The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Volume 13 of 55. Unknown

great devotion, also the feast of Easter, when a goodly number of them received communion. Having fulfilled our obligations as to confession, we set out to visit some of the pagan villages, in all of which we found the people well disposed. Those who most attended our preaching were the inhabitants of Panglao, a small island almost adjoining this; all the people came very willingly to hear about the things of our holy faith, and soon began of their own accord to build a church. As the first-fruits of Christianity there, we first baptized the sons of the chiefs, in order that they might open the door for the others. Their parents were greatly pleased at this, in token of which they held a feast that same day, with dancing and other festivities. This little island we visited again, at which time a considerable number of adults as well as a hundred children received baptism. The chiefs besought us to leave there someone who might instruct them, that they might thus learn more speedily all that was necessary. For this purpose we took from the island their brightest boys, so that they, after receiving instruction, might teach their people. Thus we shall be able to supply, to some extent, the great need of men from our Society, until our Lord shall multiply our number. During a visit that was made to the village of Lobo, an important event occurred which served to overthrow their errors and remove some great fears with which the devil had inspired them. An alguazil learned that in a little village near by there was a chief who kept in his house many small horns and little jars full of charms, and other instruments, which served for casting lots, for determining if in sickness sacrifice should be made to the devil, and for deciding other matters. Father Gabriel Sanchez resolved to go in person to take away those cursed instruments. In fact, no other means would have been successful, because, upon arriving at the house, he was obliged with his own hands to unhang and heap together the bottles and horns; for the Indians who had accompanied him did not dare even to touch them—fearing that, if they did, they would die; and that, if they threw them into the river, the caimans would be enraged against them—such was their belief in these delusions. But the father, having quieted their fear and removed their mistaken apprehension by himself touching those objects and yet remaining alive, induced them to seize the horns and bottles and expose them publicly. Then he summoned the young boys who spat and trod upon them—actions which among those people, as among other nations, are a token of contempt, detestation, and infamy. He finally caused the charms to be burned, and thrown into the river. By these means they were all freed from error, and became more devoted than ever to our true and well-grounded Catholic religion.

      "I cannot refrain from relating an incident that has just befallen us, as it was a source of great consolation to me. As soon as our people learned that your Reverence had ordered us to go to Sebu, fearful lest we might not speedily return, they all repaired to us to make their confessions, with such fervor that it seemed like the season of Lent. Those who had not received baptism came also, with like earnestness seeking that holy sacrament. Thus, by way of farewell, we made a goodly number of Christians." The account of Father Alonso de Umanes ends here.

      Father Gabriel Sanchez, in another letter to the father-visitor, writes thus: "Glory be to our Lord, Christianity in this island is receiving much increase. They all frequent the most holy sacraments with great fervor at Christmas, Epiphany, and other leading feasts. So many were the confessions and the communions that it seemed to me like Holy Week. They possess great confidence and faith, and through the most holy sacraments and the sacramental offices they are sure to receive (and his Majesty does bestow upon them even in temporal affairs) most signal favors. An old woman, a good Christian, was so reduced by sickness, and brought so near to death, that she no longer possessed her senses, or power of speech; in short, there was no hope that she would live. The sacrament of extreme unction was administered to her, and at once she began to improve, and at last regained entire health. A few days ago they brought to us a sick man, so tormented and harassed by a severe malady that he could not even raise his head; he therefore made his confession while reclining, and with great difficulty. But, as soon as he had ended it, he began to feel better, with the result that in two days he came to the church to render thanks to our Lord for the mercy that he had received, which he attributed to the holy sacrament of penance. A few days ago a child of four years—not realizing, as he was so little, what he was doing—waded into the sea, and, despite the haste with which he was taken from the water, was almost drowned. They brought him in haste to our house, that we might repeat the gospel over him, for they had no hope of preserving his life by natural means. When they brought him to us he showed almost no sign of respiration, his face was black, and his stomach much swollen with the water which he had swallowed. The gospel was read for him, and he was sprinkled with holy water; and then, in the presence of the many people who had assembled, he straightway recovered consciousness and became entirely well, in return for which they all gave many thanks to our Lord. Another incident, which occurred quite recently, I cannot refrain from relating. Our Lord has this day exercised His accustomed mercy in the case of two old men, very venerable and more than a hundred years old. The greater part of their long lives they had spent in diabolical acts of outrage, murder, cruelty, and lawlessness; and yet our Lord had waited for them until now—when, illumining them with His divine light, they were marvelously converted. I was astonished at beholding the fervor, sincerity and grief with which they expressed abhorrence for their past life and sought baptism, which they received today after careful instruction. To see the perseverance and constancy of this people has given great consolation to me. I shall relate in brief a few things which certainly give strong evidence of that constancy. An unmarried Indian woman was persecuted by a soldier with innumerable plots, yet she always resisted him valiantly. Once in particular, he sent her by a servant some twenty escudos; but she drove the servant away, and threatened that if he should come again she would fling him and his money through her window. The soldier, rendered bold by the fury of his passion, as he had a headstrong disposition, and realizing that he could not gain his damnable purpose by bribes, had recourse to threats. As these did not suffice, he laid violent hands on her, seriously hurting her; but our Lord came to her assistance, and she emerged victorious from the struggle, leaving the wretch in confusion and shame. Another woman was no less persecuted, a man offering her, among other gifts, a gold chain that was worth more than thirty escudos; but she rejected all his gifts with Christian courage. Then, fearing the fury of her persecutor and her own great danger, she persuaded her mother to accompany her, and they fled to some grain-fields, where she remained in hiding until he who was molesting her had left the village. Another, a young girl hardly eighteen years of age, and so poor that she could procure only a little rice for her support, was persecuted by many men, who offered her large sums of money to relieve her poverty; one of them offered her more than forty eight-real pieces. But she made answer that our Lord, in whom she trusted, would relieve her need; that she did not care to live by any means that would offend Him, but in serving Him was well content in her poverty; and that she was confident that our Lord would not abandon her. Another poor woman resisted with equal courage no less vexatious importunities, refusing a quantity of gold worth more than eighty escudos, thus leaving her persecutor in amazement. Another woman, fearing that she would have to defend her body by force from so many and violent importunities, removed it from danger, and herself from any occasion of offending God, by fleeing to the mountains, where she wandered about for almost four months, suffering, although with much satisfaction, many hardships and privations; nor did she return to the village until she learned that he who had brought her to such a plight had departed thence."