[1] Before embracing a religious life, Brother Francisco Bello (or Vello) had been a fine business man and merchant, and had a thorough knowledge of the Orient. See Pastells’s Colin, iii, p. 806.
[2] Considerable legislation took place in regard to these two memorials. They were submitted to Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, who indited his reply from Santander, November 22, 1658, in which he corroborated the statements of Vello, and advises that the suggestions in both be followed. They were also submitted to one Licentiate Antonio de León Pinedo, because of his knowledge of such matters, who answered under date of Madrid, January 10, 1659, advising that the forts of Terrenate be annexed to the spiritual jurisdiction of the Philippines. The fiscal, reporting on the matter at Madrid, February 11, 1659, also favors the establishment of a tribunal of the Inquisition at Manila and the merging of the Terrenate forts in the archbishopric of Manila. On March 11, 1659, the council resolved that the viceroy and Audiencia of Nueva España report pro and con on the founding of a tribunal of the Inquisition in Manila, after conferring with the inquisitor of Mexico; also that the governor and archbishop of the Philippines report on the means of supporting a tribunal of the Inquisition without royal expense. A royal decree of April 24, 1659, directed to the governor and Audiencia of the Philippines, orders them to report pro and con on the separation of the Terrenate forts from the bishopric of Malacca and their addition to the archbishopric of Manila. Another decree of like date addressed to the viceroy and Audiencia of Nueva España orders a report on the establishment of a tribunal in Manila. Although the memorials are without date, it is probable that they were presented to the royal Council in the latter part of 1658; for Bello succeeded Patiño as procurator-general at Tenerife, July 26, 1657. See the original documents presented by Pastells (Colin, iii, pp. 806–810).
Jesuit Protest against the Dominican University
Memorial of Miguel Solana, Jesuit, petitioning the king not to allow the Dominican friars to carry out their purpose of founding a university in Manila.
Sire:
Miguel Solana of the Society of Jesus, and procurator-general of the province of the Philippine Islands, makes the following declaration, namely: That he has been shown a memorial presented by the father master Fray Mateo Vermudez,[1] procurator-general of the college of Santo Tomas in the city of Manila, wherein for reasons therein set forth he asks that the ambassador at Rome be authorized in writing to petition his Holiness to erect a university of general studies, and to incorporate and establish it in his college as above—so that, should there hereafter be founded separate schools and general [studies], the said university is to be transferred to them, in which may be taught three other branches of learning—namely, canon law, civil law, and medicine, as more fully set forth in the said memorial, the meaning whereof to be taken for granted. Your Majesty will be pleased to order that the same be stricken from the judicial acts, and furthermore, that no other petition of similar import be admitted, with the declaration to the opposing party that, inasmuch as the matter has already been decided [cosa juzgada] in favor of the college of San Ignacio, which the Society conducts in the said city, they are barred from further relief. All which I petition for, for reasons to be more fully described hereafter, whereon I found the necessary petitions and prayers, which, as is evident and appears, will be acknowledged throughout the whole line of reasoning and the acts of the suit that has been entered by the said college, as well as from the allegations and claims deduced therein. The claim of the college of Santo Tomas, in brief, is the establishment of a university in order to nullify the right and privileges of the Society and of the said college of San Ignacio, whereon the Audiencia of Manila has acted and delivered judgment—which acts, on being brought before the Council on appeal, were ended definitively in the trial and review of the said suit. The case, therefore, is finished and closed, and for no reason can or should it be reopened, either in whole or part. Wherefore it results that the claim now introduced is faulty with no other purpose than to burden the said Society with new suits and expenses; as the case, as stated, has been decided and closed, and the reopening of it barred, as being a matter already determined. The said memorial therefore should not be admitted, nor a hearing granted to the claim advanced therein, which should be refused further consideration. And to the end that his plea be drawn up according to the requirements of law, and for the better confutation of the reasons advanced in the said memorial, he [i.e., Solana] maintains that what was petitioned for and obtained by the opponents in the warrant (which was secured through the aid of money) was the establishment of a university like those at Avila and Pamplona. But in order to avoid raising the question of temporal privileges with the necessary expenses therefor, as well as because the paper to be sent to Rome had to be of similar tenor, it was trickily drawn up, and the petition for a university made to read as for one like Lima and Mexico, whereof the reasons advanced in the said suit were set forth in full form, whence it follows that it is not entitled to any further consideration; especially so, since the concession made by his Holiness was according to the tenor of the clear and truthful petition that had been presented to him, without taking into consideration the ulterior meaning that through deceit and malice had been introduced into the report and the subsequent decree thereon. Nor should so important a defect be glozed over with the assertion that the said paper bore the signatures of the president and the members of your Council (whereof there is no evidence) while the very contrary is evident in the acts. [Let it be noted] that considerable time has passed, while, moreover, the proceedings have taken for granted the certainty that those acts should have in similar matters—besides the facts that, in the endeavor to secure a bull, the accompanying statement was vague in that no mention was made therein of the authority possessed by the Society of conferring degrees by perpetual and lawful right; and that in the Council acknowledgment was made (with full cognizance of the case and of whatever was proposed in the said memorial and papers), that they were in favor of the college of San Ignacio and its degrees and students, and not of those of Santo Tomas. Moreover, the bulls and apostolic privileges that have been enjoyed by the Society are in legal and recognized form, and have been admitted and certified to in all the audiencias and tribunals of the Indias, as is notorious; they were passed by the Council, and were presented in the suit, and acknowledged as being of value; while what was advanced by the said father procurator whereon were issued the decisions and writs of the Audiencia of Manila and the Council, was held as gratuitously asserted and without foundation. As early as the year 26, the said bulls were presented to the president, governor, and captain-general, at that time Don Juan Niño de Tabora—from which the subreption latent in the bull which they obtained is inferrible, for in the form wherein it was granted, they would not have secured it if his Holiness had had the evidence of the right and [fact of] possession on the part of the said Society. Nevertheless, the said father procurator-general seeks and claims to have all the defects therein corrected through the issuance of new letters and bulls, in order that the said Society may thereby be deprived and despoiled of its said just privileges and legal titles. In virtue of these it is toiling to the great benefit and advantage, both spiritual and temporal, of the vassals of your Majesty who are resident in those regions and provinces, and who again and again have sought to have the Society upheld in its said right, the same having been duly acknowledged and certified, of which there cannot be the slightest doubt. In order to make plain the baselessness of the arguments that are raised against the said bulls, it suffices to say that they have been presented in legal, authentic, and unchallengeable shape, whereof the evidence is wholly undeniable; and have been recognized as such by the Council, by which they have been accepted with all needed circumstances and requirements—so that, had any further scrutiny been needed therein, the same would not have been neglected, nor, [in such case], would the audiencias of the Indias have allowed them to be cited. Moreover in the suit now pending in the Council, between the college of the Society and that of Santo Tomas in sequence of the one conducted before the royal Audiencia resident in that city [of Manila], the fiscal of Santa Fé [in Mexico?] required that those bulls should be recognized and fulfilled; and although opposition thereto was offered on the part of the college of Sante Tomas, the acts of the trial and the review show that a writ of execution was issued empowering the Society to make full and complete use of the same by conferring degrees, as it had been doing, the college of Santo Tomas being enjoined therefrom. In consideration of this it is not right to grant the father procurator a hearing. Besides, in that suit many other arguments and reasons were brought forward in favor of the Society. Wherefore, if this had not already been decided, finished, and closed, as is the case, a petition would be presented to have all the acts relative to the same brought together, or that a report should be drawn up of the proceedings in the trial. With this concurs the fact, as said, that they were passed by the Council, of which a cedula to that effect has been presented. Moreover in the said suit before the Audiencia of Manila, the cedula of November 25 of [the year 16] 45 having been offered in opposition thereto, full recognition was had of this article; and in the trial and review of the case the claim was refused consideration, since the truthfulness and promptness wherewith the Society was and is proceeding was in evidence—as also was its right use of the said bulls and its conferral of degrees, of which recognition and discussion was made before all parties in this said suit. Besides, to assert that the powers to confer degrees were revoked by Pius V and Sixtus V is contrary to established fact, inasmuch as, so far as relates, appertains, and belongs to its privileges and bulls, these not only were not withdrawn from the Society, but rather were confirmed most amply, with the grant besides of new favors and graces. Wherefore, as regards this plea all question is ended, while the revocation to which he refers concerns other parties, and other intents and purposes, which do not belong to or affect this suit relative to the firm and unalterable right of the Society of Jesus. The said father procurator-general, then, should know what is so notorious that even in Rome, where the Society has its principal university, it has been conferring degrees on its students without any opposition whatever, which would not be the case were the bulls in any way detective. But this [claim] is wholly gratuitous and censurable, as the said decrees of execution were issued by the audiencias and councils; nor should it be offered in opposition on the part of the college of Santo Tomas; nor should an attempt be made to reopen what has been resolved and decided legally with such full knowledge of the case. And the report which he files is also opposed to established fact, in his statement that the city [of Manila] petitioned for the foundation of a university in the said college; for no such paper was written, nor has one been discovered, to the best of our knowledge. Nay, the evidence on the contrary goes to show that a special petition was drawn up in both the general and the particular interest of that community wherein the said Society is established and the use and exercise of its said bulls maintained. For this reason, when the Audiencia ordered the trial to be held, the citizens displayed so much regret for this disturbance of the Society, that the cabildo and magistracy felt obliged to repair to the governor and most urgently petition him to interpose his authority to have the suit remanded to the Council. They asked that no change [in regard to the college] be made, and that he would petition your Majesty on their behalf not to sanction the finding of the said act; or, in event of this being done, to extend the same grace also to the Society of Jesus, in opposition to whose growth it was not right or within reason (with due respect) to have the question decided through the expenditure of money, and that the petty amount of two thousand pesos. Because of the harm to the public welfare and the service of your Majesty, besides other cogent reasons, any similar proposal should be regarded with disfavor and refused a hearing. Moreover, it [i.e., the Jesuit college] was sought for and granted on the fiat of the Conde de Castrillo, through whose agency this grant was secured, and confirmed by the Council. This they secured and obtained fully and sufficiently, and their warrants have been put into effect; whence it results that (even though the intent [of these] had not prevailed and been put into execution, as it has been; even though the res judicata bars further action, as it does) no recourse is open to them [i.e., the Dominicans], nor means that can be of use for introducing the said claim, nor ground for complaint—especially since in virtue of the bull they enjoy many and valuable prerogatives which were not contained in the temporal privileges which they exercised in former times. Then the archbishop gave them their degrees, which were recognized only in the Indias, while now these are recognized everywhere, being conferred by the rector of the college, which has other officials, insignia, and preëminences of special import. Nor do they [i.e., the Dominicans] refrain from nor content themselves with disparaging in every way the degrees and students of the Society of Jesus, whom they deprive and despoil of their just titles and rights. Such is the reason wherefore your Majesty should not give them a hearing were the subject one entitled to a hearing; such the reason wherefore the Council, although wrongly the contrary is maintained, has not declared the college of Santo Tomas to be a university—since what it did do, as is evident in the acts, was to order and declare that both colleges use their bulls. Thus the opposing party is deprived of nothing; nay, especially since, as is stated in the petition and prayer drawn up for that purpose, it was in order to obtain such powers as are held by the universities of Avila and Pamplona. They should not now seek, because of the illegal act of the secretary, to have those powers extended and enlarged to those [possessed by the colleges] of Lima and Mexico, even though his Holiness had not reduced them to the form, limits, and branches of knowledge, referred to in the said bull—to whose tenor and decision one must submit without therefore giving undue significance to the word academia used therein. For, without now raising any question as to the effects thereof, the burden of this treatise simply states that whether a college be a university or not depends on the will of him who is empowered to grant it after inquiry into the fundamental grounds of the matter. In the said lawsuit, the truth was established; accordingly it is neither expedient nor fitting to discuss new points, as whether the term academia, or that of university, or something else be used. Besides, as already stated, the city of Manila did not petition for a university as alleged by the opposite party. The petitioner to that effect in the paper referred to was the said college itself, which secured the grant with limitations as in the decree. Wherefore, even if the said bull had not been secured, there would have been no cause for complaint, inasmuch as they paid the said two thousand pesos with your Majesty’s consent; nor could a new petition at any time be presented, one already having been granted, even though they had not obtained the bull.
But without calling in question the matter which is already settled, or his other representations which he insists on and firmly maintains—without appearance, however, of abandoning his claim in case of its rejection—the point that now may be discussed relative to a regular university and general studies is as follows: Has the college of Santo Tomas the needed requisites therefor? or are there new conditions by which their claim can be supported, and which would deprive your Majesty of all ground [for refusing it], although you do not support it? In case a new foundation should be deemed advisable, this more suitably should be established in the said college of San Ignacio, for the reasons to be gathered from the acts of the said trial, from the reports that have been made in favor of the Society, and from the excellent progress which, as is proved by experience, has resulted from their learning and teaching in those islands, with the general applause and approval of their inhabitants and citizens. All this [the writer] again brings forward in the interest of this plea; and he represents that the college of San Ignacio is one founded by your Majesty, and the earliest, and is older than that of Santo Tomas; he also asserts its precedence and other prerogatives adjudged to it in the said trial. Its teaching staff has been, as it will continue to be, adorned with the needed endowments and learning; and that the Society will, as is usual in such cases, carefully teach and train youth follows from its statutes; and the results of its labors in this direction are well known. For its teachers it has never demanded any fees, nor have they any other reward than the luster which is derived from the learning and uprightness of the scholars. They need no royal endowment for their support and maintenance, nor will they ever apply for one. From the revenues enjoyed by the college and the favor shown by your Majesty from the beginning of their earliest establishments they will maintain themselves and be gladly occupied in the fulfilment of this duty. Your Majesty will be their only patron and will give them such statutes as he shall please for their better government. Moreover, without having the royal exchequer put to the slightest expense, application will be made to his Holiness for bulls whereby this institution may win greater renown; while it will be subject in all things to the behest and commands of your Majesty and your Council, as ever has been the notable course of the Society of Jesus in those regions, in order that you may clearly see and understand its mode of procedure and how consistent are its actions. As a favor from your Majesty, it prays with the utmost earnestness and respect that you will be pleased to command that the papers and reports bearing on this matter in the secretary’s office be examined and compared—not only those from the present governor, but those from his predecessor; and especially what the latter wrote in the year 49, on the occasion of his referring [to the Council] this lawsuit. Therein will appear the arguments in opposition to the college of Santo Tomas, and the decisions thereon—among others, the fact that its graduates and students have to take oath that they will uphold the teachings of Saint Thomas [of Aquino]. As a matter of fact, in the renowned universities of the world an oath is taken to defend whatever the consensus of Christian piety has decreed—as during these days was sworn to amid public demonstrations and applause, in the presence of your Majesty—relative to the mystery of the conception of the most holy Virgin our Lady.[2] Besides this, by express enactments of law they are forbidden under censures to read and teach other faculties and sciences than those of philosophy and theology. It is therefore unbecoming and in conflict with the said enactments, as well as incompatible with their institute and profession, which forbid them to conduct public universities in the form now claimed. It, moreover, is in manifest prejudice to the right conferred by bulls and privileges on the Society of Jesus, as well as to what has been decreed in its favor with so much toil and expense. And, besides, it may be remarked that the establishment of a university, with courses of medicine, and canon and civil law, in the convent of Santo Domingo would be an improper and absurd proceeding, as they have no teachers who are acquainted with the first principles of these sciences, in default of which there could be but poor instruction, whereas the law requires that the teachers thereof be very learned, besides being endowed with singular talents and qualifications. As the matter is well and generally known, it may be observed that in the Philippines and the city of Manila, where the only persons who treat the sick are Chinese, there is no graduate physician; for no one wishes to go thither from Mexico, as he would be unable to get a living. As regards canon and civil law, graduates therein might go thither every year, if only they could obtain a living and find scholars to whom they might lecture and give instruction. But the city of Manila is so small and confined that—as is evident from the paper here presented with the necessary formalities from Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corquera—it numbers no more than two hundred and seventy citizens. Behold then, your Majesty, under what conditions and in what sort of a place it is sought to establish a regular university of sciences and arts, with chancellor, rector, secretary, beadle, and other officials and teachers who make up its stall—for whose support would be needed twelve thousand ducados of income, no matter how moderate the salaries; whereas, if a portion of this were applied in increasing the number of settlers, with a consequent saving of burdens on the royal exchequer, this would redound to the greater benefit and service of your Majesty. With consideration of the same and whatever besides in fact or law may be of moment, the writer prays and beseeches your Majesty to order the said memorial to be rejected, and allow no other of similar import to be received—with the addition of the declaration, if needed, that the case has already been settled, and the claim is not entitled to a hearing. In conclusion, without prejudice, however, to his plea nor with abandonment of the same, he [i.e., Solana] prays that, should a university be established, it be founded in the college of San Ignacio of the said Society; and on each and every matter relating thereto he files all the petitions needed therefor, wherein he will receive favor with justice, etc.[3]