Letter from Salazar to Dasmariñas
Jesus
Yesterday afternoon I received a letter from your Lordship, and intended to begin a reply immediately; but there are so many occupations crowding upon me that they do not leave me time to take breath; and although I came out here to finish the little treatise which I had promised your Lordship, I see that neither here nor there have I opportunity to do anything.
I was much pleased with the earnest zeal which your Lordship showed in your letter, but you must know that as I am old and have seen so many things, I do not care very much for what I hear, but wait for what may be done; because laying down general rules and instructions for what is to be done is a very easy thing, but very hard to put into practice. Who doubts that the preaching of the gospel is the most important thing for which we have come here? but yet I see that this is the least object of solicitude; and, if you do not think so, look at the progress of the natives. I know very well that there is plenty of care about temporal things; and, as long as these present themselves, religious instruction is to cease—or the Indians must support it, even if they never understand it So we all say that the Gospel is the principal Page 44thing, but our works show what it is that we care most about. Ordinances, decrees, and provisions which speak in favor of it, we have in plenty; the fulfilment of them will come when there is nothing temporal to be looked after, which will be very late. If your Lordship does not think so, ask what is going on in the island of Panay. Of what do they take most account, of the galleys and ships which are being built there, or of the religious instruction which was to be preached there? Because I have seen with what dislike your Lordship hears of what is going on there, I have ceased to inform you of it—which I did, hoping that if you understood the situation, you would find means to improve it. Letters and messengers from there have told me things which are enough to break one's heart; but now I am hardening it, because I see that it is of no use for me to grieve over them. This I say in reply to the statement in the preface to your Lordship's letter, in which you say: “If they would allow me to be bishop, I would maintain better order in my bishopric than there is, and the natives would be much better instructed and not so harassed.” But where there are so many to order and so few to obey, he who leads this dance can ill guide it to the place where it ought to go. For this reason many things are going so far astray, and they will go astray as long as he who has care of everything does not have the authority which he ought to have. For how can I arrange for the religious instruction, or take away here or place there, if after I have ordered it someone says that he chooses not to abide by it, but to do what he thinks best? Allowing, in general, that in moral matters there is a little improvement, Page 45let us come to the particular point which your Lordship treats of in your letter. But, before considering it, I wish to warn your Lordship that concern for these things, and the arrangement of them, and deciding who is to be here and who is to be there, is my business—not only because it belongs to my office, but because his Majesty particularly committed and entrusted it to me, recommending me to do it in communication with your Lordship; but the execution of it he leaves to me, as by right is proper. I say this because I have heard that by virtue of some decree or other they are persuading your Lordship that religious can establish themselves without my consent in villages where they have never been. In this they are misleading your Lordship, and they themselves are mistaken; for that decree on the other side—which notifies the viceroy of Nueva España, which has never been used in this land, and which no governor has ever dared to use—is previous to the Council of Trent, after which it has no force, because in it the contrary [i.e., to the Council's decision] is decreed. So I beg of your Lordship, as I am in quiet and peaceful possession, that no house whatsoever be taken in my bishopric for religious without first seeking and obtaining my permission. It was some days ago that I found this out; but because your Lordship told me that you did not believe what they said to you, I did not pay any attention to it until I learned, yesterday, that the provincial of San Augustin says that, by decrees which they have from the king, they can occupy houses without my permission. This I believe your Lordship will not do; and I can not understand how they can do it with any conscience With this understanding, let us come to what you say. Page 46
The new settlement of La Ermita and that of Malate can very well be under one religious administration, and it shall be that of the priest whom I have placed there. The same seems to me to be true of Cavite and Parañaque, of which the priest whom I have there shall have charge. In this way the fathers of San Augustin can take away three or four religious who are now in those two places, and put them in other localities where they have great need of these men to fulfil their responsibility. I say this on the one hand, on account of the great satisfaction which I have in these two ministers; and on the other hand, because they are already incumbents of those two districts, and as such are, in equity, under obligations. Accordingly, I will not and cannot give them to one who may tell me that he will not receive them except as a favor, and then remain there, even though I should be dissatisfied with him. Add to this that I have need of some clergymen near me for the many necessities which arise, which religious cannot supply, and in order to help in the cathedral at times; for there is much need of this, as your Lordship has probably seen sometimes, when you have been there. As for what they say, that the fathers of San Augustin will take charge of those districts without having more alms given them, I am very sorry on account of this offer of these fathers, because I know that whatever burden is taken from the king's treasury will fall on the Indians; and I do not wish this, neither should your Lordship wish it. Since those fathers have, as I have said, so many districts to provide for, let them take there what they get therefrom.
Concerning the religious of Batan and the others of this bishopric, it seems to me that neither your Page 47Lordship nor I should interfere with them, for they know what is suitable for the government and preservation of their orders; and they would be great fools not to consider themselves first rather than others, for St. Paul knew very well what he was saying when he bade his disciple Timothy to take heed to himself first and afterward to teaching. For the apostle knew very well how proper it was for a minister to take heed to himself first rather than others—and this not only for the good of the minister himself, but also for that of those to whom he ministers. Now since the apostle said this to a bishop, who is under so great obligations to look after his sheep, how much better might it be said to the friars, who have this duty only through charity. This is the law of charity, primum mihi secundum tibi; and this should be observed more among religious than among other ministers who are not included among them—in the first place, because these religious did not choose to take up this ministry as under just obligations to do so, but merely through charity, which looks first to itself and then to its neighbor; in the second place, because a simple-minded minister who is withdrawn from the world, and given to prayer, and a careful observer of his religion, and who will make the Indians feel that he lives as a saint, is worth more than twenty who are inattentive to their duties, and who cannot remain an hour in their cells. These virtues and other similar ones, without which a religious can not maintain himself, can ill be acquired by the religious when they go alone and are so separated as you wish. Would to God that I might see in every house for Indians, not four such as are in Batan, but six or eight, and not one, as your Lordship says, because I Page 48should expect more fruit from these six or eight quiet ones than from eighty heedless ones. For as St. Paul said, speaking to the Corinthians, Regnum dei non est in sermone sed in virtute; for chattering is chattering, and teaching through works is the true teaching. There are no people in the world who have so great need of good ministers as have the Indians, or who notice as much as they do the life which these ministers lead, and the example which they set them. For one religious to be alone, although he be a St. Paul, is unsafe; and so it is proper that in this region we should permit the superiors of each community to govern their religious and arrange for them as it seems best to them; for, since they came to convert these souls, it is to be believed that they will not fail to do so if they can. But they will not, and very rightly, consent to ruin themselves through maintaining the religious instruction; but this is not unfavorable to religious instruction, but rather very favorable to it—since, in the way which I describe, it is to give them ministers who will profit them; and the way which your Lordship proposes means to put fire to them which will consume them. Of this I have more experience than your Lordship or anyone else who is in these islands, because I was a friar forty-six years, and minister more than thirty, and have been bishop twelve; and I know it all and have seen it all, and this is good reason why more reliance should be placed on me than on any other. This same matter was discussed in Mexico among all the orders. When they saw that it was ruinous to them to be alone, they determined to establish houses where there should be at least four; and, in order that they might support themselves without being Page 49burdensome to the Indians, they decreed that the orders of St. Dominic and St. Augustine might have some estates in the Indian villages, by which to support themselves. As it had been ordered by his Majesty that they should not hold property in the villages of the Indians, I went to España to see about the matter, and obtained from his Majesty the revocation of this decree. As some of the auditors of the Council said what your Lordship says now, I freed them from that error, and proved to them that it was not expedient that the friars should live otherwise than in a community. I discussed the same thing with his Majesty, and it seemed well to him and so it was provided. In confirmation of this, the fathers of St. Dominic who came to these islands brought a brief from his Holiness, confirmed by the royal Council, which orders that in each house there should be at least four religious; and they tell me that in the [illegible abbreviation in MS.] they praised it greatly and were much edified. In this way, wherever your Lordship thinks of making a short cut, you take a longer route. To give to the Indians ministers [as you propose?] will be to give them those who would destroy them, or at least who would be of very little profit to them. Do not think that I am so careless that I would have waited till now if I had thought that what your Lordship says would be expedient; but as I know how important it is for the good of my sheep that those who teach them should live uprightly, I am more pleased to see the religious living together than to see them separated. I am sorry in my heart when I know that some religious is alone in a house, and if I could remedy it I would do so; but I do what I can in not consenting Page 50that, through taking too many houses, the friars may be left alone in others. Your Lordship will do me the great favor and kindness not to treat of any other matter which shall be contrary to this, because I know that it is to destroy the religious and ruin religious instruction. The provincial who shall do this will give me a very bad example; and I shall understand that he cares more about establishing houses than about looking after his friars or religious instruction. On this account the religious and I have had some quarrels, but I know that they have not been right; for my zeal and desire has not been to prevent their having houses, but to prevent their taking so many that they could not support those establishments without harm to themselves and to the Indians. When your Lordship says that two are sufficient in Batan, you show clearly that you are not well informed of what is needed in order that there be religious instruction; for in Batan there is need of two more friars in order that it may be well instructed. As to what your Lordship says about provision for the encomiendas of Ylocos, you have as much care for them as if you forgot those which the king has in Panay and in other regions of the Pintados, who are all, or most of them, Christians. The Augustinian fathers, in whose charge these were wont to be, abandoned them; but since they have returned to take charge of the religious instruction of that people, and the obligation which holds them is greater than that of Ylocos, let them cease to claim houses there until they have more ministers. As for those who were to be sent to Ylocos, where there was no obligation at all, let them be sent to the Pintados, where there is so much obligation. With those who Page 51are to be taken from Malate, Laguio, and Parañaque, two or three houses might be occupied among the Pintados in the king's villages, which have been without religious instruction now for some time. If your Lordship carries this out, you will take a great burden from the conscience of the king and from your own, and those fathers will do a thing which they are under great obligations to do; for to claim the charge of Ylocos is only a whim of those fathers, and a desire to undertake what they cannot carry on vigorously. If your Lordship had consulted with me, I know that I should have given you much safer advice than that which others give you; because there is no one in this country who knows as much as I do about what is fitting, nor is there anyone who would give it to your Lordship with so little regard for other considerations as I.
What I have said about the religious, that it is not fitting for them to go about alone, does not extend to the priests; because these, by their profession and habit, are not obliged to be together, but each one goes by himself. This has been the usage of the church, and, so far, we have not seen that any bad results have followed; but many indeed have followed from the religious dwelling alone.
There is another great evil in what your Lordship wishes, and it is that, to station so many religious who are scattered about, each one by himself, is not to establish religious instruction but to permit it to go to ruin; for I have always been of the opinion, and shall be all my life, that a few well instructed are better than many ill instructed. When they are ill instructed they are like an ill-cured wound, which, when we think that it is well, breaks forth again. Page 52Thus it is with the ill-instructed Indians; for when we think that they have profited, we find that they are worse than before they were baptized. This comes from never having sufficient religious instruction, which in this part of the world is most necessary, among these unfortunate people who in but few places have seen one happy day. Your Lordship also suggests where the priests may be placed. To this I reply that, as we leave it to the superiors to govern their religious, it would be right for your Lordship to leave it to me to govern my priests, as I leave it to you to look after your captains and soldiers; for I know what each one of my priests is for, as your Lordship knows of your men. Your Lordship must understand that I am not so careless of the life that the priests lead that I am not on the watch, and they know this well; and if sometimes they come to Manila it is with my permission, or on business which cannot be avoided. In this I know that there is more to be remedied elsewhere than in my priests. If the scattering of these ministers in so many regions is, as your Lordship suggests, that the king and the encomiendero may collect their taxes, it seems to me that this is not a good means for it; because where there is not sufficient religious instruction, as there is not where there is one minister in an encomienda, neither the king nor the encomenderos can receive as much as your Lordship wishes to give them. And I know well from the Christian spirit of our king that, if he were informed of the truth which I know and have told you, he would never consent that any money which was so ill gathered should enter his treasury. Some day this truth will be known and we shall see who will weep for not having believed Page 53it. His Majesty understood this very well when, in an article of the letter which he wrote to me, he bade me to try to provide sufficient religious instruction; for his Majesty sees clearly that what is actually done is rather to neglect than really to provide the Indians with what they need. Would to God, as I know that what I say is true, that I might satisfy my conscience by not saying what I am going to pass over in silence, and that I might be in peace; for I desire this more than to see myself in the midst of disputes and hard feeling. But the obligation which I have, to fulfil the duties of my office, does not allow me to keep silent, but I have to speak and say what I feel.
I do not understand what your Lordship says about the Augustinian fathers and do not wish to reply to it until you have explained it to me, because it never entered my thoughts to be sorry that you should favor them, for they deserve it and your Lordship should do so. But when your Lordship says that since you came here they have lost some of their rights, I do not wish to agree to that, nor do I think that they will say so; but let this wait for another time, for I do not wish to treat of it here.
At this point your Lordship makes a long digression, trying to give me to understand what my office is and what I can do and what I can not do, and for this your Lordship makes distinctions of protector and bishop and commissioner. Your Lordship need not have taken so much trouble; for, as Captain Becerra dares to write to me not to take so much trouble to give him light, because he has enough from God, so it would not be very much for me to dare to tell your Lordship not to take so much trouble as Page 54you have taken in this letter to teach me what my office is and what I may do in conformity with it—because, speaking with the respect which is due to your Lordship, you did not come to this bishopric to teach me but to be taught by me. In truth I do not understand what could be your Lordship's thought in discussing a matter so foreign to your profession; and it did not seem at all well to me, unless your Lordship regards me as so contemptible a person that I am not equal to this. Although humility is well in all, and particularly in bishops, it is not humility for the sheep to teach the shepherd; nor would it be considered well in me, and still less so in your Lordship, if it were known that I allowed you, who should take rules of right living from me, to give them to me. Read, or have read to you, the chapter si imperator 96 distin., in which your Lordship will see what is the duty of secular princes and what that of bishops, where among other words it says these: “If the emperor is Catholic he is a son, not a prelate, of the church; and whatever concerns religion he is to learn, not teach.” In what follows in this chapter your Lordship will see what is your duty and what is mine; and our Lord, through the prophet Malachi, says that the lips of the priest held knowledge, and from his mouth the law is to be sought, and not from the governors. Since your Lordship wished to be master when you should have been pupil, you could not avoid falling into the difficulties into which you have fallen in this letter, as you say that you do not know whether the bishop can order that all the confessors should not absolve in this or that case. It is almost a matter of course that the bishop may reserve cases, when that may seem best to him; and Page 55it is an amusing thing that your Lordship sets about declaring to me when the confessors are to reserve the cases and when they are not to do so. I am astonished, and marvel at your judgment and prudence in coming to discuss such matters with your bishop, especially when your Lordship knows that he has studied a great deal to know this which you can not know, nor would it be proper for you to know it. The cases which I shall reserve shall be reserved, and those who dare to absolve, although they may have other privileges, will commit mortal sin, when the bishop declares the reason why he does it; and many doctors of the highest standing maintain that the absolution is void in such cases. When anyone shall confront me with a concession opposed to this, he must have studied deeply, for many talk about concessions without understanding them. Since your Lordship meddles so much in things in which you ought not to, do not be astonished if I reply as is suitable, in order that your Lordship may be instructed, and that I may satisfy the objections which are brought against me. When your Lordship says that you do not know and can not discover how I can be concerned in trying to remedy anything which concerns the encomiendas which are peaceful, except by giving my opinion about the matter, I say that I am not astonished that your Lordship does not know, since you are not under obligations to know; but I am astonished that because you yourself do not know, your Lordship should think that I do not know, since you cannot but confess that I know much more than your Lordship does about the matter in question. That your Lordship may be completely undeceived, please know that in order to discuss the collection of Page 56tributes and the rest that has to be done in that connection, I have no need of a commission from the king, because I have it from God. This limitation is proper for your Lordship, because you have no power but that which the king has given you. I hold mine from God, who gives the bishops all that they need to govern their bishoprics; and so I do not need to have the king tell me what I have to do, but I have to determine what is proper for the unburdening of the royal conscience, and my duty toward your Lordship and the others who are under my care; for I know better than any who are here what is proper for relieving the royal conscience in the Philipinas. Do not consider this as presumption, for it is not, but merely telling the truth; for if we consider the law, I studied it very well many years ago, and as for the facts, I know them better than anyone else, and there is no one who has so much experience as I. Your Lordship need not tell me that it is not my place to act in this matter, for it is, and it is more fitting for me than for any other to act in it and determine what should be done about it. Neither do I need to pay any attention to the fact that there are some who say the opposite, because, beyond the fact that I know that those who say the opposite are wrong and make your Lordship err, besides this, I say that when the bishop determines a thing after having taken due care not to be mistaken, it should not be suffered that others, however excellent they may be, should dare to say the opposite, for this is to cause dissensions between the prelate and his flock. Whoever shall be the cause of this, it will not go well with him, because in this bishopric there is no other doctor than I, and whatever I say must stand and Page 57pass in my tribunal. If I am not what I should be, let them use the remedy which our Lord Jesus Christ left in His church, as St. Luke tells in chapter XII. This is to wait for God to remedy the matter, and advise with anyone who, by his authority, can remedy it, and in the meantime to commend it to God. This same remedy laymen have as regards their governors. But in order that they should undertake to remedy it by opposing it, the error of the bishop must be so great that it could not be tolerated without great prejudice to the faith or to customs. But since I have relied on the reasons which I have, and have consulted with those who could give a good opinion about it, and particularly as I am so certain that I am in the right, it would be rash boldness for another to say the opposite, or to dare to preach it. Your Lordship is very much mistaken when you think that what I say is nothing but the opinion of any other person whatsoever; for now that I have set about determining this and discussing it so purposely, I know that no one who says the opposite can support it. I say this with such liberty because I know what I am saying; and in the defense of it I should think it but little to lose my life. When your Lordship tells me that I interfere with what is your business, I consider it as a great offense; for you yourself are a good witness of how little trouble I have given you in this matter, and henceforward I shall give much less. I am not so desirous of ordering that I wish you to share your charge with me, for my own work, which is not small, is enough for me. I do wish to have your Lordship know that my discussion of the manner in which the collections are to be made, or from what encomiendas they may be made and from what Page 58ones not, is not interfering with your Lordship's office, but fulfilling the duty of my own. Not that I am to imprison or sentence encomenderos who collect contrary to what I say, for this is your Lordship's duty. Before the tribunal of conscience I must condemn those to make restitution who collect without having the authority to collect, even if it be with the permission of your Lordship; and I must place your Lordship under the same obligation because you gave them such permission. This distinction of powers your Lordship ought to have known before telling me that I was interfering in what was not my business.
In the matter of employing laymen where there are no ministers of religious instruction, your Lordship says that I do not make up my mind, although you have already proposed it to me several times. Twice your Lordship tells me in this letter that you have communicated things to me, but I am astonished that my poor memory does not recall any of them. One of the greatest satisfactions is that your Lordship does things all by yourself, without my having anything to do with them, and in truth I hold it as one of the greatest mercies that could come to me; and although his Majesty orders the opposite, as many things fail to be done which kings command, so this also shall fail to be done, to my great satisfaction and to yours also, as I think. I have not stationed Spaniards in the encomiendas because I do not know whom to place there; and I remember very well having said this to your Lordship, but we agreed together that I should decide this matter, as I remember it. There is no reason why I should give your Lordship a report on the persons who can be appointed, because it is my business to appoint them, Page 59and to determine their salaries—not only by commission from his Majesty, but it is also my due on account of my office. But I have not dared, and do not dare, to appoint anyone—not because I do not wish to and have tried to, but because I know that there is no one in whom we can trust without great harm to the Indians and very little benefit; because those who could go and be of service to the Indians do not wish to, and those who wish to are not suitable. Thus your Lordship will see how right I was in saying that to appoint many alcaldes-mayor and lieutenants is a greater harm to the Indians, and this is not a fancy of mine but a common saying in all the land.
It is very amusing to me that your Lordship places to my account the coming of so many Indians to me that I may favor them, just as if I called them, or were a party to driving them away. It is evident that your Lordship knows but little of the Indians, since you say this. In order that I may tell you some truths, as your Lordship wished to tell me, please know that the Indians are much dissatisfied and complain that you receive them very ungraciously and roughly, and thus many do not dare to appear before you. This can but be a great obstacle to what is needed to be done in this country. If my meeting them with a friendly aspect and treating them kindly is the cause of their coming to me, I do not think that I shall mend my ways in this, because I know what they need. As far as being protector is concerned, that obstacle has been removed, for it is some time since I abandoned the office of protector; and by no means would I take it up again, for I do not wish to know more sorrow than I have known, without Page 60any other result than to grieve my heart at the sight of it. When his Majesty shall learn the reasons which I had for giving it up, I am sure that he will not regard me as undutiful to him in having abandoned it.
In conferring the prebends and benefices I abide by the royal rights of presentation in what I am obliged to; but to station a clergyman in a Christian Indian village [doctrina] when there is someone who opposes, is a thing that I have sometimes done, and will do henceforward, because I know that it is proper to do so for the service of God and the good of the sheep which I have in my charge. Against this there is no right of patronage; nor would it occur to the king to wish that this should not be done, nor would it occur to me to defraud the royal right of patronage; for I know very well the obligation under which I am to keep it, and I know when anyone acts according or contrary thereto. Surely I am surprised that your Lordship should meddle in such trifles as to ask from me an account of the title under which Father Salinas was ordained. If your Lordship does not know how he can act, I know; and for that reason I created him a priest; and I know that this was well done, and that it is not fitting to do anything else. I know that your zeal is great, but I also know what St. Paul said of others who had zeal, and zeal for God, but he said that that zeal was not according to knowledge. And certainly, when your Lordship interferes in the things in which you interfere in this letter, although I say it be with great zeal, you have greatly exceeded your powers, and overstepped the bounds to which they extend. For even if your Lordship had known and seen that I Page 61transgressed due limits, your Lordship had neither license nor authority to treat in so imperious a manner your bishop, whose instruction and advice your Lordship is bound to follow, and your Lordship should not undertake to constrain your master. The worst thing would be that your Lordship should think that what you have said pertains to your duty, because that would be a graver matter; for, if your Lordship could stretch your arm so far as that, there would be no need of any bishop in this country, except a titular one,[3] for I do not see what remains to me if your Lordship can do all the things which you imply in this letter. But please read the chapter, si ymperator, already cited, and you will see how far your powers extend, and what is for me to do. Your Lordship has plenty to do in your office without extending your authority to mine, and I have plenty to do in mine without treating of what belongs to yours—although, since I have in my charge your Lordship's soul, not only as a Christian but as governor, I cannot be so careless as not often to be obliged to examine what you are doing and advise you of what you ought to do. This your Lordship cannot do with me by virtue of your office, although as friend and lord, as one who desires my good, I shall be pleased to be advised by your Lordship of my faults, which I know very well are not few. Except in what my office obliges me to, be certain that I shall keep as far from interfering in the matters of your government, or from giving you any trouble, as if I were not living or were not in the country. Page 62
This has turned out a very long letter, and certainly my occupations did not give me time for so much; but the great amount of matter in your letter which needed to be answered left me nothing else to do. Believe me that I am very much opposed to discussing such matter especially when a man has to say something which may seem praise or esteem of himself, which is a thing very unfit for those who try to serve God. But when this is not done arrogantly, or in vanity, but to defend the necessary truth, it is done as St. Gregory the Pope did against the emperor Maurice, and Gelasius the Pope against the emperor Anastasius. Even Moses and St. Paul, although they were so humble, when it was necessary to defend their authority said things of themselves which, said in any other connection, would seem wrong; but, spoken for the purpose for which they said them, were rightly spoken. As I think that what I have said is enough to satisfy your Lordship's letter (and, if anything remains to be set right, time will not be lacking in which it can be discussed), for the present let this be sufficient. May our Lord give your Lordship the light of His grace, that you may follow His holy will in everything. From Quiapo, March twenty-first, one thousand five hundred and ninety-one.
Fray Domingo, Bishop of the Filipinas. Page 63
[1] Referring to the Historia natural y moral de las Indias (Sevilla, 1590) of Joseph de Acosta (1540–1600), a noted Jesuit writer. Markham's translation of this interesting work forms nos. 60 and 61 of the Hakluyt Society's publications (London, 1880).
[2] Evidently a reference to the convent of the Augustinians.
[3] Spanish obispo de anillo, literally, “bishop with a ring;” the same as a bishop in partibus infidelium. This means a titular bishop of the Roman Catholic church whose territory is occupied by infidels, so that he cannot reside there.