The Irish standard., 1898-07-23
WORKS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN THE ISLANDS.
HIGH PRAISE FOR THE JESUIT ORDER
FROM A GOOD AUTHORITY on THE
SPANISH COLONY.
The DoMINICAAS' MISSIONARY LABORS
THE PRIESTS ARE ACTIVE IN THE
SPREAD OF KNOWLEDGE.

The tyranny" of the Church in the
Philippines, says the London Tablet, and
| the large share of responsibility for the
present troubles and disasters of those.
islands which falls to the friars and
| monks of the various orders, are pretty
well taken as commonplaccs in both the
! English and American press. So little
| is really known of the archipelago in
| this country that most of these charges
pass unchallenged even by Catholic OBJ
servers. The German monthly, Die
Katholischen Missioner, has, therefore,
done real service is printing Il long
extract from Prof. Ferdinand Blumen-
tritt upon the work Of the Catholic mis-
| sions in the Philippines testimony all
| the more valuable because his authority
| has been quoted more than once in sup
port of these attacks upon the religious
orders In the great Spanish colony.
Blumentrtt is indeed universally ac-
knowledged to be the most competent
authority on all that regards tho Phil
ippines, as may be seen by consulting
our most recent manual on cthnography,
that Of Prof. Keane, or the article,
| philippines" in either the Encyclopac-
| dia Britannica or In Chambers Encyclo-
paedia He thus speaks with more
weight than any other authority OH the
! subject, and here is his account of the
| work of Catholic missionaries, published
in the proceedings of the Vienna Geo
graphical society for 1896:
| wish to add some remarks about the
Philippines, as here the Catholic mis-
sionaries are unusually active, not only
! in regard to the spread of Christianity
and its civilization, but also in the geo.
graphical and ethnographical cxplora-
tion of the archipelago. Unfortunately,
| the reports of the missions of the vari-
GUS orders are not equally accessible,
e. g., we have very little account of tho
Augustinian missions, which arc located
principally in the lands Of the Igorrotcs
| northwest Luzon), and on the island of
Negroes, among the Bukidnon savagcs.
The only important publication upon
| Augustinian missions which l have been
| able to see is the Memoria acerca de las
| Misiones de los p. p, Augustinos CAL
zados; Madrid, 1892 According to this
ho
tho province of Abra, among the Tin
guians, who inhabit it, eight missions,
with 100 souls; In that of Lcpanto,
two missions, with 1900. souls Ugor-
rotes); in that of Bengnet, also with
two missions, $40 souls Ngorrotcs)-to-
tai, %, 149 SOULS as against 5,302 in 1929.
Between 1874 and 1885 the number OF
savages and heathens converted to
Christianity was 1856; fifteen new mis-
sions were projected in the provinces of
Tiagan, Bontok, Amburayan and Quian-
gan.
The Discalced Augustians, called in the
Philippines "Rccoletos,' have missions
in the island of Palawan Tor Paraguay,
and in the group Of the Calamanes. OF
these missioners, Father Cipriano Ma
varro has especially distinguished him
self by his chronological researches,
and we owe to him exhaustive reports
| concerning the Tinitians, Togbanuas,
Tandolans and Bulalacaunos, among
whom Christianity is making steady
progress.
The Franciscans have missions in the
peninsula OF Camarines, in LllZon, and in
every large island on the Pacific coast.
! Ethnography and philology are much in
debted to their labors. ! need only refer
to the works published by myself in the
proceedings of our society; the Vocabu-
larry of the Negrito dialect of Bacr, by
Father Fernandez, and the accounts of
the BikOls, Dumagats and Atlas, by Fa-
ther Castano.
We possess fuller accounts of the Do
minicans, who are occupied in convert
ing to Christianity the Aimis, Apayaos,
Arpas, Buayas, Bumanguis, Bungians,
| Calauas, Calingas, Catalangans, Dada
yags, Gaddans, ibibalons, Ibilaos and
1longotes, 1pituys, Isinays, Mayayaos,
Guiangans and other Ifuagao races. In
| the missionary review, Corrco Sino-
Anamita, we find numerous descriptions
of popular manners and customs. Some
Of these, particularly those written by
Fathers Villaverdc, Buenavcntura, Cam
Da MalumbreS RuiZ and Fernando 7
have already in part made more gcner-
ally known in these proceedings. The
review also publishes occasional sketch
es. and especially such as throw light
upon the river system of North Luzon,
the valley Of the Rio Grande de Caga-
yam. The results of their strictly mis-
sionary labors are very fruitful.
But, however successful the evangeli-
l