The sargento-mayor went away with this answer; and as the governor was at the corner of Santa Potenziana, on the square of the archiepiscopal buildings, in disguise, he heard all that occurred. He sent another order, commanding, in the name of his Majesty, that the religious should retire to their convents; and that, if they did not do so, they would be dragged thither. Seeing his accursed intention, they thought it best to let themselves be taken away by the soldiers, but with much sadness and weeping. The Franciscan friars remained in their portico, to be near the house of the lord archbishop, so that they might watch what passed. The governor himself came personally, and made them retire and go within their convent.
The very next day, which was the eve of Espiritu Santo, his illustrious Lordship, finding that the governor’s obstinacy was continuing and that he was being abandoned (for no one was allowed to enter), and that he had had nothing to eat for twenty-four hours, and that all this was in preparation for placing him on shipboard, sent to call the guardian of the Franciscans, and entrusted to him the most holy sacrament, which was taken to his convent with great ceremony, and there deposited. At this time the archbishop was allowed to make appointments of persons to govern his archbishopric. He appointed the father reader Fray Francisco de Paula, of the Order of St. Dominic, and the father reader and definitor Fray Pedro de Santo Thomas, of the discalced Augustinians, ordering them not to raise the interdict and suspension of religious functions, or absolve the governor, Auditor Marcos Capata, and Don Andres Giron, as he reserved their absolution to himself. Thereupon at eleven o’clock in the morning the court-alguazil came with a carriage, and his illustrious Lordship alone was placed in it, all the religious accompanying it with tears at seeing such cruelty and severity. When they had come to the gate known as Puerta de los Almazenes,[4] the archbishop alighted, and again excommunicated all those who had caused his exile, and cursed the city; and throwing stones at it, and shaking the dust from his feet, he directed his steps to the water to board a champan. This was provided with sixteen arquebusiers, and the said adjutant; but they did not allow any of his servants to embark, nor consent that any provision of food be placed aboard for the voyage. When he begged for his cross, the said alguazil-mayor answered that there was no cross for him. Thereupon he embarked, and although many religious desired to take leave of him, they were not allowed to come. Thus they conveyed him to the island of Maribelis, distant from this city some seven leguas, more or less. Although many private citizens of this city made urgent request to go in their boats to the champan, they were not allowed to do so; for it was seen that they were carrying provisions for the archbishop, being moved to pity by the cruelty with which they were using him, for one would not expect infidels to do worse.
In this island he was kept prisoner, without being allowed to communicate or to write letters, his treatment being such as might be expected from dispositions so obstinate. On the eleventh of this month of May the said governor appointed the said bishop of Camarines to govern the archbishopric, contrary to [the law of] God and with no permission, saying that the lord archbishop was a decayed limb. The said bishop accepted the appointment, acting contrary to [decrees of] the Council of Trent, and incurring its penalties. He absolved the said governor, Auditor Capata, and Don Andres Giron: and gave the last-named the collation for the archdeaconry, raising the interdict imposed by the legitimate prelate. Those in the cathedral and the fathers of the Society, who were followed by other churches, besides the convents of St. Dominic, St. Francis, and the discalced Augustinians, at once replied that they would observe the suspension imposed on them, because they knew that a governor [of the diocese] could not raise the interdict, or do anything of what he had done; for he was suspended, interdicted, excommunicated, and under discipline, for having exercised the pontifical office, raised the interdict, and absolved the excommunicated—all this being reserved to the lord archbishop, as was declared by all the learned men of this city. Although the cathedral, the church of the Society, and the Observantine convent of St. Augustine said mass, no one went to hear it; but on the contrary the Catholics were scandalized that these people should do such things through fear of the governor—things which caused great scandal, and which it would take a long time to tell. [I omit them] mainly because most of them are better left unsaid, because of the cruelty involved in them, rather than told in a relation.
On the twentieth of May there came an order from the lord archbishop, at the petition of religious and holy persons, that the suspension should be raised for a fortnight, so that the feast of Corpus Christi, which was on the twenty-second of the said month, might be celebrated; and when the said period of time was past, he imposed the interdict as before—although it was not observed except by the Dominicans, the Franciscans, and the discalced Augustinians. The governors of the archbishopric and of the islands respectively gave to the fathers of the Society [the curacy of] Chiapo, which they demanded, as belonging to the archiepiscopal court. It was donated to the lord archbishop by the Franciscan fathers, on condition that it should be conferred upon no-one, but should remain for the maintenance of the poor and of secular priests; and that, in case it were given to any other order, the condition and donation should not be valid which had been made to the said lord archbishop, and accordingly it should revert again to the said Franciscan fathers, as it was before. But the fathers of the Society would listen to none of this, drawn on by ambition; nor would the governor, who allowed them to demand what they wished.
A few days after this, on the fourth of June, the royal decree was revoked; and father Fray Domingo Gonzalez, the Dominican provincial, and other dignitaries, went to the lord archbishop, and asked him not to change anything which had been done by the said bishop of Camarines. The lord archbishop would not consent to this, as it was all void, and opposed to conscience. But on the prayer and supplication of grave religious, who besought his permission for this until his Majesty should send a remedy sufficient for so many evils as had occurred, his illustrious Lordship thereupon consented to this; and he entered this city on the sixth of June, amid the general rejoicing of all, for thereby the church was freed from schism and the administration of an excommunicated bishop. In short, in order to remove greater evils things remain thus, without anything being changed; we hope that God our Lord and his Majesty will redress this, and that persons will be sent to punish the guilty according to their crimes.
Pasquin que se Pusso A la puerta del gouernor de manila Don seuastian Vrtado de Corquera
Quien la yglesia vitupera—Corcuera
y quien la Birtud maltrata—Çapata
y quien se çisca de miedo—Ledo
segun esso llorar Puedo