Chapter Twelve

Travels in Camarines Sur. Description of the province. Spanish priests. Alcaldes and mandarins.

The convents are large, magnificent buildings, whose curas at that time--for the most part, elderly men--were most hospitable and amiable. It was necessary to stop at each convent, and the father in charge of it had his horses harnessed and drove his guest to his next colleague. I wished to hire a boat at Polángui to go to the lake of Batu; but there was none to be had. Only two large, eighty-foot barotos, each hollowed from a single tree-trunk and laden with rice from Camarines, lay there. In order that I might not be detained, the father bought the cargo of one of the boats, on condition that it be immediately unladed; thus I was able to proceed on my journey in the afternoon.

If the traveler is on good terms with the cura, he will seldom have any trouble. I was once about to take a little journey with a parish priest directly after lunch. All the preparations were completed at a quarter after eleven. I declared that it was too bad to wait the three-quarters of an hour for the repast. Immediately after, it struck twelve, and all work in the village ceased. We, as well as our porters, sat down to table; it was noon. The [following] message had been sent to the bellringer: "The father ordered him to be told that he must surely be sleeping again; it must have been twelve o'clock long ago, for the father is hungry." Il est l'heure que votre Majesté désire.

Most of the priests in the eastern provinces of Luzon and Samar consist of Franciscan friars, who are trained in special seminaries in Spain for the missions in the colonies. Formerly, they were at liberty to return to their fatherland after ten years' residence in the Philippines. But since the convents have been suppressed in Spain, this is no longer allowed them; for there they would be compelled to renounce the rules of their order, and live as private persons. They know that they must end their days in the colonies, and regulate themselves accordingly. At their arrival they are usually sent to a priest in the province, so that they may study the native language. Then they first receive a small and later a profitable curacy, in which they generally remain for the rest of their life. Most of these men spring from the lowest rank of the people. Numerous existing pious foundations in Spain make it possible for the poor man, who cannot pay for schooling for his son, to send him to the seminary, where he learns nothing outside of the special service for which he is trained. Were the friars of a finer culture, as are a part of the English missionaries, they would, for that reason, have but little inclination to mix with the people, and consequently would not obtain over them the influence that they generally have. The early habits of life of the Spanish friars, and their narrow horizon, quite peculiarly fit them to live among the natives. It is exactly for the above reason that they have so well established their power over those people.

When the above-mentioned young men come quite fresh from their seminaries, they are incredibly narrow, ignorant, and at times ill-mannered, full of conceit, hatred for heretics, and desire to proselyte. Gradually this rough exterior wears away; and their estimable position, and the abundant emoluments which they enjoy, make them kindly disposed. The sound insight into human nature and the self-reliance which are peculiar to the lower classes of the Spanish people, and which are so amusingly revealed by Sancho Panza as governor, have full opportunity to assert themselves in the influential and responsible post which the cura occupies. Very frequently the cura is the only white man in the place, and no other European lives for miles around. Therefore, not only is he the curator of souls, but also the representative of the government. He is the oracle of the Indians, and his special decision in anything that concerns Europe and civilization is without appeal. His advice is asked in all important affairs, and he has no one from whom he himself can seek advice. Under such circumstances all their intellectual abilities come into full play. The same man, who would have followed the plow in Spain, here [i.e., in the Philippines] carries out great undertakings. Without technical instruction and without scientific help, he constructs churches, roads, and bridges. However, although these circumstances are so favorable for the development of the ability of the priest, yet it would be better for the buildings themselves if they were executed by professionals; for the bridges collapse readily, the churches often resemble sheep-folds, the more pretentious have at times most extravagant façades, and the roads quickly deteriorate again. However, each one does as well as he can. Almost all of them have the good of their village at heart, although their zeal, and the course followed by those who pursue this aim, differ widely according to their personality. In Camarínes and Albáy, I have had considerable intercourse with the curas, and they have, without exception, won my esteem. As a rule, they have no self-conceit; and in the remote places they are so happy whenever they receive a visit, that they exert all their efforts to make their guest's stay as pleasant as possible. Life in a large convent very much resembles that of the lord of the manor in eastern Europe. Nothing can be more unconstrained. One lives as independently as in an inn, and many guests act just as if they were in one. I have seen a subaltern arrive, who, without waiting until the steward assigned him a room of his own accord, took one himself, ordered his dinner, and only casually asked whether the priest, with whom he was only very slightly acquainted, was at home.

Frequently the priests in the Philippines are upbraided about their gross licentiousness. [It is said that] the convent is full of beautiful girls, with whom the cura lives like a sultan. This might often be so of the native priests; but at the houses of numerous Spanish priests whose guest I have been, I have never once happened to see anything objectionable in this regard. Their servants were only men, and perhaps an old woman or two. Ribabeneyra asserts: "The Indians, who observe how the discalced friars maintain their chastity, have come in their thoughts to the conclusion that they are not men ... and although the devil has endeavored to corrupt many chaste priests now deceased, and also those who still live, making use of the shamelessness of some Indian women for that purpose, yet the friars remained victorious, to the great shame of the Indian women and of Satan." However, this author is very unreliable. He says further (chapter iii, page 13), that the island of Cebu is known under another name as Luzon! At any rate, his description does not fit the present conditions. The young priest lives in his parish as did the lord of the manor in earlier times. The girls consider it an honor for themselves to associate with him. The opportunity is very favorable for him, for he is watched over by no jealous wife; and, as the father confessor and priestly adviser, he has opportunity at discretion to be alone with the women. The confessional must especially be a perilous rock for them. In the appendix to a Tagál grammar (which is lacking in those copies intended for public sale), is a list of questions for the young priest who is not yet conversant with the language, which he must propound to the persons confessing. Several pages of those questions relate to sexual intercourse.

As the alcaldes are allowed to stay in a province only three years, they never understand the language of the country; for they are very much in demand because of their official business, and have no time (and usually no desire) to study the peculiarities of the province which they administer. The cura, on the other hand, lives in the midst of his parishioners, whom he knows thoroughly, and whom he also represents against the government. Consequently, it happens that he is the real authority in his district. The position of the priests, in contradistinction to that of the government officials, is bespoken also in their dwellings. The casas reales [i.e., royal buildings]--for the most part small, plain, and often dilapidated--are not in keeping with the rank of the first officials of the province. The convent, however, is usually a very large, imposing, and well-furnished building. Formerly, when the governorships were sold to adventurers, whose only thoughts were to enrich themselves from that office, the influence of the priests was even much greater than at present. The following ordinances point out their former position better than long descriptions.

"Although certain outrageous offenses have given fitting reason for chapter x of the ordinances, wherein Governor Don Pedro de Arandia orders that the alcaldes and justices shall have no other communication with the missionaries than in writing, and shall not visit them except in company, it is also nevertheless ordered that they shall not do the latter ... on the assumption that the prelates of the church shall employ all their energies in restraining their subordinates within the bounds of moderation.... The alcaldes shall therefore see to it that the priests and ministers of the above order shall treat the gobernadorcillos and officers of justice with the proper respect; and they shall not permit the latter to be beaten, chastised, or illtreated by the missionaries, ... nor shall they be compelled to serve them at table."

The former alcaldes who bought their posts, or obtained them through favor, and who had no previous training in official business, and often no education and intelligence, and who did not possess the necessary mental and moral qualities for so responsible and influential an office, received a nominal salary from the State, to which they paid a commission for the right to engage in trade. According to Arenas (p. 444), this commission was regarded as a fine on the alcaldes for transgressing the law; "for since all kinds of trading were forbidden to them by various laws, yet also his Majesty was pleased to grant a dispensation for it." This irregularity was first suppressed by royal decrees of September 10 and October 30, 1844.

The alcaldes were governors and judges, commanders of the troops, and at the same time the only traders in their respective provinces. They bought in Manila the goods that were needed in their provinces--usually with the money of the charities [obras pias] (see p. 14, note 17); for they themselves came to the Philippines without any property. The Indians were compelled to sell their products to the alcalde, and to buy his wares at the prices which the latter established. In such circumstances, the priests were the only ones who protected the Indians against these bloodsuckers, when they did not (as sometimes happened) also make common cause with the alcaldes.

At present the government sends men who know the law to act as alcaldes in the Philippines, who are somewhat better paid and are not allowed to trade.

On the whole, the government is endeavoring to lessen the influence of the curas, in order to strengthen the civil authorities; but that will be only very imperfectly accomplished, however, unless the tenure of office of the alcaldes be lengthened, and the office be so assigned that the alcaldes will have no temptation to make money on the side.

THE AUGUSTINIAN RECOLLECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Archbishopric of Manila

In this archbishopric the Recollect fathers have charges in the provinces of Manila, Cavite, Laguna, the district of Morong, Bataan, Pampanga, Zambales, and Mindoro.

District of Morong

This district, which is governed by a political and military commander (who is at the same time administrator of the public funds), takes its name from its capital village, which is located on the shore of the lake of Bay. This district was created in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three. The villages of this district which are located on the lake are under the care of Franciscan fathers; Angono, Cainta, Jalajala, and Bosoboso of seculars; and we ourselves possess the two following. [These are the villages of Antipolo, with 1,074 tributes, and 3,547 souls; and Taytay, with 2,479 tributes, and 8,435 souls.]

Province of Bataan

This province is located in the island of Luzón, and is bounded on the north by the provinces of Pampanga and Zambales, on the east by the bay of Manila, and on the south and west by the sea of China. It is governed by an alcalde, and is in charge of the Dominican fathers, with the exception of Mariveles, Bagac, and Morong, which are in charge of the Recollect fathers.

The missionaries of our corporation performed their first labors of conquest in this territory. Here were founded the oldest villages on our list; and here took place the first persecutions of our long-suffering predecessors, who had the glory of watering with their blood the country that they were evangelizing, the one that furnished to the province of San Nicolás their protomartyr.

Fray Miguel de Santa Maria, accompanied by Father Pedro de San José (who, although he had been a calced Augustinian, had become a Recollect in Manila), and by brother Fray Francisco de Santa Mónica, were the first to leave the convent of San Juan de Bagumbayan; and prepared by prayer and penance, and full of the spirit of God, set forth to announce His mysteries to the idolaters and heathen, sent legitimately to the mountains of Mariveles to illumine its inhabitants with the light of the Catholic faith. They found those natives enveloped in the most barbarous idolatry, adoring the sun, the moon, the cayman, and other filthy animals. These people regarded certain old men, as corrupt and as deceived as the divinities whom they were serving, as the ministers of those deceitful gods. The customs of those people were very analogous to the doctrines that directed them. Every kind of superstition was practiced; homicide was a praiseworthy and meritorious action; and their sacrifices on some occasions were human lives. In that vineyard so filled with wickedness the above-mentioned fathers announced the triune and one God, the mystery of the incarnation, and the eternal duration of the future life. The missionaries suffered more than one can tell from the inhabitants, who were opposed to and stubborn toward their teaching. In their bodies did they submit to hunger, and to the intemperance and inclemency of the elements; and in their truly apostolic spirit they suffered mortal anguish because of the blindness of their neighbors, which was in proportion to the great love of God and the zeal for His glory which glowed brightly in their hearts.

Province of Zambales

This province is located in the island of Luzón, north of Manila. It is bounded on the north by the gulf of Lingayen and the province of Pangasinan, on the east by the chain of mountains called Mariveles, on the south by Bataan, and on the west by the Chinese Sea; and is more than thirty leguas long in a north and south direction, and seven wide.

The preaching of the Recollects in this territory is mingled with the beginnings of that religious family in the Filipino archipelago. One may say that this was the region where the first discalced missionaries and the parishes established by them tasted the first-fruits of their evangelizing zeal, those first-fruits being offered to the Catholic church as a testimony of the purity of their doctrine, and submitted to the crown of España as its most faithful and disinterested vassals, Although they arrived at these shores in the year one thousand six hundred and six, in the following year they had already overrun this province--to whose inhabitants they taught the mysteries of our religion, and gave helpful instructions in the social life, in contradistinction to their barbarous state.

The first who sowed the seed of the gospel in the province of Zambales were the calced Augustinian fathers. Because of the lack of the above religious, the captain-general of these islands and their metropolitan cabildo entreated the vicar-provincial of the Recollects to assign religious for the spiritual cultivation of that unfilled vineyard. In the year one thousand six hundred and nine, our laborers went to Zambales, although visits had been made two years previously by those who were laboring in the province of Bataan, in order to increase the gospel seed. The meekness and resignation of the fathers in the midst of so much wretchedness and hardship arrested the attention of those barbarians; and the fathers succeeded in catechizing and converting many through their gentleness and kind treatment, and reduced them to settlements.

The Recollect fathers were charged with the spiritual administration of this province until the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine. In that year, being obliged to go to take charge of the province of Mindoro, and to preach the holy gospel there, they were forced to hand over the missions of Zambales--eleven in number--to the Dominican fathers, who assumed charge of them.

After the lapse of some years, and without explanation of the causes which could induce the above-mentioned Dominican fathers to cease to give spiritual food to those Christian communities with their accustomed zeal, it is a fact that the discalced Augustinians again took charge of that province, by the month of October, one thousand seven hundred and twelve; and again undertook the direction and continuation of their spiritual conquests until the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, when they were compelled once more to leave it, for lack of religious. The secular priests assumed the missions, with the exception of the mission of Botolan, which was retained by the Recollects until one thousand eight hundred and fourteen. There was a residence for the missionaries in each of the villages, and even in various visitas there were suitable churches and convents of cut stone, when we left this province in the last century. On assuming it anew in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, the father provincial of the Recollects, Fray Blás de las Mercedes, attested that only ruins and desolation were found. Since that time they have labored without ceasing in the beautifying and adorning of the house of God, restoring the old ruins and building anew; until they have succeeded in making the churches worthy the majesty of the Catholic worship--already having, besides, suitable edifices for the residences of their missionaries.

Province of Cavite

Coincident with the time of their arrival at Manila, the discalced Augustinians began to labor in the conversion of the infidels who inhabit the provinces conterminous to the capital. They dedicated themselves with apostolic zeal to the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments, with their gaze directed to the needs of the future. They paid attention to what would be found by experience, in succeeding times, to be a convenience and a necessity--namely, to have convents of the Observance in the most important settlements of the archipelago, in order to give shelter to the religious worn out in the tasks of preaching; while at the same time those houses were to serve as the base for their premeditated plan, to establish in these islands the corporation of which they were members, in a perfectly organized condition.

They founded the convent of Cavite, by apostolic and royal authority, in the year one thousand six hundred and sixteen. It was dedicated to St. Nicholas of Tolentino, was constructed solidly, and was spacious, with a church which was suitable for the functions of worship. Cavite was a suitable point, because of its great commerce and the foreigners who go there in throngs. Thus, with their good example and indefatigable zeal, they could do much good to needy souls.

This convent was at first supported by the alms of the faithful; and afterward it acquired some incomes of its own through the gifts of various devout persons, in houses, shops, and plots of ground.

In the year one thousand seven hundred and nine, Don Pascual Bautista and other inhabitants of that port founded the brotherhood of our father Jesus in this church.

The first prior of this convent was Father Andrés del Espiritu Santo, who was born in Valladolid, in January, one thousand five hundred and eighty-five, his parents being Don Hernando Fanego and Doña Elena de Toro. He studied philosophy there, and asked for the religious habit in our convent of Portillo in the year one thousand six hundred, and professed in that convent the following year. He devoted himself to the study of the Holy Scriptures in the convent of Nava until the year one thousand six hundred and five, when he determined to offer himself for the conversion of the Indians, in the mission that was about to go to Filipinas. Having been assigned to the province of Zambales, he uttered the first words of his apostolic preaching at Masinloc in the year one thousand six hundred and seven, where he succeeded in converting and baptizing two thousand people, in founding a village, and in erecting a dwelling and a church with the advocacy of St. Andrew the apostle, November eighteen, one thousand six hundred and seven. In the year one thousand six hundred and nine, without abandoning his parish, he had to aid Father Jerónimo de Cristo in the reduction of Bolinao; and when after a short time the latter died, he was appointed vicar-provincial, although continuing to care for and to increase his flock at Bolinao, where he succeeded in converting one thousand six hundred souls. He concluded his charge in the year one thousand six hundred and twelve; and in the year one thousand six hundred and fifteen he was elected vicar-provincial for the second time. In that term he finished the establishment of the convent of Cavite, constructing an edifice of stone with a dwelling to accommodate ten religious. In the year one thousand six hundred and eighteen, at the completion of his term as superior, he was chosen commissary to the court of Madrid. There he accomplished, with great success, not only the negotiations for despatches suitable for the mission, but the selection of the men whom he conducted [to Filipinas] in the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-two. As soon as he reached Manila he was again elected superior [and held that position] until the celebration of the first provincial chapter, on February six, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four, when he was elected first definitor. In the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-six he was elected provincial; he visited the ministries during his term, and began the missions of Japon. He made great improvements and additions in the churches and convents of Manila and Calumpang; and labored greatly in repairing the church and convent of Cebu, which had suffered from a fire. He was elected provincial for the second time, in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-two, and definitor in the chapter of thirty-five. In the year thirty-eight he asked to be allowed to retire to a cell, but was elected prior of Manila.

After the conclusion of that office, he was retired to the convent of Cavite and then to that of Manila, where he died holily at the beginning of one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight. He was seventy-eight years of age, and fifty-seven in the religious life, fifty-two of which he employed in the Filipinas Islands, establishing this province on a solid basis of religion.

Province of Batangas

In this rich province of the island of Luzón, flourishing through its products and its active trade with the capital, of extensive territory and densely populated, the discalced Augustinians were not assigned with the intention of a permanent stay, in the olden times, to preach the gospel to those natives.

However, present legislation regarding the service of parish churches in this archipelago has, at the same time while it has varied in a certain manner our traditional method of support, introduced us into some of the parishes of the province of Batangas; and at the same time when we have been obliged to cede villages in Visayas--which were our offspring, and had been converted by our predecessors, and whose history was identical with the ancient glories of our corporation--in exchange we have received parishes organized by the sweat and apostolic fatigues of ministers of the religion of Jesus Christ, who were not members of our religious family.

Province of Laguna

The territory of this province, whose coasts enclose the great lake of Bay, had been administered by the Franciscan fathers, in most of its extent, from the times of its reduction. But in the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-two, they invited us to share in the ministries on the opposite coast, in the neighborhood of the port of Lampon; and although those missions were not very desirable, on account of the wretchedness of the country and the small number of tributes, they were received as very meritorious for heaven, although but little profitable when looked at from a worldly standpoint.

The Recollect fathers Fray Benito de San José, Fray Francisco de San José, and Fray Clemente de San Nicolás having been assigned, with three other companions, to the village of Binangonan, established the first house and church, with the title of San Guillermo; and two religious remained there. Afterward they went to the village of Baler and established a convent, under the patronage of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. The third was the village of Casiguran, with the advocacy of our father St. Augustine. The fourth was established in Palanan, with the title of Santa María Magdalena. The discalced Augustinians resided for forty years in those convents founded on the coasts of the Pacific, exclusively consecrated to the service of God, and the sanctification of their neighbors, and they attained both objects with great spiritual advantages.

We had religious there of pure virtue, who were imitating the virtues of the dwellers in the desert. From those missions went forth our father Fray Bartolomé de la Santísima Trinidad, son of the convent of Madrid. He lived much retired from intercourse with men; and when he was elected provincial, in the year one thousand seven hundred and one--at which time all said that he was a person unknown in Manila--Archbishop Camacho uttered these words: "The election of the discalced Augustinians has been and is, properly, an election by God and by the Holy Spirit." While so great advance did the missionaries on the opposite coast make in their own sanctification, not less was the gain in the vineyard entrusted to their care. They made many Aetas and heathen children of the Catholic church, and directed those souls along the paths of eternal life. They had the special glory of numbering, among those whom they directed, some privileged women endowed with the gifts of heaven, and raised by the spirit of God to a height of Christian perfection which confounds our lukewarmness in His service. One of these was Sister Juana de Jesus, a native of the village of Binangonan de Lampon, an oblate nun of our order, who elevated herself with the steps of a giant, even to the greatest and most complete purification of her spirit, by her abstraction from worldly affairs, by her heroic practice of all the virtues, by her fervent daily communion, and by the most lofty contemplation and the most clear vision that God vouchsafed her of the mysteries of our holy religion.

In the lamentable period of the missions between the years one thousand six hundred and ninety-two and one thousand seven hundred and ten, when no religious came to us from España, our Recollect family was obliged to abandon this territory which it had in trust, for the lack of evangelical laborers. That action was taken in the provincial chapter of one thousand seven hundred and four, and the missions above mentioned, which we had served for more than forty years, were returned to the Franciscans.

At present we have only the following village in the province of Laguna: [Calauan, with 957 1/2 tributes, and 2,734 souls.]

Province of Pampanga

This province, lying north of Manila--including the district of Tarlac, which was separated from the province in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three--is bounded on the north by Pangasinan, on the south by the bay of Manila, on the east by Nueva Ecija and Bulacan, and on the west by Zambales and Bataan. In this province, which was begun by the Augustinian Observantine fathers (who still have it in charge), permission to found missions in the mountains of its territory which are on the Zambales side was granted to the Recollect fathers, by virtue of certain acts that were drawn up in the superior government without summoning the father provincial, because of the reports of certain persons and the instance of other private individuals. By those acts the conde de Lizárraga, governor of Filipinas, charged the father provincial, Fray José de San Nicolás, to assign missionaries to the localities of Bamban and Mabalacat. The said father, because of his great experience of these islands and their inhabitants, explained to the vice-patron the impossibility of those missions living, and the little result that could be expected from them on account of the fierce and untamable nature of the mountaineers. His petition had no effect, and three missionaries of great merit and learning were sent. By dint of great hardships, and, by living in the same manner as the Indians, they succeeded in baptizing many; but when they learned the fickleness of the Indian nature, and that it was as easy for them to become baptized as it was to take to the mountains to continue their former mode of life, the missionaries proceeded more cautiously in giving them the benefit of the regeneration.

Province of Mindoro

This province, directed by an alcalde-mayor, includes the island of the same name, that of Marinduque, that of Luban, and others less densely populated. Its boundaries are: on the north, the strait of Mindoro; on the east and south, the sea of Visayas; and on the west, the Chinese Sea.

In its extent, it is one of the foremost islands of the archipelago. Its land is mountainous, its climate hot; and during the rainy season it also exceeds other provinces in humidity, whence results the richness of the soil. There are found all the products of the country in grains and foodstuffs. However, that most fertile country fails of cultivation in its vast areas because of the scarcity of laborers, and has not been touched by the hand of man. Its conquest was begun in the year one thousand five hundred and seventy, in the district of Mamburao, by Juan de Salcedo; and it was completed the following year, along the coasts from the cape of Burruncan to that of Calavite, by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. The rest, with the exception of the mountains in its center, has been gradually subdued by the zeal of the regular missionaries. The calced Augustinian fathers began to diffuse the teaching of the gospel in this island, and founded the village of Baco, from whose convent the religious went forth to the spiritual ministry of the converted Indians, who were then very few.

By cession of the Augustinians, the Franciscan fathers entered this island. The said fathers were not satisfied with preserving that already reduced, but extended the light of the faith through the districts of Pola and Calavite, until they were transferred to Camarines and Ilocos by the orders of their superiors.

The fathers of the Society of Jesus came in to fill the breach left by the Franciscans. They founded the village of Naujan, which was governed to the great gain of those Christians by Father Luis de San Vitores, who left behind in that point a reputation for virtue and holiness which was retained for many years among the Indians. That father was withdrawn, to begin the conversion of the Marianas Islands. His associates followed him, and the Christian souls of Mindoro remained under the direction of the secular priests who were placed there by the archbishop for their direction.

When the Recollect fathers had to leave the ministries of Zambales which they had conquered and established at the cost of their blood and by heroic labors, an order came at that same time from the court of España, decreeing that the island of Mindoro be entrusted to a religious family chosen from those existing in this country. The governor of Filipinas, by the advice of the archbishop, thought to compensate the Recollects for the loss of their primitive religious conquests in the province of Zambales, by conferring on them the parishes of Mindoro.

The Recollects resigned themselves to this disproportionate change, since the exertions made to avoid it availed nothing. By virtue of the order issued by his Excellency, the captain-general, Don Juan de Vargas, directed to the province of San Nicolás (decreeing that it should take charge of the missions of Mindoro), the then provincial, Fray José de San Nicolás, assigning laborers for that new acquisition.

Father Diego de la Madre de Dios was assigned to the district of Baco, which belonged to the bachelor Don José de Rojas; Father Diego de la Resureccion, to the curacy of Calavite, taking the place of Licentiate Don Juan Pedrosa; Father Blas de la Concepcion, to the parish of Naujan, replacing the priest Don Martin Diaz. All the above was effected in the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine.

The Recollects entered upon the preaching in Mindoro, in obedience to the orders of the government. That was their reason for believing that their stay in that territory was not to be transitory, but that they could contemplate the organization of that territory upon foundations intended for its increase and the greater welfare of its inhabitants. For that purpose they planned to make the best division possible of mother missions and those annexed, assigning for each of the regular missionaries the barrios and visitas which were nearest his residence, in order that he might aid all of them in their needs.

The apostolate of the Recollects in this island continued without interruption until the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, when the scarcity of men in the province of San Nicolás forced them to renounce it. They reassumed their missions there in the year one thousand eight hundred and five, when the cause that occasioned their cession ceased to exist.

Bishopric of Jaro

The provinces of Romblon, Calamianes, and Negros, which are administered by the Recollect fathers, were formerly included in the spiritual jurisdiction of the bishopric of Santísimo Niño de Cebú. At present they are comprehended in the bishopric of Santa Isabel de Jaro, which was created by apostolic bull dated May twenty-seven, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. That bull was issued by his Holiness Pius IX; it dismembered several provinces of the archipelago from the bishopric of Cebú, and constituted the fourth bishopric of Filipinas, which is suffragan to the metropolitan of Manila.

District of Romblon

This district, which is composed of a group of islands, today forms one politico-military commandancy, which includes the villages of Romblon, Banton, Badajoz, Cajidiocan, Odiongan, Looc, and Magallanes. All those villages can be called the creation of the Recollects, who, when they touched this territory, encountered a small number of Christians scattered through the mountains of what is now the chief district. By exposing their lives (and also losing them when the honor of God, or the interest of the monarchy of España, demanded it), they have succeeded in establishing many important villages from the wild settlements that they received.

The few Christians of those islands composed the annexed village or visita of the curacy of Ajuy in the island of Panay; and as it was very troublesome for the cura charged with their spiritual nurture to visit them, because of the risk that he ran in crossing over, and the strength of the currents, he maintained there a secular assistant who administered the sacraments.

The priest Don Francisco Rodriguez, charged with the unquiet and uncomfortable life in that benefice, being worn out, discussed with the father-provincial of the Recollects, Fray José de la Anunciación, a satisfactory exchange. He also renounced his right to the proprietary curacy, whereupon the bishop of Cebú, Don Pedro de Arce, with the consent of this superior government, gave us the spiritual administration of Romblon, Sibuyan, Usigan (or the island of Tablas), Simara, Banton, and Sibali (which is called Maestro de Campo by the Spaniards). The province of San Nicolás received those places, for they considered them as the entrance into the Visayas Islands, and a good stepping-stone for their religious to go to the lands of Cebú and Caraga. Consequently, the Recollects began to increase and organize what had until then been useless, in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-five.

Island and province of Negros

This island, located to the south of Manila, is bounded on the north by the Visayan Sea, on the south by the sea which separates it from Mindanao, on the east by the channel which separates it from Cebú, and on the west by the sea that separates it from Paragua. It is one hundred and twelve leguas from Manila; its length north and south is forty leguas, and its breadth from east to west eleven.

The centuries of the conquest tell us that already was the religious habit of the discalced Augustinians known in this most fertile province; for in the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-two, brother Fray Francisco de San Nicolás, a native of Cádiz, made a voyage from Negros to Manila. During that voyage he suffered terrible storms, escaping as by a miracle. That voyage was on business for the service of the church, which proves that, in its beginnings, the Recollects had sown the seeds of the gospel in that territory. In the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-two, father Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio founded the convent which was called Binalgaban, and which exercised spiritual care over one thousand five hundred families. The said mission passed to the Society of Jesus. The divine Goodness wrought some wonderful events for the conversion of this island of Negros. [One of these is mentioned.]

But that germ was to produce its abundant and wonderful fruits in the nineteenth century. The observation of the prodigious improvements which four religious who entered this island with the rich treasure of religion, to promote the spiritual and material welfare of their fellows, have been able to produce, was reserved, in the designs of Providence, for our epoch. By the force of their preaching the Catholic worship is receiving an increase of a hundredfold; the villages are dividing, and the parishes are multiplying; the population is assuming a new character of culture and civilization; those Indians are becoming affable, industrious, and enterprising; and they are very rapidly attaining the moral and material recompenses due to their labor.

His Excellency, the most illustrious Don Fray Romualdo Jimeno, bishop of Cebú, under date of April fifteen, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, represented to the superior government the scarcity of native priests for supplying the curacies in this province, petitioning at the same time that the spiritual administration of the said province be entrusted to one of the excellent orders in Filipinas. The governor and captain-general, Don Narciso Clavería, conde de Manila, assented to the proposition of the diocesan, and entrusted the island of Negros to the province of the Recollect fathers, by his decree of June twenty, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight. The very reverend father-provincial, Fray Joaquin Soriano, received such an arrangement with due thanks; and immediately sent the vice-patron his nominations for the curacies of Siaton, Cabancalan, and Amblan--of which those chosen assumed possession in the following year, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.

From that date the population has increased greatly. The barrios have risen to be settled villages, and what were visitas have become canonically-erected parishes. Agriculture has received a rapid and enormous impetus; and the uncultivated lands, which were full of brambles, have been transformed into productive fields. That most fertile soil yields the rich products of sugar, abacá, and coffee, and that with an abundance unknown in other regions of this archipelago. Churches have been built, and convents for the decent housing of the Spanish priest and the holy functions of our order. Roads have been built, which have made communication easy. Solid bridges of great beauty have been constructed; the waters of the rivers have been taken to fertilize the fields; and in the neighborhood of the rivers a number of hydraulic machines and steam engines have been set up, the natural sciences being called in to adapt their most powerful aid to the work. The natives of this island, instructed and continually stimulated by their parish priests, have proved by experience the value of agriculture, when it is favored by nature and when they coöperate with their labor; and what labor can do when aided with intelligence that does not become weakened before troubles, but is directed with untiring constancy and endurance.

Province of Calamianes

These islands, located to the south of Manila, form in their multitude an archipelago. Many of them of small extent, are inhabited; others are the temporary habitation of the natives, who go thither to sow their fields, because those lands are suitable for farming; and others form a civil village and are religiously organized. The northern boundary of this archipelago is the Chinese Sea; the eastern, that of Visayas; the southern, the island of Paragua, which is included in this province; and the western, the Chinese Sea. The capital is about one hundred leguas from Manila. It has a military government and an alcalde-mayor for its judicial business. As regards religion, all the parishes existing in Calamianes belonged to the bishopric of Cebú from the time of their reduction until the bishopric of Jaro was erected, when all these parishes passed to its jurisdiction.

In the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-two, the numbers of the discalced Augustinians were increased by the second and third missions who had come from España, and by certain men who had taken the habit in the convent of Manila. Consequently, they were prepared to undertake new enterprises for the increase of the faith, and to go to points distant from the metropolis in order to spread the knowledge of the Christian name to those people who were living in heathendom.

Bishopric of Cebu

Province of Cebú

... In later times, the edifice has been improved and modified; the most notable of these changes was that of a few years ago, which has made the convent larger and more beautiful, thus making it possible for it to attain its object--namely, the entertainment of the religious who go to Visayas, and of the sick, who are compelled to go to Cebú to be cured of their ailments. The church is also very large, and suitable for the celebration of religious functions with the solemnity and splendor of the Catholic worship. The faithful of Cebú and of the immediate village of San Nicolás attend that church, in order to fulfil the Christian precepts and receive the sacraments. As there are always religious instructed in the Visayan language, many devout persons daily frequent the church of the Recollects....

In the beginning of its foundation, this convent had in charge the spiritual administration of the souls in the island of Maripipi, by concession of the above-mentioned bishop; but later, through the force of various circumstances that occurred, the natives of the said island went to the curacy of Bantayan, and the convent remained free and without any obligation so far as they were concerned. At present the religious of the community labor as far as possible in the welfare of the souls of those near by, moved only by reasons of charity, and by the greater glory of God, which they seek in its entirety.

Island of Bohol

Situated in the center of the Visayas Islands, and bordered on its eastern part by the island of Leyte, having the great island of Mindanao on its southern side, and being very near the island of Cebú on the north, Bohol formed an integral part of the territory of that province until the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, when a royal order dated July twenty-two was received in which the creation of the new province of Bohol was decreed.

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

Entrance of the Recollect fathers into the island of Bohol

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

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

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

The province of Bohol at the present time

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

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

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

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

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

The Recollects of Mindanao

Division of parishes in Mindanao

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

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

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

Present administration of the Recollects

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

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

Marianas Islands

Tables showing tributes and number of souls in Recollect provinces and villages, at various times

In 1751, as published by father Fray Juan de la Concepción

Regular Villages and provinces Tributes Souls ministers

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

Total 12,955 1/2 58,665 42

In 1839, by the prior provincial, father Fray Blás de las Mercedes

Regular Provinces Tributes Souls ministers

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

Total 48,594 1/2 278,137 57

In 1851, by the prior provincial, father Fray Juan Félix de la Encarnacion

Regular Provinces Tributes Souls ministers

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

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

Total 82,762 430,360 80

In 1878, by the prior provincial, father Fray Aquilino Bon de San Sebastian

Regular Provinces Tributes Souls ministers

Archbishop of Manila

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

Bishopric of Jaro

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

Bishopric of Cebú

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

Total 221,375 946,643 164

PRESENT CONDITION OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION IN FILIPINAS

The progressive increase of Catholics in Filipinas until 1898

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

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

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

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

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

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

Total 837,182

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

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

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

Recapitulation of population in Filipinas

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

Total population 2,526,406

Comparison of the population in 1791 and 1810, exclusive

1791 1810 Difference

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

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

He concludes by saying:

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

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

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

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

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

Total 7,832,719

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

Number of souls by dioceses

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

Total number of Catholics 6,559,998

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

Present state of the archbishopric of Manila, and of the bishoprics of Cebú, Jaro, Nueva Cáceres, and Nueva Segovia

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

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

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

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

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

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

Condition of the religious corporations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Benedictine missionaries occupy the central mission house of Manila; the missions of Taganaán, Cantilan, Gigáquit, Cabúntog, Numancia, and Dinágit, in Mindanao; and a college for missionaries in Monserrat (España). There are 14 of them resident in these islands.

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

Religious spirit of the country

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

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

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

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

This we believe is, in broad lines, the religious character of the Indians of Filipinas. Let us now see what has been said recently also in regard to this same point by another contemporaneous witness, with whom we almost entirely agree. Mr. Peyton, a Protestant bishop, said, when speaking of Catholicism in the Filipinas, at a meeting of the Protestant bishops of the Episcopal church held at St. Louis (United States), in the month of last October: "I found a magnificent church in every village. I was present at mass several times, and the churches were always full of natives--even when circumstances were unfavorable, because of the military occupation. There are almost no seats in those churches, while the services last--an hour, or an hour and a half. Never in my life have I observed more evident signs of profound devotion than in those there present. The men were kneeling, or prostrated before the altar; and the women were on their knees, or seated on the floor. No one went out of the church during the service, or talked to others. There is no spirit of sectarianism there. All have been instructed in the creed, in the formal prayers, in the ten commandments, and in the catechism. All have been baptized in infancy. I do not know whether there exists in this country a village so pure, moral, and devout as is the Filipino village."

Granting the above, would freedom of worship be advisable for Filipinos?

Since, then, the religion in Filipinas, and consequently their morals, is so unanimous, would it be advisable to introduce freedom of worship into this country? If one understands by freedom of worship only actual religious toleration, by virtue of which no one can be obliged to profess Catholicism, and no one be persecuted for neglecting to be a Catholic, or that each one profess privately the religion that he pleases, that freedom has always existed in Filipinas; and no Filipino or foreigner was ever obliged to embrace the Catholic religion. But if one understands by freedom of worship the concession to all religions (for example, to those of Confucius, Mahomet, and to all the Protestant sects) of equal rights to open schools, erect churches, create parishes, and celebrate public processions and functions, as does the Catholic church, we believe that not only is this not advisable, but that it would be a fatal measure to any government which rules the destinies of Filipinas. If, in fact, this government should concede such freedom of worship, it would cause itself to be hated by the six and one-half millions of Filipino Catholics; for, even though such government should profess no worship, the Filipino people would consider it as responsible for all the consequences of such a measure; and therefore it would not be looked on favorably by these six and one-half millions of Catholics. These people are fully convinced that theirs is the only true religion, and the only one by which they can be saved. If any government should endeavor to despoil them of that religion--which is their most precious jewel, and the richest inheritance which they have received from their ancestors--even should it be no more than permitting the Protestant or heterodox propaganda publicly and openly, then they could not refrain from complaint; and from that might even come the disturbance of public order, or perhaps some politico-religious war, accompanied by all the cruelty and all the disasters which, as are well known, are generally brought on by such wars.

Two serious difficulties can be opposed against the rights of Catholicism in Filipinas. The first is in the Americans who are governing at present, and the second is in the Filipinos themselves. The Americans enjoy in America the most complete freedom of worship; why, then, should they not enjoy that same freedom when they go to Filipinas? We answer, that every inhabitant must conform to the laws of the country in which he lives. The Chinese enjoyed in China the most complete freedom to erect temples to Buddha or to Confucius; but for three centuries they have not enjoyed a like freedom in Manila, although no Chinese has been forced to become a Catholic. We go farther and say that no Chinese has had to boast of his religion in order to trade, become rich, and return to China. The same can be said of the English and Americans. If it is necessary for the good order and government of six and one-half millions of Catholics in Filipinas, besides those who are not Catholics (one and one-half millions, counting idolaters and Moros yet to be civilized), not to permit or encourage freedom of worship, the government which rules the destiny of these islands ought to legislate along those lines, since the laws ought to be adjusted to the needs of the majority of their inhabitants. The Americans themselves who shall take up their residence here ought to accommodate themselves to that law. No temporal or spiritual harm would result to them, for they could privately profess what their conscience dictated to them as the true religion. Thus the English do in Malta, where the Catholic religion is in force; and although the island is so small, there are two thousand Italian Catholic priests in it, who are more content to live under the English government than under the Italian.

The other difficulty against Catholicism in Filipinas springs from the Filipino insurgents themselves, who voted for freedom of worship and separation from the Spanish church in their congress of Malolos. Why, then, has not that freedom of worship been granted to the Filipinos, if they themselves ask it? We reply that they also ask for independence. Will the Americans grant them the latter because of that fact? The majority of the Filipino insurgent chiefs were inclined to Masonry. They had bound themselves, for a long time past, to work for the expulsion of the friars; and, drunk with the wine of liberty, they asked for every kind of freedom, including that of religion. How many insurgents have abjured Catholicism? Their number does not exceed two dozen. The law of freedom of worship is unnecessary for them, since they profess no religion. The Filipino people--that is to say, the six and one-half millions of Catholics enrolled in the parish registers--do not ask or desire religious freedom, or separation from the Spanish church. They are content with their Catholicism, and desire nothing else; and they will not suffer their government to take from them their Catholic unity. We have heard this from qualified and accredited defenders of Filipino independence. They even deny that the vote at Malolos was the true expression of the will of that congress, which was also very far from being the entire and genuine representation of the Filipino people. The latter hold heresies, and all manner of religious disturbance, in horror. He who would introduce these into their homes would offer them an insult. Consequently, it is demonstrated that freedom of worship in Filipinas is not advisable, but adverse to the public peace.

If it is said finally, that there are some points of public interest which demand some reform, in what pertains to the religious estate of the Filipinas, we shall not be the ones to deny that. But the Church has the desire and the means to remedy these supposed or recognized evils. If, peradventure, it do not remedy them through ignorance, let anyone who is interested, and the government of the country first of all, bring them to its notice. On the other hand, this matter has no connection with religious freedom.

In all the dioceses the bishops looked after the founding of seminaries for the native clergy, not only because such were needed to aid in the administration of the sacraments in the large parishes created by the religious, but also for the occupation of some parishes which were reserved for them from very ancient times.

The fathers of the congregation of St. Vincent de Paul, the Capuchins, and the Benedictines, come to the islands

For the direction of some of these seminaries, the sons of St. Vincent de Paul came from España in 1862, together with the brothers of charity, who took charge of the attendance of the sick in the hospitals, and of the teaching of young women.

The Capuchin fathers also came to these islands in the year 1886, for the purpose of taking charge of the missions of both Carolinas and Palaos, a duty which they have fulfilled marvelously, and not without the sacrifice of all human ambitions--burying themselves forever in those solitudes of the Pacific ocean, for the love of the poor natives of the Carolinas.

Finally, in 1895, the Benedictine fathers, of the monastery of Monserrat in España, landed in Manila for the first time, in order to take charge of some missions on the eastern coast of Mindanao.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

The following document is obtained from a MS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla:

1. Remonstrance of Augustinians.--"Simancas--Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y espedientes del gobernador de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; años 1629 á 1640; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 8."

The following document is obtained from a MS. in the Academia Real de la Historia, Madrid:

2. Corcuera's campaign.--"Papeles de los Jesuitas, to 84, no. 27, 34."

The following documents in the appendix are taken from printed works, as follows:

3. Laws regarding religious.--Recopilación de las leyes de Indias (Madrid, 1841), lib. i, tit. xiv; also tit. xii, ley xxi; tit. xv, ley xxxiii; and tit. xx, ley xxiv.

4. Jesuit missions in 1656.--Colin's Labor evangélica (Madrid, 1663), pp. 811-820.

5. Religious estate in Philippines.--San Antonio's Chronicas (Manila, 1738), i, book i, pp. 172-175, 190-210, 214-216, 219, 220, 223-226.

6. Religious condition of islands.--Delgado's Historia general (Manila, 1892), pp. 140-158, 184-188.

7. Ecclesiastical survey of Philippines.--Le Gentil's Voyages dans les mers de l'Inde (Paris, 1781), pp. 170-191, 59-63.

8. Character and influence of friars.--Mas's Informe sobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1842 (Madrid, 1843), vol. ii.

9. Ecclesiastical system in the Philippines.--Buzeta and Bravo's Diccionario de las Islas Filipinas (Madrid, 1850), ii, pp. 271-275, 363-367.

10. Character and influence of friars.--Jagor's Reisen in den Philippinen (Berlin, 1873), pp. 94-100.

11. Augustinian Recollects.--Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentino de Agustinos descalzos (Manila, 1879).

12. Present condition of religion.--Archipiélago filipino (Washington, 1900), ii, pp. 256-267.

NOTES

As Gregory died in 1623, the despatch of this letter must have been long delayed at Rome or en route.

See chapter xlii of Medina's history of the Augustinian order, in VOL. XXIV of this series; also Diaz's Conquistas, pp. 384-386.

This was the archdeacon Alonso García de Leon.

Pedro de Arce (himself an Augustinian), who twice filled vacancies in the archiepiscopal see of Manila.

It is curious that Diaz does not mention this; but he states (Conquistas, p. 385) something omitted here--that Archbishop García Serrano interfered in like manner with the judge-executor of 1629 in this case, García de León. Diaz may have given wrong names and dates for the one incident.

This was the new archdeacon, Andrés Arias Xirón (Diaz's Conquistas, p. 385).

Presumably Pedro de Ribadeneira, a Spaniard of Toledo; he was provincial of Castilla, and assistant to the general of the order. About 1635 he was sent by Felipe IV as his ambassador to the duke of Modena and the republic of Lucca; afterward he was named by the king bishop of Cotrone (the ancient Crotona), Italy, but declined this honor. He died on August 20, 1643; and left various writings.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

There is frequent mention in canon law of alternativa decrees by the Holy See--a device in the interests of fairness, applied in the conferral of benefices and church offices, in order to do away with discords and displays of partisanship. Thereby in elections the preferments, etc., were to go to the opposite party, according at times, to very singular rules, applicable, for instance, according to the month wherein the said benefice fell vacant. The usage of the "alternation" was introduced in the time of Pope Martin V. (A.D. 1417-1431.)

The text of the present document concerns the extension of the alternativa rules to the Augustinians in the Philippine Islands, by force of which the offices in the order (distributed in provincial chapters every four years) were to be conferred one term on religious born in Spain, and the next on religious born in the Indias. The latter were known as Creoles (crioli)--thus in the Constitutions of the order, of 1685, where reference is made to decrees of Gregory XV, dated November 29, 1621 (confirmed by Urban VIII in 1628), with regard to elections of the brethren in Mechoacan, in Mexico. As the alternativa held in Mexico and South America--in fact, in Spanish colonies everywhere--these same papal decrees were presumably observed in all those colonies. Later, in Mexico, the statutes of the Augustinians required that in provincial chapters religious of Spanish blood should be chosen alternately with those of Indian, in the election of provincials, definitors, priors, and other officers; but this plan did not operate very satisfactorily.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

The name (Latin, regio pontis), of a ward in the city of Rome.

So in MS., but an improbable name; more likely to be Pacheco.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

Diaz here says (Conquistas, p. 385): "The fathers from the provinces of España interposed an appeal from the fuerza [committed] by this act, saying that the said judge had not authority to postpone the matter, but only to execute [the decree]; and from this proceeded continual disputes until the time for the chapter-meeting."

The prior general of the Augustinians in 1634, the date of this bull, was Jerome de Rigoliis, of Corneto, elected May 18, 1630; he died (out of office, however) seven years later, in June, 1637, at the age of seventy and upwards. In 1636 (May 10), his successor in the generalship, Hippolytus dei Monti, was elected.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

Castel Gandolpho, a beautiful place in the Alban Hills, was the summer resort of the supreme pontiffs.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

i.e., "should the petition be grounded on fact."

i.e., "because the said fathers are not qualified in sufficient number," and "in the distribution of the said offices."

In the manuscript that we follow the letter of March 31 is given second, while that of April 5 is given first; we have arranged them chronologically.

Garo: probably the same as garita; a fortified outpost?

The translation of this passage seems to be, "If God fights against a city, he who guards it watches in vain." The difficulty lies in "a custodierit," which we translate as "fights against."

Sulu, the chief island of the group of that name, has an area of 333 square miles. It contains numerous mountains, some of them nearly 3,000 feet high; and their slopes are covered with magnificent forests. Of the ancient town of Sulu (the residence of the "sultan"), on the southern shore, hardly a trace remains; the present town of that name was built by the Spaniards in 1878, and is modern in style. See U. S. Gazetteer of Philippines, pp. 842-850.

"Four groups having different customs may be distinguished among the inhabitants of the archipelago: the Guimbajanos, or inhabitants of the mountains, who are the indigenes; the Malay and Visayan slaves, whose descendants have intermarried; the Samales, an inferior race, though not slaves; the true Moros, who trace their origin from the Mohammedan invaders, and who dominate the other inhabitants." "Physically the Sulu natives are superior to the ordinary Malay type, and, according to Streeter, are a strange mixture of villainy and nobility." (U. S. Gazetteer, pp. 845, 846.)

Babui, in their language, signifies "pig;" apparently they called the Spaniards "swine," as expressing the acme of contempt for their besiegers.

"Thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Combés says (Hist. Mindanao, Retana's ed., col. 264) that this queen, named Tuambaloca, was a native of Basilan, and that she had acquired such ascendency over her husband that the government of Joló was entirely in her hands. This statement explains the presence of the Basilan men in the Joloan stronghold.

Kris, a dagger or poniard, the universal weapon of all the civilized inhabitants of the archipelago, and of a hundred different forms. Men of all ranks wear this weapon; and those of rank, when full dressed, wear two and even four. (Crawfurd's Dict. Ind. Islands, p.202.)

At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held last year (1904) at St. Louis, the Philippine exhibits contained Malay weapons, in great number and variety--krises, campilans, lances, etc.

Francisco Martinez was born near Zaragoza, February 25, 1605, and at the age of seventeen entered the Jesuit order. Joining the Philippine mission, he labored mainly among the Moros, and died at Zamboanga on September 17, 1650.

Alejandro Lopez, a native of Aragon, was born in July, 1604, and at the age of nineteen went to Mexico, where he spent several years in commercial pursuits. On August 28, 1631, he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Manila; and, accompanying Corcuera in his campaigns, was long a missionary among the Moros, and at various times an envoy to their chiefs in behalf of the Spanish governors. It was on one of these embassies that Lopez met his death, being killed by the Moros, December 15, 1655. See Combes's Hist. Mindanao, which relates in full Lopez's missionary career; and sketch of his life in Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fol. 94 verso, 235, 238-247. Cf. Montero y Vidal's Hist. Filipinas, i, pp. 296-298.

This letter is unsigned; but the transcript of it made by Ventura del Arco places it with others ascribed to Barrios.

See detailed accounts of the expedition against Jolo (Sulu) in Combés's Hist. Mindanao y Jolo (Retana and Pastells ed.), cols. 349-368; Diaz's Conquistas, pp. 388-401; Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fol. 92, 93; and La Concepción's Hist. Philipinas, v, pp. 334-351.

See also the instructions given by Felipe II to Francisco de Tello, at Toledo, May 25, 1596, in our VOL. IX, pp. 250, 251.

A note to this law in the Recopilacíon reads as follows: "This law was extended to all America for the same reason, by a royal decree dated Madrid, March 28, 1769; and the prelates are not allowed to expel members of the orders except for just cause, while those thus expelled are to be sent to Spain."

This totals up three hundred and seventy-two, instead of the number given in the text--evidently a printer's error.

Corcuera's endowment of these fellowships raised a great storm in the islands, especially among the Dominicans, who claimed that it was aimed at their college of Santo Tomás; while in Spain the king and his council were equally indignant because they had not been previously consulted in the matter, an indignation that was carefully fostered and increased by the Dominicans. The lawsuit in this case was bitter, and was conducted in the supreme Council of the Indias by Juan Grau y Monfalcon, procurator of the cabildo of the city of Manila; Father Baltasar de Lagunilla, procurator-general of the Society of Jesus, for the college of San José; and father Fray Mateo de Villa, procurator-general of the Dominican province of the Rosario, for the college of Santo Tomás. The case was prolific in documents from all three sources. The Dominicans remained masters of the field, and this case contributed to the downfall of Corcuera, who was finally superseded in 1644 by Diego de Fajardo, who had been appointed some years before, but might never have gone to the islands had it not been for the lawsuit over the fellowships. See Pastells's Colin, iii, pp. 763-781.

Pedro de Brito was also a regidor of Manila, whose post was adjudged to him at public auction for one thousand four hundred pesos of common gold, with the third part of what was promised from the increase. He took possession of his post June 24, 1589. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 783.

This was the protomartyr of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines, Juan de las Misas, who met death in the last part of November, 1624 (not 1625). He was a fluent preacher in the Tagal tongue, and entered the Society in the Philippines. When returning from Tayabas to Marinduque he was met by some hostile Camucones and killed by a shot from an arquebus, after which he was beheaded, in fulfilment of a vow to Mahomet. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 791.

This was the galleon "San Marcos." See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 791.

This was Juan del Carpio--a native of Riofrio in the kingdom of Leon--who had spent twenty years among the natives in the Philippines. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 792.

Domingo Areso, a native of Caller, who was killed by an Indian, April 10, 1745, because the father had censured him for allowing his mother to die without the sacraments. See ut supra, pp. 792, 793.

It was discovered by Father Francisco Combés on the heights of Boragüen, who reported the discovery to the alcalde-mayor of Leite, Silvestre de Rodas, at Dagame, November 18, 1661. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 793, note 1. See Jagor's Reisen, pp. 220-223, where he describes this locality (which lies south of Buráuen, on the southern slope of the Manacagan range), and the process by which the sulphur is obtained.

Thus characterized in U. S. Gazetteer (p. 512): "Important point of approach from Pacific Ocean. High, and visible in clear weather 40 m., thus serving as excellent mark for working strait of San Bernardino."

These were Fathers Miguel Ponce and Vicente Damián. The first was killed June 2, 1649; the second October 11, of the same year. The former was a native of Peñarojo in Aragon; the latter, of Randazo in Sicily See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 794, note 1.

The Subanes or Subánon (meaning "river people"), are a heathen people of Malay extraction living in the peninsula of Sibuguey in West Mindanao. See Mason's translation of Blumentritt's Native Tribes of Philippines, in Smithsonian Report for 1899, pp. 544, 545. See also Sawyer's Inhabitants of the Philippines, pp. 356-360 (though it must be borne in mind that Sawyer is not always entirely trustworthy).

These were Fathers Francisco de Mendoza and Francisco Pagliola. The former was a native of Lisboa and was born in 1602 of a noble family. He was killed by the Moros in Malanao, May 7, 1642. He had entered the Society in Nueva España in 1621 and went to the Philippines, while still a novice. The latter was martyred January 29, 1648. He was a native of Nola in the kingdom of Naples, the date of his birth being May 10, 1610. He entered the Society February 6, 1637, at Naples. On arriving at the Philippines in 1643, he was assigned to Mindanao, where he labored in Iligan and the western part of the island, going later to the Subanos, who killed him. See Pastells's Colin, iii, pp. 800, 801; and Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fols. 111 verso, and 154 verso and 155.

Juan del Campo, who was killed by the Subanos January 25, 1650, was born in Villanueva de la Vera, in 1620. He went to Mexico in 1642, where he began to study theology, completing that study in Manila. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 801; and Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fol. 178.

The two martyrs of Buayen were Pedro Andrés de Zamora, December 28, 1639, and Bartolomé Sánchez, early in June, 1642. The former was born in Valencia, and in 1616 entered the Society in Aragon, and went to the Philippines in 1626. He was suspended from the Society in 1629, but was readmitted upon showing full signs of repentance. He was sent while still a novice to the missions at Buayen, where he labored faithfully and zealously until his death.

The latter was born in Murcia on St. Bartholomew's day, 1613. In his youthful years, while attending the Jesuit college, he became somewhat wild, but later reformed; and upon hearing of the martyrs of Japon in 1628, he was fired with zeal to emulate them, and entered the Society, being received on the ship that bore him to Nueva España. Although he had resolved to return to Spain in the same ship, because of the disconsolateness of his parents at his departure, he changed his mind, and finished his novitiate in Manila. Upon being ordained as a priest, he was sent to Mindanao and was killed by Manaquior while on his way with a naval relief expedition to Buayen, after having been eleven years in the Society. Sec Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 801; and Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fols. 113 verso and 117 verso.

These two fathers, Alejandro Lopez and Juan Montiel, were martyred December 13, 1655 (not 1656). The latter was a native of Rijoles in Calabria. See Pastells's Colin, iii, pp. 801, 802; Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fols. 233 verso-235 verso; and ante, p. 62, note 25.

The author alludes to Father Domingo Vilancio, who died in 1634. He was a native of Leche in the kingdom of Naples. He labored among the natives of the Philippines for more than thirty years. See VOL. XXVI, p. 266; and Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 802.

After sixty years of Spanish rule, Portugal revolted (December, 1640), threw off the Spanish yoke, and placed on its throne Joao IV--who, as duke of Braganza, was the most wealthy and influential of all the Portuguese noblemen; and he was regarded as the legitimate claimant of the throne. Spain made several attempts to recover this loss; but Portugal has ever since been independent.

i.e., Great Sanguil. The auditor Francisco de Montemayor y Mansilla says that Sanguil is twelve leguas from Siao and ten from Mindanao, and has a circumference of six or seven leguas. "Four chiefs rule this island, namely, those of Siao (in the villages called Tabaco), Maganitos, Tabucan, and Calonga. The latter had two villages, Calonga and Tarruma, where there was formerly a presidio with ten or twelve Spanish soldiers, solely for the defense of those two Christian villages from the invasions of the Moros of the same island. The village of Tarruma after the dismantling of our forts, passed into the control of the Dutch; and there are now, according to reports, some Dutch there, and a dominie who preaches to them. The other village, Calonga, which is governed by a father-in-law of the king of Siao, still perseveres in the Catholic faith and the friendship of the Spaniards. It is visited, although with dangers and difficulties, by the fathers of the Society of Jesus who live in Siao, when they go to visit the Christian villages owned by that king in the island of Sanguil." See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 814.

The same auditor (see note, above) says that the Talaos "are four islands lying in the same district as those of Sanguil and Siao. The country is poor, the people barbarous and naked, and the islands abound in cocoas and vegetables, some little rice (on which they live), and some roots (with which they pay their tribute). Two islands and part of another are vassals of the king of Tabucan; the fourth island and part of that which pays tribute to the king of Tabucan are vassals of the king of Siao. They have their own petty chief, who was baptized in Manila; and there are now eight hundred baptized families there." See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 814.

When Father Colin wrote, the Dutch had already discovered, explored, and delineated in their maps with sufficient accuracy, the coasts of New Guinea and New Holland, or Australia and New Zealand. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 816.

Alonso de Castro was born at Lisbon. Sommervogel (Bibliothèque) says that he labored for nine years in the missions of Terrenate, and that he was martyred January 1, 1558.

i.e., "in both courts," meaning the outer court of ecclesiastical justice, and the inner court of conscience. See VOL. VIII, p. 278.

For further historical and descriptive information regarding the cathedral of Manila (especially the present structure, completed in 1879), see Fonseca's Reseña cronológica de la catedral de Manila (Manila, 1880).

Marginal note: "In the year 1571 the first Inquisition was established in México, and its first inquisitor was Don Pedro Moya de Contreras, afterward visitor, archbishop of México, and its viceroy; and later president of the royal Council of the Indias. See Torquemada, in La monarchia indiana, book 5, chapter 24."

That decree organized the tribunals of the Crusade, and made provision for their conduct and for the care of the revenues from the bulls. Various laws on this subject are found in Recopilación leyes de Indias, lib. i, tit. xx; one of these may be found ante, pp. 76, 77.

Among the media employed by the Holy See in the restoration of one's conscience to its good estate, are the bulls of composition. In the case of persons in possession of ill-gotten goods, as prebendaries who have forfeited their canonical allotments, or trustees who have maladministered estates, and the like, an arrangement (Latin, compositio) is sometimes made--only, however, when the rightful owners or heirs of the property in question are unknown (si domins sint ignoti), whereby the said "unjust steward" is allowed to keep for himself a moiety of what does not belong to him, on condition that the rest be handed over for the maintenance of church services, or institutions of charity, as hospitals, asylums, and the like. See Ferraris's Bibliotheca, art. "Bulla Cruciatae."--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

The bulls for the dead were placed on the heads of the dying, or in the hands of the dead--purchased by their friends or relatives in order to rescue then souls from purgatory. Those de lacticinios (literally, "for milk-porridges") permitted to ecclesiastics the use of certain foods at times when these were forbidden by church law. The bulls of the Crusade were valid as dispensations only one year in Spain; but according to Solórzano they were extended to two years in the colonies, on account of the long time required for them to teach those distant places. See Bancroft's Hist. Mexico, iii, p. 605. After the victory of Lepanto, Gregory XIII resumed the issue of these indulgences, and extended them to twelve years; and since then his bull has been renewed every twelve years, (E. H. Vollet, in Grande Encyclopédie, Paris, Lamirault et Cie.), xiii, p. 453.

Apparently the "farming out" of this revenue, by the crown, to private persons. A law of May 30, 1640, enacted that all the expenses connected with the bulls of the Crusade should be paid from its proceeds, the remainder being paid to the crown (Recopilación, lib. i, tit. xx, ley xvi).

Tournon was the papal legate sent to China for the settlement of the famous controversy regarding the "Chinese rites," which had lasted some seventy years. The missions to China were entirely in the hands of the Jesuits until 1631, when Dominicans entered that country, and Franciscans in 1633. The new missionaries soon began to accuse the Jesuits of undue complaisance and conformity with heathen customs, and made complaint against them at Rome. For a time the Holy See permitted the practice of the Chinese rites, but frequent contentions arose on this subject between the Jesuits and the other orders, which were not definitely settled by Rome for many years. Finally, Clement XI sent Tournon (1703) to investigate the matter thoroughly, who condemned the rites in question as idolatrous and was therefore imprisoned by the Chinese emperor. He died in this captivity (1710), but his decision was accepted by the pope, and all Catholic missionaries to China were required to take an oath that they would resist those rites to the utmost. See full account of this controversy, with citations of authorities, in Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary (Meagher's revision), pp. 926-928. For accounts of Tournon's stay at Manila, and the dissatisfaction which he aroused there, see La Concepción's Hist. Philipinas, viii, pp. 306-324; and Zúñiga's Hist. Philipinas (Sampaloc, 1803), pp. 411-416.

Sidoti (or Sidotti) was an Italian priest who came to Manila with Tournon, intending to enter the forbidden land of Japan. In 1709, he succeeded in doing this, by persuading the captain of a Spanish vessel to land him on the Japanese coast; Zúñiga says (Hist. Philipinas, pp. 420, 421) that nothing more had ever been learned regarding him. La Concepción, however, writing somewhat earlier, says (Hist. Philipinas, vi, p. 82) that in 1716 news of Sidoti's imprisonment and death arrived at Canton--the latter being attributed to his continual fasts and austerities. But Griffis relates (Mikado's Empire, pp. 262, 263) so much as may now be known about Sidoti's fate, derived from a book--Sei Yo Ki Bun ("Annals of Western Nations")--written by the Japanese scholar who examined the priest, which gives the facts of the case, and the judicial proceedings therein. Sidoti "was kept a prisoner, living for several years after his arrival, in Yedo (Tokio), and probably died a natural death."

See La Concepción's detailed account (Hist. Philipinas, viii, pp. 315-338) of the founding of this college.

This was only ad interim, during the absence of Bishop Salazar in Spain, from 1591 to Salvatierra's death early in 1595. He had come tu Manila with Salazar, whose provisor he long was; he also ministered to the Indians, and went to Maluco as chaplain with a Spanish expedition. See Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 50-52.

In the margin at this point occurs the following: "A total of 105,503 souls."

This law (which is contained in the book entitled, "Concerning the universities, and general and private studies in the Indias") is as follows: "Permission is conceded for the cities of Santo Domingo in the island of Española, Santa Fé in the new kingdom of Granada, Santiago de Guatemala, Santiago de Chile, and Manila in the Filipinas Islands, to have halls for study, and universities where courses may be pursued and degrees given, for the time that has appeared advisable. For that we have obtained briefs and bulls from the holy apostolic see, and we have conceded those universities certain privileges and preëminences. We order that what has been ordained for the said halls of study and universities be kept, obeyed, and executed, without violating it in any manner. Those universities which shall be limited in time, shall present themselves before our royal Council of the Indias to petition for an extension of time, where the advisable measures will be taken. If no extension is granted, the teaching of those studies shall cease and end; for so is our will." A note to this law in the Recopilación reads in part as follows: "It must be borne in mind that the universities, seminaries, conciliars, and other schools of learning erected by public authority in the Indias were declared to be under the royal patronage by a circular letter of June 11, 1792."

See this law in VOL. XX, pp. 260, 261.

Notwithstanding that San Antonio states that the brothers of the hospital Order of St. John of God arrived in Manila at this comparatively late date, they had been often asked for by both the ecclesiastical estates. The following letter from the bishop of Nueva Segovia is such a request. The original of this letter is in Archivo general de Indias, with the pressmark: "Simancas; ecclesiastico; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes de los obispos sufraganeos de Manila, a saber, Nueva Segovia, Nueva Cáceres, Santísimo Nombre de Jesús ó Cebú; años de 1597 á 1698; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 34." It would appear from the endorsement on this letter that some brothers were sent at this early date; although this instruction probably remained a dead letter. (Cf. VOL. XVIII of this series, p. 114, dated 1618.)

"Sire:

"Your Majesty has a royal hospital here, which is one of the most necessary and useful things in this land for the health and treatment of the poor soldiers and of the other people who serve your Majesty. Although its income is but scanty, if it had some one to distribute it efficiently, and to care for it properly, there would be sufficient aid from the many alms given by the inhabitants who can do something. It is most necessary for its good government and maintenance for your Majesty to send four or five brothers from the order called [St.] John of God, who should have authority from your Majesty and from his Holiness to be able to receive others; for now the matter is ready, and all that is necessary. Those brothers could come with the religious whom your Majesty is sending--either Franciscans or Dominicans--or your Majesty could have them sent from the good brothers who are established in Nueva España. The latter would economize the expense, and the journey would be quicker and more certain. May our Lord preserve your Majesty long years, for the welfare of His church. Manila, July 7, 1606. I kiss your Majesty's royal hands,

Fray Diego, bishop of Nueva Segobia."

A decree of Felipe IV, dated Madrid, November 30, 1630, thus regulates the foundation of these religious in the Indias:

"The viceroys, presidents, and auditors of the royal audiencias shall not allow any of the religious of St. John of God to live or reside in the Indias, who shall have gone thither without our permission; or to found convents, give habits to any persons, or allow them to profess. Those who may be living in the provinces of their districts, or shall go thither later with our permission, shall not take upon themselves the care of the hospitals, either of Indians or of Spaniards, or the management of their incomes and alms, unless by first binding themselves to give reports and allow inspections in this respect by the ecclesiastical, or secular judges who can and ought to make them. And they shall not be exempt from that by saying that they have a bull from the apostolic see to be religious, and that they are ordained with holy orders, and that therefore they are to be subordinate only to their regular prelate. Neither shall they be exempt from the inspection for any other excuse that they may bring forward."--See Recopilación de leyes, lib. i, tit. xiv, ley xxiv.

In the margin at this point: "Total number of souls, 68,334."

In the margin at this point: "Total number of persons, 42,178."

In the margin at this point: "Total number of souls, 4,000."

In the margin at this point: "Total number of souls, 70,961."

The number of christianized natives is stated, on Murillo Velarde's map, as 900,000. Cf. the statement by Le Gentil (p. 209 post), of the number in 1735--so in his printed text, but perhaps a typographical error for 1755.

A full account of the Jesuit college and university is furnished by Murillo Velarde in Hist. Philipinas, fol. 125, 140, 168-171.

Beaterio: a house inhabited by devout women.

Evidently then the appellation of that part of the archipelago now included under the term "province of Paragua," which includes not only the Calamianes Islands, but those of the Cuyos group, and part of the island of Palawan (or Paragua).

Literally, "holy table," equivalent to the modern "board of directors;" a reference to the Confraternity of La Misericordia, which, as we have seen in former documents, was the main charitable agency of Manila.

Reference is here made to chapter xviii, book i, of Delgado's Historia; following is his statement (from pp. 60-62) of the depopulation of Cebú, and its causes: "Near the middle of the southern coast of the island was established the city and original colony of the Spaniards; but today it has become so depopulated that it has hardly enough citizens to fill the offices that pertain to a city, as are those of regidors and alcaldes-in-ordinary; and not seldom has it occurred that some Spaniards must be conveyed thither to supply the lack of people, going in place of these who died.... At present, the city is reduced to the church and convent of the Santo Niño, the church and residence of the Society of Jesus (a building which, although small, is very regular and well planned), and, midway between them, the cathedral--which is very inferior to those two churches, since it consists only of a large apartment thatched with palm-leaves. (The foundations were laid, however, for another and more suitable building, in the time when the diocese was governed by the illustrious bishop Doctor Don Manuel Antonio de Ocio y Ocampo [who entered that office in 1733]; but his death prevented him from completing the work, and it has remained in that condition ever since.) The royal building is well arranged and sufficiently capacious, serving as palace for the commander of the Pintados fleets; he is also warder of a good stone fortress (triangular in shape) and commander of the port, and at the same time alcalde and chief magistrate of the entire province--which includes the islands of Cebú, Bohol, Siquijor, and a great part of the coast of Mindanao, with other smaller and adjacent islands.

"The cause for the city's being depopulated, at present, of Spanish inhabitants is nothing else than the cupidity of some persons who came from Manila to the government of the province with appointments as alcaldes, whose greed did not allow any partnership, in spite of the oath that they take not to carry on trade, either in person or through another person, within the limits of their jurisdiction. These are indeed lands where no one can live without barter or trading; for not one of the Spaniards applies himself to cultivating the soil, nor do they have fixed incomes from the country with which to meet their obligations. Moreover, they have to buy whatever they need, with either commodities or money; accordingly, if the alcaldes-mayor forbid the inhabitants (as they do) from going out through the province to buy what they need, the latter find themselves in Cebú in the condition of one who is shut up in a prison, where no one can search for or find him. If vessels arrive to sell their merchandise the alcalde-mayor, near whose house they anchor, is the one who first avails himself of everything--either for his own use, or to sell the goods again--leaving for the rest of the people only what is of no use to himself. If any one has energy enough to press forward to purchase what he needs, he is immediately threatened with imprisonment, seizure of his goods, flogging, and the loss of everything from which any profit was expected--as I have many times seen, because I lived several years in that country, where only recourse to God is near, or to superiors who are very far away. This is the reason why the Spanish residents have withdrawn from Cebú, to avoid continual quarrels and annoyances--going to Manila, where they can live with greater peace and quietness, although not so profitably, on account of the choice commodities which they could obtain in the Visayan provinces for the increase of their wealth. The only ones who remain and bear the heavy yoke are the mestizos and Sangleys, who always have to share with the alcalde what they seek out with their toil and hardship, if they wish to live without unrest and fear. Sometimes, but rarely, the alcaldes share with these people that which might bring them some profit; but usually they furnish the commodities which they bring from Manila, at the very highest prices, receiving in exchange those of the provinces at the lowest and most paltry rates."

Delgado has evidently borrowed much of his account from San Antonio; but in this case he inserts no, without any apparent justification. San Antonio says, y oblige â culpa mortal su observãcia (ante, p. 128); and Delgado, cuya observancia no obliga a culpa moral (the last word apparently a misprint for mortal).

The two decrees here mentioned are, in the printed text of Delgado, respectively 1692 and 1602--some of the numerous errors which render that text untrustworthy as to dates.

Teacher of philosophy and belles lettres in a cathedral school.

The whole and half prebendaries are those called racioneros and medios racioneros in Spanish cathedrals.

A Spanish silver coin of eight reals, which dates from the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. It is practically the same as the peso, or "piece of eight."

Referring to the arrest (October 9, 1668) of Governor Diegode Salcedo. Le Gentil is incorrect in saying that a Dominican was responsible for this act; the commissary who arrested the governor was the Augustinian Fray José de Paternina, who held that office from 1664 till 1672, when he was summoned to Mexico by the tribunal of the Inquisition, and died on the voyage thither.

Referring to the nuns of St. Clare, affiliated with the Franciscan order as a tertiary branch.

Don Juan de Casens, who commanded the fragata "Santa Rosa."

See Murillo Velarde's description (Hist. Philipinas, fol. 198) of the Jesuit residence and college. It was planned by Father Juan Antonio Campion, and furnished commodious lodgings for fifty residents, besides the necessary offices; but part of the main building was afterward overthrown by earthquakes. In Murillo Velarde's time, the college had become "an aggregation of buildings, added to the original edifice from time to time, forming a mass as bulky as architecturally irregular.... The library has no equal in the islands, in either the number or the select quality of the books, which include all branches of learning. In several of the apartments also are very respectable libraries.... In the printing-office are several presses, and various styles of type of different sizes; and there works are produced as accurate, well engraved, and neat as in España--and sometimes with errors that are less stupid and more endurable. The gallery (in which there is a truck [trucos, a game resembling billiards] table for the holidays) is a beautiful apartment, long, wide, and spacious; and so elevated that it overlooks on one side the city, and on the other the great bay of Manila. From it may be seen all the galleons, pataches, galliots, champans, and every other kind of vessels, which leave or enter the port, from America, China, Coromandel, Batavia, and other Oriental kingdoms, and from the provinces of these islands. It is adorned (as also are the corridors) with paintings, maps, landscapes, and other things curious and pleasant to the sight.... There is a school, for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic to the boys from without.... In the orchard is a house, with its offices, for the Indian house-servants, and a church; they have their chapel, very fully equipped, in which they practice various devotions and receive the sacraments.... In charge of this, a sort of seminary, is a student brother; and in it the Indians learn the doctrine, virtue, good habits, the holy fear of God, civilized ways, polite manners, letters, and other accomplishments, according to their ability. The principal patio of the college is a right-angled quadrilateral; in it there is a garden bordered with rose-trees, which bear roses all the year round, with other flowers, and medicinal herbs. There are other gardens and orchards, and seven deep wells of running water (and some of it is very good) for drinking purposes. In the library is a round table made in one piece, almost forty common palmos in circumference--an adornment worthy of the king's own library."

Cf. the enthusiastic description by Murillo Velarde (Hist. Philipinas, fol. 195 v.-198) of this "magnificent temple." He says that its dimensions were 204 x 90 feet; and that it was surmounted by two towers, inclosing the façade--for which he apologizes, as loaded with inappropriate ornamentation; but it is, nevertheless, "a shell worthy of the pearl which it encloses." It was planned by Father Juan Antonio Campion (who died in 1651), and was built of stone obtained from "the vicinity of Antipolo;" this doubtless refers to the marble-quarries of Montalbán and Binangonan, in Rizal (formerly Manila) province. This stone was of so excellent quality and texture that it remained, after more than a hundred years, uninjured by rain, sun, or air; and the walls were so solidly built, and the wooden timbers within so durable, that in all that time it had not been necessary to make any repairs in the framework, nor had any injury been done to the building by earthquakes or storms. The main altar was made of a single stone. The building cost 150,000 pesos; it was not consecrated until 1727. Murillo Velarde adds: "I have known men of fine taste, who had great knowledge of architecture, and who had seen the most beautiful of the famous buildings of Europe, to be overcome, as it were, with admiration in this church."

José Francisco de Ovando y Solís, marqués de Ovando, who was governor of the islands during 1750-54. Le Gentil here alludes to what he has previously stated (Voyages, ii, p. 164) regarding Ovando: "He made great improvements in the Acapulco galleon; for before his time the Manilans shipped their supply of water [for the voyage] in leathern bottles or in jars which they suspended in the rigging; the water often gave out, and they were compelled to have recourse to that supplied by the rain. The Marqués de Ovando had water-casks made, and ordered that enough of these be placed aboard to supply water for the entire voyage; he framed muster-rolls, and placed all the men on allowance. In short, the Acapulco navigation was placed on the same footing as that of Europe."

Zúñiga says (Estadismo, Retana's ed., i, p. 230): "The noted beaterío [i.e., a house in which reside devout women] of Santa Catalina ... founded by Doña Antonia Ezguerra in the year 1695; and General Escaño increased its revenues so that fifteen beatas and some servants could be maintained in it. The beatas must be Spanish women, assist in the choir, and take a vow of chastity." Evidently these beatas were much like the Béguines (founded in Belgium in 1184, and still in existence).

Regarding the Franciscan order and its branches, see VOL. XX, p. 91. The Capuchins were originally Observantine Franciscans, and date from 1526, when their founder, Matteo di Bassi, of Urbino, Italy, obtained papal consent to live, with his companions, a hermit life, wear a habit with long pointed cowl (capuche, whence their name), and preach the gospel in all lands. At first they were subject to the general of the conventual Franciscans, not obtaining exemption from this obedience until 1617. Early in the eighteenth century the Capuchins numbered 25,000 friars, with 1,600 convents, besides their missions in Brazil and Africa; but the French Revolution and other political disturbances caused the suppression of many of their houses. At present, they are most numerous in Austria and Switzerland.

i.e., "the disease of Lazarus," referring to the beggar at the rich man's gate, in the parable (Luke xvi, v. 20), evidently a leper. This disease was regarded, in the absence of scientific knowledge of its nature, as a direct visitation or punishment from the deity. It will be remembered that many lepers who were Christians had been sent from Japan to Manila.

The following law is taken from Recopilación leyes de Indias (lib. 1, tit. vii, ley vii): "We charge the archbishops and bishops of our Indias that they ordain mestizos as priests in their districts, if in such persons are united the competency and necessary qualifications for the priestly order; but such ordination must be preceded by careful investigation, and information from the prelates as to the candidate's life and habits, and after finding that he is well instructed, intelligent, capable, and born from a lawful marriage. And if any mestizo women choose to become religious, and take the habit and veil in the monasteries of nuns, they [i.e., the archbishops and bishops] shall ordain that such women be admitted to the monasteries and to religious profession, after obtaining the same information [as above] regarding their lives and habits." [Felipe II--San Lorenzo, August 31 and September 28, 1588.]

Referring to the noted prelate Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina. He died in December 1787.

This was José Raon (see VOL. XVII, p. 298).

"Pasquin (at Rome) is a statue at the foot of which are fastened placards--sometimes defamatory, sometimes ironical, relative to affairs of the time."--Le Gentil.

The word "pasquin" (pasquino) is derived from the name of a tailor, who was famous at the end of the fifteenth century for his lampoons. The group of statuary called Pasquino (now badly mutilated) represents Menelaus with the body of Patroclus, looking round for succor in the tumult of battle. The square in which this group stands is also called Piazza del Pasquino.

Le Gentil says (Voyages, ii, pp. 76, 77, 83) that Zamboanga was very insalubrious, being shut in from the sea winds, and suffering great heat. "It is still a place of exile;" and "the earthly Paradise was not there."

That is, "Nature makes one skilful."

Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A., says of this expression that it "was an old one, as old at least as the schoolmen, and means little else than the truism 'One's handiness comes as a natural gift.' According to San Antonio the diversity among the races of men as regards their bodily endowments as well as those of mind, genius, and customs, arises from the diversity of climate, and the diversity of air, drink, and meat, whence the axiom that Nature varies her gifts, or man's character is due in a measure to his environments."

The passage referred to is at the beginning of San Agustin's noted "Letter to a friend," which is printed (in part) in Delgado's Hist. Filipinas, pp. 273-293. He says: "In this research I have been occupied for forty years, and I have only succeeded in learning that the Indians are incomprehensible." The allusion to Solomon is explained by Proverbs, chap. xxx, vs. 18, 19.

See Psalm xcv (xciv in Douay version), v. 10: "Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: 'These always err in heart.'"

See VOL. XXIII, p. 271, note 118.

St. Cassian was a native of Imola, Italy, who was martyred under one of the Roman emperors (Decius, Julian the Apostate, or Valerian). He was a schoolmaster of little children whom he taught to read and write, and his pupils denounced him as a Christian. He was delivered over to his former charges, and they wreaked their vengeance on him by breaking their tablets over his head and piercing him with their styluses. His feast is celebrated on August 13.--T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

Ordinarios: an appellation of ecclesiastical judges who try causes in the first instance, and, by antonomasia, of the bishops themselves, regarded as judges in their respective dioceses (Dominguez's Dicc. nacional).

These ordinances were a revision of former laws, and addition of new ones, by Don José Raon, governor of the islands; they were promulgated on February 26, 1768. This code will receive attention in a later volume.

Spanish, comer la sopa boba; literally, "to eat fool soup"--that is, to live at another's expense; perhaps alluding to the former custom of maintaining fools or jesters in the households of the rich.

These are games of cards, the name of the latter indicating the number of points which win the game.

"This argument for the reason of the insanity of many friars, seems to me completely false. It would be sufficient to compare the friars who are insane with the insane found also among the other Spaniards, in order to declare quite the contrary. Quite different do I believe the origin of the insanity, both of the religious and of the other Spaniards. He who has had anything to do with the Indian will have observed that his nature is quite contrary to that of the Spaniard. The latter is generally lively, acute, and full of fire, while that of the Indian, on the contrary, is dull, somber, and cold as snow. The Spaniard who does not arm himself with patience and forbearance, is liable to become, I do not say insane, but desperate. Another reason even may be assigned, in what pertains to the religious. As a general thing, their insanity has as its primal cause melancholy; and this is very common to the regular curas who are alone, and who, experiencing the ingratitude of the Indian, his fickleness in virtue, and his indifference in matters of religion, think that their sacrifice for the natives is in vain. Consequently, the curas need great courage in order to calm themselves and to persevere in the even tenor of their life. In my opinion these two reasons can fully account for the origin of the cases of insanity among many." (Note by Father Juan Ferrando, written on the margin of the manuscript of this chapter.)--Mas.

Mas here cites at length a writing by the Augustinian Casimiro Diaz, which instructs parish priests in their duties; they are warned against trading or engaging in any business or manufacture directly or indirectly.

Father Juan Ferrando, professor of canons in the college of Santo Tomás of Manila, to whom I gave the manuscript of this chapter to read, wrote in the margin the following note, which is very just and timely; and as such I insert it, in order to counteract the statement which has given occasion for it, and which I wrote in the heat of composition, simply through heedlessness and inadvertence. "In no way can the cura make use of what he learns in the confessional for the exterior government. By its means one may better understand the character of the Indian, but the cura can never make use of it for the investigations that the government exacts. 1 believe that it will be impossible to print this statement without doing harm to the confessional and to the curas."--Mas.

"When Juan Salcedo conquered the Ilocos, he found a caste of nobles amongst them who possessed all the riches of the country, and treated the cailianes, or serfs, with great rigour.

"The common people [among the Igorrotes] are in a kind of bondage to the nobles, and cultivate their land for them. In Lepanto they are called cailianes as in Ilocos." (Sawyer's Inhabitants of the Philippines, pp. 251, 256.)

The famous bridge which joins the capital with the barrio of Binondo was directed by the Recollect, Fray Lucas de Jesus Maria. Another religious has lately constructed another bridge in Iloilo, which is said to be very fine. The government sent him a cross on that account. His name was Fray Simon de San Agustin. Almost all the advances in agriculture and the arts which have made in the islands since the arrival of the Spaniards are due to the religious, as was also the abolition of slavery.--Mas.

Spanish, pax octaviana, referring to the Roman emperor Octavian and the peaceful condition of his empire.

"This proposition, founded on the common opinion of those who have seen none except the curacies of the rich and well-populated provinces, cannot be maintained in any manner. In the environs of Manila, where the food and services cost dearer than in the city itself, the cura in charge of a village which does not number more than one thousand tributes cannot live with decency. For here also generally fails what you say in another place, namely, that the cura's income can be adjusted at a peso for each tribute. In the distant provinces--as, for instance, Cagayan and other distant parts--since food and services are very cheap, and the cura does not have to spend anything except on the things that he requests from Manila, if the village reaches 500 tributes it will be sufficient for him, but not below the said number; and even in the first case, if he has a sufficient number of masses to apply with alms, which rarely happens. I pray you now to consider the fact that the majority of the villages of the archbishopric do not exceed 1,000 tributes, and those of the other bishoprics 500. What would you say it you knew what passes in the villages that even preserve the names of missions? The government gives them a small stipend, of less than 300 pesos, and a few cabans of palay. On this they have to support themselves, as well as the church edifice and divine worship, as there are no fees on the part of the village; for as missionaries they do not have parochial fees. Consequently, if they wish to live with some comfort, they have to engage in stockraising; and those who do not possess a somewhat regulated conscience will have to devote themselves to unseemly traffic." (Note of Father Juan Ferrando, written on the margin of the manuscript of this chapter.)--Mas.

Peso fuerte or duro, the "strong" or "hard" dollar; the "piece of eight," or peso of eight reals. See VOLS. III, p. 177, and XII, p. 73.

Spanish, el [libro] de cuarenta; literally, "the book of forty leaves," meaning a pack of cards.

Any man who is willing to work is able not only to live, but to become rich.--Mas.

This chart appears at the end of the volume, and enumerates various villages of each province, and the curas in charge of them. We reproduce only the summary, which is as follows:

Provinces Number of Held by Held by seculars regulars curacies

Tondo 26 15 11 Bulacan 20 18 2 Pampanga 28 15 8 Bataan 10 7 3 Zambales 12 9 2 Nueva-Ecija 17 6 6 Laguna 35 27 7 Batangas 15 7 8 Cavite 12 4 11 Mindoro 10 6 4

Total 185 111 62

Alfaro was provisor in 1578-79 (Huerta's Estudo, p. 441), at which time the governor was Francisco de Sande.

Espolio: the property which a prelate leaves at his death.

Patrimonio: property peculiarly made spiritual, according to the needs of the Church, so that anyone may be ordained on its foundation.

A chaplaincy is a pious foundation made by any religious person, and elected into a benefice by the ecclesiastical ordinary, with the annexed obligation of saying a certain number of masses, or with the obligation of other analogous spiritual duties. Chaplaincies of this class are collative, thus being differentiated from those purely laical, in which the authority of the ordinary does not intervene. See Dic. nacional lengua española (Madrid, 1878).

The summary of the above-mentioned chart is as follows:

Provinces Number of Held by Held by seculars regulars curacies

Cebú 45 32 12 Island of Negros 14 4 10 Leyte 14 7 7 Samar 15 14 0 Capiz 18 10 9 Iloilo 29 22 7 Antíque 11 4 7 Misamis 7 7 0 Caraga 4 4 0 Nueva-Guipúzcoa 3 1 1 Calamianes 5 3 2 Zamboanga 1 1 0 Marianas Islands 4 3 1

Total 170 112 56

The bishopric of Jaro was separated, by papal decree, in 1865, from that of Cebú, and contained the provinces of Iloilo, Concepcion, Capiz, and Antique (these four being included within the island of Panay); also Mindanao (excepting Misamis and Surigao, which are in the bishopric of Cebú), Calamianes, Negros, and Romblón. The Marianas Islands were assigned to the diocese of Cebú; also Bohol, Leyte, and Samar.

"The diocese of Jaro was created by bull of Pius IX in 1865, and its first bishop was Don Fray Mariano Cuartero, who died in 1884. He was succeeded by Don Fray Leandro Arúe, a Recollect religious, who died in 1897. In his place was chosen Don Fray Andrés Ferrero de San José, a religious of the same order." (Archipiélago filipino, ii, p. 256.)

An evident error, as Caraga is in Mindanao; probably the writer meant to say Albay, as is indicated in his enumeration of parishes in the diocese of Nueva Cáceres, sheet of appendices at end of vol. ii. The boundaries of provinces in Luzon were formerly quite different, in many cases, from the present ones. See, for instance, the map in Mas's Informe (1843), preceding his chapter on "Territorial divisions;" Albay thereon includes not only the present Sorsogon, but the islands of Masbate, Ticao, and Catanduanes.

This should be Bondog; it is but one of the many typographical errors which detract from the value of Buzeta and Bravo's Diccionario. Bañgsa apparently means the present Bangon; Bulsnan, Bulusan; Tigbi, Tiui or Tivi; Lognoy, Lagonoy. We have corrected in the text several other names incorrectly spelled.

The present town of Capalonga is at the mouth of the important river Banogboc, which with its tributaries drains the western half of Camarines Norte; the lower part of the river is also known as Capalonga.

Chart at the end of the volume gives a list of the provinces and villages of the bishopric, with the names of the incumbents of the various churches. The summary of the list is as follows:

Provinces Number of Held by Held by seculars regulars curacies

Camarines Sur 38 17 14 Camarines Norte 8 0 7 Albay 35 8 22 Commandancy of the islands of Masbate and Ticao 6 0 5 Tayabas 17 9 6

Total 103 34 54

The extreme northeast point of Cagayan province and Luzón Island, a landmark of approach for navigators to the eastern coast. It is a promontory at the north point of Palaui Island, and is 316 feet high.

A chart at the end of the volume shows the various provinces and their villages, with the names of the incumbents of the curacies. Its summary is as follows:

Provinces Number of Held by Held by seculars regulars curacies

Cagayan 20 14 1 Nueva Vizcaya 16 11 1 Pangasinan 36 28 4 Ilocos Sur 25 11 8 Ilocos Norte 14 9 3 Abra 7 3 3 Batanes Islands 6 4 0

Total 124 80 20

A comparison of the English translation of Jagor (London, 1875) with the original text reveals the fact that the translation is inaccurate in many places, and that it was done in a careless and slovenly manner. Consequently, it has been necessary to translate this matter directly from the German.

Polángui is located in the province of Albay, on the right bank of the Inaya River, and eleven miles in a general southeast direction from Lake Bató (the Batu of the text). This passage, in the English translation mentioned in the preceding note, is incorrectly rendered, "to cross the lake of Batu"--an error probably due to ignorance on the part of the translator, of the location of Polángui, although the language of the author is not at all ambiguous.

That is, "It is what hour your Majesty pleases."

At this point Jagor adds in Spanish in parenthesis: "Discalced minor religious of the regular and most strict observance of our holy father St. Francis, in the Filipinas Islands, of the holy and apostolic province of San Gregorio Magno."

As many as 900 monasteries were suppressed in Spain by decree of June 21, 1835, and the rest were dissolved by the decree of October 11, of the same year. The suppression, as might have been expected, was accompanied by excesses against the friars and nuns, and some of them were murdered, while parish priests and Jesuits were hunted over the borders.

This passage is hopelessly confused in the English translation, and proves how entirely untrustworthy that translation is. The reading of the original (da sie gezwungen sein würden, dort der Ordensregel zu entsagen und als Rentner zu leben) is translated "for they are compelled in the colonies to abandon all obedience to the rules of their order, and to live as laymen"--a sin against actual history, as well as language.

Historia de las islas ... y Reynos de la Gran China (Barcelona, 1601), chapter xi.

Felix Renouard de St. Croix (cited by Jagor) says, in his Voyage commercial et politique mix Indes orientales, aux Iles Philippines, à la Chine (Paris, 1810; ii, p. 157), that the curas in his day were served by young girls. A Franciscan of the lake of Bay had twenty of them at his disposal, two of whom were always at his side.

Jagor cites, in a footnote at this point, a portion of Le Gentil's description of the power of the friars in the Philippines, which is to be found in vol. ii, p. 183, of that author; and ante, in our extract from Le Gentil, pp. 210-219.

Leg. ult., ¡, 266, §§ 87, 89.

Probably Memorias históricas y estadísticas de Filipinas y particularmente de la grande isla de Luzón (imprint from Diario de Manila, 1850), by Rafael Diaz Arenas.

See Recopilación de leyes de Indias, lib. ii, tit. xvi, ley liv (dated: Valladolid, April 29, 1549, Cárlos I and the queen of Bohemia; Valladolid, April 16 and May 2, 1550, Maximiliano and the queen; Valladolid, May 9, 1569, Felipe II), and tit. vi, ley xxvi (dated: Madrid, July 20, 1618, Felipe III; ordinance 139 of 1636, Felipe IV), which forbid alcaldes and other officials to trade, to use the money of the communal funds of the natives, or to compel the latter to serve them. Lib. v, tit. ii, treats in great part of the office of the alcalde, and ley xlvii (dated: Madrid, July 10, 1530, Cárlos I; Valladolid, September 4, 1551, Carlos I and the queen of Bohemia; Pinto, April 4, 1563, Felipe II; Lisboa, August 31, 1619, Felipe III), declares that the alcaldes and others are included in the prohibition to trade. (Cited by Jagor.)

By royal decree of July 17, 1754. (Cited by Jagor.)

Renouard de St. Croix, ii, p. 124. (Cited by Jagor.)

This note is as follows: "The obras pias are pious legacies, in which it was generally determined that two-thirds were to be loaned at interest for maritime commercial enterprises, until the premiums--which for the risk to Acapulco reached 50 per cent, to China, 25 per cent, and to the Indias, 35 per cent--had increased the original capital to a certain amount. Then the interest of that amount was to be applied to the good of the soul of the founder, or to pious or charitable ends (Arenas, Historia, p. 397). One-third was usually retained as a reserve, to cover chance losses. These reserve funds were long ago claimed by the government as compulsory loans, 'but they are still regarded as existing.'

"When the trade with Acapulco came to an end, the capitals could no longer be employed in accordance with the request of the founder, and they were loaned at interest in other ways. By a royal decree, dated November 3, 1854 (Leg. ult. ii, p. 205), an administrative council is appointed to take charge of the money of the obras pias. The total capital of five foundations (or rather only four, since one of them no longer has any capital) amounts to a trifle less than one million dollars [i.e., pesos]. From that amount the profit obtained from the loans is distributed according to the amount of the original capital--which is, however, no longer in existence in cash, because the government has disposed of it."

Ut supra, ii, p. 336. (Cited by Jagor.)

The office of alcalde falls into three divisions--entrada [i.e., entrance], ascenso [i.e., promotion], and termino [i.e., limit] (royal order, March 31, 1837, tit. i, i) The alcalde's term of service is three years in each grade (tit. ii, articles 11, 12, and 13). Under no pretext can anyone remain longer than ten years in the magistracy of the Asiatic provinces (article 16). (Note by Jagor.)

This town is on the Pacific coast of Luzón, and is provincial capital of Infanta (now annexed to province of Tayabas). It is near the port of Lampón, which was used in the seventeenth century as a harbor for the Acapulco galleons, as being more accessible than any port in San Bernardino Strait. See U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, pp. 553, 554, 578.

This name is still retained, as an alternative appellation of Point Concepción, which is on the southeastern coast of Maestro de Campo Island, off west coast of Mindoro.

Referring to Gabriel Sanchez and Juan de Torres (VOL. XII, pp. 301, 310-313). The former entered the Society in its Toledo province, about 1589; and, seven years later, went to join the Philippine mission. He spent some twenty years in labors among the Visayan natives; and died at Palapag, aged forty-eight years, on January 1, 1617. Juan de Torres was born at Montilla, in 1564, and entered the Jesuit order at the age of nineteen. He came to the islands with Sanchez, in 1596, and the two were colaborers in Bohol. After many years of work in the Visayas, Torres was obliged by ill-health to return to Manila; he then learned the Tagál language, and labored among the mountaineers of Bondoc. He died at Manila, January 14, 1625. (See Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fol. 11, 30.)

The name of a point and a village on the southeastern coast of Bohol.

See Legazpi's account of this, in VOL. II, pp. 207, 208.

These were Loboc and Baclayon; see Murillo Velarde's account of this rebellion (Hist. Philipinas, fol. 17, 18). It was put down by Juan de Alcarazo, alcalde-mayor of Cebú, with fifty Spaniards and one thousand friendly Indians (1622). Murillo Velarde says: "The Boholans are the most warlike and valiant among the Indians."

Giuseppe Lamberti, an Italian, was born November 25, 1691; and entered the Jesuit order October 15, 1716. In the following year, he set out for the Philippine missions; and finally was slain by the natives, January 24, 1746. Sommervogel thus mentions him (Bibliothèque, iv, col. 1412), but does not speak of Morales.

The present population of the island of Bohol is 269, 223, which is all civilized. See Census of the Philippine Islands: 1903, Bulletin No. 7, "Population of the Philippine Islands" (Washington, 1904), published by the Department of Commerce and Labor.

Pedro (according to Pérez) Jaraba was in Manila in 1598-99, and went as a missionary to La Caldera in 1603. In the following year, he died at Manila.

The Cagayán (river and town) of Misamis, in northern Mindanao. Camiguín also here refers, not to the island of that name near Luzón, but to one on the coast of Misamis. Bislig is on the eastern coast of Surigao province. There is no present application of the name Surigao to an island; the reference in the text is apparently to one of the two larger islands dependent on Surigao province, which are Dinágat and Siargao.

This name is misprinted "Juan Francisco de San Agustín" by Algué.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was founded in March, 1833, to perpetuate the work started about 1831 by Bailly de Surcey in the Latin Quarter in Paris among the students--an organization known as "Société de bonnes études" or "Society of good studies," and which was designed primarily for the spiritual growth of its members. The immediate cause that led to the formation of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was the sneers of the non-Christians and freethinkers among the students who contended that the spirit of Christianity was dead. The objects striven for by the new society were greater spiritual growth, and charitable work--the latter extending to work among the poor and imprisoned, and the teaching of children. In 1835 the society was divided into sections, in order that the work among the poor might be carried on better from many centers. It grew rapidly, and received papal sanction in 1845. By 1853 the society had spread to England, America, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, and Palestine. In 1861, being charged with political bickerings, they were persecuted by the French government, and were ordered to accept Cardinal Morlot as the head of the general council which had been formed in 1853. The society refused this, and the general council was suspended. In 1875 there were 205,000 active members in France, and about 750,000 in the world. The significant fact in this society is, that it was founded by laymen and has always remained in the hands of laymen, though in union with and subordinate to the clergy. See Grande Encyclopédie, and Addis and Arnold's Cath. Dict., pp. 844, 845.

Vincent de Paul, from whom this society was named, was a French priest born in 1576, who was noted for his great altruism, philanthropy, and executive ability; he founded various charitable orders, notably the Lazarists and the Sisters of Charity. He died in 1660, and was canonized in 1737.

Note in Archipiélago filipino: "He was freed from his captivity at the end of December, 1899."

The orders in the Philippines and other colonies were wont, as still is their custom, to have head administrative quarters at Rome and Madrid, for the expedition of business with the pontiff or the king. The officer, always an expert in the management of affairs, was entitled the "procurador general," and his business was chiefly to attend to law problems in relation to the colonial missions, to guard against adverse legislation, and to promote favorable measures. His residence, whether at Rome or Madrid, was known as "la casa de la procuración" or at Rome "la procura," of such and such an order. Besides the "procurador general" the orders had single "procuradores"--one for each house--who were the business men of the convents, and saw to affairs of the outside world.--T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

Note in Archipiélago filipino: "This assertion must be understood of those who do not live in the active missions--that is to say, of the Christian settlements and villages of more or less long standing."

Referring to the insurgent government headed by Emilio Aguinaldo, erected when Manila was captured by the Americans, May, 1898. On September 15 of that year the insurgent congress assembled at Malolos, which was chosen as their seat of government; but, in consequence of the advance of American troops, the capital was removed (February, 1899) to several other places successively. In November, 1899, the insurgent government was broken up, Aguinaldo fleeing to the mountains--where he was finally captured, in March, 1901.

This order was founded by St. Benedict, who removed his monastery from Subiaco to Monte Cassino in 529. He prescribed neither asceticism nor laxity, but laid especial emphasis on work, ordering that each monastery have a library. The clothing was generally black, but was to vary with the needs of the various countries and climates. They were founded in France by St. Maur, a disciple of St. Benedict, and were introduced into Spain about 633. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries many relaxations crept into the order, in the reforms of which the congregation of St. Vanne (1550) and the congregation of St. Maur (1618) were formed in France. The order was entirely suppressed in France at the Revolution, but was later reëstablished there. It was also suppressed in Spain and Germany, and has not been introduced again in the former country. The order was established first in the United States in 1846. See Addis and Arnold's Cath. Dict., pp. 74-76.