Of the election of our father Fray Andrés Verdugo as provincial;
and the arrival of Governor Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and
Archbishop Don Miguel de Poblete.
... The time for holding the chapter-session of this province
arrived. The voting fathers assembled in the convent of San Pablo in
Manila, on May three, 1653. The senior definitor, father Fray Lucas
de Aguilar, presided; and they unanimously elected as provincial the
father lecturer, Fray Andrés de Verdugo, a minister of the province
of Tagalos, a prominent religious, and one who was very learned,
prudent, and affable. He bore the name Verdugo [77] by antiphrasis,
according to his characteristics, which were suitable for the office
of father and superior. The definitors elected were the fathers Master
Fray Alonso de Carvajal, Fray Francisco de Madrid, [78] the lecturer
Fray Francisco de Villalón, and Fray José de la Cuesta, [79] who was
very learned in the Greek language. The visitors who were present
were fathers Fray Lorenzo de Figueroa and Fray José de Betoño [80]
(substitute for father Fray Tomás de Velasco, [81] who had returned
to España).
In a private meeting of the definitors which was held in the convent
of Tondo, December 22, father Fray Francisco de Victoria, [82] prior
of that convent, was appointed procurator to España with the same
commissions and authority which had been borne by father Fray Juan
Lozano, who died the preceding year on the voyage to Acapulco. But
father Fray Francisco de Victoria had the same fortune, for he embarked
the next year and died on the high sea, en route to Nueva España. That
voyage is very dangerous to those who are accustomed to the climate
of the Philippines, because of the great change which is experienced
as the galleon ascends to a high northern latitude (sometimes as high
as forty degrees), and then again descends to sixteen, in which lies
the port of Acapulco. Therefore, that so sudden change is the cause
of many dying on that voyage, which is the longest, most tedious,
and most dangerous in all the seas. It is undertaken in the most
stormy season, when navigation is denied to the rest of the world;
and, in that time, the months of October and November are the season
when our galleons are battling with the greatest tempests. If it were
not for the great strength of the galleons and the quality of their
timbers, that so dangerous navigation could not be performed; and
above all is their safety due to divine Providence, in whose charge
is the conservation of these islands, where there is so numerous and
excellent a Christian people. They apparently serve as a counterpoise
to the ingratitude of the European nations of the north, who, at the
same time when these islands were discovered, had been seduced by
various heresies, and denied obedience to the Roman Catholic Church
and their legitimate kings.
The ship "San Francisco Javier"--which had wintered at Acapulco,
as it had arrived late and very hardly used--left that port March
three; and, having had a very fortunate voyage by the help of divine
clemency, and having profited by the entire monsoon of the brisas,
arrived at so good a season that it entered the Embocadero of San
Bernardino June 26. The mail was sent on from the island of Ticao,
in order to rejoice Manila with the glad news of the treasure which
was coming in that galleon, to wit, the following persons.
As governor and captain-general of these islands was coming Don
Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, a native
of Malaga, late castellan of Acapulco. He was a brother of the count
of Prigiliana, and uncle of his Excellency Don Rodrigo Manuel Manrique
de Lara, count of Aguilar and Prigiliana--who was a member of the
Council of State and governor of that of Aragón, viceroy of Valencia,
of Andalucía, the coasts of the Ocean Sea, and the royal fleet. He
is a gentleman worthy of eternal renown in these islands, since,
if he was not the best, he is not left behind by any of those who
are most remembered for piety, devotion, and zeal for the service of
God and their king. In all things he had a clear understanding and an
admirable eloquence; he was very jovial by nature, and easily pleased
all men. Accordingly, he left behind not only a lasting memory of his
eloquence and disinterestedness, but also of his discretion. [On his
return to Malaga he becomes a priest.]
Doctor Don Miguel Millán de Poblete, the consecrated archbishop of
Manila, also came. He was a native of the imperial city of Méjico,
and was an excellent theologian and canonist, doctoral canon of La
Puebla, magistral prebend in the cathedral of Méjico, and rector of its
university. He had refused to accept the bishopric of Nicaragua. He was
highly esteemed by Don Juan de Palafox, who consecrated him and gave
him the pallium.... With him he brought his nephew, Master Don José
de Poblete, who, after having been dean of Manila, died bishop-elect
of Nueva Segovia.
There came also the most illustrious master, Don Fray Rodrigo de
Cárdenas of the Order of Preachers, a native of Lima, preacher to his
Majesty, and consecrated bishop of Nueva Segovia. As it has been his
lot to be celebrated by the most skilful pen of the reverend father
master Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz in the second part of the History of
the province of Santo Rosario, he does not need the rude tracings of
my pen. There came, elected and appointed as bishop of Cebú, the dean
of Manila, Doctor Don Juan de Velas; and as bishop of Nueva Cáceres
or Camarines, the very reverend father Fray Antonio de San Gregorio,
[83] lecturer and calificador and commissary of the Holy Office. He
was also provincial of that province of San Gregorio of the Order of
St. Francis, because of the death of Don Fray Antonio de Zaldivar, a
religious of our father St. Augustine, of the province of Méjico--who
died without having been consecrated, in the year 1649, after he had
governed that church for little more than one year, his death causing
great sorrow in all quarters because of his great virtues and learning.
As auditor came Licentiate Don Salvador Gomez de Espinosa, an eminent
jurisconsult; and, to act as his Majesty's fiscal, Don Juan de Bolivar
y Cruz, father of Doctor Don Pedro de Bolivar y Mena who was auditor
and came to an unfortunate end in our time; for his associates made
him an accomplice in the exile of the archbishop Don Fray Felipe Pardo
of the Order of St. Dominic. Two missions came in that galleon, one of
our Recollect religious, and the other of the Society of Jesus. Some
very notable people came, so many that those who came in that galleon
amounted to six hundred persons. Their journey was so propitious that
only three persons died on the voyage.
The devil was very angry at the great war that he would have to wage
because of the holy prelates and religious who came on that galleon
"San Francisco Javier." Accordingly, what he could not do on the high
sea he managed to do from the Embocadero to Manila. For the winds
rebelled against the ship at the island of Mindoro, and so frightful
a tempest arose that the galleon was all but lost, and in danger
of going to pieces on some high reefs about that island. They cast
anchor, and the archbishop conjured the storm, which immediately
calmed itself. That galleon suffered three similar storms among
the islands before they reached the bay of Manila and cast anchor
at Cavite, July 23--although the governor and archbishop landed the
day before that in a falúa which was sent to the middle of the bay
by the castellan of Cavite, the commander Lorenzo Orella y Ugalde,
so often mentioned in this history.
[The governor causes the archbishop to disembark first, in order that
he might bless the land; as if in return for this, the sardines,
which had deserted the bay of Manila at the exile of Archbishop
Guerrero, again entered that bay. The governor, disembarking on the
twenty-second, pays homage to the archbishop. The latter makes his
public entry into Manila on the twenty-fourth and the governor the next
day. The Recollects bring a holy picture (an Ecce Homo) which becomes
an object of veneration in their convent of San Nicolás at Manila,
where the new governor attends. The first work of the latter is to take
the residencia of his predecessor, which is entrusted to the direction
of Auditor Sebastián Caballero de Medina. The charges preferred are
those of harsh conduct, but he is so free from covetousness that "it
is recounted of him that he only drew for his expenses five hundred
pesos monthly out of the pay of thirteen thousand pesos granted
to the governors of these islands; and accordingly, the balance, a
considerable amount, was afterward paid to his heirs." He appeals from
all the charges to the Council of the Indias, and is sent to Spain,
but dies during the voyage, over seventy years of age. Fajardo's
favorite is condemned to be beheaded, to vast fines, and to the
confiscation of his property. He appeals to Spain, but the sentence
is there confirmed. Before the execution of the sentence, however,
he dies in prison, in poverty. His money and movable property are
confiscated by the treasury and his houses on the square opposite
the cathedral are used later as the governor's palace. The prelate
and the governor work hand in hand in the regeneration of Manila.]
The first employment of Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara in the
beginning of his government, was to appoint the brave Francisco de
Esteybar governor of the forts of Ternate, [84] and the commander Don
Francisco de Atienza of those of Zamboanga, for the credit of the
arms of España against the Dutch and against the king of Mindanao,
Cachil Corralat. He sent Father Magino Sola, of the Society of Jesus,
to the city of Macan as his ambassador, to make a treaty of commerce
and trade. [85] He set a galleon upon the stocks, but he was unable to
do as his great zeal wished because the royal treasury was exhausted
by the lack of supplies from Nueva España, and because the trading
galleons, which communicate vital strength to all these islands,
had put back so many times.
[The people of Manila recognize that the evils that have been visited
upon them are due to their sins, and accordingly an appeal is made to
the pope, Innocent X. The latter absolves them from all the censures
and interdicts they may have incurred, and concedes them plenary
indulgence and absolution for their sins; "and he blessed the land,
and ordered the archbishop to perform in public the ceremony of the
solemn benediction." The archbishop, who has brought that despatch with
him, sets the twenty-second of March for those ceremonies; and before
that date a great religious fervor sweeps through the city and its
suburbs. "On the Sunday assigned, the mass was chanted in the cathedral
before the holy sacrament, and the archbishop preached a learned
and fervent sermon, such as the season demanded--which was afterward
printed, as it was worth being published to all the world." In the
afternoon, the blessing of the land and the benediction in the name
of the pope follow. At the governor's request, the archbishop also
blesses the "fatal gate called Puerta de los Almacenes ('the gate of
the magazines'), through which Don Fray Hernando Guerrero had gone
into exile." The governor lives in great harmony for the ten years
of his service in the Philippines.]