Chapter XXVIThe foundation of another church in Pangasinan, and the first visitation of the father provincial[After the chapter, father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina and the new vicar of Gabon set out for Pangasinan, taking with them as their associates father Fray Luis Gandullo and brother Fray Juan de Soria, a novice in the order. These recruits were greatly needed, and lightened the work of those who were there. In Pangasinan, being unable to attract to baptism those who were of full age, they gave their energies to obtaining children—generally failing but succeeding sometimes. At the feast of our Lady of August26they baptized sixty, all they could get together. The Indians who promised their children often failed to let the religious have them, thus getting rid of the importunity of the fathers; or they would be perverted by heathen Indians, who abhor baptism. The fathers prayed to the Lord that they might not lose any of their number; He heard them, and a sufficient number of children were voluntarily offered to make up the total of sixty. The people came together to see what the religious would do to the children; and father Fray Pedro de Soto preached to them upon the workings of this holy sacrament, and miracles were afterward wrought in support of his words.The Lord softened these hard hearts, and in Binalatongan and some other villages, where none of the adults were converted, they did not look upon the religious with such hatred as at first. Only thoseof Gabon were as obstinate as ever, and were unwilling to admit to the village the new vicar, Fray San Pedro Martyr, and his companion. They could get for their habitation only one small hut, where they could hardly put up an altar and build a fire. Accordingly they decided to go to a hamlet near there, called Calasiao, where the Spaniard to whom the Indians gave tribute bought a hut for them, for four reals. When they had added a shed, it did not make so bad a lodging as the other, and they could inhabit it with less peril to their lives; for in Gabon the Indians had planned to kill them. When the fathers heard this news, it was midnight. The people in the town were drinking, and, as the friars were told, were planning their death. The news was totally unexpected to the friars, and they could not have made their escape because they did not know the country. They waited that night, offering themselves to the Lord, for whom their lives would have been well expended in preaching His gospel. The next day they went to Calasiao. The Indians are extremely jealous, and though they were pleased that the religious had left their village, they were vexed that the fathers had gone to Calasiao—a village smaller than their own, where they thought they would have to carry for burial those who died in the Christian faith; so they held a council, and determined that no one, whether in health or sickness, should be baptized, and that no sick person should dare to have a father come to see him. If the fathers had known of this decision and its cause, they would have remedied it by going back to live or die at Gabon. So they remained in this other little village, though they went daily to Gabon and the other villages nearthere, to render aid in the necessities of the Indians, and especially to visit the sick. On one of these visits father Fray Luis Gandullo and Father Marcos de San Antonio saw a man who was very sick. When they urged him to be baptized, he responded with abuse and insult. The fathers asked the people in the house with what illness he was afflicted, and they said that he was troubled with a very great swelling, and would not let them treat it. The fathers then examined him carefully, and found a dreadful abscess extending from the thigh across the abdomen; they opened it by force, and let out a great quantity of matter. Those in the house, when they saw this rotten and offensive matter, fled away from the religious, while the man himself abused them. They answered him humbly, telling him that they had given him his life. “Even though I should die,” he said, “never come back again.” The man recovered, and in course of time was converted. This and other works of charity, and in especial the cure of a woman afflicted with a disgusting leprosy, who had been abandoned by her relatives, won for the fathers the love of these Indians. At last even the chief of those who had planned to kill the religious gave his child to be baptized, and finally offered himself for baptism. Baptisms in the church were begun in the month of October, 1588. When the perversity of this region was overcome, many other churches were built in the neighboring villages, the mildness of the sheep sent forth by the Lord prevailing, as it always has prevailed, against the bloodthirsty wolves of heathendom. About the same time the new provincial—if he can be called new who had already held the position of provincial twice before—undertooka visitation of his new province. This was the second year since he had come, and the province had greatly increased; while at the same time his sons and brothers were suffering great hardships, in living among a race without God or law or justice. To participate in their discomforts, and to aid them in their difficulties, he set out to visit them. At Bataan he found all things in as good order as if the new converts had sucked in Christianity with their mothers’ milk. The Lord began to show these Indians great mercy, both spiritual and temporal. He gave them a succession of fertile years, which, being farmers, they estimate more highly than anything else. They also saw the land visited by a great plague of locusts, which attacked the fields of the heathen but left those of the Christians untouched. From this time on there were also fewer sicknesses and deaths than when they were heathens. To this improvement in health the diligence of the missionaries contributed, who ordered houses to be built in all the villages to serve as hospitals. Here they caused the sick poor to be carried, devoting themselves with diligence to the care of their bodies and souls, and taking the food out of their own mouths to give it to them. By this devotion and piety they prevented many deaths, and many most horrible deaths; for, since this is an agricultural tribe, the sick suffer much, and often even die without the sacrament, because their kinsmen are obliged to go out to their fields and leave no one to care for the sick person. So they had in these hospitals and still have, all that was needed, for the hospitals are still in existence; and the sick are cared for in them, bodily and spiritually, better than in their own houses. The value of these hospitals was experienced during an epidemic,in which few of those who were in the hospitals died, while in the neighboring villages where they had no hospitals there were numberless burials.When the holy provincial reached Pangasinan, he saw his religious persecuted by the Indians, upon whom they were heaping benefits—not only to their souls but to their bodies, which were the only things the savages understood and esteemed. He saw them without the necessaries of life, lacking even food in sickness as well as in health; he saw their dwellings so small that four reals was too much to pay for them. Yet with all this he saw them happy and active, traveling from one village to another as if there was nothing that they lacked. Still there was nothing to be wondered at in all this, for God’s mercy to them was so clear that not only they but the heathen Indians were obliged to recognize it. Thus, against their wills, their hearts were softened by the good that the fathers did to them. The good old man saw with tears of delight the many miracles which the Lord had wrought to give authority to His preachers and His gospel among these tribes; the flight of the devil from those villages where before he had quietly reigned, the baptisms which began to be performed, the devotion of the newly baptized. He saw the many new churches built in the villages, poor as buildings, but rich in the fruits for God to be gathered from them.]
Chapter XXVIThe foundation of another church in Pangasinan, and the first visitation of the father provincial[After the chapter, father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina and the new vicar of Gabon set out for Pangasinan, taking with them as their associates father Fray Luis Gandullo and brother Fray Juan de Soria, a novice in the order. These recruits were greatly needed, and lightened the work of those who were there. In Pangasinan, being unable to attract to baptism those who were of full age, they gave their energies to obtaining children—generally failing but succeeding sometimes. At the feast of our Lady of August26they baptized sixty, all they could get together. The Indians who promised their children often failed to let the religious have them, thus getting rid of the importunity of the fathers; or they would be perverted by heathen Indians, who abhor baptism. The fathers prayed to the Lord that they might not lose any of their number; He heard them, and a sufficient number of children were voluntarily offered to make up the total of sixty. The people came together to see what the religious would do to the children; and father Fray Pedro de Soto preached to them upon the workings of this holy sacrament, and miracles were afterward wrought in support of his words.The Lord softened these hard hearts, and in Binalatongan and some other villages, where none of the adults were converted, they did not look upon the religious with such hatred as at first. Only thoseof Gabon were as obstinate as ever, and were unwilling to admit to the village the new vicar, Fray San Pedro Martyr, and his companion. They could get for their habitation only one small hut, where they could hardly put up an altar and build a fire. Accordingly they decided to go to a hamlet near there, called Calasiao, where the Spaniard to whom the Indians gave tribute bought a hut for them, for four reals. When they had added a shed, it did not make so bad a lodging as the other, and they could inhabit it with less peril to their lives; for in Gabon the Indians had planned to kill them. When the fathers heard this news, it was midnight. The people in the town were drinking, and, as the friars were told, were planning their death. The news was totally unexpected to the friars, and they could not have made their escape because they did not know the country. They waited that night, offering themselves to the Lord, for whom their lives would have been well expended in preaching His gospel. The next day they went to Calasiao. The Indians are extremely jealous, and though they were pleased that the religious had left their village, they were vexed that the fathers had gone to Calasiao—a village smaller than their own, where they thought they would have to carry for burial those who died in the Christian faith; so they held a council, and determined that no one, whether in health or sickness, should be baptized, and that no sick person should dare to have a father come to see him. If the fathers had known of this decision and its cause, they would have remedied it by going back to live or die at Gabon. So they remained in this other little village, though they went daily to Gabon and the other villages nearthere, to render aid in the necessities of the Indians, and especially to visit the sick. On one of these visits father Fray Luis Gandullo and Father Marcos de San Antonio saw a man who was very sick. When they urged him to be baptized, he responded with abuse and insult. The fathers asked the people in the house with what illness he was afflicted, and they said that he was troubled with a very great swelling, and would not let them treat it. The fathers then examined him carefully, and found a dreadful abscess extending from the thigh across the abdomen; they opened it by force, and let out a great quantity of matter. Those in the house, when they saw this rotten and offensive matter, fled away from the religious, while the man himself abused them. They answered him humbly, telling him that they had given him his life. “Even though I should die,” he said, “never come back again.” The man recovered, and in course of time was converted. This and other works of charity, and in especial the cure of a woman afflicted with a disgusting leprosy, who had been abandoned by her relatives, won for the fathers the love of these Indians. At last even the chief of those who had planned to kill the religious gave his child to be baptized, and finally offered himself for baptism. Baptisms in the church were begun in the month of October, 1588. When the perversity of this region was overcome, many other churches were built in the neighboring villages, the mildness of the sheep sent forth by the Lord prevailing, as it always has prevailed, against the bloodthirsty wolves of heathendom. About the same time the new provincial—if he can be called new who had already held the position of provincial twice before—undertooka visitation of his new province. This was the second year since he had come, and the province had greatly increased; while at the same time his sons and brothers were suffering great hardships, in living among a race without God or law or justice. To participate in their discomforts, and to aid them in their difficulties, he set out to visit them. At Bataan he found all things in as good order as if the new converts had sucked in Christianity with their mothers’ milk. The Lord began to show these Indians great mercy, both spiritual and temporal. He gave them a succession of fertile years, which, being farmers, they estimate more highly than anything else. They also saw the land visited by a great plague of locusts, which attacked the fields of the heathen but left those of the Christians untouched. From this time on there were also fewer sicknesses and deaths than when they were heathens. To this improvement in health the diligence of the missionaries contributed, who ordered houses to be built in all the villages to serve as hospitals. Here they caused the sick poor to be carried, devoting themselves with diligence to the care of their bodies and souls, and taking the food out of their own mouths to give it to them. By this devotion and piety they prevented many deaths, and many most horrible deaths; for, since this is an agricultural tribe, the sick suffer much, and often even die without the sacrament, because their kinsmen are obliged to go out to their fields and leave no one to care for the sick person. So they had in these hospitals and still have, all that was needed, for the hospitals are still in existence; and the sick are cared for in them, bodily and spiritually, better than in their own houses. The value of these hospitals was experienced during an epidemic,in which few of those who were in the hospitals died, while in the neighboring villages where they had no hospitals there were numberless burials.When the holy provincial reached Pangasinan, he saw his religious persecuted by the Indians, upon whom they were heaping benefits—not only to their souls but to their bodies, which were the only things the savages understood and esteemed. He saw them without the necessaries of life, lacking even food in sickness as well as in health; he saw their dwellings so small that four reals was too much to pay for them. Yet with all this he saw them happy and active, traveling from one village to another as if there was nothing that they lacked. Still there was nothing to be wondered at in all this, for God’s mercy to them was so clear that not only they but the heathen Indians were obliged to recognize it. Thus, against their wills, their hearts were softened by the good that the fathers did to them. The good old man saw with tears of delight the many miracles which the Lord had wrought to give authority to His preachers and His gospel among these tribes; the flight of the devil from those villages where before he had quietly reigned, the baptisms which began to be performed, the devotion of the newly baptized. He saw the many new churches built in the villages, poor as buildings, but rich in the fruits for God to be gathered from them.]
Chapter XXVIThe foundation of another church in Pangasinan, and the first visitation of the father provincial[After the chapter, father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina and the new vicar of Gabon set out for Pangasinan, taking with them as their associates father Fray Luis Gandullo and brother Fray Juan de Soria, a novice in the order. These recruits were greatly needed, and lightened the work of those who were there. In Pangasinan, being unable to attract to baptism those who were of full age, they gave their energies to obtaining children—generally failing but succeeding sometimes. At the feast of our Lady of August26they baptized sixty, all they could get together. The Indians who promised their children often failed to let the religious have them, thus getting rid of the importunity of the fathers; or they would be perverted by heathen Indians, who abhor baptism. The fathers prayed to the Lord that they might not lose any of their number; He heard them, and a sufficient number of children were voluntarily offered to make up the total of sixty. The people came together to see what the religious would do to the children; and father Fray Pedro de Soto preached to them upon the workings of this holy sacrament, and miracles were afterward wrought in support of his words.The Lord softened these hard hearts, and in Binalatongan and some other villages, where none of the adults were converted, they did not look upon the religious with such hatred as at first. Only thoseof Gabon were as obstinate as ever, and were unwilling to admit to the village the new vicar, Fray San Pedro Martyr, and his companion. They could get for their habitation only one small hut, where they could hardly put up an altar and build a fire. Accordingly they decided to go to a hamlet near there, called Calasiao, where the Spaniard to whom the Indians gave tribute bought a hut for them, for four reals. When they had added a shed, it did not make so bad a lodging as the other, and they could inhabit it with less peril to their lives; for in Gabon the Indians had planned to kill them. When the fathers heard this news, it was midnight. The people in the town were drinking, and, as the friars were told, were planning their death. The news was totally unexpected to the friars, and they could not have made their escape because they did not know the country. They waited that night, offering themselves to the Lord, for whom their lives would have been well expended in preaching His gospel. The next day they went to Calasiao. The Indians are extremely jealous, and though they were pleased that the religious had left their village, they were vexed that the fathers had gone to Calasiao—a village smaller than their own, where they thought they would have to carry for burial those who died in the Christian faith; so they held a council, and determined that no one, whether in health or sickness, should be baptized, and that no sick person should dare to have a father come to see him. If the fathers had known of this decision and its cause, they would have remedied it by going back to live or die at Gabon. So they remained in this other little village, though they went daily to Gabon and the other villages nearthere, to render aid in the necessities of the Indians, and especially to visit the sick. On one of these visits father Fray Luis Gandullo and Father Marcos de San Antonio saw a man who was very sick. When they urged him to be baptized, he responded with abuse and insult. The fathers asked the people in the house with what illness he was afflicted, and they said that he was troubled with a very great swelling, and would not let them treat it. The fathers then examined him carefully, and found a dreadful abscess extending from the thigh across the abdomen; they opened it by force, and let out a great quantity of matter. Those in the house, when they saw this rotten and offensive matter, fled away from the religious, while the man himself abused them. They answered him humbly, telling him that they had given him his life. “Even though I should die,” he said, “never come back again.” The man recovered, and in course of time was converted. This and other works of charity, and in especial the cure of a woman afflicted with a disgusting leprosy, who had been abandoned by her relatives, won for the fathers the love of these Indians. At last even the chief of those who had planned to kill the religious gave his child to be baptized, and finally offered himself for baptism. Baptisms in the church were begun in the month of October, 1588. When the perversity of this region was overcome, many other churches were built in the neighboring villages, the mildness of the sheep sent forth by the Lord prevailing, as it always has prevailed, against the bloodthirsty wolves of heathendom. About the same time the new provincial—if he can be called new who had already held the position of provincial twice before—undertooka visitation of his new province. This was the second year since he had come, and the province had greatly increased; while at the same time his sons and brothers were suffering great hardships, in living among a race without God or law or justice. To participate in their discomforts, and to aid them in their difficulties, he set out to visit them. At Bataan he found all things in as good order as if the new converts had sucked in Christianity with their mothers’ milk. The Lord began to show these Indians great mercy, both spiritual and temporal. He gave them a succession of fertile years, which, being farmers, they estimate more highly than anything else. They also saw the land visited by a great plague of locusts, which attacked the fields of the heathen but left those of the Christians untouched. From this time on there were also fewer sicknesses and deaths than when they were heathens. To this improvement in health the diligence of the missionaries contributed, who ordered houses to be built in all the villages to serve as hospitals. Here they caused the sick poor to be carried, devoting themselves with diligence to the care of their bodies and souls, and taking the food out of their own mouths to give it to them. By this devotion and piety they prevented many deaths, and many most horrible deaths; for, since this is an agricultural tribe, the sick suffer much, and often even die without the sacrament, because their kinsmen are obliged to go out to their fields and leave no one to care for the sick person. So they had in these hospitals and still have, all that was needed, for the hospitals are still in existence; and the sick are cared for in them, bodily and spiritually, better than in their own houses. The value of these hospitals was experienced during an epidemic,in which few of those who were in the hospitals died, while in the neighboring villages where they had no hospitals there were numberless burials.When the holy provincial reached Pangasinan, he saw his religious persecuted by the Indians, upon whom they were heaping benefits—not only to their souls but to their bodies, which were the only things the savages understood and esteemed. He saw them without the necessaries of life, lacking even food in sickness as well as in health; he saw their dwellings so small that four reals was too much to pay for them. Yet with all this he saw them happy and active, traveling from one village to another as if there was nothing that they lacked. Still there was nothing to be wondered at in all this, for God’s mercy to them was so clear that not only they but the heathen Indians were obliged to recognize it. Thus, against their wills, their hearts were softened by the good that the fathers did to them. The good old man saw with tears of delight the many miracles which the Lord had wrought to give authority to His preachers and His gospel among these tribes; the flight of the devil from those villages where before he had quietly reigned, the baptisms which began to be performed, the devotion of the newly baptized. He saw the many new churches built in the villages, poor as buildings, but rich in the fruits for God to be gathered from them.]
Chapter XXVIThe foundation of another church in Pangasinan, and the first visitation of the father provincial[After the chapter, father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina and the new vicar of Gabon set out for Pangasinan, taking with them as their associates father Fray Luis Gandullo and brother Fray Juan de Soria, a novice in the order. These recruits were greatly needed, and lightened the work of those who were there. In Pangasinan, being unable to attract to baptism those who were of full age, they gave their energies to obtaining children—generally failing but succeeding sometimes. At the feast of our Lady of August26they baptized sixty, all they could get together. The Indians who promised their children often failed to let the religious have them, thus getting rid of the importunity of the fathers; or they would be perverted by heathen Indians, who abhor baptism. The fathers prayed to the Lord that they might not lose any of their number; He heard them, and a sufficient number of children were voluntarily offered to make up the total of sixty. The people came together to see what the religious would do to the children; and father Fray Pedro de Soto preached to them upon the workings of this holy sacrament, and miracles were afterward wrought in support of his words.The Lord softened these hard hearts, and in Binalatongan and some other villages, where none of the adults were converted, they did not look upon the religious with such hatred as at first. Only thoseof Gabon were as obstinate as ever, and were unwilling to admit to the village the new vicar, Fray San Pedro Martyr, and his companion. They could get for their habitation only one small hut, where they could hardly put up an altar and build a fire. Accordingly they decided to go to a hamlet near there, called Calasiao, where the Spaniard to whom the Indians gave tribute bought a hut for them, for four reals. When they had added a shed, it did not make so bad a lodging as the other, and they could inhabit it with less peril to their lives; for in Gabon the Indians had planned to kill them. When the fathers heard this news, it was midnight. The people in the town were drinking, and, as the friars were told, were planning their death. The news was totally unexpected to the friars, and they could not have made their escape because they did not know the country. They waited that night, offering themselves to the Lord, for whom their lives would have been well expended in preaching His gospel. The next day they went to Calasiao. The Indians are extremely jealous, and though they were pleased that the religious had left their village, they were vexed that the fathers had gone to Calasiao—a village smaller than their own, where they thought they would have to carry for burial those who died in the Christian faith; so they held a council, and determined that no one, whether in health or sickness, should be baptized, and that no sick person should dare to have a father come to see him. If the fathers had known of this decision and its cause, they would have remedied it by going back to live or die at Gabon. So they remained in this other little village, though they went daily to Gabon and the other villages nearthere, to render aid in the necessities of the Indians, and especially to visit the sick. On one of these visits father Fray Luis Gandullo and Father Marcos de San Antonio saw a man who was very sick. When they urged him to be baptized, he responded with abuse and insult. The fathers asked the people in the house with what illness he was afflicted, and they said that he was troubled with a very great swelling, and would not let them treat it. The fathers then examined him carefully, and found a dreadful abscess extending from the thigh across the abdomen; they opened it by force, and let out a great quantity of matter. Those in the house, when they saw this rotten and offensive matter, fled away from the religious, while the man himself abused them. They answered him humbly, telling him that they had given him his life. “Even though I should die,” he said, “never come back again.” The man recovered, and in course of time was converted. This and other works of charity, and in especial the cure of a woman afflicted with a disgusting leprosy, who had been abandoned by her relatives, won for the fathers the love of these Indians. At last even the chief of those who had planned to kill the religious gave his child to be baptized, and finally offered himself for baptism. Baptisms in the church were begun in the month of October, 1588. When the perversity of this region was overcome, many other churches were built in the neighboring villages, the mildness of the sheep sent forth by the Lord prevailing, as it always has prevailed, against the bloodthirsty wolves of heathendom. About the same time the new provincial—if he can be called new who had already held the position of provincial twice before—undertooka visitation of his new province. This was the second year since he had come, and the province had greatly increased; while at the same time his sons and brothers were suffering great hardships, in living among a race without God or law or justice. To participate in their discomforts, and to aid them in their difficulties, he set out to visit them. At Bataan he found all things in as good order as if the new converts had sucked in Christianity with their mothers’ milk. The Lord began to show these Indians great mercy, both spiritual and temporal. He gave them a succession of fertile years, which, being farmers, they estimate more highly than anything else. They also saw the land visited by a great plague of locusts, which attacked the fields of the heathen but left those of the Christians untouched. From this time on there were also fewer sicknesses and deaths than when they were heathens. To this improvement in health the diligence of the missionaries contributed, who ordered houses to be built in all the villages to serve as hospitals. Here they caused the sick poor to be carried, devoting themselves with diligence to the care of their bodies and souls, and taking the food out of their own mouths to give it to them. By this devotion and piety they prevented many deaths, and many most horrible deaths; for, since this is an agricultural tribe, the sick suffer much, and often even die without the sacrament, because their kinsmen are obliged to go out to their fields and leave no one to care for the sick person. So they had in these hospitals and still have, all that was needed, for the hospitals are still in existence; and the sick are cared for in them, bodily and spiritually, better than in their own houses. The value of these hospitals was experienced during an epidemic,in which few of those who were in the hospitals died, while in the neighboring villages where they had no hospitals there were numberless burials.When the holy provincial reached Pangasinan, he saw his religious persecuted by the Indians, upon whom they were heaping benefits—not only to their souls but to their bodies, which were the only things the savages understood and esteemed. He saw them without the necessaries of life, lacking even food in sickness as well as in health; he saw their dwellings so small that four reals was too much to pay for them. Yet with all this he saw them happy and active, traveling from one village to another as if there was nothing that they lacked. Still there was nothing to be wondered at in all this, for God’s mercy to them was so clear that not only they but the heathen Indians were obliged to recognize it. Thus, against their wills, their hearts were softened by the good that the fathers did to them. The good old man saw with tears of delight the many miracles which the Lord had wrought to give authority to His preachers and His gospel among these tribes; the flight of the devil from those villages where before he had quietly reigned, the baptisms which began to be performed, the devotion of the newly baptized. He saw the many new churches built in the villages, poor as buildings, but rich in the fruits for God to be gathered from them.]
Chapter XXVIThe foundation of another church in Pangasinan, and the first visitation of the father provincial[After the chapter, father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina and the new vicar of Gabon set out for Pangasinan, taking with them as their associates father Fray Luis Gandullo and brother Fray Juan de Soria, a novice in the order. These recruits were greatly needed, and lightened the work of those who were there. In Pangasinan, being unable to attract to baptism those who were of full age, they gave their energies to obtaining children—generally failing but succeeding sometimes. At the feast of our Lady of August26they baptized sixty, all they could get together. The Indians who promised their children often failed to let the religious have them, thus getting rid of the importunity of the fathers; or they would be perverted by heathen Indians, who abhor baptism. The fathers prayed to the Lord that they might not lose any of their number; He heard them, and a sufficient number of children were voluntarily offered to make up the total of sixty. The people came together to see what the religious would do to the children; and father Fray Pedro de Soto preached to them upon the workings of this holy sacrament, and miracles were afterward wrought in support of his words.The Lord softened these hard hearts, and in Binalatongan and some other villages, where none of the adults were converted, they did not look upon the religious with such hatred as at first. Only thoseof Gabon were as obstinate as ever, and were unwilling to admit to the village the new vicar, Fray San Pedro Martyr, and his companion. They could get for their habitation only one small hut, where they could hardly put up an altar and build a fire. Accordingly they decided to go to a hamlet near there, called Calasiao, where the Spaniard to whom the Indians gave tribute bought a hut for them, for four reals. When they had added a shed, it did not make so bad a lodging as the other, and they could inhabit it with less peril to their lives; for in Gabon the Indians had planned to kill them. When the fathers heard this news, it was midnight. The people in the town were drinking, and, as the friars were told, were planning their death. The news was totally unexpected to the friars, and they could not have made their escape because they did not know the country. They waited that night, offering themselves to the Lord, for whom their lives would have been well expended in preaching His gospel. The next day they went to Calasiao. The Indians are extremely jealous, and though they were pleased that the religious had left their village, they were vexed that the fathers had gone to Calasiao—a village smaller than their own, where they thought they would have to carry for burial those who died in the Christian faith; so they held a council, and determined that no one, whether in health or sickness, should be baptized, and that no sick person should dare to have a father come to see him. If the fathers had known of this decision and its cause, they would have remedied it by going back to live or die at Gabon. So they remained in this other little village, though they went daily to Gabon and the other villages nearthere, to render aid in the necessities of the Indians, and especially to visit the sick. On one of these visits father Fray Luis Gandullo and Father Marcos de San Antonio saw a man who was very sick. When they urged him to be baptized, he responded with abuse and insult. The fathers asked the people in the house with what illness he was afflicted, and they said that he was troubled with a very great swelling, and would not let them treat it. The fathers then examined him carefully, and found a dreadful abscess extending from the thigh across the abdomen; they opened it by force, and let out a great quantity of matter. Those in the house, when they saw this rotten and offensive matter, fled away from the religious, while the man himself abused them. They answered him humbly, telling him that they had given him his life. “Even though I should die,” he said, “never come back again.” The man recovered, and in course of time was converted. This and other works of charity, and in especial the cure of a woman afflicted with a disgusting leprosy, who had been abandoned by her relatives, won for the fathers the love of these Indians. At last even the chief of those who had planned to kill the religious gave his child to be baptized, and finally offered himself for baptism. Baptisms in the church were begun in the month of October, 1588. When the perversity of this region was overcome, many other churches were built in the neighboring villages, the mildness of the sheep sent forth by the Lord prevailing, as it always has prevailed, against the bloodthirsty wolves of heathendom. About the same time the new provincial—if he can be called new who had already held the position of provincial twice before—undertooka visitation of his new province. This was the second year since he had come, and the province had greatly increased; while at the same time his sons and brothers were suffering great hardships, in living among a race without God or law or justice. To participate in their discomforts, and to aid them in their difficulties, he set out to visit them. At Bataan he found all things in as good order as if the new converts had sucked in Christianity with their mothers’ milk. The Lord began to show these Indians great mercy, both spiritual and temporal. He gave them a succession of fertile years, which, being farmers, they estimate more highly than anything else. They also saw the land visited by a great plague of locusts, which attacked the fields of the heathen but left those of the Christians untouched. From this time on there were also fewer sicknesses and deaths than when they were heathens. To this improvement in health the diligence of the missionaries contributed, who ordered houses to be built in all the villages to serve as hospitals. Here they caused the sick poor to be carried, devoting themselves with diligence to the care of their bodies and souls, and taking the food out of their own mouths to give it to them. By this devotion and piety they prevented many deaths, and many most horrible deaths; for, since this is an agricultural tribe, the sick suffer much, and often even die without the sacrament, because their kinsmen are obliged to go out to their fields and leave no one to care for the sick person. So they had in these hospitals and still have, all that was needed, for the hospitals are still in existence; and the sick are cared for in them, bodily and spiritually, better than in their own houses. The value of these hospitals was experienced during an epidemic,in which few of those who were in the hospitals died, while in the neighboring villages where they had no hospitals there were numberless burials.When the holy provincial reached Pangasinan, he saw his religious persecuted by the Indians, upon whom they were heaping benefits—not only to their souls but to their bodies, which were the only things the savages understood and esteemed. He saw them without the necessaries of life, lacking even food in sickness as well as in health; he saw their dwellings so small that four reals was too much to pay for them. Yet with all this he saw them happy and active, traveling from one village to another as if there was nothing that they lacked. Still there was nothing to be wondered at in all this, for God’s mercy to them was so clear that not only they but the heathen Indians were obliged to recognize it. Thus, against their wills, their hearts were softened by the good that the fathers did to them. The good old man saw with tears of delight the many miracles which the Lord had wrought to give authority to His preachers and His gospel among these tribes; the flight of the devil from those villages where before he had quietly reigned, the baptisms which began to be performed, the devotion of the newly baptized. He saw the many new churches built in the villages, poor as buildings, but rich in the fruits for God to be gathered from them.]
Chapter XXVIThe foundation of another church in Pangasinan, and the first visitation of the father provincial
[After the chapter, father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina and the new vicar of Gabon set out for Pangasinan, taking with them as their associates father Fray Luis Gandullo and brother Fray Juan de Soria, a novice in the order. These recruits were greatly needed, and lightened the work of those who were there. In Pangasinan, being unable to attract to baptism those who were of full age, they gave their energies to obtaining children—generally failing but succeeding sometimes. At the feast of our Lady of August26they baptized sixty, all they could get together. The Indians who promised their children often failed to let the religious have them, thus getting rid of the importunity of the fathers; or they would be perverted by heathen Indians, who abhor baptism. The fathers prayed to the Lord that they might not lose any of their number; He heard them, and a sufficient number of children were voluntarily offered to make up the total of sixty. The people came together to see what the religious would do to the children; and father Fray Pedro de Soto preached to them upon the workings of this holy sacrament, and miracles were afterward wrought in support of his words.The Lord softened these hard hearts, and in Binalatongan and some other villages, where none of the adults were converted, they did not look upon the religious with such hatred as at first. Only thoseof Gabon were as obstinate as ever, and were unwilling to admit to the village the new vicar, Fray San Pedro Martyr, and his companion. They could get for their habitation only one small hut, where they could hardly put up an altar and build a fire. Accordingly they decided to go to a hamlet near there, called Calasiao, where the Spaniard to whom the Indians gave tribute bought a hut for them, for four reals. When they had added a shed, it did not make so bad a lodging as the other, and they could inhabit it with less peril to their lives; for in Gabon the Indians had planned to kill them. When the fathers heard this news, it was midnight. The people in the town were drinking, and, as the friars were told, were planning their death. The news was totally unexpected to the friars, and they could not have made their escape because they did not know the country. They waited that night, offering themselves to the Lord, for whom their lives would have been well expended in preaching His gospel. The next day they went to Calasiao. The Indians are extremely jealous, and though they were pleased that the religious had left their village, they were vexed that the fathers had gone to Calasiao—a village smaller than their own, where they thought they would have to carry for burial those who died in the Christian faith; so they held a council, and determined that no one, whether in health or sickness, should be baptized, and that no sick person should dare to have a father come to see him. If the fathers had known of this decision and its cause, they would have remedied it by going back to live or die at Gabon. So they remained in this other little village, though they went daily to Gabon and the other villages nearthere, to render aid in the necessities of the Indians, and especially to visit the sick. On one of these visits father Fray Luis Gandullo and Father Marcos de San Antonio saw a man who was very sick. When they urged him to be baptized, he responded with abuse and insult. The fathers asked the people in the house with what illness he was afflicted, and they said that he was troubled with a very great swelling, and would not let them treat it. The fathers then examined him carefully, and found a dreadful abscess extending from the thigh across the abdomen; they opened it by force, and let out a great quantity of matter. Those in the house, when they saw this rotten and offensive matter, fled away from the religious, while the man himself abused them. They answered him humbly, telling him that they had given him his life. “Even though I should die,” he said, “never come back again.” The man recovered, and in course of time was converted. This and other works of charity, and in especial the cure of a woman afflicted with a disgusting leprosy, who had been abandoned by her relatives, won for the fathers the love of these Indians. At last even the chief of those who had planned to kill the religious gave his child to be baptized, and finally offered himself for baptism. Baptisms in the church were begun in the month of October, 1588. When the perversity of this region was overcome, many other churches were built in the neighboring villages, the mildness of the sheep sent forth by the Lord prevailing, as it always has prevailed, against the bloodthirsty wolves of heathendom. About the same time the new provincial—if he can be called new who had already held the position of provincial twice before—undertooka visitation of his new province. This was the second year since he had come, and the province had greatly increased; while at the same time his sons and brothers were suffering great hardships, in living among a race without God or law or justice. To participate in their discomforts, and to aid them in their difficulties, he set out to visit them. At Bataan he found all things in as good order as if the new converts had sucked in Christianity with their mothers’ milk. The Lord began to show these Indians great mercy, both spiritual and temporal. He gave them a succession of fertile years, which, being farmers, they estimate more highly than anything else. They also saw the land visited by a great plague of locusts, which attacked the fields of the heathen but left those of the Christians untouched. From this time on there were also fewer sicknesses and deaths than when they were heathens. To this improvement in health the diligence of the missionaries contributed, who ordered houses to be built in all the villages to serve as hospitals. Here they caused the sick poor to be carried, devoting themselves with diligence to the care of their bodies and souls, and taking the food out of their own mouths to give it to them. By this devotion and piety they prevented many deaths, and many most horrible deaths; for, since this is an agricultural tribe, the sick suffer much, and often even die without the sacrament, because their kinsmen are obliged to go out to their fields and leave no one to care for the sick person. So they had in these hospitals and still have, all that was needed, for the hospitals are still in existence; and the sick are cared for in them, bodily and spiritually, better than in their own houses. The value of these hospitals was experienced during an epidemic,in which few of those who were in the hospitals died, while in the neighboring villages where they had no hospitals there were numberless burials.When the holy provincial reached Pangasinan, he saw his religious persecuted by the Indians, upon whom they were heaping benefits—not only to their souls but to their bodies, which were the only things the savages understood and esteemed. He saw them without the necessaries of life, lacking even food in sickness as well as in health; he saw their dwellings so small that four reals was too much to pay for them. Yet with all this he saw them happy and active, traveling from one village to another as if there was nothing that they lacked. Still there was nothing to be wondered at in all this, for God’s mercy to them was so clear that not only they but the heathen Indians were obliged to recognize it. Thus, against their wills, their hearts were softened by the good that the fathers did to them. The good old man saw with tears of delight the many miracles which the Lord had wrought to give authority to His preachers and His gospel among these tribes; the flight of the devil from those villages where before he had quietly reigned, the baptisms which began to be performed, the devotion of the newly baptized. He saw the many new churches built in the villages, poor as buildings, but rich in the fruits for God to be gathered from them.]
[After the chapter, father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina and the new vicar of Gabon set out for Pangasinan, taking with them as their associates father Fray Luis Gandullo and brother Fray Juan de Soria, a novice in the order. These recruits were greatly needed, and lightened the work of those who were there. In Pangasinan, being unable to attract to baptism those who were of full age, they gave their energies to obtaining children—generally failing but succeeding sometimes. At the feast of our Lady of August26they baptized sixty, all they could get together. The Indians who promised their children often failed to let the religious have them, thus getting rid of the importunity of the fathers; or they would be perverted by heathen Indians, who abhor baptism. The fathers prayed to the Lord that they might not lose any of their number; He heard them, and a sufficient number of children were voluntarily offered to make up the total of sixty. The people came together to see what the religious would do to the children; and father Fray Pedro de Soto preached to them upon the workings of this holy sacrament, and miracles were afterward wrought in support of his words.
The Lord softened these hard hearts, and in Binalatongan and some other villages, where none of the adults were converted, they did not look upon the religious with such hatred as at first. Only thoseof Gabon were as obstinate as ever, and were unwilling to admit to the village the new vicar, Fray San Pedro Martyr, and his companion. They could get for their habitation only one small hut, where they could hardly put up an altar and build a fire. Accordingly they decided to go to a hamlet near there, called Calasiao, where the Spaniard to whom the Indians gave tribute bought a hut for them, for four reals. When they had added a shed, it did not make so bad a lodging as the other, and they could inhabit it with less peril to their lives; for in Gabon the Indians had planned to kill them. When the fathers heard this news, it was midnight. The people in the town were drinking, and, as the friars were told, were planning their death. The news was totally unexpected to the friars, and they could not have made their escape because they did not know the country. They waited that night, offering themselves to the Lord, for whom their lives would have been well expended in preaching His gospel. The next day they went to Calasiao. The Indians are extremely jealous, and though they were pleased that the religious had left their village, they were vexed that the fathers had gone to Calasiao—a village smaller than their own, where they thought they would have to carry for burial those who died in the Christian faith; so they held a council, and determined that no one, whether in health or sickness, should be baptized, and that no sick person should dare to have a father come to see him. If the fathers had known of this decision and its cause, they would have remedied it by going back to live or die at Gabon. So they remained in this other little village, though they went daily to Gabon and the other villages nearthere, to render aid in the necessities of the Indians, and especially to visit the sick. On one of these visits father Fray Luis Gandullo and Father Marcos de San Antonio saw a man who was very sick. When they urged him to be baptized, he responded with abuse and insult. The fathers asked the people in the house with what illness he was afflicted, and they said that he was troubled with a very great swelling, and would not let them treat it. The fathers then examined him carefully, and found a dreadful abscess extending from the thigh across the abdomen; they opened it by force, and let out a great quantity of matter. Those in the house, when they saw this rotten and offensive matter, fled away from the religious, while the man himself abused them. They answered him humbly, telling him that they had given him his life. “Even though I should die,” he said, “never come back again.” The man recovered, and in course of time was converted. This and other works of charity, and in especial the cure of a woman afflicted with a disgusting leprosy, who had been abandoned by her relatives, won for the fathers the love of these Indians. At last even the chief of those who had planned to kill the religious gave his child to be baptized, and finally offered himself for baptism. Baptisms in the church were begun in the month of October, 1588. When the perversity of this region was overcome, many other churches were built in the neighboring villages, the mildness of the sheep sent forth by the Lord prevailing, as it always has prevailed, against the bloodthirsty wolves of heathendom. About the same time the new provincial—if he can be called new who had already held the position of provincial twice before—undertooka visitation of his new province. This was the second year since he had come, and the province had greatly increased; while at the same time his sons and brothers were suffering great hardships, in living among a race without God or law or justice. To participate in their discomforts, and to aid them in their difficulties, he set out to visit them. At Bataan he found all things in as good order as if the new converts had sucked in Christianity with their mothers’ milk. The Lord began to show these Indians great mercy, both spiritual and temporal. He gave them a succession of fertile years, which, being farmers, they estimate more highly than anything else. They also saw the land visited by a great plague of locusts, which attacked the fields of the heathen but left those of the Christians untouched. From this time on there were also fewer sicknesses and deaths than when they were heathens. To this improvement in health the diligence of the missionaries contributed, who ordered houses to be built in all the villages to serve as hospitals. Here they caused the sick poor to be carried, devoting themselves with diligence to the care of their bodies and souls, and taking the food out of their own mouths to give it to them. By this devotion and piety they prevented many deaths, and many most horrible deaths; for, since this is an agricultural tribe, the sick suffer much, and often even die without the sacrament, because their kinsmen are obliged to go out to their fields and leave no one to care for the sick person. So they had in these hospitals and still have, all that was needed, for the hospitals are still in existence; and the sick are cared for in them, bodily and spiritually, better than in their own houses. The value of these hospitals was experienced during an epidemic,in which few of those who were in the hospitals died, while in the neighboring villages where they had no hospitals there were numberless burials.
When the holy provincial reached Pangasinan, he saw his religious persecuted by the Indians, upon whom they were heaping benefits—not only to their souls but to their bodies, which were the only things the savages understood and esteemed. He saw them without the necessaries of life, lacking even food in sickness as well as in health; he saw their dwellings so small that four reals was too much to pay for them. Yet with all this he saw them happy and active, traveling from one village to another as if there was nothing that they lacked. Still there was nothing to be wondered at in all this, for God’s mercy to them was so clear that not only they but the heathen Indians were obliged to recognize it. Thus, against their wills, their hearts were softened by the good that the fathers did to them. The good old man saw with tears of delight the many miracles which the Lord had wrought to give authority to His preachers and His gospel among these tribes; the flight of the devil from those villages where before he had quietly reigned, the baptisms which began to be performed, the devotion of the newly baptized. He saw the many new churches built in the villages, poor as buildings, but rich in the fruits for God to be gathered from them.]