The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55, 1640: 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 centuryAduarte, Diego
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55, 1640: 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
Aduarte, Diego
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
They came to an agreement for eight reals;
and the religious took the child and baptized her. At her baptism,
the Lord was pleased to give her not only the light of His grace, but
also that of corporal sight; and her eyes became miraculously clear
and beautiful. With this the eyes of the parents were also opened,
and they began to give their children for baptism, especially as this
was not the only miracle wrought among the baptized children. That they
might not suppose that the virtue of this most necessary sacrament had
an effect upon children only, an Indian who was wounded in the abdomen,
so that his entrails protruded in great quantity and he seemed to be
near death, was implored by the religious to be baptized. He, however,
refused, and was not even influenced when they once said that this holy
sacrament had sometimes cured bodies as well as souls. The religious
came and did what they could to keep away the ants which came to feed
upon his entrails. He already had the smell of death upon him; and,
when he felt that death was near, he begged for baptism. When he was
baptized, his entrails drew in again, the wound was closed, and he was
as sound as if such a thing had never happened. A number of similar
miracles of healing were wrought. The Indians were surprised to see
the religious come among them unarmed and alone, while the other
Spaniards always came in numbers and with firearms--even then not
regarding themselves as safe, but proceeding with much caution. The
religious, however, went about carelessly. When the Indians consulted
the devil, according to their custom before doing away with any one,
he responded to them that the religious did not go unprotected; that
they were accompanied by an armed angel, with a cross on his brow,
and another on his shield. The Indians had never seen such a thing,
and could not have made up a fiction because they had never seen a
painting or heard mention of any such matter. Thus they learned that
the devil was not so strong as they had supposed, since he was obliged
to admit that there was one stronger than he. Another heathen Indian,
who had permitted his child to be baptized, was rewarded by a vision,
by which he was converted. He put away all his wives but the first,
though he loved another and better one. He built in his village,
called Gabon, a monastery and a church for the religious, more
capacious than those they had. Devils were driven away by the holy
sacrament of baptism, and children were restored to life. When the
heathen jeered at some Christians for going to church on Sunday and
neglecting their fields, God was pleased to send a plague of locusts,
which spared the fields of the Christians. Many more miracles might
be put down here, of which we have reports from religious of great
virtue; and there is a still greater number which they have passed
over and failed to mention.]
CHAPTER XXIV
The coming to this province of father Fray Juan Cobo and other
religious
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account