There are in the Philippines one archiepiscopal and three episcopal sees. The metropolitan archbishopric of Manila was founded by Clement VII. in 1595, and endowed by Philip II. with a revenue of 500,000 maravedis (= 200l. sterling). The bishopric of New Segovia was created at the same time with a similar endowment. The see is now (1859) vacant. The bishopric of Cebu was established in 1567, soon after the conquest of the island by the Spaniards. Nueva Caceres has also a bishop. The selection of candidates for these ecclesiastical honours has been generally left to the religious brotherhood who are most numerous in the district where there is a vacancy, and the candidate, being approved by the sovereign of Spain, is submitted to the Pope for confirmation. Some nominations have taken place where the bishop elect has not been willing to quit the mother-country for the colonies, which I was informed had caused the adoption of a resolution not to install a bishop until he has taken possession of his see. Most of the ecclesiastical authority is in the hands of the friars or regular clergy. There are proportionally few secular priests in the islands. The Dominicans and Augustine monks have large possessions, especially in the central and southern provinces; the Franciscans are most numerous in the northern. To the hospitality and kindness of the friars during the whole of my journey I bear a willing and grateful testimony. Everywhere the convents were opened to us with cordial welcome, and I attribute much of the display of attention on the part of the Indians to the reception we everywhere experienced from the Spanish padres. The Dominican monks have charge of the mission to Fokien, in China, and Tonquin.

The ecclesiastical records of the Philippines overflow with evidences of the bitter, and sometimes bloody, controversies of the Church with the civil authority, and with quarrels of the religious bodies among themselves. In the year 1710 the Dominicans declared themselves not subject to the jurisdiction of diocesan visits. One of their resolutions says:—“The provinces hold it for evident and certain that such visits would lead to the perdition of religious ministers, which is the opinion that has been for many years held by grave and zealous ecclesiastics and superior prelates who have dwelt in the province.” In 1757 the Augustine friars (calzados) were menaced with the confiscation of their property if they denied the supreme authority and the admission of parochial curates regularly appointed; and they resolved that such submission “would be the ruin of their institution and to the notable detriment of souls.” In 1767 Benedict XIV. published a bull insisting on the recognition of the metropolitan authority, which was still resisted by the Augustines. In 1775 a royal mandate was issued at Madrid insisting that all regular curates be submitted to their provincial in questions de vit et moribus, to the bishop, in all matters of spiritual administration, and to the captain-general as vice-regal patron. Whether the ecclesiastical police is better kept by the interference of the higher authorities, or by the independent action among themselves of the different religious orders, is a question much debated, but the substantive fact remains that the friar has an enormous and little-controlled influence in the locality of his cure, and that where abuses exist it is very difficult to collect evidence, and still more so to inflict punishment in case of his misdoings.

It cannot be denied that, in the language of Tomas de Comyn, “the missionaries were the real conquerors of the Philippines; their arms were not, indeed, those of the warrior, but they gave laws to millions, and, scattered though they were, they established by unity of purpose and of action a permanent empire over immense multitudes of men.” Up to the present hour there are probably few parishes in which the gobernadorcillo, having received a mandate from the civil authority, fails to consult the friar, and the efficiency and activity of the Indian functionary in giving effect to the mandate will much depend on the views the padre may take of the orders issued.

Religious processions are the pride and the passion of the Filipinos, and on great festivals they bring together prodigious crowds both as actors and spectators. The most brilliant are those which take place after sunset, when some thousands of persons carry lighted wax candles, and the procession is sometimes a mile long, composed of all the military and civil authorities and of the ecclesiastical functionaries, vying with each other in the display of their zeal and devotion. On these occasions splendidly dressed images of the various objects of veneration form an important part of the ceremonial. I was assured that the jewels worn by the image of Nuestra SeÑora de la Imaculada Concepcion on the day of her festival exceeded 25,000 dollars in value. Numerous bands of music accompany the show. One of the most interesting parts of the exhibition is the number of little girls prettily and fancifully dressed in white, who follow some of the images of the saints or the palio of the archbishop. One of the processions witnessed was forty minutes in passing, and of immense length, the whole way being lined with bearers of wax lights on both sides. There seems a rivalry among the religious orders as to whose displays shall be the most effective and imposing. The images are of the size of life, and clad in gorgeous garments encumbered with ornaments. They are borne on the shoulders of their votaries, occupying a platform, whence they are visible to the crowd.1

These religious ceremonials, so dear to, and so characteristic of, the Filipinos, are called Pentacasi. Everybody seems to take a part, whether within or without doors. All invite or are invited, and busy hands are engaged in making sweetmeats, preparing meats, or adorning apartments (with furniture borrowed from all sides, a favour to be reciprocated in turn), musicians are collected, strangers are sought for, and universal bustle pervades the locality.

“On the eve preceding the festival,” says a native author, describing what takes place in the neighbourhood of Manila, “the pueblo exhibits all the activity of preparation. In the streets, handsome arches are constructed of bamboo, covered with painted linen, and representing various orders of architecture; graceful drapery is suspended over the arch, which has sundry openings or windows, in which variegated lanterns are placed (an art taught, no doubt, by the Chinese, who possess it in perfection). Within the lanterns ornamented figures are kept in perpetual movement by the heated atmosphere. Nosegays of artificial flowers, groups of fruits, and various devices decorate the houses, and the local musicians serenade the priests and the authorities; while the whole population crowd the church for the vesper service. The dalagas (girls) prepare their gayest attire to take part in the procession, in which queens and saints and various scriptural personages are represented by the Zagalas or females of the leading families, in garments of velvet and gold, with all the jewels that can be collected—not that always the costume testifies to much classical or historical knowledge; it is, however, very gay and gorgeous, satisfactory to the wearers, admired and applauded by the spectators. Popular songs are sung to the music of the guitar, and the gaieties are carried on to the midnight hour. At eight o’clock on the following morning mass is attended, a sermon preached, a procession follows, and all retire to their dwellings to escape the heat of the day; but in the principal houses repasts are ready for any guests who may call, and a considerable variety of Indian dishes are laid out upon the table. At four P.M., the military arrive with their music, and generally the village musicians and the church choir assemble near the church, and welcome the many visitors who come from the capital. So great is the crowd of carriages, that they are not allowed to pass through the streets, but their occupiers quit them at the entrance of the pueblo, and make their way to the hosts who have invited them. A great number of Spanish ladies from Manila are generally seated at the windows to witness the busy scene. Not only are the streets crowded by the gaily dressed inhabitants, but multitudes of Indians come from the interior to take part in the festivity. The native authorities, preceded by music, then visit the various houses to collect the Zagalas, who come forth in their regal robes and crowns, with a suite of attendants. There is a great display of fireworks, rockets, and balloons, and the procession proceeds to the church. It is a grand day for the gallera, or cockpit, which resembles the bull-fight arena in Spain: it is filled to suffocation with noisy and excited actors and spectators; immense bets are laid; booths surround the place, where food and drink are sold, and among the delicacies roasted sucking-pigs abound. The procession usually starts at six P.M. All those who take part bear a lighted wax-candle: first, the children of the pueblo; then the soldiers; then the image of the Virgin, with an escort of veiled women; then the image of the saint of the day or of the place, the car drawn by a number of dalagas in white garments, bearing garlands and crowns of flowers, followed by the authorities and by the priest in his golden cope; then a military band and cavalry soldiers; then the principal Zagala, whose queenly train is borne by eight or ten Indian girls, in white garments, adorned with flowers. Other Zagalas, personifying the Christian virtues, follow—Faith, Hope, Charity, with their characteristic attributes. Sometimes there are cars in which scenes of Scripture are exhibited by living actors; others displaying all the fancies of devotees. The procession parades the streets till the night is far advanced; the images are then restored to the church, and other amusements begin. The principal guests are invited to an open, but temporarily erected building, handsomely curtained, and brilliantly lighted, in the centre of which is a large table, covered with delicacies, and ornamented with groups and pyramids of flowers. The first attentions are shown to the ecclesiastics, and then to the other visitors, according to their rank and position. The streets and houses being illuminated as the night advances, the principal inhabitants gather their guests together, and at ten P.M. there are displays of fireworks and balloons, in which the rivalry of the pyrotechnic artists of the capital have a fine field for exercise. Most of the pueblos around Manila have their festival days, and in the competition for giving glory to their local saints and patrons, they seek to outdo the capital itself. Santa Cruz, which is an opulent and populous locality, rejoices in the protection of St. Stanislaus, and outbids most of the rest for ostentatious show, in which the inhabitants of Manila take an active part. The Chinese have their day in celebrating St. Nicholas in Guadalupe. Tondo has its distinguished festivals. Binondo is great and gorgeous on the day of “Our Lady of the Rosary of Saint Dominic.” Sampaloc claims “Our Lady of Loreto.” Santa Ana worships “Our Lady of the abandoned ones” (de los desamparados). Pandacan has its gatherings in honour of “The sweet name of Jesus,” and its beautiful scenery adds to the attractions of the place. St. Sebastian processionizes its silver car, in which “Our Lady of Carmel” is conveyed in state. The suspensions caused by the rainy months, Lent, and a few other interruptions, are compensated by the extra ceremonials and festivities of the holy weeks, and other seasons of Catholic gratulation. The mere list of all these fiestas would occupy pages, and it was my good fortune to visit the islands at a time when I had an opportunity of witnessing many of these characteristic exhibitions.

The opulence of the individual monks, and of some of the monkish fraternities in the islands, has often and naturally been a subject of reproach. The revenues received by individuals are in many localities very large, amounting in remote districts to eight or nine thousand dollars a year, and much more, it is reported, in such populous pueblos as Binondo. Some of these communities also possess large tracts of land, whose management is superintended at periodical meetings held in the capital, when friars from the different provinces, and of the same brotherhood, are summoned to give an account of their stewardship, and to discuss the general interests of the fraternity. The accumulations of the friars pass to the convents at their death, but they have little difficulty in disposing of them while living.

It has been said that the policy of the friars in the Philippines is to conduct the Indian to heaven by a pathway of flowers. Little molestation will he experience from his ghostly father, if he be strict in his religious observances, pay his regular contributions to Church and State, and exhibit those outward marks of respect and reverence which the representatives of the Deity claim as their lawful heritage; but there are many thorns amidst the flowers, and drawbacks, on the heavenly road; and the time may come when higher and nobler aspirations than those which now satisfy the poor untutored, or little tutored, Indian, will be his rule of conduct.

The personal courtesies, the kind reception and multifarious attentions which I received from the friars in every part of the Philippines naturally dispose me to look upon them with a friendly eye. I found among them men worthy of being loved and honoured, some of considerable intellectual vigour; but literary cultivation and scientific acquirements are rare. Occupied with their own concerns, they are little acquainted with mundane affairs. Politics, geography, history, have no charms for those who, even had they the disposition for study, would, in their seclusion and remoteness, have access to few of its appliances. Their convents are almost palatial, with extensive courts, grounds and gardens; their revenues frequently enormous. Though their mode of life is generally unostentatious and simple, many of them keep handsome carriages and have the best horses in the locality; and they are surrounded generally by a prostrate and superstitious population, upon whose hopes and fears, thoughts and feelings, they exercise an influence which would seem magical were it not by their devotees deemed divine. This influence, no doubt, is greatly due to the heroism, labours, sufferings and sacrifices of the early missionaries, and to the admirably organized hierarchy of the Roman Church, whose ramifications reach to the extremest points in which any of the forms or semblances of Christianity are to be discovered. Volumes upon volumes—the folio records of the proceedings of the different religious orders, little known to Protestant readers—fill the library shelves of these Catholic establishments, which are the receptacles of their religious history.

The most extensively influential brotherhood in the Philippines is that of the Augustines (Agostinos Calzados), who administer to the cure of more than a million and a half of souls. The barefooted Augustines (Agostinos Descalzos, or Recoletos) claim authority over about one-third of this number. The Dominicans occupy the next rank, and their congregations are scarcely less numerous than those of the barefooted Augustines. Next come the Franciscans, who are supposed to rank with the Dominicans in the extent of their authority. Independently of the monastic orders and the superior ecclesiastic authorities, there are but a small number of parochial or secular clergy in the Philippines.

On occasions of installations under the “royal seal,” the ceremonies take place in the church of the Augustines, the oldest in Manila, where also the regimental flags receive their benediction, and other public civil festivals are celebrated. A convent is attached to the church. Both the regular Augustines and the Recoletos receive pecuniary assistance from the State. The Franciscans rank next to the Augustines in the number of their clergy.

A source of influence possessed by the friars, and from which a great majority of civil functionaries are excluded, is the mastery of the native languages. All the introductory studies of ecclesiastical aspirants are dedicated to this object. No doubt they have great advantages from living habitually among the Indian people, with whom they keep up the most uninterrupted intercourse, and of whose concerns they have an intimate knowledge. One of the most obvious means of increasing the power of the civil departments would be in encouragement given to their functionaries for the acquirement of the native idioms. I believe Spanish is not employed in the pulpits anywhere beyond the capital. In many of the pueblos there is not a single individual Indian who understands Castilian, so that the priest is often the only link between the government and the community, and, as society is now organized, a necessary link. It must be recollected, too, that the different members of the religious brotherhoods are bound together by stronger bonds and a more potent and influential organization than any official hierarchy among civilians; and the government can expect no co-operation from the priesthood in any measures which tend to the diminution of ecclesiastical authority or jurisdiction, and yet the subjection of that authority to the State, and its limitation wherever it interferes with the public well-being, is the great necessity and the all-important problem to be solved in the Philippines. But here, too, the Catholic character of the government itself presents an enormous and almost invincible difficulty. Nothing is so dear to a Spaniard in general as his religion; his orthodoxy is his pride and glory, and upon this foundation the Romish Church naturally builds up a political power and is able to intertwine its pervading influence with all the machinery of the civil government. The Dutch have no such embarrassment in their archipelago.

The Captain-General has had the kindness to furnish me with the latest returns of the ecclesiastical corporations in the Philippines (dated 1859). They are these:—

The Dominicans have charge of the missions to the province of Fokien in China and Tonquin. They report in 1857:—In Fokien: 11,034 confessions and 10,476 communions, 1,973 infant and 213 adult baptisms, 284 marriages and 288 confirmations. In Eastern Tonquin: 3,283 infant and 302 adult baptisms, 4,424 extreme unctions, 64,052 confessions, 60,167 communions and 658 marriages. In Central Tonquin: 5,776 infant and 400 adult baptisms, 32,229 extreme unctions, 141,961 confessions, 131,438 communions and 1,532 marriages.