Chapter XV: Other matters pertaining to the ecclesiastics of Manila (5)

The true beliefs of our holy order were received in that territory from the first time of the preaching of the gospel in this archipelago. The people of Bohol believed in the God of the Christians as quickly as He was announced to them, and became docile sons of the Catholic church without opposing that obstinate resistance to the good news which was experienced in the other islands, and which cost the life of one of its first apostles. If they remained in their first heathendom, it had not come to take the gross forms of a corrupted idolatry, applying the great idea of the divinity to despicable objects. Free of this inconvenience, when the majesty and grandeur of our God was manifest to them, they revered His adorable perfections. Even though there were perverse inclinations in the hearts of those natives, they were not given to polygamy; and when the holy law of God was explained to them, and the respect that the sanctity of marriage (which was elevated by Jesus Christ to the dignity of a sacrament) merits among Christians, they received these doctrines without any repugnance, since they were already free from the great obstacles which perversity and corruption, elevated to their highest power--namely, to have polytheism and idolatry as their foundation and support--can present against those doctrines. In the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-five, the Jesuit fathers, Torres and Sanchez, [144] came to this island, and very soon established the Catholic religion in Baclayon. Later, they founded a church and convent in Loboc; and then went to a site called Talibon, and overran the rest of the island, where they were able to conquer the difficulties which presented themselves in the way of submitting to their rule--born rather of repugnance to the Spaniards than of systematic opposition to the Christian faith. When Legaspi passed by Bohol and anchored at Jagna [145] in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-four, he already had occasion to observe that same thing; and the explanation given him by a Moro from Borneo whom he had found there trading, was, that two years before eight vessels from the Molucas had committed great outrages, and those pirates had said that they were Castilians; and since they were of the same color and bore the same arms [as the Spaniards], the people of Bohol imagined that the Spaniards would do the same thing to them as the men of the eight Portuguese boats had done. [146] When Christianity had acquired a great increase in that island, hell, angered by those spiritual improvements, availed itself of the instrumentality of certain Moros of Mindanao, in order, if possible, to choke the seed of the gospel. Knowing that the best means of attaining that object was to make them rebel against the Spaniards, who had brought to them the happiness of their souls, hell stirred up a rebellion which had the same causes, and was invested with the same forms as the insurrection of Caraga, and was of more lasting effect. The missionaries having absented themselves in order to celebrate in Cebu the beatification of St. Francis Javier, which was celebrated in the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-one, two or three criminals who were wandering through the mountains seduced the tribes, as the messengers of the _diguata_ [_i.e._, divinity], to refuse obedience to the Spaniards, to abandon their settlements, and to unite together on the heights in groups, to make themselves feared. Of six villages formed by the Jesuit fathers, only two remained faithful [147] to the king of Espana; while the rest took arms against the constituted authorities, and formed bands which displayed a hostile attitude in the hills and high places--so that it was necessary to employ force and violent measures, in order to make them return to the fulfilment of their duty. Exemplary punishments were inflicted, which procured a partial result. But that subversive idea was one of fatal consequences, and produced some pernicious fruits so lasting that they have come down almost to our own days.

Entrance of the Recollect fathers into the island of Bohol

If in the seventeenth century a rebel voice--which emancipated from their obedience and respect to the authorities many unthinking persons, who adhered to the sedition--sounded in the mountains of Bohol, in the eighteenth century that voice, instead of having been completely extinguished, had continued to increase. We have admitted the valiant character of those natives, and granted their natural aptitude in the use of weapons; concurrent with these were various other causes which aroused and increased their disaffection, which had been extended to a very considerable number. Captained by intrepid leaders--as for example, Dagahoy, Ignacio Aranez, Pedro Bagio, and Bernardo Sanote--they had formed a body of insurgents in the mountains of Inabangan and Talibon. That gave the superior government plenty to think about, because of the many years that the insurrection was in existence; and because it always continued to increase until Fathers Lamberti (the missionary of Jagna) and Morales [148] (of Inabangan) were sacrificed by them, a little after the middle of the past century. In such condition, then, was public order in the province of Bohol; and the Spanish name enjoyed so little respect in that restless and disorganized island when, inasmuch as the Jesuit fathers had left all the Spanish dominions, their administration was adjudged to us, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight. Father Pedro de Santa Barbara was assigned as cura of Baclayon, and other Recollect religious to the villages of Loon, Maribohoc, Tagbilaran, Dauis, Jagna, Dimiao, Loboc, and Inabangan, which are the eight missions existing in that island in the above-mentioned epoch. A most difficult undertaking was offered to the zeal and loyalty of the first Recollects who entered Bohol. A great prudence united with the greatest zeal, great valor with a knowledge of all the difficulties, and a foresight of all the results, were necessary to rise superior to that so difficult situation, and to fulfil their social and religious trust in so delicate circumstances, as was advisable to the service of religion and the greater dignity of our country. When the father vicar-provincial of our new ministries, who was then the cura of Baclayon--a religious of great energy, of proved zeal, and of not common daring--found himself in peaceful possession of the spiritual administration of all the reduced villages, he thought seriously of probing to the bottom the beginning and progress of the rebellion, its actual condition, and the disposition of their minds. He established correspondence with the leaders, held several conferences with them, acquired their utmost confidence, and succeeded in obtaining the submission of Dagahoy; and the other leader, Bernardo Sanote, also returned to the service of God and of his Majesty. The Recollects proceeded with so fine tact to make themselves masters of the wills of those untamable mountaineers, that, in a short time after their arrival, they no longer needed an armed force for the security of their persons--although until then pickets of soldiers were maintained in nearly all the villages for the defense of the ministers. Consequently, the soldiers were able to retire from Loay, Maribohoc, and Loon, but always remained in Inabangan, Jagna, and Tagbilaran--not for the purpose of protecting the ministering fathers, but to prevent all devastation and disorder on the part of those who were not subdued. A general amnesty was granted to all the delinquents who had taken to the mountains. That produced many submissions, although it did not wholly extinguish an evil whose roots were so old, and which responded to so many causes as had contributed to its growth. Its final consequences lasted until the beginning of the present century; and when it was believed necessary to obtain the complete tranquillity of the island and the entire extinction of the rebels, an expedition was formed in the time of General Ricafort, composed of one thousand one hundred men--who were enrolled in Cebu, and were embarked to fulfil their destiny on May eight, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven. The governor of Cebu, Don Jose Lazaro Cairo, commanded those forces. He was accompanied by the ex-father-provincial, Fray Miguel de Jesus, parish priest of Danao; and by father Fray Julian Bermejo, ex-provincial of the calced Augustinians, parish priest of Boljoon. The outcome of the expedition was all that could be desired; insubordination ceased to exist in the interior of Bohol, and the last remnants of the emancipated came to an end in all parts of the island. The fruits of peace began to appear; and from that time all the inhabitants, at the same time while they acquired the habits of obedience and respect, began to experience a new era of prosperity, and the satisfaction consequent on the social life. From that time the population has greatly increased; and all the inhabitants remain faithful to their duties, very respectful to all authority, and faithful vassals to the king of Espana.

For more than one century all this island has been under the spiritual direction of our province. During that time the number of the Catholics has increased in so prodigious a manner that it has been raised to a number almost triple what it was when we received it. At that time it was an integral part of the province of Cebu. At present it forms a province by itself, and is one of the most populous of the archipelago; and its people are closely settled and compact, active and industrious, diligent and laborious.

We received eight missions in this province, which were the eight regularly organized villages which then existed. Their spiritual direction occasioned great sorrows to the ministers of that time, some of these even succumbing as victims to the insolence and obstinacy of their own children. Today we count one hundred and ten years of our existence in that district, and we cannot write of those natives a single page like those of their old history, which was full of disagreeable, and some horrible, relations--whether because the Recollects had an understanding of the peculiar dispositions of those Indians, and the means suitable to gain their respect and obedience; or whether, perchance, one might say that the people of Bohol have had sufficient penetration to observe in their conduct certain manners so considerate and so full of demonstrations of benevolence, which sentiments of compassion and interest in the adversities and lack of resources of their parishioners, would cause in the minds of their new parish priests. Whichever of these may be accepted to explain the long period of our stay in Bohol, exempt from all trouble, and the steady increase in our enjoyment of the consideration and confidence of our proteges, we shall always make known the facts--very surprising and very gratifying to our corporation--that were already begun to be observed from the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight, when the first Recollects went to that island. They were received without any opposition, obeyed without repugnance, and were loved and respected; and these mutual relations have continued without any lapse until the present time.

[The towns of this Recollect province are the following: Loon, with 3,097 1/2 tributes, and 17,202 souls; Calape, with 2,627 tributes, and 8,187 souls; Tubigon, with 2,109 1/2 tributes, and 10,008 souls; Inabangan, with 1,568 tributes, and 7,024 souls; Getafe, with 144 tributes, and 3,912 souls; Talibon, with 1,089 tributes, and 8,558 souls; Ubay, with 669 tributes, and 2,844 souls; Candijay, with 738 tributes, and 5,030 souls; Guindulman, with 1,994 1/2 tributes, and 9,600 souls; Sierra-Bullones, with 541 1/2 tributes, and 2,235 souls; Duero, with 1,175 1/2 tributes, and 5,352 souls; Jagna, with 2,431 tributes, and 11,829 souls; Garcia-Hernandez, with 1,225 1/2 tributes, and 6,847 souls; Valencia, with 1,307 1/2 tributes, and 7,099 souls; Dimiao, with 1,717 1/2 tributes, and 8,280 souls; Lila, with 879 tributes, and 4,023 souls; Carmen, with 749 tributes, and 3,575 souls; Bilar, with 1,281 1/2 tributes, and 5,669 souls; Balilijan, with 1,051 1/2 tributes, and 5,998 souls; Catigbian, with 651 1/2 tributes, and 2,759 souls; Loboc, with 2,469 tributes, and 11,430 souls; Sevilla, with 996 1/2 tributes, and 4,835 souls; Loay, with 1,759 tributes, and 8,171 souls; Alburquerque, with 1,191 tributes, and 5,319 souls; Baclayon, with 2,609 tributes, and 11,142 souls; Tagbilaran, with 1,954 tributes, and 11,081 souls; Paminguitan, with 5,705 souls; island and village of Dauis, with 1,889 tributes, and 9,090 souls; Panglao, with 1,457 tributes, and 6,543 souls; Maribojoc, with 3,372 tributes, and 18,200 souls; island and village of Siquijor, with 1,740 tributes, and 7,800 souls; Canoan, with 1,465 tributes, and 7,082 souls; Laci, with 1,180 1/2 tributes, and 5,403 souls; and San Juan, with 1,143 tributes, and 5,280 souls.]

The province of Bohol at the present time

After having mentioned in rapid survey the villages of which this province is at present composed, which are otherwise so many quiet groups of honest and industrious natives--who form, in the religious estate, the same number of parishes canonically established, each one with its own pastor, who is charged to watch over them through the functions of religion, and to dispense the sacraments and other benefits of religion to the souls of his respective parish--and having enumerated the communities that make up the general total of the population of what is now one of the most populous provinces of the archipelago: a meditative mind goes back about one century with the desire of ascertaining the state of the province in that time, since now we are seeing its condition in our own time. It has been stated above, in the introduction, that the villages having regular ministers were eight in number. In regard to canonical legislation then in force, those ministers had the character of missionaries, and not of parish priests. They labored in the salvation of souls with the apostolic zeal generally recognized (and denied by no one), which is characteristic of the fathers of the Society of Jesus. But the social state of those natives was a hindrance to the abundant fruit that ought to be expected from the fervent devotion and charity of so distinguished missionaries.

The insurrections which took place in Bohol in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had succeeded in forming a considerable body of malcontents who raised the banner of rebellion and disorder; and the disorder at the same time when it destroyed the obedience of most of their subjects to the authorities, also influenced very directly the advancement of Catholicism, and gave as a result that all those who took to the mountains, thus being separated from the immediate neighborhood of the eight churches then existing, returned to the habits of heathenism at the same time when they passed to the camp of freedom. Other things also were added to the causes which diminished the abundant fruits of the priestly ministry. That coldness of the people of Bohol toward the Spanish name, observed long before by Legaspi at the time of the discovery, and certain opposition inspired by some captious natives who favored but little the very zealous ministers of Jesus Christ (who were sacrificing their own existence for the eternal salvation of those souls), placed this territory in an abnormal condition, taking from it the forces necessary for its advancement and prosperity. Above all, peacefulness had left those shores, a loss which made it impossible to give signs of life and social and religious increase. One hundred and ten years have elapsed since the discalced Augustinians first entered Bohol. They did not go there as conquistadors; they did not go to preach the name of Christ to heathenism and idolatry; they did not go to make new vassals for the king of Espana of a people who had not sworn their obedience. The mission of the Recollect fathers to the island of Bohol was to continue the tasks of the Jesuit fathers; to preach the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Jesuits did; and to present themselves to the observation of those natives in their apostolic and religious bearing, as worthy imitators of so zealous priests. They also had the thorny task of inculcating habits of gratitude and obedience in discontented minds; and of reducing a considerable number of rebels to the payment of the royal tribute, who had already begun a struggle, with some pretensions to triumph. The hope of religion and society in the discalced Augustinians, in the difficult circumstances through which the island of Bohol was passing when they took charge of its administration, was that peace would be extended to the remotest corners of its territory, so that the religious beginnings would have an efficacious influence on the misguided multitude, and Spanish authority would completely dominate men and things which had been separated from its beneficent influence. Facts are demonstrating with the greatest clearness that the Recollects attained abundantly the end of all their aspirations. At present we are experiencing that the reality exceeds the hopes that could animate them when they entered on their task. The universal harmony that this province enjoys in the present century, and the state of prosperity in which all the natives live, as well as the growth of population, and the increase of culture, religious fervor, and instruction that they enjoy--all this speaks very loudly in favor of the preaching of the Recollects in Bohol. These considerations also demonstrate with the greatest clearness that, even if the Recollects were not its conquistadors, they are without dispute the instruments employed by Providence for its political and religious advancement; and that they are with all propriety the pacifiers and restorers of the beginnings of Christian society in that island, which was in confusion until that time. As soon as they entered, a relation of sympathy was established between them and their proteges, as hidden as it was intimate, by virtue of which they were enabled to direct all their individual forces to the attempt at perfection and the improvements that they had planned. As they always directed these successfully, and were always obeyed with promptness, they were enabled to realize the material and intellectual transformation of that district newly entrusted to their care. There are at present thirty-three parishes in this province, according to the preceding relation. In each one of them has been erected a Catholic temple, sufficient in itself alone to give glory to the hand that has directed it. In all of those parishes there is a parish house--more or less elegant, but always sufficiently solid and suitable--which is teaching to the present generation (and the future one also) the fatigues that the Recollect must have endured who placed the first stone and finished the work, in each of those parishes (which are a like number of villages), public halls have been constructed under the direction of the parish priests. In all of them schools for both sexes have been erected, where religious instruction is given to them. Since this exercises its proper influence on the minds of the youth, it has succeeded in forming the present generation--who are established in all the beliefs of our true religion, exactly observant of the practices which it imposes upon them, thankful and respectful to the ministers of Jesus Christ, and very diligent in the fulfilment of their social duties, all those who pay tribute to his Majesty being comprehended in this obligation.

The number of those who paid tribute in this island could not have been very large in the eight missions that existed when the island came into our possession, when one considers the state of insubordination in which that multitude were living, most of whom were separated from organized society and in revolt in the interior of the territory. In proportion as it continued to assume its normal state, and commenced to enjoy the peace that it has at the present time, its population continued to increase, and in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight was more than one hundred thousand souls; in one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, the total of its population was increased to one hundred and fifty thousand; at present the island of Bohol, which is a province, has a population of two hundred and sixty thousand souls. [149]

This prodigious increase of inhabitants in an area so small, and amid conditions so little advantageous for agriculture, has no other explanation than the conscientious and constant labor of the regular parish priests, each of whom notes in his respective parish register with scrupulous niceness the heights and depths of his district, without any of the alterations that can modify the statistics of his village escaping his eye; and who assigns to their respective dwellings men and women, and youths and old people, with the correct date of their birth. From this patriotic labor it results that the obligations of the royal treasury are satisfied by all the people of Bohol at the moment when they become of proper age.

Reflecting upon the advantageous conditions by which the character of those peoples has been modified, and how they have been completely withdrawn from those untamable and savage forms of life which lasted until the last century, and that they have at present become fond of work, respectful to authority, and grateful in their social intercourse, we can infer that the ministers of the order who are at present watching over the necessities of their souls are laboring tirelessly in the confessional, are preaching the word of God without cessation, and are consoling the sick in their most remote dwellings. In the midst of so many lofty occupations of the religious ministry, the Recollects have been able to study even the physical necessities of their proteges, and the ingenious manner of making these lighter. To their direction is owing the different industries proceeding from the products of the earth, which, prepared and elaborated with due intelligence, furnish other kinds of business, permitted and honorable, which afford abundant means for the life and support of those natives. If agriculture does not furnish most abundant products, because of the nature of the soil in Bohol, those natives do not for that reason sleep in inactivity; they go to seek their living where they can find it. They do not abhor work, which is the true fount of all means of subsistence. They undertake voyages by land and sea, with the praiseworthy purpose of making their living by virtue of their fatigues and labors. This is the exact description of the inhabitants of Bohol; and this is what has been obtained from those people (from whom religion and the country expected so little) by the province of San Nicolas de Tolentino, by means of the worthy children of its bosom whom it sent to that land, and through those who have continued, furthered, and perfected the arduous attempt at the culture and civilization of those natives....

The Recollects of Mindanao

[The entrance of the Recollects into Mindanao, and the earlier years of their preaching there, have been already given in preceding volumes of this series.]

Division of parishes in Mindanao

Although it is clear that the fathers of the Society of Jesus entered this land in the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-six to procure its spiritual conquest, by permission of the cabildo governing the vacant see of Manila, and that the call of the gospel resounded in the site Tampacan [misprinted Jampacan], when our soldiers retired the fathers of the Society had to do the same. In the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, the Observantine Augustinians took this vineyard in their charge, and father Fray Francisco Xaraba [150] went to cultivate it with a companion; but undeceived, [and seeing] that only war could open the way for their preaching, because of the exceeding ferocity of the people, they abandoned the undertaking and returned to Cebu. The missionaries of the Society returned [to Mindanao], and preached on the river of Butuan; and those who were then converted by them formed a visita of a village in Bohol.

After the deed of arms above mentioned, the Recollect missionaries, with the necessary permits from the bishop and the royal vice-patron, founded the first convent and village of Tandag, and then the convent and village of Jigaquit; a third village and convent on the river of Butuan, whence they continued their conquests and went up the river of Butuan to the interior of the island, to a lake called Linao; and the fourth village and convent, fifty leguas from Butuan. Then they went to Cagayan, [151] where they also founded a church and convent; whence they crossed to the island of Camiguin, where they did the same; and lastly in the island of Surigao and Bislig. Eight settlements, perfectly organized in the social order, with churches suitable for the public worship of our true religion, with convenient buildings for the habitation of their ministers--where they could practice the exercises of the monastic life, and whence issued the splendors of their edifying holiness to illumine the dark shades of idolatry and paganism, served as the original basis for the spread of the faith. After that, they continued to found many other villages dependent on the first, which were then considered as visitas or subject villages. Some of those villages came in later times to be the residences of our Recollect ministers, according to the available number of religious that the corporation possessed, or according as the necessities or growth of population in the said subject villages demanded.

Our predecessors also succeeded in getting to the lake of Malanao, and the village of Iligan, and Bayug. As there were certain questions regarding the spiritual jurisdiction, his Majesty defined them, marking out the limits of religious zeal between the two families (who were equally inflamed with the desire for the salvation of souls), by drawing a line from the point of Suloguan to the cape of San Agustin, and assigning the administration on its western side to the most religious fathers of the Society of Jesus, while our peaceful possession was marked on the eastern side. Lastly, when the reverend Jesuit fathers left the islands, the administration of Zamboanga was adjudged to us in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight, as well as the villages of Lubungan, Dapitan, and Misamis (and consequently their barrios--some of which, as time went on, came to be villages).

Present administration of the Recollects

Her Majesty Dona Isabel II decreed the establishment of the house of Loyola on October nineteen, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, with permission to go to the missions of Mindanao and Jolo. September ten, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, another royal order was issued, declaring that the missionaries of the Society of Jesus have exclusive rights in the planting and successive development of the effective missions in Mindanao; and that the same were to take charge of the administration of the curacies and missions already reduced by the Recollect Augustinian religious as fast as these were vacated by the death or transfer of those who serve them with canonical collation or under title of temporary incumbent. Her Majesty, desiring at the same time to concede an indemnification, and to give proof of the appreciation with which she views the services bestowed on the Church and on the state by the above-mentioned Augustinian religious, has been pleased to grant to the province of San Nicolas de Tolentino the administration of the curacies of the province of Cavite or of the diocese of Manila which are served by the native clergy.

May nineteen, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, another royal order was issued, dictating instructions for the compensation of curacies accorded to the province of San Nicolas de Tolentino in return for those in Mindanao which they were to surrender to the Jesuit missionaries. In that order it was decided that in every certified instance of a vacancy in Mindanao, and its surrender to and occupation by the Jesuit fathers, indemnification therefor was to be made to the Recollect fathers, in Cavite and the diocese of Manila, with the curacy which might be vacant at that time, even if it were in charge of a temporary incumbent; and if there were more than one curacy vacant, then the wishes of the vice-patron were to be followed, after first hearing the very reverend archbishop, the provincial of the order, and the council of administration. Should there not be any curacy vacant, then [indemnification was to be made] with the first which should become vacant. As obedient subjects to the orders of her Majesty, from that date we relinquished, in the same order in which they fell vacant, the ministries that we held in Mindanao; and we handed over Zamboanga, Tetuan, Lubungan, Dapitan, Butuan, Surigao, Jigaquit, Davao, Bislig, Cattabato, Mainit, Dinagat, Balingasag, Alubijid. In exchange we received the curacies in the district of Morong--namely, Antipolo and Taytay; the village of La Hermita, in the province of Manila; Calauan, in Laguna; Cavite port, and Rosario, in the province of Cavite; Boac, in the island of Marinduque; and the villages of Rosario, Santo Tomas, Balayan, and Lobo, in the province of Batangas. The sacrifice made by the Recollect corporation by ceding parishes created by it and watered with the sweat and blood of its most eminent members, nourished by the doctrine of apostolic men to be revered by us, and very worthy of our imitation, is equal to the respect with which the Recollects have always received the orders of their august monarchs, and to the obedience and adhesion with which they have always served in this archipelago as Catholic priests, and in the shade of our Spanish banner.

[The Recollect villages still in Mindanao are as follows: Tandag, with 1,783 1/2 tributes, and 3,957 souls; Cantilan, with 189 1/2 tributes, and 7,366 souls; Cabuntog, with 990 tributes, and 3,731 souls; Numancia, with 862 1/2 tributes, and 3,366 souls; Cagayan, with 2,585 1/2 tributes, and 11,499 souls; Jasaan, with 1,2821 1/2 tributes, and 5,878 souls; Iponan, with 1,078 1/2 tributes, and 5,570 souls; Alubijid, with 1,210 tributes, and 4,989 souls; Iligan, with 1,098 tributes, and 4,577 souls; Misamis, with 1,561 1/2 tributes, and 6,419 souls; Jimenez, with 2,178 1/2 tributes, and 8,616 souls; Catarman, with 1,202 tributes, and 5,105 souls; Sagay, with 1,218 tributes, and 5,482 souls; Mambajao, with 1,684 tributes, and 5,246 souls; and Mahinog, with 1,037 tributes, and 4,382 souls. In the time of La Concepcion (_ca._ 1750), the Recollects had charge of thirty-six villages in Mindanao and dependent islands; in 1852, they had charge of eighteen, and were showing rapid increase when they were ordered to transfer them to the Jesuits. The martyrs and captives of the Recollects in Mindanao are as follows: Juan de la Madre de Dios, killed 1723; Brother Juan de San Nicolas, martyred; Jacinto de Jesus y Maria, martyred; Alonso de San Jose, killed 1631; Juan de Santo Tomas, killed 1631; Pedro de San Antonio, killed July 21, 1631; Agustin de Santa Maria, killed May 16, 1651; Lorenzo de San Facundo, captured 1635; Hipolito de San Agustin, captured May 20, 1740; Antonio del Santo Cristo, captured 1754; Esteban de San Jose, killed by Moros, March 28, 1764; Jose de Santa Teresa, killed in combat with Moros in 1770; and Jose de la Santisima Trinidad, captured 1774.]

Marianas Islands

[These islands were in charge of the Jesuits, but after the expulsion of the Society were given to the Recollects, who had them in charge during 1768-1814, when they abandoned them because of their few laborers. The Recollects reassumed that field in 1819, and in 1879 had there seven priests.]

_Tables showing tributes and number of souls in Recollect provinces and villages, at various times_

_In 1751, as published by father Fray Juan de la Concepcion_

Regular
Villages and provinces Tributes Souls ministers

San Sebastian 96 366 1
Mariveles 643 2,005 3
Pampanga 74 783 2
Zambales 1,851 7,678 8
Mindoro 1,540 10,912 5
Calamianes 1,717 5,148 5
Romblon 1,220 1/2 5,808 3
Masbate 619 2,950 2
Ticao 367 1,550 1
Cebu 330 1,500 3
Caraga 3,340 14,995 5
Curregidorship of Iligan 1,167 4,970 4

Total 12,955 1/2 58,665 42

_In 1839, by the prior provincial, father Fray Blas de las Mercedes_

Regular
Provinces Tributes Souls ministers

Tondo 1,777 1/2 8,498 2
Cavite 2,277 1/2 12,228 1
Pampanga 744 5,781 2
Zambales 4,171 1/2 19,997 6
Mindoro 1,400 1/2 6,675 3
Capiz 1,793 9,544 2
Calamianes 2,959 1/2 15,342 5
Cebu 22,285 123,503 20
Misamis 5,046 36,591 7
Caraga 6,140 29,292 5
Zamboanga -- 5,704 1
Marianas -- 6,982 3

Total 48,594 1/2 278,137 57

_In 1851, by the prior provincial, father Fray Juan Felix de la Encarnacion_

Regular
Provinces Tributes Souls ministers

Tondo 2,397 1/2 11,906 2
Cavite 2,858 15,271 1
Bataan 1,099 1/2 4,424 1

Zambales 10,204 1/2 44,558 10
Pampanga 1,289 1/2 6,087 1
Mindoro 1,972 1/2 8,346 5
Capiz 2,640 12,519 3
Calamianes 3,251 1/2 16,031 4
Cebu 34,299 186,028 24
Island of Negros 6,571 1/2 30,391 8
Zamboanga 1,552 8,220 2
Misamis 6,936 42,334 10
Caraga 6,012 23,480 5
Nueva-Guipuzcoa 1,696 1/2 7,330 2
Marianas -- 8,435 2

Total 82,762 430,360 80

_In 1878, by the prior provincial, father Fray Aquilino Bon de San Sebastian_

Regular
Provinces Tributes Souls ministers

Archbishop of Manila

Manila 5,083 19,029 3
District of Morong 3,553 1/2 11,982 2
Cavite 18,525 1/2 65,558 9
Laguna 957 1/2 2,734 1
Batangas 13,331 54,142 4
Pampanga and Tarlac 3,644 15,004 4
Bataan 1,955 6,749 3
Zambales 23,058 1/2 92,975 19
Mindoro 7,806 1/2 28,592 6

Bishopric of Jaro

Romblon 7,136 32,661 7
Island of Negros 43,870 178,937 34
Calamianes 5,186 1/2 21,861 7

Bishopric of Cebu

Cebu 14,214 1/2 67,808 10
Bohol 52,600 1/2 255,706 35
Misamis 14,925 62,746 10
Surigao 3,744 14,463 3
Bislig 1,783 1/2 7,571 1
Marianas -- 8,125 6

Total 221,375 946,643 164

[A note at the end of the volume states that the Recollects of the province of San Nicolas of the Philippine Islands numbered, in 1879, 1,004 deceased friars who had labored there.]

PRESENT CONDITION OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION IN FILIPINAS

[The following account is obtained from _Archipielago filipino_ (prepared by the Jesuit fathers at Manila; Washington, 1900), ii, pp. 258-267.]

The progressive increase of Catholics in Filipinas until 1898

In order to understand the present condition of the Catholic religion in Filipinas (we refer to the year 1896, before the Tagal insurrection), it will be advisable to place before the eyes of the reader the growth of the Christian population and the increase of the faithful from the coming of the Spaniards until the present time.

The number of inhabitants whom the Spaniards encountered at their arrival in these islands is not known with exactness, but it is calculated by some historians as below two millions; and it will not be imprudent to affirm that they all scarcely reached one and one-half millions--whether idolaters, who admitted the plurality of gods; or Moros, who although they professed (as they still profess) the unity of God, did not believe (as they still do not believe) the divinity of Jesus Christ, but who have, on the contrary, been instructed from their earliest years by their parents and pandits to hate Christianity.

The Spanish missionaries arrived, then, and began the work of evangelization at the same time as the humanitarian undertaking to reduce them to a civilized life; for most of the Indians and Moros were living in scattered groups along the coasts, and in the fields and thickets in small settlements.

What was the result of their apostolic labors? Let us see. Father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio, [152] chronicler of the Franciscan missionaries, gives us the following data:

_General summary of souls, reckoning only the natives that were reduced to Christianity throughout the archipelago of Filipinas in 1735_

In 142 villages in charge of the seculars
throughout this archipelago 131,279
Calced Augustinians (in more than 150 villages) 241,806
Order of St. Dominic (in 51 villages) 89,752
The Society of Jesus (in 80 villages) 170,000
Augustinian Recollects (in 105 villages) 63,149
Discalced Franciscans (in 63 villages) 141,196

Total 837,182

Father Delgado, who wrote in the year 1750, gives almost the same statistics, but adds the following:

"I do not doubt that the souls that are ministered to, throughout the islands of this archipelago, by secular and regular priests, exceed one million and many thousands in addition; for, in the lists made by the ministers, the children still below the age of seven years are neither entered nor enumerated. Accordingly, I shall base my count on the enumeration made a few years ago."

In the work entitled _Estado de las Islas Filipinas_, written by Don Tomas de Comyn in 1820, and translated into English by William Walton in 1821, the following is contained as an appendix:

Recapitulation of population in Filipinas

Total number of Indians of both
sexes (Catholics) 2,395,687
Total number of Sangley mestizos
(Catholics) 119,719
Total number of Sangleys or Chinese 7,000
Total number of whites 4,000

Total population 2,526,406

Comparison of the population in 1791 and 1810, exclusive

1791 1810 Difference

Number of Indians 1,582,761 2,395,687 812,926
Number of mestizos 66,917 119,719 52,802

Total 1,649,678 2,515,406 865,728

He concludes by saying:

"The resultant difference of the foregoing comparison, founded on public documents, shows an excess of fifty-two per cent of increase in each eighteen years; and if a like proportion continues, the population of the Filipinas Islands will be doubled in thirty-four years--an increase which could be judged incredible if we did not have an extraordinary example in Filadelfia [_i.e._, Philadelphia], which has doubled its population in twenty-eight years, as Buffon, supported by the authority of Doctor Franklin, affirms."

The above assertion of Comyn has been realized now in all exactness, if we are to judge by the assertions, in his published works, of Don Felipe de Pan, a studious newspaper man of Manila; for, according to that writer, the population of Filipinas exceeded 9,000,000 in 1876.

Ferreiro, secretary of the Sociedad Geografica de Madrid [_i.e._, "Geographical Society of Madrid"], also calculated the population of Filipinas in 1887 at 9,000,000 approximately, a number which seems to be somewhat above actual fact.

In an investigation finished in the last quarter of 1894, the population of the archipelagoes which composed the general government of Filipinas appears in the following form:

Christian parish population 6,414,373
In concealment [_i.e._, refugees] 128,287
Regular and secular clergy 2,651
Indian and Spanish military 21,513
Those in asylums [_asilados_] 689
Criminals [_penados_] 702
Chinese foreigners 74,504
White foreigners 1,000
Moros 309,000
Heathen 880,000

Total 7,832,719

Finally, the secretary's office of the archbishopric of Manila offers us the following enumeration with respect to the Catholics existing in the archipelagoes of Filipinas, Marianas, and Carolinas, in the year 1898, according to the following lists:

Number of souls by dioceses

In the archbishopric of Manila 1,811,445
In the bishopric of Cebu 1,748,872
In the bishopric of Jaro 1,310,754
In the bishopric of Nueva Segovia 997,629
In the bishopric of Nueva Caceres 691,298

Total number of Catholics 6,559,998

To whom is due this increase of Catholicism, and this growth of the population of Filipinas in general, from the time of the conquest by the Spaniards? It is due to the regular and secular clergy. One can scarcely ascribe any importance to the immigration into Filipinas during the lapse of years. The Chinese, and the Europeans (including the Spaniards themselves), can be considered, as a general rule, as birds of passage, who come to live here for a few years and then return to their own country. The Filipino population has increased, thanks to the organization and good government at the centers [of population], which were established chiefly by missionary action, at the time when the natives of the evangelized territories became Christians. The secular power, even when aided by arms, has not even attempted to form villages of the heathen; neither have the military posts become well populated or stable settlements. The center of attraction and of coherence in Filipino villages has always been, and is still, the church and the convent. The parish priest (who is not a bird of passage) is, as a rule, the most respected authority, the chief guarantee of order and peace, and the most careful guardian of morality--an indubitable and most important cause of increase in the population of every country. The numerous and important settlements, which have now other powerful roots and elements of cohesion, began and were formed thus. If the center of union of which we are speaking be removed from them, especially if they are recent and young, one will see how families break up, and how the new citizens easily return to the life of the mountain.

Present state of the archbishopric of Manila, and of the bishoprics of Cebu, Jaro, Nueva Caceres, and Nueva Segovia

In order to feed this flock of six and one-half millions of Catholics, the church of Filipinas relies on one archbishop and four bishops.

The present archbishop of Manila is Don Fray Bernardino Nozaleda, of the Order of St. Dominic, a wise and prudent prelate, who took possession of his see October 29, 1890. This archdiocese has a magnificent cathedral, and possesses a considerable cabildo, which was composed of twenty-four prebends in the time of Spanish domination. The ecclesiastical court has its offices in the archiepiscopal palace. The conciliar seminary is a fine edifice, and is in charge of the fathers of the congregation of St. Vincent de Paul; [153] but it is at present closed, because of the condition of war prevailing in the country. The _obras pias_ of the miter amounted before the revolution to a considerable fund, and are in charge of an administrator. The archbishopric of Manila has 219 parishes, 24 mission parishes, 16 active missions, 259 parish priests or missionaries, and 198 native secular priests for the aid of the parish priests.

Don Fray Martin de Garcia de Alcocer, of the Order of St. Francis, governs the diocese of Cebu. He is a very worthy prelate, and is greatly beloved by all his diocesans. He took possession of his diocese December 11, 1886. There is an old cathedral in Cebu, and another new one was erected when the revolution was begun. That city has, also, a conciliar seminary in charge of the Paulist fathers, and two hospitals subordinate to the miter. The diocese numbers 166 parishes, 15 mission parishes, 32 active missions, 213 parish priests or missionaries, and 125 native clergy.

By the death of Don Fray Leandro Arrue, which happened in 1897, Don Fray Mauricio Ferrero, an ex-provincial of the religious of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects, has just been appointed bishop of Jaro. The bishopric of Jaro possesses a cathedral church, which is also the parish church of the city of Jaro; and it has a court corresponding to it, and a seminary under the management of the Paulist fathers. In the diocese there are 144 parishes, 23 mission parishes, 33 active missions, 200 parish priests or missionaries, and 73 native clergy employed in the parish ministry.

The diocese of Nueva Caceres has as Bishop Don Fray Arsenio del Campo, of the Order of St. Augustine, who took possession of his see June 3, 1888. Although it, like the dioceses of Cebu, Jaro, and Nueva Segovia, has no cabildo, nevertheless there is a cathedral church in Nueva Caceres, an ecclesiastical court, a conciliar seminary in charge of the Paulist fathers, and a leper hospital. The bishopric of Nueva Caceres has 107 parishes, 17 parish missions, 124 parish priests or missionaries, and 148 native priests.

The present bishop of Nueva Segovia is Don Fray Jose Hevia Campomanes, a religious of the Order of St. Dominic--who is most fluent in the Tagal language, and had been, for many years before, parish priest of Binondo, which parish he enriched with a fine cemetery. He took possession of his see June 19, 1890, but was made a prisoner at the outbreak of the revolution; and he still lies, as these lines are penned, under the heavy chains of captivity, and not always treated as his holy character, his authority, and his personal qualities merit. [154] The diocese of Nueva Segovia has 110 parishes, 26 parish missions, 35 active missions, 171 parish priests or missionaries, and 131 native priests. The ecclesiastical court resides in Vigan, where there is also a cathedral church; and a conciliar seminary which has been, until the present, directed by the religious of St. Augustine.

Condition of the religious corporations

The corporation of calced Augustinian fathers owned, before the revolutionary movement, the magnificent convent and church of San Agustin in Manila, and those of Cebu and Guadalupe, and the orphan asylums of Tambobong and Mandaloyan; and in Espana the colleges of Valladolid, Palma de Mallorca, and Santa Maria de la Vid, with the royal monastery of the Escorial, and the hospitium of Barcelona--besides a mission in China. Its total number of religious was 644.

The corporation of Augustinian Recollect fathers owned (also before the war) in Filipinas their convent and church of Manila, together with those of Cavite, San Sebastian, and Cebu, and the house and estate of Imus; and in Espana the colleges of Monteagudo, of Marcilla, and of San Millan de la Cogulla--the total number of their religious being 522.

The religious of the Order of St. Francis possess in the Filipinas their convent and church of Manila, that of San Francisco del Monte, the hospital of San Lazaro, the church of the venerable tertiary order at Sampaloc, the hospitium of San Pascual Bailon, the infirmary of Santa Cruz of Laguna, a leper hospital in Camarines, the college of Guinobatan, and the monastery of Santa Clara; and in Espana, the colleges of Pastrana, Consuegra, Arenas de San Pedro, Puebla de Montalban, Almagro, and Belmonte, with the residence of Madrid; also a college in Roma--and a total of 475 religious, and 34 religious women.

The religious of the Order of St. Dominic, besides their missions of China and Formosa, own in Manila the convent and church of St. Dominic, the university of Santo Tomas, the college of Santo Tomas, that of San Jose, and that of San Juan de Letran; the college of San Alberto Magno in Dagupan, the vicariate of San Juan del Monte, and that of San Telmo in Cavite; the beaterio of Santa Catalina de Sena in Manila, for girls; that of Nuestra Senora del Rosario in Lingayen, that of Santa Imelda in Tuguegarao, and that of Nuestra Senora del Rosario in Vigan, also for the education of girls; and in Espana the two colleges of Santo Domingo de Ocana and Santo Tomas de Avila--with a total of 528 religious.

The missionaries of the Society of Jesus own in Manila a central mission house, the Ateneo [_i.e._, Athenaeum] Municipal, the normal school, and a meteorological observatory. They administer 37 missions, with 265 visitas or reductions, in Mindanao, Basilan, and Jolo. The total number of Jesuits resident in Filipinas was only 164; but the province of Aragon, of which the mission forms a part, owns several training-houses, colleges, and residences in Espana, besides those which it maintains in South America.

The fathers of the Mission, or those of St. Vincent de Paul, own the house of San Marcelino in Manila, and the conciliar seminary of that city, with those of Cebu, Jaro, and Nueva Caceres.

The Capuchin missionaries have the church and mission-house of Manila, the mission of Yap in the western Carolinas, that of Palaos, that of Ponape in the eastern Carolinas, and the procuratorial house of Madrid [155]--the total number of their religious being 36.

The Benedictine missionaries occupy the central mission house of Manila; the missions of Taganaan, Cantilan, Gigaquit, Cabuntog, Numancia, and Dinagit, in Mindanao; and a college for missionaries in Monserrat (Espana). There are 14 of them resident in these islands.

Lastly, there are, besides the religious who live in Filipinas, several houses of religious women, some of whom are dedicated to a contemplative life, as those of St. Clare; others to teaching, as those of the Asuncion [_i.e._, "Assumption"], the Dominicans, and the Beatas of the Society; and others, finally, in the exercise of benevolence, as the Sisters of Charity or of St. Vincent de Paul, who have charge of the hospitals--although the latter also dedicate themselves, with great benefit, to the teaching of young women in the seminaries of Concordia, Santa Isabel, Santa Rosa, the municipal school, Loban, the hospitium of San Jose of Jaro, and Santa Isabel of Nueva Caceres.

Religious spirit of the country

After this statistical religious summary, we cannot resist our desire to explain, although briefly, what is at present and definitively the character or qualities of the religious spirit reigning in this country--which owes everything that it is, aside from the purely natural elements, to the Catholic civilization of Espana. This point is, on another side, very pertinent to the whole subject.

It is not to be doubted, then, that the mass of the natives who have received the direct influence of Spanish civilization are entirely Catholic. The heathen natives are yet barbarous or semi-barbarous; and the Moros, besides being without the civilization of the Christian Indians, do not retain either, from the merely external Mahometanism, more than their innate pride and treachery, and some few formalities, known and practiced by a very few of their race. Those in Filipinas who profess, or say that they profess, any other positive religion (and more especially any other Christian religion), distinct from the Catholic, will be found absolutely only among the foreign element. Therefore, Catholicism is the religion, not only of the majority, but of all the civilized Filipinos.

It is also certain that the Filipinos are sincere Catholics. Their religion suits them, and is congenial to their nature. They practice it spontaneously, and profess it openly and publicly, without any objection. Far from all their minds is the most remote suspicion that Catholicism is not the true and only religion capable of bringing about their temporal and eternal happiness. All of these Indians are by nature docile to the teachings and admonitions of their parish priests and spiritual fathers. Many good people approach the holy sacraments easily and frequently; and the fact that many others do not approach or frequent them so often must be attributed to neglect, to heedlessness, or to real difficulties, but never to aversion. The ceremonies and the solemnity of the worship attract them very powerfully, and so do the popular Catholic exhibitions of great feasts and processions. They display without any objection, but rather with great pleasure, the pious objects and insignia of any devotion or pious association to which they belong; and in many places the women wear the scapular or rosary around the neck as a part or complement of their dress. It may be said that there is no house or family, however poor it be, that does not have a domestic altar or oratory. There are some careless Christians among the Filipino people, vicious and scandalous because of their evil habits; there are even some who are ignorant of the most necessary things of their religion: but there are no unbelievers or impious ones among them--unless some few, relatively insignificant in number, who have become vitiated and corrupted in foreign countries, and afterward have returned to their country. Even these latter have hitherto, because of a certain feeling of shame that they retain, taken care not to let that change be seen, except among irreligious associates or those of another form of worship. Finally, the tertiary orders, brotherhoods, and pious and devotional associations, old and new, have always had a great number of individuals enrolled in the Filipinas, and even constant and fervent affiliated members.

The Catholic religion, always holy and sanctifying, works in those who adopt it, according to the natural or acquired disposition of the same. Thus it is that the defects of character in the Indians, if they are frequently moderated, thanks to the religion that they profess, wholly disappear but with difficulty, and generally even have some influence on the private life and religious character of the natives. Since they are, therefore, more superficial and more impressionable to new things than those of other races, they would perhaps be less constant in their Catholic practices, sentiments, and convictions, and would feel more easily than do others the evil influences of false doctrines and worships, if they had experience with these. They are readily inclined to superstitions, now by their former bad habits, now by their nearness to and communication with those who are yet heathen, now by their exceedingly puerile imagination, and by their nature, which is influenced by their surroundings.