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41 of 55, 1691-1700, by Various
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Title: The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700
Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the
islands and their peoples, their history and records of
the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books
and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial
and religious conditions of those islands from their
earliest relations with European nations to the close of
the nineteenth century.
Author: Various
Editor: Emma Helen Blair
James Alexander Robertson
Release Date: November 2, 2009 [EBook #30397]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS ***
Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898
Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and
their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions,
as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the
political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those
islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the
close of the nineteenth century,
Volume XLI, 1691-1700
Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson
with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord
Bourne.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XLI.
Preface 9
Documents of 1691-1700
Extracts from Jesuit letters. Juan de Zarzuela,
and others; Manila, 1691 and 1694 33
Discovery of the Palaos Islands. Paul Clain, S. J.;
Manila, June 10, 1697 39
Recollect missions in the Philippines, 1661-1712. Pedro
de San Francisco de Assis; Zaragoza, 1756. Juan de
la Concepción; Manila, 1788 57
Bibliographical Data 273
Appendix: Moro pirates and their raids in the seventeenth
century. [Compiled from various historians.] 277
ILLUSTRATIONS
Title-page of vol. vi of Lettres édifiantes (Paris, 1723);
photographic facsimile of copy in library of Wisconsin
Historical Society 41
Map of New Philippines or Palaos Islands, 1710 (?);
photographic facsimile of original map in Archivo general
de Indias, Sevilla 45
Map of Palaos Islands, discovered by Joseph Somera, 1710;
from original manuscript map in Biblioteca de Vittorio
Emanuele, Rome 53
Map of Magendanao (Mindanao); drawn by Fakynolano, elder
brother of the sultan of that place, ca., 1700; photographic
facsimile of original manuscript map in the
British Museum 280, 281
PREFACE
The main part of this volume is a record of the Recollect missions
in the Philippines from 1661 to 1712; these are conducted mainly
in western Luzón, Mindanao, and Calamianes, and Assis's account
contains much information of interest regarding conditions in those
regions. "Moro raids in the seventeenth century" summarizes the
principal events connected with that topic; and the Jesuit Clain
presents an interesting account of the discovery that the islands
called Palaos exist within range of the Philippines.
Extracts from letters written by Manila Jesuits in 1691 and 1694
furnish some items of news. Governor Cruzat y Gongora is making
rigorous exactions upon the alcaldes-mayor and the tributary Indians;
he engages in trade, and accepts gifts from office-seekers. In
1692, two richly-laden vessels from Manila are lost; and in 1694
another, which contained all the available wealth of the Manila
citizens. Various ecclesiastical squabbles continue as echoes of the
Pardo controversy.
A letter from the Jesuit Paul Clain (June 10, 1697) gives a vivid
description of the arrival in Samar of some strange people, driven
from their homes in the Palaos (or Pelew) Islands; and reports the
information gained from them about that hitherto unknown group in
the broad Pacific. These foreigners receive kind treatment from the
natives of Samar, and religious instruction from the missionaries
there; and they desire to open communication between their own islands
and the Philippines.
The chief part of this volume is devoted to the Recollect missions
in various portions of the Philippines, the period treated in general
being included in the years 1661-1712, although some few remarks touch
a later period. The main portion of the account is taken from the
chronicle of Pedro de San Francisco de Assis, the author of the fourth
part of the Recollect Historia general; the second and subsidiary
part from vols. viii and ix of Juan de la Concepción's Historia,
this portion being designed merely to supplement the preceding account.
San Pedro de Assis describes cursorily the insurrection in Pampanga
(there scarcely more than an attempt) and the more serious uprising in
the province of Pangasinan and Zambales, and the part played by the
Recollects in restoring peace. The revolt in Pampanga arises, like
so many minor revolts in the past, through the injustice of lesser
officials--this time the superintendent of the timber-cutting. Under
leadership of one Francisco Manyago, a native military official,
the Pampangos attempt to gain freedom, and plan a general uprising
among various provinces. But though the most warlike of the Filipinos,
they are at the same time the most reasonable, and are, consequently,
easily quieted by the personal efforts of the governor, assisted
ably by the various religious orders. More difficult to eliminate,
however, is the leaven of discontent injected by the Pampangos into
the other provinces of Ilocos and Pangasinan. These northern provinces
begin to think of a union for the purpose of securing liberty, and
of a central government of their own. Our author chooses as his field
more particularly the story of the revolt in Zambales, which he calls
a district of the province of Pangasinan, and which is a Recollect
mission territory. The revolt of Pangasinan is under the leadership
of Andrés Málong, who aspires to kingship and who gradually gathers an
army, some say, of 40,000 men. He intrigues through certain relatives
and adherents in Zambales to compel the Zambals to declare in his
favor, but notwithstanding the many in sympathy with him there, his
attempts are bootless, for the Recollect religious work so strongly
and courageously against his machinations that, in the end, entirely
conquered by the troops sent against him from Manila, he meets the
fate of other insurgent leaders. The efforts of Málong, through
his relative Sumúlay, in the village of Bolináo, are frustrated by
the vigilance and courage of Juan de la Madre de Dios, the vicar in
charge of the convent there, but his church is burned by the insurgent
sympathizers. The fathers and loyal natives, notwithstanding repeated
threats of death, under the active leadership of the above father hold
to their post, although one of the fathers, Luis de San Joseph, would
have gladly abandoned the place. This same priest, however, performs
brave feats in his delivery of messages from the vicar of Lingayén
(who describes the revolt in Pangasinan, and asks aid from Manila),
to the convent of Masinloc. Thence those messages are taken to Manila
by Bernardino de la Concepción, accompanied by three loyal chiefs,
who are suitably rewarded for their services.
With the absence from Masinloc of the three loyal chiefs
above-mentioned, treason shows its head in that village, its immediate
outbreak being due to an inopportune rebuke administered by the
prior to a chief who had neglected to attend mass. The religious and
loyal natives are besieged in the convent, but escape by stratagem, by
seizing a boat in which some natives have come to the village. Reaching
the village of Bagác, they meet there the three loyal chiefs who
are returning from Manila, and with their aid and that of thirty men
gathered by the prior of Bagác, they recover the village of Masinloc
from the insurgents. The majority of the inhabitants receive pardon,
but three of the ringleaders are put to death.
In the village of Cigayén, a chief, Sirray, acts as agent for
Málong, but failing to succeed in his plan to murder the religious
there, finally joins Málong with twenty-five followers, while the
father retires to Manila, and the village is abandoned by its other
inhabitants. The village of Agno is quieted by the efforts of the
Recollect Luis de San Joseph; and the chief, Durrey, the cause of
the trouble there, and twelve of his partisans are forced to flee. In
Bolinao, the flames of insurrection break out once more, for the vicar,
Juan de la Madre de Dios, is now alone. Málong sends an emissary,
one Caucáo, to deliver to him a letter, demanding that the place be
turned over to him. The father, however, is enabled by the chance
arrival of a champan with some religious, Spaniards, and natives, who
are fleeing from Ilocos, to outwit his enemies for the time being. The
quiet of Bolinao lasts only so long as the above-mentioned champan
remains there. After its departure Málong tries to secure the murder
of the religious through Durrey and Sumúlay. The former is dissuaded
from the attempt, and the latter persisting, is in turn attacked by
the father, and wounded, although he escapes by the connivance of
some of the inhabitants of Bolináo.
Meanwhile definite arrangements are made in Manila--and that more
speedily than is the custom there--for sending troops to put down
the incipient rebellion. The aid consists of a fleet under Felipe de
Ugalde, and an army of 200 Spaniards, and 400 natives, under Francisco
de Estebár. These joining and assisted further by some Zambals, quickly
break up organized hostility. Punishment (too severe some think,
but our author justifies it) is meted out to the leaders: Málong is
shot; Sumúlay, Caucáo, Sirrey, and Durrey are hanged; while another
leader in order to escape the death-sentence kills himself. Thus the
insurrection, which has lasted but a portion of the years 1660 and
1661, comes to an end, and this attempt, perhaps the earliest in which
various tribes or peoples of the Filipinos (although but waveringly
it is true) show any desire to act in concert, is recorded only as a
failure. The Sangleys, who have openly encouraged the insurrection,
and have even fought in their ranks, also attempt to revolt, partly
in response to the efforts of the pirate Kuesing; but their plans,
both in 1661 and 1662, come to naught, divine Providence each time
allowing the Recollects to act as agents. But the second attempt is
put down only after the shedding of much Sangley blood.
Probably in the year 1662, the first work of the Recollect on the
coast of Luzon opposite Manila begins, with the invitation of the
Franciscans who are engaged in work there, but who must give up
that field, a poor one, because of a scarcity of religious. Quickly
accepting the invitation, the Recollects enter upon the work with
enthusiasm, and found the convents of Binangónan, Valér, Casigúran,
and Palánan. In that district much fruit for heaven is gathered;
but in 1704 the dearth of religious (for none pass from Spain to the
Philippines from 1692 to 1710) causes the order to restore the district
to the Franciscans. Continuing, the deaths of the missionaries Juan
de San Antonio and Joseph de la Anunciation in the years 1663 and
1664 are recorded, and synopses of their lives given.
In chapter viii, Assis, going back somewhat, gives a résumé of the
sufferings of the Recollects between the years 1640-1668. These
sufferings and persecutions come mainly from the Moros, who by their
continual raids make themselves the scourge of all the Philippine
mission villages; and such is the boldness of those pirates that
they do not even hesitate to carry on their operations in sight of
Manila itself. Added to the terrors of the Moros is also the active
injury inflicted by the Dutch, those heretics allying themselves
even with the Moros to cause injury to the true Catholic faith. The
peace between Spain and Holland comes as a most welcome relief to the
colony. The Recollect villages and missions being in the very midst
of the Moro territory are the worst afflicted by that scourge. Their
pitiful petitions for aid fall on deaf ears, for at Manila, self
interest rules, and trade is the syren of the hour, not religion. The
Recollects, too, are not without their martyrs for the faith as the
result of Moro persecutions, while others succumb to the hardships
of the missionary labors.
The work among the Zambals is again taken up by our author in the
year 1670. The inhabitants of that district are a fierce people,
those in the mountains being more so than those dwelling along the
coast and on the plains, where they have had intercourse with other
natives and with Spaniards. The mountain population contains many
apostates and heathens, while many Negritos wander homeless and in
utter barbarous condition through their fastnesses. Although all those
people are hostile among themselves, they unite against the Spaniards,
for their common hatred to the latter draws them together. All the
orders have had a share in the reduction of those fierce people,
but the Recollects with the greatest success. The fierceness of
the people leads the Recollects to employ gentle means, and thus
by adapting themselves to the genius of their flock they gain many
converts--the most abundant being during the years 1668-1671, when
the provincial Cristobal de Santa Monica appoints nine religious for
the work. As a result of their labors 2,000 people are reduced to
a Christian and settled life, and others also adopt the faith. The
new villages of Iba (formerly called Paynavén), Subic, and Mórong
are formed from the converts, while all the old villages increase in
population. Two new convents are established--one in Paynavén, and the
other in Bagác. All this is accomplished by the year 1670. In 1671,
Joseph de la Trinidad makes great gains for Christianity in the Zambal
district, and, on becoming provincial in 1674, takes especial care
of those missions. But unfortunately the Recollects clash with the
Dominicans, whose administration lies in the district of Batáan; and
although the Recollects resist, they are at length (1679) compelled
by the archbishop, Felipe de Pardo (who covets the entire district
for his order) and the governor to cede the Zambal missions to the
Dominicans, and to take in exchange the island of Mindoro, which has
been for many years in charge of the seculars.
Following is told in synopsis the life of Miguel de Santo Tomás, most
of whose mission life has been spent in the province of Caraga. The
general chapter of 1672, meeting in Spain, assigns definitors and
discreets to the Philippine province.
Chapter iv of the ninth decade of the history carries us into Mindanao,
where the work among the heathen Tagabalòyes is reviewed. These are
a heathen people living in the neighborhood of Bislig in Caraga, the
Recollect mission center farthest from Manila, in the mountains called
Balooy (whence their name). They are a domestically inclined people,
courageous and intelligent, faithful in their treaties and promises,
and said to be the descendants of the Japanese. Not much can be done
among them until the year 1671 because of the Moro wars, the little
government aid received, and the scarcity of religious, the two in
the district being unable to extend their labors much outside of their
regular duties. But in 1671, Juan de San Felipe, the new provincial,
who has been a missionary in Bislig, appoints a religious especially
to look after the conversion of the mountain people. That religious
aided by the other two, has baptized 300 adults by 1673, besides 100
others who die immediately after receiving that sacrament. By 1674 the
district of Bislig has increased from 200 to 800 whole tributes. This
conversion has been aided by certain miraculous occurrences.
In 1674, Joseph de la Trinidad the provincial increases the mission
forces by the appointment of special ministers who visit the various
districts continually, carrying aid to the most needed parts of the
districts assigned them, and thus easing the burden of the missionaries
already established in the various villages by giving them more time
to attend to their regular duties. His greatest efforts he expends
in the Mindanao provinces of Butuan and Cagayan, where Christianity,
in consequence, makes vast gains. The faith is carried among the
Manobos of the Linao district, and the population of the villages
increases. The three religious working in the mountains of Cagayan,
and in toward Lake Malanao, reduce more than one hundred tributes
to Christian villages in spite of the hostility of the Moros, the
conversion being aided throughout by manifest miracles.
The ninth chapter of the ninth decade relates the work in the new field
of Mindoro. The mission work of that island (of which and its people
a brief description is given) is first begun by the Augustinians,
who cede the district to the Franciscans. Later the Jesuits maintain a
number of missionaries there and found the permanent mission of Naojan,
which is maintained until Luis de San Vitores goes to the missions
of the Ladrones or Marianas, when the island is turned over to three
seculars. The district is a poor one, and the seculars, although
zealous in their duties, cannot be adequately supported. Finally in
1679, as related above, the Recollects, after their glorious record
in the Philippines and their flourishing mission work in the Zambal
district, take up the Mindoro mission field, after a vain protest at
being ousted from their Zambal missions. The transfer is speedily
concluded by chaplaincies being provided for the seculars, and the
Recollects, taking possession of the new territory, immediately put
six religious to work. The new leaver is felt instantly and the number
of Christians increases from 4,000 in 1679 to 8,000 in 1692, and to
12,000 in 1716. Although the Moro depredations lessen that number
later, in 1738, San Antonio still chronicles over 7,000. The first
convent established at Baco is later moved to Calapan. Convents are
also established at Naojan, Calavite, and Mangárin (which is later
removed to Bongabong, because of its unhealthy site and the raids
of the Moros), all of which have their visitas. A mountain mission
established later results in a great increase to the Christians
of Mindoro.
The succeeding chapter deals with the resumption of the Recollect
missions in Calamianes which have been abandoned in 1662 because of the
Chinese pirate Kuesing, and the consequent withdrawal of the support of
the military. All but two of the missions, those in Cuyo and Agutaya,
which are retained by the Recollects, have been given into the care
of one secular priest, and this arrangement is maintained until 1680,
when the Recollects (although somewhat unwillingly on their part)
again accept the ministry of those islands. In November of 1680
three religious are sent there, the possession of the Recollects is
given royal confirmation in 1682, and in 1684 the arrival of a new
mission allows them to assign other workers to the field. There are
plenty of hardships to suffer, but the fruit is great. New missions
are established, and by 1715 the number of Christians has risen from
4,500 in 1680 to 18,600; and in 1735 Calamianes and Romblón contain
21,076 Christians. Certain missionaries are named and praised for
their work. Incidentally an interesting description is given of the
training of the native children for the service of the Church, by which
our author refutes the charge that the religious have many servants.
Notwithstanding their efforts, several times all but successful,
the Recollects are unable to extend their evangelization to the
great empire of China, as is related in chapter ii of decade x. The
succeeding chapter tells of the Recollect missions sent from Spain
to the Philippines during the three decades covered by this history
(1661-1690). The first leaves Spain in 1660 under the leadership
of Eugenio de los Santos, and consists of twenty choristers and two
lay-brothers. One of the entire number reaches Manila in 1662, and
fourteen others the following year. The second mission is in charge
of Christobal de Santa Monica, who has been appointed procurator in
1663. All of that mission of twenty-four religious which sets sail
in 1666 reaches Manila in 1667, except two who remain in Mexico. The
third mission is collected in 1675 by Juan de la Madre de Dios, who
takes the twenty-six religious composing it to Mexico, but there hands
them over to another religious while he himself returns to Spain. They
reach the islands in 1676. In 1680, Cristobal de Santa Monica is sent
to Spain as procurator, reaching his destination in 1681. In 1683,
he sails from Cadiz with a mission consisting of nineteen fathers,
nineteen choristers, and five lay-brothers. All of that number, except
one who dies at sea and two who desert at Puerto Rico and return home,
reach the Philippines in April, 1684, and are distributed among the
convents. The general chapter of 1684 held in Spain elects definitors
and discreets for the Philippine province.
Most of chapter v of decade x treats of the life of Juan de la Madre
de Dios, which we give by synopsis and extract. He is one of the most
active and able workers whom the order has had in the islands, where he
has held many offices in the order and has also worked valiantly in the
missions. He is one of the most untiring of idol-worship destroyers,
and even dares to venture alone to the places where heathen assemblies
are held for the purpose of their nefarious worship. Of a political
nature also, so far as the order is concerned, his work is by no
means slight, and he obtains much for his province in Spain. His
death occurs in the latter country in 1685. This same chapter relates
also the life of Thomás de San Geronimo (given by us in synopsis),
a missionary in the Visayan region. He is elected provincial in 1680,
and so well is he liked that he is again elected in 1686 against his
will. His death occurs the same year.
In chapter viii of decade x the Recollect labors in the islands of
Masbate, Ticao, and Burias are reviewed. These islands which have
been conquered during the early years of Legazpi's arrival in the
archipelago are an important way-station for ships plying between
Nueva España and the islands. The faith is introduced into Masbate by
the Augustinians under Alonso Jimenez, who is called the "apostle of
Masbate." The Augustinians, however, abandon that island and Ticao in
1609, and seculars have charge of the mission work there from that year
until 1688. In the latter year the Recollects are substituted for the
seculars in accordance with the plan of the bishop of Nueva Cáceres,
that the district be given to a regular order. A decree of August 13,
1685 grants the islands to the Recollects as well as certain villages
in Luzón. The latter are resigned by that order to the Franciscans,
as they can be administered more easily by them, but the islands of
Masbate, Ticao, and Burias are accepted by them in 1687. In 1688 the
cession is made by the secular in charge at Mobó in the island of
Masbate, to the content of the natives who welcome the Recollects. A
good convent is founded in Mobó and three new villages, in addition to
the six existing when the Recollects enter, are established. In 1726
another convent is founded in the district after the wreck of a galleon
in order that the image of the Santo Cristo of Burgos which is carried
by that ship and which is saved through the diligence of one of the
passengers on the vessel, Julian de Velasco, may be properly housed. In
reply to a petition of the Recollects in 1724 asking royal confirmation
of the Masbate missions, a report on their work there is ordered. It
is found that the number of families has increased from 187 in 1687 to
585 in 1722, an increase of 398 families or 1,592 persons. In 1738,
there are 5,000 persons in the islands, and three new villages, one
in Ticao, and two in Masbate. This means that the order has formed
six villages and brought 3,252 persons to the bosom of the Church in
the time that they have had control of this district. The number has
been lessened by the invasions of the Moros. The conversions have been
made among heathens, apostates, refugees from other islands--all of
whom represent the worst elements. The Recollects have had to fight
against the forces of nature, the Moros, and sorcery. They have
persevered in the face of all manner of hardships--hardships that
cause some of the missionaries who have been there to say that the
Masbate territory offers more suffering than any other mission field.
The extracts from Concepción cover in part the same field as the
history by San Francisco de Assis; except the third, which tells
of the restoration of the missions of Zambales to the Recollects,
and gives a brief account of the judicial proceedings between that
order and the Dominicans.
The first extract concerns the enforced transfer of the Zambal missions
to the Dominicans. This comes about directly from the representation
made in the Council of the Indias by Diego de Villaroto, to the
effect that the conversion of the island of Mindoro would progress
much more rapidly if given to the religious order best suited
therefor, and if the seculars in charge of the curacies there be
appointed to chaplaincies. Royal attention is given this petition
and in 1677 a royal decree orders the governor and archbishop to
make the transfer. In consequence, Felipe Pardo, the archbishop,
quick to seize the opportunity, aided by the governor, compels the
unwilling Recollects to give up their missions among the Zambals and
take the island of Mindoro, in order that the Dominicans might take
the former. Such an arrangement is very convenient for the Dominicans,
as it enables them to better concentrate their missions in Pangasinan,
and affords them easier communication among their various missions. The
protests of the Recollects that the Zambals prefer their order and
that the people of Mindoro will prefer their old missionaries the
Jesuits, and that the two districts will be disturbed and restless has
no weight, and the governor sees that they are kept quiet through the
Spanish officials there. The three Recollects assigned to Mindoro are
Diego de la Madre de Dios, Diego de la Resurrection, and Eugenio de
los Santos, and they are each given one assistant. A description of
Mindoro and its people follows, and a résumé of its early conquest
and of missionary labors there. Since the Jesuits have abandoned
that field (with the going of Luis San Vítores to the Marianas) the
seculars have had ecclesiastical charge of the island, but it is a
poor place and scarcely can any secular be found who cares to accept
it. After the entrance of the Recollects, the number of Christians
steadily rises, evangelization making progress among the Mangyans,
Negritos, and other peoples. Four convents are established, each of
them with several visitas, and the mission to the Mangyans on the bay
of Ilog, in the last of which none of the apostatized Christians are
allowed to enter lest they pervert the new plants. "But that fine
flower-garden [i.e., the island of Mindoro] has been trampled down
and even ruined by the Moros." The Dominicans bend their energies
to the work in their newly-acquired missions of Zambales. With
malicious satisfaction, Concepción reports that their efforts have
resulted mainly in failure. Believing that the eleven villages which
they have received from the Recollects are too many for the best
administration of the district, they endeavor to consolidate and move
some of them. Bolinao, which under the Recollect regime was located on
a small island off the coast of Zambales, is moved across the channel
to the barren coast where "many inconveniences but no advantages" are
possessed. Agno is moved inland from the coast; Sigayen is also moved,
the only advantage made by the changed site being the river of fresh
water on which it is located. Paynavén is moved inland to the site
of Iba, to which its name is changed, and Iba becomes the capital of
the district, but in order that it may become so, some families are
moved from Bolinao. The villages of Cabangán and Subic are made from
the consolidation of several others, and the places left vacant by
refugees are tilled by families from Pangasinan, whence the natives
can be moved easier as that province is so densely populated that
there is not sufficient room for all of them. The inference is that
the evil caused by the administration of the Dominicans is greater
than the good, in discontent among the Zambals and the flight of many
families to Ilocos and to the mountains.
The second extract recounts, quite similarly to the version given
by San Francisco de Assis, the work in Recollect missions in the
islands of Masbate, Ticao, and Burias. These islands are a part of the
bishopric of Nueva Cáceres, and are under the civil control of the
alcalde of Albay. Masbate, the largest, has traces of gold and some
fine copper mines, but the gold has never paid well. All three islands
possess excellent timber and many civet-cats. The early history of
the islands and their early spiritual conquests are told. Through the
efforts of the bishop, Andres Gonzales, O. P., the islands are given
to the Recollects, the secular priest in charge there being given
a chaplaincy instead. Certain villages of Luzón, which were also to
be given to the Recollects, are given instead to the Franciscans who
contest them with the former. The islands are important both from a
secular and religious point of view, for they are a way-station for
the Acapulco ships, and also for the Recollect missions in Cebú and
Mindanao. As related above, the Recollects ask royal confirmation
of the missions of these islands in 1724, and the subsequent report
rendered shows that their work has resulted in great progress, and
that they have made the islands a safe place where before they were
most dangerous both on the coast and in the interior.
The third extract concerns the work of the Dominicans in the
missions of Zambales and the restoration of that district to the
Recollects. From Concepción's account (which must be read in connection
with that by Salazar, the Dominican), the Dominican order did not
have the success of their predecessors among the fierce Zambals,
and ended rather in alienating them by their aggressive treatment;
while the Recollects have, on the contrary, employed gentle means by
which they have won the hearts and minds of the Zambals. The presidio
at Paynavén which has been increased, is injudiciously allowed to make
raids among the natives upon any occasion. The trouble comes to a head
with the murder of the nephew of one of the chiefs, Dalinen, by another
chief Calignao, the latter of whom appears to have been a thoroughly
unreliable and malicious man. Dalinen, in order to avenge the murder
in accordance with Zambal traditions, takes to the wilds, but with
his followers, is pursued by the soldiers of the garrison. As Calignao
has not fled, the missionary Domingo Pérez, O.P., in order to win him
over, indiscreetly announces that the murder of Dalinen's nephew has
been by command of the government, which has ordered that all those
who refuse to reduce themselves to village life be killed. Calignao,
as another act in the tragedy, plans to kill Dalinen, and by the aid
of a Negrito, accomplishes that design. Then, in order to show in
full light his character, he compasses the death of Domingo Pérez,
wounding the latter so severely that he dies through lack of efficient
care. Although the Dominicans claim certain miraculous occurrences as
happening at the death of the above father, Concepción disproves them
all. The remainder of the extract has to do with the suits between
the Recollects and the Dominicans in regard to the Zambal missions,
which last spasmodically from the time the Recollects are compelled
to abandon them until the time of their restoration in 1712. The
Recollects claim throughout that they have been despoiled unjustly of
the missions, and that although they accepted the missions of Mindoro,
they have had no other alternative, and have not accepted them as a
compensation for the loss of the Zambal missions. Indeed they have
never renounced their claim to those missions, but have regularly
appointed ministers for them (who of course have not labored in
those missions). The Dominicans, on the other hand assert that they
have merely taken over those missions in response to commands from
the archbishop and the governor to that effect. The suit drags on
wearily, each side asserting its rights, and the matter being delayed
by such proceeding until it seems unending. Finally the Dominicans,
with a change of procurator, shift their tactics, and allege that they
are not at all a parry to any suit, and since they have received the
missions at the order of the governor, they are ready to resign them if
requested so to do. The Recollects maintain the opposite, namely, that
the Dominicans are a party to the suit; and the verdict is at length
given to them, and the Dominicans are ordered in 1690 to appear before
the Audiencia within three days to plead their right. The summons is
neglected until the year 1710, when the attorney for the Recollects
again stirs up the matter, and notwithstanding the fact that the
Dominicans still adhere to their former statements that they are not
a party to the suit, the matter is brought to court, and the missions
of the Zambals turned over to the Recollects by special sentence.
Through nearly all of the Spanish regime in the Philippines, those
islands, especially and most the Visayan, suffered greatly from the
frequent and cruel raids of the Moro pirates from Mindanao and other
islands south of it. Some account of these is a necessary part of this
work; but our limits of space will not allow us to reproduce verbose
and detailed relations like that of Combés (in his Hist. de Mindanao),
especially as this and some others of similar tenor cover but a short
period of time. In an appendix to this volume we present a brief
summary of this subject, down to the end of the seventeenth century;
the first part is an outline merely, drawn from our previous volumes,
giving full citations therefrom, which show the relations existing
between the Spaniards and the Mahometan Malays from 1565 to 1640. The
second part covers the same subject for the rest of the century; it
is composed of the accounts given by Murillo Velarde, Diaz, and other
historians, arranged in chronological order--sometimes synopsized,
sometimes translated in full, according to the prolixity or the
relative importance of each. From the beginning were evident various
elements of hostility--racial, religious, and commercial--between the
Spaniards and the Moros, which were soon aggravated by the Spanish
desire for conquest and the Moro greed for plunder and bloodshed. The
unfortunate natives of the northern islands who had been subjugated
by the Spaniards were unable to defend themselves from their enemies,
and the Spanish power was often inadequate to protect them or to punish
the invaders. The pirates were intimidated and curbed for a long time
by Corcuera's brilliant campaigns in Mindanao and Joló (1637-38); and
other punitive expeditions had a like though often temporary effect
in later years. In the latter part of the century peace prevailed
between these enemies for a long time, probably because no one of
the Moro chiefs had the ability and force of the noted Corralat.
In 1639 Almonte subdues the fierce Guimbanos, a mountain people in
Sulu. Later, they and the Joloans rebel, and in 1643-44 Agustín
de Cepeda again chastises them, defeating the natives in several
battles and ravaging their country. One of these expeditions is
related in detail by a Jesuit in Joló, who, as usual, ascribes
the success of the Spaniards to the favor of St. Ignatius and the
Virgin Mary. In Mindanao, Corcuera's invasion (1637) long restrains
Corralat; but in 1655 he treacherously causes the murder of three
Spanish envoys sent to him and attempts (but in vain) to stir up the
other Moro rulers to rebellion against the Spaniards. The latter are
not strong enough to wage war with him, and therefore overlook his
insolence; this encourages him to begin anew his piratical raids
against other islands. At this, several attempts are made to curb
them, most proving ineffectual--although in January-February, 1658,
Esteybar with a squadron of armed vessels, destroys several Mindanao
villages. Finally (in 1662) the Manila authorities decide to abandon
their forts in Mindanao and Joló; this causes the loss of Spanish
dominion there, and the christianized Moros soon relapse into their
former heathenism. Some of the Joloan chiefs make unauthorized raids
on the northern islands, but their king punishes them and restores
the captives. Corralat meanwhile, in his old age, maintains peace,
and charges his heir to do the same--an example which is followed by
the king of Joló. The Camucones are kept in awe by the light galleys
which are built at Manila for this purpose. Thus the latter part of
the century is a time of comparative peace, so far as the relations
of the Spaniards and Visayans with the Moros are concerned.
The Editors
July, 1906.
DOCUMENTS OF 1691-1700
Extracts from Jesuit letters. Juan de Zarzuela, and others;
1691 and 1694.
Discovery of Palaos Islands. Paul Clain, S. J.; June 10, 1697.
Recollect missions in the Philippines, 1661-1712. Pedro de
San Francisco de Assis; 1756. Juan de la Concepción; 1788.
Sources: The first of these documents is obtained from the Ventura
del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 1-3, 69-72; the second, from
Lettres édifiantes (1st Paris ed.), i, (1717), pp. 112-136, from a
copy in the library of the Wisconsin Historical Society; the third,
from the Historia general de los religiosos descalzos de San Agustin,
part iv, written by Pedro de San Francisco de Assis (Zaragoza, 1756),
from a copy in the Library of Congress.
Translations: The first document is translated by Emma Helen Blair;
the second, by Frances B. Marshall; the third, by James Alexander
Robertson.
EXTRACTS FROM JESUIT LETTERS, 1691-94
[From a letter by Father Juan de Zarzuela, [1] June 19, 1691.]
The governor Don Fausto Cruzat y Gongora is a royal official in these
islands, who makes every endeavor to collect the revenue of his
Majesty. He has a hasty disposition, and no one dares oppose him;
consequently there are few who wish him well, and there is no one
who desires the office of alcalde, on account of the burdens that he
imposes on them (never customary here), of completing every year the
royal revenue and its accounts, and filling out the quota of what they
must collect, even though they do not actually collect it. The result
is, that the alcaldes contribute from their own stores what they had
not collected; for, no matter what efforts they make, they cannot
during the year finish the collections, on account of the extreme
poverty of the Indians. The governor has for counselors or intimates
only Andaya and Antonio, for whom he does many things and confers many
offices. It is not known how much it costs them. His Lordship brought
over a great amount of silver from the viceroy, which is necessarily
sent as an investment; and there will be many who complain of this,
because [the goods procured by] it will occupy the greater part of
the ship. For this reason no one wished to accept command of the ship,
for it will be nothing more than to go in the governor's employ; and
finally it was given to Don José Mato Rayo. It is a new ship which
is sailing; it was built by Andaya as contractor, and superintendent
of the whole--whom the governor obeyed, as one who was necessary
to him, because there was no ship that could be sent. That is, the
"Santo Niño" was in such a condition that it could not be repaired;
and, as the time was short (it was then only nine months), it was
necessary to multiply the exactions [sacas]. Thus Silang, which has
two hundred and twenty-seven and a half tributes registered, had
one hundred and twenty men at one time outside of their village;
others had seventy, eighty, or more out--without being able to
take care of their grain-fields. Afterward, because there was not
enough rice for the king, through lack of foresight in the royal
officials, they levied another assessment of rice on the natives
[in Cavite] as also in La Laguna, the king paying but one-half of
what the Indians could sell it for later, and leaving them under the
necessity of buying the grain at double price. The worst thing is,
that now the rice has become so scarce that it is worth nine and
ten reals, at which price it is sold in the [royal] magazines; and
the tribute which is given by the very Indians on whom this purchase
was levied is sold at the magazines, without being placed therein,
to the rice-mills. This gentleman very willingly accepts what people
give him for the offices. At the beginning, it was understood that
he would not receive gifts; but with five children, a wife, and a
sister-in-law, and heavily indebted, the office costing him so much,
and he coming so great a distance, how can he avoid looking out for
money? He is not opposed to the Society [of Jesus], but we are under
no obligation to him. Our order has no kindly feeling toward thieves,
and it is thought most probable, as nearly as can be guessed, that he
will not speak [of us] very favorably to his Majesty. He says that
he will despatch the balandra [2] this year; but I do not know how
this will be, because they have not begun to get it ready.
[From a letter by Father Magino Sola, June 19, 1691.]
On the twenty-fifth of July, Señor Fausto Cruzat y Gongora took
possession of the government. When Don Juan de Vargas was ready to
embark this year, the city brought a new suit against him, and seized
the little that he possessed.
[From a letter by Father Juan de Montemayor, dated July 4, 1694.]
He says therein that information had been received in Manila that
the Dominicans would not be promoted to bishoprics in the Filipinas
Islands, a statement that had been well received. The bishop of
Troya had attempted to regain the government of the archbishopric,
founding his claim on a royal decree in which he was charged to
surrender it to the person who had been presented by his Majesty
(from which he inferred that the king approved his government), but
slighting the imperative order [ruego y encargo] that he should set
out for España. He demanded that the governor send him the official
correspondence from España for the governor of the archbishopric;
but the governor replied that he would send him that which should go
to the name of his illustrious Lordship.
[Letter by Father Pedro de Silva Alencastre, July 20, 1694.]
[He says] that for three years past no letters from the islands reached
Mejico, because in July of the year 1692 the patache which was going to
the Marianas, with more than twenty thousand pesos, was burned while
in the very port. In the same year the ship "Santo Cristo" sailed for
Acapulco, and had to come back to this port from the thirtieth degree
of latitude. Then she sailed in July of 93, from the port of Naga;
and up to the present time nothing is known about her fate. In 1694
a galleon was built that was 72 cubits long [de 72 codos de quilla],
an audacious attempt. It set sail on the eve of St. Peter's day;
and on the following Saturday, while off the shore of Maragondon, it
went to pieces. It was laden with more than twelve thousand packages;
for all the citizens had invested whatever they possessed, in order
to lade this ship, and even the wrought silver and the jewels of the
women had been sold in order to invest their value in stuffs. The
letter was sent by the patache which the governor was despatching
as an express, so that they might know in Mejico and España that the
islands were not destroyed.
[Letter by Father Gaspar Marco, [3] July 27, 1694.]
The bishop of Troya was going on, thinking that the government of the
archbishopric belonged to him, and did not ordain the clerics who
presented dismissory letters from the cabildo of Manila--assuming
that the king regarded him as ecclesiastical governor--and that,
in spite of the permit for absence which commanded him to return to
España. The cabildo had brought suit against Doctor Nicolas Caraballo,
sentencing him to exile in Nueva España. He embarked in the year
1692; but, the galleon having come back to the port of Naga in the
province of Camarines, the bishop of that diocese not only received
and entertained Caraballo, but absolved him and qualified him to hold
any office or benefice. The cabildo of Manila, who had sent a person to
conduct Caraballo to that city, endured this slight and said nothing,
when they knew of the conduct of the bishop of Camarines, in order
not to arouse another dispute. The bishop appointed Caraballo governor
of the bishopric of Cebu, on account of the death of its prelate, in
1692. He began his rule by visiting and punishing the curas, until
he removed the cura of Aclan, named Salazar, and seized his goods,
without allowing him any appeal to the metropolitan. Salazar escaped
to Manila, and informed the cabildo of this; and they commissioned
the cantor, Don Esteban de Olmedo, to arrest Caraballo. The bishop of
Camarines had information of all this, and went in person to protect
him. He arrived twenty-four hours after Olmedo, and arrested the
latter; he passed sentence on him, with the counsel and opinion of
Caraballo himself, and carried Olmedo to Camarines with a pair of
fetters, where he remained until the date [of the letter], without
the cabildo having taken any steps for his liberation.
DISCOVERY OF THE PALAOS ISLANDS
Letters written from Manila, June 10, 1697, by Father Paul Clain [4]
of the Society of Jesus to Reverend Father Tirso Gonzalez, general
of the same Society, on the new discovery that has been made of
thirty-two islands, south of the Marianas Islands.
After the departure of the vessel which was commissioned with the
letters which I wrote during the year past to your Paternity, there
arrived another which brought me the order to accompany the reverend
father Antonio Fuccio, [5] of Sicily, the new provincial of this
province. Making with him the circuit of our houses, I have taken
a survey of the country of the Pintados. There are large islands
separated from one another by arms of the sea, in which the tide
renders navigation difficult and dangerous. There are in these islands
seventy-seven thousand Christians, under the spiritual direction of
forty-one missionaries of our Society, who have with them two of our
brothers who provide for their subsistence.
I can scarcely express to you, my reverend Father, how I have been
moved at the sight of these poor Indians, of whom there are many who
die without receiving the sacraments of the church, in great danger
of their eternal salvation: because there are so few priests here,
that the majority of them have charge of two villages at the same
time. When it happens that they are occupied in one place, fulfilling
the functions of their ministry, they are not able to assist those
who die in the other. I have been still more greatly moved by the
forsaken condition in which we found several other persons, who died
in the islands that are called Pais. Although these islands are not
far from the Marianas, their inhabitants have no intercourse with
those of the latter group. The discovery of this new country has this
year been made certain, as is here recounted.
In making the visitation with the father provincial, as I have already
said, we arrived at the village of Guivam, [6] on the island of Samal,
the largest and southernmost island of the Eastern Pintados. We
found there twenty-nine Palaos, or natives of these newly-discovered
islands. The easterly winds which rule over these seas from the month
of December to the month of May had blown them three hundred leguas
from their islands to this village on the island of Samal. They had
come on two small vessels, that are called here "paraos." This is
how they relate their adventure.
They had embarked, thirty-five persons in all, intending to go to
a neighboring island, when there arose a wind so violent that they
were not able to gain the island where they wished to land, or any
other in the neighborhood, and were carried out to the open sea. They
made many efforts to land on some shore or some island known to them,
but without avail. They sailed thus at the will of the winds during
seventy days without being able to make land. Finally losing all
hope of returning to their country, and seeing themselves half-dead
with hunger, without water and without food, they resolved to abandon
themselves to the mercy of the winds, and land on the first island they
could find toward the west. Scarcely had they taken this resolution,
when they found themselves in sight of the village of Guivam on the
island of Samal. A man from that village who was on the seashore saw
them, and, judging by the structure of their little vessels that they
were some strangers who had lost their way, he took a piece of cloth
and made them a signal to enter by the channel that he indicated, in
order to avoid the rocks and the banks of sand upon which they were
about to run aground. These poor men were so frightened at seeing this
stranger that they began to put back to sea; however much effort they
made, they were not able to turn about, and the wind blew them a second
time toward the shore. When they were near, the Guivam man made them
understand by signs the route that they should take; but, seeing that
they were not taking it, and that they would surely be lost, he threw
himself into the sea, and swam to one of those two small vessels,
with the design of acting as pilot and of conducting them safely to
port. Scarcely had he reached the vessel when those who were on board,
even the women carrying their children, threw themselves into the
water to gain the other vessel, so much did they fear the approach
of this stranger. This man, seeing himself alone in the small vessel,
followed after them; and, having entered into the second, he cleared
all the rocks and piloted it safely into the harbor. During this time
the poor people remained motionless, and gave themselves up to the
guidance of the stranger, whose prisoners they considered themselves.
They landed on St. Innocent's day, the twenty-eighth of December of the
year 1696. The inhabitants of Guivam gathered on the shore, received
them with charity, and brought them some wine and some food. They
ate eagerly some cocoanuts, which are the fruit of the palms of
this country. The meat in them is somewhat like that of chestnuts,
except that it has more oil, and that it furnishes a kind of sweetened
water which is agreeable to drink. The natives presented them with
rice boiled in water, which the people use here and in all of Asia,
as one does bread in Europe. They looked at it with wonder, and
took some grains of it, which they immediately threw on the ground,
imagining that they were worms. They exhibited much pleasure when
some of the large roots that are called palavan were brought to them,
and eagerly ate them.
Meanwhile the natives brought two women whom the wind had thrown upon
the same shore at Guivam some time before. As they knew a little of
the language of this country, they served as interpreters, and it is
through them that we learned what I am about to relate. One of those
women found among these strangers some of her kindred, and they no
sooner recognized each other than they began to weep. The father who
had charge of this village, having learned of the arrival of these poor
people, had them come to Guivam. Some, when they saw him and perceived
the respect that was shown him, imagined that he was the king of the
country, and that their lives and their fate were in his hands. In
this belief they threw themselves upon the ground to implore his
mercy, and to beg that he would grant them their lives. The father,
touched with compassion at seeing them in such great desolation,
did all that he could to console them; and, to mitigate their fears,
he caressed their children, of whom three were still at the breast,
and five others a trifle older, and promised their parents to give
them all the help that was in his power.
The inhabitants of Guivam vied with each other in offering to the
father to take the strangers into their houses, and to furnish them
with all things that they needed, both food and clothing. The father
committed the strangers to them, but on condition that they should
not separate those who were married (for there were some married ones
among them); and that they should not take less than two together, for
fear that those who were left alone would die of grief. Of thirty-five
who had come aboard the ships there now remained no more than thirty;
five had died during the voyage, because of the lack of food and the
privations of the long journey. A little while after their arrival
still another died, who had the good fortune to receive holy baptism.
They said that their country consisted of thirty-three islands. They
cannot be very far from the Marianas, to judge from the structure of
their vessels, and by the form of their sails, since these are of the
same style. There is strong indication that these islands are farther
to the south than the Marianas, in eleven or twelve degrees north
latitude, and upon the same parallel as Guivam; since the strangers
came straight from the east to the west, and landed on the shore at
this settlement. There is also ground for believing that this is one
of the islands that was discovered from afar some years ago. A vessel
belonging to the Philippines (in 1686) having left the customary route,
which is from east to west upon the thirteenth parallel, and having
veered somewhat toward the southwest, saw it for the first time. These
people called this island Carolina, in honor of the king (Charles II,
king of Spain); and the others called it St. Barnabas, because it was
discovered on the day when the church celebrates the feast of this
apostle. This island was seen last year by another vessel that the
tempest had blown out of its course, in going from here to the Marianas
Islands. The governor of the Philippines had often given orders to the
ship which went nearly every year to the Marianas, to seek for this
island and the others that were thought to be near; but these orders
had been useless, God reserving to this time the discovery of them,
and as we hope, the complete conversion of these people.
The strangers added that of these thirty-three islands there were three
which were inhabited only by birds, but that the others were thickly
peopled. When asked what was the number of the inhabitants, they took a
grain of sand or of dust, and intimated to the father in this fashion,
the innumerable multitude of men who lived there. These islands
are named Pais, Lamululutup, Saraon, Yaropie, Valayyay, Satavan,
Cutac, Yfaluc, Piraulop, Ytai, Pic, Piga, Lamurrec, Puc, Falait,
Caruvaruvong, Ylatu, Lamuliur, Tavas, Saypen, Tacaulat, Rapiyang,
Tavon, Mutacusan, Piylu, Olatan, Palu, Cucumyat, Piyalucunung. The
three which are only inhabited by birds are Piculat, Hulutan, and
Tagian. Lamurrec is the largest of all these islands. It is where
the king of all that country holds his court. The chiefs of all those
settlements submit to him. There was found among these strangers one
of the chiefs with his wife, who is the daughter of a king. Although
they may be half-naked, they have manners and a certain air of dignity,
which makes one recognize well enough who they are. The husband has
all his body painted with certain lines, the arrangement of which
forms various figures. The other men of this tribe have also some
similar lines, some of them more than the others; but the women and
the children do not have them at all. There are nineteen men and ten
women, of different ages. The contour and the color of their faces
are very similar to those of the natives of the Philippines. The men
have no other dress than a kind of girdle which covers their loins
and thighs, and which is wound several times about their bodies. They
have upon their shoulders more than an ell and a half of coarse cloth,
of which they make a kind of hood, which they tie in front, and allow
to hang carelessly behind. The men and the women are dressed in the
same fashion, except that the women have their wearing apparel a
little longer, descending from the waist almost to the knees.
Their language is different from that of the Philippines, and
resembles that of the Marianas Islands. Their manner of pronouncing
words is something like that of the Arabs. The woman who appears to
be of highest station has many rings and necklaces of tortoise-shell,
that are called here carey; and others of a material that is unknown
to us. This material, which somewhat resembles ambergris, is not
transparent.
This is the manner in which they lived upon the sea during the seventy
days while they had been at the mercy of the waves. They threw into
the sea a sort of weir, made of several small branches of trees tied
together. This weir had a large opening to allow the fish to enter,
and ended in a point to prevent their going out. The fish that they
caught in this manner were all the nourishment they had, and they
did not drink any water except that which the rain furnished them;
they caught it in the shells of cocoanuts--which are the fruit of
the palms of this country, as I have already said; they are of the
shape and size of a man's skull.
There are no cows in those islands. The natives tried to run away when
they saw some cows browsing the grass, just as when they heard a small
dog bark in the house of the missionaries. There are neither cats
nor deer, nor horses, nor, in general, any four-legged beast. There
are but few birds, except those which live on the sea. They have,
however, fowls which they eat; but they never eat their eggs.
In spite of this lack of all things, they are happy and content
with their lot. They have some songs and dances in tolerably regular
time. They sing all together and make the same gestures, which has
a pleasing effect.
They are surprised at the government, the politeness, and the
manners of Europe, of which they have no knowledge. They admire
not only that august majesty of the ceremonies by which the church
celebrates divine worship, but also the music, the instruments, the
dances of the Spaniards, the weapons which they carry, and, above
all, the gunpowder. They admire also the whiteness of the Europeans;
for the inhabitants of this country are all of swarthy complexion.
They appear until now to have had no knowledge of God, nor do
they adore idols. We have noticed in them only a life altogether
barbarous. All their care is to seek for food and drink. They have
a great deference for their king and the chiefs of their villages,
and they obey them with the greatest exactitude. They do not have
regular hours for their meals. They drink and eat at any time and
wherever they may be, when they are hungry and thirsty, and when they
find wherewith to satisfy themselves. But they eat little at a time,
and one of their meals is not enough to suffice for all the day.
Their civility and mark of respect consists in taking the hand or
the foot of the one to whom they wish to do honor, and in rubbing it
gently over their face. They have among their possessions some saws
not made of iron, but of a large shell that is called here taclobo,
[7] which they sharpen by rubbing against certain stones. They have
also one of iron, as long as a finger. They were much astonished on
the occasion of a trading-vessel being built at Guivam, to see the
great variety of tools for carpentry which were used. They looked
at all these, one after another, with much wonder. They do not have
metals in their country. The father missionary gave them each a
good-sized piece of iron, which they received with more joy than if
he had given them so much gold. They had so much fear that it would
be taken away from them that they put it under their heads when they
wanted to sleep. They do not have any arms except lances or darts
made of human bones. They are very peaceful among themselves. When
it happens that there is a quarrel among them, it is settled by a few
blows of their fists upon each other's heads. But this rarely happens;
because, if some wish to come to blows, others separate them and make
them stop the dispute. They are not, nevertheless, stupid or heavy;
on the contrary, they have fire and vivacity. They are not as stout as
the natives of the Marianas Islands, but they are well proportioned,
and of nearly the same height as the Philippinos. Both men and women
let their hair grow, which falls upon their shoulders.
When these strangers learned that they were to be conducted into
the presence of the father missionary, they painted themselves all
over the body with a certain yellow color, which they consider a
great adornment. They are so satisfied at finding here in abundance
all that is necessary to life, that they have offered to return to
their own country in order to attract here their compatriots, and
to persuade them to enter into intercourse with these islands. Our
governor is much pleased with this design, in view of the fact that
he has subjected all this country to the king of Spain; and this would
open a wide door for the propagation of the gospel. The eldest of the
strangers had once before been thrown upon the coast of the province of
Caragan in one of these islands; but, as he found only some infidels
who dwelt in the mountains and along these deserted shores, he had
returned to his own country, without having known of the abundance
and the riches of these islands. He had been more fortunate in this
second voyage. The children have already been baptized, and the
others have been instructed in the mysteries of our religion. They
are very skilful in diving; and it is said that they recently found,
while fishing, two large pearls in the shells, which they threw back
into the sea, because they did not know their value. [8]
I write you all this, my reverend Father, persuaded that you will be
glad to learn news so advantageous to those of your children who have
the good fortune to carry the faith into this new country. We have
need of workers, for there is much work to do. We hope that you will
have the kindness to send some workers to us, and will not forget us
in your holy devotions. I am with profound respect, my very reverend
Father, your Paternity's very humble and obedient servant and son,
Paul Clain, missionary of the Society of Jesus. At Manila, June
10, 1697.
MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
1661-1712
I
General History of the Discalced Augustinian Fathers, by
Fray Pedro de San Francisco de Assis [9]
[From this work, as in the three preceding parts of the General
History of the Discalced Augustinians, we translate the important
matter relating to the Philippines, with synopsis or mention of
matter omitted.]
DECADE EIGHT
CHAPTER I
Mention of the insurrections of some provinces in Philipinas, with
the labors that began for our religious. The exemplary lives of some,
who died holily in their convents.
The Year 1661
§ I
One insurrection having been put down in Pampànga, another one follows
in Pangasinàn. Mention of the great sufferings of our religious in
Zambàles, in keeping their villages duly loyal to God and the king.
... 2. From the beginning of the year 1660, the Indians of Pampanga,
a province not far from the city of Manila in Philipinas, incited
by many grievous annoyances unjustly caused by the superintendent of
timber cutting, which was ordered to be done within their boundaries by
the governor of the islands, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, determined
to withdraw themselves from the yoke of the Spanish dominion. Although
that dominion is very mild per se, some subordinate government employes
generally make it intolerable, for tyrannically availing themselves
of the name of the king, they endeavor to trample everything under
foot. The Pampangos elected as leader a master-of-camp of their own
nation, one Don Francisco Manyàgo. He clutched the staff of office
as though it were a scepter. Although this insurrection caused
considerable fear in Manila at the beginning, since the Pampango
nation is so warlike, yet since at the same time, its individuals are
the most reasonable of the islands, the governor hastening thither
in person together with many religious of various orders (for the
religious form the most powerful army for quieting the Indians) the
whole disturbance was readily quieted by means of negotiation. Justice
was done them in their grievances, while no punishment was omitted,
and was administered to the seditious leaders. Fathers Fray Joseph
de la Annunciacion, and Fray Juan de San Antonio, ex-provincials of
our Family, together with fathers Fray Carlos de Jesus, and Fray Juan
de San Diego, were of considerable aid in that pacification. Those
fathers, exposing themselves to not few dangers, had the boldness to
go to some of the principal Indians, who were their acquaintances,
whom by dint of their persuasion, they succeeded in bringing back to
reason. And by their means, discussion and friendly agreements having
been introduced, those so harmful insurrections were put down.
3. But at the beginning of their insurrection, the Pampangos had
written many letters to the provinces of Pangasinàn, Ilòcos, and
Cagayàn, which lie farther north in the island of Luzon. In those
letters they assured the inhabitants of those provinces that they
had risen with so great force that they had no doubt but that they
could gain Manila by force of arms. They besought those people to
heed the common cause, for once that the Spanish yoke was thrown off,
they could all get together in firm friendship and relations, and
maintain their liberty, by electing a king to govern them, or become
feared by the other nations under the form of a republic. Those were
counsels which like a cancer in the human body, continued to spread in
the civil affairs of those provinces, and the majority of the Indians
followed them with only too great rapidity. Hence, when the Indians
of Pampanga were quieted they were incapable of extinguishing the
fire that they themselves had kindled.
4. In Pangasinàn, Ilòcos, and Cagayàn, the flame acquired too much
force because of the fierceness of the well arranged combustibles,
which were applied by several Indian chiefs, who endeavored, under the
specious name of liberty, to oppress in the most intolerable manner
the ones who did not recognize the blessings which they had while
they had the good fortune to call themselves a part of the Spanish
monarchy. But in order that this history may not wander into parts
that do not belong to it, we shall treat only of what happened in
the province of Pangasinàn; for one part of that province, namely the
territory of Zambàles, which is composed of ten villages, was then,
and is also at present, cultivated in regard to spiritual matters by
our holy Recollect order. On that account our religious necessarily
suffered considerably, and they aided in the pacification of the
Indians, as did the other holy orders in the villages entrusted to
their care.
5. At the end, then, of the year 1660, the insurgents of Pangasinàn
elected as their leader an Indian chief of the village of Binalatòngan,
one Don Andrès Màlong. He having usurped the title of king, went
to Campaña, escorted by nine thousand Indian warriors. This number
was increased enormously within a few days; for it was either a
boast of the rebels and they so published it, or it was a fact,
his army was composed of forty thousand men. An Indian noble, by the
name of Don Francisco Sumùlay, a very near relative of Màlong, was
living in Bolinào, a village within our administration. On account
of that relationship he looked upon his progress as his own, and
helped him as much as he could to attain his purposes. He, in order
to incite Bolinào and its environs to revolt, spared no effort that
he considered fitting. But the father prior, Fray Juan de la Madre
de Dios (or Blancas), opposed him openly and in secret, destroying
with cunning whatever Sumùlay wrought deceitfully. No sooner did the
restlessness and excited condition of the Indians force him to take
prudent precautions, than he caused ten soldiers to disembark from a
champan which was on its way to Cagayàn. The latter obeyed him for the
captain agreed thereto, and because they knew how much the governor
of the islands favored the above-named religious, and that he would
approve whatever was done with the latter's advice. The father found
himself somewhat ready to offer resistance with those soldiers and
with the faithful Indians, who by dint of his persuasions were not
few; but he had not sufficient forces to attack the rebels or to
seize the wicked Sumùlay, who was the cause of all the disorder.
6. The latter starting a rumor that the hostile Mindanàos were in
the neighborhood, imagined that by that false report, and by setting
fire to the convent and church at night, the soldiers would flee to
the mountains, and that the religious and the loyal Indians of the
village would imitate them. It would then follow that, since he would
remain behind with the insurgents who were already thoroughly advised,
he would be able, after having conquered the port and settlement at
his safety, to kill all who were not of his party. Those ideas were
not very badly conceived, and had they arrived at the desired success,
would have been only too potent for the attainment of his malicious
purpose. For, after the surrender of Bolinào, would doubtless follow
that of all the territory of Zambàles, and then, the great difficulty
of maritime aid from Manila to Pangasinàn, a circumstance which gave
great strength to the revolt. But the same arguments also served the
father prior to procure the preservation of Bolinào with the greatest
watchfulness. Hence scarcely had Sumùlay fired the edifice, when the
soldiers and loyal Indians protecting it, and fortifying themselves as
well as they could, maintained the village in the faith for their God,
and in the loyalty due their king. It is a fact that while attending
to that, the church was reduced to ashes, as were the sacristy and
most of the convent. But that was considered as a little loss as it
was well employed, so long as the enemy did not attain their purpose.
7. The above happened in the early part of December, when authentic
tidings were not known in Bolinào of the insurrection, and only
various movements were descried in the Indians which provoked
fear. However, they had been compelled to dissimulate through lack
of forces. But on the twentieth day of the above-mentioned month,
the conspiracy was finally published in the village, and Simùlay and
his associates notified the religious in the following manner. In
front of the cells of the father prior and of his associate father
Fray Luis de San Joseph, were placed two bamboos and at the end of
them two cocoanuts. That is a barbarous ceremony of those countries
by which to threaten one with decapitation. Simùlay thought that that
would be sufficient to frighten the fathers and make them abandon the
village, and especially since they now had no soldiers, as the soldiers
mentioned above had proceeded on their way. But he was mistaken in
his reckoning, for although father Fray Luis was of that opinion,
and Indian chiefs were not wanting who supported him, either because
they were already infected with the rebellion, or, perhaps, in order to
assure the lives of the fathers, were carried away by their good zeal,
the father prior resolved to die rather than fail in his service to
God and the king. He did not change his decision, however much the
sign was repeated the following day. On the contrary, he considered
the time suitable to ascertain and establish with cunning the degree
of the fidelity of his parishioners. He convened the Indians in the
atrium of the convent, and in eloquent and powerful arguments gave
them to understand that God having entrusted their souls to him,
he would not leave their land, although he knew that he was to
suffer a thousand martyrdoms. "I am not ignorant," he said, "that
the aim of those who occasion these insurrections is to apostatize
from the Catholic faith, and to return to their former paganism; but
for that same reason, I must oppose myself to that with the greatest
strength. Go ahead, send news of my constancy to the partisans of the
rebel Màlong, if perchance there are any in the village, so that they
may not tire themselves with threatening me with death. Assure them
that I shall consider myself very fortunate, if I transform myself
into a good martyr from so poor a priest. But meanwhile, I warn you,
that I shall know by each one's actions who are the rebels and who
are faithful; and that accordingly the proper reward or punishment
will follow each one, when the Manila fleet, which will not delay,
subdues affairs properly." By that effort some who were wavering in
their loyalty were confirmed in it, while those who were on the side
of the seditious ones did not dare to put their treacherous thoughts
into execution.
8. Very soon did experience show the great importance of the firmness
of so valiant a religious. For on the night of that same day, after
the convent was locked, some of the loyal Indians, who were guarding
the outside of it, captured a strange Indian, who declared that he was
bringing a message to the father prior, which was to be given into his
own hand. He was taken into the father's presence after observing the
necessary precautions, where he delivered the message. It was from
the father vicar of Lingayèn and contained extensive notices of the
insurrection of Pangasinàn which had broken out, the murder of the
alcalde-mayor, and the devastation of that part of so flourishing
a province. He sent letters for his provincial and for the governor
of the islands, in which a speedy relief was asked in order that the
sedition might be stifled at its beginning. He besought the father
prior to send them quickly to Manila, as it was impossible to send
them from Pangasinàn overland. And now it is seen that if the father
prior, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, had retired from Bolinào as
fear persuaded him, that despatch would have been fruitless, and
perhaps had those advices been unknown in Manila, Pangasinàn would
have been endangered; but since he remained inflexible against the
incentives of fear, he was able to take the fitting means, in order
that the promptest and most efficacious aid might be obtained.
9. It was not considered advisable to entrust the conveyance of such
letters to the Indians of Bolinào, and accordingly it was resolved
to despatch father Fray Luis de San Joseph overland to Masingloc
under the pretext that he was going on affairs connected with the
spiritual administration, but his real purpose was to deliver the
messages to the minister of the said village, in order that the
latter might despatch them. The religious exposed himself to evident
danger of death; for the village of Agno, through which he could not
avoid passing, was almost entirely in insurrection, and because in
the stretch extending from the territory of Agno to that of Bàlcac,
it was necessary to take the rough sea in a small fishing boat which
carried no sail and only one oar with the religious himself at the
helm. At last he reached Masingloc, after conquering so great an
obstacle. Thence, not without the most serious dangers, the minister
sent the messages to Manila, arranging to have them carried by father
Fray Bernardino de la Concepcion, accompanied by three of the most
faithful chiefs. One of those chiefs was appointed master-of-camp
by the governor as a reward for so excellent a service, another,
sargento-mayor, and the third, captain of the militia of his village;
and they were exempted for life from paying tribute. And since the
father vicar of Lingayèn despatched a second mail to Bolinào in
case that the first should fail, the father prior, Fray Juan de la
Madre de Dios, despatched the letters in a Chinese vessel which made
a way-station there, and was on its way from the island of Hermosa
to Manila. But while the army and naval fleet are being prepared in
that city, in order to take relief to Pangasinàn, let us return to
our villages of Zambàles, in order to see what is happening there,
and the dangers by which our religious were afflicted.
§ II
Continuation of the foregoing matter, with the declaration of what
happened to our religious in Masingloc, Cagayàn, Agno, and Bolinào.
10. With the absence of the three said chiefs in Masingloc, the prior
found himself greatly troubled and persecuted, for those who favored
the rebellion, who had thitherto not dared to show their faces in
public, showed openly the most foul face of treason on the day of
St. Stephen. They threw the village into such consternation that
if God had not aided it, it would have been impossible to restore
it to its former quiet. It happened that, as some Indians had not
been at mass on either the eve or day of the nativity, the prior
meeting one of them afterward who was most esteemed for his bravery,
chid him for his fault, although with demonstrations of paternal
charity. He had no intentions of exasperating him, for he knew quite
well that the Indian was inducing his countrymen to swell the number
of the insurgents by persuasion and threat. But the Indian would not
suffer the mild rebuke for that sin, which in other circumstances
would have made him experience the severities of punishment, and
deeming the occasion very suitable for the revolt of the village, he
began to pretend implacable annoyance because the father admonished
him. Following this, he became excessively angry, and hurled many
insults at the evangelical minister, and concluded by crying out:
"Long live Màlong! Death to the Spaniards and the fathers!"
11. By that means the Indian obtained his desires, for more than
fifty armed companions gathered about him. They proclaimed the traitor
Màlong as king; hacked the Spanish coat-of-arms which was placed on
the site where the principales met to administer justice; and they
obliged the prior, whom it was a miracle of divine Providence that they
did not kill instantly, to retire to his convent, where a guard was
established by means of some Indians who could be gathered together,
while many others who were of the loyal party, were oppressed in
their homes. There they held the prior and those who accompanied them
besieged, and did not allow them to communicate with the outside,
and refused to allow any kind of food to be taken to them, trying
by this means to restrict them to the heighth of necessity. Within
the danger was so much greater, as it was less known by the loyal
villages near by which could have sent them some aid. If the rebels
did not attack the convent in order to kill the loyal ones, it was
because they were afraid of some few arquebuses with which those
of the inside threatened them. But they endeavored to set fire to
the convent and church three times without being able to succeed,
notwithstanding that the material of the building was but little less
combustible than tinder, for it was all constructed of wood, bamboo,
and nipa. Those who tried to burn that edifice, regarded that as a
miracle. Moreover, one can well understand the necessity that they
suffered for they had no place whence to get relief, not even for the
necessities of life. Consequently they were placed at the will of the
divine Providence, who as is His custom with those in tribulation,
very quickly declared His patronage.
12. Having passed the time in this way until New Year's eve, it was
noted then that a medium-sized vessel was anchored not far from the
convent, and that almost all of its Indians having landed, engaged in
a very interesting conversation with the insurgents. On that account,
the prior and his men had an opportunity, to leave the convent
without being perceived, to go to the beach, and make themselves
masters of the above-mentioned vessel. They set sail without loss
of time in it. Thus freed from their peril they took their course
toward Manila. But as they were in need of food, they put in at
Bagàc, where they met the three chiefs who had guided father Fray
Bernardino, and were now returning to their village. They recounted
to those chiefs the deplorable condition in which they were; and
considering that the remedy for wrongs generally lies in quickness,
they determined to take thirty well-armed Indians, whom the father
minister of Bagàc prepared, and who were fortunately at that place;
and then retracing their way, to attack Masingloc suddenly. They hoped
that if they attacked the rebels when they appeared to be most secure,
it would not be difficult to reduce them all to their former quiet. So
did it happen, for the season favoring them, they disembarked on
the night of the third of January in a bay one-half hour's distance
from Masingloc, and went overland to that village. At dawn of the
fourth, they surprised the insurgents so completely, that overtaken
by fear, the latter could not put themselves in a state of defense,
while they even had no opportunity for flight. They were all seized,
and the prior, although he was full of grief at the robbery of the
sacristy and church, interceded for the prisoners, and succeeded in
having all except three set at liberty. Those three were the leaders
and later paid for their wickedness on the gallows.
13. In Cigayèn (a village which had decreased very sensibly in houses
and inhabitants since the violent death of the venerable father, Fray
Alonso de San Agustin, in the year 1612), was father Fray Francisco de
San Agustin, an especially zealous minister, who was applying all the
persuasive powers of his eloquence to retaining the remnants of that
great settlement in due fidelity to God and the king. But a chief,
called Don Antonio Sìrray, desired the contrary, in order to keep
things in confusion for his own profit. Knowing that he would have no
opportunity so long as father Fray Francisco was living, he tried to
kill him twice, but the religious man was delivered from his ambushes,
for God took his part in a very visible and special manner. In the
discussion that the two had together, (one persuading to good, and
the other inducing to evil), it happened that Sìrray and all his
partisans went to swell the army of Màlong. The loyal Indians with
their families and possessions went to another village; father Fray
Francisco retired to Manila. With that the village was completely
abandoned and no more thought was expended on its rebuilding. Such
harm do dissensions cause, when, because there is no strength to attack
them, they increase to the highest degree when agitated by violence.
14. In Agno (a visita or annex of Bolinào), there was a chief called
Don Juan Dùrrey, a very near relative of Sumùlay, and consequently
he was bound up very closely to the rebels. Three Spaniards reached
that place on Christmas day, who were fleeing from the insurgents of
Pangasinàn. They showed the Indians a diamond ring, as a reward or
payment for something to eat, for they were suffering dire need. But
scarcely had they sat down to table, when Dùrrey inhumanly killed
them. As father Fray Luis de San Joseph (who was returning from
Masingloc whither he had taken the messages as related above), was
passing in the afternoon toward Bolinào, he noted the loud shouts
in the village, caused by the feasting and dancing that they made
according to their custom with the heads of the three Spaniards. He
attempted to approach nearer in order to check their inhumanity,
but an Indian instigated by the devil, scarcely saw the father when
he threw two spears at him. It was regarded as a miracle that the
father escaped the blow and was not wounded. Thereupon our valiant
religious lifted up his voice, and loudly condemned so unjust actions
in a fervent sermon. According to circumstances, the words on each
occasion must have served as does music on the ears of the tiger. But
in the midst of the necessary disturbance, he was enabled to tell
them with the help of God, such things that Dùrrey with twelve others
who followed him, had to leave the village. The others, humble and
obedient to the voice of their shepherd, surrendered the heads in
order that he might give them ecclesiastical burial. From that moment
Agno remained in the greatest quiet, like the sea, which shows the
most exquisite quietness and serenity after the most terrible storm.
15. But the place where the rage of the insurgents was felt more was
in Bolinào. Màlong regarded its minister, father Fray Juan de la Madre
de Dios, with irreproachable hatred, for he was not unaware of his
great labor in restraining the Zambals. They are so warlike a nation
that they have always caused themselves to be respected not only in
Pangasinàn, which province they glorify as a not despicable part, but
also throughout the Philipinas Islands where they have been able to
acquire renown through their arms. Having, then, as we have related,
sent his associate to Masingloc, he considered that the Indians left
him alone in the convent, and that they were going about cautiously
talking one with another. He summoned one of the chiefs to him and chid
him for that coldness. He learned from the Indian that Don Francisco
Caucào, a cousin of the usurping king, had arrived from Binalatòngon
with an order to the effect that the Zambals should declare against
the Spaniards, under pain of being treated as rebels if they did not
do so. The Indian added that Caucào was staying in Sumùlay's house,
and they were afraid that he intended to conquer their countrymen, and
that was the reason why they were all so confused. Without allowing,
then, the talk which generally increases dangers beyond what they
are in themselves, the religious father set out for Sumùlay's house
in order to have an interview with Caucào, as well as for the purpose
of examining and exploring the village, in order to see whether there
were any ambuscades about it.
16. After he was assured that there were no strange enemies, he went
into the presence of the Indian, who received him seated, without
showing him the least sign of respect. The father asked him why he
came, and he answered haughtily that his cousin Don Andres Màlong,
the powerful king of Pangasinàn, looking with love on the Zambal
nation, and not desiring to treat them with the greatest rigor of war,
sent him to inform them to recognize him as their seignior, and that
on that same day some papers were to be read in the church in which
that would be intimated; and that the father was to reply to a letter
written by his cousin the king, conceding whatever was asked of him,
for if he did not do so, it would cost him his life. Another of less
valor than father Fray Juan would doubtless have been intimidated at
the sight of such arrogance, especially when it be considered that he
could not be sure of the people of the village. But the very injustice
of the Indian giving the father courage, he said to the chiefs who
had accompanied him: "What is this? What is this? Can it be possible
to write of the loyalty of Bolinào, that a traitor, sent by a rebel
to God, and the king, publicly induces you to insurrection, and that
he remain unpunished? Come, seize him. But no, it is to his advantage
to have been found in the house of Sumùlay, whose nobility is worthy
of this attention. But I warn you, O wretch, that you do not leave
the house which serves you as a sanctuary, and that you do not sow
any discord in order to pervert the fidelity of the Zambals, until I
have answered this letter of your vicious cousin; for if you disobey
my order, and these men do not tear you to pieces, I shall be able
to send you to Manila laden with irons and chains, where you will
pay for your treason on the gallows."
17. Caucào, Sumùlay, and all the others were full of dismay at
hearing the argument of the prior: Caucào, because he thought that
the village sided with the Spaniards since the father spoke with so
great assurance; Sumùlay, because he imagined the same, and because
he thought also that the prior was ignorant of his evil designs,
since he spoke so lovingly to him; and the others, because a rumor
that had been shortly before cunningly spread to the effect that a
fleet was already coming from Manila to punish those who had declared
for Màlong, was thus corroborated. For, they argued, if it were not
so, a poor religious would not have the courage to do so much. In
short the father prior obtained his wish, namely, to puzzle them all
in order to gain time. That done, the venerable man retired to his
convent quite perplexed. Opening the letter, he beheld that Màlong
expressed himself in the same manner as Caucào had done. He deemed
best not to answer it, for while he was thinking how he would dismiss
the messenger, he was advised that a champan had just anchored in the
port, in which were two religious. He proceeded thither in order to
receive them, and was met by fathers Fray Juan de Bergàra and Fray
Juan de Fisla, who were retiring from Ilòcos, where the rebels were
committing innumerable acts of cruelty, and had inhumanly taken the
life of father Fray Joseph Arias, all of our observance.
18. He led them to the convent, arranging also that two Spaniards
and six Tagálog Indians who could be withdrawn from the champan
without their loss being felt therein, should accompany them
with firearms. Then seeing that he was in a state of defense if
anything should be attempted by the rebels, he had Caucào and Sumùlay
summoned. They came at the first notice, but curiosity brought all the
people of the village. Then the father tearing the letter of Màlong
to pieces in the presence of the multitude, said: "This is the reply
merited by such an arrogant method of writing, and especially since
it is the letter of a traitor. You," he proceeded, addressing Caucào,
"who have had the shamelessness to come on so insolent an embassy,
well merit being sent a prisoner to Manila, and in order that I might
do so, God has, perhaps, presented me with this champan. But since
you would go to the gallows, the kindness of my estate does not allow
me to cooperate in the death of my neighbor. Therefore, get you gone
immediately to Binalatòngon, and tell your cousin that I pity him,
since the fleet of Manila is already on its way to punish him. Assure
him that his threats make me laugh; that his demand for obedience from
the Zambal nation is irrational; and that I am sending him his relative
Sumùlay in order to increase his army, besides twenty-five Indians
of this village, who are, according to appearances, looking upon him
with too much affection." The father designated those persons by name,
and added with a show of great anger: "Not a single one of those whom
I have just named will remain in Bolinào, under penalty that whoever
refuses to obey, he and the one who hides him shall be sent to Manila
without fail, where justice will punish his resistance." Thus did
he say, and then turned his back with a show of so great anger that
no one dared not to fulfil his orders. On the contrary, all those
comprehended in the order, left the village immediately, for they
feared the threat of punishment. By that means after thus getting
rid of the evil humors of that body politic that troubled it, it
remained in its former health, and the great and estimable blessing
of peace followed.
19. After the execution of so heroic an action, the father prior
endeavored to welcome his new guests, whom he provided with all that
was needful for the continuation of their journey to Manila. They set
sail December 26, leaving Ours behind especially sad, because we were
defenseless if the traitor Màlong attempted any new persecution. They
were not deceived in their judgment, for the rebel angered at the lack
of effect produced by his letter, sent an order to Don Juan Dùrrey,
chief of the hamlet of Agno, to cut off the head of that illustrious
man without fail and to send it to him. That chief went to Bolinào
accompanied by another valiant Indian, and entered the convent for
the feast of the new year. He found the prior praying outside of his
cell, and the good religious imagining that he was come to ask aid,
began to exhort him especially to be loyal and offered him pardon
in the king's name. God giving force to these words, Dùrrey changed
his intention, and refused to kill the father of his spirit. But
the Indian who accompanied him, shutting his ears, like an asp, to
the voices of health, seeing that his chief would not do the deed,
unsheathed a weapon called igua in those parts, and approached quickly
in order to strike the father. But since the chiefs of the village
who had come to speak with the prior on a matter of moment, entered
at the same time, the Indian was completely embarrassed and both of
them were greatly confused. Thus can God, by so casual happenings,
set a hindrance to even greater fatalities, making use of the very
occurrence of secondary causes in order to free His servants from
the dangers that threaten them.
20. It appears that Màlong was not entirely satisfied with the order
that he had despatched to Dùrrey; for, aroused to anger he also ordered
Sumùlay to return to Bolinào in order to cut off the prior's head,
as well as the heads of all the other religious whom he might find
there. Sumùlay obeyed instantly, for he was confident that he still
had some well inclined to him in the village. He arrived at night, and
waiting until the morning of January 3, entered the convent at the time
that the venerable minister was about to go out with a rattan staff
in his hand in order to go to confess a sick man. Sumùlay attacked
him with a short sword, without any waste of arguments. The poor
religious, seeing himself involved in the worst kind of a conflict,
but infused with valor by the divine hand, beat back the first blows
with his cane, and defending himself with it, just as he might have
done with the best kind of a sword, seeing that no one came to his
aid, passed to the offensive. The cane had a long sharp steel point
and the father gave the aggressor so powerful a blow or thrust in
the breast, that he brought him to the earth grievously wounded. Then
the prior called out, whereupon the village chiefs came up. However,
they were remiss in arresting Sumùlay, but on the contrary favored
his retreat, and allowed him to go away after he recovered from
his wound. Consequently, when the prior returned from his confession
(whither he had not omitted to go, despite all the confusion), Sumùlay
no longer appeared. The prior had to put a good face on regarding the
ill behavior of his parishioners, in order not to put the village in
a worse condition, which, at least publicly, did not aid the seditious
ones as much as they could have done.
§ III
Arrival of the Manila fleet which was aided by our religious.
Destruction of the rebels.
21. Having now related what happened in the villages of Zambàles, and
the dangers which our religious suffered, let us turn our eyes toward
Manila, and see what preparations the government was taking in order
to meet so many depredations. Scarcely had father Fray Bernardino de
la Concepcion delivered his messages, when Don Sabiniano Manriquez de
Lara, governor of the islands, with extraordinary quickness mustered
an army of two hundred Spaniards, besides four hundred other soldiers,
consisting of Pampàngos, negroes, mulattoes, and mestizos. As general
he appointed the master-of-camp, Francisco de Esteybàr, a Visayan
noble, who in addition to his credit as so fine a soldier, appeared
a most observant religious in his habits. He was ordered to march
overland to Pangasinàn without loss of time. A fleet consisting of
four champans, two galleys, and six medium-sized vessels, which were
manned with many good soldiers, and a goodly supply of all sorts of
firearms were also prepared. This fleet was put in command of General
Don Phelipe de Ugalde, who was ordered to set out on the voyage at
once, and go to the port of Bolinào, where he was to confer with the
father prior, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, whose counsel he was
to prize greatly. He was advised that he was not to attempt anything
ashore, until the arrival of Esteybàr, and their forces were united.
22. Everything was done in so short a time (to the contrary of what is
generally written of Spanish aid), that the father prior was advised by
the bantàyes or sentinels at dawn of January 5, that several vessels
were seen to be headed to the port, which as was judged from their
direction appeared to be from Manila. At nine in the morning the
fleet anchored in the port of Bolinào, which is about one-quarter
legua from the village. The father prior flew thither, with the
rapidity of one who is in search of consolation, for he was most
afflicted. Scarcely was he descried on the beach, when the general
sent a skiff for him. He was taken by the skiff to the flagship,
where he was received with repeated salvos of artillery. All the
men expressed mutual joy, which sprung from the bottom of the heart,
and were not superficial and born from the habit of deceit. Father
Fray Bernardino de la Concepcion returned as chaplain of the fleet,
because he urged the father provincial that he might do so, for he
considered his absence from the field of battle, where his comrades
were accomplishing so much for the crown, dishonorable to his valor
in the spiritual militia. When the mutual congratulations which
were exchanged between the father prior and those who composed the
relief were exhausted, the general gave the former a letter from the
governor. It read as follows:
"My Dear Father Fray Juan: Very sad has been the news that we have
had here of your Reverence and of the other fathers, and we were even
assured that you had all been killed. Consequently, the news from your
Reverence served me as a special source of joy, notwithstanding the
melancholy information contained therein of those insurrections. I
trust implicitly through God that your person will be kept safe for
the service of both Majesties. And I hope that that fleet which I have
been able to assemble quickly will keep you safe and that it will have
your Reverence's advice which I have ordered the general to receive as
you are a person of experience in that district. The army in charge of
General Esteybàr is ordered to make forced marches. And next to God,
I look for success in all things to your Reverence because you are
there. May God preserve you, etc. Manila, January 2, 1661.
Don Sabiniano"
23. The general and the prior then discussed many points in regard
to the order that was to be followed in the war. It was known that
the weapons of the insurgents were poisoned arrows which caused death
irremediably no matter how small a wound they made. And although there
is not wanting an antidote to counteract that danger, yet that secret
is known only by certain Indians who refused to disclose it because
they desired the insolent multitude to conquer. But the vigilance of
our religious had already shown its foresight in a matter of so great
weight, and availing himself of a chief of Bolinào, one Don Antonio
Dàcap, he had obtained from him the recipe for making the antidote;
and he had even prepared a large quantity of it, which he gave to the
general, in order that the latter might distribute it among the men of
the fleet, so that they might suffer no harm from the arrows. Ugalde
asked for some things which could not be prepared in Manila on account
of the haste [of their departure]: namely, bamboo and cowhide for
making parapets, small boats for use in shallow water; rice for the
crew; spears such as the Indians use, and certain shields or bucklers
which are called caràzas, in order to make use of them in default of
the firearms. He was provided with all that he asked immediately. After
these arrangements were made, the father prior advised the general,
notwithstanding the forced delay of the army as it was coming overland,
to go immediately with his fleet to the port of Suàl; for although
he could not begin operations until the arrival of Esteybàr, yet his
appearance with his vessels in Pangasinàn in sight of Lingayèn, would
be of great use in terrifying the rebels, and in encouraging the loyal.
24. The general did so, and although the prior desired to accompany
the fleet, the former would not consent, alleging as a reason therefor
that since Bolinào was so important a post, its conservation was
considered necessary, and the presence of the father religious was
inevitable for that, and also to provide the fleet with necessities
in the accidents of war. On that ever propitious and sacred day of
the Epiphany, after mass had been said, which was celebrated in the
flagship by the father prior, the fleet left the port of Bolinào. At
five in the afternoon it came within sight of Lingayèn, to the joy of
the religious of St. Dominic, who had retired there from almost all
of Pangasinàn, as it was the least exposed place. Until that moment
they had been besieged by constant frights. The general did not
dare to go ashore, as many crowds of people were seen on the beach,
who appeared to be hostile; as well as because he had yet no news
of the army, without which he had orders not to do anything, and he
had no forces for that. On that account the fleet kept tacking to
windward on one tack and another for the space of three days. But at
the end of that time, a felucca was seen to cross the bar of Lingayèn
headed toward the flagship. The father vicar of the said village came
aboard and informed the general that the Indians of that district,
although they had risen, were maintained in their insurrection with
great difficulty, and that without making pacts or contracts, desired
to surrender to the piety of the king, according to the arrangements
that he had already discussed with the chiefs. Consequently, in his
opinion, the men could disembark without the slightest fear.
25. A council of war was called to discuss the matter. The said father
vicar, and the father chaplain, Fray Bernardino de la Concepcion,
were given a vote with the others, as was right. All were of the
opinion that the general should land with all his soldiers in order
that he might place himself in a position of defense for whatever
might happen. But that was unnecessary, for the Indians received
him with the greatest proofs of surrender, and from that time the
village of Lingayèn, which is the capital of the province, was one of
the most safe villages. The rebels who were there fled, as they were
fearful of punishment. But at that same time, the sedition was very
much alive in the rest of the province; for Màlong treated those who
refused obedience to him with the utmost rigor unless they had forces
with which to resist him. This rigor was seen in his native place
Binalatòngan, which he reduced to ashes, and allowed his soldiers to
sack, as the Indians fearful of the Spaniards opposed his purposes. In
Ilòcos and Cagayàn, the provinces lying next to Pangasinàn, was
another Indian Don Juan Manzàno, who acted as Màlong's agent, and
who was general of his armies. He burned villages, killed Indians,
and reduced everything to the most fatal pass, because he claimed
that they denied obedience to our king.
26. On that account, Ugalde knew that the sword would be necessary
in order to cut the gordian knot of so obstinate an insurrection. He,
believing that since the Zambals were so valiant and were especially
experienced in the mountains, where the rebels had their haunts, they
could be of great use to the army, wrote the father prior of Bolinào
to procure a goodly levy of them, and send them out as soldiers,
with the assurance that he would give them help. That famous hero
went through the villages of Zambàles with the greatest diligence,
and collected about three hundred of the most faithful, valiant,
and well-intentioned Indians. They, furnished with their accustomed
arms, and the above-mentioned Don Antonio Dàcap, being appointed
master-of-camp with the necessary captains (whose titles the general
confirmed, as did afterward the governor, as a payment for their
good services) were despatched to Lingayèn, where they arrived on
the eighteenth of January. And in order that the joy of the fleet
might be complete, on the afternoon of that same day, the desired
news was received that the army of Esteybàr had entered the district
of Pangasinàn without having met any considerable disaster in its
difficult march. Thereupon, Ugalde arranged his troops, in order to
go to join him. When the two armies were united they began to work
together. They attacked Màlong first, and after several engagements,
the traitor was obliged to retire together with those who remained of
his men, to certain inaccessible mountains, where they imagined that
they would be safe. But here the valor of the Zambals shone forth,
for directed by father Fray Bernardino who never deserted them, they
pursued the rebels through crag and thicket, so that they compelled
them, defiling gradually one after the other, to surrender. Finally
Màlong himself fell into an ambush which was boldly set for him,
and he was seized on February 6 whereupon the Pangasinàn war ended.
27. But in order not to leave this matter without conclusion, we
must add that our army, immediately increased by some companies of
Pangasinans (a nation that declared itself entirely favorable to the
Spaniards as soon as Màlong was defeated), resolved after holding
a council of war to go immediately to Ilòcos for the purpose of
destroying Manzano. But he with few men because many had been lost
in several frays, retired to some desolate places where he built a
fort. Our captains attacked him, however, full in front, and inspired
by their example the soldiers and Indians, and conquered him. Many
of the enemy were slaughtered, and we on our side did not fail to
lose many, because the resistance was especially obstinate. Manzano
escaped thence with some few of his men, and hid in certain mountains,
but the Zambals, Pangasinans, and Cagayans pursued him, and finally,
the justice of our arms prevailed. For, in order that no spark might
be left which might kindle a new fire, he was also seized on March
22. Thus was that difficult war ended, which had caused Manila many
terrors, for it caused not a few fears to the Spaniards. Thereupon, the
provinces continued to become pacified. The governor Don Sabiniano,
in obedience to the action of the royal Audiencia, despatched a
commissary-general of causes, so that, forming a tribunal together
with Esteybàr, Ugalde, and other necessary ministers, he might make a
process in regard to those who had been most active among the rebels;
and after giving such persons the necessary punishment, publish a
general pardon, which would comprehend the remainder. It was reported
then that the judges proceeded with too great rigor, but I should not
be so bold as to impute that guilt to them, for they aimed to spread
a warning, without it ceasing to be very necessary.
28. The least thing that was seen in the disorders of so unjust a
rebellion was the deaths that were caused, notwithstanding that they
were numerous. There was seen vengeance clothed with zeal; ambition
usurping the staff of justice; tyranny proclaiming liberty; treason
applauded with adoration; and he who never knew the law of reason,
making laws. There were seen thefts, conflagrations, profanations
of the temples, persecutions, scorn, and the evangelical ministers
killed sacrilegiously; the Catholic religion abandoned in great part;
and the door opened to apostasy and infidelity. For what time, then,
is the purpose of inexorable justice, if it is not applied at such a
time? That was no sickness that could be cured by mild means when only
iron and fire were found capable of reëstablishing that vast body in
health, rigor exercised there being a preservative medicine for the
rest. And if, perchance, any innocent one paid what he did not owe, one
must reflect that public vengeance was inflicted by the hands of men,
who, although they try to work with equity, are after all only men,
and that they would cease to be men, if they proceeded without the
least defect in all things. At last among many others who suffered
the last punishment, Màlong was shot in Lingayèn, Caucào hanged in
Binalatòngan, Sumùlay in Bolinào, Sìrray in Masingloc, Dùrrey in Agno,
and Manzàno, in the village of Bacàrra, killed himself in order to
escape the hand of the hangman. But if some of them left the marks
of treason in the Zambal nation, which is ever valiant and loyal to
the king, most of them in number and rank, washed away that stain
more than clean. Everything yielded the great praise to the discalced
Augustinians, who were able, by their exhortations, to restrain and
maintain the loyalty of so many Indians of their districts, despising
for that purpose many perils.
§ IV
Relation of the insurrection of the Sangleys or Chinese and how our
religious aided in bringing about peace and victory.
29. Outside the walls of the city of Manila, under the cannon of the
plaza, there is a very thickly populated settlement called the Parién,
where a large number of Chinese live. Those people are known there
under the name of Sangleys. Although heathen they have been allowed to
reside there for the sake of commerce and because they are employed
in almost all the mechanical trades. It cannot be denied that that
nation fomented and maintained with aid and cunning the rebellions
of the Indians which we have just related. That is apparent, because,
when the alcalde-mayor Don Francisco Pulido was killed in Pangasinàn,
some Sangleys were found among the rebels, who contrived that under
cover of the small boats they might capture the large vessel where
the alcalde-mayor was defending his life very gallantly; and on the
arrival of our naval fleet to explore the beach of Lingayèn, there
were seen there many armed men, consisting of Sangleys and Indians,
as is affirmed by Father Santa Cruz, in volume 2 of his Dominican
history of the Philipinas. [10] But it is still more fully shown by
the many bodies of Sangleys which were found in the field whenever
there was an engagement with the rebels, for on all occasions they
served the Indians as auxiliaries. Let us examine the motive for the
Chinese taking part in a war that concerned them so little.
[Here follows a brief description of China and an account of the
victories of the Tartars about this time, the alliance of the pirate
Kuesing with the legitimate Chinese king Junglie, and following
the latter's death, the retreat of the pirate to Formosa whence he
expels the Dutch. His design to make the conquest is also related,
and his embassy by Father Victorio Riccio to Manila, demanding "prompt
vassalage, and a huge tribute from the islands, and threatening the
most bloody war if Spaniards and Indians did not obey this obligation
and recognize him as king." The Chinese in Manila, hating the Tartars
and favorable to Kuesing, begin to raise disturbances. Their anger
is also further aroused by a commercial treaty between the Spaniards
and the Tartar emperor of China. But little attention is paid to
the Chinese of the Parián, however, but both interior and exterior
fortifications are strengthened and constructed in case of an attack
by Kuesing. The narrative continues:]
34. For this purpose some scaffolds were built outside the wall so
that the pioneers might work comfortably. This, which was a means
for fortification, might, had not the divine aid intervened, have
been the cause of the loss of the city, the center of the faith in
Assia and a firm column of the Catholic religion. For the Sangleys
determined with the utmost secrecy not to let the opportunity slip,
but, on the contrary, to seize time by the forelock, and to climb
in great numbers by night by means of those scaffolds which were
not guarded in proportion to the danger. They thought that if they
did so, and first gained the wall by an unexpected and furtive rush
they could obtain the mastery of the city immediately without any
opposition. In fact they would have planned well had it not been that
God tied their hands. It happened, then, that the father sacristan of
our convent going down one morning to arrange the altar of the Santo
Ecce Homo (an image of which mention was made in volume iii, [11] as
well as the great devotion that Governor Don Sabiniano had for it),
found at its divine feet a message reading as follows: "Governor,
guard thy city, for they are trying to take thee by surprise." The
sacristan immediately put that message into the hands of the father
prior. The latter, considering that no one had to hide himself in
order to give such advice, (for, if it were true, any person would
be assured of a not small reward), he formed the concept that that
notice came from the hand of God; and above all that it would be well
to inform the governor of it. For where there are so many enemies,
the most careful watch is none too much.
35. Consequently, he took the message to the governor, to whom he told
the manner in which he had found it. The prudent superior not only
esteemed the caution, but he doubled his care and vigilance by visiting
the walls and sentinels hourly. But on the morning of the following
day, another more detailed paper was found in the same place, which
read as follows: "Governor, guard thy city. Remove the scaffoldings
from the walls, and do not trust anyone, for the enemy are very
near thee." The father prior also took that message to the governor,
alleging that because of his quality as a good vassal, he could not
avoid giving him that annoyance. But the governor was not annoyed
but instead thanked him again and again, and in his presence had an
adjutant, one Don Joseph Zamora, summoned, and ordered the latter to
remove the scaffolding of the walls, and double the guards in all the
posts. It was afterwards learned how important the arrangement that
has been practiced had been, for it was discovered when the deserved
punishment was meted out to the insurgents that the surprise of the
city was to have been attempted on the night following that day, but
that they had not succeeded because what was to have served them as
a ladder had been removed.
36. The Sangleys seeing the destruction of their designs, resolved,
at the beginning of the year 1662, to arm suddenly one day, with
the weapons which came first to hand, and to take the city openly,
for they trusted too much to their valor. There is a gate in the
city called the gate of the Parián, which gives on the Sangley
settlement, and innumerable numbers of that nation enter the city
through it hourly. They would find it easy if some of them were to
make themselves masters of this gate, for the others to enter the
city armed. By a special Providence of God, as brother Fray Diego
de Santa Ana, one of our religious lay-brothers, went to adjust an
account with a certain Sangley, on the morning of the day on which
they had resolved to make the attack, he observed that the Chinese
were in great disorder, and he even heard some words indicative of
arrogance, and that they were premeditating some sedition. The brother
understood the Chinese language somewhat, and having conceived the
said suspicion, he went about the Parián carefully and joined in
conversation cunningly with several Sangley acquaintances. By that
means originated the confirmation of his fears. He advised a captain of
everything, who took him into the presence of the governor so that he
might inform the latter. Upon receiving that information, the guards
of the gates and of the walls were doubled without any confusion,
and most opportune orders were given secretly for the artillerymen
and soldiers to be prepared to resist any attack.
37. Scarce six o'clock could have struck, when the Sangleys advanced
to the gate of the city in a confused mass, with such violence that
doubtless they would have gained it, had our men not been so prepared
for its defense. With the regular discharge of the artillery, and
with the muskets of the guards, many of them were killed. At that
misfortune the others retired as furiously as they had begun the
attack. But honoring our discalced religious greatly the governor
was wont to say whenever he saw brother Fray Diego, that next to the
patronage of the Santo Ecce Homo, the defense of the city was due to
his opportune advice. The enemy having been repulsed in this manner, a
portion of them, about two thousand, threw themselves into the river in
order to cross it. About three hundred of them having perished there,
the others fled to the mountains. As they passed it, they left our
convent and church of San Sebastian reduced to ashes. Its building
had been finished but a short time before, as it had been burned
during another insurrection. It could not but cause time and trouble
to reduce those rebels, but it was accomplished at last although
accompanied with the shedding of much blood. They were pursued on
one side by the Pampango Indians and on the other by the Zambals,
who were led and captained by our religious. The remaining Sangleys,
who reached the number of ten thousand, took their stand on the field
in front of the walls, thus causing not a little anxiety to Manila. But
they were so disposed that, anticipating a general pardon, conceded by
the governor, with the exception of some few leaders, before nightfall
they were all subdued, and that troubled sea was totally calm.
38. Father Palanco, [12] a Dominican, declared very truly in the
memorial which he presented to the king, on that rebellion of
the Sangleys, "that all the Orders worked and aided with singular
vigilance on that occasion exposing their lives to the service of
both Majesties." For the individuals of all the orders endeavored to
excel, as ever, in their zeal and deeds, now by taking arms to go to
the defense of the walls, just as the most ordinary soldier might do;
now imploring divine clemency with supplications and prayers; and anon
assisting with advice and information. But there is no doubt that,
as is inferred from the abovesaid, our Recollects had a great share
in that victory, and that they shared considerably in the dangers of
the war. Thus are they able without failing in their obligations as
evangelical ministers, to serve their earthly king on all occasions,
as professors of both militias.
[Sections v-vii relate the lives of various Recollects, both priests
and lay-brothers, who died in Spanish convents at this time. No one
of them had been in the Philippine missions.]
CHAPTER II
Our province of Philipinas extends its apostolic preaching to the
districts called Contracosta [i.e., the opposite coast]. FatherFray
Agustin de San Ildephonso, a learned and holy religious, dies in
Tobòso.
The Year 1662
§ I
The missions of the Contracosta, whither the preaching has spread,
are received into our province of Philipinas, and four convents
are founded.
64. [The Philippines, says our author, may be regarded as the limits
of the earth, and hence the text of Isaias xviii, 2, may be regarded
as spoken of the Philippines, in which the gospel is to be published.]
65. In obedience to the insinuation of that text, even before the
roots necessary for its subsistence had been fixed our discalced
congregation despatched apostolic missionaries to the above-mentioned
islands, in order that they might be illumined by the splendors
of the evangelical doctrine, and enriched by the examples of its
angelic perfection. It was not content with that first squadron,
for the undertaking commenced has been prosecuted at various times,
and a great number of its sons have been sacrificed to an undertaking
as arduous as useful. We have already seen in the preceding volumes,
the greatness of their actions in the conversion of the most terrible
peoples of that archipelago, in Zambàles, Carahaga, Calamiànes, and
the islands of Romblòn. In this volume we shall treat of the spread
of the faith, which was extended into other villages, a proof that
new zeal has ever been gathered, also born of the salvation of their
neighbors. But at present we shall speak of a new field, which was
handed over to the cultivation of our ever sure workers in the island
of Luzòn and the Contracosta of Manila. And although that field was
abandoned afterwards for lack of evangelical ministers, there is no
reason why endeavors so meritorious should be forgotten. Let our pen,
therefore, be busied in the relation of these labors.
66. The island of Luzòn, which is the largest and chiefest of the
Philipinas, has the appearance of an arm somewhat bent, according to
the description of father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio. [13]
It has a circumference of more than four hundred Spanish leguas, and
lies between twelve and nineteen degrees of latitude. Not far from the
point of San Tiago, which we shall pretend to be the elbow of this arm,
journeying thence toward cape Bogeador, lies the great bay of Manila,
in the center of which this city is located. It is the capital of all
the possessions of the Spanish scepter in these islands. Lapping the
walls of Manila is a large river which empties at that place into
the sea. By it one ascends to the Lake of Bay, and on the opposite
shore of that lake one finds the village of Sinilòan. Thence to the
port of Lampòn, which is located on the Contracosta of Manila, and
comes to be as it were, inside of the arm, one need only pass the
mountains of Daraètan, and Cabòan, which is a crossing of five or
six leguas. Consequently, in order to go by sea from Manila to the
port of Lampòn, one must sail about one hundred and forty leguas;
but by ascending the river and crossing over the lake to Sinilòan,
and crossing the mountains of Daraètan and Cabòan there is scarce
twenty leguas of distance.
67. In the environs, then, of the port of Lampòn, following the coast
opposite the bay of Manila, are the districts of Binangònan, Balèr,
Casigùran, and Palànan composed of various villages and collections
of huts. The first three belonged at first to the alcaldeship
or province of Mindòro. Since in the year 1588, the discalced
Franciscan fathers Fray Estevan Ortiz and Fray Juan de Pòrras were
destined to that jurisdiction, they gathered most seasonable fruits
in the above-mentioned districts, having sown there the seed of the
Catholic name. However, having been called to other parts by their
obedience, they could not further the Church in those districts, much
as they desired it. The venerable martyr, Fray Francisco de Santa
Maria, completed the perfection of the work, by forming the three
above-mentioned missions with a sufficient number of the faithful
who were withdrawn from the darkness of paganism by the influences
of a zeal so seraphic. Afterwards other workers of the same family
extended their missions down the beach toward the province of Cagayàn
or Nueva Segovia, and founded the village and district of Palànan. With
that there were four missions situated on that Contracosta, and the
Franciscan province kept the administration of them in their own hands
for many years. They hoped that, although there were but few people
and conveniences, as the mountains which were peopled by pagans were
near by, they could continue ever to increase the flock of Christ,
as they did do without ceasing, the sword of the evangelical preaching
fencing with the advantage gained by repeated triumphs. [14]
68. But since in this time with which the history is concerned,
the boat of the above-mentioned province found itself with a great
quantity of fish in its nets, and with few fishers in its number for
the support of the work, they called to their aid the individuals of
our holy province. Nothing more than a sign was necessary to make them
hasten thither, expressing their thanks for the opportunity. Although
I have been unable to ascertain the year with certainty, I have
foundation for the conjecture that in the chapter celebrated in the
year 1662, the Franciscan fathers invited our Recollect family to
take the above-mentioned missions of the Contracosta. They alleged
that they were unable to attend to so many villages, whose care
devolved upon them, because of the lack of religious. They promised
to cede those missions to the Recollects, and not to retain any right
of reversion. Those missions were not very desirable, both because
of the wretchedness of the earth, and because of the small number
of tributes that they contained. For, although they had increased
greatly with the new conversions, they only contained 4,800 Christian
souls in the year 1738, as was asserted by the historian of that
seraphic province. [15] But our Recollect order has obtained a
writ which was gained in Philipinas to occupy the least profitable
posts so far as earth is concerned, but the most meritorious in
the heavens. Consequently, those zealous fathers received that work
immediately, and forthwith assigned evangelical ministers to cultivate
the new vineyard, increasing the rational vines in it with the care
and zeal which the seraphic workers had managed to exert thitherto.
69. In consequence of this, the province chose father Fray Benito
de San Joseph, Fray Francisco de San Joseph, and Fray Clemente
de San Nicolàs, with three others whose names we have been unable
to discover. They took formal charge of the districts and founded
the following convents. Near the bay and port of Lampòn, somewhat
inland toward the mountain, is located the village of Binangònan,
and there the first house and church was established with the title
of San Guillermo. Two religious were left there. The Tagálog language
is spoken in that territory, although it belongs to the province of
Tayàbas and to the bishopric of Camarìnes, or as it is called, Nueva
Càceres. The ministers assigned to that village attended to various
scattered collections of huts along the bays of Lampòn and Umirèy,
as well as to the reduction of the infidels which extends along
the neighboring mountains for the distance of twelve or fourteen
leguas. Going thence following the coast to the north, one meets
the river and village of Valèr. Another convent was founded there,
titular and patron of which was St. Nicholas of Tolentino. It belongs
to the same language, province, and bishopric, as the other. Only
one religious was stationed there, although afterward, according to
the times, two lived there. They tended to the mission which was very
laborious because of its size, and labored in the conversion of the
Aetas, heathen of the neighboring mountains, which allow passage from
Valèr to the province of Pampànga through the territory of Patabàngan
and Santòr, by a not long, but very rough road.
70. Sailing along the same coast toward Cape Engaño one comes to the
bay of Casigùran, which has a circumference of twelve leguas. On its
shore is located the village of the same name. The third convent was
erected there and was given the title of our father St. Augustine. It
belongs also to the Tagálog language, the province of Tayàbas, and
the bishopric of Camarìnes. Two religious resided there generally,
and sometimes three, for they extended their administration to many
leguas of coast, and their zeal for the spread of the faith to the
extensive mountains near by, which being filled with Aètas, blacks,
and Calìngas heathen gave worthy although most toilsome occupation
to the messengers of the law of grace. From one extremity of the bay
of Casigùran, the point called San Ildephonso protrudes three leguas
seaward. At its head end the province of Tayàbas and the bishopric
of Camarìnes. Having doubled that point, and after one has navigated
ten or twelve leguas northward one comes to the village and district
of Palànan, which belongs to the bishopric and province of Cagayàn
or Nueva Segovia. The fourth convent is founded there, and bears
the title of Santa Maria Magdalena. And although all the religious
who could be assigned to that mission illumined it, considering
the lack of them from which this holy province usually suffers,
yet notwithstanding this, it could always be said that the harvest
was great and the laborers few. For besides the Christians already
reduced, the fathers had to contend with an innumerable number of
heathen who overran the neighboring mountains for a distance of more
than thirty leguas from the point of San Ildephonso to Cape Engaño.
71. I assert that I have several times heard from fathers Fray Valero
de San Salvador and Fray Silvestre de la Purificacion (who passed a
considerable portion of their well-employed lives in those missions,
and whom I knew in Manila, and who attained a venerable and exemplary
age) that from the admission of that territory by our province to
the year 1704, the multitude of infidels who were turned by the
preaching of our brothers from the unhappy liberty of paganism to
the mild yoke of the Catholic faith, was vast. For, notwithstanding
that there were three or four epidemics in all those villages in
the above-named period, which occasioned the death of an excessive
portion of the old Christians, the settlements were replaced by
those newly converted. Consequently, the lack was not observed, for
the same number of tributes were collected for the king during the
latter years as during the first. This same thing is attested by the
documents and depositions that I have before me, which designate the
Recollect religious who lived on the Contracosta with the character
of laborers in the living missions because of the many souls that
their apostolic zeal drew to the sheepfold of the Church.
72. But notwithstanding that, the fruit must have caused entire
consolation as it was so visible, and given greater earnestness to
continue. That fatal interruption of missions in which no workers
of our Recollect family passed to Philipinas from España from the
year 1692 to that of 1710, having occurred, the province found it
impossible to give, as it had done hitherto six or eight religious for
those missions because their exhaustion made them needed for other
missions. Although our brothers were more than men in their zeal,
in material work they could do nothing more than men. Therefore, it
was impossible to look after so great an employ as they had in their
charge, since they had so few subjects. And already it is seen that
if necessity obliged them to abandon any district, it must be that of
the Contracosta. They did not regard that as a conquest proper, but
as received in trust. It was so, for in the provincial chapter held
in the year 1704, after that apostolic province had possessed those
doctrinas and convents for more than forty years, it was resolved to
abandon them all, and return them to their first masters, the religious
of St. Francis, as they could not attend to their administration. Those
seraphic workers, learning the reason; took new charge of those souls
in order to attend to them with the bread of the instruction. On this
account, the above-mentioned convents do not now belong to the order,
and the villages of the Contracosta are not in our charge. But the
narration of the so plausible readinesss practiced by our oldtime
heroes has been deemed indispensable. In due time, namely, the year
1703, when the prodigious life of the venerable mantelata [16] Juana
de Jesus, whose virtue sprang from the teaching of our religious, is
related, one will see that with that fruit alone all their evangelical
attempts can be considered as well employed.
[The second and last section of this chapter deals with the life of
Fray Agustin de San Ildephonso, who died in the convent of Toboso,
Spain, during this year 1662. He was never in the Philippines.]
[Section i of chapter iii treats of the seventh general chapter of the
order, which was held in Alcalá de Henares in 1663. Sections ii and
iii narrate the life of Fray Juan de San Antonio, an ex-provincial of
the Philippines. Born of a noble family in Granada, he early showed
great precocity and attained proficiency in his studies while very
young. Being strongly called to the religious life he entered the
Recollect convent at Granada, September 13, 1617, at the age of
twenty and professed the following year. After a short course in
theology he went to Mexico in 1619, whence after another course in
theology in that city he was sent to Manila, where he was ordained
priest after a third theological course, in 1621. The following
year found him master of novitiates in Manila convent. Although his
parents obtained permission for him to return to Spain, in 1624, he
preferred to remain in the field which he had chosen. That same year
he was prior of the convent of Igaquet and was later occupied in many
missions, especially in Calamianes. In 1635 he was elected definitor,
and desirous of preaching the gospel in Japan, made two attempts
to penetrate that empire, both of which were failures, the second
time sickness not even allowing him to leave the Philippines. He was
elected prior of Manila convent in 1638 and after his three years'
term worked again in the missions of Calamianes and composed two
hooks in the language of that district, one of moral sermons and
the other an explanation of the catechism. In 1644 he was elected
provincial almost by acclamation. His term was a busy one, and a
number of churches and convents were erected during it. During the
disastrous earthquake of 1645, he rendered distinct service. He began
the repair of the Recollect church and convent of Manila, which had
been partially destroyed by the earthquake. At the end of his term he
retired to his cell in Manila, but became implicated in some way with
the civil-religious troubles that rose during the governorship of Diego
Faxardo, and he was arrested in 1651 and sent to Marivelez. With the
change of government, he returned to Manila, and then retired to the
Cavite convent, where he died from an illness in January 1663. He was
pure minded and austere in his devotions. The fourth and last section
of this chapter narrates the life of a Recollect who died in 1663 at
the convent of Zaragoza, Spain.]
[Chapter iii recounts the lives of three Recollect religious who died
in the year 1664, only the first of whom was in the Philippines. This
was Fray Joseph de la Anunciacion, and his life is discussed in the
first two sections. He was born in Madrid and took the Recollect
habit in that city, October 8, 1615. He was chosen for the Philippine
missions and arrived at Manila in 1623. Most of his work in the
islands was as Spanish preacher, and his work lay principally in the
convents of Manila, San Juan, San Sebastian, Cavite, and Cebú. He did
considerable work among the native Filipinos, the Chinese, mestizos,
negroes, and mulattoes, ever in the Spanish language, but he was able
to adapt himself well to their degree of intelligence. His preaching
was especially effective in the city of Cebú which was more densely
populated in his time than a century later. His influence was far
reaching among all classes. Twice he was elected provincial of his
order--April 8, 1635, and May 7, 1650. His terms were active and
productive of good work. Recollects began their work in the island of
Romblon under his directions, and he attempted to send missionaries to
Japan. During his term also Recollects were successful in pacifying
many disaffected districts. His death occurred in the Cebú convent
of which he was prior at the time.]
CHAPTER VIII
Treating of the hardships endured by our religious in Philipinas,
because of various persecutions that occurred in our fields of
Christendom.
The year 1668
§ I
Abridged relation of the persecutions of our holy faith in Philipinas,
from the year 1640 to the year under consideration, 1668, and which
are not mentioned in the preceding volumes.
307. He who would like to know what manner of province is ours in
Philipinas and its height of love to God and its neighbor, which
that Lord has given to it, who is so well able to inculcate charity,
must not be governed only by the immense zeal of its individuals in
alluring souls into the sheepfold of the Church but as well by the
continual persecutions which they have suffered in order that they
might maintain that field of Christendom in the purity of the faith,
despising their lives at each step in order to preserve it. The
lack of fear of death, by which those valiant soldiers of the God
of armies have sustained the field of battle against all the power
of the gates of hell, is doubtless one of the greatest of miracles
which divine Providence has hung in its temple in this world, to
the no small glory of these provinces of España, that have become
such marvels of charity through so good milk, that they consider
and have considered it an honor to suffer and even to die, in order
to defend that harassed church. Many events in confirmation of this
truth are drawn With most accurate brush in the preceding volumes
of this history. By them one may see that our brothers have left us
examples worthy of imitation by incessantly placing in practice the
highest perfection of exposing their lives to death for the assistance
and consolation of certain poor Indians, that they might encourage
them in the continual invasions of the Moros. But notwithstanding the
great skill that accompanied the painters of so idealistic canvasses,
I find in a lower degree not a few pictures worthy of immortality,
for without doubt the colors of the notices were lacking, which are
so indispensable to form the pictures in the painting of history. I
having obtained trustworthy relations of the many misfortunes that
assaulted our fields of Christendom and their directors from the
year 1640 until the present of 1668, which is under consideration, it
would not be laudable to leave such trophies buried in forgetfulness,
although the copy, which would have been most accurate if done by
the brushes of the other writers, be disfigured.
308. To continue; Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuèra, governor of
Philipinas, thought that by building and garrisoning some strongholds
in Tolò [i.e., Joló], an island which is given over to the perfidy
of Mahomet and is the nesting place of the robbers of the whole
archipelago, he could restrain its inhabitants by preventing them
from going to our villages with their fleets as they had done until
that time, with the sequel of innumerable depredations. He put that
idea into practice in the year 1638, after the conclusion of the
war with the koran, in the beginning of which when the sword was
drawn the scabbard was thrown away. But neither his valor nor that
diligence were sufficient for the attainment of his end. For in the
year 1640, now by the Joloans themselves, and now by means of the
Borneans their allies, and now by making use of their vassals who
inhabited the adjacent islands, they tried to find in sea surprises
some betterment of their fortune or some havoc by which to temper
it. With that object they attacked missions belonging to our reformed
order both boldly and treacherously in the districts of Calamiànes,
Butuàn, and Cagayang; and it is a fact that we always had the worst
of it in those wars. They committed depredations very much to their
liking, with the boldness that their greed gave them and with the
severity which their hatred to the evangelical law inspired in
them. The captives who were taken in our villages on that occasion
numbered three hundred and more. The churches were ruined, the holy
images profaned, the evangelical ministers became fugitives in the
mountains, the sheep were scattered as their shepherds could not attend
to them with their watchful eye, the villages were reduced to ashes,
and all of those fields of Christendom became the necessary object
of the most bitter lamentation.
309. They did almost the same thing in the three following years,
and there was no means of taking worthy satisfaction from enemies so
inhuman who, like wild and hellish beasts, destroyed a great portion
of the rich patrimony of Christ which had flourished in that country
under the care of our discalced order. The devastation was so general
that it appears to have been presaged by heaven with very extraordinary
portents. For on the fourth day of January, 1640, a volcano suddenly
burst forth in the island of Sanguiz, not far from the cape of San
Agustin in the island of Mindanao, which showed very rare and unusual
results. For the ashes, rocks, and burning material which it cast up
traveled for many leguas as far as Zebù. Noises like artillery were
heard, which caused the Spanish garrisons to get under arms, and
the day grew dark from ten in the morning, so that it seemed pitch
black night. The same thing happened in another volcano in an islet
opposite the bar of the river of Jolò. There was a furious hurricane
in the island of Luzòn up toward the province of Ilòcos in the part
where the Igolòtes live. That hurricane was followed by the most
frightful earthquake, and the earth swallowed up three inaccessible
mountains with as many settlements which were located at the foot of
the mountains, and in the space left a large lake was formed. Such
was the noise at the dislocation of the huge mass of those mountains,
that it was heard not only in all the Philipinas Islands and in
Malùco but also in the kingdoms of Cochinchina, China, and Cambòja,
throughout a circumference of more than nine hundred leguas. So great
was the persecution that it was believed to have been announced by
the so great heaping together of surprises and misfortunes. [17]
310. But the time when the Moros gave full rein to their barbaric fury,
was from the beginning of the year 1645, for then they were freed
from the terror that had been caused them by Corcuèra who had just
been succeeded in the government of the islands by the master-of-camp
Don Diego Fajardo. The arrival also of two ships well manned with
Dutchmen at Jolò and which had been asked for by Prince Salicàla, the
heir to the scepter, for the purpose of destroying the strongholds
which the Spaniards held in the said island, gave them at that time
a motive for employing greater power in their piracies. Although
the commandant of those strongholds, Don Estevan de Orella Hugalde,
caused the enemy to return to their factories badly the losers,
and without having obtained the end of their attempt, the Joloans
were able, through their protection, to launch three squadrons which
filled our villages with fear and confusion. It is no new thing in
that continent for the heretics to lend arms to the pagans and to
the Mahometans in order to put down the Christian name. A savage
end it is to pit themselves for the private ends of trade and in a
religious war, on the side of the koran and of idolatry, which they
themselves condemn, against the gospel, which they persecute with
fury. The three fleets went out then, for their campaign, and not
having anyone to oppose them, the enemy filled their boats with what
they called spoils, took about two hundred captives, persecuted our
religious as ever, with mortal hate, and destroyed fifteen villages,
almost all of them of our spiritual administration, and they filled
Calamiànes especially with bitterness and grief.
311. The Dutch were not content with protecting the Moros, in order
that they might persecute the name of Christ, but they themselves tried
to drive that name from all that archipelago. Among all the disunited
members of the Spanish monarchy, which the Dutch have endeavored to cut
off from it, (in order that their power might wax more formidable at
the expense of another) they have ever cast their eyes on the honorable
and wealthy dominion of the Philipinas Islands. That country is such
for their designs and trade, that better could not be desired: both
because from there they were assured of all the trade of China, Japòn,
Cochinchina, Cambòja, and the Malùcas; and because they were guaranteed
the best woods for the building of their ships that can be found on
the whole round earth. For that reason, the Dutch have left no stone
unturned in all times if it pertained to the maxim of their desire,
as can be deduced from several passages which are to be found in the
previous decades and are necessary for the intelligence of the history
that is treated in them. [18] The year, then, of 1646, they were seen
with fifteen warships. With five of them they besieged the district of
Playahònda, while seven of them were stationed in the Embocadero or
strait of San Bernardino, and the remaining three filled the islands
of the Pintados with fear. Our villages of Masìnloc, Iba, Marivèlez,
Romblòn, Bantòn, and Surigào, suffered more harm and vexation than
usual, of which the greater part touched the religious ministers.
312. Two galleons left Cavìte and fought first with five ships and
twice afterwards with seven, and obtained three victories which were
clearly miraculous. For they destroyed the enemy, without receiving
any special damage, and the enemy were compelled to abandon their
attempts for the nonce. Although father Fray Balthassar de Santa
Cruz attributes all of the prodigy to Our Lady of the Rosary with
sufficient foundation, [19] we, while confessing the might of so
holy a warrior, must suggest that St. Nicholas of Tolentino had no
small part in it, whom the soldiers, persuaded by two Recollects, as
is mentioned in volume 3 of this history, who served as chaplains in
our small fleet, also invoked as the sworn patron of those seas. [20]
But under shelter of the Dutch enemy, who continued their attempts
with no more success the two following years, the Moros, always
emboldened, transgressed all bounds, attacking ceaselessly the
villages of the Spanish dominion. For, although Corralàt, king of
Mindanào, kept quiet during so dangerous a season for reasons of his
own convenience, and had even acted as mediator so that Butria Bòngso,
king of Jolò should make peace with our arms, which was done April 14,
1646, none of all that was sufficient to give quiet to that field
of Christendom. Mahometan perfidy took the pretext that the Joloan
Prince Salicàla and Paguyàn Cachile, prince of the Guinbanos, [21]
and seignior of Tuptup in Bornèy, should refuse to sign the peace. With
that excuse those princes, aided in secret by those kings, peopled the
sea with boats and caused unspeakable damage to Calamiànes, Camiguìn,
and Romblòn.
313. That was not the only fatal consequence that followed from those
inhuman premises which were set by the Dutch. For if we had thitherto
seen the aliens fighting against the faith, from the year 1649 the
very sons of the Church worked for its destruction. The Dutch incited
the Indians, already Christian and subject, to withdraw themselves
from the mild yoke of Spain, the country which had drawn them from
the darkness of paganism, and kept them on the road to salvation. Nor
were they deaf to the voices filled with the fraud most difficult to
recognize, for since they carried the agreeable sound of liberty, they
secretly induced them to undergo the most tyrannical subjection; and
God permitting by His secret judgments excessive flights to audacity
and shamelessness for the credit of the virtuous and the crown
of the just; the most cowardly of nations were seen with surprise
and the nakedness of the Indians was armed against the invincible
sword of the Spaniards. The insurrection began in the village of
Palapàg in the province of Hibabào in the island of Sàmar, whence the
good outcome of the first action traveling on the wings of unsteady
report, found minds so ready throughout the islands of Pintàdos, that
(just as if the counsel were common, and they were only awaiting the
signal in order to do it), the temples were burned in many places,
and sacred things profaned. The evangelical ministers fled, and the
rebels retiring to the loftiest mountains, imagined that they could
defend their former barbarity there.
314. Our reformed order had enough things to bewail in those
revolutions; for in addition to the tragedies of Linao, which
are related in volume 3, [22] the villages of Cagayàng, Camiguin,
Hingòog, Romblòn, Bantòn, and Cibuyàn added wood to the fire of the
sedition. If the promised help of the Dutch had come over and above
the boldness of the Indians, it is inferred that what had taken so
many years to conquer would have been lost in a few days. But God
who always punishes as a father those who try to serve Him, measured
the times so accurately, that amid the echoes of the insurrection,
the proclamations of the peace which had been arranged between España
and Olanda resounded in Manila. With that the Catholic arms were freed
from their chastisement, and all things returned to their pristine
quiet. That was not the case with the Moros, who were then and for
many years after, the perennial enemies of that afflicted field of
Christianity. Barbarously blinded in their treacherous gains as if it
were a thing done, they made a practice of going every year to take
captives in the islands of our administration, often outraging the
temples sacrilegiously and not a single one that was near the beach
escaped profanation and they utterly abused everything intended for
religious worship, with great scorn to the name of Christian. They
cut the sacred vestments, into robes and other garments [capisayos],
and they destined the ciboriums and sacred chalices to the dirty use
of their wine, tobacco, and buyo.
315. But it did not so happen, I return to say. For notwithstanding
that they were a terror every year from that of 1649 to 1655 because
of their piracies, now in some and now in other parts, they remained
without the due punishment although so sacrilegious insults demanded
it so justifiably. Without fear of our arms, they overran those
seas at will, trusting their security to their swiftness; for their
boats were built on purpose for piracy, and ours compared to theirs
of lead. It happened not once only that they were taken because of
carelessness between the bars of the rivers with forces sufficient to
make one consider their destruction sure; but they got out laughing
on one side or the other, amid the discharge of their artillery. And
the forces of Manila, Zebù, Zamboàngan, and Carhàga, which were not
despicable squadrons, served no other purpose than to scare off the
evil, so that the persecution might be enormously expanded. They
carried their insolence so far that two small vessels with but
small crews, dashed into the bay of Manila one of the above years,
and almost in sight of that capital, seized a caracoa from Iloilo
with the rich cargo aboard it. Then they went out haughtily, and no
one could take their prize from them, or punish their arrogance. In
view of this one may infer how harassed were the distant villages,
and how filled with tribulations were our religious ministers, who
ever occupied the most advanced and dangerous posts.
316. It even transcended the tragic representation of so doleful
misfortunes, when in the year 1655 Corralàt, king of Mindanào,
proclaimed war against the Christian name. He began his treachery by
the inhuman murders of two fathers of the Society whom their rank as
ambassadors, which is so greatly respected by the law of nations, did
not aid. That prince was in Philipinas what Gustavus Adolphus, king
of Suecia, was in Alemania, namely, the thunderbolt of Lucifer, the
scourge of Catholicism, and the Attila of the evangelical ministers,
who never practiced courtesy toward them except when force or some
reason of state compelled him so to do. For his private convenience
he had pretended that he was peaceful in public during the preceding
years. But now with no other reason than his fury, he gave license
to his vassals to infest the Christian villages; and they did it
like a river which overflows its bed, after having rid itself of
the embarrassment of its dikes. He was not content with that, but in
order to give greater flights to his impiety, he excused it among the
neighboring Moros under the name of a religious war; and under that
title he invited to it the Borneans, Tidorans, and Joloans, so that
confederated with him into one body they might unfurl the banners of
the perfidious Mahomet, without stopping until they utterly destroyed
the law of grace.
317. He incited so great an uprising against that straitened field
of Christendom that, although the previous persecutions that the
Moros had practiced against it were so inhuman, (as may be seen in
the places of this history cited in the margin) [23] they were all
assuredly less intolerable than those which were now incited; for now
fury and barbarity were carried to the extreme. That was so fierce
that disinterested pens did not hesitate to compare it with the last
of antichrist; so persevering, that until the year 1668, of which this
history is treating, and the year when the relations which we follow
end, there was not a single instant of rest; so shameless that ruin was
seen almost at the very gates of Manila; and so universal that but few
villages of our administration escaped being the theater of war and
the lamentable object of its misfortunes. This is a brief compendium
of the tragic events which happened in the Philippine church, which
was surrounded on all sides by the waters of contradiction, as is
the territory of those islands by the salt waves of the sea. This
is a sketch of the cold winds, which, notwithstanding the heat of
its climate, parched in great part the wavy exuberance of that leafy
garden, so abounding in the flowers of Christianity and the mature
fruits of virtue. Let us now consider with the most possible brevity,
a concise sketch of the glory which was obtained by our discalced
order in return for the hardships which overwhelmed its evangelical
workers at so calamitous a time. We warn the reader that we shall
follow no other chronological order than chance offers.
§ II
Of the hardships of our religious during these persecutions. The
venerable father, Fray Antonio de San Agustin, dies at the hands of
the Moros, in glorious martyrdom.
318. In the above-mentioned pillaging, [24] which God permitted for
so many years, the Moros were triumphant, the Catholic arms rebuffed,
the Christian villages without other defense than that of heaven,
and the Indians drowned in the sea of tribulations. Moreover, as the
sword of the persecutor, also that of greed and vengeance, was moved
by the hatred of our holy faith, the direction of its greatest force
was toward the sowers of the gospel. Daily did religious who had been
driven from their ministries and missions bring to Manila news of
entire villages ruined, the outcries of priests who had been captured,
and letters which announced the death of others. All was confusion,
all lamentation, all chaos, where the enemies of God were trying
to elevate their throne in the darkness upon so bloody and confused
injustice. It has already been seen that our Recollects had to suffer
greatly, since they occupy the vanguard of the army of God in Carhàga
and Calamianes; but that was irremediable in so disastrous a storm. The
ship was seen to be buffeted hither and yon by the waves; and it was
impossible that the sailors should not suffer from the buffeting. The
winds were both violent and hostile; the ship could not but be dashed
from one side to another. The hurricane was both furious and fierce;
necessarily the pilots had to suffer greatly.
319. Our provincials called out for relief, exciting pity by the
relation of their churches which had been burned and profaned; of their
sheep that had been scattered, and many of them lost; and by their
subjects who had been killed or captured, or at the least obliged to
hide in the mountains, where deprived of all necessity, they suffered
indescribable misery, traveling in the inconveniences and darkness
of the night in order to fulfil their obligation as missionaries. But
Manila is, as a rule, the place where least attention is paid to the
wretchedness of the poor Indians and to the misfortunes of the gospel
workers; for, since the citizens are busied in their Asiatic and
American trade, the only thing that troubles them is any opposition
to their profits. Very few are the Spaniards who risk themselves in
small boats to seek profit from island to island; and consequently,
they hear of misfortunes, which ought to cause the greatest horror,
quietly and without any special disturbance. The passages from
some islands to others being occupied and even embarrassed by Moro
craft, the latter cause those who sail thither innumerable ruin; but
many of the inhabitants of Manila have very little or, perhaps, no
feeling. If news arrives that a religious has been killed or captured,
some insolent tongue is not wanting to break out with the ballad as
infamous as ancient, that the king brings us for this, namely, to
suffer and die in defense of the law of God; as if it were compatible
with the royal piety to abandon the defenseless ministers of Christ,
however much they may expose themselves with heroic mind to endure
a thousand martyrdoms. Nothing in short, matters to those people, if
it do not touch their persons or interests: neither the misfortunes
nor the violent deaths of their neighbors, nor the outrages of
his Majesty's vassals, nor the losses of his royal treasury in the
tributes which are lessened by such confusions, because the Indians
are lost by the thousand.
320. Although the captain-general tries, as a good minister, to attend
to such wrongs, it is quite common that he is unable to do all that
he tries; now because of the depletion of the royal treasury, whose
funds do not suffice to meet the calls upon it; and now since he must
proceed with the advice of the council of war in which those have many
votes who understand only what pertains to the exercise of merchants,
although they sign their names with military titles. If the vessels
in which they are interested are in danger, all difficulties are
conquered, for there is no one who does not hasten with vote and
money to fit out fleets to oppose the enemy. But if not then each
proposition is a labyrinth, whence he who makes it cannot unravel
himself, although Ariadne gives him a thread to guide him. Hence it
follows, either that squadrons are not prepared of size sufficient to
warn the aggressors, or if they are prepared, they set sail when it
would be better for them not to, for they only occasion the vassals
new trouble. Let no one imagine that the matter of these two numbers
includes imagination or lack of truth. This is proved by authentic
documents in what touches the past; while so far as the present century
is concerned (during which the same persecutions have been repeatedly
shown), experience has given me knowledge of such injuries, when I,
as procurator-general and secretary of the province of Philipinas,
found that I had to solicit relief for the persecuted Indians and
for the afflicted religious. It is also certain that the same thing
happened in almost all the wars of which we are speaking, so that
our oppressed missionaries had no other consolation than that of God,
in the pains that it was indispensable for them to suffer, and which
we shall now begin to relate.
321. We have already mentioned in various parts of this history,
that when our Recollects arrived at the Philipinas Islands, in
order to illumine them with the splendors of the faith, and to fight
like well-ordained astral bodies against the sissara of the abyss,
they chose with apostolic strength the most difficult districts,
the islands of the most barbaric people, and the places where, if the
light of the gospel had shone, it had allowed itself to be seen only
in fitful gleams. Hence it is that our ministers are the most exposed
to peril and danger among all those of the archipelago; for they are
very distant, not only from Manila, but also among themselves from
one another, and surrounded by enemies to the Christian name. Each
district consists of many villages and even of distinct islands. Since
all of them have a right to the bread of the doctrine, which is
the only food for souls, the religious, in order to attend to that
obligation, has to be in continual movement. He must travel by sea
threatened by so many dangers to his life, among frights and chance;
and he who considers it of value to endure them and despise them, can
only form a just opinion of them. They do this without other profit
than the spiritual, enduring to the uttermost penury, and the lack
of necessities, in order to teach and instruct certain poor peoples
whom they are alluring from the most wild barbarism in order to get
them to live like men in a civilized Christian society.
321. Let one add to all the above bodily hardships the lack of one
to employ himself in so great charity, to whatever serves in this
life as a consolation to the spirit. For there our religious is
properly a hermit, although he may live among many people. Now, it
is because he is deprived of the company of his brothers, for he is
almost always alone in villages that are too large, and the nearest
minister is fifteen or twenty leguas away and separated by rough
seas, or inaccessible mountains, which render it impossible most of
the year for them to have the comfort of seeing one another, or even
to have communication with one another by means of letters, in order
that they might console one another in their mutual troubles. Now,
it is because the Indians make them no company for the blessings that
human association brings with it, but serve only for an insupportable
martyrdom; for, in addition to the fatigues incumbent on them
as missionaries, they must attend to all their quarrels, grudges,
necessities, and troubles. For these reasons and others that cannot be
expressed at present, the governor of Philipinas, Don Fausto Cruzàt
y Gòngora, when addressing the king in a report, did not hesitate
to affirm that the discalced Augustinians, even in times of peace,
and after the subjection of the villages of their administration,
suffer the same hardships as do missionaries in the lands of the
infidels. His Excellency, the bishop of Zebù, Don Manuel Antonio de
Ocio y Ocampo, was wont to say, as I have heard from his own mouth,
and not only once, that if he had authority for it he would not
hesitate to canonize any Recollect, who happens to lose his life
among the fatigues of his calling, while completely fulfilling his
obligation in the missions of those islands, as is the case with many.
323. And if this is endured in only the hardships annexed to the
spiritual administration, what must it not be when the destructive
tempests of the persecutions of the Moros, the greatest part of
which assail our laborers, happen to come? Then there is no other
relief than to flee to the mountains in order to live in passes and
caves, seeking their preservation, not so much for their self-love,
but because of that for others. There, through lack of food, too much
heat, continual rains, and many other discomforts, they are generally
so disfigured and so weak that rivaling Job, they only live because
of a skin loosely stretched over their bones. How many contract
incurable diseases there, who dragging along all their life with
them prove themselves to be stages of the greatest pity! How many by
trampling under foot evident dangers, in hastening to the consolation
of their sheep, to confess the sick, to aid the dying, either gave
themselves into the hands of the enemy to be the victims of their
cruelty, or offered themselves a willing sacrifice to the precipices
of the mountains and to the shipwrecks of the seas! How many, since
the world is unworthy of their noble and Christian intercourse, and,
it seems, tried to cast from itself, wander for months at a time,
naked, an hungered, persecuted, followed on all sides by the shadow
of death, without other consolation than that of God, in whose hands
they desire to finish their lives, delivering to Him their wearied
souls! And how many, finally, obtained the precious crown of martyrdom,
after having coursed the sands of so many hardships, which were ended
either by the edge of the sword, or by a spear-thrust, or at the
spindle of hardships, or at grief at seeing holy things so outraged,
or by the inundations of penalties in atrocious captivities! Mention
has been made of many in the preceding volumes, but some who will
serve to ornament this volume were omitted.
[In the remainder of this section are contained accounts of several
who suffered the martyrdoms above mentioned in their war of the faith,
and all of whom are mentioned by Combés in his Historia de Mindanao,
who is cited at length by our author. [25] The first martyr (see
Combés, book vi, chapter xiv) is not even named by Combés, nor can
Assis give anything more definite of him. He was captured by the
Moro pirates (presumably in 1645) and taken to their home. Induced
by desire for a good ransom, his captors took the father to the Joló
fort, but no agreement could be reached. Father Juan Contreras, then
chaplain of the fort, tried to aid him in effecting his escape, but
in vain. The captive was thereafter treated so harshly that he became
ill, and in spite of a pitiable letter, which aroused great sympathy
for him in the Spanish Joloan fort, and spurred on the soldiers to
beg that he be ransomed at their expense, he remained in captivity
until Alejandro Lopez of the Society went to Joló from Zamboanga and
ransomed him for 300 pesos. In 1649 (see Combés, book vii, chapter
xii; and Santa Theresa, no. 271 ff.), the father prior of Linao in
Caraga, Fray Agustin de Santa Maria, was killed by the insurgents;
and in the same troubles the father prior of Camiguin, whose name is
not given, was captured and maltreated. In 1658, (see Combés, book
viii, chapter viii), the Moros caused Fray Cristobal de Santa Monica
to flee, and killed Fray Antonio de las Missas, or de San Agustin
(his religious name). This latter happened while San Agustin was
returning from a trip to Cuyo and Calamianes as visitor. San Agustin
was born in Manila, his father being Captain Francisco de las Missas,
and his mother Fabiana de Villafanne, both Spaniards. He took the
Recollect habit July 14, 1612. He served in several important posts,
having as early as 1624 been prior of Bolinao and of Cebú. He was
sixty-six years old at the time of his death.]
[The remaining two sections of this chapter continue with the
persecutions of the Moros and the deaths of various Recollects. The
first, Francisco de San Joseph, was born in Jaca, Aragon, and shortly
after professing (June 12, 1632) he went to the Philippines. He was
soon sent to the Visayans, where he held several important posts. He
suffered greatly from the Moro raids for he was compelled more than
once to hide in the mountains from that fierce folk. He was elected
provincial in 1653 and during his term was a vigilant worker. At
the completion of his term he was sent to the village of Cuyo as
associate to the prior. His death occurred in the island of Romblón,
where he was mortally wounded by the Moros, while endeavoring to repel
an attack in the fort built by the famous Padre Capitan. He published
an explanation of the catechism in 1654 in Manila, and left numerous
manuscript works in both Spanish and Visayan. The father reader,
Fray Francisco de San Juan Bautista, was born in Alagon of rich and
noble parentage. He professed in the Zaragoza convent, October 8,
1614, and went to the Philippines in 1619. He read philosophy and
theology in Manila, and after the completion of a course in the arts
was appointed secretary to Fray Onofre de la Madre de Dios. He served
as prior of the villages of Marivelez, Cuyo, Bolinao, Calamianes,
and Tandag, during his mission work there learning three languages
thoroughly. He was essentially a worker and did not care to remain in
either Manila or Cavite, but desired the mission fields where danger
was thickest. He did not seek office, and it is related of him that
he once delayed his return to the chapter meeting because he heard
that there was talk of electing him provincial. Though he was twice
definitor, he still sought the hardest work, laboring among both
infidels and Christians. The Moros were especially vindictive to him
and gave him many chances to acquire merit. Finally he fell sick on
the desolate island of Paragua, and after reaching Manila through the
efforts of some natives who braved the risks of the Moros, he died
in that city. Another active worker was Fray Domingo de San Nicolás,
who was born at Alcalá de Henares. The place of his profession is
unknown, but he is first met in the Philippines. He labored in the
provinces of Calamianes and Visayas, performing marvels until his
feet having swollen on account of the damp, he was ordered to retire
to Cebú convent. There, however, instead of resting he engaged in
the work of the missions, for the laborers were few. He worked in
many villages, and finally met his death in consequence of exposure
from a shipwreck on the coast of Bohol, whither he had accompanied a
vessel hastily fitted out to secure information concerning a recent
raid by the Malanao Moros in Cagayan village. Although some of the
other occupants of the boat were drowned, the friar with others was
saved by the natives of Bohol, and sent back to Cebú, where he died
in a few days. Fray Bernardino de la Concepcion (whose family name
was Durán) was born in Madrid, and took the habit in the same city,
December 8, 1636. He went to the Philippines in 1651 with Fray Jacinto
de San Fulgencio. His mission field was principally in the south,
and he served in the villages of Bislig, Cagayan, and Caraga. His
work and the necessity of opposing the Moro Mahometans so wore upon
him that he became unwell, but still he persevered in his labors
for lost souls. The treacherous Mindanaos won over his servant one
day in Caraga, and poison was administered through the agency of the
latter, who also apostatized. The attempt failed, however, but Fray
Bernardino was sent to the province of Zambales for a season. There
he was of great use in aiding to quell the insurrection. The quiet
that ensued after their pacification not proving to the liking of
this intrepid warrior of the faith he begged and obtained leave
to go again to the province of Caraga. Resuming his former vigils
and labors there, he again fell sick and this time died, being at
the time prior of Cagayan. He could speak the Visayan, Tagálog, and
Zambal languages. Fray Carlos de Jesus, son of Nicolás Léconte, was
born of Flemish parents. After various fortunes he went to Madrid,
and although a brilliant life was offered him, for he was a scholar
and fine mathematician, he took the Recollect habit in the convent
of that city, January 2, 1648, being already at middle age. He also
accompanied Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio to the Philippines in
1651. He worked in Calamianes and Caraga, where his military genius
as well as his missionary traits shone out. He recalls the famous
Padre Capitan by his exploits, for he drilled and led the Indians
as well as looked after their souls, and his name became a terror to
the Moros. In the village of Busuagan, however, his native followers
fled when attacked by the Moros, and Fray Carlos was forced also to
take refuge in a swamp filled with brambles and thorns. For five days
(the length of time that the victorious Moros stayed in Busuagan)
he remained in the swamp up to his middle in water, and wounded by
thorns and molested by swarms of mosquitoes. Having retired to Manila
because of illness brought on by such events, his recovery found
him anxious to return to his mission field. The prudence, however,
of the superiors, dictated his remaining in Manila as prior of the
convent of that city which was then vacant. With his old-time ardor
he threw himself into the work there, but the effort was too great
for one in his weakened state and another illness seizing him he
passed away. The lay-brother, Fray Francisco de San Fulgencio, the
son of Diego de Covarrubias, was born at Simancas. He adopted the
life of a soldier, and after serving in Spain went to Nueva España in
the same capacity. Thence he went to Manila as alférez of one of the
companies raised for the islands. A religious life appealing to him he
adopted the Recollect habit (December 17, 1620), and shortly after his
arrival in Manila, he was sent to Caraga to aid the fathers who were
laboring in the missions there. At the time of the insurrection, he
was captured in the village of Bacoag, but after four months of almost
unendurable captivity, was ransomed. After this he remained several
years in Caraga, but was finally recalled to Manila. His life was most
active, for he made five trips to Caraga, and three to Calamianes,
with despatches or to accompany the fathers going to those posts,
and often meeting with Moros on the way, was in continual danger. He
was twice wounded and twice shipwrecked. His death occurred in the
convent of Bagungbagàn.]
CHAPTER X
Our religious propagate the Catholic faith in Zambàles, a province of
Philipinas. Two religious die in España, with great marks of holiness.
The year 1670
§ I
Information is given of the preaching of Ours in Zambàles; and that
many Indians came newly to the Church.
396. ...Some people here in España imagine that the first illustrious
champions of our reformed order who went to those countries [i.e., the
Philippines], reared and finished the sightly structure of that Church,
and that the missionaries, their successors, have been and are quite
comfortable, and have no other occupation than to maintain what the
first ones built. It is a fact that, according to the philosophic axiom
that the conservation is equivalent to a second production, that would
not be doing little even did they do no more. But as a matter of truth
it must be said that if so holy a province rests in the conservation
of the conquests acquired, it also labors without end in the building
and planting of other new conquests. To this point the history has
shown many of them, [26] and I shall narrate others below. But this
year we have the profitable and difficult expedition which our ever
tireless and laborious province made into the Zambàles Mountains,
for the sake of obtaining not little growth for the Christian faith.
397. The mountains called Zambàles extend a distance of fifty
leguas from Mount Batàn to the plains of Pangasinàn in the island of
Luzòn. They are peopled by an innumerable race, who defend themselves
from the Spanish arms almost within sight of Manila, because of the
roughness of the ground, and maintain along with their heathenism,
their barbarous customs. Who these people are can be seen in volume i,
to which we refer the reader, [27] We only warn him that the Indians
of whom that volume talks, inasmuch as they live in the beaches and
plains extending from Marivèlez to Bolinào, and being, consequently,
needed in the trade with Spaniards and civilized Indians, are not
so ferocious as those who without these mitigating circumstances,
inhabit the rough mountains of which we speak. Not a few natives of
several nations are found in that place. Some of them are born in the
dense thickets and are reared in the most barbaric infidelity. Others
are called Zimarrònes, and have apostatized from the Catholic faith,
after having fled from the nearby Christian villages. There is also an
incredible number of blacks who, without God, without king, without
law, without civilization, without settlement, live as though they
had no rational soul. All of those Indians, notwithstanding that they
wage most bloody wars among themselves, generally unite to oppose
the Spanish arms, when the Spaniards have attempted their conquest,
and stake their greatest reputation in shedding human blood.
398. The evangelical ministers have always fought with the sword of
the divine word against that wild forest of men almost unreasoning,
and with all the means dictated by charitable prudence, in order to
convert it into a pleasant garden by means of the Catholic faith. The
Dominican fathers stationed in the district of Pangasinàn, and in
the villages called El Partido, which are located on the opposite
side of Manila Bay, have always cast their net, and obtained not
few hauls of good fish. The Observantine Augustinian fathers have
also done the same from their missions in Pampanga, which border
the above-mentioned mountains. The fathers of the Society have done
the same from the village of San Mathèo, which is situated almost on
the brow of the said mountains on the Manila side. And our discalced
Recollects, equally with those who have done most, have labored in
this undertaking at all times, without despising occasions. They have
great opportunity for doing that, for, as a general thing, ten or
twelve laborers live in the fifteen reduced villages of the Zambals,
who occupy all the coast for a distance of forty leguas from Bolinào
to Marivèlez, and surround all the above-mentioned mountains by the
sea side.
399. Thence, then, did the illustrious champions of our holy reformed
order generally issue in order to overrun the rough territory of
the mountains so that they might seize multiple spoils from the
enemy of souls, and direct them to eternal life. As those people
are very ferocious and difficult to convert, it was necessary to use
gentle methods there, making use of caresses rather than of noise and
din. Notwithstanding, on several occasions very many conversions of
Indians, Zimarrònes and heathen, who were reduced to villages formed by
the indefatigable solicitation of our religious, were obtained. Then,
as appears from four letters of the definitory of that holy province,
which were written to our respective fathers vicars-general--the first,
June 20, 1646; the second, July 2, 1655; the third, June 14, 1658; and
the fourth, July 4, 1668--more than one thousand five hundred souls (at
the date of the last letter) had been drawn from the mountains, freed
from the darkness of the heathen, and illumined with the splendors
of the Catholic faith. And it has been impossible to discover who
were the illustrious laborers who obtained so wonderful trophies,
in order to enrich history with their names.
400. But the most abundant season of those fruits was seen to be during
the triennium of April 21, 1668, to 1671. Our father, Fray Christoval
de Santa Monica, governed the province during those three years. He
having heightened and ennobled the missions of Zambàles, when other
superior employments gave him the opportunity, had placed there the
whole of his affections. On that account, in addition to the great
zeal that he had for the salvation of souls, from the very chapter,
he made up his mind that during the term of his government, the utmost
effort should be made to unfurl the standard of the faith in the
Zambàles Mountains, and to have salvation carried to its inhabitants
on the wings of charity. For that purpose he managed to have father
Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, a native of Zaragoza, a religious born,
one would say, for the missions, elected prior of Bolinào. Later he
appointed him vicar-provincial of the jurisdiction of Zambàles. That
man, then, together with fathers Fray Martin de San Pablo, prior
of Masinloc, Fray Agustin de San Nicolàs, prior of Marivèlez, and
six other religious, who were appointed as helpers, fought against
idolatry so tenaciously, that our holy faith was incredibly advanced.
401. He arranged the attack upon that proud Jericho (more impregnable
because of the obstinacy of its inhabitants, than by the wall of its
inaccessible mountains) by ordering that it be assaulted at the same
time by several parts by different soldiers of so holy a militia
with the bugles of the divine word. One began the conquest by the
side of Bolinào, another at Masinloc, two by Playahonda, and two
others by Sùbig and Bagàc. The father vicar-provincial went to all
parts in order to direct actions, and to fight in person with his
accustomed success. The father provincial also, with his secretary,
then father Fray Diego de la Madre de Dios, made it a point of honor
to take part in so dangerous a field, whenever the tasks of his office
permitted, and they both fought as valiant soldiers. For the expenses
which were heavy for the maintenance of many missions and for the
other things which accompany like expeditions, the province acted as
proxy, for they did not wish to have recourse to the royal treasury
which generally supports such undertakings. And to the labors which
are indispensable in wars of that quality, and which were excessive
there, those illustrious warriors set their shoulders, well armed
with endurance, for they had already been exercised in other conquests
and had always been victorious.
402. Thus did they work constantly until the end of the year 1670,
and with so good result, that they converted that bitter sea of
idolatries and superstitions in great part into a leafy land of
virtues. On account of the insurrections which so great acts of
wickedness caused in Pangasinàn, Zambàles, and Pampànga, as I have
already written in chapter i of this decade, many whole families
had fled from the Christian villages to the mountains, together with
a very great number of Indians, who having abandoned the faith and
subjection, lived there as the declared enemies of God and of the
king. Of those it appears that more than two thousand souls were
reduced, and another great number, which is not specified by the
relations, of other people of several nations, who had either been
born in heathendom, or had formerly deserted the Catholic camp. The
evangelical workers were greatly elated with that fruit and rewarded
for their unspeakable labors, and were encouraged beyond all manner to
follow up such conquests and even to undertake other new ones. For,
it is a fact that when the fruit of one's preaching can be seen, it
causes such joy in the missionaries, and gives them so great courage
for other undertakings that that alone can serve as a worthy reward
in this life and infuses valor for other more difficult enterprises.
403. Those zealous laborers formed anew from the people whom they
allured from the mountains, the villages of Iba, or as they are
also called, Paynavèn, Cavangaàn, Sùbig, and Mòrong. In addition
to this the ancient villages increased in population. Until the
present time, there was not along all that coast, that belonged to
our administration, more than three convents or ministries--one even
in Bolinào, another in Masìnloc, and the third in Marivèlez--with
the exception of that of Cigayàn, which was destroyed. But now two
new convents were established, which were necessary for the greater
convenience of the spiritual administration--one in Paynavèn, under
the title of Nuestro Padre San Agustin, to which were assigned three
annexes or visitas; a second in Bagàc with the advocacy of Our Lady
of the Pillar of Zaragoza (which was moved to Mòrong some years later
under the same title), and to it were assigned three other villages as
visitas. All the above was completely accomplished in the year 1670,
with which this history is concerned. That year can be marked by a
white stone by that holy province and indeed by our whole Recollect
congregation, because of the so great progress that was obtained in
the propagation of the faith, the only aim to which their desires were
expended. Next to God, successes so happy are due to the tenacity with
which these zealous missionaries worked, for they trampled all dangers
under foot, and to the good arrangements and holy wisdom of the father
provincial, Fray Christoval de Santa Monica, as well as to the zeal,
courage, and care of his vicar, father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad.
404. In order to conclude this matter we must add that the same
activity proceeded in the immediate years with equal fruit. For,
as in the chapter of 1671, father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad was
elected definitor, he besought the father provincial, Fray Juan de
San Phelipe, very urgently, to allow him to make a mission to the
Zambàles Mountains. Permission having been obtained, he went to the
convent of Paynavèn and gave a new beginning to the conquest on the
side toward Babàyan with results so favorable that he tamed the wild
and inhuman hearts of many Zimarrònes and heathens. Hence, during the
three years of his definitorship the recently-created villages were
greatly increased by a considerable number of souls who were allured
from the mountains and brought into the Church. As payment for this
service, and in consideration of his many merits, he was elected
provincial in the chapter celebrated in the year 1674. The first care
of his successful government was to see that those missions should be
kept up. He sent two of the best religious to continue that undertaking
and finished the leveling of so impenetrable and rough thickets.
405. Those laborers (whose names will be written in the book of life,
since, due to the omissions of the relations, they are lacking in the
book of history) penetrated into the mountains of Zambàles in such
manner, that they arrived within a short time at the contrary part of
them toward Manila Bay. By so doing their approach to the villages of
the district of Batàn, the administration of which, as we have already
stated, belongs to the Dominican fathers, was indispensable. The
latter, reasonably, as they thought, took what had been done ill,
saying that Ours were sowing the seed in a field whose territory did
not belong to them; for, in these bodies of militia, more than in
any other, it is easily perceived that triumphs are taken from the
hands of the one to advance others in their obligations. Their father
provincial, Fray Phelipe Pardo (later archbishop of Manila), assumed
charge of that litigation, alleging before the royal Audiencia,
that the conquest of that part of the mountains belonged to his
province, as it was contiguous to their ministries. He petitioned
that our discalced religious be ordered to retire. But our father,
Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, opposed that demand so energetically that
justice was compelled to decide that if the extension of the Catholic
flock followed, it mattered very little which instruments were used,
whether these or those ministers.
406. Divine Providence usually permits such rivalry, certainly holy
in itself in the holy squadrons that serve the God of armies for
the spiritual conquest of the world. Whenever judicial authority
has determined in this way, experience has demonstrated that great
progress follows in favor of the Catholic faith. For each side with
the incentive of the other, dares to undertake greater enterprises,
and repeated triumphs are obtained. So was it now; for seeing the door
locked to their demand in the above-said court, the father provincial,
Fray Phelipe Pardo, resolved to assign two religious of his order,
so that they might, with the zeal that he infuses in all of his
holy institute, make a mission thither by way of Mount Batàn. They
began that mission in the month of October, 1675, as is affirmed in
his history of Philipinas by father Fray Balthassar de Santa Cruz,
although he says nothing as to the reason for the expedition. [28]
Accordingly Ours went to another part, thus leaving a sufficient
field for the Dominican fathers, for truly, there is room enough
for all. This strife being the origin of the obstinate work of the
missionaries of both families, who labored with all their might, they
reduced many Zambals to the bosom of our holy faith, and filled their
respective villages with new converts. Had so laudable a rivalry
continued, excellently founded hopes that so glorious a conquest
would be ended would have been conceived. But it was God's will to
have all the territory of Zambàles shortly after left for several
years in charge of the fathers of St. Dominic, while our laborers
went to the territory of Mindòro, as we shall relate in chapter ix
of the following decade. Thereupon the strife entirely ceased, and
even the fruit, so far as our reformed order is concerned.
407. Father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad finished his provincialate
in April, 1677, and then immediately went in person to continue
the expedition that cost him so great anxiety. He penetrated the
mountains on foot in various places in order to seek sheep there
whom he might convey into the flock of Christ. Exposing himself to
the will of their barbaric natures, without any fear of the perils
or caring for the dangers to himself, he persevered there until he
had to retire two years later for the reasons given above. As we do
not possess the necessary manuscripts, we cannot state the number of
souls that were drawn down from the mountains from the year 1671 to
that of 1679. The relations which we follow only assure us that as
it was not considered advisable at that time to form settlements in
the wildnesses of the mountains many reduced families were withdrawn
thence, in order to live in the coast villages. Those villages have
been augmented in tributes and inhabitants, to such a degree that those
ministries were constituted with a great abundance of people and were
the most flourishing of the province, as they were so thickly populated
by souls who embraced the Catholic faith with fervor. In due time
(decade 13, in the year 1741) this history will show forth another
most fruitful expedition, which was made into the same mountains by
our Recollect family, founding there villages and convents in order
to attend to whatever pertained to them in the conversion of those
Indians. Now we shall end this relation by giving due thanks to God,
for He has in all times infused into our brothers a spirit fervent
in undertaking, and in proceeding in such obligations.
[The second and last section of this chapter deals entirely with
Recollect affairs in Spain.]
DECADE NINE
[The first four sections of the first chapter which covers the year
1671 deal with the life of the father lector, Fray Miguèl de Santo
Thomàs. Nothing is known of his early life, not even his birthplace
or his family name, nor the date or convent of his profession. By
some he is called Miguèl de San Agustin. His life in the Philippines
was almost all spent in the province of Caraga. He shunned publicity,
although he did fill several priorates. He worked in the villages of
Bislig, Tàndag, Siargào, and Butuàn where he accomplished much, and
where he was greatly beloved by the natives. He endeavored to induce
industrious habits in the natives, and reclaimed many of them from
the apostasy into which they had fallen, besides strengthening old
Christians and converting heathen. He was especially devoted to the
Virgin, to St. Augustine, and to St. Nicholas of Tolentino. He is said
to have been the object of several marvelous occurrences which can be
traced to his devotion. To him also was vouchsafed at times the gift
of prophecy. He labored fearlessly in the insurrection of Linao and
surrounding districts, braving death more than once in his endeavors
to pacify the Indians. The sexual sin which was offered him failed to
move him as did all other dangers. His death occurred in Butuàn and he
was buried in the church there. The remainder of this chapter does not
concern Philippine affairs. The first section of chapter ii contains a
notice of the eleventh general chapter of the order held in Calatayud
convent in 1672. Fathers Fray Alonso de la Concepcion and Fray Joseph
de la Circuncision were elected definitors for the Philippines; and
fathers Fray Manuel de San Agustin, and Fray Lucas de San Bernardo,
discreets. The remainder of chapter ii and the following chapter do
not contain Philippine matter.]
CHAPTER IV
The Catholic faith makes new progress in Philipinas through the
preaching of our religious. Death of some religious in España of
great reputation.
§ I
A great multitude of heathen Tagabalòyes who lived in the mountains
near the district of Bislig, is converted in the island of Mindanào
by the preaching of our tireless laborers.
600. [The author draws a parallel between the capture of Jericho by the
Hebrews and the evangelization of the Philippines. When God pleases,
the walls of idolatry must fall.] This maxim has followed our reformed
order in the Philipinas, and has been proved many times. For contending
almost continuously with paganism fortified in the mountains contiguous
to the districts reduced to their administration, although they were
disappointed by not few fatigues, without being able to sing victory,
they were at last crowned with triumphs when it appeared fitting to
divine Providence. We have seen and shall see several activities that
prove this truth. At the present we are offered the feats performed
in the mountains of Bislìg.
601. The district of Bislìg, which is the last and most distant from
Manila among those possessed there by our reformed order, is located in
Carhàga, in the island of Mindanào and consists of five villages. These
are Bislìg, which is the chief one, Hinatòan, Catèl, Bagàngan, and
Carhàga. At its beginning the province was named from the last one, as
it was then the settlement of the greatest population. Two religious
only are generally designated for the spiritual administration of
this district, and they have too much work in the exercise of it. For
the villages are located at great distances from one another, the
people are especially warlike, they are contiguous to the Moros,
those irreconcilable enemies, while the sea of those districts on
which they have to travel from one village to another, is extremely
boisterous, rough, and at times impassable, and on its reef in the
dangers already mentioned, several religious have lost their lives,
as will be patent further on in this history. But, notwithstanding
that the two religious assigned to those villages can scarcely attend
fully to the direction of the Christian Indians, and although because
of the dearth of religious from which our reformed order almost always
suffers in those islands, but rarely could more subjects be employed
there, those few following the maxim practiced there of one doing
the work of many, they did not cease to solicit ever the conversion
of the surrounding heathens, who are very numerous in those mountains.
602. There is especially so great a number of heathen Indians and
barbarous nations in certain mountains that extend along the coast,
from opposite Carhàga near Bislìg (a distance of about twenty-five
leguas, while it is not known how far they extend inland), that even
the Christian Indians do not know them all. The nearest nation to our
villages is that of the Tagabalòyes, who are so named from certain
mountains which they call Baloòy. They live amid their briers without
submission to the Catholic faith or to the monarchy of España. Those
Indians are domestic, peaceable, tractable, and always allied with the
Christians, whom they imitate in being irreconcilable enemies of the
Moros. They are a very corpulent race, well built, of great courage
and strength, and they are at the same time of good understanding,
and more than half way industrious. That nation is faithful in its
treaties, and constant in its promises, as they are descendants,
so they pride themselves, of the Japanese, whom they resemble in
complexion, countenance, and manners. Their life is quite civilized,
and they show no aversion to human society. All those of the same kin,
however extensive, generally live in one house, the quarters being
separated according to the families. Those houses are built very high,
so that there are generally two pike lengths from the ground to the
first floor. The whole household make use of only one stairway, which
is constructed so cunningly, that when all are inside they remove it
from above, and thus they are safe from their enemies. Many of those
Tagabalòyes live near the Christians, and those peoples have mutual
intercourse, and visit and aid one another. They do not run away from
our religious, but on the contrary like to communicate with them,
and show them the greatest love and respect. Hence any ministers can
live among them as safely as in a Christian village.
603. It is now seen how suitable are all these districts to induce
so docile a nation to receive our holy faith. But for all that, very
little progress was made in their reduction until the year 1671, and
then it was that the care and the continual preaching of Ours obtained
it. Besides the will of God, whose resolutions are unsearchable, there
were several motives of a natural order, which made the attempts of
the evangelical ministers fruitless. The first was the continual wars
with the Moros. That fact scarcely permitted the Christians and even
the Tagabalòyes to let their weapons out of their hands. With the din
of arms the Catholic religion, always inclined to quiet and peace,
can generally make but little progress. The second consisted in
the little or no aid rendered in this attempt by the alcalde-mayor,
the military leaders of Catèl, and even some chiefs of the subject
villages. All of the above were assured of greater profits in their
trade and commerce, if those Indians were heathens than if they were
Christians; and it is very old in human malice that the first objects
of anxiety are the pernicious ideas of greed, and the progress of
the faith is disregarded if it opposes their cupidity.
604. But the strongest reason for the failure of the desired fruit
was the third. This reason is reduced, as we have already mentioned,
to the fact that there were but two religious generally in the said
district, and of those no one could be in residence at the villages
of Catèl or Carhàga, the nearest ones to the said mountains, and they
only went thither two or three times per year. Consequently, although
they wished never so strongly to labor in the conversion of the heathen
Indians, they could not obtain the fruit up to the measures of their
desires. It happened almost always that the minister was detained a
fortnight at most, in the said villages, the greater part of which
was necessarily spent in instructing the Christians. And although,
by stealing some hours from sleep, the minister employed some of them
in catechizing the heathens, since his stay was so short, he could
not give the work the due perfection, and left it in its beginning,
as he had to go to the other villages. He charged some Christians to
continue in preparing and cultivating those souls so that they might be
ready on his return to receive baptism. But human weakness, united to
the sloth, which almost as if native to him, accompanies the Indian,
was the reason that when the religious returned after an interval of
four or six months, instead of finding the work advanced, he found that
which he himself had done in it lost. And idolatry always triumphed,
notwithstanding that he did not cease to make vigorous war upon it.
605. Thus time rolled on, and the Church obtained very little increase
in those mountains, for the three above-mentioned reasons. The order
could not conquer the two first, and there was less possibility
for the third. For however much the order desired to apply on its
part the only means whereby the desired fruit could be obtained,
namely, the assignment of a religious to reside in the said places,
who should look after the reduction of the Tagabalòyes, without
attending to any other thing, it was continually unable to effect that,
for in Philipinas the harvest is very great and the laborers few. I
have detained myself in the consideration of these obstacles, which
threaten the total devastation of the heathendom of Philipinas, and
are transcendental to all the holy orders, who are striving to spread
the faith in the said islands. For some believe (and more than two have
expressed as much to me here in España in familiar conversation) that
the reason why the heathenism of those countries has not been ended,
is because the missionaries do not work with the same spirit as they
did at the beginning. But they are surely deceived, for in addition to
the many other reasons that may be assigned, the three above-mentioned
suffice to render the most laborious efforts vain. The same tenacity,
zeal, and courage of the first laborers accompanies those who have
succeeded them. Let the obstacles be removed, and one will see that
(as has been experienced many times) Belial having been destroyed
and cut into pieces, although many render him adoration, the Catholic
faith triumphs in the ark of the testament. This happened at the time
of which we treat in the mountains of Bislìg.
606. The year, then, of 1671 came, in which that holy province held
their chapter and father Fray Juan de San Phelipe, a native of Nueva
España, who had taken our holy habit in the convent of Manila, was
elected provincial. That religious had lived for some years in Bislìg,
and had known by experience how necessary it was for a missionary to
live in residence near the mountains, where so great infidelity was
fortified, in order to establish there the health-bringing dogmas
of our Catholic religion. Scarcely was he elected superior prelate,
since he had a sufficient number of subjects in order to attend to all
parts, when he resolved to place one of them in residence at Catèl,
and to order such an one solemnly that he should from there procure
the reduction of those heathens by all means without engaging in other
cares, however useful they seemed to him. He also gave very rigorous
orders to the father prior of Bislìg to the effect that whenever
they could without any omission in the spiritual administration of
the other villages, he or his associates should go to reside in the
village of Carhàga, and be there in residence as much as possible, all
three religious concurring in that great work and aiding one another
mutually for the attainment of so well conceived desires. Finally he
arranged matters with so much acumen that if the lack of religious
had not rendered it impossible after such ideas had been put into
practice, it is probable that they would have subdued all the heathens
of those mountains.
607. In August 1671 that project was begun to be put into operation;
and although we have not yet been able to get detailed information of
the laborers, who were employed in it, on account of which we cannot
place their names in this history, we shall have the consolation of
knowing that they will not be omitted from the book of life. It is
certain that all three religious conspired together in bringing to the
delicious net of the Church those misguided souls, and they shirked
no toil that might help in their object. They made raid after raid
into those mountains; one from Catèl, one from Carhàga, and one from
Bislìg, penetrating to their highest peaks, and their deepest valleys
in all their extent from the promontory of Calatàn nearly to the cape
called San Agustin. All three of them at the same time were careful to
assist the Christians in the spiritual administration. They preached,
catechized, attracted the people by argument, by art, by prudence. And
as some truce occurred in the war with the Moros at that time, and
as they obtained at the same time a very Christian alcalde-mayor who
aided them and caused all his subordinates to aid them in so holy zeal,
so much fruit was obtained that when the father provincial went on
his visit in February 1673, he found that they had already baptized
more than three hundred adults without reckoning those who had been
purified in the waters of grace in sickness and had immediately
died. The latter were as many as one hundred counting great and small.
608. Thus did the above-mentioned father provincial, Fray Juan de San
Phelipe, write to our father vicar-general under date of July 5, of
the same year. And after, on June 26, 1674, he adds that, according
to the relations sent to the chapter by the father prior of Bislìg,
that district had increased by two hundred tributes. This, according
to the reckoning in vogue there, means eight hundred souls. They
had all been allured from the mountains and from the horrors of
their paganism to become inhabitants of the villages already formed,
and to live in civilized intercourse among the pleasant lights of
the Christian name. This well premeditated idea has since then been
followed as has been possible by the successors of our father, Fray
Juan de San Phelipe, whenever the small number of religious has not
rendered it impossible. For in some chapters of that holy province,
repeated determinations are seen to place a minister in residence at
Catèl, so that he may exercise the means conducive to that end. Hence
it is that father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio has inserted
the following narrative in his seraphic chronicle. He says: "Some
of the Tagabalòyes are living now in old villages who have become
Christians, and others are being reduced by the zeal and cultivation
of the discalced Augustinian fathers, who hold them as inhabitants of
Bislìg." [29] And it is confirmed that although the district of Bislìg
was formerly one of the smallest in the number of its parishioners,
it is now one of the largest in Mindanào, and there is no other reason
for its increase.
[The two following sections of this chapter detail several miraculous
happenings that aided not a little in the conversion of the region
inhabited by the Tagabalòyes. In 1662 when the Spaniards abandoned the
island of Ternate, because of the Chinese pirate Kuesing, one of the
religious images taken away with them was of the Virgin. That image
was given by the governor of Ternate to the alcalde-mayor of Caraga,
who in turn gave it to the garrison of Catèl. From its position there
it was known as "La Virgen de la Costa" or, the Virgin of the hill,
"for costa in the language of the country, is the same as castillo
[i.e., redoubt]." The influence of this image was far reaching and
it distributed many blessings and favors to its devotees in times of
drought, in plagues of locusts, and during epidemics, and performed
other miracles that gave it lasting fame. Another image of the Christ
crucified was revered in a village near Bislìg, and was later given
a place in the Recollect church at Manila. It was a small ordinary
image such as was used on the altar during mass. As it was very
ugly and misshapen the priest determined to bury it, ordering some
of the natives to perform that task. But when the hole was dug,
and they went to get the image, in its place they found the most
beautiful and symmetrical image that they had ever seen, and nailed
to the same cross. The transformation was announced to be of divine
origin, and this image was accordingly revered as miraculous; and
it proved itself to be so in the future. On account of the miracles
that occurred in the Caraga district the people became more devout
Christians and many abandoned their ancient practices. The remainder
of this chapter does not deal with Philippine matters; as do neither
of the two following chapters.]
CHAPTER VII
The Catholic faith is advanced by the preaching of Ours in various
places in the Philipinas. The death of two religious in Talavera de
la Reyna with great reputation.
The year 1677
§ I
The evangelical trumpet resounds in various territories of Philipinas,
and especially in the ridges of Linao, and in the mountains of Cagayàn,
in the island of Mindanào, by the means of our missionaries; and many
heathens are converted to the Christian religion.
714. It has ever been a very common complaint among historians of the
order, and all make it, of time the destroyer of all things and of
the neglect in leaving advisory news thereof. There is no doubt that
for these two reasons the memory of many valiant deeds of excellent
religious, who have filled our discalced Recollect order with honors in
the Philipinas Islands, who have extended the Catholic faith untiringly
at the cost of unspeakable hardships, and destroyed the abominable
altars of heathen blindness, have been lost. But never more than at
present does that complaint appear justifiable, when we begin to treat
of the progress of Christianity in the districts of Linào and Cagayàn,
villages of the island of Mindanào, one of the Philipinas. There was
the evangelical trumpet heard by dint of members of our reformed order,
with memorable fruit.... Let us pass then to mention what we have been
able to bring to light from the confused memories which time excused.
715. In the year 1674, father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, a native of
Zaragoza, was elected provincial in Philipinas. That apostolic laborer
had always had great zeal for the conversion of souls. Agitated
by that sacred fire that burned without consuming his heart which
fed it, he worked in his own person, as much as he who did most,
so that all the heathens of that distant archipelago should embrace,
believe, and reverence the faith of the true God, in whose name only
is found salvation. For that purpose he went not only once into the
highest peaks of Zambàles, in order to illumine their darkness with the
Catholic light or to lose his life in so heroic an act of charity. He
desired with unspeakable anxiety to be given the opportunity to
make a sacrifice of his blood by shedding it in so good warfare,
in confirmation of the truth which he was preaching. "When shall
I have the desirable happiness," he exclaimed to his pious fellow
countryman, San Pedro Arbuès, "of being made a good martyr from a
bad priest by the merciful God?" That desire we see already had made
him leave every fear; and consequently, without any horror of death,
notwithstanding that it represented itself to him as to all, full of
bitterness, he placed himself in excessive dangers, in order that he
might whiten with the water of baptism the souls of the inhabitants
of those ridges, so that in their darkened bodies they might obtain
the beauty of grace. Thus was his practice throughout his life,
not only in the above-mentioned district, but also in other places
of the many which are entrusted to us in those vast territories,
and if he did not effectively obtain the crown of martyrdom, yet the
merited reward will not be lacking to such prowess.
716. He did that when he was not the superior prelate, but afterwards
when he became provincial, he flew with his cares to undertakings
of almost infinite breadth. He beheld very near the great empire
of China, peopled by an incredible multitude of souls, almost all
of them seated in the shadows of death, and their acute intellects
ignorantly disturbed in the obscure darkness of their errors. The
mission so often craved by our reformed order to those countries,
was the first object of his zealous heart. He could not be satisfied
with trying to send others as evangelical laborers, but he tried with
the greatest seriousness to abandon the glory of the provincialate,
in order that he might be employed personally in an expedition so much
to divine service, and his inability to accomplish it cost him many a
bitter sob. He became a sea of tears, when he thought of the distant
kingdoms (also almost in sight) of Japòn, Bornèy, Sumàtra, Tunquìn,
Cochinchina, Mogòl, Tartària, and Persia; for most of those who
have their wealth and amenities live but as mortals basely deceived
by their brutish worships, in order to die eternally in the more
grievous life. To some of those places and especially to Japòn, he had
practical ideas of sending missionaries, and even of going thither
in person, and he made the greatest efforts for that purpose. And
although he did not obtain the end of his desires, because of the
obstructions which the common enemy is wont to place to such works,
such eagerness cannot but be praised very highly; and consequently,
they will have been rewarded with great degrees of glory, because of
what he was trying to communicate to the souls of others.
717. Since, then, he could not accomplish so well conceived love
which extended itself to the salvation of the whole world, he set
in operation the maxims which his burning charity dictated to him in
regard to the extensive limits entrusted by the Lord of the vineyard of
the Philipinas for the cultivation of our holy discalced order, with
a so visible utility to the Church. In the first place he arranged
with admirable prudence that certain missionary religious should
incessantly travel through the villages of our administration, like
swift angels or like light clouds in order to preach the obligation
of their character to the Christian Indians. They were to advise them
at the same time to take the sacraments frequently, of the horror
of idolatry, of the love of the faith, of obedience to the Church,
and to the appreciable submission to the Catholic king from which
so many blessings would follow to them, and by which they would be
delivered from innumerable evils. For that purpose he assigned two
religious of the Visayan language, one of the Tagálog, and one of
the Zambal--all of the spirit that such an occupation demanded. He
ordered each one of them to make continual journeys through the large
and small settlements of the district of his language, preaching the
mission with the same formalities that they are wont to observe in
Europa. He also ordered the father priors of the respective districts
to give such fathers every aid for that apostolic ministry, both
temporal and spiritual, as such was for the service of God and the
greater purity of our Catholic faith.
718. The profits and good effects that followed that undertaking
happily instituted, and reduced to fact with rare success, cannot
be easily explained. Oh would that the lack of religious almost
transcendental in all times in that province did not prevent the
prosecution and perpetuity of so holy a custom by which unspeakable
harvests of spiritual blessings were obtained, although some temporal
riches should be spent in it. It is true that the ministers of parish
priests of our said order who live continually in the villages,
attend to those duties without avoiding any toil. But since they
always live among their parishioners, and treat them so near at
hand, and since they exercise over them a certain kind of authority,
greater than that which the curas in España possess, it will not be
imprudent to observe (considering human weakness, and the cowardice
of the Indians), that some will not go to confess to those said
parish priests without great fear, the common enemy infusing them
with fears lest the parish priests perhaps will punish them for the
sins that they might confess. Let us add to this that there are no
other confessors on whom to rely, especially in the districts which
are at some distance from Manila. Also it is almost impossible as
our ministries are located, for the Indians to go from one village to
another for that purpose. For these reasons, I myself have experienced,
and I have heard it asserted by many curates that too many sacrilegious
confessions are made, for sins are kept hidden out of shame, to the
deplorable ruin of souls. All the above impediments cease undeniably
so far as the missionaries are concerned. Hence one can infer the
great fruit that would be gathered in spiritual matters by means of
the profitable idea which was invented by our father Fray Joseph and
put in practice in his time with the utmost ardor.
719. Besides that, by causing his subjects to multiply, since not
in number, at least in their courage for work, the vigilant superior
ordered those who were in the ministries to perform with the utmost
effort what they had always done, namely, that they should not be
content with directing the souls of the faithful to heaven, but should
strive with might and main for the conversion of the heathen. And
since the fire of love as regards God, their provincial, and their
neighbors, burned with intensity in those gospel laborers, one can
not imagine how greatly the activity of that fire, strengthened with
the breath of the exhortation of so worthy a prelate, was increased
and worked outside. We can assert without any offense to anyone else
what has already been suggested in other parts of this history,
namely, that our discalced religious in the Philipinas Islands,
outstripped all the other religious in the so meritorious quality
of suffering hardships. [30] The villages most distant from Manila,
those that offer less convenience for human life, those with the most
ferocious people, and all surrounded by Moros, by heathens, and by
other barbarous Indians, in regard to whom any confidence would be
irrational, are the ones in our charge. And adding to this that one
minister generally has charge of many settlements, which are at times
located in distinct islands, one can easily see how many fatigues,
sweatings, and how much weariness will be caused by the spiritual
administration of those who are enlisted in the Catholic religion. What
will all that be then, if they have to attend also to the reduction
of so great a number of souls, who live lawless in idolatry in sight
of the law of grace! I repeat that our Recollects, equal in their zeal
to the other gospel laborers, exceed them there without difficulty in
the necessary opportunities for suffering. Moreover, if our brothers
have the advantage at all times in this regard of other missionaries,
those of the triennium of which we are speaking, excelled themselves,
for they labored more than ever in the administration of the faithful
and in the conversion of the heathen.
720. But the greatest efforts that the venerable father provincial
put forth, and the places where the religious assigned for that work
labored with excessive fervor, were in the districts of Butuàn and
Cagayàn, which are located in the island of Mindanào. There was a
heathen Indian called Dato Pistig Matànda, who had been living for
many years on the banks of the river Butuàn between the villages
of Linào and Hothìbon. He was of noble rank, a lord of vassals,
and had great power and a not slight understanding, although he was
corrupted with an execrable multitude of vices. He, instigated by
the devil, had caused all the efforts of the evangelical ministers
to return fruitless for many years; for idolatry maintained not only
in the castle of his soul, but as well in all the territory of his
jurisdiction, the throne which it had usurped, and the continual
assaults which were made without cessation against that obstinate
heart by the members of our discalced order had no effect. Several
religious had endeavored to make him submit to the sweet yoke of
the evangelical law, and they availed themselves with holy zeal of
all the stratagems which, as incentives, generally attract the human
will to reason and open the door to grace in order that it may work
marvels. Especially did the holy father Fray Miguèl de Santo Thomàs,
make use of all the means that he considered fitting to reduce the
Indian chief to the true sheepfold as well as those who were strayed
from it in his following, during the whole time that he graced that
river by his presence. But experience proved that God reserved the
triumph solicited on so many occasions for the happy epoch of which
we are treating at present, for his own inscrutable reasons. At
that time then the divine vocation working powerfully and mildly,
and availing itself as instruments of our religious who resided in
Butuàn and in Linào, softened that erstwhile bronze heart and he not
only received baptism, but also tried by all means to have his vassals
do the same. Hence, leaving out of account a great number of children,
the adults who were reëngendered in the waters of salvation and became
sons of God and heirs of glory, exceeded three hundred.
721. At the same time another father, who had a residence in the
village of Linào, notably advanced our Christian religion in places
thitherto occupied by infidelity. The mountains of that territory are
inhabited by a nation of Indians, heathens for the greater part called
Manòbos [31]--a word signifying in that language, as if we should
say here, "robust and very numerous people." When those Indians are
not at war with the Spaniards, they are tractable, docile, and quite
reasonable. They have the very good peculiarities of being separated
not a little from the brutish life of the other mountain people
thereabout; for they have regular villages, where they live in human
sociability in a very well ordered civilization. Although the above
qualities, as has been seen, are very apropos for receiving the faith,
notwithstanding that fact, although some of them are always reduced,
they are very few when one considers the untiring solicitude with which
our missionaries unceasingly endeavor to procure it. The reasons for so
deplorable an effect are the same as we have mentioned in regard to the
conversion of the Tagabalòyes Indians. But during the provincialate of
our father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, either because those obstacles
ceased, or because divine grace wished to extend its triumphs, the
results were wonderful. A very great number of those Manòbos were
admitted into the Church--how many is not specified by the relations
which we have been able to investigate, but we only see that they were
many; for it is asserted that while the district of Butuàn, to which
Linào belonged, consisted before that time of about three thousand
reduced souls, its Christianity increased then by about one-third, the
believers thus being increased for God and the vassals for the king.
722. In the mountains of Cagayàn, shone also the light of
disillusionment, without proving hateful but very agreeable to rational
eyes, for it caught them well disposed. The zealous workers of our
Institute, shaken with the zeal of the venerable father provincial,
devoted themselves to felling that bramble thicket which was filled
with buckthorns of idolatry and even with thorns hardened in the
perfidious sect of Mahomet. Three religious, who glorified that
district, attended to so divine an occupation, stealing for it from
the rest of the moments that were left to them from the spiritual
administration which was the first object of their duty. They extended
their work toward the part of Tagalòan, and even penetrated inland
quite near the lake of Malanào through all the mountains of their
jurisdiction. There like divine Orpheuses they converted brutes into
men by the harmonious cithara of the apostolic preaching and those who
were living, in the most brutish barbarity to the Christian faith,
which is so united to reason. Thus did they reduce more than one
hundred tributes to the villages of the Christians. That was a total
of five hundred souls who were all drawn from their infidelity or
apostasy. That triumph was so much more wonderful as at that time
the war of the Malanào Moros against the presidio of Cagayàn was
more bloody, and it is verified by experience that in all contests,
the Catholic faith generally advances but little amid the clash of
arms. But their increases, which we have related (as obtained in the
triennium of the venerable father, Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, which
was concluded in April, 1677) appear from several letters written
in Manila by the most excellent religious in June and July of the
above-mentioned year, and directed to our father the vicar-general,
Fray Francisco de San Joseph, which have been preserved in the archives
of Madrid.
[Section ii of this chapter relates a number of miraculous
occurrences in the villages of Butuàn, Linào, and Cagayàn, and their
districts--miracles which were greater than the recovery of health on
receiving baptism, at the reading of the gospels, or after drinking
the water left in the chalice after the sacrament, all of which were
very common and little regarded. Those miracles had great weight
in reducing those people to the Christian faith. For instance the
dato above mentioned, Putig (or Pistig) Matanda, was converted after
the successful exorcism of demons that had troubled his village. It
is related in this section that "for reasons that seemed fitting,
the convent and church of Butuàn were moved to the beach from their
previous location; but it was afterward reëstablished there, one
legua from the sea upstream." One of these years also the village
of Cagayàn suffered greatly from the scourge of smallpox which was
formerly so common in the Philippines. Section iii treats of Spanish
affairs. Section iv deals with the life of Fray Melchor de la Madre de
Dios who died in the Recollect convent of Talavera de la Reyna, Spain,
May 30, 1677. He was born in Nueva Segovia or Cagayan in Luzón, his
father being Juan Rodrigues de Ladera. While still young his parents
removed to Manila where he studied until the age of twenty the subjects
of grammar, philosophy, and theology. Although he was apt, he found
himself below others not so clever as himself because the pleasures
of the world appealed to him too strongly. Consequently, he quit his
studies in disgust, and gave himself to trade, "the occupation of
which is not considered disgraceful there to people of the highest
rank." But his evil courses still prevailed and during his several
trips to Acapulco he succeeded only in wasting his money. Returning
to Manila after his final voyage, he gave up some of his worst vices,
but still kept a firm grip of the world. He must have taken up his
neglected studies again, but almost nothing is known of him until
he reached his thirty-third year. It is said by some that he became
a priest before joining the Recollect order, but there is a lack of
definite knowledge on that score. At any rate he did not abandon his
rather loose way of living. In the midst of his vices he had always
been greatly devoted to St. Augustine, and his conversion finally
occurred on the eve of that saint. Then a vision of the saint who
appeared to him caused his conversion and an enthusiasm that never left
him. He became a novitiate in the Recollect convent of Manila that same
year 1639 and professed in 1640. After preaching with great clearness
and force in Manila which had been the scene of his excesses, he was
sent as missionary to the Visayan Islands, where he worked faithfully
and well. But breaking down in health because of his strenuous life
in the snaring of souls, he was compelled to retire to the convent
of Cebú and then to that of Manila. It being impossible for him to
accomplish much work longer in the Philippines because of his health,
he begged and received permission to go to Spain for the remainder of
his life. When he went is uncertain, but it was after 1656, for that
year he was in Siargao in the province of Caraga. After his arrival
at Madrid he was assigned to the convent of Talavera de la Reyna,
where his memory was revered after death for his good works.]
[Chapter viii notes the twelfth general chapter of the Recollect
order held at the convent at Toboso. Philippine votes were lacking,
due probably to the non-arrival of delegates in time. The remainder
of the chapter does not concern the Philippines.]
CHAPTER IX
Our province of Philipinas takes charge of the spiritual administration
of the island of Mindòro where several convents are founded. Several
religious venerated as saints, end their days in España.
The year 1679
§ I
Description of the island of Mindòro, and considerations in regard to
its spiritual conquest, which was partly obtained before our discalced
order assumed its administration.
... 785. Mindòro is located in the center of the islands called
Philipinas. It is surrounded by all those islands, and is encircled
by them in a close band as the parts of the human body do the
heart. It has a triangular shape whose three ends are three capes
or promontories, one of which is called Burruncàn and looks to the
south, another looks to the north and is called Dumàli, while the
third which looks to the west is called Calavìte. In regard to its
extent, Mindoro comes to be the seventh in size among all the islands
of that great archipelago. [32] It is about one hundred leguas in
circumference. Its climate is very hot, although the continual rains
somewhat temper its unendurable heat. In its rains it exceeds all
the other nearby islands. However this relief bears the counterpoise
of making the island but little favorable to health, because of the
bad consequences of the heat accompanied by the humidity. But for
all that it is a very fertile land, although unequally so because
of its rough mountain ranges, and the thick forests. There are many
trees of the yonote, [33] and of the buri, from which sago is made,
which is used for bread in some places. There are also wax, honey,
the fruits of the earth, flesh, abundance of fish, and rice where
the people do not neglect through laziness to plant it. That island
was formerly called Mainit, but the Spaniards called it Mindòro from
a village called Minòlo which is located between the port of Galeras
and the bay of Ilòg. [34]
786. Its inhabitants had sufficient courage to cause all their
neighbors to fear them. Especially at sea were they powerful and
daring as was lamented at different times by the islands of Panày,
Luzòn, and others, when they were attacked by the fleets of Mindòro
which they completely filled with blood and fire. But at the same time
they showed a very great simplicity, which was carried to so great an
extreme, as is mentioned by father Fray Gaspàr de San Agustin, that
when they saw the Europeans with clothes and shoes--a thing unknown
among them--they imagined that that adornment was the product of nature
and not placed through ingenious modesty. [35] That simplicity produced
in them the effect of their not applying themselves to the cultivation
of the earth, but of contenting themselves with wild fruit and what
they could steal as pirates, or better said, robbers. The sequel of
that so far as their laziness is concerned, has lasted even to our
own times; for as says father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio,
all who have discussed the matter, agree that they are the laziest
people and the most averse to work of all the inhabitants in those
islands, notwithstanding that they are corpulent enough. [36] However,
my experience of the Philipinas obliges me to say that so blamable
a peculiarity is only too common to all of them, almost without any
distinction of more or less. Neither could that courage of theirs
save them from subjection to España, and if they earlier considered
that subjection unfortunate in the extreme, now they regard it with
the light of the faith as their greatest fortune.
787. A beginning in its conquest was made on the Mambùrao side in the
year 1570 by Captain Juan de Salcèdo. [37] That conquest was completed
so far as the seacoasts are concerned from the cape of Burruncàn
to that of Calavìte at the beginning of the following year by the
adelantado, Miguèl Lopez de Legazpi. The balance of the island has
been subdued gradually by dint of the evangelical laborers with the
exception of the mountains which are located in its center. From that
time, then, the seacoast Indians of that island have been subject to
the mild yoke of the Spanish crown, and have given signs of extreme
loyalty. For, although the great Chinese pirate Limaòn attacked the
Philipinas in the year 1574, in order to seize them if possible,
there were some signs of insurrection in Mindòro, which was put down
very quickly, even before one felt its effects which are generally
very painful in popular uprisings. That good fortune was due to the
moderation of the natives and to the temperance of Captain Gabriel de
Ribera, who knew how to sweeten with very pleasing acts of kindness
the bitter crust of justice. For that reason of the Indians being
entirely well inclined to the Spaniards, the encomiendas of that great
island were very desirable to the primitive conquistadors. In spiritual
matters the island belongs to the archbishopric of Manila. In regard
to civil matters, it is governed by a corregidor and captain of war,
who generally has residence in it and extends his jurisdiction to
the neighboring islands of Marindùque and Lucbàn.
788. Let us now speak of its spiritual conquest, which is the principal
object of our consideration. In the year 1543 the Observant religious,
the sons of the best beloved Benjamin, our common father, San Agustin
(to whom fell the first and greater part of the possession for the
conversion of the heathen, so far as that archipelago is concerned)
made the Philipinas Islands happy by their presence by commencing
to establish their apostolic preaching; [38] and later in the year
1565, they settled in order to complete what they had begun. Like
stars rain-laden with the evangelical doctrine those most zealous
ministers fertilized their Philipinas inheritance with their voluntary
showers. So much did they do so, that when the new laborers, the sons
of the seraph Francisco arrived at the field, there was scarce an
island which had not produced most abundant fruit for the granaries
of the Church because of the work of the first sowers; as is shown in
several places of his history by father Fray Gaspàr de San Agustin;
[39] and that lover of truth, father Fray Francisco de San Antonio
confesses it, thus honoring as he ought the Augustinian Hiermo
[sic]. The island of Mindòro also shared in this good fortune. In
its cultivation were employed fathers Fray Francisco de Ortèga and
Fray Diego de Mòxica. They, after having founded the village of Bàco,
endured innumerable misfortunes in a painful captivity, hoping for
hours for that death, which they anxiously desired in order to beautify
their heads with a painful martyrdom. But in order that one might see
that although the former worked above their strength, much remained
to be done by their successors, I shall cite here the exact words of
father Fray Gaspar de San Agustin in his Historia. "The convent,"
he says, "that we had in that island [of Mindòro: added by Assis]
was in the village of Bàco. Thence the religious went out to minister
to the converted natives. The latter were very few and the religious
suffered innumerable hardships because of the roughness of the roads
and the bad climate of some regions." [40]
789. The discalced sons of St. Francis (minors for their humility,
but greatest [maximos] by the fires which they could cast from
themselves in order to burn up the world) arrived in Manila in the
year 1577. Thence like flying clouds, whose centers were filled with
very active volcanoes, they were scattered through various parts of
the islands. They were received with innumerable applauses of their
inhabitants, who regarded them as persons who despised the riches of
earth, and thought only of filling the vacant seats of glory. One of
the places where their zeal for the salvation of souls was predominant
was the land of Mindòro which had been ceded by the calced Augustinian
fathers. There, not being content with what had been reduced, they
extended the lights of the Catholic faith at the expense of great
efforts, in the direction of Pola and Calavìte. Those who labored
most in those places to communicate the infinite blessing to souls
were fathers Fray Estevan Ortìz and Fray Juan de Porras, who were
great leaders among the first religious of the seraphic discalced
order who went to Philipinas. [41] But since the fire is kept up
in matter in proportion as it abounds in commensurate inclinations,
various fields having been discovered in other parts which were full
of combustible dry fuel most fitting to receive the heat of charity,
which gives light to the beautiful body of the faith; and seeing that
that rational fuel of Mindòro would not allow themselves to be burned
for their good, with the quickness that was desired: they thought
it advisable to abandon the little for the much, and to go first to
Ilòcos and secondly to Camarines where they hoped for more abundant
fruits in return for their holy zeal.
790. In the year 1580 the religious of the holy Society of Jesus
arrived at the islands. They, in the manner of swift angels ennobling
and glorifying those hidden plains, expanded the habitation of Japhet,
in order that he might possess the famous tents of Shem. Immediately,
or very near the beginning, the superior detached excellent soldiers
of that spiritual troop for the island of Mindòro, so that they might
with the arms of the preaching destroy the altars dedicated to Belial
by giving roots to the healthgiving sign of the cross. They obtained
much; for after having penetrated the roughest mountains in search of
heathens and Cimarrones they founded the village of Naojàn, with some
other villages annexed to it. They enjoyed that ministry a long time
with their accustomed success. The one who excelled in the missions
of that island was Father Luis de Sanvictores, whose glorious memory
and reputation for sanctity was conserved for many years among those
Indians. They, notwithstanding the rudeness of their style, never
spoke of him without praise. But that father having retired in order
to begin the conquest of the islands of Ladrones (which were afterward
called Marianas), where he with glorious martyrdom gave the utmost
encouragement, although others followed his attempts in Mindòro with
great zeal; the Society finally abandoned that island into the hands of
the archbishop. [42] We cannot give the exact time of their resolution
or the reasons which could move so zealous fathers to it, although we
regard it as certain that they did it in order to employ themselves
in other places where the evangelical fruit was more plentiful.
791. His Excellency the prelate immediately formed two curacies of
the entire island, which he handed over to the secular clergy so that
they might aid those souls. Later as the two could not fulfil that,
a third cura had to be appointed. They carefully maintained what had
been conquered, a territory that included the coasts along the north
side extending from Bongabong to Calavìte. But because there were
very few Christians, since it is apparent that they did not exceed
four thousand, who were scattered throughout various settlements or
collections of huts along a distance of eighty leguas of coast, it was
not to be supposed that those missions would produce enough income
for three ministers. Consequently, they had necessarily to be aided
with other incomes, which were solicited from the royal treasury,
and with other pious foundations. Neither was that enough, so that
at times it was very difficult to find seculars to take charge of
those districts. Those ministries were, it is true, scarce desirable,
both because of the smallness of their stipends, because they carried
with them unendurable hardships, and because of the unhealthfulness of
the territory. But finally, moved, either by charity or by obedience,
there was never a lack of zealous seculars who hastened with the bread
of the instruction to those Indians. The curacies were consequently
maintained there until the year 1679, when our discalced order took
charge of the whole island for reasons which we shall now relate.
§ II
Being obliged to abandon the ministries of Zambàles by force, our
province of Philipinas assumes possession of the ministries of Mindòro,
and obtains rare fruit with its preaching.
792. In the year 1606, that grain of mustard arrived in Manìla,
and although it was small, it produced the tree of most surpassing
magnitude. I speak of our first mission which was composed at its
arrival of a small number of religious. By preaching the glory of
God and announcing the works of His power, so few men founded the
greatness of that holy province among the illuminations of blind
heathenism. It cannot be denied that by that time the sound of the
word of God had reached all the Philipinas Islands, which had been
announced by the illustrious champions who had preceded us in that
vast archipelago, to wit, the calced Augustinians, the discalced
Franciscans, the Jesuits and the Dominicans. But there cannot be
any doubt either that, notwithstanding that all the above orders had
worked in the conversion of souls, with the most heroic fervor, some
new locations in which they could enter to work were not lacking to
Ours. The harvest was great and the laborers few; and since, however
much those destined for that cultivation sweated in continual tenacity,
they could not go beyond the limited sphere of man, hence it is that
the Recollects on reaching that great vineyard at the hour of nine,
equaled in merit those who gained their day's wages from the first
hour. And in truth this will appear evident if one considers that even
now, after so many years in which the sacerdotal tuba of the apostolic
ministry has been incessantly exercised, not a few places are found
in the said islands where the individuals of all orders are employed
in living missions, and struggle with the most obstinate paganism.
793. The district where Ours first spread the gospel net was in the
mountain range called Zambàles, in the middle part of which extending
from Marivèles to Bolinào they obtained fish in great numbers, as
has been told already in the preceding volumes. Those villages of
Zambàles are located between ministries of the reverend Dominican
fathers. For, since the latter held along the great bay of Manìla
on the side called El Partido almost at the foot of Mount Batàn,
several missions contiguous to Marivèles and on the other side of
Bolinào, the best portion of the alcaldeship of Pangasinàn, they also
included in their midst the settlements of the Zambals now reduced to
a Christian and civilized life by the missionaries of the Augustinian
reformed order. For that reason the Dominicans had desired and even
claimed without going beyond the boundaries dictated by courtesy and
good relationship that our prelates yield that territory to them,
as it was suitable for the communication of the Dominicans among
themselves between Pangasinàn and Manìla and would make their visits
less arduous. But since that was a very painful proposition to those
who governed our discalced order, namely, the abandonment of certain
Indians who were the firstborn of their spirit, and a land watered by
the blood of so many martyrs, the claim could never be made effectual,
however much it was smoothed over by the name of exchange, our province
being offered other ministries, in which was shown clearly the zeal
of its individual members.
794. The one who made the greatest efforts in this direction was
father Fray Phelipe Pardo, both times that he held the Dominican
provincialate in the years 1662 and 1673. Although all of his efforts
were then frustrated, he obtained great headway by them to obtain
his purposes later. For May 30, 1676, his Majesty presented him for
the office of archbishop of Manìla. Thereupon he formed the notion
that the new marks of the ecclesiastical dignity would be sufficient
to add authority to argument. For, because of the respect to his
person, surely worthy of the greatest promotion, we did not dare to
condemn his attempt as unjust; and more even, when he obtained it,
making amends to our reformed order for the wrong we received by a
recompense which was fully justifiable in his eyes. A chance offered
him a suitable occasion for his project in the following manner. Don
Diego de Villatoro represented to the Council of the Indias that
the island of Mindòro was filled with innumerable heathens all
sunk in the darkness of their paganism; and that if its conquest
were entrusted to any order, it would be very easy to illumine its
inhabitants with the light of the faith. Therefore a royal decree
was despatched, under date of Madrid, June 18, 1677, ordering the
governor of the islands, together with the archbishop, to entrust the
reduction of Mindòro to the order which appeared best fitted for it,
before all things settling the curas who resided there in prebends
or chaplaincies. That decree was presented to the royal Audiencia of
Manìla by Sargento-mayor Don Sebastian de Villarreal, October 31, 78,
and since his Majesty's fiscal had nothing to oppose, it was obeyed
without delay, and it was sent for fulfilment to the said archbishop,
December 14 of the same year. On that account, his Excellency formed
the idea of taking Zambàles from us in order to augment his order
and give the island of Mindòro to our discalced order.
795. He began, then, to discuss the matter without the loss of
any time, and he did not stop until his designs were obtained,
notwithstanding that he had to conquer innumerable difficulties. For,
in the first place, our provincial, then father Fray Joseph de San
Nicolàs, opposed it very strongly. The latter alleged that it would
be a violation of the municipal constitutions of the Recollects to
abandon the ministries of Zambàles, for the constitutions expressly
stated that none of the convents once possessed should be abandoned
except under certain conditions, which were not present in the case
under consideration. Besides that the Indian natives of Mindòro,
both Christians and infidels, scarcely knew that there was a question
of giving them minister religious and begged Jesuit fathers with
great instance, for they preserved yet the affection that they had
conceived for them, since the time that the latter had procured for
them with their preaching at the cost of many dangers their greatest
welfare, omitting no means that could conduce to their withdrawal
from the darkness of their paganism. And when the Zambals heard that
the Recollect fathers were to be taken from their villages, in order
to surrender them to the Dominicans, they declared almost in violent
uproar that they would not allow such a change under any consideration,
for they were unable to tolerate, because of the love which they
professed for their spiritual ministers, to be forever deprived of
their company, by which they had obtained so great progress in the
Catholic faith.
796. But the archbishop found means in the hidden recesses of his
prudence by which to conquer such obstacles. For in unison with Don
Juan de Vargas Hurtado, governor and captain-general of the islands,
he softened the provincial, Fray Joseph de San Nicolàs, and obliged
him to agree to the exchange. He quieted the natives of Mindòro by
means of their corregidor, so that they might receive the ministers
of our discalced order, and availing himself of the services of the
alcalde-mayor of Pangasinàn, he silenced the Zambal Indians so that
they should take the privation of their Recollects gracefully, and
lower the head to the admission of the Dominican fathers. Thereupon,
the sea of opposition having been calmed, and after the three
seculars who were administering to Mindòro had been assigned fitting
competencies, which were provided for them in Manìla, an act of the
royal Audiencia provided that our reformed order should be entrusted
with the administration of the said island, with absolute clauses
which established it in the said royal decree, and without the least
respect the abandonment of the Zambal missions. Then immediately
preceding the juridical surrender of them, which was signed by the
above-mentioned father provincial, although it was protested by only
the father lector, Fray Joseph de la Assumpcion, and father Fray
Francisco de la Madre de Dios, a second act was passed by which the
missions were assigned to the fathers of St. Dominic. Thus did the
archbishop have a complete victory.
797. By virtue of those decrees, which were announced to our
provincial, April 17, 1679, that holy province was dispossessed of all
the Zambal mountain range, which then contained eleven villages. They
were also dispossessed of the missions which father Fray Joseph de la
Trinidad was then fomenting in the nearby mountains by the far-reaching
fruits of his apostolic preaching, as we have mentioned worthily in
another place. [43] The individual members of the province of Santo
Rosario hastened to take charge of the ministries and missions of
the Zambals which had been surrendered to them by Ours without the
least disturbance being observed publicly, although almost all of
those governed by the said Father Trinidad threatened violence. Those
juridical measures, with what was done in Manìla, served much later
for the recovery of Zambàles without the loss of the new possessions
of Mindòro. The necessary papers were also despatched directed to
the corregidor of Mindòro, ordering him to deliver the ministries
of that island to the discalced Augustinians. Without loss of time,
the father definitor, Fray Diego de la Madre de Dios, assumed charge
of the district of Bàco, while the bachelor Don Joseph de Roxas who
possessed it left it. The curacy of Calavìte was taken possession
of by father Fray Diego de la Resurreccion, who took the place of
Licentiate Don Juan Pedrosa. The parish of Naoyàn was taken charge of
by the father definitor, Fray Eugenio de los Santos, the bachelor,
Don Martin Diaz, being removed. All that was concluded before the
end of the year 1679 without disturbance, lawsuits, or dissensions.
798. The above-mentioned religious were accompanied by three others
of whose names we are ignorant. Immediately did that holy squadron
commence to announce the testimony of Christ, with sermons founded on
the manifestation of virtue, spirit, and example, and not on illusory
persuasion which is built on naught but words, which are confirmatory
of human wisdom. They considered especially that they had to give
strict account of those souls whose direction had just been given
them. Consequently, they watched over their flock, hastening to their
sheep with the right food, without avoiding the greatest fatigue. Hence
could one recognize the great good fortune of the island of Mindòro,
for in the territory where three seculars at most, and generally only
two, lived formerly, six evangelical laborers had enough to do. They
were later increased to eight, and that number was never or but rarely
decreased. Each of them on his part produced most abundant fruits at
that time, and under all circumstances the same has been obtained. For
although the common enemy diffused much discord during the first tasks
of their apostolic labor in order thereby to choke the pure grain of
the divine word by making use therefor of a man, namely, Admiral Don
Joseph de Chaves, encomendero of almost the entire island, at last by
Ours exercising their innate prudence and their unalterable patience,
the grace of God was triumphant, while the attempts of Satan were
a mockery.
799. Father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio remarked very forcibly
of our discalced religious that, "although they were the last gospel
laborers in Philipinas, they have competed in their apostolic zeal
with the first laborers in the fruits that they gathered from their
labors in the reduction of the most barbarous islanders." [44] And
the father master, Fray Joseph Sicardo, adds very fittingly, that
"our discalced religious having received the great island of Mindòro,
increased the Christianity of its natives by means of so zealous
ministers." [45] Then, as appears from juridical instruments before me,
although the Christians throughout the island when our reformed order
assumed charge of it did not exceed four thousand, in the year 1692
they already exceeded the number of eight thousand, and in the year
1716 arrived to the number of twelve thousand. It is a fact that the
persecution by the Moros happening afterward (of which something was
said incidentally in volume three, [46] and which will in due time add
much to this history) the number of believers was greatly lessened;
for some retired to other islands, where the war was not so cruel,
others were taken to Jolò in dire captivity, and others surrendered
their lives to so great a weight of misfortune. Notwithstanding that,
in the year 1738, when father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio
printed his first volume, it appeared by trustworthy documents that
Ours administered seven thousand five hundred and fifty-two souls
in the various villages, visitas, missions, and rancherías in that
island. [47] Hence, one may infer that our zealous brothers have
labored there especially in destroying paganism and reducing the many
Zimarrònes or apostates who, having thrown off all obedience, had built
themselves forts in those mountains. And if not few of both classes
remain obstinate, it does not proceed certainly from any omission
that has been found in our zealous workers, but from other causes
which are already suggested in other parts of this present volume.
800. Neither can one make from this progress of the Catholic faith
which was attained by the preaching of our religious, any inferences
against the other laborers who began to subdue the island, or against
the secular clergy, who administered it afterward. The Observant
fathers, as a rule, employed there no more than one missionary or at
the most two. The number of the fathers of St. Francis was no larger,
and they had charge at times of the district of Balayàn as well as
of Mindòro. Since the fathers of the Society had so much to attend
to in so many parts, two or three of them took care of Mindòro and
Marinduque. Consequently, one ought not to be surprised that so small
a number of laborers did not do more, but, that they had done so much
must surely astonish him who considers it thoroughly. In the same way
the parish priests, who succeeded them, were very few, and since the
reduced Indians occupied so extensive a coast, they had scarce enough
time to administer the bread of the doctrine to the Christians, so that
they had none left to penetrate into the mountains in search of the
Zimarrones or of the heathen Manguiànes. [48] But, on the contrary,
from the time that that island was delivered to our teaching, the
number of missionaries has been doubled or tripled. It is evident
that victories must generally increase in proportion to the increase
of the soldiers in the campaign, even in what concerns spiritual wars.
801. This argument has more force, if it be considered that the
evangelical laborers having increased afterward with so great profit,
they asserted that at times the greatest strength accompanied by
gigantic zeal was given up as conquered, by the continual toil
indispensable in the administration of the faithful, for to that
task was added the care of the conversion of the heathen. That toil
was so excessive that the night generally came without the fathers
having obtained a moment of rest in order to pay the debt of the
divine office. At times they had to neglect the care of their own
bodies in order to attend to the souls of their neighbors. They were
always busied in teaching the instruction to children and adults;
in administering the holy sacraments, although they had to go three
or four leguas to the places where the dying persons were; and in
penetrating the rough mountains in the center of the island, in
order to allure the heathens and apostates to the healthful bosom
of the Church. To all the above (which even now is, as it were,
a common characteristic of all our missionaries in Philipinas) is
added the extreme poverty there, and the lack of necessities that
they endured. For, the reduced product from those villages, in regard
to the ecclesiastical stipend, which was formerly insufficient to
support two or three curas with great misery, was now sufficient to
support six or more religious. Consequently, they endured it with
the greatest hardship.
§ III
Information of the convents which were founded in that island, and
the miracles with which God confirmed the Catholic religion which
Ours were preaching.
802. Trampling under foot, then, the above discomforts and others
which are omitted, those illustrious champions attended to the exact
fulfilment of the spiritual administration, employing themselves in
the exercise of missionaries in order to reduce the heathens to the
Catholic sheepfold. In the belief that it would be very conducive
to the extension of the Christian religion to establish convents
in the new territory which they were cultivating, they began to set
their hands to the work. The first foundation which they established
was in the village of Bàco, where the corregidor was residing at
that time, although that convent was later moved to Calapàn. Two
religious were placed there in residence, and they looked after the
spiritual administration in several rancherías. Those rancherías have
increased with the lapse of time to a great number of Christians, and
have become villages that are not to be despised, having been formed
anew by the zeal of our apostolic laborers. The villages comprehended
in that district in the year 1733 are the following: Calapàn, which
is the chief one, where the convent is located; Bàco, Subàn, Ilog,
Minòlo, and Camoròn, which are annexed villages or visitas, as they
are called there. Our church of Calapàn is enriched with an image
of Christ our Lord, which represents Him in His infancy; and on that
account it is called the convent of Santo Niño [i.e., Holy Child]. That
image is conspicuous in continual miracles and is the consolation of
all the Indians of Mindòro. For a long history might be written by
only relating the marvels which the divine power has worked by it;
now giving health to many sick unto death; now freeing villages from
locusts which were destroying the fields, now succoring not a few
boats which driven by violent storms were running down the Marinduque
coast, whose sailors were in the greatest danger of being drowned in
the water, or the ship of grounding on the shoals of the land.
803. [One miracle is related of a Recollect in Calapàn who having
acquired two hundred pesos determined to send it home to Spain to his
mother who was very poor, without saying anything to the provincial
as he was in duty bound to do. Being very observant in his outward
duties, he said mass before the image just previous to sending the
money to America on a ship which appeared opportunely, but the image
turned its back on him. Thereupon, being convicted of sin, he burst
into tears, and was thereafter free from such temptations.]
804. The above case happened years after when the convent was
established in Calapàn. Let us now examine other marvels, which
happened at Bàco, near the beginning, which were of great use for
the extension of the Catholic name. The father definitor, Fray Diego
de la Madre de Dios, who was the founder of that house, was surely a
holy man, and was venerated as such in Manìla. Notwithstanding that,
however, a corregidor took to persecuting him by word and deed. The
servant of God bore the personal insults with great patience, although
it pained him to the soul to see that the corregidor's contempt was
resulting in prejudice to the Catholic religion. He practiced several
secret efforts ordered by charity in order to restrain the corregidor's
tongue, but seeing that they were insufficient, generally chided in
a sermon the evil employment of sacrilegious mouths which, taking
the gospel laborers as the object of their detractions, prevent the
fruit of their preaching, although they should aid in the attainment
of so holy an end. The chief culprit was present, toward whom without
naming him the father directed his aim; and since, after one has once
left the hand of God, he precipitates himself easily from one abyss
to another (angered by the pain which was caused him by the medicine,
which was being applied prudently in order to cure him of his pain and
indiscreetly abusing the authority which resided in his person), he
rose in anger, with the determination to impose silence on the father
who (if he was talking) it was, for his own [i. e., the corregidor's]
good. "Sacrilegious preacher" he exclaimed, but when he attempted
to continue his face was suddenly twisted, and he could not utter
a word, and he was extremely disfigured and was attacked by most
intense pains. He was taken to his house, where the venerable father
attended him, and by his only making the sign of the cross above the
corregidor's mouth the patient was restored to his former state of
health in body, while in soul he was completely changed. The courage
to make public penitence for his public crimes, and to return his
credit entirely to so holy a religious did not fail him.
805. [The same father although very sick with fever did not hesitate,
aided by spiritual forces, to go to a distance to administer to a sick
person who had urgently requested his presence--a fact that conduced
not a little to the conversion of the natives round about.]
806 [and 807]. The second convent was founded in the village of Naojàn
by the father definitor, Fray Eugenio de los Santos, and St. Nicholas
of Tolentino was assigned it as titular. Besides the said principal
village, it had in its charge six annexed villages of visitas, namely,
Pòla, Pinamalayàn, Balente, Sumàgay, Maliguo, and Bongàbong. However,
with the change of the district of Mangàrin, of which we shall
speak later, there was some variation in the distribution of those
settlements. That ministry is one of the first in authority in the
island, because of the great number of parishioners to which it has
increased, because a great multitude of heathen Manguiànes who have
been converted to our holy faith, have gone thither to live, as well
as a not small number of apostate Christians, who were wandering
at liberty through those mountains. All that was obtained by the
preaching of our laborers by whose efforts three of the said villages
were reëstablished. [Two prodigies or miraculous occurrences which
are related aided in the christianizing of this convent.]
808 [and 809]. Another and third convent was established in the convent
of Calavìte by the efforts of father Fray Diego de la Resurreccion,
and its titular was Nuestra Señora del Populo [i.e., Our Lady of the
People]. It has the annexed villages of Dòngon, Santa Cruz, Mambùrao,
Tubìli, and Santo Thomàs. Of those settlements, those that are on the
coast which extends from Calavìte to Mangàrin, have been founded for
the most part by dint of the zeal of our religious. They formerly had
many Christians, although at present they have suffered a remarkable
diminution because of the persecutions of the Moros which we have
already mentioned. [An epidemic that was raging throughout this
district when the convent was founded was checked miraculously. In
the same district, a heathen Manguian chief who had opposed the new
faith surrendered to the personal solicitation of Fray Diego de la
Resurreccion, and became a good Christian, and afterward aided in the
conversion of many others. The district was miraculously cleared of
the pest of locusts which were destroying all the fields.]
810 [and 811]. The fourth convent was erected in the village of
Mangàrin under the advocacy of our father, St. Augustine. Its
prior also governed the villages of Guàsig, Manàol, Ilìlin, and
Bulalàcao. However, the provincial chapter of 1737 ordered that house
removed to Bongàbong, for reasons that they considered most sufficient,
namely, because Mangàrin was ruined by the continual invasions of the
Moros, and because of its poor temperature, which put an end to the
health of almost all the religious. For that reason, the distribution
of the annexed villages of Naojàn, Mangàrin, and Calavìte in another
manner was inevitable, so that the correct administration of the
doctrina might be more promptly administered. But the convents above
mentioned always were left standing, and serve as plazas de armas,
where those soldiers of Jesus take refuge in order to go out in the
island to war against the armies of Satan. It can be stated confidently
that the district of which we have been speaking, has been conquered
by our reformed order; for when we entered Mindòro, scarcely was the
name of Christ known there, while at present there are many souls
there who follow the banners of the cross, and all the power of hell,
incited by Mahometan infidelity, has not availed to destroy the deep
roots of its faith. On the contrary we have wondered greatly at the
power of the divine grace in those neophytes, for after their belief
has been proved many times, as gold in the crucible, in the fire of
the most raging persecution it has gone up [a number of] carats in
value and purity. [This district was also the scene of a miracle or
prodigy that showed the force of God and the faith.]
812. Besides the above-mentioned convents, a mission was begun some
years later in the mountains of Mindòro for the purpose of reducing
the Manguiànes heathen. Although many of them had been converted,
allured by the zeal of various religious, still not a few remained
in the darkness of paganism for lack of ministers, who could busy
themselves without any other occupation in busying themselves in
illumining them with the evangelical light. That was so abundant a
field that it could keep many laborers busy. Thus the project was
formed by the province to keep at least three subjects busy in it,
so that each one, so far as he might be able, might put his hand
to the plough, and without turning back, cultivate so extensive a
land, which was capable of producing an infinite amount of fruit for
the table of glory. But since the missionaries maintain themselves
there at the cost of the royal treasury, which is almost always in
a state of too great exhaustion, so well conceived a desire had to
be satisfied with one single preacher, whom the superior government
assigned for that purpose, although the province assigns others at
its own expense, when its too great poverty does not prevent, or the
lack of men, so usual there. The residence of those missionaries in
the village of Ilog was determined upon and a suitable convent was
established there. From that place, entering the mountains frequently,
they began to fell their rational thickets, in order to fertilize
them with the waters of irrigation of the divine grace, so that
the seed of their apostolic preaching might be received. By means
of the laborious eagerness of the sowers who have succeeded them,
a great portion of that arid desert has been transformed into the
most charming garden. When I left Philipinas in the year 1738, it
still existed as a most fruitful mission and there were well founded
hopes that if Apollos water the plants established by Paul, it will
receive the most abundant increase from God. [49]
813. [The way was blazed also in the mountain mission with miraculous
occurrences that proclaimed the true God.] It appears impossible that
their inhabitants should not come to know God and should not run
breathless after the odoriferous delicacias of His goodness. There
is still much to do in this regard, for a great number of infidels
still live in the said mountains, and if thirty missionaries were
assigned there, they would not lack employment. But let us praise God
for what has been accomplished, petitioning Him to crown so memorable
beginnings with a good end.
[The fourth section of this chapter does not treat of the Philippines.]
CHAPTER X
The province of Philipinas again receives the ministries of Calamiànes,
which it had previously abandoned. Abundance of fruit is gathered
there. Some religious die in España.
The year 1681
§ I
Our religious begin again to preach the faith in the islands of
Calamiànes; and the great fruit which they gather in the conversion
of many heathen.
823. [The Recollect missionaries of Philipinas can rightly be called
apostolic because of their zeal.]
824. In the year 1661, the Chinese pirate Kuesing sent an embassy to
the Philipinas Islands, demanding nothing less than the vassalage
of them all, and threatening the Spaniards who did not comply with
what he called their obligation that they would feel all the weight
of war on themselves. We have already treated of this matter in
another place. [50] So far as we have to do with the matter here,
various measures were taken in the islands because of the fears
caused by the threat, in order that they might be defended in case
that Kuesing fulfilled it. One of those measures was the abandonment
of the presidios of Terrenàte, Zamboàngan, Calamiànes, and others,
in order that they might be able to employ their troops, artillery,
and munitions of war in defending the most important places. That
decree was opposed very strongly, but the objections although
they were thoroughly based on reason could not prevent such action
being taken. Consequently, at the end of 1662 or at the beginning
of 63 the presidios were actually withdrawn, and the Christian
villages were left more exposed than ever to the invasions of the
Moros. That so fatal resolution was also necessarily accompanied by
the withdrawal of the evangelical ministers, for the fathers of the
Society abandoned Zamboàngan and other sites, and our Recollect family
the Calamiànes. Although no special regret was shown for that action
at that time by the superior government of Manìla, to whom belongs
the duty of furnishing spiritual ministers to the subject villages,
yet years afterward the wrong was recognized, and the remedy was
procured in due manner.
825. The most fruitful preaching of Ours in the islands of Calamiànes
has been already related in volume II; [51] as has also the conversion
of their inhabitants, until then heathens; the marvels which divine
Omnipotence worked there; the convents which were established for
the extension of the Catholic faith; and the hardships endured by the
missionaries in spreading it. Now, then, it must be noted that eight
religious were well employed in all the islands of that jurisdiction,
who looked after the spiritual administration of the Christian
Indians and the conversion of the idolaters who were not few. But
when they withdrew, only two remained in charge of the islands
of Cuyo and Agutàya while the six betook themselves to Manìla or
wherever their obedience assigned them. The place occupied by the six
(where they labored to excess, as there were many Indians and they
were spread out into many islands and settlements) was given to one
single secular priest. He having his residence in Taytày, did as much
as he was able in the other villages. But it is more than certain
that he could do very little, if he did perchance succeed in doing
anything. In this regard one can visibly see the spiritual wrong which
followed those vassals of the king. Even an undeniable loss resulted
to the royal treasury, for in a few years the Indian tributes were
lessened almost by half. But notwithstanding that, neither Governor
Don Diego de Salcedo nor the bishop of Zebù, to whom it belonged in
its various aspects to supply the remedy of one and the other wrong,
would manifest that they understood it.
826. Thus did things go on for seventeen years until the year 1680,
when the Indian chiefs of Calamiànes having united among themselves,
presented a memorial to Governor Don Juan de Bargas Hurtado. In it,
after mentioning the wrongs above mentioned, and the love which they
always professed to our religious, their first ministers, they urgently
petitioned that the Augustinian Recollects be assigned them as parish
priests. The fact that the cura, Don Antonio de Figueròa, the only
missionary in Calamiànes, in addition to having been presented for
the curacy of Tabùco in the archbishopric of Manìla, had now been sick
for two months and unable to administer the sacraments, lent force to
that representation. On that account he petitioned with double justice
that a successor be sent to him, but no secular ecclesiastic could
be found who knew the language of the country, nor would risk the
mission which was now of but very small profit. For those reasons,
the abovesaid governor despatched an order to our provincial on May
11 of the said year, asking and charging him, and even ordering him
in the king's name, to assign religious of his order, in order that
they might go to reassume possession of the villages of Calamiànes,
so that they might attend to its spiritual administration. He hoped
that by means of their wonted zeal, that province would be restored
to its former splendor through their direction and teaching, and that
the number of the Christians would increase in the proportion desired.
827. But notwithstanding that, the father provincial negotiated with
his definitory in order to interpose a supplication in regard to
the said act, and refused to send evangelical laborers, the total
cause of such action being the lack of religious. He alleged, then,
that since his province had assumed charge of the ministries of the
Contracosta and of Mindòro, where many subjects were employed; and in
consideration of the lack of men which the discalced order suffered
there, which could not be helped: not only was it clearly impossible
for him to assign missionaries to Calamiànes, but also that he saw that
it was necessary for the reformed branch to reiterate his petition
made previously to the royal Audiencia, in regard to withdrawing the
two ministers who were occupied in the island of Cùyo, as there was a
notable lack in other villages. That allegation was sent by decree of
the superior government to Don Diego Antonio de Viga, of the Council of
his Majesty and his fiscal in the Audiencia of Manìla. On the sixteenth
of the same month and year, he maintained that notwithstanding the
representation made by the father provincial (since no other order
contained ministers who understood the language of the Calamiànes),
the necessary provision must be despatched, in accordance with the
second and last warning, ordering the Recollect province to establish
missionaries in Calamiànes and not to withdraw those of Cùyo. He was
confident in the apostolic zeal with which they have ever applied
themselves to the ministry, that notwithstanding their small number
they would accomplish the task which demanded many laborers.
828. The governor conformed to the plea of the fiscal. Consequently,
on the same day he despatched in due form a second decree in the
king's name, ordering the superior prelate of our province, in
consideration of the extreme necessity of the islands of Calamiànes, to
immediately establish the necessary ministers therein for the spiritual
consolation of those Indians. He added that Don Fray Diego de Aguilar
of the Order of Preachers, the bishop recently appointed for Zebù
(to whose miter the said islands belonged) despatched ex-officio
his decree also charging our province with the administration of all
the Christian villages established in Calamiànes, or that were to be
established in the future; and says that he does so in consideration
of the apostolic zeal of our reformed order and the spirit that
always assists them in trampling under foot the greatest fatigues,
so that many souls might be gathered into the flock of the Catholic
church. Thereupon the father provincial, Fray Thomàs de San Geronimo,
could offer no more resistance and sent father Fray Nicolàs de
Santa Ana as vicar-provincial of Calamiànes, with two associates. The
alcalde-mayor of the said province, Don Diego Bibièn Henriquez, placed
them in possession of the ministry of Taytày (which is the chief one
of them all) on the first of November, 1680, to the universal joy of
the Indians. The latter showed by extraordinary festivals their joy
at seeing that the direction of their spirits was in charge of the
same fathers who had engendered them through the gospel. The king,
by his decree dated December 24, 1682, confirmed the said possession
at the petition of the father commissary of Philipinas, Fray Juan de
la Madre de Dios, with great signs of his royal pleasure.
829. Of the three religious newly assigned, father Fray Nicolàs
established his residence in Taytày; the second was located in the
island of Dumaràn; and the third in the village of Tancòn. From those
places they labored according to their strength, until the arrival
at Philipinas of the band of missionaries which was conducted by
the father commissary, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, which entered
Manìla in October 1684, when a greater number of missionaries could
be assigned, as was very necessary for the direction of so many
Indians. For the extensive territory which was formerly administered
by only one cura, has later given worthy employment to five, six,
or seven of our religious, to say nothing of the two at the least,
who have been stationed continually in the islands of Cùyo. Hence
one may infer how much the Catholic faith has been extended there,
now by reducing into the villages the many natives who had fled
to the mountains, after abandoning almost entirely their Christian
obligations; now by undeceiving others who lack but little of becoming
Moros, because of their nearness and intercourse with those people; and
now by penetrating into the roughest mountains of Paràgua in order to
draw the souls from the darkness of paganism to the agreeable light
of the Christian religion.
830. In regard to these particulars, we consider it necessary to
reproduce at this point a portion of a letter written May 28, 1683,
to our father vicar-general, Fray Juan de la Presentacion, by the
recently-elected father provincial of those islands, Fray Isidoro de
Jesus Maria, a person well known in Europa for the literary productions
which he has published. He speaks, then, as follows: "The urgings
of the Indians of the province of Calamiànes to the ecclesiastical
and secular government and to my predecessors, have availed so much,
that this province has judged that the precept of Christian charity
demands us to return to that administration, trusting in God our Lord
for the relief of the very great disadvantages which had compelled our
religious who had administered and reared that field of Christendom
from its beginning, to withdraw from that province. At the present
it has increased by more than two thousand souls who have been drawn
from the mountains in less than three years, as can be seen from the
relations sent to the chapter. Greater fruits are hoped for, because
in the past year of 82, the ambassador of the king of Borney in the
name of his prince, arranged with the governor of these islands for
the cession of a not small amount of land and number of settlements,
which are subject to the said Bornèy--one in the island of Paràgua,
one of the islands of Calamiànes. The confirmation of the pact with
his ambassador is awaited from Bornèy, so that that district may
really be incorporated with the rest which is subject to the king our
sovereign; and consequently, to introduce by means of our religious,
the Catholic faith among those new vassals of his Majesty."
831. Then he goes on to treat of the unsupportable hardships suffered
in Calamiànes by the evangelical ministers. I have thought it best
not to omit his relation, in order that one may see how much merit is
acquired in the promulgation of the faith amid such anxieties. "But
the devil," he continues, "who watches that he may not lose the souls
of which he finds himself in quasi possession, has raised up at this
time a cloud of dust, by which he has prevented and is preventing
in many of these remote parts the obtaining of many souls and is
occasioning the loss of others. For as I am advised by the letters
of the religious of Calamiànes, under date of the eighteenth of the
current month and of the twenty-second of the past month of April,
that the alcaldes-mayor who have governed that jurisdiction (and
even more he who is governing it at present, who is a lad of 21,
a servant of the governor and of these islands) cause so great and
continual troubles both to the father ministers and to the natives of
the country, that the latter, although Christians, have retired from
their villages of Taytày, Dumaràn, and Paràgua to the mountains in
order to escape their intolerable oppression. They exclaim that they
are not withdrawing from obedience to his Majesty and that they do
not intend to abandon their profession as Christians, but that they
do not dare to live in the more than enslaved condition in which
the alcaldes-mayor, carried away by their insatiable greed, confine
them. The father prior of Taytày writes me that he has entered the
mountains with every danger from the enemy, in search of his terrified
and scattered sheep; and notwithstanding all the efforts and warnings
that he has made and given them he has not been able to succeed in
getting them to return to their villages, unless another alcalde-mayor
be assigned to them, and relief offered for the extreme oppression
that is offered to them. They answer the arguments of the father by
telling him not to tire himself, 'for we can ill hope,' they say,
'that he who tramples on the sacred dignity of a priest, will have any
moderation with regard to us.' They assert this because they saw that
the last alcalde-mayor lifted his cane against father Fray Domingo
de San Agustin, and struck him while he was putting on his clerical
robes to say mass; and that the present alcalde-mayor treated the
religious with indignity even to the point of taking from them the
one who takes them their necessary support, so that they have had to
find for themselves the water that they drink. He has taken from them
the sacristans and other servants of the Church without leaving them
even anyone to aid them in the mass. He has forbidden the Indians to
enter the convent or to assist in any of the things to which they
are obliged. He has forbidden them to go out as they ought to the
visitas, and to confess, preach, and catechize. It is all directed
to the end that the Indians might not be busied in anything else
than in getting wax for the alcalde-mayor. Hence this is the source
and beginning of the troubles suffered by the poor Indians. They are
not only not permitted to make use of their natural right, but are
prevented from giving the due execution to his Majesty's orders, from
entering and going out, from trading and trafficking one with another,
and one village with another, for if they have anything to buy or to
sell, it must be entirely for the alcalde-mayor. These notices are
necessarily communicated in the lands of the infidels. Just consider,
your Reverence, what will be the condition of their minds, when
we try to reduce them to the knowledge of our good God, and to the
obedience of the king our sovereign. I have informed the governor in
regard to this, and since I do not expect any relief from his hand,
I entreat your Reverence to procure it from the royal piety with the
memorial and documents adjoined. If not we shall have to appeal to
God, for such troubles are of very frequent occurrence in various
parts of these islands. We never cease to wonder when we see some
Spaniards here who are so destitute of Christian considerations,
and so clothed in greed, God so permitting by His lofty judgments, in
exchange for the martyrdoms that are lacking to us religious in Japòn."
832. We believe, although we are not altogether sure, that the suitable
relief was given on one and the other side, for in the following
years, we find that the Catholic faith made very extraordinary gains
in Calamiànes. This is proved by the reëstablishment of the ancient
convents and ministries. It appears that the chapter of 1686 erected
a new mission in the village of Tancòn which was later moved to the
village of Culiòn. The chapter of 1695 established another distinct
mission in the island of Dumaràn, and that of 1698 a third one in
the island of Lincapàn; and we see that that of 1746 has added two
other ministries, the first in the island of Alutaya, and the second
in the village of Calatàn. That is sure proof of the increase of the
Christians, when the evangelical laborers are so increased. In regard
to the above we must mention what appears from acts and judicial
reports which the superior government of Manìla sent to the Council
of the Indias, and which are conserved in its secretary's office in
the department of Nueva España; namely, that when our province of
Calamiànes was again given to us, all the islands contained only
4,500 Christian souls, but that in the year 1715 they amounted to
18,600. And even after the continual and furious persecution, which is
mentioned briefly in the third volume [52] had intervened, with which
it is undeniable that the number of believers had decreased greatly,
father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio notes in the history of his
province of San Gregorio de Philipinas [53] that there were 21,076
Christian souls in the islands of Calamiànes and Romblòn in the
year 1735. Hence subtracting about five thousand from that number
for those of the island of Romblòn, there is a remainder of about
sixteen thousand for Calamiànes. [54] Let us give praises to God who
thus maintains the zeal of those fervent laborers and crowns their
fatigues with so abundant fruits.
[Section ii of this chapter mentions the virtues and holiness of some
of the Indians of the missions of Calamiànes. The first mentioned
was one Joseph Bagumbàyan, a native of Taytày, who was reared in
the convent of that village by the Recollects. The rearing of such
children is described as follows: "The holy orders of Philipinas
are wont to take account of the sons of the chief Indians of the
villages under their charge, in order to teach them good morals from
childhood, and rear them with those qualities which are considered
necessary to enable them to govern their respective villages afterward
with success, since the administration of justice is always put in
charge of such Indians. They live in the convents from childhood
in charge of the gravest fathers. The latter are called masters,
although in strictness they are tutors or teachers who would right
gladly avoid such service. In this meaning, and in no other, must
one understand whatever is said about our religious having servants
in the Philipinas. I have heard scruples expressed here in España
over this bare kind [of service], when it ought to be a matter for
edification to see that in addition to the truly gigantic toils that
our brothers there load upon their shoulders, they voluntarily take
this very troublesome one of rearing a few children who serve only to
exercise the patience." Joseph strove to imitate the fathers as much
as possible, in self sacrifice and austerity, and desired to become
a donné, "which was the most to which he could aspire, since he was
only an Indian." That, however, being denied him, he was enrolled
in the confraternity of the Correa or girdle, and admitted as a
spiritual brother of the Recollect order. He acted as teacher of boys
for over fifty years, teaching them reading, writing, arithmetic,
and music. At his death he was buried in the Recollect church at
Taytày. One of the boys taught by Joseph was Bartolomè Lingòn. At
the age of fifteen he was appointed to assist Fray Alonso de San
Agustin or Garcias, who arrived in Philipinas in 1684 and was sent
immediately to Calamiànes. Although he desired to remain unmarried,
he was married at the request of the missionaries to a devout woman
named Magdalena Ilìng. He acted as the chief sacristan of the Recollect
church in Taytày, ever taking great delight in the service of the
church and his duties therein. He survived his wife three years, dying
in January 1696. His wife had been born in Laguna de Paràgua but had
lived in Taytày most of her life with a Christian aunt. Although she
wished to devote her life exclusively to religion she was persuaded
by the religious to marry Bartolomè. Her devotion led her to teach
the girls of the village without pay. Of a gentle disposition she
was yet unyielding on occasions of necessity and although tempted by
an alcalde-mayor who was enamored of her beauty and made improper
proposals to her, she ever maintained her virtue. At her death by
cancer of the breast, she was buried in the Recollect church. The
last two sections of this chapter have nothing on the Philippines.]
DECADE TEN
[The first chapter of this decade does not treat of the Philippines.]
CHAPTER II
Our province of Philipinas attempts a mission to Great China. The
life of the venerable brother Fray Martin de San Francisco.
The year 1682
§ I
Relation of the anxiety which our province of Philipinas has always
had to extend its apostolic preaching to China; and the great effort
made in 1682 for that purpose.
[The story of the Recollect attempt to evangelize in China is one of
failure, notwithstanding the earnest efforts made by that order to
send laborers to that empire. Shortly after the closing of Japanese
ports to all missionaries in 1640, the Philippine Recollects began
to work up the foreign mission field, but it was not until 1650 that
they were able to present memorials to the Roman court, which proved
unavailing as the Italians and French were already on the ground in
many of the Asiatic countries. In 1667 the father provincial, Fray
Juan de la Madre de Dios, received decrees in blank ordering him to
send laborers to China, but the royal treasury was in no position to
aid them, and the wars both in the islands and in China also prevented
the proposed spiritual invasion. Many other mandatory decrees from
the king met the same fate, but in the chapter of 1680, the order
determined to make the mission if they had to supply all the funds
themselves. Three men were told off to study the language in order to
prepare for the work in China, and in 1682, one did actually get as
far as Macan, but the opposition of the civil authorities there proved
the deathknell to all hopes at that time. Again in 1701, and in 1704,
abortive attempts were made to enter the great empire, the last being
coeval with the arrival of the apostolic visitor Cardinal Tournon.]
[The second section of this chapter treats of Spanish matters.]
CHAPTER III
A fine mission leaves España for Philipinas; and the venerable father
Fray Christoval de San Joseph leaves this for the eternal life.
The year 1683
§ I
Of the missions of our religious who reached Philipinas during the
years of these three decades, and in especial of the mission which
made its voyage this year 1683 to the not small luster of the Catholic
religion.
... 908. The third volume has already related that a mission left
España in the year 1660 in charge of father Fray Eugenio de los
Santos. [55] He brought in that mission, however, only eighteen
choir religious and two lay brothers whose names I have been
unable to ascertain, as the instruments with which I would have
to do so have not come to me from España. They all reached Mexico
in the above-mentioned year and since because of various accidents
that happened during the voyage, in the islands and in the port of
Cavite no ships came from Philipinas to Nueva España, either that
year or the two following, the mission had to stay in the said
city all that time incurring the expenses and fatal consequences
that one can understand. In the year 1662 the viceroy of Mexico
despatched a boat to the islands to get a report of their condition,
for there was fear that they had been invaded by enemies. One of
those missionaries ventured in that boat, and arriving at Manila
it caused not a little rejoicing to the inhabitants there. The next
year ships from Philipinas were seen in the port of Acapulco, and as
a consequence fourteen religious took passage in them and arrived
at Manila in August 1663, and not in 1684 as was wrongly reported
in volume three. The five others remained in Nueva España, but they
afterwards reached their destination and all served in those fields
of Christendom where they were of great use.
909. Father Fray Christoval de Santa Monica, after having been
provincial of Philipinas, to which dignity he was elected in the year
1656, was appointed in 63, to come to España in order to collect and
lead a mission. He came then, having received on the way not a few
favors from St. Nicholas of Tolentino--favors which he received under
the appreciable quality of miracles, but which we cannot specify
for lack of documents. He negotiated in Madrid as successfully as
could be desired, and collected a mission of twenty-four religious,
all generally of good qualities and with the characteristics that are
desired in that province. He set sail with that valiant squadron June
16, 1666. [After various miraculous happenings on the way, the vessel
reached Vera Cruz in safety, whence the passengers went across the
peninsula to Acapulco. August of 1667 the Recollects all reached Manila
save two who remained in Mexico for another year because of sickness.]
910. In the year 1668, the venerable father Fray Juan de la Madre de
Dios, of Blancas, was elected president of Mexico in the provincial
chapter of Mexico, and father Fray Agustin de Santa Monica, commissary
for España. The latter died aboard ship, and on that account, when
the former arrived at Mexico, he found an order within two years
to go to the court of Madrid in order to discuss some matters of
not small magnitude, and to give his vote for the province in the
general chapter. The authority and money for the conduction of a
mission were long delayed, but at last he received them both at the
end of 1674, whereupon he displayed so good zeal that he took passage
with twenty-six religious in June 1675. He reached Mexico with his
gospel militia, where he was ordered by the province to return to
España to conduct certain matters that could only be entrusted to his
person. Thereupon, sending his accounts to Philipinas, the mission
went to the islands in the year 1676 in charge of another prelate,
and father Fray Juan bent his steps toward his new destiny.
911. Another father, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, a native of Cuenca,
had gone to Philipinas in the mission of father Fray Christoval
de Santa Monica; in the year 1680, that definitory appointed him
commissioner to España. He sailed the same year from the port of Cavite
in the galleon named "San Telmo." [After a voyage tempered with the
mercy obtained by St. Nicholas of Tolentino, in several dangerous
situations, the father arrived at Acapulco, January 22, 1681, and
was detained some time in Nueva España by the fever. Reaching Spain
in November of the same year, he hastened to lay his supplications
at the royal feet, and was given a decree calling for a mission of
forty religious fathers and five lay brothers. "He also obtained a
royal decree dated April 16 of the abovesaid year [1682] in which his
Majesty continued the annual alms of one hundred and fifty pesos for
the medicines which are used in our infirmary of Manìla; and another
of the thirtieth of the same month, in which he also continued the
alms of two hundred and fifty pesos and a like number of fanegas of
rice per year for the maintenance of the four religious of Ours who
were in charge of the Indians in Manìla."]
914. In view of this, the edict for the mission was published by our
father vicar-general. An excellent mission was collected at Sevilla for
the purpose of taking passage in the fleet which was about to sail to
Nueva España in charge of General Don Diego de Saldìvar. Thereupon the
mission sailed from Cadiz on the fourth of March, 1683, and consisted
of the following religious.
1. The father commissary, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, native
of Cuenca.
2. The father vice-commissary, Fray Fernando Antonio de la Concepcion,
native of Aldea del Cardo, of the bishopric of Calahorra.
3. The pensioned father reader, Fray Juan de la Concepcion, known as
Moriàna, an Andalusian.
4. Father Fray Agustin de San Juan Bautista, a native of Leganès
near Madrid.
5. Father Fray Juan de la Encarnacion, of Talavera.
6. Father Fray Francisco del Espiritu Santo, of Xarayz in La Vera
de Plasencia.
7. Father Fray Antonio de San Agustin, of Madrid.
8. Father Fray Juan de San Antonio, of Alcalà de Enares.
9. Father Fray Juan de San Nicolàs, of Daymiel in La Mancha.
10. Father Fray Alonso de San Agustin, of Villa de Garcìas in
Estremadura.
11. Father Fray Joseph de la Encarnacion, of La Nava del Rey.
12. Father Fray Francisco de la Ascension, of Madrid.
13. Father Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios, of Malaga.
14. Father Fray Pablo de San Joseph, of Tobòso.
15. Father Fray Joseph de San Geronimo, of Calcèna in Andalucìa.
16. Father Fray Juan del Santissimo Sacramento, of Logroño.
17. Father Fray Vicente de San Geronimo, of Lupiñèn, near Huesca.
18. Father Fray Sebastian de San Marcos, of Tobòso.
19. Father Fray Gaspàr de San Guillermo, of Villanueva Messia.
Brother Choristers
20. Brother Fray Alonso de la Concepcion.
21. Brother Fray Diego de San Nicolàs, of Madrid.
22. Brother Fray Antonio de la Encarnacion, of Xetàfe.
23. Brother Fray Joseph de la Madre de Dios, of Tobòso.
24. Brother Fray Juan de San Agustin, of Oràn, Africa.
25. Brother Fray Francisco Antonio de la Madre de Dios, of Alcantara.
26. Brother Fray Francisco de Santa Maria, of Madrid.
27. Brother Fray Ignacio de San Joseph, of Buxaralòz, Aragon.
28. Brother Fray Joachin de San Nicolàs, of Añon, Aragon.
29. Brother Fray Joseph de Santa Getrudis, of Villafranca de Panadès,
Cathaluña.
30. Brother Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, of Urrea de Xalon, Aragon.
31. Brother Fray Joseph de Santa Lucìa, of Caspe, Aragón.
32. Brother Fray Francisco de San Joseph.
33. Brother Fray Pedro de San Miguèl, of Porcuna, kingdom of Jaen.
34. Brother Fray Raphaèl de San Bernardo, of Berja, kingdom of Granada.
35. Brother Fray Manuel de la Concepcion, of Sevilla.
36. Brother Fray Juan de la Ascencion, of Moral, in the archbishopric
of Toledo.
37. Brother Fray Alonso de San Joseph.
38. Brother Fray Juan de Santa Monica.
Lay Brothers
39. Brother Fray Pedro de la Virgen del Pilar, of Barcelona.
40. Brother Fray Agustin de Santa Monica, of Ecinacorva, Aragon.
41. Brother Fray Roque de San Lorenzo.
42. Brother Fray Joseph de Jesus.
43. Brother Fray Juan de Jesus, of Alcazar de San Juan, La Mancha.
915. All the above, minus the one named at number 22 who died at sea,
and those included under numbers 9, 12, and 14, who hid in Puerto
Rico, in order that they might return to their provinces, as they
did do, arrived with the great good-will of the fleet, at Vera
Cruz, June 1, 1683, whence they went to Mexico with all possible
haste. There they comported themselves with the greatest rigor,
observance, abstraction, and example, so that the hospitium appeared
a desert. Thus they succeeded in obtaining the favor of the viceroy,
the count of Parèdes, [56] and the venerable archbishop Don Francisco
de Aguiar y Seyjas, who visited the fathers in the hospitium, and that
not only once. During that winter those who had not completed their
studies, continued them, and in that the father lector, Fray Juan de
la Concepcion and others who were not lectors, but were worthy to be,
worked with especial zeal. By the fifth of March, 1685, they began
to go out in bands to Acapulco, whence they set sail April 4, in the
almiranta, called "San Telmo." They anchored in the port of Sorsogòn,
in Philipinas, on the fourteenth of July, and arrived in Manila some
time in August. There they were given a fine welcome and were allowed
some time to rest after so long a voyage. But they afterward began
another greater work in that vineyard with the fulfilment which was
hoped of not resting until they obtained their reward in glory.
[Chapter iv, treating of the general chapter of 1684, notes (p. 457)
that the first definitor chosen for Philipinas was father Fray
Francisco de San Nicolàs, and the second definitor, Fray Miguèl
de Santa Monica; as first and second discreets (p. 458), were
chosen father Fray Blàs de la Concepcion and father Fray Nicolàs
de Tolentino.]
[Most of chapter v is taken up with the life of father Fray Juan de la
Madre de Dios, called also Blancas. He was born in the town of Blancas,
Aragon, of honorable parentage, his family name being Garcias. From
his early years of a religious turn of mind, he at length attained the
height of his desires by professing (June 15, 1635) in the convent of
Borja. In 1650, after having preached very acceptably at the convent
of Zaragoza, he enlisted in the Philippine mission organized by father
Fray Jacinto de San Fulgencio. On his arrival at Manila he preached
at the convent in that city and engaged in other work (being also the
confessor of the governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara) until December,
1655. At that time his health giving out because of an accident,
he went with the then father provincial, father Fray Francisco de
San Joseph, to the convent at Bolinao in the Zambal district, leaving
behind with the governor a folio MS. book which he had written during
the preceding two years entitled Governador Christiano, entre Neophitos
(Christian governor among neophytes), for spiritual guidance in all
sorts of matters. In Bolinao, the change of climate and work restored
the father's health in a short time, but he remained in that place
until the new provincial chapter in Manila. At that chapter he was
chosen prior of the Manila convent against his wishes. Again in 1658
ill health compelled him to go to Bolinao, where he remained this time
four years. His efforts to keep the natives there quiet during the
times of the insurrections were of great fruit. He labored zealously
in that district even visiting the schools in addition to the regular
duties of a missionary. He received a number of devout women into the
tertiary branch of the order. He was untiring in his efforts for both
the spiritual and corporal good of his charges.]
§ V
Father Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios founds a village of Indians,
converted by dint of his zeal. He is elected definitor and retires
from the commerce of men to adorn himself with the perfection of
his virtues.
... 984. In a site called Cacaguàyanan which means "the place
of many bamboos," six leguas or so from Bolinào there were for
years back a not small number of Indians, who had fled from the
surrounding villages, and who are there called Zimarrònes. They
having abandoned in its entirety the faith which they had received
at baptism, and accompanied by many heathen, not only rendered
vain the attempts of mildness and of force which had several times
been practiced to reduce them to a Christian and civilized life,
but either by declared war, or by means of skilful cunning, did not
cease to cause constant depredations in the Catholic villages which
were subject to Spanish dominion. So true is the statement contained
in various parts of this history, that our ministers of Philipinas,
although they dwell in mission fields already formed, go forth to
living war against infidelity, and although the Christianity of
Zambàles was the first one converted by our discalced order, even
there our religious have no lack of meritorious occupation. From
the first time that our venerable father was in Bolinào, he worked
with his accustomed zeal in order to place those people in the
pathway of their eternal salvation. He had obtained from them that
the Christians should be obedient to the law, and that the heathen
should leave the opaque shades of paganism, so that it was conceded
to him to found a new settlement in the island of Pòro with them,
with a general pardon and the accustomed privileges. Moved by so
good hopes the father went to chapter, and since he had so much
influence with the governor of the islands to whom the giving of
such licenses pertains, he procured one for the founding of the
village which he was attempting, with all the privileges that those
Zimarrònes and idolaters could desire. But since the religious to whom
it was charged, did not succeed in finding the means prescribed by
prudence to unite spirits dissimilar in other regards, not only was
the project not obtained, but their good-wills having been irritated,
the desired attainment came to appear impossible.
985. So passed affairs, when renouncing the priorate of Manìla,
as we have said above, that gleaming sun returned to illumine the
hemisphere of Bolinào, and not being able to prevent the activity
of his light, he immediately shed his reflected light even to the
darkest caves where those Indians were taking refuge in the manner of
wild beasts, fleeing from their own good and blindly enamored of the
most unhappy freedom. Again did the father establish the compacts for
their conversion. In the first step that he took in the undertaking,
he made the greatest sacrifice of himself, by exposing his life to a
danger which might make the most courageous man tremble, if he were
less holy. For when he heard that the fugitive Christians and a great
number of heathens and some Chinese idolaters were celebrating a solemn
feast to the demons, in the above-mentioned place of Cacaguayànan,
he determined to go thither in person with the intrepidity suitable to
his valor, and almost alone to oppose so sacrilegious worship and at
the same time reduce those who paid that worship. In these ceremonies
called Maganitos in the language of the country, intoxication is the
most essential part of the solemnity. And since the Zambal Indians are
extremely warlike, esteeming it the principal part of their nobility,
unless they are illumined with the Catholic faith, to lessen with
inhuman murders the species of which they consider themselves as
individuals, adding to this that they consider it as an attention
paid to their religion, to take away the life of any Christian who
approaches their district, where they pay such adorations to their
deities, then one can conjecture the great risk that beset that
soldier of Jesus, when he attacked such an army of infernal furies,
in order to withdraw them from a darkness so dense into the refulgent
light of the Catholic religion.
986. But its good outcome deprived the action of the censure of
temerity, which showed that it was governed by a special motion of
the Holy Spirit, whose impulse at times trespassing the lines of what
the world calls prudence, causes one to undertake projects which
our finite reason qualifies as rashness. The fact is that when the
venerable father arrived at the dense part of a solitary thicket
in whose melancholy shades those Indians had gathered to worship
as a god one who is not a god, he met them with the qualities of
meek sheep, when he might have feared to find them like ferocious
wolves, who would consider it a sport of their cruelty to rend him
to pieces. Beyond any doubt the hand of God, who wished to preserve
the life of one who despised it for His sake, was in this; for since
the infernal fury with which the heathen clothe themselves on such
occasions is assured, one cannot attribute their gentleness on this
occasion to natural causes. That most zealous minister put his hand,
then, to the double-edged sword of the preaching, and fighting with
it according to his wont so skilfully, made himself master almost
without any resistance of those hearts which were filled with apostasy
and infidelity, setting up in them the banner of our holy Catholic
faith. The complete attainment of so famous a victory was retarded
somewhat, because of the outbreak of the insurrection of Pangasinàn. In
him was verified what experience has always demonstrated, namely, that
a very quiet disposition is needed so that the divine word may be born
in souls by the faith. But at last when all the heads of that monstrous
hydra were cut off, the blessed father had the happiness to obtain
the fruit of his zeal by constructing a new village in the site called
Mangàsin. That was the most suitable place in the island of Pòro, and
was called by another name Cabarròyan. From the beginning he counted
eighty houses in it and a like number of families, all drawn from the
captivity of the devil to the perfect liberty of the kingdom of Christ.
[The father preached many sermons to the Zambals in their own language,
which he had begun to learn when he first went to Bolinào, so many in
fact that they formed two MS. volumes in quarto; and of them copies
were made for the use of those not so well versed as himself in the
Zambal tongue. In April 1662 he was chosen definitor at the provincial
chapter, and lived for the three years of that office in the Manila
convent. At the following chapter in 1665, father Fray Juan was
elected provincial against his will. His term was one that needed
his strong rule, for there were troubles with the governor, Diego
Salcedo, who offered obstacles to the smooth ordering of affairs. He
materially advanced his order and brought some new stability into the
body which had suffered in the recent earthquakes, and the Chinese and
native insurrections. At the completion of his triennium he was chosen
president of the Recollect hospitium in Mexico. Setting sail for his
destination, July 4, 1668, the port of Acapulco was reached only on the
twenty-second of the following January, after a voyage replete with
storm and sickness. Proceeding to his destination the father entered
the hospitium of Mexico on the twelfth of February of the same year. In
1671, as related above, Father Juan de la Madre de Dios was ordered
to cast the vote of his province in the general chapter held in Spain
in 1672, and also to attend to various matters for his order. There
his stay being somewhat prolonged because of lack of funds and other
things he was made visitor general of certain Spanish convents, and
was later elected to high officers of the order in Aragon. Returning
to Nueva España with a band of missionaries he was again sent to Spain
on business of the order, but a broken arm received while on his way
from Sevilla to Madrid, caused his retirement to the Zaragoza convent,
where he died January 10, 1685, at the age of 68. Throughout his life,
he was most humble and led an austere existence.]
[Section ii of the following chapter treats of the life of father Fray
Thomàs de San Geronimo. This father was born at the village of Yebenes,
in the archbishopric of Toledo, his family name being Ayàla. He took
the habit in the Madrid convent, July 28, 1646. Upon going to the
Philippines he was sent to the missions of the Visayas. Devoting
himself there to the study of the languages he learned several of
the Visayan tongues, especially the Cebuan, "the principal Visayan
tongue." In that language he translated the catechism, which was
printed at Manila in 1730; compiled an explanation of the Christian
Doctrine, which was printed in 1730; and composed a vocabulary in
the Cebuan tongue, and another in the dialects spoken in Cagayàn and
Tagalòan. In addition he left two volumes of sermons in the vernacular
of the country. He served as prior for six years in the convent of
Billig, Mindanao; six years in Cagayàn, and various times at the
island of Romblon, and finally in Siargao. In 1680 he was elected
provincial, and served his term so faithfully and well, visiting
and working assiduously, that he was reëlected in 1686 against his
will. But he was destined not to fill that office again for death
took him May 19, 1686. After his first term he served in the island
of Romblòn. He was a most zealous missionary. The remainder of the
chapter and chapter vii following do not deal with Philippine affairs.]
CHAPTER VIII
Our missionaries illumine the islands of Masbàte with the
preaching. The fourteenth general chapter is held. Two excellent
religious die in the province of Aragon.
The year 1688
§ I
Our province of Philipinas takes charge of the spiritual administration
of three islands, namely, Masbàte, Ticào, and Burìas, with no little
luster to the Catholic religion.
... 1108. In the great archipelago of San Lazaro, as one enters
the Philipinas from Marianas, the islands of Luzòn, Mindòro, Panài,
Zebù, and Lèyte form among themselves an almost perfect circle which
has a circumference along the beaches from the center of about two
hundred leguas encircling the above-named islands, which are very
near one another. Within this circumference, toward the part of
Mindòro and Panay, are located the islands of Romblòn, and toward
the part of Lèyte those of Masbàte, Ticào and Burìas, which belong
to the bishopric of Nueva Càceres in ecclesiastical matters, and
to the alcaldeship of Albay in political matters. Masbàte, which
is the chief island, is sixty leguas southwest of Manìla. It lies
in a latitude of about sixty degrees, has a circumference of fifty
leguas, a length of nineteen, and a breadth of five or six. [57]
The island of Ticào is about nine leguas long, four and one-half
wide, and about twenty-three leguas in circumference. [58] That of
Burìas has a circumference of twenty-six leguas, four wide and twelve
long. [59] Masbàte has the reputation of having the richest gold
mines that were found by the first Spaniards, and from which they
benefited to a great extent. Their working has not been continued,
either for lack of people suitable for this work or for other
reasons which do not concern us. That of Buriàs abounds in the palm
called Buri, of whose fruit and even of whose trunk, the Indians
make an extraordinary bread. That of Ticào produces many woods,
excellent for the construction of medium-sized boats. The natives
of those three islands are of the same qualities as the rest of the
Philipinas. However, they have become very sociable because of the
almost continuous intercourse that they have with the Spaniards,
on account of the many who pass on their way to other countries.
1109. Those islands were reduced to the crown of España in 1569 by
Don Luis Henriquez de Guzman, a knight of Sevilla, whose conquest
made them thoroughly subject in everything to Captain Andrès de
Ibarra. Thereupon, scarcely had the way been opened by arms, when the
venerable father, Fray Alonso Ximenez, an Observant of our order,
entered Masbàte to preach the law of grace. He, as is asserted by
father Fray Gaspàr de San Agustin, may be called the apostle of that
island, in consideration of the great amount of his labors therein for
the extension of the Catholic faith. Other apostolic workers of the
same institute followed his tracks later, and they went to Ticào and
Burìas. Consequently, in the year 1605, the province of Santo Nombre
de Jesus founded a mission composed of the above three islands. The
first prior appointed was father Fray Francisco Guerrero, instructor of
Christian doctrine, who was of well-known zeal. But our calced fathers
kept the care of their administration only until the year 1609, when
the intermediary chapter resigned that district and its villages into
the hands of the bishop of Nueva Càceres, Don Pedro de Arce, in order
that he might appoint secular clergy as he wished, who could attend
to the Christian Indians with the bread of the doctrine. [60] From
that time until the year 1688, various curas had successive charge of
the administration of those souls in order to teach them the road of
glory. But notwithstanding that that district had only two hundred
and fifty families when they took charge of it (as the above-cited
Father Gaspar confesses) whose number continued to decline afterward
because of the Moro invasions, one cura could in no way be maintained,
and scarce could one be found to take charge of that church.
1110. Things were in this condition, then, when the most illustrious
master, Don Fray Andrès Gonzales, who deservedly ascended to the
bishopric of Nueva Càceres from the ranks of the Order of Preachers,
represented to the king on May 28, 1682 that in order that the villages
of his diocese might be rightly administered spiritually, it would
be indispensable to assign its curacies in another manner and give
some of them into the charge of religious. In consideration of that
he petitioned his Majesty to commit the approbation of the new plan
considered to his governor of those islands, so that as vice-patron,
he might proceed in it. The king conceded what that prelate asked by
his decree dated Madrid, August 13, 1685, and his Excellency presented
the new formation of districts to the governor with all its changes. By
it he applied to our province all the mission of Masbàte, and its
adjacent islands, as well as the villages of Ingòzo, Catanavan, Vigo,
and the rancherias contiguous, all located in the island of Luzòn,
which hitherto had belonged to the curacy of Pìriz, so that another
new mission might be formed under charge of our discalced order. The
governor was the admiral of galleons, Don Gabriel de Cruceleygui,
knight of the habit of Santiago. By an act of November 26, 1686,
he approved in toto the idea of the bishop, and, as a consequence,
the assignation made to us of the above-mentioned villages, so that we
might administer them as curas. However, because of several troubles
that resulted, our province accepted only the mission of Masbàte,
and renounced the right that they might have had to the other villages
of the island of Luzòn, for they could be administered by the fathers
of St. Francis with less trouble.
1111. The constant reasons for the acts by which the bishop assigned
to us the above-mentioned district were reduced to the fact that
there was but one secular priest in it, and he was insufficient for
its administration. For it was proved that only four persons had died
with the sacraments within the long space of four years, while those
who had passed to the other life without that benediction numbered one
hundred and eighteen. Add to this that the baptism of small children
had been delayed many months as the parish priest did not go but
very seldom to visit the distant villages. This ought not to induce
inferences against the well-proved zeal of those venerable priests,
that they had neglected their duties in attending to the obligations
of the ministry. For since there was but one ecclesiastic in all
three islands, and those islands occupy so great an extent, and the
villages are so distant from one another, how could he attend to so
many parishioners with the pastoral food? It is a fact that even
after our religious had entered there and three or four were kept
busy continually, scarce could they fully attend to all their duties
as spiritual directors, without some inculpable lack being evident;
and that notwithstanding that each one labored as many, for not
few of them have lost their health because of the work, as we shall
see hereafter. Consequently, one ought not to be surprised if those
Indians were poorly administered before, for it is undeniable that
one person cannot attend to so many laborious cares, as can many,
although he may equal them in zeal.
1112. The bishop and governor convinced, then, in this matter,
despatched the fitting provisions in November 1686 in order that our
reformed branch might take charge of those souls. This plan was of
great moment to the province, for the said islands, besides being the
necessary passage way and very suitable station for those who voyage
from Manìla to Carhaga and Zebù, are the stopping place of the ships
which sail from Cavìte to Acapulco and return from Nueva España to
Philipinas. It is very common for the ships to stop in their ports to
get fresh supplies, and await suitable winds. On that account there
originated the greatest convenience in possessing them in our custody,
because of what makes for the spiritual: for the provincials, when they
sail out upon their visits; for the commissioners when they come to
España for missions; for the missions themselves when they arrive at
the islands; and for the multitude of our religious who journey from
one part to another, employed in the holy commerce of souls. Without
doubt those reasons somewhat aided the zeal with which our tireless
workers in those countries have always procured the good teaching of
the faithful, and the conversion of the faithless, at the cost of their
own very great fatigue and of great penalties. On that account it was
determined in the intermediary chapter of 1687 to accept the charge
of that reasonable territory to whose labor God called them by the
mouth of the bishop. And more when it was learned that, although the
number of the Christians was greatly diminished, the interiors of the
islands of Masbàte and Burìas were densely inhabited with innumerable
Indians, apostates from the faith and assembled there not only from
their villages, but also from other parts, in whose reduction a great
service would be done to God and the king, and with this fruit the
sweatings of the spiritual administration would be eased, which by
themselves alone gave much to grieve over.
1113. Finally matters having been arranged, fathers Fray Juan de San
Phelipe, the outgoing provincial, and Fray Juan de la Encarnacion, with
another associate, of whose name we are ignorant, left Manila in May
1678 [i.e., 1688] to take charge of the above-mentioned district. They
went to the village of Ticào, where they met the cura, then Bachelor
Don Christoval Carvallo, who had been notified by the suitable acts
in the month of August. The latter agreed without the least repugnance
to surrender the churches and his administration. He did it gracefully
on September 2 of the same year in the village of Mobo, a site in the
island of Masbàte, which was, and is, the chief village of all the
others, and that mission remained from that time on subject to our
discalced order. The Indians received the religious with signs of the
greatest rejoicing. It is a fact that they knew our holy habit some
years before, because some of our gospel missionaries had stopped in
their port on account of storms, when they were passing by Masbàte on
their way to their destinations, and had attended to instructing them
and even administering them the sacraments. From that came the almost
general joy with which the discalced Augustinians were received there;
and from that reception originated the great fruit which they obtained
with their preaching. The fathers endeavored to have the love shown
them by the Indians increase, not being unaware that the good-will of
the hearers is a very plausible disposition so that the work of the
preachers may be useful. Knowing also that the good opinion of the
evangelical minister gives great force to his words, in order that
theirs might be increased they aimed to confirm them with works. They
bore themselves as saints in private and public in order to give a
good example in all things. With that method, one can believe the
great number of Christians that were gathered to Catholicism in the
said islands, as we shall relate later.
1114. But since it was necessary for this attainment to found some
convent, they erected it that same year in the village of Mobo, which
had the most inhabitants. It has Nuestra Señora de los Remedios [i.e.,
our Lady of Remedies] as titular, and a very costly church is being
built which abounds in reredoses and other adornments with a sacristy
provided with vestments [? jocalias] and ornaments. The house is very
capacious and has all the necessary rooms and has moreover cells for
the religious who generally live in it. That convent was the refuge of
the gospel ministers who lived in it in suitable number to look after
the Christians in spiritual matters and to allure the apostates to
the bosom of the Christian religion which they had abandoned. Thence,
as swift moving clouds, they went out to fertilize the other villages
with the water of their doctrine and having become hunters of souls,
to overrun the deserts and mountains. Although there were not more
than six villages in the three islands when our discalced religious
entered to administer them, in a few years they established three more
where they could shelter those who were being reduced to our holy
faith. And hence the workers of that mission with inexplicable toil
cared for a great number of souls who dwelt in the capital of Mobo, and
in its annexed villages or visitas of Ticào, Burìas, Balino, Palànog,
Habuyoàn, Tagmasùso, Buracàn, and Limbojan. In that extensive territory
not few times did God explain His mercies with repeated miracles in
confirmation of the faith which Ours were preaching. Some received
with baptism the health of the body, and others found themselves freed
from their pains by the prayers of the ministers, accompanied by the
laying on of hands. However, inasmuch as the manuscripts give us these
notices without specification, we cannot name the individual miracles.
1115. A very lamentable event for the islands which happened in the
year 1726, was the reason for the founding of another convent in
Ticào. It happened as follows. The galleon "Santo Christo de Burgos,"
while making its voyage to Nueva España, anchored at the port of Ticào
in order to await good weather before taking to the open sea. But
it was shipwrecked there by a storm which came upon it. On board
that vessel was Don Julian de Velasco, a minister assigned to the
Audiencia of Mexico. He managed to obtain his spiritual improvement
from that disaster so transcendental to all classes of Philipinas
by the practice of good works. He did not care to return to Manìla,
although he could have done so, but remained with all his family in the
said port until he could get passage the next year. Among what he was
able to save of his lost possessions, he placed his first attention in
seeing that the holy image of the holy Christ of Burgos which was on
the ship as its titular, should not be lost; for it was his intention
to place it at his own expense in some church, so that it might have
public veneration for the benefit of souls. Scarcely, then, did he have
that celestial treasure in his hands, when he exposed it to worship on
the high altar of the church of Ticào with ornaments suitable to his
devout affection. Thereafter followed the assignment of some income
so that there might be a resident evangelical minister there, both
so that a chaplain might not at least be wanting to the holy image,
and so that the Indians might not lack more continual teaching. For
that reason, the province afterward determined to found a convent in
Ticào. To it were assigned the villages situated in the islands of
Ticào and Burìas, and to the convent of Mobo those of the island of
Masbate. The ministers were thus able to obtain more relief because
their number had increased, although they still had much to do in
order to attend to everything.
§ II
Relation of the progress made by Catholicism in those islands by the
preaching of our laborers; and the great hardships that they suffered
for that end.
1116. In the year 1724, the province of Philipinas begged the king to
confirm, by special decree, the possession that had been given them
in his royal name of the islands of Masbàte. His Majesty ordered the
governor of Philipinas and the bishop of Nueva Cáceres, on the eleventh
of February, 1725, to make no innovation in regard to the spiritual
administration of the said district until he should provide what was
needful in his royal Council. He ordered them also to inform him of
the progress that had been made by the faith in that territory since it
had been in our charge. On that account some juridical investigations
were made in Manìla in order to inform the king with acts. By them it
appeared that, although there had been only one single parish priest in
all the district of Masbàte before, since it had been placed in charge
of the Recollect fathers, three religious at least had always lived
there; and that, as was proved by the books of the royal treasury,
in the year 1687, anterior to our possession, there were only one
hundred and eighty-seven families in the whole mission, while in the
year 1722, there were five hundred and eighty-five: so that in the
space of thirty-four years they had increased by three hundred and
ninety-eight. For that reason the governor, Marquès de Torrecampo,
gave his king June 30, 1727, a very favorable report of our discalced
order in the terms of this honorable clause. "The district of Masbàte,
in charge of the discalced Augustinians, has had an increase of 398
whole tributes through the apostolic zeal of those ministers. They,
not only in that district, but also in the rest of these islands,
dedicate themselves to the propagation of our holy Catholic faith
with the greatest toil and with the most visible fruit."
1117. These increases will be of greater moment if we consider that,
if the families be reduced to the number of four persons each, as
is customary there, the said district consisted, at the time it was
given to us, of 748 souls, and in thirty-eight years it had increased
to 2,340, the increase amounting to 1,592 persons. But sixteen years
later (namely, the year 1738, when father Fray Juan Francisco de
San Antonio printed the first volume of the history of his seraphic
province of Philipinas), those increases were almost doubled. [61]
Then directing his pen to the end that leads to truth, he assures
us that there are new villages in the island of Masbàte with three
thousand three hundred and forty-five souls; in that of Ticào, two,
with four hundred and seventy-five persons; and one in that of Burìas,
with one hundred and eighty. Whence it is inferred that three more
villages were newly established: namely, in Masbàte, those of Navangui
and Baraga; and in Ticào, that of San Jacinto, at the port so named,
where the ships now stop for fresh supplies, before taking to the
open sea. Also the number of souls has increased to one thousand six
hundred and sixty by the impulses of the preaching of our reformed
branch, aided efficaciously by divine grace. All the increase of this
district since it has been in our charge has been six newly-created
villages, and three thousand two hundred and fifty-two souls brought
to the Catholic bosom. And we even ought to infer that many more have
been converted, for by the invasions of the Moros, which are told at
length in the third volume, [62] the number of the Christians could
not but be lessened.
1118. It only remains now to ascertain whence proceeded those Indians
who so increased the above-mentioned villages. It was stated in
another place in the third volume [63] that there was a great number
of mountain Indians in the islands of Masbàte and Burìas, who are
there called Zimarrones. They were feared, for they lived without
God, or king, and were given up to the liberties of paganism. Those
were certain men, if they can be called so, who having apostatized
the faith, had taken to the deserts and high places, where they
defended their native barbarity at every step, against those who
were trying to reduce them and to procure their own good. They had
gathered there, either they or their ancestors, from the villages
of the same islands, as well as from Zebù, Leyte, and others,
to escape the punishment due them for their crimes. Consequently,
they were people especially fierce. Among them were found to be many
heathens, as they had been born in those places where the sound of
the preaching did not penetrate. The others were still worse, as they
had abandoned Christianity. They did notable damage to the villages,
and they even robbed the boats that were anchored in the ports or
bays, treacherously taking many lives. The matter had assumed such
proportions that one could not cross those islands by their interiors;
and to approach their shores was the same thing as putting in at an
enemy's port. But at present all the Zimarrones are reduced to the
faith, and to the obedience of the king without any exception. Hence
one can travel through the islands without the slightest risk,
and boats can go thither even to the uninhabited places. From that
and from no other beginnings have come the increase of that church,
and there is not small praise to our reformed branch from it.
1119. That progress of the faith was preceded by many hardships
that were suffered by the religious, some of which I shall state,
noting that innumerable others are omitted, in order not to bore our
readers by their relation, and because they resemble those that we
shall relate. It has already been stated, then, that for the space
of more than thirty years there was but one convent in the three
islands, which was established in the village of Mobo, whence the
gospel laborers went out to administer all the settlements of the
district. For that purpose, it was absolutely necessary for them to
sail many leguas by boisterous seas, or to travel by land in some parts
by rough mountains, threatened in the one place with shipwreck and in
the other by continual dangers. Since the new convent was established
in the island of Ticào, the administration is more tolerable, although
it is always accompanied by indescribable fatigues. For the religious
of Mobo have to sail completely about the island of Masbàte in order
to fulfil their obligations, or if they prefer to journey by land,
as they are able, to one or two villages, they have to do it afoot
with the greatest discomfort, through inaccessible mountains, and
exposed to dangers wellnigh insupportable. The missionaries of Ticào,
besides having to coast a great part of that island have to go many
times during each year to that of Burìas, crossing the very stout
currents of the sea from the rapidity of which some of the missionaries
have found themselves in the utmost consternation. On the other hand,
all the time that the Indians remained Zimarrones, they allowed no
passage to the zealous laborers without them risking their lives to
innumerable dangers; and even after they had been reduced, the Moros
were a substitute for them on the outside, and inside many sorcerers,
who tried, some by violence, and others by their diabolical arts,
to drive thence, and even from the world, the ministers of souls. And
who can tell all that they suffered from all these causes? It was so
great that some religious, never more alive than when they were dead,
came to die in the campaign like good soldiers.
1120. Father Fray Ildephonso de la Concepcion was one of those
who sweated most in that ministry, and one of those who entered to
cultivate it in its early beginnings. By the ardor of his zeal, by
the example of his life, and by his apostolic preaching, he reduced
many apostates to the Catholic faith. Some of them were gathered into
the villages already established, and others, up to the number of
eighty families, founded through his influence, another new village
on the opposite coast from Mobo. Going then, from one to another part
of the islands, the solicitous fisher of souls had the boat in which
he journeyed swamped twice, one-half legua from shore, while another
time his boat was driven by storms on some reefs and dashed to pieces;
dangers in which many of those who accompanied him were lost, while
the father escaped miraculously with his life after having endured
a thousand anxieties. The Zimarrones, infidels, and bad Christians,
given up to doing ill to whomever procured their total welfare, now
as declared enemies, and again as wily friends, placed him almost
continually in monstrous danger of exhaling his last breath. In order
that he might visit promptly the new village which he had erected, he
opened a road from Mobo to it through the interior of the island. He
crossed it many times on foot, it being necessary for him to traverse
very lofty mountains exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather. He
suffered indescribable things for the faith, with the great hardship
that his vast zeal occasioned him, and which those Indians caused
him with their obstinacy. Finally he fell grievously ill, his pains
originating from the penalties of the said road which he frequented
several times in the course of a single month, as well as from the heat
and showers which he endured when going through the mountains in search
of those rational wild beasts. He died through the apostolic zeal,
in the manner in which all gospel laborers ought to depart this life.
1121. Father Fray Benito de la Assumpcion, a religious who seemed
born for the labors and successes of the spiritual administration,
followed that laborer in the care of that vineyard. He believed that,
without passing the limits of prudence, it would be very seasonable
for the souls of his parishioners to reduce them to living closer
together in a fewer number of villages, and he thus tried to bring
it to pass. Especially did he propose to himself the plan that
the Indians shortly before reduced to the new village which we
have mentioned in the preceding number, should move to the capital
or chief village of Mobo, for he formed the correct judgment that
they would be better Christians if they had at all hours the good
example of their ministers before their eyes. It is not so difficult
to move a whole village in Philipinas as it would be in Europa;
for the Indians build their houses without cost and easily. They
also find in all parts lands suitable for their cultivation without
any expense from their pockets. Yet notwithstanding that one cannot
easily tell the vast labors, watches, and afflictions that come upon
the religious when they attempt such reductions of the Indians. The
latter desire with too great endeavor, to have their residence where
they cannot be registered, in order to work with greater freedom, and
excuse themselves if possible from all human subjection, and even from
divine law, without caring greatly for their own spiritual interests,
but each one going at will to his rancheria or field where it is not
easy for the father minister to visit them or assist them with the
holy sacraments during their sicknesses. For that reason all hell is
conjured against the teacher of the doctrine, if he tries to place
such reductions into effect, from which many spiritual interests would
follow. That venerable father suffered so much with his undertaking
that he caused universal wonder that it did not cost him his life,
and the worst thing was that he could not see it accomplished.
1122. Not only in this, but also in other projects of known utility,
did he have much to endure and much from which to gather merit. With
the zeal of Elias did he relentlessly persecute divine offenses,
while he at the same time loved the persons most especially. It
was the same for him to discover any trace of superstition or the
slightest vestige of the badly extinguished infidelity, and to fly to
its destruction with all his power. Amid continual risks of losing his
life, he exercised his gigantic charity for many years in directing the
souls of those islands to God, without any fear of death whose scythe
he saw upon him many times. The Moros with their stealthy attacks,
the infidels or apostates with open malice, and the evil Christians
with their subterfuges and deceits made him almost continually suffer
for justice. But he worked on manfully as one who had the refuge of
his life in God, and consoling his weakened heart with the divine
grace he supported the persecutions from which the Lord wove him
a crown. In the above-named village a chief Indian named Canamàn
irritated by the attempted reduction, and because the father checked
him publicly for a certain scandalous concubinage, raised his head in
open mutiny. With many followers he sought the father and persecuted
him in order to deprive him of life. At that revolution the venerable
religious was sorely grieved, and it was considered as a special
prodigy that he could escape from so sacrilegious hands. Finally, for
the same reason another Indian of the village of Ticào (exasperated by
the just reprehension and punishment which that famous minister had
applied to him as an indispensable medicine for his faults) caused
him to be the holocaust of his burning zeal for the good of souls,
by the hidden method of poison, through the potency of which father
Fray Benito lost his life, in order to obtain a better one in glory.
1123. After the above fathers, father Fray Diego de San Gabriel
entered to take up the toil with the profit of increased fruit
in the cultivation of that field. He was the amazement of charity
in regard to God because of his care for self-perfection, and in
regard to his neighbor, because of the way in which he desired his
salvation. In order that he might attain that end he pardoned no
toil, if it were fitting for the spiritual welfare of the Indians. He
showered favors upon his parishioners by trying to take them to the
kingdom of heaven. And although for this the latter loved him more,
some were not wanting among so many who persecuted him, returning
him evil for good. But like another David when they troubled him
with their injuries, the venerable father clad himself in haircloth,
humbled his soul in fasting, and occupied himself in prayer. By that
means he delighted himself in God, taking pleasure in hardships as if
they were the fountain of health. In order to induce his parishioners
to the devotion of the most holy Mary he composed and published in
the Visayan language a book of the miracles of our Lady of Carmen;
and the most sweet Virgin repaid his good zeal by liberating him
with circumstances that appeared miraculous from several shipwrecks,
and from other innumerable multitudes of dangers. On the beach of
the village of Balino a certain Indian gave him a cruel wound with a
dagger, because he checked some faults in him. The father recognized
as a favor of the Mother of Mercy, not only the fact that he was not
quite killed, as might have happened, but also the cure of the wound,
almost without medicine. But at last, as he was sailing as secretary,
which post he had obtained later, to visit those villages and others
of Visayas, a storm coming down upon him swamped the boat and he was
drowned, together with the father provincial, then our father Fray
Juan de San Andrès.
1124. And now in order to conclude in a few words, a matter that we
can not even with many words consider adequately, we add that the
venerable fathers Fray Antonio de Santa Monica and Fray Thomàs de San
Lucas said many times without a trace of boasting that, although they
had been many times in the doctrinas and missions, in none of them
had they found so much to suffer as in that of Masbàte. Father Fray
Francisco de Santa Engarcia was twice in imminent danger of death;
first in shipwreck and later because an Indian tried to kill him,
for the reason that he had tried to get him to give up a certain
concubinage. But God having freed him from those dangers, allowed him
to perish in another through His occult judgments. It was a fact that
that father when attending to the fulfilment of his obligation gave
motive that certain of the Zimarron Indians whom he was endeavoring to
establish soundly in the Catholic faith gave him certain death-dealing
powders in his food, which although they did not deprive him of life
rendered him insensible and he became most pitiably insane. Many other
religious, whom we shall not mention for various reasons, suffered
so much while ministers of those islands, by shipwreck, bad weather,
and persecution, that if they did not obtain the crown to which they
aspired by death, they were left with their health totally lost,
and lived amid continual aches and pains, until their last breath
opened for them, after some years, a pathway to heaven in order that
they might enjoy the reward of their well endured conflicts.
[The remaining sections of this chapter and the two final chapters
of the book do not touch Philippine matters.]
II
Extracts from Juan de la Concepcion's Historia
[It is thought advisable to append to the above extracts from the
Historia of Pedro de San Francisco de Assis, the following extracts
from Concepción's Historia. The first extract is from vol. viii,
pp. 3-16, and includes a portion of the first chapter. It treats of
the transfer of the province of Zambal to the Dominicans, and the
occupation of the island of Mindoro by the Recollects.]
2. Continuing with the events of this government, we must note that
Don Diego de Villaroto represented in the supreme Council of the Indias
that the island of Mindoro had a vast population who still retained the
dense darkness of their heathen blindness; and that if the spiritual
conquest of that island were given to some order, it would be easy to
illumine its inhabitants with the true light. That representation was
met by a royal decree, dated June 18, 1677, ordering the governor of
these islands, together with the archbishop, to entrust the reduction
of Mindoro to the order that should be most suitable and fitting for
that ministry; and that the curas employed in that island should be
appointed to chaplaincies or prebends. That royal decree was presented
to the royal Audiencia of Manila by Sargento-mayor Don Sebastian de
Villa-Real in October, 78. His Majesty's fiscal offered no objection
to its observance, and prompt obedience was rendered to it. It was
directed to his Excellency the archbishop, then Don Fray Phelipe
Pardo. That most illustrious gentleman, during the two times when
he was provincial of his order or province, urged as a thing greatly
to be desired and demanded by his brethren the Dominicans, that the
Augustinian Recollects yield them the province of Zambales, as it was
very fitting for communication with their province of Pangasinan, and
of the latter with Manila, and of those religious among themselves,
who could thus make their visits more comfortably, by always crossing
through their own ministries, thus avoiding the voyage through the
territory of others, which they regretted. Notwithstanding that those
matters were discussed with great courtesy (as is the case at present)
yet that was a demand that offended greatly the discalced Augustinians,
who regarded the Zambals as the true sons of their spirit, and the
land as watered with the blood and sweat of many of their members,
and a land which, being their firstborn, was most tenderly loved. The
Dominicans could never obtain their demand, although softened by
exchanges, for ministries were offered in which there was even more
than enough room for zeal.
3. By reason of the said royal despatch, his Excellency formed the
idea of completely removing the Recollects from Zambales and giving
them in exchange the island of Mindoro. He set about that with great
zest. The Recollect provincial resisted, alleging that it was contrary
to their constitutions to abandon thus the province of Zambales. That
would mean treating it as their own possession. It would be better
to recognize it as a territory distributed by the universal patron;
and, admitting that it was impossible to surrender it without his
royal consent, individual laws communicate no right, especially when
such mission fields are ad interim. He also pleaded that the Indians
of Mindoro, both infidels and Christians, had as soon as they heard
that regular ministers were to be given them, urgently requested
Jesuits. On the contrary, the Zambals, when they were notified that
it was the intention to withdraw the Recollects from their midst
in order to introduce Dominicans, almost declared their opinion in
a terrible tumult. The Recollects preferred, therefore, that such
a change should not take place. But the archbishop was firm in his
resolution, and trampled all obstacles under foot. He united with the
governor, and both of them together forced the Recollect provincial,
Fray Joseph de San Nicolas, by threats, to agree to the change. The
governor pacified the Indians of Mindoro by means of his corregidor,
so that they should receive the Recollect fathers; and the Zambals
by means of the alcalde-mayor of Pangasinan, so that they should
allow the Dominicans to enter. Thereupon, the three seculars who had
been in charge of Mindoro were accommodated by suitable chaplaincies,
and an act was passed by the royal Audiencia, charging the Recollect
fathers with the administration of that island, with absolute clauses
based on the royal decree, without any provision or obligation to
leave the missions of Zambales for it. That decree was accepted when
it was announced, and was extended to the judicial cession of those
missions, when signed by the provincial of the Recollects, although
protest was made against it in the name of their province, by two
influential religious. On that account a second act was enacted in
which those missions were adjudged to the fathers of St. Dominic,
for the archbishop was very much in earnest in those arrangements.
4. Those decrees having been announced and accepted, the Dominicans
assumed possession of the cordillera of Zambales. That province
had on its coast eleven villages with actual missions, which were
increased in the neighboring mountains. The Recollects handed over
that administration without making any public disturbance, although
all the religious who had labored there protested vehemently, all of
which appeared in the judicial reports. The Augustinian Recollects
went to Mindoro with the fitting despatches for that corregidor
ordering him to deliver the administration [of that island] to
them. Father Fray Diego de la Madre de Dios, then definitor, was
given charge of the district of Baco, after it had been resigned by
Bachelor Don Joseph de Rojas, who held it; father Fray Diego de la
Resurreccion of the curacy of Calavite, in place of Licentiate Don
Juan Pedraza, its parish priest; while the curacy of Naohan was taken
possession of by the father definitor, Fray Eugenio de los Santos,
who was exchanged for Bachelor Don Martin Diaz. The whole transfer
was completed before the end of the year 79. Three other religious
remained with the above three religious as associates and coadjutors,
and those six ministers began to scatter throughout the island. That
island is in the center of this vast archipelago, and was formerly
called Mainit; but the Spaniards gave it the name of Mindoro from
a village called Minolo, located between Puerto de Galeras and
the bay of Ylog. It is triangular in shape, its angles being three
promontories: that of Calavite, facing west; that of Dumah or Pola,
facing north; and that of Burruncan, facing south. In size it is the
seventh of the more important islands, and is about one hundred leguas
in circumference. Its temperature is naturally hot, but is tempered
by the great dampness arising from frequent rains. The height of its
mountains aids also in that. On account of such circumstances it is
a very fertile land, and, although not very healthful for strangers,
good and favorable to its inhabitants. The latter made themselves
feared by their neighbors, especially on the sea, where they attacked
the most powerful, carrying blood and fire everywhere. Notwithstanding,
they were of great simplicity, for when they saw the Europeans wearing
clothes and shoes--which they did not use--they imagined that that
adornment was natural to them. They are but little given to the
cultivation of the soil, and are content with wild fruits; sago,
which they get from the palm and which is a good food for them; the
flesh of wild animals; and fish, which the rivers and seacoast offer
them in great plenty. They have little rice, on account of their sloth
in sowing and tending it, for they make up that lack sufficiently in
roots and fruits. If they are weak, although corpulent, it is because
of their transcendent vice in being hostile to work.
5. Captain Juan de Salcedo made a beginning in the conquest of the
district of Mamburào, in the year one thousand five hundred and
seventy. That conquest was completed from the point of Burruncan
to that of Calavite by the adelantado Miguel de Legaspi, in the
beginning of the following year. Gradually the remainder was subdued
by the missionaries, by whose treatment the rudeness of the manners
of those people was softened. Consequently, the encomienda of that
large island was very desirable. The Observant Augustinian fathers
were employed in its spiritual cultivation and founded the village
of Baco. The discalced fathers of St. Francis also labored there for
some time, it being ceded to them by the Observant Augustinians. They
worked along the Calavite side to Pola, which they abandoned either
because those natives were not at all disposed [to accept the faith],
or because those fathers had slight esteem for that island when
compared with what was offered them in Ylocos and Camarines. The
Jesuits also labored there, but always by the method of temporary
missions, from time to time, and had no stability. It only appears
that they were more continual in Naohan (which they founded), as long
as it was preserved by Father San Victores. When the latter went to
the Marianas, the Jesuits resigned that portion into the hands of the
archbishop. It is probable that the latter was Señor Poblete. [64]
He immediately formed two curacies for the secular clergy to look
after those souls. Although there were but few souls, the extent of
their territory was so vast that it was necessary to establish a third
parish. Those seculars maintained what was conquered, but that district
did not yield a sufficient recompense for the three ministers, and
they were paid from the royal treasury and from other pious funds. It
was also even difficult to find seculars who cared to take charge of
such districts, which were truly little to be desired. But obedience
caused that there never was a lack of seculars there, who maintained
themselves until the year 76, when the Recollects went there to take
their places. As the latter immediately placed six ministers there,
they furthered the conquest and reduction greatly in all parts. Hence,
while they only received about four thousand Christians, those were
multiplied in a few years and the number rose to eight thousand, and
in 1716 they reached the number of twelve thousand. There are still a
great number of people in the mountains, which are inhabited by wild
men. Some of those men are quite light-complexioned, and are believed
to have originated from the Chinese and Japanese established there
for the convenience afforded by the island, or who have put in there
because of shipwreck, or been driven thither by the winds. Others are
Cimarron Negritos, who are the first inhabitants, and, as it were, more
native. Trustworthy persons say that those people have a hard little
tail in the proper place for it, which prevents them from sitting
down flat. If it is true (and I do not doubt it, notwithstanding
that it is disputed), it is not so strange that I have no examples
of it. Those prominences of the sacral bone are considered as rare;
but a beginning having been made in one, it could have become natural
in its propagation.
6. Thus did those Recollect religious find that island, and, believing
it to be important for the reductions, they continued to establish
their regular administrations. The first was in Baco. There, inasmuch
as it was the capital, lived the corregidor, but the capital was
later moved to Calapan. In that district they formed the villages
of Calapan, Baco, Suban, Ylog, Minolo, and Camoròn, with a number
of annexed villages or visitas. The second was in Naohan, which
was extended into six annexed villages, namely, Pola, Pinamalayan,
Balete, Sumagui, Maliguo, and Bongabon. The third was in Calavite,
which formed the visitas of Dongon, Santa Cruz, Manburaò, Tubili,
and Santo Thomas. The fourth was in Mangarin, which was extended into
its dependencies, Guasic, Manaol, Bulalacao, and Ililin. They also
began an active mission in order to reduce the heathen Mangyans, which
had no other work than to employ itself in those glorious reductions
and conversions of grace. For one single man it was an immense work,
but the superior government gave no more stipends. That mission was
established on the bay of Ylog, and ministers and infidels were pledged
not to allow [there] any of the former Christians, who might pervert
the conversions. By that arrangement it grew to a very large village,
and there were practiced some of the old customs that belonged to the
primitive church. All that fine flower-garden has been trampled down
and even ruined by the Moros, as will be related in due season.
7. The Dominican fathers also applied themselves to the work in the
province of Zambales. That province had already eleven villages formed,
although they were small, because that province has but few people. It
appeared to the new fathers that that number of villages made their
administration difficult; consequently, they tried to reduce their
number by uniting some of them. That incorporation was difficult;
hence they increased the troops and arms of the presidio of Paynaven,
the center of that province. Through the protection afforded by those
troops, they broke up the whole province. The village of Bolinaò,
which had a fair population, was located on an island, which is
separated from the land by only a channel, which forms its famous
and secure port. [65] It was fertile and pleasant. They moved it to
the mainland, to a sandy shore, useless for anything, even for the
ordinary fields. Its lack of water they supplied with wells which
they opened. There they obtained some water, but it was thick, and in
the time of the dry season it entirely disappeared. The Indians who
were harmed by this measure were so angry at that moving, that many
families retired to Ylocos. In truth, that site is despicable. An
eminence which looks upon and almost dominates the port would have
been much more suitable, and they would have obtained better air
there; while their boats, which cannot navigate by the channel
to the village during the blowing of the north wind, so that the
cargo has to be carried for a long distance on the shoulders, would
have obtained shelter. There are many other inconveniences but one
cannot think of a single advantage. They moved the village of Agno
[66] from the coast into the interior, to a site which is a swampy
mudhole when there is the least rain. The village of Sigayan was
moved to another site, where the only advantage was a near-by river
of fresh water which was unnavigable. They left Masinloc [67] on its
pleasant site, while the village of Paynaven was moved inland to
a site called Iba, [68] from which the new village took its name,
moving that village in order to get it away from the commandant of
the fort, whose proximity was annoying to them. They did not regard
it as a recompensable hardship for the minister of that village to
go on feast-days in order to say mass in the presidio, and to repeat
it afterwards in his own church. In order to increase that place
and give it the name of capital, they brought families from Bolinaò,
who formed a large barangay. It has already been seen that they made
use of the fort in this, and that those who were moved were not very
well pleased. The Dominicans also founded, or better, made from
other villages, the village of Cabangaan [69] in an obscure site,
which was rough and surrounded by dense mountains, and suitable only
for a hermit and solitary life, but so far as others were concerned,
a place of profound melancholy. They also formed the village of Subic
[70] from other villages, which had only the advantages of its port
to recommend it, while in other respects it was most unpleasant. They
also filled the vacant places left by the many families who retired
to the mountains as a result of the violence exercised, with others
whom they brought from Pangasinan, a province abounding with people,
who because they are so numerous, and there is no room for all, leave
their homes more easily. In fact, they did that, too, in order to
be surer of the Zambals, in whose severe and warlike minds they did
not have the greatest confidence. Thus did they soften those people,
or let us say frankly, checked their vehemence. The reduction of the
people of the mountain, however much it is talked about, is not known,
as neither is the place where they could form villages or a village
from them. Let us leave then exaggerations, which, when they offend by
comparison, cannot fail to be odious. We shall treat of the restoration
[of that province] below, in its proper place. [71]
[The following extract is from the same volume, and includes
pp. 135-144.]
CHAPTER V
The Augustinian Recollect fathers assume the spiritual government of
the islands of Masbáte, Ticao, and Burias. A geographical description
of those islands is presented.
1. Under the metaphor of husbandmen, the prophet Amos describes those
who are employed in the cultivation of souls. The chroniclers of the
Augustinian Recollect fathers describe those fathers for us as zealous
and laborious in their never-ceasing application in planting and
cultivating the word of God in humble hearts. The Recollects assumed
charge, in addition to the fields already mentioned of the island of
Masbate with the neighboring islands of Ticao and Burias. Those islands
belong to the bishopric of Nueva Caceres in ecclesiastical matters,
and to the alcaldeship of Albay in political affairs. Masbate is sixty
leguas from Manila, in a latitude lying between twelve and thirteen
degrees. It is about fifty leguas in circumference, nineteen leguas
long and five or six broad. It was formerly famous for its rich gold
mines, which, when they tried later to work them, it was found did not
produce expenses. The island also has fine copper mines, samples from
which in very recent times were excellent. Information was given of
them by Don Francisco Salgado; and when everything necessary and expert
Chinese for working them had been prepared, he abandoned them, for
he saw that they had much less metal than he had thought. The island
of Ticao is about twenty-three leguas in circumference, nine long,
and more than four wide. That of Burias extends its circumference
to twenty-six leguas, twelve in length, and four in width. These
calculations must be understood only approximately, for they had not
been exactly determined. All three possess excellent timber, from
which pitch is distilled in plenty, and makes excellent pitch for
vessels. One of those trees produces the fragrant camanguian; [72]
another very abundantly a kind of almond, larger than that of Europa,
for which it is mistaken in taste. They have many civet-cats; civet is
a drug which was obtained there long before this time, and had a good
sale in Acapulco, although that product is not in so great demand now.
2. Don Luis Henrriquez de Guzman, a knight of Sevilla, reduced those
islands to the crown of España in the year one thousand five hundred
and sixty-nine. Their conquest was finished and they were left
thoroughly subdued by Captain Andres de Ybarra. Protected by arms,
father Fray Alonso Ximenez, an Observant Augustinian, introduced
the evangelical law. In that he did excellent work and obtained
much fruit in Masbate. Other religious, imbued with the same spirit
and of the same institute, followed, and spread the work into Ticao
and Burias. By that means a suitable mission field was established,
and the Augustinians conserved the administration thereof until the
year six hundred and nine. At that time they resigned that district
into the hands of the bishop of Camarines, who employed seculars
instead of those regulars. There were various seculars in charge of
the administration there, until the year one thousand six hundred and
eighty-eight. The district handed over by the Augustinian fathers had
two hundred and fifty regular families; but that number was diminished
by the terrible invasions of the Moros, so that the corresponding
stipend was not sufficient for the maintenance of one cura, and no one
could be found who was willing to take care of that district. On that
account his Excellency, Master Don Fray Andres Gonzalez of the Order
of Preachers, their bishop, represented to his Majesty that it was
absolutely necessary to apportion the curacies in another manner for
the just spiritual administration of his bishopric, by placing some
of them in the charge of regulars; and he petitioned that his Majesty
approve his new plan, by ordering his governor of those islands to
proceed in it as vice-patron. The king consented to what the prelate
asked, and despatched his royal decree, under date of Madrid, August
thirteen, eighty-five. With that order his Excellency presented to the
governor the new distribution of districts, with the changes necessary
and fitting. In that distribution he applied all the ministry of
Masbate to the province of San Nicolas of the Augustinian Recollects,
and also on the mainland of Luzon the villages of Ingoso, Catanavan,
and Vigò with its neighboring rancherías, of which was formed the
curacy of Piris. The governor, Don Gabriel Curuzalaegui, by an act
of November twenty-six, of eighty-six, approved the plan conceived
by his Excellency the bishop, and informed the said Recollect fathers
of the part of the distribution that pertained to them. They accepted
the assigned administration. In the territory on the mainland disputes
were imminent with the Franciscan fathers in regard to the ownership
of those territories. Accordingly the Recollects only accepted the
district of Masbate, and resigned the right that they could have had
to the village on the continent of Luzon to the Franciscan fathers,
who could administer them with greater ease. By that means all rivalry
was checked.
3. The parties [i.e., the Recollects and Franciscans] having come
to an agreement, and between themselves the governor and bishop, the
two latter despatched suitable measures so that the Recollects could
take charge of those souls. In the distribution the Recollects had
their proportionate advantages, for those islands are a way-station
which is necessary to pass in going to Caraga and Zebù, where this
order had distant missions. The bishop obtained them [for that order]
because, that district having been reduced to one single secular, the
latter proved insufficient for its administration. Consequently, in the
space of twelve years, only four persons had died with the sacraments,
although one hundred and eighteen had passed from this life without
that important benefit. The baptism of children was postponed for many
months, as the cura went to the visitas in the distant villages but
seldom. For it was not easy for one single individual to acquit himself
of so laborious cares; consequently, this is not to admit that they
were ill administered. The government was interested in them, as was
also commerce, as Ticao was an anchorage for the Acapulco ships in its
famous port of San Jazinto, [73] on both the outward and return trips,
where fresh supplies were procured, wood and water provided, and winds
awaited to take them out of the dangerous currents of the Embocadero
of San Bernardino. The Recollect fathers accepted that charge, and were
received affectionately by the Indians. They founded their headquarters
in Mobo, [74] a famous village of Masbate. They built a church there,
under the advocacy of Our Lady of Remedies. It was a costly edifice,
adorned with good reredoses, and had a sacristy well supplied with
vestments, besides a capacious house with its suitable quarters and
dormitories for the resident and transient religious. Thence they
made their apostolic excursions for the conversion of the heathens,
who were still numerous, and the reduction of fugitive apostates. The
settlements already established numbered six, and three new villages
were established with the increase of those who settled down.
4. This province of San Nicolas petitioned his Majesty in the year
one thousand seven hundred and twenty-four to confirm that possession
which had been conferred on it in his royal name. His Majesty ordered
the governor of Philipinas and the bishop of Nueva Caceres to make no
innovation in the spiritual administration of that district until his
royal Council should provide what was suitable. He also ordered them
to report on the progress of the faith in that territory since it had
been under their charge. Judicial investigations were made in Manila
by the government, in order to inform the king with reports. From
them it appeared that, although the entire district of Masbate had
formerly had only one parish priest, since the Recollect fathers had
taken charge of it, three religious at least had lived there. It was
proved also by the books of the royal accountancy, that in the year
preceding their possession, that is, in the year eighty-seven, the
entire ministry contained only one hundred and eighty-seven families;
while in the year seven hundred and twenty-two there were five hundred
and eighty-five families. Consequently, the present governor, the
Marquís de Torre Campo, reported that the district of Masbate had
had an increase of three hundred and ninety-eight whole tributes
through the apostolic zeal of those ministers. The Recollects not
only in those districts, but also in the remainder of these islands,
devote themselves to the spread of our holy Catholic faith with the
greatest toil and with the most visible fruit.
5. That progress was not made without great toil and hardship. They
had to do with a great number of mountain Indians and Zimarrones,
who became fearsome when abandoned to liberty. Apostates from the
faith and from civilized life, they had taken to the deserts and to
the roughest mountains, where they defended their barbarous mode
of life at all hazards, by resisting with arms those who tried
to reduce them. Various people had also gathered there from other
islands, fleeing from the settled villages and from the punishment
due their atrocities. Consequently, the latter were extraordinarily
fierce. Many heathen were numbered among them, accustomed long since
to that rudeness of life and savagery, and they were all the worst
kind of people. They committed notable depredations on the civilized
villages, robbed the boats that anchored in the ports and bays, and
treacherously committed many murders. Their boldness rose to such a
pitch that one could not cross through the interior of those islands,
and to arrive at their shores was the same as to make port in a land
of enemies. It was also a laborious and dangerous task to navigate
along the coasts, trying to find those rancherías. Consequently,
Father Fray Ildefonso de la Concepcion was twice overturned in the
sea, and another time had his boat dashed to pieces on some reefs. In
that shipwreck he miraculously escaped with his life, although some
of his companions perished in the water. Those dangers came to him
in his visits to a new village established on the opposite coast. In
order to avoid such dangers and visit that village more frequently,
the father opened a road through the interior from Mobo over rough
mountains, where many other risks were run because of the heathens. In
that continual crossing the father fell grievously sick, his pains
having originated from the hardships of such a road, with the showers
and heat. He died at last, succumbing to such fatigues. But those
sufferings were continued by others, who conquered that stubbornness by
their constancy and fervent application, although with the well-known
risk of losing their lives. Consequently, those ministers who were
there in the beginning say that, although they have been many years
in other doctrinas and missions, they had not so much to suffer and
endure in any of them as in that of Masbate.
[The third extract from Concepción's Historia is from vol. ix,
pp. 123-150, and comprises all of the fourth chapter except the
last paragraph.]
CHAPTER IV
By sentence of the royal Audiencia, the province of Zambales is
restored to its first conquistadors, the discalced Augustinian
Recollect fathers.
1. The Zambal Indians, of an intractable disposition, people of
wild customs, and little or not at all content, were furious with
the Dominican ministers in the reductions; they were groaning
under the yoke of a life more regulated than their inclinations
permitted. This made them think of insurrections and uprisings. The
presidio of Painaven, well reënforced, restrained them; and the
raids of the commandant, with detachments of men, into the mountains,
intimidated them in their plans. They thought that the government of
the Recollect fathers was milder, and hence they sighed for it. Those
fathers tolerated their barbarous customs among a people so ferocious,
and succeeded by their patience in softening and reducing them. Not
so with the Dominican fathers, who learned the Zambals' tenacity at
their own cost. In the village of Balacbac was an Indian chief named
Dalinen; although he lived in that village, he kept his valuables in
the mountains under charge of a nephew. Another Indian, a Cimarron,
named Calignao, killed the latter treacherously. In order to avenge
that murder, Dalinen retired with many of his followers to the dense
woods. Father Fray Domingo Perez, [75] who was the minister of that
mission, tried to prevent that flight, but was quite unable to remedy
it; for seventeen families fled with Dalinen. The commandant of the
fort attacked them with his men and burned the ranchería of Aglao,
the next village to Balacbac, to which the murderer and the injured
man belonged.
2. Calignao had an extensive and strong kindred. Because they did not
flee with him, father Fray Domingo endeavored to win them over. He
asked for an adjutant's staff from the commandant of the fort, and
dignified Calignao with it. Then in order to restrain the other side,
it was published that the murder of the nephew [of Dalinen] was by
the command of the government, which had ordered that all who would
not reduce themselves to village life should be killed. That method,
however, was insufficient to quiet them, but, on the contrary,
roused the factions to a higher pitch. To please the commandant and
to give stronger force to his faction, Calignao promised to assault
Dalinen. He went into the mountain to put that promise into execution,
and after a short time, Dalinen was killed by a Negrito. His relatives
were persuaded that the father had had a hand in that murder, and
determined to pay him back. The same Calignao offered to do the deed,
for this is what it means to benefit apostatized evil-doers. He sought
an opportune occasion for the execution of his wicked intent, and found
it in a journey which the father made to Baubuen to visit a communal
house which he was building for strangers, and in order to confess
father Fray Juan de Rois, [76] who was the minister there. During the
absence of the father, Calignao descended the mountain, visited his
relatives, and was informed that the minister would return in three
days. He left his relatives, and in company with a faithless Negrito
went to await the father at the bank of a large river, by which it
was necessary to pass. When Father Perez reached that place, Calignao
discharged an arrow, which passed before the father's breast without
doing him any harm and lodged in a neighboring tree. When the father
quite naturally turned his head to see who was firing at him, the
Negrito Quibacat discharged his arrow, which, entering the father's
body three fingers below the left breast, came out more than four
fingers at the right side of his back. It was a twisted arrow, and
when father Fray Domingo pulled on it, the wound became worse. With
the most intense pain that he suffered, he broke out into "Jesus,
be with me! Let them commend me to God, for I am dying."
3. He spurred on his horse, which ran until the father perceived that
sight was failing him. Then he alighted, stretched himself at the
foot of an agoso tree, [77] and, amid the outpouring of his blood,
begged pardon from God for his sins. An Indian who accompanied him
came up to him, and found him unconscious from great loss of blood. The
father recovered consciousness, but for so brief a time that he could
not tell the Indian what to do. He fainted once more, so completely
that the Indian thought that he was yielding up his life. He again
recovered consciousness, and sent the servant to Balacbac in order
to get people to carry him thence. The Indian went to carry out that
instruction. Meanwhile a man and three women arrived, and stayed
with the father until the arrival of the men from the village who
were very slow. For the Indian who had been sent could find no one
who cared to take that charitable office upon himself, either the
ministers of justice, the fiscals, or the sacristans. He was able
to get three serving-lads in the convent, who made a hammock from
a blanket, and carried the wounded religious in it. The latter,
charging his messenger to go to Baubuen to advise Father Rois of
his mishap, set out on his way to his village, where he arrived at
nine o'clock at night. Father Rois, as soon as he received the news,
got ready to go to the relief of his associate. After many frights,
for everything was in an uproar, and his person ran no less risk
[than that of Father Domingo], he reached the village at daybreak. He
entered the cell of the wounded father, whom he found embracing a holy
crucifix, and bathed in tears. Father Rois asked him "What is this,
Father Vicar-prior?" "This means death," answered the sufferer. "I
shall die; there is no relief." He was confessed, and received the
sacred viaticum. He lived three days after that, without having his
bed made, for his extreme pains would not permit it. Had they tended
him well at the beginning, he would have recovered, for the wound was
not mortal, and the Indians have medicines which cure other things
more dangerous. But the greatest care was not exercised in this. The
third day after nightfall, the pains attacked him much more fiercely,
and convulsions and paroxysms followed. He received extreme unction,
after which he lost his speech, and remained remarkably quiet; and
in that calm he yielded his spirit to the Creator.
4. The malicious Calignao, after having wounded the father, went to
Balacbac, and made an effort to enter the convent in order to kill the
servants of father Fray Domingo. The servants barred the doors on the
inside until the wounded father arrived, and during all the three days
while the latter lived, the murderer remained in the village, without
anyone daring to raise a hand against him. During that time Calignao
assaulted the convent several times, but could effect nothing, because
of the vigilance of Father Rois. The commandant of the fort desired to
go in person to punish the treachery, but he was prevented from it by
the other religious, for the reason that if he were killed the fort
was in danger; and, if that presidio were captured by the Zambals,
there would not be a father or a Spaniard in Playahonda who would
not be sacrificed to their fury. He sent indeed a detachment of men,
with orders to arrest or kill Calignao; but they were unable to do so,
as all the village was interested in his liberty. They were present
at the funeral, which took place in the church on the following day,
with all possible propriety. A year and a half later the father's
bones were moved to the church of his convent at Manila.
5. It is said that God honored the place of his death or where he was
wounded, by marvelous occurrences. For instance the large river on
whose shore he was shot, dried up, and was swallowed up by the earth,
and no trace of it was ever found later, neither did it take a course
elsewhere; while the bed of the river became full of agoso trees. And
although the above tree is large, and needs more than ten years to grow
tall, those trees grew up in so short a time that that place appeared
a dense forest, so that they choked and parched the reed-grass, which
never sprang up again. It was said that the earth which was dyed with
his blood has never allowed any grass to grow since, although the grass
about the agoso at whose foot the father fainted is abundant and very
green. That tree is always more flourishing and luxuriant, so that in
comparison with it the other trees seem like withered things. Also
another smaller river which ran past Aglao and Baubuen dried up,
and the earth was left very sterile. It is true that these things
were said, but without any foundation. The large river still remains
and flows in the same course, and that of Aglao has the same course,
and there is no notice or tradition that it had ever dried up; and
it is not possible that so remarkable a thing could be forgotten. It
was true that the agoso under which he rested was preserved and is
still preserved; but in that story are not registered the exaggerated
circumstances, such as that of the grass and of the reed-grass. I
say this with assurance because I have seen it at various times,
and I have passed the large river with some risk. On the bank of
that river I was shown the spot where the father was wounded, and
the agoso in question, in which I found nothing worthy of wonder. In
regard to the other agosos and those newly produced, I proved that
there are both old and new trees, for they are produced without any
cultivation, and are conserved from time immemorial, and their very
great age is recognized by their failing condition. [78]
6. The Augustinian Recollect fathers, who had not left that
administration [of Zambales] voluntarily, although they could not
resist the change with Mindoro, asked for testimonies that they might
present them at court. They protested in due form, and appointed
ministers in their chapters, of whose election they apprised the
Dominican fathers in legal form. Their recourse to court had the
result that the parties [in the matter] were referred by the Council
of the Indias to this royal Audiencia. The testimonies were brought
to it, and it became sufficiently public. On that account the father
procurator-general of the Order of St. Dominic, Fray Juan Peguero
[79] appeared before the superior government. He stated that his
Excellency the archbishop and the governor had removed the Order of the
Augustinian Recollects from the province of Zambales for reasons that
they considered just, necessary, or reasonable, in accordance with the
rulings of the laws of the new Recopilación, [80] and had given it to
his province, they on their part having first made no efforts to get
it. His order had received it only that they might serve God and the
king. The Recollect fathers had received the island of Mindoro as a
recompense, without offering any objection, and had expressly given
up their rights to the province of Zambales. Nevertheless father Fray
Juan de la Madre de Dios had presented a writing before the supreme
Council, which was sent to this royal Audiencia, where as yet, more
than eight months after the arrival of the galleons at the islands,
it did not appear to have been presented. Without petitioning in
any tribunal, [he said], a rumor was spread to the discredit of his
province and to the prejudice of the propagation of the faith among
the Zambals. The latter, in the hope which they had received from
their former ministers that they would soon return to take charge of
them, were fleeing to the mountains to become infidels, apostates,
and idolaters, as they were formerly. Consequently, the ministers
of his province found themselves hindered in the conversions and the
administrations of the sacraments, as they were so disturbed that it
was necessary for the commandant of the fort to seize some persons
who returned from Manila and spread such a report. Not even this
was a sufficient relief for the continual flights of the natives. On
that account he petitioned his Lordship, in the name of his province,
to be pleased to employ suitable means, and what he believed best,
for the avoidance of those scandals. His Lordship furnished a copy
of the judicial proceedings [81] to the Recollect side, ordering that
they, with the reply that they should make, should give account of the
royal decree mentioned in the allegation [aforesaid, by Fray Juan de
la Madre de Dios]. Notification of this was communicated, on May 2,
1685, to father Fray Joseph de Jesus Maria, procurator-general of the
discalced religious of St. Augustine. The latter said that he heard
it and would answer in due form.
7. He did so, and presented himself with the copy authorized in public
form, of the proceedings of the royal and supreme Council of the Indias
in the cause prosecuted by the father procurator-general, Fray Juan de
la Madre de Dios, asking that his province should be restored to its
former possession of the ministries of Mariveles, Masinloc, Bolinao,
Puquil, and Playa-honda, and the rest of the province of Zambales. The
decision thereon, as appeared from the said proceedings, was referred
to the royal Audiencia of Manila. In regard to the contents of Father
Peguero's memorial, notwithstanding what he might petition, it should
be refuted as outside the truth, as a calumny, and as grievously
offensive to his province--which with excessive and continual work,
and equal zeal in the service of both Majesties, had assisted in the
administration of the Christians and the conversion of the infidels
in the aforesaid districts, from the year one thousand six hundred
and seven to the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine,
when it was despoiled actually and contrary to law, and the Dominican
religious introduced into those missions. Notwithstanding the above,
the said memorial, proceeding by malicious reports, and with a lack
of accurate information, says that in the year seventy-six the said
Father Peguero informed the government of these islands that the
conversion and reduction of the Zambals--both the light-complexioned
ones and those with the kinky hair, on both sides of the mountains that
extend from Batan to Pangasinan, especially in the localities of Aglao,
Buquil, Alupay, and Culianan, and many others--had not been thitherto
in charge of any of the orders of these islands. In consideration of
that, he petitioned that that care be assigned to his order. Despatches
were given him in accordance with the terms of his petition, without
summoning the party of the Recollect province, which was in possession
[of that territory] from the time mentioned above. That order was then
especially extending its labors, and working in the reduction of the
infidels of those very same places, and in the administration of a
great number of Christians in those districts, who paid tribute to
their encomenderos. His order having offered opposition, and having
made a petition before the royal Audiencia to be protected in its
ancient possession, this was done, and the Order of St. Dominic
was excluded from its demand, as appeared from royal provision and
proceedings, which would be presented if it were necessary. After his
order had been placed in charge of the administration of Mindoro,
the Dominicans succeeded in getting the governor, then Don Juan de
Vargas, to ask the father provincial, Fray Joseph de San Nicolas, to
make a renunciation [of those districts]. The father provincial did
it unwillingly, for it was a thing that he neither could or ought to
do in regard to such districts, in order that other religious might
be instituted--as were those of St. Dominic, in the year eighty. Two
grave [Recollect] religious protested in the name of their province,
against the renunciation made by their Recollect provincial; and all
the ministers of Zambales protested against the violence with which
they were despoiled of that administration, without their province
having until then made any other judicial or extrajudicial effort
than the conservation of their right, in order to demand it where and
to what extent it may behoove them to do so. The provincial of his
province had formally ordered his subjects not only not to solicit
the natives of those districts to ask for, or allow them to ask for,
these or other ministers; but they were to admonish them always to
live consoled and contented, and to understand that the instruction
which they received from the fathers of St. Dominic was the same, and
[given with] the same zeal for the welfare of their souls. That order
was obeyed, and there was no notice of its infraction. On the contrary,
information was received that the present Dominican ministers told
the natives that they were returning to carry forward what had been
commenced by the Recollects. That proved that the Recollects did not
keep their convents and churches, which they had abandoned to the
Dominicans; as does the suggestion that father Fray Raymundo Verart
[82] said that Captain Marcos de Rosales, encomendero of Marivelez,
had made to him, for the latter earnestly entreated him to ask
that the Recollects should be restored to the possession of those
ministeries. He offered to make that request to him in writing.
8. Even though the religious of his province had represented to those
natives that they would return to their ancient administration, one
could not argue from that that any injury to the propagation of the
faith, or to the credit of so holy an order [i.e., the Dominican] would
follow, as the memorial declared--in formal prejudice to his own order
[i.e., the Recollect] (in regard to which that order was protesting,
in order to demand whatever was proper for its side). The proposed
hopes of the restoration, however, would hinder the flight of the
natives, which, it was known, proceeded from other reasons, through a
great part of the villages of Zambales having been depopulated. That
they had been living in idolatry from their first conversion, besides
being an implicatory proposition, did not appear from the sentence of
a competent tribunal, nor was it credible of all. And it was no new
thing, that after some years, a few superstitions should be discovered
[among the Indians], as was usually the case, and happened at every
step; for it was not an easy thing to reduce mountain infidels to
a civilized life, in which task the ministers must acquire thorough
knowledge of their customs. Consequently, it had been impossible to
eradicate their barbarous ferocity in committing murders, as they
had done to a religious of the Order of St. Dominic. And because his
province had shirked no labor for the service of God and the king,
in the welfare of souls, especially in the administration of the
Zambals during the space of sixty years, it desired to reap the fruit
[of the harvest] that had been commenced; wherefore in furtherance
of its claim he prayed his Lordship to order and command that the
pleadings which had been presented be referred to the royal Audiencia,
to the end that whatever should be ruled therein be considered as
law. The decree enacted (with the opinion of the assessor) was,
that the cognizance of the entire matter be referred to the royal
Audiencia, so that the parties to the suit might there plead their
claims in equity, and in fulfilment of the decree of the supreme
Council of the Indias. The Recollect procurator general having been
notified, appeared before the royal Audiencia with his claim together
with the rest of the papers annexed, which, having been presented,
were considered as referred to that tribunal for official action
therein. Notice of that decision having been given to father Fray
Juan Peguero, he said that he heard it, and pleaded that the papers be
given him for his reply as was done. But I shall not give his answer
here, because of the irregularity of his pleadings, his rashness of
speech, his boldness of opinion, and his disrespect for the royal
power, since his Majesty does not allow causes to be conducted in
rude fashion, especially when they do not bear on the case in point,
while personal defects of ecclesiastics were not under consideration
in the present case, nor in the cause which was being prosecuted,
as it concerned ministries only.
9. In conclusion his reply was that while maintaining the contrary
of what was advanced by the Recollect fathers, as their province was
not a party [to the suit]; he petitions and prays that his Highness
deign to issue a citation on the party [of the Recollects], to the end
that an investigation be made of all the aforesaid, as was necessary,
and becoming, etc. The ruling was that the decree be communicated to
the father procurator of the Recollects, who answered as follows,
namely, that he acknowledged the indecorous manner in which, in
view of the sovereignty of the royal Audiencia, the good name of his
side and his subjects was injured. But that although he could answer
point by point, he would avoid doing so, as it was a matter in which,
leaving aside the requirements of law, which were to be complied with,
the subject matter was getting to be a bone of contention, and a
partisanship dispute--a matter which ought to be held in abhorrence
by religious, who are placed as models for all in these regions,
and because law enjoins the manner in which one ought to speak in
the royal courts of justice, where it is expressly forbidden to bring
forward incriminating libels in place of actions of laws; for these
wound not only the sacredness of the religious orders, but even the
sovereignty of such a tribunal, to which is due the highest respect. On
that account they ought to order the withdrawal of the two allegations
presented by Father Peguero as being indecorous, and notice ought to
be given to the said father to answer as was fitting, by representing
the authority that his province had in the administration of Zambales;
in default of which, the court was to record them as having been duly
pleaded. To this motion, the gentlemen [of the Audiencia] agreed that
the decree should issue, and the clerk of the assembly summoned the
said Father Peguero in due form for the examination, who thereupon
refused such style of procedure until he had presented his grounds
for opposing such action [i.e., the above decision of the Audiencia].
10. The said father procurator pleaded before his Highness that
Doctor Calderon, the senior auditor, during his week had refused to
sign a paper in which he [i.e., the Recollect procurator-general],
pleaded in regard to the pending article; and having been ordered
to present himself in the royal Audiencia, he did this by means of
two religious at a time when the said doctor was the only member
present in the Audiencia, because of the illness of his associate
judges. There a decree was entered which ordered that the writ and
other papers pertaining to this matter be presented by a procurator
of the royal Audiencia, who could be punished in default for his
negligence. And in view of the fact that he considered this measure
burdensome and harmful to his order and person, as he was condemned
before sentence was passed on the point, and the order was prevented
from prosecuting this or any other cause in the royal courts, because
of their well-known poverty, he prayed his Highness to deign to
repeal the said act, and to allow his province the liberty of having
it prosecuted by its own prosecutors. A decree to that effect was
passed and the trial set for the first day, when the said Doctor Don
Diego Calderon should be present.
11. The auditor, in order to justify his act in the royal Audiencia,
related that Father Peguero had brought a paper to his house for him
to fill out to the effect that the petition, which as he declared,
he was going to present to the royal courts, should come before him,
the said auditor, during his week; and that in consideration of the
fact that it was a matter that concerned priests against priests,
of religious missionaries against religious of the same institute,
it could not set forth allegations that were wanting in fraternal
charity and profound humility. This he signed without reading it,
while charging the father procurator to present it in the royal courts,
as was done on the day when his Lordship was the only member present
[in the Audiencia]. The petition was granted and an order issued to
have the papers served on the Recollect father procurator, who was
bid to file his answer thereto; furthermore, in order to determine
this point, the abovesaid auditor ordered that the case so far as
concerned the examination of the same be laid before him. Peguero,
not content with what was done, presented another petition in regard
to the same cause, that it might be signed officially and passed. But
having glanced over it, he found that this should not be done, as
it contained other unbecoming expressions based on the one that had
been presented previously, and therein at variance with the laws and
ordinances of the royal Audiencia, wherefore he told the said father
procurator to hand his petition back and present it when all the
members [of the Audiencia] were assembled. The result was that their
illness still continuing, two lay-brethren, religious of the Order of
Preachers, entered the chamber and requested that the petition that
they presented be granted, which was the same as had been presented
by the father procurator Peguero, in which his Highness was able to
recognize the irregularity of the statements, and his inability to
sanction such proceedings, through his desire for public peace, and
to the end that such holy orders be not embarrassed with injurious
writs. Consequently, in order to prevent disrespectful petitions
from being presented in those tribunals, his Highness had to decree
what was most in consonance with loyalty to both their Majesties,
and the public peace.
12. This decree was as follows: "Decision of the royal court this
day, September eleven, one thousand seven hundred and five. [83]
The measure passed by Señor Calderon is approved, and in accordance
therewith, a decree to that effect shall be issued. Because of their
great poverty, only the first petitions of the Indians shall be
received without attorney."
13. The decree so enacted had the effect that the office of
procurator-general of the province of Santissimo Rosario was changed
and given to father Fray Domingo Escalera, [84] who together with
the procurator-general of the Recollects, presented a joint petition
to his Highness to deign to have the preceding writs annulled, as
they were not suitable and germane to the case, nor respectful to the
royal Audiencia and the parties [in the suit]. This was handed to the
fiscal for review, who said that, because of their joint agreement,
and moreover, because the writs were not germane to the case in the
chief point of the pending suit, greater harmony would result to the
two orders which were at law, and to the public cause, and that if
the writs were juridically annulled because of their contents, his
Highness could order the execution of what the parties petitioned,
and such decree would be valid and efficacious--an opinion however
that had no definitive result. Then in regard to the writ presented
by the Recollect procurator Father Escalera rejoined that, inasmuch
as such ministries were handed to his province by the government,
if his Highness were pleased to order that they be restored to the
plaintiff province his province was ready to do its part, and for that
purpose he renounced this copy of the proceedings, and any other, as
he had nothing to petition or plead. Therefore, in consideration of
the decrees already passed in which he considered himself as cited,
his Highness should deign to issue an order for whatever should
be his pleasure. Consequently, a decree was drawn up embodying the
ordinances that had been made in which the parties were recorded as
having been cited, as they considered themselves as cited, and the
Recollect procurator presented proofs to the effect that his province
had never renounced such ministries, but had always violently protested
against the fact of their having been despoiled thereof, in support
of which it had been prosecuting the cause in the Council. For the
Dominicans, their prior provincial, father Fray Christoval Pedroche,
answered the citation by saying that his province had held those
ministries in encomienda and trust in the name of his Majesty through
the vice-patron, and consequently, if any act of spoliation had been
committed, his province was not a party thereto, just as it was not
a party to the present proceedings. Therefore he was ready to return
them whenever his Highness so ordered; and hence he did not oppose
the claim of the Recollect fathers. In answer to their statement that
they had elected priors for those missions in all their provincial
chapters, and that therein they had no other consideration than the
service of God in those missions and the spiritual welfare of souls,
he petitioned that his province be adjudged as not a party in the
said suit, protesting moreover that he would not plead, or in any way
oppose his Highness's decision. When the parties were cited, an order
was issued by the court that with these decrees be united those which
were enacted by the master-of-camp, Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado, for
the assignment of the Zambals to the Dominican fathers. The decrees
having thus been brought together, various motions were made, in
which proceedings the Dominicans always by joint action refused to
be recognized as a party thereto. Whereupon the members of the court
having examined the proceedings after their previous examination by
the fiscal, declared, that notwithstanding the reply of the father
provincial of the Order of Preachers in which he petitioned that his
order be declared not to be a party, they maintained, as they now
maintained, that he was a legitimate party in these proceedings;
moreover that they ordered him, as they now repeated their order,
that he notify the father procurator-general of the said order to
answer to the summons within three days, and to make full return
thereto. He was also warned that if, at the expiration of said limit,
he had not done so, the royal courts would declare the proceedings
so far as taken as sufficient, and the case would be prosecuted
in them. The Dominican procurator having been cited and notified,
said that he obeyed the decree of his Highness, that he heard it,
but that there was no answer to be given, as he was not a party, as he
had already declared, and that in case that it was necessary he would
repeat the same answer of his father provincial. This occurrence took
place on November twenty-four, one thousand six hundred and ninety.
14. Thus this matter [expediente] rested until the year one thousand
seven hundred and ten, when the alférez, Nicolas Guerrero, one of the
ordinary attorneys of the royal Audiencia, presented a certificate
empowering him as the chief authorized agent of the province of San
Nicolas, to act as their attorney in the matter in hand. Thereupon,
he declared that in maintenance of the claim of the said province,
it was advisable to examine the minutes of the proceedings hitherto
conducted in the royal courts, in regard to the restitution of
their former missions of Zambales and everything pertaining to
them. Accordingly, he prayed his Highness to deign to order the
secretary to produce the said minutes, which on being given to the
said attorney, he appeared before his Highness and stated that in
accordance with the last royal order of six hundred and ninety, whereby
the other party was required to answer fully, this had not been done,
but that the party had merely referred to its former pleadings, and
that any other answer had not been made during the space of twenty
years, so that the suit had been unduly prolonged; and moreover, that
the matter having been recently investigated, his side has a paper
(which he now presents with all solemnity), namely, a private letter
from the father provincial of the Dominicans, Fray Pedro Mejorada,
[85] in reply to one from the provincial of the Recollects, Fray
Francisco de la Madre de Dios, in which he declares, that he answered
in the same manner as his province had done on former occasions; that
he would not oppose the abandoning of the said missions as he was not
a party thereto, for his province had taken these under their charge
solely in compliance with the orders of Governor Don Juan de Vargas
and Archbishop Don Phelipe Pardo; that, moreover, at the present time
when his province was so straitened through the lack of religious,
if they were not succored in that regard it would be necessary for
them to take other steps. Wherefore (he added), so far as matters have
now gone he might do what he pleased, for his province would offer no
opposition, and was prepared to give up those missions if so requested
and charged to do. In this letter, moreover, among other points, it
was inferable that his province was ready to leave the said missions
of Zambales. Therefore the attorney petitioned and prayed his Highness
to deign to have the case brought up for final trial, declaring his
client as entitled to the possession of such missions, to whom they
should therefore be restored. Thereupon the judges decided that the
measures so far taken together with that letter should be acted upon;
that the trial should be proceeded with without prejudice to whatever
had already been decided, and that all the papers in the case be
handed over to the fiscal of this royal Audiencia, for his opinion
(within three days) of what steps it was advisable to take. Thereupon,
for reasons given, the latter replied that what had been advised by
the fiscal of the royal and supreme Council ought to be carried out,
and hence a similar order might issue from this royal Audiencia,
with notice to the reverend fathers provincial, parties in interest,
that so far as concerned their spiritual care the natives might be
relieved promptly. In accordance with this, the judges ordered that all
parties should proceed to the chamber for final sentence. Thereupon
their decision was that the reverend fathers provincial should be
apprised of the sentence as given in this cause for their judgment in
the exercise of their rights; and that whether they assented or not,
they should appear to hear the decision to be given.
15. The parties being notified, and a report of the proceedings having
been proclaimed, sentence was then given as follows: "In the city of
Manila, October twenty-two, one thousand seven hundred and twelve:
The president and auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancilleria of
these islands assembled in the royal courts thereof, having examined
in relation the proceedings prosecuted on the part of the Recollect
province and religious of San Nicolas de Tolentino of these islands,
against the province of Santo Rosario and the religious of St. Dominic
in regard to the restitution of the spiritual administration of
the natives of the province of Zambales, hereupon declared that they
ought to restore--and they hereby have restored--to the said Recollect
province, and religious of San Nicolas of these islands the spiritual
administration of the natives of Zambales, in the same manner as they
held it at the time when the very reverend and devout father provincial
of the said order, Fray Joseph de San Nicolas de Tolentino, resigned,
handed over, and separated them from his administration in the former
year one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine. In consequence whereof
they moreover ordered--and they have so ordered--that there be made
out in due form for the party of the said Order of San Nicolas a
warrant to that effect. Thus was it decreed, ordered, and subscribed
to in the presence of his Majesty's fiscal.
Doctor Torralva
Licentiate Villa
The Fiscal"
In the presence of Antonio de Yepes y Arce, notary-public. Their
decision was heard and obeyed promptly by the party to the suit, and
proper warrants having been received, the spiritual administration of
the Zambals was peacefully restored to the province of San Nicolas
of the Augustinian Recollects. Perhaps the very reverend father
chronicler, Fray Domingo Collantes, [86] did not have at hand these
original documents when he penned the fourth part of the chronicles of
his province of Santissimo Rosario which has been recently published;
and this must be the reason for the so great diversity in the [story
of the] restoration of Zambales, and for the minuteness with which
it is discussed here.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA
The documents in this volume are obtained from the following sources:
1. Jesuit letters.--From Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv,
pp. 1-3, 69-72.
2. Discovery of Palaos.--From Lettres édifiantes (1st Paris ed.) i
(1717), pp. 112-136, from a copy in the library of the Wisconsin
Historical Society.
3. Recollect missions.--From Pedro de San Francisco de Assis's Historia
general de los religiosos descalzos de San Agustin (Zargoza, 1756),
all that relates to Philippine missions; from a copy in the Library of
Congress. Also Juan de la Concepción's Historia de Philipinas, viii,
pp. 3-16, 135-144, and ix, pp. 123-150; from a copy in possession of
the Editors.
4. Appendix: Moro pirates.--From Combés's Historia de Mindanao, Iolo,
etc.; Murillo Velarde's Historia de Philipinas; Diaz's Conquistas;
and other works, as is fully indicated in the text.
APPENDIX: MORO PIRATES
Moro pirates and their raids in the seventeenth century.
Sources: This account is compiled from various historians--Combés,
Murillo Velarde, Diaz, Concepción, and Montero y Vidalas is fully
indicated in the text.
Translation: This is made by Emma Helen Blair.
MORO PIRATES AND THEIR RAIDS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
I
[In previous volumes have appeared various accounts of the piratical
raids made, down to 1640, by the Mahometan Malays of Mindanao and other
southern islands against the Spaniards and the native tribes whom
they had subjected in the northern islands. A very brief outline of
that information is here presented, with citations of volumes where
it appears, as a preliminary to some further account which shall
summarize this subject for the remainder of the seventeenth century.]
[When Legazpi first explored the Philippines, he sent some of his
officers to open up trade with Mindanao, then reputed to be rich in
gold and cinnamon (Vol. II, pp. 116-118, 147, 154, 209, 210). At
the outset, much jealousy arose among the Spaniards against the
Mahometan Malays (whom they called Moros) of that and other islands
in the southern part of the Eastern archipelago, for two reasons--the
Moros were "infidels," and they far excelled the Spaniards as traders
(Vol. II, pp. 156, 159, 186, 187; IV, pp. 66, 151, 174). Moreover,
the natives were everywhere hostile to the Spaniards because the
Portuguese representing themselves to be Castilians, had previously
made cruel raids on some of those islands, notably Bohol (Vol. II,
pp. 117, 184, 207, 208, 229; III, p. 46). In that first year, 1565, a
Bornean vessel was captured by the Spaniards, after a desperate fight;
but hostilities then went no further (Vol. II, pp. 116, 206). The
Moros of the Rio Grande of Mindanao proffered (1574) their submission
to the Spanish power, apparently being in some awe of it (Vol. III,
p. 275). Governor Sande had expansive ideas of Spanish dominion, and
in 1578-79 undertook an expedition for the subjugation of Borneo,
Mindanao, and Joló; he obtained a temporary success, but the Moros
again asserted their independence as soon as the Spaniards departed
(Vol. IV, pp. 125, 130, 148-303; XV, pp. 54, 132). This expedition
was partly caused by piratical raids made by the Borneans (Vol. IV,
pp. 151, 153, 154, 159; VI, p. 183), and the Joloans (Vol. IV,
pp. 176, 236) against the northern islands. Apparently this punishment
intimidated the Moros for a time; the next important raid by them was
in 1595 (Vol. IX, p. 196; XI, p. 266). In 1591 Esteban Rodriguez de
Figueroa had made a contract with Gomez P. Dasmariñas for the conquest
of Mindanao (Vol. VIII, pp. 73-77). The island had then been partly
explored and much of it assigned to Spaniards in repartimiento; some
of these allotments are mentioned in Vol. VIII, pp. 127, 128, 132
(a list of those bestowed in 1571 is found in the Pastells edition of
Colin's Labor evangélica, i, p. 157, note 1). Instructions were given
to Figueroa on November 13, 1595 (Vol. IX, pp. 181-188), and in the
following spring he set out with an armed force; but hardly had he
begun the campaign when he was slain by a Moro (Vol. IX, pp. 195, 196,
263-265, 276, 277; XV, pp. 89-93; XVI, pp. 270-272). Juan de Ronquillo
succeeded him, and for the time "pacified" the hostile Moros (Vol. IX,
pp. 281-298; X, pp. 41, 42, 49, 168, 169, 214, 215; XI, p. 236; XV,
pp. 95-100; XVI, pp. 273, 274); see his own report of the campaign
(Vol. X, pp. 53-74) and Tello's (Vol. X, pp. 219-226; cf. Vol. XI,
pp. 135-139). In 1599 the Spanish fort at La Caldera was dismantled
(Vol. XI, pp. 138, 139, 237; XV, pp. 190, 191); this emboldened the
Moros to renew their piracies, and from 1600 on they harassed the
Visayan Islands and even Luzón--not only the Mindanaos but their allies
the Ternatans, and the Joloans (Vol. XI, pp. 238, 239, 292-301, 303;
XII, pp. 32, 39-41, 134-137; XIII, pp. 49, 146, 147; XV, pp. 192-196,
209, 265-267; XVIII, pp. 185-187, 331, 333; XIX, pp. 67, 68, 215-218,
223-225; XXII, pp. 89, 90, 203-206; XXIII, p. 259; XXIV, pp. 35-37,
102-104, 139, 142, 143, 329; XXV, pp. 86, 105, 152-154, 199; XXVI,
p. 285; XXVII, pp. 215-226, 316). Similar raids were made by the
Camucones, Moros from some small islands near Borneo (Vol. XVIII,
p. 79; XXII, pp. 89, 132, 133, 202, 296-298, 303; XXIV, pp. 97,
138; XXV, pp. 154-156; XXVII, pp. 314-316; XXIX, pp. 31, 200). These
attacks kept the peaceful natives in constant fear; their villages
were burned and plundered, and their fields ravaged; and thousands were
carried away to be sold as slaves, being thus dispersed among the Malay
Islands. In 1621 Hernando de los Rios Coronel stated that ten thousand
Christians were held captive in Mindanao (Vol. XIX, p. 264). At
times the Spaniards sent armed fleets in pursuit of these pirates,
but the latter would escape, on account of the superior lightness and
swiftness of their vessels. Punitive expeditions were sent to their
villages, some of which were futile, but others inflicted on them
severe punishment--Jolo: 1602 (Vol. XV, pp. 240-243, 264, 265), 1626
(XXII, pp. 207-210), 1628 (XXII, pp. 293-295; XXIV, pp. 143-145), 1630
(XXIII, pp. 87, 88, 98; XXIV, pp. 163-165); and Mindanao: 1625 (XXII,
pp. 116-119, 218, 224). It was proposed to enslave any Moro pirates
who might be captured (Vol. XVII, pp. 187, 296, 331; XXIX, p. 269),
and this was sometimes done (Vol. XXII, p. 134). Finally, Corcuera
undertook to chastise them effectually; and in 1637 he led a large
and well-equipped expedition to Mindanao, which captured Corralat's
stronghold and devastated nearly all the coast of that island, driving
out Corralat as a fugitive and intimidating other chiefs who had
intrigued with him against the Spaniards (Vol. XXVII, pp. 253-305,
319-325, 346-357; XXIX, pp. 28-30, 60, 86-101, 116-134). Corcuera
followed up this success by another in Joló, in 1638 (Vol. XXVII,
p. 325; XXVIII, pp. 41-63; XXIX, pp. 32, 36, 43, 44, 135, 136), and in
the following year a Spanish expedition severely chastised the Moros
around Lake Lanao, in Mindanao (XXIX, pp. 159, 161-163, 273-275);
further military operations in Joló and Mindanao, on a smaller scale,
occurred during 1638-39 (Vol. XXIX, pp. 141-166, 198-200). It may be
noted, further, that the Jesuits established missions there at an early
date, evangelists of that order going with Figueroa in 1596 (Vol. XII,
pp. 313-321; XIII, pp. 47-49, 86-89; XXII, p. 117; XXVIII, pp. 94-99,
151, 171); and others were founded by Augustinian Recollects (XXI,
pp. 196-247, 298-303; XXIV, p. 115; XXVIII, pp. 152, 175, 340-345).]
II
[The second reduction of Joló--by Almonte, in 1639 (Vol. XXIX,
p. 143)--subdued all of that archipelago, save the Guimbanos, a
fierce Moro people inhabiting the mountains of Sulu (Joló) Island,
who were hostile to the Joloans of the coast. When Almonte ordered
them to cease disturbing the pacified Joloans, the Guimbanos made an
insolent reply, telling the Spaniards to come to their country and
learn the difference between them and the Joloans. Almonte therefore
sent (July, 1639) troops, under Luis de Guzman and Agustin de Cepeda,
to subdue these proud mountaineers; and after a fierce battle the
Guimbanos retreated, leaving four hundred dead on the field, and three
hundred captives in the hands of the Spaniards--of whom eight died,
including Guzman, besides twenty Indian auxiliaries. (Murillo Velarde,
Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 96 b, 97.) After the departure of Almonte
from Joló, affairs went ill, Morales being unfit for his post as
governor of those islands, although he was valiant in battle. Having
abducted a beautiful girl, daughter of a chief named Salibanza,
a conspiracy against him was formed by the enraged father; this was
discovered, and the leaders seized. This, with several arbitrary and
hostile measures of Morales, stirred up the Joloans to revolt, and
an affray occurred between them and the Spaniards, in which Morales
was wounded. Juan Ruiz Maroto was sent to relieve him from office,
and tried to pacify the natives, but in vain; he then sent Pedro
de la Mata Vergara to harry all the coast of Joló, who burned many
villages and carried away three thousand captives. Mata, being obliged
to return to Mindanao, was succeeded by Morales, who rashly attacked
(near Párang, Sulu Island) a force of Moros with troops exhausted by
forced marches; the Spaniards, although in numbers far superior to
the Moros, were ignominiously put to flight, thirty-nine of their
number being slain, including Morales and another officer. At this
time Cepeda was governor of Joló, and he soon found it necessary to
chastise the natives, who were encouraged to rebellion by their recent
victory. (Combés, Hist. de Mindanao, col. 402-412; Murillo Velarde,
Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 121-122; Montero y Vidal, Hist. piratería,
i, pp. 175-181, 199-211.) An account of his exploits in this direction
is furnished by letters of the Jesuit Miguel Paterio to Father Juan
Lopez, regarding the expeditions of Cepeda (to whom Combés dedicated
his book), written in 1643-44 (ut supra, col. cix-cxv); we present them
here as a specimen of the proceedings in these punitive expeditions.]
Relation of the exploit which was accomplished in the villages of
Paran by Captain and Sargento-mayor Don Agustin de Zepeda, warden of
the forts in Jolo.
After the disaster to Admiral Morales, the Guimbanos of the villages of
Paran were very arrogant and haughty, so that, however much they were
invited, with assurance of peace and pardon, to lay down their arms
before those of our king, and to restore the Spanish weapons that they
were keeping, they paid no heed to it. Seeing this, Sargento-mayor
Don Augustin de Çepeda, the better to justify the expedition that
he intended to make against them, sent word to them through other
Guimbanos who were our friends, that they must restore the arms that
they had taken from the Spaniards, and that if they did not restore
these he would wage war against them. To this they replied that those
arms were converted into lances, and that nothing would be given up
to the Spaniards, whether Don Agustin marched against them or not. The
captain and sargento-mayor received this reply on Tuesday, December 29,
and on Wednesday, the thirtieth of the same month, he determined to
make a daylight attack on them with the utmost secrecy. Accordingly, at
four in the afternoon, almost all the soldiers made their confessions,
and the sargento-mayor exhorted them to rouse all their courage,
as brave soldiers, since they were fighting for both the majesties
[i.e., the divine and the royal], and they had the sure protection
of the mother of God, our Lady of Good Success. Then they set out
from the hill of Jolo with only twenty-five Spaniards and three
officers, [Cepeda's lieutenants being] Adjutant Diego de los Reyes
and Alférez Gaspar de Chaves; and twenty-two Pampangos and Cagaians,
with their officers, also ten or fifteen servants with their pikes
and shields. Of this infantry the captain formed three divisions,
giving to each one its own watchword--to the first one, "Jesus be
with all;" to the second, "Our Lady of Good Success;" to the third,
"Saint Ignatius"--and each division was ordered to render aid according
to its watchword, and as the enemy should sound the call to arms. With
this order, they began their march, and proceeded until nightfall,
when they marched in single file, since the road and the darkness
gave no opportunity for doing otherwise. They passed rivers, ravines,
marshes, and miry places, until they arrived at a village of a Guimbano
chief named Ulisten, near which they heard coughing in the houses;
and [they moved] so cautiously that they were not perceived. The
sargento-mayor did not choose to enter this village, not only because
the chief had showed his friendship for the Spaniards, but because
his only intention was to punish the people of Paran, who had merited
this by their acts in the past and by the haughty spirit that they
showed. For the same reason, he would not enter another village near
this one, belonging to another chief, named Sambali--who, if it were
not for the purpose that the commander had in mind, deserved to lose
his head for his rebellious disposition in not being friendly to the
Spaniards. From the hill to these two villages may be a journey of
about two leguas and a half; the road is very bad, and of the sort that
has been described, [passing through] marshes and rough places; and,
with the darkness of a moonlight night, to go among trees, thickets,
and tangled briers was intolerable and full of difficulty. Not less
wearisome was the road which they still must take to reach the people
and village of Paran, and even more difficult: but neither the one
nor the other could weaken or diminish the tenacity, spirit, and
valor which not only the captain but his soldiers displayed. They
traveled all night in this way until a little before daybreak, when
they mistook the road, and took another, which did not lead to the
village where they meant to go; but God chose that the people of that
very village should serve as guides [to the Spaniards], by furnishing
them light--for on account of quieting some infants who were crying,
they kindled lights in the houses. The sargento-mayor ordered them to
march toward that place, where they arrived at daybreak; and there they
remained about half an hour, waiting for the dawn to brighten so that
they might break the countersign [87] and make the daylight attack
[dar el albasso] on the said village, which they did. For when it
became light, and the day was brightening, they broke the watchword,
which was "St. Ignatius;" and the division to which that belonged made
the first attack on the houses, jointly with the vanguard, which went
ahead to reconnoiter. All the forces united to make this assault on the
houses, and to break through the defenses of the village and enter,
all in order, with lighted matches and to sound of drums, as they
did. In their houses this occasioned a great tumult; some were slain
by musket-balls, some by lance-thrusts; others escaped naked, fleeing
without thought of their kindred or their possessions, abandoning their
weapons and whatever they had; others, finally, were burned to death
in their houses, to which our men set fire--the natives remaining in
them either through fear, or that they might not fall into our hands
and be slain by our lances. They hid themselves, therefore, for the
greater protection--only to have their houses, and their granaries
of rice, and their bodies burned [here], and finally their souls in
hell. Besides this, their cultivated fields were laid waste, set out
with all the plants that they rear--bananas, sugar-cane, and other
plants which furnish them with food; and our men did the same with
these, destroying and burning everything. This done they looked about,
scanning the country in all directions, and saw an impregnable height;
and when the commander understood that this was (as it proved to be)
the citadel of the enemies, he gave the order to march thither. They
proceeded by a path or trail so narrow that they were obliged to
ascend in single file; and when they reached the top of the said hill
they found a plateau, more spacious than that of our hill of Jolo,
on which were houses, some fortified and some small ones. The former
were full of provisions and contained some Guimbanos. These, seeing
our men and recognizing them as enemies, immediately abandoned the
houses and took to flight, throwing themselves headlong from the
heights. Our men entered the place, and burned the houses with the
rice and other things contained in them; and they laid waste the
fields and destroyed what had been planted in them, as they had done
in the villages before ascending the hill. Our men were occasioned
no little anxiety by their failure, after this exploit, to find the
road by which to leave the hill; for, as it had in every direction
precipices and rugged heights, they had great difficulty and hardship
in getting away from the hill, on account of not being able to strike
the path by which they had entered. But finally the Blessed Virgin
who hitherto had been our Lady of Success, chose to show also that
she was our Lady of Good Success--which she did by enabling our men
to depart in safety from the hill. For the alférez, going to make a
hasty reconnoissance with four arquebusiers, and some servants armed
with pikes and shields, saw [traces of men's] work among the trees that
covered the hill; and, upon reaching the place, ascertained that there
was a path by which he could descend. Notifying the troops of this,
they went down the hill by this path, and thus returned to the houses
that they had burned, all marching in regular order. They approached
the seashore through a level field, passing near the harbor where
the natives had slain Admiral Morales; and, as they advanced through
the open country, they encountered four Guimbano Indians, shouting
[or grimacing?--haciendo carracheo], who came from a grove that was
growing on the said seashore. When our men tried to get near them,
these Indians took to their heels, retreating toward the grove--where,
it was understood, they had an ambuscade; and as it was now eleven
o'clock, the sargento-mayor did not think it best to delay [his return]
longer. Accordingly, they marched in the same order, and to the sound
of drums, toward the fortification that stood on the seashore, going
through fields and mangrove thickets, and along beaches and pools of
water, another two leguas and a half, until they reached the harbor
where they had provided some boats. In these the sargento-mayor and
all his troops embarked, and returned to these forts, with great
satisfaction and rejoicing at so complete a success, without losing
one of our men, or encountering any danger. Many salvos were fired
from the boats in which they came, and from the forts, in honor of
their protectors, Jesus, Mary, and Ignatius.
From this expedition and victory I have learned some things about
Guimba which are worth mentioning here. The first is, that two days
afterward the people of Paran made war on the chiefs Ulis and Sambali
whom we mentioned above, complaining that these chiefs had not warned
them that the Spanish troops had passed close to their villages,
and even because they had allowed the Spaniards to pass them. May God
establish them in peace, and grant them light and a knowledge of the
truth. And after this expedition, as I have said, one of the chiefs in
the villages to the east named Suil, complained that the sargento-mayor
had not informed him of it, so that Suil with all his men might have
accompanied the Spaniards. Although he may not be sincere, thanks are
returned to him, and probably his offer was prompted by the admiration
and high opinion that he entertains for our men since this exploit;
or because he feared lest the like fate might befall him. He and other
chiefs beyond Guimba to the east have sent to tell me that, although
those who killed the sargento-mayor are their brothers, they will not
for that reason fail to be the friends of the Spaniards; and that they
will come to the village of the Lutaos who are in this fort [i.e.,
at Joló] to talk with the father and treat of peace. And it cannot
be denied that there has been a great disturbance among them since
this expedition, and it has caused among them all not only fear,
but astonishment also, to see that so few Spaniards could dare to
traverse almost all of Guimba, marching almost all the way among the
settlements, without being seen. In this affair not only the caution
of the Spaniards, but their courage in penetrating among so many
barbarians, the most valiant in all these islands, is causing great
admiration--which is increased at seeing how so few Spaniards made so
great a number of enemies take to flight; for in all the villages there
are nearly a thousand barbarians who carry arms. It is certain that,
considering the circumstances of this exploit, it adds prestige to
several others that have been performed; and I even venture to say
that it is astonishing, if we consider what occurred in one night,
the perils that they went through, the daring of so few soldiers among
so many enemies, and, finally, their accomplishing what they did in
destroying and burning the villages and their people, without injury to
any one of our men. All this causes the Moros who see these occurrences
close to them to wonder and fear, and apparently they are talking in
earnest of becoming friends and vassals of his Majesty. [Marginal note:
"For Father Juan Lopez, rector of Cavite."]
[Another letter by Father Paterio, written from Jolo, February 28,
1644, relates the particulars of another expedition by Zepeda into
Guimba, six days previous to that date. The native chiefs on the east
side of the island are intimidated by the punishment inflicted on
Paran, and are inclined to submit to the victorious Spanish arms;
but those on the west desire to take revenge for the massacre of
their tribesmen. A conference of the latter chiefs is accordingly
held at the village of Ulis, where they talk of making an attack
on the Spanish forts at Jolo. They invite Suil, one of the friendly
chiefs, to join them; but he sends word to the Spaniards (February
9) of the plot against them. Zepeda is then absent in Zamboanga, but
returns soon afterward; and another warning from Suil being received
ten days later, Zepeda decides to inflict summary punishment on the
plotters. He therefore leads an expedition against the village of Ulis,
on February 21, and, as before, attacks the village at daylight. This
time, the natives have had warning of the intended assault, and attempt
resistance; but they are defeated with considerable loss--among the
slain being Ulis, "who was the idol of that island, and whom all
obeyed," and three other chiefs. In this fight the Spaniards lose
but four lives--a soldier, an officer, and two servants. This causes
even more fear and awe than even the former expedition, and brings
the recalcitrants quickly to terms--Suil and other chiefs proposing
to leave their homes and go to dwell near the Spanish forts. Later,
the Spaniards complete this castigation by ravaging the country,
burning and destroying all before them, "by which the Spanish arms
have acquired greater reputation and glory than that which they had
lost on former adverse occasions." Then other islands adjacent to
Jolo are intimidated, and two battles are fought with their natives,
who lose many men therein. As a reward for his services, Zepeda is
honored by Corcuera with the governorship of Zamboanga.]
The Joloans remained at peace, as thoroughly chastised as were the
Mindanaos, curbing their haughty arrogance, and repressing their hatred
in consideration of the advantages of the time. Among the agreements
for the peace, they accepted one that a fort for the Spaniards
should be erected at their harbor-bar; this was maintained with many
difficulties and little advantage, unless from the pearl-fishery,
which yielded many and valuable pearls. [88] The island of Joló abounds
in these, so that on the Dutch hydrographical maps they have given it
the name "Island of Pearls," on account of the many fine pearls which
the Joloans sent in those years to Nueva Batavia by ambassadors from
their king, asking their alliance, and aid against the Spaniards. The
Dutch granted them protection, those valuable gifts arousing in them
greater desires for profit--although afterward the first aid that they
furnished the Joloans cost them very dear. But in this year of 1641
the Joloans had a fortunate opportunity for recouping themselves for
past expenses, with a mass of amber [89] as large as an ox's body,
which the sea cast up on their shores, which yielded them great
profits, and increased the reputation of their island. This sort
of find is usually very frequent in those islands, since they are
beaten by many currents which flow from the archipelago; and thus goes
drifting on the waves what the sea hurls from its abysses, along with
other debris, under the fury of the wind--this so precious substance,
whether it be the excrement or vomit of whales, or a reaba which the
sea produces in its depths. But in Joló it is apt to be more often
found, because those islands are scattered and their coasts prolonged
for many leguas opposite many currents and channel-mouths. And for
this reason some amber is usually found in Capul, an island beaten by
so many currents--as the ships which come on the return from Nueva
España know by experience--and also in Guiguan and on the beaches
of Antique. Near Punta de Naso the sea cast up, in the year 1650,
an enormous piece of amber, although it had not the fine quality and
excellence of that which comes from Japón. (Diaz's Conquistas, p. 447.)
[For several years after Corcuera's expedition against the Mindanaos
(1637), various military operations were conducted in that island
by the Spanish forces, notably under Pedro de Almonte. Corralat and
other Moro chiefs were sufficiently reduced to render them nominally
peaceful; but they formed various plots and conspiracies against the
Spaniards, and, on the other hand, these availed themselves of the
jealousies and personal interests of the Mindanao chiefs to separate
them and neutralize their efforts. The foolish arrogance of a Spanish
officer, Matías de Marmolejo, caused an attack on his detachment by
Corralat and Manaquior; all the Spaniards save Marmolejo and six
others were slain (June 1, 1642), including the Jesuit Bartolomé
Sánchez, and the survivors were captured by Corralat. But when
Corcuera heard of this encounter he was so angry that he ordered
Marmolejo to be ransomed and afterwards to be beheaded in the plaza
at Zamboanga, for disobedience to his orders. He also ordered that
the fort at La Sabanilla be demolished, and the men there be sent
to punish Corralat, which was done. That chief, to revenge himself,
intrigued with the people of Basilan to secure possession of the
Spanish fort there; but its little garrison defended it against the
Moro fleet until aid could be sent them from Zamboanga. As soon as
Diego Fajardo became governor of the Philippines in Corcuera's place,
he endeavored to secure peace in Mindanao, and finally (June 24,
1645) a treaty of peace was signed by Corralat and his leading chiefs,
and Francisco de Atienza and the Jesuit Alejandro López. This treaty
settled questions of mutual alliance, of boundaries of possessions,
of trade, of ransom of captives, and of freedom for the ministrations
of Jesuit missionaries. Christian captives in Corralat's domain should
be ransomed at the following rates; "for men and women, in the prime
of life, and in good health, each forty pesos; for those who were more
youthful, thirty pesos; for aged and sick persons, twenty pesos; for
children at the breast, ten pesos." In this very year Salicala, son
of the king of Joló, had gone to Batavia to seek aid from the Dutch;
the latter sent some armed vessels, which cannonaded the Spanish fort
at Joló for three days, but finally were obliged to depart without
having accomplished anything. This occurrence increased Fajardo's
anxiety in regard to the cost and danger incurred in attempting to
maintain three forts in Joló; and he sent orders to Atienza, commandant
at Zamboanga, to withdraw the garrisons from Joló and demolish those
forts--an embarrassing command, since both Joloans and Dutch were
then making raids among the northern islands. Both Fajardo and Atienza
relied on the Jesuit Alejandro Lopez to bring about the pacification
of both the Mindanaos and the Joloans, a task which he accomplished so
successfully that on April 14, 1646, a treaty was signed, by Atienza
and Lopez, [90] with Raya Bongso of Joló (the same who, with his wife
Tuambaloca, was conquered by Corcuera's troops in 1638) and the envoys
of Corralat. Combés gives the full text of both this and the former
treaty. A Dutch fleet attempted to make a landing near Zamboanga,
but were repulsed by the Spaniards with much loss. Corralat and
Moncay came to hostilities, and the former implored the aid of the
Spaniards; Atienza sent an armed force to succor Corralat, and Moncay
fled. Salicala of Joló and Panguian Cachilo of Guimba undertook (1648)
to raid the Visayan Islands; but the latter was attacked and slain by
a Spanish squadron, which so intimidated Salicala that he hastened
back to Joló. Meanwhile, a notable event occurred in Mindanao, the
conversion of Corralat's military commander, Ugbu, to the Christian
faith--which of course tended to strengthen the ties between Corralat
and the Spaniards; and Ugbu afterward rendered them efficient service
in the Palapag insurrection, which caused his death. Salicala died
(1649) and his parents, Bongso and Tuambaloca, were thus able to
maintain the peace which they had established with the Spaniards; that
queen afterward left Joló, retiring to Basilan. Moncay also died, soon
afterward, and was succeeded in Buhayen by Balatamay, a Manobo chief
who had married Moncay's daughter; he joined Corralat in alliance
with the Spaniards. In January, 1649, Pedro Duran de Monforte went
with an armed fleet to northeastern Borneo, to punish its people
for aiding the Joloans in their raids; the Spaniards plundered
several villages, burned three hundred caracoas, and carried away
two hundred captives. The expedition was accompanied by Jesuits, who
afterward opened successful missions in Borneo. The insurrection of
1649-50 spread to Joló and Mindanao, but was quelled by the Spaniards
(see Vol. XXXVIII). (Combés, Hist. Mindanao, col. 269-348, 425-498;
Murillo Velarde, Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 149-153. Cf. Concepción,
Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 205-281; Montero y Vidal, Hist. piratería,
i, pp. 182-189, 212-231.)]
[In 1653 Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara succeeded to the government of
the Philippines.] One of his first undertakings was to establish peace
with the ruler of Mindanao, Cachil Corralat, whom it was expedient to
assure for the sake of the tranquillity of the Pintados Islands--which
were more exposed than the others to the incursions of their armed
fleets, since Manila had not enough soldiers and vessels with which
our people could go forth to hinder the operations of the Moros. The
governor sent as his ambassador Captain Don Diego de Lemus, and Father
Francisco Lado of the Society of Jesus, who were very kindly received
by the Moros; and he gave them to understand that no one desired
peace more than he did, since the warning was still fresh that had
been given him by the war which was waged against him by Governor Don
Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera in person--which had obliged Corralat
to wander as a fugitive through the lands of his enemy the king of
Buhayen, exposed to many perils. It seems as if the desire which
Corralat showed to maintain the peace might be regarded as sincere;
for if he had chosen to avail himself of the opportunity afforded by
the past years, when all our forces and power were fully occupied in
resisting the cruel invasions of the Dutch, without doubt he could
have made great ravages in the villages of the Pintados Islands;
and therefore this must be attributed to an especial providence
of the divine mercy. All [these dealings with the envoys] were
cunning measures of the shrewd Moro to lull [91] our vigilance with
feigned appearances of peace, for never was he further from pursuing
it--partly through greed for the booty of slaves, a great part of
which belonged to him; partly because his captains and other persons
interested in these piratical raids persuaded him to avail himself
of the opportunity furnished by the weakness of our forces. Corralat
determined to renew his former hostile acts, and began by preparing
vessels and supplies; and in order to cover up better his damnable
intention, he sent to the governor of Manila an ambassador to confirm
the peace. This man was called Banua, and was no less fraudulent than
Simon the Greek. On the route he left many tokens of this; for in the
village of Tunganan, among the Subanos, he treated very contemptuously
[92] the father minister, Miguel Pareja of the Society of Jesus--who,
as the pious religious that he was, turned the other cheek, as the
gospel commands. Banua arrived at Manila in the year of 1655, where he
discharged very well his office as ambassador, and even better that
of spy--and well he knew his double trade; for among other things
he demanded that restitution be made to Corralat of some Mindanao
slaves, and of the pieces of artillery which Don Sebastian Hurtado de
Corcuera had taken from him in war; but this and other petitions of
the ambassador had no satisfactory issue. Banua returned [to Mindanao],
and Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara despatched to accompany him Captain
Don Claudio de Rivera, and Father Alejandro Lopez of the Society
of Jesus, who went with holy zeal for establishing in Mindanao the
preaching of the true faith. They arrived at Zamboanga, where they
had sufficient warnings of the danger to which they were going; but
with fearless courage they continued their journey until they reached
Corralat. He received them without any of the ostentation usual for
an embassy, but rather with frowns and displeasure; and when he read
the letters from the governor of Manila--which were excellent for an
occasion in which our strength might be greater, but the present time
demanded shrewder dissimulation--the Moro king was much disturbed,
and displayed extreme anger. The end of this embassy (of which an
excellent account is given by Father Francisco Combés in his Historia
de Mindanao, book viii, chap. 3) was that Corralat ordered his nephew
Balatamay to slay Father Alejandro Lopez and his associate, Father
Juan de Montiel, and Captain Claudio de Rivera. [93] Corralat sent
the letters of the governor to the kings of Joló and of Ternate,
to incite them to make common cause in defense of their profession
as Mahometans, but they did not choose to risk breaking the peace;
on the contrary, the king of Ternate handed over the letters to the
governor of our forts there, Francisco de Esteybar, who restored them
to the governor of Manila. (Diaz, Conquistas, pp. 549-551.)
Corralat, fearing the vengeance of the Spaniards, wrote to the governor
of Zamboanga throwing the responsibility for what had occurred on his
nephew Balatamay, whom he could not chastise on account of the latter
being so powerful. He also wrote to Manrique de Lara, attributing the
deaths of the Jesuits and other Spaniards to imprudent acts committed
by Father López, and entreated the governor that, mutually forgiving
injuries, affairs might remain as they had previously been. But
his complicity in the event came to be discovered, through another
letter directed in June, 1656, to the sultan of Joló, exhorting
the latter to unite with him for defending the religion which both
professed. The Joloan monarch sent his letter to the governor of
Zamboanga in order to demonstrate his loyalty. Similar assistance
was solicited by Corralat from the Dutch and from the sovereigns of
Macasar and Ternate; and to the latter, in order to stimulate him
more, he sent the original letter of Manrique de Lara, presenting
the question under the religious aspect only--a letter which the
Spanish governor of Ternate was able to recover, and he sent it to
its author. The captain-general of Filipinas, not considering his
forces sufficient for waging war on the powerful sultan of Mindanao,
notified the governor of Zamboanga [94] to accept Corralat's excuses
as sufficient until he could ascertain whether reënforcements were
arriving from Nueva España and they could avenge so many injuries.
The sultan, seeing that his insolent conduct did not receive the
energetic and effectual punishment that it deserved, gained new
courage, and sent out his people to make raids through the coasts of
Zamboanga and Basilan--terminating the campaign by looting Tanganan,
where they took captive the headman of that village, named Ampi,
and twenty-three persons besides. In the Calamianes Islands also the
Mindanaos committed horrible ravages. The governor of the Moluccas, Don
Francisco de Esteybar, received orders to go to Zamboanga, conferring
upon him, besides the command of the said post, the office of governor
and captain-general of all the southern provinces of Filipinas. On the
second of December of the said year 1656 he arrived at Zamboanga. When
this valiant chief was informed of what had occurred, and learned that
the pirates were equipping at Simuay [River] a squadron to invade the
Visayas, he declared war on Corralat, without stopping to consider
whether his forces were inferior or not to those of the enemy, trusting
to the courage of his followers and the justice of his cause for the
issue of the undertaking. In this document he ordered that ten caracoas
should set out, under command of Don Fernando de Bobadilla; and these
vessels went to sea on December 30. This commander detached Admiral
Don Pedro de Viruega at the village of Sosocon, and Sargento-mayor Don
Félix de Herrera at Point Taguima. Through his spies, Corralat knew of
the departure of the squadron, and declined to send his boats against
the Spanish armada; and during twenty days Bobadilla waited in vain
for the pirate vessels. During this time the dato of Sibuguey, Mintun,
went to Zamboanga, offering the aid of his people against Corralat,
perhaps in order not to be the leader in paying for the losses of
the war. It was reported that the sultan had sent four vessels to the
village of that chief for rice, and Bobadilla set out to intercept this
convoy (January 2, 1657). On arriving at La Silanga, [95] two small
caracoas went ahead to reconnoiter the place; these boats conquered
a large vessel; but their crews intimidated the Lutaos who were in
the Spanish ship, telling them that they would soon be destroyed by
Corralat, who was expected in Mintun with fifteen vessels. As the
Lutaos of Bobadilla's squadron were inclined toward the sultan, or
were afraid of falling into his power, they threatened the commandant
that they would abandon the field when the battle was at its height,
if the Spaniards compelled them to fight against Corralat. In view
of this, Bobadilla was obliged to return to Zamboanga, losing so
propitious an opportunity to avenge the wicked perfidy of the old
sultan. Nevertheless, he seized a considerable number of small boats,
full of rice, and forty captives. The sultan, now a declared enemy,
and attributing to our weakness the failure to punish the murder of
the ambassadors, commanded his squadrons to commit piracies, under the
command of Prince Balatamay. That deceitful Moro, after committing
the most outrageous acts of violence in Marinduque and Mindoro,
returned to Mindanao with a multitude of captives and very rich spoils.
While Balatamay was raiding the above-mentioned islands, a splendid
squadron sailed from Cavite by order of the governor-general,
in command of an officer whose name is not told in the histories,
from whom brilliant conduct was expected, to judge from the valor
of which he boasted in drawing-rooms; but, far from fulfilling his
duty, he lingered in Balayan under pretext of securing supplies of
rice, and then in Mindoro, carrying out his cowardly purpose of not
encountering the Moros, notwithstanding that the forces under his
command were more than sufficient to destroy the pirates. To the end
that he might operate in conjunction with the said squadron, Esteybar
ordered Alférez Luis de Vargas to scour the coasts of Mindanao; but
as the commander of the squadron failed to carry out the instructions
that he had received, Vargas, as he could not find him, confined his
efforts to burning a village on the bay of Simuay, where he seized
several captives. Bobadilla reduced to ashes the old capital of
Corralat, Lamitan, its inhabitants having fled to the woods. Also
in the said year of 1657 the dato Salicala of Mindanao scoured the
seas with his squadron; the natives in consternation abandoned their
villages without daring to resist him, and he carried away as captives
more than a thousand Indians--his audacity going so far that he sailed
into the bay of Manila.
Esteybar then equipped a small squadron of caracoas and vintas, which
departed from Zamboanga on January 1, 1658, resolved to chastise
the pirate severely. He spread the report that they were going to
Sibuguey. He reached that river in seven days and, placing part
of his forces in charge of Sargento-mayor Itamarren, he destroyed
the village of Namucan, and at Luraya burned many boats. Four pilans
captured the joanga which had carried Father López to Simuay, manned by
Moros from Mintun. Suddenly changing his course, he took the route to
Punta de Flechas, in order to go to the capital of Corralat, but sent
beforehand thirty Spaniards, with Captain Don Pedro de Viruega, to the
district of Butig. Its chief Matundin, at the head of five hundred men,
was defeated, the grain-fields ravaged, and the village reduced to
ashes. The tilled land of this district was exceedingly rich, since
it is the principal source of supply for rice in Mindanao. Great
damage was also done in La Sabanilla by Captain Don Juan González
Carlete. On the nineteenth of January the squadron encountered a large
Dutch ship surrounded by some pirate vessels. Esteybar attempted to
secure a free passage without bringing on a contest, to which end he
hoisted a white flag; but the commander of the Dutch ship displayed
a red flag, firing all his cannon against the Spanish vessels. Then,
without heeding the superiority of the enemy, Bobadilla came against
the ship, all his men rowing as hard as they could; and Esteybar
attacked it at the stern. The Spaniards then were going to board the
ship with a rush, when a ball fired from the vessel of Esteybar set
on fire the Santa Barbara [i.e., powder-magazine] of the Dutch ship,
thus blowing it into pieces. Only twenty-four of its crew survived,
and these were drawn out of the sea and made prisoners. Esteybar
continued his voyage to Simuay, the bar of which was fortified with
heavy stockades; moreover, at its ends were two forts, garrisoned
by Malays, Macassars, and Dutchmen. This did not frighten Esteybar,
and he made preparations to capture the posts of the enemy, in spite
of advice to the contrary from his captains. While he was deciding
the best method of accomplishing this, he passed with his squadron
to the river of Buhayen, sending in by one of its entrances the
valiant Bobadilla with some vessels, and by the other Sargento-mayor
Itamarren. The former sacked the villages and ravaged the grain-fields
of Tannil and Tabiran, the latter those of Lumapuc and Buhayen; they
destroyed a powerful armada which had been prepared for raiding the
islands, and carried away as spoil many versos, muskets, campilans,
crises, and all kinds of weapons.
In the village of Buhayen resided Prince Hamo, son of Moncay,
from whom the kingdom had been usurped; he mounted a white flag
and a cross above his house, being desirous of forming an alliance
with the Spaniards, but they, being warned by experience with the
treasons of the Moros, continued the hostilities, without attaching
any importance to that signal. While they constructed rafts with which
to attack the fortress of Corralat, Captain Antonio de Palacios went
to destroy the village of Tampacan and its environs; and Adjutant
Antonio Vázquez disembarked with orders to cut off the retreat of
the enemy's spies. These were twenty in number, thoroughly armed;
Vázquez rushed upon them, and at the first encounter killed five
and wounded six of them, and the rest were shot to death in the
woods. Esteybar returned to the bar of Buhayen; he knew that at a
day's journey from there was a village of Lutaos, called Maolo, and,
desirous to chastise that settlement and obtain information about that
coast, he sent Sargento-mayor Itamarren--who, finding it deserted,
set fire to the village, killed four Moros, and captured two others,
the only ones who waited for the attack.
Notwithstanding these provocations, and others that were directly
offered to Corralat in the environs of his fortifications, it was
impossible to draw him out into the open country. Having constructed a
number of rafts, on which were placed pieces of artillery, the governor
went aboard the largest of them, and with the aid of the vessels
cannonaded the fort of Corralat for the space of four hours, but he
defended it well. It was evident that the difficulties of assaulting
it were insuperable, and that the artillery was operating with but
little result, on account of the condition of the sea; accordingly it
was decided to retire to the bar of Buhayen. The squadron went to La
Sabanilla on the seventeenth of February; here Esteybar received orders
to return to Molucas, and he proceeded to Zamboanga. Notwithstanding
the well-known valor of this chief, and the injuries inflicted on the
Moros during the two months of the campaign, this retreat gave much
satisfaction to Corralat, since it freed him from [the danger of]
going as a wanderer through the hills, as on previous occasions.
The valiant Esteybar had been replaced as governor of the military
post of Zamboanga by Don Fernando de Bobadilla--a chief no less
courageous and resolute--with the same titles and preeminences as the
former. Corralat, in order better to secure his dominions against the
aggressions of the Spaniards, made Namu, king of Buhayen, establish
a fort at the mouth of the river, the opposite shore of which was
likewise fortified by Corralat; he entrusted to Marundin the defense
of the bar of Simuay, and to the Basilan chiefs Ondol and Boto the
construction of a fortification at the entrance of the estuary of
Zamboanga. Don Diego Zarria Lazcano took the place of Bobadilla,
the former remaining at the head of the armada.
The datos Linao and Libot of Joló, and Sacahati of Tawi-Tawi, with
thirteen vessels, scoured the coasts of Bohol, Leyte, and Masbate. Near
Luban they put to death father Fray Antonio de San Agustin, who on
account of his ailments could not retreat to the interior of that
island as did the rest who were going with him in their vessel. A
squadron sailed from Manila in command of Don Pedro Duran de Monforte;
they went to Luban, Mindoro, Panay, and Gigantes without discovering
the pirates, and returned to the capital. The Moros were able to
return to Joló with many spoils and eighty captives; but the sultan
of that island sent back the said captives, in order to prove that he
desired peace with the Spaniards. (Montero y Vidal. Hist. piratería,
i, pp. 236-244. Cf. Combés, Hist. Mindanao, col. 533-549, 570-587.)
Great were the calamities suffered by the Filipinas Islands in these
years of 1657 and 58, which might have occasioned their entire ruin,
if divine Providence had not manifestly preserved them, at the
expense of miracles and prodigies. Even the arrogance of the Dutch
recognized this, when they saw their proud forces humiliated by the
unequal strength of ours; and it was acknowledged by the inhabitants
of these islands, recognizing the divine clemency. In the former of
those years the scourge of divine justice was the great armada of
Mindanao corsairs, which, commanded by Salicala, a Moro of much valor,
infested the Pintados Islands; and their insolence went so far that
they came in sight of the great bay of Manila. The poor natives who
groaned under the yoke of captivity to these pirates amounted to more
than a thousand; and as it was impossible for most of them to furnish
ransom for their persons, they usually died as slaves of the Moros. I
have not been able to learn the reason why no assistance was given
to deliver them by going out to find those pirates--although I do
not believe that it was the absence of compassion in Governor Don
Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, but rather his lack of means, and his
being engrossed with more pressing affairs. This was followed by the
plagues of innumerable locusts, which, laying waste the fields, made
general havoc, occasioning the famine which was the worst enemy of
the poor; this was followed by its inseparable companion, pestilence,
which made great ravages with a general epidemic of smallpox. (Diaz,
Conquistas, p. 556.)
General Don Agustin de Cepeda went to Zamboanga as governor (June
16, 1659), without any events worthy of mention occurring during the
time while he exercised that office; afterward he went to assume the
government of Molucas. He who took his place [96] experienced great
annoyances with the Jesuits, who in their histories relate in great
detail how much he tried to injure their interests; but Don Fernando
Bobadilla was again charged with the government of Zamboanga (February
15, 1662).
The authorities and citizens of Manila were the victims in May, 1662,
of a fearful panic, on account of the claim by the powerful Chinese
pirate Kue-Sing that the little realm of Filipinas should render
him homage and be declared his tributary, under penalty of his going
with his squadrons to destroy the Spaniards--as he had done with the
Dutch, expelling them from Formosa. This embassy, which was brought to
Manila by the Dominican father Fray Victorio Ricci, and the consequent
indignation against the Chinese, were the origin of an insurrection
by those who resided in Manila, which was subdued; and the conference
of authorities resolved to expel them from the country and repel
by force of arms the aggression of Kue-Sing--the governor-general
making ready great armaments, and whatever preparations for defense
seemed to him necessary that he might come out victorious from the
tremendous danger that threatened the island.
But the most important and most far-reaching of the measures
adopted by the council at which Manrique de Lara presided was the
abandonment of the advantageous post of Zamboanga--the advanced
sentinel of our domination over the coasts inhabited by the fierce
Malay Mahometans--and those of La Sabanilla, Calamianes, and Iligan
(which were also important in the highest degree), with the intention
of concentrating in Manila all the forces which garrisoned those posts
(May 6). This notification caused, among the Spanish subjects of those
lands, or it may be among the Lutaos, profound sorrow and the utmost
fear. They complained bitterly of the unprotected state in which they
were left, remaining exposed to the vengeance of the Moros--who no
longer could consider them as belonging to their race, and bore a
mortal hatred to them for having become Christians. [97] These just
complaints, and the knowledge of the damages which would result from
the withdrawal of the Spanish forces, impelled the governor of the
fort, Don Fernando Bobadilla, and the learned Father Combés to entreat
the governor-general to revoke his mandate, both explaining to him the
very cogent and strong reasons which prompted their advice. The news
that the Spaniards were involved in so tremendous a conflict encouraged
the Joloans to repeat once more their terrible incursions. The datos
of Joló, Tawi-Tawi, Lacay-Lacay, and Tuptup, equipped sixty vessels,
and, dividing their forces into several small squadrons, sacked and
burned the villages of Poro, Baybay, Sogor, Cabalian, Basey, Dangajon,
Guinobatan, and Capul. They killed Captain Gabriel de la Peña; they
captured an official of the same class, Ignacio de la Cueva, and the
Jesuit father Buenaventura Barcena; they went even to the mountains
in pursuit of the religious; and all the Indians whom they caught
they carried away as captives to their own country, killing many of
all ages and classes.
The governor-general of the islands sent a squadron to pursue the
pirates, but they accomplished nothing. From Zamboanga Adjutant
Francisco Alvarez went out alone to encounter them; he captured the
caracoa of the pirate Gani, a relative of Salé, and of thirty captives
whom the latter was carrying away. Alvarez freed twenty-two--afterward
going to an island of Joló, where he captured twelve Moros. Bobadilla,
in answer to his message, on November 8 received pressing orders to
return to Manila without loss of time, the governor yielding so far
as to allow that he might leave in the fortress of Zamboanga at most
fifty Spaniards. This was equivalent to condemning those unfortunates
to a sure death, and the Jesuit fathers protested against it, saying
that necessarily they would incur the same fate; but finally the
supreme authority of the islands decided upon the total abandonment
of the posts above mentioned. Nevertheless Bobadilla, with the object
of encouraging the Lutaos and leading the Moros to believe that he
was not abandoning the post, sent in pursuit of them Don Juan de
Morales Valenzuela, with two caracoas, to the islands called "Orejas
de Liebre," on January 2, 1663; but on the fourth of the same month
he received a new and more positive order from the captain-general,
dated October 11, that without delay or any excuse he must abandon
Zamboanga. At sight of this, Bobadilla warned Morales that the
withdrawal must be made, as was done on the seventh--as promptly as
possible fulfilling the said imperious mandate, convinced that it
was now altogether impossible to oppose so plain a decision.
The governor of Zamboanga made a solemn surrender of the fort to the
master-of-camp of the Lutao natives, Don Alonso Macombon, receiving
from him an oath of fidelity to hold it for the king of España
and defend it from his enemies; but Don Alonso refused to include
among these the sultan of Mindanao, on the pretext that he had not
sufficient strength to oppose the dreaded Corralat. The governor,
fearing his defection, did not leave him any artillery. The Jesuits
also surrendered to Macombon their houses and churches, carrying away
the images, ornaments, chalices, and books; and six thousand Christians
remained in Zamboanga exposed to the rage of the Mahometans. Some
Lutaos, although not many, decided to go to the province of Cebú,
or to that of Dapitan; others scattered through Joló or Mindanao in
search of safety, returning to their former religion.
The abandonment of our military posts in Mindanao was, although it is
excused by the embarrassed condition of the capital of the islands,
an exceedingly imprudent measure, since, in order to provide for an
uncertain danger, the Visayan Islands were left exposed to another
which was more immediate and real--to say nothing of the retrogression
that must necessarily result to our domination among the natives
of Mindanao, where at that time over seventy thousand Christians
lived. The pirate who could cause such a panic in the authorities of
Manila, and occasioned so great losses to the undertaking of subduing
the Mahometan Malay pirates, died without carrying out his threats.
During the government of Don Juan de Vargas (1679), the sultan of
Borneo sent an embassy to ask that mercantile dealings might be
established with Filipinas; and Vargas in his turn sent another
and a very distinguished one, headed by Sargento-mayor Don Juan
Morales de Valenzuela. In 1701 occurred in the south of Filipinas
an event as tragic as unusual. The sultan of Joló went to visit
the ruler of Mindanao, for greater ostentation taking with him as
escort a squadron composed of sixty-seven vessels. At sight of such a
retinue the sultan of Mindanao, Cutay [98] (the successor of the noted
Corralat), feared that the other had designs that were not peaceable,
and commanded that the mouth of the river should be closed; but the
sultan of Joló, offended thereat, dared the other to a personal
combat. This challenge was accepted, and the two sultans engaged
in a hand-to-hand contest, so fierce that each slew the other; and
immediately war was kindled between the two peoples. The Joloans,
breaking down the stakes which closed the river, retired to their
own island with many weapons and spoils. The new ruler of Mindanao
asked aid from the governor of Manila, Don Domingo Zubálburu; but
the latter advised that they should lay aside their dissensions,
and for that purpose sent the Jesuit Father Antonio de Borja, who
was able to attain his object. (Montero y Vidal, Hist. piratería, i,
pp. 244-252. Cf. Combés, Hist. Mindanao, col. 610-640.)
The king of Joló, on the contrary, had for many years maintained peace
and friendly relations with the Spaniards, much to the resentment of
his chiefs and captains, who derived much more profit from hostile
raids than from trade and peace; therefore by means of their
confidential agents they spread the report that the king of Joló
was talking of sending an armed fleet of twenty joangas to plunder
these islands. The principal author of this was a Joloan named Linao,
who was on intimate terms with the Spaniards, and a Guimbano named
Palía. But the king of Joló was very far from thinking of such changes,
and it would have been better for us if we had not so readily believed
it. At this information Don Fernando de Bobadilla despatched his armada
against Joló, under General Don Pedro de Viruega; but when he reached
that island he found that the story that they had spread abroad against
the king was false, and Don Pedro, having talked with him, went back
to Zamboanga well satisfied of his peaceable attitude. But it was not
long before the former rumors against the king of Joló were again
current; the author of them was Linao, who desired a rupture [with
the Spaniards], so that he with other pirates might go out on raids
against these islands--in which enterprise he was more interested
than in the peace of his king. This plan he carried out in company
with two others, Libot and Sacahati, who went cruising with several
vessels and did much damage in the islands of Pintados and Masbate,
until they reached the Limbones; [99] from that place they chased the
corregidor of Mariveles, and captured the provincial of our discalced
Augustinian religious and those who were accompanying him, on his
return from visiting the Christian villages of Bolinao--although these
persons escaped by jumping ashore. But there was one who could not do
this, father Fray Antonio de las Misas (also a discalced Augustinian),
who was coming from Cuyo and Calamianes to visit those convents. This
religious might with good reason be regarded as a martyr; for with
his blood only were the hands of the renegade Linao stained, as he
spared the lives of all the rest in his greed for ransom. Although
the pirates knew that the ransom of this religious promised them more
profit [than that of an ordinary captive], their hatred to the faith
prevailed over their greed, which in these barbarians is great. This
opinion is confirmed by the cruelty with which they treated an image
of Our Lady of the People, which this religious was wearing, on which
they used their crises with furious rage. This religious was an old
man, and greatly esteemed for his virtue; and in the order he had held
positions of honor--prior of the convent at Manila, vicar-provincial
of Cebú, and other posts in Caraga. He had a brother, a lay member of
the Society of Jesus in these islands, who also suffered the same kind
of death at the hands of the barbarous pirates called Camucones--a
nation as cruel as cowardly, two qualities which always go together.
Great was the injury which these pirates inflicted on the islands,
and although the alcalde-mayor of Balayan went out against them
with some armed vessels they could not be found, either by him or
by some other vessels which went from Manila for this purpose with a
considerable force of men, on account of the adroitness with which the
Moros concealed themselves, avoiding an encounter--to such an extent
that the belief was current in Manila that these were not outside
enemies, but insurgent Indians of the country, until a Spaniard
who had been seized by the enemy at the shoals of Mindoro made his
escape from them, and his account undeceived the people of Manila. The
governor despatched an armed fleet in command of Admiral Pedro Durán
de Monforte, a soldier of long experience, but this remedy came too
late; for the pirates, satiated with burning villages, plundering,
and taking captives, had returned to their own country. Accordingly
the armada, having vainly scouted along Lubán, Mindoro, and Panay,
returned to Manila, having accomplished nothing save the expenses
which were caused for the royal exchequer, which is the paymaster
for these and other cases of negligence.
The distrust which was felt regarding the maintenance of the peace by
the king of Joló perhaps occasioned anger that he had not prevented
these injuries; but he, knowing that if he did not make amends it
would be a cause for justifiable hostilities, sent an embassy to the
governor (who was Don Diego Sarria Lazcano), exonerating himself and
promising to chastise Linao, Libot, and Sacahati; this he did, and many
captives were restored, which was no slight [amends]. King Corralat
raised his false alarms, as he was wont to do when that suited him,
and also made some trifling raids through the agency of the people of
Sibuguey, and threatened the Zebuans at Dapitán. But all became quiet
when the office of governor of those coasts was assumed (June 16, 1659)
by Don Agustín de Cepeda, a great soldier--who died in decrepit old
age as master-of-camp of these Filipinas. Corralat knew, much to his
sorrow, the valor of this able officer, and therefore did not dare to
anger him, content that the Spaniards should leave him in peace. Don
Agustín, as a prudent man, determined to try measures to secure peace;
and, conferences having been held, those measures were carried out,
with very advantageous arrangements for our forces.
The frequent raids of these Moro pirates, both Mindanaos and Joloans,
were one of the greatest hardships which these Filipinas Islands
suffered through many continuous years; they were the scourge of the
natives of the islands of Pintados and Camarines, Tayabas, and Mindoro,
as being nearest to the danger and most weak for defense. These
people paid with their beloved liberty for our neglect to defend
them--not always deserving of blame, on account of the mutations of the
times. Few Spaniards have been the prey of these vile thieves, except
some who were very incautious; but amends have been made for these
by many religious and some secular priests, ministers in the Indian
villages, who have suffered rigorous captivities and cruel deaths. No
small amount of expenditure has fallen on the royal exchequer; for
those pirates have caused innumerable expenses in armed fleets, most
of them useless because the news of the loss did not reach us until
the pirates were returning unhurt to their own lands. At times it has
given even the governors and captains-general of these islands plenty
to do in defending them from these pilfering thieves, as we saw in
the first part of this history, in the case of Don Sebastián Hurtado
de Corcuera and others. All the life of Cachil Corralat--which was a
very long one, for it exceeded ninety years--and that of his father
Bahisan kept our vigilance continually on the alert, and caused us
to found and maintain the fortified posts of Zamboanga, Sabanilla,
Malanao, and others--which caused so much expense and no profits;
for the forts defend only a small space, and the sea has many roads,
and thus they did not hinder the Moro fleets from sallying forth
whenever they chose. Moreover, Corralat had all the Lutaos for spies,
on account of their great reverence for him, and because they were
in secret as much Mahometans as himself; for never is a Lutao found
who has not been circumcised, or one who eats pork--and it is this
which constitutes their Mahometanism, as also having many wives and
being enemies of Christians; for in other respects they are atheists,
and do not know what the Koran is or what it contains. And, as I have
heard from military men who have experience in these wars, the only
restraint upon these Joloan and Mindanao enemies is in armed fleets,
which go to search for them in their homes and inflict on them all
the damage they can, without going inland; for the Spaniards will not
find any one there on whom to avenge themselves, since the inhabitants
are safe in their thick forests and on impregnable heights.
After so many years of misfortunes the divine mercy took pity on these
poor natives, on whom the cruelty and greed of the Moros had so long
fattened, selecting as an agent the very Corralat who had been the
cause of the past havoc. With old age and experience he came to see the
injury which was resulting to his people (and most of all to the kings
of Mindanao) from having enemies so valiant as the Spaniards had proved
to be; and therefore while he lived he maintained peace with Manila,
with friendly relations and the benefit of commerce on both sides. And
when his death arrived, which was at the end of the year 1671, he left
his nephew and heir, Balatamay, strictly charged to keep the peace,
with heavy curses and imprecations, according to their custom; and his
people obeyed him so well that for a long time no raid was heard of;
nor was there any by the Camucones, who are subject to Borney. The
king of Joló, Paguián, has preserved the same peace and friendship;
for all the Moro tribes of these regions reverenced Corralat as if he
were Mahoma himself. For he was a Moro of great courage, intelligence,
and sagacity, besides being exceedingly zealous for his accursed sect,
and a great sorcerer--for all of which he probably has met condign
punishment. (Diaz, Conquistas, pp. 564-567.)
The governor [i.e., Manuel de León, in 1674] commanded Juan Canosa
Raguses, a skilful builder of lateen-rigged vessels, to construct two
galleys; these sailed very straight and light, and did good service in
frightening away the Camucones, pilfering and troublesome pirates, who
in most years infested the Pintados Islands with pillaging and seizure
of captives. These are a barbarous, cruel, and cowardly people, and
they cannot have one of these traits without the others. They inhabit
a chain of small islands, which extend from Paragua to Borney; some
of them are Mahometans and others heathens. They have done much harm
to the islands of Bisayas, which they ravaged quite at their ease--so
much so that in the year 1672 they carried away the alcalde-mayor, Don
José de San Miguel, as we have mentioned elsewhere. They have a great
advantage in the extreme swiftness of their vessels, which enables them
to find their defense in flight. Their confidence and boldness went so
far that they ventured to infest the coasts of Manila. The provincial,
Fray José Duque, while going to visit the convents in the islands
of Pintados, came very near being captured with his companion, Fray
Alvaro de Benavente; for they were attacked by a squadron of these
pirates near the island of Marinduque, where they would have been
a prey to Moro cruelty, if they had not been favored by the divine
kindness. [This acted] through the agency of Captain Francisco Ponce,
a veteran soldier, who killed the captain and another of the pirates;
and also of a sudden wind, which gave wings to the champan for placing
itself in safety. With the building of these galleys the Camucones were
inspired with such terror that for many years they did not venture
to sally out for their usual raids, so much in safety as before. The
first time, Sargento-mayor Pedro Lozano went out to scour the seas
through which the Camucones might come to make their raids. In the
following year, Captain Don José de Novoa went out--a brave Galician,
the encomendero of Gapang--and as commander of the second galley
Captain Simón de Torres, an able soldier from Maluco; and they scoured
the coasts of Mindanao, committing some acts of hostility, their sole
object therein being to cause more terror than harm. And thus it was,
that with the fear which those piratical tribes had conceived of the
galleys neither Joloans, Mindanaos, nor Camucones dared, so long as
these lasted, to commit their former ravages. The same thing occurs
whenever there are galleys, even though they do not go out to sea and
are shut up in the port of Cavite. It is therefore very expedient to
keep vessels of this sort, in order to be free from the invasions of
those pirates. In view of this, Governor Don Domingo de Zabálburu built
two other galleys, which was the cause of the Joloans, Mindanaos, and
Camucones remaining, throughout his term of office, within their own
boundaries, although they had been in previous years, as we have seen,
a continual plague to these islands. (Diaz, Conquistas, p. 711.) [100]
NOTES
[1] Juan de Zarzuela was born in Argete on February 11, 1640. When
sixteen years old, he entered the Jesuit novitiate, and ten years later
went to the Philippines. He was rector at Iloilo, and vice-rector at
Cavite; rector and vice-rector at San José during seven years, and
procurator of the province during five; and filled other posts. He
died in Manila, May 27, 1706. (Murillo Velarde, fol 394 b.)
[2] A light sailing vessel, with one mast; a sloop. Cf. Dutch bylander,
a coasting vessel.
[3] Gaspar Marco was born in Biar, Valencia, January 25, 1660, and
became a Jesuit novice in 1682. Seven years later, he came to Manila,
and was for fifteen years procurator of the college there. After
filling other offices, he was sent as procurator of the province to
Madrid and Rome. He was taken ill in Spain, and died on September 8,
1716. (Murillo Velarde, fol. 406.)
[4] Paul Clain (originally Klein) was born at Agra, Bohemia, and
entered the Jesuit order September 14, 1669. In 1678 he went to Mexico,
and four years later to the Philippines; he there was rector in several
colleges, provincial, professor, and missionary. He died on August 30,
1717. (Sommervogel, ii, col. 1197.)
[5] Antonio Tuccio (misprinted Fuccio in our text) was born at
Messina, April 16, 1641, and became a Jesuit novice at the age of
seventeen. After completing his studies, he was a teacher during five
years; in 1672 went to the Philippines, where he was rector at Cavite
and Manila, and twice provincial. He died at Manila, February 4,
1716. (Sommervogel, viii, col. 265.)
[6] Guiuan is the name of a village and port on the extreme south
coast of Samar; it has a good anchorage for vessels, even in typhoons.
[7] Taclobo: the Tagálog name for the enormous shells of the giant
clam (Tridacna); they sometimes attain a length of five or six feet,
and weigh hundreds of pounds. The valves are frequently used for
baptismal fonts, and are sometimes burned to make lime. (Official
Handbook of the Philippines, part i, p. 153.)
[8] Full accounts of the earlier knowledge of these islands,
unsuccessful efforts to locate and discover them, and the organization
of a mission to go there for the conversion of the natives, are
given in Murillo Velarde's Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 375 b., 379;
and Concepción's Hist. de Philipinas, ix, pp. 151-171. Both these
writers use Clain's letter, more or less closely following his
account. Gregorio Miguel, in his Estudio sobre las Islas Carolinas
(Madrid, 1887), p. 32, cites a MS. at Sevilla, dated 1567, written by
Juan Martinez (see our Vol. II, pp. 149-150), to show that the Palaos
Islands were first seen in 1566, by the captain of the Spanish ship
"San Jerónimo," Pero Sanchez Pericón. It was not until 1710, however,
that they were actually discovered. The name Palaos (corrupted
to Pelew) was given them on account of the vessels, called paraos
(cf. Javanese prau), used by the natives. For description of the
islands, their people, and the customs and mode of life of these
natives, with a vocabulary of their language, see Miguel, ut supra,
pp. 32-60.
[9] Following is a translation of the title-page of this work:
"General history of the discalced religious of the Order of the
hermits of the great father and doctor of the Church, San Agustin,
of the congregation of España and of the Indias. Volume Four. By
Father Fray Pedro de San Francisco de Assis, pensioned lecturer,
calificador of the Holy Office, apostolic missionary, father of
the province of Aragon, ex-definitor-general, and chronicler of the
said congregation. Dedicated to St. Nicholas of Tolentino. Containing
three decades, extending from the year 1661 to that of 1690. Zaragoza;
printed by Francisco Moreno, in the year 1756."
[10] A sidenote at this point in the original is as follows: "Historia
de la Provincia del Santo Rosario, volume ii, book ii, chapter xv." The
reference is of course to Baltasar de Santa Cruz's book.
[11] A sidenote in the original refers to volume iii of the Recollect
History by Santa Theresa, Decade vii, book i, chapter iv, section vii,
folio 241, nos. 507-515. The Philippine portion of this book appears
in our Vol. XXXVI, pp. 113-188.
[12] Juan Polanco (not Palanco), was a native of the Burgos mountain
region, and professed in the Dominican convent of Valladolid, July 13,
1639. As he showed evident signs of a brilliant mind he was sent to the
college of San Gregorio of Valladolid, after graduating from which he
returned to the convent as lecturer in philosophy. Thence he went to
the convent of Trianos as master of students, but later joining the
Philippine mission arrived at those islands in 1658. Destined for
the instruction of the Chinese he was sent to the Chinese missions
as soon as he had mastered the language. His two years in China were
years of continual suffering, imprisonment, and torment. Recalled,
although against his will, to become procurator for his province in
Madrid and Rome, and to act as definitor in the general chapter, he
gave up his mission work. Always of a humble and obedient disposition,
when he was ordered to return immediately to Spain on one occasion
after he had just conducted a mission to Mexico, he obeyed without
hesitation, but he had scarcely reached the convent at Sevilla,
when he died, December 2, 1671. At the chapter held at Rome 1668,
he petitioned the beatification of the Japanese martyrs. See Reseña
biográfica, ii, pp. 1-3.
[13] A sidenote in the original at this point refers to the Chronicas
of San Antonio, i, book i, chapter xvii.
[14] A sidenote of the original reads: "All this appears from Father
Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio, ut supra, book ii, chapter xviii,
folio 364, and chapter xix, folio 372."
[15] A sidenote of the original refers to San Antonio, i, book i,
chapter lv, folio 220, and chapter lvii, folio 224.
[16] So called perhaps from the long robe probably worn by women who
were allowed to take partial vows.
[17] A sidenote at this point refers to Father Nieremberg's Oculta y
curiosa philosophia, last treatise, folio 431. This book is rightly
named Curiosa y oculta filosofia, and was published in two parts in
Madrid, 1643. Juan Eusebio Nieremberg was born in Madrid either in 1590
or 1595. His father was a Tyrolese, and his mother a Bavarian. Educated
at the university at Salamanca, he took the Jesuit habit in the same
city in 1614. He became known for his learning and ability and for
fourteen years filled the chair of natural history at the royal
school at Madrid, and for three years after that lectured on the
scriptures. At the same time he was held in high esteem as a confessor,
and was solicited by many prominent people as such. In 1642, he gave up
teaching entirely because of an attack of paralysis. His death occurred
at Madrid, April 7, 1658. He was the author of many works in Spanish
and Latin, some of which have been translated into French and Arabic,
and other languages. See Rose's New General Biographical Dictionary,
and Hoefer's Nouvelle Biographie générale.
[18] Sidenotes at this point in the original refer as follows:
"Volume i of this History [i.e., the volume by Andrés de San Nicolas,
for extract from which see our Vol. XXI], decade ii, chapter ix,
folio 452; volume iii [i.e., the volume by Diego de Santa Theresa,
from which appear extracts in Vol. XXXVI, pp. 113-188], marginal
numbers, 233, 257 et seq., 530 et seq., 540, 596, and 649."
[19] There is a a sidenote reference here in the original to Santa
Cruz's Historia, part ii, book i, chapter xxiii.
[20] A sidenote of the original refers here to Santa Theresa's
Historia, marginal numbers 649 and 651.
[21] See Vol. XL, p. 179, note 78.
[22] A sidenote here refers to Santa Theresa's Historia, no. 259 ff.
[23] The references in the margin at this point are to San Andrés's
Historia, folios 451, 452; Luis de Jesús's Historia, folios 39, 40,
44, 45, 70, 282, 284-295, and 353; Santa Theresa's Historia, marginal
numbers 250 ff., 366 ff., 519, 522, 534, 599, 603, 615-629, 646 ff.,
and 740 ff.
[24] Subhastación: literally, sale of goods at public auction.
[25] Our author also refers in sidenotes at this place to Luis de
Jesús's Historia, folios 45, 167 ff., 284-295, and 353; and to Santa
Theresa's Historia, marginal numbers 328, 522, 534, 648, 741, and 1153.
[26] A sidenote reference at this point reads: "See Volume iii of
this Historia [i.e., Santa Theresa's], marginal numbers 737-742."
[27] The reference is to volume i of the series of histories of
the Recollect order, the volume by Andrés de San Nicolás, decade 2,
chapter vi from folio 419.
[28] A reference here in the original is to Santa Cruz's Historia,
folio 499.
[29] A sidenote refers to San Antonio's Chronicas, i, book i, chapter
39, no. 407, folio 139.
[30] A sidenote refers at this point to Santa Theresa, nos. 239 ff.,
and 737 ff.
[31] See Vol. XL, p. 123, note 46.
[32] Mindoro has an area of 3,851 square miles, according to the
estimate of the Census of the Philippines, i, pp. 65, 66. It has
a maximum length of 100 miles and its greatest width is about 60
miles. Though represented as having two mountain ranges those who have
crossed the island say that it has but one. The highest elevation of
that range is Mt. Halcón, about 8,800 ft. high. The island has much
valuable timber. The settlements are mostly confined to the coast,
and are small, while some wild people live in the interior.
[33] Of "yonote" Colin (Labor evangélica, p. 29) says: "They [i.e.,
the inhabitants of Mindoro] pay their tribute in yonote, which is a
kind of black hemp, produced by certain palms. It is used for the
larger cables of ships, which are made in the rope factory of the
village of Tal." Cf. bonote, Vol. X, p. 58; and Vol. XIV, p. 257.
[34] San Antonio, i, p. 102, notes that the island of Mindoro was
formerly called Maìt. Its Chinese name was Ka-may-en (see Vol. XXXIV,
p. 187, note 15).
[35] Our author refers in a sidenote to San Agustin's Conquistas,
book ii, chapter i, pp. 216, 250. The first page makes no mention of
the "simplicity."
[36] The sidenote reference to San Antonio is to his Chronicas,
volume i, p. 103.
[37] A sidenote reference is to San Agustin's Conquistas, pp. 216,
224, 292.
[38] See Vol. II, p. 59, note 22.
[39] Sidenote reference: San Agustin, ut supra, p. 292.
[40] Sidenote reference: San Agustin, p. 250.
[41] Sidenote references: Father Fray Marcelo de Ribadeneyra, in his
Historia, folio 84; father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio in his
Chronicas, volume i, folio 20.
[42] Murillo Velarde (folio 123 verso, no. 306) records that two
Jesuits were sent to Mindoro to work in the field of the seculars
in 1640. Juan de Polanco, O.P., notes that about 1645 there were
four or five Jesuits in Mindoro who worked among the people of the
uplands (see Pastells's edition of Colin's Labor evangélica, iii,
p. 735). San Antonio notes (i, p. 203) Jesuit residences in the
jurisdiction of Mindoro.
[43] A sidenote reference is to nos. 400, 715, ante.
[44] Our author refers in a sidenote to San Antonio, i, p. 207.
[45] A sidenote reference is to folio 80 of Joseph Sicardo's
Christiandad del Japon, ... Memorias sacras de los martyres de las
ilustres religiones ... con especialdad, de los religiosos del orden
de S. Augustin (Madrid, 1698).
[46] A sidenote refers to Santa Theresa, no. 740 ff.
[47] A sidenote refers to San Antonio, i, p. 207. The present total
population of Mindoro (according to the Census of the Philippines
ii, p. 407) is 28,361, of which the civilized or Christian people
number 21,097. The native peoples include Bicols, Ilocanos, Mangyans,
Painpangans, Pangasináns, Tagálogs, Visayans, and Zambals. The wild
people are all Mangyans.
[48] See ante, note 47. See also the Census of the Philippines (i,
pp. 472, 473, 547, 548), which says that the Mangyans are probably
a mixture of Negritos with other native peoples, and possibly some
slight infusion of white blood in some localities.
[49] The reference is to I Corinthians iii, 6.
[50] A sidenote here refers to nos. 32-38 ante.
[51] The original refers at this point to Luis de Jesús, folios 36,
42 ff.
[52] A sidenote reference is to Santa Theresa, no. 740 ff.
[53] A sidenote reference is to San Antonio, i, p. 215.
[54] The present population of the island of Romblón is 9,347, all
civilized. This must be differentiated from the province of Romblón,
which contains a number of islands, and has a population of 52,848. The
Calamianes or Culión group is located in the southwestern part of the
archipelago between Mindoro and Paragua between lat. 11° 39' and 12°
20' N., and long. 119° 47' and 120° 23' E., or a sea area of 1,927
square miles. This group consists of well over 100 islands, islets,
and mere rocks, many of them unnamed. The largest islands in the group
are Busuanga, Calamian, and Linacapan. The population of Calamianes
is given as follows for a number of years: 1876, 16,403; 1885, 21,573;
1886, 17,594; 1887, 16,016; 1888, 14,739; 1889, 16,876; 1891, 18,391;
1892, 18,053; 1893, 19,292; 1894, 18,540; 1895, 16,186; 1896, 15,620;
1897, 15,661; 1898, 14,283. While the falling off in later years
may be accounted for possibly by the movements of population during
the insurrectionary period, it must be assumed that the returns
for the earlier years are incorrect, for they would not naturally
vary so greatly from year to year. See U. S. Philippine Gazetteer,
pp. 412-415; and Census of the Philippines, ii, pp. 197, 198, 405;
and iii, pp. 12-16.
[55] A sidenote refers to Santa Theresa, no. 1228.
[56] Tomás Antonio Manrique de la Cerda, conde de Paredes, marqués
de la Laguna, and knight of the Order of Alcantára, took office as
viceroy of Mexico, November 30, 1680. The chief events of his term
were the piratical raids, chiefly by French corsairs. His residencia
was taken in 1686, and about two years later he returned to Spain. See
Bancroft's Mexico, iii, pp. 190-207.
[57] The island of Masbate has an area of 1,236 square miles. It is
mountainous, the mean elevation ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 feet. Its
present total population is 29,451, all civilized, and the great
majority Visayan. See Census of the Philippines, i, p. 66, ii, pp. 30,
392, 407.
[58] Ticao belongs to the present province of Masbate. It is very
small, containing an area of only 121 square miles. In shape it is
long and narrow, and not of great elevation. Its present population
is 10,183. The chief known occupation is agriculture. See ut supra,
i, p. 66, ii, p. 30.
[59] The same general description as that of Ticao fits Burías. Like
that island, it also belongs to the province of Masbate. Its area is
197 square miles, and its population 1,627. See ut supra, i, p. 66,
ii, p. 30.
[60] Sidenotes at this point refer to San Agustin's Conquistas,
book ii, chapter i, p. 215; book iii, chapter xxv, pp. 515, 516, 529.
[61] A sidenote refers to San Antonio, i, folio 219.
[62] A sidenote reference is to Santa Theresa, no. 740 ff.
[63] A sidenote refers to ut supra, no. 739.
[64] Miguel Poblete was archbishop of Manila from 1653 to 1668.
[65] Bolinao is now located on the northeastern end of the Zambal
Peninsula. Before being moved by the Dominicans, it must have been
located on the island of Santiago or Purra, just across the channel
from its present location. Its present population (see Census of
Philippines, ii, p. 244), is 5,397.
[66] Today located on the coast. Its present population is 6,139. See
Census of Philippines, ii, p. 244.
[67] Masinloc (see ut supra) has a present population of 3,230.
[68] Iba, now the capital of the province of Zambales, is located on
a river a very short distance from the coast. Its present population
is 4,482. See Census of Philippines, ii., p. 244.
[69] The modern Cabangán is located on the coast road a few miles
south of Iba. Its present population (see ut supra) is 3,015.
[70] The village of Subic is located on the northern side of the
bay of the same name, and its present population (see ut supra) is
2,525. Subic Bay is one of the best natural harbors in the Philippines.
[71] See the Dominican account of their missions among the Zambals,
as given by Salazar, in Vol. XLIII.
[72] i.e., Incense, or storax. The word is spelt "camangyian" in the
Tagálog dictionary of Noceda and Sanlucar.
[73] The port and village of San Jacinto are located on the east
coast of Ticao Island toward the north. The village has a present
population of 4,845. See Census of the Philippines, ii, p. 232.
[74] Mobo is an inland village in the northeastern part of Masbate,
located on a river a short distance from the capital village
called Masbate. Its present population is 2,657. See Census of the
Philippines, ii, p. 232.
[75] Domingo Pérez was born in Santa Justa near Santander, in
1636. Entering the convent at Santillana, he professed as a Dominican
there, October 14, 1659. Refusing the offer of a college education
in Alcalá de Henares, he went to the Philippines, after teaching
philosophy for a time at Mexico. Reaching Manila in December 1666,
he taught philosophy until the following year, when he was assigned to
the province of Bataán, at the convent of Oriong, which was declared
independent of Abucay in that same year. Three of his five years
there he acted as vicar. From Oriong he went to Samál, and thence to
Abucay in 1675. Somewhat later he was sent to Balacbac, but remained
there but a short time because of the complaints of the Recollects,
who claimed that the Dominicans were usurping their territory. In 1677
he was appointed vicar of Abucay, where his capacity for work and his
zeal were conspicuous. In 1678 he was appointed vicar of Binondoc,
remaining there one year. When the Dominicans were given charge of
the province of Zambales in 1679, he was made vicar of that whole
district. He was conspicuous throughout the province for his efforts
in destroying idol worship, and his opposition to that and all manner
of vices finally ended in his murder, as related in the text. He died
on November 15, 1683. He was the author of a relation on the customs
and superstitions of the Zambals, which existed in the Dominican
archives at Manila. See Reseña biográfica, ii, pp. 34-43.
[76] Juan Rois (Roes, Ruiz) was a Galician, and professed in the
Dominican convent of Lugo, September 2, 1679. Arriving at the
Philippines that same year, he was assigned in 1680 to the house
at Masinloc, and in 1682 to that at Nueva Toledo. In 1684 he was
again assigned to Masinloc, and in 1686 became vicar of Paynaven and
vicar-provincial of Zambales. He was sent to the Batanes Islands with
Father Mateo González, in 1688, where he died that same year from the
unhealthfulness of the region and his hardships. See Reseña biográfica,
ii, pp. 216, 217.
[77] Possibly the agos-os, or Ficus pungens, which is used occasionally
in house construction. See Official Handbook of Philippines, p. 341;
and Ahern's Important Philippine Woods (Forestry Bureau, Manila,
1901), p. 8.
[78] See Salazar's Historia, pp. 275-313, for the Dominican account
of the missions of Zambales, the incidents of Calignao, and the life
of Father Domingo Pérez. Concepción evidently had before him this
account in compiling his own.
[79] Juan Peguero, O.P., was born in Estremadura, and professed in the
Seville convent, November 1, 1659. After arriving in the Philippines,
he was assigned to the province of Bataán, where he labored in the
convents of Samal and Abucay. He was associate in Binondoc during
the years 1671-1673, when he became vicar of San Juan del Monte,
serving also in the latter in 1680 and 1686-1691. He was vicar of
Oriong 1677-1680, and became procurator, along with his other duties,
in the latter year. His death occurred at the Manila convent, May
21, 1691. He wrote a compendium of the history of the province,
and a biography of Domingo Pérez, the latter of which he dated and
signed on February 1, 1691, and which was conserved in the Dominican
convent at Manila. One of his works was to construct an aqueduct from
the Pasig for the better water-supply of Manila, but an earthquake
totally destroyed his work. See Reseña biográfica, ii, pp. 81, 82.
[80] Doubtless the Recopilación de las Leyes de los Reynos de las
Indias, first published at Madrid, 1681.
[81] Traslado: The reference or act of delivering written judicial
proceedings to the other party, in order that on examination of them
he may prepare his answer. Appleton's New Velázquez Dictionary.
[82] Raimundo Berart, O.P., was a native of Cataluña, and professed
in the convent of Santa Catalina Virgén y Martir, in Barcelona, at
that time being doctor in both laws at the university of Lérida. He
arrived at Manila at the age of twenty-eight, in the year 1679. He
speedily became associate to the archbishop, Felipe Pardo, in whose
defense he wrote several manifestos which remain in MS. In 1681 the
ecclesiastical cabildo asked that the archbishop give him up, and
probably in answer to that demand, he was assigned to the convent of
Abucay in the province of Bataán. In 1684 he became vicar of that
convent, and in 1686 he was appointed rector and chancellor of the
college of Santo Tomás in Manila. He left the islands before July 13,
1689, and from that time until 1696 was in charge of the hospitium
in Mexico. In 1696 he was sent to Spain as definitor in general
chapter, and died in that country in 1713. See Reseña biográfica,
ii, pp. 195-206.
[83] This date cannot be reconciled with the dates that follow. It
may be an error for 1685.
[84] Domingo de Escalera was a native of Andalucia, and professed in
the Dominican order at Madrid, September 10, 1665. He was a deacon at
his arrival at the Philippines. He was first assigned to the house
of San Gabriel in Binondo; became vicar of Sámal in the province
of Bataán in 1680, and in 1682 of Abucay, after which he was again
at Binondo. During the years 1686-1690, he was procurator-general,
and during part of that time (1686-1688), had charge of the natives
in the Manila convent. In 1690 he was definitor and acted as vicar
again of Binondo, where he remained until 1698, when he became
president of the college of San Juan de Letrán. He was appointed
president of the hospital of San Gabriel, and procurator-general of
the province. Although assigned as vicar of the convent of San Telmo
in Cavite in 1702, he resigned that office in November of that same
year, and went to the mission at Ituy. His death occurred on the
nineteenth of the following month, and resulted from the unhealthful
region. During the year spent among the mountains of Zambales, he
formed the village of Malso. See Reseña biográfica, ii, pp. 169, 170.
[85] Pedro Mejorada, O.P., professed in the convent at Salamanca, and
on going to the Philippines was assigned to the Tagálog district. He
ministered four years in Binondo, then the same period in Sámal,
in the province of Bataán. In 1694, he was assigned as lecturer on
theology at the college of Santo Tomás in Manila, where he remained
for four years. The following eight years were spent in Abucay and
Oriong. In the year 1702 he received the title of calificador of the
Holy Office, and in 1706 was appointed rector and chancellor of the
university, which position he filled until 1710, when he was elected
provincial of the order. On the termination of that office in 1714,
he was elected regent of studies in the college of Santo Tomás. In
November of that same year, however, he resigned in order to return
to his convent at Salamanca, arriving in Madrid in 1716. Although
lie was elected prior of the Salamanca convent, he was not to be
allowed to enjoy that position, for a royal appointment as bishop
of Nueva Segovia caused him, howbeit unwillingly, to return to the
Philippines. Entering those islands once more in 1718, he assumed
the duties of his office, but died in Vigan in June of the following
year in the sixty-third year of his age, and after a residence in the
islands of thirty-one years. See Reseña biográfica, ii, pp. 230-234.
[86] Domingo Collantes, the author of the fourth part of the Dominican
history of the Philippines, was a native of Villa de Herrin de
Campos, in the bishopric of Palencia. He professed in the convent
at Valladolid, in 1764, and arrived in Manila, July 8, 1769. He
held several conventual posts in his order there, among them that
of provincial. The bishopric of Nueva Cáceres was later given to
him. His death occurred in Manila in 1808 at the age of sixty. See
Pardo de Tavera's Biblioteca filipina, p. 107.
[87] Spanish, romper el nombre; "to cease using the countersign
of recognition, when daybreak comes, for which purpose the drums,
cornets, trumpets, or other musical instruments give the signal with
the call named diana" (Dominguez); cf. French reveille.
[88] In Sulu roadstead; anchorage is north of the town. In channel
between Sulu roadstead and Marongas is a pearl-oyster bed, which
employs many boats. This is an important industry, pearls and
pearl-shells being the chief articles in the export trade of the
island. (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer.)
[89] Colin (who was at that time in Joló) says of this (Labor
evangélica, ed. 1663, p. 49): "There was found near the island of Joló
a piece [of amber] which weighed more than eight arrobas, of the best
kind that exists, which is the gray [el gris]." Retana and Pastells
regard Combés's ambar as meaning amber, the vegetable fossil; but it
is possible that all these writers mean rather ambergris, which is
supposed to be a morbid secretion of the sperm whale, and has been
used as a perfume.
[90] It was Lopez who soon afterward, having gone to Manila to report
results to Governor Fajardo, secured (largely through the influence of
Venegas, who was very friendly to Lopez) permission for six Jesuits to
labor in the islands of the south, the rebuilding of their residence
at Zamboanga, and the exemption of the Lutaos from tribute, and the
appointment of Rafael Omen de Azevedo as governor. (Murillo Velarde,
Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 151 b.)
[91] In the text, desvelar, "to keep awake"--but from the context,
apparently an error of some sort.
[92] Spanish, dió una bofetada, literally, "gave a blow in the
face"--in the Spanish a play on words which it is difficult to retain
in English.
[93] This order was carried out by Balatamay, on December 13, 1655. See
Combés's detailed account of this tragedy, as cited by Diaz.
[94] Pedro Durán de Monforte; his term of office began in 1649,
and lasted until Esteybar's arrival at Zamboanga (Dec. 2, 1656).
[95] "La Silanga, which is a strait that is formed by the island of
Tulaya with the land of Mindanao" (Diaz, p. 561). Retana and Pastells,
in their edition of Combés, make Tulaya the modern Tulayan, near
Sulu--an evident error, from Diaz's statement.
[96] Referring to the governor ad interim from November, 1661 to
February, 1662; Combés describes at length his "persecution" of the
Jesuits at Zamboanga (col. 591-609), but does not mention his name.
[97] "Hardly had Morales reached the islands, when a new despatch
arrived from Manila, repeating the same orders. The silence of the
Spaniards [i.e., regarding their first order to leave the fort],
and the hurried preparations that were made that very night for the
withdrawal of Morales, inflamed the injured feelings of the Lutaos,
nor could any argument repress them. The governor did not attempt
to do more than console them, in order that they might prudently
decide what they should do; he told them that the Spaniards would
never forsake them, and that if the Lutaos would follow them there
were places in the islands, with equal and even greater advantages,
where they could live; that Corralat was friendly, and the Spaniards
would charge him to maintain friendly relations with them, which
they could with good reason expect, as he was of the same nation as
themselves; that if he should not fulfil this obligation, occasion
would not fail the Spaniards to avenge them. He also said that they
could, with the forts which he left to them, easily defend themselves
from their enemies; and finally, that they should await the ultimate
decision which would be brought by General Don Francisco de Atienza
on his way to Maluco, since it might improve the condition of affairs.
"Little impression did these arguments, which the Spaniards offered
by way of consolation, make on the Lutaos. The tyrannies that they
would experience when left to their own government had no respect
for kinship, nor was there any law save that of might. To leave
their homes was most difficult, and to transplant their villages
was to ruin them. To defend the fort supplies of ammunition and
food were required, and they had no fund to meet these costs. They
gave way to lamentations and complaints that, as they had served
the Spaniards with their lives, they had roused in their neighbors a
mortal hatred; that, notwithstanding they had become Christians, they
were left abandoned, in the power of the Moros, without instruction,
or defense, or honor. They recounted their services, and their sighs
grew heavier, while they declared as false the promises made to them
in the beginning, which drew them away from obedience to their natural
king; and that with such an example [as this of the Lutaos before them]
the peoples [of Mindanao] would not change sides in order to please
a nation so unreliable [as the Spaniards]. The Subanos also presented
their piteous remonstrances that as a people of the hill-country, and
of timid disposition, they were exposed to greater misfortunes. They
went to the fort and renewed their importunities, saying that the
Spaniards were deserting and abandoning them [notwithstanding] their
humble submission, and leaving them to be slaves of their enemies;
that although they had maintained the Spaniards with their tributes,
provided their houses with their products, and embraced their faith,
contented with the freedom which followed Spanish protection, yet
now their liberty remained at the mercy of greed, the Spaniards
profiting by their lives for the sake of keeping up intercourse with
the Macassars and Malayos; and that it was too much to be endured,
to leave in such infamous subjection vassals so obedient as they. The
governor, his heart pierced by their pathetic expostulations, could
give no other satisfaction than his own anxious hopes. In the midst
of these limited and sad consolations, with the arrival of the succors
for Terrenate came anew the severe orders [for abandoning the forts];
the governor was now unable to give them courage, for lack of means,
and all were disconsolate; but it was necessary to execute the rigorous
order--those who remained being as sorrowful at it as were those who
were going away, and each one endeavoring to make his decision and
to suit it to this emergency. Some went to Mindanao, others to Joló,
and others to Basilan; many dispersed in the coasts of Zamboangan,
the people of Don Alonso Macombon remaining here with him; and a few
determined to follow the fortunes of those who retreated thence,
going to settle at Dapitan and Zebù.... In the vessels had to be
placed more than a thousand souls, and the military supplies. It was
a grievous abandonment, by which more than a thousand Christians were
left exposed to the cruelty of the Moros.... In great part it was
due to the obstinacy of the Jesuits, who, regarding the allowance
of fifty men as insufficient, compelled its total abandonment. Such
garrisons have been and are sufficient to oppose the Moros in the
remaining presidios; and the same would be enough in Zamboangan if
the great extent which must be guarded, on account of the size of
the fort, were reduced to a little, demolishing the less important
part [of the fortifications]. But their profound thoughts feared
lest that fort would afterward remain thus scantily garrisoned,
and that it would not make so much show or its administration be so
conspicuous; nor would there be expended in the allowances [for it]
so large sums, which they converted to their own advantage.... Soon
there were representations made at the court of injury resulting from
its desertion, and consequent royal decrees for its reconstruction,
which did not take effect until long afterward." (Concepción, Hist. de
Philipinas, vii, pp. 93-97.)
[98] This name is Curay in Concepción's Historia.
[99] An island and point at the entrance to Patungan Bay, in Batangas,
Luzón.
[100] It is evident, from the above statements by Diaz, that Barrantes
is incorrect in saying (Guerras piráticas, p. 17): "In this manner,
so melancholy for Filipinas, ended the seventeenth century." He has
made this hasty and unfounded conclusion through failure to search
for material to supply the gap which occurs at this point in the
narrative which he has used as the basis of the work above cited. This
is a MS. narrative of the Moro wars, for an account of which see our
Vol. XXIX, p. 174, note 40.
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