Volume 37 — CHAPTER X

Of the election of our father Fray Andrés Verdugo as provincial; and the arrival of Governor Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and Archbishop Don Miguel de Poblete.

The ship “San Francisco Javier”—which had wintered at Acapulco, as it had arrived late and very hardly used—left that port March three; and, having had a very fortunate voyage by the help of divine clemency, and having profited by the entire monsoon of the brisas, arrived at so good a season that it entered the Embocadero of San Bernardino June 26. The mail was sent on from the island of Ticao, in order to rejoice Manila with the glad news of the treasure which was coming in that galleon, to wit, the following persons.

As governor and captain-general of these islands was coming Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, a native of Malaga, late castellan of Acapulco. He was a brother of the count of Prigiliana, and uncle of his Excellency Don Rodrigo Manuel Manrique de Lara, count of Aguilar and Prigiliana—who was a member of the Council of State and governor of that of Aragón, viceroy of Valencia, of Andalucía, the coasts of the Ocean Sea, and the royal fleet. He is a gentleman worthy of eternal renown in these islands, since, if he was not the best, he is not left behind by any of those who are most remembered for piety, devotion, and zeal for the service of God and their king. In all things he had a clear understanding and an admirable eloquence; he was very jovial by nature, and easily pleased all men. Accordingly, he left behind not only a lasting memory of his eloquence and disinterestedness, but also of his discretion. [On his return to Malaga he becomes a priest.]

Doctor Don Miguel Millán de Poblete, the consecrated archbishop of Manila, also came. He was a native of the imperial city of Méjico, and was an excellent theologian and canonist, doctoral canon of La Puebla, magistral prebend in the cathedral of Méjico, and rector of its university. He had refused to accept the bishopric of Nicaragua. He was highly esteemed by Don Juan de Palafox, who consecrated him and gave him the pallium.... With him he brought his nephew, Master Don José de Poblete, who, after having been dean of Manila, died bishop-elect of Nueva Segovia.

As auditor came Licentiate Don Salvador Gomez de Espinosa, an eminent jurisconsult; and, to act as his Majesty’s fiscal, Don Juan de Bolivar y Cruz, father of Doctor Don Pedro de Bolivar y Mena who was auditor and came to an unfortunate end in our time; for his associates made him an accomplice in the exile of the archbishop Don Fray Felipe Pardo of the Order of St. Dominic. Two missions came in that galleon, one of our Recollect religious, and the other of the Society of Jesus. Some very notable people came, so many that those who came in that galleon amounted to six hundred persons. Their journey was so propitious that only three persons died on the voyage.

The devil was very angry at the great war that he would have to wage because of the holy prelates and religious who came on that galleon “San Francisco Javier.” Accordingly, what he could not do on the high sea he managed to do from the Embocadero to Manila. For the winds rebelled against the ship at the island of Mindoro, and so frightful a tempest arose that the galleon was all but lost, and in danger of going to pieces on some high reefs about that island. They cast anchor, and the archbishop conjured the storm, which immediately calmed itself. That galleon suffered three similar storms among the islands before they reached the bay of Manila and cast anchor at Cavite, July 23—although the governor and archbishop landed the day before that in a falúa which was sent to the middle of the bay by the castellan of Cavite, the commander Lorenzo Orella y Ugalde, so often mentioned in this history.

[The governor causes the archbishop to disembark first, in order that he might bless the land; as if in return for this, the sardines, which had deserted the bay of Manila at the exile of Archbishop Guerrero, again entered that bay. The governor, disembarking on the twenty-second, pays homage to the archbishop. The latter makes his public entry into Manila on the twenty-fourth and the governor the next day. The Recollects bring a holy picture (an Ecce Homo) which becomes an object of veneration in their convent of San Nicolás at Manila, where the new governor attends. The first work of the latter is to take the residencia of his predecessor, which is entrusted to the direction of Auditor Sebastián Caballero de Medina. The charges preferred are those of harsh conduct, but he is so free from covetousness that “it is recounted of him that he only drew for his expenses five hundred pesos monthly out of the pay of thirteen thousand pesos granted to the governors of these islands; and accordingly, the balance, a considerable amount, was afterward paid to his heirs.” He appeals from all the charges to the Council of the Indias, and is sent to Spain, but dies during the voyage, over seventy years of age. Fajardo’s favorite is condemned to be beheaded, to vast fines, and to the confiscation of his property. He appeals to Spain, but the sentence is there confirmed. Before the execution of the sentence, however, he dies in prison, in poverty. His money and movable property are confiscated by the treasury and his houses on the square opposite the cathedral are used later as the governor’s palace. The prelate and the governor work hand in hand in the regeneration of Manila.]

[The people of Manila recognize that the evils that have been visited upon them are due to their sins, and accordingly an appeal is made to the pope, Innocent X. The latter absolves them from all the censures and interdicts they may have incurred, and concedes them plenary indulgence and absolution for their sins; “and he blessed the land, and ordered the archbishop to perform in public the ceremony of the solemn benediction.” The archbishop, who has brought that despatch with him, sets the twenty-second of March for those ceremonies; and before that date a great religious fervor sweeps through the city and its suburbs. “On the Sunday assigned, the mass was chanted in the cathedral before the holy sacrament, and the archbishop preached a learned and fervent sermon, such as the season demanded—which was afterward printed, as it was worth being published to all the world.” In the afternoon, the blessing of the land and the benediction in the name of the pope follow. At the governor’s request, the archbishop also blesses the “fatal gate called Puerta de los Almacenes (‘the gate of the magazines’), through which Don Fray Hernando Guerrero had gone into exile.” The governor lives in great harmony for the ten years of his service in the Philippines.]