Note 107 — San Agustin’s Letter on the Filipinos
Reading edition
46. They are so distrustful that they think that the ground on which they walk and the air which they breathe are about to fail. This does not make them more provident and industrious, but more foolish and dull. Therefore, if there are many to confess they troop together all in a body, each one desirous of being first. This causes extraordinary trouble and impatience to the confessor. But, if there are but few, they come a legua apart; and one must summon them, and they take an hour to come. If the father rises in anger, or because it is late, then they all come together in a crowd, and say “Father, me only.” This is a bit of foolishness in which one can trace the great deficiency of their understanding.107