As your Lordship was absent from this city, and many things presented
themselves to me which were important to the service of God and of his
Majesty, and needed remedy, it seemed to me that in order to provide
for them it would be best for me to represent them to your Lordship
in this letter; and I beg of you to see to them in order that they
may be provided for and adjusted as may be most fitting and may best
serve our Lord.
The preaching of the gospel is the matter in which we serve God
most in these regions to which it came so late; and this is the
first intention of his Holiness and of his Majesty, and it is the
principal care which your Lordship and all of us who have come here
must have. Yet, although this is so, there is nothing which needs
more to be provided for and set right than this, on account of the
lack which there is of ministers, whether clergy or religious, to
do this work. For although his Majesty in his holy zeal has sent
so many and continues to send them, there is need of a great many
more, considering the many regions which we must reach. So we must
not only make all possible efforts to have a sufficient number of
ministers come, but must try to find means to distribute in so wide
a field the force that we have here, endeavoring with all equality
to arrange and stretch the line as much as possible, that there may
not be an over-abundance in some parts and a distinct lack in others;
but rather we should act as one who has much to cover and but little
cloth, who plies the shears with no little prudence, being watchful
in marking his outline to see how it can reach here and there. This
may cause some inconvenience to the religious themselves, for it
comes to this [_illegible in MS_.] since we have not the fulness
and abundance that there is in España. I have already asked this
from your Lordship at other times, as being one who was under such
obligations to set about it, as well for the good of the souls as for
the temporal good of the king and of his encomenderos, by selecting
and distributing ministers in order that thus religious instruction
may be communicated and spread. For this the following [_illegible
in MS_.] plans occur to me, if they seem suitable to your Lordship.
The new settlement of La Hermita and Malate may be all one
administration. Paranaque and Cavite at least can be another; and,
by establishing a house for religious at Cavite, Paranaque and the
tingues ["hills"] may be administered by visit, and also the lowlands
of Tuley and Limbo. In this way there will remain three clergymen who
can minister elsewhere, because [_illegible in MS_.] which is a great
burden. The Augustinian fathers are able to give enough instruction
to [meet (?) _ - illegible in MS_.] their obligation; and they will
accept it and take charge of it without any more alms being given
them. I would save up what is given there, in order to bestow it
somewhere else; for there are so many places where there is need of
it. Moreover, two religious could be taken from Vatan, because there
are four there, and two are sufficient, and there are not enough alms
given for more. Furthermore, Father Leon is a very good speaker; and
the dean, as he wishes to advance him, can employ him in the ministry.
The king's villages in Ylocos are for the most part without religious
instruction; and the Augustinian fathers say that it should be given to
some of them because, as they are new Christians, they do not confess
yet. Thus, if the convents were near, a few might remain alone until
there should be plenty of ministers; since now all that they can do
is to baptize them and prepare them for subsequent confession. It
would not be unsuitable that, for the present, while there is no
greater supply of ministers, one friar should be alone in a house,
since one clergyman is also alone, and is entrusted with the care
of a greater number of souls. Moreover, Father Carvajal is a good
interpreter and could be of use. I beg of your Lordship to insist
that the clergymen who are ministers of religious instruction should
not come and go so many times to Manila--not only on account of the
offenses which they commit, of which there always are some (as your
Lordship might ascertain if you wished to), but also that they may
not impose such burdens on the Indians. This is as much as concerns
the provision of ministers.
I propose the Augustinian fathers to your Lordship because they have
a greater number of religious than the other orders have, and not
because I have any partiality in regard to the orders, as your Lordship
suspects. I do not know on what you found your suspicion unless it be
on the advantages and benefits which have resulted to these fathers
from my protection and favor, as your Lordship is accustomed to say,
because you will not give any. I will tell you of several things in
which, by my interfering and inclining to your side, they have lost
what was due them; for in Cagayan I took away from them a resident's
house which was worth one hundred and fifty pesos of rent to them;
in Tondo, the lands to which the Indians laid claim; and the property
in Laguio and Nuestra Señora de Guia, which was theirs. When they
were saying mass in their house to the Indians, with considerable
notoriety and scandal to them, and no little affliction to the fathers,
they were ejected from the [_illegible in MS._] at my instance;
for I asked it, and chose to give them this punishment, in order to
palliate their offense. Thereupon your Lordship [_illegible in MS._]
occasioned some disturbance to result. This is what I have done for
this order, and the way in which I have favored them, which in truth
I might have done in many things most deservedly, and very rightly
and justly. But I protest before God that I neither have now nor have
had any other consideration or regard in this or in anything else,
except a desire that in some way or other so evident an obligation
should be fulfilled, and that religious affairs should be settled
as they ought, according to the adjustment and amendment which they
themselves sought [_illegible in MS._] In accomplishing this, let not
your Lordship understand that the royal exchequer is to suffer, because
[_illegible in MS._] his royal intention is that there shall be no
lack in this. Accordingly, we shall have recourse in other districts
to the clergy whom I mentioned above as being at leisure, who will be
occupied with their own support. The plans for this, as I say--taking
away here, and replacing there, and distributing and selecting them in
order that each one may receive a little--this is all matter for your
Lordship and for the obligations of your office. It is much more your
Lordship's duty that you should attend to this business than it is to
prevent the king and his encomenderos from enjoying what in justice
they ought to, because they do not give you ministers or because they
have not them. Your Lordship can remedy and provide for this only in
one of three ways--either as a protector of the Indians, or as bishop,
or as one who has a special commission for it from his Majesty. As
protector, what your Lordship can do is to bring suits in the courts
(and, even then, not in all cases), and be satisfied with the decision;
or else perform your own duties in the matter. As bishop, your Lordship
is concerned with the collections of tribute, in that in confession
you should deny absolution to anyone who confesses that he has not
fulfilled well the charge of an estate. I do not know whether you,
as bishop, can command the confessors that they all should refuse
absolution in this or that case, provided the said confessors and
your Lordship be of the same opinion and doctrine. As for special
commission, I do not know if your Lordship have one, unless it be in
the unruly and unpacified encomiendas. With this supposition there
remains to your Lordship no other foundation on which to act. Neither
does his Majesty commit it to you, nor do I find how your Lordship
can be occupied in dealing with [_illegible in MS._] more than to give
your opinion on it; and here ends the prerogative which your Lordship
can claim in this matter. You make strenuous efforts in what does
not properly concern you, and fail to remedy what is most necessary
and close to your office, which is what I mentioned above about
religious instruction. I beg of your Lordship that, putting aside human
considerations, you order that this be attended to, which the good of
these souls demands with [_illegible in MS._] necessity. Since in this
way there are needs now, there will be at least many more. Meanwhile,
until ministers are provided more liberally from Spain, let them all
get along as best they can, and accommodate themselves, establishing
houses wherever they wish to, and where no better opportunity is to
be expected. God knows that this does not [_illegible in MS._] your
Lordship, because you interfere with my office. As far as this is
concerned, if I could [_illegible in MS_.] with it and my commission,
or even give it all to your Lordship, and perform my duty, [I would ask
(?) _--illegible in MS._] your Lordship to do it, if it were not for
the obstacle which that would put in the way of the careful guidance
and [_illegible in MS._] who manage affairs.
Neither does your Lordship resolve to order that, on account of the
great lack of religious ministers which exists, provision may be made
in the encomiendas that laymen of good life and example may instruct
the Indians, bringing them thus to a knowledge of the true God, as well
as into friendship and intercourse with us. From this would result at
least the favorable disposition which you wish them to have for the
time when there may be religious instruction for them, as his Majesty
orders in his charge regarding presentations. I have proposed this
to your Lordship on several occasions, but you do not set about it
or reply to it. Since your Lordship [knows(?) _--illegible in MS._]
what persons will be fitted for this ministry, I beg you to tell
me of some who are suitable; for, as I am new here, am not as well
able to [select them(?)--_illegible in MS._] properly; and those
whom I brought and know are occupied in other duties and neither
[know(?)] the language nor are acquainted with the country.
The dependence which the Indians have upon your Lordship as one to
shelter them and to defend them as bishop and father; and, beyond this,
as protector, to try and relieve them and to negotiate with the person
whom the king shall maintain here concerning all that shall be to
their good, and to ward off all that would be grievous to them--all
this is very just and proper in your Lordship, and very necessary to
the Indians as poor, wretched beings. Although I have always told them
to go to you or to the alcaldes-mayor, who would report their suits
or troubles to your Lordship or to me, I did not, my Lord, intend to
give them occasion that on pretext of this, or of protection, they
should come with every childish trifle to Manila from their villages,
perhaps very far away. And it is not two or four Indians who come,
but often a whole village, with their women and children. But whether
they come in small or in great numbers, they stay here, spending
in petitions more than the thing which they are suing for is worth,
while they are needed at home by their sowed fields, their plants,
their young cattle, their wives, their children, their houses, and
for their services to the community and the church and others. One
might come on a business of importance, as I have ordered. Now your
Lordship sees how annoying this is, and how you should wean them
from repeating these comings and goings, in which they work their
own harm and ruin themselves; and so, except in very important cases,
their trouble and our time might be spared by preventing their coming
and wasting time with their troublesome affairs.
The dignities, prebends, and canonries of your Lordship's cathedral
you will fill the first time, according to the apostolic privilege
which your Lordship holds, and then the king begins to present. I am
very plain in this, for all I wish is to know what and how many have
been filled by you and how many remain to be filled, in order that we
may agree on this, as well as on provision for the beneficed curacies
and the administration of religious instruction, which are assigned
to the clergy. In these his Majesty always presents one of two whom
you propose, according to his edicts. It will be well to know if the
number is full or if there are some places to be filled, and if those
which are filled are so with establishment in a parish and canonical
installation by your Lordship, preceding presentation by his Majesty,
or if they are, as I have heard of some, only in encomienda, accepted
with your Lordship's consent; because in this way, by taking away
one and placing another [_illegible in MS._], and not in right of
possession, the royal right of presentation is defrauded. I do not
understand how it is that, when your Lordship had ordained Father
Salinas under pretext of [giving him] the benefice of Catanduanes, it
remained as it was, and he is serving in Valayan. I say all this only
through desire that your Lordship may lose nothing of your rights,
and that I may not give a bad account of what I am responsible for
to his Majesty; and that affairs may be settled with the clearness
and certainty which is desirable. I had other things to tell your
Lordship, but they will wait for a better opportunity in order not to
weary you; and if any doubt or difficulty arises between your Lordship
and me concerning what has been said, there are learned men here who
can easily solve it by examining it and discussing it, and by their
decision and determination I will abide very willingly. Our Lord,
etc. From this house of your Lordship, March 19, 1591.