The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 13 of 55: 1604-1605; 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 13 of 55: 1604-1605; 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
Father Gabriel Sanchez, in another letter to the father-visitor, writes
thus: "Glory be to our Lord, Christianity in this island is receiving
much increase. They all frequent the most holy sacraments with great
fervor at Christmas, Epiphany, and other leading feasts. So many were
the confessions and the communions that it seemed to me like Holy
Week. They possess great confidence and faith, and through the most
holy sacraments and the sacramental offices they are sure to receive
(and his Majesty does bestow upon them even in temporal affairs)
most signal favors. An old woman, a good Christian, was so reduced by
sickness, and brought so near to death, that she no longer possessed
her senses, or power of speech; in short, there was no hope that she
would live. The sacrament of extreme unction was administered to her,
and at once she began to improve, and at last regained entire health. A
few days ago they brought to us a sick man, so tormented and harassed
by a severe malady that he could not even raise his head; he therefore
made his confession while reclining, and with great difficulty. But,
as soon as he had ended it, he began to feel better, with the result
that in two days he came to the church to render thanks to our Lord
for the mercy that he had received, which he attributed to the holy
sacrament of penance. A few days ago a child of four years--not
realizing, as he was so little, what he was doing--waded into the
sea, and, despite the haste with which he was taken from the water,
was almost drowned. They brought him in haste to our house, that we
might repeat the gospel over him, for they had no hope of preserving
his life by natural means. When they brought him to us he showed
almost no sign of respiration, his face was black, and his stomach
much swollen with the water which he had swallowed. The gospel was
read for him, and he was sprinkled with holy water; and then, in
the presence of the many people who had assembled, he straightway
recovered consciousness and became entirely well, in return for
which they all gave many thanks to our Lord. Another incident, which
occurred quite recently, I cannot refrain from relating. Our Lord has
this day exercised His accustomed mercy in the case of two old men,
very venerable and more than a hundred years old. The greater part
of their long lives they had spent in diabolical acts of outrage,
murder, cruelty, and lawlessness; and yet our Lord had waited for
them until now--when, illumining them with His divine light, they
were marvelously converted. I was astonished at beholding the fervor,
sincerity and grief with which they expressed abhorrence for their
past life and sought baptism, which they received today after careful
instruction. To see the perseverance and constancy of this people
has given great consolation to me. I shall relate in brief a few
things which certainly give strong evidence of that constancy. An
unmarried Indian woman was persecuted by a soldier with innumerable
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