The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1913-06-20
From Rev. c. N. MagiTl

There is a religious sect in th
Philippine called Colorum witt
headquarters. or base of operation
in the foothills of Mt. Cristobal
which is grand old mountain
$500 feet high, and is located abou
thirty five miles from Lucena, oul
home. The still higher mountain
Mt. Banajao, once volcano, looms
up in her granduer and beauty a
few mile to the north east of Girls.
| tobal. 1t is between these two won.
derfully picturesque mountains with
their dense vegetation, craggv rocks
deep gorges, rushing crystal streams
caves and caverns that the Colorums
find place in the very heart OF
nature to go through the forms, at
least, of worshipping Natures God.
Like the Druids OF old, who per-
formed their rites in the groves and
regarded certain trees, as the oak
and mistletoe, with veneration, SO
these people look upon Mt. Cristobal
and its rocks, caves, and trees with
a peculiar veneration
Before we relate our interesting
trip to see the the Colorums, bit
of their history will be worth re-
peating here;-
The sect was organized in 1841
bv Apolinario Cruz, a Spaniard,
brother of the order San Juan de
Dios. He renounced his order in
Lukban, our former station when
we came to the PHILIPPINES, and in
that town he established this new
religion. The new sect was first
called Poll" in honor of the foun-
der. Under his leadership it assum-
ed quite large proportion The
sect was both religious and political
and was naturally looked on with a
jealous eve by the Catholic Church
and the Spanish government, and
consequently they tried to break up
the new sect. Apolinario and about
4 900 of his followers heard of The
plan of the church and government
and gathered in barrio or village
called Ilasan, Tayabas.
The Friar of Tayabas, tt e Gober-
nadorcillo (Mayor) of the same
town and the Governor (then called
of the province together
with some soldiers of the Guardia
lie Civil went out to Ilasan to cap
ure Apolinario and to disperse the
ect that had gathered. The Poll"
lad fortified themselves strongly by
hrowing up trenches. etc. and al
hough they used only bows and
.rrows in their defense, they put up
stiff fight, and were victorious.
The Alcalde was killed in the con-
lict. The government then sent to
fanila for troops, and another i,
attle was fought in which a large
lumber of the people were killed. ,
Apolinario escaped, but was later
aptured, his head was severed from
is body, and then his body was ,
uthlessly quartered and shamefully
xposed at the portals of the town. ,
he Poll dispersed and took them !
elves to the mountains, and hid in .
aves and obscure places. They }
ept up their religious meetings, !;
nd took little interest thereafter in :
olitical matters. Some of their .
umber migrated to other provinces :,
nd propogated their faith. How
vel, they made Mt. Cristobal their 7
rincipal meeting place. or head 9
because it was very inacas-
BILE and they were not likely to be =
isturbed by curious visitors. For =
'yenty years these ignorant people :
ave kept up their meetings, rites, !;
i'd pilgrimages, =
AS to their creed, or belief, it is !;
.fe to say that it is very low 6
lperstitious form of Catholicism.
heir prayers are most all from the /,
oman Catholic prayer books. They
ave been called "Colorum" for
any years. One probable theory
the origin of the name is that it
'iginated from the oft repeated
nrase in the Latin Mass and pray
's, Per omnia secula seculorum, 1"
4 |, r