[Fol. 27:] In Marinduque Ours labored very fervently to reduce the Christians to a Christian and civilized mode of life; and among them was abolished an abuse which was deeply rooted in that island—which was, that creditors employed their debtors almost as if they were slaves, without the debtor’s service ever diminishing his debt. The wild Indians were reduced to settlement; among them were some persons who for thirty years had not received the sacraments of penance and communion. In the Pintados Islands there was now much longing for and attendance upon these holy sacraments, when their necessity and advantage had been explained to the natives.
[Fol. 29:] His illustrious Lordship Don Fray Miguel Garzia Serrano had so much affection for the Society, and so high an opinion of the zeal of its ministers, that he decided to entrust to it the parish of the port of Cavite. This, one may say, is a parish of all the nations, on account of the many peoples who resort to that port from the four quarters of the world; it was especially so then, when its commerce was more opulent, flourishing, and extensive [than now]. It did not seem expedient to the Society to accept this parish; but, in order to show their gratitude for the favor, and to coöperate by their labors with the zeal of that active prelate, they took upon themselves for several months the administration of that port, in which they gathered the fruit corresponding to the necessity—which, with so great a concourse of different peoples there, and the freedom from restraint which exists in this country, was very great. The metropolitan was well satisfied, and very grateful; and he insisted until the Society made itself responsible for the administration of one of the three visitas which the said parish has. This was a village on the shore of the river of Cavite, which on account of being older than the settlement at the port is called Cavite el Viejo [i.e., Old Cavite]; it afterward was located on the shore of the bay, about a legua from the said port—which, in order to distinguish it from this village, is called Cavite la Punta [i.e., Cavite on the Point], because it is on the point of the hook formed by the land; from this is derived the name Cavite, which means “a hook.” The ministry [at Old Cavite] was then small, but difficult to administer, on account of the people being scattered, and far more because of the corruption of morals; for, lacking the presence of the pastor, and the wolves of the nations who come here from all parts for trade, being so near, it might better be called a herd of goats than a flock of sheep—this village being, as it were, the public brothel [lupanar] of that port; and there was hardly a house where this sort of commerce was not established. This was a matter which at the beginning gave the ministers much to do, but with invincible firmness they continued to correct this lawless licentiousness; and by explaining the doctrine, preaching, and aiding the people with the sacraments, they made Christians in morals those who before only seemed to be such in outward appearance and name. Ours continued to reclaim these people to the Christian life, and today this village is one of the most Christian and best instructed communities in all the islands; it has a beautiful and very capacious church of stone, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, and a handsome house [for the minister]. There are in this village, besides the Tagálogs (who are the natives), some Sangleys and many mestizos, who live in Binacayan, which is a sort of ward of the village.
[Fol. 31 b:] Ardently did the apostle of the Indias desire to go over to China for its conversion; but he died, like another Moses, in sight of the land which his desires promised to him. Since then, without looking for them, thousands of heathen Chinese have settled in these islands. As soon as the Society came to these shores, Ours applied themselves, in the best manner that they could, to the conversion and instruction of those people—and even more in recent times, on account of the Society possessing near Manila some agricultural lands, which the Chinese (or Sangleys, as they are commonly called) began to cultivate. Ours were unwilling to lose the opportunity of converting them to our holy faith, so various persons were actually baptized; and, to render this result more permanent, a minister was stationed there, belonging to this field, who catechised them, preached in their own language, baptized them, and administered the sacraments—with permission from the vice-patron, Don Juan Niño de Tabora, and from the archbishop, Don Fray Miguel Garzia Serrano—and it is called the village of Santa Cruz. Their language is very difficult; the words are all monosyllables, and the same word, according to its various intonations, has many and various significations; on this account not only patience and close study, but a correct ear, are required for learning this language. Don Juan Niño de Tabora was the godfather of the first Sangley who was baptized; the most distinguished persons in the city attended the ceremony; and this very solemn pomp had much influence on the Chinese (who are very material), so that, having formed a high idea of the Catholic religion, many of them embraced it. Some were baptized a little while before they died, leaving behind many tokens of their eternal felicity, through the concurrence of circumstances which were apparently directed by a very special providence.
In Marinduque Father Domingo de Peñalver had just induced some hamlets of wild Indians to settle down; he traveled through the bed of the river, getting his clothing wet, stumbling frequently over the stones, and often falling in the water. He went to take shelter in a hut, where there were so many and so fierce mosquitoes, that he remained awake all night, without being able to rid himself of the insects, notwithstanding all his efforts. He reached a hill so inaccessible that it was necessary that some Indians, going ahead and ascending by grasping the roots [of trees], should draw them all up the ascent with bejucos. There he set up a shed, where, preaching to them morning and afternoon, he prepared them for confession, and persuaded them to go down and settle in one place, as actually they did, to live as Christians. For lack of laborers, the Society resigned the district of Bondoc and several visitas, although Ours went there at various times on missionary trips. The people of Hingoso called upon Father Peñalver to assist them, because many in their village were sick, and the cura was at Manila; the father went there, gave the sacraments to the sick, and preached to the rest twice a day in the church. Three times a week they repaired to the church for the discipline, and he offered for them the act of contrition, and almost all the people in the village confessed. Afterward, at the urgent request of the archbishop of Manila, Father Peñalver went to Mindoro, to see if he could reconcile those Indians and their cura, which the archbishop had not been able to secure by various means; the said father went there, and preached various sermons, with so much earnestness and efficacy (on account of his proficiency in the Tagálog language) that in a short time they were reconciled together, the causes of the dispute bring entirely forgotten. This mission lasted two months; he preached twice every day, and heard some two thousand five hundred confessions; at this the illustrious prelate (who was Don Fray Miguel Garzia Serrano) was greatly pleased, and thoroughly confirmed in the extraordinary esteem which he deigned to show the Society.... One of the greatest hardships and dangers experienced by the ministers of Bisayas (or Pintados), in which are the greater part of our ministries, is that they are journeying on the water all their lives; for, as the villages are many and the ministers few, one father regularly takes care of two villages, and sometimes of three or four; and as these are in different islands, he is continually moving from one to another, for their administration. I have known some fathers who formerly had six or seven visitas, and spent nearly all the year traveling from one to another. Nevertheless, so paternal and benignant is the providence of God that it is not known that any minister in Bisayas has been drowned—which, considering the many hurricanes, tempests, storms, currents, and other dangers in which every year many perish and are drowned, seems a continual miracle. To this it must be added that at various times vessels have capsized in the midst of the sea, and the fathers have fallen into the water; but God succored them by means of the Indians, who are excellent swimmers, or by other special methods of His paternal providence.
[Fol. 38 b:] In this year [1628] Manila and the adjoining villages were grievously afflicted with a sort of epidemic pest, from which many people died—some suddenly, but even he who lingered longest died within twelve hours. Some attributed this pest to the many blacks who had been brought here from India to be sold, and who, sick from ill-usage, communicated their disease to others; and some thought that it arose from an infection in the fish, which is the usual food of the poor. Various corpses were anatomized [se hizo anatomia], and the origin of the disease could not be discovered, although it was considered certain that it arose from a poisonous condition, since the only remedy that was found was theriac.[9] In a city where there are so few Spaniards, it is easy to understand the affliction which was felt at seeing the suddenness with which they were dying, since the colony was placed in so great danger of extinction, and the islands of being ruined at one stroke—besides the grief of individual persons at seeing themselves bereft, the wife without a husband, the husband without a wife, the father without children, the children deprived of their parents. All search was made for remedies. Our priests did not cease, day or night, to hear confessions, and to aid the sick and dying; and at the request of the cura they carried with them the consecrated oils, to administer these in case of need. They also carried theriac, after this was discovered to be a remedy, for the relief of the sick; so they exercised their charity at the same time on the souls and on the bodies of men, to the great edification of all.
At San Miguel, one of those attacked by the pest told the father who was hearing his dying confession that he had seen near him two figures in the guise of ministers of justice, who seized people; and that when he had received absolution they went away from him, leaving behind a pestilential odor. The father published this information throughout the village, commanding the people to prepare themselves for confession on the following day, under the patronage of the Blessed Mary and St. Michael. A novenary was offered, and the litanies recited; and in the church the discipline was taken, with other prayers and penances, by which the Lord was moved to have especial mercy on this village—as God showed to a devout soul, in the figure of a ship which sailed through the air, the pilot of which was the common enemy; but he could not enter San Miguel, since there were powers greater than he, who prevented him. Also there were seen in the neighborhood of Manila malign spirits, in the appearance of horrible phantoms, who struck with death those who only looked at them. In the face of a danger so near, many amended their lives, and were converted to God in earnest, making a good confession. Then was seen the charity with which the poor Indians, despising the danger to their own lives, assisted the sick. Among others were two pious married persons, who devoted themselves entirely to aiding the sick, never leaving their bedsides until they either died or recovered; and God most mercifully chose to bring them out unscathed from so continual dangers. With the same kindness He chose to reward Brother Antonio de Miranda, who had charge of the infirmary in our college at Manila, who, on account of his well-known charity and solicitude in caring for the sick, had been commissioned by the father provincial, Juan de Bueras, to devote himself to the care of the sick Indians. But the poison of the pest infected him, so violent being the attack that hardly had he time to receive the sacraments; and he died at Manila on October 15, 1628.... He was a native of Ponferrada, and of a very well known family; he was an exemplary religious, and had been ten years in the Society.
[Fol. 44 b:] In the years 1628 and 1629, at the request of the bishops and of some Indians the Society was placed in charge of various villages of converts. Don Juan Niño de Tabora gave us the chaplaincy of the garrison of Spanish soldiers which is at Iloylo in the island of Panay, and the instruction of the natives and the people from other nations who are gathered there. Also were given to us Ilog in the island of Negros, and Dapitan in Mindanao—of which afterward more special mention will be made.
Map of Mindanao, showing settlements and districts occupied by Jesuits and Recollects
[From MS. (dated 1683) in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]