Fray Hernando, archbishop.
Before me:
Francisco de la Roca, notary.”
I am told that an act was issued by the archbishop for the purpose of announcing to the said master-of-camp that he was not to obey the governor, as the latter was publicly excommunicated. But I have been unable to assure myself of the truth of that statement, and consequently, I do not mention it, except with the doubt that surrounds it. But, if it were a fact, let your Grace consider whether that were an act of mutiny or no.
The governor had sent a company of soldiers under command of an adjutant of the camp, and the chief constable of the Audiencia, Captain Bartolome Tenorio, with orders to execute the royal decrees and to expel the archbishop from these kingdoms. The latter was clad in his surplice, stole, and cope, and was holding the most holy sacrament in his hands. He was surrounded by the said religious and by a number of seculars. The chief constable disliked that execution exceedingly, but he was ordered to carry it out under severe penalties, as it pertained to his duty. But, since the archbishop had the most holy sacrament in his hands, he could not do so; accordingly, the governor ordered it to be done when he should lay the sacrament aside. Three times did he send to order the religious, in his Majesty’s name, to leave that place, and not to cause that disturbance and scandal, but they refused to obey. Hence the soldiers took them away by main force—first requesting them with great courtesy to go away of their own free will; and, if not, to give them leave to obey the orders of their superior officers. But the religious asserted that they would not obey, and that, if they were garroted by the soldiers, they would be martyrs. The said chief constable declared that, if he did not obey his orders, he would lose his head, and several thousand ducados which had been imposed upon him as a penalty. A religious replied to him: “If your Grace should die for this matter, we of all the orders will give you our signed statement that you have died as a martyr.” The father guardian of St. Francis, Fray Juan de Piña, showed himself to be a great prater—now crying out about the most holy sacrament, now threatening the soldiers with the wrath of God, now exhorting the archbishop to stand firm; and it is even asserted that the said father, appearing at the balcony, commenced to call loudly to the inhabitants to come to the aid of their archbishop. That appears probable to me, since a religious of St. Dominic, after the confusion was over, remarked to a resident of Manila, as if chiding him, that the citizens of Manila were worthless, since they had not hastened on that occasion to the aid of their archbishop. The inhabitants answered as follows: “Father, we are faithful vassals to the king, and not traitors.” There was a religious who went to the archbishop and told him to be steadfast, saying that, since the governor was excommunicated, most of the infantry would declare in the archbishop’s favor. While the soldiers were busied in clearing the hall from the religious, it was seen that the whole convent of St. Francis was coming in a close procession with lighted candles in their hands. The soldiers went to meet them, and prevented them from passing farther, but forced them to return to their convent. Thus can your Grace see that all the actions of those fathers at that time were for the purpose of creating confusion and stirring up the people.
The city seeing that the disturbance was increasing, assembled at that time in the cabildo houses, and sent commissaries to consult with the archbishop on the part of the city, and to protest against the disturbances and mischief. The commissaries were the castellan, Don Fernando de Ayala, and General Don Joan Claudio, and I think that there were two others. Bearing before them the maces of the city, they talked with the archbishop, who was clad in his pontifical robes, and held the most holy sacrament in his hands. But they got nothing out of the archbishop; and taking, by way of testimony, the protest that had been made to him, they retired.
Now at that time, namely, at the hour of ten at night, the interdict having been rung at the cathedral, and all the orders, without any exception, having followed it, and ringing the interdict (as they were obliged to do, in order to follow the metropolitan church), the uproar caused the governor some anxiety. He went out with an escort of soldiers, and gave orders that no one be allowed to go to the house of the archbishop, in order that there might be no greater concourse of the people. The soldiers began to remove the religious and seculars who surrounded the archbishop, by violence, for they refused to go willingly. On going to take away a secular who had hold of the lunette of the monstrance, the most holy sacrament fell to the ground, causing a great scandal. The father guardian of St. Francis began to call out, and beat himself and fell to the ground. With that the infantry, scandalized, began to be more gentle. There was one soldier who drew his sword, and turned it on himself, crying: “It is finished.” Although he did not kill himself, he was grievously wounded. Thus wounded, they took him away for treatment, and at the same time arrested him as a rioter. Some praised that soldier’s act, but I think that the devil would have laid hold of him as of Judas, had he died.
That affair had occupied all of Friday until twelve o’clock; and all that time the bells were ringing the interdict, and the city was in a great uproar and confusion, which was caused by the religious. Their purpose seems to have been no other than to arouse the people; and beyond all doubt they would have succeeded in it, had not the fidelity of this city been so great, the infantry so numerous, and the military discipline so strict. Saturday, May 10, was already dawning; and, at one o’clock at night, the archbishop ordered a suspension of divine services, of which all the orders and the other churches were warned. Thereupon the bells stopped ringing, and the inhabitants were allowed to snatch a little sleep. By this time most of the people had been driven from the hall where the archbishop was, some of those who accompanied him leaving him, for he remained steadfast with the most holy sacrament. But now, tired out and overcome, it dropped from his hands; although he again took it whenever he saw any soldier entering; until in the morning, a Franciscan friar came and put about his neck a reliquary with a bead of St. Joanna, as if the most holy sacrament—the lunette of which they fastened with a ribbon to his neck, after removing it from the base of the monstrance—were not more efficacious. But as that could not endure, at last the archbishop grew tired and laid aside the most holy sacrament. They returned it to the convent of St. Francis, whence it had been taken, with the same irreverence. The archbishop divested himself of the stole and cope, whereupon the infantry took him outside the city, and embarked him in a champan which was prepared at a port called St. Dominic. With an escort of an adjutant and twelve soldiers, he was taken to the island of Mariveles, opposite and in sight of this city, so that they might await the order there, and prepare a ship and the necessary supplies to convey him outside these kingdoms.
The ecclesiastical cabildo assumed the powers of the government, and assembled, and authorized the bishop of Camarines, Don Fray Francisco de Zamudio, to act as provisor until the bishop of Zebu, Don Fray Pedro de Arze, should be notified, to whom the government of this archbishopric belongs by a bull of Paul V. However, it was learned that he did not care to come to assume the government because of his ill health and age; in such case, the government would pertain legitimately to the said bishop of Camarines. He absolved the governor and the auditor Zapata from the censures ad cautelam, for there were innumerable invalidities in the censures, as they did not observe the citations and legal terms. He raised the interdict and the suspension of church services; and at twelve o’clock at night, at the end of Saturday and the beginning of the Sunday of the [feast of the] Holy Ghost, the cathedral bells were chimed. All the other bells of the orders followed suit; and in the morning the churches were opened, and the divine offices celebrated. Thus passed the three days of the feast, while Fray Antonio Gonsalez preached in his convent of St. Dominic, uttering a thousand choice things against the governor.
The governor had appointed Fray Francisco de Paula of the Order of St. Dominic, a father of St. Augustine, and a Recollect father as governors of the archbishopric. Father Fray Francisco de Paula, who had been named in the first place, went to the dean, Don Miguel Garsetas, and other prebendaries of the cabildo, with his paper, in order to have them admit him as governor. But they did not do so, and it appears that they were right; for it is a common judgment of theologians and those versed in canonical law that no mendicant religious can be a provisor or governor of a bishopric; and there is an express prohibition in law to the Friars Minor of St. Francis.