There was no organized priesthood to be overcome, the primitive religious observances consisting almost entirely of An obscure Bathala or a dim Malyari was easily superseded by or transformed into a clearly defined Diós, and in the case of any especially tenacious “demon,” he could without much difficulty be merged into a Christian saint orĭevil. Of martial Europe, soon effectively exorcised any idea of resistance that even the boldest and most intransigent of the nativeįor the most part, no great persuasion was needed to turn a simple, imaginative, fatalistic people from a few vague animisticĭeities to the systematic iconology and the elaborate ritual of the Spanish Church. A few sallies by young Salcedo, theĬortez of the Philippine conquest, with a company of the splendid infantry, which was at that time the admiration and despair To violence to destroy the native leaders and replace them with the missionary fathers. Of the native peoples dwelt and where some of the forms and beliefs of Islam had been established, was it necessary to resort Only on occasions when some stubborn resistance was met with, as in Manila and the surrounding country, where the most advanced Lightness and vivacity of the Spanish character, with its strain of Orientalism, its fertility of resource in meeting newĬonditions, its adaptability in dealing with the dwellers in warmer lands, all played their part in this as in the other conquests. In those times the cross and the sword went hand in hand, but in the Philippines the latter was rarely needed or used. Into settlements and villages, led them into the ways of peace, and became their protectors, guides, and counselors. They won the confidence of the native peoples, gathered them Of the condition of the Malays among whom they found themselves. The records of those early years are filled with tales of courageĪnd heroism worthy of Spain’s proudest years, as the missionary fathers labored with unflagging zeal in disinterested endeavor for the spread of the Faith and the betterment In fact, after the dreams of sudden wealthįrom gold and spices had faded, the islands were retained chiefly as a missionary conquest and a stepping-stone to the broaderįields of Asia, with Manila as a depot for the Oriental trade. To the unselfish and heroic efforts of the early friars Spain in large measure owed her dominion over the Philippine IslandsĪnd the Filipinos a marked advance on the road to civilization and nationality. Stagnation, corruption, and degeneration. Whom the cause was all and their personalities nothing, it there, as elsewhere, passed through its usual cycle of usefulness, Beginning with a band of zealous, earnest men, sincere in their convictions, to The attempt to eliminate the eternalįeminine from her natural and normal sphere in the scheme of things there met with the same certain and signal disaster thatĪwaits every perversion of human activity. Monasticism’s record in the Philippines presents no new general fact to the eye of history. Of time, in which there is first a growth and then a decay, like what we perceive in a tree of the forest.” We look more steadily, and we perceive long periods We see wealth and greatness we see corruption and vice and one seems to follow soĬlose upon the other, that we fancy they must have always co-existed. Respect, and winning loyal obedience and then as gradually forfeiting by their shortcomings the allegiance which had been Institutions grow and beneficentlyĭevelop themselves, making their way into the hearts of generations which are shorter-lived than they, attracting love and The centuries pass more slowly to those to whom the years are doled out day by day. The reader flies in his express train in a few minutes through a couple ofĬenturies.
“We travel rapidly in these historical sketches.