Franciscans in Rizal and Laguna: Mahayhay Bridge

Media

Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Franciscans in Rizal and Laguna: Mahayhay Bridge
Language: English
Year: 1928
Rights
Fulltext: 24 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1928 Franciscans in Rizal and Laguna: Mahayhay Bridge Capricious Engineering: Seventh Paper, Mission Trail Series This month’s excursion with the Franciscan fathers, through more of their old mission towns, will be as pleasant as the others: around Laguna de Bay, over excellent motor roads, and past the varying scenes of valley and hill land. It is Tagalog country, very old in history; there are unmistakable traces of Malayan civilization dating back some 10,000 years. On this point the Journal will comment some time with more thoroughness. ^The friars, upon converting the people, increased the size of the villages, often uniting several into one. Then, too, Spain’s monarchs gave lands, and assigned the inhabit ants thereof, to gentlemen who served them, and on these grants, called encomiendas, which were also given to the church for special purposes, churches were built and villages founded. A number of such grants are now districts of Manila, as Mayhaligue, or the San Lazaro estate. Pasay, as has been mentioned in an earlier chapter in this series, was an Augustinian encomienda. Chiefs, where found, were com monly left in places of authority over their subjects, under the sovereignty of Spain, and the old order of community affairs was not radically changed. There were places, it is recorded, where the native population declined under the new order, but there were other places where it was stimulated to abundant growth. The purpose of the new order was, according to the light of that age, nobly benevolent. That in practice it was beneficent is attested by the fact that it endured and waxed strong, with that generally cordial popular support evidenced in the navies the people built and manned * for Spain, and the ardor never quenched in their souls for the towns and hamlets under the bells of the scattered missions. Morong, now Rizal, was made a political district February 2i, 1853, “with a part of the territory of Manila and a part of that of Laguna.” Now a province, it includes the towns of the northern border of the lake as far as Talim island, vfray Juan de la Plasencia and Fray Diego de Oropesa performed the first baptisms in the town of Morong in 1578, and Fray Blas de la Madre de Dios was the first parish priest there, 1586. Patron saint, San Geronimo; the original church and much of the town burned down in 1612, and in 1615 the present edifice was completed by the Chinese master craftsmen who built it. Pililla. Until 1583 a district of Morong comprising five rancherias, and in that year made a pueblo. Fray Pedro de Canizares began the present church in 1670 and completed it in 1673, with gifts asked from the people. In 1848 Fray Jose de Guadalajara renewed the altars. Other stone churches, of 1599 and 1668, were burned. Tanay. On Tanay mountain, separated from Pililla and made a pueblo in 1606; moved from the original site in 1620, and to the present site in 1640. “One hundred forty-eight priests have administered this town since its foundation, the first being Fray Pedro de Talavera.” Patron saint, San Ildefonso. The image of the Im maculate Conception is very celebrated, being a relic of Juan de Salcedo’s military conquest of this region in 1572. ^Left behind, Plasencia and Oropesa found the natives worshiping it ignorantly, and when a church was built, only to become a victim of the flames, this image was all the little congregation could save. Many of the Chinese of the Parian in Manila, frightened into desperate rebellion in 1639, fled into the mountains of this region; and under the leader ship of the parish priest, Fray Geronimo de Frias, the people hid this image from them. But three of them discovered it. One rent the crown with his cutlass, the second gave it a blow, and the third, horrified at their conduct, struck them both dead. The people’s veneration of the image was now greater than ever, and they willingly lent their services to the building of a church and convento of stone, completed in 1680. In 1773, Fray Ildefonso Fentanes, then the parish priest, tore down the old church and convento and began the present structures, with but P39.25 in hand for the work; yet in 1783 the work had been completed, from alms collected in Majayjay and Manila. Fray Antonio Santiago repaired the parochial house in 1851. Bar&s. Founded 1595, transferred to the Jesuits in 1616 (the church being burned by montescos in 1635), transferred back to the Franciscans in 1679. The site has twice been changed, for greater safety, once under the Jesuits in 1635 and once under the Franciscans in 1682. Patron saint, Santiago: naturally, because of the hostilities constantly engaged in to maintain the Christian settlement. “In 1682 the stone church was commenced which still exists, under Fray Pedro Tomeu, and com pleted under Fray Antonio de la Concepcidn in 1686, who dedicated it to the glorious San Jose. In 1849 it was repaired, painted and fitted with seats by its zealous pastor, Fray Tomas de Sisante.” A bridge of a single arch, in one of the six original streets of this town, was built by Fray Felipe de la Parilla in 1728 and was still standing and in use when Huerta wrote in 1863. (Our quotations and all our data are from Father Huerta.) “In the baptistry of this church is conserved a piece of the first cross raised by our missionaries on the original site of this town. The relic is greatly venerated by the faithful, because of the miracles they have witnessed in it—which are omitted, how ever, since they have not been judicially verified.” Binangonan. Separated from Morong in 1621; first priest, Fray Matias Argete; exchanged with the Jesuits for Baras in 1679; ceded by the Jesuits to the Augustinians in 1697; returned to the Franciscans, the founders, in 1737, togeth er with the visita of Angono, when Fray Blas de San Diego was assigned as priest. Patron, Sta. Ursula. Church begun in 1792 by Fray Bernardo de Perdigon (afterward bishop of Nueva Caceres, the Bikol region), and completed in 1800 by Fray Fermin Revilla. Church and convento given general repairs in 1853 by Fray Francisco de Paula Gonzalez. ^yPila. (Villa de Pila.) “This villa was founded in 1578 by Fray Juan de la Plasencia Make Your Money Work For You The sooner you open your account, the sooner it will begin to work. Our Savings Accounts Department is anxious to assist you. Do not worry about your time. We will give you quick and efficient service. Your time is gold and so is ours. 4}Z% interest annually, added and compounded quarterly Do your Banking by mail Our provincial customers are highly satisfied with our banking process and their deposits are mailed to us regularly. Won’t you be one of them? One Peso will open a Savings Account with us Write us for further particulars regarding Savings Accounts Philippine Trust Company Commercial and Savings Bank “The Good Service Bank” Tel. 2-12-55 Plaza Goiti, Manila P. O. Box 150 and Fray Diego de Oropesa and was the prin cipal residence of the latter, who however did lot cease to evangelize the coasts and moun tains of Laguna de Bay until his zeal penetrated the province of Tayabas.” Patron, San An tonio de Padua. First stone church, 1599, de stroyed in 1800 when the site was changed and the present church built. Lumbang. founded by Plasencia and Oro pesa in 1578 and celebrated as the residence of the former during his mission life. Made a pueblo in 1590. i Patron, San Francisco. First church burnedr * 1586. Preoccupied with his mission work and constantly on the mountain trails, Plasencia got Governor Santiago de Vera to appoint a lieutenant solely for the building of the stone church, and a native principal, one Burlon, was appointed in 1589, who built and completed the first masonry church the Franciscans had in the islands; and this church, in 1600 and for years afterward, was the only one outside Manila "where there was permanently conserved the august and divine sacrament of the Eucharist, which function was celebrated with such solemnity that it will not have had its equal in the archipelago.” Gold and gems and precious stones, loaned from the neighboring parishes of Majayjay, Lilio and Nagcarlang, for the adornment of the images in the procession, bulked more than seven arrobas; “and one triumphal car of such gigantic size as to require 26 wheels to support it, was covered over with gems of extreme value.” The standards of 20 pueblos heralded the proces sion. Forty-four priests participated. In 1600, October 9, out yonder in the hills of Lumbang! Such a spectacle, such solemnity! So that it is little wonder after all that the people gathered round the cross and welcomed the new-built shrines. Three days, three nights, with music, chants, prayers and sermons, the gala festival continued, and was the wonder thereafter of a century. Majayjay. Tagalog, and preferable, Ma hayhay. Full ancient name of the site, IlayanMahayhay. The natives of the northwest coast of Laguna de Bay gave Salcedo little resistance, and his troops, when peace had been arranged, planted the cross in 1571 on the banks cf May-it river, where Plasencia and Oropesa found the natives venerating the emblem in 1578. The first priest, Fray Antonio de Nombela, was assigned in 1594, and when the church he built burned down in 1602, the site of the settlement was changed to Mahayhay. The first church, built by the natives around the cross Salcedo’s men planted, burned in 1576. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1928 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 25 Four stone churches (of course with timber dimensions and thatch roofs) burned between 1599 and 1711, when the one now standing was begun, to be completed in 1730, by Fray Jose de Puertollano, at a cost of 1 * 26,000. "This church is surely one of the best and strongest in the islands.” Patron, San Gregorio Magno. Patron of the chapel in the barrio of IlayanMahayhay, N. S. de la Porteria, "whose image is a crayon of considerable merit, brought to these islands from Madrid in 1759 by one of the missions and originally placed, in 1760, in a stone building then serving as the tribunal, where the annual fiesta is still celebrated.” The friars knew how to establish precedents certain to become traditions, and how to pre serve them. How naturally they themselves would cling to these traditions, how impossible it would be, as indeed the event proved, for them to behold a new age dawning. But the most remarkable relic in Mahayhay, for the worldly eye, is the quaint bridge built in 1851 by Fray Victorino del Moral, “of pure cement.” This bridge has a single arch 52 feet high and 48 feet wide, and if recent engineering hasn’t blasted it loose from its foundations, it is standing as staunch as it was the day Father Victorino proffered it to the government. But the chief architect of the then insular government would have nothing to do with the bridge, in which he said the recognized principles of bridge building had not been fol lowed—not any of them—and so he concluded the bridge was unsafe. But the earthquake of September 16, 1852, came, and left the bridge unscathed, as did that of June 3, 1863, which ruined Manila and damaged or destroyed many of the solidest structures, even in the walled city. And the terrific floods that plunge down Banahaw’s giant slopes poured under the bridge, great ones dashing against it even before it had thoroughly set, yet the bridge stood—“the caprice of Father del Moral,” as it was called. In fact, it is not hard to see that by this time there were a lot of young blades in the govern ment, disdainful of the simple friars as old fogies and know-nothings. Father Huerta, commenting on the incident, makes the Mahay hay bridge say this to future generations: “I was constructed in the year 1851 by a Franciscan friar without principles. Know that the principles applied in my construction were capricious, and more capricious than all, the audacity of building me without expending a single maravedi, and bringing such a purpose to a successful conclusion!” And it may well be, as it might be in our own times, that the most illogical feature of this bridge was that it wasn’t in the budget and had not. taken a centavo of the people’s taxes. This may have been the learned architect’s main dissent. “This bridge is found spanning the Holla river, west-north west of the town. Its arch, including the pillars, measures ninety feet, without there having been utilized for its colossal fabric (to hold and form the cement) other materials than rattan, bamboo, coconut and betel-nut trunks. All that is wanting is two modest arches at the ends, to divide the great weight which the terraplain would otherwise thrust upon the pillars sup porting the main arch.” Mahayhay falls are magnificent, quite the equgl of Pagsanjan, people say. '-The long veils commonly worn by Philippine women when attending church, were introduced in Mahayhay in 1594 by Fray Antonio de Nombela, and frbm this the custom extended through out the islandsTHE SCUTTLEBUTT It takes a lot of time to be sentimental. Nobody ever thought anything out in a shower bath. There is a pharmacist’s mate at the Hospital so stingy he won’t even wind his watch. There is not much comfort in life until one is old enough to have the courage of his cussed ness. The short skirts of today reveal the malnu trition of yesterday. “It ought to be easy for me to get a lot of money,” said Mac Robillard, “everybody gets mine easily.” All the best people come from somewhere. The brighter you are the more you have to learn. Pleasure is more trouble than trouble. We make most of our mistakes when we are optimistic. “I don’t want to expose myself to anything except the company manners of anybody” was the reason a certain young man gave for not marrying. There’s one thing about baldness; it’s neat. Going to college is the easiest way some folks ever found to make a living. Most men resent life and most of them take their resentment out on their stomachs. In speaking of short skirts, an eastern reformer characterized them as immodest as piano lamps. The chief trouble with jazz is there is not --------------. A Smoking’ and Room for Men The Oriental Limited helps to speed the hours away on your trip across America aboard the finest train between Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria and Chicago. Then too, the trip is Through Some of the Finest Scenery in all America The Great Northern Cascades and Rockies, mighty in their mile-high magnificence,-asseen from low passes, and past lakes, rivers, and waterfalls, through an agricultural empire, to Minneapolis and St» Paul and down the Mississippi Valley to Chicago. Our descriptive literature tells all about the trip. Sent free. Ask A. G. HENDERSON. AGEXf. Chaco Building AMERICAN EX PRESS CO. Manila, P. I. Great Northern A Dependable Ratlula-j enough of it; some of it we have to listen to twice. All beaches should be closed in the summer. Mail carrieis are said to be our most healthy class. This is perhaps because they don’t spend their vacations sitting around. What is home without a hot water bottle. Some persons are so ceremonious they can make a speech out of calling their floor in an elevator. There are 35,000,000,000 strangers in the world, to all of whom it is comparatively easy to be a Sophistication: Knowing enough to keep your feet out of the crack of the theatre seat in front of you. There is a great need for a suffermeter—an instrument to show others we have been through more then they.—Bamboo Breezes, Cavite Naval Station. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL