Chapter II: Part 2

In Marinduque Father Domingo de Peñalver had just induced some hamlets of wild Indians to settle down; he traveled through the bed of the river, getting his clothing wet, stumbling frequently over the stones, and often falling in the water. He went to take shelter in a hut, where there were so many and so fierce mosquitoes, that he remained awake all night, without being able to rid himself of the insects, notwithstanding all his efforts. He reached a hill so inaccessible that it was necessary that some Indians, going ahead and ascending by grasping the roots [of trees], should draw them all up the ascent with bejucos. There he set up a shed, where, preaching to them morning and afternoon, he prepared them for confession, and persuaded them to go down and settle in one place, as actually they did, to live as Christians. For lack of laborers, the Society resigned the district of Bondoc and several visitas, although Ours went there at various times on missionary trips. The people of Hingoso called upon Father Peñalver to assist them, because many in their village were sick, and the cura was at Manila; the father went there, gave the sacraments to the sick, and preached to the rest twice a day in the church. Three times a week they repaired to the church for the discipline, and he offered for them the act of contrition, and almost all the people in the village confessed. Afterward, at the urgent request of the archbishop of Manila, Father Peñalver went to Mindoro, to see if he could reconcile those Indians and their cura, which the archbishop had not been able to secure by various means; the said father went there, and preached various sermons, with so much earnestness and efficacy (on account of his proficiency in the Tagálog language) that in a short time they were reconciled together, the causes of the dispute bring entirely forgotten. This mission lasted two months; he preached twice every day, and heard some two thousand five hundred confessions; at this the illustrious prelate (who was Don Fray Miguel Garzia Serrano) was greatly pleased, and thoroughly confirmed in the extraordinary esteem which he deigned to show the Society.... One of the greatest hardships and dangers experienced by the ministers of Bisayas (or Pintados), in which are the greater part of our ministries, is that they are journeying on the water all their lives; for, as the villages are many and the ministers few, one father regularly takes care of two villages, and sometimes of three or four; and as these are in different islands, he is continually moving from one to another, for their administration. I have known some fathers who formerly had six or seven visitas, and spent nearly all the year traveling from one to another. Nevertheless, so paternal and benignant is the providence of God that it is not known that any minister in Bisayas has been drowned--which, considering the many hurricanes, tempests, storms, currents, and other dangers in which every year many perish and are drowned, seems a continual miracle. To this it must be added that at various times vessels have capsized in the midst of the sea, and the fathers have fallen into the water; but God succored them by means of the Indians, who are excellent swimmers, or by other special methods of His paternal providence.

[Fol. 38 b:] In this year [1628] Manila and the adjoining villages were grievously afflicted with a sort of epidemic pest, from which many people died--some suddenly, but even he who lingered longest died within twelve hours. Some attributed this pest to the many blacks who had been brought here from India to be sold, and who, sick from ill-usage, communicated their disease to others; and some thought that it arose from an infection in the fish, which is the usual food of the poor. Various corpses were anatomized [se hizo anatomia], and the origin of the disease could not be discovered, although it was considered certain that it arose from a poisonous condition, since the only remedy that was found was theriac. [9] In a city where there are so few Spaniards, it is easy to understand the affliction which was felt at seeing the suddenness with which they were dying, since the colony was placed in so great danger of extinction, and the islands of being ruined at one stroke--besides the grief of individual persons at seeing themselves bereft, the wife without a husband, the husband without a wife, the father without children, the children deprived of their parents. All search was made for remedies. Our priests did not cease, day or night, to hear confessions, and to aid the sick and dying; and at the request of the cura they carried with them the consecrated oils, to administer these in case of need. They also carried theriac, after this was discovered to be a remedy, for the relief of the sick; so they exercised their charity at the same time on the souls and on the bodies of men, to the great edification of all.

At San Miguel, one of those attacked by the pest told the father who was hearing his dying confession that he had seen near him two figures in the guise of ministers of justice, who seized people; and that when he had received absolution they went away from him, leaving behind a pestilential odor. The father published this information throughout the village, commanding the people to prepare themselves for confession on the following day, under the patronage of the Blessed Mary and St. Michael. A novenary was offered, and the litanies recited; and in the church the discipline was taken, with other prayers and penances, by which the Lord was moved to have especial mercy on this village--as God showed to a devout soul, in the figure of a ship which sailed through the air, the pilot of which was the common enemy; but he could not enter San Miguel, since there were powers greater than he, who prevented him. Also there were seen in the neighborhood of Manila malign spirits, in the appearance of horrible phantoms, who struck with death those who only looked at them. In the face of a danger so near, many amended their lives, and were converted to God in earnest, making a good confession. Then was seen the charity with which the poor Indians, despising the danger to their own lives, assisted the sick. Among others were two pious married persons, who devoted themselves entirely to aiding the sick, never leaving their bedsides until they either died or recovered; and God most mercifully chose to bring them out unscathed from so continual dangers. With the same kindness He chose to reward Brother Antonio de Miranda, who had charge of the infirmary in our college at Manila, who, on account of his well-known charity and solicitude in caring for the sick, had been commissioned by the father provincial, Juan de Bueras, to devote himself to the care of the sick Indians. But the poison of the pest infected him, so violent being the attack that hardly had he time to receive the sacraments; and he died at Manila on October 15, 1628.... He was a native of Ponferrada, and of a very well known family; he was an exemplary religious, and had been ten years in the Society.

[Fol. 44 b:] In the years 1628 and 1629, at the request of the bishops and of some Indians the Society was placed in charge of various villages of converts. Don Juan Niño de Tabora gave us the chaplaincy of the garrison of Spanish soldiers which is at Iloylo in the island of Panay, and the instruction of the natives and the people from other nations who are gathered there. Also were given to us Ilog in the island of Negros, and Dapitan in Mindanao--of which afterward more special mention will be made.

[Fol. 50:] In this time [about 1630] the Christian faith made great advances in Maragondong, Silang, and Antipolo, bringing many Cimarrons (or wild Indians) from their lurking-places. A very fruitful mission was carried on in Mindoro, and on the northern coast of Mindanao; and Father Pedro Gutierrez went along those rivers, converting the Subanos. In Ilog, in the island of Negros, the fathers labored much in removing an inhuman practice of those barbarians, which was, to abandon entirely the old people, as being useless and only a burden on them; and these poor wretches were going about through the mountains, without knowing where to go, since even their own children drove them away. The fathers gave them shelter, fed them, and instructed them in order to baptize them; and there they converted many heathens.

[Fol. 52:] In the year 1631 the cura of Mindoro, who was a secular priest, gave up that ministry to the Society, and Ours began to minister in that island, making one resilience of this and one of the island of Marinduque, and the superior lived at Nauhan in Mindoro; and they began to preach, and to convert the Manguianes, the heathen Indians of that island.

In the year 1631 was begun the residence of Dapitan, in the great island of Mindanao. The first Jesuit who preached in that island was the apostle of the Indias, St. Francis Xavier, as appears from the bull for his canonization. Ruy Lopez de Villalobos came to these islands with his ships, sent by the viceroy of Nueva España, and gave them the name of Philipinas in honor of Phelipe II; and, driven by storms, he went to Amboyno, where the saint then was, in whose care Villalobos died. At the news of these islands thus obtained by the holy apostle, he came to them. The circumstance that this island was consecrated by the labors of that great apostle has always and very rightly commended it to the Society; and Ours have always and persistently endeavored to occupy themselves in converting the Mindanaos; and Father Valerio de Ledesma and others had begun to form missions on the river of Butuan. In the year 1596 the cabildo of Manila, in sede vacante--in whose charge was then the spiritual government of all the islands, as there was no division into bishoprics--gave possession of Mindanao to the Society in due form; and in 1597 this was confirmed by the vice-patron, Don Francisco Tello, the governor of these islands. Possession of it was taken by Father Juan del Campo, who, going as chaplain of the army, accompanied the adelantado, Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, when he set out for the conquest of that kingdom.

The first who began to minister to the Subanos in the coasts of Dapitan was Father Juan Lopez; afterward Father Fabricio Sarsali, and then Father Francisco de Otazo, and various other fathers followed, who made their incursions sometimes from Zebu, sometimes from Bohol. In the year 1629 this ministry was entrusted to the Society by the bishop of Zebu, Don Fray Pedro de Arze. The venerable Father Pedro Gutierrez went through those coasts, carrying the gospel of Christ to the rivers of Quipit, Mucas, Telinga, and others; and in the year 1631 a permanent residence was formed, its rector being Father Pedro Gutierrez. The village of Dapitan is at the foot of a beautiful bay with a good harbor (in which the first conquistadors anchored), on the northern coast of Mindanao; it is south from the island of Zebu, and to the northeast of Samboangan, which is on the opposite coast [of Mindanao]. It lies at the foot of a hill, at the top of which there is a sort of fortress, so inaccessible that it does not need artillery for its defense. Above it has a parapet, and near the hill is an underground reservoir for collecting water, besides a spring of flowing water. Maize and vegetables can be planted there, in time of siege; and the minister and all the people retire to this place in time of invasions. I was there in the year 1737 [misprinted 1637], and it seemed to me that it might be called the Aorno [10] of Philipinas.

[Fol. 60:] In the year 1631 and in part of 1632 this province experienced so great a scarcity of laborers that the father provincial wrote to our father general that he would have been obliged to abandon some of the ministries if the fervor of the few ministers had not supplied the lack of the many, their charity making great exertions. Our affliction was increased by the news that the Dutch had seized Father Francisco Encinas, the procurator of this province, who was going to Europa to bring a mission band here--for which purpose they had sent Father Juan Lopez, who was appointed in the second place [11] in the congregation of 1626. But soon God consoled this province, the mission arriving at Cavite on May 26, 1632. On June 18, 1631, they sailed from Cadiz, and on the last day of August arrived at Vera Cruz; they left Acapulco on February 23, 1632, and on May 15 sighted the first land of these islands. Every mission that goes to Indias begins to gather abundant fruit as soon as it sails from España; I will set down the allotment of work in which this band of missionaries was engaged, since from this may be gathered what the others do, since there is very little difference among them all. In the ship a mission was proclaimed which lasted eleven days, closing with general communion on the day of our father St. Ignatius; in this mission, through the sermons, instructions given in addresses, and individual exhortations, the fathers succeeded in obtaining many general confessions, besides the special ones which the men on the ship made, in order to secure the jubilee. Ours assisted the dying, consoled the sick and the afflicted, and established peace between those who were enemies. In Nueva España the priests were distributed in various colleges, in which they continued the exercises of preaching and hearing confessions. They went to Acapulco a month before embarking, by the special providence of God; for there were many diseases at that port, so that they were able to assist the dying. Thirty religious of St. Dominic were there, waiting to come over to these islands; all of them were sick, and five died; and, in order to prevent more deaths, they decided to remove from their house in which they were, on account of its bad condition. It was necessary, on account of their sick condition, to carry them in sedan-chairs; and although many laymen charitably offered their services for this act of piety, Ours did not permit them to do it, but took upon themselves the care of conveying the sick, their charity making this burden very light. In the ship "San Luys" they continued their ministries, preaching, and hearing the confessions of most of the people on the ship--in which the functions of Holy Week were performed, as well as was possible there. Twenty-one Jesuits left Cadiz, and all arrived at Manila except Father Matheo de Aguilar, who died near these islands on May 12, 1632; he was thirty-three years old, and had been in the Society sixteen years--most of which time he spent in Carmona, in the province of Andalusia, where he was an instructor in grammar, minister, and procurator in that college.... The rest who are known to have come in that year with Father Francisco de Encinas, procurator, and Brother Pedro Martinez are: The fathers Hernando Perez (the superior), Rafael de Bonafe, Luys de Aguayo, Magino Sola, and Francisco Perez; and the brothers Ignacio Alcina, Joseph Pimentél, Miguel Ponze, Andres de Ledesma, Antonio de Abarca, Onofre Esbri, Christoval de Lara, Amador Navarro, Bartholome Sanchez; also Brother Juan Gazera, a coadjutor, and Diego Blanco and Pedro Garzia, candidates [for the priesthood].

[Fol. 63 b:] In the islands of Pintados those first laborers made such haste that by this time [1633] there remained no heathens to convert, and they labored perseveringly in ministering to the Christians, with abundant results and consolation.... In the island of Negros and that of Mindanao, which but a short time before had been given up to the Society, the fathers were occupied in catechising and baptizing the heathens and especially in the island of Mindoro, where besides the Christian convents, were the heathen Manguianes, who lived in the mountains, and, according to estimate, numbered more than six thousand souls. These people wandered through the mountains and woods there like wild deer, and went about entirely naked, wearing only a breech-clout [bahaque] for the sake of decency; they had no house, hearth, or fixed habitation; and they slept where night overtook them, in a cave or in the trunk of some tree. They gathered their food on the trees or in the fields, since it was reduced to wild fruits and roots; and as their greatest treat they ate rice boiled in water. Their furnishings were some bows and arrows, or javelins for hunting, and a jar for cooking rice; and he who secured a knife, or any iron instrument, thought that he had a Potosi. They acknowledged no deity, and when they had any good fortune the entire barangay (or family connection) killed and ate a carabao, or buffalo; and what was left they sacrificed to the souls of their ancestors. In order to convert these heathens, a beginning was made by the reformation and instruction of the Christians; and by frequent preaching they gradually established the usage of confession with some frequency, and many received the Eucharist--a matter in which there was more difficulty then than now. Many came down from the mountains, and brought their children to be instructed; various persons were baptized, and even some, who, although they had the name of Christians, had never received the rite of baptism. After the fathers preached to the Christians regarding honesty in their confessions, the result was quickly seen in many general confessions, which were made with such eagerness that the crowds resorting to the church lasted more than two months.

[Fol. 69:] In Maragondong various trips were made into the mountains [by Ours], and although many were reclaimed to a Christian mode of living, yet, as the mountains are so difficult of access and so close by, those people returned to their lurking-places very easily, and it was with difficulty that they were again brought into a village--so that the number of Indians was greatly diminished, not only in Maragondong, but in Looc, which was a visita of the former place, and contained very rugged mountains. In order to encourage the Indians thus settled to make raids on the Cimarrons and wild Indians and punish them, Don Juan Cerezo de Salamanca, the governor ad interim, granted that those wild Indians should for a certain time remain the slaves of him who should bring them out of the hills; and by this means they succeeded in bringing out many from their caverns and hiding-places. Some of these were seventy or eighty years old, of whom many died as soon as they were instructed and baptized. Once the raiders came across an old woman about a hundred years old, near the cave in which those people performed their abominable sacrifices; she was alone, flung down on the ground, naked, and of so horrible aspect that she made it evident, even in external appearance, that she was a slave of the devil. Moved by Christian pity, those who were making the raid carried her to the village, where it was with difficulty that the father could catechise her, on account of her age and her stupidity. He finally catechised and baptized her, and she soon died; so that it seems as if it were a mercy of God that she thus waited for baptism, in order that her soul might not be lost--and the same with the other souls, their lives apparently being preserved in order that they might be saved through the agency of baptism. Blessed be His mercy forever! In Ilog, in the island of Negros, several heathens of those mountains were converted to the faith. An Indian woman was there, so obstinate in her blindness and so open in her hatred to holy baptism that, in order to free herself from the importunities of the minister, she feigned to be deaf and mute. Some of her relatives notified the father to come to baptize her. The father went to her, and began to catechise her, but she, keeping up the deceit, pretended that she did not hear him, and he could not draw a word from her. The father cried out to God for the conversion of that soul, and, at the same time, he continued his efforts to catechise her, suspecting that perhaps she was counterfeiting deafness. God heard his prayers, and, after several days, the first word which that woman uttered was a request for baptism--to the surprise of all who knew what horror of it she had felt. The father catechised and baptized her, and this change was recognized as caused by the right hand of the Highest; for she who formerly was like a wild deer, living alone in the thickets, after this could not go away from the church, and continued to exercise many pious acts until she rested in the Lord.

[Fol. 74 b:] In the year 1596 Father Juan del Campo and Brother Gaspar Gomez went with the adelantado Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, who set out for the conquest of this island [Mindanao]. After the death of Father Juan del Campo, Father Juan de San Lucar went to assist that army, performing the functions of its chaplain, and also of vicar for the ecclesiastical judge. Fathers Valerio de Ledesma and Manuel Martinez preached to the Butuans, and afterward they were followed, although with some interruptions, by others, who announced the gospel to the Hadgaguanes--a people untamed and ferocious--to the Manobos, and to other neighboring peoples. Afterward this ministry was abandoned, on account of the lack of laborers for so great a harvest as God was sending us. Secular priests held it for some time, and finally it was given to the discalced Augustinian [i.e., Recollect] religious, who are ministering in that coast, and in Caraga as far as Linao--an inland region, where there is a small fort and a garrison. When Father Francisco Vicente was ministering in Butuan the cazique [meaning the headman] of Linao went to invite him to go to his village; and even the blacks visited him, and gave him hopes for their submission. Thus all those peoples desired the Society, as set aside for the preaching in that island--which work was assigned to the Society by the ecclesiastical judge in the year 1596, and confirmed to them in 1597 by the governor Don Francisco Tello, as vice-patron. And when some controversy afterward occurred over [the region of] Lake Malanao, sentence was given in favor of the Society by Governors Don Juan Niño de Tabora and Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, as Father Combés states in book iii of his History of Mindanao. These decisions were finally confirmed by Don Fernando Valdès Tamon, in the year 1737.

In the year 1607 Father Pasqual de Acuña, going thither with an armada of the Spaniards, began to preach with great results to the heathens of the hill of Dapitan, where he baptized more than two hundred. He also administered the sacraments to some Christians who were there, who with Pagbuaya, a chief of Bohol, had taken refuge in that place. Afterward, Father Juan Lopez went to supply the Subanos of Dapitan with more regular ministrations. He was succeeded by Father Fabricio Sarsali, and he by Father Francisco Otazo and others, as a dependency of Zebu or of Bohol--until, in the year 1629, his illustrious Lordship the bishop of Zebu, Don Fray Pedro de Arze, governor of the archbishopric of Manila, again assigned this mission to the Society; and in 1631 the residence of Dapitan was founded, its first rector being the venerable Father Pedro Gutierrez; and in those times the Christian faith was already far advanced, and was extending through the region adjoining that place, and making great progress.

[Fol. 92:] The island of Basilan, or Taguima, is three or four leguas south of Samboangan, east from Borney, and almost northeast from Joló. It is a fertile and abounding land, and on this account they call it the storehouse or garden of Samboangan. Its people are Moros and heathens, and almost always they follow the commands received from Joló. The Basilans, who inhabit the principal villages, are of the Lutaya people; those who dwell in the mountains are called Sameacas. Three chiefs had made themselves lords of the island, Ondol, Boto, and Quindinga; and they formed the greatest hindrance to the reduction of that people, who, as barbarians, have for an inviolable law the will of their headmen, [which they follow] heedlessly--that being most just, therefore, which has most following. Nevertheless, the brave constancy of Father Francisco Angel was not dismayed at such difficulties, or at the many perils of death which continually threatened him; and his zeal enabled him to secure the baptism of several persons, and to rescue from the captivity of Mahoma more than three hundred Christians, whom he quickly sent to Samboangan. Moreover, the fervor of the father being aided by the blessing of God, he saw, with unspeakable consolation to his soul, the three chiefs who were lords of the island baptized, with almost all the inhabitants of the villages in it; and in the course of time the Sameacas, or mountain-dwellers, were reduced--in this way mocking the strong opposition which was made by the panditas, who are their priests and doctors. [Here follows an account of the conquest of Joló in 1638, and of affairs there and in Mindanao, in which the Jesuits (especially Alexandro Lopez) took a prominent part; these matters have already been sufficiently recounted in VOLS. XXVIII and XXIX].

[Fol. 111:] [After the Spanish expeditions to Lake Lanao, in 1639-40, the fort built there was abandoned, and soon afterward burned by the natives. On May 7, 1642, the Moros of that region killed a Spanish officer, Captain Andres de Rueda, with three men and a Jesuit, Father Francisco de Mendoza, who accompanied him.] Much were the hopes of the gospel ministers cast down at seeing our military forces abandon that country, since they were expecting that with that protection the Christian church would increase. Notwithstanding, his faith thereby planted more firmly on God, Father Diego Patiño began to catechise the Iligan people--with so good effect that in a few months the larger (and the best) part of the residents in that village were brought under the yoke of Christ; this work was greatly aided by the kindness of the commandant of the garrison, Pedro Duran de Monforte. At this good news various persons of the Malanaos came down [from the mountains], and in the shelter of the fort they formed several small villages or hamlets, and heard the gospel with pleasure. The conversions increasing, it was necessary to station there another minister; this was Father Antonio de Abarca. They founded the village of Nagua, and others, which steadily and continually increased with the people who came down from the lake [i.e., Lanao], where the villages were being broken up. [12] This angered a brother of Molobolo, and he tried to avert his own ruin by the murder of the father; and for this purpose his treacherous mind [led him to] pretend that he would come down to the new villages, in order to become a Christian, intending to carry out then his treason at his leisure. But the father, warned by another Malanao, who was less impious, escaped death. The traitor did not desist from his purpose, and, when Father Abarca was in one of those villages toward Layavan, attacked the village; but he was discovered by the blacks of the hill-country, and they rained so many arrows upon the Moros that the latter abandoned their attempt. Another effort was a failure--the preparation of three joangas which the traitor had upon the sea, in order to capture and kill the father when he should return to Iligan; but in all was displayed the special protection with which God defends His ministers. However great the efforts made by the zeal of the gospel laborers, the result did not correspond to their desires, on account of the obstinacy of the Mahometans--although in the heathens they encountered greater docility for the acceptance of our religion. The life of the ministers was very toilsome, since to the task of preaching must be added the vigils and weariness, the heat and winds and rains, the dangers of [travel by] the sea, and the scarcity of food. In a country so poor, and at that time so uncultivated, it was considered a treat to find a few sardines or other fish, some beans, and a little rice; and many times they hardly could get boiled rice, and sometimes they must get along with sweet potatoes, gabes, [13] or [other] roots. But God made amends for these privations and toils with various inner pleasures; for they succeeded in obtaining some conversions that they had not expected, and even among the blacks, from whom they feared death, they found help and sustenance. [The author here relates a vision which appeared to an Indian chief, of the spirit of Father Marcelo Mastrilli as the director and patron of Father Abarca; and the renunciation of a mission to Europe which was vowed by Father Patiño in order to regain his health--which accomplished, he returns to his missionary labors at Iligan.]

He returned to the ministry, where he encountered much cause for suffering and tears; because the [military] officers [cabos] who then were governing that jurisdiction, actuated by arrogance and greed of gain, had committed such acts of violence that they had depopulated those little villages, many fleeing to the hills, where among the Moros they found treatment more endurable. The only ones who can oppose the injustice of such men are the gospel ministers. These fathers undertook to defend the Indians, and took it upon themselves to endure the anger of those men--who, raised from a low condition to places of authority, made their mean origin evident in their coarse natures and lawless passions; and the license of some of them went to such extremes that it was necessary for the soldiers to seize them as intolerable; and, to revenge themselves for the outrageous conduct of the officials, they accused the latter as traitors. Not even the Malanao chief Molobolo, who always had been firm on the side of the Spaniards, could endure their acts of violence, and, to avoid these, went back to the lake. This tempest lasted for some time, but afterward some peace was secured, when those officers were succeeded by others who were more compliant. The venerable Father Pedro Gutierrez went to Iligan, and with his amiable and gentle disposition induced a chief to leave the lake, who, with many people, became a resident of Dapitan; and another chief, still more powerful, was added to Iligan with his people. These results were mainly seemed by the virtue of the father, the high opinion which all had of his holy character, and the helpful and forcible effects of his oratory. The land was scorched by a drouth, which was general throughout the islands, from which ensued great losses. The father offered the Indians rain, if they would put a roof on the church; they accepted the proposal, and immediately God fulfilled what His servant had promised--sending them a copious rain on his saying the first mass of a novenary, which he offered to this end. With this the Indians were somewhat awakened from their natural sloth, and the church was finished, so that the fathers could exercise in it their ministries. The drouth was followed by a plague of locusts, which destroyed the grain-fields; the father exorcised them, and, to the wonder of all, the locusts thrust their heads into the ground, and the plague came to an end. This increased the esteem of the natives for our religion, and many heathens and Moros were brought into its bosom; and Father Combés says that when he ministered there he found more than fifty old persons of eighty to a hundred years, and baptized them all, with some three hundred boys this being now one of the largest Christian communities in the islands. The village is upon the shore, at the foot of the great Panguil, [14] between Butuan and Dapitan, to the south of Bohol, and north from Malanao, at the mouth of a river with a dangerous bar. The fort is of good stone, dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, in the shape of a star; the wall is two varas high, and half a vara thick, and it has a garrison, with artillery and weapons. The Moros have several times surrounded it, but they could not gain it by assault.

[Fol. 116 b:] In Sibuguey Father Francisco Luzon was preaching, a truly apostolic man, who spent his life coming and going in the most arduous ministries of the islands. The Sibugueys are heathens, of a gentler disposition and more docile to the reception of the gospel than are the Mahometans; therefore this mission aroused great hopes. One Ash Wednesday Father Luzon went to the fort, and he was received by a Lutao of gigantic stature who gave him his hand. The father shook hands with him, supposing that that was all for which he stopped him; but the Lutao trickily let himself be carried on, and with his weight dragged the father into the water, with the assurance that he could not be in danger, on account of his dexterity in swimming. The father went under, because he could not swim, and the captain and the soldiers hastened from the fort to his aid--but so late that there was quite enough time for him to be drowned, on account of having sunk so deep in the water; they pulled him out, half dead, and the first thing that he did was to secure pardon for the Lutao. He gained a little strength and went to the fort; he gave ashes to the Spaniards, and preached with as much fervor as if that hardship had not befallen him. The principal of Sibuguey was Datan, and, to make sure of him, the Spaniards had carried away as a hostage his daughter Paloma; and love for her caused her parents to leave Sibuguey and go to Samboangan to live, to have the company of their daughter. Father Alexandro Lopez went to minister at Sibuguey, and he saw that without the authority of Datan he could do almost nothing among the Sibugueys; this obliged him to go to Samboangan to get him, and he succeeded [in persuading them] to give him the girl. The father went up toward the source of the river, and found several hamlets of peaceable people, and a lake with five hundred people residing about it; and their chief, Sumogog, received him as a friend, and all listened readily to the things of God. He went so far that he could see the mountains of Dapitan, which are so near that place that a messenger went [to Dapitan] and returned in three days. These fair hopes were frustrated by the absence of Datan, who went with all his family to Mindanao; and on Ascension day in 1644 that new church disappeared, no one being left save a boy named Marcelo. Afterward the Moros put the fort in such danger, having killed some men, that it was necessary to dismantle it and withdraw the garrison.

[Fol. 121 (sc. 120):] The Joloans having been subjected by the bravery of Don Pedro de Almonte, they began to listen to the gospel, and they went to fix their abodes in the shelter of our fort. But, [divine] grace accommodating itself to their nature, as the sect of Mahoma have always been so obstinate, it was necessary that God should display His power, in order that their eyes might be opened to the light. The fervent father Alexandro Lopez was preaching in that island, to whose labors efficacy was given by the hand of God with many prodigies. The cures which the ministers made were frequent, now with benedictions, now with St. Paul's earth, [15] in many cases of bites from poisonous serpents, or of persons to whom poison was administered. Among other cures, one was famous, that of a woman already given up as beyond hope; having given her some of St. Paul's earth, she came back from the gates of death to entire health. With this they showed more readiness to accept the [Christian] doctrine, which was increased by a singular triumph which the holy cross obtained over hell in all these islands; for, having planted this royal standard of our redemption in an island greatly infested by demons, who were continually frightening the islanders with howls and cries, it imposed upon them perpetual silence, and freed all the other [neighboring] islands from an extraordinary tyranny. For the demons were crossing from island to island, in the sea, in the shape of serpents of enormous size, and did not allow vessels to pass without first compelling their crews to render adoration to the demon in iniquitous sacrifices; but this ceased, the demon taking flight at sight of the cross. [Several incidents of miraculous events are here related.] With these occurrences God opened their eyes, in order that they might see the light and embrace baptism, and in those islands a very notable Christian church was formed; and almost all was due to the miraculous resurrection of Maria Ligo [which our author relates at length]. Many believed, and thus began a flourishing Christian community; and as ministers afterward could not be kept in Joló on account of the wars, [these converts] exiled themselves from their native land, and went to live at Samboangan, in order that they might be able to live as Christians. [This prosperous beginning is spoiled by the lawless conduct of the commandant Gaspar de Morales, which brings on hostilities with the natives, and finally his own death in a fight with them.] Father Alexandro Lopez went to announce the gospel at Pangutaran, (an island distant six leguas east from Joló), and as the people were a simple folk they received the law of Christ with readiness ... The Moros of Tuptup captured a discalced religious of St. Augustine, who, to escape from the pains of captivity, took to flight with a negro. Father Juan Contreras (who was in Joló) went out with some Lutaos in boats to rescue him, calling to him in various places from the shore; but the poor religious was so overcome with fear that, although he heard the voices and was near the beach, he did not dare to go out to our vessels, despite the encouragement of the negro; and on the following day the Joloans, encountering him, carried him back to his captivity, with blows. He wrote a letter from that place, telling the misfortunes that he was suffering; all the soldiers, and even the Lutaos, called upon the governor [of Joló], to ransom that religious at the cost of their wages, but without effect. Then Father Contreras, moved by fervent charity, went to Patical, where the fair [16] was held, and offered himself to remain as a captive among the Moros, in order that they might set free the poor religious, who was feeble and sick. Some Moros agreed to this; but the Orancaya Suil, who was the head chief of the Guimbanos, said that no one should have anything to do with that plan--at which the hopes of that afflicted religious for ransom were cut off. Seeing that he must again endure his hardships, from which death would soon result, he asked Father Contreras to confess him; the latter undertook to set out by water to furnish him that spiritual consolation, but the Lutaos would not allow him to leave the boat, even using some violence, in order not to endanger his person. All admired a charity so ardent, and, having renewed his efforts, he so urgently persuaded the governor, Juan Ruiz Maroto, to ransom him that the latter gave a thousand pesos in order to rescue the religious from captivity. Twice Father Contreras went to the fair, but the Moros did not carry the captive there with them. Afterward he was ransomed for three hundred pesos by Father Alexandro Lopez, the soldiers aiding with part of their pay a work of so great charity.

[Fol. 123:] [The Society of Jesus throughout the world celebrates the centennial anniversary of its foundation; the official order for this does not reach Manila in time, so the Jesuits there observe the proper anniversary (September 27, 1640) with solemn religious functions, besides spending a week in practicing the "spiritual exercises" and various works of charity. "On one day of the octave all the members of the Society went to the prisons, and carried to the prisoners an abundant and delicious repast. The same was done in the hospitals, to which they carried many sweetmeats to regale the sick; they made the beds, swept the halls, and carried the chamber-vessels to the river to clean them; and afterward they sprinkled the halls with scented water. Throughout the octave abundance of food was furnished at the porter's lodge to the beggars; and a free table was set for the poor Spaniards, who were served with food in abundance and neatness. It was a duty, and a very proper manner of celebrating the [virtues of the] men who have rendered the Society illustrious, to imitate them in humility, devotion, and charity."]

[Fol. 123 b:] In the Pintados Islands and other ministries Ours labored fervently in ministering to the Christians and converting the infidels. Nor was the zeal of the Society content with laboring in its own harvest-field; it had the courage to go to the ministers of the secular priests to conduct missions. Two fathers went on a mission to Mindoro and Luban, and when they were near the village their caracoa was attacked by three joangas of Borneans and Camucones. The caracoa, in order to escape from the enemies, ran ashore; and the fathers, leaving there all that they possessed--books, missal, and the clothing that they were carrying to distribute as alms to the poor Indians--took to the woods, through which they made their way to Naujan. On the road it frequently rained, and they had no change of clothing, nor any food save some buds of the wild palm-tree; they suffered weariness, hunger, and thirst, and to slake this last they drank the water which they found in the pools there. After twenty days of this so toilsome journeying they reached the chief town [of the island], their feet covered with wounds, themselves faint and worn out with hunger, and half dead from fatigue; but they were joyful and contented, because God was giving them this opportunity to suffer for love of Him. One of the fathers went back to Marinduque, where he found other troubles, no less grievous than those which had gone before; for the Camucones had robbed the church, ravaged the grain-fields, captured some Indians, and caused the rest to flee to the hills. The father felt deep compassion for them, and at the cost of much toil he again assembled the Indians and brought them back to their villages.

[Fol. 134:] In the fifth provincial congregation, which was held in the year 1635, Father Diego de Bobadilla was chosen procurator to Roma and Madrid. He embarked in the year 1637, and while he was in España the disturbances in Portugal and Cataluña occurred. The news of these events was very afflicting to this province, considering the difficulty in its securing aid. Besides the usual fields of Tagalos and Bisayas, the province occupied the new missions of Buhayen, Iligan, Basilan, and Jolo; and there were several years when it found itself with only forty priests, who with the utmost difficulty provided as best they could for needs so great. Phelipe IV--whom we may call "the Great," on account of his unconquerable, signal, and unusual patience, which God chose to prove by great and repeated misfortunes--was so zealous for the Catholic religion, its maintenance, and its progress that even in times so hard he did not grudge the grant of forty-seven missionaries for this province. He also gave orders that they should be supplied at Sevilla with a thousand and forty ducados, and at Mexico with thirteen thousand pesos--a contribution of the greatest value in those circumstances, and which could only be dictated by a heart so Catholic as that of this prince, who every day renewed the vow that he had taken that he would not make friends with the infidels, to the detriment of religion, even though it should cost him his crown and his life. On Holy Tuesday, March 31, in 1643, forty-seven Jesuits embarked at Acapulco; and on the second of April mass was sung, and communion was celebrated--not only by the missionaries, but by almost all the laymen who came in the almiranta, where was established a distribution [of their labors] as well planned as in an Observant college. For at daybreak [17] a bell was rung tor rising; there was a season of prayer; mass was said, once on working-days and twice on feast-days; the priests who did not say mass received communion every day, and the lay-brothers, students, and coadjutors two or three times a week; there was reading at meal-times; and at the approach of night the litanies were recited and the Salve sung. Every night a father went to the forecastle to explain the Christian doctrine, and ended with some brief address. When night began, the father procurator rang a little bell, in order that they might pray to God for the souls in purgatory and for those who are in mortal sin, imitating the example of St. Francis Xavier. Before the hour for retiring, the bell was rung for the examination of conscience. Every Sunday, feast-day, and Saturday, addresses were made to all the [people of the] ship.

Soon after they had embarked, a sort of wind blew which made nearly all those who were coming in the ship fall ill; and from this sickness died five Jesuits, and thirty-three laymen; and in the flagship six religious of St. Dominic and seventy [other] persons. These sick persons gave sufficient occasion for the charity of Ours, who assisted them by administering the sacraments and caring for their souls; and they even busied themselves in relieving the sick, so far as was possible, with delicacies and personal attentions. This occupation was an excellent preparation in order that the sermons and exhortations that the ministers uttered might produce the desired result--that a great reform in morals and much attendance on the sacraments might be secured. [After perils and hardships by sea, and in the overland passage from Lampon to Manila, they reach that city. "It was a very numerous mission band, who accomplished much work; and there were some of them who spent fifty and even more than sixty years in Philipinas, which is a very extraordinary thing." Five of them had died on the voyage: fathers Francisco Casela, a native of Naples, aged thirty years; Francois Boursin, a native of Arras, aged thirty-four; Georg Kocart, from Neuburg, aged twenty-eight; Gonzalo Cisneros, an Aragonese (?), aged twenty-eight; and Dominic Vaybel (probably for Waibl), a native of Constance, of the same age.] In the college of Zebu the Society labored with apostolic zeal; for, although regularly there was no one in it besides the father rector and another priest, they maintained preaching and confession, and attended to the spiritual welfare of the Spaniards, Indians, mestizos, and other people who gathered there; and God gave His blessing to our pious desires and labors. Many Indians attended the sermons that were preached in that church, even when the sermons were in Spanish.

[Fol. 152 b:] Our military forces, being set free from the nearer enemies, were employed against those more distant. Accordingly, the commander of our armada, Pedro Duran de Monforte, directed his course to the great island of Borney, where he burned many villages on that coast, and carried away forty captives; and he succeeded in making this voyage known [to navigators], and in observing the shoals, monsoons, and other difficulties. With this experience he again set out, on January 11, 1649, with fourteen vessels, his people being partly Indian adventurers from Pintados, partly Lutaos; and Father Francisco Lado accompanied him. He touched at Lacaylacay; went on to Onsan, the limit of the former expedition; and went to the island of Bangui. Everywhere he found abundance of rice, swine, and goats. He plundered and destroyed several villages; burned more than three hundred vessels, among them the armed fleet which they held ready that year to infest these islands--which on account of this exploit remained for the time free from their fury and barbarity. He brought back more than two hundred captives, and ransomed some Christians. All this was done in a short time and with ease, because these affairs were undertaken with proper seriousness. As a result of this, when the governor of Samboangan, Rafael Omen, died, Pedro Duran de Monforte was appointed in his place; and the latter imitated his predecessor in his zeal for religion, in his Christian mode of life, in disinterestedness, and in an affable and mild bearing, for which he was beloved by all, while his government was peaceful and prosperous. With the opportunity afforded by these armadas, the Jesuits (who went as chaplains) began to announce the gospel in the great island of Borney, than which there is no larger island in the world. So prosperous were those beginnings that they succeeded in having seven hundred islanders baptized. Two chiefs of the neighboring islands offered vassalage to the king of Spain, and asked for gospel ministers, as Father Colin testifies; and this mission finally gave hopes that a numerous and extensive Christian church would be founded which would compensate for the losses in Japon and the Orient; but, lacking the protection of the Spanish military forces, this so beautiful hope faded away almost at its flowering. Deplorable and repeated experiences persuade us that in these latter times the Christian missions are maintained and increased only when in the shelter of Catholic arms; sad witnesses to this are Japon, India, and now China. If in these islands and America our kings did not protect religion, I believe that those regions would now be as heathen as in their former times. Experience teaches this, and the rest I regard as speculation--although the powerful arm of the Highest easily overcomes the greatest impossibilities.