The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 21 of 55: 1624; 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 21 of 55: 1624; 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
saw various altars on which they sacrificed to the idol, which was
placed on a higher altar covered with curtains. The father carefully
avoided giving any attention to the said idol, and, having assembled
the chiefs, addressed them in regard to erecting an altar to the true
God. All agreed to it. On going out, the father purposely turned his
gaze to the image, and asked who was that who had so much reverence
there. No one replied, whereupon the zealous father seized the image,
which was a fierce devil, made of wood covered with black paint,
which made it altogether ugly and frightful. The barbarians were as
if thunderstruck, for they thought that no one could touch that god
without losing his life, and they could not cease their surprise
that that father had been able to capture their divata. Thereupon
the fervent missionary took occasion to make them understand their
blindness, and to persuade them of the offense which was committed
against the true God in worshiping the devil. After so notable an
action, he returned triumphant, with the protection of heaven, to
his boat, taking the idol with him without any one preventing him. On
the next day the Indians offered a considerable quantity of gold to
ransom their little god. The father paid no attention to it. On the
contrary, he diverted them, and leaving them to forget it, descended
to the convent of Butuan. There the people went to look for him,
proclaiming the little or no value of their god, and saying that they
wished to receive the true God. That was a matter of great consolation
to the father at seeing how well his pains had been recompensed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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