Note 25 — JESUIT MISSIONS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

In order to justify the manner in which the Society administers its functions in these islands, I will give a brief account of the allotment [distribuçión; i.e., of the minister’s duties] which is followed in the villages, in order that the impartial reader, reflecting thereon prudently and carefully, may recognize the incessant and laborious toil with which this field, entrusted to the Society by the confidence of that prince, is cultivated. Every day the boys and girls (with little difference [in number]) up to the age of fourteen years hear mass; these call themselves “schools” and “companies of the rosary.” Then they sing all the prayers that belong to the mass, and go to their school. At ten o’clock the signal is given by the bell, and they go to the church to pray before the blessed sacrament, and to the Virgin they recite the Salve and the Alabado hymn; and they go out in procession, singing the prayers, as far as some cross in the village. At two o’clock in the afternoon they return to the school; and at four or five o’clock they go again to the church, where they recite the rosary, and go out in procession singing the prayers. On Saturdays, not only the children recite the prayers, but the baguntaos and dalagas25—who are the older youths and girls, who do not yet pay tribute—and also the acolytes, the treble singers, and the barbatecas. In the afternoon the people recite the rosary, and the singers and musicians sing the mysteries and the litany. On Sundays, the boys go out with a banner around the village, singing the prayers, to call together the people. The minister says mass, which the musicians accompany with voices and instruments; and afterward all the people together recite the prayers, and [answer] a brief questioning on the principal mysteries of the Christian doctrine, and [listen to] an instruction on the mode of baptism, which is called tocsohan. With this there are many of them who are well instructed, so that they can aid one to die well, and in case of necessity confer baptism, like the Canacapoles of St. Xavier. The minister preaches a moral sermon, and usually calls the roll [suele leer el padron], in order to see whether the Indians fail to attend mass. In the afternoon all come together—schools, companies of the rosary, acolytes, singing children, barbatecas, and dalagas and baguntaos—and they offer prayers. Afterward the father goes down to the church, and catechises, explains the Christian doctrine, and confers baptism. On Thursdays there is no school, that being a vacation day. Every Saturday there is a mass sung in honor of the Virgin; and in the afternoon the minister chants the Salve for the occasion, with the image uncovered, which is then locked up. During the nine days preceding Christmas, mass is sung very early in the morning, with great solemnity, before a large assembly of people, and accompanied by an indulgence [granted] for the preservation of the Christian religion in these islands; and these are called “masses for Christmas” [misas de Aguinaldo].26 Always, when the host is elevated at mass the signal is given with a bell, so that all the people may adore it; and the Indiana, even the little children who cannot speak, clasp their hands and raise them toward heaven as a token of adoration, while in the church a motet is sung for the same purpose, after the custom of the primitive Church—which this body of Christians resembles in many ways; and St. John in his Apocalypse even represents it to us in those mysterious creatures who day and night were praising God, dicentia: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Omnipotens, qui erat, qui est, & qui venturus est.27 The Indians in general have the highest respect and esteem for the priests. As soon as they see the fathers, they rise to their feet, take off their hats,28 kiss the father’s hand, and often fall on their knees to speak to him, especially if they are going to ask forgiveness for some offense that they have committed; they patiently endure the penances that the ministers appoint for them, and promptly obey whatever the fathers command them. Even the little children who cannot speak run when they see the father in the street, fall on their knees, and kiss his hand; and then go back greatly pleased at this. At every function which pertains to the church, all the people, from the greatest to the least, work with gladness in building altars and adorning the temples. The house-servants offer their prayers in the morning; and they write, read, and perform their duties after they have heard mass. At night they read a spiritual lesson, recite the rosary, and before retiring pray before the blessed sacrament and sing the Salve to the Virgin; and during the year they frequent the sacraments.