Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

Item

Title: Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas
Issue Date: Volume XLVI (Issue No. 521) December 1972
Publisher: University of Santo Tomas
Language: Spanish; English
Subject: Catholic Church--Philippines--Periodicals.; Philippines -- Religion -- Periodicals.
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Place of publication: Manila
extracted text: Boletin Eclesi astico de piLIPINAS VOL. XVI • 521 DECEMBER 1972 ARCHBISHOP MANUEL S. SALVADOR, D.D. Co-adjutor Archbishop of Cebu Boletin T7CLESIASTIC0 DE la piLIPINAS THE OFFICIAL INTERDIOCESAN ORGAN EDITOR FR. JAIME BOQU1REN. OP. EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS IR. ERANCISCO DEL RIO, O.P. ER. QUINTIN M. GARCIA. O.P. ER. JESUS MERINO. O.P. ER. FIDEL. V1LL.ARROEL. O.P. I R. LEONARDO LEGASPI. O.P ER F.FREN RIVERA. O.P BUSINESS MANAGER ER FLORENCIO TESTER A. O.P BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS, Official Interdiocesan Organ, is published monthly by the University of Santo Tomas end is prmteo at U.S.T. Press. Manila, Philippines. Entered as Second Class Mail Matter at the Manila. Post Office on June 21, 1946 Subscription Rates Yearly subscription in the Philippines P20.00; Two Years. P36.00: Three Years, P54.00. Abroad, $6.00 a year Price per copy, P2.00. Subscriptions are paid in advance Communications of an editorial nature concerning articles, cases and reviews should be addressed to the Editor. Advertising and subscription inquiries should be addressed to the Business Manager. Orders for renewals or changes of address shoulc include both old and new address, and will go into effect fifteen davs after notification Address all communications to BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Fathers' Residence University of Santo Tomas Manila D-403 Philippines Vol. XLVI • 521 December, 1972 Table of Contents For a Life of Order .............................................................. 810 Cleanliness in the Church .................................................... 812 Catholic Bishops on Plebiscite .................................. 813 Renewal in the Church Today .............. 815 Pope to Synod Secretariat ...................................... 818 Foundation of the Holy Land, Inc........................................ 821 Blessed Michael Rua ...................................... 821 Blessed Agostina ...................................................................... 825 St. Alphonsus Liguori ...................................... 828 The “Jesus” of St. Thomas ................................................... 831 Paul or Apollos? ...................................... 838 A Diocesan Synod .............. 841 History of the Church in the Phil. (ch. 30) .................... 852 Christianization of Bataan 863 UST Central Seminary Class 1973 .................................... 885 Index for Volume XLVI .................. 888 EDITORIALS FOR A LIFE OF ORDER We gather here this afternoon to celebrate beauty and cleanliness. These are imperatives of nation-buil ding. That is why, it is a great joy to me to join you here so that together we could give proper recognition to those who have contributed in a very essential way, to making a better nation. By means of this awards cere mony that we have come to witness, we are encouraging among the Pilipino people a greater awareness of the relationship between beauty and nation-building. One of the proofs offered by Scholastic philosophy to show the existence of God is that there is order in the universe. The planets move on appointed orbits; they do not clash and collide. The seasons change ac cording to some master plan, ivith a ryhthrn that is a joy to experience and behold. All this means there is an unseen hand and an intelligent mind that guides all things according to a definite order. And the result of order is beauty. This is the principle that underlies our effort at beautification. In a real sense, we are calling on every one in society to live according to this principle. We are asking them to bring greater dicipline into their lives. Our efforts in this direction may, at least to com pulsive cynics, seem merely formalistic and superficial. But tvhen we clean our streets, beatitify our yards and gardens, and bring the sparkle of cleanliness to our com munities, ice give testimony to the rest of the world of certain inner values. EDITORIALS 811 We are in that way giving eloquent proof of impor tant human attributes — a sense of order and discipline, a dedication to excellence, and finally an aesthetic sense. How else can a people achieve their potential for growth? Can we rise to new levels of achievement, whether in our economy or in our social life, through carelessness, through clutter and chaos? Our visible life is the image of our inner life. Disorder and dreariness in our hearts cannot make clean homes and orderly towns. This is the real meaning of our beautification and cleanliness campaign. This is the real meaning of the New Society we are trying to create. I hope that from here you will go back to your towns and neighborhoods with a greater resolve to help create a more disciplined and, therefore, a beautiful and more meaningful life. I hope that the awards here this afternoon will en courage you to set up standards of cleanliness and beau ty in your own communities, and in a sense carry out your own contests, perpetual ones which will lead to strive at all moments, year in and year out, to keep your homes and neighborhoods clean and beautiful. Let us, in a sense, return to ourselves. For our ori ginal selves, the men and women concealed by trappings and speeches, are dedicated to order, discipline, beauty and goodness. MRS. IMELDA ROMUALDEZ, MARCOS Dec. 7, 1972 812 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS CLEANLINESS IN THE CHURCH In the General Order No. 13, President Ferdinand E. Marcos called upon every resident and citizen of the Philippines, all universities, colleges and schools and other similar institutions private as well as public; all commercial and industrial establishments, hotels, res taurants, hospitals, cinemahouses, public markets, trans portation companies, and all establishments of any kind, to undertake the cleaning of their own surroundings, their yards and gardens, as well as the canals, roads or streets in their immediate premises. The response of the citizenry has been notable. There is, indeed, an- improvement in cleanliness and beautification. Again, some people are asking if there is no need for a similar campaign for our churches. Concrete examples have been cited by concerned Catholics to prove the existence of churches and chapels full of dust, cob webs and bats; of churches made ugly by ill-arranged statues and neglected furnitures; of church yards and plazas full of cogon grass. And this is not to mention dirty chalices and Mass vestments and altars. St. John Evangelist said that we cannot love God whom we do not see if we cannot love our neighbor whom we see. Can it not be said also that we cannot keep our soul, which we do not see, clean and beautiful if we cannot keep clean that which we can see? A clean and beautiful church attracts people and inspires them to pray and to be close to the God of clean liness and beauty. A dirty and ugly church drives peo ple away. One of the best sermons of a priest to his people is his effort to keep his church clean and beautiful. EDITORIALS 813 CATHOLIC BISHOPS ON PLEBISCITE To God’s People and all Fellow-Citizens of Good Will Greetings: RIGHT AND DUTY The Constitutional Convention that we entrusted in 1970, with a mandate to write a new charter for our land, submits now to us for ratification or rejection in the plebiscite on January 15, 1973, the proposed Cons titution. This choice is the most significant and basic exercise of our sovereign right and duty under a demo cratic society. Therefore now, more than ever, every qualified voter is bound in conscience to cast his vote intelligently, conscientiously and courageously in this plebiscite. I '()TE INTELLIGENTL Y Faced with this challenging responsibility it is im perative that we inform ourselves adequately on the merits and demerits of the this proposed Charter. Let us subject this charter to the clear scrutiny of our objective and dispassionate judgment. Let us or ganize groups in every town, in every barrio and pitrok, to discuss this proposed Constitution in. all its implica tions. VOTE CONSCIENTIOUSLY The more serious are our duties the more courage do they demand as we fulfill them. This is all the more so, therefore, when the welfare and future of our country are at stake. Thus, too, we must vote courageously in the plebiscite. 814 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Any human act that is performed with fear or out of fear can hardly be, if at all, an intelligent and con scientious act. Yet, we have only to remind ourselves that full freedom of debate is guaranteed as we prepare for the plebiscite and when we cast our vote. Moreover, the sanctity and secrecy of the ballot remain inviolable. THE TRANSCENDENCE OF THE PLEBISCITE In casting our intelligent, conscientious, honest and free votes we make ourselves the ultimate architects of the future of our country. We shall be rendering an invaluable service to our land. The future of this Chris tian nation rests on our decision. Whatever our verdict may finally be, let it be said that we have made our choice impelled solely by love of country and the pursuit of the common good. APPEAL FOR PRAYER As we face this supreme test of patriotism and our Christian conscience we need the guidance of the ever provident and loving God from whom all authority ema nates. We, the Filipino members of the Philippine Catholic Hierarchy exhort our faithful and all God-loving citizens to offer special prayers as we also declare the Sunday before the Plebiscite, January 14, 1973, a National Day of Prayer. With faith and fervor let us invoke Him who guides the destinies of peoples and nations. FOR THE FILIPINO MEMBERS OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE OF THE PHILIPPINES + TEOPISTO ALBERTO, D.D. Archbishop of N. Caceres RENEWAL IN THE CHURCH TODAY On 8 November, the Holy Father spoke at the General Audience of the necessity of an interior renewal in the Church. There has been talk of a renewal of the Church: the Coun cil awakened the idea in us, gave us the hope, left us the orders. This word “renewal” still speaks to us: to lovers of the Church, to indicate in a simple word the many needs of the age-old institution which, still alive and consistent with its roots, re ceives as impulse the divine sap of the Holy Spirit always flowing through it towards the blossoming of a new spring. Yes, the Church needs renewal (cf. Decree Optatam totius, n. 1; etc). This same word has not always been rightly understood by everyone. For some it rang out as a condemnation of the past and license to break with it regardless of binding and vital function as the vehicle of the essential principles by which the Church lives, her faith especially, and her constitution. The word renewal seemed to authorize some adaptation of the latter. And there were some who conceived it as detachment from the institutional, historical, visible, exterior structures, in order to keep its spiritual and characteristic content more pure and ef ficient, forgetting that the soul of the Church without the body in which she lives could no longer be found or be active, as St. Augustine already repeated. There were also some who thought they could renew the Church by secularizing her, that is modelling her, sometimes without discernment, in forms and in mentality on the mould of secular society, which, as the daughter of history and of time, could confer on the Church the coveted title of modern. CHECKING TWO POINTS Two things were, and still are, overlooked. The first is that renewal, a continuous, vital process in a living organism like the Church, cannot be a metamorphosis, a radical trans 816 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS formation, a betrayal of essential and perpetual elements, the renewal of which can only be to strengthen, not to change. The other is that the desired renewal is interior, rather than exterior, as St. Paul admonishes us in words still relevant today: “There must be a renewal in the inner life of your minds” (Eph. 4, 23). Pithy words, these, easier to utter than to put into prac tice. How should we translate them? You must renew your mentality by virtue of the Christian inspiration that is con ferred on you by grace, by the inner action of the Holy Spirit. You must from your speculative and practical judgment accord ing to Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel, or, as is said, according to Christian analysis. We must have a Christian mentality, we must think according to the conception that the Word of God gives us of the world, life, society, present and future values. It is not easy; but this is what has to be done. The adaptation of our overall way of feeling, knowing, judg ing and therefore operating is the permanent programme of the individual Christian and of the Church in general. It is a question of continual self-reformation. Ecclesia semper reformanda.. Living in the world, today so meaningful and diffusive, so aggressive and tempting, so trained to con formism, even in its contestation, has a strong influence on our personality. The accepted norm, particularly in the new gene rations, that we must be “people of our times”, obliges all of us to put up with the philosophies, that is to say, the current opinions, and to regilate our innex- spirituality and our exterior conduct along the lines of the age, that is, of the world which disregards God and Christ. To travel along these lines may ensure a great speed, that is, great intensity of life, but all things considered, it will deprive us of oux * originality, oui- real and autonomous freedom. We are conformists. The Church, too, has her temptations of conformism. St. Paul warns us: “Do not be conformed to this world (understood as an environ ment the atmosphere of which is infected by ideas that are wrong oi- deprived of Christian light), but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12,2). Claim your freedom to live according to the charity that the Spirit has poured forth in Christian soul (cf. Rom. 5,5). Here we must remember: “Where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom” (II Cor. 3, 17) ; cf. Jn. 8, 36; Rom. 8,2). RENEWAL IN THE CHURCH TODAY 817 THE VISION IS POSITIVE To renew oneself inwardly, what work, what toil! Who is ready to modify his way of thinking? To purify his inner cell of his fantasies, ambitions and passions? Yet how often the Lord exhorts us to make this inner renewal! (cf. Mt. 15, 18-20). And the Council invites us to do so, individually, and invites the whole Church altogether; and this is what she is doing, with God’s help: renewal, which is the same as purification. But we should not like, ending our little talk, to leave you with a purely negative impression of the renewal that the Church needs. There is a whole positive vision that would deserve our attention, for example, the one opened up bv the education of the modern Christian values of human activity, etc. (cf. Gaudium et Spes, n. 31). To be able to see in every man an image of Christ, a brother to be respected, served and loved, is not this a fundamental and formidable criterion for the renewal that the Church and the world need? To see a secret of divine goodness in every sorrow, a coefficient of per sonal or collective progress in every event (cf. Rom. 8,20), is this not tantamount to opening a marvellous source of opti mism. and therefore, of renewal for the old. weary and dis appointed heart of man? To have rekindled eschatological hope in the mind of us mortals today, is this not to instil a meaning, an impulse of newness into present and future time? “Ecce nova facio omnia", behold, I make all things new (Ap. 21, 5; cf. II Cor. 5, 17) ! The Lord’s word. The Church’s need. The commitment of all of us! With Our Apostolic Blessing. SA IKAUUNLAD NG SIMBAHAN DISIPLINA ANG KAILANGAN. POPE TO SECRETARIAT COUNCIL OF THE SYNOD On 27 October the Holy Father received in audience the Cardinals and other Prelates who are members of the Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. They had taken part in the meeting which had lasted from 2l> to 27 October. After an introductory address of homage by Cardinal Maurice Roy, His Holiness gave the following address. Venerable Brothers, We are happy to greet you once again, as you come back to Rome to deal in common with affairs regarding the Synod of Bishops. We are sincerely delighted with your prompt zeal which is also a witness to the vigour and efficiency of your Commission. The Synod of Bishops has already become a definite and conspicuous ecclesiastical institution. We are still consoling ourself with the memory of the meeting held last year, but our thoughts are already directed toward the next one. It is of importance then to know just what the result of your discussion will be concerning the exact date of this next session. For on that occasion the delegates will also be questioned about the length of time to be allowed between the future meetings of the Synod. COLLEGIAL NATURE OF BISHOPS But the discussion which We just mentioned concerns first of all the topic or topics of the coming session, and also the changes which perhaps will have to be introduced into the proce dural rules of the Synod. In this work of yours We really discern a practical real ization of the collegial nature of Bishops, who, as the Second Vatican Council points out, “are consecrated not only for a par ticular diocese but for the salvation of the whole world” (Ad Gentes, 39). Thus the episcopal charism is extended and shares POPE TO SYNOD SECRETARIAT 819 to a certain greater degree in the work of governing universal Church, in so far as the Bishops, summoned by the Supreme Pontiff, work closer together with him in the fulfilment of his own duty. Here we also note other advantages which are a source of consolation: greater agreement of minds and wills in applying canonical regulations; unanimity of action; brotherly assistance, according to the word of the Apostle: “Each one carry the other’s burden” (Gal. 6, 2) ; spiritual solidarity in faith and charity; that precious “sensus Ecclesiae”; and finally the con sciousness that we are a “mystical body” and that Christ is in us and among us. FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHURCH As is very clear, this universal view of things in no way detracts from the importance which is rightly assigned to each Bishop as the ruler of the diocese; on the contrary, their dig nity and authority in this regard were completely recognized and emphasized by the Council. Consequently this relationship of solidarity and mutual aid between the local and the universal Church underlines the very life of the mystical body of Christ. It is this vision of the Church, welded together in such an extraordinary and vital way, which you yourselves present to Us, Venerable Brothers. And so as We pray that the work in which you are now conscientiously engaging will produce re sults which will be for the good and profit of the whole Chuich, We impart to you with affection Our Apostolic Blessing. Let us Pray for our Bishops on the Occasion of the Annual CBBCP Meeting. January 29-February 3, 1973 Baguio City FOUNDATION OF THE HOLY LAND, INC." Manila — Philippines N. 14522 30 November 1972 Your Excellency: This kindly refers to a Notice, published in “L’Osservatore Romano”, November 16, 1972, on a certain “Foundation of the Holy Land, Inc., Jerusalem.” In this connection, the Papal Secretariat of State has directed this Apostolic Nunciature to kindly call the attention of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines that the socalled “Foundation of the Holy Land, Inc., Jerusalem,” operat ing in various countries, specially in the United States of America, “with the. purpose of collecting funds for the Holy Land,” has no explicit nor implicit approval of the Holy See or the competent local ecclesiastical authorities. A warning is given to said “Foundation” not to abuse the names of ecclesiastical persons or entities, who are asked to avoid the giving of any help. While professing to Your Excellency my personal best wishes, I willingly profit by this occasion to reiterate to you the sen timents of my fraternal esteem in Christ. Devotedly yours, (Sgd.) f Carmine Rocco Apostolic Nuncio His Excellency Monsignor Teopisto V. Alberto, D.D. Archbishop of Caceres President, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines 2655 F.B. Harrison, Pasay City MICHAEL RUA: A BLESSED FOR THE PEOPLE * • Proclaimed Blessed by Pope Paul VI, 29 October 1972. If anyone had held out for him the prospect of beatifica tion, Don Michael Rua, the successor of Don Bosco, either would have laughed or would have been scandalized. In his humility he took himself for a disciple of Don Bosco, and did not wish to be anything else. Holiness, however, was in him, just because, in faithful ness to the founder of the Salesians, he had taken the way that goes from love of the poor to union with God. He was one who made the immense work, to which he had subjected himself, an instrument of perfection, used as a Christian, a religious, a son of Don Bosco. A holiness, lived socially, like Christ, who spent charisms and blood to serve the multitudes; like one who lived — these are his words — as if he would never have to die. In a word he made his work an expression of love, which cost sacrifices and aroused joy: a kind of uninterrupted liturgy, as a result of which he felt he was in God’s service whether he was cele brating Mass or teaching or travelling or whatever he was doing. That there was holiness in him, was recognized, moreover, in the midst of his ordinary occupations, by not a few persons who were good judges of it. As early as 1869, for example, the Jesuit, Secundo Franco, had confessed that he was unable to say if Don Bosco’s virtue was greater than that of Don Rua. And Don Bosco himself said: “Don Rua could work miracles if he wished to”. Ano ther saint, Pius X, speaking of Don Rua after his death, tes tified: “whenever I saw him, it seemed to me that he could be put on the altars”. 822 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS GREAT DON BOSCO Don Bosco is great because of the courageous, new, in genious enterprises carried out for the elevation of abandoned boys, of the poor, the ignorant, the lost, etc.: Sunday schools, vocational schools, orphanages, seminaries, missions, construc tions and services of every kind to bring them to life again and to hope in life. But I think that one of the best measures of his greatness can be found in the formation of boys, taken from the humblest strata of the working people whom he made priests, teachers, skillful workers, and even saints. Just think of Domenico Savio, and now Michael Rua. He made the latter, chosen when he was a poor, shy boy, eight years old, the most comprehensive continuer of his work, so that he could be taken, for virtue and for achievement, as the living proof of Don Bosco’s educative capacities. Becoming Major Rector at the Saint’s death and remaining such until his own death, that is, for 22 years, from 1888 to 1910, Don Rua raised the number of houses inherited from the Founder from sixtyfour to three hundred and fourteen, setting them up in all the continents, to evangelize, educate, heal, from pagans to lepers, from children to the old, from the ignorant to the learned. Likewise the Salesians rose from seven hundred under Don Bosco, distributed in six nations, to four thousand, dis tributed in thirty nations. In all this conservative activity, which raised works of physical and spiritual rebirth for the people, sometimes as sociating with this service, following the example of a St. Vincent de Paul and of a St. John Bosco, also the most gene rous spirits of the high classes, the Blessed intended to bear an up-to-date testimony to the perennial relevance of Christian ity, in a historical period in which anti-clerical, secular and atheistic ideologies were being spread in the midst of Chris tendom in several parts of Europe, confusing the people and often inducing them to desert the churches. And so Don Rua brought back a breeze of youth, in the midst of the depression caused by the political events of national unity, embittered by the Roman question. Continuing his master’s initiative, he, too, devoted himself with amazing success to reconstructing a modern image of the Church in the midst of the workers, almost sweeping away the fictitious barriers behind which, for many people, the vitality of the faith seemed turned to stone. At the same time FOUNDATION OF THE HOLY LAND 823 he succeeded in completing the Master’s appstolate to recons truct the image of the Papacy, often distorted by the wild sectarianism of the period. FOLLOWING HIS MASTER This effusion, which reached the extreme limits of the earth, together with the many journey and studies in every direction, shows us how open that soul was, eager to reach everyone, out of charity, feeling indebted to everyone. It was charity that made him tireless and inexhaustible, that infused an endless vitality into him. He himself explianed: “He who loves is always happy”. He slept very little in order to work very hard, he was distressed by every adversity, he assumed burdens of every kind, and yet “he was always happy”. He had God in his heart: and God, like love, is joy. It was he who developed, in modernity of ideas and means, the function of service of his long rectorship, which acted as one of the elements preparing that process of aggiornamento which culminated in Vatican II: that Council defined by Paul VI “an act of love for God, for the Church, for mankind”. The Salesian action for mankind takes its place in the Christian sociological cycle that was expressed in the Rerum Novarum at those times and now is polarized round Populorum Progress io. “Following the example of Don Bosco — his biographer Agostino Auffray recalls — he was in the habit of reminding the cooperators and friends of the Salesian works of the evan gelical function of weath, so that everyone would feel the need to contribute to the moral and Christian elevation of the popu lar classes”. For this reason he helped to found workers’ clubs, to support the Catholic Working Women’s Unions, to collaborate with Leon Ilarmel and with the constructors of the new Catholic sociology, aimed at making the masses the people and the people the Church. Knowing by experience that the society of tomorrow is established on the young people of today, he had an extraordi nary capacity for loving and understanding boys, particularly those inclined to delinquency, managing to guide to virtue and professional abilities even the wildest pupils, a forerunner in the type of magisterium most demanded today. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS ATTRACTED TEENAGERS Thus he attracted thousands and thousands of teenagers to the Oratories, particularly in the larger towns, succeeding in making them live the joy of innocence. Like St. Augustine, he did not believe in harsh repression, in fierce pedagogies: he believed in kindness and he understood spirits by the light of that divine intelligence, love. He believed in games, singing, merriment; he was able to become a boy with the birichini (little rascals) : the model director, as Don Bosco had moulded him. Of course serenity and joy did not mean superficiality for him, so severe with himself, with that limpid simplicity in which his many-sided action moved. On the contrary, they were the fruit of that assiduous passing from pain of love, in which the followers of the Cross seek the solution to evils. “To arrive at the Promised Land — Don Bosco had warned him on the day of his first Mass — it is necessary to cross the Red Sea and the desert: you will have to work a great deal and suffer a great deal”. And Don Rua was so convinced of this that he summed up in a maxim of evident wisdom the whole cycle of pain in its passing to love. “Every cross — he said — is heavy for one who drags it along. For him who embraces it lovingly and takes it up on his shoulders generously, it becomes light”. Under this sweetness, a real childhood of the spirit, could be felt the suffering he bore at all the miseries, present in his heart; but a suffering united by love to a fortitude that made him resemble a martyr. MAN FOR OUR TIMES In a word, we can see in the new Blessed of the Catholic Church the Christian as he is most demanded by our times. And the value of his testimony, which lasted his whole life, was seen already at his death, when the Town Council of Turin, composed mainly of Radicals and socialists, paid him concordant and triumphant tribute, recalling him, amid the emotion of all, as a saint, nay more as “the ideal saint that mankind in its agitated life is seeking with longing”; the “worthy continuer to Don Bosco”, so that the people of Turin "saw personified (in him) the living miracle of an institution that, springing out of nothing, without government aids . . . rises and is maintained all over the civilized world, supporting principles of freedom, equality justice and love.. .” THE LIFE OF BLESSED AGOSTINA * • L’Osservaton Romano, 23 November 1972. Proclaimed Blessed by Pope Paul VI, 12 November 1972. Livia Pietrantoni was the second-born of ten children of Francesco Pietrantoni and Caterina Costantini. She was born at Pozzaglia Sabina (Rieti) in the Diocese of Tivoli, 27 March, 1864, and was baptized on the same day. At the age of four, she received the sacrament of confirm ation in the church of Orvinio. On the 23rd of March, eighteen years later, she joined the Sisters of Charity of St. Joan Antida Thouret. at their Generalate in Rome. On 13 August, 1887, she was clothed with the religious habit and received the name of Sister Agostina, and appointed as nurse in the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome. She made her religious profession on 29 September, 1893. In May of the next year, tuberculosis brought her to death’s door, and she received the Last Sacraments. However, she recovered in a marvelous way and after a short vacation at Porto d’Anzio, returned to her post — the tuberculosis ward — at the hospital. She had begged her Superior to permit her to remain at that post lest some other Sister would contract the disease. That was in May 1894. Shortly before noon on 13 November, 1894, Sister Agostina was attacked and mortally wounded by her assistant — Giuseppe Romanelli, a former mental patient. She died after pardoning her assassin. The funeral on the 15th of November was indeed a spectacle to behold. An estimated 200 thousand persons were present for her funeral and burial in the Roman Campo Verano cemetery. THE SPIRITUALITY OF SISTER AGOSTINA Her spirituality was very simple: it was that of the Beati tudes lived with an exceptional consistency. She loved and served 826 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS the poor with complete dedication because in each of her patients, she saw the image of Christ. She loved her companion Sisters and chose to remain at her post in the contagious ward, lest another Sister contract the illness. Before she died, she forgave the man who had so brutally attacked her. Sister Agostina was devoted to the Eucharist, the Crucified Christ, and the Blessed Mother, whom she invoked with her last breath. HER APOSTOLATE The activities of Sister Agostina were limited both in time and in extent — eight years in the Santo Tomas Spirito Hospi tal in Rome. These were difficult years at the hospital: the Roman Question had poisoned people’s minds, Freemasonry was rampant, the Sisters were expressly forbidden to speak of God to the sick. But for Sister Agostina, words were unnecessary: the testimony of her life, of her dedication shone through with more eloquence than words. And everyone understood her lang uage. At times the restlessness of the type of sick the nurse called for police intervention. Sister always remained calm and serene on those occasions, saying: “They are not bad; they are suffering and need our compassion. Let us try to help them and pray for them.” Her way was that of meekness, and she persevered in that attitude even to the bitter end. PROCESS OF BEATIFICATION The informative process for the introduction of the Cause of Beatification began in Rome in 1936 and continued until 1939. In 1941 her body was taken from the cemetery to the Chapel of the Generalate on Via di S. Maria in Cosmedin. On the 14th of December, 1945, was promulgated the decree for the introduction of the Cause of Beatification and Canonization. After the recognition of her heroic virtue in 1967, the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints accepted the validity of the miracles attributed to her intercession and on 22 June 1972 published the decree of beatification. The solemn Beatification took place in St. Peter’s Basilica on 12 November, 1972. THE TWO MIRACLES On the evening of 7 March 1952, four-year old Caterina Monzeglio, a high-spirited child, was playing near the fireplace in her home in Ozzano Monferrato in the Diocese of Casale. BLESSED AGOSTINA 827 Suddenly a red-hot piece of iron wounded her left eye. She developed a lesion on the cornea; her parents were distraught. They invoked the aid of Sister Agostina Pietrantoni, after which the child fell asleep. On the following morning, the doctor was unable to find the slightest trace of injury. In the afternoon of 5 September 1960, seven year old Vit torio Berti, living in Ravalle in the Diocese of Adria, while trying to jump on to his father’s tractor, fell and was caught under the wheels of the tractor which passed over his abdomen. He was taken immediately to the hospital of Adria in a serious condition. Twice attempts wore made to operate, but the con dition of the patient forbade it. He was put to bed and en trusted to the care of the Sister nurse and his relations. There was nothing more to be done. However, after invoking the help of Sister Agostina. a short time after midnight, the child revived. He began to speak, asking for something to eat and to drink, and for his toys. In the morning the doctors found no sign of injury they had reported the night before. MISAL NA PANG-ARAW-ARAW Ikatlong Pagkaliinbag Batay sa huling pagbabago sa Liturhiya Isinalin ni Fr. Excclso Garcia, O.P. Pamantasan ng Santo Tomas, Maynila Alga nilalaman: Bagong Ordinaryo ng Alisa, Introito, Kolekta, Panalangin sa alay.Komunyon, (av>g mga ‘’agbasang hango sa Banal na Kasulatan, na kasalukuyang isinasalin ng may-akda. ay ipalilimbag sa isang nakahiwalay na ak’at). Mabibili sa Limbagan ng Pamantasan ng Santo Tomas, Maynila SAINT ALPHONSUS, AN EXEMPLARY PASTOR OF SOULS * * L’Osservatore Romano, 23 November 1972. On the occasion of the solemn celebrations for the centenary of the proclamation of St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Ligon ri as Doctor of the Church, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Giovanni Villot, sent the following letter to Cardinal Corrado Ursi, Archbishop of Naples, the city to which the mortal remains of the "pastor anin/arum’’ have been transferred for the conclusion of the cereMy Lord Cardinal, On behalf of the Episcopate of Campania, Your Eminence informed His Holiness that the mortal remains of St. Alphonsus de’ Ligouri, transported from Pagani, are in your city from 20 to 29 October to mark the solemn conclusion of the celebra tions— which lasted till today — of the centenary of his proc lamation as Doctor of the Church, which took place on 28 March 1871. The Holy Father is glad to take this opportunity, accord ing to the desire expressed, to propose again for general consideration the example of the great Pastor, the glory of the Church and in the pride of your generous land, for the pur pose of stressing the teachings he still has to give our times, so much in need of certainties and norms for consistent human and Christian action. St. Alphonsus was really for all his long life a “pastor animarum”. His figures shines forth in the history of the Church, in a particularly difficult period, because of his lofty sense of responsibility, supported by which he devoted his phy sical strength, his brilliant intellect, his gifts of human and Christian sensibility for the good souls, which was really the “suprema lex” for him. This light illuminates his work as a ST. ALPHONSUS LIGOURI 829 tireless herald of the Word of God, in his preaching that con quered the learned and the humble, and in the writing of admirable works, in their simplicity, which were and still are widely read, thereby multiplying the efficacy of his apostolate without limits of time and space. MODEL FOR RENEWAL From this zeal for the salvation of souls there also arose the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer, which he founded to provide those whom he saw neglected and deprived of adequate care, with the nourishment of God’s Word and every spiritual assistance. He wished that his Religious should imitate the Divine Saviour, in the intimacy of prayer and liturgical life as well as in going from town to town to proclaim the Gospel in sermons and spiritual exercises. It was pastoral zeal that made St. Alphonsus a theologian. When the rigorism of the Jansenists, reacting against moral laxity, prevented a living, personal relationship with God and a real interior peace for Christians of goodwill, the writings of the Saint aimed at clearing for the faithful, in their daily weakness, a way to the Father of mercies and to Christ the Redeemer. He deepened and renewed moral theology with the personal commitment of his faith, his zeal and his hard scienti fic work. Today, too, in accordance with the instructions of Vatican II (cf. Optatam totius, 16), there is need of such a deepening and renewal. Therefore the St. Alphonsus celebrations offer the opportunity to turn our eyes upon this necessary process to obtain directives and indications, particularly for presentday moral theology, which must carry out the grave task needed by the Church and the world. “GRACE OF THE SPIRIT’’ a) St. Alphonsus, a theologian and pastor of souls, clearly saw the necessity of this renewal in his times, and courageously put into practice. Today, too, the study of moral theology must be constantly renewed: not in the sense of a “new” moral ity corresponding to the short-lived demands of the current situation, but in response to the requirements of the present condition of the Church and of mankind, adapted to the signs of the times. 830 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS It is really satisfying to see that moral theology today is trying to put into practice the recommendations of the Council. Today it is again more aware that it must be far more than an interpretation of a moral code or an exercise in casuistry, though it preserves their value, if well done. It tires to deal with the deepest reality of Christian life, vocation in Christ, and the acceptance of this vocation, both “graces” of the Redeemer, as the central theme of moral theology. In this way moral theology is brought back again to the doctrine of St. Paul, St. Augustine (De Spiritu et litterir, P.L. 44, 199246) and St. Thomas (S. Th. I-II, 106). For Thomas Aquinas, vocation in Christ, which he calls “grace of the Holy Spirit”, is the principal element of the new law in Christ. The histo rical implementation of every day Christian morality is, con sequently, not just “obedience” to moral precepts, but mainly “fruit” of the life-giving Spirit (cf. Jn. 15, 2-3; Gal. 5,22). On the other hand, vocation in Christ and the gift of the Spirit not only do not make it superfuous to seek models and norms for a Christian life in this world, but drive home awareness of Christian responsibility to find the best way of living, one’s life, both personal and social, in a really human and Christian way. STIMULUS TO CONSCIENCE b) Just as the theologico-moral work of St. Alphonsus was stamped by his personality and by his moral experience and conscience, so today the renewal demanded must be a con tinual stimulus to the conscience of the moralist. Moral experience enables the theologian to reflect about human and Christian morality, and is a prerequisite of his being able to make a contribution of his own to the solution of the moral problems of humanity, provided he tires to understand the mentality of modern man and personal and social problems, which imply moral questions of very great importance. Un fortunately, there are theologians who owing to the continual phase of evolution of the world and of man, sometimes seem to hesitate to continue their task in the Church and in the world. However, if moral theologians start from the Catholic doctrine and avail themselves of their own personal experience, well meditated, and of their faithful conscientiousness, and make the sincere attempt to understand modern man and his problems, moral theology can rightly find the right way to ST. ALPHONSUS LIGOURI 831 the desired deepening and renewal. The Holy Father wishes to encourage moral theologians, and asks them to continue their conscientious and responsible study. SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY c) In his work of renewal, St. Alphonsus was sustained by a high sense of responsibility; thus moral theology must feel responsible to individuals, to society, to Church and to God. If it is to save the indespensable blaues of the human and Christian spirit, and of its tradition, it has the task of restating the results of the Christian and human commit ments of the past for the present moment and for the future. In so doing it is necessary to avoid the twofold danger of not declaring clearly enough what God’s will is and thereby im posing on men obligations that are not sufficiently justified as well as casting doubts on moral requirements that are fully justified. No one-sidedness in moral theology, — whether of rigorism or of liberality — equally arbitrary — leads to good but rather harms the real humanization and Christianization of man and of society. In the Constitution Gaudium et spes (cf. 15, 11; 10, 38; 42 ss; 57), Vatican II asks Christians — and therefore also moral theologians aware of their own responsibility — to help in this genuine humanization and Christianization of humanity and of the world in their process of evolution. Moral theology, however, will realize that a perfect humanization — and there fore interpersonal love in the first place — is not possible without the reality of the Cross. It will also explain what is sometimes forgotten or denied, that is, religion also belongs to a full formation of mankind: that is."not only theoretical faith, but also prayer, meditation, worship. Without religion and the cross, just as without the strength of redeeming and liberating grace, humanization and human interpersonality are not fully realized, as real moral values. PLACE OF SACRED SCRIPTURES d) St. Alphonsus also tried, in a difficult, scientific study, to bring into his own work what could be gathered from Chris tian experience in the past and from knowledge of the real situation of man in his time. In the same way moral theology today must be able to embrace all the elements it needs to carry out a valid reflection on spiritual life, inspired by faith. 832 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS In the first place it will have to be guided by Holy Scripture: there, it finds developed its primary theme, that is, “the high vocation of the faithful” in Christ (Optatam totiiis, 16). There, it discovers the riches of the mystery of Christ and the mys tery of a theological anthropology that makes it understand the deep reality of Christian man. There, it finds the norms that summon the whole man: continual conversion, faith and love of the Father, the following of Christ, the life of man redeemed and reborn in faith and in the sacraments. There, it finds the fundamental values and attitudes — disinterested love, jus tice, desire to carry the cross, etc. — which selfish man would only be too glad not to know. There, it finds the Sermon on the Mount, in which Christ himself paints the picture of the man of the kingdom of God. There, finally, it finds for exam ple in St. Paul, the attempts of the first Christians to determine concrete moral norms for the community of the time. Moral theology has the task of learning from the history of the moral ideas of the people of God, how numerous Chris tians, in the Holy Spirit, have succeeded in making themselves models of human life in the world and in the following of Christ. Here there is need of a human interpretation and a Christian discernment in order that the really human and Christian evaluations of the people of God in past centuries — and only these evaluations — may be preserved and become fruitful for the present day. The same procedure must be fol lowed also with regard to the tendencies of the people of God today, where the Spirit of Christ is no less alive than before, although it cannot be denied that other influences are also felt. INTENSIFYING EFFORTS The people of God is one alone, but hierarchically ordered. Consequently, it is understandable that moral theology should be particularly attentive to the words of those who, being Pas tors. can say authentically what is the real spirit of the people of God. It will accept gratefully the word of the magisterial and pastoral office of the Church, as an essential element and an immediate and universal norm for the deepening and renewal of morals today. Furthermore, this theology must endeavour to understand the man of today, and, as far as possible, the various people of different cultures. Without this effort, it could not really reach reality. It must therefore become familiar with the essential ST. ALPHONSUS LIGOURI 833 knowledge of human sciences, and know exactly the sector of reality which it wishes to address, and also speak to men who have not the light of the Gospel. It must, together with the non-Christians, make the attempt to determine what solutions to contemporary human problems correspond best with the reality and dignity of man. (cf. (Gaudium et spes, 33, 40). Catholic moral theology, precisely because it is irradiated by the light of the Gospel, destined to illuminate all the nations, sets out to make a real contribution, acceptable to all men of goodwill: it is not, therefore, a normative morality for Catholics alone. That is also demanded by the traditional Catholic doc trine on the universal and perennial value of the so-called natural law, of which the Magisterium of the Church is the custodian and the authentic interpreter. HIERARCHICALLY ORDERED e) Finally, and above all, the example of St. Alphonsus speaks of the necessity of intensifying efforts for a continual evangelization. As he used word, of mouth and the pen to proc laim the Gospel, so today the bishops and their collaborators in the clergy must feel committed to an ever generous activity to spread the Kingdom of God, by means of preaching, adapt ed to the requirements of the time, and the religious instruction imparted to the various categories of persons, particularly adolescents and the young. They must use the instruments that the media of social communication placed at the disposal of the pastors of souls, on such a vast and multiple scale that they must stimulate talent and zeal for their modern utiliza tion in today’s overall apostolate. In this activity the better qualified and more open Catholic laity can offer efficacious cooperation. With the fatherly good wishes that the centenary celebra tions may offer pastors and moralists precious food for thought, along the lines indicated above, the Sovereign Pontiff invokes on all the powerful intercession of the Holy Doctor, and willing ly imparts his special Apostolic Blessing. I am glad to take advantage of the circumstance to express deep veneration for Your Eminence. Devotedly in the Lord. GIOVANNI Card. V1LLOT THE "JESUS" OF ST. THOMAS * * L’Osservatore Romano, 23 November 1972. Recently, Jesus, our divine Saviour, has interested the world press. Initiatives of young people in various countries, and meetings bearing his name, have provided material for journalists. From these premises I have taken the opportunity to review the portrait of Jesus painted by St. Thomas in his Summa (III, qq. 1-17). It is obvious that the Jesus of St. Thomas Aquinas is the same as that of St. Thomas the Apostl? saying: “My Lord and God”. It is the same exclamation medi tated and developed with wonderful consistency. Jesus is the Word incarnated: this is the revelation of Holy Scripture, and it Js the teaching of the Church. The Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon explained that faith, and it is that faith that the Angelic Doctor contemplates. “The Word was made flesh” (Jn. 1,14) : that is, became a man. He is God and man. He united to himself a human nature and thus became Christ. It is from that union of a human nature with the person of the Word that it is necessary to start out. It is the closest union that there can be, since it constitutes in one being the person and the nature united with it. The Word, the body and the soul of Christ are one being, one person. The human nature of Christ is no other than the Word’s. It is a question here of reality, of what is, and not just of a combina tion of words of juridical relations. Now, granted that union in the person here is a very clear principle that will guide us: the nearer a thing is to a centre of influence, the more intensely it receives its effect. The more a body approaches the sun, the hotter it becomes. The human nature of Christ, being united with the Word in the closest unions, receives its greatest effect, and such that no other nature can receive an effect so great. The hypostatic union (in the person) gratuitously brought about, is a first, funda mental grace, which requires the other graces in their supreme degree. THE “JESUS” OF ST. THOMAS 835 OUR GREATEST GIFT God’s greatest gift to an intelligent nature is that of super natural life, participation in divine life, which is not due to any creature, not even to the most perfect of the angels. It has, in fact, been granted to angels and to men, and it could not but be given to the human nature of Christ, by virtue of his union with the Word. Sanctifying grace, therefore, as we call participation in divine life, was infused in Christ’s soul with an intensity greater than in any other nature. This means that Christ, receiving the grace of union in the first instant of his conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, also received divine life or sanctifying grace in the highest degree, and that He did not receive it only as children do in baptism, without his act, but in the exercise of his most perfect act, that is, the vision of divine essence face to face. Right from his conception, his soul was blessed more than any pure creature will ever be. Thus Christ is constituted of the Word, human nature (body and soul) in one being, in one person. The soul enjoys the vision of God. How shall we now understand the capaci ties, the qualities, the activities of human nature in that divine person? All the virtues compatible with the constitution of Christ, that is charity and the cardinal and moral virtues, were infused into it with sanctifying grace, and in their highest perfection. But where there is the vision, there is no room for faith, and where there is no sin, there cannot be penitence. There are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus himself declared in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke I. 21). And what acts result from the exercise of those sublime virtues and the gifts of the Spirit? Here we are guided by a secure principle. We must attribute to Christ the qualities and activities that stem from his constitution and are not opposed to his mission as Redeemer: and we must exclude the defects incompatible with his constitution or with his mission; while we will admit in him the defects and infirmities that are not incompatible with the dignity of his person and which are necessary or useful for the accomplishment of his mission. IMPECCABLE WILL So we see his intelligence preserved from ignorance, since it is illuminated by the divine essence, contemplated face to face; the infused knowledge of the angels is communicated to 836 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS him; its natural activity is exercised in daily experience. Those who speak of a Christ who is hardly able to know who he is, who does not know the duration of his Church or anything else connected with his mission, have not reflected enough on what the grace of the hypostatic union entails. His will is impeccable, since nothing would contradict his mission as Saviour as much as sin. He himself challenged his adversaries to find sin in him (John 8, 46). His will is very holy because of the perfection of its charity, and it is free to carry out a mission of obedience, atonement, merit. Christ has also sense faculties and passions in which they have a part. But the defects that passions have in us cannot exist in him. He had no inclination to evil, and the temptations of the devil could not result in such for him. His emotions were perfectly subjected to the rule of reason and did not dis turb it in any way. ASSUMED OUR NATURE The God-Man, however, willed to assume those infirmities and defects of our nature that were compatible with his cons titution and which served his mission. In fact he was subject to fatigue, as when he slept in Peter’s boat (Mt. 8, 24), or when he sat on the edge of Jacob’s well (Jn. 4, 6). He was hungry, as when he went to the fig tree (Mt. 21, 18). That follows from human nature, makes it recognizable, brings Jesus nearer to us, allows him to set examples and to merit. Above all he can suffer much in his body and in his soul, and can die. This certainly does not follow from his constitution which would rather call for the glory of Tabor and the Resur rection; but it was necessary for the Lord’s mission. He had come to atone, to expiate, to redeem us by his death; it is also in keeping with his generosity and his love. That incredible humility, as St. Augustine calls it, was possible in spite of the presence of the union, because the influence of the latter was providentially suspended, to all of each faculty to be deter mined only by its object. At the same time there was the joy of the beatific vision, and sadness at the sight of the sins of men and because of the anguish of death, the suffering of the tortured body dying on the cross. That portrait of Christ satisfies the two Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon: the two natures remain distinct, with THE “JESUS” OF ST. THOMAS 837 out confusion, ancl they are in the same person. In fact, what is said of the human nature of Christ leaves it completely with in the limits of humanity. The grace it receives is supreme, in fact in a certain way infinite, but not simply infinite and it is created; the human nature remains outside of the divine, which does not undergo change. Yet the union in one person produces its full effect: by belonging to the Word, the human nature receives “the whole treasury of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2, 3) ; and nevertheless that is in harmony with the suf ferings, the humiliations and the death freely accepted for us. This doctrine which satisfies because of its harmony and intelligibility is nothing but the expression of the reality con tained in the sacred texts. St. Thomas was an exegete. He taught Holy Scripture; he commented on the New Testament; he collected the best texts scattered among the commentaries of the Holy Fathers. It cannot but be desired that those ad mirable articles of the Summa should be meditated more and more by theologians and exegetes. CHARLES BOYER, S.J. MOST REV. MANUEL S. SALVADOR, D.D. Coadjutor Archbishop of Cebu Born Jan. 7, 1925, in Dalaguete, Cebu; ordained priest on March 2, 1953; ordained Bishop on Jan. 19, 1967, and ap pointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cebu; appointed Residential Bishop of Palo on October 21. 1969; named Coadjutor Arch bishop of Cebu on October, 1972, by Pope Paul VI. The Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas extends prayerful greetings and congratulations. PAUL OR APOLLOS? * * The Priest, Sept. 1972. The tensions between faith, theology and obedience have exploded periodically since the earliest days of the Church. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul tried to control the widening gap between the group that “belonged to Apollos” and the group that “belonged to Paul” (I Cor. 1:10-3.23). In succeeding centuries the same conflict has arisen between fol lowers of different masters or schools of theology. St. Thomas Aquinas had stated in his day that the weakest argument in theology is the argument from authority — unless it is the authority of God. But this did not prevent many a professor from clinchipg a theological argument by quoting Aqiunas, nor does it prevent some priests today from blindly accepting doctrines, theories and opinions simply on the basis of the notoriety or popularity of a particular author. Perhaps the tendency stems from their seminary days, when they felt secure in taking the word of a professor, who surely should have known more about the subject than they did. Since the close of Vatican II, theologians have been given a great deal of publicity, with the result that some of them have attracted a large number of followers. At the same time it has become increasingly evident that these authoritative theologians do not agree among themselves and some of them have been accused of rejecting official Church teaching. Now, it should come as no surprise that there is pluralism in theology or that there are “schools” of theology. The mys teries of faith are not problems to be solved by a theologian, but they are truths to be believed by faith in God revealing, and some of them defy comprehension by the human intellect. Nevertheless, each theologian who attempts to interpret and defend the mysteries of faith will do so according to his own theological method. Moreover, in the field of moral theology there may be universal agreement on the principles of morality PAUL OR APOLLOS? but a divergence of conclusions when those principles are ap plied to the existential order of particular cases and circums tances. We have therefore always admitted the difficulty of precision as we get farther away from principles and closer to particulars. We have also always admitted to certain “open questions” in theology, meaning that as yet we have no diffinitive teaching on a given question. The rule of behavior here has been to be tolerant of other views even as we defend our own. But when we come to the matter of the rejection of doc trines proposed by the Church for belief, we are faced with quite another and more serious problem. How "free” can a theologian be in expressing his opinion about the dogmas of the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the nature of the Eucharist, etc.? The answer to this question involves another: What is the function of a theologian? In his address to the International Congress of Theology in 1966, Pope Paul VI stated that the function of theology is “to bring to the knowledge of the Christian community, and particularly of the magisterium, the fruits of its research so that, through the doctrine taught by the ecclesiastical hierar chy, they become a light for all the Christian people.” And Father Yves Cougar has noted: “It is in effect utterly im possible for theology to fulfill its proper function if it is denied the possibility of trials, hypotheses, questions and solutions which are put in circulation, not to impose them as things defined and definitive, but to make them undergo the test of criticism and enjoy . . . the cooperation of the thinking and working world ... As Benedict XV declared to Father Ledochowoski: ‘In matters which are not Revelation, we must allow liberty of discussion’ ” (The History of Theology, p. 273). So much for the function of the theologian; but what about his teaching authority? Here we have a clear statement from Vatican II in the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: The task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whe ther written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scru pulously and explaining it faithfully by divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit” (n. 10). 840 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Therefore, the criterion of orthodox doctrine is the magisterium of the Church, as Father Congar has stated so succintly: “Theology has for its rule a datum proposed by the ecclesiastical magisterium, just as philosophy has for its rule the datum of natural knowledge. And it is well establish ed that the first step of the theologian is an act of submission to this datum and magisterium” (op. cit. p. 258). What this means, then, is that the theologian has an ob ligation to confine his theologizing between the boundaries of faith in Revelation and obedience to the magisterium of the Church in whose name he theologizes. He must strive to be at once a son of the Church and a servant of the Gospel. JORDAN AUMANN, O.P. EPISCOPAL ORDINATION ANNIVERSARIES Let us pray for our bishops on the occasion of their ordination anniversaries. Most Rev. Alberto van Overbeke, CICM December 1, 1969 Most Rev. Arnulfo S. Arcilia, D.D. December 12, 1959 A DIOCESAN SYNOD * • The Priest, May 1972. by WILLIAM J. RADEMACHIER A Synod is a celebration of the diocesan Church. It is a "coming together" of the local Church as "sacrament” and mystery. It is a time to discern the Spirit, to recognize charisms, and to order them for the upbuilding of the Church. It is also a time to sing hymns, to break bread with joy and recognize the Lord. In its “coming together”, a Synod is a sign of openness to the Spirit, of vulnerability to mystery; it is an act of faith in God’s abidding grace, revealing itself here and now through the flesh and blood of the diocesan Church; it is a happening, a "saving event”. It cannot really be programmed with charts and schemes. No organizational instrument can predict its out come; for the Spirit breathes where and when he wills. Vatican II teaches that the Church is “a kind of sacra ment”. In a Synod this “sacrament”, this sign of the Church comes together. Each member of the Synod is a unique cell in this living “sacrament”. The sacrament of baptism needs a minister, a subject, sponsors, water, and a Christian com munity into which the newly baptized will be admitted. In the same way, if the diocesan Church is going to be a true “sacra ment”, it needs a bishop, priests, lectors, teachers, sisters, brothers, parish councillor, and other lay ministries. It needs these living components to fill up and complete the "sacrament" of the diocesan Church. When such a local Church comes together, a “new creation” becomes visible, for through baptism all have become God’s creation. The Church comes into being as God’s gift because his Word comes to the believers in power. They respond to 842 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS that Word by a faith which leads to death in baptism and life in the Spirit. Then they form a communion in the Word and in the bread. This communion, then, comes together as the “sacrament” of the diocesan Church. Now this “new creation” is not yet a perfect creation. When the diocesan Church comes together, a sinful Church comes together. Vatican II teaches that the Church is constantly in need of repentance and renewal. We need to repent because we have sinned. We have not lifted a finger when our black brother stood bound before us, begging that we set him free. We have not served the world, but rather, we have asked the world to serve us. We have multiplied laws and have thus robbed our brother of the “freedom whereby God has made him free!”. We have not always "recognized in the poor and in the suffering the likeness of our poor and suffering Found er”. Although we are called to be a sign on this earth of "the kingdom of justice, love and peace”, we have been silent while brother killed his brother in war. Yes, we are a sinful Church! It is not without reason that we begin our Eucharistic celebra tions saying: “I confess to almighty God ...” It is, of course, a grace that our Church is a sinful Church; otherwise, you and I could not belong to it. Then there would be no Church. Besides, a sinful Church should become a hum ble Church, constantly praying for the redemption and forgive ness of the Lord. If we feel that the Church today is in sad shape, that there is too much sinfulness in the Church, then the Church has a greater claim than ever on our presence and our love. For Christ came to save sinners. So, if we accept the Christ of the Gospel, then we must, like Christ, love the Church, as sinful. Only love can redeem. The sinful Church needs our love to become a true community of redemption and salvation in our time. Now if a Synod is going to be fruitful, the diocesan Church must be faithful to God’s call. It must become the Church God wants it to be in this present world. This is the most urgent priority — to be the Church of God. This means that the Church again and again must look into the Scriptures to find out what kind of Church it ought to be. The Church can do this by placing itself under the judgement of the biblical images of the Church. A DIOCESAN SYNOD 843 One of the most helpful images is the one given by St. Paul: the Church is the body of Christ. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” (I Cor. 6:12-13). He means that we have passed from the body of death to the body of Christ. Bishop Robinson concludes that “it is almost impossi ble to exaggerate . . . Paul’s doctrine of the Church as now the resurrection body of Christ”. St. Paul’s idea can be best understood by paraphrasing his words in this way: “You are the body of Christ and severally membranes thereof” (I Cor. 12:27). So in the body of Christ there is an osmosis of life and a mutual sensitivity among the members. One member in Christ confers life and holiness on the other. Thus, the members of the body are a living unity before they are distinct. They are one in essence, but distinct and diverse in their functions. This body is not static. It is constantly growing. It is built up and cemented together by love. Cup, loaf, blood, body, table — these are the symbols of the living interdependence of the diverse members in the one community that is the body of Christ. Through this membership in the body of Christ, the Chris tian participates in the death and resurrection of Church. The character of the diocesan Church must, therefore, be under stood by reference to the victory of Christ. In Christ, the Church, already in this life, overcomes sin and death. Thus the Church, by being the “resurrection body of Christ”, proc laims to the world the victory that “where sin abounds, grace does more abound”. If the diocesan Church is going to be faithful to this Pauline image of the body of Christ, it must witness, first of all, to unity in diversity. Secondly, it must witness to Christ’s victory over sin and death and thus be a sign and ground of hope for all men. A second Pauline image for the Church is “the building”. Other words used to express the idea are “upbuilding”, “edifica tion”, and “spiritual house”. St. Paul uses the Greek word “oikodome”, which refers more to the building process than to the building itself. He wants to convey the picture of stone masons and carpenters working together, joining stones and timbers to build a strong house. In modern terms, the image could mean that one man lays the foundation, another lays the 844 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE. FILIPINAS bricks, another puts in the electrical wiring, another, the plumbing, etc. St. Paul’s phrase, “upbuilding” or "edification”, refers also to the Christian community itself, which is "God’s house”. It includes the love of “agape” and the love-banquet itself which is celebrated in the house. Thus St. Paul highlights that un selfish love which is the main factor in the process of "building up” the spiritual house. He stresses the relationship of the individual members to each other. For him, "edification” or “upbuilding” is not simply a moralistic or pietistic concept, but primarily charismatic and spiritual. St. Paul wants to indicate further that each builder has a reasonable role in building up the Church. But each builder must relate his work to the total project of building up the Church. It is only in this relationship that the individual build er will discover whether his work is really useful for “the upbuilding of the Church”. St. Paul also implies that the pro cess of building up the Church is never finished, that the process of relating the .-different works of the builders to the total building will go on until the coming of the Lord. Quite plainly, this image calls for unity among the builders. Now it is easy to see that the diocesan Church today needs the services of many “builders”, like teachers, administrators, helpers, council members, critics, writers and leaders. It needs many ministers who reconcile divisions; ministers who visit the sick, and the lonely; ministers who "weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice”. It is plain, too, from this image that no one is really free “to do his own thing” in isolation from the rest of the builders. The usefulness of each one’s ministry depends on how it relates to the total process of building up the Church. Thus, St. Paul could ask the speakers in tongues in Corinth to yield the floor to the prophets. It was not that there was anything wrong with speaking in tongues. In fact, it was a manifestation of the Spirit. However, speaking in tongues created a twofold problem: first, there was the question of “usefullncss”; second ly, there was the question of order in the Church. Regarding usefulness, St. Paul felt that at that particular time, the Church of Corinth had a greater need for prophets. Besides, the speakers in tongues created disorder in the Church. For this reason, St. Paul advised that if there were no interpreter, the A DIOCESAN SYNOD 845 speakers in tongues should be silent in the Church. For “he who speaks in an unknown tongue edifies (oikomei) himself, but he who prophesies edifies (oikomei) the Church" (I Cor. 14:4). Now if the diocesan Church is going to be faithful to this Pauline image of the Church, it must decide which ministries must be suspended because they are no longer useful, and which new ministries should be instituted because there are new needs. At the same time, it must determine which ministries, both new and old, have the more urgent priority for the upbuilding of the Church; otherwise, some builders may be building at the wrong time or in the wrong place. Furthermore, it needs to ask whether it has over-emphasized the ministry of priest hood to the detriment of other ministries. It would be difficult to build a house with just bricklayers. The history of the Church reveals the constant need to bring all the builders together, either in Synod or in Council. The Code of Canon Law recommends that a diocesan Synod be held every ten years. The Council of Constance (1414-1418) decreed “that from henceforth an Ecumenical Council should be held every ten years”. One can speculate whether the Pro testant Reformation would have happened if this decree had been observed. A third New Testament image of the Church is called “the brotherhood of faith”. This phrase includes other images, such as “fellowship of saints”, “the followers”, “disciples” and “the fellowship”. Although the word “brotherhood” was not used very often, the idea itself, pervades the entire New Testa ment. In his letters St. Paul frequently addressed his fellow be lievers as “brothers”. In his brotherhood of faith there is no room for estrangement, which, if it happens, must be followed by reconciliation. There is no room for jostling for superiority or power, or for lording it over one another as the pagans. But all are one, “enduring all things, hoping all things”, wash ing each others feet according to the example of the Lord. A fourth image of the Church is “the common slavery”. The slave image occurs in the fifty New Testament passages. St. Paul suggests that those who preach Jesus Christ as Lord must regard themselves “as slaves for Jesus’ sake” (II Cor. 4:5). It is Christ’s love, his slave-service toward his followers BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS which turns these same followers into slaves for one another. The New Testament word, “diakonia”, in its Greek meaning, described the rugged and menial service of the slave. This slavery was a gift freely and humbly offered to the brothers in the Lord. This image profoundly modified the exercise of human authority so that all apostles would admit that they were "unworthy servants”. A fifth image of the Church is now the familiar “People of God”. This image indicates the graciousness of God in creating, calling, sustaining, judging and saving his people. It indicates that God constitutes his people by his own possession. However, God calls his people, not to privilege, but to res ponsibility. As the God of history, he calls his people to serve his purpose in the world, to reveal the mystery of his will. Always waiting on God, this people becomes a servant, pilgrim people. For this reason the Church can never absolutize any spe cific programs or ministries. For the Church, like a true servant, waits daily for the Master’s Word. Sometimes God will lead the Church into the desert to do penance; at other times he will lead it into the Promised Land to enjoy its fruits. But the Church will never be “snugly ensconced in Zion”. It will always be responding to the mystery of God’s call. And God is very much like a lover, who calls his beloved, the Church, always in movement. Its tasks and ministries are new every day because, through the Gospel, God’s Word comes as a new call every day. Consequently, no ministry, including that of priests, can be finally defined or circumscribed either in its external form or in its tasks; otherwise, it will be closed to the new and larger demands of the Gospel in view of the changing needs of the Church and the world. An overly defined ministry can become immune to the Gospel; it can become a routine job which is outside of, rather than within, the Christian community. For priests, it can easily become a clericalism which is quite insen sitive both to the prophetic call of the Word and to the blood and sweat of the human condition. Now the crucial point about all these images is this: they all describe constitutive, not accidental, elements of the Church. Thus, they have priority over all subsequent historical forms. If the Church is going to be faithful to the call to be Church, A DIOCESAN SYNOD 847 then it must possess these elements. If a diocesan Church is going to be a true sign, “raised among the nations”, it must be faithful to the meaning of those images which emerged in the Church after the first Easter. It must appear like the Church in Acts 2:42: “These remained faithful to the teach ing of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers.” In this verse in Acts, being faithful “to the brotherhood” comes right after being faithful “to the teaching of the apos tles”. When all is said and done, the most predominant characteristic of the Church in the New Testament is the brotherhood of faith. So whatever a diocesan Church says or does, it must always remain a brotherhood of faith. To be more specific, the diocesan Church is a brotherhood before it is a hierarchical or juridical organization. It is a brotherhood before it is divided into bishop, priests, sisters, brothers or laymen. It is a brotherhood before it is divided geographically into parishes, schools and institutions. To nut it yet another way, the brotherhood of faith to the diocesan Church has priority over, and effectively transcends, all sub sequent geographical, sociological, and functional distinctions. Even though here on earth the Church badly needs organiza tional forms through which its people can work and relate themselves are secondary to the brotherhood of faith. Thus, it is unthinkable that in diocesan brotherhood one parish would define itself over against another, or oyer against the diocese. It is unthinkable that a parish would invoke this world’s symbol of money, prestige, race, or city, to lord it over another parish. It is unthinkable that'any religious community would define itself over against, rather than within, the dio cesan brotherhood. It was because of the priority of the brotherhood that St. Paul came down so hard on the factions of Corinth: “What could be more unspiritual than your slo gans, ‘I am for Paul’ and ‘I am for Apollos’?” (I Cor. 3:4). Paul reminds the Corinthians: “You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God”. Yet, St. Paul did not impose any kind of rigid, militaristic uniformity on the Church. Never in the history of the Church has there been such respect and reverence for the freedom, the diversity, the flexibility of Christians as in the Church of Corinth. Unity was not superimposed by external authority. It 848 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS grew from faith in one Lord, one Gospel, one baptism and one bread. It may be helpful to note that the diocesan brotherhood has priority over the brotherhood of parishes and other ecclesial forms. The diocesan Church is Church in its own right. Parishes are only lesser cells in one body that is the diocesan Church. In the U.S., Catholics have often assumed that the parish was more important than the diocese. This has happened, first, because being in a Protestant culture, Catholics have ab sorbed a Congregational ist attitude of autonomous congrega tions. Secondly, in the rural parishes there was a natural isolation from the urban center of the diocese. Thirdly, ethnical groups of Germans, Irish, etc., clung to their traditions and were unwilling to lose their identities in the diocesan melting pot. Fourthly, dioceses in the U.S. have been, and still are, too large to form a Christian brotherhood which visibly trans cends the smaller, more fheaningful, brotherhoods in the parish. Fifthly, dioceses as such have not gathered enough in Eucharist or in Synod to give visibility and meaning to the concept of the diocesan Church. But all these historical conditions may not override the ecciesial truth the parish is derivative of, and dependent on, the diocesan Church. For only the diocesan Church, in the bishop, has the living sign of apostolic succession. It has the official Gospel which forms the Church and the cathedra which presides over it. Finally, it is the sacramental center foi- the discernment and “sending out” of priestly ministries. Thus the priest in the parish comes out of, and is sent by, the diocesan presbytery to which he continues to belong. With the formation of priests’ senates, this diocesan pres bytery deserves more attention. In Acts 13:1, we read: "Now in the Church of Antioch there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Symeon . . . and Saul. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’. Then, after fasting and prayer, they laid their hands on them and sent them off”. Perhaps we can transfer this image of shared ministry to the diocesan presbytery. Let us imagine that the annual assign ment of clergy in a given diocese includes ten pastors, two newly A DIOCESAN SYNOD 849 ordained priests, and one deacon. Let us imagine, funther, that on this occasion all the priests of the diocese gather with these men and their bishop at the Cathedral for three days of worship, prayer, and fasting. (Fasting, both in the New Testament and in the Didaclw, was a sign of solidarity.) On the third day all the priests and deacons join in the Eucharist and ordination ceremony. During this time, all the priests, together with their bishop, lay hands on the ten pastors, two priests and one deacon. Each priest, invoking God’s blessing and in his own words of fering prayers and support, participates in the “sending out” of the priests and deacon. Finally the bishop does the same. Later, when the priest has problems or needs spiritual or human support, he returns quite naturally to the Cathedral and the pres bytery from which he was sent out. This ecclesial picture, this living sacrament of the presby tery, would be considerably improved if it were “filled out” and completed by the addition of sisters and lay people imposing their hands and, in their own way, participating in this “sending out” of ministries. In every priestly ordination ceremony the bishop consults the people. They can sa.v. “Yes” or “No”. Since the people have a voice in the ordination of priests, it seems but fitting that they also participate in the “sending out”. This would be a better sign of the unity and solidarity of the brotherhood of all believers in the diocesan Church. A final aspect of the diocesan Church is its escathological dimension. Briefly stated, this means that the diocesan Church exists to be a sign of the kingdom of God. Through the diocesan Church the kingdom of God already exists in this present world, even though it is not yet complete. 'It is the mission of the Church to be a preview of the kingdom and at the same time •o strain towards its completion. Meanwhile, it continues to pray, “thy kingdom come”. The oldest Eucharistic acclaimation is the Aramaic “Maranafha”, meaning. “Come, Lord”. It is both a prayer and a con fession of faith. It means that the Church is oriented first to the future, to its final goal, and then to the present, to make that future a reality even in the present. Now if the diocesan Church is going to be a preview of the kingdom, it needs to know something about that kingdom. It must look for the signs of the kingdom in the Scriptures. Some aspects of the kingdom can be seen in the “growth" para 850 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS bles. The first is the parable of the seed growing secretly. “The kingdom of God is like this: as if a man should cast seed on the ground. .. .and the seed germinates and grows he knows not how” (Mark 4: 26-29). Somewhat similar are the parables of the sower (Mark 4: 2-8) and the parable of the tares among the wheat (Matt. 13:: 24-30). These parables indicate that the kingdom will be in a period of growth, that it will require cooperation between God and man and, finally, that there will be a harvest time which will be the “coming of the Lord”. Another picture of the kingdom emerges in the conclusion of Matthew’s eschatological discourse (Matt. 25:35): “Take your heritage, the kingdom prepared for you. . . I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thristy and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, in prison and you came to see me”. St. Paul describes another aspect of the kingdom: “Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. . . There are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love” (I Cor. 13:12). A more poetic glimpse of the kingdom is provided by Rev. 21: 3, 4: “You see this city? Here God lives among men; his name is God-with-them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death and no more mourning or sadness; now I am making the whole of creation new”. Yet another aspect of this kingdom can be seen in the teach ing of Vatican II, In The Church Today we read: “For after we have obeyed the Lord and in his Spirit nurtured on earth the values of human dignity, brotherhood and freedom, and indeed all the good fruits of our nature and enterprise, we will find them again, but freed of stain,burnished, and transfigured. This will be so when Christ hands over to the Father a kingdom of truth and life, of holiness, and grace, of justice, love and peace” (No. 39). Now it is evident that if the diocesan Church is going to be a believable sign of the kingdom, it will nurture in its own territory the values of human dignity, of freedom, of justice, and peace. It will be the example of brotherhood. It will be marked by dialogue, reconciliation and fraternal service. It will feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit those in prison, wipe away tears from the eyes of mpn, and preach the Gospel tp the poor. If will do this, not for institutional self A DIOCESAN SYNOD 851 aggrandizement in the form of prestige or converts, but simply for the sake of the kingdom of God. To be a sign of the kingdom, feeding the hungry and helping the poor cannot mean simply detached hand-outs in a kind of ecclesiastical philanthropy. It means that the poor man rides in our air-conditioned Oldsmobile and eat steak at our table. And, more importantly, it means that we ride on his beat-up bicycle and eat hamburger at his table. The diocesan Church will also be a sign that in the king dom there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, nei ther male nor female, neither cleric nor layman, neither rich nor poor; for they are all baptized in the one spirit and belong to the one body. Needless to add, it will not tolerate any form of discrimination against women, blacks, chicanos, etc., for there is no second class citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. Only in this way will the diocesan Church be “a kind of fore shadowing of the new age”. Only then will it begin to reveal to all men “that the kingdom is already present in mystery” (The Church Today, No. 39). To be in the Church is to believe, not only in what the Church is, but in what it ought to be. (And only he who really believes in the future will bend his energies to make that future a reality.) In being a sign of the kingdom of God, the Church ought to be a sign of God’s love for the world and at the same time a sign of his judgment of the world. If the Church cannot become that, then it has ceased to be Church and it needlessly encumbers the ground. If it does become that, then it is begin ning to be the sign of the “new heaven and new earth”. BETTER FEW BUT GOOD “Deus nunquam ita deserit Ecclesiam suam quin inveniantur idonei ministri sufficientes ad necessitatem plebis si digni promoverentur et indigni repellerentur. Et, si non possunt tot ministri inveniri quot modo sunt, melius esset habere paucos ministros bonos quam multos malos.” St. Thomas, Suppl. Q.36.a.4,ad I. Pablo Fernandez, O.P. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES Chapter 30 FRIAR LANDS I. Origin and Nature of Estates. When Legazpi came to the Philippines, the country was still thinly populated, the land was scarcely cultivated, techniques and tools that were quite rudimentary, and many ..areas were untilled, the greater ma jority being covered with thick forests and cogon.1 1 Fray Joaquin M. de Zuniga has this to say about the haciendas in Cavite: “. . . since there were few natives in the region when the Spaniards came and the land was empty, except a few fields cultivated by the people of Bacoor and Cavite Viejo — at that time two small ranches — the King granted those rough lands to a few of the early conquistadores, and the province was then filled with haciendas. The proprieptors built dykes across the many streams which watered them, and these have furnished water to the fields, fertilizing them in no small way.” (Egtadiamn. I, pp. 303-307). The first haciendas of the Friars date back to the time of the conquest. Legazpi himself had granted a hacienda in Cebu to the Augustinians, and another one around Manila. Other lands were acquired in the 17th, 18th, and finally, in the 19th century. Outside of those two donations of land, and probably a third, the other land properties were acquired through pur chase at public auction, or directly from the proprietor. Some were bought at one deal, others by parts. In this way, the friar lands were augmented. These did not cost them much, since in the beginning they were lands that were for the most part untouched and to a large extent unproductive. These lands began to incite the envy of many people as they increased in productivity and value. The Propa ganda Movement made use of them as one of their weap HISTORY OF. THE CHURCH 853 ons against the religious orders. But, if one studies carefully the administration and use of the estates, he will easily deduce how unjust the campaign was, for the beneficiaries of this land system were mainly inquilinos, or the Filipinos, nativeborn or mestizo, who tilled them. The proprietor received only 10% of the net harvest, the rest remained with the in quilino, although the latter had the obligation, on receiving the parcel of land, of clearing it, of weeding out the tares and preparing the seedlings, farm implements and work animals. Besides, when through a plague of locusts or typhoons, part or all of the harvest was lost, it was the practice of the Brother Administrator to cancel part or all of the revenue due, or the canon:2 Neither was anything to be paid for the first four or five years in the lease. Likewise, it was established practice to allot a piece of land more or less wide enough for the inquilino to build his house, plant fruit trees and vegetables, and raise domestic animals. Another benefit which some te nants of the religious orders enjoyed was the right to exploit the land through casamajans or sub-tenants. In this way, without toiling himself or being greatly bothered, except for the sole obligation of paying the land rent to the proprietor, they used to receive one half of the liquid produce from the leased property. 2“. • . it is true that when (the harvest) is lost, the land rental is lowered in favor of the inquilinos in proportion to the losses that each one suffers." (Zuniga, I, 142-143). And as if this was not enough, the inquilino had the option — always, of course, in this matter, with the proprietor’s con sent— to bequeathe that part of the land which had fallen to him by lot to his sons or descendants by testament or leaving it or transferring it to another land tenant, or mortgage it. The landowner, for his part, was not-averse to these transac tions, unless there were strong reasons against them, as, for example, if the tenant intended to transfer his lot to others, with prejudice to his legitimate heirs. Furthermore, ths sys tem of land lease operated for the benefit of the Filipinos of those times Accustomed to sell their lands easily to cover their need of the moment to their own loss and that of their sons, they could not in this case do the same for the simple reason that the land was not theirs. 854 BOLETIN ECLfi&ASted DE FILiPI^AS The costly works which redounded to the good of all or part of the hacienda, like constructing dikes, opening canals and drainage systems, digging tunnels for the waters to flow, raising bridges and lining up roads, were all charged to the landowner. The system was paternalistic, advantageous to the inquili nos who, on the one hand, enjoyed many of the proprietor’s privileges, but, on the other were not subject to his worries. For this reason, there were many who wanted to cultivate a parcel of the estates of the friars. This was easy to see from the fact that very many sought to occupy the lands an inquili no left vacant, either through death if he had no heirs, or through eriction (deshaucio). It is likewise certain that the towns where the religious orders had lands were prosperous towns. One of them, Bifian, was perhaps the most prosperous of all.3 3 Libert as, 13 October 1899. “San Francisco de Malabon.” II. Administration. These lands used to be under the direct and immediate management of a lay Brother, but under the overall supervision of the Procurator of the religious order in Manila. It was the duty of the Brother, who was the top man in the hacienda, to parcel out the land, collect the canon or fixed rental, settle disputes among the tenants, transfer the lease of lands to others, when the tenants freely left or were obliged to vacate the farms when they failed to exploit them well or did not pay the canon. These tasks, many times un pleasant and rather unavoidable if one wished to have some order and the farm was to prosper, won for the Brother ad ministrators, and later for the religious owners, antipathy, rancor more or less justified or unjustified. When a hacienda was located within the boundaries of a parish administered by a member of the same religious order, the latter never or seldom interfered with the collection of the rentals or with any other matters, except when on certain occasions he interceded before the Brother Administrator in favor of some tenant or leaseholder. Some perhaps may think of reading available data that the friar lands were a rich treasure. They were, if viewed from their actual level of development. But in the beginning, HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 855 they were in the vast majority of cases, nQthing but a stretch of forests, lands, underwater swamps and cogon fields, and only, by the passage of time, expense and effort were the reli gious proprietors able to produce the minimum necessary to cover with some margin the needs of the tenants and land owners. We could say that some were throughout the 17th and 18th centuries a perpetual source of debt for their owners. This was the case with the Binan hacienda of the University of Santo Tomas in the 17th century of the hacienda in Santa Cruz de Malabon (today, Tanza in Cavite) in the second half of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. And so, one can see why the tribunal, after listening to the well-found ed complaints of the creditors, put on public auction the haciendas which had ruined their secular proprietors and passed them on to the steadier administration of the religious, who, not without overcoming great obstacles, were able to make them prosper and converted them into sources of wealth and comfort. These words of Bravo and Buceta are not without truth: ‘‘By good fortune, this is now disappearing, and the widespread care to exploit this unexhaustible stock of riches is disproving the unfounded opinion which has been prevalent for so long, that every European who dedicates himself to agriculture in the Philippines could not but ruin himself.” 1 « Diccionario geogrdfico-estadistico-histarico de las Islas Filipinas, Madrid, 1851, I, 180.’ •"'Zuniga, I, 228-227. III. Purpose. With the produce from the haciendas, the reli gious orders took care of the support of a Procurator or Commissary in Madrid, who recruited boatloads of mission aries and transacted in the royal court the concerns of his order. They also maintained hospices in Mexico, where the missionaries on their wav to the Philippines lodged while awaiting in Acapulco the departure of the galleon for Manila.' Other expenses included the maintenance in Spain of houses of formation for missionaries to the Philippines, partial or total expenses of the costly travel of the friars who sailed to the missions, and the fisifpuicioH. or annual aid sent by the reli gious orders who had missions in Asia. The Malolos government passed a law, actually an added article to their Constitution, depriving the religious orders of 856 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS ownership of their lands. But the latter paid no attention to this provision, since they recognized the sovereignty only of the Spanish government and later that of the United States. In certain cases, the revolutionary government exacted a higher fee than what had been collected by the orders from the in quilinos of the friar lands. IV. Haciendas of the Augustinians. The Augustinian order owned these haciendas in the Philippines. San Francisco de Malabon (now General Trias) in Cavite, of which five out of 8 parcels were purchased from Don Gaspar Godoy on 26 August 1877. Three other parcels were acquired by either exchange or cash transaction in the same year. Malinta, in Polo, Bulacan, acquired part by part over a number of years from their various owners. The entire ter ritory already cleared and marked by 26 May 1725, became legal property of the Augustinian on certification by the Notary Public, Mateo Vasquez, and confirmed by the royal audiencia on 13 February 1734. Dampol, Matame, and Marcos, three integral parts of one hacienda purchased at a public bidding on 27 January 1834, for the price of 26,000 pesos. Muntinglupa, bought partly by Don Antonio Quijano, the agent for Augustinian order from various Filipinos, in virtue a license conceded by the royal tribunal of Justice in 1665.n “Within its jurisdiction were individual haciendas cultivated by tenants who have to pay the canon and dues of partnership (aparceria) to the landowners, the greatest of which gave the name to the [present] town.” * 7 n Marin, Enaayo, II, 147-148. 7 Libertaa, 16 October 1899, “Munting-lupa.” Tala. When the General Miguel Martinez died on 1 August 1715, the Augustinians became owners of 119 quinones and 8 balitas of a hacienda in Tala which he had owned. Much later, in 1725 and 1726, they purchased more property from other creditors of the General, such as the Board of Mercy, Santa Catalina College, the Manila cabildo, and several others. But they were not the total owners of the hacienda until they were able to buy from the Jesuits certain farmlands in Polo. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 857 and others in a sitio called Tipandoc, within the municipal boundaries of Meycauayan. Mandaluyong. This hacienda also belonged to the Augus tinians, when they obtained a portion of it at a public auction, while another part was purchaced from Dona Jeronima Vene gas in 1675.8 'Zunifia, Op. cit. I, 212-213. 11 Marin, II, 147-151. io Elviro. 91. " The Civilizers, p. 8. 12 Ibid., 43-44. Outside of Luzon, they possessed the hacienda of Talamban in Cebu, which Legazpi himself had granted to them on 27 May 1571. They also owned haciendas in Talisay, Minglanilla and Pasav,” the hacienda of Guiguinto which they had owned since 1654 and paid for by the revenue from the econo mic savings of Father Antonio Ocampo.10 11 The government granted them on 25 April 1880 a vast estate in Isabela for the purpose of making them help in the agricultural progress of that far-flung and half-populated region. The following was the plan behind the acquisition of this land. On 15 September 1877, Governor General Domingo Moriones sent a circular to the Provincials of the Augustinians, Dominicans, and Recollects, asking them to found agricultural colonies in Cagayan Valley in order to establish in time three big municipalities, using as the nucleus the people who might work those lands." The Augustinians and the Recollects accepted the invitation, but the Dominican Provincial courteous ly declined for the double reason that he did not wish the Order to possess haciendas in those places where it had parishes and missions, and that much ill-feeling aqd expense would be oc casioned by the cultivation of those lands. The acquisition of these lands was by Composition, that is, the government sold public lands at a low price to the citizens who promised to exploit them, in order by this system to help promote agricul tural progress and the peopling of wide unsettled lands. It was through this that the Compaiiia General de Tabacos acquired extensive lands in Cagayan and Tarlac, and many Spaniards their haciendas in Negros.12 858 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Finally, since 27 May 1571, the haciendas of Talisay, Minglanilla,13 and Pasay had been owned by Augustinian Order in the Philippines. Maysapang, in Pasig district, was also Augustinian property granted by Legazpi in order that they might raise livestock, and where they built a stone house. Before the British occupation of Manila, they had their many carabaos, cattle, and horses, but when peace was concluded, the farm decreased in value because rustlers robbed them of their animals.11 > ' Marin, II, 147-151. n Zuniga, I, 198. '■•AUST, “Folletos,” t. 17, fol. 42. Zuniga, I. 37, 45-48. V. Dominican Estates. One estate located in the town of Orion, Bataan, was acquired from donations and duly regis tered on 29 December 1637 and 29 August 1673, to which were attached certain conditions by some town residents who had left it untilled for many years. Two adjacent haciendas, in Santa Rosa and Binan, Laguna, actually formed one large estate within the municipal juris dictions of these two towns. The Dominican Order obtained it in favor of the University of Santo Tomas in the course of the seventeenth century, 1641, 1653, 1677. The hacienda of Santa Cruz de Malabon, (Tanza) located in this same town and partly in Naic, plus a house in Tanza, was purchased in the name of the University from Don Diego O’Kenedy and his wife on 7 April 1761. Pandi estate, located in the towns of Bocaue, Santa Maria, Norzagaray, Bigaa, Angat, and Bustos in Bulacan, was acquired part by part in the seventeenth cetury. A good sector of Pandi was located in the mountains east of Bocaue, and Meycauayan, and produced nothing useful for its owners. Lolomboy, comprising lands within the towns of Bocaue, Santa Maria, San Jose, Marilao in Bulacan, and including a house and its appurtenances was acquired with various titles through the course of the seventeenth century.15 Zuniga wrote that “these lands belong to the Dominicans who own a stone house with a tilod roof where the lay administrator of the HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 859 hacienda resided, and a tambobong or granary for storing the rice they collect as fees. In this hacienda, the house is a few brazas away from the road. The land produces up to 6,000 sacks of rice and can bring in revenue as high as 4,000 pesos, after substracting expenses. It is owned by the Province and, from its income, the missionaries are brought to the Philippines and those in China and Tonkin are supported.10 San Isidro Labrador estate was located within the munic ipal boundaries of Naic, Cavite. The Dominican order obtained it for 25,000 pesos from Don Jose Orbezcia, according to a notarized statement in Binondo on 18 August 1831.17 San Juan Bautista estate in Calamba, Laguna formerly belonged to the Jesuits, but it was claimed by the government in 1768, and sold to the Dominicans at public auction on 19 November 1832 by the Junta Real de Almonedas for the sum of 51,263 pesos.18 All of these estates were almost all planted with rice and sugar cane, and had thick forests and wide sectors that re mained untilled. From 1896, the year the Philippine revolu tion broke out, until their sale in 1903 and 1905, their owners hardly received any income from them because the inquilinos refused to pay the traditional canon. VI. Haciendas of the Recollects. The hacienda of Imus, Cavite was obtained by the Master of the Camp Tomas de Andaya at a public auction authorized by the royal audiencia on 1 December 1685, and transferred the following 5 November to the ownership of the Recollect Order since, as he himself said in a notarized statement, he had bought it "with the money and in the name of the Province of San Nicolas de Tolentino.” On 3 November 1690, the secular priest Don Jose de Solis who was “sacristan manor” of the Parish Church of Cavite, sold to the Recollects the hacienda of Bagombay which was con tiguous to and formed part of Imus. A donation of Dona Hipolita de Zarte made on 4 November 1666, gave the fathers a third piece of land which also became part of the hacienda 1,! Zuniga, I, 355. '• AUST, "Folletos,” t. "Zuniga, I, 53, 179-180. 70, fols. 85-80, 90. 860 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS of Imus or the state of Santa Cruz, later known as San Nicolas.10 The Tunasan (Muntinglupa) estate was acquired for the Recollects with the money (12,000 pesos) of General Tomas de Andaya on 12 April 1695; on 7 November that same year, the Procurator of the order took possession of the property. This had been the property of, among others, the famous Dean of the Metropolitan Church of Manila, Miguel Ortiz de Cobarrubias.* 20 Jf Marin, II. 245-47: 210. 20 Marin, 247-248; Zuniga, I, 29. 2' Marin, 248-251. 22 Zuniga, I, 189. San Jose in Mindoro came into the possession of the Recollects on 15 May 1897 in exchange for a piece of land in Isabela which the government had already donated to them in 1880. The one they had given up was about 80 to 100 square kilometers, while the grant in Mindoro measured 23,666 hec tares, excluding the livestock and grazing lands of 1,674 hectares which the Order had acquired for 43,250 pesos.21 The Talaja hacienda in Morong was owned by the French man Jules Dayllard. In 4896, it was adjudicated by the court to his foremost creditors, the Chartered Bank of India, Austra lia and China; on 28 January 1899, the bank sold it to another of his creditors, the Recollect Order.22 VII. The Jesuit Lands. Although, historically, the Jesuit lands were not classified as “Friar Lands,” they still were an important element in agricultural and economic growth of the Philippines. These lands were: 1) those that were the pro perty of the Jesuit Order; 2) those that belonged to the Colegio Maximo de San Ignacio; and 3) the haciendas of the Colegio de San Jose. 1. The Jesuit Properties. These were the lands in San Pedro Makati, Nagtahan, and San Juan Bautista in Calamba, Laguna. The first, located in the boundaries of the old province of Tondo but situated in the municipality of Makati, consisted of farm land and pasturage for cattle and horses. There was a central residence, ovens for baking lime, roof-tiles, and brick, and a trapiche for milling sugar-cane. After the Jesuits were HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 861 expelled, Don Pedro de Galarraga, Marquis of Villamediana, acquired it at a public auction.* 21 * 23 He tried to improve it at great expense to himself, renovating, maintaining or improving not only the house, but also the irrigation dyke, the pottery shop, as well as, by an act of generosity, the parochial church.24 Zuniga, I, 211-212. 21 hoc. rit. -5 AUST, “Follctos,” t. 117, fols. 138v-139. 2n Zuniga, I, 206. ‘ ■a Zuniga, I, 331-332, 337. 2S Zuniga, I, 338-339. 20 AUST. “Folletos,” t. 117, fols. 82v-84. The Calamba hacienda in Laguna passed on, after the ex pulsion, to the property of Don Jose Clemente de Azana, who paid 44,007 pesos at a public sale, and later on to the Domini can order. Dona Petrona Tuazon obtained the Nagtahan lands located in the old province of Tondo for 7,100 pesos paid in cash.25 The Colegio Maximo de S. Ignacio owned the following estates: Mayhaligue, in the old municipality of Santa Cruz in Tondo, estimated after the departure of the Jesuits at 9,075 pesos, and which the Governor and the Audiencia set aside to support the leprosarium of San Lazaro run by the Franciscans. This arrangement received royal confirmation on 4 June 1784. May silo, in Tambobong and Bocaue, Bulacan, evaluated with all its fields, ovens, sheds at 12,746 pesos, was acquired by Don Vicente Dolores Tuason for 22,206 pesos at a public auction to replenish the royal treasury. A house there used to be the rest house for the Jesuits.2'1 A third piece of land in Tondo province and known as Piedad was acquired, also at public bidding, by Don Pedro de Gallaraga, Marquis of Villamediana, for 4,741 pesos.27 The same Don Vicente Dolores Tuason acquired at a pub lic auction the hacienda of Marikina for 33,750 pesos.2” In this region, the hacienda of Payatas was acquired for 15,011 pesos by Augustin del Rosario. Finally, Nasugbu in Batangas became the property of Don Jose Isaac who paid for it 7,742 pesos payable in Mexico.29 862 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS The Colegio de San Jose owned two properties: San Pedro Tunasan in Laguna and Lian in Batangas. Their reve nue was intended to support the faculty, the administrator, and eleven scholars of the College, besides certain pious works.30 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR To Our Reorders: It has been my privilege to serve you as Editor of the Boletin Eclesiastico for the years 1971 and 1972, the 45th and 46th years of its existence. As I fade away with this issue, I thank the Fr. Rector of U.S.T. for having ap pointed me to this job two years ago, I thank all those who have helped me in this apostolate and extend my best wishes to the incoming Editor and his Associates. To all the members of the Boletin Eclesiastico family, prayerful greetings this Christmas and New Year 1973. Fr. Jaime N. Boquiren, O.P. VIII. Other Properties. Besides these estates which belonged to the religious orders, except a few which we have indicated, the orders and other convents or religious houses had some rural property, neither extensive ordinarily nor too productive, plus some urban lots in Intramuros or in the suburbs. Of these urban lots, we could use Fr. Zuniga’s words describing the residential houses of Manila: “. . . they are leased at a rather low rate since some earn annually 300 to 400 pesos, an amount that appears excessive, but actually leaving very little profit to the proprietors because of the high cost of building and maintenance, which can cost much because the wood quick ly rots.” 31 Some of these houses belonged to the Obras Pias. Often, during earthquakes, both the building itself and the capital of the Obra Pia were lost. 30 Ibid., fol. 96v. 31 Zuniga, I, 137. THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE PROVINCE OF BATAAN WILFREDO CRISOSTOMO PAGUIO Whether the Philippines was christianized through the cross or the sword has always been a subject of debate among historians. In this article, we try to look through the process of Christianization in the province of Bataan. We try to lay the bare facts and let them speak for themselves. We divide this article into three main divisions, namely, the arrival of the Spaniards in Bataan, a description of the different races that inhabit this peninsula and the Dominican missions here. I. THE ARRIVAL OF SPANIARDS ARRIVAL IN THE PHILIPPINES — With the first mass at Limasawa on 31 March 1521, Magellan solemnly began the long Spanish stay in the Philippines. Divine Providence so arranged history that even after the death of Magellan in Mactan, Charles I of Spain still sent expeditions to the east. There were those of Loaisa, Saavedra and Villalobos. Charles, however, was not success ful in this enterprise. It was his successor, Philip II, who had the glory of having this group of islands, which was named after him, among the lists of Spanish dominions. It was dur ing his reign and under his patronage that Legazpi reached Leyte in February 1565. ARRIVAL IN LUZON — By the year 1571, Raja Matanda and Raja Soliman were already vassals of the Spanish crown. The immediate neighborhood of Manila soon capitulated voluntarily without bloodshed. But further from these, it was necessary for the conquistadores, as the Spaniards were called, to use arms. So Legazpi sent Martin de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo to reduce them into submission. 864 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS De Goiti was assigned to conquer Pampanga of which Bataan was then a part. In this expedition, he was accompanied by Raja Lacandula. When the native chiefs found that Lacandula was with De Goiti, they did not offer resistance, for the pre sence of the Tondo king augured well for them. They meekly bowed to the pacification and like him, they accepted the Spanish sovereignty. ARRIVAL IN PAMPANGA — De Goiti could have reached the peninsula of Bataan had not Lacandula left the group and returned to Tondo1 or had not the chief of Betis (Pampanga) offered resistance, on their way, against De Goiti himself and his men, although this re quired only little effort from them to overcome. Tired and weary of journey and of such petty wars, therefore, it can be speculated that immediately after this battle, De Goiti returned to Manila. This, because it is recorded that “some two weeks later”, that is, some two weeks after the battle of Betis, De Goiti and his * men arrived in Manila.2 1 “In the midst of the expedition, Lacandula returned to Tondo without the express knowledge of De Goiti, presumably on some domestic and fa mily reasons. Incidentally, the chief of Betis did not submit to De Goiti until he was defeated through the force of arms. This was taken by the authorities in Manila as a treasonable act, and at once arrainged Lacan dula for that offense. Only the timely arrival of De Goiti some two weeks later saved the Tondo king from prison if not from the gallows.” (Alip, Eufronio M., A History of the Philippines, (Manila: 1935), p. 143.) 2 Loc. cit., Cf. San Agustin, Gaspar de Fr., Conquistas de las Islas Philipinas: La Temporal, por las Armas del Senor Don Phelipe Segundo el Prudente; la Espiritual, por los Religiosos del Orden de Nuestro Padre San Augustin- Fundacion y Progressos de Su Provincia del Santisimo Nornbre de Jesus, Parte Primera, (Madrid: En la Imprenta de Manuel Ruiz de Murga, 1698), pp. 226-228 & p. 239. ARRIVAL IN BATAAN — After knowing this incident of the early return of De Goiti to Manila, a researcher on Bataan’s history will begin to wonder at what precise date Spaniards set foot on the soil of Bataan. And he is wont to be altogether lost in his research if he does not hear from the Memoria of Fr. Vicente Fernandez where the follow ing is stated: “A little after Legazpi’s arrival in 1565 with the Augustinian friars, and later the Franciscan and the Jesuit fathers, they undertook some expeditions and visits throughout CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 865 this province (of Bataan) because it is near Manila. It is true, however, that they did not stay permanently; and the honor and glory of cultivating and fertilizing it with their blood and sweat belongs to the Domnican Order. This is very clear from the history of the Dominicans in the Philippines.” 3 * * * 3 APSR, MSS, Scccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 8. Folio 9. “Memoria de la Provincia de Bataan. Ano 1886. Para la Exposicion de Madrid, En 1888”, por el P. Vicente Fernandez. •* The Augustinians arrived in the Philippines with Legaspi in 1565. It is probable that they visited Bataan only after capitulation of Manila in 1571, that is, from their convents, which they later built, in Betis and Lubao (Pampanga). Cf. San Agustin, Gaspar de Fr., op. cit. p. 249. The Franciscans arrived in Manila on 24 June 1577. (Fernandez, Pa blo OP, “The History of the Church in the Philippines”, Boletin Eclesias tico de Filipinas, chapter 3.) 0 V. Fr. Sebastian de Baeza was most probably born in Baeza because it was the custom in the Province of San Jose to which he belonged and where he professed to attach the name of one’s native town to the names of their students. Fr. Baeza was the first apostle of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, La Union and Zambalcs. Together with Fr. Juan Bau tista Pisaro, he founded the town of Agoo where he brought a three days dead child back to life. He labored in Bataan for 17 months. His mission was concentrated along the costs of Marivcles to Cabo Bojeador. Here, he restored the speech of a twenty years old mute. He embarked for China on 29 May 1579. He died in Canton in October of the same year. By De cember, his cadaver was transferred to Macao where it was venerated. (Platero, Eusebio Gomez, Catalogo Biografico de los. Religiosos Franciscanos de la Provincia de San Gregorio Magno de Filipinas desde 1577 en que Llegaron los primeros a Manila hasta los de Nuestros Dias, (Manila: Imprenta del Real Colegio de Santo Tomas, 1880), pp. 24-25.) 7 Pastrana, Apolinar, OFM, “Pueblos Fundados o Administrados por los Padres Franciscanos en Filipinas”, Misiones Catolicas En Extreme Oritente, (Manila: “Cacho Hermanos” Lithographers and printers, 1937). p. 165. Cf. Rctana, W.E.. Origines de la Imprenta Filipina. (Madrid: Libreria General de Victoriano Suarez, 1911), p. 54. It is equally clear, therefore, that Spaniards and Legazpi himself arrived in Bataan as early as “a little after . . . (his) . . . arrival in 1565”. MISSIONARIES IN BATAAN — However, there is no known record as to when, what part of the province and how long the Augustinians1 mentioned above by Fr. Fernandez stayed in Bataan. Regarding the Franciscans,”’ records only state that the first apostle of the province is V. P. Sebastian de Baezan and that he “formed the town of Bataan and some others” in the year 1578.7 As re 866 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS gards the Jesuits, who came to the islands with the Lord Master Domingo de Salazar, the first bishop of Manila", it is known that they took charge of Maragondon11 which was then a part of the district (corrigimiento) of Mariveles. However, although it is possible that from Maragondon the Jesuits could have established a mission in Mariveles, no known document can tell us sufficient historical details as to their stay in the peninsula. The Dominican Order established its mission house in Abucay in the year 1588, although, of course, even before this date, a Dominican, Fr. Cristopher Salvatierra,* 9 10 11 12 * already minis tered to the natives of Bataan through his own initiative. The secular clergy,11 according to Fr. Gainza, had also been doing missionary work in this province, even before the permanent foundation of the first Dominican house here, though only in a small and temporary scale.1- And the Recollects13 landed in Mariveles in 1607. * The Jesuits arrived in Manila on 17 September 1581. 9 Siguion, Jose M., SJ, “Primera Epoca de la Compaiia de Jesus en Filipinas”, Misiones Catolicas in Extremo Oriente, op. cit., p. 18. Maragon don, at present, belongs to the province of Cavite. It is a mountainous town situated at the coastal part of this province facing Bataan. 10 Fr. Cristopher was a native of Salvatierra, villa of Extremadura. A son of the Convent of San Esteban de Salamanca, he made his profession here on 27 August 1571. He worked in Bataan and was also a chaplain to an expedition to the Molucas. He died of ashma in the early part of the year 1595. (Ocio, Hilario, Resefia Biografica de los Religiosos de la Pro vincia del Santisimo Rosario de Filipinas desde su Fundacion hasta Nuestros Dias, Parte Primera, (Manila: Establecimiento Tipografico del Real Colegio de Santo Tomas, 1891), pp. 50-52). 11 APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 5, Folio 21, “Descripcion de la Provincia de Bataan (1854)”, por el P. Gainza. 12 Father Pedro Valderrama was the first secular priest to set foot on the Philippine soil. In 1566, Father Juan de Vivero followed him. And in 1581, Most Rev. Domingo Salazar, brought with him twenty-four other secular priests. Most probably, these are the ones referred to by Fr. Gainza. It may be of interest to mention that Dinalupihan, for one, had always been under the secular priests ’’The Recollects arrived in Cebu in May 1606. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 867 II. A DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT RACES THAT INHABIT THIS PENINSULA Fr. Francisco Gainza tells us that there were two main races of people living in Bataan, namely, the inhabitants of the mountains and those of the plains.11 Fr. Vicente Fernandez elaborates that the mountain people were the Negritoes or Aetas and the inhabitants of the plains were the natives, the peninsular Spaniards, the Chinese and the mestizos who were either Spaniards or Chinese born to parents married to native women.* 15 * "APSR, MSS. Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 5. Folio 7, “Descripcion De La Provincia De Bataan (1854).’, por cl P. Gainza. 15 APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2. Documento 8, Folios 5v-8v, “Memoria De La Proviincia De Bataan. Ano 1886. Para La Exposicion De Madrid, En 1888", por cl P. Vicente Fernandez. It may be of interest to note that tho number of Negritoes in the Province even today decreases as time goes. We believe this fact should seriously concern the government. 17 The language, for example, of Negritoes in Bataan is Tagalog. Fr. Pablo Fernandez, O.P. observes that this fact gives us “good grounds for doubting whether they have a language of their own”. (APSR. MSS. Seccion Bataan, Uncatalogued, Documento 5, Folios 41-47, “Dominican Missions in Bataan”, tr. by Dr. Antonio Piiion.) >' This fact points to the grave responsibility of educators to educate these people. The government should investigate the causes of their di minishing number. For a fact, today, in Bataan, Aetas cannot be seen any more in town plazas as before. The Church should also not lose hope in working for them. NEGRITOES OR AETAS — The Negritoes or Aetas, during the time of Fr. Fernandez, that is, about the year 1886, numbered around 1,300 to 1,500 with the tendency to decrease rather than increase.10 They were described as a miserable race of kinky hair and dark skin. Their origin, descent and language were not too well known although others of their kin lived in Malacca, Sumatra, Java, Formosa, New Guinea and in majority of Philippine islands. Their language was similar to those in the towns and ranches near the mountains where they lived.17 They had such a low idea of themselves that they did not call themselves men or people but Aetas.1* In this province, they were scattered in all the towns in small numbers where they served in the felling of lumber, the having of bamboo and rattan and the gathering of pitch, wax and other mountain products. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS They were harmful to the public forests and mountains because they burned them to plant rice and corn, without being concerned about the destruction of useful woods for construc tion. Since they changed abode every year, they caused great damage in the forest areas.10 Fr. Fernandez reports that until his time, all the efforts to reduce them to life in community have been fruitless. Both threats and blandishments had been used. Houses had been built for them on the site assigned them near the mountain. They had been supported with food. But everything was in vain. They turned back to the mountain the moment they knew they were out of sight and the resources for their upkeep had been used up.19 20 19 That they cause great damage to forest areas due to caingins is true even today. =0 P. Vicente Fernandez, Op. cit., Fol. 7v. 21 APSR, Seccion Miscellanea, “Documentos Varios de la Segunda Mitad del Siglo XVIII,” fol. 47. -- Fr. Benito Rivas was a parish priest of Balanga. It was to his honor that a barrio of this town was named. 2:1 Fr. Alberto Planas was a parish of Abucay. 24 Today, little by little, the government is succeeding in making them live in small communities called ‘‘bayan-bayanan’. Perhaps forced by cir cumstances since there are practically no more forests to go to, a good number of them stay in such places where they have a school and where they also participate in the election of municipal and even national offiFor example, in 1734, a mission for them was established in Orion under the patronage of Saint Vincent. There were about 65 persons in that mission including “very good Chris tians”, only working for their salvation. But even this did not last.21 About the middle of the 19th century, two Dominican mis sionaries again devised a plan for settling on the plains the two hundred Negrito families that roamed the nearby jungles. Their plan consisted in grouping them together in small settle ments at the foot of the hills, where houses would be constructed for them, and they would be taught the arts od farming and the truths of the Gospel. Fr. Benito Rivas22 and Fr. Alberto Planas23 24 were the men behind this plan to civilise and christian ise a race that had successfully resisted all attempt to bring them to the paths of society and progress. Unfortunately, their efforts failed, as other previous attempts had been — the Negritoes ended by going back to the mountains.2' CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN Somehow, it is speculated, they knew and saw that the natives were oblige to contribute blood and money, to work on the streets and be subject to the tasks of society. They did not understand that every man must do such things or the like in exchange for the benefits promised by community living. So they thought they would be happier if they lived like care free and unrestricted savages with neither king nor rook to order and govern them.25 NATIVES — The greatest bulk of the lowlanders were the na tives. They belonged to the pure Malay race, were of regular build, oval faced, and with big eyes. However, although of the Malay race, one could observe in their phy siognomy some resemblance to the people of Ternate, perhaps, because they have merged with or intermarried ’with the Mardicas of the opposite coast.26 Most of them spoke Tagalog but a considerable number of the population, specially at the beginning, spoke Pampango which is no surprise because, as we have already observed above, Bataan was a part of Pam panga before. And if we are to believe Franciscan records, we can easily conclude, without fear of contradiction, that this peninsula was just a town of the province of Pampanga then.27 PENINSULAR SPANIARDS2' — It is noted that in the second _________ half of the 19th century, the hi » Since most of them are still illiterate, their elections are conducted tiy making them choose among Peebles of different colors which represent own '“w’m Oco Compendio de la Reseda Biografica, (Manila: won ‘ iwsina oiogranca, (Manna: 1895), p. 684 The Bulletin Today (Dec. 12, 1972, p. 1) recently reported the following Some 120 Aeta (Negrito) families numbering more than 500 persons, laid yesterday the cornerstone and broke ground to start con traction of their housing project in barrio Bangkal, Abucay, Bataan. The new Aeta settlement, a 136-heclare reservation, is now the center of government activities being undertaken by the National Minorities As sistance Council, the Philippine Air Force and provincial agencies of Bataan.” P. Fernandez, Op cit., Fol. 8. This observation can still be seen to day among them. They never work for the future. They spend the day play ing games like "hole in” with marbles on the ground. And these include adults including fathers of families. It is the wives who look for food in the rivers and in the fields. =« P. Gainza. Op. cit., Fol. 7. Rctana, W.E., Origines de la Imprenta Filipina, (Madrid: Libreria General de Victoriano Suarez, 1911), p. 54. -s Peninsular Spaniards were those who came from Spain to live here. Those of long stay in the Philippines were called camagoncs at the end of the 19th century. 870 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS number of peninsular Spaniards in Bataan was strangely small. And all of them were either employees in civil, economic and military administration or parish priests. And, more, there were nine towns in which the curates were the only peninsular Spaniards.21' It is also noteworthy that in the entire province, there was not a single peninsular Spaniard or foreigner, aside from the Chinese, who was dedicated to agriculture, industry or com merce.30 CHINESE — The Chinese residents of this province were few in number compared to those in the other pro vinces of the archipelago. They were estimated to have been only about 160 to 180 according to the census taken by the Government and the Administration in the year 1885. Practically no one was engaged in agriculture. Almost all engaged in commerce. Some were engaged in the alcohol in dustry and in the drying of fish for shipment to Manila and Pampanga.31 There were no. rich Chinese. Due to the big number of mestizos who sought to emulate their parents and due to the proximity of the Manila market where they themselves brought their products, the Chinese had never been able to control com merce — not even retail stores.32 And being thriftier, more active and more industrious, they were not too well accepted by the natives. Frequently, the latter even took revenge on them by assaulting and mur dering them on the roads and even inside their own stores in the middle of the towns. One notes the difficulty to uncover ='•’ P. Fernandez, Op. cit., Fol. 16. Loc. cit. " At present, Bataan no longer has alcohol industry. Even the export of dried fish is almost unheard of. Fishes, while still fresh, are transport ed to Manila. The few Chinese left in the province just engage in retail stores or groceries. As a matter of fact they have been so identified with this that if a male native starts a retail store or grocery, he is called “intsik” or “beho” meaning Chinese. Even now, this is a fact. Besides, their small number and, to some extent, their lack of capital, render it impossible to control the whole business. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 871 the perpetrators of such crimes for the natives do not volunteer information or their help to investigate the deeds on behalf of the Chinese.3’ I P. Fernandez, Op. cit., Fol. 8. II No transient Chinese loiter around the province anymore. Those who live here permanently still engage in commerce as before. 35 P. Fernandez, Op. cit., Fol. 6. This is especially noticeable in the town of Balanga where inhabi tants strangely have white complexion and slanted eyes. Some of the Chinese were married and have settled per manently in this province to live with their families, but the majority were transients who came to try their fortune and pass from one province to another.31 MESTIZOS — As we have said, there were two main divisions of mestizos in Bataan, namely, the Spanishnative mestizos and the Chinese-native. The Spanish-native mestizos were greater in number than the peninsular Spaniards. However, they were of little influence and importance. Majo rity of them belonged to the poorer class. But they had always tried to preserve their lineage in census lists due to privileges of exemption from tribute and due to the municipal services which they enjoyed as provided for by the law.3' The Chinese-native mestizos were also of considerable number. As a matter of fact, they ranked second to that of the natives. They were actually more than those who appear in parish lists for the son or daughter of a native father and a Chinese mestiza mother passed to the class of natives. They were very careful of having this noted in their baptismal re cords in order not to pay the higher rate of tribute imposed on Chinese mestizos according to the ancient laws of the tribute. This race was astonishingly prolific and it has left per manent traces of its characteristic traits both physical as well as moral.311 They were generally serious, generous, thrifty, clean and shrewd. They dedicated themselves to agriculture, commerce and industry. They were the truly powerful people in the pro vince. They gave money advances to natives with regular * 3 872 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS interests collectible at harvest time.37 Their women were usually more active than the men and possess great talent to manage their business and to make it grow. However, they had the vice of gambling where they risked their fortune many times. III. DOMINICAN MISSIONS IN BATAAN We have seen that there had been Agustinians, Francis cans, Jesuits and even secular priests in this province. But they stayed here only temporarily. For, indeed, the work was hard and there was promise of only little fruit. Hence, they succumbed to the temptation of leaving this place for a more fertile ground for the conversion of souls.38 It was only the Dominicans who jiersevered in this place to develop and civilise the people. In this article, we treat of the beginnings of this their mission in Bataan. We discuss this topic in four main divisions, namely, the work of Fr. Cristopher«-Salvatierra, the arrival of Dominicans from the Province of the Holy Rosary, the difficulties they encountered, how these difficulties were solved and, lastly, their first efforts towards the organization of this province of Bataan. THE WORK OF FR. CRISTOPHER SALVATIERRA Before Archbishop Salazar sailed out for Manila, desiring, out of his fervent zeal to bring workers for his newly estab lished diocese, he obtained a copious number of Religious from his Order.311 He was able to enlist twenty Dominicans from This fact may be connected to what Aduarte mentions as one of the main vices in the province; usury. (Aduarte, Diego, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Santo Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores en Filipinas, Japon y China, (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cicntificas, Departamcnto de Misionologia Espanola, MCMLXII), p. 120. And most probably, this is also the reason for the assaults and murders inflicted by the natives on the Chinese which we have mentioned above. - Aduarte, Diego, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Santo Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores en Filipinas, Japon y China, Tomo I, (Ma drid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Departamento de Misionologia Espanola, MCMLXII), p. 115. 39 “The First Bishop and Archbishop of Manila, The Lord Master Fr. Domingo de Salazar”, Philippiniana Sacra, vol. II, no. 5. (May-August 1967), pp. 460-461. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 873 Spain for missionary work in the Philippines. However, twelve died in a plague before reaching Mexico. Of the re maining eight, only Fathers Cristopher Salvatierra and Gero nimo Garcia survived the rigours of the atlantic journey.10 Father Cristopher Salvatierra after arriving in Manila was appointed Provisor of the Lord Bishop and Vicar General of the diocese.* 41 When the Archbishop went to Spain in the year 1591, he made him Governor of his diocese.42 «" Ibid., p. 484. 41 “lie was a native of Castilla la Vieja (Old Castle), and a Son of the Illustrious Convent of St. Stephen of Salamanca, where ho protessed, and Studied Arts and Theology, whence he came out a consummate Student.” (Ibid., p. 473) “In the early years of his governance, to these Islands came the Venerable Father Juan Fernandez de Leon, a Presbyter Cleric, a Native of Lisbon, whom the ancient Historians (with loud praise) call the Saint, for such he was, and his life was so extraordinary and prodigious (As Father Chirino, of the Society of Jesus, so writes). And seeing how de veloped This Republic was, he began to give a thought to establishing a Fund of the STA. M1SERIC0RDIA (HOLY MERCY) (as exists in the Realms of Portugal, whose foundation was due to the Most Serene QUEEN DONA LEONOR, Wife of DON JUAN, the SECOND) and having com municated it to the residents of this City of Manila, his FOUNDATION was given a start with abundant Alms which they gave therefor.” (Loc. cit.) “And having made its Ordinances and Statutes, they presented them before the said Rev. Father Fray Cristobal de Salvatierra, Governor of this Archbishopric, and Don Luis Perez de las Marinas, Governor and Captain General of these Islands; Whose License and FOUNDATION was in the year 1594. Erecting the Church under the Title of The Presentation of Our Lady, and the College under that of Santa Isabel, which remains today: where all the Orphan Maidens of this Republic have been reared and arc reared with the education and teaching of Doctrine and good customs, and under the care of its Directress; whence they come out with Abilities proper to their condition, to embrace the State of Married Women or of Religious of Santa Clara (Saint Claire) of this City; and every day it has augmented all the more. These increments in which it finds itself today being owed to this Holy Presbyter.” "This is the most memorable thing to have happened in the governance of this Excellent Man; and he really was so, being one of the great Pil lars that the edifice of this CHURCH had in its Primitive Times; for both in the post of Provisor or of Governor of This Archbishopric, he wrought wonders in the Ecclesiastical State; and he was of a fervent Spirit and rigid in the correction of public Sins. “One daring and insolvent ventured to try to take away his life in his own Cell; but he paid his effrontery, for by having his hand turn rigid at the time of executing the sacreligious blow GOD manifested the WON DER and confirmed the zeal of his Minister. 874 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Father Salvatierra was a wise and zealous apostle. Al though, for his heavy work, one may surmise that he could not absent himself for a long time in Manila, yet he also some times managed to find time to leave his office and personally assist to the souls of the people of Bataan. For this reason, he is actually known as the first Dominican minister of this peninsula?3 He prepared the way for the mission of his other brethren from the Province of the Most Holy Rosary. And it was also partly due to his suggestions and advise that the first four Dominicans assigned to this province succeeded in their work?4 “He put a check to Lasciviousness, and having created a Fund for retired Women, he mitigated the ardour of their impudences. “He fixed limits to the Tariffs and alleviated the Natives from costs and dues. He was the Lawyer in their suits. “He prohibited under grave penalties the public Comedies of the Sangleys. “He had as his opponent the Governor, most contrary to such Holy Revolution; but with virile hearts he resisted him and setting down Ex communications, he achieved his purpose. (Ibid., p. 473-475) 41 “He personally visited all the Islands; he went as Chaplain to the Conquest of the province of Cagayan, and was the first to preach therein the Holy Gospel, and found its Church. “He went to the Moluccas and put to shame the Ecclesiastical govvernment of those Forces; he was the first Minister of the Island of Ba taan (which was abundant in Parishioners); and leaving Ministers there, he returned to this city, where he drafted a most useful set of Instruc tions for the conduct of the Ministries; he decreed that there be therein Books of Baptisms and Weddings, which were not existing. “He attended to everything with the promptness and charity of an Angel. Many and abundant were the Alms he gave; and tired of so many labors and travels, he fell gravely ill, and in the last moments of his life he wrote to the Governor to put some remedy to an immoral friendship that a Captain had with a Woman, and to send him three Soldiers to ar rest an Ecclesiastic who was living in lust; and until he saw one and the other done, he had no repose and said: He died gladly, for having obtained the remedy for these two Souls. “And with an Angelical Peace, after five years of governance, he commended his Spirit to his CREATOR by the end of the year 1595. The whole Republic, the Clergy, and the Religious Orders mourned him.” (Ibid., p. 475) APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 5, Folio 22, “Descripcion de la Provincia de Bataan (1854)”, por el P. Gainza. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 875 THE ARRIVAL OF DOMINICANS FROM THE PROVINCE OF THE HOLY ROSARY It was oil the eve of Saint Mary Magdalene that there came to these islands, in the province of Cavite, on 21 July 1587, fifteen religious from the Order of Saint Dominic with their Vicar General, Fr. Juan de Castro. On the 25th, the feast of Saint James the Apostle, they arrived in Manila.40 Having concluded extensions of felicitations and indispen sable visits and having celebrated, in the cathedral, the feast of their Father, Saint Dominic, when hardly fifteen days had passed since they arrived in Manila, it appeared to them that their rest had already been long enough, and being impatient to exercise the mission which they had placed on their shoulders, they decided to part ways and go to the places appointed to them by the Vice Patron, who was the Governor General, and by the Archbishop.47 Four of them were assigned in Bataan: Fr. Alonso Gimenez,4* Fr. Pedro Bolanos,41' Fr. Domingo Nieva50 <3’Ibid, Folio 23. "■ “The First Bishop and Archbishop of Manila, The Lord Master Fr. Domingo de Salazar”, Philippiniana Sacra, Op. cit., p. 45. 17 Arnaiz, Gregorio, O.P., “Ministerio Espiritual de los Dominicos en el Partido de Bataan”, Misiones Catolicas en Estremo Oriente, p. 138. ,s Fr. Alonso Gimenez was a Son of the Convent of San Esteban in Salamanca. Before coming to the Philippines, he worked in Guatemala. In Bataan, he was able to learn Tagalog. Returning to Santo Domingo in Manila for ill health, he was appointed Master of Students and later Prior of the Convent. He was tho second Provincial of his Province and during his time, he admitted Cagayan into it. lie also went to Cambodia, Cochinchina and Macao. In Macao, he died in December 1598. (Ocio, llilario, Reseda Biografica de los Religiosos de la Provincia del Santisimo Rosario de Filipinas desde su Fundacion hasta N'uestros Dias, Parte Pri mera, (Manila: Establccimicnto Tipografico del Real Colegio de Santo Tomas, 1891), pp. 78-80.) Fr. Pedro Bolanos was a Master of Novices in the Convent of Nuestra Schora de la Pena de Francia of Salamanca. He was 60 years of age when he went to Bataan. He was especially attracted to children teaching them how to write, read, pray and sing. However, in less than one year, he died of stomach ache al the infirmary of the Franciscans. He was buried in the Franciscan Church. (Ocio, Op. cit.. pp. 95-97) While still a young deacon, Fr. Domingo de Nieva came to the Philippines. He was from Villoria, a son of the Convent of San Pablo de Villadolid. Being young, he learned Tagalog fast. He ministered to the people of Bataan even as a deacon baptizing, catechizing, preaching and acting as an interpreter during confessions. He translated and pub876 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS who was just a deacon, and Fr. Juan de Santo Tomas Ormaza,51 their Vicar and Prelate. They were accompanied for sometime by Fr. Cristopher Salvatierra who was then already knowl edgeable of the place and its language. They arrived in Bataan in September 1587.'2 DIFFICULTIES THE MISSIONARIES ENCOUNTERED Aside from the difficulties afforded by the elements, the climate and the place which was very mountainous criss-crossed by streams and rivers, the missionaries encountered four main problems in this province which hindered their work of evan gelization. These were: superstitions and idolatry, usury and slavery, drunkenness or alcoholism and confusion of religions. SUPERSTITIONS AND IDOLATRY — Pagan Bataan also had its forms of worship. The people also had their priestesses in the person of old women called catalonas. These presided over some ceremonies which were performed with certain instruments in the more hidden spots. It has been recorded that even at the beginning of the spread of Christianity in this province, these priestesses con tinued to do their functions “for the profit they received from them”. And it was also said that the people, at first, even hid these idolatrous old women from the missionaries.''1 lished the Memorial of Christian Life of V.P. Fr. Luis de Granada. He ministered to the Chinese. And in the Chinese language, he published prayers, meditations, preparations for confession and Holy Communion and, at least, two Chinese grammar books. He also became a Prior of Santo Domingo. And, after 19 years in the Philippines, he died while on his way to Mexico around the year 1696 to 1607. (Ibid., p. 108-110.) Fr. Juan de Santo Tomas Ormaza was born in Sentember 1548 in Medina del Campo. Villadolid. He was of noble blood and well educated. He studied his Latin and Rhetoric in the Universidad de Salamanca. He was conferred the degree of Lcctorate in Philosophy in San Pedro de las Dueiias. Segovia. He received his Doctorate in Navarra. Having been been invested of his habit in San Pablo de Villadolid. he became Master of Students there. In Bataan, he erected the towns of Abucay and Samal. Being the fourth Provincial of the Order (elected 12 June 1600) in the Philippines, he was later also Vice-Provincial (1610-1612) and Provincial of Japan, in the Vicariate of Saint Dominic in Nagasaki. Returning to Manila (1614), he was assigned to the Vicariate of the Parian (1619). He was also one year in San Gabriel de Binondoc. He died on 7 September 1638 at the age of 90 years. •' * Aduarte, Op. cit., o. 115. w Ibid., p. 120-121. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 877 And, as was common in many other underdeveloped places, Bataan also had its experiences with evil spirits. Fr. Domingo Navarrete54 narrates to us his encounter with these beings in this province."’ Indeed, similar occurences in China are also recorded by Santa Cruz in his book.''’ Beliefs in these superstitions and idolatry had to be com bated by the ministers of this province. USURY AND SLAVERY — Usury resulting from loans, or debts, which were oftentimes justly contracted, and the maltreatment of slaves were also problems which had to be confronted by the missionaries. The authorities found themselves helpless in the face of these prob lems. The rich took advantage of the poor. The powerful took advantage of the weak. And the creditors took advan•',l Fr. Domingo Navarretc, a Dominican missionary, travelled round the world and spent the best of his life (1658-69) in China where he became a determined opponent of the evangelical methods of the "Jesuit man darins". He also came to the Philippines where he stayed for a while in Bataan. Fi 'rom Manila, where I stayed a few days, I went to Bataan (in Luzon); and there, J was much troubled and disturbed by Witches or Fairies, what it was we knew not, but the effect showed it to be a con trivance of the Devil. No considerable hurt was done any man, but we heard much Noise and Clatter, and saw Stones fly: at one moment the House was all foul, and the next as suddenly clcrn; and the Chairs hurried about without perceiving who moved them, and the like. We saw it ourselves and we passed two Nights without closing our Eyes. "One Night when 1 and another were gone to Best, and the Noise was abated, there came into the place where we lay the Governor, Judge, and some Indians, to see whether they could discover anything. They went on courageously, threatening those that durst disturb the House. The moment they came in they were thrown down Stairs, a World of Stones, Sand and dirt tumbling after them, and they were so frightened, that they never inquired further into the Matter. I was called away to Manila, and by that means delivered from this Vexation, which continued some Months and others had enough suffering and punishment from it." (Commins, J.S. (cd.), The Travels and Controversies of Friar Domingo Navarrette (1618-1686), vol. I, Cambridge University Press, London: 1962), p. 88.) Similar occurences are narrated to have happened in the province of Samar. In Bataan, even today, people generally still believe in Witches. In the town of Pilar actually there is a district which is said to be inhabited by these witches called "kulam". . Sta Cruz, Baltazar de. De la Provincia del Santo Rosario de Ulipinas. Japon y China del Sagrado Orden de Predicadores, Tomo II, (Zara goza. Pasquai Bueno, lmpressor del Rey, 1693), pp. 126-7, 312 13. 878 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS tage of their debtors.57 And this unjust way of life had taken flesh in their very bones. This had long served the life-blood of society’s existence. Hence, it was not easy to pull this flesh from their very bones and bleed it out of society’s very exis tence.* 5S ™ Arnaiz. op. cit., pp. 140-141. 5S Aduarte, op. cit, p. 121 -■’•Ibid-, p. 126. fin Loc. cit. DRUNKENNESS OR ALCOHOLISM — Drunkenness was ano ther vice that was so widespread and common in this province that it seemed impos sible to remove it from the people’s practices.5" Generally, all the natives had this defect which caused much disorder. And, in this aspect, the province surpassed “any other place on earth”. It was because of this that this province was famous among the neighboring provinces. And it really seemed im possible to uproot it because it was inherited from fathers and grandfathers and was almost connatural to the people.01* CONFUSION OF RELIGIONS — Another major difficulty and obstacle that the missionaries met on their arrival in this province was the confusion of reli gions among the natives on the part of the missionaries which was due to the defective methods of spreading the Gospel fol lowed till then. In the beginning, seeing the docility of the people and in experienced in the missionary apostolate, the very first mis sionaries to this province did not realise the seriousness of the fault that neutralized their efforts. Of those who had gone to convert the people of Bataan, for example, Aduarte mentions one who was so full of zeal in fulfiling his office that, without teaching the people what they ought to believe, he baptized them by force, gathering together all men and women, though already of adult age, and gave them their Christian names. In this manner, he also baptized those who escaped him the pre vious times that he administered baptism, who were not at all few, because as baptism was not voluntary, but by force, there were those who hid from it. And the priest went on contented, putting into writing the names of those he baptized thinking that he had done a great service to the Lord and administering CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 879 other such baptisms or sacrileges in other towns.01 Because of this practice, there were also those who assumed Christian names in order to avoid baptism. And those who were baptized, believing that baptism was a malediction, immediately took a bath as soon as they free themselves from the hands of the minister. And they washed with great care and diligence the chrism and holy oils in which, it appeared to them, consisted the malediction of baptism. And they returned to their idola tries and superstitions as if they had never been baptized. Even those who were presumably properly baptized, as those baptized by Fr. Cristopher Salvatierra,* 62 * * * 66 since no priest remained with them to direct and guide them in their Christian way of life, became merely half-Christians, who, mixing with the heathens, were distinguished from them only in name, but practicing the same superstitions and performing actions no different from them.03 They themselves even protected and hid catalonas from the missionaries.01 01 Ibid., p. 116. 62 P. Gainza, op. cit., p. 22. 6:1 APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 6, Folio 10, "Memoria de la Provincia De Bataan. Ano 1886. Para la Exposicion de Madrid, En 1888”, por el P. Vicente Fernandez. ,u Ibid., Folios 11-llv. Ibid., Folio 16. 66 Aduarte, op. cit., p. 116. 67 Loe. cit. These practices led to the slow progress of Christianity in this province and to the great difficulty of the Dominicans in setting aside the Christian from the non-baptized because many denied their baptism in order to free themselves of their obligations,while others claimed having been baptized in order not to receive the sacrament behaving like Christians — con fessing, receiving Holy Communion and the other sacraments as the rest of the Christians. And since the missionaries did not know their language, it was easy to deceive them.06 There were even those who having been known as non-Christians just promised the Religious to come back, the next day for baptism but never appeared at all afterwards.67 Indeed, in those first days, baptism was shunned. The people did everything to avoid it. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS MET Having understood the above mentioned problems, the mis sionaries started to work out remedies on them. SUPERSTITIONS AND IDOLATRY —At first, the catalogs, who were the instru ments of superstitions and idolatry in this province, were un known to the missionaries. Their worship was occult. These priestesses, as we have said, were hidden even by Christians. And these catalonas themselves, being hypocrites, frequently go to church with “great piety.”"M However, this was not for long. Once, Fr. Juan de Santo Tomas, Ormaza, the Provincial Vicar of the Dominicans in this province, visited a sick woman. This woman told the priest that her sickness is the effect of the revenge of one of the two witches in that town. The Vicar after having done the necessary investigation, discovered that those two women were l'eally witches having contracted a pact with the devil and as such they had caused great harm to the people.09 Upon knowing this, the faithful decided to punish them and throw them out of their town. The instruments of their witchcraft were given to Christians school boys to play with around the town and, finally, to burn.* 70 ,,s Arnaiz. op. cit., p. 139. 09 Loc. cit. 70 Aduarte, op. cit., pp. 120-121. From then on, although from time to time there were still some manifestations of their relics, superstitions and idolatry in this province ended. USURY AND SLAVERY —With the help of God, Christian doctrines on justice penetrated the hearts of those afflicted by this vice of usury and maltreat ment of slaves. It all began one day when a good Christian, by the name of Pablo Taclanmanoc, asked the Vicar Provincial if he had knowl edge of debts, usury and other maltreatments in town. The priests responded that of those he knew from confession he could not tell but that it is a must to pay one’s debt everyone CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 881 knew. Enlightened by this answer, Don Pablo resolved to restore to their proper owners all his ill-gotten goods. The good example reached those other people who practiced usury and maltreated their slaves.71 Soon, many gave liberty to their slaves who had been deprived of their freedom unjustly. They restored money taken from usury and took only gains as suggested by the priest. There whre even some who had given away everything because they found out that all were unjustly taken by them. And this without any force. And when others did not know to whom to restitute, they gave the property to the community for common needs and the needs of the poor. The same was done when some did not want to receive the satisfaction due to them.7-’ 71 Ibid., on. 123 124. Ibid., p. 121. 73 Loc. cit. 71 Loc. cit. In all these, the disinterestedness of the Religious also helped. They would not even ask to apply these things for the benefits of the Church. They never gave any occasion for suspicion on the part of the faithful.73 Thus, this happy situation continued. Everyone was just to his neighbor, paying what should be payed and sometimes more than what was just. Hence, conflicts was avoided and their was peace.71 DRUNKENNESS OR ALCOHOLISM — Against drunkenness or alcoholism, the Fa ther Vicar Provincial also found an efficacious means without recourse to violence. This father arranged that nobody should visit a drunkard’s house, nor admit him in their own, nor com municate with them, nor deal on anything with them. Besides this, he ordered that the names of' those who were slaves to this vice be published so that all may avoid them as enemies of God, as scorners of doctrine and of the teachings of the Fa thers. Through this form of ostracism, the guilty ones realized their evil condition, embarrassed that the more respectable mem bers of their community were ashamed of them, and they rid themselves of a vice that made them so despicable. Besides, with the preaching and exhortation of the priests, the whole province conceived an abhorrence for such a brutalizing vice 882 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS and became one of the most abstemious provinces in the Is lands.73 73 P. V. Fernandez, op. cit., folio 11. 7,i Loc. cit., Cf. Aduarte, op. cit., p. 121. 77 Aduarte, op. cit., nn. 116-117 7S Ibid., op. cit., p. 117. 79 Loc. cit. And when, sometimes, out of necessity, or out of desire, they drank, it was only a cup and a half at most, in order to be far from the old disorder. This is why the province not only erased its former bad name and reputation but also earned a good one.70 CONFUSION OF RELIGIONS — When little by little, the Fa thers became familiar with the people and began to learn their customs as well as their language, they also took notice of this problem of confusion of religions. Hence, they applied the convenient remedy, expo sing, in their frequent sermons and individual conversations, the evil deeds of those who. without being Christians, try to appear as Christians and of those who were Christians but tried to hide the fact and lived as non-Christians. And to them, they offered to set their .consciences aright without any punish ment, without feeling any shame and without any fear of losing their good reputation, to procure the remedy of their souls with all secrecy.* * 77 Secret baptisms were performed. And confessions helped much in this regard. And the knowledge of Tagalog which was easily learned by the deacon Fr. Domingo de Nieva, aided much, not only in being interpreter during confessions but also in preaching to the people which gained for him the affection of both his Relious elders and the people.78 79 The selflessness of the missionaries, their sufferings and sincere labor for the welfare of the people preaching the Word of God from town to town, day and night, in storms and rain, in lightnings and thunders, across the Bay and rivers, also helped much in convincing the people of the truth and good ness of the Christian religion. Hence, not long after, many began to ask for baptism and there were more who approached the confessional whether healthy or sick.70 CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 883 ORGANIZATION OF THE MISSIONS Once the weeds had been uprooted, the sowing of the good seed presented less trouble. From the very beginning, the mis sionaries were convinced that it was necessary to bring the scattered inhabitants together and to organize them into towns."0 This highly civilizing procedure was intended to incorporate these people into civilized society and Christianity. Thus, before the close of the XVI century, in the year 1587, the town of Abucay was founded. Samal came into existence in the year 1956?1 These were placed under the protection of Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena respectively. From the second half of the XVII century onwards, the following towns were founded. Orion, for a long time a visit of Abucay, was separated from it in 1667 under the patronage od St. Michael. In 1714, the Dominicans officially accepted the town of Orani. Our Lady of the Holy Rosary was its heavenly protec tress. Balanga was the third town founded by the missionaries in the XVIII century. Having been accepted as a visit of Abu cay in 1714, it was made a vicariate in 1739. The Dominicans also accepted in 1757 the town of Liana-Hermosa separating it from Orani. Its patron saint was St. Peter Martyr."2 And, finally, mention can also be made of the town of Pilar, under the patronage of Our Lady of the Pillar, which, though founded by the secular clergy in 1801, was. however, placed under the ministry of the Dominicans in 1833.":l This was how this province was, evangelized. The result was described by Aduarte in the following paragraph: Por lo eual, cuando los jueees ecclesiastieos quieren. meter en regia a. algunas personas de otros partidas, que andan muy fuera de ella, suelen enriarlas a Bataan, como a partido de gente reformada, no porquc no ha ya en el fait as (que basta ser hombres DA. p. 114. col. 2. R1 APSR, MSS. Seccion Bataan, Tomo 1, Documento 8, Folio 55. “Parroquia de Samal”, por el Fr. Miguel Portell. Cf. Fernandez, Pablo OP. “Dominican Apostolate in the Philippines” Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas, vol. XXXIX, no. 435, January-February 195), p. 152. APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Uncatalogued. Documento 5, Folios 41-47, “Dominican Missions in Bataan”, by Fr. Pablo Fernandez. R l APSR. MSS. Seccion Bataan, Tomo 1. Documento 19, Folio 64. “Con 884 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS para tenerlas), sino porque tienen tanto cuidado de acudir a los Sacram-etoitos, cuando se ven necesitados, y se llegan a ellos con tanto sentimiento de sus culpas y proposito de la enmienda, que, con mucha razon, muchos y muy bucnos ministros que han tenido muy gran concepto de su virtud. han vivido entre ellos con gran consuelo, viendo, que si se trabaja, no es en vano, sino con mucho fruto. y por experiencia han visto que mira el Sehor a estos indios como muy Padre, acudiendoles como tai con muy particular y amoroso. provincia en muchos casos particulares, con tales y tantas circunstancias, que no se puede dudar de que son obras suyas, can que los saco prodigiosamente de la carrera de perdition, dando grandes esperanzas de Uevarlos al cielo.’’l<i vento de Pilar, Respuesta al Cuestionario de N.P. Provincial de 4 de Agosto de 1888”, por el P. Fermin de San Julian. s* Aduarte. op. cit., p. 124. THE CLERGY AND THE BOLETIN “. . .Commendamus:. . .2—Ut assidue legant Commentarium interdioecesanum Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas, sin gulis mensibus ab Universitate Sancti Thomae editum; in quo praecipua Sanctae Sedis decreta atque acta recentiora evulgantur, quaestiones practicae in utilitatem parochorum solvuntur, etc. . . . Obligatoria erit subscripto omnibus et singulis sacerdotibus cleri saecularis et religiosis curam animarum habentibus; et ipsa Curia ecclesiastica de pretio subscriptionum solvendo invigilabit.” (Acta et Dec. Primi Con. Plenarii Phil., no. 29) UST CENTRAL SEMINARY CLASS 1973 On the occasion of the University Week Celebration, the seminarians of Class 1973 will be ordained priests at the U.S.T. Chapel on January 26, 1973, by Most Rev. Carmine Rocco, Apos tolic Nuncio to the Philippines. Preacher for the occasion will be Most Rev. Juan Sison, Archbishop of Nueva Segovia. REV. ROGELIO ALFORTE Y ARPON— Diocese of Masbalc. Born April 17, 1941, Masbate, Masbate; Parents: Fran cisco Alfortc and Marina Arpon; Minor Seminary, Pcnafrancia; Philosophy course, St. Pius X Seminary; Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degree: Bach elor of Arts; Bishop: Most Rev. Porfirio Iligan, D.D. . MELQUIADES ANDA Y PAR - Diocese of Lucena. Born December 10. 1947, Alimonan. Quezon: Parents: Aniceto Anda and Maximina Par; Minor Seminary and Philosophy course, Mount Carmel; Theology. UST Central Semi nary; Degree: Bachelor of Arts; Bishop: Most " " D.D. REV. MOISES ANDRADE Y BERNAR DINO — Diocese of Malolos. Born September 23. 1948, Marilao, Bulacan; Parents: Moises D. Andrade and Julia B. Bernardino; Minor Seminary. Our Lady of Guadalupe; Philosophy. Seminario Conciliar de San Carlos; Theology. UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licen tiate in Sacred Theology. Bachelor of Arts: Ordained priest on December 1972. Bishop: Most Rev. Manuel P. del Rosario, D.D. 886 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS REV. JUAN CORPUZ Y CARO —Dio cese of Ilagan. Born Dec. 27, 1947, Naguilian, Isabela; Parents: Sulpicio R. Corpuz and Concilia M. Caro; Minor Seminary, San Jacinto Seminary; Philo sophy and Theology, UST Central Semi nary- Degrees: Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Philosophy, Bachelor of Arts; Bishop: Most Rev. Francisco R. Cruces, D.D. REV. FIRMO DAYAO Y SALVADOR - Archdiocese of Cebu. Bom August 9, 1949, Dalaguete. Cebu; Parents: Dr. Melchor B. Dayao and Rosario Salva dor: Minor Seminary, Seminario Menor de San Carlos; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licen tiate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Philosophy, Bachelor of Arts; Arch bishop: Ilis Eminence, Julio Card. Ro sales, D.D. REV. TITO GELITO Y SUCGANG — Diocese of Capiz. Born January 4, 1949, Ibajay, Aklan; Parents: Clemente Gelito and Victoria Sucgang; Minor Seminary, St. Pius X; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Bach elor of Sacred Theology, Bachelor of Philosophy, Bachelor of Arts. Bishop: Most Rev. Antonio Frondosa, D.D. REV. MERLIN LOGRONIO Y TInA - Diocese of Dumaguete. Born July 6, 1948, Bayawan, Negros Oriental; Pa rents: Edilberto V. Logronio and Ra mona P. Tina; Minor Seminary, St. Jo seph; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Bachelor of Philo sophy, Bachelor of Arts;' Bishop: Most Rev. Epifanio B. Surban, D.D. UST CENTRAL SEMINARY CLASS 1973 887 REV. RAFAEL MAGNO Y SISON - Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. Born July 9, 1948, Mangaldan, Pangasinan; Parents: Rafael D. Magno and Asuncion C. Sison; Minor Seminary, Mary Help of Christians; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licen tiate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Philosophy, Bachelor of Arts; Arch bishop: Most Rev. Mariano Madriaga, D. D. REV. ERNESTO MANDANAS Y INGCO — Archdiocese of Lipa. Born September 15, 1947, Aplaya, Bauan, Batangas; Parents, Ernesto Y. Mandanas and Azucena Z. Ingco; Minor Seminary and Philosophy, St. Francis de Sales Semi nary; Theology UST Central Seminaryo; Degree: Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Most Bachelor of Arts; Archbishop: Rev. Alejandro Olalia, D.D. REV. WILFREDO PAGUIO Y CRISOSTOMO — Diocese of San Fernando. Born September 3, 1948, Pilar, Bataan; Pa rents: Anaclcto R. Paguio and Iluminada Crisostomo; Minor Seminary: Our Lady of Good Counsel; Philosophy and Theo logy, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licentiate in Philosophy, Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Bachelor of Arts. MA in Philosophy of Religion; Bishop: Most Rev. Emilio Cinense, D.D. REV. LEONCIO SANTIAGO Y SU CRE — Diocese of Tagbilaran. Born September 12, 1949, Calape. Bohol; Pa rents: Luis Hiram Santiago and Ifonorata Sucre; Minor Seminary, Immacu late Heart of Mary; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; De grees: Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Philosophy. Bachelor of Arts; Bishop: Most Rev. Manuel M. Mascarirtas, D.D. INDEX FOR VOL. XLVI JANUARY 1972 Editor’s Introduction ........................................................................... 2 Pope Paul Vi’s Opening Address .............................................................. 3 Church Doctrine on the Ministerial Priesthood 6 Interventions of the Fathers 12 The Language Groups .................................................................................... 28 Summary of the Discussions ....................................................................... 37 Practical Problems of the Ministerial Priesthood ................................ 42 Summary of the Discussions ...................................................................... 48 The Synodal Document on the Ministerial Priesthood ........................... 56 FEBRUARY 1972 Editor’s Introduction ......................................................... 82 Archbishop Teopisto Alberto’s Report 81 Address of Miss Barbara Ward ..................................................................... 86 Address of Mr. Candido Mendes .................................................................. 89 Address of Mr. Kinhide Mushakoji .............................................................. 93 Interventions of the Fathers ...................................................................... 95 Summary of the Interventions ..................................................................... 99 Synodal Document on Justice in the World ............................................. 106 The Revised Order of Confirmation .............................................. 122 A Commentary on the Revised Order of Confirmation ........................... 130 Queries on the Liturgy of the Hours ........................................................... 140 Homilies for March 1972 ......................................................................... 145 Homilies for April 1972 .................................................................................. 155 MARCH 1972 Suggestions for Preachers 166 Rotarians’ Four-Way Test .............................. 168 Holy Father’s Talk to the Clergy of Rome ............................................ 170 Centenary of St. Alphonsus ............................................................................ 179 St. Alphonsus as Confessor ................................ 187 Background of the 4th International Congress on Vocations ................ 192 Report on the Philippine Program on Vocation 196 The Problem of Vocations and Some Practical Solutions ....................... 202 What is Priestly Vocation? ......................................................................... 206 The Opera “Jesus Christ. Superstar” ........................................... 215 Priests and Filipino Religious Values ......... 220 History of the Church in the Philippines, ch. 22 .............................. 230 INDEX Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines .................................. 237 CBCP Joint Statement on Drug Abuse .................................................... 240 Diocesan Notices: Archdiocese of Manila ................................................ 243 Diocese of Palo ................................................................................................. 244 APRIL 1972 Love of the Church 24G Watered-down Theology .................................................................................. 247 The Eucharist Constitutes the Church ........................................................ 248 Pope’s Homily at Ordination of Bishops .................................................... 254 List of Newly Ordained Bishops .................................................................. 259 Decree, Form of Ordinary Government .................................................... 261 Decree on Religious Dress ........................................................................... 263 Appointment: Bishop Jose Sanchez ........................................................... 264 Appointment: Archbishop Jaime Sin ........................................................... 265 Appointment: Archbishop Federico Limon ................................................ 266 Catholic and Lutheran Agreement on Baptism ......................................... 267 Indissoluble Marriage and Divorce ............................................................. 279 Not Annulment but Declaration of Nullity ................................................. 287 Sister Sonia’s Stand on Divorce .................................................................. 290 Involvement on Social Activism by Religious ......................................... 300 An Up-Dated Interim Breviary ........................................................................ 308 The Opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” ........................................................... 313 The History of the Church in the Philippines, ch. 23 ........................... 317 MAY-JUNE 1972 Msgr. Jovellanos, Man of God .................................................................. 328 Long Live, the Pope ...................................................................................... 328 Nobody Talks About Sin Anymore ............................................................... 330 Church’s Feelings for the Working Man 333 Church, Custodian of the Faith 336 Baptism and Christian Names ...................................................................... 339 Safeguarding Belief in thq Incarnation and in the Most Holy Trinity .................................................................... 343 Introductory Letter to New Document on Bishops .............................. 349 The Selection of Candidates for the Episcopacy ..................................... 350 New Document on Bishops ........................................................................... 356 The Future of Tonsure and Minor Orders 360 I Have Only One Theme — Christ ........................................................... 373 Response to “Manifesto” of 33 Theologians 381 The Religious Habit and Secular Dress .................................................... 386 The Opera: “Jesus Christ Superstar” ....................................................... 393 History of the Church in the Philippines, ch. 24 ..................................... 401 The Jovellanos That Was Tondo .................................................................. 409 890 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS JULY 1972 Floods — God’s Calls .................................................................................... 414 Failure of Authority ...................................................................................... 415 Eucharist, Sign of Unity and Peace ........................................................... 416 Priestly Example Reinforces Apostolate .................................................... 419 Catholic Action in Modern Society ............................................................. 423 Pastoral Norms on General Sacramental Absolution ........................... 427 Pontifical Document on Marriage Cases ................................................ 433 Proceedings in Cases “Super Rato” ........................................................... 435 Mary and the World of Today .................................................................... 448 Decision Making in Religious Communities 455 Mission of the Young .................................................................................... 473 The Missions Today ........................................................................................ 476 Participation of a Nation in Crisis in the Universal Mission of Christ .................................................... 481 History of the Church, ch. 25 ...................................................................... 491 AUGUST 1972 For Every Right A Duty ........................................................................... 500 The Saints of August .................................................................................... 501 Pope’s Letter to Cardinal Garrone ............................................................. 503 Pope’s Letter to Cardinal Wright .............................................................. 505 Erection of Lipa Achdiocese ....................................................................... 507 Admission of Other Christians to Catholic Communion ....................... 508 Doctrinal Reasons for the Instruction ...................................................... 516 Significance of Pastoral Norms on Penance ............................................. 520 Pastoral Letter of Rufino Card. Santos .................................................... 523 "TUI Death Do Us Part” ............................................................................. 528 Divorce in Philippine Constitution .............................................................. 550 Role of Bishops in Liturgy ........................................................................... 556 Priests and Our Bahala-Na System ........................................................... 564 History of the Church in the PhUippines, ch. 26 ..................................... 571 SEPTEMBER 1972 A Letter from Our Bishops ....................................................................... 580 Motu Proprio on Minor Orders and Subdiaconate .................................. 582 Motu Proprio on Diaconate ......................................................................... 588 Papal Bull: Bishop Celso Guevarra, D.D.................................................... 596 Study of PhUosophy in Seminaries ........................................................... 597 Paul VI and the Government of the Church ......................................... 610 Document on the General Absolution ....................................................... 615 “A Great Deal Depends on You” .............................................................. 617 Crisis of Freedon — Crisis of InteUigence ............................................. 620 INDEX 891 Titus Brandasma ............................................................................................. 624 The Priest and His Rural Parish ............................................................... 632 Answers to Questions from the Field .......................................................... 640 1. Readings at Mass 640 2. Confirmation ...................................................................................... 641 3. Annointing of the Sick .................................................... 643 4. Prayer of the Faithful and Nuptial Blessings 644 5. Divine Office .................................................................................. 646 History of the Church, ch. 27 648 OCTOBER 1972 The Vision of a New Society ........................................... 658 Extraordinary Minister of Communion ............................................. 660 Extraordinary Minister of Baptism ........................................................... 662 Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion “Per Modum Actus” 664 Message of Cardinal Santos 670 Pope’s Leiter to Cardinal Santos .............. 672 Italian Heirachy on Doctrinal Errors ... 67<> Lebanese Episcopate Assembly Conclusion 678 American Catholic Horizon ......................... 681 God Intervenes in Our Existence 685 Preaching the Christian Life 688 Primary Priestly Apostolate 693 In the Service of the Family G96 Education for Civility and Refinement 70R History of the Church, ch. 28 723 NOVEMBER 1972 Biography of Exemplary Priests 734 Sa Ikauunlad ng Simbahan 735 Institutional Selfishness .............................. 736 Papal Bull: Bishop Philip Smith, D.D. 737 Pope’s Mission Sunday Message 738 Final Tribute to Archbishop Cucnco 745 The Presbytcrium 749 I Like Four-Letter Words 757 The Undisciplined Generation 759 Rape of the Handmaiden 765 Adult Religious Education 769 Religious Career People ................................................................................ 774 History of the Church, ch. 29 789 Circular on World Peace 798 Homilies for Advent 799 892 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS DECEMBER 1972 For a Life of Order ......................................................................................... Cleanliness in the Church .................................................................... Catholic Bishops on Plebiscite Renewal in the Church Today Pope to Synod Secretariat ............................................................. Foundation of the Holy Land, Inc. ........................................................... Blessed Michael Rua Blessed Agostina ............................................................................................... St. Alphonsus Liguori ...................................................................................... The “Jesus’ of St. Thomas Paul or Apollos? A Diocesan Synod ............................................................................................. History of the Church in the Phil. (ch. 30) ................................................ Christianization of Bataan ........................................................................... UST Central Seminary Class 1973 Index for Volume XLVI ANNOUNCEMENT U.S.T. PRIESTS — ALUMNI HOMECOMING FEBRUARY 5-6, 1973 U.S.T. CENTRAL SEMINARY FER1A, FERIA, LUGTU & LA’O ATTORNEYS AXb COUNSELLORS AT LAW PHILIPPINE TRUST BIJ)G . PLA’.A GOITI . P O BOX 2:? . ’ ©rtigas & (0riigas Ahogabns pH u<>\ -i:;j (;i:i:i:.\iiilj.s. sax jiax. i:izai„ Wishing you a joyous Christina;, and a happy Xcim jigtar VKRAUT ART GLASS'REO A 879 BILIBID VIEJO • MANILA * TEL. 47<
EDITORIALS FOR A LIFE OF ORDER We gather here this afternoon to celebrate beauty and cleanliness. These are imperatives of nation-buil ding. That is why, it is a great joy to me to join you here so that together we could give proper recognition to those who have contributed in a very essential way, to making a better nation. By means of this awards cere mony that we have come to witness, we are encouraging among the Pilipino people a greater awareness of the relationship between beauty and nation-building. One of the proofs offered by Scholastic philosophy to show the existence of God is that there is order in the universe. The planets move on appointed orbits; they do not clash and collide. The seasons change ac cording to some master plan, ivith a ryhthrn that is a joy to experience and behold. All this means there is an unseen hand and an intelligent mind that guides all things according to a definite order. And the result of order is beauty. This is the principle that underlies our effort at beautification. In a real sense, we are calling on every one in society to live according to this principle. We are asking them to bring greater dicipline into their lives. Our efforts in this direction may, at least to com pulsive cynics, seem merely formalistic and superficial. But tvhen we clean our streets, beatitify our yards and gardens, and bring the sparkle of cleanliness to our com munities, ice give testimony to the rest of the world of certain inner values. EDITORIALS 811 We are in that way giving eloquent proof of impor tant human attributes — a sense of order and discipline, a dedication to excellence, and finally an aesthetic sense. How else can a people achieve their potential for growth? Can we rise to new levels of achievement, whether in our economy or in our social life, through carelessness, through clutter and chaos? Our visible life is the image of our inner life. Disorder and dreariness in our hearts cannot make clean homes and orderly towns. This is the real meaning of our beautification and cleanliness campaign. This is the real meaning of the New Society we are trying to create. I hope that from here you will go back to your towns and neighborhoods with a greater resolve to help create a more disciplined and, therefore, a beautiful and more meaningful life. I hope that the awards here this afternoon will en courage you to set up standards of cleanliness and beau ty in your own communities, and in a sense carry out your own contests, perpetual ones which will lead to strive at all moments, year in and year out, to keep your homes and neighborhoods clean and beautiful. Let us, in a sense, return to ourselves. For our ori ginal selves, the men and women concealed by trappings and speeches, are dedicated to order, discipline, beauty and goodness. MRS. IMELDA ROMUALDEZ, MARCOS Dec. 7, 1972
812 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS CLEANLINESS IN THE CHURCH In the General Order No. 13, President Ferdinand E. Marcos called upon every resident and citizen of the Philippines, all universities, colleges and schools and other similar institutions private as well as public; all commercial and industrial establishments, hotels, res taurants, hospitals, cinemahouses, public markets, trans portation companies, and all establishments of any kind, to undertake the cleaning of their own surroundings, their yards and gardens, as well as the canals, roads or streets in their immediate premises. The response of the citizenry has been notable. There is, indeed, an- improvement in cleanliness and beautification. Again, some people are asking if there is no need for a similar campaign for our churches. Concrete examples have been cited by concerned Catholics to prove the existence of churches and chapels full of dust, cob webs and bats; of churches made ugly by ill-arranged statues and neglected furnitures; of church yards and plazas full of cogon grass. And this is not to mention dirty chalices and Mass vestments and altars. St. John Evangelist said that we cannot love God whom we do not see if we cannot love our neighbor whom we see. Can it not be said also that we cannot keep our soul, which we do not see, clean and beautiful if we cannot keep clean that which we can see? A clean and beautiful church attracts people and inspires them to pray and to be close to the God of clean liness and beauty. A dirty and ugly church drives peo ple away. One of the best sermons of a priest to his people is his effort to keep his church clean and beautiful.
EDITORIALS 813 CATHOLIC BISHOPS ON PLEBISCITE To God’s People and all Fellow-Citizens of Good Will Greetings: RIGHT AND DUTY The Constitutional Convention that we entrusted in 1970, with a mandate to write a new charter for our land, submits now to us for ratification or rejection in the plebiscite on January 15, 1973, the proposed Cons titution. This choice is the most significant and basic exercise of our sovereign right and duty under a demo cratic society. Therefore now, more than ever, every qualified voter is bound in conscience to cast his vote intelligently, conscientiously and courageously in this plebiscite. I '()TE INTELLIGENTL Y Faced with this challenging responsibility it is im perative that we inform ourselves adequately on the merits and demerits of the this proposed Charter. Let us subject this charter to the clear scrutiny of our objective and dispassionate judgment. Let us or ganize groups in every town, in every barrio and pitrok, to discuss this proposed Constitution in. all its implica tions. VOTE CONSCIENTIOUSLY The more serious are our duties the more courage do they demand as we fulfill them. This is all the more so, therefore, when the welfare and future of our country are at stake. Thus, too, we must vote courageously in the plebiscite. 814 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Any human act that is performed with fear or out of fear can hardly be, if at all, an intelligent and con scientious act. Yet, we have only to remind ourselves that full freedom of debate is guaranteed as we prepare for the plebiscite and when we cast our vote. Moreover, the sanctity and secrecy of the ballot remain inviolable. THE TRANSCENDENCE OF THE PLEBISCITE In casting our intelligent, conscientious, honest and free votes we make ourselves the ultimate architects of the future of our country. We shall be rendering an invaluable service to our land. The future of this Chris tian nation rests on our decision. Whatever our verdict may finally be, let it be said that we have made our choice impelled solely by love of country and the pursuit of the common good. APPEAL FOR PRAYER As we face this supreme test of patriotism and our Christian conscience we need the guidance of the ever provident and loving God from whom all authority ema nates. We, the Filipino members of the Philippine Catholic Hierarchy exhort our faithful and all God-loving citizens to offer special prayers as we also declare the Sunday before the Plebiscite, January 14, 1973, a National Day of Prayer. With faith and fervor let us invoke Him who guides the destinies of peoples and nations. FOR THE FILIPINO MEMBERS OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE OF THE PHILIPPINES + TEOPISTO ALBERTO, D.D. Archbishop of N. Caceres
RENEWAL IN THE CHURCH TODAY On 8 November, the Holy Father spoke at the General Audience of the necessity of an interior renewal in the Church. There has been talk of a renewal of the Church: the Coun cil awakened the idea in us, gave us the hope, left us the orders. This word “renewal” still speaks to us: to lovers of the Church, to indicate in a simple word the many needs of the age-old institution which, still alive and consistent with its roots, re ceives as impulse the divine sap of the Holy Spirit always flowing through it towards the blossoming of a new spring. Yes, the Church needs renewal (cf. Decree Optatam totius, n. 1; etc). This same word has not always been rightly understood by everyone. For some it rang out as a condemnation of the past and license to break with it regardless of binding and vital function as the vehicle of the essential principles by which the Church lives, her faith especially, and her constitution. The word renewal seemed to authorize some adaptation of the latter. And there were some who conceived it as detachment from the institutional, historical, visible, exterior structures, in order to keep its spiritual and characteristic content more pure and ef ficient, forgetting that the soul of the Church without the body in which she lives could no longer be found or be active, as St. Augustine already repeated. There were also some who thought they could renew the Church by secularizing her, that is modelling her, sometimes without discernment, in forms and in mentality on the mould of secular society, which, as the daughter of history and of time, could confer on the Church the coveted title of modern. CHECKING TWO POINTS Two things were, and still are, overlooked. The first is that renewal, a continuous, vital process in a living organism like the Church, cannot be a metamorphosis, a radical trans 816 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS formation, a betrayal of essential and perpetual elements, the renewal of which can only be to strengthen, not to change. The other is that the desired renewal is interior, rather than exterior, as St. Paul admonishes us in words still relevant today: “There must be a renewal in the inner life of your minds” (Eph. 4, 23). Pithy words, these, easier to utter than to put into prac tice. How should we translate them? You must renew your mentality by virtue of the Christian inspiration that is con ferred on you by grace, by the inner action of the Holy Spirit. You must from your speculative and practical judgment accord ing to Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel, or, as is said, according to Christian analysis. We must have a Christian mentality, we must think according to the conception that the Word of God gives us of the world, life, society, present and future values. It is not easy; but this is what has to be done. The adaptation of our overall way of feeling, knowing, judg ing and therefore operating is the permanent programme of the individual Christian and of the Church in general. It is a question of continual self-reformation. Ecclesia semper reformanda.. Living in the world, today so meaningful and diffusive, so aggressive and tempting, so trained to con formism, even in its contestation, has a strong influence on our personality. The accepted norm, particularly in the new gene rations, that we must be “people of our times”, obliges all of us to put up with the philosophies, that is to say, the current opinions, and to regilate our innex- spirituality and our exterior conduct along the lines of the age, that is, of the world which disregards God and Christ. To travel along these lines may ensure a great speed, that is, great intensity of life, but all things considered, it will deprive us of oux * originality, oui- real and autonomous freedom. We are conformists. The Church, too, has her temptations of conformism. St. Paul warns us: “Do not be conformed to this world (understood as an environ ment the atmosphere of which is infected by ideas that are wrong oi- deprived of Christian light), but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12,2). Claim your freedom to live according to the charity that the Spirit has poured forth in Christian soul (cf. Rom. 5,5). Here we must remember: “Where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom” (II Cor. 3, 17) ; cf. Jn. 8, 36; Rom. 8,2). RENEWAL IN THE CHURCH TODAY 817 THE VISION IS POSITIVE To renew oneself inwardly, what work, what toil! Who is ready to modify his way of thinking? To purify his inner cell of his fantasies, ambitions and passions? Yet how often the Lord exhorts us to make this inner renewal! (cf. Mt. 15, 18-20). And the Council invites us to do so, individually, and invites the whole Church altogether; and this is what she is doing, with God’s help: renewal, which is the same as purification. But we should not like, ending our little talk, to leave you with a purely negative impression of the renewal that the Church needs. There is a whole positive vision that would deserve our attention, for example, the one opened up bv the education of the modern Christian values of human activity, etc. (cf. Gaudium et Spes, n. 31). To be able to see in every man an image of Christ, a brother to be respected, served and loved, is not this a fundamental and formidable criterion for the renewal that the Church and the world need? To see a secret of divine goodness in every sorrow, a coefficient of per sonal or collective progress in every event (cf. Rom. 8,20), is this not tantamount to opening a marvellous source of opti mism. and therefore, of renewal for the old. weary and dis appointed heart of man? To have rekindled eschatological hope in the mind of us mortals today, is this not to instil a meaning, an impulse of newness into present and future time? “Ecce nova facio omnia", behold, I make all things new (Ap. 21, 5; cf. II Cor. 5, 17) ! The Lord’s word. The Church’s need. The commitment of all of us! With Our Apostolic Blessing. SA IKAUUNLAD NG SIMBAHAN DISIPLINA ANG KAILANGAN.
POPE TO SECRETARIAT COUNCIL OF THE SYNOD On 27 October the Holy Father received in audience the Cardinals and other Prelates who are members of the Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. They had taken part in the meeting which had lasted from 2l> to 27 October. After an introductory address of homage by Cardinal Maurice Roy, His Holiness gave the following address. Venerable Brothers, We are happy to greet you once again, as you come back to Rome to deal in common with affairs regarding the Synod of Bishops. We are sincerely delighted with your prompt zeal which is also a witness to the vigour and efficiency of your Commission. The Synod of Bishops has already become a definite and conspicuous ecclesiastical institution. We are still consoling ourself with the memory of the meeting held last year, but our thoughts are already directed toward the next one. It is of importance then to know just what the result of your discussion will be concerning the exact date of this next session. For on that occasion the delegates will also be questioned about the length of time to be allowed between the future meetings of the Synod. COLLEGIAL NATURE OF BISHOPS But the discussion which We just mentioned concerns first of all the topic or topics of the coming session, and also the changes which perhaps will have to be introduced into the proce dural rules of the Synod. In this work of yours We really discern a practical real ization of the collegial nature of Bishops, who, as the Second Vatican Council points out, “are consecrated not only for a par ticular diocese but for the salvation of the whole world” (Ad Gentes, 39). Thus the episcopal charism is extended and shares POPE TO SYNOD SECRETARIAT 819 to a certain greater degree in the work of governing universal Church, in so far as the Bishops, summoned by the Supreme Pontiff, work closer together with him in the fulfilment of his own duty. Here we also note other advantages which are a source of consolation: greater agreement of minds and wills in applying canonical regulations; unanimity of action; brotherly assistance, according to the word of the Apostle: “Each one carry the other’s burden” (Gal. 6, 2) ; spiritual solidarity in faith and charity; that precious “sensus Ecclesiae”; and finally the con sciousness that we are a “mystical body” and that Christ is in us and among us. FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHURCH As is very clear, this universal view of things in no way detracts from the importance which is rightly assigned to each Bishop as the ruler of the diocese; on the contrary, their dig nity and authority in this regard were completely recognized and emphasized by the Council. Consequently this relationship of solidarity and mutual aid between the local and the universal Church underlines the very life of the mystical body of Christ. It is this vision of the Church, welded together in such an extraordinary and vital way, which you yourselves present to Us, Venerable Brothers. And so as We pray that the work in which you are now conscientiously engaging will produce re sults which will be for the good and profit of the whole Chuich, We impart to you with affection Our Apostolic Blessing. Let us Pray for our Bishops on the Occasion of the Annual CBBCP Meeting. January 29-February 3, 1973 Baguio City
FOUNDATION OF THE HOLY LAND, INC." Manila — Philippines N. 14522 30 November 1972 Your Excellency: This kindly refers to a Notice, published in “L’Osservatore Romano”, November 16, 1972, on a certain “Foundation of the Holy Land, Inc., Jerusalem.” In this connection, the Papal Secretariat of State has directed this Apostolic Nunciature to kindly call the attention of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines that the socalled “Foundation of the Holy Land, Inc., Jerusalem,” operat ing in various countries, specially in the United States of America, “with the. purpose of collecting funds for the Holy Land,” has no explicit nor implicit approval of the Holy See or the competent local ecclesiastical authorities. A warning is given to said “Foundation” not to abuse the names of ecclesiastical persons or entities, who are asked to avoid the giving of any help. While professing to Your Excellency my personal best wishes, I willingly profit by this occasion to reiterate to you the sen timents of my fraternal esteem in Christ. Devotedly yours, (Sgd.) f Carmine Rocco Apostolic Nuncio His Excellency Monsignor Teopisto V. Alberto, D.D. Archbishop of Caceres President, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines 2655 F.B. Harrison, Pasay City
MICHAEL RUA: A BLESSED FOR THE PEOPLE * • Proclaimed Blessed by Pope Paul VI, 29 October 1972. If anyone had held out for him the prospect of beatifica tion, Don Michael Rua, the successor of Don Bosco, either would have laughed or would have been scandalized. In his humility he took himself for a disciple of Don Bosco, and did not wish to be anything else. Holiness, however, was in him, just because, in faithful ness to the founder of the Salesians, he had taken the way that goes from love of the poor to union with God. He was one who made the immense work, to which he had subjected himself, an instrument of perfection, used as a Christian, a religious, a son of Don Bosco. A holiness, lived socially, like Christ, who spent charisms and blood to serve the multitudes; like one who lived — these are his words — as if he would never have to die. In a word he made his work an expression of love, which cost sacrifices and aroused joy: a kind of uninterrupted liturgy, as a result of which he felt he was in God’s service whether he was cele brating Mass or teaching or travelling or whatever he was doing. That there was holiness in him, was recognized, moreover, in the midst of his ordinary occupations, by not a few persons who were good judges of it. As early as 1869, for example, the Jesuit, Secundo Franco, had confessed that he was unable to say if Don Bosco’s virtue was greater than that of Don Rua. And Don Bosco himself said: “Don Rua could work miracles if he wished to”. Ano ther saint, Pius X, speaking of Don Rua after his death, tes tified: “whenever I saw him, it seemed to me that he could be put on the altars”. 822 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS GREAT DON BOSCO Don Bosco is great because of the courageous, new, in genious enterprises carried out for the elevation of abandoned boys, of the poor, the ignorant, the lost, etc.: Sunday schools, vocational schools, orphanages, seminaries, missions, construc tions and services of every kind to bring them to life again and to hope in life. But I think that one of the best measures of his greatness can be found in the formation of boys, taken from the humblest strata of the working people whom he made priests, teachers, skillful workers, and even saints. Just think of Domenico Savio, and now Michael Rua. He made the latter, chosen when he was a poor, shy boy, eight years old, the most comprehensive continuer of his work, so that he could be taken, for virtue and for achievement, as the living proof of Don Bosco’s educative capacities. Becoming Major Rector at the Saint’s death and remaining such until his own death, that is, for 22 years, from 1888 to 1910, Don Rua raised the number of houses inherited from the Founder from sixtyfour to three hundred and fourteen, setting them up in all the continents, to evangelize, educate, heal, from pagans to lepers, from children to the old, from the ignorant to the learned. Likewise the Salesians rose from seven hundred under Don Bosco, distributed in six nations, to four thousand, dis tributed in thirty nations. In all this conservative activity, which raised works of physical and spiritual rebirth for the people, sometimes as sociating with this service, following the example of a St. Vincent de Paul and of a St. John Bosco, also the most gene rous spirits of the high classes, the Blessed intended to bear an up-to-date testimony to the perennial relevance of Christian ity, in a historical period in which anti-clerical, secular and atheistic ideologies were being spread in the midst of Chris tendom in several parts of Europe, confusing the people and often inducing them to desert the churches. And so Don Rua brought back a breeze of youth, in the midst of the depression caused by the political events of national unity, embittered by the Roman question. Continuing his master’s initiative, he, too, devoted himself with amazing success to reconstructing a modern image of the Church in the midst of the workers, almost sweeping away the fictitious barriers behind which, for many people, the vitality of the faith seemed turned to stone. At the same time FOUNDATION OF THE HOLY LAND 823 he succeeded in completing the Master’s appstolate to recons truct the image of the Papacy, often distorted by the wild sectarianism of the period. FOLLOWING HIS MASTER This effusion, which reached the extreme limits of the earth, together with the many journey and studies in every direction, shows us how open that soul was, eager to reach everyone, out of charity, feeling indebted to everyone. It was charity that made him tireless and inexhaustible, that infused an endless vitality into him. He himself explianed: “He who loves is always happy”. He slept very little in order to work very hard, he was distressed by every adversity, he assumed burdens of every kind, and yet “he was always happy”. He had God in his heart: and God, like love, is joy. It was he who developed, in modernity of ideas and means, the function of service of his long rectorship, which acted as one of the elements preparing that process of aggiornamento which culminated in Vatican II: that Council defined by Paul VI “an act of love for God, for the Church, for mankind”. The Salesian action for mankind takes its place in the Christian sociological cycle that was expressed in the Rerum Novarum at those times and now is polarized round Populorum Progress io. “Following the example of Don Bosco — his biographer Agostino Auffray recalls — he was in the habit of reminding the cooperators and friends of the Salesian works of the evan gelical function of weath, so that everyone would feel the need to contribute to the moral and Christian elevation of the popu lar classes”. For this reason he helped to found workers’ clubs, to support the Catholic Working Women’s Unions, to collaborate with Leon Ilarmel and with the constructors of the new Catholic sociology, aimed at making the masses the people and the people the Church. Knowing by experience that the society of tomorrow is established on the young people of today, he had an extraordi nary capacity for loving and understanding boys, particularly those inclined to delinquency, managing to guide to virtue and professional abilities even the wildest pupils, a forerunner in the type of magisterium most demanded today. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS ATTRACTED TEENAGERS Thus he attracted thousands and thousands of teenagers to the Oratories, particularly in the larger towns, succeeding in making them live the joy of innocence. Like St. Augustine, he did not believe in harsh repression, in fierce pedagogies: he believed in kindness and he understood spirits by the light of that divine intelligence, love. He believed in games, singing, merriment; he was able to become a boy with the birichini (little rascals) : the model director, as Don Bosco had moulded him. Of course serenity and joy did not mean superficiality for him, so severe with himself, with that limpid simplicity in which his many-sided action moved. On the contrary, they were the fruit of that assiduous passing from pain of love, in which the followers of the Cross seek the solution to evils. “To arrive at the Promised Land — Don Bosco had warned him on the day of his first Mass — it is necessary to cross the Red Sea and the desert: you will have to work a great deal and suffer a great deal”. And Don Rua was so convinced of this that he summed up in a maxim of evident wisdom the whole cycle of pain in its passing to love. “Every cross — he said — is heavy for one who drags it along. For him who embraces it lovingly and takes it up on his shoulders generously, it becomes light”. Under this sweetness, a real childhood of the spirit, could be felt the suffering he bore at all the miseries, present in his heart; but a suffering united by love to a fortitude that made him resemble a martyr. MAN FOR OUR TIMES In a word, we can see in the new Blessed of the Catholic Church the Christian as he is most demanded by our times. And the value of his testimony, which lasted his whole life, was seen already at his death, when the Town Council of Turin, composed mainly of Radicals and socialists, paid him concordant and triumphant tribute, recalling him, amid the emotion of all, as a saint, nay more as “the ideal saint that mankind in its agitated life is seeking with longing”; the “worthy continuer to Don Bosco”, so that the people of Turin "saw personified (in him) the living miracle of an institution that, springing out of nothing, without government aids . . . rises and is maintained all over the civilized world, supporting principles of freedom, equality justice and love.. .”
THE LIFE OF BLESSED AGOSTINA * • L’Osservaton Romano, 23 November 1972. Proclaimed Blessed by Pope Paul VI, 12 November 1972. Livia Pietrantoni was the second-born of ten children of Francesco Pietrantoni and Caterina Costantini. She was born at Pozzaglia Sabina (Rieti) in the Diocese of Tivoli, 27 March, 1864, and was baptized on the same day. At the age of four, she received the sacrament of confirm ation in the church of Orvinio. On the 23rd of March, eighteen years later, she joined the Sisters of Charity of St. Joan Antida Thouret. at their Generalate in Rome. On 13 August, 1887, she was clothed with the religious habit and received the name of Sister Agostina, and appointed as nurse in the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome. She made her religious profession on 29 September, 1893. In May of the next year, tuberculosis brought her to death’s door, and she received the Last Sacraments. However, she recovered in a marvelous way and after a short vacation at Porto d’Anzio, returned to her post — the tuberculosis ward — at the hospital. She had begged her Superior to permit her to remain at that post lest some other Sister would contract the disease. That was in May 1894. Shortly before noon on 13 November, 1894, Sister Agostina was attacked and mortally wounded by her assistant — Giuseppe Romanelli, a former mental patient. She died after pardoning her assassin. The funeral on the 15th of November was indeed a spectacle to behold. An estimated 200 thousand persons were present for her funeral and burial in the Roman Campo Verano cemetery. THE SPIRITUALITY OF SISTER AGOSTINA Her spirituality was very simple: it was that of the Beati tudes lived with an exceptional consistency. She loved and served 826 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS the poor with complete dedication because in each of her patients, she saw the image of Christ. She loved her companion Sisters and chose to remain at her post in the contagious ward, lest another Sister contract the illness. Before she died, she forgave the man who had so brutally attacked her. Sister Agostina was devoted to the Eucharist, the Crucified Christ, and the Blessed Mother, whom she invoked with her last breath. HER APOSTOLATE The activities of Sister Agostina were limited both in time and in extent — eight years in the Santo Tomas Spirito Hospi tal in Rome. These were difficult years at the hospital: the Roman Question had poisoned people’s minds, Freemasonry was rampant, the Sisters were expressly forbidden to speak of God to the sick. But for Sister Agostina, words were unnecessary: the testimony of her life, of her dedication shone through with more eloquence than words. And everyone understood her lang uage. At times the restlessness of the type of sick the nurse called for police intervention. Sister always remained calm and serene on those occasions, saying: “They are not bad; they are suffering and need our compassion. Let us try to help them and pray for them.” Her way was that of meekness, and she persevered in that attitude even to the bitter end. PROCESS OF BEATIFICATION The informative process for the introduction of the Cause of Beatification began in Rome in 1936 and continued until 1939. In 1941 her body was taken from the cemetery to the Chapel of the Generalate on Via di S. Maria in Cosmedin. On the 14th of December, 1945, was promulgated the decree for the introduction of the Cause of Beatification and Canonization. After the recognition of her heroic virtue in 1967, the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints accepted the validity of the miracles attributed to her intercession and on 22 June 1972 published the decree of beatification. The solemn Beatification took place in St. Peter’s Basilica on 12 November, 1972. THE TWO MIRACLES On the evening of 7 March 1952, four-year old Caterina Monzeglio, a high-spirited child, was playing near the fireplace in her home in Ozzano Monferrato in the Diocese of Casale. BLESSED AGOSTINA 827 Suddenly a red-hot piece of iron wounded her left eye. She developed a lesion on the cornea; her parents were distraught. They invoked the aid of Sister Agostina Pietrantoni, after which the child fell asleep. On the following morning, the doctor was unable to find the slightest trace of injury. In the afternoon of 5 September 1960, seven year old Vit torio Berti, living in Ravalle in the Diocese of Adria, while trying to jump on to his father’s tractor, fell and was caught under the wheels of the tractor which passed over his abdomen. He was taken immediately to the hospital of Adria in a serious condition. Twice attempts wore made to operate, but the con dition of the patient forbade it. He was put to bed and en trusted to the care of the Sister nurse and his relations. There was nothing more to be done. However, after invoking the help of Sister Agostina. a short time after midnight, the child revived. He began to speak, asking for something to eat and to drink, and for his toys. In the morning the doctors found no sign of injury they had reported the night before. MISAL NA PANG-ARAW-ARAW Ikatlong Pagkaliinbag Batay sa huling pagbabago sa Liturhiya Isinalin ni Fr. Excclso Garcia, O.P. Pamantasan ng Santo Tomas, Maynila Alga nilalaman: Bagong Ordinaryo ng Alisa, Introito, Kolekta, Panalangin sa alay.Komunyon, (av>g mga ‘’agbasang hango sa Banal na Kasulatan, na kasalukuyang isinasalin ng may-akda. ay ipalilimbag sa isang nakahiwalay na ak’at). Mabibili sa Limbagan ng Pamantasan ng Santo Tomas, Maynila
SAINT ALPHONSUS, AN EXEMPLARY PASTOR OF SOULS * * L’Osservatore Romano, 23 November 1972. On the occasion of the solemn celebrations for the centenary of the proclamation of St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Ligon ri as Doctor of the Church, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Giovanni Villot, sent the following letter to Cardinal Corrado Ursi, Archbishop of Naples, the city to which the mortal remains of the "pastor anin/arum’’ have been transferred for the conclusion of the cereMy Lord Cardinal, On behalf of the Episcopate of Campania, Your Eminence informed His Holiness that the mortal remains of St. Alphonsus de’ Ligouri, transported from Pagani, are in your city from 20 to 29 October to mark the solemn conclusion of the celebra tions— which lasted till today — of the centenary of his proc lamation as Doctor of the Church, which took place on 28 March 1871. The Holy Father is glad to take this opportunity, accord ing to the desire expressed, to propose again for general consideration the example of the great Pastor, the glory of the Church and in the pride of your generous land, for the pur pose of stressing the teachings he still has to give our times, so much in need of certainties and norms for consistent human and Christian action. St. Alphonsus was really for all his long life a “pastor animarum”. His figures shines forth in the history of the Church, in a particularly difficult period, because of his lofty sense of responsibility, supported by which he devoted his phy sical strength, his brilliant intellect, his gifts of human and Christian sensibility for the good souls, which was really the “suprema lex” for him. This light illuminates his work as a ST. ALPHONSUS LIGOURI 829 tireless herald of the Word of God, in his preaching that con quered the learned and the humble, and in the writing of admirable works, in their simplicity, which were and still are widely read, thereby multiplying the efficacy of his apostolate without limits of time and space. MODEL FOR RENEWAL From this zeal for the salvation of souls there also arose the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer, which he founded to provide those whom he saw neglected and deprived of adequate care, with the nourishment of God’s Word and every spiritual assistance. He wished that his Religious should imitate the Divine Saviour, in the intimacy of prayer and liturgical life as well as in going from town to town to proclaim the Gospel in sermons and spiritual exercises. It was pastoral zeal that made St. Alphonsus a theologian. When the rigorism of the Jansenists, reacting against moral laxity, prevented a living, personal relationship with God and a real interior peace for Christians of goodwill, the writings of the Saint aimed at clearing for the faithful, in their daily weakness, a way to the Father of mercies and to Christ the Redeemer. He deepened and renewed moral theology with the personal commitment of his faith, his zeal and his hard scienti fic work. Today, too, in accordance with the instructions of Vatican II (cf. Optatam totius, 16), there is need of such a deepening and renewal. Therefore the St. Alphonsus celebrations offer the opportunity to turn our eyes upon this necessary process to obtain directives and indications, particularly for presentday moral theology, which must carry out the grave task needed by the Church and the world. “GRACE OF THE SPIRIT’’ a) St. Alphonsus, a theologian and pastor of souls, clearly saw the necessity of this renewal in his times, and courageously put into practice. Today, too, the study of moral theology must be constantly renewed: not in the sense of a “new” moral ity corresponding to the short-lived demands of the current situation, but in response to the requirements of the present condition of the Church and of mankind, adapted to the signs of the times. 830 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS It is really satisfying to see that moral theology today is trying to put into practice the recommendations of the Council. Today it is again more aware that it must be far more than an interpretation of a moral code or an exercise in casuistry, though it preserves their value, if well done. It tires to deal with the deepest reality of Christian life, vocation in Christ, and the acceptance of this vocation, both “graces” of the Redeemer, as the central theme of moral theology. In this way moral theology is brought back again to the doctrine of St. Paul, St. Augustine (De Spiritu et litterir, P.L. 44, 199246) and St. Thomas (S. Th. I-II, 106). For Thomas Aquinas, vocation in Christ, which he calls “grace of the Holy Spirit”, is the principal element of the new law in Christ. The histo rical implementation of every day Christian morality is, con sequently, not just “obedience” to moral precepts, but mainly “fruit” of the life-giving Spirit (cf. Jn. 15, 2-3; Gal. 5,22). On the other hand, vocation in Christ and the gift of the Spirit not only do not make it superfuous to seek models and norms for a Christian life in this world, but drive home awareness of Christian responsibility to find the best way of living, one’s life, both personal and social, in a really human and Christian way. STIMULUS TO CONSCIENCE b) Just as the theologico-moral work of St. Alphonsus was stamped by his personality and by his moral experience and conscience, so today the renewal demanded must be a con tinual stimulus to the conscience of the moralist. Moral experience enables the theologian to reflect about human and Christian morality, and is a prerequisite of his being able to make a contribution of his own to the solution of the moral problems of humanity, provided he tires to understand the mentality of modern man and personal and social problems, which imply moral questions of very great importance. Un fortunately, there are theologians who owing to the continual phase of evolution of the world and of man, sometimes seem to hesitate to continue their task in the Church and in the world. However, if moral theologians start from the Catholic doctrine and avail themselves of their own personal experience, well meditated, and of their faithful conscientiousness, and make the sincere attempt to understand modern man and his problems, moral theology can rightly find the right way to ST. ALPHONSUS LIGOURI 831 the desired deepening and renewal. The Holy Father wishes to encourage moral theologians, and asks them to continue their conscientious and responsible study. SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY c) In his work of renewal, St. Alphonsus was sustained by a high sense of responsibility; thus moral theology must feel responsible to individuals, to society, to Church and to God. If it is to save the indespensable blaues of the human and Christian spirit, and of its tradition, it has the task of restating the results of the Christian and human commit ments of the past for the present moment and for the future. In so doing it is necessary to avoid the twofold danger of not declaring clearly enough what God’s will is and thereby im posing on men obligations that are not sufficiently justified as well as casting doubts on moral requirements that are fully justified. No one-sidedness in moral theology, — whether of rigorism or of liberality — equally arbitrary — leads to good but rather harms the real humanization and Christianization of man and of society. In the Constitution Gaudium et spes (cf. 15, 11; 10, 38; 42 ss; 57), Vatican II asks Christians — and therefore also moral theologians aware of their own responsibility — to help in this genuine humanization and Christianization of humanity and of the world in their process of evolution. Moral theology, however, will realize that a perfect humanization — and there fore interpersonal love in the first place — is not possible without the reality of the Cross. It will also explain what is sometimes forgotten or denied, that is, religion also belongs to a full formation of mankind: that is."not only theoretical faith, but also prayer, meditation, worship. Without religion and the cross, just as without the strength of redeeming and liberating grace, humanization and human interpersonality are not fully realized, as real moral values. PLACE OF SACRED SCRIPTURES d) St. Alphonsus also tried, in a difficult, scientific study, to bring into his own work what could be gathered from Chris tian experience in the past and from knowledge of the real situation of man in his time. In the same way moral theology today must be able to embrace all the elements it needs to carry out a valid reflection on spiritual life, inspired by faith. 832 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS In the first place it will have to be guided by Holy Scripture: there, it finds developed its primary theme, that is, “the high vocation of the faithful” in Christ (Optatam totiiis, 16). There, it discovers the riches of the mystery of Christ and the mys tery of a theological anthropology that makes it understand the deep reality of Christian man. There, it finds the norms that summon the whole man: continual conversion, faith and love of the Father, the following of Christ, the life of man redeemed and reborn in faith and in the sacraments. There, it finds the fundamental values and attitudes — disinterested love, jus tice, desire to carry the cross, etc. — which selfish man would only be too glad not to know. There, it finds the Sermon on the Mount, in which Christ himself paints the picture of the man of the kingdom of God. There, finally, it finds for exam ple in St. Paul, the attempts of the first Christians to determine concrete moral norms for the community of the time. Moral theology has the task of learning from the history of the moral ideas of the people of God, how numerous Chris tians, in the Holy Spirit, have succeeded in making themselves models of human life in the world and in the following of Christ. Here there is need of a human interpretation and a Christian discernment in order that the really human and Christian evaluations of the people of God in past centuries — and only these evaluations — may be preserved and become fruitful for the present day. The same procedure must be fol lowed also with regard to the tendencies of the people of God today, where the Spirit of Christ is no less alive than before, although it cannot be denied that other influences are also felt. INTENSIFYING EFFORTS The people of God is one alone, but hierarchically ordered. Consequently, it is understandable that moral theology should be particularly attentive to the words of those who, being Pas tors. can say authentically what is the real spirit of the people of God. It will accept gratefully the word of the magisterial and pastoral office of the Church, as an essential element and an immediate and universal norm for the deepening and renewal of morals today. Furthermore, this theology must endeavour to understand the man of today, and, as far as possible, the various people of different cultures. Without this effort, it could not really reach reality. It must therefore become familiar with the essential ST. ALPHONSUS LIGOURI 833 knowledge of human sciences, and know exactly the sector of reality which it wishes to address, and also speak to men who have not the light of the Gospel. It must, together with the non-Christians, make the attempt to determine what solutions to contemporary human problems correspond best with the reality and dignity of man. (cf. (Gaudium et spes, 33, 40). Catholic moral theology, precisely because it is irradiated by the light of the Gospel, destined to illuminate all the nations, sets out to make a real contribution, acceptable to all men of goodwill: it is not, therefore, a normative morality for Catholics alone. That is also demanded by the traditional Catholic doc trine on the universal and perennial value of the so-called natural law, of which the Magisterium of the Church is the custodian and the authentic interpreter. HIERARCHICALLY ORDERED e) Finally, and above all, the example of St. Alphonsus speaks of the necessity of intensifying efforts for a continual evangelization. As he used word, of mouth and the pen to proc laim the Gospel, so today the bishops and their collaborators in the clergy must feel committed to an ever generous activity to spread the Kingdom of God, by means of preaching, adapt ed to the requirements of the time, and the religious instruction imparted to the various categories of persons, particularly adolescents and the young. They must use the instruments that the media of social communication placed at the disposal of the pastors of souls, on such a vast and multiple scale that they must stimulate talent and zeal for their modern utiliza tion in today’s overall apostolate. In this activity the better qualified and more open Catholic laity can offer efficacious cooperation. With the fatherly good wishes that the centenary celebra tions may offer pastors and moralists precious food for thought, along the lines indicated above, the Sovereign Pontiff invokes on all the powerful intercession of the Holy Doctor, and willing ly imparts his special Apostolic Blessing. I am glad to take advantage of the circumstance to express deep veneration for Your Eminence. Devotedly in the Lord. GIOVANNI Card. V1LLOT
THE "JESUS" OF ST. THOMAS * * L’Osservatore Romano, 23 November 1972. Recently, Jesus, our divine Saviour, has interested the world press. Initiatives of young people in various countries, and meetings bearing his name, have provided material for journalists. From these premises I have taken the opportunity to review the portrait of Jesus painted by St. Thomas in his Summa (III, qq. 1-17). It is obvious that the Jesus of St. Thomas Aquinas is the same as that of St. Thomas the Apostl? saying: “My Lord and God”. It is the same exclamation medi tated and developed with wonderful consistency. Jesus is the Word incarnated: this is the revelation of Holy Scripture, and it Js the teaching of the Church. The Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon explained that faith, and it is that faith that the Angelic Doctor contemplates. “The Word was made flesh” (Jn. 1,14) : that is, became a man. He is God and man. He united to himself a human nature and thus became Christ. It is from that union of a human nature with the person of the Word that it is necessary to start out. It is the closest union that there can be, since it constitutes in one being the person and the nature united with it. The Word, the body and the soul of Christ are one being, one person. The human nature of Christ is no other than the Word’s. It is a question here of reality, of what is, and not just of a combina tion of words of juridical relations. Now, granted that union in the person here is a very clear principle that will guide us: the nearer a thing is to a centre of influence, the more intensely it receives its effect. The more a body approaches the sun, the hotter it becomes. The human nature of Christ, being united with the Word in the closest unions, receives its greatest effect, and such that no other nature can receive an effect so great. The hypostatic union (in the person) gratuitously brought about, is a first, funda mental grace, which requires the other graces in their supreme degree. THE “JESUS” OF ST. THOMAS 835 OUR GREATEST GIFT God’s greatest gift to an intelligent nature is that of super natural life, participation in divine life, which is not due to any creature, not even to the most perfect of the angels. It has, in fact, been granted to angels and to men, and it could not but be given to the human nature of Christ, by virtue of his union with the Word. Sanctifying grace, therefore, as we call participation in divine life, was infused in Christ’s soul with an intensity greater than in any other nature. This means that Christ, receiving the grace of union in the first instant of his conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, also received divine life or sanctifying grace in the highest degree, and that He did not receive it only as children do in baptism, without his act, but in the exercise of his most perfect act, that is, the vision of divine essence face to face. Right from his conception, his soul was blessed more than any pure creature will ever be. Thus Christ is constituted of the Word, human nature (body and soul) in one being, in one person. The soul enjoys the vision of God. How shall we now understand the capaci ties, the qualities, the activities of human nature in that divine person? All the virtues compatible with the constitution of Christ, that is charity and the cardinal and moral virtues, were infused into it with sanctifying grace, and in their highest perfection. But where there is the vision, there is no room for faith, and where there is no sin, there cannot be penitence. There are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus himself declared in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke I. 21). And what acts result from the exercise of those sublime virtues and the gifts of the Spirit? Here we are guided by a secure principle. We must attribute to Christ the qualities and activities that stem from his constitution and are not opposed to his mission as Redeemer: and we must exclude the defects incompatible with his constitution or with his mission; while we will admit in him the defects and infirmities that are not incompatible with the dignity of his person and which are necessary or useful for the accomplishment of his mission. IMPECCABLE WILL So we see his intelligence preserved from ignorance, since it is illuminated by the divine essence, contemplated face to face; the infused knowledge of the angels is communicated to 836 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS him; its natural activity is exercised in daily experience. Those who speak of a Christ who is hardly able to know who he is, who does not know the duration of his Church or anything else connected with his mission, have not reflected enough on what the grace of the hypostatic union entails. His will is impeccable, since nothing would contradict his mission as Saviour as much as sin. He himself challenged his adversaries to find sin in him (John 8, 46). His will is very holy because of the perfection of its charity, and it is free to carry out a mission of obedience, atonement, merit. Christ has also sense faculties and passions in which they have a part. But the defects that passions have in us cannot exist in him. He had no inclination to evil, and the temptations of the devil could not result in such for him. His emotions were perfectly subjected to the rule of reason and did not dis turb it in any way. ASSUMED OUR NATURE The God-Man, however, willed to assume those infirmities and defects of our nature that were compatible with his cons titution and which served his mission. In fact he was subject to fatigue, as when he slept in Peter’s boat (Mt. 8, 24), or when he sat on the edge of Jacob’s well (Jn. 4, 6). He was hungry, as when he went to the fig tree (Mt. 21, 18). That follows from human nature, makes it recognizable, brings Jesus nearer to us, allows him to set examples and to merit. Above all he can suffer much in his body and in his soul, and can die. This certainly does not follow from his constitution which would rather call for the glory of Tabor and the Resur rection; but it was necessary for the Lord’s mission. He had come to atone, to expiate, to redeem us by his death; it is also in keeping with his generosity and his love. That incredible humility, as St. Augustine calls it, was possible in spite of the presence of the union, because the influence of the latter was providentially suspended, to all of each faculty to be deter mined only by its object. At the same time there was the joy of the beatific vision, and sadness at the sight of the sins of men and because of the anguish of death, the suffering of the tortured body dying on the cross. That portrait of Christ satisfies the two Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon: the two natures remain distinct, with THE “JESUS” OF ST. THOMAS 837 out confusion, ancl they are in the same person. In fact, what is said of the human nature of Christ leaves it completely with in the limits of humanity. The grace it receives is supreme, in fact in a certain way infinite, but not simply infinite and it is created; the human nature remains outside of the divine, which does not undergo change. Yet the union in one person produces its full effect: by belonging to the Word, the human nature receives “the whole treasury of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2, 3) ; and nevertheless that is in harmony with the suf ferings, the humiliations and the death freely accepted for us. This doctrine which satisfies because of its harmony and intelligibility is nothing but the expression of the reality con tained in the sacred texts. St. Thomas was an exegete. He taught Holy Scripture; he commented on the New Testament; he collected the best texts scattered among the commentaries of the Holy Fathers. It cannot but be desired that those ad mirable articles of the Summa should be meditated more and more by theologians and exegetes. CHARLES BOYER, S.J. MOST REV. MANUEL S. SALVADOR, D.D. Coadjutor Archbishop of Cebu Born Jan. 7, 1925, in Dalaguete, Cebu; ordained priest on March 2, 1953; ordained Bishop on Jan. 19, 1967, and ap pointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cebu; appointed Residential Bishop of Palo on October 21. 1969; named Coadjutor Arch bishop of Cebu on October, 1972, by Pope Paul VI. The Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas extends prayerful greetings and congratulations.
PAUL OR APOLLOS? * * The Priest, Sept. 1972. The tensions between faith, theology and obedience have exploded periodically since the earliest days of the Church. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul tried to control the widening gap between the group that “belonged to Apollos” and the group that “belonged to Paul” (I Cor. 1:10-3.23). In succeeding centuries the same conflict has arisen between fol lowers of different masters or schools of theology. St. Thomas Aquinas had stated in his day that the weakest argument in theology is the argument from authority — unless it is the authority of God. But this did not prevent many a professor from clinchipg a theological argument by quoting Aqiunas, nor does it prevent some priests today from blindly accepting doctrines, theories and opinions simply on the basis of the notoriety or popularity of a particular author. Perhaps the tendency stems from their seminary days, when they felt secure in taking the word of a professor, who surely should have known more about the subject than they did. Since the close of Vatican II, theologians have been given a great deal of publicity, with the result that some of them have attracted a large number of followers. At the same time it has become increasingly evident that these authoritative theologians do not agree among themselves and some of them have been accused of rejecting official Church teaching. Now, it should come as no surprise that there is pluralism in theology or that there are “schools” of theology. The mys teries of faith are not problems to be solved by a theologian, but they are truths to be believed by faith in God revealing, and some of them defy comprehension by the human intellect. Nevertheless, each theologian who attempts to interpret and defend the mysteries of faith will do so according to his own theological method. Moreover, in the field of moral theology there may be universal agreement on the principles of morality PAUL OR APOLLOS? but a divergence of conclusions when those principles are ap plied to the existential order of particular cases and circums tances. We have therefore always admitted the difficulty of precision as we get farther away from principles and closer to particulars. We have also always admitted to certain “open questions” in theology, meaning that as yet we have no diffinitive teaching on a given question. The rule of behavior here has been to be tolerant of other views even as we defend our own. But when we come to the matter of the rejection of doc trines proposed by the Church for belief, we are faced with quite another and more serious problem. How "free” can a theologian be in expressing his opinion about the dogmas of the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the nature of the Eucharist, etc.? The answer to this question involves another: What is the function of a theologian? In his address to the International Congress of Theology in 1966, Pope Paul VI stated that the function of theology is “to bring to the knowledge of the Christian community, and particularly of the magisterium, the fruits of its research so that, through the doctrine taught by the ecclesiastical hierar chy, they become a light for all the Christian people.” And Father Yves Cougar has noted: “It is in effect utterly im possible for theology to fulfill its proper function if it is denied the possibility of trials, hypotheses, questions and solutions which are put in circulation, not to impose them as things defined and definitive, but to make them undergo the test of criticism and enjoy . . . the cooperation of the thinking and working world ... As Benedict XV declared to Father Ledochowoski: ‘In matters which are not Revelation, we must allow liberty of discussion’ ” (The History of Theology, p. 273). So much for the function of the theologian; but what about his teaching authority? Here we have a clear statement from Vatican II in the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: The task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whe ther written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scru pulously and explaining it faithfully by divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit” (n. 10). 840 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Therefore, the criterion of orthodox doctrine is the magisterium of the Church, as Father Congar has stated so succintly: “Theology has for its rule a datum proposed by the ecclesiastical magisterium, just as philosophy has for its rule the datum of natural knowledge. And it is well establish ed that the first step of the theologian is an act of submission to this datum and magisterium” (op. cit. p. 258). What this means, then, is that the theologian has an ob ligation to confine his theologizing between the boundaries of faith in Revelation and obedience to the magisterium of the Church in whose name he theologizes. He must strive to be at once a son of the Church and a servant of the Gospel. JORDAN AUMANN, O.P. EPISCOPAL ORDINATION ANNIVERSARIES Let us pray for our bishops on the occasion of their ordination anniversaries. Most Rev. Alberto van Overbeke, CICM December 1, 1969 Most Rev. Arnulfo S. Arcilia, D.D. December 12, 1959
A DIOCESAN SYNOD * • The Priest, May 1972. by WILLIAM J. RADEMACHIER A Synod is a celebration of the diocesan Church. It is a "coming together" of the local Church as "sacrament” and mystery. It is a time to discern the Spirit, to recognize charisms, and to order them for the upbuilding of the Church. It is also a time to sing hymns, to break bread with joy and recognize the Lord. In its “coming together”, a Synod is a sign of openness to the Spirit, of vulnerability to mystery; it is an act of faith in God’s abidding grace, revealing itself here and now through the flesh and blood of the diocesan Church; it is a happening, a "saving event”. It cannot really be programmed with charts and schemes. No organizational instrument can predict its out come; for the Spirit breathes where and when he wills. Vatican II teaches that the Church is “a kind of sacra ment”. In a Synod this “sacrament”, this sign of the Church comes together. Each member of the Synod is a unique cell in this living “sacrament”. The sacrament of baptism needs a minister, a subject, sponsors, water, and a Christian com munity into which the newly baptized will be admitted. In the same way, if the diocesan Church is going to be a true “sacra ment”, it needs a bishop, priests, lectors, teachers, sisters, brothers, parish councillor, and other lay ministries. It needs these living components to fill up and complete the "sacrament" of the diocesan Church. When such a local Church comes together, a “new creation” becomes visible, for through baptism all have become God’s creation. The Church comes into being as God’s gift because his Word comes to the believers in power. They respond to 842 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS that Word by a faith which leads to death in baptism and life in the Spirit. Then they form a communion in the Word and in the bread. This communion, then, comes together as the “sacrament” of the diocesan Church. Now this “new creation” is not yet a perfect creation. When the diocesan Church comes together, a sinful Church comes together. Vatican II teaches that the Church is constantly in need of repentance and renewal. We need to repent because we have sinned. We have not lifted a finger when our black brother stood bound before us, begging that we set him free. We have not served the world, but rather, we have asked the world to serve us. We have multiplied laws and have thus robbed our brother of the “freedom whereby God has made him free!”. We have not always "recognized in the poor and in the suffering the likeness of our poor and suffering Found er”. Although we are called to be a sign on this earth of "the kingdom of justice, love and peace”, we have been silent while brother killed his brother in war. Yes, we are a sinful Church! It is not without reason that we begin our Eucharistic celebra tions saying: “I confess to almighty God ...” It is, of course, a grace that our Church is a sinful Church; otherwise, you and I could not belong to it. Then there would be no Church. Besides, a sinful Church should become a hum ble Church, constantly praying for the redemption and forgive ness of the Lord. If we feel that the Church today is in sad shape, that there is too much sinfulness in the Church, then the Church has a greater claim than ever on our presence and our love. For Christ came to save sinners. So, if we accept the Christ of the Gospel, then we must, like Christ, love the Church, as sinful. Only love can redeem. The sinful Church needs our love to become a true community of redemption and salvation in our time. Now if a Synod is going to be fruitful, the diocesan Church must be faithful to God’s call. It must become the Church God wants it to be in this present world. This is the most urgent priority — to be the Church of God. This means that the Church again and again must look into the Scriptures to find out what kind of Church it ought to be. The Church can do this by placing itself under the judgement of the biblical images of the Church. A DIOCESAN SYNOD 843 One of the most helpful images is the one given by St. Paul: the Church is the body of Christ. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” (I Cor. 6:12-13). He means that we have passed from the body of death to the body of Christ. Bishop Robinson concludes that “it is almost impossi ble to exaggerate . . . Paul’s doctrine of the Church as now the resurrection body of Christ”. St. Paul’s idea can be best understood by paraphrasing his words in this way: “You are the body of Christ and severally membranes thereof” (I Cor. 12:27). So in the body of Christ there is an osmosis of life and a mutual sensitivity among the members. One member in Christ confers life and holiness on the other. Thus, the members of the body are a living unity before they are distinct. They are one in essence, but distinct and diverse in their functions. This body is not static. It is constantly growing. It is built up and cemented together by love. Cup, loaf, blood, body, table — these are the symbols of the living interdependence of the diverse members in the one community that is the body of Christ. Through this membership in the body of Christ, the Chris tian participates in the death and resurrection of Church. The character of the diocesan Church must, therefore, be under stood by reference to the victory of Christ. In Christ, the Church, already in this life, overcomes sin and death. Thus the Church, by being the “resurrection body of Christ”, proc laims to the world the victory that “where sin abounds, grace does more abound”. If the diocesan Church is going to be faithful to this Pauline image of the body of Christ, it must witness, first of all, to unity in diversity. Secondly, it must witness to Christ’s victory over sin and death and thus be a sign and ground of hope for all men. A second Pauline image for the Church is “the building”. Other words used to express the idea are “upbuilding”, “edifica tion”, and “spiritual house”. St. Paul uses the Greek word “oikodome”, which refers more to the building process than to the building itself. He wants to convey the picture of stone masons and carpenters working together, joining stones and timbers to build a strong house. In modern terms, the image could mean that one man lays the foundation, another lays the 844 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE. FILIPINAS bricks, another puts in the electrical wiring, another, the plumbing, etc. St. Paul’s phrase, “upbuilding” or "edification”, refers also to the Christian community itself, which is "God’s house”. It includes the love of “agape” and the love-banquet itself which is celebrated in the house. Thus St. Paul highlights that un selfish love which is the main factor in the process of "building up” the spiritual house. He stresses the relationship of the individual members to each other. For him, "edification” or “upbuilding” is not simply a moralistic or pietistic concept, but primarily charismatic and spiritual. St. Paul wants to indicate further that each builder has a reasonable role in building up the Church. But each builder must relate his work to the total project of building up the Church. It is only in this relationship that the individual build er will discover whether his work is really useful for “the upbuilding of the Church”. St. Paul also implies that the pro cess of building up the Church is never finished, that the process of relating the .-different works of the builders to the total building will go on until the coming of the Lord. Quite plainly, this image calls for unity among the builders. Now it is easy to see that the diocesan Church today needs the services of many “builders”, like teachers, administrators, helpers, council members, critics, writers and leaders. It needs many ministers who reconcile divisions; ministers who visit the sick, and the lonely; ministers who "weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice”. It is plain, too, from this image that no one is really free “to do his own thing” in isolation from the rest of the builders. The usefulness of each one’s ministry depends on how it relates to the total process of building up the Church. Thus, St. Paul could ask the speakers in tongues in Corinth to yield the floor to the prophets. It was not that there was anything wrong with speaking in tongues. In fact, it was a manifestation of the Spirit. However, speaking in tongues created a twofold problem: first, there was the question of “usefullncss”; second ly, there was the question of order in the Church. Regarding usefulness, St. Paul felt that at that particular time, the Church of Corinth had a greater need for prophets. Besides, the speakers in tongues created disorder in the Church. For this reason, St. Paul advised that if there were no interpreter, the A DIOCESAN SYNOD 845 speakers in tongues should be silent in the Church. For “he who speaks in an unknown tongue edifies (oikomei) himself, but he who prophesies edifies (oikomei) the Church" (I Cor. 14:4). Now if the diocesan Church is going to be faithful to this Pauline image of the Church, it must decide which ministries must be suspended because they are no longer useful, and which new ministries should be instituted because there are new needs. At the same time, it must determine which ministries, both new and old, have the more urgent priority for the upbuilding of the Church; otherwise, some builders may be building at the wrong time or in the wrong place. Furthermore, it needs to ask whether it has over-emphasized the ministry of priest hood to the detriment of other ministries. It would be difficult to build a house with just bricklayers. The history of the Church reveals the constant need to bring all the builders together, either in Synod or in Council. The Code of Canon Law recommends that a diocesan Synod be held every ten years. The Council of Constance (1414-1418) decreed “that from henceforth an Ecumenical Council should be held every ten years”. One can speculate whether the Pro testant Reformation would have happened if this decree had been observed. A third New Testament image of the Church is called “the brotherhood of faith”. This phrase includes other images, such as “fellowship of saints”, “the followers”, “disciples” and “the fellowship”. Although the word “brotherhood” was not used very often, the idea itself, pervades the entire New Testa ment. In his letters St. Paul frequently addressed his fellow be lievers as “brothers”. In his brotherhood of faith there is no room for estrangement, which, if it happens, must be followed by reconciliation. There is no room for jostling for superiority or power, or for lording it over one another as the pagans. But all are one, “enduring all things, hoping all things”, wash ing each others feet according to the example of the Lord. A fourth image of the Church is “the common slavery”. The slave image occurs in the fifty New Testament passages. St. Paul suggests that those who preach Jesus Christ as Lord must regard themselves “as slaves for Jesus’ sake” (II Cor. 4:5). It is Christ’s love, his slave-service toward his followers BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS which turns these same followers into slaves for one another. The New Testament word, “diakonia”, in its Greek meaning, described the rugged and menial service of the slave. This slavery was a gift freely and humbly offered to the brothers in the Lord. This image profoundly modified the exercise of human authority so that all apostles would admit that they were "unworthy servants”. A fifth image of the Church is now the familiar “People of God”. This image indicates the graciousness of God in creating, calling, sustaining, judging and saving his people. It indicates that God constitutes his people by his own possession. However, God calls his people, not to privilege, but to res ponsibility. As the God of history, he calls his people to serve his purpose in the world, to reveal the mystery of his will. Always waiting on God, this people becomes a servant, pilgrim people. For this reason the Church can never absolutize any spe cific programs or ministries. For the Church, like a true servant, waits daily for the Master’s Word. Sometimes God will lead the Church into the desert to do penance; at other times he will lead it into the Promised Land to enjoy its fruits. But the Church will never be “snugly ensconced in Zion”. It will always be responding to the mystery of God’s call. And God is very much like a lover, who calls his beloved, the Church, always in movement. Its tasks and ministries are new every day because, through the Gospel, God’s Word comes as a new call every day. Consequently, no ministry, including that of priests, can be finally defined or circumscribed either in its external form or in its tasks; otherwise, it will be closed to the new and larger demands of the Gospel in view of the changing needs of the Church and the world. An overly defined ministry can become immune to the Gospel; it can become a routine job which is outside of, rather than within, the Christian community. For priests, it can easily become a clericalism which is quite insen sitive both to the prophetic call of the Word and to the blood and sweat of the human condition. Now the crucial point about all these images is this: they all describe constitutive, not accidental, elements of the Church. Thus, they have priority over all subsequent historical forms. If the Church is going to be faithful to the call to be Church, A DIOCESAN SYNOD 847 then it must possess these elements. If a diocesan Church is going to be a true sign, “raised among the nations”, it must be faithful to the meaning of those images which emerged in the Church after the first Easter. It must appear like the Church in Acts 2:42: “These remained faithful to the teach ing of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers.” In this verse in Acts, being faithful “to the brotherhood” comes right after being faithful “to the teaching of the apos tles”. When all is said and done, the most predominant characteristic of the Church in the New Testament is the brotherhood of faith. So whatever a diocesan Church says or does, it must always remain a brotherhood of faith. To be more specific, the diocesan Church is a brotherhood before it is a hierarchical or juridical organization. It is a brotherhood before it is divided into bishop, priests, sisters, brothers or laymen. It is a brotherhood before it is divided geographically into parishes, schools and institutions. To nut it yet another way, the brotherhood of faith to the diocesan Church has priority over, and effectively transcends, all sub sequent geographical, sociological, and functional distinctions. Even though here on earth the Church badly needs organiza tional forms through which its people can work and relate themselves are secondary to the brotherhood of faith. Thus, it is unthinkable that in diocesan brotherhood one parish would define itself over against another, or oyer against the diocese. It is unthinkable that a parish would invoke this world’s symbol of money, prestige, race, or city, to lord it over another parish. It is unthinkable that'any religious community would define itself over against, rather than within, the dio cesan brotherhood. It was because of the priority of the brotherhood that St. Paul came down so hard on the factions of Corinth: “What could be more unspiritual than your slo gans, ‘I am for Paul’ and ‘I am for Apollos’?” (I Cor. 3:4). Paul reminds the Corinthians: “You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God”. Yet, St. Paul did not impose any kind of rigid, militaristic uniformity on the Church. Never in the history of the Church has there been such respect and reverence for the freedom, the diversity, the flexibility of Christians as in the Church of Corinth. Unity was not superimposed by external authority. It 848 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS grew from faith in one Lord, one Gospel, one baptism and one bread. It may be helpful to note that the diocesan brotherhood has priority over the brotherhood of parishes and other ecclesial forms. The diocesan Church is Church in its own right. Parishes are only lesser cells in one body that is the diocesan Church. In the U.S., Catholics have often assumed that the parish was more important than the diocese. This has happened, first, because being in a Protestant culture, Catholics have ab sorbed a Congregational ist attitude of autonomous congrega tions. Secondly, in the rural parishes there was a natural isolation from the urban center of the diocese. Thirdly, ethnical groups of Germans, Irish, etc., clung to their traditions and were unwilling to lose their identities in the diocesan melting pot. Fourthly, dioceses in the U.S. have been, and still are, too large to form a Christian brotherhood which visibly trans cends the smaller, more fheaningful, brotherhoods in the parish. Fifthly, dioceses as such have not gathered enough in Eucharist or in Synod to give visibility and meaning to the concept of the diocesan Church. But all these historical conditions may not override the ecciesial truth the parish is derivative of, and dependent on, the diocesan Church. For only the diocesan Church, in the bishop, has the living sign of apostolic succession. It has the official Gospel which forms the Church and the cathedra which presides over it. Finally, it is the sacramental center foi- the discernment and “sending out” of priestly ministries. Thus the priest in the parish comes out of, and is sent by, the diocesan presbytery to which he continues to belong. With the formation of priests’ senates, this diocesan pres bytery deserves more attention. In Acts 13:1, we read: "Now in the Church of Antioch there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Symeon . . . and Saul. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’. Then, after fasting and prayer, they laid their hands on them and sent them off”. Perhaps we can transfer this image of shared ministry to the diocesan presbytery. Let us imagine that the annual assign ment of clergy in a given diocese includes ten pastors, two newly A DIOCESAN SYNOD 849 ordained priests, and one deacon. Let us imagine, funther, that on this occasion all the priests of the diocese gather with these men and their bishop at the Cathedral for three days of worship, prayer, and fasting. (Fasting, both in the New Testament and in the Didaclw, was a sign of solidarity.) On the third day all the priests and deacons join in the Eucharist and ordination ceremony. During this time, all the priests, together with their bishop, lay hands on the ten pastors, two priests and one deacon. Each priest, invoking God’s blessing and in his own words of fering prayers and support, participates in the “sending out” of the priests and deacon. Finally the bishop does the same. Later, when the priest has problems or needs spiritual or human support, he returns quite naturally to the Cathedral and the pres bytery from which he was sent out. This ecclesial picture, this living sacrament of the presby tery, would be considerably improved if it were “filled out” and completed by the addition of sisters and lay people imposing their hands and, in their own way, participating in this “sending out” of ministries. In every priestly ordination ceremony the bishop consults the people. They can sa.v. “Yes” or “No”. Since the people have a voice in the ordination of priests, it seems but fitting that they also participate in the “sending out”. This would be a better sign of the unity and solidarity of the brotherhood of all believers in the diocesan Church. A final aspect of the diocesan Church is its escathological dimension. Briefly stated, this means that the diocesan Church exists to be a sign of the kingdom of God. Through the diocesan Church the kingdom of God already exists in this present world, even though it is not yet complete. 'It is the mission of the Church to be a preview of the kingdom and at the same time •o strain towards its completion. Meanwhile, it continues to pray, “thy kingdom come”. The oldest Eucharistic acclaimation is the Aramaic “Maranafha”, meaning. “Come, Lord”. It is both a prayer and a con fession of faith. It means that the Church is oriented first to the future, to its final goal, and then to the present, to make that future a reality even in the present. Now if the diocesan Church is going to be a preview of the kingdom, it needs to know something about that kingdom. It must look for the signs of the kingdom in the Scriptures. Some aspects of the kingdom can be seen in the “growth" para 850 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS bles. The first is the parable of the seed growing secretly. “The kingdom of God is like this: as if a man should cast seed on the ground. .. .and the seed germinates and grows he knows not how” (Mark 4: 26-29). Somewhat similar are the parables of the sower (Mark 4: 2-8) and the parable of the tares among the wheat (Matt. 13:: 24-30). These parables indicate that the kingdom will be in a period of growth, that it will require cooperation between God and man and, finally, that there will be a harvest time which will be the “coming of the Lord”. Another picture of the kingdom emerges in the conclusion of Matthew’s eschatological discourse (Matt. 25:35): “Take your heritage, the kingdom prepared for you. . . I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thristy and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, in prison and you came to see me”. St. Paul describes another aspect of the kingdom: “Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. . . There are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love” (I Cor. 13:12). A more poetic glimpse of the kingdom is provided by Rev. 21: 3, 4: “You see this city? Here God lives among men; his name is God-with-them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death and no more mourning or sadness; now I am making the whole of creation new”. Yet another aspect of this kingdom can be seen in the teach ing of Vatican II, In The Church Today we read: “For after we have obeyed the Lord and in his Spirit nurtured on earth the values of human dignity, brotherhood and freedom, and indeed all the good fruits of our nature and enterprise, we will find them again, but freed of stain,burnished, and transfigured. This will be so when Christ hands over to the Father a kingdom of truth and life, of holiness, and grace, of justice, love and peace” (No. 39). Now it is evident that if the diocesan Church is going to be a believable sign of the kingdom, it will nurture in its own territory the values of human dignity, of freedom, of justice, and peace. It will be the example of brotherhood. It will be marked by dialogue, reconciliation and fraternal service. It will feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit those in prison, wipe away tears from the eyes of mpn, and preach the Gospel tp the poor. If will do this, not for institutional self A DIOCESAN SYNOD 851 aggrandizement in the form of prestige or converts, but simply for the sake of the kingdom of God. To be a sign of the kingdom, feeding the hungry and helping the poor cannot mean simply detached hand-outs in a kind of ecclesiastical philanthropy. It means that the poor man rides in our air-conditioned Oldsmobile and eat steak at our table. And, more importantly, it means that we ride on his beat-up bicycle and eat hamburger at his table. The diocesan Church will also be a sign that in the king dom there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, nei ther male nor female, neither cleric nor layman, neither rich nor poor; for they are all baptized in the one spirit and belong to the one body. Needless to add, it will not tolerate any form of discrimination against women, blacks, chicanos, etc., for there is no second class citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. Only in this way will the diocesan Church be “a kind of fore shadowing of the new age”. Only then will it begin to reveal to all men “that the kingdom is already present in mystery” (The Church Today, No. 39). To be in the Church is to believe, not only in what the Church is, but in what it ought to be. (And only he who really believes in the future will bend his energies to make that future a reality.) In being a sign of the kingdom of God, the Church ought to be a sign of God’s love for the world and at the same time a sign of his judgment of the world. If the Church cannot become that, then it has ceased to be Church and it needlessly encumbers the ground. If it does become that, then it is begin ning to be the sign of the “new heaven and new earth”. BETTER FEW BUT GOOD “Deus nunquam ita deserit Ecclesiam suam quin inveniantur idonei ministri sufficientes ad necessitatem plebis si digni promoverentur et indigni repellerentur. Et, si non possunt tot ministri inveniri quot modo sunt, melius esset habere paucos ministros bonos quam multos malos.” St. Thomas, Suppl. Q.36.a.4,ad I.
Pablo Fernandez, O.P. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES Chapter 30 FRIAR LANDS I. Origin and Nature of Estates. When Legazpi came to the Philippines, the country was still thinly populated, the land was scarcely cultivated, techniques and tools that were quite rudimentary, and many ..areas were untilled, the greater ma jority being covered with thick forests and cogon.1 1 Fray Joaquin M. de Zuniga has this to say about the haciendas in Cavite: “. . . since there were few natives in the region when the Spaniards came and the land was empty, except a few fields cultivated by the people of Bacoor and Cavite Viejo — at that time two small ranches — the King granted those rough lands to a few of the early conquistadores, and the province was then filled with haciendas. The proprieptors built dykes across the many streams which watered them, and these have furnished water to the fields, fertilizing them in no small way.” (Egtadiamn. I, pp. 303-307). The first haciendas of the Friars date back to the time of the conquest. Legazpi himself had granted a hacienda in Cebu to the Augustinians, and another one around Manila. Other lands were acquired in the 17th, 18th, and finally, in the 19th century. Outside of those two donations of land, and probably a third, the other land properties were acquired through pur chase at public auction, or directly from the proprietor. Some were bought at one deal, others by parts. In this way, the friar lands were augmented. These did not cost them much, since in the beginning they were lands that were for the most part untouched and to a large extent unproductive. These lands began to incite the envy of many people as they increased in productivity and value. The Propa ganda Movement made use of them as one of their weap HISTORY OF. THE CHURCH 853 ons against the religious orders. But, if one studies carefully the administration and use of the estates, he will easily deduce how unjust the campaign was, for the beneficiaries of this land system were mainly inquilinos, or the Filipinos, nativeborn or mestizo, who tilled them. The proprietor received only 10% of the net harvest, the rest remained with the in quilino, although the latter had the obligation, on receiving the parcel of land, of clearing it, of weeding out the tares and preparing the seedlings, farm implements and work animals. Besides, when through a plague of locusts or typhoons, part or all of the harvest was lost, it was the practice of the Brother Administrator to cancel part or all of the revenue due, or the canon:2 Neither was anything to be paid for the first four or five years in the lease. Likewise, it was established practice to allot a piece of land more or less wide enough for the inquilino to build his house, plant fruit trees and vegetables, and raise domestic animals. Another benefit which some te nants of the religious orders enjoyed was the right to exploit the land through casamajans or sub-tenants. In this way, without toiling himself or being greatly bothered, except for the sole obligation of paying the land rent to the proprietor, they used to receive one half of the liquid produce from the leased property. 2“. • . it is true that when (the harvest) is lost, the land rental is lowered in favor of the inquilinos in proportion to the losses that each one suffers." (Zuniga, I, 142-143). And as if this was not enough, the inquilino had the option — always, of course, in this matter, with the proprietor’s con sent— to bequeathe that part of the land which had fallen to him by lot to his sons or descendants by testament or leaving it or transferring it to another land tenant, or mortgage it. The landowner, for his part, was not-averse to these transac tions, unless there were strong reasons against them, as, for example, if the tenant intended to transfer his lot to others, with prejudice to his legitimate heirs. Furthermore, ths sys tem of land lease operated for the benefit of the Filipinos of those times Accustomed to sell their lands easily to cover their need of the moment to their own loss and that of their sons, they could not in this case do the same for the simple reason that the land was not theirs. 854 BOLETIN ECLfi&ASted DE FILiPI^AS The costly works which redounded to the good of all or part of the hacienda, like constructing dikes, opening canals and drainage systems, digging tunnels for the waters to flow, raising bridges and lining up roads, were all charged to the landowner. The system was paternalistic, advantageous to the inquili nos who, on the one hand, enjoyed many of the proprietor’s privileges, but, on the other were not subject to his worries. For this reason, there were many who wanted to cultivate a parcel of the estates of the friars. This was easy to see from the fact that very many sought to occupy the lands an inquili no left vacant, either through death if he had no heirs, or through eriction (deshaucio). It is likewise certain that the towns where the religious orders had lands were prosperous towns. One of them, Bifian, was perhaps the most prosperous of all.3 3 Libert as, 13 October 1899. “San Francisco de Malabon.” II. Administration. These lands used to be under the direct and immediate management of a lay Brother, but under the overall supervision of the Procurator of the religious order in Manila. It was the duty of the Brother, who was the top man in the hacienda, to parcel out the land, collect the canon or fixed rental, settle disputes among the tenants, transfer the lease of lands to others, when the tenants freely left or were obliged to vacate the farms when they failed to exploit them well or did not pay the canon. These tasks, many times un pleasant and rather unavoidable if one wished to have some order and the farm was to prosper, won for the Brother ad ministrators, and later for the religious owners, antipathy, rancor more or less justified or unjustified. When a hacienda was located within the boundaries of a parish administered by a member of the same religious order, the latter never or seldom interfered with the collection of the rentals or with any other matters, except when on certain occasions he interceded before the Brother Administrator in favor of some tenant or leaseholder. Some perhaps may think of reading available data that the friar lands were a rich treasure. They were, if viewed from their actual level of development. But in the beginning, HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 855 they were in the vast majority of cases, nQthing but a stretch of forests, lands, underwater swamps and cogon fields, and only, by the passage of time, expense and effort were the reli gious proprietors able to produce the minimum necessary to cover with some margin the needs of the tenants and land owners. We could say that some were throughout the 17th and 18th centuries a perpetual source of debt for their owners. This was the case with the Binan hacienda of the University of Santo Tomas in the 17th century of the hacienda in Santa Cruz de Malabon (today, Tanza in Cavite) in the second half of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. And so, one can see why the tribunal, after listening to the well-found ed complaints of the creditors, put on public auction the haciendas which had ruined their secular proprietors and passed them on to the steadier administration of the religious, who, not without overcoming great obstacles, were able to make them prosper and converted them into sources of wealth and comfort. These words of Bravo and Buceta are not without truth: ‘‘By good fortune, this is now disappearing, and the widespread care to exploit this unexhaustible stock of riches is disproving the unfounded opinion which has been prevalent for so long, that every European who dedicates himself to agriculture in the Philippines could not but ruin himself.” 1 « Diccionario geogrdfico-estadistico-histarico de las Islas Filipinas, Madrid, 1851, I, 180.’ •"'Zuniga, I, 228-227. III. Purpose. With the produce from the haciendas, the reli gious orders took care of the support of a Procurator or Commissary in Madrid, who recruited boatloads of mission aries and transacted in the royal court the concerns of his order. They also maintained hospices in Mexico, where the missionaries on their wav to the Philippines lodged while awaiting in Acapulco the departure of the galleon for Manila.' Other expenses included the maintenance in Spain of houses of formation for missionaries to the Philippines, partial or total expenses of the costly travel of the friars who sailed to the missions, and the fisifpuicioH. or annual aid sent by the reli gious orders who had missions in Asia. The Malolos government passed a law, actually an added article to their Constitution, depriving the religious orders of 856 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS ownership of their lands. But the latter paid no attention to this provision, since they recognized the sovereignty only of the Spanish government and later that of the United States. In certain cases, the revolutionary government exacted a higher fee than what had been collected by the orders from the in quilinos of the friar lands. IV. Haciendas of the Augustinians. The Augustinian order owned these haciendas in the Philippines. San Francisco de Malabon (now General Trias) in Cavite, of which five out of 8 parcels were purchased from Don Gaspar Godoy on 26 August 1877. Three other parcels were acquired by either exchange or cash transaction in the same year. Malinta, in Polo, Bulacan, acquired part by part over a number of years from their various owners. The entire ter ritory already cleared and marked by 26 May 1725, became legal property of the Augustinian on certification by the Notary Public, Mateo Vasquez, and confirmed by the royal audiencia on 13 February 1734. Dampol, Matame, and Marcos, three integral parts of one hacienda purchased at a public bidding on 27 January 1834, for the price of 26,000 pesos. Muntinglupa, bought partly by Don Antonio Quijano, the agent for Augustinian order from various Filipinos, in virtue a license conceded by the royal tribunal of Justice in 1665.n “Within its jurisdiction were individual haciendas cultivated by tenants who have to pay the canon and dues of partnership (aparceria) to the landowners, the greatest of which gave the name to the [present] town.” * 7 n Marin, Enaayo, II, 147-148. 7 Libertaa, 16 October 1899, “Munting-lupa.” Tala. When the General Miguel Martinez died on 1 August 1715, the Augustinians became owners of 119 quinones and 8 balitas of a hacienda in Tala which he had owned. Much later, in 1725 and 1726, they purchased more property from other creditors of the General, such as the Board of Mercy, Santa Catalina College, the Manila cabildo, and several others. But they were not the total owners of the hacienda until they were able to buy from the Jesuits certain farmlands in Polo. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 857 and others in a sitio called Tipandoc, within the municipal boundaries of Meycauayan. Mandaluyong. This hacienda also belonged to the Augus tinians, when they obtained a portion of it at a public auction, while another part was purchaced from Dona Jeronima Vene gas in 1675.8 'Zunifia, Op. cit. I, 212-213. 11 Marin, II, 147-151. io Elviro. 91. " The Civilizers, p. 8. 12 Ibid., 43-44. Outside of Luzon, they possessed the hacienda of Talamban in Cebu, which Legazpi himself had granted to them on 27 May 1571. They also owned haciendas in Talisay, Minglanilla and Pasav,” the hacienda of Guiguinto which they had owned since 1654 and paid for by the revenue from the econo mic savings of Father Antonio Ocampo.10 11 The government granted them on 25 April 1880 a vast estate in Isabela for the purpose of making them help in the agricultural progress of that far-flung and half-populated region. The following was the plan behind the acquisition of this land. On 15 September 1877, Governor General Domingo Moriones sent a circular to the Provincials of the Augustinians, Dominicans, and Recollects, asking them to found agricultural colonies in Cagayan Valley in order to establish in time three big municipalities, using as the nucleus the people who might work those lands." The Augustinians and the Recollects accepted the invitation, but the Dominican Provincial courteous ly declined for the double reason that he did not wish the Order to possess haciendas in those places where it had parishes and missions, and that much ill-feeling aqd expense would be oc casioned by the cultivation of those lands. The acquisition of these lands was by Composition, that is, the government sold public lands at a low price to the citizens who promised to exploit them, in order by this system to help promote agricul tural progress and the peopling of wide unsettled lands. It was through this that the Compaiiia General de Tabacos acquired extensive lands in Cagayan and Tarlac, and many Spaniards their haciendas in Negros.12 858 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Finally, since 27 May 1571, the haciendas of Talisay, Minglanilla,13 and Pasay had been owned by Augustinian Order in the Philippines. Maysapang, in Pasig district, was also Augustinian property granted by Legazpi in order that they might raise livestock, and where they built a stone house. Before the British occupation of Manila, they had their many carabaos, cattle, and horses, but when peace was concluded, the farm decreased in value because rustlers robbed them of their animals.11 > ' Marin, II, 147-151. n Zuniga, I, 198. '■•AUST, “Folletos,” t. 17, fol. 42. Zuniga, I. 37, 45-48. V. Dominican Estates. One estate located in the town of Orion, Bataan, was acquired from donations and duly regis tered on 29 December 1637 and 29 August 1673, to which were attached certain conditions by some town residents who had left it untilled for many years. Two adjacent haciendas, in Santa Rosa and Binan, Laguna, actually formed one large estate within the municipal juris dictions of these two towns. The Dominican Order obtained it in favor of the University of Santo Tomas in the course of the seventeenth century, 1641, 1653, 1677. The hacienda of Santa Cruz de Malabon, (Tanza) located in this same town and partly in Naic, plus a house in Tanza, was purchased in the name of the University from Don Diego O’Kenedy and his wife on 7 April 1761. Pandi estate, located in the towns of Bocaue, Santa Maria, Norzagaray, Bigaa, Angat, and Bustos in Bulacan, was acquired part by part in the seventeenth cetury. A good sector of Pandi was located in the mountains east of Bocaue, and Meycauayan, and produced nothing useful for its owners. Lolomboy, comprising lands within the towns of Bocaue, Santa Maria, San Jose, Marilao in Bulacan, and including a house and its appurtenances was acquired with various titles through the course of the seventeenth century.15 Zuniga wrote that “these lands belong to the Dominicans who own a stone house with a tilod roof where the lay administrator of the HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 859 hacienda resided, and a tambobong or granary for storing the rice they collect as fees. In this hacienda, the house is a few brazas away from the road. The land produces up to 6,000 sacks of rice and can bring in revenue as high as 4,000 pesos, after substracting expenses. It is owned by the Province and, from its income, the missionaries are brought to the Philippines and those in China and Tonkin are supported.10 San Isidro Labrador estate was located within the munic ipal boundaries of Naic, Cavite. The Dominican order obtained it for 25,000 pesos from Don Jose Orbezcia, according to a notarized statement in Binondo on 18 August 1831.17 San Juan Bautista estate in Calamba, Laguna formerly belonged to the Jesuits, but it was claimed by the government in 1768, and sold to the Dominicans at public auction on 19 November 1832 by the Junta Real de Almonedas for the sum of 51,263 pesos.18 All of these estates were almost all planted with rice and sugar cane, and had thick forests and wide sectors that re mained untilled. From 1896, the year the Philippine revolu tion broke out, until their sale in 1903 and 1905, their owners hardly received any income from them because the inquilinos refused to pay the traditional canon. VI. Haciendas of the Recollects. The hacienda of Imus, Cavite was obtained by the Master of the Camp Tomas de Andaya at a public auction authorized by the royal audiencia on 1 December 1685, and transferred the following 5 November to the ownership of the Recollect Order since, as he himself said in a notarized statement, he had bought it "with the money and in the name of the Province of San Nicolas de Tolentino.” On 3 November 1690, the secular priest Don Jose de Solis who was “sacristan manor” of the Parish Church of Cavite, sold to the Recollects the hacienda of Bagombay which was con tiguous to and formed part of Imus. A donation of Dona Hipolita de Zarte made on 4 November 1666, gave the fathers a third piece of land which also became part of the hacienda 1,! Zuniga, I, 355. '• AUST, "Folletos,” t. "Zuniga, I, 53, 179-180. 70, fols. 85-80, 90. 860 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS of Imus or the state of Santa Cruz, later known as San Nicolas.10 The Tunasan (Muntinglupa) estate was acquired for the Recollects with the money (12,000 pesos) of General Tomas de Andaya on 12 April 1695; on 7 November that same year, the Procurator of the order took possession of the property. This had been the property of, among others, the famous Dean of the Metropolitan Church of Manila, Miguel Ortiz de Cobarrubias.* 20 Jf Marin, II. 245-47: 210. 20 Marin, 247-248; Zuniga, I, 29. 2' Marin, 248-251. 22 Zuniga, I, 189. San Jose in Mindoro came into the possession of the Recollects on 15 May 1897 in exchange for a piece of land in Isabela which the government had already donated to them in 1880. The one they had given up was about 80 to 100 square kilometers, while the grant in Mindoro measured 23,666 hec tares, excluding the livestock and grazing lands of 1,674 hectares which the Order had acquired for 43,250 pesos.21 The Talaja hacienda in Morong was owned by the French man Jules Dayllard. In 4896, it was adjudicated by the court to his foremost creditors, the Chartered Bank of India, Austra lia and China; on 28 January 1899, the bank sold it to another of his creditors, the Recollect Order.22 VII. The Jesuit Lands. Although, historically, the Jesuit lands were not classified as “Friar Lands,” they still were an important element in agricultural and economic growth of the Philippines. These lands were: 1) those that were the pro perty of the Jesuit Order; 2) those that belonged to the Colegio Maximo de San Ignacio; and 3) the haciendas of the Colegio de San Jose. 1. The Jesuit Properties. These were the lands in San Pedro Makati, Nagtahan, and San Juan Bautista in Calamba, Laguna. The first, located in the boundaries of the old province of Tondo but situated in the municipality of Makati, consisted of farm land and pasturage for cattle and horses. There was a central residence, ovens for baking lime, roof-tiles, and brick, and a trapiche for milling sugar-cane. After the Jesuits were HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 861 expelled, Don Pedro de Galarraga, Marquis of Villamediana, acquired it at a public auction.* 21 * 23 He tried to improve it at great expense to himself, renovating, maintaining or improving not only the house, but also the irrigation dyke, the pottery shop, as well as, by an act of generosity, the parochial church.24 Zuniga, I, 211-212. 21 hoc. rit. -5 AUST, “Follctos,” t. 117, fols. 138v-139. 2n Zuniga, I, 206. ‘ ■a Zuniga, I, 331-332, 337. 2S Zuniga, I, 338-339. 20 AUST. “Folletos,” t. 117, fols. 82v-84. The Calamba hacienda in Laguna passed on, after the ex pulsion, to the property of Don Jose Clemente de Azana, who paid 44,007 pesos at a public sale, and later on to the Domini can order. Dona Petrona Tuazon obtained the Nagtahan lands located in the old province of Tondo for 7,100 pesos paid in cash.25 The Colegio Maximo de S. Ignacio owned the following estates: Mayhaligue, in the old municipality of Santa Cruz in Tondo, estimated after the departure of the Jesuits at 9,075 pesos, and which the Governor and the Audiencia set aside to support the leprosarium of San Lazaro run by the Franciscans. This arrangement received royal confirmation on 4 June 1784. May silo, in Tambobong and Bocaue, Bulacan, evaluated with all its fields, ovens, sheds at 12,746 pesos, was acquired by Don Vicente Dolores Tuason for 22,206 pesos at a public auction to replenish the royal treasury. A house there used to be the rest house for the Jesuits.2'1 A third piece of land in Tondo province and known as Piedad was acquired, also at public bidding, by Don Pedro de Gallaraga, Marquis of Villamediana, for 4,741 pesos.27 The same Don Vicente Dolores Tuason acquired at a pub lic auction the hacienda of Marikina for 33,750 pesos.2” In this region, the hacienda of Payatas was acquired for 15,011 pesos by Augustin del Rosario. Finally, Nasugbu in Batangas became the property of Don Jose Isaac who paid for it 7,742 pesos payable in Mexico.29 862 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS The Colegio de San Jose owned two properties: San Pedro Tunasan in Laguna and Lian in Batangas. Their reve nue was intended to support the faculty, the administrator, and eleven scholars of the College, besides certain pious works.30 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR To Our Reorders: It has been my privilege to serve you as Editor of the Boletin Eclesiastico for the years 1971 and 1972, the 45th and 46th years of its existence. As I fade away with this issue, I thank the Fr. Rector of U.S.T. for having ap pointed me to this job two years ago, I thank all those who have helped me in this apostolate and extend my best wishes to the incoming Editor and his Associates. To all the members of the Boletin Eclesiastico family, prayerful greetings this Christmas and New Year 1973. Fr. Jaime N. Boquiren, O.P. VIII. Other Properties. Besides these estates which belonged to the religious orders, except a few which we have indicated, the orders and other convents or religious houses had some rural property, neither extensive ordinarily nor too productive, plus some urban lots in Intramuros or in the suburbs. Of these urban lots, we could use Fr. Zuniga’s words describing the residential houses of Manila: “. . . they are leased at a rather low rate since some earn annually 300 to 400 pesos, an amount that appears excessive, but actually leaving very little profit to the proprietors because of the high cost of building and maintenance, which can cost much because the wood quick ly rots.” 31 Some of these houses belonged to the Obras Pias. Often, during earthquakes, both the building itself and the capital of the Obra Pia were lost. 30 Ibid., fol. 96v. 31 Zuniga, I, 137.
THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE PROVINCE OF BATAAN WILFREDO CRISOSTOMO PAGUIO Whether the Philippines was christianized through the cross or the sword has always been a subject of debate among historians. In this article, we try to look through the process of Christianization in the province of Bataan. We try to lay the bare facts and let them speak for themselves. We divide this article into three main divisions, namely, the arrival of the Spaniards in Bataan, a description of the different races that inhabit this peninsula and the Dominican missions here. I. THE ARRIVAL OF SPANIARDS ARRIVAL IN THE PHILIPPINES — With the first mass at Limasawa on 31 March 1521, Magellan solemnly began the long Spanish stay in the Philippines. Divine Providence so arranged history that even after the death of Magellan in Mactan, Charles I of Spain still sent expeditions to the east. There were those of Loaisa, Saavedra and Villalobos. Charles, however, was not success ful in this enterprise. It was his successor, Philip II, who had the glory of having this group of islands, which was named after him, among the lists of Spanish dominions. It was dur ing his reign and under his patronage that Legazpi reached Leyte in February 1565. ARRIVAL IN LUZON — By the year 1571, Raja Matanda and Raja Soliman were already vassals of the Spanish crown. The immediate neighborhood of Manila soon capitulated voluntarily without bloodshed. But further from these, it was necessary for the conquistadores, as the Spaniards were called, to use arms. So Legazpi sent Martin de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo to reduce them into submission. 864 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS De Goiti was assigned to conquer Pampanga of which Bataan was then a part. In this expedition, he was accompanied by Raja Lacandula. When the native chiefs found that Lacandula was with De Goiti, they did not offer resistance, for the pre sence of the Tondo king augured well for them. They meekly bowed to the pacification and like him, they accepted the Spanish sovereignty. ARRIVAL IN PAMPANGA — De Goiti could have reached the peninsula of Bataan had not Lacandula left the group and returned to Tondo1 or had not the chief of Betis (Pampanga) offered resistance, on their way, against De Goiti himself and his men, although this re quired only little effort from them to overcome. Tired and weary of journey and of such petty wars, therefore, it can be speculated that immediately after this battle, De Goiti returned to Manila. This, because it is recorded that “some two weeks later”, that is, some two weeks after the battle of Betis, De Goiti and his * men arrived in Manila.2 1 “In the midst of the expedition, Lacandula returned to Tondo without the express knowledge of De Goiti, presumably on some domestic and fa mily reasons. Incidentally, the chief of Betis did not submit to De Goiti until he was defeated through the force of arms. This was taken by the authorities in Manila as a treasonable act, and at once arrainged Lacan dula for that offense. Only the timely arrival of De Goiti some two weeks later saved the Tondo king from prison if not from the gallows.” (Alip, Eufronio M., A History of the Philippines, (Manila: 1935), p. 143.) 2 Loc. cit., Cf. San Agustin, Gaspar de Fr., Conquistas de las Islas Philipinas: La Temporal, por las Armas del Senor Don Phelipe Segundo el Prudente; la Espiritual, por los Religiosos del Orden de Nuestro Padre San Augustin- Fundacion y Progressos de Su Provincia del Santisimo Nornbre de Jesus, Parte Primera, (Madrid: En la Imprenta de Manuel Ruiz de Murga, 1698), pp. 226-228 & p. 239. ARRIVAL IN BATAAN — After knowing this incident of the early return of De Goiti to Manila, a researcher on Bataan’s history will begin to wonder at what precise date Spaniards set foot on the soil of Bataan. And he is wont to be altogether lost in his research if he does not hear from the Memoria of Fr. Vicente Fernandez where the follow ing is stated: “A little after Legazpi’s arrival in 1565 with the Augustinian friars, and later the Franciscan and the Jesuit fathers, they undertook some expeditions and visits throughout CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 865 this province (of Bataan) because it is near Manila. It is true, however, that they did not stay permanently; and the honor and glory of cultivating and fertilizing it with their blood and sweat belongs to the Domnican Order. This is very clear from the history of the Dominicans in the Philippines.” 3 * * * 3 APSR, MSS, Scccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 8. Folio 9. “Memoria de la Provincia de Bataan. Ano 1886. Para la Exposicion de Madrid, En 1888”, por el P. Vicente Fernandez. •* The Augustinians arrived in the Philippines with Legaspi in 1565. It is probable that they visited Bataan only after capitulation of Manila in 1571, that is, from their convents, which they later built, in Betis and Lubao (Pampanga). Cf. San Agustin, Gaspar de Fr., op. cit. p. 249. The Franciscans arrived in Manila on 24 June 1577. (Fernandez, Pa blo OP, “The History of the Church in the Philippines”, Boletin Eclesias tico de Filipinas, chapter 3.) 0 V. Fr. Sebastian de Baeza was most probably born in Baeza because it was the custom in the Province of San Jose to which he belonged and where he professed to attach the name of one’s native town to the names of their students. Fr. Baeza was the first apostle of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, La Union and Zambalcs. Together with Fr. Juan Bau tista Pisaro, he founded the town of Agoo where he brought a three days dead child back to life. He labored in Bataan for 17 months. His mission was concentrated along the costs of Marivcles to Cabo Bojeador. Here, he restored the speech of a twenty years old mute. He embarked for China on 29 May 1579. He died in Canton in October of the same year. By De cember, his cadaver was transferred to Macao where it was venerated. (Platero, Eusebio Gomez, Catalogo Biografico de los. Religiosos Franciscanos de la Provincia de San Gregorio Magno de Filipinas desde 1577 en que Llegaron los primeros a Manila hasta los de Nuestros Dias, (Manila: Imprenta del Real Colegio de Santo Tomas, 1880), pp. 24-25.) 7 Pastrana, Apolinar, OFM, “Pueblos Fundados o Administrados por los Padres Franciscanos en Filipinas”, Misiones Catolicas En Extreme Oritente, (Manila: “Cacho Hermanos” Lithographers and printers, 1937). p. 165. Cf. Rctana, W.E.. Origines de la Imprenta Filipina. (Madrid: Libreria General de Victoriano Suarez, 1911), p. 54. It is equally clear, therefore, that Spaniards and Legazpi himself arrived in Bataan as early as “a little after . . . (his) . . . arrival in 1565”. MISSIONARIES IN BATAAN — However, there is no known record as to when, what part of the province and how long the Augustinians1 mentioned above by Fr. Fernandez stayed in Bataan. Regarding the Franciscans,”’ records only state that the first apostle of the province is V. P. Sebastian de Baezan and that he “formed the town of Bataan and some others” in the year 1578.7 As re 866 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS gards the Jesuits, who came to the islands with the Lord Master Domingo de Salazar, the first bishop of Manila", it is known that they took charge of Maragondon11 which was then a part of the district (corrigimiento) of Mariveles. However, although it is possible that from Maragondon the Jesuits could have established a mission in Mariveles, no known document can tell us sufficient historical details as to their stay in the peninsula. The Dominican Order established its mission house in Abucay in the year 1588, although, of course, even before this date, a Dominican, Fr. Cristopher Salvatierra,* 9 10 11 12 * already minis tered to the natives of Bataan through his own initiative. The secular clergy,11 according to Fr. Gainza, had also been doing missionary work in this province, even before the permanent foundation of the first Dominican house here, though only in a small and temporary scale.1- And the Recollects13 landed in Mariveles in 1607. * The Jesuits arrived in Manila on 17 September 1581. 9 Siguion, Jose M., SJ, “Primera Epoca de la Compaiia de Jesus en Filipinas”, Misiones Catolicas in Extremo Oriente, op. cit., p. 18. Maragon don, at present, belongs to the province of Cavite. It is a mountainous town situated at the coastal part of this province facing Bataan. 10 Fr. Cristopher was a native of Salvatierra, villa of Extremadura. A son of the Convent of San Esteban de Salamanca, he made his profession here on 27 August 1571. He worked in Bataan and was also a chaplain to an expedition to the Molucas. He died of ashma in the early part of the year 1595. (Ocio, Hilario, Resefia Biografica de los Religiosos de la Pro vincia del Santisimo Rosario de Filipinas desde su Fundacion hasta Nuestros Dias, Parte Primera, (Manila: Establecimiento Tipografico del Real Colegio de Santo Tomas, 1891), pp. 50-52). 11 APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 5, Folio 21, “Descripcion de la Provincia de Bataan (1854)”, por el P. Gainza. 12 Father Pedro Valderrama was the first secular priest to set foot on the Philippine soil. In 1566, Father Juan de Vivero followed him. And in 1581, Most Rev. Domingo Salazar, brought with him twenty-four other secular priests. Most probably, these are the ones referred to by Fr. Gainza. It may be of interest to mention that Dinalupihan, for one, had always been under the secular priests ’’The Recollects arrived in Cebu in May 1606. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 867 II. A DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT RACES THAT INHABIT THIS PENINSULA Fr. Francisco Gainza tells us that there were two main races of people living in Bataan, namely, the inhabitants of the mountains and those of the plains.11 Fr. Vicente Fernandez elaborates that the mountain people were the Negritoes or Aetas and the inhabitants of the plains were the natives, the peninsular Spaniards, the Chinese and the mestizos who were either Spaniards or Chinese born to parents married to native women.* 15 * "APSR, MSS. Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 5. Folio 7, “Descripcion De La Provincia De Bataan (1854).’, por cl P. Gainza. 15 APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2. Documento 8, Folios 5v-8v, “Memoria De La Proviincia De Bataan. Ano 1886. Para La Exposicion De Madrid, En 1888", por cl P. Vicente Fernandez. It may be of interest to note that tho number of Negritoes in the Province even today decreases as time goes. We believe this fact should seriously concern the government. 17 The language, for example, of Negritoes in Bataan is Tagalog. Fr. Pablo Fernandez, O.P. observes that this fact gives us “good grounds for doubting whether they have a language of their own”. (APSR. MSS. Seccion Bataan, Uncatalogued, Documento 5, Folios 41-47, “Dominican Missions in Bataan”, tr. by Dr. Antonio Piiion.) >' This fact points to the grave responsibility of educators to educate these people. The government should investigate the causes of their di minishing number. For a fact, today, in Bataan, Aetas cannot be seen any more in town plazas as before. The Church should also not lose hope in working for them. NEGRITOES OR AETAS — The Negritoes or Aetas, during the time of Fr. Fernandez, that is, about the year 1886, numbered around 1,300 to 1,500 with the tendency to decrease rather than increase.10 They were described as a miserable race of kinky hair and dark skin. Their origin, descent and language were not too well known although others of their kin lived in Malacca, Sumatra, Java, Formosa, New Guinea and in majority of Philippine islands. Their language was similar to those in the towns and ranches near the mountains where they lived.17 They had such a low idea of themselves that they did not call themselves men or people but Aetas.1* In this province, they were scattered in all the towns in small numbers where they served in the felling of lumber, the having of bamboo and rattan and the gathering of pitch, wax and other mountain products. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS They were harmful to the public forests and mountains because they burned them to plant rice and corn, without being concerned about the destruction of useful woods for construc tion. Since they changed abode every year, they caused great damage in the forest areas.10 Fr. Fernandez reports that until his time, all the efforts to reduce them to life in community have been fruitless. Both threats and blandishments had been used. Houses had been built for them on the site assigned them near the mountain. They had been supported with food. But everything was in vain. They turned back to the mountain the moment they knew they were out of sight and the resources for their upkeep had been used up.19 20 19 That they cause great damage to forest areas due to caingins is true even today. =0 P. Vicente Fernandez, Op. cit., Fol. 7v. 21 APSR, Seccion Miscellanea, “Documentos Varios de la Segunda Mitad del Siglo XVIII,” fol. 47. -- Fr. Benito Rivas was a parish priest of Balanga. It was to his honor that a barrio of this town was named. 2:1 Fr. Alberto Planas was a parish of Abucay. 24 Today, little by little, the government is succeeding in making them live in small communities called ‘‘bayan-bayanan’. Perhaps forced by cir cumstances since there are practically no more forests to go to, a good number of them stay in such places where they have a school and where they also participate in the election of municipal and even national offiFor example, in 1734, a mission for them was established in Orion under the patronage of Saint Vincent. There were about 65 persons in that mission including “very good Chris tians”, only working for their salvation. But even this did not last.21 About the middle of the 19th century, two Dominican mis sionaries again devised a plan for settling on the plains the two hundred Negrito families that roamed the nearby jungles. Their plan consisted in grouping them together in small settle ments at the foot of the hills, where houses would be constructed for them, and they would be taught the arts od farming and the truths of the Gospel. Fr. Benito Rivas22 and Fr. Alberto Planas23 24 were the men behind this plan to civilise and christian ise a race that had successfully resisted all attempt to bring them to the paths of society and progress. Unfortunately, their efforts failed, as other previous attempts had been — the Negritoes ended by going back to the mountains.2' CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN Somehow, it is speculated, they knew and saw that the natives were oblige to contribute blood and money, to work on the streets and be subject to the tasks of society. They did not understand that every man must do such things or the like in exchange for the benefits promised by community living. So they thought they would be happier if they lived like care free and unrestricted savages with neither king nor rook to order and govern them.25 NATIVES — The greatest bulk of the lowlanders were the na tives. They belonged to the pure Malay race, were of regular build, oval faced, and with big eyes. However, although of the Malay race, one could observe in their phy siognomy some resemblance to the people of Ternate, perhaps, because they have merged with or intermarried ’with the Mardicas of the opposite coast.26 Most of them spoke Tagalog but a considerable number of the population, specially at the beginning, spoke Pampango which is no surprise because, as we have already observed above, Bataan was a part of Pam panga before. And if we are to believe Franciscan records, we can easily conclude, without fear of contradiction, that this peninsula was just a town of the province of Pampanga then.27 PENINSULAR SPANIARDS2' — It is noted that in the second _________ half of the 19th century, the hi » Since most of them are still illiterate, their elections are conducted tiy making them choose among Peebles of different colors which represent own '“w’m Oco Compendio de la Reseda Biografica, (Manila: won ‘ iwsina oiogranca, (Manna: 1895), p. 684 The Bulletin Today (Dec. 12, 1972, p. 1) recently reported the following Some 120 Aeta (Negrito) families numbering more than 500 persons, laid yesterday the cornerstone and broke ground to start con traction of their housing project in barrio Bangkal, Abucay, Bataan. The new Aeta settlement, a 136-heclare reservation, is now the center of government activities being undertaken by the National Minorities As sistance Council, the Philippine Air Force and provincial agencies of Bataan.” P. Fernandez, Op cit., Fol. 8. This observation can still be seen to day among them. They never work for the future. They spend the day play ing games like "hole in” with marbles on the ground. And these include adults including fathers of families. It is the wives who look for food in the rivers and in the fields. =« P. Gainza. Op. cit., Fol. 7. Rctana, W.E., Origines de la Imprenta Filipina, (Madrid: Libreria General de Victoriano Suarez, 1911), p. 54. -s Peninsular Spaniards were those who came from Spain to live here. Those of long stay in the Philippines were called camagoncs at the end of the 19th century. 870 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS number of peninsular Spaniards in Bataan was strangely small. And all of them were either employees in civil, economic and military administration or parish priests. And, more, there were nine towns in which the curates were the only peninsular Spaniards.21' It is also noteworthy that in the entire province, there was not a single peninsular Spaniard or foreigner, aside from the Chinese, who was dedicated to agriculture, industry or com merce.30 CHINESE — The Chinese residents of this province were few in number compared to those in the other pro vinces of the archipelago. They were estimated to have been only about 160 to 180 according to the census taken by the Government and the Administration in the year 1885. Practically no one was engaged in agriculture. Almost all engaged in commerce. Some were engaged in the alcohol in dustry and in the drying of fish for shipment to Manila and Pampanga.31 There were no. rich Chinese. Due to the big number of mestizos who sought to emulate their parents and due to the proximity of the Manila market where they themselves brought their products, the Chinese had never been able to control com merce — not even retail stores.32 And being thriftier, more active and more industrious, they were not too well accepted by the natives. Frequently, the latter even took revenge on them by assaulting and mur dering them on the roads and even inside their own stores in the middle of the towns. One notes the difficulty to uncover ='•’ P. Fernandez, Op. cit., Fol. 16. Loc. cit. " At present, Bataan no longer has alcohol industry. Even the export of dried fish is almost unheard of. Fishes, while still fresh, are transport ed to Manila. The few Chinese left in the province just engage in retail stores or groceries. As a matter of fact they have been so identified with this that if a male native starts a retail store or grocery, he is called “intsik” or “beho” meaning Chinese. Even now, this is a fact. Besides, their small number and, to some extent, their lack of capital, render it impossible to control the whole business. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 871 the perpetrators of such crimes for the natives do not volunteer information or their help to investigate the deeds on behalf of the Chinese.3’ I P. Fernandez, Op. cit., Fol. 8. II No transient Chinese loiter around the province anymore. Those who live here permanently still engage in commerce as before. 35 P. Fernandez, Op. cit., Fol. 6. This is especially noticeable in the town of Balanga where inhabi tants strangely have white complexion and slanted eyes. Some of the Chinese were married and have settled per manently in this province to live with their families, but the majority were transients who came to try their fortune and pass from one province to another.31 MESTIZOS — As we have said, there were two main divisions of mestizos in Bataan, namely, the Spanishnative mestizos and the Chinese-native. The Spanish-native mestizos were greater in number than the peninsular Spaniards. However, they were of little influence and importance. Majo rity of them belonged to the poorer class. But they had always tried to preserve their lineage in census lists due to privileges of exemption from tribute and due to the municipal services which they enjoyed as provided for by the law.3' The Chinese-native mestizos were also of considerable number. As a matter of fact, they ranked second to that of the natives. They were actually more than those who appear in parish lists for the son or daughter of a native father and a Chinese mestiza mother passed to the class of natives. They were very careful of having this noted in their baptismal re cords in order not to pay the higher rate of tribute imposed on Chinese mestizos according to the ancient laws of the tribute. This race was astonishingly prolific and it has left per manent traces of its characteristic traits both physical as well as moral.311 They were generally serious, generous, thrifty, clean and shrewd. They dedicated themselves to agriculture, commerce and industry. They were the truly powerful people in the pro vince. They gave money advances to natives with regular * 3 872 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS interests collectible at harvest time.37 Their women were usually more active than the men and possess great talent to manage their business and to make it grow. However, they had the vice of gambling where they risked their fortune many times. III. DOMINICAN MISSIONS IN BATAAN We have seen that there had been Agustinians, Francis cans, Jesuits and even secular priests in this province. But they stayed here only temporarily. For, indeed, the work was hard and there was promise of only little fruit. Hence, they succumbed to the temptation of leaving this place for a more fertile ground for the conversion of souls.38 It was only the Dominicans who jiersevered in this place to develop and civilise the people. In this article, we treat of the beginnings of this their mission in Bataan. We discuss this topic in four main divisions, namely, the work of Fr. Cristopher«-Salvatierra, the arrival of Dominicans from the Province of the Holy Rosary, the difficulties they encountered, how these difficulties were solved and, lastly, their first efforts towards the organization of this province of Bataan. THE WORK OF FR. CRISTOPHER SALVATIERRA Before Archbishop Salazar sailed out for Manila, desiring, out of his fervent zeal to bring workers for his newly estab lished diocese, he obtained a copious number of Religious from his Order.311 He was able to enlist twenty Dominicans from This fact may be connected to what Aduarte mentions as one of the main vices in the province; usury. (Aduarte, Diego, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Santo Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores en Filipinas, Japon y China, (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cicntificas, Departamcnto de Misionologia Espanola, MCMLXII), p. 120. And most probably, this is also the reason for the assaults and murders inflicted by the natives on the Chinese which we have mentioned above. - Aduarte, Diego, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Santo Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores en Filipinas, Japon y China, Tomo I, (Ma drid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Departamento de Misionologia Espanola, MCMLXII), p. 115. 39 “The First Bishop and Archbishop of Manila, The Lord Master Fr. Domingo de Salazar”, Philippiniana Sacra, vol. II, no. 5. (May-August 1967), pp. 460-461. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 873 Spain for missionary work in the Philippines. However, twelve died in a plague before reaching Mexico. Of the re maining eight, only Fathers Cristopher Salvatierra and Gero nimo Garcia survived the rigours of the atlantic journey.10 Father Cristopher Salvatierra after arriving in Manila was appointed Provisor of the Lord Bishop and Vicar General of the diocese.* 41 When the Archbishop went to Spain in the year 1591, he made him Governor of his diocese.42 «" Ibid., p. 484. 41 “lie was a native of Castilla la Vieja (Old Castle), and a Son of the Illustrious Convent of St. Stephen of Salamanca, where ho protessed, and Studied Arts and Theology, whence he came out a consummate Student.” (Ibid., p. 473) “In the early years of his governance, to these Islands came the Venerable Father Juan Fernandez de Leon, a Presbyter Cleric, a Native of Lisbon, whom the ancient Historians (with loud praise) call the Saint, for such he was, and his life was so extraordinary and prodigious (As Father Chirino, of the Society of Jesus, so writes). And seeing how de veloped This Republic was, he began to give a thought to establishing a Fund of the STA. M1SERIC0RDIA (HOLY MERCY) (as exists in the Realms of Portugal, whose foundation was due to the Most Serene QUEEN DONA LEONOR, Wife of DON JUAN, the SECOND) and having com municated it to the residents of this City of Manila, his FOUNDATION was given a start with abundant Alms which they gave therefor.” (Loc. cit.) “And having made its Ordinances and Statutes, they presented them before the said Rev. Father Fray Cristobal de Salvatierra, Governor of this Archbishopric, and Don Luis Perez de las Marinas, Governor and Captain General of these Islands; Whose License and FOUNDATION was in the year 1594. Erecting the Church under the Title of The Presentation of Our Lady, and the College under that of Santa Isabel, which remains today: where all the Orphan Maidens of this Republic have been reared and arc reared with the education and teaching of Doctrine and good customs, and under the care of its Directress; whence they come out with Abilities proper to their condition, to embrace the State of Married Women or of Religious of Santa Clara (Saint Claire) of this City; and every day it has augmented all the more. These increments in which it finds itself today being owed to this Holy Presbyter.” "This is the most memorable thing to have happened in the governance of this Excellent Man; and he really was so, being one of the great Pil lars that the edifice of this CHURCH had in its Primitive Times; for both in the post of Provisor or of Governor of This Archbishopric, he wrought wonders in the Ecclesiastical State; and he was of a fervent Spirit and rigid in the correction of public Sins. “One daring and insolvent ventured to try to take away his life in his own Cell; but he paid his effrontery, for by having his hand turn rigid at the time of executing the sacreligious blow GOD manifested the WON DER and confirmed the zeal of his Minister. 874 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Father Salvatierra was a wise and zealous apostle. Al though, for his heavy work, one may surmise that he could not absent himself for a long time in Manila, yet he also some times managed to find time to leave his office and personally assist to the souls of the people of Bataan. For this reason, he is actually known as the first Dominican minister of this peninsula?3 He prepared the way for the mission of his other brethren from the Province of the Most Holy Rosary. And it was also partly due to his suggestions and advise that the first four Dominicans assigned to this province succeeded in their work?4 “He put a check to Lasciviousness, and having created a Fund for retired Women, he mitigated the ardour of their impudences. “He fixed limits to the Tariffs and alleviated the Natives from costs and dues. He was the Lawyer in their suits. “He prohibited under grave penalties the public Comedies of the Sangleys. “He had as his opponent the Governor, most contrary to such Holy Revolution; but with virile hearts he resisted him and setting down Ex communications, he achieved his purpose. (Ibid., p. 473-475) 41 “He personally visited all the Islands; he went as Chaplain to the Conquest of the province of Cagayan, and was the first to preach therein the Holy Gospel, and found its Church. “He went to the Moluccas and put to shame the Ecclesiastical govvernment of those Forces; he was the first Minister of the Island of Ba taan (which was abundant in Parishioners); and leaving Ministers there, he returned to this city, where he drafted a most useful set of Instruc tions for the conduct of the Ministries; he decreed that there be therein Books of Baptisms and Weddings, which were not existing. “He attended to everything with the promptness and charity of an Angel. Many and abundant were the Alms he gave; and tired of so many labors and travels, he fell gravely ill, and in the last moments of his life he wrote to the Governor to put some remedy to an immoral friendship that a Captain had with a Woman, and to send him three Soldiers to ar rest an Ecclesiastic who was living in lust; and until he saw one and the other done, he had no repose and said: He died gladly, for having obtained the remedy for these two Souls. “And with an Angelical Peace, after five years of governance, he commended his Spirit to his CREATOR by the end of the year 1595. The whole Republic, the Clergy, and the Religious Orders mourned him.” (Ibid., p. 475) APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 5, Folio 22, “Descripcion de la Provincia de Bataan (1854)”, por el P. Gainza. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 875 THE ARRIVAL OF DOMINICANS FROM THE PROVINCE OF THE HOLY ROSARY It was oil the eve of Saint Mary Magdalene that there came to these islands, in the province of Cavite, on 21 July 1587, fifteen religious from the Order of Saint Dominic with their Vicar General, Fr. Juan de Castro. On the 25th, the feast of Saint James the Apostle, they arrived in Manila.40 Having concluded extensions of felicitations and indispen sable visits and having celebrated, in the cathedral, the feast of their Father, Saint Dominic, when hardly fifteen days had passed since they arrived in Manila, it appeared to them that their rest had already been long enough, and being impatient to exercise the mission which they had placed on their shoulders, they decided to part ways and go to the places appointed to them by the Vice Patron, who was the Governor General, and by the Archbishop.47 Four of them were assigned in Bataan: Fr. Alonso Gimenez,4* Fr. Pedro Bolanos,41' Fr. Domingo Nieva50 <3’Ibid, Folio 23. "■ “The First Bishop and Archbishop of Manila, The Lord Master Fr. Domingo de Salazar”, Philippiniana Sacra, Op. cit., p. 45. 17 Arnaiz, Gregorio, O.P., “Ministerio Espiritual de los Dominicos en el Partido de Bataan”, Misiones Catolicas en Estremo Oriente, p. 138. ,s Fr. Alonso Gimenez was a Son of the Convent of San Esteban in Salamanca. Before coming to the Philippines, he worked in Guatemala. In Bataan, he was able to learn Tagalog. Returning to Santo Domingo in Manila for ill health, he was appointed Master of Students and later Prior of the Convent. He was tho second Provincial of his Province and during his time, he admitted Cagayan into it. lie also went to Cambodia, Cochinchina and Macao. In Macao, he died in December 1598. (Ocio, llilario, Reseda Biografica de los Religiosos de la Provincia del Santisimo Rosario de Filipinas desde su Fundacion hasta N'uestros Dias, Parte Pri mera, (Manila: Establccimicnto Tipografico del Real Colegio de Santo Tomas, 1891), pp. 78-80.) Fr. Pedro Bolanos was a Master of Novices in the Convent of Nuestra Schora de la Pena de Francia of Salamanca. He was 60 years of age when he went to Bataan. He was especially attracted to children teaching them how to write, read, pray and sing. However, in less than one year, he died of stomach ache al the infirmary of the Franciscans. He was buried in the Franciscan Church. (Ocio, Op. cit.. pp. 95-97) While still a young deacon, Fr. Domingo de Nieva came to the Philippines. He was from Villoria, a son of the Convent of San Pablo de Villadolid. Being young, he learned Tagalog fast. He ministered to the people of Bataan even as a deacon baptizing, catechizing, preaching and acting as an interpreter during confessions. He translated and pub876 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS who was just a deacon, and Fr. Juan de Santo Tomas Ormaza,51 their Vicar and Prelate. They were accompanied for sometime by Fr. Cristopher Salvatierra who was then already knowl edgeable of the place and its language. They arrived in Bataan in September 1587.'2 DIFFICULTIES THE MISSIONARIES ENCOUNTERED Aside from the difficulties afforded by the elements, the climate and the place which was very mountainous criss-crossed by streams and rivers, the missionaries encountered four main problems in this province which hindered their work of evan gelization. These were: superstitions and idolatry, usury and slavery, drunkenness or alcoholism and confusion of religions. SUPERSTITIONS AND IDOLATRY — Pagan Bataan also had its forms of worship. The people also had their priestesses in the person of old women called catalonas. These presided over some ceremonies which were performed with certain instruments in the more hidden spots. It has been recorded that even at the beginning of the spread of Christianity in this province, these priestesses con tinued to do their functions “for the profit they received from them”. And it was also said that the people, at first, even hid these idolatrous old women from the missionaries.''1 lished the Memorial of Christian Life of V.P. Fr. Luis de Granada. He ministered to the Chinese. And in the Chinese language, he published prayers, meditations, preparations for confession and Holy Communion and, at least, two Chinese grammar books. He also became a Prior of Santo Domingo. And, after 19 years in the Philippines, he died while on his way to Mexico around the year 1696 to 1607. (Ibid., p. 108-110.) Fr. Juan de Santo Tomas Ormaza was born in Sentember 1548 in Medina del Campo. Villadolid. He was of noble blood and well educated. He studied his Latin and Rhetoric in the Universidad de Salamanca. He was conferred the degree of Lcctorate in Philosophy in San Pedro de las Dueiias. Segovia. He received his Doctorate in Navarra. Having been been invested of his habit in San Pablo de Villadolid. he became Master of Students there. In Bataan, he erected the towns of Abucay and Samal. Being the fourth Provincial of the Order (elected 12 June 1600) in the Philippines, he was later also Vice-Provincial (1610-1612) and Provincial of Japan, in the Vicariate of Saint Dominic in Nagasaki. Returning to Manila (1614), he was assigned to the Vicariate of the Parian (1619). He was also one year in San Gabriel de Binondoc. He died on 7 September 1638 at the age of 90 years. •' * Aduarte, Op. cit., o. 115. w Ibid., p. 120-121. CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 877 And, as was common in many other underdeveloped places, Bataan also had its experiences with evil spirits. Fr. Domingo Navarrete54 narrates to us his encounter with these beings in this province."’ Indeed, similar occurences in China are also recorded by Santa Cruz in his book.''’ Beliefs in these superstitions and idolatry had to be com bated by the ministers of this province. USURY AND SLAVERY — Usury resulting from loans, or debts, which were oftentimes justly contracted, and the maltreatment of slaves were also problems which had to be confronted by the missionaries. The authorities found themselves helpless in the face of these prob lems. The rich took advantage of the poor. The powerful took advantage of the weak. And the creditors took advan•',l Fr. Domingo Navarretc, a Dominican missionary, travelled round the world and spent the best of his life (1658-69) in China where he became a determined opponent of the evangelical methods of the "Jesuit man darins". He also came to the Philippines where he stayed for a while in Bataan. Fi 'rom Manila, where I stayed a few days, I went to Bataan (in Luzon); and there, J was much troubled and disturbed by Witches or Fairies, what it was we knew not, but the effect showed it to be a con trivance of the Devil. No considerable hurt was done any man, but we heard much Noise and Clatter, and saw Stones fly: at one moment the House was all foul, and the next as suddenly clcrn; and the Chairs hurried about without perceiving who moved them, and the like. We saw it ourselves and we passed two Nights without closing our Eyes. "One Night when 1 and another were gone to Best, and the Noise was abated, there came into the place where we lay the Governor, Judge, and some Indians, to see whether they could discover anything. They went on courageously, threatening those that durst disturb the House. The moment they came in they were thrown down Stairs, a World of Stones, Sand and dirt tumbling after them, and they were so frightened, that they never inquired further into the Matter. I was called away to Manila, and by that means delivered from this Vexation, which continued some Months and others had enough suffering and punishment from it." (Commins, J.S. (cd.), The Travels and Controversies of Friar Domingo Navarrette (1618-1686), vol. I, Cambridge University Press, London: 1962), p. 88.) Similar occurences are narrated to have happened in the province of Samar. In Bataan, even today, people generally still believe in Witches. In the town of Pilar actually there is a district which is said to be inhabited by these witches called "kulam". . Sta Cruz, Baltazar de. De la Provincia del Santo Rosario de Ulipinas. Japon y China del Sagrado Orden de Predicadores, Tomo II, (Zara goza. Pasquai Bueno, lmpressor del Rey, 1693), pp. 126-7, 312 13. 878 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS tage of their debtors.57 And this unjust way of life had taken flesh in their very bones. This had long served the life-blood of society’s existence. Hence, it was not easy to pull this flesh from their very bones and bleed it out of society’s very exis tence.* 5S ™ Arnaiz. op. cit., pp. 140-141. 5S Aduarte, op. cit, p. 121 -■’•Ibid-, p. 126. fin Loc. cit. DRUNKENNESS OR ALCOHOLISM — Drunkenness was ano ther vice that was so widespread and common in this province that it seemed impos sible to remove it from the people’s practices.5" Generally, all the natives had this defect which caused much disorder. And, in this aspect, the province surpassed “any other place on earth”. It was because of this that this province was famous among the neighboring provinces. And it really seemed im possible to uproot it because it was inherited from fathers and grandfathers and was almost connatural to the people.01* CONFUSION OF RELIGIONS — Another major difficulty and obstacle that the missionaries met on their arrival in this province was the confusion of reli gions among the natives on the part of the missionaries which was due to the defective methods of spreading the Gospel fol lowed till then. In the beginning, seeing the docility of the people and in experienced in the missionary apostolate, the very first mis sionaries to this province did not realise the seriousness of the fault that neutralized their efforts. Of those who had gone to convert the people of Bataan, for example, Aduarte mentions one who was so full of zeal in fulfiling his office that, without teaching the people what they ought to believe, he baptized them by force, gathering together all men and women, though already of adult age, and gave them their Christian names. In this manner, he also baptized those who escaped him the pre vious times that he administered baptism, who were not at all few, because as baptism was not voluntary, but by force, there were those who hid from it. And the priest went on contented, putting into writing the names of those he baptized thinking that he had done a great service to the Lord and administering CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 879 other such baptisms or sacrileges in other towns.01 Because of this practice, there were also those who assumed Christian names in order to avoid baptism. And those who were baptized, believing that baptism was a malediction, immediately took a bath as soon as they free themselves from the hands of the minister. And they washed with great care and diligence the chrism and holy oils in which, it appeared to them, consisted the malediction of baptism. And they returned to their idola tries and superstitions as if they had never been baptized. Even those who were presumably properly baptized, as those baptized by Fr. Cristopher Salvatierra,* 62 * * * 66 since no priest remained with them to direct and guide them in their Christian way of life, became merely half-Christians, who, mixing with the heathens, were distinguished from them only in name, but practicing the same superstitions and performing actions no different from them.03 They themselves even protected and hid catalonas from the missionaries.01 01 Ibid., p. 116. 62 P. Gainza, op. cit., p. 22. 6:1 APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Tomo 2, Documento 6, Folio 10, "Memoria de la Provincia De Bataan. Ano 1886. Para la Exposicion de Madrid, En 1888”, por el P. Vicente Fernandez. ,u Ibid., Folios 11-llv. Ibid., Folio 16. 66 Aduarte, op. cit., p. 116. 67 Loe. cit. These practices led to the slow progress of Christianity in this province and to the great difficulty of the Dominicans in setting aside the Christian from the non-baptized because many denied their baptism in order to free themselves of their obligations,while others claimed having been baptized in order not to receive the sacrament behaving like Christians — con fessing, receiving Holy Communion and the other sacraments as the rest of the Christians. And since the missionaries did not know their language, it was easy to deceive them.06 There were even those who having been known as non-Christians just promised the Religious to come back, the next day for baptism but never appeared at all afterwards.67 Indeed, in those first days, baptism was shunned. The people did everything to avoid it. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS MET Having understood the above mentioned problems, the mis sionaries started to work out remedies on them. SUPERSTITIONS AND IDOLATRY —At first, the catalogs, who were the instru ments of superstitions and idolatry in this province, were un known to the missionaries. Their worship was occult. These priestesses, as we have said, were hidden even by Christians. And these catalonas themselves, being hypocrites, frequently go to church with “great piety.”"M However, this was not for long. Once, Fr. Juan de Santo Tomas, Ormaza, the Provincial Vicar of the Dominicans in this province, visited a sick woman. This woman told the priest that her sickness is the effect of the revenge of one of the two witches in that town. The Vicar after having done the necessary investigation, discovered that those two women were l'eally witches having contracted a pact with the devil and as such they had caused great harm to the people.09 Upon knowing this, the faithful decided to punish them and throw them out of their town. The instruments of their witchcraft were given to Christians school boys to play with around the town and, finally, to burn.* 70 ,,s Arnaiz. op. cit., p. 139. 09 Loc. cit. 70 Aduarte, op. cit., pp. 120-121. From then on, although from time to time there were still some manifestations of their relics, superstitions and idolatry in this province ended. USURY AND SLAVERY —With the help of God, Christian doctrines on justice penetrated the hearts of those afflicted by this vice of usury and maltreat ment of slaves. It all began one day when a good Christian, by the name of Pablo Taclanmanoc, asked the Vicar Provincial if he had knowl edge of debts, usury and other maltreatments in town. The priests responded that of those he knew from confession he could not tell but that it is a must to pay one’s debt everyone CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 881 knew. Enlightened by this answer, Don Pablo resolved to restore to their proper owners all his ill-gotten goods. The good example reached those other people who practiced usury and maltreated their slaves.71 Soon, many gave liberty to their slaves who had been deprived of their freedom unjustly. They restored money taken from usury and took only gains as suggested by the priest. There whre even some who had given away everything because they found out that all were unjustly taken by them. And this without any force. And when others did not know to whom to restitute, they gave the property to the community for common needs and the needs of the poor. The same was done when some did not want to receive the satisfaction due to them.7-’ 71 Ibid., on. 123 124. Ibid., p. 121. 73 Loc. cit. 71 Loc. cit. In all these, the disinterestedness of the Religious also helped. They would not even ask to apply these things for the benefits of the Church. They never gave any occasion for suspicion on the part of the faithful.73 Thus, this happy situation continued. Everyone was just to his neighbor, paying what should be payed and sometimes more than what was just. Hence, conflicts was avoided and their was peace.71 DRUNKENNESS OR ALCOHOLISM — Against drunkenness or alcoholism, the Fa ther Vicar Provincial also found an efficacious means without recourse to violence. This father arranged that nobody should visit a drunkard’s house, nor admit him in their own, nor com municate with them, nor deal on anything with them. Besides this, he ordered that the names of' those who were slaves to this vice be published so that all may avoid them as enemies of God, as scorners of doctrine and of the teachings of the Fa thers. Through this form of ostracism, the guilty ones realized their evil condition, embarrassed that the more respectable mem bers of their community were ashamed of them, and they rid themselves of a vice that made them so despicable. Besides, with the preaching and exhortation of the priests, the whole province conceived an abhorrence for such a brutalizing vice 882 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS and became one of the most abstemious provinces in the Is lands.73 73 P. V. Fernandez, op. cit., folio 11. 7,i Loc. cit., Cf. Aduarte, op. cit., p. 121. 77 Aduarte, op. cit., nn. 116-117 7S Ibid., op. cit., p. 117. 79 Loc. cit. And when, sometimes, out of necessity, or out of desire, they drank, it was only a cup and a half at most, in order to be far from the old disorder. This is why the province not only erased its former bad name and reputation but also earned a good one.70 CONFUSION OF RELIGIONS — When little by little, the Fa thers became familiar with the people and began to learn their customs as well as their language, they also took notice of this problem of confusion of religions. Hence, they applied the convenient remedy, expo sing, in their frequent sermons and individual conversations, the evil deeds of those who. without being Christians, try to appear as Christians and of those who were Christians but tried to hide the fact and lived as non-Christians. And to them, they offered to set their .consciences aright without any punish ment, without feeling any shame and without any fear of losing their good reputation, to procure the remedy of their souls with all secrecy.* * 77 Secret baptisms were performed. And confessions helped much in this regard. And the knowledge of Tagalog which was easily learned by the deacon Fr. Domingo de Nieva, aided much, not only in being interpreter during confessions but also in preaching to the people which gained for him the affection of both his Relious elders and the people.78 79 The selflessness of the missionaries, their sufferings and sincere labor for the welfare of the people preaching the Word of God from town to town, day and night, in storms and rain, in lightnings and thunders, across the Bay and rivers, also helped much in convincing the people of the truth and good ness of the Christian religion. Hence, not long after, many began to ask for baptism and there were more who approached the confessional whether healthy or sick.70 CHRISTIANIZATION OF BATAAN 883 ORGANIZATION OF THE MISSIONS Once the weeds had been uprooted, the sowing of the good seed presented less trouble. From the very beginning, the mis sionaries were convinced that it was necessary to bring the scattered inhabitants together and to organize them into towns."0 This highly civilizing procedure was intended to incorporate these people into civilized society and Christianity. Thus, before the close of the XVI century, in the year 1587, the town of Abucay was founded. Samal came into existence in the year 1956?1 These were placed under the protection of Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena respectively. From the second half of the XVII century onwards, the following towns were founded. Orion, for a long time a visit of Abucay, was separated from it in 1667 under the patronage od St. Michael. In 1714, the Dominicans officially accepted the town of Orani. Our Lady of the Holy Rosary was its heavenly protec tress. Balanga was the third town founded by the missionaries in the XVIII century. Having been accepted as a visit of Abu cay in 1714, it was made a vicariate in 1739. The Dominicans also accepted in 1757 the town of Liana-Hermosa separating it from Orani. Its patron saint was St. Peter Martyr."2 And, finally, mention can also be made of the town of Pilar, under the patronage of Our Lady of the Pillar, which, though founded by the secular clergy in 1801, was. however, placed under the ministry of the Dominicans in 1833.":l This was how this province was, evangelized. The result was described by Aduarte in the following paragraph: Por lo eual, cuando los jueees ecclesiastieos quieren. meter en regia a. algunas personas de otros partidas, que andan muy fuera de ella, suelen enriarlas a Bataan, como a partido de gente reformada, no porquc no ha ya en el fait as (que basta ser hombres DA. p. 114. col. 2. R1 APSR, MSS. Seccion Bataan, Tomo 1, Documento 8, Folio 55. “Parroquia de Samal”, por el Fr. Miguel Portell. Cf. Fernandez, Pablo OP. “Dominican Apostolate in the Philippines” Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas, vol. XXXIX, no. 435, January-February 195), p. 152. APSR, MSS, Seccion Bataan, Uncatalogued. Documento 5, Folios 41-47, “Dominican Missions in Bataan”, by Fr. Pablo Fernandez. R l APSR. MSS. Seccion Bataan, Tomo 1. Documento 19, Folio 64. “Con 884 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS para tenerlas), sino porque tienen tanto cuidado de acudir a los Sacram-etoitos, cuando se ven necesitados, y se llegan a ellos con tanto sentimiento de sus culpas y proposito de la enmienda, que, con mucha razon, muchos y muy bucnos ministros que han tenido muy gran concepto de su virtud. han vivido entre ellos con gran consuelo, viendo, que si se trabaja, no es en vano, sino con mucho fruto. y por experiencia han visto que mira el Sehor a estos indios como muy Padre, acudiendoles como tai con muy particular y amoroso. provincia en muchos casos particulares, con tales y tantas circunstancias, que no se puede dudar de que son obras suyas, can que los saco prodigiosamente de la carrera de perdition, dando grandes esperanzas de Uevarlos al cielo.’’l<i vento de Pilar, Respuesta al Cuestionario de N.P. Provincial de 4 de Agosto de 1888”, por el P. Fermin de San Julian. s* Aduarte. op. cit., p. 124. THE CLERGY AND THE BOLETIN “. . .Commendamus:. . .2—Ut assidue legant Commentarium interdioecesanum Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas, sin gulis mensibus ab Universitate Sancti Thomae editum; in quo praecipua Sanctae Sedis decreta atque acta recentiora evulgantur, quaestiones practicae in utilitatem parochorum solvuntur, etc. . . . Obligatoria erit subscripto omnibus et singulis sacerdotibus cleri saecularis et religiosis curam animarum habentibus; et ipsa Curia ecclesiastica de pretio subscriptionum solvendo invigilabit.” (Acta et Dec. Primi Con. Plenarii Phil., no. 29)
UST CENTRAL SEMINARY CLASS 1973 On the occasion of the University Week Celebration, the seminarians of Class 1973 will be ordained priests at the U.S.T. Chapel on January 26, 1973, by Most Rev. Carmine Rocco, Apos tolic Nuncio to the Philippines. Preacher for the occasion will be Most Rev. Juan Sison, Archbishop of Nueva Segovia. REV. ROGELIO ALFORTE Y ARPON— Diocese of Masbalc. Born April 17, 1941, Masbate, Masbate; Parents: Fran cisco Alfortc and Marina Arpon; Minor Seminary, Pcnafrancia; Philosophy course, St. Pius X Seminary; Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degree: Bach elor of Arts; Bishop: Most Rev. Porfirio Iligan, D.D. . MELQUIADES ANDA Y PAR - Diocese of Lucena. Born December 10. 1947, Alimonan. Quezon: Parents: Aniceto Anda and Maximina Par; Minor Seminary and Philosophy course, Mount Carmel; Theology. UST Central Semi nary; Degree: Bachelor of Arts; Bishop: Most " " D.D. REV. MOISES ANDRADE Y BERNAR DINO — Diocese of Malolos. Born September 23. 1948, Marilao, Bulacan; Parents: Moises D. Andrade and Julia B. Bernardino; Minor Seminary. Our Lady of Guadalupe; Philosophy. Seminario Conciliar de San Carlos; Theology. UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licen tiate in Sacred Theology. Bachelor of Arts: Ordained priest on December 1972. Bishop: Most Rev. Manuel P. del Rosario, D.D. 886 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS REV. JUAN CORPUZ Y CARO —Dio cese of Ilagan. Born Dec. 27, 1947, Naguilian, Isabela; Parents: Sulpicio R. Corpuz and Concilia M. Caro; Minor Seminary, San Jacinto Seminary; Philo sophy and Theology, UST Central Semi nary- Degrees: Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Philosophy, Bachelor of Arts; Bishop: Most Rev. Francisco R. Cruces, D.D. REV. FIRMO DAYAO Y SALVADOR - Archdiocese of Cebu. Bom August 9, 1949, Dalaguete. Cebu; Parents: Dr. Melchor B. Dayao and Rosario Salva dor: Minor Seminary, Seminario Menor de San Carlos; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licen tiate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Philosophy, Bachelor of Arts; Arch bishop: Ilis Eminence, Julio Card. Ro sales, D.D. REV. TITO GELITO Y SUCGANG — Diocese of Capiz. Born January 4, 1949, Ibajay, Aklan; Parents: Clemente Gelito and Victoria Sucgang; Minor Seminary, St. Pius X; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Bach elor of Sacred Theology, Bachelor of Philosophy, Bachelor of Arts. Bishop: Most Rev. Antonio Frondosa, D.D. REV. MERLIN LOGRONIO Y TInA - Diocese of Dumaguete. Born July 6, 1948, Bayawan, Negros Oriental; Pa rents: Edilberto V. Logronio and Ra mona P. Tina; Minor Seminary, St. Jo seph; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Bachelor of Philo sophy, Bachelor of Arts;' Bishop: Most Rev. Epifanio B. Surban, D.D. UST CENTRAL SEMINARY CLASS 1973 887 REV. RAFAEL MAGNO Y SISON - Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. Born July 9, 1948, Mangaldan, Pangasinan; Parents: Rafael D. Magno and Asuncion C. Sison; Minor Seminary, Mary Help of Christians; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licen tiate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Philosophy, Bachelor of Arts; Arch bishop: Most Rev. Mariano Madriaga, D. D. REV. ERNESTO MANDANAS Y INGCO — Archdiocese of Lipa. Born September 15, 1947, Aplaya, Bauan, Batangas; Parents, Ernesto Y. Mandanas and Azucena Z. Ingco; Minor Seminary and Philosophy, St. Francis de Sales Semi nary; Theology UST Central Seminaryo; Degree: Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Most Bachelor of Arts; Archbishop: Rev. Alejandro Olalia, D.D. REV. WILFREDO PAGUIO Y CRISOSTOMO — Diocese of San Fernando. Born September 3, 1948, Pilar, Bataan; Pa rents: Anaclcto R. Paguio and Iluminada Crisostomo; Minor Seminary: Our Lady of Good Counsel; Philosophy and Theo logy, UST Central Seminary; Degrees: Licentiate in Philosophy, Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Bachelor of Arts. MA in Philosophy of Religion; Bishop: Most Rev. Emilio Cinense, D.D. REV. LEONCIO SANTIAGO Y SU CRE — Diocese of Tagbilaran. Born September 12, 1949, Calape. Bohol; Pa rents: Luis Hiram Santiago and Ifonorata Sucre; Minor Seminary, Immacu late Heart of Mary; Philosophy and Theology, UST Central Seminary; De grees: Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Philosophy. Bachelor of Arts; Bishop: Most Rev. Manuel M. Mascarirtas, D.D.

Item sets: Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

Media: Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas; For a life of order; Cleanliness in the church; Catholic bishops on plebiscite; Renewal in the church today; Pope to secretariat council of the synod; Foundation of the Holy Land, Inc.; Michael Rua a blessed for the people; The life of blessed Agostina; Saint Alphonsus, an exemplary pastor of souls; The Jesus of St. Thomas; Paul or Apollos; A diocesan synod; History of the Church in the Philippines; The Christianization of the Province of Bataan; UST Central seminary class 1973