Doctrina Christiana

The Dominicans

Reading edition

Had Aduarte written that the first books printed at Manila were two Doctrinas issued by the Dominicans at San Gabriel in 1593, and given some details of their production, we could conclude our study with a quotation from him, but nowhere does he mention them. In fact, his inference was that the first book was that printed for Blancas de San José, and yet we know that this Doctrina preceded anything that Blancas de San José could have written, since he did not come to the Philippines until 1595. We can assume, as Retana did, that by printing Aduarte meant printing from movable type, but this does not explain away the fact that Aduarte, who recorded in detail events of far less significance, did not speak of the Doctrinas at all. The best—and it is a most unsatisfactory best—that we can do is ascribe the omission to the frailty of man, and record that there is no notice of the Dominican Doctrina of 1593 in the most complete contemporary Dominican history of the Philippines.

The whole situation is best described in the report on the Chinese made by Salazar to the King on June 24, 1590: [31]

So we find, as the Dominicans undertook their mission, a large settlement of Chinese, including both a settled and a floating population, concentrated in the Parián, across the Pasig river from the main city of Manila.

The dominating figure of the Chinese mission from the time of his arrival in the Philippines was Juan Cobo. In a letter, written by him from the Parián of Manila, July 13, 1589, probably to ecclesiastical authorities in Mexico, he gives an account of the early days of the mission:

“The Order took a site next to this Parián, since there was not a single house between Santo Domingo and the Parián. And because of this opportunity the Order presently charged itself with the Chinese, both Christians and infidels. And upon P. Fr. Miguel de Benavides and P. Fr. Juan Maldonado was imposed the responsibility for the care of the Chinese and for learning their language. P. Fr. Miguel was less occupied with other matters than Fr. Juan Maldonado, so that he progressed in the language enough to begin to catechize in it. This was the first year the Order was in Manila. [32]

The account of Aduarte is not so accurate in some details, but it supplies others not mentioned by Cobo. The first mission which Benavides and Maldonado (or de San Pedro Martyr as he was later known) built was near the village of Tondo, in a new settlement specially founded for Christian Chinese, called Baybay, and it was named for Our Lady of the Purification. The second mission which was established by Benavides and Cobo was at first a palm-leaf hut. The name of San Gabriel was decided upon by making lots with the names of various saints on them and then drawing. San Gabriel came out three times in a row, and “all were persuaded that the Lord was pleased to have the patronage belong to this holy archangel.” Soon, because of the good works of the fathers who established a hospital there for the care of the sick and poor, the demands upon the hut became so great that a larger building was planned. At first it was to have been erected on the site of the hut, but the inhabitants protested that a stone building so near native houses might do them great damage in the event of an earthquake, so the friars went to the other side of the river, and there built a temporary building of wood which was later completed in stone. It was here then that the Doctrina was printed, in the Church of San Gabriel, near the Parián of Manila, at the edge of the Chinese settlement.

Under the care of Benavides and Cobo the mission flourished, and the two fathers became increasingly proficient in the Chinese language. When [33] the provincial Juan de Castro began making preparations for an inspection tour of his Chinese vicariate in 1590, he chose as his companion Miguel de Benavides. The account of the events leading up to this expedition is given in the already quoted letter of Salazar on the Chinese:

They sailed on May 22, 1590, but Juan de Castro before he left appointed Cobo acting superior of the province with full authority during his absence, and in the latter’s place as head of the Chinese mission sent Juan de San Pedro Martyr.

On May 31, 1592, the Governor received a letter from the Emperor of Japan demanding that an ambassador be sent to offer him the fealty of the Philippines. Juan Cobo, as the best speaker of Chinese, was chosen to represent the Spaniards, and he left Manila on July 29, 1592. After successfully convincing the Japanese Emperor of the amity of the Spaniards, he left to come back to Manila, but his ship was wrecked in November on the coast of Formosa, and there Cobo was killed by hostile natives. Meanwhile Benavides had gone back to Spain with Bishop Salazar in [36] 1591, and did not return to the Philippines until after his appointment as Bishop of Nueva Segovia in 1595.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · Beristain, op. cit., II, p. 464. The first edition was published in 1819–21, but we have used the second for our quotations.Note 2 · Juan de Grijalva, Cronica de la orden de N.P.S. Augustin de Nueva Espana, Mexico, 1624, f. 199v.Note 3 · Nicolás Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispana Nova, Madrid, 1783, I, p. 764. The first edition was Rome, 1672, but I could locate no copy in this cou Note 4 · Tomas de Herrera, Alphabetvm Avgvstinianvm, Madrid, 1644, I, p. 406, according to P. & G., p. xxiv.Note 5 · The first members of the Order of St. Dominic95 to land in the Philippines were Bishop Salazar and his assistant, Christoval de Salvatierra.Note 6 · In consultation with the other orders it was decided that the Dominicans should be given the ministry of the territories of Pangasinan and B Note 7 · Early in 1588 Juan Cobo101 arrived from Mexico. Shortly thereafter, on June 12, 1588, the Dominican chapter held its first convocation. It e Note 8 · From the very earliest days of the Spanish occupation of Manila, the governors had had trouble with the Chinese and Sangleys.103 These peopl Note 9 · No one had objected to the Pangasinan and Bataan assignments, but when it was suggested that the Dominicans also assume the responsibility f Note 10 · “When I arrived in this land, I found that in a village called Tondo—which is not far from this city, there being a river between—lived many Note 11 · “Presently in the second year when I came, the Order moved P. Fr. Miguel and myself into another separate house at the other edge of the Par Note 12 · “Of the Dominican religious who came to these islands, four are engaged in ministering to the Sangleys. Two of these four officiate in the C Note 13 · There is no doubt but that at this time Benavides and Cobo were the two outstanding Chinese linguists among the Spaniards in the Philippines Note 14 · “He knew three thousand Chinese characters, each different from all the rest, for the Chinese have no definite number of letters nor alphabe Note 15 · Finally, as a more definite proof that Cobo could have been the author of the Chinese Doctrina of 1593, we have the record113 of a Catecismo Note 16 · In May 1590, then, the most accomplished Sinologist yet to work in the Philippines was in charge of the Dominican province. “His first act,”Note 17 · “He wrote much in the language of the Indians and other things in the language of the Chinese for whom he had printed in their language and Note 18 · Medina117 records these various works as Manila imprints of unknown date, and to this indefinite information about them we can add nothing p Note 19 · With Nieva was Maldonado, or San Pedro Martyr. He had been one of the first associates of Benavides in the first Chinese mission at Baybay, Note 20 · That left as the only two remaining experts in the Chinese language, Domingo de Nieva and Juan de San Pedro Martyr, both of whom were at San