In the royal college of San Joseph of this city, Captain Diego Gonzalez de Arcos founded two becas with a capital of 4,000 pesos, making the Board of Santa Misericordia patron of them, with the condition that the sons of [men from] Estremadura, and especially those of Villa de Don Benito be preferred. Their vacancies are reported by the reverend father rector of the said college.
Number of brothers in this venerable brotherhood and other circumstances
The founders and brothers of this brotherhood, considering the work and business in which they had to employ themselves continually in fulfilment of the works of charity, prudently decided and decreed by a chapter of the ordinances that there should be 250 brothers for the due fulfilment of all the ordinances, in whom good report, sane conscience, honest life, fear of God, observance of His commandments, and prompt obedience to all that should be of service to God and to the brotherhood, and the relief of one’s neighbor had to be included. They declared that they should not be single, unless they had reached the age of thirty, but that being virtuous persons and of the said qualities, they might receive dispensation and be received as brothers if they were twenty-five years old or upward. But no one who was not an oldtime Christian, and no one who had any obligatory duties that could prevent him from serving in the brotherhood [could be a member]; neither could those who did not know how to read or to write. Among said 250 brothers would be always the management and government of the house, and the election of the officers, with obligation to serve God by those who should be elected and appointed by the purveyor and brothers of the board if there were no legitimate obstacle to prevent that. Before they should be admitted as brothers, the secretary of the house was to enter in the book of the brotherhood that its ordinances should be submitted to them, so that having seen and read them, they might determine whether they could fulfil them. And if they were questioned by the board in regard to them, and were found with a mind resolved to observe them and to serve according to the rules in the brotherhood, an oath was to be taken from them on the holy gospels in a missal before the purveyor and brothers of the board, to the effect that when they should hear the signal of the house, or the bells, with the sign that had been arranged for the summoning of the brothers, they should come to the house to perform the works of charity in accordance with the orders that they should receive from the purveyor and brothers of the board; and also if they were summoned in the name of the aforesaid and there was no legitimate obstacle. The above was to be a matter of conscience. They were also to swear to keep the secrets of the board and the rules, when they should be summoned by the board, and were obliged, notwithstanding their oath, to recite fourteen Pater Nosters and fourteen Ave Marias for the deceased brothers, and, having done that, they were to be received as brothers, and their names to be inscribed in the book of the brotherhood.
Annual alms given by the house of the Santa Misericordia of the city of Manila
Since we have to furl the sails to this discourse, because of the limits of time, and make an end to this small work in these last chapters, I thought it important to first make an extract (although with much labor) of all the alms and sums of pesos, produced by the funds which are administered by the house of Santa Misericordia, during the years when—all being complete, and no disaster of earthquakes coming upon them, or shipwrecks or other accidents, which depend on time—it distributes to the benefit of all this community. I was also moved to this interesting task by making charts of all the funds and their pious purposes, by having met in the first part of the life of the venerable and most reverend father master, Fray Simon de Roxas, a great servant of God and a member of the Order of the Santissima Trinidad de Redemptores [i.e., the Most Holy Trinity of Redeemers].[3] written during the year 670 by the very reverend father master, Fray Francisco de Arcos, preacher and theologue of his Majesty, and of the tribunals of his royal conscience, etc., in which he refers to a paragraph of a letter which Juan Baptista Labaña wrote during the voyage from Portugal of Don Phelipe III (of happy memory), in which he cited folio 16; and in the life of the said venerable father, a description of the alms which the royal house of Santa Misericordia of the court of Lisboa distributed in the year 619, and of those which regularly and annually it distributes in the pious ends which are contained in the said chapter, is found in book 8, chapter x, pp. 418–420. It states that those alms are about 30,000 ducados annually. Inasmuch as chapter xi of this work states that the alms distributed by this house of Santa Misericordia of the city of Manila amounted to about 70,000 pesos, I have determined to prove the said proposition part by part, passing over the circumstances which are found in the said chapter, and making a clear demonstration of their reality, without failing one jot in the truth, which is required in a matter of so great importance, and which has to yield in so great glory to the Spanish monarchy. It is a pity that in the circumstances of the present case, there should be many who opposed the truth as it did not issue so clear and apparent in all the books of the house which treat of this matter; and necessarily I am obliged to give it by imagining charts which are fitting and do not leave the least reason for doubt.
This having been granted, therefore, I assert that the alms and sums of pesos received by the holy cathedral church and the sacred orders of this city, the beaterios, confraternities, the venerable tertiary order, the house for sheltered women, the hospice of San Jacinto, the colleges (without including that of Santa Misericordia, St. John of God and its infirmary), the province of Camarines, and the Indians of Marinas Islands, amount to 25,520 pesos. In the alms given for masses, 5,777 pesos are also distributed as a suffrage for the blessed souls of purgatory; among the poor prisoners of this city, 2,691 pesos; as a benefit to the school of Santa Isabel, which belongs to the brotherhood, in the divine worship of its church, the salary of its chaplains, servants of the house, support, clothing and other things which are spent for the girl collegiates (the number of those at present are 58 inmates, rectress, and portress, 9 wards, and 6 slave women, who serve in it), and repairs of said school (in which alone this present year about 6,000 pesos have been spent), they give and apply 10,700 pesos; as dowries for the said girl collegiates and other orphan daughters of noble parents of this city, 16,000 pesos; for the relief of the necessities of poor Spaniards, widows, self-respecting poor, 6,936 pesos. Besides these sums 3,000 pesos are set aside for the benefit of the above-mentioned purposes which, with somewhat more, are produced by the sums at interest, and also 1,200 pesos which are yielded by the encomienda which his Majesty applied to the Board of Santa Misericordia in the provinces of the Ylocos and Leite. Therefore totaling up the eight items of pesos above applied, the amount is 71,824 pesos produced by the funds administered by this house, as is adjusted with the greatest exactness. One may see by the sums that result to the benefit of so many pious ends, the reality and truth of the said proposition, and consequently, the great succor of silver for the relief of the needs of its neighbor. Surely I believe that in this small work of rich treasures, an extraordinary splendor for the house must shine forth (with the new discovery of so abundant a mine, which has been buried in silence in the extensive field and space of 134 years); a prodigy which looks to Spain for the non-moderation of this great house of Misericordia in the most remote parts of the world. I believe that without injury to the greater (if it can be that there is another which exceeds it), it merited as panegyrist of its glories (although with more time) a nature suitable to its worth and greatness. Lastly placed in the royal crown of España, it will be one of the most precious stones which beautify that crown with its rich splendor, for the greater honor and glory of God our Lord.
[1] The translation of the title-page of this book is as follows: “Manifesto and historical summary of the foundation of the venerable brotherhood of the Santa Misericordia of the city of Manila, the hospital, house, and girls’ school and church of Santa Ysabel; with the accommodations and advantages for the common public welfare, particularly of these islands; the alms, succors, and dowries for the holy religious orders, and hospitals, orphan girls, widows, those in prison, and other needy persons. Satisfaction of the charitable and indefatigable task, disinterested and noble method of procedure, faithful management without interruption or any diminution in the works of charity, and the administration of the pious foundations under their charge. Favors and protection which it merited and obtained from our Catholic Monarchs. Recommendation, concessions, indulgences, and relics with which the supreme pontiffs have honored and enriched it. All compiled and extracted from the books, bulls, decrees, and other authentic instruments which are kept in their archives, by commission and order of the purveyor and deputies who comprise the present board, by Captain Don Juan Baptista de Uriarte, regidor of this most noble city, and its procurator-general, and former treasurer and present secretary of said venerable brotherhood. Printed in the college and university of Santo Thomas, with the necessary licenses, by Juan Correa. The year 1728.” The narrative is preceded by an introduction; a statement by the author to the purveyor and deputies of the financial board of the Santa Misericordia, to the effect that he has completed his task of compilation, dated June 28, 1728; thanks of the purveyor and deputies to the author, and expression of intention to print the work, dated June 30, 1728; decree to be sent to Fray Juan de Arrechedera, O.P., commissary of the Holy Office, dated June 30, 1728; approbation of latter, July 8, 1728; government license, July 9, 1728; table of chapters; note to reader.
Torrubia gives the following figures for the work accomplished by the Misericordia from its foundation (in 1594) up to 1730. “This house has endowed twenty-three thousand orphan girls, the daughters of Spaniards; it has spent in their maintenance five hundred and eight thousand, nine hundred and sixteen pesos. It has supplied to our Catholic monarch in pressing emergencies four hundred and forty-nine thousand, four hundred and eighteen pesos. It has expended in Divine worship one hundred and fifty-five thousand, seven hundred and eighty-four pesos; and it has given in alms four million, one hundred and thirteen thousand, two hundred and seven pesos. This statement of expenditures is accurate, and is drawn from the original books of the said house. In the life of the venerable Fray Simon de Roxas, book 8, fol. 418, it is mentioned as unprecedented that the Misericordia of Lisboa in one year gave in alms thirty thousand ducados; but that of Manila gives every year seventy-one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-four pesos.” [↑]
[2] See other letters from Corcuera to the Misericordia, dated in 1637 and 1639 respectively, in our VOL. XXIX, pp. 172–174. [↑]