The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 43, 1670-1700 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

by Unknown

Chapter II

Of the reduction of the Mandayas Indians to our holy faith

[Father Pedro Ximenez, who had labored for six years in the mission of Irraya, being compelled to leave that place because of slanderous reports, is sent in 1684 to the village of Fotol, on the border of the Mandaya country in the central part of Luzón. The needs that he finds there will not allow him to take the rest that he has planned after his active and laborious campaign against infidelity in Irraya, and he takes up his work in the new mission with undiminished zeal. The people of Fotol he finds in the midst of famine, for the fierce Mandayas[12] of the uplands will not allow them to cultivate their fields. The father resolves upon the reduction of the Mandayas. He begins by writing letters to an influential apostate who is living in the mountain region, and those letters so stir up the conscience and memory of that man that he resumes the faith which he had abandoned, and is later of great service to the father, and lives in Christian humility until his death which occurs within a short time. Not without hindrances from the evil one, however, are the efforts of the gospel worker. That enemy of mankind causes an inhabitant of the village of Nabayugan to murder another heathen, whereupon all is confusion and the breathing forth of threats. The father learning that that murder may be atoned for by two ways, namely, by fighting or by a fine, promises to pay for it himself in the interests of peace. Through his native ambassadors he sends a present of shirts, salt, needles, combs, and tibors, to the aggrieved faction. Won by such generous kindness, the ambassadors are treated most cordially, and a favorable answer sent to the father, and they promise to descend the mountain to meet him near Capinatan. The energetic priest immediately sets out, but the devil ever watchful in the interests of his evil trade, manages to upset the boat in which the father is journeying on the river at the hour of midnight. However, nothing but a wetting and considerable discomfort is the result, and next day Fray Pedro meets the heathens. After a stay with them of two days, the father returns accompanied by two chiefs and four others of the heathens, a not slight undertaking on the part of those timid people, as they are in constant fear of treachery. They return to the mountains after short visits to the villages of Capinatan and Affulug, accompanied by some of the inhabitants of the former village. Among their people they relate the good treatment which they have received from the father, “as well as from the commandant of the fort, who really aided considerably in that reduction by his affability, kindness, and good treatment. If the other commandants of the forts near the heathens carried themselves in that manner, they could gather more fruit than the fathers for their conversion and reduction. But the pity is that most of them not only do not aid, but even offer opposition on this point, and think only of their profit and interests.” Once more the devil endeavors to destroy the peace which seems about to spread throughout the district. One of three heathens, who go down to the village of Malaueg, is killed by the inhabitants of that place, and the other two are seized and sent to the commandant of Nueva Segovia. To their surprise that commandant, instead of praising them for their vigilance, seizes the captors and frees the captives, the latter upon the supplication of the father, being sent to him and returned to their people. Other troubles are also satisfactorily settled through the agency of Fray Pedro. At his invitation twenty-two of the heathens accompany him to Apparri, where the alcalde-mayor confers on them titles and honors, thus increasing the favorable opinion of the Mandayas. The village of Calatug still proves an obstacle to the general peace, for they are hostile to the Mandayas, and have declared that if the latter become reduced they will attack and kill them. The Mandayas who wish to become civilized, after holding a council, resolve to ask aid of the alcalde-mayor against the village of Calatug, and that aid is promised them. Meanwhile it is reported that there is a plot to kill Fray Pedro, and that all the friendliness of the Mandayas is only treachery. Refusing to believe that, the father determines, against advice from all sides, and a vigorous protest from the commandant of the fort at Capinatan, to ascend the mountains in company with only one Mandaya and his daughter, and the necessary rowers, eight in number. His confidence is well answered by the joyful reception accorded him by the Mandayas, among whom he remains for about a fortnight. The following September, in conformity with his promise he again ascends the mountains, and at that time a church is built which is dedicated to Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia. In 1686 that church numbers more than one thousand three hundred converts and apostates who have come back to the faith. The number of converts in that mission is opportunely increased by an epidemic of smallpox, when the mercy of God is seen in many, both those who die and those who recover. In 1687 the growth of the work causes the chapter held that year to assign Fray Pedro two associates, and in 1688 he is made an independent missionary and given one other associate. That increase enables him to found another village in a district less mountainous and hence less difficult to administer, and soon there is a Christian population of over five hundred there. But the father falling ill, and finding it necessary to retire, the people of Calatug, still hostile to the Mandayas, assault the village, and all but one hundred and forty of them are either killed or flee to the mountains. Them the alcalde-mayor of the province removes to the village of Camalayugan, and that mission comes to an end.]

[Chapters iii–ix discuss the lives of various gospel workers, and Chinese affairs. Chapter x treats of certain miracles that occurred in the hospital of San Gabriel.]