VII. The harvest of souls at Bohol has increased with the decrease
of the audacity of the enemy, and of the almost annual invasion by
the people of Mindanao. As many as a thousand have been baptized, if
children and adults are reckoned. In this number are several _bailans_,
or priests of idols; and one there was who, before his baptism, did
nothing but rage, and attack with teeth and nails those who passed by,
who came forth from the waters of the sacred font, gentle and in his
right mind. And when some Indians saw this, snatching the cause from
the fact, they went to the father and begged him to sprinkle a dying
Indian woman with the same healing waters. Our father, suspecting that
they made this request with the the purpose of enabling the woman
to avoid the trouble of learning the catechism refused, unless she
would first learn what Christians know. "Father," said they, "that
ought not to be the way in which you act; we want her baptized to
keep her alive." "And I," said one, "when I was lying near to death,
was by the command of another father sprinkled by an Indian cantor,
and as soon as I was sprinkled immediately I began to recover. Then
that madman, as you know, washed away his madness in the same font; and
this companion of mine, who was already despaired of, when he received
baptism was restored to himself and his kinsfolk." The father yielded
to all these arguments, ordered the sick woman to be carried into the
church, and after putting the questions demanded by the occasion and
the need, cleansed her with that purifying sacrament: she immediately
began to improve, and soon recovered all her former strength. Every
day several feel the healing power of this font. An equally great
miracle is that the chiefs of this tribe, who have been very ill
disposed towards us, and from whom not even the lives of Ours were
safe, have been so suddenly changed at the sight of one of our fathers
that they not only--themselves, without being urged--have submitted
to the Christian ordinances, but also seek out the barbarians,
even in the mountains, where they wander and are dispersed like
wild beasts; and partly by the exercise of their authority, partly
by persuasion, bring them down to the villages, and offer them to
the fathers for instruction and baptism. Together with these there
were once offered more than seventy idols, the spoils of the bailans,
which were publicly burnt by Ours before the uplifted cross. The same
thing has been done again and again elsewhere, especially at Jalibon,
Ingaon, Orion, and Canliron, where the joyful Indians in this manner
took vengeance upon the evil demon who had so often deceived them by
the delusions of idols. The bailans are conspicuous in this zealous
attack upon the enemy. They go so far as to scourge themselves [14]
until they draw blood, in order to atone for their sins; and thus they
who formerly opened the door to all kinds of impiety are now the means
above all others by which the rest of the bailans who still work their
impious sacrifices are led to the faith, for the art of these latter
loses its power when the others reveal the deceit. Indeed the deceit
not seldom reveals itself by their predicting that which never comes
to pass, or threatening terrors which injure no one.
VIII. The members of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin are devoting
their attention to themselves, and striving to root out from their
souls those sins which have grown old there. There was an Indian
woman who was seized by a suitor in her bed, and who, to protect her
chastity, threw herself out of the window; there was a youth who,
being unable to keep a crowd of wanton girls out of his cottage,
so savagely scourged his own back with cords that they, alarmed at
the fierceness of the sounds, at last dispersed. There were some who,
to avoid the sin of drunkenness, entirely denied themselves the use
of wine.
Of old there were among these Indians no bowels of compassion, no
signs of family affection. Nay, parents sold their very children
for food; children did the same by their parents; and this sort of
avarice (or rather of cruelty) was still more common among kinsmen
by marriage or blood, so that they did no kindness without doing
an injury. Now, by the grace of God, all these things are reversed,
and these people delight in doing to others as they would be done by;
and on that account the hospital which has been built never wants for
necessaries, and always has some, even of high rank, who rejoice in
giving themselves to the service of the poor.
Moreover, this hospital is supported thus: during the week a basket
is placed before the doors of the church, in which every one puts
what he pleases, according to his ability, either of food or herbs,
to be carried to the hospital. On Sundays, besides, each village in
turn serves the sick, after the following manner. Those whose turn it
is go hunting boars or stags, and on the appointed day bring flesh,
boiled or roasted, with rice, or bring some equivalent food, for the
sick. Now this tribe, which is at this time so Christian, formerly
observed the custom of never going hunting without consulting their
idols. When they perceived that the fathers of Ours detested this
custom, and indeed wholly annulled it, some of them asked them what
they ought to do then when they went out on such enterprises. When they
were told that they should go to some church and beseech God through
the Virgin Mother of God to give them success in their hunting, they
did so; and at noon of that very day they killed twenty-two boars
and stags not far from the village. When they came home loaded with
their game, every one marveled greatly; and they said: "Ah, Father,
how good is the God of the Christians! The gods that we used to worship
would scarcely grant us, in return for long continued implorations,
at last two boars or stags, and most often nothing; but now the true
God after having been barely prayed to has freely given us all these
beasts in a short time." The pious example of these people having
been followed by others in another village, they too had slain five
and twenty of this kind of game within three or four hours; and they
went about shouting: "Away with you, lying bailans, who were about
to destroy us and all that we had! For us there will be henceforth
no God but Jesus Christ, who has displayed so great liberality to us
who have recently turned to Him." I might say more as to the Gospel
of St. John, the saving sign of the cross, and other mysteries of the
Christians, whose marvelous efficacy these tribes have experienced;
but I would not be prolix. Let it be enough to state that seven or
eight sick persons at least have been cured by amulets of this sort.