29. As the archbishop would not absolve Don Juan de Vargas, the Audiencia again decided to banish him; but the governor kept the royal decree signed and sealed, without being willing that it be put into execution. Instead, he joined with the bishop of Sinopolis to convoke the religious orders, planning that they demand that he be not banished. An inquiry was made among his partisans, who swore that they knew nothing of it, and had not imagined it.
30. The archbishop prevented the confirmation of three prebends which his Majesty had presented—to Don Francisco Gutierrez Briceno, Bachelor Domingo de Valencia, and Doctor Pedro de Silva; the first-named for cantor, the second for schoolmaster, the third for treasurer. He refused to give them canonical installation, because they are not among his admirers; and the last two are graduates from the university of the Society of Jesus.
31. The Augustinians, in alliance with the archbishop and his friars, brought suit against the Society in regard to the administration of Jesus de la Peña, or Mariquina. The numerous disputes [dares et tomares] which have occurred in this lawsuit, and the great eagerness with which the archbishop has tried to favor the Augustinians; and finally, against all the right that the Society had to such ministry—by royal decree, by permission from Señor Arce, and by permit of the vice-patron, etc.—he has despoiled them of it with violence, and by the aid which the governor allowed him for tearing down and demolishing the church of the said fathers; and he has adjudged it to the Augustinians, because the hatred and aversion which he has to the said order [of the Jesuits] is implacable.
32. The archbishop mortified the religious of St. Francis; on account of regarding them as favorable to the royal patronage, he forbade them [to celebrate] the feast of the tears of that saint, and he has not granted them many permissions which they asked from him. He deprived them of the celebration of the feast of the Conception in the jail; and finally, on the day of St. Stephen the protomartyr, he gave them his congratulations on that feast by causing to be read an edict against them, in which he suspended their licenses to hear confessions and preach. All this caused great uneasiness in the minds of the people, and gave just cause for the murmur against the said archbishop that he had, by the measures here related, undertaken to revenge himself on all those persons who, as he fancied, had taken part in his exile, or had in any way approved it.
33. They attempt to absolve Auditor Calderon in the hour of death in what he replied, and what the Dominicans did, and how the governor pretended not to notice it. It seems as if the governor had come to the islands for nothing else than to encourage the Dominicans in their rebellious acts, to trample on the laws, to abolish recourse to the royal Audiencia, to sow dissension, to be a tyrant, to disturb the peace, and to enable the archbishop to secure whatever he wishes, even though he imposes so grievous a captivity on the commonwealth.[99]
Felipe Pardo as archbishop
[The Dominican side of this controversy is related by Salazar, one of the official historians of that order, in his Hist. Sant. Rosario, pp. 490–513 (chapters xviii–xxi); as this account is long, it is presented here partly in full translation, partly in synopsis.]
On the fourth day of August in the year 1677, dedicated to our glorious patriarch St. Dominic, a royal decree was received in Manila in which our Catholic monarch Don Carlos II appointed for archbishop of Manila father Fray Felipe Pardo—who that year had completed his second provincialate and now was filling the post of commissary of the Holy Office. In the latter office he had given, before this second provincialate, such proofs of good judgment that report of his abilities had reached Madrid; and these alone, without any other backing, had procured for him so high a dignity. The choice of him [as bishop] was received in this community with universal acclamation and applause, on account of the esteem that was merited by his abilities, accredited by the experience that all had of his success and discretion in government—not only in the two provincialates which he had obtained, but also, as I have indicated, in the commissariat of the Inquisition; all therefore confidently expected in him a prelate discreet and accomplished in all respects. Our father Fray Felipe Pardo alone, distrustful of his suitability for that office—either on account of his sixty-seven years of age, or in view of the difficulty of the task—was greatly perplexed about accepting it. Indeed, it was necessary at the end of two months, to make requisition on him, in accordance with the rules established by the councils regarding immediate acceptance by those thus appointed, under penalty of the appointment being annulled, and the see being again declared vacant. [He finally accepts (November 11 of that year) the dignity of archbishop, and by special decree of the king enters on his duties before being consecrated (which occurs on October 28, 1681), “the first archbishop who has governed this archbishopric without being consecrated, and the first who has been consecrated in these islands.” Having spent thirty years in that country, he has much knowledge of it and of its moral and social conditions, and much experience in ecclesiastical government. “He was very learned in theology, whether speculative or practical, moral or scholastic; and very expert in the despatch of business.” He is aided in his duties by Fray Raymundo Berart, very learned in canon and civil law, who has left great opportunities of advancement in España “to come to this poor province, to serve in the ministry of souls—as he actually learned the Tagal language, and spent some time in ministering to the Indians in the district of Batan.”]
The church of this archbishopric was in great need of reform, being full of pernicious abuses, which had been introduced by vicious practices, shielded by permitted usage; so that now these alleged right of possession, and that which was public and practiced by many was regarded as lawful and allowable. False oaths were regarded, not heeding this despite to the holy name of God, as a matter of kindness, in exchange for not injuring another person by the denunciation of his sins; and the oath which the judges take not to engage in trade was regularly broken, without there being any one who had scruples in doing so. The friendships and intimacies between the two sexes were so prevalent that the excessive familiarity which was causing so many scandals was already no occasion for them [i.e., in public opinion]. Executorships were hereditary, despoiling minors of their property, and never rendering accounts [of those trusts]. Trading had found its way among the ecclesiastics, notwithstanding the ordinance [constitucion] of Clement IX recently published in these islands; and at like pace all the vices gained sway, without the least scruple or reparation, since established practice and custom had now rendered those vices tolerated. [To remedy these evils, the archbishop vigorously devotes his energies, notwithstanding his age.]
The first action with which his illustrious Lordship began to carry out this plan in the government of his archbishopric was, to reconcile his cabildo with the royal Audiencia in a certain controversy between them. This was, whether they should give the gospel to be kissed, not only by the auditor who then provisionally held the government of these islands (he was Don Francisco Mansilla), but also by his associate, Doctor Don Diego Calderon. As soon as the archbishop began to rule, he settled this dispute with great sagacity, and much to the satisfaction of both sides. Afterward another strife arose between the ecclesiastical estate and the royal officials, because, at the time of paying the former their stipends, these were curtailed on account of the exemption from the mesada which had been conceded by his Holiness to our Catholic king; and, the amount of what the ecclesiastics ought to contribute on account of this privilege not being liquidated, the official royal judges had acted illegally in the collection of the said mesada, making themselves judges in their own cause by explaining the bull of his Holiness without consenting to show it to the interested parties, although the latter had several times demanded this. But our archbishop, recognizing that what the royal officials were collecting was excessive, and that it belonged to his office and dignity to explain the doubts that might arise in the text of the apostolic bulls, compelled the royal official judges, by dint of monitory decrees and censures, to display that privilege; and when it was seen, it was found that they had collected more than they should for several years past. All this he made them restore, with considerable advantage to the ecclesiastics, who were extremely grateful for the zealous activity of his illustrious Lordship.