The Dominicans
Had Aduarte written that the first books printed at Manila were two Doctrinas issued by the Dominicans at San Gabriel in 1593, and given some details of their production, we could conclude our study with a quotation from him, but nowhere does he mention them. In fact, his inference was that the first book was that printed for Blancas de San José, and yet we know that this Doctrina preceded anything that Blancas de San José could have written, since he did not come to the Philippines until 1595. We can assume, as Retana did, that by printing Aduarte meant printing from movable type, but this does not explain away the fact that Aduarte, who recorded in detail events of far less significance, did not speak of the Doctrinas at all. The best—and it is a most unsatisfactory best—that we can do is ascribe the omission to the frailty of man, and record that there is no notice of the Dominican Doctrina of 1593 in the most complete contemporary Dominican history of the Philippines.
The first members of the Order of St. Dominic[95] to land in the Philippines were Bishop Salazar and his assistant, Christoval de Salvatierra. But they were fully occupied with the administration of the bishopric and could not devote themselves to regular missionary work. It was not until July 25, 1587 that working Dominican missionaries came. Then fifteen[96] under the leadership of Juan de Castro arrived, and established the first Dominican province[97] of the Philippines and China, thus consummating the hope expressed as early as 1579.[98]
In consultation with the other orders it was decided that the Dominicans should be given the ministry of the territories of Pangasinan and Bataan, which had theretofore been spiritually exploited by few priests. Almost immediately, on September 15, 1587, the vicariate of Bataan was founded and settled. In speaking of it, Aduarte stressed the importance of a knowledge of the language of the natives, which there would have been Tagalog, to the success of the mission. Domingo de Nieva, one of the four members of the mission, learned it rapidly and well, and soon began to preach to the Indians in their own tongue. His aptitude for languages and its usefulness to the Dominicans must have been very great, for Aduarte in listing the priests who originally volunteered in Spain makes few comments about individuals, but of Nieva he remarks that he “was afterwards of great importance because of the great ease and skill with which he learned languages, whether Indian or Chinese.”[99] Unfortunately Nieva was only a deacon, and so could not hear confession, a fact which was greatly deplored, because during that first year no other priest mastered the language sufficiently well to do it, but in September 1588 he reached the requisite age and was ordained. About that time the friars in Bataan—one had died and another was ailing—were joined by Juan de la Cruz, “who, being young, succeeded very well with the language,”[100] and also succeeded in surviving the climate.
Early in 1588 Juan Cobo[101] arrived from Mexico. Shortly thereafter, on June 12, 1588, the Dominican chapter held its first convocation. It elected Juan de Castro the first provincial, adopted the general ordinances[102] already made in Mexico, gave the convent at Manila the title of priory, and designated as parts of the province four vicariates. Of primary importance was the appointment then of Juan Cobo to the mission for the Chinese.
From the very earliest days of the Spanish occupation of Manila, the governors had had trouble with the Chinese and Sangleys.[103] These people had long conducted a profitable trade between China and the Philippines, and many had settled permanently near Manila, while others stayed there regularly between trading voyages. The Chinese merchants were in full control of the shops of the city, and so monopolized retail trade that the early governors legislated[104] against them to give the Spaniards a chance to establish themselves in business. In 1588 there were as many as seven thousand of them in and around Manila.
No one had objected to the Pangasinan and Bataan assignments, but when it was suggested that the Dominicans also assume the responsibility for the ministry over the Chinese and Sangleys in the suburbs of Manila, the Augustinians vehemently resented what they considered an invasion of their prior rights. Aduarte omits any account of a disagreement, merely saying that since the Chinese had had no one to minister to them the Dominicans assumed that responsibility, but in a letter[105] from the Licentiate Gaspar de Ayala to Philip II, dated from Manila, July 15, 1589, full details of the squabble are given. From this source we learn that the Augustinians had a convent in the village of Tondo in the Chinese district. There they had ministered to the natives in their own language, but had rather neglected their Chinese-speaking parishioners. Consequently after the arrival of the Dominicans the Audiencia passed an ordinance requiring that the Bishop appoint ministers of one order to administer to the Chinese in their own language within thirty days. To meet the deadline the Augustinians began to study Chinese at breakneck speed, but when the Bishop came to Tondo to hear one of the friars, who was supposed to know the language, preach in it, there was some trouble as a result of which the Augustinian would not, or indeed could not, preach. Naturally, when it was decided to award the territory to the Dominicans, the Augustinians accused the Bishop of favoritism towards his own order.
The whole situation is best described in the report on the Chinese made by Salazar to the King on June 24, 1590:
“When I arrived in this land, I found that in a village called Tondo—which is not far from this city, there being a river between—lived many Sangleys, of whom some were Christians, but the larger part infidels. In this city were also some shops kept by Sangleys, who lived here in order to sell the goods which they kept here year by year. These Sangleys were scattered among the Spaniards, with no specific place assigned to them, until Don Gonzalo Ronquillo allotted them a place to live in, and to be used as a silk-market (which is here called Parián), of four large buildings. Here, many shops were opened, commerce increased, and more Sangleys came to this city.... When I came, all the Sangleys were almost forgotten, and relegated to a corner. No thought was taken for their conversion, because no one knew their language or undertook to learn it on account of its great difficulty; and because the religious who lived here were too busy with the natives of these islands. Although the Augustinian religious had charge of the Sangleys of Tondo, they did not minister to or instruct them in their own language, but in that of the natives or this land; thus the Sangley Christians living here, were Christians only in name, knowing no more of Christianity than if they had never accepted it.... Then I appealed to all religious orders to appoint some one of their religious to learn the language and take charge of the Sangleys. Although all of them showed a desire to do so, and some even began to learn it, yet no one succeeded; and the Sangleys found themselves with no one to instruct them and take up their conversion with the necessary earnestness, until, in the year eighty-seven, God brought to these islands the religious of St. Dominic.”[106]