ASIA 
 
 BX 
 
 2718 
 
 U58 
 
 1901 
 
 f - 
 
CORiVfELL UiMiVERSrrY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 ITHACA, N.Y. 14853 
 
 Charles W. Wason Collection 
 on Eac'c Asia 
 
56th Congress 
 3d Session 
 
 SENATE 
 
 Document 
 No. 190 
 
 IMMORALITY AND POLITICAL GRAFTING 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS IN THE 
 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS; 
 
 OF 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM MESSAGE 
 
 -OF- 
 
 THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 TRANSMITTING 
 
 IN RESPONSE TO RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE OF 
 JANUARY 26, 1901', A REPORT FROM THE SECRE- 
 TARY OF WAR, WITH ACCOMPANYING PAPERS, ETC. 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 068 295 785 
 
 TRANSMITTED TO THE SENATE, FEBRUARY 25, 1901, BY 
 
 WILLIAM Mckinley. h 
 
This remarkable array of official evidence should be a 
 
 SIGN, if not a SUMMONS, to those who are 
 
 FEEE BOE^^ and of LAWFUL AGE. 
 
 A5IA 
 US'S 
 
 :cF,r 
 
 You cannot get a copy of Senate Document No. 190 
 from your representative in Congress, as he will tell you 
 it is "exhausted." But remember that this pamphlet is 
 made up of extracts from the EEAL DOCUMENT, and is 
 matter of CONGEESSIONAL EECOED. 
 
 Prices, 10 cents a copy; $6.00 a hundred; 
 
 $40.00 a thousand. 
 
 Order from the Publishers. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE ^MENACE PUB. CO., 
 AURORA, MISSOURI 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It matters not liow authentic the statements of anti- 
 Catholic i^apers, books and periodicals might be, the mo- 
 ment literature derogatory to the church falls into the 
 hands of a Catholic he yells, "liar ! liar !" 
 
 Pacts and figures_ hold terrors for Eoman Catholics, 
 and they invariably meet them with an avalanche of de- 
 nial and invective. But this method of combatting truth 
 will not deter an earnest student who is searching for facts,, 
 and because this is so we have arrayed before you in this 
 little book facts from public documents which should suffice 
 to set at rest the Eomish sycophants and sympathizers who- 
 pretend that the immorality of the priesthood was confined 
 to the dark ages. 
 
 The evidence of immorality and political intrigue that 
 appears in succeeding pages is not the product of imagina- 
 tion or of lurid yellow journalism. It is reprinted from 
 Document No. 190 of the 56th Congress, second session, 
 and consists of questions and answers propounded by a 
 commission appointed by the United States government to 
 investigate the titles of certain lands and properties in the 
 Philippine Islands claimed by the Eoman Catholic church. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that the document containing 
 this information became "out of print" shortly after its 
 publication, so that no one is now able to secure additional 
 copies; but, fortunately, we are able to preserve a vital 
 portion of it that bears on the effect of Eoman Catholic 
 teaching in the Philippine Islands and on the morals of 
 the teachers, both native and of European birth. It shows 
 that the majority of both Spanish and native priests in 
 those islands were not only political shysters and tools of 
 the Spanish aristocracy, but that in their personal private 
 lives they were degenerate, indecent and totally wanting in 
 
the character that makes for the diffusion and culture of 
 healthy morals. 
 
 It should be noted that in presenting this indictment 
 of immoral priestcraft we have not harked back to the in- 
 quisition or to the dark times of the middle ages. That 
 history has been written. The testimony is less than 13 
 years from the lips of Philippine residents who gave it 
 voluntarily to be officially recorded. Its story is of the 
 present day and pictures people and conditions in a land 
 where the Church of Eome has been the dominant power, 
 both religiously and politically, for centuries. 
 
 At the time the revelations herein were made, the 
 Philippins Islands represented a Eoman Catholic civiliza- 
 tion as it would exist here, should the pope succeed in his 
 avowed purpose to capture this country for the Komaa 
 Catholic church. 
 
 How do you like it? 
 
INTEEVIEW WITH SENOK DON FELIPE CALDEEON 
 October 17, 1900. 
 The above gentleman testified that he was born in the 
 Philippine Islands and had lived there the thirty years of 
 his life, less a period of eight months when he made a few 
 trips to the British possessions. Practically all this time 
 had been spent in the city of Manila, where, as he states, 
 "The friar is intimately connected with all the social, po- 
 litical and other life." 
 
 Q. How many friars have you known personally — a good 
 many? 
 
 A. Very many. In the first place, I have known nearly all 
 the Jesuits, because I was educated by them, but I may add 
 that the Jesuits are not friars. I have known all the friars of 
 Santo Tomas, beginning with Archbishop Nozaleda, who was 
 one of my professors. 
 
 Q. And you have the degree of the university? 
 
 A. Like all the other lawyers here, because there was no 
 other college. All professional men received their degrees from 
 that university, because it was the only one. 
 
 Q. What class of society were the friars drawn from in 
 Spain? 
 
 A. I can not state of my own knowledge, but quoting the 
 friars themselves and persons who have traveled extensively 
 in Spain, I should say that they come from the lowest orders 
 of society; and this is corroborated by the fact that the ma- 
 jority, if not all of them, when they first come have not the 
 slightest conception of social forms or etiquette, and it might be 
 said they have the hair of a dog on them. 
 
 Q. Were there not a good many well-educated friars? 
 
 A. The fact is that 'they are almost totally unconscious of 
 proper social forms. They act indecently and use indecent ex- 
 pressions in tine presence of ladies in public to such an extent 
 that I was forced on one occasion to throw out a friar who was 
 not only using indecent language, but acting indecently in the 
 presence of my wife. — Page 134. 
 
 ^ * * « » :(( 
 
 Q. Now, as to the morality of the friars, have you had 
 much opportunity to observe as to this? 
 
 A. Considerable. From my earliest youth. With reispect 
 to their morality in general, it was such a common thing to see 
 children of friars that no one ever paid any attention to it or 
 thought of it, and so depraved had the people become in this 
 
 — 5 — 
 
regard that the women who were mistresses of friars really felt 
 great pride in it and had no compunction in speaking of it. 
 So general had this thing become that it may be said that even 
 now the rule is for a friar to have a mistress and children, and 
 he who has not is the rare exception, and if it is desired that 
 I give names I could cite right now 100 children of friars. 
 
 Q. In Manila or in the provinces? 
 
 A. In Manila and in the provinces. Everywhere. 
 
 Q. Are the friars living in the islands still who have had 
 those children? 
 
 A. Yes, and I can give their names if necessary, and I can 
 give the names of the children, too. Beginning with myself, 
 my mother is the daughter of a Franciscan friar. I do not dis- 
 honor myself by saying this, because my family begins with 
 myself. 
 
 Q. I will be much obliged for a list. 
 
 A. I can give it to you right now. In Pandacan, Isidro 
 ' Mendoza, son of the Bishop Pedro Payo, when he was the parish 
 curate of the Pueblo of Samar; in Imus, the wife of Cayetano 
 Topazio, daughter of a Recolecto friar of Mindoro; in Zambales, 
 Louise Lasaca, now in Zambales, and several sisters and 
 brothers, were children of Friar Benito Tutor, a Recolecto 
 fiar in Bulacan; in Quingua, I cannot remember the last name, 
 the first is Manuela, a godchild of my mother, is the daughter 
 of an Augustinian friar named Alvaro; in Cavite, a certain 
 Patrocino Berjes is a daughter of Friar Ravas, a Dominican 
 friar; Colonel Aguillar, who' is on the Spanish board of liquida- 
 tion, is the son of Father Ferrer, an Augustinian monk. 
 
 Q. How do you know these things? 
 
 A. In some cases through family relations, others because 
 they were godchildren of my father, and in others I became pos- 
 sessed of the facts through being attorney. I myself have acted 
 as godfather for three children of friars. I am now manag- 
 ing an estate of $40,000 that came from a friar for his three 
 children. A family lives with me who are all children of friars. 
 ****** 
 
 Q. It was not a general licentiousness on the part of the 
 friars ? 
 
 A. It was a general licentiousness, because, as I have said, 
 the exception as to the rule among the friars was not to have 
 a mistress and be the father of children by her. The friar who 
 was not mixed up with a woman in some way or other was 
 like a snowbird in summer, but it must be confessed that for 
 the past ten years they have improved somewhat in this regard. 
 
 Q. How do they compare with the native clergy in this 
 matter? 
 
 A. To tell the truth, they almost run together, although 
 it must be said that the latter, the native priests, are not so 
 barefaced about it. They have a certain fear. But in this re- 
 gard, they were merely following the general rule and the gen- 
 eral example. 
 
 Q. That would seem to indicate that the immorality of the 
 — 6 — 
 
friars is not the chief ground of the hostility of the people 
 against them, would it not? 
 
 A. That is not, by any means, .because the moral sense o£ 
 the -whole people here had been absolutely perverted. So fre- 
 quent were these infractions of the moral laws on the part of 
 the friars that really no one ever cared or took any notice of 
 them; and this acquiesence on the part of the people was im- 
 posed upon them; for woe be unto him who should ever murmur 
 anything against the friars, and even the young Filipino women 
 had their senses perverted, because when attending school they 
 had often and often seen the friars come in to speak to their 
 openly avowed daughters, who often were their own playmates. 
 —Pages 139-140. 
 
 Q. Now, it seems to me from the examination that I have 
 been able to make, from the friars and others, that the chief 
 ground of hostility against the friars is because they represent 
 the kingdom of Spain, to most of the people in these islands, in 
 all the oppressive measures that that kingdom adopted in the 
 government of the people here. 
 
 A. Yes. They were the expression of tho most exaggerated 
 despotism, not of the government of Spain, but of their own des- 
 potism, which they exercised, using the name of the kingdom 
 of Spain, because their system was to deceive both Spain and 
 the people. That was the line they had laid down, and, unfor- 
 tunately, they are still following it, and they used it during the 
 time of the Spanish regime. They would say to the people: 
 "If it were not for me the government would annihilate you," 
 and then they would say to the government: "If it were not 
 for me the people would overthrow you." And even at the pres- 
 ent time there is not the slightest doubt that they have said to 
 the American authorities that all of the Filipino people were a 
 lot of anarchists and insurgents who were conspiring to over- 
 throw constituted authority, while to the people of the Philip- 
 pines they say the American government will place a chain 
 around the waist of each of them. I do not make this assertion 
 as an emanation from myself. 1 have seen it in writing. In 
 the confessional they say to them: "How can you be in favor 
 ■of the Americans when they are absolutely the enemies of our 
 religion?" And they say that constantly to the secular clergy, 
 adding that woe betide the poor Filipinos who deliver them- 
 selves over unconditionally to the American government, and 
 I have heard this from the very lips of Monsieur Chappelle. — 
 Page 141. 
 
 7 — 
 
INTBEVIEW WITH JOSE EODBEIGUBS INFANTE. 
 October 18, 1900. 
 This witness is a licentiate of law, though not practic- 
 ing the profession, who has lived all his life in the islands, 
 being educated at the University of Santo Thomas. At 
 the time the following questions were asked he gave his 
 age as 36. With reference to the taking of statistics for 
 the Spanish government by the friars, the following was 
 asked : 
 
 Q. So, to swell the taxes, they robbed the cradle and the 
 grave? 
 
 A. They augmented the cradle, but diminished the grave. 
 The friars had a system of blackmail, by which they held the rod 
 over all the citizens of a pueblo, about whose habits and closet 
 skeletons they learned through making little girls of from 5 to 
 7 years of age, who could barely speak and who naturally 
 must have been sinless, come to the confessional and relate 
 to them everything that they knew of the private lite in their 
 own homes and in places that they might visit. — Page 146. 
 
 il: itt * * * * 
 
 Q. What do you know about the morality or immorality 
 of the friars? 
 
 A. Too much. I have nothing to add to what Senor Cald- 
 eron says, save to cite some more names. 
 
 Q. Have you known a good many young women and young 
 men who were the reputed daughters and sons of friars? 
 
 A. I have known a great many and now have living on my 
 estate six children of a friar. 
 
 Q. Were all the friars (priests) licentious? 
 
 A. I believe that they all are. 
 
 Q. Do you think that was the ground of hostility against 
 the friars? 
 
 A. No sir; Csesarism was. Everything was dependent upon 
 them, and I may say that even the process of eating was under 
 their supervision. Naturally, their immorality had a slight in- 
 fluence in the case, but it became so common that it passed! 
 unnoticed. — Pages 146-147. 
 
 * * * * tit ^t 
 
 Q. Charges have been made against the friars that they 
 caused deportations of Filipinos. Do you know of such in- 
 stances? 
 
 A. In my own province it was seen that the large majority 
 of the friars, and more especially the now deceased friar, An- 
 tonio Brabo, had great influence in the deportation of many in- 
 fluential citizens, as also in the incarceration of several of them 
 in order to subsequently have them released so as to show their 
 power with the authorities. I, myself, at the instigation of 
 friars, have been the victim of their machinations, for they 
 wanted me sent to Manila to be criminally prosecuted, but 
 
thanks to the governor, and my father-in-law, who was a Euro- 
 pean, I escaped. 
 
 Q. It is charged, also that they were guilty of physical 
 cruelty to their own members and others. What do you know 
 about it? 
 
 A. They were cruel, aot only in their treatment of their 
 servants by beating them, but they also took great delight in 
 being eye witness to tortures and beatings of men in prison 
 and jails by the civil authorities. They were always, when wit- 
 nessing these acts, accompanied by some of the higher Spanish 
 civil authorities, and these acts were usually carried out at the 
 instigation, of the friars. 
 
 Q. "What have you to say of the morality of the native 
 priests as compared with that of the friars? 
 
 A. They are about on an even footing. All the priests now 
 officiating have the same vices, and when you take Into account 
 that they were purposely kept from following their natural bent 
 to obtain an education by the friars, in order to show the Pope 
 that there was a natural want of capacity in the Filipino, it can 
 be seen why they became easy tools of the Spanish priests and 
 great mimics of them in their loose life. This design, to keep 
 native priests from gaining a good education, began in 1872. — 
 Pages 147^148. • 
 
 INTERVIEW WITH SENOR NOZARIO COXSTAKTINO 
 October, 1900. 
 
 Witness was born in the islands, had reached the age 
 of 58, and had lived in Manila since beginning the prac- 
 tice of law, though he made frequent trips back to the 
 vicinity of Bigan, where he was born, having interests and 
 lands in Bulacan. 
 
 Q. What political functions did the friars discharge before 
 1896 in the villages in which they were parish priests? 
 
 A. The political functions that they exercised were those of 
 ruling the entire country, every authority and everybody having 
 to be subservient to their caprice. 
 
 Q. Do you know what were the relations between the 
 heads of the Spanish government and the heads of the church 
 here? 
 
 A. Generally speaking, the governor-general had to keep on 
 the good side of the head of the church here, for he knew full 
 well that if he should do anything which was displeasing to the 
 archbishop that he would last a very short time in the Philip- 
 pines. 
 
 Q. What were the fees actually collected for the marriages 
 and births and burials? Were they oppressive or otherwise? 
 
 A. That depended entirely upon the caprice of the parish 
 friaiT and the ability to pay of the person needing his services. 
 
 — 9 — 
 
Many times the latter would have to pay four times the official 
 sciiGdtils. 
 
 Q. What was the morality of the friars? 
 
 A. There was no morality whatever, and the story of the 
 immorality would take too long to recount. Great immorality 
 and corruption. (I desire to say here that, speaking thus frankly 
 ahout the habits of the priests, the witnesses would fear that 
 they might be persecuted byi the priests if it should ever get 
 out what they were saying here.) 
 
 Judge Taft: I don't expect to publish it. I expect to use 
 it to make a report to the commission. 
 
 Q. Have you known of the children of friars being about 
 in Bulacan? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. About the year 1840 and the year 1850 every 
 friar curate in the province of Bulacan had his concubine. Dr. 
 Joaquin Gonzales was the son of a curate of Baliuag, and he has 
 three sisters here and another brother, all children of the same 
 friar. We do not look upon that as a discredit to a man. The 
 multitude of friars who came here from 1876 to 1896 and 1898 
 were all of the same kind, and to name the number of children 
 that they have would take up an immense lot of space. There 
 was a case, for instance, of the governor of the province of Bul- 
 acan (and I know whereof I speak, for I have practiced law 
 there for many years) who was named Canova, and he was a 
 man who was very strict in the performance of his official duty — 
 an honest and an upright man. He endeavored to put a stop to 
 the deportations by the friars, and they combined and called 
 upon him in a body and asked him in a threatening manner if 
 he desired to remain as governor of that province. He told them 
 to go to hell; and they said: "Now, if you don't want to stay 
 here, you better ask to be transferred to another province, be- 
 cause if you don't leave voluntarily you will not remain here 
 three months longer." A very short time after that he had to 
 leave. 
 
 Q. Did not the people become so accustomed to the re- 
 lations which the friars had with the women that it really played 
 very little part in their hostility to the friars, assuming that the 
 hostility did exist? 
 
 A. That contributed somewhat to the hostility of the peo- 
 ple, and they carried things in this regard with a very high hand, 
 for if they should desire the wife or daughter of a man, and the 
 husband and father opposed such advances, they would endeavor 
 to have the man deported by bringing up false charges of being 
 a filibuster or a Mason, and after succeeding in getting rid of 
 the husband, they would, by foul or fair means, accomplish their 
 purposes, and I will cite a case that actually happened to us. 
 It was the case of a first cousin of mine. Dona Soponoe, who mar- 
 ried a girl from Baliuag and went to live in Agonoy, and there 
 the local friar curate, who was pursuing his wife, got him the 
 position as registrar of the church in order to have him oc- 
 cupied in order that he might continue his advances with the 
 wife. He was fortunate in this undertaking and succeeded in 
 
 — 10 — 
 
getting tlie wife away from the husband and afterwards had the 
 husband deported to Puerto Princessa, near Jolo, where he was 
 shot as an insurgent, and the friar continued to live with the 
 widow and she bore him children. The friar's name is Jose 
 Martin, an Augustinian friar. 
 
 Q. Is he still in the islands? 
 
 A. He was an old man, and he has gone over to Spain. This 
 was in the year 1891, 1892, or perhaps 1893. 
 
 Q. I want to ask you whether the hostility against the 
 friars is confined to the educated and the better element among 
 the people? 
 
 A. It permeates all classes of society, and principally the 
 lower, for they can do nothing. This upper class, by reason of 
 their education, can stand them off better than the lower classes, 
 and this is the reason that the friars don't want tlie public to 
 become educated. — Pages 150-151. 
 
 Q. What about the morality of the native priests as com- 
 pared with the friars? 
 
 A. There is no comparison at all. Even when the native 
 priest, following in the footsteps of his teacher, commits abuses 
 and immoralities, he does it less openly or shamelessly than the 
 friar. One of the great reasons for the objections to the friars 
 is that the spirit of union and solidarity which holds their re- 
 ligious communities together prevents punishment from being 
 visited upon the unworthy. If I were to go to the provincial 
 of an order and lodge charges of heinous offenses against the 
 curate of my pueblo he would say: "I will fix that," and eternity 
 would pass before it was fixed; and in some cases where out- 
 rageous conduct has been charged against the curate, and pub- 
 lic opinion was unanimous in crying for condign punishment 
 against the culprit, the provincial has arranged the matter by 
 taking the culprit away from that town and sending him to a 
 better one. This is public and notorious. In this very-case that 
 I spoke of, of Friar Jose Martin with my first cousin, the latter 
 went to Archbishop Nozaleda with letters which had passed be- 
 tween the friar and his wife. The letters were written in 
 cipher, understood only by the woman and the friar, and with 
 locks of his hair and his photograph, which had been sent to 
 his wife. My cousin wantea him to discipline this man and to 
 prevent him from encroaching upon his household. Archbishop 
 Nozaleda said that the case was within the jurisdiction of the 
 vicar of the province, residing at Baliuac, and that was the 
 end of the case. Nothing was ever done by the archbishop or 
 the vicar except, as I have said before, the husband was de- 
 ported to Puerto Princessa. I desire to say that this has never 
 been published. It is a skeleton in a closet. — Page 152. 
 
 — 11 
 
INTEEVIEW WITH DK. MAXIMO VIOLA. 
 
 October 20, 1900. 
 
 Dr. Maximo Viola was born in the Philippines and 
 practiced medicine in the province of Bulacan, where he 
 lived practically all his life with the exception of a trifle 
 over four years, which time he spent in Spain, France, 
 Germany and Austria completing his education. At the 
 time of giving his testimony the witness was 43 years of 
 age, and had practiced medicine in Bulacan from 1887 
 until 1894, when, because of persecution by the friars, he 
 was driven out of Bulacan and practiced in Manila until 
 1899, when he returned to the province. 
 
 Q. What political functions did the friars actually exercise 
 in your parish? 
 
 A. They exercised all functions. They were the lieutenants 
 of the civil guard, the captain of the pueblo, the governor of the 
 province. To show this, the friar would always watth the elec- 
 tions, and if any provincial governor or any municipal authority 
 were elected by the people whom he did not desire to hold office, 
 he would for subordinate officers appeal to the provincial gov- 
 ernor and tor these governors to the governor-general, and state 
 that if these officers who had been elected were permitted to 
 a:sume their offices that the public order would be endangered, 
 because they were Masons, or' any other specious argument 
 would be advanced so as to make the superior author ties set at 
 naught the will of the people and appoint whoever might be 
 thought suitable or friendly to the friar, but often this was not 
 necessary, as the friar would so wield the elections as to get 
 only those to vote who were his blind followers. He performed 
 the duties of lieutenant of the civil guard by demanding of every 
 person who came to him to be either married or to have a child 
 baptized or for a burial, their , cedula, which he would retain 
 until such time as the fees were paid, and then he would report 
 the person whose cedula ho had retained to the lieutenant of 
 the civil guard as being without a cedula, and he would be jailed 
 .until such time as he could get another cedula. 
 
 Q. What was the morality of the parish priests? 
 
 A. There was no morality. If I was to rehearse the whole 
 history it would be interminable; but I shall confine myself to 
 concrete cases, beginning with the vows of chastity, which every- 
 one knows they have to take. Upon this point it were better 
 to consult the children of friars in every town where there are 
 at least four or five or more, who have cost their mothers many 
 bitter tears for having brought them into the world, not only 
 because of the dishonor, but also because of the numerous de- 
 portations brought about by the friars to get rid of them. The 
 
 — 12 — 
 
vow of poverty is also loudly commented on by the fact that in 
 every town, however poor it may be, the convent is the finest 
 building, whereas in Europe or elsewhere the school house is 
 the finest building. With regard to other little caprices of the 
 friars, I might say that whenever a wealthy resident of the town 
 is in his death throes the Filipino coadjutor of the friars is 
 never permitted to go to his bedside and confess him; the 
 Spanish friar always goes, and there he paints to the penitent 
 the torments of hell and the consequences of an evil life, thus 
 adding to the terrors of the deathbed. He also states his soul 
 may be saved by donating either real or personal property to 
 the church. There are hundreds of donations of this kind which 
 still exist. For instance, in the town of Bigaa, the altar in the 
 church is of silver, a donation from the Constantine family; and 
 In San Miguel the silver altar is a donation from the family of 
 Don Cefanno de Leon, the grandfather having donated money 
 suflicient to pay for it on his deathbed; and "if the patient dies 
 the family is compelled to have a most expensive funeral, with 
 all the incidental expenses, which go to the church, or be threat- 
 ened with deportation or imprisonment; and if the dead person 
 is a pauper, and has naturally nothing to pay with, or if he is 
 a servant or a tenant, the master or employer has to pay or he 
 will be deported, as happened to my brother-in-law, Moses San- 
 tiago, who was a pharmacist, and was deported in the month 
 of November, 1895, because he did not pay the funeral expenses 
 of the son of the female servant in his house. The father of 
 this child was a laborer and had funds sufficient to defray the 
 burial expenses and the friars were so informed by my brother- 
 in-law, and they said they had nothing to do with that, and that 
 he was his master and would have to pay or suffer the conse- 
 quences, which he did. I myself came very near being deported 
 under the following circumstances: A woman heavy with child 
 died in the fifth month of gestation. The friar curate demanded 
 that I should perform the Caesarian operation upon the corpse, 
 in order to baptize the foetus. I declined to perform the opera- 
 tion, because I had a wound in my finger and feared blood 
 poisoning. He told me it was my duty to myself and to my 
 conscience to perform the operation, in order that he might 
 baptize the fcetus, and I told him my conscience did not so impel 
 me, and I declined to do it, and he said, "Take care." Those 
 two words were suflicient to send me hurriedly to Manila, where 
 I remained from 1895, the year in which this occurred, to 189fl. 
 If the dying person is a pauper, with no one to pay fees, the 
 Spanish friar does not go to confess him, but sends the Fil- 
 ipino, and when he dies without burial fees his corpse is often 
 allowed to rot, and there have been many cases where the sac- 
 ristans of the church have been ordered by the friar to hang 
 the corpse publicly, so that the relatives may be thus compelled 
 to seek the fees somewhere suflicient to bury the corpse. 
 
 Q. What proportion of the friars do you think violated their 
 vows of celibacy? 
 
 A. I do not know of a single one of all those I have known 
 in the province of Bulacan who has not violated his vow of 
 
 — 13 — 
 
celibacy. The very large majority of the mestizos in the interior 
 are sons of friars. 
 
 Q. Does a hostility exist among the people against the 
 friars ? 
 
 A. A great deal. If you were to ask the inhabitants of the 
 Philippines, one by one, that question, they would all say the 
 same— that they hated the friars, because there is scarcely a 
 person living here who has not in one way or another suffered 
 at their hands. 
 
 Q. What is the chief ground of that hostility? 
 
 A. The despotism and the immorality. 
 
 Q. Had other causes than the immorality not existed, do 
 you think the immorality was sufficient? 
 
 A. Yes; that would be a sufficient cause, for the simple 
 reason that the immorality brings as a natural consequence in 
 its train despotism, intimidation and force to carry out their 
 desires and designs; for all may be reduced to this, that the 
 Filipino who did not bow his head in acquiesenoe had it cut 
 off from his shoulders. 
 
 Q. In other words, this was only a manifestation of the 
 power they exercised over the people. That was one end toward 
 which they used their power? 
 
 A. Immorality was the chief end. 
 
 Q. What have you to say of the morality of the native 
 priests? 
 
 A. They blindly obeyed whatever the friar said; they have 
 neither individual will nor thought. 
 
 Q. Are they also loose in their relations with women? 
 
 A. iVlany of them, also. From my own personal experience 
 I think all the priests and friars are on the same level. I have 
 never seen one that was pure. I don't deny there may be ex- 
 ceptions, but I have not seen them. The large majority have 
 violated their vows of celibacy and chastity. For this reason I 
 believe that Protestantism will have a very good field here, for 
 one reason alone, and that is that the Protestant ministers marry 
 and that will eradicate all fear of attacks upon the Filipino 
 families on their part. — Pages 155-157. 
 
 INTEEVIEW WITH DE. T. H. PAEDO DE TAYBEA. 
 
 October 23, 1900. 
 
 Dr. Pardo was born, in Manila and lived there until IG 
 years of age, when he went to Europe and spent twenty- 
 years pursuing his studies, keeping, nevertheless, so he says, 
 a close eye on the happenings in his own country. He said 
 that he had opportunity to personally know the friars 
 because he was a student of the University of Santo 
 Thomas. 
 
 Q. Have you much personal knowledge of the morality or 
 immorality of the friars? 
 
 — 14 — 
 
A. I ought to draw a distinction, for in the American sense 
 of the word "immorality" embraces several departures from the 
 right path, while in the Filipino sense it simply meant sexual 
 departures from morality. Larceny, robhery, etc., were another 
 kind of Immorality. The friars had great notoriety as immoral 
 men in the Filipino sense. It was so common that hardly any 
 notice was taken of it. Some of the younger friars said it was 
 merely human weakness. 
 
 :1G H: * if: il: 4: 
 
 Q. What was the real ground for the feeling of the people 
 against the friars? 
 
 A. I have before said that the friars were the sovereigns of 
 the country. They did everything, so that as the country was 
 dissatisfied with the conditions that prevailed, with the in.iustice, 
 persecutions and abuses of every kind, they hated the friar be- 
 cause they saw in the friar the responsible head of affairs. At 
 the beginning the friar was the protector of the Indians 
 and the Indians were governed by the friars and accepted un- 
 questionably every one of their acts, hut afterwards when they 
 began to suffer the consequences of every kind of abuse on the 
 part of the friars, they began to think where all these hard- 
 ships and grievances came from, and they discovered that they 
 came from the friars, and there was a regular torrent of hatred 
 against them. — Pages 160-161. 
 
 TESTIMOXY OF PEDEO SUKAXO LAKTAW, 
 October 22, 1900. 
 
 This native was 47 years of age, had received his de- 
 gree as teacher of elementary schools in Manila, his de- 
 gree of superior teacher in Salamanca, Spain, and his de- 
 gree as instructor of normal schools in Madrid. When aslced 
 in regard to his knowledge of the friars, he said : "'I lijink 
 I am in a position to know more about them than any other 
 Filipino, because through my position as teacher T was 
 brought in constant contact with them." 
 
 Q. What political functions did the friars actually exercise 
 in the pueblos? 
 
 A. All, without exception. Even those which the governor- 
 general was not able to exercise. One of the most terrible arms 
 that the friars wielded in the provinces was the secret investiga- 
 tion and report upon the private life and conduct of a person. 
 For instance, if some one had made accusations against a resi- 
 dent of a pueblo and laid them before ths governor general, he 
 would have private instructions sent to the curate of the towli 
 to investigate and report upon the private life of that resident, 
 stating that he had been charged with conspiring against the 
 Spanish sovereignty. This resident was having his private life 
 
 — 15 — 
 
investigated without any notice to him whatever and in a se- 
 cret way, and Ihe report was always sent secretly to the gov- 
 enor-general, and he might be the intimate friend of the gov- 
 enor of the province or of the gubernadorcillo of the town or 
 of the commander of the civil guard in his town. He would 
 render reports openly, very favorable to him, but notwithstand- 
 ing this the governor-general would receive the secret report 
 of the friar and act upon it. For instance, there have been many 
 cases in pueblos where a large number of the inhabitants have 
 attended a feast in honor of the birthday of the governor of the 
 province and have partaken of his hospitality, being intimate 
 friends of his, and three or four days later nearly all of them 
 have been arrested and imprisoned, charged with being con- 
 spirators against the lite of the governor and against the con- 
 tiunance of the Spanish sovereignty through secret information 
 received from the friar curate. This is the secret of their great 
 political influence in the country, for from the governor-general 
 down to the lowest subordinate of the Spanish government they 
 fear the influence of the friar at home, which was very great, 
 owing either to social position there or to power of money here, 
 and I myself have seen several officers of high rank in the army 
 and oflicials of prominence under the government sent back 
 long before their times of service had expired at the instiga- 
 tion of the friars. 
 
 Q. What do you know as to the morality of the friars? 
 
 A. I have already related in my statement a few cases, and 
 I would prefer to answer the questions by saying that the details 
 of the immorality of the friars are so base and so indecent that 
 instead of smirching the friars I would, smirch myself by re- 
 lating them. When I was a boy of seven years of age on the 
 opposite side of the street from my house two ladies lived. They 
 were Filipinos, and I noticed two little children there, and I 
 would ask my mother and the servants why it was that they 
 were prettier than we or anybody in the town, and I was told 
 that the friar would know, and I learned he had as his mistresses 
 two sisters living under one roof, and that these children were 
 the children of either one or both of them; and this was done 
 publicly, for leaving out the question of his avowed celibacy and 
 chastity, he had broken another vow which would not permit 
 any one to marry a deceased wife's sister, and here this man 
 was living with two sisters at the same time. 
 
 Q. Do you think all the friars were like that? Were there 
 not some who obeyed their vows and were virtuous and lived 
 pious lives? 
 
 A. I have already referred to that in my statement, for I 
 desire to be just under all circumstances. Before replying 
 further to this question, I should like to complete the answer to 
 the last. In the quarters of a town farthest removed from the 
 center, the family life is purer there. There may be a few cases 
 of concubinage, but there ajre comparatively very few, while in 
 the center of the towns the cases of this kind are very numer- 
 ous, as are also robbery and other crimes. In a word, it can be 
 
 — 16 — 
 
■truthfully said that the morality of the Filipino people becomes 
 looser and looser as it nears the neighborhood of the convent. 
 In answer to the second question, I may say that there are ex- 
 •ceptions, but they are unfortunately few. I recall one instance 
 of the friar curate of Apalit, in Pampanga, who was named 
 Gamarra, and who was an upright and thoroughly religious man. 
 He would marry all those who were living in concubinage free; 
 lie would bury the poor free, and perform many charitable and 
 Christian acts, and would stand between the authorities and the 
 unjustly accused. The fact is that while he waa the curate 
 there, there was not a single deportation. He visited the sick, 
 he comforted all those who came to him in trouble; he was, in 
 a word, a pure Christian minister of God, but as he was the 
 ■one shining light amid the darkness of those who sang in 
 ■chorus the airs of immorality, he was through their machinations 
 brought to Manila and placed in charge of a convent; but this 
 was done so as not to injure his feelings in any v/ay, or make 
 liim believe that there was anything behind the removal * * * 
 "The good friar never remains long in his field of work. — Pages 
 163-165. 
 
 nSTTEEVIEW WITH AMBEOSIA PLOEES. 
 October 24, 1900. 
 
 This man had lived in the islands all his life, had 
 been an officer in the Spanish army and later a general in 
 the insurgent army, coming into contact with the friars 
 in the discharge of military and civil duties. Note his 
 answers in regard to their "chastity." 
 
 Q. Do you know whether there are in these islands a great 
 many descendants of the friars? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Is that generally understood? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Do you know the persons, and know who their fathers 
 ■were? 
 
 A. I know several sons of friars, but at this moment remem- 
 ber one. I can furnish a long list of them. 
 
 Q. Do you think the immorality was general or not — 
 "Whether or not with a great many exceptions? 
 
 A. Yes, there were exceptions, but they were very rare. 
 
 Q. What was the ground of the hostility against the friars? 
 
 A. The reasons for this hostility were many. In the first 
 place, the haughty, overbearing, despotic manner of the friars. 
 Then the question of the haciendas, because the conditions of 
 their tenantry were very terrible. Then there was the fact of 
 the fear which beset every man, even those who through fear 
 ■were nearest to the friars, that if his eyes should light upon 
 tiis wife or his daughter in an amorous way that if he did not 
 flive them up he was lost. Another reason was that they were 
 
 — 17 — 
 
inimical to educating the people. Then, again, because of th& 
 parish fees, because they were very excessive, always compelling 
 the rich to have the greatest amount of ceremony in their wed- 
 dings, baptims and interments — whether they wanted it or not — 
 and cost them thereby a good deal, and if they did not accede 
 to the payment they would say they were Masons or filibusters. 
 
 Q. Was the chief reason for the feeling of the people 
 against the friars as you have stated; that Is, that they repre- 
 sented to the people the oppressive power of the Str.nish people? 
 
 A. Yes, sir; exactly. 
 
 Q. Do you think that if there were no other reason their 
 great immorality would have made them unpopular? 
 
 A. That would be sufficient for this reason: That the means; 
 which they used to carry out their purposes with respect to 
 women were the most grievous and oppressive. If they hadi 
 merely desiied a woman and courted her, nothing would have- 
 been said, but if the woman declined to allow their advances; 
 they used every effort in their power to compel her and her 
 i-elatives .to succumb. 
 
 Q. How do the native priests compare in point of morality 
 with the friars? 
 
 A. The present native priests are naturally contaminated 
 by the friars, but although many of them have their amorous 
 relations with women they do it in a quieter way. They don't 
 use any force to carry out their ends. — Pages 169-170. 
 
 ambricajS]' jouefalist testifies. 
 
 November 3, 1900. 
 
 H. Phelps "Wliitmarsh, born at Medoc, Canada, but a 
 citizen of the United States, correspondent for the Century,. 
 Atlantic Monthly, Outlook and other magazines, had spent 
 thirteen months in the islands and had visited many parts 
 of the islands and conversed with the natives by means of 
 the Spanish language, previously acquired in Cuba. Prac- 
 tically all the time spent by him in the archipelago had 
 been devoted to a study of the people and their condition. 
 
 Q. Did you talk with the people of their sentiment to- 
 ward the parish priests under the Spanish regime? 
 
 A. I did. 
 
 Q. What did you find their feeling to be with respect to 
 them? 
 
 A. I think, with one exception, which standr out because 
 it is an exception, the people always declared themselves to be 
 not in favor of having the friars back. 
 
 Q. Did they state the reasons? 
 
 A. They told me. lots of stories about the friars. 
 
 Q. Were they the common people? 
 
 A. Yes, the very commonest people. All are very bitter 
 
 — 18 — 
 
•except one town of northern Luzon. They are very bitter, and I 
 have always asked them as to this matter. 
 
 Q. What grounds did they give for their hostility? 
 
 A. Mainly that the priests held them under, oppressed 
 them, robbed them, and that they used their women and daugh- 
 ters just as they pleased. 
 
 Q. Did they specify the methods of oppression? 
 
 A. I can not remember distinct instances just now. 
 
 Q. Did you hear of instances of deportation through the 
 agency of the priest? 
 
 A. Yes; I have heard that nobody was allowed in certain 
 sections to go away from the town without the permit of the 
 triars, and that the friar often sent him away, and they were 
 Tinder the thumb of the friar. 
 
 Q. How did the friar rob them? 
 
 A. He robbed them in the vicinity of the railroadj by forc- 
 ing the people to sell their rice to him at the prices which the 
 friar made, and not allowing the people to send their own 
 products to the market. 
 
 i- * * * * * 
 
 Q. What did you hear as to the morality of the priests? 
 
 A. Nothing that was good, with few exceptions. 
 
 Q. Were you referred to instances where the illegitimate 
 sons of the 'friars were known? 
 
 A. Yes; there was scarcely a town that I did not either see 
 or hear of the children of friars. 
 
 Q. Did you hear anything as to the morality of the native 
 priests? 
 
 A. Yes. 
 
 Q. What as to that? 
 
 A. As a rule, that they are not much better in regard to 
 morality. — Pages 172-173. 
 
 MEMORANDUM OP CONFERENCE WITH CEFERINO JOVAN, 
 
 ALCALDE OF BACOLOB, PROVINCE OF PAMPANGA, 
 
 OCTOBER 19, 1900. 
 
 After referring to the conditions prevailing in the province 
 of Pampanga, and especially in the pueblo of Bacolor, from a 
 political standpoint, several questions were addressed to the 
 alcalde regarding the friar question in that portion of the Island 
 of Luzon. 
 
 In reply to these questions, Senor Jovan stated that he had 
 known a large number of friars living in concubinage with 
 women, and a number of children the fruit of such illicit de- 
 lations. That the animosity against the friars extended through- 
 out every strata of society down to the very lowest, and was not 
 confined by any means to the educated and higher classes of 
 society. That, so far as his own pueblo was concerned, a re- 
 turn of the friars to their parishes would not result in their 
 occupying the influential position they held under the Spanish 
 regime, for the people were beginning to learn what the sepa- 
 ration of church and state meant, and that he, as the head of 
 
 — 19 — 
 
the pueblo, would receive no orders from the friar should he 
 endeavor to assert the authority he held under Spanish rule, and 
 if he were to come with credentials from the Archbishop, or 
 even the Pope, he would set them at naught, if they (the ec- 
 clesiastical functionaries mentioned) tried to intermeddle in 
 matters in which they had no concern. That he himself was ait 
 ardent Catholic, and followed to the best of his ability the teach- 
 ings of Jesus Christ, whom he recognized as the head of the 
 cnurch and from whom he received his inspirations. That if 
 the friars endeavored to intermeddle in matters temporal he^ 
 would tell his people that, under the American Gonstitutiork. 
 and laws, no protection was vouchsafed to any religion or sect 
 other than the protection guaranteed every citizen; that the= 
 friars must live from voluntary contributions entirely, and that 
 the faithful were free to attend church or not, as their own con- 
 science might dictate. That the province of Pampanga had been, 
 one of the favored portions of the island, in that the friars owned 
 I " property there, and consequently did not subject their ten- 
 ants to the grievous burdens laid upon them elsewhere. — Pages 
 174-175. 
 
 BEIGADIEE .GENEEAL E. P. HUGHES, UNITED 
 STATES AEMY. 
 
 November 6, 1900. 
 
 E. P. Hughes," colonel in the regular army of the United 
 States and general officer of United States volunteers, had 
 been in the islands for over two years and served as provost 
 marshal of Manila for nine months when the city was first . 
 occupied, afterwards serving as a military officer in Leyte,. 
 Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay. In discussing the atti- 
 tude of the people generally toward the friars, the following- 
 conversation between the general and questioner occurred : 
 
 Q. Were you able to arrive at a conclusion satisfactory to 
 yourself as to the cause of the feeling against the friars? 
 
 A. I have been able to arrive at a conclusion as to some 
 of the causes. Two of them seem to be cardinal points, as I 
 understand the people in the Visayas. One is that they were 
 very apt to corrupt the families of the parishioners; the other 
 was that they were a very money-making lot. 
 
 Q. What political power do you understand, from talking: 
 with the people, that the fiars exercised, if any? I mean actual 
 power? 
 
 A. I don't think that they had any> except as they could 
 bring it to bear through their parishioners — but that among 
 these people was very great. 
 
 — 20 — 
 
Q. Were the friars loyal to Spain, or otherwise? 
 
 A. I think they were loyal to themselves. 
 
 Q. And Spain was their instrument? 
 
 A. That is it; Spain was the instrument. They worked 
 for themselves. 
 
 Q. You have said that they corrupted the families. You 
 refer to their immorality? 
 
 A. Yes. 
 
 Q. How much evidence have you had as to the Immorality 
 of the friars? 
 
 A. You have to make wide margins in these things, but 
 it was a very general complaint that they corrupted the daugh- 
 ters of families. It was very general. I think, so far as I know, 
 there are hut two friars down there. I have found but two; 
 there may be others. I have been through the departments 
 thoroughly. Those I made inquiries about especially. One is at 
 Talesay, in Negros, a man whose life has been pure, and when 
 they drove the others out he simply said he would not go, and 
 he is there now, treated with the same respect and as free as 
 ever. The other is in Culasi. He has married a native woman 
 and has led an upright life, and is treated and honored as any 
 man would be. 
 
 # * V * * * 
 
 Q. Do you know much about the character of the native 
 priests; first, as to their morality? 
 
 A. Well, I have had to remove one or two because the con- 
 gregation said they would not stand it and to preserve peace I 
 had them moved away. 
 
 Q. What was the occasion of their Indignation? 
 
 A. In some cases women, and In others drunkenness. 
 
 Q. On the whole, do you think their tone is any better than 
 that of the friars? 
 
 A. To be plain, Judge, there is no morality in them; not a 
 particle. They gamble in their convents; they send for members 
 of their congregation to gamble with them. There is no mor- 
 ality.— Pages 176-177. 
 
 ATTOENEY GBNEEAL OP THE ISLANDS 
 TESTIFIES. 
 
 Plorentino Torres, attorney general of the Philippine 
 Islands under the military government of the United States, 
 among other statements, made the following: 
 
 The meager education of many of the Filipino priests is 
 due to the devices of the friars, since the latter, in order to 
 possess themselves of the best curacies or parishes,^ adopted 
 fifty years ago the systematic plan of the seminaries, rendering 
 difficult the entry of aspirants, restricting instruction and send- 
 ing out few in number and capacity, while the best priests who 
 
 — 21 — 
 
followed them were persecuted and slandered in order that they 
 might assert before the world, as the delegate of the Pope has, 
 that there are not priests enough in number, and of those there 
 are few fitted to be parish priests, and all with the diabolical 
 and Pharisaical intention of being able to say that the friars are 
 necessary in this unhappy country to uphold Catholicism. They 
 lie with the effrontery of always, and are and will be responsible 
 before God and history for every injury the Catholic church 
 may suffer. 
 
 The artlessness and deficient culture of a great part of 
 tho inhabitants of this archipelago are circumsta-ices of which 
 the friars have taken advantage, for, as is known, they take 
 care to have it always believed that they can hull excommuni- 
 cations and command the terrible punishment of heaven with 
 the power to cast the disobedient into the uttermost depths of 
 hell. 
 
 The social relations which the friars have maintained with 
 the Filipinos are tho most injurious, and opposed to culture and 
 the moral and material progress of the latter. Ministers of a 
 religion whose founder proclaimed charity to the limit of sac- 
 rifice and equality among men have preached the contrary and 
 sustained by their works the inequality and difference between 
 races, impeding and ridiculing every notion or idea of dignity 
 conceived by a Filipino. Theyt have endeavored to keep the 
 Filipinos in ignorance, opposing, wherever they could bring their 
 pressure to bear, the teachings of the Spanish language by pri- 
 mary school teachers. They have condemned in their preach- 
 ings and private conversation every desire for culture and 
 civilization, antagonizing the best purposes of the Madrid gov- 
 ernment or of that of these islands, za well in the faint and 
 meager reforms in behalf of the progfress and education of the 
 Filipinos as in the economical measures which to a certain ex- 
 tent affect the interests of the corporations, although they may 
 redound to the great benefit of the people; and have arrogated 
 to themselves the title of mentors and directors of this society 
 instead of teaching the Filipinos cultured social behavior be- 
 coming to civilized men, they educated and formed them mor- 
 ally with that narrow character, little frank and distrustful, 
 which is noticeable in the generality of the people, especially in 
 the more ignorant, making them stubborn and suspicious of in- 
 tercourse and relations with foreigners. It can be asserted with- 
 out exaggeration that the friars have been and are a fatal hin- 
 drance to the advancement, moral and material, of this coun- 
 try, from the very fact that they have devoted themselves to 
 keeping this society in ignorance, as though it lived in the mid- 
 dle ages or in the mediaeval epoch of remote centuries; and 
 lastly, as priests and curates, the majority of them were living 
 examples of immorality, of disorder in the towns, and of dis- 
 obedience and resistance to the constituted powers and the au- 
 thorities, encouraged by the immunity guaranteed in the an- 
 achronistic ecclesiastical jurisdiction, by the weakness of the 
 governors and oflicials vitiated with fetichism and hypocrisy, 
 
 — 22 — 
 
and by the irresistible omnipotence of each monarchial corpora- 
 tion possessing immense wealth. The curate friars were agents 
 and representatives of a powerful theocratic feudalism, which 
 has been ruling this country for many centuries back without 
 any sign of responsibility of any kind through civil and military 
 officials appointed X>j the Snanish government with the more 
 or less direct intervention of the commissary friars residing in 
 the capital of Spain. And as the Catholic church in these islands 
 was and still is completely monopolized and dominated by them, 
 and to that end they secured from the complaisant and suicidal 
 governments of Madrid and from the deceived Roman curia 
 that the majority of archbishops and bishops of this country 
 should be always friars, and in this century, or at least during 
 the past forty years, the friar succeeded in monopolizing ab- 
 solutely the miter to the extent that the priests were wholly 
 exc.uded from the bishoprics, including Peninsular priests, de- 
 spite the exalted Spanish patriotism which friars preach. From 
 all these antecedents it is very easily deduced what were the 
 political relations existing between the friars and the Filipinos. 
 ****** 
 
 With respect to the morality of the parish friars, the con- 
 duct of the majority left much to be desired, and in each town 
 and locality the manner of living of the curate-friar was publicly 
 known and talked of; for if there are any leading an exemplary 
 life, of constant and crude virtue, and of irreproachable conduct, 
 there were others to a fair number who were designated by pub- 
 lic opinion as living examples of scandalous abuses, vice and 
 corruption. Gaming, concubinage and orgies, or loose diversions 
 In company with persons of the other sex, were well known to 
 parish priests, especially in the provinces and in pueblos some- 
 what removed from the residences of the bishops. In many 
 pueblos the concubines and children of the friars were pub- 
 licly known and pointed out, and the colleges existing in this 
 capital used to be, and still are, filled with youths of both sexes 
 whose features reveal their origin and birth. 
 
 The detective work of the friar curates and their false ac- 
 cusations and slanders sent many and an innumerable number 
 of the peacefully inclined to the revolutionary ranks, because 
 between the horrible punishments and outrages which produced 
 death slowly and death in the open field, many preferred the 
 latter. The greater part of the well-to-do and cultured people of 
 the provinces and many from this capital embraced the cause 
 of the rebellion forced thereto by the persecutions and false ac- 
 cusations made by many jingoistic Spanish patriots and the 
 friars, rather than of their own notion, and also because of the 
 outrages, ferocious punishments, and most severe penalties im- 
 posed on persons that the people believed to be innocent. 
 
 The animosity and prejudice entertained by the friars 
 against the cultured and wealthy Filipinos were due to the fact 
 that the latter, despite the risk they ran, were accustomed to 
 discuss and censure publicly the immoral, domineering and pre- 
 
 — 23 — 
 
judical conduct of the friars with irrefutable proofs, which the 
 ignorant poor and their country folk, who barely made bold 
 to comment upon it in the privacy of their homes, were not wont 
 to do; so that the explosion of 1896 was more terrible among 
 the latter.— Pages 181-188. 
 
 FKANCO -GONZALES. 
 
 rrom a letter to the commissioner written by Senor 
 Prancisco Gonzales, who is a promient Filipino (a Spanish 
 mestizo) over 60 years of age and a very large landed pro- 
 prietor of Nueva Ecija, the following excerpts are taken. 
 The entire letter was translated and printed as part of the 
 original document No. 190 : 
 
 Here is sought the narration of some facts, and although 
 the scandalous immorality of the parish friar is a current thing 
 in these pueblos, I shall relate what I remember about Father 
 Ceinfuegos, a Dominican friar, curate of the pueblo of Tayug 
 (Pangasenan), about the years 1884 and 1885. This friar, ad- 
 dicted to petticoats, was accustomed to play "monte" with his 
 mistress and other neighbors in his own convent; and being 
 asked one day by a Spaniard why he permitted gambling in his 
 nouse, the good father replied, between drinks, that he needed 
 resources for his "wife," and that he found this means very 
 profitable. 
 
 The principle cause for the hostility against the friar cu- 
 rates in the said provinces has been egotism, unbridled license, 
 ill-treatment and contempt for the Filipino. — Pages 197-198. 
 
 LEADING EESIDENTS OF AEINGAY, PEOVINCE OP 
 LA UNION. 
 
 October 34, 1900. 
 
 The head men and leading residents of this town as- 
 sembled under the local- chief, who invited their expres- 
 sions on questions propounded by the commission. These 
 people unanimously expressed themselves in a written state- 
 ment from which the following is taken : 
 
 Q. What was the morality of the friars as parish priests, 
 etc? 
 
 A. The morality of the friars generally left much to be de- 
 sired; it was a cause for scandal among their parishoners — the 
 way in which they broke their vows of chastity and poverty. This 
 free life of the friars was so notorious that nothing was hidden 
 
 — 24 — 
 
from their parishoners, who had everything before their eyes 
 on all occasions. We shall cite some cases: They compelled 
 all the spinsters to go up to the convent on Sundays and feast 
 days, and there they exhorted them regarding matters which 
 were not advisable, and not satisfied with this, they advised 
 them to confess frequently, and they relied upon this means to 
 profane the house of God; and, if they did not secure their; 
 disordered ends, they sought means even though it were cal- 
 umny, to secure the deportation of the fathers of families 
 and if the women were married, their husbands, as happened 
 to a former captain, Don Migul Revollo, 'and others. 
 
 To show how far their astuteness went, there still exists in 
 the convent of this pueblo two secret stairways, the door, being 
 in the form of a wardrobe, which, when opened, formed means 
 of escape — one communicating with the vault leading. from the 
 choir of the church to the sacristy, and the other in the sleep- 
 ing room of the curate, which led to a storehouse which is now 
 used as the office of the local presidents. This waj the idea of 
 a friar to carry out his impure and disordered passions. It 
 can be said that there were two curates of this pueblo who were 
 so cruel and inhuman that even without any reason they ver- 
 bally ill-treated whoever had the misfortune to have anything 
 to do with them, not to say anything of their servants, .sacristans 
 and singers, without respecting the sanctity of the place and 
 of religious functions; wherefor, by reason of 'Our consciences 
 as good Catholics, we can not but protest under pain of threat- 
 ening the demoralization and corruption of our holy religion. 
 They abused all kinds of females without destinction of class 
 or age, and when some of them became with child they gave 
 them medicine to kill the foetus. — Page 200. 
 
 JOSE TEMPLO. 
 
 Jose Templo, a native and resident of the city of Lipa, 
 in the province of Batangas, a landed proprietor and agri- 
 culturist, frames for -himself an'' in re'-psentation of the 
 said city, answers to questions, from which the following 
 translations are taken: 
 
 Q. How much personal opportunity had you before 1896 to 
 observe the relations existing between the friars and the people 
 of their parishes in a religious, in a social, and in a political 
 way? 
 
 A. As regards the religious relations, the friar-curates, if 
 they had a coadjutor or coadjutors, did hardly any thing in their 
 parishes except to confess a few penitents outside of the Lenten 
 season, if they were so disposed; the administering of the other 
 sacraments, a great part of the penitents, and also of the 
 preaching being performed by the coadjutors. The practical 
 acts of the friars with respect to religion were not responsive 
 to their pious calling of missionaries and teachers of the na- 
 
 — 25 — 
 
tlves. They ought rather to be called the corruptors of youth. 
 
 For this reason in the administration of the sacraments they 
 exercised only the penitential, as In these they experienced 
 delights and pleasures through their shameless and incredible 
 solicitations. In Lenten time, which was the period when the 
 country follt came in to confess, the parish friar would give 
 strict orders to the scribes of the church to the end that in the 
 •distribution or giving out of the certificates to the penitent 
 among himself and the coadjutors, they should give him the 
 young unmarried country women and servant penitents, whom 
 he obscenely solicited through words and manipulations In the 
 confessional, which they always had cornered and buried in the 
 darkest part of the church, thus setting at naught the severe 
 and wise constitutions of the popes, Paul IV., Clemefit VIII., 
 Paul v., Gregory XV., Alexander VII., and lastly Benedict XIV., 
 against soliciting confessors. Is a proof of this desired as clear 
 as the light of mid-day? Here are the thousands of solicited 
 females, of which I have some examples in my house, ready to 
 ■depose if necessary in accordance with what is here denounced. 
 
 ^ # 4: 4: Mi 4t 
 
 Q. What do you think is the chief ground for hostility to 
 the friars as parish priests? 
 
 A. The abuses, tyrannies, and countless immoralities com- 
 mitted safely synihecized in the facts recorded and in many 
 •others no doubt worse, of which the deponent has no knowledge, 
 as they were committed elsewhere, and must have partaken of 
 another character owing to a diversity of conditions; and I 
 say "safely" because in the Philippines no one could call the 
 friar to account for his acts. And if any governor allowed him- 
 self at any time to bridle his friars his rashness c ; t him dearly, 
 he being discharged from his ofllce. — Pages 202, 209, 210. 
 
 DON JOSE C. MIJAEES. 
 
 November 15, 1900. 
 
 This resident of Bacolod, capital of the island of Negros, 
 has lived in the islands sixty-three years and testifies to 
 acquaintance with so many friars that he is unable to state 
 their number. Said he : 
 
 The friar curates, usurping the attributes of the local au- 
 thorities, not only intervened but exercised joint action with the 
 ■said authorities in the three branches, administrative, judicial 
 and economical. The gobernadorcillo or justice of the peace 
 "Who should have dared to disobey the curate friar was certain 
 to land in jail within a few days, if he were- not deported, to 
 which end the reverend friars always had on hand, like a pana- 
 cea against them, the accusations of being a filibuster and anti- 
 Spanish. 
 
 The heads of the Spanish government, to the detriment of 
 their dignity, became servile tools, because they knew that the 
 
 — 26 — 
 
friars, with the powerful lever of their money treasured up in 
 the convents of Manila, were above the law; therefore, more 
 powerful than the very governor-general of the islands. 
 
 In some parish houses I have seen printed schedules pub- 
 lished by Archbishop Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina. I also 
 had occasion to observe that several curates have charged 
 parish fees at will and without fixed standard, exceeding what 
 was designated in said schedule. I do not know whether this 
 may have been th' cause in some cases for reluctance to con- 
 tract ecclesiastical matrimony, although in my judgment what 
 mostly influenced this reluctance is that some reverend friars 
 had arrogated to themselves rights which in feudal times were 
 called rights of "pernada." (The right asserted by certain feudal 
 lords to enter the marriage bed of a newly-wedded bride before 
 the husband). Far from my mind is the idea of injuring or 
 slandering, for I can cite specific and concrete facts, with the 
 names and descriptions of the parties interested, should I 
 be compelled thereto. 
 
 Speaking generally, and with rare exceptions, their morality 
 was detestable, as I have said above. 
 
 For many years past the friars have taken possession of 
 nearly all the curacies in the Philippines formerly occupied by 
 native priests', the latter being relegated to the position of 
 coadjutors and carrying on their shoulders all the weight of 
 the ecclesiastical labors and occupations for the meager re- 
 muneration of fifteen pesos per month, which was the most they 
 earned. In the meanwhile their immediate chief, the friar cu- 
 rate, filled in his idle moments with corporal enjoyments and 
 pleasures and at times saying to the patient subordinate: "Do 
 as I say, and not as I do." — Page 254. 
 
 PEANCISCO ALVAEEZ. 
 
 October 3, 1900. 
 
 The above resident of Xiieva Caceres, ex- clerk of court 
 of the terminated Spanish government, ex-councillor of jus- 
 tice under the Filipino government, now under the United 
 States, since merchant and for fort3'-cight years resident of 
 the islands, says in part : 
 
 The morality of the friars in the pueblos of the Philippines 
 was, with few exceptions, very scandalous, and reached the in- 
 credible in some pueblos of this province of Albay. 
 
 The parish friar, placed in the position already described by 
 the undersigned regarding his parish, converted himself, up to a 
 certain point, into an absolute lord, master of lives and prop- 
 erty, and, if so willed, he made and unmade everything accord- 
 ing to his fancy. 
 
 Master of the will of the people, more through fear than out 
 
 — 27 — 
 
of love for Rim, lie nominated town authorities who pleased him, 
 which nomination resulted almost always in the greatest flat- 
 terer of all his parishioners, and it is plain that all weighty de- 
 terminations dictated by the municipal authorities were not 
 proper initiatives, but those of his amours. Invested with this 
 power, who would dare to resist any of his whims and those 
 frailties of man of flesh and bone? If dominated by the tempta- 
 tions of an unholy love, neither the sacredness of the bridal 
 chamber nor the modesty of a virgin or widow detained him. 
 Cases personally witnessed by the undersigned unfortunately 
 oonfiirm the veracity of his assertion. A certain Fray Damaso 
 Martinex was a foreign vicar in the year 1870 to 1872 in the 
 district of Lagonoy of this province, with residence in that 
 of Goa, and he was so despotic and wicked to the people of his 
 pueblo — may God forgive him — that when going to the house of 
 a married woman he ordered the husband to leave the house 
 in order to be able to speak alone with his wife, and in this 
 way he managed to seduce many, although he did so only to 
 those he knew to be ignorant. 
 
 But if this vicar friar only committed these abuses on the 
 ignorant and uninstructed people, I have to relate another case, 
 ojc which a distinguished lady was the victim, who passed as, and 
 was, in fact, a very honest woman. It was the work of the 
 machinations of a friar, violently enamored of her. It happened 
 in the pueblo of Polangui, Province of Albay, and whose parish 
 friar was the friar Fray Busebio Platero. The lady was the 
 widow of a Spaniard, and belonged to one of the first families 
 of that town. She had a brother more enlightened than the 
 friar and who was opposed to the latter's desires. Being aware 
 of the friar's evil intentions toward his sister, the widow, he 
 forbade her any kind of relation with him, particularly the fre- 
 quent visits the friar made. Aware of this, the priest at once 
 contrived to bring a false accusation of assassination against 
 the brother, which caused the latter to be pursued by the 
 civil guard and the court of the first instance, and, thanks to 
 his being able to furnish the proofs of his innocence in time, the 
 blow did not reach him, but he could not escape from all the 
 daily vexations which did not cease to pursue him. 
 
 Strong in his resolution to conquer the widow, who from 
 the beginning exhibited the greatest contempt for his amorous 
 pretentions, the friar did not delay to resort to the last re- 
 course of sowing a mortal hatred between the brother and 
 sister, and withdrawn in this way from the influence of her 
 brother, who saw himself obliged to threaten him with grave 
 chastisements, she soon made common cause with the priest 
 against her brother and fell into the snare, bringing shame upon 
 her family and occasioning for that reason the premature death 
 of her brother. This ignoble action of the friar is very fresh 
 in the memory of the people of Polangui (Albay).— Pages 258- 
 259. 
 
 — 28 
 
A Message of Warning 
 
 DEAR READER: 
 
 Are you aware of the growth of the Romart 
 CathoHc Church in America ? 
 
 Do you know that it is stronger here than in 
 the cradle of its birth, or any other European nation ? 
 
 Do you know that the hierarchy of the Roman 
 Cathohc church is in pohtics — that America is its; 
 last stand and that its open and avowed intention is. 
 to make America a Catholic nation and put the 
 Catholic Cross above the Stars and Stripes? 
 
 If you do not know these things it is your own 
 fault. And if you do know them and are not doing- 
 anything to avert them you are not as loyal, as patri- 
 otic and as liberty-loving as you should be. Get hold 
 of books and publications on the question of Roman- 
 ism and you will see that, it is the greatest question 
 with which the coming generation will have to con- 
 tend — in fact the conflict may not be that far off — 
 it may be up to YOU and I to settle it in OUR 
 time. If so let us be informed and prepared. 
 
 Get on the firing line ! Be a Paul Revere ! Be 
 a real Patriot — a true American. 
 
THE lyf ENACE 
 AURORA 1.T A MISSOURI 
 
 THE MENACE was launched in response to 
 a nation-wide demand for a low-priced 
 publication which could be used as an instru- 
 ment of propagating and arousing patriotism, of 
 defending and perpetuating American ideals of 
 liberty and freedom, and which could stay the 
 hand of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in its 
 political intrigues and its avowed purpose of 
 paganizing America and making of her a Cath- 
 olic nation. 
 
 That The Menace has met the demand and 
 supplied a long felt want to those in whose 
 breasts the fires of patriotism still burn, is evi- 
 denced by the fact that it has already gained a 
 circulation that is nation wide, and which is 
 increasing at the phenomenal rate of ten thous- 
 and weekly. It has an army of loyal spirits ^vho 
 never fail to advocate its cause, and to them is 
 due the credit for this wonderful achievement. 
 
 
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