His Majesty had promoted Don Hernando Guerrero to this archbishopric of Manila; and the latter, upon the arrival of the decree of presentation in the year 1632, asked the cabildo on May 25 to put him in possession of his government. But inasmuch as the decree which was required for it was lacking, the cabildo refused to receive him in possession until the arrival of the bulls and pallium. Consequently, he remained in Manila without governing, until, in the above year [i.e., 1635], came an official statement that the bulls and pallium were already attended to in the Roman court; and he thereupon insisted once more that he be admitted to the government of the Church. There were various difficulties raised by the cabildo in receiving him; for in that ship there came only a statement from an apostolic notary, without approval. In regard to this matter long opinions were uttered by each side, which were finally settled by admitting Señor Guerrero after he swore to present himself with the bulls and pallium within a year. In accordance with this, possession was given to him on June 25, 1635.
Don Fray Hernando de Guerrero began to govern this church at the same time that Don Sebastián de Corcuera these islands: At the beginning there were abundant indications of what would happen at the end; for the new governor showed himself so greatly bent on increasing his own jurisdiction that it was necessary to act with severity, and not to allow him to make precedents by which certain notions (already beginning to be apparent when he was governor of Panamá) which he had in mind should be established. That gentleman was at once very prudent, very harsh and austere, very tenacious in his resolutions, and wedded to his own notions—which is the occasion for the greatest errors in princes; for by not yielding, in matters that self-love adopts as certain, they allow themselves to be carried over any precipice. This passion was greatly predominant in that gentleman and was the cloud that obscured other talents, worthy of esteem, that adorned him. Immediately occasions of dispute arose between the two, not because Guerrero tried to meddle with the civil government, but because the governor was trying to govern both estates, by giving unfair interpretations to several matters called by the name of “royal patronage;” these are delicate to handle, and the attention with which they ought to be treated is not bestowed on them. Don Fray Hernando greatly regretted the unavoidable occasions that arose, and feared that by the precedent of the first disputes all those which might afterward arise would be regulated; and accordingly, he tried not to weaken at the beginning, which is the time when one must pay heed in order to avoid consequences.
The first occasion when the governor contrived to introduce himself into the ecclesiastical government more than was his right, was in trying to aid father Fray Diego Collado of the Order of Preachers in the division which the latter was attempting to make of the province of Santo Rosario, under the title of “Congregation of San Pablo,” dividing the province into two parts. For that purpose the father had brought a company of religious, who were called “barbados,” because they wore long beards, and were destined for the new province which he was going to found under the title of “congregation,” for the conversion of Japón and China. For this purpose the said father Fray Diego Collado had obtained the bulls necessary for it in Roma; but seeing that he would not be given license for it in the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, on account of the difficulties that were apparent to the eyes of the least prudent, he did not present them there, being content with having Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera on his side, with whom he had come to these islands in the aforesaid company. That was a very dangerous and critical time for the province of Santo Rosario, which was exposed to many disturbances by the division that they were trying to make of it; and the best convents near Manila were to be taken away from it for the new congregation. In that pretension the aid of the governor was freely used, and it was necessary for the archbishop to oppose him, the province of Santo Rosario having had recourse to the latter. Thereupon the dispute was openly declared, because the governor tried to carry to completion the undertaking that had been begun. The said division would without doubt have been carried into effect had it not been opposed by the archbishop and by Don Fray Diego de Aduarte, a Dominican, and bishop of Nueva Segovia. That was the beginning of the sharpest controversies that have been seen in the Indias between the two jurisdictions—ecclesiastical and civil; and from it originated the disturbances which scandalized the world, causing lamentable effects which are experienced even until the present time. Not only laymen, whom worldly considerations cause to follow the side of power in these islands, conspired on the side of the governor, but also certain ecclesiastical persons, whose advancement depended on the will of the civil government. These latter, being domestic enemies, were the greatest spur in the hostilities that had been begun. They would have been ended by the care that the archbishop was taking, had the unyielding disposition of Don Sebastián de Corcuera, in what had been begun, allowed him to be less insolvent in what he was attempting. For if on such occasions something is not yielded on both sides, the fire that has been started will continue to increase until any check will be entirely impossible—as was experienced on this occasion; for instead of being extinguished, it became more furious with what happened afterward, as we shall see in the following chapter.
Chapter XVI
Relation of the disputes and strife between the archbishop and the governor, Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera.
The strife, being greatly inflamed by the events above mentioned, became entangled with one of the most memorable disputes that have occurred in the islands—a necessary occasion for the sharpest encounter between the two jurisdictions, and one from which Don Fray Hernando Guerrero could not excuse himself, as it concerned the most sacred part of the ecclesiastical immunity. That was a matter in which the archbishop could not neglect to sally out with all his might, in order to comply with the obligation of a true prelate. The case was as follows: There was an artilleryman in Manila, named Francisco de Nava, who had a female slave with whom he had illicit communication, as came to the ears of the archbishop. The archbishop ordered him to remove from himself this occasion [for sin] by selling the slave-girl to another person; and had the latter placed, for that purpose, in the house of a lady who was related to Doña María de Francia, who became fond of her and arranged to buy her from the artilleryman. The latter was so beside himself over the loss of the said slave that he refused to sell her at any price, saying that he wished, on the contrary, to marry her. But Doña María de Francia so arranged matters that the slave was sold, and came into her possession with very slight effort. The artilleryman, grieved and regretful for what had happened, almost became mad, and, it having been given out that he was mad, certain violence was shown him; and on one occasion he had received a sound beating at the house of Doña María de Francia, because he had gone there to request that they should give him the slave, as he had resolved to make her his wife.
Aggrieved and rendered desperate in this way, he saw the girl pass one day in a carriage with Doña María de Francia. Going to her he asked her whether she knew him, who was her master. The slave answered him with some independence, whereupon he, blind with anger, drew his dagger in the middle of the street and killed her by stabbing her, before anyone could prevent it. All the people, both those in the carriage and those in the street, ran tumultuously [after him]; but the artilleryman escaped them all, and took refuge in the church of our convent in Manila. The governor heard of what had happened, and ordered Don Pedro de Corcuera, his nephew (who was then sargento-mayor of the camp), to take the artilleryman from the church, saying that he could not avail himself of the sanctuary of the church, as he had committed a treacherous act—although it was only a homicide, and the settlement of this question did not concern the governor. However, his action arose mainly from the anger that he felt that what had happened was in the presence of his nephew, Don Pedro de Corcuera—who, also being angered at what concerned his wife, made use of his commission with less prudence than he ought to exercise in executing such orders from his superiors. He caused the church and convent to be surrounded; and, going inside, examined everything, not excepting even the sacristy; and it is even said that he declared that, if he found the artilleryman there, he would take him out a prisoner. But not having been able to find him then, Don Pedro left the church and convent surrounded by a double guard. The governor added to that that he would not allow the religious to enter or leave, until he had hold of the refugee. The latter was finally found, and taken from the sacristy, and surrendered to the commander of artillery, in order that he might proceed with the trial as his competent judge; and he, either carried away by flattery, or in obedience to the commands of the governor, proceeded so hastily that in a very short time he condemned the artilleryman to death.
The archbishop’s provisor, Don Pedro Monroy, bore himself on this occasion with the prudence that was fitting, and proceeded against the commander of artillery, requesting him to deliver his prisoner and return him to the church. Having been informed that the commander of artillery was a mere instrument, and that all his actions were according to the impulses of the governor, he sent three lay priests to the palace to intimate to the latter that the judge should deliver the refugee to him. The priests entered, without anyone hindering them; and finding that the governor had already retired, as it was then an advanced hour of the night, they started to withdraw in order to return next morning; but the soldiers of the guard would not permit them to leave, saying that such was the order of the governor.
The sentence against the artilleryman having been given—which it is said that the governor sent ready made out to the judge, to sign—they proceeded to execute it, notwithstanding that the provisor proceeded to threaten censures, and to impose an interdict[10] and suspension from religious functions [cessatio de divinis]. The governor ordered a gallows to be erected in front of the very church of St. Augustine, and the criminal was hanged thereon—to the contempt of the ecclesiastical immunity, for the [proper] place assigned for such punishments was very distant from there. The governor, seeing that the sentence was already executed, and that he had now obtained the chief object of his desire, wrote to the archbishop, requesting him to have the censures removed and the interdict raised, and the churches opened on the day of the nativity of our Lady. The archbishop, recognizing the duplicity of the governor, refused to answer that letter without first consulting the orders; and, after consulting with some of them, decided that he would not raise the interdict, since there was less inconvenience in having it imposed [even] on so festive a day, than there would be in his yielding on an occasion so inimical to the ecclesiastical immunity. However, the requests of the Recollect fathers of our father St. Augustine, who had charge of the advocacy of the nativity, had so much influence that the archbishop ordered the interdict to be removed, and it was done.
The commander of artillery was condemned to some pecuniary fines, from which he appealed to the judge of appeals, who was the bishop of Camarines. The ecclesiastical judge refusing to admit the appeal, he threatened the royal aid of fuerza; and this question having been examined in the royal Audiencia (which at that time consisted of but the governor and only one auditor, Don Marcos Zapata), it was declared in his favor, and the appeal went to the bishop of Camarines. The latter—namely, Don Francisco Zamudio, of the order of our father St. Augustine, and a son of the province of Méjico—declared the commander of artillery to be free from the sentence given by the ecclesiastical judge. The trial of the commander of artillery had its second hearing. On that account there did not fail to result certain charges against the governor, such as his having ordered the secular priests to be detained in the guard-house; his declaration that he could not be excommunicated by anyone except the pope; and that if an order were given to him to arrest the pontiff, he would arrest him, and even drag him along by one foot (which he was proved to have said by several persons). The governor freed himself from all these charges by excuses in a manifesto which he published; but as it is not a part of my duty to examine their adequacy, I shall not do so. I shall refer the reader to the reply made to him by a learned ecclesiastic of the university of Méjico;[11] for there is no liberty in Filipinas to enable any one to complain, or to speak his mind against what the government manipulates.