Franciscans in the Bisayan islands
Media
Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal
- Title
- Franciscans in the Bisayan islands
- Language
- English
- Source
- The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 9 (No. 6) June 1929
- Year
- 1929
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- june, 1929 iii£. AMEKIOAH'^tlAMbUK Of COMMERCE JOURNAL 29 Franciscans in the Bisayan Islands We have journeyed with the mission-found ing fathers of the Franciscan order throughout Luzon, and now ¿b with them into the Bisayan islands: more lonely isolation, more fortitude, more devotion bent to the raising of substantial temples of worship for the villages converted to Christianity—villages which are soon to become towns, and some of them important ports and capitals of provinces. In the old life, isolation is of primary significance; and all the customs uphold it: they inculcate pride of village, loyalty to villagers and the village chieftain, and encourage mating and marriage within the village for the rearing of warriors in its defense. Polygamy plays its part, and concubinage. Whatever conduces to the strength of the village, is good; and the gods, of course, sanction it. Let us not condemn, rather let us understand: blessed will be that day when every eye reaches the printed page unblinded by any prejudice whatever; yea, and every hand so writes. Truth is, what early tribes did in the Philippines for preservation against nature and other enemies, and what isolated tribes do now to the same end, is of a piece with what tribes did elsewhere and merely repeats a familiar chapter in the story of all mankind. Far from being a source of embarrassment, this should be a source of pride and carefully traced as the more remote ramifications of an heroic heritage. It is remote, and we have wandered in making it cause for comment. Anyway, Christianity was to erect the villages into towns. The new priest had no quarrel with his fellows in neighboring villages, they were all teaching identical forms of worship of the same god. They were equally arrayed against the old gods. Their mystic practices inspired no village hosts to nocturnal vengeance, rather their worldly sense marshalled the vil lagers into companies making common defense with similar forces from neighboring villages against the Mohammedans who refused con version, and the outlaws who departed to strong holds in the hills. Chieftains were restrained from offensive forays and sanguinary reprisals by their awe of the new faith, which taught that such was sin; relinquishing the absolute authority they exercised in their own right over their villages, they were proud to become village mayors, gobernador cilios, under the powerful sovereignty of Spain. They were more com monly brought to this decision by the exhorta tions of the friar, exposed unarmed to their mercy, than by the superior arms of the Spanish soldier. Thus it was that villages could become towns, and towns might to be formed into districts and provinces the governments of which were responsible to Manila. We have here something Christianity did for the Philippines, sometimes by spiritual power alone, sometimes in alliance with the arms of Philip III. Nor is it strange at all that the Philippines cost Spain the least blood of any of her colonies: they are the only one she established in the orient, birthplace of Christianity; this is a mystic religion, and to a people who are mystics, the Filipinos, it was very readily acceptable. They could not pene trate its mysteries. Who can? But they made nothing of believing them so thoroughly as to act on that belief. The friars beheld their labors bearing abundant fruits, so loyally the cross was borne aloft by the converted people. On they went then, re placing thatch chapels with substantial churches, guarding exposed shores with armed Avatchtowers, opening roads to neighboring settlements for easier communication and succor in time of need. No architects, they still built well. Their work still stands; only half in ruins, maybe it will hold together until a revival of faith repairs it. If people are to believe, and few philosophers have argued otherwise, then what a splendor upon the people would come of falling to and saving the religious edifices the friars and their penniless flocks built in centuries past. Perhaps fifty years remain in which to see a change from the present indifference—the walls and foundations of the churches are solid enough to wait. Materials utilized for these churches, a wonder of the modern world, vary with their availability. They are of stone wherever stone was to be found; they are of brick where stone was distant but clay was suitable; and failing both stone and brick, hardwood was made to serve. There is evidence enough that Chinese craftsmen were employed, who taught their trades to native workmen. Chinese ideas of tool-making were also borrowed: the friars introduced the modern crafts into the islands, and commerce came of their indefatigability. In turning from Luzon to the Bisayas, Father Huerta speaks very briefly of Cebu: “The bishopric of Cebu was established in 1595 and includes Cebu island, where is found the city (Cebu) of the holy name of Jesus, the bishop’s residence, and Samar, Leyte, Panay, Negros, Bohol, Paragua (Palawan), Mindanao, Basilan and Jolo, with many others of minor note, and Ori ental NTER America at Seattle via the short Trans-Pacific route— or at San Francisco. Then travel east from Portland or Seattle to Chicago on the Oriental Limited in 68 hours. Enjoy the kind of service you’d expect only of a fine hotel—yet pay no extra fare! En joy 1200 miles of clean, cinderless, scenic travel behind either oil-burn ing or electric locomotives—60 miles of it along Glacier National Park. CLEAN. CINDERLESS, LUXURIOUS, SCENIC ROUTE Apply to Tourist Agencies or Trans-Pacific Steamship Pines or write J. Wesley Young, Gen’l Agent, Pass’r >ept., 1205 4th Ave., Seattle, Wash. A. H. Hebb, Agent, 916 Government St., Victoria, B. G. Edw. A. Dye, Gen’l Agent, 607 Hastings St., Vancouver, B. C. C. A. Gerken, Gen’l Agent, 4009 Hearst Bldg., San Francisco, Cal. M. J. Costello, West. Traf. Mgr., Seattle, Wash. Cable address: Hillrail the Marianas islands. These islands are all south of Luzon and constitute various provinces, of which the Franciscans administer the fol lowing : “Island and Province of Samar.—This province has always had two names, Ibabao for the eastern part and Samar for the western, though in official documents it is known only as Samar. With the islands of Capul, Viri, Lauang, Cata laban, Homonjon, Soloan, Parasan, Buat, Dalupiri, and many others which are uninhabited, it forms a single province ... It is about 35 leagues long and, at its widest part, some 14 or 15 leagues across. The surface is extremely broken but the mountains present no especially elevated peak; only Mount Capotoan stands much above the rest. “There is an abundance of woods of every variety, a diversity of palms, rattans, bamboos, fruits, edible roots, and a tree whose leaves, roots, bark and every part yield the equivalent of garlic, being quite equal to it as a condiment in food. (Happy circumstance for the nostaligic Enroute see the illuminated New Cascade Tunnel, longest tunnel in the Western Hemisphere—8 miles through the Cascade Mountains —shortening the distance across America on the Great Northern Railway. And at Chicago make connections with fast de luxe trains for Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Washington, D. C., and other American cities. A Dependable Railway IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 30 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL June, 1929 T~V)R office and street wear this A model is a favorite with most men. Roomy, neat, well designed and made of fine materials through out. See them at any HIKE store. Wear a pair for comfort. HIKE SHOE FACTORY STYLE CREATORS 286 SAN MARCELINO MANILA, P I. Commercial Printing is a silent but powerful messenger, and your letter heads, billheads, cards, envelopes, etc., when well printed, all help to build up that feeling of confidence so much desired in this modern business age. Close personal attention to every phase of a printed job is an invariable feature of McCullough Service, and our repu tation for producing good printing merits your patronage. McCullough printing company 101 escolta Phone 21801 manila, p. i. friar!) Coal also abounds, and wild hogs and deer, with a multitude of birds and monkeys of divers varieties. The islands’ valleys, many of them fertilized by powerful rivers, are sus ceptible of producing every variety of crops, although, because the interior is inhabited by infidels, only the lowlands along the shores are cultivated. And these only on a small scale, because the indolence of the inhabitants is more than satisfied with a little rice, coconut oil, camote ( yams ), palauán and abacá, the only products produced on the island to this day (1865), and even this due to the zeal of the religious, especially the abacá (Manila hemp) which within a few years will have made ad mirable progress. “Capes and secure ports plentifully indent the coast, which yields game fish, shells, pearls, amber and a hundred other singular products in abundance. (And no wonder, then, the indolence of the people: remarkable, rather, their energy to cultivate the soil at all). “It is also worthy of note that each year at the change of the monsoon in September or October, remarkably high water is experienced on the eastern and northern shores, the natives calling it dolo. This great tide, or inundation, is often aggravated by strong winds and even baguios (a fact of which Colonel Stimson is also now aware), and at times, though not often, it comes without wind. It does not always come at the same point, but at times encroaches upon Guiguan, at the south, and is dispersed toward Leyte and Cebu; in which case it is less dangerous, because it encounters wide seas. At other times it makes for Lanang and Borongan, or, turning more to the northward, Tubig, Orcs, Baric, Palapat; and sometimes it pours through San Bernardino strait, endangering Catarman, Calbayog, and all the villages on the western coast. So overwhelming is the volume of water it brings that it ordinarily rises 60 to 70 feet above the usual tide; for this reason the inhabitants are compelled to resort to row boats and rafts and retire to the hills. Considerable damage is caused to the fields and towns, and even to people careless enough to be caught in the flood, which, however, lasts but a single tide. “The conversion of Samar is due to the zeal of the Jesuits, who administered it spiritually from 1596, when they first raised the cross there, until 1768; at which time, and by order of the superior government, its administration was A gate in the old walls of M a n i 1 a— the postern gate. In Spanish times this gate was for gov« ernors and archbishops only entrusted to our province of St. George, the Great, possession being taken October 17 of that year, of the pueblos making up the province, which were Catbalogan, Paranas, Umauas, Borongan, Sulat, Tubig, Catubig, Palapat, Catarman, Capul and Banhajon, which with numerous settlements counted only 5,299 tri butos (families paying tribute) and 23,802 inha bitants. But now the same pro vinco comprises the following towns.” Here Father Iluerta proceeds to list the towns of Samar with some details concerning each, his practice throughout his summary of the Franciscan chronicles. Catbalogan—On the west coast; climate is hot but healthful—provincial capital. Coastal com munications only, and mails irregular. Church built by the Jesuits, burned in 1760; repaired by Fr. Felix Carrion in 1814, and further im provements by Fr. Martin de Yepes in 1840. Patron, St. Bartholomew. “In 1769 our religious established an infirmary here, which was orig inally put in the charge of a lay brother, Fr. José de Jesus Maria. It no longer exists, and I am ignorant of what may have occurred to cause the abandonment of such a useful establishment.” May Sugar Review (Concluded from page 28) cents per lb. to 3.00 cents, meaning that Cuba would pay 2.40 cents as duty instead of 1.7648 cents per lb. as at, present, was received by Phil ippine sugar men with equanimity. The tariff bill approved bv the House is not discriminatory against Philippine sugar, as was proposed by Representative Timberlake. It is rumored that the Senate will try to restrict importation of Philippine sugar; if they fail in their efforts, there will be no change in the present tariff. Philippine Exports:—Exports of sugar from the Philippines for the 1928-29 crop from No vember 1, 1928, to May 31, 1929, amounted to 380,182 metric tons, segregated as follows: Metric Tons Centrifugals_____________ 361,462 Muscovados_____________ 12.799 Refined_____________________ 5,921 Total_________________ 380,182 Java Market:—The Java market was dull and although spot quotations had improved slightly, June-July-August delivery ([notations were unchanged. The following are the latest quo1 at ions: Superiors— Spot. __ _ _ Gs. 15-1 8— P8.12 June___ ____ ______ “ 13 — 7.02 Julv-August. _ __. ___ “ 12-3 1 — 6.89 cad Sugar—• Spot___________ _____ “ r> — 6.50 June _ “ 11-3 8 — 6.18 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL