women, some of whom are dedicated to a
contemplative life, as those of St. Clare; others to teaching, as those
of the Asuncion [_i.e._, "Assumption"], the Dominicans, and the Beatas
of the Society; and others, finally, in the exercise of benevolence,
as the Sisters of Charity or of St. Vincent de Paul, who have charge
of the hospitals--although the latter also dedicate themselves, with
great benefit, to the teaching of young women in the seminaries of
Concordia, Santa Isabel, Santa Rosa, the municipal school, Loban,
the hospitium of San Jose of Jaro, and Santa Isabel of Nueva Caceres.

Religious spirit of the country

After this statistical religious summary, we cannot resist our desire
to explain, although briefly, what is at present and definitively
the character or qualities of the religious spirit reigning in this
country--which owes everything that it is, aside from the purely
natural elements, to the Catholic civilization of Espana. This point
is, on another side, very pertinent to the whole subject.

It is not to be doubted, then, that the mass of the natives who have
received the direct influence of Spanish civilization are entirely
Catholic. The heathen natives are yet barbarous or semi-barbarous;
and the Moros, besides being without the civilization of the Christian
Indians, do not retain either, from the merely external Mahometanism,
more than their innate pride and treachery, and some few formalities,
known and practiced by a very few of their race. Those in Filipinas
who profess, or say that they profess, any other positive religion
(and more especially any other Christian religion), distinct from
the Catholic, will be found absolutely only among the foreign
element. Therefore, Catholicism is the religion, not only of the
majority, but of all the civilized Filipinos.

It is also certain that the Filipinos are sincere Catholics. Their
religion suits them, and is congenial to their nature. They practice
it spontaneously, and profess it openly and publicly, without any
objection. Far from all their minds is the most remote suspicion that
Catholicism is not the true and only religion capable of bringing
about their temporal and eternal happiness. All of these Indians are by
nature docile to the teachings and admonitions of their parish priests
and spiritual fathers. Many good people approach the holy sacraments
easily and frequently; and the fact that many others do not approach or
frequent them so ofte