Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-17
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without the marriage ceremony is not in
frequent and is not condemned. 1t did not
shock the common people arouse their
Indignation to see their curate establish
Illicit relations with a woman and have
children by her. The woman generally did
not lose caste on that account, but often
prided herself the relation to the chief
authority in the village and on the pater-
nifty of her children, who were apt to be
better looking, brighter and more success
full than the pure Filipino children. OF
course, there may have been instances in
which a friar used his autocratic power to
establish a relation of this kind against
the will of the woman and her relatives,
and these cases have lent themselves to
deepen the colors of the lurid and some
what overdrawn pictures painted by anu
friar writer's, speakers and witnesses con-
corning the abuses of the friars. But it is
conceded by the most intelligent and OBJ
servant of the witnesses against the friars
that their immortality. as SUCH would not
have made them hateful to the people. On
the contrary. the Filipino priests who have
taken their places are shown to be fully as
immoral the friars. but the people do
nor feel any Ill will against them on this
account.
Cause of the Hatred.
We must look elsewhere. therefore. for
the chief ground of the deep feeling cher
ished against the friars by the Filipino peo-
pie. 1t is to be found in the fact that to
the Filipino the government in these islands
under Spain was the government of the
friars. Every abuse of the many which
finally led to the two revolutions of 1896
and 1898 was charged by the people to the
friarS. Whether they were in fact to blame
is perhaps aside from our purpose, but it
cannot admit of contradiction that the au-
tocratic power which each friar curate ex-
ercsed over the people and civil officials
of his parish gave them a most plausible
ground for belief that nothing of injustice,
of cruelty, of oppression, of narrowing re-
Straint of liberty was imposed on them for
which the friar was not entirely respon-
SiDle. His Sacerdotdl functions were not
in their eyes the important ones, except as
they enabled TO clinch and make more COM
plete his civil and political control. The
revolutions against Spain's sovereignty be-
gan as movements against the friarS. Such
was the tenor of RiZafS chief work, 'Noli
me tangere." The treaty of Biacnabato,
which ended the first revolution. is said to
have contained the condition that the friars
should be expelled. In the second revolu-
ton, as already said. at least forty friars
were killed and over 400 were imprisoned.
Having in view these circumstances the
statement of the bishops and friars that the
mass of the people in these islands, except
only few of the leading men of each town
and the native clergy, are friendly to them
cannot be accepted as ACCURATE. All the
evidence derived from every source but the
friars themselves shows clearly that the
feeling of hatred for the friars is wel-nigh
universal and permeates all classes.
In the provinces of Cavite, Laguna and
Bulacan, as well 3s in the country districts
of Manila the political feeling against the
friars has in it also an element of agrarian-
ism. For generations the friars have been
lords of these immense manors. upon
which since 1880 they have paid no taxes,
while every "hombre" living on them paid
his cedula, worked out a road tax, and If
he were in business of any kind paid his
| industrial impost. 1t is significant that 1t
! was in Cavite that the two revolutions
broke out, and that each in its beginning
was merely a protest against the agrees
sions of the friars.
not wonderful that the people should re-
| gard the return of the friars to their par
! ishes a return to the condition before
| the revolution. The common people are
| utterly unable to appreciate that under
! the sovereignty of the United States the
different from that under Spain. This is
/ not a religious question, though it concerns
! the selection of religious ministers for re-
| ligious communities. The Philippine people
/ love the Catholic Church. The solemnity
and grandeur of It's ceremonies appeal most
strongly to their religious motives, and II
| may be doubted whether there is any coun-
/ try in the world in which the people have
| a more profound attachment for their
| church than this one.
| Solely Political Feeling.
| The depth of their feeling against the
| friars may be measured by the fact that II
| exists against those who, until two years
| ago. administered the sacraments Of the
church upon which they feel 50 great de-
| pendence and for which they have so pro-
| friars Is solely political. The people would