Chapter VII: Part 7

These proceedings keep me in the utmost anxiety, as I fear that so unreasonable an act as this restitution will be very ill received in the Council, which will lose respect for the authorities here, as the matter was pending in that body. Accordingly, and on account of what may be carried to España, I give you this information, so that you may, if opportunity offers, make it known, as I dare not write to the Council about it, for my letters may not be sent forward--as happened to Don Juan de Vargas, while of the letters that were written against him copies were sent to the Council. If this should occur [now], it would result in ruining us all. Notwithstanding these difficulties, I am on very good terms with the archbishop, so much so that in any event, whatever I may do, they will stand up in my favor; and they have even gone so far as to tell me that they are writing this year to his Majesty, assuring him of my excellent mode of procedure, and how incorrect was the information to the contrary. Your Grace will inquire at the secretary's office, and let me know whether this is really so; for one cannot trust in friars, and, in order that they may not imagine that I distrust them, I have not asked them for the letter, in order to send [a copy of it to you].

The viceroy of Nueva España having appointed, in accordance with the permission given him by the Council, Don Juan de Zalaeta, the castellan of Acapulco, as judge of residencia for Don Juan de Vargas, he came here and presented all his credentials in the royal court--where, without any contention, it was ordered that they be put into force and carried out. Among the despatches came a royal decree forbidding this royal Audiencia from taking cognizance of anything belonging to the said residencia; but, this being granted, twelve days after its publication the said judge was challenged by the city on account of the entire case. As he had not been declared to be judge for that, but only an associate, the city hastened to the Audiencia in order that this court might declare the said judge to be thus challenged. Among other reasons that the city alleged for this proceeding was the statement that in the port of Acapulco, the viceroy having commissioned the said judge to seize the bales and merchandise which were going in the ships on account of the said Don Juan de Vargas and his servants and friends, the judge had not carried out the said seizure, on account of fifty thousand pesos which they had given him. Although it is certain that the reasons adduced were very forcible, the Audiencia, recognizing the force of the inhibitory decree, declared that they could not intermeddle by giving a decision on the said challenge; and that the governor should appoint associates [adjuntos] for him, in order that they might continue the said residencia with the said judge; and that the original documents connected with the said challenge should be sent to the Council. Although the residencia was prosecuted, the charges [against Vargas] have not yet been published. It seems to me that it is being settled very conformably to justice, although the proceedings cannot fail to show many defects on account of the judge's inexperience; for he is not a learned man, and here the lawyers are very few, and the conduct of [such] a case is exceedingly difficult.

As soon as the city brought forward in the court the challenge against the judge, Don Juan de Vargas challenged all three of us auditors; and in the course of the proceedings I introduced a document acknowledging myself as challenged; [I did this] not only on account of what Don Juan de Vargas had done for me, but because it was a brother-in-law of mine who was under residencia, and his advocate also bore that relation to me. They must have had good reasons for not regarding me as challenged, and so I had to vote. I give you information of all this, in order that if any reparation be proposed there, it may be in this; for I judge that the points and articles of this residencia will cause the utmost embarrassment in the Council, and that it will be necessary to command that it be taken again. I give thanks to our Lord that it has not reached me; for it would cause me the utmost injury and perplexity--partly on account of his wrong acts, partly because those who had written unpleasant letters to the Council now turn tail, and explain nothing. This, it may be, is attributed to the judge, who is not to blame--for here there are only false witnesses, now on one side and now on the other; and you will confirm this information by what goes there, which you will not fail to know. For it seems to me that in all the lands discovered [by Spaniards] there is no country like this, or where its inhabitants are so inconstant. Accordingly, I assert that here neither friendship nor enmity is permanent; for if now, for example, some persons are my enemies, and on that account my actions are pointed out in the Council, when [the news of] my vindication--through this or that accident--comes from there we become reconciled, and eat, as they say, from one plate; and the same on the other side. It is useless, therefore, to take notice of anything in this little edition of hell [abreviado infierno].

I have no other request or greater desire than to leave this place; and although (for since I arrived in these islands I have written to you at every opportunity) I have sufficiently wearied you regarding this, I cannot cease continuing [my efforts to go away]--without urging any fixed and assigned place, or where or how it shall be accomplished. For every day, Don Diego, I find myself more disconsolate, and I would by this time be desperate if I could not trust in the good opinion that I have of you; and therefore, hoping for your protection and stationed at your feet, I entreat you with the utmost earnestness [for a change in my position], without heeding whether or not it be a promotion. For me the best promotion will be to go away, wherever it may be; and if it cannot be accomplished in this way, [please] endeavor to secure for me permission, for such time as may seem proper to the Council, to pass over to Nueva España, in accordance with what I wrote last year, as there was no room for either of these expedients to secure my departure. I send a special power of attorney for you to make in my name surrender and renunciation of this post, for the causes and reasons which I will allege in the Council, either personally or by my attorney; I do not do so now, on account of the damage and risk which thus may be occasioned to me because I do not desire a post in which there is so much corruption as there is in this. And more, I would almost rather go to get a living by some petition or commission than to be auditor of Filipinas; and this, Don Diego, is the truth. Here there is no liberty for anything; there is no authority, no respect, and, above all, not an atom of profit. Then, what is such a post good for? It is only fit for ruining honor and reputation, and for this it is notorious. In case I shall get away from here by any of the aforesaid ways, you will ask that a judge of residencia may be appointed for me, so that he may take it before I shall go; for I do not wish to leave behind these sorrapas. You will previously challenge Don Diego de Viga and Don Esteban de la Fuente y Alanis; for these two gentlemen, each in his own way, are very malicious, and have very little affection for colleagues. I know them well, by experience of what they have done to other persons; and I do not wish that they do the same to me. It is also necessary to obtain for me a royal decree, so that I may not be hindered by the governor or any one else, that all the persons in my household, and those who came with me to these islands, may return in my company; and that I may be assigned a small room for storage of my provisions for the voyage. For here it is not the same as in the north, [139] where there are general accommodations for the passengers; but each one furnishes his own provisions; and, unless a place is assigned in which these may go, the transportation charges cost more than one thousand pesos; but, as those who ship bales pay for them at the rate of twelve and fifteen pesos, they have many advantages [over the rest].

Don Pedro Sebastian de Volibar y Mena

Extract from a letter written by Father Luis Pimentel to Father Manuel Rodriguez, procurator-general of Indias, from Manila, February 8, 1686.

Don Juan de Vargas was excommunicated and placed on the public list by Archbishop Pardo; he thereupon came before the Audiencia. That court demanded that the archbishop show them his acts, which he did not do. A royal decree was sent to him; he replied that he could not send the act that he had issued against Don Juan de Vargas, since he had to send it to a superior tribunal--that is, to the tribunal of the Inquisition. The auditors sent him a second decree; he replied that he was encumbered with affairs of more importance than those of Don Juan de Vargas, and could not make [formal] answer. They sent a third one, commanding him to send such answer; he replied that the doings of Don Juan de Vargas were public and manifest, so that it was not necessary to enact anything against him, and accordingly he had no documents to send them. The secretary of the Audiencia notified him of the fourth decree, and had orders to read it to the archbishop, but not to give it to him, because the three former decrees had remained in his hands without his making any answer. The secretary was told, however, that if the archbishop should demand a certified copy, he should give him one and bring back the royal decree; but the archbishop declared that if the decree were not surrendered to him he would not answer it. As he did not render obedience to the four decrees, his Majesty commanded, by his royal decrees, that the archbishop should be declared banished from the kingdoms. The governor went to talk with him, to start him, as they say on the road; and it is said that he found him obstinate.

Now follows the fiction that they made arrangements, in order that the governor might not consider himself obliged to undo what had been done, [140] by recalling the sentence of banishment, and bringing the archbishop to Manila. They ordered that all the estates of this community should go to entreat the governor that the archbishop should not be exiled; and the same persons went on this errand who [afterward] bemired themselves in causing the archbishop to return to Manila. These men went about talking and declaiming to everyone in the community about the great difficulties, both spiritual and temporal, which must follow from [the banishment]; but in reality all these were fantastical, since there would be no further difficulties than those which the governor chose--as there were none when the archbishop was banished the previous time; [141] for one would hardly believe how great is the hatred that most persons feel toward the archbishop and his officials, and to the Dominican friars. The Order of St. Francis was remiss in making this request, but an auditor brought them to terms, as well as the members of the cabildos, both ecclesiastical and secular. The most difficult thing was to subdue the Jesuits. A bishop who was a great friend of ours charged himself with this task, and easily persuaded the vice-provincial and the consultors; but I always have been of opinion that we ought to pursue an even course--for I immediately saw the trick, and that he was setting a trap for us, as actually happened. Finally the vice-provincial and another father went, because I excused myself from going in company with the other orders. With them went Don Fray Juan Duran, a religious of the Order of Mercy and bishop of Sinopolis; it was he who in the name of all the orders made the address, setting forth the serious difficulties that must ensue in spiritual and temporal affairs. This petition being ended, the snare began; the governor told them to draw up a paper in which they were to set forth the causes that led them to make the request, and that all the orders should sign it--which converted the petition into advice, and he did the same with the other estates, even with the military leaders.

The [preparation of the] paper which the orders were to sign was entrusted to one of the bemired ones, the provincial of the Augustinian Recollects; but what he wrote was so unsatisfactory that even the bishop of Sinopolis--who was active in carrying on this affair for the governor, on account of being his intimate friend--did not like it; and the bishop himself therefore drew up the paper, which was signed by all the orders except the Society. Ours preferred to make its own answer, separately; we did so, and I send [a copy of it] with this.

News since the year 1688

1. It is asked that the contents of this document may be read attentively; the writer asserts that it is not his intention that corporal injury shall come to the guilty, but only that the truth may be known and these many evils be set forth.

2. Early in January of the said year, very secret conferences were held in the palace, in which Bobadilla, Atienza, and Cervantes took part--all opposed to the auditors, to Zalaeta and Lezama, and to Don Juan de Vargas. They began to favor the designs of the archbishop, and the governor to act despotically, according to the dictation of Verart.

3. The result of the said conferences was the imprisonment of Zalaeta and Lezama, on the twenty-second of January. Their property was sequestered, and with great cruelty their papers were seized; and they were very closely confined in the fort. He [142] asked for a confessor from the Society, but the governor would not grant this, only consenting that he might confess to one of three fathers whom he designated; these were Juan Gonzalez, Don Esteban Olmedo--adherents of himself and the Dominicans--and Doctor Atienza, brother of the Atienza already named.

4. Toledo denounced Don Juan Zalaeta, saying that he gave him a pasquinade so that he could publish it, which was of the following tenor: The governor was seated on a chair, with his favorites Endaya and Verart at his side; at his feet lay the king, his head cut off, and his hands disjointed. This picture explains the state of affairs, which is expressed by the verses that appear below. [143]

5. The cause of Lezama's imprisonment was a paper which they attributed to him, although it was not known with certainty that he had written it; and both tribunals proceeded against him--the government with imprisonment and sequestration, the archbishop with censures; the two powers agreed very well.

6. Guards were placed in the house of Lezama, from which resulted some extravagant remarks by Doña Josefa, the wife of Bolivar; and these set in motion what will be hereafter related. The wife of Lezama presented a document to the governor, asking for what reason her husband had been imprisoned; he sent the paper to an alcalde-in-ordinary. The said wife had recourse to the Audiencia, who commanded the said alcalde to deliver up the documents under penalty of five hundred pesos, but he resorted to the governor, who forbade him to obey, and imposed a penalty of two thousand pesos if he should surrender the documents.

7. On the same day the governor summoned the auditors to a session and conference, and with language of anger and rage informed them that the alcalde was proceeding by his orders in the said imprisonments, and ever, that they were involved in the same charges. At this they were struck with great fear, with good reason dreading the governor's outrageous manner of proceeding; and to this fear that some calamity would happen to them also were added the reports that were current of the dungeons that were being prepared, of various persons whom he was arresting and examining, etc.

8. The auditors, now terrorized, secretly retired one night to the college of the Society of Jesus, and carried with them the fiscal, in order to consult as to the measures of which they should avail themselves to secure their persons from the tyranny of the governor, and whether they should remain in the said college in order to administer justice from that place, etc. They could not reach a decision in the matter, and with the same secrecy they returned to their houses; and afterward the fiscal sold them.

9. The reasons for the governor's hatred against Don Diego de Viga were: his having proposed that the ship which served for the armada should make a voyage in the year 1686, which was contrary to the governor's purposes; and his proposal in the Audiencia that a consultation should be held with the governor in regard to a packet of letters from the king which were said to have arrived, in which there were decisions of the utmost importance--which letters, it is supposed, the governor tried to hold back and conceal.

10. He entertained ill-will against Bolivar for having replied with independence and decision to an act of which he was notified on the part of the bishop, in which he threatened the auditor with fearful excommunications and pecuniary fine, because the said auditor protected the interests of the royal patronage in the suit which the Augustinians brought against the Society in regard to the village of Jesus de la Peña, and challenged the jurisdiction of the said archbishop in this case.

11. The governor [144] set spies on the steps and actions of the auditors, and seized a bit of paper, without signature, which Bolivar was sending to Viga, in which he informed the latter that they could not trust the fiscal, who had that very day taken dinner with the governor; and that he presumed the fiscal had betrayed them, disclosing their consultation above mentioned.

12. The governor conjured from this bit of paper many mysteries; he arrested the page who carried it, and commanded that the fiscal be summoned. He planned the exile of the auditors, with the seizure of their property and papers--in all of which meddled Cervantes, who was an enemy of the royal Audiencia, and known as such; and now was elevated to be the favorite of the governor by the favor of the Dominicans, in order to be judge in the most important lawsuits of this commonwealth.

13. On February 7 of the said year, the day following the above incident, they seized Don Diego de Viga, and conveyed him to Mariveles, a village in charge of the Dominicans, where he stayed in a mean hut. From that place he went to Lucban, a village belonging to the same friars, where he remained in close confinement and lacking the necessary comforts; they allowed him not even an Indian servant who had remained with him. All this severity was practiced on him, notwithstanding that (as was notorious) the said auditor was so burdened with sickness and infirmities that in the judgment of intelligent persons he could not hold out three months in Lucban. The commandant shamefully treated a brother of the Society, who accidentally passed through that place, because he gave the said auditor a little linen and some paper, which the prisoner entreated for the love of God--which it is said, was taken from him and sent to the governor; and that sacrilegious man even had the brother sent there a prisoner and in fetters.

14. On the same day and the following one, they searched for Bolivar in various houses; for, when he learned what was being plotted against them, he had concealed himself. They surrounded his house, with a large force of soldiers; and because Doña Josefa and her sister spoke some saucy words, in regard to certain questions that were asked them, they were banished with much severity, and conveyed to the village of Abucay, a village in charge of the Dominicans. [145] Doña Josefa was sent first, and afterward her sister Doña Ynes, on account of the latter being very ill when they carried away her sister.

15. The governor learned that Don Pedro Bolivar was in the college of the Society of Jesus, and availed himself of his good friend the archbishop to remove the auditor from sanctuary. The archbishop readily assented to whatever he demanded; indeed, he has left no stone unturned to injure the Society of Jesus. They surrounded the college of the Society with a great number of soldiers, within and without, who caused the religious incredible vexations and troubles during the nine days while this blockade lasted. The [archbishop's] provisor was on hand to incite the soldiers and make mischief; and he notified the rector of an act by the archbishop requiring him to surrender Bolivar.

16. The city and all the religious orders, except that of St. Dominic, showed great resentment at this performance and felt exceedingly scandalized. The governor, as obstinate as Pharaoh, said that he would not remove the blockade from the Society's house until Bolivar should make his appearance, if it lasted a year; and that he intended to destroy the auditor. The latter, seeing the constraint and uneasiness of the religious, and the obstinacy of the governor and the archbishop, gave himself up of his own accord; and they took him away from sanctuary in great haste, and carried him to the municipal building; and afterward, near midnight, he was sent by boat to Mariveles, with the same harshness which they had showed to Auditor Viga.

17. The convenient pretext and imaginary reasons which they gave for these seizures were that those auditors intended to depose the governor, and hand over his office to General Zalaeta. It was proved that this plan would not suit the actual condition of affairs, even in the judgment of a man of mediocre ability, much less in that of the auditors; and even if such a thing were intended, they would find it impossible to secure the means for its execution, since all the military leaders were of the governor's faction and opposed to the auditors.

18. Crafty actions, intrigues, seizures, and severities were employed with persons of various stations, in order to give some semblance of proof to the above fantastic idea; and they terrorized many persons to make them relate, if possible, what suited their purpose, and no more. Some they tortured; others were left without food for two or three days, and one they deprived of drink for seventeen days. Most of the persons thus examined had little courage, and were sons of fear, so they found it easy to tell lies; and if they were under compulsion they would say that Judas and Mahoma were in heaven.

19. The governor soon found himself embarrassed by the lack of an Audiencia; he therefore formed one in his own way, which was thoroughly accommodated to his opinions. It was composed thus: a fiscal so terrified and possessed by fear that, if he were commanded to flog an image of Christ, apparently he would not hesitate to do so; one Cervantes, as coadjutor to the fiscal, a young fellow of malicious disposition and perverse inclinations, who not many years before had been condemned to death; one Angulo, in everything a man after Cervantes's own heart--young and of little understanding; and of so little ability that neither when he was a receptor of the Audiencia, nor now when filling the office of attorney-general [promotor-fiscal], did he know what to do, etc.

20. Among the papers of Zalaeta was found one which was imputed to the cantor Herrera, in which he spoke ill of Endaya; and on this account the archbishop demanded aid from the governor, seized Herrera, [146] and placed him in the fort--treating him with ignominy unusual for [a member of] the cabildo, placing him under the guard of secular officials, and treating him like a highwayman. Yet the said archbishop had previously favored him, and regarded lightly other offenses of his--for no other reason than because Herrera had, to please the archbishop and his friars, drawn up documents expressing in positive terms, detestation of appeals to the royal Audiencia.

21. With these scandals and harsh measures, the city experienced profound affliction; the minds of the people were appalled, and they were so shut in by fears and terrors that no one considered himself safe even in his own house. No one opened his lips, seeing the two powers of the commonwealth thus jumbled together, and that in the greatest calamities there was no recourse except to God. The inhabitants could not communicate with one another, without criticism; nor was it even lawful to breathe, since rigorous scrutiny was made of the most trifling acts.

22. Great were the calamities which at this time came unexpectedly upon this commonwealth--epidemics, famines, vessels returning to port, [attacks by] enemies, losses of vessels. The governor the more pretended that his conduct was influenced by an imaginary conspiracy; for on the night of Holy Thursday, when he went to visit the stations [of the cross], a multitude of soldiers went with him as escort, besides his usual guard, and he was accompanied by the personages who were in league with him.

23. Royal decrees were despatched against the preachers who zealously proclaimed from the pulpits the arbitrary and malicious character of the recent acts, and the Dominicans alone had the privilege to utter whatever absurdities they pleased in the pulpits. There is no counterpart to the satire against the Society which a [father from] Santo Tomas preached one day.

24. Recourse to the royal Audiencia was entirely barred, as was seen in the case of Don Juan de Vargas, who thus far had been posted on the list of excommunicates, and all persons who held intercourse with him threatened with punishment. Tardiness and delay followed him until the fourth decree [was issued] in regard to his absolution, and it had no result--as little carried out as was the king's decree which he issued in regard to the banishment of the archbishop.

25. In Cagayan Fray Raimundo de Rosa killed Fray Juan Zambrano, his vicar and superior; but the archbishop has not made any demonstration [of displeasure], although he has so often done so in the more venial offenses of the clerics. The Order of St. Dominic has honored the Dominicans who were most rebellious against the king with the best offices in the provincial chapter; and those of their following, like Aduna, Gonzalez, Carballo, Cervantes, and others, are now in high favor, although they are hostile to the prerogatives of his Majesty.

26. No authentic statement of the evil deeds of these years can be sent to the court; for the scriveners are intimidated and will not give official statements of anything of what occurs, except what may be in favor of the governor and the archbishop. Item, [this] is written in much distrust and fear, on account of the numerous spies who go about prying into and noting everything that is done. One notary is in prison on account of a statement that he drew up; and another is in exile.

27. The governor causes many scandals in the matter of chastity, not sparing any woman, whatever may be her rank or condition; and he keeps some worthless women who serve as procuresses for conveying to him those whose society will give him most pleasure. In this scandal the zeal of neither the archbishop nor his friars is active.

28. The governor will hinder the voyage of the ship to Nueva España, on account of the fabulous ships which, it is reported, have been seen, according to the statement of an Indian, although there is no confirmation of such news. The great amount that was spent in the despatch of the armada, as the capitana of which the ship "Santo Niño" sailed, without having the desired result; the malicious purpose with which the said despatch was conducted, on account of his having had information by way of Yndia which caused this government to hasten.

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. [147]

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.

In almost all the Indias were being celebrated the masses which they call "masses for Christmas," [148] mingling with them certain abuses which contaminated these masses with practices that were superstitious, and contrary to the holy rites of the church. These were tolerated under the cloak of devotion, and, although to some they appeared mischievous, they did not dare to rebuke these rites in public lest they excite against themselves the pious feelings of the common people, and as this matter was one of those which belong to the zeal and foresight of the ecclesiastical superiors. Finally the holy Congregation of Rites, in consequence of the representations made by zealous persons, on January 16 in the year 1677 declared the said "masses for Christmas" to be not only opposed to the rubrics, but also cause for scandals, and of superstitious nature, on account of certain ballads that were interwoven with them, and other like abuses. This decree of the Congregation arrived in these islands in the year eighty; acting in conformity thereto, the archbishop prohibited the said masses in his archbishopric. They were no longer celebrated while his illustrious Lordship lived, although afterward they were again established, but with some abatement--I know not whether it was so everywhere--of the abuses which formerly were customary. He also prohibited under severe penalties the practice of bringing sick persons to the church to receive holy communion by way of viaticum--a custom introduced into these islands from the infancy of their Christian faith. It had never been entirely uprooted, although ordinances against it had been issued by various zealous prelates in their decrees, and by our Catholic monarchs in their royal cedulas--commanding that the holy viaticum should be carried to the houses of the sick, even though they were poor and of low estate, as are the natives of these islands. And because the previous ordinances of the king our sovereign on this subject had not had the desired effect, his Majesty again repeated his commands in a royal decree of July 28, 1681, in which he charged our archbishop to banish this abuse, the custom of carrying the sick to the church to receive the holy viaticum, on account of the difficulties which might follow from it. In accordance with this, our archbishop promulgated an edict throughout his diocese, dated September 5, 1682, commanding that all the parish priests should carry the viaticum to the sick, without permitting them to be brought to the church; and although he received from the parish priests entreaties and arguments on this point, his illustrious Lordship did not listen to them, but courageously proceeded in his holy undertaking.

Besides those exceedingly just measures, at the instance of the royal Audiencia of these islands his illustrious Lordship promulgated an edict--which was affixed to the doors of the churches, with penalty of major excommunication--that all executors of wills must within two months present before his tribunal the said wills, which had not been inspected for fourteen years past; and so numerous were those that were presented--not to mention others dating back to forgotten times, which were not yet accomplished--that they gave him work sufficient for several years. He issued other edicts and monitory decrees in regard to the denunciation of various crimes, and so many of these were continually disclosed that soon the ecclesiastical tribunal was tilled with cases, and the numerous officials in its employ could not make room for the legal proceedings therein. Very scandalous lives were revealed, and criminal suits were begun; but these could not be prosecuted on account of appeals and subterfuges which caused delay.

He who attempts to correct abuses and scandals finds it necessary to equip himself with courage to meet the hostilities which he will encounter; for abuses which have already become inveterate, and scandals favored by indulgence, cannot be overcome without strenuous efforts and repeated conflicts. Such was the case of a certain prebend whom the predecessor of his illustrious Lordship had tried to correct, but had never been able to do so on account of the support that the delinquent received from a certain potent personage; accordingly the archbishop's zeal contented itself with giving information of the whole matter to the king our sovereign--who issued on this matter a royal decree commanding the said archbishop to correct the scandalous acts of that prebend, without fear or regard for any power. As this royal decree arrived at Manila when the said archbishop was already dead, the king our sovereign despatched another decree to our archbishop-elect, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, very earnestly recommending to him the correction of the transgressions of the said prebend. [149] Notwithstanding the activity of our archbishop, he could not end the proceedings in this case for eight years, on account of the evasions of the culprit, and the protection that he found in the officials of the royal Audiencia, who at every step forbade our archbishop to take any further steps in the prosecution of the suits, thus preventing his holy zeal from successfully checking abuses and scandals.

This was made more plainly evident in the suit regarding another ecclesiastic, the cura of Bigan, against whom the provisor appointed by his illustrious Lordship (since the government of that bishopric pertained to him) began to institute proceedings in a criminal suit, in consequence of various denunciations and accusations. As the culprit was on intimate terms with one of the auditors, the latter managed the affair so dexterously that he caused the issue of a royal decree in which the royal Audiencia commanded the archbishop to remove thence [i.e., from Vigan] the said provisor and oblige him to reside in the city of Lalo all to the end that he should not proceed in the suit. This measure was ineffectual, on account of the reply and representations made by the archbishop; the provisor therefore proceeded in his suit. The delinquent, finding himself in a tight place, fled from Bigan and came to Manila; and, when he was arrested by the archbishop for this flight, he demanded to be released on bail--which his illustrious Lordship granted, by an act in which he designated the city as the prisoner's bounds until his suit should be ended. The culprit consented to this, thanking his illustrious Lordship for this concession, and therewith submitting to his tribunal. Affairs being in this condition, there came [in 1680], with proprietary appointment as bishop-elect of Nueva Segovia, a prebend of this holy church, who was an intimate friend of the culprit; the latter, availing himself of this opportunity, undertook to shake off the yoke of his illustrious Lordship's authority with an appeal to the new bishop-elect--who, desiring to shelter the other, demanded from the archbishop the acts [which he had issued]. As his illustrious Lordship did not choose to furnish these--as this suit was firmly established, by the consent of the delinquent himself, in his metropolitan tribunal--the new bishop had recourse to the royal Audiencia, asking them to command the archbishop to deliver the acts. In virtue of the representation made by the new bishop, a royal decree was despatched to Señor Pardo, in which he was commanded to deliver the said acts to the bishop of Nueva Segovia; his illustrious Lordship answered this by saying that the suit proceedings therein were already established in his own tribunal by the delinquent having accepted certain acts, and the law, therefore, afforded no occasion for removing this suit and the proceedings therein from the tribunal of the metropolitan, and restoring it to the culprit's ordinary judge. His illustrious Lordship well knew that all these were frivolous measures of delay, so that the case might not reach the point of sentence, and the scandals should be left without restraint, accordingly, although the second and the third royal decrees on this matter were served upon him, he never consented to yield his rights, or to acquiesce in the illegal commands laid upon him. For this cause the officials of the royal Audiencia issued a fourth royal ordinance and decree, condemning our archbishop to exile; this sentence was not executed at the time, but with occasion of the new emergencies which afterward arose, it was enforced with severity in the following year.

Now that the archbishop was on bad terms with the royal Audiencia, it was easy for the subordinates of his illustrious Lordship to have recourse to this supreme tribunal in order to challenge the jurisdiction or appeal from the proceedings of the ecclesiastical judge; and therefore royal decrees were continually emanating, forbidding our archbishop to prosecute suits and proceedings, and commanding him to deliver up the documents regarding them--by which the course of the suits was hindered or delayed. His illustrious Lordship answered these requisitions with so much clearness and proof that the officials who issued them often considered themselves vanquished, and did not follow up their efforts; and although they resented what they called rebellion and audacity, they found his opposition so justified by law that they did not dare to condemn him for disobedience, no matter how much they chose to give his conduct this title to outsiders--for these tribunals are not accustomed to hear "no" to what they ordain in the name of the king our sovereign. And knowing that the greater force of the replies and representations of the archbishop depended on the assistance of the consultor, father Fray Raymundo Berart, they strove to separate the latter from his side, in order that his illustrious Lordship, destitute of this aid, might be reduced with more blind submission to the decrees and despatches of the royal Audiencia; and therefore that court issued a mandate demanding and requiring our archbishop to remove from his side Father Berart, and another to the same effect, addressed to our provincial, to assign that father to a ministry among the Indians. Suitable reply was made to both these decrees, without causing any change, for the time, in the aspect of affairs--until, a new occasion and emergency arising, they again insisted upon this point.

At the first foundation of Manila, only two parishes were formed for the Spaniards--one for those who lived within the walls, and another for those who lived outside the city, this latter being located in a place where at that time most of them were wont to live. Afterward that site appeared to them unsuitable for the conveniences of human life, and so they went to live in another part of the city, and even on the other side of the river which washes it. Consequently, they lived very far from their parish church, and suffered great inconvenience in attending it, because it was necessary for the administration of the sacraments that the parish priest should cross the entire city, or make the circuit of its walls, and finally he had to cross the river. As this often had to be done at night, and at other times with the risk of being drowned through the fury of the winds and waves, it was soon evident how great difficulty there must be in giving prompt aid to the sick--especially as the distance of the parish church was so great that many parishioners lived half a legua from it. On this account the burials also were solemnized with extreme inconvenience, and without the processional order which is the custom of the church. Besides this, it caused great confusion that the Spaniard who was owner of the house should belong to the said parish, and the servants, whether Indians or negroes, to that of the territory in which they happened to be. The Spaniards also were ashamed of having a parish church so poor and in so wretched a condition, for it was only a shelter of bamboos covered with nipa. For these reasons the parishioners had at various times asked that they might be joined to the parishes in which they lived; and now, on the occasion of a controversy which arose between the said cura and another parish priest over the question, to which of them belonged [the interment of] a deceased person, the Spaniards publicly appeared before the ordinary, asking that he would assign the parish churches according to the territories, in accordance with the custom throughout the church. When this request was considered by his illustrious Lordship, he gave information of it, and a copy of the petition, to the vice-patron, to whom this matter pertained by law. The governor showed this to the fiscal of his Majesty, who approved the desired change; and with this decision the governor decreed that the parishes should be divided according to the territories. He gave commission for this to his illustrious Lordship, who divided and allotted the parishes in the suburbs of Manila, with the system and order which are observed to this day declaring that to each parish church belonged all the persons who dwelt in its territory, whether Spaniards, Indians, or negroes.

Notwithstanding that this arrangement was in every way so judicious, and had been made by the order of the vice-patron, with the approval and advice of the auditor fiscal, the former cura of the Spaniards considered it an injury and injustice, casting the blame for it all on his illustrious Lordship; and, making common cause with the clergy, he continued to disturb and disquiet their minds, until finally the cabildo arrogated to itself authority, interposing a letter to his illustrious Lordship that was very offensive to his dignity, complaining of the severity of his government, in terms that libeled his uprightness, and other expressions that were very unbecoming and inappropriate to the dignity of a cabildo. Accordingly, for the sake of their reputation, his illustrious Lordship was not willing to make the document public, and he only showed it privately to the governor of these islands--who was deeply irritated at what they had done, and promised all his protection to the archbishop for correcting his prebends. The archbishop did not choose to avail himself of this aid, because he intended to bring them back to sober judgment by means of kindness and gentle treatment. He therefore replied to his cabildo with another pastoral letter, couched in affectionate terms, and full of learning and paternal affection in which he gently admonished them to recognize and correct their error. Again they wrote to his illustrious Lordship, in more submissive tone, although it was apparently only to pay him compliments; for almost on the same day they appeared before the royal Audiencia with another document, making complaint against their prelate of injuries, and saying that although they had represented these to his illustrious Lordship, he had not answered them to the point. The effect of this petition was, that the royal Audiencia issued new commands, not only to the archbishop but to the father provincial of this province, that father Fray Raymundo Berart (of whom the cabildo bitterly complained) must leave his association with his illustrious Lordship, and depart to the ministries among the Indians; this was carried out (at the instance of the father himself), in order to wreak the wrath of those who were in power. On this occasion the royal Audiencia also ordered that a secret investigation be made of the lives and conduct of our religious, commencing with the archbishop; and, although a beginning was made in the fabrication of this information, the plan soon fell through on account of another and public report which was made, by command of the archbishop, in favor of the religious--in which their reputation was so well vindicated by testimony that those who undertook to blacken it through the secret inquiry were left confounded and abashed.