Note 62 — Chapter LVI

In the ships which reached these islands in this year 1635 there came twenty religious, sent by his Majesty at the request of the procurator then at the court, father Fray Matheo de la Villa.62 This father had for many years filled that office with great excellence, because of the great love which he always had for the province—in which he had been many years a devoted minister of the gospel, prior of the principal convent in this city, and definitor in its provincial chapters. This was the only office which the province could give him, though it was far below his deserts. His merits attracted so much attention in the court that, without his having any idea of it, as the event showed, his Majesty nominated him as bishop of Nueva Segovia. The humble father never accepted the appointment, although strongly urged to do so; and thus his virtue was better known, and received the higher glory. When these religious were about to come to this province it seemed, to one who had been in it and who was then resident at court,63 that this was a good opportunity to put into execution a certain purpose which he had; and he so disposed matters that father Fray Matheo de Villa accepted this religious as vicar of the shipload of twenty ministers sent by his Majesty to the province. This religious seemed to father Fray Matheo to be a person who would fill the office excellently, as he had been in these regions. He did not imagine that in the fair words which he heard was concealed the deceit which he afterwards learned. The fact was that this religious, perhaps with a good intention, had for many years striven to divide this little province, by dismembering from it Japon, China, and the other heathen kingdoms in which it had new conversions, not considering that these could not be kept in existence apart from the conversion which the province maintains here. He had discussed this matter with our late general, the most reverend father Fray Seraphino Sicco, of Pavia—who having governed the whole order with much prudence for many years, thoroughly knew and understood what would be for its advantage; and who therefore immediately perceived how destructive to the province and how harmful to the order this division would be, and imposed perpetual silence upon him with regard to the matter. For other reasons added to this, he took from him his authority as procurator of this province and commanded him to have no more to do with matters of the Indias. Because of this mandate, and for other reasons concurrent with it, the royal Council of the Indias commanded him not to go to them. On these accounts he gave over his purpose for the time being, until the election of a new general of our order, to whom he went. As he was new in the government and very zealous for the conversion of the heathen, the religious was able, by making great offers in that regard, to persuade the father-general to make the aforesaid division; and to take from the province the said conversions, and to give them to a new congregation of fathers established for the purpose. The said father was appointed vicar-general of this congregation, and for its beginning and support it received all the houses belonging to this province for which the new vicar proffered his request. These, excluding the convent of the city of Manila, were the best in the province. All this was done because of the contention that this province, being much occupied with the conversions of Indians which it has undertaken in these Philippinas Islands, could not attend to the conversions of the said heathen regions. On a bosom so pious and so desirous for the good of souls as that of the most reverend general of the order, this made so great an impression that without knowing anything of the province, not even the procurator that it had in España, he granted everything that was asked. The suitor knew very well that this division could not be made without the consent of our lord the king as patron (in which relation he stands to all the religious orders in the Indias); so he tried all expedients at court to obtain this assent, but was not successful in any of his efforts. The prudent counselors of his Majesty, with whom in particular he discussed the matter, declared that the royal Council would by no means consent to so great an innovation without first being informed by the prominent personages of this region with regard to the advantage or disadvantage of the plan proposed. This caused him to despair of attaining any of his desires by this road; for he had no hope that any person acquainted with the facts would declare in favor of his purposes, because of their thorough impracticability. He therefore determined to obtain by artifice what he could not obtain by reason or justice. An opportunity being afterwards offered for religious to come to this province, he strove to go as their superior, carefully hiding his purpose from the procurator of this province. Then, just as they were about to embark from Sevilla, he sent to the court notice of a mandate and act of excommunication from our most reverend general, commanding that this new congregation should not be interfered with on any pretext or cause. This was done at a time when it was impossible to put any obstacles in his way, because he would already have embarked beforehand. After leaving Sevilla, and even before going there, he already had on his side some of the religious, to whom he had declared his purpose. While at sea he revealed his plan to all, thus endeavoring to draw them into agreement with him. He placed before them the opportunity of being taken directly to Japon and to Great China, a most efficacious bait for the fervor with which the new religious set out from España to the conversions of those regions. At the same time he strove to disgust them with the ministries to the Indians, declaring that the province had now no other ministries, and that he was the only one who could now send them to those kingdoms and to the conversion of those heathen regions. In this way he alienated them from the province, to which it was his duty to take them; for it was for that province that our lord the king had given them and paid their expenses, and to which our most reverend general had granted them. He reached the province, and presented only the letters-patent dividing the province and establishing the congregation, which were couched in very strong terms. The provincial, who had already been advised of the whole matter and of what he ought to reply, listened to them and made the following response. He was ready to obey the letters and the mandate of the most reverend general, as his higher officer and lawful superior, when and in the manner in which his Reverence desired that they should be obeyed and put into execution. This was by asking and first obtaining the consent of our lord the king, as patron of all the orders in all the Indias. Without this consent the division proposed could not be made, and new provinces and congregations could not be established; and our most reverend general would not desire to contravene the right and patronage of the king, because that would be contrary to justice. The father replied that this matter was now being attended to, and desired the provincial to show immediate obedience to these letters by transferring to him the contents of the province which by the letters were assigned to the congregation. This obedience could not be shown, and therefore his claim was without effect. As nothing more could be done, the business remained in this condition for about nine months, during which this father, taking advantage of a certain opportunity, very inconsistently with his function of propagating the faith, asked and obtained a force of soldiers, with which he violently seized by force the houses of this province which he claimed, contrary to the royal patronage and the will of the most reverend father. When the general gave those letters with such authority as he had a right to claim, he desired first that the consent due by justice should first be asked of the patron, whom he in no wise intended to wrong. In addition, there were many other reasons making everything done in virtue of these letters unjust. They were notoriously surreptitious, and obtained by false information. It was manifest that the province, although it attended to the ministry to the Indians of this country, was not forgetful of the ministry to Japon and China. On the contrary, it gave so much attention to them that it was constantly suffering from suits and vexations because the governor, the Audiencia, and the city, and sometimes even the ecclesiastics, declared that the province went to excess in that direction. It not only sent preachers of its own order to those realms, but encouraged and stirred up the other orders to do the same thing, without shrinking from the excessive expenses necessary for the purpose. To this end it never imagined itself poor, though it was so poor that it had not and has not any income more than what the Lord sends it in alms. Hence the pretext for establishing the new congregation was manifestly false; and the letters were so clearly surreptitious that, in order to prove that they were so, no other evidence was necessary than the evidence of the governor himself, of the royal Audiencia, and of the councils which were often held against the province on account of this. Under these circumstances, our most reverend general did not desire to have his letters put into execution until he had received information, as is expressly laid down (even with reference to the commands of the supreme pontiff) in the law, chap. Siquando, de rescriptis, and chap. Super litteris, eodem. Much more is this true if most grave inconveniences would result (as they would) to the conversions of those realms, which inconveniences our most reverend father by no means desired to bring about. It was his will that the execution of his letters should be suspended, as they were suspended, until information was sent to him with regard to the facts; and it was his will that his determination as superior should be awaited with humility. Further, in conformity with our constitution (distinction 2, chap. 1), no religious house may pass from one province to another unless the transference be approved in three chapters-general; and hence this great number of houses and of conversions was not to be immediately transferred at the first direction to that effect, without further approbation—especially since the evils which would have followed from this change were so many, so grievous, and so certain, as they were instantly proved to be by experience. It is true that the most reverend general said in his letters that he proceeded in this matter with the authority of the supreme pontiff, or of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide; and this would be enough for his letters to receive entire authority if they were against particular persons, and did not include spiritual harms and evils to the aforesaid conversions. But as they were the destruction of this province, and would have produced the most grievous mischief in the conversions, the most reverend general did not desire that his letters should be executed until he had been advised. There was no obligation to do this, the commission not coming as is expressly said that it should come in the chapter Cum in iure, de officio et potentia iudicis delegati. This is the common judgment of doctors, from which may be seen how unreasonable it was to take violent possession of the aforesaid houses. This and other disturbances which followed caused great grief throughout this colony, for it was regretted that by information designed to effect an evil purpose, and in an improper manner, a province should have been so disquieted which had continued from its foundation in the greatest harmony, without any disturbances. The archbishop of Manila and three bishops in this country, the religious orders, and the city, all wrote to the most reverend general, testifying as eyewitnesses that the information given to him was not in conformity with that which was actually known to occur in point of fact. On the contrary, it was declared that the province had always shown great care and watchfulness in sending preachers to Japon, Great China, Camboja, the island of Hermosa, and other heathen realms near these islands; while the congregation which it was intended to establish not only could not surpass it in this matter, but could not even achieve as much, as is shown by the many martyrdoms which the province has experienced in these conversions. This will always be plain, for by the grace of God they have not ceased nor are they ceasing, as we shall see even in these very years. The one who suffered most from the disquiet caused by the new congregation was the bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray Diego Aduarte; for he was one who had most complete knowledge of the province of which he had written the history, and he understood him who now disquieted it, for he had had acquaintance and dealings with him for many years, and that intimately. He accordingly came directly from his bishopric, the capital of which is distant from this city of Manila a hundred and fifty leguas, and strove with all his might that the evil done should be undone. Though at the time he could not succeed, it is to be believed that he brought it about afterward, when he went to be with the Lord. For, returning in deep sadness to his bishopric, he came to his death before many days; and after this there were not many months before the matter was cleared up, and affairs were set upon their ancient basis, by the return to the province of the houses which had been taken from it. This was notably to its honor and caused the most universal rejoicing through the country that had been seen in many years. The people in the villages where missions were established which had been taken from the province and given to the congregation, were particularly delighted, and held public festivals for many days, when, after having experienced the method in which the congregation carried on its work, they saw the convents and the ministries returned to the religious of the province—whose manner of conducting their affairs was so much better, that it had caused great grief to the Chinese and the Indians to be deprived of such teachers and ministers. Therefore, when the religious returned, those people displayed their delight by costly public rejoicings, carried on for many days.