The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 28 of 55: 1637-38; 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 28 of 55: 1637-38; 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
Frequently the priests in the Philippines are upbraided about their
gross licentiousness. [It is said that] the convent is full of
beautiful girls, with whom the cura lives like a sultan. This might
often be so of the native priests; but at the houses of numerous
Spanish priests whose guest I have been, I have never once happened
to see anything objectionable in this regard. Their servants were
only men, and perhaps an old woman or two. Ribabeneyra asserts: [131]
"The Indians, who observe how the discalced friars maintain their
chastity, have come in their thoughts to the conclusion that they are
not men ... and although the devil has endeavored to corrupt many
chaste priests now deceased, and also those who still live, making
use of the shamelessness of some Indian women for that purpose, yet
the friars remained victorious, to the great shame of the Indian women
and of Satan." However, this author is very unreliable. He says further
(chapter iii, page 13), that the island of Cebu is known under another
name as Luzon! At any rate, his description does not fit the present
conditions. The young priest lives in his parish as did the lord of the
manor in earlier times. The girls consider it an honor for themselves
to associate with him. The opportunity is very favorable for him, for
he is watched over by no jealous wife; and, as the father confessor
and priestly adviser, he has opportunity at discretion to be alone
with the women. [132] The confessional must especially be a perilous
rock for them. In the appendix to a Tagal grammar (which is lacking
in those copies intended for public sale), is a list of questions
for the young priest who is not yet conversant with the language,
which he must propound to the persons confessing. Several pages of
those questions relate to sexual intercourse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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