Priesthood and the People.
The hierarchy of the colony consists of an Archbishop, resident
in Manila, and four bishops. The Archbishop lives in a Palace,
and has a salary of $12,000 a year, while the annual expenses of
the Cathedral in Manila are not less than $60,000. It was not till
several years after the founding of Manila, in 1578, that the first
bishop was consecrated and a Cathedral was built. Not long afterward,
the Manila See was raised to an Archbishopric.
The present hierarchy costs the Government about $800,000 a year. The
salaries of the priests range from $500 to $2500 per annum; but,
in addition, they derive a large income from the sale of masses,
indulgences, marriage, burial and baptismal-fees, and from the
various commissions incident to their calling. They receive all,
and give nothing.
The several orders have immense revenues from investments in the
islands and in Hong-Kong. They possess magnificent estates; but,
notwithstanding their enormous wealth, they are hard task-masters,
grinding the poor to the paying of the last penny. Their injustice
and tyranny have of late aroused bitter complaint, and are a chief
cause of the late insurrection.
And yet the picture has its lights as well as its shadows. The
friars have, also, in many places, the confidence of the natives,
and, on the whole, surely influence them for the repression of their
vicious and brutal instincts. A half-barbarous people can be led only
by superstition, and a semi-sacerdotal government is most effective
among an ignorant people.
The friar is usually from a lowly family, and is, therefore, able at
once to enter into sympathy with the humble life of the people. He
is doctor, architect, engineer, and adviser; in all things truly the
father of the community, the representative of the white race and of
social order. Such is the ideal village-curate, and many such--good
men and true--are to be found. There, are, however, many black sheep
among them. And the gross immorality of those that should be examples
in virtue, has been a great impediment to the work of the Church among
the thinking natives. There are, also, some Chinese and native friars;
but, owing to the various insurrections, in which some of these were
involved, they are no longer trusted; in fact, a native can no longer
become a priest.
So great is the paternal influence of the priests, that I have often
seen delinquent parishioners flogged for non-attendance at mass.
The Chinese often adopt Christianity for social or business reasons,
or that they may marry the daughter of a native.
All over the islands are shrines to which the people make
long pilgrimages; such pilgrimages, however, partaking more of
the character of feasts than of fasts. The self-denial and the
self-imposed hardships of the European devotee have never found
fruitful soil in the native character. He is never so glad as when a
holy-day furnishes him with a pretext for an elaborate feast, and,
in truth, the feast-days alone relieve the gloom of his monotonous
life. Two of the most famous shrines are the Holy Child of Cebú and
the Virgin of Antipolo,--thousands visiting them yearly.
Conflicts Between Church and State.
A book might be written, and an interesting one, too, about the
various contests between Church and State during this period of the
colony's history.
The Archbishops--with an exaggerated idea of their own importance--soon
became exceedingly troublesome to the Civil Power, by reason of
their excessive claims. This was never more manifest than in their
pretended immunity from all State-control. Upon one occasion the
Governor demanded of the Archbishop to produce several persons
charged with capital and other crimes, who had found asylum in a
convent. The Archbishop promptly refused, claiming the prerogative
of Sanctuary. The accused not only openly defied the Governor,
but armed themselves, intending to resist, should he endeavor to
apprehend them. The Governor, learning this, arrested the Archbishop,
and confined him and the priests that had been his abettors in prison,
charging them with conspiracy against the Government.
The news spread over the province with incredible swiftness, and
hundreds of priests, collecting hordes of natives on the way,
marched with riotous demonstrations and violent clamor to the
Palace. Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians forgot their fierce
rivalry and joined together in the shout, "Long live the church!" "Long
live King Philip V!"
The mob burst open the doors of the Palace, and, the terror-stricken
guards having fled, they forced their way to the Governor, who calmly
awaited them, standing with a loaded musket in his hand. He then
ordered the rabble to retreat, but with wild shrieks, incited by
the priests that accompanied them, they rushed on him. The Governor
pulled the trigger, but his flint failing to strike fire he defended
himself with his bayonet. He was finally surrounded; and insulted,
beaten, and stabbed, he was dragged to jail.
The son of the Governor, running to his father's aid, was severely
wounded by the rebels. Attempting, nevertheless, to cut his way
through, he was killed, and his body horribly mutilated.
The mob then broke open the door of the fortress where the Archbishop
was confined, and liberated him. This worthy was then escorted with
much acclamation to the Palace, and assumed charge of the Government,
which he held for four years.
This is only one of many exciting conflicts between these two factions,
sometimes one, sometimes the other, being victorious. On four different
occasions the Governorship of the colony was vested in the Archbishop.
Every Governor-General that has attempted to introduce a liberal
policy has been recalled; for the friars' combined influence
is all-powerful. Not even the Archbishop has been able to prevail
over the corporation of the friars; and if he would retain his see,
he must not oppose their traditional prerogatives, nor work for that
reform that would mean the decline of the orders. Indeed, only a few
years ago, one Archbishop, who had made several ineffectual attempts
to correct the abuses in the orders, was one morning found dead in
his bed. His successors have taken good care to profit by his example.
Clashings among the Friars.
Interesting is the story of the bitter rivalries between the different
orders, who, though of one religion, were extremely jealous of
one another, showing little of that charity and forbearance that
Christianity, above all, is supposed to inculcate.
On account of several clashes with the civil power, a priest had
early been sent to Spain by the Church party to gain redress of
grievances. Chief of these was their inability to guide the entire
affairs of the colony into a narrow ecclesiastical groove. The result
was, the introduction of new laws so favorable to the clergy, that,
within three or four years, the colony swarmed with mendicant friars,
whose habits, say the old chroniclers, placed the Spaniards and their
vaunted religion in a most ridiculous light before the natives.
As most of these monks belonged to a different order from the bishop,
who was an Augustinian, and as they often boldly defied his authority,
he became greatly alarmed at their expanding power. But, after a
fierce struggle, he succeeded in so curtailing their privileges that
he still retained his pre-eminence in the colony.
Urdaneta and his Austin friars were the pioneers in the islands, and
following them came a horde of Dominicans and Franciscans, and the
Recoletos, or bare-foot monks. As the saving of souls was the chief
policy of Philip II., the co-operation of the friars was eagerly
welcomed by the early Colonial Government, and it must be admitted
that without their influence the lot of the natives would have been
a far harder one. For the substitution of the rites of paganism for
those of Christianity, even in so crude a form as taught by the friars,
was, in the main, beneficial. Religion--though not of a very exalted
kind--was put on an ethical basis, and the self-denial, obedience,
and sacrifice that formed the foundation of the new doctrine, somewhat
reconciled the conquered races to the loss of their primal freedom.
The Monks Opposed to Reform.
These orders, presenting the united front of a corporation, were
extremely powerful, and practically unassailable. When arrayed
against an individual, it always resulted in his defeat,--that is,
his expulsion or imprisonment. They practically had their way in
all things and under all circumstances. Nothing could withstand
them; for, to attack one friar was to attack his whole order. Thus,
much injustice was occasioned. I have known a highly respectable man,
possessed of great wealth, cheated out of house and home--yes, his very
liberty--through the intrigues of a friar that desired to enrich his
order. Such societies are a cancer in the body politic,--a constant
enemy to good government, a menace to justice, and a foe to liberty.
In the future history of the islands, this will be found one of
the hardest problems to solve. The easiest and most effective plan,
it seems to me, is to cut the Gordian knot--that is, to expel the
whole body of friars from the islands. By so doing, much shedding of
blood will be saved. For I do not believe that these good brethren
will soon cease to foment insurrection against the hated Protestant
conqueror. They have ever been breeders of mischief under the
congenial rule of Catholic Spain: what won't they do under the régime
of enlightened America, whose first thought is the liberty that means
death to extortion and oppression--the cardinal principles of their
order. By this, I do not mean a propaganda against the Catholic
Church; for I am a Catholic myself, and firmly believe that this
religion is far better suited to the character of our people than
any form of Protestantism. But the appointment of secular Spanish or
American priests to the parishes would do away with the evils of the
other system, without doing violence either to the Church or to the
conscience of the natives.
The monks have opposed every attempt at reform. Their policy has ever
been the policy of ignorance, knowing that their livelihood depended
upon its perpetuation. It has been their aim chiefly to limit public
instruction to the mere rudiments of knowledge--giving to every
subject a religious bias. Even the colleges and the University of
Manila are not free from their narrow supervision; while they have
ever maintained a rigid censorship over the press.
The natives, however, are gradually breaking through the network of
superstition that centuries of priestcraft have woven round them. That
they are open to conviction,--to the light of reason and the hope of
truth,--deeds bear witness.
None but the most enlightened natives, of course, recognize, as yet,
their spiritual wants or desire a higher moral state, but many of
them, privately, attest their waning belief in the Church monopoly
of all things temporal in their lives.
Still, owing to the reasons previously stated, those that thus impugn
and combat ecclesiastical preponderance, do so rarely except by secret
word or in a limited conclave.
But the enlightening and invigorating effects incidental to American
occupation will inevitably loose their tongues and rally recruits to
their new standard of thought.
Of this I hope and expect great results.