Chapter III: Part 3

[Fol. 155 b:] The testimony of the venerable Father Mastrili, and the voluntary choice of so many distinguished Jesuits and martyrs who embraced these missions with the greatest eagerness, are sufficient recommendation for them. With just reason they can be esteemed, as being among the most laborious and difficult which the Society maintains anywhere in the world. This title is deserved by the missions of Philipinas, and among them those to Mindanao and the Subanos are some of the most difficult. No one accuses this statement of being exaggerated, and still less of being arrogant, before he has examined it minutely; and then he cannot find more moderate terms [than the above] in order not to fall short of the truth. Whatever dangers, inconveniences, and privations are experienced on land are also experienced on the sea, with an [additional] sort of circumstances which renders them more grievous, and besides this there are the hardships natural and peculiar to that element; and even that which on land is chosen for convenience and relief costs on the sea inconvenience and trouble--as, for instance, sleeping, eating, and taking exercise. Every boat is a prison without chains, but more closely shut than the narrowest jail; it is a broad coffin, in which the living suffer the discomforts of death. Whoever sets foot in a boat resolutely confronts all the elements, which conspire in arms to terrify and destroy him. The water upon which he journeys, the air by which he sails, the fire by which he lives, the land which he so anxiously seeks--all are declared enemies of the traveler. The sea is, by antonomasia, the theater for [all] perils; and no one who has not been tossed upon its foaming waves can speak with justice of its dangers, just as the blind man cannot dispute about colors. A heart of steel or of diamond, say the ancients, he must have had who first boldly launched himself upon the [waters of the] gulfs, so many perils did they conceive of an element which has as many treacheries as waves. Therefore, as nearly all the missions of this province are established along the seas, on which our missionaries go about, continually on the move, these are the (or among the) most difficult, arduous and perilous that exist on the whole round globe. To this sacrifice charity gladly constrained us. Let to all this be added the nature of the country, in which earthquakes, baguios, hurricanes, storms of thunder and lightning, and tempests often occur. The winds are violent and hurtful, the season hot; the rainy season gloomy, dark and persistent; the wet soil producing many disgusting insects that are troublesome and vexatious. The care for the temporal welfare of the people--seeing that they pay their tributes to the king, and that they plant their fields in time--is an employment that is troublesome, tedious, and necessary. Nor is it a less task to take care for the provisioning of the [missionary's] own house, without having in this respect the aid which the apostles had; because the minister must rather care for his own house and for that of others, a charge which charity lays upon us. Charitas omnia sustinet [i.e., "Charity endures all things"].

Each missionary in Bisayas (or Pintados) has the care of two to five thousand souls, and even more. These commonly are divided among two or three villages, quite far apart; and throughout the year the minister is sailing from one to another, to preach to them and aid them. Among the Subanos there are not so many people [in each mission], but their little villages are more numerous. Formerly each minister had ten or twelve villages of Subanos, [each] divided on as many rivers, in the form of hamlets. There were houses round about the church or pavilion [camarin], and the rest [of the people] lived scattered in the hills, forests, and thickets. I have seen some native huts [buhios] on the peaks of the mountains, [so far away] that they could hardly be reached in half an hour from the river. Others I saw placed among the branches of the trees, in the same manner as nests. Their houses regularly are very high, with a bamboo for a ladder, which they remove at night. All this they do in order to hide themselves and be free from the frequent invasions of the Moros; and from the stratagems and treacheries of their own countrymen, who are inclined to vengeance and perfidy. Among these people we live. The rivers are full of ferocious and blood-thirsty crocodiles, which kill many persons. When I was in Dapitan there was one of these beasts in the river of Iraya, so sanguinary and fierce that no one dared to pass that river by night, on account of the ravages that it committed--leaping into the boats, and taking people out of them. In the books of those villages, I read with horror and pity: "On such a day was buried the head of N., which was all that was found, because the crocodile had torn him to pieces." The bars of the rivers are dangerous, and with the freshets and the waves some channels are easily closed and others opened, to the great risk of those who are sailing. The seas are rough, and so restless that the continual lashing of the waves on the shores, rocks, and reefs makes a sound which causes fear even in those who live inland. On that coast are headlands so difficult to double that sometimes the caracoas spend twenty or thirty days in voyages which in favorable weather require half an hour. As a result, the ministers live in great loneliness, without being able to communicate with one another--save that, when the monsoons blow, in order to make one's confession a voyage is necessary; and therefore this consolation is attained by some but few times in the year. If a fatal accident occurs to one, it is not possible to assist him with the holy sacraments--which is the greatest affliction that can be endured in the hour of death; and their only recourse is to place themselves in the hands of that Lord for whom they expose themselves to these sufferings. Even greater are the fatigues endured by the soul in the frequent occasions which disturb its patience. The feeling of indifference which is native to the country tends to undermine gradually the wall of poverty, weaken the spirit of obedience, and cool the most fervent spiritual ardor and strictness of observance. Even the blood which animates us and gives us life is mutinous, and stirs up the passions against their own master; and, aided by the noxious air of the country, the extreme solitude, and the common enemy, wages a war that is cruel, obstinate, bloody, and so pertinacious that it does not yield until the last breath of life....

The soil is very poor, and the greater part of the provisions and clothing must be carried from Manila; and consequently a thousand miseries are suffered during the year without recourse. The feeling of loneliness is very great; we are in this world, which, besides being a vale of tears, for us is as it were, a limbo, [18] separated by thousands of leguas from the rest of the world; it is exceedingly seldom that the missionary meets any person through whom he can obtain any alleviation of his troubles, or any assistance or consolation. Few Spaniards traverse those regions, and those who do pass through are usually of such character that merely the knowledge that they are going about through the country causes grief, anxiety, and vigilance to the minister. During the entire week the Indians are on the sea, in the mountains, or in their grain-fields, and on Sundays they come together in the village--but usually little to the comfort of the missionary. Rather, they increase his annoyances, in [having to] settle their lawsuits, quarrels, misunderstandings, and accounts; in defending them from the alcaldes and petty officials, and from one another; and in the minister's defending himself from all--for there are a thousand entanglements, snares, and deceits. Hardly do they set foot in the missionary's house, except when they go to ask for something; they are like the cat, and only look the father in the face when they are expecting some scrap of meat; and when this is seized, friendship, homage, and gratitude are at an end. Would to God that these qualities were left in the Indians! But it cannot be said that all are of this sort, but that there are enough of them for exercising the patience of the minister, although others serve for his comfort and consolation. If the minister is sick, he has no physician or apothecary to resort to; and his only resource is an Indian medicaster who applies some herbs, and whose prescriptions are quickly exhausted. If the sickness be a distressing one, it is necessary to go to Zebu, to which place [Ours] make a voyage of thirty or forty leguas, with the risk of not finding [there] a blood-letter. If radical treatment is needed, there is no other remedy than to sail a hundred or two hundred leguas to Manila, where there is not an over-supply of Galens. Fortunate is he who, without failing in his obligations, can preserve his health unimpaired; for in this land certain diseases quickly take root [in one's system] which are a slow and most grievous martyrdom through life. And there is, almost peculiar to these countries, a sort of profound melancholy, which, like a corrupt root, renders all that he can do either insipid or repulsive. Sometimes it disorders the mind, [19] and even life itself becomes abhorrent. It persistently oppresses the mind, which needs great courage, and aid from above, in order that one may not faint in the ministry. All this is the effect of solitude, and of one's nature becoming suffocated under the continual annoyances and troubles which administration [of these missions] involves. Nor is it easy to explain, without actual eyewitness, the various modes of suffering which here present themselves, so unusual, extraordinary, and acute. In these workshops patience is wrought, purified, and assayed until it becomes heroic, with the heavy hammer of mortifications, troubles, and petty details, which chance each day arranges and disarranges.

To this must be added the continual dread of invasions by the Moros, of whose barbarous and inhuman cruelty alone the missionaries are assured, fleeing to the mountains amid thorns, woods, miry places, and precipices. On the coast from Yligan to Samboangan, I saw with great sorrow various churches and villages that had been burned. The ministers saw themselves in the greatest danger of being captured or slain, and in their flight they suffered unspeakable hardships. Nor are dangers wanting among even the Indians themselves; they were very near putting to death by treachery Father Joseph Lamberti at Hagna, and Father Gaspar de Morales at Ynabangan, in the year 1746. For others they have laid ambushes, others have been wounded, and even some have been injured by witchcraft--so that in all directions there is danger.

Finally, let him who wishes to survey the missions which the Society has in these islands, open the map of Asia; and in the western part, in the Ægean archipelago, he will see the Apostle of the Gentiles journeying from Jerusalem to Tarsus, to Ephesus, to Jerusalem, to Seleucia, to Cyprus, to Pergamos in Pamphylia, to Antioch in Pisidia, to Iconium, to Macedonia, and to other cities, islands, and provinces, in continual movement from one place to another. Let him now look at the Eastern part of the same Asia, and he will see in the Philippine archipelago the Jesuits, journeying [in like manner] in Tagalos, in Bisayas, in Mindanao, in Jolo, in Marianas, in Palaos, in Borney, in Ternate, in Siao, in Macazar, in Japon, in China, and in other islands, kingdoms, and provinces of the Orient, preaching the gospel to these nations. To these laborers it is a fitting command: Euntes in mundum universum, prædicate Evangelium omni creaturæ. [20] I do not know whether in any other region there is a concourse of so many peoples as in Philipinas, or where this mandate of Christ to His apostles is so literally carried out. There is not in the entire universe a journey more extensive or dangerous, by land or by sea. There is preaching and ministration in the Spanish tongue and in the Tagal; and in those of Samar and Bohol, and of Marianas; of the Lutaos, of Mindanao, and of the Subanos; and in that of the Sangleys or Chinese. The study of the language is difficult, dry, and insipid, but it is necessary; it is a thorn causing many scruples, a bitterness for many years, and a labor for one's whole life.

In Tagalos there are not so many navigations or journeys, although these are not wanting; but this advantage is strictly compensated by other difficulties, for on the ministers falls the entire burden of sermons, missions, Lenten services, novenaries, and other functions, and usually the professorships [in the college] of Manila. In the villages, the solitude and the lack of various conveniences are almost the same [as in Bisayas]; and although the Indians are as simple as the rest they are not so artless, but are cunning and deceitful. They do not use lances or daggers against the ministers, but they employ gossip, misrepresentations, and calumnies. In almost all the villages there are some Indians who have been clerks to the Spaniards in Manila, and accustomed to petitions and lawsuits, they influence the Indians to innumerable quarrels; for through frequent communication with the Spaniards stamped paper has become a favorite with them. And if the father calls them to account [les va á los alcanzes], a crowd of them get together, and draw up a writing against the minister, which is quickly filled with signatures and crosses. Often that happens which is told by the lord bishop of Montenegro: how a visitor, considering as impossible a complaint that was presented to him by some Indians against their cura, began to examine one of those who had signed it; and, seeing that the Indian said "Amen" to everything, without stopping for reflection, the visitor suspected that the complaint was a calumny. He then said, very sagaciously: "Man, in this petition it is stated that one Sunday, after prayers, your cura killed King David." "Yes, sir," said the Indian, "I saw that done;" and thus the prudent judge recognized the falsity of the charges. When the Indians wish to accuse the minister, they resort to the clerk, who has certain bundles and old papers, carefully kept, of accusations and complaints; and according to the amount they pay him the accusation amplifies--as when one prepares a good purgative medicine, and augments the dose in order to secure its operation. A number of the Indians affix their signatures, without knowing what they are signing; for the heat of wine takes the place of all these formalities of law. They carry this document, full of sprawling signatures and cross-marks [letrones y cruzes], to those who, as they know, have least good-will to the minister--and in this [sort of knowledge] the Indians are eminent, nor is there a pilot who follows more closely the winds by which he must navigate; and just so these Indians know where their complaint will be received with approval. If he to whom the accusation is presented be credulous, innocence suffers much until the truth is made clear. Great strength of mind is required to endure these calumnies, and it is one of the kinds of martyrdom (and not the least cruel) in Indias. In the other matters of administration there are hardships, on account of the great number of people [for whom the father must care], and their scattered mode of life, since they are distant from the church sometimes three or four leguas. The roads are wretched, the heat of the sun burning, and the rainstorms very heavy, with innumerable other inclemencies and annoyances, which have disabled many, and killed others. The variety of duties which the minister has to exercise is very great, for he has to be preacher, teacher of the doctrine, and confessor; adjuster and umpire of their petty quarrels; physician and apothecary, to treat them in their sicknesses; schoolmaster, and teacher of music; architect and builder, and competent for everything [un todo para todo]; for if the minister does not take care of everything, all will soon be lost. Enough of [this] parenthetical explanation; [21] although it is long, a knowledge of it is very necessary for the completeness of history, in order that it may be known what the gospel ministers are doing and suffering, which is more than what superficial persons suppose.

[Fol. 183 b:] In the conversion of Basilan, fervent were the labors of Father Francisco Angel and Father Nicolas Deñe; and both suffered great dangers to their lives and liberty. They were succeeded by Father Francisco Lado, who by his persistence in enduring innumerable fatigues subdued the entire island; went through all of it, on foot, alone, and without escort; made his way through its thickets, forests, mountains, and hamlets; and did this in such peace that he could build a very neat church and substantial house--for he was much loved by the Lutaos; and he had, with the aid of the governors of Samboangan, cleared the island from all the panditas, and from mischievous and suspicious persons, who might disturb the people with evil doctrines or with immoral practices. Only one remained there, who by his malice was disturbing even the peaceful natives; this was Tabaco, who had incited to rebellion the Sameacas, who are the natives of the island. [This man is finally slain by a daring young Spanish officer, Alonso Tenorio; see our Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 134-136.]

With similar success the religion of Jesus Christ was published along the coast which extends toward the kingdom of Mindanao. Father Pedro Tellez zealously traveled through those shores, where he formed several villages, erected more than sixteen churches, and established Christian living; and he made his abode in Tungavan. Notable aid was given to this enterprise by Don Antonio Ampi, the lord of the river, who always promoted the Christian religion with extraordinary constancy--although he had in Jolo a brother named Libot, a renegade and a cruel pirate--and he gave to the college at Samboangan some fertile and productive lands. At the cost of toils and privations, Father Tellez reduced the barbarous Subanos to rational and Christian customs, drawing them out of their caves and huts, and from under the cruel tyrannical yoke of the demon--who made apparent the great resentment that was roused in him by the loss of those his long-time slaves; for at various times the horrible howls that he uttered were heard at Curuan. For ministration on the coast of La Caldera and Siocon, which was left deserted by the death of Father Juan del Campo, the father provincial Francisco de Roa assigned Father Francisco Combés, who gladly went to instruct the Subanos. Most earnestly he applied himself to bringing those wild and timid creatures into closer social relations, and in doing this he was able to forward their instruction in the mysteries of the faith; and gradually they became accustomed to a more rational and Christian mode of life. On the river of Sibuco there was an Indian named Ondol; this man and his brother, worse than Moors, were married to several wives; and Ondol was so cruel that he slew whomsoever he chose, without further cause than his own whim. He tried to kill Father Adolfo de Pedrosa, greatly applauded the killing of Father Juan del Campo, and threatened that he would kill Father Combés; but the latter pretended to take no notice of it, and was cautious, and concealed his intentions; and Ondol went on confidently, so that, when he least thought of such a thing, he found himself a prisoner, and was sent to Samboangan where he was received by the Spaniards and by the fathers with great pleasure at seeing removed from the midst [of the mission] so great an obstacle to the Christian faith. His brothel continued to stir up the people, and an armed fleet was sent against him, but without any result; for the noise [of their coming] warned him so that he could avoid the blow, among woods, hills, miry places, and thickets. The escort of the father [i.e., Combés] continued to make arrests, with cunning devices, until they seized fifteen of this man's relatives; and the father sent them to Samboangan. Love for his kindred brought that wild man to the church, to ask mercy from the father. He was admitted to favor, and all the past forgotten, with one condition: that he and all his people, since they were Lutaos, must live under the artillery of the fort, and serve in the [Spanish] armada. With this arrangement that coast remained peaceable, for the insurgents of Siocon had also been seized by craft. Father Combés went to that place, and encountered very heavy seas, not only at entering but on leaving that village; and arguing [from this] that God was not allowing them to go until they interred the bones of the companions of Father Campo, they all lauded on the shore, and searched for the bodies among the thorny thickets. Having interred all of them together, and said a mass for them, the Spaniards placed a cross over the sepulcher; and immediately the weather became calm, so that the caracoas were able to set out. At that time Father Combés carried away a hermit, who, clothed as a woman, strictly observed the law of nature, and professed celibacy. He was called "the Labia of Malandi;" and he was converted to the religion of Christ, in which he lived as a faithful servant.

In La Caldera was introduced the devotion to the blessed souls in purgatory, and suffrages for the deceased, which never had been publicly performed among any Subanos. To render this service more solemn, the musicians were carried thither from Samboangan; and this, joined with the father's exhortations, introduced in their hearts pious solicitude for their dead--so well begun that, in the midst of their native poverty and the dulness of their minds, they carried with them many candles, with rice and other offerings. From that place this holy devotion was gradually communicated through all those villages, following the example of La Caldera--which then was the principal village, in which the minister resided; and to it were annexed Bocot, Malandi, and Baldasan. Besides the above-mentioned cases, others occurred with which the Lord consoled the ministers, in recompense for the misery, hardships, and forlorn condition of those arduous and remote missions.

[Fol. 229 b:] About this time dissoluteness was reigning in these islands, with as unrestrained and despotic dominion as if there were no law superior to it, which could repress it. Fraud in trade and commerce, hatred, falsehood, and malice prevailed everywhere, and without restraint. Above all, sensuality was, so to speak, the prince and master vice; and so general that, unrestricted in time, sex, rank, or age, it kept these regions aflame with an infernal and inextinguishable fire. These crimes were aggravated by the scandalous publicity with which they were committed, almost without punishment; and they had so filled the country with iniquity and abomination that they had to a certain extent corrupted the land itself, filling it with malediction, as Scripture tells us of the time of Noe: Corrupta est autem terra coram Deo, & repleta est iniquitate. [22] This provoked the wrath of God so much that in those times were experienced such calamities, wars, misfortunes, earthquakes, deaths, factions, shipwrecks, imprisonments, and so great disturbances, that the citizens themselves, obliged to begin to reflect on these things, believed that the sword of divine indignation was unsheathed among them; and those who with prosperity seemed to be losing their senses came to themselves, as did the prodigal son with his coming to want. They had recourse to the holy Pope, the vicar of Christ on earth; and at his feet, submitting themselves with humble repentances, they explained to him the cause of their affliction. He who then presided over the Church of God was his Holiness Innocent X, who as a benign father despatched an apostolic brief to the archbishop of Manila directing him to absolve all the inhabitants and citizens of these islands from whatever crime or transgression they might have committed, or excommunication that they might have incurred. He sent them his apostolic benediction, and granted a plenary indulgence to those who should worthily prepare to receive it.

On the first day of March, 1654, the archbishop made publication of these favors conferred by the pontiff; and all the people prepared with great fervor to obtain them--so universally that the many confessors of the clergy and the religious orders were hardly sufficient for the numbers who resorted to them; and it was estimated that within the city more than forty thousand persons made their confessions. The result was very excellent, for many confessions were made anew that had been for many years faultily made--either to conceal sins, or for lack of sorrow for them--and of their own accord. Many general confessions were made, and the grace of God was made apparent in the excellent results which were experienced. Restitution was made of honors and property, inveterate hatreds were uprooted, immoral associations of many years' standing were broken up, and occasions for continual stumbling were removed. On the twenty-second day a solemn mass was sung in the cathedral, the blessed sacrament was exposed, and the archbishop preached with the fervor that the case demanded. At twelve o'clock the bells began to ring for prayers in all the churches, the sound of the bells being a fresh awakener of consciences. In the afternoon the archbishop went to the main plaza, where a stage had been erected, of sufficient size, almost, for a court from above; on it was an altar, with a crucifix for devotion, under a canopy. On this stage sat the archbishop, with the ecclesiastical cabildo; and the royal Audiencia were there with their president, the governor and captain-general, also the regidors and the holy religious orders; while there was an innumerable assembly from every sort of nation and people, for whom there was not room in the plaza or in the streets, or on the roofs. The archbishop put on his pontifical robes, and, when the psalms were sung and the usual prayers offered, he publicly uttered the blessing on the land and all its inhabitants in the name of the supreme pontiff; and afterward the Te Deum was intoned, and the chimes were rung by all the bells.

[Our author here relates the beginning of the rebuilding of the cathedral (which had been destroyed in the earthquakes of 1645), and the solemn religious functions which accompany the laying of its cornerstone in 1654; and the formal adoption of St. Francis Xavier as the patron saint of the islands (1653), by action of the secular cabildo of Manila, who bind themselves "to attend the vespers and the feasts of that saint's day in a body, as the municipal council, and to furnish the wax necessary for the feast." He is also chosen as patron saint of all the voyages made to, from, or among the islands. This action is followed by that of the ecclesiastical cabildo (1654) and the archbishop. That saint is chosen because he had preached in Ternate and Mindanao, which belonged to the jurisdiction of the Philippines; in imitation of India, where also he was the patron saint, and where his favor had been experienced by navigators; and "because the glorious saint had shown himself, especially in recent years in this region, very propitious to the voyages of our ships," of which various examples are cited.]

[Fol. 231 b:] The archbishop had seen in the publication of the jubilee the persistence with which the Jesuits labored in the confessional; and desiring to finish gathering in the harvest which the broad field of these environs promised him, if the proper cultivation were applied, in the year 1655 he asked Father Miguel Solana, the provincial of this province, that the "jubilee of the missions" might be published. This was done in the following Lenten season, with so felicitous results that more than twenty thousand certificates of confession were counted which had been issued in our college at Manila. The zeal of the archbishop aided greatly [in this result], for he took part in the procession in which the mission was published, and preached one day in our church.... Extraordinary was the fruit which he gathered that Lent; and confessions were made [for a period] of sixty or eighty years. [Here are related various cases of conversion and edification, in some of which demons appear to the faithful. Governor Diego Faxardo sends workmen to Camboja to build a galleon there, and asks for Jesuits to go with them as chaplains, and to labor for the introduction of the Christian faith into that kingdom; two are sent, one of whom is Father Francisco Mesina, who was then ministering to the Chinese at Santa Cruz. These men build a fine galleon, but it is lost in a storm on the way to Manila; moreover, the galleon "Nuestra Señora del Rosario," in which they had sailed to Camboja, "one of the strongest which had been built in these islands," was wrecked on the shoals of the Me-Khong (or Cambodia) River, before the Spaniards could establish themselves on its shores. These accidents cause the idea of building ships in Camboja to be abandoned.] Although the temporal government of Ternate belonged to the crown of Castilla, and to this government of Philipinas, its spiritual affairs were cared for by the bishop of Malaca; and when that city was conquered by the Dutch, Ternate remained in the care of only one Jesuit and one secular priest for many years. Don Sabiniano Manrique brought to Manila the father and the Portuguese priest, and in their place two fathers from this province were sent, whom the archbishop of Manila constituted his provisors and vicars-general. These fathers preached with great fervor and corresponding results; for many Christians improved their mode of life, and some Moors and heretics of that country, giving up their errors, embraced the true religion. Among all these the ones who excelled in fervor were two young girls, about fourteen years old, who, abandoning their parents (who professed the Moorish faith), came to Ours to be made Christians--with so dauntless resolution that, although their parents followed them in order to take them back to their own village, they could not persuade them to return; and God bestowed such efficacy upon the utterances of these girls that even their parents, illumined by the light of the Highest, determined to follow the same religious faith. Various results of the mercy of God were seen in some persons who, a short time after receiving grace in baptism, ascended to enjoy their reward in glory.

In Siao the king was Don Bentura Pinto de Morales, who, grieving that his island should lack gospel ministers, despatched an embassy to Don Sabiniano Manrique, laying before him the extreme necessity of that island and kingdom, and entreating that he would send thither religious to preach the holy gospel; the zealous governor [accordingly] asked the father provincial, Miguel de Solana, to send two fathers to relieve that need. They were immediately sent, and began their work on so good a footing that in a short time they commenced to gather the fruit that they desired; and, not content to labor with the old Christians, they added to the flock of Christ a great multitude of souls, so that in a few months nearly all the islanders were asking for baptism. The city of Macan had sent to Manila a nobleman named Don Diego Furtado de Mendoza, to regulate the commerce [between the two cities]; and Don Diego Faxardo, perhaps for [well-grounded] suspicions, ordered that he be arrested. But afterward Don Sabiniano sent this envoy back to Macan; and in November of the year 1653 he sent a vessel, and in it Father Magino Sola with the title of ambassador, to establish friendly relations between this and that city, and with other commissions; and they arrived at Macan about March, 1654.

In these times [of which we are writing] many Subanos had come down to Dapitan from some neighboring mountains, and were brought into the fold of Christ. Afterward a chief from Dicayo came down with his people, and was followed by others, from other hamlets; the ministers were greatly consoled at seeing the fruit that was gathered in that district of heathens. At the same time some Moros from the lake of Malanao settled at Yligan, in order to be instructed and to live as Christians in that village; and God deigned to work some marvels, so that they might properly appreciate the Catholic religion. [Some of these are related; then follows a long account of the schemes and perfidious acts of Corralat, and of the murder (December 13, 1655) by his nephew Balatamay of the Jesuits Alexandro Lopez and Juan de Montiel, and the Spanish officer Claudio de Ribera, who were going to Corralat as envoys from Governor Manrique de Lara. All these occurrences have received due attention in previous volumes.]

[Fol. 277:] The archbishop of Manila, Don Miguel Poblete, a pastor zealous for the good of souls, asked the father provincial of the Society to employ some of his men, now that this succor had arrived, [23] in a ministry so proper for our Institute as is that of the missions; and some of them accordingly went out to look after the ranches [estancias], where usually live many vagabonds, who, as a result of their idleness and lack of any restraint, commit innumerable sinful and evil acts, and are a people greatly in need of religious instruction. In those places are found some Spaniards, various [sorts of] mestizos, negroes, Cafres, and Indians from all the islands. At the cost of many inconveniences, the ministers gathered a large harvest in the numerous confessions that were made to them, and in many licentious unions which were broken up; and, above all, light was given to those people on what they ought to believe and do in order to secure the eternal salvation of their souls. An old man eighty years of age, whose confessions were almost sacrilegious, was reached by the mission, and, wounded by his conscience, said: "Oh, if Father San Vitores" (whom perhaps he knew by reputation) "were one of the missionaries, how I could get out of this wretched condition in which I am!" And afterward, learning that Father San Vitores was going to that place, this old man cast himself at his feet, and with more tears than words made a general confession, and [thus] was set free from that abominable condition in which he found himself. Afterward the archbishop entreated that the mission should go to the mountain of Maralaya, near the lake of Bay, where a colony of highwaymen and vagrants had been gathered by the desire for freedom and the fear of punishment, secure in their lawless mode of life in the ruggedness of the mountain. The missionaries reached that place, and on the slope of the mountain established their camp, where they remained in the inclemencies of weather until a pavilion was built in which they could say mass, and a wretched hut for their shelter. There, with affection, prayer, and exercises of penance, they were able to persuade those people to come down to hear the word of God; and so efficacious was this that many were induced to return to their own villages, in order to live as Christians. Several women whom those men kept there, who had been separated from their husbands, were restored [to their families]; and among the rest the missionaries employed instruction and teaching. One man had lived in that barbarous community worse than if he were a heathen; and the only indication of his Christian faith that remained to him in so demoralized a condition was his constant devotion to the blessed Virgin--to whom he fasted every Saturday, and whom he urgently entreated that he might not die without the sacraments. That most merciful Lady heard him, for, although he had been ten times in danger of death, she had always set him free with special favor. Now he made his confession with many tears, with the firm resolve to do whatever might be necessary for his eternal salvation.

A mission was conducted in the mountains of Santa Inez of Lanating, a visita of Antipolo. One of the missionaries was the same Father Diego Luis de San Vitores, and in seven days he gathered a very abundant harvest; for in that short time twenty-four thousand heathens, Aetas or Cimarrons, were baptized, and many others were prepared for the rite, who received baptism afterward. [The author describes several of these conversions; he also cites various entries of especial interest from "the books of the old mission of Santa Ines, which I have before me;" many of these are of baptisms made by Father San Vitores. "This mission was cared for by a devout Indian named Don Juan Estevan, who afterward was a donado, and in the absence of the minister instructed and baptized them--as did the Canacopoles, whom St. Xavier chose in India."]

In the year 1669 there was a church and visita in Bosoboso; in 1672 there was a church in Paynaan; and in 1678 was established the church of San Isidro. These two [latter] villages lasted until recent years, when they were included in Bosoboso. Excursions were made into the mountains, and many Aetas, Christian and heathen, were brought out from their hamlets; and with charity and kindness efforts were made to settle them in the said visitas, wherein, in due time, a permanent minister was stationed. It appears from the books of the said visitas and villages that many adults were baptized--of twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty years, and even more; this was a task of the utmost difficulty for the ministers, in drawing those people out of their lairs, and even more in maintaining them in a social and Christian mode of life, on account of their natural inclination to go wandering through the woods and mountains. In the year 1699 the zealous archbishop Don Diego Camacho came to this mission, and baptized several of them--among others, four heathen adults--as appears from the books of Paynaan.

In the year 1665, on the nineteenth of July, there was a violent earthquake in Manila, in which nine persons died; and it inflicted considerable damage in the wing of our college. At this the zealous archbishop arranged that a mission should be held in Manila and Cavite; and through the preaching and example of those engaged therein great results were obtained. In October of the same year, Father Diego Luis de San Vitores and some companions went to the island of Mindoro, then in charge of secular priests. On sea and on land they suffered great fatigues and hunger, heat and storms, toils and dangers; but all this they regarded as [time and strength] well spent, when they saw how the liberal hand of God was rewarding them with the consolation of beholding with their own eyes the fruit of their labors--not only in the old Christians, who had reformed their morals; but in the infidel Manguianes, many of whom were converted to [our] religion. They experienced a thousand tokens of the providence and kindness of God. Although there were several languages in the island, they easily gained a knowledge of what was necessary for instructing the natives, preaching to them, hearing their confessions, and settling their affairs. Sometimes a contrary wind obliged them to put back, directed by the hand of God, in order to relieve the necessity which demanded their coöperation in those hamlets. Sometimes the rivers overflowed their banks, and they found it necessary to travel to places in which they found sufficient occasion for the exercise of their charity. Many conversions of special interest were obtained, of both Christians and heathens; and remarkable among all of them was that of a Manguian woman, a heathen, married to a Christian man. She was baptized, and named Maria; and afterward they called her "the Samaritan," on account of the many persons whom she brought to the knowledge of Christ, the ministers availing themselves of her aid for the conversion of many persons, not only heathens but Christians, with most happy results. Her husband was a Christian by baptism, but worse than a heathen in his life; he would not even accept the rosary of the blessed Virgin, and it was necessary for his wife to put it about his neck by force; and it had so much efficacy that from that time he undertook to be a Christian in his acts, as he was one by name. The fathers erected three churches for the converted Manguianes: the church of our Lady, near Bongabon; that of San Ignacio, near Pola; and that of San Xavier, on the coast of Naojan. Another was built, named for the holy Christ of Burgos, for the old Christians who were roaming about through the mountains.

[The rest of Murillo Velarde's Historia is mainly occupied with the history of the Spanish conquest of the Marianas Islands, and the missions of the Jesuit order therein; also with the Pardo controversy and various other matters which have been already treated in this series, besides the lives of Jesuits in the Philippines--which here, as throughout our series, we have presented only in very brief and condensed form; but which in these religious histories are often exceedingly detailed and prolix. We present a few more extracts from our writer, showing the distinctive occupations, methods, and achievements of the Jesuit missionaries there, and events affecting those missions.]

[Fol. 346 b:] These and other acts of violence [i.e., connected with the Pardo controversy] which in that time were suffered by this province of Philipinas are evident from the printed memorial which was presented to the king by Father Antonio Xaramillo, procurator of this province in Madrid, and a witness of most of the things which are contained in the said memorial. He concludes this document by offering, at the order of our general, the reverend Father Tyrso Gonzalez, our resignation of all the ministries which the Society possesses in these islands, in order thus to remove the cause of disturbances, jealousies, and controversies. But so far was the king from accepting this resignation that instead he issued his royal decrees that the doctrinas of Cainta and Jesus de la Peña (or Mariquina), of which the Society had been despoiled, should be restored to it. In the year 1696, not only did the very reverend Augustinian fathers surrender these posts, with politeness and courtesy, but in token of mutual affection and friendly relations an exchange was made of the ministry of San Matheo (which is near Mariquina), the fathers of St. Augustine ceding it to us for that of Binangonan (which is called "de los Perros" [i.e., "of the dogs"]), on the lake of Bay, which belonged to the Society; [this was done] by another exchange, made with the religious of St. Francis, to whom we gave the ministry of Baras on the same lake. The sentences of examination and review given by the royal and supreme Council of the Indias; the royal executory decree, which in consequence of these was issued in regard to Jesus de la Peña, on March 31, 1694; and the decrees which on the same day were despatched, as regards Cainta, to the governor and the archbishop of these islands: all these are in the archives of our college at Manila.... I have seen the original of a report made to the king about that time, by a person of great ability, in which he endeavored, with acrimonious expressions, to influence the royal mind against the Society; but the exaggerative and fierce asperity of the report was itself the most efficacious argument in favor of this province, and was entirely rejected by the king and his Council, as prejudiced (a just and deserved punishment). The king not only insisted that this province should continue in its ministries without any change, but restored to it the two of which it had been despoiled by animosity allied with violence. Thus this apostolic province went its way, following the apostle among thorns and roses, among persecutions and favors, per infamiam, & bonam famam. [24]

In order to justify the manner in which the Society administers its functions in these islands, I will give a brief account of the allotment [distribuçión; i.e., of the minister's duties] which is followed in the villages, in order that the impartial reader, reflecting thereon prudently and carefully, may recognize the incessant and laborious toil with which this field, entrusted to the Society by the confidence of that prince, is cultivated. Every day the boys and girls (with little difference [in number]) up to the age of fourteen years hear mass; these call themselves "schools" and "companies of the rosary." Then they sing all the prayers that belong to the mass, and go to their school. At ten o'clock the signal is given by the bell, and they go to the church to pray before the blessed sacrament, and to the Virgin they recite the Salve and the Alabado hymn; and they go out in procession, singing the prayers, as far as some cross in the village. At two o'clock in the afternoon they return to the school; and at four or five o'clock they go again to the church, where they recite the rosary, and go out in procession singing the prayers. On Saturdays, not only the children recite the prayers, but the baguntaos and dalagas [25]--who are the older youths and girls, who do not yet pay tribute--and also the acolytes, the treble singers, and the barbatecas. In the afternoon the people recite the rosary, and the singers and musicians sing the mysteries and the litany. On Sundays, the boys go out with a banner around the village, singing the prayers, to call together the people. The minister says mass, which the musicians accompany with voices and instruments; and afterward all the people together recite the prayers, and [answer] a brief questioning on the principal mysteries of the Christian doctrine, and [listen to] an instruction on the mode of baptism, which is called tocsohan. With this there are many of them who are well instructed, so that they can aid one to die well, and in case of necessity confer baptism, like the Canacapoles of St. Xavier. The minister preaches a moral sermon, and usually calls the roll [suele leer el padron], in order to see whether the Indians fail to attend mass. In the afternoon all come together--schools, companies of the rosary, acolytes, singing children, barbatecas, and dalagas and baguntaos--and they offer prayers. Afterward the father goes down to the church, and catechises, explains the Christian doctrine, and confers baptism. On Thursdays there is no school, that being a vacation day. Every Saturday there is a mass sung in honor of the Virgin; and in the afternoon the minister chants the Salve for the occasion, with the image uncovered, which is then locked up. During the nine days preceding Christmas, mass is sung very early in the morning, with great solemnity, before a large assembly of people, and accompanied by an indulgence [granted] for the preservation of the Christian religion in these islands; and these are called "masses for Christmas" [misas de Aguinaldo]. [26] Always, when the host is elevated at mass the signal is given with a bell, so that all the people may adore it; and the Indiana, even the little children who cannot speak, clasp their hands and raise them toward heaven as a token of adoration, while in the church a motet is sung for the same purpose, after the custom of the primitive Church--which this body of Christians resembles in many ways; and St. John in his Apocalypse even represents it to us in those mysterious creatures who day and night were praising God, dicentia: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Omnipotens, qui erat, qui est, & qui venturus est. [27] The Indians in general have the highest respect and esteem for the priests. As soon as they see the fathers, they rise to their feet, take off their hats, [28] kiss the father's hand, and often fall on their knees to speak to him, especially if they are going to ask forgiveness for some offense that they have committed; they patiently endure the penances that the ministers appoint for them, and promptly obey whatever the fathers command them. Even the little children who cannot speak run when they see the father in the street, fall on their knees, and kiss his hand; and then go back greatly pleased at this. At every function which pertains to the church, all the people, from the greatest to the least, work with gladness in building altars and adorning the temples. The house-servants offer their prayers in the morning; and they write, read, and perform their duties after they have heard mass. At night they read a spiritual lesson, recite the rosary, and before retiring pray before the blessed sacrament and sing the Salve to the Virgin; and during the year they frequent the sacraments.