The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 07 of 55 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 303 pages of information about The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 07 of 55.

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 07 of 55 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 303 pages of information about The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 07 of 55.

In order that the Indians, after their conversion, may have adequate religious teaching, and be taught and instructed and guided in the conduct of their souls, a minister should not have the care of more Indians than he can know, visit, and minister to in such wise that all may understand and comprehend the doctrine.  Then, if anyone is sick, the minister can know of it, and visit and console him in his sickness; and if the sick man be poor, the minister can give him what he may need, or shall find someone to do so, so that the sick man may not die without confession or extreme unction.  To the living who are prepared for it, he can administer the eucharist, and can persuade everyone to prepare himself so that he can receive communion, and can labor with all earnestness in making known the great benefits which are contained in the most blessed sacrament, and how much is lost by those who do not partake thereof, and the obligation of all Christians to receive it.  The minister can thus also personally care for the burial of the dead; and, in short, fulfil with solicitude and concern all the demands and obligations of his office as a priest, and in the care of souls.  It is because the ministers in the Indias are burdened with so many souls, that we observe so little Christianity there, that so many die without the sacraments, and there are so many infidels to be converted.

Ninth conclusion:  As soon as the Indians shall have become Christians the encomendero may with good conscience exact from them the tributes which are imposed and regulated by his Majesty or by persons commissioned by him; and the Indians are bound by conscience and justice to pay them, if they have adequate religious instruction and the encomendero fulfils the obligations imposed upon him by his acceptance of the encomienda.

Tenth conclusion:  The encomenderos are under obligation to observe, exactly and faithfully, the instructions given them, that they may not transgress these in regard to the kind of tributes to be paid, or to the age or condition of those who must pay them—­under pain of mortal sin, and of making restitution for what they shall have exacted in violation of law or beyond the amount assessed.  The damages moreover, which are sustained by the natives in compelling them to pay tributes which they are not bound to pay, and the expenses incurred in making the collections, should be at the cost of the encomenderos and not that of the Indians.

Eleventh conclusion:  It is grievous inhumanity and a sort of cruel tyranny to seize the chiefs and keep them prisoners until they pay the tribute of those who fail to do so; and it is a much greater wrong to afflict and torture them while in durance.  He who shall make collections in this manner, or permit them to be thus made, is, aside from the mortal sin which he commits, bound to restore to the chiefs the tributes thus exacted from them; and would be most fittingly punished by being deprived of the encomienda of which, through his own wrong-doing, he has made himself unworthy.

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The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 07 of 55 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.