236. Don Diego Faxardo and the royal assembly saw that those reports were contrary; for the first said that it was very important to demolish the convent and church, as it was a very strong work; and that, since it was within musket-shot and dominated the redoubt, the Dutch could demolish it in twenty-four hours with only two ten-libra cannon: while the second report set forth the fear of the revolt and flight of the Indians, alleging that the convent and church, although built of stone, would serve as no obstacle. But, notwithstanding that contradiction, a new decree was despatched ordering the demolition of the church and convent of Tándag. That was done immediately amid great sorrow, although with great conformity of the religious and Indians to so peremptory decrees. Since malice thus triumphed, vengeance was satisfied, and a religious order so worthy was slighted; and although its members had more than enough reasons for anger, they never permitted it to pass their lips, and only employed their rhetoric in restraining the natives so that they would not take to the mountains.
§ III
Philipo Fourth is informed that Fray Pedro de San Joseph resisted the demolition of the convent strongly, and that he was the cause of the insurrection of the Indians in the village.
237. Nothing else was thought of in the Philipinas Islands than their defense from the fear occasioned by the Dutch with their fleets. That holy province was engaged in the reparation of the ruins of their demolished church, and the zeal of those evangelical ministers was working with the same ardor, for they were wont not to become lukewarm [even] with the repeated strokes of the most heavy troubles. In May, 1651, it was learned at the court in Madrid, that the royal mind of his Catholic Majesty had been informed of what will be explained in more vivid colors in the following letter, which the venerable father-provincial of Philipinas received in the year 53. “Venerable and devout father-provincial of the Augustinian Recollects of the Philipinas Islands: It has been learned in my royal Council of the Indias from letters of the royal Audiencia resident in the city of Manila that, in virtue of a resolution taken by the council of war and treasury of those islands, certain strong churches in the islands were ordered to be demolished, such as those of Abucáy, Marindúque, and Carágha, so that they might not be seized by the enemy, as those edifices were a notorious menace and peril to the islands after the Dutch attacked Cavite. It was learned that, although the church of Carágha was demolished, it was done after the greatest opposition from the religious of your order who are settled in those missions. He who instructed the Indians there threatened that the Indians would revolt, as happened later. For the village rose in revolt, and the Indians took to the mountains—thereby occasioning the many and serious troubles that demand consideration. The matter having been examined in my royal Council of the Indias, it has been deemed best to warn you how severely those proceedings by the religious of that order have been censured—so that, being warned thereof, you may correct them and try to improve them, in order that the religious may restrain themselves in the future and not give occasion to the natives to become restless. For they are under so great obligation to do the contrary, and they ought to have taken active part in calming the Indians and restraining them if they believed that they were attempting to make any movement; since the care and watchfulness of the officials cannot suffice if the religious of the missions fail to aid them with the natives. I trust that you will be attentive to correct this matter from now on; for besides the fact that it is so in harmony with your obligation and with the example that the religious ought to give to others in respect to their rules, I shall consider myself as well served by you. Madrid, May 27, 1651.
I THE KING”
238. It cannot be denied that the terms of that royal letter could serve the most austere man for no small exercise [in mortification]; and more on that occasion when that holy province was laboring in the service of his Catholic Majesty, so much to the satisfaction of his ministers that many praises of our discalced religious were published.... We confess that the king alleges that he received that notice through letters from the royal Audiencia, a tribunal of so great circumspection that it would not undertake to inform its monarch without sure knowledge. But we declare that the secretary of the king our sovereign might have been mistaken in the midst of so great a rush of business, in representing as a report of that most upright assembly that which proceeds from private subjects only. In order that the good opinion in which our Augustinian Recollects were held by the cabildo, city, and royal Audiencia may be thoroughly evident, I shall insert here their letters of April 29 and 30, 1648, those dates being somewhat later than the notice which was received in Manila of this entire affair.
239. The letter of the royal Audiencia runs as follows—“Sire: Your Majesty was pleased, at the instance of the discalced religious of St. Augustine, to order this royal Audiencia to report on the justification for the continuation which they ask of the alms of 250 pesos and 250 fanegas of rice for the support of four religious who administer to the Indians in this convent of Manila. We know the excellent manner in which they attend to their ministry, and their poverty—which obliges them to beg weekly alms, for the incomes of some of the chaplaincies were lost in the earthquake. They are very strictly observed in their ministries and hasten to serve his Majesty on occasions when we encounter enemies, by sea and land, where some have been killed or captured. Consequently they are today very short of laborers. These are causes which demand that your Majesty, with your accustomed liberality, should be pleased to continue the said alms and allow the Recollects to bring religious hither. May God preserve, etc. April 30, 1648.”
240. I find the letter of the most illustrious cabildo to be couched in these terms—“Sire: As this see is vacant, it is incumbent upon us in obedience to your royal decree to assure your Majesty that the Augustinian Recollect religious attend to their ministry punctually. The poverty that they suffer is great, for they are obliged to beg alms from door to door as they lost the incomes of some of their chaplaincies in the earthquake and their convent was ruined. They are very observant in their rules, and in their administrations to the natives in the missions in their charge. As those missions are among the most unconquerable and fierce people in these districts, many of the religious have been killed and captured. Consequently, they suffer from a great lack of laborers; but they have not for that failed in the service of your Majesty on the occasions that have arisen by sea and land—all, motives that should impel your Majesty with your royal liberality to be pleased to continue the said alms, and to concede them a goodly number of religious for these islands. May God preserve, etc. Manila, April 29, 1648.”
241. That of the city of Manila speaks of the Recollects in the following manner—“Sire: This city of Manila has informed your Majesty on various occasions of the great importance in these islands of the order of discalced Recollects of St. Augustine; of the apostolic men in that order; of the great results that they obtain by the preaching of the holy gospel; of the singular example that they have always furnished, and do now, with their strict and religious life and their so exact mode of observing their rules; and of the so considerable effects that have through their agency been attained in the service of our Lord and that of your Majesty, with the aid of your royal arms, in the great number of infidels whom they have converted to our holy Catholic faith, and how they have been brought to render to your Majesty the due vassalage and tribute, which they have generally paid, and are paying, annually. [We have also told your Majesty] that they have engaged in all this with the spiritual affection that belongs to their profession, with singular care—both in the conservation of what they have attained and in their continual desire, notwithstanding the many discomforts that they suffer, to carry on their work, steadily converting new souls to the service of our Lord and to the obedience of your Majesty. [We have also reported] the great peace and quiet which they preserve among themselves so that they have always been and are, one of the most acceptable and well-received orders in these islands—although they are the poorest, as all their missions are in districts very distant from this city, and among the most warlike people that are in all the provinces of these islands, as they are recently conquered; and the danger in which, for that reason, the lives of those fathers are. Indeed, some have already risked life, at times, when those people who appeared to be peaceful have rebelled; and others have gloriously [met death] at the hands of those who were not pacified, when the holy gospel was preached to them—besides many others who have suffered martyrdom in the kingdom of Japon, enriching with noble acts the church of God and the crown of your Majesty. [We have reported] that no fleet has gone out in which those fathers do not sail for the consolation of the infantry, and that, in the emergencies that have arisen, they have fought like valiant soldiers; and that they accommodate themselves to everything with the angelic spirit that is theirs, when it is to the service of our Lord and that of your Majesty. At the present we inform you of the extreme poverty that the convent of San Nicolás of this city is suffering; for with the earthquake which happened on November 30 of the former year 1645, their entire church fell, so that today they are living in great discomfort in cells of straw which have been built in the garden. The sick are the ones who suffer the greatest inconveniences; and they generally have sick people, since the religious of the missions in their charge come, when ill, to this convent to be treated. Consequently, this city is constrained to petition your Majesty, with all due humility, to be pleased to order that 250 pesos and 250 fanegas of rice be annually contributed to them on the account of the royal treasury of your Majesty—which amount was given them as a stipend for four ordained religious (although there are always more)—as well as 150 pesos for medicines. [We ask for] the continuation of the extension conceded by the decree of May 3, 1643, without any time-limit being set; for the great affection with which our Lord and your Majesty are thereby served merits it. This city petitions your Majesty to be pleased to grant the said order license to send as many religious as you may please from those kingdoms to these islands, in consideration of the remarkable necessity for religious in their so distant missions—where, because of the poor nourishment from the food which they use for the sustenance of human life (treating themselves like actual beggars), with the great abstinence which they observe, and where no discomforts of sun or rain keep them back (for they go through dense forests and over inaccessible mountains in order to reduce to our holy Catholic faith the thousands of souls in those districts who have no knowledge of it), many have perished in that work; for in this year alone such number more than twelve. To some of them no companions have come for this vineyard of the Lord, and the increase of the royal estate and crown of your Majesty—whose Catholic person may the divine Majesty preserve, as is needed in Christendom. Manila, April 30, 1648.”
242. These letters—which are authentic, and preserved in our general archives—are those written in the year 1648 by the city, the cabildo, and the royal Audiencia. The order to demolish Tándag was given in the year 47, and it was apparent to them that the fear of the [Indians’] insurrection and flight with the other motives for suspending the execution proceeded only from that junta of the captains, and that there was no resistance on the part of the minister. Further, it was clearly proved in the year 55 that that information was not written by the royal Audiencia (nor could it be, since that is a fount whence the truth flows with so great purity); but that the secretary Was mistaken in thus ascribing to so upright a tribunal what was only signed by an inferior, who desired to dazzle by giving the first news which generally arrives very much garbled.