CHAPTER VII
Continuation of the events of that year of 1639
On the seventh of August of that year, the desired news of two galleons which were coming from Nueva España, with the situado of these islands, arrived at Manila, which was decked in festival gladness [because of the termination of the Sangley insurrection]. One cannot easily imagine the general acclamation with which the news was received, and the festive demonstrations which were made [tokens of joy] in the hearts that were so full of mourning for the troubles of the above related insurrection, and other incidents which still kept the copious tears dropping from the eyes. Those were the results, doubtless, of our great sins, which to this very day have converted our joy into a tragedy, and a very painful one. For on the very day in which so famous news arrived at Manila—namely, that the said two ships were in Cagayan—because they had made a port badly sheltered, and had not been able to better it in so many days, at that unseasonable time so furious a tempest struck the same moorings, that all their skill was of no avail to them, and the tempest drove them upon some rocks, where both were miserably lost. Although it was God’s will that the money of the situado should be saved, and that registered as belonging to private persons, as it was already ashore, all the other things were lost—most of the infantry aboard, and all their goods, silver, and merchandise. That amounted to a great treasure and was the blood of this land gathered in those two hulks, and was so sadly shed in our very sight. Patience, hardly cured from the past blows, was much exhausted, when that misfortune became known. Its causes were differently construed, for in such strokes grief has license to arouse opinions, however little foundation they may have. But the truth is that alleged above, namely, our sins, and no other—which, in order to double their strength, are trying to leave us querulous of others, the good abandoned, and the detection of our errors left in uncertainty. He who would know what kind of a city Manila is, the latitude in which our Lord located it, and its characteristics and its strength, must not be governed by degrees, elevations, or charts, nor by its gains (although these have been so great), but by its losses, which are much greater and more continual; its site, looked on with envy by all the nations of the world, especially by those surrounding it who are as haughty as populous; its nourishment, which, as this is the most remote part of the body of our España, when it arrives is at least cold, however great the warmth displayed by the royal heart of the Council of the Indias. Its governors are and have been excellent Christians, and brave, for in this regard it has had good fortune. But since the express from Madrid, even when it is swiftest, takes three years, it is necessary that the government change its nature. Although it is monarchical in its form, it lacks the quickness in its relation to the heart and to the head which is the better life of its members, so that without doubt it is most difficult to administer. Whence we infer that this city, with its remote provinces, is one of the greatest miracles that the providence of God has gathered in His temple, who is preserving it supernaturally for His predestined ones, dispensing with the order of secondary causes, to the no little glory of our mother España. The latter is the instrument happily chosen for so lofty an end. España, with so Christian generosity, spends annually in its support a half million. That is the least thing, when one considers the so many and so competent sons in both estates [i.e., secular and religious] as are those of whom España is continually dispossessed, without hope of seeing them again. That does not happen in any other part of America. Fortunate is the Catholic spirit of the kings our sovereigns, who, following that honorable obligation, so free from temporal interests, have advanced this royal proof of the most Catholic zeal, and of a liberality without imitation among all the monarchs of the world! And happy a thousand times those who coöperate with their lives or their energy to so glorious an end!
Although the above-mentioned misfortune caused the loss of goods and lives of so much value, the royal despatches of his Majesty were saved, and the waves did not dare to profane their immunity. In the despatches was a decree for the father provincial of this province in regard to the division [of the province]—now buried in silence, but which disturbed it so greatly. As that decree seems highly significant of the care of our Catholic monarch, and of the warm place that his humble province has in his royal breast, we have thought best to insert it here. It is as follows:
“The King. To the venerable and devout father provincial of the Order of St. Dominic of my Filipinas Islands: I have been informed, by various relations which I have received, of the lack of peace and quiet enjoyed by the religious of that province, because of the division made in it, by virtue of letters which Fray Diego de Collado bore from his general, and aid given him for it by my governor and captain-general of those islands, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera. However the said briefs ought not to have been executed, as they were not passed upon by my royal Council of the Indias. Regarding rather the harmony of the orders and the quiet of that province, and believing that the said division will be the occasion for laxity in the order, I have ordered my said governor and captain-general of those islands, and my royal Audiencia resident therein, to suspend the said brief and all others that the said Fray Diego Collado may have carried, and not allow them to be executed; and that the division that has been made in the provinces be annulled, and conditions remain as they were before the said division. Therefore, I ask and charge you that you on your part cause those provinces to assume the condition that they had before the said division, and you shall immediately send the said Fray Diego Collado to España. In order that this may have effect, I am ordering my governor in a letter of this same date to have transportation furnished to him for his return. You shall advise me of what you shall do in execution of what I ask you, on the first opportunity. Given at Madrid, February twenty-one, one thousand six hundred and thirty-seven.
I the King
By order of the king our sovereign: Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon”
This is the letter or decree written to the father provincial. In the one which follows, although it contains so many things worth considering, the clause rendering this province equal to the most observant one of the order is the most noteworthy; so that those who merit the possession of a mother who employs herself in the service of God, and who is so well accredited with her prince, may console themselves. In order that we may get through with this matter once for all (which is not very savory), we shall insert here the other decree of his Majesty written in regard to the same matter to the royal Audiencia of Manila. The king our sovereign well shows in it the care that we owe to him, for he expresses in that decree not only his royal providence, but the anger that such innovations caused him. It is as follows:
“The King. To the president and auditors of my royal Audiencia of Manila of the Filipinas Islands: In one section of a letter written to me by you on June 12, 1636, you say that father Fray Diego Collado of the Order of St. Dominic went to those islands in the former year of 35, bearing letters from his general allowing him to take over some of the houses owned by that order and found a new and distinct province, the sole business of which is to send ministers for the conversion of Japon. All of that carried with it great inconvenience, both because of the injury that that order would receive by a division of the province (which will bring about laxity in it, although that province has hitherto been one of those in which the rules of their order have been observed with the greatest strictness and punctuality), and in sending ministers to Japon the said order has displayed so much solicitude that rather has it been necessary to restrain it because of the umbrage received thereby by that kingdom. That annoyance has been the occasion for cutting off the trade with those islands; and it was in great danger of being shut to the Portuguese of Macan, whom the Japanese have threatened severely if it be found that religious have gone to that kingdom from those islands, or from any other part. Consequently, it was certain that father Fray Diego Collado gave an inaccurate report to his general, and it was not advisable to carry out the terms of his letters—of which you gave me an account, so that I might have the evil corrected. The matter having been examined in my royal Council of the Indias, by a letter of this date I have ordered and charged you, my president—inasmuch as you did wrong in giving aid to that father because the brief which he held had not been passed upon by the said my Council—to cause this and all briefs which he had, that had not been passed upon by the Council, to be suspended, and not to allow them to be carried into effect. In regard to the division of the provinces, they shall return to their former condition. In order that my commands may have the due effect, I order you and my Audiencia to assist in the fulfilment of the aforesaid decree, so that it may be executed without any omission. When that is done, you shall advise me of it at the first opportunity. Given in Madrid, February 21, 1638.
I the King
By order of the king our sovereign: Don Gabriel Ocaña y Alarcon”
One can see in this not only his Majesty’s favor toward us, directed to the ends of the providence of God (who holds the hearts of kings in His hands), but also the evil (which the Audiencia here regretted) of the separation which was made, and the official report which was made to the credit of this holy providence. And since at last they see us near at hand, and the good reputation that our Lord has given us here in His infinite goodness, those gentlemen are grieved at seeing us suffer—since at that time we were in so great danger of the destruction of this holy province; for giving it such a division amounted to the same thing. But God returned to His cause later; and as His divine mercies have been so abundantly revealed, greater troubles can well be reckoned as well past.
[The following six chapters are comprised mainly of accounts of the Chinese missions, and the lives of certain Dominicans.]
[1] The title-page of Baltasar de Santa Cruz’s history reads as follows:
“Volume second of the History of the province of Santo Rosario of Filipinas, Japon, and China, of the holy Order of Preachers. Written by the very reverend father, Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, professor of morning studies in the university and college of Santo Tomas de Manila, prior of the convent of the said city, rector of the college, provincial of the province, and commissary of the Holy Office. Dedicated to the very illustrious and reverend Don Fray Miguel Geronimo de Fuenbuena, member of his Majesty’s Council, and bishop of the holy church of Albarracin. Published by order of our most reverend father, Master-general Fray Antonio Cloche, and the very reverend Father-master Fray Pedro Martir de Buenacosa, prior of the royal convent of Preachers at Zaragoça, synodal examiner of his archbishopric, and of the nunciature of España, and preacher to his Catholic Majesty. The year 1693. With permission: printed at Zaragoça, by Pasqual Bueno, royal printer.”
Baltasar de Santa Cruz, one of the most eminent of the Dominicans of the Philippines, was born at Granada, December, 1627, and professed at the convent of Santa Cruz la Real in the same city, December 4, 1643, after three years as a novice. After studies in that convent and at San Pablo in Sevilla, he taught philosophy at the former convent. In 1666, he was in the convent at San Lucar de Barrameda, whence he departed that same year for the islands. Arrived there he learned the Tagálog language in six months, but was speedily sought for high offices. In 1667, he was appointed lecturer in theology in the college of Santo Tomás in Manila; and in 1669 he was elected prior of the Manila convent, although he resigned that post the following year. He was elected definitor in the chapter of 1669, and in 1671 vicar of Abucay, in the province of Bataan. He was rector of the college of Santo Tomás in 1673–1675, and preacher-general at the same time; vicar of Binondoc, 1677 (still retaining his title of preacher-general); he was elected provincial, April 30, 1678, and at the expiration of his term was elected commissary of the Holy Office; vicar for the second time of Binondoc, 1684; president of the hospital of San Gabriel, 1686–1698, when he was again assigned to the Manila convent; was elected definitor in the chapter of 1690; was vicar-general in the province of Manila, 1684–1694. His death occurred January 12, 1699, at Binondoc, and he was buried in the convent at Manila. His history of the Dominican province in the Philippines was composed in only ten months. See Reseña biográfica, part ii, pp. 17–19.
[2] In the text, nuestra, apparently a typographical error for Nueva, since these ships carried the situado, which was supplied from Mexico.
[3] “The first part” of the history of the Dominican province—meaning Aduarte’s work (presented in Vols. XXX–XXXII of this series), of which Santa Cruz’s is a continuation.
[4] According to Hippocrates, the human body contained four humors—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.
[5] The custom of cutting off the heads of enemies probably arose from the desire to furnish unquestionable proofs of victory. The sight of these skulls would also intimidate the conquered, and restrain insubordination. The heads were offered in propitiation of the dead, thus entering into a quasi-worship; and the possession of these trophies is considered a mark of bravery and social distinction. See Herbert Spencer’s Ceremonial Institutions (New York, 1880), pp. 38–40.
[6] Primitive peoples often partake of the new corn sacramentally, because they suppose it to be instinct with a divine spirit or life. At a later age, with a different conception of natural processes, a portion of the fruits is presented as a thank-offering to the divine beings who are believed to have produced them; sometimes the first fruits are presented to the king, probably in his character as a god. For full descriptions of this custom, its observance, and meaning, see Frazer’s Golden Bough (2d ed., London, 1900), ii, pp. 318–340, 459–471.
[7] For detailed account of the natives of Formosa, their customs, mode of life, and religious beliefs, see Valentyn’s Oud en nieuw Oost-Indien, deel iv, stuk ii, pp. 37 et seq. of the section entitled “Beschryvinge van Tayouan of Formosa.” This matter is doubtless obtained from the writings of George Candidius, the first Dutch preacher in Tai-wan, and a missionary among the natives. He was preacher at Tai-wan during 1627–31, and 1633–37. See also the English version of his account of the Formosan natives, in Churchill’s Collection of Voyages (London, 1704), i, pp. 526–533 (see our Vol. XXII, p. 99, note). See relation of religious affairs in the island during the Dutch occupation, with list of ministers, in Valentyn, ut supra, pp. 83–93. The latest, and apparently the most full and thorough account of the island is J. W. Davidson’s Formosa Past and Present (London and New York, 1903). He describes the island, its resources, and its native tribes, and relates its history—for all which he has had access to the best material available, and the aid of scholars acquainted with the subject, besides his own long residence there; and presents the best map of Formosa yet published.
[8] Juan de los Angeles made his profession in the Dominican convent at Zafra, in 1626, and came to the Philippines with Collado in 1635. He was sent to Formosa and remained there until its capture by the Dutch. Returning to Manila (1643), he labored many years, sometimes among the natives, but mainly in high offices of his order—among them, the priorate of his convent, and the provincialship of Filipinas; he was also rector of Santo Tomás college, and for many years president of San Juan de Letran college. He died at Manila in 1682, aged eighty years.
[9] “Father Fray Miguel Lorena (or Corena), from Aragón, a son of one of the two convents at Zaragoza, was assigned to Formosa; but after the chapter of 1635 no more is known of him.” (Reseña biográfica, i, p. 418).