The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 12 of 55: 1601-1604; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 12 of 55: 1601-1604; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
On account of this inundation they had selected,
not far from the church and farther back from the water, a hill,
where those who died during this season were interred. For mass they
repaired to Antipolo, which lies a scant three miles inland among
the mountains. The first time when I saw my church flooded, and
realized that I could not say mass in it, I was obliged to believe
what I had never been able to credit, although I had been often told
of it. It is customary for these villages, for greater convenience
of government, to be divided into districts on the plan of parishes,
which they call _barangais_. Each one of these is under the command
of a chief, who governs it and appoints those who are to provide for
all contingencies; the latter are called _datos_. At that time this
village had four hundred families and was divided into four barangais;
consequently there were four datos, each one of whom had charge of
a hundred inhabitants who are called collectively _catongohan_. I
summoned my four datos and from the choir I showed them the altar;
they saw (and they had known it beforehand) that mass could not be
celebrated. "Without celebrating mass each day," I said to them,
"although I may be unworthy of it, I cannot live, for that is my
sustenance which gives me strength to serve you for Christ's sake. Now
I must go where I can say it--that is, to Antipolo. If you wish to
see me again, you will build for me, on the hill where the dead are
now buried, a little church in which I can say mass, with some little
room to which I can retire; until this be done, I remain with God;"
and I went away. Desiring my return, they soon began the work and
finished it in such wise that I could stay and celebrate mass, and,
too, serve as an attraction to any one who might pass that way. At
first they did very little, and that slowly; but as it was necessary
to dismantle the church and carry to the hill its materials, and with
these the cross belonging to the cemetery, they soon began to show
such haste in migrating to the new village that ten or twelve of them
crowded into one house, until each one could build his own. Surprised
at such haste, I inquired its cause, and they told me that at night
they suffered from fear of the demons in the old village, because it
had now no church or cross; and so no one dared to sleep there. With
this change the village greatly improved its site. That they might not
lack water near by for bathing (to which all those nations are much
addicted), they carefully opened a ditch at the base of the hill,
along the edge of the village, by which water could come in from
the stream which they formerly had. Along the streets and around
the village they planted their groves and palm-trees, which enrich
and beautify it. They afterward constructed on the new site a very
beautiful temple with the help of the king our lord, who paid a third
of its cost, as his Majesty does for all the churches. Since I have
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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