[In 1618 two unusually brilliant comets were visible in the
Philippines; their effects on the minds of the people are thus
described (fol. 5):] [1] There was great variety and inaccuracy of
opinion about the comets; but through that general although confused
notion which the majority of people form, that comets presage
disastrous events, and that the anger of God threatens men by them,
they assisted greatly in awakening contrition in the people, and
inciting them to do penance. To this the preachers endeavored to
influence them with forcible utterances, for the Society had not
been behind [the other orders] in preparing the city for the entire
success of the jubilee; [2] for there was one occasion when eleven
Jesuits were counted, who, distributed at various stations, cried
out like Jonah, threatening destruction to impenitent and rebellious
souls. God giving power to their words, this preaching was like
the seed in the gospel story, scattered on good ground, which not
only brought forth its fruit correspondingly, but so promptly that
those who heard broke down in tears at hearing the eternal truths;
and, like thirsty deer, when the sermon was ended they followed the
preacher that he might hear their confessions, already dreading lest
some emergency might find them in danger of damnation. This harvest
was not confined within the walls of Manila, but extended to its
many suburbs, and to the adjacent villages, in which missions had
been conducted. Not only was there preaching to the Spaniards, but
to the Tagálogs, the Indian natives of the country--who, in token of
their fervor, gave from their own scanty supply food in abundance
to the jails and prisons, Ours aiding them to carry the food, to
the edification of the city. To the Japanese who were living in our
village of San Miguel--exiles from their native land, in order to
preserve their religion, who had taken refuge in Manila, driven out
from that kingdom by the tyrant Taycosama--our fathers preached, in
their own language. And it can be said that there was preaching to
all the nations, that which occurred to the apostles in Jerusalem on
the day of Pentecost being represented in Manila; for I believe that
there is no city in the world in which so many nationalities come
together as here. For besides the Spaniards (who are the citizens and
owners of the country) and the Tagálogs (who are the Indian natives
of the land), there are many other Indians from the islands, who
speak different tongues--such as the Pampangos, the Camarines [i.e.,
the Bicols], the Bisayans, the Ilocans, the Pangasinans, and the
Cagayans. There are Creoles [Criollos], or Morenos, who are swarthy
blacks, natives of the country; [3] there are many Cafres, and other
negroes from Angola, Congo, and Africa. There are blacks from Asia,
Malabars, Coromandels, and Canarins. There are a great many Sangleys,
or Chinese--part of them Christians, but the majority heathens. There
are Ternatans, and Mardicas (who took refuge here from Ternate); there
are some Japanese; there are people from Borney and Timor, and from
Bengal; there are Mindanaos, Joloans, and Malays; there are Javanese,
Siaos, and Tidorans; there are people from Cambay and Mogol, and from
other islands and kingdoms of Asia. There are a considerable number
of Armenians, and some Persians; and Tartars, Macedonians, Turks,
and Greeks. There are people from all the nations of Europa--French,
Germans, and Dutch; Genoese and Venetians; Irish and Englishmen;
Poles and Swedes. There are people from all the kingdoms of España,
and from all America; so that he who spends an afternoon on the tuley
[4] or bridge of Manila will see all these nationalities pass by him,
behold their costumes, and hear their languages--something which
cannot be done in any other city in the entire Spanish monarchy,
and hardly in any other region in all the world.
From this arises the fact that the confessional of Manila is, in my
opinion, the most difficult in all the world; for, as it is impossible
to confess all these people in their own tongues, it is necessary
to confess them in Spanish; and each nationality has made its own
vocabulary of the Spanish language, with which those people have
intercourse [with us], conduct their affairs, and make themselves
understood; and without it Ours can understand them only with great
difficulty, and almost by divination. A Sangley, an Armenian, and a
Malabar will be heard talking together in Spanish, and our people do
not understand them, as they so distort the word and the accent. The
Indians have another Spanish language of their own; and the Cafres
have one still more peculiar, to which must be added that they eat
half of the words. No one save he who has had this experience can
state the labors which it costs to confess them; and even when the
fault is understood in general, to seek for a specific account of
the circumstances is to enter a labyrinth without a clue. For they
do not understand our orderly mode of speech, and therefore when
they are questioned they say "yes" or "no" as it occurs to them,
without rightly understanding what is asked from them--so that in
a short time they will utter twenty contradictions. It is therefore
necessary to accommodate oneself to their language, and learn their
vocabulary. Another of the very serious difficulties is the little
capacity of these people to distinguish and explain numbers, incidents,
and circumstances; add to this the unbridled licentiousness of some,
in accordance with the freedom and opportunities [for vice] in this
land, the continual backsliding, and the few indications of fixed
purpose. In others, who are capable and explain their meaning well,
is found a complication of perplexities--with a thousand reflections,
and bargains, and frauds, and oaths all joined together; and faults
that are extraordinary and of new kinds, which keep even the most
learned man continually studying them. The heat of the country,
and the stench or foul odor of the Indians and the negroes, unite in
great part to make a hardship of the ministry, which in these islands
is the most difficult; and on this account I regard it as being very
meritorious. The annual confessions last from the beginning of Lent
until Corpus Christi. In our college of Manila the church is open from
daylight until eleven o'clock, and from two o'clock until nightfall;
and always some fathers are present to hear confessions--for this
is done not only by the active ministers, but by the instructors,
when their scholastic duties give them opportunity; and I have known
some fathers who remain to hear confessions during seven, eight,
or more hours a day.
It makes them bear all these annoyances patiently, and even sweetens
these, to see how many souls are kept pure by the grace of God, in the
midst of so many temptations, like the bramble in the midst of the fire
without being burned. There are many who are striving for perfection,
who frequent the sacraments, who maintain prayer and spiritual reading,
and who give much in alms and perform other works of charity. And it
is cause for the greatest consolation to see, at the solemn festivals
of the Virgin and other important feasts, the confessional surrounded
by Indians, Cafres, and negroes, men and women, great and small, who
are awaiting their turns with incredible patience, kept there through
the grace of God, against every impulse of their natural dispositions
and their slothfulness. And at the season of Lent it is heart-breaking
to see the confessor, when he rises from his seat, surrounded by more
than a hundred persons of all colors, who go away disconsolate because
they have not obtained an opportunity to make their confessions; and
in this manner they go and come for eight or ten days, or a fortnight,
or even more, with unspeakable patience, but with such eagerness that
when the confessor rises they go following him throughout the house,
calling to him to hear their confessions. This is done even by boys
of seven to twelve years, and hardly with violence can they be made
to leave the father, and they continue to call after him; and some
remain in the passages, on their knees, asking for confession, so
great is the number of the penitents--to which that of the confessors
does not correspond by far, nor does their assiduity, even if there
were enough of them. The Society is not content with aiding those who
come to seek relief in our church, and attending the year round all
the sick, of various languages, who summon them to hear confession;
but its laborers go forth--as it were, gospel hunters--to search for
penitents. They assist almost all who are executed in the city; every
week they go to the jails and hospitals; in Lent they hear confessions
in all the prisons, and at the foundry, those of the galley-slaves. And
in the course of the year they hear confessions in the college of
Santa Ysabel--in which there are more than a hundred students, who
are receiving the most admirable education--and in the seminary of
Santa Potenciana, the students frequenting the sacraments often; and,
in fine, they go on a perpetual round in pursuit of the impious.
The confessional is, as it were, the harvesting of the crop;
and the pulpit is the sowing, in which the seed of the gospel is
scattered in the hearts of men, where with the watering of grace it
bears fruit in due time, according to the coöperation [of the Holy
Ghost?]. With great constancy and solicitude the Society contributes
to the cultivation of these fields of Christianity, with preaching. In
Manila the Society has, besides the sermons from the holy men of the
order, other endowed feasts, and the set sermons [5] in the cathedral
and the royal chapel. When necessity requires it, a mission is held,
and the attendance is very large, although hardly a fifth of those
who hear understand the Spanish language; this to a certain extent
discourages the missionaries, as does even much more the fact that
they do not encounter those external demonstrations of excitement
and tears that they arouse in other places. This originates from the
characteristic of a large part of the audience, that these attend with
due seriousness only to certain undertakings; and the distractions
of their disputes and business affairs, and their indolence and the
air of the country, dissipate their attention beyond measure. Their
imaginations, overborne with foolish trifles, and accustomed to our
voices, become so relaxed that even the most forcible and persuasive
discourses make little, if any, impression. Nevertheless, there are
many in whom the holy fear of God reigns, and the seed of the gospel
takes root--which they embrace with seriousness and simplicity, as the
importance of the subject demands. The marvel is, that many Indians
and a great many Indian women, only by the sound of [the preaching in]
the mission, and without understanding what they hear, are stricken
with contrition, confess themselves, and receive communion, in order
to gain the indulgences--to their own great advantage, and to the
unspeakable consolation of their confessors at seeing the wonderfully
loving providence of God for these souls.
This fruit and this consolation are most evident in the Spiritual
Exercises of St. Ignatius, [6] which are explained through most of the
year in our college. The principal citizens make their retreat there,
and in the solitude of that retirement God speaks to them within their
hearts; and marvelous results have been seen in various persons, in
whom has been established a tenor of life so Christian that they may
be called the religious of the laymen--in their minds those eternal
truths, on which they meditate with seriousness, remaining firm, for
the orderly conduct of their lives. The students in the college of
San Joseph have their own society, which meets every Sunday, in which
they perform their exercises of devotion and have their exhortations,
during the course of the year. Every Sunday the Christian doctrine
is explained to the boys in the school, and some example [for their
imitation] is related to them; and they walk in procession through the
streets, chanting the doctrine. The Indian servants of the college
have their own assembly, conducted in a very decorous manner, with
continual instruction in the doctrine. Every Saturday an address in
Tagálog is given to the beatas who attend our church; they have their
own society, and exercise themselves in frequent devotions, furnishing
an excellent and useful example to the community. Every year they
perform the spiritual exercises; and the topics therein are given to
them in Tagálog, in our church, by one of Ours. Many devout Indian
and mestizo women resort hither on this occasion, to perform these
exercises, in various weeks, for which purpose they make retreat in the
beaterio during the week required for that; and even Spanish women,
including ladies of the most distinguished position, perform their
spiritual exercises, and the topics for meditation are assigned to
them in our church. This practice is very beneficial for their souls,
of great usefulness to the community, and remarkably edifying to all.
The Society also busies itself in the conversion and reconciliation
of certain heretics, who are wont to come from the East (as has been
observed in recent years), and in catechising and baptizing the Moros
or the heathens who sometimes reach the islands--either driven from
their route, or called by God in other ways; and He draws them to
himself, so that they obtain holy baptism, as has been seen in late
years in some persons from the Palaos and Carolina islands, and from
Siao. Another of the means of which the Society avails itself for
the good of souls is, to print and distribute free many spiritual
books in various languages, which are most efficacious although mute
preachers. These, removing from men their erroneous ideas by clear
exposition [of the truth], and leaving them without the cloak of their
own fantastic notions, persuade them, without being wearisome, to
abandon vice or error; and then they embrace virtue and the Christian
mode of life. In Lent, as being an acceptable time and especially
opportune for the harvest, the dikes are opened, in order that the
waters of the word of God may flow more abundantly. On Tuesdays
there is preaching to the Spaniards, and these sermons usually have
the efficacy of a mission, although not given under that name. On
Thursdays there is explanation of the doctrine, and preaching, in
Tagálog, to the Indians; the attendance is very great, since many come,
not only from the numerous suburbs of Manila, but even from the more
distant villages. On Saturdays some good example of the Virgin is
related, with a moral exhortation; the Spaniards who are members of
fraternities attend these, and afterward visit the altars. On Sundays
there is preaching to the Cafres, blacks, creoles, and Malabars--who
through a sense of propriety are called Morenos, although they are
dark-skinned. The sermon is in Spanish, and the greatest difficulty
of the preacher is to adapt his language to the understanding of the
audience. Various poor Spaniards also attend these sermons, as well
as other people, of various shades of color, of both sexes.
Every Sunday certain fathers are sent to preach at the fort or
castle, to the soldiers and the other men who live there. The
Christian doctrine is chanted through the streets, and in the
procession walk the boys of the school; it ends at the royal chapel,
where some part of the catechism is explained, and a moral sermon
is preached to the soldiers who live in their quarters in order to
mount guard. The doctrine is explained at the Puerta Real and at the
Puerta del Parián, and there is preaching in the guard-room--where
there is a large attendance, not only of soldiers, but of the many
people who, on entering or going out from the gates, stop to hear the
word of God. Another father goes to the royal foundry, in which the
galley-slaves live, where there is such a variety of people--mestizos,
Indians of various dialects, Cafres, negroes of different kinds,
and Sangleys or Chinese--that exceptional ability and patience are
necessary in order to make them understand. Other fathers go to the
college of Santa Isabel and the seminary of Santa Potenciana, where
they give addresses and exhortations to the students of the former,
and the women secluded in the latter. Others go to the prisons of
both the ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions, in order that the
prisoners may obtain the spiritual food of the doctrine. On Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays there is in our church a Miserere, with the
discipline [i.e., scourging]; a spiritual book is read to those who are
present, and at least once a week an exhortation is addressed to them.
Such is, in general, the distribution of work for our college at
Manila in Lent, and therein are engaged nearly all the men in the
college, whether priests or students; and in times when there is a
scarcity of workers I have seen some helping at two or three posts,
and not only ministers and instructors thus occupied, but even the
superiors, and men of seventy years old, to the great edification
of the community. At Lent is seen in Manila that which occurred at
the destruction of Jericho, where, when the priests sounded around
the city the trumpets of the jubilee, the walls immediately gave
way and fell to the ground. Thus in Manila do the Jesuits surround
the walls, calling to every class of people with the trumpets of the
jubilee and offering pardon; and at the sound, through the grace and
mercy of the Highest, the lofty walls of lawlessness, vice, and crime,
fall in ruins. And even the presence of the ark is not lacking to this
marvelous success, for it is not to be doubted that the Blessed Virgin,
most merciful mother of sinners, aids us with her intercession. [Our
author here relates various instances of miraculous aid from heaven,
and other edifying cases.]
[Fol. 13:] Father Juan de Torres, with another priest and a brother,
went from the college of Manila to conduct a mission at a place which
is called Cabeza de Bondoc, [7] about sixty leguas from Manila, in
the bishopric of Camarines--the bishop of Nueva Cazeres at that time
being his illustrious Lordship Don Fray Diego de Guevara, of the Order
of St. Augustine. As soon as that zealous prelate took possession of
his see, he began to ask for fathers of the Society, in order that,
commencing with the Indians who were already peaceable who reside
in Nueva Cazeres, they might establish missions and continue their
instructions in other villages which he intended to give them. But
the Society, who always have showed due consideration to the other
ministers in these islands, not attempting to dispossess them from
their ministries--although not always have we found them respond
in like spirit--thanked that illustrious prelate for his kindness,
without accepting those ministries; and in order that he might see
that [the cause of this action] was consideration for the ministers,
and not the desire to escape from the labor, Ours consented to conduct
a mission in Bondoc, the difficulty of which, and its results, are
explained by that prelate in a letter which he wrote to Father Torres,
in which he says: "I find that it is true, what was told to me in
Manila, when I gave that mission-field to the Society, and I mention
it with great consolation to myself; and that is, that it was the
Holy Ghost who inspired me to give it--for I see the fruits which
are steadily and evidently being gathered therein. For in so many
ages it has been impossible to unite those villages, and the Indians
in them were regarded as irreclaimable; and now in so short a time
those villages have been united, and the Indians, [who were like]
wild beasts, appear like gentle lambs. These are the works of God,
who operates through the ministers of the Society--who with so much
mildness, affection, and zeal are laboring for the welfare of those
people." Great hardships were suffered by those of the Society in these
missions, and for several years that ministry was cared for by Ours,
until it was entrusted to the secular priests.
The mission of Bondoc gained such repute in the island of Marinduque,
distant more than forty leguas from Manila, that its minister, who
was a zealous cleric, wrote to the father rector at Manila asking
him very humbly and urgently to send there a mission, from which
he was expecting abundant fruit. So earnest were the entreaties of
this fervent minister that a mission was sent to the said island;
it had the results which were expected, and afterward the Society was
commissioned with its administration. In nearly all the ministries of
secular priests the Society was carrying on continual missions, at the
petition of the ministers or at the instance of the bishops.... The
Society was held in honor not only by the bishop of Camarines, but
equally by his illustrious Lordship Don Fray Miguel Garzia Serrano, a
son of the great Augustine and most worthy archbishop of Manila. That
most zealous father Lorenzo Masonio preached to the negroes who are
in this city and outside its walls, according to the custom of this
province, which distributes the bread of the gospel doctrine to all
classes of people and all nations. And that holy prelate deigned to
go to our church, and, taking a wand in his hand, as the Jesuits are
accustomed to do, he walked through the aisle of the church, asked
questions, and explained the Christian doctrine to the slaves and
negroes. The community experienced the greatest edification at seeing
their pastor so worthily occupied in instructing his sheep, not heeding
the outer color of their bodies, but looking only at their precious
souls--for in the presence of God there is no distinction of persons.
[Fol. 22:] The island of Malindig--named thus on account of a high
mountain that is in it, and which the Spaniards call Marinduque--is
more than forty leguas from Manila, extends north and south, and
is in the course which is taken by the galleons on the Nueva España
trade-route. [8] There Ours carried on a mission with much gain, at
the instance of its zealous pastor, who was a cleric; and in the year
1622 this island was transferred to the Society by his illustrious
Lordship Don Fray Miguel Garzia Serrano, the archbishop of Manila,
who was satisfied by the care with which the Society administers
its charges, and desirous that his sheep should have the spiritual
nourishment that is necessary for their souls--for it was exceedingly
difficult for him always to find a secular priest to station there, on
account of the distance from Manila, the difficulty of administering
that charge, and the loneliness which one suffers there. The Society
gladly overcame these difficulties for the sake of the spiritual
fruit which could be gathered among those Indians; and our ministers,
applying themselves to the cultivation [of that field], went about
among those rugged mountains--from which they brought out some
heathens, and others who were Christians, but who were living like
heathen, without any spiritual direction. They baptized the heathens
and instructed the Christians; and, in order that the results might be
permanent, Ours gradually settled them in villages which they formed;
there are three of these, Bovac, Santa Cruz, and Gasan, and formerly
there was a visita in Mahanguin. The language spoken there is generally
the Tagálog, although in various places there is a mixture of Visayan,
and of some words peculiar to the island. God chose to prove those
people by a sort of epidemic, of which many died; and the fathers
not only gave them spiritual assistance, but provided the poor with
food, and treated the sick. This trouble obliged them to resort for
aid to the Empress of Heaven, to whom they offered a fiesta under the
title of the Immaculate Conception, during the week before Christmas,
with great devotion; and the Virgin responded to them by aiding them
in their troubles and necessities.
[Fol. 27:] In Marinduque Ours labored very fervently to reduce the
Christians to a Christian and civilized mode of life; and among them
was abolished an abuse which was deeply rooted in that island--which
was, that creditors employed their debtors almost as if they were
slaves, without the debtor's service ever diminishing his debt. The
wild Indians were reduced to settlement; among them were some persons
who for thirty years had not received the sacraments of penance and
communion. In the Pintados Islands there was now much longing for
and attendance upon these holy sacraments, when their necessity and
advantage had been explained to the natives.
[Fol. 29:] His illustrious Lordship Don Fray Miguel Garzia Serrano
had so much affection for the Society, and so high an opinion of the
zeal of its ministers, that he decided to entrust to it the parish of
the port of Cavite. This, one may say, is a parish of all the nations,
on account of the many peoples who resort to that port from the four
quarters of the world; it was especially so then, when its commerce
was more opulent, flourishing, and extensive [than now]. It did not
seem expedient to the Society to accept this parish; but, in order to
show their gratitude for the favor, and to coöperate by their labors
with the zeal of that active prelate, they took upon themselves for
several months the administration of that port, in which they gathered
the fruit corresponding to the necessity--which, with so great a
concourse of different peoples there, and the freedom from restraint
which exists in this country, was very great. The metropolitan was
well satisfied, and very grateful; and he insisted until the Society
made itself responsible for the administration of one of the three
visitas which the said parish has. This was a village on the shore
of the river of Cavite, which on account of being older than the
settlement at the port is called Cavite el Viejo [i.e., Old Cavite];
it afterward was located on the shore of the bay, about a legua from
the said port--which, in order to distinguish it from this village,
is called Cavite la Punta [i.e., Cavite on the Point], because it
is on the point of the hook formed by the land; from this is derived
the name Cavite, which means "a hook." The ministry [at Old Cavite]
was then small, but difficult to administer, on account of the people
being scattered, and far more because of the corruption of morals;
for, lacking the presence of the pastor, and the wolves of the nations
who come here from all parts for trade, being so near, it might better
be called a herd of goats than a flock of sheep--this village being,
as it were, the public brothel [lupanar] of that port; and there was
hardly a house where this sort of commerce was not established. This
was a matter which at the beginning gave the ministers much to
do, but with invincible firmness they continued to correct this
lawless licentiousness; and by explaining the doctrine, preaching,
and aiding the people with the sacraments, they made Christians in
morals those who before only seemed to be such in outward appearance
and name. Ours continued to reclaim these people to the Christian life,
and today this village is one of the most Christian and best instructed
communities in all the islands; it has a beautiful and very capacious
church of stone, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, and a handsome house
[for the minister]. There are in this village, besides the Tagálogs
(who are the natives), some Sangleys and many mestizos, who live in
Binacayan, which is a sort of ward of the village.
[Fol. 31 b:] Ardently did the apostle of the Indias desire to go over
to China for its conversion; but he died, like another Moses, in sight
of the land which his desires promised to him. Since then, without
looking for them, thousands of heathen Chinese have settled in these
islands. As soon as the Society came to these shores, Ours applied
themselves, in the best manner that they could, to the conversion
and instruction of those people--and even more in recent times, on
account of the Society possessing near Manila some agricultural lands,
which the Chinese (or Sangleys, as they are commonly called) began to
cultivate. Ours were unwilling to lose the opportunity of converting
them to our holy faith, so various persons were actually baptized;
and, to render this result more permanent, a minister was stationed
there, belonging to this field, who catechised them, preached in their
own language, baptized them, and administered the sacraments--with
permission from the vice-patron, Don Juan Niño de Tabora, and from
the archbishop, Don Fray Miguel Garzia Serrano--and it is called the
village of Santa Cruz. Their language is very difficult; the words
are all monosyllables, and the same word, according to its various
intonations, has many and various significations; on this account not
only patience and close study, but a correct ear, are required for
learning this language. Don Juan Niño de Tabora was the godfather of
the first Sangley who was baptized; the most distinguished persons
in the city attended the ceremony; and this very solemn pomp had
much influence on the Chinese (who are very material), so that,
having formed a high idea of the Catholic religion, many of them
embraced it. Some were baptized a little while before they died,
leaving behind many tokens of their eternal felicity, through the
concurrence of circumstances which were apparently directed by a very
special providence.
In Marinduque Father Domingo de Peñalver had just induced some hamlets
of wild Indians to settle down; he traveled through the bed of the
river, getting his clothing wet, stumbling frequently over the stones,
and often falling in the water. He went to take shelter in a hut,
where there were so many and so fierce mosquitoes, that he remained
awake all night, without being able to rid himself of the insects,
notwithstanding all his efforts. He reached a hill so inaccessible
that it was necessary that some Indians, going ahead and ascending
by grasping the roots [of trees], should draw them all up the ascent
with bejucos. There he set up a shed, where, preaching to them morning
and afternoon, he prepared them for confession, and persuaded them
to go down and settle in one place, as actually they did, to live as
Christians. For lack of laborers, the Society resigned the district
of Bondoc and several visitas, although Ours went there at various
times on missionary trips. The people of Hingoso called upon Father
Peñalver to assist them, because many in their village were sick, and
the cura was at Manila; the father went there, gave the sacraments to
the sick, and preached to the rest twice a day in the church. Three
times a week they repaired to the church for the discipline, and he
offered for them the act of contrition, and almost all the people
in the village confessed. Afterward, at the urgent request of the
archbishop of Manila, Father Peñalver went to Mindoro, to see if he
could reconcile those Indians and their cura, which the archbishop
had not been able to secure by various means; the said father went
there, and preached various sermons, with so much earnestness and
efficacy (on account of his proficiency in the Tagálog language)
that in a short time they were reconciled together, the causes of
the dispute bring entirely forgotten. This mission lasted two months;
he preached twice every day, and heard some two thousand five hundred
confessions; at this the illustrious prelate (who was Don Fray Miguel
Garzia Serrano) was greatly pleased, and thoroughly confirmed in the
extraordinary esteem which he deigned to show the Society.... One of
the greatest hardships and dangers experienced by the ministers of
Bisayas (or Pintados), in which are the greater part of our ministries,
is that they are journeying on the water all their lives; for, as the
villages are many and the ministers few, one father regularly takes
care of two villages, and sometimes of three or four; and as these are
in different islands, he is continually moving from one to another,
for their administration. I have known some fathers who formerly
had six or seven visitas, and spent nearly all the year traveling
from one to another. Nevertheless, so paternal and benignant is the
providence of God that it is not known that any minister in Bisayas
has been drowned--which, considering the many hurricanes, tempests,
storms, currents, and other dangers in which every year many perish
and are drowned, seems a continual miracle. To this it must be added
that at various times vessels have capsized in the midst of the sea,
and the fathers have fallen into the water; but God succored them by
means of the Indians, who are excellent swimmers, or by other special
methods of His paternal providence.
[Fol. 38 b:] In this year [1628] Manila and the adjoining villages
were grievously afflicted with a sort of epidemic pest, from which
many people died--some suddenly, but even he who lingered longest died
within twelve hours. Some attributed this pest to the many blacks
who had been brought here from India to be sold, and who, sick from
ill-usage, communicated their disease to others; and some thought
that it arose from an infection in the fish, which is the usual food
of the poor. Various corpses were anatomized [se hizo anatomia],
and the origin of the disease could not be discovered, although it
was considered certain that it arose from a poisonous condition,
since the only remedy that was found was theriac. [9] In a city where
there are so few Spaniards, it is easy to understand the affliction
which was felt at seeing the suddenness with which they were dying,
since the colony was placed in so great danger of extinction, and the
islands of being ruined at one stroke--besides the grief of individual
persons at seeing themselves bereft, the wife without a husband, the
husband without a wife, the father without children, the children
deprived of their parents. All search was made for remedies. Our
priests did not cease, day or night, to hear confessions, and to aid
the sick and dying; and at the request of the cura they carried with
them the consecrated oils, to administer these in case of need. They
also carried theriac, after this was discovered to be a remedy, for the
relief of the sick; so they exercised their charity at the same time
on the souls and on the bodies of men, to the great edification of all.
At San Miguel, one of those attacked by the pest told the father
who was hearing his dying confession that he had seen near him two
figures in the guise of ministers of justice, who seized people;
and that when he had received absolution they went away from him,
leaving behind a pestilential odor. The father published this
information throughout the village, commanding the people to prepare
themselves for confession on the following day, under the patronage
of the Blessed Mary and St. Michael. A novenary was offered, and
the litanies recited; and in the church the discipline was taken,
with other prayers and penances, by which the Lord was moved to
have especial mercy on this village--as God showed to a devout soul,
in the figure of a ship which sailed through the air, the pilot of
which was the common enemy; but he could not enter San Miguel, since
there were powers greater than he, who prevented him. Also there were
seen in the neighborhood of Manila malign spirits, in the appearance
of horrible phantoms, who struck with death those who only looked at
them. In the face of a danger so near, many amended their lives, and
were converted to God in earnest, making a good confession. Then was
seen the charity with which the poor Indians, despising the danger
to their own lives, assisted the sick. Among others were two pious
married persons, who devoted themselves entirely to aiding the sick,
never leaving their bedsides until they either died or recovered;
and God most mercifully chose to bring them out unscathed from so
continual dangers. With the same kindness He chose to reward Brother
Antonio de Miranda, who had charge of the infirmary in our college at
Manila, who, on account of his well-known charity and solicitude in
caring for the sick, had been commissioned by the father provincial,
Juan de Bueras, to devote himself to the care of the sick Indians. But
the poison of the pest infected him, so violent being the attack that
hardly had he time to receive the sacraments; and he died at Manila
on October 15, 1628.... He was a native of Ponferrada, and of a very
well known family; he was an exemplary religious, and had been ten
years in the Society.
[Fol. 44 b:] In the years 1628 and 1629, at the request of the
bishops and of some Indians the Society was placed in charge of
various villages of converts. Don Juan Niño de Tabora gave us the
chaplaincy of the garrison of Spanish soldiers which is at Iloylo
in the island of Panay, and the instruction of the natives and the
people from other nations who are gathered there. Also were given to
us Ilog in the island of Negros, and Dapitan in Mindanao--of which
afterward more special mention will be made.
[Fol. 50:] In this time [about 1630] the Christian faith made great
advances in Maragondong, Silang, and Antipolo, bringing many Cimarrons
(or wild Indians) from their lurking-places. A very fruitful mission
was carried on in Mindoro, and on the northern coast of Mindanao;
and Father Pedro Gutierrez went along those rivers, converting the
Subanos. In Ilog, in the island of Negros, the fathers labored much
in removing an inhuman practice of those barbarians, which was, to
abandon entirely the old people, as being useless and only a burden on
them; and these poor wretches were going about through the mountains,
without knowing where to go, since even their own children drove them
away. The fathers gave them shelter, fed them, and instructed them
in order to baptize them; and there they converted many heathens.
[Fol. 52:] In the year 1631 the cura of Mindoro, who was a secular
priest, gave up that ministry to the Society, and Ours began to
minister in that island, making one resilience of this and one of the
island of Marinduque, and the superior lived at Nauhan in Mindoro;
and they began to preach, and to convert the Manguianes, the heathen
Indians of that island.
In the year 1631 was begun the residence of Dapitan, in the great
island of Mindanao. The first Jesuit who preached in that island was
the apostle of the Indias, St. Francis Xavier, as appears from the bull
for his canonization. Ruy Lopez de Villalobos came to these islands
with his ships, sent by the viceroy of Nueva España, and gave them
the name of Philipinas in honor of Phelipe II; and, driven by storms,
he went to Amboyno, where the saint then was, in whose care Villalobos
died. At the news of these islands thus obtained by the holy apostle,
he came to them. The circumstance that this island was consecrated
by the labors of that great apostle has always and very rightly
commended it to the Society; and Ours have always and persistently
endeavored to occupy themselves in converting the Mindanaos; and
Father Valerio de Ledesma and others had begun to form missions
on the river of Butuan. In the year 1596 the cabildo of Manila,
in sede vacante--in whose charge was then the spiritual government
of all the islands, as there was no division into bishoprics--gave
possession of Mindanao to the Society in due form; and in 1597 this
was confirmed by the vice-patron, Don Francisco Tello, the governor of
these islands. Possession of it was taken by Father Juan del Campo,
who, going as chaplain of the army, accompanied the adelantado,
Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, when he set out for the conquest of
that kingdom.
The first who began to minister to the Subanos in the coasts of Dapitan
was Father Juan Lopez; afterward Father Fabricio Sarsali, and then
Father Francisco de Otazo, and various other fathers followed, who
made their incursions sometimes from Zebu, sometimes from Bohol. In
the year 1629 this ministry was entrusted to the Society by the
bishop of Zebu, Don Fray Pedro de Arze. The venerable Father Pedro
Gutierrez went through those coasts, carrying the gospel of Christ
to the rivers of Quipit, Mucas, Telinga, and others; and in the year
1631 a permanent residence was formed, its rector being Father Pedro
Gutierrez. The village of Dapitan is at the foot of a beautiful bay
with a good harbor (in which the first conquistadors anchored), on
the northern coast of Mindanao; it is south from the island of Zebu,
and to the northeast of Samboangan, which is on the opposite coast
[of Mindanao]. It lies at the foot of a hill, at the top of which
there is a sort of fortress, so inaccessible that it does not need
artillery for its defense. Above it has a parapet, and near the hill
is an underground reservoir for collecting water, besides a spring
of flowing water. Maize and vegetables can be planted there, in time
of siege; and the minister and all the people retire to this place in
time of invasions. I was there in the year 1737 [misprinted 1637], and
it seemed to me that it might be called the Aorno [10] of Philipinas.
[Fol. 60:] In the year 1631 and in part of 1632 this province
experienced so great a scarcity of laborers that the father provincial
wrote to our father general that he would have been obliged to
abandon some of the ministries if the fervor of the few ministers
had not supplied the lack of the many, their charity making great
exertions. Our affliction was increased by the news that the Dutch
had seized Father Francisco Encinas, the procurator of this province,
who was going to Europa to bring a mission band here--for which purpose
they had sent Father Juan Lopez, who was appointed in the second place
[11] in the congregation of 1626. But soon God consoled this province,
the mission arriving at Cavite on May 26, 1632. On June 18, 1631,
they sailed from Cadiz, and on the last day of August arrived at Vera
Cruz; they left Acapulco on February 23, 1632, and on May 15 sighted
the first land of these islands. Every mission that goes to Indias
begins to gather abundant fruit as soon as it sails from España; I
will set down the allotment of work in which this band of missionaries
was engaged, since from this may be gathered what the others do, since
there is very little difference among them all. In the ship a mission
was proclaimed which lasted eleven days, closing with general communion
on the day of our father St. Ignatius; in this mission, through the
sermons, instructions given in addresses, and individual exhortations,
the fathers succeeded in obtaining many general confessions, besides
the special ones which the men on the ship made, in order to secure the
jubilee. Ours assisted the dying, consoled the sick and the afflicted,
and established peace between those who were enemies. In Nueva España
the priests were distributed in various colleges, in which they
continued the exercises of preaching and hearing confessions. They
went to Acapulco a month before embarking, by the special providence
of God; for there were many diseases at that port, so that they were
able to assist the dying. Thirty religious of St. Dominic were there,
waiting to come over to these islands; all of them were sick, and
five died; and, in order to prevent more deaths, they decided to
remove from their house in which they were, on account of its bad
condition. It was necessary, on account of their sick condition,
to carry them in sedan-chairs; and although many laymen charitably
offered their services for this act of piety, Ours did not permit them
to do it, but took upon themselves the care of conveying the sick,
their charity making this burden very light. In the ship "San Luys"
they continued their ministries, preaching, and hearing the confessions
of most of the people on the ship--in which the functions of Holy Week
were performed, as well as was possible there. Twenty-one Jesuits left
Cadiz, and all arrived at Manila except Father Matheo de Aguilar, who
died near these islands on May 12, 1632; he was thirty-three years old,
and had been in the Society sixteen years--most of which time he spent
in Carmona, in the province of Andalusia, where he was an instructor
in grammar, minister, and procurator in that college.... The rest who
are known to have come in that year with Father Francisco de Encinas,
procurator, and Brother Pedro Martinez are: The fathers Hernando Perez
(the superior), Rafael de Bonafe, Luys de Aguayo, Magino Sola, and
Francisco Perez; and the brothers Ignacio Alcina, Joseph Pimentél,
Miguel Ponze, Andres de Ledesma, Antonio de Abarca, Onofre Esbri,
Christoval de Lara, Amador Navarro, Bartholome Sanchez; also Brother
Juan Gazera, a coadjutor, and Diego Blanco and Pedro Garzia, candidates
[for the priesthood].
[Fol. 63 b:] In the islands of Pintados those first laborers made such
haste that by this time [1633] there remained no heathens to convert,
and they labored perseveringly in ministering to the Christians,
with abundant results and consolation.... In the island of Negros and
that of Mindanao, which but a short time before had been given up to
the Society, the fathers were occupied in catechising and baptizing
the heathens and especially in the island of Mindoro, where besides
the Christian convents, were the heathen Manguianes, who lived in the
mountains, and, according to estimate, numbered more than six thousand
souls. These people wandered through the mountains and woods there like
wild deer, and went about entirely naked, wearing only a breech-clout
[bahaque] for the sake of decency; they had no house, hearth, or fixed
habitation; and they slept where night overtook them, in a cave or
in the trunk of some tree. They gathered their food on the trees or
in the fields, since it was reduced to wild fruits and roots; and as
their greatest treat they ate rice boiled in water. Their furnishings
were some bows and arrows, or javelins for hunting, and a jar for
cooking rice; and he who secured a knife, or any iron instrument,
thought that he had a Potosi. They acknowledged no deity, and when
they had any good fortune the entire barangay (or family connection)
killed and ate a carabao, or buffalo; and what was left they sacrificed
to the souls of their ancestors. In order to convert these heathens,
a beginning was made by the reformation and instruction of the
Christians; and by frequent preaching they gradually established
the usage of confession with some frequency, and many received the
Eucharist--a matter in which there was more difficulty then than
now. Many came down from the mountains, and brought their children
to be instructed; various persons were baptized, and even some, who,
although they had the name of Christians, had never received the rite
of baptism. After the fathers preached to the Christians regarding
honesty in their confessions, the result was quickly seen in many
general confessions, which were made with such eagerness that the
crowds resorting to the church lasted more than two months.
[Fol. 69:] In Maragondong various trips were made into the mountains
[by Ours], and although many were reclaimed to a Christian mode
of living, yet, as the mountains are so difficult of access and so
close by, those people returned to their lurking-places very easily,
and it was with difficulty that they were again brought into a
village--so that the number of Indians was greatly diminished, not
only in Maragondong, but in Looc, which was a visita of the former
place, and contained very rugged mountains. In order to encourage
the Indians thus settled to make raids on the Cimarrons and wild
Indians and punish them, Don Juan Cerezo de Salamanca, the governor
ad interim, granted that those wild Indians should for a certain time
remain the slaves of him who should bring them out of the hills; and
by this means they succeeded in bringing out many from their caverns
and hiding-places. Some of these were seventy or eighty years old, of
whom many died as soon as they were instructed and baptized. Once the
raiders came across an old woman about a hundred years old, near the
cave in which those people performed their abominable sacrifices; she
was alone, flung down on the ground, naked, and of so horrible aspect
that she made it evident, even in external appearance, that she was
a slave of the devil. Moved by Christian pity, those who were making
the raid carried her to the village, where it was with difficulty
that the father could catechise her, on account of her age and her
stupidity. He finally catechised and baptized her, and she soon died;
so that it seems as if it were a mercy of God that she thus waited
for baptism, in order that her soul might not be lost--and the same
with the other souls, their lives apparently being preserved in order
that they might be saved through the agency of baptism. Blessed be His
mercy forever! In Ilog, in the island of Negros, several heathens of
those mountains were converted to the faith. An Indian woman was there,
so obstinate in her blindness and so open in her hatred to holy baptism
that, in order to free herself from the importunities of the minister,
she feigned to be deaf and mute. Some of her relatives notified the
father to come to baptize her. The father went to her, and began to
catechise her, but she, keeping up the deceit, pretended that she did
not hear him, and he could not draw a word from her. The father cried
out to God for the conversion of that soul, and, at the same time,
he continued his efforts to catechise her, suspecting that perhaps
she was counterfeiting deafness. God heard his prayers, and, after
several days, the first word which that woman uttered was a request
for baptism--to the surprise of all who knew what horror of it she
had felt. The father catechised and baptized her, and this change was
recognized as caused by the right hand of the Highest; for she who
formerly was like a wild deer, living alone in the thickets, after
this could not go away from the church, and continued to exercise
many pious acts until she rested in the Lord.
[Fol. 74 b:] In the year 1596 Father Juan del Campo and Brother Gaspar
Gomez went with the adelantado Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, who set
out for the conquest of this island [Mindanao]. After the death of
Father Juan del Campo, Father Juan de San Lucar went to assist that
army, performing the functions of its chaplain, and also of vicar
for the ecclesiastical judge. Fathers Valerio de Ledesma and Manuel
Martinez preached to the Butuans, and afterward they were followed,
although with some interruptions, by others, who announced the
gospel to the Hadgaguanes--a people untamed and ferocious--to the
Manobos, and to other neighboring peoples. Afterward this ministry
was abandoned, on account of the lack of laborers for so great a
harvest as God was sending us. Secular priests held it for some
time, and finally it was given to the discalced Augustinian [i.e.,
Recollect] religious, who are ministering in that coast, and in Caraga
as far as Linao--an inland region, where there is a small fort and a
garrison. When Father Francisco Vicente was ministering in Butuan the
cazique [meaning the headman] of Linao went to invite him to go to
his village; and even the blacks visited him, and gave him hopes for
their submission. Thus all those peoples desired the Society, as set
aside for the preaching in that island--which work was assigned to the
Society by the ecclesiastical judge in the year 1596, and confirmed to
them in 1597 by the governor Don Francisco Tello, as vice-patron. And
when some controversy afterward occurred over [the region of] Lake
Malanao, sentence was given in favor of the Society by Governors Don
Juan Niño de Tabora and Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, as Father
Combés states in book iii of his History of Mindanao. These decisions
were finally confirmed by Don Fernando Valdès Tamon, in the year 1737.
In the year 1607 Father Pasqual de Acuña, going thither with an armada
of the Spaniards, began to preach with great results to the heathens of
the hill of Dapitan, where he baptized more than two hundred. He also
administered the sacraments to some Christians who were there, who with
Pagbuaya, a chief of Bohol, had taken refuge in that place. Afterward,
Father Juan Lopez went to supply the Subanos of Dapitan with more
regular ministrations. He was succeeded by Father Fabricio Sarsali,
and he by Father Francisco Otazo and others, as a dependency of Zebu
or of Bohol--until, in the year 1629, his illustrious Lordship the
bishop of Zebu, Don Fray Pedro de Arze, governor of the archbishopric
of Manila, again assigned this mission to the Society; and in 1631
the residence of Dapitan was founded, its first rector being the
venerable Father Pedro Gutierrez; and in those times the Christian
faith was already far advanced, and was extending through the region
adjoining that place, and making great progress.
[Fol. 92:] The island of Basilan, or Taguima, is three or four
leguas south of Samboangan, east from Borney, and almost northeast
from Joló. It is a fertile and abounding land, and on this account
they call it the storehouse or garden of Samboangan. Its people
are Moros and heathens, and almost always they follow the commands
received from Joló. The Basilans, who inhabit the principal villages,
are of the Lutaya people; those who dwell in the mountains are
called Sameacas. Three chiefs had made themselves lords of the
island, Ondol, Boto, and Quindinga; and they formed the greatest
hindrance to the reduction of that people, who, as barbarians,
have for an inviolable law the will of their headmen, [which they
follow] heedlessly--that being most just, therefore, which has most
following. Nevertheless, the brave constancy of Father Francisco Angel
was not dismayed at such difficulties, or at the many perils of death
which continually threatened him; and his zeal enabled him to secure
the baptism of several persons, and to rescue from the captivity of
Mahoma more than three hundred Christians, whom he quickly sent to
Samboangan. Moreover, the fervor of the father being aided by the
blessing of God, he saw, with unspeakable consolation to his soul,
the three chiefs who were lords of the island baptized, with almost
all the inhabitants of the villages in it; and in the course of time
the Sameacas, or mountain-dwellers, were reduced--in this way mocking
the strong opposition which was made by the panditas, who are their
priests and doctors. [Here follows an account of the conquest of Joló
in 1638, and of affairs there and in Mindanao, in which the Jesuits
(especially Alexandro Lopez) took a prominent part; these matters
have already been sufficiently recounted in VOLS. XXVIII and XXIX].
[Fol. 111:] [After the Spanish expeditions to Lake Lanao, in 1639-40,
the fort built there was abandoned, and soon afterward burned by the
natives. On May 7, 1642, the Moros of that region killed a Spanish
officer, Captain Andres de Rueda, with three men and a Jesuit, Father
Francisco de Mendoza, who accompanied him.] Much were the hopes of
the gospel ministers cast down at seeing our military forces abandon
that country, since they were expecting that with that protection the
Christian church would increase. Notwithstanding, his faith thereby
planted more firmly on God, Father Diego Patiño began to catechise
the Iligan people--with so good effect that in a few months the larger
(and the best) part of the residents in that village were brought under
the yoke of Christ; this work was greatly aided by the kindness of the
commandant of the garrison, Pedro Duran de Monforte. At this good news
various persons of the Malanaos came down [from the mountains], and in
the shelter of the fort they formed several small villages or hamlets,
and heard the gospel with pleasure. The conversions increasing, it was
necessary to station there another minister; this was Father Antonio de
Abarca. They founded the village of Nagua, and others, which steadily
and continually increased with the people who came down from the lake
[i.e., Lanao], where the villages were being broken up. [12] This
angered a brother of Molobolo, and he tried to avert his own ruin by
the murder of the father; and for this purpose his treacherous mind
[led him to] pretend that he would come down to the new villages,
in order to become a Christian, intending to carry out then his
treason at his leisure. But the father, warned by another Malanao,
who was less impious, escaped death. The traitor did not desist from
his purpose, and, when Father Abarca was in one of those villages
toward Layavan, attacked the village; but he was discovered by the
blacks of the hill-country, and they rained so many arrows upon the
Moros that the latter abandoned their attempt. Another effort was
a failure--the preparation of three joangas which the traitor had
upon the sea, in order to capture and kill the father when he should
return to Iligan; but in all was displayed the special protection with
which God defends His ministers. However great the efforts made by the
zeal of the gospel laborers, the result did not correspond to their
desires, on account of the obstinacy of the Mahometans--although in
the heathens they encountered greater docility for the acceptance of
our religion. The life of the ministers was very toilsome, since to the
task of preaching must be added the vigils and weariness, the heat and
winds and rains, the dangers of [travel by] the sea, and the scarcity
of food. In a country so poor, and at that time so uncultivated, it was
considered a treat to find a few sardines or other fish, some beans,
and a little rice; and many times they hardly could get boiled rice,
and sometimes they must get along with sweet potatoes, gabes, [13]
or [other] roots. But God made amends for these privations and toils
with various inner pleasures; for they succeeded in obtaining some
conversions that they had not expected, and even among the blacks,
from whom they feared death, they found help and sustenance. [The
author here relates a vision which appeared to an Indian chief, of the
spirit of Father Marcelo Mastrilli as the director and patron of Father
Abarca; and the renunciation of a mission to Europe which was vowed
by Father Patiño in order to regain his health--which accomplished,
he returns to his missionary labors at Iligan.]
He returned to the ministry, where he encountered much cause for
suffering and tears; because the [military] officers [cabos] who then
were governing that jurisdiction, actuated by arrogance and greed of
gain, had committed such acts of violence that they had depopulated
those little villages, many fleeing to the hills, where among the Moros
they found treatment more endurable. The only ones who can oppose the
injustice of such men are the gospel ministers. These fathers undertook
to defend the Indians, and took it upon themselves to endure the anger
of those men--who, raised from a low condition to places of authority,
made their mean origin evident in their coarse natures and lawless
passions; and the license of some of them went to such extremes that
it was necessary for the soldiers to seize them as intolerable; and,
to revenge themselves for the outrageous conduct of the officials,
they accused the latter as traitors. Not even the Malanao chief
Molobolo, who always had been firm on the side of the Spaniards,
could endure their acts of violence, and, to avoid these, went back
to the lake. This tempest lasted for some time, but afterward some
peace was secured, when those officers were succeeded by others who
were more compliant. The venerable Father Pedro Gutierrez went to
Iligan, and with his amiable and gentle disposition induced a chief to
leave the lake, who, with many people, became a resident of Dapitan;
and another chief, still more powerful, was added to Iligan with
his people. These results were mainly seemed by the virtue of the
father, the high opinion which all had of his holy character, and the
helpful and forcible effects of his oratory. The land was scorched by
a drouth, which was general throughout the islands, from which ensued
great losses. The father offered the Indians rain, if they would put
a roof on the church; they accepted the proposal, and immediately God
fulfilled what His servant had promised--sending them a copious rain
on his saying the first mass of a novenary, which he offered to this
end. With this the Indians were somewhat awakened from their natural
sloth, and the church was finished, so that the fathers could exercise
in it their ministries. The drouth was followed by a plague of locusts,
which destroyed the grain-fields; the father exorcised them, and, to
the wonder of all, the locusts thrust their heads into the ground,
and the plague came to an end. This increased the esteem of the
natives for our religion, and many heathens and Moros were brought
into its bosom; and Father Combés says that when he ministered there
he found more than fifty old persons of eighty to a hundred years,
and baptized them all, with some three hundred boys this being now
one of the largest Christian communities in the islands. The village
is upon the shore, at the foot of the great Panguil, [14] between
Butuan and Dapitan, to the south of Bohol, and north from Malanao, at
the mouth of a river with a dangerous bar. The fort is of good stone,
dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, in the shape of a star; the wall is
two varas high, and half a vara thick, and it has a garrison, with
artillery and weapons. The Moros have several times surrounded it,
but they could not gain it by assault.
[Fol. 116 b:] In Sibuguey Father Francisco Luzon was preaching,
a truly apostolic man, who spent his life coming and going in the
most arduous ministries of the islands. The Sibugueys are heathens,
of a gentler disposition and more docile to the reception of the
gospel than are the Mahometans; therefore this mission aroused great
hopes. One Ash Wednesday Father Luzon went to the fort, and he was
received by a Lutao of gigantic stature who gave him his hand. The
father shook hands with him, supposing that that was all for which
he stopped him; but the Lutao trickily let himself be carried on,
and with his weight dragged the father into the water, with the
assurance that he could not be in danger, on account of his dexterity
in swimming. The father went under, because he could not swim, and
the captain and the soldiers hastened from the fort to his aid--but
so late that there was quite enough time for him to be drowned, on
account of having sunk so deep in the water; they pulled him out,
half dead, and the first thing that he did was to secure pardon for
the Lutao. He gained a little strength and went to the fort; he gave
ashes to the Spaniards, and preached with as much fervor as if that
hardship had not befallen him. The principal of Sibuguey was Datan,
and, to make sure of him, the Spaniards had carried away as a hostage
his daughter Paloma; and love for her caused her parents to leave
Sibuguey and go to Samboangan to live, to have the company of their
daughter. Father Alexandro Lopez went to minister at Sibuguey, and
he saw that without the authority of Datan he could do almost nothing
among the Sibugueys; this obliged him to go to Samboangan to get him,
and he succeeded [in persuading them] to give him the girl. The father
went up toward the source of the river, and found several hamlets
of peaceable people, and a lake with five hundred people residing
about it; and their chief, Sumogog, received him as a friend, and
all listened readily to the things of God. He went so far that he
could see the mountains of Dapitan, which are so near that place
that a messenger went [to Dapitan] and returned in three days. These
fair hopes were frustrated by the absence of Datan, who went with all
his family to Mindanao; and on Ascension day in 1644 that new church
disappeared, no one being left save a boy named Marcelo. Afterward
the Moros put the fort in such danger, having killed some men, that
it was necessary to dismantle it and withdraw the garrison.
[Fol. 121 (sc. 120):] The Joloans having been subjected by the
bravery of Don Pedro de Almonte, they began to listen to the gospel,
and they went to fix their abodes in the shelter of our fort. But,
[divine] grace accommodating itself to their nature, as the sect
of Mahoma have always been so obstinate, it was necessary that God
should display His power, in order that their eyes might be opened to
the light. The fervent father Alexandro Lopez was preaching in that
island, to whose labors efficacy was given by the hand of God with
many prodigies. The cures which the ministers made were frequent,
now with benedictions, now with St. Paul's earth, [15] in many cases
of bites from poisonous serpents, or of persons to whom poison was
administered. Among other cures, one was famous, that of a woman
already given up as beyond hope; having given her some of St. Paul's
earth, she came back from the gates of death to entire health. With
this they showed more readiness to accept the [Christian] doctrine,
which was increased by a singular triumph which the holy cross
obtained over hell in all these islands; for, having planted this
royal standard of our redemption in an island greatly infested by
demons, who were continually frightening the islanders with howls
and cries, it imposed upon them perpetual silence, and freed all
the other [neighboring] islands from an extraordinary tyranny. For
the demons were crossing from island to island, in the sea, in the
shape of serpents of enormous size, and did not allow vessels to pass
without first compelling their crews to render adoration to the demon
in iniquitous sacrifices; but this ceased, the demon taking flight at
sight of the cross. [Several incidents of miraculous events are here
related.] With these occurrences God opened their eyes, in order that
they might see the light and embrace baptism, and in those islands a
very notable Christian church was formed; and almost all was due to
the miraculous resurrection of Maria Ligo [which our author relates
at length]. Many believed, and thus began a flourishing Christian
community; and as ministers afterward could not be kept in Joló on
account of the wars, [these converts] exiled themselves from their
native land, and went to live at Samboangan, in order that they might
be able to live as Christians. [This prosperous beginning is spoiled
by the lawless conduct of the commandant Gaspar de Morales, which
brings on hostilities with the natives, and finally his own death
in a fight with them.] Father Alexandro Lopez went to announce the
gospel at Pangutaran, (an island distant six leguas east from Joló),
and as the people were a simple folk they received the law of Christ
with readiness ... The Moros of Tuptup captured a discalced religious
of St. Augustine, who, to escape from the pains of captivity, took
to flight with a negro. Father Juan Contreras (who was in Joló) went
out with some Lutaos in boats to rescue him, calling to him in various
places from the shore; but the poor religious was so overcome with fear
that, although he heard the voices and was near the beach, he did not
dare to go out to our vessels, despite the encouragement of the negro;
and on the following day the Joloans, encountering him, carried him
back to his captivity, with blows. He wrote a letter from that place,
telling the misfortunes that he was suffering; all the soldiers, and
even the Lutaos, called upon the governor [of Joló], to ransom that
religious at the cost of their wages, but without effect. Then Father
Contreras, moved by fervent charity, went to Patical, where the fair
[16] was held, and offered himself to remain as a captive among the
Moros, in order that they might set free the poor religious, who was
feeble and sick. Some Moros agreed to this; but the Orancaya Suil,
who was the head chief of the Guimbanos, said that no one should have
anything to do with that plan--at which the hopes of that afflicted
religious for ransom were cut off. Seeing that he must again endure
his hardships, from which death would soon result, he asked Father
Contreras to confess him; the latter undertook to set out by water
to furnish him that spiritual consolation, but the Lutaos would
not allow him to leave the boat, even using some violence, in order
not to endanger his person. All admired a charity so ardent, and,
having renewed his efforts, he so urgently persuaded the governor,
Juan Ruiz Maroto, to ransom him that the latter gave a thousand
pesos in order to rescue the religious from captivity. Twice Father
Contreras went to the fair, but the Moros did not carry the captive
there with them. Afterward he was ransomed for three hundred pesos
by Father Alexandro Lopez, the soldiers aiding with part of their
pay a work of so great charity.
[Fol. 123:] [The Society of Jesus throughout the world celebrates the
centennial anniversary of its foundation; the official order for this
does not reach Manila in time, so the Jesuits there observe the proper
anniversary (September 27, 1640) with solemn religious functions,
besides spending a week in practicing the "spiritual exercises" and
various works of charity. "On one day of the octave all the members
of the Society went to the prisons, and carried to the prisoners an
abundant and delicious repast. The same was done in the hospitals, to
which they carried many sweetmeats to regale the sick; they made the
beds, swept the halls, and carried the chamber-vessels to the river
to clean them; and afterward they sprinkled the halls with scented
water. Throughout the octave abundance of food was furnished at the
porter's lodge to the beggars; and a free table was set for the poor
Spaniards, who were served with food in abundance and neatness. It
was a duty, and a very proper manner of celebrating the [virtues of
the] men who have rendered the Society illustrious, to imitate them
in humility, devotion, and charity."]
[Fol. 123 b:] In the Pintados Islands and other ministries Ours
labored fervently in ministering to the Christians and converting the
infidels. Nor was the zeal of the Society content with laboring in its
own harvest-field; it had the courage to go to the ministers of the
secular priests to conduct missions. Two fathers went on a mission to
Mindoro and Luban, and when they were near the village their caracoa
was attacked by three joangas of Borneans and Camucones. The caracoa,
in order to escape from the enemies, ran ashore; and the fathers,
leaving there all that they possessed--books, missal, and the clothing
that they were carrying to distribute as alms to the poor Indians--took
to the woods, through which they made their way to Naujan. On the road
it frequently rained, and they had no change of clothing, nor any
food save some buds of the wild palm-tree; they suffered weariness,
hunger, and thirst, and to slake this last they drank the water which
they found in the pools there. After twenty days of this so toilsome
journeying they reached the chief town [of the island], their feet
covered with wounds, themselves faint and worn out with hunger,
and half dead from fatigue; but they were joyful and contented,
because God was giving them this opportunity to suffer for love
of Him. One of the fathers went back to Marinduque, where he found
other troubles, no less grievous than those which had gone before;
for the Camucones had robbed the church, ravaged the grain-fields,
captured some Indians, and caused the rest to flee to the hills. The
father felt deep compassion for them, and at the cost of much toil
he again assembled the Indians and brought them back to their villages.