Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the PG Distributed Proofreaders Team
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 XXI, 1624
Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson
with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord
Bourne.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXI
Preface 9
Documents of 1624
Ecclesiastical affairs of the Philippines. Miguel García
Serrano, and others; 1574-1624 19
Conflict between civil and religious authorities in
Manila. [Unsigned and undated; 1624?] 79
Seminary for Japanese missionaries. Alvaro de Messa y Lugo,
and others; Manila, July 23-August 5 84
Extract from letter to Felipe IV. Miguel García Serrano;
Manila, August 15 95
Royal orders regarding the religious. Felipe IV; Madrid,
August-December 98
Early Recollect missions in the Philippines. Andrés de San Nicolas,
Luis de Jesús, and Juan de la Concepción. (Extracts from their
respective works, covering the history of the missions to the
year 1624.) 111
Bibliographical Data 319
ILLUSTRATIONS
Title-page of _Historia general de los religiosos descalzos
... del gran padre ... San Augustin_, by Andres de San Nicolas
(Madrid, 1664); photographic facsimile from copy in library of
Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. 109
Title-pages (the first engraved) to _Historia general de los
religiosos descalzos ... del gran padre ... San Augustin_, by
Luis de Jesús, Augustinian Recollect (Madrid, 1681); photographic
facsimiles from copy in library of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago.
187, 189
Title-page of volume iv of _Historia general de Philipinas_,
by Juan de la Concepción, Augustinian Recollect (Manila, 1788);
photographic facsimile from copy in library of Harvard University.
261
PREFACE
This volume, dated 1624, is entirely devoted to religious matters,
ecclesiastical or missionary in their scope. The current documents
for that year are concerned with conflicts between the diocesan
authorities and the religious orders, and between the civil and
religious authorities in Manila; the defeat by the Audiencia of the
late Governor Fajardo's attempt to found a seminary for the training
of Japanese missionaries to be sent to labor in their own country;
and efforts by the Spanish government to check the assumptions of
the religious orders. Then follows a historical account of the early
Recollect missions in the islands, down to the year 1624, compiled
from the works of Andrés San Nicolas, Luis de Jesús, and Juan de
la Concepción.
A document entitled "Ecclesiastical affairs in the Philippines"
contains letters, decrees, etc., bearing on this subject, dated from
1574 to 1624. Instructions to Gomez Perez Dasmariñas (1574) jealously
restrict to the crown or its officials all exercise of the royal
patronage; and give minute details of the course to be pursued by
the governor and the provincials of the religious orders in matters
where that right is involved. This is followed by various official
documents issued in the controversy between Archbishop Serrano and the
religious orders (1622-24) regarding the right claimed for archbishop
and bishops to exercise the same jurisdiction and authority over the
religious of the orders, when charged with the care of souls, as over
the secular clergy. Serrano fortifies his position by various royal
decrees and papal bulls. These documents show that much laxity has
prevailed in selecting missionaries for the Indians, some of these
teachers not even knowing the language of the natives to whom they
minister; also that the friars claim even greater authority over
their parishioners than that exercised by the archbishop and bishops
in whose dioceses their missions are located. On June 20, 1622, the
archbishop begins his official visit in the parish of Dilao (near
Manila); and his edict announcing this calls upon the people of the
parish to bring to him any complaints or information that they may
have regarding any fault, illegal act, or neglect of duty in their
cura or parish priest. Fray Alonso de Valdemoro was then in charge
of the Dilao mission; refusing to obey the archbishop's commands,
he is excommunicated by the latter, and sentenced to imprisonment in
a monastery. But the Audiencia refuse to support the archbishop, who
accordingly writes a letter to the king complaining of the resistance
made by the friars. Felipe IV, in a decree dated August 14, 1622,
orders that the missions in the Philippines shall be subject to
the provisions of another decree (issued June 22 of the same year)
promulgated for the missions in Nueva España. This provides that
the same procedure be followed therein as in the missions of Peru;
that the missions remain in charge of the orders, but that hereafter
the religious be not placed in charge of missions; that they shall
be subject to the archbishop in matters pertaining to the churches
and the care of souls, but that anything relating to the personal
character of such priest shall be privately referred to his superior
in the order, who shall try and correct him.
An unsigned and undated document (1624?) gives an interesting account
of a conflict between the civil and religious authorities in Manila
over the question of a criminal's right to asylum in a church. It
is decided, at least for the time, in favor of the ecclesiastical
authorities.
At the death of Governor Fajardo (July 11, 1624) the Audiencia take
charge of the government. One of their first measures is to revoke
the grant made not long before by Fajardo of certain monopolies
to a seminary founded by him for educating Christian Japanese to
go as ordained missionaries to their own country. The members of
the Audiencia claim that this was an ill-timed act, in view of the
persecution of Christians in Japan, and the edicts of its ruler
expelling Spaniards from his realm, and forbidding his subjects to
trade with them. Moreover, the seminary building is being erected in
a place selected in violation of a royal decree, and which has been
arbitrarily seized from its owners; and the monopolies granted are
a grievance and injury to many persons, especially to the Indians
who reside near Manila. The Audiencia accordingly revoke these,
and order that the seminary building be demolished; and they issue
a royal decree in accordance with this decision.
In a letter dated August 15, 1624, Archbishop Serrano advises the
king either to give more power and authority to the Audiencia, or
to suppress it. In the latter part of the same year the king issues
some decrees affecting the religious in the islands. The first
(dated August 30) cites earlier decrees regulating the privileges
and jurisdiction of the religious, and orders that these be strictly
observed. In a letter to the archbishop of Manila (dated October 8),
Felipe gives some directions regarding the religious orders. A letter
(dated November 27) to the Dominican provincial enumerates various
abuses practiced toward the Indians by the friars of that order,
and directs him to see that these be corrected.
An interesting chapter of ecclesiastical history is provided in the
accounts of the early Recollect missions in the islands. These are
selected from the printed works here named: _Historia general de
los religiosos descalzos del orden de San Avgvstin_, by Andrés de
San Nicolas (Madrid, 1664), and the second part of the same work, by
Luis de Jesús (Madrid, 1681); and _Historia general de Philipinas_,
by Juan de la Concepción (Manila, 1788). From all these books we
select, as has been already announced, only such portions as closely
concern our subject, and such as contain information of special value,
or which is otherwise not accessible.
From San Nicolas's work we take his account of the foundation of the
Recollect missions in the islands. This is begun in May, 1605, by Fray
Joan de San Jerónimo, who sets out with thirteen other religious;
they arrive at Cebú on May 10, 1606, one of the missionaries having
died on the voyage. After a brief description of Luzón and Manila,
the writer recounts the entrance of the Recollects into that city,
their hospitable reception from all, and their establishment in a
house of their own outside the walls. After some of the fathers have
learned the Tagál language, they begin their missionary labors at
Mariveles, not far from Manila, whose native inhabitants are unusually
brutal and ferocious. A brief outline of the customs and beliefs of
these people is presented, which, although slight, is valuable as
being another original source of ethnological information about the
Filipino peoples--the early Recollect missionaries, like Chirino and
his co-laborers, having gone among wild Indians who had had little
acquaintance with the Spaniards; and their observations are therefore
of natural and primitive conditions among the natives.
The missionaries first sent to Mariveles soon die from hardship,
privation, and penances; but others at once volunteer to take
their places. Rodrigo de San Miguel is the first of these to go;
and he, with others, accomplishes a wonderful work among the fierce
Zambales. Details of the labors of each, and of marvelous escapes from
death, are related. At Masinglo a convent is founded by Andrés del
Espiritu Santo, which becomes a center of missionary work for a large
district. The missionaries are kept under strict rule and discipline,
that their self-abnegation and frugal mode of life may emphasize
their preaching; and regulations are laid down for their missionary
work and their relations with the Indians. The main residence of the
Recollects is, after some years, removed within the walls of Manila;
and a handsome building is erected for it, and endowed, by a pious
citizen. Some notable images in its church are described.
Attempts being made, in both Rome and Spain, to suppress the new
order of Augustinian Recollects, various testimonies to the value of
their work, and to their piety and zeal, are furnished by various
officials, both civil and ecclesiastical; and in connection with
these is a statement of the scope and character of the occupations
and services of the Recollects, in both peace and war. Convents are
founded by these missionaries at Bolinao and Cigayan. At the latter
place, one of the fathers is slain by an Indian, and the church is
burned by the revolting natives; but the indefatigable missionaries
return to the unpromising field, again subdue the wild Indians, and
restore what these had destroyed. Another residence is established at
Cavite, which accomplishes great good among the seamen who live there.
The history of the discalced Augustinians is continued by Luis de
Jesús. In 1621 the reformed branch of the Augustinians is erected
into a congregation independent of the original order. In that year
a convent of the discalced is founded in Cebú, and, through the
generosity of their benefactor Ribera, another at Calumpan, outside
the walls of Manila; the latter serves as a quiet retreat for the
fathers, to the benefit of both their physical and spiritual health,
and under its care is placed the village of Sampaloc. In it is kept
a miraculous image of the Virgin. In 1622 the Recollects begin to
evangelize Mindanao, of which island there is a brief description,
with more detailed ones of certain curious birds and animals found
there, and of the customs and beliefs of the natives. Their government
is simply the tyranny of the strong over the weak, a condition of
oppression and cruelty and wretchedness. Slavery, formerly a common
practice among them, has been broken up where the missionaries have
introduced the Christian religion. In 1609 the natives of Caraga
are subdued by the Spaniards, as also in 1613 a revolt by them is
quelled; and finally (1622) the Recollects carry the gospel among
them. The missionaries do much to subdue these fierce savages, and
make many converts--notable among whom is a powerful chief named
Inuc, whose example is followed by many. A flourishing mission has
also been established on the river of Butúan, where had formerly
been a Christian mission, now abandoned. Detailed accounts are
given of the labors and dangers which the fathers undergo, and of
certain conversions. Our historian does the same for the missions in
Calamianes and Cuyo. It may be noted that the Recollect missionaries
vigorously pursued the same policy as that of the Jesuits in forming
"reductions" or mission villages of their converts. Various miraculous
events in the experience of the missionaries are related, especially
the exorcism of certain demons who attempted to drive the Spanish
soldiers out of the country. Another mission is opened on the Cagayan
River in Misamis, northern Mindanao; the fathers meet great trials and
hardships, but finally succeed in converting the leading headman on
the river, with many of his followers. They are greatly aided in this
by the successful revolt of these Indians against the Mahometan chief
Corralat, in which they ask and receive the assistance of the Spanish
troops stationed at Tandag. From the records of the provincial chapter
held at Manila in 1650 is compiled a list of the Recollect convents
in Mindanao and Calamianes, with the number of families attached to
each. The writer goes on to relate some of the trials, hardships,
and dangers experienced by the Recollect missionaries in their work,
several being martyrs to their zeal. In 1624 is held the first chapter
meeting of the new Recollect province of Filipinas; Fray Onofre de
la Madre de Dios is chosen provincial, and certain regulations for
the conduct of the religious of the order there are adopted.
With these earlier narratives may be compared that of Juan de la
Concepción, in his _Historia_ (vols. iv and v), which contains some
matter additional to the others, although his account is largely drawn
from these. The Recollects, like the Jesuits, form "reductions" of
their scattered converts, in order to carry on their instruction more
advantageously. The difficulties between the observantine and reformed
branches of the Augustinian order are recounted with some fulness. A
singular epidemic of demoniacal obsession at Cavite is dispelled by
the religious services held at the new Recollect church there. At the
request of the bishop of Cebú, the discalced Augustinians extend their
work--a reënforcement of missionaries having arrived from Spain--to
the Visayan Islands and to Mindanao (1622); some account of their
successes in the latter region is given. They also push forward into
the Calamianes Islands and Paragua (1622). Of these islands the writer
presents an interesting account, describing their principal products
and natural resources, as well as the character and religious beliefs
of the natives. Among these people, unusually brutal and fierce, go
the undaunted Recollects, and soon establish flourishing missions,
collecting the people in "reductions." Then they send to Manila a
request that Spanish soldiers come and take possession of Paragua,
which is done. The missions spread farther, and a large part of the
island is subdued to the Christian faith and the crown of Spain.
_The Editors_
October, 1904.
DOCUMENTS OF 1624
Ecclesiastical affairs of the Philippines. Miguel Garcia Serrano,
and others; 1574-1624.
Conflict between civil and religious authorities in
Manila. [Unsigned and undated; 1624?]
Seminary for Japanese missionaries. Alvaro de Messa y Lugo,
and others; July 23-August 5.
Extract from letter to Felipe IV. Miguel Garcia Serrano; August 15.
Royal orders regarding the religious. Felipe IV; August-December.
_Sources_: The first of these documents is obtained from Pastells's
edition of Celin's _Labor evangélica_, iii, pp. 674-697; the second,
from the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), i, pp. 515-523; the
others, from the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla--save the second
of the "Royal orders," from the "Cedulario Indico" of the Archivo
Historico Nacional, Madrid.
_Translations_: The third document is translated by Robert W. Haight;
the second part of the fifth, by Arthur B. Myrick, of Harvard
University; the remainder, by James A. Robertson.
ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS OF THE PHILIPPINES
_Royal Instructions to Gomez Perez Dasmariñas Regarding Ecclesiastical
Affairs_
The King. To Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, my governor and captain-general
of the Philipinas Islands, or the person or persons in charge of
their government: I ordered a decree of various articles to be given
to my viceroy of Nueva España, in regard to what was to be done and
observed in that country for the preservation of my patronage, as is
contained at length in the said decree, whose tenor is as follows:
"The King. To our viceroy of Nueva España, or the person or persons
who shall, for the time being, be exercising the government of that
country: As you know, the right of the ecclesiastical patronage belongs
to us throughout the realm of the Yndias--both because of having
discovered and acquired that new world, and erected there and endowed
the churches and monasteries at our own cost, or at the cost of our
ancestors, the Catholic Sovereigns; and because it was conceded to us
by bulls of the most holy pontiffs, conceded of their own accord. For
its conservation, and that of the right that we have to it, we order
and command that the said right of patronage be always preserved for
us and our royal crown, singly and _in solidum_, throughout all the
realm of the Yndias, without any derogation therefrom, either in whole
or in part; and that we shall not concede the right of patronage by
any favor or reward that we or the kings our successors may confer.
"Further, no person or persons, or ecclesiastical or secular
communities, or church or monastery, shall be able to exercise the
right of patronage by custom privilege, or any other title, unless it
be the person who shall exercise it in our name, and with our authority
and power; and no person, whether secular or ecclesiastical, and no
order, convent, or religious community, of whatever state, condition,
rank, and preeminence he or they may be, shall for any occasion and
cause whatever, judicially or extra-judicially, dare to meddle in any
matter touching my royal patronage, to injure us in it--to appoint
to any church, benefice, or ecclesiastical office, or to be accepted
if he shall have been appointed--in all the realm of the Indias,
without our presentation, or that of the person to whom we commit
it by law or by letters-patent. He who shall do the contrary, if he
be a secular person, shall incur the loss of the concessions that
shall have been made to him by us in all the realm of the Indias,
shall be unable to hold and obtain others, and shall be exiled
perpetually from all our kingdoms and seigniories; and if he shall
be an ecclesiastical person, he shall be considered as a foreigner,
and exiled from all our kingdoms, and shall not be able to hold or
obtain any benefice or ecclesiastical office, and shall incur the other
penalties established against such by laws of these my kingdoms. And
our viceroys, audiencias, and royal justices shall proceed with all
severity against those who thus shall infringe or violate our right of
patronage; and they shall proceed officially, either at the petition
of our fiscals, or at that of any party who demands it; and in the
execution of it great diligence shall be exercised.
"We desire and order that no cathedral church, parish church,
monastery, hospital, votive church, or any other pious or religious
establishment be erected, founded, or constructed, without our
express consent for it, or that of the person who shall exercise our
authority; and further, that no archbishopric, bishopric, dignidad,
canonry, racion, media-racion, rectorial or simple benefice, or any
other ecclesiastical or religious benefice or office, be instituted,
or appointment to it be made, without our consent or presentation,
or that of the person who shall exercise our authority; and such
presentation or consent shall be in writing, in the ordinary manner.
"The archbishoprics and bishoprics shall be appointed by our
presentation, made to our very holy father [_i.e._, the Roman pontiff]
who shall be at that time, as has been done hitherto.
"The dignidades, canonries, racions and media-racions of all the
cathedral churches of the Indias shall be filled by presentation made
by our royal warrant, given by our royal Council of the Indias, and
signed by our name, by virtue of which the archbishop or bishop of
the church where the said dignidad, canonry, or racion shall be shall
grant to him collation and canonical installation, which shall also be
in writing, sealed with his seal and signed with his hand. Without the
said presentation, title, collation, and canonical installation, in
writing, he shall not be given possession of such dignidad, canonry,
racion, or media-racion; neither shall he accept the benefits and
emoluments of it, under the penalties contained in the laws against
those who violate our royal patronage.
"If in any of the cathedral churches of the Yndias there should
not be four beneficiaries--at least resident, and appointed by
our presentation and warrant and the canonical installation of the
prelate--because of the other prebends being vacant, or if appointments
to them have been made because the beneficiaries are absent (even
though it be for a legitimate reason) for more than eight months,
until we present them the prelate shall elect four seculars to fill
out the term of those who shall have been appointed as residents,
choosing them from the most capable and competent that shall offer,
or who can be found, so that they may serve in the choir, the altar,
the church, and as curas, if that should be necessary in the said
church, in place of the vacant or absent prebendaries, as above
stated. He shall assign them an adequate salary, as we have ordered
at the account of the vacant or absent prebendaries; and the said
provision shall not be permanent, but removable at will [_ad nutum_],
and those appointed shall not occupy the seat of the beneficiary in
the choir, nor enter or have a vote in the cabildo. If the cathedral
church has four or more beneficiaries, the prelates shall not take it
upon themselves to appoint any prebendaries, or to provide a substitute
in such post, whether for those that become vacant, or for those whose
incumbents may be absent, unless they shall give us notice, so that we
may make the presentations or take such measures as may be advisable.
"No prelate, even though he have an authentic relation and information
that we have presented any person to a dignidad, canonry, racion,
or any other benefice, shall grant him collation or canonical
installation, or shall order that he be given possession of it, unless
our original warrant of the said presentation be first presented;
and our viceroys or audiencias shall not meddle by making them receive
such persons without the said presentation.
"After the original warrant of our presentation has been presented,
appointment and canonical installation shall be made without any delay;
and order will be given to assign to him the emoluments, unless
there is some legitimate objection against the person presented,
and one which can be proved. If there is no legitimate objection,
or if any such be alleged that shall not be proved, and the prelate
should delay the appointment, installation, and possession, he shall
be obliged to pay to such person the emoluments and incomes, costs,
and interests, that shall have been incurred by him.
"It is our desire that, in the presentations that shall be made for
dignidades, canonries and prebends in the cathedral churches of the
Yndias, lettered men be preferred to those who are not, and those who
shall have served in cathedral churches of these same kingdoms and
who shall have had most experience in the choir and divine worship,
to those who shall not have served in cathedral churches.
"At least in the districts where it can be conveniently done, a
graduate jurist in general study shall be presented for a doctoral
canonicate, and another lettered theological graduate in general study
for another magistral canonicate, who shall have the pulpit with the
obligations that doctoral and magistral canons have in these kingdoms.
"Another lettered theologue approved by general study shall be
presented to read the lesson of the holy scriptures, and another
lettered jurist theologue for the canonicate of penitence, in
accordance with the established decrees of the holy council of
Trent. The said four canonries shall be of the number of those of
the erection of the Church.
"We will and order that all the benefices, whether sinecures or
curacies, secular and regular, and the ecclesiastical offices that
become vacant, or that, as they are new, must be filled, throughout
the realm of the Yndias, in whatever diocese it may be, besides those
that are provided in the cathedral churches, as stated above, shall,
in order that they may be filled with less delay, and that our royal
patronage may be preserved in them, be filled in the following manner:
"When a benefice (whether a sinecure or a curacy), or the
administration of any hospital or a sacristy or churchwardenship, or
the stewardship of a hospital, or any other benefice or ecclesiastical
office, shall become vacant, or when it has to be filled for the first
time: the prelate shall order a written proclamation to be posted
in the cathedral church, or in the church, hospital, or monastery
where such benefice or office is to be filled, with the suitable
limit, so that those who desire to compete for it may enter the
lists. From all those who thus compete, and from all the others whom
the prelate shall believe to be suitable persons for such office or
benefice, after having examined them and after having informed himself
concerning their morals and ability, he shall choose two persons from
them--those whom, in the sight of God and his conscience, he shall
judge most suitable for such office or benefice. The nomination
of the two thus named shall be presented to our viceroy or to the
president of our royal Audiencia; or to the person who, in our name,
shall exercise the superior government of the province where such
benefice or office shall become vacant or must be filled, so that he
may select one from the two appointees. He shall send that selection
to the prelate, so that the latter in accordance with it, and by
virtue of that presentation, may grant the appointment, collation,
and canonical installation--by way of commission and not by perpetual
title, but removable at will by the person who shall have presented
them in our name, together with the prelate. And should there be
no more than one person who desires to compete for such benefice or
office, or the prelate shall not find more than one person whom he
desires to receive the nomination to it, he shall send the name to our
viceroy, president, or governor, as above stated, so that the latter
may present him. Then by virtue of such presentation, the prelate
shall make the appointment in the form above directed. But it is
our desire and will that when the presentation shall be made by us,
and we shall expressly state in our presentation that the collation
and canonical installation shall be by title and not by commission,
those presented by us be always preferred to those presented by our
viceroys, presidents, or governors, in the form above mentioned.
"And in the repartimientos and villages of Indians, and in other
places where there shall be no benefice or any regulations for
electing one, or any form of appointing a secular or religious to
administer sacraments and teach the doctrine, providing it in the
form above directed, the prelate--after posting a proclamation, so
that if there shall be any ecclesiastical or religious person, or any
other of good morals and education who may go to teach the doctrine
at such village--from those who shall compete, or from other persons
whom he shall deem most suitable and fitting, shall elect two, after
informing himself of their competency and good character. He shall
send the nomination to our viceroy, president, or governor who shall
reside in the province, so that the latter may present one of the two
thus nominated by the prelate. If there shall be no more than one,
by virtue of that presentation the prelate shall appoint him to the
mission, giving him installation, as he has to teach the doctrine. He
shall order to be given to such person the emoluments that are to be
given to ministers or missions, and shall order the encomenderos and
other persons, under the penalties and censures that he shall deem
suitable, not to annoy or disturb such person in the exercise of his
duty and the teaching of the Christian doctrine; on the contrary,
they shall give him all protection and aid for it. That appointment
shall be made removable at the will of the person who shall have
appointed him in our name, and that of the prelate.
"We also will and order that the religious orders observe and maintain
the right of patronage in the following form.
"First: No general, commissary-general, visitor, provincial, or any
other superior of the religious orders, shall go to the realm of the
Yndias, without first showing in our royal Council of the Indias the
powers that he bears and giving us relation of them; and without the
Council giving him our decree and permission so that he may go, and
a warrant so that our viceroys, audiencias, justices, and our other
vassals may admit and receive him to the exercise of his office,
and give him all protection and aid in it.
"Any provincial, visitor, prior, guardian, or other high official,
who may be elected and nominated in the realm of the Yndias shall,
before being admitted to exercise his office, inform our viceroy,
president, Audiencia, or governor who shall have in charge the
supreme government of such province, and shall show him his patent
of nomination and election, so that the latter may give him the
protection and aid necessary for the exercise and use of his office.
"The provincials of all the orders who are established in the
Yndias, each one of them, shall always keep a list ready of all the
monasteries and chief residences [maintained there by his orders]
and of the members [resident in each] that fall in his province,
and of all the religious in the province--noting each one of them by
name, together with a report of his age and qualifications, and the
office or ministry in which each one is occupied. He shall give that
annually to our viceroy, Audiencia, or governor, or the person who
shall have charge of the supreme government in the province, adding to
or removing from the list the religious who shall be superfluous and
those who shall be needed. Our viceroy, Audiencia, or governor, shall
keep those general lists which shall thus be given, for himself, and in
order that he may inform us by report of the religious that there are,
and those of whom there is need of provision, by each fleet sent out.
"The provincials of the orders, each one of them shall make a list of
all the religious who are occupied in teaching the Christian doctrine
to the Indians, and the administration of sacraments, and the offices
of curas in the villages of the chief monasteries. They shall give such
list once a year to our viceroy, Audiencia, or governor, who shall
give it to the diocesan prelate, so that he may know and understand
what persons are occupied in the administration of sacraments and
the office of curas and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and who are
in charge of the souls for whom he is responsible; and in order that
what is or must be provided may be apparent to him, and from whom he
has to require account of the said souls, and to whom he must commit
what is to be done for the welfare of those souls.
"Whenever the provincials have to provide any religious for instruction
or for the administration of sacraments, or remove any who shall
have been appointed, they shall give notice thereof to our viceroy,
president, Audiencia, or governor who shall exercise the supreme
government of the province, and to the prelate; and they shall not
remove any one who shall have been appointed, until another shall
have been appointed in his place, observing the above order.
"We desire, in the presentations and appointments of all the prelacies,
dignidades, and ecclesiastical offices and benefices, that those
most deserving, and who shall have been engaged longer and to better
profit in the conversion of the Indians, and in instructing them
in the Christian doctrine, and in the administration of sacraments,
shall be presented and appointed. Therefore we strictly charge the
diocesan prelates, and those superiors of the religious orders, and
we order our viceroys, presidents, audiencias, and governors, that
in the nominations, presentations, and appointments that they shall
have to make there, as is said, in conformity [with this decree],
they shall always prefer, in the first place, those who shall have
been occupied, by life and example, in the conversion of the Indians,
and in instruction and in administering the sacraments, and those who
shall know the language of the Indians whom they have to instruct;
and, in the second place, those who shall be the sons of Spaniards
and who shall have served us in those regions.
"In order that we may better make the presentation that shall
become necessary of prelacies, dignidades, prebends, and the other
ecclesiastical offices and benefices, we ask and charge the said
diocesan prelates and the provincials of the religious orders, and we
order our viceroys, presidents, audiencias, and governors, each one
of them, separately and distinctly by himself, without communicating
one with another, to make a list of all the dignidades, benefices,
missions, and ecclesiastical offices in his province, noting those
of them that are vacant, and those that are filled. Likewise they
shall make a list of all the ecclesiastical and religious persons,
and of the sons of citizens and Spaniards who are studying for
the purpose of becoming ecclesiastics, and of the good character,
learning, competency and qualities of each one, stating clearly his
good parts and also his defects, and declaring, so that prelacies,
dignidades, benefices, and ecclesiastical offices shall be suitably
filled, both those that shall be at present found vacant, and those
that shall become vacant hereafter. Those relations shall be sent us
closed and sealed, in each fleet, and in different ships; and what
shall be deemed advisable to add to or to suppress from the preceding
ones that shall have been sent before, shall be added or suppressed;
so that no fleet shall sail without its relation. We charge the
consciences of one and all straitly with this matter.
"In order that we may not be deceived by those who come or send
to petition us to present them to some dignidad, benefice, or
ecclesiastical office, we desire, and it is our will, that he who
shall thus come or send appear before our viceroy, or before the
president and Audiencia, or before the one who shall have charge of
the supreme government of the province; and, declaring his petition,
the viceroy, Audiencia, or governor shall make the relation officially,
with information concerning his standing, learning, morals, competency,
and other details. After it is made, he shall send it separately
from those persons. Likewise the approval of their prelate shall be
obtained, and warning is given that those who come to petition for a
dignidad, benefice, or ecclesiastical office without such investigation
shall not be received.
"We desire and it is our will that no person can hold, obtain, or
occupy two dignidades, or ecclesiastical benefices in the provinces
of the Yndias, either in the same or in different churches. Therefore
we order that if any one shall be presented by us for any dignidad,
benefice, or office, he shall renounce what he shall have held
previously, before his collation and appointment.
"If the one presented by us does not present himself, within the
time contained in the presentation, to the prelate who must make
the appointment and canonical installation, after the expiration of
the said time the presentation shall be void, and no appointment and
canonical installation can be made by virtue of it.
"Inasmuch as it is our will that the above-contained be observed
and obeyed, for we believe that such procedure is expedient for the
service of God and for our own, I order you to examine the above,
and to observe and obey it, and cause it to be observed and obeyed
in all those provinces and villages, and their churches, _in toto_,
and exactly as is contained and declared, for what time shall be our
will. You shall accomplish and fulfil it, in the ways that shall appear
most advisable to you. You shall take for this purpose such measures
and precautions as shall be advisable, in virtue of this my decree; and
I give you for that complete authority in legal form. Accordingly we
request and charge the very reverend father in Christ, the archbishop
of that city, and member of our Council, and the reverend fathers
in Christ, the archbishop of Nueva España, the venerable deans
and cabildo of the cathedral churches of that country, and all the
curas, beneficiaries, sacristans, and other ecclesiastical persons,
the venerable and devout fathers provincial, guardians, priors,
and other religious of the orders of St. Dominic, St. Augustine,
St. Francis, and of all the other orders, that in what pertains to,
and is incumbent on them, they observe and obey this decree, acting in
harmony with you, for all that shall be advisable. Given in San Lorenzo
el Real, June first, one thousand five hundred and seventy-four.
_I The King_
By order of his Majesty:
_Antonio de Eraso_"
I order you to examine the said decree, and its sections
above-incorporated, and you shall observe and obey it, and cause it
to be observed and obeyed _in toto_, as is contained and declared
in it and in each one of its sections, as if it were given for those
islands and directed to you. I charge the reverend father in Christ,
the bishop of those islands, the venerable dean and cabildo of
the cathedral church of the islands, all the curas, beneficiaries,
sacristans, and other ecclesiastical persons, and the venerable and
devout fathers provincial, guardians, priors, and other religious of
the orders of St. Dominic, St. Augustine, St. Francis, and all the
other orders, that in what pertains to, and is incumbent on them,
they observe and obey it, acting in harmony with you in every way
that may be advisable and necessary. Given in San Lorenzo, September
thirteen, one thousand five hundred and eighty-nine. [1]
_I The King_
By order of the king our sovereign:
_Joan de Ibarra_
Signed by the Council.
[The litigation between the prelate and the religious orders originated
from the visitation of the village of Dilao (which belonged to the
ministry of the Franciscan fathers), commenced by Archbishop Miguel
Garcia Serrano, June 24, 1624, [2] with the dictation by him of the
following:] [3]
_Act_. In the village of Quiapo, which is near the city of Manila, on
the twenty-second day of the month of June, one thousand six hundred
and twenty-two, his Excellency, Don Fray Miguel García y Serrano,
archbishop of these Philipinas Islands, member of his Majesty's
council, etc., declared that, inasmuch as the eleventh chapter
of the twenty-fifth session of the holy council of Trent rules and
orders that the religious who exercise the duties of curas of souls be
immediately subject, in regard to such duties and in all that pertains
to the administration of the sacraments, to the jurisdiction, visit,
and correction of the bishop in whose diocese they minister; and that
no one, even though he be _admovibilis ad nutum_, can exercise the
said office of cura without having obtained beforehand the consent
and examination of the bishop or his vicar, etc., [4] which is
ordered to be strictly observed and obeyed, both by the bishops and
the superiors of the religious, and by the religious themselves, by
the twenty-second chapter following, notwithstanding any privileges,
constitutions, rules, customs, rights, and others _non obstantibus_,
etc.; besides which, his Holiness Gregory Fourteenth, by his brief
which was obtained at the instance of his Majesty, under date of Roma,
April 18, one thousand five hundred and ninety-one, charges and orders
the archbishop of these islands to visit the missions and the religious
in them. [5]
All of the above is ordered to be observed and obeyed in these islands
by decrees of his Majesty, under date of June first, five hundred
and eighty-five; December twenty-one, five hundred and ninety-five;
and November fourteen, one thousand six hundred and three. [6]
In conformity with these decrees, his most illustrious Lordship,
wishing to observe what his Holiness and his Majesty have ordered,
as it is a matter very advisable and necessary for the service of God
our Lord and that of his Majesty, and the welfare and increase of the
conversion, teaching, and instruction of the natives of these islands,
notified the very reverend fathers-provincial in Christ of the sacred
orders of St. Dominic and St. Augustine, and the commissaries of that
of St. Francis, of these islands, by means of an order signed by his
most illustrious Lordship, which was given to them in the first part
of April of this current year, so that, understanding it, the matter
might be facilitated and observed on the part of the said orders,
with the good-will and exactness that is proper, and which they have
always had in obeying and observing the orders of the holy apostolic
see, and those of his Majesty. And inasmuch as it is advisable that
there be no more delay in the above, his most illustrious Lordship
intends to go to visit the mission of the natives of the village of
Dilao, outside the walls of the city of Manila, which is in charge
of the Order of St. Francis, on the day of St. John the Baptist. He
has advised the father guardian of the said convent thereof, in order
that the Indians of the said convent may be assembled in the church at
the hour of high mass, and so that all other necessary arrangements
be made for making the said visit. His Lordship ordered the above
to be set down as an act, together with the copy of the brief of his
Holiness Gregory Fourteenth, and of his Majesty's decrees, of which
mention is made above; and he signed the same.
_Fray Miguel_, archbishop.
Before me:
_Licentiate Alonso Ramirez_
In the town of Quiapo, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of June,
one thousand six hundred and twenty-two, the illustrious lord Don
Fray Miguel Garcia Serrano, archbishop of the Philipinas, member
of his Majesty's council, etc., declared that he ordered--and he
did so order--that that notification that his illustrious Lordship
ordered to be made and that he made, to the superiors of the religious
orders--namely, the order mentioned in the act of the twenty-second of
this month, which was made on account of the visitation of Dilao--be
filed with the [records of the] said visitation, which is to be begun
on this said day, of the said mission and ministry of Dilao. Thus
did he decree and order.
_Fray Miguel_, archbishop.
Before me:
_Licentiate Alonso Ramirez_
Very reverend fathers in Christ, the provincials of the holy orders of
these Philipinas Islands: Being obliged to carry out the ordinance and
mandate of the holy council of Trent and the decrees of his Majesty in
regard to the examination and visitation which I have to make of the
religious who are administering the missions of natives in my diocese,
I deemed it advisable, in order to attain my object better, to inform
your Paternities of it before beginning it--so that, understanding
the matter, it might be facilitated and observed by your Paternities
with the good-will and exactness that are proper, and which you have
always displayed in obeying and observing the mandates of the holy
apostolic see and those of his Majesty.
As your Paternities know, chapter 11 of the 25th session of the holy
council of Trent, _De regularibus et monialibus_, rules and orders
that the religious who exercise the duties of curas of souls be
immediately subject as regards such duties, and in everything that
pertains to the administration of sacraments, to the jurisdiction,
visit, and correction of the bishop in whose diocese they administer;
and that no one, though he be _amovilibis ad nutum_, may exercise
the said duty of cura without first having obtained the consent of,
and been examined by, the bishop or his vicar, etc. Both the bishops
and the superiors of the religious, and the religious themselves,
are strictly ordered to observe and fulfil the above, as ordered by
article 22 following, notwithstanding any privileges, regulations,
rules, customs, and rights, and others _non obstantibus_, etc.
This decree then, of the holy council of Trent, has two parts--one in
which it is ordered that the said religious be immediately subject
in regard to curas, and in all that pertains to the administration
of sacraments, to the jurisdiction, visit, and correction of the
bishops; and the other that, before being admitted to the said duty,
they must obtain the consent of, and be examined by, the bishops or
their vicars. There has never been any innovation in the first; for,
although the second part had the innovation that appears in two briefs
issued by his Holiness Pius V--one in general for all Christendom,
which he conceded at the instance of the mendicant orders, under date
of Roma, July 17, 1567, in the second year of his pontificate, whose
beginning is, _Etsi mendicantium ordines_; and the other a special
one for the Yndias, at the instance of his Majesty, under date of
Roma, of March 26, of the same year--in those briefs there was no
innovation in regard to the first part. On the contrary, in the brief
of his Holiness Gregory XIV which his Majesty sent to these islands,
and which was obtained at his instance, under date of Roma, April 18,
1591, the first year in which he commits to the archbishop of Manila
the adjustment and restitution of what the conquistadors and other
persons had in charge among the Indians, and prohibits religious from
going from a pacified district to convert one unpacified, without the
permission of the bishops, there is a clause of the following tenor
...: _Praeteria cum praecipuum munus Episcoporum sit proprias oves
per se ipsos pascere et visitare_. [7]
In regard to the second part of the two things ordered by the holy
council--that is, that the religious, before they can exercise the
duties of the care of souls, must first get the consent of, and be
examined by, the bishops or their vicars--that order also appears
today in its entire force and vigor. For although it is true that his
Holiness Pius V reserved the said religious from the said permission
and examination, by the two privileges above mentioned, afterward
his Holiness Gregory XIII reduced these and all the other favors and
concessions given to the mendicant orders by Pius V to the terms of
law and the holy council of Trent, as appears by his _motu proprio_
given at Roma, on the kalends of March, 1573, the first year of his
pontificate, whose beginning is _In tanta rerum_, etc., and which
father Fray Manuel Rodriguez inserted in the book that he published
concerning the privileges of the orders, [8] in number 38 of those
of that same supreme pontiff.
Although it is true that it is stated in the memorial which the Order
of St. Francis in Nueva España presented regarding the substance
of the privileges of the mendicant orders in the Yndias, at the
provincial council that was convened in Mexico in the year 1585,
at the instance of the same council (as is mentioned by father Fray
Juan Baptista, of the said order, in the second part of his book of
advice for confessors), that the said revocation had no effect, because
the cardinal protectors of the orders immediately appealed from it,
asking his Holiness to suspend the said _motu proprio_ and that it
be not promulgated; and that his Holiness agreed to it, and that,
accordingly, no account was taken of it--it appears that no attention
must be paid to that, for the said memorial has no further proof or
authority than the certification of Father Master Veracruz, who was in
Sevilla when the _motu proprio_ of Gregory XIII was issued, and because
Father Manuel Rodriguez, of the same Order of St. Francis, affirms
the contrary--who some years later, while residing in Salamanca, where
there was more notice of it than in the Yndias, published his books of
"questions concerning the regulars," as appears in article 7, question
8, of the first volume, [9] as well as in other places. With the same
agrees father Fray Alonso de Vega, in his conclusion, chapter 62,
case 4, _Questio de confessione_, and it appears by the declarations
of the holy congregation of the cardinals, which Marcilla reports
in article 20, of section 25, _de regularibus_, and in article 15,
of section 13, _de reformatione_, [10] besides others, by which it is
manifest that it is a privilege that his Majesty obtained for what he
then judged advisable for the proper government of the churches of the
Yndias, and the greater increase of their Christianity. It ought not,
nor can it, be understood to be to the prejudice of the privileges
that the holy apostolic see has conceded to the kings of España for
the same purpose, such as that of Alexander VI, in his bull of the
concession or confirmation of the Indias, as follows: _Hortamur vos
quamplurimum ... et infra sit--insuper mandamus vobis in virtute
sanctae obedientiae (sicut etiam pollicemini) et non dubitamus pro
vestra maxima devotione et regia magnanimitate vos esse facturos,
ad terras firmas et insulis praedictas, viros probos...._ [11]
And Adrian VI, in his _Omnimodo_, as follows: _Dum tamen sint tales
sufficientiae ..._ and of the right of the royal patronage. [12]
And since it is now his Majesty's will that the fitness and approval
of the said religious in regard to curas must be to the satisfaction
of the bishops, which he says to be thus advisable for the discharge
of his royal conscience and that of the said bishops, it is clear
that we are bound to fulfil it as a command of the holy apostolic see.
The above is in respect to the mandates of his Holiness. Coming to
that which is ordered in this regard by the decrees of his Majesty,
it appears that his Majesty having despatched his royal decree on the
sixth of December, 1585, that if there were any capable clergy they
should be preferred, in the benefices and missions of the Indians
to the religious who held them, and who should have held them, by
virtue of another royal decree of May twenty-five, of five hundred
and eighty-five, his Majesty gave notice to the Order of St. Francis,
of Nueva España, that he had ordered the suspension for the time being
of the execution of this decree; and that the said missions be held,
as hitherto, by the orders and religious; that there be no innovation
in the manner of presentation and appointment; that the bishops
in their own persons (these are the words of the royal decree),
without committing it to any others, shall visit the churches of
the missions, where the said religious may be, and in the missions
inspect the most holy sacrament, the baptismal font, the building of
the said churches, and the service of divine worship; and that they
also visit the religious who should reside in the said missions,
and correct them in matters concerning curas.
That royal decree is in the book of advice to confessors of Indians
which father Fray Juan Baptista, of the Order of St. Francis, published
in Mexico, in the year six hundred; it is on folio 380. On folio
259, it contains what the provincials of the orders of St. Dominic,
St. Francis, and St. Augustine, of the province of Mexico, answered
to it on the twenty-eighth of November, of the said year, 585. That
answer was to accept the said missions _non ex votis charitatis_,
but with the obligation of _in se et justitia_; and in regard to
being visited, they say that, inasmuch as the obstacles of their
disturbance and relaxation of discipline were always to be found,
which induced the apostolic see to exempt them from the visits of
the ordinaries--which obstacles would be more and greater in the
Yndias, if authority were given for it--they would not refuse the
reverence, respect, and submission due to the bishops, as prelates
and shepherds of the Church of God. They said that they were under
greater obligations to them than to any one else, and would respect
them and receive them into their convents with proper reverence,
as they had always done; and that, obeying what his Majesty ordered,
they would be very glad to have them visit in their churches the most
holy sacrament, the baptismal font, and what concerns it; but in all
matters outside the above-mentioned, they petitioned his Majesty not
to give the bishops authority or entrance, for that would mean the
perpetual disquiet and ruin of their order.
But as for that which the said orders of Nueva España declared in that
reply, namely, that the obstacles of disturbance and relaxed discipline
were bound to follow the visits of the bishops, for which the apostolic
see was induced to exempt them from their jurisdiction; nevertheless,
it will be considered that a very different reason will be found
to prevail in this case in respect to which, as regards religious
from whom visits are exempted, they have their special rules and
regulations, which are peculiar to each order. Both for that reason,
and because their institute, life, and government is of the cloister,
and they have no administration, dominion, and jurisdiction over
persons of the world, it was most advisable to give them superiors
who had been reared in the same life, customs, and rules of religion,
since, moreover, their profession was simply that of religious.
But the ministry of the care of souls that the religious exercise
is not of the cloister, nor does it depend on their special rule or
institute; nor in regard to such are they at all different from the
secular curas, both touching the religious ministers themselves,
and touching the persons who are ministered to, whose spiritual
government is in charge of the bishops.
And since it is a fact that the religious who accepts an executorship
is obliged to give a strict account of it to the bishop--nor does
he fulfil his duty by giving it to his superior, if it is a matter
with which the deceased entrusted him, who made election and a
confidant of him--with very much greater reason ought an account of
the administration of the souls that are immediately in charge of
the same bishop be given to him; and although in proof of that many
other arguments might be adduced, none will be so effective and so
conclusive as to consider that while there were, as is true, so many
so aged, learned, grave, and holy religious of all the orders present
in the holy council of Trent, who propounded as many difficulties
and obstacles as they could offer, yet the holy council decreed and
ordered as we have seen.
In conformity with that, notwithstanding the said reply which the
orders of Nueva España gave to the decree of his Majesty, the orders
of his Majesty in regard to the said visits seem to have been obeyed,
for ten years after another royal decree was despatched, which the
said father, Fray Juan Baptista, mentions on folio 396 of the said
book, as follows:
"The King. Reverend father in Christ, bishop of the city of Antequera,
of the valley of Huajaca, of Nueva España, and member of my council:
Inasmuch as I have heard that the religious who reside in those
regions, busied in the instruction and conversion of the Indians, give
out that it is a cause of great disquiet and uneasiness to them for you
to send to visit them, in regard to curacies, by clerics or religious
of other orders; and as it is advisable to avoid all occasions that
may divert them from their chief end, especially since (as they say)
it is contrary to their institutes, and is the occasion of their
living disconsolate, and that they are molested: I request and charge
you that when you are unable to visit in person the missions of that
bishopric--in accordance with the order in my decree of June first,
one thousand five hundred and eighty-five, [13] where this matter is
discussed at greater length--for the said visits of religious who shall
be in those missions, in regard to matters of curacies, of the most
holy sacrament, of the baptismal font, of the building of churches, and
all else concerning them, and the divine worship, you send religious
of the same orders. Consequently, where there are Dominican friars,
a friar of the same order shall be sent as visitor; and the same shall
be observed with Augustinians, Franciscans, and those of the Order of
Mercy, and of the Society. That shall be observed for the cases and in
the manner contained in the above-mentioned decree. Given in Madrid,
December twenty-one, one thousand five hundred and ninety-five. [14]
[_I The King_]
By order of the king our sovereign:
_Juan de Ybarra_"
But since it was not expressed in the said royal decree of the year 585
that the religious who should administer the benefices and missions
of the Indians should first be examined and approved by the bishops;
and since the remedy for the public excesses of the said religious
should be limited to the bishops in the decree, if there should be any
excesses even in respect to curacies--the bishops proceeding in this,
not in the form ruled by the said article II, of section 25, of the
holy council, but by that which is declared in article 14, of the
same section: his Majesty afterward decided, for considerations that
satisfied him, that the authority and jurisdiction of the bishops in
regard to the above be extended further, as the holy council rules;
and accordingly, on November 14, one thousand six hundred and three,
he despatched his royal decree for the metropolitan churches of the
Indias, one of which he sent to the archbishop of these islands,
which is of the following tenor:
"The King. Very reverend father in Christ, archbishop of the city
of Manila of the Philipinas Islands, and member of my council:
Notwithstanding that it is very carefully ordered that the ministers
who are appointed to the missions of the Indians, both seculars
and friars, must know the language of the Indians whom they have to
instruct and teach; that they shall have the qualifications that are
required for the duties of the curacies that they have to perform;
and that the religious missionaries be visited by the secular prelates
in regard to the curacies: I have been informed that it is not obeyed
as is advisable; that the prelates do not exercise the care that is
advisable in examining the said religious missionaries, in order to
satisfy you that they are competent and that they thoroughly understand
the language of those whom they are going to teach; and that many of
their omissions and excesses in the administration of the sacraments
and the exercise of the duties of curas are not remedied in the
visitations. That is a great obstacle, and consequently the Indians
suffer considerably in the spiritual and temporal. I have heard that
their superiors are less careful in this, and in the choice of the
persons, than they ought to be. And inasmuch as it is advisable for
the service of God our Lord and for mine, and for the welfare of the
Indians, that the ministers of instruction be such as are required
for this ministry, and that they know the Indians' language, I charge
you strictly that, in accordance with what is decreed and ordained,
you do not permit or allow, in the missions in charge of the orders
in the district of that archbishopric, any religious to come to
perform the duties of cura or to exercise that duty, unless he shall
first be examined and approved by you or by the person who shall be
appointed by you for that purpose, in order to satisfy yourself that
he has the necessary ability, and that he knows the language of the
Chinese or Indians whom he has to instruct. Those whom you shall find,
in the visits that you shall make, who have not the competency, good
qualities, and good example that are requisite, and who do not know
sufficiently the language of the Indians whom they are to instruct,
you shall remove; and you shall advise their superiors, so that they
may appoint others who have the necessary qualifications, in which
they also must be examined. You shall advise me of all that you do
in this matter. Given in San Lorenzo, November fourteen, one thousand
six hundred and three.
_I The King_
By order of the king our sovereign:
_Juan de Ybarra_"
With the above royal decree was despatched another to the royal
Audiencia, in which its observance and fulfilment is ordered and
charged; and another to the same archbishop, which only contains the
statement that he is strictly charged with its fulfilment. [15] His
Majesty says in it that it is advisable to do this for the relief
of his royal conscience and that of the archbishop himself. Those
decrees having arrived in the ships that came in the year six hundred
and five, Don Fray Miguel de Benavides, archbishop at that time, as
soon as he received them, presented all three in the royal meeting
held on the second of June, of the said year, and they were obeyed
and ordered to be fulfilled. But as the said archbishop died within
two months, he could not carry them out; and consequently they were
left unobserved, because the cabildo succeeded to the government of
the vacant see. Afterward, Archbishop Don Diego Vazquez de Mercado,
either because he knew nothing about them, or because he was so
far prevented by his age and infirmity (as all know), did not put
them into practice. At his death, Don Fray Diego de Arce, bishop
of Zibú, governed this archbishopric; but he did not know of the
said decrees. But as they have come to my notice, and since we are
obliged, both myself and your Paternities, to observe and obey what
his Holiness and his Majesty order in regard to this, as above stated,
we cannot excuse ourselves from immediately putting it into execution.
We shall not be able to delay the observance of the said royal decree,
by saying that since twenty years have passed since its issue,
without having given it a beginning, it will be well to await his
Majesty's will once more; for, besides that things are today in the
same condition as then, it appears that his Majesty, having heard that
the said royal decree was not being observed in Nueva España, either
because the bishops had no knowledge of it, or for other reasons,
gave it again to the viceroy, Marquis de Guadalcazar, under date of
November nineteen, six hundred and eighteen, in which, inserting word
for word the first decree above mentioned of November fourteen, six
hundred and three, he orders it to be obeyed in the following words:
"And inasmuch as it is my intention and will that what I have ordained
and ordered in regard to the above be strictly observed and executed,
I order you to examine the said my decree which is here incorporated,
and to observe and obey it _in toto_, according to its contents
and declarations, just as if I were talking with you, and it were
directed to you. Such is my will, notwithstanding that in the lapse
of time, and with the claims of the prelates and missionaries,
it has been winked at or another custom introduced, which shall,
under no circumstance, be in any manner allowed. Given in Madrid,
November nineteen, one thousand six hundred and eighteen.
_I The King_
By order of the king our sovereign:
_Pedro de Ledesma_"
And the archbishop of Mexico having reported to his Majesty that the
above decree of his Majesty of six hundred and eighteen had not been
shown by the viceroy, although he had had it in his possession for some
time, his Majesty despatched other new decrees to the said viceroy and
archbishop, under date of February eighteen and August twenty-five,
six hundred and twenty, in which, he again orders them to observe and
obey the said first decree to the said archbishop, in these words:
"And since your person is authorized, not only by the council of Trent,
but by the declaration of the cardinals, and by common law, to proceed
to the visit for the reformation of all the missionaries, both seculars
and regulars, you shall endeavor to relieve your conscience and mine."
Consequently, neither of us will by any means satisfy our obligations,
if we neglect to carry out the commands of his Holiness and of his
Majesty in this regard, so that we may report to his Majesty in the
first ships that his royal will has been fulfilled.
From the above, and from the jurisdiction and authority conceded
to the bishops over their sheep by the sacred canons, councils, and
briefs of the holy apostolic see, it is manifest with what want of
reason and foundation has been the assertion and declaration made
three or four times by Father Pedro de San Pablo, provincial of the
Order of St. Francis, in the royal courts about one month ago, while
reporting a suit of the fiscals of the missions of the Indians--namely,
that the provincials of the orders of these islands, and the regular
ministers of the Yndias, had more jurisdiction and power, by virtue
of their privileges, over the Indians in regard to matters concerning
the ministry of their missions than had the bishops and archbishops
in whose dioceses the said missions are located. That appears to be
a universal sentiment and practice of the said religious, by what we
have experienced in the course of the visitation to the Indians of
our archbishopric that we have as yet made. Given in Manila, March
twenty-nine, one thousand six hundred and twenty-two. [16]
_Fray Miguel_, archbishop.
[On April two and three, Don Gabriel de Mújica, the archbishopric's
secretary, delivered in person a similar copy of the above
notifications to [each of] the fathers-provincial--namely, Fray Juan
Henrríquez, Augustinian; Fray Miguel Ruiz, Dominican; Fray Cristóbal
de Santa Ana, commissary visitor of St. Francis. On June 20, the
archbishop began his visits through the parish of Dilao, causing an
edict of the following tenor to be published from the pulpit during
high mass.]
We, Don Fray Diego Garcia Serrano, by the grace of God and the
holy apostolic see, archbishop of the Philipinas, member of his
Majesty's council, etc.: To you, the faithful Christians, citizens,
dwellers, residents, and inhabitants of the village of Dilao, which
is administered by the Order of St. Francis, of whatever state, rank,
and preëminence you may be, greeting in our Lord Jesus Christ. We
cause you to know that the holy fathers, inspired personally by the
Holy Spirit in their sacred councils, piously and rightly ordered and
commanded that all the prelates and pastors of the universal Church
be obliged, in person or through their visitors, to make annually
a general visit and investigation of their subordinates and clergy,
both seculars and regulars, who have in charge the administration of
souls. This shall include the offices that they hold, in curacies
and in churches, hermitages, hospitals, and confraternities, all
which should be directed to the spiritual welfare of souls--which
consists in being, through the grace of God, our Lord, separated
from sins, especially public and disgraceful sins, which offend His
[Divine] Majesty so greatly. In order to fulfil this our obligation,
we admonish and order that those of you who shall know or who shall
have heard anything said concerning the father cura, your minister, who
has charge of you in the matter of the administration of sacraments,
or of any other person, which cannot or ought not to be tolerated
by the citizens and inhabitants of this said village of Dilao, of
whatever nation and rank he be, shall tell and declare it to us;
especially if he shall have committed what will be mentioned and
related to you later in this edict, in whole or in part, or any other
thing similar to it. You shall declare and manifest the same before
us within the three days first following after this our letter and
edict shall be declared and read to you.
First, if you know or have heard said whether the said father cura N.,
your minister, has been remiss and negligent in the administration
of the holy sacraments of baptism, penance, the eucharist, extreme
unction, and matrimony.
_Item_: Whether anyone has died without holy baptism through his
neglect and carelessness, or without confession, communion, or
extreme unction.
_Item_: If you know whether the said your minister has not said mass
for you on every Sunday or feast that is observed; or whether he has
made any signal omission in this; and whether he preaches and teaches
the Christian doctrine to you, as he is obliged.
_Item_: Whether the administration of the holy sacraments takes place
with the reverence and propriety that is fitting; whether he has
married anyone before daybreak, or without the admonitions ordered by
the holy council, or without the notification of our vicars, and their
permission having preceded, in the cases in which it ought to be made
and asked for; and whether the baptisms that have taken place have been
in the baptismal font of the church, with all respect and reverence.
_Item_: If you know whether the said your minister keeps the tariff
of the fees--both those which pertain to him and those that pertain
to singers, fiscals, and sacristans--written and placed openly
where all may read it, so that they may know what they have to pay;
or whether he has forced the natives to give more alms than they owe
or are willing to give for marriages, baptisms, or burials, whether
in money or in other things.
_Item_: Whether the said your minister is careful to execute the pious
foundations and the wills of his parishioners; or whether these have
failed to be observed through his fault.
_Item_: Whether the said your minister is careful to register his
parishioners, both natives and those of other nations, at the time of
Lent; and whether he has confessed them during that time, or tried
to confess them; and whether he has, after Lent, made any effort to
ascertain whether they fulfilled their duties to the church according
to their obligation.
_Item_: If you know whether the said your minister has concealed any
public or notorious sin of his parishioners, that has come to his
notice, and has not endeavored to have it remedied by the persons
who can remedy it.
_Item_: If you know whether the said your minister has not looked
after the property of the church, the silver, and ornaments, and
everything belonging to it; and whether any property has been lost
by his carelessness and negligence.
_Item_: If you know whether the said minister, in the public sins
that have come to his notice and that he has punished, has condemned
the sinners to pecuniary fines, or something of value, such as wax,
cloth, or other things; and whether he has failed to apply the said
fines to those to whom they belong, in accordance with his Holiness's
brief and his Majesty's decrees.
_Item_: If you know whether the fiscals have performed their duty
poorly; or whether they live in sin, or are dishonest, or they conceal
sins or concubinage; or whether they receive bribes; or whether with
their authority as fiscal they have annoyed the Indians, or have
taken rice, fowls, or other things at a less price; or whether they
have imposed any tax under pretext of alms for the church, by their
authority that they possess as ministers of it; or whether they have
taken more fees than belong to them by our tariffs.
_Item_: If you know whether the choristers and sacristans have
likewise taken larger fees than are assigned them by our said tariffs,
for burials, funeral honors, and other things that belong to them;
and whether, when any poor man has died who has not the wherewithal
to pay the fees, they have refused to bury him unless they are paid,
or unless they receive pledges that they demand before burying him.
_Item_: If you know whether there are any apostates of our holy
Catholic faith; or who practice any evil worship; or who possess or
read books of it.
_Item_: Whether there are any who are living in public concubinage,
or as whoremongers; or who keep in their houses slave women, or other
women or men of evil life, in order to commit sins.
_Item_: Whether there are any who have not confessed, or fulfilled
the precept of the church, according to their obligation; or whether
there are any who have eaten meat unnecessarily during Lent on the
fast of Friday or the four ember days.
_Item_: Whether there are any married twice while the first husbands
or wives are living, or who are married to relatives in the degree
prohibited, without dispensation from him who can give it.
_Item_: If you know whether there are any usurers who loan money at
usury and interest; or who sell on credit at a dearer price than the
things are worth when cash is paid; or who buy at a less price in order
to give the money advanced with the imposition or fraud and usury.
_Item_: If you know whether there are any, either of you natives,
or of any other nation, either men or women, who are sorcerers, or
witches, or magicians; or those who pray to the devil, or who cast
any kind of lots, whether to discover theft, or to ascertain other
things by enchantments and witchcraft.
And inasmuch as the above evil is a very great offense and disservice
to God our Lord; and as it is advisable to remedy that herein
contained that has been committed: we order, exhort, and admonish
all the citizens, dwellers, residents, and inhabitants of this said
village of Dilao [to make known these things], within the said term of
three days--under penalty that, if they know it and do not declare it,
they shall, if it be proved, be punished most severely.
Given in this village of Dilao, June twenty-four, one thousand six
hundred and twenty-two.
_Fray Miguel_, archbishop.
By order of the bishop, my master:
_Licentiate Alonso Ramirez_
[While the archbishop was proclaiming the visitation in the church
of the above village, father Fray José Fonte, secretary of father
commissary Fray Cristóbal de Santa Ana, presented to him the following
petition.]
Fray Christoval de Santa Ana, preacher and commissary visitor of
the discalced Franciscans of this province of San Gregorio, etc.: I
declare that, as I have been informed that your Lordship intends to
visit the missions and their ministers of the said my order in this
archbishopric--which is not only an innovation, and a thing not done
by the other archbishops, the predecessors of your most illustrious
Lordship, but also contrary to the ordinance of the brief of his
Holiness Pius V, despatched in Roma, March twenty-four, one thousand
five hundred and sixty-seven, in which, notwithstanding the ordinance
of the holy council of Trent, authority is given to the religious who
are occupied in the conversion of, and preaching to, the Indians,
to perform the office of curas and administer the holy sacraments,
with subordination to the superiors of their order, and exemption
from the bishops and ordinary judges--accordingly the said my order
receives violence and injury from your Lordship's endeavor. [17]
I petition and entreat you, in observance of the ordinance of his
Holiness, to preserve the said ministers and the said my order in their
exemption and privileges; if this be not done, I protest that I shall
make use of the other powers conceded to my order by the apostolic see,
and the remedies that belong to it by law. I petition justice, etc.
_Fray Christoval de Santa Ana_, commissary-visitor.
... His Lordship having seen the said petition and having noted the
brief of his Holiness and its contents, declared: That besides that
the said brief is revoked by a _motu proprio_ of his Holiness Gregory
XIII, under date of Roma, on the kalends of March, of the year five
hundred and seventy-three, by which are revoked all concessions and
privileges that his Holiness Pius V conceded to the religious of the
mendicant orders, reducing them to the terms of the law and of the holy
council of Trent, even in case that the brief of his Holiness Pius
V, which has been read, is not comprehended in the said revocation,
his Holiness Pius V did not make any innovation in the rulings of
the holy council in regard to the religious who administer souls
being immediately subject as far as such ministers are concerned,
and in everything that pertains to the administration of sacraments,
to the jurisdiction, visit, and correction of the bishop in whose
diocese they minister. For, as is evident by the said brief, his
Holiness was requested, at the instance of his Majesty, to be pleased
to decree concerning as many things as had been ordered in the holy
council of Trent; namely: first, that marriages should not be allowed
to be celebrated except in the presence of the parish priest or by his
permission; second, that the religious could not preach without the
permission of the bishop; third, that they could not hear confessions
without having been examined by the ordinary; fourth, that the bishops
could erect new parishes in places very far apart. [18]
And in regard to the fact that the religious were exercising the
duties of parish priests in the Yndias, it was necessary to provide
relief in the above four things. His Holiness, in accordance with that
petition and request, decides the first three points in favor of the
said religious, so that, having been examined and approved by their
superiors, in the form ordered by the said brief, the permission of
the ordinaries was not necessary in order to exercise their offices;
and then his Holiness, immediately providing for the fourth, orders
that there be no innovation by the ordinaries in the custom followed
before. Consequently, his Holiness decided in this regard that, if
it were the custom before the council for the ordinaries to erect new
parishes in the missions administered by the religious of the Yndias,
his Holiness orders that that custom be retained; and if not, that
there be no innovation; and that the said brief does not treat of
other things. Consequently, his Lordship orders that the visitation
that he has commenced be continued; and he made declaration to that
effect through the interpreter, Christoval de Vera. Thus did he decree
and order, and he affixed his signature.
_Fray Miguel_, archbishop.
Before me:
_Licentiate Alonso Ramirez_
[Father Fray Alonso de Valdemoro, definitor of the province of
San Gregorio, was then president and minister of the mission and
ministry of Dilao. In consequence of the aforesaid, the archbishop
having ordered him to open the sacristy, in order to inspect the holy
sacrament, and to examine the adornment that was there, he said that
he could not do it. Notwithstanding that reply, the prelate ordered
him once more to open the sacristy, where the most holy sacrament was
kept, in order that he might proceed with the said visit, "which he
was to obey immediately under penalty of the greater excommunication,
_latae sententiae ipso facto incurrenaa_, and four years' suspension
from the office of the ministry of souls." The father minister, having
been informed of the act, insisted on his reply, basing his action
on the pontifical privileges of his order. In respect to the royal
decrees, he said that he was obeying them, but that it was necessary
that they should be communicated to his own regular superior, who
had the right of answering them; "and consequently, that in virtue
of the said briefs, by which he is exempt from the jurisdiction of
the bishops in regard to the ministry and visit that his Excellency
intends to make; and by law, inasmuch as he is not the archbishop's
sheep or subject, the said excommunication ... does not oblige or
bind him. Accordingly, let his most illustrious Lordship determine
that matter with his superior, whom the said father is bound to obey;
and, while this matter is not clear, he does not consider as harmful
the penalties and censures imposed by his Excellency. He affixed
his signature, witnesses being Captain Gregorio de Galarça, Alférez
Antonio de Viana, and Don Melchor de Valdes, and many other persons.
_Fray Alonso de Valdemoro_, definitor.
Before me, and I attest it:
_Licentiate Alonso Ramirez_"
Thereupon the archbishop ordered his notary to read the act passed
on the twenty-second of the same month, "in which is discussed the
right of his Excellency to make this visitation. Together with it
the archbishop ordered the clause of the brief of Gregory Fourteenth
to be read and communicated to him, which treats of this visitation
and the decrees of his Majesty which are in these acts, so that the
said father should not pretend ignorance of it. Thus did he order,
and he affixed his signature.
_Fray Miguel_, archbishop."
The definitor responded "that in consideration of the fact that when
his Holiness concedes any indult, and orders any new mandate, he is
seen to address himself, as is his constant custom, to the chief men,
to whom it pertains to carry out any new mandate, the same law extends
to the decrees sent by his Majesty, which are directed to the chief
persons, to whom it pertains to answer the said decrees and mandates
of his Holiness. Consequently, as it does not appear that his prelate
and superior, to whom it pertains to receive and answer the said
decrees and clauses of the said brief that have been communicated
to him, has been notified of them; and as it is not apparent to him
from the said reply: he cannot make any innovation until such time as
the will of his superior, with whom those matters must be discussed,
is known to him...."
Having received that reply, the archbishop "declared the said father,
Fray Alonso de Valdemoro, to have incurred the penalty of greater
excommunication and of suspension from his office as minister, which
is imposed on him; and that, as such excommunicate, he was deprived
of what excommunication deprives one; and in order that he might
not allege or pretend ignorance, this declaration, stating that he
has incurred the censures imposed, is to be read and communicated
to him...."
Having heard the act, Father Valdemoro replied: "that, in consideration
of the replies that he has given, and his protestation against the
violence that his Excellency has exercised toward his order, and the
lack of summons, [19] which are an intrinsic right in excommunication,
he does not consider himself as such excommunicate, until information
has been given to his superior, as he has said, and in the meantime
he does not consider himself injured...."
After the aforesaid, Father Valdemoro took part in a procession,
in which the image of our Lady of Guidance was carried to the city,
so that the Lord might be pleased, through her intervention, to
bring safely to port the ships that were to anchor that year in
Cavite from Acapulco. The ecclesiastical fiscal was informed of it,
and he informed the provisor and vicar-general of it. At that time
the latter was the canon and treasurer, Don Juan Cevicós. He ordered
the father to leave the procession, and by the archbishop's order
he opened an official inquiry, in order to investigate the offense,
and to punish it according to law, "as the said father is a parish
priest and minister for souls in the said mission of Dilao, and the
said offense is dependent on the visit which his said Excellency is
making on him as such minister, inasmuch as he is, in that regard,
under his Lordship's jurisdiction and subject to him...."
The investigation ended on June 26 of the said year. In it the
depositions were taken of Licentiate Juan de Arguijo, ecclesiastical
fiscal of the archbishop; Don Alonso García de León, canon; Licentiate
Jerónimo Rodriguez Luján, presbyter; Miguel Calderón, presbyter; and
Alférez Francisco del Castillo, chief constable of the archbishop. The
archbishop ordered that the father minister of Dilao be arrested,
"and placed as a prisoner in one of the convents--that of St. Dominic,
or St. Augustine, or the Society of Jesus, or St. Nicolas of the
Recollects of this city--the one which the said father should
select. That convent the archbishop assigns to him as a prison and
place of confinement; and he is ordered not to break it under penalty
of greater excommunication, _latæ senteniæ ipso facto incurrenda_, and
suspension from active and passive vote for three years. And in order
that the said imprisonment might be effective, and not be hindered
by the religious of the said order, the royal aid shall be petitioned
through this royal Audiencia, to whom it rightly belongs to give that
aid, in order that they may fulfil the decrees of the holy council of
Trent, and a royal decree given for this purpose, under date of San
Lorenzo, November fourteen, six hundred and three, directed to this
royal Audiencia, and another royal decree of the same date directed
to the archbishop of these islands, in which they are ordered to make
effectual the said visit, as such is advisable for the relief of the
consciences of his Majesty and of the said archbishop...."
The Audiencia having been asked for aid on June 27, declared on July
4, that "there was no occasion at the present time for imparting to
the archbishop of these islands the royal aid asked in his name...."
While the above was happening, one Sunday, June 26, papers were
seen to be posted on the doors of the cathedral and convents of
Manila. They were signed by father Fray Pedro de Muriel, by order
of the judge conservator appointed to prevent the said visit. He
was father Fray Tomás Villar, rector of the college of St. Dominic,
by virtue of two briefs of Pius V: the first given March 24, 1567;
and the second September 23, 1571 _Universis et singulis venerabilibus
fratribus_. He had accepted his charge one day before the said posters
were put up. In those posters, Don Juan Cevicós was declared to have
incurred the excommunication of the canon _si quis suadente diabolo_,
for having taken Father Valdemoro from the procession the twenty-fourth
of the same month.
The matter being communicated to the archbishop, "he summoned the
said conservator to immediately refrain from proceeding in the said
causes, under penalty of incurring the penalties established by law;
besides which he would proceed to punish the scandal caused in this
community by his having affixed decrees in which the said provisor
was said to be excommunicated."
Father Villar replied, declaring his charge as apostolic judge
conservator, and that, as such, "he must proceed in the said
cause. Accordingly, he petitions and requests his Lordship to cease
to proceed in the said visit, that he has intended to make in the
said mission of Dilao; and that he send all that has been written
and done to the said judge conservator; and if not, the latter will
proceed to what is advisable, in accordance with law. In respect to the
provisor, through his having incurred that contained in the said canon,
_si quis suadente_, he ordered that he be proclaimed in the public
parts of this city as excommunicated, so that all may know of it,
and that no person remove, or cause to be removed, the said posters,
under penalty of greater excommunication, _ipso facto incurrenda_ ... "
In view of the aforesaid, and considering that the Audiencia gave
no support to the archbishop, so that he might prosecute the said
visit that he had begun, he insisted no further on it. But "so that
the aforesaid might be apparent to his Majesty, and that the latter
might provide what relief he pleased, the archbishop ordered--and
he did so order--a testimony to be sent to the royal Council of the
Yndias of all that had been done, and that the briefs mentioned in
this act be sent also ... "
At the same time he wrote the following letter to his Majesty:]
Sire.
Finding myself obliged, both by the holy council of Trent and a brief
of his Holiness Gregory Fourteenth, and by the restraining decrees of
your Majesty, in regard to the visiting of the religious missionaries
by the bishops--respecting curacies, and that they do not exercise
such office without being examined beforehand in the language of
the natives that they administer--I determined to carry out so holy
mandates, from which so many blessings must result to the service of
God and that of your Majesty. Accordingly, having declared my purpose
to the superiors of the said orders, three months before beginning the
said visit, by means of a letter or notification which I gave them,
in which I cited the passages of the said holy council, the brief of
his Holiness, and the decrees of your Majesty, they responded to me
orally, saying that they had an indult from his Holiness, Pius Fifth,
in order that they might not be visited in matters touching curas
and ministers of souls; and that the bishops had no jurisdiction
over their ministries. I began, in fulfilment of the aforesaid,
the visitation on the twenty-fourth of the past month of June, at a
ministry in charge of the Order of St. Francis, in the suburbs of
Manila. Proceeding to the visit, I found so much resistance from
the religious missionaries, both on reading the edict, and when I
happened to request them to open the sacristy in order to inspect the
casket of the most holy sacrament, that it was necessary to order that
under censure, and that was not sufficient to make them agree to my
request. Accordingly, I declared and announced that the minister of
that mission was excommunicated. For the time being I contented myself
with that effort, with which, in order to avoid scandal, I returned
home, with the intention of asking aid from this royal Audiencia.
But the said minister regarded the ecclesiastical censures and his
prelate as of so little moment, that his subsequent action was just
as if he had not been excommunicated and denounced. In a general
procession that this cathedral made to the chapel of Nuestra Señora
de Guia, for the happy arrival of the ships that we were awaiting
from Nueva España, in which were the royal Audiencia, cabildo, city,
and orders--all aware of the event of the previous day, for even the
most secret thing is known in a city so small--all were universally
scandalized. Consequently, my provisor, in order to avoid that scandal,
was obliged to order the said minister to leave the procession, and not
to furnish the bad example that he was setting by showing contempt for
ecclesiastical censures. As he refused to leave, the provisor removed
him from the procession, ordering the fiscal of this archbishopric
to follow him until he ejected him from the procession. As it was a
matter that concerns, and is dependent on, the visit, all the orders
were so angry over it that, speaking through the mouth of the Order of
St. Francis, they elected as judge conservator a friar of St. Dominic,
the rector of this college of Manila, in order to avoid any further
attempts in the said visit to the ministries of the orders. The judge
conservator, without informing me of any apostolic letter or brief of
his Holiness pertaining to the said conservatorship, posted decrees
next day in the churches and public places, declaring the said provisor
as excommunicated and as fallen into the penalties of the clause _si
quis suadente Diabolo_ ... I continued to prosecute the cause of the
visit, and, having found the said minister guilty, I requested aid in
order to proceed against him, and, until he should become obedient,
to keep him confined in one of these convents of Manila.
The royal Audiencia voted that there was at present no occasion
for the said aid. Thereupon I issued an act, in which I abandoned
the visit until I could give an account to your Majesty--to whom
I enclose a testimony of everything with this letter, and with it
another testimony of the act of the royal Audiencia in regard to the
case against my provisor, whom the judge conservator tried to arrest,
and for which he requested aid, which the auditors refused him.
I have written your Majesty this relation in order to comply with your
orders to inform you of what should be done in this, and so that you
may see the freedom with which the religious proceed in this country,
confident that they are the greatest part of the community; and that
having, as they do, so great influence in all these provinces which
they administer, they must succeed with whatever they undertake,
even creating a judge conservator, contrary to the ruling of the holy
council and the royal will of your Majesty. That is so true that they
proclaimed in Manila that if the archbishop proceeded with the visit,
they would place him on the list as excommunicated, and would not
absolve him until he should go to their convent of St. Dominic to
beg absolution. I might easily have proceeded with the visit, Sire,
but I preferred to be chidden as remiss, than not to have those great
scandals muzzled which were represented to me to be inevitable if
I went to law with these religious. And speaking with all truth, it
seems to them a case of less value than that any Indian or Spaniard
should imagine that there is any power in these kingdoms greater than
their own. May God preserve the very Catholic person of your Majesty,
with the increase of new kingdoms and the happiness of those that
you possess, as Christendom has need, and as we your Majesty's humble
vassals and chaplains desire.
Manila, August first, one thousand six hundred and twenty-two. [20]
_Fray Miguel Garcia Serrano_, archbishop of Manila.
_Regulations concerning the visits of religious_
The King. Inasmuch as I have considered it advisable to order to be
given, and gave, one of my decrees of the following tenor:
"The King. Inasmuch as there have been many differences in regard
to the manner in which the religious of the mendicant orders who
have missions of Indians in their charge in Nueva España, are to
be visited by their prelates, and whether it is advisable that they
possess missions; and inasmuch as various decrees have been despatched,
some of which have been carried out, but others, because of finding
some trouble in the execution, have not been observed; and desiring
to end those quarrels and establish the form most advisable for the
service of God and for mine: I ordered that, the papers that treat of
that matter having been collected, what had been done in that matter
be examined in an assembly of ministers and other experienced and
educated persons. The assembly having conferred on the matter, and
advised me of their opinion, I have considered it best to determine
and order, as I do by this present, that, for the present, and until
I order otherwise, the said missions remain to, and be continued by,
the religious as hitherto; and there shall under no consideration be
any innovation in that matter; and the assignment and removal of the
religious who are curas, whenever it may be necessary, shall be made
by my viceroy of those provinces, in my name, the latter observing
in those appointments and promotions the form, together with the
conditions and circumstances, with which it is done in the kingdoms
of Pirú; and it is my will that the religious be not admitted to the
exercise or to the service of the said missions, or that they receive
the emoluments of them in any other manner. I also order that the
archbishop of those provinces may visit the said religious in what
refers to the ministry of curas and to nothing else--inspecting the
churches, the sacraments, the chrism, the confraternities, their alms,
and everything pertaining to the mere administration of the holy
sacraments and the said ministry of curas. He shall go to make the
visit in his own person, or shall assign or send for this duty such
persons as he shall choose and find satisfactory, to those districts
where he cannot go in person, or where there is no occasion for his
aid. He shall employ correction and punishment whenever necessary,
strictly within the limits and exercise of curas as above stated, and
nothing further. In respect to personal transgressions in the morals
and lives of such religious curas, the latter shall not remain subject
to the said archbishops and bishops, so that these may punish them
through the visits, even though under pretext that they are curas;
but, on having notice of such matters, they shall, without writing
or drawing up processes, secretly advise their regular superiors of
such persons, so that the latter may correct the wrong. In case that
the latter should not do this, then the former might make use of the
authority given them by the holy council of Trent, in the manner and
in the cases when they can and ought to act in regard to religious
who are not curas. In this instance I order that they have recourse to
the said my viceroy, who shall appoint them and who can remove them,
to represent to him the causes, so that it may be done as has been
and is done in Pirú. And inasmuch as the said religious, in regard
to the jurisdiction, are not endeavoring to acquire any right for
the perpetuity of the said missions; and since by the aforesaid the
ordinary jurisdiction is not annulled in cases that conform to law
and to the holy council of Trent: it pertains to the superiors to
try the causes of the religious. That must and shall be understood,
without any prejudice to the ordinary jurisdiction and the right of
my patronage. I order all the above to be thus observed and executed
inviolably by my viceroy, archbishop, bishops of Nueva España and
all other persons whom its fulfilment concerns, notwithstanding any
other orders whatever that may exist to the contrary. Such I revoke
and declare null and void. Given in Madrid, June twenty-two, one
thousand six hundred and twenty-four.
_I The King_
_Juan Ruiz de Contreras_"
And in behalf of the archbishop of the metropolitan church of the
city of Manila in the Philipinas Islands, I have been requested to
be pleased to declare whether the decree of November fourteen of the
former year six hundred and three is to be observed in those islands,
in regard to the manner in which the said religious missionaries
are to be visited; or whether the visit is to be exercised with the
limitation and in the form contained in the new decree which was given
to Nueva España. The matter having been examined in my royal Council
of the Indias, I have considered it fitting to give the present. By
it I order that everything contained in the decree herein inserted
be observed and obeyed by my governor, archbishop, and bishops of
those islands, and by all other persons whom it concerns, exactly
as is contained in it, for such is my will. Given in Madrid, August
fourteen, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four. [21]
_I The King_
By order of the king our sovereign:
_Juan Ruiz de Contreras_
CONFLICT BETWEEN CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES
_Case that happened in Manila in the year 1623, in regard to a fugitive
who was taken from the church_
Juan Soto de Vega, whom justice was prosecuting for having stolen
a large sum of money from the ship which was coming from Mejico to
Filipinas, had taken refuge in the asylum [_sagrado_] of the cathedral
of Manila. Desirous of escaping from the prosecution of the secular
tribunal, he tried to get to Eastern or Portuguese Yndia in the month
of December. He begged permission from the provisor and vicar-general,
Don Pedro Monrroy, that he might be taken from the cathedral and kept
in the ecclesiastical prison; and they actually kept him there, but
with guards and in confinement, until the Portuguese boats left for
Yndia. Then they returned him to the cathedral, where he remained for
the space of eight months, until an auditor took him violently from
the church on the fifth of September, 1623, and took him to the public
prison. There he, in company with another auditor, tortured Juan de
la Vega until they broke his arm, which caused a great public scandal.
The provisor began to take steps in defense of the ecclesiastical
immunity. He demanded the criminal, and publicly declared the auditors
to be excommunicated, threatening to place them under interdict, unless
they would return the prisoner to the church. After the time-limit had
expired, the interdict was imposed. The auditors, on the other hand,
despatched a letter and a second letter to the provisor charging him
to lift the censures and interdict, under penalty of banishment and a
fine of 2,000 ducados, unless he did that in the time-limit that they
assigned him. As he did not fulfil the command, they despatched the
court constable, with soldiers, to look for the provisor in order to
arrest him. They registered all the house of the archbishop, and the
house of the provisor himself, sequestered his goods, broke off the
locks of the cupboards and writing-desks, and ransacked his papers, but
did not find him, for he had hidden in the convent of the Augustinians.
The archbishop (against whom the proceedings were directed), seconded
by the public opinion, which was contrary to the auditors, summoned
Doctor Don Juan de Renteria, bishop of Nueva Segovia (who was then
in Manila), and various religious, prebendaries, and lawyers, and
assembled or formed a council to discuss what ought to be done in such
a case. The opinion of all was that the auditors were legitimately
excommunicated, and the interdict rightly imposed; and that the
ecclesiastical immunity ought to be sustained, and satisfaction
demanded for the scandal by returning the fugitive to the church.
While that meeting was being held, the auditors despatched a royal
mandate, which they said was given by Don Felipe, to the archbishop,
ordering him not to retain Don Pedro de Monrroy as provisor, as he
was exiled from the kingdoms, to absolve the excommunicated, and lift
the interdict--under penalty, if he did not do so, of banishment
and a fine of 2,000 ducados. The archbishop replied, demanding a
testimony of the cause and the corresponding acts [of the Audiencia],
in order to determine what he should do. But the auditors sent him
another royal decree, warning him that he would be considered to have
incurred the said penalties if he did not immediately lift the censures
and interdict. Since the archbishop held firm, the auditors sent the
chief court constable, together with the actuary of the Audiencia and
thirty pikemen under command of an adjutant, at four in the afternoon
on that same day, in order to take charge of the episcopal residence,
with orders not to permit any one to leave it or anything to be taken
from it.
At this juncture, the rector of the Jesuit college and others advised
the archbishop to raise the censures _ad reincidentiam_ [_i.e._,
"until a repetition of the offense"], and the interdict for one week,
since they thought that the auditors would return the prisoner. That
was done, and the archbishop requested the opinion in writing of the
orders and learned persons, which they gave him--with the exception
of the Dominicans, who excused themselves. The archbishop, seeing
that the auditors not only did not do what was promised, but even
issued another decree to arrest and expel the provisor, called another
meeting, at which the Dominicans had no part. In that meeting it was
decided to defend the ecclesiastical immunity, and that two individuals
of the assembly should go to talk with the auditors in the name of
the assembly, and notify them that the prisoner must be returned, or
else the archbishop could not raise the censures or interdict. Two
Jesuits went, and the auditors replied to them that they would not
desist or turn back. The interdict was immediately imposed again,
and the auditors were publicly declared to be excommunicated.
A Jesuit, who was a friend to the governor, advised him to take a
hand in the matter in order to cut short such scandals. The result
was that the governor decided to see the archbishop at the residence
of the Society, in order to discuss the most suitable method. The
interview was held, but without result. Another interview had the
same result. Meanwhile it was decided to appoint two arbitrators,
one from each side. Doctor Jolo was appointed for the auditors, and
Father Juan de Bueras, [22] rector of the residence of the Society
of Jesus, for the archbishop. They agreed that the prisoner should
be returned to the episcopal prison, and that each side should desist
from their claim in what was accomplished.
When the time came to execute the agreement of the arbitrators, the
auditors put difficulties in the way. But, since at the same time
it happened that the provisor, as commissary of the holy crusade,
had drawn up acts against the auditors for the violation of his
house and tribunal, against which there was no recourse by force in
these islands; and since, on the other hand, the governor demanded
from them the record of all that had been done (separating himself
from them, as not being a lawyer) in order to inform the king:
they resolved to form an assembly without the governor, and voted
that the prisoner should be returned to the ecclesiastical prison,
while the ecclesiastical judge was investigating whether the church
was protecting him, which was what the archbishop claimed.
The victorious provisor left the residence of the Society, and with
great pomp, and, accompanied by a mass of people and by his ministers,
drew the prisoner from the public prison and took him to his own. The
interdict was raised, to the chime of the bells of all the churches.
The auditors begged to be absolved in their houses, but the archbishop
refused, saying that since the scandal had been public, the absolution
also must be so. However, absolution was given in his house to one
who was sick and who was less culpable; as well as to another by the
influence of the Dominicans, who obtained that it be given him by
the parish priest.
SEMINARY FOR JAPANESE MISSIONARIES
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-third day of July in the year
one thousand six hundred and twenty-four, the honorable president and
auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancillería of these Philipinas
Islands, in whose charge is the government thereof, declared that
[they have resolved upon this measure] in view of the fact that Señor
Don Alonso Faxardo de Tenga, formerly governor and captain-general of
these said islands, and president of the royal Audiencia, undertook
to found a seminary [and] college where Japanese should be educated,
instructed in religion, and taught, so that when they had received holy
orders they might go to the kingdom of Japan and preach and instruct
there in our holy faith, after the manner and likeness of the English
colleges in the kingdoms of España, and other Christian countries--for
which purpose he designated space and locations for a church, house,
and garden in the unoccupied land outside the walls of the said city;
and for the income and maintenance of the said seminary [and] college
he designated and applied the income from the passage and navigation
from this city to the port of Cavite, and the monopoly of buyo, bonga,
[23] and tobacco, which he ordered to be established by a royal decree,
which, to this purpose, was despatched in the name of his Majesty
on the twenty-ninth of January of this present year. By this it was
commanded that no person should make use of the said passage, nor of
the carriage and sale of the said buyo, bonga, and tobacco, excepting
those who hold it in lease for the said college and its administrators,
or those named by them for this purpose, under the penalties which
are imposed upon them by the magistrates. From this have resulted
great discontent and scandal in all ranks of this commonwealth, and
particularly among serious persons therein, both ecclesiastical and
lay--who, being moved by zeal for the service of God our Lord, and of
his Majesty, and for the prosperity and preservation of these islands
and the citizens and natives thereof, have made representations of
the many difficulties resulting from the aforesaid grant, not only
in sermons which have many times been preached in regard to this, but
likewise by information and declaration to the judges and ministers of
his Majesty, that they might aid in procuring relief therein, as it
is a thing so important for the royal service. For the establishment
of the said college and seminary was accomplished at a time when
the king of Japon so rigorously prohibited the preaching of the holy
gospel in his kingdom, as is explained in the said royal decree; and
[his resentment] had reached such an extreme that, when ambassadors
were despatched in the past year to negotiate on behalf of these
islands for friendship and good understanding with the said king,
he showed himself to be so ill disposed against them that he did
not allow the said ambassadors to enter his court during the eight
months and more which they passed in his kingdom, seeking an audience
in order to give their message and embassy. According to the letters
and relations received, his resentment was the result of having found
certain religious in his kingdom in secular clothes, and of having
learned that they had been brought from these islands to his land in
disguise and secretly. On this account, and in order to prevent them
from entering Japon, he has ordered all Spaniards who are in his said
kingdom to leave it, and has forbidden and discontinued traffic, and
he will not consent that Japanese ships come to these islands, as they
used to come, to bring provisions and other military stores for the
royal warehouses; this can only result in the ruin of this country,
on account of the lack which this may cause in its armament, trade,
and maintenance. If the king of Japon, who has already ordered that
religious cannot dwell in his kingdom, by not consenting to allow
Spaniards in it, as has been said, should get word that Japanese
are being educated and instructed in the said seminary, to go and
continue the said preaching, it is certain that he must experience
even greater displeasure and annoyance, and adopt more strenuous
measures to stop all communication and passage from these islands to
his said kingdom. As a result, the Spaniards will suffer the greatest
need through the want of provision which is brought to these islands
from there. It might even be the cause that he would unite with
the Dutch enemy, whom he admits peacefully into his said kingdom,
and that they would come with a great number of troops and vessels
against these islands, and cause great losses to them, as we have no
forces sufficient to resist them successfully. On this account it is
expedient to use prudent measures and acts, and not to continue this,
which in all certainty, and evidently, as is generally known by all
the religious orders and serious persons of this city, must result in
harm to the service of God and of his Majesty, and in notable loss to
this commonwealth--both because the said seminary cannot bring about
the good results claimed for it, on account of the little inclination
of the Japanese for it, and the different objects which it is presumed
have been aimed at by it; and because in this case the argument does
not exist that holds good in other kingdoms and parts where there
are colleges of the English and other foreign nations. For, if those
peoples are irritated by the religious instruction and teaching of
the persons who are gathered in the said colleges, there are forces
to resist them; but through this seminary they might cause greater
injury than the said nations are doing without it. As for the location
which was designated for the said seminary, although it was, as has
been said, in the unoccupied land outside the walls of this city,
it appears to have been selected and set aside in the Plaza de Armas
here, close by the village of Laguio, where they have commenced to
erect a building and pillars of stone, contrary to what his Majesty
directed by his royal decree of the sixth of March of the year one
thousand six hundred and eight, which is as follows:
"The King. In consideration of the fact that a relation has been made
to me on behalf of Hernando de los Rios Coronel, procurator-general of
the Philipinas Islands, to the effect that when the uprising of the
Chinese Sangleys occurred there, there were, about the walls of the
city of Manila, many buildings from which the Sangleys did much damage
to the walls thereof, until they were destroyed; and to prevent this
difficulty for the future, Don Pedro de Acuña, my former governor and
captain-general of those islands, commanded that no buildings should
be erected within three hundred paces from the wall of the said city,
in its entire circuit, and begged me, considering that this was so
expedient as he had given me to understand, in order that the said city
should be provided with the necessary defense, and protected from the
past dangers, that I should be pleased to have this confirmed, or do
as might be according to my pleasure. Having examined it in my royal
Council of the Yndias, the said order which the said Don Pedro issued
has appeared to me to be very effective, as is said. Accordingly it is
my will that this be observed and fulfilled, as exactly and punctually
as if it were issued by myself; and, in fulfilment thereof, I order
that neither now nor at any time shall any building be erected within
the said three hundred paces about the said wall of the said city of
Manila, since this is expedient for my service and for the security
and defense of the said city. Done at Madrid, on the sixth of March
of the year one thousand six hundred and eight.
_I The King_
By order of the king, our lord: _Juan de Civiza_"
All the aforesaid procedure is contrary to this decree. Besides,
the district and place where the said seminary building has been
commenced are the lots which have been seized and taken away from the
owners who possessed them, the houses which they had built upon them
being removed or torn down, in order to make the said Plaza de Armas;
nor have they thus far been paid for, nor has any satisfaction been
given to the owners. Accordingly, if the said lots were not necessary
for the purpose for which they were taken, they should be returned to
their owners as land and property which pertain and belong to them,
and no work or edifice should be erected thereon until they be paid and
satisfied. As for the income which is appropriated for the work, its
maintenance, and the prosecution of the building for the said seminary,
it was contrary to the rules of justice and to the laws of the kingdom,
and greatly to the prejudice of this whole commonwealth and the Indian
villages in its neighborhood; for the voyage and navigation from this
city to the port of Cavite--as it is not a river passage, but a bay
and an arm of the sea, which may be crossed with all sorts of vessels,
both large and small--cannot be reduced to the status of a private
route and profit, on account of the loss which this would cause to so
great a number of persons as possess the said vessels, and use them to
carry and convey merchandise and other sorts of articles from this city
to the said port. And especially it will cause this loss to the native
Indians of this city and of the villages of Laguio, Mahar, Meytubi,
Dongalo and others of this coast, who will be deprived and prevented
from using the vessels which they ordinarily possess to carry and
convey to the said port persons, merchandise, and other things; and
if this profit be hindered they will have nothing wherewith to sustain
themselves, and will not be able to pay his Majesty the royal tributes,
nor aid in other impositions and personal services. The same losses
will be increased by granting a monopoly of the said buyo, bonga, and
tobacco--not only for the neighboring villages but even for provinces
where it is collected and brought to this city; for their natives
have no other source of income which would be to them so important
and profitable as the gathering, carrying, and sale of buyo, bonga,
and tobacco, and if this were stopped they would be reduced to the
greatest poverty and want. That would make it impossible for them to
succeed in paying the royal tributes, impositions, repartimientos, and
other consequences of the service of his Majesty; and to the citizens
and the people of various nationalities who dwell here, for whom the
said commodities serve as food and sustenance, there would be caused
expense and inconvenience, as has already been seen by experience, for
even without the said monopoly being erected, but merely projected and
intended, the said buyo, bonga, and tobacco have risen and increased in
price, so much that the cost at present is twice what it was before,
and at the time when it was decided to erect the said monopoly--which
not only is of the fruits of the land, and articles which the said
peoples use for their sustenance, but likewise is prohibited by
equity and the laws. Consequently, looking for the greatest service
to God and his Majesty, the growth and preservation of these islands,
and the welfare and comfort of the citizens and natives thereof, they
[_i.e._, the president and auditors] declared that they would revoke,
and they did revoke, the said grant with everything therein contained;
and that they would declare it, and they did declare it, to be null
and of no force and effect. And they declared that they would notify,
and they did notify, each and every magistrate of his Majesty, that
each one of them, in his jurisdiction, in so far as may concern him,
shall not consent to the use of the said monopolies, or of any one
of them, on the part of either the said seminary or of any other
person with a lease-title therefrom, or in any other manner, who may
employ and make use of the said grant; but on the contrary they shall
proceed to the punishment of such, who shall be in their jurisdiction,
as against persons making use of a title and right not pertaining to
them. And as for the said edifice and its demolition, it shall be
entrusted to the captain-general, so that he, when he has examined
it, and found that it is within the said three hundred paces about
the walls, shall have it demolished and razed, until it be put in the
state in which the said Plaza de Armas had been before, and at the time
when the said edifice was commenced, in such manner that the purpose of
the command of his Majesty in the said royal decree shall be complied
with. A royal decree in conformity with this act shall be despatched,
and shall be cried publicly in the customary districts and places,
so that knowledge thereof may come to all. And, by this their act,
they decree and command accordingly, and have signed their names.
_Doctor Don Alvaro de Messa y Lugo_
Licentiate _Don Juan de Saavedra Valderrama_
Licentiate _Don Mathias Delgado y Flores_
Before me:
_Pedro Alvarez_
Don Phelipe, by the grace of God king of Castilla, of Leon, of Aragon,
of the two Çiçilias, of Hierusalem, of Portugal, of Navarra, of
Granada, of Toledo, of Valencia, of Galicia, of Mayorca, of Sevilla,
of Cerdeña, of Cordova, of Córcega, of Murcia, of Jaen, of the
Algarves, of Algeciras, of Gibraltar, and of the Canaria Islands,
and of the Eastern and Western Yndias, islands and mainland, of the
Ocean Sea; Archduke of Austria, Duke of Borgoña, of Bramante, and
Milan; Count of Arpspug [_i.e.,_ Hapsburg] and of Flandez, of Tirol,
and of Barcelona; Seignior of Viscaya and of Molina, etc. [Here the
royal decree quotes in full the foregoing act of the royal Audiencia
beginning: "In consideration of the fact that Don Alonso Faxardo de
Tença," etc., down to "but likewise is prohibited by equity and law."]
Wherefore, looking for the greatest service to God and myself, the
increase and preservation of the said islands, and the welfare and
comfort of the citizens and dwellers therein, after examination by my
president and auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancilleria of my
said Philipinas Islands, in whose charge is the government thereof,
through the death of my governor, Don Alonso Fajardo de Tença, it
was agreed that I should revoke, as by these presents I do revoke,
the said grant and everything therein contained, and I declare it
null and of no force and effect. And I command all my justices and
ministers that each one of them in his jurisdiction, in so far as
concerns him, shall not consent to the use of the said monopolies or
any one of them, on the part either of the said seminary or of any
other person with a lease-title therefrom, or in any other manner,
who may employ and make use of the said grant; but on the other hand
they shall proceed to the punishment of such, who may be in their
jurisdiction, as against persons making use of a title and right not
pertaining to them. And as for the said edifice and its demolition,
it shall be entrusted to the master-of-camp, Don Geronimo de Silva,
captain-general, likewise of the artillery of my said islands, so that
when he has examined it, and found that it is within the said three
hundred paces about the walls of the city of Manila, he shall have it
demolished and razed until it be put in the state in which the said
Plaza de Armas had been before, at the time when the said edifice was
commenced, in such manner that the purpose of my royal command in my
royal decree shall be complied with. And this, my letter and royal
edict, shall be publicly cried in the customary districts and places,
so that it may come to the knowledge of all. Given in the city of
Manila, on the twenty-fourth of July of the year one thousand six
hundred and twenty-four.
_Doctor Don Alvaro de Messa y Luga_
Licentiate _Don Juan de Saavedra Valderrama_
Licentiate _Don Matthias Delgado y Flores_
I, Captain Pedro Alvarez, chief secretary of the government and
department of war of these Philipinas Islands for the king our lord,
have had this written by his command with the decision of his president
and auditors.
Registered by Don Juan Sarmiento.
_Chancillor Don Juan Sarmiento_
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-fourth of Jury of the year one
thousand six hundred and twenty-four, was published this decree in
conformity with the provision therein, in loud and intelligible words,
by the voice of Augusto de Navarrete, public crier, in front of the
gate of the Audiencia hall, and on the corner where resides Captain
Antonio de Xérez Montoro, and on the site of Bagun Bay, outside the
walls--Captain Martin de Esquival, sargento-mayor, Geronimo Enrriquez
Sotelo, and many other persons being witnesses. To this I certify:
_Pedro Alvarez_
I, Captain Pedro Alvarez, sargento-mayor of the government and
department of war of these Philipinas Islands, at the command of
Señor Doctor Don Alvaro de Messa y Lugo of the council of his Majesty,
and his auditor in the royal Audiencia in these islands--who, as the
senior auditor, fills the office of president thereof--have ordered
to be drawn, and have drawn, this copy of the act and royal decree,
the originals whereof remain in my possession; and this is certain
and true, corrected and compared with the said original, to which
I refer. Witnesses at its correction and comparison were: Captain
Lopez de Olaiz, Sargento Pedro Delgado, and Martin de la Rroca,
citizens and residents of this city of Manila, where this is dated,
on the fifth day of the month of August of the year one thousand six
hundred and twenty-four.
_Pedro Alvarez_
[_Endorsed_: "Copy of the act and royal decree which were published
revoking the grant which was made to the seminary [and] college for
Japanese, of a monopoly of buyo, bonga, and tobacco, and the passage
to the fort of Cavite."]
EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM THE ARCHBISHOP TO FELIPE IV
10. The chief argument that induced his Majesty Philippo Second,
our sovereign, to reëstablish in these islands, during the term
of Don Francisco Tello's government, the royal Audiencia which he
had suppressed some years before, was in order that the governors
might not be so absolute in regions so remote and so far separated
from his royal presence, but that there might be a superior arm to
restrain them, without allowing extortions on the innocent. That is a
most pious act, and one experienced by all this community during the
time of that sovereignty and superintendency in all things pertaining
to justice, government, and war. If your Majesty be pleased to have
it restored and reëstablished with the majesty and power with which
it was founded, it will be of great service to God and your Majesty,
and the consolation and relief of your vassals. For it is certain that
three or four men view a cause which does not concern them with more
impartial eyes than does one man who is sole and absolute, who is at
times governed by passion, and consequently blind in what he orders
executed. Although it be said that demands for justice may be made in
the residencia--as if the poor man who suffers in person, property,
honor, and at times in his life, would appear at the residencia; and,
even if he were alive, could go to obtain satisfaction at that court
[_i.e._, of Mexico], or have method or means to do so, even though
his grievances were enormous and cried out to the heavens--well do
I know that there are testimonies in that royal Council (since they
have been sent from here) that say the contrary. But I equally affirm
this to be the truth, as, to my positive knowledge, it actually
occurs--more true than I would indeed wish, for it would be well
if these things did not happen. And since this royal Audiencia has
no more authority than at present, to suppress it will be of great
service for your Majesty, and even necessary, as the poor auditors
are as much annoyed and molested as are other private persons. What
is worse, your Majesty's authority has been seen humbled by so many
nations who know that this Audiencia immediately represents your royal
person. It will be less troublesome for us private persons to suffer
than that so great authority be seen in such decay. I petition your
Majesty to be pleased to have the importance of a matter of so great
moment considered, as may be most fitting to your royal service.
It is a fact that this city of Manila, both at the instance of the
governor and by its own action, has caused representations to be
made in that royal Council, that this royal Audiencia should refrain
from making appointments in which the children and relatives of the
auditors occupy the best offices of war, without ever having fired
an arquebus in their lives. These men become captains at one stroke,
to the grievance of the old soldiers who have served, just as if your
Majesty had not provided for this by making such men incapable of
offices--in which intention, I consider, enter the offices of justice
and war. However, even though it is not agreeable to them, it should
be so understood; and if your Majesty be pleased to order this to be
declared, and that favors and rewards for services can be expected
only from your royal hands, this difficulty would be remedied. For I
avow that it is vastly prejudicial, since, when a man has an auditor
to defend his causes, and those inclined to him favor those causes,
his negligence comes to be rewarded. In a matter of war, the present
condition of things very often is wont to be of irreparable damage,
as we in these islands have experienced on various occasions. [August
15, 1624.]
ROYAL ORDERS REGARDING THE RELIGIOUS
_Regulating their privileges_
The King. Inasmuch as the king my sovereign and father (whom may holy
Paradise keep) was informed that the religious who resided in the
Philipinas Islands, busied in the instruction and conversion of the
Indians, were meddling in things that did not concern them, he ordered
Gomez Perez das Mariñas, then governor and captain-general of the
Philipinas Islands, or the person in whose charge the government might
be--by his decree, dated June eleven, of the former year five hundred
and ninety-four--not to allow the religious to have prisons or jails,
or to make arrests or condemn, unless they have commission from the
bishop for the things in which he can give it in accordance with law;
or not to appoint as fiscals others than those whom the bishop might
assign them, together with other declarations contained in the said
decree. Afterward the king my sovereign and father, who is in glory,
by another decree dated May six, six hundred and fourteen, ordered
the aforesaid to be obeyed and observed, according to its contents,
without violating or exceeding its tenor and form, as is contained
more at length in the said decree and its reissue, which are of the
following tenor:
"The King. To Don Juan de Silva, my governor and captain-general of
the Philipinas Islands and president of my royal Audiencia of them,
or the person or persons in whose charge may be their government:
The king my sovereign and father, who is in heaven, ordered to be
issued and gave the decree of the following tenor:
"'The King. To Gomez Perez das Marinas, my governor and captain-general
in the Philippinas Islands, or the person in whose charge may be the
government of them: Inasmuch as I have been informed that the religious
who reside in those islands, busied in the instruction and conversion
of the Indians, meddle in matters that do not concern them, I order you
not to allow them to have prisons or jails, or to arrest or condemn,
unless they be those who have commission from the bishop for those
things in which he can give commission in accordance with law; that
they do not appoint or have other fiscals than those assigned them by
the said bishop; and that they take no fees for burials, marriages,
or baptisms, other than according to the appraisement and declaration
of the said bishop. And inasmuch as I have been informed that they
have proceeded in the exercise of their privileges, with an excess
prejudicial to the suitable progress of the instruction, and that it
would be advisable to declare what privileges be conserved and what
revoked, in order to remove confusions and doubts--for they confess the
Indians without the bishop's authorization, and, although not curas,
perform marriages, which is in direct violation of the ordinance in
the holy council of Trent, incurring risk that the confessions and
marriages are invalid: I order you likewise that you shall communicate
with the superiors of the orders, and command them to examine the said
privileges; and, unless they have such privileges, not to proceed in
the matters here specified, because of the doubts and scandals that
may result. Given in Madrid, June eleven, one thousand five hundred
and ninety-four.
_I The King_
By order of the king our sovereign:
_Juan de Ibarra_'
"And now it has been represented to me on the part of the archbishop
of that city that none of the contents of the said decree are observed
or obeyed with the exactness that would be fitting and expedient to
the service of God and to my service. He petitioned me to order that
it be strictly observed, as a remedy for the troubles that arise
from it. Inasmuch as it is my will that this be done, I order you
to observe, and to cause the said decree above inserted of the king
my sovereign and father to be obeyed and observed, exactly according
to its contents and declarations, without violating or exceeding in
any part of it. This I shall regard with approbation; but by the
contrary I shall consider myself as disserved. Given in Madrid,
May six, one thousand six hundred and fourteen.
_I The King_
By order of the king our sovereign:
_Don Juan Ruiz de Contreras_"
And now Don Juan Çevicos, treasurer of the metropolitan church of
the city of Manila of the said Philipinas Islands, has informed me
in the name of the archbishop of the city that, petition having
been made in behalf of Licentiate Don Diego Barquez de Mercado,
while archbishop of the said church, and of the suffragan bishops,
in my royal Audiencia of the said city, for the execution of the said
decree, because it was not observed by the religious of the Order
of St. Francis, and an edict to that effect having been despatched,
the provincial of the said order was notified. He--under pretext
of two other decrees of the sixteenth of March of the said year
six hundred and fourteen, despatched at the petition of the said
religious because they had represented that the said archbishop had
tried to make innovations in the missions by appointing fiscals in
them (as in fact he did do, so that information should be made of
what had been done in this), and that in the meanwhile no innovation
or change should be made in what had been the usual practice at the
time when he entered the said archbishopric--opposed the said edict,
and petitioned that the said decree of the sixteenth of March, six
hundred and fourteen, be observed. The same was done by the other
orders in the said islands. After the cause had been prosecuted in
the said Audiencia, after some questions and answers, it was ordered
by an act lately issued, on the first of August the past year, six
hundred and twenty-two, that the said decrees be observed and obeyed,
and that notice be given to the president, governor and captain-general
of the said islands and to the said archbishop, as was done, so that
they might investigate on what was ordered and charged to them. The
determination in the said cause was sent to my royal Council of the
Indias. Until other provision should be made, there was to be no
innovation and the execution of the said edict was to be suspended,
as was evident and appeared by the testimony of the records, which was,
in accordance with the above said, presented and examined in the said
my Council. I was petitioned to order that the commands of the said
decree of June eleven, five hundred and ninety-four, and its reissue
of May six, six hundred and fourteen, above inserted, be executed; and
that, in accordance with them, the said archbishop and bishops should
appoint and name the said fiscals--as pertains to them, in accordance
with law--and try judicially the crimes and causes of the said Indians;
and that the said religious, who arrest and punish them, as appears,
[should not do this]. Having been examined by the members of the said
my Council of the Indias, it was agreed that I ought to order this
my decree to be given. Therefore I desire, and it is my will, that
the above decrees, above inserted (of June eleven of the said year
five hundred and ninety-four, and May six, six hundred and fourteen),
be observed, obeyed, and executed exactly according to their contents
and declarations, notwithstanding the contents of the said decrees
of March sixteen of the said year six hundred and fourteen, ordering
that the said archbishop make no change in the usual practice in the
appointment of fiscals, and that the said governor investigate. And,
since this is necessary, I render those decrees to be null and void,
and without effect. I order the president and auditors of my royal
Audiencia of the said islands not to violate or exceed the contents
of this my decree, or consent that they be violated or exceeded, now
or henceforth, and in no manner. On the contrary, they shall give
the protection and aid that may be necessary for its execution and
observance. This I shall regard with approbation. Given in Madrid,
August thirty, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four.
_I The King_
By order of the king our sovereign:
_Juan Ruiz de Contreras_
Signed by the members of the Council.
[_Endorsed_: "In order that the decrees above inserted, ordering that
the missionaries of the Filipinas Islands have no prisons or jails;
that they may not condemn, except those who have commission from the
archbishop; and that they appoint no other fiscals than those whom
he shall assign them; notwithstanding the decrees that were given
ordering no innovation in the former practice, be followed in the
appointment of the said fiscals."]
_Letter to the archbishop_
The King. Very reverend father in Christ, archbishop of the
metropolitan church of the city of Manila in the Filipinas Islands. The
letter which you wrote me on the thirteenth of August of last year,
1623, has been received and considered in my royal Council of the
Indias. In regard to your statement that, on account of the haste in
which were sent from Mexico the ships which arrived that year at those
islands with assistance, the archbishop did not send you the papers
for convening the council, and that you therefore did not carry out
your plan for doing so, but that the necessary measures for it would
be taken this year: I command you, on receiving the despatches, to
execute the orders contained therein with the care and punctuality
that is desirable, and that I expect from you.
I appreciate the diligence which you exerted in preventing the
attempt to nominate for provincial of the Order of St. Augustine a
person who did not possess the qualifications which are necessary and
requisite. You should always be on your guard against such things, and
attempt to preserve the desirable peace and concord among the orders.
You advised us that it was necessary to have some ecclesiastical person
to be charged with the guardianship and the mode of governing the
seminary of Santa Potenciana, and to examine the persons who are to
live there. It was resolved to order the president of the Audiencia,
jointly with you, to inform us of what takes place, and that in the
meantime you were both to join in providing the most effective way
of administering the said seminary, with regard to both the persons
who enter it and those who leave it, with this justification, that
it be necessary. Accordingly, you will endeavor, for your own part,
to have these orders executed.
Your statements regarding the foundation that was being established
so that the youths of those islands might be graduated without going
to the university--which foundations were to be under the patronage
of the most pure conception of Mary most holy, our Lady--have been
considered, and you may proceed.
As to your proposition that my royal exchequer in those islands should
be inspected, the necessary provisions have already been made.
You advise us that in the execution of the measures contained in the
decree of August 9, 1621, you have warned the heads of the orders that
they shall not receive in those islands the religious from Yndia,
and that you caused several clerics to embark who arrived at that
city from that country. You will continue to do so, fulfilling your
orders contained in this memorandum.
The other points mentioned in your letter have been considered,
but answers to you are not yet ready. [Madrid, October 3, 1624.]
_I The King_
Countersigned by Juan Ruiz de Contreras.
_Ordering the correction of abuses against the Indians by the
Dominicans_
Don Phelipe, by the grace of God, king of Castilla, Leon, Aragón,
Jerusalem, Portugal, Navarra, and the Indias. To the reverend and
devout father-general of the Order of St. Dominic: It has been learned
from letters received and examined in my royal Council of the Indias
from Don Alonso Faxardo de Tenza, my governor and captain-general of
the Philipinas Islands, and president of my royal Audiencia resident
therein, that, although the religious of the Order of St. Dominic who
reside there are most exemplary and protect their parishioners so well,
it generally results that there is anger at their encomenderos, and
they do not attend to the affairs of my service as is advisable. On
the other hand, the Indians consider the treatment received from the
religious as severe, for they do not allow even the women to wear
shoes, while they force the men of the province of Nueva Segovia to
guard the church in rotation and turn. For whatever annoyance the
Indians cause them, they question them with regard to the Christian
doctrine, and their questions exceed those that persons with more
reason and education can answer. And thereupon, if they fail in the
least to meet these requirements, the religious have the chiefs and
their wives whipped, and cut off their hair. That has resulted in
causing among the Indians so great resentment that the insurrection
of the Indians that occurred may be attributed to that. Inasmuch
as that is a matter in which it is advisable to apply a remedy;
and inasmuch as the harsh treatment practiced by the said religious
toward their parishioners has appeared excessive, and not in harmony
with what they should do, since their purpose in going to the said
islands is to instruct and teach the natives in the articles of
our holy faith, and with all love and mildness, because they are,
as is a fact, people without reason and so newly converted (for
which reason it is so expensive to my royal revenues, from which
everything necessary is given): I request and charge you to give
what order is advisable so that the aforesaid evils be remedied,
as may be most necessary to the religion that they profess. What
remedy you shall furnish, you shall send to the said my Council,
with all haste, so that it may be remitted to the said islands;
for if that be not done with the promptness required by the case,
the relief that seems most effective will [not] be applied. Madrid,
November twenty-seven, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four.
_I The King_
Countersigned by Joan Ruiz de Contreras, and signed by the Council.
[_Endorsed:_ "To the father-general of the Order of St. Dominic,
directing him to remedy the excesses, committed on the Indians by
punishing them, by the religious of that order, who have missions
in Philipinas."]
EARLY RECOLLECT MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
_Extracts from the Following Works, Covering the History of the
Missions to 1624:_
_Historia general de los religiosos descalzos del orden de ... San
Avgvstin_. Fray Andrés de San Nicolas; Madrid, 1664. (pp. 396-510.)
_Historia general de los religiosos descalzos del orden
... S. Augustin_. Fray Lvis de Iesvs; Madrid, 1681. (pp. 1-61.)
_Historia general de Philipinas_. Fray Juan de la Concepción;
Manila, 1788. (Tomo iv, pp. 189-265; v, pp. 32-100.)
_Sources_: The first and second of these are obtained from copies
belonging to Edward E. Ayer, Chicago; the third, from a copy in the
possession of the Editors.
_Translations_: The matter herein presented is translated and
synopsized by James A. Robertson.
EARLY RECOLLECT MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE DISCALCED AUGUSTINIAN FATHERS, BY FRAY ANDRES
DE SAN NICOLAS [24]
Decade II
Chapter V
_Now the second provincial Chapter is held. The mission to the
Philippinas Islands is effectively discussed. The college of Zaragoça
and the convent of Pedroso are founded. Reference to the life of
Sister Polonia de los Santos_.
_Year 1605_
[At the second provincial chapter meeting of the Augustinian
Recollects, held in April, 1605, at the convent at Madrid, father
Fray Joan Baptista de Vera was chosen provincial. At that chapter
meeting, the question of the rules of the young order was taken up,
with other business. After the conclusion of their business the
convention dissolved, "while father Fray Joan de San Geronimo [25]
was effecting his passage to the Indias, with his good companions"
(pp. 396, 397).]
_First mission of our religious to the Philipinas Islands_
To his arduous labor in the formation and growth of the poor discalced
Augustinians, the first provincial [_i.e._, Fray Joan de San Geronimo]
gave a heroic end by beginning the very observant province of San
Nicolàs [26] de Tolentino, in the islands adjacent to Asia which we
commonly call Philippinas....
[A short narrative of the early discoverers follows, and the beginnings
of the Augustinian missions. That order proving inadequate to cope with
the immense number of the infidels, the other orders are also given
a part in their conversion. But the need of other laborers is still
felt, and King Felipe II assents to the petition of Fray San Geronimo
"to go to the Indias with twelve associates to preach the gospel, in
that part that he should deem best." King Felipe "immediately decreed
that he should get ready to go to the Philippinas Islands, and ordered
his ministers to give him the despatches immediately. The noted and
pious father had the despatches in hand before the celebration of
the chapter, where after it was called to order, he presented there
the decree, which received prompt obedience."]
The memorial of this circumstance is found in the old register,
and is in the following form: "May first, one thousand six hundred
and five, while the very reverend fathers were in session, etc. Our
father Fray Joan de San Geronimo, outgoing provincial of this province,
presented certain royal letters of the king our sovereign, and of his
royal Council of the Indias, in which his Majesty gives permission to
the said father Fray Joan de San Geronimo to take twelve religious
to the Philippinas Islands to preach the holy gospel, and to found
monasteries of our holy order in those Philippinas Islands. Having
examined and read them, the expedition seemed to us to be one
of great service to God, and we, the entire body of definitors,
resolved that it should be undertaken accordingly; and that all the
documents and authority necessary should be given to him so that he
should go as superior and vicar-provincial of the said Philippinas
Islands; that he may found monasteries there, and in all parts of the
Indias--with the following proviso, namely, that he shall not have
more authority than that which this province shall give him; and that
those houses that shall be founded there, and the religious in them,
shall always be subject to the father provincial who is, or shall be,
over this province. He shall always correspond with the latter, and at
each chapter held they shall send the elections of vicar-provincial
and priors, and the acts that they shall pass, so that the father
provincial of this province may confirm them, or refuse to confirm,
as he shall deem best. Advice shall be given of all the deceased
of those houses, so that the office may be performed for them, at
the time when the elections of the vicar-provincials shall be sent,
etc." Then, lower in the roll of those elected--or in the catalogue,
as we commonly call it--one reads at the end the words that follow:
"As vicar provincial of the Indias, we nominate the venerable father,
Fray Joannis de Sancto Hieronymo, and assign to him fourteen religious,
who shall always be subject to this provincial of this province of
Hispania." This arrangement having been made (which was made by the
intervention of the royal decrees that were despatched at Valladolid,
April three of that year, and which contained, in fact, the permission
for such, and general authority to found as many convents there as
the new Augustinian Recollect missionaries were able and desired;
to which were added other messages touching spiritual matters which
the pontiff's legate generously conceded), the father provincial, Fray
Joan Baptista, decreed the issue of his warrant, on May two. In this
document, after mentioning that he was ordered and commanded by the
king, and also by the said legate, to send the said father as superior
of the religious, who were about to set out for the help of those who
were occupied in the vineyard of the Lord, in the cultivation of those
islands, the father provincial entrusted to him all his authority,
without reserving anything whatever; but with the conditions that we
mention, in the records and other minutes which are generally made
on such occasions, the permissions that are despatched.
The father vicar-provincial had already chosen his workers, men like
himself. They were among the choicest and best men that the Reform then
had in their convents. They were as follows: Fathers Fray Andres de
San Nicolàs, who was called de Canovas, an apostolic man, and a great
preacher in word and deed; Fray Miguel de Santa Maria, a most exemplary
man, and devoted to the rigorous life; Fray Geronimo de Christo, [27]
very austere and observant; Fray Pedro de San Fulgencio, a capable
and very clever man for all things; Fray Diego de la Anunciacion,
[28] adorned with very singular virtues, and regarded as a saint;
Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel, [29] most keen-witted and erudite in
all learning; Fray Francisco Baptista, a penitent to excess, and
regulated by conscience; Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios, most
zealous for the discalced, and for the welfare of his brethren; Fray
Andres del Espíritu Santo, a religious, although very young, very
modest and retiring. [30] The father superintendent also chose four
other religious, lay brethren, who were of use and a great credit to
the Reform, on the voyage, and at the time when they came, whose names
are as follows: Fray Simon de San Joseph; Fray Joan de San Geronimo;
Fray Geronimo de la Madre de Dios; and Fray Joan de San Guillermo. They
all assembled in Madríd on the fifteenth or sixteenth of May. Thence
they left for Sevilla, and from there went later to San Lucar. They
were detained there until they could embark in one of the ships of the
Nueva España trading-fleet, which set sail from the great bay of Cadiz,
July twelve, and commenced its voyage happily. The zealous missionaries
were going, very full of God, and consequently did not abate one point
of their observance, fulfilling their religious obligations as if they
were in the most retired house of those which they had left behind in
their province, notwithstanding that they were going in the midst of
the traffic and excitement that seem to be inevitable in sea-voyages,
and more so in so long ones as are those of the Indias. They did not
discontinue the two hours' mental prayer or the choral divine office,
at their proper times, and the silence, fastings, and discipline. If
they were given any moment from those holy exercises, they employed
it in preaching, and in caring for the sick. They cared for and served
the latter with what they needed, and as well as they could. They did
not content themselves only in their own ship, for when good weather
and the quiet of the sea permitted, they went in the small boat or
lancha to the others, in order to console and confess those in need of
it. They gave them wholesome counsels, and encouraged them to serve
God our Lord as they ought. By such course they succeeded in gaining
great credit and esteem. The commander himself always approached them
with his flagship to salute them, and to ask after their health,
and whether they needed anything, while he commended himself very
earnestly to their petitions and prayers. He visited them in the island
of Guadalupe with the great following of his men, charging to them
the prosperous outcome of the fleet. Finally they reached the port of
San Juan de Lua, September seventeen, with the rejoicing common to
those who sail, and especially on those seas. They disembarked and,
after having rested for some little time, they took the road; this
they moderated by stopping several days in La Puebla de los Angeles,
[31] as guests of our calced fathers, where they received the friendly
reception and love that that province has shown to the discalced very
often because their beginning was in that form.
Since the strictness of that convent was then extreme, it lit up in
great measure the devotion and modesty of ours, the will of all going
well alongside the rare mildness of their customs. The more serious
inmates of the house did not fail to praise the humility, poverty,
and circumspect behavior of our fathers; and consequently not a few
of them were determined to follow their purpose and accompany them on
that holy undertaking, and to enjoy so good examples. They requested
this from the father commissary, but he, being so exact in matters of
attention and courtesy, excused himself prudently, in order not to
anger the prelates of the province; and, besides, because he had no
order from the king, nor any subsidy with which to pay the expenses of
any more persons than he had brought from España, although he esteemed
the desire that they showed to aid him. He went immediately to Mexico,
leaving the fathers of La Puebla very enamored and sad. They were
received in that magnificent city with kindness and extraordinary
devotion by the most learned father, Fray Diego de Contreras--to
whom was given, after a few years, the church of Santo Domingo, the
primatial church of the Indias. He was then professor of rhetoric in
the noted university, and rector of the college of San Pablo whose
venerating community went out to meet them in solemn procession and
with pomp, when they entered their gates. The learned master gave
proof of his ardent charity in his hospitality and cordial kindness,
making them very happy. He prepared a room for them, in which they
remained, where they received all comfort and aid, until the father
vicar-provincial rented a comfortable house, into which he and his
subordinates, and the brethren whom he had with him moved, in order
not to give occasion for so much ceremony and so many compliments;
hoping for the near opportunity to depart for the port of Acapulco.
That one--although formerly a secular lodging, now a very strict
convent--could rival the most famous monastery in the matter of
observance; for, giving themselves to continual prayers, rigorous
fastings, harsh mortifications, and severe penances, all of them were
opposing themselves to the best of their ability in the war against
the flesh. They did not leave the house unless summoned for some work
of charity, such as to confess or to preach, which they performed
very willingly, and to the profit and good of souls. They voted
unanimously not to strive to obtain for themselves or for others,
under any pretext, in person or through others, any offices within
the order, or out of it--in order to give, as was actually seen,
a solid foundation to the province which they afterward erected so
humbly. Their rigid mode of life there was bruited through the city,
and the most noble and the wealthiest, with simple earnestness, asked
them to remain. Some of such persons offered to endow their house,
and others to contribute very ample alms. They begged our fathers at
least to leave them the number sufficient to give a good beginning to
the convent that they desired to establish. The master, Fray Diego de
Contreras, whom we mentioned above, was aiding and encouraging those
arguments, promising that they would become discalced, and that he
would carry forward our Institute, [32] with his great authority and
power, in that kingdom. Father Joan de San Geronimo was tempted by
those pious offers of generosity, but he did not deceive himself; for
many souls would have been lost if he had desisted from that opportune
and holy voyage, or if he had lessened the number of the helpers whom
he took with him--who were but few for the abundant harvest that they
set about gathering, as we shall note with the lapse of years, in the
manner in which it occurred. Accordingly, having closed his ears to all
the proposed advantages, he undertook to go to the port at the end of
that year, where we shall leave him continuing with his observance of
rules and pious devotions on the roads, although these were horrible,
as if he had been in the most comfortable and most quiet convent of
all those which he had lately left well established in España.
[The remainder of chapter V is concerned with matter that does not
touch the Philippines, namely, the founding of the college of Zaragoza,
that of the convent of Pedroso, and the life of Sister Polonia de
los Santos.]