e Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 – Volume 21 of 55 / 1624 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
Preface
This volume, dated 1624, is entirely devoted to religious matters, ecclesiastical or missionary in their scope. The current documents for that year are concerned with conflicts between the diocesan authorities and the religious orders, and between the civil and religious authorities in Manila; the defeat by the Audiencia of the late Governor Fajardo’s attempt to found a seminary for the training of Japanese missionaries to be sent to labor in their own country; and efforts by the Spanish government to check the assumptions of the religious orders. Then follows a historical account of the early Recollect missions in the islands, down to the year 1624, compiled from the works of Andrés San Nicolas, Luis de Jesús, and Juan de la Concepción.
A document entitled “Ecclesiastical affairs in the Philippines” contains letters, decrees, etc., bearing on this subject, dated from 1574 to 1624. Instructions to Gomez Perez Dasmariñas (1574) jealously restrict to the crown or its officials all exercise of the royal patronage; and give minute details of the course to be pursued by the governor and the provincials of the religious orders in matters where that right is involved. This is followed by various official documents issued in the controversy between Archbishop Serrano and the religious orders (1622–24) regarding the right claimed for archbishop and bishops to exercise the same jurisdiction and authority over the religious of the orders, when charged with the care of souls, as over the secular clergy. Serrano fortifies his position by various royal decrees and papal bulls. These documents show that much laxity has prevailed in selecting missionaries for the Indians, some of these teachers not even knowing the language of the natives to whom they minister; also that the friars claim even greater authority over their parishioners than that exercised by the archbishop and bishops in whose dioceses their missions are located. On June 20, 1622, the archbishop begins his official visit in the parish of Dilao (near Manila); and his edict announcing this calls upon the people of the parish to bring to him any complaints or information that they may have regarding any fault, illegal act, or neglect of duty in their cura or parish priest. Fray Alonso de Valdemoro was then in charge of the Dilao mission; refusing to obey the archbishop’s commands, he is excommunicated by the latter, and sentenced to imprisonment in a monastery. But the Audiencia refuse to support the archbishop, who accordingly writes a letter to the king complaining of the resistance made by the friars. Felipe IV, in a decree dated August 14, 1622, orders that the missions in the Philippines shall be subject to the provisions of another decree (issued June 22 of the same year) promulgated for the missions in Nueva España. This provides that the same procedure be followed therein as in the missions of Peru; that the missions remain in charge of the orders, but that hereafter the religious be not placed in charge of missions; that they shall be subject to the archbishop in matters pertaining to the churches and the care of souls, but that anything relating to the personal character of such priest shall be privately referred to his superior in the order, who shall try and correct him.
An unsigned and undated document (1624?) gives an interesting account of a conflict between the civil and religious authorities in Manila over the question of a criminal’s right to asylum in a church. It is decided, at least for the time, in favor of the ecclesiastical authorities.
At the death of Governor Fajardo (July 11, 1624) the Audiencia take charge of the government. One of their first measures is to revoke the grant made not long before by Fajardo of certain monopolies to a seminary founded by him for educating Christian Japanese to go as ordained missionaries to their own country. The members of the Audiencia claim that this was an ill-timed act, in view of the persecution of Christians in Japan, and the edicts of its ruler expelling Spaniards from his realm, and forbidding his subjects to trade with them. Moreover, the seminary building is being erected in a place selected in violation of a royal decree, and which has been arbitrarily seized from its owners; and the monopolies granted are a grievance and injury to many persons, especially to the Indians who reside near Manila. The Audiencia accordingly revoke these, and order that the seminary building be demolished; and they issue a royal decree in accordance with this decision.
In a letter dated August 15, 1624, Archbishop Serrano advises the king either to give more power and authority to the Audiencia, or to suppress it. In the latter part of the same year the king issues some decrees affecting the religious in the islands. The first (dated August 30) cites earlier decrees regulating the privileges and jurisdiction of the religious, and orders that these be strictly observed. In a letter to the archbishop of Manila (dated October 8), Felipe gives some directions regarding the religious orders. A letter (dated November 27) to the Dominican provincial enumerates various abuses practiced toward the Indians by the friars of that order, and directs him to see that these be corrected.
An interesting chapter of ecclesiastical history is provided in the accounts of the early Recollect missions in the islands. These are selected from the printed works here named: Historia general de los religiosos descalzos del orden de San Avgvstin, by Andrés de San Nicolas (Madrid, 1664), and the second part of the same work, by Luis de Jesús (Madrid, 1681); and Historia general de Philipinas, by Juan de la Concepción (Manila, 1788). From all these books we select, as has been already announced, only such portions as closely concern our subject, and such as contain information of special value, or which is otherwise not accessible.
From San Nicolas’s work we take his account of the foundation of the Recollect missions in the islands. This is begun in May, 1605, by Fray Joan de San Jerónimo, who sets out with thirteen other religious; they arrive at Cebú on May 10, 1606, one of the missionaries having died on the voyage. After a brief description of Luzón and Manila, the writer recounts the entrance of the Recollects into that city, their hospitable reception from all, and their establishment in a house of their own outside the walls. After some of the fathers have learned the Tagál language, they begin their missionary labors at Mariveles, not far from Manila, whose native inhabitants are unusually brutal and ferocious. A brief outline of the customs and beliefs of these people is presented, which, although slight, is valuable as being another original source of ethnological information about the Filipino peoples—the early Recollect missionaries, like Chirino and his co-laborers, having gone among wild Indians who had had little acquaintance with the Spaniards; and their observations are therefore of natural and primitive conditions among the natives.
The missionaries first sent to Mariveles soon die from hardship, privation, and penances; but others at once volunteer to take their places. Rodrigo de San Miguel is the first of these to go; and he, with others, accomplishes a wonderful work among the fierce Zambales. Details of the labors of each, and of marvelous escapes from death, are related. At Masinglo a convent is founded by Andrés del Espiritu Santo, which becomes a center of missionary work for a large district. The missionaries are kept under strict rule and discipline, that their self-abnegation and frugal mode of life may emphasize their preaching; and regulations are laid down for their missionary work and their relations with the Indians. The main residence of the Recollects is, after some years, removed within the walls of Manila; and a handsome building is erected for it, and endowed, by a pious citizen. Some notable images in its church are described.
Attempts being made, in both Rome and Spain, to suppress the new order of Augustinian Recollects, various testimonies to the value of their work, and to their piety and zeal, are furnished by various officials, both civil and ecclesiastical; and in connection with these is a statement of the scope and character of the occupations and services of the Recollects, in both peace and war. Convents are founded by these missionaries at Bolinao and Cigayan. At the latter place, one of the fathers is slain by an Indian, and the church is burned by the revolting natives; but the indefatigable missionaries return to the unpromising field, again subdue the wild Indians, and restore what these had destroyed. Another residence is established at Cavite, which accomplishes great good among the seamen who live there.
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