Volume 32 / Book 2 — Chapter XLVIII

The beginning of the conversion of the Mandayas, mountaineers of Nueva Segovia

[When the fathers informed the Mandayas of their intention, the Indians were so much grieved that the chiefs and the council resolved to keep the fathers by force if they would not remain with them willingly. Father Fray Geronimo called their attention to the fact that, as a good father, he must attend to all his sons alike. They replied that it would be enough for one to return, and the companion of father Fray Geronimo was accordingly left behind. He was but new in the ministry, and was now to be left alone in the midst of these mountains to cope with the difficulties of a new conversion. Father Fray Geronimo separated from him and the Indians with little less grief and tears, on both sides, than when St. Paul departed from the inhabitants of Ephesus. Father Fray Luis, the minister who remained behind, determined to guide himself by the instructions and the example of father Fray Geronimo. From father Fray Luis is obtained the report which follows. As it deals with matters in which he was himself concerned, it was very short, and he was greatly opposed to publishing it; but the truth of history requires us not to pass over the glory of his works. He was not to baptize any adults, however well instructed, until father Fray Geronimo returned, for fear of meeting with the impediments which are so frequent in such cases—irregularities in marriage, or the guilt of unjust enslavements and of wrongs done by the more powerful to the weaker, or any of a thousand other impediments which only those who are skilful and experienced in the ministry of new conversions can detect and settle. Father Fray Luis continued to exercise his office, and found in the Indians a wonderful hunger and thirst for the matters of the faith, and great readiness in learning it. Some Christians who were older in the faith, who had accompanied the fathers, were astonished. One of these was Don Francisco Tuliao, at present master-of-camp for the Indians of the whole province of Nueva Segovia; he had accompanied the religious, and his influence was of great importance in achieving the conversion of these people. When he saw the fervor of the Mandayas, and the ease with which they learned Christianity, though they were regarded even by the other Indians as rude and barbarous, he declared that the hand of God could be seen in this work. The Lord took to himself the tithe of the first ten baptized children; but the Indians who in their heathen days had been accustomed to spend a week in weeping and mourning their dead children, with a thousand superstitions and extravagances, before burying them, now accepted readily from the hand of the Lord the death of baptized children who departed in their innocence; and, without a sign of grief, they themselves took the little bodies of their children to be buried in the church. In the case of adults also, some of them showed marvelous devotion and were baptized on their deathbeds. Even those who were not baptized believed, and helped the baptized to die blessedly. Many signs of true conversion were shown by these Indians; the Virgin showed special grace to some of the converts, in particular assisting one poor woman of small intelligence to learn the prayers, with which she had great difficulty; and miracles were wrought in order that those predestined by God might not die unbaptized. By the twelfth of January of the following year more than five hundred of this tribe had been baptized; and though it would seem that such a number would have justified the permanent residence of a minister among them, father Fray Luis was obliged to leave the Mandayas, to go to aid in hearing the confessions of those in the lower villages, where there were only six confessors for more than eight thousand penitents. He departed from them with grief, and left behind for their instruction some Indians qualified for the purpose, among them the master-of-camp Don Francisco Tuliao (who was an Indian). He had accompanied the religious in their good work, being also directed by the civil authorities to lead in a war for the reduction of some Indians near the Mandayas, in villages called Ysson.] They had risen; and, being favored by their location in the midst of rugged mountains, had refused the obedience and the tributes which they had been accustomed to pay to their encomenderos. This difficulty was happily settled by Don Francisco, as a result of his prudence and authority. The truth is that the thing was already practically settled, father Fray Geronimo de Zamora having arranged it when he came up for the first time to the Mandayas. At this time he summoned the chiefs of the villages of Ysson along with the rest; and the arguments of this father had such an influence upon them that they immediately yielded to them and put themselves in his hands. As a token of their fidelity they cut off their hair, which is much cherished by these heathen; and this was as much as to say that they renounced their ancient customs and the laws of their ancestors, and that they desired to embrace the law of God, whose servants did not wear their hair long, as did all the heathen. Would that there had been ministers and preachers to give them; for they would have been able to enter this region immediately, and to go among the heathen villages, baptizing the Indians as if they had never served the devil. It is a pity that many of them should be still completely given up to their errors, for lack of someone to declare the truth to them. As soon as father Fray Geronimo and his companion were able to leave the confessions and the communion of the elder Christians, they returned to the aid of these new ones who so greatly required their presence. It did not seem that their absence had caused any great evils, for they found them well taught and prepared for baptism. Accordingly, a few days afterward, on one of the feasts of the Virgin, namely, the Purification, they were able to baptize eighty-three persons who had come to years of discretion, belonging to the leading families in that country; and in two days more, forty others, elderly men. They took as great pains as they could to keep these solemn baptisms for festivals of our Lady, in recognition of her patronage, and with the purpose that after their spiritual birth these tribes might remain very devoted to her and continue under her protection. Music to make these baptisms joyful there was not in these villages, because they were so new; but there was no lack of music in heaven, for if the conversion of one sinner causes rejoicing there, the conversion of so many heathen could not fail to cause great joy indeed.

In the following April, father Fray Geronimo de Zamora reported that the conversion of the Mandayas was advancing; and that their Christian character was, by the grace of our Lady of the Pillar, becoming better and better established. These Mandayas Indians were little esteemed in the province of Nueva Segovia, being regarded as fickle and inconstant, and of small capacity—so that some venerable and prudent ministers thought it was not wise to extend Christianity so rapidly among them. But the proofs which they gave of being aided by heaven relieved their ministers of these fears, and caused them to baptize them without delay. They learn the faith rapidly, readily give up their old superstitions, and are much devoted to prayer. Before baptism they paid their debts, gave liberty to their slaves who were unjustly held, and did many other things that are very hard. They have given up killing and wronging their neighbors, and are now so friendly and peaceful that they visit and entertain each other without suspicion—even in the case of persons, who a short time ago, were hunting each other with the purpose of committing murder. Under all these circumstances, was there any reason for prohibiting their baptism?