The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 23 of 55 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 287 pages of information about The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 23 of 55.

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 23 of 55 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 287 pages of information about The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 23 of 55.

Colin says (Labor evangelica, lib. i, cap. iv, sec. 30) that the tribes dwelling at the headwaters of the rivers in the various islands are known by almost as many different names—­among these, as Zambales, Manguianes, etc.  “It is understood that they are mestizos of the other tribes, the savage and the civilized; and that for this reason they rank between those two classes of peoples in color, dress, and customs.”  He also describes their habits and mode of life (cap. vi, sec. 52), and says of them:  “They are a simple, honest, temperate people,” and adds that, up to the time of writing his book, they had not been christianized, “save some six hundred in the district and visitas of Nauhan, who received baptism during the few years in which the Society of Jesus had charge of them.”

Murillo Velarde, S.J., states in his Historia de Philipinas (Manila, 1749), fol. 52, that “in 1631 the cura of Mindoro, who was a secular priest, ceded that ministry to the Society;... the superior lived at Nauhan in Mindoro, and Ours undertook to preach to and convert the Manguianes, heathen Indians of that island.”  On fol. 63, verso, and folio 64 he gives some account of these labors, and of the customs of these people, under the date 1633.

Sawyer (Inhabitants of the Philippines, p. 206) describes the Manguianes as “probably a hybrid Negrito-Visaya race.”  He mentions three varieties of these people, of whom “those residing near the western coast are much whiter, with lighter hair and full beards;” those of the southern part show evident signs of Chinese blood; and those in the center are darker and less intelligent.  He praises the morality and honesty of the Manguianes, as also does Worcester (Philippine Islands, p. 413).

[77] Fray Diego Mojica was born of noble parents in a Castilian town, and took the Augustinian habit in Salamanca.  After living for some years in Mexico, he went (1573) to the Philippines, where he was sent to Mindoro.  He was the first prior of the Convent of Santa Maria de Gracia in 1575; twice definitor; minister of Tondo and Batangas; prior of Pasig in 1578; preacher and confessor to the Spaniards in 1580; president of the provincial chapter in 1581.  He died in 1584.  Extremely modest by nature, he never sought or wished preferment.

[78] Fray Alonso Gutierrez professed in the province of Castilla, and was a conventual in Cebu in 1573.  He ministered to Halaud and Oton successively in 1576 and 1577; was preacher and confessor in 1581; minister at Paranaque in 1584, at Tabucao in 1584, at Pasig in 1586, and at Tondo in 1587.  In the last-named year he was definitor and lecturer, and in 1590 president of the chapter, dying at Manila in 1605.  See Perez’s Catalogo, p. 15.

[79] Fray Juan Gallegos took his vows at the convent at Mexico about 1566.  Upon his arrival at the islands, he became a conventual at Lubao.  He was first minister to Bay in 1578, and to Tabucao in 1581.  He died while definitor, at the end of 1581. Ibid., p. 15.

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