Missionaries in great numbers had already flocked to the Philippines and roamed wherever they thought fit, without license from the bishop, whose authority they utterly repudiated.
Affirming that they had the direct consent of his holiness the Pope, they menaced with excommunication whosoever attempted to impede them in their free peregrination. Five years after the foundation of Manila, the city and environs were infested with niggardly mendicant friars, whose slothful habits placed their supercilious countrymen in ridicule before the natives. They were tolerated but a short time in the islands; not altogether because of the ruin they would have brought to European moral influence on the untutored tribes, but because the bishop was highly jealous of all competition against the Augustine order to which he belonged. Consequent on the representations of Fray Alonso Sanchez, his majesty ordained that all priests who went to the Philippines were, in the first place, to resolve never to quit the islands without the bishop’s sanction, which was to be conceded with great circumspection and only in extreme cases, while the governor was instructed not to afford them means of exit on his sole authority.
Neither did the bishop regard with satisfaction the presence of the commissary of the Inquisition, whose secret investigations, shrouded with mystery, curtailed the liberty of the loftiest functionary, sacred or civil. At the instigation of Fray Alonso Sanchez, the junta recommended the king to recall the commissary and extinguish the office, but he refused to do so. In short, the chief aims of the bishop were to enhance the power of the friars, raise the dignity of the colonial miter, and secure a religious monopoly for the Augustine order.
Gomez Perez Dasmarinas was the next governor appointed to these islands, on the recommendation of Fray Alonso Sanchez. In the royal instructions which he brought with him were embodied all the above mentioned civil, ecclesiastical and military reforms.
At the same time, King Philip abolished the supreme court. He wished to put an end to the interminable lawsuits so prejudicial to the development of the colony. Therefore the president and magistrates were replaced by justices of the peace, and the former returned to Mexico in 1591. This measure served only to widen the breach between the bishop and the civil government. Dasmarinas compelled him to keep within the sphere of his sacerdotal functions, and tolerated no rival in State concerns. There was no appeal on the spot against the governor’s authority. This restraint irritated and disgusted the bishop to such a degree, that at the age of seventy-eight years he resolved to present himself at the Spanish court. On his arrival there, he manifested to the king the impossibility of one bishop attending to the spiritual wants of a people dispersed over so many islands. For seven years after the foundation of Manila, as capital of the archipelago, its principal church was simply a parish church. In 1578 it was raised to the dignity of a cathedral, at the instance of the king. Three years after this date the Cathedral of Manila was solemnly declared to be a “Suffragan Cathedral of Mexico, under the Advocation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception”; Domingo Salazar being the first bishop consecrated. He now proposed to raise the Manila see to an archbishopric, with three suffragan bishops. The king gave his consent, subject to approval from Rome, and, this following in due course, Salazar was appointed first archbishop of Manila; but he died before the Papal Bull arrived, dated the 14th of August, 1595, officially authorizing his investiture.
In the meantime, Alonso Sanchez had proceeded to Rome in May, 1589. Among many other Pontifical favors conceded to him, he obtained the right for himself, or his assigns, to use a die or stamp of any form with one or more images; to be chosen by the holder, and to contain also the figure of Christ, the Very Holy Virgin, or the Saint—Peter or Paul. On the reverse was to be engraven a bust portrait of His Holiness with the following indulgences attached thereto, viz.:-“To him who should convey the word of God to the infidels, or give them notice of the holy mysteries—each time 300 years’ indulgence. To him who, by industry, converted any one of these, or brought him to the bosom of the Church—full indulgence for all sins.” A number of minor indulgences were conceded for services to be rendered to the Pontificate, and for the praying so many Pater Nosters and Ave Marias. This Bull was dated in Rome the 28th of July, 1591.
Popes Gregory XIV. and Innocent IX. granted other Bulls relating to the rewards for using beads, medals, crosses, pictures, blessed images, etc., with which one could gain nine plenary indulgences every day or rescue nine souls from purgatory; and each day, twice over, all the full indulgences yet given in and out of Rome could be obtained for living and deceased persons.
Sanchez returned to Spain (where he died), bringing with him the body of Saint Policarp, a relic of Saint Potenciana, and one hundred and fifty-seven martyrs; among them, twenty-seven popes, for remission to the Cathedral of Manila.
The supreme court was re-established with the same faculties as those of Mexico and Lima in 1598, and since then, on seven occasions, when the governorship has been vacant, it has acted pro tem. The following interesting account of the pompous ceremonial attending the reception of the Royal Seal, restoring this court, is given by Concepcion.[13] He says: “The Royal Seal of office was received from the ship with the accustomed solemnity. It was contained in a chest covered with purple velvet and trimmings of silver and gold, over which hung a cloth of purple and gold. It was escorted by a majestic accompaniment, marching to the sounds of clarions and cymbals and other musical instruments. The cortege passed through the noble city with rich vestments and leg trimmings and uncovered heads. Behind these followed a horse, gorgeously caparisoned and girthed, for the president to place the coffer containing the Royal Seal upon its back. The streets were beautifully adorned with exquisite drapery. The high bailiff, magnificently robed, took the reins in hand to lead the horse under a purple velvet pall bordered with gold. The magistrates walked on either side; the aldermen of the city, richly clad, carried their staves of office in the august procession, which concluded with a military escort, standard-bearers, etc., and proceeded to the Cathedral, where it was met by the dean, holding a Cross. As the company entered the sacred edifice, the Te Deum was intoned by a band of music.”
In 1886 a supreme court, exactly similar to, and independent of, that of Manila, was established in the city of Cebu. The question of precedence in official acts having been soon after disputed between the president of the court and the brigadier-governor of Visayas, it was decided in favor of the latter, on appeal to the governor-general. In the meantime, the advisability of abolishing the supreme court of Cebu was debated by the public.