The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 22 of 55 / 1625-29 / 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

[1] This Dutch fort was on the southwestern coast of the island of Formosa. See Valentyn’s descriptive and historical account (with map) of Tayouan (or Formosa), in his Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, at end of part iv. Boulger says (China, p. 132): The Dutch “had acquired their place in Formosa by the retirement of the Japanese from Taiwan in 1624, when the Dutch, driven away by the Portuguese from Macao, sought a fresh site for their proposed settlement in the Pescadore group, and eventually established themselves at Fort Zealand.”

[2] Interesting accounts of Formosa and its inhabitants are given by George Candidius (a Dutch Protestant minister who began a mission among the natives in 1626), in Churchill’s collection of Voyages (London, 1704), i, pp. 526–533; and J.B. Steere, who traveled through the western part of the island, in Journal of American Geographical Society, 1874, pp. 303–334. The latter states that the chief city of Formosa, Taiwanfu, is built on the site of the old Dutch colony near Fort Zelandia; and furnishes several vocabularies of native languages.

[3] La Concepción describes the Spanish expedition to Formosa (Historia de Philipinas, v, pp. 114–122) and the labors of Dominican missionaries there; he says that the Spanish fort was erected on an islet which they named San Salvador, near which was an excellent harbor called Santissima Trinidad. Apparently these localities were on the northeastern coast of the island.

[4] This officer was a relative of Governor Juan de Silva. A full account of this unfortunate expedition and his death in Siam is given in the “Relation of 1626,” post.

Letter from the Sisters of St. Clare to Felipe IV

Jesus, Mary

May all empires and kingdoms be made subject to your royal Majesty. We were sent here by the great king, Don Felipe, our sovereign (may he rest in peace), by his royal decree and favor he ordering the governor and royal Audiencia to receive us under his royal protection as nuns of the first rule of St. Clare,[1] so that the daughters of the conquistadors who do not have the means for marriage may be aided; and [it was ordered] that, when the provincial of our order should be present they should make regulations according to our rule and profession—his royal Majesty ordering the above with the earnestness that is made evident in his decree. We have found in this kingdom so friendly a disposition and so great abundance of what is necessary (with which we are supplied in the city), that although at present we number only thirty-three sisters, seventy could be supported on the alms that are bestowed upon us every week in small contributions—besides those given in quantity by private persons and bequeathed to us in wills; and those from women who are admitted to the order, who have wealth for this purpose.

Our rule declares that we may not solicit the property of those who enter to become nuns, and we are not to be careful of aught else than their virtues; but that if any one of these wishes to give some alms of her own freewill, we may receive it, as from any other person. Consequently, having observed faithfully this rule—I mean, in not desiring or striving for any more than the said benefit (and we exercise great care in this)—our Lord moves hearts, so that one woman alone has given us fourteen thousand pesos. With that the work on the convent is progressing. Other women who are about to make profession say that they will give the same amount that they would give their husbands if they married; and that, since God is their spouse, they wish to give it to Him so that a convent capable of sustaining many nuns may be built, so that they may serve his Majesty. Some have as their dowry only the spiritual wealth that the rule requires. Consequently, there are liable to be many orphan girls who serve God, daughters and granddaughters of conquistadors, who are calling aloud, and they refuse to allow them to enter. It is a pity to see so pious desires disappointed. I petition your Majesty to send me a royal decree that no limit shall be set to the number of nuns that the convent may contain. The rule does not limit the number, nor does any other convent throughout all these kingdoms. The city is very rich, and food so cheap that fourteen libras of beef cost one real; another real buys eight libras of fish; six libras of sugar, one real; and fowls, salt pork, and all other things in the same proportion; of salt alone, they have given us, on this last arrival of the ships, three hundred and seventy baras [i.e., bahars]; also a goodly supply of wine for the mass; and linen, which is very cheap.

Consequently we, these least important vassals of your Majesty, do not need human aid, but the divine. That aid we have entreated from the royal favor, so that no restriction be laid on the nuns that the convent shall contain. It is a great pity to see how they hinder the souls who serve God in so great perfection as those women who are here, the natives of these kingdoms. I consider beyond any doubt that they will be most devoted servants of God, who works marvels in all those whom He shrives, and all set themselves to observe the warnings of the gospel. An infinite number of little girls and older orphans come weeping, with their widowed mothers, begging us for the love of God to give them the habit. Since the king, our sovereign, sent them so great a spiritual and temporal consolation, and since their parents gained it for them by conquering this country at the cost of their own lives, we all are so bounden. Beseeching our Lord to prosper your royal Majesty, spiritually and temporally, with infinite increase; and may He subject to the royal power of your royal Majesty all empires and kingdoms that He has created for the greater honor, glory, and increase of the faithful, and the exaltation of the holy Catholic faith. Manila, July 31. Given in this convent of La Concepcion of the discalced nuns of St. Clare, in the year 1626.