Two Jesuit Memorials, Regarding Religious in the Moluccas, and the Inquisition
Sire:
I, Francisco Vello of the Society of Jesus, procurator-general of the province of Filipinas, who am at present in this court, deem it advisable for the service of your Majesty to make the following statements:
The governor of Filipinas, for certain reasons and motives that he had, withdrew from the Terrenate forts the rector of a house of the Society of Jesus which the province of Cochin in Eastern India had there from the beginning of those conquests, and placed there instead religious belonging to my province of Filipinas. The said rector acted as commissary of the Inquisition for the tribunal of Goa, as long as he was there; but when he was withdrawn those forts were left without any commissary. I gave testimony regarding that to the inquisitor-general, so that he on his part might procure from your Majesty the appointment for those forts of a minister—a matter so important for the purity of our holy faith—since your Majesty strives, as your chief glory, to preserve it in all the kingdoms and provinces of your monarchy; and it is most necessary in them, as they are in the midst of many sectaries, and, as those people are very warlike, they are more ready to receive errors.
Everything relating to the Inquisition of the Filipinas is carried to the tribunal of Mexico, with great hardships to the persons, expense to the treasury, and the risk of losing everything—sometimes years being spent in questions and answers, and the enemy capturing (as happened at various times) not only the records but the criminals as well. And when affairs are settled, whether the criminals are punished or freed, they are left about two thousand five hundred leguas from their home and abode, and sometimes it is impossible for them to return. One would think that, since it was considered an inconvenience for the vassals of the Canarias (who are distant only two hundred odd leguas from Hespaña) to go to Sevilla, and a tribunal was established there for their alleviation, there is not less but much [more] reason in the Filipinas for your Majesty to be pleased to order that a tribunal be erected in the city of Manila, as was done in the Canarias. Moreover, supposing that Goa return later to the allegiance of your Majesty, it is as difficult to take criminals and records from the forts of Terrenate to that place as to Mexico; and, in proportion to the dangers of the sea, much greater.
At present, even if the road from Terrenate to Goa were short and easy, it is not right to take the faithful vassals of your Majesty to be punished by rebels, and by secret decrees, in districts so distant from one another. And if they are not taken—as they have not been taken for many years, during which acts have been fulminated—evildoers remain without punishment, and the one evil is as bad as the other. All that will be avoided by establishing a new tribunal in Manila. By that erection no new expense will be added to the royal treasury other than that of the inquisitor, and the amount given him will be proportioned to the income of the country, and can be obtained by assigning a certain number of Indian tributes to the royal treasury for that purpose; and he can afterward be advanced to bishop and archbishop, with greater experience than those have who go from other regions. The other officials do not receive a salary. I trust in God, and the piety of your Majesty, that provision will be made for this in the manner most to our Lord’s glory and the welfare of your vassals, etc.
Francisco Vello[1]
Sire:
I, Francisco Vello, procurator-general of the Society of Jesus for the province of Filipinas, declare that, on account of the information that I have had from those islands and from all parts of the Orient, I have deemed it necessary to represent to your Majesty that, when the forts of Terrenate were restored from the possession of the Dutch in the year six hundred and four, the temporal government of those forts (which was before under Eastern Yndia), was administered by Filipinas, while the ecclesiastical and spiritual was left to the said Yndia, as it belonged to the bishopric of Malaca, and the Inquisition to the tribunal of Goa, and a house of my order to the province of Cochin or Malabar (which is one and the same thing)—your Majesty paying both the expenses of the military and the salaries of the ecclesiastical persons from your royal treasury of Manila.
Because of the troubles that Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera recognized while governor, after the insurrection of Portugal and their conquests, he had the religious withdrawn—leaving only the vicar, because of the jurisdiction—which could not be administered by secular officials, but by those to whom it belongs. After Don Diego Faxardo assumed that government, he again introduced Portuguese religious there, and withdrew those of my province. [That plan was pursued] until Don Saviniano Manrrique de Lara assumed the same government, who, on account of information from the warden of those forts, again withdrew the religious from Yndia, and likewise the vicar—entrusting to my provincial that administration and house, at the advice of the archbishop of Manila. That charge was immediately accepted, in order to serve your Majesty; and it has been thus far fulfilled.
Although those presidios and the king of Tidore (who is a Christian) and the people of those districts have persons to administer the holy sacraments to them, their ministers have no jurisdiction, as it has to emanate from the ordinary of Malaca. In the same way there is no commissary of the Inquisition, as the tribunal of Goa thus far has jurisdiction there. Malaca, to which the said forts belonged, has been occupied by the Dutch since the year six hundred and forty-one; and our holy Roman faith is no longer exercised there, nor has there been left any city or village of that bishopric which could obtain that see. Also is there no hope of the restoration of what has been lost, according to the trend of the times. Because of that loss the jurisdiction of Terrenate had to be transferred either to the bishopric of Cochin—which is the nearest one, being distant thence six hundred leguas—or to the metropolitan of Goa, which is seven hundred leguas from Malaca, while the first one is one thousand three hundred leguas and the second one thousand four hundred from Terrenate. Consequently, on account of the long navigation, they cannot be furnished with supplies from there, as their proper administration requires. For that same reason they were not visited for more than twenty years by any ordinary or ecclesiastical superior, as is commanded by the councils. Besides the above difficulty there is another one, namely, that no people sail from Yndia to the Moluccas except the Dutch, as the latter have gained possession of those islands and of their drug trade, which they defend from all, most especially the Portuguese of Yndia.
Consequently, it seems to be necessary that the spiritual affairs of those forts be placed in charge of the archbishop of Manila (although they are nearer to the bishopric of Zebú), because of the ships which continue to carry reënforcements, with a voyage of three hundred leguas or a little more or less. No other object is intended in this than the welfare of those Christians; and your Majesty will obtain no other advantage than that of maintaining our Roman faith in its purity in that most remote district of the world, among so warlike nations as are the Japanese, Chinese and Tartars, Tunquinese, Cochin-chinese, Cambojans, Siamese, Joloans, and others who almost surround it. For that alone so great a sum of money is spent as is known, not only in those forts but in all those islands. It has been proved to be very agreeable to God because of the extent to which the holy gospel has spread among them, for they are the best fields of Christian effort of all the conquests of the monarchy. It is well seen that He favors it in the continual victories that your Majesty’s arms have had in those regions on sea and land, although it is so distant a member of the body of this monarchy. May God prosper this monarchy well with fortunate victories for the welfare and increase of our holy religion.[2]
[1] Before embracing a religious life, Brother Francisco Bello (or Vello) had been a fine business man and merchant, and had a thorough knowledge of the Orient. See Pastells’s Colin, iii, p. 806.
[2] Considerable legislation took place in regard to these two memorials. They were submitted to Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, who indited his reply from Santander, November 22, 1658, in which he corroborated the statements of Vello, and advises that the suggestions in both be followed. They were also submitted to one Licentiate Antonio de León Pinedo, because of his knowledge of such matters, who answered under date of Madrid, January 10, 1659, advising that the forts of Terrenate be annexed to the spiritual jurisdiction of the Philippines. The fiscal, reporting on the matter at Madrid, February 11, 1659, also favors the establishment of a tribunal of the Inquisition at Manila and the merging of the Terrenate forts in the archbishopric of Manila. On March 11, 1659, the council resolved that the viceroy and Audiencia of Nueva España report pro and con on the founding of a tribunal of the Inquisition in Manila, after conferring with the inquisitor of Mexico; also that the governor and archbishop of the Philippines report on the means of supporting a tribunal of the Inquisition without royal expense. A royal decree of April 24, 1659, directed to the governor and Audiencia of the Philippines, orders them to report pro and con on the separation of the Terrenate forts from the bishopric of Malacca and their addition to the archbishopric of Manila. Another decree of like date addressed to the viceroy and Audiencia of Nueva España orders a report on the establishment of a tribunal in Manila. Although the memorials are without date, it is probable that they were presented to the royal Council in the latter part of 1658; for Bello succeeded Patiño as procurator-general at Tenerife, July 26, 1657. See the original documents presented by Pastells (Colin, iii, pp. 806–810).