As the alcaldes are allowed to stay in a_The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 28 of 55 1637-38 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century

they never understand the language of the country; for they are very

much in demand because of their official business, and have no time

(and usually no desire) to study the peculiarities of the province

which they administer. The cura, on the other hand, lives in the

midst of his parishioners, whom he knows thoroughly, and whom he also

represents against the government. Consequently, it happens that he

is the real authority in his district. The position of the priests, in

contradistinction to that of the government officials, is bespoken also

in their dwellings. The _casas reales_ [_i.e._, royal buildings]--for

the most part small, plain, and often dilapidated--are not in keeping

with the rank of the first officials of the province. The convent,

however, is usually a very large, imposing, and well-furnished

building. Formerly, when the governorships were sold to adventurers,

whose only thoughts were to enrich themselves from that office, the

influence of the priests was even much greater than at present. [133]

The following ordinances point out their former position better than

long descriptions.

"Although certain outrageous offenses have given fitting reason

for chapter x of the ordinances, wherein Governor Don Pedro de

Arandia orders that the alcaldes and justices shall have no other

communication with the missionaries than in writing, and shall not

visit them except in company, it is also nevertheless ordered that

they shall not do the latter ... on the assumption that the prelates

of the church shall employ all their energies in restraining their

subordinates within the bounds of moderation.... The alcaldes shall

therefore see to it that the priests and ministers of the above order

shall treat the gobernadorcillos and officers of justice with the

proper respect; and they shall not permit the latter to be beaten,

chastised, or illtreated by the missionaries, ... nor shall they be

compelled to serve them at table." [134]

The former alcaldes who bought their posts, or obtained them through

favor, and who had no previous training in official business, and often

no education and intelligence, and who did not possess the necessary

mental and moral qualities for so responsible and influential an

office, received a nominal salary from the State, to which they

paid a commission for the right to engage in trade. According to

Arenas (p. 444), [135] this commission was regarded as a fine on the

alcaldes for transgressing the law; "for since all kinds of trading

were forbidden to them by various laws, [136] yet also his Majesty was

pleased to grant a dispensation for it." [137] This irregularity was

first suppressed by royal decrees of September 10 and October 30, 1844.

The alcaldes were governors and judges, commanders of the

troops, and at the same time the only traders in their respective

provinces. [138] They bought in Manila the goods that were needed

in their provinces--usually with the money of the charities [_obras

pias_] (see p. 14, note 17); [139] for they themselves came to the

Philippines without any property. The Indians were compelled to sell

their products to the alcalde, and to buy his wares at the prices which

the latter established. [140] In such circumstances, the priests were

the only ones who protected the Indians against these bloodsuckers,

when they did not (as sometimes happened) also make common cause with

the alcaldes.

At present the government sends men who know the law to act as alcaldes

in the Philippines, who are somewhat better paid and are not allowed

to trade.

On the whole, the government is endeavoring to lessen the influence

of the curas, in order to strengthen the civil authorities; but

that will be only very imperfectly accomplished, however, unless the

tenure of office of the alcaldes be lengthened, and the office be so

assigned that the alcaldes will have no temptation to make money on

the side. [141]

THE AUGUSTINIAN RECOLLECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

[The following is translated and condensed from _Provincia de San

Nicolas de Tolentino de Agustinos descalzos de la congregacion de

Espana e Indias_ (Manila, 1879).]

Archbishopric of Manila

In this archbishopric the Recollect fathers have charges in the

provinces of Manila, Cavite, Laguna, the district of Morong, Bataan,

Pampanga, Zambales, and Mindoro.

[In the province of Manila, they have (1878) charges in the following

villages: La Hermita, with 1,767 1/2 tributes, and 6,747 souls;

Las-Pinas, with 1,149 1/2 tributes, and 4,771 souls; and Caloocan,

with 2,166 tributes, and 7,511 souls.]

District of Morong

This district, which is governed by a political and military commander

(who is at the same time administrator of the public funds), takes

its name from its capital village, which is located on the shore of

the lake of Bay. This district was created in the year one thousand

eight hundred and fifty-three. The villages of this district which

are located on the lake are under the care of Franciscan fathers;

Angono, Cainta, Jalajala, and Bosoboso of seculars; and we ourselves

possess the two following. [These are the villages of Antipolo, with

1,074 tributes, and 3,547 souls; and Taytay, with 2,479 tributes,

and 8,435 souls.]

Province of Bataan

This province is located in the island of Luzon, and is bounded on the

north by the provinces of Pampanga and Zambales, on the east by the

bay of Manila, and on the south and west by the sea of China. It is

governed by an alcalde, and is in charge of the Dominican fathers,

with the exception of Mariveles, Bagac, and Morong, which are in

charge of the Recollect fathers.

The missionaries of our corporation performed their first labors of

conquest in this territory. Here were founded the oldest villages

on our list; and here took place the first persecutions of our

long-suffering predecessors, who had the glory of watering with their

blood the country that they were evangelizing, the one that furnished

to the province of San Nicolas their protomartyr.

Fray Miguel de Santa Maria, accompanied by Father Pedro de San Jose

(who, although he had been a calced Augustinian, had become a Recollect

in Manila), and by brother Fray Francisco de Santa Monica, were the

first to leave the convent of San Juan de Bagumbayan; and prepared

by prayer and penance, and full of the spirit of God, set forth to

announce His mysteries to the idolaters and heathen, sent legitimately

to the mountains of Mariveles to illumine its inhabitants with the

light of the Catholic faith. They found those natives enveloped in

the most barbarous idolatry, adoring the sun, the moon, the cayman,

and other filthy animals. These people regarded certain old men,

as corrupt and as deceived as the divinities whom they were serving,

as the ministers of those deceitful gods. The customs of those people

were very analogous to the doctrines that directed them. Every kind of

superstition was practiced; homicide was a praiseworthy and meritorious

action; and their sacrifices on some occasions were human lives. In

that vineyard so filled with wickedness the above-mentioned fathers

announced the triune and one God, the mystery of the incarnation,

and the eternal duration of the future life. The missionaries suffered

more than one can tell from the inhabitants, who were opposed to and

stubborn toward their teaching. In their bodies did they submit to

hunger, and to the intemperance and inclemency of the elements; and

in their truly apostolic spirit they suffered mortal anguish because

of the blindness of their neighbors, which was in proportion to the

great love of God and the zeal for His glory which glowed brightly

in their hearts.

[The Recollects have charge of the villages of Mariveles, with 588

tributes, and 1,852 souls; Morong, with 870 tributes, and 3,154 souls;

and Bagac, with 496 1/2 tributes, and 1,743 souls.]

Province of Zambales

This province is located in the island of Luzon, north of Manila. It

is bounded on the north by the gulf of Lingayen and the province of

Pangasinan, on the east by the chain of mountains called Mariveles,

on the south by Bataan, and on the west by the Chinese Sea; and is more

than thirty leguas long in a north and south direction, and seven wide.

The preaching of the Recollects in this territory is mingled with the

beginnings of that religious family in the Filipino archipelago. One

may say that this was the region where the first discalced missionaries

and the parishes established by them tasted the first-fruits of their

evangelizing zeal, those first-fruits being offered to the Catholic

church as a testimony of the purity of their doctrine, and submitted

to the crown of Espana as its most faithful and disinterested vassals,

Although they arrived at these shores in the year one thousand six

hundred and six, in the following year they had already overrun

this province--to whose inhabitants they taught the mysteries of

our religion, and gave helpful instructions in the social life,

in contradistinction to their barbarous state.

The first who sowed the seed of the gospel in the province of Zambales

were the calced Augustinian fathers. Because of the lack of the above

religious, the captain-general of these islands and their metropolitan

cabildo entreated the vicar-provincial of the Recollects to assign

religious for the spiritual cultivation of that unfilled vineyard. In

the year one thousand six hundred and nine, our laborers went to

Zambales, although visits had been made two years previously by those

who were laboring in the province of Bataan, in order to increase the

gospel seed. The meekness and resignation of the fathers in the midst

of so much wretchedness and hardship arrested the attention of those

barbarians; and the fathers succeeded in catechizing and converting

many through their gentleness and kind treatment, and reduced them

to settlements.

The Recollect fathers were charged with the spiritual administration

of this province until the year one thousand six hundred and

seventy-nine. In that year, being obliged to go to take charge of the

province of Mindoro, and to preach the holy gospel there, they were

forced to hand over the missions of Zambales--eleven in number--to

the Dominican fathers, who assumed charge of them.

After the lapse of some years, and without explanation of the causes

which could induce the above-mentioned Dominican fathers to cease

to give spiritual food to those Christian communities with their

accustomed zeal, it is a fact that the discalced Augustinians

again took charge of that province, by the month of October, one

thousand seven hundred and twelve; and again undertook the direction

and continuation of their spiritual conquests until the year one

thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, when they were compelled

once more to leave it, for lack of religious. The secular priests

assumed the missions, with the exception of the mission of Botolan,

which was retained by the Recollects until one thousand eight hundred

and fourteen. There was a residence for the missionaries in each

of the villages, and even in various visitas there were suitable

churches and convents of cut stone, when we left this province in

the last century. On assuming it anew in the year one thousand eight

hundred and thirty-six, the father provincial of the Recollects,

Fray Blas de las Mercedes, attested that only ruins and desolation

were found. Since that time they have labored without ceasing in the

beautifying and adorning of the house of God, restoring the old ruins

and building anew; until they have succeeded in making the churches

worthy the majesty of the Catholic worship--already having, besides,

suitable edifices for the residences of their missionaries.

[The order has the spiritual charge of the following villages: Subic,

with 761 1/2 tributes, and 2,749 souls; Castillejos, with 917 1/2

tributes, and 4,013 souls; San Marcelino, with 1,165 1/2 tributes,

and 4,847 souls; San Antonio, with 1,053 tributes, and 4,722 souls;

San Narciso, with 1,564 1/2 tributes, and 7,597 souls; San Felipe,

with 1,262 tributes, and 5,063 souls; Cabangaan, with 685 tributes,

and 2,584. souls; Iba, with 1,007 tributes, and 3,896 souls; Palauig,

with 761 tributes, and 3,380 souls; Botolan, with 1,374 tributes, and

5,200 souls; Masinloc, with 1,647 tributes, and 6,541 souls; Bolinao,

with 1,795 tributes, and 5,971 souls; Bani, with 1,036 1/2 tributes,

and 4,288 souls; Santa Cruz, with 1,753 1/2 tributes, and 7,366 souls;

Balincaguin, with 1,122 1/2 tributes, and 4,138 souls; Alaminos,

with 1,669 tributes, and 7,436 souls; Agno, with 1,271 tributes, and

4,971 souls; Dasol, with 781 tributes, and 2,697 souls; San Isidro,

with 597 tributes, and 2,337 souls; and Anda, with 833 tributes,

and 3,180 souls.]

Province of Cavite

Coincident with the time of their arrival at Manila, the discalced

Augustinians began to labor in the conversion of the infidels who

inhabit the provinces conterminous to the capital. They dedicated

themselves with apostolic zeal to the preaching of the gospel and

the administration of the sacraments, with their gaze directed

to the needs of the future. They paid attention to what would be

found by experience, in succeeding times, to be a convenience and

a necessity--namely, to have convents of the Observance in the most

important settlements of the archipelago, in order to give shelter to

the religious worn out in the tasks of preaching; while at the same

time those houses were to serve as the base for their premeditated

plan, to establish in these islands the corporation of which they

were members, in a perfectly organized condition.

They founded the convent of Cavite, by apostolic and royal authority,

in the year one thousand six hundred and sixteen. It was dedicated

to St. Nicholas of Tolentino, was constructed solidly, and was

spacious, with a church which was suitable for the functions of

worship. Cavite was a suitable point, because of its great commerce

and the foreigners who go there in throngs. Thus, with their good

example and indefatigable zeal, they could do much good to needy souls.

This convent was at first supported by the alms of the faithful;

and afterward it acquired some incomes of its own through the gifts

of various devout persons, in houses, shops, and plots of ground.

In the year one thousand seven hundred and nine, Don Pascual Bautista

and other inhabitants of that port founded the brotherhood of our

father Jesus in this church.

The first prior of this convent was Father Andres del Espiritu Santo,

who was born in Valladolid, in January, one thousand five hundred and

eighty-five, his parents being Don Hernando Fanego and Dona Elena de

Toro. He studied philosophy there, and asked for the religious habit

in our convent of Portillo in the year one thousand six hundred, and

professed in that convent the following year. He devoted himself to

the study of the Holy Scriptures in the convent of Nava until the year

one thousand six hundred and five, when he determined to offer himself

for the conversion of the Indians, in the mission that was about to

go to Filipinas. Having been assigned to the province of Zambales,

he uttered the first words of his apostolic preaching at Masinloc in

the year one thousand six hundred and seven, where he succeeded in

converting and baptizing two thousand people, in founding a village,

and in erecting a dwelling and a church with the advocacy of St. Andrew

the apostle, November eighteen, one thousand six hundred and seven. In

the year one thousand six hundred and nine, without abandoning his

parish, he had to aid Father Jeronimo de Cristo in the reduction of

Bolinao; and when after a short time the latter died, he was appointed

vicar-provincial, although continuing to care for and to increase

his flock at Bolinao, where he succeeded in converting one thousand

six hundred souls. He concluded his charge in the year one thousand

six hundred and twelve; and in the year one thousand six hundred

and fifteen he was elected vicar-provincial for the second time. In

that term he finished the establishment of the convent of Cavite,

constructing an edifice of stone with a dwelling to accommodate

ten religious. In the year one thousand six hundred and eighteen,

at the completion of his term as superior, he was chosen commissary

to the court of Madrid. There he accomplished, with great success,

not only the negotiations for despatches suitable for the mission,

but the selection of the men whom he conducted [to Filipinas] in the

year one thousand six hundred and twenty-two. As soon as he reached

Manila he was again elected superior [and held that position] until

the celebration of the first provincial chapter, on February six,

one thousand six hundred and twenty-four, when he was elected first

definitor. In the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-six he

was elected provincial; he visited the ministries during his term,

and began the missions of Japon. He made great improvements and

additions in the churches and convents of Manila and Calumpang; and

labored greatly in repairing the church and convent of Cebu, which had

suffered from a fire. He was elected provincial for the second time,

in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-two, and definitor

in the chapter of thirty-five. In the year thirty-eight he asked to

be allowed to retire to a cell, but was elected prior of Manila.

After the conclusion of that office, he was retired to the convent

of Cavite and then to that of Manila, where he died holily at

the beginning of one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight. He was

seventy-eight years of age, and fifty-seven in the religious life,

fifty-two of which he employed in the Filipinas Islands, establishing

this province on a solid basis of religion.

[The villages in charge of the Recollects in this province are as

follows: Cavite, with 412 1/2 tributes, and 2,319 souls; Imus, with

3,830 tributes, and 14,439 souls; Cavite-Viejo [_i.e._, "Old Cavite"],

with 2,658 tributes, and 8,265 souls; Rosario, with 2,005 tributes,

and 6,906 souls; Bacoor, with 3,959 tributes, and 13,827 souls;

Perez-Dasmarinas, with 1,124 tributes, and 3,785 souls; Silang,

with 2,701 1/2 tributes, and 9,369 souls; Bailen, with 931 tributes,

and 3,697 souls; and Carmona, with 904 1/2 tributes, and 3,101 souls.]

Province of Batangas

In this rich province of the island of Luzon, flourishing through

its products and its active trade with the capital, of extensive

territory and densely populated, the discalced Augustinians were not

assigned with the intention of a permanent stay, in the olden times,

to preach the gospel to those natives.

However, present legislation regarding the service of parish churches

in this archipelago has, at the same time while it has varied in a

certain manner our traditional method of support, introduced us into

some of the parishes of the province of Batangas; and at the same

time when we have been obliged to cede villages in Visayas--which

were our offspring, and had been converted by our predecessors,

and whose history was identical with the ancient glories of our

corporation--in exchange we have received parishes organized by the

sweat and apostolic fatigues of ministers of the religion of Jesus

Christ, who were not members of our religious family.

[The villages administered by the Recollects are as follows: Rosario,

with 4,259 1/2 tributes, and 17,040 souls; Santo Tomas, with 2,832

tributes, and 9,748 souls; Lobo, with 805 1/2 tributes, and 3,200

souls; and Balayan, with 5,434 tributes, and 24,154 souls.]

Province of Laguna

The territory of this province, whose coasts enclose the great lake of

Bay, had been administered by the Franciscan fathers, in most of its

extent, from the times of its reduction. But in the year one thousand

six hundred and sixty-two, they invited us to share in the ministries

on the opposite coast, in the neighborhood of the port of Lampon;

and although those missions were not very desirable, on account of

the wretchedness of the country and the small number of tributes,

they were received as very meritorious for heaven, although but little

profitable when looked at from a worldly standpoint.

The Recollect fathers Fray Benito de San Jose, Fray Francisco de San

Jose, and Fray Clemente de San Nicolas having been assigned, with

three other companions, to the village of Binangonan, established

the first house and church, with the title of San Guillermo; and two

religious remained there. Afterward they went to the village of Baler

and established a convent, under the patronage of St. Nicholas of

Tolentino. The third was the village of Casiguran, with the advocacy

of our father St. Augustine. The fourth was established in Palanan,

with the title of Santa Maria Magdalena. The discalced Augustinians

resided for forty years in those convents founded on the coasts of

the Pacific, exclusively consecrated to the service of God, and the

sanctification of their neighbors, and they attained both objects

with great spiritual advantages.

We had religious there of pure virtue, who were imitating the virtues

of the dwellers in the desert. From those missions went forth our

father Fray Bartolome de la Santisima Trinidad, son of the convent

of Madrid. He lived much retired from intercourse with men; and when

he was elected provincial, in the year one thousand seven hundred

and one--at which time all said that he was a person unknown in

Manila--Archbishop Camacho uttered these words: "The election of the

discalced Augustinians has been and is, properly, an election by God

and by the Holy Spirit." While so great advance did the missionaries

on the opposite coast make in their own sanctification, not less

was the gain in the vineyard entrusted to their care. They made many

Aetas and heathen children of the Catholic church, and directed those

souls along the paths of eternal life. They had the special glory

of numbering, among those whom they directed, some privileged women

endowed with the gifts of heaven, and raised by the spirit of God to

a height of Christian perfection which confounds our lukewarmness in

His service. One of these was Sister Juana de Jesus, a native of the

village of Binangonan de Lampon, [142] an oblate nun of our order,

who elevated herself with the steps of a giant, even to the greatest

and most complete purification of her spirit, by her abstraction

from worldly affairs, by her heroic practice of all the virtues,

by her fervent daily communion, and by the most lofty contemplation

and the most clear vision that God vouchsafed her of the mysteries

of our holy religion.

In the lamentable period of the missions between the years one

thousand six hundred and ninety-two and one thousand seven hundred

and ten, when no religious came to us from Espana, our Recollect

family was obliged to abandon this territory which it had in trust,

for the lack of evangelical laborers. That action was taken in the

provincial chapter of one thousand seven hundred and four, and the

missions above mentioned, which we had served for more than forty

years, were returned to the Franciscans.

At present we have only the following village in the province of

Laguna: [Calauan, with 957 1/2 tributes, and 2,734 souls.]

Province of Pampanga

This province, lying north of Manila--including the district of Tarlac,

which was separated from the province in the year one thousand eight

hundred and seventy-three--is bounded on the north by Pangasinan,

on the south by the bay of Manila, on the east by Nueva Ecija and

Bulacan, and on the west by Zambales and Bataan. In this province,

which was begun by the Augustinian Observantine fathers (who still

have it in charge), permission to found missions in the mountains

of its territory which are on the Zambales side was granted to the

Recollect fathers, by virtue of certain acts that were drawn up in

the superior government without summoning the father provincial,

because of the reports of certain persons and the instance of other

private individuals. By those acts the conde de Lizarraga, governor

of Filipinas, charged the father provincial, Fray Jose de San Nicolas,

to assign missionaries to the localities of Bamban and Mabalacat. The

said father, because of his great experience of these islands and

their inhabitants, explained to the vice-patron the impossibility of

those missions living, and the little result that could be expected

from them on account of the fierce and untamable nature of the

mountaineers. His petition had no effect, and three missionaries

of great merit and learning were sent. By dint of great hardships,

and, by living in the same manner as the Indians, they succeeded in

baptizing many; but when they learned the fickleness of the Indian

nature, and that it was as easy for them to become baptized as it

was to take to the mountains to continue their former mode of life,

the missionaries proceeded more cautiously in giving them the benefit

of the regeneration.

[In this province the Recollects minister to the following villages:

Mabalacat, with 2,627 tributes, and 11,163 souls; Capas, with 564

tributes, and 1,923 souls; O'Donnel, with 308 1/2 tributes, and 1,159

souls; and Bolso, with 144 tributes, and 749 souls.]

Province of Mindoro

This province, directed by an alcalde-mayor, includes the island of

the same name, that of Marinduque, that of Luban, and others less

densely populated. Its boundaries are: on the north, the strait of

Mindoro; on the east and south, the sea of Visayas; and on the west,

the Chinese Sea.

In its extent, it is one of the foremost islands of the

archipelago. Its land is mountainous, its climate hot; and during

the rainy season it also exceeds other provinces in humidity, whence

results the richness of the soil. There are found all the products

of the country in grains and foodstuffs. However, that most fertile

country fails of cultivation in its vast areas because of the scarcity

of laborers, and has not been touched by the hand of man. Its conquest

was begun in the year one thousand five hundred and seventy, in the

district of Mamburao, by Juan de Salcedo; and it was completed the

following year, along the coasts from the cape of Burruncan to that of

Calavite, by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. The rest, with the exception of

the mountains in its center, has been gradually subdued by the zeal

of the regular missionaries. The calced Augustinian fathers began to

diffuse the teaching of the gospel in this island, and founded the

village of Baco, from whose convent the religious went forth to the

spiritual ministry of the converted Indians, who were then very few.

By cession of the Augustinians, the Franciscan fathers entered

this island. The said fathers were not satisfied with preserving

that already reduced, but extended the light of the faith through

the districts of Pola and Calavite, until they were transferred to

Camarines and Ilocos by the orders of their superiors.

The fathers of the Society of Jesus came in to fill the breach left by

the Franciscans. They founded the village of Naujan, which was governed

to the great gain of those Christians by Father Luis de San Vitores,

who left behind in that point a reputation for virtue and holiness

which was retained for many years among the Indians. That father

was withdrawn, to begin the conversion of the Marianas Islands. His

associates followed him, and the Christian souls of Mindoro remained

under the direction of the secular priests who were placed there by

the archbishop for their direction.

When the Recollect fathers had to leave the ministries of Zambales

which they had conquered and established at the cost of their blood

and by heroic labors, an order came at that same time from the court

of Espana, decreeing that the island of Mindoro be entrusted to a

religious family chosen from those existing in this country. The

governor of Filipinas, by the advice of the archbishop, thought to

compensate the Recollects for the loss of their primitive religious

conquests in the province of Zambales, by conferring on them the

parishes of Mindoro.

The Recollects resigned themselves to this disproportionate change,

since the exertions made to avoid it availed nothing. By virtue of

the order issued by his Excellency, the captain-general, Don Juan de

Vargas, directed to the province of San Nicolas (decreeing that it

should take charge of the missions of Mindoro), the then provincial,

Fray Jose de San Nicolas, assigning laborers for that new acquisition.

Father Diego de la Madre de Dios was assigned to the district of

Baco, which belonged to the bachelor Don Jose de Rojas; Father Diego

de la Resureccion, to the curacy of Calavite, taking the place of

Licentiate Don Juan Pedrosa; Father Blas de la Concepcion, to the

parish of Naujan, replacing the priest Don Martin Diaz. All the above

was effected in the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine.

The Recollects entered upon the preaching in Mindoro, in obedience

to the orders of the government. That was their reason for believing

that their stay in that territory was not to be transitory, but

that they could contemplate the organization of that territory upon

foundations intended for its increase and the greater welfare of its

inhabitants. For that purpose they planned to make the best division

possible of mother missions and those annexed, assigning for each of

the regular missionaries the barrios and visitas which were nearest

his residence, in order that he might aid all of them in their needs.

The apostolate of the Recollects in this island continued without

interruption until the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four,

when the scarcity of men in the province of San Nicolas forced them

to renounce it. They reassumed their missions there in the year one

thousand eight hundred and five, when the cause that occasioned their

cession ceased to exist.

[The villages and missions in charge in this province are as follows:

Calapan, with 1,335 1/2, tributes, and 4,495 souls; Naujan, with 1,687

1/2 tributes, and 5,408 souls; Puerto-Galera, with 544 tributes,

and 1,655 souls; Sablayan, with 756 1/2 tributes, and 2,520 souls;

Mangarin, with 366 tributes, and 859 souls; and Boac, with 3,117

tributes, and 13,562 souls.]

Bishopric of Jaro

The provinces of Romblon, Calamianes, and Negros, which are

administered by the Recollect fathers, were formerly included in the

spiritual jurisdiction of the bishopric of Santisimo Nino de Cebu. At

present they are comprehended in the bishopric of Santa Isabel de

Jaro, which was created by apostolic bull dated May twenty-seven,

one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. That bull was issued by his

Holiness Pius IX; it dismembered several provinces of the archipelago

from the bishopric of Cebu, and constituted the fourth bishopric of

Filipinas, which is suffragan to the metropolitan of Manila.

District of Romblon

This district, which is composed of a group of islands, today forms one

politico-military commandancy, which includes the villages of Romblon,

Banton, Badajoz, Cajidiocan, Odiongan, Looc, and Magallanes. All

those villages can be called the creation of the Recollects, who, when

they touched this territory, encountered a small number of Christians

scattered through the mountains of what is now the chief district. By

exposing their lives (and also losing them when the honor of God,

or the interest of the monarchy of Espana, demanded it), they have

succeeded in establishing many important villages from the wild

settlements that they received.

The few Christians of those islands composed the annexed village or

visita of the curacy of Ajuy in the island of Panay; and as it was

very troublesome for the cura charged with their spiritual nurture

to visit them, because of the risk that he ran in crossing over, and

the strength of the currents, he maintained there a secular assistant

who administered the sacraments.

The priest Don Francisco Rodriguez, charged with the unquiet and

uncomfortable life in that benefice, being worn out, discussed with

the father-provincial of the Recollects, Fray Jose de la Anunciacion,

a satisfactory exchange. He also renounced his right to the

proprietary curacy, whereupon the bishop of Cebu, Don Pedro de Arce,

with the consent of this superior government, gave us the spiritual

administration of Romblon, Sibuyan, Usigan (or the island of Tablas),

Simara, Banton, and Sibali [143] (which is called Maestro de Campo by

the Spaniards). The province of San Nicolas received those places,

for they considered them as the entrance into the Visayas Islands,

and a good stepping-stone for their religious to go to the lands of

Cebu and Caraga. Consequently, the Recollects began to increase and

organize what had until then been useless, in the year one thousand

six hundred and thirty-five.

[The villages and missions in the Recollects' charge are the

following: Romblon, with 1,341 tributes, and 5,858 souls; Badajoz,

with 711 tributes, and 3,356 souls; Banton, with 1,181 1/2 tributes,

and 4,717 souls; Cajidiocan, with 1,304 tributes, and 7,132 souls;

Odiongan, with 5,705 souls; Looc, with 5,449 souls; and Magallanes,

with 283 1/2 tributes, and 859 souls.]

Island and province of Negros

This island, located to the south of Manila, is bounded on the north

by the Visayan Sea, on the south by the sea which separates it from

Mindanao, on the east by the channel which separates it from Cebu,

and on the west by the sea that separates it from Paragua. It is one

hundred and twelve leguas from Manila; its length north and south is

forty leguas, and its breadth from east to west eleven.

The centuries of the conquest tell us that already was the religious

habit of the discalced Augustinians known in this most fertile

province; for in the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-two,

brother Fray Francisco de San Nicolas, a native of Cadiz, made a

voyage from Negros to Manila. During that voyage he suffered terrible

storms, escaping as by a miracle. That voyage was on business for

the service of the church, which proves that, in its beginnings, the

Recollects had sown the seeds of the gospel in that territory. In the

year one thousand six hundred and twenty-two, father Fray Jacinto

de San Fulgencio founded the convent which was called Binalgaban,

and which exercised spiritual care over one thousand five hundred

families. The said mission passed to the Society of Jesus. The divine

Goodness wrought some wonderful events for the conversion of this

island of Negros. [One of these is mentioned.]

But that germ was to produce its abundant and wonderful fruits in the

nineteenth century. The observation of the prodigious improvements

which four religious who entered this island with the rich treasure

of religion, to promote the spiritual and material welfare of their

fellows, have been able to produce, was reserved, in the designs of

Providence, for our epoch. By the force of their preaching the Catholic

worship is receiving an increase of a hundredfold; the villages are

dividing, and the parishes are multiplying; the population is assuming

a new character of culture and civilization; those Indians are becoming

affable, industrious, and enterprising; and they are very rapidly

attaining the moral and material recompenses due to their labor.

His Excellency, the most illustrious Don Fray Romualdo Jimeno, bishop

of Cebu, under date of April fifteen, one thousand eight hundred and

forty-eight, represented to the superior government the scarcity

of native priests for supplying the curacies in this province,

petitioning at the same time that the spiritual administration of

the said province be entrusted to one of the excellent orders in

Filipinas. The governor and captain-general, Don Narciso Claveria,

conde de Manila, assented to the proposition of the diocesan,

and entrusted the island of Negros to the province of the Recollect

fathers, by his decree of June twenty, one thousand eight hundred and

forty-eight. The very reverend father-provincial, Fray Joaquin Soriano,

received such an arrangement with due thanks; and immediately sent the

vice-patron his nominations for the curacies of Siaton, Cabancalan,

and Amblan--of which those chosen assumed possession in the following

year, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.

From that date the population has increased greatly. The barrios

have risen to be settled villages, and what were visitas have

become canonically-erected parishes. Agriculture has received a

rapid and enormous impetus; and the uncultivated lands, which

were full of brambles, have been transformed into productive

fields. That most fertile soil yields the rich products of sugar,

abaca, and coffee, and that with an abundance unknown in other

regions of this archipelago. Churches have been built, and convents

for the decent housing of the Spanish priest and the holy functions

of our order. Roads have been built, which have made communication

easy. Solid bridges of great beauty have been constructed; the waters

of the rivers have been taken to fertilize the fields; and in the

neighborhood of the rivers a number of hydraulic machines and steam

engines have been set up, the natural sciences being called in to

adapt their most powerful aid to the work. The natives of this island,

instructed and continually stimulated by their parish priests, have

proved by experience the value of agriculture, when it is favored by

nature and when they cooperate with their labor; and what labor can

do when aided with intelligence that does not become weakened before

troubles, but is directed with untiring constancy and endurance.

[The villages and missions of this province in charge of the Recollects

are as follows: Cagayan, with 1,251 1/2 tributes, and 4,521 souls;

Siaton, with 1,806 tributes, and 8,512 souls; Zamboanguita, with

1,060 tributes, and 4,0150 souls; Dauin, with 1,261 1/2 tributes,

and 5,855 souls; Bacong, with 1,816 1/2 tributes, and 8,020 souls;

Nueva-Valencia, with 1,400 1/2 tributes, and 5,387 souls; Dumaguete,

with 2,806 tributes, and 12,824 souls; Sibulan, with 1,222 1/2

tributes, and 4,817 souls; Amblang, with 1,436 tributes, and 5,744

souls; Tanjay, with 1,941 1/2 tributes, and 9,698 souls; Bais, with

752 1/2 tributes, and 3,204 souls; Manjuyod, with 841 tributes,

and 4,063 souls; Tayasan, with 987 1/2 tributes, and 4,009 souls;

Guijulngan, with 331 tributes and 1,441 souls; Tolong, with 353

tributes; Bayauan, with 51 tributes, and 291 souls; Inayauan, with

95 1/2 tributes, and 316 souls; San Sebastian, with 148 tributes,

and 436 souls; Escalante, with 2,133 1/2 tributes, and 5,429 souls;

Cadiz, with 1,187 1/2 tributes, and 3,842 souls; Saravia, with 2,140

tributes, and 9,825 souls; Minuluan, with 1,854 1/2 tributes, and 9,637

souls; Bacolod, with 1,905 1/2 tributes, and 8,059 souls; Murcia, with

1,400 tributes, and 6,500 souls; Sumag, with 1,179 1/2 tributes, and

3,772 souls; Valladolid, with 2,567 1/2 tributes, and 9,430 souls;

San Enrique, with 1,155 tributes, and 4,463 souls; La-Carlota,

with 1,131 tributes, and 3,068 souls; Pontevedra, with 1,451 1/2

tributes, and 4,683 souls; Ginigaran, with 2,185 1/2 tributes, and

9,728 souls; Isabela, with 832 tributes, and 3,171 souls; Gimamaylan,

with 1,641 tributes, and 6,402 souls; and Cabancalan, with 1,550 1/2

tributes, and 6,449 souls. The missions of Inagauan, San Sebastian,

and Bayauan, were established in 1868, while that of Tolon had been

established in 1855. In the twenty-eight villages above mentioned,

there are about forty Recollect missionaries, who are in charge of

two hundred thousand souls. The fertility of the island of Negros and

the opening up of the country in modern times have caused a great

increase in population from the near-by provinces of Cebu, Bohol,

Iloilo, Antique, and Capiz. Agriculture has been greatly advanced

and other improvements brought in by the Recollects.]

Province of Calamianes

These islands, located to the south of Manila, form in their multitude

an archipelago. Many of them of small extent, are inhabited; others

are the temporary habitation of the natives, who go thither to sow

their fields, because those lands are suitable for farming; and others

form a civil village and are religiously organized. The northern

boundary of this archipelago is the Chinese Sea; the eastern, that

of Visayas; the southern, the island of Paragua, which is included

in this province; and the western, the Chinese Sea. The capital is

about one hundred leguas from Manila. It has a military government

and an alcalde-mayor for its judicial business. As regards religion,

all the parishes existing in Calamianes belonged to the bishopric

of Cebu from the time of their reduction until the bishopric of Jaro

was erected, when all these parishes passed to its jurisdiction.

In the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-two, the numbers

of the discalced Augustinians were increased by the second and third

missions who had come from Espana, and by certain men who had taken

the habit in the convent of Manila. Consequently, they were prepared

to undertake new enterprises for the increase of the faith, and to go

to points distant from the metropolis in order to spread the knowledge

of the Christian name to those people who were living in heathendom.

[The early details of this mission have been fully given in previous

volumes. The villages and missions of this province (a number of

which are islands) in charge of the Recollects are as follows: Cuyo,

with 2,392 tributes, and 9,475 souls; Agutaya, with 519 1/2 tributes,

and 2,258 souls; Paragua, with 618 1/2 tributes, and 3,219 souls;

Dumaran, with 785 tributes, and 1,416 souls; Puerto-Princesa, with 573

souls; Culion or Calamian, with 871 1/2 tributes, and 2,438 souls;

and Balabac, with 581 souls. The Recollect martyrs of the province

of Calamianes are as follows: Francisco de Jesus Maria; Juan de San

Nicolas, 1638; Alonso de San Agustin; Francisco de Santa Monica,

1638; Juan de San Antonio; Martin de la Ascension; Antonio de San

Agustin, 1658; Manuel de Jesus y Maria, 1720; Antonio de Santa Ana,

1736. The fathers of this province held in captivity were Onofre de

la Madre de Dios, Juan de San Jose, Francisco de San Juan Bautista,

and Pedro Gibert de Santa Eulalia.]

Bishopric of Cebu

Province of Cebu

[The Recollects land at Cebu on their first arrival from Spain, and

are later conceded a chapel by Bishop Pedro de Arce near the city,

where they found a convent. We translate:]

... In later times, the edifice has been improved and modified;

the most notable of these changes was that of a few years ago,

which has made the convent larger and more beautiful, thus making it

possible for it to attain its object--namely, the entertainment of

the religious who go to Visayas, and of the sick, who are compelled

to go to Cebu to be cured of their ailments. The church is also very

large, and suitable for the celebration of religious functions with

the solemnity and splendor of the Catholic worship. The faithful of

Cebu and of the immediate village of San Nicolas attend that church, in

order to fulfil the Christian precepts and receive the sacraments. As

there are always religious instructed in the Visayan language, many

devout persons daily frequent the church of the Recollects....

In the beginning of its foundation, this convent had in charge the

spiritual administration of the souls in the island of Maripipi,

by concession of the above-mentioned bishop; but later, through the

force of various circumstances that occurred, the natives of the said

island went to the curacy of Bantayan, and the convent remained free

and without any obligation so far as they were concerned. At present

the religious of the community labor as far as possible in the welfare

of the souls of those near by, moved only by reasons of charity,

and by the greater glory of God, which they seek in its entirety.

[The Recollect villages in this province are as follows: Danao, with

2,797 1/2 tributes, and 13,012 souls; Mandaue, with 2,408 tributes,

and 11,034 souls; Liloan, with 1,385 1/2 tributes, and 6,962 souls;

Consolacion, with 982 1/2 tributes, and 4,277 souls; Compostela,

with 3,830 tributes, and 4,856 souls; Catmon, with 965 1/2 tributes,

and 4,988 souls; Carmen, with 4,259 1/2 tributes, and 5,588 souls;

Camotes Islands, with 1,158 tributes, and 5,660 souls; Pilar, with

1,145 1/2 tributes, and 5,600 souls; and San Francisco, with 1,304

tributes, and 5,831 souls.]

Island of Bohol

Situated in the center of the Visayas Islands, and bordered on

its eastern part by the island of Leyte, having the great island of

Mindanao on its southern side, and being very near the island of Cebu

on the north, Bohol formed an integral part of the territory of that

province until the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four,

when a royal order dated July twenty-two was received in which the

creation of the new province of Bohol was decreed.

The true beliefs of our holy order were received in that territory from

the first time of the preaching of the gospel in this archipelago. The

people of Bohol believed in the God of the Christians as quickly as He

was announced to them, and became docile sons of the Catholic church

without opposing that obstinate resistance to the good news which

was experienced in the other islands, and which cost the life of one

of its first apostles. If they remained in their first heathendom,

it had not come to take the gross forms of a corrupted idolatry,

applying the great idea of the divinity to despicable objects. Free

of this inconvenience, when the majesty and grandeur of our God was

manifest to them, they revered His adorable perfections. Even though

there were perverse inclinations in the hearts of those natives,

they were not given to polygamy; and when the holy law of God was

explained to them, and the respect that the sanctity of marriage

(which was elevated by Jesus Christ to the dignity of a sacrament)

merits among Christians, they received these doctrines without any

repugnance, since they were already free from the great obstacles which

perversity and corruption, elevated to their highest power--namely,

to have polytheism and idolatry as their foundation and support--can

present against those doctrines. In the year one thousand five

hundred and ninety-five, the Jesuit fathers, Torres and Sanchez,

[144] came to this island, and very soon established the Catholic

religion in Baclayon. Later, they founded a church and convent in

Loboc; and then went to a site called Talibon, and overran the rest

of the island, where they were able to conquer the difficulties which

presented themselves in the way of submitting to their rule--born

rather of repugnance to the Spaniards than of systematic opposition

to the Christian faith. When Legaspi passed by Bohol and anchored at

Jagna [145] in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-four, he

already had occasion to observe that same thing; and the explanation

given him by a Moro from Borneo whom he had found there trading, was,

that two years before eight vessels from the Molucas had committed

great outrages, and those pirates had said that they were Castilians;

and since they were of the same color and bore the same arms [as the

Spaniards], the people of Bohol imagined that the Spaniards would

do the same thing to them as the men of the eight Portuguese boats

had done. [146] When Christianity had acquired a great increase in

that island, hell, angered by those spiritual improvements, availed

itself of the instrumentality of certain Moros of Mindanao, in order,

if possible, to choke the seed of the gospel. Knowing that the best

means of attaining that object was to make them rebel against the

Spaniards, who had brought to them the happiness of their souls, hell

stirred up a rebellion which had the same causes, and was invested

with the same forms as the insurrection of Caraga, and was of more

lasting effect. The missionaries having absented themselves in order

to celebrate in Cebu the beatification of St. Francis Javier, which

was celebrated in the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-one,

two or three criminals who were wandering through the mountains seduced

the tribes, as the messengers of the _diguata_ [_i.e._, divinity], to

refuse obedience to the Spaniards, to abandon their settlements, and to

unite together on the heights in groups, to make themselves feared. Of

six villages formed by the Jesuit fathers, only two remained faithful

[147] to the king of Espana; while the rest took arms against the

constituted authorities, and formed bands which displayed a hostile

attitude in the hills and high places--so that it was necessary to

employ force and violent measures, in order to make them return to

the fulfilment of their duty. Exemplary punishments were inflicted,

which procured a partial result. But that subversive idea was one of

fatal consequences, and produced some pernicious fruits so lasting

that they have come down almost to our own days.

Entrance of the Recollect fathers into the island of Bohol

If in the seventeenth century a rebel voice--which emancipated from

their obedience and respect to the authorities many unthinking

persons, who adhered to the sedition--sounded in the mountains

of Bohol, in the eighteenth century that voice, instead of having

been completely extinguished, had continued to increase. We have

admitted the valiant character of those natives, and granted their

natural aptitude in the use of weapons; concurrent with these were

various other causes which aroused and increased their disaffection,

which had been extended to a very considerable number. Captained by

intrepid leaders--as for example, Dagahoy, Ignacio Aranez, Pedro

Bagio, and Bernardo Sanote--they had formed a body of insurgents

in the mountains of Inabangan and Talibon. That gave the superior

government plenty to think about, because of the many years that

the insurrection was in existence; and because it always continued

to increase until Fathers Lamberti (the missionary of Jagna) and

Morales [148] (of Inabangan) were sacrificed by them, a little

after the middle of the past century. In such condition, then, was

public order in the province of Bohol; and the Spanish name enjoyed

so little respect in that restless and disorganized island when,

inasmuch as the Jesuit fathers had left all the Spanish dominions,

their administration was adjudged to us, in the year one thousand

seven hundred and sixty-eight. Father Pedro de Santa Barbara was

assigned as cura of Baclayon, and other Recollect religious to the

villages of Loon, Maribohoc, Tagbilaran, Dauis, Jagna, Dimiao, Loboc,

and Inabangan, which are the eight missions existing in that island in

the above-mentioned epoch. A most difficult undertaking was offered

to the zeal and loyalty of the first Recollects who entered Bohol. A

great prudence united with the greatest zeal, great valor with a

knowledge of all the difficulties, and a foresight of all the results,

were necessary to rise superior to that so difficult situation, and to

fulfil their social and religious trust in so delicate circumstances,

as was advisable to the service of religion and the greater dignity of

our country. When the father vicar-provincial of our new ministries,

who was then the cura of Baclayon--a religious of great energy,

of proved zeal, and of not common daring--found himself in peaceful

possession of the spiritual administration of all the reduced villages,

he thought seriously of probing to the bottom the beginning and

progress of the rebellion, its actual condition, and the disposition

of their minds. He established correspondence with the leaders, held

several conferences with them, acquired their utmost confidence,

and succeeded in obtaining the submission of Dagahoy; and the other

leader, Bernardo Sanote, also returned to the service of God and

of his Majesty. The Recollects proceeded with so fine tact to make

themselves masters of the wills of those untamable mountaineers, that,

in a short time after their arrival, they no longer needed an armed

force for the security of their persons--although until then pickets

of soldiers were maintained in nearly all the villages for the defense

of the ministers. Consequently, the soldiers were able to retire from

Loay, Maribohoc, and Loon, but always remained in Inabangan, Jagna,

and Tagbilaran--not for the purpose of protecting the ministering

fathers, but to prevent all devastation and disorder on the part

of those who were not subdued. A general amnesty was granted to all

the delinquents who had taken to the mountains. That produced many

submissions, although it did not wholly extinguish an evil whose roots

were so old, and which responded to so many causes as had contributed

to its growth. Its final consequences lasted until the beginning of

the present century; and when it was believed necessary to obtain

the complete tranquillity of the island and the entire extinction of

the rebels, an expedition was formed in the time of General Ricafort,

composed of one thousand one hundred men--who were enrolled in Cebu,

and were embarked to fulfil their destiny on May eight, in the year

one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven. The governor of Cebu,

Don Jose Lazaro Cairo, commanded those forces. He was accompanied

by the ex-father-provincial, Fray Miguel de Jesus, parish priest of

Danao; and by father Fray Julian Bermejo, ex-provincial of the calced

Augustinians, parish priest of Boljoon. The outcome of the expedition

was all that could be desired; insubordination ceased to exist in the

interior of Bohol, and the last remnants of the emancipated came to an

end in all parts of the island. The fruits of peace began to appear;

and from that time all the inhabitants, at the same time while they

acquired the habits of obedience and respect, began to experience a

new era of prosperity, and the satisfaction consequent on the social

life. From that time the population has greatly increased; and all

the inhabitants remain faithful to their duties, very respectful to

all authority, and faithful vassals to the king of Espana.

For more than one century all this island has been under the spiritual

direction of our province. During that time the number of the Catholics

has increased in so prodigious a manner that it has been raised to

a number almost triple what it was when we received it. At that time

it was an integral part of the province of Cebu. At present it forms a

province by itself, and is one of the most populous of the archipelago;

and its people are closely settled and compact, active and industrious,

diligent and laborious.

We received eight missions in this province, which were the eight

regularly organized villages which then existed. Their spiritual

direction occasioned great sorrows to the ministers of that time,

some of these even succumbing as victims to the insolence and

obstinacy of their own children. Today we count one hundred and ten

years of our existence in that district, and we cannot write of those

natives a single page like those of their old history, which was full

of disagreeable, and some horrible, relations--whether because the

Recollects had an understanding of the peculiar dispositions of those

Indians, and the means suitable to gain their respect and obedience;

or whether, perchance, one might say that the people of Bohol have had

sufficient penetration to observe in their conduct certain manners

so considerate and so full of demonstrations of benevolence, which

sentiments of compassion and interest in the adversities and lack of

resources of their parishioners, would cause in the minds of their new

parish priests. Whichever of these may be accepted to explain the long

period of our stay in Bohol, exempt from all trouble, and the steady

increase in our enjoyment of the consideration and confidence of our

proteges, we shall always make known the facts--very surprising and

very gratifying to our corporation--that were already begun to be

observed from the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight,

when the first Recollects went to that island. They were received

without any opposition, obeyed without repugnance, and were loved

and respected; and these mutual relations have continued without any

lapse until the present time.

[The towns of this Recollect province are the following: Loon, with

3,097 1/2 tributes, and 17,202 souls; Calape, with 2,627 tributes,

and 8,187 souls; Tubigon, with 2,109 1/2 tributes, and 10,008 souls;

Inabangan, with 1,568 tributes, and 7,024 souls; Getafe, with 144

tributes, and 3,912 souls; Talibon, with 1,089 tributes, and 8,558

souls; Ubay, with 669 tributes, and 2,844 souls; Candijay, with

738 tributes, and 5,030 souls; Guindulman, with 1,994 1/2 tributes,

and 9,600 souls; Sierra-Bullones, with 541 1/2 tributes, and 2,235

souls; Duero, with 1,175 1/2 tributes, and 5,352 souls; Jagna,

with 2,431 tributes, and 11,829 souls; Garcia-Hernandez, with 1,225

1/2 tributes, and 6,847 souls; Valencia, with 1,307 1/2 tributes,

and 7,099 souls; Dimiao, with 1,717 1/2 tributes, and 8,280 souls;

Lila, with 879 tributes, and 4,023 souls; Carmen, with 749 tributes,

and 3,575 souls; Bilar, with 1,281 1/2 tributes, and 5,669 souls;

Balilijan, with 1,051 1/2 tributes, and 5,998 souls; Catigbian,

with 651 1/2 tributes, and 2,759 souls; Loboc, with 2,469 tributes,

and 11,430 souls; Sevilla, with 996 1/2 tributes, and 4,835 souls;

Loay, with 1,759 tributes, and 8,171 souls; Alburquerque, with 1,191

tributes, and 5,319 souls; Baclayon, with 2,609 tributes, and 11,142

souls; Tagbilaran, with 1,954 tributes, and 11,081 souls; Paminguitan,

with 5,705 souls; island and village of Dauis, with 1,889 tributes, and

9,090 souls; Panglao, with 1,457 tributes, and 6,543 souls; Maribojoc,

with 3,372 tributes, and 18,200 souls; island and village of Siquijor,

with 1,740 tributes, and 7,800 souls; Canoan, with 1,465 tributes,

and 7,082 souls; Laci, with 1,180 1/2 tributes, and 5,403 souls;

and San Juan, with 1,143 tributes, and 5,280 souls.]

The province of Bohol at the present time

After having mentioned in rapid survey the villages of which this

province is at present composed, which are otherwise so many quiet

groups of honest and industrious natives--who form, in the religious

estate, the same number of parishes canonically established, each

one with its own pastor, who is charged to watch over them through

the functions of religion, and to dispense the sacraments and other

benefits of religion to the souls of his respective parish--and

having enumerated the communities that make up the general total of

the population of what is now one of the most populous provinces of

the archipelago: a meditative mind goes back about one century with

the desire of ascertaining the state of the province in that time,

since now we are seeing its condition in our own time. It has been

stated above, in the introduction, that the villages having regular

ministers were eight in number. In regard to canonical legislation

then in force, those ministers had the character of missionaries,

and not of parish priests. They labored in the salvation of souls

with the apostolic zeal generally recognized (and denied by no one),

which is characteristic of the fathers of the Society of Jesus. But

the social state of those natives was a hindrance to the abundant

fruit that ought to be expected from the fervent devotion and charity

of so distinguished missionaries.

The insurrections which took place in Bohol in the seventeenth and

eighteenth centuries had succeeded in forming a considerable body of

malcontents who raised the banner of rebellion and disorder; and the

disorder at the same time when it destroyed the obedience of most

of their subjects to the authorities, also influenced very directly

the advancement of Catholicism, and gave as a result that all those

who took to the mountains, thus being separated from the immediate

neighborhood of the eight churches then existing, returned to the

habits of heathenism at the same time when they passed to the camp of

freedom. Other things also were added to the causes which diminished

the abundant fruits of the priestly ministry. That coldness of the

people of Bohol toward the Spanish name, observed long before by

Legaspi at the time of the discovery, and certain opposition inspired

by some captious natives who favored but little the very zealous

ministers of Jesus Christ (who were sacrificing their own existence

for the eternal salvation of those souls), placed this territory in

an abnormal condition, taking from it the forces necessary for its

advancement and prosperity. Above all, peacefulness had left those

shores, a loss which made it impossible to give signs of life and

social and religious increase. One hundred and ten years have elapsed

since the discalced Augustinians first entered Bohol. They did not go

there as conquistadors; they did not go to preach the name of Christ

to heathenism and idolatry; they did not go to make new vassals for

the king of Espana of a people who had not sworn their obedience. The

mission of the Recollect fathers to the island of Bohol was to continue

the tasks of the Jesuit fathers; to preach the divinity of our Lord

Jesus Christ, just as the Jesuits did; and to present themselves to

the observation of those natives in their apostolic and religious

bearing, as worthy imitators of so zealous priests. They also had

the thorny task of inculcating habits of gratitude and obedience in

discontented minds; and of reducing a considerable number of rebels

to the payment of the royal tribute, who had already begun a struggle,

with some pretensions to triumph. The hope of religion and society in

the discalced Augustinians, in the difficult circumstances through

which the island of Bohol was passing when they took charge of its

administration, was that peace would be extended to the remotest

corners of its territory, so that the religious beginnings would have

an efficacious influence on the misguided multitude, and Spanish

authority would completely dominate men and things which had been

separated from its beneficent influence. Facts are demonstrating with

the greatest clearness that the Recollects attained abundantly the

end of all their aspirations. At present we are experiencing that the

reality exceeds the hopes that could animate them when they entered

on their task. The universal harmony that this province enjoys in

the present century, and the state of prosperity in which all the

natives live, as well as the growth of population, and the increase

of culture, religious fervor, and instruction that they enjoy--all

this speaks very loudly in favor of the preaching of the Recollects

in Bohol. These considerations also demonstrate with the greatest

clearness that, even if the Recollects were not its conquistadors,

they are without dispute the instruments employed by Providence for

its political and religious advancement; and that they are with all

propriety the pacifiers and restorers of the beginnings of Christian

society in that island, which was in confusion until that time. As

soon as they entered, a relation of sympathy was established between

them and their proteges, as hidden as it was intimate, by virtue of

which they were enabled to direct all their individual forces to the

attempt at perfection and the improvements that they had planned. As

they always directed these successfully, and were always obeyed with

promptness, they were enabled to realize the material and intellectual

transformation of that district newly entrusted to their care. There

are at present thirty-three parishes in this province, according to

the preceding relation. In each one of them has been erected a Catholic

temple, sufficient in itself alone to give glory to the hand that has

directed it. In all of those parishes there is a parish house--more

or less elegant, but always sufficiently solid and suitable--which

is teaching to the present generation (and the future one also)

the fatigues that the Recollect must have endured who placed the

first stone and finished the work, in each of those parishes (which

are a like number of villages), public halls have been constructed

under the direction of the parish priests. In all of them schools for

both sexes have been erected, where religious instruction is given

to them. Since this exercises its proper influence on the minds of

the youth, it has succeeded in forming the present generation--who

are established in all the beliefs of our true religion, exactly

observant of the practices which it imposes upon them, thankful and

respectful to the ministers of Jesus Christ, and very diligent in

the fulfilment of their social duties, all those who pay tribute to

his Majesty being comprehended in this obligation.

The number of those who paid tribute in this island could not have been

very large in the eight missions that existed when the island came

into our possession, when one considers the state of insubordination

in which that multitude were living, most of whom were separated from

organized society and in revolt in the interior of the territory. In

proportion as it continued to assume its normal state, and commenced

to enjoy the peace that it has at the present time, its population

continued to increase, and in the year one thousand eight hundred

and thirty-eight was more than one hundred thousand souls; in one

thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, the total of its population was

increased to one hundred and fifty thousand; at present the island

of Bohol, which is a province, has a population of two hundred and

sixty thousand souls. [149]

This prodigious increase of inhabitants in an area so small, and

amid conditions so little advantageous for agriculture, has no other

explanation than the conscientious and constant labor of the regular

parish priests, each of whom notes in his respective parish register

with scrupulous niceness the heights and depths of his district,

without any of the alterations that can modify the statistics of

his village escaping his eye; and who assigns to their respective

dwellings men and women, and youths and old people, with the correct

date of their birth. From this patriotic labor it results that the

obligations of the royal treasury are satisfied by all the people of

Bohol at the moment when they become of proper age.

Reflecting upon the advantageous conditions by which the character

of those peoples has been modified, and how they have been completely

withdrawn from those untamable and savage forms of life which lasted

until the last century, and that they have at present become fond

of work, respectful to authority, and grateful in their social

intercourse, we can infer that the ministers of the order who

are at present watching over the necessities of their souls are

laboring tirelessly in the confessional, are preaching the word

of God without cessation, and are consoling the sick in their most

remote dwellings. In the midst of so many lofty occupations of the

religious ministry, the Recollects have been able to study even the

physical necessities of their proteges, and the ingenious manner

of making these lighter. To their direction is owing the different

industries proceeding from the products of the earth, which, prepared

and elaborated with due intelligence, furnish other kinds of business,

permitted and honorable, which afford abundant means for the life

and support of those natives. If agriculture does not furnish most

abundant products, because of the nature of the soil in Bohol, those

natives do not for that reason sleep in inactivity; they go to seek

their living where they can find it. They do not abhor work, which

is the true fount of all means of subsistence. They undertake voyages

by land and sea, with the praiseworthy purpose of making their living

by virtue of their fatigues and labors. This is the exact description

of the inhabitants of Bohol; and this is what has been obtained from

those people (from whom religion and the country expected so little)

by the province of San Nicolas de Tolentino, by means of the worthy

children of its bosom whom it sent to that land, and through those

who have continued, furthered, and perfected the arduous attempt at

the culture and civilization of those natives....

The Recollects of Mindanao

[The entrance of the Recollects into Mindanao, and the earlier years

of their preaching there, have been already given in preceding volumes

of this series.]

Division of parishes in Mindanao

Although it is clear that the fathers of the Society of Jesus entered

this land in the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-six to

procure its spiritual conquest, by permission of the cabildo governing

the vacant see of Manila, and that the call of the gospel resounded in

the site Tampacan [misprinted Jampacan], when our soldiers retired the

fathers of the Society had to do the same. In the year one thousand

five hundred and ninety-nine, the Observantine Augustinians took

this vineyard in their charge, and father Fray Francisco Xaraba [150]

went to cultivate it with a companion; but undeceived, [and seeing]

that only war could open the way for their preaching, because of

the exceeding ferocity of the people, they abandoned the undertaking

and returned to Cebu. The missionaries of the Society returned [to

Mindanao], and preached on the river of Butuan; and those who were

then converted by them formed a visita of a village in Bohol.

After the deed of arms above mentioned, the Recollect missionaries,

with the necessary permits from the bishop and the royal vice-patron,

founded the first convent and village of Tandag, and then the convent

and village of Jigaquit; a third village and convent on the river of

Butuan, whence they continued their conquests and went up the river

of Butuan to the interior of the island, to a lake called Linao; and

the fourth village and convent, fifty leguas from Butuan. Then they

went to Cagayan, [151] where they also founded a church and convent;

whence they crossed to the island of Camiguin, where they did the same;

and lastly in the island of Surigao and Bislig. Eight settlements,

perfectly organized in the social order, with churches suitable for the

public worship of our true religion, with convenient buildings for the

habitation of their ministers--where they could practice the exercises

of the monastic life, and whence issued the splendors of their edifying

holiness to illumine the dark shades of idolatry and paganism, served

as the original basis for the spread of the faith. After that, they

continued to found many other villages dependent on the first, which

were then considered as visitas or subject villages. Some of those

villages came in later times to be the residences of our Recollect

ministers, according to the available number of religious that the

corporation possessed, or according as the necessities or growth of

population in the said subject villages demanded.

Our predecessors also succeeded in getting to the lake of Malanao,

and the village of Iligan, and Bayug. As there were certain questions

regarding the spiritual jurisdiction, his Majesty defined them,

marking out the limits of religious zeal between the two families

(who were equally inflamed with the desire for the salvation of

souls), by drawing a line from the point of Suloguan to the cape of

San Agustin, and assigning the administration on its western side

to the most religious fathers of the Society of Jesus, while our

peaceful possession was marked on the eastern side. Lastly, when

the reverend Jesuit fathers left the islands, the administration of

Zamboanga was adjudged to us in the year one thousand seven hundred

and sixty-eight, as well as the villages of Lubungan, Dapitan, and

Misamis (and consequently their barrios--some of which, as time went

on, came to be villages).

Present administration of the Recollects

Her Majesty Dona Isabel II decreed the establishment of the house of

Loyola on October nineteen, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two,

with permission to go to the missions of Mindanao and Jolo. September

ten, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, another royal order

was issued, declaring that the missionaries of the Society of Jesus

have exclusive rights in the planting and successive development of

the effective missions in Mindanao; and that the same were to take

charge of the administration of the curacies and missions already

reduced by the Recollect Augustinian religious as fast as these were

vacated by the death or transfer of those who serve them with canonical

collation or under title of temporary incumbent. Her Majesty, desiring

at the same time to concede an indemnification, and to give proof of

the appreciation with which she views the services bestowed on the

Church and on the state by the above-mentioned Augustinian religious,

has been pleased to grant to the province of San Nicolas de Tolentino

the administration of the curacies of the province of Cavite or of

the diocese of Manila which are served by the native clergy.

May nineteen, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, another

royal order was issued, dictating instructions for the compensation

of curacies accorded to the province of San Nicolas de Tolentino

in return for those in Mindanao which they were to surrender to

the Jesuit missionaries. In that order it was decided that in every

certified instance of a vacancy in Mindanao, and its surrender to and

occupation by the Jesuit fathers, indemnification therefor was to be

made to the Recollect fathers, in Cavite and the diocese of Manila,

with the curacy which might be vacant at that time, even if it were

in charge of a temporary incumbent; and if there were more than one

curacy vacant, then the wishes of the vice-patron were to be followed,

after first hearing the very reverend archbishop, the provincial of

the order, and the council of administration. Should there not be any

curacy vacant, then [indemnification was to be made] with the first

which should become vacant. As obedient subjects to the orders of her

Majesty, from that date we relinquished, in the same order in which

they fell vacant, the ministries that we held in Mindanao; and we

handed over Zamboanga, Tetuan, Lubungan, Dapitan, Butuan, Surigao,

Jigaquit, Davao, Bislig, Cattabato, Mainit, Dinagat, Balingasag,

Alubijid. In exchange we received the curacies in the district of

Morong--namely, Antipolo and Taytay; the village of La Hermita, in

the province of Manila; Calauan, in Laguna; Cavite port, and Rosario,

in the province of Cavite; Boac, in the island of Marinduque; and the

villages of Rosario, Santo Tomas, Balayan, and Lobo, in the province

of Batangas. The sacrifice made by the Recollect corporation by ceding

parishes created by it and watered with the sweat and blood of its

most eminent members, nourished by the doctrine of apostolic men to

be revered by us, and very worthy of our imitation, is equal to the

respect with which the Recollects have always received the orders of

their august monarchs, and to the obedience and adhesion with which

they have always served in this archipelago as Catholic priests,

and in the shade of our Spanish banner.

[The Recollect villages still in Mindanao are as follows: Tandag,

with 1,783 1/2 tributes, and 3,957 souls; Cantilan, with 189 1/2

tributes, and 7,366 souls; Cabuntog, with 990 tributes, and 3,731

souls; Numancia, with 862 1/2 tributes, and 3,366 souls; Cagayan,

with 2,585 1/2 tributes, and 11,499 souls; Jasaan, with 1,2821

1/2 tributes, and 5,878 souls; Iponan, with 1,078 1/2 tributes,

and 5,570 souls; Alubijid, with 1,210 tributes, and 4,989 souls;

Iligan, with 1,098 tributes, and 4,577 souls; Misamis, with 1,561

1/2 tributes, and 6,419 souls; Jimenez, with 2,178 1/2 tributes, and

8,616 souls; Catarman, with 1,202 tributes, and 5,105 souls; Sagay,

with 1,218 tributes, and 5,482 souls; Mambajao, with 1,684 tributes,

and 5,246 souls; and Mahinog, with 1,037 tributes, and 4,382 souls. In

the time of La Concepcion (_ca._ 1750), the Recollects had charge

of thirty-six villages in Mindanao and dependent islands; in 1852,

they had charge of eighteen, and were showing rapid increase when

they were ordered to transfer them to the Jesuits. The martyrs and

captives of the Recollects in Mindanao are as follows: Juan de la

Madre de Dios, killed 1723; Brother Juan de San Nicolas, martyred;

Jacinto de Jesus y Maria, martyred; Alonso de San Jose, killed 1631;

Juan de Santo Tomas, killed 1631; Pedro de San Antonio, killed July

21, 1631; Agustin de Santa Maria, killed May 16, 1651; Lorenzo de

San Facundo, captured 1635; Hipolito de San Agustin, captured May 20,

1740; Antonio del Santo Cristo, captured 1754; Esteban de San Jose,

killed by Moros, March 28, 1764; Jose de Santa Teresa, killed in combat

with Moros in 1770; and Jose de la Santisima Trinidad, captured 1774.]

Marianas Islands

[These islands were in charge of the Jesuits, but after the expulsion

of the Society were given to the Recollects, who had them in charge

during 1768-1814, when they abandoned them because of their few

laborers. The Recollects reassumed that field in 1819, and in 1879

had there seven priests.]

_Tables showing tributes and number of souls in Recollect provinces

and villages, at various times_

_In 1751, as published by father Fray Juan de la Concepcion_

Regular

Villages and provinces Tributes Souls ministers

San Sebastian 96 366 1

Mariveles 643 2,005 3

Pampanga 74 783 2

Zambales 1,851 7,678 8

Mindoro 1,540 10,912 5

Calamianes 1,717 5,148 5

Romblon 1,220 1/2 5,808 3

Masbate 619 2,950 2

Ticao 367 1,550 1

Cebu 330 1,500 3

Caraga 3,340 14,995 5

Curregidorship of Iligan 1,167 4,970 4

Total 12,955 1/2 58,665 42

_In 1839, by the prior provincial, father Fray Blas de las Mercedes_

Regular

Provinces Tributes Souls ministers

Tondo 1,777 1/2 8,498 2

Cavite 2,277 1/2 12,228 1

Pampanga 744 5,781 2

Zambales 4,171 1/2 19,997 6

Mindoro 1,400 1/2 6,675 3

Capiz 1,793 9,544 2

Calamianes 2,959 1/2 15,342 5

Cebu 22,285 123,503 20

Misamis 5,046 36,591 7

Caraga 6,140 29,292 5

Zamboanga -- 5,704 1

Marianas -- 6,982 3

Total 48,594 1/2 278,137 57

_In 1851, by the prior provincial, father Fray Juan Felix de la

Encarnacion_

Regular

Provinces Tributes Souls ministers

Tondo 2,397 1/2 11,906 2

Cavite 2,858 15,271 1

Bataan 1,099 1/2 4,424 1

Zambales 10,204 1/2 44,558 10

Pampanga 1,289 1/2 6,087 1

Mindoro 1,972 1/2 8,346 5

Capiz 2,640 12,519 3

Calamianes 3,251 1/2 16,031 4

Cebu 34,299 186,028 24

Island of Negros 6,571 1/2 30,391 8

Zamboanga 1,552 8,220 2

Misamis 6,936 42,334 10

Caraga 6,012 23,480 5

Nueva-Guipuzcoa 1,696 1/2 7,330 2

Marianas -- 8,435 2

Total 82,762 430,360 80

_In 1878, by the prior provincial, father Fray Aquilino Bon de San

Sebastian_

Regular

Provinces Tributes Souls ministers

Archbishop of Manila

Manila 5,083 19,029 3

District of Morong 3,553 1/2 11,982 2

Cavite 18,525 1/2 65,558 9

Laguna 957 1/2 2,734 1

Batangas 13,331 54,142 4

Pampanga and Tarlac 3,644 15,004 4

Bataan 1,955 6,749 3

Zambales 23,058 1/2 92,975 19

Mindoro 7,806 1/2 28,592 6

Bishopric of Jaro

Romblon 7,136 32,661 7

Island of Negros 43,870 178,937 34

Calamianes 5,186 1/2 21,861 7

Bishopric of Cebu

Cebu 14,214 1/2 67,808 10

Bohol 52,600 1/2 255,706 35

Misamis 14,925 62,746 10

Surigao 3,744 14,463 3

Bislig 1,783 1/2 7,571 1

Marianas -- 8,125 6

Total 221,375 946,643 164

[A note at the end of the volume states that the Recollects of the

province of San Nicolas of the Philippine Islands numbered, in 1879,

1,004 deceased friars who had labored there.]

PRESENT CONDITION OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION IN FILIPINAS

[The following account is obtained from _Archipielago filipino_

(prepared by the Jesuit fathers at Manila; Washington, 1900), ii,

pp. 258-267.]

The progressive increase of Catholics in Filipinas until 1898

In order to understand the present condition of the Catholic

religion in Filipinas (we refer to the year 1896, before the Tagal

insurrection), it will be advisable to place before the eyes of the

reader the growth of the Christian population and the increase of

the faithful from the coming of the Spaniards until the present time.

The number of inhabitants whom the Spaniards encountered at their

arrival in these islands is not known with exactness, but it is

calculated by some historians as below two millions; and it will not

be imprudent to affirm that they all scarcely reached one and one-half

millions--whether idolaters, who admitted the plurality of gods; or

Moros, who although they professed (as they still profess) the unity

of God, did not believe (as they still do not believe) the divinity

of Jesus Christ, but who have, on the contrary, been instructed from

their earliest years by their parents and pandits to hate Christianity.

The Spanish missionaries arrived, then, and began the work of

evangelization at the same time as the humanitarian undertaking to

reduce them to a civilized life; for most of the Indians and Moros

were living in scattered groups along the coasts, and in the fields

and thickets in small settlements.

What was the result of their apostolic labors? Let us see. Father

Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio, [152] chronicler of the Franciscan

missionaries, gives us the following data:

_General summary of souls, reckoning only the natives that were reduced

to Christianity throughout the archipelago of Filipinas in 1735_

In 142 villages in charge of the seculars

throughout this archipelago 131,279

Calced Augustinians (in more than 150 villages) 241,806

Order of St. Dominic (in 51 villages) 89,752

The Society of Jesus (in 80 villages) 170,000

Augustinian Recollects (in 105 villages) 63,149

Discalced Franciscans (in 63 villages) 141,196

Total 837,182

Father Delgado, who wrote in the year 1750, gives almost the same

statistics, but adds the following:

"I do not doubt that the souls that are ministered to, throughout the

islands of this archipelago, by secular and regular priests, exceed

one million and many thousands in addition; for, in the lists made by

the ministers, the children still below the age of seven years are

neither entered nor enumerated. Accordingly, I shall base my count

on the enumeration made a few years ago."

In the work entitled _Estado de las Islas Filipinas_, written by Don

Tomas de Comyn in 1820, and translated into English by William Walton

in 1821, the following is contained as an appendix:

Recapitulation of population in Filipinas

Total number of Indians of both

sexes (Catholics) 2,395,687

Total number of Sangley mestizos

(Catholics) 119,719

Total number of Sangleys or Chinese 7,000

Total number of whites 4,000

Total population 2,526,406

Comparison of the population in 1791 and 1810, exclusive

1791 1810 Difference

Number of Indians 1,582,761 2,395,687 812,926

Number of mestizos 66,917 119,719 52,802

Total 1,649,678 2,515,406 865,728

He concludes by saying:

"The resultant difference of the foregoing comparison, founded on

public documents, shows an excess of fifty-two per cent of increase

in each eighteen years; and if a like proportion continues, the

population of the Filipinas Islands will be doubled in thirty-four

years--an increase which could be judged incredible if we did not

have an extraordinary example in Filadelfia [_i.e._, Philadelphia],

which has doubled its population in twenty-eight years, as Buffon,

supported by the authority of Doctor Franklin, affirms."

The above assertion of Comyn has been realized now in all exactness,

if we are to judge by the assertions, in his published works, of Don

Felipe de Pan, a studious newspaper man of Manila; for, according to

that writer, the population of Filipinas exceeded 9,000,000 in 1876.

Ferreiro, secretary of the Sociedad Geografica de Madrid [_i.e._,

"Geographical Society of Madrid"], also calculated the population of

Filipinas in 1887 at 9,000,000 approximately, a number which seems

to be somewhat above actual fact.

In an investigation finished in the last quarter of 1894, the

population of the archipelagoes which composed the general government

of Filipinas appears in the following form:

Christian parish population 6,414,373

In concealment [_i.e._, refugees] 128,287

Regular and secular clergy 2,651

Indian and Spanish military 21,513

Those in asylums [_asilados_] 689

Criminals [_penados_] 702

Chinese foreigners 74,504

White foreigners 1,000

Moros 309,000

Heathen 880,000

Total 7,832,719

Finally, the secretary's office of the archbishopric of Manila offers

us the following enumeration with respect to the Catholics existing

in the archipelagoes of Filipinas, Marianas, and Carolinas, in the

year 1898, according to the following lists:

Number of souls by dioceses

In the archbishopric of Manila 1,811,445

In the bishopric of Cebu 1,748,872

In the bishopric of Jaro 1,310,754

In the bishopric of Nueva Segovia 997,629

In the bishopric of Nueva Caceres 691,298

Total number of Catholics 6,559,998

To whom is due this increase of Catholicism, and this growth of the

population of Filipinas in general, from the time of the conquest by

the Spaniards? It is due to the regular and secular clergy. One can

scarcely ascribe any importance to the immigration into Filipinas

during the lapse of years. The Chinese, and the Europeans (including

the Spaniards themselves), can be considered, as a general rule,

as birds of passage, who come to live here for a few years and then

return to their own country. The Filipino population has increased,

thanks to the organization and good government at the centers [of

population], which were established chiefly by missionary action,

at the time when the natives of the evangelized territories became

Christians. The secular power, even when aided by arms, has not even

attempted to form villages of the heathen; neither have the military

posts become well populated or stable settlements. The center of

attraction and of coherence in Filipino villages has always been,

and is still, the church and the convent. The parish priest (who is

not a bird of passage) is, as a rule, the most respected authority,

the chief guarantee of order and peace, and the most careful guardian

of morality--an indubitable and most important cause of increase in the

population of every country. The numerous and important settlements,

which have now other powerful roots and elements of cohesion, began and

were formed thus. If the center of union of which we are speaking be

removed from them, especially if they are recent and young, one will

see how families break up, and how the new citizens easily return to

the life of the mountain.

Present state of the archbishopric of Manila, and of the bishoprics

of Cebu, Jaro, Nueva Caceres, and Nueva Segovia

In order to feed this flock of six and one-half millions of Catholics,

the church of Filipinas relies on one archbishop and four bishops.

The present archbishop of Manila is Don Fray Bernardino Nozaleda,

of the Order of St. Dominic, a wise and prudent prelate, who took

possession of his see October 29, 1890. This archdiocese has a

magnificent cathedral, and possesses a considerable cabildo, which was

composed of twenty-four prebends in the time of Spanish domination. The

ecclesiastical court has its offices in the archiepiscopal palace. The

conciliar seminary is a fine edifice, and is in charge of the

fathers of the congregation of St. Vincent de Paul; [153] but it is

at present closed, because of the condition of war prevailing in the

country. The _obras pias_ of the miter amounted before the revolution

to a considerable fund, and are in charge of an administrator. The

archbishopric of Manila has 219 parishes, 24 mission parishes, 16

active missions, 259 parish priests or missionaries, and 198 native

secular priests for the aid of the parish priests.

Don Fray Martin de Garcia de Alcocer, of the Order of St. Francis,

governs the diocese of Cebu. He is a very worthy prelate, and is

greatly beloved by all his diocesans. He took possession of his

diocese December 11, 1886. There is an old cathedral in Cebu, and

another new one was erected when the revolution was begun. That city

has, also, a conciliar seminary in charge of the Paulist fathers,

and two hospitals subordinate to the miter. The diocese numbers 166

parishes, 15 mission parishes, 32 active missions, 213 parish priests

or missionaries, and 125 native clergy.

By the death of Don Fray Leandro Arrue, which happened in 1897,

Don Fray Mauricio Ferrero, an ex-provincial of the religious of the

Order of the Augustinian Recollects, has just been appointed bishop

of Jaro. The bishopric of Jaro possesses a cathedral church, which

is also the parish church of the city of Jaro; and it has a court

corresponding to it, and a seminary under the management of the

Paulist fathers. In the diocese there are 144 parishes, 23 mission

parishes, 33 active missions, 200 parish priests or missionaries,

and 73 native clergy employed in the parish ministry.

The diocese of Nueva Caceres has as Bishop Don Fray Arsenio del Campo,

of the Order of St. Augustine, who took possession of his see June 3,

1888. Although it, like the dioceses of Cebu, Jaro, and Nueva Segovia,

has no cabildo, nevertheless there is a cathedral church in Nueva

Caceres, an ecclesiastical court, a conciliar seminary in charge of

the Paulist fathers, and a leper hospital. The bishopric of Nueva

Caceres has 107 parishes, 17 parish missions, 124 parish priests or

missionaries, and 148 native priests.

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 28 of 55 1637-38 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century · 第 14 / 15 章

As the alcaldes are allowed to stay in a province only three years,