Entrance of the Recollect fathers into the island of Bohol
If in the seventeenth century a rebel voice—which emancipated from their obedience and respect to the authorities many unthinking persons, who adhered to the sedition—sounded in the mountains of Bohol, in the eighteenth century that voice, instead of having been completely extinguished, had continued to increase. We have admitted the valiant character of those natives, and granted their natural aptitude in the use of weapons; concurrent with these were various other causes which aroused and increased their disaffection, which had been extended to a very considerable number. Captained by intrepid leaders—as for example, Dagahoy, Ignacio Arañez, Pedro Bagio, and Bernardo Sanote—they had formed a body of insurgents in the mountains of Inabangan and Talibon. That gave the superior government plenty to think about, because of the many years that the insurrection was in existence; and because it always continued to increase until Fathers Lamberti (the missionary of Jagna) and Morales[7] (of Inabangan) were sacrificed by them, a little after the middle of the past century. In such condition, then, was public order in the province of Bohol; and the Spanish name enjoyed so little respect in that restless and disorganized island when, inasmuch as the Jesuit fathers had left all the Spanish dominions, their administration was adjudged to us, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight. Father Pedro de Santa Bárbara was assigned as cura of Baclayon, and other Recollect religious to the villages of Loon, Maribohoc, Tagbilaran, Dauis, Jagna, Dimiao, Loboc, and Inabangan, which are the eight missions existing in that island in the above-mentioned epoch. A most difficult undertaking was offered to the zeal and loyalty of the first Recollects who entered Bohol. A great prudence united with the greatest zeal, great valor with a knowledge of all the difficulties, and a foresight of all the results, were necessary to rise superior to that so difficult situation, and to fulfil their social and religious trust in so delicate circumstances, as was advisable to the service of religion and the greater dignity of our country. When the father vicar-provincial of our new ministries, who was then the cura of Baclayon—a religious of great energy, of proved zeal, and of not common daring—found himself in peaceful possession of the spiritual administration of all the reduced villages, he thought seriously of probing to the bottom the beginning and progress of the rebellion, its actual condition, and the disposition of their minds. He established correspondence with the leaders, held several conferences with them, acquired their utmost confidence, and succeeded in obtaining the submission of Dagahoy; and the other leader, Bernardo Sanote, also returned to the service of God and of his Majesty. The Recollects proceeded with so fine tact to make themselves masters of the wills of those untamable mountaineers, that, in a short time after their arrival, they no longer needed an armed force for the security of their persons—although until then pickets of soldiers were maintained in nearly all the villages for the defense of the ministers. Consequently, the soldiers were able to retire from Loay, Maribohoc, and Loon, but always remained in Inabangan, Jagna, and Tagbilaran—not for the purpose of protecting the ministering fathers, but to prevent all devastation and disorder on the part of those who were not subdued. A general amnesty was granted to all the delinquents who had taken to the mountains. That produced many submissions, although it did not wholly extinguish an evil whose roots were so old, and which responded to so many causes as had contributed to its growth. Its final consequences lasted until the beginning of the present century; and when it was believed necessary to obtain the complete tranquillity of the island and the entire extinction of the rebels, an expedition was formed in the time of General Ricafort, composed of one thousand one hundred men—who were enrolled in Cebú, and were embarked to fulfil their destiny on May eight, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven. The governor of Cebú, Don José Lázaro Cairo, commanded those forces. He was accompanied by the ex-father-provincial, Fray Miguel de Jesus, parish priest of Danao; and by father Fray Julian Bermejo, ex-provincial of the calced Augustinians, parish priest of Boljoon. The outcome of the expedition was all that could be desired; insubordination ceased to exist in the interior of Bohol, and the last remnants of the emancipated came to an end in all parts of the island. The fruits of peace began to appear; and from that time all the inhabitants, at the same time while they acquired the habits of obedience and respect, began to experience a new era of prosperity, and the satisfaction consequent on the social life. From that time the population has greatly increased; and all the inhabitants remain faithful to their duties, very respectful to all authority, and faithful vassals to the king of España.
For more than one century all this island has been under the spiritual direction of our province. During that time the number of the Catholics has increased in so prodigious a manner that it has been raised to a number almost triple what it was when we received it. At that time it was an integral part of the province of Cebú. At present it forms a province by itself, and is one of the most populous of the archipelago; and its people are closely settled and compact, active and industrious, diligent and laborious.
We received eight missions in this province, which were the eight regularly organized villages which then existed. Their spiritual direction occasioned great sorrows to the ministers of that time, some of these even succumbing as victims to the insolence and obstinacy of their own children. Today we count one hundred and ten years of our existence in that district, and we cannot write of those natives a single page like those of their old history, which was full of disagreeable, and some horrible, relations—whether because the Recollects had an understanding of the peculiar dispositions of those Indians, and the means suitable to gain their respect and obedience; or whether, perchance, one might say that the people of Bohol have had sufficient penetration to observe in their conduct certain manners so considerate and so full of demonstrations of benevolence, which sentiments of compassion and interest in the adversities and lack of resources of their parishioners, would cause in the minds of their new parish priests. Whichever of these may be accepted to explain the long period of our stay in Bohol, exempt from all trouble, and the steady increase in our enjoyment of the consideration and confidence of our protegés, we shall always make known the facts—very surprising and very gratifying to our corporation—that were already begun to be observed from the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight, when the first Recollects went to that island. They were received without any opposition, obeyed without repugnance, and were loved and respected; and these mutual relations have continued without any lapse until the present time.
[The towns of this Recollect province are the following: Loon, with 3,097½ tributes, and 17,202 souls; Calape, with 2,627 tributes, and 8,187 souls; Tubigon, with 2,109½ tributes, and 10,008 souls; Inabangan, with 1,568 tributes, and 7,024 souls; Getafe, with 144 tributes, and 3,912 souls; Talibon, with 1,089 tributes, and 8,558 souls; Ubay, with 669 tributes, and 2,844 souls; Candijay, with 738 tributes, and 5,030 souls; Guindulman, with 1,994½ tributes, and 9,600 souls; Sierra-Bullones, with 541½ tributes, and 2,235 souls; Duero, with 1,175½ tributes, and 5,352 souls; Jagna, with 2,431 tributes, and 11,829 souls; García-Hernandez, with 1,225½ tributes, and 6,847 souls; Valencia, with 1,307½ tributes, and 7,099 souls; Dimiao, with 1,717½ tributes, and 8,280 souls; Lila, with 879 tributes, and 4,023 souls; Carmen, with 749 tributes, and 3,575 souls; Bilar, with 1,281½ tributes, and 5,669 souls; Balilijan, with 1,051½ tributes, and 5,998 souls; Catigbian, with 651½ tributes, and 2,759 souls; Loboc, with 2,469 tributes, and 11,430 souls; Sevilla, with 996½ tributes, and 4,835 souls; Loay, with 1,759 tributes, and 8,171 souls; Alburquerque, with 1,191 tributes, and 5,319 souls; Baclayon, with 2,609 tributes, and 11,142 souls; Tagbilaran, with 1,954 tributes, and 11,081 souls; Paminguitan, with 5,705 souls; island and village of Dauis, with 1,889 tributes, and 9,090 souls; Panglao, with 1,457 tributes, and 6,543 souls; Maribojoc, with 3,372 tributes, and 18,200 souls; island and village of Siquijor, with 1,740 tributes, and 7,800 souls; Canoan, with 1,465 tributes, and 7,082 souls; Laci, with 1,180½ tributes, and 5,403 souls; and San Juan, with 1,143 tributes, and 5,280 souls.]
The province of Bohol at the present time
After having mentioned in rapid survey the villages of which this province is at present composed, which are otherwise so many quiet groups of honest and industrious natives—who form, in the religious estate, the same number of parishes canonically established, each one with its own pastor, who is charged to watch over them through the functions of religion, and to dispense the sacraments and other benefits of religion to the souls of his respective parish—and having enumerated the communities that make up the general total of the population of what is now one of the most populous provinces of the archipelago: a meditative mind goes back about one century with the desire of ascertaining the state of the province in that time, since now we are seeing its condition in our own time. It has been stated above, in the introduction, that the villages having regular ministers were eight in number. In regard to canonical legislation then in force, those ministers had the character of missionaries, and not of parish priests. They labored in the salvation of souls with the apostolic zeal generally recognized (and denied by no one), which is characteristic of the fathers of the Society of Jesus. But the social state of those natives was a hindrance to the abundant fruit that ought to be expected from the fervent devotion and charity of so distinguished missionaries.
The insurrections which took place in Bohol in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had succeeded in forming a considerable body of malcontents who raised the banner of rebellion and disorder; and the disorder at the same time when it destroyed the obedience of most of their subjects to the authorities, also influenced very directly the advancement of Catholicism, and gave as a result that all those who took to the mountains, thus being separated from the immediate neighborhood of the eight churches then existing, returned to the habits of heathenism at the same time when they passed to the camp of freedom. Other things also were added to the causes which diminished the abundant fruits of the priestly ministry. That coldness of the people of Bohol toward the Spanish name, observed long before by Legaspi at the time of the discovery, and certain opposition inspired by some captious natives who favored but little the very zealous ministers of Jesus Christ (who were sacrificing their own existence for the eternal salvation of those souls), placed this territory in an abnormal condition, taking from it the forces necessary for its advancement and prosperity. Above all, peacefulness had left those shores, a loss which made it impossible to give signs of life and social and religious increase. One hundred and ten years have elapsed since the discalced Augustinians first entered Bohol. They did not go there as conquistadors; they did not go to preach the name of Christ to heathenism and idolatry; they did not go to make new vassals for the king of España of a people who had not sworn their obedience. The mission of the Recollect fathers to the island of Bohol was to continue the tasks of the Jesuit fathers; to preach the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Jesuits did; and to present themselves to the observation of those natives in their apostolic and religious bearing, as worthy imitators of so zealous priests. They also had the thorny task of inculcating habits of gratitude and obedience in discontented minds; and of reducing a considerable number of rebels to the payment of the royal tribute, who had already begun a struggle, with some pretensions to triumph. The hope of religion and society in the discalced Augustinians, in the difficult circumstances through which the island of Bohol was passing when they took charge of its administration, was that peace would be extended to the remotest corners of its territory, so that the religious beginnings would have an efficacious influence on the misguided multitude, and Spanish authority would completely dominate men and things which had been separated from its beneficent influence. Facts are demonstrating with the greatest clearness that the Recollects attained abundantly the end of all their aspirations. At present we are experiencing that the reality exceeds the hopes that could animate them when they entered on their task. The universal harmony that this province enjoys in the present century, and the state of prosperity in which all the natives live, as well as the growth of population, and the increase of culture, religious fervor, and instruction that they enjoy—all this speaks very loudly in favor of the preaching of the Recollects in Bohol. These considerations also demonstrate with the greatest clearness that, even if the Recollects were not its conquistadors, they are without dispute the instruments employed by Providence for its political and religious advancement; and that they are with all propriety the pacifiers and restorers of the beginnings of Christian society in that island, which was in confusion until that time. As soon as they entered, a relation of sympathy was established between them and their protegés, as hidden as it was intimate, by virtue of which they were enabled to direct all their individual forces to the attempt at perfection and the improvements that they had planned. As they always directed these successfully, and were always obeyed with promptness, they were enabled to realize the material and intellectual transformation of that district newly entrusted to their care. There are at present thirty-three parishes in this province, according to the preceding relation. In each one of them has been erected a Catholic temple, sufficient in itself alone to give glory to the hand that has directed it. In all of those parishes there is a parish house—more or less elegant, but always sufficiently solid and suitable—which is teaching to the present generation (and the future one also) the fatigues that the Recollect must have endured who placed the first stone and finished the work, in each of those parishes (which are a like number of villages), public halls have been constructed under the direction of the parish priests. In all of them schools for both sexes have been erected, where religious instruction is given to them. Since this exercises its proper influence on the minds of the youth, it has succeeded in forming the present generation—who are established in all the beliefs of our true religion, exactly observant of the practices which it imposes upon them, thankful and respectful to the ministers of Jesus Christ, and very diligent in the fulfilment of their social duties, all those who pay tribute to his Majesty being comprehended in this obligation.
The number of those who paid tribute in this island could not have been very large in the eight missions that existed when the island came into our possession, when one considers the state of insubordination in which that multitude were living, most of whom were separated from organized society and in revolt in the interior of the territory. In proportion as it continued to assume its normal state, and commenced to enjoy the peace that it has at the present time, its population continued to increase, and in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight was more than one hundred thousand souls; in one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, the total of its population was increased to one hundred and fifty thousand; at present the island of Bohol, which is a province, has a population of two hundred and sixty thousand souls.[8]
This prodigious increase of inhabitants in an area so small, and amid conditions so little advantageous for agriculture, has no other explanation than the conscientious and constant labor of the regular parish priests, each of whom notes in his respective parish register with scrupulous niceness the heights and depths of his district, without any of the alterations that can modify the statistics of his village escaping his eye; and who assigns to their respective dwellings men and women, and youths and old people, with the correct date of their birth. From this patriotic labor it results that the obligations of the royal treasury are satisfied by all the people of Bohol at the moment when they become of proper age.