Events in this province at this time
In the year 1615 this province, which from the beginning had sailed
with a fair wind, and had proceeded with the conversions which it had
undertaken in these Philippinas Islands without meeting any storm,
began to feel a hurricane which caused much anxiety and pain. It was
of great value in teaching the religious to open their eyes, and to
know that in dealing with heathen and new converts they should not
be content with the simplicity of the dove, but should strive to add
the wisdom of the serpent, as our Lord charged His disciples and His
preachers. Seven years only had passed since the village named Batavag,
which is the furthest village in the province of Nueva Segovia,
had been formed by assembling a population of mountaineers. Many of
these were still heathen; while the adult Christians (who were the
minority in the village) had been educated in their idolatries, and
therefore had not completely rooted out from their hearts their ancient
customs. Thus in time of sickness the former priestesses of the devil,
or witches, found their way into many of their hearts. These women,
coveting payment, came to offer on the part of the devil, health to
the sick if they would observe the ancient superstitions which he had
taught them. These sorceresses killed certain birds, anointed the sick
with their blood, practiced other superstitious ceremonies which the
devil accepted as a sacrifice, and performed other similar acts. Some
sick persons were guilty of these things in their desire for health,
not giving heed, since they were not firmly rooted in the faith,
to the grave offense which in this way they were committing against
God, the author of life and health; and not considering the injury
to the faith or the serious harm to their own souls and consciences,
which would follow. Yet their condition was such that they ought
to have considered this matter all the more carefully, as the death
that they feared brought them nearer to the time when an account of
all this would be demanded from them. If the evil had been confined
to this village, it would not have been very great, because Batavag
was small and had not a very large population, and a majority of the
adults were not yet Christian; but the evil spread to other villages
which were larger and older in the faith, such as Bolo, Pilitan, and
Abuatan, each of which had two thousand inhabitants or more. Hence
the matter was of greater importance, and caused more anxiety to
the ministers and preachers of the law of God. When they received
information as to what was occurring, they went with great secrecy to
make an investigation into the evil; and they wrote down the names of
the old aniteras or witches, in whom was the whole foundation of this
sin. One of the persons who took part in this investigation warned
the guilty old women in the village of Batavag; and they, to escape
the punishment which they feared, began to stir up the inhabitants
of that village. When the religious went there with the purpose of
remedying one evil, they found another greater one; for the people of
the village of Batavag were in tumult and alarm because of what the
witches had said to them, and had determined to flee to their mountains
and their ancient dwelling-places. They had been brought to the one
that they now had, that they might be more easily, and more to the
profit of their souls, taught and baptized and given the sacraments,
in sickness and in health; for so long as they were divided as they
had been, into tiny hamlets at great distances from each other, it
was impossible to do that. But being (as at this time they were)
disturbed and alarmed by the witches, and desirous of abandoning
the faith, they returned to their ancient sites, which more readily
permitted each one to live in the law which he preferred, and none in
that which would have been well for him. Yet, in spite of all this,
the religious had dealt so well with them, and had shown them so much
love and benevolence, that the Indians could not cease to feel and
to show kindness for them. Hence, though they were able to kill the
religious or to do them any harm they pleased, because the fathers
were alone among them without any other protection than their good
consciences--which is a great safeguard--the Indians not only did them
no harm, but laid hands on nothing of theirs or of their convent. This
was, as it were, a declaration that they had fled, not on account of
any harm that the ministers had done them, but on account of their
fear of the punishment which their bad consciences caused them to
dread--a fear increased by what the aniteras or witches, as the most
guilty, had falsely said to them with the purpose of alarming them. In
point of fact, the religious had had no idea of severe punishment,
but simply of remedying such pernicious evils. They pitied them as
being new in the faith, and pitied even the very witches as being
persons deceived by the devil, little exercised in the law of God,
and many of them not even baptized. The religious were greatly grieved
by this event, and carried down to the nearest village the adornments
of the church which they had there, taking with them some Indians
who feared God and did not wish to follow the pernicious behaviour of
those who fled from God to the devil. They made some efforts to bring
back with kindness those who had fled; and in this way some of them,
enlightened by God, returned to the bosom of the Church and the easy
yoke of the divine law. They made continual efforts to bring back
the rest, declining no labor, no journeys, and no discomforts, in
order to gain some soul from among these lost ones. The flight of
these Indians took place on the day of the ascension of the Lord,
May 28. Since they had retired into the mountains, the Spaniards,
as they were few, did not pursue them, deeming that on account of
the roughness of the country where they were the pursuit would have
little effect, and would cause many deaths, much suffering, and great
expense. Hence many of them remained apostates from the faith and
the baptism which they received, which is a cause of great grief.
On the nineteenth of the following month in the same year, ships
arrived from Mexico with thirty-two religious to aid in the work of
conversion upon which this province was engaged. On the following day,
Saturday, in the morning, they entered the convent, to the great joy
of themselves and of those who dwelt in it. Their vicar and superior
from Mexico hither had been father Fray Angel Ferrer, [11] who was
afterward a glorious martyr in Japon. When this company of religious
arrived in Mexico, he was vicar of the convent of San Jacintho, which
this province has near that noble city, as a hospice for the religious
who come to it from España. Since he who was conducting them [i.e.,
Aduarte] went back thither, father Fray Angel undertook the very useful
duty of conducting them to the Philippinas, in order that the former
might fulfil his office as procurator of the province. The Lord led
him, without his knowing it, that He might give him a glorious martyr's
crown, which he received a few years afterward, as will be told later.
These religious reached Mexico in the year 1613. Since in that year
there had been no ships from the Philippinas, it was necessary to
detain them there until the following year, with great risk that those
who were coming to these islands might remain in that kingdom, which
has so attractive a climate and is so abundant in all things; but as
these fathers did not come to seek for pleasures, but for the souls of
their fellow-men and labors for themselves, it was not hard to overcome
this and other difficulties which were met. To this good result the
excellent administration of the superiors greatly contributed, and the
constant occupation of the friars in holy exercises, prayer, fasting,
and disciplines. Thus they not only prevailed against the temptations
of ease and comfort, but were prepared so that the Lord might raise
them to higher things--some of them even to the glory of martyrdom,
which, as St. Augustine says, is the greatest glory of the church.
[In order to inspire in them a longing for these things, the Lord gave
them grace in the meantime to save some lost souls. Two notable cases
of this sort occurred, one in Cadiz and the other in Mexico. Two of
them rescued and returned to her convent, a wretched woman, eighteen
years old, whom a dissolute lieutenant had enticed from a convent
in Xerez. In Mexico there was a wretched man, a person of acute
intellect and learning, who had been guilty of an infamous crime
with a boy. He had refused to confess, and, when he was tortured,
had charged a number of innocent persons with complicity with his foul
actions. The president of the alcaldes de corte [i.e., "judges of the
high court"] was at this time Dr. Morga, who had a very kind feeling
for the religious of this province, since he had come to know them by
his long residence here as an auditor. By his assistance, and by that
of one of the officers of the prison, father Fray Pedro Muriel obtained
access to this unfortunate man; and by his wise and kindly conferences
softened his heart, so that he confessed his original guilt and also
his malice in making false charges against innocent persons. Both
before and after his execution, there were manifest signs that the
Lord had been pleased to grant him salvation. In the following year,
1616, father Fray Bernardo de Sancta Catalina, or Navarro, commissary
of the Holy Office in these islands, and one of the first founders of
the province, was a second time elected provincial. In the following
month, at a feast of the Visitation, there died in the city of Nueva
Segovia father Fray Garcia Oroz, a Navarrese by nation; he was a
son of the convent of our Lady of Atocha in Madrid, and a religious
old in virtue as in years. When he made his first efforts to come
to the province he had been hindered, but afterward carried out his
intention; and although, because of his years, he was unable to learn
the language, he was of great use to his companion who understood it,
by his assistance and by the good example of his life.]