Archbishop Martinez’s Secret Defense of His Filipino Clergy
(Translated from a copy obtained from the Manila Executive Bureau Archives)
Your Serene Highness: The undersigned archbishop respectfully addresses your highness, impelled by a true love of country as well as from a sense of the duty incumbent upon him of working for the tranquillity of his archdiocese. Frequently has it been disturbed and altered by the turning over of the curacies of the secular clergy which some years since were granted to the friar orders. This has been the cause of an antagonism between the two branches of the clergy each time more marked, and is taking a turn which sooner or later can become untoward for our beloved Spain.
Merely to fix the time of the beginning of this antagonism do I mention the royal decree of July 8th, 1826, by which there were restored to the religious communities the curacies in charge of the secular clergy since the second period of the governorship of Don Simon de Anda y Salazar. Just as this measure, as the native priests had those parishes for over half a century and considered them then theirs, they felt it a great hardship each time when, on the death or transfer of one of their number, a friar was put in to replace him. On the death of the parish priest of San Simon, in this present year, the last of the provisions of said royal order was carried out.
One may cite, as another cause contributing to the growing antagonism, the royal order of March 9th, 1849, which takes away from the secular clergy and gives to the friars seven more parishes in Cavite, namely: Bacoor, Cavite Viejo, and Silang to the Recollect Augustinians; and Santa Cruz and San Francisco de Malabon, Naic and Indan to the Dominicans. By reason of their having become vacant five of these have already been turned over.
But what brought the antagonism to a crisis and filled the native priesthood with indignation was the royal order of September 10th, 1861, to which and to its results the subscriber has in mind especially to call the exalted attention of your Highness.
Article 13 of the royal decree of July 30th, 1859 (relative to the establishment of a government for Mindanao), arranged that the Jesuit priests should take charge of the parishes and religious duties of that island then held and attended to by the Recollect Friars of the Province of San Nicolas de Tolentino. It thus became necessary to have some workable plan for carrying the arrangement into effect, and the above mentioned royal order of September 10th was given for this purpose, besides indemnifying the Recollects by assigning to their administration curacies in Cavite Province or elsewhere (in the archdiocese of Manila according to a later provision) which had been under the native clergy. The circumstances under which this royal decree was issued deserve careful examination. In the first place, there was then no archbishop, a condition under which the sacred canons enjoin and counsel prudence, when no innovation of any kind shall be introduced; secondly the opinion of the customary ecclesiastical authority was not asked, though here on matters of much less importance numerous endorsements are the rule; thirdly, your Highness is already aware how the priest nominated to the mitre of Manila knew nothing of the anomalous ecclesiastical administration nor of the usages and customs (the reason why he would have renounced such a heavy responsibility and only did accept after strong urging) and so there had to elapse considerable time before he could learn enough of the matter to cause him to complain of it. The foregoing facts are respectfully submitted to Your Highness.
When, toward the close of May, 1862, the writer took possession of his archbishopric, he found the native clergy extraordinarily excited and on every hand was urged to request the revocation of the September 10th royal order aforesaid. Unconvinced by petitions and appeals, rather, then in his heart persuaded that the Supreme Government could give him good and sufficient reason for taking so serious a step, the archbishop was disposed to comply as he has complied, cheerfully and to the letter. If he courteously declined to award the Antipolo curacy to the Recollects, it was because he understood this was a request not warranted by the royal order, and he could not have been far out of the way when the State Council formally upheld his judgment as appears in the royal order of May 19th where the formula used is “Having listened to the State Council,” one indicating action against their advice. Moreover now, after long residence in the country, with some knowledge of the church conditions and of its running and of affairs and persons, each time I see with greater clearness that the complaints of the native clergy are not without foundation, that there ought to be some effort to conform the royal order of September 10th, 1861, to the rules of propriety and equity, and that if one observes its results, one must conclude that it does not conform entirely to those of wise policy. Briefly I shall explain these assertions.
The Supreme Government was within its rights in entrusting to the recognized zeal of the Jesuit Fathers the curacies and missions of Mindanao, the law on the Royal Patronship in the code of the Indies authorizing such action. Worthy, too, of praise is it that there should be recognition of the Recollect Fathers’ services and compensation for the loss of their Mindanao religious establishments, because, although many of these were founded by the early Jesuit Fathers, yet the Recollects were then in possession of them and had made them theirs by right of prescription. But if it had been taken into account that likewise the native priests’ services merited appreciation (for under unfavorable vicissitudes they have always borne themselves as faithful subjects of Spain and in the parochial ministry as coadjutors, theirs is even the hardest part of the charge), then by no means would so deserving a class have been wronged to reward any other, and there would have been sought some gentler and equitable way of carrying out the wishes of the Government. The very diocese of Cebu, within whose borders at that time belonged the island of Mindanao, in fact offered no obstacle since it would have been only justice to have not compensated the Recollects with the parishes of other friars, for to them had been previously granted all the curacies of the Island of Negros, which belonged to the native clergy, for want of persons of that class.
The curacies of the aforesaid diocese were two hundred and thirty-seven, of which forty-eight belonged to the secular clergy. The scant resources of Cebu’s theological seminary, its lack of professors and the students’ ignorance of the Spanish language, knowledge of which is indispensable in the study of Latin and moral theology, not only prevented the preparation of a sufficient number of priests for the control of the above-mentioned parishes, but also detracted from the success of those needed as coadjutors to aid the parish priests in the administration of the sacraments and the care of the sick. That seminary rightly should be called a college because the natives go to it for the purpose of learning Spanish, and most of them leave when they only have half learned the language. Suffice it to say that there have been, and still are within the former boundaries of the Bishopric of Cebu towns (not compact but confined to distant and scattered barriers) seventeen thousand and more souls where the spiritual administration rests on a single friar priest, usually advanced in years, too. For this reason it cannot be doubted that its zealous prelate would have welcomed the assistance of twenty-seven friars who could have taken charge of that number of parishes, because manifestly this would have improved the parochial administration, and still there would have been left him twenty-one curacies with which to reward those coadjutors who were distinguished among their scanty number for virtue, learning, and hard work.
Though the Archdiocese of Manila lacked ministers to attend to all the spiritual necessities of the faithful (for the force scarcely suffices under normal conditions to respond to the most urgent calls), nevertheless it formed a striking contrast in this matter to the Diocese of Cebu.
The Archbishopric had at the time approximately one million four hundred thousand inhabitants, with one hundred and ninety-one parishes served by both classes of clergy. Deduct from this number assigned to the secular clergy those which had to be returned by order of the Royal Decree of 1826, those which the Royal Order of 1849 commanded to be given the Recollects and the Dominicans, and the twenty-seven which, by the order of September 10th, 1861, the parishes and missions they had had to surrender to the Jesuits in Mindanao, and there are only twelve left to reward deserving coadjutors. The priests of this class, comparing them with those of Cebu, are very numerous, for there are not four cases where coadjutors are not provided on the scale of one for parishes of 4,000, two for 8,000, three for 12,000, and so on up to Taal, which has seven coadjutors. But let us continue the comparison of the two dioceses.
Though the diocese of Cebu has few who understand the Spanish language, there are many in Manila and adjacent provinces who speak it; and in contrast to the limited facilities of the Cebu seminary, the archdiocese has the University of Sto. Tomas and the colleges of San Juan de Letran and of San José, where numerous students are studying Latin, philosophy, theology and the sacred canons. Nor should one omit the seminary of San Carlos in spite of the fact that, because of difficulties elsewhere enumerated, it is not of a standard commensurate with the importance of the capital of the Philippine Archipelago, a land conquered and held by Spain primarily for religious reasons. Do not the foregoing facts prove that the losses suffered by the Recollects should be compensated with curacies in the diocese of Cebu, and not with those of Manila?
The spirit inspiring the Royal Order of September 10th, 1861, seems no more in conformity with policy and equity, when the native priests compare the missions and curacies relinquished by the Recollects with those they received in exchange in this Archbishopric. If Your Highness will have the goodness to glance over the accompanying table, perhaps you may agree with them and also may observe, as they do, that if to the term “indemnization” (which should only mean making good the actual loss) there is to be given the broader meaning that the present result suggests, then there will be many who will want to be damaged in order to get back ten-fold the value of what they lose.
It is worthy of especial note that, despite the Antipolo parish having few parishioners, such is the devotion on the part of the towns toward the image of the Virgin venerated there, so great are the crowds who from even more remote provinces during the month of May repair to this celebrated shrine, and so many and so large are the largesses for masses ordered that this is considered the pearl of the curacies, one of the fattest parishes in all the Archipelago. So it is not at all to be wondered at that the secular clergy have especially regretted its loss, and there is good reason for asserting that the Royal Order of May 19th, 1864, is far from harmonizing with the order of September 10th, 1861.
Besides the facts above set forth, which have created and continued antagonism and animosity between the secular and regular clergy, it is necessary to add another for your Highness’ better understanding of the discontent of the native priests.
To fill a vacancy in the curacy of San Rafael, Bulacan Province, occasioned by the death of its parish priest, seventy days’ notice was given of a competition, the time expiring February 17th, 1868. The examinations were held in the manner prescribed by Pope Benedict XIV on the 21, 22 and 23rd, and seventeen candidates presented themselves. Their papers were already graded and the highest three eligibles selected to be certified to the Vice Royal Patron on March 2nd, but the day previous the Diocesan prelate received a communication from him transmitting a brief by the Provincial of the Augustinian arguing that the said curacy should be adjudged theirs.
I at once replied begging the Vice Royal Patron not to disturb the course of the competition because the secular clergy were already in possession of the curacy and the candidates had acquired a right to it by the holding of the competition while the objection had not been made at the proper time. This was to be without prejudice to later going fully into the claim raised by the Reverend Provincial, which turned upon the question of ownership. The reply denied this just petition on the ground that would prejudice the question grievously, conferring the right to possession with the title of ownership. I made clearly apparent the error which had been incurred, and received a reply that “the Vice Royal Patron was not in the habit of changing a decision once it had been decreed.”
The question of ownership resulted equally unsatisfactorily. To the case were attached the original canonical order for the creation issued in 1746 at the instance of the Vice Royal Patron and in conformity with the canonical custom and the laws of the Indies. Likewise there were submitted certified copies of the nomination of the parish priest who served the parish from the last named date to 1808, since which date as the Provincial admitted “it had been bestowed on competition and appointment by the Vice Royal Patron on secular priests.” Against its having been a canonical foundation, the most legal and strongest of claims, and to a continuous, undisturbed, unquestioned and clear possession for one hundred twenty years, the Provincial offered that his order had claimed the curacy within a few days of its establishment. He did in fact submit two documents which were written by the Provincial of San Juan de Dios, to which order the hacienda of San Rafael had belonged. But in one hundred and twenty-two years it had not been found convenient to push the claim, possibly because at first the curacy had only some eighty poverty-stricken natives, herders and laborers, while now it has over three thousand souls.
Likewise it was argued that since the Royal warrant of July 8th, 1826, monastic orders had been returned to their charges in the state and conditions they had when these were secularized by the Royal Warrant of December 11th, 1776, the curacy of San Rafael must be included because of the situation within the territory ceded to them. One must, however, remember that this curacy could not be secularized, because from its foundation it had been secular, and the two Royal warrants mentioned are not applicable except by making the laws retroactive, since the curacy was created thirty years before the Royal Warrant of 1776 was issued.
These arguments, with others of the weakest character, were set forth in a lengthy and hazy brief fathered by the Administrative Council, and as the Vice Royal Patron endorsed it without changing a letter, the matter was closed, because, although the undersigned petitioned the Vice Royal Patron to submit the case to the Supreme Government’s decision, enclosing an opinion from two attorneys, he could not gain this point and out of respect to the highest authority of the Island (whose prestige he has ever endeavored to sustain) he desisted from further effort. This result produced a real scandal among the native priests and greatly enhanced their grief over so great and repeated losses.
The chief cause of the obstacles which in every direction the clergy of the country encounter is a public sentiment in vogue for some years back, which unreasonably opposes having any native parish priest. Those who think thus entirely forget the facts, allowing their imagination to freely rove in the realm of imagination. Certain is it that if the ecclesiastical establishment of the Archipelago were being for the first time set up and it were possible to bring from Spain enough priests to attend to the spiritual needs of its populous parishes, scarcely would there be found a Spaniard of any intelligence to whom such an arrangement would not seem the politic course. But the question is not theoretic, on the contrary it is eminently practical, and before it is settled there is no escape from the previous examination of others which offer serious difficulties, for example, considering the present cooling of religious ardor, what likelihood is there of obtaining a considerable number of young men willing to abandon their home country and go to lend their services in spiritual ministrations in so distant a clime, especially one which is reputed bad for the health? Could the public treasury without difficulty meet the expenses necessary for establishing colleges and maintaining professors and students, and for fitting out and paying the fares of so many persons from the Peninsula to the Philippine Islands? And even if this offered no difficulty and putting aside present conditions, is there nothing to fear from keeping the native clergy in their present growing bitterness? Let anybody put himself in their place and reflect upon the series of measures heretofore mentioned and he cannot but recognize how enormous have been the damages they have suffered, and that those with which they are still threatened give over-sufficient and powerful motives that, notwithstanding their timidity, should change to hostility their former fidelity and respect for the Spaniards.
Formerly the native priests controlled the curacies of the provinces of Zambales, Bataan, and Pampanga. Of these they were dispossessed and when they felt that with the taking away of these parishes all their ills had ended, they received fresh, ruder shocks which renewed and inflamed the wound. Consequently it is no longer possible to characterise as class hatred their resentment against the friars, though that was the proper term while the natives attributed their ill fortune to the ambition and power of the monastic order. Now, after repeated proofs, they are convinced that the government is assisting the friars’ immoderate aspirations; and that in the opinion of these same priests of the country there has been adopted the policy of reducing them to insignificance, they pass over the ancient barrier, direct their glances higher, and what was formerly only hostility to the friars is changing into anti-Spanish sentiment. I do not hesitate to assert that if the Anglo-Americans or the English were to possess themselves of the Philippine Archipelago they surely would show the natives more consideration than they are receiving at the hands of the Spaniard. And so, Your Royal Highness, to escape an imaginary risk there is being created a real and true danger.
It will be readily understood that for the full carrying out of the Royal Order of September 10th there will have to elapse a period as long as that (from 1826 till the present) taken for completing the turning over of the curacies assigned the friars under the Royal Warrant before mentioned. And likewise it must be understood that as the resentment of the natives is renewed each time that they lose a curacy (as has just happened with the loss of Rosario parish in Batangas province and of Cavite of which the Recollects are going to take charge by way of compensation for the parish of Dapitan and Lubugan mission, which they relinquished to the Jesuit fathers last July) their hearts are filled with bitter grief, and so far from its finding any relief, it is embittered, as seeing themselves without any assistance at all while on the other hand the influence of their adversaries is increasing on every hand. It is more urgent to furnish prompt relief for their discontent and exasperation since if the effervescence which I noticed in them on my return from the Vatican council continues for any considerable length of time it will give an opportunity for the sentiments of the native clergy spreading among their parents, relatives, and the entire Filipino people, with whom they are in closer touch than are the friars, and so the evil might take on grave proportions.
It will not be hidden from the exalted acumen of Your Highness that it is highly desirable and even necessary to put out this small fire which might by mischance change itself into a formidable conflagration, which perhaps in the first stage of slight apprehension might serve the purpose of those who are trying to spread vain terrors, and I say vain, because in spite of the strictest investigation, until now there has been no positive proof to justify the accusation latterly directed against the secular clergy, for the reason set forth that the writer is of the opinion that the Royal Order of September 10th, and the explanation thereof insofar as they affect the Archbishopric of Manila, should be changed restoring matters by prompt and effective measures to the conditions and state in which they were when the Mindanao curacies and missions were turned over by the Recollect friars to the Jesuit fathers; that the Recollect should be compensated with other parishes in the Diocese of Cebu and the Jaro Diocese, which was taken from them in 1867, according to the number of parishes supplied in each of them by the secular clergy, to make up for the lack of native priests which is experienced in both; and, lastly, that there be ordered the reference to the Minister of Ultramar of the original case instituted at the suggestion of the Provincial (now the Procurator) of the Calced Augustinians (i. e., Recollects), regarding the holding of the parish of San Rafael, Bulac province, in order that it may be investigated and reach a solution in accordance with justice, which in the judgment of the secular clergy it is now far from being.
The writer earnestly implores Your Excellency so to adjust the matter, with full confidence that it will not only calm the inquietude of their minds, but also that, reenforced by the gratitude of the never tarnished loyalty of the Filipino native clergy, it may tighten more and more the ties that unite this fruitful Archipelago to our beloved Spain.
May God preserve for many years the life of Your Highness and grant him amplest wisdom and favor for the well-being of the Catholic religion and of our beloved fatherland.
GREGORIO,
Archbishop of Manila.
Manila, December 31, 1870.
HIS SERENE HIGHNESS
The Regent of the Kingdom.