The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 35, 1640-1649: 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 35, 1640-1649: 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
This year [1635] our religious entered the islands of Romblòn--or,
as they are called, "Las Isletas" [i.e., "the Islets"]. That district
belonged to the seculars who were subject to the bishopric of Zibù,
and their beneficed incumbent was at that time Francisco Rodriguez
the relator. [19] He, becoming weary of going about daily with his
possessions on his back; and fleeing from the enemy, entered into
negotiations with the father provincial of Filipinas, Fray Joseph
de la Anunciacion, saying that he would give him that district in
exchange for a suitable chaplaincy. Those islands were a station and
gateway, so to speak, for the visitas of the Bisayas which were in
our charge, and also in the path of the navigation from Manila to
Zibù. The documents having been made ready, the father provincial
sent father Fray Pedro de San Joseph, alias de Roxas. The island of
Romblòn is the chief place of that district, and as visitas it has
the islands of Zubuyàn, Tablas, Simara, Bantòn and Bantoncillo. The
people are honest, pacific, docile, and very intelligent. They trade
in the products of the land--oil, goats, swine, wine, and bonete
[i.e., bonote]. They have a great abundance of domestic animals. They
construct ships, build houses, and make other things of wood with
great skill, all of which they take to Manila, as well as to other
places, to sell. Consequently, as a rule, those who apply themselves
to work are prosperous. All these things have a serious counterweight,
namely, the enemy; for there is scarcely a year in which the enemy
are not seen in that district, where they commit many depredations,
burn villages and churches, and capture a great number of Indians.
That was experienced by the said father prior, Fray Pedro de San
Joseph, as soon as he took possession; for hearing that the enemy
were coming, he had barely time to escape to the mountains, saving
his person, but without time to save anything else. The enemy entered
Romblòn, sacked the village, burned the church and convent, captured
a few persons, and then returned. Those disasters are experienced
nearly every year. Amid such hardships do our religious administer
the sacraments to the faithful, and subdue the infidels to the faith,
exposing their lives valiantly for that purpose. [The remainder of
this section concerns the change of rules allowed by Pope Urban VIII
(December 15, 1635).]
[Chapters vi and vii are occupied with the captivity and deaths of
the Recollect missionaries captured in 1636 by the Moros, who attack
the islands of Cuyo and Calamianes--which has been already related
in previous volumes. A few extracts from Luis de Jesús's account are
added here, as containing further information.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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