Sire:
This province of our father St. Augustine in the Philipinas enjoyed
a fortunate and prosperous season as a result of the care, zeal,
and strictness in religion of the provincial, who (to my great
sorrow) has just completed his term, and was chiefly inspired by
the advice, directions, and commands which your Majesty has sent
us in your letters, all of which have been scrupulously obeyed and
respected. During this happy time there returned to this province Fray
Lorenso de Leon, [39] a man who after having been provincial here
went on business of the province to España and Roma for six years,
as your Majesty has been fully notified. This father Fray Lorenso de
Leon came, then, to disturb all this good, having sought and pursued
nothing but his own personal interest and desires, with his notorious
vanity and ambition, and having wholly neglected the general advantage
of this forgotten province.
He arrived last year, one thousand six hundred and four; and up to
the present time (our provincial chapter having been held in the
interim) his only occupation and efforts have been to bring it about
by unfair contrivances that he should attain his own pretensions
and advancement, as is evident by the result. In the face of the
requisitions and notifications made by our assembly of definitors,
he, although he was under solemn oath, concealed the papers and
documents which he brought with him, and brought them forward only in
this present chapter. These documents, although they were nothing but
simple letters from our father-general, were accepted there, in order
to avoid contentions and scandals; and accordingly, as they directed,
he presided in the chapter as vicar-general, the same authority being
valid for all chapters and congregations [of the order] at which he
might be present. Thus he has taken this ancient and rightful name from
our provincials of Castilla, to whom it was granted by his Holiness;
and this without command from your Majesty and your royal Council,
to whom all this is subject. We pray will all humility that such
assumption of authority may be permitted to go no further, in order
that the evils thus begun in such a decay of this province (of which
your Majesty will be informed in this letter) may no longer continue.
After the majority of the chapter, including those most worthy of
confidence, had agreed and determined, for the greater peace and quiet
of the chapter, to elect as provincial a deserving religious of the
qualifications required by our rules, we proceeded peacefully with
the election, until the said father Fray Lorenso de Leon took control
of it. Although he had no right to be present in spite of his being
president, he eagerly seated himself so near the clerk who gave out
the blank ballots that, whether by fear or affection, he certainly
by this, and with his gestures and signs, being himself a candidate,
affected and changed the wills and intentions of some of the electors,
contrary to the freedom of the election. Moreover, he was present at
the counting of the votes and ballots with the three tellers. When
he discovered that he had some votes, at which time he ought to have
departed, and that another (whom he feared) was receiving more than
he was then, so as to be sure of the election--and that candidate is
said certainly to have had it--exceeding his authority, he barred the
votes and commanded the counting to cease, declaring the election to be
void. He showed--as a pretext, as will later appear from all this--a
ballot or vote somewhat torn, in order to force a new election. Hence
followed much ill-will, which he manifested on his side. In order to
compel a new decision, as a result of the fear and change of purpose
which he intended to cause in their minds, he delivered deceitful and
satirical speeches (with which he is provided), in which he let them
know that there was no one else in the chapter who could be elected
except himself. He declared that he was not obliged to confirm him whom
they might elect, making this declaration for the benefit of him who
presumed to be most fit to be chosen. Although he was challenged and
called upon to declare the impediment or incapacity of that man or
of any other, he was not willing to do so, since in truth there was
no such disability. As a result of this and other acts of tyranny,
he forced a new election and new vote, to the great disgust and
astonishment of the chapter. This sufficed to elect him (as he was
in fact elected) provincial. He caused himself to be confirmed by
one of the definitors; and, as the chapter had begun by siding with
him, so it was continued. He now saw himself provincial, president,
and vicar-general; and all this encouraged and enabled him to take
our courage and spirit away from us in all elections, both small and
great. Thus they all resulted in accordance with his will, and with
the promises which he had made to those of his party, and to those
from whom he had asked votes. This he had done through some laymen,
a thing which makes the matter worse.
The result is manifest in the holders of all the better offices and
convents. They are chosen from the friars of his province of Mexico,
and from those who have assumed the habit here--unlearned, dissipated,
and worthless boys. At the same time he has put out of office those
whom he has oppressed, solely because they have come, being sent out
by your Majesty from the provinces of España. The hatred and division
among ourselves arising from his party cannot be remedied unless you
Majesty take prompt measures to cure it from there, so completely
have these fathers who are not from España obtained possession of
the province, which is not very lucrative under their control. All
the rest of us remain in discouragement and unhappiness to see such
things, so opposite to good government and the Christian religion,
and so full of peril to consciences. The result has been that some
religious have not been willing to accept priorships in this chapter,
for fear that they cannot hold them securely, inasmuch as the said
father has not in their view been elected as a lawful superior,
considering the coercion in the proceedings. Taking warning from
past experience, fearing to cause public scandal and the rumors that
result from disputes and investigations in such matters, and timid
because of the little redress that can be had here, we have endured
this affliction, and will suffer the harm within our own gates. For
the whole series of proceedings is in violation of law; yet we have
not, although your Majesty has many just counselors in this his royal
council, entered our plea for justice and liberty before the council;
for we desire to avoid scandals, and the governor of these islands
has shown himself to be greatly biased in favor of the provincial
elected. This is due to the activity and unlawful proceedings of the
sargento-mayor Christoval de Asqueta, long since an agent for father
Fray Lorenso de Leon. Such a relation is completely contrary to the
rule of our order and our withdrawal from the world. Our only redress
is in recourse to your Majesty, prostrate before whose feet we send
our petition from this remotest province to our patron, defender,
and gracious king, praying for justice, relief, and liberty in this
case and in all other cases in which oppression is brought upon our
good purpose and holy zeal, which were taught us in the convents in
the provinces of España. We assure your Majesty that we who make
this earnest and truthful report are the most prominent and sound
part of the chapter; and that we are moved solely by the purpose of
serving our Lord God and of promoting the advance of our holy order in
credit and reputation, to the benefit of the royal crown and to the
spiritual desert of your Majesty in these regions. We feel certain
that your Majesty will soon send the remedy for all these evils,
as we entreat, by interposing the authority of the nuncio of his
Holiness, that he may by his official censure revoke all documents,
rights of preëminence, or letters of our father-general which the
said father Fray Lorenso de Leon may have, since it is entirely
improper that he should take advantage of them. By this means and
by the decrees which your Majesty will issue, this province can be
assembled anew for an election--that is, those of it who have the
right to vote--free from domination, under the presidency of a bishop
of these Philipinas Islands. That which is supremely necessary is,
as we have often prayed your Majesty, that there may come here from
that province of Castilla a religious to inspect this province and set
its affairs in order. If need be, he should have plenary authority to
govern it, without allowing other elections; and he whom your Majesty
shall send should come accompanied by religious fit to restore and
preserve this province. Like a young vine, it is in need of such
laborers, and not of such as dry up its moisture and pluck its fruit,
like the friars who come here from Mexico. They have no other care,
imitating in this their head; for it is evident that the said father
Fray Lorenso de Leon has always acted in this way, since for his
own private claims he has taken almost ten thousand pesos in past
years and at present he has begun to collect the same a second time,
in order to satisfy these claims entirely. We are eye-witnesses that
in his behavior, desires, possessions, and unlawful wealth [40] he
lays claim to great things. According to rumor and his beginnings,
he aims at a bishopric; and this is made certain by the saying that
he brought back here, when he complained that he would have received
the bishopric of Manila if some persons had not written against him,
and declared that he brought letters with him which would cause him to
be feared, and that he would be provincial, by fair means or foul. May
your Majesty be pleased to abate this evil by causing him to leave this
province, and by granting us this boon and redress for which we pray,
and which will conduce so greatly to the restoring of this province. Be
assured that we make this truthful representation without any sort
of malice or evil purpose, but only with wholesome and well-founded
zeal. Your Majesty will have satisfactory proof of this in the letters
and advices which will be sent from the government, the community,
and the religious orders here, all of which will furnish information
in the case. The cause is that of God and of your Majesty, and this
will give us calmness and courage, in certain hope of receiving this
great grace and protection. We remain your Majesty's humble chaplains
and faithful servants, praying our God to grant your Majesty many
years of happy life with all spiritual gifts, to the increase of your
royal estates and Christian seigniories. Dated after the session of
our chapter in our convent of San Augustin in Manila, on the fourth
day of the month of May, one thousand six hundred and five.
_Fray Estevan Carrillo_, definitor.
_Fray Bernabe de Villalovos_, definitor of Guadalupe.
_Fray Miguel Garcia_, visitor.
_Fray Jhoan de Tapia_, associate of the late provincial and secretary
of the province [?].
_Fray Francisco Serrano_, sometime visitor.
_Fray Miguel de Siguenza_, sometime visitor.
_Fray Mathedo Daças_, prior.
_Fray Jhoan de Pineda_, prior, and lecturer in theology.
_Fray Diego Pardo_, procurator-general.
_Fray Jheronimo de Salas_, prior.
_Fray Jhoan de Rojas_, sub-prior of Manila.
_Fray Miguel de San Marco_
_Fray Bartolome de Aguirre_
_Fray Ambrosio de Leon_, procurator.
[_Endorsed_: "September 12, 1606. Considered; the decree on a separate
paper."]
Sire:
The Order of St. Augustine in these islands has for years been in
need of reform, and many letters have been written to your Majesty on
this subject. During the provincialate which has just come to an end,
that of Fray Pedro Arce, some reforms were accomplished as a result
of his good example, for he is a friar who follows the rules of his
order very scrupulously; but as he had no one to carry this beginning
to perfection, for lack of friars such as himself, he did not achieve
what he desired. His successor is named Fray Lorenzo de Leon; and he
has begun to overthrow everything which his predecessor established,
by oppressing the Castilian friars and encouraging the creoles,
[41] who are utterly shiftless and a set of fools. From this will
necessarily follow the entire ruin of the province. The only means of
remedy is that your Majesty should send religious from Castilla and
those provinces of España in order that this province may lift its head
and be reformed. The religious of the said order will write to your
Majesty. There are very zealous ones among them, especially Fray Pedro
de Arce, [42] the late provincial, to whom entire credit may be given.
May our Lord keep your Majesty for the good of your many
kingdoms. Manila, June 1, 1605.
_Fray Bernardo de Santa Catherina_, commissary of the Holy Office,
of the Order of St. Dominic. [43]
Sire:
In spite of the fact that I am one of those who joined in signing
a common letter which was sent to your Majesty by the majority
of the chapter of this province of our father St. Augustine in
the Philippinas, I cannot satisfy my conscience or manifest the
zeal which I ought to possess, without giving personal notice to
your Majesty of certain things with which as associate of the late
provincial and as secretary of the province I became acquainted, and
which still continue to exist, to the great harm and diminution of
the province. I am encouraged to do this, although it is the first
time that I address you, by reasons which demand a remedy; and by
considering, with the certain proofs which I have, that your Majesty
as a king and father most benevolent and most Christian will not be
indignant that a chaplain, servant, and vassal such as I should give
information, by means of these and other just suggestions, in order
that reform may result from them. Ever since father Fray Lorenso de
Leon returned to this province, it has steadily degenerated from the
harmony and influence which it had previously gained, as a result of
the great improvement shown in all things under the control of the
virtuous superior of the previous term. It now grows worse and worse
the more it has of him who is at present the superior, the father
already mentioned. The plan and the tricks with which he was elected I
do not write to your Majesty, since they have already been recounted
in a common letter, to which I refer. As a result of his election
the religious from Mexico who are here, and have assumed the habit
in this country have recovered their strength. They are nearly all
of little ability, ignoramuses, uncontrolled, and of most perverse
inclinations. Out of the respect and reverence due your Majesty I
do not enter into details; I only state particularly that the games
of cards have been revived among them. The one who has especially
distinguished himself is a certain Fray Jhoan de Amorin, who with
the said father Fray Lorenço de Leon went from this province to the
province of Mexico, returning again with a very bad reputation and the
name of having a restless disposition, ambitious and injurious to all,
and personally vicious and dissolute, unrestrained in all respects.
The said father being in Mexico took under his charge the conduct of
some religious intended for this province, and recruited from that
one. He was in charge of the clothing and other possessions of these
religious, and even of the fund granted from your Majesty's treasury
of that kingdom for such conveyance of friars. He deceitfully affirmed
that it has been spent, but rendered no account for it; and tells
different stories about it, such as to condemn him. He has always
been under the protection of the said father Leon, who has received
his pay from the great amount which the other has obtained for him,
during this last chapter, by means of secular and religious persons
belonging to his party. As the climax of all this, he has appointed
the said father Amorin prior of the convent of Tondo, in the sight of
all this community. The common people have objected and murmured much,
since in that village they have previously had special proofs of our
disinterestedness and purity of motive.
Of the many things which were taken in charge by Father Lorenço de
Leon to be attended to in the kingdoms of España and Roma, for the
benefit of this distant province, not one of the least importance
or necessity has been concluded; yet he has spent, just as if he
had carried everything through, the assessments and additional
contributions which were given him in common by the province. He
has cared only for his private interests and his private claims,
as is manifestly shown by the titles that have been lavished upon
him ... master, though he has not sufficient learning; and president
and vicar-general for all chapters and assemblages, to the manifest
injury of the members of this province. He was received as such,
although in violation of law, only in order to avoid contention and
scandal. But he has assumed still more authority, as a result of
the liberty which he has, and in the documents which he issues adds
the title of provincial and vicar-general. All this is without the
command of your Majesty and of your royal Council of the Indias,
and is contrary to the grants made to our provincial fathers of
Castilla who have so long exercised a similar office. This is right,
since this province was established and is maintained by them and the
honored friars who have come out hither from España. We have greatly
suffered from the lack of such Spanish friars, since it is now six
years since religious were sent out to us here. The cause has been
the fact that the said father Fray Lorenzo de Leon went thither, and
although he might have brought back a noble shipload of them, he did
not undertake the work with sufficient diligence--expecting to obtain
friars from Mexico, and to convert to his own use the grants made for
such conveyance in Sevilla from your Majesty's treasury. The fact is,
that although he received a decree and allowance to bring eighteen
religious from those provinces, he actually brought only seven to
whom the habit of our father St. Augustine belonged. The other eleven
he supplied with laymen who were traveling secretly to the Indias,
and he received from them special bribes, putting upon them habits
of the order, that they might in this way get as far as the registry
in Vera Cruz and afterward return to their own condition. The said
father thus retained in his hands all the allowance which he had
received. I would not dare to make this statement to your Majesty
if I did not know it from the relation of those very seven religious
whom he brought hither from España. Additional evidence is a letter
(which I saw) from Dr. Antonio de Morga, written soon after his
arrival in Mexico, in which he gave this information to persons from
there. Nothing has been done in this matter because of the fear and
subjection in which the said father Leon has placed those of us who
might speak and demand justice for this and other most unjust acts
of which he has been guilty. I testify to your Majesty that his cell
and manner of dress are like those of a trading merchant, and not of
a poor and abstinent friar; and, through the trade conducted by the
Chinese here, I know that he has invested a great amount of money in
sending merchandise to Mexico. Now this he could not do except at the
expense of the convents; for in the larger and richer houses he has
granted offices to those of his party and those under his control,
while he dislikes and ill-treats the virtuous and grave religious from
España. All this causes us sorrow and affliction, especially because
of the offense committed against our Lord God, and the loss to our
order and the disservice of your Majesty and of your Majesty's holy
zeal, and because your Majesty's directions are not fulfilled. May
your Majesty be pleased to put an end to all this by exercising your
authority and sending as promptly as possible an inspector from the
province of Castilla, accompanied by religious like himself. Such a
one may amend this and take these two religious from here, depriving
them of the titles of which they have made so bad a use. I beseech your
Majesty to pardon my boldness in having dwelt so long on this matter. I
may have failed, in my manner of writing, to observe the respect and
form due to my king and lord, but I believe that I have not been at
fault in purpose or zeal. I am now occupied in the service of your
Majesty as chief chaplain and vicar of the galleys and fleets of your
Majesty in these kingdoms, upon the important expedition which is now
being made. [44] In this and in all things I am the meanest servant
and vassal of your Majesty. I kiss your royal hand and pray that God
may keep your Majesty in a long and happy life with the increase of
every good.
Manila, June 20, 1605.
_Fray Jhoan de Tapia_
[_Endorsed_: "June 22, 1606; to the Count of Lemos." "September 12,
1606; examined; no answer."]