Most illustrious Sir:
Following are the reasons advanced by brother Master Thomas Marquez,
procurator-general of the province of the most holy Name of Jesus, of
the Order of St. Augustine of the Philippine Islands, in the interest
and name of the said province, wherefore he seeks to be released from
the authority and jurisdiction of the provincials of Castile (who under
the claim of being vicars-general seek to govern it), and be subject
only to the most reverend general, as the true sole head and father of
the whole order, the same as do the other provinces of the West Indies.
The first reason is the avoidance of great confusion and chaos which we
have because of a plurality of rulers; inasmuch as being subject to two
rulers, namely, the most reverend father general, our true and worthy
superior, as well as to the provincial of Castile, who styles himself
vicar-general, we thus would receive diverse orders from the two whence
confusion would arise. For as we would be in doubt which one to obey,
our province would therefore be in grave peril.
1st. [122] Because the provinces of the Indies with their numerous
religious men of learning and virtue, who through their discretion and
wisdom are experts in the government of those countries, are troubled
with the orders, mandates, and censures of the provincials of Castile,
who to the grave injury and disgrace of the said provinces, being
concerned only about their own interests and not those of the
community, aim to govern them, now by issuing contrary ordinances that
are hurtful to the common good, and again by their unjust mandates that
are at variance with our constitutions and laws. For example, they
forbid those provinces to send to general chapter as definitor or
procurator any one who is prior, and should such a one be chosen, they
require him first to resign all his dignities so that should he go he
appears merely as one of the brethren. Whereas, they send to general
chapter their own brothers and friends, men laden with honors and
titles. Should any of Ours appear therein, they are referred to as so
many young men with no responsibility, who are wholly unfit to hold
office. Such grievance, so dishonoring to the brethren, is not only
very aggravating and harmful to all those provinces, but to the whole
order itself.
First. Because our constitutions require that every province send to
general chapter its own definitor and discreet, [123] in order that
these report to the chapter fathers relative to the state of their
province, the character of their brethren, etc.—a report that as
things are now managed is made through trickery, not by the expert
representatives of the provinces themselves, but by strangers, chosen
in Spain to take their place in the said chapters.
Secondly. Because although the said provinces commission their
procurators to go to general chapter, they do not attain the end in
view, for the reason that the said provincials of Castile, in concert
with the priors of that province, not content with charging the said
procurators two silver pieces [numis argentiis] and the remuneration
for the mass, which are also two other pieces, given to them for their
daily board by those procurators, from day to day, and being suborned
with money and gilts which the procurators give unwillingly to them
(but which they receive willingly) in order that they may be permitted
to carry on the things charged to them and be given associates, they
[i.e., the provincials and priors] as abovesaid not content with the
above charges, and imagining that the procurators are carrying with
them large amounts of money which they are greedy to get into their own
hands, worry and harry them by annulling their powers of
procuratorship, by forcing them to reveal all their affairs, which
thereupon they are inhibited from using, and by forbidding them under
censures from applying to the Roman curia or to the most reverend
general. Moreover, they are assigned by the provincials for residence
certain set convents, wherein, as happened to me, they have to lodge,
although I showed them an order from the most reverend general
forbidding the provincial of Castile from making any change in this
regard, such being the order and sentence of general chapter, confirmed
by his Holiness Clement the Eighth. But that was of no avail, for, as
appears from the letters and patent of the provincial of Castile, which
I have handed over to the reverend father, Brother John Baptist of
Piombino, [124] procurator-general [of the order], and which are now in
his keeping, I have been forced to flee hither.
Third reason. That authority of vicar-general which they arrogate to
themselves, serves them only for despoiling all the Indies, and
transferring the funds of the convents of the Indies to Spain; for by
that authority they send brethren to seek alms in those convents under
the title of alms-seeker, supporting their greed [cuditias] and sowing
(so that the convents might give readily and they receive) news to the
effect that they are about to send visitors to them and that they are
already appointed. Under that title they obtained twelve thousand gold
escudos from the province of Peru for the Salamanca house.
Lastly. This authority over those provinces is coveted by them in order
that thereby their own province may be relieved of restless characters.
For whenever the procurators of those countries reach Spain in their
search for ministers of the gospel to aid them in their ministry, they
are given the scourings of the province—unruly and ill-disciplined
brethren—instead of upright and learned persons, such as have been
picked out for their need, who, moreover, are not allowed to go
thither—a practice most hurtful to the preaching of the gospel, which
calls for learned and religious men.
For these and other reasons herein omitted for the sake of brevity, the
province of the [Philippine] Islands, whose procurator I am, is
grievously distressed; wherefore, in the hope of securing a remedy for
such evils, it has been moved to send me as its procurator, with power
to act as such in Spain and before this curia, as an expert in matters
appertaining to those countries for twenty years and upwards. In
consideration then of all these plaints, I pray your most illustrious
Lordship, in the name of my province, to deign to remedy these
grievances, by enjoining the said provincials of Castile from further
use of their authority; moreover, in accordance with the mandate of the
most reverend father-general, to command them to restore to me all the
things they have taken away, besides what I myself left in the convent
at Madrid; and again by enjoining them, even under censures, from in
any manner hindering the procurators of the said province of the
Philippines in their business, which they are to be allowed to carry on
freely, or from hindering the brethren of any province whatever of
Spain, who may wish to go to the said islands in order to engage in the
most holy work of preaching the gospel, whom they are besides, under no
matter what pretense, neither to impede, nor harass, nor dissuade from
going thither. The execution whereof may be left to the most
illustrious nuncio of Spain.
[Addressed: “To the most illustrious lord by brother Master Thomas
Marquez, procurator-general of the Order of St. Augustine of the
province of the Philippines in the name of the said province.”]
[Endorsed: “Received November 20, 1599.”]