Volume 13 — RELATION OF THE FILIPINAS ISLANDS (continued 4)

"After Christmas I was summoned back to Manila, but in Lent was sent again to the village of Silang. At that time I found the mission greatly increased by the many natives whom the fathers had recently brought together; they were coming to us each day from other villages (the entire village of Indan had joined us), all of them very needy, and almost half of them unbaptized. On the feast of St. Gregory I baptized twenty-five persons, only one of whom, a sick woman, was of adult age, and on the feast of the Annunciation twenty-one, of whom nineteen were adults; at present another goodly number of them are being prepared. The number of those baptized this year is about two hundred, and the confessions very numerous; and the number of those admitted to communion is about fifty, the choicest of whom are members of the confraternity. We erected our altar of the sepulchre [25] as skilfully as we were able, and celebrated the offices [appropriate to the occasion], by the help of which this new people gained new light upon the services of Holy Week. Those who took the discipline, going forth in a formal procession, were on Holy Monday, the singers, who did this by way of preparation; others desired to march on Holy Tuesday, but, as the day was stormy and the winds violent, I forbade them to do so. They had their procession on Holy Wednesday; and others, in greater number, marched on Holy Thursday. Our most important procession was on Holy Friday, in the evening; two images were carried—one, a small crucifix (for we had no larger one); the other, an image of our Lady—while the choir sang the litanies. When this procession ended, people gathered in sufficient number to form another; this was caused by the lack of [woolen] tunics, which were removed by their wearers and lent [to those in the second procession]. In all the processions except the principal one, the music consisted of the Christian doctrine, sung by the children as they walked.

"I must continue the account which in other letters I have written to your Reverence of the favors which the Lord communicates by means of a print of our blessed Father Ignatius; for He is continually bestowing these favors upon those new Christians, on account of their strong faith in Him. A woman was brought in to us, sick and unable to speak, and was dying before us without our being able to obtain from her a word or sign so that we could give her absolution; the statement of her friends, moreover, that she had asked for confession, was doubtful. I was therefore anxious and grieved, until I brought her an image of our blessed father, and I said mass for the sick woman, and when I returned she was able to speak, and made a good confession; but utterance again failed her, and she died in peace.

"When I returned the second time, I was called in haste to visit a sick woman, great with child, who was suffering violent pains and torment. We went to see her, and it aroused our compassion to behold her in convulsions of pain, both she and the infant (which was entering the ninth month) being in danger of death. I sent for the image of our blessed father, and then left the sick woman with Diego, our good blind man, and his wife, who performs the duties of a midwife. So good service did they render, in conjunction with the intercession of our blessed Father Ignatius (to whom they were greatly devoted), that very soon they sent for me to baptize the child, which was born alive. I baptized it, but it died; and the mother regained her health.

"On Holy Saturday a young man came to me in alarm, saying that a demon was trying to choke his sister. I went to her house and found her suffering from an oppression in her breast and throat, and distressed by fear. I asked for the image, and when it was brought, I heard the sick woman's confession; she was at once relieved from the oppression and anxiety. For her greater consolation I left the image in order that she might have good company.

"On the following day, the Lord accorded us a most joyful Easter Sunday. In the morning there came to me a man, but recently arrived from Indan, who said that his wife was in a very exhausted condition from the pains of childbirth. I sent him with a boy to take the image of our blessed father and carry it to his home. He departed at once, and when the image was carried into the house his wife brought forth her child. It seems that the Lord has chosen to confirm this newly-converted people in their recent coming to Him, and in their faith. A few days ago, a Bilango came to us in haste to ask for the image in behalf of a woman who was in childbirth; and as soon as it was brought to her, she gave birth to a child. In Santiago also the fiscal, remembering what he had heard about our blessed father, entreated his aid, as his wife was in a like critical condition, and her life in great danger. Immediately her infant was born alive, and, while receiving the water of holy baptism, passed on to the bliss of eternal light." Thus far I have cited the letter of Father Gregorio Lopez; he could easily have related therein many other unusual events and marvelous incidents which occurred among those new believers. He omitted them probably for the sake of brevity, and because many of them are quite similar—for which reason I too omit them. But I must not fail to mention one incident which occurred during the absence of Father Gregorio Lopez, at which time his companion, Father Pedro de Segura, remained in Silan. Two Indians came to this father one night, seeking relief for a woman who was the wife of one and a relative of the other. She was suffering violent pangs in childbirth, and was in a most critical state, being unable to expel the child. The two Indians earnestly entreated the father, in their simplicity, for some blessed beads. He gave them his own reliquary, and as they were carrying it away he bethought himself of the image of our blessed Father Ignatius. Immediately he summoned the fiscal (who is always a man of mature years and trustworthy character), and gave him the image to be carried to the sick woman. The Indian woman, when she beheld the image, took it in her hands with devotion and love, and at the same moment gave birth to a child as beautiful as an angel, to her own great joy and the wonder of those who were present. Soon afterward she named the child, on this account, Maliuag, which signifies "difficult;" and again, at the baptism, Ignacio, in memory of so signal a favor. The name which this woman gave her child at its birth gives me occasion to describe the custom of these people in giving names.

The manner in which names are conferred among the Filipinos. Chapter LXXX.

When a child is born, it is the mother's duty to give it a name; and whatever appellation she gives it must remain its name. The names are most often conferred on account of certain circumstances—as, for example, Maliuag, which means "difficult," because the child's birth was such; Malacas, which signifies "a man of strength," because the mother thinks that the child will be strong, or desires that it be so. At other times they name it, without any symbolism or special reason, by the first word which occurs to them—as, for example, Daan, which signifies "road;" Babui, which means "pig;" or Manug, which signifies "fowl." All persons are called by these names from birth, without using surnames until they are married. The first-born son or daughter then gives his or her name to the parents; for until they die they call the father Ama ni Coan, "father of So-and-so," and the mother Ina ni Coan, "mother of So-and-so." The names of the women are distinguished from those of the men by adding "in." Thus, while the name of a man and of a woman may be practically the same, that of the man is left intact, and to the woman's is added the [termination] "in;" for example, Hog (which means "river") being the name of two persons of different sex, the man is called Hog, the woman Hoguin. In naming children they use diminutives, just as we do; but in order not to exceed the limits of my narrative, or to enter those of grammar, I shall not enumerate these, or the other appellations more personal, more intimate, or more elegant, which those people use for nearly all the degrees of relationship. For instance, ama means "father;" thus the son, in speaking of him to a third person calls him ang amaco, that is, "my father." But the son in addressing his father directly does not call him ama, but bapa, which is a more intimate and affectionate term; nor does he address his mother as ina, but bai. On the other hand, the father and mother in familiar intercourse call their sons, brothers, uncles, and other near relatives, not by the common appellations of such relationship, but by others more intimate and personal, which signify a like connection. This is but another illustration of the fertility, elegance and courtesy of the Tagal language, which we described in chapter 16. The children of those natives were reared in such respect and reverence for the names belonging to their parents that they never called them by these, whether the parents were living or dead; they believed, moreover, that if they uttered these names they would fall dead, or become leprous.

At first, I was much often annoyed at these superstitions, because, as I did not know the secret, I would upon occasions of affability or flattery, or necessity or obligation, inquire of the son for his father; and, as he gave me no answer, I remained confused and abashed. But, with the aid of Divine grace, this and other bad customs and errors were banished and forgotten; and we played a game—our fathers, and the little children, and even the adults—in which each one told the name of his father, I also telling them the name of mine. Not only this, but anyone would name the parents of another—a thing which they consider a great incivility and insult.

It is a general custom among all these nations not to have any special family names, titles, or surnames; using, as I have before said, but one appellation. Now, besides the Christian name, Juan or Pedro, they use as a surname that which the mother gives them at birth—although there are mothers so Christian and civilized that they will not use this latter name, but prefer that both Christian name and surname be conferred in baptism; this we often do. The wretched "Don" has filled both men and women with such vanity that every one of them who has a tolerably good opinion of himself must place this title before his name; accordingly, there are even more Dons among them than among our Spaniards.

The visit which the right reverend bishop of Sebu made to Bohol, and the fervor and growth of those Christians. Chapter LXXXI.

The right reverend bishop of Sebu, in the course of his visits among his flocks, determined to go for this purpose to the island of Bohol—which, as we have said, is about eight leguas to the south of the island of Sebu—taking as his companion Father Francisco Gonzalez of our Society. We learned of the outcome of this visit through that father's account of it in one of his letters, as follows: "I think that your Reverence knows of the visit which his Lordship made to the island of Bohol; but, as it was my lot to accompany him, I shall relate to your Reverence, if only in outline, something of what befell us there. He visited in the island of Bohol eight villages which are instructed by the fathers of the Society, and confirmed therein three thousand Christians, spending about twenty days in the visit. Most remarkable was the fervor which resulted from it, for the Christians made excellent preparation for receiving the sacrament, many of them, in all the villages, making their confessions. Besides this, he had previously trained and examined them, all being assembled in the church, in the catechism, causing them to repeat aloud the principal mysteries of our faith. A sermon was preached them wherein they were exhorted to feel much grief at having offended our Lord. At the conclusion of the sermon, they all fell upon their knees, and offered audible acts of contrition and of love to God. They were next asked if they desired to receive the sacrament of confirmation; and they answered aloud that they desired it, in order that our Lord might pardon their sins and strengthen them in the faith. Then, his Lordship confirmed them, with a short exhortation at the end of the ceremony, by which they were all greatly consoled and fortified in the truth of our holy faith. This result was greatly aided by the love and so paternal affection which the lord bishop manifested to them not only in the church but in their houses—going to visit the sick, and confirming them in their very cabins; giving alms, ransoming slaves, and clothing the poor; and performing many other deeds of mercy. His Lordship was especially delighted at beholding those new flocks of his so well instructed, when they were answering the questions on catechism, which was done in the presence of his Lordship." Such is the brief account given by the father.

All these are but flames of that celestial fire which we said had taken hold of this island, and with which even the little children are ablaze. Thus in each of those villages nearly two hundred children assemble every day, uttering praises to the Divine Majesty, acknowledging His greatness, learning the Christian doctrine, and imparting it to their parents and elders. The confessions cannot be enumerated, for they are as many as there are Christians. No one fails to make his confession during Lent, even though he may have confessed many times during the year; and with like ardor the other exercises of piety and devotion are performed. This was especially evident on Holy Friday of that year, one thousand six hundred and two, during the adoration of the cross, in which they displayed deep emotion; they even removed the rings from their fingers and the jewels from their ears, to make offerings of these. As Father Gabriel Sanchez has been the usual laborer in that island, I shall here set down a part of one of his letters in which, with his usual simplicity, he gives some account of the island and of Christianity therein: "Our Lord has been well served this year in the island of Bohol, with the fruits gathered from the conversion of those pagans, for in this barren waste we have set out a beautiful garden of new plants which our Lord has planted. Many people have been brought together and induced to settle in villages, wherein they are instructed. At the time when I am writing this, we are in a village on the coast, whither there came down to us yesterday two other villages of the Tinguianes, or mountaineers, asking us, of their own accord, to allow them to live here. As an earnest of their desire, they brought as many as forty children that we might baptize them, which we have done. We value this all the more because these two villages have up to this time been the most obstinate and stubborn in all the island: but God has now been pleased to soften their hearts. May He be blessed and praised that, if there had been fathers for all of them, the whole island would now be converted; for, although there are actually in this mission no more than four thousand Christians, its people are so well disposed that on the day when they shall have someone to teach and baptize them they will all be converted. The very villages that we are unable to teach come frequently to ask that we will go to instruct them and unite them into one, and give them baptism. But, as so few fathers have been in this island, we have not been able to succor them; and so they remain until God shall send them a reenforcement of fathers—of whom they themselves are so desirous that they have already built us houses and churches, before a priest has been brought to them, or even mentioned, to my knowledge. May God, whose plantation this is, send workmen hither, since there is harvest enough in all this island; and when they shall undertake to extend their labors further, there are, near by, some little islands in extreme spiritual want, and entirely deprived of any human succor for their conversion. Therein might be held some missions most acceptable to God, all the more so because those people are so forsaken; for, as those are insignificant little islands, no one cares for them. Those people are on the road to hell, if we do not succor them; and we do not aid them for lack of ministers. One of these islands is called Isla de Fuegos ["Island of Fires"], and is a half day's sail distant from here. Several times its chiefs have come to ask that we would go thither. The people already know how to recite the Christian doctrine, and yet not one has been baptized there (although they are calling for that sacrament), for there is no one who may distribute the bread, and thus they are perishing of spiritual hunger.

"But, to return to our island, there is great cause to glorify our Lord in seeing the esteem with which its people regard the Christian religion, and the fervor with which they one and all fulfil their obligations as Christians, in confession and communion, and in their pious and general affection toward the things of God. A week ago, there was in our house a young man, an infidel, who had come from another village to see us. He was laughing and enjoying himself with the others, although quite modestly; yet another lad who was there, a Christian, said to him: 'How is it that thou, who art not a Christian, dost laugh and sport?'" Thus writes the father; he adds that the new baptisms during this past year amounted to four hundred. The number was no larger, because they did not dare to baptize converts in other villages until those people could have fathers to maintain them in the faith and in Christian customs.

The growth of Christianity in Catubig. Chapter LXXXII.

The same want of gospel ministers is felt by other residences (as is plainly evident from what I have thus far said), but especially in the island of Samar, where for that very reason the exercises of Holy Week and Easter were celebrated this year in one village; and there were many confessions and communions together with the feast and procession of the institution of the most blessed sacrament—both of which were conducted with devotion and grandeur, although with some inconvenience, as they were not celebrated at their proper time.

Nevertheless, on account of the extraordinary and crying needs of Catubig—which, as we have said, is in the eastern part of the island of Ibabao, bathed by the South Sea—Father Juan de Torres, accompanied by a brother, was constrained to go thither from Tinagon at the end of the year one thousand six hundred and one. For a year and a half no one had visited Catubig, because there was no one who could go there; and now, although this caused a lack of service at other stations, the greater needs of Catubig compelled us to leave them [for the present]. Well did our Lord exercise them in their journey, so that upon arriving they might enjoy the pleasant fruit which they afterward gathered; for besides the rivers and swamps—through which they journeyed with the water, in some places, and the mud in others, to their knees—the slopes and mountains were so rugged that it was impossible to advance except by using their hands as feet. But consolation was not long delayed; even before they reached Catubig, on their very way, our Lord aided them, as the father himself describes in the following words: "One night three villages met together, rejoicing at our arrival, and, thinking that it would be appropriate, I told them about the things of the other life, the immortality of the soul, and the existence of God; and of the reward for Christians, and the torment for those who are not. I am sure, my father, that among the many people who were there you would not think that there was one who had not faith, to judge by what they said and the questions they asked, and the way in which they encouraged one another to receive baptism. They soon made arrangements to build a large church, and gave me a list of all the inhabitants, including the children, of whom there are an infinite number. God knows what my grief was at seeing them in the arms of their mothers; for they appeared to me like unto the ripe fruit hanging from the bough, which, if the gardener neglects it, is either stolen or decays, and thus is lost."

Refreshed by such consolation, the father continued on his way, crossing the entire island of Ibabao, as far as the river of Catubig, where he found the whole people busied in their grain-fields. Accordingly, he went farther to some small islands lying adjacent in the broad sea, where the people had already gathered in their rice crops. In one of them, called Batac, he made a short stay, and the people from all the neighboring islands assembled there to celebrate the Christmas festivals, and attend to the things pertaining to their salvation. When they were about to return home, advice was given to the women in other matters relating to civilized ways and to modesty—especially in regard to their mode of dress, which, on account of their being a rough and barbarous people, was not quite decent; but after they were taught, they adorned and covered themselves more modestly. They had built, in anticipation of the father's coming, a church and house and even a confessional for the women. After a goodly number had been made Christians, the father returned to the principal station, which is Catubig; and at his departure these poor creatures besought him earnestly not to leave them so forsaken, now that he was going away, but to teach some Christian the form and ceremony, so that he could baptize them in cases of necessity. The father did so, and left them with much grief in his heart. But these pains, which in truth are more intense than those of childbirth, we often suffer there, since the harvest is so great and the laborers are so few. So many were the baptisms in Catubig that the father, fearing lest the blessed oil and chrism would give out, carried the water of baptism from place to place, in order not to prepare it so often. [26]

Among the notable conversions in this mission, which amounted to seven hundred, the most distinguished and remarkable of all was that of a chief some sixty years of age, and highly esteemed in that region. In this case much time was needful to extricate his conscience from the former robberies and tyrannies which we have already described. He gave their freedom to many slaves, and, in order to settle other obligations which were not defined by the church, presented to us a handsome house, so large that, together with the church (a building about fifteen brazas long), it serves us a commodious habitation for our fathers who are there; and finally, after a thorough preparation, baptism was conferred upon him. He was governor of the village, and yet as a catechumen he attended each morning the sermons for the children. There he encouraged all, both children and adults, exhorted them to adopt Christian customs, and rebuked in them anything that seemed to be opposed to these. When the father reminded him that all his household should be baptized, he attended to that matter with surprising energy. He himself conducted them to the church, and with efficacious arguments persuaded them to be baptized. In this way the greater number of his household were baptized, the rest being deferred.

Another conversion no less notable also occurred, which I shall relate. An Indian chief from another island happened to pass through a village where the father was sojourning. He went with the press of people to hear the father speak, and our holy faith so convinced him that he did not for a moment leave our fathers, asking them questions about his salvation. So pleased was he with the instruction that they gave him, that without saying a word, keeping to himself this new secret of his vocation, he went back to his island, where he became a new preacher. He persuaded his wife, children, and relatives, actually carrying away all his kindred; and went to the place where the father was, in order to enjoy the light of the gospel, which had not shone on that country of his. He went in quest of the father, and carried him as a gift a turtle, the shell of which required two men to lift it—so monstrous in size are the turtles in those seas; some of them I have seen and eaten. This chief often made known to the father the state of his soul, and sought spiritual aid in very exact and clear terms; and if he forgot anything therein, he told of it in the same maner on the next day. His preparation continued thus until, having given full evidences of his faith, he entered with all his household—wife, children, sons-in-law, and servants, in all, twelve persons—through the gate of holy baptism, into the flock of the great shepherd of souls, Jesus Christ our Lord. He was a man of great valor, as will be seen from an incident which we learned concerning him. A large crocodile often came to the neighborhood of his house; and the Indian, angered thereat, determined to punish the hardihood of the beast. For this purpose, abandoning the usual means of catching those animals (that is, with a large hook), blinded by rage and trusting to his own valor, he assembled as many as twenty persons; and while they stood watching him, he leaped alone into the water, and swam toward the beast with a knife in his hand. Then, diving beneath the crocodile, like another valiant Eleazar, [27] he gave it several knife-thrusts in the belly and killed the beast. And, as a greater trophy, he was not, as was Eleazar, buried in his triumph, [28] but remained alive and sound—without a wound, or any lesion beyond two insignificant scratches, one on his forehead, and one on his leg. At this instant his followers hastened toward him, and dragging the beast to the shore, were hardly able, with the strength of all, to land it, although it was floating on the water. They saw (and told me of it) a monster of incredible size, the largest that I have ever seen there, or heard of. The animal measured, from its shoulders to the tip of its tail, five brazas, [29] and from the shoulders to the mouth one braza—making its total length six brazas; and across the breast alone measured a full braza.

There was another crocodile, smaller than this one, which inflicted loss on the household of a reputable Spaniard of Manila; and this man came therefore to our house to entreat that Ours would provide him with a father who would make his Indians Christians. The affair occurred thus: This Spaniard was in his encomienda, where his house stood on the shore of a river much infested by these beasts. While he was dining one day, a youth, one of those who waited on the table, went to the river to wash some plates; but he did not finish his task, for a crocodile suddenly sprang upon him and swallowed him. The people [in the house] saw this tragic event, and the good man left the table, grieved that the youth should perish without baptism, and desirous to see if there might be some means of giving him the sacrament before he should die in the belly of the crocodile. He soon decoyed the animal by means of a little dog, a food of which these beasts are very fond; and, having captured the crocodile and landed it on the shore, he cut it open and found the boy within, whole but dead. This man, who measured the beast (which was not a large one) told us that it was fifteen [Spanish] feet in length, but that the capacity of its stomach was extraordinary: for within it were found, besides the corpse of the boy, a great number of eggs of various animals, and fifteen human heads. Grieved by this sad event, he had come to entreat that instruction might be supplied in his villages; but this could not be done, as there was no one to give it.

But to return to Catubig: I shall conclude my account of this mission with the miraculous experiences of two children, which gave us more consolation than did the incident which we have just related. While some Indians were on their way to visit the father, one of those fierce beasts attacked their boat, and seized a boy by the arm, carrying him away before anyone could rescue him. The boy, following the pious custom that those people have of invoking Jesus and Mary, when he found himself in the water in the power of the crocodile, cried aloud: "Jesus and Mary, help me!" and the marvelous thing was that the beast at once let him go practically unharmed, for the few scratches that he had received from the nails hurt him but little. Rejoicing at this, and strengthened in the faith, they drew the child from the water into the boat, praising God for His mercies toward them. One night the same father was summoned in behalf of another child, who was very sick. His parents were very sorrowful, for, although but ten days old, he had not sucked his mother's breast for three days. They were anxious for his recovery, but desired, even more, that he should not die without baptism. The father went, and baptized the child; and the next morning, when he inquired about it, they replied that the infant was already well, for holy baptism had immediately cured it.

Let this suffice concerning that mission, and at the same time conclude my narrative, since I have now related the most notable events, and those which seemed most important and edifying, up to my departure from those islands—which, as I said in the beginning, was in the month of July of the year one thousand six hundred and two. [30] I trust that the progress of events from that time until the present, a period of almost two years, may give no less satisfaction and consolation, and that of the future even more; and I hope that it will have a more able chronicler; indeed, any one in the Society can do it better than I. It is enough for me that I have tried to render some service to the Society by this humble work, which although a small one, has cost me much effort. This, and that other and greater task of undertaking so many and so long voyages (made not for my own pleasure, but in response to the claims of obedience), I think deserve the reward which I desire and claim for them, which is nothing else than the object to which those labors were dedicated—the increase and extension of the holy Catholic faith in those so remote islands, by the conversion of so many souls who are so ready to receive it. May your Paternity and all those who are able to come to their aid take pity upon them, so that ministers of the gospel may distribute to them the bread of heaven, for the hunger from which they are dying. It is a sorrowful thing, more sorrowful than can be told, to see them die without relief. At Roma, March 5, 1604.

Father Chirino, of the Society of Jesus.

DOCUMENTS OF 1604

Letters to Felipe III. Pedro de Acuna; July 15 and 19. Decrees regarding religious orders. Felipe III, and others; February-July. Grant to the Jesuit seminary at Cebu. Pedro Chirino; [undated; 1604?]. Decree regulating commerce with Nueva Espana. Felipe III; December 31.

Source: All of these documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla.

Translations: These are made by Robert W. Haight—excepting the third, which is by Henry B. Lathrop, of the University of Wisconsin.