Volume 26 — Relation of 1635–36

Relation of events in the city of Manila from the year 1635 until the month of June, 1636

At this time occurred an event which, as it was the beginning of everything which has taken place, must be remembered. An artilleryman had a slave girl whom he had brought from Yndia, saying that he was going to marry her, as he had taken her while she was a maiden. But she became angry and left the house, going to that of Juan de Aller, a kinsman of Doña Maria de Franzia, wife of Don Pedro de Corquera, whom she asked to buy her. The sargento-mayor besought the captain-general to negotiate with the said artilleryman. He had the latter called, and asked him whether he wished to sell her. He answered that he did not keep her for sale, and the matter was left thus for several days. Then he was again asked to sell her, and answered resolutely that he did not wish to sell her, as he was keeping her in order to marry her. Thereupon it was ordered that he be placed in the stocks, and he was ill-treated. The man cried out that they were unjustly trying to take his slave from him; and order was given that he be taken into the house of Pedro Guerrero, and there punished as if he were mad. There he was so ill-treated that they would have driven him mad if he was not, until he saw fit to cease his obstinacy in regard to the slave woman—although he refused to receive the money which he was ordered to take from the said house, and immediately determined on a rash plan. On the eighth of August, which was Sunday, at three o’clock in the afternoon, the governor was going to the residence of the Society, to see the comedy which the fathers there were presenting; and with him was riding Doña Maria de Franzia, the wife of his nephew the sargento-mayor, in a coach, having the slave woman behind. When they arrived at the corner of the Augustinian church, the artilleryman came out to meet them; and, seizing the slave woman by the arm, struck her with a dagger so that she died straightway, and he retired again into the said convent of St. Augustine. The news was conveyed to the governor, who had already gone into the Society’s house; and he sent an adjutant and a captain of his guard, together with the sargento-mayor, and some soldiers, with an order to surround the church and bring out the guilty man, and take him to the headquarters of the guard. This was done accordingly; but, as the religious had hidden him, the soldiers were unable to find him. The convent was left surrounded with soldiers, who remained there two days, so that if the artilleryman came out they could get him and bring him back; and likewise the soldiers were ordered not to allow any religious to enter or leave, or any food to be brought in to them, under penalty of death—on which account the religious found themselves in very hard straits. On the third day the guard was withdrawn, and on the fourteenth of the said month a decree was published promising [reward] to whoever should discover where the guilty man was—if he were a person of quality, an office as sergeant or standard-bearer, according to his position; or, if he were not such a person, three hundred pesos and permission to go to España. On the twenty-seventh of this month, a negro belonging to the said convent gave information that the guilty man was in a cell therein. The governor sent Adjutant Don Juan de Frias and Alferez Don Diego de Herrero with soldiers, giving them the order to take away the man, even though the religious tried to hinder him. This they did, and could not be resisted; and as a reward for taking him out, a post of sergeant was given to the adjutant, and a military command to the alferez.

Having taken him out, they brought him the next day to confession, and on the following day sentenced him to death. The most illustrious lord archbishop, Don Fray Fernando Guerrero, learning of this, made a formal demand for the prisoner on behalf of the church; but they were rebellious, and refused to surrender him. On the sixth of September of this said year the most illustrious archbishop sent a requisition to General Molina, who was the judge of this case, directing him to send back the prisoner, but to no effect; on the contrary, that very day the gallows was erected in front of the Augustinian convent, so that the execution would be in sight of the house. When the archbishop saw this contumacious act, he sent to notify the judge again, at seven o’clock at night, to send back the prisoner under penalty of major excommunication, latæ sententiæ. Seeing that he would not do so, at eleven o’clock at night the archbishop sent another requisition and notification to General Molina, and from there to the palace to notify the said governor—who ordered the churchmen who went to do this to be arrested, and taken to the guardhouse until morning. On this said day of the said month, four companies marched out with the prisoner. Fresh notifications were sent that, if he were not returned to the church within one hour, suspension of religious functions would be imposed, and heavy pecuniary penalties for the Holy Crusade. All this did not suffice to keep them from continuing the work; and, the time set having expired, the interdict was declared when the prisoner arrived at the corner of the plaza. The night before the bells had rung for the interdict, and the sound of the bells struck the Christians with fear. But none of this was sufficient, for at about twelve o’clock in the morning, they finished hanging him—so close to the sacred place that the ladder was placed on a level with the portico, in such manner that it could not help being in the sacred place. They took him away after hanging him, and threw the body at the door of the convent, which is at the gate of the church of St. Augustine. They rapped upon the door, and, as it was not opened, they left the body there; it remained without burial for two days, until the brothers of holy La Misericordia buried it in the cemetery of the cathedral church, so that the body would not be corrupted and become a disgusting object. The interdict lasted two or three days, and was raised on the day of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, at about ten o’clock in the morning. As Don Pedro de Monroy was provisor at the time, and the one who pronounced the excommunications, the governor decided to seize him and send him by ship to Machan, [i.e., Macao] or to Ermossa Island; but, becoming aware of this intention, he found a place of safety, to escape from this severe action. An order was given at all the gates that; if he should go out or enter them, he should be arrested. But a few days ago he was sent out of the gate which is called Santo Domingo, in the habit of a friar. When the guard who recognized him would have seized him, two Franciscan religious, who were with him, defended him and gave him an opportunity to enter the Dominican convent. When the governor learned this, irritated because his order of arrest had not proved effectual, he ordered the soldiers to be arrested who constituted the guard, and would have had them garrote the alferez Don Francisco de Rivera, who was in command at that gate, because they had not killed a friar and taken prisoner Don Pedro de Monroy. The said governor sent immediately to the convent of Santo Domingo to have them deliver the said provisor, and to say that, if they did not do so, he would go in person and take him away. To this father Fray Domingo Gonzalez, the provincial, and commissary of the Holy Office, answered that it was not the provisor who was there, but Don Pedro de Monroy, adviser of the Holy Office, which was not situated there; and, as such, he had kept him busy with matters pertaining to that holy tribunal, as might be seen by these disagreements which existed between the two heads [of government].

The most illustrious lord archbishop decided to call a council of the most grave and learned men of all the religious orders, in order to determine what was expedient. When he sent to ask the fathers of the Society, they refused to go. After this, seeing that things were going from bad to worse, it was necessary to call another assembly of the religious orders; and when the said fathers were summoned it was not possible for them to go. Thereupon, seeing that they were separating themselves from the affairs of the church, the lord archbishop ordered that they be notified of an act by which they were deprived of the right of preaching in all the churches subject to his jurisdiction. The said fathers, by virtue of a brief which they claim to have from his Holiness, answered that they could preach without permission, and contradicente episcopo. Without showing the said brief, they appointed a judge-conservator for the most illustrious archbishop, who was Don Fabian de Santillan y Avelanes, the schoolmaster of the cathedral. The latter notified his most illustrious Lordship that he must revoke the said act within two hours, under penalty of major excommunication and four thousand Castilian ducados. The lord archbishop went before the royal Audiencia with a plea of fuerza, to declare whether the appointment made had been made legally and justly, as it had been presented before no judge, as is provided by law. The next day several religious, who were the attorneys of his illustrious Lordship in the royal Audiencia, having come together there, [Father] Badilla of the Society took up the case, and through the continuance given him to inform himself of his rights, the other religious, who were acting on behalf of the lord archbishop, could do nothing until the next day, when they pleaded for him. During that time the said archbishop was posted as excommunicated, the notices being fixed on the doors of the churches of this city, by order of the judge-conservator. These notices remained posted until the twenty-fourth of January, because the royal Audiencia declared that fuerza had not been committed [by the judge-conservator]. At the end of this time, which was a period of more than three months, it was decided to absolve his most illustrious Lordship. The governor went to his house, on St. Polycarp’s day; and together they went to the cathedral, and made their peace. But meantime, in the proceedings against him, he had been condemned, by formal act of the judge-conservator, to pay another four thousand ducados; and the government of the archbishopric was to be taken from him for four years. All this was declared null by the lawyers, who said that the judge and the fathers of the Society had thus incurred the penalties of the law.

A ship has come from Machan and brought news that there had been a great persecution in the kingdom of Japon and the martyrdom of many Catholic religious. It is also said that Father Christoval Ferreira, the provincial at that time for the Society of Jesus in that kingdom, had apostatized; and that he not only had recanted, but had married a heathen woman, and that the wife of the said Portuguese father had given birth to a child. Moreover, he had betrayed [to the authorities] the few other religious who had remained there. Such things as these, and worse, persons who abandon our holy faith usually do. The emperor of Japon has ordered that no friar or other religious should enter [that country], and has promised great rewards to those who should learn of their entrance into his kingdom, and inform him thereof; and he threatens severe punishment to those who do not do so.

During these troubles [in the diocese] Don Francisco Valdes resigned the archdeaconry of this cathedral; and the governor, by virtue of the royal patronage, appointed as archdeacon Don Andres Arias Giron, and sent to the most illustrious archbishop to obtain his collation. The latter answered that Master Don Andres Arias was under visitation; and that he had exiled and excommunicated him for sufficient causes, and could not give him possession. When he learned of this, Master Don Andres Arias Giron presented himself with a plea of fuerza before the royal Audiencia; and the governor ordered that his illustrious Lordship be notified that, without fail, he should put Don Andres in possession. He therefore called a council of religious, and all said that he should not in conscience comply.

At one o’clock at night there came a new order that the soldiers should drive from the streets the religious, who had been upon their knees with candles in their hands, worshiping the Lord of heaven and earth, since the time when they had been driven from His presence. They were driven away, by dragging them and tearing their garments; and the cassock and cross were taken from the cross-bearer of his most illustrious Lordship. He cried out to God, begging for mercy—a thing which melted the hearts of all the city, so that nothing was heard of but “Mercy!” accompanied by the tears and apprehensions of the faithful. After this was done, at two o’clock at night there came another order, that the friars should be made to go back to their convents, which they had not done. The governor sent the sargento-mayor to tell them to go back, and not cause any more disturbance. To this they answered that they had left their convents determined to die for God, and that whether they died there or in Japon was all one; that they would not leave that place, because they were in front of the most holy sacrament; and, if it should fall from the hands of the lord archbishop, the soldiers must not approach to raise it, as this was not lawful, but they themselves must do so, as priests.

The sargento-mayor went away with this answer; and as the governor was at the corner of Santa Potenziana, on the square of the archiepiscopal buildings, in disguise, he heard all that occurred. He sent another order, commanding, in the name of his Majesty, that the religious should retire to their convents; and that, if they did not do so, they would be dragged thither. Seeing his accursed intention, they thought it best to let themselves be taken away by the soldiers, but with much sadness and weeping. The Franciscan friars remained in their portico, to be near the house of the lord archbishop, so that they might watch what passed. The governor himself came personally, and made them retire and go within their convent.

In this island he was kept prisoner, without being allowed to communicate or to write letters, his treatment being such as might be expected from dispositions so obstinate. On the eleventh of this month of May the said governor appointed the said bishop of Camarines to govern the archbishopric, contrary to [the law of] God and with no permission, saying that the lord archbishop was a decayed limb. The said bishop accepted the appointment, acting contrary to [decrees of] the Council of Trent, and incurring its penalties. He absolved the said governor, Auditor Capata, and Don Andres Giron: and gave the last-named the collation for the archdeaconry, raising the interdict imposed by the legitimate prelate. Those in the cathedral and the fathers of the Society, who were followed by other churches, besides the convents of St. Dominic, St. Francis, and the discalced Augustinians, at once replied that they would observe the suspension imposed on them, because they knew that a governor [of the diocese] could not raise the interdict, or do anything of what he had done; for he was suspended, interdicted, excommunicated, and under discipline, for having exercised the pontifical office, raised the interdict, and absolved the excommunicated—all this being reserved to the lord archbishop, as was declared by all the learned men of this city. Although the cathedral, the church of the Society, and the Observantine convent of St. Augustine said mass, no one went to hear it; but on the contrary the Catholics were scandalized that these people should do such things through fear of the governor—things which caused great scandal, and which it would take a long time to tell. [I omit them] mainly because most of them are better left unsaid, because of the cruelty involved in them, rather than told in a relation.

On the twentieth of May there came an order from the lord archbishop, at the petition of religious and holy persons, that the suspension should be raised for a fortnight, so that the feast of Corpus Christi, which was on the twenty-second of the said month, might be celebrated; and when the said period of time was past, he imposed the interdict as before—although it was not observed except by the Dominicans, the Franciscans, and the discalced Augustinians. The governors of the archbishopric and of the islands respectively gave to the fathers of the Society [the curacy of] Chiapo, which they demanded, as belonging to the archiepiscopal court. It was donated to the lord archbishop by the Franciscan fathers, on condition that it should be conferred upon no-one, but should remain for the maintenance of the poor and of secular priests; and that, in case it were given to any other order, the condition and donation should not be valid which had been made to the said lord archbishop, and accordingly it should revert again to the said Franciscan fathers, as it was before. But the fathers of the Society would listen to none of this, drawn on by ambition; nor would the governor, who allowed them to demand what they wished.

A few days after this, on the fourth of June, the royal decree was revoked; and father Fray Domingo Gonzalez, the Dominican provincial, and other dignitaries, went to the lord archbishop, and asked him not to change anything which had been done by the said bishop of Camarines. The lord archbishop would not consent to this, as it was all void, and opposed to conscience. But on the prayer and supplication of grave religious, who besought his permission for this until his Majesty should send a remedy sufficient for so many evils as had occurred, his illustrious Lordship thereupon consented to this; and he entered this city on the sixth of June, amid the general rejoicing of all, for thereby the church was freed from schism and the administration of an excommunicated bishop. In short, in order to remove greater evils things remain thus, without anything being changed; we hope that God our Lord and his Majesty will redress this, and that persons will be sent to punish the guilty according to their crimes.

Pasquin que se Pusso A la puerta del gouern^or de manila Don seuastian Vrtado de Corquera

Quien la birtud a dejado—Collado

quien obliga a tal trayçion—ambizion

de que an labrado rezelo

vna orca como aman

do rabiando moriran

Collado ambiçion Pinedo

Who has abandoned Virtue?—Collado.

What leads him to such treason?—Ambition.

Who imitates that one through fear?—Pinedo.

Hence I fear that they have prepared

On which raging will die—

Collado, Ambition, Pinedo.

Who are preparing lawless acts?—The Theatines [i.e., Jesuits].

Wherein do they hide their violations of law?—In cheeses.

I do not understand such an extravagant idea;

But if it is a question of profit,

It would be best to burn them all three—

Theatines, cheeses, and wax.

He who thought to pay from his profits—tributes;

And he who in hanging dogs saw—fetters;

And he who caused the mulatto women to bear—daughters:

All these simpletons

Must come to a halt;

Because the devil will carry off—

For so great malice, there is no—justice;

Nor for so many injuries—words;

All these misfortunes,

We Christians must suffer;

For powerless we see—

Justice, words, and cures.

What results finally?—Resolution.

And from these evil things?—Punishments.

And from so great discontent?—Torment.

Not in vain do I lament,

Become otherwise because of Corcuera—

Suffering, punishments, and torment.