The Portland daily press., 1900-02-21
FRIARS In PHILIPPINES.
How They Get Rich Out of Their
Office.
(From tie New York Tribune. }


The psr shes, which in Spain are In
trusted to the secular clergy, ale domi-
mated in ths Philippines by the Angus
tine, Erarclsean, Dominican and Feool-
let friars. The salaries paid these ecols-
siastlos by the stats vary between 1000
and COLO pesos each annuslly. This sii-
pend, however, Ia but tIins compared
with the sum 5 yielded by the fees they
collect from bapiisms, mer.iagel AMI
buriels.
These imposts ere ve,y heavy, and no
one con evade Jaymsnt. Should any
child rem ain unbaptizsu IL Is without
any civil status As there is in the Philip
pines no otaer birth record than that
kept by the chit ron. Besides, the ave IA 70
Filipino Is very devont, and woald rather
be a whole week without food than t,
allow his child to go unbaptized. But
tire padre In not content with bis legal
ices, He knows how TO draw from the
fsithffuI tie utmost they can afford TO
give up, and he spares mons. it IL Gus
tomary u present to the churchman on
such occasions gifts ranging from place
of furniture, a horse, a gun, etc worth
usually several tiIues Rs much Is the oblt-
aatoTy css1 payment, M &c costly gem S.
Should any one fail to comply with this
custc IN he ID sure TO lose bis standing in
tie community.
The same is true regarding marriages
and burals. Tie vanity of the Filipino,
who ~ very fond of ostenta!ion, faSors
the enr.chfng Of the lar. He is amb!-
tious TO have people say of him that he
exoellei all his neighbors by giving 10 the
padre gold watch or some srch &C silly
present on The occasion of his chiid's
marriage or burial.
Masses are another inexhaustible source
of income for tie ellsious orders. Msoy
kiiipinos in their last wills bequ3ath
various amounts of money for masses to
he said for tteir souls. There have bean
cases in which the amount beg ueaihsd
for that pur 2ose reached the sum of $4,000
pssos. Moreover. rich and poor alike
seize ur0n any pretf 1t to pay 10: mass.
Sometime II is sought as a cure for dis
ease, ut another time because a con has
received n degree in the university, or
perhaps to celsbr4ts q e completion OF a
mouse. Many mel chants, especially
among the bslf-breeds. also pay fov mass
es when shipping valuable goods so That
they may rot he lest at sea. 1te gam
biers st cock light ug v i'll o. d II masses in
the e1pectl tioD that their favorite birds
will win, The chsapstt masses cost s.,
and from that the price mar ran as high
as $50.
Another source Of income consists Of
the institution Of the so-ceiled soul box
70, p'ilodlas animas This article, which
Is To tie found in ell Catholic countries,
con lists Of sot flxd at the doors of ths
churches. into which people drop large or
small sums Of money for the purposs of
paying for masses for souls in purga,ory.
ReiEa thoroughly informed regarding
the condition of sonls In puI2atory, the
priest only can determine how many
masses are required /, ltLeTate the soul
from It's unpleasant position. aud he con-
scientifically declines 20 read single
word OF the necessary form ula except for
cash In advance.
Fully realizing all TIE advantages
offered by the soul transportation bust
RESI-, the Philippine friars have developed
perie's system. Starting from the
principle already i1stilled into their
minds by Ietzel that
Whenever IN the sloJ the money pounds,
A soul from purgatoIy to heaven bounds,
they established regular scale of prices
for the re ieuptioR OF the various kinds
Of souls For example. copper coin.
dropped into the 81 t., according to this
scale, will carry to heaven an InGio; q
silver coin, hslf-breed, and gold
piece the soul of white man. A rich
Indi0, therefore, who is prepared to sac
rince large sum for any souls redsmp-
tton, will frat change his gold or silver
money into copper coins before throw ing
1t into the box, SO as to b, sure that no
offe ing.
OF these large amounts Of money thus
extorted by the fr!ars one part belongs to
them, and tae ether goes to Manila,
where the trsasuIies of the different reiig-
ious orders are located. The accounts
rendered cannot lay claim 10 exactness,
as only the fees Iaii for bapiisms, mar
riageg aud bur'a's can te controlled, OF
slikother source Of income they send only
whit TREY h oss to give up. Neyerth .
less. the share of ahe treasury IL not in
considerable. II priest or friar does
not send all the morey expected from
him by his order. he Is disn Used and
rerlaoed by another who're financial
ebil'tles are better developed. The vic
tim is always tie layman, who Is sub.
jected 10 a fqueezing process that finally
GETS virtually everything he POSSESSES.
liz Ia estimated that the revenues thus
Rppropriat ID by the orders amount to no
less than 5, COO. 900 pesos annually. The
accounts Of the orders have never been
made public, but by means of certain
data this esiimsts has been arrived at
by various Spanish writer's. notably by
DJn Pedro fcrredolones In his work,
''La Vida en- FilipinAs," published IN
kai.ii in 1855. The same igrrss are