Note 1 — Letter Written by a Citizen of Manila to an Absent Friend

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 Parián 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 Lorenço Goreto,”1 master in the morning classes2—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 cautelam3. 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: