Father Fray Geronimo de Medrano finished his triennium, notable both for his pacific and prudent government, and by the two martyrs of Christ who ennobled this province during his triennium. In the chapter celebrated in the convent of Manila, April 28, 1635—over which father master Fray Alonso de Carvajal presided, by virtue of the letters of our father-general—father Fray Juan Ramirez, [34] a religious of great prudence, learning, and devotion, was elected, to the content of the whole province. The definitors elected were father Fray Estacio Ortiz, the father master Fray Teofilo Mascaros, [35] Fray Cristobal de Miranda, and Fray Andres Berdugo. [36] The visitors were father Fray Diego Martinez [37] and Fray Juan Gallegos. They enacted regulations very useful for the good government of the province, and provided ministers for the ministries of it, both priors and vicars, as at that time it contained many distinguished members of the order.

Two galleons arrived at Cavite on St. John's day, which were returning from Nueva Espana with the reenforcements for these islands. The flagship of those vessels was called "Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion" [i.e., "Our Lady of the Conception"], and the almiranta "San Luis." They brought the new governor and a company of religious of our order, and also some of St. Dominic, among them father Fray Diego Collado. [38] On July twenty-seven father Fray Diego de Ordas [39] entered the convent of Manila with his mission, which was composed of twenty-five religious, who have been very useful to this province.

That same year came also Governor Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, knight of the Order of Alcantara, and member of the Council of War in the states of Flandes, where he had served many years with great credit, being one of the most renowned captains in the siege of Breda. He had afterward been master-of-camp of the port of Callao in Peru, and captain-general of the cavalry of that kingdom, and lastly governor of Panama. He brought a great reenforcement of soldiers, many of them from Peru, as he made his voyage to Acapulco from that kingdom. He was a gentleman of great valor, and one prone to undertake rash enterprises. However he did not have much good fortune in the outcome of these, either in war or in politics, for all had a disastrous end. The reason of this is hidden, with the Divine plans; but, as the reader will see in the events that I shall soon write, it will appear that the beginnings of his government, fatal for these islands, could not have less unfortunate progress, the effects lasting until the present time. Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera took possession of this government on June 25 of the above year.

His Majesty had promoted Don Hernando Guerrero to this archbishopric of Manila; and the latter, upon the arrival of the decree of presentation in the year 1632, asked the cabildo on May 25 to put him in possession of his government. But inasmuch as the decree which was required for it was lacking, the cabildo refused to receive him in possession until the arrival of the bulls and pallium. Consequently, he remained in Manila without governing, until, in the above year [i.e., 1635], came an official statement that the bulls and pallium were already attended to in the Roman court; and he thereupon insisted once more that he be admitted to the government of the Church. There were various difficulties raised by the cabildo in receiving him; for in that ship there came only a statement from an apostolic notary, without approval. In regard to this matter long opinions were uttered by each side, which were finally settled by admitting Senor Guerrero after he swore to present himself with the bulls and pallium within a year. In accordance with this, possession was given to him on June 25, 1635.

Don Fray Hernando de Guerrero began to govern this church at the same time that Don Sebastian de Corcuera these islands: At the beginning there were abundant indications of what would happen at the end; for the new governor showed himself so greatly bent on increasing his own jurisdiction that it was necessary to act with severity, and not to allow him to make precedents by which certain notions (already beginning to be apparent when he was governor of Panama) which he had in mind should be established. That gentleman was at once very prudent, very harsh and austere, very tenacious in his resolutions, and wedded to his own notions—which is the occasion for the greatest errors in princes; for by not yielding, in matters that self-love adopts as certain, they allow themselves to be carried over any precipice. This passion was greatly predominant in that gentleman and was the cloud that obscured other talents, worthy of esteem, that adorned him. Immediately occasions of dispute arose between the two, not because Guerrero tried to meddle with the civil government, but because the governor was trying to govern both estates, by giving unfair interpretations to several matters called by the name of "royal patronage;" these are delicate to handle, and the attention with which they ought to be treated is not bestowed on them. Don Fray Hernando greatly regretted the unavoidable occasions that arose, and feared that by the precedent of the first disputes all those which might afterward arise would be regulated; and accordingly, he tried not to weaken at the beginning, which is the time when one must pay heed in order to avoid consequences.

The first occasion when the governor contrived to introduce himself into the ecclesiastical government more than was his right, was in trying to aid father Fray Diego Collado of the Order of Preachers in the division which the latter was attempting to make of the province of Santo Rosario, under the title of "Congregation of San Pablo," dividing the province into two parts. For that purpose the father had brought a company of religious, who were called "barbados," because they wore long beards, and were destined for the new province which he was going to found under the title of "congregation," for the conversion of Japon and China. For this purpose the said father Fray Diego Collado had obtained the bulls necessary for it in Roma; but seeing that he would not be given license for it in the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, on account of the difficulties that were apparent to the eyes of the least prudent, he did not present them there, being content with having Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera on his side, with whom he had come to these islands in the aforesaid company. That was a very dangerous and critical time for the province of Santo Rosario, which was exposed to many disturbances by the division that they were trying to make of it; and the best convents near Manila were to be taken away from it for the new congregation. In that pretension the aid of the governor was freely used, and it was necessary for the archbishop to oppose him, the province of Santo Rosario having had recourse to the latter. Thereupon the dispute was openly declared, because the governor tried to carry to completion the undertaking that had been begun. The said division would without doubt have been carried into effect had it not been opposed by the archbishop and by Don Fray Diego de Aduarte, a Dominican, and bishop of Nueva Segovia. That was the beginning of the sharpest controversies that have been seen in the Indias between the two jurisdictions—ecclesiastical and civil; and from it originated the disturbances which scandalized the world, causing lamentable effects which are experienced even until the present time. Not only laymen, whom worldly considerations cause to follow the side of power in these islands, conspired on the side of the governor, but also certain ecclesiastical persons, whose advancement depended on the will of the civil government. These latter, being domestic enemies, were the greatest spur in the hostilities that had been begun. They would have been ended by the care that the archbishop was taking, had the unyielding disposition of Don Sebastian de Corcuera, in what had been begun, allowed him to be less insolvent in what he was attempting. For if on such occasions something is not yielded on both sides, the fire that has been started will continue to increase until any check will be entirely impossible—as was experienced on this occasion; for instead of being extinguished, it became more furious with what happened afterward, as we shall see in the following chapter.



CHAPTER XVI

Relation of the disputes and strife between the archbishop and the governor, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera.

The strife, being greatly inflamed by the events above mentioned, became entangled with one of the most memorable disputes that have occurred in the islands—a necessary occasion for the sharpest encounter between the two jurisdictions, and one from which Don Fray Hernando Guerrero could not excuse himself, as it concerned the most sacred part of the ecclesiastical immunity. That was a matter in which the archbishop could not neglect to sally out with all his might, in order to comply with the obligation of a true prelate. The case was as follows: There was an artilleryman in Manila, named Francisco de Nava, who had a female slave with whom he had illicit communication, as came to the ears of the archbishop. The archbishop ordered him to remove from himself this occasion [for sin] by selling the slave-girl to another person; and had the latter placed, for that purpose, in the house of a lady who was related to Dona Maria de Francia, who became fond of her and arranged to buy her from the artilleryman. The latter was so beside himself over the loss of the said slave that he refused to sell her at any price, saying that he wished, on the contrary, to marry her. But Dona Maria de Francia so arranged matters that the slave was sold, and came into her possession with very slight effort. The artilleryman, grieved and regretful for what had happened, almost became mad, and, it having been given out that he was mad, certain violence was shown him; and on one occasion he had received a sound beating at the house of Dona Maria de Francia, because he had gone there to request that they should give him the slave, as he had resolved to make her his wife.

Aggrieved and rendered desperate in this way, he saw the girl pass one day in a carriage with Dona Maria de Francia. Going to her he asked her whether she knew him, who was her master. The slave answered him with some independence, whereupon he, blind with anger, drew his dagger in the middle of the street and killed her by stabbing her, before anyone could prevent it. All the people, both those in the carriage and those in the street, ran tumultuously [after him]; but the artilleryman escaped them all, and took refuge in the church of our convent in Manila. The governor heard of what had happened, and ordered Don Pedro de Corcuera, his nephew (who was then sargento-mayor of the camp), to take the artilleryman from the church, saying that he could not avail himself of the sanctuary of the church, as he had committed a treacherous act—although it was only a homicide, and the settlement of this question did not concern the governor. However, his action arose mainly from the anger that he felt that what had happened was in the presence of his nephew, Don Pedro de Corcuera—who, also being angered at what concerned his wife, made use of his commission with less prudence than he ought to exercise in executing such orders from his superiors. He caused the church and convent to be surrounded; and, going inside, examined everything, not excepting even the sacristy; and it is even said that he declared that, if he found the artilleryman there, he would take him out a prisoner. But not having been able to find him then, Don Pedro left the church and convent surrounded by a double guard. The governor added to that that he would not allow the religious to enter or leave, until he had hold of the refugee. The latter was finally found, and taken from the sacristy, and surrendered to the commander of artillery, in order that he might proceed with the trial as his competent judge; and he, either carried away by flattery, or in obedience to the commands of the governor, proceeded so hastily that in a very short time he condemned the artilleryman to death.

The archbishop's provisor, Don Pedro Monroy, bore himself on this occasion with the prudence that was fitting, and proceeded against the commander of artillery, requesting him to deliver his prisoner and return him to the church. Having been informed that the commander of artillery was a mere instrument, and that all his actions were according to the impulses of the governor, he sent three lay priests to the palace to intimate to the latter that the judge should deliver the refugee to him. The priests entered, without anyone hindering them; and finding that the governor had already retired, as it was then an advanced hour of the night, they started to withdraw in order to return next morning; but the soldiers of the guard would not permit them to leave, saying that such was the order of the governor.

The sentence against the artilleryman having been given—which it is said that the governor sent ready made out to the judge, to sign—they proceeded to execute it, notwithstanding that the provisor proceeded to threaten censures, and to impose an interdict [40] and suspension from religious functions [cessatio de divinis]. The governor ordered a gallows to be erected in front of the very church of St. Augustine, and the criminal was hanged thereon—to the contempt of the ecclesiastical immunity, for the [proper] place assigned for such punishments was very distant from there. The governor, seeing that the sentence was already executed, and that he had now obtained the chief object of his desire, wrote to the archbishop, requesting him to have the censures removed and the interdict raised, and the churches opened on the day of the nativity of our Lady. The archbishop, recognizing the duplicity of the governor, refused to answer that letter without first consulting the orders; and, after consulting with some of them, decided that he would not raise the interdict, since there was less inconvenience in having it imposed [even] on so festive a day, than there would be in his yielding on an occasion so inimical to the ecclesiastical immunity. However, the requests of the Recollect fathers of our father St. Augustine, who had charge of the advocacy of the nativity, had so much influence that the archbishop ordered the interdict to be removed, and it was done.

The commander of artillery was condemned to some pecuniary fines, from which he appealed to the judge of appeals, who was the bishop of Camarines. The ecclesiastical judge refusing to admit the appeal, he threatened the royal aid of fuerza; and this question having been examined in the royal Audiencia (which at that time consisted of but the governor and only one auditor, Don Marcos Zapata), it was declared in his favor, and the appeal went to the bishop of Camarines. The latter—namely, Don Francisco Zamudio, of the order of our father St. Augustine, and a son of the province of Mejico—declared the commander of artillery to be free from the sentence given by the ecclesiastical judge. The trial of the commander of artillery had its second hearing. On that account there did not fail to result certain charges against the governor, such as his having ordered the secular priests to be detained in the guard-house; his declaration that he could not be excommunicated by anyone except the pope; and that if an order were given to him to arrest the pontiff, he would arrest him, and even drag him along by one foot (which he was proved to have said by several persons). The governor freed himself from all these charges by excuses in a manifesto which he published; but as it is not a part of my duty to examine their adequacy, I shall not do so. I shall refer the reader to the reply made to him by a learned ecclesiastic of the university of Mejico; [41] for there is no liberty in Filipinas to enable any one to complain, or to speak his mind against what the government manipulates.

The governor ordered the provisor, Don Pedro Monroy, to go to the island of Hermosa to serve in the post of chief chaplain, endeavoring by this means to revenge himself—as if he were able to give the former the collation and the spiritual jurisdiction necessary. The provisor resisted him, and informed the archbishop thereof. The governor also wrote a letter to the latter, ordering him to appoint another provisor in place of Don Pedro Monroy, both because he had been assigned to the island of Hermosa and such was advisable for his Majesty's service (the mask under which the passions of those who ought to fulfil their duties with justice are generally cloaked), and because the office of provisor could not be exercised by him in contradiction of a royal decree which ordered that the provisor should not be one who had not been graduated and who did not have the learning necessary (although the learning of Don Pedro was sufficient, and the holy Council [of Trent?] and the sacred canons do not fix conditions for such an office). The archbishop convened the orders for the solution of this matter. Having written to Father Luis Pedrosa, rector of the Society, to attend the meeting, the said father rector excused himself; and, although summoned the requisite number of times, he refused to attend. Consequently, the archbishop promulgated an act, in which he deprived the fathers of the Society of the privilege of preaching throughout the archbishopric, of the titles of synodal examiners, and of active and passive right of assembly with the secular priests and the orders both in public acts and in other functions, in consideration of the fact that they refused to concur in the defense of the rights of the ecclesiastical estate. On the following day, Tuesday, October 9, 1635, the archbishop sent a letter to the governor, requesting him to accept the excuse given by the provisor, so that he might not go to serve in the post of chaplain at the island of Hermosa; for he had need of him [i.e., the provisor]. The governor should know that it was beyond the power of secular judges to appoint ecclesiastical vicars and to confer spiritual jurisdiction. Consequently, he petitioned the governor in his own name, that of the bishop of Cebu, and those of the orders, to refrain from such appointment; and counseled him that he should consult with learned persons who feared God, since there were so many in the body of secular priests and in the orders, in such determinations. The religious of the Society, angered at the act of the archbishop, after various demands and replies on both sides (which I shall not set down here, as it is not my intention to stir up so delicate matters—in which it must be believed that each one would strive according to the dictates of his conscience, for one cannot imagine the opposite of either side, rather believing that the common enemy was preparing his weapons in order to occasion the misfortunes that followed afterward), appointed the schoolmaster, Don Fabian de Santillan y Gabilanes, judge-conservator (because they declared that they were prevented from the exercise of their privileges). He accepted the appointment, and immediately erected a tribunal against the archbishop, issuing acts against him and fulminating censures in case he should again oppose the proceedings that had been commenced.

Who could now look for less lamentable issues than those that were seen in these islands from so wretched beginnings, as are those that we have seen even to our days? The archbishop was very much grieved over this determination, for he saw arrayed against himself, on one side, the tyrannical governor (for Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera was domineering), and on the other an order so great as the Society. Notwithstanding he determined to present himself in the royal Audiencia by way of [pleading] fuerza, although he recognized the little that he could accomplish by that means. But he was unwilling to incur the fault of having failed to take this precaution, as was determined by the orders of these islands—who firmly and steadfastly assisted the archbishop, aiding him to maintain the ecclesiastical immunity, which was running so great danger. The archbishop presented himself in the royal Audiencia, where his arguments were examined in two meetings; and a disagreement [in the Audiencia] having resulted, the fiscal, who was the third, undertook to discuss the question. He declared against the archbishop, saying that the judge-conservator had used no fuerza. The latter continued to urge his censures against the archbishop, who, destitute of all aid, determined to surrender and withdraw the acts. He first made a protest before Diego de Rueda, royal notary and a familiar of the Holy Office, in regard to the fuerza that the governor and the judge-conservator were employing against him. When the governor learned of the protest that the archbishop had made, he had the notary, Diego de Rueda, arrested, through the agency of the judge-conservator, and locked him up in the castle of Santiago, after having taken from him his deposition as to the contents of the protest—for the governor had been informed that it was a defamatory libel against him. The notary declared that the protest of the archbishop contained no special clause that was prejudicial to anyone, but that it was directed only to the defense of his rights. After the arrest of the notary, the judge-conservator fulminated new censures against the archbishop, ordering him to annul the protest. The archbishop treated those censures as invalid, for the judge-conservator's jurisdiction did not extend to the trial of that question. He further replied that the said protest no longer remained in his possession, as it had been given to father Fray Diego Collado to keep. He contented himself with this reply, being unwilling again to attempt the remedy of having recourse to the Audiencia by a plea of fuerza, whence he knew that he would issue ill-despatched. The archbishop retired to the convent of St. Francis, where the governor went to see him, pretending that he wished to serve as intermediary between the archbishop and the judge-conservator, although it was clear that all the actions of the latter were regulated according to the governor's intentions, and were executed by his aid. At the end of his visit he asked the archbishop to give him the protest, pledging his word that he only desired to burn it, without reading it or showing it to any one. The archbishop recognized the purpose of his pretense, and reaffirmed the first reply that he had given the judge-conservator. In order to free himself for the time being from the importunities of the governor, it was necessary to give him some hope that he would make the efforts possible to get hold of the protest and send it to him. In a letter that he sent afterward to the governor, he wrote the following:

"After your Lordship showed me the kindness to come to console and favor me, the most diligent efforts possible were made in order to have the protest returned to me. But it is hammering on cold iron. What more can I do? Had my purpose been not to show it, I could have said that I had torn it up, or have alleged some other pretext, and would not have indicated the person to whom I gave it to keep, as I knew that there was an order to sequester my goods. Since it is impossible, sir, and it is not my fault, I do not accept the excuse which your Lordship gives me in your letter, in order to free yourself from showing me further kindness, and from making the effort to settle this matter as a governor and friend. Therefore, I petition your Lordship, since this matter rests with you, and is to be settled by you alone, and since you are all-powerful in this matter, that your Lordship do as you are able to do for one who has recourse to your protection; for I wish to remain in your Lordship's protection, only bound to serve you as long as I live. May God preserve the life of your Lordship for long years. From this convent of St. Francis, November 24, 1635.

Fray Hernando, archbishop."

That prelate wrote the letter with this humility and gentleness; but it was insufficient to cause the so ingenuous confession of the archbishop to be believed, although it was the truth.

On the other side, father Fray Francisco de Herrera, of the Order of Preachers, commissary of the Holy Office, made a demand, asking that the notary, Diego de Rueda, as one of his household, be given up to him. For that purpose he fulminated censures against the judge-conservator, demanding from him the prisoner, and ordering him to make no further search for the protest, as that was outside his jurisdiction. He was obeyed, and order was given to deliver the prisoner to him; but the governor refused to deliver him up. Consequently, the father commissary of the Holy Office sent two religious of St. Dominic to notify the governor by another act, similar to that sent to the judge. The governor not only did not obey it, but arrested the two religious and sent them to Cavite with an adjutant, and had them placed in the convent of San Telmo of their order. Afterward, when the governor found himself at variance with the tribunal of the Holy Office, he began to work more clearly in the opposition that he had commenced, repeating many times that proposition of his which speaks of the ecclesiastical estate: "In order to curb the spirit of the obstinate and arrogant mule, take away its fodder." That was an impious comparison, and unworthy of a gentleman who was so good a Christian and so devout, and of whom some pens so well affected to him write so much, that already they pass on (as is generally said) to ennoble his actions, gilding his errors with the excellent gold of vigor and rhetoric. Some of them, however, refrain almost entirely from discussing this contention, which gave the Dutch of Batavia much matter for blasphemous talk.

Don Pedro de Monroy had retired outside the walls of the city, as he had already left the office of provisor. The governor ordered that he be not allowed to enter the gates of the city. Consequently, when he deemed it advisable to enter Manila to see the archbishop, he had to disguise himself in the habit of St. Francis; and went to enter through the gate of Santo Domingo, with a religious who accompanied him. The commander recognized him, and, together with the rest of the soldiers, surrounded him and tried to take him to the governor, as they had an order for it. They would have accomplished this, had not some religious of the convent of St. Dominic come up, who, although maltreated by the soldiers, removed Don Pedro Monroy from that danger, and placed him in their convent. Matters daily continued to grow worse, for the governor neglected no occasion, nor left any rock unturned in order to annoy the archbishop—now taking as his instrument the judge-conservator (who was continuing to accumulate acts against the archbishop), now arousing new causes for controversy. However, he was impelled in all this by the suggestion of a third party, and of late by Don Andres Arias Xiron, who was the secular priest most opposed to the archbishop—both in having prevented the archbishopric from being given to him, as we have already related, and because he was the close friend and helper of the conservator, Don Fabian Santillan. Another and still more recent cause was, that in the visitation that the archbishop was then making in the chapel of Nuestra Senora de Guia, where the said Don Andres was acting as cura—in which the natives had deposed various charges against him; and on account of their verbal process, as it appeared that he had threatened them, the archbishop had ordered him by an act to leave his benefice within four and twenty hours, and to remain six leguas from it. Don Andres Arias Xiron did not obey that order, and remained in Manila, where he had recourse to the royal Audiencia by a plea of fuerza, which was decided [to be such] by the only auditor, Don Marcos Zapata, who was not ignorant of the rules of the Council of Trent which forbid appeals in a trial arising from the visitation. On account of that decision of fuerza, the archbishop declared the auditor Zapata to be excommunicated; consequently, that official was also ready to work against the archbishop. All greatly blame that magistrate, because Don Sebastian de Corcuera found an aid and support in him. One would believe that the Holy Spirit talks with the governors and auditors of Filipinas more than with others, although these words and warnings are declared in the chapter of Wisdom: Discite judices finium terrae, prebete aures vos, qui continetis multitudines, et placetis vobis in turbis nationum; quoniam data est a Domino potestas vobis, el virtus ab Altissimo, qui interrogabit opera vestra, et cogitationes scrutabitur, quoniam cum essetis ministri regni illius, non recte judicastis, nec custodistis legem justitiae, neque secundum voluntatem Dei ambulastis. [42] Of such ministers and counselors, the holy king said that they who were confounded and ashamed should remove themselves far from him: Avertantur statim erubescentes, qui dicunt mihi, "Euge, euge!" (Psalm lxix). But He must have chosen on this occasion that the passion of the governor should regard the flattery of that magistrate as to his favor, in order to excuse his own conduct. It may be that his error was for lack of his understanding and not of his will; and to judge of that pertains to the Supreme Tribunal.

At that time the Order of the Society having considered the disturbances which the judge-conservator had occasioned, full of repentance at having been the origin of troubles of so disagreeable publicity, in the attempt to check them for the sake of the future made the judge-conservator renounce his commission, and be absolved by the archbishop. This the latter did on January twenty-eighth, 1636. The governor pretended that he had been the mediator of that agreement. The archbishop nodded acquiescence and pretended to believe it, in order not to lose that occasion for peace. The governor went to the archiepiscopal house, and took the archbishop to the church in his own carriage, and there knelt down on his knees, begging pardon from him. The good prelate gave him pardon very willingly, thinking that that was to be the end of all those past troubles. But the common enemy did not so permit, for he very soon relit the fire which had only been hidden under the ashes of those courteous exteriors.



CHAPTER XVII

Of the lamentable ending of the disputes between the governor and the archbishop; and how the latter was exiled to Mariveles.

Within a short time, the old wounds were reopened, and the archbishop was given new causes for anger in which it was impossible for him to employ dissimulation, as they were all concerning the administration of his office. The governor deprived the Order of St. Francis of the administration and chaplaincy of the royal hospital of Manila, which they had administered with great care, charity, and zeal; and appointed a lay administrator and a secular chaplain. The archbishop felt that greatly, and declined to give the new chaplain permission to administer the sacraments, on account of legitimate reasons which he had for this step. The latter had recourse to the Audiencia by plea of fuerza; and the auditor, Don Marcos Zapata, immediately declared that it had been committed. The archbishop protested, knowing by what had happened in the past the prejudice that the said auditor felt, and because one auditor with only the fiscal could not constitute so sovereign a tribunal. For the fiscal had not the royal appointment, but had only been appointed by the governor ad interim; for the plurality of votes which attest a correct decision and authorize the best opinion, according to the Divine sentence Salus autem ubi multa consilia (Proverbs, ch. 5), were lacking. This has been experienced on various occasions, on which only one auditor has been left in Manila, an arbiter following rather the dictates of his will than that of his understanding, which has the truth as its object.

At that same time, Don Francisco de Valdes having resigned the post of archdean, to which he had been presented by Don Juan Cerezo de Salamanca, the governor appointed Don Andres Arias Xiron to it on the eighteenth of April, and presented him to the archbishop, so that the latter might give him the collation. The prudent prelate grieved sorely over an occasion that could only with great difficulty terminate satisfactorily, as the said Don Andres was then prohibited from being promoted to any dignity, because of the visitation in which he had been proclaimed as a criminal by many heavy charges, which demanded a rigorous sentence and deprivation of the benefice that he held; and it was impossible to give him the collation for so lofty a dignity according to the holy canons and council. The archbishop refused to commit a like act of injustice, whereupon Don Andres Arias Xiron, aggrieved, interposed the appeal from fuerza, which the auditor Zapata did not fail to declare against the archbishop. He did this, and despatched a royal decree for it, which the archbishop refused to obey. The governor was very angry at not succeeding with his attempt, and because the archbishop had not given the canonical collation to Don Andres Arias Xiron. That strife increasing in violence by means of the interlocutors, Don Andres and the auditor, the declared enemies of the archbishop, assemblies and meetings were held in order to exile the archbishop from the kingdom, because he did not obey the royal decrees. In conclusion, they issued a decree for his exile, and notified the archbishop of it May 9, 1636.

The archbishop called a meeting of the orders, in order to consult them and get their advice in so urgent a case. All were of the opinion that the archbishop ought not to yield, since what they were trying to compel him to do was manifestly unjust. They exhorted him to be constant in defending the ecclesiastical immunity, and the observance of the holy canons; for that, in case he were exiled, he was suffering for defending his church as a good shepherd, and it was enough to acquire the aureola of a martyr. Upon this the archbishop took the resolution to suffer for his church, with a valor and constancy worthy of wonder. The party of the governor having learned this, and that the archbishop would not yield his right, the governor determined to execute what had been decided by what he called the royal Audiencia.

The evening of that same day, Friday, May 9, the governor summoned the auditor Zapata and the fiscal to a meeting. After the meeting they sent the chief constable of that court with orders to execute the banishment of the archbishop. He was given such aid of soldiers as the governor deemed sufficient. The latter also sent other squads to the cathedral church, so that they might take their station in the sacristy of the most holy sacrament, so that it might not be taken out or destroyed. That order went forth and immediately the city learned of the impious imprisonment that was about to be executed on their shepherd. It caused great excitement and grief to all, and a great scandal among the natives of these islands, even among the pagans and Mahometans who frequent the islands for commerce; and not many wished to concur in so unjust a determination. The orders hastened to the archiepiscopal houses, where they found the archbishop with the warnings that they were about to arrest him, clad in his pontifical robes. He, also knowing that the most holy sacrament was being guarded in the cathedral, sent father Fray Juan de Pina, guardian of St. Francis, to his convent for the most holy sacrament. On that occasion it was placed in a lunette; and it was brought with all the propriety possible, accompanied by many religious carrying candles. When it had been brought, the father guardian placed it in the hands of the archbishop. He, bathed in tears, received it; and, with noteworthy courage, seated himself to await the agents of the execution. He sent his notaries to notify the governor and the auditor, Don Marcos Zapata, of censures; but the notaries, finding them assembled with the fiscal in the hall of meeting, had more respect for the human Majesty, whom they represented there in assembly, than the chief constable and his helpers had for the supreme majesty of majesties, Christ our Lord, whose sacrament was in the hands of the archbishop. Therefore the ecclesiastical notaries notified them at the doors. While doing this at one of the doors, it is said that the governor ordered a soldier to extinguish the lights by which they were reading, by waving his hat, which was done.

At that same time the chief constable and his helpers were in the archiepiscopal house, where the archbishop was found in the manner above described, surrounded and accompanied by all the orders except that of the Society of Jesus. The chief constable sent to advise the governor of the condition in which he had found the archbishop, whereupon the governor sent him orders that he should cause the religious to retire to their convents; and that, when the archbishop grew tired of holding the most holy sacrament, he was to arrest him with the soldiers whom he had with him. That was intimated to the religious and lay priests who were about the archbishop; but they refused to obey it, fearing lest they incur the wrath of God if they abandoned the prince of the Church on such an occasion. Thus by common consent they remained to aid their afflicted prelate; relieving him at times by easing him of the weight of the lunette, by placing their hands on those of the tired old man, whose eyes were turned into two fountains of tears when he reflected on the acts of desecration that they were practicing on the Supreme Lord. The governor was so far from mitigating his anger in what he had commenced, that, in place of repenting and returning to himself, he took horse, although it was the middle of the night, and went to the archiepiscopal house; and, seated at the door, sent his orders to the executors of the commission. The first order was for them to eject forcibly all the priests who were with the archbishop, the adjutants striking the soldiers with the flat of their swords and giving them heavy blows because they did not execute their orders. Thereupon the religious, seeing that the poor soldiers were forced to do what they did not wish, allowed themselves to be seized and carried outside. The soldiers humbly begged their pardon, protesting that they were under orders. The governor's purpose was to wait until the archbishop, destitute of all human consolation, should surrender on account of his advanced age and his lack of nourishment, his watching and continual annoyance, and should relinquish the most holy sacrament, so that they could then seize him and make him enter the boat. That report circulated among the orders, and accordingly they all came in a body with lighted candles to attend to the recovery of the most holy sacrament. But the governor had already seized the entrances of the streets by means of soldiers, in order that they might not pass, and they accordingly returned to their convents. The city and the magistracy sent their commissaries to the archbishop, begging him to avoid compromising himself, which was equivalent to telling him to allow himself to be arrested and exiled. For, as these islands are one body which has only one head, it is the latter which attracts all wills to his own; for fear (which is very powerful here), or self-interest, has more place here than anywhere else in the world.

The afflicted shepherd seeing that "this was his hour of darkness," and that the frightened sheep had abandoned him, ordered the interdict to be raised—the grieving bells publishing the feeling that many did not give vent to and others could not show, in order not to incur the anger of the passionate governor. The governor ordered the soldiers to disperse the religious by force, even if they had to take them into custody. The soldiers carried out the order with the violence necessary for so unjust a sentence, being instigated by the sword-blows and strokes of the adjutants. That having been seen by the priests, they pitied them so keenly that they preferred to have that punishment executed on them than on the poor soldiers. Some religious were seated beside the archbishop to see whether they would be allowed to aid him; but so many were the pushes and prods given them by the soldiers, that not only did they tear them away, but they fell down with the holy monstrance breaking the lunette in which was the holy host. This ought to be written with tears of blood. The father guardian of St. Francis and a secular priest hastened to put a strap about the archbishop's neck and to fasten the lunette to him, so that he could support it, for his powers were now failing him. At that juncture, order was given to a soldier named Juan de Santa Ana (whom I knew, and who told me that event many times), to draw away the hand of the archbishop. He, assisted by a living faith, answered boldly that he would kill himself before he would commit such an act of sacrilege. Then drawing his sword, and placing the point in his breast, he fell upon it. By the permission of divine Providence, the sword doubled up in such a manner when the soldier fell upon it, that he was not wounded at all. That incident caused great surprise to all the bystanders; but the governor was so little moved by it that he ordered the soldier to be arrested, when he ought to have rewarded his heroic determination. At one o'clock at night, the archbishop was so greatly weakened and tired out from thirst, that he begged to be given a little water. They sent to consult with the governor as to what they were to do. The governor ordered that they should not allow it to be given him, explaining that the denial of the temporalities was understood not to allow water to be given him for his thirst, and that to do otherwise would be not to execute the royal law—as if so sovereign dispositions extended to such impieties. Advice was given to the convents, threatening the suspension of religious functions, in order that they should not forestall by celebrating the offices of the following day. The archiepiscopal hall was cleared of the religious who were assisting the archbishop, the soldiers having already driven them away by blows. The soldiers stationed themselves with firearms in hand, and thus did they remain all the night without giving any nourishment to the archbishop, except what a pious Franciscan religious could give him by applying to his lips a wet cloth, under pretext of tightening the strap with which the most holy sacrament was fastened to the afflicted prelate's breast. And he did not receive any other nourishment for a day and a half, until they took him to the island of Mariveles. Saturday, the second [sic; sc. tenth] of May dawned, the most fatal day that these islands have seen. On that day the archbishop was so defeated that, seeing that he could make no further resistance for lack of strength, he ordered the most holy sacrament to be returned to the church with all possible reverence, and, bathed in tears, he laid aside the pontifical robe. Immediately he was seized by an adjutant and fifty soldiers with firearms. They led him from the archiepiscopal palace on foot, at five in the morning, and without other following than the troops who executed the tragedy. They did not need so great preparation for an old man of sixty, worn out by so much fatigue, hunger, and thirst. They took him on foot through those streets boasting of their victory, the fearful inhabitants thrusting their heads out of the most hidden windows, frightened by the despotic governor, to whom any commiseration that should be shown to the poor archbishop was regarded as a detestable crime. The soldiers took the archbishop to the gate on the river, called Santo Domingo, where the prelate, complying with the precept of Christ, shook off the dust from his shoes; and, bathed in tender tears, he threw five little stones at the ingrate walls of Manila. It was noted that one of them touched the leg of Don Pedro de Corcuera (sargento-mayor of the camp, and chief of that impious execution), where later in the war with Jolo he received a ball, from which he died.

They put the archbishop aboard a champan of a ship-captain called Marcos Cameros, who would not allow one single mouthful of food to be placed on board. Setting sail, they carried the archbishop to the island of Mariveles, which is situated in the middle of the mouth of the bay. There they disembarked the exiled shepherd, for whose lodging they had provided a wretched little room, where he suffered many discomforts, too long to relate; for it has not been my intention to enlarge upon this lamentable tragedy, in the narration of which I have omitted many circumstances which aggravate the execution [of his banishment]. For it is my intention not to exaggerate, but only to relate succinctly what happened; and, although eye-witnesses of everything are not lacking today, to guide myself by the most truthful relations, and chiefly by those which are found in a book containing sketches of the archbishops, which is kept in the cathedral church of Manila. [43]

The purpose of the governor and his followers having been obtained, as we have seen, they persuaded the ecclesiastical cabildo to take charge of the government, interpreting the archbishop's exile as a vacant see, thus opening the door to other disturbances, no less serious, which originated from this intrusion—in the very sight of the archbishop who was [still] within his diocese, and who had left a provisor in Manila, Doctor Don Francisco Fernandez de Ledo. For his forcible banishment and the deprivation of his secular revenues did not extend to his spiritual jurisdiction, which originated from the Roman pontiff. In case that the church had suffered a vacancy by the death of the archbishop, then the bishop of Cebu, Don Pedro de Arce, was to enter its government; for it belonged to him by virtue of the bull and royal decree mentioned in another place. The archbishop had already appointed the father master, Fray Francisco de Paula, of the Order of Preachers, to govern the archbishopric in the first place, and two others in the second, and hence they could not allege the condition of affairs that the law points out in the chapter Si Episcopus: de supplenda negligencia Praelatorum, in Case sixth. That happened afterward in Manila, in the exile of Archbishop Don Fray Felipe Pardo, [44] of the Order of Preachers, who had appointed to his place of governor during his absence Don Fray Gines de Barrientos, bishop of Troya; the cabildo refused to admit him, but [declared] that it was a case of a vacant see, and took charge of the government—which cost the dean, Master Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias, and all the prebendaries, very dear.

The cabildo took charge of the government at the governor's command, and appointed Don Fray Francisco Zamudio, bishop-elect of Camarines (who had come to Manila to negotiate concerning his bishopric), as provisor-general. He received the appointment under protest of ad interim until the bishop of Cebu should be advised, for the vacancy pertained to him in case that one were proclaimed. He absolved the governor, the auditor Zapata, and the others included in the excommunications of the archbishop, on the twentieth of May. It is said that when the cabildo were obliged to take charge of the government by the governor and auditor, they entered their protests; but the archbishop was greatly grieved over it when he heard of it, which with the many other sorrows [that he endured] made it remarkable that his life did not come to an end, since he was so aged and had borne so many hardships.



CHAPTER XVIII

Return of Archbishop Don Fray Hernando Guerrero from his exile in Mariveles; and the end of the relation commenced.

Stripped of all consolation, the archbishop, Don Hernando Guerrero, remained twenty-six days in the island of Mariveles, where he endured perforce privations, both because of his advanced age, and because of the dreariness of the island—which is very great, as it is nearly deserted, and contains only some few Indian huts. Those Indians have charge of scouting those seas, and of advising Manila of what they discover, by the greater or less number of fires which they light—in the manner that the Persians were wont to do, who gave advice by means of those fires, which they called angaros, as is mentioned by Bardayo in the first chapter of his Argenis. The climate [of Mariveles] is very unhealthful, and the location is not a pleasant one as the island is shut in on all sides by thick forests, and because of the continual beating of the sea. There lived the venerable shepherd, meditating on the ingratitude of his sheep, venting his feeling in gentle sighs, and relieving his afflicted breast with tears. Thus was he found by four prebendaries of the Manila cabildo who went to console him, and to propose to him certain matters in behalf of the governor, which we shall detail later.

The church at Manila remained during that time as a flock without a shepherd. All was confusion and disorder. The new provisor, the bishop of Camarines, had readily raised the interdicts and the suspension of religious functions. He ordered the bells to be chimed for the feast on Saturday, the eve of the festival of the Holy Ghost. The prelates of the orders, with the exception of him of the Society, thought that the provisor who had been intruded could not legitimately raise the interdict and the other censures. For no mention of this is made in the chapter Alma Mater: de Sententia Excomunic. in 6; and having held a conference in regard to this matter, with the university of Santo Tomas, which always maintained a firm attitude in defense of the immunity of the Church, they determined to close their churches, and to observe the orders imposed by their legitimate prelate. They did so until after the feast of Pentecost was over. The Audiencia summoned them to act in accordance with the cathedral, but they paid no attention to it until they had despatched a suitable person to the archbishop. The latter, fearful lest greater disturbances should originate, gave heed, as a true father, and sent an order for them to raise the interdict; and they did so on May 20.

The orders and the two universities held various meetings and consultations with the governor, when they saw that the troubles which had originated from the archbishop's exile were increasing, because of the acts of jurisdiction enacted by the provisor who had been intruded, invalid procedures in the administration of the sacraments, and scandals which had been occasioned to these new fields of Christendom. This last was not the point least worthy of consideration, since that precedent did more damage than was realized, both in the new fields of Christendom, and in the report of this matter among the foreign nations who surround these islands on all sides, for they note our actions carefully. They rendered various signed opinions for this; and they also drew up another, counseling the archbishop to yield certain things in order to avoid greater troubles which were indispensably necessary to restore the peace of that church, which was exposed to greater disturbances; and that, to assure his right, he should make a protest regarding it. They despatched the aforesaid prebendaries with this commission, who, on their arrival, laid the determination of the cabildo, orders, and universities before the archbishop, as well as the decision of the Audiencia in regard to the recalling him from exile, if the archbishop would concede three points, to wit:

"That he would consider as lawful, and confirm, all the acts of jurisdiction performed by the bishop of Camarines.

That he would place in possession of their posts Don Andres Arias Xiron as archdean, and also the chaplain of the royal hospital.

That he would not proceed in any ecclesiastical trial pertaining to the archiepiscopal government, without the advice of the counselor who would be assigned to him."

The archbishop resented greatly the proposition of such points to him, and preferred to remain in exile, where he had greater quiet than in Manila; but considering the decision and advice of so erudite persons, which were sufficient to discharge his conscience, he agreed to all the points proposed—first having made a protest that he was doing this to relieve himself from molestation, and to obtain the peace of his church and repose for the consciences of his sheep, until the decision of the matter should come from the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, in whom it inhered.

The governor and Audiencia determined to restore Don Fray Hernando Guerrero to his church, and on June 6, 1636, they withdrew him from the island of Mariveles. He entered Manila amid the great rejoicing of all, who could not look enough at their beloved shepherd; and commenced to govern his church. But it was not with the peace that he ought to have had, for new contentions and new causes for anger arose daily with the governor, who was ever despotic in his actions. [45] The archdean Don Andres Arias Xiron took possession of his prebend, but God did not permit that he who had been the origin of so many disasters should obtain much; for in a short time he sickened with dropsy and other bad complications, and died in the flower of his age. The greatest evil was that he died impenitent, refusing to be absolved from the excommunication and censures by which he was bound, although the archbishop, as a pious shepherd, sent a priest to his house to persuade him to be absolved. The soldiers who took the archbishop into exile all died within two years, by quick and sudden deaths. The auditor Zapata died suddenly, being found dead in his bed, although he had retired in perfect health. The governor lost his nephew, Don Pedro de Corcuera, whom he loved dearly; and another nephew, named Don Juan de Corcuera, perished while going as commander of the ship "Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion," which was dashed to pieces in the islands of the Ladrones (today the Marianas), where many people were lost, and where the governor lost a great quantity of riches, which his greed (which was great) had amassed during his term. At this same time, Don Pedro de Francia, brother-in-law of Don Pedro [de] Corcuera, died; and so that no branch of that house might be left, God took to himself Don Pedro de Francia, son of Don Pedro Corcuera and Dona Maria de Francia. The same year the governor received news of the death of his brother, Don Inigo Hurtado de Corcuera. His entire government was fatal and unfortunate; and later, in his residencia for it, he suffered many troubles, for he was kept prisoner for five years in a castle, and all his property was confiscated. Misfortune followed him into all parts, for having returned to Espana, where he was corregidor of Cordoba, they tried to kill him, and he got out of it by the skin of his teeth. Finally, when he was governor of the Canarias, it is said that he died suddenly. I write here only the results; I shall not consider what so many disasters together demonstrate. I leave the generally-known things which these islands still bewail, since the universal knowledge of them frees me from it; and in the following chapter, another and better pen [will take it up.] [46]

But it does not seem to me fitting to neglect to mention in this place a testimony of what, it seems, Divine justice must have executed; so that we may conjecture from it how great an offense to the divine Majesty was the scandalous manner in which the exile of Archbishop Don Hernando Guerrero was carried out; so that we may know that if He displayed his temporal punishment in regard to what was pardonable and not guilty, how great will be the punishment which His Divine Majesty will mete out in His just tribunal to those men who were the cause and instrument of so sacrilegious and scandalous a desecration, unless they first hastened to atone for it by works of true penitence, in order to be deserving of His infinite mercy.

The many and horrifying earthquakes from which the city of Manila has suffered from its beginning until the present, have resulted in almost its destruction and depopulation—especially in those of 1645 and 1658, as we shall see later. But in the midst of these ruins, the houses which suffered most always preserved the principal walls, some even the first floor, and others more—although these were stripped of their covering, and, as it were, the skulls and shapeless skeleton which indicate the robust symmetry of that building's corpse. Only in the area and place where this lamentable tragedy occurred (namely, the archiepiscopal palace of that time) has there remained not only no wall, nor a vestige of its building, but not even the foundations. Neither were any stones found there, which tell that there was a house of human habitation. There is seen naught but an open space, which forms a square for some splendid houses owned now by Sargento-mayor Don Domingo Bermudez, alcalde-in-ordinary, who inherited it from his father-in-law, Don Francisco de Moya y Torres, chief constable of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Whenever I pass by that place, this memorial of the Divine punishment presents itself to me.

The sardines were once as ordinary a food in Manila as in Coruna; but from the time of that lamentable exile, they have so abandoned those waters that one can catch them but seldom, and then it is a matter for surprise. And (in order to publish more fully that that [exile] was the cause), whenever any consecrated archbishop or bishop arrives at Manila, on those days some sardines are caught, and then they retire to continue their interdict. [47] Pens have not been wanting to undertake as their employment the defense of Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, chiefly those from one order—to which he was very devoted until, as is said, they came to regard him as a saint. But they do their duty as thankful [for favors received], although it was not necessary for them to do so much that they should declare themselves his admirers. The worst is that in the year of 1683, Manila again relapsed into this scandalous sin with the exile and banishment of Don Fray Felipe Pardo, of the Order of Preachers. But I shall relate, in its proper place, the disastrous end that all those who were guilty in that affair suffered.

The common enemy of the human race was not content with the lamentable tragedies of which he made the Filipinas Islands the sad theater; on the contrary, fearful that the peace which all desired might be established between the governor and the archbishop, he commenced to arouse new contentions. Although they did not result in scandalous outbreaks, they were sufficient to make the archbishop, Don Hernando Guerrero, live in the midst of continual warfare, the matters of controversy threatening to assume very quickly an evil aspect. Not the least important of these was that which even until the present has not ceased to result in disastrous effects—namely, the founding of the royal chapel for the military forces of Manila, which was founded by Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera. Thus did he separate from the parochial right of the cura of the Spaniards all the soldiers, who constitute the majority of the people in these islands, and especially in the city of Manila. For that purpose he created twelve collegiates in the college of San Jose (which is in charge of the fathers of the Society of Jesus), with the title of royal chaplains; they were clad in blue cloaks, with sleeves of violet velvet, on which were wrought the royal arms; and for their support [was given] the encomienda of Calamianes. Taking two reals from the pay of each soldier every month, which is a very considerable sum, he applied five hundred pesos of it as a means of sustenance for the chief chaplain, and sums at the rate of two hundred pesos for the other chaplains. It has a chief sacristan who looks after its adornment, and its administration is in charge of either the master-of-camp or the sargento-mayor. The soldiers are buried there, and they pay well for it when they die. It has the advocacy of our Lady of the Annunciation, and there they celebrate other feasts during the year, by vote of the camp of Manila—such as, chiefly, the advocacy of the Immaculate Conception and the most holy sacrament, besides others which the governors add for their devotion. There is a sermon in this chapel during Lent on Wednesday and Friday mornings; to which the governor and royal Audiencia go.

That caused very great detriment to the right of the cura of the Spaniards, because of the division which it made of the soldiers; and it became necessary for the archbishop to sally out in defense of that point. As the governor was so desirous of the said foundation, there were debates of great heat on both sides; for the archbishop was unwilling to grant permission for that foundation, which would cause so much harm to the parochial right. But, recognizing that the break would only widen, he agreed to concede the permission under certain limitations and obligations which he was able to impose, reserving the determination for his Holiness. Afterward, there being some difficulties in that permission, because it was opposed by the curas of the cathedral, as they said that the chief chaplains abused the permission, extending their functions more than was their right, they begged a declaration of that permission from Archbishop Don Hernando Guerrero. He gave it with the privilege that is observed today, and it is attested by the records which exist in the ecclesiastical archives, under date of January 5, 1640.

The archbishop tried to appoint a collector of the contributions for masses during that year of 1636; for one was lacking in the cathedral, from which arose certain troubles. The cabildo resisted him, refused to obey the act for the appointment of one, and denied that the archbishop had authority and jurisdiction for it. As an argument that he did not possess it, they declared that he had not presented the confirmation of his Holiness and the pallium, and the year in which he had taken oath to present it had passed. That caused the archbishop considerable anxiety, for the cabildo presented itself in the [Audiencia] session with a plea of fuerza, and the matter was declared against the archbishop. Various opinions were given in this matter by the universities and by erudite persons; and consequently, that suit lasted a long time, until, at the arrival of the ships from Nueva Espana, the pallium and the bulls of confirmation came to the archbishop. New disturbances were feared, in case the contrary should happen, and the method adopted for adjusting this matter was that the archbishop jointly with the cabildo should appoint the collector of the contributions for the masses, and that is still observed in the cathedral of Manila.

The archbishop had scarcely gotten out of that matter when he found himself involved in another of no less importance; for the governor, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, wished to appoint a governor to the bishopric of Camarines, because of the death of its bishop, Don Fray Francisco Zamudio. That thrust gave the archbishop considerable anxiety, as he had experienced fully the despotic disposition of the governor. But he could do no less than oppose it, as it was a matter which concerned the ecclesiastical authority and the spiritual jurisdiction; and the archbishops have always made the appointment in the vacancies that have occurred in these islands, as it pertains to them by their right as metropolitans. The governor threw himself with all his might into what he had commenced, and gave the bishop to understand that that occasion for dispute would end worse than the past; and he continued to arrange matters in so high-handed a way, that the archbishop feared what the governor threatened. But God permitted that that controversy be settled by the interposition of zealous and influential persons, who mollified the governor; and it was settled that the archbishop should name three subjects, so that the governor might appoint one of them. For that purpose the archbishop called meetings of learned men, and, having made a protest, appointed in the first place Doctor Hernando Paez Guerrero; in the second, Master Don Juan de Velez, who died bishop-elect of Cebu; and in the third, Licentiate Manuel Reaelo [sic; sc. Rafaelo] Macedo. The same thing happened afterward through the death of Bishop Don Fray Diego de Aduarte, of the Order of Preachers, a man of singular virtue, the bishop of Nueva Segovia. In his government, Canon Alonso de Vargas entered to govern, with the same form of choice as the first. That form of appointing governors for the vacancies of the bishops was usurped many years in these islands—although there has been sufficient opposition from the bishops at such an innovation and corruption—until the provision suitable to so essential a matter was made in the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, and in our own times a decree was received from the queen mother, that the archbishops alone should appoint rulers for the bishoprics, but the cabildo of Manila [should do this] when the see is vacant.

During all the time while Archbishop Don Fray Hernando Guerrero governed the church of Manila, he was exercising echoes of the etymology of his name in the contentions that he had with Governor Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera; [48] and had there not been a prelate in the church of Manila so zealous and vigilant in matters of ecclesiastical immunity, it would have been involved in other and greater difficulties. The archbishop commenced the visitation of his diocese as soon as he became free from the late storms; and he continued it through all the benefices of his clergy, until he reached the island of Mindoro. There he found himself in another danger, no less than those which he had experienced on land; for he was attacked by six hostile galliots of the Mindanao enemy, which bore down upon the boat in which he was, near Naohan. Had not that boat been staunch and swift, the enemy would have captured and killed him—as is the usual custom of those Mahometan pirates, the enemy of our holy faith. It defended itself with the men aboard it, until it arrived at the land of Bacoo, where they had scarcely time to land and get into a place of safety; when, as the boat had remained in the sand, the pirates seized it, and captured many of the followers of the archbishop. They pillaged all the cargo aboard the boat, even the ornaments and the pontifical robe, all which was of much value. That blow caused great sorrow to that good prelate, for the Mindanaos killed most of the men whom they captured, and it was only after many difficulties that a few could be ransomed. The bishop became very ill with a serious sickness, from sorrow and his past troubles. [49]



LETTER WRITTEN BY A CITIZEN OF MANILA TO AN ABSENT FRIEND

I will try to give your Grace an accurate account of the changes that have occurred this year, and of the anxiety and unrest of this community, so that your Grace may have an adequate conception of the matter, and may judge it on its merits, since you have no reason to distrust him who relates it—a thing which would cast doubt on the relation itself. Such has actually been the case with a relation written by the Order of St. Dominic, which has been sent from this city to that of Zebu and other parts, whose author shows manifest prejudice and but little accuracy in what he relates. Laying aside then, all partiality, and as one who has been a witness of everything, although I had no part in it, I shall relate to your Grace all that has happened.

An artilleryman, named Francisco de Nava, seems to have been maintaining illicit relations with a slave-girl whom he owned, named Maria. That gave rise to troubles, and the artilleryman was placed in the house of brother Guerrero; and finally the slave-girl was taken away from him, and the archbishop, Don Fray Hernando Guerrero, had her sold. The artilleryman was very angry and vexed at that, and his love drew him so powerfully that he said that he wished to marry the slave-girl. She answered that she preferred to be the slave of another than his wife. For that reason, when the slave was very unguardedly following the coach of her mistress on Sunday, August nineteen, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five, that man, with deliberate purpose and overconfident, stealthily approached her in the principal street, near the cemetery of Sant Agustin; and, embracing her from behind, asked her whether she knew him. She answered in the affirmative, and he treacherously stabbed and killed her. He sought refuge in the convent of St. Augustine, where neither the sargento-mayor nor the master-of-camp, who surrounded the convent with soldiers, could find him. At a hazard, they prevented any religious from going out—an abuse contingent on the military, which cannot be checked by a captain-general. Accordingly, the Order of St. Dominic did the governor an injury in their relation, by declaring that he had incurred excommunication on that account, since he had no share in it, but only ordered the soldiers not to allow the treacherous homicide to leave the church. A few days after that, when the matter had cooled down somewhat, an adjutant of the camp, one Don Juan de Frias, because of the reward that was offered, entered the convent at midday, where he found and seized the artilleryman. The cause was referred to the commander of artillery (for the artilleryman was under his command), in order that he might try it in the first instance; and he condemned the artilleryman to death. The latter appealed to his captain-general and the auditor-general of war. The cause was returned, as the appeal was considered out of order, for the captain-general was convinced of the treachery and treason of [the artilleryman]; whereupon the commander of artillery tried to execute the sentence of death.

The archbishop of this church of Manila excommunicated the commander of artillery; and his provisor, one Don Pedro de Monrroy, had two notifications served on the governor, although there was no reason for his so doing. Once the notification was made after ten o'clock at night, when the governor had already retired. Two clerics entered for that purpose through the midst of the body-guard. As the governor was already asleep, and his servants had retired, and the doors of their chambers were locked, they could not serve their notification at all; accordingly, they turned to go. Trying to depart by passing through the body-guard, by the way that they had entered, he who was stationed at the door would not suffer it—in accordance with a general order received many days previously to the effect that, although they should allow entrance into his house at night, they should not allow anyone to leave; as he judged such an order expedient for the proper government of his household. Consequently, the clerics who had entered could not leave; for, when they went back to the governor, they found him shut in his room and asleep, and when they returned to the guardroom, the soldiers were minded to observe their orders without any distinction of persons. Hence the clerics had to stay all night and until dawn on the stairway and in the corridors of the palace. On that account, certain persons also took opportunity to say, and not with any good intention, that the governor had incurred excommunication—although he was so far from that, and this was so accidental a case that it could not have been foreseen in the order that was issued so many days previously. The relation of the fathers of St. Dominic charges that accident to the governor, unjustly and with prejudice.

During the execution of the sentence on the night of Thursday, September six, an interdict was imposed and the cessation of divine services ordered. The sentence was executed, and the artilleryman was hanged on the same spot where he had killed the slave-girl. The provisor was so carried away by passion that he tried to make (and it is even said that he did make) a report that they hanged the culprit in a sacred place—although the street was public, and [the hanging occurred] at the same place where the artilleryman had committed the homicide. Your Grace can see the so great want of logic [in this matter]; for if that were a sacred place, then the crime had been committed in it, and the artilleryman could not avail himself of the church as he was trying to do.

The governor wrote to the archbishop in terms of the greatest courtesy, requesting him to throw open the churches, and not to deprive this community of mass and consolation on a day of so great importance as was the nativity of our Lady, which came on the following Saturday; for, since the execution was already over, there was no remedy for the matter. The archbishop called a meeting of the religious of all the orders, who thought by that means to avenge themselves for the injuries which they imagined that they had received from the governor—those of St. Dominic, because he had divided the Parian treasury; those of St. Francis, because he had regulated the hospital expenses, which they were incurring to the so great detriment of the royal estate; and those of St. Augustine, because he had deprived them of some Sangley shops in Tondo—and for other private feelings of resentment. They carried the torch into that meeting, making the encounter between the governor and the archbishop a political matter; consequently, they expressed the opinion that the censures should not be raised under any circumstances. A religious of St. Dominic said that they ought to last for five hundred years, while another added "even to the end of the world." Very indecorous was their speech regarding the person of the governor, for they did not stop to consider that he represents the royal person by reason of his office. Only one Franciscan father, named Fray Bartolome Bermudez, and the two of the Society who were present—namely, the reverend fathers Luis de Pedrasa and Father Lorenco Goreto," [50] master in the morning classes [51]—were of the opinion that the censures should be raised. They even showed clearly that justice had been rightly exercised, since the treacherous murder had been committed so openly. Therefore, and because of other defects in what had been enacted, they proved that the censures did not bind the commander of artillery, or any one else. On this account the other religious gave much [opportunity for] merit to those of the Society, by uttering insulting words against them. From that time, they conceived so great an aversion for the fathers of the Society, that it was the beginning of the disturbances that afterward arose. The governor again requested the archbishop, for the second and third time, to raise the interdict and the cessation of divine service. But the latter was so far from complying, that he refused to answer the papers, and so the matter stood. But afterward, when we least expected it, in order to please the Recollects and allow them to celebrate their festival of St. Nicholas, the archbishop lifted the censures and absolved the commander of artillery, ad cautelam [52]. For the latter did not consider himself as excommunicated, nor even did learned men regard him as such. That was very apparent then, for, when he had appealed to the bishop of Camarines, the sentence was in his favor; and the bishop absolved him from the pecuniary fines which the archbishop had imposed. Thereupon that tempest was laid, the principal cause of which was the provisor, Don Pedro de Monroy; while those who increased its fury were the religious of St. Dominic, St. Francis, and St. Augustine. On that account, in order to prevent similar troubles that might arise in the future, the governor undertook to execute a royal decree, by the terms of which the said provisor had been proclaimed, in the time of Governor Don Alonso Fajardo, as banished from the kingdoms. The temporalities had been taken from him, as is clear from the authentic royal decree which was despatched for that purpose. Your Grace will notice the lack of accuracy in the other relation, since its author declares therein that that royal decree had been repealed, while in truth it was in full vigor and force. That is so true that there is no unprejudiced man in this city who does not know it. This year, as I have heard reported, the original of that decree has been sent to his Majesty. The archbishop held various meetings with the religious, and they agreed to defend the said provisor to the death, as they said, if necessary. The governor, in order to remedy these troubles in so small a community, desisted from his purpose, and tried to conduct the matter along smoother channels. He offered the said provisor the chaplaincy-in-chief and vicariate of the island of Hermosa, in a letter of the following tenor:

"It is necessary for his Majesty's service that your Grace go to serve in the island of Hermosa as chaplain-in-chief, and vicar of those presidios. [You will receive] three hundred pesos salary per year, the altar fees, and the fees from the confraternity of the soldiers, which has been lately instituted; and, with these and the pay, you will be able to live well. Thus will certain irreparable disadvantages, that might ensue if you do not accept this service for his Majesty, be avoided. And inasmuch as I have received letters from the said island of Hermosa this morning, in which the governor begs me to send him such a person very speedily, your Grace will make the decision to depart, so that this same champan may return to Cagayan, whence it and one other are to take fifty native soldiers, so that the two may go together. May our Lord preserve your Grace, as He is able. The palace; October eight, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five.

Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera"

Although the governor does not state the motive in this letter, his motive was to remove the occasion for disputes; and also because the commandant of the island of Hermosa, Francisco Hernandez, wrote him a letter, part of which is as follows:

"There is a religious in this island called Fray Lucas Garcia, [53] of the Order of Preachers. He is judge-provisor; and I have so many debates with him at present, and he is so crazy to govern, that he is hurling many shafts at me, without heeding that I am serving him to my utmost in everything, and that I am endeavoring to aid him in all that arises. He is much given to suits and questions, even going so far as to prevent the ringing of the animas [54] at night or the singing of the alabado hymn. It may be that in regard to the most holy sacrament and the pure conception of our Lady the Virgin Mary, who was conceived without the taint of original sin, he does not wish that any mention be made of the Virgin, to say that she is immaculate. Lastly, sir, this matter demands a remedy, by the archbishop sending a cura as judge-provisor. That is very necessary, so that we may be able to go on and live as God orders. If this blessed religious be removed from his charge, he will change his habits, and we shall be left in peace and quiet—which, as I see, it would be very difficult to obtain in any other way. Can your Lordship believe that, if he had any reasonable ground [for his conduct], I would not ascertain it, in order to give account of the matter to your Lordship, or that still less would I allow dissensions so vexatious to exist? I am very sorry to inform your Lordship of this, but I cannot do otherwise; for it is not right that this religious should place these forts in the condition in which he left Cagayan. For with authority as judge-provisor, while my predecessor was exercising the duties of this government, he did his utmost to usurp the royal jurisdiction—arresting and punishing soldiers and other persons without asking the royal aid, or fulfilling his obligation and his Majesty's command. Will your Lordship be pleased to relieve this condition as the occasion demands, by sending a secular cura as judge-provisor with the suitable despatches, so that this blessed religious may not offer him any trouble. The island of Hermosa, October 13, 1635.

Francisco Hernandez"

The provisor, Don Pedro de Monrroy, answered the governor's letter as follows:

"In response to the honor which your Lordship does me in your letter by ordering me to make a decision, I say, sir, that I have but little health, as can be seen in my face; consequently, I do not dare to embark. Besides I am occupied with the duties of the offices which I am, at my prelate's behest, exercising at present. If I were quite well, I would ask my prelate for permission to go anywhere in order to give pleasure to your Lordship. May our Lord preserve your life for many years. Manila, October eight, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five. Your Lordship's chaplain,

Licentiate Don Pedro de Monrroy"

The archbishop raised a great disturbance on account of this, declaring that the governor was a violator of the ecclesiastical immunity. He immediately summoned the two bishops of Zebu and Nueva Segovia (who were here) and the orders and the clerics to a meeting, by a letter of the following tenor.

But, before mentioning the letter, I wish to recount to your Grace certain actions of the governor, which, as the relation of the Dominicans asserts, obliged the archbishop to assemble the bishops and orders, and others; but which (as I suspected) happened after the meeting, so that your Grace may see how they are stirred up, and engaged on the side of evil. The first was, that the governor's guard detained several priests by force one whole night, without allowing them to leave the palace. It has been seen above already that this happened by accident, and without the governor's order. 2d, that he gave orders at the [city] gates for the soldiers not to allow any ecclesiastics to leave. The justification for that was, that it was rumored that several ecclesiastics were trying to take flight, and to carry with them a number of soldiers and sailors who were in the pay of his Majesty. That did in fact happen, for two religious, one secular, and more than thirty soldiers and seamen who had just been paid more than three thousand pesos from the royal treasury, deserted. [Third], that he did not allow the religious to enter or leave their convent. It has been already seen above that the occasion for the surrounding of the convent of St. Augustine was in order to prevent the escape of the treacherous fugitive. Consequently, all else that happened was the over-zeal of the soldiers, who take military orders very literally. [Fourth], that he tried to exile the provisor, Don Pedro de Monrroy, by virtue of an old royal decree, the execution of which had been repealed. It is outside of all truth to say that it was repealed; for it is certain and appears that it had full force and vigor, as I have said above. [Fifth], that he was persuaded that no one could excommunicate him but the supreme pontiff. This opinion is not so improbable, as I have heard discussed by men who know more than I. But Burguillos, [55] a learned man of the Order of St. Francis, holds and supports it valiantly; and at the least the governor, by his membership in the habit of Alcantara, enjoys by a bull of Leo X the privileges and immunities of the Cistercian religious; [56] and, by another bull of Alexander III, the privileges of the knights of Santiago, who can be excommunicated only by the supreme pontiff or by his legate a latere. [57] As for saying that the governor can exile from these islands any of his Majesty's vassals whom he wishes to, I do not know that it is said in so harsh terms. What I do know is that the royal patronage gives him authority, in punishing the seculars and ecclesiastics, to remove them when they undertake to meddle with what does not concern them. [In regard to the charge] that he prevents the soldiers from becoming religious, no such thing enters his mind. His order is that, before the soldiers embrace a religious life, they shall inform him of it, so that their accounts may first be examined, to ascertain whether they owe anything to the king, in order that it may be paid before they become religious [58]—as was ruled by Sixtus V in his bull. Here in Manila there is another thing which further justifies this action of the governor, namely, that many soldiers embrace a religious life with the sole intention of getting rid of their duties as soldiers; and then after a few months as novitiate, many vagabonds go out. In order to avoid that annoyance, it is well to have it appear and to have it noted in their accounts that they became religious, so that, if they leave that life, they may be compelled to serve the king. If this is not so, let the authors of the other relation tell [of any one] who has asked permission to become a religious who, if he is not indebted to the king, has not obtained his desires.

[Resuming my narrative], the formal letter, then, which the archbishop wrote to the father rector of the Society, Luis de Pedrasa, is as follows:

"The governor has today written a letter to the provisor, in which he says that it is fitting for the service of his Majesty for him to go to the island of Hermosa, to serve as chaplain-in-chief and vicar of those presidios—and this without any opportunity being afforded the provisor to ask my consent. It appears to me, Father Rector, that this is a very grave matter; and it seems best to call a council of the bishops and of all the orders, so that, we may decide that two of those at the meeting shall proceed to ascertain the authority possessed by the governor in spiritualibus [i.e., "in spiritual matters"], in order that we may not continue day after day with these letters and these mandates. Since I advise you of the point which is to be discussed in the meeting, I beg your Paternity to do me the favor to be present at it, and to bring with you the father confessor of the governor and two father readers tomorrow morning, Tuesday, at eight o'clock; for thus is it advisable for the service of our Lord and of His church, and that of his Majesty King Don Phelipe. Your Paternities are bound to follow the footsteps of the other and mendicant orders in matters so justifiable and for the common welfare; and I am confident that I shall receive your support. May our Lord preserve your Paternity for many years. From the [archiepiscopal] house, today, Monday, October, 1635.