The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 31, 1640

Chapter XXXVIII

The advance made by the Indians of this province in virtue, and their attendance upon the sacraments

Even if the religious in this province of Nueva Segovia had done no other good than bringing to an end or preventing so many sins of idolatry as these Indians used to commit, every day and every hour, by adoring the devil and offering him superstitious reverence in all the ways which have already been described, a very great service indeed would have been done to the Lord, to whom all such actions as these are directly offensive. In these idolatrous acts His honor is taken from Him, and His divine supremacy is overthrown and given to His greatest enemy. To prevent one of these offenses to God would be of much more merit than to prevent any homicide whatsoever, for that is a direct offense only against a man; while idolatry is directly against God, and takes from Him His divine honor, which is much more valuable than the life of a man. If this be true, how high is the merit of having prevented the innumerable acts of idolatry which used to be committed daily by those Indians, and having brought to an end the multitude of sins which followed upon this one – constant wars, murders, robberies, drunkennesses which surpassed one another, lewd actions, and all the other vices which were committed – without the rulers of those people concerning themselves the least in them or punishing them, except when they personally were wronged. And this they did, not out of zeal for justice, but as their personal act of revenge, so that they sinned more in the excess of the punishment than the delinquents had sinned in the faults for which they were punished. Now all these evils came to an end, as the result of the preaching of the religious, to the great glory of God. Hence, if they had done no more than this, very great indeed would the service have been which thereby they wrought and continue to work for the Creator of all and the universal Lord. But this was not all; for when these evil growths had been rooted out, there were planted in the hearts of these Indians the opposite virtues. By the aid of the Lord they began so soon to bear flowers and fruit that the first bishop of this province, Don Fray Miguel de Venavides, a holy and most learned prelate, wrote to his Holiness Clement VIII, who at that time governed the church, the following report, in which he gives a faithful account of the establishment of his bishopric, with the accuracy to which his office and dignity obliged him. “This province,” he says, “is very new in the preaching of the gospel, for it is only three years since there were ministers of the Order of St. Dominic in it. Before that time there used to be seen now and then a priest in the place where the Spaniards lived. As for preaching to the Indians, there was no idea of such a thing. This province is very near Great China, being distant from it less than seventy leguas; so that now the faith of the Lord appears to be approaching their powerful and great kingdom. The native race of the province is a very spirited one, whom it has cost the Spaniards many efforts and the lives of many men to subdue. As soon as the Order of St. Dominic came into this region, they immediately went to live among the Indians; and they built their churches and houses, which were more like huts built to last two days. They employed upon them very few laborers, and had no teacher or journeymen. The Indians would have died before they admitted them to their villages (and, as it was, there was some difficulty about it), if the good name of those who had been in Pangasinan had not reached these Indians also – who in this way learned how the religious treated the Indians as if they were their own children, and defended them against those who wronged them. When they began to consider the mode of life followed by the religious, their patience and labors, their avoidance of flesh food, their many fasts, continual prayers, great poverty – for the poverty of the Order of St. Dominic here is very great – and the gentleness and love with which they treated the natives, God was pleased that in those villages where there are missionary religious, all the inhabitants desired to be Christians. They have not only become very devout toward God, but very friendly to the Spaniards; thus the religious have put peace and security where they were not before. As a result, in regions where soldiers and garrisons used to be necessary, there now are none, and the country is very peaceful. Every evening the men gather together and recite prayers before a cross, which is usually set up in the plaza of the village, the women doing the same by themselves in another place. Baptisms in the heathen villages are constantly increasing, while those for whom there are not missionaries enough ask for them with all their hearts, and are so desirous to become Christians that we ought therefore to offer thanks to God. [Some chiefs invited the missionaries to their village, saying that they all wished to become Christians. A Spaniard who had command in one village where they were building a church, directed the soldiers to interfere with the work, which would have injured his private interests; but within a short time all those men died horribly. The fathers drive out devils from those who are possessed by them. It is only for lack of missionaries that the whole country is not filled with churches.”

The report is very short, and it is therefore necessary for us to expand upon it, making use of the reports of the founders and first missionaries themselves. In addition to what has already been said, they report as follows. Great as was the labor of bringing these souls from darkness to light, they have come to understand their duties, worshiping the Lord with great devotion, and regularly attending His holy sacraments. They go beyond the commandments of God and of His church to do additional works of devotion – especially the women, for they can more easily come to be instructed, and can more easily do what they are told, as they are less occupied than the men are with things to distract their minds and thoughts. Some of them are so devout that they walk always in the presence of God, doing nothing without an inward prayer to Him. In Tular, or Abulug, a village of more than a thousand inhabitants, in which there were more communicants than in the other villages, the religious taught many of them to strive to meditate every day upon some of the mysteries of the rosary. This was an exercise to which the first founder of the province, father Fray Juan de Castro, was very much given, and in which many of his disciples and subjects have followed him. Thus these Indians day by day meditate upon one after another of the fifteen mysteries of the rosary. Other Indians lay aside part of their daily food for charity. Bringing about these results requires from the minister much labor, teaching, assistance, perseverance, and prayer; for without these there is very little or nothing that they can do of themselves, without books or any other guide to direct them. As it is, the Indians have advanced wonderfully – visiting and caring for their sick, especially when they are poor; taking discipline at night in their houses; fasting beyond what they are required; frequenting the churches; and offering their prayers at dawn and at evening. There were some of them who, at the very beginning of their Christian career, went through the fields looking for the little children of poor people who could not take them to town; and, bringing these to be baptized, they acted as their sponsors, making gifts to them afterward of swaddling-clothes or some such thing. Heavy as are the labors of the religious, their joy in them is still greater.

Very great difficulty was found, at first, in bringing the Indians to confess. They regarded it as a shameful thing for them to report to the confessor all the evil things they had done and thought, and they also feared to give the religious power to annoy or blame them by means of their confession. “When a dozen persons were gathered together for their first confession, there was not one of them who was willing to begin, for everyone wished the other to make the experiment. At last the fathers summoned an Indian who came from Pangasinan, and who had longer been a Christian and was better acquainted with the fathers. The Indians asked him many questions about the matter, all of which he answered well, encouraging them greatly; he told them that in his country the Christians confessed without any evil results following. At last one Indian woman, more courageous than the rest, ventured to go to make her confession where the father was patiently waiting in the church – commending the matter to God with all his heart, because it was very plain that the hesitation of the Indians was on account of the fear they felt. She confessed, went away very well satisfied, and, returning to the rest, told them what had happened. They asked her a thousand new questions, especially if the father was angry when she told her sins, and whether he had scolded her. She answered ‘No,’ and that, on the contrary, he had treated her very kindly and lovingly; so they all determined to make their confessions, and began them heartily.” So they come now and make their confessions; and in general it is not necessary to summon them, for they anticipate the confessors, and sometimes even beg that their confessions may be heard, as a penance. They showed the greatest faith and sincerity in their confessions, striving to be reconciled with all their enemies before making their confession. The religious generally encouraged them to make their confessions on the day of their patron saint; and one Indian woman, named for St. Anne, was unwilling to confess on that saint’s day. When the father asked her the reason, she answered that she had had a quarrel with one of her neighbors, and that they did not speak to each other; and she begged the father to reconcile them. After he had done that, she very readily made her confession. It frequently happens that a man accused in a court of law denies the accusation, and that the religious is unable to draw anything else from him; while in confession the same man will clearly accuse himself of the same fault which he had previously denied, and will deny again if the same question is asked him on another trial. It not infrequently happens that if they have any ill-will against the religious, or have said anything against him, they confess to that very man, telling him of the ill-will that they have felt against him.]

Chapter XXXIX

The devotion with which these Indians approached the holy communion, and some events which give much glory to the Lord

[Since the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist is so high and difficult a thing to teach a people whose heathen state makes them opposed to ideas so lofty, the religious in this region spend a great deal of effort upon teaching the Indians this supreme mystery.] At first, only very few and very carefully chosen persons were admitted to the communion, according to the ordinance of a provincial council of Lima, confirmed by the Apostolic See, which in Act ii, chapter 20, says,1 Precepit sancta sinodus parochis, ceterisque Indorum praedicatoribus, ut saepe ac serio, de fide huius mysterii eos instituant; and, later, Quos autem parochus, et satis instructus, et correctione vitae idoneos iudicaverit, iis saltem in paschate, Eucharistiam administrare non praetermittat. It is true that the Indians of these regions have much greater capacity than those of Peru, of whom this council spoke; yet because they were so new in the faith, and so badly fitted by their ancient customs for this supreme mystery, the holy communion is not given to them indifferently at Easter, but is given to those whom the minister judges to be properly prepared. At the beginning, greater attention and caution were necessary. Hence, after they had been thoroughly instructed in the mysteries of the faith, and in particular in the doctrine of this holy mystery, and when they showed a desire to receive the holy communion, they were examined as to their lives, habits, and reputation, the most credible witnesses in the village being called in to testify. If they were found prepared, they were admitted to this supreme meal, to this holy table. A week before they communicated, unless they were occupied – and they generally gave up their occupations for this purpose – they went to church and heard spiritual addresses every day. [On these days they prepared themselves with more than ordinary prayer, and rose at midnight to pray and to take their discipline. If they were married, they separated their beds at least on the eve and the day of the communion. Many of the men went to the convent, and followed the hours with the religious. On the day of receiving communion, they followed the same customs as did the members of our order, dedicating the whole day to God, and keeping in it the silence which we observe in our convents on the day when those religious who are not priests communicate. They were taught to say something after mass in order to give thanks to the Lord; for since they cannot read, and have no books, the ministers have to teach them everything of this kind – especially at the beginning, for afterward there are many of them who teach the others. At the same time, they receive what the minister tells them with greater respect. Many extraordinary examples of piety have been exhibited by the communicants.] In the village of Pata there was an Indian chief, a man of great valor, named Don Francisco Yringan, of whom mention has several times been made. He, being governor there, had as a guest in his house a Spaniard who was traveling that way. He treated him kindly and entertained him as well as he could. The guest, not being content with this, asked him to find an Indian woman, that he might sleep with her; and gave him some trinkets with which to gratify her. But the Indian refused to accept them and to do what the Spaniard asked him, saying that this was wicked and that no one ought to do such a thing, least of all a communicant. This was a reply with which the old Christian ought to have been put to confusion, and which should have made him correct his desires; but it was not so; on the contrary, he grew angry at the answer, and threatened to cane the Indian unless he did what he was told. The Indian turned his back and bending his head said, “Give me as much of a caning as you please, for I am not going to do what you ask.” The Spaniard was so intemperate and discourteous that he vented his anger upon him and caned him, the Indian suffering with great patience, as if he had received from God not only faith in Him, but the power of suffering because he refused to offend Him. This is a grace which the Apostle praises, urging the Philippians to esteem it highly; and now it was found in a Philippine Indian. The Indian who suffered this was a man who could have employed lawyers against him who wronged him, though he was alone; and, if he had shouted to his followers, they would have cut the Spaniard to pieces. But, as he was a communicant, he would neither be an accomplice in the sin of the Spaniard, nor would he avenge himself; nor would he even make use of a just defense, as was taught in the counsel of Paul quoted above, Non vos defendentes carissimi [i. e., “Not defending yourselves, beloved”]. On another occasion when a great insult was offered to this same Indian, a religious comforted him and encouraged him to patience. The Indian answered: “O father, how good it would be if we all served God with truth. If it were so, that wrong which has been done to me would not have been done. If this thing had happened in the days of our heathendom, it would have sufficed to cause me and my followers to make war to the death against this town; but now that we are Christians, patience!” He said nothing more and uttered not a word of indignation, but passed over his sufferings and endured the insult, although he felt it keenly and was ashamed (though in a very Christian manner). Thus he gave proof that his virtue was enduring, because such a blow could not overthrow it. There was one poor Indian slave woman whom a Spaniard, who had communicated a few days before in that village, tried to violate. She resisted him with spirit; and, as if horrified at the lack of respect which by his actions he showed to the Lord, whom he had received, she said to him: “How is it that, being a communicant, you dare to commit such a sin?” In this way may be seen how some of the new Christians surpass others who are old in the faith, going beyond them in virtue, devotion, and the fear of God. [In the village of Masi, which is near to that of which we have been speaking, there was an Indian, a communicant, the fiscal of the church, who was of blameless life. His name was Sebastian Calelao. His sown rice had not sprouted on account of the drought; but, in response to his prayers, God sent rain so that his crop was saved. In Pilitan there was an Indian woman, named Ysabel Pato, a faithful Christian. When she was about to receive the viaticum, the priest found that the Lord had anticipated him. Other marvels and instances of virtue have been exhibited among these Indians.] Some Indian women accused themselves of having eaten buyos on fast-days, but not on Fridays. When the confessor asked them if they had fasted on other days than Friday – for the Indians are not obliged to fast on the other days in Lent – they answered that they fasted the whole of Lent, performing these fasts as works of devotion; for the holy Apostolic See has excused them from this fast, because of their weakness and the scantiness of their food. When the religious thought that this was excessive, and told them that they could not do so much, they answered that by the favor of God they could do so, as they had already fasted during the whole of Lent on previous occasions. The buyo is an aromatic leaf, shaped like an ivy-leaf, which the Indians are accustomed to chew with a sort of wild acorn and a little bit of lime. Even some of the Spaniards in this country very commonly use it, though they do not swallow it, so that only the juice reaches the stomach; it invigorates the stomach, and preserves the teeth. To carry some buyos in their mouths, if there were not many of them, would not break their fast; but in spite of all this, these Indian women made a scruple of taking it in their fasts, out of pure devotion and in an entirely voluntary way. [Visions of demons are frequent among the Indians. One such happened in a part of this province called Ytabes, of which the order took charge in 1604. The Indian concerned had a vision of demons driven away by persons whom he did not know, but who were clothed with white underneath and with black cloaks. This was something which the Indian had never seen, because the religious rarely wear their cloaks in the Indian villages, assuming them only when they go into the pulpit to preach. At that time the Christians there were so few that the sermons were not delivered from the pulpit, but from a seat, the cloak not being put on for the purpose. Frightful visions of the anito drove the father of Don Francisco Tuliau to baptism. In Camalaniugan father Fray Gaspar Zarfate drove out several demons who were tormenting Indian women.]

Chapter XL

The great comfort which the religious commonly felt in their ministry both in life and in death

[In spite of the sufferings of the religious in this region – the heat, the strangeness, the homesickness, the poverty of their life – they had great joy in their work. The aniteras, or priestesses of the devil, who became Christians, often told them that as soon as they came to heathen villages the devil left the houses in which he was worshiped, which were wretched little hovels. They dreamed that they saw their anitos in the form of carabaos, or buffaloes, and of black men; and that they likewise suffered greatly at such times, because the devil was so much their owner that he used to enter them visibly – one of them, who was the mistress of the others, saying that he entered her in the form of a shadow, and in that way gave his oracles. The aniteras were, as the Indians said, beside themselves and out of their minds at such times. Many miracles were wrought by the fathers, and they had great joy in the marvels which the Lord showed them in permitting them to save by holy baptism children and others who were at the point of death, from eternal damnation. The bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray Diego de Soria, writing to his great friend, father Fray Bernardo de Sancta Cathalina, or Navarro, on March 24, 1608, said that when they had come from the province of Ylocos, they had been detained in a port for two weeks by as heavy a storm as if they had been in Segovia itself, and that they had suffered much on the road; but that now they felt consoled by what they had found in the province, which was a perfect picture of Pangasinan. He reported that in the mountains of Fotol and Alamonag they had confirmed more than six hundred Indians; and that even the little boys and girls knew the definition of the sacrament of confirmation. He reports that the religious of the province are very harmonious, especially those who came from the college of Alcala, to which they purpose sending a golden cup worth a thousand pesos, hoping that the college may pay for it with missionaries, which will not be simony. He goes on to say that he had been three days in the village, and that they had already confirmed eight or nine thousand Indians. The cup of gold was sent, but never reached its destination. His remarks with reference to the college of Alcala are due to the fact that several of the religious who came over on various expeditions had been supplied by that college. Among them were some of the most devoted of the missionaries – for instance, the bishop himself, father Fray Bernardo de Sancta Cathalina, and father Fray Juan Cobo. The report of this father may well be followed by that of father Fray Francisco de San Joseph, or Blancas,2 who wrote from this province of Nueva Segovia to the father provincial, father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho. His letter is given in full by Aduarte; the substance of it is as follows: “I have seen with my own eyes something of what I have read in the letters of your Reverence with regard to the great need of ministers here, and to the desire of the people for them. We found the inhabitants kindly and peaceful, and delighted to see us. When we disembarked at one of the heathen villages on the way, some of the children ran to kiss our scapulars. Some of the boys ran before us, reciting the prayers very well, not because they had been taught, but because they had picked them up from a couple of our boys whom they had seen several times. Yet in spite of all this they will be lost and damned, for lack of friars. The wife of the governor of this village was very ill; and desiring to die a Christian, she had herself carried to the village of Pia, which is a Christian village about a day’s journey from hers. Father Fray Pedro was at Pipig, a village near there, at the time, so that he was in time to baptize her.” In another letter to the same provincial, he said: “Your Reverence might see here this morning a company of old men learning the doctrines of Christianity; another of girls; another of married women; another of young boys – giving praises to God like so many choirs of angels, proclaiming His doctrine and learning it to prepare themselves for baptism.” Father Fray Jacintho de San Geronimo,3 who is still living, writes a letter to a friend of his in Nueva España, which is dated on the last day of the feast of the Resurrection, in 1607. It is substantially as follows: “I am at present in the province of Nueva Segovia, in great happiness to see the desire of the people to become Christians. Our poverty and disinterestedness have caused them to have great confidence in us. I would not change my lot for any other in the world, in spite of the hardness of our life here.” The same father wrote another letter to a friend in Manila, to the following effect: “There are more than four thousand souls in this village, not the eighth part of whom are Christians, though all desire to become so. On Holy Saturday three of us baptized six hundred persons.” The date of this letter was April 2, 1607. Although this father had been but a short time in the province, he had already learned enough of the language for such great results, and could rejoice in the fruit of his labors. From all this it is plain that the missionaries in this region who are busied with the ministry of souls have no need of España nor of anything Spanish for their comfort, except companions to help them in the work. As there is no rule without an exception, it must be so in this case; but if any missionary is unhappy here, it is generally because he has failed in his obligations and become lukewarm in his devotions. Those that can speak the language and thereby convert souls are happy in their work; and those who cannot learn the language should accordingly be unhappy. But the Lord is not so poor as that, as will be sufficiently shown by a letter from father Fray Garcia de Oroz, written from Nueva Segovia to a brother at Manila: “Though I have been told that I would be very unhappy and discouraged by the difficulty of learning the language, and though I find that it is very difficult to me because of my age and lack of memory, I am not disconsolate; because merely to be in company with a father who is a master of the language, and to act as his confessor, will greatly serve our Lord. This region is a pleasant one, and my health is good in it during the winter, which lasts from the beginning of October to March. It resembles the climate of Valencia during the same period, having cool and fresh nights. A great part of the country is very open, and the mountains are not high or rugged. Some of the convents are on the shore of the sea; others, on the bank of a copious river, which is navigated by canoes for a distance of sixty leguas up the river. No one has reached the head of it, or knows where the spring is.” The happiness of the missionaries in their work will be plain from what has been said. As a result of having lived devoted lives they died happy deaths, rejoicing in their firm hope that they were going to enjoy the Lord whom they had served, and for whom they had abandoned their parents, kinsmen, native lands, and the ease which they might have enjoyed in España.]