Chapter XXXI
Fruit of the preaching of our religious in the changing of the customs of the religious
When once our religious had gained the goodwill of the Indians they immediately began to exercise the apostolic ministry of the preaching in order to eradicate their ancient vices and customs and reduce them to the perfection of a Christian life. There was much to do and accomplish in this province, for there were yet many heathens in it, and many apostates from the faith which they had received, and some, who made use of the name of Christian, living in their rancherías or visitas, far from the intercourse with, and teaching of, their ministers, were only Christians in name, but in their morals and even in their religion they were heathens, since they did not know the Christian doctrine or the mysteries of the Catholic faith, and neither prayed nor knew how to pray, nor heard mass, nor observed the feasts, nor took any account of Lent, fasting, or abstinence, and did not show any other token of a Christian. For since they lived in the mountains, in remote and distant places, where the ministers could not visit them unless by running great risks and dangers, as abovesaid, they were not sufficiently rooted in the faith which the preachers had taught them; and, living intermixed among the heathens, they easily took on their rites and customs. If, perchance, they wore the rosary at the neck it was when they were going to the villages of Christians, so that they might not be taken for heathens. But there in their rancherías among the mountains, very rarely did they wear it; for the devil had persuaded them that nothing good could happen to them if they had those beads with them. Consequently, when they went to hunt, or to commit a murder, they immediately took off the rosary, in order to obtain success in their undertaking. In short, to tell the whole thing, those Indians of Buquil were even idolaters, and although they had received baptism, they continued in their idolatries, and in their sacrifices to the demon. Only in the capitals where the fathers lived, were there a few perfect Christians; but in the rancherías and visitas, especially those of the district of Buquil, since they did not have the ministers over them, they lived in entire liberty with their ancient vices and superstitions. They killed one another without cause or reason, became intoxicated, worshiped idols, and lived together as they did before, without taking any account of their Christianity.
In order to free them from all such things our religious toiled and labored earnestly arguing, exhorting, and checking them in all patience and instruction, according to the advice of the apostle. And inasmuch as all the barbarity of their customs originated from their lack of faith, the fathers began to set before them and to explain to them the immortality of the soul, the reward or punishment of the other life, and all the other mysteries of the Catholic faith. Their instruction took so fast hold once more on the apostates and on the people of Buquil, that they looked at one another in stupefaction at what they heard the fathers say. The latter seeing the surprise that those things caused in the Indians, decided that it was necessary to start that undertaking from its very beginnings, and to teach them to pray and the instruction, which they had either never understood, or they had completely forgotten. They began that effort by the children, whom they instructed excellently in the prayers, and in the explanation of the doctrine. After them the older people went to the church, in order not to be put to the blush before the children. The latter, either by the advice of the fathers or because of their own natural loquaciousness, upbraided their elders later with the little knowledge which they had had of God before and because they had lived like heathens. By that means the elders were put to shame, and submitted to the teaching. Little by little they began to open their eyes, and to see the blindness in which they had lived. Confused and ashamed of their old way of living, they applied themselves indeed with all earnestness to learn what was necessary for salvation. The church was filled with people all day long who wished to learn the prayers and formulas, which the children prayed in a loud voice, so that the others learned them in that way. The religious preached to them quite frequently, explaining to them the mysteries of the faith, and threatening with the wrath and anger of God those who did not keep the holy commandments. They did that with so great spirit, and fervor, that it caused great terror to those who heard it, and thus daily they were becoming reduced to live according to the laws of Christians.
[The preaching of the religious is aided by divine miracles, and the religious also make use of stratagem to banish vice. An instance of the latter is as follows.]
Such was the one of which the father vicar provincial, Fray Domingo Perez, made use, to banish homicide. He frequently censured that vice in them, but for all that they were wont secretly to commit murders. The father would hear of the murder, although the aggressor was not known. Assembling all those of the village, he would declare that he would ascertain it by means of the pulse. Then he took the pulse of each one, and since confusion is natural in the criminal, especially in these Indians, who understand so little of dissimulation, when the father would take hold of the pulse of the aggressor, the latter trembled all over his body. Hence, by a happy conjecture, the father would deduce that he was the one, and then by censuring him or punishing him according to his deserts, the others were deterred from, and afraid of, committing that crime, which could never be hidden from the father, since he learned everything from the pulse. So certain were they of that, that if any of them had had anything stolen from him, he went to the father to complain, and requested him to feel the pulse of all, in order to ascertain the thief who had stolen it. And although the father usually excused himself from doing that, they could not rid themselves of the idea, which they had formed on the first occasion, that the fathers learned all things by means of the pulse. Therefore, they managed to check many of their ancient customs and superstitions.
But not so quickly did our religious learn what can not be mentioned without tears, namely, that although the Indians were apparently Christians, and were subject to the teaching of the fathers, and had abandoned some of their ancient customs, and embraced in part the observance of the divine law, yet they desired to serve God and the demon at the same time, and they desired to embrace the matters of the faith in such a manner that they should not become separated from the ancient worship which they attributed to the demon in their false gods. That matter was kept very secret among them, for since they feared lest it should reach the ears of the fathers, they had all sworn an oath to keep close concerning that fact. They kept that oath so well that it was never revealed through them. But God revealed it in a curious manner to the religious for the welfare of those miserable people. We have related in chapter xxviii that Father Fray Domingo Perez baptized a boy in Abucay, the nephew of a priest of the idols, who having been taught to read and write, and having been given devout books to read, became a very excellent Christian. He and other lads whom the father kept in the convent, asked the said religious many things concerning the faith, which he taught them and explained to them most gladly, so that daily they became more imbued in all its articles and mysteries. Three years after the entrance of our religious into that district, those lads asked the father if it was right to do such and such things, namely the idolatries which the Indians practiced, and the sacrifices which they made to the demon. The father asked them what it was that was done, and they like children went on to tell whatever they had seen their elders do, and whatever they were practicing secretly even to that time. The father’s grief at such news can well be imagined. But dissembling its effects for the time being, in order not to frighten them away from the hunt, he charged the lads to keep still about what they had told him. Summoning the schoolboys, whom he petted and treated with great kindness, he was informed by them with so great clearness on this head, that he learned who were the priests of those sacrifices, and the instruments that each one had for their diabolical functions. Also charging those children to keep still, he ordered them to tell no one what they had told him, so that their parents might not beat them. The father having learned everything very clearly, and having consulted with God concerning the matter in prayer, he resolved, when Lent came in the year 1683, to put an end to that idolatry, although he knew very well that it would be at the cost of great labor, and many troubles and dangers. For the principal priests of those sacrifices were the principal people of the village, and they were respected and venerated by all and could set afoot any treachery against him. And since they had all sworn not to reveal the matter, as he had not yet proved it, it was a point in which all were interested, and in which all would be against him.
However, having placed all his confidence in God, and with the information that he possessed of the whole matter, he began to summon one after another the chiefs, and chide each one in private for the execrable evil that he was practicing by offering sacrifice to the demon. Before that one could deny the truth to him, he said to him, “You have such and such instruments, and with them you sacrificed on such and such a day, in company with such and such a person.” To another he said: “You are a priest, and consequently, you have so many instruments kept in such a place for the sacrifices, by which you give to the demon the honor that belongs to God; and as proof of it you performed that sacrifice on such and such a day with such and such a person, and this other on such and such a day, with such and such a person.” In such wise did he examine them all and censured them for so great evil. They, seeing that he was giving them so sure proofs, considered the religious as a diviner and gave him the instruments of their idolatries. He commenced by the village of Bauguen, whose church was dedicated to Santa Rosa. By the aid and favor of the saint he collected a great number of those instruments, which some gave to him willingly and some reluctantly. He called the children, and ordered them to break up those instruments, and they obeyed immediately. “Now throw them into the privies,” said the father, “and let the children perform the necessities of nature on them.” They obeyed his order instantly, and made a mockery and jest of those instruments. The Zambals were astonished that the father and the children were not killed for the disrespect that they showed to their gods, for they believed that he who touched or profaned such instruments would die. The father preached to them, and taught them what they were to do in the future. Having finished that matter in Bauguen, he went to Balacbac to do the same; and although he had some difficulty, with the help of God, it was conquered. From Balacbac he went to the village of Alalan, and although he found the people there obstinate and pertinacious, by his kindness and arguments, he induced them to do the same that had been done in the preceding villages. Then he went to Buquil and did the same as in Playa-Honda, breaking and burning all the instruments of their idolatries. And although the father had many troubles on account of that, he stood it all with great patience, as he saw that he was performing the cause of God in this; for which, as we shall see later, they deprived him of life and made him a glorious martyr.
That so pernicious root having been torn out, the religious had no difficulty in sowing in the land of their hearts the good doctrine and teaching. The holy fear of God, the frequency of the holy sacraments, the devotion of the queen of the Angels, and the exercise of the holy rosary persuaded them. And since now the demon had left their souls, and he had been bereft of the right which he had to them, the instructions and inducements of the religious found no resistance in their hearts; and, consequently, they agreed thoroughly in all those things, and thereby they daily became more perfect, and became fervent Christians, anxious for their salvation, and given to the exercises of piety. Now one never heard, as formerly, of violent murders; and now there was no intoxication or other disorders; now the superiors were obeyed and respected by their inferiors; now one no longer heard among them a “I do not wish,” as they were wont to answer formerly; now all were safe, each in his own house, and no one thought of taking vengeance on another. They attended mass almost every day, and went to recite the rosary in the afternoon. They all wore the rosary hanging from their necks with great devotion, and recited it in their houses every night. They observed the fasts of the Church, and the days of abstinence with punctuality, for they feared greatly lest God punish them, as He did punish some for the example of others. In fine, such was the reform in their morals, and the change of life in those Indians, that the fathers themselves were surprised to see what had been wrought by the hand of God, which had changed them in the briefest of space from ravening wolves to gentle lambs, and from fierce and savage men into faithful and obedient sons of the Church. And although our religious worked mightily in this yet all the glory is due to God, who not only gave His spirit to the ministers, but also coöperated in their preaching with many manifest miracles which will be related in the following chapter.
[Chapter xxxii recounts the miraculous occurrences above mentioned, all of which resulted in greater faith and devotion to the new precepts taught by the missionaries, and instilled fear of God into the hearts of the Indians.]