Another Indian woman was at the extremity of death, and without baptism. The father was summoned, but he, thinking that she was not in so great danger, and that more time was necessary to instruct her in the mysteries of the faith, wished to postpone her baptism. However, God put a strong impulse into his heart not to leave the sick woman in danger; and at last catechising her very briefly, scarcely had he baptized her when she died happy.
The devil grieved mightily because the fathers were taking away so many souls from his captivity, and tried to drive them from that province of Calamianes. He availed himself of a witch and her son, appearing in person to them, and ordering them to use all the delusions and witcheries that they knew, in order to frighten the Spanish soldiers who were in a fortress near by, so that the gospel ministers should by this means be induced to depart to Manila. The sorcerers began their deceits, and one night they seized the soldier on guard and bore him through the air to the top of a hill more than a legua away. When the period of his watch was over, others went to relieve him; as they could not find him, the captain thought that he had deserted, and sent another soldier to look for him. He was found crying out like a madman. He was taken manacled to the fortress, and, recognizing that it was the devil who had maltreated him, they summoned father Fray Benito de Santa Monica, a native of Sevilla, and a powerful minister, who had grace to cast out devils. The father began the exorcisms of the church; and the evil spirit talked—a thing that he had not done before—and said many things in many languages. Consequently, the father ordered him not to talk unless he were questioned; the spirit obeyed, and, finally urged by the exorcisms, made known all the said trick, and left the body of the soldier.
The next night the devils entered into eight soldiers, afflicting them with the same accidental madness as the other. Thus did they continue to multiply their cases of possession, to the great fear of all the others. And although our religious did not cease in their exorcisms and prayers, the infernal spirits were stubborn and pertinacious. Fears grew greater when legions of devils were seen in the air at night in most horrible guise. On that account the most holy sacrament was exposed in the fort. Yielding to its sovereign presence, the demons fled in confusion to their eternal dungeons, with the ruin of their deceits; for the Catholics mended their lives, the faith was confirmed, and the infidels were more inclined to receive it.
§ X
Preaching of Ours in the river of Cagaìang
Let us leave those islands for a moment and return to Mindanào, where Ours were fervently attending to their ministry. After having put Christianity on the best footing possible along the shores of Butuan, they went forty leguas farther on by sea, to look for another river called Cagaìang, as they had been told that its inhabitants were a people more docile than the other inhabitants, in order to enlighten them with the light of the gospel. The lord of that land was an Indian named Salangsang. He lived on a steep and inaccessible rock, which is a peninsula called Himologàn. It had no other approaches or mode of ascent than certain ladders made of rattans [bexucos], which resemble strong osiers. When those were removed it was fortified and protected from the invasions of enemies. The customs of those people are like those related of the inhabitants of Caraghas. The path opened for that undertaking was that Doña Magdalena Bacuya, a Christian Indian woman (the grandmother of the above mentioned Indian, Salangsang), being moved by zeal for the honor of God, and compassion for the blindness of those people, went to see her grandson. Although with difficulty, she succeeded in gaining admittance for our ministers, who were at that time staying at the island of Camiguì without being able to accomplish that which they wished. Finally, fathers Fray Juan de San Nicolàs and Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios arrived there [at Himologàn], and found the chief in the presence of five hundred Indians who lived in that place. That site, perched on its summit, was a very agreeable residence capacious enough for that people to live in a house resembling a cloister, so large that they lived in it with all their families. These had communication on the inside, while it was strongly enclosed on the outside. In the middle of it was the divatahan or temple dedicated to the devil. It was a little house and dirty, as was he who was worshiped there. The prince received the ministers with some show of affection, for he gave them a little buffet on the cheek, as a sign that he received them as friends.
Those people wondered at seeing those ministers in their lands, and joked about them, taking them for madmen, since they entered without weapons or other defense, to seek their death. But as those fathers had God on their side, whose cause they were serving, His sovereign Majesty ordained that the chief, showing them kindness, should give them a small corner in his house, so that they might live securely, although very uncomfortably. For no one gave them anything, and, in order to live, they had to go fishing and to carry wood and water on their backs. They suffered considerably from that, but in joy and gladness, for they were serving the Lord, to whom they were attempting to offer those barbarous people by means of the preaching of the faith.
The fathers obtained permission to celebrate the holy mystery of the mass, although it had to be done outside that rock, the dwelling-place of the Indians. They selected the shore of a small river near the sea. There with their own hands they raised an oratory and an altar, where they celebrated mass with great labor, because they had to carry on their shoulders all the things necessary for the work, without any one aiding them. Then they went up, and locked themselves in their little lodging, which served them as cell and choir, going out only to discuss with the leading Indians the knowledge of the true God. By that good example, they steadily gained great love, and the people presented to them some food. Ours repaid them by fervently preaching our holy faith to them. The Indians brought their little children so that they might be taught the holy mysteries and the Christian doctrine; and these made no poor beginning in this, although the old fathers, accustomed to their vices, were unwilling to accept it.
Those Indians were vassals of King Corralat (of whom we shall speak later) to whom they paid tribute. Collectors came yearly along the level land from his court to the river to collect the tribute. That king was a Mahometan, and consequently hostile to Christians. He learned that our religious were in the lands of his dominion as guests, and ordered that they be killed without any objection. More than one thousand men came to do that, but they were not bold enough to execute the order of their king, for the natives had acquired so great affection for Ours that they went out in their defense. The matter was arbitrated and it consisted in the gospel workers paying tribute to the king. They gladly assented to it, for the charity of the fathers extended to all things. The payment of the tribute cost them great trouble, as it was large, and they had to work with their hands, as they had no support from other directions.
Corralat did not become quiet with that, or rather it was the devil who, angry at the great fruit that Ours were gathering in the vineyard of the Lord, was trying by that means to drive them out from it. The Mahometan king proclaimed war against the villages of that river. During it the religious suffered great frights, pains, and hardships, fleeing to different parts, in dangerous boats, laden at times with the sacred ornaments; hiding in caves, in need of food and without comforts; and guarding themselves for a better occasion, in order to employ their lives in the service of God and the spread of His faith. His [Divine] Majesty was not displeased with that earnest zeal, for he freed them all from those dangers; while the Indians were so energetic in their defense that they refused obedience to the tyrant king, and begged aid from the Spaniards who were established at the fortress of Caragha and from those at Zibù, which was given them immediately. Beyond doubt that was a plan of the divine pity to enlighten those heathen with the light of truth, and to withdraw them from the captivity of Satan. For the Indians, having been defended by the arms of Castilla and instructed by the religious, became so fond of them that they delivered to them their divatahan, where they built a church, in order to administer baptism to those who were converted. Salangsang, together with his wife, was the first to receive baptism in the church, and many others followed their example. That prince, having become a Christian, became a willing subject to the kings of Castilla. He built a stronghold with sufficient ramparts to defend himself against the stratagems of Corralat. Finally Ours erected the convent called Cagaiang, where the Indians began to build houses for their dwellings.