"During our stay several incidents occurred which I shall relate. An Indian woman, wife of the governor of the village, and of high rank, lay sick. One night her malady grew so violent that it left her without power of speech. Believing her to be dead, they hastened to summon us late in the night. When we arrived she was speechless and unconscious, and they were bewailing her as one dead. It grieved me that the woman should die in that state; for she had been a Christian for some years, and yet had not attended confession (although she led a blameless life) because there was no priest who knew her language. I was anxious that she should, if only by a sign, ask for confession, but she could not do even this. We repeated the gospel to her, sprinkling her with holy water; and God, the Father of mercy, gave such efficacy to these means that we had not finished reciting the holy gospel when the woman regained consciousness and asked for confession, saying: 'Jesus, have mercy on me.' Many people were present on this occasion, and we gave thanks to our Lord. Within ten minutes the sick woman was as well as before her illness; accordingly, I would not confess her in her own house, but left her, directing her people to bring her to the church the next day. This was done, and on the following day she confessed, to her great consolation. Another woman, also of rank, was attacked by an illness so violent that she could not be held, and even dashed herself against the walls. Finally, she was dying, and they hastily summoned us; we read to her the gospel, as usual, and gave her holy water. Then with much difficulty, on account of the many persons who were in the house, I began to confess her before she should die. But it was God's pleasure that, just as she began to confess, her malady and the pains of death should be mitigated—so fully that before her confession was concluded she was as well as before. The next day she went to the church, and there, before many persons, she made known the mercy which our Lord had shown to her the night before. Another woman was reduced by sickness to the point of death, so that she was speechless; her people hurriedly summoned us, saying that she was already dead, and we found her unconscious, and already lamented as dead. We recited the holy gospel, and gave her holy water; and we had not yet finished the reading when the woman regained her senses and said 'Jesus.' She then made her confession, and even before we departed she had recovered health, and was offering thanks to our Lord.
"They also called us in to see two children who were dying. We went to them in haste, putting aside the confessions which we had on hand; and found both of them speechless and unconscious—one of them with no sign of respiration—and already bewailed as dead. We recited the holy gospel to them, and gave them holy water; and soon we left them so well that one of them, who was four or five years old, came down that same day to play with the other children, and the other one soon became well. We went to hear the confession of a man who lived a legua and a half away from the village; he was so sick that they could not bring him to the church, for his body was in such a state of corruption that no one would touch him. We went to hear his confession and found him in the condition which we have described; he could not even move from one side to another. We sought to induce him to confess, and repeated to him the holy gospel. This was on Friday or Saturday; on the following Sunday, when I asked for him, they told me that he was sound and well, and had gone to another island in quest of food. We were informed that another, a pagan woman, was at the point of death; at her request, we went to baptize her. I gave her this sacrament in some haste, lest she should die on my hands; but after baptism she regained her health. All these things aroused in their hearts a deep affection for our Lord, and they recognized that what had been preached to them was the truth, and that their idols are but demons.
"I also desire to relate to your Reverence how one night, about ten o'clock, while I was commending myself to our Lord, round about the church I heard many persons weeping most piteously, yet in gentle tones, as if grieving for something which had been lost. Fearing lest it might be some case of death, I sent out two boys to inquire what it was. Some women of rank, the daughters of the master of the house, replied that they and the other women were weeping because on that night, having finished chanting the Christian doctrine, while in a passage-way or corridor of the house and gazing toward the sky, they saw as it were one fastened on a cross with a crown on his disfigured but beautiful head. His body and breast were brighter than the sun, white, and lovelier than words can depict. This [vision of the] Lord gradually receded from them, rising toward heaven, until it reached the moon, when it disappeared from their sight. This lovely vision aroused in them deep love, and, when it departed from them, sadness and sorrow. I sent to bid them calm their grief. On the following day, in the church, those same young women, with their servants and those of their household, arose before all the people; and when I asked them what that meant, they recounted what had occurred to them the night before. Yet they are simple and artless people, who were quite bashful and timid when I questioned them. The next day we learned that this vision, or cross, had been seen at the same time in another village, one or two leguas distant from this one. What most impressed me in this incident was that those persons, although virtuous before it occurred, were afterward much more so, and in their exemplary and modest behavior are the example and pattern for the other women; for they pass many hours on their knees in prayer, they hear mass every day, and, while we remained there, they made their confession every Saturday. The incumbent of that benefice wrote me, several months later, that they were persevering, and setting a rare example in virtue.
"The time for my departure and my return from Tanai arrived, in accordance with the orders of holy obedience. Such was the sorrow, and so many were the tears of those poor people that I was constrained thereby to weep for compassion. They cast themselves at my feet, and upon their knees besought me not to depart, saying: 'If we again fall into sin, to whom shall we have recourse?' I consoled them as best I could; and they accompanied me as far as the river, where I embarked. Then they plunged into the water, and surrounded the boat—men, women, and children—dripping with water, and shedding tears. They brought me for the journey their offerings of rice, chickens and other presents, which I did not accept, as it seemed to me more becoming not to take them. I left them with much regret at seeing so many souls exposed to danger and without a shepherd or minister who knew their language. May God our Lord provide aid for them, according to His mercy."
Seeing the excellent disposition of those people, and the harvest which our Lord was gaining from the missions, the same Father Gabriel Sanchez held another one among those people which he briefly mentions in one of his letters. He says: "I found the people steadfast in their good intentions, and in the doctrine which I had taught them. When I asked them, on certain occasions, if they had committed such and such a sin, they would answer: 'Jesus. Father, would I be false to God? When we were taught last year that we must not sin against the Divine Majesty, would we dare to do so?' And their works confirmed their deeds, for their lives were like those of the primitive church. There were women who, although they were offered chains of gold and presents of great value, could not be influenced thereby to consent to sinful acts. Others suffered insults, and harsh treatment until their blood was shed from the blows and wounds they received, because they would not consent to offend our Lord. Many instances of this could be related."
The fruits of other missions in the island of Ibabao. Chapter LXXII.
As the inhabitants of the island of Ibabao are scattered along the coast and shores of the sea, it has been necessary to despatch thither, on missions, three fathers and three brethren, during most of the year, who instruct the people with the excellent results that are wont to accrue from such missions. In these the harvest has been very large, the divine grace corresponding to the earnest desires of those fathers, and with their labors and perils. Nearly all the time they are journeying by sea, sailing along the coast of this and other adjacent islands, and crossing from one to another, never without danger. They have become fishermen of souls, casting their nets for the heavenly catch—from these journeys returning to Tinagon, where, as we have said, is the house of their residence. This residence cares for fourteen villages, large and small. During the year, there have been baptized therein three thousand six hundred and eighty persons, most of them adults. Father Alonso de Umanes, superior of the residence, Father Manuel Martinez, and Father Juan de San Lucar formed six principal missions, each father with his companion being assigned to certain villages. Father Alonso de Umanes writes that in the first mission two hundred and sixty-nine persons were converted to Christianity, eighty of whom were children, and the rest adults.
In this mission two small and isolated islands were visited, concerning which Father Juan de San Lucar writes to the father-visitor, as follows: "Knowing the satisfaction which your Reverence receives when we render to you an account of our missions, I will now tell you of the last one which I made in the two little islets of Maripipi and Limancauayan, which for more than two years had not been visited by any priest. The people were most eager to have some father to instruct them; and when they knew that Brother Francisco Martin and I were going to them, they made a great feast, and adorned with branches of trees the streets of the village, and the shore as far as the church. The boys and girls came forth, singing the doctrine and bearing a cross, which was to me a most gratifying reception. Afterward, in the church, I thanked them with tears for the affection which they showed us. From the time of our arrival until we departed from those islands, they were continually bringing us gifts from the products of the land, such as wax, rice, and bananas, and other articles of more value. When I undertook to make a list of those who sought baptism, they asked me not to do so, since all those who were not converted (who were very few) desired to become Christians; so I did as they wished. The old men, who elsewhere are usually obdurate and stubborn, and answer that they are now too old to learn the doctrine and begin a new manner of life, here used this very same argument to induce me to baptize them, saying: 'Father, consider that we are already old, and soon shall end our lives; do not let us die without baptism, since we are so anxious to be Christians.' With this good disposition on their part, I began to preach to them, and our Lord was pleased that they should all become Christians. They not orly learned the doctrine, but discussed together the sermons and instructions in the church and in their houses; indeed, so concerned were they about this matter that they seemed to pay no attention to anything else.
"We were greatly aided in facilitating their instruction by the method of [learning by] decuries which your Reverence imparted to us. Dividing them by tens, as if in classes, some learned the Pater-noster, others the Ave Maria; and thus they came to acquire with much facility and ease all the prayers of the primer. I baptized one hundred and forty persons, some of whom were old men of rank. One of them was very anxious that his mother should become a Christian, and on the day when our Lord accorded him this mercy he was greatly rejoiced; he made a great feast, inviting the people to eat at his house, and furnished to them a bountiful repast. We celebrated the octave of Corpus Christi with a solemn procession, in which we bore the most blessed sacrament through the streets, which were decorated and adorned for the occasion with as much splendor as was possible. They laid all their riches and gold chains on the platform; and although it was all insignificant enough, greater was the good will and love with which they offered it.
"With the report that those two islands had been converted to the faith, the island of Cauayan and others of Samar were led to ask for fathers to instruct them. I repaired to Cauayan, and in fifteen days I baptized, after some instructions and sermons, one hundred and seventy adults, with four or five little children. I inquired if any one yet remained to be made a Christian; they replied that only one was left, an old woman, outside the village, but that I need not concern myself about her, for, on account of her great age (she must have been more than a hundred and thirty years old), she had not sufficient understanding or judgment to penetrate into the things of God. I had her conveyed to the village with great care, and they brought me a clod of clay, which had only a little perception, and hardly any understanding; sight had forsaken her, and her hearing was very dull. She had no more power of motion than a stone, for wherever they placed her, there she remained without stirring. She had great-great-grandsons living, and I believe that the descendants extended even further. I began to catechize her, or rather to test her, to see if she had the use of reason; but for the time I could not convince myself whether she had it or not. I had her conveyed to the house of a worthy Christian, an Indian woman of much judgment, by whom the old woman could make herself understood; and I asked her to talk with the old woman very carefully about the things of God, and to draw from her all that she could. Relying upon what this good woman told me (she acted as my interpreter in the church, and as catechist in her own house), I was finally persuaded that the old woman had the use of reason; but when I began to instruct her in the things that were absolutely necessary, the Christian woman told me that, as for the other truths, it was morally impossible, on acount of the old woman's limited capacity, to give her further instruction. I then baptized her, with much consolation, being persuaded that God had preserved her for that hour. I am convinced that she has a very short time to live, but I trust, in the mercy of God, that in the other life she will obtain eternal blessedness through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gained it for her with His precious blood. From Cauayan I went to a little hamlet called Cotai, where I baptized eighty-three persons. From that place I went to Paet, where I baptized one hundred and twenty, all adults; thence to Canauan, where I baptized one hundred and forty. According to my reckoning, then, more than five hundred persons have been baptized, all of age, besides twelve children. What I especially value in this is the sight of the fervor and devotion with which they received baptism, their horror of sin, and their zealous desire that other neighboring peoples should become Christians. They often take the initiative with those people, and preach to their friends with a fervor and power that astonish me. I am also much gratified at having brought about more than eighty marriages within the church, for I suspect that the alliances formed by those people are not marriages, but rather the taking of concubines, considering the readiness with which they divorce and marry again, according to the custom of the country.