diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

disreputable religious orders, whose members, from what seems to appear inRizal's writings, were morally corrupt and reactionary beings, with little orno hope of salvation.Is this image true? We do not think so. But before explaining our reasons,it will be good to make an initial clarification. Rizal's novels are notmissiolOgical studies, nor a history of the Church in the Philippines. They area political weapon, masterfully planned and adroitly used by a politicianoutside with no claims to objectivity, despite affirmations to the contrary (aspreviously cited) and even outside any ethical considerations. Jose Rizal,physician turned politician, fixed on certain concrete objectives, chose themost convenient means (novels, historical studies, etc.) in order to convey apalpable message to his readers, means capable of transforming his vision ofreality following tenets he believed most adequate, and he congratulatedhimself on having achieved his purpose.The novels and some historical writings of Rizal contain several valuejudgments, general affirmations, etc., whose truth he never sought to prove,because, among other reasons, it was impossible to do so. Much less would itbe possible to prove the contrary of what he affirmed. Of course, I do not nowintend to do the same, but I shall attempt some kind of an approximation ofthe internal situation of the Franciscans in the Philippines just as it can begleaned from the documents available to us. It is not a matter of descending toparticulars, or making some kind of a statistical study to show how manyFranciscans there were, parish priests or otherwise, who merited being called"excellent," "good," "average," "mediocre"; or how many, on the other hand,deserved the opposite. We shall simply try to give a panoramic picture of thetruth, with its lights and shadows, its positive and negative aspects.The Franciscan Province of Saint Gregory the Great of the Philippinestraces its origins to the Franciscan descalced reform group under the directinspiration of Saint Peter Alcantara, known in history as having begun inSpain a style of life characterized by austerity in the order. In this Alcantarinespirituality emphasis was on the testimony of one's personal life of poverty,simplicity, preference for the humbler classes of society, care of the sick, etc.The Franciscans are still faithful to this rather demanding spiritual traditionmore evident in the first generations, but less so in the following. This is notunusual, considering the major transformation undergone by the Province ofSaint Gregory due to socio-cultural and religious circumstances, and the newdemands imposed on it as it moved farther and farther from its initially strictmissionary ideal, and became an order that sought only to preserve the faithof the Christian communities of the Philippines.167