There are many charitable institutions in Manila. The Jesuits, afterwards expelled from the Philippines by Carlos II., founded several of the most important. The Hospital of San Juan de Dios has 112 beds; that of San José de Cavite 250, of which 104 are for soldiers, and the rest for paupers and criminals. There is an Administracion de Obras Pias, under the direction of the archbishop, the regent, and some of the superior civil authorities, which lends money to the Indians to the value of two-thirds of their landed property, one-half of their value on plate and jewellery, and insures vessels employed in the coasting trade. A caja de comunidad exacts half a rial (3¼d.) annually from the Chinese and Indians for the payment of “schoolmasters, vaccinators, defence of criminals, chanters, and sacristans of churches.” The fund is administered by the directing board of finance.
The history of the Hospital of St. Lazarus, under charge of the Franciscan friars, is not without interest. It was constructed for the use of the natives in 1578, was enlarged, and twice consumed by fire. In the year 1632, it received 150 Christian lepers exiled from Japan, and thence took its present name. It was demolished by the captain-general in 1662, when the Chinese pirates menaced the capital, as it was deemed an impediment to the defence of the place. The inmates were removed; and another hospital was built, which was again destroyed in 1783, in consequence of its having been useful to the English in their invasion in 1762; but a few years afterwards the present edifice was built on lands which belonged to the Jesuits before the extinction of their society in the Philippines.
CHAPTER XII.
ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY.
There are in the Philippines one archiepiscopal and three episcopal sees. The metropolitan archbishopric of Manila was founded by Clement VII. in 1595, and endowed by Philip II. with a revenue of 500,000 maravedis (= 200l. sterling). The bishopric of New Segovia was created at the same time with a similar endowment. The see is now (1859) vacant. The bishopric of Cebu was established in 1567, soon after the conquest of the island by the Spaniards. Nueva Caceres has also a bishop. The selection of candidates for these ecclesiastical honours has been generally left to the religious brotherhood who are most numerous in the district where there is a vacancy, and the candidate, being approved by the sovereign of Spain, is submitted to the Pope for confirmation. Some nominations have taken place where the bishop elect has not been willing to quit the mother-country for the colonies, which I was informed had caused the adoption of a resolution not to install a bishop until he has taken possession of his see. Most of the ecclesiastical authority is in the hands of the friars or regular clergy. There are proportionally few secular priests in the islands. The Dominicans and Augustine monks have large possessions, especially in the central and southern provinces; the Franciscans are most numerous in the northern. To the hospitality and kindness of the friars during the whole of my journey I bear a willing and grateful testimony. Everywhere the convents were opened to us with cordial welcome, and I attribute much of the display of attention on the part of the Indians to the reception we everywhere experienced from the Spanish padres. The Dominican monks have charge of the mission to Fokien, in China, and Tonquin.
The ecclesiastical records of the Philippines overflow with evidences of the bitter, and sometimes bloody, controversies of the Church with the civil authority, and with quarrels of the religious bodies among themselves. In the year 1710 the Dominicans declared themselves not subject to the jurisdiction of diocesan visits. One of their resolutions says:—“The provinces hold it for evident and certain that such visits would lead to the perdition of religious ministers, which is the opinion that has been for many years held by grave and zealous ecclesiastics and superior prelates who have dwelt in the province.” In 1757 the Augustine friars (calzados) were menaced with the confiscation of their property if they denied the supreme authority and the admission of parochial curates regularly appointed; and they resolved that such submission “would be the ruin of their institution and to the notable detriment of souls.” In 1767 Benedict XIV. published a bull insisting on the recognition of the metropolitan authority, which was still resisted by the Augustines. In 1775 a royal mandate was issued at Madrid insisting that all regular curates be submitted to their provincial in questions de vitâ et moribus, to the bishop, in all matters of spiritual administration, and to the captain-general as vice-regal patron. Whether the ecclesiastical police is better kept by the interference of the higher authorities, or by the independent action among themselves of the different religious orders, is a question much debated, but the substantive fact remains that the friar has an enormous and little-controlled influence in the locality of his cure, and that where abuses exist it is very difficult to collect evidence, and still more so to inflict punishment in case of his misdoings.
It cannot be denied that, in the language of Tomas de Comyn, “the missionaries were the real conquerors of the Philippines; their arms were not, indeed, those of the warrior, but they gave laws to millions, and, scattered though they were, they established by unity of purpose and of action a permanent empire over immense multitudes of men.” Up to the present hour there are probably few parishes in which the gobernadorcillo, having received a mandate from the civil authority, fails to consult the friar, and the efficiency and activity of the Indian functionary in giving effect to the mandate will much depend on the views the padre may take of the orders issued.
Religious processions are the pride and the passion of the Filipinos, and on great festivals they bring together prodigious crowds both as actors and spectators. The most brilliant are those which take place after sunset, when some thousands of persons carry lighted wax candles, and the procession is sometimes a mile long, composed of all the military and civil authorities and of the ecclesiastical functionaries, vying with each other in the display of their zeal and devotion. On these occasions splendidly dressed images of the various objects of veneration form an important part of the ceremonial. I was assured that the jewels worn by the image of Nuestra Señora de la Imaculada Concepcion on the day of her festival exceeded 25,000 dollars in value. Numerous bands of music accompany the show. One of the most interesting parts of the exhibition is the number of little girls prettily and fancifully dressed in white, who follow some of the images of the saints or the palio of the archbishop. One of the processions witnessed was forty minutes in passing, and of immense length, the whole way being lined with bearers of wax lights on both sides. There seems a rivalry among the religious orders as to whose displays shall be the most effective and imposing. The images are of the size of life, and clad in gorgeous garments encumbered with ornaments. They are borne on the shoulders of their votaries, occupying a platform, whence they are visible to the crowd.[1]
These religious ceremonials, so dear to, and so characteristic of, the Filipinos, are called Pentacasi. Everybody seems to take a part, whether within or without doors. All invite or are invited, and busy hands are engaged in making sweetmeats, preparing meats, or adorning apartments (with furniture borrowed from all sides, a favour to be reciprocated in turn), musicians are collected, strangers are sought for, and universal bustle pervades the locality.