[The first chapter of this decade does n_The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century.

CHAPTER II

Our province of Philipinas attempts a mission to Great China. The

life of the venerable brother Fray Martin de San Francisco.

The year 1682

§ I

Relation of the anxiety which our province of Philipinas has always

had to extend its apostolic preaching to China; and the great effort

made in 1682 for that purpose.

[The story of the Recollect attempt to evangelize in China is one of

failure, notwithstanding the earnest efforts made by that order to

send laborers to that empire. Shortly after the closing of Japanese

ports to all missionaries in 1640, the Philippine Recollects began

to work up the foreign mission field, but it was not until 1650 that

they were able to present memorials to the Roman court, which proved

unavailing as the Italians and French were already on the ground in

many of the Asiatic countries. In 1667 the father provincial, Fray

Juan de la Madre de Dios, received decrees in blank ordering him to

send laborers to China, but the royal treasury was in no position to

aid them, and the wars both in the islands and in China also prevented

the proposed spiritual invasion. Many other mandatory decrees from

the king met the same fate, but in the chapter of 1680, the order

determined to make the mission if they had to supply all the funds

themselves. Three men were told off to study the language in order to

prepare for the work in China, and in 1682, one did actually get as

far as Macan, but the opposition of the civil authorities there proved

the deathknell to all hopes at that time. Again in 1701, and in 1704,

abortive attempts were made to enter the great empire, the last being

coeval with the arrival of the apostolic visitor Cardinal Tournon.]

[The second section of this chapter treats of Spanish matters.]

CHAPTER III

A fine mission leaves España for Philipinas; and the venerable father

Fray Christoval de San Joseph leaves this for the eternal life.

The year 1683

§ I

Of the missions of our religious who reached Philipinas during the

years of these three decades, and in especial of the mission which

made its voyage this year 1683 to the not small luster of the Catholic

religion.

... 908. The third volume has already related that a mission left

España in the year 1660 in charge of father Fray Eugenio de los

Santos. [55] He brought in that mission, however, only eighteen

choir religious and two lay brothers whose names I have been

unable to ascertain, as the instruments with which I would have

to do so have not come to me from España. They all reached Mexico

in the above-mentioned year and since because of various accidents

that happened during the voyage, in the islands and in the port of

Cavite no ships came from Philipinas to Nueva España, either that

year or the two following, the mission had to stay in the said

city all that time incurring the expenses and fatal consequences

that one can understand. In the year 1662 the viceroy of Mexico

despatched a boat to the islands to get a report of their condition,

for there was fear that they had been invaded by enemies. One of

those missionaries ventured in that boat, and arriving at Manila

it caused not a little rejoicing to the inhabitants there. The next

year ships from Philipinas were seen in the port of Acapulco, and as

a consequence fourteen religious took passage in them and arrived

at Manila in August 1663, and not in 1684 as was wrongly reported

in volume three. The five others remained in Nueva España, but they

afterwards reached their destination and all served in those fields

of Christendom where they were of great use.

909. Father Fray Christoval de Santa Monica, after having been

provincial of Philipinas, to which dignity he was elected in the year

1656, was appointed in 63, to come to España in order to collect and

lead a mission. He came then, having received on the way not a few

favors from St. Nicholas of Tolentino--favors which he received under

the appreciable quality of miracles, but which we cannot specify

for lack of documents. He negotiated in Madrid as successfully as

could be desired, and collected a mission of twenty-four religious,

all generally of good qualities and with the characteristics that are

desired in that province. He set sail with that valiant squadron June

16, 1666. [After various miraculous happenings on the way, the vessel

reached Vera Cruz in safety, whence the passengers went across the

peninsula to Acapulco. August of 1667 the Recollects all reached Manila

save two who remained in Mexico for another year because of sickness.]

910. In the year 1668, the venerable father Fray Juan de la Madre de

Dios, of Blancas, was elected president of Mexico in the provincial

chapter of Mexico, and father Fray Agustin de Santa Monica, commissary

for España. The latter died aboard ship, and on that account, when

the former arrived at Mexico, he found an order within two years

to go to the court of Madrid in order to discuss some matters of

not small magnitude, and to give his vote for the province in the

general chapter. The authority and money for the conduction of a

mission were long delayed, but at last he received them both at the

end of 1674, whereupon he displayed so good zeal that he took passage

with twenty-six religious in June 1675. He reached Mexico with his

gospel militia, where he was ordered by the province to return to

España to conduct certain matters that could only be entrusted to his

person. Thereupon, sending his accounts to Philipinas, the mission

went to the islands in the year 1676 in charge of another prelate,

and father Fray Juan bent his steps toward his new destiny.

911. Another father, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, a native of Cuenca,

had gone to Philipinas in the mission of father Fray Christoval

de Santa Monica; in the year 1680, that definitory appointed him

commissioner to España. He sailed the same year from the port of Cavite

in the galleon named "San Telmo." [After a voyage tempered with the

mercy obtained by St. Nicholas of Tolentino, in several dangerous

situations, the father arrived at Acapulco, January 22, 1681, and

was detained some time in Nueva España by the fever. Reaching Spain

in November of the same year, he hastened to lay his supplications

at the royal feet, and was given a decree calling for a mission of

forty religious fathers and five lay brothers. "He also obtained a

royal decree dated April 16 of the abovesaid year [1682] in which his

Majesty continued the annual alms of one hundred and fifty pesos for

the medicines which are used in our infirmary of Manìla; and another

of the thirtieth of the same month, in which he also continued the

alms of two hundred and fifty pesos and a like number of fanegas of

rice per year for the maintenance of the four religious of Ours who

were in charge of the Indians in Manìla."]

914. In view of this, the edict for the mission was published by our

father vicar-general. An excellent mission was collected at Sevilla for

the purpose of taking passage in the fleet which was about to sail to

Nueva España in charge of General Don Diego de Saldìvar. Thereupon the

mission sailed from Cadiz on the fourth of March, 1683, and consisted

of the following religious.

1. The father commissary, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, native

of Cuenca.

2. The father vice-commissary, Fray Fernando Antonio de la Concepcion,

native of Aldea del Cardo, of the bishopric of Calahorra.

3. The pensioned father reader, Fray Juan de la Concepcion, known as

Moriàna, an Andalusian.

4. Father Fray Agustin de San Juan Bautista, a native of Leganès

near Madrid.

5. Father Fray Juan de la Encarnacion, of Talavera.

6. Father Fray Francisco del Espiritu Santo, of Xarayz in La Vera

de Plasencia.

7. Father Fray Antonio de San Agustin, of Madrid.

8. Father Fray Juan de San Antonio, of Alcalà de Enares.

9. Father Fray Juan de San Nicolàs, of Daymiel in La Mancha.

10. Father Fray Alonso de San Agustin, of Villa de Garcìas in

Estremadura.

11. Father Fray Joseph de la Encarnacion, of La Nava del Rey.

12. Father Fray Francisco de la Ascension, of Madrid.

13. Father Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios, of Malaga.

14. Father Fray Pablo de San Joseph, of Tobòso.

15. Father Fray Joseph de San Geronimo, of Calcèna in Andalucìa.

16. Father Fray Juan del Santissimo Sacramento, of Logroño.

17. Father Fray Vicente de San Geronimo, of Lupiñèn, near Huesca.

18. Father Fray Sebastian de San Marcos, of Tobòso.

19. Father Fray Gaspàr de San Guillermo, of Villanueva Messia.

Brother Choristers

20. Brother Fray Alonso de la Concepcion.

21. Brother Fray Diego de San Nicolàs, of Madrid.

22. Brother Fray Antonio de la Encarnacion, of Xetàfe.

23. Brother Fray Joseph de la Madre de Dios, of Tobòso.

24. Brother Fray Juan de San Agustin, of Oràn, Africa.

25. Brother Fray Francisco Antonio de la Madre de Dios, of Alcantara.

26. Brother Fray Francisco de Santa Maria, of Madrid.

27. Brother Fray Ignacio de San Joseph, of Buxaralòz, Aragon.

28. Brother Fray Joachin de San Nicolàs, of Añon, Aragon.

29. Brother Fray Joseph de Santa Getrudis, of Villafranca de Panadès,

Cathaluña.

30. Brother Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, of Urrea de Xalon, Aragon.

31. Brother Fray Joseph de Santa Lucìa, of Caspe, Aragón.

32. Brother Fray Francisco de San Joseph.

33. Brother Fray Pedro de San Miguèl, of Porcuna, kingdom of Jaen.

34. Brother Fray Raphaèl de San Bernardo, of Berja, kingdom of Granada.

35. Brother Fray Manuel de la Concepcion, of Sevilla.

36. Brother Fray Juan de la Ascencion, of Moral, in the archbishopric

of Toledo.

37. Brother Fray Alonso de San Joseph.

38. Brother Fray Juan de Santa Monica.

Lay Brothers

39. Brother Fray Pedro de la Virgen del Pilar, of Barcelona.

40. Brother Fray Agustin de Santa Monica, of Ecinacorva, Aragon.

41. Brother Fray Roque de San Lorenzo.

42. Brother Fray Joseph de Jesus.

43. Brother Fray Juan de Jesus, of Alcazar de San Juan, La Mancha.

915. All the above, minus the one named at number 22 who died at sea,

and those included under numbers 9, 12, and 14, who hid in Puerto

Rico, in order that they might return to their provinces, as they

did do, arrived with the great good-will of the fleet, at Vera

Cruz, June 1, 1683, whence they went to Mexico with all possible

haste. There they comported themselves with the greatest rigor,

observance, abstraction, and example, so that the hospitium appeared

a desert. Thus they succeeded in obtaining the favor of the viceroy,

the count of Parèdes, [56] and the venerable archbishop Don Francisco

de Aguiar y Seyjas, who visited the fathers in the hospitium, and that

not only once. During that winter those who had not completed their

studies, continued them, and in that the father lector, Fray Juan de

la Concepcion and others who were not lectors, but were worthy to be,

worked with especial zeal. By the fifth of March, 1685, they began

to go out in bands to Acapulco, whence they set sail April 4, in the

almiranta, called "San Telmo." They anchored in the port of Sorsogòn,

in Philipinas, on the fourteenth of July, and arrived in Manila some

time in August. There they were given a fine welcome and were allowed

some time to rest after so long a voyage. But they afterward began

another greater work in that vineyard with the fulfilment which was

hoped of not resting until they obtained their reward in glory.

[Chapter iv, treating of the general chapter of 1684, notes (p. 457)

that the first definitor chosen for Philipinas was father Fray

Francisco de San Nicolàs, and the second definitor, Fray Miguèl

de Santa Monica; as first and second discreets (p. 458), were

chosen father Fray Blàs de la Concepcion and father Fray Nicolàs

de Tolentino.]

[Most of chapter v is taken up with the life of father Fray Juan de la

Madre de Dios, called also Blancas. He was born in the town of Blancas,

Aragon, of honorable parentage, his family name being Garcias. From

his early years of a religious turn of mind, he at length attained the

height of his desires by professing (June 15, 1635) in the convent of

Borja. In 1650, after having preached very acceptably at the convent

of Zaragoza, he enlisted in the Philippine mission organized by father

Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio. On his arrival at Manila he preached

at the convent in that city and engaged in other work (being also the

confessor of the governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara) until December,

1655. At that time his health giving out because of an accident,

he went with the then father provincial, father Fray Francisco de

San Joseph, to the convent at Bolinao in the Zambal district, leaving

behind with the governor a folio MS. book which he had written during

the preceding two years entitled Governador Christiano, entre Neophitos

(Christian governor among neophytes), for spiritual guidance in all

sorts of matters. In Bolinao, the change of climate and work restored

the father's health in a short time, but he remained in that place

until the new provincial chapter in Manila. At that chapter he was

chosen prior of the Manila convent against his wishes. Again in 1658

ill health compelled him to go to Bolinao, where he remained this time

four years. His efforts to keep the natives there quiet during the

times of the insurrections were of great fruit. He labored zealously

in that district even visiting the schools in addition to the regular

duties of a missionary. He received a number of devout women into the

tertiary branch of the order. He was untiring in his efforts for both

the spiritual and corporal good of his charges.]

§ V

Father Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios founds a village of Indians,

converted by dint of his zeal. He is elected definitor and retires

from the commerce of men to adorn himself with the perfection of

his virtues.

... 984. In a site called Cacaguàyanan which means "the place

of many bamboos," six leguas or so from Bolinào there were for

years back a not small number of Indians, who had fled from the

surrounding villages, and who are there called Zimarrònes. They

having abandoned in its entirety the faith which they had received

at baptism, and accompanied by many heathen, not only rendered

vain the attempts of mildness and of force which had several times

been practiced to reduce them to a Christian and civilized life,

but either by declared war, or by means of skilful cunning, did not

cease to cause constant depredations in the Catholic villages which

were subject to Spanish dominion. So true is the statement contained

in various parts of this history, that our ministers of Philipinas,

although they dwell in mission fields already formed, go forth to

living war against infidelity, and although the Christianity of

Zambàles was the first one converted by our discalced order, even

there our religious have no lack of meritorious occupation. From

the first time that our venerable father was in Bolinào, he worked

with his accustomed zeal in order to place those people in the

pathway of their eternal salvation. He had obtained from them that

the Christians should be obedient to the law, and that the heathen

should leave the opaque shades of paganism, so that it was conceded

to him to found a new settlement in the island of Pòro with them,

with a general pardon and the accustomed privileges. Moved by so

good hopes the father went to chapter, and since he had so much

influence with the governor of the islands to whom the giving of

such licenses pertains, he procured one for the founding of the

village which he was attempting, with all the privileges that those

Zimarrònes and idolaters could desire. But since the religious to whom

it was charged, did not succeed in finding the means prescribed by

prudence to unite spirits dissimilar in other regards, not only was

the project not obtained, but their good-wills having been irritated,

the desired attainment came to appear impossible.

985. So passed affairs, when renouncing the priorate of Manìla,

as we have said above, that gleaming sun returned to illumine the

hemisphere of Bolinào, and not being able to prevent the activity

of his light, he immediately shed his reflected light even to the

darkest caves where those Indians were taking refuge in the manner of

wild beasts, fleeing from their own good and blindly enamored of the

most unhappy freedom. Again did the father establish the compacts for

their conversion. In the first step that he took in the undertaking,

he made the greatest sacrifice of himself, by exposing his life to a

danger which might make the most courageous man tremble, if he were

less holy. For when he heard that the fugitive Christians and a great

number of heathens and some Chinese idolaters were celebrating a solemn

feast to the demons, in the above-mentioned place of Cacaguayànan,

he determined to go thither in person with the intrepidity suitable to

his valor, and almost alone to oppose so sacrilegious worship and at

the same time reduce those who paid that worship. In these ceremonies

called Maganitos in the language of the country, intoxication is the

most essential part of the solemnity. And since the Zambal Indians are

extremely warlike, esteeming it the principal part of their nobility,

unless they are illumined with the Catholic faith, to lessen with

inhuman murders the species of which they consider themselves as

individuals, adding to this that they consider it as an attention

paid to their religion, to take away the life of any Christian who

approaches their district, where they pay such adorations to their

deities, then one can conjecture the great risk that beset that

soldier of Jesus, when he attacked such an army of infernal furies,

in order to withdraw them from a darkness so dense into the refulgent

light of the Catholic religion.

986. But its good outcome deprived the action of the censure of

temerity, which showed that it was governed by a special motion of

the Holy Spirit, whose impulse at times trespassing the lines of what

the world calls prudence, causes one to undertake projects which

our finite reason qualifies as rashness. The fact is that when the

venerable father arrived at the dense part of a solitary thicket

in whose melancholy shades those Indians had gathered to worship

as a god one who is not a god, he met them with the qualities of

meek sheep, when he might have feared to find them like ferocious

wolves, who would consider it a sport of their cruelty to rend him

to pieces. Beyond any doubt the hand of God, who wished to preserve

the life of one who despised it for His sake, was in this; for since

the infernal fury with which the heathen clothe themselves on such

occasions is assured, one cannot attribute their gentleness on this

occasion to natural causes. That most zealous minister put his hand,

then, to the double-edged sword of the preaching, and fighting with

it according to his wont so skilfully, made himself master almost

without any resistance of those hearts which were filled with apostasy

and infidelity, setting up in them the banner of our holy Catholic

faith. The complete attainment of so famous a victory was retarded

somewhat, because of the outbreak of the insurrection of Pangasinàn. In

him was verified what experience has always demonstrated, namely, that

a very quiet disposition is needed so that the divine word may be born

in souls by the faith. But at last when all the heads of that monstrous

hydra were cut off, the blessed father had the happiness to obtain

the fruit of his zeal by constructing a new village in the site called

Mangàsin. That was the most suitable place in the island of Pòro, and

was called by another name Cabarròyan. From the beginning he counted

eighty houses in it and a like number of families, all drawn from the

captivity of the devil to the perfect liberty of the kingdom of Christ.

[The father preached many sermons to the Zambals in their own language,

which he had begun to learn when he first went to Bolinào, so many in

fact that they formed two MS. volumes in quarto; and of them copies

were made for the use of those not so well versed as himself in the

Zambal tongue. In April 1662 he was chosen definitor at the provincial

chapter, and lived for the three years of that office in the Manila

convent. At the following chapter in 1665, father Fray Juan was

elected provincial against his will. His term was one that needed

his strong rule, for there were troubles with the governor, Diego

Salcedo, who offered obstacles to the smooth ordering of affairs. He

materially advanced his order and brought some new stability into the

body which had suffered in the recent earthquakes, and the Chinese and

native insurrections. At the completion of his triennium he was chosen

president of the Recollect hospitium in Mexico. Setting sail for his

destination, July 4, 1668, the port of Acapulco was reached only on the

twenty-second of the following January, after a voyage replete with

storm and sickness. Proceeding to his destination the father entered

the hospitium of Mexico on the twelfth of February of the same year. In

1671, as related above, Father Juan de la Madre de Dios was ordered

to cast the vote of his province in the general chapter held in Spain

in 1672, and also to attend to various matters for his order. There

his stay being somewhat prolonged because of lack of funds and other

things he was made visitor general of certain Spanish convents, and

was later elected to high officers of the order in Aragon. Returning

to Nueva España with a band of missionaries he was again sent to Spain

on business of the order, but a broken arm received while on his way

from Sevilla to Madrid, caused his retirement to the Zaragoza convent,

where he died January 10, 1685, at the age of 68. Throughout his life,

he was most humble and led an austere existence.]

[Section ii of the following chapter treats of the life of father Fray

Thomàs de San Geronimo. This father was born at the village of Yebenes,

in the archbishopric of Toledo, his family name being Ayàla. He took

the habit in the Madrid convent, July 28, 1646. Upon going to the

Philippines he was sent to the missions of the Visayas. Devoting

himself there to the study of the languages he learned several of

the Visayan tongues, especially the Cebuan, "the principal Visayan

tongue." In that language he translated the catechism, which was

printed at Manila in 1730; compiled an explanation of the Christian

Doctrine, which was printed in 1730; and composed a vocabulary in

the Cebuan tongue, and another in the dialects spoken in Cagayàn and

Tagalòan. In addition he left two volumes of sermons in the vernacular

of the country. He served as prior for six years in the convent of

Billig, Mindanao; six years in Cagayàn, and various times at the

island of Romblon, and finally in Siargao. In 1680 he was elected

provincial, and served his term so faithfully and well, visiting

and working assiduously, that he was reëlected in 1686 against his

will. But he was destined not to fill that office again for death

took him May 19, 1686. After his first term he served in the island

of Romblòn. He was a most zealous missionary. The remainder of the

chapter and chapter vii following do not deal with Philippine affairs.]

CHAPTER VIII

Our missionaries illumine the islands of Masbàte with the

preaching. The fourteenth general chapter is held. Two excellent

religious die in the province of Aragon.

The year 1688

§ I

Our province of Philipinas takes charge of the spiritual administration

of three islands, namely, Masbàte, Ticào, and Burìas, with no little

luster to the Catholic religion.

... 1108. In the great archipelago of San Lazaro, as one enters

the Philipinas from Marianas, the islands of Luzòn, Mindòro, Panài,

Zebù, and Lèyte form among themselves an almost perfect circle which

has a circumference along the beaches from the center of about two

hundred leguas encircling the above-named islands, which are very

near one another. Within this circumference, toward the part of

Mindòro and Panay, are located the islands of Romblòn, and toward

the part of Lèyte those of Masbàte, Ticào and Burìas, which belong

to the bishopric of Nueva Càceres in ecclesiastical matters, and

to the alcaldeship of Albay in political matters. Masbàte, which

is the chief island, is sixty leguas southwest of Manìla. It lies

in a latitude of about sixty degrees, has a circumference of fifty

leguas, a length of nineteen, and a breadth of five or six. [57]

The island of Ticào is about nine leguas long, four and one-half

wide, and about twenty-three leguas in circumference. [58] That of

Burìas has a circumference of twenty-six leguas, four wide and twelve

long. [59] Masbàte has the reputation of having the richest gold

mines that were found by the first Spaniards, and from which they

benefited to a great extent. Their working has not been continued,

either for lack of people suitable for this work or for other

reasons which do not concern us. That of Buriàs abounds in the palm

called Buri, of whose fruit and even of whose trunk, the Indians

make an extraordinary bread. That of Ticào produces many woods,

excellent for the construction of medium-sized boats. The natives

of those three islands are of the same qualities as the rest of the

Philipinas. However, they have become very sociable because of the

almost continuous intercourse that they have with the Spaniards,

on account of the many who pass on their way to other countries.

1109. Those islands were reduced to the crown of España in 1569 by

Don Luis Henriquez de Guzman, a knight of Sevilla, whose conquest

made them thoroughly subject in everything to Captain Andrès de

Ibarra. Thereupon, scarcely had the way been opened by arms, when the

venerable father, Fray Alonso Ximenez, an Observant of our order,

entered Masbàte to preach the law of grace. He, as is asserted by

father Fray Gaspàr de San Agustin, may be called the apostle of that

island, in consideration of the great amount of his labors therein for

the extension of the Catholic faith. Other apostolic workers of the

same institute followed his tracks later, and they went to Ticào and

Burìas. Consequently, in the year 1605, the province of Santo Nombre

de Jesus founded a mission composed of the above three islands. The

first prior appointed was father Fray Francisco Guerrero, instructor of

Christian doctrine, who was of well-known zeal. But our calced fathers

kept the care of their administration only until the year 1609, when

the intermediary chapter resigned that district and its villages into

the hands of the bishop of Nueva Càceres, Don Pedro de Arce, in order

that he might appoint secular clergy as he wished, who could attend

to the Christian Indians with the bread of the doctrine. [60] From

that time until the year 1688, various curas had successive charge of

the administration of those souls in order to teach them the road of

glory. But notwithstanding that that district had only two hundred

and fifty families when they took charge of it (as the above-cited

Father Gaspar confesses) whose number continued to decline afterward

because of the Moro invasions, one cura could in no way be maintained,

and scarce could one be found to take charge of that church.

1110. Things were in this condition, then, when the most illustrious

master, Don Fray Andrès Gonzales, who deservedly ascended to the

bishopric of Nueva Càceres from the ranks of the Order of Preachers,

represented to the king on May 28, 1682 that in order that the villages

of his diocese might be rightly administered spiritually, it would

be indispensable to assign its curacies in another manner and give

some of them into the charge of religious. In consideration of that

he petitioned his Majesty to commit the approbation of the new plan

considered to his governor of those islands, so that as vice-patron,

he might proceed in it. The king conceded what that prelate asked by

his decree dated Madrid, August 13, 1685, and his Excellency presented

the new formation of districts to the governor with all its changes. By

it he applied to our province all the mission of Masbàte, and its

adjacent islands, as well as the villages of Ingòzo, Catanavan, Vigo,

and the rancherias contiguous, all located in the island of Luzòn,

which hitherto had belonged to the curacy of Pìriz, so that another

new mission might be formed under charge of our discalced order. The

governor was the admiral of galleons, Don Gabriel de Cruceleygui,

knight of the habit of Santiago. By an act of November 26, 1686,

he approved in toto the idea of the bishop, and, as a consequence,

the assignation made to us of the above-mentioned villages, so that we

might administer them as curas. However, because of several troubles

that resulted, our province accepted only the mission of Masbàte,

and renounced the right that they might have had to the other villages

of the island of Luzòn, for they could be administered by the fathers

of St. Francis with less trouble.

1111. The constant reasons for the acts by which the bishop assigned

to us the above-mentioned district were reduced to the fact that

there was but one secular priest in it, and he was insufficient for

its administration. For it was proved that only four persons had died

with the sacraments within the long space of four years, while those

who had passed to the other life without that benediction numbered one

hundred and eighteen. Add to this that the baptism of small children

had been delayed many months as the parish priest did not go but

very seldom to visit the distant villages. This ought not to induce

inferences against the well-proved zeal of those venerable priests,

that they had neglected their duties in attending to the obligations

of the ministry. For since there was but one ecclesiastic in all

three islands, and those islands occupy so great an extent, and the

villages are so distant from one another, how could he attend to so

many parishioners with the pastoral food? It is a fact that even

after our religious had entered there and three or four were kept

busy continually, scarce could they fully attend to all their duties

as spiritual directors, without some inculpable lack being evident;

and that notwithstanding that each one labored as many, for not

few of them have lost their health because of the work, as we shall

see hereafter. Consequently, one ought not to be surprised if those

Indians were poorly administered before, for it is undeniable that

one person cannot attend to so many laborious cares, as can many,

although he may equal them in zeal.

1112. The bishop and governor convinced, then, in this matter,

despatched the fitting provisions in November 1686 in order that our

reformed branch might take charge of those souls. This plan was of

great moment to the province, for the said islands, besides being the

necessary passage way and very suitable station for those who voyage

from Manìla to Carhaga and Zebù, are the stopping place of the ships

which sail from Cavìte to Acapulco and return from Nueva España to

Philipinas. It is very common for the ships to stop in their ports to

get fresh supplies, and await suitable winds. On that account there

originated the greatest convenience in possessing them in our custody,

because of what makes for the spiritual: for the provincials, when they

sail out upon their visits; for the commissioners when they come to

España for missions; for the missions themselves when they arrive at

the islands; and for the multitude of our religious who journey from

one part to another, employed in the holy commerce of souls. Without

doubt those reasons somewhat aided the zeal with which our tireless

workers in those countries have always procured the good teaching of

the faithful, and the conversion of the faithless, at the cost of their

own very great fatigue and of great penalties. On that account it was

determined in the intermediary chapter of 1687 to accept the charge

of that reasonable territory to whose labor God called them by the

mouth of the bishop. And more when it was learned that, although the

number of the Christians was greatly diminished, the interiors of the

islands of Masbàte and Burìas were densely inhabited with innumerable

Indians, apostates from the faith and assembled there not only from

their villages, but also from other parts, in whose reduction a great

service would be done to God and the king, and with this fruit the

sweatings of the spiritual administration would be eased, which by

themselves alone gave much to grieve over.

1113. Finally matters having been arranged, fathers Fray Juan de San

Phelipe, the outgoing provincial, and Fray Juan de la Encarnacion, with

another associate, of whose name we are ignorant, left Manila in May

1678 [i.e., 1688] to take charge of the above-mentioned district. They

went to the village of Ticào, where they met the cura, then Bachelor

Don Christoval Carvallo, who had been notified by the suitable acts

in the month of August. The latter agreed without the least repugnance

to surrender the churches and his administration. He did it gracefully

on September 2 of the same year in the village of Mobo, a site in the

island of Masbàte, which was, and is, the chief village of all the

others, and that mission remained from that time on subject to our

discalced order. The Indians received the religious with signs of the

greatest rejoicing. It is a fact that they knew our holy habit some

years before, because some of our gospel missionaries had stopped in

their port on account of storms, when they were passing by Masbàte on

their way to their destinations, and had attended to instructing them

and even administering them the sacraments. From that came the almost

general joy with which the discalced Augustinians were received there;

and from that reception originated the great fruit which they obtained

with their preaching. The fathers endeavored to have the love shown

them by the Indians increase, not being unaware that the good-will of

the hearers is a very plausible disposition so that the work of the

preachers may be useful. Knowing also that the good opinion of the

evangelical minister gives great force to his words, in order that

theirs might be increased they aimed to confirm them with works. They

bore themselves as saints in private and public in order to give a

good example in all things. With that method, one can believe the

great number of Christians that were gathered to Catholicism in the

said islands, as we shall relate later.

1114. But since it was necessary for this attainment to found some

convent, they erected it that same year in the village of Mobo, which

had the most inhabitants. It has Nuestra Señora de los Remedios [i.e.,

our Lady of Remedies] as titular, and a very costly church is being

built which abounds in reredoses and other adornments with a sacristy

provided with vestments [? jocalias] and ornaments. The house is very

capacious and has all the necessary rooms and has moreover cells for

the religious who generally live in it. That convent was the refuge of

the gospel ministers who lived in it in suitable number to look after

the Christians in spiritual matters and to allure the apostates to

the bosom of the Christian religion which they had abandoned. Thence,

as swift moving clouds, they went out to fertilize the other villages

with the water of their doctrine and having become hunters of souls,

to overrun the deserts and mountains. Although there were not more

than six villages in the three islands when our discalced religious

entered to administer them, in a few years they established three more

where they could shelter those who were being reduced to our holy

faith. And hence the workers of that mission with inexplicable toil

cared for a great number of souls who dwelt in the capital of Mobo, and

in its annexed villages or visitas of Ticào, Burìas, Balino, Palànog,

Habuyoàn, Tagmasùso, Buracàn, and Limbojan. In that extensive territory

not few times did God explain His mercies with repeated miracles in

confirmation of the faith which Ours were preaching. Some received

with baptism the health of the body, and others found themselves freed

from their pains by the prayers of the ministers, accompanied by the

laying on of hands. However, inasmuch as the manuscripts give us these

notices without specification, we cannot name the individual miracles.

1115. A very lamentable event for the islands which happened in the

year 1726, was the reason for the founding of another convent in

Ticào. It happened as follows. The galleon "Santo Christo de Burgos,"

while making its voyage to Nueva España, anchored at the port of Ticào

in order to await good weather before taking to the open sea. But

it was shipwrecked there by a storm which came upon it. On board

that vessel was Don Julian de Velasco, a minister assigned to the

Audiencia of Mexico. He managed to obtain his spiritual improvement

from that disaster so transcendental to all classes of Philipinas

by the practice of good works. He did not care to return to Manìla,

although he could have done so, but remained with all his family in the

said port until he could get passage the next year. Among what he was

able to save of his lost possessions, he placed his first attention in

seeing that the holy image of the holy Christ of Burgos which was on

the ship as its titular, should not be lost; for it was his intention

to place it at his own expense in some church, so that it might have

public veneration for the benefit of souls. Scarcely, then, did he have

that celestial treasure in his hands, when he exposed it to worship on

the high altar of the church of Ticào with ornaments suitable to his

devout affection. Thereafter followed the assignment of some income

so that there might be a resident evangelical minister there, both

so that a chaplain might not at least be wanting to the holy image,

and so that the Indians might not lack more continual teaching. For

that reason, the province afterward determined to found a convent in

Ticào. To it were assigned the villages situated in the islands of

Ticào and Burìas, and to the convent of Mobo those of the island of

Masbate. The ministers were thus able to obtain more relief because

their number had increased, although they still had much to do in

order to attend to everything.

§ II

Relation of the progress made by Catholicism in those islands by the

preaching of our laborers; and the great hardships that they suffered

for that end.

1116. In the year 1724, the province of Philipinas begged the king to

confirm, by special decree, the possession that had been given them

in his royal name of the islands of Masbàte. His Majesty ordered the

governor of Philipinas and the bishop of Nueva Cáceres, on the eleventh

of February, 1725, to make no innovation in regard to the spiritual

administration of the said district until he should provide what was

needful in his royal Council. He ordered them also to inform him of

the progress that had been made by the faith in that territory since it

had been in our charge. On that account some juridical investigations

were made in Manìla in order to inform the king with acts. By them it

appeared that, although there had been only one single parish priest in

all the district of Masbàte before, since it had been placed in charge

of the Recollect fathers, three religious at least had always lived

there; and that, as was proved by the books of the royal treasury,

in the year 1687, anterior to our possession, there were only one

hundred and eighty-seven families in the whole mission, while in the

year 1722, there were five hundred and eighty-five: so that in the

space of thirty-four years they had increased by three hundred and

ninety-eight. For that reason the governor, Marquès de Torrecampo,

gave his king June 30, 1727, a very favorable report of our discalced

order in the terms of this honorable clause. "The district of Masbàte,

in charge of the discalced Augustinians, has had an increase of 398

whole tributes through the apostolic zeal of those ministers. They,

not only in that district, but also in the rest of these islands,

dedicate themselves to the propagation of our holy Catholic faith

with the greatest toil and with the most visible fruit."

1117. These increases will be of greater moment if we consider that,

if the families be reduced to the number of four persons each, as

is customary there, the said district consisted, at the time it was

given to us, of 748 souls, and in thirty-eight years it had increased

to 2,340, the increase amounting to 1,592 persons. But sixteen years

later (namely, the year 1738, when father Fray Juan Francisco de

San Antonio printed the first volume of the history of his seraphic

province of Philipinas), those increases were almost doubled. [61]

Then directing his pen to the end that leads to truth, he assures

us that there are new villages in the island of Masbàte with three

thousand three hundred and forty-five souls; in that of Ticào, two,

with four hundred and seventy-five persons; and one in that of Burìas,

with one hundred and eighty. Whence it is inferred that three more

villages were newly established: namely, in Masbàte, those of Navangui

and Baraga; and in Ticào, that of San Jacinto, at the port so named,

where the ships now stop for fresh supplies, before taking to the

open sea. Also the number of souls has increased to one thousand six

hundred and sixty by the impulses of the preaching of our reformed

branch, aided efficaciously by divine grace. All the increase of this

district since it has been in our charge has been six newly-created

villages, and three thousand two hundred and fifty-two souls brought

to the Catholic bosom. And we even ought to infer that many more have

been converted, for by the invasions of the Moros, which are told at

length in the third volume, [62] the number of the Christians could

not but be lessened.

1118. It only remains now to ascertain whence proceeded those Indians

who so increased the above-mentioned villages. It was stated in

another place in the third volume [63] that there was a great number

of mountain Indians in the islands of Masbàte and Burìas, who are

there called Zimarrones. They were feared, for they lived without

God, or king, and were given up to the liberties of paganism. Those

were certain men, if they can be called so, who having apostatized

the faith, had taken to the deserts and high places, where they

defended their native barbarity at every step, against those who

were trying to reduce them and to procure their own good. They had

gathered there, either they or their ancestors, from the villages

of the same islands, as well as from Zebù, Leyte, and others,

to escape the punishment due them for their crimes. Consequently,

they were people especially fierce. Among them were found to be many

heathens, as they had been born in those places where the sound of

the preaching did not penetrate. The others were still worse, as they

had abandoned Christianity. They did notable damage to the villages,

and they even robbed the boats that were anchored in the ports or

bays, treacherously taking many lives. The matter had assumed such

proportions that one could not cross those islands by their interiors;

and to approach their shores was the same thing as putting in at an

enemy's port. But at present all the Zimarrones are reduced to the

faith, and to the obedience of the king without any exception. Hence

one can travel through the islands without the slightest risk,

and boats can go thither even to the uninhabited places. From that

and from no other beginnings have come the increase of that church,

and there is not small praise to our reformed branch from it.

1119. That progress of the faith was preceded by many hardships

that were suffered by the religious, some of which I shall state,

noting that innumerable others are omitted, in order not to bore our

readers by their relation, and because they resemble those that we

shall relate. It has already been stated, then, that for the space

of more than thirty years there was but one convent in the three

islands, which was established in the village of Mobo, whence the

gospel laborers went out to administer all the settlements of the

district. For that purpose, it was absolutely necessary for them to

sail many leguas by boisterous seas, or to travel by land in some parts

by rough mountains, threatened in the one place with shipwreck and in

the other by continual dangers. Since the new convent was established

in the island of Ticào, the administration is more tolerable, although

it is always accompanied by indescribable fatigues. For the religious

of Mobo have to sail completely about the island of Masbàte in order

to fulfil their obligations, or if they prefer to journey by land,

as they are able, to one or two villages, they have to do it afoot

with the greatest discomfort, through inaccessible mountains, and

exposed to dangers wellnigh insupportable. The missionaries of Ticào,

besides having to coast a great part of that island have to go many

times during each year to that of Burìas, crossing the very stout

currents of the sea from the rapidity of which some of the missionaries

have found themselves in the utmost consternation. On the other hand,

all the time that the Indians remained Zimarrones, they allowed no

passage to the zealous laborers without them risking their lives to

innumerable dangers; and even after they had been reduced, the Moros

were a substitute for them on the outside, and inside many sorcerers,

who tried, some by violence, and others by their diabolical arts,

to drive thence, and even from the world, the ministers of souls. And

who can tell all that they suffered from all these causes? It was so

great that some religious, never more alive than when they were dead,

came to die in the campaign like good soldiers.

1120. Father Fray Ildephonso de la Concepcion was one of those

who sweated most in that ministry, and one of those who entered to

cultivate it in its early beginnings. By the ardor of his zeal, by

the example of his life, and by his apostolic preaching, he reduced

many apostates to the Catholic faith. Some of them were gathered into

the villages already established, and others, up to the number of

eighty families, founded through his influence, another new village

on the opposite coast from Mobo. Going then, from one to another part

of the islands, the solicitous fisher of souls had the boat in which

he journeyed swamped twice, one-half legua from shore, while another

time his boat was driven by storms on some reefs and dashed to pieces;

dangers in which many of those who accompanied him were lost, while

the father escaped miraculously with his life after having endured

a thousand anxieties. The Zimarrones, infidels, and bad Christians,

given up to doing ill to whomever procured their total welfare, now

as declared enemies, and again as wily friends, placed him almost

continually in monstrous danger of exhaling his last breath. In order

that he might visit promptly the new village which he had erected, he

opened a road from Mobo to it through the interior of the island. He

crossed it many times on foot, it being necessary for him to traverse

very lofty mountains exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather. He

suffered indescribable things for the faith, with the great hardship

that his vast zeal occasioned him, and which those Indians caused

him with their obstinacy. Finally he fell grievously ill, his pains

originating from the penalties of the said road which he frequented

several times in the course of a single month, as well as from the heat

and showers which he endured when going through the mountains in search

of those rational wild beasts. He died through the apostolic zeal,

in the manner in which all gospel laborers ought to depart this life.

1121. Father Fray Benito de la Assumpcion, a religious who seemed

born for the labors and successes of the spiritual administration,

followed that laborer in the care of that vineyard. He believed that,

without passing the limits of prudence, it would be very seasonable

for the souls of his parishioners to reduce them to living closer

together in a fewer number of villages, and he thus tried to bring

it to pass. Especially did he propose to himself the plan that

the Indians shortly before reduced to the new village which we

have mentioned in the preceding number, should move to the capital

or chief village of Mobo, for he formed the correct judgment that

they would be better Christians if they had at all hours the good

example of their ministers before their eyes. It is not so difficult

to move a whole village in Philipinas as it would be in Europa;

for the Indians build their houses without cost and easily. They

also find in all parts lands suitable for their cultivation without

any expense from their pockets. Yet notwithstanding that one cannot

easily tell the vast labors, watches, and afflictions that come upon

the religious when they attempt such reductions of the Indians. The

latter desire with too great endeavor, to have their residence where

they cannot be registered, in order to work with greater freedom, and

excuse themselves if possible from all human subjection, and even from

divine law, without caring greatly for their own spiritual interests,

but each one going at will to his rancheria or field where it is not

easy for the father minister to visit them or assist them with the

holy sacraments during their sicknesses. For that reason all hell is

conjured against the teacher of the doctrine, if he tries to place

such reductions into effect, from which many spiritual interests would

follow. That venerable father suffered so much with his undertaking

that he caused universal wonder that it did not cost him his life,

and the worst thing was that he could not see it accomplished.

1122. Not only in this, but also in other projects of known utility,

did he have much to endure and much from which to gather merit. With

the zeal of Elias did he relentlessly persecute divine offenses,

while he at the same time loved the persons most especially. It

was the same for him to discover any trace of superstition or the

slightest vestige of the badly extinguished infidelity, and to fly to

its destruction with all his power. Amid continual risks of losing his

life, he exercised his gigantic charity for many years in directing the

souls of those islands to God, without any fear of death whose scythe

he saw upon him many times. The Moros with their stealthy attacks,

the infidels or apostates with open malice, and the evil Christians

with their subterfuges and deceits made him almost continually suffer

for justice. But he worked on manfully as one who had the refuge of

his life in God, and consoling his weakened heart with the divine

grace he supported the persecutions from which the Lord wove him

a crown. In the above-named village a chief Indian named Canamàn

irritated by the attempted reduction, and because the father checked

him publicly for a certain scandalous concubinage, raised his head in

open mutiny. With many followers he sought the father and persecuted

him in order to deprive him of life. At that revolution the venerable

religious was sorely grieved, and it was considered as a special

prodigy that he could escape from so sacrilegious hands. Finally, for

the same reason another Indian of the village of Ticào (exasperated by

the just reprehension and punishment which that famous minister had

applied to him as an indispensable medicine for his faults) caused

him to be the holocaust of his burning zeal for the good of souls,

by the hidden method of poison, through the potency of which father

Fray Benito lost his life, in order to obtain a better one in glory.

1123. After the above fathers, father Fray Diego de San Gabriel

entered to take up the toil with the profit of increased fruit

in the cultivation of that field. He was the amazement of charity

in regard to God because of his care for self-perfection, and in

regard to his neighbor, because of the way in which he desired his

salvation. In order that he might attain that end he pardoned no

toil, if it were fitting for the spiritual welfare of the Indians. He

showered favors upon his parishioners by trying to take them to the

kingdom of heaven. And although for this the latter loved him more,

some were not wanting among so many who persecuted him, returning

him evil for good. But like another David when they troubled him

with their injuries, the venerable father clad himself in haircloth,

humbled his soul in fasting, and occupied himself in prayer. By that

means he delighted himself in God, taking pleasure in hardships as if

they were the fountain of health. In order to induce his parishioners

to the devotion of the most holy Mary he composed and published in

the Visayan language a book of the miracles of our Lady of Carmen;

and the most sweet Virgin repaid his good zeal by liberating him

with circumstances that appeared miraculous from several shipwrecks,

and from other innumerable multitudes of dangers. On the beach of

the village of Balino a certain Indian gave him a cruel wound with a

dagger, because he checked some faults in him. The father recognized

as a favor of the Mother of Mercy, not only the fact that he was not

quite killed, as might have happened, but also the cure of the wound,

almost without medicine. But at last, as he was sailing as secretary,

which post he had obtained later, to visit those villages and others

of Visayas, a storm coming down upon him swamped the boat and he was

drowned, together with the father provincial, then our father Fray

Juan de San Andrès.

1124. And now in order to conclude in a few words, a matter that we

can not even with many words consider adequately, we add that the

venerable fathers Fray Antonio de Santa Monica and Fray Thomàs de San

Lucas said many times without a trace of boasting that, although they

had been many times in the doctrinas and missions, in none of them

had they found so much to suffer as in that of Masbàte. Father Fray

Francisco de Santa Engarcia was twice in imminent danger of death;

first in shipwreck and later because an Indian tried to kill him,

for the reason that he had tried to get him to give up a certain

concubinage. But God having freed him from those dangers, allowed him

to perish in another through His occult judgments. It was a fact that

that father when attending to the fulfilment of his obligation gave

motive that certain of the Zimarron Indians whom he was endeavoring to

establish soundly in the Catholic faith gave him certain death-dealing

powders in his food, which although they did not deprive him of life

rendered him insensible and he became most pitiably insane. Many other

religious, whom we shall not mention for various reasons, suffered

so much while ministers of those islands, by shipwreck, bad weather,

and persecution, that if they did not obtain the crown to which they

aspired by death, they were left with their health totally lost,

and lived amid continual aches and pains, until their last breath

opened for them, after some years, a pathway to heaven in order that

they might enjoy the reward of their well endured conflicts.

[The remaining sections of this chapter and the two final chapters

of the book do not touch Philippine matters.]

Extracts from Juan de la Concepcion's Historia

[It is thought advisable to append to the above extracts from the

Historia of Pedro de San Francisco de Assis, the following extracts

from Concepción's Historia. The first extract is from vol. viii,

pp. 3-16, and includes a portion of the first chapter. It treats of

the transfer of the province of Zambal to the Dominicans, and the

occupation of the island of Mindoro by the Recollects.]

2. Continuing with the events of this government, we must note that

Don Diego de Villaroto represented in the supreme Council of the Indias

that the island of Mindoro had a vast population who still retained the

dense darkness of their heathen blindness; and that if the spiritual

conquest of that island were given to some order, it would be easy to

illumine its inhabitants with the true light. That representation was

met by a royal decree, dated June 18, 1677, ordering the governor of

these islands, together with the archbishop, to entrust the reduction

of Mindoro to the order that should be most suitable and fitting for

that ministry; and that the curas employed in that island should be

appointed to chaplaincies or prebends. That royal decree was presented

to the royal Audiencia of Manila by Sargento-mayor Don Sebastian de

Villa-Real in October, 78. His Majesty's fiscal offered no objection

to its observance, and prompt obedience was rendered to it. It was

directed to his Excellency the archbishop, then Don Fray Phelipe

Pardo. That most illustrious gentleman, during the two times when

he was provincial of his order or province, urged as a thing greatly

to be desired and demanded by his brethren the Dominicans, that the

Augustinian Recollects yield them the province of Zambales, as it was

very fitting for communication with their province of Pangasinan, and

of the latter with Manila, and of those religious among themselves,

who could thus make their visits more comfortably, by always crossing

through their own ministries, thus avoiding the voyage through the

territory of others, which they regretted. Notwithstanding that those

matters were discussed with great courtesy (as is the case at present)

yet that was a demand that offended greatly the discalced Augustinians,

who regarded the Zambals as the true sons of their spirit, and the

land as watered with the blood and sweat of many of their members,

and a land which, being their firstborn, was most tenderly loved. The

Dominicans could never obtain their demand, although softened by

exchanges, for ministries were offered in which there was even more

than enough room for zeal.

3. By reason of the said royal despatch, his Excellency formed the

idea of completely removing the Recollects from Zambales and giving

them in exchange the island of Mindoro. He set about that with great

zest. The Recollect provincial resisted, alleging that it was contrary

to their constitutions to abandon thus the province of Zambales. That

would mean treating it as their own possession. It would be better

to recognize it as a territory distributed by the universal patron;

and, admitting that it was impossible to surrender it without his

royal consent, individual laws communicate no right, especially when

such mission fields are ad interim. He also pleaded that the Indians

of Mindoro, both infidels and Christians, had as soon as they heard

that regular ministers were to be given them, urgently requested

Jesuits. On the contrary, the Zambals, when they were notified that

it was the intention to withdraw the Recollects from their midst

in order to introduce Dominicans, almost declared their opinion in

a terrible tumult. The Recollects preferred, therefore, that such

a change should not take place. But the archbishop was firm in his

resolution, and trampled all obstacles under foot. He united with the

governor, and both of them together forced the Recollect provincial,

Fray Joseph de San Nicolas, by threats, to agree to the change. The

governor pacified the Indians of Mindoro by means of his corregidor,

so that they should receive the Recollect fathers; and the Zambals

by means of the alcalde-mayor of Pangasinan, so that they should

allow the Dominicans to enter. Thereupon, the three seculars who had

been in charge of Mindoro were accommodated by suitable chaplaincies,

and an act was passed by the royal Audiencia, charging the Recollect

fathers with the administration of that island, with absolute clauses

based on the royal decree, without any provision or obligation to

leave the missions of Zambales for it. That decree was accepted when

it was announced, and was extended to the judicial cession of those

missions, when signed by the provincial of the Recollects, although

protest was made against it in the name of their province, by two

influential religious. On that account a second act was enacted in

which those missions were adjudged to the fathers of St. Dominic,

for the archbishop was very much in earnest in those arrangements.

4. Those decrees having been announced and accepted, the Dominicans

assumed possession of the cordillera of Zambales. That province

had on its coast eleven villages with actual missions, which were

increased in the neighboring mountains. The Recollects handed over

that administration without making any public disturbance, although

all the religious who had labored there protested vehemently, all of

which appeared in the judicial reports. The Augustinian Recollects

went to Mindoro with the fitting despatches for that corregidor

ordering him to deliver the administration [of that island] to

them. Father Fray Diego de la Madre de Dios, then definitor, was

given charge of the district of Baco, after it had been resigned by

Bachelor Don Joseph de Rojas, who held it; father Fray Diego de la

Resurreccion of the curacy of Calavite, in place of Licentiate Don

Juan Pedraza, its parish priest; while the curacy of Naohan was taken

possession of by the father definitor, Fray Eugenio de los Santos,

who was exchanged for Bachelor Don Martin Diaz. The whole transfer

was completed before the end of the year 79. Three other religious

remained with the above three religious as associates and coadjutors,

and those six ministers began to scatter throughout the island. That

island is in the center of this vast archipelago, and was formerly

called Mainit; but the Spaniards gave it the name of Mindoro from

a village called Minolo, located between Puerto de Galeras and

the bay of Ylog. It is triangular in shape, its angles being three

promontories: that of Calavite, facing west; that of Dumah or Pola,

facing north; and that of Burruncan, facing south. In size it is the

seventh of the more important islands, and is about one hundred leguas

in circumference. Its temperature is naturally hot, but is tempered

by the great dampness arising from frequent rains. The height of its

mountains aids also in that. On account of such circumstances it is

a very fertile land, and, although not very healthful for strangers,

good and favorable to its inhabitants. The latter made themselves

feared by their neighbors, especially on the sea, where they attacked

the most powerful, carrying blood and fire everywhere. Notwithstanding,

they were of great simplicity, for when they saw the Europeans wearing

clothes and shoes--which they did not use--they imagined that that

adornment was natural to them. They are but little given to the

cultivation of the soil, and are content with wild fruits; sago,

which they get from the palm and which is a good food for them; the

flesh of wild animals; and fish, which the rivers and seacoast offer

them in great plenty. They have little rice, on account of their sloth

in sowing and tending it, for they make up that lack sufficiently in

roots and fruits. If they are weak, although corpulent, it is because

of their transcendent vice in being hostile to work.

5. Captain Juan de Salcedo made a beginning in the conquest of the

district of Mamburào, in the year one thousand five hundred and

seventy. That conquest was completed from the point of Burruncan

to that of Calavite by the adelantado Miguel de Legaspi, in the

beginning of the following year. Gradually the remainder was subdued

by the missionaries, by whose treatment the rudeness of the manners

of those people was softened. Consequently, the encomienda of that

large island was very desirable. The Observant Augustinian fathers

were employed in its spiritual cultivation and founded the village

of Baco. The discalced fathers of St. Francis also labored there for

some time, it being ceded to them by the Observant Augustinians. They

worked along the Calavite side to Pola, which they abandoned either

because those natives were not at all disposed [to accept the faith],

or because those fathers had slight esteem for that island when

compared with what was offered them in Ylocos and Camarines. The

Jesuits also labored there, but always by the method of temporary

missions, from time to time, and had no stability. It only appears

that they were more continual in Naohan (which they founded), as long

as it was preserved by Father San Victores. When the latter went to

the Marianas, the Jesuits resigned that portion into the hands of the

archbishop. It is probable that the latter was Señor Poblete. [64]

He immediately formed two curacies for the secular clergy to look

after those souls. Although there were but few souls, the extent of

their territory was so vast that it was necessary to establish a third

parish. Those seculars maintained what was conquered, but that district

did not yield a sufficient recompense for the three ministers, and

they were paid from the royal treasury and from other pious funds. It

was also even difficult to find seculars who cared to take charge of

such districts, which were truly little to be desired. But obedience

caused that there never was a lack of seculars there, who maintained

themselves until the year 76, when the Recollects went there to take

their places. As the latter immediately placed six ministers there,

they furthered the conquest and reduction greatly in all parts. Hence,

while they only received about four thousand Christians, those were

multiplied in a few years and the number rose to eight thousand, and

in 1716 they reached the number of twelve thousand. There are still a

great number of people in the mountains, which are inhabited by wild

men. Some of those men are quite light-complexioned, and are believed

to have originated from the Chinese and Japanese established there

for the convenience afforded by the island, or who have put in there

because of shipwreck, or been driven thither by the winds. Others are

Cimarron Negritos, who are the first inhabitants, and, as it were, more

native. Trustworthy persons say that those people have a hard little

tail in the proper place for it, which prevents them from sitting

down flat. If it is true (and I do not doubt it, notwithstanding

that it is disputed), it is not so strange that I have no examples

of it. Those prominences of the sacral bone are considered as rare;

but a beginning having been made in one, it could have become natural

in its propagation.

6. Thus did those Recollect religious find that island, and, believing

it to be important for the reductions, they continued to establish

their regular administrations. The first was in Baco. There, inasmuch

as it was the capital, lived the corregidor, but the capital was

later moved to Calapan. In that district they formed the villages

of Calapan, Baco, Suban, Ylog, Minolo, and Camoròn, with a number

of annexed villages or visitas. The second was in Naohan, which

was extended into six annexed villages, namely, Pola, Pinamalayan,

Balete, Sumagui, Maliguo, and Bongabon. The third was in Calavite,

which formed the visitas of Dongon, Santa Cruz, Manburaò, Tubili,

and Santo Thomas. The fourth was in Mangarin, which was extended into

its dependencies, Guasic, Manaol, Bulalacao, and Ililin. They also

began an active mission in order to reduce the heathen Mangyans, which

had no other work than to employ itself in those glorious reductions

and conversions of grace. For one single man it was an immense work,

but the superior government gave no more stipends. That mission was

established on the bay of Ylog, and ministers and infidels were pledged

not to allow [there] any of the former Christians, who might pervert

the conversions. By that arrangement it grew to a very large village,

and there were practiced some of the old customs that belonged to the

primitive church. All that fine flower-garden has been trampled down

and even ruined by the Moros, as will be related in due season.

7. The Dominican fathers also applied themselves to the work in the

province of Zambales. That province had already eleven villages formed,

although they were small, because that province has but few people. It

appeared to the new fathers that that number of villages made their

administration difficult; consequently, they tried to reduce their

number by uniting some of them. That incorporation was difficult;

hence they increased the troops and arms of the presidio of Paynaven,

the center of that province. Through the protection afforded by those

troops, they broke up the whole province. The village of Bolinaò,

which had a fair population, was located on an island, which is

separated from the land by only a channel, which forms its famous

and secure port. [65] It was fertile and pleasant. They moved it to

the mainland, to a sandy shore, useless for anything, even for the

ordinary fields. Its lack of water they supplied with wells which

they opened. There they obtained some water, but it was thick, and in

the time of the dry season it entirely disappeared. The Indians who

were harmed by this measure were so angry at that moving, that many

families retired to Ylocos. In truth, that site is despicable. An

eminence which looks upon and almost dominates the port would have

been much more suitable, and they would have obtained better air

there; while their boats, which cannot navigate by the channel

to the village during the blowing of the north wind, so that the

cargo has to be carried for a long distance on the shoulders, would

have obtained shelter. There are many other inconveniences but one

cannot think of a single advantage. They moved the village of Agno

[66] from the coast into the interior, to a site which is a swampy

mudhole when there is the least rain. The village of Sigayan was

moved to another site, where the only advantage was a near-by river

of fresh water which was unnavigable. They left Masinloc [67] on its

pleasant site, while the village of Paynaven was moved inland to

a site called Iba, [68] from which the new village took its name,

moving that village in order to get it away from the commandant of

the fort, whose proximity was annoying to them. They did not regard

it as a recompensable hardship for the minister of that village to

go on feast-days in order to say mass in the presidio, and to repeat

it afterwards in his own church. In order to increase that place

and give it the name of capital, they brought families from Bolinaò,

who formed a large barangay. It has already been seen that they made

use of the fort in this, and that those who were moved were not very

well pleased. The Dominicans also founded, or better, made from

other villages, the village of Cabangaan [69] in an obscure site,

which was rough and surrounded by dense mountains, and suitable only

for a hermit and solitary life, but so far as others were concerned,

a place of profound melancholy. They also formed the village of Subic

[70] from other villages, which had only the advantages of its port

to recommend it, while in other respects it was most unpleasant. They

also filled the vacant places left by the many families who retired

to the mountains as a result of the violence exercised, with others

whom they brought from Pangasinan, a province abounding with people,

who because they are so numerous, and there is no room for all, leave

their homes more easily. In fact, they did that, too, in order to

be surer of the Zambals, in whose severe and warlike minds they did

not have the greatest confidence. Thus did they soften those people,

or let us say frankly, checked their vehemence. The reduction of the

people of the mountain, however much it is talked about, is not known,

as neither is the place where they could form villages or a village

from them. Let us leave then exaggerations, which, when they offend by

comparison, cannot fail to be odious. We shall treat of the restoration

[of that province] below, in its proper place. [71]

[The following extract is from the same volume, and includes

pp. 135-144.]

CHAPTER V

The Augustinian Recollect fathers assume the spiritual government of

the islands of Masbáte, Ticao, and Burias. A geographical description

of those islands is presented.

1. Under the metaphor of husbandmen, the prophet Amos describes those

who are employed in the cultivation of souls. The chroniclers of the

Augustinian Recollect fathers describe those fathers for us as zealous

and laborious in their never-ceasing application in planting and

cultivating the word of God in humble hearts. The Recollects assumed

charge, in addition to the fields already mentioned of the island of

Masbate with the neighboring islands of Ticao and Burias. Those islands

belong to the bishopric of Nueva Caceres in ecclesiastical matters,

and to the alcaldeship of Albay in political affairs. Masbate is sixty

leguas from Manila, in a latitude lying between twelve and thirteen

degrees. It is about fifty leguas in circumference, nineteen leguas

long and five or six broad. It was formerly famous for its rich gold

mines, which, when they tried later to work them, it was found did not

produce expenses. The island also has fine copper mines, samples from

which in very recent times were excellent. Information was given of

them by Don Francisco Salgado; and when everything necessary and expert

Chinese for working them had been prepared, he abandoned them, for

he saw that they had much less metal than he had thought. The island

of Ticao is about twenty-three leguas in circumference, nine long,

and more than four wide. That of Burias extends its circumference

to twenty-six leguas, twelve in length, and four in width. These

calculations must be understood only approximately, for they had not

been exactly determined. All three possess excellent timber, from

which pitch is distilled in plenty, and makes excellent pitch for

vessels. One of those trees produces the fragrant camanguian; [72]

another very abundantly a kind of almond, larger than that of Europa,

for which it is mistaken in taste. They have many civet-cats; civet is

a drug which was obtained there long before this time, and had a good

sale in Acapulco, although that product is not in so great demand now.

2. Don Luis Henrriquez de Guzman, a knight of Sevilla, reduced those

islands to the crown of España in the year one thousand five hundred

and sixty-nine. Their conquest was finished and they were left

thoroughly subdued by Captain Andres de Ybarra. Protected by arms,

father Fray Alonso Ximenez, an Observant Augustinian, introduced

the evangelical law. In that he did excellent work and obtained

much fruit in Masbate. Other religious, imbued with the same spirit

and of the same institute, followed, and spread the work into Ticao

and Burias. By that means a suitable mission field was established,

and the Augustinians conserved the administration thereof until the

year six hundred and nine. At that time they resigned that district

into the hands of the bishop of Camarines, who employed seculars

instead of those regulars. There were various seculars in charge of

the administration there, until the year one thousand six hundred and

eighty-eight. The district handed over by the Augustinian fathers had

two hundred and fifty regular families; but that number was diminished

by the terrible invasions of the Moros, so that the corresponding

stipend was not sufficient for the maintenance of one cura, and no one

could be found who was willing to take care of that district. On that

account his Excellency, Master Don Fray Andres Gonzalez of the Order

of Preachers, their bishop, represented to his Majesty that it was

absolutely necessary to apportion the curacies in another manner for

the just spiritual administration of his bishopric, by placing some

of them in the charge of regulars; and he petitioned that his Majesty

approve his new plan, by ordering his governor of those islands to

proceed in it as vice-patron. The king consented to what the prelate

asked, and despatched his royal decree, under date of Madrid, August

thirteen, eighty-five. With that order his Excellency presented to the

governor the new distribution of districts, with the changes necessary

and fitting. In that distribution he applied all the ministry of

Masbate to the province of San Nicolas of the Augustinian Recollects,

and also on the mainland of Luzon the villages of Ingoso, Catanavan,

and Vigò with its neighboring rancherías, of which was formed the

curacy of Piris. The governor, Don Gabriel Curuzalaegui, by an act

of November twenty-six, of eighty-six, approved the plan conceived

by his Excellency the bishop, and informed the said Recollect fathers

of the part of the distribution that pertained to them. They accepted

the assigned administration. In the territory on the mainland disputes

were imminent with the Franciscan fathers in regard to the ownership

of those territories. Accordingly the Recollects only accepted the

district of Masbate, and resigned the right that they could have had

to the village on the continent of Luzon to the Franciscan fathers,

who could administer them with greater ease. By that means all rivalry

was checked.

3. The parties [i.e., the Recollects and Franciscans] having come

to an agreement, and between themselves the governor and bishop, the

two latter despatched suitable measures so that the Recollects could

take charge of those souls. In the distribution the Recollects had

their proportionate advantages, for those islands are a way-station

which is necessary to pass in going to Caraga and Zebù, where this

order had distant missions. The bishop obtained them [for that order]

because, that district having been reduced to one single secular, the

latter proved insufficient for its administration. Consequently, in the

space of twelve years, only four persons had died with the sacraments,

although one hundred and eighteen had passed from this life without

that important benefit. The baptism of children was postponed for many

months, as the cura went to the visitas in the distant villages but

seldom. For it was not easy for one single individual to acquit himself

of so laborious cares; consequently, this is not to admit that they

were ill administered. The government was interested in them, as was

also commerce, as Ticao was an anchorage for the Acapulco ships in its

famous port of San Jazinto, [73] on both the outward and return trips,

where fresh supplies were procured, wood and water provided, and winds

awaited to take them out of the dangerous currents of the Embocadero

of San Bernardino. The Recollect fathers accepted that charge, and were

received affectionately by the Indians. They founded their headquarters

in Mobo, [74] a famous village of Masbate. They built a church there,

under the advocacy of Our Lady of Remedies. It was a costly edifice,

adorned with good reredoses, and had a sacristy well supplied with

vestments, besides a capacious house with its suitable quarters and

dormitories for the resident and transient religious. Thence they

made their apostolic excursions for the conversion of the heathens,

who were still numerous, and the reduction of fugitive apostates. The

settlements already established numbered six, and three new villages

were established with the increase of those who settled down.

4. This province of San Nicolas petitioned his Majesty in the year

one thousand seven hundred and twenty-four to confirm that possession

which had been conferred on it in his royal name. His Majesty ordered

the governor of Philipinas and the bishop of Nueva Caceres to make no

innovation in the spiritual administration of that district until his

royal Council should provide what was suitable. He also ordered them

to report on the progress of the faith in that territory since it had

been under their charge. Judicial investigations were made in Manila

by the government, in order to inform the king with reports. From

them it appeared that, although the entire district of Masbate had

formerly had only one parish priest, since the Recollect fathers had

taken charge of it, three religious at least had lived there. It was

proved also by the books of the royal accountancy, that in the year

preceding their possession, that is, in the year eighty-seven, the

entire ministry contained only one hundred and eighty-seven families;

while in the year seven hundred and twenty-two there were five hundred

and eighty-five families. Consequently, the present governor, the

Marquís de Torre Campo, reported that the district of Masbate had

had an increase of three hundred and ninety-eight whole tributes

through the apostolic zeal of those ministers. The Recollects not

only in those districts, but also in the remainder of these islands,

devote themselves to the spread of our holy Catholic faith with the

greatest toil and with the most visible fruit.

5. That progress was not made without great toil and hardship. They

had to do with a great number of mountain Indians and Zimarrones,

who became fearsome when abandoned to liberty. Apostates from the

faith and from civilized life, they had taken to the deserts and to

the roughest mountains, where they defended their barbarous mode

of life at all hazards, by resisting with arms those who tried

to reduce them. Various people had also gathered there from other

islands, fleeing from the settled villages and from the punishment

due their atrocities. Consequently, the latter were extraordinarily

fierce. Many heathen were numbered among them, accustomed long since

to that rudeness of life and savagery, and they were all the worst

kind of people. They committed notable depredations on the civilized

villages, robbed the boats that anchored in the ports and bays, and

treacherously committed many murders. Their boldness rose to such a

pitch that one could not cross through the interior of those islands,

and to arrive at their shores was the same as to make port in a land

of enemies. It was also a laborious and dangerous task to navigate

along the coasts, trying to find those rancherías. Consequently,

Father Fray Ildefonso de la Concepcion was twice overturned in the

sea, and another time had his boat dashed to pieces on some reefs. In

that shipwreck he miraculously escaped with his life, although some

of his companions perished in the water. Those dangers came to him

in his visits to a new village established on the opposite coast. In

order to avoid such dangers and visit that village more frequently,

the father opened a road through the interior from Mobo over rough

mountains, where many other risks were run because of the heathens. In

that continual crossing the father fell grievously sick, his pains

having originated from the hardships of such a road, with the showers

and heat. He died at last, succumbing to such fatigues. But those

sufferings were continued by others, who conquered that stubbornness by

their constancy and fervent application, although with the well-known

risk of losing their lives. Consequently, those ministers who were

there in the beginning say that, although they have been many years

in other doctrinas and missions, they had not so much to suffer and

endure in any of them as in that of Masbate.

[The third extract from Concepción's Historia is from vol. ix,

pp. 123-150, and comprises all of the fourth chapter except the

last paragraph.]

CHAPTER IV

By sentence of the royal Audiencia, the province of Zambales is

restored to its first conquistadors, the discalced Augustinian

Recollect fathers.

1. The Zambal Indians, of an intractable disposition, people of

wild customs, and little or not at all content, were furious with

the Dominican ministers in the reductions; they were groaning

under the yoke of a life more regulated than their inclinations

permitted. This made them think of insurrections and uprisings. The

presidio of Painaven, well reënforced, restrained them; and the

raids of the commandant, with detachments of men, into the mountains,

intimidated them in their plans. They thought that the government of

the Recollect fathers was milder, and hence they sighed for it. Those

fathers tolerated their barbarous customs among a people so ferocious,

and succeeded by their patience in softening and reducing them. Not

so with the Dominican fathers, who learned the Zambals' tenacity at

their own cost. In the village of Balacbac was an Indian chief named

Dalinen; although he lived in that village, he kept his valuables in

the mountains under charge of a nephew. Another Indian, a Cimarron,

named Calignao, killed the latter treacherously. In order to avenge

that murder, Dalinen retired with many of his followers to the dense

woods. Father Fray Domingo Perez, [75] who was the minister of that

mission, tried to prevent that flight, but was quite unable to remedy

it; for seventeen families fled with Dalinen. The commandant of the

fort attacked them with his men and burned the ranchería of Aglao,

the next village to Balacbac, to which the murderer and the injured

man belonged.

2. Calignao had an extensive and strong kindred. Because they did not

flee with him, father Fray Domingo endeavored to win them over. He

asked for an adjutant's staff from the commandant of the fort, and

dignified Calignao with it. Then in order to restrain the other side,

it was published that the murder of the nephew [of Dalinen] was by

the command of the government, which had ordered that all who would

not reduce themselves to village life should be killed. That method,

however, was insufficient to quiet them, but, on the contrary,

roused the factions to a higher pitch. To please the commandant and

to give stronger force to his faction, Calignao promised to assault

Dalinen. He went into the mountain to put that promise into execution,

and after a short time, Dalinen was killed by a Negrito. His relatives

were persuaded that the father had had a hand in that murder, and

determined to pay him back. The same Calignao offered to do the deed,

for this is what it means to benefit apostatized evil-doers. He sought

an opportune occasion for the execution of his wicked intent, and found

it in a journey which the father made to Baubuen to visit a communal

house which he was building for strangers, and in order to confess

father Fray Juan de Rois, [76] who was the minister there. During the

absence of the father, Calignao descended the mountain, visited his

relatives, and was informed that the minister would return in three

days. He left his relatives, and in company with a faithless Negrito

went to await the father at the bank of a large river, by which it

was necessary to pass. When Father Perez reached that place, Calignao

discharged an arrow, which passed before the father's breast without

doing him any harm and lodged in a neighboring tree. When the father

quite naturally turned his head to see who was firing at him, the

Negrito Quibacat discharged his arrow, which, entering the father's

body three fingers below the left breast, came out more than four

fingers at the right side of his back. It was a twisted arrow, and

when father Fray Domingo pulled on it, the wound became worse. With

the most intense pain that he suffered, he broke out into "Jesus,

be with me! Let them commend me to God, for I am dying."

3. He spurred on his horse, which ran until the father perceived that

sight was failing him. Then he alighted, stretched himself at the

foot of an agoso tree, [77] and, amid the outpouring of his blood,

begged pardon from God for his sins. An Indian who accompanied him

came up to him, and found him unconscious from great loss of blood. The

father recovered consciousness, but for so brief a time that he could

not tell the Indian what to do. He fainted once more, so completely

that the Indian thought that he was yielding up his life. He again

recovered consciousness, and sent the servant to Balacbac in order

to get people to carry him thence. The Indian went to carry out that

instruction. Meanwhile a man and three women arrived, and stayed

with the father until the arrival of the men from the village who

were very slow. For the Indian who had been sent could find no one

who cared to take that charitable office upon himself, either the

ministers of justice, the fiscals, or the sacristans. He was able

to get three serving-lads in the convent, who made a hammock from

a blanket, and carried the wounded religious in it. The latter,

charging his messenger to go to Baubuen to advise Father Rois of

his mishap, set out on his way to his village, where he arrived at

nine o'clock at night. Father Rois, as soon as he received the news,

got ready to go to the relief of his associate. After many frights,

for everything was in an uproar, and his person ran no less risk

[than that of Father Domingo], he reached the village at daybreak. He

entered the cell of the wounded father, whom he found embracing a holy

crucifix, and bathed in tears. Father Rois asked him "What is this,

Father Vicar-prior?" "This means death," answered the sufferer. "I

shall die; there is no relief." He was confessed, and received the

sacred viaticum. He lived three days after that, without having his

bed made, for his extreme pains would not permit it. Had they tended

him well at the beginning, he would have recovered, for the wound was

not mortal, and the Indians have medicines which cure other things

more dangerous. But the greatest care was not exercised in this. The

third day after nightfall, the pains attacked him much more fiercely,

and convulsions and paroxysms followed. He received extreme unction,

after which he lost his speech, and remained remarkably quiet; and

in that calm he yielded his spirit to the Creator.

4. The malicious Calignao, after having wounded the father, went to

Balacbac, and made an effort to enter the convent in order to kill the

servants of father Fray Domingo. The servants barred the doors on the

inside until the wounded father arrived, and during all the three days

while the latter lived, the murderer remained in the village, without

anyone daring to raise a hand against him. During that time Calignao

assaulted the convent several times, but could effect nothing, because

of the vigilance of Father Rois. The commandant of the fort desired to

go in person to punish the treachery, but he was prevented from it by

the other religious, for the reason that if he were killed the fort

was in danger; and, if that presidio were captured by the Zambals,

there would not be a father or a Spaniard in Playahonda who would

not be sacrificed to their fury. He sent indeed a detachment of men,

with orders to arrest or kill Calignao; but they were unable to do so,

as all the village was interested in his liberty. They were present

at the funeral, which took place in the church on the following day,

with all possible propriety. A year and a half later the father's

bones were moved to the church of his convent at Manila.

5. It is said that God honored the place of his death or where he was

wounded, by marvelous occurrences. For instance the large river on

whose shore he was shot, dried up, and was swallowed up by the earth,

and no trace of it was ever found later, neither did it take a course

elsewhere; while the bed of the river became full of agoso trees. And

although the above tree is large, and needs more than ten years to grow

tall, those trees grew up in so short a time that that place appeared

a dense forest, so that they choked and parched the reed-grass, which

never sprang up again. It was said that the earth which was dyed with

his blood has never allowed any grass to grow since, although the grass

about the agoso at whose foot the father fainted is abundant and very

green. That tree is always more flourishing and luxuriant, so that in

comparison with it the other trees seem like withered things. Also

another smaller river which ran past Aglao and Baubuen dried up,

and the earth was left very sterile. It is true that these things

were said, but without any foundation. The large river still remains

and flows in the same course, and that of Aglao has the same course,

and there is no notice or tradition that it had ever dried up; and

it is not possible that so remarkable a thing could be forgotten. It

was true that the agoso under which he rested was preserved and is

still preserved; but in that story are not registered the exaggerated

circumstances, such as that of the grass and of the reed-grass. I

say this with assurance because I have seen it at various times,

and I have passed the large river with some risk. On the bank of

that river I was shown the spot where the father was wounded, and

the agoso in question, in which I found nothing worthy of wonder. In

regard to the other agosos and those newly produced, I proved that

there are both old and new trees, for they are produced without any

cultivation, and are conserved from time immemorial, and their very

great age is recognized by their failing condition. [78]

6. The Augustinian Recollect fathers, who had not left that

administration [of Zambales] voluntarily, although they could not

resist the change with Mindoro, asked for testimonies that they might

present them at court. They protested in due form, and appointed

ministers in their chapters, of whose election they apprised the

Dominican fathers in legal form. Their recourse to court had the

result that the parties [in the matter] were referred by the Council

of the Indias to this royal Audiencia. The testimonies were brought

to it, and it became sufficiently public. On that account the father

procurator-general of the Order of St. Dominic, Fray Juan Peguero

[79] appeared before the superior government. He stated that his

Excellency the archbishop and the governor had removed the Order of the

Augustinian Recollects from the province of Zambales for reasons that

they considered just, necessary, or reasonable, in accordance with the

rulings of the laws of the new Recopilación, [80] and had given it to

his province, they on their part having first made no efforts to get

it. His order had received it only that they might serve God and the

king. The Recollect fathers had received the island of Mindoro as a

recompense, without offering any objection, and had expressly given

up their rights to the province of Zambales. Nevertheless father Fray

Juan de la Madre de Dios had presented a writing before the supreme

Council, which was sent to this royal Audiencia, where as yet, more

than eight months after the arrival of the galleons at the islands,

it did not appear to have been presented. Without petitioning in

any tribunal, [he said], a rumor was spread to the discredit of his

province and to the prejudice of the propagation of the faith among

the Zambals. The latter, in the hope which they had received from

their former ministers that they would soon return to take charge of

them, were fleeing to the mountains to become infidels, apostates,

and idolaters, as they were formerly. Consequently, the ministers

of his province found themselves hindered in the conversions and the

administrations of the sacraments, as they were so disturbed that it

was necessary for the commandant of the fort to seize some persons

who returned from Manila and spread such a report. Not even this

was a sufficient relief for the continual flights of the natives. On

that account he petitioned his Lordship, in the name of his province,

to be pleased to employ suitable means, and what he believed best,

for the avoidance of those scandals. His Lordship furnished a copy

of the judicial proceedings [81] to the Recollect side, ordering that

they, with the reply that they should make, should give account of the

royal decree mentioned in the allegation [aforesaid, by Fray Juan de

la Madre de Dios]. Notification of this was communicated, on May 2,

1685, to father Fray Joseph de Jesus Maria, procurator-general of the

discalced religious of St. Augustine. The latter said that he heard

it and would answer in due form.

7. He did so, and presented himself with the copy authorized in public

form, of the proceedings of the royal and supreme Council of the Indias

in the cause prosecuted by the father procurator-general, Fray Juan de

la Madre de Dios, asking that his province should be restored to its

former possession of the ministries of Mariveles, Masinloc, Bolinao,

Puquil, and Playa-honda, and the rest of the province of Zambales. The

decision thereon, as appeared from the said proceedings, was referred

to the royal Audiencia of Manila. In regard to the contents of Father

Peguero's memorial, notwithstanding what he might petition, it should

be refuted as outside the truth, as a calumny, and as grievously

offensive to his province--which with excessive and continual work,

and equal zeal in the service of both Majesties, had assisted in the

administration of the Christians and the conversion of the infidels

in the aforesaid districts, from the year one thousand six hundred

and seven to the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine,

when it was despoiled actually and contrary to law, and the Dominican

religious introduced into those missions. Notwithstanding the above,

the said memorial, proceeding by malicious reports, and with a lack

of accurate information, says that in the year seventy-six the said

Father Peguero informed the government of these islands that the

conversion and reduction of the Zambals--both the light-complexioned

ones and those with the kinky hair, on both sides of the mountains that

extend from Batan to Pangasinan, especially in the localities of Aglao,

Buquil, Alupay, and Culianan, and many others--had not been thitherto

in charge of any of the orders of these islands. In consideration of

that, he petitioned that that care be assigned to his order. Despatches

were given him in accordance with the terms of his petition, without

summoning the party of the Recollect province, which was in possession

[of that territory] from the time mentioned above. That order was then

especially extending its labors, and working in the reduction of the

infidels of those very same places, and in the administration of a

great number of Christians in those districts, who paid tribute to

their encomenderos. His order having offered opposition, and having

made a petition before the royal Audiencia to be protected in its

ancient possession, this was done, and the Order of St. Dominic

was excluded from its demand, as appeared from royal provision and

proceedings, which would be presented if it were necessary. After his

order had been placed in charge of the administration of Mindoro,

the Dominicans succeeded in getting the governor, then Don Juan de

Vargas, to ask the father provincial, Fray Joseph de San Nicolas, to

make a renunciation [of those districts]. The father provincial did

it unwillingly, for it was a thing that he neither could or ought to

do in regard to such districts, in order that other religious might

be instituted--as were those of St. Dominic, in the year eighty. Two

grave [Recollect] religious protested in the name of their province,

against the renunciation made by their Recollect provincial; and all

the ministers of Zambales protested against the violence with which

they were despoiled of that administration, without their province

having until then made any other judicial or extrajudicial effort

than the conservation of their right, in order to demand it where and

to what extent it may behoove them to do so. The provincial of his

province had formally ordered his subjects not only not to solicit

the natives of those districts to ask for, or allow them to ask for,

these or other ministers; but they were to admonish them always to

live consoled and contented, and to understand that the instruction

which they received from the fathers of St. Dominic was the same, and

[given with] the same zeal for the welfare of their souls. That order

was obeyed, and there was no notice of its infraction. On the contrary,

information was received that the present Dominican ministers told

the natives that they were returning to carry forward what had been

commenced by the Recollects. That proved that the Recollects did not

keep their convents and churches, which they had abandoned to the

Dominicans; as does the suggestion that father Fray Raymundo Verart

[82] said that Captain Marcos de Rosales, encomendero of Marivelez,

had made to him, for the latter earnestly entreated him to ask

that the Recollects should be restored to the possession of those

ministeries. He offered to make that request to him in writing.

8. Even though the religious of his province had represented to those

natives that they would return to their ancient administration, one

could not argue from that that any injury to the propagation of the

faith, or to the credit of so holy an order [i.e., the Dominican] would

follow, as the memorial declared--in formal prejudice to his own order

[i.e., the Recollect] (in regard to which that order was protesting,

in order to demand whatever was proper for its side). The proposed

hopes of the restoration, however, would hinder the flight of the

natives, which, it was known, proceeded from other reasons, through a

great part of the villages of Zambales having been depopulated. That

they had been living in idolatry from their first conversion, besides

being an implicatory proposition, did not appear from the sentence of

a competent tribunal, nor was it credible of all. And it was no new

thing, that after some years, a few superstitions should be discovered

[among the Indians], as was usually the case, and happened at every

step; for it was not an easy thing to reduce mountain infidels to

a civilized life, in which task the ministers must acquire thorough

knowledge of their customs. Consequently, it had been impossible to

eradicate their barbarous ferocity in committing murders, as they

had done to a religious of the Order of St. Dominic. And because his

province had shirked no labor for the service of God and the king,

in the welfare of souls, especially in the administration of the

Zambals during the space of sixty years, it desired to reap the fruit

[of the harvest] that had been commenced; wherefore in furtherance

of its claim he prayed his Lordship to order and command that the

pleadings which had been presented be referred to the royal Audiencia,

to the end that whatever should be ruled therein be considered as

law. The decree enacted (with the opinion of the assessor) was,

that the cognizance of the entire matter be referred to the royal

Audiencia, so that the parties to the suit might there plead their

claims in equity, and in fulfilment of the decree of the supreme

Council of the Indias. The Recollect procurator general having been

notified, appeared before the royal Audiencia with his claim together

with the rest of the papers annexed, which, having been presented,

were considered as referred to that tribunal for official action

therein. Notice of that decision having been given to father Fray

Juan Peguero, he said that he heard it, and pleaded that the papers be

given him for his reply as was done. But I shall not give his answer

here, because of the irregularity of his pleadings, his rashness of

speech, his boldness of opinion, and his disrespect for the royal

power, since his Majesty does not allow causes to be conducted in

rude fashion, especially when they do not bear on the case in point,

while personal defects of ecclesiastics were not under consideration

in the present case, nor in the cause which was being prosecuted,

as it concerned ministries only.

9. In conclusion his reply was that while maintaining the contrary

of what was advanced by the Recollect fathers, as their province was

not a party [to the suit]; he petitions and prays that his Highness

deign to issue a citation on the party [of the Recollects], to the end

that an investigation be made of all the aforesaid, as was necessary,

and becoming, etc. The ruling was that the decree be communicated to

the father procurator of the Recollects, who answered as follows,

namely, that he acknowledged the indecorous manner in which, in

view of the sovereignty of the royal Audiencia, the good name of his

side and his subjects was injured. But that although he could answer

point by point, he would avoid doing so, as it was a matter in which,

leaving aside the requirements of law, which were to be complied with,

the subject matter was getting to be a bone of contention, and a

partisanship dispute--a matter which ought to be held in abhorrence

by religious, who are placed as models for all in these regions,

and because law enjoins the manner in which one ought to speak in

the royal courts of justice, where it is expressly forbidden to bring

forward incriminating libels in place of actions of laws; for these

wound not only the sacredness of the religious orders, but even the

sovereignty of such a tribunal, to which is due the highest respect. On

that account they ought to order the withdrawal of the two allegations

presented by Father Peguero as being indecorous, and notice ought to

be given to the said father to answer as was fitting, by representing

the authority that his province had in the administration of Zambales;

in default of which, the court was to record them as having been duly

pleaded. To this motion, the gentlemen [of the Audiencia] agreed that

the decree should issue, and the clerk of the assembly summoned the

said Father Peguero in due form for the examination, who thereupon

refused such style of procedure until he had presented his grounds

for opposing such action [i.e., the above decision of the Audiencia].

10. The said father procurator pleaded before his Highness that

Doctor Calderon, the senior auditor, during his week had refused to

sign a paper in which he [i.e., the Recollect procurator-general],

pleaded in regard to the pending article; and having been ordered

to present himself in the royal Audiencia, he did this by means of

two religious at a time when the said doctor was the only member

present in the Audiencia, because of the illness of his associate

judges. There a decree was entered which ordered that the writ and

other papers pertaining to this matter be presented by a procurator

of the royal Audiencia, who could be punished in default for his

negligence. And in view of the fact that he considered this measure

burdensome and harmful to his order and person, as he was condemned

before sentence was passed on the point, and the order was prevented

from prosecuting this or any other cause in the royal courts, because

of their well-known poverty, he prayed his Highness to deign to

repeal the said act, and to allow his province the liberty of having

it prosecuted by its own prosecutors. A decree to that effect was

passed and the trial set for the first day, when the said Doctor Don

Diego Calderon should be present.

11. The auditor, in order to justify his act in the royal Audiencia,

related that Father Peguero had brought a paper to his house for him

to fill out to the effect that the petition, which as he declared,

he was going to present to the royal courts, should come before him,

the said auditor, during his week; and that in consideration of the

fact that it was a matter that concerned priests against priests,

of religious missionaries against religious of the same institute,

it could not set forth allegations that were wanting in fraternal

charity and profound humility. This he signed without reading it,

while charging the father procurator to present it in the royal courts,

as was done on the day when his Lordship was the only member present

[in the Audiencia]. The petition was granted and an order issued to

have the papers served on the Recollect father procurator, who was

bid to file his answer thereto; furthermore, in order to determine

this point, the abovesaid auditor ordered that the case so far as

concerned the examination of the same be laid before him. Peguero,

not content with what was done, presented another petition in regard

to the same cause, that it might be signed officially and passed. But

having glanced over it, he found that this should not be done, as

it contained other unbecoming expressions based on the one that had

been presented previously, and therein at variance with the laws and

ordinances of the royal Audiencia, wherefore he told the said father

procurator to hand his petition back and present it when all the

members [of the Audiencia] were assembled. The result was that their

illness still continuing, two lay-brethren, religious of the Order of

Preachers, entered the chamber and requested that the petition that

they presented be granted, which was the same as had been presented

by the father procurator Peguero, in which his Highness was able to

recognize the irregularity of the statements, and his inability to

sanction such proceedings, through his desire for public peace, and

to the end that such holy orders be not embarrassed with injurious

writs. Consequently, in order to prevent disrespectful petitions

from being presented in those tribunals, his Highness had to decree

what was most in consonance with loyalty to both their Majesties,

and the public peace.

12. This decree was as follows: "Decision of the royal court this

day, September eleven, one thousand seven hundred and five. [83]

The measure passed by Señor Calderon is approved, and in accordance

therewith, a decree to that effect shall be issued. Because of their

great poverty, only the first petitions of the Indians shall be

received without attorney."

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century. · 第 5 / 6 章

[The first chapter of this decade does not treat of the Philippines.]