Thus with the greatest freedom an immoral and grotesque act is related in which the innocent husband is left out and takes no step to have just punishment meted, and the saint with his cloak commits a deviltry only fit for urchins of the brook.
It is said that San Ramon takes such a deep interest in the misfortunes and pains of his devotees, and is so extremely compassionate “that his images perspire thru the affliction of his devotees” (p. 12). “An image of the Saint perspired so copiously at one time that a devout woman suffered and the veil with which she covered herself was stained; and some handkerchiefs wet in his perspiration relieved headaches marvelously” (p. 21).
Saint Roque has the power of stopping the spread of epidemics. “His protection is what preserves us from plague and other sufferings or diseases, which, having their origin in the corruptions of the air, which should conserve our life, causes death” (p. 3).
The Height of Absurdity
Is it possible to invent or suppose greater absurdities than those here mentioned? Nevertheless, in order not to prolong this address, I shall only present a few of the cases which are cited in abundance in these little booklets (opusculos), distributed in great profusion among our people. What logic, what reasoning can we expect of minds nurtured with such absurdities, fed up with fakes of such puerile nature that one can hardly believe them to have been narrated by men of simple common sense?
The mattress where San Vicente died has become possessed of the virtue of making miracles; by merely lying on it on different occasions over 400 sick persons afflicted with various diseases became well (p. 32).
One time when San Antonio de Padua preached on the seashore it happened “that the fishes to whom he preached came out of the water and heard him with all attention.” No devotee ever doubts the coming out of fishes, nor does he interests himself in the solution of the physical, physiological, linguistic, and especially logical aspects of such an event, but the Novena to the Saint confirms it so (p. 20).
This lecture would be unduly prolonged if I were to mention all the absurdities that appear in the Novenas of which I have quite a collection, which constitute a real array of documents of positive usefulness for the history of the superstition which I have scarcely touched upon here. With what has been said there is enough to explain the origin of the immorality, the real cause of the predisposition to vice, the absence of a sense of responsibility, the natural explanation of what incomprehensible character formed of a mixture of sentiments which the missionaries have contributed to the Filipino, Indio, Spaniard, and Chinese, all influenced by the injurious spirit which pervades all that literature which is completely antagonical to reason. Such, and not the lay education, is responsible for this evil.
I am not here to formulate theories or to speak of a capricious hypothesis. Before an audience such as this which I have the honor to address, I need to weigh the value of my words and of my judgment. For this reason I have cited facts, repeating the exact words, not of the profane literature composed of the anonymous Corridos whose detrimental influence is well known, but the authentic texts of Novenas authorized by the ecclesiastical censorship for not containing anything contrary to sane morals, as it is said in the permits granted for their printing.
Nor have I thought for a moment of mixing religion in my criticism; nor is it in my power to vary the results or consequences that may result from the facts mentioned in the Novenas, which are the literature responsible for this state of puerile mentality, absolutely inadequate for an understanding of morals, composed of matter that paralyzes, rather than bring out, progress.