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Show Work of Friars In Philippines An Impartial Writer Tells of Their Labors in the Interest of Civilization and Christianity. Py Stephen Bonsai.) j fReprinted by special permission r. from the October, 1902, issue of the ,1 .ortli American Review. Copyright, ' ; wz by The North American Review Publishing company.) (Continued from last week.) The friars were no less distinguished j.? soldiers. They were well to the front in ail the wars of conquest, with the sword in the right hand and the cross in the left, after the doughty fashion of San Vicente de Ferrer. They were prominent in all the expeditions expe-ditions to the Moluccas and to Cochin, ffcina. They inspired the resistance ; to the invasion of the islands by the English in 1762. and the return of our : cousins to Bombay with very little loot was due to the friars, their wisdom in council, their bravery in the field. The coral watch towers and the stout fort-,..::. fort-,..::. s which dot the coast of Luzon and all Visayan islands, still tell of the I vigilance with which the friars pro- tcttd their iiocks from the attacks of Jolo Mohammedans, and the maraud-' maraud-' ing expeditions of the Borneo and Min-i'l Min-i'l oanao pirates. This assistance in war vhieh the apostles of peace pave was very gratefully received. Even in this ; day. I have heard the Tagals and the ' Visyans assembled under the shadow cf their ruined cottas sing the daring i i upods of El Padre Capitan, Fray Ruiz I f iwrmejo of Cebu, who with his valiant I k. not content with beating the Mo-I Mo-I ros on the high seas, followed them ; I ui:h fire and sword and destroyed their up-river fastnesses. , Unfortunately, however, for their I pojiularity among the islanders, the friars were as vigorous in their treat's treat-'s nr?nt of what they deemed sedition, as I I ih"y were in combating invasion. They were the most relentless, and vigilant . enemies to those who conspired against I monastic rule and the suzerainty of j Spain. Even during the eighteenth i century, there were not a few insur-I insur-I rectioiis, forerunners of that rebellion against white supremacy with which we have so recently been confronted. ; s In each and every instance, it was the friar who through his deep knowledge of this by no means superficial people, discovered the conspiracy before great headway had been made, and suppressed sup-pressed it with relentless vigor. The fame fate befell the revolts of the nineteenth nine-teenth century: that of Noales In 1822, 'f Cuestn in 1KF4, the Cavite uprising . i In 1872. and, last, the great uprising of i;S (discovered by Fray Mariano Gil, t a parish priest of Tondo), were all Ir.iught to light by friars, and the rev-: rev-: j olutionists were compelled to take the . J Mi long; before their preparations had j Wn completed. After this simple I 'numeration of their acts of repressive j & inity, is it necessary to enquire far-: far-: as to the cause of the unpopular-l unpopular-l i'y of the friars among certain classes j cf Philippine society? By their un- -"aMi.p vicilance, time and again the I J"iars thwarted the aspirations of an I w increasing number of Filipinos. Thfy Merc undoubtedly very blame- v.orthy in thus fighting for Spain. By S tnoir vuws they had been released j from earthly allegiance, but the his-i his-i l"y of h11 missions goes to show how difficult it is for the missionary to for-: for-: f t the country of his birth in her hour ; dnr.rcr. A very lonp chapter of Philippine his-I his-I 'ry is fii:.-rl with squabbles between jl ' f'ai.ish military and civil administra-i administra-i ,nrs. ;ir,fi thf leaders of the monastic i f':'d"is. Undoubtedly, no govern-gen-I f' uid rule who antagonized the I ;!ars. siinj.iy because these latter, un-, un-, J ,!l within the present generation, were I only jltrenta of the state as well I l!l"se "I the church to be found in J lOi iErls. Oaring to the tremendous I !'""np ich the friars exercised, "lr ,!;if-"ubt -d power to baulk or to I ;.r. administration successful, I I trie11' ! :itt;t( h a ni?n value to the state-1 state-1 i-h' 1'ul''1''1-" made by various Span's Span-'s ' a'iln;:'Jslrators during their incum-1 incum-1 K'-m : S '" lhe ("fficiencv of tne rnon- cf "(- .:';"ls in this prescribed work 1 Jt C!Vi:iz 'tion and rrogress. However, I frMas lh" ( Uom of the retiring gov-; gov-; t',. '"r"5''R,'rjil to leave a memorial de-h de-h the'.1 "f lhe existin conditions for i f, ""'ice of his successor in office. 1 bee. memorials, which have u recently printed in Madrid I ; fure'". '"'lowing excerpts, which thtr !' Vf n adde1 importance from l . a 1 thal tht'y were never intended lal n ' ''e'ht of day. In his memor-! memor-! Bavs- r'ntr:il Don Jose de Ia Gandara drTs '.r ""'hei-s of the religious or-I'H or-I'H tT mt efficient and power- I fiist11'Umr'ntS f s'overnment at the dii)arv t f tilP sovtrnor-&eneral in or-f,,,,," or-f,,,,," mts In the day of danger and II lh?' a'"e absolutpIy inis- f 6 Provi ' '" in the government of f! Ple t'hX! mhabUe(i hy half a million has m' ? s'ur'ferne ruler of the islands three on Unr'er his orders but two or ! kneuaee' Wh are lorant of the I ' anvthinp '1"'ken w'hose residence is ' I cverwh'ei nermanent, and who are 1 or i-outin" Wilh a" infinite amo"nt Work- Government would i . ; j be Impossible -were it not for the twenty or thirty friars living in their respective parishes who educate the natives, guide, discipline and control them. Their influence is great because of the reverence which their sacred office inspires, because their residence is permanent, and because they are thoroughly acquainted with the lan- guages, the customs and history of the people they seek to uplift. Today it j may be said without exaggeration that the government of- the Philippines without the friars would be an impossibility." impos-sibility." General de la Torre, who was governor-general during the time of the Spanish republic in 1873, and who passed for the most radical of the red republicans, whose whole administra tion was one long fight with the church, yet had this to say when he came to write his memorial: "To deny the services which the religious re-ligious orders have rendered to the church and the fatherland in these islands is-lands would be the height of injustice and the most base ingratitude. Today as in the past the Dominicans, the Austins, Aus-tins, and the Recoletos, are rendering indispensible services. Any denial of. this would be to ignore the history of our dominion in the Philippines, would be to deny what is apparent to the least observant. Any attempt at the present time to limit their sphere of influence would result in immense evils, would be, in my opinion, the height of impolicy the most thoughtless imprudence. impru-dence. For a long period still, as long as there does not exist an agency to replace them and to do the civilizing work which is being performed by the religious orders in such a worthy manner, man-ner, their presence here is indispensible. indispens-ible. We must protect and encourage them in exchange for the inestimable services which they render the state. It should never be forgotten that the degree of civilization and the prosperous prosper-ous and improving condition of the people of these islands are due almost entirely to the constant loyal and patriotic pa-triotic endeavor of the religious orders." or-ders." Don Domingo Moriones, who was governor-general in the seventies and who let behind him an enviable reputation repu-tation for honesty and integrity writes, "Innumerable facts, which history cannot fail to register, tell of the ligious orders in carrying out their labors and sacrifices made by the redouble re-double mission in behalf of religion and civilization. After threie centuries of a holy war, the struggle is resulting in the civic, social and religious redemption re-demption of seven millions of people. This result is undeniable proof of what the work of the friars has been in the j past, what it is in the presint. what it will be, I doubt not, in the future." And, finally, I find, strangely enough. General Primo de Rivera, to whom many views very hostile to the friars have been credited in the American congress, making the following statement state-ment in the Spanish cortes: "It is undeniable that in these islands isl-ands the religious orders have rendered ren-dered great services. They have spread the Christian faith, and it is certain that civilization owes them much, perhaps per-haps everything. I do not believe the friars can be replaced. It is true that among them there are vicious men who commit abuses; but these individuals indi-viduals are exceptional, and I believe the evils of the system can be remedied reme-died without going to extreme measures. meas-ures. It is certain that the immense majority of the friars are good men, worthy of every consideration, deserving deserv-ing of much praise." There are "two standing accusations against the friars of exploiting . the natives and of leading dissolute lives. The latter is based upon scandalous stories such as are, unhappily, in circulation cir-culation in every community, and upon the fact that half caste children were sometimes born in the inland parishes. This phenomenon was often ascribed to the presence of the friars, but it is difficult dif-ficult to say with what justice. It is certain, however, that, though for more than four years the friars have been withdrawn, these miserable Eurasian Eu-rasian children continue to come into the world in ever increasing numbers. As to the charge of plunder, made so frequently and in such frantic terms, it is possible to be more explicit. The management of the Monastic orders was careful and in some respects thrifty. They had to be self-supporting or their missions would collapse. Rarely a penny reached them from Spain, and their tithes seem to have been paid largely in chickens and eggs. Their property all remained in the Philippines, only an incredibly small sum being sent annually to Spain to bear a part of the expense of the young friars who. were being educated for the Philippine missions, and, to support the invalided and superannuated superannu-ated brethren who had gone back to Spain. For S0O years these great corporations cor-porations have been exploiting a country coun-try of large resources, the extent of w hich is alone known to them, and the valuation placed upon their estates, their monasteries and all their possessions, posses-sions, by Judge Taft is considerably under $10,000,000, which estimate is considered con-sidered a just, if not a generous, one. There are half a dozen foreign firms in Manila without the knowledge of the people and the islands which the friars possess, who have made as much money as this out of the Philippines Philip-pines within the decade. Confessedly, in the foregoing para- j graphs, I have dwelt in preference upon what is praiseworthy in the work I of the friars. Theirs was a noble mis-1 mis-1 sion and an exacting one, the friars were human and their history is not without stain. They seem, at times, in personal as well as in political affairs, af-fairs, to have been swayed by passion like other men. But, when time has calmed the controversy to which the termination of their mission in its mediaeval shape has given rise, it will be seen that under their guidance a large proportion of the Filipinos have reached a much higher stage of civilization civili-zation than haa been attained by other branches of the Malay family under other circumstances and in another environment. en-vironment. I believe the work of the friars is recorded in the golden book of those who have labored for their fellow men, and I am confident the credit of it, though dimmed today by partisanship and want of charity, will not escape history. (Concluded.) |
