On the twenty-first of January, 1687, General Don Juan de Zalaeta was
arrested by order of the governor, and thrust into the sulphur dungeon
[calabozo de azufre]. Item, they also arrested Licentiate Don Miguel
de Lozama, and conveyed him, wearing two pairs of fetters, to the
fort of San Gabriel. The goods of both were seized, and several of
their clerks arrested.
On the twenty-second, Dona Ynes, the wife of the said Don Miguel,
sent a petition to the said governor, who answered that the judge of
the suit was Don Francisco Velasco, alcalde-in-ordinary. Dona Ynes came
before the royal Audiencia, and that body passed an act providing that
the said alcalde should, after taking the confession of the accused,
present the documents within twenty-four hours. The governor, having
seen this decree, issued another, prohibiting further action by
the royal Audiencia, and ordering the alcalde to prosecute the case
without surrendering the documents. At night the governor summoned the
auditors and fiscal to a conference, and made an address to them--from
which resulted, as was noticed, great fear in the auditors, who almost
decided to forsake the Audiencia, and take refuge in sanctuary.
On the seventh of February, they arrested the auditor Don Diego
de Viga, put him on a vessel, and conveyed him to the island of
Mariveles. At the same time they made the most careful search, in
order to seize the auditor Don Pedro de Bolivar; but by that time he
had fled to sanctuary.
On the fourteenth of February, they took from his house, where she
had remained with guards, Dona Josefa Moran de la Cueva, the wife
of the auditor Don Pedro de Bolivar, and carried her into banishment
at Abucay.
On the sixteenth, they also seized Dona Ynes, sister of the said Dona
Josefa, and wife of Licentiate Don Miguel de Lezama, and carried her
to the same place, Abucay.
On the twenty-sixth of February, the college of the Society of Jesus
was surrounded [by soldiers], to remove thence the person of the
auditor Don Pedro de Bolivar; and not finding him, the men remained
on guard, both within and without the college, for the space of nine
days. In that time they searched the house eleven times--four of
these with violence, wrenching the locks from doors, and breaking open
tables; but they did not find the said Don Pedro. At the end of the
nine days, he showed himself, of his own accord, and they arrested
him and took him to Mariveles; several days before they had removed
from the said island the auditor Don Diego de Viga, and transferred
him to that of Lucban.
Just about this time a new Audiencia was formed, which was thus
arranged: the governor was its president; the royal fiscal became
an auditor, Captain Don Jose Cervantes was judge of Audiencia, and
Captain Juan de Agulo attorney-general.
On the fourth of March--the day on which [the college of] the Society
was first searched with violence--the English pirate captured a sloop
of the king's, which was coming from Pangasinan laden with three
thousand cabans of cleaned rice. Item, he also captured a champan
belonging to the alcalde of Pangasinan, which came laden with rice
and other products. [38]
On the same day, the fourth of March, the archbishop sent to Mariquina
to investigate whether Father Diego de Ayala was officiating as
cura; the latter prevented the notary from doing so, and, when other
people went to make the said investigation, he told them that they
need not take that trouble--that he was acting as cura in virtue of
the bull of St. Pius V and of his assignment [to that parish] by the
[royal] patron.
On the fifth of March there was preaching in the royal chapel by a
Recollect friar, against whom the governor issued a royal decree very
sharply rebuking him, which he caused to be read to all the religious
orders. A few days later, the archbishop sent an act to the prior of
Pasig, ordering him to officiate as cura to the people of Cainta. [39]
About Christmas, the royal magazines in Panay were burned, and in them
some six thousand cabans of rice. On the first of March, Saturday, the
Augustinians set fire to the cottage on the ranch which the college
of the Society of Jesus at Yloilo owns in Suaraga. On the following
Saturday, March 8, fire visited the Augustinians, destroying a visita,
a church and convent, and more than forty houses in the village. Item,
and the following Saturday, March 15, the church and house were
burned in the village of Dumangas, without their being able to save
their valuables, or to prevent the burning of the pious offerings
[colectas] of Cebu, which had been stored [in that convent]; and,
besides this, more than two thousand cabans of rice.
On the sixteenth of March, Passion Sunday, while Father Diego de
Ayala was saying mass in the village, the church was entered by armed
men, with Bachelor Teodoro de Aldana, the notary of the archbishop;
the prior of Pasig, with two laymen; and other people. After mass
was ended, they read to the Indians an act by the archbishop, which
commanded them, under penalty of flogging and the galleys, to appear
within three days before the prior of Pasig, resorting to the latter
for religious ministrations, and to repeat the sacraments.
On the seventeenth of March, the father procurator, Antonio de Borja,
[40] presented a petition to the governor that he, as vice-patron,
should take measures regarding the violent spoliation which the
archbishop had inflicted on the Society. The governor referred the
petition to the royal fiscal, as being his Lordship's counselor,
but the said fiscal excused himself. Then it was referred to Doctor
Cervantes, to Fray Francisco de Santa Ynes, and to many other persons,
both ecclesiastics and laymen, but all excused themselves; and in
these proceedings much time passed, so that it was the end of May
before anything was accomplished.
On the nineteenth of March, in the afternoon, the secretary came to
deliver in behalf of the royal court a verbal message to the father
procurator [sic] Antonio Jaramillo, advising him of the oversight of
the preacher, who that morning in the sermon--at which the governor
and the king's fiscal were present--had omitted to use the phrase,
"very potent sir." The same message was sent to the superiors of the
other religious orders, because, several days before, the prior of
St. Augustine and another religious, a Dominican, had fallen into
the same offense, when preaching in the royal chapel.
On the twenty-seventh of March, Holy Thursday, the monument [41]
of the Tagalogs in the church of Santo Domingo was burned. On
the twenty-eighth, Good Friday, there was a fire in Binondo and
part of Tondo; and one thousand two hundred and sixty houses were
destroyed--two hundred and fifty-eight in the village of Tondo, and one
thousand and two in that of Binondo. Thirteen persons were burned to
death, and many others escaped only with serious injuries. The fire
caught three times in the church of Binondo, but the Indians of San
Miguel and Dilao put it out.
On the twelfth of April the archbishop demanded aid from the governor,
and with it arrested the cantor Don Geronimo de Herrera, and placed
him in the fort of Santiago. Soon afterward, the governor caused the
arrest of Don Juan de Cordoba and one Carcano, respectively procurator
and receptor in the royal Audiencia; and afterward, on the twentieth
of April, of Blas de Armenta, secretary of the court, and of Captain
Diego de Vargas and others.
On the twenty-second of April Father Ferragut died in the college.
On the eighteenth of April, Domingo Diaz came to give the father
rector, Antonio Jaramillo, a copy of a petition by the Augustinians;
the father rector, before he knew that the said Domingo Diaz had come,
had made, in scriptis [i.e., in writing], his protest of incompetency
of the judge, and of challenge and appeal.
On the twenty-third of April, the father procurator, Antonio de
Borja, sent to the archbishop a document in which was set forth in
due form the said protest, challenge, and appeal. He also presented
to the governor a petition that he would give proper attention to the
disturbance which the Society had suffered, and the injury inflicted
on the royal patronage.
On the twenty-eighth of April, Domingo Diaz came again to give Father
Borja a copy of another petition from the Augustinians, who said that
the challenge and appeal which he had interposed were of no force.
On the fourth of May, they brought Captain Mateo Perea under arrest
from the Lake [of Bay], and left him in his own house with guards. On
the sixth of May, Domingo Diaz came to make known to Father Borja an
act of the archbishop--who declaring that there was no occasion for
the challenge and appeal interposed, commanded that the parties should
make their complaint; and that within six days the documents for the
sentence should be brought to his illustrious Lordship. On the tenth
of May, Father Antonio Borja presented before the royal Audiencia a
plea of fuerza, in order that he might make known the injury which
the archbishop had done to the Society and the royal patronage.
On the fourteenth of May, Domingo Diaz came to summon for the
sentence of the archbishop the father rector, Pedro de Oriol, [42]
who replied that he did not regard himself as summoned, or acknowledge
his illustrious Lordship as a competent judge. On the same day, the
fourteenth, Licentiate Don Antonio Roberto was brought a prisoner
from Marinduque; and they placed him in the provisor's house, with
a pair of very heavy fetters.
On the fifteenth of May, the father rector, Pedro de Oriol, presented
a petition to the governor, asking him to issue a juridical testimony
of his recourse [to the Audiencia] with a plea of fuerza; and that
notification be sent to the archbishop that his illustrious Lordship
must not take any further action until the royal court should decide
what must be done.
On the seventeenth of May, Domingo Diaz came to make known the sentence
of the archbishop, which declared that the Augustinians were the lawful
parish priests of Mariquina, and that the sacraments administered by
the fathers of the Society since October 12, 1686, had no force. The
reply to all was, [that such proceeding was] null, and contrary to
law. On the nineteenth of May, Father Borja came before the royal
court a second time with a plea of fuerza. On the twentieth of May,
the royal court resolved to issue a royal decree to the archbishop,
commanding him to deliver up the documents in the Mariquina lawsuit.
On the twenty-third of May, they arrested the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz
de Cobarrubias, by order of the archbishop; they placed him in the
provisor's house, and seized his goods. At the end of May, they
carried the two auditors, and soon afterward Don Juan de Zalaeta and
Don Miguel de Lezama, to Cagayan, as exiles; and they were placed one
in each of the four garrisons that are maintained in the said province.
On the third of June, a notary came from the archbishop with a petition
from the Augustinians, who were asking his illustrious Lordship to
confirm the sentence that he had pronounced. Father Borja made a reply,
more than two sheets in length.
On the fifth of June, a royal decree was made known to the archbishop
that he must exhibit the documents in the Mariquina lawsuit, and
his illustrious Lordship said that he would reply and would send the
papers--which were in regard to the value of the sacraments.
On the eighth of June the archbishop held a consultation with the
royal Audiencia, asking its aid to arrest and punish Fathers Diego
de Ayala and Pedro Cano. [43] Up to today, June 24, the archbishop
has not exhibited the documents in the Mariquina lawsuit.
News of this year of 1688 and part of the last one, with an appendix
of other points
1. The ship "Santo Nino" which sailed from Cavite last year, 1687,
put back to the port of Bagatao, to the grief of everyone--not only
on account of the deterioration of property and the very considerable
damages, but also this greatly delayed the remedy which is needed
by the public calamities and the oppression under which this colony
lies. The ship's return to port is attributed to the excessive lading
which it carried, to careless arrangements and lack of proper outfit,
and to the undue timidity of those who had charge of the vessel.
2. The Recollect fathers made a raid through the lands of Silang,
which they call Alipaopao, Oyaye, Malinta, etc.; and, trying to adjudge
them to the ranch of Sarmiento, which they had recently bought through
the agency of General Endaya, they committed unheard-of atrocities
in the houses and grain-fields of the Indians--burning and ravaging
them as furiously and horribly as if an army of Camucones had raided
them. The Indians lost, as appears from a juridical statement that
was drawn up, more than three thousand pesos.
3. A Dominican friar in Cagayan refused to absolve a Spaniard at the
hour of death, in spite of all his entreaties for absolution. Although
the friar had begun to hear his confession, the dying man could not
proceed with it, being stopped by the nausea which comes at death,
and he therefore died without absolution. I do not know all the
circumstances in this case.
4. Another friar in the same province refused to absolve Auditor
Don Diego de Viga, unless he would first express I know not what
protestations and detestations. The auditor replied that, for what
concerned the banishment of the archbishop, his conscience had not
given him any uneasiness, because he had understood that he acted
in regard to it in accordance with the laws and decrees of our king
a sovereign so Catholic as is that of Espana; and that in affairs
in which he had felt scruples, and had proceeded according to human
judgment, there was nothing for which to employ the friar's zeal,
and still less occasion for his trying to have him make those
detestations and protestations. Nevertheless, the friar persisted
[se estuvo en sus trece] in refusing to absolve him; and Don Diego,
embracing the holy Christ and uttering fervent acts of contrition,
said that he appealed to the mercy of God, and thus he died. He was
buried in consecrated ground, although afterward, it is reported,
the archbishop sent orders that his bones should be disinterred,
and removed from consecrated ground.
5. Dona Josefa de la Cerda, the wife of Auditor Bolivar, died [44]
in her exile, from anxiety and grief and despair. She asked for
a confessor from the Society, which was not granted to her. The
Dominican friar who served as parish priest in the village where
she was an exile refused to absolve her unless she would comply with
certain conditions, with which those fathers are wont to fetter and
hinder souls. She was not minded to comply with these, or to make
her confession to a religious of that order; and while a Franciscan
who had been granted to her was on his way, she died. They spread the
report that she had died impenitent, and buried her on the seashore.
6. The archbishop, since he came back from his exile, has not ceased
to wage war on this city. He demanded aid for arresting the religious
of the seraphic father St. Francis, who preached in favor of the royal
patronage; item, for arresting those who were ministering in Mariquina,
the fathers of the Society; item, for seizing Father Cano; and all
these acts proceed from the fury and partiality of Father Verart.
7. The bishop of Sinopolis died, and orders were given that he be
buried in [the church of] the Society of Jesus. This the archbishop
and his friars took so ill that the latter refused to go to his
funeral and burial, to the surprise and scandal of the whole city;
and the archbishop prevented the cabildo from paying the last honors
to the bishop in the church of the said order, declaring that it was
polluted by [containing] the remains of Senor Grimaldos, who in the
opinion of the said fathers died excommunicate.
8. The archbishop forcibly took from the fathers of the Society the
administration of the village of Cainta and Jesus de la Pena, and
gave it to the Augustinian fathers--thus revenging himself on those
of the Society, whom he regarded as enemies; and for this cause he
commanded them to tear down their buildings at Jesus de la Pena,
to the foundations--the governor aiding him in this atrocious act,
contrary to the laws and privileges of the royal patronage.