The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Volume 28 of 55. Unknown
there are twice as many. Then comes Dapitan, which is the seat of the residence and mission, as the people there are the oldest Christians of these islands, who went willingly to meet the first Spaniards who came to conquer them, and guided and served them during the conquest, and have always persevered faithfully in their friendship. For that reason they are exempt from tribute. They number about two hundred families; while there are about two hundred and fifty more families in another and interior village situated on the headwaters of the same river.
The villages situated on the coast in the direction of Samboangan are Dipoloc, with three hundred families; Duyno, with six hundred; Manucan, with one hundred; Tubao, with one hundred; Sindagan, with five hundred; Mucas, with two hundred; Quipit, with three hundred: with a total of one thousand seven hundred and fifty families, who are computed to be included in this residence, whose instruction is generally in charge of five priests.
Within a few years seven priests have given their lives and shed their blood in this island for the administration of the holy gospel, at the hands of the Moros and apostates: two in the residence of Dapitan,40 and five in the district of Samboangan. Of these, one was in Siao;41 two in Buayen,42 a kingdom of the Moros; and two others but recently in this current year of 1656, in the capital of the entire island—namely, the river of Mindanao, in the settlement where King Corralat lives and holds his court.43 There are, besides, other lathers who have been captives, one of whom died in captivity;44 and others who have died in the Spanish presidio, at their posts as chaplains.
The products of Mindanao and its islands are in general the same as those of the other islands—namely, rice, palms [sc., cocoanuts], a quantity of wax, vegetables, civet, and wild cinnamon (which is used fresh). In the island of Jolo, a quantity of amber has been found at times, and some large pearls. It alone of all the Filipinas Islands has elephants.
With the opportunity of the oared fleets of the presidio of Samboanga, which—accompanied by a number of Indian volunteer vessels from the district of Dapitan, and others of our missions—have sailed during the last few years to this great island, and since our fathers have always accompanied them and acted as their chaplains, a mission has been formed there at the same time; and the ministries of the Society have been exercised in those so remote parts, with not a little gain, and great hopes of numerous Christians, since those baptized number seven hundred—among whom are some of the chiefs of the neighboring islands, who have already offered vassalage to the king our sovereign, and asked for ministers of the gospel. If God be pleased to let our arms in Mindanao be free, and if this undertaking that has been begun in Borney be continued, it will be without doubt to the great exaltation of our holy faith, and the advantage of the Spanish state in these Filipinas Islands. For, besides freeing the islands from the continual invasions, fires, thefts, and captivities by those pirates, they will enjoy the fertility, wealth, and abundance of this island, which is the largest one of these archipelagos, having a circumference of four hundred and fifty leguas. It is the way-station for the commerce of the rich kingdoms of India extra Gangem [i.e., beyond the Ganges], Pegu, Sian, and Camboxa, upon which it borders. In respect to Christianity, great increase can be promised; for the people are, as a rule, docile and of good understanding. Although the faith of Mahomet has made some headway in the maritime parts—but not with the obstinacy experienced in other islands—all the people of the interior are heathen.
The Society maintains a college in the island of Terrenate, which is the head of the missions of that archipelago, which were hitherto subject to the [Jesuit] province of Cochin in Eastern India. Last year they were assigned to this province of Filipinas by virtue of a royal decree despatched by the advice of the royal Audiencia, by the governor and captain-general of these islands, on the occasion of, the revolt of Portugal and India.45 At present three priests are busied in this labor: one is the rector who lives in the house and college of Terrenate, to look after the ministry of Spanish and Indians in the presidios of that island and that of Tidore, and the village of Mardicas. The other two visit in mission the many stations in their charge, as long as there is no minister belonging to each of these.
The chief and oldest mission is that of the kingdom of Siao, where there was estimated to be at the beginning, eleven thousand seven hundred Christians, while today they do not number four thousand. The king of that place has many subjects, and allies in the islands of Tabuco or Sanguil Bagar,46 the Talaos,47 and in Matheo or Macasar. The Talaos number about eleven thousand souls, and their chief is a Christian. So likewise those of Maganita, Moade, Tomaco, and Sabugan in Sanguil Baçar. There are eight hundred native Christians in Calonga, the capital of the same island. A Franciscan priest lives there at present, while the Society, to whom that mission belongs, has no one to send there.
From Siao the mission of the province of Manados, in the island of Matheo or Macasar, is also visited. Formerly it had four thousand Christians, but now Christianity is almost wiped out (even the villages of our faith, and allied to us) by the raids of the Dutch and the Terrenatans, who favor another nation and one allied with the Dutch and Terrenatans. Inasmuch as the land of Manados is unhealthful, five members of the Society have perished in the enterprise of its conversion. A short distance from Manados is Cautipa, a part of the same mainland of Macasar, and subject to the king of Siao, with about four or five thousand heathen families. The fathers lived among them and made some Christians formerly.
The former Christian settlements in Gilolo—Sabugo, Moratay, San Juan de Tolo, and others of Batachina—which before numbered two hundred and fifty thousand Christians, instructed by our fathers, are also destroyed by the same wars with heretics. May the Lord bring it about that that door may be again opened to the cultivation of this vineyard, through the peace of España and Olanda. This vineyard is continued, by way of this district of Batachina, by the Papuans and thence by Nueva Guinea—whose farthest bounds are yet unknown, as well as the knowledge of what God has reserved for the evangelical ministers and the Spanish empire in that unknown land.48
Father Alonso de Castro, a Portuguese, was an illustrious martyr of Christ in Maluco, for whom, after he had preached the gospel there for the space of eleven years, the Moros wrought the crown of martyrdom; in January, 1559—dragging him first through rough places, where he endured imprisonment, and giving him later many wounds; and, lastly, throwing his dead body to the bottom of the deep sea. At the end of three days the body appeared on the strand surrounded with emanations of light. See his life and martyrdom among the illustrious men of Father Eusebio.49
The relationship with the provinces of Japon and China ought also to be included among the ministries of this province, because of the communication that their nearness offers, and the present necessity of those fields of Christianity imposes obligations on us. The ministers there have been assisted from here, these last few years, with some alms for their support—especially in the province of Chincheo, which is the nearest—and wine for the masses, and holy oils, which those missions would not have if they were not furnished from here. They earnestly petition the aid of more ministers, as those who are there are few and aged. If many ministers come from Europa, and we have an order for it, some shall be given to them.
The Religious Estate in the Philippines
[This survey of religious affairs in the islands is taken from the Chronicas (Manila, 1738) of the Franciscan chronicler San Antonio, vol. i, pp. 172–175, 190–210, 214–216, 219, 220, 223–226.]
Chapter XLVI
510. Who does not express wonder that the evangelical preaching in these islands (and more especially at Manila) is so eloquent; that the worship in the temples has a veneration as perennial as it is ceremonious; that the holy orders maintain themselves in the
These were Fathers Francisco de Mendoza and Francisco Pagliola. The former was a native of Lisboa and was born in 1602 of a noble family. He was killed by the Moros in Malanao, May 7, 1642. He had entered the Society in Nueva España in 1621 and went to the Philippines, while still a novice. The latter was martyred January 29, 1648. He was a native of Nola in the kingdom of Naples, the date of his birth being May 10, 1610. He entered the Society February 6, 1637, at Naples. On arriving at the Philippines in 1643, he was assigned to Mindanao, where he labored in Iligan and the western part of the island, going later to the Subanos, who killed him. See Pastells’s Colin, iii, pp. 800, 801; and Murillo Velarde’s Hist. Philipinas, fols. 111 verso, and 154 verso and 155.
Juan del Campo, who was killed by the Subanos January 25, 1650, was born in Villanueva de la Vera, in 1620. He went to Mexico in 1642, where he began to study theology, completing that study in Manila. See Pastells’s Colin, iii, p. 801; and Murillo Velarde’s Hist. Philipinas, fol. 178.
The two martyrs of Buayen were Pedro Andrés de Zamora, December 28, 1639, and Bartolomé Sánchez, early in June, 1642. The former was born in Valencia, and in 1616 entered the Society in Aragon, and went to the Philippines in 1626. He was suspended from the Society in 1629, but was readmitted upon showing full signs of repentance. He was sent while still a novice to the missions at Buayen, where he labored faithfully and zealously until his death.
The latter was born in Murcia on St. Bartholomew’s day, 1613. In his youthful years, while attending the Jesuit college, he became somewhat wild, but later reformed; and upon hearing of the martyrs of Japon in 1628, he was fired with zeal to emulate them, and entered the Society, being received on the ship that bore him to Nueva España. Although he had resolved to return to Spain in the same ship, because of the disconsolateness of his parents at his departure, he changed his mind, and finished his novitiate in Manila. Upon being ordained as a priest, he was sent to Mindanao and was killed by Manaquior while on his way with a naval relief expedition to Buayen, after having been eleven years in the Society. Sec Pastells’s Colin, iii, p. 801; and Murillo Velarde’s Hist. Philipinas, fols. 113 verso and 117 verso.
These two fathers, Alejandro Lopez and Juan Montiel, were martyred December 13, 1655 (not 1656). The latter was a native of Rijoles in Calabria. See Pastells’s Colin, iii, pp. 801, 802; Murillo Velarde’s Hist. Philipinas, fols. 233 verso-235 verso; and ante, p. 62, note 25.
The author alludes to Father Domingo Vilancio, who died in 1634. He was a native of Leche in the kingdom of Naples. He labored among the natives of the Philippines for more than thirty years. See Vol. XXVI, p. 266; and Pastells’s Colin, iii, p. 802.
After sixty years of Spanish rule, Portugal revolted (December, 1640), threw off the Spanish yoke, and placed on its throne Joao IV—who, as duke of Braganza, was the most wealthy and influential of all the Portuguese noblemen; and he was regarded as the legitimate claimant of the throne. Spain made several attempts to recover this loss; but Portugal has ever since been independent.
i.e., Great Sanguil. The auditor Francisco de Montemayor y Mansilla says that Sanguil is twelve leguas from Siao and ten from Mindanao, and has a circumference of six or seven leguas. “Four chiefs rule this island, namely, those of Siao (in the villages called Tabaco), Maganitos, Tabucan, and Calonga. The latter had two villages, Calonga and Tarruma, where there was formerly a presidio with ten or twelve Spanish soldiers, solely for the defense of those two Christian villages from the invasions of the Moros of the same island. The village of Tarruma after the dismantling of our forts, passed into the control of the Dutch; and there are now, according to reports, some Dutch there, and a dominie who preaches to them. The other village, Calonga, which is governed by a father-in-law of the king of Siao, still perseveres in the Catholic faith and the friendship of the Spaniards. It is visited, although with dangers and difficulties, by the fathers of the Society of Jesus who live in Siao, when they go to visit the Christian villages owned by that king in the island of Sanguil.” See Pastells’s Colin, iii, p. 814.
The same auditor (see note, above) says that the Talaos “are four islands lying in the same district as those of Sanguil and Siao. The country is poor, the people barbarous and naked, and the islands abound in cocoas and vegetables, some little rice (on which they live), and some roots (with which they pay their tribute). Two islands and part of another are vassals of the king of Tabucan; the fourth island and part of that which pays tribute to the king of Tabucan are vassals of the king of Siao. They have their own petty chief, who was baptized in Manila; and there are now eight hundred baptized families there.” See Pastells’s Colin, iii, p. 814.
When Father Colin wrote, the Dutch had already discovered, explored, and delineated in their maps with sufficient accuracy, the coasts of New Guinea and New Holland, or Australia and New Zealand. See Pastells’s Colin, iii, p. 816.
Alonso de Castro was born at Lisbon. Sommervogel (Bibliothèque) says that he labored for nine years in the missions of Terrenate, and that he was martyred January 1, 1558.