[1] Mateo Bermudez was one of the Dominican mission that arrived in the islands in 1626. He ministered in Formosa, and in the Parián of Manila; and was afterward procurator at Madrid and Rome, and visitador to the American provinces. In 1658 he returned to Mexico, remaining there until his death (1673), at the age of eighty.
[2] In the MS. this latter clause is separated from the preceding one, but obviously refers to it. The argument of Solana is: The Dominican school requires the teachings of St. Thomas, “the Angelical Doctor,” to be maintained. But St. Thomas opposed the belief and doctrine of the immaculate conception of the blessed Virgin Mary. In Solana’s day the dogma of the immaculate conception had not yet been defined by the Church; it then was a moot question. But in that day the belief in and teaching of the immaculate conception was common, though not (as said) of duty—Dominicans only, one may say, holding to the contrary. The pupils, then, of Santo Tomas had to swear to uphold what was not common belief, although it was not then heretical.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
[3] Many passages in this document are very involved and elliptical, and in some places the sense is not at all clear. The translation is necessarily somewhat free, at times, in wording; but it is believed that the author’s meaning is, as a rule, accurately rendered.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O. S. A.
Description of the Philipinas Islands[1]
Although it appears by the information above that in regard to the Philipinas Islands (which belong to the district of the Inquisition of Mexico) it has not been possible to arrange the itinerary, because of the great distance thither from this kingdom; and that the inquisitor visitor, Doctor Don Pedro de Medina Rico, charged its execution by letter to the father-definitor, Fray Diego de Jesus Maria, discalced religious of St. Augustine, and calificador of the Holy Office, as he had labored more than twenty years in the said islands—the said letter being sent in duplicate in the two ships that left this kingdom in this present year of one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight—yet, because the said visitor has heard of the great knowledge of those regions that is possessed by Father Maxino Sola, a religious of the Society of Jesus (who is at present in the City of Mexico, and about to go to the kingdoms of Castilla as procurator-general of the province of Philipinas), in order that the said itinerary might be arranged with greater despatch, and so that in the interim until the coming of the person who shall settle things in those islands, there may be such relation as we are able to have in this book (which must be sent at the first opportunity to the most illustrious and most reverend inquisitor-general and the members of the Council of the general Holy Inquisition), his Lordship ordered me, Ygnaçio de Paz, that, continuing the work, I should set down the information given by the said Father Maxino Sola. And, in obedience to that order, that relation which I have been able to procure with the exercise of all care and minuteness, is as follows.
Archbishopric of Manila
The city of Manila, from which the said archbishopric (as well as all the island) takes its name, occupies the same site as did the largest settlement of the natives of this island when they were heathen, who called it by the same name. It was conquered and happily united to the Spanish crown on May nineteen, one thousand five hundred and seventy-one (the same year of the establishment of the tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Mexico) by the valiant Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, native [of Guipúzcoa: blank space in MS.], and a former citizen of the said City of Mexico, whom his Majesty honored with the title of adelantado of the said islands. The city lies in fourteen degrees of north latitude. The governor lives there, who is the captain-general and president of the royal Audiencia which resides in that city, and consists of four auditors who are also alcaldes of the court, a fiscal, and the chief constable of the court. Their archbishop and the ecclesiastical cabildo live there, the latter consisting of the accustomed dignitaries—three canons (for one of the four canonries there was suppressed by his Majesty), two racioneros, two medio-racioneros, one secular cura, who has charge of the Spaniards, and another who has charge of the natives and mulattoes. They are building at the cost of his Majesty a temple for a cathedral, as that which they had before fell in the ruin caused throughout those islands by the earthquakes in the year one thousand six hundred and forty-four [sic; sc. five]. There is a royal chapel in the Plaza de Armas for the funerals and ministry of the soldiers, and it has a chief chaplain and six secular chaplains, all at his Majesty’s expense. There is a commissary of the tribunal of the Holy Office, counselors, calificadors, a chief constable, and other employes. The said commissary is necessary in the said city, and he will suffice for all the jurisdiction of the archbishopric of Manila, with the exception of the port of Cavitte. Because of the vessels that anchor at the said city from foreign kingdoms, and because it is not easy to cross the bay during certain months of the year, it is advisable for that city to have its own commissary, as will be related later in the proper place. There is also need of the chief constable, four familiars, and two notaries. [There is] a house of the Misericordia with its temple and two seculars as chaplains, where marriages are provided [for girls]. There is another house, called Santta Pottençiana, with its chapel and secular chaplain, where the wives of those who travel and leave the islands in his Majesty’s service are sheltered. There is a royal hospital for the treatment of Spaniards, with its chapel and secular chaplain. The convents of religious in the said city of Manila, in regard to the seniority of their establishment there, are as follows: the calced religious of St. Augustine; the discalced of St. Francisco, of the advocacy of St. James; those of the Society of Jesus; those of St. Dominic; and the discalced of St. Augustine—all with convents and churches of excellent architecture. In addition, the fathers of the Society of Jesus have a seminary with some twenty fellowships under the advocacy of St. Joseph, with a university from which students are graduated in all the faculties. The religious of St. Dominic have another seminary, with not so many fellowships, under the advocacy of St. Thomas, where they also graduate students in all the faculties. In both, lectures are given in grammar, philosophy, and theology. There is a convent with religious women of St. Clare, who are in charge of the religious of St. Francis; a hospital of the Misericordia for poor people and slaves of the Spaniards, the administration of which is in charge of the religious of St. John of God, whose convent is located at the port of Cavite. There is a cabildo and magistracy, with two alcaldes-in-ordinary, a chief constable, regidors, and a clerk of cabildo; and an accountancy of results, with its accountant and officials. There are also three royal officials, with their employes. There are about sixty Spanish citizens, not counting those who occupy military posts. The latter amount usually to about four hundred men. There are many servants, of various nations, amounting to more than four thousand men and women.