Chapter II: Part 2

The easy credulity fomented by the over-development of
religious fanaticism, has constituted from the beginning to
this day one of the defects unfortunately so widespread still
among the native inhabitants of the country * * *. Devoted
to their inherited traditions and customs and lacking in
adequate opportunities to acquire proper knowledge, the mass
of the people have to adhere as it is logical and natural,
to their beliefs, which by their not requiring any effort to
understand are imbedded and deeply rooted in a spontaneous
manner in their minds. As it is shown in our annals of the
judiciary, superstition occupies a notable place among the
factors of criminality in this country.

The superstitions to which Doctor de los Angeles alludes are not only those of the old paganism of the Filipinos which the missionaries after more than three centuries have not succeeded in completely eradicating. The superstitions referred to in this work are those brought here by the same missionaries, and which they have easily succeeded in implanting in the conscience of the Filipinos naturally disposed to credulity by means of the efficient and generous distribution of the novenas and other booklets of devotion.

Since until the coming of the Americans the instruction in the Philippines was always and exclusively religious, and was directed by the Roman priests, the persistence of these old superstitions are evident proofs of the failure of religious education. As an excuse missionaries will perhaps attribute this to the invincible rudeness of the Filipinos, which we shall admit for courtesy's sake and to avoid discussions. But what is all-important is not that they were unable to take out something (of the superstitions), out of the supposed hardheadedness of the Indio, but the tremendous wealth of superstition which for more than three centuries these missionaries inculcated (han hecho penetrar) in that same head to the detriment of his mentality and his morality.

Lack of Will

The sinner lacking in will to control his evil deeds says to Jesus, washing his hands in the divine intervention and giving proof of his lack of due sense of responsibility: "Is it possible, sweet Saviour of souls, that, converting so many every day, alone in my perdition, thou mayest show thyself indifferent?" (p. 13). This is a part of a prayer made by no less a person than His Holiness, Pope Gregory VII, in his Devout Exercise of the Passion of Christ, Manila, 1905.

It is said also to the Virgin: "Cleanse, thou Immaculate Virgin, my heart of all sin and take away from me all that may be unpleasant in thy purest eyes! Purge my soul of all earthly love and affections" (pp. 10-11, Corona Franciscana de la Virgen Maria, Manila, 1902).

By the intercession of Saint Francis, the devout one asks of God that "I completely subdue my disorderly passions, powers, and senses," so "that I may subject my thoughts, measure my words, and direct my work to the greatest perfection," and "that thou mayest soften the hardness of my heart" (pp. 18, 20, and 21 of the Novena of Saint Francis de Asis, Manila, 1905).

Frightened by the machinations of Satan the devout one to Saint Filomena asks (p. 23, Novena): "She obtains from the Lord that which destroys more and more the powers of my enemies, the devils, and that I be saved in spite of myself."

The guidance of Saint Filomena is invoked by saying (p. 25, Novena): "See to it that I also be chaste according to my station, and that my mouth will not utter those words which according to St. Paul, should not be said among the faithful."

To Saint Anna, mother of Mary, the devout one says: "Interest thyself therefore, my Saint, that I may be granted patience in my adversities, tolerance of wrongs, and, in everything, a tranquil mind" (Novena, Manila, 1893, p. 10). Also the following prayer is directed: "Put forth therefore your effort, my Saint, with thy sacred grandson, Jesus, that every imperfection and bad desire may be taken from our hearts, that we may pardon for love of God all wrongs."

It is not possible to cultivate a sense of dignity or self-respect itself when doctrines are disseminated such as these, which result from the following examples in the Novena of Santa Rosa de Lima.

Carried by her humility, she made a mere servant step on her lips (p. 10). "She loved ridicules more than worldly honors" (p. 102). * * * and she desired so much that all others considered her the worst in the world, that she merited being in hell, and that it was her proper place because of her sins. If any body happened not to know her and that she was considered innocent, she would say "nobody knows me, I alone know what I am" (p. 11). "Hearing once that they praised her as being virtuous she felt so bad that she fainted" (p. 11).

In a prayer to Saint Filomena (Novena, p. 16), it is said to the saint asking her protection: "My sins made me less than angels, very inferior to the beasts, since these do not forget the manger of their master, and in their own way they are grateful for their food, and I have forgotten the house of God * * *." Not only self ridicule comes out of these things, but lack of logic in attributing to the gratitude of the beasts their return to their manger, when it is clear that the motive that prompts them is simply hunger.

The Ire of God

The natural phenomena are looked upon thru ignorance as manifestations of the divine wrath which would not have taken place if no one among humanity had not provoked them by their conduct. Saint Thomas Aquinas, who with reason is considered as the most scientific man of his period, believed firmly that the thunder, lightning, and the storms were punitive manifestations of God enraged against men. "From his fear of God, the saintly doctor had an unearthly fear of thunder and tempests, who as a reverent child feared to see wrath in the face of the Father, hoping only that those tempests were not provoked by his sins" (Milicia Angelica, Manila, 1907, p. 21).

The blind fear of Saint Thomas led him to conceive a blind justice of the divinity, because of his sins God released the tempests and gave lightning which naturally hurt and molested a great number of persons who suffered by reason of the sins of the saint. To the simple believer, when the wise saint thought and believed in that manner, there was no reason for rejecting the explanation, much less to suspect that to punish justly the sinners was not an act of justice nor of common sense.

Lack of Logic

Logical mentality cannot be developed when the absurd is fomented and cultivated, especially when it is presented under the false veneer of religion, when it is founded on a purely puerile and simple superstition.

In the life of Saint Vicente Ferrer, according to his novenas, the following miracles are referred to, and there is no doubt that he who believes in them cannot really cultivate the faculties of his intelligence.

In Valencia a servant of Count de Faura, who was born deaf and
without tongue, was that way for many years, and adoring one
day the miracle of Saint Vicente, was cured of his deafness,
his tongue grew, and thenceforward spoke (p. 17).

A woman gave birth to a piece of meat (pedazo de carne) without
a human aspect. It was offered to Saint Vicente giving a mass,
and at the Epistle, it already had head; at the Gospel, it
had arms; and at the Consecration, it had legs, and finally
a beautiful child was evolved. The same happened with another
woman of Toledo (p. 34).

In Lisbon there lived a woman well-known for being quite
ugly and was the object of ridicule on the part of all who
saw her. She went to San Vicente and one morning she became
very fortunate and beautiful, from which the women of Lisbon
became so devout to San Vicente that those in Valencia did
not excel them (p. 27).

A merchant left once for a fair and meanwhile the wife
committed an indiscretion (una fragilidad) for which she
remained * * *. She came and appeared repentant to San Vicente
and the same went to the road whereon the husband returned
with some horses, and startled them by means of a cloak and
thus dispersed them. Then the husband lost time to gather his
horses so that when he returned to his house his wife had time
to flee from him, thus saving herself from the consequences
of her fault.

Thus with the greatest freedom an immoral and grotesque act is related in which the innocent husband is left out and takes no step to have just punishment meted, and the saint with his cloak commits a deviltry only fit for urchins of the brook.

It is said that San Ramon takes such a deep interest in the misfortunes and pains of his devotees, and is so extremely compassionate "that his images perspire thru the affliction of his devotees" (p. 12). "An image of the Saint perspired so copiously at one time that a devout woman suffered and the veil with which she covered herself was stained; and some handkerchiefs wet in his perspiration relieved headaches marvelously" (p. 21).

Saint Roque has the power of stopping the spread of epidemics. "His protection is what preserves us from plague and other sufferings or diseases, which, having their origin in the corruptions of the air, which should conserve our life, causes death" (p. 3).

The Height of Absurdity

Is it possible to invent or suppose greater absurdities than those here mentioned? Nevertheless, in order not to prolong this address, I shall only present a few of the cases which are cited in abundance in these little booklets (opusculos), distributed in great profusion among our people. What logic, what reasoning can we expect of minds nurtured with such absurdities, fed up with fakes of such puerile nature that one can hardly believe them to have been narrated by men of simple common sense?

The mattress where San Vicente died has become possessed
of the virtue of making miracles; by merely lying on it on
different occasions over 400 sick persons afflicted with
various diseases became well (p. 32).

One time when San Antonio de Padua preached on the seashore it happened "that the fishes to whom he preached came out of the water and heard him with all attention." No devotee ever doubts the coming out of fishes, nor does he interests himself in the solution of the physical, physiological, linguistic, and especially logical aspects of such an event, but the Novena to the Saint confirms it so (p. 20).

This lecture would be unduly prolonged if I were to mention all the absurdities that appear in the Novenas of which I have quite a collection, which constitute a real array of documents of positive usefulness for the history of the superstition which I have scarcely touched upon here. With what has been said there is enough to explain the origin of the immorality, the real cause of the predisposition to vice, the absence of a sense of responsibility, the natural explanation of what incomprehensible character formed of a mixture of sentiments which the missionaries have contributed to the Filipino, Indio, Spaniard, and Chinese, all influenced by the injurious spirit which pervades all that literature which is completely antagonical to reason. Such, and not the lay education, is responsible for this evil.

I am not here to formulate theories or to speak of a capricious hypothesis. Before an audience such as this which I have the honor to address, I need to weigh the value of my words and of my judgment. For this reason I have cited facts, repeating the exact words, not of the profane literature composed of the anonymous Corridos whose detrimental influence is well known, but the authentic texts of Novenas authorized by the ecclesiastical censorship for not containing anything contrary to sane morals, as it is said in the permits granted for their printing.

Nor have I thought for a moment of mixing religion in my criticism; nor is it in my power to vary the results or consequences that may result from the facts mentioned in the Novenas, which are the literature responsible for this state of puerile mentality, absolutely inadequate for an understanding of morals, composed of matter that paralyzes, rather than bring out, progress.

Morals is nothing but the triumph over one's self, thru which man does what he should and not what he wishes. In the immoral man there is no struggle between two tendencies, one against evil and the other against good. There is only the instinctive tendency; there is no rational control in opposition. What mastery over self does a man have who for the purpose of controlling his habit of dirty and obscene speech seeks the intervention of a saint? Lacking in will, dispossessed of any idea of struggle with himself, how can he triumph over himself? Slave to his own passions it might have seemed that the only thing that might control him was the punishment in store in future life; but this fear does not preoccupy him in the least since at the same time that he is threatened with eternal fire he is told the manner of evading it without ceasing to do evil.

Immorality of the Novenas

These Novenas contain pernicious teachings for society whose moral foundation consists in the development of the individual qualities such as industry, fulfillment of duty, respect of law, struggle with one's own instincts and passions which require above all else the mastery over one's self. Not only are these social obligations not taught nor mentioned but there is a real stimulus toward all that is bad, assuring to the criminal, to the sinner, that he will be pardoned, that he will be free from punishment, that however badly he may act and however sinful he may be, without the least effort, with the greatest ease and naturalness, he will obtain what he wishes and will triumph on earth as well as in the other life.

On the other hand, the individual is terrorized by the influence of evil, always tending to push him on to the road of vice and ignominy; he is inspired with blind confidence by placing on his side a Guardian Angel who never leaves night and day, who supports him, who guides him "his (the Guardian Angel's) intervention being so useful that he modifies that which we asked of God when he knows that our petitions might bring us some spiritual or bodily ill."

What idea of justice can one conceive when he remembers the spectacle that was witnessed by that gentleman in the cemetery of Cuzco? Not only are Mary and Joseph presented as interceding with all energy for the salvation of the criminal for the mere reason that he invoked their names, but they remain unmoved and do nothing to soften the cruelty of Jesus Christ when He condemns to sudden death and eternal condemnation the two unfortunate sinful women. They did not invoke the name of Mary and Joseph who only seem to have pity on their clients and work with the same partiality of a Nacionalista or Democrata demagogue.

And what significance does a law have which does not admit nor prosecute polygamy when so many virgins are wives of Jesus who expect the other life in order that they may deliver themselves to Him as their husband? What about Mary, wife of the Father, of her own son, of Joseph, and Saint Domingo?

Mr. Ignacio Villamor in his report to the Committee on Infant mortality, written when he was Attorney-General, refers to various cases of murder of persons considered as bewitched and as such were sacrificed for being fanatics.

The lad of Trayguerra who assailed the ugly woman for mistaking her for the devil himself after hearing a sermon of San Vicente, is absolutely of the same nature as those possessed of the asuang referred to by Mr. Villamor.

And what shall be said of the protection of San Isidro invoked by the agriculturists? He gave an example of neglect of his duties as a farmer, because instead of plowing the land, doing the work for which he was paid by his master, he spent the day praying. Thru a miracle, an angel took hold of the plow, guided the bulls while the saint prayed and did not work. And right here in our midst, confident in San Isidro, the people of the field sleep, hoping that the angels shall do the work for them! How can you condemn laziness when the angels protect it? And how can you preach the doctrine of "earning bread by the sweat of your brow" when the labor that sweat presupposes is unnecessary?

Without connection whatsoever with the Bureau of Education of the Government of the Philippine Islands, I have spoken in the manner that I have just done, not to defend the lay schools of an unjust and unjustifiable accusation; not to attack any persons or any religious or political ideals, but to contribute to the eradication of one of the bases, one of the strongest causes of criminality, of corruption, of formation of individuals who are useless and detrimental to society: superstition. And, gentlemen, it is not a superstition that is only to be laughed at. Not by any means. It is a ridiculous and even absurd superstition, it is true, but it is a tragic and dangerous because it offers to the wicked, the criminal, the imbecile, the means of triumphing in life, of obtaining what they want, giving them the means of avoiding punishment, making fun here on earth of the justice of men, and securing from God the pardon from eternal condemnation thru the simple means of invoking the name of a saint, or thru the medium of a Latin word which, acting as a sort of open sesame opens wide to the devotee the gates of heaven.

The Lamentable Error of the Bishop of Cebu

The prelate who accused the public schools in the form above mentioned has committed a lamentable error. For my part, I can say that the accusations awakened in me a desire to investigate the causes of immorality and of the perversion of customs which the said prelate, and we with him, all regret. According to those who have studied the mentality of the majority of our people, it is evident that superstition is the enemy which we all have to combat and that is the cause of many of the moral errors which we observe. The regular friars as well as the secular clergy confess that the mass of the people still finds itself subject to the superstition inherited from our predecessors--the superstition which could be called genuinely Philippine, that which comes from the old belief in the nunu, in the asuang, the anito and all the spirits of the old idolatry preached before the implantation of Catholicism by the Spanish missionaries.

Failure of the Missionaries

According to their own confessions, these missionaries, after three centuries of preaching, have failed to eradicate those superstitions incrustated in the conscience of the people. We must accept their declaration as a faithful recognition of the failure of their religious mission. I am not interested in, nor do I discuss, the religious point of view, but the importance of superstition in social life, its pernicious influence upon the evolution of morality. What undoubtedly results from the narratives contained in that literature which constituted the only reading of the people is the promotion of ignorance spreading in a very effective manner all the superstitions aforementioned and adding to them a wealth of errors which unfortunately governs the mentality of the mass of the people.

Not only the so-called Indios the ones concerned; the sons of the Spaniards of pure blood or those mixed with Indios as well as the Chinese mestizos are also accused of these superstitions. All these, all of us Filipinos, are included among the individuals infected with the leprosy of superstition fomented by the absurd miracles of the Novenas and it cannot be said that it is an evil particularly of the Filipino race but also the inhabitants of the Philippines in general.

In order that education be useful it has to form in the individual the sense of responsibility thru the free exercise of reason. The fulfillment of duty shall be its objective and in order to obtain this goal, it is highly necessary to develop the will in man with which he shall fight the animal instincts, the sentimental impulses, all that is contrary to the dictates of reason.

Logical mentality (mentalidad logica), to know what we should do and to enable us to plan out a just route that we should follow; will (voluntad) to enable us to exalt the dictates of reason above the impulses of our own desires: such is the object of lay education, the education in the so-called godless schools, here in the schools of the Government as in the college of Beata Imelda directed by the Dominican fathers under the norm of Japanese ideas translated in imperative laws, situated in Taihoku, capital of Formosa.

The reading of the so-called miracles of the type that I have before cited makes the impossible appear possible, thanks to mysterious influences which are easy to secure, not thru industry, but simply thru unworthy and low means and reproved by good morals such as humiliation, adulation, and propitiation. A benefit is not asked or expected thru some positive good that we do, thru fulfillment of duty out of which results a positive good which is a right; resort is had by means of favor, by gaining the benevolence of a saint, making him believe that he is liked, adored, and admired, seeking to exalt his vanity and, thru his mediation, gain the good will of God, not as a benefit conferred directly to him who asks, but in consideration of the merits of the mediator. Nothing can be imagined that is more immoral, more primitive, more contemptible. The celestial court turns out to be a court more corrupt than those of the autocrats condemned by history: the court of the Khans, the Sultans, the Bysantine Emperors, Mungols, Persians, Tartars, all the barbarians who have abused humanity and who have personified injustice and justified revolution and massacres.

A society whose members expect everything thru favoritism does not know what emulation is; when an individual finds a means as simple as that offered in the Novenas to secure what he desires following the line of least resistance, does not resort to the exercise of any noble activity, and, consequently, cannot perfect his faculties nor use them; an individual who expects to attain the absurd and improbable cannot know the existence of immutable laws which rule the universe; the individual who expects to secure what he wants thru the medium of a celestial patron cannot conceive the God of Justice nor can he really be a useful member of society.

Favor, propitiation, exception, protection, grace, preference, predilection, are incompatible with what a God should be, with the Ideal of civilization, with the supreme aspiration of humanity which is Justice.

Disastrous Results

Those who believe in the absurd miracle (milagreria absurda), protector of the fools, accomplice of the lazy, of the gamblers, of thieves, of all who, thru its means, seek to secure what they desire--those are the criminals that fill our jails and who die in the gallows; those are the ones, who, armed with their anting-anting, talisman, rosary, scapulary, bones of saints, or shark's teeth, fight with the police, commit outrages, upset order, confident in their triumph because of the protection of their celestial pintakasi. Such is the product not of the schools without god but of god without schools, impossible and paradoxical, whose power manifests itself in capricious methods and in the exercise of prestidigitation. Those individuals are in truth the natural products of that superstition preached, diffused, and presented to the ignorance of people who have come to the point of fearing neither God nor devil and who know that the infernal punishment only is meted to him who does not wear a rosary around his neck or does not confide in a pintakasi, who guarantees eternal salvation because God does not permit that the worshiper of one of His devotees be condemned.

What kind of citizen can an individual be in society who laughs at punishment using the easy means of a celestial lawyer. How can terrors of hell infuse fear in him when he knows that thru the medium of a powerful lawyer, God finds himself obliged (forzado) to pardon him. And when a man knows the way of evading divine justice, it is clear that, in order for him to escape human justice, he will resort to appealing to the mercy of the judge, to evade compliance with the law, to the non-fulfillment of any duty, and to live only to enjoy his rights; he will resort, in dealing with human authorities, to the use of the same methods of propitiation, adulation, prevarication, humiliation, and deception which dominated the same God and triumphed over the power of the devil!

Never will it be possible for a superstitious man, especially if he is of the type that we have just analyzed, become a useful citizen. Such is the type which unfortunately is the product of an education of three centuries...!

The parochial schools (escuelas religiosas) have given their fruit; the lay schools (laicas) have also borne fruitage. The youths who graduate from the latter are undoubtedly not without defects; but they are not poisoned or forever led astray by that brutalizing superstition sown by native and foreign impostors. None of those youths will assail ruthlessly an ugly old woman mistaking her for a devil; he will not dream of flying in the air launched like a balloon by an army of devils. None shall believe that a piece of meat shall be transformed into arms, legs, and heads as a mass offered to a pintakasi progresses; much less can such youth conceive a Jesus Christ that would weaken at the sight of a chest that his mother Virgin Mary would show to remind him of his weak memory of God would forget; nor will he excuse himself of a wrong committed against a companion of the other sex on the pretext that he does not have with him the girdle of the Angelic Militia; much less will he believe that, in spite of a criminal life, he will be able to secure eternal salvation provided only he has taken the precaution of repeating at every turn the invocation of the so-called Trinity on Earth.

That lay education will not produce individuals who trust in protection or recommendation to progress and triumph on earth. The lay education is wholly democratic and will not be capable of committing the same faults of those who, by not following their education, seek to employ in the affairs of life those means recommended in the Novenas in order to obtain what is desired by means of the help of the powerful, secured by means of requests, protestations of love, and promise of eternal devotion.

That mental conformation created by the diffusion of this superstitious spirit is an obstacle, an insuperable barrier set up against the development of the moral sense. We shall sow principles of morality as the farmer who sows in the fields the seeds properly selected which will not grow unless the soil is adequate. Sane morals is founded upon the basis of reason; when this foundation is lacking, the moral taught will be like a tree that is rootless and lifeless. It is not possible that a school without god (escuela sin Dios) or the one with god can make the seed of morals grow upon a soil prepared by the school of superstition, of magic, and of sorcery. We have to prepare the soil cultivating reason and creating the logical sense.

I will only insist on things which only need to be presented before our common sense to be judged as they merit.

The Public School

Permit me now to express first of all my gratitude to the Assistant Director, Mr. Osias, who had the kindness to honor me with an invitation to speak at this conference. Now, I wish to express to you my thanks for your kind attention. Lastly, I desire to make one declaration: Every time I referred to the new generation, I did not want to mention only the youth educated in the lay schools of the Government, but all the youth educated in modern ideas, all the men and women of whatever age who, throwing aside the weighty burden of the Legacy of Ignorantism (Le gado del Ignorantismo), have accepted modern ideas, have modified their mentality, have been modernized, thanks to the example of, and the contact with, the representatives of American democracy. All the change, all the economic, moral, social, and political transformation effected in the Filipino people, and which none denies nor anyone can deny, reveals progress, and that progress is not the result of the Legacy of Ignorantism but the natural consequence of the regime of liberty, industry, work and logical mentality which governs our public schools and orients our social life.

To the Department of Education, to all the teachers of both sexes--Americans and Filipinos--I express my profound gratitude for the splendid manner in which they are complying with the duty entrusted to them by America and by the Philippines.

NOTES

[1] Ignorantism, the spirit of those who extol the advantage of ignorance; obscurantism.

[2] Translated from Spanish.

[3] Of the one hundred fifty-six books which the censorship of the Manila Customs refused entrance because they are obscene, five were printed in French and one hundred fifty-one in Spanish. In English, it is known, no obscene literature is found.

[4] From the Bishop of Cebu, dated November 19, 1919.

[5] This book was printed in 1844. Today, in the year 1920, the seventh edition of the Rueda is sold in Manila and is used in some of the private schools. This edition is a reprint of the original edition without any correction so that in history Japan is not even mentioned, France is a kingdom, Prussian is separated from the rest of Germany; and in Spain, Isabela II is the one who still happily reigns. This is the famous book recommended by the priest who was interested in extending instruction in the Philippines.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Legacy of Ignorantism, by T.H. Pardo de Tavera