Chapter XX (1)

On the third day after the solemn entry of the governor, the religious of the mission here by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente made their entrance into the convent of Manila; and on July 28 a private session of the definitory was held in order to admit and adopt them into this province. The following is a list of them:

1. Father Fray Diego Bañales, a native of Coruña, and a son of the convent at Santiago; aged forty years, and twenty-three in the order; a preacher and confessor. He came as confessor to the governor's wife; was prior of Guadalupe, a definitor, and president of the chapter; and died at Manila, on January 29, 1706.

2. The father reader Fray Carlos Terrazas, a son of the house at Valencia, thirty-two years old and having professed sixteen years before; he was minister in the Pintados or Bisayas provinces, and of very great virtue; he died in the convent of Dumarao, on October 18, 1694.

3. The father reader Fray Nicolás Bernet, a native of the town of Epila, and son of the convent at Zaragoza; twenty-seven years old, and a professed for ten years; he was prior of Cebú; and died at Manila, on May 1, 1701.

4. The father preacher Fray José de Ribera, a native of Madrid, and son of the convent of San Felipe; forty years of age, and twenty-three in the order; was minister in the provinces of Tagalos; and died at Pasig on May 21, 1706.

5. The father preacher Fray Gelasio Giménez, a son of the convent at Valencia; twenty-seven years of age, and ten and a half in the order; was minister in the province of Ilocos; and died there on August 12, 1694.

6. The father reader Fray José Carbonel, son of the convent at Valencia, and master of the students therein; twenty-five years old, and nine in the order; was minister in the province of Ilocos; and died at the village of Candong, on March 19, 1711.

7. The father preacher Fray Martín Fuentes, a son of the convent at Zaragoza; twenty-seven years old, and nine years and four months in the order; has been a minister in the province of Pampanga, and a definitor; and is still [121] living, a minister in Bisayas, and examiner of literature for the Holy Office.

8. The father preacher Fray Nicolás Servent, a native of Valencia, son of the house at Alcoy; aged twenty-eight years, and ten in the order. He is still living, a minister in the province of Pampanga, the prior of Macabebe.

9. The father preacher Fray José de Aranda, a native of Estella, and son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged thirty-one years, and five in the order; was minister in the provinces of Tagalos; and died at Manila, on October 11, 1698.

10. The father reader Fray Blas Díaz, son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged twenty-three years, and seven and a half in the order; he was minister in the provinces of Tagalos, and returned to España.

11. The father preacher Fray Pedro Beltrán, a native of Valencia, and son of the house at Alcira; aged thirty-two years, and six in the order; he is now living, a minister in the provinces of Bisayas.

12. Father Fray Pedro Baldo, son of the convent at Valencia; aged twenty-six years, and nine in the order; was minister in Bisayas, where he died on April 27, 1716, while prior of the convent at Dumarao.

13. The father preacher Fray Juan Barruelo, a native of Candelario, in the bishopric of Plasencia, and son of the convent at Salamanca; aged twenty-four years, and six in the order; was minister in China for several years, and at the present time is definitor and prior of the convent of Apalit in Pampanga.

14. The brother chorister Fray Tomás Ortiz, a native of Dueñas, and son of the convent at Valladolid; aged twenty-two years, and three in the order; was minister in China eighteen years, and vicar-provincial of that mission; afterward he was prior of the convent at Manila, and still lives, the present provincial of this province.

15. The brother chorister Fray Diego Megía, a native of Madrid, and son of the convent of San Felipe; twenty-one years of age, and three and a half in the order; was minister in the provinces of Tagalos, where he died as prior of the convent of Tanauan, on October 4, 1699.

16. The brother chorister Fray José Ruiz, son of the convent at Burgos, and native of that city; aged twenty-two years; is minister of the province of Ilocos, and has been visitor of this province.

17. The brother [chorister?] Fray José de Echebel, son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged twenty-two years, and six in the order; was a minister in Bisayas; and died about March, 1706.

18. The brother chorister Fray Facundo Trepat, a native of Caspe, son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged twenty years, and three and a half in the order; has been definitor, and is now a minister in the provinces of Bisayas.

19. The brother chorister Fray José Bosquet, a native of Valencia, and son of the house at Epila; twenty years of age, and two in the order; is a minister in the provinces of Bisayas, and now definitor of this province.

20. The brother chorister Fray Guillermo Sebastián, a son of the house at Vinaroz; aged nineteen years, and two and a half in the order; was a minister in the province of Ilocos, and died as prior of Bantay, on December 13, 1698.

21. The brother chorister Fray Eugenio Costales, a son of the convent of Sevilla; aged twenty-one years, and three in the order; is now a minister in the province of Ilocos.

22. The brother novice Fray Juan Hidalgo López, a native of Extremadura; aged twenty-eight years; is a minister in the province of Pampanga.

23. The brother novice Fray Juan Núñez, a native of Medina del Campo; aged twenty-three years; was a minister in China for many years; and at present is a minister in the province of Ilocos, and its vicar-provincial.

24. The brother novice Fray Fernando Ricote, a native of Asturias; aged twenty-eight years; was a minister in Bisayas; and died at Cebú in the year 1698.

25. The brother novice Fray Isidro López, a native of Madrid; aged seventeen years; was a minister in the provinces of Pampanga and Tagalos; and died while he was visitor, and prior of Guiguinto, on February 21, 1716.

26. The lay brother Fray Francisco de Sevilla, a son of the convent at Játiva; aged thirty-one years, and five in the order; he was eminent in virtue, prayer, and mortification, and rendered much service to the convent of Manila, where he met a pious death on March 31, 1711.

27. The lay brother Fray Nicolás Codura, a son of the convent at Epila; aged thirty years, and seven in the order; he lives in the convent at Manila, where he has rendered good service, and still does so.

All these religious have been very useful to this province in its ministries and instruction, and in the missions of China--the progress of which from their foundation will be set down separately and all together, by way of recapitulation, [122] ending this history with this chapter. For if I were to continue it further it would be necessary to speak of the living, and [personal] considerations might render the truth liable to suspicion; and although truth is the essential form and the soul of history it cannot become the instructor of the times, or be a [reliable] witness about them, when suspicion can challenge it. I will, however, record in this chapter some of the acts of Don Fausto in his government [123]--which, although they were just, were rendered intolerable by the violence and harshness with which they were executed; for the body politic of the Manila colony is not fit for so strong cathartic remedies, since its weakness can only endure anodynes and emollients.

This gentleman commenced the course of his government with great integrity and rectitude, and very clean hands--grand qualities from which to expect a good government, although not well liked by all. All his desire, assiduity, and effort were directed to the increase of the royal revenues; and this he kept up to the end of his government, with such extreme application that what appeared to the governor justice seemed [to the people] cruelty. But here Justice used only the edges of the sword, without weighing with the balances that she held in the other hand the difficulties of time and occasion. Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui had not pushed this matter very far before troubles which gave him greater anxiety diverted his mind from this occupation. In a short time Don Fausto acquired great comprehension of the conduct of government and of all the measures which could increase the royal revenues; and he found that a very considerable amount was due to the exchequer, not only from the living but from the dead, from the collections of the royal tributes and from other sources. Don Fausto applied himself to the collection, with excessive rigor, of what the citizens of Manila owed to the royal treasury, without considering that most of the debtors were bankrupt, and almost destitute through lack of means; others were now dead, and search was made for their heirs and executors, in order to compel them to satisfy these claims. [124] While these investigations were being made, the prisons and fortifications were filled with debtors, more fit to ask alms than to pay their debts; others took refuge in the churches, where they remained a long time without being able to look for means of support. In every direction there were seizures and auctions, exactions and investigations. By this assiduity Don Fausto placed much silver in the royal treasury; but his Majesty does not choose to flay thus his vassals, but rather, as a good shepherd, to shear off the wool without cutting away the skin in which it has its roots. This inflexibility in collecting the debts owed to the royal exchequer, and his great eagerness to increase it, have caused great expenses, some superfluous and others necessary; and these traits in Don Fausto continued throughout the period of his government--which was the longest that has occurred in these islands, since it reached eleven years. [125]

Considering that in these islands there is no equipment of iron-works for making anchors, and that the Dutch of Batavia, as they are so ingenious, have abundance of all that pertains to navigation, he sent Don Pedro de Ariosolo with title of ambassador, accompanied by some Spaniards--Don Martín de Tejada, Don José Pestaño de Cueva, Don Juan de Tejada, and others, among the prominent citizens of Manila. These envoys were very well received in Batavia, and so well did they succeed in their errand that they brought back many and excellent anchors, which were used for many years. This transaction was repeated afterward by Governor Don Domingo de Zabalburu, who sent for the same purpose General Miguel Martínez, Don Gregorio Escalante, Don Juan de San Pedro, and others, whose errand was as successful as that of the former envoys, through the good management and great liberality of the ambassador. Such endeavors have not always had the desired effect; for in the past year of 1717 the present governor, Mariscal Don Fernando Bustillo Bustamente y Rueda, sent General Don Fernando de Angulo as ambassador to Batavia to procure some anchors, but he returned without them.

The first galleon that Don Fausto despatched for Nueva España was the "Santo Cristo de Burgos," in charge of General Don Francisco de Arcocha, his pilot being Lazcano; the voyage was a prosperous one, and the galleon returned in the following year of 1692, in charge of the captain of mounted cuirassiers Don Bernardo de Bayo, who was sent by the viceroy Conde de Galves, who took away that office from Don Francisco de Arcocha. It is said that the cause of this change was resentment on the part of the said Conde because he had in the year 1689 sent Don Gabriel de Arnedo y Escudero, a gentleman of his household, as commander of the galleon--because the commander who had come with the ship, Lucas Mateo de Urquiza, had remained at Acapulco sick (not being willing to follow the second route, which Don Pedro de Ariosolo was taking)--and Don Gabriel de Arnedo y Escudero had returned in the said galleon "Santo Cristo" as a passenger and not as a commander (although he died on the way); and, annoyed at this, the viceroy had taken the office from Don Francisco de Arcocha and given it to Don Bernardo de Bayo. It would have been better if the galleon had not come at all, for it was wrecked on the return trip, as we shall see later.

With Don Gabriel de Arnedo came the auditor Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima, with his wife and children, who the preceding year had not been able to embark on account of the lack of accommodations in the patache "San Fernando," in which came the investigating judge and the three auditors. Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta was highly esteemed for his learning, and for having been an official of great integrity and uprightness. He completed his six years' term as auditor of Filipinas, and embarked for Méjico, where he was for many years alcalde of criminal cases for that city, with the same reputation for integrity and rectitude. The new auditors brought orders from his Majesty that two of them should go first to visit the provinces [126] of these islands, and draw up an enumeration of the royal tributes, their two associates remaining [at Manila] to serve in the royal Audiencia. For this task two auditors set out--Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes to visit the provinces of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pampanga; and Don Juan de Sierra to visit those of Cebú, Ogtón, and Panay, although he visited only the last two. After Don Alonso Fuertes had returned from his commission, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta went to visit the provinces of Tagalos, and made the enumeration of the tributes.

Don Fausto placed on the stocks the largest galleon that had ever been built; for it was three codos longer than the largest that had been built in the world. This enterprise was carried on by Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, who by application had become very skilful in this art, and he was therefore the superintendent of this construction; which was completed in less than nine months, to the astonishment of everyone--although with some cause for scandal, since the men worked on it even on the most important feast-days, not stopping even on Holy Thursday. He gave it the name of "San José," and appointed Don José Madrazo its commander; and it was launched very successfully. It sailed from this headland of Cavite on the day of Sts. Peter and Paul in 1694; [127] and on July 3, in the night, it was dashed to pieces on the coast of Lubán, and more than four hundred persons were drowned. It was reckoned that if the men had not worked on the feast-days the vessel would have been completed more slowly, and would have sailed many days later, and the furious hurricane that was the cause of its wreck would not have caught it on the sea, with the deaths of so many persons and the loss of the great amount of merchandise that it carried; for it is considered certain that no larger or richer galleon had plowed the waters of the sea, for the wealth that it carried was incredible.

While this loss was so great, one of the most grievous losses that these islands have suffered, it was made worse by the non-arrival of the galleon that was expected that year, the "Santo Cristo de Burgos," in charge of General Don Bernardo Ignacio del Bayo--who, as we have said, was sent by the viceroy Conde de Galves in the year of 1691, and returned in the same ship the following year; and it put back to the port of Solsogón, after having endured great tempests. It remained at Solsogón in order to continue its voyage the year of 1693, as it did; but it not only failed to reach port, but was wrecked, without our gaining the least knowledge of the place where that occurred. There were some suspicions that it was destroyed by fire (a danger for which there is on the sea no help), for at one of the Marianas Islands were found fragments of burned wood, which were sent [here] by the governor of Filipinas, Don José Madrazo, and were recognized to be of woods that are found in these islands only. Careful search was made for many years along the coasts of South America, and in other regions; but not the least news of this ship has been received. Among the persons who were lost in this galleon was a religious who was most highly esteemed by this province for his great virtue and learning; this was the father reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte, a Vizcayan, a native of Marquina, who came as superior of the mission which reached this province in the year 1684; he had been sent in this galleon to España, as procurator of the province, to ask for a new reënforcement of missionaries. Much could be said of the great virtue of this religious, of his frequent prayer and mortification, his poverty, his extraordinary humility and affability--which I omit, in order not to seem too partial to him, or expose myself to the censure which I have seen incurred by many historians among the regulars, who have indulged in so excessive praises of this sort that they expose themselves to the charge of being too partial, because the persons eulogized are of their own houses.

By these so calamitous events the islands were reduced to a miserable condition, on account of the loss of two good galleons and of so much wealth, belonging to so many that one might say it was the wealth of all [the citizens of Manila]. There was a little alleviation of our affliction that year, but it was so little that it could hardly be regarded as succor--that before the great galleon left Cavite a small patache entered that port which the viceroy of Nueva España had sent with some slight assistance, in charge of Don Andrés de Arriola, a Sevillan gentleman of great courage and renown. He returned to Nueva España in a small vessel which was purchased for 6,000 pesos from a Portuguese merchant named Juan de Abreu; it was so small that the authorities ordered, under heavy penalties, that no citizen should send in this vessel anything except letters, a rule which was enforced most rigorously. This patache made a very prosperous voyage; for, having passed the Marianas Islands, which is the most difficult part of this navigation, and finding that their provisions were nearly gone, and that it was almost impossible to pursue their voyage, divine Providence aided them by revealing to them an unknown island, not set down on any navigation chart. They found it uninhabited by men, but abounding in certain birds, large and heavy, and little inclined to fly, and so easy to catch that the men gave them the name of "fool birds" [128] either because of their stupidity, or as being the same as those birds which are found in Brasil and some islands of India which the Portuguese call dodos, which is the same as tontos [i.e., "stupid"]. The flesh of these birds is very good, and so, by killing many of them and drying their flesh in the wind, the sailors made a very good provision of food. They also found very good water and firewood, so that they were able to continue their voyage to Acapulco. What they most regretted was, that they could not fix the latitude and situation of this island, for lack of seeing the sun; and thus the island became again unknown, and inaccessible for another like emergency. [If its location were known], it would be a great assistance in making easier this arduous and severe navigation from Filipinas to Acapulco.

Don Andrés de Arriola was afterward a knight of the Order of Santiago, commander of the Windward fleet, and governor of Vera Cruz and of Pançacola, where he rendered great services to his Majesty King Don Felipe V--his great courage enabling him to furnish large supplies of silver [to the king], despite the perils of the sea and the enemies of the crown, in the time when the armed fleets of Inglaterra and Holanda were infesting the seas and obstructing the commerce with America.

Among the losses which Governor Don Fausto experienced in the time of his government, the greatest in his estimation was the death of his spouse Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui, in 1694; he loved her dearly, an affection deserved by her beauty, the many children that she had borne him, her great virtues, and sweet disposition--for which all the people loved her as the rainbow of peace, as she greatly moderated the choleric disposition of her husband. She died, this Rachel in beauty and Leah in fruitfulness, in the second year of the government of Don Fausto. [129] She was given a burial with honors in our church at Manila, and in the following year her remains were transferred to a beautiful chapel in the chancel, erected and adorned for this purpose. [This chapel contains the sculptured figure of the lady, with some Latin inscriptions, which are here omitted.] Well was this monument merited by a matron so virtuous, loved and reverenced by all for her great virtues; and her death was all the more regretted on account of her youth. The funeral honors which were solemnized for her were the most splendid ever seen in these islands (and it would be difficult to equal them in any other country, even with great expenditures); for the great abundance in these islands of wax and of the other materials for pomp which can increase the magnificence of functions of this kind, render them very easy. But this abuse is at present greatly moderated, as a result of the recent royal decree which was published that these vain parades be diminished.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

The sources of the documents in this volume are as follows:

1. Camacho ecclesiastical controversy.--From the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 107-115, and 119-133; a contemporaneous MS., belonging to Edward E. Ayer; Ventura del Arco MSS., v, pp. 231-296, and iv, pp. 201-206.

2. Augustinians in the Philippines.--From Casimiro Diaz's Conquistas (Manila, 1890), pp. 440-444, and 689-817; from a copy in the possession of James A. Robertson.

NOTES

[1] At the end of this document appear the following memoranda relative to the archbishop's voyage to the islands: "Archbishop Camacho embarked at Acapulco for Manila on March 30, 1697. The lading of the ship was made in great haste, because there was in Acapulco a fearful pestilence. Several died from this pest on the ship, within a few days--among whom were the fiscal of his Majesty, and a Jesuit and a Dominican. On the 19th of July they encountered a terrible storm, from which they escaped only through the intercession of St. Francisco Javier, a Jesuit, casting into the water an order of the saint in which he promised that they should have no [cause for] fear. On July 24, at three o'clock in the afternoon, they anchored in the port of Palapag, where they suffered from a baguio. On the eighth day of September, the archbishop made his public entry into Manila."

[2] Spanish, realengos; "applied to the villages which are not held by seigniors or by the religious orders, and to lands belonging to the state" (Barcia).

Auditor Sierra held a commission from the court for legalizing the ownership of lands in Filipinas; and in the fulfilment of this charge he demanded from the friars the documents which justified their right to the magnificent estates of which they called themselves the owners." (Montero y Vidal, Hist. de Filipinas, p. 385.)

[3] This bull was a papal sentence of excommunication formerly published against heretics every Holy (or Maundy) Thursday; for ages it was publicly read on that day, otherwise known as the feria quinta in Coena Domini; hence its common title, as given in the text. The latest form which this bull assumed was given to it by Urban VIII in 1627; it is entitled, Pastoralis Romani pontificis vigilantia, and is divided into twenty sections or decrees. Of these, no. 15 censures such as usurp jurisdiction; it was, then, issued in the interests of liberty in court trials. No. 17 censures those who usurp church revenues, incomes, and the like; and it thus upheld the rights of ownership. This bull is no longer used; its periodical publication was discontinued after 1773, and it was suppressed by Pius IX (October 12, 1869), in force of his constitution, Apostolicæ Sedis, issued on that date.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[4] The decree here mentioned is dated May 15, 1572, and begins, Exposcit debitum pastoralis officii. In it provision is made for "appeals from the West Indias, and the islands of the Ocean Sea, subject to the king of Spain." It orders that appeals be carried, first, from the bishop to the metropolitan; second, from the metropolitan to the next neighboring ordinary--that thus justice might be secured without delay or so heavy expense. Philip II had petitioned to this effect, that cases might be decided by two courts, and no appeal be admitted therefrom; hence the bull of Gregory to the king.

In this case, the appeal was from the metropolitan to the bishop of Camarines--who probably had been commissioned by the pope to act as delegate from an early period in his episcopal career, since he himself mentions (post) his having acted in that capacity in the time of Archbishop Pardo. In case of the nearest see being vacant, the official who acted as its head would be delegate for the time being, i.e. would be a vice-ordinary. Also, as those islands were too remote for sending thither delegates from Europe, except in extraordinary cases, the metropolitan of Manila might send a delegate to Camarines. The authority possessed by the delegate in appeal cases (as results from the bull of Gregory) would be definitive and final; he might overrule and even supersede the metropolitan, as being the judge in final appeal.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[5] Probably Manuel Fernandez de Santa Cruz, as he was bishop of Puebla in 1696 (Bancroft's Mexico, iii, p. 256).

[6] Cruzat y Gongora's term of office was lengthened by the failure of his successor to go to the islands. This was Domingo Zabalburu de Echevarri, who was appointed September 18, 1694, but did not reach Manila until 1701.

[7] Spanish, sobrino, which may be applied not only to a brother's or sister's child, but to that of a cousin-german.

[8] Spanish, ni mejorarla [apelacion]; a legal phrase, meaning "to support the appeal before the superior court, after having appealed before it, by setting forth the injury that is experienced from any act issued by the lower court" (Barcia).

[9] So in Ventura del Arco's transcription; but it would seem to be an error for 120--perhaps a copyist's conjecture of an illegible character--since it apparently refers to Gregory XIII's decree of 1572 (ante, p. 27).

[10] He was almost seventy years old, according to Concepción (Hist. de Philipinas, viii, p. 229).

[11] In the Latin Church the ecclesiastical orders are those of bishops, priests, deacons, sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers, and ostiarii, or doorkeepers. Many theologians reckon the number at seven, regarding the episcopate as merely the extension of the priesthood (Addis and Arnold, p. 621).

[12] Spanish, seminario conciliar; "the house assigned for the education of the young men who devote themselves to the ecclesiastical career" (Barcia).

[13] José Sarmiento Valladares, Conde de Montezuma, was the successor, in the viceroyalty of Nueva España, of Gaspar de la Cerda, Conde de Galve (whose term of office was November 20, 1688 to May, 1696). Valladares obtained his title by his marriage with Gerónima María, a lineal descendant of the Mexican emperor, and third countess of Montezuma. He took possession of the office on December 18, 1696, and held it until November 4, 1701. He was an able and efficient governor, and did much to repress crime, improve social conditions, aid the Indians in times of distress, and render the City of Mexico more strongly fortified. (Bancroft, Mexico, iii, pp. 222, 259, 264, 265.)

[14] Miguel Bayót was a discalced Franciscan, an Aragonese, who came to the Philippines in 1669; he was employed in ministries to the Indians, and was long at the head of the hospice of the order in Mexico City. In 1695 he was appointed bishop of Cebú, when he was 52 years old, being then in Mexico, and took possession of his office in September, 1696; he died there on August 28, 1700. When he died, only the sum of five reals was found in his possession. (San Antonio, Chronicas, i, p. 212.)

[15] The first page of this MS. is occupied by official attestations showing that on January 22, 1699, officially certified copies of these decrees by the archbishop were demanded by Antonio de Borja, procurator-general of the Jesuit province, from one of the alcaldes of Manila, Antonio Basarte, who ordered these copies to be made.

[16] Spanish, casamientos y velaciones; the former the general term for marriages, the latter also used thus, but referring especially to the nuptial mass or nuptial benedictions (which, however, were and are given only at mass). The parties might be married outside of mass--as if it were a private marriage, or if they were too poor to pay for the mass--and then did not receive the benedictions. But if at mass, they were velados--a term recalling an ancient ceremony when both parties were veiled at the marriage; i.e., the priest threw a veil over their heads. Thus Moroni in his Diccionario, who also states that "this custom is still in vogue in some places" (in his own day, about thirty years ago). La velacion was another term for the marriage ceremony at mass, and was part of the ceremony. Every woman (of good standing) is entitled to church marriage--with nuptial mass and benediction--but once only: this may be on the occasion of a second or third marriage, provided the former marriages were outside of mass; but if the first marriage were with the nuptial mass, she is barred from enjoying this privilege at subsequent marriages. These are the casamientos; the nuptial mass, or marriage accompanied by it, the velacion.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[17] Hijo de la Iglesia; a term applied to a foundling or abandoned infant; cf., the Italian appellation, "a child of the Madonna."

[18] Spanish, octavas. None of the standard dictionaries give a meaning to cover this use of octavas. Dominguez's Diccionario (Supplement) states that the word is a term in Roman law, designating an ancient form of tribute consisting of one part in eight. Probably it was carried over into ecclesiastical law, and here means that the cura was expected to pay one-eighth of his fees into the church fund.

[19] Spanish, canonicas monitoriales. In law books, banns (in Latin) are styled proclamationes monitoriæ.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[20] Spanish, limosna. The fees (derechos) of the cura were determined, fixed sums, as in the tariff lists, nor could he change them. The limosna--a free offering, and wholly optional with the parties for whom he officiated--was over and above the tariff charge. The cura could do with this offering what he wished--if he chose, spending it in alms; but it was given to him personally, and was for his own use. Cf. the gratificación voluntaria in the following list of fees to be paid the parish priest in Cuba, taken from the Manual de la Isla de Cuba, by José Garcia y Arboleya (2nd ed., Havana, 1859), pp. 316, 317:

For baptism: a voluntary offering [gratificación voluntaria], the minimum of which is 6 reals for the cura and 2 for the acolyte $ 1. For burial: of free adult 7.50 of free child 6.50 of slave adult 5.50 of slave child 5. For prayers--responso with cope, sacristan, and processional cross [cruz alta], at the house of the deceased 7. For prayers, with cope, at the burial 4. For office (of three lections) 5. For mass chanted (body present) 6. For each halt [posa] 12.50 For processional cross at the grave (without cross, .50) 2. For each censer .50 For each attendant in surplice 1. For remaining till end [of interment] 1.50 For four [church] bells [tolled] 2. For three [church] bells [tolled] 1.50 For two [church] bells [tolled] 1. For low mass [without chant] 1. For a fiesta [feast-day celebration] with vespers and mass chanted 12. For a fiesta with procession 14. For votive mass chanted 6.50 For marriage 7.25 For cura at the house [of the parties] 4. For foreigners 25. to 30. For record of baptism 1.

--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[21] The term Morenos, as has appeared from former documents, was applied generally to persons of swarthy complexion--mulattoes, some negroes, and Malabar natives, indiscriminately.

[22] Spanish, arraz (arras); a very old term, of Hebrew origin; hence the Latin law term of arrha, i.e., anticipated payment of part. Arras also means "thirteen pieces of money given to the bride by the bridegroom;" this or similar dowry was required by a very old and very rigorous law.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

Barcia gives arras the general meaning of "that which is given as a pledge or token of any agreement. It was extended also to the marriage contract. Also, the thirteen pieces of money which in weddings serve for the formality of that function, passing from the hands of the bridegroom to those of the bride. In law, the amount which the man promises to the woman on account of his marriage to her; it cannot exceed, according to law, the tenth part of his possessions." He defines arrha (French, arrhes) as "a pledge or token given to secure and confirm a contract."

[23] The context would seem to require here the amount of the fee for burial of a child; this has apparently been omitted in the MS. by a clerical error. The general appearance of the MS., and various memoranda on the back, suggest the probability that this was one of the copies furnished to the Jesuit Borja.

[24] Spanish, possas. At funerals, prayers were read at different points on the way to the cemetery; for instance, at the church door, midway on the route, and at the cemetery gate--if not oftener. Of course the procession halted while prayers were being read or chanted; so for each halt (posa) a fee was due.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[25] Spanish, missas de nouenario; the novenary is a nine days' condolence for the deceased. The same term is also applied to a nine days' devotion offered to some saint.

[26] Spanish, el velo; literally, the "veil," or the "veiling;" evidently referring to the old-time usage of placing a veil over the married pair (see note 16, ante), as a part of the ceremonies at the nuptial mass. I am told by one of our fathers here at Villanova, who lived in Spain years ago, that at marriages in that country the bride wears the usual wedding-veil, and continues to wear it in public for one week after the marriage; it is white, sometimes plain, sometimes adorned with ribbons or flowers of various colors.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[27] Spanish, cruz alta con su manga. The processional cross was carried on a staff, as used in the United States in processions; at funerals the crucifix was covered with black, this funeral trapping (manga) covering or veiling the cross as a sign of grief. Sometimes the sacristan bore only a small cross, without staff; this depended wholly on his fee. In all Catholic churches in the United States, we use the crucifixes covered in Holy Week; but we do not veil crosses at funerals.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[28] Spanish, por titulo de justicia. Parroco de justicia, so frequently used in this document, is the Spanish rendering of the technical Latin phrase, parochus de jure--words which show that the cura had a right to his office, had been instituted according to the canons, and was canonically and legally in office. It is practically the same as the English phrase "by right and title." Other equivalents are: "by title of law," "by right," and "ordinary." The parish priest, whether secular or regular, was an official of the Church.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[29] See account of the allotment of diocesan titles in VOL. I, p. 244, note 188. Baluffi, there cited, adds: "Relative to the two ninths that were given to the king, the first bishop of Mechoacan [in Mexico], Mons. Vasco de Quiroga, when organizing his cathedral [clergy] in 1554, speaking of the two shares of the tithes that were given to the king, remarked that they were thus awarded to his most serene Majesty in token of his lordship (superioritalis) and right of patronage."

[30] In text, oneroso, but evidently a transcriber's error for onrroso.

[31] In the text, projimos, "neighbors"--in allusion to the Scriptural injunction, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," a duty strictly inculcated in the training of candidates for ordination, especially in the Jesuit order.

[32] Alluding to Paul's precept in I Corinthians, vii, v. 20.

[33] That is, a non-resident or merely titular prelate; see VOL. XVIII, p. 339, note 101.

[34] The whole sentence, divested of technicalities, simply means that one must "look before he leaps;" or that, when one has his eyes open, he is supposed to have used them; or that the bishop, should he be merely titular, would have no one to blame but himself, and should be the last to complain.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[35] Spanish, pordioseros; that is, those who ask alms "for God's sake."

[36] Spanish, conciliabulo; like English "conventicle," used to designate an unauthorized or illegal assembly.

[37] Spanish, mal sonante y temeraria--literally, "of evil sound and reckless." This is part of a legal phrase, taken from Latin forms used by the Roman courts when characterizing books, teachings, statements, etc., of unorthodox or schismatic bearing.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[38] This memorial seems to have been written by the Dominican Fray Raimundo Berart (see Reseña biográfica, ii, p. 203); and it was printed by Fray Mimbela.

[39] Spanish, consumiendo; "the reception or eating by the priest of the body and blood of Christ, in the elements of bread and wine" (Dominguez).

[40] Francisco de Mesina was born in Messina, Sicily, in 1614; at the age of fifteen he became a Jesuit novice, and in 1643 came to the Philippines. He acted as minister at the college of Manila during one year, and then went to Camboja with a Spanish expedition who built a ship there, ministering to the Spaniards, and to the natives of the country. For two years he was rector of Silang, and more than twenty years minister to the Chinese at Santa Cruz, near Manila, becoming very proficient in their language. He was three years provincial, and was sent to Macan and Camboja by the governor "on affairs of the royal service;" and he died at Santa Cruz, October 12, 1682. (Murillo Velarde, Hist. Philipinas, fol. 354.)

[41] Spanish, almojarifazgo: export and import duties, as our modern officials would call them. This tax was first collected by the Moors in the cities and coasts of Andalucía, and afterward--in the times of St. Fernando, according to various authors--came to be introduced among the Christians; and they, on accepting or establishing this impost, adopted the name by which the Arabs designated it.--Fray Tirso López (editor of Diaz).

[42] Don Francísco Xavier, in the year 1670 (Murillo Velarde, Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 300).

[43] Francisco Miedes was a native of Madrid, born about 1621; he entered the Jesuit order about 1643, and in 1643 came to the islands. During the first year he was an instructor at the college of Manila; the rest of his life was spent in the missions of Ternate and Siao. He compiled grammars and vocabularies of the dialects spoken in those islands, and performed his missionary labors with great self-sacrifice and devotion, suffering much from poverty and lack of the usual comforts of life. The hardships of this career, and his frequent austerities, broke down his strength, and he finally died at Iloilo, on June 21, 1674. (Murillo Velarde, ut supra, fol. 352 b, 353.)

Gerónimo Cebreros was born in Mexico on May 30, 1626, and at the age of twenty-three entered the Jesuit novitiate, and four years later came to the islands. He was a missionary in Ternate and Siao, and for six years the superior of those missions; afterward he labored among the Spaniards and Tagals in Luzón, and died on August 15, 1713. (Ut supra, fol. 400 b.)

[44] Diaz does not give the Christian name of this missionary, but Murillo Velarde says (ut supra, fol. 300 b), that it was Juan de Esquivel; this name, however, is not again mentioned by that author. On fol. 284 he gives the following account of Diego de Esquivel (of whom Juan may have been a brother): "On the sixth of June, 1665, died at Manila Father Diego de Esquivel, at the age of forty-two years, after seventeen years as a member of the Society; he was a native of the said city, and it was there that he entered the Society, in the year 1648. He finished his studies there, and, having been ordained as a priest, was sent to Ternate--where he learned perfectly the language of the natives, of which he wrote a grammar and a vocabulary. Thence he went to Tydore, and afterward to Siao, where the natives were living more as barbarians than as Christians; and he suffered greatly in that island, on account of the poverty of the country. He had his heart set on planting the faith and good morals among that people, by means of preaching, the good example of his life as a religious, and the charity with which he ministered to all; and he gained thereby the great affection of the people of Siao. This was known by Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, and therefore after the death of Don Bentura, the king of that island (who left a young son), the governor commissioned Father Esquivel with the government of that kingdom, as it was under the royal protection, to the great satisfaction of the chiefs of its villages; and the superiors [of the order] gave him permission, in so far as it was in accordance with the sacred canons, to act as counselor of the said kingdom. This caused the preservation in our holy faith of the many and glorious missions which this province has in the Orient--which are the island and kingdom of Siao, and the provinces of Manados or Cauripa (which are in the great island of Celebes, or Macazar), with other islands and missions, which he frequently visited, by which he gained many souls to God. He was sent to Ternate as rector, but, moved by affectionate desire for the salvation of his Siaos, he left a father as vice-rector of the college [at Ternate], and returned to Siao. At this time, orders were given to withdraw the garrison from Ternate, and Father Esquivel returned to Manila, and many of those natives accompanied him--in order not to lose the faith, nobly abandoning their native land. They settled in Maragondong, La Estacada, and other places, with the name of Mardicas, and I knew in Maragondong some of them who had been born in Ternate. Through the hardships of this voyage Father Esquivel contracted an illness, which lasted during the remainder of his life. He spent some time as minister at Barás, where his sickness became worse; they carried him to Manila, where he died with great peace and resignation."

Manuel Español was born in Aren, May 11, 1639, and entered the Jesuit order on November 21, 1656. Seven years later he came to the Philippine Islands. He was minister at the college of Manila two years, and afterward labored in the missions of Siao and Ternate for many years. He died in Manila, on March 10, 1684. (Murillo Velarde, ut supra, fol. 356.)

[45] Murillo Velarde says (ut supra, fol. 302): "On the first of November, 1677, the Dutch seized Siao, called thither by Don Geronimo Daras, a rival and enemy of the king Don Francisco (who was a good Catholic, and a friend of the Spaniards); they went to conquer it, and left as governor of the island Robert Paagbrugue. They carried away to Malayo the fathers who were ministering there. They cut down the clove trees, and established several small forts with some artillery; and left there about two hundred men, with a preacher, who instructed the natives in regard to their errors. At first some of the Siaos resisted; but now they are most obstinate heretics, and very bitter enemies of the Catholic religion--as I found in some who strayed to Manila in those days; although some were finally converted, and I baptized a boy of fourteen years who learned the [Christian] doctrine readily."

[46] i.e., "a time of peace, a time of war."

[47] Spanish, Del monte sale, quien al monte quema, "indicating that the losses we suffer usually proceed from persons allied to us, or who live near us" (Dominguez).

[48] Here, as in several other places in our text, we omit various pious reflections and citations from Scripture or the fathers of the church, simply through the pressure of valuable historical matter upon our limited space.

[49] i.e., "If for my sake this tempest has arisen, cast me into the sea," paraphrasing rather than quoting the prophet's words (Jonah, i, v. 12).

[50] Juan Caballero was born in Córdoba in 1629, and made his profession in the Augustinian order at Sevilla (by a typographical error in Pérez's Catálogo, in 1637; probably, 1657). He came to Manila in the mission of 1669; three years later, was elected prior of Cebú, and in 1674 prior of Manila, where he died in 1685.

[51] Biographical notices of these friars, and of others mentioned by Diaz in like connection, may be found in Pérez's Catálogo.

[52] Spanish, colegial del mayor. A colegio mayor is defined by Dominguez as "a community of youths, laymen of distinguished families, who devote themselves to various studies, living in a certain seclusion, and under a collegiate rector, whom they appoint, usually each year."

[53] Spanish, catedratico de decreto. The Decreto was the book compiled by Gratianus which forms the first part of the canon law.

[54] "More properly Konkanis; the modern division of North Canara is part of the territory properly known as the Konkan, and the old Portuguese called the natives of their territory, both those of Goa and the North (properly the Konkanis), and also those to the southward, indiscriminately Canarins." "The Canarins (who are heathen), are of two sorts, for such as are engaged in trade and other honorable callings are held in much greater respect than those who engage in fishing, or practice mechanical crafts." Canarin is the Portuguese form of the name applied to the natives of the coast, and interior north of Malabar, as far as and including Goa district; another form of the name is Karnatic, although it is now applied to the Tamil country on the eastern side of the Indian peninsula.--See Voyage of Pyrard de Laval (Hakluyt Society Publications, London, 1887-88) and notes by Gray and Bell, i, pp. 375-376, ii, pp. 35, 405-406.

[55] Payo Enriquez de Rivera was a native of Sevilla, and son of the Duke de Alcalá, viceroy of Naples. In 1628 he made profession in the Augustinian order, and after obtaining his degrees in theology and philosophy held various important offices in Spain. In 1657 he was presented to the see of Guatemala, and ten years later to that of Michoacan; soon afterward he was made archbishop of Mexico, which office he assumed in June 1668. The viceroyalty of Mexico becoming vacant by the death of Pedro Nuño Colon, Duke de Veraguas, a few days after taking possession of that government (December, 1673), he was immediately succeeded, by a royal order anticipating this event, by Fray Payo de Rivera, who ruled Nueva España for seven years. Rivera was distinguished by his ability as a ruler, not only in matters ecclesiastical, but in civil and military affairs--to all of which he attended with zeal and prudence; and he was beloved by the people. In July, 1681, he set out for Spain, where he had two important appointments from the government; but he declined these, and retired to the convent of Santa María del Risco. He died on April 8, 1684, honored in both life and death by the government and by his people. (Bancroft's Mexico, iii, pp. 182-187.)

[56] Our Constitutions inhibit such procedure, the applying to courts outside the order. For us, appeals lie only to the Pontiff, who, being the common father of the faithful, is not considered an outsider.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[57] i.e., "The party dispossessed must first of all be restored, any other proceeding being deferred."

[58] Referring to a work by the Jesuit writer Martin Martini (1614-61), who for many years was a prominent missionary in China. This was his Novus atlas Sinensis (Vienna, 1655), which formed part 10 of the great atlas published by Joannis Blaeu at Amsterdam (1656). Diaz hispanicizes Martini's name, and rather curiously uses the Italian word atlante for "atlas" instead of the Spanish atlas.

[59] More strictly the name Coromandel is applied to the eastern coast of India north of Cape Comorin, and Malabar to the western coast.

[60] i.e., "It shall not be compared with the dyed colors of India" (Job, xxviii, v. 16).

[61] See plan of Madras, and maps of Coromandel coast, in Bellin's Atlas maritime, iii, fol. 37-39.

[62] The Basilian order was founded by St. Basil, bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia. His rule became so popular in the East as to supplant all others; and at this day it alone is recognized and followed by the monks of the Greek Church. This order also made its way into southern Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. Nearly all the convents of Basilian nuns (founded by St. Macrina, sister of Basil), like those of the monks, have embraced the Eastern schism. (Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary, citing Hélyot's Ordres monastiques.)

[63] Spanish, crescas, a word not given in the lexicons, but evidently, from the context, to be thus rendered.

[64] See Linschoten's account of this story of St. Thomas's preaching in India, and A. C. Burnell's notes thereon, in Voyage of Linschoten (Hakluyt Society Publications, London, 1885), i, pp. 83-89. Burnell says that this story is unknown to the natives of India, and evidently originated in Syria. The inscription on the alleged tomb of St. Thomas near Madras is now known to be Nestorian, of about the ninth century A. D.

[65] Tercia: the third part of a vara (33.38+ inches), therefore a little more than 11 inches; generally used as a measure of length.

[66] Concepción's account of this occurrence (Hist. de Philipinas, vii, pp. 258, 259) contains an explanation somewhat remarkable for a period when sanitary science had made little progress, even in Europe.

"Governor Don Manuel de Leon was sick from excessive corpulency; and Don Juan de Sarra treated him by making cruel cuts in the flesh of his body. He attended, when these incisions were not yet quite healed, the funeral of Doña Maria del Cuellar, the deceased wife of Auditor Don Francisco Coloma; and in the church the vapors which exhale from buried corpses--which, experience proves, cost those so dear, who enter the church with sores or wounds, as these are poisoned and corrupted by those vapors--had the effect on the governor of opening his wounds, and bringing on a hemorrhage which exhausted him, [and he died. April 11, 1667]."