But not so quickly did our religious learn what can not be mentioned without tears, namely, that although the Indians were apparently Christians, and were subject to the teaching of the fathers, and had abandoned some of their ancient customs, and embraced in part the observance of the divine law, yet they desired to serve God and the demon at the same time, and they desired to embrace the matters of the faith in such a manner that they should not become separated from the ancient worship which they attributed to the demon in their false gods. That matter was kept very secret among them, for since they feared lest it should reach the ears of the fathers, they had all sworn an oath to keep close concerning that fact. They kept that oath so well that it was never revealed through them. But God revealed it in a curious manner to the religious for the welfare of those miserable people. We have related in chapter xxviii that Father Fray Domingo Perez baptized a boy in Abucay, the nephew of a priest of the idols, who having been taught to read and write, and having been given devout books to read, became a very excellent Christian. He and other lads whom the father kept in the convent, asked the said religious many things concerning the faith, which he taught them and explained to them most gladly, so that daily they became more imbued in all its articles and mysteries. Three years after the entrance of our religious into that district, those lads asked the father if it was right to do such and such things, namely the idolatries which the Indians practiced, and the sacrifices which they made to the demon. The father asked them what it was that was done, and they like children went on to tell whatever they had seen their elders do, and whatever they were practicing secretly even to that time. The father’s grief at such news can well be imagined. But dissembling its effects for the time being, in order not to frighten them away from the hunt, he charged the lads to keep still about what they had told him. Summoning the schoolboys, whom he petted and treated with great kindness, he was informed by them with so great clearness on this head, that he learned who were the priests of those sacrifices, and the instruments that each one had for their diabolical functions. Also charging those children to keep still, he ordered them to tell no one what they had told him, so that their parents might not beat them. The father having learned everything very clearly, and having consulted with God concerning the matter in prayer, he resolved, when Lent came in the year 1683, to put an end to that idolatry, although he knew very well that it would be at the cost of great labor, and many troubles and dangers. For the principal priests of those sacrifices were the principal people of the village, and they were respected and venerated by all and could set afoot any treachery against him. And since they had all sworn not to reveal the matter, as he had not yet proved it, it was a point in which all were interested, and in which all would be against him.
However, having placed all his confidence in God, and with the information that he possessed of the whole matter, he began to summon one after another the chiefs, and chide each one in private for the execrable evil that he was practicing by offering sacrifice to the demon. Before that one could deny the truth to him, he said to him, “You have such and such instruments, and with them you sacrificed on such and such a day, in company with such and such a person.” To another he said: “You are a priest, and consequently, you have so many instruments kept in such a place for the sacrifices, by which you give to the demon the honor that belongs to God; and as proof of it you performed that sacrifice on such and such a day with such and such a person, and this other on such and such a day, with such and such a person.” In such wise did he examine them all and censured them for so great evil. They, seeing that he was giving them so sure proofs, considered the religious as a diviner and gave him the instruments of their idolatries. He commenced by the village of Bauguen, whose church was dedicated to Santa Rosa. By the aid and favor of the saint he collected a great number of those instruments, which some gave to him willingly and some reluctantly. He called the children, and ordered them to break up those instruments, and they obeyed immediately. “Now throw them into the privies,” said the father, “and let the children perform the necessities of nature on them.” They obeyed his order instantly, and made a mockery and jest of those instruments. The Zambals were astonished that the father and the children were not killed for the disrespect that they showed to their gods, for they believed that he who touched or profaned such instruments would die. The father preached to them, and taught them what they were to do in the future. Having finished that matter in Bauguen, he went to Balacbac to do the same; and although he had some difficulty, with the help of God, it was conquered. From Balacbac he went to the village of Alalan, and although he found the people there obstinate and pertinacious, by his kindness and arguments, he induced them to do the same that had been done in the preceding villages. Then he went to Buquil and did the same as in Playa-Honda, breaking and burning all the instruments of their idolatries. And although the father had many troubles on account of that, he stood it all with great patience, as he saw that he was performing the cause of God in this; for which, as we shall see later, they deprived him of life and made him a glorious martyr.
That so pernicious root having been torn out, the religious had no difficulty in sowing in the land of their hearts the good doctrine and teaching. The holy fear of God, the frequency of the holy sacraments, the devotion of the queen of the Angels, and the exercise of the holy rosary persuaded them. And since now the demon had left their souls, and he had been bereft of the right which he had to them, the instructions and inducements of the religious found no resistance in their hearts; and, consequently, they agreed thoroughly in all those things, and thereby they daily became more perfect, and became fervent Christians, anxious for their salvation, and given to the exercises of piety. Now one never heard, as formerly, of violent murders; and now there was no intoxication or other disorders; now the superiors were obeyed and respected by their inferiors; now one no longer heard among them a “I do not wish,” as they were wont to answer formerly; now all were safe, each in his own house, and no one thought of taking vengeance on another. They attended mass almost every day, and went to recite the rosary in the afternoon. They all wore the rosary hanging from their necks with great devotion, and recited it in their houses every night. They observed the fasts of the Church, and the days of abstinence with punctuality, for they feared greatly lest God punish them, as He did punish some for the example of others. In fine, such was the reform in their morals, and the change of life in those Indians, that the fathers themselves were surprised to see what had been wrought by the hand of God, which had changed them in the briefest of space from ravening wolves to gentle lambs, and from fierce and savage men into faithful and obedient sons of the Church. And although our religious worked mightily in this yet all the glory is due to God, who not only gave His spirit to the ministers, but also coöperated in their preaching with many manifest miracles which will be related in the following chapter.
[Chapter xxxii recounts the miraculous occurrences above mentioned, all of which resulted in greater faith and devotion to the new precepts taught by the missionaries, and instilled fear of God into the hearts of the Indians.]
Chapter XXXIII
Of another mission in the farthest villages of Yrraya in the province of Cagayan
Not only in that mission of Zambales did the province labor in that time, but also in another of not less fruit in the ends and confines of Cagayan. There were formerly four villages there, namely, Batavag, Pilitan, Bolo, and Abuatan. They comprised about two thousand houses. Those villages in the seventh year of their foundation, when although many of their inhabitants were heathens, notwithstanding that more of them were already Christians, were abandoned on the day of the Ascension of the Lord in the year 1615, by their dwellers, who retired into the interior, deceived by their aniteras or priestesses, who did not look with favor upon their Christianity, because of the profit that they lost thereby in their sacrifices and diabolical functions. And so much were those priestesses able to say to induce them to make that retirement, that at last they resolved to do it, apostatizing from the faith which they had received, as is mentioned in the first part of this history, book 2, chapter 3.[7] That apostasy caused great pain, especially to the fathers of Cagayan, who had charge of those four villages which they had founded amid severe labors, drawing their inhabitants from heathenism and luring them to the faith of Christ. When they saw now that all that they had obtained by their labor in many years was lost in one single day, they were caused great pain and disconsolation, and they saw that the fruit of their labors had been ill obtained. Therefore those fathers made a few efforts on various occasions to reduce those Indians to a settlement, but they obtained from them no further fruit than the obtaining of a few souls whom God had predestined for His glory. But since the zeal of the religious was directed to much more, namely, the reduction of all that people, they lost no opportunity for that enterprise, to solicit it with might and main.
In the year 1673, when the father commissary, Fray Phelipe Pardo, was elected provincial of this province, the definitory (as we remarked above) charged him straitly to strive for new missions and reductions of heathens to the faith of Christ. Consequently, the said father provincial going to visit the province of Cagayan, the religious of that province petitioned him to found that mission of Yrraya, and the prelate meeting their fervor, sent two religious to that district, namely, father Fray Pedro Sanchez and father Fray Geronimo de Ulloa,[8] who played the part of explorers, in order that by talking and by treating with the apostates, they might sound their minds and good will, and ascertain whether it was the season for that harvest so that they might put therein the sickle of the preaching. The two said religious went thither, and although the apostates received them well, they could not obtain what they were after by entreaty, namely, that they should reduce themselves to their former villages. For those people were prevented beforehand by the Indians of the village of Cabagan, who induced them, for their own private interests, not to return to their Christianity. In order, then, to get them to reëstablish the said villages, they were prevented from trading with the heathen, which was a source of great profit and gain to them, and at the same time those of Cabagan remained more in the interior of the province, without having so easy a place of retreat open in time of any insurrection. Just as in the wars with Portugal, some did not wish that country to be conquered, so that they might have an easy refuge in the time of any trouble, so also, those Indians of Cabagan, although Christians, induced the heathens not to become Christians, and pointed out to them the burden of the tribute, the polos, the personal services, and other penalties and troubles which the Christians feel when they are settled. What passes in this country is incredible, for on one and the same foundation, namely, greed, opposing results are built. Many Chinese heathens live here, and very rarely does one see one of them who dies without baptism, not only because of the inducements of our religious, who have charge of that mission, but also because when any of those heathens falls sick, all his relatives, even the pagans, unite in persuading him to become a Christian, not for any zeal which they have for the faith, for they remain in their paganism, but for fear lest, if they die heathens, their property might suffer some loss, as has been established in practice according to law or custom. On the contrary, it happens among the Indians, that the Christians of the villages near the heathens persuade them not to become Christians, in order that they might not lose thereby their commerce and trade, in which is placed their gain and interest. And it is not to be wondered at that the Indians do so, since they are new and recent Christians; for there are Europeans who oppose the missions greatly, for their own interest. Whatever the religious effect by their efforts is destroyed easily by an alcalde or a commandant for his own private conveniences. This has always been, and is, the cause, as abovesaid, of there being so much infidelity in these islands. In fine, the two religious whom the provincial sent, returned without it having been possible for them to obtain anything of substance, as the apostates were very obstinate because of the inducements of the people of Cabagan.
In the year 1677, a provincial chapter was held in this province. Among other ordinances established in it was the one mentioned above several times, namely, that the vicars of the villages near the heathens endeavor most earnestly to reduce them. The venerable father, Fray Pedro Ximenez,[9] an apostolic man, and one at home in missions, was elected vicar of Cabagan in that chapter. In addition to the said ordinance of the chapter, the recently-elected father provincial charged him with the reduction of those infidels and apostates. The father provincial going upon his visit, and consulting over the method of that reduction with the fathers of the province of Cagayan, sent the said father Fray Pedro Ximenez to the abovesaid site of Yrraya, assigning him as companion of that undertaking his own associate and secretary, then father Fray Andres Gonçalez, afterward bishop of Nueva Caceres. But the said father provincial having died in a few days, the said reduction ceased for the time being.