Title: 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
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "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" ***


                   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


    Preface                                                            9

    Miscellaneous Documents, 1670-1700

        The Camacho ecclesiastical controversy. [Andres
        Gonzalez, O.P.] and others; 1697-1700                         25

        The Augustinians in the Philippines, 1670-1694. Casimiro
        Diaz, O.S.A.; Manila, 1718. [From his Conquistas.]           117

    Bibliographical Data                                             313



ILLUSTRATIONS


    Chart of Manila Bay; photographic facsimile from Valentyn's
    Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien (Dordrecht and Amsterdam, 1724), i,
    p. 152; from copy in library of Wisconsin Historical Society     147

    Map of Eastern Islands; photographic facsimile of map in
    Coronelli's Atlante Veneto (Venetia, 1696), ii, part 2,
    p. 122; from original copy in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris      181

    View of Strait of Manila; photographic facsimile from Recueil
    des voiages Comp. Indes orientales (Amsterdam, 1725), iv,
    p. 512; from copy in library of Wisconsin Historical Society     227



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


    The Camacho ecclesiastical controversy. [Andres Gonzalez, O.P.],
    and others; 1697-1700.
    The Augustinians in the Philippines, 1670-1694. Casimiro Diaz,
    O.S.A.; 1718. [From his Conquistas.]



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 [a legal] impediment should remain,
those persons can be found and punished as perjurers. Also it must be
specified whether the three publications of the banns [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.

If he who sees from [a safe place on] land a fierce hurricane on
the sea, and that in it are wrecked galleons of great size--some of
the men on board being drowned, others crying for help, and those
who by swimming have emerged on the shore taking warning [from this
misfortune], and causing great fear in those who hear them--trembles
at [the thought of] venturing upon the sea: what marvel is it that
the regulars of Filipinas, who have not thus far been inducted into
this new form of parish tenure which the archbishop is attempting
[to establish], seeing as if from the solid land so much tempest and
shipwreck which are occasioned by that form, and which the histories,
like accurate charts, place before them, tremble, and refuse to embark
on that sea? When the witnesses are so truthful, and the experiences
so injurious, it would be a mistake of the utmost importance not to
believe them, or to expect that [in] trouble one may remedy it by
regret, or not to avoid it beforehand by prudent measures.

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.]



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, [40] 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. [41]

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, [42] 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, [43] a native of Alcalá de Henares; Father Jerónimo Cebreros,
a native of Acapulco; and Fathers Esquibel [44] 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. [45] 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. [46] 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." [47] 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. [48]...

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, [49]
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
[50]--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. [51] 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
[52] of Master Rodrigo at Sevilla, and professor of canon law [53]
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 [54] 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, [55] 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 [56] 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, [57] 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.

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. [58] 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 [59]
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. [60] 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; [61] 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. [62] The heretics have
their meeting-houses, [63] 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.] [64]

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 [65] 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. [66] 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,
[67] 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. [68]
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. [69] 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, [70] 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
[71]--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,
[72] 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 [73]--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, [74] 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 [75]
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.

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
[76]--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,
[77] 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 [78] the choice of a discreet for the said general
chapter. [79] 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. [80] 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.



CHAPTER IX

[This chapter describes a remarkable comet which was visible in the
islands from the middle of November, 1680, to February 14, 1681;
and relates at much length the condition of the Chinese empire at
that time, and the founding of Augustinian missions therein. Of this
matter, we retain only the description of the comet and its course.]

The frightful comet [was] so large that it extended, like a very
wide belt, from one side of the horizon to the other, with but
little difference [in its breadth], causing in the darkness of
the night nearly as much light as the moon in her quadrature. The
course of this comet was, like those of the planets, a rapid one from
east to west, so that every day it disappeared and was hidden. The
other movement was a retrograde one, so that it moved from west to
east three or four degrees, and sometimes more than five, each day,
at times less. This movement lasted from November 20 until February
14, 1681, in which time it passed through the signs of Virgo, Libra,
Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, and Aries--passing
the equator from the south, from the handle of Libra and Ophiuchus
[Serpentario]. It crossed the ecliptic and southern solstice, and
through the constellation Antinous to the tail of the Dolphin, to the
tail of the Little Horse [i.e., Equellus], and the breast of Pegasus,
and thence to the head of Andromeda; and it passed over the equator
at 310° from the point of Aries. Its magnitude was frightful, for
its circumference and head [i.e., of the coma and nucleus] was two
thousand one hundred and four leguas; and its magnitude was equal to
that of Mercury, which is nineteen times larger than the earth. Its
tail reached, on January 8, an extent of seventy-five degrees, which at
its distance made 1,437,919 leguas. It was a celestial comet, and not
elemental; [81] and according to its parallax it was in the celestial
quarter distant from us 1,150 semidiameters or halves of the line
which we regard as crossing the center [82]--which, according to the
measurement of Father José Zaragoza, a distinguished mathematician of
the Society of Jesus, are 1,153,000 leguas, which was its apogee. Its
movement was 7,458 times as swift as the velocity of a cannon-ball
weighing twelve libras, which, according to those who are curious,
travels in each minute, or sixtieth part of an hour, two-thirds of
a legua. This comet was visible throughout the world, giving rise
to much discussion over its effects, which in truth were generally
very evil. On the second of January it passed the parallel of our
zenith. These observations were made by Father Eusebius Kino, [83]
a German, of the Society of Jesus--a mathematician of the university
of Ingolstad, a missionary in California--while he was in Méjico;
and he printed them, with a dedication to our Lady of Guadalupe.



CHAPTER X

General Antonio Nieto returned from Macán, leaving the affairs of
the commerce with these islands regulated, as well as the entrance
of missionaries into China by that door--although it never has been
assured, because the Portuguese allege that such entrance is opposed
to the right of patronage of their king, with other absurdities which
only excite a smile; for it is a fact that many of the more southern
provinces of China fall within the demarcation of Castilla, in proof of
which not much mathematics is needed. Moreover, the Portuguese do not
hold a palmo of conquered land on which they have erected churches, or
founded bishoprics, with the right of patronage; for in that very city
of Macán the emperor of China possesses as much authority as in Cantón,
and they pay him customs, duties and other royal tributes. And within
that same city, while General Antonio Nieto was there, an incident
occurred which would cause shame [even] to a nation less Catholic
than the Portuguese, whom no other people outdo in that respect.

In that city the Chinese make their idolatrous processions, and
commit other abominations, as they do in every other part of their
lands. It happened that in one of these processions, at that time,
they carried an idol, a figure of a beautiful woman with a child in
her arms, whom they call Sanpuerstsa; this is the idol to which they
pay most devotion, for they call her "Mother of Mercy." This confirms
what is told by the traditions in China, which declare that our holy
faith was preached in that country; and that when it was forgotten some
images of saints remained which were made idols. Captain Nicolás Pérez
looked closely at the idols, and asked a Chinaman in the procession
what image that was; and the Chinaman replied, "Here, like St. Mary
at Manila." Nicolás Pérez, hearing this, raised his hand, and gave
the Chinaman a heavy blow in the face. The procession was thrown
into confusion, and the Chinese and the whole city disturbed; the
aggressor was seized; and it cost Nicolás Pérez and General Nieto
many pesos and much effort to leave the Chinese satisfied, and the
Portuguese free from their fear that their city and all their royal
patronage would be destroyed.

When Antonio Nieto returned to Manila, he was accompanied by three
clerics, who came to be ordained as priests, as at that time they had
no bishop in Macán. One was Antonio Melo, the son of a rich Portuguese
of much repute in Macán named Basco Barbosa; and the others were people
of the country, that is, mestizos of Portuguese and Chinese blood. They
were ordained by the bishop of Zebú, Don Fray Diego de Aguilar;
and soon afterward they returned to Macán in a patache belonging
to that city, accompanied by two priests of the Society of Jesus,
mathematicians, who had come in the year 1679 with Father Francisco
Salgado, assigned by their general to the mission of China. This
vessel sailed about October, which is the time of the monsoon that
is unfavorable to this voyage; and no information whatever has been
received about it, or how or where it was lost, although great efforts
have been made for this by the citizens of Macán.

[Here follows an account of a punitive expedition against the Zambals,
which we have already given; see VOL. XXXVIII, pp. 226-228.]

The galleon "San Antonio," which had sailed in the previous year in
charge of General Don Francisco Enrique de Losada, reached Acapulco,
although it encountered heavy gales in the high latitudes, and returned
prosperously to these islands. It had not the good-fortune to come in
as far as the point of Cavite (a piece of luck which seldom occurs),
on account of the vendavals having set in steadily; and therefore it
made port in Solsogón. In this galleon came the following persons: The
father master Don Fray Ginés Barrientos, of the Order of Preachers,
and preacher to his Majesty, consecrated as bishop of Troya, to
be assistant for the archbishopric of Manila. He was a son of the
convent of Peña de Francia, and native of a place in Sayago called
Barroco Pardo; he was a very learned scholastic, a great preacher,
and a very observant religious. The father master Don Fray Juan Durán,
of the Order of Mercy, and a native of Lima; he came as consecrated
bishop of Sinopolis, and assistant to the bishop of Zebú; he was very
learned, and of very handsome figure and lofty stature. The entreaties
of his Majesty had obtained from his Holiness these two auxiliary
bishops, with two thousand pesos of income from his royal treasury,
and with the right of future succession to assume the government
of the vacant sees as they might occur. They brought the bulls and
pallium for the archbishop Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who in virtue of
these was consecrated on October 28; this was performed by the bishop
of Zebú, Don Fray Diego de Aguilar and the bishop of Troya, with
the assistance of the dean, Master Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias,
who carried the mitre.

Presentation came as bishop of Nueva Segovia to Doctor Don Francisco
Pizarro de Orellana, the archdeacon of Manila, and a native of that
city; [the see was vacant] by the death of Master Don Lucas de Arqueros
de Robles, a native of Vigan in Ilocos; and a son of Lorenzo Arqueros,
so renowned in the revolt of the Zambals and in their destructive
raid into Ilocos. [The said archdeacon] was a priest of lofty virtue,
the fame of which had secured for him this dignity--which he did not
enjoy, as he lived but a short time, and died before the bulls for
his consecration arrived.

[Others also] arrived: Doctor Don Cristobal Herrera Grimaldos,
a native of Méjico--who was a professor in the university there, and
dean of the faculty of law, and had been counselor of the archbishop of
Méjico, the viceroy of Nueva España, Don Fray Payo de Rivera, of the
order of our father St. Augustine--who came as auditor of this royal
Audiencia of Manila. Doctor Don Pedro Sebastian de Bolívar y Mena,
a native of Méjico--a son of Licentiate Don Juan de Bolívar y Cruz,
a former auditor of Manila [sic] and Clementina [84] professor--also
an auditor of this royal Audiencia. Also Doctor Don Lorenzo Esteban
de la Fuente Alanis, a native of Murcia--a professor in Granada and
Sevilla, and competitor for positions in Salamanca--as fiscal of the
Audiencia. All were able lawyers, and the fiscal not only surpassed
the rest, but was very skilful in music; and he excelled all who had
been here in the rare art of playing well the guitar [vihuela], [85]
an instrument handled by many, but understood only by him. Besides
these came Licentiate Don Miguel de Lanama Altamirano, an advocate of
this royal Audiencia; he was a married man, as also were the auditors,
and they brought their wives with them. Don Miguel was a lawyer of much
ability, and held important positions in his profession. An appointment
came for Don Francisco Montemayor y Mansilla as alcalde for criminal
cases in Méjico; he sailed for that country in the second year, with
his son, Don Felipe Mansilla Prado, and died on the voyage. His son
is still living--a knight of the Order of Santiago--as also is Father
Antonio Mansilla, of the Society of Jesus.

The bishop of Troya was accompanied by father Fray Alonso García,
a native of Tamanes in Sayago, a religious of the order of our father
St. Augustine, who had been left in Mexico, belonging to the mission
of the year 1679; he was a son of the convent at Ciudad Rodrigo,
and was twenty-five years old; he was a minister in Tagalos, and
died in the convent at Bulacán, in the year 1704. [With him was]
also father Fray José de Andrada, a Portuguese, a native of Lisboa,
and a son of the congregation of Eastern India. Having spent several
years in this province, and desiring to be adopted into it, but
not being able to secure that privilege for lack of the consent
and permission of his Majesty and of our very reverend general,
he went by land to Roma and Madrid--going to Surrate, and thence to
Alepo and Venecia--and obtained a warrant from our father general,
and a decree from his Majesty, ordaining that he be received into
this province, but with a clause which stated that this should not
be regarded as a precedent. This religious was an excellent minister
in the province of Ilocos, where he died at an advanced age in the
year 1705. He deserves that record be made of him, since his adoption
into this province cost him so many peregrinations and hardships;
for to obtain it he made the entire circuit of the terraqueous globe.

This galleon brought one of the best and most copious reënforcements
of soldiers that had been received here; for they numbered more
than three hundred Europeans, and came from Nueva España, without
the stigma of being convicts or men taken from the jails. [86]
This accession was very timely for filling up the military forces
in Manila, which was accomplished by removing many colored men and
replacing them by Spaniards; for in this Don Juan de Vargas took
great pains, showing himself an able soldier. Thus in the time of no
governor since Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera was the garrison of
Manila in so fine a condition as in that of Don Juan de Vargas. The
baton of master-of-camp was given to General Don Fernando de Bobadilla
(who was castellan of Santiago), in place of Don Francisco de Ardilla
[sic], who held it ad interim. The scene began to change with the
coming of so many bishops and of auditors and lawyers--an event
which, it seems, tended rather to augment the forces so that the
shock of battle might be more violent and fierce for both sides,
the winds again returning for the fearful commotions which were to
disturb the peace and tranquillity which the commonwealth of Manila
had enjoyed. For although the government of Don Juan de Vargas did
not prove to be what the citizens of Manila desired, on account of
his natural harshness and his excessive devotion to his own private
interests, nevertheless, as he did not rob any one of anything, and
was only a hindrance to the merchants gaining the profits of the trade
more to their own satisfaction; and as, on the other hand, the islands
were in a Nourishing condition, the commerce with China and India was
very firmly established, and wealth was not diminishing, there was
[something] for all if their desires were not excessive, and for the
governor more than all together. But, as covetousness is the root of
all evils, ... from this resulted the greatest troubles and Calamities.

Time had passed agreeably for the people with some festivities that
were celebrated at the dedication of the church of Santa Potenciana,
on May 19, which were very diverting and ingenious. There were
poetical competitions, which were arranged for that celebration by
the cleverness of Don José de Castellar, who had been the secretary
of Governor Don Manuel de León--at whose posthumous expense had
been rebuilt that church and royal seminary. In these exercises the
geniuses that are in Filipinas showed that in that remotest corner
of the world is hidden much that could shine in the principal courts
of Europa; for the poems that were presented therein, both Latin and
Castilian, might have been a credit to the leading universities. And
certainly there was verified the saying and opinion of some critics
who assert that Filipinas is composed of quintessences, [87] for many
of these are found there, not only of good but of evil; and therefore
in the pulpits as well as in theology (both scholastic and moral)
there never lack stars of the first magnitude; and in all the rest
"a hair is cut in the air," [88] as the common saying goes.

The first misfortune which was felt was the return to port of the
galleon "Santa Rosa," in command of General Tomás de Endaya; it is
these losses which are most deeply felt, since all are interested in
the prosperous voyages of the galleons; and it is one of the greatest
troubles of these islands, if not the worst, that all are dependent
on two bits of wood, [89] and those entrusted to the fickleness
of the sea--the one that goes [to Acapulco], and the other that
is expected. The sad news of its return came late in December,
about Christmas, and caused general sorrow. The year 1682 began
with the melancholy feeling which was inspired by seeing that we
were deprived for that year of having a galleon from Nueva España,
which is the artery that communicates the blood and the life for the
preservation of these isolated islands--that is, the silver which,
like a lodestone, attracts the most remote nations to the commerce and
trade; and by the lack of the silver [which comes] with the galleon
commercial transactions are greatly retarded.

Now, it seems, the two camps had made ready their opposing forces for
one of the most sanguinary battles which for many generations had been
waged in these islands; and its consequences lasted many years, and
its echo was a scandal to the universe. The auditors began the duties
of their office with great care and attention, for they were all very
erudite men, who had filled chairs in the universities of España;
but, as the true wisdom is the fear of God, when this is lacking
all human knowledge is useless.... In the Indias a great source of
disputes is the desire which some ministers have for extending the
royal privileges [regalias], expecting through this channel greater
advancement--as if kings, and especially those who are so Catholic
and pious as are ours of España, would be willing to do anything
else than to render to God that which is God's, content with what is
rendered to them, which is Cæsar's. The great privileges of the royal
patronage are not opposed to the integrity of the episcopal dignity and
ecclesiastical hierarchy; rather, they are in accord with each other,
and both use their powers to promote the greater prosperity of the
faith.... And, since the greatest privileges of the patronage of the
Indias are pontifical concessions, how can they be used against the
power of him who concedes them, who necessarily must be relatively
greater?... Therefore, there neither is nor can be wrong in such
privileges, which are founded in justice and right, and there is no
opposition between those which are pontifical and those which are
royal, as there is not and cannot be any between the virtues. The
fault is in those who interpret these privileges as they do the laws,
for they say that they give their mind to them, as if they no longer
had any mind, and were now mente captas. [90]... Excellent and learned
officials were all the auditors who at that time were members of
the Audiencia of Manila; but, to judge by results, self-will greatly
blinded their good understandings, and therefore occurred to them the
lot of those whom our father St. Augustine mentions (treatise 4 on
[the gospel of] John): Temporalia perdere timuerunt, et vitam æternam
non cogitaverunt; ac sic utrumque amisserunt. [91] The infinite mercy
of God probably did not permit that, although all met very painful and
some very sudden deaths--except Doctor Don Diego Calderón y Serrano,
who died as a good Christian, who did not choose to entrust the safety
of his soul to opinions. But at the least we saw them lose temporal
prosperity, when they were confidently expecting even more. [Here
follows (pp. 751-766) Diaz's account of the Pardo controversy,
which we omit, since it has been sufficiently used for annotation of
other documents relating to that subject, for which see VOL. XXXIX,
pp. 149-275.]



CHAPTER XIII

During all the three years' term of the provincial Fray Diego de Jesús
this province enjoyed great tranquillity, and made great progress
in strict observance, and in care and watchfulness in the mission
villages in our charge. All regarded the provincial as a mirror,
and seeing him they corrected their own negligence, on account of the
great virtues that shone in him. His poverty and disregard of earthly
things was of heroic degree. Of many of his surpassing virtues I can
be a witness, for I had much to do with him during this triennium,
on account of having duties near his person. It cost much urging to
make him lay aside a habit, very old and worn, which he had used many
years; and to induce him to change a hat which was so old that it
appeared unsuitable and ludicrous. On many occasions he had no water
even in his cell; and when he needed it, for visitors or for himself,
he asked for it from others. [92] So close was his attendance in
the choir that it seemed as if he had no other occupation. He never
handled money during his term as provincial, to which I can testify,
since I was his depositary and almoner (for he possessed the virtue
of charity in a very high degree). He was frequent in prayer, and
so severely did he mortify the flesh that after death there were
found on him the marks of the cilices [93] of copper, even to the
soles of his feet; a little before he died, these had been taken
from him by father Fray José de Orense, of the Order of St. Francis,
a religious of great ardor, to whom Fray Diego had communicated his
own. Although I have not reached the time at which his holy death
occurred, I am not willing to pass over in silence what happened on
that occasion to this noble religious Fray José de Orense. The death
of our father Fray Diego de Jesús was hastened by his infirmities,
and by his age, which was seventy-four years. They rang the bell
for giving him the holy sacraments, and at the same time father Fray
José de Orense came in at the convent door. They told him that his
dear friend was in danger of death, and he replied with a serene
face that he already knew this, and had come to the convent on that
account; for the two had agreed that, whoever should die first, the
other would assist him at death. The wonderful thing is, that the
brethren had not informed Fray José of it, nor had there been time
for that. He remained with our father Fray Diego until the latter
expired in his arms. Our father had completed his term as provincial,
to the great regret of all, and then retired to a cell, which, during
the thirteen years while he lived, he did not leave except for the
choir-services; nor did he go outside [the convent] except with the
body of religious. In no chapter-meeting which followed would he vote,
although he was past provincial; and in order to carry this out better
he endeavored to secure that his brother, Fray Buenaventura de Béjar,
should obtain the function of voting. If in the year 1686 he presided
in the chapter-meeting, it was by commission of our very reverend
father general, and because some persons had magnified it as a charge
on his conscience that it was important for him to accept that post;
and therefore he did so, although with evident reluctance. They
desired to elect him provincial for six years before [his death],
but they never were able to attain this.

The chapter-session was held in the convent at Manila on May 8,
1683; and it was presided over by father Fray Juan Ponce, the first
definitor for the past triennium, as we had not a special appointment
for that duty from our very reverend father, the general of the whole
order. The election for provincial fell on our father Fray José Duque,
for the second time, with the unanimous consent of all the voting
fathers and the general satisfaction of the whole province--who
knew from long experience his great talent for governing, and his
great devoutness and prudence; on account of these qualifications
he was afterward commissary of the Holy Office. As definitors were
elected our father Fray Juan de Jérez, the father reader Fray Juan
Bautista Bover, and fathers Fray Alonso de Escos and Fray Francisco de
Zamora. The visitors for the past triennium were present, the father
reader Fray Miguel Rubio and father Fray Juan Guedeja; and the new
visitors appointed for this triennium were fathers Fray José de la
Cruz and Fray Alonso de Arnillas. The mandates and statutes of this
chapter-session, although not many, were exceedingly useful for the
proper government of the province.

Strong recommendations were made that they should send to the
mission of China religious who might aid fathers Fray Álvaro de
Benavente and Fray Juan de Rivera; and for this holy employ, after
a few months, the father reader Fray Miguel Rubio offered himself,
and, renouncing the office of prior of the convent of Cebú and the
responsibility of vicar-provincial for that island, he embarked for
China; and afterward he was followed by fathers Fray José Gil and
Fray Francisco Patiño, who rendered excellent service for several
years in those missions--although finally they withdrew on account
of impaired health, and returned to these islands.

When the father reader Fray Miguel Rubio arrived at Cantón, it was but
a short time after the entrance into China, by way of Hermosa Island,
of the bishop of Heliopolis, Don Francisco Palú, on a journey from
Roma; he resided in the city of Moyang, from which place he sent to the
regulars who were ministers notifications of the decrees of the holy
Congregation of the Propaganda upon the subjection of the regulars to
the apostolic vicars. This occasioned great disquiet, and hindered the
preaching of the gospel; and from it originated bitter controversies,
which began in that time, and are not ended up to the present; may
it please God to bring them to an end in future days. Nevertheless,
at the visit to Roma of father Fray Alvaro de Benavente some relief
was given by the decree which he obtained from the holy Congregation
of the Propaganda, which suspended the subjection, and left only the
visitation of the vicars-apostolic and some other and lesser duties
of obedience, in other matters leaving the regulars subject to their
own regular superiors--which is the same as to leave them subject
to two masters. But this is impossible, by the saying of Christ
our Lord, according to chap. xvii of St. Luke: Nemo potest duobus
Dominis servire [94]--which is what was attempted in Filipinas
by the archbishop Don Diego Camacho y Avila. [95] Bishop Palú,
who styled himself vicar apostolic for the entire empire of China,
sent to Cantón a notification of the bull of his Holiness Clement X
and the subjection of the regulars, to a French priest named Filibert
Leblanc--who is still living, a very old man, and is vicar apostolic
of a province. His coming occasioned much grief to the fathers of
St. Francis, and to father Fray Miguel Rubio, who made such answer
as at that time seemed expedient. The bishop of Heliopolis lived but
a short time in China, dying in the city of Moyang.

This year the governor despatched to Nueva España two galleons, with
a considerable interval between, thus providing a remedy against
the returns to port which had been experienced in preceding years;
for it was very possible that, in case one ship were driven back,
the other could make its voyage--which had been known to occur
many times, since they could not keep together in that dangerous
navigation, and might follow very different courses; and one will
suffer from a storm, and the tempest not reach the region where the
other vessel is sailing. Accordingly, he sent the galleon "Santa Rosa"
as flagship, in charge of General Antonio Nieto; and as almiranta the
galleon "San Telmo," under his follower Admiral Don Francisco Fabra,
a very sagacious and active man. These two galleons made a prosperous
voyage and reached the port of Acapulco, where General Antonio Nieto
remained as castellan of the castle there (until his Majesty should
give him a proprietary appointment), because he who held this office
was dead, and the viceroy of Nueva España, Marqués de Laguna and
Conde de Paredes de Nava, [96] appointed ad interim General Antonio
Nieto. [This resulted] to the great improvement of that fort, for he
strengthened and repaired it, and provided it with military supplies,
in which it was very deficient--most of this at his own cost, because
he had a generous disposition.

Governor Don Juan de Vargas also placed on the stocks, at the port of
Cavite, a galleon to which he gave the name "Santo Niño Jesús de Cebú,"
one of the largest ships ever built in these islands; its builder was
Juan Sánchez, a man well skilled in the art of such construction,
on account of having practiced it many years in Yucatán. So much
diligence was used in constructing the ship that it made a voyage to
Acapulco in the year 1684, as we shall relate in its place.

In this year of 1683 there came to Don Juan de Vargas an envoy
extraordinary from the king of Siám, and from his barcalón (or prime
minister in all the kingdom), who was a Greek and very Catholic,
named Constantius Falcón. The envoy was a religious of the order of
our father St. Augustine, a native of Lisboa, named Fray Estebán
Sousa; [he was formerly] a lecturer on theology in the convent of
Évora, and had been rector at Goa and visitor for Macán, and was a
religious of great learning and greater virtue. It seems that one
of the things solicited by the barcalón Constantius Falcón was,
to retire to Manila with his family and all his wealth, which was
great, on account of his being the royal favorite and having great
influence with the king of Siám--who, although a barbarian and very
superstitious, as are all that people, had a very amiable disposition
and much esteem for Europeans. Sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Moya,
with whom Constantius was on very intimate terms, dissuaded him from
this purpose; and certainly the arguments which he brought forward
were reasonable, based on the extreme and incredible power of the
governors of Manila, which is very unfriendly to the possessor of
much wealth, as has been confirmed by experience. I could set down
here many instances of this which have occurred in my own time;
but I omit this, as being a matter that is both delicate and offensive.

It would have been very prudent on the part of Constantius to have
retired from Siám; for within a few years the king died, and his
successor was not so kind and well-intentioned. This king inflicted on
Constantius a most cruel death, and appropriated his enormous wealth,
which, according to report, was counted by millions. It is true that
Constantius was very guilty, for he had formed an alliance with the
French, and was planning to surrender to them the kingdom of Siám;
and for this purpose he had corresponded with the king of France,
who sent many Frenchmen for this enterprise--which ended very badly,
and cost most of them their lives; and the missionary bishops suffered
very great privations. The intention of Constantius was a good one;
it was, to establish the Catholic faith in Siám, for which he had
built some churches. For the adornment of these, he sent [orders]
through the said Don Francisco de Moya for many chalices, monstrances,
and vessels of silver covered with gold, to be wrought in Nueva España;
on account of his death, these were sold in Manila, and now they are
in many churches of these islands. Only his wife escaped--a Japanese
woman, a very good Christian--and a son of his, who went to Francia,
where the most Christian king conferred honors on him, and gave him
an income and the title of count.

Father Fray Estebán de Sousa, having concluded the business which
he had to transact in Manila, returned to Siám; and the king of that
country sent him as his ambassador to the king of Portugal, accompanied
by two Siamese nobles [mandarines] who carried a rich present. With
them he went to Goa, where the viceroy of India sent him on his way
to Lisboa with the best ship that he had. But when they arrived at
the Cape of Good Hope the ship was dashed to pieces, at the place
which is called "the false cape," and most of its people perished,
including one of the Siamese nobles. Father Fray Estebán and another
religious of Ours--a Portuguese named Fray José de Gracia, who had
spent several years in Filipinas--with a very few others, saved their
lives. They traveled by land more than forty leguas, through those
desert shores of Africa, where they encountered only lions of fearful
size; they saved themselves from the lions at night by surrounding
themselves with fires, on account of the antipathy which those fierce
beasts have for fire. They ate some herbs of the field, and, weakened
by hunger and fatigue, they fell dead along the way; more than forty
Portuguese perished, among them two religious of the Society of Jesus,
for they were old men and unable to travel so far, or to suffer such
privations. After many days, having endured incredible sufferings,
they reached a city which the Dutch have at the Cape of Good Hope,
called Santa Elena; they were received there with much kindness, and
the Dutch treated them very well, and relieved their many necessities.

Father Fray Estebán returned to Goa, and by order of his provincial
went back to Siám, where in the Bandel [97] of the Portuguese he
made a hermitage; and there, allowing his beard to grow, he devoted
himself wholly to prayer and mortification, being an example for
all the Europeans in that kingdom. He had his grave always open,
in which he often placed himself, and there meditated on the end of
the glories of this world. In the year 1698 he returned to Manila,
in order to procure a bell for his hermitage and some other articles
for its adornment, and to collect some alms. In the following year
he went back to Siám, to continue that mode of life, [which he did]
until the year 1709, when they found him dead in his hermitage, on his
knees; they buried him in the grave which he had always kept open. The
spirit of this religious was approved in Manila by men consummate
in virtue--especially by fathers Fray Francisco de la Concepción
and Fray José Orense, Franciscans, who were very spiritual men,
and well qualified to decide on souls truly mystical. He practiced
great mortification in his food, for he never ate flesh or fish,
but only fruits (and those without any additional relish), roasted
sweet potatoes and bananas, and a little boiled rice.

In a vessel from the Coromandel coast came Juan Antúnez de Portugal,
a knight of the Order of Christ, and a son of the celebrated Portuguese
jurist Domingo de Antúnez de Portugal (of the same order), who wrote
the very learned book, De regalibus. He came with an appointment from
his king as governor of the islands of Timor and Solor, and, having
fallen dangerously ill at Malaca, he feared, as a good Catholic,
to die among those Calvinistic heretics; and therefore embarked in a
coasting vessel which was coming to Manila with merchandise. He was
received by Governor Don Juan de Vargas with the hospitality which
his person and noble rank merited, and medical treatment was provided
for him with great care. As soon as he became well and was ready to
continue his voyage to Timor, the governor sent him, well provided,
in a very good vessel belonging to some Portuguese traders, and gave
him some Spaniards to accompany him.

The islands of Timor and Solor are the last of which we have knowledge
toward the south beyond the island of Jacatra, where the Dutch have
founded the city of Nueva Batavia, the capital of all the colonies
and factories that they possess in Eastern India from the Cape of
Good Hope, which are numerous and rich. The islands of Timor and
Solor abound with gold, and in them alone grows the sandalwood,
a very fragrant and esteemed wood, and a great article of trade
for China--although the transportation of it is very unbecoming for
Christians, because it is the incense and timiama which the Chinese use
most in the sacrifices to their idols; and therefore the Portuguese
have found by experience that wealth gained by this wretched traffic
never is profitable. These islands are under the Portuguese dominion
and are relics of its ancient colonies, although they are but little
subject to it on account of being more than twelve hundred leguas
from Goa. At that time the rule over them had been usurped by a
Dutch mestizo (although he feigned to be a Catholic), named Antonio
de Ornay, a very sagacious man and an able politician, who governed
them more as a king than as a vassal (as he said he was) of the king
of Portugal--whom he recognized so far as it seemed good to him, and
made contributions to his revenues with part of the great and almost
incredible riches which it was said he possessed, especially in gold;
but most of his wealth was hidden and buried in the ground. The king
of Portugal and the viceroy of India, knowing that they could do no
more, allowed him to remain in that power, and sent him [the insignia
of] the Order of Christ, and other titles of honor. It seems that
the cabinet at Lisboa were displeased at the limited power that the
Portuguese crown possessed in Timor, and decided to send Juan Antúnez
to replace Antonio de Ornay, but armed and escorted only by the royal
warrant, which is more than enough for Portuguese loyalty. Juan Antúnez
arrived at the principal port of Timor, and found it in hostile array
and garrisoned by soldiers of all nations, sent by Antonio de Ornay,
who already had information (by way of Batavia) of his new successor;
these soldiers had orders from him not to allow Juan Antúnez or any
other person to land from the vessel, and not to accept from him any
despatch or letter. The new governor spent many days there, waiting to
see if he could at least write a letter to Antonio de Ornay; but seeing
that he had no remedy except to return to Manila, he did so, with much
difficulty and lack of provisions. From Manila he set out for India,
where he was afterward governor of Mozambique and other places in
Africa. Antonio de Ornay remained absolute master of Timor and Solor,
until he died suddenly, of old age; and without the assistance of
a priest, because the influence [aires] of the neighboring Batavia
had so weakened his scruples. At his death was present a citizen
of Macán, Antonio de Vasconcelos, of the same Order of Christ, who
told us in these islands that all the wealth of Antonio de Ornay, a
great quantity of gold, had been lost; for, as he had buried all his
treasures and died suddenly, they remained for the court of Pluto,
the imaginary god of riches and also of hell.

About the end of the year, Auditor Doctor Don Cristóbal Herrera
Grimaldos died, aged more than seventy years. The cause of his
death--which came rapidly, in an illness of a few weeks--was that
a running sore that he had in his right arm became cancerous. It
is said that it was this arm that he stretched out to seize the
archbishop when he ordered [the soldiers] to carry out the prelate
in the chair on which he was sitting; such is the story, but it
is not confirmed.... What is certainly known is, that he made no
effort to secure absolution from the excommunication. He publicly
received the holy viaticum, which was administered to him by the
dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias; and they buried him in the
church of the Society of Jesus at Manila. Afterward the archbishop,
having returned from his exile (as we shall soon relate), by sentence
and demand from his attorney-general ordered that the auditor's body
be disinterred; but this proved ineffectual, because it was alleged
that the body had been buried in a general sepulchre, in which were
the bones of others of the faithful, and those of the auditor could
not be recognized. At this, the ecclesiastical officials desisted
from their attempt; but there was no other declaration to the contrary.

While the archbishop was enduring his exile in Lingayén--or, to speak
more correctly, his imprisonment, since he had not the liberty that
exiled persons enjoy--in Manila the tempest continued against the
religious of St. Dominic, who, as being his brethren in the order,
had great share in his troubles. The usurping provisor, Dean Don
Miguel de Covarrubias, and the cabildo, successful in maintaining the
vacant see [sede vacante], arrested and harassed all those who, as it
seemed to them, did not agree with their opinion. And as it seemed to
them that all the force in this opposition came from the religious of
St. Dominic--especially from the provincial, Fray Antonio Calderón;
father Fray Cristóbal Pedroche, commissary of the Holy Office and
vicar-provincial; father Fray Bartolomé Marrón, rector of the college
of Santo Tomás; and the two lecturers in theology, father Fray Juan
Ibáñez and Fray Francisco de Vargas--they demanded aid from the
governor, Don Juan de Vargas, to banish those religious. The governor
issued a royal decree, signed only with his own name, directing the
provincial to send the five religious above mentioned to the village of
Lalo, the capital of the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, distant a hundred
leguas from Manila, on the pretext that some of them were preaching,
and others teaching, erroneous doctrines in the community. The said
provincial replied to this that if the errors consisted in saying
that the cabildo and their provisor had usurped the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, and that the persons who had banished the archbishop
and arrested the ecclesiastics deserved the censures [of the church],
it was himself who had most influence [in forming that opinion in
them], and who with most firmness maintained it; and that as his
subordinates were not to blame in the matter, since they obeyed the
commands laid on them, he could not fulfil the orders given by the
royal decree. The said master-of-camp issued a second decree in the
same form as the first, repeating its commands, and ordering that
the provincial with the five religious be brought to this capital.

To the end that this order might be executed, he gave commission to
Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, auditor of that Audiencia--who,
accompanied by several companies of arquebusiers and other soldiers
under the command of the said governor, went to the convent of San
Domingo; and, leaving it surrounded with many of the soldiers, with
others he entered it to make known the said royal decree. He actually
notified the provincial and Fray Cristóbal Pedroche, commissary of the
Holy Office and vicar-provincial of Manila; and the soldiers looked
through the entire convent in search for the rector, Fray Bartolomé
Marron. Not finding him, they went on to the college of Santo Tomás,
and, after making the same efforts to find the said rector, but
in vain, notified the two professors of the same decree. They made
substantially the same reply as the provincial--all of them saying
that they could not voluntarily leave their offices and province; but
that they were ready to endure any violence for the sake of God and
His cause. The news of this was sent to the said master-of-camp Don
Juan de Vargas, and he was told how in the convent and the college
all the doors and offices had been opened to the soldiers, without
resistance; he gave orders that the soldiers should remain round
about the convent and college, and should not permit the entrance
of any provision of food or water for the religious until the six
should be surrendered, and should go alone to the places designated
in the said royal decree. This blockade, with this rigor, lasted four
days, and on the last day, which was the day next following Corpus
[Christi], the same auditor went to the convent; and, having made
various protestations and requisitions, ordered the usurping provisor
(who was present) to remove those religious. After some questions
and replies the provisor commanded the soldiers to carry in chairs,
in their arms, to the place of embarkation of the provincial and his
vicar-provincial; this was actually done, carrying them until they
placed the religious in the vessel which had been made ready for this
purpose. This having been accomplished at the convent, they went to
the college of Santo Tomás, and the same thing was done to the two
professors of theology; and, all being placed together in the same
vessel, they were conveyed to the port of Cavite. From that place
the two professors were transported in another vessel to the island
of Mariveles; and the provincial and vicar-provincial were detained
there until the time for the sailing of the ship for Nueva España,
in which they were embarked. The said provincial reached the kingdom
of España, where he died a few months after his arrival.

At the same time, by order of the said master-of-camp, Doctor Don
Diego Calderón went to the convent of the Parián (which is the
village of the heathen Chinese), with the same display of arms
and soldiers, in quest of the said vicar-provincial, and searched
the entire convent--where he could not be found, since he was,
as has been stated, in the convent of Manila, in company with the
provincial. With the same commission Captain Don Luis de Morales
Camacho, alcalde-in-ordinary, went with armed soldiers to a ranch
named Biñán, distant eight leguas from Manila, and belonging to the
said college, to seize the rector, thinking that they would find him
there; and General Antonio Vásquez went, with the same accompaniment
of soldiers, to the convent of Abucay, a ministry for the Indians,
distant eight leguas from Manila by sea, to look for Fray Raimundo
Verart; but, as they could not find those two religious, they could
not in their case put into execution the [sentence for their] removal
from the islands. Strenuous efforts were made in Manila to look for
the father rector, Fray Bartolomé Marron, but they could not find him;
for he was safely hidden in the house of a person who was strongly
attached to the order; so they desisted from their search for him.



CHAPTER XIV

The two galleons which had sailed for Nueva España in the preceding
year arrived safely at Filipinas [1684], although they did not make
port at Cavite, but at Solsogon, within the Embocadero. The flagship
"Santa Rosa," which had gone out in charge of Antonio Nieto (who had
remained as warden of the castle at Capulco), brought back as its
commander Don Juan de Zalaeta, a native of Vizcaya, and a knight of
the Order of Santiago. He had spent many years in these islands, and
had been a soldier in Ternate; and, having returned to [Nueva?] España,
had held several honorable offices--as, being alcalde-mayor of Hicayán
and Puebla de los Angeles, and warden of Acapulco. In this galleon
came the governor who was to succeed Don Juan de Vargas; this was
the admiral of galleons, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui y Arriola, a
knight of the Order of Santiago, and a member of the "twenty-four"
of Sevilla and of the supreme Council of War. He had been commander
of the Windward fleet, [98] and had held other responsible positions
on sea and land; and he was a Vizcayan, a native of Elgoibar. Don
Juan de Zalaeta carried the commission for taking the residencia of
Don Juan de Vargas, and other warrants; but the most important person
among those whose residencias he must take was the master-of-camp Don
Francisco Guerrero de Ardila, uncle of Don Juan de Vargas's wife. It
was this man who had enjoyed the profits of the office of government,
and this year he was returning to España as commander of the galleon
"Santo Niño." That vessel met within the Embocadero the galleon
"Santa Rosa," and, learning that in the latter had come a successor
to Don Juan de Vargas, he hoisted the anchors without waiting for
further information, whether opportune or not [con tiempo ó sin
él], and sailed into the sea outside; and he was not ill-advised
in this step, since in the residencia he would have been the chief
personage. When Don Juan de Zalaeta learned that the best of the hunt
had escaped from him, he was much grieved that he could not catch him;
although it would have grieved Don Francisco Guerrero more if they
had seized him. That gentleman knew how to enjoy the advantages of
Filipinas quite alone, and to go away laughing at the citizens and
every one else; but Don Juan de Vargas remained behind, in custody,
to make amends for his own faults and those of others.

In company with the above-mentioned governor came very distinguished
officers, all Vizcayans; there were Don José de Escorta, Don Pedro
Uriósolo, Don Francisco Alvarez, Don Bernardo de Endaya (who carried
the despatches from his Majesty), Don Pedro de Avendaño, Don Matías
de Mugórtegui, Don Francisco de León y Leal, Don Juan Bautista
Curucelaegui, Don Andrés de Mirafuentes, Don José de Herrera, Don
Manuel González, Don Lorenzo Mesala, Don Francisco Carsiga (who
died a priest), Don José Arriola, Don Martín Martínez de Tejada,
and Don Lucas Vais; all of them were generals and sargentos-mayor,
whom we know as captains, and rendered much service and honor to
these islands. In this galleon came Don Mateo Lucas de Urquiza;
also Captain Lorenzo Lázaro, a noted pilot; Captain Don Francisco
Cortés, boatswain; and for ship's storekeeper Juan de Aramburu,
a brave Vizcayan who served in many important exploits.

In the almiranta "San Telmo," in which returned the admiral Don
Francisco Manuel de Fabra, came a numerous and excellent mission of
religious of our father St. Augustine; it was sent by father Fray
Manuel de la Cruz, who left these islands in the year 1680; he himself
had been left in our hospice of Santo Tomás de Villanueva, outside
the city of Méjico. This galleon "San Telmo" was in great danger of
not being able to return hither, for, having set sail several days
after the flagship, on leaving the port the rudder-irons broke, and
the ship was almost unmanageable--a defect very difficult to repair in
that place, on account of the scarcity of artisans at Acapulco. If it
had not been for the diligence and energy of the warden Antonio Nieto,
who sent to a great distance to get workmen, and made the repairs at
his own cost and with his personal attention, this loss would have
been irremediable; but his zeal and good judgment enabled the ship to
pursue its voyage with but a few days' loss of time, and to succeed
in making port at these islands.

On the eve of St. Bartholomew's day, August 23, in the afternoon,
the distinguished mission of our religious entered Manila; in numbers
it was the largest that had entered this province, [99] and in quality
unequaled. This province received them with great tokens of rejoicing;
and the land welcomed them with an earthquake, and not a slight one,
which occurred that night. On August 29 the private session of the
definitory was held, to draw up the formal statement of receiving
and incorporating them [into the province].

On the day following the entry of our religious into Manila, that
is, the day of St. Bartholomew, the new governor, Don Miguel de
Curucelaegui y Arriola, made his entry into the city; this was done
with great pomp, and two triumphal arches were erected for him, by the
college of the Society of Jesus and our convent, with very ingenious
emblematic allusions in Latin and Castilian verse, and very expressive
laudations. At this entry occurred a disaster which might have served
to the heathen as a bad omen. Hardly had the governor entered through
the Puerta Real, which they call Puerta de Bagumbayan, when a balcony
that was on the side within the city wall above the said gate gave
way, and fell, with great injury to those who were within it; so that
many were left cripples, and among these a Recollect religious named
Fray Luis. The fiscal of the royal Audiencia, Doctor Don Estebán de
la Fuente Alanis, escaped the danger, the falling balcony striking
his horse's tail; and Captain Don Francisco de Arcocha, the equerry
of the new governor, was hurt. But, although many were injured,
the life of no person was endangered.

The religious of this mission brought with them an image for devotion,
a painting of the holy Christ of Burgos, touched up to accord with
the original. This was received in Manila with great solemnity,
in a procession, the new governor taking part therein on account of
being much given to that devotion, and with him the most distinguished
persons in the city. The image was deposited in the main chapel, with
an altar and retable which were very suitable for it, until the Conde
de Lizárraga, Don Martín de Ursua y Arismendi, provided that which the
image has at the present time. The governor went to mass every Friday,
and there was a large attendance of citizens of Manila--I know not
whether out of complaisance with him; for at the death of Don Gabriel
de Curucelaegui, who was buried at the foot of the aforesaid altar,
at the same time was buried with him the devotion of the citizens
of Manila. The same occurred in the government of the said Conde de
Lizárraga, who again revived this devotion; for it was likewise buried
with him, in the same place. So much influence has the example of the
governors in these islands, and so great is their power, that even
devotion seems to need their aid. The religious also brought a brief
from his Holiness Innocent XI for the erection of a confraternity of
the holy Christ of Burgos; this undertaking was carried out, and its
first director [100] was this devout governor. In his time it had a
large membership, but today it has very few confriers; but they are
most devout and sincere when they are least influenced by vain and
worldly considerations, and most please the Lord when they are anxious
to please not princes--men in whom there is no real prosperity--but
the King of kings, who always repays them in money of infinite value.

Much did the Catholic governor grieve over entering upon his office
without the benediction of the archbishop, and at finding the people of
the city as a flock without a shepherd, their consciences loaded with
scruples over matters of so much importance, and all of them perplexed
and entangled in these dissensions; and therefore he resolved, with
firm purpose and heroic determination, to cause the archbishop to
be restored to his church. The opposition which he encountered among
the auditors in his efforts to secure this cannot be expressed; but
he firmly maintained his resolution, even to the extent of saying
that he would restore the archbishop, even if it should cost him his
head. He consulted the religious orders, asking them to give him their
opinions, on the basis of law, both civil and canonical. I have not
seen what the other corporations replied, which I suppose must have
been what the governor desired; but I know well that the Order of
St. Augustine adduced many and very substantial arguments in favor
of the restitution of the archbishop to his church, and this with
many citations from the authors on whom the auditors had taken their
stand--who, as the royal Council of the Indias afterward declared,
were greatly at error in their method, according to what the royal
laws ordain in case it should be necessary to enforce the penalty of
banishment against any prelate. The same error was committed by the
capitulars of the ecclesiastical cabildo in declaring and proclaiming a
vacant see, through their misunderstanding of the chapter Si Episcopus,
"De supplenda negligentia prælatorum," in VI [101]--an error which
afterward cost them all so dear, especially the dean, Don Miguel
Ortiz de Cóbarrubias.

The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, determined to restore
the archbishop to Manila, sent to Lingayén as his agent for
accomplishing this, General Don Tomás de Endaya; and the city of
Manila sent a regidor, Sargento-mayor Don Gonzalo de Samaniego, and
some citizens. With them went the past provincial of Santo Domingo,
Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, commissary of the Holy Office, and many
others, with an escort of soldiers. On November 16 the archbishop
came back from his exile, to the general rejoicing of the entire city,
which had been so long a time afflicted by the absence of its pastor
and prelate. The artillery was fired [as a salute], from the castle,
and from the wall adjoining the gate of Santo Domingo, by which the
archbishop made his entrance; and after he had visited the church he
went to the palace, to see his liberator, the Catholic governor--who
said that, in case his proceeding should displease his Majesty and
the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, he would regard it as a
great glory to have a punishment, even were it capital, imposed upon
him. This may be believed of him, as he was a man of a great soul,
although small in body; Major in exiguo regnavit corpore virtus. [102]
What we saw in him was, that he was one of the best governors that
these islands have had--affable, pious, magnanimous, and in the highest
degree disinterested, and with this very liberal. And therefore he
was wont to say that he had come to Filipinas to be poor, where other
governors had come to be rich. This he said with truth, because in
España and the Indias he had possessed much wealth, gained in the
many voyages that he had made in command of the fleet and galleons
to Perú and Nueva España, which had been consumed by his ostentation
and liberality. We may therefore regard it as a punishment of God
upon these islands that He removed him from us in the fifth year of
his term of government--in which time he was severe with those only
to whom he could not in justice be kind--unless it were that divine
justice chose him for the punishment of those who had deserved it
before his time. [103]

Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui began his government with great
acceptability and satisfaction to all, and taking the measures
necessary for the maintenance of these islands. The year of 1685 was
a hard one on account of the general epidemic of smallpox which raged,
not only in these islands but in all the kingdoms of China and Eastern
India--especially on the Coromandel coast, where many millions of
Malabàrs died. In Filipinas the ravages of the epidemic were great,
principally among the infants; but the place where, it is affirmed,
the pest caused incredible loss was in the mountains of Manila where
the insurgent blacks [i.e., Negritos] dwell, so many dying that those
mountain districts were left almost uninhabited. But it was not only
among them that the disease wrought such destruction, but also among
the deer and wild swine, of which there is an innumerable multitude
in these mountains, even after they have contributed with their flesh
to the support of so great a number of blacks. The reason why so many
die with this contagion is, first, their weak physique; and second,
the custom that they have of abandoning those who are attacked by the
disease, on account of which they die much sooner--and, what is worse,
in their heathen blindness. In China many millions of people died,
so that there was no one to cultivate the fields; from this resulted
great famine and mortality, after the epidemic of smallpox.



CHAPTER XV

The first vessel that the governor despatched for Nueva España was
the galleon "Santa Rosa;" and he appointed as its commander Don
Francisco Zorrilla, a native of Granada; as its chief pilot, Admiral
Don Lorenzo Lazcano; and as sargento-mayor, Don Bernardo de Endaya. The
voyage of this galleon caused great damage to the citizens of Manila,
on account of the difficulty in disposing of their property caused
by the poor market [104] that they found at the port of Acapulco,
because a fleet of many vessels, laden with merchandise, had arrived
at Vera Cruz. From the time of this voyage, the shipments which
were sent from these islands to the commerce of Nueva España began
to decrease--not only on account of the above-mentioned fleets, but
through the numerous imposts and contributions which were levied on the
galleons of Filipinas, which continually increased; [105] consequently,
seldom was a voyage made from which the citizens obtained any profits
beyond their principal from the goods which they shipped.

During the time which the archbishop spent in his exile at Lingayén
occurred the death of the bishop of Nueva Segovia--Doctor Don
Francisco Pizarro de Orellana, a native of Manila--at the village of
Vigan, the capital of the province of Ilocos, a few months after his
consecration. He was very learned, and greatly beloved for his very
affable manners and his angelic gentleness. He had been for many
years provisor and archdeacon, and commissary of the Holy Crusade;
[106] he was therefore greatly esteemed by all, and his loss was
keenly felt. His death caused a long vacancy in the said church
[of Nueva Segovia], which lasted until the year 1704, when his
successor arrived; this was Master Don Fray Diego Gorospe é Irala,
of the Order of Preachers, a native of Puebla de los Angeles. This
prelate made strenuous endeavors to establish the visitation of the
regulars in charge of missions, and gave much occasion for patience
to the religious of St. Dominic and St. Augustine as long as he lived,
which was until May 20, 1715. On account of the death of Don Francisco
Pizarro, the cabildo of Manila named for governor of that bishopric
Don Diego de Navas, who had been expelled from the Society of Jesus,
a man of impetuous disposition; this was one of the charges afterward
made by the archbishop against the cabildo. That prelate, after he
was restored to his church, sent his assistant the bishop of Troya,
Don Fray Ginés de Barrientos, to rule that bishopric. [Here follows
an account of Pardo's dealings with the ecclesiastical cabildo and
other persons who had been excommunicated on account of their share
in his banishment, which is here omitted, as having been sufficiently
recounted in "The Pardo Controversy," VOL. XXXIX, q.v.]

This year the galleon "Santo Niño" arrived from Acapulco, and
Master-of-camp Don Francisco Guerrero remained behind in Nueva España,
thus escaping from the numerous lawsuits of the residencia, with all
of which Don Juan de Vargas was laden. It would have been of great
assistance to him to have had the aforesaid Don Francisco at his side,
since the latter was very crafty and sagacious, and not so easily
perplexed in matters that concerned him as was Don Juan de Vargas;
for the governors in that country need to be very liberal in the
residencia, and to have much patience and courage.

As commander [of the galleon] in place of Don Francisco Guerrero came
General Antonio Nieto, because a proprietary appointee had succeeded
him in the castle of Acapulco. There also came in his company three
religious, sent by father Fray Manuel de la Cruz--two who had remained
[in Nueva España] sick from the last mission; and the other because
he had enlisted for this province, a son of Mechoacán. [The next
two paragraphs relate to the residencia of Vargas; part of this has
already been used for annotations in the account of that trial in
VOL. XXXIX, q.v.]



CHAPTER XVI

The peace and pious tranquillity which this province enjoyed throughout
the three years' government of our father Fray José Duque was like that
which it had enjoyed during the three years of his former term, and was
what this province had expected from him on account of the knowledge
and experience which all had of his piety, great discretion, and
sagacity in making way through the greatest difficulties. Accordingly,
they bade farewell to his paternal government with much regret, and
determined to reëlect him for a third term--which they did afterward
at the proper time, opportunity being afforded for this by the long
span of his life and the robust constitution with which he was endowed,
which were astonishing.

The time arrived which our Constitutions assign for holding the
provincial chapter, and it assembled in the convent of Manila; over
it presided, with letters from our very reverend father general
Fray Antonio Paccino, our father Fray Diego de Jesús. Our father
Fray Juan de Jérez was elected provincial for the second time, with
great satisfaction to all; and as definitors were chosen the fathers
Fray Luis Diaz, Fray Juan García, Fray Felipe de Jaurigue, and Fray
Diego de Alday. The visitors of the past triennium were present,
Fray José de la Cruz and Fray Alonso de Arniellos; and as visitors
for this triennium were appointed father Fray Ignacio de Rearcado and
the father reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte. Very judicious ordinances
were enacted for the proper government of the province, and for the
maintenance of the strict regular observance which in those times
flourished therein--in which the new provincial had taken a prominent
part in his first triennium (which was from 1677 to 1680), and in
the past one, in which he had been prior of [the convent in] Manila.

The provincial began to govern with so much zeal and industry that it
would be tedious for me to tell how much he accomplished in one year
only--the least being that he had visited all the provinces, even
to those of Ilocos and Bisayas, without omitting in one point his
exercises of prayer and mortification. Of this I can give reliable
testimony, as one who was his secretary and companion during the
twenty-two months while he governed, his death being caused by the
great labors of this visitation, in which with holy zeal and activity
he performed incredible labors in promoting the religious observance,
and in securing the cleansing and adornment of the altars and the
ornaments, in which he was exceedingly careful and assiduous. He
suffered much from the continual harassment of the scruples which
tormented him, so much that it caused one grief to see the so heavy
cross which the Lord placed on the shoulders of this His creature,
which he bore with great fortitude and courage....

Among the excellent arrangements made by this chapter was the chief
one, which was that father Fray Álvaro de Benavente should go to España
as procurator; he had a few months before returned from China, where
he left our missions very well established in the kingdom of Cantón,
with houses at Xaoquinfú and Nanhiunfú, and two others in other
places of less note. At the same time he was appointed definitor for
the general chapter which was to meet in Roma, to which father Fray
Alvaro was very desirous of going on account of the affairs of the
missions conducted by the regulars in China, from whom he carried
letters and authority to act in regard to the remission of the oath
of subjection to the apostolic vicars. They gave him the necessary
despatches, and he determined to make the voyage by way of the Cape
of Good Hope, because that year there was no galleon going to Nueva
España, the cause of which will be told later. He embarked for Batavia
on a Portuguese vessel, and as his companion was assigned the brother
Fray Juan Verganzo, who had come with the mission of the year 1684. He
arrived at Batavia, where he encountered great difficulties in making
the voyage to Amsterdam; but all these were overcome by a Dutchman,
a Calvinist preacher named Teodoro Zas--a very benevolent and courteous
man, and very fond of doing good to others; this caused grief in those
who knew him, at seeing him misled by the false doctrines of Calvin,
when he was so eminent in the moral virtues.

Father Fray Alvaro carried with him the first part of this History,
which after a long time came from the press, although only as far as
the year 1616--while I had given it to him complete up to the year
1647--because at that time this province had not funds at Madrid
sufficient to print it all. That first division of the history was
printed at the said court in the year 1698, by Manuel Ruiz de Murga;
and it was dedicated to her Ladyship the Duquesa de Aveiro, although
it was my intention that it be dedicated to the king our sovereign,
in his royal and supreme Council of the Indias. The rest of the said
first part remained laid aside and forgotten in the convent of San
Felipe at Madrid, until I determined to write it again and complete
it, by means of the rough drafts that had remained here. [107]

About April of 1687, father Fray Alvaro sailed from Batavia in
[one of the] galleons of the Company of Holanda, and after many and
fearful tempests it reached the Cape of Good Hope, where the Dutch
made a halt of two months at the great colony and settlement which
that nation maintain there for this purpose; it is a very populous
city, and well supplied with all that is necessary to human life,
for it possesses a very healthful climate, at the latitude of 36°
[on the side] of the tropic of Capricorn. In this city they have a
large hospital for treating the sick, with very skilful physicians
and surgeons, and with all the comfort that could be found in any
other part of the world. Among the magnificent and delightful things
which are in that city is a garden, the largest that is known, which,
according to report, is only second to the earthly Paradise. It is
many leguas in circumference, and is divided, like the world, into
four parts. In the part called Europa, there are trees of all the
fruits that grow in our Europa; in that called Asia, all those from
Asia; and the same in those of Africa and America. This garden has
a river, opened by hand-labor, which waters all the four divisions;
and for its cultivation many Dutch gardeners and more than two thousand
Cafres are kept there. In this place is produced very rich wine, which
they call "Cape wine;" for the climate is the same as in Andalucía and
Extremadura, although in the opposite zone [trópico], and is different
only in having summer at Christmas and winter at St. John's day. [108]

Father Fray Alvaro left this pleasant town and pursued his voyage
to Holanda, and landed at Roterdán, the native place of Desiderius
Erasmus; [109] and thence he went to Amsterdam, where he remained some
time. There he made inquiries to ascertain whether he could print the
history that he carried in that great city, on account of the beautiful
work done by its famous printers; but he gave up this intention, on
account of the numerous errors which they made, being ignorant of our
language. Thence he embarked for Bilbao, where he and his companion
resumed wearing their habits, which they had laid aside in order to go
on shore at Batavia. The rest of the tedious peregrinations of father
Fray Alvaro will be related, if we can reach the time when he returned
[to Manila] with a mission in the year 1690, when we shall observe
his entrance into Madrid and his voyage to Roma, and his negotiations
at that court in behalf of the regulars of the China missions.

For these missions the chapter designated the father reader Fray Juan
de Aguilar, who remained in them several years, and afterward retired
on account of failing health; but the chapter sent in his place father
Fray Juan Gómez, who continued there until his death. Afterward a
large reënforcement of religious was sent to China for the aforesaid
missions, which have increased and become very large; and they would
have prospered much more, if they had not been so hindered by the
claim of subjection to the vicars-apostolic, who made so strenuous
efforts to introduce it.

The governor, Don Gabriel Curucelaegui, had determined to send this
year [1686] to Nueva España the galleon "Santo Niño," in charge of
General Lucas Mateo de Urquiza; but his efforts to despatch it were
ineffectual, because information was received that seven vessels of
corsairs or pirates were sailing outside of the Embocadero, and it was
feared that their principal intention was to seize the galleon "San
Telmo," which was expected on the return trip from Nueva España. Two
fragatas of theirs had been in the Babuyanes Islands, between Cagayán
and Hermosa Island, and had slain two religious of [the Order of]
St. Dominic; these were father Fray Jacinto de Samper, a native of
Caspe, an able minister to the Chinese in the Parián, and father
Fray José Seijas, a nephew of the archbishop of Méjico, Don Francisco
Seijas, both of them being religious of great virtue. [110] Moreover,
the pirates had committed other acts of hostility in Cagayán and
Ilocos. The governor determined to suspend the voyage of the galleon
for Nueva España, and gave orders to equip it for war--cutting in
it many portholes, in order to furnish it with more than a hundred
pieces of artillery of large calibre (all of bronze); and placing
aboard it a thousand soldiers, Spaniards, Pampangos, Merdicas,
Malays, and Zambal Indian bowmen. In its company went two pataches,
which had just come for trade with the Coromandel coast, well armed
and furnished with soldiers; and for commander of this enterprise
the governor appointed Don Tomás de Endaya, with the title of deputy
captain-general. To his valor could be entrusted any undertaking,
however perilous it might be; for he was valiant, and had great skill
in navigation, and had gone three times to España as commander [of the
galleons]. This splendid armada set out, small in number [of ships],
but having great strength. Having escorted through the Embocadero and
secured the galleon "San Telmo" (which reached these islands safely),
the armada reconnoitered all the places where the piratical enemy might
be, but did not find them, but learned that there had been no more
than the two vessels which had been in Babuyanes. Thereupon the armada
returned to Cavite, without accomplishing anything more than the great
expenses which the royal treasury had incurred, and having weakened
the great strength of the galleon "Santo Niño," with the numerous
portholes which had been cut in it for mounting the artillery; for it
was necessary for this purpose to cut through the ribs of the ship's
sides, in the preservation of which consisted its greatest strength.

The two pataches proceeded in search of the pirates to the locality
of the Babuyanes; and the commander, Don Tomás de Endaya, went with
a strong force of men by land to the province of Ilocos to look for
them--where, it was said, the said corsairs had arrived, although
the news did not prove to be accurate. He went as far as the capital
town of Vigan, where his encomienda was; and after having spent some
time there, not receiving information of the enemy, he returned to
Manila. He left there established a village of the blacks from the
mountains, called Santo Tomás, between Tarlac and Magalan, headed
by a notable chief of theirs named Don Juan Valiga. A few months
after Don Tomás de Endaya had arrived at Manila, he succeeded in the
office of master-of-camp to Don Fernando de Bobadilla (who held it
by proprietary appointment from his Majesty), who died about this
time. The latter was a great soldier, and the governor of Zamboanga,
and is often named in the history; he was a native of Sevilla, and
a son of one of the "twenty-four" of that city. The ships that went
by sea, after having searched many ports where they thought to find
the corsairs, and having no further news of them, returned to Manila
without having accomplished anything remarkable. Don Tomás de Endaya
was confirmed in the post of master-of-camp, and held it twenty-eight
years; and then he died from old age.

In this year of 1686, about June, occurred the revolt of the Sangleys
of the Parián of Manila, which I related in book ii, chapter 21, as I
did not suppose that I would reach these times with the thread of the
narrative; and therefore I do not repeat it [here], as it was written
with sufficient fulness, and the curious reader can find it in the
place I have cited. [This citation is incorrect, in the arrangement of
the chapters as given in Fray Lopez's edition of Diaz; the number of
the chapter should be xxxiv. Diaz's account, as there given (pp. 440,
441), we transfer to this place, adding his comments on the question
of allowing the Chinese to reside at Manila; it is as follows:]

While these islands were governed by the admiral of the galleons,
Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui y Arriola, of the Order of Santiago and
one of the "twenty-four" of Sevilla, in the year 1686 [misprinted
1636] there occurred a tumult in the Parián which it was feared would
become a general uprising [--which was planned,] according to the
investigations afterward made. In the said market there were many
recently-arrived Sangleys, of so bad reputation that the Sangley
merchants themselves had no confidence in these men, and said that
they were disguised thieves and highwaymen who had come from China
that year, having fled from a mandarin who was a very severe judge,
whom the emperor had sent from the court to drive out so mischievous
a sort of folk from the province of Fo-Kien, which at that time was
infested by criminals of that sort. The said mandarin had executed
his commission with such severity that those who were put to death
numbered more than sixty thousand--which in China is a small number,
because that country abounds in robbers--and for this reason many
had made their escape to Manila and other regions, fleeing from the
harshness of that judge. These people did all the harm that they
could, robbing inside the Parián the Chinese themselves, when they
could not rob outsiders.

About this time there came out of the public prison at Manila a Sangley
named Tingco, who had been imprisoned for the unnatural crime, and
had been there so long that in prison he had learned to read and write
our language, and had come to be a sufficiently competent scrivener to
write petitions and other papers for the rest of the prisoners, for he
was very clever and had a keen mind. He went about [the prison] freely,
as being a prisoner of so long standing, and aided the jailer greatly
by acting as guard to the other prisoners; and he supported himself
very comfortably on what he gained by his pen. Finally, after many
years of confinement he succeeded in gaining his full liberty; and,
as he had a restless disposition and evil inclinations, he associated
himself with other Chinese criminals, of those who were fugitives
from the province of Fo-Kien, and they lived on what they could
plunder from other Sangleys and from the Indians and Spaniards. As
they regarded this occupation of petty thieving as too disagreeable,
and it could not extricate them from their wretchedly poor condition,
they planned to assemble together three hundred of these vagabonds,
and to undertake some exploit which should better their fortunes so
that they could return to China free from danger. It seems certain
that this resolve was talked about with the multitude of the Parián
who were least supplied with funds, and these were on the watch to aid
the bold attempt of those promoters if the result had corresponded
to their plans; and what is most surprising is the secrecy with
which they kept these from the rich Sangleys--who not only would not
have entered into the plot, but would have revealed it for their own
safety; for they were going to lose much and gain little, and with
very evident risk. The day and hour of the conspiracy having been
settled--a day in the month of August, at daylight--they assembled in
a disorderly crowd, armed with such weapons as they could procure by
stealth, their leader being one who had newly come, that same year,
from China. In a mob, and without order, they attacked the house of
the alguacil-mayor, Pedro de Ortega; and they killed him and another
Spaniard, named Nicolás de Ballena. With this beginning they went to
the house of the alcalde-mayor of the Parián, Captain Don Diego Vivién,
and entered it to do the same to him; but, having heard the noise,
he escaped without clothing, and reached a safe place in the little
fort which defends the entrance to the great bridge, where there
is always a garrison of soldiers. The insurgents entered his house,
and their greed satisfied itself on what they found nearest to their
hands, although they had not the luck to find three thousand pesos
in silver which the alcalde possessed. While they halted for this
pillage there was time to bring up soldiers and other armed men,
and they easily arrested many of the Sangleys, although most of them
escaped; and the rest of the Parián remained tranquil. It was made
known that this conspiracy was plotted in the bakery of Manila, and
[it was said] that they intended to place pounded glass in the bread,
in order to kill the Spaniards. This was not positively ascertained,
but the management of that business was taken from the Chinese--to
which, however, they afterward returned, at the urgent request of our
people. This was because, during the time while the Sangleys did not
carry on this trade, they were replaced by Spaniards who in their own
country had been bakers, but in Manila they did not succeed in doing
anything to advantage; the Sangleys therefore again took charge of
the bakery, after they had been asked by many to furnish the supply
of bread, of which great quantities are consumed in Manila.

The Sangley Tingco was captured, and in company with ten others
was hanged and quartered; and the bodies were placed along the
river of Manila and the estuary of Tondo, as far as Point Tañón in
Tambobong. The conversion of those who were heathens (as were most
of them) was secured, and for this conversion labored earnestly
father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, an Augustinian, and Father José de
Irigoyen of the Society of Jesus, both of whom knew the dialects
of the provinces from which the criminals came; and for those of
Fo-Kien the fathers of St. Dominic [ministered]. News came that many
of the insurgents had taken refuge at Pasay, and General Don Tomás
de Endaya went out against them with soldiers and Merdicas (who are
very brave Malay Indians); they came back with eleven heads of those
whom they could kill, and the disturbance was quieted, nor has any
other occurred up to the present time.

In this danger Manila maintains her existence, clinging to it as
the means of her preservation even though she grieves over what is
the cause of her greatest decline. The shrewdness of the Chinese
in business dealings and their skill in carrying on the mechanical
trades turn us from these callings so entirely that Spaniards who in
their own country practiced them here consider it foolish to do so;
accordingly they allow the Chinese to conduct and manage the crafts,
believing that the latter are serving us when they are most imposing
upon us. And as the Chinese recognize this weakness of ours, and
see that it is without remedy, on account of the Spanish vanity, they
treat us with contempt in their acts, although with great submission in
their words. Whatever they make is defective and does not wear well,
in order that they may have more work to do. The unnecessary expense
that Manila suffers on account of the frauds that they practice in
the trades of baker, candle-maker, and silversmith is very great;
we recognize this, and endure it through necessity, and the matter is
not set right, through reluctance to apply the remedy. Many persons
understand the injury which the Chinese cause here, but much more
numerous are those who defend them, since this peril is dear to those
who regard it as an advantage [to have the Chinese here.]

In the year 1678 there reached our hands a very judicious opinion,
printed at Madrid by a devout person who had had experience in dealing
with that nation, and was well aware of their acts of guile. It was
presented before the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, its
president being the Conde de Medellín; and when the arguments adduced
therein made a very strong impression, another pamphlet appeared in
print at the same court, against the former one and in favor of the
Sangleys; this delayed the decision, so that it seems as if they have
in all quarters those who defend them. And so we go on, enduring this
incurable disease--although today the number of the Sangleys is less
than ever; for it is supposed that the number does not reach the six
thousand whom the royal decrees allow, and judging by the poverty
to which the commonwealth of Manila is steadily being reduced, each
year there will be fewer Chinese here through the lack of profits;
for that is the craving which draws them from their own country.

I am aware that I have expatiated on a matter which seems to be an
affair of state, rather than of history, although history, as a teacher
of truth and a witness of the times, should include all events. I much
regret that I cannot enlarge my account by saying something of the
much which I could tell about the great indifference with which the
Sangleys who are baptized attend to their obligations as Christians;
most of them do so for worldly objects, such as being married and
living as lords of the country; but this subject is one for tears
rather than for the pen. Many lamentations have been made by many
Jeremiahs zealous for the honor of God; but no results have followed
beyond the reward which will be given to them in glory for this so holy
labor. A very learned apologue is kept in the ecclesiastical archives,
written by the reverend father Fray Alberto Collares of the Order
of Preachers, at the request of the archbishop of Manila, Doctor Don
Miguel Millán de Poblete, which causes horror to those who read it;
and the worst is, that it tells but little, according to the opinion
of other religious of the said order, who, as ministers to the Parián
mission, know the Chinese best. And still more is this occasion for
censure to some of the religious of that order who have been in China,
and know how much superior the Christians of that empire are to these;
and therefore they take great care to prevent those who come from
China (who are few) from holding intercourse with the Christians of
the Parián, in order that these may not corrupt them. Thus do they
look upon the matter; and when in our convent at Manila was lodged
Don Fray Gregorio López, a Basilitan [111] bishop of the Order of
Preachers, a Chinese by nationality--who was a phoenix among that
people, on account of his virtue and sanctity--he prevented from
going to the Parián, whenever he could, two good Chinese Christians
whom he brought hither in his company.

Many (and most) persons are greatly deceived in imagining that the
Sangleys who live among the Indian natives outside of Manila do no
harm to the faith, saying that the Chinese are more atheists than
idolaters, and that they only seek worldly advantages. But this is
not always the rule, for some teach sects and doctrines that are very
evil, as experience shows. In the year 1706, father Fray Antolín de
Alzaga, one of the apostolic missionaries whom we have in the remote
mountains of the province of Pampanga, converting and instructing the
warlike peoples called Italones, Ituriés, and Abacas--whose wonderful
conversions present notable material to him whose duty it is to write
the history of those times--this apostolic missionary came to Manila,
making light of the hardships of [travel by] those roads so long
and rough, in order to ask the governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu,
to take measures for banishing from these mountains two infidel
Sangleys, who with greed for the trade in wax had penetrated even
those unexplored hills, where they taught false dogmas and perverse
opinions, such as palingenesis, or transmigration of souls--a dogma
which Pythagoras taught, and which was propagated much among heathen
peoples. At the present time it is accepted by all nations of Asia,
and in China and Japon with the greatest tenacity; they believe
that when a man dies his soul goes to animate another body, either
rational or brute, according to the deserts of him who is dead,
and for either punishment or reward; and thus they allot an infinite
succession of transmigrations. This diabolical dogma was taught by
these Sangleys to the Italon Indians, with other evil doctrines,
such as polygamy (which permits a man to have many wives), idolatry,
and others which ensue from it. That accursed doctrine spread rapidly
among those simple mountaineers, so much so that it became necessary
to have recourse to the said governor--who, being so zealous for
the increase of the Christian faith, sent to the alcalde-mayor of
Pampanga a very urgent command to expel from those missions the two
Sangleys, and to be very careful to prevent the entrance of others
therein; and this order was carried out, to the great tranquillity
of the new Christian church. Experience has shown the same thing in
other villages where Sangleys have fixed abodes. I will not delay
longer over a matter on which there is an endless amount to be said,
since I have sufficiently exceeded the limits of my obligation; and
I refer to many persons who have officially discussed these matters,
although they have obtained no results from their earnest efforts.

The natives regard them with contempt, having no further inclination
toward them than that of self-interest; consequently, neither
affection nor fear draws either toward the other. And ordinarily
selfishness courts the Sangleys, while aversion urges the natives
to make complaints against them--except that the bond of matrimony
is a check on the women; for, as is usually the case, if a native
leads a bad life, he is on the watch for the acts of the Sangleys,
in order to make the evil-doing of another serve as an excuse for
greater freedom in his own wrong mode of life. Accordingly, they are
in more danger from testimony arising from the malice of the accusers
than from facts brought forward in zeal for their correction--as is
seen by the few complaints or accusations that are decided against
them, and how still more rarely do these bring them to punishment. Nor
can this be attributed to the negligence of the judges, for they are
delighted to receive the lawsuits of the Sangleys, our covetousness
selling to them even justice very dear; and when harshness finds
an object, it makes their punishments (since their wealth offers so
much to avarice), although less bloody, more keenly felt, since in
the estimation of the Sangley money is his very heart's blood.

The precedents set by the sovereign kings Don Fernando the Catholic and
Don Felipe II are examples of their piety, and of their successful
policy in separating from their Catholic vassals those who are
perfidious, who if mingled with the others might pervert them, through
the passion which the Indians and Moros have for propagating their
[false] sects--a danger much to be feared among the simple people of
the villages and the common herd.

No doubt, intercourse with these infidels is very necessary, on account
of the merchandise which they furnish to us from their kingdom; but
this could, in my opinion, be accomplished without danger to us--for
one thing, by permitting to remain in these islands [only the] six
thousand Sangleys, as his Majesty decrees; and for another, by not
permitting them to trade in the provinces, or to live in the villages
mingled with the Indians. But they should be kept in subjection, as
Joshua kept down the Gaboanites, and as now Roma, Florencia, Venecia,
and Orán hold the Jews in subjection, and our people in Ternate kept
the Moros in his Majesty's galleys, the rabble of that sort. It is an
obvious disadvantage to live subjected to such peoples, because the
law of subjection, the adulation offered to rulers, and ambition to
secure their favor are powerful to subject religion to their pleasure,
as has been found by experience in all the countries where this
misfortune has been suffered--such as Mesopotamia, both the Arabias,
Egipto, and Africa, and that one which was the supporter of religion,
Constantinopla, with all of Grecia. And for the same reason heresy has
so prevailed and lorded it in Inglaterra, Irlanda, Dinamarca, Suecia,
Sajonia,[i.e., Saxony], the Palatinate, and many other provinces and
free cities--the most fatal poison that attacks the faith being the
sovereignty of infidel princes, their grandeur and power being the
sure ruin of religion. I consider that I have used more space than
is required by my obligations, in treating of so pernicious a nation,
which is allowed here in greater number than our needs demand--I know
not whether through our fault or our misfortune--and maintained in
the subjection which experience has shown [to be necessary] at times
when too great confidence has relaxed the rein of caution.

[Here we resume the regular narrative of this period by Diaz,
at p. 786:] This revolt caused great anxiety to the governor, Don
Gabriel Curucelaegui, on account of the many champans which had come
that year from China; but in the course of time the danger disappeared.

Among the great hardships which in this year were suffered in Manila,
one was that the rains were heavier than any known to living men. Not
only were they very heavy, but they lasted many months, and were
the cause of many fields and crops being ruined, which caused a
great scarcity of provisions; and, as it was impossible to work the
salt-beds, the price of salt rose so high that it came to be worth
twelve pesos for half a fanega, although its ordinary price was two
or three reals--and some years even less, depending on the [height
of the] water and on the heat of the sun, on which conditions this
so necessary industry depends.

The most memorable event of this year, and one which may be counted
among the most important which have occurred in these islands since
their conquest, is the imprisonment of the auditors, Don Diego Antonio
de Viga and Don Pedro Sebastián de Bolivar, by the governor. It is an
event to cause astonishment--and more, as it came so soon after the
imprisonment and exile of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo--at
seeing in so short a time Doctor Don Cristóbal de Herrera Grimaldos
dead, and two auditors deprived forever of their togas (since never
again could they put these on), and their families ruined and almost
destroyed. It is not my intention to interpret the inscrutable secrets
of divine justice, but only to set down the times and occasions in
which so notable events occurred. [Diaz's account of the imprisonment
and deaths of the auditors is here omitted, as it has already been
sufficiently related in VOL. XXXIX.]



CHAPTER XVII

The governor, seeing the Audiencia broken up (since it consisted
of only one individual, the auditor Don Diego Calderón), named two
associates to assist the auditor in despatching the business of
this supreme tribunal; these were Licentiate Don José de Herrera,
an advocate of the royal Audiencia, and the doctor and captain whom
I have already mentioned, Don José de Cervantes Altamirano; and
they issued royal decrees, Doctor Don Esteban de la Fuente filling
his office of fiscal. They alleged that there had been a precedent
for this in the time of Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera,
when there was no other auditor than Don Marcos Zapata, by whose aid
was carried out the banishment and imprisonment of Don Fray Fernando
Guerrero--and this proceeding had been an example to be repeated in
these times. Afterward, on account of the sickness and death of Don
Diego Calderón, the governor continued to form an Audiencia with the
two associates, which the royal Council of the Indias condemned.

Under this kind of government two years passed by, until, in the year
1688, a new Audiencia arrived, as we shall soon see. The year 1687
was no less grievous than the preceding one, for various misfortunes
followed each other, which were generally felt by all the citizens,
in order that they might share in the punishment merited by their
offenses, since always proves true the proverb, Delirant reges, semper
plectuntur Achivi. [112] The first was the failure of the galleon
from Nueva España, for it could not come that year because none had
been despatched [from Manila] the year before; this was because of
the armada sent against the pirates, which only served to cause great
expenses to the royal treasury, the wreck of the galleon "Santo Niño,"
and the failure of the galleon in this and the following years--which,
as we have often said, is the life of the poor colony of Manila and
of all these Filipinas Islands.

The governor, having determined to send to Nueva España the galleon
"Santo Niño," ordered that it be repaired as well as it could be;
but even then it was not very strong, because most of its strength
had been taken from it by the windows which had been opened in it for
the artillery. But there was no other ship to depend upon, for the
construction of the "Santo Cristo de Burgos," which they had placed
on the stocks, was only begun. The governor appointed as its commander
Lucas Mateo Urquina, who sailed for Nueva España with but slight hope
on the part of those who understood the situation for the success of
the voyage. The worst was, that their fears were realized; for the
galleon not being able to endure the fierce storms that attacked it
in high latitudes, it was compelled to put back to port. This it did,
about the month of November, causing great affliction to all; for it
came only to aggravate the sufferings that were already experienced
through the failure to receive a galleon that year.

At night of Holy Thursday, March 28, at the time when in the village
of Binondo arrangements were being made for the procession which the
mestizo Sangleys make on the occasion of the "holy burial," (which is
one of the most brilliant and magnificent of the processions that are
made in Holy Week), one of the greatest disasters that have ever been
seen in these islands occurred. Fire caught in the first house on the
point of land which is called Punta de la Estacada, and the crowd
of people who had made ready for this devout function were unable
to extinguish the fire; and the devouring flames made such havoc
that they destroyed the great number of houses that stood in all the
territory of the said Estacada, Baybay, and Tondo, finally consuming
the entire barrio of Bancusay, in which this so widespread settlement
[of Sangleys] finds its limit. It was no small good-fortune that
the fire passed by the other side of the river, where lies the great
town of Binondoc, Tondo, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo--which, as contiguous
villages, together constitute one body--for [if the fire had reached
them] the loss would have been irreparable; for many splendid houses
of wealthy Spaniards and mestizos would have been consumed, and those
of many Portuguese and Armenian traders who live in those places as
being more convenient [for their business]. There were no deaths of
persons from the flames; but great was the loss of the many people
who saw their poor houses and property disappear.

The gates of Manila were opened, and the governor, in person hastened
to give aid, with a great number of people, who could check the
fire so that it should not cross over to the other part of Binondoc
and Tondo. What was more, he prevented the robberies which in such
emergencies are committed by some soldiers and wicked people, who on
such occasions are worse than the fire, as has been found by experience
at various times; for in times of drouth fires are very frequent in
the suburbs of Manila, most of them being occasioned by fire set by
these soulless incendiaries, who find their profit in such destruction.

To this local calamity at La Estacada succeeded another affliction,
which was general through the greater part of these islands; this was
a plague of locusts, one of the worst which has been seen in them, for
the locusts were so many that in dense and opaque clouds they darkened
the sun, and covered the ground on which they settled. These insects
ravaged the grain-fields, and left the meadows scorched; and even the
trees and canebrakes they stripped of the green leaves. These locusts
were so voracious that they not only laid waste every kind of herbage
and verdure, but they entered the houses, and gnawed and pierced with
holes every kind of cloth; and those who flapped sheets and coverlets
at the locusts to drive them away--as is usually done at other times
in the invasions of this pest, with some effect--on this occasion
found that the only result was to ruin those articles, for the locusts
ate them, and destroyed them with their poisonous jaws. Thereupon the
people began to feel the loss which ensued from this calamity, in the
great scarcity and want of provisions--so great that a cabán of rice
(which is half a fanega) came to be worth two pesos and a half, and in
some places three pesos. (Nor has the poverty been less which is being
experienced while I am writing this, on account of the great plague
of locusts which occurred in the past year of 1717 and the present
one.) And it can be said that the poor died in great numbers, not
so much because the rice (which is the general food of the regions)
cost so much, as through their lack of forethought, and of money
with which to buy rice; and because there was so excessive a number
of beggars--some through necessity, and others through laziness and
dislike for work--that it was impossible to relieve them; for when
there is but little to give it is not possible to divide it so that
all shall be sufficiently cared for.

To these great troubles was added another; that in that year
occurred many earthquakes, which although they did not cause the total
destruction of buildings, left many houses and churches damaged. In the
province of Cagayán, in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, heavier shocks
were experienced, for in the mountainous districts of that province
chasms and vent-holes were opened, a phenomenon which usually results
from such tremblings of the earth. From this it may be proved that a
cause of these tremblings and earthquakes is the air which is shut in
within the caverns of the globe, drawn into them through the crevices
and openings which the heat causes in the soil, which afterward are
closed by the rains; a great volume of air being thus gathered, it
becomes rarefied, and, increasing in quantity or volume, it seeks an
outlet, directing its force toward its center and causing so terrible
a commotion. But the safe and useful way of maintaining ourselves
faithful in the fulfilment of our obligations is to regard these
earthquakes as tokens of the wrath of God against our transgressions,
Qui respicit terram et facit eam tremere (Psalm ciii, v. 32).

Not long before these events, the death occurred in Cagayán of the
auditor Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, a prisoner and exile in
that province. [Here Diaz relates the circumstances of the deaths of
Viga and other persons who had been concerned in the Pardo controversy,
which have already been mentioned in previous documents. He cites a
letter from Pardo to Curucelaegui, dated December 2, 1687, to show
that Viga died impenitent; he was buried in the cathedral of Lalo,
and Pardo connects with this circumstance the calamities which soon
afterward afflicted the islands. He orders the remains of Viga to be
disinterred and removed from the cathedral; Diaz thinks that this was
done, but is not quite certain. He positively asserts, however, that
Viga was a very upright official, and wholly disinterested; and thinks
that he perhaps went too far in upholding the royal privileges, through
misunderstanding their scope. Doña Josefa Bolivar also dies impenitent,
and Pardo sends Bachelor Don Juan de Cazorla to investigate the matter,
to know whether she may be buried in consecrated ground; he has her
buried "in the plaza of the said village of Oriong." Her husband meets
"a better end;" he is reconciled to the Church, and dies after having
"devoted himself to exercises of austere penance, fasts and scourgings
and other mortifications." Auditor Calderón dies at Manila in like
exemplary manner (July 18, 1687); "this auditor was a very upright
and disinterested official, a good Christian, pious, and much given to
good works, and therefore was beloved by the entire community." Master
Jerónimo de Herrera is sentenced by the archbishop (March 16, 1687)
to be deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices and offices, and is
sent to Spain, but dies during the voyage. At this time, Barrientos,
the bishop of Troya, is absent on official duties in the bishopric
of Nueva Segovia. He had "issued a decree of excommunication against
the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pangasinán, prohibiting to
them trade and traffic in those provinces, in virtue of the oath which
those officials take in the royal Audiencia when they go to exercise
their offices. This excommunication was the cause of many lawsuits, for
Captain Don Francisco de Alzaga Voitia, alcalde-mayor of Pangasinán,
defended them all, and appeared before the royal Audiencia with a
plea of fuerza, complaining that the bishop of Troya was usurping
the royal jurisdiction by taking cognizance of the oath taken in
that court.... On this question royal decrees were issued, and the
controversy lasted a long time, but the excommunication then laid has
remained until this day; and the alcaldes-mayor continue with their
trade and traffic as before, without the least scruple." Returning
to Manila, Barrientos declines the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, to
which he is entitled as Pardo's assistant; the archbishop therefore
despatches to take charge of that diocese Doctor Nicolás de la Vega
Caballero, then cura of Cavite.]

This province assumed charge of the ministry in the territory of
Mariquina and Jesús de la Peña, which in times past was a dependency
of the mission station of Pasig. It had been administered by the
religious of the Society, by commission of Don Fray Pedro Arce, bishop
of Cebú and ruler of the archbishopric of Manila, and by approval of
Governor Don Juan Niño de Tabora, since the year 1630; and now it was
restored to the ministry of Pasig by sentence of the archbishop, May
16, 1687, and this province added to that territory the convent of San
Mateo--establishing the headquarters and residence of the minister at
Mariquina, whose titular saint is our Lady of Protection; its first
minister was father Fray Simón Martínez. The aforesaid archbishop
also added to the said village of Pasig the mission village of San
Andrés Apóstol de Cainta, also administered by the said religious of
the Society, by decree of March 16, 1688--with the approbation, not
only of this, but of the separation of Mariquina, by the vice-patron,
Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui. Its first minister was father
Fray José del Valle, and it was preserved as a separate convent with
the title of vicariate. [113]

We held these ministries, with great labor and inconvenience, until
the year 1696, when there arrived a royal decree that they should
again be administered by the fathers of the Society of Jesus, and we
therefore surrendered them to those fathers. In order to show further
our good-will and friendly relations with so holy a religious order,
we exchanged the ministry of San Mateo for that of Binangonan--called
"Binangonan of the dogs," to distinguish it from the other town of
the same name, which is on the opposite coast [of the island]; it
has for its titular St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins her
companions, in a church in Laguna de Bay. This was accomplished by the
aid of the consent and approbation of the governor, Don Fausto Cruzat
y Góngora. This village of Binangonan is very small, and had been at
first administered by the religious of St. Francis, who had exchanged
it for the ministry of Baras, which also belonged to the religious of
the Society; and because it was so poor a living a visita was added
to it from the ministry of Pasig, which is called Angono--its patron
saint being St. Clement, pope and martyr--of a few tribute-payers. To
this ministry were added fifty pesos more for its support, but it is
so forlorn a one that even with all these aids the minister suffers a
great lack of means for his support; and therefore on many occasions
there has been talk of abandoning this charge, for it is not good for
any other profit, either spiritual or temporal--not only on account of
its poverty, but because of the intractable disposition of its people.

On February 19 of this year of 1688, our then father provincial, Fray
Juan de Jeréz, died in the convent of Manila; his illness was caused by
the great hardships of his visitation of the entire province, and the
eagerness with which he undertook to perform this task in one year,
while it was a task for two years, especially since he was sixty-two
years old, and had many attacks of illness. At last he ended the
visitation, but it put an end to him. He was one of the most exact
in fulfilling obligations of all the religious who have been in this
province, and great was his zeal for the religious observance. His
solicitude and care for adornment in the things belonging to the divine
worship was continual, using his utmost endeavors that the altars and
ornaments should be the best that were possible, and spending on them
all that he could obtain. The first indication of his [approaching]
death was that he was freed from the scruples of conscience which had
been throughout his life a continual torment; but at that time the
Lord, who had given him these scruples in order to exercise his soul,
imperavit ventis et mari, et facta est tranquillitas (Matthew viii,
v. 26). His death was deeply regretted by all; for this province
loved him as a father, and the people venerated him as a saint. In
consequence of his death, the government was assumed by our father
Fray José Duque, as being next to the provincial, with the title
of rector-provincial; for in this province could not be observed
the same rule as in those of España, where our very reverend father
general makes appointments for the vacancies caused by the deaths of
provincials, until the time appointed for convening the provincial
chapter.

Among the troubles and calamities of this year a very great one
was that occasioned by a pestilential epidemic of influenza, which
had begun in the preceding year and continued in this year of 1688,
with great ravages. Many died of this disease, especially children
and old persons; and by this year the epidemic had so increased that
many grain-fields could not be cultivated, for lack of people to
do the work. This caused a great lack of provisions in this and the
following years, just as the locusts had occasioned like loss in the
preceding year. So prevalent was the disease that in the province of
Pampanga, where I was serving in the village of Guagua, as secretary
and assistant of the rector-provincial, the Indians were not seen in
the streets, on account of most of them being prostrated by the cruel
influenza, and the rest of them caring for the sick ones. Accordingly
the deputies and officials of the confraternities went through the
streets with jars of [cooked] rice, and went up into the houses and
provided those who were in need with food; for most of the people
were without it, and others could not cook it and had no one who was
able to do so. These influenzas are very frequent in this country,
but that in this year was the worst that the old men have seen; and
since then, up to the present time, no other like it has been known.

The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, desired to put a stop to
the outrages which were being committed by the rebellious blacks of the
mountains and the Zambals of the Playa Honda and the uninhabited places
of the Puntalón (a route in the province of Pangasinán)--killing many
travelers and cutting off their heads (which is the greatest trophy
and desire of those people), and daring to approach the villages
near Tarlac--Magalan, Telban, and Malunguey. The governor therefore
prepared to make a vigorous invasion, not only with Spaniards,
but with Pampangos, friendly Zambals, and Merdicas from Maluco;
and he appointed as their leader Sargento-mayor Martín de León,
and gave him [for officers], as being men experienced in that sort
of war, Captain Alonso Martín Franco and Captain Bartolomé Prieto;
the master-of-camp of the Merdicas, Cachil-Duco, the prince of
Tidori; and Sargento-mayor Pedro Machado. He sent orders to the
alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán and Pangasinán that they, with the best
troops that they had, should scout through the mountains from north
to south, so that they might go on until they should meet Martín de
León and his companions, up to a locality and settlement of blacks
that is called Culianán. Both parties carried out this plan, although
with great difficulty, on account of those forests being very dense;
they killed many insurgent blacks and Zambals; but before joining their
troops they found themselves obliged to retreat, because the epidemic
of pestilential influenza made great havoc among them, and many died
from that disease. But the injury which our people could not inflict
upon the enemy was wrought on them by the pest of the influenza,
which caused as great ravages among them as the smallpox had made in
previous years. Martín de León, Alonso Martín Franco, and Bartolomé
Prieto came to Guagua in very bad condition; from there they sent word
to the governor, who commanded them to withdraw [from the enterprise].



CHAPTER XVIII

The Conde de Mondova, [114] viceroy of Nueva España, seeing that
for two successive years there had been no galleons from Filipinas,
[influenced] not only by the order which the royal Council has given
for such emergencies, but by finding that he was responsible for
the despatch of the investigating judge and the new royal Audiencia
who were on their way to these islands to replace and depose the
auditors (whom either death or exile had already deposed), ordered
that a Peruvian patache be made ready which was then at Acapulco, the
owner of which was Felipe Vertis, a citizen of Callao. The viceroy
appointed as its commander the then admiral of the Windward fleet,
Antonio de Astina, a native of San Sebastián; and for seamen the
best who were found in the said armada. In this patache embarked
the following persons: The investigating judge, who was Licentiate
Don Francisco Campos Valdivia, then alcalde de casa y corte [115] of
Madrid, and royal deputy provincial notary at the said court. The new
auditors, of whom the senior was Licentiate Don Alonso Abellafuertes,
a knight of the Order of Alcántara, a native of Oviedo, who had
recently finished his term as corregidor of the city of Burgos;
[the others were] Licentiate Don Juan de Sierra y Osorio, a knight of
the Order of Calatrava, an Asturian, and Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina
y Havalría, a native of Sevilla--who is still living as a religious
and priest, a professed of the fourth vow in the Society of Jesus,
who is an example of virtue and truly exemplary. The auditor second
in seniority, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima,
failed to embark on this occasion, on account of being married and
having a large family, but did so in the following year. As fiscal
for his Majesty came Licentiate Don Jerónimo de Barredo Valdés, also
an Asturian. All these four auditors carried appointments as criminal
auditors for Méjico at the expiration of six years which they were
to spend in Filipinas, exercising the functions of auditor; and this
went into force afterward with Auditors Alonso de Abellafuertes and Don
Juan de Ozaeta, who, after the six years, went to Mexico. Don Juan de
Sierra also returned, having completed his term as auditor, and died
at Acapulco, where he found letters promoting him to be auditor at
Granada; for it must have been of some service to him to be a nephew
of Don Lope de Sierra, a member of the supreme Council of the Indias.

With the new auditors also embarked very distinguished persons of
their kindred and households, such as Don Manuel de Argüelles, an
Asturian, who is still alive, and a general; Don Juan Infanzón, and
Don Francisco Giménez de Valerio; the owner of the patache, Felipe
de Vertis; and others. On this occasion also came father Fray Juan de
Alarcón, a native of Valladolid and a son of the [Augustinian] house
there; he had been left in Nueva España, and was now very old. He
retired to this province (for which he had enlisted in 1679), and
served only a few years on account of poor health; and, while he was
procurator-general, died in the convent of Manila, in the year 1695.

This patache made its voyage very prosperously, and passed the
Embocadero without any difficulty, reaching the port of Cavite, where
it remained until Mateo de Urquiza sailed with the galleon "Santo
Christo de Burgos" for Nueva España. This privilege of entering the
port of Cavite is, it seems, enjoyed as their own by all the pataches
which come from Acapulco, which are not built in these islands; as it
were, they are free from the sin which they contract in the acts of
oppression and tyranny which are committed, not only in the cutting
of the timber for them, but in their construction; and, either for
this or for other and hidden causes, hardly a galleon built in these
islands succeeds in making the entrance of the port of Cavite.

The auditors on reaching Manila took possession of their offices
in the hall of the Audiencia, which they found empty of their
predecessors--some being dead, and another in banishment--and the
only one they found living was the fiscal, Don Esteban de la Fuente
Alanis. The investigating judge likewise found the greater part of his
commission accomplished, which was the deposition of the auditors. He
sent for Don Pedro Bolivar, who was a prisoner in Cagayán, in the fort
of Tuao; but he died while on the way, at one of the first villages
of the province of Ilocos; God gave him a very good end, in return
for the many excellent traits that he displayed in his life, such as
being very courteous and very charitable to the poor.

To Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui came very favorable decrees
from his Majesty--who thanked him for what he had done in the
restitution of the archbishop, in which his Majesty considered himself
well served. To the archbishop came others, also very favorable,
which I do not insert here, in order to avoid being tedious, and
because that is not in my obligation; and I only repeat here a letter
or bull which his Holiness Pope Innocent XI sent to the archbishop,
since that is a very unusual favor, and because he was a pontiff
so greatly to be venerated by posterity, on account of his great
sanctity of life. [The letter is given in both Latin and Spanish;
it simply expresses the approval of the pope for Pardo's course, and
encouragement to persevere if he shall encounter other like trials.]

The news of what had been done in the banishment and confinement
of the archbishop produced great disturbance in the royal mind of
his Majesty and in his ministers of the supreme Council of the
Indias, as may be imagined from the punishment which by their
orders was inflicted on Don Juan de Vargas and on the auditors
and the other persons inculpated therein. It is not denied by this
atonement and punishment that many cases can occur in which it may
be lawful to banish bishops and ecclesiastical superiors; and this
matter is treated at length [lato modo] and very judiciously by many
writers--Don Cristóbal Crespi de Valduura, vice-chancellor of Aragon,
in his learned Observaciones, obs. iii, illat. iii, no. 19; Solórzano,
De jure Indico, tom. ii, lib. iii, chap. 29, no. 71; Salgado, De regia
potestate, part i, chap. 2, no. 276; and others. But this is executed
by legitimate procedure, and with much circumspection and moderation,
without touching or impeding the exercise of the episcopal power
(the opposite seems to be an Anglican dogma, and one of Marsilius
de Padua), as was done with Don Fray Felipe Pardo--confining his
person in the village of Lingayén, and suspending his spiritual
jurisdiction; commanding the cabildo to exercise the right of sede
vacante; and not accepting the appointment which the archbishop had
made of the bishop of Troya to govern in his absence--because this
does not concern the temporal revenues, which the prelates who incur
the penalty of banishment lose. What causes no little wonder is, that
all the auditors were very learned, and they four, with the fiscal,
had held chairs in [the universities of] Méjico, Sevilla, and Granada;
but when one lacks the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom,
one cannot gain real success in matters in which his will prevails over
his judgment. How useful it would be to the governors and auditors of
Filipinas to have these words written as a reminder in the hall where
they transact business, the words of the Holy Ghost in chapter vi,
no. 3 of Wisdom. [116]

The first step made by the investigating judge was to imprison in
his own house the fiscal, Doctor Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis,
and to bring charges against him, in accordance with the orders that
he carried from the royal Council of the Indias; he did the same
with the other auditors, [although they were] dead, through their
executors. He proceeded with the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas,
which had been delayed by the challenging of the associate judges;
and he sent Governor Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado into exile in the
village of Lingayén, Where the archbishop had been, and he was taken
away by an escort of soldiers, under the command of Sargento-mayor
Martínez León. He went hither as excommunicated, and unable to have
any intercourse with any person save those allowed by law. Upon his
arrival at the said village, he built in it a house of bamboo and nipa,
where he lived a long time in company with his spirited wife, Doña
Isabel de Ardila, enduring much loneliness and lack of respect, until
they recalled him, after two years, in order to send him to España;
and he died during this first voyage [i.e., on the Pacific Ocean].

This gentleman was truly unfortunate, for although he had not been a
bad governor, his lack of courtesy and his harsh disposition gained
for him many enemies. The time of his rule was very prosperous,
and the ample commerce with the neighboring kingdoms engaged many
persons and brought great gains. He was very diligent in keeping the
Manila garrison strengthened with capable soldiers, and took much
pains to have the men well fed and clothed, and military discipline
strictly maintained--and in this he was surpassed only by Don Sebastián
Hurtado de Corcuera. His covetousness was not so great as appearances
indicated, and with it he did not injure the commonwealth, for those
times furnished [profit] for all. He was very punctual in fulfilling
the duties of a Christian governor, and also in attending, almost
without missing a day, all the sessions of the Audiencia and royal
court; and therefore the lawsuits were not so interminable as we find
them at the present time.

In his time came a royal decree that investigation should be made of
the lawfulness of the slavery in which any were held, and that those
persons whose condition of servitude was not well grounded should
be set free. This action seems somewhat harsh; for so many persons
of different nationality were liberated that both the Spaniards
and the natives were left destitute of servants, and the city and
the villages were full of beggars--and, what is worse, of thieves
and incendiaries. This dispossession would have caused the utmost
distress if General Cristóbal Romero, the castellan of Santiago,
had not resolved to write to the king our sovereign about it, with
arguments so forcible that a royal decree came directing that the
execution of the other be suspended.

The new fiscal of his Majesty, Don Jerónimo Barredo y Valdés, a young
man of suitable age [for this lady?] married the widow of Auditor
Don Cristóbal Grimaldos, Doña María Manuela Carrillo y Barrientos--a
woman in whom, although great was her beauty, virtue was still greater,
and she furnished an excellent example in the time of her widowhood,
suffering continually the siege and attacks made against her chastity
by influential persons. But God recompensed her by giving her a
numerous offspring and long life, both in these islands and in the
city of Méjico--from which place no news has come of her death, but
we have heard that she has remained the widow of Don Jerónimo Barredo,
who was many years the senior auditor of this royal Audiencia.

The investigating judge, Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, brought [an
order for] the liberation of the Marqués de Villasierra, Don Fernando
de Valuenzuela, because the term of ten years since his removal from
the monastery of the Escorial was now completed. The judge went in
person to Cavite, to notify him of the order and set him at liberty,
as he did. The marqués left the port of Cavite and came to Manila, but
he took up his residence in a country-house which our Manila convent
possesses, on a sugar-plantation called Pasay. This house is on the
sea-shore, in a very convenient location for trips back and forth
from Manila; and one can easily enjoy visits there, as it is only
one legua distant from the city. Here the marqués lived during all
the time while he had to wait and make preparations for his journey,
in order to sail in the first galleon which should return to Nueva
España; for such was the command given to him, until his Majesty
should decide whether or not he should go to España.

He embarked in this year of 1689 and arrived at Méjico, where he found
as viceroy the Conde de Galves, [117] who, as the son of the Duke de
Infantado, in whose service Don Fernando de Valuenzuela had begun his
career of fortune, received him very hospitably, as lords are wont
to receive persons who have a claim upon such considerations. It
seems as if the patient endurance of this gentleman had conquered
the influences of fortune, so various and inconstant in his rise and
fall; for it was said with good ground that he would be viceroy of
Nueva España; but his death closed the term of his life, which was
an astonishing one, and an example for the study of admonitions. His
death was occasioned by the kick of a horse, and on the ninth day a
fever attacked him from which he died in a few days. He had previously
fulfilled all the obligations of a Christian, and ordered that his
body be deposited in the hospice of this province, outside the walls
of Méjico, where it remained until the marquesa his wife sent orders
to convey it for burial to the city of Talavera. [Diaz here inserts
a Latin epitaph on this cavalier, written by some person in Filipinas.]

The investigating judge with his notary managed so well that in
ten months he had completed all the commissions which he brought
with him; for he was a man of great activity and energy, and very
skilful in judicial practice. He brought to an end the residencia
of Don Juan de Vargas, which was much entangled, and had overstepped
the peremptory limits of such judgments. He also tried those who were
accomplices in the imprisonment of Master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo,
of whom now few remained alive, and those were the least guilty; but
these paid for all the rest, which usually is the purse from which
[such acts] are paid. He was not as scrupulous as other ministers,
and as he ought to be, although he affected to be very upright and
just; and neither he nor his notary went back with empty hands,
as was proved at Acapulco by some chests of his which were searched,
notwithstanding the protests that he made that these were the documents
belonging to his commission. In them were found very valuable goods,
and very few documents; these would certainly aid him to pass his
old age in the honorable post which was given to him as soon as he
arrived at court, that of member of the Treasury Council, which he
enjoyed for several years.

The archbishop brought to an end the suits which he had begun against
the principal members of the [cathedral] chapter, of whom only one
had remained alive, the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias; for the
archdeacon, Don Francisco Deza, had died in an epidemic of influenza,
and soon afterward Don Francisco Gutiérrez Briceño died suddenly in
the village of Betis. Accordingly the dean, as head of the chapter
and vicar-general, and the one who had been leader in the arrests of
Master Juan González, the father provincial Fray Antonio Calderón,
and the father professors Fray Juan Ibáñez and Fray Francisco de
Vargas, on account of these and other occurrences made amends for all
the chapter-members, and ended by going to Madrid. There he secured
permission to return to Méjico, his native country, with half the
income of a dean (which is very small), and with this spent the few
years of life that remained to him, dying as a good priest.

While Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui was most occupied in
making ready the galleon in which were to return the investigating
judge, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, Fiscal Don Estebán de la Fuente
Alanis and the admiral of the Windward fleet, Don Antonio de Astina,
with many other persons who were going to embark--such as the dean
and father Fray Raimundo Verart, who was going as the archbishop's
attorney--while busily engaged in these preparations he was assailed
by death, by means of a painful suppression of urine, which in a few
days ended his life, after he had received all the holy sacraments. He
died at ten o'clock at night, on April 27, of this year 1689, at the
age of more than sixty years. They buried him in our church at Manila,
at the foot of the altar of the holy Christ of Burgos, to whom he
had been very devoted, and had gone punctually every Friday to hear
his mass sung. With him were buried also the devotion and concourse
to this sacred image, until they were revived twenty years later,
during the term of government of the Conde de Lizárraga, Don Martín
de Ursua y Arismendi; this is the usual condition of devotions in
these islands, for they do not last long, and have their seasons,
and these are not wont to be very long.

The death of this governor was much regretted by every one; he was
worthy of being counted among the best whom these islands have had,
because in him were united the highest qualities which are required to
constitute an accomplished governor. He was very pacific, and so plain
in his manners that he was censured for not maintaining his authority;
he was very charitable, and magnanimous of heart, although small in
body. He had the noble quality of being exceedingly disinterested,
and of placing little value on riches--which in these regions,
where covetousness has so many opportunities to tempt and conquer,
is the greatest virtue; and it is such even throughout the world,
since it is almost a miracle.... These islands did not keep him long,
it may be because they did not deserve him.... For in these regions
there is little regret for governors who are not good, and little
esteem for those who are not bad; but he who rules can never find
himself free from malcontents, because it is not his function to
please every one. But, since goodness is better recognized after
it is lost, the governor's death caused much regret. He left as
his executor Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, and so small was
his estate which they found that there was not even enough for the
expenses of his burial or for the mourning garb of his servants.

On account of his death, the military government was assumed by the
senior auditor, Licentiate Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, knight of the
Order of Alcántara; and together with the royal Audiencia [he governed]
also in civil affairs, as is decreed by royal commands. During the time
while Don Alonso de Abella governed, which was sixteen months (for it
was that length of time before Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora arrived),
this commonwealth enjoyed great peace and tranquillity. If there were
any dissensions in the ecclesiastical state, he took no part in them;
and if it had not been for his great forethought those differences
would have been greater, as will be related in the proper place.

With the death of the governor, and the excellent intentions of
the temporary ruler, the affairs of Don Juan de Zalaeta assumed
another shape. He had suffered great hardships and privations in
his imprisonment and banishment, and all his property, even to his
clothing, had been sold at auction; for before his departure from
these islands the authorities had taken his residencia for the time
when he was alcalde-mayor of Calamianes, and some charges against him
resulted. The acting governor ordered that he be released from prison,
and that both he and Don Miguel de Lezama should come to Manila,
where their causes were settled with less harshness. Don Juan de
Zalaeta returned to España, thoroughly warned by the bad outcome
of the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which he had so eagerly
desired, imagining that it would be of great honor and profit to
him. He reached Madrid very poor, and ill provided with supplies,
and died there suddenly....



CHAPTER XIX

During the fourteen months which remained in the term of office of our
father provincial Fray Juan de Jérez after his death, the province was
governed by the experienced prelate our father Fray José Duque--so
successfully and peaceably, and with so much tranquillity in the
order, that he was able to moderate the great sorrow which all felt
at the loss of the deceased provincial. In this peaceful condition
the time came for holding the chapter-session which took place in
the convent at Manila, on April 30 of this year of 1689; father Fray
Luis Díaz presided therein, as the eldest definitor of the preceding
chapter. There was not much discussion among the fathers in their
effort to find a person whom they might elect as provincial, because
for a long time all had fixed their attention on father Fray Francisco
de Zamora, who was then prior of the convent at Manila. He was a
native of Medina del Campo, and a son of the convent at Valladolid,
who had come to this province in the year 1669; a religious of great
prudence, and unusual ability for governing; and for many years they
had only delayed electing him until he should reach the age of forty
years, since that is the time fixed in our Constitutions. They found
that he lacked six months of that age, which, as he alleged, exempted
him from election for so heavy a burden; but having investigated the
matter, and basing their action on many previous precedents which had
occurred not only in this province but in others, in which there had
been dispensations [from the rule], the father who presided granted
one in this case, as he was vicar-general, and father Fray Francisco
was elected provincial on the said date, April 30.

The definitors who were elected were fathers Fray Julián Zapata,
Fray Juan de San Nicolás, Fray Gaspar de San Agustín, and Fray Simón
Martínez. The visitors for the preceding triennium were present,
fathers Fray Ignacio de Mercado and the reader Fray Francisco de
Ugarte; and as new visitors were appointed father Fray Eusebio de
Porras and the father reader Fray José López. Ordinances were enacted
that were very useful for the better government of the province,
and for the administration of the missions in our charge; this is the
greatest responsibility of the chapters, because the system in this
province is so different from that in the European provinces, which
needs very different corporate laws for the preservation of each,
and for enabling the individuals therein to fulfil the obligations
of the religious without failing in those of parish priest--which in
this province is the function of all its members, while in Perú and
Nueva España it is the occupation of but few.

The governor ad interim, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, began to govern
with so much prudence and ability that it seemed as if he had the
benefit of long experience, although he had hardly known a few months
of such responsibility. The principal cause of this was the concord
in which he lived with all, as well as the aid which he received from
his associates, Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina and Don Juan de Sierra,
who vied with each other in cooperating with their colleague in
discharging the duties of his office. It is in this direction that
the ad interim governments of auditors in these islands are weak and
fail of success; for, peevish because the precedence of seniority
is not theirs, they try to obscure the credit of him who wields the
rod of authority, and often show themselves as his worst enemies,
and thus aristocratic rule is converted into democratic confusion.

His first care was the despatch of the galleon "Santo Niño" to Nueva
España, in charge of General Don Antonio de Astina; for as this
commander had left the office of admiral of the Windward fleet (for
which he had a proprietary appointment from his Majesty the king),
it was not just that a personage of so great merits should return
as passenger--for the patache "San Fernando," in which he had come,
was not fit for the return trip of so severe a navigation; and
it had been laid aside, not only on this account, but because its
owner, Felipe Vertis, had died suddenly. The investigating judge,
the alcalde of court Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, embarked with
his notary; all the commissions which he carried from the supreme
Council having been concluded, he carried [the documents concerning]
them with him, as also the copious evidence in the residencia of Don
Juan de Vargas--who remained for an indefinite time in banishment
in the village of Lingayén, suffering the hardships and miseries of
being an excommunicate, denounced as such on the church-doors, and
with no consolation save his own courage and that of his wife, Doña
Isabel de Ardila. Don Juan de Zalaeta embarked, under the obligation
of presenting himself at Madrid with the proceedings in his case. The
dean, Don Miguel Ortiz, was bound on the same errand; and father
Fray Raimundo Verart went aboard with powers of attorney from the
archbishop, in whose favor he printed a long and learned manifesto. The
galleon had a very prosperous voyage, duly arriving at Acapulco;
and on the return trip it brought us the new proprietary governor.

In this year of 1689, came the end of the long and troubled life of
the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who was sixty-eight years old,
an age attained by few persons in these regions; and these years
were rendered more painful by the many troubles and annoyances
that had resisted his courage--which was very great, [although]
in a small body. For many months he had been well prepared for this
inevitable and impending event, as the devout religious that he was;
and from his archiepiscopal palace he watched over and promoted the
rigorous observance of the province of the Holy Rosary of the Order
of Preachers. A Benjamin of the great patriarch St. Dominic, [118] he
came to this province in the year 1647, after having taught arts and
theology in the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid; and he
was therefore regarded as the greatest theological professor who had
been in these islands. He was provincial during two quadrenniums,
and prior of Manila for two more; and he was commissary of the
Holy Office when the appointment as archbishop reached him. We have
already seen his constancy in defending the episcopal authority. His
charity was great, for he spent whatever was left from his income
(which did not exceed five thousand pesos), in aiding the poor;
and with it he assisted the missionaries of Tungkin. A nephew of his
came to visit him, but he would not consent that the governor should
give this man any office or position, and made him go back with very
little outfit. His death would have been considered, in another man,
sudden and unexpected; for he was found dead at midnight on the day
of St. Sylvester, ending [his life] with the year, so that it could
be said, Et dies pleni inveniuntur in eis (Ps. xii, v. 10). But this
great prelate awaited the end of his days with full preparation, and
had just given orders for the making of a red pontifical vestment in
which he was to be buried; his body, embalmed, was deposited in the
church of Santo Domingo at Manila.

The see being declared vacant, the cabildo assumed its government;
and they could have ruled with great peace if they themselves had not
hunted up discord where they had thought to find greater peace. The
vacant see was ruled by Master Juan González de Guzmán, who was now
dean on account of the absence of Don Miguel Ortiz, and at the same
time was provisor and vicar-general of the cabildo; and as it seemed
to them that it would be expedient, for the greater authority of
the diocese, to cede the government to the bishop of Troya, Don Fray
Ginés Barrientos, they named him as its head. From this ensued great
dissensions, for the bishop-governor thought that he was superior to
the cabildo, and that they had transferred their authority to him,
leaving themselves entirely stripped of it; this is contrary to
all the teachings of the sacred canons, which in one precept of law
declare: Privilegio, quod habes propter me, non potes uti contra me;
and the established principle which states: Propter quod unumquodque
tale, illud magis. [119] They tried to persuade him, by very learned
manifestoes, that the cabildo alone could have constituted him its
vicar-general, with authority removable at the pleasure of the same
cabildo; and that they could therefore revoke the appointment which
they had conferred upon him, whenever they pleased. But the bishop of
Troya resolved not to yield, but to act as superior to and independent
of the cabildo. There were bitter disputes, proceeding from both sides,
so much so that, in order to avoid greater scandals, two members of
the cabildo--the dean, Master Juan González de Guzmán, and the cantor,
Don Estebán de Olmedo Gabaldón, a native of Campo de Crítana in La
Mancha--took refuge in our convent of San Pablo at Manila, from which
the bishop of Troya would have taken them, if the prudent governor,
Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, had not refused to give him the aid
which he asked for that exploit.

The bishop of Troya was very learned, a great theologian and preacher,
but in this matter he erred as a man, for it seemed to him that
the rank and consecration of a bishop rendered him superior on that
occasion to the authority which the cabildo possessed by law in the
vacant see. Among many other manifestoes which were published in
defense of the cabildo, one came out which was very well grounded,
the motto or inscription of which, as being ingenious and apropos,
is worthy of being noted here; it said, Non licet tibi habere uxorem
fratris tui Philippi (Mark vi, v. 18), [120] alluding to the name
of the deceased archbishop, and to their both belonging to the same
order. But the bishop of Troya, notwithstanding he was so learned
and so holy, was very hard to dissuade from his opinion, although on
the present occasion he had every one against him; and although he
withdrew his claims, on account of the urgent representations made
by the acting governor and the other auditors and all the religious
orders, he yielded through constraint and not from conviction. The
cabildo continued its government, with much peace, during the vacancy
of the see.

During this interval the year 1690 came in, and the acting governor
despatched the galleon "Nuestra Señora del Rosario" to Nueva
España, in command of General Don José Madrazo; and in it embarked
Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas. In order to do this he had left
his place of banishment at Lingayén, after having suffered great
hardships; and the end of these was to die on this voyage, in the
higher latitude. [This occurred] at a place which people call Doña
María de la Jara, of considerable note on account of the many deaths
which have occurred in that place; for among those who have died
there are four proprietary governors, and some acting governors, and
some auditors, and the above-mentioned bishop of Troya. Accordingly
this place is the dread of those who sail in that navigation, and
especially for persons of so high degree; for the poor seamen go and
come past it with greater security.

After this galleon had been despatched, news came about June of the
landing of the galleon "Santo Niño," which in the preceding year had
sailed for Acapulco, in charge of Don Antonio de Astina; in it came, as
its commander, Don Juan de Garaycoechea--a Navarrese, from the valley
of Baztán--who was married in Manila, and had spent several years in
Nueva España. In the galleon came the new governor, Don Fausto Cruzat
[y] Góngora, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a Navarrese,
a native of Pamplona, of the illustrious lineage of Cruzat--well known
in that kingdom, since from it have proceeded men so distinguished as
Don Martín de Redín y Cruzat, grand master of Malta; and his brother
Don Tiburcio de Redín, well known for his courage and still more for
his virtue, for, having entered the Capuchin order, he merited that his
biography should be printed with the title, The Spanish Capuchin, as
an example for his successors. An illustrious shoot from this house of
Cruzat is also the glorious St. Francis Javier, the apostle of India.

This gentleman brought his wife, Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui y Aguirre,
a native of Cádiz, a matron of great beauty and still greater virtue;
three sons, Don Martín, Don Fausto, and Don Juan; and two daughters,
Doña Ignacia and Doña Teresa. He also brought a sister, named Doña
Teresa de Aróstegui, who afterward married the aforesaid Don Juan de
Garaycoechea, then a knight of the Order of Santiago, who later died
in Méjico. Don Fausto had been waiting in that city three years, until
the term allowed to Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui in the government
here should be completed; and he would have waited much longer if
Don Gabriel's death had not dispensed him from a longer detention,
for with him was begun the practice of sending successors who may be
on the watch for the governor's [term of] life--I know not whether
it be to wish him well. Much could be said of this, and of the great
difficulties which can result from such a precaution--such as the
sale of offices, as has been done for many years; but it is not my
obligation to give an opinion on matters of state, but to relate
facts without contesting the laws.

Governor Don Fausto brought here many persons of good family:
Don Juan Lingurín, a man of great virtue, who died in Manila with
the reputation of being a great servant of God; for he was greatly
addicted to meditation, prayer, and mortification. Sargento-mayor
Don Fernando Iglesias Montañés, his secretary, who afterward married
Doña María Morante, who came in the suite of the governor's wife. Don
Juan de Rivas, a native of Galicia, and a general in the army; he
married another lady of Doña Beatriz's household, named Doña Juana de
Aragón. Captain Don Miguel de Salazar, of Toledo, who was grievously
slain in the year 1709. Don Angel Liaño, Captain Don Frutos Delgado,
Don Pedro de Subirá, Don Francisco Valdés, Don José de Veroluca,
and many others. [Among these were] General Don Pedro de Lucena
and Captain Don Lucas de Lucena, brothers, who are still living;
Captain Don José de Luzarrondo, a Navarrese; Captain de Iriarte,
who afterward returned to España; and Master Don Juan Aguilar, the
governor's chaplain, who had spent some time in these islands, being
one of the household of the bishop of Sinopolis, Don Fray Juan Durán,
assistant of the bishop of Cebú. In this galleon came Captain Don
Patricio de Aguila--an Irishman, brother of the pilot Guillermo de
Aguila--and Captain Pedro Quijada, both married; and other officers
who are still living, with an excellent reenforcement of men for the
Manila garrison.

What is most important for our history is, that a numerous and choice
mission of religious for this province came, in charge of father Fray
Álvaro de Benavente, who in 1686 had been sent [to Europa] for this
purpose, and made his voyage by way of Batavia and Holanda, as we have
briefly related. That navigation was very difficult, because when the
Dutch ships with which he was going approached the English Channel they
learned that at its entrance was a French fleet. For this reason they
changed their route, doubling Cape Clare, a promontory of Ireland;
and they went as far as 63° of [north] latitude, so that they could
sail around the northern extremity of Scotland, and therefore they
suffered great cold and hardship. As soon as father Fray Álvaro de
Benavente arrived at Bilbao with his companion Fray Juan Verganzo, he
set out on his journey to the court, where he presented his despatches,
and explained the reasons why he had made his voyage by way of Batavia;
for this route was strictly prohibited by his Majesty, and might cause
much hindrance to the procurators. Having secured the approval of the
Duke de Medinaceli and the lords of the royal Council of the Indias,
he departed for the Roman court, to ask for the relaxation of the
oaths which the missionaries in China were commanded to take, of
obedience to the apostolic vicars sent out by the holy Congregation
of the Propaganda. [Diaz relates with some detail the progress and
success of this embassy by Benavente, because the question at issue
therein has an important place in the controversy over the line of
demarcation between the domains of Spain and Portugal in the East;
but we omit this part, as it is unimportant for our narrative.]

[Father Fray Álvaro] also had to obtain from our very reverend general
Fray Fulgencio Travalloni various statutes and corporate laws for
the government of this province; and these were [in the form of]
fifty-eight decrees, given in the convent of San Martín at Sena [i.e.,
Sienna], on May 28, 1688, [while the father general was engaged]
in the general visitation of Italia; father Fray Álvaro brought them
in printed form, with a Roman imprint. But with the course of time
it was found by experience that these laws were unduly rigorous,
and not very satisfactory for the government of this province;
and it was continually asking for dispensations from them, until our
father general Fray Adeodato Nuzzi, of Altimira, sent orders that this
province should change and correct them as it should find expedient;
and this was done in the intermediate chapter of the year 1710. Father
Fray Álvaro brought many favors and jubilees from his Holiness for
many convents of this province, and a bull to the effect that the
religious who, knowing any language of the provinces under our charge,
should explain [the Christian doctrine] in the convent of Manila for
a period of eight years should bear the title of "Master," with the
exemptions belonging to that dignity, and that he might exercise a
perpetual vote in the provincial chapters; but up to the present time
there has been no religious who has devoted himself to that occupation,
or attracted much importance to this so unusual concession.

For the missionaries in China he gained the subsidy and stipend which
his Majesty gives to the missionaries of the other religious orders,
that is, a hundred pesos to each one for a year's support. He obtained
a royal decree that the trade and commerce with the Portuguese of
Macán, which until that time had been forbidden and full of risk,
should be free; and this dispensation was obtained only by the
information given by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente that this was
the safest door by which the missionaries could gain entrance into
China. But the Portuguese, although they enjoy greatly to their
profit the commerce of Manila, which is the chief means of their
preservation, carry out very poorly the arrangement, as regards
giving passage to the missionaries; for not only do they not give
them entrance, but they inflict many annoyances on the religious,
as they did with this very father Fray Álvaro, in both his first and
his second visit to China. What keeps them in this attitude is the
incorrectly understood patronage of their king of Portugal; for they
can claim the same things in Mogol, Persia, Turquia and Constantinopla,
and in the empire of Trapisonda, as included in the hemisphere of their
demarcation. Father Fray Álvaro returned to España with a commission
of vicar-general (which had been granted to him very fully by our own
reverend father general); and he busied himself in calling together
the religious who were to come in the mission [to Filipinas]. Since
he had passed through the province of Aragón on his return from Roma,
some religious offered themselves to him there, not only from Aragón
but from Valencia; and there some others who afterward were enlisted
by father Fray Pedro Cerro--to whom father Fray Álvaro had delegated
his own powers, since father Fray Pedro was a religious who was very
friendly to this province, and zealous for the good of souls.

Before father Fray Álvaro reached Manila with his religious, Governor
Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora made his entry into the city; this was
done on St. James's day, in the afternoon. Two magnificent and very
beautiful triumphal arches were erected for him, with large emblematic
representations and ingenious allegories. One was made at the cost and
by the care of the Society of Jesus; and the other by the care of our
Augustinian fathers, at the place where the governor would pass our
convent of San Pablo, with the idea of the history of Janus--with
ingenious Latin inscriptions and epigrams, explained in Castilian
eight-line stanzas; and to these were added, in all these places,
praises [of the governor]. This was the last reception of this sort
that was given to the governors, its disuse being begun with the next
governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu--who, as he came wearing mourning
for the death of our king Don Carlos II, would not allow this festal
mode of reception.



CHAPTER XX

On the third day after the solemn entry of the governor, the religious
of the mission here by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente made their
entrance into the convent of Manila; and on July 28 a private session
of the definitory was held in order to admit and adopt them into this
province. The following is a list of them:

1. Father Fray Diego Bañales, a native of Coruña, and a son of the
convent at Santiago; aged forty years, and twenty-three in the order;
a preacher and confessor. He came as confessor to the governor's wife;
was prior of Guadalupe, a definitor, and president of the chapter;
and died at Manila, on January 29, 1706.

2. The father reader Fray Carlos Terrazas, a son of the house at
Valencia, thirty-two years old and having professed sixteen years
before; he was minister in the Pintados or Bisayas provinces, and
of very great virtue; he died in the convent of Dumarao, on October
18, 1694.

3. The father reader Fray Nicolás Bernet, a native of the town of
Epila, and son of the convent at Zaragoza; twenty-seven years old,
and a professed for ten years; he was prior of Cebú; and died at
Manila, on May 1, 1701.

4. The father preacher Fray José de Ribera, a native of Madrid, and
son of the convent of San Felipe; forty years of age, and twenty-three
in the order; was minister in the provinces of Tagalos; and died at
Pasig on May 21, 1706.

5. The father preacher Fray Gelasio Giménez, a son of the convent at
Valencia; twenty-seven years of age, and ten and a half in the order;
was minister in the province of Ilocos; and died there on August
12, 1694.

6. The father reader Fray José Carbonel, son of the convent at
Valencia, and master of the students therein; twenty-five years old,
and nine in the order; was minister in the province of Ilocos; and
died at the village of Candong, on March 19, 1711.

7. The father preacher Fray Martín Fuentes, a son of the convent at
Zaragoza; twenty-seven years old, and nine years and four months
in the order; has been a minister in the province of Pampanga,
and a definitor; and is still [121] living, a minister in Bisayas,
and examiner of literature for the Holy Office.

8. The father preacher Fray Nicolás Servent, a native of Valencia,
son of the house at Alcoy; aged twenty-eight years, and ten in the
order. He is still living, a minister in the province of Pampanga,
the prior of Macabebe.

9. The father preacher Fray José de Aranda, a native of Estella,
and son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged thirty-one years, and five
in the order; was minister in the provinces of Tagalos; and died at
Manila, on October 11, 1698.

10. The father reader Fray Blas Díaz, son of the convent at Zaragoza;
aged twenty-three years, and seven and a half in the order; he was
minister in the provinces of Tagalos, and returned to España.

11. The father preacher Fray Pedro Beltrán, a native of Valencia,
and son of the house at Alcira; aged thirty-two years, and six in
the order; he is now living, a minister in the provinces of Bisayas.

12. Father Fray Pedro Baldo, son of the convent at Valencia; aged
twenty-six years, and nine in the order; was minister in Bisayas,
where he died on April 27, 1716, while prior of the convent at Dumarao.

13. The father preacher Fray Juan Barruelo, a native of Candelario,
in the bishopric of Plasencia, and son of the convent at Salamanca;
aged twenty-four years, and six in the order; was minister in China
for several years, and at the present time is definitor and prior of
the convent of Apalit in Pampanga.

14. The brother chorister Fray Tomás Ortiz, a native of Dueñas, and
son of the convent at Valladolid; aged twenty-two years, and three in
the order; was minister in China eighteen years, and vicar-provincial
of that mission; afterward he was prior of the convent at Manila,
and still lives, the present provincial of this province.

15. The brother chorister Fray Diego Megía, a native of Madrid, and
son of the convent of San Felipe; twenty-one years of age, and three
and a half in the order; was minister in the provinces of Tagalos,
where he died as prior of the convent of Tanauan, on October 4, 1699.

16. The brother chorister Fray José Ruiz, son of the convent at Burgos,
and native of that city; aged twenty-two years; is minister of the
province of Ilocos, and has been visitor of this province.

17. The brother [chorister?] Fray José de Echebel, son of the
convent at Zaragoza; aged twenty-two years, and six in the order;
was a minister in Bisayas; and died about March, 1706.

18. The brother chorister Fray Facundo Trepat, a native of Caspe,
son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged twenty years, and three and a
half in the order; has been definitor, and is now a minister in the
provinces of Bisayas.

19. The brother chorister Fray José Bosquet, a native of Valencia,
and son of the house at Epila; twenty years of age, and two in the
order; is a minister in the provinces of Bisayas, and now definitor
of this province.

20. The brother chorister Fray Guillermo Sebastián, a son of the house
at Vinaroz; aged nineteen years, and two and a half in the order;
was a minister in the province of Ilocos, and died as prior of Bantay,
on December 13, 1698.

21. The brother chorister Fray Eugenio Costales, a son of the convent
of Sevilla; aged twenty-one years, and three in the order; is now a
minister in the province of Ilocos.

22. The brother novice Fray Juan Hidalgo López, a native of
Extremadura; aged twenty-eight years; is a minister in the province
of Pampanga.

23. The brother novice Fray Juan Núñez, a native of Medina del Campo;
aged twenty-three years; was a minister in China for many years;
and at present is a minister in the province of Ilocos, and its
vicar-provincial.

24. The brother novice Fray Fernando Ricote, a native of Asturias;
aged twenty-eight years; was a minister in Bisayas; and died at Cebú
in the year 1698.

25. The brother novice Fray Isidro López, a native of Madrid; aged
seventeen years; was a minister in the provinces of Pampanga and
Tagalos; and died while he was visitor, and prior of Guiguinto,
on February 21, 1716.

26. The lay brother Fray Francisco de Sevilla, a son of the convent at
Játiva; aged thirty-one years, and five in the order; he was eminent
in virtue, prayer, and mortification, and rendered much service to
the convent of Manila, where he met a pious death on March 31, 1711.

27. The lay brother Fray Nicolás Codura, a son of the convent at Epila;
aged thirty years, and seven in the order; he lives in the convent
at Manila, where he has rendered good service, and still does so.

All these religious have been very useful to this province in its
ministries and instruction, and in the missions of China--the progress
of which from their foundation will be set down separately and all
together, by way of recapitulation, [122] ending this history with this
chapter. For if I were to continue it further it would be necessary to
speak of the living, and [personal] considerations might render the
truth liable to suspicion; and although truth is the essential form
and the soul of history it cannot become the instructor of the times,
or be a [reliable] witness about them, when suspicion can challenge
it. I will, however, record in this chapter some of the acts of Don
Fausto in his government [123]--which, although they were just, were
rendered intolerable by the violence and harshness with which they
were executed; for the body politic of the Manila colony is not fit
for so strong cathartic remedies, since its weakness can only endure
anodynes and emollients.

This gentleman commenced the course of his government with great
integrity and rectitude, and very clean hands--grand qualities from
which to expect a good government, although not well liked by all. All
his desire, assiduity, and effort were directed to the increase of the
royal revenues; and this he kept up to the end of his government, with
such extreme application that what appeared to the governor justice
seemed [to the people] cruelty. But here Justice used only the edges
of the sword, without weighing with the balances that she held in
the other hand the difficulties of time and occasion. Don Gabriel de
Curucelaegui had not pushed this matter very far before troubles which
gave him greater anxiety diverted his mind from this occupation. In
a short time Don Fausto acquired great comprehension of the conduct
of government and of all the measures which could increase the royal
revenues; and he found that a very considerable amount was due to
the exchequer, not only from the living but from the dead, from the
collections of the royal tributes and from other sources. Don Fausto
applied himself to the collection, with excessive rigor, of what the
citizens of Manila owed to the royal treasury, without considering that
most of the debtors were bankrupt, and almost destitute through lack
of means; others were now dead, and search was made for their heirs and
executors, in order to compel them to satisfy these claims. [124] While
these investigations were being made, the prisons and fortifications
were filled with debtors, more fit to ask alms than to pay their debts;
others took refuge in the churches, where they remained a long time
without being able to look for means of support. In every direction
there were seizures and auctions, exactions and investigations. By
this assiduity Don Fausto placed much silver in the royal treasury;
but his Majesty does not choose to flay thus his vassals, but rather,
as a good shepherd, to shear off the wool without cutting away the skin
in which it has its roots. This inflexibility in collecting the debts
owed to the royal exchequer, and his great eagerness to increase it,
have caused great expenses, some superfluous and others necessary;
and these traits in Don Fausto continued throughout the period of his
government--which was the longest that has occurred in these islands,
since it reached eleven years. [125]

Considering that in these islands there is no equipment of iron-works
for making anchors, and that the Dutch of Batavia, as they are so
ingenious, have abundance of all that pertains to navigation, he
sent Don Pedro de Ariosolo with title of ambassador, accompanied by
some Spaniards--Don Martín de Tejada, Don José Pestaño de Cueva,
Don Juan de Tejada, and others, among the prominent citizens of
Manila. These envoys were very well received in Batavia, and so well
did they succeed in their errand that they brought back many and
excellent anchors, which were used for many years. This transaction
was repeated afterward by Governor Don Domingo de Zabalburu, who sent
for the same purpose General Miguel Martínez, Don Gregorio Escalante,
Don Juan de San Pedro, and others, whose errand was as successful
as that of the former envoys, through the good management and great
liberality of the ambassador. Such endeavors have not always had the
desired effect; for in the past year of 1717 the present governor,
Mariscal Don Fernando Bustillo Bustamente y Rueda, sent General Don
Fernando de Angulo as ambassador to Batavia to procure some anchors,
but he returned without them.

The first galleon that Don Fausto despatched for Nueva España was
the "Santo Cristo de Burgos," in charge of General Don Francisco de
Arcocha, his pilot being Lazcano; the voyage was a prosperous one,
and the galleon returned in the following year of 1692, in charge
of the captain of mounted cuirassiers Don Bernardo de Bayo, who was
sent by the viceroy Conde de Galves, who took away that office from
Don Francisco de Arcocha. It is said that the cause of this change
was resentment on the part of the said Conde because he had in the
year 1689 sent Don Gabriel de Arnedo y Escudero, a gentleman of his
household, as commander of the galleon--because the commander who had
come with the ship, Lucas Mateo de Urquiza, had remained at Acapulco
sick (not being willing to follow the second route, which Don Pedro
de Ariosolo was taking)--and Don Gabriel de Arnedo y Escudero had
returned in the said galleon "Santo Cristo" as a passenger and not
as a commander (although he died on the way); and, annoyed at this,
the viceroy had taken the office from Don Francisco de Arcocha and
given it to Don Bernardo de Bayo. It would have been better if the
galleon had not come at all, for it was wrecked on the return trip,
as we shall see later.

With Don Gabriel de Arnedo came the auditor Licentiate Don Juan de
Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima, with his wife and children, who the
preceding year had not been able to embark on account of the lack
of accommodations in the patache "San Fernando," in which came the
investigating judge and the three auditors. Licentiate Don Juan de
Ozaeta was highly esteemed for his learning, and for having been
an official of great integrity and uprightness. He completed his
six years' term as auditor of Filipinas, and embarked for Méjico,
where he was for many years alcalde of criminal cases for that city,
with the same reputation for integrity and rectitude. The new auditors
brought orders from his Majesty that two of them should go first to
visit the provinces [126] of these islands, and draw up an enumeration
of the royal tributes, their two associates remaining [at Manila] to
serve in the royal Audiencia. For this task two auditors set out--Don
Alonso de Abella Fuertes to visit the provinces of Cagayán, Ilocos,
and Pampanga; and Don Juan de Sierra to visit those of Cebú, Ogtón,
and Panay, although he visited only the last two. After Don Alonso
Fuertes had returned from his commission, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta
went to visit the provinces of Tagalos, and made the enumeration of
the tributes.

Don Fausto placed on the stocks the largest galleon that had ever
been built; for it was three codos longer than the largest that
had been built in the world. This enterprise was carried on by
Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, who by application had become
very skilful in this art, and he was therefore the superintendent of
this construction; which was completed in less than nine months, to
the astonishment of everyone--although with some cause for scandal,
since the men worked on it even on the most important feast-days, not
stopping even on Holy Thursday. He gave it the name of "San José,"
and appointed Don José Madrazo its commander; and it was launched
very successfully. It sailed from this headland of Cavite on the day
of Sts. Peter and Paul in 1694; [127] and on July 3, in the night,
it was dashed to pieces on the coast of Lubán, and more than four
hundred persons were drowned. It was reckoned that if the men had
not worked on the feast-days the vessel would have been completed
more slowly, and would have sailed many days later, and the furious
hurricane that was the cause of its wreck would not have caught it on
the sea, with the deaths of so many persons and the loss of the great
amount of merchandise that it carried; for it is considered certain
that no larger or richer galleon had plowed the waters of the sea,
for the wealth that it carried was incredible.

While this loss was so great, one of the most grievous losses that
these islands have suffered, it was made worse by the non-arrival of
the galleon that was expected that year, the "Santo Cristo de Burgos,"
in charge of General Don Bernardo Ignacio del Bayo--who, as we have
said, was sent by the viceroy Conde de Galves in the year of 1691, and
returned in the same ship the following year; and it put back to the
port of Solsogón, after having endured great tempests. It remained at
Solsogón in order to continue its voyage the year of 1693, as it did;
but it not only failed to reach port, but was wrecked, without our
gaining the least knowledge of the place where that occurred. There
were some suspicions that it was destroyed by fire (a danger for which
there is on the sea no help), for at one of the Marianas Islands were
found fragments of burned wood, which were sent [here] by the governor
of Filipinas, Don José Madrazo, and were recognized to be of woods that
are found in these islands only. Careful search was made for many years
along the coasts of South America, and in other regions; but not the
least news of this ship has been received. Among the persons who were
lost in this galleon was a religious who was most highly esteemed by
this province for his great virtue and learning; this was the father
reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte, a Vizcayan, a native of Marquina,
who came as superior of the mission which reached this province in the
year 1684; he had been sent in this galleon to España, as procurator
of the province, to ask for a new reënforcement of missionaries. Much
could be said of the great virtue of this religious, of his frequent
prayer and mortification, his poverty, his extraordinary humility
and affability--which I omit, in order not to seem too partial to
him, or expose myself to the censure which I have seen incurred by
many historians among the regulars, who have indulged in so excessive
praises of this sort that they expose themselves to the charge of being
too partial, because the persons eulogized are of their own houses.

By these so calamitous events the islands were reduced to a miserable
condition, on account of the loss of two good galleons and of so much
wealth, belonging to so many that one might say it was the wealth
of all [the citizens of Manila]. There was a little alleviation of
our affliction that year, but it was so little that it could hardly
be regarded as succor--that before the great galleon left Cavite a
small patache entered that port which the viceroy of Nueva España
had sent with some slight assistance, in charge of Don Andrés de
Arriola, a Sevillan gentleman of great courage and renown. He
returned to Nueva España in a small vessel which was purchased
for 6,000 pesos from a Portuguese merchant named Juan de Abreu; it
was so small that the authorities ordered, under heavy penalties,
that no citizen should send in this vessel anything except letters,
a rule which was enforced most rigorously. This patache made a very
prosperous voyage; for, having passed the Marianas Islands, which is
the most difficult part of this navigation, and finding that their
provisions were nearly gone, and that it was almost impossible to
pursue their voyage, divine Providence aided them by revealing to
them an unknown island, not set down on any navigation chart. They
found it uninhabited by men, but abounding in certain birds, large
and heavy, and little inclined to fly, and so easy to catch that
the men gave them the name of "fool birds" [128] either because of
their stupidity, or as being the same as those birds which are found
in Brasil and some islands of India which the Portuguese call dodos,
which is the same as tontos [i.e., "stupid"]. The flesh of these birds
is very good, and so, by killing many of them and drying their flesh
in the wind, the sailors made a very good provision of food. They
also found very good water and firewood, so that they were able to
continue their voyage to Acapulco. What they most regretted was,
that they could not fix the latitude and situation of this island,
for lack of seeing the sun; and thus the island became again unknown,
and inaccessible for another like emergency. [If its location were
known], it would be a great assistance in making easier this arduous
and severe navigation from Filipinas to Acapulco.

Don Andrés de Arriola was afterward a knight of the Order of Santiago,
commander of the Windward fleet, and governor of Vera Cruz and of
Pançacola, where he rendered great services to his Majesty King Don
Felipe V--his great courage enabling him to furnish large supplies of
silver [to the king], despite the perils of the sea and the enemies of
the crown, in the time when the armed fleets of Inglaterra and Holanda
were infesting the seas and obstructing the commerce with America.

Among the losses which Governor Don Fausto experienced in the time
of his government, the greatest in his estimation was the death of
his spouse Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui, in 1694; he loved her dearly,
an affection deserved by her beauty, the many children that she had
borne him, her great virtues, and sweet disposition--for which all the
people loved her as the rainbow of peace, as she greatly moderated the
choleric disposition of her husband. She died, this Rachel in beauty
and Leah in fruitfulness, in the second year of the government of
Don Fausto. [129] She was given a burial with honors in our church
at Manila, and in the following year her remains were transferred
to a beautiful chapel in the chancel, erected and adorned for this
purpose. [This chapel contains the sculptured figure of the lady,
with some Latin inscriptions, which are here omitted.] Well was this
monument merited by a matron so virtuous, loved and reverenced by all
for her great virtues; and her death was all the more regretted on
account of her youth. The funeral honors which were solemnized for
her were the most splendid ever seen in these islands (and it would
be difficult to equal them in any other country, even with great
expenditures); for the great abundance in these islands of wax and
of the other materials for pomp which can increase the magnificence
of functions of this kind, render them very easy. But this abuse is
at present greatly moderated, as a result of the recent royal decree
which was published that these vain parades be diminished.



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA


The sources of the documents in this volume are as follows:

1. Camacho ecclesiastical controversy.--From the Ventura del Arco
MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 107-115, and 119-133; a contemporaneous
MS., belonging to Edward E. Ayer; Ventura del Arco MSS., v,
pp. 231-296, and iv, pp. 201-206.

2. Augustinians in the Philippines.--From Casimiro Diaz's Conquistas
(Manila, 1890), pp. 440-444, and 689-817; from a copy in the possession
of James A. Robertson.



NOTES


[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 Coena 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 of which is 6 reals for the cura and 2 for the
acolyte                                                           $ 1.
For burial:  of free adult                                          7.50
             of free child                                          6.50
             of slave adult                                         5.50
             of slave child                                         5.
For prayers--responso with cope, sacristan, and processional cross
[cruz alta], at the house of the deceased                           7.
For prayers, with cope, at the burial                               4.
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 surplice                                      1.
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-day celebration] with vespers and mass chanted 12.
For a fiesta with procession                                       14.
For votive mass chanted                                             6.50
For marriage                                                        7.25
For cura at the house [of the parties]                              4.
For foreigners                                              25. to 30.
For record of baptism                                               1.

                                          --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).

[40] Francisco de Mesina was born in Messina, Sicily, in 1614; at
the age of fifteen he became a Jesuit novice, and in 1643 came to the
Philippines. He acted as minister at the college of Manila during one
year, and then went to Camboja with a Spanish expedition who built a
ship there, ministering to the Spaniards, and to the natives of the
country. For two years he was rector of Silang, and more than twenty
years minister to the Chinese at Santa Cruz, near Manila, becoming
very proficient in their language. He was three years provincial,
and was sent to Macan and Camboja by the governor "on affairs of the
royal service;" and he died at Santa Cruz, October 12, 1682. (Murillo
Velarde, Hist. Philipinas, fol. 354.)

[41] Spanish, almojarifazgo: export and import duties, as our modern
officials would call them. This tax was first collected by the Moors
in the cities and coasts of Andalucía, and afterward--in the times of
St. Fernando, according to various authors--came to be introduced among
the Christians; and they, on accepting or establishing this impost,
adopted the name by which the Arabs designated it.--Fray Tirso López
(editor of Diaz).

[42] Don Francísco Xavier, in the year 1670 (Murillo Velarde, Hist. de
Philipinas, fol. 300).

[43] Francisco Miedes was a native of Madrid, born about 1621;
he entered the Jesuit order about 1643, and in 1643 came to the
islands. During the first year he was an instructor at the college
of Manila; the rest of his life was spent in the missions of Ternate
and Siao. He compiled grammars and vocabularies of the dialects
spoken in those islands, and performed his missionary labors with
great self-sacrifice and devotion, suffering much from poverty and
lack of the usual comforts of life. The hardships of this career,
and his frequent austerities, broke down his strength, and he finally
died at Iloilo, on June 21, 1674. (Murillo Velarde, ut supra, fol. 352
b, 353.)

Gerónimo Cebreros was born in Mexico on May 30, 1626, and at the age
of twenty-three entered the Jesuit novitiate, and four years later
came to the islands. He was a missionary in Ternate and Siao, and for
six years the superior of those missions; afterward he labored among
the Spaniards and Tagals in Luzón, and died on August 15, 1713. (Ut
supra, fol. 400 b.)

[44] Diaz does not give the Christian name of this missionary,
but Murillo Velarde says (ut supra, fol. 300 b), that it was Juan
de Esquivel; this name, however, is not again mentioned by that
author. On fol. 284 he gives the following account of Diego de
Esquivel (of whom Juan may have been a brother): "On the sixth of
June, 1665, died at Manila Father Diego de Esquivel, at the age of
forty-two years, after seventeen years as a member of the Society;
he was a native of the said city, and it was there that he entered
the Society, in the year 1648. He finished his studies there, and,
having been ordained as a priest, was sent to Ternate--where he
learned perfectly the language of the natives, of which he wrote a
grammar and a vocabulary. Thence he went to Tydore, and afterward
to Siao, where the natives were living more as barbarians than as
Christians; and he suffered greatly in that island, on account of
the poverty of the country. He had his heart set on planting the
faith and good morals among that people, by means of preaching, the
good example of his life as a religious, and the charity with which
he ministered to all; and he gained thereby the great affection of
the people of Siao. This was known by Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara,
and therefore after the death of Don Bentura, the king of that island
(who left a young son), the governor commissioned Father Esquivel with
the government of that kingdom, as it was under the royal protection,
to the great satisfaction of the chiefs of its villages; and the
superiors [of the order] gave him permission, in so far as it was in
accordance with the sacred canons, to act as counselor of the said
kingdom. This caused the preservation in our holy faith of the many
and glorious missions which this province has in the Orient--which
are the island and kingdom of Siao, and the provinces of Manados
or Cauripa (which are in the great island of Celebes, or Macazar),
with other islands and missions, which he frequently visited, by
which he gained many souls to God. He was sent to Ternate as rector,
but, moved by affectionate desire for the salvation of his Siaos,
he left a father as vice-rector of the college [at Ternate], and
returned to Siao. At this time, orders were given to withdraw the
garrison from Ternate, and Father Esquivel returned to Manila, and
many of those natives accompanied him--in order not to lose the faith,
nobly abandoning their native land. They settled in Maragondong, La
Estacada, and other places, with the name of Mardicas, and I knew
in Maragondong some of them who had been born in Ternate. Through
the hardships of this voyage Father Esquivel contracted an illness,
which lasted during the remainder of his life. He spent some time as
minister at Barás, where his sickness became worse; they carried him
to Manila, where he died with great peace and resignation."

Manuel Español was born in Aren, May 11, 1639, and entered the
Jesuit order on November 21, 1656. Seven years later he came to the
Philippine Islands. He was minister at the college of Manila two
years, and afterward labored in the missions of Siao and Ternate for
many years. He died in Manila, on March 10, 1684. (Murillo Velarde,
ut supra, fol. 356.)

[45] Murillo Velarde says (ut supra, fol. 302): "On the first of
November, 1677, the Dutch seized Siao, called thither by Don Geronimo
Daras, a rival and enemy of the king Don Francisco (who was a good
Catholic, and a friend of the Spaniards); they went to conquer it,
and left as governor of the island Robert Paagbrugue. They carried
away to Malayo the fathers who were ministering there. They cut
down the clove trees, and established several small forts with some
artillery; and left there about two hundred men, with a preacher,
who instructed the natives in regard to their errors. At first some
of the Siaos resisted; but now they are most obstinate heretics, and
very bitter enemies of the Catholic religion--as I found in some who
strayed to Manila in those days; although some were finally converted,
and I baptized a boy of fourteen years who learned the [Christian]
doctrine readily."

[46] i.e., "a time of peace, a time of war."

[47] Spanish, Del monte sale, quien al monte quema, "indicating
that the losses we suffer usually proceed from persons allied to us,
or who live near us" (Dominguez).

[48] Here, as in several other places in our text, we omit various
pious reflections and citations from Scripture or the fathers of the
church, simply through the pressure of valuable historical matter
upon our limited space.

[49] i.e., "If for my sake this tempest has arisen, cast me into the
sea," paraphrasing rather than quoting the prophet's words (Jonah,
i, v. 12).

[50] Juan Caballero was born in Córdoba in 1629, and made his
profession in the Augustinian order at Sevilla (by a typographical
error in Pérez's Catálogo, in 1637; probably, 1657). He came to Manila
in the mission of 1669; three years later, was elected prior of Cebú,
and in 1674 prior of Manila, where he died in 1685.

[51] Biographical notices of these friars, and of others mentioned
by Diaz in like connection, may be found in Pérez's Catálogo.

[52] Spanish, colegial del mayor. A colegio mayor is defined
by Dominguez as "a community of youths, laymen of distinguished
families, who devote themselves to various studies, living in a
certain seclusion, and under a collegiate rector, whom they appoint,
usually each year."

[53] Spanish, catedratico de decreto. The Decreto was the book compiled
by Gratianus which forms the first part of the canon law.

[54] "More properly Konkanis; the modern division of North Canara
is part of the territory properly known as the Konkan, and the old
Portuguese called the natives of their territory, both those of Goa
and the North (properly the Konkanis), and also those to the southward,
indiscriminately Canarins." "The Canarins (who are heathen), are of two
sorts, for such as are engaged in trade and other honorable callings
are held in much greater respect than those who engage in fishing,
or practice mechanical crafts." Canarin is the Portuguese form of
the name applied to the natives of the coast, and interior north of
Malabar, as far as and including Goa district; another form of the
name is Karnatic, although it is now applied to the Tamil country on
the eastern side of the Indian peninsula.--See Voyage of Pyrard de
Laval (Hakluyt Society Publications, London, 1887-88) and notes by
Gray and Bell, i, pp. 375-376, ii, pp. 35, 405-406.

[55] Payo Enriquez de Rivera was a native of Sevilla, and son of
the Duke de Alcalá, viceroy of Naples. In 1628 he made profession in
the Augustinian order, and after obtaining his degrees in theology
and philosophy held various important offices in Spain. In 1657 he
was presented to the see of Guatemala, and ten years later to that
of Michoacan; soon afterward he was made archbishop of Mexico,
which office he assumed in June 1668. The viceroyalty of Mexico
becoming vacant by the death of Pedro Nuño Colon, Duke de Veraguas,
a few days after taking possession of that government (December,
1673), he was immediately succeeded, by a royal order anticipating
this event, by Fray Payo de Rivera, who ruled Nueva España for seven
years. Rivera was distinguished by his ability as a ruler, not only
in matters ecclesiastical, but in civil and military affairs--to all
of which he attended with zeal and prudence; and he was beloved by
the people. In July, 1681, he set out for Spain, where he had two
important appointments from the government; but he declined these,
and retired to the convent of Santa María del Risco. He died on April
8, 1684, honored in both life and death by the government and by his
people. (Bancroft's Mexico, iii, pp. 182-187.)

[56] Our Constitutions inhibit such procedure, the applying to
courts outside the order. For us, appeals lie only to the Pontiff,
who, being the common father of the faithful, is not considered an
outsider.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[57] i.e., "The party dispossessed must first of all be restored,
any other proceeding being deferred."

[58] Referring to a work by the Jesuit writer Martin Martini (1614-61),
who for many years was a prominent missionary in China. This was his
Novus atlas Sinensis (Vienna, 1655), which formed part 10 of the great
atlas published by Joannis Blaeu at Amsterdam (1656). Diaz hispanicizes
Martini's name, and rather curiously uses the Italian word atlante for
"atlas" instead of the Spanish atlas.

[59] More strictly the name Coromandel is applied to the eastern
coast of India north of Cape Comorin, and Malabar to the western coast.

[60] i.e., "It shall not be compared with the dyed colors of India"
(Job, xxviii, v. 16).

[61] See plan of Madras, and maps of Coromandel coast, in Bellin's
Atlas maritime, iii, fol. 37-39.

[62] The Basilian order was founded by St. Basil, bishop of Cæsarea
in Cappadocia. His rule became so popular in the East as to supplant
all others; and at this day it alone is recognized and followed by
the monks of the Greek Church. This order also made its way into
southern Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. Nearly all the convents
of Basilian nuns (founded by St. Macrina, sister of Basil), like those
of the monks, have embraced the Eastern schism. (Addis and Arnold's
Catholic Dictionary, citing Hélyot's Ordres monastiques.)

[63] Spanish, crescas, a word not given in the lexicons, but evidently,
from the context, to be thus rendered.

[64] See Linschoten's account of this story of St. Thomas's preaching
in India, and A. C. Burnell's notes thereon, in Voyage of Linschoten
(Hakluyt Society Publications, London, 1885), i, pp. 83-89. Burnell
says that this story is unknown to the natives of India, and evidently
originated in Syria. The inscription on the alleged tomb of St. Thomas
near Madras is now known to be Nestorian, of about the ninth century
A. D.

[65] Tercia: the third part of a vara (33.38+ inches), therefore a
little more than 11 inches; generally used as a measure of length.

[66] Concepción's account of this occurrence (Hist. de Philipinas,
vii, pp. 258, 259) contains an explanation somewhat remarkable for a
period when sanitary science had made little progress, even in Europe.

"Governor Don Manuel de Leon was sick from excessive corpulency; and
Don Juan de Sarra treated him by making cruel cuts in the flesh of his
body. He attended, when these incisions were not yet quite healed,
the funeral of Doña Maria del Cuellar, the deceased wife of Auditor
Don Francisco Coloma; and in the church the vapors which exhale
from buried corpses--which, experience proves, cost those so dear,
who enter the church with sores or wounds, as these are poisoned
and corrupted by those vapors--had the effect on the governor of
opening his wounds, and bringing on a hemorrhage which exhausted him,
[and he died. April 11, 1667]."

[67] Salazar relates the disposition of the governor's estate
(Hist. Sant. Rosario, pp. 114, 115), saying that, besides the
provincial, Fray Balthasar de Santa Cruz and General Marcos Quintero
Ramos were named by León as his executors; referring to the prohibition
(see his p. 43) of such administration to the Dominican friars,
he adds: "The said fathers could not refuse to accept this onerous
charge as executors, not only on account of what our order owed to
the deceased, but because of other circumstances which stood in the
way and concerned the peace of the community." He states that Fray
San Roman's death (less than a year after the governor's) did not
prevent the administration of León's estate and the disposal of his
property, which Santa Cruz carried out, the handling of the money
being left entirely to Quintero. The governor's fortune amounted to
250,000 pesos, of which the Dominican order appropriated nothing to
itself, the money being almost entirely spent in pious foundations
and charitable works. To the Misericordia was given 50,000 pesos,
part of which was set aside for the dowries of orphan girls; to León's
native place, 33,000 pesos to found chaplaincies, for the benefit of
his soul; 12,000 to rebuild the hospital of San Lazaro at Manila,
and a like sum for rebuilding the seminary of Santa Potenciana;
and the remainder was spent in various works of piety and charity,
for the benefit of the community.

[68] Every province was entitled to choose four definitors
and two visitors. In chapters the voting list is published
prior to the elections; it contains the name of every person
entitled to vote therein, with the position entitling him to
vote.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[69] Spanish, altura; here meaning the most northern part of the
ship's course, as the ships sailing from Manila took a route far
northward to avail themselves of the trade-winds.

[70] This should be Antonio de Letona; his book is entitled Perfecta
religiosa (Puebla, Mexico, 1662). See our VOL. XXXVI, p. 189.

[71] In text, rectores; but, as there is no meaning of that word that
properly applies here, we conjecture it to be a typographical error
for receptores.

[72] Francisco Salgado was a native of Galicia, born April 2,
1629. In 1648 he entered the Jesuit order, and in 1662, came to
the Philippines. For several years he was teacher in the college
of Manila; and afterward rector at Silang. He went to Europe (about
1675?), and returned in 1679 with a mission band; he was rector of
the Manila college and twice provincial. He died at Manila on July 14,
1689. (Murillo Velarde, Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 357.)

[73] The MS. does not state what the other relic was, nor is it easy to
ascertain; for the English in the latter part of the eighteenth century
profaned the church of San Agustín at Manila, and took from it all the
relics, in order to avail themselves of the silver of the reliquaries,
and of the gold in which many of them were set.--Fray Tirso López.

[74] Juan de Mariana (1536-1624) was one of the most noted writers
among the Spanish Jesuits. The work here referred to is that which he
published originally in Latin, Historiæ de rebus Hispaniæ libri XXV
(Toleti, 1592), which carried the history of the Spanish monarchy down
to 1516. His own Spanish version of this work, enlarged and corrected,
appeared at Toledo, 1601. Other writers continued this history to 1649
and 1669; and the last of these was extended to 1678 by Felix Lucio
de Espinosa y Malo (Madrid, 1678). This work has had many editions,
translations, and criticisms--for which see Sommervogel's Bibliothèque
Comp. de Jesus. One of Mariana's works, De rege et regis institutione
(Toleti, 1599), was censured by the Parliament of Paris and publicly
burned by the executioner in 1610; and the French court asked the
Spanish government to suppress it, which request was refused.

[75] That is, the writer's desire to flatter some influential persons
who were enemies of Valenzuela.

[76] The alternation [alternativa] of the elections consisted in this,
that during one triennium the offices were held by natives of Spain,
and during the next one by those born in the Indias.--Fray Tirso López.

[77] Spanish, pasado en authoridad de cosa juzgada (equivalent to
the Latin res adjudicata).

[78] Spanish, se comprometió. With us elections sometimes go by
compromissum; that is, where no result is secured as usual by close
ballot the chapter designate a committee to nominate some person,
usually with the pledge that the chapter will afterward elect him,
and thus ratify the committee's choice.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[79] Among the voters at provincial and general chapters are two
classes especially designated by provinces or convents to represent
the entire community; these are the definitors and the discreets
(VOL. XXXIV, p. 419). The conventual discreet is chosen for the
provincial chapter, and is elected by all the voters of a house in
chapter assembled. The discreet-general is chosen for the general
chapter, by the provincial chapter. At the general chapter every
province is entitled to representation by three voters--the provincial,
the definitor, and the discreet. At provincial chapter every large
house, or convent, is entitled similarly to representation by two
voters, the priors and the discreet (there is no definitor for a
house).--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[80] There must be some error in the text--probably made in the
transcriptions of Diaz's manuscript for publication--for Pérez says
(Catálogo, p. 140) that these missions contained 160 religious. The
father here named is mentioned a little below as Manuel Losada,
which name (although it does not appear in Pérez) was probably his
baptismal and family name, the other being that assumed by him on
entering the order.

[81] No elemental; that is, it was not nebulous--as our astronomers
at this time say, arrogating to themselves this discovery, which
evidently was not unknown to those of earlier times.--Fray Tirso López.

[82] Roughly estimating from the date here given, it seems
probable that the line here mentioned refers to the diameter of the
earth. Although that diameter had not been exactly measured at that
time, a long step toward this had been taken by Picard of France,
who in 1671 made the first really valuable measure of the arc of a
meridian, a measure which Isaac Newton used in verifying his idea of
gravitation. The ambiguous manner in which the line is mentioned by
the writer (supposedly Kino, as cited by Diaz) was probably due to
cautious dread lest ecclesiastical penalties be visited on the too
definite statement of scientific discoveries; for at that time Mexico
was dominated by the Inquisition, by which tribunal the great Galileo
had been imprisoned less than fifty years before Kino made these
observations. The course of this comet can easily be verified, after
making due allowance for the precession of the equinoxes, on any map
of the constellations. Information for this note is furnished by Albert
S. Flint, astronomer of Washburn Observatory, University of Wisconsin.

[83] Eusebius Kino (or Chino) was a noted mathematician and
explorer. Born near Trent in 1644, he entered the Jesuit order at
the age of twenty-one, and in 1678 came to America. He soon devoted
himself to the California missions, and explored and mapped a large
extent of country in Mexico and Lower California. He died at Magdalena,
March 15, 1711.

[84] One of the collections of canon law is called "Clementinas"
(see VOL. XXV, p. 226): they were compiled out of the canons of the
Council of Vienne (1316) and some of his own constitutions. (Addis
and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary, p. 106.) The father of Bolivar had
apparently held the clementina chair of canon law in a university.

[85] The vihuela (or viguela) was the ancient form of the guitar,
or something between it and the violin. It is mentioned as in use,
in a poem of the fourteenth century. There were vihuelas de penoia and
vihuelas de arco--the former played with a plectrum, the latter with a
bow. Later, the vihuela merged entirely into the guitar. (H. E. Watts,
in note on his edition of Don Quixote [London, 1895], iv, p. 85.)

[86] "Much difficulty was found in raising the required force for the
Philippine Islands. Many of the soldiers dreading the climate would
desert before reaching Acapulco, and new schemes had to be devised
for raising recruits. Thus in 1677 all criminals willing to enlist
were pardoned, and 125 pesos a year given them as pay. Still, only
a small number could be induced to accept this offer." (Bancroft,
Mexico, iii, p. 185.)

[87] Spanish, quintas esencias (English, "quintessences"); referring
to the notion in alchemy of a fifth or last and highest essence or
power in a natural body.

[88] Spanish, se parte un pelo en el aire; an idiomatic expression
(also written cortar or hender un cabello), signifying the possession
of great penetration, keenness, dexterity; quick perception, much
perspicacity. Cf. the common phrases, "to fish for things in the air,"
"to catch them while flying," etc. (Dominguez). The saying perhaps
originated in the ability of a good swordsman to cut a hair in two
instantly with his sword.

[89] Spanish, dos palos; meaning the two wooden ships used for the
Acapulco trade, which was the sole support of the colony.

[90] That is, "mindless, or silly, or without sense;" a neat and keen
play on words. The meaning evidently is, that knowledge of law does
not consist in mere remembrance of law terms, but in discerning their
force and power.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[91] "They feared to lose temporal goods, and did not reflect on the
life eternal; and thus they lost both."

[92] This form of bodily mortification can be understood only by those
who live in hot countries. In Europa it is no mortification at all, and
there is no religious who does not practice it, as being a precept of
the rules, which command that neither food nor drink be taken outside
of fixed hours. But in intertropical countries, with the suffocating
heat and the continual perspiration it is a necessity to drink water
and quench one's thirst with great frequency; and on this account
the superiors have to grant dispensations from some prescribed usages
that are, if not impossible, exceedingly difficult to fulfil in those
countries. As a compensation, there are other forms of mortification
which in cold countries are difficult to practice, such as sleeping
on the ground, which in the regions that are mentioned above do not
merit even the name of mortification.--Fray Tirso López.

[93] Spanish, cilicios: a term originally derived from the name
Cilicia, from which country was brought in ancient times a cloth woven
of hair, called therefore cilicium; applied to a belt or girdle of
haircloth, or of metallic wires woven together, often with projecting
points of metal, worn next to the skin by way of mortifying the flesh.

[94] "No one can serve two masters;" in verse 13 of the sixteenth
(not seventeenth, as in our text) chapter of Luke's gospel.

[95] Although difficulties arise in obeying two superiors, it is
not impossible, and much less when the respective jurisdiction of
each is over different activities--as occurs in the missions and
villages directed by religious, in which the superior of the order is
responsible for his subordinates conducting themselves as they should
in their private lives, and the vicar or bishop watches to see that
they are punctual in the discharge of their ministry as missionaries
or parish priests. In such cases the gospel text, which speaks of
those who command opposite things, does not properly apply.--Fray
Tirso López.

[96] Tomás Antonio de la Cerda, Conde de Paredes and Marqués de la
Laguna, succeeded Archbishop Rivera as viceroy of Nueva España on
November 30, 1680; he held this office six years. During this time
the shores of Nueva España were continually harassed by pirates and
buccaneers--the most notable event being their capture and sack of
Vera Cruz in May, 1683.

[97] This word cannot be found in the Spanish lexicons, and is probably
a Siamese word, since on old maps of Siam are numerous place-names
which begin with the syllable Ban. Bandel may be a place-name, but
more probably designates the trading-post occupied by the Portuguese.

[98] The Windward fleet (armada de Barlovento) was maintained
to protect Spanish commerce in the Atlantic between Spain and
America. In 1689 it was composed of six ships of the line and a
frigate. (Bancroft's Mexico, iii, p. 224.)

[99] Pérez's Catálogo enumerates forty-five in this mission band. Among
them was a priest, Diego Higinio, who for many years ministered to
the lepers in Bisayas.

[100] Spanish, hermano mayor, that is, the brother at the head of
the association.

[101] The reference is to a passage in canon law, in the Corpus Juris,
which runs thus: Si Episcopus à Paganis aut Schismaticis capiatur,
non Archiepiscopus, sed Capitulum ... ministrare debebit:... The full
citation is: Si Episcopus, "De supplenda negligentia Prælatorum,"
lib. i, cap. iii, in Sexto. The Sextus, or sixth book, from which the
above is taken, is entitled, Sexti Decretalium Liber, of Pope Boniface
VIII; and is described in Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary,
p. 106.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[102] i.e., "Courage holds greater sway in a small body."

[103] That is, who had deserved it before his coming, but thus far
had managed to escape punishment.

[104] Spanish, mala feria, "a bad fair;" referring to the annual
gathering of buyers at Acapulco on the arrival of the Manila galleon.

[105] "So closely did the government guard against possible
independence of the colonists in trade that ships' companies were
prohibited from purchasing goods of the country, and factors and
traders on the fleets were not allowed to remain longer than three
years in America. No foreigner could trade with the colonies,
nor was one permitted to enter a port without special license. In
fact the prices of both imports and exports of New Spain, with the
exception of the precious metals, were under the arbitrary control of
the merchants of Seville, and later of Cádiz. What further increased
the drainage of wealth from America was the decadence of manufacturing
industries in Spain, owing to the immense influx into the Peninsula of
precious metals. The riches poured into the mother country made labor
almost unnecessary; hence a general decline in all kinds of industry,
and Spain had to resort to foreign markets, not only to supply home
consumption but also the demands of her colonies. Merchandise thus
procured could only be exported to the American settlements at rates
increased by additional duties and merchants' profits." Besides
the commercial restrictions imposed on the colonies by the home
government, other influences depressed trade--forced loans to the
king, debased coinage, interference by the church, arbitrary action
by civil authorities, contraband trade, the ravages of war, and the
depredations of corsairs. "In time of war commerce with the mother
country was reduced to the lowest ebb; European goods were poured
into the Spanish colonies by neutrals, and the contraband trade was
almost openly carried on." (Bancroft's Mexico, iii, pp. 628-630.)

[106] Regarding the bulls of the Crusade (for which see
VOL. XXVIII, pp. 113-115), the following information is furnished
by Rev. Dr. William A. Jones, O.S.A., president of the college of
San Agustín, Havana: "So far as I know, there was no special decree
suppressing the privileges of the Bula Cruzada. As I understand it from
those who are well informed, the original privileges contained in the
Bula Cruzada were exclusively bestowed upon Spanish subjects, and as
a consequence, followed the Spanish flag. The moment the sovereignty
of Spain ceased over this island [Cuba], so ceased also the meaning of
the Bula Cruzada for these rebels to the old dynasty. But some Cubans
continued to adopt the privileges of the Latin American Council which
had recently been held in Rome (about five years ago), in virtue
of which the privileges regarding fasts and abstinence are almost
identical with the old Bula; those privileges were afterward confirmed,
and we follow the rules of the Council. As for the Philippines, I infer
that the Bula ceased there as soon as the Spanish sovereignty ended."

An Augustinian father who has recently come to Villanova
from the Philippines states that in those islands they have
dispensations for fasts and abstinence, the same as before the
revolution; but he could not state the precise date of those
dispensations.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

A decree of Leo XIII, April 22, 1899, grants the Cuban bishops
authority for ten years to grant dispensations from fasting and
abstinence.

[107] Diaz's statement throws an interesting light on the preparation
and publication of the Conquistas of Fray Gaspar de San Agustín,
which is the work here referred to. At the beginning are various
approbations, licenses, etc. The dedication, very flowery and somewhat
perfunctory, is made to Doña María de Guadalupe, Duquesa de Avero
(with many other titles), as "the learned Minerva, not only of our
España but of the new worlds;" it is signed by Fray Manuel de la Cruz,
but is undated. The first approbation is signed by Fray Diego de Jesús
and other Augustinian officials, at Manila, September 2, 1686; and the
license for its publication is signed by the provincial of the order,
Juan de Jérez, four days later. The commissary of the Inquisition at
Manila, Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, O.P., approves it on November
28 following; and the archbishop of Manila, Phelipe Pardo, licenses
the publication, on December 2. Nothing was done toward printing it
until 1697; for the next document is the approbation of the work,
furnished by Alonso Sandin, O.P., who has examined it in obedience
to the command of Alonso Portillo de Cardos, vicar-general of the
archdiocese of Toledo; this is dated at Madrid, August 8, 1697. Nine
days later, Portillo issues the license for printing the book. Next
follows the approbation of Fray Diego Florez, past provincial of the
Augustinian province of Castilla, dated at Madrid, September 5. Then
follow a list of "Erratas," thirteen in number, signed by Martin de
Ascarza, "corrector-general for his Majesty," dated May 5, 1698; and a
certificate (dated May 10) that the price at which the said book may be
sold has been fixed by decree of the royal Council at eight maravedis
for each printed sheet (pliego). A note at the foot of this page states
that the book contains 146 pliegos, including unnumbered pages. Nothing
is said in any of these documents of Diaz's connection with the work.

[108] The first Dutch settlement at the present site of Cape Town was
made in 1652; it grew very slowly for a long time, for at the end of
that century it contained only some eighty private houses. In 1658
negro slaves were carried thither, and later the Dutch sent to Cape
Town Javanese criminals who had been sentenced at Batavia to penal
servitude, and political prisoners of rank from India, some of whom
preferred to remain there for life. With these elements of population
and the aboriginal Hottentots arose innumerable mixtures of blood, and
the utmost diversity of color and features among the inhabitants. The
castle of Good Hope (still standing) was built in 1666-74, as a
defense for the colony; and in 1672 a formal purchase of land was
made from the Hottentots by the East India Company. The great garden
of the Company was partly converted into a nursery for foreign plants
and trees by Simon van der Stel, commander of the colony from 1680 to
1699. See Theal's South Africa (New York and London, 1894), pp. 20-57.

In 1688-90 nearly 200 Huguenot refugees from France arrived at the
Cape, and formed settlements near Cape Town. See Worsfold's South
Africa (London, 1895), p. 15.

[109] Desiderius Erasmus was born at Rotterdam October 28, 1467. When
a boy, he was sent to a convent; and in 1492 was ordained a priest,
at Utrecht. He afterward devoted himself to the study of the classics
and of divinity, and to literary work; he resided successively in
Paris, England, and Basle. His Colloquies offended zealous Catholics,
by attacking the superstitions and abuses in the Church; but he was
not a supporter of Luther. Erasmus died on July 12, 1536.

[110] They took Father Samper to the island of Paragua, and abandoned
him there. When this event was learned in Manila, they sent for him;
but on the way he fell into the hands of the Camucon pirates, who
took his life.--Fray Tirso López.

[111] Basilitano obviously refers to some suppressed or extinct see in
pagandom, and Fray López would now be styled a "titular bishop." The
word cannot be found in the lexicons or gazetteers of classical,
mediæval, and early Christian geographical terms; and it is evidently
an adjective of local meaning.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[112] See the Epodes of Horatius, i, 2, l. 14; at first referring
to the Greeks before Troy, but afterward becoming a general
proverb--"Whatever errors the great may commit, the people must
atone for."

[113] Father Fray Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga, in his Historia de
Filipinas (pp. 384 et seq.), relates the foundation of the curacy of
Mariquina, its separation from that of Pasig, and the means by which
this was effected, as also the incorporation [that is, again with
Pasig] which is here mentioned, and their final separation. And as his
account differs considerably from that of Father Diaz, and we lack
the data for deciding which of them is correct, we refer the reader
to that work that he may examine, compare, and decide. Father Diaz,
however, may have remained silent on the vexed questions to which
that establishment gave rise, through consideration of prudence and
of respect to the living; and in that case there is no contradiction,
but justifiable omissions.--Fray Tirso López.

The Jesuit account of this controversy is presented by Murillo Velarde
in Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 344 b, 345.

[114] Melchor Portocarrero, Lasso de la Vega, Conde de Monclove
(misprinted in our text Mondova), succeeded the Marqués de la Laguna
as viceroy of Mexico, on November 30, 1686; his administration lasted
nearly two years, and he was an upright and vigilant ruler. He failed,
however, to protect the Indian natives from cruel oppressions by the
Spaniards. He was commonly known as Brazo de la Plata, or "Silver
Arm," on account of wearing a false arm, his own having been lost in
battle. (Bancroft, Mexico, iii, p. 221.)

[115] "An antiquated term, signifying a togated judge, one of those
who in the court composed what was called "the tribunal of alcaldes,"
who, together, constituted the fifth tribunal of the famous Council of
Castilla. These alcaldes no longer exist, nor does the tribunal which
they formed; because an Audiencia has been established at Madrid,
according to a decree of January 20, 1834." (Dominguez.)

[116] Reference is here made to the Book of Wisdom, which is found
in the Douay Bible next after Solomon's "Canticle of Canticles"
("Song of Songs," in the Protestant Bible); it does not, however,
occur in the Vulgate. The passage here cited (in Latin, in Diaz's
text) reads thus in the Douay (English) version: "Learn, ye that are
judges of the ends of the earth. Give ear, you that rule the people,
and that please yourselves in multitudes of nations. For power is given
you by the Lord, and strength by the Most High, who will examine your
works, and search out your thoughts: because being ministers of his
kingdom, you have not judged rightly, nor kept the law of justice,
nor walked according to the will of God. Horribly and speedily will
he appear to you: for a most severe judgment shall be for them that
bear rule." These words are found in verses 2-6 of chapter vi.

[117] Gaspar de la Cerda Sandoval Silva y Mendoza, Conde de Galve,
assumed the office of viceroy of Nueva España on November 20,
1688. The coasts were infested with corsairs up to 1692, but Galve's
preparations to exterminate them seem to have frightened them away. In
1690 and 1695 he sent expeditions against the French in Santo Domingo;
in 1689, one to search for La Salle's Texas colony; and in 1693-94,
to establish the town of Pensacola, Florida. At his own request, he
was relieved from the office of viceroy, which he left February 27,
1696. He then returned to Spain, where he died soon afterward.

[118] Perhaps referring to the fact that Pardo was but fifteen years
old when he entered the Dominican order, and to his high rank as a
theologian and a prelate.

[119] The first of these citations reads in English: "The privilege
that you enjoy through my favor you may not employ to my distress." The
second is a school axiom, derived from Aristotle, to be encountered
in higher philosophy and metaphysics; it may be found in glossaries
or expositions of terms used by schoolmen, but its explanation
therein is usually somewhat prolix and even obscure. It may be
translated thus: "Whenever any thing (or cause) is of such or such
a character (or kind), it possesses that characteristic in higher
degree than that which derives therefrom (i.e., than its effect or
result)."--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[120] This doctrine of the Manila cabildo and of the author might at
that time be quite current; but since then, by the Concordat of 1851,
and especially by the bull of his Holiness Pius IX, the Roman pontiff,
issued on August 28, 1873, the church has sanctioned the opposite
opinion.--Fray Tirso López.

[121] It should be remembered that this part of the Conquistas was
written in 1718.--Fray Tirso López.

[122] This recapitulation or resumé of the labors of our missionaries
in China was either not written by Father Diaz, or he wrote it in a
separate book which we do not possess.--Fray Tirso López.

[123] One of the most important acts of this governor was the
publication (October 1, 1696) of a revision of the "Ordinances of
good government" which Corcuera had enacted in 1642; some account of
these will be given in a later volume.

[124] "He devoted himself to the recovery of the immense sums which
were due to the king from the citizens of Manila; and with these he
rebuilt the governor's palace, added to it the halls for the royal
Audiencia, and in the lower story offices for the bureau of accounts,
established the jail for the court, and began the royal storehouses. By
various expedients he contrived the saving of thousands of pesos to the
royal treasury, sums which now are deducted from the situado--although
this was partly done by greatly curtailing the pay of both officers and
soldiers, for which he deserves little praise. To the royal treasury
of Mexico he saved more than five hundred thousand pesos which it was
owing to that of Philipinas in situados." (Zúñiga's Historia, p. 394.)

[125] The sentence pronounced in the residencia of Governor Cruzat y
Gongora (published June 6, 1602) is given in full in the Ventura del
Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 209-234. Some forty charges were
made against him; some were sustained, making him liable to judgments
of about 31,000 pesos; others were referred to the home government;
but on the majority he was acquitted.

[126] In the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 235-244,
is a summary of a long document, a "Vindication of the official acts
performed in the visitation of Camarines by Licentiate Don Francisco
Gueruela, member of his Majesty's Council and alcalde of court in
the royal Audiencia of these islands, and visitor for the Audiencia
in that province in the past year, 1702." The summary reads as follows:

It is divided into three parts: the first contains, besides the
preface, a brief summary of all the edicts which were published in
those villages, and which are being brought out by his order. The
second comprises a more than succinct relation of the false charges
which the said visitation had encountered, and edicts about which with
Christian impiety they had dissembled to him. The third is reduced to a
brief legal demonstration of the authority which the visitor possesses
to institute summary legal proceedings against the religious who are
in charge of doctrinas, without danger from the bull In cæna or any
other censure whatever.

In the preface--which is crammed with citations from the holy
fathers, the Scriptures, and [various other] writers--the zealous
[flamante] auditor Gueruela says that he spent a month in obtaining
information about the condition of the villages in the province
of Camarines, before he began the visitation; and in that time,
through the investigations which he made, he learned that the evils
which the religious teachers cause to the Indians were deeply rooted,
and required an effective remedy. He says that as he was uncertain
by what means to carry out his purposes, he undertook first, to
induce the religious, through persuasion and careful consideration,
to agree to a reform of the abuses with which they were oppressing
the Indians; but that, as they paid no attention to this, he had no
other recourse than to carry out the visitation, in spite of his fear
that the religious in the doctrinas would oppose him, and that they
might as a last resort renounce their charges and entirely abandon the
villages, which was or would be a misfortune demanding very careful
consideration. But [he felt] that justice and right had greater power
[than these considerations], in order to liberate from slavery the
30,000 souls of that province, whose ruin was being brought about by
the sixteen religious who were administering those villages, who were
receiving more than 19,000 pesos.


Part first

(In which is contained the summary of all the edicts published in
the visitation, and the attestation of them separately.)

1. That the natives shall not contribute to the curas of the doctrinas
any food supplies without pay for the value of these.

2. That they shall not perform any labor or personal services for
the said religious without pay.

3. That the same be understood for the plain sewing, the spinning,
and the embroidery for the churches and the sacristies, for the inside
garments of the religious and their servants.

4. That the young girls [dalagas] shall not sweep the churches and
their courts; and that, in their place, twenty young men [baguntaos]
and the boys in the schools shall assist.

5. The said girls shall not pound rice as a repartimiento for the
religious, or for their treasurers or agents [sindicos o fiscales];
nor shall they go to the convent for the unthreshed rice [palay],
nor deliver that which has been cleaned. All this shall be in the
charge of the gobernadorcillos, their constables, and other officials,
who shall transport the said produce, see that the rice is pounded,
and deliver it, to the satisfaction of the religious.

6. Food, wax, candles, etc., shall not be collected from the natives
under any pretext of usage, custom, or devotion; nor shall they be
obliged to [render] personal services without pay.

7. They shall not be domestics, cooks, mananguetes, fishermen,
gardeners, or [act in] other personal employ for the religious,
without pay.

8. Each entire tribute shall pay three reals a year as a contribution
to the festivities of the Monument [on Holy Thursday], the Sanctorum
[i.e., a tax paid by the natives above sixteen years, to the church],
and the Pintacasi; and four gantas of palay rice besides, for the
Defunctorum [i.e., masses for the dead?].

9. At the feast of St. Francis the natives shall not work without pay,
or at their own cost, in the palas-palas [i.e., cutting of?] bamboo
frames and bejucos, except when they fail to pay the real for the
Pintacasi. [This word is defined in Noceda and Sanlucar's Tagal
Vocabulario, "to aid another in seedtime, gratuitously."]

10. The support or pacaen of the religious shall not be contributed
gratis in the large villages; and in the small ones the obligations
which the Indians may have formed shall be fulfilled; but if they have
not done so, as they have no obligations they shall not contribute
without pay.

11. There shall be no fiscals appointed in the villages by the
religious, but only guardians, without rods; nor shall there be
constables; and they shall not be authorized to arrest, flog, or
punish the natives.

12. The father ministers have no temporal jurisdiction over their
parishioners; and as little have they ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
except in the tribunal of conscience, and for admonishing and
instructing the people, administering the sacraments, saying mass,
and teaching the [Christian] doctrine, etc.

13. For the same reason the civil government of the villages is not in
their keeping; nor shall the [local] authorities ask permission from
the religious to execute the orders of their alcaldes-mayor, or to
entertain travelers and furnish them what they need for its just value.

14. The wills, contracts, and obligations of the Indians which
shall hereafter be made, must be sent to the record-office of the
alcalde-mayor, without registering them in the convents.

15. The religious in charge of doctrinas have no authority to arrest,
flog, or punish the natives, either in person or through intervening
agencies; and the Indians, both men and women, must not allow
themselves to be arrested or flogged by the religious. If this is
done by order of the syndics and fiscals, let them defend themselves
against the judges in what way they can.

16. Nothing shall be collected from the natives for burials, baptisms,
and marriages.



Then follow comments on these regulations, and in vindication of
them--exceedingly prolix on account of being full of citations,
some timely and others the opposite. He states therein that for
the service of the parish churches he ordered that the following
should render assistance: Four servants for the parochial house; one
doorkeeper for each convent; and people enough to carry the hammocks
and litters [talabones] when the minister shall go forth to administer
the sacraments. Two sacristans; and the acolytes and the singers for
the services in the churches. Twenty young men [baguntaos], to sweep
the churches and their courts every week or every day. Two laundresses,
for keeping clean the cloths and vestments in the sacristies. All the
young girls [dalagas], but outside of the convents, to embroider and
sew all the articles of cloth that are necessary for divine worship. A
guardian who shall notify the religious of matters pertaining to
their obligations. A syndic, who shall attend to collecting what
belongs to them.



[He says] that the oppressions which are caused by the service which
was compulsory in furnishing the dalagas consisted in the following:
Under the pretext of needlework and embroidery, the religious
compelled the dalagas to be in continual attendance in the houses of
the syndics and mistresses, where they not only sewed and embroidered
the articles for the sacristy, but also the inner garments of the
religious and the outer garments of their servants. Besides, they
must do whatever was commanded them by the mistresses themselves,
and their fiscals and syndics, and the fields of all these were
sown with grain, without pay, by the wretched dalagas. At the same
time, assessments were levied annually in each village for [church]
ornaments; and this sum, in the village of Caramuan alone, amounted to
800 pesos the year before. It must be considered that, besides these
things, the villages were burdened by the maintenance (at their own
cost) of two or three pavilions [camarines; for temporary churches],
for extra supplies of timber of all sizes, and also limestone, for
the repairs and adornment of the churches.

After presenting various considerations, he proceeds to refute the
false charges which the Franciscan religious published against him,
who said that he had treated them as if they were criminals; that he
had falsified the edicts, varying them from the original process;
and that all the declarations of the witnesses were false, as also
the remonstrances of the villages.

[127] In the text, misprinted 1684. Occasional typographical errors
are found in the printed edition of Diaz, which we correct in our text.

[128] Spanish, pájaros bobos; evidently referring to the bird commonly
known as "booby" (VOL. XVII, p. 130).

[129] Governor Cruzat y Gongora died at sea, on the voyage from
Manila to Acapulco, on November 5, 1702; and his youngest daughter
on December 12 of the same year. (Ventura del Arco MSS., iv, p. 245.)





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