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 present bishop of Nueva Segovia is Don Fray Jose Hevia Campomanes, a religious of the Order of St. Dominic—who is most fluent in the Tagal language, and had been, for many years before, parish priest of Binondo, which parish he enriched with a fine cemetery. He took possession of his see June 19, 1890, but was made a prisoner at the outbreak of the revolution; and he still lies, as these lines are penned, under the heavy chains of captivity, and not always treated as his holy character, his authority, and his personal qualities merit. [154] The diocese of Nueva Segovia has 110 parishes, 26 parish missions, 35 active missions, 171 parish priests or missionaries, and 131 native priests. The ecclesiastical court resides in Vigan, where there is also a cathedral church; and a conciliar seminary which has been, until the present, directed by the religious of St. Augustine.



Condition of the religious corporations

The corporation of calced Augustinian fathers owned, before the revolutionary movement, the magnificent convent and church of San Agustin in Manila, and those of Cebu and Guadalupe, and the orphan asylums of Tambobong and Mandaloyan; and in Espana the colleges of Valladolid, Palma de Mallorca, and Santa Maria de la Vid, with the royal monastery of the Escorial, and the hospitium of Barcelona—besides a mission in China. Its total number of religious was 644.

The corporation of Augustinian Recollect fathers owned (also before the war) in Filipinas their convent and church of Manila, together with those of Cavite, San Sebastian, and Cebu, and the house and estate of Imus; and in Espana the colleges of Monteagudo, of Marcilla, and of San Millan de la Cogulla—the total number of their religious being 522.

The religious of the Order of St. Francis possess in the Filipinas their convent and church of Manila, that of San Francisco del Monte, the hospital of San Lazaro, the church of the venerable tertiary order at Sampaloc, the hospitium of San Pascual Bailon, the infirmary of Santa Cruz of Laguna, a leper hospital in Camarines, the college of Guinobatan, and the monastery of Santa Clara; and in Espana, the colleges of Pastrana, Consuegra, Arenas de San Pedro, Puebla de Montalban, Almagro, and Belmonte, with the residence of Madrid; also a college in Roma—and a total of 475 religious, and 34 religious women.

The religious of the Order of St. Dominic, besides their missions of China and Formosa, own in Manila the convent and church of St. Dominic, the university of Santo Tomas, the college of Santo Tomas, that of San Jose, and that of San Juan de Letran; the college of San Alberto Magno in Dagupan, the vicariate of San Juan del Monte, and that of San Telmo in Cavite; the beaterio of Santa Catalina de Sena in Manila, for girls; that of Nuestra Senora del Rosario in Lingayen, that of Santa Imelda in Tuguegarao, and that of Nuestra Senora del Rosario in Vigan, also for the education of girls; and in Espana the two colleges of Santo Domingo de Ocana and Santo Tomas de Avila—with a total of 528 religious.

The missionaries of the Society of Jesus own in Manila a central mission house, the Ateneo [i.e., Athenaeum] Municipal, the normal school, and a meteorological observatory. They administer 37 missions, with 265 visitas or reductions, in Mindanao, Basilan, and Jolo. The total number of Jesuits resident in Filipinas was only 164; but the province of Aragon, of which the mission forms a part, owns several training-houses, colleges, and residences in Espana, besides those which it maintains in South America.

The fathers of the Mission, or those of St. Vincent de Paul, own the house of San Marcelino in Manila, and the conciliar seminary of that city, with those of Cebu, Jaro, and Nueva Caceres.

The Capuchin missionaries have the church and mission-house of Manila, the mission of Yap in the western Carolinas, that of Palaos, that of Ponape in the eastern Carolinas, and the procuratorial house of Madrid [155]—the total number of their religious being 36.

The Benedictine missionaries occupy the central mission house of Manila; the missions of Taganaan, Cantilan, Gigaquit, Cabuntog, Numancia, and Dinagit, in Mindanao; and a college for missionaries in Monserrat (Espana). There are 14 of them resident in these islands.

Lastly, there are, besides the religious who live in Filipinas, several houses of religious women, some of whom are dedicated to a contemplative life, as those of St. Clare; others to teaching, as those of the Asuncion [i.e., "Assumption"], the Dominicans, and the Beatas of the Society; and others, finally, in the exercise of benevolence, as the Sisters of Charity or of St. Vincent de Paul, who have charge of the hospitals—although the latter also dedicate themselves, with great benefit, to the teaching of young women in the seminaries of Concordia, Santa Isabel, Santa Rosa, the municipal school, Loban, the hospitium of San Jose of Jaro, and Santa Isabel of Nueva Caceres.



Religious spirit of the country

After this statistical religious summary, we cannot resist our desire to explain, although briefly, what is at present and definitively the character or qualities of the religious spirit reigning in this country—which owes everything that it is, aside from the purely natural elements, to the Catholic civilization of Espana. This point is, on another side, very pertinent to the whole subject.

It is not to be doubted, then, that the mass of the natives who have received the direct influence of Spanish civilization are entirely Catholic. The heathen natives are yet barbarous or semi-barbarous; and the Moros, besides being without the civilization of the Christian Indians, do not retain either, from the merely external Mahometanism, more than their innate pride and treachery, and some few formalities, known and practiced by a very few of their race. Those in Filipinas who profess, or say that they profess, any other positive religion (and more especially any other Christian religion), distinct from the Catholic, will be found absolutely only among the foreign element. Therefore, Catholicism is the religion, not only of the majority, but of all the civilized Filipinos.

It is also certain that the Filipinos are sincere Catholics. Their religion suits them, and is congenial to their nature. They practice it spontaneously, and profess it openly and publicly, without any objection. Far from all their minds is the most remote suspicion that Catholicism is not the true and only religion capable of bringing about their temporal and eternal happiness. All of these Indians are by nature docile to the teachings and admonitions of their parish priests and spiritual fathers. Many good people approach the holy sacraments easily and frequently; and the fact that many others do not approach or frequent them so often must be attributed to neglect, to heedlessness, or to real difficulties, but never to aversion. The ceremonies and the solemnity of the worship attract them very powerfully, and so do the popular Catholic exhibitions of great feasts and processions. They display without any objection, but rather with great pleasure, the pious objects and insignia of any devotion or pious association to which they belong; and in many places the women wear the scapular or rosary around the neck as a part or complement of their dress. It may be said that there is no house or family, however poor it be, that does not have a domestic altar or oratory. There are some careless Christians among the Filipino people, vicious and scandalous because of their evil habits; there are even some who are ignorant of the most necessary things of their religion: but there are no unbelievers or impious ones among them—unless some few, relatively insignificant in number, who have become vitiated and corrupted in foreign countries, and afterward have returned to their country. Even these latter have hitherto, because of a certain feeling of shame that they retain, taken care not to let that change be seen, except among irreligious associates or those of another form of worship. Finally, the tertiary orders, brotherhoods, and pious and devotional associations, old and new, have always had a great number of individuals enrolled in the Filipinas, and even constant and fervent affiliated members.

The Catholic religion, always holy and sanctifying, works in those who adopt it, according to the natural or acquired disposition of the same. Thus it is that the defects of character in the Indians, if they are frequently moderated, thanks to the religion that they profess, wholly disappear but with difficulty, and generally even have some influence on the private life and religious character of the natives. Since they are, therefore, more superficial and more impressionable to new things than those of other races, they would perhaps be less constant in their Catholic practices, sentiments, and convictions, and would feel more easily than do others the evil influences of false doctrines and worships, if they had experience with these. They are readily inclined to superstitions, now by their former bad habits, now by their nearness to and communication with those who are yet heathen, now by their exceedingly puerile imagination, and by their nature, which is influenced by their surroundings.

This we believe is, in broad lines, the religious character of the Indians of Filipinas. Let us now see what has been said recently also in regard to this same point by another contemporaneous witness, with whom we almost entirely agree. Mr. Peyton, a Protestant bishop, said, when speaking of Catholicism in the Filipinas, at a meeting of the Protestant bishops of the Episcopal church held at St. Louis (United States), in the month of last October: "I found a magnificent church in every village. I was present at mass several times, and the churches were always full of natives—even when circumstances were unfavorable, because of the military occupation. There are almost no seats in those churches, while the services last—an hour, or an hour and a half. Never in my life have I observed more evident signs of profound devotion than in those there present. The men were kneeling, or prostrated before the altar; and the women were on their knees, or seated on the floor. No one went out of the church during the service, or talked to others. There is no spirit of sectarianism there. All have been instructed in the creed, in the formal prayers, in the ten commandments, and in the catechism. All have been baptized in infancy. [156] I do not know whether there exists in this country a village so pure, moral, and devout as is the Filipino village."



Granting the above, would freedom of worship be advisable for Filipinos?

Since, then, the religion in Filipinas, and consequently their morals, is so unanimous, would it be advisable to introduce freedom of worship into this country? If one understands by freedom of worship only actual religious toleration, by virtue of which no one can be obliged to profess Catholicism, and no one be persecuted for neglecting to be a Catholic, or that each one profess privately the religion that he pleases, that freedom has always existed in Filipinas; and no Filipino or foreigner was ever obliged to embrace the Catholic religion. But if one understands by freedom of worship the concession to all religions (for example, to those of Confucius, Mahomet, and to all the Protestant sects) of equal rights to open schools, erect churches, create parishes, and celebrate public processions and functions, as does the Catholic church, we believe that not only is this not advisable, but that it would be a fatal measure to any government which rules the destinies of Filipinas. If, in fact, this government should concede such freedom of worship, it would cause itself to be hated by the six and one-half millions of Filipino Catholics; for, even though such government should profess no worship, the Filipino people would consider it as responsible for all the consequences of such a measure; and therefore it would not be looked on favorably by these six and one-half millions of Catholics. These people are fully convinced that theirs is the only true religion, and the only one by which they can be saved. If any government should endeavor to despoil them of that religion—which is their most precious jewel, and the richest inheritance which they have received from their ancestors—even should it be no more than permitting the Protestant or heterodox propaganda publicly and openly, then they could not refrain from complaint; and from that might even come the disturbance of public order, or perhaps some politico-religious war, accompanied by all the cruelty and all the disasters which, as are well known, are generally brought on by such wars.

Two serious difficulties can be opposed against the rights of Catholicism in Filipinas. The first is in the Americans who are governing at present, and the second is in the Filipinos themselves. The Americans enjoy in America the most complete freedom of worship; why, then, should they not enjoy that same freedom when they go to Filipinas? We answer, that every inhabitant must conform to the laws of the country in which he lives. The Chinese enjoyed in China the most complete freedom to erect temples to Buddha or to Confucius; but for three centuries they have not enjoyed a like freedom in Manila, although no Chinese has been forced to become a Catholic. We go farther and say that no Chinese has had to boast of his religion in order to trade, become rich, and return to China. The same can be said of the English and Americans. If it is necessary for the good order and government of six and one-half millions of Catholics in Filipinas, besides those who are not Catholics (one and one-half millions, counting idolaters and Moros yet to be civilized), not to permit or encourage freedom of worship, the government which rules the destiny of these islands ought to legislate along those lines, since the laws ought to be adjusted to the needs of the majority of their inhabitants. The Americans themselves who shall take up their residence here ought to accommodate themselves to that law. No temporal or spiritual harm would result to them, for they could privately profess what their conscience dictated to them as the true religion. Thus the English do in Malta, where the Catholic religion is in force; and although the island is so small, there are two thousand Italian Catholic priests in it, who are more content to live under the English government than under the Italian.

The other difficulty against Catholicism in Filipinas springs from the Filipino insurgents themselves, who voted for freedom of worship and separation from the Spanish church in their congress of Malolos. [157] Why, then, has not that freedom of worship been granted to the Filipinos, if they themselves ask it? We reply that they also ask for independence. Will the Americans grant them the latter because of that fact? The majority of the Filipino insurgent chiefs were inclined to Masonry. They had bound themselves, for a long time past, to work for the expulsion of the friars; and, drunk with the wine of liberty, they asked for every kind of freedom, including that of religion. How many insurgents have abjured Catholicism? Their number does not exceed two dozen. The law of freedom of worship is unnecessary for them, since they profess no religion. The Filipino people—that is to say, the six and one-half millions of Catholics enrolled in the parish registers—do not ask or desire religious freedom, or separation from the Spanish church. They are content with their Catholicism, and desire nothing else; and they will not suffer their government to take from them their Catholic unity. We have heard this from qualified and accredited defenders of Filipino independence. They even deny that the vote at Malolos was the true expression of the will of that congress, which was also very far from being the entire and genuine representation of the Filipino people. The latter hold heresies, and all manner of religious disturbance, in horror. He who would introduce these into their homes would offer them an insult. Consequently, it is demonstrated that freedom of worship in Filipinas is not advisable, but adverse to the public peace.

If it is said finally, that there are some points of public interest which demand some reform, in what pertains to the religious estate of the Filipinas, we shall not be the ones to deny that. But the Church has the desire and the means to remedy these supposed or recognized evils. If, peradventure, it do not remedy them through ignorance, let anyone who is interested, and the government of the country first of all, bring them to its notice. On the other hand, this matter has no connection with religious freedom.

[From the same work (pp. 256, 257) is taken the following mention of the religious orders who recently established themselves in the Philippines:]

In all the dioceses the bishops looked after the founding of seminaries for the native clergy, not only because such were needed to aid in the administration of the sacraments in the large parishes created by the religious, but also for the occupation of some parishes which were reserved for them from very ancient times.



The fathers of the congregation of St. Vincent de Paul, the Capuchins, and the Benedictines, come to the islands

For the direction of some of these seminaries, the sons of St. Vincent de Paul came from Espana in 1862, together with the brothers of charity, who took charge of the attendance of the sick in the hospitals, and of the teaching of young women.

The Capuchin fathers also came to these islands in the year 1886, for the purpose of taking charge of the missions of both Carolinas and Palaos, a duty which they have fulfilled marvelously, and not without the sacrifice of all human ambitions—burying themselves forever in those solitudes of the Pacific ocean, for the love of the poor natives of the Carolinas.

Finally, in 1895, the Benedictine fathers, [158] of the monastery of Monserrat in Espana, landed in Manila for the first time, in order to take charge of some missions on the eastern coast of Mindanao.



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

The following document is obtained from a MS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla:

1. Remonstrance of Augustinians.—"Simancas—Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y espedientes del gobernador de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; anos 1629 a 1640; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 8."

The following document is obtained from a MS. in the Academia Real de la Historia, Madrid:

2. Corcuera's campaign.—"Papeles de los Jesuitas, to 84, no. 27, 34."

The following documents in the appendix are taken from printed works, as follows:

3. Laws regarding religious.—Recopilacion de las leyes de Indias (Madrid, 1841), lib. i, tit. xiv; also tit. xii, ley xxi; tit. xv, ley xxxiii; and tit. xx, ley xxiv.

4. Jesuit missions in 1656.—Colin's Labor evangelica (Madrid, 1663), pp. 811-820.

5. Religious estate in Philippines.—San Antonio's Chronicas (Manila, 1738), i, book i, pp. 172-175, 190-210, 214-216, 219, 220, 223-226.

6. Religious condition of islands.—Delgado's Historia general (Manila, 1892), pp. 140-158, 184-188.

7. Ecclesiastical survey of Philippines.—Le Gentil's Voyages dans les mers de l'Inde (Paris, 1781), pp. 170-191, 59-63.

8. Character and influence of friars.—Mas's Informe sobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1842 (Madrid, 1843), vol. ii.

9. Ecclesiastical system in the Philippines.—Buzeta and Bravo's Diccionario de las Islas Filipinas (Madrid, 1850), ii, pp. 271-275, 363-367.

10. Character and influence of friars.—Jagor's Reisen in den Philippinen (Berlin, 1873), pp. 94-100.

11. Augustinian Recollects.—Provincia de San Nicolas de Tolentino de Agustinos descalzos (Manila, 1879).

12. Present condition of religion.—Archipielago filipino (Washington, 1900), ii, pp. 256-267.



NOTES

[1] As Gregory died in 1623, the despatch of this letter must have been long delayed at Rome or en route.

[2] See chapter xlii of Medina's history of the Augustinian order, in VOL. XXIV of this series; also Diaz's Conquistas, pp. 384-386.

[3] This was the archdeacon Alonso Garcia de Leon.

[4] Pedro de Arce (himself an Augustinian), who twice filled vacancies in the archiepiscopal see of Manila.

[5] It is curious that Diaz does not mention this; but he states (Conquistas, p. 385) something omitted here—that Archbishop Garcia Serrano interfered in like manner with the judge-executor of 1629 in this case, Garcia de Leon. Diaz may have given wrong names and dates for the one incident.

[6] This was the new archdeacon, Andres Arias Xiron (Diaz's Conquistas, p. 385).

[7] Presumably Pedro de Ribadeneira, a Spaniard of Toledo; he was provincial of Castilla, and assistant to the general of the order. About 1635 he was sent by Felipe IV as his ambassador to the duke of Modena and the republic of Lucca; afterward he was named by the king bishop of Cotrone (the ancient Crotona), Italy, but declined this honor. He died on August 20, 1643; and left various writings.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[8] There is frequent mention in canon law of alternativa decrees by the Holy See—a device in the interests of fairness, applied in the conferral of benefices and church offices, in order to do away with discords and displays of partisanship. Thereby in elections the preferments, etc., were to go to the opposite party, according at times, to very singular rules, applicable, for instance, according to the month wherein the said benefice fell vacant. The usage of the "alternation" was introduced in the time of Pope Martin V. (A.D. 1417-1431.)

The text of the present document concerns the extension of the alternativa rules to the Augustinians in the Philippine Islands, by force of which the offices in the order (distributed in provincial chapters every four years) were to be conferred one term on religious born in Spain, and the next on religious born in the Indias. The latter were known as Creoles (crioli)—thus in the Constitutions of the order, of 1685, where reference is made to decrees of Gregory XV, dated November 29, 1621 (confirmed by Urban VIII in 1628), with regard to elections of the brethren in Mechoacan, in Mexico. As the alternativa held in Mexico and South America—in fact, in Spanish colonies everywhere—these same papal decrees were presumably observed in all those colonies. Later, in Mexico, the statutes of the Augustinians required that in provincial chapters religious of Spanish blood should be chosen alternately with those of Indian, in the election of provincials, definitors, priors, and other officers; but this plan did not operate very satisfactorily.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[9] The name (Latin, regio pontis), of a ward in the city of Rome.

[10] So in MS., but an improbable name; more likely to be Pacheco.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[11] Diaz here says (Conquistas, p. 385): "The fathers from the provinces of Espana interposed an appeal from the fuerza [committed] by this act, saying that the said judge had not authority to postpone the matter, but only to execute [the decree]; and from this proceeded continual disputes until the time for the chapter-meeting."

[12] The prior general of the Augustinians in 1634, the date of this bull, was Jerome de Rigoliis, of Corneto, elected May 18, 1630; he died (out of office, however) seven years later, in June, 1637, at the age of seventy and upwards. In 1636 (May 10), his successor in the generalship, Hippolytus dei Monti, was elected.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[13] Castel Gandolpho, a beautiful place in the Alban Hills, was the summer resort of the supreme pontiffs.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[14] i.e., "should the petition be grounded on fact."

[15] i.e., "because the said fathers are not qualified in sufficient number," and "in the distribution of the said offices."

[16] In the manuscript that we follow the letter of March 31 is given second, while that of April 5 is given first; we have arranged them chronologically.

[17] Garo: probably the same as garita; a fortified outpost?

[18] The translation of this passage seems to be, "If God fights against a city, he who guards it watches in vain." The difficulty lies in "a custodierit," which we translate as "fights against."

[19] Sulu, the chief island of the group of that name, has an area of 333 square miles. It contains numerous mountains, some of them nearly 3,000 feet high; and their slopes are covered with magnificent forests. Of the ancient town of Sulu (the residence of the "sultan"), on the southern shore, hardly a trace remains; the present town of that name was built by the Spaniards in 1878, and is modern in style. See U. S. Gazetteer of Philippines, pp. 842-850.

[20] "Four groups having different customs may be distinguished among the inhabitants of the archipelago: the Guimbajanos, or inhabitants of the mountains, who are the indigenes; the Malay and Visayan slaves, whose descendants have intermarried; the Samales, an inferior race, though not slaves; the true Moros, who trace their origin from the Mohammedan invaders, and who dominate the other inhabitants." "Physically the Sulu natives are superior to the ordinary Malay type, and, according to Streeter, are a strange mixture of villainy and nobility." (U. S. Gazetteer, pp. 845, 846.)

[21] Babui, in their language, signifies "pig;" apparently they called the Spaniards "swine," as expressing the acme of contempt for their besiegers.

[22] "Thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

[23] Combes says (Hist. Mindanao, Retana's ed., col. 264) that this queen, named Tuambaloca, was a native of Basilan, and that she had acquired such ascendency over her husband that the government of Jolo was entirely in her hands. This statement explains the presence of the Basilan men in the Joloan stronghold.

[24] Kris, a dagger or poniard, the universal weapon of all the civilized inhabitants of the archipelago, and of a hundred different forms. Men of all ranks wear this weapon; and those of rank, when full dressed, wear two and even four. (Crawfurd's Dict. Ind. Islands, p.202.)

At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held last year (1904) at St. Louis, the Philippine exhibits contained Malay weapons, in great number and variety—krises, campilans, lances, etc.

[25] Francisco Martinez was born near Zaragoza, February 25, 1605, and at the age of seventeen entered the Jesuit order. Joining the Philippine mission, he labored mainly among the Moros, and died at Zamboanga on September 17, 1650.

Alejandro Lopez, a native of Aragon, was born in July, 1604, and at the age of nineteen went to Mexico, where he spent several years in commercial pursuits. On August 28, 1631, he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Manila; and, accompanying Corcuera in his campaigns, was long a missionary among the Moros, and at various times an envoy to their chiefs in behalf of the Spanish governors. It was on one of these embassies that Lopez met his death, being killed by the Moros, December 15, 1655. See Combes's Hist. Mindanao, which relates in full Lopez's missionary career; and sketch of his life in Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fol. 94 verso, 235, 238-247. Cf. Montero y Vidal's Hist. Filipinas, i, pp. 296-298.

[26] This letter is unsigned; but the transcript of it made by Ventura del Arco places it with others ascribed to Barrios.

See detailed accounts of the expedition against Jolo (Sulu) in Combes's Hist. Mindanao y Jolo (Retana and Pastells ed.), cols. 349-368; Diaz's Conquistas, pp. 388-401; Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fol. 92, 93; and La Concepcion's Hist. Philipinas, v, pp. 334-351.

[27] See also the instructions given by Felipe II to Francisco de Tello, at Toledo, May 25, 1596, in our VOL. IX, pp. 250, 251.

[28] A note to this law in the Recopilacion reads as follows: "This law was extended to all America for the same reason, by a royal decree dated Madrid, March 28, 1769; and the prelates are not allowed to expel members of the orders except for just cause, while those thus expelled are to be sent to Spain."

[29] This totals up three hundred and seventy-two, instead of the number given in the text—evidently a printer's error.

[30] Corcuera's endowment of these fellowships raised a great storm in the islands, especially among the Dominicans, who claimed that it was aimed at their college of Santo Tomas; while in Spain the king and his council were equally indignant because they had not been previously consulted in the matter, an indignation that was carefully fostered and increased by the Dominicans. The lawsuit in this case was bitter, and was conducted in the supreme Council of the Indias by Juan Grau y Monfalcon, procurator of the cabildo of the city of Manila; Father Baltasar de Lagunilla, procurator-general of the Society of Jesus, for the college of San Jose; and father Fray Mateo de Villa, procurator-general of the Dominican province of the Rosario, for the college of Santo Tomas. The case was prolific in documents from all three sources. The Dominicans remained masters of the field, and this case contributed to the downfall of Corcuera, who was finally superseded in 1644 by Diego de Fajardo, who had been appointed some years before, but might never have gone to the islands had it not been for the lawsuit over the fellowships. See Pastells's Colin, iii, pp. 763-781.

[31] Pedro de Brito was also a regidor of Manila, whose post was adjudged to him at public auction for one thousand four hundred pesos of common gold, with the third part of what was promised from the increase. He took possession of his post June 24, 1589. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 783.

[32] This was the protomartyr of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines, Juan de las Misas, who met death in the last part of November, 1624 (not 1625). He was a fluent preacher in the Tagal tongue, and entered the Society in the Philippines. When returning from Tayabas to Marinduque he was met by some hostile Camucones and killed by a shot from an arquebus, after which he was beheaded, in fulfilment of a vow to Mahomet. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 791.

[33] This was the galleon "San Marcos." See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 791.

[34] This was Juan del Carpio—a native of Riofrio in the kingdom of Leon—who had spent twenty years among the natives in the Philippines. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 792.

[35] Domingo Areso, a native of Caller, who was killed by an Indian, April 10, 1745, because the father had censured him for allowing his mother to die without the sacraments. See ut supra, pp. 792, 793.

[36] It was discovered by Father Francisco Combes on the heights of Boragueen, who reported the discovery to the alcalde-mayor of Leite, Silvestre de Rodas, at Dagame, November 18, 1661. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 793, note 1. See Jagor's Reisen, pp. 220-223, where he describes this locality (which lies south of Burauen, on the southern slope of the Manacagan range), and the process by which the sulphur is obtained.

[37] Thus characterized in U. S. Gazetteer (p. 512): "Important point of approach from Pacific Ocean. High, and visible in clear weather 40 m., thus serving as excellent mark for working strait of San Bernardino."

[38] These were Fathers Miguel Ponce and Vicente Damian. The first was killed June 2, 1649; the second October 11, of the same year. The former was a native of Penarojo in Aragon; the latter, of Randazo in Sicily See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 794, note 1.

[39] The Subanes or Subanon (meaning "river people"), are a heathen people of Malay extraction living in the peninsula of Sibuguey in West Mindanao. See Mason's translation of Blumentritt's Native Tribes of Philippines, in Smithsonian Report for 1899, pp. 544, 545. See also Sawyer's Inhabitants of the Philippines, pp. 356-360 (though it must be borne in mind that Sawyer is not always entirely trustworthy).

[40] These were Fathers Francisco de Mendoza and Francisco Pagliola. The former was a native of Lisboa and was born in 1602 of a noble family. He was killed by the Moros in Malanao, May 7, 1642. He had entered the Society in Nueva Espana in 1621 and went to the Philippines, while still a novice. The latter was martyred January 29, 1648. He was a native of Nola in the kingdom of Naples, the date of his birth being May 10, 1610. He entered the Society February 6, 1637, at Naples. On arriving at the Philippines in 1643, he was assigned to Mindanao, where he labored in Iligan and the western part of the island, going later to the Subanos, who killed him. See Pastells's Colin, iii, pp. 800, 801; and Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fols. 111 verso, and 154 verso and 155.

[41] Juan del Campo, who was killed by the Subanos January 25, 1650, was born in Villanueva de la Vera, in 1620. He went to Mexico in 1642, where he began to study theology, completing that study in Manila. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 801; and Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fol. 178.

[42] The two martyrs of Buayen were Pedro Andres de Zamora, December 28, 1639, and Bartolome Sanchez, early in June, 1642. The former was born in Valencia, and in 1616 entered the Society in Aragon, and went to the Philippines in 1626. He was suspended from the Society in 1629, but was readmitted upon showing full signs of repentance. He was sent while still a novice to the missions at Buayen, where he labored faithfully and zealously until his death.

The latter was born in Murcia on St. Bartholomew's day, 1613. In his youthful years, while attending the Jesuit college, he became somewhat wild, but later reformed; and upon hearing of the martyrs of Japon in 1628, he was fired with zeal to emulate them, and entered the Society, being received on the ship that bore him to Nueva Espana. Although he had resolved to return to Spain in the same ship, because of the disconsolateness of his parents at his departure, he changed his mind, and finished his novitiate in Manila. Upon being ordained as a priest, he was sent to Mindanao and was killed by Manaquior while on his way with a naval relief expedition to Buayen, after having been eleven years in the Society. Sec Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 801; and Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fols. 113 verso and 117 verso.

[43] These two fathers, Alejandro Lopez and Juan Montiel, were martyred December 13, 1655 (not 1656). The latter was a native of Rijoles in Calabria. See Pastells's Colin, iii, pp. 801, 802; Murillo Velarde's Hist. Philipinas, fols. 233 verso-235 verso; and ante, p. 62, note 25.

[44] The author alludes to Father Domingo Vilancio, who died in 1634. He was a native of Leche in the kingdom of Naples. He labored among the natives of the Philippines for more than thirty years. See VOL. XXVI, p. 266; and Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 802.

[45] After sixty years of Spanish rule, Portugal revolted (December, 1640), threw off the Spanish yoke, and placed on its throne Joao IV—who, as duke of Braganza, was the most wealthy and influential of all the Portuguese noblemen; and he was regarded as the legitimate claimant of the throne. Spain made several attempts to recover this loss; but Portugal has ever since been independent.

[46] i.e., Great Sanguil. The auditor Francisco de Montemayor y Mansilla says that Sanguil is twelve leguas from Siao and ten from Mindanao, and has a circumference of six or seven leguas. "Four chiefs rule this island, namely, those of Siao (in the villages called Tabaco), Maganitos, Tabucan, and Calonga. The latter had two villages, Calonga and Tarruma, where there was formerly a presidio with ten or twelve Spanish soldiers, solely for the defense of those two Christian villages from the invasions of the Moros of the same island. The village of Tarruma after the dismantling of our forts, passed into the control of the Dutch; and there are now, according to reports, some Dutch there, and a dominie who preaches to them. The other village, Calonga, which is governed by a father-in-law of the king of Siao, still perseveres in the Catholic faith and the friendship of the Spaniards. It is visited, although with dangers and difficulties, by the fathers of the Society of Jesus who live in Siao, when they go to visit the Christian villages owned by that king in the island of Sanguil." See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 814.

[47] The same auditor (see note, above) says that the Talaos "are four islands lying in the same district as those of Sanguil and Siao. The country is poor, the people barbarous and naked, and the islands abound in cocoas and vegetables, some little rice (on which they live), and some roots (with which they pay their tribute). Two islands and part of another are vassals of the king of Tabucan; the fourth island and part of that which pays tribute to the king of Tabucan are vassals of the king of Siao. They have their own petty chief, who was baptized in Manila; and there are now eight hundred baptized families there." See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 814.

[48] When Father Colin wrote, the Dutch had already discovered, explored, and delineated in their maps with sufficient accuracy, the coasts of New Guinea and New Holland, or Australia and New Zealand. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 816.

[49] Alonso de Castro was born at Lisbon. Sommervogel (Bibliotheque) says that he labored for nine years in the missions of Terrenate, and that he was martyred January 1, 1558.

[50] i.e., "in both courts," meaning the outer court of ecclesiastical justice, and the inner court of conscience. See VOL. VIII, p. 278.

[51] For further historical and descriptive information regarding the cathedral of Manila (especially the present structure, completed in 1879), see Fonseca's Resena cronologica de la catedral de Manila (Manila, 1880).

[52] Marginal note: "In the year 1571 the first Inquisition was established in Mexico, and its first inquisitor was Don Pedro Moya de Contreras, afterward visitor, archbishop of Mexico, and its viceroy; and later president of the royal Council of the Indias. See Torquemada, in La monarchia indiana, book 5, chapter 24."

[53] That decree organized the tribunals of the Crusade, and made provision for their conduct and for the care of the revenues from the bulls. Various laws on this subject are found in Recopilacion leyes de Indias, lib. i, tit. xx; one of these may be found ante, pp. 76, 77.

[54] Among the media employed by the Holy See in the restoration of one's conscience to its good estate, are the bulls of composition. In the case of persons in possession of ill-gotten goods, as prebendaries who have forfeited their canonical allotments, or trustees who have maladministered estates, and the like, an arrangement (Latin, compositio) is sometimes made—only, however, when the rightful owners or heirs of the property in question are unknown (si domins sint ignoti), whereby the said "unjust steward" is allowed to keep for himself a moiety of what does not belong to him, on condition that the rest be handed over for the maintenance of church services, or institutions of charity, as hospitals, asylums, and the like. See Ferraris's Bibliotheca, art. "Bulla Cruciatae."—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

The bulls for the dead were placed on the heads of the dying, or in the hands of the dead—purchased by their friends or relatives in order to rescue then souls from purgatory. Those de lacticinios (literally, "for milk-porridges") permitted to ecclesiastics the use of certain foods at times when these were forbidden by church law. The bulls of the Crusade were valid as dispensations only one year in Spain; but according to Solorzano they were extended to two years in the colonies, on account of the long time required for them to teach those distant places. See Bancroft's Hist. Mexico, iii, p. 605. After the victory of Lepanto, Gregory XIII resumed the issue of these indulgences, and extended them to twelve years; and since then his bull has been renewed every twelve years, (E. H. Vollet, in Grande Encyclopedie, Paris, Lamirault et Cie.), xiii, p. 453.

[55] Apparently the "farming out" of this revenue, by the crown, to private persons. A law of May 30, 1640, enacted that all the expenses connected with the bulls of the Crusade should be paid from its proceeds, the remainder being paid to the crown (Recopilacion, lib. i, tit. xx, ley xvi).

[56] Tournon was the papal legate sent to China for the settlement of the famous controversy regarding the "Chinese rites," which had lasted some seventy years. The missions to China were entirely in the hands of the Jesuits until 1631, when Dominicans entered that country, and Franciscans in 1633. The new missionaries soon began to accuse the Jesuits of undue complaisance and conformity with heathen customs, and made complaint against them at Rome. For a time the Holy See permitted the practice of the Chinese rites, but frequent contentions arose on this subject between the Jesuits and the other orders, which were not definitely settled by Rome for many years. Finally, Clement XI sent Tournon (1703) to investigate the matter thoroughly, who condemned the rites in question as idolatrous and was therefore imprisoned by the Chinese emperor. He died in this captivity (1710), but his decision was accepted by the pope, and all Catholic missionaries to China were required to take an oath that they would resist those rites to the utmost. See full account of this controversy, with citations of authorities, in Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary (Meagher's revision), pp. 926-928. For accounts of Tournon's stay at Manila, and the dissatisfaction which he aroused there, see La Concepcion's Hist. Philipinas, viii, pp. 306-324; and Zuniga's Hist. Philipinas (Sampaloc, 1803), pp. 411-416.

[57] Sidoti (or Sidotti) was an Italian priest who came to Manila with Tournon, intending to enter the forbidden land of Japan. In 1709, he succeeded in doing this, by persuading the captain of a Spanish vessel to land him on the Japanese coast; Zuniga says (Hist. Philipinas, pp. 420, 421) that nothing more had ever been learned regarding him. La Concepcion, however, writing somewhat earlier, says (Hist. Philipinas, vi, p. 82) that in 1716 news of Sidoti's imprisonment and death arrived at Canton—the latter being attributed to his continual fasts and austerities. But Griffis relates (Mikado's Empire, pp. 262, 263) so much as may now be known about Sidoti's fate, derived from a book—Sei Yo Ki Bun ("Annals of Western Nations")—written by the Japanese scholar who examined the priest, which gives the facts of the case, and the judicial proceedings therein. Sidoti "was kept a prisoner, living for several years after his arrival, in Yedo (Tokio), and probably died a natural death."

[58] See La Concepcion's detailed account (Hist. Philipinas, viii, pp. 315-338) of the founding of this college.

[59] This was only ad interim, during the absence of Bishop Salazar in Spain, from 1591 to Salvatierra's death early in 1595. He had come tu Manila with Salazar, whose provisor he long was; he also ministered to the Indians, and went to Maluco as chaplain with a Spanish expedition. See Resena biografica, i, pp. 50-52.

[60] In the margin at this point occurs the following: "A total of 105,503 souls."

[61] This law (which is contained in the book entitled, "Concerning the universities, and general and private studies in the Indias") is as follows: "Permission is conceded for the cities of Santo Domingo in the island of Espanola, Santa Fe in the new kingdom of Granada, Santiago de Guatemala, Santiago de Chile, and Manila in the Filipinas Islands, to have halls for study, and universities where courses may be pursued and degrees given, for the time that has appeared advisable. For that we have obtained briefs and bulls from the holy apostolic see, and we have conceded those universities certain privileges and preeminences. We order that what has been ordained for the said halls of study and universities be kept, obeyed, and executed, without violating it in any manner. Those universities which shall be limited in time, shall present themselves before our royal Council of the Indias to petition for an extension of time, where the advisable measures will be taken. If no extension is granted, the teaching of those studies shall cease and end; for so is our will." A note to this law in the Recopilacion reads in part as follows: "It must be borne in mind that the universities, seminaries, conciliars, and other schools of learning erected by public authority in the Indias were declared to be under the royal patronage by a circular letter of June 11, 1792."

[62] See this law in VOL. XX, pp. 260, 261.

[63] Notwithstanding that San Antonio states that the brothers of the hospital Order of St. John of God arrived in Manila at this comparatively late date, they had been often asked for by both the ecclesiastical estates. The following letter from the bishop of Nueva Segovia is such a request. The original of this letter is in Archivo general de Indias, with the pressmark: "Simancas; ecclesiastico; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes de los obispos sufraganeos de Manila, a saber, Nueva Segovia, Nueva Caceres, Santisimo Nombre de Jesus o Cebu; anos de 1597 a 1698; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 34." It would appear from the endorsement on this letter that some brothers were sent at this early date; although this instruction probably remained a dead letter. (Cf. VOL. XVIII of this series, p. 114, dated 1618.)

"Sire:

"Your Majesty has a royal hospital here, which is one of the most necessary and useful things in this land for the health and treatment of the poor soldiers and of the other people who serve your Majesty. Although its income is but scanty, if it had some one to distribute it efficiently, and to care for it properly, there would be sufficient aid from the many alms given by the inhabitants who can do something. It is most necessary for its good government and maintenance for your Majesty to send four or five brothers from the order called [St.] John of God, who should have authority from your Majesty and from his Holiness to be able to receive others; for now the matter is ready, and all that is necessary. Those brothers could come with the religious whom your Majesty is sending—either Franciscans or Dominicans—or your Majesty could have them sent from the good brothers who are established in Nueva Espana. The latter would economize the expense, and the journey would be quicker and more certain. May our Lord preserve your Majesty long years, for the welfare of His church. Manila, July 7, 1606. I kiss your Majesty's royal hands,

Fray Diego, bishop of Nueva Segobia."

[Endorsed: "Manila, July 7, 1606. Number 518. From the bishop of Nueva Segovia. September 24, 1607." "Have the four brothers whom he mentions sent; have the matter entrusted to Don Francisco de Tejada, so that he may arrange this with the chief brother of Anton Martin." "A copy was sent to Don Francisco."]

A decree of Felipe IV, dated Madrid, November 30, 1630, thus regulates the foundation of these religious in the Indias:

"The viceroys, presidents, and auditors of the royal audiencias shall not allow any of the religious of St. John of God to live or reside in the Indias, who shall have gone thither without our permission; or to found convents, give habits to any persons, or allow them to profess. Those who may be living in the provinces of their districts, or shall go thither later with our permission, shall not take upon themselves the care of the hospitals, either of Indians or of Spaniards, or the management of their incomes and alms, unless by first binding themselves to give reports and allow inspections in this respect by the ecclesiastical, or secular judges who can and ought to make them. And they shall not be exempt from that by saying that they have a bull from the apostolic see to be religious, and that they are ordained with holy orders, and that therefore they are to be subordinate only to their regular prelate. Neither shall they be exempt from the inspection for any other excuse that they may bring forward."—See Recopilacion de leyes, lib. i, tit. xiv, ley xxiv.

[64] In the margin at this point: "Total number of souls, 68,334."

[65] In the margin at this point: "Total number of persons, 42,178."

[66] In the margin at this point: "Total number of souls, 4,000."

[67] In the margin at this point: "Total number of souls, 70,961."

[68] The number of christianized natives is stated, on Murillo Velarde's map, as 900,000. Cf. the statement by Le Gentil (p. 209 post), of the number in 1735—so in his printed text, but perhaps a typographical error for 1755.

[69] A full account of the Jesuit college and university is furnished by Murillo Velarde in Hist. Philipinas, fol. 125, 140, 168-171.

[70] Beaterio: a house inhabited by devout women.

[71] Evidently then the appellation of that part of the archipelago now included under the term "province of Paragua," which includes not only the Calamianes Islands, but those of the Cuyos group, and part of the island of Palawan (or Paragua).

[72] Literally, "holy table," equivalent to the modern "board of directors;" a reference to the Confraternity of La Misericordia, which, as we have seen in former documents, was the main charitable agency of Manila.

[73] Reference is here made to chapter xviii, book i, of Delgado's Historia; following is his statement (from pp. 60-62) of the depopulation of Cebu, and its causes: "Near the middle of the southern coast of the island was established the city and original colony of the Spaniards; but today it has become so depopulated that it has hardly enough citizens to fill the offices that pertain to a city, as are those of regidors and alcaldes-in-ordinary; and not seldom has it occurred that some Spaniards must be conveyed thither to supply the lack of people, going in place of these who died.... At present, the city is reduced to the church and convent of the Santo Nino, the church and residence of the Society of Jesus (a building which, although small, is very regular and well planned), and, midway between them, the cathedral—which is very inferior to those two churches, since it consists only of a large apartment thatched with palm-leaves. (The foundations were laid, however, for another and more suitable building, in the time when the diocese was governed by the illustrious bishop Doctor Don Manuel Antonio de Ocio y Ocampo [who entered that office in 1733]; but his death prevented him from completing the work, and it has remained in that condition ever since.) The royal building is well arranged and sufficiently capacious, serving as palace for the commander of the Pintados fleets; he is also warder of a good stone fortress (triangular in shape) and commander of the port, and at the same time alcalde and chief magistrate of the entire province—which includes the islands of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, and a great part of the coast of Mindanao, with other smaller and adjacent islands.

"The cause for the city's being depopulated, at present, of Spanish inhabitants is nothing else than the cupidity of some persons who came from Manila to the government of the province with appointments as alcaldes, whose greed did not allow any partnership, in spite of the oath that they take not to carry on trade, either in person or through another person, within the limits of their jurisdiction. These are indeed lands where no one can live without barter or trading; for not one of the Spaniards applies himself to cultivating the soil, nor do they have fixed incomes from the country with which to meet their obligations. Moreover, they have to buy whatever they need, with either commodities or money; accordingly, if the alcaldes-mayor forbid the inhabitants (as they do) from going out through the province to buy what they need, the latter find themselves in Cebu in the condition of one who is shut up in a prison, where no one can search for or find him. If vessels arrive to sell their merchandise the alcalde-mayor, near whose house they anchor, is the one who first avails himself of everything—either for his own use, or to sell the goods again—leaving for the rest of the people only what is of no use to himself. If any one has energy enough to press forward to purchase what he needs, he is immediately threatened with imprisonment, seizure of his goods, flogging, and the loss of everything from which any profit was expected—as I have many times seen, because I lived several years in that country, where only recourse to God is near, or to superiors who are very far away. This is the reason why the Spanish residents have withdrawn from Cebu, to avoid continual quarrels and annoyances—going to Manila, where they can live with greater peace and quietness, although not so profitably, on account of the choice commodities which they could obtain in the Visayan provinces for the increase of their wealth. The only ones who remain and bear the heavy yoke are the mestizos and Sangleys, who always have to share with the alcalde what they seek out with their toil and hardship, if they wish to live without unrest and fear. Sometimes, but rarely, the alcaldes share with these people that which might bring them some profit; but usually they furnish the commodities which they bring from Manila, at the very highest prices, receiving in exchange those of the provinces at the lowest and most paltry rates."