Of the ecclesiastical tribunals of these Filipinas Islands and the city of Manila
The chief tribunal of the metropolitan church of Manila is the archiepiscopal. It is composed of a provisor and vicar-general, with his notary-in-chief and fiscals. The said tribunal has a house which serves as a prison, and which has a separate and large part for lodgings for the seclusion of men and women; it has its corresponding officials.
The second tribunal is that of the holy Inquisition, which was decreed by the Holy Office of México. It is the superior of all the commissaries who are scattered through the provinces of Cebú, Camarines, Cagayán, and the islands of Negros—besides whom there is in Manila another and special commissary for the fathers of the Society of Jesus, who is generally an honored secular priest. The commissary has his chief constable and notary. The councils are formed of various ministers—examiners, familiars, and consultors. There are besides three or four commissaries appointed by México, in order that there may be one who may promptly succeed to the office in case of death or resignation—although the said duty is always exercised by only one. That office has always been in control of the reverend fathers of St. Dominic, successively, without other interruption than that of seven years, when the reverend father Fray José Paternina, an Augustinian, occupied it—who was summoned to México, as will be seen in due time.
The third tribunal is that of the Holy Crusade, whose creation was the work of King Don Felipe IV [sic; sc. III], as appears from his royal decree, dated San Lorenzo, May 16, 1609. It is composed of a commissary-general-subdelegate, who exercises the office of president and who is appointed by his Majesty, with the consent of the supreme council of the Holy Crusade; and a senior auditor of the royal Audiencia and the fiscal of the same body who receive a special salary for those offices for the management of the accounts. As accountant serves the oldest royal official, according to the terms of the above cited royal provision. For the other business, there are a secretary and a chief notary who receive salaries, besides four other notaries who receive no salary, but only the fees for business transacted by them. The publications in these islands are made every two years. The day fell at the beginning on October 28, but since 1736 the publication was transferred to the first Sunday of Advent, by order of the commissary-general, so that the publications might occur at the same time in all the kingdoms and seigniories of España.
The brotherhood of the Santa Misericordia of Manila forms another tribunal composed of the flower of the community. It has its purveyor, twelve deputies, one secretary, one chaplain, and other officials. In their charge is the administration of the charitable funds which are connected with that holy institution. The Misericordia was erected in imitation of the one founded in Lisboa in 1498 by the most serene queen of Portugal, Doña Leonor, widow of Don Juan the Second, by the advice of a Trinitarian religious, named Fray Miguel de Contreras. The circumstances attending that foundation will be given later.
The first brothers built a church with the title of “Presentación de Nuestra Señora” [i.e., “Presentation of our Lady”], and near it the seminary and house of Santa Isabel, in order that Spanish orphan girls might be reared there with a good education in doctrine and morals. They have a rectoress to govern them, a portress, and several virtuous women of mature years. Thence go forth the girls with sufficient dowries for the estate [of marriage] to which they naturally tend—for which this Santa Misericordia applies the sum of sixteen thousand pesos. The girls attending the seminary usually number sixty, besides some pupils, six slave women, and other serving-women. For their expenses and that of their chaplains ten thousand eight hundred pesos are set aside annually. Many of the inhabitants and people of the community send their daughters to that seminary, so that they may learn good morals, because of the great improvement that is recognized in those who have been reared there. The said congregation is governed by special rules, whose observance does not impose the obligation of mortal sin.[6] It enjoys many privileges, indulgences, and favors conceded by the supreme pontiffs. By his Majesty’s decree, dated Sevilla, March 25, 1733, and countersigned by Don Miguel de Villanueva, his Majesty’s secretary, it is under the royal protection. In that decree the royal arms are ordered to be placed in the church and seminary. The brothers are ordered to go out in a body to make the stations on holy Thursday, and entire faith is to be given in all the tribunals to the instruments of the secretaries of that holy executive board. The charitable works administered by that holy executive board are numerous; for, besides the support and rearing of the girls, it maintains the hospital of St. John of God, of the city of Manila, with generous alms. It may be said that there is no estate that does not experience its charity; for it spends annually in alms and charitable works alone, more than seventy thousand pesos for the relief of poor, self-respecting Spaniards, for those who are imprisoned, and for masses for the souls in purgatory—in such manner that from the year 1600 until the present one of 1751, in which this history is written, the alms that have been administered by that holy executive board exceed five million pesos, in addition to the supplements which it has made to the general fund of these islands in cases of extreme necessity, and at the invasions of enemies, which amounted between the years 1645 and 1735 to the sum of one million sixty-nine thousand and ninety-nine pesos. Besides the above that holy executive board is patron of twenty-nine collative and ten lay chaplaincies, and maintains two fellowships in the royal college of San José.
There are other charitable institutions in this community, although none so universal and large. They have been founded in the cathedral church, in the tertiary order of the seraphic order [of St. Francis], in the convent of Dilao, in that of Binondo of St. Dominic and in their beaterio, in the convent of the calced Augustinian fathers, and in that of the discalced Augustinians. The Society of Jesus also administers some charitable funds, of which the proceeds are applied by their founders to various purposes of divine worship, alms for the orders and the poor, dowries for poor Spanish girls, Indian and mestizo women, hospitals, prisons, and suffrages for the blessed souls in purgatory.
There is another royal seminary in the city of Manila. It was established in the year 1591, while Don Fray Domingo de Salazar was bishop, and Perez Dasmariñas governor, in certain houses given for its foundation by Captain Luis de Vivanco, ex-factor of the royal treasury. It has its own church, whose titular is St. Andrew the apostle. It was intended for the rearing of orphan girls—the daughters of Spaniards—in good education and virtue. They are under the royal patronage, and his Majesty has the care of maintaining the students, and supplying them with all necessities. They also admit some pupils, serving-women, and women in retreat. A separate quarter was built later for the latter, at the expense of Licentiate Don Francisco Gómez de Arcellano [sc. Arellano], archdeacon of Manila and provisor of the archbishopric. It has its rectoress and portress, and they live with great edification and holy customs.