the twentieth of May there came an order from the lord archbishop, at the petition of religious and holy persons, that the suspension should be raised for a fortnight, so that the feast of Corpus Christi, which was on the twenty-second of the said month, might be celebrated; and when the said period of time was past, he imposed the interdict as before—although it was not observed except by the Dominicans, the Franciscans, and the discalced Augustinians. The governors of the archbishopric and of the islands respectively gave to the fathers of the Society [the curacy of] Chiapo, which they demanded, as belonging to the archiepiscopal court. It was donated to the lord archbishop by the Franciscan fathers, on condition that it should be conferred upon no-one, but should remain for the maintenance of the poor and of secular priests; and that, in case it were given to any other order, the condition and donation should not be valid which had been made to the said lord archbishop, and accordingly it should revert again to the said Franciscan fathers, as it was before. But the fathers of the Society would listen to none of this, drawn on by ambition; nor would the governor, who allowed them to demand what they wished.
A few days after this, on the fourth of June, the royal decree was revoked; and father Fray Domingo Gonzalez, the Dominican provincial, and other dignitaries, went to the lord archbishop, and asked him not to change anything which had been done by the said bishop of Camarines. The lord archbishop would not consent to this, as it was all void, and opposed to conscience. But on the prayer and supplication of grave religious, who besought his permission for this until his Majesty should send a remedy sufficient for so many evils as had occurred, his illustrious Lordship thereupon consented to this; and he entered this city on the sixth of June, amid the general rejoicing of all, for thereby the church was freed from schism and the administration of an excommunicated bishop. In short, in order to remove greater evils things remain thus, without anything being changed; we hope that God our Lord and his Majesty will redress this, and that persons will be sent to punish the guilty according to their crimes.
Pasquin que se Pusso A la puerta del gouernor de manila Don seuastian Vrtado de Corquera
Quien la yglesia vitupera—Corcuera
y quien la Birtud maltrata—Çapata
y quien se çisca de miedo—Ledo
segun esso llorar Puedo
yglesia tu triste suerte
Pues Bienen a darte muerte
Corcuera Çapata y Ledo
Quien la birtud a dejado—Collado
quien obliga a tal trayçion—ambizion
y quien sigue tal de miedo—Pinedo5
de que an labrado rezelo
vna orca como aman
do rabiando moriran
Collado ambiçion Pinedo
quien apresta desatinos—tiatinos
en que encubren excesos—en quesos
pues de quesos que se espera—cera
no entiendo aquesta quimera
mas si es cosa de ynteres
quemarlos a todos tres
tiatinos quesos y cera
quien dixo el vien por el mal—vn probinzial
quien la fe dixo sin tino—vn tiatino
y quien su ser tubo en poco—vn cojo
pues a llorar me prouoco
viendo vn tiatino casado
y que fue Por su pecado
probinzial tiatino y cojo
Arcidiano sin razon—Jiron
obispo con poco estudio—Camudio
excomulgado notorio—tenorio
Bien merezen Purgatorio
de ynfierno estos tres amigos
Pues son de Dios enemigos
Jiron Camudio y tenorio
A quien aorco de vn madero—vn artio
en que razon se fundaua—Por la esclaua
que le quita el omizido—la uida
ynjustamte. Perdida
fue pero ya me lamento
que perdiese en vn momento
artillero esclaua y vida
quien bio Pagar de los frutos—tributos
y quien aorcando Peros—yeros
quien dar yço a las mulatas—natas
todas estas papanatas
an de uenir a parar
en que el diablo a de lleuar
tributos yeros y natas
No ay para tanta malizia—Justizia
ni pa tantos agrauios—labios
ni para tantas locuras—Curas
todas estas desuenturas
los Cristianos Padezemos
Pues que ya sin fuerça bemos
Justicia labios y curas
Que resulta en conclusion—Resoluzion
y destas cosas no buenas—Penas
y de tanto descontento—tormento
No en bano yo me lamento
Viendo la yglesia sinzera
a ques otra por corquera
Pasion penas y tormento.
Pasquinade affixed to the door of the governor of Manila, Don Sevastian Vrtado de Corquera 6
Who vituperates the Church?—Corcuera.
Who abuses Virtue?—Çapata.
Who soils himself through fear?—Ledo.
Therefore, I can weep
Thy sad fate, O, Church!
For they come to deal thee death—
Corcuera, Çapata, and Ledo.
Who has abandoned Virtue?—Collado.
What leads him to such treason?—Ambition.
Who imitates that one through fear?—Pinedo.
Hence I fear that they have prepared
A gallows as did Aman,7
On which raging will die—
Collado, Ambition, Pinedo.
Who are preparing lawless acts?—The Theatines [i.e., Jesuits].
Wherein do they hide their violations of law?—In cheeses.
Therefore, what can be expected from cheeses?—Wax.8
I do not understand such an extravagant idea;
But if it is a question of profit,
It would be best to burn them all three—
Theatines, cheeses, and wax.
Who said “Good” instead of “Bad”?—A provincial.
Who explained the faith without discretion?—A Theatine.
And who set little value on his own existence?—A cripple.
Therefore am I moved to tears
To see a Theatine who is married;
And
So in the manuscript, probably a transcriber’s error; but it evidently refers to the Dominican Pinelo.
The Editors are indebted to Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A., of Villanova College, and father Fray Juan but no Mateos, of the same order, of the Escorial, but now (May, 1905) at Villanova, for valuable help in the translation of this pasquinade. As much of the subject matter of the lampoon is local tit-tat, and as many of the meanings (although they would be perfectly apparent to the Manila populace) are purposely veiled, assurance cannot be given that the present interpretation is correct in every detail. There are also evident plays upon words and phrases, which can only be guessed at. Hence, the original is given partly for that reason.
The poetical form in which this pasquinade is written dates from an early period in Castile. Cervantes has a poem of this class in Chapter xxvii of the first part of Don Quijote; while Lope de Vega has also employed it. The second, fourth, and sixth lines form a sort of echo to the first, third, and fifth lines (the six lines being, however, written as three in the pasquinade). See Clemencin’s edition of Don Quijote (Madrid, 1894), iii, pp. 7–9.
See the book of Esther. This is the Hamah of the King James Bible.
Father Fray Juan Mateos says of this passage: “The author seems to use the word ‘quesos’ [cheeses], alluding to ‘casos’ [cases] (a practical question of moral theology). I imagine that the text refers to the accusation made against those fathers of being casuists or adapters of the moral doctrine to their own convenience. From the context, one can deduce that ‘cera’ [wax] is used in the meaning of ‘dinero’ [money], and the meaning in that case might be, that the Jesuits were trying to get money by fitting up the consciences of men with moral doctrines easy of fulfilment.”
