raids of the Dutch and the Terrenatans, who favor another nation and one allied with the Dutch and Terrenatans. Inasmuch as the land of Manados is unhealthful, five members of the Society have perished in the enterprise of its conversion. A short distance from Manados is Cautipa, a part of the same mainland of Macasar, and subject to the king of Siao, with about four or five thousand heathen families. The fathers lived among them and made some Christians formerly.
The former Christian settlements in Gilolo—Sabugo, Moratay, San Juan de Tolo, and others of Batachina—which before numbered two hundred and fifty thousand Christians, instructed by our fathers, are also destroyed by the same wars with heretics. May the Lord bring it about that that door may be again opened to the cultivation of this vineyard, through the peace of España and Olanda. This vineyard is continued, by way of this district of Batachina, by the Papuans and thence by Nueva Guinea—whose farthest bounds are yet unknown, as well as the knowledge of what God has reserved for the evangelical ministers and the Spanish empire in that unknown land.48
Father Alonso de Castro, a Portuguese, was an illustrious martyr of Christ in Maluco, for whom, after he had preached the gospel there for the space of eleven years, the Moros wrought the crown of martyrdom; in January, 1559—dragging him first through rough places, where he endured imprisonment, and giving him later many wounds; and, lastly, throwing his dead body to the bottom of the deep sea. At the end of three days the body appeared on the strand surrounded with emanations of light. See his life and martyrdom among the illustrious men of Father Eusebio.49
The relationship with the provinces of Japon and China ought also to be included among the ministries of this province, because of the communication that their nearness offers, and the present necessity of those fields of Christianity imposes obligations on us. The ministers there have been assisted from here, these last few years, with some alms for their support—especially in the province of Chincheo, which is the nearest—and wine for the masses, and holy oils, which those missions would not have if they were not furnished from here. They earnestly petition the aid of more ministers, as those who are there are few and aged. If many ministers come from Europa, and we have an order for it, some shall be given to them.
The Religious Estate in the Philippines
[This survey of religious affairs in the islands is taken from the Chronicas (Manila, 1738) of the Franciscan chronicler San Antonio, vol. i, pp. 172–175, 190–210, 214–216, 219, 220, 223–226.]
Chapter XLVI
510. Who does not express wonder that the evangelical preaching in these islands (and more especially at Manila) is so eloquent; that the worship in the temples has a veneration as perennial as it is ceremonious; that the holy orders maintain themselves in the most strict observance of their institutes and rules; that the Christian church is so happily increased; that devotion is so well received; and that justice is so uprightly administered? For, if one considers without prejudice, these are certain precious gems, so resplendent and so exquisite, that the crown of España can glory in adorning itself with them—even though it he, as is the fact, the Spaniards who shape those gems from justice. All this so ennobles these islands that they are reported as extraordinary among all these lands.
511. This ecclesiastical theater of the city of Manila demands huge tomes from justice for its history, which the limits of my history do not permit; and a very ingenious pen for its praises, which is not united with my lack of eloquence. I have seen some voluminous writings on this subject, which I have no time to follow. I have seen some that are written so meagerly, that my own interest [in the subject] is offended. May it please God that my design, which confesses itself debtor to all, may now find a proper medium.
512. The first church of Manila was erected as a parochial church, under the title of the Immaculate Conception of our Lady, at the end of the year 1571, when the adelantado and conquistador, Legaspi, divided the lands and site of Manila. Although I have read in a certain manuscript that that first erection was made with four clerics, I cannot find in history anything that verifies this statement. For the printed histories of these islands state that when the adelantado Legaspi divided the land, he summoned the natives of Manila and their ruler, Raja Matanda; and, placing the fathers of St. Augustine in their presence, told them that those were their true fathers, and their instructors in the law of the true God, who had come to teach it to them; and there is no mention of any secular.
513. Further, I think that the licentiate Don Juan de Vivero was the first cleric who came to these islands. Although he came hither in the year 1566, in the famous ship “San Geronymo,” five years before the conquest of Manila, it is not proved to my satisfaction that he was ever in Manila; and it is more probable that he remained in Zebu, the first land that was conquered. Another cleric was the licentiate Don Juan de Villanueva, of whom the only thing known is that he was a priest, and that he lived but a little time—and that after the erection of the church. Another cleric who came earlier [than the latter] was Don Luis Barruelo, who had been sent to Philipinas by the archbishop of México, as associate of the above-mentioned Don Juan de Vivero, so that they might be the judge-provisors and vicars-general of all the islands; for the archbishop thought that this provision belonged to his care and jurisdiction, as he was the prelate nearest to these islands. But Don Luis Barruelo arrived at the islands in the year 1577, six years after the foundation of Manila. Therefore it appears that the Augustinian fathers were the only ones who exercised the entire government in utroque foro,50 and the parochial administration of Manila and all the islands. To them succeeded, in the said government, the discalced Franciscan religious, until the arrival of the most illustrious Salazàr, first bishop of Manila.
514. This church, when first erected, was poor. Although with the lapse of time it had sufficient incomes, yet, with the fires and continual earthquakes, the church buildings were ruined. Thus, because of the earthquakes of the year 1645, the church of La Misericordia was used as the cathedral church from November 26, 1652, until June 7, 1662, when possession was taken of the new church. The latter is still standing, and was built by the zealous and costly efforts of the holy archbishop, Don Miguel de Poblete, albeit he did not leave it entirely finished. His Excellency placed the first stone April 20, 1654. It was a square slab, and bore the following inscription: “The Church being under the government of Innocent X; the Españas, under King Phelipe IV the Great; and these islands, under Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava: Don Miguel de Poblete, its metropolitan archbishop, placed this stone, April 20, 1654, for the building of this holy cathedral—its titular being the Conception of our Lady, and its patron, St. Andrew the apostle.” It was completed later (on August 30, 1671), by the dean his nephew, the master Don Joseph Millan de Poblete, who was afterward bishop of Nueva Segovia. It is a beautiful stone building. It is forty brazas long by fifteen wide, and five high. It has three principal doors, corresponding to the three naves of its structure. Along the two side aisles it has eight chapels on each side [of the church], with two sacristies—one for Spaniards, and the other for the natives of this country. The capacity of its choir is fifty-two. Its stalls are of red wood. The steeple is high and beautiful, and has fourteen bells—a larger number and larger in size than the old bells, and lately cast anew—and has upper works of wood, which are not used. The church is under the personal care and watchful management of the archbishop of Manila who is now governing. The houses of the ecclesiastical cabildo are contiguous to the church.51
515. Gregory XIII was the one who erected that first parochial church into a cathedral, by his bull given at Roma in the seventh year of his pontificate, namely, in that of 1578, at the petition of our Phelipe II, king of the Españas. He assigned it twenty-seven prebendaries of whom the king appoints those who are necessary. They consist of five dignitaries—dean, archdeacon, precentor, schoolmaster, and treasurer; three canons (the fourth having been suppressed by the Inquisition,
When Father Colin wrote, the Dutch had already discovered, explored, and delineated in their maps with sufficient accuracy, the coasts of New Guinea and New Holland, or Australia and New Zealand. See Pastells’s Colin, iii, p. 816.
Alonso de Castro was born at Lisbon. Sommervogel (Bibliothèque) says that he labored for nine years in the missions of Terrenate, and that he was martyred January 1, 1558.
i.e., “in both courts,” meaning the outer court of ecclesiastical justice, and the inner court of conscience. See Vol. VIII, p. 278.
For further historical and descriptive information regarding the cathedral of Manila (especially the present structure, completed in 1879), see Fonseca’s Reseña cronológica de la catedral de Manila (Manila, 1880).
