“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 [103] and have considered it an honor to suffer and even to die, in order to defend that harassed church. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 [310] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 [231] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Those Indians are domestic, peaceable, tractable, and always allied with the Christians, whom they [139] 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. ”

“ 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! ”

“ The zealous workers of our [155] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”