During the fourteen months which remained in the term of office of our
father provincial Fray Juan de Jérez after his death, the province was
governed by the experienced prelate our father Fray José Duque--so
successfully and peaceably, and with so much tranquillity in the
order, that he was able to moderate the great sorrow which all felt
at the loss of the deceased provincial. In this peaceful condition
the time came for holding the chapter-session which took place in
the convent at Manila, on April 30 of this year of 1689; father Fray
Luis Díaz presided therein, as the eldest definitor of the preceding
chapter. There was not much discussion among the fathers in their
effort to find a person whom they might elect as provincial, because
for a long time all had fixed their attention on father Fray Francisco
de Zamora, who was then prior of the convent at Manila. He was a
native of Medina del Campo, and a son of the convent at Valladolid,
who had come to this province in the year 1669; a religious of great
prudence, and unusual ability for governing; and for many years they
had only delayed electing him until he should reach the age of forty
years, since that is the time fixed in our Constitutions. They found
that he lacked six months of that age, which, as he alleged, exempted
him from election for so heavy a burden; but having investigated the
matter, and basing their action on many previous precedents which had
occurred not only in this province but in others, in which there had
been dispensations [from the rule], the father who presided granted
one in this case, as he was vicar-general, and father Fray Francisco
was elected provincial on the said date, April 30.
The definitors who were elected were fathers Fray Julián Zapata,
Fray Juan de San Nicolás, Fray Gaspar de San Agustín, and Fray Simón
Martínez. The visitors for the preceding triennium were present,
fathers Fray Ignacio de Mercado and the reader Fray Francisco de
Ugarte; and as new visitors were appointed father Fray Eusebio de
Porras and the father reader Fray José López. Ordinances were enacted
that were very useful for the better government of the province,
and for the administration of the missions in our charge; this is the
greatest responsibility of the chapters, because the system in this
province is so different from that in the European provinces, which
needs very different corporate laws for the preservation of each,
and for enabling the individuals therein to fulfil the obligations
of the religious without failing in those of parish priest--which in
this province is the function of all its members, while in Perú and
Nueva España it is the occupation of but few.
The governor ad interim, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, began to govern
with so much prudence and ability that it seemed as if he had the
benefit of long experience, although he had hardly known a few months
of such responsibility. The principal cause of this was the concord
in which he lived with all, as well as the aid which he received from
his associates, Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina and Don Juan de Sierra,
who vied with each other in cooperating with their colleague in
discharging the duties of his office. It is in this direction that
the ad interim governments of auditors in these islands are weak and
fail of success; for, peevish because the precedence of seniority
is not theirs, they try to obscure the credit of him who wields the
rod of authority, and often show themselves as his worst enemies,
and thus aristocratic rule is converted into democratic confusion.
His first care was the despatch of the galleon "Santo Niño" to Nueva
España, in charge of General Don Antonio de Astina; for as this
commander had left the office of admiral of the Windward fleet (for
which he had a proprietary appointment from his Majesty the king),
it was not just that a personage of so great merits should return
as passenger--for the patache "San Fernando," in which he had come,
was not fit for the return trip of so severe a navigation; and
it had been laid aside, not only on this account, but because its
owner, Felipe Vertis, had died suddenly. The investigating judge,
the alcalde of court Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, embarked with
his notary; all the commissions which he carried from the supreme
Council having been concluded, he carried [the documents concerning]
them with him, as also the copious evidence in the residencia of Don
Juan de Vargas--who remained for an indefinite time in banishment
in the village of Lingayén, suffering the hardships and miseries of
being an excommunicate, denounced as such on the church-doors, and
with no consolation save his own courage and that of his wife, Doña
Isabel de Ardila. Don Juan de Zalaeta embarked, under the obligation
of presenting himself at Madrid with the proceedings in his case. The
dean, Don Miguel Ortiz, was bound on the same errand; and father
Fray Raimundo Verart went aboard with powers of attorney from the
archbishop, in whose favor he printed a long and learned manifesto. The
galleon had a very prosperous voyage, duly arriving at Acapulco;
and on the return trip it brought us the new proprietary governor.
In this year of 1689, came the end of the long and troubled life of
the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who was sixty-eight years old,
an age attained by few persons in these regions; and these years
were rendered more painful by the many troubles and annoyances
that had resisted his courage--which was very great, [although]
in a small body. For many months he had been well prepared for this
inevitable and impending event, as the devout religious that he was;
and from his archiepiscopal palace he watched over and promoted the
rigorous observance of the province of the Holy Rosary of the Order
of Preachers. A Benjamin of the great patriarch St. Dominic, [118] he
came to this province in the year 1647, after having taught arts and
theology in the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid; and he
was therefore regarded as the greatest theological professor who had
been in these islands. He was provincial during two quadrenniums,
and prior of Manila for two more; and he was commissary of the
Holy Office when the appointment as archbishop reached him. We have
already seen his constancy in defending the episcopal authority. His
charity was great, for he spent whatever was left from his income
(which did not exceed five thousand pesos), in aiding the poor;
and with it he assisted the missionaries of Tungkin. A nephew of his
came to visit him, but he would not consent that the governor should
give this man any office or position, and made him go back with very
little outfit. His death would have been considered, in another man,
sudden and unexpected; for he was found dead at midnight on the day
of St. Sylvester, ending [his life] with the year, so that it could
be said, Et dies pleni inveniuntur in eis (Ps. xii, v. 10). But this
great prelate awaited the end of his days with full preparation, and
had just given orders for the making of a red pontifical vestment in
which he was to be buried; his body, embalmed, was deposited in the
church of Santo Domingo at Manila.
The see being declared vacant, the cabildo assumed its government;
and they could have ruled with great peace if they themselves had not
hunted up discord where they had thought to find greater peace. The
vacant see was ruled by Master Juan González de Guzmán, who was now
dean on account of the absence of Don Miguel Ortiz, and at the same
time was provisor and vicar-general of the cabildo; and as it seemed
to them that it would be expedient, for the greater authority of
the diocese, to cede the government to the bishop of Troya, Don Fray
Ginés Barrientos, they named him as its head. From this ensued great
dissensions, for the bishop-governor thought that he was superior to
the cabildo, and that they had transferred their authority to him,
leaving themselves entirely stripped of it; this is contrary to
all the teachings of the sacred canons, which in one precept of law
declare: Privilegio, quod habes propter me, non potes uti contra me;
and the established principle which states: Propter quod unumquodque
tale, illud magis. [119] They tried to persuade him, by very learned
manifestoes, that the cabildo alone could have constituted him its
vicar-general, with authority removable at the pleasure of the same
cabildo; and that they could therefore revoke the appointment which
they had conferred upon him, whenever they pleased. But the bishop of
Troya resolved not to yield, but to act as superior to and independent
of the cabildo. There were bitter disputes, proceeding from both sides,
so much so that, in order to avoid greater scandals, two members of
the cabildo--the dean, Master Juan González de Guzmán, and the cantor,
Don Estebán de Olmedo Gabaldón, a native of Campo de Crítana in La
Mancha--took refuge in our convent of San Pablo at Manila, from which
the bishop of Troya would have taken them, if the prudent governor,
Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, had not refused to give him the aid
which he asked for that exploit.
The bishop of Troya was very learned, a great theologian and preacher,
but in this matter he erred as a man, for it seemed to him that
the rank and consecration of a bishop rendered him superior on that
occasion to the authority which the cabildo possessed by law in the
vacant see. Among many other manifestoes which were published in
defense of the cabildo, one came out which was very well grounded,
the motto or inscription of which, as being ingenious and apropos,
is worthy of being noted here; it said, Non licet tibi habere uxorem
fratris tui Philippi (Mark vi, v. 18), [120] alluding to the name
of the deceased archbishop, and to their both belonging to the same
order. But the bishop of Troya, notwithstanding he was so learned
and so holy, was very hard to dissuade from his opinion, although on
the present occasion he had every one against him; and although he
withdrew his claims, on account of the urgent representations made
by the acting governor and the other auditors and all the religious
orders, he yielded through constraint and not from conviction. The
cabildo continued its government, with much peace, during the vacancy
of the see.
During this interval the year 1690 came in, and the acting governor
despatched the galleon "Nuestra Señora del Rosario" to Nueva
España, in command of General Don José Madrazo; and in it embarked
Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas. In order to do this he had left
his place of banishment at Lingayén, after having suffered great
hardships; and the end of these was to die on this voyage, in the
higher latitude. [This occurred] at a place which people call Doña
María de la Jara, of considerable note on account of the many deaths
which have occurred in that place; for among those who have died
there are four proprietary governors, and some acting governors, and
some auditors, and the above-mentioned bishop of Troya. Accordingly
this place is the dread of those who sail in that navigation, and
especially for persons of so high degree; for the poor seamen go and
come past it with greater security.
After this galleon had been despatched, news came about June of the
landing of the galleon "Santo Niño," which in the preceding year had
sailed for Acapulco, in charge of Don Antonio de Astina; in it came, as
its commander, Don Juan de Garaycoechea--a Navarrese, from the valley
of Baztán--who was married in Manila, and had spent several years in
Nueva España. In the galleon came the new governor, Don Fausto Cruzat
[y] Góngora, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a Navarrese,
a native of Pamplona, of the illustrious lineage of Cruzat--well known
in that kingdom, since from it have proceeded men so distinguished as
Don Martín de Redín y Cruzat, grand master of Malta; and his brother
Don Tiburcio de Redín, well known for his courage and still more for
his virtue, for, having entered the Capuchin order, he merited that his
biography should be printed with the title, The Spanish Capuchin, as
an example for his successors. An illustrious shoot from this house of
Cruzat is also the glorious St. Francis Javier, the apostle of India.
This gentleman brought his wife, Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui y Aguirre,
a native of Cádiz, a matron of great beauty and still greater virtue;
three sons, Don Martín, Don Fausto, and Don Juan; and two daughters,
Doña Ignacia and Doña Teresa. He also brought a sister, named Doña
Teresa de Aróstegui, who afterward married the aforesaid Don Juan de
Garaycoechea, then a knight of the Order of Santiago, who later died
in Méjico. Don Fausto had been waiting in that city three years, until
the term allowed to Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui in the government
here should be completed; and he would have waited much longer if
Don Gabriel's death had not dispensed him from a longer detention,
for with him was begun the practice of sending successors who may be
on the watch for the governor's [term of] life--I know not whether
it be to wish him well. Much could be said of this, and of the great
difficulties which can result from such a precaution--such as the
sale of offices, as has been done for many years; but it is not my
obligation to give an opinion on matters of state, but to relate
facts without contesting the laws.
Governor Don Fausto brought here many persons of good family:
Don Juan Lingurín, a man of great virtue, who died in Manila with
the reputation of being a great servant of God; for he was greatly
addicted to meditation, prayer, and mortification. Sargento-mayor
Don Fernando Iglesias Montañés, his secretary, who afterward married
Doña María Morante, who came in the suite of the governor's wife. Don
Juan de Rivas, a native of Galicia, and a general in the army; he
married another lady of Doña Beatriz's household, named Doña Juana de
Aragón. Captain Don Miguel de Salazar, of Toledo, who was grievously
slain in the year 1709. Don Angel Liaño, Captain Don Frutos Delgado,
Don Pedro de Subirá, Don Francisco Valdés, Don José de Veroluca,
and many others. [Among these were] General Don Pedro de Lucena
and Captain Don Lucas de Lucena, brothers, who are still living;
Captain Don José de Luzarrondo, a Navarrese; Captain de Iriarte,
who afterward returned to España; and Master Don Juan Aguilar, the
governor's chaplain, who had spent some time in these islands, being
one of the household of the bishop of Sinopolis, Don Fray Juan Durán,
assistant of the bishop of Cebú. In this galleon came Captain Don
Patricio de Aguila--an Irishman, brother of the pilot Guillermo de
Aguila--and Captain Pedro Quijada, both married; and other officers
who are still living, with an excellent reenforcement of men for the
Manila garrison.
What is most important for our history is, that a numerous and choice
mission of religious for this province came, in charge of father Fray
Álvaro de Benavente, who in 1686 had been sent [to Europa] for this
purpose, and made his voyage by way of Batavia and Holanda, as we have
briefly related. That navigation was very difficult, because when the
Dutch ships with which he was going approached the English Channel they
learned that at its entrance was a French fleet. For this reason they
changed their route, doubling Cape Clare, a promontory of Ireland;
and they went as far as 63° of [north] latitude, so that they could
sail around the northern extremity of Scotland, and therefore they
suffered great cold and hardship. As soon as father Fray Álvaro de
Benavente arrived at Bilbao with his companion Fray Juan Verganzo, he
set out on his journey to the court, where he presented his despatches,
and explained the reasons why he had made his voyage by way of Batavia;
for this route was strictly prohibited by his Majesty, and might cause
much hindrance to the procurators. Having secured the approval of the
Duke de Medinaceli and the lords of the royal Council of the Indias,
he departed for the Roman court, to ask for the relaxation of the
oaths which the missionaries in China were commanded to take, of
obedience to the apostolic vicars sent out by the holy Congregation
of the Propaganda. [Diaz relates with some detail the progress and
success of this embassy by Benavente, because the question at issue
therein has an important place in the controversy over the line of
demarcation between the domains of Spain and Portugal in the East;
but we omit this part, as it is unimportant for our narrative.]
[Father Fray Álvaro] also had to obtain from our very reverend general
Fray Fulgencio Travalloni various statutes and corporate laws for
the government of this province; and these were [in the form of]
fifty-eight decrees, given in the convent of San Martín at Sena [i.e.,
Sienna], on May 28, 1688, [while the father general was engaged]
in the general visitation of Italia; father Fray Álvaro brought them
in printed form, with a Roman imprint. But with the course of time
it was found by experience that these laws were unduly rigorous,
and not very satisfactory for the government of this province;
and it was continually asking for dispensations from them, until our
father general Fray Adeodato Nuzzi, of Altimira, sent orders that this
province should change and correct them as it should find expedient;
and this was done in the intermediate chapter of the year 1710. Father
Fray Álvaro brought many favors and jubilees from his Holiness for
many convents of this province, and a bull to the effect that the
religious who, knowing any language of the provinces under our charge,
should explain [the Christian doctrine] in the convent of Manila for
a period of eight years should bear the title of "Master," with the
exemptions belonging to that dignity, and that he might exercise a
perpetual vote in the provincial chapters; but up to the present time
there has been no religious who has devoted himself to that occupation,
or attracted much importance to this so unusual concession.
For the missionaries in China he gained the subsidy and stipend which
his Majesty gives to the missionaries of the other religious orders,
that is, a hundred pesos to each one for a year's support. He obtained
a royal decree that the trade and commerce with the Portuguese of
Macán, which until that time had been forbidden and full of risk,
should be free; and this dispensation was obtained only by the
information given by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente that this was
the safest door by which the missionaries could gain entrance into
China. But the Portuguese, although they enjoy greatly to their
profit the commerce of Manila, which is the chief means of their
preservation, carry out very poorly the arrangement, as regards
giving passage to the missionaries; for not only do they not give
them entrance, but they inflict many annoyances on the religious,
as they did with this very father Fray Álvaro, in both his first and
his second visit to China. What keeps them in this attitude is the
incorrectly understood patronage of their king of Portugal; for they
can claim the same things in Mogol, Persia, Turquia and Constantinopla,
and in the empire of Trapisonda, as included in the hemisphere of their
demarcation. Father Fray Álvaro returned to España with a commission
of vicar-general (which had been granted to him very fully by our own
reverend father general); and he busied himself in calling together
the religious who were to come in the mission [to Filipinas]. Since
he had passed through the province of Aragón on his return from Roma,
some religious offered themselves to him there, not only from Aragón
but from Valencia; and there some others who afterward were enlisted
by father Fray Pedro Cerro--to whom father Fray Álvaro had delegated
his own powers, since father Fray Pedro was a religious who was very
friendly to this province, and zealous for the good of souls.
Before father Fray Álvaro reached Manila with his religious, Governor
Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora made his entry into the city; this was
done on St. James's day, in the afternoon. Two magnificent and very
beautiful triumphal arches were erected for him, with large emblematic
representations and ingenious allegories. One was made at the cost and
by the care of the Society of Jesus; and the other by the care of our
Augustinian fathers, at the place where the governor would pass our
convent of San Pablo, with the idea of the history of Janus--with
ingenious Latin inscriptions and epigrams, explained in Castilian
eight-line stanzas; and to these were added, in all these places,
praises [of the governor]. This was the last reception of this sort
that was given to the governors, its disuse being begun with the next
governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu--who, as he came wearing mourning
for the death of our king Don Carlos II, would not allow this festal
mode of reception.