[Chapter iii states that about the year 1611 two brethren of this order, Fray Juan de Gamboa and Fray Lucas de los Angeles, had arrived in Manila, desirous to found a hospital; but that the authorities there discouraged their plan. Some writer has stated that these brethren returned in 1621 and founded a hospital for convalescents at Bagumbaya; but Maldonado regards this as uncertain, and difficult to verify, although some circumstances would indicate the probability that they made a second attempt to establish their order at Manila. At various times requests were sent from Manila for these hospitalers, and in chapter iv are related the arrangements finally made by the superiors of the order in Nueva España to send laborers to the Philippines, which was accomplished in the spring of 1641; these were Fray Andrés de San Joseph (a priest) and Fray Antonio de Santiago (a lay brother). The warrant given them and other official documents connected with their going are reproduced in full by Maldonado.]
CHAPTER V
[The brethren of St. John of God began their labors at Cavite, in November of 1641. Corcuera provided lodgings for them in the royal buildings, and the inhabitants contributed so liberally that they were able to open a hospital of ten beds; but so great was the number of applicants for its aid that in January following, the hospital brethren asked for and received the surrender (January 30) to their management of the royal hospital at Cavite, with all its property and slaves—provided that within four years they obtain the royal confirmation of this grant. An inventory of this hospital and its equipment is more curious than edifying: “The house which served as a hospital was of wood and piles, covered with tiling that was old and in bad condition; for dispensary [botica], it had a wooden framework containing various gallipots, vials, and earthen jars. In the infirmary were sixteen mattresses, ten pillows, twenty-seven sheets, two coverlets, and fourteen blankets; and its larder contained eighty cabans of rice, forty gantas of oil, fifteen arrobas of sugar, and four jars of conserves. For divine worship it had a box for an altar, hardly fit [for such use]; a chalice with its paten, without any ornament; a bell of medium size, and two small ones. For its service, it had some slaves, five men and seven women. As for revenues, it had three and a half residence lots and two lots occupied by shops, which yielded twenty-six pesos and [word omitted?] granos a month; also some woodlands, and a grazing tract in Leyton, a place near the said port, with several head of horses and cattle. The most important [of its assets] were the deliveries made from the [royal] storehouses, for these were permanent; they had been ordered when the said hospital was in charge of the religious of our seraphic father St. Francis.” These supplies, as appears from the records of the treasury board of Manila, had been furnished since January 12, 1619, at the request of the Franciscans in charge of the Cavite hospital. They asked, for immediate use, for “a dozen blankets, a dozen cupping-glasses, two syringes, two pairs of Castilian scissors, two clasp-knives, six lancets, two scarifiers; some wool for mattresses; two books, one entitled De Medicina, by the author Barrios, and the other by Dioscorides; four arrobas of Castilian wine; a barrel of raisins and almonds; and half an arroba of rosado sugar.”[3] For regular annual supplies, they asked two hundred fanegas of cleaned rice, as hitherto they had had no amount allotted for the hospital; six hundred fowls, since they received only little more than two hundred a year from those assigned them by his Majesty in Balayán; and three hundred pesos from the royal treasury, to be spent for meat, sugar, flour, and eggs, drugs from China, clothing for the slaves and servants, and other needs of the hospital. All these were granted them, and paid regularly until the hospital was placed in charge of the Order of St. John of God (1642); “from that time there was a gradual diminution, to such an extent that, by another general conference of the treasury officials in 1657 the whole was reduced, so that by way of contribution [from the government] only two hundred pesos should be given, in the articles which should be required each year, and this [only] in the interval until other provision should be made.” At the time when Maldonado wrote, all government aid had been taken away; moreover, in 1645 the brethren had been obliged to vacate the royal buildings, in which they had been conducting the Cavite hospital, and were incommodiously quartered in some poor shops of the Sangleys; but in October of that year the authorities granted them the use of an empty building belonging to his Majesty; it was constructed of nipa and bamboo, and had been occupied by some fishermen. The Cavite hospital was rebuilt four times by the brethren of St. John: “the first time, by the reverend father Fray Francisco de Magallanes, which lasted until the year 1682; the second, by the reverend father Fray Marcos de Mesa, a priest of the order, which lasted until the year 1699; the third, by the reverend father Fray Juan de Alarcòn, a priest, which lasted until the year 1728; and lastly, the one which is being built by the present superior, Fray Antonio de Arçe. There is no doubt that this will be established in so good order that it will be an improvement on the previous ones; and meanwhile a house has been made ready, with sufficient space for lodgings. This was given as a contribution by Captain Don Miguel Cordero; and in it are maintained eight beds, and the corresponding offices. The title of this hospital always was, and still is, that of St. Joseph. All its receipts in the year hardly reach two hundred and sixty pesos, a support so scanty that it is not necessary to emphasize the straitened manner in which the religious who minister in it must support themselves; the one who directs it has the appointment of prior.” The sick soldiers and seamen at Cavite are sent to the royal hospital of Manila for treatment; if the money which they cost there were handed over to the Cavite hospital it could take better care of them than they now receive.]
CHAPTER VI
[A little more than two years after founding the Cavite hospital, the hospitalers undertook to open a hospital for convalescents, where these could have the dieting, rest, and care necessary for fully regaining their health after they were discharged from the general hospitals; for lack of these, many persons had before perished. Accordingly, they obtained from Governor Corcuera permission (April 16, 1644) to erect or buy a house for this purpose, to be situated on the Pasig River above Manila; but circumstances afterward induced them to locate it at Bagumbaya, a suburb south of the city, outside the walls—permission being given for this by Faxardo in the following September. Here, as in other places, Maldonado mentions this enterprise as a revival of the one supposed to have been undertaken in 1621. It contained two wards, one for men and one for women, in which twenty persons could be cared for. This work was continued but a short time—partly for lack of hospitalers, who had to devote their main energies to the hospital in Manila; and partly because the Bagumbaya house had not sufficient facilities for the entertainment of its inmates, who quickly grew tired of remaining there and of the strict dieting necessary for their full recovery, and went away—in the majority of cases, to die.]
CHAPTER VII
[The religious of the order then devoted themselves to the Cavite hospital, and to the one established by the Misericordia in Manila, which that brotherhood placed in their charge in March, 1650; they took possession of it on May 31 following. The conditions of this transfer are given by Maldonado in full (pp. 86–93). The donation is full and irrevocable, including all the property, servants, and incomes of the hospital. The hospitalers are obliged to treat poor women who are ill, both Spaniards and mestizas; also the slaves (both men and women) of the citizens, who in such cases are expected to make an offering to the hospital of three pesos each—save that for slaves belonging to the seminary of Santa Isabel and to the Misericordia this offering shall not be made. The latter institution shall be regarded as the patron of the hospital, and shall aid it every year with such contribution as is in its power, for necessary expenses and the support of the sick. The women who are inmates of Santa Isabel shall be treated by the brethren of St. John, so far as possible in the seminary itself; and the medicines needed for these patients shall be provided by the Misericordia, to the extent of two hundred pesos a year in advance. The officers of that confraternity may visit the hospital, and shall have the right to notify the superior of the hospitalers of any deficiency or neglect they may find therein. Any charitable person may erect a church or additional ward or wards in connection with the institution, and be regarded as a patron thereof; and such addition shall not be under the control of the officers of the Misericordia. The hospital, however, shall retain the name of that brotherhood, and alms or contributions for its benefit shall be asked in its name. All property, incomes, rights, and credentials of the institution shall be surrendered to the brethren of St. John, who shall not be expected to give account to the Misericordia of any contributions which they may receive; that association shall also use all its influence with the authorities to secure their aid and favor for the hospital in all ways, and to defend it from any objections or difficulties which may arise against it, particularly from the Franciscans, who formerly had been connected with it. In case the hospital order shall lose all its laborers in the islands, the Misericordia shall administer the hospital until the provincial of St. John in Nueva España shall be able to send more of his brethren to Manila; and provision is made for the final settlement of affairs between that order and the Misericordia, in case they decide to sever the present relations. The latter association shall pay at once to the order eight hundred pesos in cash, for the necessary expenses and equipment of the brethren in opening their hospital labors. All the documents regarding this affair and other important transactions of the Order of St. John are reproduced in full by Maldonado. On taking possession of the hospital (May 31, 1656) the hospitalers equipped three wards, with twelve beds in each, where men and women might be cared for separately, and the Indians and Morenos apart from the Spaniards. A small church was also erected, with lodgings for the religious of the order; these buildings were injured in the earthquake of July 19, 1664, but were repaired for use until new ones could be erected. A new and large church was built, but this also was wrecked by an earthquake in 1674; a new church and convent were then built, which lasted until 1727, when they were found to be in so bad condition from the repeated seismic shocks which they had undergone that they must be reconstructed. This was accordingly done, the new edifice being dedicated on May 10, 1732 (see chapters ix and x for full description of it). This was the building which was standing at the time of Maldonado’s writing, and it had three wards, each containing more than twenty beds; that for the women is especially praised for its comfort and convenience. “During these last twelve years” [Zaragoza’s approbation states that the book was written in 1739] “there have been admitted sixteen priests, secular clergy, one religious of our father St. Dominic, two other religious of our seraphic father St. Francis, seventy-six students from the four colleges which are in this city; and from the laity, the licentiate Don Juan Francisco de Velasco, auditor of this royal Audiencia, and a large number of citizens—not to mention eight thousand poor persons of inferior condition and rank. This appears from the books of registration, from which this enumeration has been made. Attention was given to all these patients, in accordance with their respective stations; and with the same consideration burial was given to those who died.”]