diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

"discovered" it: "I know one who got his mitre for less; he wrote a silly littlebook showing that the natives were incapable of anything higher thanmanual labour—you know, all the old stuff!"9'The Augustinian writer alludes no less clearly to the supposed perversityof certain ideas from Europe which he charges lay behind the Cavite mutinyin Sister F'uti's comments on Crisostomo Ibarra's personality after thediscovery of the plot: "All right, he may have been a good little boy, but thenhe went to Spain; and those who go to Spain come back heretics. That's whatall the friars say."In several meaningful paragraphs the Augustinian shows that anyattempt by the Filipinos to seek independence from Spain, from theMotherland, would be an act of indescribable ingratiftide, in view of thefavors done them by the Spaniards since the discovery until the moment thebrochure was being written. We shall return to this later.The rattan as an instrument of punishment is also clearly alluded to byRizal. Besides the graphic picture of Fray Damaso's mania for cuffs andwhippings, Rizal adds this was not enough reason to wish him ill, since thefriar "was convinced that one could deal with the natives only with blows; afellow friar had said so in a book, and Father Damaso believed it because henever contradicted the printed word . . . ." Bias' grandmother in the novelwas not flogged until after she had given birth because "You know the friarspropagate the belief that the only way to treat the natives is by beating themup; read what Father Gaspar de San Agustin has to say about it"8. Manrique Alonso Lallave, Los Frailes en Filipinas. Madrid:Imprenta de J. Antonio Garcia, 1872Whoever reads the Noli perfectly knows it is a vehement diatribe agaftistthe regular clergy in the Philippines, but concentrating on the Franciscans.Why did the Philippine national hem choose them as the target of hisdenuntiations and the symbol of despotism, abuse, and oppression? I believefor particular historical reasons. Above all, added infonnation about certainfriars popularized by the ex-Franciscan Francisco Arriaga led him to write inthe most caustic terms„ with the certainty his statements, though harsh,corresponded to historick fact. Precisely this is what we have tried to do inthis essay. But other religious orders am also the target of similar criticisms,although less virulent. Such, for example, were the Dominicans. Recall FraySybila in the novel and the cutting irony in chapter 9 referring to the allegedriches of his order. What sources did the author use to portray theirecclesiastical, economic, and administrative roles in the Philippines? Rizal87