the
intervention of peculiar penances and exercises. The matter was
left to be decided by lot, in which many saints took part, not
excluding their own dear one. He, then, was chosen, the first,
second, and third time; and the will of God was thus made plain.
Not only did they confirm what was already done, but they also
placed under his protection the province which was now in its
beginning, and gave it his name. In accordance with this a very
solemn feast was made, that venerable prelate and bishop of
bishops Don Fray Pedro de Agurto saying the first mass. He had
come to Manila from Zibú to be the rainbow [Iris] that announced
peace and true brotherhood to calced and discalced, whom we
ought to hold as sons of a good father. Father Fray Pedro Solier a
chosen shoot of the convent of Salamanca, and afterward
provincial of those islands, bishop of Puerto Rico, and lastly
archbishop of Santo Domingo and primate of the Indias-preached
in glowing terms in praise of the Reform, in the presence of the
royal Audiencia, the ecclesiastical and secular cabildos, the orders,
the nobility, and all the people of Manila-who from that time made
greater progress in the veneration and worship of that saint. The
good-will that the city began to have for the new evangelical
ministers was vast. Consequently, the city desired to shelter them
within the girdle of its walls, on noting the discomfort that they,
were suffering; and that was done by moving the convent of San
Nicolas, as we shall see.
It seemed hard for the religious to leave their first
foundation, not so much for the material of the house as for the
service that they were performing for our Lord in that suburb, in
administering the holy sacraments to the not few persons who
were living there. Those people, especially at night, were deprived
of spiritual aid, for it was necessary that the gates of the city be
tightly shut and the necessary guards posted. It was a true
inspiration from heaven not to abandon that convent (flow that of
San Joan Baptista), since as was within a very short time made
evident, through the care and presence of Ours –so great a number
of Christians came so frequently from all parts to confession and
to holy communion that four ministers daily have not been
sufficient. They numbered some Spaniards and many negroes,
both free and slave, and more Indians of different nations, who
came to seek in that refuge relief from their sins and failings. They
found that convent always open day and night and the religious
ever ready to give them the health and life of their souls. After
several years the province determined that that house should be
made a college, and accordingly that was carried out. The arts and
theology were studied there, for, although instruction and piety
join hands, it was not advisable that the college and the house be
in one place. In that place rest three incorruptible bodies of the
first founders, and no one knows who they are. All are surprised
that they can remain so well pre served in a country so damp and
hot, and it is regarded by all as a miracle. That college, besides the
aforesaid, possessed a great treasure in the image of our Lady of
Health. On bringing it from Mexico, that image gave proofs of her
favors not a few times on the sea, and perfecting and increasing
them
in
12
13
the islands through her mercy. Her installation was celebrated with
great pomp and ostentation in the presence of the royal Audiencia
and the city, which made very Catholic and pious demonstrations
in the feast. The church was filled in a short time with vows and
memorials which the faithful offered. A brotherhood was founded
under the title of Transito de Nuestra Señora [i. e., “Transit of our
Lady “], whose chief procession may be seen and is solemnized on
the third Friday of Lent, with the greatest ostentation and display
that one could express in writing or in speech. The members of the
confraternity march clad in very neat white tunics with blue
escapulars, bearing the attributes of the queen of the skies on
pendants of the same color and embroidered at a great cost-with a
numerous accompaniment of children dressed as angels, who at
intervals march along singing praises to the Virgin. It is not an
easy task to count the large tapers and lighted candles; for, as is
said, it is one of the best functions that are seen in the Philippinas.
Then follows the bed of the always glorious and most pure Virgin,
which the most devout and most noble women adorn with the
wealth of the city. The bed is surrounded with a group of children,
also dressed as angels, which is a cause for surprise every year.
Lastly, go about one thousand bleeding penitents; and there many
votive images, which move innumerable persons -to compunction,
who come from the neighboring provinces to enjoy that day
without fear of, any trouble. Thus has the, fitting reverence of that
image increased until it is one of the greatest in the Philippinas; as
ha been experienced on various occasions, especially when they
put it within : the city (for fear of the Sangleys who revolted) in
order to make a novena, in which took part the royal Chancillería,
the archbishop, and the cabildos, for the health of the Catholic
army which was very sick. From that prayer resulted not only the
attaining of the convalescence of the soldiers, but also the peace
and quiet that was sought. That college suffered a great blow in
the time of a certain governor, whose name, in order not to cast
infamy on him purposely, we suppress. He, under pretext that its
building was a great obstacle to the wall, rigidly made them
demolish it, driving our religious thence, contrary to justice and
the permission of the city and cabildo; they opposed him until they
could do no more, as they saw that he did that, being desirous of
not conducting himself well, for it is said that such was his
custom. But when the end of his office came, the church and
cabildo brought suit for the injury received from that illegal act;
and they sentenced -him to twenty-five thousand pesos,
notwithstanding that it is said that the damage exceeded fifty.
Thereupon the college was rebuilt, and the image again placed
there.
Preaching of Ours in the province of Zambales and of
Tugui. Eagerly had the apostolic men left España in search of
misguided and lost souls whom they might lead to the knowledge
of God and into the flock of His Church. When once they had set
foot on the destined land they could not be kept from turning their
eyes and their desire to all parts. The first task was to, learn some
one of the many languages which are spoken among so many and
so barbarous nations, in order to have the means to convert,
13
14
the people that should happen to fall to their lot. Accordingly, after
well considering the matter, they determined to study Tagál, as it
was the most general tongue, and the one that was talked as native
in Manila and its environs. All immediately applied themselves to
one language with no little desire and diligence. He who learned it
first was father Fray Miguel de Santa Maria, who was called
Bombàu. Discussing with him in what part it would be better to
begin their missions, they thought that it was not advisable to go
far from Manila, since they were so few. At that juncture a very
good opportunity came to their hands in the shape of a village
quite near by, now called Marivelez10. 34 Its inhabitants had no
ministers, no one of them wishing, although many were at its very
doors, to abide in it both because of the insalubrious climate of its
location, and because of the bad disposition of the Indians, who
were like brutes in their intercourse and in their customs. The
vicar-provincial stumbled over none of these obstacles, because of
his firm zeal. Accordingly, he sent the said father, Fray Miguel de
Santa Maria, accompanied by father Fray Pedro de San Joseph
-who, although of the Observance, had discalced him-self-together
with a lay-brother, named Fray Francisco de Santa Monica, who
also went with both of the former, all of them being skilled in the
aforesaid language. They invoked in common the grace of the
Holy Spirit, and, after a fervent prayer, they took their farewells—
these anxious to accomplish their desires, and the others sick at
heart at seeing them selves left behind them. They were not long
in arriving at the lairs of the wild beasts, who lived eight leguas
from Manila, and were desirous to subdue and soften them,
together with the rest of the coast of Zambales and of Tugui,
which extends for a little more than thirty leguas to Bolinào.
The customs and ceremonies of those people must be
touched upon briefly, not so much for the diversion that they may
afford as that, we may certify to the labor of Ours in changing
them according to law and reason, and putting them into a suitable
condition. The worship with which they then reverenced their
false deities they were wont to perform not in the villages, but
outside them in the mountains, or the part nearest to their fields.
They had certain little houses there like chapels, in which they all
assembled. But that did not prevent them from having gods
penates, or idols, which they called anitos. The priesthood was
exercised by certain old men, ceremonious in the extreme, and not
less by old women called catalônas witches, superstitious
creatures, diviners, and casters of lots-who were esteemed and so
thoroughly believed that whatever they said, although lies, was
taken as an infallible oracle. The manner of their sacrifices (which
they called by the name maganitos, on meeting to make them in
the place that we have spoken of above, was none other than that,
having prepared an unclean animal, very well grown or for lack of
it, a large cock they offered it to the devil by means of one of
those witches, with peculiar and curious ‘ceremonies. For, dancing
to the sound of a bell, she took in her hands a small idol, made to
imitate the form in which the father of deceit was-wont to appear
to them at times; it was of human form, with very ugly features,
and
a
long
beard.
10
Luis de Jesus states (Historia, p. 79) that this name is a corruption of
Manavilis.
14
15
She spoke certain words to it, invoking its presence, whereupon
the iniquitous spirit came, and entered into her miserable body in
order to dictate to her the deceits that are, its custom in such acts.
After having declared their false notions to those present, they ate
the animal or bird, and they drank to intoxication, where upon the
wicked sacrifice, was brought to an end. Besides that adoration
which they gave to the devil, they revered several false gods-one,
in especial, called bathala mey capal, whose false genealogies and
fabulous, deeds they celebrated in certain tunes and verses like
hymns. Their whole religion was based an those songs, and they
were passed on from generation to generation, and were sung in
their feasts and most solemn assemblies. Those who were ignorant
of the teachings of Mahomet adored not less the sun, the moon,
the rainbow, birds, and animals-but especially the cayman or
crocodile; a blue bird closely resembling ‘the thrush; the crow;
rocks placed on the11 shores of the sea, and those that they see in
the sea, such as sunken rocks and shoals.
Their ancestors also enjoyed that worship, and more
especially those who had been famous in arms, and in the virtues
native to their mode of belief; and they believed that reward was
the lot of the good, and punishment that of the wicked. From this
arose among them the knowledge of the immortality of the soul.
Accordingly, when anyone died, they bathed the body and buried
it with benzoin, storax, and other aromatic substances, and clothed
it then in the best of its possessions. Before burying the body, they
bewailed it for the space of three days. They anointed the bodies
of those of high rank with certain confections, which kept it from
corruption better than do our unguents of Europa. They did not
bury them except in the lower part of their houses, having placed
and deposited them in a coffin of incorruptible wood. They placed
some bits of gold in the mouth, and on the body the best jewels
that they had. To that preparation they added a box of clothing,
which they placed near them, and every day they carried them
food and drink. They did not take especial pains that, if the dead
had possessed more property, everything should be left to him; but
slaves, both men and women, were presented to them to serve
them in the other life (which they no doubt imagined to be similar
to the present life). The custom that they observed with those
slaves was, to behead them immediately after having fed them
sumptuously, so that they might not fail the service and company
of such influential men, since the latter needed them, as they said.
In confirmation of that, it happened that, on the death of a chief of
that race, they killed all the sailors necessary for a boat’s crew, in
order that servants, and rowers befitting his station might not be
lacking to him in the life that . they ignorantly imagined for such a
person. After the conclusion of those honors, they gave themselves
up to extensive revelry and feasting, which they interspersed with
their mourning, observing a notable silence in the nearest houses’
and in the streets. No one worked, just as during a festal occasion;
nor did he have to navigate under any consideration. ‘He who
opposed the aforesaid usage did not escape death, which was
inflicted
on
him
Cf the accounts by Loarca (vol. V of this series) and
Plasencia (vol. VII).
11
15
16
with rigor and without recourse.
Among all the above and many other follies, they believed
that the world had a beginning, and they had some notion of the
flood; but it was confused with the greatest nonsense and lies.
They did not doubt the fact of there having been in its time a
creation of man, but they believed that the first one had emerged
from a bamboo joint and his wife out of another, under very
ridiculous and stupid circumstances. They did not consider
homicide as wrong, and the taking of as many lives as possible
was a great honor. Consequently, the valiant and those who were
feared set the heads of those who perished at their hands on the
doors of their houses, as a proof of their deeds; for he who hung
up the greatest number in the sight of his other countrymen was
most esteemed and applauded. It was an abuse of obligation that, a
father or mother having died, the son who inherited should retire
from the village into the mountains and forests until he had
despoiled at least two persons of the common light even though it
should be, as one can well judge, at the risk of losing the light that
he himself was enjoying. When they had more children than they
desired, or than they could support as they wished, they generally
buried them alive. In what pertains to political government, they
had no greater superiority than that which the most powerful
usurped in the matter of life and death over those who were not
powerful, disposing of them as they wished. Accordingly they
made them slave, for very slight reasons and occasions. When any
suits and quarrels arose in regard to criminal or civil matters, their
old men assembled, and composed these difficulties or passed
sentence in them, and no one could appeal or petition from their
decisions. They proved causes orally, examining witnesses and
investigating doubts verbally. Their laws were only traditions and
very old customs, but they observed these carefully not so much
for fear of punishment, as because they believed that he who
violated them would be instantly killed, or at least become
afflicted with the disease of leprosy, and that another part also of
his body would become corrupt.
Our three religious opposed themselves to so profound
darkness as this, with the light of the gospel, and without taking
other arms than the cross and the scourge of penance, by which all
the wretchedness and misfortunes there were changed into delights
and comforts. The suffering of great hardships was inevitable; for
since those brutes were intractable and ferocious, they did not
show the fathers any hospitality that had any mark of reason and
sense. The fathers sought them through the thickets and fields
where they were living, and, alluring them with loving words,
gave them to understand their error and the blindness of their
souls. They preached to them with the ardor that came from their
hearts of the Triune and One Lord, who governs the universe, and
told them their obligation to love Him and to bow to the mild yoke
of His law; but those people preferred to condemn themselves
forever to the pains of hell. The fathers retired at night to some
very small huts that they had made, in order to take the necessary
refreshment, which consisted only of beans [frijoles], and at most
a little rice, which they obtained but seldom. Then they gave some
rest and repose to their weakened and fatigued bodies. That rest
was,
however,
broken
by
three
cruel
16
17
disciplines, which all took every two hours, in order to soften and
mollify the diamond hearts of those barbarians with their blood.
With that efficacious medicine and their tireless care, they
continued gradually to soften those rocks although from the
wretched life that they were living, and their immense toil in going
by day through those rough mountains, seeking the sheep whom
they desired to corral with. the flock, within the sheepfold of the
Church, and from the worse sufferings in their nights, they
sickened and died.
[Accounts of the pious deaths of Fathers Miguel de Santa
Maria, and Pedro de San Joseph, and Brother Francisco de Santa
Monica, the three laborers in this first mission, follow in this same
section. The first named had long been renowned for his
asceticism, both in Spain and in the islands, having been one of
the first to join the new order. The second had been a calced
Augustinian, but had transferred his allegiance to the Recollects
after their arrival in the islands, and was very useful on this
mission because of his thorough knowledge of Tagal. The
narrative continues:]
By the death of those three religious, the others might well
fear to go to complete the reduction of Marivelez, and to prosecute
what was already begun with the perfidious Zambales. But being
full of the love of God, and of zeal for souls, each of them offered
himself, just as if it were to obtain the greatest comfort and
abundance that men generally seek; and all demanded it anxiously,
each as best he could, as their most ambitious desire to go up there
and be honored. The city opposed it, for they thought that it meant
to send those fathers to their death-and all the more as they saw
that, since Ours were so few and so pious, they could serve more
usefully in more secure and healthful places. The holy obstinacy
of those who would not consent to abandon the post conquered.
Accordingly, the first lot fell to father Fray Rodrigo de San
Miguel. He disposed the minds of those heathen in such manner
that, completing their reduction and leading them to the yoke of
the Lord, and to a civilized and Christian life, he built a convent in
a village called Bacag, adding to it that of Luzon, which gave
name to the island of Manila through the error or
misunderstanding of the first Spaniards, who discovered it, when
examining and questioning the Indians whom they met in a boat.
They removed afterward to a better site, in the said Marivelez, and
that place has seven other villages, in a distance of twelve leguas,
which it administers as annexes. The persons who were converted
to the faith by the energy and labor of Ours reached one thousand
five hundred.
That fort having been assured against the power and empire
of the devil, the door was opened wider for passage inside, and the
tyrannized souls of the Indians of Zambales were gained. The
latter, confident in their fierceness, were divided along the
seacoast, and exercised themselves in the chase, by which they
sustained themselves together with some fish -only zealous in
killing men, which was the greatest glory among them.
Consequently, no boats dared to go to their lands, unless with,
great risk of the occupants losing their lives. With such brutality,
the mountains of difficulties which father Fray Rodrigo had to
conquer
in
softening
the
harshness
17
18
of those beasts; and the sweat and labor that it would cost him to
make them comprehend the dictates of reason (from which they
were very far), while he was suffering extreme penury in all things
necessary to life, can be imagined. His food was only wild herbs
and some fruit, which was not on all occasions accompanied by a
mouthful of biscuit, sent as a great treat, if possible, from Manila.
His rest, day and night, was so little, and was so liable to surprises
that scarcely could he rest a moment without the expectation of
death before him all the time, which the heathen, instigated by the
devil, promised to give him. He went through their thickets and
along their shores, crying out and endeavoring to conquer the
coldness of those men. By virtue of the cross, he was finally able,
little by little, to soften the insolence of their fierce breasts, and to
render them more tractable, although they seemed like rocks in the
hardness of their obstinate hearts.
God our Lord decreed that, in order to conquer their
obstinate resistance, it should happen one day that this same
father, Fray Rodrigo, on passing through a thicket consecrated to
their devils (where, as their rites said, it was sacrilege to cut or
touch any branch besides the great fear that they had conceived
that if anyone should have the audacity to do so, or to take the
least thing, he would surely die immediately), saw a tree covered
with a certain fruit which they. call pahos12,36 that resemble the
excellent plums that we know in Europa. As it was so ripe and
mellow, he ordered them to climb the tree and get some of the
fruit. Those accompanying him refused roundly, but he insisted on
his desire. They finally explained, and said that they would do it
under no consideration; for, beyond all doubt, those who dared to
offend the respect for that place would die very suddenly. Upon
hearing that, the father was inflamed with zeal for the honor and
worship of the true God whom he was preaching. Asking them
whether all trees around about had that quality of inflicting death
on him who touched them, accidentally or designedly, they
answered “Yes.” Then elevating his voice, he gave them a fervent
discourse against the delusion under which they were laboring;
and concluded by intimating to them that he himself would get and
eat the fruit, as well as cut down the trees, so that they might see
that one would not die, and so that they might thereby be freed
from the error and blindness of their ancestors. The Indians were
very sorrowful because father Fray Rodrigo had decided to eat of
the fruit, and they accordingly begged him earnestly and humbly
not to do it. But the good religious, arming himself with prayer
and with the sign of the cross, and repeating that antiphony, Ecce
crucem Domini: fugite partes adverse. Vicit leo de tribu Juda13,
began to break the branches and to climb the tree, where he
gathered a great quantity of the fruit. He ate not a little of it before
them all, in detestation of their wicked superstitions and
ill-founded fears. The Indians looked at his face, expecting every
moment to see him a dead man. But they immediately recognized
the
truth
of
what
he
told
them.
12
This tree (Mangifera altísima) resembles the mango, but its fruit is
much smaller. The tree grows to a greater height than the mango. The fruit is
eaten by the natives, being used with vinegar. dee Blanco’s Flora.
“ Behold the cross of the Lord Flee, ye adverse ones The lion of Judah
is conqueror.”
13
18
19
He charged them not to tell anyone what they had seen him do
there. On arriving at the village, he divided the rest of the fruit that
he brought, and kept for that purpose, among the other chiefs and
influential persons, who ate it with gusto, esteeming it as a present
from that father. The next day, after assembling them (much to
their pleasure), he execrated their ignorance in a long sermon, and
told them the secret of the fruit. Thereupon, all of them, convinced
and surprised, not one of them being wanting, followed him axes
in hand, and felled that thicket, casting contempt on the devil; and
many infidels ended by submitting to the knowledge of the truth.
Encouraged by so good an outcome, Ours proceeded with
the conversion of those peoples. They were not stopped by the
manifest danger to their lives, nor by the famines or other bodily
privations that it was necessary for them to suffer, in lands new,
rough, and productive of no relief for their so many hardships and
miseries. However, the divine providence made all these, and as
many more as might be very mild, by giving the fathers inward
consolation, as well as outward aid on not a few occasions. One of
those occasions, experienced by the same father, Fray Rodrigo,
during a trip on the sea, was notable. At that time, a sudden squall
overtaking him, his boat was driven on certain rocks and knocked
to pieces, so that these aboard it were drowned, although they
knew how to swim well, Only the said father, by the will of God
and the beneficent miracle of a wave, which bore him safe and
sound to a rocky islet or reef, escaped. : He remained there until
next day, in the fright that one can imagine, but hoping in God our
Lord that He would continue his rescue by conveying him to a
place of safety. That happened after twenty-four hours, for an
Indian who had seen him from a distance swam out to him and
took him upon his shoulders; and he gave thanks to heaven for so
great mercy.
More marvelous was the case of father Fray Joan de la
Ascension, who, while sailing along the coast of Zambales, was
struck by a very violent storm, and the boat in which he was
embarked, and all the Chinese who were accompanying him, were
lost, without one of them being saved. The boat keeled over as
they say and was turned completely bottom up. The father
remained in the hull of the boat, but so that he could hold only his
arms and head clear of the water, while the rest of his body was
under water. He supported himself in that darkness with his hands
tightly clasping a beam. For the space of three days did he remain
thus, while the hull tossed hither and thither. At the end of that
time, as some Indians were passing through that region and saw
the wreck, they drew nigh to see whether they could find anything.
They thought that they would surely find some pillage, and
therefore began to break open the boat in the part open to view.
Consequently, when they had made a small hole, the pitiful voice
of the religious who was crying for aid was heard. The greedy
Indians were frightened, and were about to flee from the terror
caused them by so unexpected a petition. But proceeding, after
the encouragement given them by one of their number who was
bolder, they discovered the said father, who was already half dead.
Getting him out as quickly as possible, they took care of him and
gave him some food, whereupon he recovered, and told them of
his
accident.
19
20
It was told and wondered at, with reason, in Manila and in other
places; and all who heard of it attributed it to nothing less than a
prodigy never seen.
[Lives of Fathers Alonso de la Anunciacion and Francisco
de los Santos, and Brother Bernardo de San Augustin, follow in
the succeeding three sections of this chapter, which concludes
with a section on the]
Foundation of the convent of Masinglo
With just reason can this house be [regarded as] the most
precious and esteemed jewel that the Augustinian Reform
venerates, as it was the fort that was raised against the devil in the
lands of the infidels, which the devil had usurped from the cross
and the gospel, when our religious, after so many labors and
sufferings, tamed the untamable Zambales. That village, before
called Masinloc, was suitable for the foundation, as it was in a
location from which they could attend quickly to the service of
God our Lord and of souls. Accordingly, they chose it, al though
its, inhabitants were more ferocious than the rest of their neighbors
because they had no one to drive away their errors and illumine
their darkness. Father Fray Andres del Espiritu Santo, then,
accompanied by two other religious, planted that holy bulwark to
oppose all hell. With great care and helpfulness they tried first to
adorn it with the example of their virtues, so that the neophytes
should become fonder of the law which we profess. At that time
the recently baptized amounted to eight hundred, with whom great
efforts were exerted in separating them from their former evil
habits, more especially that of idolatry, to which was joined that of
intoxication; they were given to these in excess, by the habit that
they had acquired in both things from childhood. With the lapse of
time the converted have surpassed two thousand, because of the
reduction of certain more terrible Indians who lived in the
mountains, without houses and away from the coast. The latter
were continually at war with others who are called Negrillos [i. e.,
“little blacks “], for they seem to be such, and they are very black
One may now consider the vigilance it must have cost to attract
those brutes, in order to make them live a social life in accordance
with reason, in peace and quiet-things that were never seen among
them until our religious undertook to tame them and to bring them
into rational intercourse. The jurisdiction of that convent has
extended fourteen leguas, and it has ten visitas which are villages.
The missionaries generally go to those villages to care for their
souls, and do not allow them to continue their former wickedness.
It happened in that village of Masinglo that, an Indian
woman finding herself at the end of her days, they summoned
father Fray Bernardo de San Lorenco so that he might baptize her,
for she was then asking for it. He went to her house, and as he
thought that she was but slightly sick, he judged that it would be
well to delay the sacrament until she knew her prayers well and
the other mysteries that any Christian must know in order to be
confessed. He began to instruct her, and to persuade her with
efficacious reasons to hate her idolatries and to have sorrow for
her sins. He tried to leave her in this way until next day, but she,
crying out and moaning, said to him: “Baptize me, Father, baptize
me, immediately, do not leave me or permit me to die and lose the
blessings
which
20
21
thou hast told me that I will obtain by becoming a Christian.” The
religious consoled her and answered that he would baptize her in
due time. She continued to urge him to wash away her sins
without delay. Consequently, seeing so much faith, he baptized
her, and left her and her children very happy. And, although she
did not appear sick, she died shortly afterward without anyone
having any warning of it. Upon another occasion another woman
also came to the convent, and urgently requested the same father
for baptism. He asked her why she desired it so urgently. She
answered that one of her eyes pained her, and that she was very
much afraid of dying suddenly without having the health to, save
herself. The father performed his duty in catechising her as well as
he was able, and immediately administered the sacrament; she was
very glad of this, and returned to her house, where they shortly
afterward found her dead, without knowing that she had other
illness or cause for death than the above mentioned pain in that
eye.
Thus when a beginning was given to that convent, the
religious discussed, as was unavoidable, the regulation of ‘a new
method by which it, as well as the other convents that should be
founded in the lands and villages of the reduced Indians, should be
governed. It could not be perfected at one time, for experience,
that mistress of seasons, was, little by little, showing what was
most advisable for them. Accordingly, they have established
efficient laws in various assemblies and provincial and private
chapters, so that those houses have shed a luster in the example of
their virtues-even though they do not have an excessive number
of religious, because of the lack that they generally suffer of those
who are necessary. It was, therefore, ordered, in the first place.
that all the laws and statutes of our congregation be observed,
without violating the most minute points of the rules and
regulations in force in España especially in regard to the two hours
of mental prayer and the matins at midnight even should there be
but one religious; since he could say them with the Indian singers
who reside and always live in the enclosure or within the walls of
the convent. Each of the religious was prohibited strictly, and
under well-imposed penalties, from engaging in any trade or
commerce, directly or indirectly, however slight it might be. In
addition, it was ordered that no one should use any piece of silver
or gold, even though it should be a medal, because of the
suspicion that it might arouse in the Indians who should see them,
when they were preaching gospel poverty. They were forbidden to
beg the loan of money, or to ask their stipends in advance from the
encomenderos, contenting themselves with the little that they had;
and living with the greatest possible frugality, in order that their
lives might conform to their discalcedness and their abstraction
from earthly things. The priors were not to leave their districts
under any pretext; and they were not to send their associates and
subordinates unless there were urgent necessity, and after a
consultation, to be registered in the books of the convent. The
religious were not to enter the houses of the Indians, except to
administer the sacraments in the necessary cases; and no one could
employ himself in this office anti! he should be well acquainted
with the language of the land. . They were not to acquire
possessions, or more income than the one hundred pesos
21
22
of their stipend; and necessity was to be the standard and rule that
they were to seek, as those who were truly poor. They were not to
entertain secular persons, and much less governors, alcaldes
mayor, or encomenderos; for, if they did so, it would be very
prejudicial to the fitting retirement and strict observance advisable
for the Reform. The Christian doctrine was to be preached and
explained to the young people every morning in the churches, but
to everyone on feast days, with especial care and personal
attendance. In order to conduct the divine worship, they were to
endeavor to have music in all the convents, by teaching the youth
not only to sing but also to play the sweetest and best instruments
that we use in Europa, so that the new Christians might become
very fond of frequenting the sacred offices. They were to be
admonished straightly to attend to the devotion of the most holy
Virgin, our Lady, having her rosary recited every afternoon in the
church; and on Saturday mornings they were to be present at the
mass, and before nightfall at, the “Hail Mary, “ holding their
lighted candles in their hands. The religious also made other
resolutions pertaining to the protection and defense of the Indians,
in case that anyone should transgress by trying to do violence to
them, so that, as true fathers, they might oppose themselves
courageously to any annoyance that the malice of the soulless men
of this age, always iniquitous, might attempt. In short, they applied
the needed and fitting preservatives, with the desire of maintaining
the good name and reputation of religious who were seeking the
safety of those souls, and hating that which might have the
appearance of love for temporal things in consideration of which
no earthly interest had transported them from España to
Philippinas.
Chapter VIII
The first convent of Manila is moved inside the walls.
[The first section of this chapter deals with affairs of the
Recollect order in Spain. The third election of provincial results in
the choice of father Fray Gregorio de Santa Catalina. Dissensions
immediately break out in the ranks of the religious, which are
engineered by the retiring provincial, father Fray Joan Baptista.
The schism results in the suppression of the order by a bull of Paul
V, and its absorption into the calced Augustinian ranks. Various
influences are set afoot, however, by those devoted to the Reform,
and the new provincial prepares to go to Rome to entreat the pope
to reconsider the sup pression. The second section deals with the]
Removal of the convent of Manila
In order to divert the grief of Ours in España for a moment,
the need of referring to the removal of the convent of San Nicolas
of Manila from its location outside the walls (which is now the
college of San Joan Baptista, as above stated) to the other site,
within the enclosure, where now is the glorious capital of the most
religious province of the Philippinas Islands-is interpolated. The
credit acquired by the good founders in a short time was vast, by
means of their exemplary life, and the zeal that they, had
manifested
in
the
reduction
The third provincial chapter is held; and after the election a not
slight danger assails the Reform.
22
23
and conversion of the infidels. They had shed abroad in all
directions the light and splendor of their virtues, and very
especially of their voluntary poverty and abstraction from
temporal things, contenting themselves with but very little, and
coveting, at the most, the attainment of permanent blessings and
riches. They won many persons for God in that city by means of
their holy instructions, and taught them the true way, which very
few court. By that course they made themselves so much masters
of the good-will of all that the people begged them unanimously
that they should enter a more comfortable place but without
abandoning that place, because its preservation was so useful for
the welfare of as many souls as lived in those suburbs and
environs, so that nobles and plebeians might enjoy the spiritual
food that the fathers so promptly distributed to them. Besides, it
seemed unavoidable to do that, so that they might be more secure
and better guarded, whatever happened, be cause of the continual
and sudden attacks of the Javanese, Chinese, and Sangley
enemies, who are wont to attack those suburbs with courage.
Father Fray Joan de San Geronimo assented to the prayers of the
faithful, and the not little convenience of his own associates; and
accordingly, aided by the alms that were given him, he bought
certain small houses, near to a site where many years ago the
artillery was founded. That site was also given him at the end of
the year by Governor Don Joan de Silva. The opposition of some
was not wanting, although that convent was so desired and
applauded. However, that opposition soon ended; and our
religious endured it with signal austerity for many days, until the
very noble gentleman and master-of-camp, Don Bernardino del
Castillo Ribera y Maldonado a native of Mexico, castellan of the
fort, and regidor of the city together with his very virtuous wife,
Doña Maria Enriquez de Cespedes, through the devotion that they
bore to our institute and to the holy neo-thaumaturgus Nicolás de
Tolentino (at whose intercession a son was born to him, who died
shortly afterward, the same lady having petitioned our glorious
father to negotiate with God so that that son might not live if he
were to grow up bad and a sinner), assumed the patronage of the
church and convent. He immediately erected a fine building of cut
stone, the cost of which exceeded one hundred thousand pesos. In
addition to that, he assigned it a suitable income not for the
support of the religious, for at that time it was not the custom for
Ours to accept such; but for the necessary repairs that had to be
made later.
At the conclusion of the work, it was our Lord’s pleasure to
grant him a very pious death, prepared, among his many alms, by
actions and customs more resembling those of a perfect religious
man of an arrogant and merry soldier. The religious buried him as
if in his own house, displaying on his honorable tomb the memory
of his deeds; and erecting monuments afterward to him and to his
consort in a very fitting niche, as well as suitable proclamations of
thankfulness that Ours published. He left the devotion of the great
titular saint,: whom he greatly loved, well established;
consequently, by means of his authority, the city chose the saint as
patron, and decreed that his day should be celebrated, and that the,
city should attend in the form of its cabildo, which has always
been
done.
Governor
Don
Alonso
23
24
Faxardo, governor of the islands, our illustrious benefactor who
gave us permission, as far as the royal patronage is concerned, to
preach the gospel in the provinces of Butuàn and Caràgha,
together with the islands of Cuyo and Calamiànes was also buried
there. From that permission have resulted so great increase in
numbers to the Church, and great honors to our Recollect order.
Likewise the governor’s wife, Doña Catalina Zambrano, and
others auditors and officials of the Chancillería, and many noble
gentlemen keep him company there. A notable confraternity has
been founded in that church, called the Nazarenos [i. e., “the
Nazarines “], so that on the night of Holy Thursday they march
through the streets in a most devout procession, just as they are
accustomed to do in the kingdoms of Castilla.
Among the most revered images of those islands is reckoned
that of the holy Christ, which is called “the Christ of humility and
patience, “ which was lately placed in the right side chapel.
Licentiate Joan de Araúz, cura and beneficiary of the parish
church in the city of Mexico, gave it, and with it a treasure of
favors and concessions to Manila. That image is very natural, and
of the best manufacture that has been known in those remote
hemispheres. He manifests himself to the sight, seated on a rock,
with his cheek resting on his hand; and the sight of him moves the
hard heart of the most abandoned to trembling and devotion. The
religious took it aboard at Acapulco in solemn procession, all of
them hoping to arrive safe with so good company, as happened.
Accordingly, as soon as they cast anchor, they carried that image
to the college of San Joan Baptista, so that it might be lodged until
the necessary arrangements were made for the festival of its
entrance. The festival was at last effected after the lapse of many
days, and it was one of the celebrated festivals that have been seen
and admired, both in its pomp and in the concourse that collected
from all parts because of the fame of the image. It was placed first
in the cathedral church, and next day, a very momentous
procession having been ordained, they carried it thence to the
convent, where the beginning was made and the conclusion given
to a magnificent novena. The divine mercy showed its favors very
frequently to those who petitioned it for aid in their troubles with a
true and living faith.
There is another image of our Lady, called “Consolation, “
because of the great consolation that those who are afflicted find
in it, when they are most exhausted. Her devotion commenced
from the time of the entrance of our Reform into the islands; and it
has been continued by means of the favors that she scatters in
protection of those who commend themselves to her by invoking
her aid. Our patrons had a most singular affection for her, and
therefore they left a clause by which a mass was to be sung for
their souls in all the festivities of the most blessed Mary. They
offered her many gold jewels and articles of richest clothing, that
testified the love with which they humbly surrendered to the
vassalage due to her. Father Fray Antonio de San Augustin14
14
Antonio de San Agustin was born in Manila, the son of Francisco de
las Misas, and made his profession in the Recollect convent there, in December,
1614. He was a minister in various places, and had been prior of several
convents. In 1658, while returning from an official visit to the Calamianes
Islands, he was captured by Moros, who slew, him. At the time of his death he
was sixty-six, years old.
24
25
encouraged greatly the worship and veneration of that sacred and
miraculous image, and received instant pay and wages for his
labor. For when he was about to die (the candle being already in
his hand), without anyone perceiving it or having hope of it he
recovered his senses, and talked to those present who were
watching him and assisting him, to the astonishment of all the
physicians, who regarded him as a dead man. He declared what
had happened, and said that having offered in his heart his vows at
the feet of the said Virgin, when he was almost dead, as was
thought, he heard her near him talking to him, together with St.
Nicolás de Tolentino; and she graciously revivified him, saying
that he was not to die from that illness. That was a fact, for within
a few days he arose, just as if he had not been at the gates of death.
The third image that illumines and ennobles that convent is
that of the famous titular saint, Nicolás de Tolentino. He has
chosen to make himself known in those remote regions as much as
in the other regions of Christendom, by means of the continual
prodigies and marvels that he works there. A great volume might
be written of those that have been seen in Manila alone, and a
greater volume of those outside. Suffice it to say that, because of
his having appeared to the sailors in their greatest straits and
troubles, they have all unanimously taken him as their patron. The
glorious saint rewards their pious devotion by lofty marvels, and
does not discontinue for all that to work them very frequently on
land for which both the Spaniards and the Indians of the
Philippinas Islands venerate him as a’ refuge’,’ in whom they
consider their relief very sure.
Strong religious have gone out from that very strict house to
combat the power of the devil, in order to remove his yoke from
many souls, as we shall see in the time of reporting their deeds of
valor.
[The chapter concludes with the pious deaths of Fathers
Andrés de San Joseph, Diego de Santa Ana, and Gaspar de la
Madre de Dios, and of Brother Simon de San Augustin, all of
whose bodies were buried in the Manila convent. 15]
Chapter IX
Father Fray Gregorio de Santa Catalina goes to Roma, and
presents his [claim for] justice in the tribunal of the supreme
pontiff. The end of the chapter is concerned with a mission that
Ours tried to make to the Philippinas Islands, the founding of two
convents, and the deaths of two great religious.
[The provincial’s mission to Roma results disastrously at
first, for he is doomed to many months of dreary waiting is denied
audience with the pope, and even ordered to quit the city. But
finally the tide turns; the pope, having learned of his mission,
grants the long-desired audience, and after hearing the humble
representations of the pleader, looks favorably upon the Reform
branch. Although the Augustinians in Spain attempt to suppress
entirely
the
Reform,
public
opinion
is
15
The firs father named above was afflicted by a grievous plague of
vermin [’chinches literally, “bedbugs “}, seemingly after a request that he might
suffer his purgatory on earth. At the time of his death, “raising his voice and
saying, -In man us tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum, he expired,
withóut making another movement. Immediately the chinches disappeared and
not one could be found, although one could gather them by handfuls before, as
they say.”
25
26
too powerful, and the Recollects have too many influential friends;
and consequently, the general of all the Augustinian order, then
Juan Baptista de Asti, orders opposition to cease. Meanwhile,
Father Pedro de San Fulgencio comes as procurator from the
Philippines to request more missionaries. He finds the Reform in
almost its last throes, but, nothing daunted, departs for Rome to
urge his mission before the pope. Being favorably received and his
pretensions granted, after a considerable stay in the Roman court,
where he also assists the provincial Gregorio de Santa Catalina, he
sets out on his return to Spain, but dies -at Milan; and, for lack of
anyone to carry on his work everything is lost for the time being.
Now Augustinian agents from Spain take the opportunity to arouse
animus against the Reform and to thwart their designs by saying
“that the discalced were unnecessary in the Philippinas Islands;
and that those who had gone were few. and hitherto of no use in
the preaching, as they were persons who could in no way prove
advantageous to the Indians. The contrary was seen then; and by
the mercy of God, we have since seen it here, and shall see it, very
clearly, in due course of time. We note here only, for the
confusion of those who boldly devised such a proposition, the
testimonies that have come on different occasions in regard to the
credit and praise of Ours, who have shed luster amid those ‘rude
and very barbarous provinces, with so much glory to themselves,
by illuminating them with the light of the gospel.” These
testimonials, some of them later than the period which the present
volume covers, follow:]
Let the first be that of an inquiry made in Manila, at the time
that the above-mentioned calumny was. learned, before Captain
Martin de Herrera, alcalde in-ordinary of the same city. The report
of this was approved afterward by the city’s. cabildo, its justices,
and magistrates, the witnesses being fully qualified to act as such:
namely, the master-of-camp, Don Bernardino del Castillo
Maldonado, castellan of the fort; Master-of-camp Don Pedro de
Chaves; General Don Joan Esquerra; Captain Christoval Guiràl;
General Don Joan Manuel de la Vega; Don Joan Sarmiento,
chancellor of the royal Audiencia; Don Francisco Gomez de
Arellano, dean of the cathedral there, and commissary-general of
the crusade; Don Joan de Aguilar, archdean of the same church;
Captain Hernando de Avalos y Vargas; Licentiate Rodrigo Guiràl,
secular priest; Admiral Don Joan de Valmaseda; Don Luis
Enrriquez de Guzman; Don Diego de León, school-master of the
said church; Captain and sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Ayala;
Don Luis de Herrera -Sandoval, treasurer also of the same church;
Luis de Barrasa, regidor of the city; Captain Melchor de Ayllón;
and Don Antonio de Arze, also regidor of Manila. All those so
illustrious persons deposed that the discalced Augustinian
religious who were living and who had lived there, were serious,
learned, spiritual, beloved men, and that they were gladly seen and
heard by those who lived and dwelt in the Philippinas Islands; and
that, by their good life and example, they had gathered and were
gathering much fruit in the community, and among the natives of
the province of Zambales. Those people had been most fierce,
enemies of the Spaniards and other nations before Ours had taken
charge
of
their
reduction.
By
the
26
27
excellent instruction of our religious, they had become so tamed
and gentle that now one could pass through their coast; while
before one could not even approach them without evident risk of
those people killing him, with great gusto, as they were so
barbarous. Consequently, it would be well to keep and increase
those religious in that archipelago, for the salvation and profit of
souls.
The second testimony is that of the royal Chancillería of
Manila, in a letter to the Catholic king of the Españas, and affirms
the following:
“The discalced religious of the Order of St. Augustine, who
are employed in these islands in preaching the holy gospel, are
held in great esteem in this city of Manila because of their virtue
and good example. They have three or four provinces of Indians in
their charge, and, moved by holy and pious zeal for the welfare of
souls, they continue daily to establish new convents among the
most unconquerable people of the islands. Thus have they been
seen to gather most considerable fruit for the service of God and
of your Majesty.”
In another letter are also noted these words, which affirm the
above:
“The discalced religious of St. Augustine are very observant
in their ministries, and attend to the service of your Majesty, on
occasions of enemies by sea and land, where some have been
killed and captured.”
Before proceeding further, it will not be an impertinent
digression to mention, and explain briefly the services above
mentioned, stating first that our religious serve as chaplains in :the
forts of Tandag Calamiànes, Bagangàn, and Linao, with notable
sacrifice both of their liberty (for they are often captured and illtreated) and of their lives, because of the bad voyages on, and
hardships of, the seas. When Don Fernando de Silva was
governing the islands, a fleet was sent against the Bornean and
Camucones enemy, who were devastating the coasts, seizing
numbers of captives, and committing other depredations. As
chaplains went fathers Fray Diego de San Joan Evangelista, native
of Zaragoça, and Fray Joan de la. Cruz. They bore themselves so
devotedly amid the military excitements, and gave so good
examples, that the chief commander, one Captain Bartolomé Diaz,
finding it necessary to absent himself, in order to leave his men
with security and in quiet appointed, with well recognized
prudence, the first above named. For that religious, not as a
substitute for the commander, but as a father, cared for all, and
they were satisfied. And they were surprised, because it happened
that, the supply of water falling short, they sought it, but were
unable to find any in various parts of the islands, and were
suffering the anguish and affliction that can be imagined in such
an extremity, when one day the said father said mass, begging our
Lord for help in such need. It ‘happened, then, that after
performing his ministry he returned to the men and told them to be
very joyful, and to look in the direction that he pointed out to them
for a spring that was there. They found it immediately, not very far
away, and praised God for so great a mercy. In the insurrection of
Caràgha a numerous fleet was also prepared; Captain Joan
Mendez Porras was accompanied, for the common consolation of
the soldiers, by fathers Fray Lorenço de San Facundo and Fray
Diego de Santa Ana. By their efforts the villages of Bislin; Careel,
and
Bagangan
were
27
28
conquered and that land again reduced. In another fleet that set out
from the same province of Caràgha, Captain Joan Nicolas chose
father Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio, whereupon many villages
surrendered to the service of the king; and the Indians of the island
of Dinagat, Baybayàn, and Sandegan requested ministers, and five
hundred were baptized. Besides such occasions, which are
generally quite common, Ours have served in divers fleets that
have been prepared to oppose the Dutch who were infesting the
shores. Lastly, in two expeditions made by Don Sebastian Hurtado
de Corcuèra one to the kingdom of Job, and the other to that of
Mindanao he took, in the first, fathers Fray Joan de San Nicolás,
and Fray Miguel de la Concepcion; and in the second, father Fray
Lorenço de San Facundo and father Fray Joan de San Joseph. The
last-named religious was very useful, for he served as ambassador
to the Moro king, to whom he was a friend, as he had been his
captive in former times.
Returning to our, narration, and the relation of the security
of Ours, now comes Don Fray Hernando Guerrero, archbishop of
Manila, in letter to the Congregation of the Propaganda of the
Faith16,40 and he confirms the work of the same, while he says:
“The discalced Augustinian religious who live in these
Philippinas Islands are gathering a very large harvest here in the
conversion of souls. Not less known are the advances that
The Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, one of the “sacred
congregations “ of the Catholic Church, was founded in 1622, by Pope Gregory
XV, conferring upon it most ample powers for the propagation of the faith, and
especially for the superintendence of missions in countries where heretics or
infidels had to be evangelized. The jurisdiction proper of the congregation
extends to all territories which are governed more missionum, or as missionary
countries not by the ‘bishops of the regular hierarchy, but by prefects and vicars
apostolic. It has, moreover, legislative and judicial power. See Hoffmann?
Catholic Directory, 1896, p. 48.
16
Christianity is making in the kingdoms of Japan by their preaching
and teaching, where in the years one thousand six hundred and
twenty-nine and thirty, six religious of the same institute suffered
martyrdom, together with many others, members of the third
-order17, or Mantellatos, and confriars of the girdle [correa] of our
father St. Augustine, all converted to the faith and instructed by
the same discalced religious who are in those regions. Now, to
relate the news that we have just received, two of the same
religious are suffering the most exquisite torments that can be
imagined, after two years of the hardest kind of imprisonment.
They are suffering also, in the ministries and convents which they
maintain in these islands, great discomfort and hardship; for the
Indians in their charge ‘are the most unbridled and fierce of all
those known in this archipelago, as experience of last year proved,
when
the
Indians
killed
17
The status of a tertiary, or “member of the third order, “ was originated
by St. Francis of Assisi, after the foundation of his own order, and that of the
Minorite nuns who lived under a rule prescribed by him. In 1221 he instituted a
third order, the members of which, men and women, should be bound by rule to
more unwordliness of life, pious devotion, and works of mercy than those of
ordinary persons living in the world. He called them “Brothers and Sisters of
Penance.” They had to take a year’s. novitiate, and a simple vow to observe the
rule. Many tertiaries, in course of time, desired to take solemn vows and live in
community, while still conforming to the rule of the Third Order; thus arose
various congregations of tertiary monks and nuns. Other religious orders had
their Third Order; that of the Augustinians was established at the beginning of,
the fifteenth century. (Addis and Arnold’s Catholic Dictionary, p. 792.)
28
29
four religious. Their death and the evident danger of their lives did
not frighten the others, and therefore other missionaries did not
hesitate to go.”
While that prelate was bishop of Nueva Segovia, he also
wrote two letters; one to the Catholic king of España, and the other
to the above congregation, of the following tenor:
“The Order of the discalced religious of the Order of our
father St. Augustine are of considerable importance in these
islands, and they are gathering much fruit with their teaching and
their good example. They have many missions in districts remote
from this city, as they were the last who came to the islands, etc.”
“The discalced Augustinian religious, “ he says in the other,
“who reside in these Philippinas Islands are gathering large
harvests in all parts in the conversion of the souls of these pagans,
as they have done in the kingdom of Japon. Two years ago six
professed religious of the same order were slain there, by fire and
sword, for the preaching of the gospel, and the conversion of
souls, in addition to seventy other persons who suffered the same
death, in the same kingdom, for the preservation of the faith,
which they had received then through the ministry of two Spanish
religious of the same institute, who were preaching it there. The
two, latter are, also now in prison for the same reason, and it is
thought will already have perished by fire or in some other way.”
Don Fray Pedro de Arze, bishop of Zebu, was more minute
in describing the labors and efforts of our religious, in a letter
informing the sacred Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith,
in which he says the following:
“For some years past the discalced Augustinian fathers of
the congregation of España have been, and are, gathering very
large harvests in the conversion of the infidels of these islands;
for, besides the many others that they have in other bishoprics,
they have more than ten convents in my diocese alone. They are
laboring therein in the cultivation of the vineyard of the Lord, with
the best of example, strict observance, and care. This is in the
newest and most dangerous posts of these islands, where their
lives are exposed to great risk, as the islands are hostile. But
notwithstanding all these dangers and hardships, they have
converted a very great number of infidels, both adults and
children, to our holy Catholic faith. I trust, God helping, that the
conversion of the infidels and especially those of one island where
those holy religious have their missions, as it is one of the largest
islands of these regions will, in the future, by means of their care
and industry, advance and increase to much greater, etc.”
Besides the above, there are three other letters to the same
congregation, of, the following tenor:
“The discalced religious of the Order of our father St.
Augustine have worked hard as long as they have’ been in these
islands (which is many years), and with good example, in the
preaching of the holy gospel; and they have gathered a great
harvest of souls. They have established many convents in the
islands, for which they-should receive honor from your
Excellencies, and receive protection, so that his, Holiness, as
master and father may concede them rewards and favors, so that
they
29
30
may be encouraged to complete what they have begun.”
The second letter contains the following points:
The Recollect fathers of the Order of our father St.
Augustine in these Philippinas Islands are laboring faithfully in the
vineyard of the Lord, with good example and prodigious danger,
as the people whom they instruct are harsh and fierce. In some
districts, they are making much gain in the conversion of souls; in
Japon they have made a very great gain, and have converted many,
both men and women, who have given their lives for the
confession of our holy faith, as will be seen there by the authentic
report that is being sent to his Holiness. Consequently, they
deserve that your most illustrious Lordships show them every
grace and protection, and that you encourage them to proceed in,a
work so holy by writing to the king of España to protect and aid
them, for that their example and good life deserve it.”
The third letter is of the tenor that is set down here:
“The Recollect fathers of the Order of our father St.
Augustine in these Philippinas Islands are faith fully cultivating, in
most exemplary manner, the vineyard of the Lord, and are
preaching His holy gospel with great hardship and danger to their
lives; for those people whom they have in charge are so harsh and
fierce that they killed four religious the past year. But the others
did not fear on that ac count to send new ministers to preserve the
fruit that they were gathering among those souls, through their
hope that, by their teaching, they will convert all, of those people
to the true knowledge. They have also made much gain in Japon,
as has been seen; since a great number of pagans, abandoning their
errors have embraced our holy faith through the preaching of the
religious of this order who are in those kingdoms. For their
confession, six religious of that institute, accompanied by many,
suffered martyrdom, after they had taken the habits of Mantellatos,
or tertiarii of the same order, with other confriars, and others who
wear the girdle.”
This prelate confirmed the same in two other letters to the
Catholic monarch, in the following manner:
“The Recollect fathers of the Order of our father St.
Augustine from their first arrival in these islands, have gathered a
plentiful harvest in souls by their good example. They have many
convents and many missions in their charge. In their care are the
islands of Ca1amianes, and they have charge of a great part of the
island of Mindanao, where they have convents and labor with
great zeal for the salvation of souls.”
In the second letter he wrote these words:
“The Recollect fathers of the Order of our father St.
Augustine have many convents in these islands, where they
administer, with great care, Christian instruction to the natives of
the islands, to whom they furnish a good example and whom they
treat with great gentleness. Their missions are very dangerous and
the people of some of them are harsh and fierce. They have had
very good success in Japon, and have given many martyrs to the
Church, who fortified their lives ) by the confession of our holy
faith, as will appear there [i. e., in Europe] by the report made here
in regard to this. They merit the aid and protection of your
Majesty, so that they may he encouraged to serve our Lord.”
30
31
The ecclesiastical cabildo of Manila, occupying the vacant
see, testified to the same king of España in another letter:
“The discalced Augustinian religious are very austere in
their institute, and in their ministrations to the natives in the
missions under their charge -who, as they are among the most
untamable and fierce people in these regions, have killed and
captured several of the religious. Consequently, they are very short
of men, but have not failed in the service of your Majesty on the
occasions that have offered by land and sea.”
It would be an evident ingratitude not to record here three
letters, which the unconquerable city of Manila wrote to their king
and sovereign, giving him a definite-relation of the condition of
Ours.
First letter
“The order of the discalced Augustinians, which has
extended into these islands, has been and is of great fruit in the
spiritual by their general virtue, their exemplary lives, and their
excellent teaching both in the settlements of the Spaniards, where
they have convents, and in those of the natives where the
ministration and preaching of the holy gospel results in a very
great harvest of souls. Because they were the last order to settle in
these regions, they had to build some of their convents among the
most rude and warlike natives of these provinces. They have had
so good success with those natives that, through their efforts and
the loving treatment which they have shown them, they have so
converted them to The faith and so subjected them to the
obedience of his Majesty, that the fervent spirit which those
religious have infused into both those tasks is very evident. The
order has a great lack of ministers to occupy their many missions;
and they need the favor and protection of your Majesty, in order to
attain their desire of carrying very far the conversion of souls, and
of preserving those who have been converted to the faith.
Therefore, this city is under obligations to represent it to your
Majesty, and to petition your Majesty, as we do, with all humility,
to be pleased to have a goodly number of religious sent to them, so
that they may continue and carry on their good intentions in the
service bf God and that of your Majesty. For, besides that the
number of religious here is very few, as-they have: scarcely
enough for their missions, they fall sick and die, as many of the
sites and posts to which they go are not very healthful; for which
reason, the lack of ministers in their order is greater each day. This
is felt so much the more keenly as the importance of it is known.”
Second letter
This city of Manila has informed your Majesty on other
occasions of the great results produced in these islands by the
discalced Recollect religious of the Order of St. Augustine. Their
exemplary devotion is daily increasing this Christianity, as they
strive for it with so great energy. In regions so remote, and so full
of enemies and of heathen people, they, losing the fear of the
violent deaths that they suffer daily, with the holy zeal which
accompanies them, have founded many convents. From that has
resulted a very great conversion of those rude people, they being
the most turbulent that are known in these regions. May our Lord,
for
whom
is
this
work,
31
32
decree that they continue to increase, since so many blessings
result from it for the glory of our Lord and the service of your
Majesty. To you we represent the aforesaid, and their great need of
religious so that they may continue. For two alone who went to
Japan have been the cause of sending seventy Japanese to heaven
some already religious, and others brothers of the girdle while the
said two fathers were arrested and destined for martyrdom, and it
is expected will by today have achieved the happy end of it.”
Third letter
“This city of Manila has informed your Majesty on various
occasions of the great importance to these islands of the order of
the discalced Recollects of the Order of St. Augustine; of the
apostolic men in it; of the great harvest that they are gathering by
the preaching of the holy gospel; of the excellent example which
they have always given, and are giving, with their strict and
religious life, and their so close observance of their rules; -and of
the so considerable results that have, been achieved by them in the
service of our Lord and in that of your Majesty, with the aid of
your royal arms, in the great number of infidels who have been
converted to our holy Catholic faith, and have been subdued so
that they render your Majesty due homage and tribute. Those
people have generally paid that tribute and pay it every year. [We
have written you] that those religious have exercised and exercise
with especial care in all things the spiritual earnestness that
concerns their profession, both in the maintenance of their work
and in their continual desire, notwithstanding the innumerable
annoyances which they endure, to carry this work onward. They
are ever converting new souls to the service of our Lord and the
obedience of your Majesty, while they preserve great harmony and
concord among themselves. Consequently, that order has always
been and is one of the most acceptable orders and one of the most
welcome in these islands. They are the poorest of all, as all their
ministries are in remote regions very distant from this city, and
among the most warlike people in all the provinces of these
islands, as they have been but lately reduced. [We have told you]
of the risk of their lives on account of this, because it has
happened at times that those who seemed to be pacified have
rebelled; while at other times the religious have fallen into the
hands of those who were not pacified, when preaching to them the
holy gospel. There have been many others also who have suffered
martyrdom in-the kingdom of Japon, thus enriching the church of
God with such noble actions, as well as the crown of your
Majesty. Above all, they have no income except the alms given
them by the faithful. There is no fleet in which they do not sail for
the consolation of the infantry, etc. This city petitions your
Majesty to be pleased to concede permission to the said order, so
that religious may pass from those kingdoms to these islands to the
number that your Majesty may decree, in consideration of the fact
that the need for them, in ministries so distant as theirs, is very
great. In those ministries, through the little nourishment of the
food which they use for the sustenance of human life, for they live
as those who are truly poor, and with great abstinence, which they
observe, without reserving any time because of discomforts,
whether of sun or shower, going through dense forests and
inaccessible
mountains
32
33
in order to reduce the many millions of souls of those districts to
our holy Catholic faith, not one of whom has any light, etc.”
Don Joan Niño de Tavora, governor and captain general of
the above-named islands, and president of the royal Chancillería
of Manila, says in another letter to the same king: “The Recollect
Augustinian fathers who reside in. these islands, inasmuch as they
arrived last, have taken the districts most distant from this city.
They are extending their labors into the district of Caragha, and
Calamiànes, with success among those Indians, etc. During the
last four years, more than four thousand persons have been
baptized by that order alone. I petition your Majesty to be pleased
to order that their procurators be despatched with the greatest
number of religious possible, etc.” Lastly,. Sabiniano Manrique de
Lara, who exercised the aforesaid office, concludes in another
letter, in which he affirms the proposition: “The order of discalced
Recollects of St. Augustine who reside in these islands and the
districts of them, preserves in its members, with all virtue and
exemplary life, its obligations for the service of God, in the
protection and instruction of their parishioners, the Indian natives;
and in what regards the service of your Majesty, they show the
efficacious zeal of good vassals. For during the time of my
government they have not at all embarrassed me in any way. On
the contrary, as I recognize their good conduct, I . am obliged to
represent it to your Majesty; and will your Majesty be pleased to
show. them, every favor and grace, in whatever opportunity may
occur to your Majesty.”
A letter came with those that are here given as addressed to
the sacred Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith, who
ordered the two following letters to be written, which we place at
the end, in order to qualify better the labor of Ours, and to conquer
the calumny of those who attempted to obscure and stifle the
fervor with which the Reform commenced the reduction of the
barbarous infidels.
To the vicar-general of the discalced Augustinians
“Very reverend father:
“Your Paternity will have learned that a letter was presented
and read in the assembly of the sacred Congregation of the
Propaganda of the Faith, received from the bishop of Zibú, etc.
The most illustrious lord cardinals have received most special
pleasure in learning from it the great number of convents that the
religious of your order have built in the Philippinas, and also the
great harvest that they are gathering in the conversion of those
heathen by their ex ample and their good and holy customs.
Inasmuch as the said bishop lives with steadfast hopes of greater
progress and advancement if he were again aided and reenforced
with other laborers of their order, such as they, and resembling
them, the sacred Congregation, attentive to this, petitions your
Paternity, with the affection and earnestness that the salvation of
so many souls merits, to effect and strive anew, with all the
earnestness and care possible, to provide new religious and
workers for those, so remote and needy regions. We assure your
Paternity that it will be a great service to God. -and to the holy
apostolic see. And also that act will be one of great pleasure to
their Excellencies the cardinals. The latter advise you that, in the
missions
33
34
conducted by your Paternity, the contents of the decree enclosed
herewith should be observed and obeyed. Besides this, the sacred
Congregation, in consideration of the services that your Paternity’s
order has rendered to the holy apostolic see, has thought best to
protect that order with great pleasure and good-will, etc.
Cardinal Ludovisi
Francisco Ingoli, secretary.”
To the very reverend fathers the father provincial and the
definitors of the discalced Augustinians in the Philippinas Islands
“Very reverend fathers:
“The relation of the progress that your Reverences have
made in those districts in the conversion of the heathen, and of the
efforts put forth and the hardships suffered for the said object,
having been referred to this sacred Congregation of the
Propaganda of the Faith, his Holiness and these my most
illustrious Lordships, after having received most special
consolation from so good news, have praised not a little the zeal
and piety of your Reverences. They also exhort you to continue in
the future with the same fervor, especially in the care of the
mission destined for Japôn. In the same manner they have ordered
that an urgent message be sent to the papal legate [nuncio] of
España to try to procure prompt despatches for the multiplication
of the ecclesiastical workers in those regions. His Holiness, in
particular, has willingly offered them his consolation’-with eight
thousand benedictions, etc.
Cardinal Borxa
Francisco Ingoli, secretary.”
In order to conclude all this with the destruction of the
calumny that their opponents invented, in regard to the presence of
Ours in Philippinas being without fruit, we might quote certain
authors who hare spoken in no uncertain voice in their praise. But
we forbear, except in the case of master Fray Thomas de Herrera,
whom, as he is worth a thousand men, it will be well to cite. In
regard to the aforesaid, he speaks in the following manner in his
Alphabeto:
“These fathers, who were not slothful laborers, kindled with
zeal for the Catholic faith, and desirous for the salvation of souls,
crossed the seas in the year 1605, to remote regions of this world,
although at the eleventh hour.” (Folio 181, volume i. ) “The
discalced fathers of Hispania crossed the seas in the year 1605,
kindled by their zeal for the salvation of souls (and at times by the
shedding of their blood in the kingdoms of Japonia) to those
remote islands, as planters of the Church or as spreaders of its
tents.” (Folio 127, volume ii. ) “The congregation of the discalced
of Hispania, which extends its vineyards even to the seas and to
the Philippinas Islands, sent laborers about the year 1588 to
remote colonies, who preached the gospel to the Japanese; and
with their own blood, shed most profusely, they either planted or
watered the Church in various kingdoms, and illumined the
Augustinian order with a great number of glorious martyrs.”
(Folio 485, ibidem. )
[A section devoted to the founding of the convent of
Calatayud in Aragon follows, and the narration of the work in the
Philippines is taken up again in the succeeding section, entitled:]
34
35
Foundation of the convent of Bolinao
The missionary religious in the Philippinas Islands had
complete and quiet peace, although those who were living in
España, opposed by miseries and misfortunes, were trying with all
earnestness to recover their lost quiet. A great field was offered to
them, in which to give vent to the ardor of their desires; but being
few in number, they could not accept as much as was given them.
They determined finally to take the island of Bolinio, near the
province of Zambales and of Tugui, whose warlike and fierce
inhabitants, although less so than the others, gave father Fray
Geronimo de Christo, vicar-provincial at that time, and his
associate, father Fray Andres del Santo Espiritu, sufficient
occasion to exercise their patience; for, not wishing to hear them,
they tried daily to kill them. The two fathers persisted in softening
those diamond hearts with their perseverance, after having lived
for some months on only herbs of the field, when the natives
deprived them of food so that, thus needy, the fathers should be
compelled to leave them and go away, or so that they might die of
hunger. That might have happened if God our Lord had not aided
them with His grace, as is His,wont in times of greatest stress. The
patient endurance of Ours conquered the barbarians; and,
recognizing that those who were so long-suffering and so kind
could not fail to be right in what they said, they submitted to the
yoke of the gospel, very gladly and joyfully receiving the
Christian instruction and baptism. For that reason it became
necessary to found a convent there, and that was accomplished
through the conversion of one thousand six hundred souls, who are
directed, -together with those of other villages near by. In that
place occurred a circumstance resembling that of father Fray
Rodrigo de San Miguel, which we have recounted above; for
while all the Indians of the village were not yet converted, our
religious learned that those of the village had gone to a bamboo
plantation not very distant, in order to worship it and to venerate
their bamboos, as if they were gods. They followed the Indians,
and found them occupied with their blind observances. The more
the religious persuaded them, they could not induce them to cut a
single bamboo, because of the error which they had accepted from
the mouth of the devil, namely, that they would surely die if they
touched the canes. Thereupon the fathers, although at the evident
risk of their lives, amid the great shouting and lamentations of the
Indians, ordered a good Christian servant, who acted as their
guide, to begin to fell the thicket. Proceeding at first with the fear
of those foolish people, the servant felled the entire thicket to the
earth, and then the barbarians were assured of their error, and
without delay they more joyfully accepted Christianity.
[Two sections follow, treating of the lives of Fathers
Geronimo de Christo and Diego de Jesus, the first of whom was a
missionary in the Philippines and the second in Mexico who,
being captured by the English, passed through many stirring
adventures.] ‘
[Chapter X contains nothing touching the Philippines except
a brief survey of the life and death of the founder of the Philippine
missions, Father Joan de San Geronimo. -He died near Ormuz,
while returning to Spain in order to secure more workers for his
mission.]
35
36
Third Decade
[The first chapter recounts that papal permission was given
to erect four novitiates in the convents in the four Spanish cities of
Madrid, Valladolid, Zaragoza and Valencia.]
Chapter II
Foundation of the convent of Cigayan
The year 1612
The missionary fathers of the Philippinas Islands were free
from anxiety, and were far from suffering the strife and upheaval
that the Reform was enduring in España. However, in their great
anxiety to guide souls to heaven, they did not desist from their
fruitful conversion along the coasts of Zambales. They needed
associates to help them carry so heavy a burden; but
notwithstanding that, in their sorrow for the lamentable loss of
those who did not yet know God because of the lack of
missionaries, after they had converted many infidels in the village
of Cigayàn they set about founding a monastery there. They
carried it out that year and lived therein with all security until an
Indian, instigated by the devil, laid violent hands on father Fray
Alonso de San Augustin, whom he wounded severely in the throat
with a very broad though short dagger, called iguana in that
country, which is made purposely for beheading a person at one
blow a vice common to the Zambales, before they knew the sweet
charity of the law which we profess. But as the stroke was first
caught by the hood [of the father’s habit],the barbarian did not
succeed in his purpose, which had been to behead him in a
moment. But the wound did riot heal. readily, and consequently he
lived but a little while. It is said that there was no further cause for
the atrocious and profane act of the wicked parricide than the
desire to free himself from the censures that that same father had
administered to him for his crimes and wickedness. Thereupon,
the Indians of the village rose in revolt, and after burning the
church and the convent, fled to the mountains. However, some
remained, who defended the other religious, and carried the
wounded man to Masinglo. Consequently, the village was almost
deserted. Afterward they tried, and successfully, to subdue the
insurgents again. They succeeded by their energy and toil, and
restored the settlement and church again to their former state for
the administration of seven hundred souls or so, who were the last
ones to comprehend the cry of the gospel.
It happened in this place that one Sunday, while’ father Fray
Francisco de Santa Monica was in the church teaching the
rudiments of the. Catholic faith to the least intelligent Indians,
they came to tell him that there was a certain woman, at a,long
leguas distance from that place, dying of childbirth, who was
entreating for baptism very earnestly. The said father left his
exercise, and, seizing a staff, started to run so fast that, as he
himself testified, it seemed as if he were flying through the air. He
was not far wrong, for in less than one-half hour he reached the
plate or hut of the poor woman who was expiring, all swollen and
black with the pain and anguish that she was suffering. He
baptized her (and also instructed her as was necessary), and she
immediately gave birth to an infant, which, although alive, was
much deformed because of the danger of the mother. After it had
been
washed
36
37
likewise from the original sin in which all we children of Adam
are born, they both died, to the joy and wonder of. that minister at
seeing the depth of the divine decrees in regard to the
predestination of those souls.
[Chapters III, IV, and V treat of the European affairs of the
order.]
Chapter VI
All of the charges against the Reform are annulled by a brief, and
the fifth provincial chapter is held, with the, prorogation which
they claimed. Two convents are established and a mission
arranged for the Philippinas.
The year 1616
[By a papal decree of May twenty-one, new life is given to
the Recollect order, and their future assured. On the return of
Father Gregorio de Santa Catalina, the chapter which had been
delayed until that time was held. In this chapter, discretos (or
persons elected as assistants in the council of the order) and
visitors were abolished, the latter having been found more
expensive than useful. The title of chief preacher was not to be
given to anyone, as it tended to destroy the democratic principles
of the order. A section on the founding of the college of Caudiel in
Spain follows, and then the last section of this chapter, which is
also the last of this volume in re the Philippines.]
Foundation of the convent of Cabite
Inasmuch as we have left our religious busily occupied in
the lofty ministry of the conversion of the infidels, it will be
advisable for us to turn our attention to them, on the present
occasion, praising their great zeal. Much more must we do so,
since they advanced with so few workers to do all that their forces
were able, both in the preaching of the gospel, and in the spread of
their houses, in order that they might serve with energy in the no
small toil that was theirs. That convent of Cabbie seemed to be
necessary; and they did not deceive themselves, for, although only
two leagues distant from Manila, it is of considerable consequence
for the conversion of many souls, as Cabite is a port where men of
not a few Asiatic nations assemble for the sake of its commerce,
which is remarkable. Hence that place comes to be the largest one
in the Philippinas Islands after the said metropolis, and all the
seamen live there, in order to be conveniently near to its traffic
and its trade. With such a motive, that convent was founded by
father Fray Andres del Espiritu Santo, and under so good auspices
that it has been of use to the service of God and to the credit of the
Reform, because of the spiritual blessing that it has obtained, as
well as by the esteem in which it has been held, as the various
people who come there from the most remote and distant
kingdoms have experienced the example and instruction of Ours.
Divine Omnipotence has there made illustrious, for the feeding of
hearts, a devout image of our Lady of Rule [Nuestra Señora de
Regla] modeled from the one that protects and defends the
Andalusian shores between Cadiz and San Lucar especially
favoring through her means the poor sailors in the continual
dangers of their fearful duty. $o many are he vows that attest her
miracles, that it would be a digression to have
37
38
to mention them.
White the useful foundation of that convent was being
directed in Philippinas, father Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel was in
España, working carefully and diligently in order to get the
necessary despatches to conduct helpers suitable for the
prosecution of the spiritual conquest that had been happily
commenced among the Zambales. The vigilance employed by two
commissaries to get the so desired subsidy for his brothers was
disappointed by death, and by the opposition we have already
related. Consequently, the few who were fighting the devil in the
enclosure did not desist, and sent the above-named father since he
was the most fitting person that could be found for the attainment
of such an enterprise to whom they consigned papers of great
moment, as a testimonial of the work and of the fruit which they
were gathering with the gain of souls. Our calced fathers
themselves affirmed it, to the confusion of those who here
opposed father Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios, and their
ministries and desires. The father embarked with great haste, but
as he was coming on an affair of heaven, misfortunes were not
wanting in the world, and he endured very heavy ones. He himself
mentioned them in a relation that he made to Pope Urban Eighth at
the latter’s command, when he reached his feet, as the ambassador
of certain schismatic princes of the Orient (as we shall relate in
detail when we come to the year of that event). The father
declares, then, that having suffered ‘a severe storm amid the
islands during which the vessels anchored at Manila were wrecked
-he sailed immediately toward Japon Thence, after suffering other
tempests, they finally sighted Cape Mendocino in forty-four
degrees of latitude. Then coasting along the shores of Nueva
España (which was composed of inaccessible mountains), and
through unknown seas (in which he saw great monsters), for the
distance of one thousand leguas, he sighted the cape of San Lucas.
There the gulf of the California’s begins. The father anchored in
Acapulco, the best of the ports known to the pilots, after having
spent more than seven months on the voyage. He went to Mexico
and to Vera Cruz; and, continuing his journey and encountering a
new storm on the ocean, was driven to the coasts of Terranova [i.
e., Newfoundland] and of Labrador. As a consequence so much
shortness of food was experienced that only two onzas of biscuit
were given to each man, and about the same amount of water. The
ship began to leak, so that it was as if by a miracle that it was able
to put in at the Terceras. There they refitted, and the father
finished his navigation, by coming to Cadiz, after having made to
that point from Manila seven thousand one hundred and sixty
leguas, in the manner that we have seen. Thence he went to
Madrid, and was given favorable audience; and everything that he
petitioned was conceded to him. But when twenty religious had
been assembled, although they were even about ready to sail in the
fleet that was being sent with reinforcements to the Malucas, the
father’s luck turned against him with the order that was received,
for the boats that were ready not to sail. Consequently, he was
accommodated on the fleet of Nueva España, but with very few
religious. However they proved to be many, because of the lack of
religious in the ministries and convents of the Indias…
38
39
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE DISCALCED RELIGIOUS OF ST.
AUGUSTINE, BY FRAY LUIS DE JESÚS
Decade Fourth
Chapter first
The Augustinian Reform is erected, by pontifical favor, into a
congregation, divided into provinces, and governed by a
vicar-general.
[The first eleven sections of this chapter relate to affairs in
Spain, and contain matters touching the order at large, as well as
the affairs of various districts, and others pertaining to the lives of
various religious of the order. The balance . of the chapter deals
with Philippine matters, as follows.].
Year 1621
§ XII
Foundation of the convent of Zibu in Filipinas
During this year of twenty-one, when our discalced order
was
39
40
erected into a congregation in España, the number of our
houses in the Filipinas Islands was increased by the efforts of the
zeal of the religious who were attending therein to the service of
God and the welfare of so many souls, who were in need of
ministers to lighten them with the divine word upon the pathway
of the Lord. Sovereign Providence, then, arranged that our
discalced should have a convent in that island of Zibu. It has been
a station for the entrance of the publication of the faith of Christ
our Lord to many distant provinces of barbarous and blinded
people.
The famous Magallanes discovered it in the year 1521. It has
a circumference of less than one hundred leguas. Its inhabitants
are called Pintados, be cause they have various designs on their
bodies, which they make with iron and fire. They were formerly
regarded as lords and chiefs of the other neighboring provinces,
for they made themselves feared by their great valor. Adelantado
Miguel Lopez de Legaspi gained it by force of arms from its king
Tupas in the year 1575 [sic], and founded there the city of Nombre
de Jesus, because an image of the most holy child Jesus, one-half
vara tall, was found there in the house of an Indian. The
Observantine fathers possess that image in a convent that was built
in the same house and on the same site; it had before been owned
and venerated by the heathen, and is today frequented by the
Catholics, who find there relief for their needs. The city lies in the
eastern part, and has a good port, while there are other ports found
in the island. There, then, did the most pious bishop, Don Fray
Pedro de Arce (of the order of our father St. Augustine, and a son
of the most observant province of Castilla, and of the convent of
Salamanca -where he professed in the year one thousand five
hundred and seventy-nine, while father Fray Antonio Muñoz was
prior), solicit our discalced to found a convent; for, although they
had been the last in arriving at Filipinas, he hoped that they were
not to be the last in the work of the vineyard of the Lord.
The bishop assigned the site in a chapel dedicated to the
conception of our Lady, somewhat apart from the traffic of the
city, so that, accordingly, the religious could give themselves more
quietly to prayer. He adjudged them also the spiritual
administration of an islet and small village called Maripipi, not
very far from Zibü. About six hundred souls were instructed there
by Ours with great care and vigilance. The erection of that convent
was accomplished by father Fray Chrisostomo de la Ascension,
who was its first prior. -. He erected a small building, that
afterward was rebuilt because of an accidental fire, and extended
so that now it is a very comfortable dwelling, well suited to
purposes of devotion. -That convent has a devout confraternity of
Our Lady of Solitude [Nuestra Señora de la Soledad.] On Holy
Thursday, a solemn procession is made after the
40
41
ceremony of the descent of Christ from the tree of the cross. That
procession, passing through the streets of the city, is a great
edification and consolation to the faithful.
§ XIII
Foundation of the convent of San Sebastian outside of the walls of
Manila in Filipinas
The very devout and pious gentleman. Don Bernardino del
Castillo Ribera y Maldonado was so good a benefactor to our
discalced that his generosity, which could not be satisfied within
the circuit of the walls of Manila, desired that we should make an
experiment about one-half legua from them. There as he had an
estate which occupied all that site, called Calumpan, to the
boundaries of a little village named Sampolog, and in its midst a
well-built bit of a house, he made an entire gift of it, so that a
monastery might be built, in which the religious could live retired,
and, free from the excitement of the city, give themselves up with
more quietness to prayer. Father Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel
whose heroic labors will give us considerable of which to write
took possession of the . estate, and remodeled the said house in the
form of a convent. The. aforesaid master-of-camp and castellan of
the fort, Don Bernardino, was of great help, and it was completed
in time. The said village of Sampolog was assigned to the care of
the religious so that the more than three hundred souls that it
contained should be instructed and taught there by them
The comfort of the site was increased, so that the provincials
have chosen it as their place of habitation because of the quiet that
is enjoyed there, as well as for its pleasantness, which serves as a
just recreation to the continual fatigue that their government brings
with it. One would believe that God looked on that house with
pleasure, for, during the cruel rising of the Sangleys, or Chinese, it
suffered no considerable damage, although they set fire to it in
various parts with the desire of leaving not even a memory of it.
We piously believe that the queen of the angels, our Lady,
defended it, as being her dwelling; for a very holy image is
revered there, under the title of Carmen. Although that image is
small in stature, it is a great and perennial spring of prodigies and
favors, which she performs for those who invoke her. Our
religious took it from Nueva España, and even in that very
navigation she was able to make herself known by her miracles.
Don Juan Velez, dean of that cathedral, was very devoted to
our discalced Recollects. Upon finding himself in the last
extremity of life, to which a very severe illness brought him, he
requested that that, holy image, which had been but recently taken
there, be carried to his house. So lively was his faith, accompanied
by the prayers of the religious, that he immediately received entire
health on account of so celestial a visit. As a thank-offering for
that favor, the pious prebendary made one of the most famous
feasts that have been in that city. He founded a brotherhood, with
so many brethren that they exceed four thousand. Consequently,
that most holy image is daily frequented with vows, presents, and
novenas, thank-offerings of the many who are daily favored by
that queen of the skies
Finally, in this year of our narration was sent the sixth
mission ‘of religious,‘ which the father procurator, Fray
41
42
Francisco de la Madre de Dios, arranged in España for those
islands; and he obtained by his great energy authority from the
Catholic monarch to take twelve religious there to increase the
number of the laborers in the vineyard of the Lord.
That year died father Fray Alonso Navarro, and father Fray
Antonio Muñoz. Mention was made of the first in the first volume,
decade I, chapter 6. Mention will be made of the second in this
fourth decade of this volume, chapter 9, in the foundation of the
convent of Panama, § 9.
Chapter second
The apostolic see confirms what was enacted in the first general
chapter of the reform. Other new privileges are conceded. The
preaching of our, religious in Filipinas spreads.
Year 1622
[Papal favor, with the confirmation of the enactments made
by the first general chapter of the Recollects held in Madrid, puts
the reformed order on a tolerably firm footing, and they are able to
proceed with their missionary and other efforts with more peace of
mind. The first section of the present chapter relates entirely to the
affairs of the order at large. The Philippine narration is again taken
up in section ii.]
§ II
Preaching of our discalced Recollect religious in the province of
Caragha. Description of the country, with detailed and interesting
information.
The divine Mercy scattered his accustomed favors upon the
province of San Nicolás of Filipinas that year. For its zealous sons,
desiring to propagate the holy gospel, but lacking sufficient
workers, busied themselves in preserving what had been acquired,
until the arrival of very good companions [of their order], when
they undertook to go to the province of Caragha, a very principal
portion of the island called Mindanao. That island rivals that of
Luzón in size. It is one hundred and fifty leguas distant from
Luzón, and is more than three hundred in circuit, counting
promontories and indentations. Its greatest length is one hundred
and thirty-six leguas, namely, from the point of La Galera to the
cape of San Augustin. It has flourishing villages, especially along
the shores of the rivers, which are large and not few. One which
flows out of the famous lake of Malanao is larger than the others.
That lake is formed from other rivers which dash down from the
mountains. The shape of the lake is oval, and its circumference
fifty leguas or more, according to report. Its greatest diameter is
only sixteen leguas, with its points and bays, and without the latter
it is only twelve. In short, that lake is considered as one of the
most famous in the world. Its marge is extremely fertile in rice and
other food products, which abound in the Bisayas. Its mountains
are clothed with cinnamon trees, brasil-trees, ebony, orange, and
other trees that bear delicious fruit. On the lowlands are bred
abundance of deer, buffaloes, turtle-doves, and fowls, besides
other kinds of game-birds. But in the rough country are sheltered
wild boars, civet-cats, and other fierce and wild animals
There are certain birds that possess remarkable
characteristics. The one called tab-on is found on
42
43
the coast of Caragha18. 43 It is smaller than a domestic hen,
and very like it [in appearance], although not in affection for its
young. It lays its eggs, which are three times larger than those of
our hens, in sandy places, and easily buries them in a hole about
one braza deep. That done, it abandons them, and never returns to
examine them again. Thereafter, the preservation of, those birds
being in the care of divine Providence, the heat of the sun
quickens and hatches them, and the chicks, leaving the shell, also
break out of the sand above them, and gradually get to the sur
face in order to enjoy the common light; and thus, without
any further aid, they fly away. If it happens that the chick in the
egg is buried with its head down, it does not get out, for upon
breaking the shell and the sand, it continues to dig always
downward, as that is the direction that its head has; and as it
misses the road it gets tired and dies, and its cradle serves as its
tomb.
Quite different from. the tabon is another bird called cagri,
which is not found outside of Mindanao19. Its shape resembles that
18
Delgado in his Historia, pp. 813-816, describes this bird. Tabón, he
says, is a word that signifies in the Pintados “to hide by covering, or to cover by
concealing it with earth.” When the chick first appears its plumage is white and
gray. Its wings are used at first for aid in running rather than in flying. The bird
lives mainly on fish, which it catches in the sea. The eggs, which are very
nutritious, are eaten with gusto by the natives.
19
This is the flying lemur (Galeopithecus philippinensis; called káguáng
or caguán by the Visayans), an animal belonging to the Quadrumana, and the
Prosimidae (semi-apes). Alfred R. Wallace found it in Sumatra, Borneo, and
Singapore; see his description of it in Malay Archipelago (New York, 1869),
pp. 145, 146. Jagor found it in Sámar —Travels in the Philippines (English
translation, London, 1875), pp. 242-244. See also Delgado’s description
(Historia, p. 845). This lemur has,. like the flying squirrel, a volucral
membrane, which not only covers all its limbs but reaches to its tail; and thus
of the bat, although it is much larger. It has no wings, but only a
membrane resembling a cloak, which falls from its shoulders and
covers it even to it feet. That enables it to pass from one tree to
another, but it cannot soar like other birds. It spreads out that
membrane when it wants to, and it is not without a tail. Its eyes
and head resemble those of a very graceful little dog, and its hair
is very soft, and at times colored with various colors, pleasing to
die sight. It bears so great affection to its young that it carries them
hanging to its breasts, just as women do, without leaving them,
although it climbs, flees, or runs.
The reader will not be wearied with knowing the
characteristics of another animal called hamac. It resembles a
monkey, although the head is -very round. Its eyes are golden, and
very beautiful and large. Its tail is very large and serves it as a
seat, and it neatly wraps itself about with it. It does not use its feet
to walk; for, in order to go from one part to another, it lets its tail
drop, and supporting itself on it, leaps as it wishes. It is not seen
by day, because it keeps quiet until night when it looks for its
food, which is only charcoal. 20 All its friendship is with the moon.
Accordingly, seated on a tree, it awaits the moon, until the time
when it shines. It looks at it fixedly without winking, from the
time when it begins to shine
the creature glides from tree to tree. This explains the writer’s allusion to it as a
bird.
20
The creature thus described is the tarsier (Tarsius spectrum),
belonging to the same class (semi-apes) as the lemur, ante. Jagor (ut supra, p.
252) was told in Luzón that it could be found only in Sámar, and that is lived
exclusively on charcoal-of course, an erroneous notion. In Sámar it was called
mago or macauco. The Report of U. S. Philippine Commission for 1900 (iii, p.
311) mentions several islands as its habitat, and the belief of the natives that it
lives in charcoal. Delgado cites the same notion (Historia p. 875), he supposes
the tarsier to be a sort of wild cat.
43
44
until it hides itself. When the dawn comes, that animal loses
its sight and returns to its dwelling. If anyone discovers it, that
animal takes pains to look at him, and measures and takes note of
his person with his sight, from top to toe. That is usually a cause
for fear, to those who do not know that characteristic; but, if he
knows it, that threatening causes him no fear. Finally, concluding
the description of that island, the reader must know that it is called
Cesarea, in memory of the unconquerable Charles Fifth a name
that was given it by Bernardo de la Torre, captain and
master-of-camp of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, in the year 1543; and
under that name it was designated by the documents and writings
of that period.
§ III
Customs of the inhabitants of that island
Coming to the customs of the inhabitants of that land, we
have to note their common tradition, namely, that the first
inhabitants were blacks. Their barbarous descendants are
preserved in the thickest forests and in the most retired mountains.
They have no regular house, but stay where night overtakes them.
They go almost naked, for they only cover the shame of nature
with the bark of certain trees. Some of them have been seen to
wear certain cloths made from cotton, called bahaquer. They use
the bow and arrow, and very keen knives, with which they can
sever the head of a man from the body at one stroke. Their
employment is to go in search of Bisayan Indians, who live in the
districts nearer the rivers and seashore; for they hate the latter with
fury because these have, as they give out, usurped their own land.
It has been learned from serious and trustworthy persons that
tall and very ugly men have been discovered in those dense
forests, whose feet are turned backward. They live on the flesh of
wild game, tree roots, and fish, without doing any work. The very
sight of those men was so terrifying that he who unfortunately
chanced to see any one of them was left cross-eyed and squinted
forever, just like those whom we call vizcos [i. e., “cross-eyed “].
An eyewitness of this piece of information confirmed this, who
declared that he had seen and known certain Indians who were
almost squint-eyed from the effect produced by the glance of those
monstrous men. Those Indians say that their speed is such that
they can catch the swiftest deer by running; and that upon catching
those said Indians, the wild men talked very confusedly among
themselves, but afterward left the captives hanging to some trees
whence they descended with great risk, and were left squint-eyed,
because of having looked at those enormous barbarians. Some
years later, another eyewitness who had experience in the affairs
of that island added that such monsters, called tecmas, had been
seen with ears misshapen because of their size, and that their
mouth was like that of a dog; while they were so hideous in face
and teeth that they caused great fright.
According to this information, these Indians have languages
that are very diverse, with peculiar characters. But they almost
universally talk the Bisayan, which is common end peculiar to
Zibú, the head of the other provinces called Pintados. Those
Indians
44
45
and the Caraghas, with their other neighbors, go partly
naked: for they cover the lower part of the body, while they wear
certain twisted cloths on the head in the manner of a crown, or the
duliman of the Turks, but without the little bonnet that the latter
are wont to wear. The women are entirely covered, while, to
protect themselves from the sun and other inclemencies of the
weather, they use curiously woven hats of palm-leaves.
Their manner of religion was to adore, some the sky, and
others the moon; or their now deceased ancestors; or the
mountains or woods in which they believed their ancestors to
dwell, accompanied by certain deities, enjoying perpetual
tranquillity. They regarded it as certain that those who had been
most valiant and tyrannical in this life were deified, and also that
there was eternal punishment for some. Others, finally, reverenced
most ugly idols made of stone or wood, which they called divatas.
There were different kinds of such idols: some being destined for
war, and others for sickness, sowing, and such objects. They were
rendered furious by thunder, and defied the deity whom they
supposed to have sent it; they called out loudly to it, and if that did
not suffice, they took arms against it.
It is said that the ridiculous Alcoran of the Mahometans had
penetrated even to that land from the Orient, having been taken
there by certain zealots of that infamous sect, who were trying to
extend it.
However their, efforts and false preaching availed them
little; for the inhabitants of those islands were very much given to
intoxication,-and very fond of eating flesh forbidden by, that false
law. Consequently, that error took root in very few of them.
They had no certain days established throughout the year for
their sacrifices, but made them as time and opportunity offered.
They were punctual in offering these when they were going to
fight. War was their universal inclination because of their bestial
and ferocious appetite to rob and to go on raids, committing
depredations on the neighboring islands, and making slaves of all
the people who came to their hands. They also offered sacrifices in
sickness, the beginnings of their sowings, the building of their
houses, and for other necessities. The duties of priest were
exercised indifferently y both men and women, called baylanes.
They made use of superstitions, lots, witchery, and other
ceremonies.
The method of their ceremonies was as follows. Those who
were to be present were summoned, handsomely dressed and
adorned, by the sound of certain harsh bells (or, rather, unmusical
cattle-bells) to the house where it seemed best for they had no
assigned temple which was adorned with herbs and flowers. While
they were waiting for all to gather, those who first came began
certain songs, alternating between men and women, in time to the
sound of a small drum. The victim as already prepared. It was
either a hog or some captive, whose hands and feet they tied as if
he were a young sheep: All the invited ones having arrived, the
priest or priestess began their barbarous function by going into a
private retreat beforehand, where he made six conjurations; and,
after the devil had entered his body, he left the retreat with infernal
fury to explain the oracle which all were awaiting. Then the priest,
taking a small lance in his hand, danced about the sacrifice to the
music of certain cattle-bells and rustic instruments.
45
46
Finally, on reaching the animal or captive, the priest
wounded it, and the bystanders killed it with spear thrusts and
blows. When the victim was dead, if it were a man, they cast it
into the sea; if it were an animal, they quickly skinned, cooked,
and ate it, drinking until they became intoxicated. Rut they kept
something for the absent ones, as a relic, also reserving the most
choice portion (generally the head), on a table that resembled an
altar, for the devil whom they called the divata. No one touched
that portion except the baylan, who afterward threw it into the
water very reverently. The sacrifice was concluded with that
ridiculous ceremony. However, they were wont to add certain
other ceremonies, ac cording to the purposes for which the said
sacrifices were being made, as for instance in war. At such times,
after their intoxication was over, they went to the shore of the river
or sea; and, after launching a small boat, the baylan jumped into it,
at the same time making his lying conjurations. If the boat moved,
it was taken as a good sign, but if it were immovable, it was
intimated to them that that war should not be made, unless they
repeated the sacrifices. They also made use of another ceremony
to ascertain whom each one would capture. Each one kept in his
house a great number of the teeth of the crocodile or wild boar,
strung on a cord. He handed those to the priest very humbly. The
latter received them with many salaams, ordained so that they
should have reverence for him. Then he said certain badly
pronounced words ordering such teeth to move them selves, by
whose number the said baylan prophesied those who would
remain captive in the power of the owner of the string. In the same
way they cast other lots, in order to ascertain the future and its
accidents.
§ IIII
Continuation of the same
When about to go rowing or sailing, they prayed to the
promontories or capes, attributing to them worship, as to the gods
of war, with very sad cries. They watched to see if a certain bird
appeared, called limocon, similar to the turtle-dove of Europa. If
they saw it in the direction that they were taking, it was a bad sign,
and they did not leave the port. They also considered the toco or
taloto called chacon by our Spaniards, and very like the lizard21 -as
inauspicious. They feared the latter wherever they found it, as a
thing very contrary to their designs. While the war lasted, they did
not eat of the fish called pulpo22, or of any other fish caught in a
net. For they believed that if they tasted of that, they would
become blind; while, if they ate of the others, they would lose the
victory and would be made captives. They thought that if they ate
with a light, they would be conquered; and consequently, never
did they strike a light to eat, even though night had fallen. Those
who remained in the village did no work for seven consecutive
days; for, if they did not do that, they feared the defeat of their
companions. On re
21
The gecko (Gecko verticillatus), a reptile allied to the lizard. Two
species of this animal in the Philippines frequent the houses: one very small,
which feeds on mosquitoes, flies, and other pests, and works noiselessly; the
other larger (up to eight inches long) with a heavy body and a loud call. The
latter is, to judge from Delgado’s description (Historia, p 885) the one
mentioned in our text.
22
The cuttlefish, or octopus (Sepia octopus).
46
47
turning victorious, they asked their nearest dead relative,
with their rude prayers (having stopped their boats), whether he
would like to have a part in the taking of the captives whom they
had. If the boats moved-which was but natural and necessary,
since they were in the water they believed that he assented.
Thereupon, taking the best slave, they bound him hand and foot;
and, taking him ashore, they passed the boat over him with great
force and weight until they killed him with brutal cruelty. The
sacrifice was concluded in the house with the death of another
captive, who was killed by the wife of the conqueror.
They showed themselves very dutiful toward their dead,
burying them with lamentations and remarkable minuteness of
detail, increasing or lessening the obsequies according to the
quality and worth of their actions. The nearest relatives were
careful to close their mouths, for they feared lest the soul of the
dead would enter into their bodies and do them a great deal of
harm. Then they began their mourning by lugubrious songs, which
one of the kin intoned, while the others were very attentive in
order to respond, in time, with fearful cries. That lasted more or
less time according to the excellence of the deceased, whose
exploits were mentioned with great exaggeration. The friends and
acquaintances came in, both to console them and to become
intoxicated, which formed the relief for that sorrow. Only the
mourners, who wore white, refrained from drinking, in order that
they might receive the compliments of condolence soberly and in
a dignified manner.
So great was their devotion to the souls of their parents and
grandparents (whom they called humalagar), that they always
offered them food in their banquets, especially when they finished
any house, thinking that they themselves would die if they failed
in that. They did the same with the first yield of their fruits. When
they became sick, they invoked these ancestors to aid them, as we
do the saints. Then they summoned certain old witches, who were
their physicians. They respected the latter so greatly that, from the
day on which they entered their doors, no fire was lit in that house,
as a sign of great reverence. The medicines applied were after
consultation with the devil, in the shape of a little idol or a very
ugly figure of a man or woman, whom they asked for the life of
the sick person. If the idol moved, it was a sign of death, just as
remaining still was a sign of life and health They made the same
tests in the water, by putting a boat in it, and observing from a
distance its state of quietness or motion.
During the time that those barbarous obsequies lasted, it was
unlawful for anyone to go to any place where the deceased had
gone, or where he had bathed, under penalty of the culprit’s losing
his life immediately. After the days for the mourning had been
completed, they covered the eyes and mouth of the corpse with
sheets o1 gold. They carried it to the field in a coffin, and into
distant caves or sepulchers among themselves; and buried it,
together with a mate servant if the deceased was a man, or a
female servant if the deceased was a woman, so that such person
might serve them, as they thought that that was necessary in the
other life Thus did the dead and living go hand in hand, without
any recourse or dispensation. Such servants of the deceased were
set apart for that purpose from their childhood, and were
47
48
called atabang. If the deceased was rich, a greater number of
servants was added. This is confirmed by the event that was
rumored in the island of Bohol shortly before Miguel Lopez de
Legaspi arrived at Zibu; for those people placed seventy slaves in
the sepulcher of one of those barbarians, all arranged in order in a
little ship, which they call caracoa which was provided with
anchors, rigging, and everything else, even arms and food, as if it
had been launched in the sea.
Of the aforesaid, it is well known that that people believed in the
error that the soul went with the body, and that they were maintained in
the other life as in this. Consequently, they placed the most costly
clothes in the sepulchers. The relatives added others, and even arms, if
the deceased was a man, and the instrumens of her domestic labor if a
woman, together with all the other dishes and jewels of the house (not
even excepting gold and precious jewels), in accordance with their taste,
so that these might be enjoyed in the other life. The food was carried to
them for the space of one year, and it was placed on an adorned table
every day. When it was taken there, the food of the preceding day was
taken away. That they threw into the water, and no one dared to touch it,
as it was a sacred thing. They generally built a hut over the grave, so that
the deceased should hot suffer from the inclemency of the weather. If
the death were by violence, vengeance pertained to the children,
and in default of children to the nearest relative. The sign of that
obligation was to place certain armlets on the arms, as for
instance, twigs of osier, more or less according to the station of the
dead. Upon killing the first man whom they encountered even
though he were innocent one armlet was removed; and thus they
continued to kill until all the rings were removed from. the arms.
The avenger did not eat anything hot, or live in a settlement,
during that wicked and barbarous vengeance.
Each year every relative punctually celebrated the,
obsequies, and that was a very festive day. They gathered a great
quantity of food and beverages; they commenced many joyful
dances; they stuffed themselves with what was prepared, taking
some to their houses, and reserving the greater portion to offer to
the divata, and to the deceased, in the following manner. A small
bamboo boat was prepared, with much care, and they filled it with
fowls, flesh, eggs, fish, and rice, together with the necessary
dishes. The baylan gave a talk or a prolix prayer, and finished by
saying: “May the dead receive that obsequy, by giving good
fortune to the living.” Those present answered with great shouting
and happiness. Then they loosed the little boat (sacred, as they
thought), which no one touched, and whose contents they did not
eat, even though they were perishing; for they considered that a
great sin.
§V
Vices of the inhabitants of that island
The vices of that people were indeed enormous. They were
never lovers of peace among themselves, and always were anxious
for continual wars, which they carried on at the slightest excuse.
All their desire was to rob and capture on land and sea, although
they had in their ancient times condemned theft severely. Their
arms consisted of a lance; a long, narrow shield which covered the
entire body;
48
49
and a dagger resembling a broad knife, with which they
easily cut off the head of him whom they conquered, which was
their greatest delight. They also used bows and steel-pointed
arrows with skill.
Their greed was insatiable, although, they were lazy and
slothful; and for that reason they practice unheard-of usury. There
is no trace of reason or justice in them. If one lent another a short
measure of rice, the debtor was obliged to return it in a certain
time. If he did not have the wherewithal to return it, he became a
captive, and had no redress; for the judges, who should have
prevented that oppression, were the first to practice that offense.
That was the practice between peers. If the business were with any
chief, the poor wretch remained a slave forever, even though the
sum were for only four reals. They made a distinction in those
captivities; for if one were born of a slave woman, and a free
father, or the contrary, such a one remained a half slave.
Consequently in order for the accomplishment of his service to his
master, it was sufficient for him to serve for six months scattered
along through the twelve of the year. If he were the child of
parents both half slave, he was obliged to serve one month,
remaining free the three following; then he served another month,
continuing in this manner his servitude. Likewise, when a freeman
and a slave had many children, the chiefs were wont to set some
free, while the others remained slaves forever.
Their intoxication and lust went to excess. They had what
wives they could support, and did not exempt among them their
sisters and their mothers. Marriage consisted in the will of the
parents of the bride, and the suitor paid them the dowry, although
it was not handed to them until after they had children. If either of
the parents were dead, the dowry was given to the nearest relative.
They were divorced with ease, but it was on condition that if the
husband solicited it he lost what was given to his parents-in-law;
but if the wife procured it, the dowry was restored. If adultery
were proved, the aggressor and the aggrieved [husband] came to
terms the same being done in the case of the wife -in regard to the
sum that was agreed upon, after considerable haggling, and they
generally remained fast friends. Consequently, some husbands
were wont to make a business of that, such was their barbarism,
arranging tricks, and providing occasions for their wives to repeat
their adulteries, in order that they might derive infamous gains. If
the culprit had nothing with which to pay, he became a captive or
lost his life. Divorce was very frequent, and agreement was made
to divide the children between husband and wife for their support.
They gloried in knowing charms and in working them, by
consulting the devil a means by which some made themselves
feared by others, for they easily deprived them of life. In
confirmation of this assertion, it happened, according to the recital
of one of our ministers, that while he was preaching to a great
assembly one Indian went to another, and breathed against him
with the intent of killing him. The breath reached not the Indian’s
face, however, but an instrument that he was carrying, the cords of
which immediately leaped out violently, while the innocent man
was left unharmed. The philosophy of such cases is that the
murderer, took ¡in his mouth the poisonous herb given him by the
devil, and had
49
50
another antidotal herb for his own defense. Then, exhaling
his breath in this manner, he deprived of life whomever he wished.
They used arrows full of poison, which they extracted from the
teeth of poisonous serpents. They wounded and killed as they
listed, by shooting these through a blowpipe, which they
concealed between the fingers of their hands with great
dissimulation, blowing the arrows so that they touched the flesh of
their opponent. They practiced consultation with the devil by
means of their banyans, in order to ascertain natural causes,
especially in their illnesses. Consequently, they were very great
herbalists, knowing above all the preservatives from the poisons
with which they attacked one another on slight occasions
especially the women, who are the more passionate and more
easily aroused.
§ VI
Treats of the government of those islanders
The government of those people was neither elective nor
hereditary; for he who had the greatest valor or tyranny in
defending himself was lord. Consequently, everything was
reduced to violence, he who was most powerful dominating the
others. When one went to the chief to plead justice, the latter
delivered his sentence without writing anything; and there was no
appeal, whether the sentence were just or unjust. The rich treated
the poor and the plebeians as useless brutes, so that those poor
wretches flung themselves upon the rocks to die, as they were
unable to endure so hard a yoke. If he who was less did not pay
homage to him who was more influential, he was declared as his
slave only because the other wished it. They also deprived those
miserable beings of life for such reasons. Such was their iniquity
and madness. If any criminal received protection in the house of a
thief and the latter managed his affair, the one protected became a
perpetual slave, together with his wife, children, and descendants,
in return for the protection. Because once while some boats were
sailing some drops of water fell on a chief woman, through the
carelessness of him who was rowing, it was considered so serious
an offense that the poor wretch was condemned to perpetual
slavery, together with his wife, children and relatives. However,
our religious destroyed that practice by spreading the holy gospel
in that country.
The nobility of those Indians was personal. It consisted in
one’s own deeds,, without reference to those of others.
Accordingly, he who was more valiant and killed most men in war
was the more noble. The sign of that nobility consisted in wearing
the cloth wrapped about the head (of which we have spoken
above), of a more or less red color. Those nobles were exempt
from rowing in the public fleets (and that although they were
slaves), and ate with their masters at the table when they were at
sea a privilege which they gained by their exploits. In that custom
of killing they reared their children and taught them from an early
age, so that beginning early to kill men, they might become proud
and wear the red cloth, the insignia of their nobility.
§ VII
Governor Don Juan de Silva declares war against those Indians,
and our religious enter to preach the gospel faith.
We have extended the relation of the barbarous
50
51
customs of those Indians, in order that the reader might
know the great difficulty in subjecting them to the law of reason,
and (what is more) to the mild law of the holy gospel. Some
Spaniards, accompanied by evangelical ministers, had penetrated
those provinces at times from the year 1597, with great zeal; but
they could not remain there because of the ferocity of the natives,
and for other casualties, which make those provinces less
habitable, notwithstanding that they abound in many things that
are necessary to life and advantageous to commerce.
For these and other reasons, Don Juan de Silva, governor
and president of Manila, called various meetings of commanders,
and experienced captains, in which it was determined to make
energetic war on those barbarians. Charge of the war was given to
General Don Juan de Vega, son of Doctor Don Juan de Vega,
auditor of Manila. He with a fine fleet of four hundred Spaniards
and other Indians sailed to humble the pride of those barbarians.
The latter were not unprepared for resistance; for, joining their
forces, they entrenched themselves so that there was considerable
doubt as to the undertaking. Both sides fought with great valor,
and there were many killed and wounded. But at last our troops
were victorious, as their zeal was to the service of God and the
increase o His worship. More than one thousand five hundred
Christian captives were liberated, and a presidio and fort23 was
erected as a warning for the future. That effort was not sufficient
to quiet those Caroches islanders; for within four years three
thousand of them assembled and, surrounding the re doubt, placed
it in great straits. They were repulsed by our men with so great
valor that, having retired to the sea, they vented their fury by
inflicting severe injuries on some villages friendly to us. And, our
men also getting a good reenforcement that was sent us from
Manila, those men returned to their homes -where treating
afterward for articles of peace, they were pardoned for their past
boldness, and their subjection was arranged with the mildness of
the gospel yoke.
Affairs were in that condition, when the most illustrious Don
Fray Pedro de Arce, bishop of Zibu, most worthy son of our
Augustinian order, with his great zeal of gaining souls for God
conceded to our Reform the office of catching them with the net of
the gospel preaching. When the reënforcement of missionaries had
arrived from España that year [i. e., 1622], as is said in volume i,
last chapter, eight of our religious were appointed for that purpose.
Stimulated by the pity that they had at learning that so many souls
were being lost in the blindness of their idolatry, these
missionaries set out in great fervor from Manila, after having
received the blessing of their superior, and not without the holy
envy of the other religious, who would have liked to spend their
lives in that holy employment. These apostolic men landed at
Zibú, where they received the blessings of the most zealous bishop
and many kindnesses with which he wished to load them. He
despatched them with promptness, and in a short time they
reached the redoubt of Tanda, which was the name of the fort that
had been erected there by our Spaniards
Then commenced the greatest felicity of that land; for our
religious, having as their object the welfare of
23
This was in 1609, and the fort erected was that of Tandag; it was on a
bay on the northeast coast of Surigao province, Mindanao.
51
52
those barbarians, tried to gain their good-will by gentle
measures. For that purpose, father Fray Miguel de Santa Maria,
the superior of that spiritual squadron, refused to settle in the said
fortress of Tanda; for, since those heathen had a horror of it, they
would hot go to it. Consequently, despising his life, and exposing
it to manifest danger, he deter mined to enter the country one
legua further, and to build a dwelling-place on the shores of a
river. His design did not succeed badly, for, attended by good
fortune, he continued to attract and gain the affections of those
fierce Indians by making them understand their illusions and
errors. His other associates were not idle amid so much, for,
having separated among the environs (after having left a priest in
the redoubt as chaplain, who was not-slothful in his gaining of
souls), they worked fervently in scattering the light of the faith, in
the midst of the dark ness of that blind people, without excusing
them selves from great perils and hardships. They chose their
residence in the village of Yguaquet24, on the bank of another river
where the country people generally met. Those gospel workers
were divided and separated from one another, in order that they
might attend with greater convenience to the different districts.
One cannot imagine the toil of our religious in cultivating that
wild forest of barbaric people. They catechised, instructed, and
baptized many, so that what Was before a brutish wickedness,
where the devil reigned, began to be a beautiful fragment of the
Church. They endured great suffering, because of the intractability
and fierceness of the islanders, who were hostile to peace and to
human intercourse; for they had so little affection for even their
brothers and sons that they killed them or abandoned them to die,
on but slight pretext. But everything surrenders to the grace of
God, and to the earnest zeal of His ministers, who consider only
the honor of His Divine Majesty from whom those pious workers
received so great strength, that great wonder is caused by the
consideration that people so given to witchcraft, cruelty, and
injustice should have received the worship of the true God with so
great affection and devotion. To see them so surrendered to the
obedience of the Catholic Church, and so fond of the churches that
were soon built by the care and solicitude of Ours, edifies and
consoles one. There are celebrated the feasts of Christ and His
most holy mother, and those of the other saints, in which they
show a very steadfast faith. Finally those people learned some arts
and trades, by which they live in great comfort.
We cannot avoid mentioning a very notable conversion in
that province of Caraghas. There was a chief, named Inuc, so
celebrated and feared that through his power and cunning he was
absolute master of a considerable territory, and the shores of a
river that afterward took his name. That barbarian was not
satisfied with tyrannizing within his own boundaries, but entering
those of others, sailed through the gulfs and along the coasts, in
search of whom he might rob, capture, and kill. It is said of that
man that he had made more than two thousand persons slaves, and
killed innumerable men with his own hand. Consequently, he was
feared in the neighboring islands; while no vessel dared to go to
his lands
24
Apparently the same as the present Gigaquit, a town on the northeast
coast of the province of Surígao.
52
53
especially one of Spaniards, whom he hated beyond
measure, so that he would never agree to make treaties of peace or
of profit with them.
The perdition of that man and the injuries and offenses that
he committed against God and his neighbors, caused great anguish
to father Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios25, a native of Villa-Bañez
in old Castilla, and one of the eight who went to Caragha. He took
it upon himself to subdue this man without other aid than
confidence of that of God. In order to achieve it, he prepared
himself by special fasting and prayers. He went alone to look for
him; having found him to the great surprise of Inuc himself, who
thought that the religious had great boldness in coming into his
presence the latter talked to him so fittingly and fervently, that the
tyrant, having first pardoned the father’s coming without his leave,
thanked him for the holy admonitions that he gave to him.
Showing him great affection, Inuc admitted trade between his
countrymen and the Spaniards; then he consented that the holy
gospel might be preached in his territories. He gave his vassals an
example by being baptized; by sending away his numerous wives
-and marrying the first according to the rites of the Church; by
freeing his captives; and by issuing an edict allowing those
aggrieved to come to him to receive reparation for the injuries
which he had inflicted on them. He fulfilled that exactly, binding
himself by two judges, namely, our religious and the captain of the
fort of Tanda. They settling and sentencing with all equity,
restored to those interested whatever appeared to be theirs. Thus
did he who was before a haughty tyrant become a humble sheep of
the flock of the Church, and a faithful vassal of the kings of
Castilla. News of that conversion spread throughout those
districts, and following his example, many heathen submitted to
the yoke of our holy law.
Our missionaries were greatly encouraged by that fortunate
success, so that they were not dismayed at the work that they had
undertaken, although its difficulties were many. They were
confirmed in their intent by another case that happened in a village
called Ambagan on that coast of Caragha. A religious was resting
one night when an Indian, instigated by the devil, called together
two other companions, who formed a rearguard for him; while he,
entering the house, tried to kill the innocent man who was asleep.
It was at midnight, the time that he thought most opportune. He
left those who accompanied him at the foot of the house, while he
mounted the ladder. At the entrance of the room of the gospel
minister, a venerable old man accosted him and asked him in his
own tongue: “Where art thou going? Seest thou not that I am
watching this man who is asleep, and who is my son? “
Notwithstanding that, the Indian persisted in his evil intent of
entering. But at that juncture the old man raised a staff of gold
which he held in his hand, and threatening the aggressor, scared
him so that, turning his back to descend the ladder, he could not
find it in order to
25
Juan de la Madre de Dios assumed the habit of the discalced
Augustinians at Valladolid, making his profession in 1615. With eight other
missionaries, he arrived a Manila in 1620; and Rome two years later he entered
the Mindanao mission. His ministry there was short; for toward the end of 1623
he was slain by a fierce Moro chief whom he had rebuked for his acts of
injustice and tyranny. See sketches of his life in Luis de Jesús’s Historia, pp.
53-55; and Provincia de S. Nicolas de Tolentino, pp. 308, 309.
53
54
escape, notwithstanding his eager search for it. Thus did he
spend the remainder of the night in great anxiety, and in the
morning he was discovered by the people who lived there. The
Indian, conscience stricken, demanded that they inform the father,
to whom with great sorrow he related all that had happened,
giving him leave to publish it. He declared also who were his
associates who, growing tired of waiting, and seeing that day was
dawning, had returned in order not to be discovered. The
bystanders were astonished at hearing the circumstances; and it
was believed that that venerable old man was our father St.
Augustine, who defended his religious son with the pastoral staff.
§ VIII
Our religious preach in the province of Butuan
The province of Butuan -so called from the river of that
name which flows through it and renders to the sea the tribute of
its so abundant waters, while the sea enters the land for one-half
legua has wide borders and plains where numerous people live
who resemble the Caraghas in their customs and ceremonies.
However they are not so rude in their behavior, perhaps because
they were oftened by the evangelical law, which they once
enjoyed. How ever, they abandoned that law because the ministers
abandoned them26. That holy conquest was under taken with great
resolution by father Fray Juan de San Nicolás, one of the eight,
who with a spirit apostolically bold planted the standard of the
cross in the town nearest the seashore. He subdued its inhabitants
by his gentleness, and attracted them to the bosom of the Church
by sermons in their own language. Those sermons produced a
26
Apparently referring to the missions founded by the Jesuits, some
years before, in northern Mindanao; see vol. XIII, pp. 48.80. Fuller accounts. of
these missions are given in Combés’s Historia de Mindanao, which will be
presented in later volumes of this series.
great fruit, not only among those country people, but also among
the traders who came from other districts to traffic.
With such auspicious beginnings, Ours continued to
penetrate the province, and, going up and down that river, sowed
the divine word. It fell to the lot of father Fray Jacinto de San
Fulgencio, also one of the eight above mentioned who regarded
but lightly the hardships that were represented to him, with
unfortunate examples, as having encountered other ministers of
the gospel to journey more than fifty leguas, preaching the faith of
Jesus Christ to the villages. He had serious and frequent
difficulties in making himself heard; for the devil appeared in a
visible form to the Indian, persuading them not to admit those
fathers into their country, because of whom, so they said, dire
calamities and troubles must happen to them. But, as it was the
cause of God, all the deceits and cunning of that common enemy
remained only threats.
It was no little work to make the Indians leave so many
wives as each one had, obliging them to marry the first, and to free
their slaves whom they miserably oppressed. But be attained it
with his mildness, the inoffensive method by which our religious
succored the weakness of those Indians. Thus did they obtain
permission to travel through the shores of that river, gaining souls
for heaven, and building a dwelling in the village of Linao27.
27
Situated in central Surigao, on a chain of lakes and rivers from which
issues the Butuan River, flowing northward into the bay of same name.
54
55
In that did the superb zeal of father Fray Jacinto de San
Fulgencio excel wonderfully. For having resolved to go up the
river together with some Butuan Indians, already Christians, and
arriving at the said place of Linao, and seeing that its inhabitants
were gentler and more docile, he erected an altar in a chosen
house, where he placed the images-from which the heathen
received great joy, praising their beauty. Then he assembled the
chief men of the district, and preached them a sermon, in which he
informed them who the true God is, and bade them abandon the
customs and rites of the devil. They jested at such a proposition,
but were soon subdued -especially one, who declared the location
of their god or divata. Father Fray Jacinto was overjoyed at that,
and schemed how he might see such place of worship, which was
located on the other side of the river. Commending himself, then,
to Jesus Christ, whose cause he was advancing, he ordered a boat
to be launched and went to look for the idol. Some Indians went
out to meet him, brandishing their lances in order to prevent his
entrance. Others more humane, persuaded him that he should
abandon that undertaking, saying that, if he wished to build a
church there, they would give him a better location. The father
answered mildly that that house was very much to his purpose
because it was large, and all could gather in it in order to be
instructed in the mysteries of the faith. The Indians who
accompanied the pious father feared that a quarrel was about to
ensue, and that fear went with them even to the door [of the
house]. The father entered the place of worship boldly, to the
wonder of all. He saw various altars on which they sacrificed to
the idol, which was placed on a higher altar covered with curtains.
The father carefully avoided giving any attention to the said idol,
and, haying assembled the chiefs, addressed them in regard to
erecting an altar to the true God. All agreed to it. On going out, the
father purposely turned his gaze to the image, and asked who was
that who had so much reverence there. No one replied, whereupon
the zealous father seized the image, which was a fierce devil,
made of wood covered with black paint, which made it altogether
ugly and frightful. The barbarians were as if thunderstruck, for
they thought that no one could touch that god without losing his
life, and they could not cease their surprise that that father had
been able to capture their divata. Thereupon the fervent
missionary took occasion to make them understand their
blindness, and to persuade them of the offense which was
committed against the true God in worshiping the devil. After so
notable an action, he returned triumphant, with the protection of
heaven, to his boat, taking the idol with him without any one
preventing him. On the next day the Indians offered a considerable
quantity of gold to ransom their little god. The father paid no
attention to it. On the. contrary, he diverted them, and, leaving
them to forget it, descended to the convent of Butuan. There the
people went to look for him, proclaiming the little or no value of
their god, and saying that they wished to receive the true God.
That was a matter of great consolation to the father at seeing how
well his pains had been recompensed.
The divine pity approved the holy ‘zeal of our religious
55
56
by the experience of that village of Linao, which was located on
the shores of the river, forty leguas away from the sea -that while
before they were molested by crocodiles, which killed numerous
people, as soon as the fathers made a settlement there they
suffered no persecution from those fierce animals. They all
attributed it to the most holy cross now set up, and to the voice of
the gospel. Numerous conversions were made in that country.
Very famous is that of an Indian woman who, having received our
holy faith, died shortly afterward on the eve of St. Catalina, virgin
and martyr, at the first watch of the night. On going next day to
deliver her to the fathers in order that they might bury her, and the
grave being already opened, they came from the house of the
deceased woman to say that she was alive. Wondering at the news,
the fathers went to verify the matter, and found it to be truth. For
the deceased talked before them all, declaring that God had
permitted her to return to this life, so that, inasmuch as she had
concealed a very grave sin in confession, she might confess and be
saved. She did so immediately, and the instant when she was
absolved she expired; while Ours gave many thanks to our Lord
for the pity that He had had toward that soul, and to the others,
since they became more inclined to our holy Catholic religion
because of that prodigy.
Also it is worthwhile to narrate what happened in the
province of Ambongan and the lake of Compongan through the
preaching by Ours of the faith of Jesus Christ. An Indian woman
was very near the, end of her life, and her husband and children
were sad because at the time there was no father there to
administer the sacraments; for Ours were at Butuan, whence they
could not come without considerable delay. The sick woman,
seeing their sadness, told them to console themselves; for the most
holy Virgin, their advocate, had appeared to her very beautiful and
shining, and had told her to rejoice, for she would not die until a
father should have come to confess her and give her all the other
sacraments of the church. That very thing happened, for within a
month a missionary priest arrived there to visit and console those
villages. The sick woman heard of it, and had herself carried to the
church, where she received the sacraments of penitence, the
eucharist, and extreme unction, in the presence of that village. She
returned to her house, embracing a cross, to which she spoke
innumerable tender words. She died about midnight, leaving
behind strong indications of having gone to enjoy the eternal rest.
§ IX
Ours preach in Calamianes and Cuyo
The fervor of our religious did not rest with what was
accomplished in the provinces above mentioned. Having obtained
some associates, they determined to preach in Calamianes, islands
which remained in their blindness and idolatry. Their inhabitants
were wild, and great sorcerers and magicians, who, knew many
herbs. They used the latter to kill by means of the breath or
expiration infected with a poisonous herb, as we have said above.
They are poor, not because of the sterility of the country, but
because the Borneans, Camuzones, and others of their neighbors
plunder them. .
Those islands lie west of the island of Panai, which is one of
the largest of the Filipinas, being
56
57
eighty leguas long, but narrow in its breadth, and extends
north and south from ten to twelve and one-half degrees. They are
small, for they are only four to six leguas in circuit, aid that which
is largest is twenty. The chief islands, those most frequented by
Ours, number nine. In that of Butuagàn [sic], the climate is not
suited to deer; for they are not raised there; and if they are taken
there they die very soon, without the reason being known, for all
the Filipinas contain many of them.
That of Coron is also notable, as it is a ledge or rock, very
high and rugged, which is fortified naturally by the crags that
girdle it. Its ascent is steep and intricate. The Indians retire there as
to a sacred place. It cannot be taken except by hunger or thirst, and
the crag or island is dry and barren, so that not a drop of water can
be found on it. Numerous birds resort thither, and there are also a
great number of beehives28 amid the hollows of the rocks, and a
quantity of honey is produced, as well as wax, without its costing
any care or labor. The Indians gather that harvest, and, carrying it
to other places, obtain the things needful for life.
All those islands are defended by reefs, which makes the
navigation of those seas very dangerous, even in the time of fair
weather. Within their boundaries there are a number of different
kinds of animals, of rare form. There was one the size of a cat,
with the head and feet of a tiger, and the eyes, nostrils, and hands
of a man, and entirely covered with soft down. There is another
little animal seen, which, as it has no teeth, because these never
grow, lives on maggots. To get them it sticks out its tongue, which
is very long, where those little animals congregate; and, when the
tongue is full of them, it draws it back and swallows them29. The
forests abound with many incorruptible woods, such as ebony,
cypress, cedar, and small pomegranate trees.
Those islanders had never had a gospel minister to draw
them from their ignorance. Our discalced, pitying their
wretchedness, resolved to send five religious for that undertaking.
Their superior was father Fray Juan de Santo Tomas. He, not
fearing any dangers, and armed with the divine strength, planted
the tree of the cross in the island of Cuyo. That island is called
“the garden of nature30, because of the singular pleasantness, and
beauty that it en joys, in which it is more fortunate than the other
is lands of that famous sea. Its six leguas in circuit, as are two,
others its near neighbors, which rival it in beauty. It abounds in
rice, and very savory fruits. The mountains are full of fragrant
flowers, and shelter a great number of wild boars. There are many
species of birds, and fowls are reared in considerable abundance.
Although those islands were densely populated, the people
were so barbarous that they seemed not to possess reason. For that
cause our religious wished to cultivate that forest in order to sow
the seed of the gospel. Notwithstanding [their savagery], father
Fray Francisco de San Nicolás, accompanied by another priest,
named. Fray Diego de Santa Ana, and a lay brother, went to the
chief island of the Calamianes.
29
See Delgado’s account of the various kinds of bees in the Philippines
(Historia, pp. 848-850).
28
The pangolin or Manis, commonly known as ant-eater. The preceding
sentence probably refers to the flying lemur.
30
Cf. account of the weapons used by the Mindanao, given by Retana
and Pastells in their edition of Combés’s Historia de Mindanao, cols. 782 and
783. Also cf. weapons of North American Indians, as described in Jesuit
Relations —see Index vol. lxxii, pp. 337, 338.
57
58
Treating the inhabitants with gentleness, they instructed and
persuaded them to live gathered into villages a thing that they
utterly abominated, both because of their natural fierceness, and
because they were greatly harassed by the enemies who generally
infested those islands. Much was suffered in the attainment of that,
but it was accomplished, with the most severe toil on the part of
Ours; and they baptized many of those Indians, whose number we
shall declare below, when we treat of the convents which were
built in those islands in spite of the devil and all hell, who opposed
them with all their forces.
Although it will be somewhat of a digression, we cannot
help saying something of the barbarous customs of those heathen
Calamianes. They recognized a first cause, which governed what
was visible. They attributed good or evil events to fortune and to
the star of each one. They adored a deity who resembled Ceres, to
whom they commended their fields and offered their fruits. They
worshiped another petty deity who resembled Mars, in order to
gain his protection in their battles. They believed in the /zumalagar
[i. e., soul of an ancestor] (as we said of the Charaghas) whom
they summoned in their sicknesses by means of their priestesses.
The priestesses placed a leaf of a certain kind of palm upon the
head of the sick man, and prayed that it [i. e., the soul] would
come to sit there, and grant him health. They also venerated the
moon, asking that it would aid them at the time of death. They
celebrated the obsequies of the dead during the full moon.
Their priests were highly revered, and were called mangaloc.
The devil showed them what they asked from him, in water, with
certain shadows or figures.
They practiced circumcision, and had ministers as signed for
it. They had as many concubines as they could support. If the first
wife committed adultery, the penalty was to repudiate her for a
certain time. When anyone wished to have a share in the
inheritance of the dead, he laid a piece of his garment upon the
corpse, and thereby acquired that right, but he was obliged to aid
the deceased’s children. They had no fidelity among themselves,
whence many conflicts arose. In order to clear themselves of
calumnies or charges, they invented various tricks. At times,
divine Providence, breaking their entanglements, defended the
innocent and punished the guilty.
Their arms consisted. of bows and arrows. On the point of
the arrow they fitted a fish spine, with a certain poison that was so
effective that it was mortal even f it. only slightly touched the
flesh. They used short spears and certain shields which they called
carazas. They carried certain knives with two sharp edges, which
were short, like daggers. They used jackets or doublets of
well-twisted cord, and under those others of rattan, a kind of osier.
By means of these they turn aside the sharp, keen bamboos which,
of the length of two brazas, are hurled in naval battles, with which
they do great harm.
Wonders were not wanting in the conversions of those
people. The Christian parents of an Indian woman brought her into
the presence of father Fray Juan de San Joseph, and, as she was
suffering grievously from a violent fever, begged him to baptize
her,
58
59
for they feared lest she die without that sacrament. The
father instructed and catechised her, and told her to have
confidence, and that baptism would save her, soul and body. The
heathen woman received that instruction so thoroughly that when
she was baptized, she was as well from her illness as if she had
never had it, God rewarding her faith, and encouraging others so
that they should receive baptism.
Another Indian woman was at the extremity of death, and
without baptism. The father was summoned, but he, thinking that
she was not in so great danger, and that more time was necessary
to instruct her in the mysteries of the faith, wished to postpone her
baptism. However, God put a strong impulse into his heart not to
leave the sick woman in danger; and at last catechising her very
briefly, scarcely had he baptized her when she died happy.
The devil grieved mightily because the fathers were taking
away so many souls from his captivity, and tried to drive them
from that province of Calamianes. He availed himself of a witch
and her son, appearing in person to them, and ordering them to use
all the delusions and witcheries that they knew, in order to frighten
the Spanish soldiers who were in a fortress near by, so that the
gospel ministers should by this means be induced to depart to
Manila. The sorcerers began their deceits, and one night they
seized the soldier on guard and bore him through the air to the top
of a hill more than a legua away. When the period of his watch
was over, others went to relieve, him; as they could not find him,
the captain thought that he had deserted, and sent another soldier
to look for him. He was found crying out like a madman. He was
taken manacled to the fortress, and, recognizing that it was the
devil who had maltreated him, they summoned father Fray Benito
de Santa Monica, a native of Sevilla, and a powerful minister, who
had grace to cast out devils. The father began the exorcisms of the
church; and the evil spirit talked a thing that he had not done
before and said many things in many languages. Consequently, the
father ordered him not to talk unless he were questioned; the spirit
obeyed, and, finally urged by the exorcisms, made known all the
said trick, and left the body of the soldier.
The next night the devils entered into eight soldiers,
afflicting them with the same accidental madness as the other.
Thus did they continue to multiply their cases of possession, to the
great fear of all the others. And although our religious did not
cease in their exorcisms and prayers, the infernal spirits were
stubborn and pertinacious. Fears grew greater when, legions of
devils were seen in the air at night in most horrible guise. On that
account the most holy sacrament was exposed in the fort. Yielding
to its sovereign presence, the demons fled in confusion to their
eternal dungeons, with the ruin of their deceits; for the Catholics
mended their lives, the faith was confirmed, and the infidels were
more inclined to receive it.
X
Preaching of Ours in the river of Cagaiang
Let us leave those islands for a moment and return to
Mindanao, where Ours were fervently attending to their ministry.
After having put Christianity on the best footing possible along the
shores of Butuan, they went forty leguas farther on by sea, to look
for another river called Cagaiang, as they
59
60
had been told that its inhabitants were a people more docile
than the other inhabitants, in order to enlighten them with the light
of the gospel. The lord of, that land was an Indian named
Salangsang. He lived on a steep and inaccessible rock, which is a
peninsula called Himologàn. It had no other approaches or mode
of ascent than certain ladders made of rattans [bexucos], which
resemble strong osiers. When those were removed it was fortified
and protected from the invasions of enemies. The customs of those
people are like those related of the inhabitants of Caraghas. The
path opened for that under taking was that Doña Magdalena
Bacuya, a Christian Indian woman (the grandmother of the above
mentioned Indian, Salangsang), being moved by zeal for the honor
of God, and compassion for the blindness of those people, went to
see her grandson. Although with difficulty, she succeeded in
gaining admittance for our ministers, who were at that time
staying at the island of Camigui without being able to accomplish
that which they wished. Finally, fathers Fray Juan de San Nicolás
and Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios arrived there [at
Himologan], and found the chief in the presence of five hundred
Indians who lived in that place. That site, perched on its; summit,
was a very agreeable residence capacious enough for that people
to live in a house resembling a cloister, so large that they lived in
it with all their families. . These had communication on the inside,
while it was strongly enclosed on the outside. In the middle of it
was the. divatahan or temple dedicated to the devil. It was a little
house and dirty, as was he who was worshiped there. The prince
received the ministers with some show of affection, for he gave
them a little buffet on the cheek, as a sign that he received them as
friends.
Those people wondered at seeing those ministers in their
lands, and joked about them, taking them for madmen, since they
entered without weapons or other defense, to seek their death. But
as those fathers had God on their side, whose cause they were
serving, His sovereign Majesty ordained that thee chief, showing
them kindness, should give them a small corner in his house, so
that they might live securely, although very uncomfortably. For no
one gave them anything, and, in order to live, they had to go
fishing and to carry wood and water on their backs. They suffered
considerably from that, but in joy and gladness, for they were
serving the Lord, to whom they were attempting to offer those
barbarous people by means of the preaching of the faith.
The fathers obtained permission to celebrate the holy
mystery of the mass, although it had to be done outside that rock,
the dwelling-place of the Indians. They selected the shore of a
small river near the sea. There with their own hands they raised an
oratory and an altar, where they celebrated mass with great labor,
because they had to carry, on their shoulders all the things
necessary for the work, without any one aiding them. Then they
went up and locked themselves in their little lodging, which served
them as cell and choir, going out only to discuss with the leading
Indians the knowledge of the true God by that good example, they
steadily gained great love, and the people presented to them: some
food. Ours repaid them by fervently preaching our holy faith to
them. The Indians brought their little children so
60
61
that they might be taught the holy mysteries and the
Christian doctrine; and these made no poor beginning in this,
although the old fathers, accustomed to their vices, were unwilling
to accept it.
Those Indians were vassals of King Corralat (of whom we
shall speak later) to whom they paid tribute. Collectors came
yearly along the level land from his court to the river to collect the
tribute. That king was a Mahometan, and consequently hostile to
Christians. He learned that our religious were in the lands of his
dominion as guests, and ordered that they be killed without any
objection. More than one thousand men came to do that, but they
were not bold enough to execute the order of their king, for the
natives had acquired so great affection for Ours that they went out
in their defense. The matter was arbitrated and it consisted in the
gospel workers paying tribute to the king. They gladly assented to
it, for the charity of the fathers extended to all things. The
payment of the tribute cost them great trouble, as it was large, and
they had to work with their hands, as they had no support from
other directions.
Corralat did not become quiet with that, or rather it was the
devil who, angry at the great fruit that Ours were gathering in the,
vineyard of the Lord, was trying by that means to drive them out
from it. The Mahometan king proclaimed war against the villages
of that river. During it the religious suffered great frights, pains,
and hardships, fleeing to different parts, in dangerous boats, laden:
at times with the sacred ornaments; hiding in caves, in need of
food and without comforts, and guarding them selves for a better
occasion, in order to employ their lives in the service of God and
the spread of His faith. His [Divine] Majesty was not displeased
with that earnest zeal, for he freed them all from those dangers;
while the Indians were so energetic in their defense that they
refused obedience to the tyrant king, and begged aid from the
Spaniards who were established at the fortress of Caragha and
from those at Zibu, which was given them immediately. Beyond
doubt that was a plan of the divine pity to enlighten those heathen
with the light of truth, and to withdraw them from the captivity of
Satan. For the Indians, having been’ defended by the arms of
Castilla and instructed by the religious, became so fond of them
that they delivered to them their divatahan, where they built a
church, in order to administer baptism to those who were
converted. Salangsang, together with his wife, was the first to
receive baptism in the church, and many others followed their
example. That prince, having become a Christian, became a
willing subject to the kings of Castilla. He built a stronghold with
sufficient ramparts to defend himself against the stratagems of
Corralat. Finally Ours erected the convent called Cagaiang, where
the Indians began to build houses for their dwellings.
He who labored most in the conversion of those people was
father Fray Augustin de San Pedro, a son of the convent of
Valladolid, and,a Portuguese by nationality. He not only took care
of the teaching of the faith, but also instructed the Indians in
civilized ways. Thus did they seem to have been transferred from
wild beasts into men. It happened in a, memorable assault that
some nearby :Indians made at dawn on the village of Cagaiang,
with the
61
62
intention of killing the fathers (that was an attempt of the
devil, and he instigated the Indians to do it, in order to break the
friendship which those villages had made) that father Fray Jacinto
de Jesus Maria was alone in his cell. The barbarians entering the
house killed eight persons who were guarding it. Making
themselves masters of the door, they fought with their campilans
and other weapons, aiming thrusts, cuts, and strokes in all
directions, so that in the darkness Ours might not hide from them.
But the said father, trusting in God, went out through the midst of
them all, without receiving the slightest blow. It is not difficult for
the divine omnipotence to work those miracles, and He is wont to
perform them often in order to defend His ministers. The father
hid in a thicket, until after the fury -had sub sided, when he could
place himself in safety.
§ XI
Foundation of the convents of the above-mentioned provinces
We cannot excuse ourselves, for the glory and honor of God,
from referring to the souls whom Ours drew from the darkness of
heathenism into the light of the Christian religion, in the provinces
of Caragha, Butuan, Calamianes, and Cagaiang —for whose
conservation it was thought necessary to found convents, whence
the religious set out to overrun the country, administering
sacraments, consoling some, subduing others, and always gaining
souls for the Lord. We have not been able to ‘ascertain with
certainty in ‘what year they were established, but that amounts to
but little. The order in which they are mentioned-in-the records of
the provincial chapter held at Manila in the year one thousand six
hundred and fifty is as follows:
Tandag
1. The convent of Tandag, head of those in the province of
Caragha, where there is a presidio of Spaniards, is one hundred
and fifty leguas distant from Manila. It has to its account seven
hundred Christian families. It was founded by father Fray Miguel
de Santa Maria. At first it was more than one legua up the river but
was afterward removed to the seashore for certain reasons of
convenience. It has a devout confraternity of the most holy Virgin,
and another of the girdle of our father St. Augustine, which has
been already established in the other convents.
A captain (whose name is carefully suppressed) having been
buried in the church of that house, the prior noted one day that his
grave was higher than the, others. Attributing it to the carelessness
of the sacristan, he ordered the latter to level it. That was done; but
on the following day, it was seen to be in the same shape as on the
preceding day. It was leveled again, and a quantity of earth taken
away, but still the grave did not discontinue rising. . That novelty
caused much talk, and at last the said prior ascertained that the
said captain had died excommunicated. . He ordered the body to
be exposed, and then, absolving it in the manner that the
holy,Roman church orders, they buried it again without the earth
after that ‘making any more show of casting him out. By such
demonstrations does God give us to understand the respect and
fear that should be extended to the censures of the Church.
62
63
Butuan
2. The convent of Butuan is situated on the shore of the
river. That village numbers one thousand five hundred Christians.
The convent was founded by father Fray Francisco de San Nicolás
a native of Portillo, and a son of the house of Valladolid. He was a
most zealous minister and preacher to those people.
Cuyo
3. The convent of Cuyo, in the island of that name, has to its
account two thousand Catholic families.
CagaIang
4. The convent of Cagalang governs and teaches one
thousand eight hundred faithful persons.
Sidargào
5. The convent of Sidargào31 which is an island ten leguas
distant from the fort of Tanda, has two thousand Christian
families. According to the testimony of persons of credit, certain
manikins, small and beautiful; resembling pigmies in appearance
and size, were seen in the said island on a certain occasion. They
fled with great swiftness through the thickets of the forests, so
that, notwithstanding the efforts made, they could not be caught.
However, it is said that some of them were caught in former times,
but that they died of fright in a few hours. A cross is preserved
near the village of Sapào, on top of a rock of the size of two dedos
above the stone, which has certain letters. Those letters cannot be
read now, as they have been obliterated by the lashing
31
Referring to Siargao Island, off northeast of Mindanao, about
twenty-one miles long and fourteen wide.
63
64
of the sea, which beats against it continually. It is a tradition
that the first Spanish discoverers of that gulf made that cross,
although it is not known when.
That islet is five or six leguas in circuit, and lies in nine
degrees of latitude. It is well supplied with food and good water,
of which there are many springs, called bito. They are always in
the same condition, and do not increase with the rains, nor
diminish with the dryness of the seasons. It is remarkable for one
thing in which it is different from that coast of Caragha, and the
other islands namely that no monkeys are reared there nor can they
be reared if brought there, for they die immediately. During the
rainy season, the earth turns red, and is so sticky that when one
walks it tears the shoes from the feet. There is a remarkable tree
that is called nono. It springs from the root of another large and
shady tree. As it increases in size, it embraces it, and by sucking
the moisture and nourishment from it, becomes strong. When it
becomes so strong that it can grow alone, it casts away that tree,
and despises that which was its staff, thus treating it badly until it
withers-‘a living image of the children of this age.
Coming to the peculiarities of that coast, we cannot fail to
mention one, namely, that there are trees of the hugest size, so tall
that one would believe that they are, trying to reach up into the
clouds. The Indians are wont to make their dwellings in them,
especially those Indians called cimarrones. 32 They
Cimarrón is an American word meaning “wild “ or “unruly,’ and is
also applied to a run away slave. O. T. Mason, in his translation of Blumentritt’s
Nátive Tribes of the Philippines (Washington, 1901) says (p. 536) that “this
characterization is given to heathen tribes of most varied affiliation, living
without attachment and in poverty, chiefly posterity of the Remontados.”
Buzeta and Bravo (Diccionario) say that these people are “collections or tribes
of infidels known by this name in the island of Luzón and others of the
archipelago. There is at present a tribe living in the dense forest of the mountain
32
Isaroc in the province of Camarines Sur. There are also some collections of
these and ionic hostiles in the mountains of the island and province of Samar.
They-are descendants of the Negrito race, who seem to become differentiated
from their own species because of their extraordinarily wild and mountainous
life “. Hence the name seems to have been given these people in Mindanao
simply to distinguish them u especially barbarous and difficult to establish
relations among. They were probably one of the numerous tribes of Negritos
such as inhabit Mindanao today.
64
65
pay no tribute, so that their trees serve them as a fort in
which to defend themselves from the Spanish soldiers of the fort
of Caragha. The manner of building those dwellings is as follows:
They look out a very stout, high tree; they trim off all the branches
up to the height where the floor of the house is to be. They put in
some cross-bars, which cross on the trimmed-off branches. They
fix them with large timbers in the manner of an enclosure, with
which the trampling-ground is made. ‘Then they enclose that floor
with the same timbers, in the manner of a parapet, and cover it
with a little nipa. The branches above are also protected from the
rain and inclemencies of the weather. Thus the house is made so
strong that it resists any invasion. It has often cost our soldiers
considerable trouble to get those people; for those houses have no
approach except certain light ladders made from rattans tied
together. In those houses they keep all their possessions, and there
live their children and wives, who all help to fight. They have
made a place by which to retire when pursued, closely, preparing
a’ passage from branch to branch in order to escape. Those houses
are so capacious that one of our religious lay brothers, who had
been a soldier in the presidio of Caragha, said that he had seen one
that would hold sixty persons. On climbing into another out of
curiosity, he saw three women hanging —a mother and her
daughters. As well as could be guessed, the mother had hanged the
girls and ‘ then herself, in order not to fall into the power of the
Castilians33.
Calamíanes or Taitai
6. The convent of Calamianes, or, as it is called, Titai, where
there is a presidio of Spaniards, and where one thousand six
hundred souls are directed. That convent has another confraternity
of our Lady, the Virgin.
Bislin or Bislig
7. The convent of Bislin or Bislig governs two thousand
families. There died most happily father Fray Juan de San
Augustin, a son of the province of Castilla. He was a grand
33
In a brief description of which occurs in a geographical work by the
Chinese writer Chao-Yu-Kua (who flourished in the thirteenth century) which
account will appear later in this series is an interesting mention of “nests “ built
in trees by the Actas or Negritos, who live therein in single families. Professor
Friedrich Ratzel (History of Mankind, Butler’s translation, London and New
York, 1,896) says (i, p. 111) that the Battaks in Sumatra, and ‘many
Melanesians lived in trees; and on p. 422, he says: “Among the Battaks safe
dwelling places are also found at the point where a tree-stem forks or throws off
branches; the central shoot is lopped off, and the surrounding branches remain.”
Continuing he speaks of the huts built by the Ilongotes of Luzón on tree stems,
which are made from leaves of the nipa-paim and bamboo.”The Orang-Sakei
and the Lubus of Sumatra also live to’ some extent’ in trees “ (p. 423). There
are also tree-dwellers in Africa and India.
65
66
minister of the gospel, and knew the Bisayan tongue very
well. He lived apostolically, and gave a fine example with his
virtues, which made him very lovable to the Indians themselves,
as was seen in the rising of the coast of Caroga, from which it was
necessary to withdraw him and keep him from perils to the life
that he would have lost, through the fury of the enemies. His
abstinence was remarkable, for, although the toil of his ministry
was so vast, as he went continually through rugged places, forests,
rivers, and seas, he ate nothing but herbs, and sometimes small
fish, when he was especially fatigued. He was very humble and,
poor, bearing himself with the Indians as if he were the meanest of
them. By these and other virtues he gathered great fruit in this life,
which will doubtless have gained him eternal rest.
Baldad, Dignes, and Iaquet
8, 9, and 10. Our most reverend father, Fray Pedro de
Santiago,, preacher of Felipe Fourth, examiner of writings for the
supreme council of the Inquisition, vicar-general of our
congregation, chronicler of the kingdom of Aragón, bishop of
Solsona, and afterward of Lerida, referred many times to the
convents of Baldad, Dignes, and Iaquet, in a relation that he
published on the going of our religious to the Indias. However,
father Fray Andres del Santo Espiritu, provincial of Filipinas, in
another manuscript relation, calls one of them Iguaquet, which is
thought to be that mentioned as laquet. In that convent there are
eight hundred Christian families It was founded on a river in the
northern part of this coast of Caragha by father Fray Juan de San
Nicolas, a native of the Algarbes in Portugal, who took the habit in
Manila. He was a grand minister and knew the language of the
Caraghas3459 perfectly. He preached with great spirit, and
34
“In older works are so named [Caragas] he warlike and Christian
inhabitants of the localities subdued, by the Spaniards on the east coast of
succeeded in making many miraculous conversions, among both
the heathen and the Christian sinners, who left his sermons so
contrite, that they anxiously went to seek the salvation of their
souls in the sacrament of penance.
11. Another convent is also mentioned as being in certain
islets not far from Iguaquet, in which another eight hundred
families of Christians were cared for.
Laylaia
12. The convent of Laylaia (which sounds the same as [the
name of] the river above), is forty leguas distant from Butuan.
There was a presidio of Spaniards there, which from the
indications seems to be that of Linao. It has in charge one
thousand six hundred souls.
Caviscail
13. That of Caviscail, in the Calamianes Islands, was
abandoned because of the murder committed on one of our
religious, an able minister of that village, by the Indians.
Calagdan
14. Father Fray Felipe de la Madre de, ‘Dios, provincial of
Castilla, and chronicler, mentions another
Mindanaó, and, indeed, after their principal city, Caraga. It has been called, if
not a peculiar language, a Visaya dialect,’ while now only Visaya (near Manobo
and Mandaya) is spoken, and an especial Caraga nation is no longer known “
(Blumentritt’s “Native Tribes of the ‘Philippines, “ in Smithsonian Report,
1899, p. 535.)
66
67
—in the Noticias Historiales, that he left in manuscript— at
Calagdan. He assigns to it seven hundred families that were
converted to the faith.
Binalgavan
15. That of Binalgavan, in the island of Negros, with one
thousand five hundred families. That convent was left in the hands
of the fathers of the Society of Jesus, for reasons that existed for
such action. We cannot avoid mentioning some matters that
happened there when it was in charge of Ours.
A certain Indian chief had a son two years old, who was
very sick. He made the usual sacrifices to the devil for his health.
As he did not get what he was after, he begged father Fray Jacinto
de San Fulgencio for a little water passed through the chalice. The
father gave it to the sick child, and the latter was instantly cured.
With that occasion, it was the will of the divine mercy that the
child, his parents, and their household should be baptized and
leave their darkness.
On another occasion they brought an Indian from a
mountain with a leg already rotting; and as he was being treated in
the house of the alcalde-mayor, at an unseasonable hour of the
night he called loudly for baptism. The father went to him, and,
upon seeing him, the sick man said: “Baptize me, Father, since
God has brought me into the power of the Christians for that
reason “ The religious minister baptized him immediately, and
scarcely. had he finished administering the sacrament to him when
the Indian, invoking the most sweet name of Jesus, expired.
Finally a converted Indian woman having been convicted of
a grave sin, in order to deny it cursed, saying: “May a crocodile
eat me before I reach my house, if what I said was untrue.” God
punished her immediately, for while near her native place called
Passi, in the island of Panai, a crocodile attacked her, and seizing
her in its mouth, dragged her into the river, and swallowed her. At
that time father Fray Juan de San Joseph was prior of the convent.
Tagho
16. The convent of Tagho, so called from a river that bathes
it, has in charge the care of nine hundred families of Christians.
Dinai
17. In Calamianes, the convent of Dinai, with seven hundred
families, was removed to Linacapan in order to avoid the continual
raids of the pirates.
Damaràn
18. The convent of Damaràn had charge of four hundred
baptized persons.
Father Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio, commisary and
procurator of that province of San Nicolas of Filipinas, while at
this court of Madrid gave a relation of other houses, in addition to
those enumerated, which are as follows:
Layavan
19. The convent of Layavan, with seven hundred families in
its charge.
Camigui
20. That of Camigui, with the bay of Liangan has six
hundred families.
67
68
Baqua
21. That of Baqua has charge of one thousand two hundred
families divided among six villages.
Parasao
22. That of Parasao governs eight hundred families who live
in that place.
Bagangan
23. That of Bagangan, with eight hundred other Christian
families.
Tuggaban
24. That of Tuggaban has in charge one thousand three
hundred families.
Banton
25. That of Banton, with one thousand two hundred families.
Divàil
26. That of Divàil cares for one thousand three hundred
families.
Paràva
27. That of Paràva administers one thousand families.
Sampongan
28. That of Sampongan. governs six hundred families.
Surigao
29. That of Surigao another six hundred.
Casteel
30. That of Casteèl, a like number.
Father Fray Christoval de Santa Monica, father of the said
province, commissary and procurator-general, added:
Gura
31. That of Gura.
Baler
32. That of Baler.
Binangonan
33. That of Binangonan.
In other records and documents which have come from the
said province is found the relation of:
Abucal
34. That of AbucaI.
Dagat
35. That of Dagat.
Tebastlan
36. That of Tebastlan.
Many of the said convents are no longer in existence now,
either through lack of religious, or for other accidental reasons;
because these have occurred, it has been deemed advisable to
abandon them —although the churches are still standing and are
cared for, and our religious visit those villages, preserving them in
the faith so that the spiritual food is not wanting to them.
XII
Mention of some hardships which Ours have suffered in the
spread of the Catholic faith
It would be beyond our powers to tell what Ours
68
69
suffered in spreading the gospel truth, and in drawing the
souls of so many barbarians and heathen from their blindness and
errors; for, as they have cared more for gaining the reward of
heaven than of earth, what is known of it is little or almost
nothing. We trust in God, who can reward those who serve Him,
and that He will have given great glory to those who have suffered
so much for the extension of His honor, by bringing so many
people to recognize Him. Let us, then, relate that the
father-provincial of the above named houses visits them three
times during the term of his office —and that with so great perils
by land and water that the preservation of his life seems a special
providence of heaven. Father Fray Onofre de la Madre de Dios
was met on one of those occasions by more than twenty caracoas
of pirates and was obliged to cast himself . into the water, together
with his secretary. They went to an island, where, naked and
without food, they suffered those miseries that can be imagined.
Another provincial father, Fray Andres del Espiritu Santo,
suffered a violent tempest, in which a number of persons perished.
The boat having overturned, as neither he nor three other religious
who were accompanying him knew how to swim, they seized hold
of the keel. They remained there two days and one night,
expecting death every instant. But God was pleased to have them
reach a beach amid rocks and reefs. There, bruised and full of
wounds, they found no other comfort than to seek roots with
which to support themselves for many days, until unexpected aid
came to them from another part.
Father Fray Nicolás de Tolentino visited the province
69
70
of Caragha. He was wrecked three times, and suffered most
the last time; for, the boat having broken, he had nothing to eat in
seven days. Having reached an uninhabited place by dint of his
exertions, he went overland through rough paths and through
mountains, at the risk of being eaten by crocodiles, until he found
a little boat, that carried him and his companion to Manila. They
were so weak and hurt that they could not recover their health for
a long time.
Brother Fray Francisco de San Nicolás, a native of Cadiz,
coming from the island of Negros to attend to certain things of the
church service, suffered so terrible a whirlwind that the boat was
driven upon some rocks and broken into splinters. Its occupants
were drowned, and our lay brother, not knowing how to swim,
went to the bottom. Without knowing how, he found himself in the
hollow of a rock which had an opening at the top. He managed to
creep through, by the help of God, who protected him. Climbing
to the top he saw that he was on a rocky islet of one-half legua in
circuit, and remained there until his cries and shouts brought some
passing Indians, who, surprised at so novel an occurrence, took
him off in their boat.
The captivities and oppressions suffered by Ours would take
long to recount, and so I shall give only one. Job is an island that
lies -between those of Burnei and Mindanao. It is very -famous in
that archipelago, not for its size, but for the warlike daring of its
caciques or petty kings,, who have made themselves feared by
their robberies and cruel deeds throughout those seas. While their
fleet, then, was at Calamianes, father Fray Juan de San Joseph, a
70
71
native of Granada, was captured. He was then prior of the
convent of Cuyo, and was visiting those villages which had been
converted to the faith, administering the sacraments and the word
of God to them —the employment of those gospel ministers. They
took him to their island, being greedy for the ransom. The amount
of it was discussed, but as the sum demanded by those barbarians
was large, and the poor religious could not collect it in a short
time, it was necessarily delayed for some time. During that time
the Mahometan islanders began to persuade the father to abandon
the faith and adopt their vile worship, promising him great riches
and comfort, and marriage with a sister of the lord or petty king of
the island. That would have been a powerful temptation to one
who was not so firm in the law of Jesus Christ, and assisted by His
divine favor. Our religious resisted that strong and troublesome
battery mightily; but those barbarians, seeing themselves despised,
turned the leaf, converting those flatteries into threats of death,
and placed before him many cruel methods of depriving him of
life. That was not what the good father feared most, since he
desired to lose his life for the faith which he professed. The petty
king had conceived an affection for the father, and left untried no
means in his power in order to break down the strength of the
religious. To such an extent did he carry his madness that one of
the wives of the barbarian, a beautiful and unbridled woman,
visited our prisoner often, accompanied by beautiful women of
high rank, in order that they might achieve success in winning him
to their disgraceful love; for, had he been taken in that net; the’
chaste man would have remained en snared. That trick, it is well
known, is one of the most persuasive that the devil furnishes. For
he makes war by the affection for the object, and with the
vehement incentives of the appetite. But divine grace was very
well fortified in the soul of the gospel minister. Consequently, the
shots of the devil, the world, and, the flesh were weakened and
destroyed. The women returned in confusion, after hearing him
preach of the mysteries of our sacred law. He understood the
Bisayan language very well, and consequently learned the one
peculiar to that island in a short time. Although the instruction did
not take root in their minds, at least they recognized a certain
element of grandeur that aroused their veneration. Father Fray
Juan passed considerable time in those struggles, comforting the
Christians who were there, and obtaining many triumphs for
himself. Finally, on the arrival of the time for his ransom, he
returned to his convent at Cuyo, joyous at having suffered for
God, although not well satisfied at not having given his life for his
holy law. But we can declare that if the barbarians lacked the
determination to condemn him to martyrdom, our Catholic soldier
did not want the courage to receive it.
We shall give an end to this year of twenty-two, by giving a
brief memorial of father Fray Diego de Santo Tomas, a native of
Nueva-España, a creole of Cholula, and the son of Diego Garcia
de Leon and Doña Ines Carrillo. He went to Filipinas when very
young, where, leaving the deceits of the world, he betook himself
to the port of religions taking our holy habit in the convent of San
Nicolás of Manila. He professed in the year 1610. When he saw
the so great fervor of the religious for the spreading of the
71
72
faith, he took the call so effectively into his breast that the
superiors, employing him in that exercise, ordered him to become
sub-prior. He was afterward prior of Masinglo, and lastly of Dinai.
In the exercise of those duties, he was careful to employ all his
strength in caring for the sheep reduced to the flock of the church.
He went through the Calamianes Islands, preaching, converting,
and confirming those converted in the faith. And as his cares were
prodigious, and he became weakened by his hardships, his
strength failed him; tired out, he became sick, and died on a desert
beach, without any human presence. However the divine presence
would not fail him. Happy soldier, whom death overtook while
fighting in the campaign of the Church of God!
Let us give a companion to this father, and let him be father
Fray Juan de la Anunciacion. He was born in Madrid, in the parish
of San Gines. His parents were Diego del Castillo and Felipa
Manuel de Benavides. He took our holy habit in the year 1613,
while father Fray Juan Bautista Altaraque was master of
novitiates. He professed the following year under father Fray
Augustin de San Gabriel, prior of the convent of the said town. He
went to the Indias, being desirous of employing his life in the
service of God and the welfare of souls. He thoroughly understood
the languages of the Indians. Entering the rudest of the islands, he
preached with great fervor, and converted many heathen. He spent
some years in that employment, and finally his life, without
anyone being present at his death. He died worn out, and for lack
of nourishment. He lived, much, since as long as life lasted for
him he employed it in the service of the holy church and the
conversion of the infidels. His body was found and very reverently
given honorable burial.
Recollects to gain entrance to its inhospitable shores in 1623.
Fired by the news of the persecution waged against the Christians,
two fathers, Francisco de Jesus and Vicente de San Antonio,
disguised as merchants, set out from Manila to preach the gospel
to the Japanese. But many misfortunes overtake them: their boat,
old and weak, opens at the bow and compels them to put in at the
island of Babuyanes; shortly after setting sail once more, a fierce
storm drives them to the Chinese coast, whence they narrowly
escape shipwreck and then death at the hands of the people, who
prove hostile. However, forty days after leaving Babuyanes, they
reach Japan, on June 20. Shortly begins their journey toward
Nangasaqui, which they reach October 14, 1623, noting Japanese
customs on the way. There it is reported that disguised priests are
in the city, and an edict published by the emperor banishes all the
Spaniards from the country. Both the fathers, however, escape the
banishment. A section on the life of Father Juan de la Madre de
Dios, a noted laborer in the missions of Mindanao, and who was
buried at the fort of Caragha, follows; and the chapter. closes with
a reference to affairs at large connected with the order, and the
obtaining of certain papal decrees.]
[Most of the third chapter is concerned with affairs in Japan.
A short description of that country is followed by the efforts of the
72
73
Chapter fourth
The first provincial chapter is celebrated in Filipinas in the
convent of Manila; and in España the first intermediate general
chapter of Portillo. Certain servants of God finish their lives
happily.
§1
Election of the first provincial of Filipinas, at the convocation of
the first chapter of that province
Year 1624
The religious of those islands had been governed since the
time of their arrival there by vicarprovincials, either elected by the
priests who were in the convents or missions, or appointed by the
superior prelate of España, according to the letters and patents
which father Fray Pedro de la Madre de Dios and father Fray
Rodrigo de San Miguel had obtained for it. The first
vicar-provincial was the venerable father Fray Juan de San
Geronimo, who governed until the year 1608. Father Fray
Geronimo de Christo followed him, but, as he died very soon, the
chapter was convoked; and, in the following year of six hundred
and nine, the same father Fray Juan de San Geronimo was elected.
When the latter returned to España, the chapter was convoked in
the year six hundred and ten, and father Fray Andres del Espiritu
Santo elected. He governed until the year twelve, when father Fray
Pedro de la Madre de Dios came from España with the
appointment. But, his patents having expired, the chapter was
convoked, in which the said father was elevated to the same office,
and he ruled until the year 15. That year, the chapter having been
convoked, father Fray Andres del Espiritu Santo took the
government a second time, until the year of eighteen, when father
Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel came from España with the
appointment. He had it in charge until the year twenty-two, when,
as he returned to España, he was succeeded by the said father,
Fray Andrès del Espiritu Santo, who had come that same year
from España with religious. He governed until the year
twenty-three, -in which father Fray Pedro de la Madre de Dios
came from España, having been appointed by the venerable father
vicar-general. He convoked a chapter, in order that a separate
provincial might be elected in that province, as was done in the
others. The patents were as follows.
“His Holiness, our most blessed father Gregory Fifteenth
(may God preserve him), with the desire that is his of aiding the
reformed orders, at the instance made him by his Majesty and our
order who petitioned him that a vicar-general be given us, and
permission that the convents of our order, with the title and name
of province, might divide into several provinces conceded a brief
for the aforesaid, which was carried out. For that purpose, a
chapter was convoked in this convent of the city of Madrid on
November twenty of the following year, the past year of 1621, in
which I was elected vicar-general. The convents possessed by the
order in España in those islands were divided into four provinces.
Consequently, -that the orders given by his Holiness and by the
general chapter may be executed, I am sending the messages, so
that a provincial chapter may be held. In that chapter the orders of
our Latin constitutions and those of the new ordinances of our
aforesaid general chapter shall be observed.
“In regard to time, I declare that it shall be held
73
74
within four months of the time when your Reverences shall
receive the messages and when the religious who bear them, and
who sail in this trading fleet, shall arrive at that convent of the city
of Manila -so that [there will be no haste] in case that it should not
be a suitable time when the religious arrive, or it should be
necessary to arrange anything for the celebration; but if time
should allow, and the necessary things should be arranged, it may
be held within a month, and not before. I warn your Reverences
that, on receiving and opening the messages and despatches that I
am sending, the form that I order be observed. And inasmuch as’
when your Reverences receive these despatches, two years will
have passed of the sexennium according to the order laid down in
the new ordinances, decreeing that now and henceforth provincial
chapters shall be held, so that those who are to come to take part in
the election of a new vicar-general may be elected every six years
-your Reverences shall take one year from this first triennium, and
this election shall be, but for this time only, a biennium. Thus shall
be done with both the provincial and definitors, and the rest of the
priors and the other offices, so that in the following provincial
chapter of that province, the definitor and discreto may be elected
who shall come, in its name, for the new ejection of vicar-general
that is to be made (if our Lord be so pleased),at Pentecost of the
year 1627.
“The coming shall be arranged in such manner that they
may not come late, nor leave before it is necessary. As soon as the
definitor and discreto (or those who may be elected to fill their
places on account of their death, of for any other legitimate
impediment) are elected, your Reverences shall advise the
vicar-general by the first boat, if they cannot arrive in time. I have
chosen to advise your Reverences of this, so that you might know
what you ought land must do; and so that everything my be done
with prudence, devotion, and virtue, in which may our Lord give
us many increases. From this convent of the discalced of our
father St. Augustine, of the city of Madrid, June 12, 1622. Your
Reverences’brother,
Fray Geronimo de la Resurreccion “
Accordingly, when this order arrived with the other
despatches, the priors of San Nicolás of Manila, of Zibú, of
Cabite, of Masinglo, of Ama, of Bolinao, of Calumpan, of Tanda,
of Butuan, of Iguaquet, of Tibastian, of Cuyo, of Linacapan, and
of Cagaiang assembled. Under the presidency of the said father
Fray Pedro de la Madre de Dios, they unanimously elected the
venerable father Fray Onofre de la Madre de Dios, provincial, on
the sixth of February of that year twenty-four, the time that the
present history has reached.
The election was very suitable, as he who was elected was
deserving of other and greater posts. He was a native of Perpiñan,
in the county of Rosellón, and a son of the convent of Zaragoga, in
Aragón, where he studied arts and theology. He was prior of the
convent of Zuera, and afterward master of novitiates in that of
Madrid, where he furnished a great example of observance and
virtue He went to the Indias with the zeal of preaching the faith of
Christ our Lord He filled some posts worthily, with so much
satisfaction to the religious that he deserved
74
75
to be the first provincial of that province. He completed the
suitable ordering and economical regime of the houses, the
methods that he practiced being continual presence at the choir,
steadfast application to the divine worship, and the decoration of
the churches. He was modest in his actions, which he adapted to
all; mild in his intercourse, by which he made himself loved;
skilful in business management; extremely poor, and given to
continual mortification. The definitors were father Fray Andres del
Espiritu Santo, father Fray Diego de San Bernardo, father Fray
Joseph de San Augustin, and father Fray Juan de Santo Tomas,
chosen men indeed.
The acts passed are reduced to the following points: “That
the religious living at the missions or villages of the Indians
maintain all the regular observance of the convents, especially in
rising at midnight for matins, and in the two hours of mental
prayer morning and afternoon, even though there should be no
more than one priest. That authority be given to the missionary
fathers to carry some books that are conformable to their
profession; and that they be prohibited from wearing hempen
garments, especially since the heat of the country is contrary to
that harshness. That the ministers learn the language of the Indians
within one year; and that, in order to avoid disturbance, they do
not receive guests in their convents, unless it be bishops, religious,
governors, or alcaIdes-mayor.
[A section on the first intermediate general chapter of the
Recollects, which was held at the convent of Portillo, follows
Section iii treats of the life and death of brother Fray Juan de San
Nicolás, who had professed at Manila, December 21, 1622. The
malice of Certain Indians who were taking him up the river from
the convent of Iguaquet, to aid in one of the missions, causes his
death; for they overturn the boat, leaving him to drown while they
swim safely to shore. The chapter ends with an account of the life
of Bishop Don Fray Gregorio de Santa Catalina Alarcón who after
having been appointed bishop of Nueva Cáceres, in the
Philippines, by King Felipe IV, is appointed almost immediately
afterward to the bishopric of Santiago de Cuba at Habana. His
death occurs at sea while on his way to assume the latter office.
This chapter completes the annals for the year 1624.]
75
76
whom the visitas of Bayug and the other villages belonged, could
not go there, father
THE RECOLLECT MISSIONS, 1625-40
(Blair & Robertson, Vol. 35, 59-101)
[In vol. XXI (pp. 191-259) the history of the Recollect
missions in the Philippines, as related by Luis de Jesús (Historia
general de los religiosos descalzos del orden de los Hermitaños
del gran Padre, . . . San Augustin; Madrid, 1681) was presented
for 1621-24. Below follows the history of that author for
1625-38.]
Decade Fourth
Year 1625
Chapter Fifth
The founding of the convent of Sevilla. Ours begin to preach the
gospel in Baiug and Malanao in the Filipinas. Father Fray Diego
de la Anunciation dies in a holy manner in Madrid.
[The first three sections of this chapter relate to Spanish
affairs entirely.]
IIII
Preaching of our religious in Bayug and Malanao
It had been decided by an intermediary chapter of that
province of Filipinas that our laborers should go to the district of
Bayug and the vicinity of Lake Malanao [i. e., Lanao], as there
were many people there, and hopes were entertained of gathering
abundant fruit for the Church. Since the minister of Cagaiang, to
76
77
Fray Juan de San Nicolas was appointed, a man well known
for his invincible spirit, and his excellent procedure (howbeit at
the cost of many hardships) in reducing obstinate ones, as was
proved in the conquest of Cagaiang. Armed, then, with spiritual
weapons, he went to the village of Bayug, where he was known
and where there were a few Christians. He began to make much of
the chief people, for if they are once subdued, the conversion of
the common people is not so difficult.
Dolomayor35 a man well affected toward the religious, was
as it were, the ruler of those people. He immediately surrendered
his children to baptism, although he remained in his blindness. For
all that, however, he did not fail to help Ours greatly. With this
good beginning, father Fray Juan endured his hardships with
equanimity; and he had much to endure, for the Indians do not
give alms. Consequently, it was necessary for the ministers to seek
their food in the mountains, with the trouble that can be imagined.
They continued to gain souls for God; but the heart of the zealous
father was pierced because the inhabitants of the other river near
by, called Lavayan, clung obstinately to their heathen rites, and
refused to receive the evangelical law. On that account the father
resolved to make a settlement in that district, in order that they
might be subdued by perseverance. He did so, and left his
associate in Bayug.
We have already mentioned, [when speaking] of the
foundation in Cagaiang,36 the great hostility that those of that
village had incurred, and the Mindanao Moros. The latter could
not endure to have our religious remain there, as they thought that
it was the gateway by which an entrance would be made into their
35
Dolomoyon, according to La Concepción (Hist. de Philipinas, v, p.
36
See account of this mission in vol. XXI, pp. 231-236.
364).
lands. Because of them the people of Cagaiang were so harassed
continually that they could not go out to cultivate their fields.
Father Fray Augustin de San Pedro37 was prior of Cagaiang in the
year 1626. He was so valiant a man that, although he had been
reared in the austerity and shelter of religion from childhood, he
knew how to make himself so feared by those Mahometans that
they called him “the Father Captain.”
He surrounded the village with a high stockade, with its
sentry-boxes and towers for the sentinels who stood watch at
night, by means of which they were safe from the continual
ambushes of the enemy. He taught the Indians how to make
sallies, to shoot, and to spy out those who were in ambush, and in
fine carried himself as the most skilful captain. The
37
Agustin de San Pedro (whose family name was Rodriguez) was born
in Braganza, Portugal, in 1599; he studied in the university of Salamanca,
afterward entering the Recollect convent at Valladolid, making his profession in
1619. At Portillo, he devoted himself to the study of mathematics, and
especially of military science to such an extent that “his superiors commanded
him to desist from these, as unsuited to the religious profession.” In 1623 he
departed for the Philippines; where he was assigned to the Mindanao field,
spending therein many years; his military studies were here made useful in
defending the missions against Moro raids, and training the Christian Indians to
fight their enemies successfully; and he was known throughout the Philippines
as “Padre Capitan “ which name is also applied to a village on the northern
coast of Mindanao, southwest of Iligan. Fray Agustin was sent to Romblón soon
after the Lanao expeditions here related to fortify the villages there arid instruct
the natives in the art of war, that island being one of those subject to Moro
incursions. He died in 1653. (See Prov. de S. Nicolas de Tolentino, pp.
290-292).
77
78
tyrant Cachil Corralat was very angry that a small village
like Cagaiang should resist his power, and desired to finish it once
for all. He launched his fleet of more than thirty caracoas manned
by the best of his men and equipped with military supplies. The
preparation of the enemy was learned, and the father prior sent to
Caragha for some soldiers. Six soldiers and one hundred Indians
came. A sudden alarm was sounded, to call in those who were
distant in their fields. The enemy disembarked more than two
thousand Moros in order to attack the village; but they found so
stout resistance that they returned, fleeing in disgrace. All that
gave great annoyance to Corralat, and he was grieved to his very
soul that the [Father] Captain should be the one to check his
boldness. Therefore, desirous of seizing him, Corralat ordered
ambushes to be set, and took other means to secure his end.
That action was not kept hidden from the prudent father,
who, caring for the guard of the village, also forbade the people at
times to make sallies, that they might not fall into any of the many
stratagems arranged by the enemy, notwithstanding that he had
frightened them from the vicinity. Sometimes he sallied out on
horseback, with unsheathed sword, trampling many under foot,
and causing the rest to flee in terror. That military valor of father
Fray Augustin is not to be wondered at; for there are many
examples of priests in Holy Writ who fought like captains; and, in
our España, many archbishops and bishops have performed great
exploits, opposing themselves, clad in steel armor, in the field of
battle to the barbarity of the enemies of the faith; and our religious
opposed the Mahometans, because he was defending those whom
he had converted to the law of God.
The misfortune was, that the said father having gone out to
visit his parishioners, the enemy —who were keeping close watch,
and seeking the manner in which they might enter. the village
obtained their opportunity in a certain part where the sentinels
were careless; and, attacking the convent, they pillaged it of what
they found. Father Fray Jacinto de Jesus Maria escaped, as by a
miracle, through the midst of the swords which the barbarians
raised against him, even he being quite careless inside his cell. The
father prior grieved greatly over that blow; but, like the
courageous man he was, he supplied the convent with furnishings
and with what was most necessary for the fortification of the
place. At that time the father prior of Bayug, Fray Juan de San
Nicolás, was in Lavayan, whose inhabitants he was subduing with
incredible labors; for they refused to build him a church or a
house, or to supply him with food. He was supported by the fish
caught by two Tagálog Indians, servants of his, while he himself
was obliged to pound his rice and carry his wood. It was God’s
pleasure to soften the hardness of those people, in a manner that
appears ridiculous. I shall not hesitate to refer to it, so that the
divine Providence may be seen even in what appears accidental.
Father Fray Juan de San Nicolás fell sick of the fever, and
found that he must be bled. That took place upon the occasion of a
visit from an Indian chief. The latter was greatly surprised that the
father allowed himself to be bled. He asked the cause for it, and
the father told him that that was a
78
79
good medicine for fevers, and that the Spaniards were
accustomed to its use. The Indian became quiet at that, but
returned the next day to see the second bleeding. Then after
several days he came with his hands to his head, and asked to be
bled, as he felt sick. The father endeavored to dissuade him, but he
insisted so much that the father had to order that he be bled. The
barber, since the chief had refused to sell him a fowl for food, or
anything else, thought to be revenged, and said that he would not
bleed him unless he gave him a fowl or two pullets. The Indian
had to give it to him, and although father Fray Juan laughed at the
bargain, he was silent and overlooked it all, as he got some food.
Other Indians felt sick, and were bled, paying for the bleeding in
fowls. By that means the fathers, who were suffering from severe
fevers, were able to cure themselves, God taking that means for
the relief of his ministers, who had no relief in any other way.
Thus the Indians became fond of them and many were baptized.
Let us praise God in His infinite wisdom, since He can bring about
the salvation of souls by so homely opportunities. Some curious
things happened among those barbarous people, but we shall omit
them in order not to enlarge this narration, and because those
ministries were lost through the hidden judgments of God, and
with them the fruit that could be expected.
[The remainder of the chapter does not touch Philippine
matters. The sixth chapter is concerned with the life of Rodrigo de
San Miguel or Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz (see VOL. XXI, p. 116,
note 29, and p. 317, note 79). The four following chapters of the
fourth decade treat of matters in Spain, Spanish America, and
Japan (where the Recollects also have their martyrs).]
The venerable father master, Fray Mateo Delgado, dies in a holy
manner in the convent of Candelaria. Four religious suffer for the
faith of Christ in the province of Caraghas. The venerable father
Fray Geronimo de la Resurreccion, the first vicar general, ended
his exemplary life at the convent of Toledo.
[The first three sections of this chapter are taken up with the
life and work of Mateo Delgado, who labored in the American
missions.]
IIII
Four of our religious suffer from the violence of the rebellious
Indians of Caragha
It has been said that the Caraghas Indians are fierce and
warlike, and can ill endure to be subject to the Spaniards. Having
seen the little or no reputation that had been gained with the
Indians of the island of Job who, although they were paying
tribute, rebelled; and whose many depredations our soldiers could
not check the Caraghas were emboldened to rise because of that
rebellion and they did so. That insurrection was begun in the year
1629, in which occurred many murders, thefts, and insolences. It
is not our purpose to enumerate them in detail; but it does concern
us to touch upon the many calamities that some of our convents
suffered, and the religious who governed them.
Decade Fifth
Chapter First
79
80
Captain Pedro Bautista went to the fort of Caragha, and, the
land being in great revolt, thought only of attending to his business
and of making raids. In the first raid he comported himself so
badly toward the Indians that they were very dissatisfied. Having
arranged a second raid in the year 1631, he left the fort on the
fourth of July, taking with him ten soldiers, the best that he had.
The names of the latter were Alferez Maldonado, Sergeant
Gandaya, Sergeant Juan Rodriguez, Sergeant Reyes, Sergeant
Negrete, Luis de Alarcón, Juan de Aguirre, Juan Dominguez,
Francisco de la Paz, and one other. Father Fray Jacinto de Jesus
Maria, prior vicar of the convent of Tago (whom the rebellious
Indians tried to kill in his cell at the convent of Cagaiang, as has
been related) went as chaplain of that fleet. One Spaniard having
been stationed in each ship, they reached Bapangano,
accompanied by all the chief people of that coast. They captured
sixteen slaves, and Dumblag, one of the Indian chiefs, seeing the
little advantage that could fall to him from that prize, freed seven
of them.38 The fleet returned and, on arriving at Cheta, Captain
38
The taking of slaves in Mindanao by the Spaniards (which has often
been urged as one of the best methods of subduing those fierce people) was
legalizad by the following law: “The islands of Mindanao are adjacent to those
of the district of the Filipinas. Their natives, who have adopted the religión of
Mahomet, have rebelled; and since then, in alliance with the enemies of this
crown, they have done great harm to our vassals. In order to facilitate their
punishment, it has been deemed an efficacious corrective to declare that those
who should be captured in war be made slaves. We order that such be done; but
that this distinction be observed, namely, that if the said Mindanaos be simple
heathen, they be not regarded as slaves; but if they be Moors by nation and
birth, and shall go to other islands to introduce their dogmas or teach their
Mahometan religion, or make war on the Spaniards or Indians who are subject
to us, or hincer our royal service, then in that case they may be made slaves. But
those who are Indians and shall have become Mahometans, shall not be made
slaves. Such will be persuaded by lawful and kind methods to be converted to
Pedro Bautista and father Fray Jacinto disembarked. It was learned
there that Dumblag had freed the seven slaves, whereupon the
captain resolved to arrest him. The chief resisted, and laid his hand
on his varalao to oppose the captain. The latter, angered, struck
Dumblag (who was a very great rogue, and had done many things
for which he deserved punishment) with his lance; the chief was
placed in irons, and his cause was put in writing. On the arrival of
the other boats, his relative Valintos landed, and went to visit the
prisoner, who complained because the former did not avenge him.
Valintos was ashamed, and resolved to kill the captain and father
Fray Jacinto.
At that time the Spaniards were without their arms. Valintos
went up to the captain deceitfully, and treacherously stabbed him
twice so that he died. He asked for confession, and father Fray
Jacinto set about confessing him; but scarcely had he absolved
him, when many Indians, coming up, found father Fray Jacinto
-who was now on his knees with hands raised and eyes lifted
toward the heavens, praying and asking pardon of God for their
sins, in payment of which he offered his life; and he asked pardon
for the aggressors of so many misdeeds. The Indians gave him a
lance thrust that passed through
our holy Catholic faith.” Felipe II, July 4, 1570; Felipe III, May 29, 1620;
Recopilación, lib. vi, tit. ii, ley xii.]
This law was quite at variance with the general law that prohibited
slavery of Indians, which was extended expressly to the Moluccas by a special
law promulgated by Felipe III, Madrid, October 10, 1618, (lib. vi, tit. ii, ley
viii).
80
81
his body. He never moved, and when the barbarians saw
that, they wounded him again and again, in the belief that he was
not dead. But when they became aware that he was no more, and
saw that his eyes were opened and his hands raised, they
conceived so great fear that they did not dare go up to him. Thus
remained that blessed body until the tide came in and carried it
away, the sea giving him a more pious burial than those inhuman
wretches had given him death. It was God’s plan to make the
venerable father terrible to the Indians at his death, so that they
should not ill-treat his remains. It is an indication that he enjoys
reward in heaven for having bravely given his life for God on the
earth.
Then the Indians killed the Spaniards there. Father Fray
Jacinto could have escaped, but in order not to fail in charity he
did not care to preserve his life, and offered it to God, for whom
he gave it willingly an action wondered at by the Indians, and still
recounted today with the same wonder. Father Fray Jacinto was a
native of the port of Cadiz in Andaluzia, his parents being Pedro
de Molino and Doña Isabel Lopez. He took the habit and
professed in the convent of San Nicolás of Manila.”39 Having been
ordained a priest, obedience employed him in the instruction of the
coast of Caragha. Giving an excellent account of what was in his
charge, he was appointed prior vicar of the convent of Tago,
where he comported himself to the great satisfaction of all, until
he gave his life for the service of God, as has been related. His
happy death occurred on the thirteenth of July of that year.
Next day the rebels went to the river of Tago, in high spirits
because they had killed all the Spaniards in the fleet, and spent
three days in carousing. Mangabo ordered them to ring for a mass
that he desired to say.”Come, “ he said in derision, “to the mass of
39
In the year 1621 (Prov. de San Nicolas de Tolentino, p. 311).
Father Mangabo.” The people assembled in the church of our
convent. An Indian woman, called Maria Campan, esteemed as
one of good life dressed herself and went through the aspersion,
saying, when she sprinkled the water, “I am Father Jacinto.”
Mangabo took a holy crucifix, and, breaking off the arms, said:
“God of the Castilians, fight with me; come let us see whether you
are as brave as I.” And drawing his varalao or cris, “40 he struck it
crosswise through the face, and cleft it.”That holy image, “ says
father Fray Lorenço de San Facundo, whose relation this is, and
who passed through that insurrection, in which he suffered many
hardships and dangers, as we shall see hereafter, “is in my
possession.” Then he threw down another holy crucifix of greater
stature, and cut it into bits with an ax, defying it to fight. O Lord!
what things dost Thou endure from men! Then the convent and
church were given over to pillage, and a servant of the convent,
named Diego Salingat, was killed.
Mangabo went to Tanda, and, reaching the convent on the
nineteenth of the same month, attacked it at midnight. Dacxa, an
Indian chief, who had refused to take part in that insurrection,
hastened to the defense of the fathers who were in the convent;
40
Varalao is but a phonetic variant of bararao or balarao. Luis de Jesús
here supplies the “missing link “ to Rizal’s statement regarding this weapon
(vol. XVI, p. 81, note), and identifies the balarao as the well-known kris of the
Malays.
81
82
but he was unable to defend them, for father Fray Alonso de
San Joseph, the prior’s associate, was attacked by the Indians and
his head split by a blow of the campilan. It was discovered
afterward that Dacxa was treacherous, and was taking part with
Mangabo in the pillage. The blessed father was a native of
Villa-Cañas, although some make him a native of Villa-Tobas, in
La Mancha the land of Toledo. He professed in the convent of
Valencia, and went to Filipinas in the year 1622 with father Fray
Andres del Espiritu Santo. He was a religious of great humility
and very observant, on account of which he was appointed by the
superiors prior of the convent of Baldag in the province of
Calamianes, where he gathered abundant fruit in the conversion of
those people. But as he was very near sighted, he had scruples lest
he could not perform his duty well, and finally conceived that he
was incapable of administering it or any other office with the care
of souls. Therefore he petitioned that he be allowed to resign, and
did so. He was permitted to resign, but rather for his consolation
than because he was judged incapable. He went to Manila, where
he gave himself up to the exercise of virtue, without any
hindrance. His superiors seeing that it was not expedient that so
excellent a worker should be idle, sent him to the convent of
Tanda, so that he might as an experienced associate, aid the prior.
The father teacher, Fray Juan de Santo Tomas, was prior.
Hearing the attack of the barbarians from his retreat, and going
outside, he. saw Dacxa, to whom he went and whom he asked for
protection. The latter in pity embrabed the father and endeavored
to save his life, but an Indian came up and thrust the father
through the body with a lance, and he died on his knees. Then the
Indians went to the convent and sacked and profaned it as they had
done to that of Tago, and finally burned it.
[The above father was born in San Pablo de los Montes in
the archbishopric of Toledo. He took the Recollect habit in the
convent of Valladolid, where he became a close student. He went
to the Philippines in 1620 with Onofre de la Madre de Dios and
other religious, where he was appointed to found the convent of
Cuyo, of which he was made prior, being also made
vicar-provincial of the other convents in the islands. He was later
appointed prior of the convent of Tanda, where he was killed. His
body, which was buried at some little distance from the church,
was given decent burial after seven years when it was disinterred
for that purpose, being found to be wholly preserved except at the
tip of the nose.]
On the twenty-first of the same month of July, father Fray
Pedro de San Antonio, former prior of the convent of Bacoag, had
left that convent. The rebellious Indians, having heard that he was
in Surigao, a visita of the priorate, despatched Mañan Galan and
other Indians to kill him. They found him at the landing-place of
Don Diego Amian, reciting the canonical hours. One of them went
to father Fray Pedro dissemblingly, and told him that there were
many’ enemies in the land and that he had come to advise him of
it The blessed father asked him certain questions in regard to it, to
which the Indian replied maliciously and with lies; and, at the
instant when father Fray Pedro turned his back, thrust him through
with a lance. The father fell to
82
83
the ground, invoking the names of Jesus and Mary, with the
utterance of which he yielded up his spirit. Many Indians who
were hidden came up, took the blessed body, and dragging it
thither threw it into the river, with great joy and gladness.
That venerable father was a native-of Granada in Andaluzia
and went to Filipinas with father Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel (of
whom we have already written at length). He greatly admired the
exemplary conduct of our religious, and asked for the habit in the
convent of Manila, where he professed. Behaving in a religious
manner, he was assigned to some missions, and enlightened the
Bisayas with the light of the evangelical word. He had assumed
the dignity of the priorate of Bacoag, at the time of the
insurrection of the Caraghas, and at the time of the events which
we have related.
Year 1631
V
Mention of some dangers suffered by Ours in the insurrection of
the Caraghas Indians
The above were not the only dangers suffered by Ours in
that insurrection of Caragha; for the Indian chiefs, dividing into
different bands, went to various districts, not only to make those
who were quiet revolt, but to wipe out the Spaniards, to kill the
religious, and to destroy the convents, in their hatred for our holy
faith.
July 22, the day of the Magdalene, the father teacher, Fray
Lorenço de San Facundo, was saying mass in the convent of
Bacoag, which was attended by the Spaniards, and the traitor
Zancalàn (one of the leaders of the revolt), and his wife Doña
Geronima Moag, and a dozen Indians. The father was disturbed at
seeing them, and having asked who those Indians were, and being
answered that they were the son and daughter-in-law of Mangabo,
he calmed himself. In their carousals the Indians had determined
upon the murder, one after another, of the three Spaniards there,
and the two religious, father Fray Lorenço de San Facundo, and
his associate, a brother, Fray Francisco de San Fulgencio; for these
seemed many to them. They killed the three Spaniards
treacherously; and at the hour of vespers, Zancalàn put in an
appearance with seven Indians. Zancalàn went to kiss the hand of
father Fray Lorenço, who was just finishing the burial of a dead
woman. With other like courtesies the Indians went up to see the
convent, accompanied by the father teacher, when one Indian
seized him by the shoulders crying out to another: “Strike him ! “
The father boldly wrenched himself loose, and shoved the Indian
against a post. Then he ran to jump through a window, where they
pushed him so that he fell on his back upon a piece of timber, from
which he sustained severe injuries. The house was in confusion;
various weapons were seized; father Fray Lorenço arose as well as
he was able, and fled to the landing-place. Three Indians followed
him with lances. An Indian went to him and said: “Father, take
this machete, that they may not kill thee.” One of the three threw
his lance at the father. The lance passed through his tunic near his
right thigh, the father escaping that blow by jumping aside. He
seized the lance, and, with it and the machete, retired to the
convent. When he arrived, Zancalàn went out with lance and
cuirass to kill
83
84
father Fray Lorenço. The latter defended himself skilfully,
and entered the convent, where brother Fray Francisco was
defending himself with a musket from the multitude who were
attacking him.
Some feats of arms were performed, but we shall omit
mention of them for the sake of brevity. The two religious were
taken prisoners, and expected instant death in their captivity.
Zancalàn gave them a pledge to take them to his father Mangabo,
although other Indians wrangled with him demanding that he
surrender to them the fathers, in order that they might be sacrificed
to their idols. The religious heard all that with great fear, the
peculiar effect of our natural weakness. But after commending
themselves very earnestly to God, they became so brave that (as
the said father teacher testifies in his relation) already they were
sorry that Zancalàn was defending them, for they wished to offer
their lives for our holy faith.
Thus imprisoned, they reached Tago on Monday, the
twenty-eighth of the same month of July, where they expected to
be sacrificed joyful, for they were preparing to go to enjoy God.
But (as father. Fray Lorenço remarks) the fruit could not have
been ripe enough to present it at the table of heaven. Mangabo was
a huge man, of enormous strength, and of a terrible temper on
account of which he was called “the Crocodile of Tago.” The
fathers were quite sure that, as soon as they reached his presence,
they would be killed; but our good God, who can draw water from
the hard rock, changed the heart of the barbarian so that he threw
himself at the feet of father Fray Lorenço, kissing them and his
hands with great show of affection. He gave various excuses for
the murders of the fathers and the Spaniards which be had
committed, although all of them were frivolous, and said that the
fathers should have no fear, for they were under his protection,
and that he would defend them with his life. As assurance of that
promise, he took an oath in the following manner.
He asked for a varalao, and clutching it in his hands, he
loosened some breeches which he had made from an embroidered
crithson damask altar-cloth that he had stolen from the convent of
Tanda. He wounded himself twice below the stomach, drawing
blood, which he ordered his son Zancalàn to catch in a dish which
contained wine.”41 He began to swear and to invoke his divatas,
with howlings so extravagant that he was terrifying. He cursed
himself in all ways42 if he should be found wanting in friendship to
us, or in our defense, even did he die for it. He drank some of the
wine, and then put the dish on
41
In regard to this ceremony —the blood-covenant, or “blood–friendship
“—see H. C. Trumbull’s Blood Covenant (3rd ed., Philadelphia, 1898); he
describes it as performed in many countries and in all ages, in various forms; its
purposes, methods, and symbolism; and its meaning in the Bible. In brief, it
appears to be a primitive form of expressing personal union and friendship in
the closest bonds, which may not be broken without dishonor.
42
The character of these curses is indicated by the statement of the
Dominican Juan Ferrando (Hist. de los PP. Dominicos, I, p. 45): “In the
elections of [local] magistrates which the alcalde of Ilocos Sur held in 1844, I
had the good-fortune to be present at some of them; and I noticed that the
gobernadorcillos of those infidels, on receiving the rod of office from the hands
of that chief, offered, in place of the oath which the Christians swear to
administer justice, the following imprecation: ‘May a baneful wind strike me,
the sun’s rays slay me, and the crocodile catch me sleeping, if I do not fulfill my
duty. ’ All their oaths are in the form of imprecations, and they usually observe
these obligations faithfully.”
84
85
his head, crying out in a terrible voice. He embraced father
Fray Lorenço, and placed his own turban on his head. Thus did he
finish his execrable and ridiculous oath, which they call sandugo,
and which they consider as inviolable. That oath was of no little
use in defending the religious, for when some of the other Indians
once asked Mangabo to sacrifice them, he replied that he would
not discuss the matter, that he would first fight anyone who tried
to offend them. And he did so, even driving the other chiefs from
the place.
He took father Fray Lorenço to his house, and brought out
Castilian wine so that he and his associate might drink it, and two
chalices, one from the convent of Tanda, and the other from that
of Bacoag. When father Fray Lorenço saw these, much affected
and weeping, he covered them with the cloth wrapped about them,
and said: “Father Mangabo, since you have given me life, I
beseech you not to use those chalices, and that neither you nor any
woman go near them, for I shall burst with grief.” Mangabo
replied: “As you say, son, “ and ordered that they be not
uncovered, but that they be kept with veneration.
Then Mangabo arose and took a holy bronze crucifix which
Zangalàn had taken from father Fray Lorenço, under the
impression that it was gold, saying, “I am keeping this your God
until the time when we two go to Manila.” “Keep it, “ the father
said to him, “for He will preserve you if you respect Him; but if
you do not respect Him He will confound you, for He is God of
Heaven and earth.” Then Mangabo brought out another holy
crucifix, with its arms cut off and its head split in twain. as above
said, and father Fray Lorenço, falling on his knees before it, kissed
it, weeping and sighing, and kept it for his own consolation.
Then Maria Campan (mentioned above) went out and
brought back in a small casket the chrismatories of the convent of
Tago; and father Fray Lorenço, opening it, saw that nothing was
lacking. He wrapped them in a cloth and charged her to keep them
and not to open them, saying that he would give her six pesos for
them, although they did not have so much money. Father Fray
Lorenço could ransom none of it, for he was without money.
[The holy chrismatories finally render Maria contrite; for,
fleeing from the Spaniards up a river, and having the phials with
her, a huge crocodile thrusts its head into the boat, seizes the
phials and makes off without committing other damage, which so
works upon the mind of the woman that she lives afterward as a
good Christian.]
Finally, Mangabo said to father Fray Lorenço: “Son, I see
that you are sick “ (he had been seriously injured by the fall of
which we have made mention above).”If you wish to go to be
treated at the fort of the Spaniards, I will have you taken there, and
you shall leave Brother Francisco here, so that he may protect us,
if the Castillas (so they call the Spaniards) come. Remember your
father, and aid him when you are able.” Father Fray Lorenço
thanked him, and was taken in a boat to the fort of Caragha. Thus
did God preserve the life of that religious, to whom, if the crown
of martyrdom was not conceded, at least he -was quick to suffer
for the faith; and in fact he endured great hardships for the love of
the Lord. His associate, Fray Francisco, was ransomed
85
86
afterward. He rendered excellent service while he was a
prisoner, in the pacification of the rebellious Indians.
Year 1631
VI
Continuation of the matter of the last chapter, with some cases by
way of example
Valintos (the same one who had killed Captain Pedro
Bautista) went to the river of Butuan with an order to kill father
Fray Juan de San Augustin, prior of the convent of Ilaya in the
village of Linao. He carried many letters to the chiefs, urging them
in the name of Corralat (of whom we have spoken before, and of
whom there will be more to say) to have the fathers killed. An
influential Indian woman heard of the matter, and since she was
the petty queen of that river and very devoted to father Fray Juan
de San Augustin, who was a holy religious, she had so much
authority that it sufficed to keep those of the village faithful, and
they resisted the letters brought by Valintos. In order to assure the
life of the said father prior, Fray Juan de San Augustin, she made
him take boat and go to Butuan to join the fathers in the convent
there. Thus was he delivered from the danger of losing his life.
Almost the same thing happened in the village of Butuan,
where the letters of Valintos were received urging the inhabitants
to rise and kill the religious. But the Butuans were so faithful that
they would not consent to the evil. On the contrary, reading the
letters in public, they cried with one voice that they would die
before they would permit one hair of the fathers to be harmed.
Then forming in a procession, men, women, and children went to
the convent in tears, and bewailing the troubles that they were all
suffering. The religious said: “Children, here we are at your
disposition. Do what you will with us, for God our Lord so orders
it.” At this all the people cried out and said with tears in their eyes:
“Fathers, be of good cheer, for we will all die before anyone
offends you.” They said that with emphatic oaths, whereby they
showed the great love and respect ‘that they held for the fathers.
The chiefs remained in the convent with their families and
possessions. Endeavor was made to advise Zibú, so that help
might be brought; and the father prior, Fray Jacinto de San
Fulgencio, went [for that purpose].
Valintos, having seen the bad outcome ‘to his treacherous
plans in Butuan, returned in a rage, and the religious were safe.
However, although so many of them were good, some restless
Indians (especially the fiscal of the village) rebelled, and without
having any occasion therefore, killed the porter of the convent and
another Indian. Had not the chiefs hastened to their defense, father
Fray Diego de Santa Ana, the associate of the father prior, would
have been in danger.
The other revolted villages, taking umbrage at the
faithfulness of the Butuans, tried to find means to kill the
religious, so that thus the Butuans might be obliged to conform to
their rebellion. He who tried hardest was Manan Galán, an Indian
chief of the village of Albucay, who went to Sampongan to
discuss the matter with the Samponganos. An Indian, who was
intimate with the fathers, one Sumulay, was chosen [for that
mission]. He was well instructed, but, his wiles having been
perceived, the
86
87
Butuans quickly seized their arms to fight any and all
enemies who should appear. The fathers were taken to the
mountains for greater security, and the traitor Sumulay tried to
finish the affair personally. He went, under pretense of friendship,
to seek the fathers in the mountains; but, his evil design being
recognized, he was seized, and confessing his guilt was placed
under surveillance, and finally deprived of life. Following the
example of the Butuans, other villages maintained the faith, and
defended their fathers who sowed the seed of the gospel in so rude
a land, amid so many dangers to their quiet and life, opposing
themselves to the sowing of tares that the common enemy always
endeavors to introduce into the harvests of the Church.
The father prior of Butuan, Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio,
when sailing to Zibui to solicit aid, passed by the island of Camigi,
a visita of the district of Cagaiang. He stopped there and was in
great danger of being murdered by the insurgents, who were going
about in bands committing piracies and watching the sea, so that
the fort of Tanda might not be aided. Although that fort was in
great danger, the valor of its garrison defended it. The father prior
advised the fathers of Cagaiang and Baiug so that they might take
precautions, and [told them] that he was going to get aid. That
advice was very important for the restraining of the Indians of
Baiug and Cagaiang, since they knew that the negotiations which
they had with the Caraghas and Mindanaos were known.
The said father prior having arrived at Zibú, the aid was
prepared, and was sent under Captain Juan de Chaves as
commander of the fleet, who was accompanied by good infantry.
The father prior also went with that fleet. They reached Bacoag,
where the convent above mentioned was situated, which was one
of the best on that coast. Their hearts were pierced to see so many
dead and half-decayed bodies, and they buried them. Entering the
church, they saw the images profaned and cut into bits. The latter
were gathered together by father Fray Jacinto.
The fleet proceeded on its way, and reached the fort of
Tanda, whose occupants congratulated themselves again and again
at being freed from danger. The pacification of the insurgents was
negotiated, in which father Fray Jacinto worked mightily. The
latter was overjoyed at having aided the land which was so
afflicted. That was a great service which he rendered to God and
to our Catholic monarch, who have been able to employ our
Recollects in this to advantage. With that aid and some more
which was sent from Manila, the insurrection which had caused so
much noise and wrought so much ruin was put down. Our
convents were restored and other religious no less zealous and
earnest succeeded those who had died so gloriously for the faith.
[The Recollects, worthy of their great master St. Augustine,
do not waver in their spiritual conflict, but ever keep the sword of
the faith turned toward the enemy.”Various incidents occur during
that insurrection, “ one of them being that the Indian who had
killed father Fray Alonso de San Joseph has the arm that had
struck that fatal blow bitten off by a crocodile; but he afterward
repents and becomes a good Christian. Likewise the Indian who
had killed father Fray Pedro de San Antonio dies repentant, having
given himself up to justice. A chief
87
88
in Bacoag orders his rice to be cooked with portions of a
demolished crucifix, which in burning emits a different colored
flame than ordinary wood, without being consumed.”Four Indians
ate of the rice, “ but immediately burst. Another crucifix thrown
into the fire does not burn, and is rescued by a devout Indian
woman after one of the arm has been broken off, and is preserved
as a precious relic by the father to whom she gives it. )
There were many wild and barbarous people in the
mountains o Bacoag and Bolor, who lived by theft and murder.
Many efforts had been made to reach those Indians in order to
reduce and punish them, but all failed. They were ruled by an
Indian named Salimbong, a man of considerable wisdom,
prudence, and understanding, who kept them very well in hand.
The insurrection occurred, and while the ministers of the gospel
were wandering about abandoned and afflicted, God consoled
them with the conversion of that Indian. It happened as follows:
the father teacher, father Fray Lorenço de San Facundo-freed now,
as above related, from his prison left Bacoag in order to bury the
dead, and get together the possessions that had remained in the
convent. On the following day when the father reached the
convent, the Indian Salimbong appeared to him with one hundred
companions, and said that he was disabused of his errors and
wished to become a Christian. The religious, who knew his good
understanding and wisdom, was surprised. He asked him many
different questions in order to prove his spirit. He found
Salimbong ready, and baptized him and all his men. That
conversion was cried far and wide and was of great use in the
pacification of many villages, which with the protection of that
Indian will furnish much room for further work.
[On June 22, 1632, a report is made before the archbishop ad
interim, Pedro de Arce, of the murders of the Recollect
missionaries, and their other trials. Two authorized copies are
made of the report “one of which was presented to the royal
Council of the Indias in the year 1635, and the other is preserved
in the archives of the congregation of our convent at Madrid.”)
[The following section (vii) is an account of the life and
death of the first vicar-general of the order, Geronimo de la
Resurreccion. Chapter second is concerned with the order in Japan
and the martyrdoms of some of the workers there. In section ii
occurs the following:]
The blessed father Fray Francisco [de Jesus] was not
satisfied with giving spiritual life to those whom he was
converting and baptizing [in Japon], but he also gave them the
girdle of our father St. Augustine, making them confriars and
religious of the fourth order (as the confriars of the said girdle
are), “43 so that enlisted under the banner of so great a captain and
doctor they might be armed to fight and to suffer even to the point
of giving their lives to the Lord who gave them rebirth in baptism.
And from this circumstances it happened that the blessed father
could write from the prison of Bomurà in a letter to the father
provincial of Filipinas under date of
43
Cf. note in Vol. XXI, p. 165; these confriars are mentioned in the
Catholic Dictionary as the third order rather than the fourth.
88
89
October six, 1630, that more than three hundred confriars of
the girdle had suffered, besides many others whom the
Observantine fathers have.
The venerable father Fray Francisco de Jesus also makes
mention, in his letter written from Nagay, of the island of
Hermosa, urging and entreating the father provincial to send
religious there to found a convent in the island, by which to
facilitate the road to Japon, and help to those [missionaries] in that
country. He was moved to ask that, because he had heard that the
governor had gained possession of the island.
We shall relate what happened in that particular now that we
have the opportunity. The governor of Filipinas, Don Alonso
Faxardo de Tenga, was considering that the Dutch were infesting
those seas and hindering the trade and commerce of Manila and
China. He thought that it would be expedient to seize the island of
Hermosa and fortify it, in order to check the depredations that the
enemy were committing; for one can reach China from that island
in one night. It was a good resolution, but Don Alonso Faxardo
died soon afterward, and the whole plan came to naught.
The following year Don Fernando de Silva went to govern
the Filipinas Islands. He knew and approved the design of his
predecessor, and prepared a fleet. In short, tracing out a plan on
the ground, he established a city and a fort, with a garrison of three
hundred Spaniards. Sites were assigned to the orders in Manila, so
that they could found convents. Captain Carreño took possession
of ours. Afterward, Don Juan Niño de Tabora began to govern,
and as he considered the enterprise a good one, he tried to
complete it. He prepared a fleet, and took religious so that they
might establish their houses. Two of Ours went in company with
Admiral Don Andres Esqueta, namely, father Fray Antonio de la
Madre de Dios, and his associate. But God did not choose that the
enterprise should be carried out; for on the cape of Boxeador a
norther scattered the fleet, and the voyage ceased. Then the Dutch
took the said island, to the sorrow of all, both as it was so
important and because it was the first island of that archipelago
that the Spaniards have lost.
[Chapters iii, iv, and a portion of y, treat of Recollect affairs
in Spain and America. Chapter v contains the following in regard
to the Philippines:]
II
Our religious enter the islands of Romblón to preach the holy
gospel. Some of our rules are reformed by apostolic authority.
This year [1635] our religious entered the islands of
Romblon or, as they are called, “Las Isletas “ [i. e., “the Islets “].
That district belonged to the seculars who were subject to the
bishopric of Zibú, and their beneficed incumbent was at that time
Francisco Rodriguez the relator.”44 He, becoming weary of going
about daily with his possessions on his back; and fleeing from the
enemy, entered into negotiations with the father provincial of
Filipinas, Fray Joseph de la Anunciacion, saying that he would
give him that district in exchange for a suitable chaplaincy.
44
Thus in the Spanish text; apparently an ancient use of the word relator
for refrendario, meaning an official appointed to countersign edicts and other
public acts. As here used of a priest, it probably refers to his having such an
appointment in the diocesan court.
89
90
Those islands were a station and gateway, so to speak, for
the visitas of the Bisayas which were in our charge, and also in the
path of the navigation from Manila to Zibu. The documents having
been made ready, the father provincial sent father Fray Pedro de
San Joseph, alias de Roxas. The island of Romblón is the chief
place of that district, and as visitas it has the islands of Zubuyàn,
Tablas, Simara, Bantôn and Bantoncillo. The people are honest,
pacific, docile, and very intelligent. They trade in the products of
the land oil, goats, swine, wine, and bonete [i. e., bonote]. They
have a great abundance of domestic animals. They construct ships,
build houses, and make other things of wood with great skill, all of
which they take to Manila, as well as to other places, to sell.
Consequently, as a rule, those who apply themselves to work are
prosperous. All these things have a serious counterweight, namely,
the enemy; for there is scarcely a year in which the enemy are not
seen in that district, where they commit many depredations, burn
villages and churches, and capture a great number of Indians.
That was experienced by the said father prior, Fray Pedro de
San Joseph, as soon as he took possession; for hearing that the
enemy were coming, he had barely time to escape to the
mountains, saving his person, but without time to save anything
else. The enemy entered Romblón, sacked the village, burned the
church and convent, captured a few persons, and then returned.
Those disasters are experienced nearly every year. Amid such
hardships do our religious administer the sacraments to the
faithful, and subdue the infidels to the faith, exposing their lives
valiantly for that purpose. [The remainder of this section concerns
the change of rules allowed by Pope Urban VIII (December 15,
1635).]
[Chapters vi and vii are occupied with the captivity and
deaths of the Recollect missionaries captured in 1636 by the
Moros, who attack the islands of Cuyo and Calamianes-which has
been already related in previous volumes. A few extracts from
Luis de Jesús’s account are added here, as containing further
information.]
[Pages 285-286:] The enemy, delighted at the capture of the
fathers (which was their principal aim), tried to capture the
religious of Dinay under the pretense of peace, even commencing
to treat for it. But their design having been discovered, the fathers
retired to the mountain, and consequently, the enemy could
capture no more than the things that could not be taken to the
mountain with the fathers a quantity of wax, a tribute paid by the
natives to the encomenderos. They captured seven women and one
man, and killed another from whom they learned that the fathers
had retired. They went to look for them but did not find them.
Thence they went to other islands where they did what damage
they could.
At the end of six months, during which they were employed
in pillaging considerable property, and in capturing more than six
hundred and fifty persons,. besides the old whom they killed
because they were useless, the fleet returned quite at its leisure,
committing all the depredations possible. The barbarians took the
religious along naked and fed them on a trifle of dirty rice. Their
bed was a wretched mat without any other shelter, and they were
exposed to
90
91
the inclemencies of the weather, and ill-treated by word and
deed. Sometimes they were offered wealth and beautiful women to
abandon the faith. Those were attacks by which the valor of the
blessed fathers was proved, for their life was a continual
martyrdom. But the soldiers of Christ were happy, for they
employed their lives in suffering for love of Him. They preached
the evangelical law to the barbarians and censured their vices and
blindness. All that was the same as throwing wood on the fire of
their fury, to make them devise means to conquer the strength of
the invincible religious.
[In chapter eighth are recounted the holy deaths of the three
Recollect fathers, Fray Juan de San Antonio, Fray Francisco de
Santa Monica, and brother Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios,
which occur in the year 1638. The first, a native of Mexico who
had professed in the Manila convent, had been seized by one Dato
Achen, of Job, an adherent of Corralat. After four years of cruel
captivity, during which temptations of the flesh are offered him in
order to make him deny the faith and he is subjected to all sorts of
abuse, the father dies triumphant. The second father is killed by
the Moros in his convent of Divail of which he was prior. The
third Recollect meets death from the Sangleys whom he has
severely censured in the island of Cuyo.]
[The ninth chapter is devoted to the conversion and
Christian life of Clara Calimàn, a native woman of the village of
Butuàn, who is given the rank of beata (beatas being women who
live in religious retirement, although not known as nuns), by the
Recollects.]
[The Recollect Juan de la Concepción relates the 1640-1649]
the uprising of the Caragas (Hist. de Philipinas, y, pp. 163-179) ;
but he follows Luis de Jesús very closely, doing little more than
rewrite the latter’s account. A few paragraphs from La
Concepción are here added.]
10. Various councils were held in the fort of Tandag, in
order to decide upon the means and method of subduing and
pacifying these insurgents; it was decided that it was necessary to
take arms and to punish them. But they did not have sufficient
forces for it, for the province was so thoroughly in rebellion, and
so committed thereto by the murders of the fathers and Spaniards.
It was determined by unanimous vote to call on Zebu for help, and
father Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio went to obtain it. He
informed the alcalde-mayor and commander of the fleet of
Pintados of the condition of the province of Caraga namely, that
there were various squadrons of boats along the coasts to prevent
help from being taken into the fort; and that the fort was now in
the last extremity, and in danger of having to surrender because of
hunger. The commander prepared a suitable fleet in quick order;
he sent some excellent infantry, and gave the command of it to
Captain Don Juan de Chaves. The above-mentioned father Fray
Jazinto also embarked in the fleet. This armada was to keep the
insurgents busy until more forces could be sent from Manila, and
the matter was reported to the captain-general there.
11. That fleet reached Basuag, then a prominent coast
village. The Spaniards experienced the keenest sorrow at seeing so
many corpses, already half decomposed; they stopped there to
bury these, and then proceeded on their voyage and arrived at
Tandag.
91
92
There they freed the presidio from its danger and those who
were in it. Then for a time they tried to pacify the people by mild
means; but as soon as a suitable reënforcement arrived from
Manila, they immediately meditated punishment especially on the
principal leaders of the revolt, but pardoning in his Majesty’s
name all those of the common people who presented themselves in
submission. Mangabo was included in that list and number; but the
religious, bound to his cause, defended him with ardor, and
interested themselves, as his children, so that their father should
not . be punished. The Spaniards consented to it and pardoned
him, and that pardon was of great service to the province of
Caraga. Mangabo, dissuaded from his errors, and thankful for such
benefits, was converted to our holy faith and received baptism. As
he was so greatly feared throughout the country, that was quite
sufficient to pacify the entire province, and the fugitives returned
to their respective villages, which they formed as before.
Noteworthy conversions followed at this juncture, the noise
of arms. Most exemplary punishments were seen and experienced
from heaven on the aggressors, and, singular portents in the
profaned and destroyed images. An idolatrous Indian, in sport of
an image of the crucified Christ, threw It into the fire; he observed
with wonder that the fire, respecting the image, did not burn it.
The barbarian -took it from the fire . and, buffeting it about, threw
it down with great violence so that one of its. arms was broken. A
devout Christian Indian woman took the holy image, and kept it
with great care. After the pacification she gave it to father Fray
Jacinto to whom she gave a minute description of the affair. The
father made a solemn investigation of it and many witnesses
confirmed it and confessed her declaration to be true. The father
took that holy Christ to Manila, the following year, and presented
it to Governor Don Juan Niño de Tavora. He received it with
singular devotion and tenderness, and determined to replace it in
its oratory with great ceremonies. Father Fray Jazinto tried to get
the governor first to repair the image and supply the missing arm
by another. That most Christian gentleman replied: “No, Father, it
must remain as it is for my confusion, since my sins treated Him
thus.” With such pious and kind reflections did he excuse the
impiety of the barbarians in actions so sacrilegious. Presidios were
erected and fortified, in order to keep the country pacified. Thus
through their fear of the soldiers, and with the punishments so
present before their eyes, those villages were kept, and remain
even to the present, in entire quiet. However, they have become
much diminished because of the many natives who have
withdrawn because of the seventies and persecutions practiced by
the Moros, from which that province has suffered so much.
[La Concepción recounts (ut supra, pp. 360-391) the
fortunes of the Recollect missions in northern Mindanao,
especially in the region of Lake Lanao. His narrative is sufficiently
different from that of Luis de Jesús to be given in full.]
92
93
Chapter XV
Wars and conquests in the lake of Malanao
1. Inland from the coast which faces Bohol on the north of
Mindanao, and in the latter island, is located the lake of Malanao.
45
Its shape is triangular; one of its angles extends about four
leguas eastward, another southward for three, and the third and
longest of all, westward. Its shores contain many small villages,
where live about six thousand inhabitants, although united to them
is the district of Butig, with about two thousand warriors. Through
this route they communicate with the Mindanaos, a circumstance
which renders them formidable. The land is sterile, and yields no
other products than rice and a few edible roots. Their clothing is
wretched, for cotton is scarce. All their textiles are of lanote, a sort
of wild hemp not that it is that plant, but it resembles it because of
the fibers, which they obtain from a wild banana [i. e., abacá], to
which they impart a blue color. This constitutes their greatest gala
attire. Heavy storms of wind and water are experienced on this
lake, and are called mangas by sailors.”46 [Here follows a
description of this peculiar form of storm-the waterspout-which
was much dreaded because of its fury and ravages.] This lake
furnished much convenience to the Mindanaos for their incursions,
as the ports nearest to our islands were easily reached by it. For
since the deep bay of Panguil penetrates far inland, and is quite
near their lands, they thus save many leguas of navigation about
one hundred and a rough coast. With such activity do they make a
jest of the efforts that were assured by the presidio of
Zamboangan, with their resort to more easy piratical raids. Since
45
This account of Lake Lanao and its region is evidently compiled from
Combés’s description (Hist. Mindanao, book iii, chap. i).
46
Combés adds, “and bohaui by the natives “ (ut supra, col. 146).
the said presidio was of no use for this, it became necessary to
devise another remedy.
2. For a complete understanding of the matter, we must
make a considerable step backward. The Augustinian Recollects
had been governed by vicar-provincials, who either selected
certain appointed individuals, if the nominations did not arrive in
time from España, or had the latter put into execution when they
came sufficiently beforehand. It was not a very stable government,
nor the most suitable for their administrations, as it was not
constituted in regular form as a province. This reform was
obtained with the aid of his Catholic Majesty, and the Recollects
were erected into a congregation, having or being assigned a
vicar-general as superior prelate. At that time the provinces were
divided, and this province of Philipinas was one of those which
obtained the indult. They received their formal despatches and met
in chapter, in which the first provincial elected was father Fray
Onofre de la Madrç de Dios, his election occurring February six,
one thousand six hundred and twenty-four. This religious was a
native of Perpiñan in the county of Rosellon, and a son of the
convent of Zaragoza. The Recollects drew up their triennial acts or
constitutions: namely, that the religious living in the missions
should observe the regular rules of the convents, with matins at
midnight, even should there be but one priest, that they should
learn within one year the language of the natives to whom they
minister; and that they may not receive guests into their convents,
unless it be the governors, bishops, religious, and alcaldes-mayor.
It was resolved that ministers should go to the district of Bayug,
and that they should extend their labors to the lake of Malanao,
which was a stronghold of heathendom, but great were the hopes
inspired by their excellent arrangements. Father Fray Juan de San
Nicolas, an invincible man and one accustomed to such labors,
was chosen to forward the gospel there. He went to the village of
93
94
Bayug, where, gaining the good-will of the influential people, he
was well received and treated with respect. One Dolomoyon was,
as it were, superior of all those natives. He was a man of excellent
qualities, and immediately sent his children to learn the catechism.
Although he remained a heathen, he favored Christianity greatly.
The father went from that village to Layavan, another settlement
on the shore of another river that was located near by. There he
did not find the same response, but the people were more obstinate
in their heathen rites. That forced him to put forth greater efforts,
in order to effect an establishment in that district. Leaving the care
of Bayug to his companion, he went on to Langaràn, a move that
facilitated the conquest of the lake.
3. This aroused animosity in Corralat, the prince of
Mindanao; for if that district were to be converted, he would be
greatly hindered in his piratical raids. He began to harass the
village of Cagayan, so that the inhabitants could not go out freely
to till their fields and care for their crops. Consequently, the
province of San Nicolas established father Fray 47Pedro de San
Agustin as missionary in that district. He was a person born for
military undertakings. His native place was the city of Valladolid
and hi was the son of Portuguese parents. He had studied
philosophy and theology at Salamanca, but his inclination led him
to read books of military deeds, in which his taste found a
particular pleasure; and he became very expert in architecture,
gunnery, and a great part of what is taught in military practice. He
made use of these qualifications and talents by establishing and
erecting the fort of Linao in the province of Caraga, an advanced
outpost among the heathen and Moros. Its structure was well
tested, for it resisted many assaults. He excellently instructed the
Indians whom he converted, in this natural method of defense, and
its utility has been proved in its always having been preserved.
Then this father went, after the new election, to Cagayan. That
district had before been tributary to Corralat, and the latter keenly
resented its change of religion from that of its prince; therefore, he
was always harassing them with wars and hostilities, in order to
recover his power over them. As soon as father Fray Agustin
assumed that charge, he exercised his skill in fortifying the village.
He surrounded it with a stout stockade, well proportioned in its
outlines, defending its curtains by communications of bulwarks. In
the middle he raised another small redoubt, as a place of retreat in
case of a sudden invasion. He disciplined the natives in the
management of arms,
47
Thus in text; an obvious error of transposition, the correct form of the
name being Agustin de San Pedro.
94
95
and inspired them with courage, so that they should not turn
coward in time of danger, or be intimidated by a multitude, which
could not overcome them if they were thoroughly accustomed to
firearms. In fact, they resisted excellently the surprises attempted
by Corralat, who attacked them often with many men, and obliged
him to retire with heavy loss.
4. Corralat in his pride keenly resented the stout resistance
of so small a village, and resolved to invade it with superior
forces. He sent a squadron of thirty large boats to attack it, with a
force of two thousand Moros who were to land; and he ordered
that all the people of Cagayan should be put to the sword. Father
Fray Agustin heard of that order through his spies, and he made
extensive preparations for defense. He sent to Caraga for aid, and
they gave him six soldiers and one hundred Indians. He drilled the
Indians in making sallies and in handling their arquebuses. The
hostile fleet arrived in sight of the village, which awaited them
very confidently and under arms. The Moros disembarked, and
attacked the village, but experienced resistance that they had not
expected. They attempted to make assaults by various places, but
everywhere found the same vigilance and defense. Seeing the
impossibility [of taking the village], and that they had lost a
considerable number of men in the assaults, they resolved to retire
in order. As soon as father Fray Agustin perceived that, he sallied
forth with his Indians, sword in hand. He attacked then
courageously and caused the retreat to become a disorganized
rout, in which but very few escaped. Thus the father gained a
complete victory out of almost universal ruin. Corralat could not
contain himself when he heard of the loss. His wrath was all
concentrated against the father, and he planned to seize him by
means of ambushes. The brave minister was not unaware of this,
and well did he look after the safety of the village, and especially
that of his own person, inasmuch as he was beset with so many
snares, and as he had to do generally with a treacherous race. His
duties obliged him to go to visit his parishioners who were
scattered in various adjoining villages. The Malanaos, who were
vassals of Corralat, and whom the latter had prepared to attack the
village, improved their opportunity. They succeeded in entering
the village at a point where the sentinels were careless. Many
Indians were killed in the surprise, the sacristy was profaned, and
the enemy pillaged a much as possible, until the invaded villagers,
aroused, were able, by rallying their men, to repel the foe with
arms. Father Fray Agustin grieved greatly over that reverse. At his
return he hastened to repair the havoc committed against divine
worship, and to render the village still more strongly fortified, so
that it might remain free from such surprises. The people
themselves desired to obtain satisfaction from those of the lake.
Indians of courage were selected, and they went to invade the
enemy in their own land, in order to take vengeance on them for
their treacherous insults. They found no opposition on their march.
One village was sacked and burned, and sufficient booty was
found there to recompense the losses of Cagayan. They returned to
the latter village without having received any hurt, and the lake of
Malanao was left so intimidated that that enemy never returned to
Cagayan during the rule of father Fray Agustin.
95
96
Those raids could not be very much to the liking of the
Jesuit fathers, in whose district was comprehended the lake of
Malanao. Their affairs in Dapitan and Zamboangan having been
made safe by this time, they set their hearts on the possession of
that lake. They could not complain of the introduction of the
Recollect fathers, since they themselves had abandoned all that
lake and left it without ministers. To this end they inspired
Governor Corcuera with the idea of one adequate expedition, in
order to finish once for all, if possible, with the Moros or at least
to check their pride, which was occasioning so much trouble to the
islands. He charged the commander Almonte, for that purpose; to
withdraw all his operations from Corralat and from the king of
Bubayen with his fleet, in order to undertake the invasion of the
lake. The jurisdiction at Iligan and Dapitan was in charge of
Captain Don Francisco de Atienza y Vañez, a gentleman from
Toledo, and one very useful for such enterprises as he was a tried
warrior. The expedition of Malanao was entrusted to him. He was
to make it by means of soldiers from his presidios and Indians
from his province. By virtue of those orders, he chose fifty good
soldiers and eight hundred volunteer Caragas of courage. As father
Fray Agustin (whom his military prowess had gained the sobriquet
of “Padre Capitan “) was famous because of his deeds, the
alcalde-mayor, in order to ensure the success of his measures,
decided to take the father in his company, that he might avail
himself of all his experience. The father had gone to Butuan,
where he was in charge when these orders arrived with Don
Francisco de Atienza. The latter broached his plans to the father,
to which the father immediately agreed, as it fitted so well his
martial spirit.
6. Between the two, the means most suitable for the
expedition were discussed; and they agreed that the force prepared
was sufficient to subdue all the lake. Since it is navigable, and its
banks are swampy and cut up by more than fifty rivers, the
undertaking would have to be conducted on the water.
Consequently, it was determined to construct six boats, [each]
capable of holding fifty or one hundred men, which were to be
carried in sections on the shoulders of the men, until they reached
a point where they could be made effective, where they could be
put together easily and quickly. They made haste in this mode of
construction, and went with all that equipment to the village of
Bayog. They resolved to follow the way to Balooy-a path indeed
more severe and more tedious; however, that seemed more
suitable to them, for the way by that route led through the villages
of friends. Although they were only neutrals, their own advantage
did not fail to concur in this expedition. Dato Dolo Moyon, filled
with passion to revenge an intended marriage which had been
repelled with contempt by the inhabitants of the lake, joined them.
That union was very pleasing to our people, for it brought them
additional arms and men, and gave them a retreat and sufficient
aid in that dato’s village. At that place their march was retarded by
showers of rain. The Malanaos abandoned their individual
interests, and united for the common defense to the number of
about six thousand armed men. They were not without some few
firearms. The stay of our men in Balooy caused many of the
Malanaos to abandon the camp, as being
96
97
a people suddenly collected without any preparation for their
maintenance; and without pay it is difficult, if not impossible, to
keep those people a considerable time in the field and under
military discipline. Noting that desertion, the chiefs of the lake
sent their ambassadors to our camps, who offered the captain some
wretched presents in the name of the assembly of their chiefs. The
ambassadors, treating in order the matters with which they were
charged, asked the Spaniards to go back, and said that they were
proposing those expedients quietly and in a friendly spirit, in order
to avoid greater damages; for, should the Spaniards try to tempt
fortune by pressing forward, only a remnant of their men would
escape death, and the undertaking would be costly and disgraceful.
The captain answered them frankly and discreetly that it was
better to die at their hands, for that would be an honored death,
than dishonorably to retain life by retreating like cowards. He
advised them to look closer to their own interests, in time, and to
decide whether it was more useful to them to secure these in a
friendly way, or to ‘sacrifice them for their liberty. By this reply
the Malanaos understood the firm resolution of the Spaniards, and
that it meant their ultimate destruction. They discussed the matter
in council; and the opinions were various; some believed in
submission, others in liberty. The former urged a compliant
submission until such time as, the danger having been removed,
they could throw off their subjection without so much risk. Others
did not approve such astute schemes; for, if the Spaniards were to
gain control of the lake, they would establish and build presidios
there, and would have war craft on it, with which they would
entirely rule the natives, at their own pleasure. They said that it
was more important to resist than to allow their entrance. That
dilatory resolution gave our troops time, so that they came in sight
of the lake on April four, one thousand six hundred and thirty
nine, avoiding the passes which the enemy had fortified. The latter
did not dare to lose sight of the lake, in order that they might have
a safe retreat with their boats when assaulted. That precaution was
of use to our people; for, when the Moros were discovered by our
men, and attacked, they abandoned their camp and many arms,
and fled in their boats.
7. Thereupon our Captain Atienza put his portable fleet
together, which he made navigable in twenty-four hours. He went
to attack several boats, which were keeping to leeward under the
shelter of a fort; but scarcely did they perceive themselves to be
attacked, when they fled to the shore and abandoned their canoes.
Our men burned the only village on that coast, by name Vato. The
night caused them to retire; but on the following day, making use
of the abandoned boats, to about the number of forty, they turned
their prows toward the most populous shores. Peaceful
ambassadors went out to meet them, and offered submission in
tribute and vassalage. Our captain accepted that surrender, and
suspended the rigors of war. In execution of it, the registration of
the inhabitants was immediately undertaken; and fifty villages,
governed by four datos or chiefs, subject to Corralat were listed.
They all rendered obedience to the king of España, and there was
declared in the list to be two thousand and nine families. The
number of families was much greater, but the registration was not
carried on with exact rigor, our commander purposely displaying
97
98
mildness with a cloak of tolerance, to those who hid their
numbers. The agreement regarding the tribute was made, leaving
to the supreme governor the decision of the amount and kind.
They were not to receive preachers, masters, or pundits of the
Mahometan religion; but were to receive preachers of the
evangelical law, and to erect churches for the ceremonies of the
Christians and the true worship. As surety for all the above, they
gave as hostages their brothers and children, who were to be sent
to Manila.
8. In consequence of these treaties, holy baptism was
administered by the Recollect fathers (who were the only
chaplains) to more than two hundred persons. Their administration
together with that of other old-time Christians, who had been
made about the said lake through the zeal of those religious -was
taken charge of by the minister of Bayug. Father Fray Agustin was
of the opinion that a fort ought to be constructed at a suitable site
on that lake, in order to obviate the easy danger of an insurrection
from people so perfidious, and that it should be well supplied with
the necessities; but that, if that was not done, the expedition was
without any result. For, as soon as the Spaniards retired, Corralat
would immediately hasten up to their relief, and stir up the
Malanaos; and, as they were defenseless and inclined to revolt,
that would be obtained without much resistance. It was most
important [said the father] to have there an established force and
ministers. Such delay was not pleasing to the Spaniards and
accordingly, as superior orders were lacking, they excused
themselves. Thereupon, the fleet resolved to retire, taking with
them seventeen Christian captives, and redeeming some sacred
ornament. They took from the people their firearms five versos
and thirty-seven arquebuses and muskets thinking that by that
means peace was a settled thing.
9. Before leaving the lake, Captain Atienza sent a despatch
to General Almonte, who was commanding officer of all the
conquest, informing him of his successful enterprise. Almonte, in
order to take possession of the new jurisdiction, and to assure
more completely the submission of the natives, sent a troop of
seventy Spaniards and five hundred Visayans under charge of
Sargento-mayor Don Pedro Fernandez de el Rio, and, under the
latter’s orders, Captain Juan de Heredia Hermastegui. That
commandant crossed the lands of Corralat, being opposed by the
fierce nation of Butig, and forcing a passage with his arms at the
cost of many lives of the enemy. Captain Atienza met him with his
whole squadron, whereupon the Malanaos, seeing so many
Spaniards upon them, were even more intimidated; they gave
more security for their agreements, and the registration proceeded
more effectively. Father Pedro Gutierrez came with the troop of
Sargento-mayor Don Pedro; and he gave notice that that conquest
belonged to the Society, and that the Recollect fathers had
meddled in it. But the latter had been given sufficient title for their
introduction into that conquest by the inattention of the Jesuits,
besides the fact that for that same reason, they had been given
spiritual jurisdiction by the bishop of Zebu. If the Jesuits were
occupied in greater undertakings, they ought to have abandoned
those which they considered less profitable to the care of those
religious [i. e., the Recollects] who did not pay so much attention
98
99
to these considerations of advantage. The fact that such
territories were without ministers would influence the bishop of
Zebu, Don Fray Pedro de Arze; and he would give them rightly to
those who would occupy them, notwithstanding the great anxiety
of the Society for the absolute possession of Mindanao. That
desire does not give them the right, nor the fact that St. Francis
Xavier had been in the island although this latter is not made
sufficiently clear, for the time when [he was there] does not appear
from his voyages, nor does the reason appear from his letters. The
same reasons would lead the royal Audiencia to give the
possession when it was governing. Why, if they were so
importunate to govern the island and declared such to be their
right, did they not fill it with ministers? Now, indeed, Father
Gutierrez came forward, and asked the sargento-mayor for the
possession of the lake, and the latter gave it to him in the name of
his governor. Thereupon, the father having taken possession of it,
returned to Mindanao on the third day with the sargento-mayor,
who also went back to his general quarters. Captain Don Francisco
de Atienza fortified the village of Bayug with stockades, left his
adjutant to defend it, and retired to his province of Caraga.
10. Father Fray Agustin greatly regretted that the result of a
so fortunate expedition should be solely entrusted to the
heathenism of those barbarians, who upon seeing themselves free
from subjection to the presidio that was planned and proposed,
would undoubtedly reclaim their liberty; and would strongly arm
themselves to defend it, and the conquest would be more serious
and difficult. He would be no less influenced by the way in which
he had been despoiled of that administration by the hurried
possession taken by Father Gutierrez, who uselessly fatigued his
Majesty’s troops for this purpose. These interests moved him to
undertake a trip to Manila, accompanied by several Malanao
chiefs. They presented themselves to the governor, and requested
aid against the forces and approaches of Corralat, saying that these
could only be restrained by a well-garrisoned fort, which could
protect those who should submit and render obedience; but that
without this provision all things were in danger. The reports of
Captain Atienza, who desired to assure his glorious results,
confirmed these representations. The governor was delighted at
prostrating so hostile enemies, and did not delay in the provision
for all that looked toward such an end. He immediately agreed to
the establishment of the presidio, and determined to send troops
for its garrison and defense. The representations of the Jesuits
prevented that expedition, for they alleged that the spiritual
administration of Malanao belonged to them, as it was included in
the territory granted to them with sufficient formalities; that the
introduction of the Recollect fathers therein was an intrusion to be
condemned; that no right was conceded to the latter because
Malanao, as well as the villages of its immediate neighborhood,
had been deserted by its ministers, as they [i. e., the Jesuits] had
been occupied in greater undertakings; and that they would attend
to it at present, as they had a supply of ministers. A formal verbal
process proceeded, and the Jesuits obtained a favorable decision.
Thereupon, the province of San Nicolas was excluded from the
99
100
lake, from Bayug, Layavan, and Langaran. Consequently,
father Fray Agustin betook himself again to his mission of Butuan,
and the chiefs his companions to the lake sad and furious at not
having obtained the concession of those fathers, for whom they
had (and even to our times) preserved a great affection and love.
The last representation in which they begged the same thing from
the superior government was in the year one thousand seven
hundred and thirty; but it was, not conceded to them, as it was
territory granted to the Society; and the latter always resisted such
a change, notwithstanding that the demarcation was very doubtful.
11. Corcuera determined, after the hostilities had been
quieted, that the infantry captain Don Pedro Bermudez de Castro
should go with fifty Spaniards and five hundred Indians from
Bohol, to fortify the lake, and preserve what had been gained; or
to employ themselves in its recovery, if it had suffered any
disturbances. The governor gave the captain the hostages who had
been detained to assure confidence, after having treated them
kindly and given them presents, in order that the surrender might
be more voluntary. The Jesuit fathers went with that contingent of
troops, the superior being Father Diego Patiño, and his associate
Father Gregorio Belin. They accompanied Captain Vermudez to
the lake to make the fortification that had been determined, and
the permanent presidio wherever it should prove most suitable.
They did not find the lake so peaceful as Captain Atienza had left
it. The natives thought of nothing less than the subjection and the
tribute paying of vassalage; and as soon as they had recovered
from the fright into which that invasion had thrown them, then
they overthrew all the crosses and burned the small buildings that
had served as churches. Their fury was still more excited when the
chiefs returned without the beloved pledges of the hostages who
had been given up; for, considering these already dead or captive,
they burned to avenge them. That fury was somewhat assuaged
when the new troop gave them their brothers and children, who
spread abroad the kindness of the governor. But that was not
sufficient to overcome the course of their mistrust; they were
somewhat appeased, but all was only pretense, in order to conceal
their hostile minds. They tried to quiet our suspicions, and showed
themselves repentant for what had happened. They aided with
their labor as far as necessary in the building of the fort, but their
falsity was soon apparent. Suddenly they suspended their aid and
failed in their intercourse as friends, and busied themselves in the
preparation of obstacles and injury [to our people]. Their former
decision had been rebuked by Corralat; and he, being an astute
man, told them that such submission was arrant nonsense, and he
brought forward cogent arguments, which excited their fears and
distrust He told them that they did not know to what that surrender
bound them, and that it was nothing else than a toilsome slavery
under the domination of the Spaniards. He bid them look at the
nations subjected to us, and these would be seen to be reduced to
extreme misery. Let them contemplate the Tagálogs and the
Visayans, whom any Spaniard whatever could trample under foot;
and if they were not of better stuff than these, they must not expect
better treatment. They would be obliged to row, to toil
100
101
at the shipbuilding, and on other public works, and would
only experience severe treatment in doing these. With these
commonplace arguments, and without reflecting on the tyrannical
dominion of Corralat, the latter reduced those unhappy creatures
to the last stage of desperation. He offered to give them his aid,
and to employ the strength of his kingdom in their defense [saying
that] even if the Spaniards were successful, it meant only the loss
of harvests for one year, but that they would obtain their liberty at
that small cost. All found it advisable. Manindin, the petty king of
Butig, recognized that, if the Spaniards were masters of the lake,
his authority was in danger. Corralat, surrounded in all parts, and
pressed by our arms, beheld his greatness very much reduced to a
very few leguas of coast. It was important to him that the diverted
undertakings should have no effect in any part, so that time and
expenses should cause them to desist. Consequently, these chiefs
so stirred up those of the lake that they agreed to resist with all
their power.
12. They carried their agreement into execution, and
attacked the fort with so great fury that they imagined that they
were going to defeat the Spaniards completely. They besieged the
fort with all the severity of war. They made their circumvallation,
which they set with stakes and ravelins at intervals, for the defense
of their precincts. The fort was then half-finished, and the captain
rallied as well as he could to its defense. He met the necessity as a
prudent and valiant man, so that he obliged the natives to try other
artifices. They built upon the lake some high towers on rafts,
which they moored with a rattan cable, which held an anchor that
was fastened to the ground, which they were able to do easily
under cover of the night. They had another cable, arranged
similarly, across the lake. With the first one, without any
possibility of their being discovered, they hauled or pulled until
they reached the proper position, whence they could discharge
their firearms with effect. That being done, they retired beyond the
range of the fort to load their pieces, and then returned to the
combat with the same industry. The operation of bomb-vessels in
the bombardment of any city or castle is no different. It is an
ingenious invention, but not without great risk. Although truly
those small castles built upon the rafts were very ingenious, they
could not be of great resistance. Neither can we persuade
ourselves that our artillery would remain quiet; and even if it did,
the Moro scheme was very imperfect, because they accomplished
nothing by such artifice. The captain and his men resisted
valiantly, and unceasingly. But they were afflicted by another
most invincible enemy, namely, the lack of provisions. If the
Malanaos were to continue in their obstinacy, they would at last
conquer the Spaniards through hunger. However, the continual
fatigue by day and night was not inconsiderable, and must
necessarily at the last sap their forces, and even first finish them
all; for the bombardment was killing some of them.
13. Such reflections forced the Spaniards to have recourse
to other avenues. They sent a despatch to Caraga to the
alcalde-mayor, and another to Butuan to father Fray Agustin,
asking them to aid them in that conflict without delay. The more
significant despatch was that from Father Belin to the father at
Butuan. In it he declared that it was impossible
101
102
to endure, and that those at that lake would all perish. He
begged the father for God’s sake, for whom he had sacrificed
himself to reduce and conquer it, to aid them with the greatest
force of that district; for their remedy consisted in his Reverence.
He said that the enemy had captured three boats from them, and,
all the roads to the beach being cut off, it was impossible to get
help in. One who attempted to bring help had been cut off by so
great a force of Butig and of the men of Corralat, in an ambush of
more than four thousand Moros, who threw the rearguard and the
vanguard into disorder; and that the father himself had gone out
when they heard the shots, with men to protect the convoy. With
his aid the Moros were put to flight after having killed some
Spaniards and men of Bojol. By that means they succeeded in
getting some loads of rice into the fort, enough to supply them for
a month if they only had one meal per day. But so great a
multitude of Moros were coming to take part in the blockade that,
if he did [not] succor them, it was impossible for them not to
perish.”Father, “ said he, “let your Reverence forget your
grievances; and I give you my word, on my profession [i. e., as a
priest], to so influence the governor and my order that your
Reverence and your holy associates will obtain what you have so
labored for. Consider the honor of the king of España, the
obligations with which you were born, and the charity which
obliges you on this occasion to come to the succor of this troop,
unfortunate in not having merited your Reverence’s company.
Without it, surely, Captain Don Francisco would not have had the
good fortune that he had and obtained, although he opposed
leaving a presidio here. Father, there is danger in delay. I petition
your Reverence, for the love of God and that of His Mother, and I
hope for a great aid from all, etc. March nine, one thousand six
hundred and forty. Your Reverence’s servant,
Gregorio Belin “
14. This despatch reached Butuan at a time when the
alcalde-mayor, Atienza, was there. Each one received his letter.
Attentive to the urgency of the danger, they arranged a speedy
relief expedition. The “Padre Capitan, “ Fray Agustin, and the
alcaldemayor set out in that expedition with what men they could
gather on the spur of the moment, marching across mountains and
conquering innumerable difficulties, at the cost of immense
hardships. Finally, they reached their destination, making a jest of
the passes filled with the enemy when they came within sight of
the besieged presidio. The fort was so beset that its occupants no
longer had any hopes of relief; for the Moros, seeing their
inventions of the rafts frustrated, arranged on land some strong
carts mounted on four wheels, which they filled with straw and
dry grass. They pushed these carts near the fort, and setting fire to
that combustible material, continued their bombarding under cover
of that heavy smoke. That would have proved so offensive to the
besieged, and much worse had the fire caught the fort, that they
would have been obliged to burn or surrender. But before those
contrivances were finished, the universal hunger which was
weakening their stomachs was proving more cruel than they; for
the magazines contained only wine for the masses, and hosts.
They determined to take the last communion, and to give up their
lives to such ravage,
102
103
on the twenty-ninth day of so desperate a siege. The sight of
the two captains rejoiced the fort. They undertook to break up the
siege. Arranging their troops in order and drawing them up in
military array, they attacked sword in hand, and with so great
valor and spirit that they caused the position to be evacuated in
less than. two hours, and freed that presidio, which was well near
its ruin, from all the enemy.
15. Once masters of themselves, the Spaniards discussed a
bloody vengeance. They fitted up a boat, together with the other
one that they had captured. Then sailing out on the lake, they were
joined by some large boats, so that they formed a considerable
squadron, with which they attacked the settlements. Those
settlements were deserted, because all had taken to the mountains,
after ruining their houses and destroying their fields. It was a
warning, to all, of the little advance that the war made when they
thus yielded the field to the soldiers. Captain Vermudez, having
been despatched, finished burning and destroying the little that
had remained. In order not to expose the troops to another and
more severe siege, he considered that expense and fatigue as a
useless thing, and determined to retreat, and with those arms and
stores to fortify Bayug. He left the arrangement of it to the skill of
father Fray Agustin, who so conducted the retreat in the marches
of the men and in the transportation of the artillery, that he did not
lose a single man, although there were ambushes and dangerous
passes. For so brilliant a feat, Father Belin and Captains Atienza
and Vermudez compared him in their letters to the heroes most
renowned in valor and military skill, so much did they accredit his
conduct. Had it not been a scheme of the Jesuits, these
achievements would have led to his remaining with Captain
Vermudez; and the fort would have been completed, and his fame
alone would have subdued these Moros. But the Jesuits caused
such troubles that the well-planned and extensive arrangements of
the superior government were of none effect. Therefore he
descended to the seashore with all the men, and they erected a fort
upon the bar of the river of Iligan. The men of the garrison were
left in charge of Adjutant Francisco Alfaro, a man of valor and
experience, who was accustomed to fighting with the Moros.
Captain Vermudez returned to Manila to make a full report of
occurrences to the governor, and the necessity of the final
decision. The matter rested at this point for the time being.
103
104
RECOLLECT MISSIONS, 1646-6048
(Blair & Robertson, Vol. 36, 109-188)
Chapter Sixth
The venerable sister Isabel, a beata, dies holily in the faith in the
province of Butuan
Only section: (Year 1646)
One of our Beatas, named Isabel, passed to the better life
this year in the village of Butuan of Filipinas. We know nothing
else about her except that she was converted to the faith by the
preaching of Ours when they entered that province. The Lord
illumined her so that she should leave the darkness of their
idolatries, and she was baptized and give the name of Isabel. She
produced great fruit in a short time, for the hand of God is not
restricted to time limit. Seeing her so useful in the mysteries of the
Catholic religion, our religious sent her to become a coadjutor and
the spiritual mother of many souls, whom she reduced to the faith
and catechized thus gaining them for the Church.
She was sent to the villages where the devil was waging his
fiercest war and deceiving by his tricks, so that she might oppose
herself to him by her exemplary life and the gentleness of her
instruction.
48
The following two sections are taken from the Historia de los
religiosos descalzos (Madrid, 1681) of Luis de Jesús, pp. 371-373.
104
105
She established her school in a house in the village to which
the young girls resorted. With wonderful eloquence she made
them understand that the path of their vain superstitions would
lead them astray, and explained the rudiments and principles of
the Christian doctrine. At her set hours she went to the church
daily, and the people gathering, she instructed the stupid ones,
confirmed the converted, and enlightened the ignorant and that
with so much grace and gentleness of words that she seized the
hearts of her hearers. To this she joined a modesty and bearing
sweetly grave, by which she made great gain among those
barbarians.
Since so copious results were experienced through the
agency of Isabel, both in the reformation of morals and in the
many who were converted from their blind paganism, the fathers
sent her to preach in the streets and open places where the people
gathered to hear her some through curiosity, and others carried
away by her wonderful grace in speaking. By that means many
souls were captured and entreated, baptism, for she was a zealous
worker and an apostolic coadjutor in that flock of the Lord. She
also entered the houses of the obstinate ones who did not go to
hear her in the streets. There, with mild discourses and full of
charity, she softened their hearts and inclined them to receive the
faith.
After some years of employment in that kind of apostolic
life her husband died. Upon being freed from the conjugal yoke
she desired to subject her neck to that of religion. Father Fray
Jacinto de San Fulgencio, at that time vicar-provincial of that
province, gave her our habit of mantelata or beata. She recognized,
as she was very intelligent and experienced in the road to
perfection, that her obligations to make herself useful were
stricter, that she must live a better life and employ the talent which
she had received from God for the benefit of her neighbor, and she
did so. One cannot easily imagine the diligence with which she
sought souls; the mean that she contrived to draw them from the
darkness of heathendom. What paths did she not, take! What
hardships did she not suffer! She went from one part to another
discussing with the spirit and strength, not of a weak woman, but
of a strong man. The Lord whose cause she was advancing aided
her; for the solicitation of souls for God is a service much to His
satisfaction.
She finally saw all that province of Butuan converted to the
faith of Jesus Christ, for which she very joyfully gave thanks. She
retired then to give herself to divine contemplation, for she
thought that she ought to get ready to leave the world as she had
devoted so much time to the welfare of her neighbor. She sought .
instruction from Sister Clara Calimán (whose life we have written
above), and imitated her in her penitences, her fastings, and her
mode of life, so that she became an example of virtues.
For long hours did Isabel pray devoutly; she visited the sick;
she served them; she exhorted them to repentance for their sins
and to bear their sorrows with patience. She devoted herself so
entirely to those works of charity that it seemed best to our fathers
(who governed that district) not to allow her respite from them,
and that she could [not] live wholly for herself. They built a
hospital for the poor and sent her to care for them. She sought the
needy,
105
106
whom she often carried on her shoulders, so great was her
charity. She cared for their souls, causing the sacraments to be
administered to them; and for their bodies, applying to them the
needful medicines. She solicited presents and alms, and she had
set hours for going out to beg for the sick poor. She did all that
with a cheerful and calm countenance, which indicated the love of
God which burned in her breast. Her hour came during those
occupations and she fell grievously ill: She knew that God was
summoning her and begged for the sacraments of the Catholic
Church; and, having received them with joy, she surrendered her
soul to her Lord-leaving, with sorrow for her loss, sure pledges
that she has eternal rest.
Chapter Seventh
not belong to this history to relate the conditions that were then
accepted; we have only thought it best to give this notice of it
here.
[The remainder of this book does not concern Philippine,
affairs].
[The following is translated and condensed from Diego de
Santa Theresa’s Historia general de los religiosos descalzos,
being vol. iii in the general history of the Recollect order.]49
A hospice, is established in the City of Mexico for the
accommodation of the religious who go to the Filipinas.
Only section: (Year 1647)
As the province of San Nicolás de Tolentino had been
founded in the Filipinas Islands by our religious, and since they
had many missions in various districts to which to attend-not only
converting infidels, but comforting and sustaining those converted
they thought that it would be necessary for them to send repeated
missions of religious and to conduct them from España to those
districts. The usual route is by way of Mexico, a most famous city;
and since our Recollects had no house there where the religious
could await in comfort the opportunity to embark for the said
islands, they determined to take a house or hospice in which they
could live and where those who fell sick from the long and
troublesome journey could be treated. The Order petitioned it from
the king our sovereign, Felipe Fourth, who, exercising his wonted
charity, issued his royal decree in this year of 1647 for the
founding of the said hospice; and it was actually founded. It does
49
The title-page of this book, translated, reads as follows: “General
history of the discalced religious of the Order of the hermits of the great father
and doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, of the congregation of España and of
the Indias. Volume third: which was written by the very reverend father Fray
Diego de Santa Theresa, pensioned lecturer, ex-definitor, and chronicler general
of the said congregation; arranged and enlarged by Father Fray Pedro de San
Francisco de Assis, pensioned lecturer, calificador of the Holy Office, definitor
of the holy province of Aragon, and chronicler-general. Dedicated to Nuestra
Señora del Pilar [i. e, “our Lady of the Pillar “] of Zaragoza. Containing
apologetic additions to the first volume in defense of the discalced Augustinans,
in answer to what was written against them by the father master Fray Alonso de
Villerino; and one decade, namely, from the year 1651 to that of 1660. With
license. In Barcelona; at the press of the heirs of Juan Pablo and Maria Martí,
under the management of Mauro Martí, in the year 1743.” The heading of the
dedication is as follows; “To the sovereign queen of heaven and earth, on her
throne of the pillar in Zaragoza “ and it is followed by . a long and curious letter
of dedication. We translate and condense’ from a copy owned by the Library of
Congress, which hears the following inscription: “[This book) belongs to the
Library of the convent of the discalced Aúgustinian fathers of Valladolid. Fray
Tomas de San José, Librarian.”
106
107
Decade Seventh — Book First
Chapter I
Treats of the fifth intermediary chapter; and of some events in the
province of Philipinas.
[The first section treats of the fifth intermediary chapter of
the order, which was’ held at Madrid, May 27, 1651].
§ II
The convent of Tandag, in the province of Carágha of the
Philipinas Islands, is demolished
232. Tándag is located in the island of Mindanao, and is the
capital of the district of the jurisdiction of Carágha, where the
alcalde-mayor resides. In regard to ecclesiastical affairs, it belongs
to the bishopric of Zibú. Our convent which is found in that
settlement has charge of three thousand souls, scattered in the said
capital and in five. annexed villages called visitas. How much
glory that convent has gained for God may be inferred from the
repeated triumphs which its most zealous ministers obtained,
thanks to His grace; and the words of our most reverend and
illustrious Don Fray Pedro de San-Tiago, bishop of Solsona and
Lérida, in the relation of the voyage made by our discalced
religious to the Indias are sufficient.”There was, “ he says, “a
powerful Indian, called Inúc, the lord of Marieta, who, waging war
on the Spaniards and peaceable Indians, killed many of them in
various engagements while he captured more than two thousand.
The very reverend father Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios left
Tándag, without other army or arms than his virtues. He went to
meet Inúc and, by the force of the divine word, he alone
conquered Inúc, who was accompanied by squadrons; the religious
conquered he soldier, the lamb the lion, and forced him to lay
aside his arms and reduce himself to the obedience -of the king
our sovereign, and to be baptized with all his family.” Thus did he
give in that one action, peace to the country, a multitude of souls
to heaven, and an exceeding great number of vassals to the
Spanish monarch.
233. The seasons continued to. pass interwoven with various
incidents, now prosperous, now adverse; although as the world is a
vale of tears, it gave its pleasures with a close hand and its sorrows
with prodigal liberality especially in the years 46 and 47 when the
Dutch, having become the ruler of the seas, forced or compelled
all vessels to take refuge in the ports. The commerce of the
Sangleys or Chinese fell off almost entirely; and according to the
common Opinion, the Dutch were so victorious that their
invasions, painted with those rhetorical colors that fear is wont to
give, filled all the islands with terror. Don Diego Faxardo, knight
of the Habit of San-Tiago, was then governor and captain-general
of Philipínas, and also president of that royal Audiencia. He was
most vigilant in defending those wretched villages from the
powerful invasions of the enemy, who, by the specious pretext that
they were going to set them free, induced the chiefs to [join] a
general conspiracy. Don Diego tried to ascertain the forces of the
enemy with accuracy; he ordered the ports to be reconnoitered and
the presidios to be fortified.
107
108
He solicited truthful reports in order to obtain advice upon
the best way to decide.
234. There was at that time an alcalde-mayor in the fortress
of Tándag whose name is omitted for a special reason. The
venerable father Fray Pedro de San Joseph Roxas, a religious of
eminent qualities and excellent virtues, was prior of that convent.
He, having concluded that the minister ought, as a teacher, to
attend to the Indians in regard to instruction, and as a father, to
watch over their protection, on seeing his parishioners persecuted
with unjust vexations thought himself obliged to oppose the illegal
acts of the alcalde. Father Fray Pedro saw the people of Tándag
and its visitas oppressed with insupportable burdens. He saw them
suffering so great sadness that their weeping did not dare to mount
from the heart to the eyes, nor could the bosom trust its respiration
to the lips. The father noted that, in proportion as they were
sacrificed to the greed of another, just so much did they grow
lukewarm in living according to the Catholic maxims. Since there
was no one to speak for the Indians if that zealous minister
became dumb, he resolved to defeat them efficaciously in order to
make so great wrong cease, even if it were at his own risk. He
asked humbly, exhorted fervently, and insisted in and out of
season in proportion to the cause; but seeing his petitions
unheeded in Tándag, he placed then in a Tribunal where they
would receive attention.
235. The alcalde-mayor, resenting the father’s demands,
took occasion to send his reports to Don Diego Faxardo;
accordingly he said that that fortress of Carágha was in a state of
vigorous defense, although it had a dangerous neighbor in the
convent, for that was a very strong work and dominated the
fortress. Consequently, he thought that it was a necessary
precaution to destroy it. Thereupon the governor called a meeting
of auditors, judges, and officials of the royal treasury; and on the
nineteenth of December, 1647, they dispatched a general order to
all the alcaldes-mayor commanding that the stone churches and
convents built along the sea shore be demolished. The reason
given was that if, the Dutch succeeded in capturing them in their
invasions, they would find in them forts enabling them to continue
their raids with greater persistency. Already the said captain had
been withdrawn from Tándag and lion Juan Garcia appointed in
his . place when that order from the royal Audiencia was received.
He called a meeting of Captains Juan de Sabáta and Don Marcos
de Resines, also summoning Sargento-mayor Don Andrés Curto
and the same alcalde-mayor who had. been at Tándàg -of whom
he did not yet even know that he had given the said report. They
recognized that the church could be burned and pulled down in
less than six hours, in case the Dutch came; for its walls were built
of the weakest kind of stone and the roof of nipa, which is as
combustible as straw. On the other hand, they saw the Indian
natives somewhat sad and feared that they would take to the
mountains in flight in order not to be forced to work at a new
building. Therefore they, resolved, by common consent, to
suspend the execution [of the order] until those reasons could be
represented in the royal Audiencia, and the most advisable
measures taken for the service of both Majesties.
236. Don Diego Faxardo and the royal assembly
108
109
saw that those reports were contrary; for the first said that it
was very important to demolish the convent and church, as it was
a very strong work; and that, since it was within musket-shot and
dominated the redoubt, the Dutch could demolish it in twenty four
hours with only two ten-libra cannon: while the second report set
forth the fear of the revolt and flight of the Indians, alleging that
the convent and church, although built of stone, would serve as no
obstacle. But, notwithstanding that contradiction, a new decree
was despatched ordering the demolition of the church and convent
of Tándag. That was done immediately amid great sorrow,
although with great conformity of the religious and Indians to so
peremptory decrees. Since malice thus triumphed, vengeance was
satisfied, and a religious order so worthy was slighted; and
although its members had more than enough reasons for anger,
they never permitted it to pass their lips, and only employed their
rhetoric in restraining the natives so that they would not take to the
mountains.
§ III
Philipo Fourth is informed that Fray Pedro de San Joseph resisted
the demolition of the convent strongly, and that he was the cause
of the insurrection of the Indians in the village.
237. Nothing else was thought of in the Philipinas Islands
than their defense from the fear occasioned by the Dutch with their
fleets. That holy province was engaged in the reparation of the
ruins of their demolished church, and the zeal of those evangelical
ministers was working with the same ardor, for they were wont
not to become lukewarm [even] with the repeated strokes of the
most heavy troubles. In May, 1651, it was learned at the court in
Madrid, that the royal mind of his Catholic Majesty had been
informed of what will be explained in more vivid colors in the
following letter, which the venerable father-provincial of
Philipinas received in the year .”Venerable and devout father
provincial of the Augustinian Recollects of the Philipinas Islands:
It has been learned in my royal Council of the Indias from letters
of the royal Audiencia resident in the city of Manila that, in virtue
of a resolution taken by the council of war and treasury of those
islands, certain strong churches in the islands were ordered to be
demolished, such as those of Abucáy, Marindúque, and Carágha,
so that they might not be seized by the enemy, as those edifices’
were a notorious menace and peril to the islands after the Dutch
attacked Cavite. It was learned that, although the church of
Carágha was demolished, ‘it was done after the greatest opposition
from the religious of your order who are settled in those missions.
He who instructed the Indians there threatened that the Indians
would revolt, as happened later. For the village rose in revolt, and
the Indians took to the mountains thereby occasioning the many
and serious troubles that demand consideration. The matter having
been examined in my royal Council of the Indias, it has been
deemed best to warn you how severely those proceedings by the
religious of that order have been censured so that, being warned
thereof, you may correct them and try to improve them, in order
that the religious may restrain themselves ‘in the future and not
give occasion to the natives to become restless. For they are
109
110
under so great obligation to do the contrary, and they. ought
to have taken active part in calming the Indians and restraining
them if they believed that they were attempting to make any
movement; since the care and watchfulness of the officials cannot
suffice if the religious of the missions fail to aid them with the
natives. I trust that you will be attentive to correct this matter from
now on; for besides the fact that it is so in harmony with your
obligation and with the example that the religious ought to give to
others in respect to their rules, I shall consider myself as well
served by you. Madrid, May 27, 1651.
I the King “
238. It cannot be denied that the terms of that royal letter
could serve the most austere man for no small exercise [in
mortification]; and more on that occasion when that holy province
was laboring in the service of his Catholic Majesty, so much to the
satisfaction of his ministers that many praises of our discalced
religious were published… We confess that the king alleges that
he received that notice through letters from the royal Audiencia, a
tribunal of so great circumspection that it would hot under take to
inform its monarch without sure knowledge. But we declare that
the secretary of the king our sovereign might have been mistaken
in the midst of so great a rush of business, in representing as a
report of that most upright assembly that which proceeds from
private subjects only. In order that the good opinion in which our
Augustinian Recollects were held by the cabildo, city, and royal
Audiencia may be thoroughly evident, I shall insert here their
letters of April 29 and 30, 1648, those dates being somewhat later
than the notice which was received in Manila of this entire affair.
239. The letter of the royal Audiencia runs as follows “Sire:
Your Majesty was pleased, at the instance of the discalced
religious of St. Augustine, to order this royal Audiencia to report
on the justification for the continuation which they ask of the alms
of 250 pesos and 250 fanegas of rice for the support of four
religious who administer to the Indians in this convent of Manila.
We know the excellent manner in which they attend to their
ministry, and their poverty which obliges them to beg weekly
alms, for the incomes of some of the chaplaincies were lost in the
earthquake. They are very strictly observed in their ministries and
hasten to serve his Majesty on occasions when we encounter
enemies, by sea and land, where some have been killed or
captured. Consequently they are today very short of laborers.
These are causes which demand that your Majesty, with your
accustomed liberality, should be pleased to continue the said alms
and allow the Recollects to bring religious hither. May God
preserve, etc. April 30, 1648.”
240. I find the letter of the most illustrious cabildo to be
couched in these terms “Sire: As this see is vacant, it is incumbent
upon us in obedience to your royal decree to assure your Majesty
that the Augustinian Recollect religious attend to their ministry
punctually. The poverty that they suffer is great, for they are
obliged to beg alms from door to door as they lost the incomes of
some of their chaplaincies in the earthquake and, their convent
was ruined. They are very observant in their rules, and in their
administrations to the natives in the missions
110
111
in their charge. As those missions are among the most
unconquerable and fierce people in these districts, many of the
religious have been killed and captured. Consequently, they suffer
from a great lack of laborers; but they have not for that failed in
the service, of your Majesty on the occasions that have arisen by
sea and land - all, motives that should impel your Majesty with
your royal liberality to be pleased to continue the said alms, and to
concede them a goodly number of religious for these islands. May
God preserve, etc. Manila, April 29, 1648.”
241. That of the city of Manila speaks of the Recollects in
the following manner- “Sire: This city of Manila has informed
your Majesty on various occasions of the great importance in these
islands of the order of discalced Recollects of St. Augustine; of the
apostolic men in that order; of the great results that they obtain by
the preaching of the holy gospel; of the singular example that they
have always furnished, and do now, with their strict and religious
life and their so exact mode of observing their rules; and of the so
considerable effects that have through their agency been attained
in the service of our Lord and that of your Majesty, with the aid of
your royal arms, in the great number of infidels whom they have
converted to our holy Catholic faith, and how they have been
brought to render to your Majesty the due vassalage and tribute,
which they have generally paid, and are paying, annually. [We
have also told your Majesty] that they have engaged in all this
with the spiritual affection that belongs to their profession, with
singular care-both in the conservation of what they have attained
and in their continual desire, notwithstanding the many
discomforts that they suffer, to carry on their work, steadily
converting new souls to the service of our Lord and to the
obedience of your Majesty. [We have also reported] the great
peace and quiet which they preserve among themselves so that
they have always been and are, one, of the most acceptable and
well received orders in these islands although they are the poorest,
as all their missions are in districts very distant from this city, and
among the most warlike people that are in all the provinces of
these islands, as they are recently conquered; and the danger in
which, for that reason, the lives of those fathers are, Indeed, some
have already risked life, at times, when those people who appeared
to be peaceful have rebelled; and others have gloriously [met
death], at the hands of those who were not pacified, when the holy
gospel was preached to them besides many others who have
suffered martyrdom in the kingdom of Japon, enriching with noble
acts the church of God and the crown of your Majesty. [We have
reported] that no fleet has gone out in which those fathers do not
sail for the consolation of the infantry, and that, in the emergencies
that have arisen, they have fought like valiant soldiers; and that
they accommodate themselves to everything with the angelic spirit
that is theirs, when it is to the service of our Lord and that of your
Majesty. At the present we inform you of the extreme poverty that
the convent of San Nicolás of this city is suffering; for with the
earthquake which happened on November 30 of the former year
1645, their entire church fell, so that today they are living in great
discomfort in cells of straw which have been built in the garden.
The sick are the ones who suffer the greatest inconveniences;
111
112
and they generally have sick people, since the religious of
the missions in their charge come, when ill, to this convent to be
‘treated. Consequently, this city is constrained to petition your
Majesty, with all due humility, to be pleased to order that 250
pesos and 250 fanegas of rice be annually contributed to them on
the account of the royal treasury of your Majesty which amount
was given them as a stipend for four ordained religious (although
there are always more) -as well as 150 pesos for medicines. [We
ask for] the continuation of the extension conceded by the decree
of May 3, 1643, without any time-limit being set; for the great
affection with which our Lord and your Majesty are thereby
served merits it. This city petitions your Majesty to be pleased to
grant the said order license to send as many religious as you may
please from those kingdoms to these islands, in consideration of
the remarkable necessity for religious in their so distant missions,where, because of the poor nourishment from the food which they
use for the sustenance of human life (treating themselves like
actual beggars), with the great abstinence which they observe, and
where no discomforts of sun or rain keep them back (for they go
through dense forests and over inaccessible mountains in order to
reduce to our holy Catholic faith the thousands of souls in those
districts who have no knowledge of it), many have perished in that
work; for in this year alone such number more than twelve. To
some of them no companions have come for this vineyard of the
Lord, and the increase of the royal estate and crown of, your
Majesty -whose Catholic person may the divine Majesty preserve,
as is needed in Christendom. Manila, April 30, 1648.”
242. These letters-which are authentic, and preserved in our
general archives are those written in the year 1648 by the city, the
cabildo, and the royal Audiencia. The order to demolish Tándag
was given in the year 47, and it was apparent to them that the fear
of the [Indians] insurrection and flight with the other motives for
suspending the execution proceeded only from that junta of the
captains, and that there was no resistance on the part of the
minister. Further, it was clearly proved in the year 5 that that
information was not written by the royal Audiencia (nor could it
be, since that is a fount whence the truth flows with so great
purity) ; but that the secretary was mistaken in thus ascribing to so
upright a tribunal what was only signed by an inferior, who
desired to dazzle by giving the first news which generally arrives
very much garbled.
[Section iv is a vindication of the Recollects in regard to the
demolition of the convent and church of Tándag. Juan Garcia,
alcalde-mayor and captain of the fort of that place at the time of
the demolition, declares (July 29, 1654) that “he proceeded with
the razing of the building without the religious losing their
composure, or threatening that their natives would revolt; and that
neither before nor after was there any insurrection or disquiet in
Tándag or throughout its districts; neither did the natives desert
and flee to the mountains; neither did he see or know of any such
thing while he was alcalde-mayor, or during the many months
after that while he resided in the said village.” The following
section treats
112
113
of the life of father Fray Pedro de San Joseph (whose family
name was Roxas) prior of Tándag in the time of the above
troubles. He was born in Manila (where he took the Recollect
habit) April 21, 1621. He achieved distinction in the study of
moral and mystic theology. At the completion of his studies he
was sent to various villages to preach, proving himself a
successful preacher. . In 1635 he was sent to the island of
Romblon, where he worked with good results in spite of the
hostile attempts of the Moros in that district. At the completion of
his term of service at Romblon he was sent to Tándag,, where he
had to contend against the Spaniards themselves, on account of
their excesses toward the natives. After the demolition of his
convent and church he returned to Manila, arriving there on May
26, 1650. That same year he was sent to Taytáy in Calamianes,
although he desired to remain in retreat in Manila. His death
occurred in the following year at Manila, to which place he went
as his last illness came on.]
§ VI
The insurrection in the village of Lináo
257. It has been stated above that when the Dutch enemy
came in the year 48 to bombard Cavite, they had treated with
certain Indian chiefs, saying that they would return with a larger
fleet in the year 49. They gave the Indians to understand that they
only would treat them as their friends and not in the domineering
manner of the Spaniards, who (as the Dutch said) treat them as
slaves; and therefore they hoped to find the Indians prepared, so
that, having become well-inclined toward the Dutch power, they
might be able to free themselves from so heavy a bondage. That
proposition continued to spread from one to another; it was
agreeable to them all because of the liberty that it seemed to
promise, although it was offensive to many because it incited the
natives to seditious movements. At that time Don Diego Faxardo,
governor of Manila, despatched a decree ordering a certain
number of carpenters with their wives and children to go to that
city from each one of the islands. The effects produced by that
mandate were especially fatal for the village of Palápac in the
island of Hibábao. For they refused to obey the governor, killed
their minister, a zealous father of the Society, took their
possessions to the mountains, and commenced to gather to their
following a great number of rebels.
258. That decree caused a great disturbance in the island of
Mindanáo, for of its five divisions scarcely one is reduced to
obedience; therefore those who live unsubdued in the mountains
only wait for such opportunities in order to foment disturbances
and restlessness. Many of the natives hid their property in the
province of Carágha, and proved so unquiet that although the
Butuans were the most trustworthy Indians, the father prior, Fray
Miguel de Santo Thomás, had to work hard to, restrain them.
Those of Lináo descended to the last vileness, and it is presumed
that the same would have happened in the district of Tándag if the
alcalde-mayor, Bernabé de la Plaza, had not concealed the decree.
That was afterward approved by the auditors in Manila, as they
had experienced that that decree had been a seed-bed for many
troubles. All that disquiet continued to operate with the manifest
disturbance of the public peace, even at the news alone of the
above-mentioned decree.
113
114
Even the hint of it succeeded in Lináo where the
insurrection took place in the following manner.
259. There are certain wild Indians in the mountains of
Butuán, located in the province of Carágha, called Manóbos. 50
They have kinky hair, oblique eyes, a treacherous disposition,
brutish customs, and live by the hunt. They have no king to govern
them nor houses to shelter them; their clothing covers only the
shame of their bodies; and they sleep where night overtakes them.
Finally, they are infidels, and believe in everything, by the way in
which they live, that small portion that nature gives them as
rational beings. Among so great a rabble, but one village is known
where some people are seen far from human intercourse. They are
a race much inclined to war, which they are almost always waging
against the Indians of the seacoast. There lived Dabáo,51 who had
become as it were a petty king, without other right than that of his
great strength, or other jurisdiction than that of his great cunning.
His wickedness was much bruited about, and he made use of
subtle deceits by which he committed almost innumerable
murders. He was often pursued by Spanish soldiers, but he knew
quite well how to elude them by his cunning. For on one occasion,
in order to avoid the danger, he went to the house of an
evangelical minister saying that he wished baptism, and that the
minister should defend him, as it would be the motive for many
conversions; but he only made use of that trick to save his life.
Father Fray Agustin de Santa Maria a very affable religious, and
one who labored hard to attract the infidels -was prior of the
convent of Santa Clara de Monte Falco of Lináo, a place forty
leguas up-stream from Butuán. He visited Dabáo, and won him
over so well by presents and gifts to intercourse with the
Spaniards, that he spent nearly all the day in the convent and
entrusted father Fray Agustin with the education of one of his sons
being quite eager in that in order to work out the treachery that he
had planned.
260. Dabáo went by night to the houses of the chief
Christians. He laid before them the harsh decree of the governor,
the offers that the Dutch had made, and especially the attaining of
freedom to keep up their old religion. Since they were not well
rooted in our holy faith, those discussions were very agreeable to
them. That faithless Indian was so contagious a cancer that he
infected the greater part of the village with his poison. Therefore,
almost all of them assenting to his plan, the day was set on which
he resolved to kill the Spaniards and the minister. He warned the
people to be ready with their arms to aid him. He had previously
held a meeting with his Manóbos, in which they decided that if the
provincial sent a visitor and did not come personally to make the
visitation, it would be a clear sign that the Dutch were infesting
those coasts. When they learned with certainty that the
father-provincial, Fray Bernardo de San Laurencio; had not gone
out for the visitation, but that he was sending the father
50
Manobos: This name is applied to several pagan Malay tribes in
northern and eastern Mindanao, the word meaning “man “ just as many other
savage tribes in all parts of the world designate themselves as “men “ ( “the
men, “ par excellence) ; but Santa Theresa’s description of them does not
accord with that of Dr. Barrows. (See Census of Philippine Islands, i, pp. 461,
462.)
51
The same name as Dávao, that of the province occupying the
southeastern part of Mindanao.
114
115
ex-provincial, Fray Juan de San Antonio, as visitor, they
were confirmed [in the belief] that the hostile fleet was coming,
and began immediately to stir up the country.
261. The father visitor had already reached the convent of
Butuán, and Dabáo sent his Manóbo Indians to the river Humáyan
with obsequious appearances of readiness to receive him, but with
the peremptory order to kill him. God so arranged that the father
visitor, Fray Juan de San Antonio, should pass to the convent of
Cagayáng without stopping to visit that of Lináo. He left a letter
for the father prior of Lináo which he sent by Juan de Guevara,
one of the soldiers who was later killed in the fray. That soldier
met the Manóbos who were waiting at the river; they asked him
for the father visitor, and he told them simply that he had left
Butuán. They, without asking whether the father were to pass that
way, returned to their village to inform their leader of the matter.
Thus did God save the life of His minister for the second time,
thereby allowing one to see even in so slight occurrences the
height of His Providence.
262. At that time some hostile Indians began to harass the
peaceful Indians, from whom they took a quantity of their rice and
maize. Dabáo offer to make a raid in order to check so insolent
boldness with that punishment, and he assured them that he would
immediately return with the heads of some men, from which result
their accomplices would take warning. He selected, then, eight
robust and muscular Indians, whose hands he bound behind their
backs, but by an artifice so cunning that they could untie
themselves whenever occasion demanded. Thus did he bring as
captives those who were really Trojan horses; for, concealing their
arms, they showed only many obsequious acts of submission. The
captain ordered them to be taken to the fort where the father prior,
Fray Agustin de Santa Maria, was already waiting; and when the
order was given that the feigned captives should be set in the
stocks, at that juncture Dabáo drew a weapon which he had
concealed, and broke the captain’s head. The Indians untied their
bonds, the rebels came with lances from the village, and a
hotly-contested battle took place in which almost all our men lost
their lives. Only the religious and four Spanish soldiers and a
corporal were left alive. It did not occur to them, in the midst of so
great confusion, to take other counsel than to drop down from the
wall. We shall leave the father prior, Fray Agustin, for the present,
and speak only of the soldiers who opened up a road with their
invincible valor by means of their arms, in order to take refuge in
the convent. But finding it already occupied by the insurgents,
who had gone ahead to despoil it, they fought there like Spaniards,
hurling themselves sword in hand on the mass of the rebels.
However, they were unable to save the post, for the convent and
the church were blazing in all parts. Thereupon it was necessary
for them to hurl themselves upon a new danger in order to return
to the redoubt, where they arrived safely at the cost of many
wounds, although they found the fort dismantled. Thence they sent
the Indians in flight to the mountais by firing their arquebuses at
them.
263. Only the family of one pious woman remained in the
village, who (although sparingly) gave them food every day. But
that charity could
115
116
not last long, for necessity forced that family to take refuge
with the insurgents, thus leaving the Spaniards destitute of all
human consolation. They, seeing themselves wounded and without
food, made a small boat of bamboo, dangerous at any time, and
embarked in it in order to go to Butuán by way of the river, after
they had dismantled the fort and spiked the artillery. In order that
the so evident risk of that voyage might be more increased, their
opponents pursued them with swift caracoas, from which firing
many arrows they multiplied the wounds of the soldiers. The
Spaniards, seeing that they could not defend themselves, entered
the village of Hóot where the people had not yet risen. There they
met an Indian called Pálan, who was going to Lináo for his
daughter, so that she might not be lost amid the confusion of that
so barbarous race. He took compassion on those afflicted soldiers,
and, availing himself of fifteen Indians who were with him,
accommodated them in his bark and took them to our convent of
Butuán. They arrived there twenty days after the insurrection at
Lináo, so used up and crippled that they, were already in the last
extremity.
§ VII
Relation of the punishment of the rebels and their restoration to
their villages
264. As soon as father Fray Miguel de Santo Thomás, prior
of our convent of Butuán, learned what was -passing in Lináo, he
sent a messenger to Tándag and to the royal Audiencia of Manila;
for promptness is generally the most efficacious means in such
cases. Afterward the afflicted Spaniards arrived at his convent, and
he received them with great love, accommodated them in cells, set
up beds for them, and gave them medicines assisting them with
the compassion of a father, to their consolation, and with extreme
charity aiding in their entertainment. One of those soldiers, who
was named Juan Gonzalez, had broken a leg, his body was full of
wounds and a poisoned arrow had pierced his loins. When he was
treated, he was so lifeless that all thought that he had expired. The
father prior was not a little afflicted at that, for the man had not yet
been confessed, as the father had been assisting the others: In that
extremity the father applied to him a picture of St. Nicholas of
Tolentino, and at its contact the dying man returned to his senses,
confessed very slowly, and received the other sacraments with
fervor; and had even twenty four hours left in which to bewail the
carelessness of his life, as he did. All held that event as a miracle
worked by St. Nicholas, for whom the sick man and the religious
had great devotion.
265. That fatal news having reached the city of Manila, a
general revolt was feared as in the former year of 1631, when our
churches were burned, our convents pillaged, our sacred images
profaned, and our ministers seized and killed. In consideration of
that; Governor Don Diego Faxardo sent Captain Gregorio
Dicastillo to Tándag with a small band of Spanish infantry to join
Bernabé de la Plaza, alcalde-mayor and captain of that fort, so that
they might try all means to reduce the insurgents. They went to
Butuán where . they established their military headquarters. A
general pardon was published with the warning that those who did
not submit would bring
116
117
upon themselves the full rigor of the war. But many of the
Indians who presented themselves were hanged, and there were
very few of those who descended the mountains to surrender who
were not made slaves. The very persons who were under greatest
obligation to fulfill the word that they had given in the name of
their king broke that word.
266. Our whole, convent of Lináo was consumed by fire,
except two chalices and some vestments from the sacristy, which
three Indians were able to carry out. They presented themselves,
with it, thinking that they would thereby secure their freedom; but
they were immediately thrown under the heavy yoke of slavery.
With such acts of injustice, although the rebels were subdued by
that expedition, their hearts were more obstinate than ever. The
city of Manila and its environs were full of slaves. The Butuán
chiefs who were the mirror of fidelity, suffered processes, exiles,
and imprisonments; and although they were able to win back
honor, it was after all their property had been lost. Some heedless
individuals blame the superior officials with what their inferiors
have done, and the excesses and abuses of others are considered to
be done by the influence of the superiors. But the uprightness and
honesty of the royal Audiencia of Manila can be seen in what they
did. For after two years of imprisonment of one of the Indians
whom that expedition prosecuted, his property was confiscated.
Another was tortured and condemned to death by decapitation.
Another was reduced to extreme poverty. All were persuaded that
the heavy hand was entering there. Finally the governor
committed the examination of the causes to Licentiate Manuel
Suarez. de Olivéra, auditor-general of war and assessor of the
governor of Manila. He declared in favor of the Indian slaves, and
freed them all. The wretched Indians were overjoyed at the decree,
but they were troubled because they had no one to solicit their
freedom for that by attending to the necessary expenses of the
court; consequently, they regarded the day of their redemption as a
thing impossible to attain. They did not dare to ask the aid of the
Recollect fathers, as they thought that the latter were angry at
them, as they had murdered a religious in that insurrection. But
since the Recollect fathers regarded that as [the vicissitude of]
fortune, they took the part of the Indians and did considerable in
their defense.
267. Father Fray Agustin de San Pedro was secretary of that
province, who was known by the name of Padre Capitan because
of his military feats which will be explained in part in recording
his life. He had illumined those Indians with the light of the
gospel, for which they held him in great affection. Therefore, he
made a list of the slaves who were in Manila, and its environs,
giving the name and surname of each, and the village where he
lived. In the list he included many others who were not contained
in the processes. He presented that list to the governor and asked
him to order the slaves to be set at liberty. Such a writ was
despatched very promptly, and the father went with the notary
through all the houses in order to place the order in execution.
That was a work that caused him great fatigue, and produced
violent contentions. For since those who had paid their money for
slaves were deprived of them, scarcely did he arrive at a house
where some insult was not heard. The expenses were increased,
but he
117
118
obtained his purpose; for he secured all the slaves, and the
[Recollect] order took care of them, providing them with all the
necessities of life until they were taken to their own native places.
A religious accompanied them, as it. was considered necessary to
have a person to defend them in case that any one attempted to
injure them.
268. That race is not so rude that it cannot be conquered by
kind acts. Therefore, those Indians talked over among themselves
what the Recollect fathers had done for them without
remembering that the Indians had killed a religious. As they did
not remain in their villages, the notice of our method of procedure
spread to the most hidden recesses of the mountains. In the year
1650 father Fray Joseph de la Anunciacion was elected provincial;
and at the beginning of the following year, while making his first
visit to the province of Carágha, he arrived at Butuán where he
learned that the Indians were having some trouble with the
soldiers. But they were very mild in telling them of the Recollect
fathers. He became encouraged at that, and having placed his
confidence in God, directed himself to the village of Lináo. He
entered the mountains, talked with the Indian chiefs, and exhorted
them to become peaceful and return to the vassalage of his
Majesty. He obtained that, in a very few days, and left that region
in the utmost peace.
269. At this point we must reflect upon what was insinuated
above. I said that the king our sovereign wrote to the father
provincial of Philipinas ordering him to see to it that his religious
did not rouse up the Indians, since they ought, on the contrary, to
take part in calming their minds. His royal letter is dated May 27,
1651, and in regard to it I mentioned that at the same time when
his Majesty ordered it, he was obeyed in the village of Lináó, and
with that statement is already given the proof. I add to this that on
the tenth of July of the above-mentioned year, while the father
provincial; Fray Joseph de la Anunciacion, was in Manila, he
wrote to our father vicar-general informing him of the visit to
Carágha. Among other things (which do not concern the matter)
he wrote the following, which is very suitable for our purpose: “I
made the first visit to the province amid remarkable sufferings and
contrary winds, and thus spent about one year there. But I
considered that labor as well spent because of the fruit that was
obtained from it; for God was pleased by my assistance to reclaim
more than six hundred tributes in Lináo, who had revolted and
were disturbed, without greater cost than one decapitation and
some punishments of little importance. All was left as quiet as it
had been before, and it has been increased by some tributes. The
only thing that especially troubled me was, that I could leave no
more than one religious in each mission, while some missions
were such that two were not sufficient. These are so separated
from one another that the distance is at least twenty leguas. That
distance must be made over troublesome seas, for the winds are
not always favorable, so that one can only occasionally favor or
console the other. It is a mercy of God that zeal for the conversion
of souls has penetrated all, so that they put away their own
-welfare, relief, and consolation for those of others.”
270. That section proves, first, the care of the superiors in
aiding to pacify the Indians; secondly, that, to maintain them in
peace, one cannot accomplish
118
119
so much by the severity of punishment as by the mildness
and gentleness of love; thirdly, the vast amount of hardship that
those poor ministers suffer. I must only add now that some who
had but little fear of God, seeing that the Indians in Tándag had
become quiet through the, efforts of father Fray Pedro de San
Joseph Roxas, ascribed the sedition, of Lináo to father Fray
Agustin de Santa Maria. No investigation was made in order to
give the lie to the enormity of that falsehood, for he was purified
from that accusation by the blood from his veins, and because
Heaven itself gave some more than ordinary testimonies of his
innocence. I am going to mention them by compiling a treatise on
his life.
[Section viii treats of the life of father Fray Augustin de
Santa Maria. He was born in Macon of Portuguese parents, and
entered the Recollect order. After being ordained as a priest, he
was sent to Carágha to learn the language of the natives, where he
labored diligently. Some years later he was sent to Lináo, where
he was killed by the insurgents, May 16, 1651. His body, after
being treated with indignities by the natives, was finally buried by
a pious native woman. The section and chapter close with the
recitation of several miraculous occurrences.]
Chapter II
of the faith; but it found itself opposed by contrary winds; these
blowing forcibly against the four corners of the house (as
happened there with job), God proved it in patience. The church
and a great portion of the convent of the city of Manila had been
ruined by earthquakes, and the religious had no other habitation
left than some wretched cells, or rather huts, that they had set up in
the garden. Governor Don Diego Faxardo had ordered the convent
of Tándag to be demolished. The insurrection of that village
(which thus far has not succeeded) was said to have been caused
by our religious. The village of Lináo had been withdrawn from its
subjection to España, and the venerable father Fray Agustin de
Santa Maria had been killed by lance-thrusts. The triennium of our
father Fray Juan de San Antonio was passing; and during that time
some missionaries had been seized and made captives among them
fathers Fray Martin de San Nicolás, Fray Miguel de la Conception
(a native of Guadix, or as others assert, of Granada), and brother
Fray Joseph de la Madre
Life of the venerable father Fray Francisco de la Resurreccion;
and other events that happened in the year 1651.
[Section vi is the only part of this chapter referring to the
Philippines.]
§ VI
The eleventh mission goes from España to the Philipinas Islands
328 … Our holy province of Philipinas was burning with the
most ardent desire to enlighten the wretched Indians with the rays
119
120
de Dios, a native of México. The Job Moros practiced the
greatest cruelties on those men; they also pillaged and burned the
convents of Coy, Romblón, and Marveled. The Chinese
occasioned a great fire in the convent of San Sebastian de
Clumping, and the Dutch another in the convent of Caravan. All
those unfortunate events kept that holy province harassed to the
utmost; but their fervor did not cool one whit. On the contrary, the
fire of their zeal always mounted high and blazed more brightly
the more they were oppressed by misfortunes, as it was a flame
that never knew other paths.
329. In the year 1646 was celebrated the intermediary
chapter of that holy province, during the provincial ate of our
father Fray Juan de San Antonio. In it the venerable father Fray
Jacinto de San Fulgencio was chosen to come to España and
attend, as one of the voting fathers, the seventh general chapter
which was to be celebrated in the city of Valladolid in the year 48;
and especially, so that he might enlist evangelical soldiers who
should go to work in the spiritual conquest of the Indians for, since
so many religious had been captured, there was a lack of them.
The said father Fray Jacinto could not embark that same year,
because of the great disturbances caused on the sea by the Dutch,
as already remarked; Consequently, he did not reach the city and
court of Madrid until March, 1649, after the chapter had already
been held. In that chapter, our venerable father Fray Pedro Manuel
de San Agustin was elected vicar-general of all the congregation.
330. The said our father vicar-general was outside the court
visiting the provinces, when the father commissary arrived.
-Accordingly, the latter wrote to him,, petitioning him to advise
the convents of his coming so that the religious might in that way
learn of the opportunity presented to them to go to employ their
talents in the new world. Our father vicar-general attended to that
with the so holy zeal that he was known to possess. His pastoral
letter was filled with the flames of divine love; for he inspired the
souls of the religious in such a manner that, in a few days, he had
the signatures of more than fifty of them. At that same time his
Reverence received a paper from the convent of San Carlos de
Turin (which belongs to our Recollect congregation in Italia) in
which father Fray Celestine de San Christoval, lecturer in
theology, father Fray Bruno de San Guillermo, and father Fray
Archangel de Santa Maria petitioned him very urgently to admit
them in that mission, binding themselves to get the permissions of
their prelates. But, praising their good intention, our father
vicar-general refused to admit them on the ground of the royal
decree that forbids the passing [to the Philippines] of foreigners.
331. While all the above was happening, the
father-commissary, Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio, delivered to his
Majesty the letters of the royal Audiencia, the city, and the most
illustrious cabildo of Manila, which were given above for another
purpose. . He obtained a royal decree to take back eighteen
religious. The king our sovereign gave him three hundred and
sixty-two thousand three hundred and ninety-two paramedic for,
the journey, beside what his Majesty had assigned for the
maintenance and transportation of the missionaries in Cadiz,
Vera-Cruz, Mexico, and Acapulco. His Majesty also continued the
alms for the four ministers
120
121
of the convent of Manila, and the medicines; ordering also
that four thousand pesos be given them in Mexico for the repair of
the said convent, which had suffered almost total ruin in the
earthquake of the year 45. In addition to that, the
father-commissary petitioned that the father-procurator at Roma
urgently request permission to send evangelical ministers to Japon,
China, Siam, and other near-by kingdoms, showing in all his great
zeal for the conversion of souls.
332. The eighteen missionaries whom the king had conceded
to the father-commissary for that so distant harvest in the
Philipinas Islands gathered to him in a few days. He also took six
more religious at the cost of that holy province, in its name
contracting many new obligations, in order not to fail in the
cultivation of the vineyard of the Lord. Of those who had
volunteered, those who appeared to be most intelligent and
zealous were chosen; and the procurator tried to get them to
Sevilla as soon as possible; where they arrived on February 20,
1651. They finally embarked, and celebrated their spiritual
exercises on shipboard just as if they were in the retirement and
quiet of their own convents. They preached many afternoons;
persuaded the sailors to be present at the prayer of the rosary daily,
exhorted them never to let the sun go down on their sins, since
they had the sacrament of penitence so near at hand; as I were very
urgent in teaching them all the Christian doctrine. God granted
them the consolation of experiencing considerable fruit by that
means; for morals were considerably reformed, and oaths and
blasphemies were banished; so that the ship was like a religious
house. The religious gave many thanks to God, because at their
exhortation He conquered the obstinacy of a Moro who begged
them to wash him with the holy waters of baptism. The Moro
received those waters with great fervor, and died shortly after,
leaving all in the great hope that he attained glory.
333. For twenty days they suffered violent and contrary
winds, but God delivered them from that peril and from other very
serious dangers. He preserved them also from an epidemic that
was raging in the port of Vera-Cruz a disease called vomit
praetor,»52 from whose malignancy the greater part of those who
had embarked died, although only one of our religious perished.
They reached Mexico all worn out, and remained in that city until
March 10, 1652. Finally they reembarked in the port of Acapulco,
whence they had a fortunate passage to the Philipinas Islands.
They arrived there so opportunely that the fathers were discussing
the abandonment of some of the missions because of their so great
need of ministers. Consequently, they gave many thanks to the
divine Majesty for those religious who arrived at so suitable a
season.
[Chapter iii consists of accounts of the lives of various
Recollect fathers. Those who labored in the Philippines are the
following. Miguel de Santa Maria was a native of Cadiz and a son
of Rodrigo Lopez de Almansa. He professed in the Manila
convent June 26, 1618, at the age of 28. Later he became prior of
the Caraga mission, and founded the convent of Tándag. In 1624
he was elected procurator-general of the Philippine province. He
attempted in 1629 and 1630 to go to Japan; but in the
i. e.”black vomit, “ a reference to the yellow fever, which is still
prevalent today in that region.
52
121
122
first year the vessel was wrecked, and in the second the
governor forbade the journey. He was sent finally to the mission at
Cuyo, but the troubles with the Moros compelled him to flee.
Reaching Manila, he refused the offer of the secretary-ship to the
visitor-general, and the remainder of his life was spent in that city,
his death occurring in the year 1644 or 1651. Gaspar de Santa
Monica was a native of the city of Orihuela, in Valencia, his
family name being Padrós. He took the habit in the convent at
Valencia, November 1, 1613. He joined the mission organized by
Andrés del Espíritu Santo, and arrived at Manila in 1622. The
following year he was appointed prior of the convent of
Marivelez; and in 1624, when the first provincial chapter of the
order was held in the Philippines, he was elected prior of the
convent of Cuyo, where he suffered many hardships. He became
secretary to Andrés del Espíritu Santo upon the election of the
latter to the provincialate in 1676; but, falling ill, he was unable to
perform the duties of that office and was made prior of the
convent of Calumpán, in 1627. In 1629 he was one of the religious
shipwrecked in the endeavor to reach Japan surreptitiously. He
became definitor of the province in 1632, and in 1638 prior of the
convent at Lináo. On the completion of that office in 1642 it does
not appear that he filled other posts. He died in the city of Manila
in 1651.]
[Chapter iv treats in great part of the life of Pedro de la
Madre de Dios. He was born at Salamanca in 1580, and his family
name was Lopez. He took the habit in the convent at Valladolid in
1605. Somewhere between the years 1612-1614 he was sent as
vicar-provincial to the Philippines, with the brief for the separation
of the Recollects from the regular Augustinians, conceded by the
pope. After the expiration of that office in 1615 he spent the time
until 1623 in work among the novices and as prior of the convents
of Manila and Cavite. July 1623 to February 1624, he acted again
as vicar-provincial. In the latter year he was chosen procurator to
Spain, and the representative of the Philippines to the general
chapter of the order lo be held in 1627. Sailing from Manila in
1625, the remainder of his life was spent in Spain in various
employments and in retirement. His death occurred between the
years 1649-1652. Section vi of this chapter treats of the Recollect
convent of San Juan de Bagumbaya (for whose early history given
in summary here, see vol. xxI). In 1642, the governor Sebastian
Hurtado de Corcuera ordered all the buildings in the village of
Bagumbaya to be torn down for fear of the Dutch, among them the
convent. Despite the endeavor of the religious to save their
convent, it was demolished and a new fort begun there. The order
had refused the 4,000 pesos offered them by the governor, saying
that their possessions were worth more than 50. 000. This action
of the. governor was made part of the charges in the residencia,
and he was condemned to pay the order 25,000 pesos, and the
ground-plots were restored to them. Thereupon the fort was
demolished, and a new convent and church erected. Section vii
details the placing of the holy image of the Christ of Humility and
Patience (Santo Cristo de Humildad y Paciencia) in the Recollect
convent at Manila in the year 1652.]
Chapter v contains treatises on the lives of the following
Recollect missionaries in the Philippines.
122
123
Diego de Santa Ana was a native of Zaragoza (his secular
name being Ribas), and was born in 1599. He professed in the
convent of that city, July 26, 1616. Volunteering for the Philippine
missions in 1620, he arrived at Manila in 1622. That same year he
was sent to the islands of Calamianes, in company with Francisco
de San Nicolás,. where he labored amid great difficulties for the
conversion of the rude people inhabiting those islands. In 1626 he
was sent to the village of Caviscaíl in Paragua, where he labored
for a year; then he was appointed prior of the convent of
Linacapán, the most dangerous mission of the Calamianes, which
was infested by the hostile Moros. He was in the district of Butuan
in 1629 when the insurrection of Caraga broke out, where he was
in considerable danger of losing his life. He remained in Caraga
for several years after the insurrection was put down; but asked
leave to return to the Calamianes missions. In 1652 he suffered
extreme hardships while hiding in the mountains from the Joloans,
who had made one of their numerous raids in the village of Dináy
in the island of Paragua. Some assert that he died in the Manila
hospital, while others say that he met his death in the mountains
about Dináy. Lorenzo de San Facundo was born in Calaceyte in
Aragón (his family name being Valls) and professed in the
convent of Zaragoza, July 8, 1618, at the age of 36. He went to the
Philippines in 1621. There he became prior of the convent of
Marivelez, and afterward of Binalgában in the province of Panay,
of Masíngloc in the province of Zambales, and lastly of Bacoág
where he suffered various hardships and captivity. He especially
obtained good results by his preaching in the island of Cuyo, and
in Siargáo in the province of Caraga. He was afterward president
of the chapter, definitor of the province, and procurator to Spain
with a vote in the general chapter (although he was unable to
arrive in Spain in time for the chapter). In company with Juan de
San Joseph, he was taken by Corcuera on his Job campaign to look
after the Caraga natives in his army. The two religious penetrated
the mountains alone in an endeavor (partially successful) to reduce
the Joloans to peace. He died in 1652, after a long and deep-seated
infirmity. Antonio de la Madre de Dios, son of Fernando Romero
Pizarro of Truxillo, professed in the Madrid convent, September
24, 1615. He went to the Philippines in 1621. He was sent to the
island Hermosa, where he remained until that island was
abandoned by the Spaniards. On returning to the islands he was
employed in various missions, dying in 1652 from fever
contracted while nursing a secular priest. Juan de San Joseph was
a native of Granada, and took the Recollect habit in Manila. Being
sent to the missions of the Calamianes he proved very successful
in the sharing of souls. He was captured in 1632 by the Joloans,
and was a captive among them for more than two years. After his
service in the Jolo campaign he returned to Manila, and finally
died in the mission of the island of Romblon. Diego de San Juan
Evangelista, son of Pedro de Olíte, was a native of Zaragoza and
took the habit in the convent of Manteria in Zaragoza, April 3,
1606. Shortly after, he deserted the order; but afterward returned
to it. He left for the Philippine mission in the year 1622, where he
became. an eloquent preacher. He served as chaplain in two fleets,
missionary in
123
124
the Calamianes, and prior of Cavite and Manila. Death came
to him in the convent of Bagumbaya in 1652. Antonio de San
Agustin was a native of Manila (being born about 1592), where he
professed. In 1634. he obtained permission to go to the Japanese
mission, but the Chinese who had been hired to take them failed to
fulfill their contract. In the great Chinese revolt of 1639 he acted
as minister to the Zambal archers in the Spanish army. He served
in various capacities, among them being the office of definitor.
His death occurred in 1652. )
[Chapter vii treats of the lives of Onofre de la Madre de Dios
and Augustin de San Pedro, the famous “Padre Capitan.” The first
was the son of Joseph Boquét, and was born in Perpiñán in 1584,
and professed in the convent of Zaragoza, March 16, 1606. Joining
the Philippine mission, he reached those islands in 1620, where he
was immediately sent to the new missions in the south of the
archipelago, . with the appointment of prior of Cebú. In 1624 he
was elected first provincial of the order in the Philippines, serving
in that office for two years, during which time he visited his
province at the risk of capture from both Dutch and Moros. After
the expiration of his term he asked and obtained permission to go
to the Calamianes, and worked faithfully in the island of Culión,
where he mastered the language. In 1627 he was sent to Spain as
procurator, but did not return thence, as he was elected, provincial
of the province of Aragón. His death occurred in the convent of
Calatayud in Spain, in 1638 (reported wrongly to have occurred at
Barcelona in 1653, as he was confused with another religious of
the same name).”Padre Capitan, “ the son of Miguel Rodriguez,
was born in Berganza, Portugal, and professed in Valladolid, in
1619. Arriving at the Philippines in 1623, he was speedily sent to
the Caraga missions, where he labored for the rest of his life in the
conversion of its natives, and in defending them from the inroads
of the Moros. He was many times prior of Butuán, Cagayáng,
Lináo, Tándag, and Romblón. In Mindanao he personally baptized
more than 10. 000 adults. His death occurred in 1653, and he left ‘
behind a name long revered among the natives because of his
prowess. The seventh section. of this chapter is an answer to
Father Combes of the Jesuit Society (who had tried to belittle the
efforts of the Recollects in Mindanao), in which the good work
that the Recollects have accomplished is shown.]
Book Second of the Seventh Decade
Chapter II
The attempt is made in Philipinas to subject the religious who are
parish priests to the visitation of the bishops.
§1
Relation of the practice that has always been followed in the
spiritual administration of the islands; and what happened when
the attempt was made to change it
Year 1656
[In 1654 the first mutterings of the storm caused by the
visitation of the regulars by the bishops break in the Philippines.
The dates of the arrival of the
124
125
various orders are given; and the narrative continues:]
719 … Those holy orders, each one doing its share, declared
pitiless war against paganism, and achieved signal victories in that
war, destroying the idols of ‘Belial and planting solidly the
health-giving sign of the cross; so that whatever is conquered in
the islands is due to their fervent zeal. For they planted the faith,
and watered that land with blood o that it might produce fruit
abundantly; and God was the cause of so wonderful an increase.
The system that they have always followed in the spiritual
administration of the missions and villages which they have
formed at the cost of their sweat is the same as that observed in
América in the beginning by various apostolic privileges. In the
provincial chapters held by each order, they appoint as superiors
of the houses established in the villages of Indians who are already
converted, those religious who are fit to exercise the office of cura
by their learning, their morals, and other qualities. The same is
also done in regard to the residences of the active missions, where
those thus appointed continue the preaching to and conversion of
the heathen, with very perceptible progress. Both the former and
the latter exercise the ministries ‘to which they are destined,,
without need of other approbation than that of the definitors -who
entrust to these heads of houses the administration of the
sacraments and the spiritual cultivation of those souls, in the
respective territory where the convent is located, a superior being
elected for each convent. This is done independently of the
bishops. Likewise the definitors of each order in their meetings
appoint various of the most learned and experienced men, to
whom is entrusted and delegated the faculty of giving dispensation
in regard to the obstacles of marriage, and the exercise of other
favors and privileges contained in the pontifical briefs. Those
powers are never exercised if the diocesans are intra duas dietas,
“53 without their permission and approbation; and always this is
done [only] in cases of evident necessity.
720. The provincials visit their provinces annually; and the
said religious not only in what concerns their profession and
regular observance, but also in what relates to their activities as
curas. The diocesan prelates appoint their outside vicars for those
territories which are in charge of the orders. They almost always
avail themselves of those same religious for that, because of the
great lack of secular priests. The religious submit to the visitation
of the diocesan in matters touching the erection of chaplaincies,
charitable works, the inspection of wills, and confraternities that
are not exempt. They resist only what includes the violation of
their privileges granted by the supreme pontiffs to the said holy
orders for the purpose of the propagation of the faith in regions so
distant. Such privileges, although not used in other parts of the
Indias, ought to be maintained in Philipinas, for reasons that will
be stated below. This is what has been observed from the
discovery of the said islands until the present time; and the
contrary has not been ordered by the king as patron, by the royal
Council of the Indias, or by the apostolic see, although they have
had full knowledge of the cause. This method has been practiced,
both before and since the Council of Trent; and there has
53
i. e., “within two days’ journey.”
125
126
been no change in it not even since the year 1652, when
special provision regarding it was made for Nueva España and
Perú; and it was ordered that the missionary religious of those
provinces should receive collation and canonical institution from
the ordinaries of those countries, in order to continue their exercise
as curas; and that consequently they must submit to the visitation
and correction of the bishops in officio officiando et quoad curam
animarum. 54 But however thoroughly that was placed in execution
ill those kingdoms, it could not be carried out in the Philipinas
Islands; for there even the reasons which influenced the exemption
of the regulars are in force.
721. It is true that the bishops have, always made the
strongest efforts to subject the parish priests who are religious to
their jurisdiction; but they have never been able to succeed in it,
for the religious are unwilling to accept the charge with that
burden. The first bishop of Manila and of all the islands,. Don
Fray Domingo de Salazar, tried to establish that subjection. The
Observantine Augustinian fathers and the Franciscans made use of
the means which prudence dictated, in order to quiet their
scrupulous consciences. Seeing that nothing [else] was sufficient,
they resigned their missions before the governor, as vice-patron,
protesting that they would care for the conversion of. the heathen,
but that they could not keep the parochial administration of those
who were converted, without the enjoyment of all their privileges.
Therefore, his Excellency was forced to desist from his attempt, as
he had no seculars to whom to entrust that administration. In 1654,
the attempt was made to establish in Philipinas the practice
recently adopted in the kingdoms of Perú and Nueva España by
petition of the fiscal of the royal Audiencia. That body ordered
that plan to be carried out, by a decree of October 22; and since
the chapters of the two provinces of the order, the calced and
discalced, were to be held in April of 55, that decree was
communicated to them, with the warning that if they were not
obedient they would be deprived of their missions, and the
missionaries of the emoluments which had been assigned them for
their suitable support. All the orders opposed that change,
following logical methods in their defense, and averse to seeing
the necessity of abandoning their missions. But at last, as there
was no other way, the venerable fathers-provincial were reduced
to handing over to the governor and bishops all the ministries in
their charge, so that, as the former was the vice-patron and the
latter were the ordinaries, they might appoint whomever they
wished to the curacies.
722. That resignation was handed to the fiscal, and in view
of it, in order that the most suitable provision might be made, with
full knowledge, he asked that writs be made out first, to show how
many secular clergy were in the four bishoprics; second, so that
the officials of the royal treasury might attest the amount of the
stipends paid to the religious employed in the missions, and third,
so that the provincials might send the names of their subordinates
employed in the missions. That was ordered by a decree of May
10 in the said year 1655. It resulted that, in all, 254 religious were
occupied in 252 missions; that the royal treasury only paid
stipends corresponding to
i. e., “When officiating in his duties, and as far as it relates to the care
of souls.”
54
126
127
141 missionaries; and that there were only 59 suitable
secular priests in all the islands. The fiscal, seeing that according
to the report the procedure that had been taken could not be
maintained, in order to obviate the inconveniences that would
ensue to the natives and inhabitants of those dominions if the
religious were withdrawn from the villages, petitioned on January
4, 1656, that without innovation the orders be maintained in the
missions, until it should be proved that there was a sufficient
supply of secular priests to take care of them; and that they be
assisted with the usual emoluments. He asked and charged the
reverend fathers-provincial to look after the spiritual
administration with their accustomed zeal. The royal Audiencia
having so ordered in toto by an act of February 17, the holy orders
returned very willingly to apply their shoulders to the work. Those
acts were sent to the royal Council of the Indias. The cause having
been discussed there, in View of the reports of the governor
(which were throughout favorable to the orders), and of the
manifestos presented by the orders in justification of their rights,
the documents were approved on October 23, 1666, and the result
was to make no innovation in what had been decided, and it does
not appear that any other decree was enacted against the
observance and practice that the religious have always maintained
in those islands. Therefore the archbishop, having claimed that the
appointments for the missions devolved on him by the form of
canonical collation in cases where his Majesty did not make use of
the privilege which belonged to him as patron; and endeavoring by
that means to deprive the orders of the right which they possess of
making those appointments without the intervention of his
Excellency: the royal Council by a decree of September 26, 1687,
ordered that the matter be continued in the form in which it had
been administered until then, and that no change be permitted.
723. Shortly after the archbishop of Manila, Don Diego
Camacho, making use of the most powerful means, attempted to
subject the religious to his approbation, visitation, and correction
in officio officiando. For that purpose he had recourse to his
Holiness, to whom in the year 1697, he represented that there were
many religious in the islands employed in more than seven
hundred parishes, who had refused and were refusing to receive
the visitation and correction of the diocesans; and he asked that
they be compelled to receive such visitation. Upon seeing that, his
Holiness Clement XI decided (January 30, 1705) that the right of
visiting the parochial regulars belonged to the said archbishop and
other bishops; but he made no mention of the other points which
had been referred to him, and which were also under dispute. This
appears from the brief despatched in this regard. This brief having
been presented in the Council of the Indias, it appears that it was
confirmed on April 22 of the same year. The said archbishop
ordered it to be executed (October 26, 1707) with the most
strenuous efforts; but he encountered in this such dissensions and
disturbances that it is considered advisable to omit the relation
thereof. It was necessary to resign the ministries once more, the
superiors [of the orders] protesting that they would never agree to
such a subjection, and that the -archbishop could make
appointments to the curacies as he wished. By that
127
128
means his Excellency was so balked that, the cause having been
fully proved, the evidence received, and the proofs adduced by
both parties, the petition introduced by the orders was allowed on
March 30, 1708; and it was ordered that the necessary official
statements be given them. The authority of the governor was
interposed extra-judicially, and he ordered that the religious
should occupy the abandoned curacies, and that there should be no
change. The archbishop himself, who had put forward that claim,
was obliged to confess that he could not put it into practice.
724. It was sufficiently clear by that alone that the holy
orders have more than enough reason for the independence from
the bishops that they enjoy in their parochial ministry. For if they
did not have in their primitive being the causes and motives for the
apostolic privileges which exempted them, even from that of the
ordinaries, it would not have been possible for them to maintain
themselves so long with that prerogative which could not subsist
in the kingdoms of América. But, since there are some persons
who, as their understanding is on a par with their bodily senses,
register events on the surface only without going within for the
reasons (from which the report has been originated and spread
through Europa, that the orders of Philipinas have seized all the
authority without other reason than because they wish it so), I am
compelled to vindicate them from so atrocious a calumny by
making known some of the reasons why they have made (as they
still do) so strong a resistance to this subjection. I shall first
discuss all the orders in common, and then our reformed branch in
particular. But I give warning that I do not intend to transform my
history into formal charges. Adequate apologetic writings,
founded on law, have been scattered through those holy families to
demonstrate the exemption that attends them. Quite recently, in
the former year 1734, a formal statement was presented in the
royal Council by twenty-three graduates of the famous University
of Salamanca (confirmed by eight who are not regulars) in which
their testimonies agree in affirming that the religious act according
to the dictates of conscience in administering the curacies without
subjecting themselves to the bishops. Some add that they are
bound in conscience to resist this subjection, as it is an imposition
on the regular religious. Therefore, I shall treat that matter simply
as an historian, taking for granted the right which according to
various apostolic privileges, supports them in not subjecting
themselves to the bishops; and, in case the latter attempt this, in
abandoning the ministries.
§ II
Some of the arguments that support the orders in Philipinas in not
submitting to the visitation of the ordinaries in regard to the
ministries.
725. That various supreme pontiffs, especially St. Pius V,
conceded to the regulars of the Indias the privilege of obtaining
their ministries with complete independence from the bishops, no
one is so bold as to deny. The motive for that concession was the
lack of secular priests in those countries. Consequently, the
question (or doubt) as to whether that indult is or is not to be
observed is not one of law, but one of pure fact. Its solution
depends on
128
129
ascertaining whether there are in those regions a sufficient
number of clergy suitable to serve their parishes and exercise the
care of souls. For, in case there are, it is not denied that that duty
belongs to the seculars; for it i the peculiar duty of the religious to
devote themselves to God in the retirement of their cloisters. If, on
this hypothesis, the regulars should desire or be permitted to take
charge of the said spiritual administration, they ought to submit to
the bishops in officio officiando for then the cause of that indult
would not exist. The fact of the exemption having ceased for the
great part in the kingdoms of Nueva España and Perú, did not arise
from the said privileges having been revoked (for they are not,
especially that of St. Pius V) but only and necessarily because the
impelling cause for conceding such exemption did not actually
exist. For, in those kingdoms, the number, of secular ecclesiastics
increased so greatly that enough of them were found to administer
the holy sacraments to their inhabitants. Since the motive has
ceased, the privilege cannot endure. Now then, I suppose that there
are more than two millions of people in the Philipinas Islands who
confess the name of Christ, through. the influence of the fervent
zeal of the religious. In the year 1655, as was stated in the
preceding paragraph, for two hundred and fifty-two missions in
charge of the orders there were only fifty-nine secular priests. In
1705, when that subjection was attempted so earnestly by
Archbishop Don Diego Camacho, the parishes were extended by
his deposition to the number of more than seven hundred. For
those parishes, according to the certification of the secretary of
that prelate, only sixty-seven secular priests were found in his
diocese; and of those only ten were suitable for administering the
missions, as the rest were occupied in the duties of necessary
residence. At present, the number of seculars is not much greater
nor will it ever be partly because those of Europa do not have any
inducement to go to those islands, and partly because, since the
Spaniards there are so few, there cannot be many persons sprung
from these kingdoms who rise to the priesthood; further, because
the Indians are generally unfit for that holy ministry. In view of all
the above, who does not see that the orders avail themselves of
their right in resisting the burden of the visitation which the
bishops are trying to impose on them?
726. Nor does it avail the opposition that Pope Clement XI
determined and declared, at the petition of the said archbishop, on
January 30, 1705, “that the right of visiting the regulars in what
concerns the care of souls and the administration of the holy
sacraments belongs to the archbishop of Manila and the other
bishops of the Philipinas Islands.” For besides the defects of
misrepresentation and surreptitious measures [obrepcion y
subrepcion] which were then made manifest, contained in that
brief, the said pontifical declaration, whether it be conceived as a
law, as an order, or as a sentence, cannot fail to be appealed from.
This is what the orders did, appealing to his Holiness, alleging
before the archbishop who put the brief into execution the motives
which, according to law, they rightfully had for resisting that
visitation. In order to establish the truth that e religious had many
arguments in their favor, it is not necessary to adduce other proof
than what results from the fact that the said archbishop, who was
129
130
the person most interested, desisted from the execution of
the brief. Other diocesans of the islands who, notwithstanding the
above-cited brief, have tolerated and tolerate the exemption of the
orders for no other reason than the actual scarcity of secular
priests, have authorized that procedure. Therefore, they practically
admit that the indult of St. Pius remains in force; and that the
mandate of Clement XI is impossible whenever the religious
abandon the curacies.
727. Besides, the same fact that the said metropolitan did not
put into execution the above-cited brief of Clement XI as its nature
and authority demanded, gave one to understand either that it was
notoriously surreptitious, or especially grievous and productive of
some scandal, or of irreparable injury to the Catholic religion; for
only through such motives can the mandates of the pope be
suspended. If the first be correct, it is an implied or virtual
declaration that the said order is null and void; therefore, the
regulars can legally proceed with the administration of the
missions without subjecting themselves to the ordinaries, making
use of their former privileges. If the second or third his illustrious
Lordship having offered in that same act in which he provided for
the suspension of the brief, to inform the pope of the predominant
reasons that determined him to supersede the said brief-in the
meantime, until the said information shall reach him and the effect
that is produced by it on his Holiness’s mind shall be made known
to the religious, the fact that they avail themselves of their
privileges In the administration of the parishes cannot be imputed
to them as guilt. The reason for that is, that they cannot believe
that that prelate will neglect to inform his Holiness of the motives
why he did not proceed with the execution [of the brief]. The fact
that the Roman court has not made any new provision in regard to
that matter shows that, just as in virtue of the allegations of the
regulars the said archbishop found it necessary not to carry his
pretension farther, so likewise the supreme pontiff has tacitly
approved and has left the religious with the exemption that they
enjoyed before the above-mentioned brief. Therefore, in regard to
either law, they will safely be able to proceed with the
administration of the churches in their charge without the
intervention of the bishops.
728. Much less can the said brief of Clement XI stand in
regard to the decree that “the regulars cannot resign from the
missions or parishes under penalty of censures, loss of benefices,
and other arbitrary penalties.” For this clause alone is sufficient to
persuade one that the representations that were made to obtain that
decision, from the pope were not ruled by truth. For had his
Holiness well understood all the circumstances, how could he
have issued an order from which would follow the inference of
injuries terrible and irremediable to the holy orders? If those
religious, in so far as they are curas, were to become subject to the
bishops, they would not hold their curacies as a reward after
serving his Majesty so much, but would regard their position as
lower than that of those who remain free from responsibility in
their communities. For the latter have no other obligation than to
obey their superior, or his two subordinates, so that there can
never be any contrariety in the orders or any doubt for the
religious of
130
131
what he is to do; while the former, after all their anxiety,
have to study very carefully over obeying their legitimate
superiors and in keeping the bishops content (which, as will be
said, would both be impossible things), whence must originate
many disturbances and much restlessness. And if it is intolerable
that he who serves his king with faithfulness be not rewarded, the
order would be inverted on this occasion; for after so much labor
they could only succeed in multiplying subjections, and be less
free in their ministries. The orders would receive as their reward
the abolition of the exemption which the holy see conceded to
them as a recompense for the noble fruits which they have
gathered in the universal Church by their virtue and holinesspreserving it fresh and beautiful by watering it with the blood of
so many martyrs, by which they made it illustrious; and increasing
it with new worlds, provinces, and millions of children whom they
have subjected to it, of which the histories are full. They will be
obliged to place in the curacies those who solicit them the most
urgently, importuning by means from which the more retiring and
the more worthy shrink. They will expose their religious to danger
even after they have well fulfilled the obligations of their
ministries; in case that they are not to the liking of the ordinary
besides many other annoyances which will inevitably come upon
the regulars. And if the orders have no other means to avoid that
and the rest which will be stated below than to resign their
missions, how could the benign pontiff oblige them to stay therein
if he knew those circumstances fully?
729. It cannot be denied that the office of parish priest even
with the exemption from the ordinary is altogether accessory, and
a heavy responsibility superadded to the religious estate. For in
order that they might administer in the said form, an apostolic
dispensation has been necessary which is founded on grave
reasons and that with attention to only what the religious estate
demands from him who has entered it, according to what is taught
by common law and the doctrine of the saints. If that method of
administering with exemption from the ordinary is changed, and
the regular who has charge of a parish should as such become
subject to the correction and visitation of the ordinary, and in other
respects to the heads of his order, it is certain that it would be an
innovation so great that they would be quite changed in their
respect for public opinion, and in their mode of life; and the
religious would be like a man cleft in two, those in some houses
being subject to one superior and those in others to another, all of
different hierarchies, and with the dangerous consequences that
will be stated. Will the piety of the pope bind the religious to so
great a cross?
730. Let us suppose (as is feasible) that the bishop were to
become displeased with any order, or with ally missionary. In such
case he could maintain or remove the missionary against the will,
of his provincial by very specious pretexts. If necessary, he could
even threaten the latter with censures, in order to make him submit
to his authority. How fecund a source of perdition and total ruin
that would be for the orders, any one can conceive; but only those
who have experience in those islands could perfectly comprehend
it. Let the regulars of América tell how they have to tolerate it
through compulsion. If a religious is found lacking, and the
offense has the appearance
131
132
on one side of belonging to morals and life and on the other
to the office of cura, the poor missionary is left in the same
position as those goods which the law styles mostrencos [i. e.,
goods which have no known owner], and shall belong to the first
one who seizes them; and even he is in much worse condition,
because of the contests that must necessarily ensue. For, if the
provincial commences to form a process and it comes afterward to
the notice of the ordinary, the latter will issue an act and, if it
should be necessary, a censure ordering the said provincial to
quash the entire process, to deliver it to him, and to desist from the
cause by saying that he alone has the power to try it. The
provincial appeals to the judge delegated by his Holiness and he,
as he has entire jurisdiction of the case, commands the ordinary
with the warning of censure to leave the cause alone and deliver
up the acts. The latter not obeying, the matter may be carried to
such an extreme that two ecclesiastical prelates excommunicate
each other, and threaten each other with interdict and the cessation
of divine service. This is not fancy, for that has happened in like
case in Manila. That is the greatest danger since, because of the
great distance, redress moves with very dilatory steps. But in the
meanwhile the suits concerning the religious are proceeding from
tribunal to tribunal, contrary to the clearly expressed privileges of
his exemption.
731. But let us suppose that the regular parish priest is
unworthy to persevere in his mission because of secret sins, and
that, even if he remain in it, he may run some risk of his salvation.
The provincial learns of the matter secretly. In such a case, justice
requires two things one, the punishment of the guilty person; and
the other, that the delinquent shall not lose his reputation by the
declaration of his fault. Charity urges him to remove his
subordinate from danger. If that regular administers without
canonical institution and subjection to the ordinary, everything
will be settled very easily, and justice and charity will be satisfied
without any infamy to the criminal or any dishonor to the order.
But if he is subject to the ordinary, the provincial cannot remove
him by his own authority; but he must have recourse to the
ordinary himself, and to the vice-patron, and then those two agree
on the removal. In that case, what can the provincial say to them?
If he should say that he will impart to them in all secrecy the
[nature of the] crime of his subject, that means is harsh and less
safe. The ordinary and the governor, as the father and the master,
may correct and punish the faults of their inferiors without the
least wound to their honor; and must a provincial do so by
disaccrediting his subordinate with the heads of the community? If
it is decided that the superior do not tell the kind of crime, but that
he asseverate in general terms that there is cause to remove the
religious from that place, the trouble is not avoided. First, they
may think that he speaks thus in order to go ahead with his old
time custom; second, because even though the cause of removing
him be not a fault, it can easily be alleged to be one, and the fact
that he does not offer more explanation in that case comes to be
the same as manifesting its gravity by his silence. Finally, honor is
very delicate and is lessened by rumor and suspicion. Since God
made the religious exempt from the secular judges, and the
apostolic see exempted them from the ordinaries, the
132
133
religious, when they have not professed as curas, will find
themselves without courage to assume that charge with so many
dangers and burdens. And will the apostolic see force them to
that?
732. The fact that common law decides that the regular
parish priest, as such, is subject to the visit of the ordinary
furnishes no argument against my statement. For, leaving aside the
fact that the supreme pontiff may abolish such a law as in fact was
done by Pius V, after the holy Council of Treat, while Urban VIII
confirmed this action afterward; and various statements of the
most eminent cardinals favor this when there is a lack of secular
priests as happens in the Philipinas it is answered that common
law which orders such subjection is only in point when they wish
to persevere in being parish priests; but does not order that they be
so under compulsion. If a secular priest to whom the curacy has
been given permanently by canonical institution can resign it, and
the law does not there for disqualify him, why cannot the regulars
make that same resignation in order not to live with the risks from
having so many superiors? The regulars are not curas for justice,
but for charity, and they have taken charge of the missions for lack
of other ministers. They do not administer them through right of
proprietorship, but are removable, at will. Consequently, they can
be deprived of those missions even though they live like saints. Is
it possible that when the will of another is sufficient to remove
them from their curacies, their own volition will not suffice with
the knowledge of the dangers which will follow from such a
charge? Further, is the regular incapable of being a proper parish
priest, or is he not? If he is, why, if the secular cura is perpetual so
that, if he does not become unworthy, neither the ordinary nor the
vicepatron can remove him-will not the regular also remain a cura,
supposing the incumbrance of collation and canonical institution?
Why does that institution give all favorable things to the secular
and deprive the regular of all relief? It imposes upon the regular
the duty of feeding the sheep. It binds him to the territory, so that
the provincial cannot remove him without the consent of the
vice-patron and of the ordinary. He loses in great measure the
privilege of the exemption, and with those duties does not have the
comfort of being secure in his curacy, for he does not hold it for
life. Neither is he master of the emoluments which the parish
yields, unless it be imagined that he be dispensed from his vow of
poverty. Consequently, he only gets the burdens by reason of the
collation, and nothing to his advantage. If it be said that he is not
capable of being a parish priest, why the pledge in this new form
of administration?
733. Those who are striving for the subjection of the
regulars as parish priests generally oppose the fact that that form
of administration has been introduced into América, and that
therefore it might serve as an example for the Philipinas Islands.
But that argument is not convincing, and contains many
remarkable disparities. First, because there are plenty of secular
priests in Peru and Nueva España; therefore the bishops rightly
compelled the religious either to abandon the administration of the
parishes, or to submit to the visitation. For the motive of the
privilege of St. Pius V was lacking, not by any revocation that he
made of it, but because its
133
134
force had ceased, its object not being realized. Second,
because no one will say that the orders of América were obliged to
remain in the charge of souls, with the insupportable burden of the
visitations. On the contrary, they agreed to it willingly in order not
to abandon the parishes. The fact that they consented to it there is
no proof that they have to do the same in Philipinas. Third,
because the experience of what happened in México and Perú in
regard to the diminution of strict observance by the regulars,
which originated beyond doubt from that subjection, ought to open
the eyes of the superiors of orders in Philipinas to prevent such
harm in their houses. This is not to cast blame on those who are
now enjoying the curacies in this manner in the said kingdoms; we
ought to consider them all as very excellent religious. But it is an
undoubted fact that, with the practice by which the missions are
maintained, in a manner almost perpetual, the provincials not
being able to dispose of their subordinates with complete liberty,
that old time strict observance which was planted in those
provinces at their first erection has been greatly obscured. Human
nature is easily inclined to what promotes liberty; and as St.
Bernard teaches, the same ones, who love retirement because of
their austere training in the rigors of the order from childhood,
when they come to taste the life that is not so well regulated,
desire, procure, and solicit it. Nothing of that has been seen
hitherto in Philipinas, where, however much they have the
parishes in charge, the holy orders flourish in the most Strict
observance-for no other reason than that, if a religious sins, the
remedy is quite near at hand since it is administered solely by the
head of the order.
734. Fourth, because there are things more to be wondered at
than to be followed. Although the religious orders are alike, we
see that, while the Church is also one and the same, one person
elects one condition which the other does not adopt. From the
same order some go to the Indias, and others do not go. Then why
cannot the same thing happen in regard to being parish priests
subject to the ordinary? Let the histories of the Indias be read. All
of them consider earnestly whether the religious are to be curas of
souls, and much more whether they are to be curas of justice.
Resolutions of entire provinces will be found on the question
whether they should abandon the missions; generals and illustrious
men of the same orders will be found who approved it; and the
reader will find bitter complaints for having admitted such a
burden, recognizing it as the seminary of interminable discords.
For, if those on the mainland, seeing a furious hurricane on the sea
which is dashing the ships to pieces and endangering the lives of
those who are sailing, fear to embark, how much should the
regulars in Philipinas take warning from the new practice in
América? How can one wonder that they follow the example of
those who abandoned the missions joyfully, rather than of those
who now live sorrowfully because they adopted the new method?
The fact is, that no one can take it ill that each one procures what
he thinks best so long as he uses means that are not unlawful in
order to get it. This is what the religious are doing in the present
case, taking care that no detriment follows to their
134
135
estate and profession. For, before the souls of others, one
ought to watch over his own. Let it not be (as says St. Paul) that
we, preaching to others, behold ourselves in the irreparable danger
of becoming reprobates.
735. Fifth, because the provinces of Philipinas are not, nor
can they be, like those of América, but are as distinct as they are
separate. The latter include, besides the ministries, many
community convents where there are plenty of religious, who
greatly exceed the parish priests in number. The former have but
one convent apiece in Manila, which enjoys an adequate
community as do the convents of Europa. The other houses are
located in the villages of the Indians where those who have charge
of the spiritual administration live, and there is no more
community at times than the head of the house alone; and at the
most he has one or two associates, if they are considered necessary
for the exercise of the duties of the mission. Since that is true, an
undeniable inconvenience will follow, namely: if they are
subjected to the visitation and correction of the bishops all can call
themselves not regulars-those outside, because they are parish
priests; and those of Manila, because they have to go to take the
places of the others in case of absence, sickness, or death. They
cannot be excused from that by either the actual definitors of the
outgoing provincials, and all to have to be employed if there is a
lack of ministers. Since the provinces are composed of them
almost entirely, and the consent of the ordinary and the vicepatron would be necessary for their removal, there would be some
provinces which would have the name of religious government
and in reality would be under the secular government, dependent
on those two wills, to which they would make no vow of
obedience. It is a fact that it would be a real change which those
religious would have to endure, from free and unhindered
evangelical ministers to seculars bound in justice to the care of
souls. Can it be considered ill that they resist so great a
transformation, and leave the missions if they find no other way?
736. Sixth, and last, because in América the practice of
presenting three religious for each mission in the form ordered by
the king can be easily observed, as there are many religious. But
that presentation is mortally impossible in Philipinas because of
the great scarcity of religious. For although the orders make the
most painstaking efforts to get them from España, they succeed in
this with difficulty. For lack of workers, they are often obliged to
entrust the administration of many villages to one person, and
sometimes to abandon districts in toto. Then how can three be
presented for each ministry when there is scarcely one for each
mission? Besides, since there are so many languages, there is no
order which does not minister in four or five languages; and
although all of them apply themselves to the study of the
languages, few attain them so perfectly that they can explain
entirely the height of the mysteries of our holy faith; and since
there are so many missions, what order can present three times the
number of ministers who will worthily serve the missions? Let us
suppose a case also where there would be a sufficient number of
capable religious. On that account there would be no assurance of
better results; for of the three who would be presented, it is
possible that the least capable would be
135
136
chosen, as there would be no accurate information of his
being less competent. That would be known better within his own
order, where by continual intercourse it is learned who is most
suitable for the ministry. Besides that, there might be a religious
whom it would he proper to retire because of his demerits, but by
virtue of the fact that the prelates have to present three religious
for each mission, they are obliged to include him in the
presentation for the sole purpose of completing the number. Who
will prevent a forward one from slandering the electors,
discrediting the worthy, and gaining the favor of friends and
relatives by putting forth all his efforts to attain the desired liberty
in order to escape from the observance and the cloister? Oh,
beginning so full of troubles! If one had to describe all the
troubles, it would be necessary to use much paper. Let the above
suffice, so that it may be recognized that the reason why the holy
orders resist subjection to the bishops is not so much for the sake
of preserving their authority, as because they see the grave dangers
that must ensue for them. Finally, they exercise their right in that,
of which no one can complain, for they are doing wrong to no one.
§ III
Continuation of the matter of the preceding section, with especial
bearing on our discalced Recollect branch.
737. The reasons thus far advanced touch all the orders in
common. Let us now pass on to speak of our own in particular.
There is no doubt that St. Pius V conceded the above-mentioned
exemption to the regulars because they were employed in the
conversion of the Indians, and so that they might proceed in their
apostolic missions. That reason is clearly expressed in the bull;
consequently, whenever it is found to exist, the orders ought to be
maintained in the possession of that grace so long as it is not
annulled by express revocation. Hence it is that, until the present,
the bishops have not attempted to subject the missionaries who are
laboring to allure the heathen to our holy faith and withdraw them
from the darkness of their infidelity; for in order to effect those
ends they acknowledge in its force the privilege of St. Pius V. I
agree then that all the missions held by our holy reformed branch
in the said islands ought to be considered as active missions,
where the religious, although as parish priests they minister
spiritually to those already, converted, exercise also the arduous
employ of missionaries, as the villages are surrounded by infidels,
whose conversion they secure by the most diligent efforts.
Therefore, the parishes of our jurisdiction ought to be considered
not as villages of converts [doctrinas] already formed, where the
only care is to administer the holy sacraments, but as new
conquests where the flock of Christ is continually increased by
apostolic attempts.
738. There are at present one hundred and five villages
(besides those called active missions, which do not enter into this
account) at present in the charge of our holy discalced branch, and
they lie in more than twenty islands. In the principal island of
Luzón, where the city of Manila is located, the order administers
fifteen villages; in that of Mindanao, the second in size,
thirty-four; in that of Parágua -and others of the Calamianes,
twelve; in that of Mindoro, twenty-four; in that of Romblón and its
outlying islands, -
136
137
eleven; and in that of Masbáte and its intermediate islands,
nine. It is seldom that one of those villages has no infidel
inhabitants; and the religious are kept quite busy in converting
them. For beginning with the island of Luzón and the mountains
of Zambáles, the villages of Marivélez, Cabcáben, Móron, and
Bagác are surrounded by blacks who are there called “de Monte “
[i. e., “of the mountain “]55 who are being constantly converted to
our holy faith, for they are of a very peaceful disposition. Súbic is
a new conquest, where various Indians are settling who wander
about and are forgotten by the Christianity of those districts. The
settlements that follow from that point to Bolináo are so near to
the black Zambals and Aetas that, when the latter revolt, one
cannot go there without running great risk of his life. But when
peace makes them tractable, some souls are obtained for God. The
villages of Uguit and Babáyan, which have recently been founded
in this century with the converted blacks and wild Indians,
[Zimarrónes] clearly attest that fact.
55
The Negritos (who have been frequently mentioned in previous
volumes pf this series), or Actas, form part of the Eastern division of the pygmy
race of blacks. In the Philippines, the Negritos are found mainly in Luzón and
Panay, and in northeastern Mindanao; in smaller numbers they also inhabit
districts in Palawan and Negros, and in some small islands besides. As in our
text, they are, in Luzón, often mentioned in connection with the Zambals who
“were the most indolent and backward of the Malayan peoples, “ and “who, in
the days before the arrival of the Europeans, were in such close contact with the
Negritos as to impose on them their language, and they have done it so
thoroughly that no trace of an original Negrito dialect remains.” See VV. A.
Reed’s study of the “Negritos of Zambales, “ vol. ii, part i of Ethnological
Survey Publications (Manila, 1904); it contains valuable information, based on
actual field-work among those people, regarding their habitat, physical features,
dress, industrial and social life, amusements, superstitions, etc., with numerous
illustrations.
In Mindanao the territory conquered by our religious,
namely, the district of Cagayáng and the province of Carágha,
ought to be considered as the rose among the thorns, oppressed by
Moros, Mindanáos, and Malanáos, and by infidel Tagabalóyes and
Manóbos. Of those peoples, the former keep the evangelical
ministers in continual fear, because of their persecutions; the latter
keep us in a perpetual mission for converting them to our holy
Catholic faith. As proof of the great and continual advance of
Christianity there, it suffices to state that at the end of the last
century the tributes which those who have been subdued paid to
the king did not equal the expenses occasioned to the royal
treasury, by the maintenance of the said province; in the year
1720, the expenses and collections were equal; but now the royal
income exceeds the expenses necessary for conservation.”56 Sincethe expenses have not decreased-for there is always the same
number of infantry forces in the presidios of Tándag, Catél, and
Lináo, to which all the expense is reduced it is inferred that the
royal tributes have increased, and consequently the number of
Christians.
739. There are so many heathen in the islands of
Calamiánes, especially in the island of Parágua, that at least one
hundred heathens will be found for each Christian. In the island of
Mindóro only the coasts are conquered, and heathen fill all the
interior of the island. The same success as I said was obtained in
the province of Carágha has also been secured in the above two
provinces; although a very notable decrease of Christianity
56
Apparently this comparison of financial statements was inserted by
Fray Pedro de San Francisco de Asis, the editor of Santa Theresa’s work.
137
138
has taken place in them because of the invasions of the
Moros of which I shall speak later. The island of Zibuyán, whose
mountains are peopled by infidels who, as they are exceedingly
obstinate in regard to conversion, give us considerable anxiety,
although some converts are obtained among them is located in the
Romblón district. The island of Maestre de Campo, formerly
peopled by Indians who were almost all apostates from religion,
has now in great part embraced the faith through the efforts of the
religious, who scarcely ten years ago founded a new village
peopled by families of the said Indians. It is not many years since
the wild Indians [Zimarrónes] were feared in the island of
Masbáte but these are now so few, through the persuasions of the
religious, than one can cross the island without danger. The
villages have increased greatly with the people who have been
reduced to a Christian life and civilization. The village of
Camasóso is a new colony peopled by that before indomitable
people; and the same has happened in the island of Burias. Now
then, I ask, since this is so (and it is a fact, and one that can be
proved whenever necessary), in what are these ministries or
curacies different from those in Nueva España and Perú, when St.
Pius V conceded the exemption of the regulars? What difference is
there between those missions or parishes and those founded in the
Philipinas Islands when they began to be subject to the crown of
España? There appears to be no difference. If the privilege
conceded to the religious in América with those circumstances
was considered justifiable, and was also observed in the said
islands at the beginning, our discalced religious will proceed quite
conformably with right in resisting any change with all their
strength, as long as their individual parish priests are also, as
stated, engaged as missionaries.
740. More force is given to this argument if one considers
that, even in carrying on missions in infidel lands, our religious
could not suffer greater hardships than those which they endure in
the said ministries. That it may be seen that this is not imagination,
I shall give a rough outline of what happened recently from the
year 1720 until the present.
I Shall do it as briefly as possible, for those regrettable
tragedies will occasion great extension to this history in due time.
It is well known that our villages are the most exposed to the
invasions of the Moros; consequently, they always serve as the
theater of war and as the object of disasters. In the said year, then,
they attacked the province of Calamiánes with a powerful fleet.
Landing on the island of Linacapán they burned the village,
convent, and church; outraged the sacred images; and killed with
lance-thrusts the venerable father, Fray Manuel de Jesus Maria, a
native of Lupiana in Alcarria while another religious who was
there was able to escape miraculously, at the cost of incredible
hardships that he suffered, by hiding in the mountain. In the year
1721 they did the same thing in the village and island of LaAgutáya,57 and in Manàol, which is located in the island of
Mindóro. The evangelical ministers fled thence in a small boat and
thus saved their lives, although after very prolonged hardships;
and from there they took refuge in the mountains, in order to
endure, without other relief than that of God, the discomforts
57
Agutaya is the principal island of the northern Cuyos group, and
contains a town of the same name.
138
139
that one can imagine. In the year 1722 the Moros landed on
the island of Cúyo, and although they. could not take the redoubt,
for the Indians (captained by our religious) defended it bravely,
one can imagine what the latter suffered in a siege so
immeasurably prolonged. In the year 23, the Moros bordering on
the province of Carágha besieged the presidio of Catél. Father
Fray Benito de San Joseph, son of Casál de Cáceres in
Estremadura, who, as its minister, undertook to attend to its
defenses was left so exhausted from the fatigues of war in which
no relief came, that after the retreat of the Moros, he lived but little
longer; for he gave up his soul to God amid the plaudits of victory.
Almost at the same time, in the island of Camiguin, the religious
were compelled to hide in the mountains, where they were
besieged by many fears. In Parágua, they killed father Fray Juan
de la Purificacion (a native of Atéa in the kingdom of Aragon)
with an insidious poison. The invasions of the said Mahometans
were continual until the year 30 through Calamiánes and other
districts; for, although they were not seen in large fleets, a great
number of pirates were never lacking, and they caused those
persecuted ministers repeated troubles. But in the
above-mentioned year they had the boldness to assault the presidio
of Taytáy58 with such swiftness and fury that two or the three
-religious who were there succeeded by great good luck, and
without any preparation, in retiring afoot to the mountains; while
the other, only saving the chalices and ciborium, retired to the
redoubt where he suffered the hardships of the siege.
741. In the year 31 they attacked the village of Culión; in 32,
that of Linacapán and all the villages of Parágua, where they
committed innumerable acts of cruelty. In 33 they ruined the
village of Calatán; and father Fray Antonio de Santa Ana (whose
death I shall relate later), had no other opportunity than to flee to
the mountain afoot and naked as he was in his bed, so that one can
imagine what he suffered. In the year 34. they destroyed the
villages of Malampáyan, Dumarán, and Linacapan. Father Fray
Domingo de San Agustin, a native of Aldeguela near Teruel, while
escaping to the mountain remained for five days in a cellar with
the water up to his waist without eating anything else than herbs.
As a consequence of that and other hardships that he suffered on
various occasions, various illnesses came upon him which finally
ended his life, he refusing to turn his back on the evangelical
enterprises, although he could have done so. Father Fray Juan de
la Virgen de Moncayo (a native of Añon in Aragon) retiring first
to the redoubt of Taytáy and then to the mountains, as he had done
at other times, became so ill that he surrendered his soul, though
always fighting, in the island of Mindóro. The Moros went to that
island also in the above-mentioned year and attacked several
villages, and the religious remained in the mountains for a long
time; this caused father Fray Joseph de San Agustin (a son of
Azarét, in the said kingdom of Aragon) to contract his last illness,
and he retired to Manila, where he ended the miseries of this life
in order to pass to life eternal. In the year 35 they became masters
of the villages of Parágua,
58
There are several places of this name in the islands; the reference in
the text is probably Taytay, the chief town of northern Palawan.
139
140
whose Christian faith is little less than lost. In the year 36
they again besieged the presidio of Taytáy; and although it was
possible to defend it at the cost of miracles, in one of the assaults a
bullet took away the life of father Fray Antonio de Santa Ana, a
native of Gandia in the kingdom of Valencia. In the years 37 and
38 the Moros, already masters of the sea, filled Calamiánes and
Mindóro with horror. In the year 39 they had so closed the passage
from the said islands to Manila that for more than six months
nothing could be heard from the religious living in those fields of
Christendom. In the year 40 they went to the coast of Mindóro
opposite Luzón, where they inhumanly killed father Fray Leon de
San Joseph (a son of Peraléda in Castilla) and captured another
religious who was going as missionary to Mindanáo; and it was a
miracle that they did not capture all those who were returning
from the chapter-meeting. In that same period, although I do not
know definitely the year, they also landed at Hingoóg, a village of
the province of Carágha; in the island of Camiguin, which belongs
to the alcalde-ship of Zibú; and on the coast of Zambáles at the
boundaries of the village of Cabangán. The inference from the
above is that the missionary religious had to hide in the caverns of
the mountains in all districts; to look for their sheep in the deserts;
go without food, or live on herbs of the field; to suffer the
-inclemencies of the weather, which is a martyrdom in Philipinas;
and always to flee from one part to another without other relief by
sea or land than fears and fatigues. What is lacking, then, to those
ministers of the evangelical doctrine to enable them to say that
they are toiling in apostolic missions? Now, did those who began
the conquest of América or those of Philipinas endure the more
grievous and continual persecutions? Therefore, if those were
worthy of receiving the exemption, because they were employed
at the cost of their lives in the promulgation of the faith; no change
ought to be introduced in these missions.
742. The procedure of our religious in resisting the
subjection of the ordinaries is justified even more by that which
causes the anxiety of the ministers, if one considers the fact (on
which their resistance is founded) that the proper administration of
those souls is morally impossible. For that we must assume that
the king assigns one missionary to each five hundred tributes or
families. But our districts, especially those of the islands of Luzón,
Calamiánes, and Mindóro, although each does not exceed three
hundred tributes; need each one or two religious in order that they
may be looked after as is necessary for the preaching and for the
[spiritual] food of the holy sacraments. This arises from the fact
that each mission is extended over a distance of twenty or thirty
leguas) without its being possible to make any other arrangement.
For although the reduction into large settlements has been
attempted, for the more suitable spiritual administration it has
been impossible to attain that. On the contrary, whenever it has
been attempted, Christianity has decreased. In the islands of
Mindanáo, Romblón, and Masbáte, the missions have more
people, for they contain from six to eight hundred tributes. But, for
the same reason, -each one needs three or four religious; and even
that number must be on the road continually in order to fulfill their
obligations as parish priests. Hence it results
140
141
(the stipends not being received in proportion to the number
of the religious but in proportion to the tributes), that they have to
maintain three and sometimes four religious with what the king
assigns for one minister. It is. endured with the, greatest kind of
poverty, and they even lack the necessities for the maintenance of
life.
743. I suppose also that, when once the new form of
administration would be established according to the subjection
that is claimed, it would follow that each ministry would have a
prior appointed in the chapters, and a cura assigned by the
ordinary with canonical institution. For this is the observance in
América, in order to save the freedom of the elections in what
concerns the regular superiors, and in order to prevent the
religious who are curas from being free from the vow of
obedience. Of these, the parish priest cares for the administration,
the prior looks after matters pertaining to the regular estate but
cannot assist in what pertains to the instruction [doctrina], for
generally he does not know the language. The former has
increased expenses with the visit of the bishop and other matters
relating thereto; and the latter, with the journeys to the chapter and
the visitation of the provincial; and all these expenses must be paid
by the stipends of the mission, for there is no other source of
income. Consequently, it is inferred that it would be necessary in
this case, to reduce the ministries to a new form and assign one
single cura to each five hundred tributes. It would be doing well if
the product of those tributes sufficed for the maintenance of, the
two religious, prior and parish priest, with the other unavoidable
and necessary expenses. But if at present two priests scarcely
suffice to administer two hundred families well in our villages,
how could a single one look after five hundred families? Then, if
(and this could be proved with exactness) the children or
neophytes begged the bread of the teaching of the faith, there
would be no one to attend to that need. Therefore, our holy
reformed branch foreseeing so formidable and unavoidable
consequences do very well in abandoning the missions. For there
is no reason why they should load injuries upon themselves which
cannot be corrected afterward, and of which their prelates must
render account to God.
744. Let us conclude this matter by stating one other motive
for the justification of our religious in resisting exercise as parish
priests, when one tries to subject them to the visitation and
correction of the bishops. It is a constant fact that the Christianity
of the Philipinas Islands cannot maintain itself unless numerous
missions be continually taken thither from Europa. For there are
few sons of Spaniards there (to whom only the habit can be given),
and of those few the smallest number are inclined to the religious
estate. I state then, that in case of the said subjection it would be
impracticable to take missionaries there, especially those of our
holy discalced branch. Consequently, the administration of the
missions could not be cared for, as is already seen, when affairs
are going to the prejudice of the Catholic faith. In order to prove
the aforesaid, we must take it for granted that each religious
causes an expense of practically one thousand pesos from the time
he leaves his convent in España until he sets foot in Manila about
one-half of which is paid from the royal treasury, while the
remainder is supplied by the order.
141
142
To realize that sum, which amounts to huge figures, the
ministries contribute with some voluntary offerings, and the
province, applies all its incomes and alms. Compare this now with
that alleged in the preceding number, and it will be seen that in the
said case it would not be possible for the missionary religious to
attend to that necessity. For, even at present, they have to live like
beggars in order that they may assist, taking from their necessary
support what they give, so that they may support that expense. On
the other hand, the province would not be able to employ its
incomes in this either, for it would have to use them in
establishing solidly the convents which are not ministries. There
are five of these, namely: in Manila, in Bagumbáya, in Cavite, in
San Sebastian, and the convent of La Concepcion in Zibú. Of that
number only the first has a community at present, for the others
can scarcely support two religious apiece. But in the said case it
would be indispensable, so that the province might maintain itself
as such, to place communities in the convents and to apply to them
the incomes that it possesses; and on that account it could not
attend to the expenses of the missions.
745. But let us suppose that some funds existed for those
expenses. The trouble remains that the religious of España would
not consent to go to the islands, if they were informed that they
had to be curas, and submit to the bishop in what they have not
professed. Thus has experience shown by what has happened to
our province, because no religious went from these kingdoms
from the year 1692 until that of 1710, during which time
Archbishop Camacho was attempting to bring about the
subjection. That is a precedent which induces the strong suspicion
that no one could be found who would voluntarily submit to
correction by a strange prelate, and at times be accused and
denounced in a foreign jurisdiction as he had only promised
obedience to his own superiors. Grant that some would be allured,
but those would be the least capable who would be incited by the
perverse desire for greater freedom. As a rule, when a mission for
those islands is now proclaimed, those who volunteer in their
desire for the conversion of souls are so many that one may
choose laborers of excellent qualifications; for their zeal for the
propagation of the gospel and for the spiritual health of those poor
Indians impels them. But were that subjection inaugurated, what
timorous religious after that would leave his cell (a safe port
whither to escape during storms) only to serve in the employ of
cura? That is, any change is accompanied by a very great
alteration; and he who attempts to introduce it must be responsible
for all the consequences, in order to prevent and forestall them.
Nor is it prudent not to oppose oneself to the foregoing, when one
foresees the sequel of conclusions so fatal. Therefore, our holy
order opposes itself to the innovation of this subjection, for it
considers the inevitable injuries that must result. In view of that
and many other losses, it acts most holily in abandoning the
missions, in order that they may remain in the full charge of the
bishops. .
[Chapter iii deals with the life of certain Recollect religious,
of whom the following labored in the Philippines. Jacinto de San
Fulgencio, the son of Vicente Francisco Claramonte, was born in
Cocentayna, and was received in the convent of Valencia January
17, 1614. He joined the mission to the
142
143
Philippines which was organized in 1619; and on his arrival
at Manila began to study the languages, becoming fluent in the
Tagálog, Zambal, Bisayan, and Calamian. In 1622 he was sent
with Juan de San Nicolás to Caraga, where he worked to good
effect. Later, accompanied by one religious and some converts, he
ascended the river for fifty leguas to Lináo, where his labors were
crowned successfully. He was appointed prior of the convent of
San Joseph in Butuan in 1624, where he continued his work with
the evident approbation of heaven. In 1626 he became prior of
Bacoag, and later was the first prior of Iguaquét. He was the first
to preach to the Caragas, among whom he remained for ten years,
during which time he erected six convents. In Butuan he worked
for four years, where he converted three thousand people and
erected three convents. In 1635 he went to the island of Negros,
where he converted six thousand Indians; and the same year was
appointed prior of Tándag, where he brought order out of chaos. In
1638 he was elected definitor, and in 1640 became prior for the
second time of Tándag, and vicar-provincial of Caraga. He was
elected procurator to Spain in 1646, and definitor with vote in the
general chapter in that country, which he reached in March 1649.
His mission which he took from Spain reached Manila in 1652 and
consisted of twenty-one religious. In the next chapter he was again
elected procurator, but he died at Manila in 1656. He had served
as chaplain for the Spanish fleets, and as ambassador to the
natives, in addition to his mission work proper.]
[Section ii of chapter v contains an account of the life of
Salvador del Espiritu Santo, who had formerly been an
Augustinian of the Observant branch, but who joined the
Recollects. He went to Manila in 1634 with the desire to go to
Japan, learning some little of that language for that purpose. After
much entreaty he obtained permission from the provincial of the
order to go to Japan in 1635, but he was unable to effect his
purpose. He served as prior in the Cavite convent, was twice
superior of the convent of San Juan Bautista in Bagumbáya, prior
of the Manila convent, twice definitor; twice visitor of Calamianes
and Mindoro. He was elected procurator in place of Jacinto de San
Fulgencio, and after various setbacks arrived in Mexico in 1657,
where he died in December of that same year.]
[Chapter vi deals with the life of Andrés del Espiritu Santo.
That valiant worker was born in Valladolid in January 1585, his
father being Hernando Tanégo. He made his vows in the convent
of Portillo in 1601, and joining the first Philippine mission arrived
at the islands in 1606. There he was sent immediately to the
Zambales coast, where he founded the village of Masinloc, from
which as a center he carried on his work. In 1609 he was elected
vicar-provincial, which office he kept until 1612. He was elected
vicar-provincial for the second time in 1615; and on the
completion of that office in 1618, being elected procurator, he
went to Spain for new missionaries, of whom he obtained a fine
band, returning to Manila in 1622. The following year he was
elected vicar-provincial for the third time, and in 1624 first
definitor. The highest office of the province, namely, that of
provincial, came to him in 1626 and at the end of his provincialate
he asked permission to go to Japan, but in vain; he therefore
continued
143
144
the work among the Philippine missions until 1632, when
he was again elected provincial. In 1635 he was again definitor,
and at the expiration of that office he was appointed prior of the
Manila convent; thence he retired to the Cavite convent where he
worked with the most vigorous men, although worn out by his
excessive toil. He finally retired to the Manila convent, where he
died at the end of 1657 or the beginning of 1658, at the age of 78.]
[Chapter viii records the death, in 1659, of Nicolás de la
Madre de Dios, who had labored in Cagayán, where he had
accomplished most in quieting an insurrection that had broken out
under a native heathen priest called Salú.]
[Chapter X contains a bull promulgated by Alexander VII,
dated August 5, 1660, confirming a decree of the congregation
Propaganda fide of June 28, 1660 (inserted in the bull) forbidding
Recollect religious who had been sent to the Philippines from
turning aside on the way or unnecessarily delaying their journey.
The penalty imposed by the decree is that such fugitives are to be
deprived of all active and passive vote, and can never hold any
dignity or honorary charge in the order. That same year of 1660, a
mission left Spain for the islands but did not arrive there until
1664.]
144
145
§1
MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES, 1661-1712
(Blair & Robertson, Vol. 41, 57-231)
I
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE DISCALCED AUGUSTINIAN
FATHERS,
by
FRAY PEDRO DE SAN FRANCISCO DE ASSIS59
[From this work, as in the three preceding parts of the General History of
the Discalced Augustinians, we translate the important matter relating to the
Philippines, with synopsis or mention of matter omitted.]
Decade Eight
Chapter I
Mention of the insurrections of some provinces in Philipinas, with
the labors that began for our religious. The exemplary lives of
some, who died holily in their convents.
The Year 1661
Following is a translation of the title-page of this work: “General
history of the discalced religious of the Order of the hermits of the great father
and doctor of the Church, San Agustín, of the congregation of España ando f the
Indias. Volume tour. By Father Fray Pedro de San Francisco de Assis,
pensioned lecturer, calificador of the Holy Office, apostolic missionary, father
of the province of Aragon, ex–definitor-general, and chronicler of the said
congregation. Dedicated to St. Nicholas of Tolentino. Containing three decades,
extending from the year 1661 to that of 1690. Zaragoza, printed by Francisco
Moreno, in the year 1756.”
59
One insurrection having been put down in Pampànga, another one
follows in Pangasinàn. Mention of the great sufferings of our
religious in Zambales, in keeping their villages duly loyal to God
and the king.
… 2. From the beginning of the year 1660, the Indians of
Pampanga, a province not far from the city of Manila in
Philipinas, incited by many grievous annoyances unjustly caused
by the superintendent of timber cutting, which was ordered to be
done within their boundaries by the governor of the islands, Don
Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, determined to withdraw themselves
from the yoke of the Spanish dominion. Although that dominion is
very mild per se, some subordinate government employes
generally make it intolerable, for tyrannically availing themselves
of the name of the king, they endeavor to trample everything
under foot. The Pampangos elected as leader a master-of-camp of
their own nation, one Don Francisco Manyàgo. He clutched the
staff of office as though it were a scepter. Although this
insurrection caused considerable fear in Manila at the beginning,
since the Pampango nation is so warlike, yet since at the same
time, its individuals are the most reasonable of the islands, the
governor hastening thither in person together with many religious
of various orders (for the religious, form the most powerful army
for quieting the Indians) the whole disturbance was readily quieted
by means of negotiation. Justice was done them in their
grievances, while no punishment was omitted, and was
administered to the seditious leaders. Fathers Fray Joseph de la
Annunciacion, and Fray Juan de San Antonio, ex-provincials of
our Family, together with fathers Fray Carlos de Jesus, and Fray
Juan de San Diego, were of considerable aid in that pacification.
Those fathers, exposing themselves to not few dangers, had the
boldness to go to some of the principal Indians, who were their
145
146
acquaintances, whom by dint of their persuasion, they succeeded
in bringing back to reason. And by their means, discussion and
friendly agreements having been introduced, those so harmful
insurrections were put down.
3. But at the beginning of their insurrection, the Pampangos
had written many letters to the provinces’ of Pangasinàn, Ilocos,
and Cagayàn, which lie farther north in the island of Luzon. In
those letters they assured the inhabitants of those provinces that
they had risen with so great force that they had no doubt but that
they could gain Manila by force of arms. They besought those
people to heed the common cause, for once that the Spanish yoke
was thrown off, they could all get together in firm friendship and
relations, and maintain their liberty, by electing a king to govern
them, or become feared by the other nations under the form of a
republic. Those were counsels which like a cancer in the human
body, continued to spread in the civil affairs of those provinces,
and the majority of the Indians followed them with only too great
rapidity. Hence, when the Indians of Pampanga were quieted they
were incapable of extinguishing the fire that they themselves had
kindled.
4. In Pangasinàn, Ilocos, and Cagayan, the flame acquired
too much force because of the fierceness
146
147
of the well arranged combustibles, which were applied by
several Indian chiefs, who endeavored, under the specious name of
liberty, to oppress in the most intolerable manner the ones who did
not recognize the blessings which they had while they had the
good fortune to call themselves a part of the Spanish monarchy.
But in order that this history may not wander into parts that do not
belong to it, we shall treat only of what happened in the province
of Pangasinàn; for one part of that province, namely the territory
of Zambales, which is composed of ten villages, was then, and is
also at present, cultivated in regard to spiritual matters by our holy
Recollect order. On that account our religious necessarily suffered
considerably, and they aided in the pacification of the Indians, as
did the other holy orders in the villages entrusted to their care.
5. At the end, then, of the year 1660, the insurgents of
Pangasinàn elected as their leader an Indian chief of the village of
Binalatàngan, one Don Andrés Malong. He having usurped the
title of king, went to Campaña, escorted by nine thousand Indian
warriors. This number was increased enormously within a few
days; for it was either a boast of the rebels and they so published
it, or it was a fact, his army was composed of forty thousand men.
An Indian noble, by the name of Don Francisco Suniúlay, a very
near relative of Màlong, was living in Bolinào, a village within our
administration. On account of that relationship he looked upon his
progress as his own, and helped him as much as he could to attain
his purposes. He, in order to incite Bolinào and its environs to
revolt, spared no effort that he considered fitting. But the father
prior, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios (or Blancas), opposed him
openly and in secret, destroying with cunning whatever Sumúlay
wrought deceitfully. No sooner did the restlessness and excited
condition of the Indians force him to take prudent precautions,
than he caused ten soldiers to disembark from a champan which
was on its way to Cagayàn. The latter obeyed him for the captain
agreed thereto, and because they knew how much the governor of
the islands favored the above-named religious, and that he would
approve whatever was done with the latter’s advice. The father
found himself somewhat ready to offer resistance with those
soldiers and with the faithful Indians, who by dint of his
persuasions were not few; but he had not sufficient forces to attack
the rebels or to seize the wicked Sumilay, who was the cause of all
the disorder.
6. The latter starting a rumor that the hostile Mindanàos
were in the neighborhood, imagined that by that false report, and
by setting fire to the convent and church at night, the soldiers
would flee to the mountains, and that the religious and the loyal
Indians of the village would imitate them. It would then follow
that, since he would remain behind with the insurgents who were
already thoroughly advised, he would be able, after having
conquered the port and settlement at his safety, to kill all who
were not of his party. Those ideas were not very badly conceived,
and had they arrived at the desired success, would have been only
too potent for the attainment of his malicious purpose. For, after
the surrender of Bolinào, would doubtless follow that of all the
territory, of Zambales, and then, the great difficulty of maritime
aid from Manila to Pangasinàn, a circumstance
147
148
which gave great strength to the revolt. But the same
arguments also served the father prior to procure the preservation
of Bolinào with the greatest watchfulness. Hence scarcely had
Sumulay fired the edifice, when the soldiers and loyal Indians
protecting it, and fortifying themselves as well as they could,
maintained the village in the faith for their God, and in the loyalty
due their king. It is a fact that while attending to that, the church
was reduced to ashes, as were the sacristy and most of the
convent. But that was considered as a little loss as it was well
employed, so long as the enemy did not attain their purpose.
7. The above happened in the early part of December, when
authentic tidings were not known in Bolinào of the insurrection,
and only various movements were descried in the Indians which
provoked fear. However, they had been compelled to dissimulate
through lack of forces. But on the twentieth day of the
above-mentioned month, the conspiracy was finally published in
the village, and Simuilay and his associates notified the religious
in the following manner. In front of the cells of the father prior
and of his associate father Fray Luis de San Joseph, were placed
two bamboos and at the end of them two cocoanuts. That is a
barbarous ceremony of those countries by which to threaten one
with decapitation Simülay thought that that would be sufficient to.
frighten the fathers and make them abandon the village, and
especially since they now had no oldiers, as the soldiers mentioned
above had proceeded on their way. But he was, mistaken in his
reckoning, for although father Fray Luis was of that opinion, and
Indian chiefs were not wanting who supported him, either because
they were already infected with the rebellion, or, perhaps, in order
to assure the lives of the fathers, were carried away by their good
zeal, the father prior resolved to die rather than fail in his service
to God and the king. He did not change his decision, however
much the sign was repeated the following day. On the contrary, he
considered the time suitable to ascertain and establish with
cunning the degree of the fidelity of his parishioners. He convened
the Indians in the atrium of the convent, and in eloquent and
powerful arguments gave them to understand that God having
entrusted their souls to him, he would not leave their land,
although he knew that he was to suffer a thousand martyrdoms.”I
am not ignorant, “ he said, “that the aim of those who occasion
these insurrections is to apostatize from the Catholic faith, and to
return to their former paganism; but for that same reason, I must
oppose myself to that with the greatest strength. Go ahead, send
news of my constancy to the partisans of the rebel Màlong, if
perchance there are any in the village, so that they may not tire
themselves with threatening me with death. Assure them that I
shall consider myself very fortunate, if I transform myself into a
good martyr from so poor a priest. But meanwhile, I warn you,
that I shall know by each one’s actions who are the rebels and who
are faithful; and that accordingly the proper reward or punishment
will follow each one, when the Manila fleet, which will not delay,
subdues affairs properly.” By that effort some who were wavering
in their loyalty were confirmed in it, while those who were on the
side of the seditious ones did not dare to put their treacherous
thoughts into execution.
148
149
8. Very soon did experience show the great importance of
the firmness of so valiant a religious. For on the night of that same
day, after the convent was locked, some of the loyal Indians, who
were guarding the outside of it, captured a strange Indian, who
declared that he was bringing a message to the father prior, which
was to be given into his own hand. He was taken into the father’s
presence after observing the necessary precautions, where he
delivered the message. It was from the father vicar of Lingayèn
and contained extensive notices of the insurrection of Pangasinàn
which had broken out, the murder of the alcalde-mayor, and the
devastation of that part of so flourishing a province. He sent letters
for his provincial and for the governor of the islands, in which a
speedy relief was asked in order that the sedition might be stifled
at its beginning. He besought the father prior to send them quickly
to Manila, as it was impossible to send them from Pangasinàn
overland. And now it is seen that if the father prior, Fray Juan de
la Madre de Dios, had retired from Bolinào as fear persuaded him,
that dispatch would have been fruitless, and perhaps had those
advices. been unknown in Manila, Pangasinàn would have been
endangered; but since he remained inflexible against the
incentives of fear, he was able to take the fitting means, in order
that the promptest and most efficacious aid might be obtained.
9 It was not considered advisable to entrust the conveyance
of such letters to the Indians of Bolinào, and accordingly it was
resolved to dispatch father Fray Luis de San Joseph overland to
Masingloc under the pretext that he was going on affairs
connected with the spiritual administration, but his real purpose
was to deliver the messages to the minister of the said village, in
order that the latter might dispatch them. The religious exposed
himself to evident danger of death; for the village of Agno,
through which he could not avoid passing, was almost entirely in
insurrection, and because in the stretch extending from the
territory of Agrio to that of Bàlcac, it was necessary to take the
rough sea in a small fishing boat which carried no sail and only
one oar with the religious himself at the helm. At last he reached
Masingloc, after conquering so great an obstacle. Thence, not
without the most serious dangers, the minister sent the messages to
Manila, arranging to have them carried by father Fray Bernardino
de la Concepcion, accompanied by three of the most faithful
chiefs. One of those chiefs was appointed master-of-camp by the
governor as a reward for so excellent a service, another,
sargento-mayor, and the third, captain of the militia of his village;
and they were exempted for life from paying tribute. And since the
father vicar of Lingayèn despatched a second mail to Bolinào in
case that the first should fail, the father prior, Fray Juan de la
Madre de Dios, despatched the letters in a Chinese vessel which
made a way-station there, and was on its way from the island of
Hermosa to Manila. But while the army and naval fleet are being
prepared in that city, in order to take relief to Pangasinàn, let us
return to our villages of Zambales, in order to see what is
happening there, and the dangers by which our religious were
afflicted.
149
150
§ II
Continuation of the foregoing matter, with the declaration of what
happened to our religious in Masingloc, Cagayan, Agno, and
Bolinào.
10. With the absence of the three said chiefs in Masingloc,
the prior found himself greatly troubled and persecuted, for those
who favored the rebellion, who had hitherto not dared to show
their faces in public, showed openly the most foul face of treason
on the day of St. Stephen. They threw the village into such
consternation that if God had not aided it, it would have been
impossible to restore it to its former quiet. It happened that, as
some Indians had not been at mass on either the eve or day of the
nativity, the prior meeting one of them afterward who was most
esteemed for his bravery, chid him for his fault, although with
demonstrations of paternal charity. He had no intentions of
exasperating him, for he knew quite well that the Indian was
inducing his countrymen to swell the number of the insurgents by
persuasion and threat. But the Indian would not suffer the mild
rebuke for that sin, which in other circumstances would have made
him experience the seventies of punishment, and deeming the
occasion very suitable for the revolt of the village, he began to
pretend implacable annoyance because the father admonished him.
Following this, he became excessively angry, and hurled many
insults at the evangelical minister, and concluded by crying out:
‘Long live Màlong! Death to the Spaniards and the fathers! “
11. By that means the Indian obtained his desires, for more
than fifty armed companions gathered about him. They proclaimed
the traitor Màlong as king; hacked the Spanish coat-of-arms which
was placed on the site where the principales met to administer
justice; and they obliged the prior, whom it was a miracle of
divine Providence that they did not kill instantly, to retire to his
convent, where a guard was established by means of some Indians
who could be gathered together, while many others who were of
the loyal party, were oppressed in their homes. There they held the
prior and those who accompanied them besieged, and did not
allow them to communicate with the outside, and refused to allow
any kind of food to be taken to them, trying by this means to
restrict them to the heighth of necessity. Within the danger was so
much greater, as it was less known by the loyal villages near by
which could have sent them some aid. If the rebels did not attack
the convent in order to kill the royal ones, it was because they
were afraid of some few arquebuses with which those of the inside
threatened them. But they endeavored to set fire to the convent
and church three times without being able to succeed,
notwithstanding that the material of the building was but little less
combustible than tinder. It was all constructed of wood, bamboo,
and nipa. Those who tried to burn that edifice, regarded that as a
miracle. Moreover, one can well understand the necessity that they
suffered for they had no place whence to get relief, not even for
the necessities of life. Consequently they were placed at the will of
the divine Providence, who as is His custom with those in
tribulation, very quickly declared His patronage.
12. Having passed the time in this way until New Year’s
eve, it was noted then that a medium-sized
150
151
vessel was anchored not far from the convent, and that
almost all of its Indiana having landed, engaged in a very
interesting conversation with the insurgents. On that account, the
prior and his men had an opportunity to leave the convent without
being perceived, to go to the beach, and make themselves masters
of the above-mentioned vessel. They set sail without loss of time
in it. Thus freed from their peril they took their course toward
Manila. But as they were in need of food, they put in at Bagàc,
where they met the three chiefs who had guided father Fray
Bernardino, and were now returning to their village. They
recounted to those chiefs the deplorable condition in which they
were; and considering that the remedy for wrongs generally lies in
quickness, they determined to take thirty well-armed Indians,
whom the father minister of Bagàc prepared, and who were
fortunately at that place; and then retracing their way, to attack
Masingloc suddenly. They hoped that if they attacked the rebels
when they appeared to be most secure, it would not be difficult to
reduce them all to their former quiet. So did it happen, for the
season favoring them, they disembarked on the night of the third
of January in a bay one-half hour’s distance from Masingloc, and
went overland to that village. At dawn of the fourth, they surprised
the insurgents so completely, that overtaken by fear, the latter
could not put themselves in a state of defense, while they even had
no opportunity for flight. They were all seized, and the prior,
although he was full of grief at the robbery of the sacristy and
church, interceded for the prisoners, and succeeded in having all
except three set at liberty. Those three were the leaders and later
paid for their wickedness on the gallows.
13. In Cigayèn (a village which had decreased very sensibly
in houses and inhabitants since the violent death of the venerable
father, Fray Alonso de San Agustin, in the year 1612), was father
Fray Francisco de San Agustin, an especially zealous minister,
who was applying all the persuasive powers of his eloquence to
retaining the remnants of that great settlement in due fidelity to
God and the king. But a chief, called Don Antonio Sirray, desired
the contrary, in order to keep things in confusion for his own
profit. Knowing that he would have no opportunity so long as
father Fray Francisco was living, he tried to kill him twice, but the
religious man was delivered from his ambushes, for God took his
part in a very visible and special manner. In the discussion that the
two had together, (one persuading to good, and the other inducing
to evil), it happened that Sirray and all his partisans went to swell
the army of Màlong. The loyal Indians with their families and
possessions went to another village; father Fray Francisco retired
to Manila. With that the village was completely abandoned and no
more thought was expected on its rebuilding. Such harm do
dissensions cause, when, because there is no strength to attack
them, they increase to the highest degree when agitated by
violence.
14. In Agno (a visita or annex of Bolinào), there was a chief
called Don Juan Dürrey, a very near relative of Sumúlay,, and
consequently he was bound up very closely to the rebels. Three
Spaniards reached that place on Christmas day, who were fleeing
151
152
from the insurgents of Pangasinàn. They showed the Indians
a diamond ring, as a reward or payment for something to eat, for
they were suffering dire need. But scarcely had they sat down to
table, when Dürrey inhumanly killed them. As father Fray Luis de
San Joseph (who was returning from Masingloc whither he had
taken the messages as related above), was passing in the afternoon
toward Bolinào, he noted the loud shouts in the village, caused by
the feasting and dancing that they made according to their custom
with the heads of the three Spaniards. He attempted to approach
nearer in order to check their inhumanity, but an Indian instigated
by the devil, scarcely saw the father when he threw two spears at
him. It was regarded as a miracle that the father escaped the blow
and was not wounded. Thereupon our valiant religious lifted up
his voice, and loudly condemned so unjust actions in a fervent
sermon. According to circumstances, the words on each occasion
must have served as does music on the ears of the tiger. But in the
midst of the necessary disturbance, he was enabled to tell them
with the help of God, such things that Dúrrey with twelve others
who followed him, had to leave the village. The others, humble
and, obedient to the voice of their shepherd, surrendered the heads
in order that he might give them ecclesiastical burial. From that
moment Agno remained in the greatest quiet, like the sea, which
shows the most exquisite quietness and serenity after the most
terrible storm.
15. But the place where the rage of the insurgents was felt
more was in Bolinào. Màlong regarded its minister, father Fray
Juan de la Madre de Dios, with irreproachable hatred, for he was
not aware of his great labor in restraining the Zambals. They are
so warlike a nation that they have always caused themselves to be
respected not only in Pangasinàn, which province they glorify as a
not despicable part, but also throughout the Philipinas Islands
where they have been able to acquire renown through their arms.
Having, then, as we have related, sent his associate to Masingloc,
he considered that the Indians left him alone -in the convent, and
that they were going about cautiously talking one with another. He
summoned one of the chiefs to him and chid him for that coldness.
He learned from the Indian that Don Francisco Caucào, a cousin
of the usurping king, had arrived from Binalatàngon with an order
to the effect that the Zambals should declare against, the
Spaniards, under pain of being treated as rebels if they did not do
so. The Indian added that Caucào was staying in Sumilay’s house,
and they were afraid that he intended to conquer their countrymen,
and that was the reason why they were all so confused. Without
allowing, then, the talk which generally increases dangers beyond
what they are in themselves, the religious father set out for
Sumulay’s house in order to have an interview with Caucào, as
well as for the purpose of examining and exploring the village, in
order to see whether there were any ambuscades about it.
16. After he was assured that there were no strange enemies,
he went into the presence of the Indian, who received him seated,
without showing him the least sign of respect. The father asked
him why he came, and he answered haughtily that his cousin Don
Andres Màlong, the powerful king of Pangasinàn, looking with
love on the Zambal nation, and not desiring
152
153
to treat them with the greatest rigor of war, sent him to
inform them to recognize him as their seignior, and that on that
same day some papers were to be read in the church in which that
would be intimated; and that the father was to reply to a letter
written by his cousin the king, conceding whatever was asked of
him, for if he did not do so, it would cost him his life. Another of
less valor than father Fray Juan would doubtless have been
intimidated at the sight of such arrogance, especially when it be
considered that he could not be sure of the people of the village.
But the very injustice of the Indian giving the father courage, he
said to the chiefs who had accompanied him: “What is this? What
is this? Can it be possible to write of the loyalty of Bolinào, that a
traitor, sent by a rebel to God, and the king, publicly induces you
to insurrection, and that he remain unpunished? Come, seize him.
But no, it is to his advantage to have been found in the house of
Sumúlay, whose nobility is worthy of this attention. But I warn
you, O wretch, that you do not leave the house which serves you
as a sanctuary, and that you do not sow any discord in order to
pervert the fidelity of the Zambals, until I have answered this letter
of your vicious cousin; for if you disobey my order, and these men
do not tear you to pieces, I shall be able to send you to Manila
laden with irons and chains, where you will pay for your treason
on the gallows.”
17. Caucào, Sumuilay, and all the others were full of dismay
at hearing the argument of the prior: Caucao, because he thought
that the village sided with the Saniards since the father spoke with
so great assurance; Sumülay, because he imagined the same, and
because he thought also that the prior was ignorant of his evil
designs, since he spoke so lovingly to him; and the others, because
a rumor that had been shortly before cunningly spread to the effect
that a fleet was already coming from Manila to punish those who
had declared for Màlong, was thus corroborated. For, they argued,
if it were not so, a poor religious would not have the courage to do
so much. In short the father prior obtained his wish, namely, to
puzzle them all in order to gain time. That done, the venerable
man retired to his convent quite perplexed. Opening the letter, he
beheld that Màlong expressed himself in the same planner as
Caucào had done. He deemed best not to answer it, for while he
was thinking how he would dismiss the messenger, he was advised
that a champan had just anchored in the port, in which were two
religious. He proceeded thither in order to receive them, and was
met by fathers Fray Juan de Bergàra and Fray Juan de Fisla, who
were retiring from Ilàcos, where the rebels were committing
innumerable acts of cruelty, and, had inhumanly taken the life of
father Fray Joseph Arias, all of our observance.
18. He led them to the convent, arranging also that two
Spaniards and six Tagálog Indians who could be withdrawn from
the champan without their loss being felt therein, should
accompany them with firearms. Then seeing that he was in a state
of defense if anything should be attempted by the rebels, he had
Caucào and Sumúlay summoned. They came at the first notice,
but curiosity brought all the people of the village. Then the father
tearing the letter of Màlong to pieces in the presence of the
multitude, said: “This is the reply merited by such an arrogant
153
154
method of writing, and especially since it is the letter of a
traitor. You, “ he proceeded, addressing Caucào, “who have had
the shamelessness to come on so insolent . an embassy; well merit
being sent a prisoner to Manila, and in order that I might do so,
God has, perhaps, presented me with this champan. But since you
would go to the gallows, the kindness of my estate does pot allow
me to cooperate in the death of my neighbor. Therefore, get you
gone immediately to Binalatóngon, and tell your cousin that I pity
him, since the fleet of Manila is already on its way to punish him.
Assure him that his threats make me laugh; that his demand for
obedience from the Zambal nation is irrational; and that I am
sending him his relative Sumulay in order to increase his army,
besides twenty-five Indians of this village, who are, according to
appearances, looking upon him with too much affection.” The
father designated those persons by name, and added with a show
of great anger: “Not a single one of those whom I have just named
will remain in Bolinào, under penalty that whoever refuses to
obey, he and the one who hides him shall be sent to Manila
without fail, where justice will punish his resistance.” Thus did he
say, and then turned his back with a show of so great anger that no
one dared not to fulfill his orders. On the contrary, all those
comprehended in the order, left the village immediately, for they
feared the threat of punishment. By that means after thus getting
rid of the evil humors of that body politic that troubled it, it
remained in its former health, and the great and estimable blessing
of peace followed.
19. After the execution of so heroic an action, the father
prior endeavored to welcome his new guests, whom he provided
with all that was needful for the continuation of their journey to
Manila. They set sail December 26, leaving Ours behind
especially sad, because we were defenseless if the traitor Màlong
attempted any new persecution. They were not deceived in their
judgment, for the rebel angered at the lack of effect produced by
his letter, sent an order to Don Juan Dúrrey, chief of the hamlet of
Agno, to cut off the head of that illustrious man without fail and to
send it to him. That chief went to Bolinào accompanied by another
valiant Indian, and entered the convent for the feast of the new
year. He found the prior praying outside of his cell, and the good
religious imagining that he was come to ask aid, began to exhort
him especially to be loyal and offered him pardon in the king’s
name. God giving force, to these words, Durrey changed his
intention, and refused to kill the father of his spirit. But the Indian
who accompanied him, shutting his ears, like an asp, to the voices
of health, seeing that his chief would not do the deed, unsheathed
a weapon called igua in those parts, and approached quickly in
order to strike the father. But since the chiefs of the village who
had come to speak with the prior on a matter of moment, entered
at the same time, the Indian was completely embarrassed and both
of them were greatly confused. Thus, can God, by so casual
happenings, set a hindrance to even greater fatalities, making use
of the very occurrence of secondary causes in order to free His
servants from the dangers that threaten them.
20. It appears that Màlong was not entirely satisfied with the
order that he had despatched to Durrey; for, aroused to anger he
also ordered Sumulay
154
155
to return to Bolinào in order to cut off the prior’s head, as
well as the heads of all the other religious whom he might find
there. Sumulay obeyed instantly, for he was confident that he still
had some well inclined to him in the village. He arrived at might,
and waiting until the morning of January 3, entered the convent at
the time that the venerable minister was about to go out with a
rattan staff in his hand in order to go to confess a sick man.
Sumúlay attacked him with a short sword, without any waste of
arguments. The poor religious, seeing himself involved in the
worst kind of a conflict, but infused with valor by the divine hand,
beat back the first blows with his cane, and defending himself with
it, just as he might have done with the best kind of a sword, seeing
that no one came to his aid, passed to the offensive. The cane had
a long sharp steel point and the father gave the aggressor so
powerful a blow or thrust in the breast, that he brought him to the
earth grievously wounded. Then the prior called out, whereupon
the village chiefs came up. However, they were remiss in arresting
Sumulay, but on the contrary favored his retreat, and allowed him
to go away after he recovered from his wound. Consequently,
when the prior returned from his confession (whither he had not
omitted to go, despite all the confusion), Sumulay no longer
appeared. The prior had to put a good face on regarding the ill
behavior of his parishioners, in order not to put the village in a
worse condition, which, at least publicly, did not aid the seditious
ones as much as they could have done.
§ III
government was taking in order to meet so many depredations.
Scarcely had father Fray Bernardino de la Concepcion delivered
his messages, when Don Sabiniano Manriquez de Lara, governor
of the islands, with extraordinary quickness mustered an army of
two hundred Spaniards, besides four hundred other soldiers,
consisting of Pampàngos, negroes, mulattoes, and mestizos. As
general he appointed the master-of-camp, Francisco de Esteybàr, a
Visayan noble, who in addition to his credit as so fine a soldier,
appeared a most observant religious in his habits. He was ordered
to march overland to Pangasinàn without loss of time. A fleet
consisting of four champans, two galleys, and six medium-sized
vessels, which were manned with many good soldiers, and a
goodly supply of all sorts of firearms were also prepared. This
fleet was put in command of General Don Phelipe de Ugalde, who
was ordered to set out on the voyage at once, and go to the port of
Bolinào, where he was to confer with the father prior, Fray Juan
de la Madre de Dios, whose counsel he was to prize greatly. He
was advised that he was not to attempt anything ashore, until the
arrival of Esteybàr, and their forces were united.
22. Everything was done in so, short a time (to the contrary
of what is generally written of Spanish aid), that the father prior
was advised by the bantàyes
Arrival of the Manila fleet which was aided by our religious.
Destruction of the rebels.
21. Having now related what happened in the villages of
Zambales, and the dangers which our religious suffered, let us turn
our eyes toward Manila, and see what preparations the
155
156
or sentinels at dawn of January, that several vessels were
seen to be headed to the port, which as was judged from their
direction appeared to be from Manila. At nine in the morning the
fleet anchored in the port of Bolinào, which is about one quarter
legua from the village. The father prior flew thither, with the
rapidity of one who is in search of consolation, for he was most
afflicted. Scarcely was he descried on the beach, when the general
sent a skiff for him. He was taken by the skiff to the flagship,
where he was received with repeated salvos of artillery. All the
men expressed mutual joy, which sprung from the bottom of the
heart, and were not superficial and born from the habit of deceit.
Father Fray Bernardino de la Concepcion returned as chaplain of
the fleet, because he urged the father provincial that he might do
so, for he considered his absence from the field of battle, where
his comrades were accomplishing much for the crown,
dishonorable to his valor in the spiritual militia. When the mutual
congratulations which were exchanged between the father prior
and those who composed the relief were exhausted, the general
gave the former a letter from, the governor. It read as follows:
“My Dear Father Fray Juan: Very sad has been the news
that we have had here of your Reverence and of the other fathers,
and we were even assured that you had all been killed.
Consequently, the news from your Reverence served me as a
special source of joy, notwithstanding the melancholy information
contained therein of those insurrections. I trust implicitly through
God that your person will be kept safe for the service of both
Majesties. And I hope that that fleet which I have been able to
assemble quickly will keep you safe and that it will have your
Reverence’s advice which I have ordered the general to receive as
you are a person of experience in that district. The army in charge
of General Esteybàr is ordered to make forced marches. And next
to God, I look for success in all things to your Reverence because
you are there. May God preserve you, etc. Manila, January 2,
1661.
Don Sabiniano “
23. The general and the prior then discussed many points in
regard to the order that was to be followed in the war. It was
known that the weapons of the insurgents were poisoned arrows
which caused death irremediably no matter how small a wound
they made. And although there is not wanting an antidote to
counteract that danger, yet that secret is known only by certain
Indians who refused to disclose it because they desired the
insolent multitude to conquer. But the vigilance of our religious
had already shown its foresight in a matter of so great weight, and
availing himself of a chief of Bolinào, one Don Antonio Dàcap, he
had obtained from him the recipe for making the antidote; and he
had even prepared a large quantity of it, which he gave to the
general, in order that the latter might distribute it among the men
of the fleet, so that they might suffer no harm from the arrows.
Ugalde asked for some things which could not be prepared in
Manila on account of the haste [of their departure]: namely,
bamboo and cowhide for making parapets small boats for use in
shallow water; rice for the crew; spears such as the Indians use,
and certain shields or bucklers which are called carazas, in order
to
156
157
make use of them in default of the firearms. He was
provided with all that he asked immediately. After these
arrangements were made, the father prior advised the general,
notwithstanding the forced delay of the army as it was coming
overland, to go immediately with his fleet to the port of Suàl; for
although he could not begin operations until the arrival of
Esteybàr, yet his appearance with his vessels in Pangasinàn in
sight of Lingayèn, would be of great use in terrifying the rebels,
and in encouraging the loyal.
24. The general did so, and although the prior desired to
accompany the fleet, the former would not consent, alleging as a
reason therefore that since Bolinâo was so important a post, its
conservation was considered necessary, and the presence of the
father religious was inevitable for that, and also. -to provide the
fleet with necessities in the accidents of war. On that ever
propitious and sacred day of the Epiphany, after mass had been
said, which was celebrated in the flagship by the father prior, the
fleet left the port of Bolinào. At five in the afternoon it came
within sight of Lingayèn, to the joy of the religious of St.
Dominic, who had retired there from almost all of Pangasinàn, as
it was least exposed place. Until that moment they had been
besieged by constant frights. The general did not dare to go
ashore, as many crowds of people were seen on the beach, who
appeared to be hostile; as well as because he had yet no news of
the army, without which he had orders not to do anything, and he
had no forces for that. On that account the fleet kept tacking to
windward on one tack and another for the space of three days. But
at the end of that time, a felucca was seen to cross the bar of
Lingayèn headed toward the flagship. The father vicar of the said
village came aboard and informed the general that the Indians of
that district, although they had risen,, were maintained in their
insurrection with great difficulty, and that without making pacts or
contracts, desired to surrender to the piety of the king, according
to the arrangements that he had already discussed with the chiefs.
Consequently, in his opinion, the men could disembark without
the slightest fear.
25. A council of war was called to discuss the matter. The
said father. vicar, and the father chaplain, Fray Bernardino de la
Concepcion, were given a vote with the others, as was right. All
were of the opinion that the general should land with all his
soldiers in order that he might place himself in a position of
defense for whatever might happen. But that was unnecessary, for
the Indians received him with the greatest proofs of surrender, and
from that time the village of Lingayèn, which is the capital of the
province, was one of the most safe villages. The rebels who were
there fled, as they were fearful of punishment. But at that same
time, the sedition was very much alive in the rest of the province;
for Màlong treated those who refused obedience to him with the
utmost rigor unless they had forces with which to resist him. This
rigor was seen in his native place Binalatongan, which he reduced
to ashes, and allowed his soldiers to sack as the Indians fearful of
the Spaniards opposed ‘his purposes. In Ilócos and Cagayàn, the
provinces lying next to Pangasinàn, was another Indian Don Juan
Manzano who acted as Màlong’s agent,’ and who was general of
his armies.” He burned villages, killed
157
158
Indians, and reduced everything to the most fatal pass,
because he claimed that they denied obedience to our king.
26. On that account, Ugalde knew that the sword would be
necessary in order to cut the gordian knot of so obstinate an
insurrection. He, believing that since the Zambals were so valiant
and were especially experienced in the mountains, where the
rebels had their haunts, they could be of great use to the army,
wrote the father prior of Bolinào to procure a goodly levy of them,
and send them out as soldiers, with the assurance that he would
give them help. That famous hero went through the villages of
Zambales with the greatest diligence, and collected about three
hundred of the most faithful, valiant, and well-intentioned Indians.
They, furnished with their accustomed arms, and the
above-mentioned Don Antonio Dàcap, being appointed
master-of-camp with the necessary captains (whose titles the
general confirmed, as did afterward the governor, as a payment for
their good services) were despatched to Lingayèn, where they
arrived on the eighteenth of January. And in order that the joy of
the fleet might be complete, on the afternoon of that same day, the
desired news was received that the army of Esteybàr had entered
the district of Pangasinàn without having met any considerable
disaster in its difficult march. Thereupon, Ugalde arranged his
troops, in order to go to join him. When the two armies were
united they began to work together. They attacked Màlong first,
and after several engagements, the traitor was obliged to retire
together with those who remained of his men, to certain
inaccessible mountains, where they, imagined that they would be
safe. But here the valor of the Zambals shone forth, for directed by
father Fray Bernardino who never deserted them, they pursued the
rebels through crag and thicket, so that they compelled them,
defiling gradually one after the other, to surrender. Finally Malong
himself fell into an ambush which was boldly set for him, and he
was seized on February 6 whereupon the Pangasinàn war ended.
27. But in order not to leave this matter without conclusion,
we must add that our army, immediately increased by some
companies of Pangasinans (a nation that declared itself entirely
favorable to the Spaniards as soon as Màlong was defeated),
resolved after holding a council of war to go immediately to Ilocos
for the purpose of destroying Manzano. But he with few men
because many had been lost in several frays, retired to some
desolate places where he built a fort. Our captains attacked him,
however, full in front, and inspired by their example the soldiers
and Indians, and conquered him. Many of the enemy were
slaughtered, and we on our side did not fail to lose many, because
the resistance was especially obstinate. Manzano escaped thence
with some few of his men, and hid in certain mountains, but the
Zambals, Pangasinans, and Cagayans pursued him, and finally, the
justice of our arms prevailed. Fork in order that no spark might left
which might kindle a new fire, he was also seized on March 22.
Thus was that difficult war ended, which had caused Manila many
terrors, for it caused not a few fears to the Spaniards. Thereupon,
the provinces continued to become pacified. The governor Don
Sabiniano, in obedience to the action, of the royal Audiencia,
despatched a commissary general of causes,, so
158
159
that, forming a tribunal together with Esteybár, Ugalde, and
other necessary ministers, he might make a process in regard to
those who had been most active among the rebels;, and after
giving such persons the necessary punishment, publish a general
pardon, which would comprehend the remainder. It was reported
then that the judges proceeded with too great rigor, but I should
not be so bold as to. impute that guilt to them, for they aimed to
spread a warning, without it ceasing to be very necessary.
28. The least thing that was seen in the disorders of so unjust
a rebellion was the deaths that were caused, notwithstanding that
they were numerous. There was seen vengeance clothed with zeal;
ambition usurping the staff of justice; tyranny proclaiming liberty;
treason applauded with adoration; and he who never knew the law
of reason, making laws. There were seen thefts, conflagrations,
profanations of the temples, persecutions, scorn, and the
evangelical ministers killed sacrilegiously; the Catholic religion
abandoned in great part; and the door opened to apostasy and
infidelity. For what time, then, is the purpose of inexorable justice,
if it is not applied at such a time? That was no sickness that could
be cured by mild means when only iron and fire were found
capable of reestablishing that vast body in health, rigor exercised
there being a preservative medicine for the rest. And if, perchance,
any innocent one paid what he did not owe, one must reflect that
public vengeance was inflicted by the hands of men, who,
although they try to work with equity, are after all only men, and
that they would cease to be men, if they proceeded without the
least defect in all things. . At last among many others who suffered
the last punishment, Màlong was shot in Lingayèn, Caucào hanged
in Binalatóngan, Sumzlay in Bolinào, Sirray in Masingloc, Dúrrey
in Agrio, and Manzano, in the village of Bacàrra, killed himself in
order to escape the hand of the hangman. But if some of them left
the marks of treason in the Zambal nation, which is ever valiant
and loyal to the king, most of them in number and rank, washed
away that stain more than clean. Everything yielded the great
praise to the discalced Augustinians, who were able, by their
exhortations, to restrain and maintain the loyalty of so many
Indians of their districts, despising for that purpose many perils.
§ IV
Relation of the insurrection of the Sangleys or Chinese and how
our religious aided in bringing about peace and victory.
29. Outside the walls of the city of Manila, under the cannon
of the plaza, there is a very thickly populated settlement called the
Parián, where a large number of Chinese live. Those people are
known there under the name of Sanglevs. Although heathen they
have been allowed to reside there for the sake of commerce and
because they are employed in almost all the mechanical trades. It
cannot be denied that that nation fomented and maintained with
aid and cunning the rebellions of the Indians which we have just
related. That is apparent, because, when the alcalde-mayor Don
Francisco Pulido was killed in Pangasinàn, some Sangleys were
found among the rebels, who contrived that under cover of the
small boats they might capture the large vessel where the
alcalde-mayor was defending his
159
160
life very gallantly; and on the arrival of our naval fleet to
explore the beach of Lingayèn, there were seen there many armed
men, consisting of Sangleys and Indians, as is affirmed by Father
Santa Cruz, in volume 2 of his Dominican history, of the
Philipinas. 60 But it is still more fully shown by the many bodies of
Sangleys which were found in the field whenever there was an
engagement with the rebels, for on all occasions they served the
Indians as auxiliaries. Let us examine the motive for the Chinese
taking part in a war that concerned them so little.
[Here follows a brief description of China and an account of
the victories of the Tartars about this time, the alliance of the
pirate Kuesing with the legitimate Chinese king Junglie, and
following the latter’s death, the retreat of the pirate to Formosa
whence he expels the Dutch. His design to make the conquest is
also related, and his embassy by Father Victorio Riccio to Manila,
demanding “prompt vassalage, and a huge tribute from the islands,
and threatening the most bloody war if Spaniards and Indians did
not obey this obligation and recognize him as king.” The Chinese
in Manila, hating the Tartars and favorable to Kuesing, begin to
raise disturbances. Their anger is also further aroused by a
commercial treaty between the Spaniards and the Tartar emperor
of China. But little attention is paid to the Chinese of the Parián,
however, but both interior and exterior fortifications are
strengthened and constructed in case of an attack by Kuesig. The
narrative continues:
34. For this purpose some scaffolds were built outside the
wall so that the pioneers might work comfortably. This, which was
a means for fortification, might, had not the divine aid intervened,
A sidenote at this point in the original is as follows: “Historia de la
Provincia del Santo Rosario, volume ii, book. ii, chapter xv.” The reference is
of course to Baltasar de Santa Cruz’s book.
60
have been the pause of the loss of the city, the center of the faith in
Assia and a firm column of the Catholic religion. For the Sangleys
determined with the utmost secrecy not to let the opportunity slip,
but, on the contrary, to seize time by the forelock, and to climb in
great numbers by night by means of those scaffolds which were
not guarded in proportion to the danger. They thought that if they
did so, and first gained the wall by an unexpected and furtivo rush
they could obtain the mastery of the city immediately without any
opposition. In fact they would have planned well had it not been
that God tied their hands. It happened, then, that the father
sacristan of our convent going down one morning to arrange the
altar of the Santo Ecce Homo (an image of which mention was
made in volume iii,61 as well as the great devotion that Governor
Don Sabiniano had for it), found at its divine feet a message
reading as follows: “Governor, guard thy city, for they are trying
to take thee by surprise.” The sacristan immediately put that
message into the hands of the father prior. The latter, considering
that no one had to hide himself in order to give such advice, (for,
if it were true, any person would be assured of a not small reward),
he formed the concept that that notice came from the hand of God;
and above all that it would be well to inform the governor of it.
61
A sidenote in the original refers to volume iii of the Recollect History
by Santa Theresa, Decade VII, book i, chapter iv, section vii, folio 241, nos.
507-515. The Philippine portion of this book appears in our vol. xxxvi, pp.
113-189.
160
161
For where there are so many enemies, the most careful
watch is none too much.
35. Consequently, he took the message to the governor, to
whom he told the manner in which he had found it. The prudent
superior not only esteemed the caution, but he doubled his care
and vigilance by visiting the walls and sentinels hourly. But on the
morning of the following day, another more detailed paper was
found in the same place, which read as follows: “Governor, guard
thy city. Remove the scaffoldings from the walls, and do not trust
anyone, for the enemy are very near thee.” The father prior also
took that message to the governor, alleging that because of his
quality as a good vassal, he could not avoid giving him that
annoyance. But the governor was not annoyed but instead thanked
him again and again, and in his presence had an adjutant, one Don
Joseph Zamora, summoned, and ordered the latter to remove the
scaffolding of the walls, and double the guards in all the posts. It
was afterwards learned how important the arrangement that has
been practiced had been, for it was discovered when the deserved
punishment was meted out to the insurgents that the surprise of the
city was to have been attempted on the night following that day,
but that they had not succeeded because what was to have served
them as a ladder had been removed.
36. The Sangleys seeing the destruction of their designs,
resolved, at the beginning of the year 1662, to arm suddenly one
day, with the weapons which came first to hand, and to take the
city openly, for they trusted too much to their valor. There is a
gate in the city called the gate of the Parián, which gives on the
Sangley settlement, and innumerable numbers of that nation enter
the city through it hourly. They would find it easy if some of them
were to make themselves masters of this gate, for the others to
enter the city armed. By a special Providence of God, as brother
Fray Diego de Santa Ana, one of our religious lay-brothers, went
to adjust an account with a certain Sangley, on the morning of the
day on which they had resolved to make the attack, he observed
that the Chinese were in great disorder, and he even heard some
words indicative of arrogance, and that they were premeditating
some sedition. The brother understood the Chinese language
somewhat, and having conceived the said suspicion, he went about
the Parián carefully and joined in conversation cunningly with
several Sangley acquaintances. By that means originated the
confirmation of his fears. He advised a captain of everything, who
took him into the presence of the governor so that he might inform
the latter. Upon receiving that information, the guards of the gates
and of the walls were doubled without any confusion, and most
opportune orders were given secretly for the artillerymen and
soldiers to be prepared to resist any attack.
37. Scarce six o’clock, could have struck, when the Sangleys
advanced to the gate of the city in a confused mass, with such
violence that doubtless they would have gained it, had our men not
been so prepared for its defense. With the regular discharge of the
artillery, and with the muskets of the guards, many of them were
killed. At that misfortune the others, retired as furiously as they
had begun the attack. But honoring our discalced religious greatly
161
162
the governor was wont to say whenever he saw brother Fray
Diego, that next to the patronage of the Santo Ecce Homo, the
defense of the city was due to his opportune advice. The enemy
having been repulsed in this manner, a portion of them, about two
thousand, threw themselves into the river in order to cross it.
About three hundred of them having perished there, the others fled
to the mountains. As they passed it, they left our convent and
church of San Sebastian reduced to ashes. Its building had been.
finished but a short time before, as it had been burned during
another insurrection. It could not but cause time and trouble to
reduce those rebels, but it was accomplished at last although
accompanied with the shedding of much blood. They were
pursued on one side by the Pampango Indians and on the other by
the Zambals, who were led and captained by our religious. The
remaining Sangleys, who reached the number of ten thousand,
took their stand on the field in front of the walls, thus causing not
a little anxiety to Manila. But they were so disposed that,
anticipating a general pardon, conceded by the governor, with the
exception of some few leaders, before nightfall they were all
subdued, and that troubled sea was totally calm.
38. Father Palanco,62 a Dominican, declared very truly in the
memorial which he presented to the king, on that rebellion of the
62
Juan Polanco (not Palanco), was a native of the Burgos mountain
region, and professed in the Dominican convent of Valladolid, July 13, 1639.
As he showed evident signs of a brilliant mind he was sent to the college of San
Gregorio of Valladolid, after graduating from which he returned to the convent
as lecturer, in philosophy. Thence he went to the convent of Trianos as master
of students, but later joining the Philippine mission arrived at those islands in
1658. Destined for the instruction of the Chinese he was sent to the Chinese
missions as soon as he had mastered the language. His two years in China were
years of continual suffering, imprisonment, and torment. Recalled, although
against his will, to become procurator for his province in Madrid and Rome,
and to act as definitor in the general chapter, he gave up his mission work.
Sangleys, “that all the Orders worked and aided, with singular
vigilance on that occasion exposing their lives to the service of
both Majesties.”. For the individuals of all the orders endeavored
to excel, as ever, in their zeal and deeds, now by taking arms to go
to the defense of the walls, just as the most ordinary soldier might
do; now imploring divine clemency with supplications and
prayers; and anon assisting with advice and information. But there
is no doubt that, as is inferred from the above said, our Recollects
had a great share in that victory, and that they shared considerably
in the dangers of the war. Thus are they able without failing in
their obligations as evangelical ministers, to serve their earthly
king on all occasions, as professors of both militias.
[Sections v-vii relate the lives of various Recollects, both
priests and lay-brothers, who died in Spanish convents at this time.
No one of them had been in the Philippine missions.]
Chapter II
Our province of Philipinas extends its apostolic preaching to the
districts called Contracosta [i. e., the opposite coast]. Father Fray
Agustin de San Ildephonso,
Always of a humble and obedient disposition, when he was ordered to return
immediately to Spain on one occasion after he had just conducted a mission to
Mexico, he obeyed without hesitation, but he had scarcely reached the convent
at Sevilla, when he died, December 2, 1671. At the chapter held at Rome 1668,
he petitioned the beatification of the Japanese martyrs See Reseña biografica,
ii,pp. 1-3.
162
163
a learned and holy religious, dies in Toboso.
The Year 1662
§1
The missions of the Contracosta, whither the preaching has
spread, are received into our province of Philipinas, and four
convents are founded.
64. [The Philippines, says our author, may be regarded as
the limits of the earth, and hence the text of Isaias xviii, 2, may be
regarded as spoken of the Philippines, in which the gospel is to be
published.]
65. In obedience to the insinuation of that text, even before
the roots necessary for its subsistence had been fixed our discalced
congregation despatched apostolic missionaries to the
above-mentioned islands, in order that they might be illumined by
the splendors of the evangelical doctrine, and enriched by the
examples of its angelic perfection. It was not content with that first
squadron, for the undertaking commenced has been prosecuted at
various times, and a great number of its sons have been sacrificed
to an undertaking as arduous as useful. We have already seen in
the preceding volumes, the greatness of their actions in the
conversion of the most terrible peoples of that archipelago,-in
Zambales, Carahaga, Calamiànes, and the islands of Romblon: In
this volume we shall treat of the spread of the faith, which was
extended into other villages, a proof that new zeal has ever been
gathered, also born of the salvation of their neighbors. But at
present we shall speak of a new field, which was handed over to
the cultivation of our ever sure workers in the island of Luzon and
the Contracosta of Manila. And although that field was abandoned
afterwards for lack of evangelical ministers, there is no reason
why endeavors so meritorious should be forgotten. Let our pen,
therefore, be busied in the relation of these labors.
66. The island of Luzon, which is the largest and chiefest of
the Philipinas, has the appearance of an arm somewhat bent,
according to the description of father Fray Juan Francisco de San
Antonio63 It has a circumference of more than four hundred
Spanish leguas, and lies between twelve and nineteen degrees of
latitude. Not far from the point of San Tiago, which we shall
pretend to be the elbow of this arm, journeying thence toward cape
Bogeador, lies the great bay of Manila, in the center of which this
city is located. It is the capital of all the possessions of the Spanish
scepter in these islands. Lapping the walls of Manila is a large
river which empties at that place into the sea. By it one ascends to
the Lake of Bay, and on the opposite shore of that lake one finds
the village of Siniloan. Thence to the port of Lampon, which is
located on the Contracosta of Manila, and comes to be as it were,
inside of the arm, one need only pass the mountains of Daraètan,
and Caboan, which is a crossing of five or six leguas.
Consequently, in order to go by sea from Manila to the port of
Lampon, one must sail about one hundred and forty leguas; but by
ascending the river and crossing over the lake to Siniloan, and
crossing the mountains of Daraètan and Caboan there is scarce
twenty leguas of distance.
67. In the environs, then, of the port of Lampon,
63
A sidenote in the original at this point refers to the Chrónicas of San
Antonio, i, book i, chapter xvii.
163
164
following the coast opposite the bay of Manila, are the
districts of Binangônan, Baler, Casiguran, and Palànan composed
of various villages and collections of huts. The first three belonged
at first to the alcaldeship or province of Mindoro. Since in the year
1588, the discalced Franciscan fathers Fray Estevan Ortiz and
Fray Juan de Porras were destined to that jurisdiction, they
gathered most seasonable fruits in the above-mentioned districts,
Shaving sown there the seed of the Catholic name. However,
having been called to other parts by their obedience, they could
not further the Church in those districts, much as they desired it.
The venerable martyr, Fray Francisco de Santa Maria, completed
the perfection of the work, by forming the three above-mentioned
missions with a sufficient number of the faithful who were
withdrawn from the darkness of paganism by the influences of a
zeal so seraphic. Afterwards other workers of the same family
extended their missions down the beach toward the province of
Cagayàn or Nueva Segovia, and founded the village and district of
Palànan. With that there were four missions situated on that
Contracosta, and the Franciscan province kept the administration
of them in their own hands for many years. They hoped that,
although there were but few people and conveniences, as the
mountains which were peopled by pagans were near by, they
could continue ever to increase the flock of Christ, as they did do
without ceasing, the sword of the evangelical preaching fencing
with the advantage gained by repeated triumphs. 64
68. But since in. this time with which the history is
concerned, the boat of the above-mentioned province found itself
with a great quantity of fish in its nets, and with, few fishers in its
64
A sidenote of the original reads:.”All this appears from Father Fray
Juan Francisco de San Antonio, ut supra, book ii, chapter xviii, folio 364, and
chapter xix, folio 372.”
number for the support of the work, they called to their aid the
individuals of our holy province. Nothing more than a sign was
necessary to make them hasten thither, expressing their thanks for
the opportunity. Although I have been unable to ascertain the year
with certainty, I have foundation for the conjecture that in the
chapter celebrated in the year 5662, the Franciscan fathers invited
our Recollect family to take the above-mentioned missions of the
Contracosta. They alleged that they were unable to attend to so
many villages, whose care devolved upon them, because of the
lack, of religious. They promised to cede those missions to the
Recollects, and not to retain any right of reversion. Those missions
were not very desirable, both because of the wretchedness of the
earth, and because of the small number of tributes that they
contained. For, although they had increased greatly with the new
conversions, they only contained 4,800 Christian souls in the year
1738, as was asserted by the historian of that seraphic province. 65
But our Recollect order has obtained a writ which was gained in
Philipinas to occupy the least profitable posts so far as earth is
concerned, but the most meritorious in the heavens. Consequently,
those zealous fathers received that work immediately, and
forthwith assigned evangelical ministers to cultivate the •new
vineyard, increasing the rational vines in it with the care and zeal
which the seraphic workers had managed to exert thitherto.
65
A sidenote of the original refers to San Antonio i, book i, chapter Iv,
folio 220 and chapter lvii, folio 224.
164
165
69. In consequence of this, the province chose fathers Fray
Benito de San Joseph, Fray Francisco de San Joseph, and Fray
Clemente de San Nicolás, with three others whose names we have
been unable to discover. They took formal charge of the districts
and founded the following convents. Near the bay and port of
Lampan, somewhat inland toward the mountain, is located the
village of Binangonan, and there the first house and church was
established with the title of San Guillermo. Two religious were left
there. The Tagálog language is spoken in that territory, although it
belongs to the province of Tayàbas and to the bishopric of
Camarines, or as it is called, Nueva Cáceres. The ministers
assigned to that village attended to various scattered collections of
huts along the bays of Lampon and Umirèy, as well as to the
reduction of the infidels which extends along the neighboring
mountains for the distance of twelve or fourteen leguas. Going
thence following the coast to the north, one meets the river and
village of Valer. Another convent was founded there, titular and
patron of which was St. Nicholas of Tolentino. It belongs to the
same language, province, and bishopric, as the other. Only one
religious was stationed there, although afterward, according to the
times, two lived there. They tended to the mission which was very
laborious because of its size, and labored in the conversion of the
Aetas, heathen of the neighboring mountains, which allow passage
from Valer to the province of Pampànga through the territory of
Patabàngan and Santor, by a not long, but very rough road.
70. Sailing along the same coast toward Cape Engaño one
comes to the bay of Casigúran, which has a circumference of
twelve leguas. On its shore is located the village of the same
name. The third convent was erected there and was given the title
of our father St. Augustine. It belongs also to the Tagálog
language, the province of Tayàbas, and the bishopric of
Camarines. Two religious resided there generally, and sometimes
three, for they extended their administration to many leguas of
coast, and their zeal for the spread of the faith to the extensive
mountains near by, which being filled with Aetas, blacks, and
Calingas heathen gave worthy although most toilsome occupation
to the messengers of the law of grace. From one extremity of the
bay of Casigüran, the point called San Ildephonso protrudes three
leguas seaward. At its head end the province of Tayàbas and the
bishopric of Camarines. Having doubled that point, and after one
has navigated ten or twelve leguas northward one comes to the
village and district of Palànan, which belongs to the bishopric and
province of Cagayàn or Nueva Segovia. The fourth convent is
founded there, and bears the title of Santa Maria Magdalena. And
although all the religious who could be assigned to that mission
illumined it, considering the lack of them from which this holy
province usually suffers, yet notwithstanding this, it could always
be said that the harvest was great and the laborers few. For besides
the Christians already reduced, the fathers had to contend with an
innumerable number of heathen who overran the neighboring
mountains for a distance of more than thirty leguas from the point
of San Ildephonso to Cape Engaño.
71. I assert that I have severaI times heard from fathers Fray
Valero de San Salvador and Fray Silvestre
165
166
de la Purificacion (who passed a considerable portion of
their well-employed lives in those missions, and whom I knew in
Manila, and who attained a venerable and exemplary age) that
from the admission of that territory by our province to the year
1704, the multitude of infidels who were turned by the preaching
of our brothers from the unhappy liberty of paganism to the mild
yoke of the Catholic faith, was vast. For, notwithstanding that
there were three or four epidemics in all those aillages in the
above-named period, which occasioned the death of an excessive
portion of the old Christians, the settlements were replaced by
those newly converted. Consequently, the lack was not observed,
for the same number of tributes were collected for the king during
the latter years as during the first. This same thing is attested by
the documents and depositions that I have before me, which
designate the Recollect religious who lived on the Contracosta
with the character of laborers in the living missions because of the
many souls that their apostolic zeal drew to the sheepfold of the
Church.
72. But notwithstanding that, the fruit must have caused
entire consolation as it was so visible, and given greater
earnestness to continue. That fatal interruption of missions in
which no workers of our Recollect family passed to Philipinas
from España from the year 1692 to that of 1710, having occurred,
the province found it impossible to give, as it had done hitherto six
or eight religious for those missions because their exhaustion
made them needed for other missions. Although our brothers were
more than men in their zeal, in material work they could do
nothing more than men. Therefore, it was imposible to look after
so great an employ as they had in their charge, since they had so
few subjects. And already it is seen that if necessity obliged them
to abandon any district, it must be that of the Contracosta. They,
did not regard that as a conquest proper, but as received in trust. It
was so, for in the provincial chapter held in the year 1704, after
that apostolic province had possessed those doctrinas and convents
for more than forty years, it was resolved to abandon them all, and
return them to their first masters, the religious of St. Francis, as
they could not attend to their administration. Those seraphic
workers, learning the reason; took new charge of those souls in
order to attend to them with the bread of the instruction. On this
account, the above-mentioned convents do not now belong to the
order, and the villages of the Contracosta are not in our charge.
But the narration of the so plausible readinesss practiced by our
oldtime heroes has been deemed indispensable. In due time,
namely, the year 1703, when the prodigious life of the venerable
mantelata66 Juana de Jesus, whose virtue sprang from the teaching
of our religious, is related, one will see that with that fruit alone all
their evangelical attempts can be considered as well employed.
[The second and last section of this chapter deals with the
life of Fray Agustin de San Ildephonso, who died in the convent of
Toboso, Spain, during this year 1662. He was never in the
Philippines.]
[Section i of chapter iii treats of the seventh general chapter
of the order, which was held in Alcalá de Henares in 1663.
Sections ii and iii narrate the
66
So called perhaps from the long robe probably worn women who were
allowed to take partial vows.
166
167
life of Fray Juan de San Antonio, an ex-provincial of the
Philippines. Born of a noble family in Granada, he early showed
great precocity and attained proficiency in his studies while very
young. Being strongly called to the religious life he entered the
Recollect convent at Granada, September 13, 1617, at the age of
twenty and professed the following year. After a short course in
theology he went to Mexico in 1619, whence after another course
in theology in that city he was sent to Manila, where he was
ordained priest after a third theological course, in 1621. The
following year found him master of novitiates in Manila convent.
Although his parents obtained permission for him to return to
Spain, in 1624, he preferred to remain in the field which he had
chosen. That same year he was prior of the convent of Igaquet and
was later occupied in many missions, especially in Calamianes. In
1635 he was elected definitor, and desirous of preaching the
gospel in Japan, made two attempts to penetrate that empire, both
of which were failures, the second time sickness not even allowing
him to leave the Philippines. He was elected prior of Manila
convent in 1638 and after his three years term worked again in the
missions of Calamianes and composed two books in the language
of that district, one of moral sermons and the other an explanation
of the catechism. In 1644 he was elected provincial almost by
acclamation. His term was a busy one, and a number of churches
and convents were erected during it. During the disastrous
earthquake of 1645, he rendered distinct service. He began the
repair of the Recollect church and convent of Manila, which had
been partially destroyed by the earthquake. At the end of his term
he retired to his cell in Manila, but became implicated in some
way with the civil-religious troubles that rose during the
governorship of Diego Faxardo, and he was arrested in 1651 and
sent to Marivelez. With the change of government, he returned to
Manila, and then retired to the Cavite convent, where he died from
an illness in January 1663. He was pure minded and austere in his
devotions. The fourth and last section of this chapter narrates the
life of a Recollect who died in 1663 at the convent of Zaragoza,
Spain.]
[Chapter iii recounts the lives of three Recollect religious
who died in the year 1664, only the first of whom was in the
Philippines. This was Fray Joseph de la Anunciacion, and his life
is discussed in the first two sections. He was born in Madrid and
took the Recollect habit in that city, October 8, 1615. He was
chosen for the Philippine missions and arrived at Manila in 1623.
Most of his work in the islands was as Spanish preacher, and his
work lay principally in the convents of Manila, San Juan, San
Sebastian, Cavite, and Cebú. He did considerable work among the
native Filipinos, the Chinese, mestizos, negroes, and mulattoes,
ever in the Spanish language, but he was able to adapt himself
well to their degree of intelligence. His preaching was especially
effective in the city of Cebú which was more densely populated in
his time than a century later. His influence was far reaching
among all classes. Twice he was elected provincial of his
order-April 8, 1635, and May 7, 1650. His terms were active and
productive of good work. Recollects began their work in the island
of Romblon under his directions, and he attempted to send
missionaries
167
168
to Japan. During his term also Recollects were successful in
pacifying many disaffected districts. His death occurred in the
Cebú convent of which he was prior at the time.]
Chapter VIII
Treating of the hardships endured by our religious in Plillipinas,
because of various persecutions that occurred in our fields of
Christendom.
The year 1668
§1
Abridged relation of the persecutions of our holy faith in
Philipinas, from the year 1640 to the year under consideration,
1668, and which are not mentioned in the preceding volumes.
307. He who would like to know what manner of province is
ours in Philipinas and its height of love to God and its neighbor,
which that Lord has given to it, who is so well able to inculcate
charity, must not be governed only by the immense zeal of its
individuals in alluring souls into the sheepfold of the Church but
as well by the continual persecutions which they have suffered in
order that they might maintain that field of Christendom in the
purity of the faith, despising their lives at each step in order to
preserve it. The lack of fear of death, by which those valiant
soldiers of the God of armies have sustained the field of battle
against all the power of the gates of hell, is doubtless one of the
greatest of miracles which divine Providence has hung in its
temple in this world, to the no small glory of these provinces of
España, that have become such marvels of charity through so good
milk, that they consider and have considered it an honor to suffer
and even to die, in order to defend that harassed church. Many
events in confirmation of this truth are drawn with most accurate
brush in the preceding volumes of this history. By them one may
see that our brothers have left us examples worthy of imitation by
incessantly placing in practice the highest perfection of exposing
their lives to death for the assistance and consolation of certain
poor Indians, that they might encourage them in the continual
invasions of the Moros. But notwithstanding the great skill that
accompanied the painters of so idealistic canvasses, 1 find in a
lower degree not a few pictures worthy of immortality, for without
doubt the colors of the notices were lacking, which are so
indispensable to form the pictures in the painting of history. I
having obtained trustworthy relations of the many misfortunes that
assaulted our fields of Christendom and their directors from the
year 1640 until the present of 1668, which is under consideration,
it would not be laudable to leave such trophies buried in
forgetfulness, although the copy, which would have been most
accurate if done by the brushes of the other writers, be disfigured. .
308. To continue; Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuèra,
governor of Philipinas thought that by building and garrisoning
some strongholds in Tolà [i. e, Joló], an island which is given over
to the perfidy of Mahomet and is the nesting place of the robbers
of the whole archipelago, he could restrain its inhabitants by
preventing them from going to our villages with their fleets as they
had done until that time, with the sequel of innumerable
depredations. He put that idea into practice in the
168
169
year 1638, after the conclusion of the war with the koran, in
the beginning of which when the sword was drawn the scabbard
was thrown away. But neither his valor nor that diligence were
sufficient for the attainment of his end. For in the year 1640, now
by the Joloans themselves, and now by means of the Borneans
their allies, and now by making use of their vassals who inhabited
the adjacent islands, they tried to find in sea surprises some
betterment of their fortune or some havoc by which to temper it.
With that object they attacked missions belonging to our reformed
order both boldly and treacherously in the districts of Calamiànes,
Butuan, and Cagayang; and it is a fact that we always had the
worst of it in those wars. They committed depredations very much
to their liking, with the boldness that their greed gave them and
with the severity which their hatred to the evangelical law inspired
in them. The captives who were taken in our villages on that
occasion numbered three hundred and more. The churches were
ruined, the holy images profaned, the evangelical ministers
became fugitives in the mountains, the sheep were scattered as
their shepherds could not attend to them with their watchful eye,
the villages were reduced to ashes, and all of those fields of
Christendom became the necessary object of the most bitter
lamentation.
309. They did almost the same thing in the three following
years, and there was no means of taking worthy-satisfaction from
enemies so inhuman who, like wild and hellish beasts, destroyed a
great portion of the rich patrimony of Christ which had flourished
in that country under the care of our discalced order. The
devastation was so general that it appears to have-been presaged
by heaven with very extraordinary portents. For on the fourth day
of January, 1640, a volcano suddenly burst forth in the island of
Sanguiz, not far from the cape of San Agustin in the island of
Mindanao, which showed very rare and unusual results. For the
ashes, rocks, and burning material which it cast up traveled for
many leguas as far as Zebú. Noises like artillery were heard,
which caused the Spanish garrisons to get under arms, and the day
grew dark from ten in the morning, so that it seemed pitch black
night. The same thing happened in another volcano in an islet
opposite the bar of the river of Joló. There was a furious hurricane
in the island of Luzón up toward the province of Ilócos in the part
where the Igolótes live. That hurricane was followed by the most
frightful earthquake, and the earth swallowed up three inaccessible
mountains with as many settlements which were located at the
foot of the mountains, and in the space left a large lake was
formed. Such was the noise at the dislocation of the huge mass of
those mountains, that it was heard not only in all the Philipinas
Islands and in Maluco but also in the kingdoms of Cochinchina,
China, and Camboja, throughout a circumference of more than
nine hundred leguas. So great was the persecution that it was
believed to have been announced by the so great heaping together
of surprises and misfortunes. 67
A sidenote at this point refers to Father Nieremberg’s Oculta y curiosa
philosophia, last treatise, folio 431. This book is rightly named Curiosa y oculta
filosofia, and was published in two parts in Madrid, 1643. Juan. Eusebio
Nieremberg was born in Madrid either in 159O or 1595. His father was a
Tyrolese, and his mother a Bavarian. Educated at the university at Salamanca,
he took the Jesuit habit in the same city in 1614. He became known for his
learning and ability and for fourteen years filled the chair of natural history at
the royal school at Madrid, and for three years after that lectured on the
scriptures. At the same time he was held in high esteem as a confessor, and was
solicited by many prominent people as such. In 1642, he gave up teaching
entirely because of an attack of paralysis. His death occurred at Madrid, April 7,
1658. He was the author of many works in Spanish and Latin, some of which
have been translated into French and Arabic, and other languages. See Rose’s
New General Biographical Dictionary, and Hoefer’s Nouvelle Biographic
generale.
67
169
170
310. But the time when the Moros gave full rein to their
barbaric fury, was from the beginning of the year 1645, for then
they were freed from the terror that had been caused them by
Corcuèra who had just been succeeded in the government of the
islands by the master-of-camp Don Diego Fajardo. The arrival
also of two ships well manned with Dutchmen at Joló and which
had been asked for, by Prince Salicàla, the heir to the scepter, for
the purpose of destroying the strongholds which the Spaniards
held in the said island, gave them at that time, a motive for
employing greater power in their piracies. Although the
commandant of those strongholds, Don Estevan de Orella
Hugalde, caused the enemy to return to their factories badly the
losers, and without having obtained the end of their attempt, the
Jobans were able, through their protection, to launch three
squadrons which filled our villages with fear and confusion. It is
no new thing in that continent for the heretics to lend arms to the
pagans and to the Mahometans in order to put down the Christian
name. A savage end it is to pit themselves for the private ends of
trade and in a religious war, on the side of the koran and of
idolatry, which they themselves condemn, against the gospel,
which they persecute with fury. The three fleets went out then, for
their campaign, and not having anyone to oppose them, the enemy
filled their boats with what they called spoils, took about two
hundred captives, persecuted our religious as ever, with mortal
hate, and destroyed fifteen villages, almost all of them of our
spiritual administration, and they filled Calamianes especially with
bitterness and grief.
311. The Dutch were not content with protecting the Moros,
in order that they might persecute the name of Christ, but they
themselves tried to drive that name from all that archipelago.
Among all the disunited members of the Spanish monarchy, which
the Dutch have endeavored to cut off from it (in order that their
power might wax more formidable at the expense of another) they
have ever cast their eyes on the honorable and wealthy dominion
of the Philipinas Islands. That country is such for their designs and
trade, that better could not be desired: both because from there
they were assured of all the trade of China, Japàn, Cochinchina,
Camboja, and the Malucas; and because they were guaranteed the
best woods for the building of their ships that can be found on the
whole round earth. For that reason, the Dutch have left no stone
unturned in all times if it pertained to the maxim of their desire, as
can be deduced from several passages which are to be found in the
previous decades and are necessary for the intelligence of the
history that is treated in them. 68 The year, then, of 1646, they
were seen with fifteen warships. With five of them they
Sidenotes at this point in the original refer as follows: “Volume i of
this History [i. e., the volume by Andrés de San Nicolas, for extract from which
see our vol. xxi], decade ii, chapter ix, folio 452; volume iii [i. e., the volume by
Diego de Santa Theresa, from which appear extracts in vol. xxxvi, pp.
113-188], marginal numbers, 233, 257 et seq., 530 et seq., 540, 596, and 649.”
68
170
171
besieged the district of Playahonda, while seven of them
were stationed in the Embocadero or strait of San Bernardino, and
the remaining three filled the islands of the Pintados with fear. Our
villages of Masinloc, Iba, Marivelez, Romblon, Banton, and
Surigào, suffered more harm and vexation than usual, of which the
greater part touched the religious ministers.
312. Two galleons left Cavite and fought first with five
ships and twice afterwards with seven, and obtained three victories
which were clearly miraculous. For they destroyed the enemy,
without receiving any special damage, and the enemy were
compelled to abandon their attempts for the nonce. Although
father Fray Balthassar de Santa Cruz attributes all of the prodigy
to Our Lady of the Rosary with sufficient foundation,69 we, while
confessing the might of so holy a warrior. must suggest that St.
Nicholas of Tolentino had no small part in it, whom the soldiers,
persuaded by two Recollects, as is mentioned in volume 3 of this
history, who served as chaplains in our small fleet, also invoked as
the sworn patron of those seas. 70 But under shelter of the Dutch
enemy, who continued their attempts with no more success the
two following years, the Moros, always emboldened, transgressed
all bounds, attacking ceaselessly the villages of the Spwish
dominion. For, although Corralàt, king of Mindanao, kept quiet
during so dangerous a season for reasons of his own convenience,
and bad even acted as mediator so that Butria Bôngso, king of Joló
should make peace with our arms, which was done April 14, 1646,
none of all that was sufficient to give quiet to that field of
Christendom. Mahometan perfidy took the pretext that the Joloan
There is a sidenote reference here in the original to Santa Cruz’s
Historia, part ii, book i, chapter xxiii.
70
A sidenote of the original refers here to Santa Theresa’s Historia,
marginal numbers 649 and 651.
Prince Salicàla and Paguymn Cachile, prince of the Guinbanos,71
and seignior of Tuptup in Bornèy, should refuse to sign the peace.
With that excuse those princes, aided in secret by those kings,
peopled the sea with boats and caused unspeakable damage to
Calamiànes, Camiguin, and Romblón.
313. That was not the only fatal consequence that followed
from those inhuman premises which were set by the Dutch. For if
we had thitherto seen the aliens fighting against the faith, from the
year 1649 the very sons of the Church worked for its destruction.
The Dutch incited the Indians, already Christian and subject, to
withdraw themselves from the mild yoke of Spain, the country
which had drawn them from the darkness of paganism, and kept
them on the road to salvation. Nor were they deaf to the voices
filled with the fraud most difficult to recognize, for since they
carried the agreeable sound of liberty, they secretly induced them
to undergo the most tyrannical subjection; and God permitting by
His secret judgments excessive flights to audacity and
shamelessness for, the credit of the virtuous and the crown of the
just; the most cowardly of nations were seen with surprise and the
nakedness of the Indians was armed against the invincible sword
of the Spaniards. The insurrection began in the village of Palapàg
in the province of Hibabào in the island of Sámar, whence the
good outcome of the first action traveling on the wings of
69
71
See vol. XL, p. 179, note 78.
171
172
unsteady report, found minds so ready throughout the
islands of Pintados, that (just as if the counsel were common, and
they were only awaiting the signal in order to do it), the temples
were burned in many places, and sacred things profaned. The
evangelical ministers fled, and the rebels retiring to the loftiest
mountains, imagined that they could defend their former barbarity
there.
314. Our reformed order had enough things to bewail in
those revolutions ; for in addition to the tragedies of Linao, which
are related in volume 3,72 the villages of Cagayàng, Camiguin,
Hingoog, Romblón, Banton, and Cibuyàn added wood to the fire
of the sedition. If the promised help of the Dutch had come over
and above the boldness of the Indians, it is inferred that what had
taken so many years to conquer would have been lost in a few
days. But God who always punishes as a father those who try to
serve Him, measured the times so accurately, that amid the echoes
of the insurrection, the proclamations of the peace which had been
arranged between España and Olanda resounded in Manila. With
that the Catholic arms were freed from their chastisement, and all
things returned to their pristine quiet. That was not the case with
the Moros, who were then and for many years after, the perennial
enemies of that afflicted field of Christianity. Barbarously blinded
in their treacherous gains as if it were a thing done, they made a
practice of going every year to take captives in the islands of our
administration, often outraging the temples sacrilegiously and not
a single one that was near the beach escaped profanation and they
utterly abused everything intended for religious worship, with
great scorn to the name of Christian. They cut the sacred
vestments, into robes and other garments [capisayo:], and they
72
destined the ciboriums and sacred chalices to the dirty use of their
wine, tobacco, and buyo.
315. But it did not so happen, I return to say. For
notwithstanding that they were a terror every year from that of
1649 to i6 because of their piracies, now in some and now in other
parts, they remained without the due punishment although so
sacrilegious insults demanded it so justifiably. Without fear of our
arms, they overran those seas at will, trusting their security to their
swiftness; for their boats were built on purpose for piracy, and
ours compared to theirs of lead. It happened not once only that
they were taken because of carelessness between the bars of the
rivers with forces sufficient to make one consider their destruction
sure; but they got out laughing on one side or the other, amid the
discharge of their artillery. And the forces of Manila, Zebu,
Zamboànga, and Carhàga, which were not despicable squadrons,
served no other purpose than to scare off the evil, so that the
persecution might be enormously expanded. They carried their
insolence so far that two small vessels with but small crews,
dashed into the bay of Manila one of the above years, and almost
in sight of that capital, seized a caracoa from Iloilo with the rich
cargo aboard it. Then they went out haughtily, and no one could
take their prize from them, or punish their arrogance. In view of
this one may infer how harassed were the
A sidenote here refers to Santa Theresa’s Historia,no. 259 ff.
172
173
distant villages, and how filled with tribulations were our
religious ministers, who ever occupied the most advanced and
dangerous posts.
316. It even transcended the
of
tragic representation of so doleful
misfortunes, when in the year
1655 Corralàt, king Mindanao,
proclaimed war against the
Christian name. He began his
treachery by the inhuman murders
of two fathers of the Society
whom their rank as ambassadors,
which is so greatly respected by
the law of nations, did not aid.
That prince was in Philipinas what Gustavus Adolphus, king of
Suecia, was in Alemania, namely, the thunderbolt of Lucifer, the
scourge of Catholicism, and the Attila of the evangelical ministers,
who never practiced courtesy toward them except when force or
some reason of state compelled him so to do. For his private
convenience he had pretended that he was peaceful in public
during the preceding years. But now with no other reason than his
fury, he gave license to his vassals to infest the Christian villages;
and they did t like a river which overflows its bed, after having rid
itself of the embarrassment of its dikes. He was not content with
that, but in order to give greater flights to his impiety, he excused
it among the neighboring Moros under the name of a religious
war; and under that title he invited to it the Borneans, Tidorans,
and joloans, so that confederated with him into one body they
might unfurl the banners of the perfidious Mahomet, without
stopping until they utterly destroyed the law of grace.
317. He incited so great an uprising against that straitened
field of Christendom that, although the previous persecutions, that
the Moros. had practiced against it were so inhuman, (as may be
seen in the places of this history cited in the margin)73 they were
all assuredly less intolerable than those which were now incited;
for now fury and barbarity were carried to the extreme. That was
so fierce that disinterested pens did not hesitate to compare it with
the last of antichrist; so persevering, that until the year 1668, of
which this history is treating, and the year when the relations
which we follow end, there was not a single instant of rest; so
shameless that ruin was seen almost at the very gates of Manila;
and so universal that but few villages of our administration
escaped being the theater of war and the lamentable obiect of its
misfortunes. This is a brief compendium of the tragic events which
happened in the Philippine church, which was surrounded on all
sides by the waters of contradiction, as is the territory of those
islands by the salt waves of the sea. This is a sketch of the cold
winds, which, notwithstanding the heat of its climate, parched in
great part the-wavy exuberance of that leafy garden, so abounding
in the flowers of Christianity and the mature fruits of virtue. Let us
now consider with the most possible brevity, a concise sketch of
the glory which was obtained by our discalced order in return for
the hardships which overwhelmed its evangelical workers at so
calamitous a time. We warn the reader that we shall follow no
other chronological order, than chance offers.
73
The references in the margin at this point are to San Andrés’s
Historia. folios 451, 452; Luis de Jesus’s Historia, folios 39, 40, 44, 45,70,282,
284-295, and 353; Santa Theresa’s Historia, marginal numbers 250 ff., 366 ff.
519, 522, 534, 599; 603, 615-629, 646 ff., and 740 ff.
173
174
§ II
Of the hardships of our religious during these persecutions. The
venerable father, Fray Antonio de San Agustin, dies at the hands
of the Moros, in glorious martyrdom.
318. In the above-mentioned pillaging,74 which God
permitted for so many years, the Moros were triumphant, the
Catholic arms rebuffed; the Christian villages without other
defense than that of heaven, and the Indians drowned in the sea of
tribulations. Moreover, as the sword of the persecutor, also that of
greed and vengeance, was moved by the hatred of our holy faith,
the direction of its greatest force was toward the sowers of the
gospel. Daily did religious who had been driven from their
ministries and missions bring to Manila news of entire villages
ruined, the outcries of priests who had been captured, and letters
which announced the death of others. All was confusion, all
lamentation, all chaos, where the enemies of God were trying to
elevate their throne in the darkness upon so bloody and confused
injustice. It has already been seen that our Recollects had to suffer
greatly, since they occupy the vanguard of the army of God in
Carhàga and Calamianes ; but that was irremediable in so
disastrous a storm. The ship was seen to be buffeted hither and
yon by the waves; and it was impossible that the sailors should not
suffer from the buffeting. The winds were both violent and hostile
; the ship could not but be dashed from one side to another. The
hurricane was both furious and fierce, necessarily the pilots had to
suffer greatly.
319. Our provincials called out for relief, exciting pity by the
relation of their churches which had been burned and profaned; of
their sheep that had been scattered, and many of them lost; and by
74
their subjects who had been killed or captured. or at the least
obliged to hide in the mountains, where deprived of all necessity,
they suffered indescribable misery, traveling in the inconveniences
and darkness of the night in order to fulfill their obligation as
missionaries. But Manila is, as a rule, the place where least
attention is paid to the wretchedness of the poor Indians and to the
misfortunes of the gospel workers, for, since the citizens are
busied in their Asiatic and American trade, the only thing that
troubles them is any opposition to their profits. Very few are the
Spaniards who risk themselves in small boats to seek profit from
island to island; and consequently, they hear of misfortunes, which
ought to cause the greatest horror, quietly and without any special
disturbance. The passages from some islands to others being
occupied and even embarrassed by Moro craft, the latter cause
those who sail thither innumerable ruin; but many of the
inhabitants of Manila have very little or, perhaps, no feeling. If
news arrives that a,religious has been killed oz captured, some
insolent tongue is not wanting to break out with the ballad as
infamous as ancient, that the king brings us for this, namely, to
suffer and die in defense of the law of God; as if it were
compatible with the royal piety to abandon the defenseless
ministers of Christ, however much they may expose themselves
with heroic mind to endure a thousand martyrdoms. . Nothing in
short, matters to those people, if it do not touch their persons or
interests neither the misfortunes nor, the violent deaths of
Subhastación: literally, sale of goods at public auction.
174
175
their neighbors, nor the outrages of his Majesty’s vassals,
nor the losses of his royal treasury in the tributes which are
lessened by such confusions because the Indians are lost by the
thousand.
320. Although the captain-general tries, as a good minister,
to attend to such wrongs, it is quite common that he is unable to do
all that he tries; now because of the depletion. of the royal
treasury, whose funds do not suffice to meet the calls upon it; and
now since he must proceed with the advice of the council of war in
which those have many votes who understand only what pertains
to the exercise of merchants, although they sign their names with
military titles. If the vessels in which they are interested are in
danger, all difficulties are conquered, for there is no one who does
not hasten with vote and money to fit out fleets to oppose the
enemy. But if not then each proposition is a labyrinth, whence he
who makes it cannot unravel himself, although Ariadne gives him
a thread to guide him. Hence it follows, either that squadrons are
not prepared of size sufficient to warn the aggressors, or if they are
prepared, they set sail when it would be better for them not to, for
they only occasion the vassals new trouble. Let no one imagine
that the matter of these two numbers includes imagination or lack
of truth. This is proved by authentic documents in what touches
the past; while so far as the present century is concerned (during
which the same persecutions have been repeatedly shown),
experience has given me knowledge of such injuries, when I, as
procurator general and secretary of the province of Philipinas,
found that I had to solicit relief for the persecuted Indians and for
the afflicted religious It is also certain that the same thing
happened in almost all the wars of which we are speaking, so that
our oppressed missionaries had no other consolation than that of
God, in the pains that it was indispensable for them to suffer, and
which we shall now begin to relate.
321. We have already mentioned hi various parts of this
history, that when our Recollects arrived at the Philipinas Island,
in order to illumine them with the splendors of the faith, and to
fight like well-ordained astral bodies against the sissara of the
abyss, they chose with apostolic strength the most difficult
districts, the islands of the most barbaric people, and the places
where, if the light of the gospel had shone, it had allowed itself to
be seen only in fitful gleams. Hence it is that our ministers are the
most exposed to peril and danger among all those of the
archipelago; for they are very distant, not only from Manila, but
also among themselves from one another, and surrounded by
enemies to the Christian name. Each district consists of many
villages and even of distinct islands. Since all of them have a right
to the bread of the doctrine, which is the only food for souls, the
religious, in order to attend to that obligation, has to be in
continual movement. He must travel by sea threatened by so many
dangers to his life, among frights and chance; and he who
considers it of value to endure them and despise them, can only
form a just opinion of them. They do this without other profit than
the spiritual, enduring to the uttermost penury, and the lack of
necessities, in order to teach and instruct certain poor peoples
whom they are alluring from the most wild barbarism in order to
get them to live like men in a civilized Christian society.
175
176
321. Let one add to all the above bodily hardships the lack
of one to employ himself in so great charity, to whatever serves in
this life as a consolation to the spirit. For there our religious is
properly a hermit, although he may live among many people.
Now, it is because he is deprived of the company of his brothers,
for he is almost always alone in villages that are too large, and the
nearest minister is fifteen or twenty leguas away and separated by
rough seas, or inaccessible mountains, which render it impossible
most of the year for them to have the comfort of seeing one
another, or even to have communication with one another by
means of letters, in order that they might console one another in
their mutual troubles. Now, it is because the Indians make them no
company for the blessings that human association brings with it,
but serve only for an insupportable martyrdom; for, in addition to
the fatigues incumbent on them as missionaries, they must attend
to all their quarrels, grudges, necessities, and troubles. For these
reasons and others that cannot be expressed at present, the
governor of Philipinas, Don Fausto Cruzàt y Gongora, when
addressing the king in a report, did not hesitate to affirm that the
discalced Augustinians, even in times of peace, and after the
subjection of the villages of their administration, suffer the same
hardships as do missionaries in the lands of the infidels. His
Excellency, the bishop of Zebu, Don Manuel Antonio de Ocio y
Ocampo, was wont to say, as I have heard from his own mouth
and not only once, that if he had authority for it he would not
hesitate to canonize any Recollect, who happens to lose his life
among the fatigues of his calling, while completely fulfilling his
obligation in the missions of those islands, as is the case with
many.
323. And if this is endured in only the hardships annexed to
the spiritual administration, what must it not be when the
destructive tempests of the persecutions of the Moros, the greatest
part of which assail our laborers, happen to come? Then there is
no other relief than to flee to the mountains in order to live in
passes and caves, seeking their preservation, not so much for their
self-love, but because of that for others. There, through lack of
food, too much heat, continual rains, and many other discomforts,
they are generally so disfigured and so weak that rivaling Job, they
only live because of a skin loosely stretched over their bones. How
many contract incurable diseases there, who dragging along all
their life with them prove themselves to be stages of the greatest
pity! How many by trampling under foot evident dangers, in
hastening to the consolation of their sheep, to confess the sick, to
aid the dying, either gave themselves into the hands of the enemy
to be the victims of their cruelty, or offered themselves a willing
sacrifice to the precipices of the mountains and to the shipwrecks
of the seas! How many, since the world is unworthy of their noble
and Christian intercourse, and, it seems, tried to cast from itself,
wander for months -at . a time, naked, an hungered, persecuted,
followed on all sides by the shadow of death, without other
consolation than that of God, in whose hands they desire to finish
their lives, delivering to Him their wearied souls! . And how
many, finally, obtained the precious crown of martyrdom, after
having coursed the sands of so many hardships which were ended
either by the edge of the sword, or by a spear-thrust, or at the
176
177
spindle of hardships, or at grief at seeing holy things so
outraged, or by the inundations of penalties in atrocious
captivities! Mention has been made of many in the preceding
volumes, but some who will serve to ornament this volume were
omitted.
[In the remainder of this section are contained accounts of
several who suffered the martyrdoms above mentioned in their
war of the faith, and all of whom are mentioned by Combés in his
Historia de Mindanao, who is cited at length by our author. 75 The
first martyr (see Combés, book vi, chapter xiv) is not even named
by Combés, nor can Assis give anything more definite of him. He
was captured by the Moro pirates (presumably in 1645) and taken
to their home. Induced by desire for a good ransom, his captors
took the father to the Joló fort, but no agreement could be reached.
Father Juan Contreras, then chaplain of the fort, tried to aid him in
effecting his escape, but in vain. The captive was thereafter treated
so harshly that he became ill, and in spite of a pitiable letter, which
aroused great sympathy for him in the Spanish Joloan fort, and
spurred on the soldiers to beg that he be ransomed at their
expense, he remained in captivity until Alejandro Lopez of the
Society went to Joló from Zamboanga and ransomed him for 300
pesos. In 1649 (see Combés, book vii, chapter xii; and Santa
Theresa, no. 271 ff. ), the father prior of Linao in Caraga, Fray :
Agustin de Santa Maria, was killed by the insurgents; and in the
same troubles the father prior of Camiguin, whose name is not
given, was captured and maltreated. In 1658, (see Combés, book
viii, chapter viii), the Moros caused Fray Cristobal de Santa
Monica to flee, and killed Fray Antonio de las Missas, or de San
Agustin (his religious name). This latter happened while San
Agustin was returning from a trip to Cuyo and Calamianes as
visitor. San Agustin was born in Manila, his father being Captain
Francisco de las Missas, and his mother Fabiana de Villafanne,
both Spaniards. He took the Recollect habit July 14,1612. He
served in several important posts, having as early as 1624 been
prior of Bolinao and of Cebú. He was sixty-six years old at the
time of his death.]
[The remaining two sections of this chapter continue with
the persecutions of the Moros and the deaths of various Recollects.
The first, Francisco de San Joseph, was born in Jaca, Aragon, and
shortly after professing (June 12, 1632) he went to the Philippines.
He was soon sent to the Visayans, where he held several important
posts. He suffered greatly from the Moro raids for he was
compelled more than once to hide in the mountains from that
fierce folk. He was elected provincial in 1653 and during his term
was a vigilant worker. At the completion of his term he was sent
to the village of Cuyo as associate to the prior. His death occurred
in the island of Romblón, Where he was mortally wounded by the
Moros, while endeavoring to repel an attack in the-fort built by the
famous Padre Capitan. He published an explanation of the
catechism in 1654 in Manila, and left numerous manuscript works
in both Spanish and Visáyan. The father reader, Fray Francisco de
San Juan Bautista was born in Alagon
75
Our author also refers in sidenotes at this place to Luis de Jesús’s
Historia, folios 45, 167 ff., 284-295, and 353; and to Santa Theresa’s Historia,
marginal numbers 328, 522. 534, 648, 741, and 1153.
177
178
of rich and noble parentage. He professed in the Zaragoza
convent, October 8, 1614, and went to the Philippines in 1619. He
read philosophy and theology in Manila, and after the completion
of a course in the arts was appointed secretary to Fray Onofre de la
Madre de Dios. He served as prior of the villages of Marivelez,
Cuyo, Bolinao, Calamianes, and Tandag, during his mission work
there learning three languages thoroughly. He was essentially a
worker and did not care to retain in either Manila or Cavite, but
desired the mission fields where danger was thickest. He did not
seek office, and it is related of him that he once delayed his return
to the chapter meeting because he heard that there was talk of
electing him provincial. Though he was twice definitor, he still
sought the hardest work, laboring among both infidels and
Christians. The Moros were especially vindictive to him and gave
him many chances to acquire merit. Finally he fell sick on the
desolate island of Paragua, and after reaching Manila through the
efforts of some natives who braved the risks of the Moros, he died
in that city. Another active worker, was Fray Domingo de San
Nicolás, who was born at Alcalá de Henares. The place of his
profession is unknown, but he is first met in the Philippines. He
labored in the provinces of Calamianes, and Visayas, performing
marvels until his feet having swollen on account of the damp, he,
was ordered to retire to Cebú convent. There, however, instead of
resting he engaged in he work of the missions, for the laborers
were few, He worked in many villages, and finally met his death
in consequence of exposure from a shipwreck on the coast of
Bohol, whither he had accompanied a vessel hastily fitted out to
secure information concerning a recent raid by the Malanao Moros
in Cagayan village. Although some of the other occupants of the
boat were drowned, the friar with others was saved by the natives
of Bohol, and sent back to Cebú, where he died in a few days.
Fray Bernardino de la Concepcion (whose family name was
Durán) was born in Madrid, and took the habit in the same city,
December 8, 1636. He went to the Philippines in 1651 with Fray
Jacinto de San Fulgencio. His mission field was principally in the
south, and he served in the villages of Bislig, Cagayan, and
Caraga. His work and the necessity of opposing the Moro
Mahometans so wore upon him that he became unwell, but still he
persevered in his labors for lost souls. The treacherous Mindanaos
won over his servant one day in Caraga, and poison was
administered through the agency of the latter, who also
apostatized. The attempt failed, however, but Fray Bernardino was
sent to the province of Zambales for a season. There he was of
great use in aiding to quell the insurrection. The quiet that ensued
after their pacification not proving to the liking of this intrepid
warrior of the faith he begged and obtained leave to go again to
the province of Caraga. Resuming his former vigils and labors
there, he again, fell sick and this time died, being at the time prior
of Çagayan. He could speak the Visayan, Tagálog, and Zambal
languages. Fray Carlos de Jesus, son of Nicolás Léconte, was born
of Flemish parents. After various fortunes he went to Madrid, and
although a brilliant life was offered him, for he was a scholar and
fine mathematician, he took the Recollect habit in the convent of
that city, January 2, 1648,
178
179
being already at middle age. He also accompanied Fray
Jacinto de San Fulgencio to the Philippines in 1651. He worked in
Calamianes and Caraga, where his military genius as well as his
missionary traits shone out. He recalls the famous Padre Capitan
by his exploits, for he drilled and led the Indians as well as looked
after their souls, and his name became a terror to the Moros. In the
village of Busuagan, however, his native followers fled when
attacked by the Moros, and Fray Carlos was forced also to take
refuge in a swamp filled with brambles and thorns. For five days
(the length of time that the victorious Moros stayed in Busuagan)
he remained in the swamp up to his middle in water, and wounded
by thorns and molested by swarms of mosquitoes. Having retired
to Manila because of illness brought on by such events, his
recovery found him anxious to return to his mission field. The
prudence, however, of the superiors, dictated his remaining in
Manila as prior of the convent of that city which was then vacant.
With his old-time ardor he threw himself into the work there, but
the effort was too ‘great for one in his weakened state and another
illness seizing him he passed away. The lay-brother, Fray
Francisco de San Fulgencio, the son of Diego de Covarrubias, was
born at Simancas. He adopted the life of a soldier, and after
serving in Spain went to Nueva España in the same capacity.
Thence he went to Manila as alférez of one of the companies
raised for the islands. A religious life appealing to him he adopted
the Recollect habit (December 17, 1620), and shortly after his
arrival in Manila, he was sent to Caraga to aid the fathers who
were laboring in the missions there. At the time of the
insurrection, he was captured in the village of Bacoag, but after
four months of almost unendurable captivity, was ransomed. After
this he remained several years in Caraga, but was finally recalled
to Manila. His life was most active, for he made five trips to
Caraga, and three to Calamianes, with despatches or to accompany
the fathers going those posts, and often meeting with Moros on the
way, was in continual danger. He was twice wounded and twice
shipwrecked. His death occurred in the convent of Bagungbagan. )
Chapter X
Our religious propagate the Catholic faith in Zambales, a
province of Philipinas. Two religious die in España, with great
marks of holiness.
The year 1670
§1
Information is given of the preaching of Ours in Zambales; and
that many Indians came newly to the Church.
396 … Some people here in España imagine that the first
illustrious champions of our reformed order who went to those
countries [i. e., the Philippines], reared and finished the sightly
structure of that Church, and that the missionaries, their
successors, have been and are quite comfortable, and have no
other occupation than to maintain what the first ones built. It is a
fact that, according to the philosophic axiom that the conservation
is equivalent to a second production, that would not be doing little
even did they do no more But as a matter of truth it must be said
that if so holy a province rests
179
180
in the conservation of the conquests acquired, it also labors
without end in the building and planting of the other new
conquests. To this point the history has shown many of them 76 and
I shall narrate others below. But this year we have the profitable
and difficult expedition which our ever tireless and laborious
province made into the Zambales Mountains, for the sake of
obtaining not little growth for the Christian faith.
397. The mountains called Zambales extend a distance of
fifty leguas from Mount Batan to the plains of Pangasinan in the
island of Luzon. They are peopled by an innumerable race, who
defend themselves from the Spanish arms almost within sight of
Manila, because of the roughness of the ground, and maintain
along with their heathenism, their barbarous customs. Who these
people are can be seen in volume i, to which we refer the reader. 77
We only warn him that the Indians of whom that volume
talks, inasmuch as they live in the beaches and plains extending
from Marivèlez to Bolinao, and being, consequently, needed in the
trade with Spaniards and civilized Indians, are not so ferocious as
those who without these mitigating circumstances, inhabit the
rough mountains of which we speak. Not a few natives of several
nations are found in that place. Some of them are born in the dense
thickets and are reared in the most barbaric infidelity. Others are
called Zimarrónes, and have apostatized from the Catholic faith,
after having fled from the nearby Christian villages. There is also
an incredible number of blacks who, without God, without king,
without law, without civilization, without settlement, live as
though they had no rational soul. All of those Indians,
notwithstanding that they wage most bloody wars among
themselves, generally unite to oppose the Spanish arms, when the
Spaniards have attempted their conquest, and stake their greatest
reputation in shedding human blood.
398. The evangelical ministers have always fought with the
sword of the divine word against that wild forest of men almost
unreasoning, and with all the means dictated by charitable
prudence, in order to convert it into a pleasant garden by means of
the Catholic faith. The Dominican fathers stationed in the district
of Pangasinàn,. and in the villages called El Partido, which are
located on the opposite side of Manila Bay, have always cast their
net, and obtained not few hauls of good fish. The Observantine
Augustinian fathers have also done the same from their missions
in Pampanga, which border the above-mentioned mountains. The
fathers of the Society have done the same from the village of San
Mathèo, which is situated almost on the brow of the said
mountains on the Manila side. And our discalced Recollects,
equally with those who have done most, have labored in this
undertaking at all times, without despising occasions. They have
great opportunity for doing that, for, as a general thing, ten or
twelve laborers live in the fifteen reduced villages of the Zambàls,
who occupy all the coast for a distance of forty leguas from
A sidenote reference at this point reads: “See Volume iii of this
Historia [i. e., Santa Theresa’s], marginal numbers 737-742.”
77
The reference is to volume i of the series of histories of the Recollect
order, the volume by Andrés de San Nicolas, decade 2, chapter vi from folio
419.
76
180
181
Bolinào to Marivèlez, and surround all the above-mentioned
mountains by the sea side.
399. Thence, then, did the illustrious champions of our holy
reformed order generally issue in order to overrun the rough
territory of the mountains so that they might seize multiple spoils
from the enemy of souls, and direct them to eternal life. As those
people are very ferocious and difficult to convert, it was necessary
to use gentle methods there, making use of caresses rather than of
noise and din. Notwithstanding, on several occasions very many
conversions of Indians, Zimarrónes and heathen, who were
reduced to villages formed by the indefatigable solicitation of our
religious, were obtained. Then, as appears from four letters of the
definitory of that holy province, which were written to our
respective fathers vicars-general-the first, June 20, 1646; the
second, July 2, 1655; the third, June 14, 1658; and the fourth, July
4, 1668 -more than one thousand five hundred souls (at the date of
the last letter) had been drawn from the mountains, freed from the
darkness of the heathen, and illumined with the splendors of the
Catholic faith. And it has been impossible to discover who were
the illustrious laborers who obtained so wonderful trophies, in
order to enrich history with their names.
400. But the most abundant season of those fruits was seen
to be during the triennium of April 21, 1668, to 1671, Our father,
Fray Çhristoval de Santa Monica, governed the province during
those three years. He having heightened and ennobled the
missions of. Zambales, when other superior employments gave
him the opportunity, had placed there the whole of his affections.
On that account, in addition to the great zeal that he had for the
salvation of souls, from the very chapter, he made up his mind that
during the term of his government, the utmost effort should be
made to unfurl the standard of the faith in the Zambales
Mountains, and to have salvation carried to its inhabitants on the
wings of charity. For that purpose he managed to have father Fray
Joseph de la Trinidad, a native of Zaragoza, a religious born, one
would say, for the missions, elected prior of Bolinào. Later he
appointed him vicar-provincial of the jurisdiction of Zambales.
That man, then, together with fathers Fray Martin de San Pablo,
prior of Masinloc, Fray Agustin de San Nicolás, prior of
Marivèlez, and six other religious, who were appointed as helpers,
fought against idolatry so tenaciously, that our holy faith was
incredibly advanced.
401. He arranged the attack upon that proud Jericho (more
impregnable because of the obstinacy of its inhabitants, than by
the wall of its inaccessible mountains) by ordering that it be
assaulted at the same time by several parts by different soldiers of
so holy a militia with the bugles of the divine word. One began the
conquest by the side of Bolinào, another at Masinloc, two by
Playahonda, and others by Súbig and Bagàc. The father
vicar-provincial went to all parts in order to direct actions, and to
fight in person with his accustomed success. The father provincial.
also, with his secretary, then father Fray Diego de la Madre de
Dios, made it a point of honor to take part in so dangerous a field,
whenever the tasks of his office permitted, and they both fought as
valiant soldiers. For the expenses which were heavy for the
181
182
maintenance of many missions and for the other things
which accompany like expeditions, the province acted as proxy,
for they did not wish to have recourse to the royal treasury which
generally supports such undertakings. And to the labors which are
indispensable in wars of that quality, and which were excessive
there, those illustrious warriors set their shoulders, well armed
with endurance, for they had already been exercised in other
conquests and had always been victorious.
402. Thus did they work constantly until the end of the year
1670, and with so good result, that they converted that bitter sea of
idolatries and superstitions in great part into a leafy land of
virtues. On account of the insurrections which so great acts of
wickedness caused in Pangasinàn, Zambales, and Pampànga, as I
have already written in chapter i of this decade, many whole
families had fled from the Christian villages to the mountains,
together with a very great number of Indians, who having
abandoned the faith and subjection, lived there as the declared
enemies of God and of the king. Of those it appears that more than
two thousand souls were reduced, and another great number,
which is not specified by the relations, of other people of several
nations, who had either been born in heathendom, or had formerly
deserted the Catholic camp. The evangelical workers were greatly
elated with that fruit and rewarded for their unspeakable labors,
and were encouraged beyond all manner to follow up such
conquests and even to undertake other new ones. For, it is a fact
that when the fruit of one’s preaching can be seen, it causes much
joy in the missionaries, and gives them so great courage for other
undertakings that that alone can serve as a worthy reward in this
life and infuses valor for other more difficult enterprises.
403. Those zealous laborers formed anew from the people
whom they allured from the mountains, the villages of Iba, or as
they are also called, Paynaven, Cavangaàn, Súbig, and Morong. In
addition to this the ancient villages increased in population. Until
the present time, there was not along all that coast, that belonged
to our administration, more than three convents or ministries-one
even in Bolinào, another in Masinioc, and. the third in Marivèle. z
-with the exception of that of Cigayàn, which was destroyed. But
now two new convents were established, which were necessary for
the greater convenience of the spiritual administration one in
Paynaven, under the title of Nuestro Padre San Agustin, to which
were assigned three annexes or visitas; a second in Bagàc with the
advocacy of Our Lady of the Pillar of Zaragoza (which was moved
to Marung some years later under the same title), and to it were
assigned three other villages as visitas. All the above was
completely accomplished in the year 1670, with which this history
is concerned. That year can be marked by a white stone by that
holy province and indeed by our whole Recollect congregation,
because of the so great progress that was obtained in the
propagation of the faith, the only aim to which their desires were
expended. Next to God, successes so happy are due to the tenacity
with which those zealous missionaries worked, for they trampled
all dangers under foot, and to the good arrangements and holy
wisdom of the father provincial, Fray Christoval de Santa Monica
182
183
as well as to the zeal, courage, and care of his vicar, father
Fray Joseph de la Trinidad.
404. In order to conclude this matter we must add that the
same activity proceeded in the immediate years with equal fruit.
For, as in the chapter of 1671 father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad
was elected definitor, he besought the father provincial, Fray Juan
de. San Phelipe, very urgently, to allow him to make a mission to
the Zambales Mountains. Permission having been obtained, he
went to the convent of Paynavèn and gave a new beginning to the
conquest on the side toward Babàyan with results so favorable that
he tamed the wild and inhuman hearts of many Zimarrónes and
heathens. Hence, during the three years of his definitorship the
recently-created villages were greatly increased by a considerable
number of souls who were allured from the mountains and brought
into the Church. As payment for this service, and in consideration
of his many merits, he was elected provincial in the chapter
celebrated in the year 1674. The first care of his successful
government was to see that those missions should be kept up. He
sent two of the best religious to continue that undertaking and
finished the leveling of so impenetrable and rough thickets.
405. Those laborers (whose names will be written in the
book of life, since, due to the omissions of the relations, they are
lacking in the book of. history) penetrated into the mountains of
Zambales in such manner, that they arrived within a short time at
the contrary part of them toward Manila Bay. By so doing their
approach to the villages of the district of Batan, the administration
of which, as we have already stated, belongs to the Dominican
fathers, was indispensable. The latter, reasonably, as they thought,
took what had been done ill, saying that Ours were sowing the
seed in a field whose territory did not belong to them; for, in these
bodies of militia, more than in any other, it is easily perceived that
triumphs are taken from the hands of the one to advance others in
their obligations. Their father provincial, Fray Phelipe Pardo (later
archbishop of Manila), assumed charge of that litigation, alleging
before the royal Audiencia, that the conquest of that part of the
mountains belonged to his province, as it was contiguous to their
ministries. He petitioned that our discalced religious be ordered to
retire. But our father, Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, opposed that
demand so energetically that justice was compelled to decide that
if the extension of the Catholic flock followed, it mattered very
little which instruments were used, whether these or those
ministers.
406. Divine Providence usually permits such rivalry,
certainly holy in itself in the holy squadrons that serve the God of
armies for the spiritual conquest of the world; Whenever judicial
authority has determined in this way, experience has demonstrated
that great progress follows in favor of the Catholic faith. For each
side with the incentive of the other, dares to undertake greater
enterprises, and repeated triumphs are obtained. So was it now; for
seeing the door locked to their demand in the abovesaid court, the
father: provincial, Fray Phelipe Pardo, resolved to assign two
religious of his order, so that they might, with the zeal that he
infuses in all of his holy institute, make a mission thither by way
183
184
of Mount Batan. They began that mission in the month of
October, 1675, as is affirmed in his history of Philipinas by father
Fray Balthassar de Santa Cruz, although he says nothing as to the
reason for the expedition. 78 Accordingly Ours went to another
part, thus leaving a sufficient field for the Dominican fathers, for
truly, there is room enough for all. This strife being the origin of
the obstinate work of the missionaries of both families, who
labored with all their might, they reduced many Zambals to the
bosom of our holy faith, and filled their respective villages with
new converts. Had so laudable a rivalry continued, excellently
founded hopes that so glorious a conquest would be ended would
have been conceived. But it was God’s will to have all the territory
of Zambales shortly after left for several years in charge of the
fathers of St. Dominic, while our laborers went to the territory of
Mindoro, as we shall relate in chapter ix of the following decade.
Thereupon the strife entirely ceased, and even the fruit, so far as
our reformed order is concerned.
407. Father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad finished his
provincialate in April, 1677, and then immediately went in person
to continue the expedition that cost him so great anxiety. He
penetrated the mountains on foot in various places in order to seek
sheep there which he might convey into the flock of Christ.
Exposing himself to the will of their barbaric natures, without any
fear of the perils or caring for the dangers to himself, he
persevered there until he had to retire two years later for the
reasons given above. As we do not possess the necessary
manuscripts, we cannot state the number of souls that were drawn
down from the mountains from the year 1671 to that of 1679. The
relations which we follow only assure us that as it was not
considered advisable at that time to form settlements in the
78
wildnesses of the mountains many reduced families were
withdrawn thence, in order to live in the coast villages. Those
villages have been augmented in tributes and inhabitants, to such a
degree that those ministries were constituted with a great
abundance of people and were the most flourishing of the
province, as they were so thickly populated by souls who
embraced the Catholic faith with fervor. In due time (decade 13, in
the year 1741) this history will show forth another most fruitful
expedition, which was made into the same mountains by our
Recollect family, founding there villages and convents in order to
attend to whatever pertained to them in the conversion of those
Indians. Now we shall end this relation by giving due thanks to
God, for He has in all times infused into our brothers a spirit
fervent in undertaking, and in proceeding in such obligations. [The
second and last section of this chapter deals entirely with
Recollect affairs in Spain.]
Decade Nine
[The first four sections of the first chapter which covers the
year 1671 deal with the life of the father lector, Fray Miguel de
Santo Thomas. Nothing is known of his early life, not even his
birthplace or his family name, nor the date or convent of his
profession. By some he is called Miguel de San Agustin. His life
in the Philippines was almost all spent in the province of Caraga.
A reference here in the original is to Santa Cruz’s Historia, folio 499.
184
185
He shunned publicity, although he did fill several priorates.
He worked in the villages of Bislig, Tàndag, Siargào, and Butuàn
where he accomplished much, and where he was greatly beloved
by the natives. He endeavored to induce industrious habits in the
natives, and reclaimed many of them from the apostasy into which
they had fallen, besides strengthening old Christians and
converting heathen. He was especially devoted to the Virgin, to St.
Augustine, and to St. Nicholas of Tolentino. He is said to have
been the object of several marvelous occurrences which can be
traced to his devotion. To him also was vouchsafed at times the
gift of prophecy. He labored fearlessly in the insurrection of Linao
and surrounding districts, braying death more than once in his
endeavors to pacify the Indians. The sexual sin which was offered
him failed to move him as did all other dangers. His death
occurred in Butuan and he was buried in the church there. The
remainder of this chapter does not concern Philippine affairs. The
first section of chapter ii contains a notice of the eleventh general
chapter of the order held in Calatayud convent in 1672. Fathers
Fray Alonso de la Concepcion and Fray Joseph de la Circuncision
were elected definitors for the Philippines; and fathers Fray
Manuel de San Agustin, and Fray Lucas de San Bernardo,
discreets. The remainder of chapter ii and the following chapter do
not contain Philippine matter.]
Chapter IV
600. [The author draws a parallel between the capture of
Jericho by the Hebrews and the evangelization of the Philippines.
When God pleases, the walls of idolatry must fall.] This maxim
has followed our reformed order in the Philipinas, and has been
proved many times. For contending almost continuously with
paganism fortified in the mountains contiguous to the districts
reduced to their administration, although they were disappointed
by not few fatigues, without being able to sing victory, they were
at last crowned with triumphs when it appeared fitting to divine
Providence. We have seen and shall see several activities that
prove this truth. At the present we are offend the feats performed
in the mountains of Bislig.
601. The district of Bislig, which is the last and most distant
from Manila among those possessed there by our reformed order,
is located in Carhàga, in the island of Mindanao and consists of
five villages. These are Bislig, which is the chief one, Hinatóan,
Catèl, Bagàngan, and Carhàga. At its beginning the province was
named from the last one, as it was then the settlement of the
greatest population. Two religious only are generally designated
The Catholic faith makes new progress in Philipinas through the
preaching of our religious. Death of some religious in España of
great reputation.
§1
A great multitude of heathen Tagabaloyes who lived in the
mountains near the district of Bislig, is converted in the island of
Mindanao by the preaching of our tireless laborers.
185
186
for the spiritual administration of this district, and they have
too much work in the exercise of it. For the villages are located at
great distances from one another, the people are especially
warlike, they are Contiguous to the Moros, those irreconcilable
enemies, while the sea of those districts on which they have to
travel from one village to another, is extremely boisterous, rough,
and at times impassable, and on its reef in the dangers already
mentioned, several religious have lost their lives, as will be patent
further on in this history. But, notwithstanding that the two
religious assigned to those villages can scarcely attend fully to the
direction of the Christian Indians, and although because of the
dearth of religious from which our reformed order almost always
suffers in those islands, but rarely could more subjects be
employed there, those few following the maxim practiced there of
one doing the work of many, they did not cease to solicit ever the
conversion of the surrounding heathens, who are very numerous in
those mountains.
602 There is especially so great a number of heathen Indians
and barbarous nations in certain mountains that extend along the
coast, from opposite Carhàga near Bislig (a distance of about
twenty-five leguas, while it is not known how far they extend
inland), that even the Christian Indians do not know them all. The
nearest nation to our villages is that of the Tagabalóyes, who are
so named from certain mountains which they call Baloóy. They
live amid their briers without submission to the Catholic faith. or
to the monarchy of España. Those Indias are domestic, peaceable,
tractable, and always allied with the Christians, whom they imitate
in being irreconcilable enemies of the Moros. They are a very
corpulent race, well built, of great courage and strength, and they
are at the same time of good understanding, and more than half
way industrious. That nation is faithful in its treaties, and constant
in its promises, as they are descendants, so they pride themselves,
of the Japanese, whom they resemble in complexion, countenance,
and manners. Their life is quite civilized, and they show no
aversion to human society. All those of the same kin, however
extensive, generally live in one house, the quarters being separated
according to the families. Those houses are built very high, so that
there are generally two pike lengths from the ground to the first
floor. The whole household make use of only one stairway, which
is constructed so cunningly, that when all are inside they remove it
from above, and thus they are safe from their enemies. Many of
those Tagabalóyes live near the Christians, and those peoples have
mutual intercourse, and visit and aid one another. They do not run
away from our religious, but on the contrary like to communicate
with them, and show them the greatest love and respect. Hence
any ministers can live among them as safely as in a Christian
village.
603. It is now seen how suitable are all these districts to
induce so docile a nation to receive our holy faith. But for all that,
very little progress was made in their reduction until the year
1671, and then it was that the care and the continual preaching of
Ours obtained it. Besides the will of God, whose resolutions are
unsearchable, there were several motives of a natural order, which
made the attempts of the evangelical ministers fruitless. The first
186
187
was the continual wars with the Moros. That fact scarcely
permitted the Christians and even the Tagaboloyes to let their
weapons out of their hands. With the din of arms the Catholic
religion, always inclined to quiet and peace, can generally make
but little progress. The second consisted in the little or no aid
rendered in this attempt by the alcaide-mayor, the military leaders
of Catel and even some chiefs of the subject villages. All of the
above were assured of greater profits in their trade and commerce,
if those Indians were heathens than if they were Christians; and it
is very old in human malice that the first objects of anxiety are the
pernicious ideas of greed, and the progress of the faith is
disregarded if it opposes their cupidity.
604. But the strongest reason for the failure of the desired
fruit was the third. This reason is reduced, as we have already
mentioned, to the fact that there were but two religious generally
in the said district, and of those no one could be in residence at the
villages of Catel or Carhàga, the nearest ones to the said
mountains, and they only went thither two or three times per year.
Consequently, although they wished never so strongly to labor in
the conversion of the heathen Indians, they could not obtain the
fruit up to the measures of their desires. It happened almost always
that the minister was detained a fortnight at most, in the said
villages, the greater part of which was necessarily spent in
instructing the Christians. And although, by stealing some hours
from sleep, the minister employed some of them in catechizing the
heathens, since his stay was so Short, he could not give the work
the due perfection, and left it in its beginning, as he had to go to
the other villages. He charged some Christians to continue in
preparing and cultivating those souls so that they might be ready
on his return to receive baptism. But human weakness, united to
the sloth, which almost as if native to him, accompanies the
Indian, was the reason that when the religious returned after an
interval of four or six months, instead of finding the work
advanced, he found that which he himself had done in it lost. And
idolatry always triumphed, notwithstanding that he did not cease
to make vigorous war upon it. 6o. Thus time rolled on, and the
Church obtained very little increase in those mountains, for the
three above-mentioned reasons. The order could not conquer the
two first, and there was less possibility for the third. For however
much the order desired to apply. on its part the only means
whereby the desired fruit could be obtained, namely, the
assignment of a religious to reside in the said places, who should
look after the reduction of the Tagabaloyes, without attending to
any other thing, it was continually unable to effect that, for in
Philipinas the harvest is very great and the laborers few. I have
detained myself in the consideration of these obstacles, which
threaten the total devastation of the heathendom of Philipinas, and
are transcendental to all the holy orders, who are striving to spread
the faith in the said islands. For some believe (and more than two
have expressed as much to me here in España in familiar
conversation) that the reason why the heathenism of those
countries has not been ended, is because the missionaries do not
work with the same spirit as they did at the beginning. But they
are surely deceived, for in addition to the many other reasons that
187
188
may be assigned, the three above mentioned suffice to
render the most laborious efforts vain. The same tenacity, zeal,
and courage of the first laborers accompany those who have
succeeded them. Let the obstacles be removed, and one will see
that (as has been experienced many times) Belial having been
destroyed and cut into pieces, although many render him
adoration, the Catholic faith triumphs in the ark of the testament.
This happened at the time of which we treat in the mountains of
Bislig.
6o6. The year, then, of 1071 came, in which that holy
province held their chapter and father Fray Juan de San Phelipe, a
native of Nueva España, who had taken our holy habit in the
convent of Manila, was elected provincial. That religious had lived
for some years in Bislig, and had known by experience how
necessary it was for a missionary to live in residence near the
mountains, where so great infidelity was • fortified, in order to
establish there the health-bringing dogmas of our Catholic
religion. Scarcely was he elected superior prelate, since he had a
sufficient number of subjects in order to attend to all parts, when
he resolved to place one of them in residence at Catèl, and to order
such an one solemnly that he should from there procure the
reduction of those heathens by all means without engaging in
other cares, however useful they seemed to him. He also gave very
rigorous orders to the father prior of Bislig to the effect that
whenever they could without any omission in the spiritual administration of the other villages, he or his associates should go to
reside in the village of Carhiga, and be there in residence as much
as possible, all three religious concurring in that great work and
aiding one another mutually for the attainment of so well
conceived desires. Finally he arranged matters with so much
acumen that if the lack of religious had not rendered it impossible
after such ideas had been put into practice, it is probable that they
would have subdued all the heathens of those mountains.
607. In August 1671 that project was begun to be put into
operation; and although we have not yet been able to get detailed
information of the laborers, who were employed in it, on account
of which we cannot place their names in this history, we shall have
the consolation of knowing that they will not be omitted from the
book of life. It is certain that all three religious conspired together
in bringing to the delicious net of the Church those misguided
souls, and they shirked no toil that might help in their object. They
made raid after raid into those mountains; one from Catèl, one
from Carhàga, and one from Bislig, penetrating to their highest
peaks, and their deepest valleys in all their extent from the
promontory of Calatàn nearly to the cape called San Agustin. All
three of them at the same time were careful to assist the Christians
in the spiritual administration. They preached, catechized,
attracted the people by argument, by art, by prudence. And as
some truce occurred in the war with the Moros at that time, and as
they obtained at the same time a very Christian alcalde-mayor who
aided them and caused all’ his subordinates to aid them, in so holy
zeal, so much fruit was obtained that when, the father provincial
went on his visit in February 1673, he found that they had already
baptized more than three hundred adults without reckoning those
188
189
who had been purified in the waters of grace in sickness and
had immediately died. The latter were as many as one hundred
counting great and small.
608. Thus did the above-mentioned father provincial, Fray
Juan de San Phelipe, write to our father vicar-general under date
of July 5, of the same year. And after, on June 26, 1674, he adds
that, according to the relations sent to the chapter by the father
prior of Bislig, that district had increased by two hundred tributes.
This, according to the reckoning in vogue there, means eight
hundred souls. They had all been allured from the mountains and
from the horrors of their paganism to become inhabitants of the
villages already formed, and to live in civilized intercourse among
the pleasant lights of the Christian name. This well premeditated
idea has since then been followed as has been possible by the
successors of our father, Fray Juan de San Phelipe, whenever the
small number of religious has not rendered it impossible. For in
some chapters of that holy province, repeated determinations are
seen to place a minister in residence at Catèl, so that he may
exercise the means conducive to that end. Hence it is that father
Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio has inserted the following
narrative in his seraphic chronicle. He says: “Some of the
Tagabalôyes are living now in old villages who have become
Christians, and others are being reduced by the zeal and
cultivation of the discalced Augustinian fathers, who hold them as
inhabitants of Bislig. 79 And it is confirmed that although the
district of Bislig was formerly one of the smallest in the number of
its parishioners, it is now one of the largest in Mindanao, and there
is no other reason for its increase. [The two following sections of
this chapter de tail several miraculous happenings that aided not a
little in the conversion of the region inhabited by the Tagabaloyes.
In 1662 when the Spaniards abandoned the island of Ternate,
because of the Chinese pirate Kuesing, one of the religious images
taken away with them was of the Virgin. That image was given by
the governor of Ternate to the alcaldemayor of Caraga, who in
turn gave it to the garrison of Catel. From its position there it was
known as “La Virgen de la Costa “. or, the Virgin of the hill, “for
costa in the language of the country, is the same as castillo [i. e.,
redoubt].” The influence of this image was far reaching and it
distributed many blessings and favors to its devotees in times of
drought, in plagues of locusts, and during epidemics, and
performed other miracles that gave it lasting fame. Another image
of the Christ crucified was revered in a village near Bislig, and
was later given a place in the Recollect church at Manila. It was a
small ordinary image such as was used on the altar during mass.
As it was very ugly and misshapen the priest determined to bury it,
ordering some of the natives to perform that task. But when the
hole was dug, and they went to get the image in its place they
found the most beautiful and symmetrical image that they had ever
seen, and nailed to the same cross. The transformation was
announced to be of divine origin, and this image was accordingly
revered as miraculous; and it proved itself to be so in the future.
A sidenote refers to San Antonio’s Chronicas, i, book i, chapter 39,
no. 407, folio 139.
79
189
190
On account of the miracles that occurred in the Caraga
district the people became more devout Christians and many
abandoned their ancient practices. The remainder of this chapter
does not deal with Philippine matters; as do neither of the two
following chapters.]
Chapter VII
The Catholic faith is advanced by the preaching of Ours in
various places in the Philipinas. The death of two religious in
Talavera de la Reyna with great reputation.
The year 1677
§I
The evangelical trumpet resounds in various territories of
Philipinas, and especially in the ridges of Linao, and in the
mountains of Cagayàn, in the island of Mindanao, by the means of
our missionaries; and many heathens are converted to the
Christian religion.
714. It has ever been a very common complaint among
historians of the order, and all make it, of time the destroyer of all
things and of the neglect in leaving advisory news thereof. There
is no doubt that for these two reasons the memory of many valiant
deeds of excellent religious, who have filled our discalced
Recollect order with honors in the Philipinas Islands, who have
extended the Catholic faith untiringly at the cost of unspeakable
hardships, and destroyed the abominable altars of heathen
blindness, have been lost. But nevermore than at present does that
complaint appear justifiable, when we begin to treat of the
progress of Christianity in the districts of Linao and Cagayân,
villages of the island of Mindanao, one of the Philipinas. There
was the evangelical trumpet heard by dint of members of our
reformed order, with memorable fruit… Let us pass then to
mention what we have been able to bring to light from the
confused memories which time excused.
715. In the year 1674, father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, a
native of Zaragoza, was elected provincial in Philipinas. That
apostolic laborer had always had great zeal for the conversion of
souls. Agitated by that sacred fire that burned without consuming
his heart which fed it, he worked in his own person, as much as he
who did most, so that all the heathens of that distant archipelago
should embrace, believe, and reverence the faith of, the true God,
in whose name only is found salvation. For that purpose he went
not only once into the highest peaks of Zambales, in order to
illumine their dark- ness with the Catholic light or to lose his life
in so heroic an act of charity. He desired with unspeakable anxiety
to be given the opportunity to make a sacrifice of his blood by
shedding it in so good warfare, in confirmation of the truth which
he was preaching.”When shall I have the desirable happiness, “ he
exclaimed to his pious fellow countryman, San Pedro Arbuès, “of
being made a good martyr from a bad priest by the merciful God?
“ That desire we see already had made him leave every fear; and
consequently, without any horror of death, not withstanding that it
represented itself to him as to all, full if bitterness, he placed
himself in excessive dangers, in order that he might whiten with
the water of baptism the souls of the inhabitants of those ridges, so
190
191
that in their darkened bodies they might obtain the beauty of
grace. Thus was his practice throughout his life, not only in the
above-mentioned district, but also in other places of the many
which are entrusted to us in those vast territories, and if he did not
effectively obtain‘ the crown of martyrdom, yet the merited
reward will not be lacking to such prowess.
716. He did that when he was not the superior prelate, but
afterwards when he became provincial, he flew with his cares to
undertakings of almost infinite breadth. He beheld very near the
great empire of China, peopled by an incredible multitude of
souls, almost all of them seated in the shadows of death, and their
acute intellects ignorantly disturbed in the obscure darkness of
their errors. The mission so often craved by our reformed order to
those countries, was the first object of his zealous heart. He could
not be satisfied with trying to send others as evangelical laborers,
but he tried with the greatest seriousness to abandon the glory of
the provincialate, in order that he might be employed personally in
an expedition so much to divine service, and his inability to
accomplish it cost him many a bitter sob. He became a sea of
tears, when he thought of the distant kingdoms (also almost in
sight) of Japón, Bornèy, Sumatra, Tunquin, Cochinchina, Mogol,
Tartana, and Persia; for most of those who have their wealth and
amenities live but as mortals basely deceived by their brutish
worships, in order to die eternally in the more grievous life. To
some of those places and especially to Japón, he had practical
ideas of sending missionaries, and even of going thither in person,
and he made the greatest efforts for that purpose. And although he
did not obtain the end of his desires, because of the obstructions
which the common enemy is wont to place to such works, such
eagerness cannot but be praised very highly; and consequently,
they will have been rewarded with great degrees of glory, because
of what he was trying to communicate to the souls of others.
717. Since, then, he could not accomplish so well conceived
love which extended itself to the salvation of the whole world, he
set in operation the maxims which his burning charity dictated to
him in regard to the extensive limits entrusted by the Lord of the
vineyard of the Philipinas for the cultivation of our holy discalced
order, with a so visible utility to the Church. In the first place he
arranged with admirable prudence that certain missionary religious
should incessantly travel through the villages of our
administration, like swift angels or like light clouds in order to
preach the obligation of their character to the Christian Indians.
They were to advise them at the same time to take the sacraments
frequently, of the horror of idolatry, of the love of the faith, of
obedience to the Church, and to the appreciable sub mission to the
Catholic king from which so many blessings would follow to
them, and by which they would be delivered from innumerable
evils. For that purpose he assigned two religious of the Visayan
language, one of the Tagálog, and one of the Zambal all of the
spirit that such an occupation demanded. He ordered each one of
them to make continual journeys through the large and small
settlements of the district of his language, preaching the mission
with the same formalities that they are wont to observe in Europa.
He
191
192
also ordered the father priors of the respective districts to
give such fathers every aid for that apostolic ministry, both
temporal and spiritual, as such was for the service of God and the
greater purity of our Catholic faith.
718. The profits and good effects that followed that
undertaking happily instituted, and reduced to fact with rare
success, cannot be easily explained. Oh would that the lack of
religious almost transcendental in all times in that province did not
prevent the prosecution and perpetuity of so holy a custom by
which unspeakable harvests of spiritual blessings were obtained,
although some temporal riches should be spent in it. It is true that
the ministers of parish priests of our said order who live
continually in the villages, attend to those duties without avoiding
any toil. But since they always live among their parishioners, and
treat them so near at hand, and since they exercise over them a
certain kind of authority, greater than that which the curas in
España possess, it will not be imprudent to observe (considering
human weakness, and the cowardice of the Indians), that some
will not go to confess to those said parish priests without great
fear, the common enemy infusing them with fears lest the parish
priests perhaps will punish them for the sins that they might
confess. Let us add to this that there are no other confessors on
whom to rely, especially in the districts which are at some distance
from Manila. Also it is almost impossible as our ministries are
located, for the Indians to go from one village to another for that
purpose. For these reasons, I myself have experienced, and I have
heard it asserted by many curates that too many sacrilegious
confessions are made, for sins are kept hidden out of shame, to the
deplorable ruin of souls. All the above impediments cease
undeniably so far as the missionaries are concerned. Hence one
can infer the great fruit that would be gathered in spiritual matters
by means of the profitable idea which was invented by our father
Fray Joseph and put in practice in his time with the utmost ardor.
719. Besides that, by -causing his subjects to multiply, since
not in number, at least in their courage for work, the vigilant
superior ordered those who were in the ministries to perform with
the utmost effort what they had always done, namely, that they
should not be content with directing the souls of the faithful to
heaven, but should strive with might and main for the conversion
of the heathen. And since the fire of love as regards God, their
provincial, and their neighbors, burned with intensity in those
gospel laborers, one can not imagine how greatly the activity of
that fire, strengthened with the breath of the exhortation of so
worthy a prelate, was increased and worked outside. We can assert
without any offense to anyone else what has already been
suggested in other parts of this history, namely, that our discalced
religious in the Philipinas Islands, outstripped all the other
religious in the so meritorious quality of suffering hardships. 80
The villages most distant from Manila, those that offer less
convenience for human life, those with the most ferocious people,
and all surrounded by Moros, by heathens, and by other barbarous
Indians, in regard to whom any confidence would be irrational, are
the ones in our charge. And adding to this that one minister
generally has charge
80
A sidenote refers at this point to Santa Theresa, nos. 239 ff., and 737
ff.
192
193
of many settlements, which are at times located in distinct
Islands, one can easily see how many fatigues, sweating, and how
much weariness will be caused by the spiritual administration of
those who, are enlisted in the Catholic religion. What will all that
be then, if they have to attend also to the reduction of so great a
number of souls, who live lawless in idolatry in sight of the law of
grace! I repeat that our Recollects, equal in their zeal to the other
gospel laborers, exceed them there without difficulty in the
necessary opportunities for suffering. Moreover, if our brothers
have the advantage at all times in this regard of other missionaries,
those of the triennium of which we are speaking, excelled
themselves, for they labored more than ever in the administration
of the faithful and in the conversion of the heathen.
720. But the greatest efforts that the venerable father
provincial put forth, and the places where the religious assigned
for that work labored with excessive fervor, were in the districts of
Butuàn and Cagayàn, which, are located in the island of Mindanao
There was a heathen Indian called Dato . Pistig Matànda, who had
been living for many years on the banks of the river Butuàn
between the villages of Linao and Hothibon. He was of noble
rank, a lord of vassals, and had great power and a not slight
understanding, although he was corrupted with an execrable
multitude of vices. . He, instigated by the devil, had caused all the
efforts of the evangelical ministers to return fruitless. for many
years; for idolatry maintained not only in the castle of his soul, but
as well in all the territory of his jurisdiction, the throne which it
had usurped, and the continual assaults which were made without
cessation against that obstinate heart by-the members of our
discalced order had no effect. Several religious had endeavored to
make him submit to the sweet yoke of the evangelical law, and
they availed them- selves with holy zeal of all the stratagems
which, as incentives, generally attract the human will to reason
and open the door to grace in order that it may work marvels.
Especially did the holy father Fray Miguel de Santo Thomas,
make use of all the means that he considered fitting to reduce the
Indian chief to the true sheepfold as well as those who were
strayed from it in his following, during the whole time that he
graced that river by his presence: But experience proved that God
reserved the triumph solicited on so many occasions for the happy
epoch of which we are treating at present, for his own inscrutable
reasons. At that time then the divine vocation working powerfully
and mildly, and availing itself as instruments of our religious who
resided in Butuàn and in Linao, softened that erstwhile bronze
heart and he not only received baptism, but also tried by all means
to have his vassals do the same. Hence, leaving out of account a
great number of children, the adults who were reengendered in the
waters of salvation and became sons of God and heirs of glory,
exceeded three hundred. 81
721. At the same time another father, who had residence. in
the village of Linao, notably advanced our Christian religion in
places thitherto occupied by infidelity. The mountains of that
territory are inhabited, by a nation of Indians, heathens for the
greater part called Manobos a word signifying
81
See vol. xl, p. I23, note 46.
193
194
in that language, as if we should say here, “robust and very
numerous people.” When those Indians are not at war with the
Spaniards, they are tractable, docile, and quite reasonable. They
have the very good peculiarities of being separated not a little
from the brutish life of the other mountain people thereabout; for
they have regular villages, where they live in human sociability in
a very well ordered civilization. Although the above qualities, as
has been seen, are very apropos for receiving the faith,
notwithstanding that fact, although some of them are always
reduced, they are very few when one considers the untiring
solicitude with which our missionaries unceasingly endeavor to
procure it. The reasons for so deplorable an effect are the same as
we have mentioned in regard to the conversion of the Tagabalôyes
Indians. But during the provincialate of our father Fray Joseph de
la Trinidad, either because those obstacles ceased, or because
divine grace wished to extend its triumphs, the results were
wonderful. A very great number of those Manabos were admitted
into the Church how many is not specified by the relations which
we have been able to investigate, but we only see that they were
many; for it is asserted that while the district of Butuàn, to which
Linao belonged, consisted before that time of about three thousand
reduced souls, its Christianity increased then by about one-third,
the believers thus being increased for God and the vassals for the
king.
722. In the mountains of Cagayàn, shone also the light of
disillusionment, without proving hateful but very agreeable to
rational eyes for it caught them well disposed. The zealous
workers of our Institute, shaken with the zeal of the venerable
father provincial, devoted themselves to felling that bramble
thicket which was filled with buckthorns of idolatry and even with
thorns hardened in the perfidious sect of Mahomet. Three
religious, who glorified that district, attended to so divine an
occupation, stealing for it from the rest of the moments that were
left to them from the spiritual administration which was the first
object of their duty. They extended their work toward the part of
Tagalóan, and even penetrated inland quite near the lake of
Malanao through all the mountains of their jurisdiction. There like
divine Orpheuses they converted brutes into men by the
harmonious cithara of the apostolic preaching and those who were
living. in the most brutish barbarity to the Christian faith, which is
so united to reason. Thus did they reduce more than one hundred
tributes to the villages of the Christians. That was a total of five
hundred souls who were all drawn from their infidelity or
apostasy. That triumph was so much more wonderful as at that
time the war of the Malanào Moros against the presidio of
Cagayàn was more bloody, and it is verified by experience that in
all contests, the Catholic faith generally advances but little amid
the clash of arms. But their increases, which we have related (as
obtained in the triennium of the venerable father, Fray Joseph de
la Trinidad, which was concluded in April, 1677) appear from
several letters written in Manila by the most excellent religious in
June and July of the above-mentioned year, and directed to our
father the vicar general, Fray Francisco de San Joseph, which have
been preserved in the archives of Madrid.
194
195
[Section ii of this chapter relates a number of miraculous
occurrences in the villages of Butuàn, Linao, and Cagayàn, and
their districts miracles which were greater than the recovery of
health on receiving baptism, at the reading of the gospels, or after
drinking the water left in the chalice after the sacrament, all of
which were very common and little regarded. Those miracles had
great weight in reducing those people to the Christian faith. For
instance the dato above mentioned, Putig (or Pistig) Matanda, was
converted after the successful exorcism of demons that had
troubled his village. It is related in this section that “for reasons
that seemed fitting, the convent and church of Butuan were moved
to the beach from their previous location; but it was afterward
reestablished there, one legua from the sea upstream.” One of
these years also the village of Cagayàn suffered greatly from the
scourge of smallpox which was formerly so common in the
Philippines. Section iii treats of Spanish affairs. Section iv deals
with the life of Fray Melchor de la Madre de Dios who died in the
Recollect convent of Talavera de la Reyna, Spain, May 30, 1677.
He was born in Nueva Segovia or Cagayan in Luzón, his father
being Juan Rodrigues de Ladera. While still young his parents
removed to Manila where he studied until the age of twenty the
subjects of grammar, philosophy, and theology. Although he was
apt, he found himself below others not so clever as himself
because the pleasures of the world appealed to him too strongly.
Consequently, he quit his studies in disgust, and gave himself to
trade, “the occupation of which is not considered disgraceful there
to people of the highest rank.” But his evil courses still prevailed
and during his several trips to Acapulco he succeeded only in
wasting his money. Returning to Manila after his final voyage, he
gave up some of his worst vices, but still kept a firm grip of the
world. He must have taken up his neglected studies again, but
almost nothing is known of him until he reached his thirty-third
year. It is said by some that he became a priest before joining the
Recollect order, but there is a lack of definite knowledge on that
score. At any rate he did not abandon his rather loose way of
living. In the midst of his vices he had always been greatly
devoted to St. Augustine, and his conversion finally occurred on
the eve of that saint. Then a vision of the saint who appeared to
him caused his conversion and an enthusiasm that never left him.
He became a novitiate in the Recollect convent of Manila that
same year 1639 and professed in 1640. After preaching with great
clearness and force in Manila which had been the scene of his
excesses, he was sent as missionary to the Visayan Islands, where
he worked faithfully and well. But breaking down in health
because of his strenuous life in the snaring of souls, he was
compelled to retire to the convent of Cebú and then to that of
Manila. It being impossible for him to accomplish much work
longer in the Philippines be- cause of his health, he begged and.
received permission to go to Spain for the remainder of his life.
When he went is uncertain but it was after 1656, for that year he
was in Siargao in the province of Caraga. After his arrival at
Madrid he was as- signed to the convent of Talavera de la Reyna,
where his memory was revered after death for his good works.]
195
196
[Chapter viii notes the twelfth general chapter of the
Recollect order held at the convent at Toboso. Philippine votes
were lacking, due probably to the non arrival of delegates in time.
The remainder of the chapter does not concern the Philippines.]
Chapter IX
Our province of Philipinas takes charge of the spiritual
administration of the island of Mindoro where several convents
are founded. Several religious venerated as saints, end their days
in España.
The year 1679
§1
Description of the island of Mindoro, and considerations in
regard to its spiritual conquest, which was partly obtained before
our discalced order assumed its administration.
… 785. Mindóro is located in the center of the islands called
Philipinas. It is surrounded by all those islands, and is encircled by
them in a close band as the parts of the human body do the heart.
It has a triangular shape whose three ends are three capes or
promontories, one of which is called Burruncàn and looks to the
south, another. looks to the north and is called Dumàli, while the
third which looks to the west is called Calavite. In regard to its
extent, Mindoro comes to be the seventh in size among all the
islands of that great archipelago. 82 It is about one hundred leguas
Mindoro has an area of 3,851 square miles, according to the estimate
of the Census of the Philippines, i, pp. 65, 66. It has a maximum length of l00
miles and its greatest width is about 60 miles. Though represented as having
two mountain ranges those who have crossed the island say that it has but one.
The highest elevation of that range is Mt. Halcón, about 8,8oo ft. high. The
island has much valuable timber. The settlements are mostly confined to the
coast, and are small, while me wild people live in the interior.
82
in circumference. Its climate is very hot, although the continual
rains somewhat temper its unendurable heat. In its rains it exceeds
all the other nearby islands. However this relief bears the
counterpoise of making the island but little favorable to health,
because of the bad consequences of the heat accompanied by the
humidity. But for all that it is a very fertile land, although
unequally so because of its rough mountain ranges, and the thick
forests. There are many trees of the yonote83 and of the buri, from
which sago is made, which is used for bread in some places. There
are also wax, honey, the fruits of the earth, flesh, abundance of
fish, and rice where the people do not neglect through laziness to
plant it. That island was formerly called Mainit, but the Spaniards
called it Mindoro from a village called Minólo which is located.
between the port of Galeras and the bay of Ilog. 84
786. Its inhabitants had sufficient courage to cause all their
neighbors to fear them. Especially at sea were they powerful and
daring as was lamented at different times by the islands of Panày,
Luzon, and others, when they were attacked by the fleets of
83
Of “yonote “ Colin (Labor evangélica, p. 29) says: “They [i. e., the
inhabitants of Mindoro) pay their tribute in yonote, which is a kind of black
hemp, produced by certain palms. It is used for the larger cables of ships, which
are made in the rope factory of the village of Tal.” Cf. bonote, vol. X, p. 58; and
vol. XIV, p. 257.
84
San Antonio, i, p. 102, notes that the island of Mindoro was formerly
called Mait. Its Chinese name was Ka-may-en (see vol. XXXIV, p. 187, note
15).
196
197
Mindoro which they completely filled with blood and fire.
But at the same time they showed a very great simplicity, which
was carried to so great an extreme, as is mentioned by father Fray
Gaspar de San Agustin, that when they saw the Europeans with
clothes and shoes a thing unknown among them -they imagined
that that adornment was the product of nature and not placed
through ingenious modesty. 85 That simplicity produced in them
the effect of their not applying themselves to the cultivation of the
earth, but of contenting themselves with wild fruit and what they
could steal as pirates, or better said, robbers. The sequel of that so
far as their laziness is concerned, has lasted even to our own times;
for as says father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio, all who
have discussed the matter, agree that they are the laziest people
and the most averse to work of all the inhabitants in those islands,
notwithstanding that they are corpulent enough. 86 However, my
experience of the Philipinas obliges me to say that so blamable a
peculiarity is only too common to all of them, almost without any
distinction of more or less. Neither could that courage of theirs
save them from subjection to España, and if they earlier
considered that subjection. unfortunate in the extreme, now they
regard it with the light of the faith as their greatest fortune.
787. A beginning in its conquest was made on the
Mambürao side in the year 1570 by Captain Juan de Salcedo. 87
That conquest was completed so far as the seacoasts are concerned
from the cape of Burruncàn to that of Calavite at the beginning of
the following year by the adelantado, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.
The balance of the island has been subdued gradually by dint of
the evangelical laborers with the exception of the mountains which
are located in its center. From that time, then, the sea-coast Indians
of that island have been subject to the mild yoke of the Spanish
crown, and have given signs of extreme loyalty. For, although the
great Chinese pirate Limaón attacked the Philipinas in the year
1574, in order to seize them if possible, there were some signs of
insurrection in Mindoro, which was put down very quickly, even
before one felt its effects which are generally very painful in
popular uprisings. That good fortune was due to the moderation of
the natives and to the temperance of Captain Gabriel de Ribera,
who knew how to sweeten with very pleasing acts of kindness the
bitter crust of justice. For that reason of the Indians being entirely
well inclined to the Spaniards, the encomiendas of that great island
were very desirable to the primitive conquistadors. In spiritual
matters the island belongs to the archbishopric of Manila. In
regard to civil matters, it is governed by a corregidor and captain
of war, who generally has residence in it and extends his
jurisdiction to the neighboring islands of Marindúque and Lucbàn.
788. Let us now speak of its spiritual conquest, which is . the
principal object of our consideration. In the year 1543 the
Observant religious, the sons
Our author refers in a sidenote to San Agustin’s Conquistas, book ii,
chapter i, pp. 216, 250. The first page makes no mention of the “simplicity.”
86
The sidenote reference to San Antonio is to his Cronicas, volume i, p.
103.
87
A sidenote reference is to San Agustin’s Conquistas, pp. 216, 224,
292.
85
197
198
of the best beloved Benjamin, our common father, San
Agustin (to whom fell the first and greater part of the possession
for the conversion of the heathen, so far as that archipelago is
concerned) made the Philipinas Islands happy by their presence by
commencing to establish. their apostolic preaching;88 and later in
the year 1565, they settled in order to complete what they had
begun. Like stars rain laden with the evangelical doctrine those
most zealous ministers fertilized their Philipinas inheritance with
their voluntary showers. So much did they do so, that when the
new laborers, the sons of the seraph Francisco arrived at the field,
there was scarce an island which had not produced most abundant
fruit for the granaries of the Church because of the work of the
first showers ; as is shown in several places. of his history by
father Fray Gaspar de San Agustin;89 and that lover of truth, father
Fray Francisco de San Antonio confesses it, thus honoring as he
ought the Augustinian Hiermo [sic]. The island of Mindoro also
shared in this good fortune. In its cultivation were employed
fathers Fray Francisco de Ortega and Fray Diego de Moxica.
They, after having founded the village of Baco, endured
innumerable misfortunes in a painful captivity, hoping for hours
for that death, which they anxiously desired in order to beautify
their heads with a painful martyrdom. But in order that one might
see that although the former worked above their strength, much
remained to be done by their successors, I shall cite here the exact
words of father Fray Gaspar de San Agustin in his Historia.”The
convent “, he says, “that we had in that island [of Mindóro: added
by Assis] was in the village of Baco. Thence the religious went out
to minister to the converted natives. The latter were very few and
the religious suffered innumerable hardships because of the
roughness of the roads and the bad climate of some regions. 90
789. The discalced sons of St. Francis (minors for their
humility, but greatest [maximos] by the fires which they could cast
from themselves in order to burn up the world) arrived, in Manila
in the year 1577. Thence like flying clouds, whose centers were
filled with very active volcanoes, they were scattered through
various parts of the islands. They were received with innumerable
applauses of their inhabitants, who regarded them as persons who
despised the riches of earth, and thought only of filling the vacant
seats of glory. One of the places where their zeal for the salvation
of souls was predominant was the land of Mindoro which had
been ceded by the calced Augustinian fathers. There, not being
content with what had been reduced, they extended the lights of
the Catholic faith at the expense of great efforts, in the direction of
Pola and Calavite. Those who labored most in those places to
communicate the infinite blessing to souls were fathers Fray
Estevan Ortiz and Fray Juan de Porras, who were great leaders
among the first religious of the seraphic discalced order who went
to Philipinas. 91 But since the fire is kept up in matter
90
Sidenote reference: San Agustin, p. 250.
Sidenote references: Father Fray Marcelo de Ribadeneyra, in his
Historia, folio 84; father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio in his Chronicas,
volume i, folio 20.
91
88
89
See vol. II, p. 59, note 22.
Sidenote reference: San Agustin, ut supra, p. 292.
198
199
in proportion as it abounds in commensurate inclinations,
various fields having been discovered in other parts which were
full of combustible dry fuel most fitting to receive the heat of
charity, which gives light to the beautiful body of the faith; and
seeing that that rational fuel of Mindoro would not allow
themselves to be burned for their good, with the quickness that
was desired: they thought it advisable to abandon the little for the
much, and to go first to Ilocos and secondly to Camarines where
they hoped for more abundant fruits in return for their holy zeal.
790. In the year 1580 the religious of the holy Society of
Jesus arrived at the islands. They,, in the manner of swift angels
ennobling and glorifying those hidden plains, expanded the
habitation of Japhet, in order that he might possess the famous
tents of Shem. Immediately, or very near the beginning, the
superior detached excellent soldiers of that spiritual troop for the
island of Mindóro, so that they might with the arms of the
preaching destroy the altars dedicated to Belial by giving roots to
the healthgiving sign of the cross. They obtained much; for after
having penetrated the roughest mountains in search of heathens
and Cimarrones they founded the village of Naoján, with some
other villages annexed to it. They enjoyed that ministry a long
time with their accustomed success. The one who excelled in the
missions of that island was Father Luis de Sanvictores, whose
glorious memory and reputation for sanctity was conserved for
many years among those Indians. They, notwithstanding the
rudeness of their style, never spoke of him without praise; But that
father having retired in order to begin the conquest of the islands
of Ladrones (which were afterward called Marianas), where he
with glorious martyrdom gave the utmost encouragement,
although others followed his attempts in Mindoro with great zeal ;
the Society finally abandoned that island into the hands of the
archbishop. 92 We cannot give the exact time of their resolution or
the reasons which could move so zealous fathers to it, although we
regard it as certain that they did it in order to employ themselves
in other places where the evangelical fruit was more plentiful.
791. His Excellency the prelate immediately formed two
curacies of the entire island, which he handed over to the secular
clergy so that they might aid those souls. Later as the two could
not fulfill that, a third cura had to be appointed. They carefully
maintained what had been conquered, a territory that included the
coasts along the north side extending. from Bongabong to
Calavite. But because there were very few Christians, since it is
apparent that they did not exceed four thousand,. who were
scattered throughout various settlements or collections of huts
along a distance of eighty leguas of coast, it was not to be
supposed that those missions would produce enough income for
three ministers. Consequently, they had necessarily to be aided
with other incomes, which were solicited from the royal treasury,
and with other pious foundations. Neither was that enough, so that
at times it was very
92
Murillo Velarde (folio 123 verso, no. 306) records that two Jesuits
were sent to Mindoro to work in the field of the seculars in 1640. Juan de
Polanco, O. P., notes that about 1645 there were four or five Jesuits in Mindoro
who worked among the people of the uplands (see Pastells’s edition of Colin’s
Labor evangelica, iii, p. 735). San Antonio notes (i, p. 203) Jesuit residences in
the jurisdiction of Mindoro.
199
200
difficult to find seculars to take charge of those districts.
Those ministries were, it is true, scarce desirable, both because of
the smallness of their stipends, because they carried with them
unendurable hardships, and because of the unhealthfulness of the
territory. But finally, moved, either by charity or by obedience,
there was never a lack of zealous seculars who hastened with the
bread of the instruction, to those Indians. The curacies were
consequently maintained there until the year I679, when our
discalced order took charge of the whole island for reasons which
we shall now relate.
§ II
Being obliged to abandon the ministries of Zambales by force, our
province of Phlilipinas assumes possession, of the ministries of
Mindoro, and obtains rare fruit with its preaching.
792. In the year 1606, that grain of mustard arrived in
Manila, and although it was small, it produced the tree of most
surpassing magnitude. I speak of our first mission which was
composed at its arrival of a small number of religious. By
preaching the glory of God and announcing the works of His
power, so few men founded the greatness of that holy province
among the illuminations of blind heathenism. It cannot be denied
that by that time the sound of the word of God had reached all the
Philipinas Islands, which had been announced by the illustrious
champions who had pre ceded us in that vast archipelago, to wit,
the calced Augustinians, the discalced Franciscans, the Jesuits and
the Dominicans. But there cannot be any doubt either that,
notwithstanding that all the above orders had worked in the
conversion of souls, with the most heroic fervor, some new
locations in which they could enter to work were not lacking to
Ours. The harvest was great and the laborers few; and since,
however much those destined for that cultivation sweated in
continual tenacity, they could not go beyond the limited sphere of
man, hence it is that the Recollects on reaching that great vineyard
at the hour of nine, equaled in merit those who gained their day’s
wages from the first hour. And in truth this will appear evident if
one considers that even now, after so many years in which the
sacerdotal tuba of the apostolic ministry has been incessantly
exercised, not a few places are found in the said Islands where the
individuals of all orders are employed in living missions, and
struggle with the most obstinate paganism.
793. The district where Ours first spread the gospel net was
in the mountain range called Zambales, in the middle part of
which extending from Marivèles to Bolinào they obtained fish in
great numbers, as has been told already in the preceding volumes.
Those villages of Zambales are located between ministries of the
reverend Dominican fathers. For, since the latter held along the
great bay of Manila on the side called El Partido almost at the foot
of Mount Batan, several missions contiguous to Marivèles and on
the other side of Bolinào, the best portion of the alcaldeship of
Pangasinàn, they also included in their midst the settlements of the
Zambáls now reduced to a Christian and civilized life by the
missionaries of the Augustinian reformed order. For that reason
the Dominicans had desired and even claimed without going
200
201
beyond the boundaries dictated by courtesy and good
relationship that our prelates yield that territory to them, as it was
suitable for the communication of the Dominicans among
themselves between Pangasinàn and Manila and would make their
visits less arduous. But since that was a very painful proposition to
those who governed our discalced order, namely, the abandonment
of certain Indians who were the firstborn of their spirit, and a land
watered by the blood of so many martyrs, the claim could never be
made effectual, however much it was smoothed over by the name
of exchange, our province being offered other ministries, in which
was shown clearly the zeal of its individual members.
794. The one who made the greatest efforts in this direction
was father Fray Phelipe Pardo, both times that he held the
Dominican provincialate in the years 1662 and 1673. Although all
of his efforts were then frustrated, he obtained great headway by
them to obtain his purposes later. For May 30, 1676, his Majesty
presented him for the office of archbishop of Manila. Thereupon
he formed the notion that the new marks of the ecclesiastical
dignity would be sufficient to add authority to argument. For,
because of the respect to his person, surely worthy of the greatest
promotion, we did not dare to condemn his attempt as unjust ; and
more even, when he obtained it, making amends to our reformed
order for the wrong we received by a recompense which was fully
justifiable, in his eyes. A chance offered him a suitable occasion
for his project in the following manner. Don Diego de Villatoro
represented to the Council of the Indias that the island of Mindoro
was filled with innumerable heathens all sunk in the darkness of
their paganism; and that if its conquest were entrusted to any
order, it would be very easy to illumine its inhabitants with the
light of the faith. Therefore a royal decree was despatched, under
date of Madrid, June 18 1677, ordering the governor of the
islands, together with the archbishop, to entrust the reduction of
Mindóro to the order which appeared best fitted for it, before all
things settling the curas who resided there in prebends or
chaplaincies. That decree was presented to the royal Audiencia of
Manila by Sargento-mayor Don Sebastian de Villarreal, October
31, 78, and since his Majesty’s fiscal had nothing to oppose, it was
obeyed without delay, and it was sent for fulfillment to the said
archbishop, December 14 of the same year. On that account, his
Excellency formed the idea of taking Zambales from us in order to
augment his order and give the island of Mindoro to our discalced
order.
795. He began, then, to discuss the matter without the loss of
any time, and he did not stop until his designs were obtained,
notwithstanding that he had to conquer innumerable difficulties.
For, in the first place, our provincial, then father Fray Joseph de
San Nicolás, opposed it very strongly. The latter alleged that it
would be a violation of the municipal constitutions of the
Recollects to abandon the ministries of Zambales, for the
constitutions expressly stated that none of the convents once
possessed should be abandoned except under certain conditions,
which were not present in the case under consideration. Besides
that the Indian natives of Mindóro, both Christians and infidels,
scarcely knew that there was a question of giving them minister
201
202
religious and begged Jesuit fathers with great instance, for
they preserved yet the affection that they had conceived for them,
since the time that the latter had procured for them with their
preaching at the cost of many dangers their greatest welfare,
omitting no means that could conduce to their withdrawal from the
darkness of their paganism. And when the Zambals heard that the
Recollect fathers were to be taken from their villages, in order to
surrender them to the Dominicans, they declared almost in violent
uproar that they would not allow such a change under any
consideration, for they were unable to tolerate, because of the love
which they professed for their spiritual ministers, to be forever
deprived of their company, by which they had obtained so great
progress in the Catholic faith. 796. But the archbishop found
means in the hidden recesses of his prudence by which to conquer
such obstacles. For in unison with Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado,
governor and captain-general of the islands, he softened the
provincial, Fray Joseph de San Nicolás, and obliged him to agree
to the exchange. He quieted the natives of Mindoro by means of
their corregidor, so that they might receive the ministers of our
discalced order, and availing himself of the services of the
alcalde-mayor of Pangasinàn, he silenced the Zambal Indians so
that they should take. the privation of their Recollects gracefully,
and lower the head to the admission of the Dominican fathers.
Thereupon, the sea of opposition having been calmed, and after
the three seculars who were administering to Mindóro had been
assigned fitting competencies, which, were provided for them in
Manila, an act of the royal Audiencia provided that our reformed
order should be entrusted with the administration of the said
island, with absolute clauses which established it in the said royal
decree, and without the least respect the abandonment of the
Zambal missions. Then immediately preceding the juridical
surrender of them, which was signed by the above-mentioned
father provincial, although it was protested by only the father
lector, Fray Joseph dc la Assumpcion, and father Fray Francisco
de la Madre de Dios, a second act was, passed by which the
missions were assigned to the fathers of St. Dominic. Thus did the
archbishop have a complete victory.
797. By virtue of those decrees, which were announced to
our provincial, April 17, 1679, that holy province was
dispossessed of all the Zambal mountain range, which then
contained eleven villages. They were also dispossessed of the
missions which father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad was then
fomenting in the nearby mountains by the far reaching fruits of his
apostolic preaching, as we have mentioned worthily in another
place. 93 The individual members of the province of Santo Rosario
hastened to take charge of the ministries and missions of the
Zambals which had been surrendered to them by Ours without the
least disturbance being observed publicly, although almost all of
those governed by the said Father Trinidad threatened violence.
Those juridical measures, with what was done in Manila, served
much later for the recovery of Zambales without the loss of the
new possessions of Mindoro. The necessary papers
93
A sidenote reference is to nos. 400, 715, ante.
202
203
were also despatched directed to the corregidor of Mindoro,
ordering him to deliver the ministries of that island to the
discalced Augustinians. Without loss of time, the father definitor,
Fray Diego de la Madre de Dios, assumed charge of the district of
Baco, while the bachelor Don Joseph de Roxas who possessed it
left it. The curacy of Calavíte was taken possession of by father
Fray Diego de la Resurreccion, who took the place of Licentiate
Don Juan Pedrosa. The parish of Naoyàn was taken charge of by
the father definitor, Fray Eugenio de los Santos, the bachelor, Don
Martin Diaz, being removed. All that was concluded before the
end of the year 1679 without disturbance, lawsuits, or dissensions.
798. The above-mentioned religious were ac- companied by
three others of whose names we are ignorant. Immediately did that
holy squadron commence to announce the testimony of Christ,
with sermons founded on the manifestation of virtue, spirit, and
example, and not on illusory persuasion which is built on naught
but words, which are confirmatory of human wisdom. They
considered especially that they had to give strict account of those
souls whose direction had just been given them. Consequently,
they watched over their flock, hastening to their sheep with the
right food, without avoiding the greatest fatigue. Hence could one
recognize the great good fortune of the island of Mindôro, for in
the territory where three seculars at most, and generally only two,
lived formerly, six evangelical laborers had enough to do. They
were later increased to eight, and that number was never or but
rarely decreased. Each of them on his part produced most
abundant fruits at that time, and under all circumstances the same
has been obtained. For although the common enemy diffused
much discord during the first tasks of their apostolic labor in order
thereby to choke the pure grain of the divine word by making use
therefore of a man, namely, Admiral Don Joseph de Chaves,
encomendero of almost the entire island, at last by Ours exercising
their innate prudence and their unalterable patience, the grace of
God was triumphant, while the attempts of Satan were a mockery.
799. Father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio remarked
very forcibly of our discalced religious that, “although they were
the last gospel laborers in Philipinas, they have competed in their
apostolic zeal with the first laborers in the fruits that they gathered
from their labors in the reduction of the most barbarous islanders.
94
‘ And the father master, Fray Joseph Sicardo, adds very fittingly,
that “our discalced religious having received the great island of
Mindoro, increased the Christianity of its natives by means of so
zealous ministers. 95 Then, as appears from juridical instruments
before me, although the Christians throughout the island when our
reformed order assumed charge of it did not exceed four thousand,
in the year 1692 they already exceeded the number of eight
thousand, and in the year 1716 arrived to the number of twelve
thousand. It is a fact that the persecution by the Moros happening
afterward (of. which something was said
94
Our author refers in a sidenote to San Antonio, I, p. 207.
A sidenote reference is to folio 80 of Joseph Sicardo’s Christiandad
del Japón… Memorias sacras de los martyres de las ilustres religions… con
especialidad de los religiosos del orden de S. Augustin (Madrid, 1698).
95
203
204
incidentally in volume three,96 and which will in due time
add much to this history) the number of believers was greatly
lessened; for some retired to other islands, where the war was not
so cruel, others were taken to Joló in dire captivity, and others
surrendered their lives to so great a weight of misfortune.
Notwithstanding that, in the year 1738, when father Fray Juan
Francisco de San Antonio printed his first volume, it appeared by
trustworthy documents that Ours administered seven thousand five
hundred and fifty-two souls in the various villages, visitas,
missions, and rancherías in that island. 97 Hence, one may infer
that our zealous brothers have labored there especially in
destroying paganism and reducing the many Zimarrônes or
apostates who, having thrown off all obedience, had built
themselves forts in those mountains. And if not few of both
classes remain obstinate, it does not proceed certainly from any
omission that has been found in our zealous workers, but from
other causes which are already suggested in other parts of this
present volume.
800. Neither can one make from this progress of the
Catholic faith which was attained by the preaching of our
religious, any inferences against the other laborers who began to
subdue the island, or against the secular clergy, who administered
it afterward. The Observant fathers, as a rule, employed there no
more than one missionary or at the most two. The number of the
fathers of St. Francis was no larger, and they had charge at times
of the district of Balayàn as well as of Mindoro. Since the fathers
of the Society had so much to attend to, in so many parts, two or
three of them took care of Mindoro and Marinduque.
Consequently, one ought not to be surprised that so small a
number of laborers did not do more, but, that they had done so
much must surely astonish him who considers it thoroughly. In the
same way the parish priests, who succeeded them, were very few,
and since the reduced Indians occupied so extensive a coast, they
had scarce enough time to administer the bread of the doctrine to
the Christians, so that they had none left to penetrate into the
mountains in search of the Zimarrones or of the heathen
Manguiànes. 98 But, on the contrary, from the time that that island
was delivered to our teaching, the number of missionaries has
been doubled or tripled. It is evident that victories must generally
increase in proportion to the increase of the soldiers in the
campaign, even in what concerns spiritual wars.
801. This argument has more force, if it be considered that
the evangelical laborers having increased afterward with so great
profit, they asserted that at times the greatest strength
accompanied by gigantic zeal was given up as conquered, by the
continual toil indispensable in the administration of the faithful,
for to that task was added the care of the conversion of the
heathen. That toil was so excessive that the night generally came
96
A sidenote refers to Santa Theresa, no. 740 ff.
A sidenote refers to San Antonio, i, p. 207. The present total
population of Mindoro (according to the Census of the Philippines ii, p. 407) is
28,361, of which the civilized or Christian people number 21,097. The native
peoples include Bicols, Ilocanos, Mangyans, Pampangans, Pangasináns,
Tagálogs, Visayans and Zambals. The wild people are all Mangyans.
97
98
See ante, note 47. See also the Census of the Philippines (i, pp. 472,
473, 547, 548), which says that the Mangyans are probably a mixture of
Negritos with other native peoples, and posibly some slight infusion of white
blood in some localities
204
205
without the fathers having obtained a moment of rest in
order to pay the debt of the divine office. At times they had to
neglect the care of their own bodies in order to attend to the souls
of their neighbors. They were always busied in teaching the
instruction to children and adults; in administering the holy
sacraments, although they had to go three or four leguas to the
places where the dying persons were ; and in penetrating the rough
mountains in the center of the island, in order to allure the
heathens and apostates to the healthful bosom of the Church. To
all the above (which even now is, as it were, a common
characteristic of all our missionaries in Philipinas) is added the
extreme poverty there, and the lack of necessities that they
endured. For, the reduced product from those villages, in regard to
the ecclesiastical stipend, which was formerly insufficient to
support two or three curas with great misery, was now sufficient to
support six or more religious Consequently, they endured it with
the greatest hardship.
§ III
Information of the convents which were founded in that island,
and the miracles with which God confirmed the Catholic religion
which Ours were preaching.
802. Trampling under foot, then, the above discomforts and
others which are omitted, those illustrious champions attended to
the exact fulfillment of the spiritual administration, employing
themselves in the exercise of missionaries in order to reduce the
heathens to the Catholic sheepfold. In the belief that it would be
very conducive to the extension of the Christian religion to
establish convents in the new territory which they were
cultivating, they began to set their hands to the work. The first
foundation which they established was in the village of Baco,
where the corregidor was residing at that time, although that
convent was later moved to Calapàn. Two religious were placed
there in residence, and they looked after the spiritual
administration in several rancherías. Those rancherías have
increased with the lapse of time to a great number of Christians,
and have become villages that are not to be despised, having been
formed anew by the zeal of our apostolic laborers. The villages
comprehended in that district in the year 1733 are the following:
Calapàn, which is the chief one, where the convent is located;
Baco, Suban, Ilog, Minôlo, and Camorón, which are annexed
villages or visitas, as they are called there. Our church of Calapàn
is enriched with an image of Christ our Lord, which represents
Him in His infancy; and on that account it is called the convent of
Santo Niño [i. e., Holy Child]. That image is conspicuous in
continual miracles and is the consolation of all the Indians of
Mindoro. For a long history might be written by only relating the
marvels which the divine power has worked by it ; now giving
health to many sick unto death; now freeing villages from locusts
which were destroying the fields, now succoring not a few boats
which driven by violent storms were running down the
Marinduque coast, whose sailors were in the greatest danger of
being drowned in the water, or the ship of grounding on the shoals
of the land.
803. [One miracle is related of a Recollect in Calapan who
having acquired two hundred pesos determined to send it home to
Spain to his mother
205
206
who was very poor, without saying anything to the
provincial as. he was in duty bound to do. Being very observant in
his outward duties, he said mass before the image just previous to
sending the money to America on a ship which appeared
opportunely, but the image turned its back on him. Thereupon,
being convicted of sin, he burst into tears, and was thereafter free
from such temptations.]
804. The above case happened years after when the convent
was established in Calapàn. Let us now examine other marvels,
which happened at Baco, near the beginning, which were of great
use for the extension of the Catholic name. The father definitor,
Fray Diego de la Madre de Dios, who was the founder of that
house, was surely a holy man, and was venerated as such in
Manila. Notwithstanding that, however, a corregidor took to
persecuting him by word and deed. The servant of God bore the
personal insults with great patience, although it pained him to the
soul to see that the corregidor’s contempt was resulting in
prejudice to the Catholic religion. He practiced several secret
efforts ordered by charity in order to restrain the corregidor’s
tongue, but seeing that they were insufficient, generally chided in
a sermon the evil employment of sacrilegious mouths which,
taking the gospel laborers as the object of their detractions,
prevent the fruit of their preaching, although they-should aid in the
attainment of so holy an end. The chief culprit was present, toward
whom without naming him the father directed his aim; and since,
after one has once left the hand of God, he precipitates himself
easily from one abyss to another (angered by the pain which was
caused him by the medicine, which was being applied prudently in
order to cure him of his pain and indiscreetly abusing the authority
which resided in his person), he rose in anger, with the
determination to impose silence of the father who (if he was
talking) it was, for his own [i. e., the corregidor’s]
good.”Sacrilegious preacher “ he exclaimed, but when he
attempted to continue his face was suddenly twisted, and he could
not utter a word, and he was extremely disfigured and was
attacked by most intense pains. He was taken to his house, where
the venerable father attended him, and by his only making the sign
of the cross above the corregidor’s mouth the patient was restored
to his former state of health in body, while in soul he was
completely changed. The courage to make public penitence for his
public crimes, and to return his credit entirely to so holy a
religious did not fail him.
805. [The same father although very sick with fever did not
hesitate, aided by spiritual forces, to go to a distance to administer
to a sick person who had urgently requested his presence a fact
that conduced not a little to the conversion of the natives round
about. )
806 [and 807]. The second convent was founded in the
village of Naojân by the father definitor, Fray Eugenio de los
Santos, and St. Nicholas of Tolentino was assigned it as titular.
Besides the said principal village, it had in its charge six annexed
villages of visitas, namely, Póla, Pinamalayàn, Balente, Sumàgay,
Maliguo, and Bongàbong. However, with the change of the district
of Mangàrin, of which we shall speak later, there was some
variation in the distribution of those settlements. That ministry is
one of the first in authority in the island, because of the great
number of
206
207
parishioners to which it has increased, because a great
multitude of heathen Manguiànes who have been converted to our
holy faith, have gone thither to live, as well as a not small number
of apostate Christians, who were wandering at liberty through
those mountains. All that was obtained by the preaching of our
laborers by whose efforts three of the said villages were
reestablished. [Two prodigies or miraculous occurrences which
are related aided in the christianizing of this convent.]
808 [and 809]. Another and third convent was established in
the convent of Calavite by the efforts of father. Fray Diego de la
Resurreccion, and its titular was Nuestra Señora del Populo [i. e.,
Our Lady of the People]. It has the annexed villages of Dongon,
Santa Cruz, Mambürao, Tubili, and Santo Thomas. Of those
settlements, those that are on the coast which extends from
Calavite to Mangàrin, have been founded for the most part by dint
of the zeal of our religious. They formerly had many Christians,
although at present they have suffered a remarkable diminution
because of the persecutions of the Moros which we have already
mentioned. [An epidemic that was raging throughout this district
when the convent was founded was checked miraculously. In the
same district, a heathen Manguian chief who had opposed the new
faith surrendered to the personal solicitation of Fray Diego de la
Resurreccion, and became a good Christian, and afterward aided
in: the conversion of many others. The district was miraculously
cleared of the pest of locusts which were destroying all the fields.
810 [and 811]. The fourth convent was erected in the village
of Mangàrin under the advocacy of our father, St. Augustine. Its
prior also governed the villages of Guàsig, Manàol, Ililin, and
Bulalàcao. However, the provincial chapter of 1737 ordered that
house removed to Bongàbong, for reasons that they considered
most sufficient, namely, because Mangàrin was ruined by the
continual invasions of the Moros, and because of its poor
temperature, which put an end to the health of almost all the
religious. For that reason, the distribution of the annexed villages
of Naojàn, Mangàrin, and Calavite in another manner was
inevitable, so that the correct administration of the doctrina might
be more promptly administered. But the convents above
mentioned always were left standing, and serve as plazas de
armas, where those soldiers of Jesus take refuge in order to go out
in the island to war against the armies of Satan. It can be stated
confidently that the district of which we have been speaking, has
been conquered by our reformed order; for when we entered
Mindoro, scarcely was the name of Christ known there, while at
present there are many souls there who follow the banners of the
cross, and all the power of he incited by Mahometan infidelity, has
not availed to destroy the deep roots of its faith. On the contrary
we have wondered greatly at the power of the divine grace in
those neophytes, for after their belief has been proved many times,
as gold in the crucible, in the fire of the most raging persecution it
has gone up [a number of] carats in value and purity. [This district
was also the scene of a miracle or prodigy that showed the force of
God and the faith.]
207
208
812. Besides the above-mentioned convents, a mission was
begun some years later in the mountains of Mindóro for the
purpose of reducing the Manguiànes heathen. Although many of
them had been converted, allured by the zeal of various religious,
still not a few remained in the darkness of paganism for lack of
ministers, who could busy themselves without any other
occupation in busying themselves in illumining them with the
evangelical light. That was so abundant a field that it could keep
many laborers busy. Thus the project was formed by the province
to keep at least three subjects busy in it, so that each one, so far as
he might be able, might put his hand to the plough, and without
turning back, cultivate so extensive a land, which was capable of
producing an infinite amount of fruit for the table of glory. But
since the missionaries maintain themselves there at the cost of the
royal treasury, which is almost always in a state of too great
exhaustion, so well conceived a desire had to be satisfied with one
single preacher, whom the superior government assigned for that
purpose, although the province assigns others at its own expense,
when its too great poverty does not prevent, or the lack of men, so
usual there. The residence of those missionaries in the village of
Ilog was determined upon and a suitable convent was established
there. From that place, entering the mountains frequently, they
began to fell their rational thickets, in order to fertilize them with
the waters of irrigation of the divine grace, so that the seed of their
apostolic preaching might be received. By means of the laborious
eagerness of the sowers who have succeeded them, a great portion
of that arid desert has been transformed into the most charming
garden. When I left Philipinas in the year 1738 it still existed as a
most fruitful mission and there were well founded hopes that if
Apollos water the plants established by Paul, it will receive the
most abundant increase from God. 99
813. [The way was blazed also in the mountain mission
with miraculous occurrences that pro- claimed the true God.] It
appears impossible that their inhabitants should not come to know
God and should not run breathless after the odoriferous delicacias
of His goodness. There is still much to do in this regard, for a
great number of infidels still live in the said mountains, and if
thirty missionaries were assigned there, they would not lack
employment. But let us praise God for what has been
accomplished, petitioning Him to crown so memorable beginnings
with a good end.
[The fourth section of this chapter does not treat of the
Philippines.]
Chapter X
The province of Philipinas again receives the ministries of
Calamiànes, which it had previously abandoned. Abundance of
fruit is gathered there. Some religious die in España.
The year 1681
§1
Our religious begin again to preach the faith in the island of
Calamiànes; and the great fruit which they gather in the
conversion of many heathen.
823. [The Recollect missionaries of Philipinas can rightly be
called apostolic because of their zeal. )
824. In the year 1661, the Chinese pirate Kuesing sent an
99
The reference is to I Corinthians iii, 6.
208
209
embassy to the Philipinas Islands, demanding nothing less
than the vassalage of them all, and threatening the Spaniards who
did not comply with what he called their obligation that they
would feel all the weight of war on themselves. We have already
treated of this matter in another place. 100 So far as we have to do
with the matter here, various measures were taken in the islands
because of the fears caused by the threat, in order that they might
be defended in case that Kuesing fulfilled it. One of those
measures was the abandonment of the presidios of Terrenàte,
Zamboangan Calamiànes, and others, in order that they might be
able to employ their troops, artillery, and munitions of war in
defending the most important places. That decree was opposed
very strongly, but the objections although they were thoroughly
based on reason could not prevent such action being taken.
Consequently, at the end of 1662 or at the beginning of 63 the
presidios were actually withdrawn, and the Christian villages were
left more exposed than ever to the invasions of the Moros. That so
fatal resolution was also necessarily accompanied by the
withdrawal of the evangelical ministers, for the fathers of the
Society abandoned Zamboangan and other sites, and our Recollect
family the Calamiànes. Although no special regret was shown for
that action at that time by the Superior government of Manila, to
whom belongs the duty of furnishing spiritual ministers to the
subject villages, yet years afterward the wrong was recognized,
and the remedy was procured in due manner.
825 The most fruitful preaching of Ours in the islands of
Calamiànes has been already related in volume II;101 has also the
conversion of their inhabitants, until then heathens ; the marvels
which divine Omnipotence worked there; the convents which were
100
101
established for the extension of the Catholic faith; and the
hardships endured by the missionaries in spreading it. Now, then,
it must be noted that eight religious were well employed in all the
islands of that jurisdiction, who looked after the spiritual
administration of the Christian Indians and the conversion of the
idolaters who were not few. But when they withdrew, only two
remained in charge of the islands of Cuyo and Agutàya while the
six betook themselves to Manila or wherever their obedience
assigned them. The place occupied by the six (where they labored
to excess, as there were many Indians and they were spread out
into many islands and settlements) was given to one single secular
priest. He having his residence in Taytày, did as much as he was
able in the other villages. But it is more than certain that he could
do very little, if he did perchance succeed in doing anything. In
this regard one can visibly see the spiritual wrong which followed
those vassals of the king. Even an undeniable loss resulted to the
royal treasury, for, in a few years the Indian tributes were lessened
almost by half. But notwithstanding that, neither Governor Don
Diego de Salcedo nor the bishop of Zebu, to whom it belonged in
its various aspects to supply the remedy of one and the other
wrong, would manifest that they understood it.
826. Thus did, things go on for seventeen years until the
year
A sidenote here refers to nos. 32-38 ante.
The original refers at this point to Luis de Jesús, folios 36, 42 ff.
209
210
1680, when the Indian chiefs of Calamiànes having united
among themselves, presented a memorial to Governor Don Juan
de Bargas Hurtado. In it, after mentioning the wrongs above
mentioned, and the love which they always professed to our
religious, their first ministers, they urgently petitioned that the
Augustinian Recollects be assigned them as parish priests. The
fact that the cura, Don Antonio de Figueroa, the only missionary
in Calamiànes, in addition to having been presented for the curacy
of Tabúco in the archbishopric of Manila, had now been sick for
two months and unable to administer the sacraments, lent force to
that representation. On that account he petitioned with double
justice that a successor be sent to him, but no secular ecclesiastic
could be found who knew the language of the country, nor would
risk the mission which was now of but very small profit. For those
reasons, the abovesaid governor despatched an order to our
provincial on May 11 of the said year, asking and charging him,
and even ordering him in the king’s name, to assign religious of
his order, in order that they might go to reassume Possession of
the villages of Calamiànes, so that they might attend to its spiritual
administration, He hoped that by means of their wonted zeal, that
province would be restored to its former, splendor through their
direction and teaching, and that the number of the Christians
would increase in the proportion desired.
827. But notwithstanding that the father provincial
negotiated with his definitory in order to interpose a supplication
in regard to the said act, and refused to send evangelical laborers,
the total cause of such action being the lack of religious. He
alleged, then, that since his province had assumed charge of the
ministries of the Contracosta and of Mindoro, where many
subjects were employed; and in consideration of the lack of men
which the discalced order suffered there, which could not be
helped: not only was it clearly impossible for him to assign
missionaries to Calamiànes, but also that he saw that it was
necessary for the reformed branch to reiterate his petition made
previously to the royal Audiencia, in regard to withdrawing the
two ministers who were occupied in the island of Cuyo, as there
was a notable lack in other villages. That allegation was sent by
decree of the superior government to Don Diego Antonio de Viga,
of the Council of his Majesty and his fiscal in the Audiencia of
Manila. On the sixteenth of the same month and year, he
maintained that notwithstanding the representation made by the
father provincial (since no other order contained ministers who
understood the language of the Calamiànes), the necessary
provision must be DESPATCHED, in accordance with the second
and last warning, ordering the Recollect province to establish
missionaries in Calamiànes and not to withdraw those of Cúyo. He
was confident in the apostolic zeal with which they have ever
applied themselves to the ministry, that notwithstanding their
small number they would accomplish the task which demanded
many laborers
828. The governor conformed to the plea of the fiscal
Consequently, on the same day he DESPATCHED in due form a
second decree in the king’s name, ordering the superior, prelate of
our province, in consideration of the extreme necessity of the
islands of Calamiànes, to immediately establish the necessary
210
211
ministers therein for the spiritual consolation of those Indians. He
added that Don Fray Diego de Aguilar of the Order of Preachers,
the bishop recently appointed for Zebu (to whose miter the said
islands belonged) despatched ex-officio his decree also charging
our province with the administration of all the Christian villages
established in Calamiànes, or that were to be established in the
future; and says that he does so in consideration of the apostolic
zeal of our reformed order and the spirit that always assists them
in trampling under foot the greatest fatigues, so that many souls
might be gathered into the flock of the Cátholjc church. Thereupon
the father provincial, Fray Thomas de San Geronimo, could offer
no more resistance and sent father Fray Nicolás de Santa Ana as
vicar-provincial of Calamiànes, with two associates. The
alcalde-mayor of the said province, Don Diego Bibien Henriquez,
placed them in possession. of the ministry of Taytày (which is the
chief one of them all) on the first of November, 1680, to the
universal joy of the Indians. The latter showed by extraordinary
festivals their joy at seeing that the direction of their spirits was in
charge of the same fathers who had engendered them through the
gospel. The king, by his decree dated December . 24, 1682,
confirmed the said possession at the petition of the father
commissary of Philipinas, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, with
great signs of his royal pleasure.
829 Of the three religious newly assigned, father Fray
Nicolás established his residence in Taytày, the second was
located in the island of Dúmaran, and the third in the village of
Tancon. From those places labored according to their strength,
until the arrival at Philipinas of the band of missionaries which
was conducted by the father commissary, Fray Juan de la Madre
de Dios, which entered Manila in October 1684, when a greater
number of missionaries could be assigned, as was very necessary
for the direction of so many Indians. For the extensive territory
which was formerly administered by only one cura, has later given
worthy employment to five, six, or seven of our religious, to say
nothing of the two at the least, who have been stationed
continually in the islands of Cúyo. Hence one may infer how
much the Catholic faith has been extended there, now by reducing
into the villages the many natives who had fled to the mountains,
after abandoning almost entirely their Christian obligations; now
by undeceiving others who lack but little of becoming Moros,
because of their nearness and intercourse with those people; and
now by penetrating into the roughest mountains of Paràgua in
order to draw the souls from the darkness of paganism to the
agreeable light of the Christian religion.
830. In regard to these particulars, we consider it necessary
to reproduce at this point a portion of a letter written May 28,
1683, to our father vicar general, Fray Juan de la Presentacion, by
the recently-elected father provincial of those islands, Fray Isidoro
de Jesus Maria, a person well known in Europa for the literary
productions which he has published. He speaks, then, as follows :
“The urgings of the Indians of the province of Calamiànes to the
ecclesiastical and secular, government and to my predecessors,
have availed so much, that this province has judged that the
precept of Christian charity demands us to return to that
administration,
trusting
211
212
in God our Lord for the relief of the very great disadvantages
which had compelled our religious who had administered and
reared that field of Christendom from its beginning, to withdraw
from that Province. At the present it has increased by more than
two thousand souls who have been drawn from the mountains in
less than three years, as can be seen from the relations sent to the
chapter. Greater fruits are hoped for, because in the past year of
82, the ambassador of the king of Borney in the name of his
prince, arranged with the governor of these islands for the cession
of a not small amount of land and number of settlements, which
are subject to the said Bornèy one in the island of Paràgua, One of
the islands of Calamiànes. The confirmation of the pact with his
ambassador is awaited from Bornèy, so that that district may really
be incorporated with the rest which is subject to the king our
sovereign; and consequently, to introduce by means of our
religious, the Catholic faith among those new vassals of his
Majesty.”
831. Then he goes on to treat of the unsupport able hardships
suffered in Calamiànes by the evangelical ministers. I have
thought it best not to omit his relation, in order that one may see
how much merit is acquired in the promulgation of the faith amid
such anxieties.”But the devil, “ he continues, who, watches that he
may not lose the souls of which he finds himself in quail
possession, has raised up at this time a cloud of dust, by which he
has prevented and is preventing in many of these remote parts the
obtaining of many souls and is occasioning the loss of others. For
as I am advised by the letters of the religious of Calamianes, under
date of the eighteenth of the current month. and of the twentysecond of the past month of April, that the alcaldes-mayor who
have governed that jurisdiction (and even more he who is
governing it at present, who is a lad of 21, a servant of the
governor and of these islands) cause so great and continual
troubles both to the father ministers and to the natives of the
country, that the latter, although Christians, have retired from their
villages of Taytày, Dumaràn, and Paragua to the mountains in
order to escape their intolerable oppression. They exclaim that
they are not withdrawing from obedience to his Majesty and that
they do not intend to abandon their profession as Christians, but
that they do not dare to live in the more than enslaved condition in
which the alcaldes mayor, carried away by their insatiable greed,
confine them. The father prior of Taytày writes me that he has
entered the mountains with every danger from the enemy, in
search of his terrified and scattered sheep; and notwithstanding all
the efforts and warnings that he has made and given them he has
not been able to succeed in getting them to return to their villages,
unless another alcalde-mayor be assigned to them, and relief
offered for the extreme oppression that is offered to them. They
answer the arguments of the father by telling him not to tire
himself, ‘for we can ill hope,’ they say, ‘that he who tramples on
the sacred dignity of a priest, will have any moderation with
regard to us. ’ They assert this because they saw that the last
alcalde-mayor lifted his cane against father Fray Domingo de San
Agustin, and struck him while he was putting on his clerical robes
to say mass; and that the present alcalde-mayor treated the
religious with indignity even to the point of taking from them the
212
213
one who takes them their necessary support, so that they
have had to find for themselves the water that they drink. He has
taken from them the sacristans and other servants of the Church
without leaving them even anyone to aid them in the mass. He has
forbidden the Indians to enter the convent or to assist in any of the
things to which they are obliged. He has forbidden them to go out
as they ought to the visitas, and to confess, preach and catechize.
It is all directed to the end that the Indians might not be busied in
anything else than in getting wax for the alcalde-mayor. Hence
this is the source and beginning of the troubles suffered by the
poor Indians. They are not only not permitted to make use of their
natural rights but are prevented from giving the due execution to
his Majesty’s orders, from entering and going out, from trading
and trafficking one with another, and one Village with another, for
if they have anything to buy or to sell, it must be entirely for die
alcaldemayor. These notices are necessarily communicated in the
lands of the infidels. Just consider, your Reverence, what will be
the condition of their minds, when we try to reduce them to the
knowledge of our good God, and to the obedience of the king our
sovereign. I have informed the governor in regard to this, and
since I do not expect any relief from his hand, I entreat your
Reverence to procure it from the royal piety with the memorial
and documentos adjoined. If not we shall have to appeal to God,
for such troubles are of very frequent occurrence in various parts
of these islands. We never cease to wonder when we see some
Spaniards here who are so destitute of Christian considerations,
and so clothed in greed, God so permitting by His lofty judgments,
in exchange for the martyrdoms that are lacking to us religious in
Japón.”
832. We believe, although we are not altogether sure, that
the suitable relief was given on one and the other side, for in the
following years, we find that the Catholic faith made very
extraordinary gains in Calamiànes. This is proved by the
reestablishment of the ancient convents and ministries. It appears
that the chapter of 1686 erected a new mission in the village of
Tancón which was later moved to the village of Culión. The
chapter of 1695 established another distinct mission in the island
of Dumaràn, and that of 1698 a third one in the island of Lincapàn
and we see that that of 1746 has added two other ministries, the
first in the island of Alutaya, and the second in the village of
Calatàn. That is sure proof of the increase of the Christians, when
the evangelical laborers are so increased. In regard to the above
we must mention what appears from acts and judicial reports
which the superior government of Manila sent to the Council of
the Indias, and which are conserved in its secretary’s office in the
department of Nueva España; namely, that when our province of
Calamiànes was again given to us, all the islands contained only
4,500 Christian souls, but that in the year 1715 they amounted to
18,600. And even after the continual and furious persecution,
which is mentioned briefly in the third volume102 had intervened,
with which it is undeniable that the number of believers had
decreased greatly, father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio
102
A sidenote reference is to Santa Theresa, no. 740 ff.
213
214
notes in the history of his province of San Gregorio de
Philipinas 103 that there were 21,076 Christian souls in the islands
of Calamiànes and Romblon in the year 1735. Hence subtracting
about five thousand from that number for those of the island of
Romblón, there is a remainder of about sixteen thousand for
Calamiànes. 104 Let us give praises to God who thus maintains the
zeal of those fervent laborers and crowns their fatigues with so
abundant fruits. [Section ii of this chapter mentions the virtues and
holiness of some of the Indians of the missions of Calamiànes.
The first mentioned was one Joseph Bagumbàyan, a native of
Taytày, who was reared in the convent of that village by the
Recollects. The rearing of such children is described as follows:
“The holy orders of Philipinas are wont to take account of the sons
of the chief Indians of the villages under their charge, in order to
teach them good morals from childhood, and rear them with those
qualities which are considered necessary to enable them to govern
103
A sidenote reference is to San Antonio, i, p. 215.
The present population of the island of Romblon is 9,347, all
civilized. This must be differentiated from the province of Romblon, which
contains a number of islands, and has a population of 52,848. The Calamianes
or Culión group is located in the southwestern part of the archipelago between
Mindoro and Paragua between lat. 11º 39’ and 12º 20’ N., and long. 119º 47’
and 120º 23’ E., or a sea area of 1,927 square miles. This group consists of well
over 100 islands, islets, and mere rocks, many of then unnamed. The largest
island in the group are Busuanga, Calamian and Linapacan. The population of
Calamianes is given as follows for a number of years: 1876, 16,403; 1885,
21,573; 1886, 17,594; 1887, 16,016; 1888, 14,739; 1889, 16,876; 1891, 18,391;
1892, 18,053; 1893, 19,292; 1894, 18,540; 1895, 16,186; 1896, 15,620; 1897,
15,661; 1898, 14,283. While the falling off in later years may be accounted for
possibly by the movements of population during the insurrectionary period, it
must be assumed that the returns for the earlier years are incorrect, for they
would not naturally vary so greatly from year to year. See U. S. Philippine
Gazetteer, pp. 412-415; and Census of the Philippines, ii, pp. 197,198,405; and
iii, pp. 12-16.
104
their respective villages afterward with success, since the
administration of justice is always put in charge of such Indians.
They live in the convents from childhood in charge of the gravest
fathers. The latter are called masters, although in strictness they
are tutors or teachers who would right gladly avoid such service.
In this meaning, and in no other, must one understand whatever is
said about our religious having servants in the Philipinas. I have
heard scruples expressed here in España over this bare kind [of
service], when it ought to be a matter for edification to see that in
addition to the truly gigantic toils that our brothers there load upon
their shoulders, they voluntarily take this very troublesome one of
rearing a few children who serve only to exercise the patience.”
Joseph strove to imitate the fathers as much as possible, in self
sacrifice and austerity, and desired to become a donné, “which
was the most to which he could aspire, since he was only an
Indian.” That, however, being denied him, he was enrolled in the
confraternity of the Correa or girdle, and admitted as a spiritual
brother of the Recollect order. He acted as teacher of boys for over
fifty years, teaching them reading, writing, arithmetic, and music.
At his death he was buried in the Recollect church at Taytay. One
of the boys taught by Joseph was Bartolome Lingón. At the age of
fifteen he was appointed to assist Fray Alonso de San Agustin or
Garcias, who arrived in Philipinas in 1684. and was sent
immediately to Calamiànes. Although he desired to remain
unmarried, he was married at the request of the missionaries to a
devout woman
214
215
named Magdalena Iling. He acted as the chief sacristan of
the Recollect church in Taytày, ever taking great delight in the
service of the church and his duties therein. He survived his wife
three years, dying in January 1696. His wife had been born in
Laguna de Paràgua but had lived in Taytày most of her life with a
Christian aunt. Although she wished to devote her life exclusively
to religion she was persuaded by the religious to marry Bartolome.
Her devotion led her to teach the girls of the village without pay.
Of a gentle disposition she was yet unyielding on occasions of
necessity and although tempted by an alcalde-mayor who was
enamored of her beauty and made improper proposals to her, she
ever maintained her virtue. At her death by cancer of the breast,
she was buried in the Recollect church. The last two sections of
this chapter have nothing on the Philippines.]
Decade Ten
[The first chapter of this decade does not treat of the
Philippines.]
Chapter II
Our province of Philipinas attempts a mission to Great China. The
life of the venerable brother Fray Martin de San Francisco. The
year 1682
§1
Relation of the anxiety which our province of Philipinas has
always had to extend its apostolic preaching to China; and the
great effort made in 1082 for that Purpose.
[The story of the Recollect attempt to evangelize in China is
one of failure, notwithstanding the earnest efforts made by that
order to send laborers to that empire. Shortly after the closing of
Japanese ports to all missionaries in 1640, the Philippine
Recollects began to work up the foreign mission field, but it was
not until 1650 that they were able to present memorials to the
Roman court, which proved unavailing as the Italians and French
were already on the ground in many of the Asiatic countries. In
1667 the father provincial, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios,
received decrees in blank ordering him to send laborers to China,
but the royal treasury was in no position to aid them, and the wars
both in the islands and in China also prevented the proposed
spiritual invasion. Many other mandatory decrees from the king
met the same fate, but in the chapter of 1680, the order determined
to make the mission if they had to supply all the funds themselves.
Three men were told off to study the language in order to prepare
for the work in China, and in 1682, one did actually get as far as
Macan, but the opposition of the civil authorities there proved the
death knell to all hopes at that time. Again in 1701, and in 1704,
abortive attempts were made to enter the great empire, the last
being coeval with the arrival of the apostolic visitor Cardinal
Tournon. )
[The second section of this chapter treats of Spanish
matters.]
Chapter III
A fine mission leaves España for Philipinas; and the venerable
father Fray Christoval de San Joseph leaves this for the eternal
life.
The year 1683
§I
Of the missions of our religious who reached Philipinas during
the years of these three decades, and
215
216
in especial of the mission which made its voyage this year 1683 to
the not small luster of the Catholic religion.
… 908. The third volume has already related that a mission
left España in the year 1660 in charge of father Fray Eugenio de
los Santos. 105 He brought in that mission, however, only eighteen
choir religious and two lay brothers whose names I have been
unable to ascertain, as the instruments with which I would have to
do so have not come to me from España. They all reached Mexico
in the above-mentioned year and since because of various
accidents that happened during the voyage, in the islands and in
the port of Cavite no ships came from Philipinas to Nueva España,
either that year or the two following, the mission had to stay in the
said city all that time incurring the expenses and fatal
consequences that one can understand. In the year 1662 the
viceroy of Mexico despatched a boat to the islands to get a report
of their condition, for there was fear that they had been invaded by
enemies. One of those missionaries ventured in that boat, and
arriving at Manila it caused not a little rejoicing to the inhabitants
there. The next year ships from Philipinas were seen in the port of
Acapulco, and as a consequence fourteen religious took passage in
them and arrived at Manila in August 1663, and not in 1684 as
was wrongly reported in volume three. The five others remained in
Nueva España, but they after wards reached their destination and
all served in those fields of Christendom where they were of great
use.
909. Father Fray Christoval de Santa Monica, after having
been provincial of Philipinas, to which dignity he was elected in
the year 1656, was appointed in 63, to come to España in order to
collect and lead a mission. He came then, having received on the
way not a few favors from St Nicholas of Tolentino favors which
105
he received under the appreciable quality of miracles, but which
we cannot specify for lack of documents. He negotiated in Madrid
as successfully as could be desired, and collected a mission of
twenty-four religious, all generally of good qualities and with the
characteristics that are desired in that province. He set sail with
that valiant squadron June 16, 1666. [After various miraculous
happenings on the way, the vessel reached Vera Cruz in safety,
whence the passengers went across the peninsula to Acapulco.
August of 1667 the Recollects all reached Manila save two who
remained in Mexico for another year because of sickness.]
910. In the year 1668, the venerable father Fray Juan de la
Madre de Dios, of Blancas, was elected president of Mexico in the
provincial chapter of Mexico, and father Fray Agustin de Santa
Monica, commissary for España. The latter died aboard ship, and
on that account, when the former arrived at Mexico, he found an
order within two years to go to the court of Madrid in order to
discuss some matters of not small magnitude, and to give his vote
for the province in the general chapter. The authority and money
for the conduction of a mission were long delayed, but at last he
received them both at the end of 1674, whereupon he displayed so
good zeal that he took passage with twenty-six religious in June
1675. He reached Mexico with his gospel militia, where he was
ordered by the province to return to
A sidenote refers to Santa Theresa, no. 1228.
216
217
España to conduct certain matters that could only be
entrusted to his person. Thereupon, wading his accounts to
Philipinas, the mission went to the islands in the year 1676 in
charge of another prelate, and father Fray Juan bent his steps
toward his new destiny.
911. Another father, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, a
native of Cuenca, had gone to Philipinas in the mission of father
Fray Christoval de Santa Monica ; in the year 1680, that definitory
appointed him commissioner to España. He sailed the same year
from the port of Cavite in the galleon named “San Telmo.” [After
a voyage tempered with the mercy obtained by St. Nichólas of
Tolentino, in several dangerous situations, the father arrived at
Acapulco, January 22, 1681, and was detained some time in
Nueva España by the fever. Reaching Spain in November of the
same year, he hastened to lay his supplications at the royal feet,
and was given, a decree calling for a mission of forty religious
fathers and five lay brothers.”He also obtained a royal decree
dated April 16 of the abovesaid year [ 1682) in which his Majesty
continued the annual alms of one hundred and fifty pesos for the
medicines which are used in our infirmary of Manila; and another
of the thirtieth of the same month, in which he also continued the
alms of two hundred and fifty pesos and a like number of fanegas
of rice per year for the maintenance of the four religious of Ours
who were in charge of the Indians in Manila.”] .
914. In view of this, the edict for the mission was published
by our father vicar-general. An excellent mission was collected at
Sevilla for the purpose of taking passage in the fleet which was
about to sail to Nueva España in charge of General Don Diego de
Saldivar. Thereupon the mission sailed from Cadiz on the fourth
of March, 1683, and consisted of the following religious.
I. The father commissary, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios,
native of Cuenca.
2. The father vice-commissary, Fray Fernando Antonio de la
Concepcion, native of Aldea del Cardo, of the bishopric of
Calahorra.
3. The pensioned father reader, Fray Juan de la Concepcion,
known as Moriàna, an Andalusian.
4. Father Fray Agustin de San Juan Bautista, a native of
Leganès near Madrid.
5. Father Fray Juan de la Encarnacion, of Talavera.
6. Father Fray Francisco del Espiritu Santo, of Xarayz in La
Vera de Plasencia.
7. Father Fray Antonio de San Agustin, of Madrid.
8. Father Fray Juan de San Antonio, of Alcalá de Enares.
9. Father Fray Juan de San Nicolás, of Daymiel in La
Mancha.
10. Father Fray Alonso de San Agustin, of Villa de Garcias
in Estremadura.
11. Father Fray Joseph de la Encarnacion, of La Nava del
Rey.
12. Father Fray Francisco de la Ascension, of Madrid.
13. Father Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios of Malaga.
14. Father Fray Pablo de San Joseph, of Tobóso
15. Father Fray Joseph de San Geronimo, of Calcena in
Andalucia.
217
218
16. Father Fray Juan del Santissimo Sacramento, of
Logroño.
17. Father Fray Vicente de San Geronimo, of Lupiñèn, near
Huesca.
18. Father Fray Sebastian de San Marcos, of Toboso.
19. Father Fray Gaspar de. San Guillermo, of Villanueva
Messia.
Brother Choristers
20. Brother Fray Alonso de la Concepción.
21. Brother Fray Diego de San Nicolás, of Madrid.
22. Brother Fray Antonio de la Encarnacion, of Xetàfe.
23. Brother Fray Josepn de la Madre de Dios, of Tobóso.
24. Brother Fray Juan de San Agustin, of Oran, Africa.
25. Brother Fray Francisco Antonio de la Madre de Dios, of
Alcantara. .
26. Brother Fray Francisco de Santa Maria, of Madrid. .
27. Brother Fray Ignacio de San Joseph, of Buxaralèz,
Aragon.
28. Brother Fray Joachin de San Nicolàs, of Añon, Aragon
29. Brother. Fray Joseph de Santa Gertrudis, of Villafranca
de Panadès, Cathaluña.
30. Brother Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, of Urrea de Xalon,
Aragon.
31. Brother Fray. Joseph de Santa Lucia, of Caspe,Aragon.
32. Brother Fray Francisco de San Joseph.
33. Brother Fray Pedro de San Miguel, of Porcuna, kingdom
of Jaen.
34. Brother Fray Raphael de San Bernardo, of Berja,
kingdom of Granada.
35. Brother Fray Manuel de la Concepcion, of Sevilla.
36. Brother Fray Juan de la Ascencion, of Moral, in the
archbishopric of Toledo.
37. Brother Fray Alonso de San Joseph.
38. Brother Fray Juan de Santa Monica. Lay Brothers
Lay Brothers
39. Brother Fray Pedro de la Virgen del Pilar, of Barcelona.
40. Brother Fray Agustin de Santa Monica, of Ecinacorva,
Aragon.
41. Brother Fray Roque de San Lorenzo.
42. Brother Fray Joseph de Jesus.
43. Brother Fray Juan de Jesus, of Alcazar de San Juan, La
Mancha.
915. All the above, minus the one named at number 22 who
died at sea, and those included under numbers 9, 12, and 14, who
hid in Puerto Rico, in order that they might return to their
provinces, as they did do, arrived with the great good-will of the
fleet, at Vera Cruz, June 1, 1683, whence they went to Mexico
with. all possible haste. There they, comported themselves. with
the greatest rigor, observance, abstraction, and example, so that
the hospitium appeared a desert. Thus they succeeded in obtaining
the favor of the viceroy, the count of Parèdes,106
106
Tomás Antonio Manrique de la Cerda, conde de Paredes, marqués de
la Laguna, and knight of the Order of Alcantara, took office as viceroy of
Mexico, November 30, 1680. The chief events of his term were the piratical
raids, chiefly by French corsairs. His residencia was taken in 1686, and about
two years later he returned to Spain. See Bancroft’s Mexico, iii, pp. 190-207.
218
219
and the venerable archbishop Don Francisco de Aguiar y
Seyjas, who visited the fathers in the hospitium, and that not only
once. During that winter those who had not completed their
studies continued them, and in that the father lector, Fray Juan de
la Concepcion and others who were not lectors, but were worthy
to be, worked with especial zeal. By the fifth of March, 1685, they
began to go out in bands to Acapulco, whence they set sail April
in the almiranta, called “San Telmo.” They anchored in the port of
Sorsogón, in Philipinas, on the fourteenth of July, and arrived in
Manila some time in August. There they were given a fine
welcome and were allowed some time to rest after so long a
voyage. But they afterward began another greater work in that
vineyard with the fulfillment which was hoped of not resting until
they obtained their reward in glory.
[Chapter iv, treating of the general chapter of 1684, notes
(p. 457) that the first definitor chosen for Philipinas was father
Fray Francisco de San Nicolas, and the second definitor, Fray
Miguel de Santa Mónica; as first and second discreets (p. 458),
were chosen father Fray Blas de la Concepcion and father Fray
Nicolás de Tolentino)
[Most of chapter v is taken up with the life of father. Fray
Juan de la Madre de Dios, called also Blancas. He was born in the
town of Blancas, Aragon, of honorable parentage, his family name
being Garcias. From his early years of a religious turn of mind, he
at length attained the height of his desires by professing (June 15
1635) in the convent of Borja. In 1650, after having preached very
acceptably at the convent of Zaragoza, he enlisted in the Philippine mission organized by father Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio.
On his arrival at Manila he preached at the convent in that city and
engaged in other work (being also the confessor of the govern or
Sabiniano Manrique de Lara) until December, 1655. At that time
his health giving out because of an accident, he went with the then
father provincial, father Fray Francisco de San Joseph, to the
convent of Bolinao in the Zambal district, leaving behind with the
governor a folio MS. book which he had written . during the
preceding two years entitled Governador Christiano, entre
Neophitos (Christian governor among neophytes), for spiritual
guidance in all sorts of matters. In Bolinao, the change of climate
and work restored the father’s health in a short time, but he
remained in that place until the new provincial chapter in Manila.
At that chapter he was chosen prior of the Manila convent against
his wishes. Again in 1658 ill health compelled him to go to
Bolinao, where he remained this time four years. His efforts to
keep the natives there quiet during the times of the insurrections
were of great fruit. He labored zealously in that district even
visiting the schools in addition to the regular duties of a
missionary. He received a number of devout women into the
tertiary branch of the order. He was untiring in his efforts for both
the spiritual and corporal good of his charges.]
§V
Father Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios founds a village of Indians,
converted by dint of his zeal. He
219
220
is elected definitor and retires from the commerce of men to adorn
himself with the perfection of his virtues .
984. In a site called Cacaguàyanan which means “the place
of many bamboos, “ six leguas or so from Bolinào there were for
years back a not small number of Indians, who had fled from the
surrounding villages, and who are there called Zimarrones. They
having abandoned in its entirety the faith which they had received
at baptism, and accompanied by many heathen, not only rendered
vain the attempts of mildness and of force which had several times
been practiced to reduce them to a Christian and civilized life, but
either by declared war, or by means of skilful cunning, did not
cease to cause constant depredations in the Catholic villages which
were subject to Spanish dominion. So true is the statement
contained in various parts of this history, that our ministers of
Philipinas, although they dwell in mission fields already formed,
go forth to living war against infidelity, and although the
Christianity of Zambales was the first one converted by our
discalced order, even there our religious have no lack of
meritorious occupation. From the first time that our venerable
father was in Bolinào, he worked with his accustomed zeal in
order to place those people in the pathway of their eternal
salvation. He had obtained from them that the Christians should be
obedient to the law, and that the heathen should leave the opaque
shades of paganism, so that it was conceded to him to found a new
settlement in the island of Paro with them, with a general pardon
and the accustomed privileges. . Moved by so good hopes the
father went to chapter, and since he had so much influence with
the governor of the islands to whom the giving of such licenses
pertains, he procured one for the founding of the village which he
was attempting, with all the privileges that those Zimarrones and
idolaters could desire. But since the religious to whom it was
charged, did not succeed in finding the means prescribed by
prudence to unite spirits dissimilar in other regards, not only was
the project not obtained, but their goodwills having been irritated,
the desired attainment came to appear impossible.
985. So passed affairs, when renouncing the priorate of
Manila, as we have said above, that gleaming sun returned to
illumine the hemisphere of Bolinao, and not being able to prevent
the activity of his light, he immediately shed his reflected light
even to the darkest caves where those Indians were taking refuge
in the manner of wild beasts, fleeing from their own good and
blindly enamored of the most unhappy freedom. Again did the
father establish the compacts for their conversion. In the first step
that he took in the undertaking, he made the greatest sacrifice of
himself, by exposing his life to a danger which might make the
most courageous man tremble, if he were less holy. For when he
heard that the fugitive Christians and a great number of heathens
and some Chinese idolaters were celebrating a solemn feast to the
demons, in the above-mentioned place of Cacaguayànan, he
determined to go thither in person with the intrepidity suitable to
his valor, and almost alone to oppose so sacrilegious worship and
at the same time reduce those who paid that worship. In these
ceremonies called Maganitos : in the language of the country,
220
221
intoxication is the most essential part of the solemnity. And
since the Zambal Indians are extremely warlike, esteeming it the
principal part of their nobility, unless they are illumined with the
Catholic faith, to lessen with inhuman murders the species of
which they consider themselves as individuals, adding to this that
they consider it as an attention paid to their religion, to take away
the life of any Christian who approaches their district, where they
pay such adorations to their deities, then one can conjecture the
great risk that beset that soldier of Jesus, when he attacked such an
army of infernal furies, in order to withdraw them from a darkness
so dense into the refulgent light of the Catholic religion.
986. But its good outcome deprived the action of the censure
of temerity, which showed that it was governed by a special
motion of the Holy Spirit, whose impulse at times trespassing the
lines of what the world calls prudence, causes one to undertake
projects which our finite reason qualifies as rashness. The fact is
that when the venerable father arrived at the dense part of a
solitary thicket in whose melancholy shades those Indians had
gathered to worship as a god one who is not a god, he met them
with the qualities of meek sheep, when he might have feared to
find them like ferocious wolves, who would consider it a sport of
their cruelty to rend -him to pieces. ; Beyond any doubt the hand
of God, who wished to preserve the life of one who despised it for
His sake, was in this; for since the infernal fury with which the
heathen cloth themselves on such occasions is assured, one cannot
attribute their gentleness on this occasion to natural causes. That
most zealous minister put his hand, then, to the double edged
sword of the preaching, and fighting with it according to his wont
so skilfully, made himself master almost without any resistance of
those hearts which were filled with apostasy and infidelity, setting
up in them the banner of our holy Catholic faith. The complete
attainment of so famous a victory was retarded somewhat, because
of the outbreak of the insurrection of Pangasinàn. In him was
verified what experience has always demonstrated, namely, that a
very quiet disposition is needed so that the divine word may be
born in souls by the faith. But at last when all the heads of that
monstrous hydra were cut off, the blessed father had the happiness
to obtain the fruit of his zeal by constructing a new village in the
site called Mangàsin. That was the most suitable place in the
island of Paro, and was called by another name Cabarróyan. From
the beginning he counted eighty houses in it and a like number of
families, all drawn from the captivity of the devil to the perfect
liberty of the kingdom of Christ.
[The father preached many sermons to the Zambals in their
own language, which he had begun to learn when he first went to
Bolinào, so many in fact that they formed two MS. volumes in
quarto; and of them copies were made for the use of those not so
well versed as himself in the Zámbal tongue. In April 1662 he was
chosen definitor at the provincial chapter, and lived for the three
years of that office in the Manila convent. At the following
chapter in 1665, father Fray Juan was elected provincial against
his will. His term was one that needed his strong rule, for there
were troubles with the governor, Diego Salcedo, who offered
obstacles to the smooth ordering of affairs. He materially
221
222
advanced his order and brought some new stability into the body
which had suffered in the recent earthquakes, and the Chinese and
native insurrections. At the completion of his triennium he was
chosen president of the Recollect hospitium in Mexico. Setting
sail for his destination, July 4, 1668, the port of Acapulco was
reached only on the twenty-second of the following January, after
a voyage replete with storm and sickness. Proceeding to his
destination the father entered the hospitium of Mexico on the
twelfth of February of the same year. In 1671, as related above,
Father Juan de la Madre de Dios was ordered to cast the vote of
his province in the general chapter held in Spain in 1672, and also
to attend to various matters for his order. There his stay being
somewhat prolonged because of lack of funds and other things he
was made visitor general of certain Spanish convents, and was
later elected to high officers of the order in Aragon. Returning to
Nueva España with a band of missionaries he was again sent to
Spain on business of the order, but a broken arm received while on
his way from Sevilla to Madrid, caused his retirement to the
Zaragoza convent, where he died January 10, 1685, at the age of
68. Throughout his life, he was most humble and led an austere
existence.]
[Section ii of the following chapter treats of the life of father
Fray Thomas de San Geronimo. This father was born at the village
of Yebenes, in the archbishopric of Toledo, his family name being
Ayala. He took the habit in the Madrid convent, July 28, 1646.
Upon going to the Philippines he was sent to the missions of the
Visayas. Devoting himself there to the study of the languages he
learned several of the Visayan tongues, especially the Cebuan,
“the principal Visayan tongue.” In that language he translated the
catechism, which was printed at Manila in 1730; compiled an
explanation of the Christian Doctrine, which was printed in 1730;
and composed a vocabulary in the Cebuan tongue, and another in
the dialects spoken in Cagayàn and Tagaloan. In addition he left
two volumes of sermons in the vernacular of the country. He
served as prior for six years in the convent of Billig, Mindanao;
six years in Cagayàn, and various times at the island of Romblon,
and finally in Siargao. In 1680 he was elected provincial, and
served his term so faithfully and well, visiting and working
assiduously, that he was reelected in 1686 against his will. But he
was destined not to fill that office again for death took him May
19, 1686. After his first term he served in the island of Romblón.
He was a most zealous missionary. The remainder of the chapter
and chapter vii following do not deal with Philippine affairs.]
Chapter VIII
Our missionaries illumine the islands of Masbàte with the
preaching. The fourteenth general chapter is held. Two excellent
religious die in the Province of Aragon.
The Year 1688
§1
Our province of Philipinas takes charge of the spiritual
administration of three islands, namely, Masbate, Ticao, and
Burias, with no little luster to the Catholic religion .
… 1108. In the great archipelago of San Lazaro, as one
enters the Philipinas from Marianas,
222
223
the islands of Luzón, Mindoro, Panài, Zebu, and Leyte form
among themselves an almost perfect circle which has a
circumference along the beaches from the center of about two
hundred leguas encircling the above-named islands, which are
very near one another. Within this circumference, toward the part
of Mindoro and Panay, are located the islands of Romblon, and
toward the part of Leyte those of Masbate, and Burias, which
belong to the bishopric of Nueva Cáceres in ecclesiastical matters,
and to the alcaideship of Albay in political matters. Masbate,
which is the chief island, is sixty leguas south west of Manila. It
lies in a latitude of about sixty degrees, has a circumference of
fifty leguas, a length of nineteen, and a breadth of five or six.107
The island of Ticào is about nine leguas long, four and one-half
wide, and about twenty-three leguas in circumference.108 That of
Burias has a circumference of twenty-six leguas, four wide and
twelve long.109 Masbàte has the reputation of having the richest
gold mines that were found by the first Spaniards, and from which
they benefited to a great extent. Their working has not been
continued, either for lack of people suitable for this work or for
other reasons which do not concern us. That of Buriàs abounds in
the palm called Buri, of whose fruit and even of whose trunk, the
Indians make an extraordinary bread. That of Ticào produces
many woods, excellent for the construction of medium-sized
boats. The natives of those three islands are of the same qualities
as the rest of the Philipinas. However, they have become very
sociable because of the almost continuous intercourse that they
have with the Spaniards, on account of the many who pass on their
way to other countries.
1109. Those islands were reduced to the crown of España in
1569 by Don Luis Henriquez de Guzman, a knight of Sevilla,
whose conquest made them thoroughly subject in everything to
Captain Andrés de Ibarra. Thereupon, scarcely had the way been
opened by arms, when the venerable father, Fray Alonso Ximenez,
an Observant of our order, entered Masbate to preach the law of
grace. He, as is asserted by father Fray Gaspar de San Agustin,
may be called the apostle of that island, in consideration of the
great amount of his labors therein for the extension of the Catholic
faith. Other apostolic workers of the same institute followed his
tracks later, and they went to Ticao and Burias. Consequently, in
the year 1605, the province of Santo Nombre de Jesus founded a
mission composed of the above three islands. The first prior
appointed was father Fray Francisco Guerrero, instructor of
Christian doctrine, who was of well-known zeal. But our calced
fathers kept the care of their administration only until the year
1609, when the intermediary chapter resigned that district and its
107
The island of Masbate has an area of 1,236 square miles. It is
mountainous, the mean elevation ranging from 2,000 to 3,500 feet. Its present
total population is 29,451, all civilized, and the great majority Visayan. See
Census of the Philippines, i, p. 66; ii, pp. 30, 392, 407.
108
Ticao belongs to the present province of Masbate. It is very small,
containing an area of only 121 square miles. In shape it is long and narrow, and
not of great elevation. Its present population is 10,183. The chief known
occupation is agriculture, See ut supra, i, p. 66, ii, p. 30.
109
The same general description as that of Ticao fits Burias. Like that
island, it also belongs to the province of Masbate. Its area is 197 square miles,
and its population 1,627. See ut supra, i, p. 66, ii, p. 30.
223
224
villages into the hands of the bishop of Nueva Cáceres, Don
Pedro de Arce, in order that he might appoint secular clergy as he
wished, who could attend to the Christian Indians with the bread
of the doctrine.110 From that time until the year 1688, various curas
had successive charge of the administration of those souls in order
to teach them the road of glory. But notwithstanding that that
district had only two hundred and fifty families when they took
charge of it (as the above-cited Father Gaspar confesses) whose
number continued to decline afterward because of the Moro
invasions, one cura could in no way be maintained, and scarce
could one be found to take charge of that church.
1110. Things were in this condition, then, when the most
illustrious master, Don Fray Andrés Gonzales, who deservedly
ascended to the bishopric of Nueva Cáceres from the ranks of the
Order of Preachers, represented to the king on May 28, 1682 that
in order that the villages of his diocese might be rightly
administered spiritually, it would be indispensable to assign its
curacies in another manner and give some of them into the charge
of religious. In consideration of that he petitioned his Majesty to
commit the approbation of the new plan considered to his
governor of those islands, so that as vicepatron, he might proceed
in it. The king conceded what that prelate asked by his decree
dated Madrid, August 13, 1685, and his Excellency presented the
new formation of districts to the governor with all its changes. By
it he applied to our province all the mission of Masbate, and its
adjacent islands, as well as the villages of Ingozo, Catanavan,
Vigo, and the rancherias contiguous, all located in the island of
Luzón, which hitherto had belonged to the curacy of Piriz, so that
another new mission might be formed under charge of our
discalced order. The governor was the admiral of galleons, Don
Gabriel de Cruceleygui, knight of the habit of Santiago. By an act
of November 26, 1686, he approved in toto the idea of the bishop,
and, as a consequence, the assignation made to us of the
abovementioned villages, so that we might administer them as
curas. However, because of several troubles that resulted, our
province accepted only the mission of Masbàte, and renounced the
right that they might have hid to the other villages of the island of
Luzón, for they could be administered by the fathers of St. Francis
with less trouble.
1111. The constant reasons for the acts by which the bishop
assigned to us the above-mentioned district were reduced to the
fact that there was but one secular priest in it, and he was
insufficient for its administration. For it was proved that only four
persons had died with the sacraments within the long space of four
years, while those who had passed to the other life without that
benediction numbered one hundred and eighteen. Add to this that
the baptism of small children had been delayed many months as
the parish priest did not go but very seldom to visit the distant
villages. This ought not to induce inferences against the
well-proved zeal of those venerable priests, that they had
neglected their duties in attending to the obligations of the
ministry since there was but one ecclesiastic in all three islands,
and those islands occupy so great
Sidenotes at this point refer to San Agustin’s Conquistas, book ii,
chapter i, p. 215; book iii, chapter xxv, pp 515, 516, 529.
110
224
225
an extent, and the villages are so distant from one another,
how could he attend to so many parishioners with the pastoral
food? It is a fact that even after our religious had entered there and
three or four were kept busy continually, scarce could they fully
attend to all their duties as spiritual directors, without some
inculpable lack being evident; and that notwithstanding that each
one labored as many, for not few of them have lost their health
because of the work, as we shall see hereafter. Consequently, one
ought not to be surprised if those Indians were poorly
administered before, for it is undeniable that one person cannot
attend to so many laborious cares, as can many, although he may
equal them in zeal.
1112. The bishop and governor convinced, then, in this
matter, despatched the fitting provisions in November 1686 in
order that our reformed branch might take charge of those souls.
This plan was of great moment to the province, for the said
islands, besides being the necessary passage way and very suitable
station for those who voyage from Manila to Carhaga and Zebu,
are the stopping place of the ships which sail from Cavite to
Acapulco and return from Nueva España to Philipinas. It is very
common for the ships to stop in their ports to get fresh supplies,
and await suitable winds. On that account there originated the
greatest convenience in possessing them in our custody, because
of what makes for the spiritual: for the provincials, when they sail
out upon their visits; for the commissioners when they come to
España for missions; for the missions themselves when they arrive
at the islands, and for the multitude of our religious who journey
from one part to another, employed in the holy commerce of souls.
Without doubt those reasons somewhat aided the zeal with which
our tireless workers in those countries have always procured the
good teaching of the faithful, and the conversion of the faithless, at
the cost of their own very great fatigue and of great penalties. On
that account it was determined in the intermediary chapter of 1687
to accept the charge of that reasonable territory to whose labor
God called them by the mouth of the bishop. And more when it
was learned that, although the number of the Christians was
greatly diminished, the interiors of the islands of Masbàte and
Burias were densely inhabited with innumerable Indians, apostates
from the faith and assembled there not only from their villages,
but also from other parts, in whose, reduction a great service
would be done to God and the king, and with this fruit the
sweatings of the spiritual administration would be eased, which by
themselves alone gave much to grieve over.
1113. Finally matters having been arranged, fathers Fray
Juan de San Phelipe, the outgoing provincial, and Fray Juan de la
Encarnacion, with another associate, of whose name we are
ignorant, left Manila in May 1678 [i. e., 1688] to take charge of
the above-mentioned district. They went to the village of Ticào,
where they met the cura, then Bachelor Don Christoval Carvallo,
who had been notified by the suitable acts in the month of August.
The latter agreed without the least repugnance to surrender the
churches and his administration. He did it gracefully on September
2 of the same year in the village of Mobo, a site in the island of
Masbate, which was, and is, the chief village of all the others, and
that mission, remained from that time on
225
226
subject to our discalced order. The Indians received the
religious with signs of the greatest rejoicing. It is a fact that they
knew our holy habit some years before, because some of our
gospel missionaries had stopped in their port on account of storms,
when they were passing by Masbàte on their way to their
destinations, and had attended to instructing them and even
administering them the sacraments. From that came the. almost
general joy with which the discalced Augustinians were received
there; and from that reception originated the great fruit which they
obtained with their preaching. The fathers endeavored to have the
love shown them by the Indians increase, not being unaware that
the good-will of the hearers is a very plausible disposition so that
the work of the preachers may be useful. Knowing also that the
good opinion of the evangelical minister gives great force to his
wards, in order that theirs might be increased they aimed to
confirm them with works. They bore themselves as saints in
private and public in order to give a good example in all things.
With that method, one can believe the great number of Christians
that were gathered to Catholicism in the said islands, as we shall
relate later.
1114. But since it was necessary for this attainment to found
some convent, they erected it that same year in the village of
Mobo, which had the most inhabitants. . It has Nuestra Señora de
los Remedios [i. e., our Lady of Remedies] as titular, and a very
costly church is being built which abounds in reredoses and other
adornments with a sacristy provided with vestments [? jocalias and
ornaments. The house is very capacious and has all the necessary
rooms and has moreover cells for the religious who generally live
in it. That convent was the refuge of the gospel ministers who
lived in it in suitable number to look after the Christians in
spiritual matters and to allure the apostates to the bosom of the
Christian religion which they had abandoned. Thence, as swift
moving clouds, they went out to fertilize the other villages with
the water of their doctrine and having become hunters of souls, to
overrun the deserts and mountains. Although there were not more
than six villages in the three islands when our discalced religious
entered to administer them, in a few years they established three
more where they could shelter those who were being reduced to
our holy faith. And hence the workers of that mission with
inexplicable toil cared for a great number of souls who dwelt in
the capital of Mobo, and in its annexed villages or visitas of Ticào,
Burias, Balino, Palànog, Habuyoàn, Tagmasúso, Euracàn, and
Limbojan. In that extensive territory not few times did God
explain His mercies with repeated miracles in confirmation of the
faith which Ours were preaching. Some received with baptism the
health of the body, and others found themselves freed from their
pains by the prayers of the ministers, accompanied by the laying
on of hands., However, inasmuch as the manuscripts give us these
notices without specification, we cannot name the individual
miracles.
1115. A very lamentable event for the islands which
happened in the year 1726, was the reason for the founding of
another convent in Ticào. It happened as follows. The galleon
“Santo Christo de Burgos, “ while making its voyage to Nueva
España,
226
227
anchored at the port of Ticào in order to await good weather
before taking to the open sea. But it was shipwrecked there by a
storm which came upon it. On board that vessel was Don Julian de
Velasco, a minister assigned to the Audiencia of Mexico. He
managed to obtain his spiritual improvement from that disaster so
transcendental to all classes of Philipinas by the practice of good
works. He did not care to return to Manila, although he could have
done so, but remained with all his family in the said port until he
could get passage the next year. Among what he was able to save
of his lost possessions, he placed his first attention in seeing that
the holy image of the holy Christ of Burgos which was on the ship
as its titular, should not be lost; for it was his intention to place it
at his own expense in some church, so that it might have public
veneration for the benefit of souls. Scarcely, then, did he have that
celestial treasure in his hands, when he exposed it to worship on
the high altar of the church of Ticào with ornaments suitable to his
devout affection. Thereafter followed the assignment of some
income so that there might be a resident evangelical minister there,
both so that a chaplain might not at least be wanting to the holy
image, and so that the Indians might not lack more continual
teaching. For that reason, the province afterward determined to
found a convent in Ticào. To it were assigned the villages situated
in the islands of Ticào and Burias, and to the convent of Mobo
those of the island of Masbate. The ministers were thus able to
obtain more relief because their number had increased, although
they still had much to do in order to attend to everything.
§ II
1116. In the year 1724, the province of Philipinas begged the
king to confirm, by special decree, the possession that had been
given them in his royal name of the islands of Masbàte. His
Majesty ordered the governor of Philipinas and the bishop of
Nueva Cáceres, On the eleventh of February, 1725, to make no
innovation in regard to the spiritual administration of the said
district until he should provide what was needful in his royal
Council. He ordered them also to inform him of the progress that
had been made by the faith in that territory since it had been in our
charge. On that account some juridical investigations were made
in Manila in order to inform the king with acts. By them it
appeared that although there had been only one single parish priest
in all the district of Masbàte before, since it had been placed in
charge of the Recollect fathers, three religious at least had always
lived there ; and that, as was proved by the books of the royal
treasury, in the year 1687, anterior to our possession, there were
only one hundred and eighty-seven families in the whole mission,
while in the year 1722, there were five hundred and eighty-five so
that in the space of thirty-four years they had increased by three
hundred and ninety-eight For that reason the governor, Marques
de Torrecampo, gave his king June 30, 1727, a very favorable
report of our discalced order in the terms of this honorable
clause.”The district
Relation of the progress made by Catholicism in those islands by
the preaching of our laborers; and the great hardships that they
suffered for that end.
227
228
of Masbàte, in charge of the discalced Augustinians, has had
an increase of 398 whole tributes through the apostolic zeal of
those ministers They, not only in that district, but also in the rest
of these islands, dedicate themselves to the propagation of our
holy Catholic faith with the greatest toil and with the most visible
fruit.”
1117. These increases will be of greater moment if we
consider that, if the families be reduced to the number of four
persons each, as is customary there, the said district consisted, at
the time it was given to us, of 748 souls, and in thirty-eight years it
had increased to 2,340, the increase amounting to 1,592 persons.
But sixteen years later (namely, the year 1738, when father Fray
Juan Francisco de San Antonio printed the first volume of the
history of his seraphic province of Philipinas), those increases
were almost doubled.111 Then directing his pen to the end that
leads to truth, he assures us that there are new villages in the
island of Masbàte with three thousand three hundred and forty-five
souls; in that of Ticào, two, with four hundred and seventy-five
persons; and one in that of Burias, with one hundred and eighty.
Whence it is inferred that three more villages were newly
established: namely, in Masbate, those of Navangui and Baraga,
and in Ticao, that of San Jacinto, at the port so named, where the
ships now stop for fresh supplies, before taking to the open sea
Also the number of, souls has increased to one thousand six
hundred and sixty by the impulses of the preaching of our
reformed branch, aided efficaciously by divine grace. All the
increase of this district since it has been in our charge has been six
newly-created villages, and three thousand two hundred and
fifty-two souls brought to the Catholic bosom. And we even ought
to infer that many more have been converted, for by the invasions
of the Moros, which are told at length in the third volume,112 the
number of the Christians could not but be lessened.
1118. It only remains now to ascertain whence proceeded
those Indians who so increased the abovementioned villages. It
was stated in another place in the third volume113 that there was a
great number of mountain Indians in the islands of Masbàte and
Burias, who are there called Zimarrones. They were feared, for
they lived without God, or king, and were given up to the liberties
of paganism. Those were certain men, if they can be called so,
who having apostatized the faith, had taken to the deserts and high
places, where they defended their native barbarity at every step,
against those who were trying to reduce them and to procure their
own good. They had gathered there, either they or their ancestors,
from the villages of the same islands, as well as from Zebu, Leyte,
and others, to escape the punishment due them for their crimes.
Consequently, they were people especially fierce. Among them
were found to be many heathens, as they had been born in those
places where the sound of the preaching did not penetrate. The
others were still worse, as they had abandoned Christianity. They
did notable damage to the villages; and they even robbed the boats
that were anchored in the ports or bays, treacherously taking many
lives. . The matter
112
111
A sidenote refers to San Antonio, i, folio 219.
113
A sidenote refers to Santa Theresa, no. 740 ff.
A sidenote refers to ut supra, no. 739.
228
229
had assumed such proportions that one could not cross those
islands by their interiors; and to approach their shores was the
same thing as putting in at an enemy’s port. But at present all the
Zimarrones are reduced to the faith, and top the obedience of the
king without any exception. Hence one can travel through the
islands without the slightest risk, and boats can go thither even to
the uninhabited places. From that and from no other beginnings
have come the increase of that church, and there is not small praise
to our reformed branch from it.
1119. That progress of the faith was preceded by many
hardships that were suffered by the religious, some of which I
shall state, noting that in numerable others are omitted, in order
not to bore our readers by their relation, and because they
resemble those that we shall relate. It has already been stated,
then, that for the space of more than thirty years there was but one
convent in the three islands, which was established in the village
of Mobo, whence the gospel laborers went out to administer all the
settlements of the district. For that purpose, it was absolutely
necessary for them to sail many leguas by boisterous seas, or to
travel by land in some parts by rough mountains, threatened in the
one place with shipwreck and in the other by continual dangers.
Since the new convent was established in the island of Ticào, the
administration is more tolerable, although it is always
accompanied by indescribable fatigues. For the religious of Mobo
have to sail completely about the island of Masbàte in order to
fulfil their obligations, or if they prefer to journey by land, as they
are able, to one or two villages, they have to do it afoot with the
greatest discomfort, through inaccessible mountains, and exposed
to dangers wellnigh insupportable. The missionaries of Ticào,
besides having to coast a great part of that island have to go many
times during each year to that of Burias, crossing the very stout
currents of the sea from the rapidity of which some of the
missionaries have found themselves in the utmost consternation.
On the other hand, all the time that the Indians remained
Zimarrones, they allowed no passage to the zealous laborers
without them risking their lives to innumerable dangers; and even
after they had been reduced, the Moros were a substitute for them
on the outside, and inside many sorcerers, who tried, some by
violence, and others by their diabolical arts, to drive thence, and
even from the world, the ministers of souls. And who can tell all
that they suffered from all these causes? It was so great that some
religious, never more alive than when-they were dead, came to die
in the campaign like good soldiers.
1120. Father Fray Ildephonso de la Concepcion was one of
those who sweated most in that ministry, and one of those who
entered to cultivate it in its early beginnings. By the ardor of his
zeal, by the example of his life, and by his apostolic preaching, he
reduced many apostates to the Catholic faith. Some of them were
gathered into the villages, already established, and others, up to
the number of eighty families founded through his influence,
another new village on the opposite coast from Mobo. Going then,
from one to another part of the islands, the solicitous fisher of
souls had the boat in which he journeyed swamped twice, one half
legua from shore, while another time his boat was driven by
229
230
storms on some reefs and dashed to pieces; dangers in which
many of those who accompanied him were lost, while the father
escaped miraculously with his life after having endured a thousand
anxieties. The Zimarrones, infidels, and bad Christians, given up
to doing ill to whomever procured their total welfare, now as
declared enemies, and again as wily friends, placed him almost
continually in monstrous danger of exhaling his last breath. In
order that he might visit promptly the new village which he had
erected, he opened a road from Mobo to it through the interior of
the island. He crossed it many times on foot, it being necessary for
him to traverse very lofty mountains exposed to all the
inclemencies of the weather. He suffered indescribable things for
the faith, with the great hardship that his vast zeal occasioned him,
and which those Indians caused him with their obstinacy. Finally
he fell grievously ill, his pains originating from the penalties of the
said road which he frequented several times in the course of a
single month, as well as from the heat and showers which he
endured when going through the mountains in search of those
rational wild beasts. He died through the apostolic zeal, in the
manner in which all gospel laborers ought to depart this life.
1121. Father Fray Benito de la Assumpcion, a religious who
seemed born for the labors and successes of the spiritual
administration, followed that laborer in the care of that vineyard.
He believed that, without passing the limits of prudence, it would
be very seasonable for the souls of his parishioners to reduce them
to living closer together in a fewer number of villages, and he
thus, tried to bring it to pass. Especially did he propose to himself the plan that the Indians shortly before reduced to the new
village which we have mentioned in the preceding number, should
move to the capital or chief village of Mobo, for he formed the
correct judgment that they would be better Christians if they bad at
all hours the good example of their ministers before their eyes. It
is not so difficult to move a whole village in Philipinas as it would
be in Europa; for the Indians build their houses without cost and
easily. They also find in all parts lands suitable for their
cultivation without any expense from their pockets. Yet
notwithstanding that one cannot easily tell the vast labors,
watches, and afflictions that come upon the religious when they
attempt such reductions of the Indians. The latter desire with too
great endeavor, to have their residence where they cannot be
registered, in order to work with greater freedom, and excuse
themselves if possible from all human subjection, and even from
divine law, without caring greatly for their own spiritual interests,
but each one going at will to his rancheria or field where it is not
easy for the father minister to visit them or assist them with the
holy sacraments during their sicknesses. For that reason all hell is
conjured against the teacher of the doctrine, if he tries to place
such reductions into effect, from which many spiritual interests
would follow. That venerable father suffered so much with his
undertaking that he caused universal wonder that it did not cost
him his life, and the worst thing was that he could not see it
accomplished.
1122. Not only in this, but also in other projects of, known
utility, did he have much to endure and
230
231
much from which to gather merit. With the zeal of Elias did
he relentlessly persecute divine offenses, while he at the same time
loved the persons most especially. It was the same for him to
discover any trace of superstition or the slightest vestige of the
badly extinguished infidelity, and to fly to its destruction with all
his power. Amid continual risks of losing his life, he exercised his
gigantic charity for many years in directing the souls of those
islands to God, without any fear of death whose scythe he saw
upon him many times. The Moros with their stealthy attacks, the
infidels or apostates with open malice, and the evil Christians with
their subterfuges and deceits made him almost continually suffer
for justice. But he worked on manfully as one who had the refuge
of his life in God, and consoling his weakened heart with the
divine grace he sup- ported the persecutions from which the Lord
wove him a crown. In the above-named village a chief Indian
named Canamàn irritated by the attempted reduction, and because
the father checked him publicly for a certain scandalous
concubinage, raised his head in open mutiny. With many followers
he sought the father and persecuted him in order to deprive him of
life. At that revolution the venerable religious was sorely grieved,
and it was considered as a special prodigy that he could escape
from so sacrilegious hands. Finally, for the same reason another
Indian of the village of Ticào (exasperated by the just
reprehension and punishment which that famous minister had
applied to him as an indispensable medicine for his faults) caused
him to be the holocaust of his burning zeal for the good of souls,
by the hidden method of poison, through the potency of which
father Fray Benito lost his life, in order to obtain a better one in
glory.
1123. After the above fathers, father Fray Diego de San
Gabriel entered to take up the toil with the profit of increased fruit
in the cultivation of that field. He was the amazement of charity in
regard to God because of his care for self-perfection, and in regard
to his neighbor, because of the way in which he desired his
salvation. In order that he might attain that end he pardoned no
toil, if it were fitting for the spiritual welfare of the Indians. He
showered favors upon his parishioners by trying to take them to
the kingdom of heaven. And although for this the latter loved him
more, some were not wanting among so many who persecuted
him, returning him evil for good. But like another David when
they troubled him with their injuries, the venerable father clad
himself in haircloth, humbled his soul in fasting, and occupied
himself in prayer. By that means he delighted himself in God,
taking pleasure in hardships as if they were the fountain of health.
In order to induce his parishioners to the devotion of the most holy
Mary he composed and published in the Visayan language a book
of the miracles of our Lady of Carmen; and the most sweet Virgin
repaid his good zeal by liberating him with circumstances that
appeared miraculous from several shipwrecks, and from other
innumerable multitudes of dangers. On the beach of the village of
Balino a certain Indian gave him a cruel wound with a dagger,
because he checked some faults in him. The father recognized as a
favor of the Mother of Mercy, not only the fact that he was not
quite killed, as might have happened, but also the
231
232
cure of the wound, almost without medicine. But at last, as
he was sailing as secretary, which post he had obtained later, to
visit those villages and others of Visayas, a storm coming down
upon him swamped the boat and he was drowned, together with
the father provincial, then our father Fray Jean de San Andrés.
1124. And now in order to conclude in a few words, a matter
that we can not even with many words consider adequately, we
add that the venerable fathers Fray Antonio de Santa Monica and
Fray Thomas de San Lucas said many times without a trace of
boasting that, although they had been many times in the doctrinas
and missions, in none of them had they found so much to suffer as
in that of Masbàte. Father Fray Francisco de Santa Engracia was
twice in imminent danger of death; first in shipwreck and later
because an Indian tried to kill him, for the reason that he had tried
to get him to give up a certain concubinage. But God having freed
him from those dangers, allowed him to perish in another through
His occult judgments. It was a fact that that father when attending
to the fulfilment of his obligation gave motive that certain of the
Zimarron Indians whom he was endeavoring to establish soundly
in the Catholic faith gave him certain death-dealing powders in his
food, which although they did not deprive him of life rendered
him insensible and he became most pitiably insane. Many other
religious, whom we shall not mention for various reasons, suffered
so much while ministers of those islands, by shipwreck, bad
weather, and persecution, that if they did not obtain the crown to
which they, aspired by death, they were left with their health
totally lost, and lived amid continual aches and pains, until their
last breath opened for them, after some years, a pathway to heaven
in order that they might enjoy the reward of their well endured
conflicts. [The remaining sections of this chapter arid the two final
chapters of the book do not touch Philippine matters.]
232