The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 42, 1670-1700 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

by Unknown

Chapter XIX

During the fourteen months which remained in the term of office of our father provincial Fray Juan de Jérez after his death, the province was governed by the experienced prelate our father Fray José Duque—so successfully and peaceably, and with so much tranquillity in the order, that he was able to moderate the great sorrow which all felt at the loss of the deceased provincial. In this peaceful condition the time came for holding the chapter-session which took place in the convent at Manila, on April 30 of this year of 1689; father Fray Luis Díaz presided therein, as the eldest definitor of the preceding chapter. There was not much discussion among the fathers in their effort to find a person whom they might elect as provincial, because for a long time all had fixed their attention on father Fray Francisco de Zamora, who was then prior of the convent at Manila. He was a native of Medina del Campo, and a son of the convent at Valladolid, who had come to this province in the year 1669; a religious of great prudence, and unusual ability for governing; and for many years they had only delayed electing him until he should reach the age of forty years, since that is the time fixed in our Constitutions. They found that he lacked six months of that age, which, as he alleged, exempted him from election for so heavy a burden; but having investigated the matter, and basing their action on many previous precedents which had occurred not only in this province but in others, in which there had been dispensations [from the rule], the father who presided granted one in this case, as he was vicar-general, and father Fray Francisco was elected provincial on the said date, April 30.

The definitors who were elected were fathers Fray Julián Zapata, Fray Juan de San Nicolás, Fray Gaspar de San Agustín, and Fray Simón Martínez. The visitors for the preceding triennium were present, fathers Fray Ignacio de Mercado and the reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte; and as new visitors were appointed father Fray Eusebio de Porras and the father reader Fray José López. Ordinances were enacted that were very useful for the better government of the province, and for the administration of the missions in our charge; this is the greatest responsibility of the chapters, because the system in this province is so different from that in the European provinces, which needs very different corporate laws for the preservation of each, and for enabling the individuals therein to fulfil the obligations of the religious without failing in those of parish priest—which in this province is the function of all its members, while in Perú and Nueva España it is the occupation of but few.

The governor ad interim, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, began to govern with so much prudence and ability that it seemed as if he had the benefit of long experience, although he had hardly known a few months of such responsibility. The principal cause of this was the concord in which he lived with all, as well as the aid which he received from his associates, Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina and Don Juan de Sierra, who vied with each other in cooperating with their colleague in discharging the duties of his office. It is in this direction that the ad interim governments of auditors in these islands are weak and fail of success; for, peevish because the precedence of seniority is not theirs, they try to obscure the credit of him who wields the rod of authority, and often show themselves as his worst enemies, and thus aristocratic rule is converted into democratic confusion.

His first care was the despatch of the galleon “Santo Niño” to Nueva España, in charge of General Don Antonio de Astina; for as this commander had left the office of admiral of the Windward fleet (for which he had a proprietary appointment from his Majesty the king), it was not just that a personage of so great merits should return as passenger—for the patache “San Fernando,” in which he had come, was not fit for the return trip of so severe a navigation; and it had been laid aside, not only on this account, but because its owner, Felipe Vertis, had died suddenly. The investigating judge, the alcalde of court Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, embarked with his notary; all the commissions which he carried from the supreme Council having been concluded, he carried [the documents concerning] them with him, as also the copious evidence in the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas—who remained for an indefinite time in banishment in the village of Lingayén, suffering the hardships and miseries of being an excommunicate, denounced as such on the church-doors, and with no consolation save his own courage and that of his wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila. Don Juan de Zalaeta embarked, under the obligation of presenting himself at Madrid with the proceedings in his case. The dean, Don Miguel Ortiz, was bound on the same errand; and father Fray Raimundo Verart went aboard with powers of attorney from the archbishop, in whose favor he printed a long and learned manifesto. The galleon had a very prosperous voyage, duly arriving at Acapulco; and on the return trip it brought us the new proprietary governor.

In this year of 1689, came the end of the long and troubled life of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who was sixty-eight years old, an age attained by few persons in these regions; and these years were rendered more painful by the many troubles and annoyances that had resisted his courage—which was very great, [although] in a small body. For many months he had been well prepared for this inevitable and impending event, as the devout religious that he was; and from his archiepiscopal palace he watched over and promoted the rigorous observance of the province of the Holy Rosary of the Order of Preachers. A Benjamin of the great patriarch St. Dominic,[79] he came to this province in the year 1647, after having taught arts and theology in the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid; and he was therefore regarded as the greatest theological professor who had been in these islands. He was provincial during two quadrenniums, and prior of Manila for two more; and he was commissary of the Holy Office when the appointment as archbishop reached him. We have already seen his constancy in defending the episcopal authority. His charity was great, for he spent whatever was left from his income (which did not exceed five thousand pesos), in aiding the poor; and with it he assisted the missionaries of Tungkin. A nephew of his came to visit him, but he would not consent that the governor should give this man any office or position, and made him go back with very little outfit. His death would have been considered, in another man, sudden and unexpected; for he was found dead at midnight on the day of St. Sylvester, ending [his life] with the year, so that it could be said, Et dies pleni inveniuntur in eis (Ps. xii, v. 10). But this great prelate awaited the end of his days with full preparation, and had just given orders for the making of a red pontifical vestment in which he was to be buried; his body, embalmed, was deposited in the church of Santo Domingo at Manila.

The see being declared vacant, the cabildo assumed its government; and they could have ruled with great peace if they themselves had not hunted up discord where they had thought to find greater peace. The vacant see was ruled by Master Juan González de Guzmán, who was now dean on account of the absence of Don Miguel Ortiz, and at the same time was provisor and vicar-general of the cabildo; and as it seemed to them that it would be expedient, for the greater authority of the diocese, to cede the government to the bishop of Troya, Don Fray Ginés Barrientos, they named him as its head. From this ensued great dissensions, for the bishop-governor thought that he was superior to the cabildo, and that they had transferred their authority to him, leaving themselves entirely stripped of it; this is contrary to all the teachings of the sacred canons, which in one precept of law declare: Privilegio, quod habes propter me, non potes uti contra me; and the established principle which states: Propter quod unumquodque tale, illud magis.[80] They tried to persuade him, by very learned manifestoes, that the cabildo alone could have constituted him its vicar-general, with authority removable at the pleasure of the same cabildo; and that they could therefore revoke the appointment which they had conferred upon him, whenever they pleased. But the bishop of Troya resolved not to yield, but to act as superior to and independent of the cabildo. There were bitter disputes, proceeding from both sides, so much so that, in order to avoid greater scandals, two members of the cabildo—the dean, Master Juan González de Guzmán, and the cantor, Don Estebán de Olmedo Gabaldón, a native of Campo de Crítana in La Mancha—took refuge in our convent of San Pablo at Manila, from which the bishop of Troya would have taken them, if the prudent governor, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, had not refused to give him the aid which he asked for that exploit.

The bishop of Troya was very learned, a great theologian and preacher, but in this matter he erred as a man, for it seemed to him that the rank and consecration of a bishop rendered him superior on that occasion to the authority which the cabildo possessed by law in the vacant see. Among many other manifestoes which were published in defense of the cabildo, one came out which was very well grounded, the motto or inscription of which, as being ingenious and apropos, is worthy of being noted here; it said, Non licet tibi habere uxorem fratris tui Philippi (Mark vi, v. 18),[81] alluding to the name of the deceased archbishop, and to their both belonging to the same order. But the bishop of Troya, notwithstanding he was so learned and so holy, was very hard to dissuade from his opinion, although on the present occasion he had every one against him; and although he withdrew his claims, on account of the urgent representations made by the acting governor and the other auditors and all the religious orders, he yielded through constraint and not from conviction. The cabildo continued its government, with much peace, during the vacancy of the see.

During this interval the year 1690 came in, and the acting governor despatched the galleon “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” to Nueva España, in command of General Don José Madrazo; and in it embarked Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas. In order to do this he had left his place of banishment at Lingayén, after having suffered great hardships; and the end of these was to die on this voyage, in the higher latitude. [This occurred] at a place which people call Doña María de la Jara, of considerable note on account of the many deaths which have occurred in that place; for among those who have died there are four proprietary governors, and some acting governors, and some auditors, and the above-mentioned bishop of Troya. Accordingly this place is the dread of those who sail in that navigation, and especially for persons of so high degree; for the poor seamen go and come past it with greater security.

After this galleon had been despatched, news came about June of the landing of the galleon “Santo Niño,” which in the preceding year had sailed for Acapulco, in charge of Don Antonio de Astina; in it came, as its commander, Don Juan de Garaycoechea—a Navarrese, from the valley of Baztán—who was married in Manila, and had spent several years in Nueva España. In the galleon came the new governor, Don Fausto Cruzat [y] Góngora, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a Navarrese, a native of Pamplona, of the illustrious lineage of Cruzat—well known in that kingdom, since from it have proceeded men so distinguished as Don Martín de Redín y Cruzat, grand master of Malta; and his brother Don Tiburcio de Redín, well known for his courage and still more for his virtue, for, having entered the Capuchin order, he merited that his biography should be printed with the title, The Spanish Capuchin, as an example for his successors. An illustrious shoot from this house of Cruzat is also the glorious St. Francis Javier, the apostle of India.

This gentleman brought his wife, Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui y Aguirre, a native of Cádiz, a matron of great beauty and still greater virtue; three sons, Don Martín, Don Fausto, and Don Juan; and two daughters, Doña Ignacia and Doña Teresa. He also brought a sister, named Doña Teresa de Aróstegui, who afterward married the aforesaid Don Juan de Garaycoechea, then a knight of the Order of Santiago, who later died in Méjico. Don Fausto had been waiting in that city three years, until the term allowed to Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui in the government here should be completed; and he would have waited much longer if Don Gabriel’s death had not dispensed him from a longer detention, for with him was begun the practice of sending successors who may be on the watch for the governor’s [term of] life—I know not whether it be to wish him well. Much could be said of this, and of the great difficulties which can result from such a precaution—such as the sale of offices, as has been done for many years; but it is not my obligation to give an opinion on matters of state, but to relate facts without contesting the laws.

Governor Don Fausto brought here many persons of good family: Don Juan Lingurín, a man of great virtue, who died in Manila with the reputation of being a great servant of God; for he was greatly addicted to meditation, prayer, and mortification. Sargento-mayor Don Fernando Iglesias Montañés, his secretary, who afterward married Doña María Morante, who came in the suite of the governor’s wife. Don Juan de Rivas, a native of Galicia, and a general in the army; he married another lady of Doña Beatriz’s household, named Doña Juana de Aragón. Captain Don Miguel de Salazar, of Toledo, who was grievously slain in the year 1709. Don Angel Liaño, Captain Don Frutos Delgado, Don Pedro de Subirá, Don Francisco Valdés, Don José de Veroluca, and many others. [Among these were] General Don Pedro de Lucena and Captain Don Lucas de Lucena, brothers, who are still living; Captain Don José de Luzarrondo, a Navarrese; Captain de Iriarte, who afterward returned to España; and Master Don Juan Aguilar, the governor’s chaplain, who had spent some time in these islands, being one of the household of the bishop of Sinopolis, Don Fray Juan Durán, assistant of the bishop of Cebú. In this galleon came Captain Don Patricio de Aguila—an Irishman, brother of the pilot Guillermo de Aguila—and Captain Pedro Quijada, both married; and other officers who are still living, with an excellent reenforcement of men for the Manila garrison.

What is most important for our history is, that a numerous and choice mission of religious for this province came, in charge of father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, who in 1686 had been sent [to Europa] for this purpose, and made his voyage by way of Batavia and Holanda, as we have briefly related. That navigation was very difficult, because when the Dutch ships with which he was going approached the English Channel they learned that at its entrance was a French fleet. For this reason they changed their route, doubling Cape Clare, a promontory of Ireland; and they went as far as 63° of [north] latitude, so that they could sail around the northern extremity of Scotland, and therefore they suffered great cold and hardship. As soon as father Fray Álvaro de Benavente arrived at Bilbao with his companion Fray Juan Verganzo, he set out on his journey to the court, where he presented his despatches, and explained the reasons why he had made his voyage by way of Batavia; for this route was strictly prohibited by his Majesty, and might cause much hindrance to the procurators. Having secured the approval of the Duke de Medinaceli and the lords of the royal Council of the Indias, he departed for the Roman court, to ask for the relaxation of the oaths which the missionaries in China were commanded to take, of obedience to the apostolic vicars sent out by the holy Congregation of the Propaganda. [Diaz relates with some detail the progress and success of this embassy by Benavente, because the question at issue therein has an important place in the controversy over the line of demarcation between the domains of Spain and Portugal in the East; but we omit this part, as it is unimportant for our narrative.]

[Father Fray Álvaro] also had to obtain from our very reverend general Fray Fulgencio Travalloni various statutes and corporate laws for the government of this province; and these were [in the form of] fifty-eight decrees, given in the convent of San Martín at Sena [i.e., Sienna], on May 28, 1688, [while the father general was engaged] in the general visitation of Italia; father Fray Álvaro brought them in printed form, with a Roman imprint. But with the course of time it was found by experience that these laws were unduly rigorous, and not very satisfactory for the government of this province; and it was continually asking for dispensations from them, until our father general Fray Adeodato Nuzzi, of Altimira, sent orders that this province should change and correct them as it should find expedient; and this was done in the intermediate chapter of the year 1710. Father Fray Álvaro brought many favors and jubilees from his Holiness for many convents of this province, and a bull to the effect that the religious who, knowing any language of the provinces under our charge, should explain [the Christian doctrine] in the convent of Manila for a period of eight years should bear the title of “Master,” with the exemptions belonging to that dignity, and that he might exercise a perpetual vote in the provincial chapters; but up to the present time there has been no religious who has devoted himself to that occupation, or attracted much importance to this so unusual concession.

For the missionaries in China he gained the subsidy and stipend which his Majesty gives to the missionaries of the other religious orders, that is, a hundred pesos to each one for a year’s support. He obtained a royal decree that the trade and commerce with the Portuguese of Macán, which until that time had been forbidden and full of risk, should be free; and this dispensation was obtained only by the information given by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente that this was the safest door by which the missionaries could gain entrance into China. But the Portuguese, although they enjoy greatly to their profit the commerce of Manila, which is the chief means of their preservation, carry out very poorly the arrangement, as regards giving passage to the missionaries; for not only do they not give them entrance, but they inflict many annoyances on the religious, as they did with this very father Fray Álvaro, in both his first and his second visit to China. What keeps them in this attitude is the incorrectly understood patronage of their king of Portugal; for they can claim the same things in Mogol, Persia, Turquia and Constantinopla, and in the empire of Trapisonda, as included in the hemisphere of their demarcation. Father Fray Álvaro returned to España with a commission of vicar-general (which had been granted to him very fully by our own reverend father general); and he busied himself in calling together the religious who were to come in the mission [to Filipinas]. Since he had passed through the province of Aragón on his return from Roma, some religious offered themselves to him there, not only from Aragón but from Valencia; and there some others who afterward were enlisted by father Fray Pedro Cerro—to whom father Fray Álvaro had delegated his own powers, since father Fray Pedro was a religious who was very friendly to this province, and zealous for the good of souls.

Before father Fray Álvaro reached Manila with his religious, Governor Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora made his entry into the city; this was done on St. James’s day, in the afternoon. Two magnificent and very beautiful triumphal arches were erected for him, with large emblematic representations and ingenious allegories. One was made at the cost and by the care of the Society of Jesus; and the other by the care of our Augustinian fathers, at the place where the governor would pass our convent of San Pablo, with the idea of the history of Janus—with ingenious Latin inscriptions and epigrams, explained in Castilian eight-line stanzas; and to these were added, in all these places, praises [of the governor]. This was the last reception of this sort that was given to the governors, its disuse being begun with the next governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu—who, as he came wearing mourning for the death of our king Don Carlos II, would not allow this festal mode of reception.