Substitution of “Unseen Powers”
All the fear of the mysterious as well as the belief of the Filipinos in unseen powers which took away life, attracted misfortunes, gave victory, or conduced to disaster was conserved, changing only the concepts that they had about the spirits that governed the affairs of life and the phenomena of nature. The patron saints recommended by the missionaries came to take the place of the ancient anitos representative of their past which they gave intervention in their idolatry in all the affairs of life.
When the missionaries preached their religion, they condemned the old Pagan superstitions but they taught new superstitions more powerful than the original, not only because of the prestige of the new patrons who are all members of a Celestial Court organized as an earthly aristocracy and headed by the same God, Creator of the Universe, but by communicating with God in the same tongue, which the ordinary man supposed was spoken by Him, which is the Latin tongue, in which the priests said their prayers and sang their hymns.
“Ensalmos”
The Oremus, the Laus Deo, Agnus Dei, Deo Gracias, Nos cum prole pia, Benedicat Virgo Maria, Per omnia secula seculorum, Kyrie eleyson, Christe eleyson, came under the category of enchantments (ensalmos) known by the terms bolong and mantala of the primitive mangkukulam, man͠ghihikup, mananan͠gisama, etc. etc., of Philippine paganism. All of these Latin phrases acquired so great a prestige that they were looked upon as a form of irresistible invocation for conquering the divine will, and a certain ridiculous sect came to be known as the Colorum, which term originated from the wrong pronunciation of secula seculorum with which many Latin prayers ended, prayers which were incomprehensible but used due to the ignorance of many.
The phrase agnus dei qui tolis pecata mundi is used as an incantation in which every word more or less incomprehensible has a sacred character so that if one should say that he despises qui tolis, it would be considered a blasphemy because the Qui Tolis is something sacred or divine. A child after saying the trisagio said by way of protest: “I am tired of saying kirileson (Kyrie eleyson).” His mother then punished him for playing with the name of God. Another child who happened to name a dog Qui Tolis was corrected by his aunt, saying: “The name of God is never used for naming an animal.”
Magic Invocations
All this constitutes a real array of magic invocation in the efficacy of which there is great confidence to avoid evil, ridding of danger, securing more good, and attaining some grace. As an example of the power of the invocations and what can be obtained by merely saying frequently “Jesús, María, y José” (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph), which constitutes the most “divine trinity on earth,” the following cases are related: (Novena a Jesús, María y José, Manila, 1903).
A bad man walking in the middle of the night in front of the church of San Francisco in Cuzco, Peru, saw lights in the cemetery, and knowing it to be a funeral, went to the place to witness it. Presently he noted that there was a throne where Jesus Christ was found seated between Mary and Joseph. Then several demons appeared, each one with a book in his hand. One of them began accusing a bad woman from Buenos Aires. “Jesus,” says the Novena, “pronounced a sentence against her of instant death and with it eternal perdition” (p. 7). The demon disappeared in order to execute the sentence. Another devil read from his book that in Chile there was another bad woman. “Jesus sentenced her to death and condemnation” (p. 8). The devil ran to carry out the sentence. Another one appeared accusing a bad man of Cuzco, and this man was precisely the same who tarried to witness the scene at the cemetery. “When the just judge was about to sentence him to death and condemnation, Blessed Mary and Joseph knelt before the divine Master, asking mercy on behalf of the accused, alleging that many times he invoked the holy names (Jesús, María y José). Jesus having denied pardon, his parents begged him anew, and seeing that they were not making headway toward securing pardon, the Blessed Virgin showed to her Blessed Son the breast from which He sucked, and the Patriarch Saint showed him the hands that maintained him thru his labors” (p. 8). Then Jesus conceded the pardon as a matter of grace which can only be characterized as material gratefulness (estómago agradecido).