Most of the ministers of instruction think only of acquiring and amassing money, in order thereby to solicit your Majesty in that court to give them these bishoprics. Surely, your Majesty is not well served thereby; and you should send a secular bishop, or at least an archbishop, so that the religious should not unite with him to oppose your Majesty’s governors. And, if it please you, will you send a coadjutor for Don Fray Hernando Guerrero, archbishop of these islands, who is now so old that he is past eighty years of age, and his hands and head shake. Leaving his lack of learning out of the question, your Majesty can consider what the [ecclesiastical] government will be by having peace. In order that your Majesty may establish a thing so to your service, I will give that coadjutor two thousand pesos annually from my own salary. If he should assume the archbishopric during my term, I shall arrange so as to leave that sum to him as an income, besides the four thousand pesos that the archbishop receives—so that the two thousand may not be paid from your Majesty’s royal treasury, from your royal incomes, or from those of your vassals. By that means the archbishopric will have an income of more than six thousand pesos, and its incumbent can get along excellently on that. Will your Majesty kindly send such a coadjutor for the succor of these islands and the consolation and protection of the clergy, from among the so many virtuous and erudite and moral seculars in that royal court. Should such an archbishop have a bishop in partibus, in order to go to confirm and to visit, your Majesty can very well dispense with the three other bishops of Cibu, Nueva Segovia, and Camarines, for they are in fact of but little use and service in their bishoprics. [Decreed in the margin: “Touching the matter that the archbishopric be given to a secular, when that post falls vacant, let this section be referred to. In regard to giving a coadjutor to the archbishop, have his letters collected, and what other letters treat of his health, age, capacity, and method of procedure. The secretary, Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon, shall make a secret investigation of what occurs in this matter. In regard to the offer of the two thousand pesos which the governor offers from his salary, no steps will be taken at present; but have the governor notified to explain the means by which the sum that he mentions can be obtained without detriment to the royal treasury or to his Majesty’s vassals, so that if it be a measure proper to adopt, it may be carried out. In regard to abolishing those bishoprics, let there be brought, for the better settlement of the matter, a report of the data concerning their erection, their respective distances [from Manila], and whatever else concerns this matter, and of what shall be found in the secretary’s office.”]
[In the margin: “That the orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis have sent more religious than those granted to them.”]
The Order of St. Dominic having been granted sixteen religious by your Majesty, at a cost of a like number of thousands of pesos, brought twenty-six in all, at a cost of as many thousands of pesos. The Order of St. Francis brought sixteen, although your Majesty granted them twelve. Thus, Sire, your Majesty spent forty-eight thousand pesos in bringing those seventy religious, and established nearly as many rivals to your governor, in order that they might oppose him in everything. The diocesan authorities of Camarines have given me a memorandum, to the effect that in that bishopric alone six stipends can be saved, and a like number of guardianías, as they are very near one another, and two can be administered as one. The religious do not deserve this, but, although there may be thirty Indians in one district, and another district lies but one-half or three-quarters of a legua away, they want another mission; and as I say, they are rarely willing to live alone. Their prelates foster such ideas by saying that the lax conduct of one is avoided by giving him an associate. Happy would I count myself, Sire, if I could see myself at your Majesty’s feet, informing you of part of what takes place here, since I could not do so entirely. [Decreed in the margin: “In regard to this section and the following ones, let the governor be answered not to consent to the erection of new missions that are not according to the royal patronage; and let him try, with the consent of the archbishop, to unite some with others. In those which shall be newly established, he shall also endeavor to introduce secular clergy, if he find them capable and sufficient. And whenever anyone shall again discuss the question whether it is advisable to deprive the religious of the missions and appoint seculars to them, reference shall be made to this section.”]
[In the margin: “That the orders can obtain religious from those in Mexico, or creoles, without going to so great expense as to convey them from España.”]
It also appears that these orders can obtain religious from Mexico, without causing so great expense to your Majesty’s treasury—creoles, or at least those who have gone thither from España, who are more habituated to a hot climate, and will not enter suddenly so great a change of climate as that of these islands; and even were there none of this change, it would be well for them. Your Majesty ought also, in justice, to favor the ecclesiastical estate, so that, if there are benefices and missions, these may be given to it. For almost all such are in the possession of the religious; and the seculars who are now studying in the colleges, from whose number some very good candidates graduate, have nothing to which to aspire. It is a shame that there is nothing in which to occupy them. They do not cause any expense to your Majesty in a journey hither, nor in their studies, and are more easily reduced to reason; while the friar is one with his community, and no one denies that the religious outside his convent would die as a fish out of water. I entreat your Majesty to be pleased to believe me that I do not inform you of all these things from hate, passion, or ill-will; but only from my desire that your Majesty’s service may be uppermost. Your Majesty will never have a true report concerning these islands, if your disinterested governors do not give it—for which reason, since this country is so far away, no relief can he furnished in matters that need it so greatly. For my part, I shall ever endeavor to comply with the obligations under which your Majesty has placed me, together with those which I have as a Christian, and those which I owe to my lineage. I shall do my uttermost, and that will be something; but if your Majesty will aid me by means of some ordinances and mandates, there will remain nothing for me to do. May our Lord preserve your Majesty’s Catholic person, as is necessary to Christendom. Manila, the last of June, 1636. Sire, your Majesty’s vassal kisses your feet,
Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera[11]
[Endorsed: “Read and decreed within. December 12, 637.”]
Sire:
The Order of St. Dominic and the other orders having so disturbed me and the community with the affairs of the archbishop, Don Fray Hernando Guerrero, as I have related to your Majesty in other letters, Fray Diego Collado, who brought twenty-six religious of the said Order of St. Dominic last year with your Majesty’s order and permission, presented to me certain letters from his general. He says that he presented them in the royal Council of the Indias, who ordered that these be returned to him, granting him the said permission to bring the religious; although it appears that it was under the leadership of another, the nephew of the said Fray Diego Collado, as the latter was sick. I consulted as to the matter with the Audiencia, and with other learned men. In accordance with their opinions (which I have in writing), although I have no decree from your Majesty ordering me to help him, I did aid him, at his petition, so that the provincial of this province should obey the letters of his general. In those letters the general orders, under penalty of major excommunication, that the provincial should deliver the government of five houses and one hospital of the Chinese to the said Fray Diego Collado, without making any excuse or delay, so that he might form therewith a separate congregation for the purpose of the propagation of the faith.[12] Having, as I declare to your Majesty, consulted on and examined the matter, and as this division cannot harm your Majesty or the royal patronage, I deemed it advisable to grant him the aid in accordance with the opinions aforesaid. Those fathers, therefore, divided into two bodies, and the moods and restlessness in which they were keeping the said archbishop subsided, and in fact have died away; and they are allowing me to live and govern in peace. Until now, I have been unable to have peace during these ten months, by whatever means I have sought and striven. May God grant that it last, and that those fathers content themselves with governing within their gates, and do not endeavor to govern and manage your Majesty’s governors—which they attempted to do the second or third day after I was received as such in these islands. One Fray Sebastian de Oquendo, a restless and impudent friar, and extravagant in his speech, came to give me his opinion, and to counsel me as to what persons were suitable for alcaldes-mayor and captains of the districts where those religious have their missions—praising some, and speaking evil of others; and endeavoring to make me believe that what he told me was the only thing that was advisable for your Majesty’s service. He continued to do that twice more within one week, until I asked him who had told him that I needed his counsel and opinion to execute and carry out your Majesty’s service, which was in my charge. Thereupon, he talked no more to me, but he has spoken evil things of the government in the pulpit at various times—and so scandalously that it obliged the Audiencia and its president to request his superior to cause him to leave the city for a season, together with Fray Francisco de Paula, another restless preacher, and a disturber of the peace and quiet and of the minds of your Majesty’s vassals. The superior refused to accede to this request; accordingly, those fathers are always overbold and impudent in the pulpits. Unless your Majesty have the goodness to command that this be corrected, those of the province and those of this new congregation will have recourse to your Majesty, in order to lodge their complaints—those of the province declaring that your Majesty’s patronage is not being observed, and that the aid given to Fray Diego de Collado is contrary to the royal patronage. This is the first time that has been seen in these islands, that the friars have defended the royal patronage, for they are through and through opposed to the said royal patronage. If your Majesty would be pleased to see it quite plainly, the royal patronage rules that the provincials shall propose two or three persons as priors and guardians, and that the government, representing your Majesty, shall appoint one of these. By decrees sent to my predecessor, Don Juan Niño de Tabora, in the year twenty-nine, your Majesty once more ordered that this be ordained by your royal Council of the Indias. But, notwithstanding what pertains to the patronage and what your Majesty orders, the religious have refused to do this, or to obey you. They offer certain cool excuses, and, although they see that that decree is executed in Piru and Nueva España, they refuse to obey in anything which pertains to the patronage, and which your Majesty orders by a special decree, unless it suits them very well to obey it. And since your Majesty has now sent an obedient governor, and one who does what he is ordered, he is the most evil man in all the world; and they parade him in their pulpits, attempting to ascertain and publish what belongs to God alone alone—[asking] whether the continence of the governor and his endeavor not to furnish a bad example, is the virtue of chastity, or the fault of nature. These things, Sire, are taught here in the pulpits by the Dominican friars. The guardian of St. Francis said publicly in the pulpit of the cathedral church (because the computer of accounts had presented an account against him) that he would show a balance due against the king of España—talking in this so discourteous manner of his natural lord, as if he were English, French, or of any other nation; and charging your Majesty with the fact that Fray Francisco Jimenez had gained Oran for you, and that another Franciscan friar had quieted and pacified Nueva España. From these things, he drew up results against your Majesty in the pulpit. He said of the accountant, Juan Bautista de Çubiaga, a Vizcayan (who is so well known that no one can be ignorant of his birth, and of the great fidelity and disinterestedness with which he serves your Majesty), that he was a Gascon devil, besides other very insolent words—although the said friar is a Mallorcan or a native of Cerdeña [i.e., Sardinia], which one could presume to be a more barbarous place than España. This is preached in the pulpits, and is winked at; for these religious are exciting and stirring up the community at any opportunity, and in order to avoid scandals, the mildest course possible is being taken. These religious, Sire, are very numerous, and must be trying to excite all these islands. They show humility only when the hostile Indians go to sack their missions; and then they come to ask for soldiers, and to set forth many things in favor of the honor of God, and the service of your Majesty. For both, with all humility I entreat your Majesty to be pleased to order these excesses to be corrected, or to give me orders for what I am to do in like cases.
Will your Majesty command that the question be considered whether it will suit your Majesty to order the approval of what has been done, or to take such action as may be most expedient for your royal service—on account of the advantages arising from the separation of this Order of St. Dominic into two factions, and for that reason, their becoming subject to your Majesty’s orders. I shall obey you with my breast to the earth, as I ought to do, and as I have done for twenty-six years past. May our Lord preserve your Majesty’s Catholic person, as is necessary to Christendom. Manila, the last of June, 1636. Sire, your vassal kisses your Majesty’s feet.