The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER XXXI 150
it off, and cast it into the fire--'"
Having forgotten both his sermon and his rhetoric, Fray Damaso began to be nervous. Ibarra became uneasy
and looked about for a quiet corner, but the church was crowded. Maria Clara neither heard nor saw anything
as she was analyzing a picture, of the blessed souls in purgatory, souls in the shape of men and women
dressed in hides, with miters, hoods, and cowls, all roasting in the fire and clutching St. Francis' girdle, which
did not break even with such great weight. With that improvisation on the preacher's part, the holy-ghost friar
lost the thread of the sermon and skipped over three long paragraphs, giving the wrong cue to the now
laboriously-panting Fray Damaso.
"Who of you, O sinners, would lick the sores of a poor and ragged beggar? Who? Let him answer by raising
his hand! None! That I knew, for only a saint like Diego de Alcala would do it. He licked all the sores, saying
to an astonished brother, 'Thus is this sick one cured!' O Christian charity! O matchless example! O virtue of
virtues! O inimitable pattern! O spotless talisman!" Here he continued a long series of exclamations, the while
crossing his arms and raising and lowering them as though he wished to fly or to frighten the birds away.
"Before dying he spoke in Latin, without knowing Latin! Marvel, O sinners! You, in spite of what you study,
for which blows are given to you, you do not speak Latin, and you will die without speaking it! To speak
Latin is a gift of God and therefore the Church uses Latin! I, too, speak Latin! Was God going to deny this
consolation to His beloved Diego? Could he die, could he be permitted to die, without speaking Latin?
Impossible! God wouldn't be just, He Wouldn't be God! So he talked in Latin, and of that fact the writers of
his time bear witness!"
He ended this exordium with the passage which had cost him the most toil and which he had plagiarized from
a great writer, Sinibaldo de Mas. "Therefore, I salute thee, illustrious Diego, the glory of our Order! Thou art
the pattern of virtue, meek with honor, humble with nobility, compliant with fortitude, temperate with
ambition, hostile with loyalty, compassionate with pardon, holy with conscientiousness, full of faith with
devotion, credulous with sincerity, chaste with love, reserved with secrecy; long-suffering with patience,
brave with timidity, moderate with desire, bold with resolution, obedient with subjection., modest with pride,
zealous with disinterestedness, skilful with capability, ceremonious with politeness, astute with sagacity,
merciful with piety, secretive with modesty, revengeful with valor, poor on account of thy labors with true
conformity, prodigal with economy, active with ease, economical with liberality, innocent with sagacity,
reformer with consistency, indifferent with zeal for learning: God created thee to feel the raptures of Platonic
love! Aid me in singing thy greatness and thy name higher than the stars and clearer than the sun itself that
circles about thy feet! Aid me, all of you, as you appeal to God for sufficient inspiration by reciting the Ave
Maria!"
All fell upon their knees and raised a murmur like the humming of a thousand bees. The alcalde laboriously
bent one knee and wagged his head in a disgusted manner, while the alferez looked pale and penitent.
"To the devil with the curate!" muttered one of two youths who had come from Manila.
"Keep still!" admonished his companion. "His woman might hear us."
Meanwhile, Padre Damaso, instead of reciting the Ave Maria, was scolding his holy ghost for having skipped
three of his best paragraphs; at the same time he consumed a couple of cakes and a glass of Malaga, secure of
encountering therein greater inspiration than in all the holy ghosts, whether of wood in the form of a dove or
of flesh in the shape of an inattentive friar.
Then he began the sermon in Tagalog. The devout old woman again gave her granddaughter a hearty slap.
The child awoke ill-naturedly and asked, "Is it time to cry now?"