This residence is subject to the preceding one, that of Zebu. The
harvest reaped in it your Paternity will learn from the letter of
Father Valerio Ledesma [39] herewith enclosed. He says: "In accordance
with the direction of your Reverence I visited the island of Bohol and
gave my first attention to collecting the people, who were scattered
everywhere, into one place. To many I suggested means of peace, and
proposed efficacious remedies; and at last I succeeded in getting a
thousand men, the greater part of whom had been trained in the use of
arms, to leave their mountains, from which it had been impossible to
draw them before, and to assemble at one spot. We also attempted to
attract a number of barbarian inhabitants of the mountains, who had
never looked upon any mortals before they saw our fathers, making use
of all of the offices of humanity and of the allurements suitable
to their nature, and we succeeded. We assigned them a settlement
near the river, where they have now built a church, to which they
flock on Sundays. We have baptized one hundred and twenty of their
children, or even more. The adults have not only laid aside all
of their fierceness, but pray for baptism with the greatest ardor,
singing chants, and night and day recite the Christian faith.
"On the day sacred to St. Anne, to whom the church was dedicated,
the conversion of a certain old chief, on whom they all look as a
father, made a beginning for the conversion of the rest. He on bended
knees begged me with the most humble prayers that I would bathe him
in the sacred fount. His example greatly confirmed in their purpose
those who were ready for baptism, and excited others to desire it;
so that one after another, to the number of more than one hundred,
came as suppliants for baptism. In Visaia I baptized eighty-nine
adults at one time, and a few days later ninety-four--partly children,
partly adults; and on another day all the rest of the natives. Leaving
here I crossed a mountain; and the Lord obtained as spiritual gain
twenty-nine children, with faces like those of angels; and with the
cleansing water we sprinkled them in the name of the Holy Trinity,
along with three adults whom I had taken with me that they might
hear the sacrifice of the mass, and might by word and example be more
accurately instructed in the Christian faith. After we had gone some
distance thence, we came to a hamlet in which the natives had built
a convenient church in preparation for our arrival, extending over a
space of ten cubits. Here we began to spread our net, or rather the
net of Christ, and caught in it all the fish that were there; for
all the leading men and women, with old and young, great and small,
cast themselves at the feet of Christ Jesus, recognizing Him as the
true God and ardently pleading to be joined to Him in faith through
the mystery of baptism. And here I began to recognize the favor which
God had shown me, in calling me forth from España in these days;
for this single instance was enough reason to call me forth. On the
very first occasion when we baptized, we plunged a hundred persons
in the sacred fount; on the second, all the rest without exception.
"When I was once explaining to a fierce and barbarous fellow the great
glory of paradise and the dire pains of hell, he answered, just as
if he had been possessed by a demon, that he had rather go to hell
than to paradise; and, as he was one of the chiefs in that region,
he carried a great many with him to the same decision of a perverse
mind. But I did not hesitate to attack the foolish fellow again and
again, and I insisted upon the horror and the eternity of the torments
with great vehemence of language; but he answered that he certainly
ought to go, after this life, there, where his parents and the rest
of his ancestors had departed, rather than anywhere else. Then I
responded that he had better just try the force of fire; but he, with
hands as hard as his heart, did not hesitate to snatch up some burning
coals from the hearth. However, a few days later, his mind divinely
changed, he ran out into the fields and meadows, and, calling all his
tribesmen together, he urged them to accept the Christian sacraments,
with such zeal that he had no equal among the Visaians."
In another letter sent to the father-visitor from the same place,
the same Father Valerio writes that another father had written to
him that in the islands Lobo and Dita he had sprinkled four hundred
persons, chiefly infants, with the most holy waters. Thus within the
interval of three months more than a thousand had been initiated by
the same sacraments, and numberless others are left burning with the
same desire. Therefore the members of our Order declare that the time
is come for the salvation of that island, and eagerly wait for workers.
But your Paternity will learn of a more glorious fruit from these
missions in Bohol from the letters of Father Gabriel Sanchez and Father
Cristofero Ximenez, [40] who have been assigned to that mission. [41]
In letters written in the month of October, Father Gabriel writes as
follows: "Our Lord has singularly blessed our attempts and labors. For
after the flocks of the heathen were gathered in one place they were
converted to God with such earnestness, so completely without pretense,
that I can say nothing else than that God their Maker and Redeemer
has desired by some peculiar favor in their calling to add them to
His flock--inasmuch as within two months two thousand mortals have
yielded themselves to the laws and customs of Christ, by accepting
baptism. And it is my opinion that, if some fathers are ready,
the whole of them will accept the yoke of Christ. It is beyond the
power of language to tell with what spiritual joy I am affected when
I see men who are almost savages of the forests hastening down from
the mountains to supplicate the benefits of baptism. Nay, the very
children, like to angels, taught by I know not whom, now repeat the
Christian faith. Indeed, a few days ago one came to me not ignorant
of his catechism, whom I had not seen for ten years, and with great
earnestness begged me not to refuse to baptize him. The catalons,
or priests of the idols, also come, and show by so many proofs that
they desire baptism with all their hearts, that it is necessary
to satisfy their desires. Truly, my Father, I abound in delight,
I rejoice, I exult; nor is there anything in this world set before
me than to serve our Lord God with all my heart, and to desire that
all should be turned to the worship of His Divine Majesty. On Sunday,
in church and elsewhere, there were counted seven hundred persons. If
your Reverence were to see at sunset a hundred mountain boys and girls
who have been newly added to Christ marching in procession along the
bank of the river, praising God in harmony and chanting all together
the Christian faith, he could not help dissolving in tears of joy. A
few days ago in Dita five hundred were purified with holy baptism. Thus
in the whole region of Bohol we may now easily count three thousand
Christians. At the beginning there were only eight hundred; now,
by the accession of a new blessing of God, twice thirteen hundred
have been added in baptism."
With regard to another brief mission undertaken by a priest, the
same Father writes as follows: "God adorns and enriches this Tobigon
[42] people with so many heavenly gifts that I do not dare depart
hence, and break the thread of our most happy progress. The church
is filled with people morning and evening; no one is anxious about
food, although they may not have it, or may have to bring it from a
distance. All their care is to be Christians, and to be initiated in
baptism. In these fifteen days in which we have instructed them in
the rudiments of the Christian faith, there have been baptized more
than two hundred and fifty adults. There remain forty catechumens,
for the rest will be baptized after our return.
"An old man, a chief who is held in high honor, and who has hitherto
been obstinate, has at last told me that he is ready to bow his
head to baptism. He is all white-haired and decrepit, so that he
can scarcely combine word with word. Since he is unable to come to
church, I am compelled to go to his house. I will baptize him, with
another man of advanced age, as early as possible. It seems to me no
small evidence that they have been predestinated, that both of them
have waited so long, and that they now begin to glow with so great
a desire for baptism."
With regard to another mission, Father Gabriel Sanchez writes that the
archdeacon of Zebu, who holds a benefice in Tana, went to the island
of Bohol, twelve leagues distant, to ask our superior for a father
skilled in the language, to preach the gospel to his tribe. Father
Gabriel was sent, and in one month heard four hundred confessions,
and offered to many the sacred body of the Lord. He also baptized
eighty small children and some larger ones. The custom was there
introduced of having boys march in procession in the public streets,
and chant the Christian belief. The same thing has been done in the
church, so greatly to the delight of the people that even the chiefs
of the tribe think it small honor to them if they are not sometimes
examined in the same belief.
The Indian wife of a local governor was bedridden, and one night began
to suffer so intensely that she was entirely deprived of the power of
speech. A father of the Society was called, who found her entirely
speechless. And since she had not confessed her sins, although she
tried to do so, the father began to recite the holy gospel, and to
sprinkle her with holy water; and when this was done she collected
her strength and, after pronouncing the name of Jesus, said, "Have
mercy upon me!" Then, in the presence of many, she desired to confess;
and after less than a quarter of an hour she arose from her bed, so
well and whole that the father would not listen to her, but directed
her to come to church on the following day to make her confession,
which she did. The same thing happened to the same father in the case
of two other sick persons, whom by the recitation of the gospel and by
the sprinkling of holy water he restored to sense and health, so that
they were able to confess their sins. Further, on two different days
having gone to two children near to death, and deprived of the power
of speech, with the same antidote of the gospel and of holy water,
he restored both to their former health, so that one of them went so
far as to jump suddenly out of his bed and return to his boyish sports.
The same priest also went, for the sake of hearing confession, to a
man who lived a league and a half from the town, whose body was so
weakened and torn by sickness that he could not bear to be touched
or to be turned from one side to the other. When his confession had
been heard and the gospel had been recited, the father went away on
Saturday of that week. On the following Sunday, when the father asked
how the sick man was, he was told that he had been restored to health,
and had gone out to an island in order to get by hunting what was
necessary for his food. One night, while the daughters of one of the
chiefs were chanting the heads of the Christian law, they looked up
from a sort of portico and saw a crucifix in the sky, with a kind of
crown on the head, rough but beautiful, and with the whole body and
breast plainly visible. It shone like the sun, and went up to heaven
until it reached the sphere of the moon; as soon as it had reached
that it vanished. The sight of this vision caused the spectators as
much joy as its disappearance did sorrow. The father commanded that
the whole thing be recounted in church, in the presence of many, by
those very persons who had seen it; although, as that tribe is very
simple and modest, they showed great fear and shame in telling the
story. Afterwards it was learned that the same crucifix had appeared
in another place two leagues away. This vision ought to be recognized
as of greater value because it befell persons of exceeding virtue,
who are persevering in their pristine habits of holy living.