Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.
In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,
I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast.”
Of the native priests of the Philippines, Delgado says (pp. 293–296): “I know some seculars in the islands, who although Indians, can serve as an example and confusion to the European priests. I shall only bring forward two examples: one, the bachelor Don Eugenio de Santa Cruz, judge-provisor of this bishopric of Santísimo Nombre de Jesús, and calificador of the Holy Office, a full blooded Indian and a native of Pampanga. And inasmuch as the author of this letter confesses that the Pampangos are a different people, I shall name another, namely, the bachelor Don Bartolomé Saguinsin, a Tagálog, a cura of the district of Quiape (outside the walls of Manila), an Indian, and a native of the village of Antipolo. I knew his parents, and had friendly relations with them while I was minister in that village. Both men were esteemed for their abilities and venerated for their virtues, in Tagalos and Visayas.” In addition, “those reared in any of the four colleges in Manila, for the clerical estate are all the sons of chiefs, people of distinction among the Indians themselves, and not of the timaua, or of the class of olipon, as the Visayan says, or maharlica or alipin, as the Tagálog calls the slaves and freedmen. The reverend fathers of St. Dominic or of the Society rear these boys and instruct them in virtue and learning; and if they have any of the vices of Indians, these are corrected and suppressed by the teaching and conversation of the fathers. Furthermore, when the most illustrious bishops promote any of these men to holy orders, they do not proceed blindly, ordering any one whomever to be advanced—but only with great consideration and prudence, and after informing themselves of his birth and his morals, and examining and testing him first before the ministry of souls is entrusted to him; and to say the contrary is to censure the most illustrious prelates, to whom we owe so much veneration and reverence. Furthermore, there are among these Indians, many (and perhaps most of them) who are as noble, in their line of descent as Indians, as is any Spaniard; and some of them much more than many Spaniards who esteem themselves as nobles in this land. For, although their fate keeps them, in the present order of things, in an almost abject condition, many of them are seigniors of vassals. Their seigniory has not been suppressed by the king, nor can it be suppressed. Such we call cabezas de barangay in Tagálog, and Ginhaopan in Visayan. They and their children and relatives lose nothing of their nobility because they serve the king in cutting timber, in the fleets, or in other personal services which are necessary in this land. As they lose nothing, it is also much honor for them that the king be served by them. Accordingly, there are sargentos-mayor, masters-of-camp, captains, governors of the villages, and lieutenants, and all are Indians of distinction. These would not go to row in a banca, and their hands would certainly be freed from handling a bolo or an ax in the cutting of timber, and their mothers, wives, and daughters would not have become spinners, if it were not for España. And although all the Indians seem of one color to the father, this color is well distinguished among them; and they are very respectful to their chiefs and much more so to their priests, even though these be Indians like themselves.” Delgado continues by saying that, although some of the native priests have turned out badly, that is not sufficient to condemn them all. It is arbitrary to declare that the Indian enters the priesthood solely for his own comfort, and because of the respect shown him, and not because of the spiritual blessings. Many Spaniards also enter the ecclesiastical estate merely for a living. There are examples of Negro, Japanese, and Chinese priests. “Consequently, it is not to be wondered at that the most illustrious prelates and bishops should ordain Indians here and in Nueva España, and in other parts of the Indias.”
[244] The date of the Navarro copy is wrongly given as 1725.
[245] Pedro Murillo Velarde was born August 6, 1696, at Villa Laujar, Granada, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at the age of 22. Having entered the Philippine missions, he was long a professor in the university of Manila; and later was rector at Antipolo, visitor to the Mindanao missions, and procurator at Rome and Madrid. He died at the hospital of Puerto Santa Maria, November 30, 1753. Murillo Velarde is one of the more noted among Jesuit writers. His principal works are the following: Cursus juris canonici, hispani et indici (Madrid, 1743); Historia de la provincia de Philipinas de la Compañia de Jesus (Manila, 1749); and Geographica historica (Madrid, 1752), in ten volumes. In the Historia (which work we have used freely in the present series, as material for annotation) was published his noted map of the Philippine Islands, the first detailed map of the archipelago; it was made by order of the governor of the island, Valdes Tamón, in 1734.
[246] A kind of sausage composed of lean pork, almonds, pineapple kernels, and honey.
[247] This sentence is missing in Father Navarro’s copy.
[248] Literally “lose a foothold.”
[249] Delgado here refers to the “Opinion” by Murillo Velarde which is prefixed to vol. i of San Antonio’s Chronicas; this is dated at San Miguel, May 19, 1738, and contains a detailed description of the products of the islands—vegetable, animal, and mineral—from which we extract his description of the peoples therein, as follows: