Chapter II: Part 2

The governor of Filipinas shall send the viceroy of Nueva Espana a report of the apportionment of toneladas that he shall make, and what is to be laden in the ships of that commerce. The viceroy shall send the former a report of the money that shall be sent in accordance with the ordinance. The latter shall pay consideration and attention to the reports sent him by the said governor, so that he may adjust more equitably and circumspectly the licenses of this kind that he shall give. [Felipe III--San Lorenzo, August 19, 1606; Madrid, June 4, 1620.]

Law IV

Inasmuch as it is advisable for the security and conservation of the Filipinas Islands that great care and vigilance be taken there regarding the foreign nations and Sangleys who live in Manila; and inasmuch as there should be a trustworthy, influential, and disinterested person in the said city, who should have charge of purifying the country and giving license to those who must remain there: therefore we order the governor to take charge of his appointment and to appoint for the said commission the person most suitable for it in that community, of whose zeal for our royal service and the common welfare, and of whose trustworthiness and care, he has the greatest assurance. The governor shall not appoint for this office and employment any of his servants, inasmuch as we expressly prohibit that. [Felipe III--San Lorenzo, March 6, 1608.]

Law XVIII

The cargo of the ships of the line, on both outward and return trips between Nueva Espana and Filipinas, shall be stowed in the fore-hold; and only the sea stores, the sailors' and mess chests, the rigging, sails, and all the necessities, between decks. Likewise rigging shall be taken to the port of Acapulco, in consideration of the fact that the city of Manila has it at cheaper rates than the port of Acapulco--whither it is carried from San Juan de Ulua [11] at very great cost and expense. We order this to be so executed, providing there is no inconvenience; and if there should be any, we shall be advised in order to provide the advisable measures. [Felipe III--San Lorenzo, April 22, 1608.]

Law XX

The governor and captain-general of Filipinas shall furnish the ships of that commerce from Nueva Espana with the arms needed for their defense, and shall see that the soldiers, sailors, and passengers go well armed. He shall order each ship to carry a person to whose care the arms shall be confided, and who shall have charge of them, and shall make efforts to preserve them, as is advisable. [Felipe III--San Lorenzo, April 22, 1608.]

Law LII

Great disorder has occurred in the Filipinas ships, and the sailors have been permitted to take two or three very large boxes, under pretext that these contain wearing apparel, and thus cumber the ships. We order that no irregularity be permitted in this, and that the utmost circumspection be exercised; and that the sailors be not allowed to carry more boxes or clothing on the said ships than that indispensably needed for the voyage. [Felipe III--San Lorenzo, April 22, 1608.]

Law LVI

It has been reported that the passengers and sailors of the trading ships of Filipinas transport and carry slave-women, who are the cause of very great offenses to God, and other troubles; this should be prohibited and reformed (and more reasonably so in a navigation so long and dangerous), and all occasions for offending God suppressed. For the remedy of this, we order and command the president and auditors of our royal Audiencia of Manila not to permit any slave-women to be transported or carried on those ships. They shall pay particular attention to the correction of the aforesaid evil, so that those difficulties may cease and be avoided. We also order and command the fiscal of the Audiencia to see to its execution. The senior auditor shall inspect the ships at the time of their sailing, and see if any married woman is aboard, who has no necessity for making the voyage. The trying of any cause shall be before the said president and auditors, who shall provide justice, and this shall be made a clause of their residencias. [Felipe III--San Lorenzo, April 22, 1608.]

Law XII

After those who wish to go to the Filipinas have bound themselves and given bonds to live in the islands for at least eight years, the viceroy of Nueva Espana shall permit them to take thence their own property in money, outside of the general permission. He shall take precautions and ordain that there shall be no fraud; and that such persons shall not carry more than the value of their own property, under any consideration. In case of a violation of this, the penalties imposed shall be executed. [Felipe III--El Pardo, November 20, 1608.]

Law II

The trade, commerce, and navigation from the Filipinas to Japon shall be made by the citizens of the former islands, and the Japanese shall not be allowed to go to the islands. On the merchandise carried in the ships despatched on the account of our royal treasury, no less freight charges shall be collected than those caused in the ships of private persons, so that the cost of the merchandise may be assured. If there should be any inclination or substance in this trade, so that the duties may be paid and our treasury relieved of a portion of its costs and expenses that be paid from them, we order that they be collected and paid. [Felipe III--Segovia, July 25, 1609.]

JESUIT MISSIONS, 1608-09

Province of the Philippine Islands

These islands have ninety-one [_sic_] members of the Order. Four have passed away; and the same number have been received into the Order.

Total Priests Preceptors Scholastics Lay
Brethren

Manila College XXXII XII XI IX Seminary of St. Joseph III I II Elementary School XI IX II Establishment at Silang II I I Establishment at Antipolo VII IV III Cebu College VIII IV IV Bohol Residence V IV I Carigara Residence VI IV II Dulac Residence VI IV II Tinagon Residence V IV I Palapag Residence V IV I Arevalo Mission II I I

Adults cleansed by holy baptism, two thousand three hundred and eight-three. Heretics condemned, twenty-three.

Chastity protected against suitors or immodest women, fifteen times.

Heretics reconciled, seven times.

The sacred commentaries have been used by eleven.

The Holy Cross and the recitation of the Gospel of St. John has rescued thirteen persons from various dangers; the Blessed Virgin, two; the Blessed Ignatius and Xavier, five.

The College at Manila

I. Since last year's letters regarding this college were very full, we shall deal with it now very briefly; we will begin with two brethren who have finished their course of life: Luis a Figueroa and Didacus de Zarcuela. Luis was of noble birth, but of nobler nature. When he had studied the humanities, he could not be persuaded that he might be admitted to sacred orders; and when the fathers hesitated to admit him into the Society because of a lack of strength in his feet, "Receive me," he said, "I beg you, as a servant, to set fire to the wood others have cut; and, when the work is done, to cover the fire with ashes or put it out." Being admitted in so humble a frame of mind, he took care for the most part of the wardrobe, being best satisfied with the lot of Martha, which he praised wherever he had the opportunity. So powerful and effective was he in persuasion and dissuasion that one of his associates declared that he went to his work more readily on account of Luis's words in conversation than through the formal speech of any orator whatsoever. He exhibited the virtue of charity in the highest degree; and although unable to tolerate the slightest deficiency in himself, he strove with love and prudence to effect the same perfection in others. Receiving from Rome at the end of his illness letters by which he was formally enrolled among the lay brethren, he was so penetrated with joy that he had strength to offer his vows in the church--after which, his illness increasing again, he soon died. Didacus also attained the same vows, having been two and twenty years a servant of the Society; of this number he devoted not a few to the seminary of St. Joseph. He was a man who set a good example, and was of extraordinary diligence. So desirous was he of the salvation of the Indian races that he said: "If Spain were only two leguas away, I should not care to go thither. Nothing would induce me to exchange my lot with any brother in Europe"--which saying he repeated oftener as death approached. He died of a fever, contrary to the expectation of the physicians, but not to his own; for he declared that he should die when his illness attacked him, and so he passed away. Some persons who took refuge from external danger, under the protection of the Blessed, our fathers Ignatius and Xavier, were preserved alive. To three women Ignatius granted easy childbirth; and one Basque they relieved of toothache, when he prayed to them. Xavier came to the aid of a Spanish commander of a battalion of soldiers, who was near to death; and prolonged his life in return for two wax candles promised him.

II. As for the rest. Among those of all ages, Christianity advances daily throughout the population of Manila, so that the devotion of youths cannot be affected by entreaties or overcome by reward--especially among those who glory in the name of members of sodalities; while women do not at all fall behind men in fervor and piety. Although on account of their sex they cannot join men's associations, they think that they have the right to perform the same acts which would be praised in the members of sodalities. There are some of the Spanish women who fast three times a week; they sleep on the ground; in their private chambers, among their intimate friends, they scourge themselves until they draw blood. One woman who was delivered by the Virgin from a grievous illness vowed that everything she and her women could make with the needle should be wrought to adorn our church. She has already finished many articles; and, because she seemed to have vowed beyond her strength, she was directed to cease. Her answer was that she had taken her vow to do this, so that if Ours refused the work she would bestow it on some other church. Other decorations have been added to this church, so that it is almost unique in the islands; and, as a result, the religious services which are wont to be held on the three days of the Carnival [12] have been attended by much larger congregations. For, before, bare tiles scarcely covered it; and the dripping water penetrating when it rained, the church was defiled by a multitude of bats. By the contributions of very many pious men a new ceiling has been added to the roof, adorned and wrought with various decorations, so that it gives dignity and splendor to the place--a work worth many a piece of gold, because it seems very great, considering the poverty of the city. Those Indians, too, whom many years ago the Society supported near this city, have now set up in a newly-built church a statue of their patron Saint Michael, together with a new and beautiful image of the Virgin Mother of God, and other statues--marks of no small piety in a small town.

III. The heretics among the prisoners taken in the Dutch fleet last year (they were over ninety) [13] have been visited and assisted by Father Andrea de la Camara very often, both those in prison and the wounded in hospitals. Of the Lutherans and Calvinists in both those places he taught over twenty to recant their heresies--and those generally of the higher rank among them, masters, superintendents, surgeons, etc., and (if he ought to be named in the same class) a minister of the Word. This man, ashamed of his ignorance, readily gave us his hand, and the letters which he had received from his anti-bishop in testimony of his authority, having been in a manner dragged from pitch and shoemaking to the ministry of the Word. These all are now as true lovers of our Society as before they were bitter adversaries of it. When on account of the scarcity of workers Father Camara was sent to the Pintados Islands, these men went to the vicar of the Holy Inquisition, and asked him that he would not suffer them to be without some Jesuit, whose ministry they might enjoy--even through an interpreter, if need be. For, they declared, they were persuaded that Ours might differ in language, but not in character.

In fact, many others have been reconciled to us, or at least, if friends have been made, more friendly. Distinguished among them is he who governs these islands in the royal name, Don Juan de Silva; for he has showed forth his love toward God and us in many ways. He has especially done so by the restoration, at no small expense, of the chapel in which the relics of the saints are kept, for which he also provided that a lamp should be kept constantly burning. He has also liberally assisted us with money and other things in a sickness which afflicted us all for a short time. We have restored to not a few persons their friends, from whom they had been torn by covert grudges; but I wish to avoid unpleasant allusions; and I only praise the greatness of soul of one woman in forgiving injuries. She sailed all the way from Europe, first to Mexico, then to these Philippine Islands, and finally to the Malucas, in search of her absent son. She found him at last in the island of Ternate, where he held an official position; but while she was rejoicing at finding her son, she was deprived of this brief joy also. For soon after her coming her son, pierced with many wounds, was slain in a quarrel; and she had again lost him whom she had found with so great efforts and after so many journeys. This misfortune the woman has borne in such a spirit that she has not only freely forgiven the slayer, but, turning this grief to a good use, has begun to give herself wholly to the praises of God and to heavenly actions. Every day she devotes four hours to prayers; thrice in the week she fasts; thrice she mortifies herself with a hair-shirt, thrice with scourging; and partaking on the Lord's Day of the divine feast, she continues to this day in this most beautiful mode of life.

Establishments at Silan and Antipolo, With the College of Cebu

IV. The town of Silan is accessibly and commodiously situated. Hence it is easily and frequently visited by sojourners, the more so because the inhabitants themselves are uncommonly humane and devoted to Christian piety. It happened that some Indians turned aside from their journey to visit one of the inhabitants; and as they were taking out of a little chest some clothes that they were carrying with them, packed up, it happened that they took out along with them a tiny idol formed of a twisted mass of hair. The people of Silan who were present were frightened when they saw this, and told one of Ours, who was stationed there, of it. He went to the house as if on another errand, and uncovered the deceit together with the idol. Then taking advantage of the occasion, he made a serious address to the Indians, warning them against such wickedness; and he inspired in the owner of the idol (who was a woman) a better mind. With the help of God she abjured the impious worship of hair, which she had before pursued, and also abandoned and corrected another sin of no small heinousness. The delights of a festival which had been announced were almost destroyed by a great misfortune which accidentally befell this place. For while all were looking forward to the day sacred to All Saints, when all the inhabitants had prepared themselves for the proper reception of the feast, behold, at the oncoming of night the fury of all the winds arose. The rain and storm which followed did not cease to rage until they had overthrown more than two hundred houses, to the incredible alarm of the Indians, who left their own houses to take refuge as quickly as possible in our church, where nearly the whole night was spent in hearing their confessions. But not even here were they safe enough, for the wind blew the boards off the walls and whirled them away; so that the whole body of people took refuge in the sanctuary, where they waited for death and the last hour.

V. At the proclamation of the same feast in the village of Antipolo ninety persons received communion--sixty more than in that of Taitai--which is a large number for new Christians. And among these tribes, as has been elsewhere said, that cross is still much visited to which in this year a woman brought a public attestation of the recovery, on two occasions, of her health. The inhabitants of the village have given a silver cup and other ornaments to the church.

VI. The women of Taitai, who formerly surpassed all other Indians in their worship of idols, are now as completely devoted to the pursuit of Christian rites and customs. Even those of high rank among them are not ashamed to sweep the floor of our church, and to appear in public with broom and water, in order that they may be able to command their servants to do the like. This is the praise due to the women; the men deserve another. A very old man dropped from his hands the slip of paper given to him monthly, on which was written the name of the saint whom he had received by lot. Grieved at his loss, the good old man ran back to the village of Taitai, which is about a mile from his own; and thence (as he did not find the father who used to distribute that kind of slips of paper) he went on to Antipolo, over a rough and hilly road. When he reached there, after going four miles, he first asked the father's pardon for his carelessness; and then begged him not to refuse to give him another in place of his lost patron. This fact shows plainly enough with what zeal these tribes strive after the greater matters of salvation. In another place an Indian was lying sick, and had received communion and been anointed with the holy oil. Early in the evening he began to be in such agony that the people in the house took him for dead, and, after laying out the body, put him on his ancestral bier. After they had watched the whole night about his body, when dawn returned he returned also, stammered something, and about noon uttered his words articulately. Then he said first that he seemed to have been dead three years, because of the cruel torments which he had himself suffered in hell, and which he had seen an infinite number of Indians suffer. There demons--as it were, smiths--kindled forges with bellows, poured melted iron over the wretched souls, and in the midst of their pitiful howlings burnt them forever with never-ceasing tortures. After he had seen these things, he said, he had been led by a venerable old man away to a higher place, by reaching which (for he thought it was heaven) he was filled so full of bliss that he was unwilling to leave it. But when he was commanded, he returned to life, to inform the living about each place to which men are consigned, that of the blessed and that of the damned; and this command, he affirmed, was laid upon him under a heavy penalty; for there are among mortals not a few who by the pretense of virtue deceive themselves and others, and although they are looked upon as good, yet are very far from the service of God. Then he added that his conductor told him to bid his fellow-townsmen be of good courage, for the church they were then engaged in building would be better and stronger than the others. The Indian, after he had said these things, recovered, and a general confession was appointed. He continues to this day to show by his life and example that those things which he reported were no dreams. The improvement of morals which has followed in many others who heard of these things has almost entirely put an end to pretexts for doubt and suspicions of deceit.

The prophecy, moreover, with regard to the church--that it should be stronger than the others--has been fulfilled. A few months before, the church of these Indians had burned down for the second time, together with our house. The fire broke out in the following manner. Some of the townspeople were out hunting, and, a dispute arising among the barbarians about the hunt, they came to blows. Soon after the quarrel, fire was thrown on our house, and destroyed the new church with almost all the furniture. The relics of the saints and the images were in part saved from the fire by the dexterity of the Christians. But Ours after no long delay bent themselves to the work again, and erected another church for themselves, at no trifling expense, and with no small labor on the part of the Indians. This is the seventh church erected in the ten years since the founding of the town. A further fortune which befell an Indian woman confirmed many in the Christian faith. She had ventured, without confessing her sins after the manner of Christians, to receive Christ in the communion; after she went home, she began to suffer from such agony in her throat that she thought she should choke to death. Thus she suffered, complained, an wailed until, having recognized the cause of her suffering, she went to the church that very evening. She prayed and besought the father to hold back her soul, already departing; and to succor an unhappy woman, whose throat was burned by the host as if by a flaming torch. When the father heard this, he instantly besought God, and God instantly showed mercy. She declared her sins, and thereupon all her torment ceased; and by this salutary remedy of confession the maladies of many Indians have been suddenly dispelled by Ours, the name of God or of some saint being invoked.

At the college of Zebu one of the Society, when in the town one day, heard weeping not far away; and when he followed it he discovered a mother bitterly lamenting the death of her new-born infant. Touched by her grief, the father went a short distance away, and entreated God, in the name of the Virgin Mother, to help this afflicted woman. Instantly the child revived, without a trace of sickness left upon him. Whether it was his senses or his soul that had left him, it is surely to the divine goodness that his sudden revival is to be attributed. The recitation of the Gospel of St. John has also benefited many sick persons; but Ours have found nothing so fit for removing the sicknesses of souls as the salutary Exercises of our blessed Father [_i.e._, Loyola], which the very heads of each magistracy, the sacred and the civil, have employed--not alone to private but also to public advantage. Their example, imitated by some of those in the higher ranks, has been followed by the same results. The rest of the people have been marvelously stirred up by the renewed fervor of the members of the sodalities, among other things; and by the new confidence given them by letters from Rome received this year, to the great delight and approval of all; which letters have much promoted the worship of the most blessed Virgin, and have also kindled those who are reckoned among the first in the city to accept the advice to join a sodality. By these means cares have been turned aside, and four bitter family quarrels, in which the very heart of life and salvation was attacted, not without public scandal, were brought to an end with the desired success.

Bohol Establishment

VII. The harvest of souls at Bohol has increased with the decrease of the audacity of the enemy, and of the almost annual invasion by the people of Mindanao. As many as a thousand have been baptized, if children and adults are reckoned. In this number are several _bailans_, or priests of idols; and one there was who, before his baptism, did nothing but rage, and attack with teeth and nails those who passed by, who came forth from the waters of the sacred font, gentle and in his right mind. And when some Indians saw this, snatching the cause from the fact, they went to the father and begged him to sprinkle a dying Indian woman with the same healing waters. Our father, suspecting that they made this request with the the purpose of enabling the woman to avoid the trouble of learning the catechism refused, unless she would first learn what Christians know. "Father," said they, "that ought not to be the way in which you act; we want her baptized to keep her alive." "And I," said one, "when I was lying near to death, was by the command of another father sprinkled by an Indian cantor, and as soon as I was sprinkled immediately I began to recover. Then that madman, as you know, washed away his madness in the same font; and this companion of mine, who was already despaired of, when he received baptism was restored to himself and his kinsfolk." The father yielded to all these arguments, ordered the sick woman to be carried into the church, and after putting the questions demanded by the occasion and the need, cleansed her with that purifying sacrament: she immediately began to improve, and soon recovered all her former strength. Every day several feel the healing power of this font. An equally great miracle is that the chiefs of this tribe, who have been very ill disposed towards us, and from whom not even the lives of Ours were safe, have been so suddenly changed at the sight of one of our fathers that they not only--themselves, without being urged--have submitted to the Christian ordinances, but also seek out the barbarians, even in the mountains, where they wander and are dispersed like wild beasts; and partly by the exercise of their authority, partly by persuasion, bring them down to the villages, and offer them to the fathers for instruction and baptism. Together with these there were once offered more than seventy idols, the spoils of the bailans, which were publicly burnt by Ours before the uplifted cross. The same thing has been done again and again elsewhere, especially at Jalibon, Ingaon, Orion, and Canliron, where the joyful Indians in this manner took vengeance upon the evil demon who had so often deceived them by the delusions of idols. The bailans are conspicuous in this zealous attack upon the enemy. They go so far as to scourge themselves [14] until they draw blood, in order to atone for their sins; and thus they who formerly opened the door to all kinds of impiety are now the means above all others by which the rest of the bailans who still work their impious sacrifices are led to the faith, for the art of these latter loses its power when the others reveal the deceit. Indeed the deceit not seldom reveals itself by their predicting that which never comes to pass, or threatening terrors which injure no one.

VIII. The members of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin are devoting their attention to themselves, and striving to root out from their souls those sins which have grown old there. There was an Indian woman who was seized by a suitor in her bed, and who, to protect her chastity, threw herself out of the window; there was a youth who, being unable to keep a crowd of wanton girls out of his cottage, so savagely scourged his own back with cords that they, alarmed at the fierceness of the sounds, at last dispersed. There were some who, to avoid the sin of drunkenness, entirely denied themselves the use of wine.

Of old there were among these Indians no bowels of compassion, no signs of family affection. Nay, parents sold their very children for food; children did the same by their parents; and this sort of avarice (or rather of cruelty) was still more common among kinsmen by marriage or blood, so that they did no kindness without doing an injury. Now, by the grace of God, all these things are reversed, and these people delight in doing to others as they would be done by; and on that account the hospital which has been built never wants for necessaries, and always has some, even of high rank, who rejoice in giving themselves to the service of the poor.

Moreover, this hospital is supported thus: during the week a basket is placed before the doors of the church, in which every one puts what he pleases, according to his ability, either of food or herbs, to be carried to the hospital. On Sundays, besides, each village in turn serves the sick, after the following manner. Those whose turn it is go hunting boars or stags, and on the appointed day bring flesh, boiled or roasted, with rice, or bring some equivalent food, for the sick. Now this tribe, which is at this time so Christian, formerly observed the custom of never going hunting without consulting their idols. When they perceived that the fathers of Ours detested this custom, and indeed wholly annulled it, some of them asked them what they ought to do then when they went out on such enterprises. When they were told that they should go to some church and beseech God through the Virgin Mother of God to give them success in their hunting, they did so; and at noon of that very day they killed twenty-two boars and stags not far from the village. When they came home loaded with their game, every one marveled greatly; and they said: "Ah, Father, how good is the God of the Christians! The gods that we used to worship would scarcely grant us, in return for long continued implorations, at last two boars or stags, and most often nothing; but now the true God after having been barely prayed to has freely given us all these beasts in a short time." The pious example of these people having been followed by others in another village, they too had slain five and twenty of this kind of game within three or four hours; and they went about shouting: "Away with you, lying bailans, who were about to destroy us and all that we had! For us there will be henceforth no God but Jesus Christ, who has displayed so great liberality to us who have recently turned to Him." I might say more as to the Gospel of St. John, the saving sign of the cross, and other mysteries of the Christians, whose marvelous efficacy these tribes have experienced; but I would not be prolix. Let it be enough to state that seven or eight sick persons at least have been cured by amulets of this sort.

Establishment at Dulac, Carigara, Tinagon, and Palapag

IX. At the establishment at Dulac Ours have often had the better of the devil, and the devil of them. They certainly believe that what has happened can have had no other author. They had appointed the festival of which we have spoken above; and when they were all assembled in the church and were waiting for divine service, a messenger suddenly appeared and announced that the Mindanaos, their ancient enemies, were at Carigara. As soon as the Indians heard that, they poured out of the church all together in consternation, each trying to pass the other; and leaving the priest, for the mass was not yet finished, they fled from the village and took refuge in the mountains. The priest, when he had finished the divine office, and arranged his affairs as well as time permitted, began himself to think of flight, that the shepherd might be with his flock. However, being detained by an Indian chief, whose wife he had been about to bury, he remained, and performed the rites for the woman--one who had deserved well of the Christians, and who, as her husband testified, had been visited by the Blessed Virgin, In the mean time a messenger brought a more certain report, to the effect that a few small villages on the island had been visited by some five or six ships at Caragara; and that they had captured only twenty Indians, the rest having taken refuge in flight.

They all came back then from the mountains, and in a few days the work of many was accomplished. The number of those who confessed the faith increased so rapidly that the long days seemed short. This, I am sure, grieved the devil not a little; and no less did what Father Christoforo Ximenez effected after he returned to Manila where he put into print the catechism of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino, translated into the Bisayan language. [15] He went by the order of his superiors to Alongala, then without a priest. When he had remained there up to the beginning of Holy Week, and had made the people ready and active in all works of piety, it happened that a certain idol-worshiper of that island, a man of very high rank, Malacaia by name--who owned over sixty slaves, and who was reverenced by all the Indians most highly, even as a father--was once looking on, and wondering to see many of the natives busied in pious works, and so seriously engaged in scourging themselves. In amazement he said, "Shall I do that, Father?" "Do," replied Ximenez, "what they are doing, and scourge thyself." "Will that scourging do me any good?" asked Malacaia. "It will do thee no little good," answered the father. The other instantly took off his tunic and girded himself for the work, and walking upon the stage with the others, the Christians, he so tragically worked upon himself that, not content with one scourge, although it was rough with little sharp studs, he also snatched the scourge from one standing near, and, as with a two-edged sword, fearfully smote himself upon the back as if with thunderbolts. These scourgings reached even to the man's soul, although at the time he knew not what he was doing; for this noble deed was an example of great profit to others, and he himself, moreover, received at this time the desire for baptism, for which he is now being prepared as a catechumen.

X. The Christians taught by the fathers at the establishment at Cangara have this in common with those at Dulac, that they receive a mighty protection from the services of the church when duly celebrated. For as the former, by setting up a cross in the fields and by the use of holy water, drive the swarms of locusts from their grain, so the latter by bearing palm-branches and seeds to the church effect the same result. An old custom of theirs has been condemned--namely setting up in the fields great beams, which they call _Omalagars_, upon which they believe the souls of the dead to sit. Here fifty have been initiated in the Christian mysteries, and more would have been if ministers had not been wanting. Forty couples have been joined with a more holy bond. Several persons were found by the marvelous providence of God (for it would be impious to regard that as a chance which was wrought for Ours, kept safe in so many perils), who, being scattered over the mountains, so that they could have no one else, begged for a father to whom they might confess their sins. There were also found in a little island forty lepers loathsome with filth and stench, unclothed, and without food, lacking everything. To all of them first the teaching of Christ, then baptism, and finally food and clothes were given. But one man found God sterner, who, though warned by Ours to desist from his impious habit of swearing, yet never obeyed. He was often wont to use an expression by which he devoted himself to the crocodile; and not long after, being made the prey of one, he taught others by his evil fate to do that which he had refused to do before. As compared with his death all the more happy was that by which Father Alfonso Roderico was taken from us. He had professed the four vows, and was dear alike to Spaniards and to Bisayans. He was so devoted to the good of both that he was not satisfied with the narrow space of twenty-two years, during which he was permitted to live among us, but at his death used the very words of St. Martin: "Lord, if I am still needed by thy people, I do not refuse to labor."

XI. The attention of Ours at Tinagon has wisely been given to the women, since they are more ready to take an interest in sacred things, and are more seldom absent from the village--except when one or another makes her escape from the hands of some procurer, preferring to pass the nights in the forests and mountains in the midst of serpents, rather than at home to suffer danger to her chastity among men that are as deadly. As for the other affairs of this establishment, they may nearly all be included under two examples, one of divine compassion, the other of divine justice. An Indian woman was carelessly crossing a stream, and was carried off by a ferocious crocodile. She screamed, she cried, she prayed to God for pardon, and for only so much time as should serve her to make her confession. Her husband, who was not far away, ran up quickly, threw himself into the water to attack the monster, struck it, and at last dragged his wife from its claws; but she was so mangled and lacerated that there was no hope for her life. What were the good people to do in a village without a priest, and far distant from the residence where the fathers lived? The woman was in such a condition that it was impossible to take her there before her death. Yet a way out of all these difficulties was easily found by the wise God of mercy, for by His guidance there came into the village, while they were still doubting what to do, a priest of our Order, quite unaware of what had happened. As soon as the matter was reported to him, he went to the dying woman, consoled her in her affliction, and sent her to Heaven, confessing and sorrowing for her sins. The other case differs little from that which we recorded earlier as occurring at the Carigara establishment. A fellow whom no fear or warning could improve, and who would not control his wicked habit of swearing and blaspheming, was one day testifying in a legal case. He devoted his head to the crocodile, if the matter were other than as he testified, adding that he could confirm his testimony by calling in others as witnesses. As he was crossing a stream to summon them in behalf of his case, he was carried off by a crocodile; and--a certain proof of the damnation of the man--it was later discovered by the testimony of others that he had borne false witness.

XII. At the settlement at Palapag there has been a conflict with hunger and disease; yet the Indians have so conducted themselves that the sick have not lacked the necessary services. Likewise Ours have made such provision that the poor were cared for from the harvest; for at their gate they daily served food to more than seventy persons. Their newly-built church and their sodality make them hopeful of great good, for their beginnings are such that six hundred of full age have presented themselves at the sacred font for purification; while I should reckon the number of children at eight hundred, the greater part of whom have gone the straight way to heaven. One of Ours was called to a little infant which was said to be sick, to baptize it; and he refused, partly because he thought the matter was not so pressing, partly because he wished to teach the Indians the custom of bringing their little ones to the churches. At last, overcome by the importunities of those who asked him, he went thither; but when he could perceive in the child not the least sign of illness, he was about to return without baptizing it. But when he looked at the boy again he seemed to be silently warned by it not to deny it that benefit. At last, when he had complied, and when everything had been performed duly and in order, the child expired in the very arms of its sponsor. By this event the father was rendered joyful, but still more cautious not to think that time should be allowed any advantage in matters of this kind; for, as he said, he would rather suffer all the ills of sea and land if he might open heaven to this single little boy. There have been seen other signs (not a few) of the singular care extended by divine providence to this tribe and Ours. Such a one was this. An Indian was wrapped in the folds of a serpent eight feet long, but, groaning forth the saving name of Jesus, he was released. Again: when there was a deficiency of that kind of food which it is lawful to eat in the days of Lent, a boat on the beach, brought by I know not whom, freely supplied fishes of a kind not usual there. Again, when a church was on the point of falling, the Indians were frightened out from it by a tremendous roar; and, because the mass had not been finished, it did not fall before the father had taken refuge in the sacristy, the chalice being safe, with the sacred images on the abandoned altar. These things we mention, passing over those persons to whom God has been pleased to grant good of soul or body through Ours. To this establishment there was sent ten years ago Francisco Simon, a lay brother; he died on the day on which twenty years before he had entered the Society. And although through all this interval of time he had neglected none of the things for which a good religious may be praised, yet the nearer he approached to death, the more content he seemed in doing them. The garden, the kitchen, the dining-room, the sacristy, the workshops, the other places in which he labored, he regarded somehow as sanctuaries--sometimes saying his beads, sometimes holding colloquies with the Holy Trinity, Christ, and our Lady the Virgin. A naturally irritable temper he had so completely overcome by virtue and diligence that the fathers whom he accompanied on their missions wished for no one more kindly; they could hardly have had anyone more diligent and more ready to do anything. But as witnesses of his virtue Francisco had not only the priests of his home but also those of other places; for when he died he was away among them, attending to the preparation of rice--offering to all a good example, as he first sent to his superiors a report of his business by letter; and, as he was to return no more, he sent his last farewell to his companions. A place of burial was given to him by the priest who has in charge the village of Abla in Luzon, by whom the funeral rites also were performed most honorably, a great multitude of Indians attending them.

The Missions at Octon and to the Malucas

XIII. In addition to our accustomed labors with the Spaniards and Indians of Arevalo, there has been another of no small importance with a large force of troops, who undertook an expedition to the Malucas. No trifling benefit was carried to the foreigners by Father Francisco Gonzalez, who had been called back thence to the town of Zebu to take the four vows. On his journey he brought back into the way the Indians everywhere, who were turning aside to their madness and their idols. He reestablished Christian customs, baptized children and adults, made stable their fickle and inconstant marriages, and did many more things of the same kind--which, though unwritten, are understood. The following event should not lack a pen. A man entangled by lewd delights, but moved by the fact that he had no example among the repentant people, or by the influence of a festival just then announced, had settled himself to a proper life; but rising in the middle of the night he went out from his house, and was longing for his accustomed delights. While he was doing so, behold two specters, very large and horribly black, wrapped in hanging cloaks, appeared to him. The unhappy man dared to annoy them by approaching and speaking to them. Without answering, they snatched him up and carried him high in air, filling everything with his screams and cries, and struggling in vain. His neighbors, awakened and following the sound of the voice, went round the whole village without finding anything. At last at dawn they found the man among the thick bramble-bushes on the mountains, his body all bruised, and himself half-dead and speechless. When they found him, they took him to our church, and the prayers of many were offered for him, and remedies were applied. At last he recovered his senses and his speech, and cried aloud that he had been punished by the just judgment of God, since he had for a long time neglected the precepts that he had received at confession, and had not done the things becoming a Christian. He then went on to say that when the demons carried him off, they took him to a deep black cave; and just as they were about to hurl him down into it, he was delivered by the intervention of God, to whom he had commended himself. Thus, having confessed his sins, he put on a better way of living.

XIV. The member of the Society who accompanied the general of the Philippines on the expedition to the Malucas, Father Angelo Armano, [16] did his duty during the whole time of the voyage and the war, not without peril on land and sea. He did with energy what could be done in the midst of arms, the noise of artillery, the ambushes of the enemy, and the slaughter. And surely there was great hope of extending religion by this expedition, for the native king himself, when detained at Manila with his son and other chiefs for five years often used to promise the governor that if he would send a fleet to the Malucas again, he himself would give into subjection and obedience to his Catholic Majesty all his vassals, who are estimated at about two hundred thousand souls. This has seemed the quickest way to liberate the Malucan Christians from the new yoke of the Dutch heretics, by which they are oppressed. The multitude of those who have thus far professed the Christian faith there can be estimated only from the Amboynans, of whom the number reaches above twenty thousand. Therefore, although the general came back, home in glory from this expedition, after winning a victory, yet he has expressed his grief more than once that the welfare and salvation of all this great number of islands and tribes should be insufficiently provided for on account of the lack of priests; and he has affirmed that he wishes more earnestly for nothing than that he might have the opportunity of sending forth many of the Society of Jesus on this divine work.

DECREE REGULATING SERVICES OF FILIPINOS

We order that, in the Filipinas Islands, no Indians be distributed in repartimiento, in any number, for private or public means of gain; since for the cutting of wood, navigation of caracoas, and other works of this sort, in which our royal treasury is interested, and for the public convenience, the Chinese and Japanese found on any desired occasion in the city of Manila must be (as they are) hired; and, as is understood, there will be a sufficient number of workmen among them, who will engage in these services for the just price of their toil. From them shall be employed those who wish to hire themselves out, in order to avoid the concourse of Indians [at Manila]. In case that the repartimiento cannot be entirely avoided, as will be provided, and if the Chinese and Japanese are either unwilling or unable to satisfy the actual need of those public works, the governor and captain-general shall take measures with the Indians so that they may aid in the works freely and voluntarily, making use of the means that seem advisable to him to effect it. But, granted that there be a lack of voluntary workers, we permit that some Indians be forced to work in these occupations, under the following conditions, but in no other manner.

That this repartimiento shall be made only for necessary and unavoidable affairs; for in so odious a matter, the greater benefit to our royal treasury, or the greater convenience of the community, cannot suffice; and all that which is not necessary for their preservation, weighs less than the liberty of the Indians.

That the Indians in the repartimiento shall be lessened in number as the voluntary workers shall be introduced, whether the latter be Indians or those of other nations.

That they shall not be taken from distant districts, and from climates notably different from that of their own villages. The choice of all shall proceed without any partiality, and so that both the hardship of distances, the burden of the occupations, and compensation for the other circumstances in which there will be more or less grievance, shall be shared and distributed equally, so that all may share the greater and less toilsome services, so that the benefit and alleviation shown to some may not be changed into injury toward others.

That the governor assign the number of hours that they shall work each day, taking into consideration the lack of strength and weak physical constitutions.

That they be given in full the wages that they earn for their work. And they shall be paid personally each day, or at the end of the week, as they may choose.

That the repartimientos be made at a time that does not embarrass or hinder the sowing and harvesting of land products, or the other occasions and periods upon which the Indians have to attend to the profit and management of their property; for our intention is that they be not deprived of it, and that they may be able to attend to everything. Therefore, we order the governor that, at the beginning of the year, he shall take note of the building and other matters of our service in which the Indians have to be employed; for if the time is chosen, it may be arranged in such a way that the Indians may receive no considerable injury to their property or persons.

That, granting the poor arrangement and plan of the caracoas, and that when remanded to them many Indians generally perish, because of sailing without a deck, and exposed to the inclemencies of storms, we order that these craft be improved and built in such a manner that the Indians may manage the oars without risk of health and life.

In all the above, and in all that may touch their preservation and increase, we order the governor to proceed with the care and vigilance that we expect, and that he punish signally and rigorously the ill-treatment received by the Indians from their caciques or from the Spaniards--especially should the latter be our officials, upon whom the penalties must be more rigorously executed. We request and charge both the secular prelates and the provincials of the orders to exercise the same attention in the punishment of offenses of this nature, committed by the ministers of instruction and other ecclesiastical persons. And we order that any omission of the governors, justices, and officials entrusted, in whole or in part, with the observance and fulfilment of this law be made a matter of their residencia.

[Law passed in the reign of Felipe III, and dated Aranjuez, May 26, 1609.]

DOCUMENTS OF 1610

Petition of the Recollects. Dionisio de la Anunciacion, and others;
June 30.
Dominicans request suppression of the Audiencia. Baltasar Fort,
O.P., and others; June 30.
Relation of 1609-10. Gregorio Lopez, S.J.; July 1.
Letter to Felipe III. Juan de Silva; September 5.
Letter to Silva. Felipe III; December 7.