[1] Tagalog characters are said to be similar to old Javanese, Ignacio
Villamot, _La Antigua Escritura Filipina_, Manila, 1922, p. 30. They
were replaced under the Spanish occupation by roman letters, and
are not now used. The best definitive grammar is Frank R. Blake's _A
Grammar of the Tagalog Language_, New Haven, 1925, where, p. 1, he
defines the language as follows: "Tagálog is the principal language
of Luzon, the largest island of the Philippine Archipelago. It is
spoken in Manila and in the middle region of Luzon. Tagálog, like
all the Philippine languages about which anything is known, belongs
to the Malayo-Polynesian family of speech, which embraces the idioms
spoken on the islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Malaysia, on the
Malay peninsula, and on the island of Madagascar."
[2] The woodcut, showing St. Dominic beneath a star holding a lily and
a book, the usual symbols of this saint, and clad in the white habit
and black cloak of his order, seems to be of oriental workmanship,
differing vastly from contemporary Spanish and Mexican cuts of the
same type. The clouds, for instance, are characteristically Chinese,
and the buildings in the background more reminiscent of eastern
temples than European churches.
[3] T.H. Pardo de Tavera, _Noticias sobre La Imprenta y el Grabado
en Filipinas_, Madrid, 1893, pp. 9-10. Dard Hunter in _Papermaking
through Eighteen Centuries_, New York, 1930, pp. 109-16, describes
papermaking in China, and mentions the use of "makaso" or "takaso,"
both species of the paper mulberry, as material for the making
of paper. The paper mulberry's scientific name is _Broussonetia
papyrifera_. Later, on p. 141, he speaks of the use by the Chinese
of gypsum, lichen, starch, rice flour and animal glue for sizing.
[4] The best short summaries in English of the beginnings of printing
in Mexico are Henry R. Wagner's introduction to the exhibition
catalogue of _Mexican Imprints 1544-1600 In the Huntington Library_,
San Marino, 1939, pp. 3-10; and Lawrence C. Wroth, _Some Reflections
on the Book Arts in Early Mexico_, Cambridge (Mass.), 1945.
[5] J.B. Primrose, _The First Press in India and Its Printers_,
The Library, 4th Series, 1939, XX, pp. 244-5.
[6] José Toribio Medina, _La Imprenta en Lima_, Santiago de Chile,
1904-17, no. 1, p. 3.
[7] A contemporary copy of this letter--the original is not known--lay
forgotten and unnoticed in the Archives of the Indies (1-1-3/25,
no. 52), Torres, III, no. 4151, p. 83, until discovered there by
Pascual de Gayangos, who called it to the attention of W.E. Retana,
who first printed it in _La Politica de Espana en Filipinas_, no. 97,
Oct. 23, 1894. It was later rediscovered independently by Medina who
also printed it in his _La Imprenta en Manila_, p. xix. Gómez Pérez
Dasmariñas, formerly corregidor of Murcia and Cartagena in Spain,
was appointed governor of the Philippines in 1589, landed at Manila
in May 1590, and remained in office until his death in October 1593.
[8] _Relacion de lo que se ha escrito y escribe en las Filipinas
fecho este año de 1593_, an apparently inedited MS. in the A. of I.,
Index 9, no. 81, from which the passage was quoted by Retana in his
edition of Antonio de Morga's _Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas_, Madrid,
1909, p. 425, and Manuel Artigas y Cuerva, _La Primera Imprenta en
Filipinas_, Manila, 1910, p. xi. This may be the MS. listed by Torres,
III, no. 4229, p. 91, as _Breve sumario y memorial de apuntamientos
de lo que se ha escrito y escribe en las Islas Filipinas_, undated
but probably 1593.
[9] _Recopilacion de las Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias_, Madrid,
1681, I, ff. 123v-124r, where they are Laws 1 and 3, Title XXIV,
Book I.
[10] Medina, p. xxviii, from. _Libro de provisiones reales_, Madrid,
1596, I, p. 231.
[11] Inflation in the Philippines was discussed in a report sent by
Bishop Salazar to the King in 1583, B. & R., V, pp. 210-11, translated
from Retana, _Archivo del bibliófilo filipino_, Madrid, 1895-97,
III. no 1.
[12] Henry R. Wagner, _The House of Cromberger_, in _To Doctor
R[osenbach]_, Philadelphia, 1946, pp. 234 & 238, where he gives
some interesting comparative figures: in 1542 the Casa de Cromberger
could charge 17 maravedís a sheet; in Spain in 1552 Lopez de Gómara's
_Historia de las Indias_ was appraised at 2 maravedís a sheet; and
in Mexico Vasco de Puga's _Provisiones_ of 1563 was permitted to sell
at the tremendous figure of one real or 34 maravedís a sheet.
[13] Juan de Cuellar was mentioned in the Letter of Instruction given
by Philip II to Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas on August 9, 1589, as among
those "who are men of worth and account" in the Philippines and who
should be provided for and rewarded accordingly, B. & R., VII, p. 151,
translated from the original MS. in the A. of I. (105-2-11), Torres,
III, no. 3567, p. 17. Cuellar received a commission from Dasmariñas
and signed various documents during his administration as secretary
and notary. Antonio de Morga, _Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas_, Mexico,
1609, f. 13v, reports that Cuellar was one of two survivors of the ship
on which Dasmariñas sailed in October 1593 as part of an expedition
to conquer the fort of Terrenate in Maluco. On the second day out,
while the ship was weather-bound at Punta del Acufre, the Chinese
rowers mutinied, and only Cuellar, there described as the governor's
secretary, and the Franciscan father, Francisco de Montilla, survived
the ensuing massacre. They were set ashore on the coast of Ylocos, and
made their way back to Manila. A similar account appears in Chapter XVI
of Leonardo de Argensola's, _Conqvista delas Islas Malvcas_, Madrid,
1609. We have been able to find no subsequent record of Cuellar.
[14] Colín, I, pp. 501, 507-14, 561-6.
[15] Pedro Chirino, _Primera parte de la Historia de la provincia
de Philipinas de la Compañia de Ihs_, unpublished MS. of 1610,
from which the present passage was quoted by Retana, col. 25. For an
account of the MS. see Santiago Vela, VI, p. 435n. Schilling, p. 214,
demonstrates that according to the original punctuation the meaning
is that the first printers were Villanueva and Blancas de San José,
but with the shifting of a semi-colon it could be read to mean that the
first printers were of the Order of St. Augustine. We can see no reason
to shift the semi-colon, and have retained it in its original place.
[16] Retana, col. 26, said that he was able to find no information
regarding Villanueva except for the listing of his name by Cano,
p. 43, as having arrived in the Philippines at an unknown date. The
destruction of the early records of the Augustinians when the English
sacked Manila in 1762 accounts for the paucity of information, but
there are a few references which throw some little light on the two
Villanuevas. San Agustin, p. 212, says that when Herrara sailed for
Mexico in 1569 he left in Cebú only "P. Fr. Martin de Rada and two
virtuous clerics, the one named Juan de Vivero, and the other Juan
de Villanueva, who had come with Felipe de Salcedo." Salcedo had
come back to Cebú in 1566. Francisco Moreno, _Historia de la Santa
Iglesia Metropolitana de Filipinas hasta 1650_, Manila, 1877, p. 226,
states that Villanueva came in 1566, and died shortly after 1569. San
Antonio, I, p. 173, writes, "Another cleric was the Licentiate Don
Juan de Villanueva, of whom the only thing known is that he was a
churchman and lived but a short time--and that after the erection of
the church." This refers to the foundation of the church in Manila in
1571. Of the other Villanueva our information comes from Perez, p. 63.
[17] Alonso Fernández, _Historia Eclesiastica de Nvestros Tiempos_,
Toledo, 1611, pp. 303-4. The book referred to here is called _De los
mysterios del Rosario de nuestra Señora_ by Jacques Quétif and Jacques
Echard, _Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum_, Paris, 1719, II, p. 390;
and _Devotion del Santisimo Rosario de la Bienaventurada Virgen_
by Vicente Maria Fontana, _Monvmenta Dominicana_, Rome, 1675, p. 586.
[18] Fernández, _Historia de los insignes Milagros qve la Magestad
Diuina ha obrado por el Rosario santissimo de la Virgen soberana, su
Madre_, Madrid, 1613, f. 216. I have been unable to locate a copy of
this book in the United States, but the passage is printed in Retana,
_Aparato Bibliográfico de la Historia General de Filipinas_, Madrid,
1906, I, pp. 64-5. It was first cited in modern times by Pedro Vindel,
_Catálogo_, Madrid, 1903, III, no. 2631.
[19] A sketch of the life of Aduarte was added to his history
by Gonçalez, II, pp. 376-81, and a notice also appears in Ramon
Martínez-Vigil, _La Orden de Predicadores ... seguidas del Ensayo de
una Bibliotheca de Dominicos Españoles_, Madrid, 1884, p. 229.
[20] Aduarte, II, pp. 15-18.
[21] Artigas, _op. cit._, pp. 3-22, stresses the part played by
him in establishing printing and gives much information regarding
this father. There, referring to the _Acta Capitulorum Provincialium
provinciae Sanctissimi Rosarii Philippinarum_, Manila, 1874-77, Artigas
traces the career of Blancas de San José as follows: in Abucay from
May 24, 1598 until April 27, 1602; at San Gabriel in Binondo from
April 27, 1602 until May 4, 1604; as Preacher-General of the order
at the Convent of Santo Domingo in Manila from 1604 to 1608; back
at Abucay from April 26, 1608 until May 8, 1610; and at San Gabriel
again from May 8, 1610 until May 4, 1614.
[22] Medina, no. 8, p. 7. A copy of this book and an unique copy of
the recently discovered _Ordinationes_ of 1604, see note 127, are
in the Library of Congress. Both books are entirely typographical,
and the Tagalog in the 1610 volume has been transliterated. These two
and the present Doctrina are, so far as I have been able to find out,
the only Philippine imprints before 1613 in the United States.
[23] Medina, no. 14, p. 11. The text was written by Thomas Pinpin,
who appears as the printer of the former book, and a confessionary
by Blancas de San José, who probably edited the volume, is included.
[24] Juan Lopez, _Quinta Parte de la Historia de San Domingo_,
Valladolid, 1621, ff. 246-51.
[25] Quétif and Echard, _op. cit._, II, p. 390. This same statement was
made in Antonio de León Pinelo, _Epitome de la Biblioteca Oriental y
Occidental, Nautica, y Geografica_ (ed. Antonio González de Barcia),
Madrid, 1737-38, col. 737, and was reprinted almost word for word
by José Mariano Beristain y Sousa, _Bibliotheca Hispano-Americana
Septentrional_, Mexico, 1883-97, I, p. 177.
[26] A fairly complete biography is given by Viñaza, pp. 112-7,
where he points out that several of the major Jesuit biographers have
erroneously stated that Hervas went to America some time before 1767.
[27] Lorenzo Hervas y Panduro, _Origine, formazione, meccanismo,
ed armonia degli' idiomi_, Cesena, 1785, p. 88.
[28] Hervas, _Saggio Pratico delle lingue, Con prolegomeni, e
una raccolta di orazioni Dominicali in più di trecento lingue,
e dialetti_, Cesena, 1787, pp. 128-9. Although Schilling, p. 208,
says that Hervas had a copy of the 1593 Doctrina before him, which
"had been lent or given" by Bernardo de la Fuente, Hervas merely says
that he took his information "from the best documents, which showed
the grammar; and the Tagalog and Visayan dictionary were given me by
Messrs. D. Antonio Tornos and D. Bernardo de la Fuente." There is no
doubt, however, but that Hervas had a copy of the Doctrina, or accurate
and extensive transcripts from a copy known to one of his friends.
[29] Franz Carl Alter, _Ueber die Tagalische Sprache_, Vienna,
1803, p. vii. Alter speaks of having had extensive correspondence
with Hervas.
[30] Johann Christoph Adelung, _Mithridates oder allgemeine
Sprachenkunde mit dem Vater Unser als Sprach probe in beynahe
fünfhundert Sprachen und Mundarten_, Berlin, 1806, I, pp. 608-9.
[31] Beristain, _op. cit._, II, p. 464. The first edition was published
in 1819-21, but we have used the second for our quotations.
[32] Juan de Grijalva, _Cronica de la orden de N.P.S. Augustin de
Nueva Espana_, Mexico, 1624, f. 199v.
[33] Nicolás Antonio, _Bibliotheca Hispana Nova_, Madrid, 1783, I,
p. 764. The first edition was Rome, 1672, but I could locate no copy
in this country.
[34] San Agustin, p. 352. On pp. 443-4 referring to Grijalva and
Herrera, he says merely that Quiñones "was very learned in the Tagalog
language, and wrote a grammar and dictionary of it."
[35] "He succeeded in learning that language with such perfection that
he composed a treatise, as a light and guide for the new missionaries,
and a vocabulary, with which in a short time they could instruct those
islanders in the mysteries of the faith," Medina, p. xxvii, assumed
that this referred to José Sicardo, _La Cristiandad del Japon_, Madrid,
1698, where he could find nothing about Quiñones, but Beristain cited
specifically his _Historias de Filipinas y Japon_, which Santiago Vela,
VI, p. 441, thinks must be his additions to Grijalva, including a life
of Quiñones, which San Agustin used and quoted from. The quotation
here is from San Agustin, p. 442, where Sicardo is given as the source.
[36] Tomas de Herrera, _Alphabetvm Avgvstinianvm_, Madrid, 1644, I,
p. 406, according to P. & G., p. xxiv.
[37] Schilling, p. 204.
[38] Pedro Bello, _Noticia de los escritores y sus obras impresas
y manuscritas en diferentes idiomas por los religiosos agustinos
calzados hasta 1801_, unpublished MS., from which the citation is
given by Santiago Vela, VI, p. 441.
[39] P. & G., pp. xxv-xxvi.
[40] Medina, p. xxviii, who gives as source the A. of I. and _Libro
de provisiones reales_, Madrid, 1596, I, p. 231. In his note Medina
says that this cedula was not in the _Recopilacion_, but referring
back to the note on p. xxiv, we find that he there prints a law of
the same content and date, cited as Law 3, Title XXIV, Book 1 of the
_Recopilacion_, where we have seen it, with the extremely significant
addition, "it shall not be published, _or printed_, or used." If
this phrase was not included in the original cedula sent to Manila,
but added when printed as applying to all the Indies, it is important
evidence that the King felt an admonition against printing unnecessary
where no facilities for printing existed.
[41] Retana, col. 10, cited from the original MS. in the A. of
I. (68-1-42), Torres, II, no. 3211, p. 150.
[42] San Antonio, II, p. 297. This work, treated at length by San
Antonio, is proof of the high esteem in which Plasencia was held as
a Tagalist. It was incorporated in a document of Governor Francisco
Tello, dated July 13, 1599, now in the A. of I. (67-6-18), and first
printed in the appendix to Santa Inés, II, pp. 592-603, and translated
in B. & R., VII, pp. 173-96.
[43] Santiago Vela, VI, pp. 442-3. His study of the questionable _Arte_
of 1581 is the most thorough and detailed yet written.
[44] Schilling, p. 205.
[45] Pardo de Tavera, _op. cit._, pp. 8-9. After quoting the latter
part of this passage, Medina, p. xviii, adds a quizzical note,
"I want to cite the opinion of so distinguished a student of
the Philippines because it shows how tangled and confused is the
information concerning the primitive Philippine press, even among
men best informed on the subject."
[46] Medina, nos. 1 and 2, p. [3].
[47] Medina, p. xix.
[48] Retana had published many of his findings in _La Politico de
España en Filipinas_, Madrid, 1891-98; in his edition of Joaquín
Martínez de Zuñiga, _Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas_, Madrid, 1893;
and in the _Archivo del Bibliófilo Filipino_, Madrid, 1895-97.
[49] Retana, cols. 7-8. We shall speak of Juan de Vera later.
[50] Thomas Cooke Middleton, _Some Notes on the Bibliography of the
Philippines_, Philadelphia, 1900, pp. 32-33.
[51] Pardo de Tavera, _Biblioteca Filipina_, Washington, 1903,
pp. 9-10.
[52] Medina, _La Imprenta en Manila desde sus Orígenes hasta 1810
Adiciones y Ampliacones_, Santiago de Chile, 1904.
[53] P. & G., pp. xxi-xxvi.
[54] B. & R., LIII, p. 11.
[55] Artigas, _op. cit._ He admitted that the celebration should have
been held in 1902.
[56] Retana, _Orígenes de la Imprenta Filipina_, Madrid, 1911. Retana
had also published between 1897 and 1911 several other books which
contained some information about the early Philippine press, the
_Aparato Bibliográfico_ in 1906 and his edition of Morga in 1909,
both of which have already been cited.
[57] Antonio Palau y Dulcet, _Manuel del Librero Hispano-Americano_,
Barcelona, 1923-37, III, p. 72.
[58] Schilling, _op. cit._
[59] Chirino, p. 3, writes that he was "the first who made converts
to Christianity in the Philippines, preaching to them of Jesus Christ
in their own tongue--of which he made the first vocabulary, which
I have seen and studied;" and Juan de Medina (who originally wrote
his history in 1630), p. 54, says that in visiting Cebú in 1612 he
"saw a lexicon there, compiled by Father Fray Martin de Rada, which
contained a great number of words." Grijalva, _op. cit._, f. 124V,
writes that Rada "by the force of his imaginative and excellent ability
learned the Visayan language, as he had learned the Otomi in this land
[Mexico], so that he could preach in it in five months."
[60] Pérez, p. 5.
[61] Juan González de Mendoza, _The Historie of the great and mightie
kingdom of China ... Translated out of Spanish by R. Parke_, London,
1588, p. 138. The original edition of 1585 said he made an "arte y
vocabulario." We must take the phrase "in few daies" in a comparative
sense, but that an Augustinian, probably Rada, knew some Chinese as
early as July 30, 1574 is shown by a letter from Governor Lavezaris
to the King from Manila, sending him "a map of the whole land of
China, with an explanation which I had some Chinese interpreters
make through the aid of an Augustinian religious who is acquainted
with the elements of the Chinese language," B. & R., III, p. 284,
from the original MS. in the A. of I. (67-6-6), Torres, II, no. 1868,
p. 10-11. Antonio de León Pinelo, _Epitome de la Biblioteca Oriental
i Occidental, Nautica i Geographica_, Madrid, 1629, p. 31, also
records Rada's Chinese grammar and dictionary. Santiago Vela, VI,
pp. 444-60, gives a full history of Rada and his writings. He went
to China a second time in May 1576, and in 1578 accompanied La Sande
on his expedition to Borneo, dying on the way back to Manila in June
of that year.
[62] González de Mendoza, _op. cit._, pp. 103-5.
[63] Diego Ordoñez Vivar came to the Philippines in 1570, filled
various ministries there, and according to Agustin Maria de Castro
was in Japan in 1597, where he witnessed the martyrdom of the
Franciscans; he died in 1603, Pérez, p. 10. Juan de Medina, p. 74,
says, "Father Diego de Ordoñez learned this language [Tagalog] very
quickly." Alonso Alvatado had been on the unsuccessful 1542 expedition
of Villalobos, and returned to the Philippines in 1571. Pérez, p. 11,
records that he became familiar with the Tagalog language, was the
first prior of Tondo, ministered to the Chinese there, and was the
first Spaniard to learn the Mandarin dialect. He was elected provincial
in 1575, and died at Manila the following year. Jéronimo Marín came
to the islands with Alvarado, acquired skill in the Visayan, Tagalog
and Chinese languages, accompanied Rada on his first expedition to
China, was in Tondo in 1578, and later returned to Spain to recruit
new missionaries for the province, dying in Mexico in 1606, Pérez,
pp. 11-12.
[64] Cano, p. 12. Santiago Vela, I, p. 85, expresses the opinion that
Cano's statement was an overenthusiasm, and is not valid.
[65] Retana, col. 9.
[66] Juan de Medina, p. 156.
[67] Santiago Vela, I, p. 85, where he cites the first book of the
_Gobierno_ of the Augustinian province.
[68] Santiago Vela, I, pp. 84-6 treats of the whole question in detail.
[69] A Doctrina in Tagalog, attributed to Alburquerque by Agustin
Maria de Castro in his unpublished _Osario_, is said by Santiago Vela,
I, p. 85, to have been arranged and perfected by Quiñones, and was
probably that presented by him to the Synod of 1582, if indeed he
did present such a work then. For an account of the MS. _Osario_,
see Schilling, p. 205n.
[70] Pérez, p. 20n, quotes Vicente Barrantes, _El teatro tagalo_,
Madrid, 1890, p. 170, as saying that "according to the Augustinian
writers" Alburquerque compiled an _Arte de la Lengua Tagala_ between
1570 and 1580, the manuscript of which disappeared when the English
sacked Manila in 1762. It may be that Barrantes referred to Cano
or possibly Castro, but it must be emphasized that no contemporary
historian, as far as has been discovered up to this time, has made
such a statement.
[71] Quiñones came to the Philippines in 1577 and spent his time in
missions in and about Manila. He was named prior of Manila in 1586,
and provincial vicar in 1587 in which year he died, Pérez, p. 19,
and Santiago Vela, VI, pp. 433-4.
[72] Again Castro, as cited by Santiago Vela, VI, p. 435, is the only
authority for this, although San Agustin, p. 391, lists Quiñones'
name among those present at the Synod.
[73] San Agustin, p. 381. It should be noted that this statement is
in direct contradiction to those we shall cite later in connection
with the controversy between the Augustinians and Dominicans over
the Chinese ministry. The convent at Tondo had been founded in 1571,
so San Agustin here must refer specifically to the Chinese mission.
[74] Pérez, p. 22.
[75] Pérez, p. 29.
[76] Huerta, pp. 443 & 500-01. In 1580, under the influence
of Plasencia, Talavera took the habit of the Franciscan order and
preached throughout the Philippines until his death in 1616. Huerta
lists six works in Tagalog by him, all of them devotionary tracts,
the last of which he notes was printed at Manila in 1617, and is
listed by Medina, no. 20, pp. 14-5. His works are also recorded by
Leon Pinelo, _op. cit._, 1737-38, II, f. 919r.
[77] Santa Inés (written originally in 1676), p. 211. Virtually the
same information is given by San Antonio, I, pp. 532-3 & 563.
[78] Juan de la Concepcion, _Historia general de Philipinas_, Manila,
1788-92, II, pp. 45-6. Schilling, p. 203n, maintains that the early
writers were mistaken in believing that the Synod was held in 1581. On
October 16, 1581 the Bishop called a meeting of ten priests at the
Convent of Tondo to discuss the execution of the decree about slaves,
Torres, II, pp. cxliv-v. No laymen were present and no other topic was
discussed. The decisions of this meeting were sent in a letter from
Salazar to the King, dated from Tondo, October 17, 1581, translated
in B. & R., XXXIV, pp. 325-31, from the original MS. in the A. of
I. (68-1-42), Torres, II, no. 2686, p. 95. The following year a real
Synod was held, this time including lay government officials as well
as priests, at which was discussed a variety of subjects. Robert
Streit, _Bibliotheca Missionum_, Aachen, 1928, IV, pp. 327-31, cites
a MS. account of it by the Jesuit father Sanchez who was present; and
Valentín Marín, _Ensayo de una Síntesis de los trabajos realizados
por las Corporaciones Religiosas Españoles de Filipinas_, Manila,
1901, I, pp. 192 et seqq., cites another MS., then in the Archives
of the Archiepiscopal Palace of Manila, _Memoria de una junta que
se hizo a manera de concilio el año de 1582, para dar asiento a las
cosas tocantes al aumento de la fe, y justificacíon de las conquistas
hechas y que adelante se hicieron por los espanoles_, from which he
quotes extensively. With reference to the Synod see further Lorenzo
Pérez, _Origen de las Misiones Franciscanas en el extremo oriente_,
in Archivo Ibero-Americano, 1915, III, pp. 386-400.
[79] Santa Inés, p. 212. Again similar accounts are to be found in
San Antonio, I, pp. 563-6, in far more detail and phrased in even
more laudatory terms, and the fullest early biography of Plasencia
is given by San Antonio, II, pp. 512-79. Modern surveys appear in
Marín, _op. cit._, II, pp. 573-82, and Lorenzo Pérez, _op. cit._,
pp. 378 et seqq.
[80] Chirino, _Primera parte_, quoted by Retana, col. 24, implied that
Quiñones and Plasencia wrote at about the same time: "The first who
wrote in these languages were, in Visayan, P. Fr. Martin de Rada, and
in Tagalog, Fr. Juan de Quiñones, both of the Order of St. Augustine,
and at the same time Fr. Juan de Oliver and Fr. Juan de Plasencia
of the Order of St. Francis, of whom the latter began first, but the
former [wrote] many more things and very useful ones." However, San
Antonio, I, p. 532, wrote perhaps with bias in favor of his own order,
"Although the Augustinian fathers had come earlier and did not lack
priests fluent in the idiom, the language had not yet been reduced to
a grammar, so that it could be learned by common grammatical rules,
nor was there a general vocabulary of speech; except that each one
had his own notes, to make himself understood, and everything was
unsystematized."
[81] _Entrada de la seraphica Religion de nuestro P. S. Francisco
en las Islas Philipinas_, MS. of 1649, first published in Retana,
_Archivo_, I, no. III, translated in B. & R., XXXV, p. 311.
[82] Medina, p. 15, quoting from Martínez whom we are unable to trace.
[83] Huerta, pp. 492-3. Oliver died in 1599. San Antonio, II, p. 531,
says that Plasencia was the first to write a catechism (called
in Tagalog "Tocsohan"), and Oliver was the first to translate the
explanation of the Doctrina. Oliver's works are noted by León Pinelo,
_op. cit._, 1737-38, II, col. 730, and Barrantes, _op. cit._, p. 187.
[84] Sebastian de Totanes, _Arte de la Lengua Tagala_, Manila, 1850,
p. v, (first edition printed in 1745) says of Oliver that "up to
the present day our province reveres him as the first master of
this idiom."
[85] See note 42.
[86] Huerta, p. 517. Nothing is known of Diego de la Asuncion
except that he wrote five works in Tagalog including an _Arte_ and
_Diccionario_. Huerta was unable to find any record of him in the
mission lists, the capitularies or the death records, but that he was
in the Philippines before 1649 we can be sure of from the notice of
him in the manuscript of that date.
[87] Huerta, p. 495. Montes y Escamilla came to the islands in 1583
and remained there until his death in 1610. Five works in Tagalog
are attributed to him, an _Arte_, _Diccionario_, _Confesionario_,
_Devocional tagalog_, and a _Guia de Pecadores_. The _Devocional_
is listed by Medina, no. 16, p. 12.
[88] Pablo Rojo, _Fr. Juan de Plasencia_, _Escritor_, Appendix 3 of
Santa Inés, II, p. 590. An early reference by Fernández, _Historia
Eclesiastica_, p. 300, speaking of the Franciscan missionary successes
among the natives, says, "They learned the Doctrina Christiana which
the priests translated into Tagalog."
[89] Rojo, in Santa Inés, II, pp. 590-1, says that the Doctrina
then being used among the Tagalogs was the same as that written by
Plasencia except for modernization in accordance with the changes
which had taken place in the language since his time.
[90] Medina, no. 15, p. 11.
[91] Chirino, p. 14.
[92] Colin, II, p. 325.
[93] Chirino, p. 27.
[94] Chirino, chaps. XV-XVII, pp. 34-41.
[95] On May 13, 1579, Philip II wrote to the Governor of the
Philippines, "Fray Domingo de Salazar, of the Dominican order, and
bishop of the said islands, has reported to us that he is going to
reside in these islands; and that he will take with him religious of
his order to found monasteries, and to take charge of the conversion
and instruction of the natives," B. & R., IV, p. 141, translated
from the original MS. in the Archivo-Historico Nacional, _Cedulario
indico_, t. 31, f. 132V, no. 135. Twelve of the twenty who set out
from Europe with Salazar died before reaching Mexico, and the others
were so sick that all but one remained there, so when Salazar landed
at Manila in March 1581 he was accompanied by twenty Augustinians,
eight Franciscans, and only one Dominican, Christoval de Salvatierra.
[96] For these and other general facts I have used Aduarte and
Remesal where they are supported by the other historians, Juan de
la Concepcion, San Antonio, San Agustin, Juan de Medina and Santa
Inés. It should be noted that Remesal acknowledged as his source for
much of the material on the Philippines the unpublished MS. history
of the Franciscan, Francisco de Montilla. The fifteen Dominicans were
Juan de Castro, Alonso Ximenez, Miguel de Benavides, Pedro Bolaños,
Bernardo Navarro, Diego de Soria, Juan de Castro the younger, Marcos
Soria de San Antonio, Juan de San Pedro Martyr (or Maldonado), Juan
Ormaza de Santo Tomás, Pedro de Soto, Juan de la Cruz, Gregorio de
Ochoa, Domingo de Nieva, and Pedro Rodriguez.
[97] By a bull of October 20, 1582 Pope Gregory XIII confirmed the
appointment already obtained from Pablo Constable de Ferrara, General
of the Dominican Order, making Juan Chrisóstomo vicar-general of the
Philippine Islands and China, and giving him authority to establish
a province there, B. & R., V, pp. 199--200, translated from Hernaez,
_Coleccion de bulas_, Brussels, 1879, I, p. 527, where it is printed
from the original MS. in the Vatican, Bular. Dom., t. 15, p. 412.
[98] In 1580 the Dominicans of Mexico had begun plans for
the establishment of a province in the Orient, and sent Juan
Chrisóstomo to Europe to obtain the necessary permission from lay
and ecclesiastical authorities. The Jesuit Alonso Sanchez, who had
been sent to Spain to explain the situation in the Philippines,
was at court, and told the King and Council of the Indies--quite
subverting his mission--that there was no need for more priests
and particularly no need for a new order there. Chrisóstomo was
discouraged, but the scheme was revivified by Juan de Castro who
finally secured a letter from Philip II on September 20, 1585 endorsing
the plan. Twenty-two volunteers sailed from Spain on July 17, 1586. In
Mexico the Dominicans again found Sanchez propagandizing against the
mission and also encountered the efforts of the Viceroy to persuade
the friars to remain there. Notwithstanding, twenty friars subscribed
to a set of ordinances at the Convent of Santo Domingo in Mexico on
December 17, 1586. Of the twenty, fifteen went to the Philippines,
three went directly to China, and Juan Chrisóstomo, who was ill and
weak, and Juan Cobo, who had business there, stayed behind in Mexico.
[99] Aduarte, I, p. 9.
[100] Aduarte, I, p. 70.
[101] Juan Cobo had stayed behind in Mexico on business, and during
his stay had been so moved by the scandals of the government there
that he preached publicly against them, as a result of which he
was banished by the Viceroy. He brought with him from Mexico a
fellow-reformer and exile, Luis Gandullo, and four other recruits
for the Philippine mission.
[102] These are printed in the _Ordinationes_ of 1604, see note 127,
and by Remesal, pp. 677--8, who says that "these ordinances were
printed in as fine characters and as correctly as if in Rome or Lyon,
by Francisco de Vera, a Chinese Christian, in the town of Binondo in
the year 1604 through the diligence of Fr. Miguel Martin."
[103] Sangley, a term used by the natives to designate Chinese,
was derived from the Cantonese _hiang_ (or _xiang_) and _ley_
meaning a "travelling merchant." It was adopted by the Spaniards
and in most instances used interchangeably with Chinese. If any
distinction existed it was that a Sangley was a permanent resident
of the Philippines--quite contrary to the derivation of the word--or
a Chinese of partially native blood. See San Agustin, p. 253.
[104] Particularly the Memorial to the Council of the Indies sent with
Sanchez, April 20, 1586, translated in B. & R., VI, pp. 167-8, from the
original MS. in the A. of I. (1-1-2/24), Torres, II, no. 3289, p. 159.
[105] B. & R., VII, pp. 130-1, translated from the original MS. in
the A. of I. (67-6-18), Torres, III, no. 3556, pp. 15-6. See the
statement of San Agustin quoted on p. 22, which gives the irreconciled
Augustinian view. Most of the contemporary witnesses, however, seem
to agree with the Dominicans.
[106] B. & R., VII, pp. 220-3, translated from Retana, _Archivo_,
III, pp. 47-80, and there printed from the original MS. in the A. of
I. (68-1-32), Torres, III, no. 3698, p. 32.
[107] Remesal, pp. 681-2.
[108] B. & R., VII, pp. 223-5, as in note 106.
[109] Martínez-Vigil, _op. cit._, p. 246, lists as written by
Benavides a _Vocabularium sinense facillimum_, and Vinaza, p. 17,
cites his entry.
[110] Schilling, p. 210, says that in his letter Cobo himself
recorded that "Benavides wrote the first Chinese catechism in the
Philippines." He does not however differentiate between writing in
Chinese characters and writing transliterated Chinese, and moreover
"hizo doctrina" may only mean that he taught the doctrine, not
necessarily that he wrote one.
[111] B. & R., VII, p. 238, as in note 106.
[112] Aduarte, I, p. 140.
[113] Aduarte, I, p. 140, says, before the previously quoted passage,
that Cobo "put the Doctrina Christiana in the Chinese language,"
and Viñaza, pp. 17-23, lists seven books by him, including the famous
translation of the Chinese classic, _Beng-Sim-Po-Cam_, the original
MS. of which, with an introductory epistle by Benavides, dated from
Madrid, December 23, 1595, is in the Biblioteca Nacional at Madrid; an
_Arte de las letras chinas_; _Vocabulario chino_; _Catecismo o doctrina
christiana en chino_; (cited from León Pinelo, _op. cit._, 1737-38, I,
col. 142); _Tratado de astronomia en chino_; _Linguae sinica ad certam
revocata methodum_ (called by Martinez-Vigil, _op. cit._, p. 263, "the
first works or work on the Chinese language"); and _Sententiae plures_,
excerpted from various Chinese books. See also Beristain, _op. cit._,
I, p. 316, and Quétif and Echard, _op. cit._, II, pp. 306-7.
[114] Aduarte, I, p. 122.
[115] Fernandez, _Historia Eclesiastica_, p. 304, "In the Chinese
language and letters, P. Fr. Domingo de Nieva, of San Pablo of
Valladolid, printed a memorial of the Christian life; and P. Fray
Tomas Mayor, of the province of Aragon, from the Convent and College
of Orihuela, the Symbol of Faith." In his _Historia de los Insignes
Milagros_, f. 217, Fernández states that both these works were printed
at Bataan. Since Mayor did not arrive in the islands until 1602 his
work is not pertinent to the present discussion. Mayor's book was seen
but inadequately described by Jose Rodriguez, _Biblioteca Valentina_,
1747, p. 406, from a copy then in the Library of the Dominican Convent
at Valencia, but now lost. Medina records it under the year 1607,
no. 6, p. 6. See also León Pinelo, _op. cit._, 1737--38, II, f. 919r,
and Antonio, _op. cit._, I, p. 330.
[116] Aduarte, I, p. 342.
[117] Medina, nos. 399-402, pp. 261-2.
[118] Aduarte, I, pp. 255-8. San Pedro Martyr moved back and forth a
good deal. The first year in the Philippines he was with Benavides at
Baybay; the second year he was in Pangasinan. In 1590 he was ordered
to the Chinese mission in Cobo's place by Castro before he left for
China. When Castro got back and Cobo could resume his old station,
San Pedro Martyr went to the vicariate of Bataan "the language of
which he learned very well," and when Cobo left for Japan in 1592,
San Pedro Martyr went back to San Gabriel.
[119] Aduarte, I, p. 323.
[120] Remesal, p. 683.
[121] See Hermann Hülle, _Über den alten chinesischen Typendruck und
seine Entzvicklung in den Ländern des Fernen Ostens_, N.P., 1923;
Thomas Francis Carter, _The Invention of Printing in China and its
Spread Westward_, New York, 1925; and Cyrus H. Peake, _The origin and
development of printing in China in the light of recent research_,
in the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1935, X, pp. 9-17.
[122] B. & R., VII, pp. 226, as in note 106.
[123] Aduarte, II, pp. 15-18.
[124] Medina, p. xix, supposed that the Doctrina was printed in
the Hospital of San Gabriel in Minondoc, but Aduarte, I, p. 107,
says that when the village of Baybay became overcrowded, it became
necessary to spread the Chinese Christian settlement to a new site
directly across the river, where land was given them by Don Luis
Pérez Dasmariñas, the son and successor of Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas,
and there a second church of San Gabriel was built. According to an
inscription on a painting of Don Luis, exhibited at the St. Louis
Fair of 1904 and illustrated in B. & R., XXX, p. 228, he bought the
land from Don Antonio Velada on March 28, 1594, so that San Gabriel
of Minondoc could not have been the place where the 1593 volumes were
printed. Marin, _op. cit._, II, p. 617, says that San Gabriel was
moved several years after its foundation to Binondo at the request
of the city, and was rebuilt twice. It is apparent that San Gabriel
in the Parian was abandoned after the church in Binondo was built.
[125] Juan de Vera was probably a comparatively common name at this
time, because upon baptism the natives and Chinese assumed any Spanish
name they pleased, and since Santiago de Vera was governor from 1584 to
1590, his last name would have been very popular. Aduarte, I, p. 86,
mentions an Indian chief, Don Juan de Vera, who helped the Dominicans
in Pangasinan, and Retana, col. 23, quotes from a document sent by
the Audiencia of the Philippines to the King, August 11, 1620, the
appointments as official interpreters of one Juan de Vera on June 15,
1598, and the same or another Juan de Vera on October 9, 1613.
[126] Aduarte, I, p. 108.
[127] The title-page of this unique book is as follows: [row of
type ornaments] / _Ordinationes Generales_ / prouinciæ Sanctissimi
Rosarij / [type ornament] Philippinarum. [type ornament] / Factæ per
admodum Reuerendum patrem fratrem / Ioanem de Castro, primum vicarium
generalem e- / iusdem prouintiæ. De consilio, & vnanimi con / sensu
omnium frattu, qui primit_9_ in pro / uintiam illam se contulerunt,
euan / gelizandi gratia./ Sunt que semper vsque in hodiernum diem in
om- / nibus eiusdem prouintiæ capitulis infalibiliter / acceptatæ,
inuiolabiliter ab omnibus / fratribus obseruandæ. / Binondoc, per
Ioannem de Vera china / Christianum. Cum licentia. 1604. / [row of
type ornaments]. The volume, an octavo bound in maroon levant morocco
by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, consists of eight leaves, as follows:
title-page as above, on the verso the permission signed at Manila,
June 24, 1604, by Fr. Miguel Martin de San Jacinto, prior provincial of
the Dominican Province of the Philippines; the text of the ordinances
in Latin on eleven pages, with the device of the Dominican order on
the verso of the last page; blank.
[128] See note 102.
[129] Medina, _Adiciones y Ampliacixones_, p. [5].
[130] Retana, cols. 77-8, where he gives as his source Hilario Ocio,
_Reseña biográfica de los religiosos de la provincia del Santisimo
Rosario de Filipinas_, Manila, 1891, I, p. 63. Ocio did not cite
Remesal as his source, but the information, including the printer's
name as Francisco de Vera, is the same.
[131] Both title-pages are reproduced in Francisco Vindel, _Manual
Gráphico-Descriptivo del Bibliófilo Hispano-Americano_, Madrid,
1930--34, IX, p. 22, and VII, p. 181 respectively.