While one of our brethren was sojourning in an Indian village far from that city [of Manila], two incidents occurred whereby was seen and manifested the supernatural virtue of the holy Agnus Dei, so famed for many other great miracles. Two women were quarreling, as is usual among barbarians and vulgar people. One of them was a famous witch, and in anger and passion she threatened the other woman with summary vengeance through her charms. She went home; and the poor Indian woman, entering her own house without fear of evil, was seized with a violent trembling throughout her body. In this paroxysm she arose from her husband's side while they were eating their food and fought desperately to throw herself down from the window. The husband ran, in his consternation, to save her, and called loudly to his neighbors for help. Three persons ran to her, and were hardly able to hold her. Our brother sent to ascertain what this disturbance meant, and when he learned what had happened he called the husband and gave him a little piece of the Agnus in a reliquary, exhorting him at the same time to have faith, and promising that his wife would soon be healed. Then, upon his knees, the brother prayed our Lord to deign to grant his request, for the greater strengthening of the faith of those new Christians. The husband went home with the Agnus, and no sooner had he applied it to his wife, than she was freed of the trembling and terror and remained quite calm. This occurrence soon became public, and another Indian, who had been bewitched by the same Indian woman, on seeing this marvel was convinced that God granted health to those who invoked Him; accordingly, he asked for the same relic, and the result was conformable to his faith. Thus the people were confirmed in their faith, and grateful for the benefits received from the bounteous hand of the Lord.
The number of villages in the mission of Taitai, and the events therein of the year MDCII. Chapter LXXVIII.
The villages of San Iuan del Monte, Antipolo, and others, were instructed by Father Francisco Almerique and Father Tomas de Montoya, with the help of another priest who desired to enter our Society, and who busied himself in assisting us in this work to the great profit of the Indians, of whose language he had an excellent knowledge. These fathers were joined by Father Angelo Armano, who had gone hence two years before and had been detained in Manila compiling the history of the saints, whose relics, as we have said, had been deposited in our Church—a work which this father made very learned and eloquent. Having completed this task, he went to Antipolo, where he began the study and practice of the native language, with admirable results in all of those villages. On the death of Father Almerique (who was stronger than the rest), the burden of work so exhausted the others that, falling sick one by one, the entire load fell upon Father Angelo, who bravely sustained it for several months. This mission contains three principal villages, all of which are capitals of their respective districts, other villages being annexed and subordinate to each of these three. Each one of these villages requires and needs at least two priests with their usual assistants, in order to give adequate care to so many souls. San Iuan del Monte, which is a village of about four hundred inhabitants, has near it Dalig and Angono. Antipolo contains seven hundred houses, and has the two villages of Santa Cruz and Maihai. Santiago was then being settled, with more than four hundred inhabitants, and had in its vicinity other villages, especially two inhabited by blacks, or Itas. All those people were in charge of Father Angelo Armano, who, during Lent of the year one thousand six hundred and two, maintained them in great devotion and fervor without their losing sight, on that account, of their devotional exercises throughout that season, especially in Holy Week. During the latter period, the divine services were celebrated with great solemnity, and there were processions of blood in the two churches of San Juan and Antipolo, with a goodly number of confessions and communions. Another father—a middle-aged man, who knew the language—came from Manila to help in this work, with orders not to remain more than one week, on account of the need of priests in Manila. However, on the second day of Easter, the rector of Manila came with two other fathers who knew the language, on their vacation, very opportunely for concluding the confessions and communions in those villages. During the month that we spent there, there was a notable concourse of people who came to confess, and great was the number of communions. At that time there occurred to Father Pedro de Segura, who was one of those who had gone thither from Manila, an extraordinary incident in connection with the image of our blessed Father Ignatius. One morning, at daybreak, he was summoned in behalf of a woman who lay in a critical condition from childbirth, and wished to confess with Father Segura. While the father was dressing himself to go, he sent for an image of our father, to whom he professed great devotion—which had been increased by the outcome of the shipwrecks which we have described, in which he himself had been present. There was some delay in bringing the image, so that the father reached the sick woman first; and after he had confessed her the image arrived. The poor woman was much exhausted, and, according to the midwife, in extreme danger. The infant was dead, and as it lay obliquely in the womb, the mother could not obtain relief by expelling it. The father exhorted her to have confidence in our Lord, and placing the image before her, left her calling loudly to heaven in her anguish. A second time they called him to hear her confession; and the father, having done so and encouraged her as before, went away. As he was descending from the house the woman expelled the infant, to the wonder of all at seeing the dead child, and the mother living and free from so great a peril.
The people of Antipolo celebrated with great solemnity the feast of the most blessed sacrament, which was attended by the people of our mission as well as of many others. A dialogue in the Tagal language was spoken by the children of the seminary with much cleverness and indication of ability, and to the satisfaction and pleasure of the hearers. This seminary is making great progress in both spiritual and temporal affairs. It is aided by the Indians, with generous alms for its maintenance; and (what is of even greater value) they act with such harmony and edification that they may well serve as an example to the Spanish youth. Some of these pupils are of signal virtue, and our Lord shows them many favors. Every day they go to hear mass, or, in case there is no one to say it, to commend themselves to our Lord in the church. They regularly go from their houses reciting aloud the Christian doctrine; and, upon reaching the church, they conclude it upon their knees. They celebrate the feasts with much solemn pomp and music (for the seminary can furnish good music); and they practice there reading and writing, and other honorable and virtuous exercises. The hospital is making excellent progress, and the Confraternities assign each week those of their members who are to care for the service of the sick, doing this, as I have said, with great alacrity and devotion.
The new residence of Silan and its Christians. Chapter LXXIX.
This new field of Silan was assigned to the Society of Jesus from the year 1599, as the people of those villages, among whom were some Christians, were without a priest to minister to them, although they were but a day's journey from Manila. [24] There are five villages, which contain about one thousand five hundred inhabitants, besides the many other people who, as is their custom, are separated and dispersed through the country districts, in their cultivated lands. These villages are in the tingues, as they call them, of Cavite, among some mountains; the climate there is very moderate, and in no season of the year is there excessive heat—rather, the mountains render it cooler. The people are simple, tractable, and well inclined toward all good things. The first members of the Society who went expressly to instruct them and to settle there were Father Gregorio Lopez and Father Pedro de Segura, who went in the year 1601. In previous months and years some of us had gone there for a short time, as we had visited other places, on a mission or by way of recreation; and by the friendly reception that they gave us and the results which, by Divine grace, were accomplished among them, we were encouraged to establish among them in that year a regular mission, stationing there the two fathers whom I have mentioned. Through the teaching and good example of those fathers they abandoned some of their evil practices, and applied themselves to the Christian customs with good will and pleasure; and many (for there were no Christians among them) received holy baptism.
Not only do they attend their own mass and sermon on Sundays (never missing one of these services), but on Saturdays they go to hear that in honor of our Lady, which is said for them with as much solemnity as that on Sundays. They were greatly encouraged in the observance of these masses and feasts by the following incident which occurred at that time: A woman, who was very eager to finish the weaving of a piece of cloth, sat down at her loom one Sunday to work thereon; afterward, upon returning to her task, she found the cloth all eaten away by moths. She herself made this known, with the full knowledge that it had been a chastisement and penalty for that offense of hers. To assist us in instructing the large number of catechumens in those villages, and in teaching the doctrine to the innumerable children who assemble at the mission from all the settlements, our Lord provided for that work an Indian blind in body but truly enlightened of soul, who, with great faith, charity, and love for the things of God, instructs those who wish to be baptized, catechizing them morning and night in the church. He is so expert in the catechism that none of us could excel him therein. Consequently, they come from his charge marvelously well instructed; and, although he is blind, he is so watchful over the large number of catechumens in his charge, that he notes if even one person is absent, and reports it to the father. The first time when he received communion, which was on the feast of our Lady, he displayed such profound respect and reverence that his body trembled while receiving the holy sacrament, and so great devotion that the sight of it inspired that emotion in others. This man deserves all the greater credit for what he is doing, for having gone from one extreme to another; formerly he was one of the heathen priests, whom they here call catalones, and now he has become a preacher of our holy faith. This he relates, while uttering fervent thanks and exalting the great favors and benefits which God has bestowed upon him.
The increase of this mission has been very great, although it requires arduous labors on the part of the fathers, who have been obliged to go forth among mountains and rugged cliffs seemingly inaccessible; for they go to seek the people in their huts and grain-fields, where it seems as if the devil, in order to deprive them of instruction and gospel truth, had persuaded them to seek wild and rugged places which can be reached only with the greatest difficulty. In this work the fathers have spent the greater part of their time, and have gathered into settlements (to the consolation of their own souls) a great number of people, of all classes. Old persons who seemed the living and fearful images of death, men, women, and tender little children, of all ages, have in this way become acquainted with gospel truth; and as they see that we act disinterestedly in all things, even aiding them in our poverty, they are attracted to us, and soon are ranked in the number of the faithful.
The fathers have succored them in their sickness; and during a pestilence which was prevalent in one of the places visited from this mission, they went there twice to confess the people, although the distance was great, and the roads so difficult that in the going to that one place one must go through nine or ten precipitous ravines, to pass which, as it was then the rainy season, they must walk barefoot, the mud in many places being knee-deep. The fathers heard the confessions of all the sick, some of whom our Lord soon took to Himself. While returning from this village the father passed through a little hamlet of Christians not dependent on this mission, which lay within some very rugged ravines; and among all its people there was not one who had in all his life made confession. They welcomed the father with great joy, going more than a quarter of a legua out of the village to meet him; and when he departed from the village they accompanied him to a like distance. He heard the confessions of some, and all were desirous of removing to our mission-village; they put this desire into execution, at the end of four months, by breaking up the entire village, and proceeding with their families to Silan. This and other beneficial results from that residence of Silan are well described by Father Gregorio Lopez in a letter written by him for the father-visitor, thus:
"Early in my stay there, the people told me that in Caibabayan was a catalona, or priestess; and in order to cut the thread of evil, and to gain a knowledge of those distant fields and peoples, I went thither, desiring to act toward them as a father rather than as a judge; and the Lord, who is the true Father of all, fulfilled my desire. Finding no present evil, but only the report of past things, I sought to reëstablish the reputation of the person whom they defamed. I found in one of the most distant fields, an old man about seventy years of age, who was crippled and had been sick for days. I baptized him, giving him the name of Ignacio, and invited many others who had not even been baptized—encouraging in them the desire for so great a good, helping them to learn what was necessary, to which they commonly give attention. Word was sent from one to another among those mountains and plantations, and those people followed me about with tokens of love and offered to entertain me. Afterward were baptized there many persons of all ages—children, youths, and old men. A few days ago I was informed that in the villages of Malabag, Balete, and Dinglas there were many sick persons who needed help. I set out in the morning after saying mass, thinking to return in the evening; but when I arrived there and saw the needy condition of the people, I changed my plan, for I found in Malabag many sick persons. After I had cared for them I heard the confessions of many who were infirm and old, and those who wished to guard against the malady which was attacking many of them—and perhaps not a few that they might profit, at little cost, by the presence of the new confessor in their village. I passed on to Balete and found that it had become a hospital. I went through all the houses to hear confessions, but could not finish them on that day; so I continued this task on the following day, and then went to Dinglas, where I found the same needs. All, both the sick and those in health, were greatly consoled by my visit; and finally I returned to Silang in the night, with the fiscal and others, who accompanied me. I had occasion to make other and shorter trips among the plantations in the vicinity of Silang, as they contained sick persons who were in need; I also desired to ascertain what houses and persons were in those country districts. Moreover, I thus did something to further my plan of removing them to the village and to have them carry thither their rice and their little possessions, desiring to accomplish what your Reverence so desires, and which is so expedient for the proper instruction of those people. The great activity and solicitude of the father, who is my companion, was of great value to me in this as in all other matters; and the coming of the father rector and Father Diego Sanchez, who assisted us here until Lent, was most valuable, adding more energy and ability to our forces, and consoling and encouraging those people with suitable instruction.