The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898

Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century,

Volume XLII, 1670–1700

Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne.

Contents of Volume XLII

Illustrations

Preface

The tone of this volume is mainly ecclesiastical, although many sidelights on the civil government and social life are incidentally shown. All the intense bitterness that generally accompanies contests between the regulars and seculars is seen in the Camacho controversy, in which the former recognize that they are fighting for life and existence in the Philippines, and hence spare no effort to gain their ends. As will be seen later this fight between regulars and seculars is quieted only for the moment, to break out with greater force under Archbishop Santa Justa y Rufina; while in our own day, the friar memorial of 1898 (never presented), resorts to the same threat of the regulars to resign their curacies. This struggle, as well as the history of the Augustinian order in the latter part of the seventeenth century (which occupies the greater part of the volume), forms a rich commentary on the life of the times, and one can reconstruct easily the Manila of that period, and recognize the hopes and fears of its various classes.

The noted ecclesiastical controversy between Archbishop Camacho and the religious orders, which began with the arrival of that prelate in the islands (1697), was hardly second in bitterness and importance to that between his predecessor Pardo with the secular government. As in the latter case, we furnish accounts of this episode by persons actually concerned therein; but all these are written by members of the orders, who therefore are opposed to Camacho, no defense of his side being at present available. The first of these (unsigned) is apparently the usual record of events by the Manila Jesuits. Soon after Camacho’s arrival, the regulars appeal to him for aid in a dispute which they have with the secular government regarding their lands; but he makes such aid conditional on their submitting to episcopal visitation in those curacies which they serve as parish priests. They refuse to do so, and appeal from the archbishop to the papal delegate; then a controversy ensues between the two prelates over the exemptions claimed by the regulars, each wielding the thunderbolts of the Church—censures, fines, and excommunications—against the other, a warfare imitated by some of the ecclesiastical rank and file with their fists and stones as weapons, all to the scandal of the commonwealth. Finally the governor interposes, and the affair is settled for the time, the two prelates absolving each other in turn. The Audiencia compel the religious orders to pay tithes for the support of the church, from the incomes of their large estates. This account is followed by a letter (June 2, 1698) from the delegate above mentioned to the pope, giving a detailed report of his proceedings in the affair, and complaining that the archbishop has defied his authority as delegate, and therefore that of the supreme pontiff himself. The writer, Fray Andres Gonzalez, advises that new safeguards be given to the office of delegate in the islands.

In attempting to enforce his visitation of the regulars who act as curas, Camacho makes such official visits in some of the Indian villages near Manila, and issues decrees affecting such parishes; two specimens of these are given. After censuring the prevalent ignorance of Christian doctrine among the native parishioners, the archbishop strictly charges the ministers who are over them to give their people regular and thorough instruction in the faith; to exact no fees for confession and penance; to keep the registers of births, marriages and deaths, and records of fees received thereat, more carefully; to make no distinction between rich and poor in certain functions; and to keep an itemized record of the church incomes and expenditures. Annexed thereto is a copy of the revised tariff of fees which may be demanded by the curas, singers, and sacristans for their respective functions.

In 1700, the five religious orders in the Philippines present to the king, through their representatives at Madrid, a statement of their controversy with Archbishop Camacho over his attempt to subject the regular curas to episcopal visitation; and they make formal renunciation of the mission curacies which they hold in the islands, declaring that they cannot longer hold these under Camacho and the irksome restrictions which he is attempting to impose upon the regular curas. Their reasons for this procedure are stated at length. They did not choose service as curas for their calling and profession, yet they are willing to fill those positions so long as they can do so under the supervision of their own provincials; but subjection to the archbishop so changes their estate in life that they cannot endure the additional burdens and danger thus imposed. Moreover, justice requires that they should, as parish priests, share the privileges and advantages allowed to the secular priests, which is not the case. The subjection which Camacho claims would destroy the rightful liberty of the religious orders, and render them dependent on the wills of the archbishop and governor. In case a regular cura shall commit immoral acts, a conflict of authority will necessarily arise between his provincial and the ecclesiastical authorities; and the difficulties that ensue therefrom react to the oppression and vexation of the entire colony. Moreover, such controversies can seldom be settled by the home government, on account of the great distance of the Philippines from Spain. In such case of transgression by a religious another difficulty arises, that the necessity of referring the case to the public authorities causes undue disgrace to both the offender and his order. The regulars are better qualified to save souls than are the secular priests, but if they are subjected to the ordinary it will be much harder for them—the authority of their provincials over them being thus weakened—to observe their priestly vows with due strictness; also, some would thus be encouraged to undue self-will, to worldliness, and to intrigues for securing worldly advantages—especially by the perpetual tenure of ecclesiastical benefices. These arguments are supported, too, by both history and experience. The orders then refute certain arguments advanced by the archbishop. Their pious labors for the benefit of souls, in all ranks and conditions of men, are recounted; and many of these, especially in Manila, would never be accomplished if they depended on the secular priests. The conduct of Camacho in opposing the papal delegate, and in refusing to give the orders copies of his decrees concerning them, is censured, his own arguments being dexterously turned against him—as is the case also with his complaints to the court that his authority, functions, and usefulness are restricted by the fact that the regular curas are not subjected to him; and his request to be permitted to resign his see and return to Europe. The writers support their position by reference to what the orders have accomplished in the islands, and by the exemptions and privileges granted to them by the Holy See. In view of all these things, the orders make formal renunciation of their mission curacies—especially as the remoteness of the islands gives them little prospect of relief from Spain in these difficulties; and even if royal decrees are sent to the islands, the archbishop is likely to refuse obedience to them. They make complaint of various acts of the bishop against them, especially of the reprimand given them by the Audiencia through his influence, and his disregard of the immunity of their property. The orders are working in Filipinas in entire harmony and amity, but this does not suit the archbishop; and they feel that they cannot hope for peace or safety so long as they act as curas there with Camacho as archbishop. A decree by Carlos II (May 20, 1700) approves the proceedings of the archbishop, promises royal aid in adjusting his difficulties with the orders, and authorizes him to reform and correct the religious when necessary.

The history of the Augustinian order in Filipinas in the latter part of the seventeenth century is recounted by Casimiro Diaz of that order, in book iv of his Conquistas (much of which has already appeared in our series, and which is here concluded); this final part contains an unusual amount of secular history, for which reason we omit but little of Diaz’s narrative. Beginning with 1671, he gives an account of each Augustinian provincial chapter-session, and the officers elected therein, up to 1689; and relates various matters concerning his order and religious interests generally, with which he interweaves the secular annals of that time. The troublous times which the Philippine colony has experienced since the days of Corcuera are turned into peace under Manuel de León (1669–76). He extends the commerce of the islands to China, India, and Java, and thus enables the citizens of Manila to attain unusual wealth and prosperity. He sends Jesuit missionaries to Siao, but they are afterward seized by the Dutch, who conquer that island. Unfortunately, the governor interferes with the election of officers in the Augustinian chapter-session of 1671, and prevents the election of the father who is desired by the chapter as provincial. In this year the new cathedral edifice of Manila is dedicated. Reports are circulated of a coming attack on the city by Chinese corsairs; due precautions are taken, but no enemy appears. A French bishop who stops at Manila on his way to China is detained by the authorities and finally sent to Spain; his representations there cause the issue of royal decrees which prove troublesome and annoying to Philippine ecclesiastics, and afterward the ordination of Indian natives as priests—a practice which Diaz disapproves. A controversy arises between Archbishop López and Jerónimo de Herrera, chaplain of the royal military chapel; this and other troubles, with his old age, cause the death of the archbishop (April, 1674).

The chapter-session of 1674 marks the cessation of various troubles within the order, occurring within the provincialate of Fray Jerónimo de Leon, and the beginning of a great increase in the observance of the rules of the order. José Duque is elected provincial at this time; he sends a procurator to Europe for more missionaries, a band of whom arrive in 1679. Diaz enlarges on the prosperity of Manila during this period; caused by its foreign trade, especially that with China and India; pleasure and luxury prevail in that city, and fortunes are spent therein. He describes the people and industries of the Coromandel coast and the Madras settlements of the English and the Portuguese; in the former, entire religious toleration prevails, and Christians, Jews, Mahometans and heathens live together in entire harmony. In 1676 occurs the death of Governor Manuel de León, from excessive obesity; he leaves all his property for charitable purposes. The election of provincial in 1677 falls on Fray Juan de Jeréz; in that year also the Dominican Fray Felipe Pardo becomes archbishop of Manila, and Auditor Coloma, the acting governor, dies; he is succeeded by Auditor Mansilla. The majority of Carlos II of Spain is celebrated at Manila with magnificent fiestas, December 4–7, 1677. At the close of these gayeties occurs a severe earthquake, which inflicts much damage—fortunately, with very little loss of life. In 1678 comes the new governor, Juan de Vargas Hurtado. His government begins well, but after a time he tires of its burdens, and falls under the sway of a relative, Francisco Guerrero, who is crafty and selfish, and gains an influence over the governor which enables him to turn everything to his own advantage, and to be “the power behind the throne;” afterward, in time of need, he escapes to Nueva España, and leaves Vargas to bear the penalties for both of them. During Vargas’s term of office the rich trade with India and other foreign lands is well maintained, and the prosperity and wealth of Manila are greatly increased. In 1679 arrive two bands of new missionaries, who are Jesuits and Augustinians; they come (especially the latter) in good time, since the members of the order are so few that they cannot fill the ministries allotted to them—which is the condition of the other orders, and even of the secular clergy. In this galleon comes a political prisoner, Fernando de Valenzuela, the disgraced favorite of Queen Mariana of Spain, who is exiled to the Philippines for ten years. The government of Vargas is successful, and the prosperity of Manila continues. An embassy comes from the ruler of Borneo to ask for the establishment of commerce between that island and Manila, and to adjust some disputes over the relations between the Spaniards and Borneans.

The Augustinians prosper during Jeréz’s term as provincial. Just before the chapter-session of 1680 convenes, some of the friars who were born in the Indias lay claim to the offices in the order, and attempt to enforce this pretension by legal proceedings; the archbishop decides against them, and they are punished for their rebellion. Fray Diego de Jesús is elected provincial. A bishop for the diocese of Cebú arrives this year, the only consecrated bishop whom the islands have had for several years; this prelate confers holy orders on many who had been waiting for that privilege, and reconciles several persons with the governor—which official has by this time become highly unpopular with the citizens, on account of his greed for gain and his harsh and disagreeable behavior. Charges against him are sent to Madrid, which later cause his removal from office. In November, 1680, a wonderful comet appears, which in the superstitious belief of that time, causes much evil. An envoy is sent from Manila to make arrangements with the Portuguese of Macao for the regulation of commerce and “the entrance of Spanish missionaries into China by that door.” With this envoy come to Manila (in 1681) some clerics to receive ordination; returning to Macao, with some Jesuits, the vessel is lost and never heard from. In this year arrive at Manila two assistant bishops, three royal auditors, and a large reënforcement of Spanish troops. The galleon which sails this year for Acapulco is driven back to the islands by contrary winds, thus causing great loss to the citizens. (In each year Diaz relates the departure or arrival of the galleons, failure in which is a calamity for Manila.) The provincialate of Fray Diego de Jesús is tranquil, and great progress is made by the religious in his care; his personal character and piety are eulogized by our historian. In 1683 Fray José Duque is elected in his place, for a second term. Some of the brethren go to China as missionaries; they encounter much annoyance from the requirement there made that they must be subject to the apostolic vicars of Rome. This subjection, however, is afterward greatly modified and lessened by decrees secured (1688) by the procurator of the province at Rome, Fray Álvaro de Benavente. In 1683 an envoy from Siam comes to Manila, partly to secure permission for the prime minister of that country to settle in Manila: this favorite, who was a Greek, intrigues with the French to surrender Siam to them, but the enterprise fails, and the Greek loses his wealth and his life. The envoy (an Augustinian friar named Sousa) encounters shipwreck on another journey, and spends the rest of his life as a hermit in Siam. The Portuguese governor of Timor and Solor on his way thither halts at Manila, ill; Governor Vargas gives him hospitality and medical treatment, and some Spaniards as an escort; but Ontuñez finds on reaching his islands that a usurper is holding them with armed men, and is obliged to return to Manila. In that city, during the exile of the archbishop (account of which has been here omitted, to avoid repetition), the ecclesiastical cabildo punish his chief supporters with banishment.

In 1684 Governor Curuzelaegui comes to the islands, and with him Juan de Zalaeta to take the residencias of Vargas and his favorite Guerrero; but the latter escapes from the islands in time to avoid this ordeal. A large band of Augustinian religious also arrive. The new governor restores the banished archbishop to his see. In 1685 a terrible epidemic of smallpox ravages not only the islands but China and India, and millions of people die from it; then follows a cruel famine, and still more deaths.

At this time begins the decline of Manila’s commerce with Nueva España, partly because more European goods are being sent thither, partly through the heavy taxes and imposts levied on the galleons. The bishop of Nueva Segovia dies, and that diocese remains sede vacante until 1704. In the Augustinian chapter of 1686 Juan de Jeréz is again chosen provincial; he dies within two years, being worn out by overwork in the visitation of all the houses of his order in the islands. Fray Alvaro de Benavente is sent to Rome as procurator of the province. The galleon for Acapulco does not sail this year, for, on the report of pirates cruising around the Embocadero, it is equipped as a war-vessel to attack them and drive them away; but it does not find them, and returns to Manila. In this year of 1686 occurs an abortive insurrection among the Chinese in the Parián; it is undertaken by Sangleys who are fugitive criminals from China, but the ringleaders are put to death, and quiet ensues. Diaz enlarges upon the injurious effects on the Spanish colony of allowing its business and industries to fall into the hands of the Chinese. They are unscrupulous in their dealings with Spaniards; they become Christians through mercenary motives; and they undermine the faith of the Christian Filipinos. They should not be allowed to live among the natives. In this same year occur excessive rains, which ruin the crops and cause great scarcity and suffering; and for two years no galleons can sail to Acapulco. A large part of the Chinese settlement near Manila is consumed by fire (March 28, 1688); and the people are harassed by a fearful plague of locusts, many earthquakes, and a fatal epidemic of influenza. Diaz relates the way in which the persons most prominent in the Pardo controversy ended their lives. An expedition is sent to chastise the murderous attacks made by the Zambals and Negritos; this is partly accomplished, but the troops are attacked by influenza and so weakened that they are compelled to return to Manila.

The Audiencia having been broken up by the death or the exile of the auditors, a new Audiencia arrives in 1688; also a special commissioner to investigate the proceedings of Vargas and other officials. Vargas is exiled to the provinces, and afterward sent to Spain, but dies on the voyage thither; Diaz characterizes his official character. The exiled favorite Valenzuela is set at liberty, but is accidentally killed at Mexico. While attending to the despatch of the Acapulco galleon, Governor Curucelaegui dies (April 27, 1689); he is praised by Diaz as an excellent ruler. In the chapter of 1689 Fray Francisco de Zamora is elected provincial. Auditor Abella acts as governor ad interim, with much prudence and ability. Archbishop Pardo dies in 1689; the cabildo rule the diocese in his place for a time, but afterward cede this authority to Barrientos, bishop of Troya. This leads to much dissension and trouble for a time, Barrientos claiming supreme authority; but he is induced to yield this claim, and peace is restored.

In 1690 arrives a new governor, Fausto Cruzat y Góngora. With him come a band of Augustinian religious, in charge of Fray Alvaro de Benavente; his adventures and the concessions that he obtains are recounted. Brief sketches are given of the twenty-seven missionaries who come this year. Diaz closes his work with some account of Cruzat’s government. He is an upright and honorable man, but very harsh and severe in collecting the sums due to the government, directing “all his efforts to the increase of the royal revenues.” He has a new galleon built, the largest ever made; but on its first voyage it is wrecked on the coast of Lubán—a terrible loss to the islands, since it was laden with more and richer merchandise than usual. Another galleon is also lost at sea (1693). A patache is sent from Acapulco, and on its return trip (1694) encounters an “isle of birds,” where the crew secure enough provisions and water to complete their voyage to Acapulco. Cruzat’s wife dies in this same year; Diaz pays high tribute to this lady’s beauty, goodness, and virtue, which render her beloved by all the people.

The Editors
August, 1906.

Miscellaneous Documents, 1670–1700

Sources: The first of these documents is composed of several parts—the first, second, fourth, and fifth of which are obtained from the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 107–115, 119–133, v, pp. 231–296, and iv, pp. 201–206, respectively; and the third from a contemporary MS. belonging to Edward E. Ayer. The second document is from Diaz’s Conquistas (Manila, 1890), pp. 440–444, 689–817; from a copy in the possession of James A. Robertson.

Translations: These are by Emma Helen Blair.

The Camacho Ecclesiastical Controversy, 1697–1700

News from Filipinas since July, 1697

With the arrival of his illustrious Lordship the archbishop, Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila,[1] were renewed the former claims for the subjection of the regulars to the visitation. He commenced at Tondo and Binondo, mission villages of the fathers of St. Dominic and St. Augustine, in which places he caused edicts to be read, and appointed secular priests as curas. They broke open the doors of the said two churches with axes; and on seeing this the provincials, all agreeing, presented their renunciation [of those mission fields], and ordered all their subordinates to withdraw from the doctrinas of these districts, Tagalos, Pampanga, Laguna, and Balayan. When it was so quickly seen that they were coming into retirement at Manila, [the ecclesiastical authorities] were obliged to desist from their purpose, after [having caused the religious] many annoyances.

Claim was made to the [right of] visitation of the hospitals of San Gabriel and San Lazaro, and the royal hospital. The Franciscans and the Dominicans concealed the keys, and the bishop had to desist, as greatly vexed as before. Auditor Don Juan de Sierra, in virtue of his commission for the adjustment of lands royal and unassigned,[2] cited the regulars to appear before him. He insisted on legal proceedings; but they, fortifying themselves with the censures of the bull De la Cena,[3] decrees 15 and 17, declined his jurisdiction. The judge proceeded to seize the possessions of the regulars; and they had recourse to the bishop, in order that he should declare that the auditor had incurred censure—asking him to defend the immunity of the said property of the regulars. His illustrious Lordship replied that first the regulars must submit to his visitation; they would not do this, and therefore, when they repeated their request, his illustrious Lordship declared that the secular judge was not committing fuerza.

In virtue of the decree of Gregory XIII, [issued] at the instance of Felipe II, relative to appeals from the Indians,[4] the regulars appealed to the delegate of Camarines, who sent letters to the archbishop requiring the latter to send him the documents [in the case], with [threats of] censures, and of deprivation ab ingresu eclesiæ [i.e., “of entrance into the church”]. Seeing that these orders were not obeyed, the regulars again appealed to the delegate, Don Fray Andres Gonzalez, who came in person. He demanded aid from the governor, and, meeting delays, proceeded to make the necessary notifications; then, not being able to obtain from the archbishop the acts from which appeal had been taken, the delegate posted him as having incurred excommunication, and added the threat that he would impose an interdict.

At the same time, the archbishop officiated publicly, and published the delegate as excommunicate. But, seeing that various scandals ensued, and that contests, not only with their hands but with stones and weapons, occurred between some clerics and regulars—some attempting to protect, and others to tear down, the writings and censures posted on the [church] doors by the delegate—the governor and other persons finally interposed, and an agreement was reached by the parties. The two prelates absolved each other ad invicem [i.e., in turn], in the presence of the governor; and, as Auditor Sierra desisted from his proceedings, the two prelates and the regulars continued to maintain harmony among themselves. In this condition, therefore, affairs remained; and, without proceeding to new acts or investigations, each party sent to España an account of what had been thus far done, in order to await the decision and sentence from the other side [of the world]. This was the attitude of the delegate and the superiors of the regulars; the archbishop, nevertheless, continued to bring suits against some regulars, whom he censured as agitators. Investigations in these cases were made, penalties of censure being imposed on the witnesses to secure their secrecy. The fact of this proceeding was, however, guessed; and the regulars, aided by the delegate, brought forward counter-information of their innocence. But as the case was not one for appeal, and did not belong to the delegate, it did not admit any recourse to him; so the delegate only caused his notary to give an official statement of this [attempt at] recourse, in order that the regulars might repair with it to España and Roma, and the generals of their orders, to relate these occurrences and the innocence of the religious—and, not least, to complain of the opposition and hindrances which had been employed here by the tribunals, both ecclesiastical and secular, against his use and exercise of the power delegated to him.

Even before the arrival of the said delegate, various other investigations had been secretly made in the archiepiscopal court—not only against the regulars at large (de vita et moribus [i.e., “in regard to their lives and morals”], and as to their trading and trafficking, etc.), but against certain individual religious. In these cases, the provincials had, according to their rights, demanded from the archbishop that he refrain from further proceedings and surrender to them the documents therein, since the said provincials were the legitimate superiors and judges of those religious; but this received scant attention. It had also previously occurred that the father minister of the hospital of San Gabriel (who is a Dominican) refused to allow the episcopal visitation, and the [arch]bishop had declared him incontinent, and posted him as excommunicate, without paying any attention to the appeal which that father immediately made. The said father minister amended his conduct, in time; but his name was left on the list of excommunicates until, upon the arrival of the delegate, the matter was settled and the censure laid on him was raised.

Upon the origin of so many storms in so short a space as eight months there was much gossip, with a variety [of opinions]. Some attributed the trouble to the influence of the bishop of La Puebla,[5] in whose palace the archbishop was a guest for several months; others to the promise that the latter had given, on leaving Nueva España, to various personages with whom he was intimate in La Puebla and Mexico, that he was coming to reduce the regulars of these islands to submission or else destroy them. Others blamed the bishop of La Puebla; for he had warned the archbishop, in order to render him firm, of the disparity of what had been accomplished there by Don Juan de Palafox—who met less resistance there because most of the regulars in Nueva España were natives of that country, while in Filipinas nearly all of them were born in other countries. Others (and these were the majority) blamed the senior auditor, Don Geronimo Barredo, because with little gratitude for the many thousands [of pesos obtained from the orders] as loans and gifts (although he had been so greatly benefited thereby), he had repaid the regulars by abandoning [them] to the two recently-arrived auditors, Don Francisco Guerruela and Don José Pabon. On the one hand, the Audiencia being inclined to the opposing side, the regulars were deprived of the recourse which they, as vassals, ought to have in the royal tribunal; and on the other, it was reported that the said senior auditor made exceedingly frequent visits, at unseasonable hours, to the archbishop’s palace, which were returned by that prelate at the auditor’s house. As the gossip ran, the auditor directed all the acts and proceedings of the archbishop’s court.

Still others, reflecting upon the governor and the limits of his term of office, regarded him as timorous, considering that, since the [commission to take the governor’s] residencia[6] had come to the said senior auditor in the year 97, the fear of the governor was occasioned by the apprehension that the auditor might do him some harm in his residencia. Some others (but only a few) attributed these many disturbances to the cousin of his illustrious Lordship, named Don Juan Camacho, for the sake of his own advantage; and on this account, knowing his disposition, people said that Master-of-camp Don Francisco Guerrero de Ardila had made strenuous efforts, and had even offered to his illustrious Lordship in Mexico considerable sums of money, to procure that, by sending this cousin[7] to Badajoz, his Lordship should not come to these islands with a companion who could not render his government peaceable.

Nor must I pass over in silence the fact that on the sixteenth day of May the royal Audiencia cited to appear in its hall all the five provincials, to whom—without the courteous observances and respectful address which his Majesty himself observes in his decrees—the Audiencia gave a severe reprimand, throwing on them the blame for the late disturbances, and treating them as violators of the peace. The most remarkable thing about this censure was, that it proceeded from the lips of that very senior auditor who, in especial, was regarded as the entire source of the disturbances; and, without permitting the provincials to speak, they were, with the same lack of respect, dismissed by this same official—who some day will have to give an account, before the tribunal of truth, of all these unjust acts.

By the end of the said month, under the compulsion of the threat made against the provincials, by the first, second, and third royal decrees, of banishment and [privation of their] secular incomes, the old-time writ of execution regarding the tithes was enforced, and the religious were obliged to obey. No hearing was given to their repeated protests, or the petitions interposed for the royal Council; nor to their allegations of their rights of prescription in these islands, of their apostolic privileges, of the fact that nearly all who minister here are regulars, and that they have come to these islands not at his Majesty’s expense only, but with the greater part of those expenses paid by the religious themselves.

The regulars petitioned for, and took measures to push, a demand upon the royal treasury for more than 300,000 pesos, the amount spent by the religious since the conquest; and another, for another 300,000, the amount which was due to them on account of stipends as religious teachers, which the government had failed to allow them for a period of more than a century—declaring that if these accounts were paid, they would pay the tithes which were claimed from them; but no hearing was given them. In hatred to the regulars, the tenants on their estates were compelled to pay tithes, the amount of these being deducted from the value of the rent-money.

Letter from Andres Gonzalez to the Pope

Most Holy Father:

After kissing with due submission the feet of your Holiness (whom may God preserve, for the prosperous government of His Church), in fulfilment of the obligations of my office as pastor I set forth to your Holiness a very serious controversy in regard to jurisdiction, which at this time has arisen between me and the very reverend archbishop of this city of Manila in these Filipinas Islands, Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila. I do so in order that your Holiness, as the person who is most interested in the peace and tranquillity of this church, may apply suitable remedy, and fix an end and limit to this controversy—the origin and course of which I will relate as briefly as possible, in all matters referring to the authentic copy of the acts which I send you with this.

To Licentiate Don Juan de Sierra Osorio, former auditor of this royal Audiencia, and at present judge of criminal cases in the Audiencia of Mejico, was subdelegated the cognizance and settlement of [questions relating to] the lands and possessions which, by sale or gift, have been alienated from the royal patrimony and dominion of our Catholic king and sovereign. In a proclamation which he issued he cited and summoned, with the rest of the holders of the said lands and possessions, the holy religious orders of these islands, ordering them to present, within the limit of one year, the titles, documents, and credentials which they hold for these lands—with the warning that if these papers were not presented by the end of that period the lands would be reunited to the crown. The superiors of the said religious orders, mindful of the immunity and exemption of their persons and worldly possessions, did not present their documents at the said time; therefore the said auditor actually proceeded to appropriate the said property. The said superiors had recourse to the said very reverend archbishop, asking him to forbid to the said auditor the cognizance of the said cause, and to protect the said property as being ecclesiastical. The said very reverend archbishop took up the matter, and, having drawn up acts, by his definitive sentence (which is found in the said authentic copy) refused ecclesiastical immunity to the said property. The said superiors appealed twice from the said sentence to me, as being the delegate of your Holiness in cases of appeal from this archbishopric, in virtue of a brief by his Holiness Gregory XIII—issued at the instance of our Catholic king Felipe II (whom may God keep). He denied them both these appeals; and, in order to place some limit to these proceedings, they presented themselves before me, with only the authentic official statement of this denial of the said appeals, in course of appeal from that sentence. Having admitted this appeal, in order to proceed to the trial of it I addressed to the said very reverend archbishop, from my episcopal see and city of Nueva Caceres, a compulsatory act in which, as the delegate of your Holiness with apostolic authority, I commanded him to order his secretary (before whom the said cause took place) within twenty-four hours to send me his original acts, or else to begin the copying of them and send it to me when completed. Considering the great distance which lies between this city of Nueva Caceres and that of Manila, the danger and expense of the journeys, the delay of the suit, and the injury to the party therein, I laid these commands on the said very reverend archbishop under the penalty of suspension from the priestly office, latæ sententiæ, and warned him of heavier and still heavier censures and penalties in case of his opposition and contumacy. He was notified of this act on the twentieth day of last March, by a religious of the Society of Jesus, to whom I gave commission for this office; for I had learned that no secular priest would dare to make this notification. The said very reverend archbishop, having heard the [reading of the] act, replied that the said father could not perform judicial acts in his archdiocese without presenting a warrant from his notary; and, even supposing that the father could thus act, he appealed from the said command—for which he implored the royal aid against fuerza, and demanded that an official statement be given him, and that meanwhile no detriment be caused him. When the statement was refused to him he again appealed, and threatened [to procure] royal aid against this fuerza; and this alone he gave as his reply, before the said notary—without giving any reason for his appeal, or reducing it to writing, or arguing it in the superior court[8] in legal form, or asking for apostolic letters, up to the present time. Nevertheless, he then had, and for twenty-three days had kept, the acts in his archives, as appears from a sworn statement by Lerma, the secretary of the royal Audiencia, which is sent with the documents. On that same day (March 20) and the following, he caused to be published and posted on the doors of the churches in this city two edicts against my authority as delegate—in which, with penalty of major excommunication, latæ sententiæ, he commanded (in the first edict) that no one, whether secular or regular, in his churches should permit the reading, publication, or posting of any edicts, or of any other kind of letters or bills whatsoever, except those of his provisor, or of the tribunals of the Holy Inquisition and the Crusade—as if my tribunal, jurisdiction, and authority, which is that of the supreme head of the Church, and resides in me, were inferior to those of the said provisor and the said tribunals. In the second edict, increasing the penalty of major excommunication with the reservation to himself [of absolution], he commanded that no one in his archiepiscopal territory should exercise any jurisdiction—whether ordinary, delegate, or subdelegate—even if it were from your Holiness, unless the originals of the bulls or despatches that he carried be first presented to his Lordship, in order that he might give them the license and fulfilment which by right they should have. But he does not consider that my bull and brief is, and has been for more than 140[9] years since the foundation of the bishoprics of these islands, current and put into practice in them, as also has been its free and independent exercise in this archiepiscopal territory. And I have exercised this freedom, on the only two occasions which have been presented to me—the first time, while the very reverend archbishop Don Fray Felipe Pardo was alive, and the second in the year 91—with the knowledge and approbation of the cabildo close by, sede vacante, both which are proved by authentic documents. These I do not send at this time, as they are in my archives in the city of Nueva Caceres, which is distant from this city of Manila sixty leguas; but I promise to send them at the first opportunity, which will be next year. Notwithstanding all this, the said very reverend archbishop published the said two edicts, endeavoring to impede and embarrass, by all possible measures, means, and ways, the said my jurisdiction as delegate, and to subordinate it to his own, in order that I should not exercise or avail myself of it, either in person or through intermediate persons. On account of this, the superiors of the said religious orders found themselves obliged to resort again to me; and they entreated me to come in person to this city of Manila, to defend my jurisdiction, and with it the ecclesiastical immunity of their property. I did so, notwithstanding my advanced age[10] and the painful infirmities that I suffer, since both these causes are so important a part of my responsibility and obligation. I came to this city on the twelfth day of the past month, May, and with my secretary went to a house on the river where the said very reverend archbishop was residing. After a short conversation, I begged him to be pleased to listen peaceably to an act of which I had come, as delegate of his Holiness, to notify him. I told him that this business should not be conducted more castrorum [i.e., in hostile manner], but that we should listen to each other, and each should state his rights. He agreed to this, and my secretary read the said act, which contains three points. In the first, I declared the said very reverend archbishop to be disobedient, rebellious, and contumacious, considering that he had not obeyed as he should the said my compulsory act, sent to him from the city of Nueva Caceres; likewise, I declared that he had incurred the penalty of suspension from the priestly office latæ sententiæ, under which I had commanded him to order his secretary within twenty-four hours to surrender the acts for which I had asked, or to make an authentic copy of them. And because he had exercised the said priestly office on Holy Thursday, consecrating the sacred oils; and on Holy Saturday, in conferring the higher orders of the ministry;[11] and likewise on other days, in saying mass while he was under suspension: I declared that he was under censure as irregular. In the second part of the said act, I again commanded him, under penalty of major excommunication, latæ sententiæ, and of a fine of two thousand pesos to be applied according to law, to order his secretary within six days to deliver up the papers as aforesaid, or make an authentic copy of them. And in the third part, under penalty of being considered rebellious and contumacious, in order to place him under greater obligation, I prohibited to him in the interim the cognizance of this cause and legal proceeding therein. After the said very reverend archbishop had heard the act, he appealed from it, in writing, and on the following day brought this appeal into court. I did not on this account defer the declaration of the said censures, since the appeal was frivolous and useless; and I yielded in the matter of the copy of the documents only for the reason that he alleged, that the originals of these were in the Audiencia. After he had interposed the said appeal, he immediately ordered his secretary to notify me of an act by himself, in which he commanded me, under penalty of major excommunication, latæ sententiæ, and a fine of 4,000 pesos, to depart instantly and without delay from this archdiocese, to go to reside in my own bishopric, and not to meddle with his jurisdiction. To this I replied that I had received this notification, and asked him to give me a copy of the said document, solely for the purpose of showing in what consisted his illegal and unwarranted act; and I took leave of him and returned to my house. On the following day, the thirteenth of the said month of May, the said very reverend archbishop sent his secretary to notify me of another act, in which also he again commanded me, under penalty of major excommunication, latæ sententiæ, and of another 4,000 pesos, to depart within two days from the archdiocese. To this I replied that I had come [to Manila] on account of the appeal [made to me]; that I was a delegate of your Holiness, and moreover superior to the said very reverend archbishop, and as such I did not listen to his acts or censures. On the next day, the fourteenth of the said month of May, he sent to me notification of another act; and as I refused to listen to it, for the same reason as before, about two o’clock in the afternoon he posted on the doors of the churches, and in other public places, notices in which he declared me, to the great scandal of all this community, to be publicly excommunicated.

On the said thirteenth day of May, in the morning, immediately after I had been notified of the second act of the said very reverend archbishop, I sent my secretary to his house on the river to notify him of another act of mine, in which I commanded him, under penalty of major excommunication and another 2,000 pesos, to withdraw within twenty-four hours the said edicts which on the twentieth and twenty-first days of March he had ordered posted and published against my apostolic authority as delegate; and, besides, to withdraw the two acts in which, with the said penalties of major excommunication and 8,000 pesos, he had commanded me to depart from the archdiocese. The said my secretary was told by the servants that he was not at home; and I, as this seemed to me only an excuse, and not the truth, went in person to the said house. They told me that he had, that very morning, gone back to Manila. I came to the city after him, and remained at his house, waiting for him, until twelve o’clock; and seeing that he had not come by that time (although he came in afterward), I went away, leaving a message for him, that he might expect me in the afternoon. I returned a little before sunset, but did not find him at home this time. My secretary began to read the said act in the main room of the archbishop’s house; but such disorderly yelling and clamorous talk was raised by his servants that my secretary could not make himself heard. I therefore determined to wait for him, and finally he came—making loud complaints that I was injuring the respect and observance due to his house, person, and dignity. I replied that his illustrious Lordship had showed greater incivilities to me; and that he could and ought to do [what I had done], if I had gone about all day, avoiding him [huyendo el cuerpo]. In conclusion, we agreed that my secretary should go again, alone, to notify him of the act; but, when he went to the house, his illustrious Lordship refused to give him entrance. As I was now weary of so much artfulness and craft, unworthy of such a station and dignity, I put aside this act, and despatched another of like tenor. In this, I summoned him, from that hour, under penalty of major excommunication, latæ sententiæ, and its publication, to withdraw within half an hour the said two acts and two edicts. Notification of this act was made by a Dominican religious, my notary, in the archbishop’s hall, in the presence of many persons, because the said very reverend archbishop had refused to listen to it. When the said half-hour had expired, a little while after this was told to me I declared and posted him also as publicly excommunicated. On the fifteenth of the said month of May, I ordered that he be notified, and he was notified in his archiepiscopal hall, of another act, in which I repeated the command contained in the preceding one—and, still more, that he should take down the notices posted against me, under penalty of a general interdict throughout his archiepiscopal diocese, latæ sententiæ, giving him a limit of twenty-four hours’ time; and, in case of his opposition and contumacy, I would proceed to the cessation of all divine worship. But, as I reflected that it was very near the feast of Corpus Christi, and that all the religious orders of this city and a great number of secular priests, who were on my side, would not take part in the said festival and in the procession, in order not to have communication in sacris with the said very reverend archbishop; and on account of the commiseration which I felt for this commonwealth; and finally, because the governor and captain-general of these islands, and some of the auditors of this royal Audiencia interfered in the matter, with the stipulations which I will send with the acts: I absolved the said very reverend archbishop from the excommunication and suspension which he had incurred; and he did the same, without my consent, absolving me from his excommunication. I dispensed him from the censure that he had incurred as irregular, and, finally, I suspended the declaration of the interdict. The whole matter was then left as it was, for the time being, until information of all could be given to your Holiness, in order that you may take suitable measures in this case. These are as follows: That the archbishop (or the cabildo, sede vacante) who at the time shall officiate and rule in this archbishopric of Manila shall not hinder, restrain, or limit the delegate of your Holiness; that, likewise, he who shall be at the time delegate shall, in cases of appeal to be taken from the said archbishopric, have the free use and exercise of his apostolic authority as delegate in this archiepiscopal territory; and that he shall not need, in order to enter the said territory or to perform judicial acts in it, whether in person or through intermediate persons appointed by him, any license, consent, or approbation from the said archbishop or from the cabildo, sede vacante. [These things should be done] in order that thus the like controversies may be avoided in the future. And I entreat your Holiness to be pleased and to deign to command that consideration be given to a legal opinion by the reverend father master Fray Juan de Paz, of the Order of Preachers, which I send with this; for it may be of service for the point at issue, and for your rights. I also inform your Holiness that from the day when the said very reverend archbishop set foot in these islands—that is, from last September to the present time—this entire commonwealth has been a perplexing labyrinth of contentions and acts of violence which he has performed against the holy religious orders of these islands. For his disposition and nature is very hasty, quarrelsome, and bold; and he is, finally, a man who does not care for or defend the ecclesiastical immunity—as appears from the authentic copy of the acts which I send. May God our Lord grant him better judgment; and may He guard and prosper your Holiness, as I entreat in my sacrifices and prayers, and as the universal Church has need. Manila, June 2 of the year 1698.

[Andres Gonzalez, of the Order of Preachers].

[This letter is followed by the following memoranda, apparently notes by Ventura del Arco of other letters found in the Jesuit papers in the Academia Real de la Historia:]

On the fourth day of June in the same year of 1698 the bishop of Nueva Caceres, Don Fray Andres Gonzalez, addressed to the king an explanation similar to the preceding one which is addressed to his Holiness. On the eleventh of June in the same year, he sent to his Holiness another account, in the same form; and on the twenty-first of June of the same year he wrote another to his Holiness, and another to the king.

The provincials of St. Dominic and St. Augustine, and those of the Jesuits and Recollects in Manila drew up [to send] to his Majesty the king a statement, dated June 25, 1698, complaining of the defenseless condition in which they found themselves against the proceedings of the archbishop, who neither heeded nor allowed their appeal; and they requested that the Council examine the documents which they sent for that purpose, relating to various suits against their religious orders—which continued or were renewed, in spite of the agreement made with the delegate of his Holiness, the bishop of Camarines. For this purpose they sent a copy of the documents.

[On pp. 207, 208 of the same volume is the following abstract:] In a letter dated June 9, 1700 the Jesuit Luis de Morales wrote from Manla to Father Antonio Jaramillo, procurator-general at Madrid, that in the year 1698 the bishop of Troya and Auditor Don Juan de Sierra died, on the voyage from Manila to Acapulco. The governor not only showed little favor to the missions in the Marianas Islands, but in the year 98 he did not send a patache there with succor; in 99 he sent the vessel late, and it was driven by storms first to China and then to Manila, with damage to its cargo; and he had ordered that the ship from Acapulco should not touch at those islands. The governor had claimed that the conciliar seminary[12] should be placed next to the college of San Jose, to which the superior of the Society had answered that there was no room for it. All the provincials [of the religious orders] had been commanded to present to the archbishop all their bulls and privileges for granting dispensation in case of impediments to marriage, for the purpose of ascertaining whether these were perpetual or temporary; they presented the documents extra-judicially. It seems that the viceroy of Mexico, Conde Montezuma,[13] had undertaken that the regulars who were going to Filipinas should first take an oath of obedience to the bishops, [when the said regulars should act as curas] in the Indian villages; in which case, he [i.e., Morales] said, it was preferable to abandon the missions. The bishop of Cebu, Don Fray Miguel Bayot,[14] had commanded that no layman should possess a slave girl eleven years old or upward; and that if such slave were not liberated he declared her free—in regard to which some persons had complained [to the] alcalde.

Preamble of the decree[15] which it has been commanded to place in the books of San Pedro Tunasan.

In the village of San Juan de Calamba in the province of Bay, on the sixteenth day of the month of November in the year one thousand six hundred and ninety-eight: I, Licentiate Don Francisco Sanctos de Oliveros, secretary in matters [secretario del Govierno y gracia] of this archbishopric, and a racionero of the holy metropolitan church of Manila, in obedience to the decree of his most illustrious Lordship below mentioned, do certify and attest that his most illustrious Lordship, having come to make the visitation of this district of Tabuco, issued the decree of the following tenor:

Decree: In the village of Calambo in the province of Bay, on the sixteenth day of the month of November in the year one thousand six hundred and ninety-eight, the most illustrious lord Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila, archbishop of Manila and metropolitan of these Philippinas Islands, and ruler of the suffragan bishopric of Nueva Segovia, now vacant, and member of the Council of his royal Majesty and my master, having come here in conformity to the regulations of the holy [Church] councils (and especially of the holy general Council of Trent), and for the enforcement thereof, to visit this district of Tabuco and the places connected with it (which are the two villages of San Pedro Tunasan), and its churches, ministers, and parishioners, has observed in them a great deal of ignorance of the Christian doctrine, even of the doctrines most essential for salvation—through the agency of Licentiate Don Juan Melendez, a priest whom his most illustrious Lordship the archbishop, my master, has brought with him as his assistant for the sole purpose of giving examinations and instruction in the Tagálog language (in which the said licentiate is very expert) to the Indians of both sexes, to the old people as well as to the children, of the villages and districts through which his most illustrious Lordship will be passing. This duty he has performed and fulfilled in the presence of a great many people, assembled in the above-mentioned churches of San Pedro Tunasan and Biñan. After the questions which he has asked regarding the principal mysteries of the faith, and the explanation which he has made of each separately—some in the morning, and some in the afternoon, according to the opportunity afforded him by the time—he has preached to them, and continues to preach, exhorting them to the love of the virtues and to horror for sins. He also gives to all individual instruction, and an accurate knowledge of the mysteries of the holy sacrifice of mass, and of the virtues and graces which it communicates, as also of those which are required in order to resist the temptations of the devil; and how to secure, with great ease and confidence, the divine aid, by fulfilling and observing the precepts of the Decalogue, and the ordinances of our holy Mother Church in the holy sacrament of confirmation, which his most illustrious Lordship has solemnly conferred and is conferring. Therefore he said that he must command, and he did command, the master Licentiate Don Manuel de Leon, cura in his own right of the village of Tabuco; and his coadjutor Bachelor Nicolas Godiño, who administers the holy sacraments in the village of Biñan; and Father Miguel de Salas, a religious of the Society of Jesus, who likewise administers the holy sacraments in the village and estate of San Pedro Tunasan, which is part of the territory and a visita of the cura of the said village of Tabuco; and the curas and ministers who shall hereafter officiate in the said villages, and in that of Sancto Thomas (which is being administered ad interim by the said master Licentiate Don Manuel de Leon): that on all the prescribed feast-days—especially on Sundays, on which all the parishioners assemble in their churches to hear the holy sacrifice of mass—they shall question the people, and explain to them the Christian doctrine, conformably and pursuant to the Tagálog catechism which is accepted and approved in this archbishopric; and that in no form or manner, and for no cause or pretext, shall they omit this on any of the above-mentioned days, especially Sundays. They shall make the explanations of the Christian doctrine to their parishioners before saying mass (which all must hear)—not employing the fiscal or any other person for the performance of this duty, but doing it themselves—explaining certain mysteries of the faith on some Sundays, and others at other times; in everything accommodating their speech to the limited capacity of their parishioners, in order that these may be more readily instructed, and sooner become capable of receiving all the mysteries of our holy faith.

Moreover, considering the great abuses which his most illustrious Lordship has known from actual observation, and of which he has been informed with all certitude and proof, and the still worse losses, both temporal and spiritual, which have resulted to the persons of the unhappy Indians, with very great injury to their consciences and almost certain peril to the salvation of their souls, his most illustrious Lordship must command, and he did command, that the above-mentioned persons who are now the curas and ministers of the said villages, and those who shall officiate in them hereafter, shall not oblige their parishioners, for any cause or pretext, either personally or by any agent, to offer them anything for the administration of the holy sacrament of penance, especially throughout the season of Lent, in which the Indians ordinarily make their confessions in order to comply with the precept of the Church. And the said persons who now are, or shall hereafter be, curas of the said districts shall observe and fulfil all the above commands, under penalty of major excommunication, latæ sententiæ, ipso facto incurrenda, and of legal proceedings against their persons and goods with the fullest rigor of justice, in future visitations.

And his most illustrious Lordship, employing his pastoral kindness and clemency, and desiring to secure the salvation of his flock and the service of God our Lord, and the greater honor and glory of His Divine Majesty, granted and did grant forty days of indulgence to all the parishioners of the said villages; who, with devotion and desire to profit thereby, attend the explanation of the Christian doctrine in their parish churches. And in order that this may be made known to all the people, his most illustrious Lordship commanded and did command that the above persons who now are, and those who hereafter shall be, curas of the said districts shall make publication of the grant of the said forty days of indulgence, on every Sunday of the month, before or after the explanation of the Christian doctrine, always making known to their parishioners the great riches and strength contained therein, so that they may obtain and enjoy the indulgence with profitable results—in regard to which his most illustrious Lordship lays strict charge upon their consciences.

And considering that the visitas of the villages of San Pedro Tunasan and Biñan pertain to the cura of the said village of Tabuco, his most illustrious Lordship commanded and did command that the master Licentiate Don Manuel de Leon, proprietary cura of that village, cause this decree to be observed by his coadjutor, Bachelor Nicolas Godiño, in the said church and village of Biñan; and by Father Miguel de Salas, the present minister of the village of San Pedro Tunasan—sending each a copy, signed with his name, of this decree by his illustrious Lordship, which will be left, certified and authorized, in the book of burials, baptisms, and marriages of the said village of Tabuco. This being done, the said ministers, Bachelor Nicolas Godiño and Father Miguel de Salas, will also make in the books in their charge a certified copy of the decree—which is to be sent immediately, with autograph signature copied at the foot of the letter—so that it may be made known to all persons who hereafter shall be ministers and curas of the said districts, San Pedro Tunasan, Biñan, and Sancto Thomas. And by this decree, accordingly, the above is ordained and commanded, and it is signed by his most illustrious Lordship the archbishop, my master, as I attest.

Diego, archbishop of Manila.

Before me:
Francisco Sanctos de Oliveros, secretary.

The above, a copy from the original decree issued by his most illustrious Lordship the archbishop, my master, which is one of the acts of the visitation of the village of Tabuco—which are in my charge, and to which I refer—is a faithful, accurate, and truthful copy, corrected and compared. The witnesses to the copying, correction, and comparison were Licentiate Don Diego Martin de la Sierra and Bachelor Ignacio Gregorio Manasay, a cleric in minor orders; and this document is signed in this village of Calamba, on the said day and month and year. In attestation of its correctness, I sign it:

Francisco Sanctos de Oliveros, secretary.
Licentiate Don Manuel de Leon

[Another decree, dated December 7, 1698, concerns the curacy of Balayan, with its visitas the village of Nazugbu and the ranch of Lian; the curate there was Bachelor Don Juan de Llamas, with proprietary appointment. After a preamble like that of the former decree, this one continues thus, relative to the registers of the parish:]

He declared that he must command, and he did command, that the practice be continued, as hitherto, of the separation and division [of the records] in three different books: one for recording the baptisms and confirmations only, another for the marriages and nuptial benedictions,[16] and a third for the deaths; and that in no case should these be recorded in one book only; and that in the book of baptisms the names of the parents and the sponsors of the person baptized must always be set down, and whether he were a legitimate child; and note must be made of a child of unknown parents, or of the Church.[17] At the same time, they must never fail to set down in the margin the names of those who are baptized, and of the villages to which they belong, so that it may be easier to search for and find them. In no case shall men be allowed to stand as sponsors [saquen de pila] for women, or women for men, on account of the grave difficulties which have been experienced from this cause, especially among Indians. Moreover, in the records of weddings and burials must be set down the fees of the minister, so that in future visits it may be easy to compute the eighths[18] which belong to the churches, in consideration of having a new tariff to which their fees must conform. With this, in the said records must be noted in the margin the names of both deceased and married persons; and in every instance it must be explained whether the deceased person received the sacraments at the hour of death, and, if he did not receive them, the reasons therefor. Likewise, in the records of marriages not only must the names of the contracting parties be set down, and those of their parents, and those of their former consorts, if the parties are widowed; but also those of the witnesses who made affidavits in the investigations which always ought to precede a marriage—whether these be verbal, in the case of ordinary Indians; or in writing, when practice [in that art] enables this to be done. Thus, if at any time [19] preceded, which the law ordains.

Moreover, in the ministries of this province of Balayan his most illustrious Lordship has found another abuse introduced therein, that the curas and ministers of the Indian villages are accustomed to keep, for baptisms and burials, two crosses assigned for this use—one of wood, and the other of silver. The wooden one they take out for common baptisms and burials, and those of poor persons; and that of silver for the baptisms and burials of the rich—as if both crosses ought not to have the same value, veneration, and efficacy for the object to which they are directed; or as if the silver cross, on account of being of richer material, ought to be esteemed more highly than that of wood, on which died Christ our Redeemer (a thing which is disgraceful to be said or thought among Christians). Therefore his most illustrious Lordship, mindful of uprooting thoroughly this almost superstitious abuse, commanded and did command the persons who now are, or who shall hereafter be, curas in all the districts of this archbishopric that in no case and on no pretext shall they practice such a distinction; nor are they allowed to require or ask any fee on account of carrying the silver cross, whether at baptisms or burials: under penalty of major excommunication, latæ sententiæ, ipso facto incurrenda; and at any time when information is lodged of violation of this decree, proceedings will be instituted against the disobedient person with the fullest rigor of justice, without any excuse being allowed to shield him.

[Here follow the same commands and penalties as in the preceding decree, relative to the proper instruction of the people in Christian doctrine, and the prohibition of fees to the cura for the administration of the sacrament of penance. The decree continues:] Moreover, inasmuch as it is commanded, by a general decree of visitation, now obeyed and practiced by all the secular curas of this archbishopric, in fulfilment of a royal decree by his Majesty (whom may God keep), that the viaticum shall be carried to sick Indians in their own houses, and that they shall on no account be carried from their houses to the churches to receive it: therefore his most illustrious Lordship commanded and did command that the said decree shall be observed, fulfilled, and executed in this curacy of Balayan, and in its visita of Nazugbu and Lian. And, for its proper fulfilment, it is commanded that a reliquary be made of silver or gold, in order that when on any occasion there shall not be mode or form of the customary external pomp, the viaticum may be carried therein, as is commanded, to the sick; and warning is given that, on receiving notice of any violation of this decree, proceedings will be instituted against the disobedient person against whom there shall be legal cause.

All the above, contained and expressed in the present decree, his most illustrious Lordship commanded, and did command, must be observed, fulfilled, and executed by Bachelor Don Juan de Llamas, proprietary cura of this district of Balayan, and he must cause it to be observed, fulfilled, and executed by him who shall in the said cura’s place administer the holy sacraments in the villages of Nazugbu and Lian; and of his punctual obedience the said curate shall notify his most illustrious Lordship, at the first opportunity that shall occur, so that, in case what is here commanded shall not be duly and effectually carried out, his most illustrious Lordship may decide and ordain what may be expedient.

Moreover, notwithstanding his most illustrious Lordship has been informed of the exterior adornment of the church of the said villages of Nazugbu and Lian, yet, inasmuch as the books of receipts and expenses of the said church have not been shown, and are not clear, his most illustrious Lordship therefore commanded and did command that in that church shall be kept a book, in the first half of which shall be set down the following, beginning at the first page, with all the items clear, separate, and distinct, and with mention of the day, month, and year: the eighths of the fees for marriages and burials which shall be received from this time forward; and the legacies, and donations for pious works, which are made to the said church. Then, beginning at the middle of the book, must be set down in the second half of it, with the same details, the expenditures which shall be made for the church, in order that thus no confusion may arise, and that the accounts may be promptly settled in the future visit. By this act, therefore, his most illustrious Lordship decreed and commanded the above, and signed this paper, which I certify.

Diego, archbishop of Manila.

Before me:

Francisco Sanctos de Oliveros, secretary.

[Here follow certificates, written in the registers of burials and marriages respectively, that they have been duly inspected, and referring to the decree itself, which is written in the register of baptisms.]

Tariff

We, Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila, by the grace of God and of the holy Apostolic See, metropolitan archbishop of these Philippinas Islands, and ruler of the suffragan bishopric of Nueva Segovia, now vacant, and member of the Council of his royal Majesty. Desiring to fulfil the obligations of our ministry and pastoral office, and that by the government which is in our charge, especially in the administration of the holy sacraments, God our Lord may be followed and the faithful edified; and that every one of our curas and ministers who instruct the natives—not only in this city, but those of the other parishes outside its walls—and their sacristans, shall observe the integrity which is fitting in demanding the fees which shall belong to them on account of the functions of their ministries and offices, relieving their consciences as we do ours; and having examined the tariffs which our predecessors have fixed, and seeing the condition of these islands, we have decided to issue anew our mandate regarding the said statutes and tariffs; and we ordain that from this time forth, in demanding the said fees, the following order shall be observed:

Baptisms: For the baptisms the cura shall demand the candle or candles which those who can give them may furnish, not obliging them to pay a fee [capillo], or to give an offering of money or other things; but, if they voluntarily give any free offering,[20] the cura is authorized to take it.

Marriages: For publishing the banns, the fiscal shall ask for each one real, and he may not demand anything because the parties do not rise to their feet at the time when the banns are published. As for the natives and Morenos[21] who marry without receiving the nuptial benedictions, and shall come to the church or to the cura’s house, he shall not ask anything from them; but if the cura shall go, or send, or give permission for the marriage to be solemnized at their own homes, or in some other place, he shall ask three tostones for the effort and time spent in going to marry them in a place to which he is not obliged to go. If the cura shall go to their house, or to some other place where he is not under obligation to go, in order to marry any Japanese or Sangley, he shall ask two pesos, and, if it shall be outside of the parish, he shall ask three pesos.

Nuptial benedictions: He [i.e., the cura] shall ask thirteen reals from the dowry;[22] but if the parties are poor, they may commute this for four reals—and [the same] if the woman is a widow and has no dowry, provided she received the nuptial benedictions from the Church in the first marriage; but if she did not [thus] receive them, and have a dowry [she shall pay thirteen]. If several persons receive the benedictions at one mass, the cura shall ask from those who are blessed a peso from every one of them; and he shall be under obligation to say as many masses as there were persons blessed, during the following days, for their intention, because this [obligation to say mass] for two, or three, or more married pairs who receive the benedictions cannot be fulfilled by one mass.

Burials: For burials of children, with prayers read, when the cura goes to the house for this purpose he shall ask one peso and four tomins; but if the corpse is carried to the door of the church he shall ask only one peso. For every burial of children with prayers chanted, when the cura goes to the house for this purpose he shall ask only three pesos; and if the corpse be received with prayers chanted at the door of the church[23]—whether it be an Indian chief, a timagua, a Sangley, a Japanese, or a free negro, whom his friends desire to be interred with pomp and escort—and the cura shall go for the corpse to the house, he shall ask ten pesos; but if he shall receive it at the door of the church, and prayers be chanted, he shall ask two pesos. For every burial accompanied with prayers, of an Indian chief, a timagua, a Sangley, a Japanese, or a free negro, if the cura goes for it to the house he shall ask one peso and four tomins; and if he receives it at the door of the church he shall ask one peso. If the deceased were a slave to Spaniards, the cura shall ask one peso for his fee, and exactly six reals as a voluntary offering [limosna] for a mass; but if he were a slave to an Indian, the cura shall ask six reals as a fee, and four reals for the said offering. We charge it upon the consciences of the curas to say these masses for the slaves, and thus acquit our own conscience. For the cope which the cura may wear at burials he may receive one peso as an offering; but he shall not wear the cope when the parties do not ask for it. And for the halts[24] the cura, if he shall have chanted the prayers, shall ask a toston for each one, if the relatives of the deceased ask for them; but in no other way shall he obtain these fees. Item, for the mass sung on the day of the funeral, or funeral honors with responses, the cura may ask two and one-half pesos; and for chanting the office for the dead, two pesos and two reals. And for the novenary masses[25] which are said, with a response in each one, on account of the burial of the deceased, the cura may receive for each one a peso as offering; and the wax candles which remain at the end of the novenary for the burial belong to the cura. For masses provided for by will [missas de testamento], the cura may receive six reals each, and for those which are ordered to be said outside of the testamentary provision four reals each, as offerings. The curas must not consent to accept the candles that are carried by the persons who accompany the funeral, unless these persons leave the candles of their own accord, and present them as an offering; and if they do not thus give them up, the curas shall not ask anything from them. To each one of those who may assist the cura at any burial shall be given, if he is in holy orders, six reals and a candle; if he is not yet ordained, four reals and a candle. For any peal of the bells [repique] at the burials of children, or the tolling of the passing bell [doble], the cura shall ask four reals for the eighths [de octava], for the sacristy or the church.

Fees of the sacristans: For aiding at nuptial masses and the benediction,[26] the sacristan shall ask for each two reals. The sacristan may ask for carrying the processional cross with its veil,[27] for any burial, ten reals; and if afterward solemn mass be sung, he shall ask eighteen reals for the burial, and a peso for assisting at the mass; and if the cross be placed on the grave on the day of the funeral, he shall ask a peso. For the small cross carried, without its casing, and made of silver, he shall ask six reals; and for the ordinary cross of wood he shall ask two; and, if the deceased were the slave of an Indian, he shall ask one real. For burning incense at the funerals, when the parties ask for it, the sacristan shall ask two reals; and at the solemn masses he shall ask another two reals. For assisting at each anniversary mass founded in this church, which the cura says, the sacristan shall ask one peso. The sacristan is under obligation to assist the cura in the administration of the holy sacraments, and in the other matters pertaining to the ministry, as being his assistant; and if he fail in rendering such aid he shall ask only the half [of the usual fees], and the other half the cura shall divide between the person who shall assist in the sacristan’s place and the church fund for its sacristy. Either the sacristan or in his place some person not yet ordained, is under obligation to carry the cross at burials.

Singers: When the entire choir shall be summoned to any burial, they shall ask ten pesos for attending it; and if all the said choir assist at mass and the office for the dead [vigilia], they shall ask another ten pesos. When the [individual] singers shall go on call to any funeral, no more of them shall go than those who are asked for by the parties; and each singer shall ask one real. This is understood when they go not as a full choir, but in a group of three; and they shall not oblige the parties to give them candles, but may take these when the parties choose to give them. If only three singers assist at mass and the office for the dead, they shall ask three pesos for the mass, but not for the office.

We command that all these tariffs and statutes shall be observed and fulfilled to the letter by the said our curas for natives, in this city and in the rest of the parishes that are outside its walls, and by their sacristans, without transgressing them in any way—under penalty of four times the amount involved, incurred for every infraction, and of being punished in accordance with the law. And no other person, whatever his rank may be, shall dare to transgress these our mandates, under penalty of legal proceedings against him, under the penalties due to those who are disobedient. We command that the curas shall keep these said tariffs displayed and posted in some public place, where they can be read and understood by all persons. And that this may be evident for all time, we command to be issued and we do issue the present, signed with our name, and countersigned by our secretary, as undersigned. In our archiepiscopal palace at Manila, on the fifth day of the month of November in the year one thousand, six hundred and ninety-eight.

Diego, archbishop of Manila.

By command of his most illustrious Lordship the archbishop, my master:

Francisco Sanctos de Oliveros, secretary.

[Here follow several notarial attestations.]

Memorial by the religious orders

The lecturer Fray Jaime Mimbela, of the Order of Preachers, and definitor-general of the province of Santo Rosario; Fray Juan Antonio de San Agustin, an Augustinian Recollect; and Antonio Xaramillo, of the Society of Jesus—procurators-general of their provinces of Filipinas and holding powers of attorney for the holy orders of St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Augustine, the Society of Jesus, and the Recollect Augustinians who live in the said islands for the conversion of the infidels and the maintenance [in the faith] of those who are already converted therein—conforming to the new orders from their provincials which they have received (dated February 13 of the past year 1699), in regard to what has thus far been alleged and represented, make the following declaration:

[Sire:]

The reverend archbishop, Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila, having arrived at Manila in the month of September in the past year of 97, undertook, in officio officiando [i.e., “in fulfilling the functions of his office”], to visit the regulars who exercise the duties of parish priests, desiring that they do so by title of law,[28] subject to his jurisdiction. The said holy religious orders, having declined, on repeated occasions, to take upon themselves such a burden, making this known to the said reverend archbishop with all submission, were resolved to abandon all the Indian villages and districts [assigned to them], rather than to administer them in that manner. [They asked him], in order to preserve the tranquillity which had existed in those islands, that at least he would desist from his intention until the pope and your Majesty, being informed of the matter, should decide it: and represented to him that, taking everything into account, irreparable losses of souls would ensue from his persevering in his undertaking if the religious orders, in consequence of his violent acts, should retire [from the curacies]—since there were not secular priests to take the place of the religious in preaching and the administration of the sacraments, but it was not possible for the said reverend archbishop to yield to [even] these so serious representations, nor was he willing to wait for the decisions of [even] those so preëminent; on the contrary, he actually began the visitation. When the religious answered that now they were not parish priests, since they had resigned the Indian villages into the hands of their provincials, who had notified your vice-patron of it, the reverend archbishop took away two churches from the orders of St. Dominic and St. Augustine; and soon the commonwealth found itself in a storm, with confusion and affliction such as had never before been experienced in those islands. For within a week fifty religious who had acted as curas had retired to Manila, and orders had been given for the retirement of the others—which they would actually have done, if the courage of the reverend archbishop himself had not been taught by this experience, so costly and unnecessary, the truth of what had been often before represented to him, with so much humility and entreaty, by the religious.

From that time, troubles continued to crowd together until in all those islands the Catholic faith, as concerns God, and the vassalage of the Indians to your Majesty, were at the point of destruction; for in that country all the villages are inhabited by Indians alone, nor is there in them any Spaniard except the religious who is their minister—except here and there a village where resides some secular priest and the alcaldes-mayor of the provinces. Thus, the villages without the religious minister remain as dead, for divine worship and for vassalage, as the body without a soul is dead for vital functions.

This truth being so well known—as also is this other, that in the religious provinces of those islands there have been and are now many religious of distinguished virtues and learning, and very zealous for the salvation of souls—affairs have arrived at such a state, as is known by the said letters of February, 699, that the regulars refuse not only to be ordinaries [parrocos de justicia] and subject to the jurisdiction of the reverend archbishop, but also to act in that capacity in the manner which has been hitherto in vogue. They ask your Majesty, with the utmost possible reverence, to be pleased to regard them as exonerated from the responsibility which they hitherto have held of ministering as parish priests to the Indians, and to take measures that other persons may look after the Indians in the manner which the reverend archbishop desires; and that the religious for whom there is no room in the few convents and colleges which the religious orders possess in those islands may return to their own provinces—in accordance with what your Majesty commands, in one of his laws, for the consolation of the distressed religious in those kingdoms.

And since actions so grave in themselves and in their consequences as are these—the refusal of the regulars to be parish priests subject to the jurisdiction of the reverend archbishop, and their renunciation before your Majesty of the assignment of the territories allotted to them for ministrations—appear not to have originated only from disinclination, but to have sprung from [their claim to] liberty alone, their representatives set forth to your Majesty in this document the reasons and very weighty arguments by which they are constrained to act in both those proceedings. They also offer to present another, more copious, in which will be related in sequence and order all the occurrences and the exceedingly grievous injuries which the religious orders have suffered and still sustain, occasioned by the visitation of the curas. [It will also recount] the lands that they possess; the tithes[29] that the reverend archbishop has established; the testimonies and appeals that he has denied; the arrests that he has attempted; the banishments that he has urged [upon the Audiencia]; the very sharp reprimand that on account of him was given by your Audiencia to all the provincials together, with other religious of high standing, without permitting them to open their lips—and all with a method of procedure so unlike that which the pope, your Majesty, and your supreme Council employ on occasions like these, even in cases when there is certainty of guilt; and finally, the investigations which he makes to obtain information against them which he can use to carry out his purposes, and disturb them at Madrid and Roma, in this imposing [threats of] excommunication on the witnesses in order that everything may remain a secret, and the reputation of the religious orders be left more exposed to attack.

The reasons, then, which influence the religious not to be parish priests by title in Filipinas, subject to the jurisdiction of the reverend archbishop, are the following: First, because it is unquestionable, and cannot be in any way denied, that the office of parish priest, even with such exemption from [the jurisdiction of] the ordinary, is entirely accessory, and, besides, a heavy additional burden, to the religious estate—not only to that of monks, but even to that of the mendicant regulars; for, in order that they may minister in the said office, it has been necessary to obtain a pontifical dispensation or arrangement, which is founded on important reasons. And this [is a fact], if we consider only what the religious state demands of its followers, as is made plain by the general exemption and the teaching of holy men. If this mode of administering [the curacies] be changed, and the regular who is a parish priest must remain, in what concerns that office, under the jurisdiction of the ordinary, subject to his correction and visitation, and in the other matters subject to the superior of his religious order, it would be a change and condition of affairs so remarkable that, in regard to his estate and his profession of life, the religious would change his nature—for he would be like one cleft in twain, if subject in some cases to one superior and in others to another, the two of differing ecclesiastical rank; and the consequences would be perilous, as will be considered later. In view, then, of a change which would so seriously affect their estate, all the regulars of Filipinas declare that, just as one’s state of life is chosen so as to lead to salvation only when it is chosen through the influence and vocation of God, who calls and inclines one to it, and that one’s choice goes astray when it is made through other motives, so, when after choice has been made of the state and profession of life some other circumstance arises which not only oppresses that state, but changes its very nature—with new responsibilities, new obligations, new superiors, and new modes of government full of dangers and difficulties—and, above all, the rule which he professes, no one can safely add to his mode of life a condition so unusual, if God do not incline and call him to it. The religious of Filipinas declare that they have no such vocation or inclination for being parish priests by title, subject to the ordinary; and that without it they cannot expose themselves to so many dangers, with evident risk of being ruined thereby. They say that neither when they entered the religious life nor when they made their confession did they read among the obligations to which they submitted that of being parish priests, and much less that of being such by title, and subject to the ordinaries; on the other hand, they understood that the Apostolic See had exempted them from it. They assert also that on going from Europa to the Filipinas they knew that the regulars never had ministered to the Indians, nor were they then doing so, as being dependent upon the ordinaries, but with pontifical jurisdiction, remaining in all matters subject to the visitation and correction of their provincials; therefore they must necessarily censure and refuse now this new administration and attempted subjection, which they did not profess and to which God did not call them.

Nor do the precedents [brought forward] from America militate against this argument when it is said that there is but one and the same rule, and one and the same form of government, in essentials, for the religious order or orders whose sons find themselves in America and in Filipinas; for those who are in those islands say, with all esteem and reverence, that there are some things more suitable to be admired than imitated, and that, while they admire the courage [of those in America], they confess that they do not possess courage to imitate them in this matter. They add that, if in America and Filipinas a religious order is one and the same, likewise throughout the world the faith and the church of Jesus Christ is one and the same; and nevertheless, if a Catholic, simply because he had chosen an estate of life, should exhort all others to embrace the same, it would not be judicious counsel, or in conformity to the spirit of God; for that Spirit inspires, influences, and calls whomsoever He will, choosing some for an occupation, and dissuading others from that same employ. And thus it is evident, likewise, that in the one religious order some have a vocation for going from Europa to the Indias, and others have not. Then why cannot the same occur in regard to being or not being parish priests subject to the ordinary?

The reverend archbishop of Manila himself has given and still gives to the religious orders of Filipinas a very striking and conclusive example in this regard: for before he left España he knew very well in what way the regulars acted as curas in those islands, but he neither renounced the archbishopric in España, nor gave up going to the islands. He knew also that the being united as a spouse to the church of Manila is not an accessory matter, but is wholly essential to the state of being its archbishop; and that other prelates have gone thither without attempting what he claims. Nevertheless, he has asked in the royal Audiencia permission to return to España; and now he writes resigning the archbishopric, and asking that he may be allowed to come here to live and die in retreat in a cell. If it is because the religious who are parish priests are not subject to his jurisdiction that he offers this resignation—by which he abandons all that belongs to his position, and the state of life that he chose—how much greater reason the religious will have to imitate him, since even when they give up the curacies they remain wholly in the estate of religious which they professed. If he makes this renunciation in order to avoid controversies, and aspires to live and die in a cell, much more natural is this desire of the religious to live and die peacefully therein, without obliging themselves to endure those controversies; for they do not accept under compulsion a new estate to which God does not call them. Likewise, [they decline] if, in order to adopt such a model of life, their rule must be the pleasure of the archbishop, and not the inspiration of God.

As little is this first argument overcome by [the assertion] that the civil law provides that the regular who is a parish priest is immediately subject, in what pertains to that office, to the visitation and correction of the ordinary. For, laying aside the fact that such a law can be abrogated by the supreme pontiff—as actually was done by Pius V after the holy Council of Trent, and afterward confirmed by Urban VIII; and this very procedure is supported by various declarations of the most eminent cardinals—when there is a lack of secular priests (as is the case in Filipinas, where for eight hundred parishes, the approximate number of those in existence, there are hardly sixty seculars in number, and still fewer who have abilities for giving instruction and learning languages): laying all this aside, the religious assert that the civil law which commands such subjection must be understood in the case that the religious who are administering curacies, without being subordinate to the ordinary, desire to continue thus, being parish priests; but it does not order that they be compelled by violence and force to enter that relation. And if a secular cleric, to whom with canonical and rigorous institution is given a perpetual curacy, can, notwithstanding this, renounce such curacy, nor on that account be disqualified by the law as long as he lives in immediate subjection to one superior only, who is his bishop: how or for what reason can the reverend archbishop of Manila claim that the religious cannot peaceably make the same renunciation, in order to avoid the risk of having so many superiors? As the religious hold the Indian villages not as proprietaries, but removable ad nutum, other persons could, for no better reason than their own wishes, deprive the religious of those ministries, even though the latter live therein with the sanctity of their holy founders; and is it possible that, when only the will of another person is sufficient to prevent them from being curas, the divine inspiration and their own self-reproach will not be sufficient for them?

The second reason that the religious in Filipinas have for refusing to be parish priests by title, subject to the ordinary, is that no exact idea of this virtue of justice has been formed in considering the method in which efforts have been made to constrain the religious by it. For either they are or they are not capable of being really parish priests, like the secular clerics. If they are, they do not accept the parish under any obligation of justice; and even when this is conferred on them with canonical institution, they nevertheless do not remain ordinaries, as are the secular clerics; for in the latter, in order to secure a proprietary benefice, the only points considered are the ability to serve as cura, the obligation of law [justicia] to which they submit, and the canonical collation with which they are inducted into the parish. Including all this in the said supposition, the religious cannot well understand why, after all that, they do not remain proprietary parish priests. As little do they understand how the said ability, obligation of law, and canonical institution can make a secular priest a perpetual cura—so that if his conduct does not render him unworthy the curacy cannot be taken from him, either by ordinary or vice-patron alone, or by both together; while a religious who enters the curacy with the same formalities is not competent for the same perpetuity, but only for such tenure, even in his own territory, that even if he conduct himself as a saint the ordinary and vice-patron can, if agreed, deprive him of his benefice and give it to another; that is, even after that obligation and solemnity he is a parish priest removable ad nutum.

The religious also consider that although the virtue of justice is one for all, and alike for all, and the efficacy of canonical institution is also one for persons who are qualified for the same office, to the secular cleric with the onerous duty of parish priest is given all that can favor him; but to the religious, while the entire burden is laid upon him, all his energy is checked on account of not giving him all which can relieve that burden. This is all placed upon the religious, for his responsibility for the feeding of his sheep confines him to a district in such a way that his own provincial cannot, by his own agency alone, change his district without first resorting to the ordinary and the vice-patron, to secure their consent. In this way there is a notable decrease of obedience, and the regular observance of the rule which he professed is greatly disturbed; and many, continual, and insupportable annoyances are heaped upon the provincials. The religious loses in great part the privilege of his exemption; he remains subject, in so far as he is a cura, to investigations, complaints, visitations, and penalties from the ordinary; and with all these burdens he has not the comfort of being secure in his parish, even if his conduct do not render him unworthy of it, because he does not hold it in perpetuity, as the secular does. He is not master of the emoluments which the curacy yields, nor are they in justice due to him as to the secular, unless he pretends that he is dispensed from the essential vow of poverty. Then, if the religious is capable of being a parish priest, and that by title of law, as is the secular, who has given to justice and to canonical collation such efficacy as with them to furnish to the secular what is honorable[30] and favorable, yet has so divided it as to impart to the regular what is detestable, while yet denying him what may console him?

[Even] if it be granted that the regular is not competent, on account of his estate, for being a proprietary parish priest, why is it so strictly required of him to enter the curacy with the same formalities and ceremony as those with which the clerics enter? Such incompetency will be the best justification for the repugnance which the religious feel for being curas in the manner which the archbishop insists on.

The third reason is, that if the convents and colleges which the religious maintain in Manila be broken up, it can be said with truth that there are no other houses of religious community [in the colony]; for although there are seven other houses besides—in Cavite, Cebu, Oton, and Yloilo—divided among the religious orders of St. Dominic, St. Augustine, the Society of Jesus, and the Recollects, yet these convents and colleges are so small that in each of them there are only two or three residents. All the rest of the said provinces is composed of Indian villages, [each] served by one minister only; and these are such as can be gathered from their respective bishoprics, the cathedrals of which neither have nor are capable of having dignities, canonries, and other prebends. This being admitted, if the ministers in Indian villages remain subject to the ordinary, as the provinces are composed almost wholly of such ministers alone, and for their removal would then be necessary the agreement of the ordinary and the vice-patron, some provinces would come to be dependent, in the name of religious government and in the exercise of secular government, on the wills of those two persons, to whom the religious did not in their profession promise obedience or subjection.

Then if either of the two, whether the bishop or the governor, were displeased with any religious order, or with any minister—and especially if it were the governor, whose power in those islands cannot be explained, except by their remoteness—in such case they could on very specious pretexts either maintain or remove the minister against the will of his provincial; and even they could, if necessary, threaten the latter with either censures or banishment, to make that religious order conform to their authority. How fruitful a source this may be of perdition and total ruin for the religious orders, all can recognize; but only those who have had experience in those islands can fully comprehend it.

The fourth reason: for we have already taken for granted their subjection and canonical institution. If a religious who is a minister commit a transgression, and his offense apparently belongs on the one side to morals and life, and on the other to the office of cura, the poor minister remains in the condition of those goods which we call mostrencos, on account of their belonging to the first person who takes possession of them—and even in a much worse condition, on account of the controversies which must naturally ensue. For if the provincial begins legal proceedings in the matter, and afterward information of it is given to the reverend archbishop, the latter issues a decree—and, if it be necessary, a censure—commanding the said provincial to revoke all of his proceedings, surrender the case to him, and abandon it; that is to say, the right of judicature belongs to him alone. The provincial appeals to the judge-delegate of his Holiness, who, in order to obtain full information about the case, commands the reverend archbishop, with the threat of censure, to desist from the cause, and surrender the documents. If the latter do not obey, the affair may reach the point where two ecclesiastical prelates mutually excommunicate each other, and [the colony] is menaced with an interdict and the cessation of divine worship. This is not discussing an imaginary thing, but is relating that which has just occurred in Manila in a like case—where, in order to prevent the regulars from withdrawing from their curacies, [the archbishop] imposed on the provincials the penalties of excommunication and a fine of 2,000 pesos; and conversely, the reverend archbishop and the delegate of his Holiness likewise excommunicated each other. The commonwealth was disquieted by these occurrences, not knowing where these things would end if the interdict which the delegate threatened were carried out, since he was followed by the religious orders; for nearly all the laymen lean on the orders—making their confessions to the religious, receiving instruction from their teaching and example, and with their counsels calming the scruples of their consciences. In consequence, it would necessarily follow that in case of an interdict and cessation of divine services the entire archdiocese would be left in most lamentable condition; and without doubt this would have occurred, if it had not been for the kindly nature of the delegate and the urgent importunities to desist from this purpose that were addressed to him by the religious. For, since at the cost of innumerable martyrdoms and other hardships they had established the faith in those islands, they sought to avert the danger that it would be impaired, even though this should be at the cost of contempt for themselves.

It must be added to all the above that if these contentions and troubles which are suffered in those islands could be promptly ended without going outside of them, toleration in enduring them would be less difficult. But this is not so; but these troubles leave behind them their consequences, and chains that are very long and heavy, which are only fit to drag along those who choose to become slaves to the curacies in Filipinas. For in such cases letters are written by the governor, the archbishop, the Audiencia, and the religious orders to Madrid, and by some of these to Roma also; and terrible controversies take shape, with public scandal in both courts. The parties are in every way exhausted, and the judges are harassed until the [royal] decree in the case is provided: first, because such decree is provided for regions so remote, and after it is issued arrives there [so late], that those evils are throwing out many roots, and these produce anew other discords and evils worse than the first. And since it is a fact that, although according to the divine oracles, it is not fitting either for the bishop to be contentious, or for the minister of souls to preach the gospel in any other way than that of peace, the religious orders, in place of experiencing in Filipinas, as it were, peace with the fruit of tranquillity, do not find this at the present time; but they are burning in a glowing forge, which only throws out sparks of discord and dissension. The religious orders, Sire, had already made peace among themselves, and are at this day maintaining and always will maintain it; for they trust in God that it will be so, and the bitter experience of past years has pointed this out as a great blessing. Thus, when the reverend archbishop arrived here all was quiet and peaceful, but within little more than two months after his arrival there was nothing but unrest and disorder—and this because the religious had told him, with all courtesy and humility, that they would sooner give up the ministries of instruction than hold them in the manner that he desired. Herein, which side proceeded most comformably to reason? the religious who peaceably leave the curacies, in order to avoid disputes; or the reverend archbishop who causes these contentions, and who sends to Madrid and Roma in order to obtain that the regulars shall be by force and violence parish priests subject to his own jurisdiction? In view, then, of disadvantages so serious, what religious is there, devoted to his profession, who will consent to be a parish priest in Filipinas? Who will leave his province in Europa, the retirement and peace of his community, to go, with the perils of two ocean voyages, in search of controversies so wearisome and noisy over a calling which he did not profess? Herein the religious of Filipinas admit that they have taken warning by what has occurred in America, that they ought to learn a lesson from it and be cautious about having another head.

The fifth reason: If a regular who is a parish priest transgresses, and on account of secret faults becomes unworthy of continuing in his ministry, yet if he remains in it his salvation may incur a very special peril. The provincial has secret knowledge of the case. Here justice demands two things: one, the punishment of the fault; the other, that the delinquent shall not be rendered infamous. Charity, (and even justice itself) demands also that the provincial shall, because of his office, remove his subordinate from that risk. If this regular who acts as parish priest were administering his functions without canonical institution or subjection to the ordinary, as is done in the Filipinas Islands, the provincial could with the greatest ease settle the whole matter, and justice and charity be satisfied, without disgrace to the delinquent and without a stigma on the religious order. But when the regular who is a parish priest is subject to the ordinary, the provincial cannot remove him by his own authority alone; and it is necessary for him to resort to that very ordinary and to the vice-patron, and that the two agree on the removal of the offender. And, in such case, what has the provincial to say to them? If it be answered that by keeping the case entirely secret the provincial becomes a sharer in the guilt of his subordinate, he and the superiors of the religious orders declare, with all submission and humility, that they refuse to put in practice such a form of theology. Can the ordinary acting alone, can the governor, the father, and the master, each alone, punish and correct the fault—of a priest, of a citizen or a soldier, of children, of servants—without the least injury to the culprit’s honor; and a provincial, who can in innumerable ways do the same with any subordinate of his, be obliged to leave the offender in disgrace with the heads of the community, ecclesiastical and secular? The religious orders would sooner remove [from the islands], to transplant themselves to Europa, than submit to so heavy a burden.

If it be said that the provincial need not state the offense, but in general terms assert only that he has cause for removing the cura, even that would not avoid the difficulty: First, because the authorities may think that the provincial says so, in order to carry a point for a custom of long standing. Second, even though the cause for removing him is not a fault, it will be readily said [that it was one]; and if the person himself does not make further explanation, in such case the result will be that the fault will be made public by his silence. And finally, one’s honor is a very delicate thing, and is usually much injured by rumors and suspicions alone. And since God renders the religious exempt from the secular judges, and the Apostolic See from the ordinaries, the regulars represent that, as they have not professed to be curas, they do not feel courage to fill that office with so many risks and burdens.

The sixth reason: The object for which the religious are in the curacies is the salvation of souls; and there is no room for doubt that for such a purpose the religious will be all the more fit and competent an instrument the more he shall unite with the office of cura the regular observance. This greater union, it is certain, lies in the method of being curas which has hitherto prevailed, and not in that which the archbishop is attempting; for with subjection to him the cura does not depend so much on the regular superior, nor can the latter freely command him as before, and thus the obedience [of the religious] is greatly diminished and injured, without which no one deserves the name of religious. [Also the observance of] poverty is at great risk; for since the cura ministers through the obligation of justice and canonical institution, and this is not given to him by the religious order but by the ordinary, some of the curas might argue that since the order permits this to them, it also permits them to be masters, in whole or in part, of all the emoluments; and that with entire freedom, without subjection to or permission from their superiors, they can spend or dispose of these revenues as they please. This is a danger which is most prolific of innumerable others, and in all lines. Their chastity also is much less secure, because it is attacked by solitude, by the license which this occasions, by the natural compliance of the Indians, and by that almost perpetual tenure which in many ministries in America is experienced through the obligation of justice and canonical institution under which they are administered; and on account of the difficulty which thus arises in securing removals, sensuality does not find that remedy of flight which St. Paul lays down so prompt and easy as it would be if the parish priest depended only on his provincial.

And, finally, the religious do not, by assuming the habit as such, strip themselves of the passions of men. There might be one or more for whom the subjection and mode of life in a religious community becomes wearisome; and such men, knowing that a cura cannot be removed from the mission parish without the agreement of the ordinary and the vice-patron, undertake to gain the good-will of those authorities by letters and other means, and for the same object to win the friendship of officials and dependents, so that these may exert influence in order to preserve them in the curacies. And thus gradually they become rooted in their liking for a life that is solitary and independent, and will reach a state in which they give up the mission parish with grief, because they hold it through love for the conveniences of life, and more as very secular men of the world than as religious or as ministers to souls. In that case the religious orders could say that they had lost fervent sons, and the ordinaries that they had not made zealous curates.

All this is avoided when the regulars serve as parish priests in the same manner as they do now in the Filipinas; for they are wholly dependent on their superiors, and cannot dispose of anything without their permission. If it be expedient for them to go to some other place, there is no difficulty in changing their residence; and as they have not that security of perpetual tenure, their only care is for their ministries, the door being closed to unworthy measures and claims. Hence it follows that this mode of holding curacies is more in accordance with the three vows and the other statutes that aim at the perfection that is proper for the regulars, and consequently at the salvation of the souls[31] for whom they care.

The seventh and last reason—omitting others, either because they are included in those already mentioned, or because they may readily be deduced from those—is supported by authority. Let the histories of the Indias be read, and the laymen and ecclesiastics who have written about them; all agree in raising very serious doubts whether the regulars should be parish priests or not, and much more whether they should be so with title. [These writers] noted many decisions, in which entire provinces—composed of religious who were influential, experienced, learned, and zealous—resolved in their chapter-meetings that the mission curacies should be given up; many [opinions by] generals of those same orders, who approved that proceeding; and others, by various distinguished men, who expostulated against the acceptance of such an encumbrance by their religious order. [They have also noted] faults which they contemplated with tears—interminable discords, which banished all tranquillity and peace; and innumerable other damages, which, even the secular writers on the Indias admit, have made the regulars tremble.

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With these reasons, three arguments of which the reverend archbishop entertains a high opinion lose their force. One is, to argue [thus] in this dilemma: Either the regulars who are parish priests conduct themselves well and fulfil their obligations as such, or they do not. If this last, it is not right that it be permitted, nor that there be any failure to reform with the visitation which he is trying to enforce. If in all respects they fulfil their obligations, what matters it if he visits them, approves their proceedings, and praises them in his report to the king? And with this mode of argument he casts suspicion on the regulars, as if they had faults or failings as parish priests to conceal.

Answer is made, first: that the religious who are curas conduct themselves well in their ministries, and strive so far as their powers extend, for the salvation of their parishioners; and that what holds them back from being parish priests subject to the reverend archbishop is not the fear caused by [the question of] behavior, but dread of the inconveniences and dangers above recounted, which it is not easy to explain.

Answer is made, second: that in Manila and Cavite—which is distant two leguas from this city, and where only the secular priests are curas—the reverend archbishop has precedents very effectual for ascertaining the consequences of the way in which the religious behave in their curacies. For in those two places, where they have no obligations as curas, they are the ones who carry the burden of the day and of the summer’s heat; they alone (or almost alone) are the ones who administer throughout the year the sacraments of penance and communion—to Spaniards, Indians (Tagálogs, Pampangos, and Visayans), mestizos, Cafres, and other peoples who resort thither; they alone keep laborers set aside for this task; they alone preach frequently. It is they who carry on missions; they who dispense the divine word and explain the Christian doctrine in the guard-rooms of the soldiers and [among those stationed] at the gates of the city; they to whom the slaves from the foundry resort; [they who minister to] the prisoners in the jail, and the poor in the hospitals, and the seminaries of La Misericordia and Sancta Potenciana. It is they who in their churches have separate sermons for the Spaniards, for negroes, and for Indians; it is they who are almost continually going forth, by day and by night, to the sick and the dying, whatever the weather may be. Then who can imagine that where the religious, without being curas, have the inclination and zeal to aid the secular curas and the reverend archbishop themselves, relieving so greatly the burden of their obligations, they will neglect their duties in the villages, where the souls have been entrusted to their care alone?

Answer is made, third: that just as the reverend archbishop by his arguments strives at Madrid and Roma to subject the regulars to his visitation in what concerns them as parish priests, he may also plan to subject them in all that concerns morals and life. “For if they behave ill, it is not right to permit such conduct; and if their conduct is exemplary, what matter is it if he visits them, and approves them, in order to report on them with praises?” The reply which the reverend archbishop will make to this argument can with more reason be applied as the reply and solution to his own. The religious orders add that, even though the praises of the reverend archbishop are and always will be worthy of the utmost appreciation, yet they set a much greater value on following the counsel of the apostle about each man abiding in his own calling[32]—which was not to be curas—than to be curas and obtain those praises with the risk of the troubles that have been considered.

Nor is it right, by the same mode of argument as that of the reverend archbishop, that the religious orders should not further make evident the importance of their justice and of their labors. This prelate greatly resented that the reverend bishop, the delegate and judge of his Holiness for cases of appeals, should go to Manila and exercise his functions, issuing various acts; and the said reverend archbishop also took steps to have the delegate depart immediately from his archbishopric, and said (and wrote to Europa) that the religious orders were trying to keep the delegate there as their judge-conservator. It is here where his own argument presses: either the procedure of the reverend archbishop was just, or it was not. If it were just, what did it matter that he had before him a judge with authority from the pope, and must deliver to this judge the documents which he demanded, so that as a judge so superior he might confirm them, and make a report on them with commendations? If the archbishop’s conduct were not just, as little just was it that he should go beyond his obligation, in order to obstruct rightful jurisdiction.

The reverend archbishop also refused to the religious orders all the copies of documents and the attested statements which they asked from him in regard to the visitation which he planned and began, but from which he desisted. If what the reverend archbishop did and decreed was just, what mattered it that he should command the said copies and statements to be given to parties so eminent and worthy of respect as were five religious provinces? If it were not just, why were these decrees made and executed?

Another argument of which the reverend archbishop avails himself is, to say that if the regulars who are parish priests do not submit to his visitation and jurisdiction, he will finally be a [mere] bishop de anillo.[33] Answer is made, first, that even if this were the case (which, however, it is not), the reverend archbishop would not have any reason to complain in this particular, as, according to the law, no wrong is done to him who, before entering on any negotiation, acquaints himself with it and determines it beforehand.[34] For while he was yet in España he knew that the regulars in Filipinas were not parish priests by title, nor subject as such to the ordinary; and if with this knowledge he decided to go to Manila in order to be its metropolitan archbishop he ought to take for granted what has been proved by experience, and not wonder that the regulars, convinced by so effective arguments, are, constrained by these, giving up the native curacies, in order not to be ministers of instruction at so much risk. Nor will any one grant that reason countenances the reverend archbishop more in trying to secure the extension of his authority than it does the religious in maintaining themselves as much as possible in what they had professed.

Answer is made, second: that, not by commission but by his own proper jurisdiction, the reverend archbishop can administer confirmations throughout his archbishopric; act as judge of all matrimonial cases among the Indians, and those affecting the rest of his flock, in the same manner and the same cases as he could if secular priests were the curas over them; and ordain priests and consecrate oils—with many other things. The exemption of the regulars does not hinder these, nor can a bishop who is only titular exercise these functions merely through his own choice; and thus the reverend archbishop does not come to be such a prelate.

And, finally, according to Christian maxims the religious ought to measure the choice of a new form of life, not by the question whether the reverend archbishop has or has not more or less under his jurisdiction, but by other and loftier principles, which concern salvation and the means [to attain it], which they have already chosen, by rule and vows, in order to attain with these that final end. And the religious of Filipinas declare that if his Reverence the archbishop refuses to live [in those islands] and be their prelate, because he has not all the authority that he desires, they refuse the said form of [serving as] parish priests, in order to avoid the controversies and perils here stated, so as to live in the quiet of their profession and by means of it to secure more peaceably their eternal salvation.

If the reverend archbishop shall urge the precedents of some religious orders in America in regard to the said matter, the religious orders of Filipinas state further, besides what is said above, that those who gave up the mission villages in America furnish a more effective example than do those who remained in those posts subject to the ordinary. They also add that for this case more to the purpose are the precedents of all the reverend archbishops and bishops of Filipinas—of no one of whom it is known, it should be said, that he was an archbishop or bishop de anillo. Many of them were entirely satisfied at seeing the good work that was wrought in their flocks by the religious orders, and thanked them and greatly honored them; and even though some few of them desired what the present reverend archbishop is attempting to secure, yet on hearing the arguments of the regulars the prelates contented themselves with informing the Council—without that body changing the former mode, or the prelates breaking forth in violence as has been seen in this present time. Then, even if the reverend archbishop is somewhat influenced by precedents of certain religious orders in America, it seems as if he ought to be convinced by those of his predecessors and the others who were suffragan bishops in those islands.

The third argument is, that as the regulars who are parish priests are not under his jurisdiction, he cannot feed his sheep as it behooves him to do, or give account of them to God, with due certainty; accordingly he claims that the regulars of Filipinas should be compelled not to leave their flocks, and should be forced under his jurisdiction. Answer is made, first, that the reverend archbishop can, whenever it shall please him, apply himself to an inspection of the Indian villages, even those that are furthest from Manila, and view the aspect of his flock—who will be greatly edified to see that an archbishop undergoes the inconveniences of small boats, and traverses dangerous tracts of sea and land, for their spiritual good, as the provincials do. Then if he will have taken the trouble to learn some languages, as the religious have done, in order to dispense to them the divine word, to hear their confessions, give them communion, and the sacrament of confirmation, and the rest that they require: then he can obtain information about the religious and the spiritual state of the villages, give such commands to the Indians as he shall please, and confer with the ministers on all that concerns the salvation of souls; and not only can he, but he has the right to do so. It cannot be doubted that this would be a rich nourishment [to his flock], and that these actions of an archbishop are compatible with his not having jurisdiction over the regulars; and it would be a great pity if all this, which is so proper for a prelate, should fail simply because the regular in his curacy remains with the exemption which the Apostolic See has granted to him.

In view of these actions which he can perform, the reverend archbishop will attach less importance to his not visiting judicially the regular who is a parish priest because the latter remains outside of his jurisdiction; but it may well be believed that the regular keeps the sacrament, the holy oils, and the baptismal font in decent condition; that there are registers of baptisms, burials, and marriages; that the Christian doctrine is explained to all the people together, and to the children separately, as also to the larger boys and girls, and all at different times; that not only in times of sickness and of danger of death, but in health and safety, the sacraments are administered to those who ask for them; and that other things are done which are proper for the ministers who are curas. These functions, as they have a public interest in themselves for the whole village, are known throughout it; and even if any detail should be neglected, the reverend archbishop may well believe that neither the provincial nor the other responsible officials of the provinces who are designated to watch, make decisions, punish, or reward, for the general good, will wish to be censured for it.

The reverend archbishop does not doubt that in the church of God the holy religious orders form a very numerous assembly, and that their sons, every one, are the sheep of the supreme shepherd, the pope, who has exempted them from the [jurisdiction of the] ordinaries, unburdening his own conscience, and trusting to the vigilance of the generals, and other superiors—to whom, as to the guardians of souls, he has handed over those of the individuals [who form] the rest [of the order]. It has not occurred to any one that on account of this exemption the popes cannot feed the universal flock, or appear with safety before the tribunal of God; and experience has shown the extraordinary benefits which have resulted from it to the church and to the religious orders themselves. Why, then, where the vicars of Christ are secure, will not an archbishop be so too?

On account of merely the expectation of a great harvest in the Indias many popes conferred on the regulars the authority to be parish priests, with complete independence from the ordinaries, rendering null and void whatever the latter might do in opposition to this privilege. No one has said that by this the supreme pontiffs placed the ordinaries in danger of rendering their accounts to God unsatisfactorily, or hindered them from feeding and edifying their flocks; and the result itself has given testimony, with the great success of the propagation of the gospel, how successful has been that method of having the regulars as curas, seeing that the hope of a harvest has now grown to be its actual possession, and realms so extensive have been conquered. And therefore the reverend archbishop of Manila might have had confidence in commands so sovereign—especially in that of Pius V, whose brief is now in full force in Filipinas, as on the first day when it was issued; and even the motive therefor, since there is so great a deficiency of secular priests that, if the regulars should be lacking, the faith would perish in islands so widespread, and the people would be as much heathens and idolaters as before.

Answer is made, second: that the generals, the provincials, and the main body of the provinces say the same in regard to the religious who have professed their rule, that the latter are sheep also of the flocks that God has placed in their charge, so long as the government remains in their hands; and whatever care and attention the reverend archbishop of Manila may give to his sheep the Indians, the regular prelates will give to their subordinates in regard to the same account which they will have to render for these to God.

But with a very important difference: for the Indians who are not converted are under the most serious obligations to join the assembly of those who are already converted, and for this object can be forced to hear the divine word; and those who have heard and believed it [can be obliged] not to forsake what they believed, or depart from the bosom of the Church, for it is not possible to be saved in any other manner. And when for the attainment of two objects so great as these there are no secular priests, and there are only religious, who have attained those ends and are still doing so while they are exempt curas, it would seem to be also the greatest obligation of the ordinary to reconcile himself with such curas, in order not to deprive the Church or defraud the blood of Christ of so much fruit.

The religious cannot be forced in the manner which has been stated to be curas subject to the ordinary, for besides the estate of the Christian they have already professed that of the religious order; and therein, without this force and violence, it is quite compatible that the religious should be thoroughly subject and obedient to their orders, and under their visitation and correction, and at the same time as parish priests through charity only, as temporary curas [interinos], and as assistants and coadjutors of the ordinaries, may render them great service, minister to the Indians, attract others who are infidels who thus may receive ministrations, and approve themselves to all—just as if they were parish priests by title, without the risks and difficulties that have been considered.

For the reverend archbishop, then, to ask now—when without any force all this great and well-known benefit to the church in Filipinas may be restored—that the religious be threatened and compelled not to leave those islands, and accept in them another and new calling, so full of peril, and that other religious shall go thither from Europa to the same life—and all in order that he may have greater authority—this is a great deal to ask, and is not at all in his favor before the tribunal of God. Who shall give account to His Divine Majesty of the spiritual detriment that must ensue to fifty parishes, abandoned for [even] a week—without mass, without instruction, and without sacraments for little ones and adults, for the sick and the dying? Over and over, before the affair reached this point, the religious set forth all these injurious effects, and protested against them to the reverend archbishop; and that they were not under obligation [to do this], to the peril and [even] ruin of their own souls, and that of their profession, [which was] to attend to the souls of others. Nevertheless, the reverend archbishop pursued his undertaking, and the religious retired [from their curacies]; the former was done merely to have [his own] will, the latter through necessity based on all that has been stated. Whose part, then, will it be to render account of such a result, and to fear to do so? It is certain that, according to the apostle, power and jurisdiction is not for destruction but for edification.

The reverend archbishop is not ignorant of the necessity for baptism; nevertheless, no adult can be forced to receive it. The profession of a religious is null, if any notable force intervened to bring it about; and marriage is of no validity if a person wholly free were in like manner compelled to marry. For these estates demand liberty, and, no less, inspiration from God; and there is nothing of this where there is only force and violence, for then the estate which was to be a means for salvation is converted by such compulsion into a snare and destruction. For one who is not a parish priest by title to become one is a change of no less importance than for a bachelor to marry, or a layman to become a religious; and for the reverend archbishop to claim that, where others are free, the religious should be forced into a mode of life full of risk, and for an object which can be secured without that compulsion, is to extend his claims further than perhaps he is aware, and to accumulate more material for the account that he so greatly fears. For one thing, [his idea] that, even supposing that the regulars are willing to be curas, they can be forced into subjection, and this would be more tolerable; and, for another, that if they do not choose, for all the reasons here stated, to be curas, ecclesiastical and secular authorities may use violence to make them enter the office of curas by title—and this is very far from what Holy Writ, the general councils, and the holy fathers teach, upon which there is ample material for volumes.

The religious orders are greatly surprised that the reverend archbishop, occupied with zealous cares for feeding his sheep, and by holy fear regarding his account to God, should break out with acts of violence against the religious only—and not do so in order that secular priests should go from Europa or from Nueva España to be parish priests in Filipinas; and that his Majesty may give to the said seculars, for their travels and voyages, the aid that he grants for the same purpose to the religious. If they should constrain the reverend archbishop to state why he does not ask or seek this for the seculars, the world would know what the religious orders have accomplished and merited in the Filipinas, and what they are still doing; and it would also know that, although in the words of Christ the laborer is worthy of wages and recompense, in place of any new remuneration to the said religious orders the reverend archbishop is attempting by his claims to introduce them into a labyrinth of entanglements, discords, and dissensions.

Granted, now, the fundamental reasons why the regulars have refused to be parish priests subject to the ordinary, and [preferred] to leave the mission villages rather than serve them in such a manner, the greatest affliction of the religious orders in Filipinas goes further. Their provincials, in the last conference which they held (as they notify us by letters of February in the past year of 699), resolved that these petitioners should, as their attorneys and in the names of them all, offer before your Council of the Indias an absolute renunciation of the allotment of all the territories which your Majesty gave to them in order that they might, with pontifical jurisdiction, serve therein as parish priests.

The religious are influenced to this action, first: because, even though your Majesty command that no change be made in this regard in the Filipinas, the religious orders do not now entertain a substantial hope that entire obedience would be rendered to this law for peace, without which it is intolerable to remain in those islands. The reason for this fear and lack of confidence is, that this very thing was commanded by your Majesty in a decree issued at Madrid, on November 27, 1687 (which is in the [book of] ordinances, at folios 8 and 9), and the reverend archbishop did the opposite of what was ordained therein, in the sight of your governor and Audiencia. If such was the heed and observance given to a decree for making no change, even when the reverend archbishop was not at variance with the religious orders, what can they expect when he is now so exasperated against them?

This argument gains more force when attention is paid to the immense distance [from España] of those islands, where this is a current saying, or almost a proverb, among those who are in power, “Let them write to Madrid and Roma whatever fairy-tale they please at the time; no one will be disturbed by it while the letters are on the way, or while the decision is being made and until the ordinances arrive.” And therefore it results that although the reverend archbishop arrived at Manila in the year 97, it is now the year 700 when the clamors and disturbances which with his arrival were experienced [in the islands] find an echo in your Council of the Indias—troubles which still are endured, because it is necessary to wait a considerable time for the arrival at the islands themselves of your royal provisions. And when the decree already mentioned of the year 87, and another previous one of the same tenor by the queen-mother our sovereign (who is now with God), were not obeyed, there is little or no ground for the religious to hope that other decrees of that sort will be obeyed. In both cases, the mission curacies were resigned, and in this last one much more has been suffered; and as it is not well that these occurrences and disputes be repeated, and as it is intolerable to live in controversies for the sake of curacies, to any one who is not wedded to them, the religious orders intend, by the said resignation, to make an end, once for all, of all this contention.

The second reason: In Filipinas today the religious orders see themselves dragged along and reduced to a most abject condition, in which their ministers can, according to the divine oracles and the teaching of holy men, gain little esteem or fruit while they exercise these under so much reproach. If the edict of visitation which the reverend archbishop commanded to be posted in the village of Tondo (a mission village which is in charge of the Order of St. Augustine) be read, among innumerable other questions will be found these: “Whether the minister in charge goes without the ecclesiastical garb, or without suitable clothing? Whether he goes without cutting his beard? Whether by day or by night he carries weapons, or is indecently clothed?”

If attention is given to the manner in which the archbishop took away the two mission villages of Tondo and Binondo [from the orders], it was done by forcibly breaking open the doors of those two churches, and surrounding them with soldiers and secular officials, who carried with them fetters, as if they went to arrest criminals or highwaymen. Similarly, on account of a fit of anger which he felt because two of these petitioners had embarked to come to seek redress from the Council, the reverend archbishop demanded and obtained a vessel, in which both ecclesiastical and secular officials set out to arrest the said religious. But as they could not reach the religious, as the ship had gained so much headway, the archbishop summoned the Portuguese captain of another ship, and commanded him, under penalty of major excommunication and a pecuniary fine, to secure the arrest of the said two religious at Batavia; and told him that if it should be necessary, he must demand aid from the governor there, who is a Dutch heretic—although afterward, it is said, the archbishop advised him not to do so.

Consider the manner in which the religious had to apply to his tribunal; in no case would he accept a document save through the hand of the ecclesiastical procurator of his secular court. On one occasion he allowed so short a time-limit that the holy religious orders were forced to go between twelve and one o’clock at night, knocking at the doors of several procurators, because one had excused himself on account of the stormy weather—and all this when there was no need of or risk in delay; and the reverend archbishop thus gave ground for even the laymen to say that he was abusing his authority in order to annoy the religious. And it is no wonder that laymen say this when the reverend archbishop himself writes (as it were, praising himself) that the regulars are almost exhausted and beside themselves at seeing how in so short a time he has, if not conquered them all, at least broken their courage to a great extent. But the religious orders desire for this prelate in the remembrance of posterity more praiseworthy sayings than this one which calls them exhausted by such means.

The reverend archbishop also writes to individuals who can have no voice in these matters, either of justice or government, in such manner that the religious find themselves compared to soldiers on horseback, and characterized as disobedient to both pontifical and royal laws; and of so bad lives and morals that, he says, if he had to make informatory reports regarding them there would not be enough paper in all China. If he writes thus to Europa, how will he talk there [in the islands] with his servants, intimate friends, and acquaintances?

Notice should be taken of the reprimand which through the influence of the reverend archbishop was given to the religious orders by your royal court of Manila, composed of four officials who are young men; it is perhaps the most angry and contemptuous which has been offered to religious in a Catholic tribunal. In regard to the decrees which were issued regarding this particular, by the bishop the delegate of his Holiness, it appears that by a royal decree the five provincials, the rectors of the colleges of Santo Tomas and San Jose, and two other religious, all grave persons, were summoned; and, having made them enter the hall, where your ministers were seated on their platforms, Licentiate Don Geronimo Barredo began to speak, as being the senior auditor; he talked to them, using vos, and impersonal terms that were very rude, although the royal sovereignty of your Majesty deigns to honor the provincials with the title of “very devout and venerable fathers.” He called them disturbers of the peace—as it were, the causes and authors of the disquieted condition of the commonwealth; he blamed them for aiding the reverend bishop the delegate of his Holiness, and for some of their subordinates performing the service of notaries to him. He threatened them, saying that even though they were exempt, yet your ministers could, with the administrative power which they hold from your Majesty, banish the religious from the islands. When he had ended his censure, he said, “Get out!” [Despejad]. The provincial of St. Augustine, with all courtesy and submission, asked from his Highness permission to say a word, but the said Don Geronimo Barredo refused it, repeating the words, “Get out!” Again the provincial urged, with all humility, that they hear him; and the reply of that same auditor was to ring his little bell, saying in a loud voice, “Get out! Get out!” Accordingly they made the religious go away, full of embarrassment, and without any further consolation than that of patience.

Such, Sire, was the civility with which that royal court treated all that assembly of religious, among them superiors so eminent, ignominy being offered to them where they should have encountered the honor which your Majesty, by a special law for the Indias, charges upon your officials and presidents, in order that the religious may thereby be encouraged to labor for the propagation of the faith. In order to stir up the community, a royal Audiencia takes action in appeals in obvious cases of which the Church, by law, disposes. To furnish notaries to a delegate of the pope (which was the same as to furnish them to the supreme pontiff) in those islands—when, as the secular priests were intimidated by the public decrees of the reverend archbishop, there was not one who would aid the delegate—this was an unseemly act of the religious orders, and cause why Catholic officials should reprimand them! And, finally, the hearing which justice does not deny to the worst criminals, was entirely barred to five holy religious orders, the anger of striplings foaming over on those so venerable gray hairs.

Your governor knew very well the unsuitableness of this action, and, either not liking the matter, or pretending to be ignorant of it, he was not present at that session; and with this sort of connivance the reverend archbishop succeeded with his designs, and the Audiencia with theirs, the religious orders paying for it all. Then if all that is mentioned in this second reason ends in the depreciation and public ridicule of the religious orders, left defenseless and wounded by the heads of the commonwealth, what idea will be formed of them by the Indians, mestizos, mulattoes, Cafres, and even those Spaniards who have little sense? Such people mould their opinion not by what they reason out, but by what they see; and when their eyes record so much contempt for the ministers of religion, the consequence is a low estimate of their teaching. On this account the religious offer their resignation of the mission villages, so that they may with better results care for others.

The third reason: Although the immunity of their property which the religious possess is a sacred thing, the reverend archbishop regards it in such a light, on account of their not having been subjected to his visitation, that they dread in the future greater losses and difficulties. The regulars had applied to the said reverend archbishop to forbid Licentiate Don Juan de Sierra, your auditor, from having judicial cognizance in regard to the lands of the religious orders, and from molesting them about this matter so much as he was doing—without any necessity, as he was merely a lay judge. That prelate issued a first and a second inhibitory letter, and, as the said Don Juan did not conform to them, the regulars again applied to the reverend archbishop to defend them. The latter had already explained his intentions with the religious orders, in order that the religious who were parish priests might allow themselves to be visited; and therefore he stated that, before his issuing the third command regarding their application, the religious orders must first answer whether or not they would submit to the said visitation. They replied, in the most peaceable manner, sometimes verbally, sometimes in writing, that they were resolved to give up the mission curacies rather than serve them in that manner; and they actually offered their resignations of those offices.

So much did the reverend archbishop resent this that the lands belonging to the religious orders, which thus far were privileged, on account of being ecclesiastical property, thereafter were not exempt. Those which on account of their immunity had deserved two inhibitory letters now deserved a decree revoking the said letters, the property remaining lay and profane, and subject to the secular jurisdiction. The religious were in the said decree canonized as rebels, contumacious, disobedient to the Church and to the reverend archbishop, and unworthy of his clemency. In this declaration the reverend archbishop excepted the lands of the nuns of Santa Clara, and those of the colleges of Santo Tomas and San Jose—the former, because they belonged to a convent of the utmost poverty; and the latter on account of the benefit to the public which their teaching caused.

From this it may be inferred, Sire, that the immunity and exemption of property which the religious possess must be, in the apprehension of the reverend archbishop, a quality removable ad nutum of his will and pleasure, but not permanent, [as it should be] according to the direction of the Apostolic See. It will follow that while this question is pending whether or not the religious will be parish priests by title, some of those very holdings possess sufficient spirituality of character for [the issue of] two inhibitory letters to the secular judge; and that when the religious refuse this mode of life that spiritual character becomes, by a sudden metamorphosis, profane secularity. It will follow that the crime of rebellion, disobedience to the Church, and ill-desert of kindness is incurred by the religious orders for not assuming a state and profession of life to which God does not call them, simply because the reverend archbishop desires that it be chosen. It will follow that to renounce the curacies is not to recognize the jurisdiction of the reverend archbishop, and accordingly this is not to recognize that of the pope or the authority of your Majesty, since he offers to resign his archbishopric. It will follow that, although your Majesty had made the assignment of the territories which with pontifical jurisdiction the religious administer and have thus far administered, for them to offer before your vice-patron their resignation of the said curacies—solely for the purpose that he who there represents your royal person may be acquainted with the fact of their renunciation of the said assignment—is, in the thought of the reverend archbishop, to grant spiritual jurisdiction to the secular governor, and consequently for the said religious to become heretics in many and important points.

And since the lands of the nuns of Santa Clara retain their immunity and are ranked as spiritual goods, on account of the extreme poverty of those servants of God, does the reverend archbishop regard that only as a physical lack of riches on their part, and no more? or as evangelical poverty which springs from the vow, institute, and profession of the life which they have chosen for Christ, and which the Apostolic See has approved? If the former, the religious frankly state that it is very alien to the ecclesiastical rules, by which the exemption and immunity ought to be measured. Otherwise, innumerable poor people, of those who are commonly called beggars[35] through the streets, would secure, on account of being equally destitute of goods with the said nuns of Santa Clara, or perhaps even more so, ecclesiastical exemption from secular judges for their furniture and petty possessions. If the reverend archbishop answers, “the second,” the religious also say, with entire confidence: “What authority is that of this prelate, that he should decide in an official utterance that there is evangelical poverty in the convent of Santa Clara, and not in the other mendicant religious orders? and that the lands of the said convent of Santa Clara enjoy exemption on account of their evangelical poverty and religious institute, while it may not be enjoyed for the same reason by the lands of the other religious orders, which are so distinguished, and are approved by the Church?”

Lastly, it follows that the instruction in grammar, philosophy, and theology in the colleges of Santo Tomas and San Jose renders their lands spiritual property, and exempts them from the secular judge. Yet the preaching of the word of God, the instruction in Christian doctrine, the administration of the sacraments of penance and communion, the consolation [of the faithful] with the mass, the visiting of the sick and dying, the ministrations in jails and hospitals, in order that no one may die without the sacraments: these and other spiritual works, which the holy religious orders of the city of Manila habitually perform with all classes of people, are not sufficient [in the archbishop’s opinion] to exempt their lands from being profane.

If then, Sire, the reverend archbishop has thus conducted himself, in matters so delicate and of the highest importance, simply because the regulars excused themselves from being parish priests subject to his visitation, what may not be feared hereafter? What privileges, exemptions, or decrees will be sufficient, so that he may not explain them as he pleases, and continually open new doors to dissensions? If with such ease he pronounces sentence on the regulars as rebellious, contumacious, and disobedient to the Church, what difficulty will he find in treating them as such—sometimes alone, and sometimes resorting to the royal court for the sake of more forcible demonstrations of his displeasure?

The fourth reason: Your Majesty, in dealing with the religious in your laws of the Indias, has two especial statutes which not only show your desire for peace and your Catholic piety, but most strictly command that efforts be made to secure union and concord among the religious orders, on account of the many and admirable results which ensue therefrom. This union and concord had been established by all the religious orders of Filipinas, and its fruits applauded, long before the reverend archbishop arrived in Manila; and by it those islands were made a paradise for what pertains to the religious orders. The reverend archbishop was the only one who was not pleased with this concord; and therefore he characterizes it in his letters as a conventicle,[36] and of evil tendency and inconsiderate.[37] He not only resented it, but displayed and made known his resentment; he tried to disparage it, through a third person; he had the idea, and repeated it many times, that there was a league against himself; and it is for this reason that he secretly obtained information against it, imposing the penalty of excommunication on the witnesses to maintain secrecy. So far can go the desire of commanding and judging the religious, and grief at not accomplishing it.

In so lamentable a condition [are affairs there], when the religious desire not only to see themselves free from the charge of the mission villages, but, if it be possible, away from those islands, and far from a prelate who feels so annoyed at the union and brotherhood of the religious orders—a union dictated by the natural light of reason, prescribed in their general chapters, inculcated by the generals of the orders as being their supreme heads, ordained by your Majesty, suggested by the vicars of Christ, promulgated in the sacred writings, and bequeathed as in His last will by Christ himself to His disciples; and they without it would not have reaped a harvest in the world, nor would He have retained them as His missionaries. The religious admit that the great horror of this prelate at their concord and union gives them much cause for serious reflection; and that when this concord is so persecuted on account of the mission curacies, there is no safer way to maintain it than to separate themselves from those curacies.

The fifth and last reason: By letters of February in the year 699 it is learned that the reverend archbishop has been sending information not only against the said concord [of the orders], but against even the reverend bishop, the delegate of his Holiness—and all with [the threat of] excommunication in order to maintain secrecy. If a bishop and delegate of the pope is not secure, how will a religious who is a parish priest be so? It seems as if the reverend archbishop now falls back from lands to persons, regarding those holdings as property merely profane, and the religious as persons without any privilege. At the outset he claimed that the regulars, as parish priests, must be subject to his investigations and visitation; and now, extending his claims further, he invents against them, as religious, a new visitation, made up from secret inquiries by dint of censures. How is it possible now not only to have but even to imagine peace in the Filipinas? If the religious orders do not defend themselves, he endangers their reputation in the places where he will send the said information—and all the more if those reports go forth authorized by the secretary and notary who attest the official documents of the archbishop; for the notary, according to popular report, is a relative of his, or passes as such; and the secretary is his cousin-german. And it appears from the acts (on folio 3) that the notary-public, Master Joaquin Ramirez, testified that on November 27 of 697 he had given a paper with a letter from the archbishop to Fray Jose del Rosario, provincial of the Augustinian Recollects—not casually, but delivered into the said provincial’s own hands—when the fact is, that this provincial had died four years before, as is well-known in Manila, and as is evident from the registers of deaths in that province, and will also be here. Such were his impetuosity and his mode of procedure, without instructing the notary, or the latter knowing, of whom he was talking, and confounding times and persons, and the living with the dead. And if by such testimonies a man is introduced in the documents as alive, when in reality he was dead, what wonder will it be if, for the greater disparagement of the regulars, the virtues are introduced as dead among them which are alive in them?

But if the religious, invaded in so many ways, look after their defense, how will they be to blame in this? And if, in order to defend themselves, they so dispose matters that they can have recourse and appeal to the delegate, and if the latter ordain something and the reverend archbishop will not conform to it, and on both sides censures are launched forth—as occurred in the case of the lands—who will have been the mover of all this [trouble]? For the religious to abandon their reputation wholly is not safe; to defend themselves there occasions inconvenience; to let the matter take its course, notwithstanding this behavior of the reverend archbishop, is an intolerable yoke; and for the regulars to be curas subject to him all that is here alleged will not permit. These are the afflictions that are now being suffered in Filipinas. The religious there are summoned to be mocked; those here, aware of what is going on, are reluctant [to take their places]. And since the whole matter takes its rise from the curacies and mission villages, and the foregoing decrees are rendered null, and our expectations from others in the future are dashed: for these reasons and the others here adduced, and insisting upon the said order from the provincials to renounce the mission curacies, the petitioners, prostrate at the royal feet of your Majesty, ask in the name of the said five provinces that you will be pleased to consider them as free and exonerated from the charge which hitherto they have held in serving as parish priests the mission villages that they hold in Filipinas; and for this purpose they renounce absolutely the allotment of territories which your Majesty had committed to them, in order that others may from this time forth administer them, with secure peace and stable tranquillity, which they expect from your Majesty’s magnificence.[38]

Royal decree, May 20, 1700

The King. To my reverend father in Christ, Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila, archbishop of the metropolitan church of Manila in the Filipinas Islands, and member of my Council: In letters of January 19 and February 20, 1698, you report your arrival in those islands, and what you are doing to quell the hatred and enmities which exist among your subjects, reclaiming them to a new life by the measures which you are applying, and obtaining the peace and tranquillity which you were desiring. You also wrote that you had undertaken to continue work on the church building there, and had gone to visit the secular clergy, in which you had met no hindrance; and that in endeavoring to make the visitations in the mission churches served by regulars—according to the regulations of the Council of Trent, the apostolic letters, and the royal decrees—you were influencing the religious by gentle methods to accept such visitation, for this purpose drawing up a manifesto, but that these methods were not sufficient to induce them to do so voluntarily. For this reason, in fulfilment of the obligations of your office you had published an edict for carrying out this visitation, and had actually gone to put it into execution in the mission stations of regulars at Tondo, Binondoc, Santa Cruz, Dilao, and Parián, since you were denied diocesan jurisdiction over the ministers who serve in these places—while at the same time, in those of Tondo and Binondoc (which are served by religious of St. Dominic and St. Augustine) those ministers were abandoning their churches, consuming[39] the holy sacrament, and carrying away with them the holy oils and ornaments. Consequently you found it necessary to place secular priests ad interim in those villages, from which it resulted that the religious orders went to offer their renunciation of those missions before my governor, without going to you; and in this condition of affairs it seemed best to the Audiencia to furnish aid so that the religious orders should not abandon these missions, and that their renunciation of them should not be accepted. But this was not sufficient to prevent the religious from withdrawing from those missions, for which reason you found yourself compelled to retire to your own church, and to desist from these visitations, removing the temporary ministers whom you had appointed, and lifting the censures and penalties which you had imposed, without prejudice to your dignity and jurisdiction. And finally you recount the very harmful results which must follow from the form and method of administration which prevails in these mission stations, and the illegal acts which are committed by the ministers in charge of them, of which you send a summary, stating how impossible you find it to remedy this condition of affairs, on account of the reasons which you point out, and asking that the necessary measures be taken, and that you be assured of it, so that you can visit as you should that archbishopric, in fulfilment of your ministry as its pastor. This matter has been considered in my Council of the Indias, with the attested copies sent by you of the documents therein, with the representations made in your name and in those of the religious orders who reside in those islands and hold mission posts there. Having fully informed myself on both sides, and given the subject special consideration, I have resolved to approve, and herewith do approve, all that you have accomplished in this affair, and especially your course in having ceased from further action therein until you could report it to me and await the measures which may be applied to the difficulty, assuring you of my full gratitude for your very judicious proceedings and the good management which you have showed in the conduct of this important affair. Your procedure with the superiors of the religious orders is very suitable to your prudence, and quite in accordance with the opinion that I have of your zeal and great discretion; and the special service which you have rendered to me is strongly commended to my remembrance, that I may bear it in mind and favor and honor you on all occasions that shall arise. And in view of the grave considerations that are involved in this matter, and of your request that the regulations and provisions of the sacred canons, councils, and apostolic constitutions, and the laws of the Indias be put into execution, in order that the diocesans may, as you say, visit the regulars who hold office as curas, in matters which pertain to the care of souls, I am undertaking with all the attention of my Catholic and pious zeal to furnish the remedies that are most suitable and effectual for this object, and for preventing any disturbances which may arise in the future, leaving settled and established the right of prescription, both canonical and legal. And as concerns what is contained in the summary which you have drawn up of the illegal acts of the religious who serve the missions, except in the question of visitation you shall always have authority to receive information, and to demand from the superiors of the orders that they reform and correct the religious. And if when they are admonished the first and the second time they do not thus act, I command that you carry out the said reform with your jurisdiction as ordinary. For the better success of this, I decree, by despatches sent this day to the president and auditors of my royal Audiencia there, that they assist you with their aid on all occasions when you shall demand it and shall need it. Of this you are [herewith] notified, and you shall inform me of your action in this matter, and of any further occurrences. At Aranjuez, May 20 in the year 1700.

I the King

By command of the king our sovereign:

Don Manuel de Àperregui

[Six rubrics are added at the foot of this document, which appear to be those of the members of the Council.]

[1] At the end of this document appear the following memoranda relative to the archbishop’s voyage to the islands: “Archbishop Camacho embarked at Acapulco for Manila on March 30, 1697. The lading of the ship was made in great haste, because there was in Acapulco a fearful pestilence. Several died from this pest on the ship, within a few days—among whom were the fiscal of his Majesty, and a Jesuit and a Dominican. On the 19th of July they encountered a terrible storm, from which they escaped only through the intercession of St. Francisco Javier, a Jesuit, casting into the water an order of the saint in which he promised that they should have no [cause for] fear. On July 24, at three o’clock in the afternoon, they anchored in the port of Palapag, where they suffered from a baguio. On the eighth day of September, the archbishop made his public entry into Manila.”

[2] Spanish, realengos; “applied to the villages which are not held by seigniors or by the religious orders, and to lands belonging to the state” (Barcia).

Auditor Sierra held a commission from the court for legalizing the ownership of lands in Filipinas; and in the fulfilment of this charge he demanded from the friars the documents which justified their right to the magnificent estates of which they called themselves the owners.” (Montero y Vidal, Hist. de Filipinas, p. 385.)

[3] This bull was a papal sentence of excommunication formerly published against heretics every Holy (or Maundy) Thursday; for ages it was publicly read on that day, otherwise known as the feria quinta in Cœna Domini; hence its common title, as given in the text. The latest form which this bull assumed was given to it by Urban VIII in 1627; it is entitled, Pastoralis Romani pontificis vigilantia, and is divided into twenty sections or decrees. Of these, no. 15 censures such as usurp jurisdiction; it was, then, issued in the interests of liberty in court trials. No. 17 censures those who usurp church revenues, incomes, and the like; and it thus upheld the rights of ownership. This bull is no longer used; its periodical publication was discontinued after 1773, and it was suppressed by Pius IX (October 12, 1869), in force of his constitution, Apostolicæ Sedis, issued on that date.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[4] The decree here mentioned is dated May 15, 1572, and begins, Exposcit debitum pastoralis officii. In it provision is made for “appeals from the West Indias, and the islands of the Ocean Sea, subject to the king of Spain.” It orders that appeals be carried, first, from the bishop to the metropolitan; second, from the metropolitan to the next neighboring ordinary—that thus justice might be secured without delay or so heavy expense. Philip II had petitioned to this effect, that cases might be decided by two courts, and no appeal be admitted therefrom; hence the bull of Gregory to the king.

In this case, the appeal was from the metropolitan to the bishop of Camarines—who probably had been commissioned by the pope to act as delegate from an early period in his episcopal career, since he himself mentions (post) his having acted in that capacity in the time of Archbishop Pardo. In case of the nearest see being vacant, the official who acted as its head would be delegate for the time being, i.e. would be a vice-ordinary. Also, as those islands were too remote for sending thither delegates from Europe, except in extraordinary cases, the metropolitan of Manila might send a delegate to Camarines. The authority possessed by the delegate in appeal cases (as results from the bull of Gregory) would be definitive and final; he might overrule and even supersede the metropolitan, as being the judge in final appeal.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[5] Probably Manuel Fernandez de Santa Cruz, as he was bishop of Puebla in 1696 (Bancroft’s Mexico, iii, p. 256).

[6] Cruzat y Gongora’s term of office was lengthened by the failure of his successor to go to the islands. This was Domingo Zabalburu de Echevarri, who was appointed September 18, 1694, but did not reach Manila until 1701.

[7] Spanish, sobrino, which may be applied not only to a brother’s or sister’s child, but to that of a cousin-german.

[8] Spanish, ni mejorarla [apelacion]; a legal phrase, meaning “to support the appeal before the superior court, after having appealed before it, by setting forth the injury that is experienced from any act issued by the lower court” (Barcia).

[9] So in Ventura del Arco’s transcription; but it would seem to be an error for 120—perhaps a copyist’s conjecture of an illegible character—since it apparently refers to Gregory XIII’s decree of 1572 (ante, p. 27).

[10] He was almost seventy years old, according to Concepción (Hist. de Philipinas, viii, p. 229).

[11] In the Latin Church the ecclesiastical orders are those of bishops, priests, deacons, sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers, and ostiarii, or doorkeepers. Many theologians reckon the number at seven, regarding the episcopate as merely the extension of the priesthood (Addis and Arnold, p. 621).

[12] Spanish, seminario conciliar; “the house assigned for the education of the young men who devote themselves to the ecclesiastical career” (Barcia).

[13] José Sarmiento Valladares, Conde de Montezuma, was the successor, in the viceroyalty of Nueva España, of Gaspar de la Cerda, Conde de Galve (whose term of office was November 20, 1688 to May, 1696). Valladares obtained his title by his marriage with Gerónima María, a lineal descendant of the Mexican emperor, and third countess of Montezuma. He took possession of the office on December 18, 1696, and held it until November 4, 1701. He was an able and efficient governor, and did much to repress crime, improve social conditions, aid the Indians in times of distress, and render the City of Mexico more strongly fortified. (Bancroft, Mexico, iii, pp. 222, 259, 264, 265.)

[14] Miguel Bayót was a discalced Franciscan, an Aragonese, who came to the Philippines in 1669; he was employed in ministries to the Indians, and was long at the head of the hospice of the order in Mexico City. In 1695 he was appointed bishop of Cebú, when he was 52 years old, being then in Mexico, and took possession of his office in September, 1696; he died there on August 28, 1700. When he died, only the sum of five reals was found in his possession. (San Antonio, Chronicas, i, p. 212.)

[15] The first page of this MS. is occupied by official attestations showing that on January 22, 1699, officially certified copies of these decrees by the archbishop were demanded by Antonio de Borja, procurator-general of the Jesuit province, from one of the alcaldes of Manila, Antonio Basarte, who ordered these copies to be made.

[16] Spanish, casamientos y velaciones; the former the general term for marriages, the latter also used thus, but referring especially to the nuptial mass or nuptial benedictions (which, however, were and are given only at mass). The parties might be married outside of mass—as if it were a private marriage, or if they were too poor to pay for the mass—and then did not receive the benedictions. But if at mass, they were velados—a term recalling an ancient ceremony when both parties were veiled at the marriage; i.e., the priest threw a veil over their heads. Thus Moroni in his Diccionario, who also states that “this custom is still in vogue in some places” (in his own day, about thirty years ago). La velacion was another term for the marriage ceremony at mass, and was part of the ceremony. Every woman (of good standing) is entitled to church marriage—with nuptial mass and benediction—but once only: this may be on the occasion of a second or third marriage, provided the former marriages were outside of mass; but if the first marriage were with the nuptial mass, she is barred from enjoying this privilege at subsequent marriages. These are the casamientos; the nuptial mass, or marriage accompanied by it, the velacion.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[17] Hijo de la Iglesia; a term applied to a foundling or abandoned infant; cf., the Italian appellation, “a child of the Madonna.”

[18] Spanish, octavas. None of the standard dictionaries give a meaning to cover this use of octavas. Dominguez’s Diccionario (Supplement) states that the word is a term in Roman law, designating an ancient form of tribute consisting of one part in eight. Probably it was carried over into ecclesiastical law, and here means that the cura was expected to pay one-eighth of his fees into the church fund.

[19] Spanish, canonicas monitoriales. In law books, banns (in Latin) are styled proclamationes monitoriæ.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[20] Spanish, limosna. The fees (derechos) of the cura were determined, fixed sums, as in the tariff lists, nor could he change them. The limosna—a free offering, and wholly optional with the parties for whom he officiated—was over and above the tariff charge. The cura could do with this offering what he wished—if he chose, spending it in alms; but it was given to him personally, and was for his own use. Cf. the gratificación voluntaria in the following list of fees to be paid the parish priest in Cuba, taken from the Manual de la Isla de Cuba, by José Garcia y Arboleya (2nd ed., Havana, 1859), pp. 316, 317:

For baptism: a voluntary offering[gratificación voluntaria], the minimum ofwhich is 6 reals for the cura and 2 for the acolyte$ 1.
For burial:of free adult7.50
of free child6.50
of slave adult5.50
of slave child5.
For prayers—responso with cope, sacristan, and processional cross[cruz alta], at the house of the deceased7.
For prayers, with cope, at the burial4.
For office (of three lections)5.
For mass chanted (body present)6.
For each halt [posa]12.50
For processional cross at the grave(without cross, .50)2.
For each censer.50
For each attendant in surplice1.
For remaining till end [of interment]1.50
For four [church] bells [tolled]2.
For three [church] bells [tolled]1.50
For two [church] bells [tolled]1.
For low mass [without chant]1.
For a fiesta [feast-daycelebration] with vespers and mass chanted12.
For a fiesta with procession14.
For votive mass chanted6.50
For marriage7.25
For cura at the house [of theparties]4.
For foreigners25. to 30.
For record of baptism1.

—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[21] The term Morenos, as has appeared from former documents, was applied generally to persons of swarthy complexion—mulattoes, some negroes, and Malabar natives, indiscriminately.

[22] Spanish, arraz (arras); a very old term, of Hebrew origin; hence the Latin law term of arrha, i.e., anticipated payment of part. Arras also means “thirteen pieces of money given to the bride by the bridegroom;” this or similar dowry was required by a very old and very rigorous law.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

Barcia gives arras the general meaning of “that which is given as a pledge or token of any agreement. It was extended also to the marriage contract. Also, the thirteen pieces of money which in weddings serve for the formality of that function, passing from the hands of the bridegroom to those of the bride. In law, the amount which the man promises to the woman on account of his marriage to her; it cannot exceed, according to law, the tenth part of his possessions.” He defines arrha (French, arrhes) as “a pledge or token given to secure and confirm a contract.”

[23] The context would seem to require here the amount of the fee for burial of a child; this has apparently been omitted in the MS. by a clerical error. The general appearance of the MS., and various memoranda on the back, suggest the probability that this was one of the copies furnished to the Jesuit Borja.

[24] Spanish, possas. At funerals, prayers were read at different points on the way to the cemetery; for instance, at the church door, midway on the route, and at the cemetery gate—if not oftener. Of course the procession halted while prayers were being read or chanted; so for each halt (posa) a fee was due.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[25] Spanish, missas de nouenario; the novenary is a nine days’ condolence for the deceased. The same term is also applied to a nine days’ devotion offered to some saint.

[26] Spanish, el velo; literally, the “veil,” or the “veiling;” evidently referring to the old-time usage of placing a veil over the married pair (see note 16, ante), as a part of the ceremonies at the nuptial mass. I am told by one of our fathers here at Villanova, who lived in Spain years ago, that at marriages in that country the bride wears the usual wedding-veil, and continues to wear it in public for one week after the marriage; it is white, sometimes plain, sometimes adorned with ribbons or flowers of various colors.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[27] Spanish, cruz alta con su manga. The processional cross was carried on a staff, as used in the United States in processions; at funerals the crucifix was covered with black, this funeral trapping (manga) covering or veiling the cross as a sign of grief. Sometimes the sacristan bore only a small cross, without staff; this depended wholly on his fee. In all Catholic churches in the United States, we use the crucifixes covered in Holy Week; but we do not veil crosses at funerals.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[28] Spanish, por titulo de justicia. Parroco de justicia, so frequently used in this document, is the Spanish rendering of the technical Latin phrase, parochus de jure—words which show that the cura had a right to his office, had been instituted according to the canons, and was canonically and legally in office. It is practically the same as the English phrase “by right and title.” Other equivalents are: “by title of law,” “by right,” and “ordinary.” The parish priest, whether secular or regular, was an official of the Church.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[29] See account of the allotment of diocesan titles in VOL. I, p. 244, note 188. Baluffi, there cited, adds: “Relative to the two ninths that were given to the king, the first bishop of Mechoacan [in Mexico], Mons. Vasco de Quiroga, when organizing his cathedral [clergy] in 1554, speaking of the two shares of the tithes that were given to the king, remarked that they were thus awarded to his most serene Majesty in token of his lordship (superioritalis) and right of patronage.”

[30] In text, oneroso, but evidently a transcriber’s error for onrroso.

[31] In the text, projimos, “neighbors”—in allusion to the Scriptural injunction, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” a duty strictly inculcated in the training of candidates for ordination, especially in the Jesuit order.

[32] Alluding to Paul’s precept in I Corinthians, vii, v. 20.

[33] That is, a non-resident or merely titular prelate; see VOL. XVIII, p. 339, note 101.

[34] The whole sentence, divested of technicalities, simply means that one must “look before he leaps;” or that, when one has his eyes open, he is supposed to have used them; or that the bishop, should he be merely titular, would have no one to blame but himself, and should be the last to complain.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[35] Spanish, pordioseros; that is, those who ask alms “for God’s sake.”

[36] Spanish, conciliabulo; like English “conventicle,” used to designate an unauthorized or illegal assembly.

[37] Spanish, mal sonante y temeraria—literally, “of evil sound and reckless.” This is part of a legal phrase, taken from Latin forms used by the Roman courts when characterizing books, teachings, statements, etc., of unorthodox or schismatic bearing.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[38] This memorial seems to have been written by the Dominican Fray Raimundo Berart (see Reseña biográfica, ii, p. 203); and it was printed by Fray Mimbela.

[39] Spanish, consumiendo; “the reception or eating by the priest of the body and blood of Christ, in the elements of bread and wine” (Dominguez).

The Augustinians in the Philippines, 1670–94

[The remainder of Diaz’s Conquistas—comprising the fourth hook of that work, as found in pp. 689–817—is here presented, partly in full translation, partly in synopsis. Numerous extracts have already been made from this book, notably as regards the Pardo controversy and some insurrections among the natives; these will of course be omitted here.]

Chapter I

[Diaz mentions the calamitous times experienced in the islands during the rule of most of the governors from Corcuera to Salcedo, which at last are succeeded, in the plan of Providence, by peace and comfort.] The peacemaker [iris] whom divine Providence seems to have selected for this general benefit was Governor Don Manuel de León y Sarabia; for his taking possession of his government was the shifting of the scenes in this melancholy theater, the calming of the tempests, and the succession of rest after fatigue, and peace after war. The former lines of commerce were renewed, and other and new ones opened up—such as that of the coast of Malabar and Santo Tomé, called the Coromandel coast; and those of Suratte, Macán and Batavia. All these improvements were facilitated by the wholesome purposes and the kindly disposition of Don Manuel de León, and especially by his great disinterestedness; this last would, if it had not been accompanied by the rest, have failed of success, as did the lofty and incomparable [disinterestedness] of Don Diego Fajardo, since it was obscured by his coldness and excessive severity—which, although accompanied by justice, was, being excessive, known as injustice.

As soon as the new governor commenced his fortunate rule, he sent to Macán General Don Juan Enrique de Losada, accompanied by Father Francisco Mecinas,[1] of the Society of Jesus, in order to further the interests of that commerce, and to endeavor to open up the richer trade of Cantón. This was accomplished by the said envoys with so much ability that in the following year the Chinese began to come [to Manila], with barks from Macán and somas from Cantón, with great wealth of silks, damasks, and other stuffs. Trade was opened with Ningpú, a port of the province of Che-Kian in the empire of China, where is cultivated the greater part of the silk which supplies the world, a commodity which greatly advanced the commerce of Nueva España. The governor maintained courteous intercourse with Sipuán, the son of Kuesing, and from this originated the frequent visits of so many champans from China and somas (which are larger champans) from Cantón, which every year engage in the commerce with Manila; for in some years are counted thirty barks, and nearly as many from other regions, which supply merchandise to Manila, and contribute to the royal revenues great sums with their customs duties.[2]

The flagship “Buen Socorro,” which had made the voyage to Nueva España in charge of General Diego de Arévalo, had a fortunate arrival at the islands—although not at the port of Cavite, but at that of Palapag in the province of Leyte, outside of the Embocadero. It brought an auditor, Licentiate Don Fernando Escaño, a native of Ecija; he was a great jurisconsult, as is evident from the learned books which he had printed in España—De testamento imperfecto, and the history of the Order of St. John of Malta, which he wrote in the Latin language, by order of his most serene Highness Don Juan of Austria, grand prior of Castilla and León. He came with his wife, Doña Leonor de Córdoba, a native of Sevilla, and four [six] children: Don Fernando, who was a captain, and lived but a few years; Don Juan de Escaño, an alférez who reached the age of fifty years, an unmarried man, very virtuous, and an example for laymen; Don José and Don Manuel, afterward religious of St. Dominic; Don Alonso, who was an Augustinian religious, and at his death a minister in Pampanga; and a daughter, Doña María, who married the sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Moya y Torres, alguazil-mayor of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. The auditor’s wife was a professed member of our tertiary order; and all of them were people of great virtue.

With appointment as bishop of Nueva Segovia came the dean of Manila, Master Don José Millán de Poblete, a priest of much virtue and discretion, and nephew of the archbishop Doctor Don Miguel Millán de Poblete, of honored memory. The vigorous age at which this dignity came to him (for he was not yet fifty) did not enable him to enjoy it [long]; for he lived very few years in the government of that church, not long enough to reach his consecration—with general regret in these islands at having lost a grand prelate, heir to the many virtues of his uncle....

Auditor Don Fernando de Escaño began to fill his office with great rectitude and disinterestedness, for he was a learned man, and stood in fear of God, which is the true wisdom. But, influenced by his desires for good, yet lacking in judgment and experience, he proceeded to enter the labyrinth of trying to reform more than what is in need of reform—being counseled by persons who aimed only at gaining by calumny what they could not prove in law. From this he undertook to follow the opinions of Auditor Don Salvador Gómez de Espinosa, of whom we have already written, and to subscribe to his manifestoes, as the Parenético; and without further investigation than the depositions of persons who were prejudiced against the clergy and the religious orders, he made attacks on them in letters written to his Majesty. Afterward, he recognized that the evidence did not agree with what had been told him; and he came to repentance when the shot was already fired and much damage done thereby. These false notions, and others like them, as well as his considering the little or nothing that can be accomplished in these islands by the ministers of his Majesty, who never goes beyond what the governors desire, wore him out in a few years; and he died as the excellent Christian that he was, and so indifferent to worldly advantages that he had not money enough for his burial, and was buried in our convent at Manila. All his family inherited his virtue, and were the only children of an auditor who came out so well, for all strove to grow in virtue to the standard of their honored father; they were therefore highly esteemed, and their lives came to a holy end. Don Juan de Escaño, who attained the rank of general, was an example of virtue in Manila, and died with the reputation of unbroken chastity [con opinion de virgen]; and his property, which was large and justly gained, he left, well invested as it was, for the building and maintenance of the beaterio of Santa Catalina de Sena [i.e., St. Catherine of Sienna], of the tertiary Order of St. Dominic in Manila, in which foundation he had much share and influence.

About this time came to Manila the prince of Siao,[3] son of the king Don Ventura Pinto de Morales, to ask the governor for religious of the Society of Jesus to instruct the natives of his little kingdom, where there were many Christians—although the majority of that people were infected with the errors of the cursed Mahoma. These islands are in five and one-half degrees of latitude north, and one hundred and forty-nine degrees of longitude from the meridian of Tenerife; the seas about them are difficult of navigation, on account of being in the midst of a large and widespread bank [placer] of shoals which lie on all sides. They share the reputation of Maluco, not only for the warlike nature of their inhabitants, but for many spice-bearing trees, of clove and nutmeg; but in other means of support that country is very poor. This prince was received by the governor with much honor; he gave him the use of his own coach, and lodged him at the college of San José, in charge of the religious of the Society; and he took much pains to forward the business of the prince, since it was for so holy a purpose, the propagation of our holy faith. The prince returned to his own country, with the satisfactory result which he could desire; with him went four religious of the Society of Jesus—Father Juan de Miedes,[4] a native of Alcalá de Henares; Father Jerónimo Cebreros, a native of Acapulco; and Fathers Esquibel[5] and Español—all well fitted for so holy a ministry. The governor gave him twenty Spaniards and some Pampangos, to serve as an escort for the religious; and for their commander Captain Andrés Serrano—a veteran soldier, who had just finished a term as alcalde-mayor of Panay (a province in our spiritual charge)—as he was a very devout Christian and well suited for that occupation, so much to the service of God.

These religious remained a long time in the islands of Siao, increasing that Christian church; but the enemy of mankind, who resented their driving him out after he had so long possessed the souls of those unfortunate people, influenced the Dutch heretics of Nueva Batavia, in the island of Jacatra, to destroy them by a secular persecution. For, as they are lords of all the islands where grows the clove of the spice-trade, in Maluco—Amboyno, Tidore, Ternate, Montiel, and many others—and this is the commerce which has returned most profits to their company they have always endeavored that this aromatic merchandise be not transported by any other hands than their own, in order to assure their gains. They knew that some Spaniards had settled in the islands of Siao, and that by them was carried away the clove product of that region, and that it might eventually diminish their own commerce. For that astute nation has so perseveringly maintained that the Dutch alone shall be absolute masters of the cloves and cinnamon; and so skilfully do they manage these commodities that in any year when there is an abundant product of cloves they burn such quantity of it as they consider superfluous, according to the computation that they have made of that crop (which is sufficient for the supply of the whole world), in order that their price may not be lowered, and that the commodity may not fall in value by becoming common and abundant. So great is the wisdom of these children of the world, in which they greatly exceed the children of the light.

They manned two ships with three hundred men-at-arms; and when our people in Siao were least on their guard the Dutch arrived, and landed their men, which the Spaniards were unable to prevent, as they were so inferior in numbers.[6] The Dutch committed no other hostility than to carry away as prisoners the religious of the Society, and Andrés Serrano and his soldiers—together with their standard, which our men could neither hide nor destroy—all of whom they conveyed to Batavia. But before they left the islands of Siao they rooted out and cut down all the cinnamon trees that grew there, until no roots or other trace of them were left—all which they did quite at their leisure, without any one saying a word to them. Andrés Serrano died in Batavia of grief, although the Dutch treated him and his soldiers well, as also the fathers. The religious afterward came to Manila, some in the time of this governor, and others during the term of his successor, Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado.

All the triennial during which our provincial father Fray Dionisio Suárez ruled was very propitious for this province—not only because he was a religious very observant, kind, and lovable, but because this province possessed so many members of virtue and learning that they restored it to its first luster. The ministries in the doctrinas were well served, by one or two religious, according to their needs. The erection of many new convents was begun, some having been ruined by the earthquakes, and others torn down by military orders, when we were threatened with the coming of Kuesing Pompoan; but there was so much to restore that it kept us busy for more than three succeeding trienniums. Our provincial applied himself closely to the repairs on the magnificent convent at Manila, which greatly needed them, on the plan which he had made in the preceding triennium, when he was prior of that house; [and he accomplished] so much that to the diligence and zeal of that devout religious may be attributed its preservation.

While he was engaged in these occupations, the time came for him to finish the task of his government, so peaceful and prosperous, and for holding another chapter-session—to the great regret of all, for it seemed as if they divined that it would result less happily; but never did they expect that it would be so calamitous as it proved to be. For, just as the condition of the commonwealth had experienced its change from calamities and miseries to peace and happiness, so this our province changed from tranquillity to sudden fear. Tempus pacis, tempus belli.[7] And the most remarkable thing is that, just as the governor Don Manuel de León was the main cause of the peace and prosperity of Manila, so this same excellent gentleman was the prime cause of many troubles and disturbances, which occurred not only at the time of this chapter but throughout the triennium. I do not throw all the blame on him, because he was a great governor, very pious and of sincere intentions; but all disturbance has another cause, and the vulgar and common Spanish adage is very true which says: “He who is burning the woods is he who comes out of them.”[8] No sensible person will admire seeing among religious the activity of flesh and blood and the passion of ambition, which they cannot leave behind in the world when they take refuge in the asylum of the cloister.[9]...

The fourth definitor, Fray Francisco de Medina Basco, who was associate and secretary of the provincial Fray Dionisio Suárez, had displayed so much ability and good intention in administering his office—for he was an angel of peace, following the advice of our holy constitutions—that all desired that he should succeed to the office of him to whom he had been so capable an associate. This was desired by the provincial most of all; for, as he was of so peaceable a disposition, he wished to leave the province in the hands of one who could maintain it in the tranquillity which it was enjoying. But the malign father of discord was not pleased at seeing the great peace and concord which this province had enjoyed for so many years; he therefore strove with his arts to disturb and disunite it. The time for holding the chapter-session arrived apparently as peaceful as usual; and so the religious who were its members assembled, quite unconscious of what was to occur.

The chapter was convened on April 23, 1671, in the convent of San Pablo at Manila; and its president was father Fray Bernardino Márquez, by commission from our very reverend father the general of all the order of our father St. Augustine, Master Fray Pedro Lafranconio, a native of Ancona; and the other affairs which precede the election were transacted that afternoon with great peace and concord. But on Saturday, the day for the election of provincial, Governor Don Manuel de León sent to notify them that he would be present at the election, and sent over his official chair. This caused great uneasiness, for they recognized that this was an effort to prevent the election of the father definitor Fray Francisco de Medina Basco, on which thirty-one of the voting fathers were agreed. The father president of the chapter was one of the eight who were opposed to this election, and these were favored by the governor—which in these islands means, to have whatever one may desire. Accordingly, the first thing that he did that afternoon was to make charges in virtue of which he deprived father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco of the right to vote or to be elected [voz activa y pasiva], and commanded him to leave the chapter-meeting—which he did with great humility and resignation, saying only those words of Jonah, Si propter me orta est haec tempestas, projicite me in mare,[10] and went to his convent of Tongdo. On the following day the governor came to the convent, accompanied by the senior auditor, Don Francisco de Coloma, Sargento-mayor Don Juan de Robles, and Captain Don Pedro de Tortesa, with their [military] company, as if it were to invest a fort of enemies. The religious were astonished at seeing such a military display, but with much decorum and gravity they proceeded with the transactions of the chapter; and at the first ballot father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco was elected by thirty-one votes, and the remaining eight fathers voted for father Fray Juan Caballero[11]—a religious who had come to this province two years before, as I have already stated, and whose merits deserved such a mark of esteem. The governor would not allow them to sing the Te Deum laudamus, and the president declared that he would not confirm the election, on account of its being inhibited by the suit which Father Francisco had brought when Licentiate Don Juan de Rosales was counselor; and one heard only protests on both sides, although the voters recognized that they would be overpowered by the side which the governor supported.

The latter went out from the hall, leaving the capitulars within under the guard of the soldiers, so that these should prevent the fathers from going out of the room until they should elect another provincial who should not be father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco; for father Fray Juan Caballero was not canonically elected, for lack of one more than half of the ballots of the voters. All that day, until evening, they remained shut up in the chapter-hall, experiencing great harshness; for the guards would not allow even a pitcher of water to be given to them, a cruelty very unlike the kindly nature of Don Manuel de León. The provisor and vicar-general of the vacant see, Doctor Don Francisco Pizarro Orellana, came out in defense of the ecclesiastical immunity, which had been violated by that compulsion; and it resulted in the religious being allowed to go to their cells, weak from hunger and thirst. But the governor ordered that two soldiers should be stationed at the door of each cell, so that the fathers could not leave their cells or communicate with one another. In these disturbances passed that Saturday until sunset, the limit peremptorily allotted by our holy constitutions within which the chapter can proceed to the election of a prior provincial; and, when that time was spent, the authority for such election devolved upon our very reverend general [of the order]. But as this adjustment of the limit was made by violence, this prescription of the limit was, in a case so irregular as this, invalid. What I can assert, on the best information, is the great patience and humility which all the fathers of the chapter displayed in these tribulations, enduring great privations in this imprisonment, which lasted through Saturday and Sunday. Finally, recognizing that their strength was very inferior to that which was opposing them, and that further effort was only to struggle against the current of a freshet, they, acting on the advice of the said provisor, again assembled in the chapter-room on the following Monday, and made a new choice, that of father Fray Jerónimo de León—a native of Mexico, a son of the convent of Manila, quite advanced in years; he was an excellent minister in the province of Tagalos, and formerly prior of the convent of Bulacán, and was much beloved by all for his devout religious spirit and peaceable conduct. They appointed as definitors Master Fray José de Mendoza, father Fray Isidoro Rodríguez, father Fray Luis de Montufar, and father Fray Juan Bautista Bover; and for visitors father Fray Carlos Bautista and father Fray José Duque.[12] As for father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco, they appointed him prior of the convent at Cebú and vicar-provincial of that island, which he accepted with much resignation and humility. The tempest in the chapter ceased, and the province again enjoyed its former tranquillity for some time.

Father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco lived but a short time in Cebú, for while officiating there human weakness, resulting from melancholy and grief at what had occurred, prostrated him with a long illness; this time he knew how to improve to good purpose, seeking the welfare of his soul. His confessor, director, and teacher was the bishop of Cebú, Don Fray Juan López, a prelate of great wisdom and virtue, who took such personal interest in the spiritual welfare of this afflicted religious that he spent most of his time with him, until in his care the sick man gave up his soul to the Lord, with great consolation to the holy bishop and to all who were present at his death. [The proceedings of] this chapter went to Rome, to our very reverend father general; he confirmed father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco as provincial, and annulled the second election, that of father Fray Jerónimo de León, commanding the chapter to guard their prerogatives; otherwise, it would have been a legitimate election, on account of his having conducted himself as merely passive in his election, and it appeared that he had not taken part in the tumults of the chapter-session....

Chapter II

[Chapter ii opens with an account of the rebellion in Otón, already told in VOL. XXXIX.] In September of 1671 was celebrated in Manila the festival of the dedication of the cathedral, which the holy archbishop Don Miguel Millán de Poblete had not been able to attain; but this was done by his nephew the dean, Don José Millán de Poblete, the bishop-elect, of Nueva Segovia. A solemn feast of one week was solemnized, beginning with the day of the Nativity of our Lady, and there were other demonstrations of public rejoicing; for Don Manuel de Leon’s term of office produced many of these diversions, through the agency of his secretary, Don José Sánchez de Castellar—who had a very brilliant and versatile mind, and a flowery imagination; he had a great propensity for poetry, music, and studies in language, and was very liberal, so that he did not hesitate on account of the expenses which such festivities demand for their brilliant display.

On one of the nights of this celebration occurred at the port of Cavite the destruction by fire, without its being possible to prevent it, of the galleon “Nuestra Señora de la Concepción,” one of the largest and finest which had been built in these islands; it had served, with prosperous voyages, on the trade-route to Nueva España. In the year 1672 also the commonwealth of Manila experienced a great calamity; the galleon “San Telmo,” which had sailed for Nueva España in charge of General Antonio Nieto, had to return to Cavite—a misfortune which was keenly felt. But very soon afterward the galleon “San Antonio” was launched, in order to make a voyage under the command of General Don Juan Durán, nephew of the General Pedro Durán de Monforte, who has been so often named [in these pages]. The general remained in Nueva España with his wife, Doña María Jiménez, widow of Doctor Don Diego de Corbera, his Majesty’s fiscal, who died in Lubán in the year 1668.

About this time arrived a patache from Macán, in which came a nobleman belonging to the Order of Christ, named Don N. de Tábora, who came as an envoy from that city on affairs belonging to the commerce of both cities. This knight was very hospitably received, and made a brilliant figure on all festal occasions (which were many), displaying his liberality and magnificence; and he added much to the credit of his nation, although it does not need the reputation of individuals.

Among so many gayeties and rejoicings the fear of wars was not lacking; for news had come that the son of Kuesing, named Kinsie or Sipoan, intended, following his father’s example, to fall upon the Filipinas. But this was false, for he was of a very different opinion—harassed by the Tartars and cornered in Hermosa Island; lacking followers and champans for so extensive an undertaking; and, besides, very inferior to his father Kuesing in courage and military training.

Notwithstanding that all this was well known in Manila, these reports came so plausibly fabricated that Don Manuel de León thought that he ought not to neglect or leave in uncertainty a matter which could occasion us irreparable injury; he therefore decided that it was less of an evil to seem credulous and over-cautious than to fail in his duties as commander through heedlessness and lack of foresight. He endeavored to take all precautions for such a contingency, warning the Pampangan and Cagayan peoples (who are the most warlike ones) to be ready in due time. He regulated the Manila garrison, which needed much reformation; and appointed experienced leaders. He commanded the armed fleets of the Pintados to be made ready; those of Panay and Ogton were taken by Captain Don Jose de San Miguel to be united with those of Cebú and Caraga, and all together formed a fleet of more than a hundred joangas—which, if occasion arose, would be under the command of Don Fernando de Bobadilla. All this armada arrived at Manila at a time when it was quite certainly known that Kinsie was not undertaking any such attacks, and was quite destitute of forces to do so. And as I shall not have occasion to speak of him again, I consider it excusable to relate here the condition in which he found his affairs after the death of his father Kuesing. [Here follows a long account of this matter, which has no further relevance to our subject, and is therefore omitted.]

In the ship which came in the year 1672 arrived Doctor Diego Calderón y Serrano, a native of Granada—a student in the collegiate school[13] of Master Rodrigo at Sevilla, and professor of canon law[14] at the university there—who came as auditor of the royal Audiencia of Manila; he entered that body to fill the office of fiscal, which is customary for the most recent auditor to do, when there is no proprietary fiscal. He was married to Doña Catalina Ansaldo, a very honorable and virtuous woman, who died soon after her arrival. He was one of the excellent, and even of the best, official judges that Manila has had—very conscientious, with much fear of God, and very disinterested, which is a great virtue in one who is a judge; and therefore he always remained poor, contenting himself with the income which he received from the royal treasury (which is three thousand pesos), and even from that he gave much in alms. He lived until the year 1688, and had a very pious death; he humbled himself to ask absolution from the censures which he, with his associates, had incurred in the banishment and exile of the archbishop Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who refused it to the others—as we shall see in the proper place, if by God’s favor we reach the discussion of those times!

Chapter III

[Most of chapter iii is devoted to the coming to Manila of a French bishop, François de Palu, titular bishop of Heliopolis and vicar-apostolic for China, accompanied by several other Frenchmen, both priests and laymen; he is one of three envoys sent to promote the missions in Siam, Camboja, and other provinces, and in China, and to endeavor to reopen those of Japan. They make their headquarters at Ayudia, the Siamese capital, but their efforts to convert the Siamese fail, on account of the obstinacy with which they hold to their false religion and idol-worship—in which they surpass all other nations, whether heathen or Mahometan, “for it is not known that any Siamese has abandoned his idolatry and professed the law of Christ.” Moreover, the Frenchmen get into a controversy with the Portuguese ecclesiastics of Malacca, who claim all the above-named regions as being under their spiritual jurisdiction, since they are still classed as missions, not having a formal ecclesiastical hierarchy, as do the churches of Manila, America, and Goa. Palu’s coming to Manila stirs up much commotion in official circles. It is reported that he had set out for China, and was driven back by unfavorable weather to this port; and the Audiencia consider that it will not answer to allow him to go to that country, as, having been sent by authority of Alexander VII and the Propaganda, his entrance into China on such a mission would be an infringement of the royal patronage, since a large part of China is included in the demarcation of Castilla laid out by Alexander VI; and ecclesiastical appointments and jurisdiction therein belong to the jealously-guarded prerogatives of the Spanish crown. The royal officials at Manila therefore detain Palu, lodging him at the Jesuit college, where he is very hospitably entertained. When the Acapulco galleon is ready to sail, these French ecclesiastics are all placed aboard it and sent to Nueva España, and thence to Madrid. There Palu is well received, and has “much communication with the Conde de Medellín, the president of the supreme Council of Indias, an able minister and a man of great virtue.”] The bishop filled him with strange notions, basing his information on the little which he could have comprehended of the mode of government of these islands, and their religious conditions; for his retirement in the college of the Society of Jesus was for a short time, and his knowledge came not from ocular experience, but only from information by secular persons who visited him—who must have been only corrupt alcaldes-mayor who were trying to get rid of the gospel ministers, with whom those officials could not be on very good terms since the ministers had restrained them in their illegal and oppressive acts; this [conflict with the officials] is the greatest hardship that is experienced in the ministries. The president, desiring to do what was right, listened attentively to the information furnished by so reverend a person, not considering that the prejudice of a person from a nation so opposed to us, and who had not found at Manila what he was expecting, rendered his account unreliable. From these reports ensued many royal decrees, which came [to Manila] years afterward, with mandates which were very difficult to carry out; because, as all the peoples [here] are different, they need different laws and rules. From this also originated the ordination of Indians as priests, of which there had been no previous example [here]—a wise precaution against the inconveniences which the Portuguese had experienced in Eastern India from ordaining canerines[15] under the pressure of necessity. This is a usage which even the Dutch heretics abominate, saying that it is one of the three causes through which India has been ruined. And as in Filipinas that necessity does not exist, because of the admirable arrangements which the Catholic monarchs of España have made for sending, at the cost of their royal exchequer, religious from their kingdoms as missionaries, there was no need of resorting to the extreme measure of ordaining the Indians as priests—as the Portuguese of India had done, and as now do the bishops sent out on the part of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide in their missions of Eastern India; and the latter do so because of their urgent necessity, since the said holy Congregation has not the funds for the support of European priests. On the contrary, the few whom they have in China, Tunquín, and other regions are supported by the alms which the citizens of Manila send them—except the bishops and priests of Siam, who have more means of support from fixed incomes in France.

This is a subject on which there is much to be said on both sides; but this is not the place for it, nor do I feel under obligation to continue it. I suppose that many Indians will be more worthy than are many Europeans to attain so high a dignity; but since the former usually do not enter the priesthood through the gate of a vocation, and only strive to attain it for the sake of advantage to themselves and their relatives, the danger is evident that the result will seldom be satisfactory. They cite the example of the primitive Church, which made bishops and ordained priests among the recently converted—like St. Paul in Ephesus and Athens, and in other parts of Greece, and the holy apostles for all the world; but there is a great difference [between that case and this], in the needs of those times and the nobility of those nations. These and many other changes resulted from the information given in Madrid by the bishop Don Francisco Palu, who went to Roma, where also his information caused changes. I suppose that the intentions of this holy prelate were good; but he was lacking in experience. His representations also affected the governor Manuel de León and the auditors; for, although the royal Council of the Indias approved the caution with which they had acted in this so delicate matter, at Roma the result was very different. For his Holiness Clement X excommunicated them, and declared that they had incurred the censures of the bull In Cæna Domini, by a brief which, printed and authorized in Roma and Paris in the year 1675, was sent to Manila from China and Siam. [Here follows a sketch of Palu’s further career, his death, and some matters relating to the Chinese missions.]

This year the galleon “San Telmo,” which was going to Nueva España, in command of General Antonio Nieto, was driven back to port, which caused great losses in the property of the citizens of Manila.

Not less were the troubles which the archbishop of Manila, Don Fray Juan López, encountered from the time when he began to govern his church. He was a prelate of great virtue and learning, and of a pacific nature, disinclined to quarrels and discords; but as he was very firm in the defense of his jurisdiction and dignity, he greatly regretted that occasion should arise for disturbing the peace which he so loved. During his time, there were many occasions for recourse to the royal Audiencia, and controversies over jurisdiction; but that which most exercised the patience of this great prelate was the audacious conduct of Master Don Jerónimo de Herrera y Figueroa, who filled the post of chief chaplain of the royal chapel of the Incarnation; this was founded by Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, for the cemetery of Manila, for the burial of his soldiers, as we stated in its place. The said chief chaplain attempted to arrogate to himself the privileges and exemptions which the army chaplains enjoy when they are actually in the field; and thus he sought to be exempted from obedience to the archbishop and from his jurisdiction, although he was only the chaplain of a chapel in a presidio. He had on his side the favor of the governor, Don Manuel de León—which in Filipinas is to have the lawsuit already gained and all one’s efforts successful. Made confident and daring by this, he opposed his prelate, not only refusing to obey him, but even being so insolent as to post the archbishop as excommunicate, to the scandal of all the heathen peoples who resort to Manila; and these abominable disputes lasted a long time. A long manifesto was written and printed in favor of Don Jerónimo de Herrera by Licentiate Don Juan de Rosales, an advocate in the royal Audiencia, proceeding on the false assumption of the privileges and exemptions of the chaplains who go with the armies in their campaigns; and reply to him was made, with very superior arguments, by the cura of the Spaniards in Manila, Bachelor Don José de Carrión. But, although the archbishop had justice on his side, the opposite side had a hold on the governor, and thus they did not care much for the lack of equity. This controversy was so bitter that the judges would not decide it, on account of the strained relations between them; and so it was necessary to refer the case to España, to the royal and supreme Council of Indias. They, as unprejudiced judges, rendered sentence in favor of the archbishop; but when this decision arrived he was already dead. Then the chaplains of the said royal chapel learned that they were not exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary, as the army chaplains are exempt for other and reasonable causes.

These and other troubles, together with those of old age, hastened the death of the archbishop, Don Fray Juan López; this was as holy as his life, and occurred in April of the year 1674. He was buried in the convent of Santo Domingo, among his brethren. He was a native of Martín Muñoz de las Posadas, and came to this province of Santo Rosario in the year 1647. He taught theology in the convent of Santo Tomás in Manila, and went to España and Roma as procurator of the province, returning as consecrated bishop of Cebú in the year 1666. In 1672 he began to govern the archbishopric of Manila, with great reputation as a vigilant pastor, although that church enjoyed only two years of his prudent government. The regret for his loss was increased by the fact that a general vacancy in the office of consecrated bishop ensued in all the islands; this lasted until the year 1680, when the bishop of Cebú, Don Fray Diego de Aguilar arrived here—great affliction being caused in all that long period, by the lack of any one to confer holy orders on men who might assist the ministers who gave instruction. Many, both clerics and regulars, were obliged to journey to the kingdom of Siam, where they were ordained by Don Luis de Lanoy Faces, bishop of Metelopolis and vicar-apostolic of that kingdom; and others went to Nueva España to be ordained, for even the city of Macán was without a bishop. Don Fray Payo de Ribera,[16] the archbishop and viceroy of Mexico, was careful to send them the holy oils every year; he belonged to the order of our father St. Augustine, and was a prelate worthy of eternal remembrance on account of his great virtues—on which he placed the seal by renouncing the bishopric of Cuenca and retiring to the convent of our Lady of El Risco. He died there, with a great reputation for sanctity, being an example for prelates and for very austere religious.

Chapter IV

The triennial of our father Fray Jerónimo de León passed with some disturbances, which did not fail to cause considerable disquiet in the minds of the religious, and disturb the peace of the order. The reason was, that after the first year of his term, he began to doubt whether he was lawfully elected, as it seemed to him that the real provincial was father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco; and indeed this was the case, as affirmed by our very reverend father general, Fray Nicolas de Oliva, of Sienna. Father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco had met a holy death in Zebú; and therefore our father Fray Dionisio Suárez, as provincial of the preceding chapter, began to govern [the province] as rector-provincial. Then Fray Jerónimo de León had recourse to the royal Audiencia[17] on a plea of fuerza, alleging this spoliation. And inasmuch as such proceeding acts as a stay, since it is a principle in law that Spoliatus debet ante omnia restitui, omni alio casu postposito,[18] they ordered that the government be restored to Fray Jerónimo, and that the question of title should be acted on later. But as judicial procedure is so slow, and of such bounds that they usually make a lawsuit eternal, our father Fray Dionisio Suárez was not inclined to secure his right at the cost of so much vexation; and therefore the triennial was completed in great peace; for father Fray Jerónimo de León was a religious very affable and worthy of being loved, and he deserved that his election should not be hampered by so notable a defect.

The time arrived for holding the session of the provincial chapter—the time in which the troubles which so many difficulties had caused to this province were to cease, and when not only the former peace and concord were to return, but great gains were to be secured in religious observance; for from the time of this chapter-meeting this province began to grow more strict, and to grow in all that conduces to its greater splendor, every chapter-session increasing in strictness of observance, to the greater glory of our regular institute. Such are usually the benefits that arise from the judicious choice of a good superior, who undertakes to fulfil the obligations of his office. The chapter was convened in the convent of Manila on April 14, 1674; its president was the father definitor Fray Luis de Montuyar, on account of the deaths of the two senior definitors, Master Fray José de Mendoza and Fray Isidro Rodríguez. By general agreement the election for provincial fell on our father Fray José Duque, commissary of the Holy Office. He was a native of Oropesa, and was fifty-six years old; a son of the convent of San Felipe at Madrid, and a very near relative of the glorious saint Teresa de Jesús; and an able minister in the province of Pampanga, besides having much to do with its pacification in the disturbances in that province which we have already related. He came over to this province of Filipinas in the year 1645, and always had the reputation of being a religious of very strict observance, with great ability as a ruler; and this province found him to be such during an experience of many years in his four terms of office therein—three as provincial, and one as rector-provincial—being always reverenced as the father of it. As definitors were elected fathers Fray Enrique de Castro, Fray José Gutiérrez, Fray Bernardino Márquez, and Fray Bartolomé de la Torre; and as visitors fathers Fray Antonio de Villela and the reader Fray José Rubio. Ordinances and regulations very suitable for the good government of the province were enacted, not many in number but useful and judicious.

At that period, this province was found very deficient in religious, on account of the many vacancies caused by death; on this account the ministries lacked the service which their extent and the arduous nature of some rendered necessary. Accordingly, as soon as the chapter-session adjourned the first care to which the new provincial devoted himself was to choose a well-qualified religious who might go as procurator to the two courts of Roma and Madrid, where the discords of the troubled chapter of the year 1671 had made a strong impression. For this purpose a private chapter-session was assembled, and therein a very judicious choice was made for this position, that of father Fray Juan García—a native of Las Encartaciones, and a minister in the province of Ilocos. The necessary despatches were given to him, and he embarked in the same year for Nueva España, in the galleon “San Telmo;” it was commanded by General Tomás de Endaya, a most successful man in these islands, where he died as his Majesty’s master-of-camp for them, in the year 1745. This religious had a prosperous voyage, and arrived at Nueva España and Roma; he successfully fulfilled his commission in all respects, and afterward returned to this province with a mission of religious, in the year 1679, so long was he detained in the negotiations at Roma and Madrid.

Chart of Manila Bay; photographic facsimile from Valentyn’s Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien (Dordrecht en Amsterdam, 1724)

[From copy in library of Wisconsin Historical Society]

Through the peaceful rule of Don Manuel de León, in which term all was prosperous and fortunate, the Filipinas Islands began to take breath after the troubles of so many preceding years; and in a short time they were gathering new strength and vigor. Don Manuel de León was a man of very good intentions, and had the excellent virtue of being very disinterested—which is very important in these regions, where the vice opposite to that has temptations so ready to make one fall headlong into the abyss of greed, which causes so many wrecks, as the root of all evils. Trading vessels came frequently from China, of which country the Tartars had gained entire possession; the Chinese, therefore, having laid aside their defensive arms, strove to accommodate themselves to the times, being anxious to repair the losses caused by war with the gains from trading—which is more adapted to their disposition than is war, Mars giving place to Mercury. The Chinese trade is the mainstay of the maintenance of Filipinas, by means of the silver which comes from Nueva España, which is the blood that gives life to this land; for from China come the stuffs necessary for clothing, from the shirt in their delicate fabrics to the needle and thread. Thence comes the fine earthenware which is, with reason, so celebrated throughout the world as choice and inimitable, because the material and clay of which it is made are found in no other place. Thence come drugs, and very rich coloring stuffs—especially vermilion, which is the best in the world. Finally, one cannot imagine any exquisite article for the equipment of a house which does not come from China, both cheap and excellent—especially the wares that come from Japón, with which country the Chinese have free commerce, just as it is totally prohibited to us. In some of the years of that fortunate governor thirty champans would land at Manila, and many from the province of Cantón, where is the city of Macán, a Portuguese colony—which is so rich in silks that it has enough of that noble commodity to supply nearly all of the whole world; it is conveyed in ships belonging to the Dutch, English, French, and Portuguese, and that which is carried to Manila and thence to Nueva España is the smallest part of it. The great city of Cantón (or Kuang-tung, as they call it) is far greater than the great Cairo or Babilonia of Egypt, for those who are most moderate in estimating its population allow it four millions of inhabitants; but although it is so great it is not the largest city in the extensive empire of China, for that of Nanking has eight millions, according to Father Martino Martínez in his Chinese atlas.[19] It is very commonly said in Manila that the city of Cantón has sixty thousand silk-looms, on which are made various fabrics of cloth and damask; and thus in one month enough is woven to lade many ships. By this some idea can be formed of the other industries of that city—or rather, that little world.

Commerce was also opened with the Portuguese of Macán, a trade which had been quite forgotten with the disturbances in China; and from that time it has continued, in varying degree, until this day. This trade, moreover, had been prohibited since the year 1640, on account of the wars with Portugal; but through the negotiations carried on at the court of Madrid by Don Fray Álvaro de Benavente, when he was procurator of this province—asserting that this was the best and safest means for the entrance into China for the missionaries who were going to Filipinas—the trade with Macán was opened and authorized, as was accordingly published in Manila by a royal decree; and it was made known to the Portuguese at Macán by another from their king, Don Pedro II. The pretext which was given for opening this commerce was the entrance of the missionaries into China, and its results have been various, according to what the Portuguese have found expedient for their own interests, on account of the pretensions which they make to the [ecclesiastical] patronage of China—in accordance with the line of demarcation [between the dominions] of the two crowns, by the celebrated bull of Alexander VI, a question which is not yet decided by a competent judge; and therefore our missionaries enter China when the Portuguese choose to let them do so. But the latter come every year to Manila with one or two shiploads of goods, which is the most profitable trade that they have, on account of its nearness and of their securing in barter the silver that is so esteemed by the Chinese. But as the Portuguese are so courtly and liberal a people, and inclined to boast of the obligations of nobility, some Portuguese gentlemen usually return quite destitute of funds—as occurred this year to Juan Tabora, a cavalier of the Order of Christ. He spent the wealth which he brought here, which was much, in elegant gallantries and in bull-fights; for he arrived here at a time when these and other sports were very frequent in Manila—not only on account of the prosperity and peace which were experienced during the entire term of office of Don Manuel de León, but through the jovial disposition of his favorite and secretary, Don José Castellar, who was a very witty and courtly man, and very fond of such pastimes. In these he spent whatever he was able to acquire, and when he came to die he was so poor that he was buried, through charity, in a chapel of St. Roque in the village of Mambong, belonging to the doctrina of Malolos in the province of Bulacán, which is in our charge.

Not only was the commerce with China, Cantón, and Macán set free in the time of the fortunate governor Don Manuel de León, but another was begun—indeed, almost discovered—which was very large and profitable, which has greatly increased the wealth of the citizens of Manila. This is the trade and traffic of the coast of Coromandel or Malabar[20] in Eastern India. This is the coast which extends from the mouths of the river Ganges, at the beginning of the large kingdom of Bengal, as far as the cape of Comorin; it is inhabited by Malabars, a people very shrewd and intelligent, and fond of work, and so crafty that when it is worth their while they deceive [even] the Chinese, who excel in the ability to cheat. The Malabar and Bengal people are unsurpassed in the art of spinning and weaving cotton cloth; for they weave pieces more delicate than the finest cambrics and Dutch linens, and gauzes so fine that when they are spread upon a table, the thread can hardly be discerned, it is so thin and delicate. But that in which they most excel, and have been alone and inimitable, is in their very fine cotton cloth dyed exquisitely with the finest colors; and this has another quality most excellent and admirable, which is that the more it is washed, the finer and more lustrous the colors appear, and they never are washed out or become dull. Without doubt these so rare colors are those which Job mentions in the twenty-eighth chapter, when making comparisons with Wisdom, he says: Non conferetur tinctis Indiæ coloribus.[21] On this coast of Coromandel the English, Dutch, French, and Danes maintain their factories, and possess an extensive commerce in cotton cloth, which is consumed throughout Europa—and much more in the regions of the north, because cotton is so good for protecting them [from the cold]. But the largest settlement, and the one most frequented for commerce, is that which the English have, named Madrastapán, or Fort St. George;[22] it is peopled with innumerable dwellers of all nationalities, not only those of India but Europeans. This is greatly favored by the policy that is in use in this great town, very different from that which obtains in Inglaterra, which is to permit the exercise not only of the apostolic Roman Catholic faith, but of all the heathen doctrines and ceremonies; and thus the Catholics have their churches, and so do the schismatic Armenians, with schismatic Basilian monks.[23] The heretics have their meeting-houses,[24] according to their sects; the Moors [i.e., Mahometans] their mosques, and the heathen their pagodas; nor even is their synagogue denied to the Jews; and all live peaceably, exercising the occupations of trade, as harmoniously as if they all had but one faith and religion. About two leguas distant is the city of Santo Tomé, a noted colony of the Portuguese, which in former times enjoyed [the distinction of] being the emporium of all Eastern India; and the cause of its destruction was its enormous wealth and the lack of harmony among the Portuguese, a people who are naturally inclined to disagree. On a lofty height near the city there is an ancient church, in which is venerated an image of Our Lady, which is said to have been painted by St. Luke and deposited in that place (called Meliapor) by the apostle St. Thomas, who preached to the Malabars our holy faith and suffered martyrdom in this place—where is guarded a stone cross near which he was put to death; and the lance with which they pierced him, stained with his holy blood, is displayed, with other memorials of this glorious apostle. [Diaz here mentions the great probability, fortified by citations from Juan de Barros, that the remains of the apostle repose there.][25]

This commerce with the coast of Coromandel had remained quite neglected by the Spaniards of Filipinas—who never had maintained any other trade and commerce than that with China, Japón, and Macán—until this year of 1674. Then a citizen of Manila, a Catalan, named Juan Ventura Sarra, a courageous man, having first made with a fragata which he owned a voyage to the kingdom of Siam, from which he gained some wealth, extended his navigation to this coast of Malabar, where he left trade established; and in the following year Don Luis de Matienzo went thither, with much silver, and gained enough profit to persuade the citizens of Manila to engage in this traffic. The principal commodity which is brought from the Coromandel coast is certain webs of cotton, many of them forty varas long, which they call “elephants,” which are highly valued in Nueva España; accordingly, it is this merchandise which is chiefly shipped to those regions.

The governor placed on the stocks the frame of the galleon “Santa Rosa,” the work of that accredited master of this important and useful art, Juan Bautista Nicolá; and it came from them one of the finest and largest galleons that had been built in the port of Cavite and made very successful voyages, sometimes being driven back to port. The governor commanded Juan Canosa Raguses, a very able builder of vessels with lateen sails, to build two galleys; these proved to be very suitable and swift, and rendered much service in driving away the Camucones, very crafty and troublesome pirates, who almost every year infest the Pintados Islands, plundering and taking captive. This is a barbarous people, cruel, and cowardly; indeed, they could not be the one without being also the other. They inhabit a chain of small islands, which extends from Paragua to Borney; some of them are Mahometans, and others heathen. But they [all] cause much damage to the Bisayan Islands, which they ravage without opposition—going so far as to carry away, in the year 1672, the alcalde-mayor Don José de San Miguel, as we have related in another place. They have a great advantage in the exceeding swiftness of their vessels, which enables them to find their defense in flight. Their confidence and boldness reached such a height that they even dared to infest the coasts of the island of Manila. The provincial of that time (of whom this chapter treats), Fray José Duque, while on his way to visit the islands of Pintados, came very near being made a captive, with his companion Fray Alvaro de Benavente; for they were attacked by a squadron of these pirates near the island of Marinduque, where they would have been a prey to their cruelty if they had not been protected by divine kindness, through the valor of Captain Francisco Ponce—a veteran soldier, who killed the captain and another of the pirates—and also the coming of a high wind, which gave wings to the champan to place itself in safety.

At this time, in the year 1675, Governor Don Manuel de León was in great danger of dying, on account of having placed himself under medical treatment, without being actually sick, solely for the sake of improving his health—a proof that it might have cost him his life. Don Manuel was a corpulent man, and had grown so fleshy that he was almost unable to move about without aid, at which he grieved much because he could not attend to many functions which belonged to the obligations of his office. In view of this hindrance and his desires, Juan Ventura Sarra (whom I have already mentioned in the voyages to Siam and the coast of Coromandel) bound himself to cure Don Manuel and remove from him that great encumbrance [of flesh]—confident because he was a very expert surgeon, and the governor a man of great courage and reared in and accustomed to the perils of war. The governor accordingly accepted this treatment; and the skilful surgeon opened his abdomen in many places and removed from him many lumps of fat, and then sewed up and treated the wounds. In a few weeks the governor became well, and his flesh was much reduced, to the wonder of those who saw how the surgeon cut the flesh from his body, and the courage which the governor displayed—and what caused most dread [of the result] was his being an aged man, but little less than seventy years old. The king of León, Don Sancho I, was cured about the year 920 of a similar infirmity of excessive obesity, by the physicians of the Moorish king of Córdoba, Abderramen; but their treatment was not so harsh and sanguinary. It is certain that Juan Ventura Sarra was a great surgeon, and showed that he was such not only with this governor, but also in the year 1682 with his successor, Master-of-camp Don Juan Vargas Hurtado. There was no hope for Don Juan’s life, on account of a large abscess in the hip, which was not understood to be such by the physicians; but Juan Ventura knew what it was, and opened the abscess with a large lancet which he made from a dagger, more than a tercia[26] long, since the cavity was very deep. In this operation he showed his skill as much as Don Juan de Vargas displayed his great bravery and endurance, which aroused admiration.

Although the cure of Don Manuel de León was so marvelous, he did not, since that inordinate obesity was now a disease and a corruption of nature, long enjoy the agility and lightness of body that the medical treatment had obtained for him; and so he gradually fell back into that unusual infirmity, and again found himself, as before, without the use of his limbs. He had many wounds in his body, which he had received in more than fifty years of military life in Flandes, Alemania, and Galicia, where he had taken part in battles more celebrated than were known in those times [i.e., of which Diaz was writing]. He had been so courageous in not fearing dangers that they called Don Manuel de León “Ironhead.” Among these he had one deep wound, which must have been imperfectly or only apparently healed; and this in course of time, and with the pressure on it that would be caused by the increase of flesh, opened, a great flow of blood issuing from it. This occurred so inopportunely that he was present in the church of Santo Domingo, clothed in mourning garb, assisting in the funeral rites for Doña María Cuéllar, wife of Auditor Don Francisco de Coloma.[27] His blood flowed very copiously, but those near him could not see it on account of the mourning garments, and because the chair and cushion were of black, until he began to swoon, and sank into the chair. They carried him in their arms to his coach, and thence he was conveyed to his palace, where all the care due to the cure of such a personage as he was furnished. The above-mentioned Juan Ventura Sarra treated him, applying all means which the art of surgery imparts to those who are so skilful as was Juan Ventura, who within four months brought him to what seemed a state of convalescence. But as his age was so great, and could not give much aid to the medicine (which only assists nature), Don Manuel could never regain sound health. The physicians ordered him to go to one of the houses that stand by the river opposite Manila, where he spent a long time—until, on the night of April 8, 1676, they found him dead in his bed, although he had retired without any indications of such danger. They found a power of attorney authorizing the father provincial of St. Dominic, Master Fray Diego de San Román, to make a will in his name, and directions that he be interred in the royal chapel of the Incarnation belonging to the soldiers of Manila, where he lies in a little chapel which stands on the gospel side. He was one of the best governors who has ruled these Filipinas Islands, very disinterested, pious, affable, and clement; and his death was therefore regretted by all classes. The estate that he left was the only property belonging to a governor that was put to good use,[28] the religious who acted as administrator applying it to pious works which the governor had named to him—such as the holy Bureau of La Misericordia, so that for years many orphan girls were given in marriage by means of that part [of the governor’s donation] which belonged to their dowries, until, with the successive wrecks of the two galleons “Santo Cristo de Burgos” and “San José,” in the years 1693 and 1695, the principal of that great endowment was entirely consumed. He also left directions to found a well-endowed chaplaincy in his native place—Paredes de Nava, in the district of Campos—and many other good works, worthy of his piety.

On account of his death the senior auditor, Don Francisco de Coloma, took charge of the government, in company with auditors Don Francisco de Mansilla and Don Diego Calderón y Serrano for civil affairs—for already had come the decision, in the controversy between the two auditors, by the royal and supreme Council of the Indias in favor of Don Francisco de Coloma, although his government lasted but a short time, on account of his death. During the time while they governed, however, they were very well agreed. The new governor despatched the ship “Santa Rosa” (which had just been completed) for Nueva España, in charge of General Don Francisco de Teja, a Navarrese gentleman; and it had a very prosperous voyage, as we shall see in due time.

Chapter V

All the triennial during which our father Fray José Duque ruled was a very prosperous time for this province, on account of the great improvement which was accomplished by his assiduity in reforming it, with both zeal and discretion; for he was as respected as beloved by all. The religious greatly regretted that the end of his term of office was approaching, and to see themselves deprived of so excellent a prelate, who had so built up the edifice of strict observance of our rules, and had much better regulated the administration of the mission villages and ministries in our charge—his excellent management making up for the great deficiency of laborers which existed, which made it necessary, in many respects, to burden each minister with the work of two. Not his least care was that he had found the common property of not only the province but the convent of Manila greatly diminished, and everything reduced to the utmost necessity of restoration; for this is usually the greatest hindrance and impediment to the superiors in promoting with energy the regular observance, which requires many means for its preservation. But all was supplied by the diligence of that discreet prelate, making easier the removal of the most serious hindrances.

The time came for holding the provincial chapter, which assembled on May 8 in the year 1677, and, according to custom, in the convent of Manila. It was presided over—by commission of our very reverend father general, Master Fray Nicolás de Oliva, of Sienna—by the father reader Fray Miguel Rubio; and the election for provincial fell, by the general consent of all the voting fathers, and with the approval of all who were outside of the order, on our father Fray Juan de Jeréz, a religious excelling in virtue. He was a native of Baños in Extremadura, bishopric of Plasencia—a place belonging to the Duke de Béjar and the Marqués de Montemayor—and was a son of the convent of Valladolid and fifty years of age. He had been for many years master of novices in the convents of Salamanca and Burgos, which is a sufficient proof of his religious devotion and virtue. He left España for these islands in the year 1669, and had been a minister in Pampanga; and in this chapter he cast his first vote as visitor of the province.[29] As definitors were elected the fathers Fray Pedro de Mesa, Fray Juan Labao, Fray Francisco de Albear, and Fray Pedro Canales; and as visitors the fathers Fray Domingo de San Miguel and Fray Juan Guedeja. They enacted statutes very useful for the government of the province, and for the stricter observance of our religious estate, many of which were reproduced in various following chapters, having been found by experience to be well-chosen and advantageous.

The acting governor despatched the galleon “San Telmo” for Nueva España, in charge of General Don Tomás de Endaya, a regidor of the city of Manila; and it encountered so many storms before doubling the point of Santiago that fears were entertained that it would not have time to make the voyage before the vendavals. But the bravery of the commander and of his pilot, Leandro Cuello, over-came great difficulties, and they succeeded in reaching their destination.

The galleon “Santa Rosa,” which had sailed for Nueva España the year before, had also experienced storms, from the time when it reached the Embocadero of San Bernardino. For this reason Sargento-mayor Alfonso Fernández Pacheco came to Manila, bringing the despatches from his Majesty and information of the ship’s arrival on the thirtieth of August. This galleon brought the news that Don Carlos II had begun, at the age of fifteen years, to rule the monarchy of España in person, freed from the guardianship of the queen-mother, Doña Mariana of Austria; and commands were issued that his royal name and seal be used in the despatches, and that royal fiestas proper to so important an event be celebrated—which took place afterward, in the month of December, as we shall soon relate.

[At this time] came the despatches for the presentation made by his Majesty for the archbishopric of Manila, of the person of the very reverend father master Fray Felipe Pardo, of the Order of Preachers; he accepted this dignity, and began to govern his church, the ecclesiastical cabildo yielding up the government to him. This appointment found him at the time engaged in the duties of commissary of the Holy Office of the Inquisition; his place therein was taken by father Fray Juan de los Angeles, a man who was worthy of such a name on account of his virtue and mild disposition. Also came the presentation of the reverend father Fray Andrés González for bishop of Nueva Cáceres or Camarines; he also accepted, and was consecrated, and ruled that church creditably, as he was a devoted religious, and very charitable; and he left behind him, when he died, a great reputation for sanctity.

On September 27, the acting governor, Auditor Don Francisco Coloma y Maceda, died at the age of sixty years, from an intestinal hemorrhage; he was an official of much integrity and uprightness, and was buried in the convent of Santo Domingo with his wife, Doña María de Cuellar. The government was assumed by Auditor Don Francisco de Mansilla, a native of Ceniceros in Rioja, who was no less upright than his predecessor. His term of office was short, because a proprietary governor came in the following year; but even in the short time while his rule lasted he showed that he deserved that it should continue during his life, on account of the very peaceable and equitable manner in which he exercised his office. The first thing which he did was to look for all those who had been opposed to him in the year 1668, when he was exiled to Iloylo by Don Juan Manuel Bonifaz; and he honored all of them, more than some deserved, displaying a generous spirit, and that of a Christian ruler, which aroused the admiration of those who saw his prudence and moderation. These islands were much grieved that he must so soon have a successor, for the people loved and reverenced him. He was of corpulent figure and venerable aspect; and his hair (which was scanty) and his mustache (which was large) were white as snow—all which conciliated respect. Two years afterward, promotion came to him, the post of alcalde for criminal cases in [the Audiencia of] Méjico; but he died at the height of the voyage.[30] He had two sons: Don Felipe Mansilla, a knight of the Order of Santiago, who lives in Méjico; and Father Antonio Mansilla, of the Society of Jesus, in these islands.

The city and municipality of Manila having determined to celebrate the festivities due to the great rejoicing which was caused in the Spanish domains by the assumption of sovereignty over them by their king Don Carlos II, decided that these should be actually held in December, from the fourth to the seventh day of that month. This was done with great pomp and brilliancy. In the morning three sermons were preached: one by the dean of the cathedral, Master Don Miguel Ortíz de Covarrubias; another by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente of the order of our father St. Augustine (the secretary of our province, and often named in this history; he died in China, as bishop of Ascalon and vicar apostolic of Kiengsi); and the third by the reverend Father Jerónimo de Ortega, of the Society of Jesus. For the afternoons there were various bull-fights and comedies. On the last day, December 7, after the bull-fights and comedies, there were demonstrations of rejoicing; and for a climax to the festivities there was, at six o’clock in the afternoon, a beautiful and splendid masquerade, with magnificent costumes, and parades of servants in costly liveries. The most distinguished citizens of Manila went therein, two by two, representing the realms of the monarchy of España, with shields and mottoes proper for each kingdom; those who came last were the two alcaldes-in-ordinary of Manila, General Francisco Rayo Doria and Sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Moya, representing the kingdoms of Castilla and León. They rode in pairs on handsomely-caparisoned horses, to the destination which was prepared for this purpose with palisades, and with so much splendor from wax tapers that the night had no cause to envy the brighter day. With this brilliant and elegant masquerade these royal festivities came to an end, the city remaining in the quiet and silence proper to that hour, which was about seven at night.

Quite ignorant were all those who had celebrated and enjoyed this gay festival of the sad and melancholy catastrophe which was to follow on this so joyous scene; all were forgetful of the uncertainty of the pleasures of this world, which suddenly shifts its scenes, passing from gayety to mourning. Hardly had the people time to shelter themselves in their houses—some fatigued with the exercises of the masquerade, and others sad that the royal festivities had come to an end—when at half-past seven in the evening the earth began to tremble with horrible vibrations, changing their recent gayety into fear, horror, and lamentable perplexity. This first earthquake lasted a long time, so that it was feared that the last and fatal day for the sad city of Manila had arrived. The continuous and unequal vibrations of the ground; the frightful cracking of timbers; the [falling of] tiles from the roofs, and of stones which, loosened from the walls, came to the ground, raising great clouds of dust: all these made a most gloomy night, the image of death. Some hastened to seek confessors, and not finding them soon, published aloud their own sins. This first motion of the earth ceased, which people affirm to have been more violent than that of August 20, 1658, but it did not last so long; if it had been equal in duration to that one, it would have caused a large amount of havoc in the city of Manila.

It was worth much to the city that the earthquake found it greatly improved over former times in regard to the height of its buildings; for now they were reduced to more humble stature, and without the projections which would cause its greatest destruction, as has been experienced in previous earthquakes. The use of the harigues or wooden pillars on which the heavy timber-work of the roofs leans and rests was recognized to be a sure protection and defense from such disasters; and therefore, although the earthquake demolished many buildings, breaking open the solid mass of masonry, they did not suffer entire ruin by being thrown down to the ground. Some few were destroyed through being old and in bad condition; but only one or two persons perished, and they of little account in the world. The kind-hearted governor went out with many followers to visit the [military] posts of the city, and aid, if he could, those who were in need; and the same was done by the alcaldes-in-ordinary and the regidors, accompanied by many citizens. The religious orders were well occupied in the ministries of their profession—some preaching from tables placed in the streets, others hastening to hear the confessions of those who asked for this sacrament, that is, of all. While all these were occupied in exercises so holy and pious, the trembling of the earth was again repeated many times; but, through the divine kindness, these vibrations were much slighter, continually diminishing—so that it seemed as if the divine anger were gradually being appeased, just as men were continually showing themselves more penitent. All that night until daybreak the earthquake shocks continued; for there were so many of them that one man counted forty, although to me it seemed as if there were many more. Many came out [from this calamity] crippled and lame; but all recognized that it was a miracle that the city had not been utterly destroyed with so repeated shocks. Later, it was ascertained that some chasms and air-vents in the earth had opened, and which is surely the cause of these disturbances. One chasm opened in the bounds of the village of Bauang, in the province of Balayán; and another in the mountains of Gapang, in Pampanga. Those who arrived here after navigating the seas of these islands recounted the horrible perils in which they had found themselves, tossed by great billows and almost submerged in the swell which was caused in the sea by the earthquake; the sea even rose until, in many places, it swept over the land, occasioning great damage. With this slight mention I will close the sad account of the melancholy termination of these royal festivities.

The master-of-camp of these islands died, Don Agustín de Cepeda y Carracedo; he was a native of Talavera de la Reina, a relative of the glorious saint Teresa de Jesús, and more than eighty years of age. He was one of the most valiant soldiers who has belonged to these regions, and with that reputation he has been mentioned in this history in the greatest military exploits of his time, and in the government of Zamboanga and Ternate; and, what is his greatest glory, he was an excellent Christian, devout and charitable, and died with strong indications that he had been very earnestly such. For acting master-of-camp the governor appointed General Alonso López, a soldier of long standing, and also very aged; and therefore he did not long serve in that office.

Governor Don Francisco de Mansilla despatched the galleon for Nueva España, appointing as its commander his son, Don Felipe de Mansilla y Prado, a young man of much courage and ability, who at the time was serving in the post of sargento-mayor of the Manila army, which is the second, in the esteem of military men, after that of master-of-camp. As sargento-mayor of the galleon he appointed Juan Ventura Sarra (the Catalan so famous for his successful surgical operations), on account of his being a man of much valor, and experienced in military service in Flandes and Cataluña. This galleon made a very prosperous voyage, both going and returning, as we shall see in the following chapter.

About the end of July in this year of 1678 came news that the galleon “San Telmo” had sighted these islands; it was under the command of General Don Tomás de Endaya, and had sailed for the port of Acapulco in the preceding year. It brought the proprietary governor, Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a native of Toledo, and nephew of the venerable mother Jerónima de la Asunción, foundress of the convent of Santa Clara in Manila—whose admirable life has been written by the father reader Fray Antonio de Leytona,[31] of the Observantine Order of St. Francis; and the investigations preliminary to her beatification have been begun. This knight had served many years in Flandes, Cataluña, and Extremadura, always with great commendation for his valor, which was as great as his nobility. He came with his wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila, a native of Badajoz; and brought in his company her uncle, a captain of cuirassiers, Don Francisco Guerrero y Ardila—a man of lofty stature, who, like another Saul, surpassed by the head and shoulders the tallest man in the Manila garrison—who showed that he possessed great valor. The new governor brought with him a numerous and brilliant retinue, and those who afterward attained most note were: his secretary, Miguel Sánchez Villanueva y Tejada, a man of great virtue, who came with his wife and three children, and afterward, having lost his wife, was ordained as a priest, and lived a long time an example for ecclesiastics, as before he had been one for laymen; Captains Don Juan Gallardo, Don Pedro Oriosolo, Don Jacinto Lobán, Don Tomás Martínez de Trillanes, Don Diego Vivien, Don Felipe Ceballos, Don José Armijo, Don Francisco Fabra, Don Antonio de Tabora, Don Juan Castel, Don Juan de Tricaldir, Don Manuel Alvarado; and others, all of whom served long in these islands. As fiscal for his Majesty came Licentiate Don Diego de Viga, a native of Bejar; he was afterward an auditor for many years, and was a very upright and disinterested official. The governor also brought some reenforcements of troops. The appointment of commandant of the castle of Santiago came to General Fernando de Bobadilla, who afterward was master-of-camp.

On the day of our Lady’s nativity Don Juan de Vargas entered Manila, being received with great festivities; there were two ingenious triumphal arches, which were erected by the religious orders of our father St. Augustine and the Society, because both had their houses on the principal street through which the procession would pass. Don Juan began to govern with much prudence and desire to do well; he was very punctual in fulfilling his duties, and never failed in his daily attendance on the sessions of the Audiencia (in which some governors had displayed much negligence); and therefore in his time the court business was despatched more promptly, for he found many suits unsettled and delayed. This is an insuperable difficulty in these islands, where the lawsuits are eternal and constitute a perpetual source of income for court reporters, secretaries, and commissioners[32]—who, with the slow steps of judicial procedure, are continually plundering the litigants, until, impoverished or exhausted, they give up the suit, which is incorporated into a great mass of documents, which they call “Proceedings in lawsuits” [autos] in the archives of the court. Don Juan de Vargas was more fit for a soldier than for a governor; and gradually he looked with distaste on the duties of so arduous a post, and turned his attention to the means for securing his own advantage. The uncle of his wife, Don Francisco Guerrero de Ardila, became so much the master of Don Juan that, by his craftiness and great ability, he came to be the arbiter of the government. Accordingly, it was he who was governor, and he was the drayman who guided Don Juan de Vargas, while the latter, like a wagon, was carrying the weight of the government. Yet later Don Francisco Guerrero left him alone, and went to Nueva España, at so important a juncture that he met in the Embocadero the succeeding governor, Don Gabriel Crucelaegui, and Don Juan de Vargas in the residencia was laden with his own transgressions and those of others, as we shall see in due time. He had a great advantage for thus making himself arbiter of everything, in having more affability and more shrewdness than the governor, who was naturally harsh and unamiable and easily fretted. Accordingly, every one set on foot his claims with more confidence by the hand of the uncle, who, as all knew, was the fly-wheel for the movements of the government; and thus in a short time he secured following and applause, [although] without the formal marks of respect which belong to the dignity of a ruler; and he came to direct the entire government, with authority and without opposition. The authority of Don Francisco Guerrero was greatly increased because the governor had made him master-of-camp, because of the death of Alonso López, who died within a short time [after his appointment], at an advanced age; this increased Don Francisco’s authority, and strengthened his influence over the governor. The servants [of the governor] made more effort to secure their own advantage than that of their master, and therefore Don Juan de Vargas found himself alone in everything that was not to the profit of the uncle and his familiars. He appointed as castellan and governor of Cavite Don Juan Gallardo; this is the most influential and profitable position that the governors of Filipinas have at their disposal—although at the present time his Majesty fills this office from Madrid; and in this way it was held more than twenty-eight years by Sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Atienza y Bañes, who died while holding the post of master-of-camp, in the year 1718. Another servant, Don Francisco Fabra, he appointed chief guard of the Parián, an office which affords great opportunities and facilities for securing the best goods; and thus in this occupation he was, so to speak, the governor’s agent, for which employ he had much ability.

Don Juan de Vargas, during his entire term of office, maintained trade and commerce with foreign nations, as those of the Coromandel coast, Bengal, and Surrate—which is the greatest emporium of Eastern India and of all the kingdoms subject to the emperor the Great Mogor [i.e., Mogul], a monarch more powerful than the Great Turk, and without doubt more wealthy. From this emporium of Surrate almost every year come one or two ships of great burden, like those that are called “ships of the line,” laden with many and varied wares of Eastern India. Within the last few years these traders are Mahometans, although before they were heathens; this is because they were obliged to accept the cursed doctrine of Mahoma by the former Great Mogor, Payxa Ali Ramasticán—who, trained up in his early years (when he was a fugitive from his family) by the house of Meca, was the cause of the total perdition of so many souls; for it is easier to convert to our holy faith a thousand heathens than one Mahometan. Trade and commerce were also very freely carried on with the Portuguese of Macán, and through their agency in Nueva Batavia in the island of Jacatra, the capital of the rich factories which the Dutch possess throughout India—where of the former Portuguese dominion only their language is left, since with that they trade and traffic; for they have been deprived of the fortified posts, which promised some advantage and profit, leaving to them only Goa (for the interment of Portuguese), and some posts to the north, such as Chaud, Dama, Diu, and Bassain. Only one who has seen it, as I have, can describe the great extent of every kind of trade which Manila enjoyed in the time of Don Juan de Vargas de Hurtado; and in that time, therefore, great fortunes were accumulated, and the city was adorned with magnificent edifices—the old ones being rebuilt, and new ones being erected, thus repairing the late havoc and destruction.

Chapter VI

[This is occupied with an account of the attempt made by the Augustinian Fray Juan de Rivera to go to the forbidden mission-field of Japan; it proved unsuccessful, and he was obliged to return to Manila.]

Chapter VII

On the day of the apostle James news came to Manila [in 1679] of the safe arrival of the galleon “San Telmo” at these islands, and of its being outside of the Embocadero; this news was brought, with the royal mails, by Sargento-mayor Juan Ventura Sarra. In this galleon came two large and well-selected mission bands of religious; one was composed of thirty-one from our order, conducted by father Fray Juan de García, who had been sent for this purpose in the year 1674. The other mission was composed of religious belonging to the Society of Jesus, who were brought by Father Francisco Salgado,[33] a religious of great learning and virtue. This mission [of ours] arrived at the most opportune time that could be imagined, for our province found itself in extreme necessity, on account of the scarcity of religious; for in ten years it had not received even the smallest reenforcement with which to replace them in the extensive and numerous ministries in its charge. So great was this lack that our province was already taking measures to give up some of those ministries; but all the religious orders and the secular clergy were suffering from the same need as was our province, on account of not having a consecrated bishop who might confer the holy orders. The ship “San Telmo” could not enter the Embocadero of San Bernardino, for it was hindered by the vendavals; and therefore it made port, after many hardships, in Palapag, in the province of Leyte—a very safe harbor, but outside of the Embocadero, and more than a hundred and twenty leguas distant from Manila. The religious of the mission came hither through the provinces of Camarines and Laguna de Bay; the roads were bad, for it was the rainy season, but the hardships of their journey were alleviated by the charitable hospitality which was given to them by the religious of St. Francis—who, heirs of that saint’s seraphic love, vied with each other, on such occasions, in showing themselves true sons of so holy a father.

They arrived at Manila, where they were received by the community as sons beloved by their affectionate mother, who was so eagerly expecting them; and on September 18—the day of the father of the poor, St. Thomas of Villanova—a private meeting of the definitors was held, and they were received by this province as her sons.

In this private session father Fray Juan García declared under oath, in verbo sacerdotis, that, having kissed the feet of our most holy father Innocent XI on September 20, 1677, among other favors which his Holiness had granted him the latter had told him that by his apostolic authority he made good all the defects which might have occurred in the elections of this province, from its foundation until the said day. His Holiness granted him several jubilees for certain convents, and eleven thousand ordinary indulgences, in the new form which his Holiness has promulgated; and gave him two notable relics, a bone of St. Venturino the Martyr[34]—the first for the hospice at Méjico, and the other for the convent of San Pablo at Manila. Father Fray Juan García also obtained from his Holiness, on petition by this province, a bull in which he granted that all the procurators who may go to Rome and bring hither missions of religious shall enjoy the same exemptions which those possess who have been provincials (who are called absolutos); this was accepted [by the Council of Indias], and father Fray Juan García was the first who enjoyed this privilege, all his life. But he, as the devout religious that he was, would not allow the religious to address him as “Our Father,” as is the custom with the provincials, both active and retired; and, retiring to the province of Ilocos, where he was minister, he devoted himself to leading an exemplary life, abandoning himself entirely to meditation, mortification, and prayer until his death, and leaving behind a noble example as a sincere religious.

[The rest of this chapter is occupied with the coming (in the “San Telmo”) to Manila of Fernando de Valenzuela, the disgraced favorite of the queen-mother, and a sketch of his career in Spain. The last paragraph reads thus:] Don Juan de Vargas, learning of his arrival, and that he was already coming by land through the province of Camarines, sent to escort him General Don Francisco Enriquez de Losada and Captain Alfonso de Castillo; they conveyed him to the port of Cavite and the fortress of San Felipe. In that place a house was built for him, of timber, according to his taste and plan, with all possible conveniences; and there he lived—at the beginning, with much strictness, watched by sentinels, and receiving few visits; but afterward with more freedom, and visited by everyone, but always in the presence of Captain Juan de Herrera, the warden’s deputy. In this seclusion Don Fernando made use of his great mental ability, employing for his recreation the many talents which he possessed, especially in music and poetry; for in both these arts he had no equal in España. With the news which came by way of the coast of the death of Don Juan of Austria, the severities which, while he lived, had been employed toward Don Ferdinand were mitigated; and the prisoner enjoyed so much diversion and company that in these regions he could not have had more. Every month he was allowed a thousand pesos from the royal treasury, which was sufficient for his support and comforts, and for the expenses of the amusements which his cleverness and ingenuity devised for his recreation. I have taken more time than I should in this narration (which might pass for a mere ornament of my proper task), because this gentleman was much devoted to us—although he had received from us and from the Society of Jesus (to whom he acknowledged his obligations) much assistance in his seclusion and in certain difficulties which he had experienced. The rest of his fortunes I will relate in the proper place, when we reach the termination of the ten years of his retirement, his return to Nueva España, and finally his death. The author of the additions to Father Juan de Mariana’s Historie general de España,[35] at the end of the second volume, speaks very sharply and indignantly of this gentleman, and as he might speak of a wicked highwayman or of a cruel Nero. He certainly was wrong, for Don Fernando de Valenzuela was very zealous in the service of his king, and his power and influence in the government were very beneficial to the monarchy, as after his fall was recognized by all, even his greatest enemies. But flattery[36] must have mended the pen for him, so that in this matter he might show himself very prejudiced. Let the name of that writer be his apology, for it was Don So-and-so. [Fulano] Malo. The posthumous fame of Don Fernando de Valenzuela, however, will not be obscured by his errors.

Chapter VIII

The government of Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado proceeded with prosperous results, on account of the favorable seasons and the great abundance of the crops which were experienced in the years 1679 and 1680; and through the success and extent of the commerce which was maintained with China and the Coromandel coast, Surrate, and other ports of Oriental India and the kingdoms of the Great Mogor—which formerly were more than fifteen in number, and furnished much income to the royal treasury with the customs duties [derecho de a nojarifazgo]. Not only from the Coromandel coast—on which the Manila trade had founded populous settlements, as Portonovo and Cololu—but from the city of Goa came ships almost every year, commerce little known [to Manila] before, and very remote. The governor devoted much attention to the sessions of the Audiencia and the obligations of his office, and thus the legal business which devolved upon that court was expedited, through the uprightness and integrity of the auditors, Don Francisco Mansilla, Don Diego Calderón, and Don Diego de Viga; the last named filled the office of fiscal acceptably to all.

Map of Eastern Islands; photographic facsimile of map in Coronelli’s Atlante Veneto (Venetia, 1696)

[from original copy in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris]

About this time there came to the general a solemn embassy from the principal ruler of Borney, whom those people revere as an emperor. This is the largest island of all Asia, and, according to the best cosmographers, has as great an area as all España and the kingdom of Portugal. It is thinly populated, as its surface is very mountainous; and therefore it is only on the shores of the sea and a few leguas inland that there are settlements of civilized people, if that name can be given to those barbarous nations. Borney has much wax, and in its seas are pearl-fisheries; it abounds in amber, camphor, and gold; and in its mountains are found large elephants, although smaller than those of Siám. Its inhabitants are partly Mahometans, partly heathens; but in color and disposition they resemble the natives of Filipinas, who say that they had their origin in these islands of Borney [and] the coast of Malayo. The ambassador was received with more ostentation than his person seemed to merit. Although he was corpulent and robust, he and all his retinue (which was not a small one) came barefooted and half-naked; he wore a broad bahaque, which tired him more than it covered him, and some wore a loose jacket, short and without a shirt (which is not known among these peoples); but all were well armed with lances and crises—which are swords as short as daggers, with which they are well able to defend themselves or attack, for usually they have these weapons dipped in poison. He made his entry [into the city] with great pomp, in the coach and with the halberdiers of the governor, and accompanied by the sargento-mayor of the garrison, Don José de Robles; and the governor received him under a canopy, as being he who represented the royal person. The ambassador’s credentials came in the Malayan language, written in Arabic characters; these were interpreted by the Borneans themselves, and by a Ternatan named Pedro Machado. The object of the embassy, they said, was to establish trade and commerce on both sides, and to adjust some disputes over the limits of the island of Paragua and in regard to some hostile acts which had been committed in the lands of Borney by Alcalde-mayor Don José de Somonte, in vengeance for the injuries which the Camucones had inflicted in our islands. Everything was settled to the satisfaction of both parties, and the ambassador returned well content and handsomely entertained, with a valuable present for his king in return for another (and very ordinary) one which he had brought. In the following year, the governor sent in turn an ambassador, General Don Juan de Morales Valenzuela, a man of gallant nature and tall stature, with a very goodly escort of Spaniards. He was very hospitably received by the king of Borney, in a large pavilion of bamboo and nipa, which was erected for this solemn function; and the king allowed himself to be seen by all his vassals, a favor which, they say, is very rare in that royalty. Don Juan de Morales returned very successful, the king ceding to the Spaniards dominion over all the island of Paragua, and making satisfaction for the ravages by the Camucones; and since then we have remained very good friends [with the Borneans].

All the three years’ term of our father provincial Fray Juan de Jeréz was very peaceable, our order and the observance of our rules nourishing in this province, which continually increased in prosperity through the opportune measures which this judicious and devout prelate employed; for certainly he was one of the most observant superiors it had had, and it made great advancement in every way during the time of his government.

At last the time for the chapter-session arrived, and when the voting fathers from the four provinces were assembling, with great peace and harmony, suddenly a storm arose, which they feared would occasion the destruction of peace within the order, and produce divisions and contentions very difficult to adjust; and from which might originate great losses to the religious and their ministries. The trouble was this: some of the religious who were born in Nueva España, and others born in these islands, where they had assumed the habit of our order, attempted to renew the old controversy over the alternate elections[37]—which arose in the year 1637, as we have related in book ii, chapter 26—incited to this by having found a copy of the first bull of Gregory XV, and the royal decree for its passage by the supreme Council of the Indias, attested by Don Diego Núñez Crespo, at that time court secretary of the royal Audiencia. With this slight foundation, without heeding that the matter had already been decided by apostolic authority—by the legate of his Holiness, that is, the archbishop of Manila who was then in office—according to the bull of his Holiness Urban VIII, issued “at Castel Gandolfo, diocese of Albano, May 18, 1634” (of which they probably were not aware), [they made this claim]. They had on their side many citizens of Manila, and employed as their leader Doctor Don José Cervantes Altamirano, a cleric in minor orders—who afterward was married, and at his death was alcalde-mayor of the Parián of the Sangleys, and chief clerk of the cabildo and municipality of Manila; he had a very keen mind, and with that he would, if he had been master and disciple of himself, have made a great jurisconsult.

They appointed as judge-executor Master Jerónimo Fernández Caravallo, cura of the village of Quiapo, a priest of little ability and easily influenced. This man accepted the commission with much pleasure, believing that it would bring him honor and profit; and he therefore set up his tribunal, and appointed as his secretary Bachelor Martín Díaz, cura of the natives and Morenos in Manila. At once he sent this man to notify the provincial, Fray Juan de Jeréz, of the said bull of Gregory XV; but the provincial would not accept the notification, not recognizing Master Caravallo as a judge until he should establish his right as such before a competent tribunal, and because this proceeding found him unprepared, and with little knowledge of this controversy, because neither official documents nor information about it were found in the archives of the province. Investigations were made, and the original documents were found in the archiepiscopal tribunal; and an authentic transcript of these was found in a writing-desk which stood in the cell of the provincials, of which the key could not be found, and it served only as an ornament. In the said desk was also found the above-mentioned bull of Urban VIII, with which and the acts issued in the year 1657 the procurator-general (who was the writer of this history) presented himself before his Lordship Don Fray Felipe Pardo of the Order of Preachers, the archbishop-elect and ruler of this archbishopric, as being the legate appointed by his Holiness Urban VIII to render decision and sentence in this question. He looked at the bull and declared himself judge, and as such examined the documents, with the assistance of his counselor the father presentado Fray Raimundo Verart of the same order, a doctor in both branches of law from the university of Lérida. They found that this controversy was already authoritatively decided,[38] and with the lapse of forty-three years had become established as a matter of law; that there was not the least room for the claim made by the fathers of the Indias; and that the province possessed the same right as before of making its choice [of officers] freely, without respect of persons. Upon the litigant religious—who had taken refuge in, and by order of the royal Audiencia were committed to, the college of the Society of Jesus and the convent of San Francisco—was imposed perpetual silence; and with censures they were commanded to return to their convents, and to follow what obedience should direct to them. They did so, and there was no farther discussion of this matter; for in the following chapter-meeting attention was given to consoling them. Those who made amends for all were the judge-executor, Master Jerónimo Caravallo, and Bachelor Martín Díaz, whom the archbishop punished with pecuniary fines for not having first appeared before him with their commission, and for having erected a tribunal without his permission. But intercession was made for them on the part of our province, and their fines were diminished. Information of the affair was given to our very reverend father general, Fray Domingo Valvasorio, of Milan, who commanded that the religious who had been the movers of this innovation (which might so greatly have disturbed the peace of this province) be punished; and again imposed silence regarding the claim to alternation; but the whole matter was adjusted, for at the end the order, like a mother, must regard them as her sons.

The time for the chapter-session arrived, which was May 11, 1680, at the convent in Manila; its president, by commission from our father general already named, was our father Fray José Duque; and father Fray Diego de Jesús, prior of the convent of Pasig, was elected provincial, to the satisfaction of all, by the unanimous vote of all the fathers in the chapter. He was a zealous religious, very observant, and enamored of poverty; and had great learning, prudence, and discretion. He was fifty-eight years of age, a native of Pejar in Extremadura, and a son of the convent at Salamanca—where, and in that of San Felipe at Madrid, he had been for many years master of the novices. He came to this province in the year 1669, as has already been said, influenced [to come] at so great an age by scruples at having excused himself in the year 1660 from coming as commissary for the mission which reached this province in the year of 1663, by the appointment given to him by our very reverend father general Master Fray Pablo Luquino, who was then visiting the provinces of España. The definitors appointed were fathers Fray Juan Ponce, Fray Carlos Bautista, Fray Pedro Martínez, and Fray Álvaro de Benavente. Father Fray José Camello and the father reader Fray Juan Martínez were present as visitors from the previous triennium; and for the present one were appointed father Fray Juan Guedeja and the father reader Fray Miguel Rubio. As procurator for going to España was appointed father Fray Manuel de la Cruz, a native of Toledo, and a son of the convent of Badaya; and they elected him definitor of this province for the next general chapter to be held, and agreed upon[39] the choice of a discreet for the said general chapter.[40] This choice was so judicious that to it is due the conservation and advancement of this province, for he fulfilled so carefully the obligation of his commission that he conducted to Nueva España three mission bands—the largest and most distinguished that this province has gained, for in all they contained over fifty religious—the first in the year 1684, the second in 1699 and 1700, and the third in 1712.[41] He himself remained in Mexico, where he died with the reputation of great virtue, at the age of seventy-four years, in 1712.

It was decided in this chapter to ask our very reverend father general to extinguish the votes of the discreet of the convent at Manila, and those of the priors of the convents of Hagonoy and San Pablo de los Montes in the provinces of Tagalos, Mexico in Pampanga, Narvacán in Ilocos, and Dumarao in the province of Panay—on account of the usual scarcity of religious, and the deficiency which might be caused, by their absence while at the chapter, in Ilocos and Bisayas, provinces which are so remote. The other arrangements and ordinances which were made in this chapter publish its great zeal for promoting the regular observance, and the nourishing condition of that observance in this province.

Governor Don Juan de Vargas despatched for Nueva España the galleon “San Antonio,” under command of General Don Francisco Enríquez de Losada, then accountant of the royal exchequer; and in this galleon went the father procurator Fray Manuel Losada, and in his company father Fray Miguel de Negrea—a son of the convent of San Felipe, and native of that city [i.e., Madrid]; he was going back to his own province, and died on the voyage, in the high northern latitude. The voyage was a very distressing one, on account of the severe tempests which suddenly came upon them; and many of those on board died, not only seamen but passengers. A better voyage was that of the galleon “Santa Rosa,” which had sailed the preceding year by the same route from Nueva España, in charge of General Antonio Nieto; for on the morning of the day of St. John the Baptist it entered the bay of Manila, to the great joy of those who were watching it, and anchored at the port of Cavite—a good fortune which seldom has been enjoyed in these islands since the banishment of Don Fray Hernando Guerrero, in the year 1635, as we have with sadness related. In this galleon came Don Fray Diego de Aguilar, of the Order of Preachers, a native of Rioseco, as consecrated bishop of Zebú; for several years he had been detained in Nueva España. He brought in his company father Fray Manuel de Olivares, of the same order, who afterward was provincial of the province of Méjico; his nephew, Captain Don Juan de Urías; and other Spaniards. His arrival occasioned great rejoicing, on account of these islands having remained so many years destitute of a consecrated bishop, and many clerics and regulars were waiting to receive holy orders.

In this galleon arrived three religious belonging to the mission of father Fray Juan García; they were choristers, and had been left in Nueva España, to be ordained as priests, and their names are as follows: father Fray Francisco Castrillón, a native of Madrid, and son of the convent of San Felipe; he was twenty-four years old, and had spent nine in the order. He was a minister in Tagalos until the year 1690, when he returned to Méjico, where he died soon afterward. Father Fray Dionisio Navarro, a native of Leganés, and a son of the same convent of San Felipe; he was twenty-four years old, and had spent seven in the order. He was a good preacher, and well versed in the dialects of the province of Tagalos. He went to España and returned hither, and died in the convent of Manila from a long and painful infirmity, on November 2, 1714. Father Fray Antonio Gutiérrez, a native of Medina Sidonia, and a son of the province of Andalucía. For only a short time he was a minister in Tagalos, because he soon fell ill with a contraction of the tendons [tullimiento], which lasted until his death; this occurred at Manila, in the year 1693.

The arrival of this bishop of Zebú served as a great spiritual consolation for these islands; for he repeatedly performed pontifical functions, conferring holy orders on a great number of religious and clerics. He interceded with the governor, in order to reconcile with him those who had taken refuge in the churches through fear of some oppression from the absolute power of the governor—which can not be compared with any other power in the universe; and the worst is, that no means can be thought of for moderating and tempering it within the bounds of reason, because the distance of five thousand leguas which lies between the royal court of Madrid and Filipinas cannot be diminished. The swiftest post, therefore, requires three years, and most of them four; and if it happens that the galleon is obliged to put back to port, the mail is delayed to five or six years. At the end of so protracted a term as this, the most peremptory royal rescript is exposed to the danger of being withheld by the governor, according to his pleasure. The lord bishop with his intercession withdrew from asylum in the house of the Society of Jesus the secretary of Don Juan de Vargas, Captain Miguel Sánchez de Villanueva y Tejada, and restored him to favor with his master—although soon afterward the governor removed him from his service, making him alcalde-mayor of Laguna de Bay.

About this time the convent of Angat in the mountains of the province of Bulacán was received, with the title of our mother St. Monica, and father Fray Juan de Morelos was appointed its prior. It was composed of the visitas of the convent of Quingua—Tabuquillo, Abarungco, Catalonan, Guinapusan, and Santa Lucía—which, on account of being very distant from Quingua, were administered with much difficulty; and therefore the ministry of Angat was founded, more than three leguas distant from [the convent of] Sandago at Quingua. It has ordinarily two hundred and fifty tributes, with a church and convent of wood. The district is very healthful and pleasant, because the land is fertilized by a river of the best water that is known in these islands; it is the river celebrated by the name of Quingua, the waters of which, compared with many others, have been found to weigh less. This mission is bounded on every side by very fertile meadows, on which abundant harvests of excellent tobacco are gathered; for this reason it is thickly settled with people who cultivate this plant, which is so esteemed throughout the world, and which now has made its way to the chief personages therein. This district has forests, although they are scattered, of heavy and valuable timber; for they are very dense, and so extensive that they join those of Balete and San Mateo, at a distance of more than eight leguas. In the district of this ministry the religious of St. John of God possess a fine ranch stocked with cattle and horses, which is the most that they have for the support of their convent and hospital at Manila, where they aid the sick poor with their usual charity. The convent of Angat has no vote in the chapter-meetings, and therefore is counted in the number of the vicariates of this province.

Although the citizens of Manila are not easy to please, no matter how good their governors are, it appears that in the time of which we write they had much reason to be discontented with the government of Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado; for not only did he devote himself excessively to his own personal interests, to the detriment of the commonwealth, but he was of a harsh and unpleasant nature, and gave sharp answers. Besides this he spoke in a treble voice, and people heard him with difficulty. He kept every one angered at his harsh behavior, and disgusted by his being engrossed with, the pursuit of gain. This was recognized in the lading of the galleons, which is the net of the merchants; and in this year [of 1680] the galleon “San Antonio” was in danger of not making the voyage, on account of its being so overloaded by his henchman Don Juan Gallardo, the castellan of Cavite—not only with his own goods, but with those of his master the governor—that its commander, Don Tomás de Endaya, was compelled to unload the vessel and return to lade it anew, accommodating the entire cargo to the vessel’s capacity. On account of these and other well-known animosities against the governor and his retainers, the citizens this year determined to inform his Majesty against him; and they did so, the auditors and the city uniting for this purpose and making charges against him. They sent letters, with great caution, in this galleon; and these papers caused his removal in the year 1684.

About October of this year the governor sent to Macán General Antonio Nieto, in order to settle some disputes relative to commerce; he accomplished this with much discretion, his excellent procedure reflecting credit on the Castilian nation. He also, with great charity, relieved many cases of necessity, which in the said city are very numerous; but this was done without injuring one iota of the Portuguese tenacity and pride, in which that people exceed all others in Europa.