The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 50

Volume 50 — THE COUNCIL OF 1771

Reading edition

They rejoice since they have driven very many religious away from their ministries; but it is greatly to be feared that their joy will soon be turned into mourning. For all the Pampangos, the people who occupy the most fertile and extensive region about the city of Manila—who are the bravest of all the Indians, and excel all the rest in religious fervor—are stirring up a revolt against the governor, the archbishop, the Indian clerics, and all their partisans, all of whom they threaten with death. They seem already to have leagued themselves with the Moros, to whom they have already given as captives five of the Indian clerics thrust upon them, in exchange for five Spanish soldiers, besides asking for the Augustinian fathers who were taken away from them by force.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · Marginal note: “Father Aloysius Knapp was born at Rheinfelden, canton of Aargau, in Switzerland, in 1720; entered the Society (in the provin Note 2 · See account of this council on pp. 41, 42, ante. At that time the governor was Anda, and the archbishop was Santa Justa. ↑Note 3 · Archbishop Santa Justa’s scheme of doing away with all popular church devotions (under the plea presented in this letter) had, singularly, i Note 4 · Latin, conciliabulum (cf. Spanish conciliabulo); see VOL. XLII, p. 109, note 36. ↑Note 5 · Latin, clerici (Spanish, clerigos); it always means secular priests, in contradistinction to the “regulars,” or “religious,” of the monastic Note 6 · As here used, institutis means literally “their proceedings,” or “devices,” or “schemes;” and comprecationes, “their prayer-meetings,” and t Note 7 · “Come, let us adore the King, for whom all things live; come, let us exult,” etc. The invitatory is the opening part of Matins, which is her Note 8 · These were Ildefonso Garcia de la Concepción and Joaquín Traggia. ↑Note 9 · Before opening the said council [conciliabulum], the archbishop made the charge that all religious were unfit and unworthy to attend the cou