CHAPTER XIThe archbishop tries to visit the missions of the religious, but suspends that effort, and builds the cathedral of Manila.The archbishop, Don Miguel Millán y Poblete, came here with the firm determination to pursue the plans of Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, bishop of La Puebla de los Ángeles, who had consecrated him. Those plans had caused great disturbances in Nueva España because of their novelty, and had divided that country into the two divisions of Palafoxistas and Palancas,34who were no less mischievous than the Guelphs and Ghibelines in the time ofFederico Barbarroja [i.e., Frederick Barbarossa] when determinations issued forth to combat with understandings. Don Juan de Palafox tried to reduce the ministries of the missions (which the orders had possessed in Nueva España since the conquest) to regularly-appointed curacies with canonical institution and collation, so that they could be administered by ordinary jurisdiction, to the suppression of the delegated jurisdiction. This was done in order that the ecclesiastical hierarchy might be one whole in its proportionate parts; and that the episcopal dignity might possess entire dominion over the shepherds of its sheep, by visiting them and sitting in judgment on their excesses in the office of parish priests, which they exercised by virtue of the concession of St. Pius V and other worthy pontiffs. His great perseverance obtained that in the form established at present among the orders, who desired to retain some ministries of the missions—leaving others, because that subjection to the bishops did not seem to them to be in harmony with the institutes of the orders. I shall not mention the disturbances and scandals that the common enemy of souls compassed during that time for the ruin of many—which filled the world with gloom, and gave perfidious heretics the opportunity to blaspheme against the Catholic priests—for they are very well known.The archbishops of Manila tried to establish that kind of ecclesiastical hierarchy in Filipinas, but as he was so holy, and only desired to promote the greater honor and glory of God (Qui cogitationempacis et non aflictionis habet)35he found considerable inconveniences and even impossibilities in effecting what he was attempting. For Don Juan de Palafox had a great plenty of secular priests who were very suitable in learning and virtue for choosing and presenting for the missions, which the orders were abandoning, because they refused to submit to the rigor of the canonical collation in the appointments to the missions. But the archbishop found a great lack of secular priests in these islands, for scarcely are there enough in this country to fill the choir of the cathedral of Manila, with prebendaries and chaplains for the royal chapel, and some few curacies which the clergy hold in this archbishopric. For the Spaniards in this country multiply but slowly, and very few of their sons apply themselves to following the ecclesiastical life, either secular or regular. That is so true that the orders could not maintain themselves if it were not for the continual missions that are brought from the kingdoms of España. Thus, the clergy is composed of the sons of the Spaniards of this country, and with these is maintained a cabildo in this cathedral of Manila, so distinguished that it might belong to one of the first churches of España; for most of them are doctors in sacred theology, after having graduated first as masters of arts. He who has the least degree is a master. All of them are very learned and of known virtue, which is a cause for admiration, as they live so far from reward that one rarely passes from the sphere of the dignities of the said cabildo. For although some have attained the episcopal dignity, these are very few—as, for instance, this year theirdean, Doctor Don Domingo de Valencia, was promoted to the bishopric of Camarines,36but at such an age that he cannot obtain the dignity for a long time. However, in order to comply with his obligation, and to give the orders an incentive to represent in judicial form what they had to allege, the archbishop resolved to place the visitation in execution. He began with the mission at Binondoc, outside the walls of the city of Manila, belonging to the religious of St. Dominic, who immediately abandoned that mission; and the same was done by the other orders, who left the missions in their control in the hands of the governor as vice-patron. The latter referred the consultative vote on a so great and weighty matter to the Audiencia in the royal assembly. It was thoroughly discussed by the auditors of the Audiencia, who were all very eminent jurisconsults; and they, recognizing the impossibility of placing in execution in these islands what Don Juan de Palafox had established in Nueva España, as the system in vogue in these regions is very different, despatched a royal prohibition to the archbishop, ordering him to hold his right in reserve, and to suspend what he had begun until the royal and supreme Council of the Indias should be informed, and should take suitable measures. The archbishop was notified by the first and the second royal prohibition; and he obeyed it, and suspended the visitation, after making his protests. From that time the orders found him a most loving father and protector. He referred the case to the royal Council; the orders also [did thesame], by the authority which they gave to the most reverend father master Fray Juan Polanco of the Order of Preachers, the procurator of the province of Santo Rosario at court. All the orders renounced the missions in their charge. The president [of the Council] was the count of Peñaranda, Don Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, a minister of great talent and experience in very difficult negotiations, as he showed in the peace of Nimega,37where he was the plenipotentiary of Don Felipe IV. That most erudite senate having examined the matter, and having penetrated like lynxes the most hidden difficulties, imposed silence for the time being on that innovation.The perverse spirit of discord which had in charge the incitement of that litigation in which the prince of darkness profited by a great number of scandals, discords, and tumults, was suspended and remained as if asleep for forty-four years—until it awakened, in the year 1697, because of our sins. Archbishop Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila,38a native of Badajoz and former magistral canon of that holy church, and fellow of the chief college at Cuenca in Salamanca, came to these islands [in that year]. He was a great prelate, and very vigilant in his pastoral office. He died later (the year of 1712) as bishop of Guadalajara and was well remembered for his zealand integrity. [Here follows an account of the attempt of Archbishop Camacho to enforce the visitation of the regulars, which we omit in this place, as it will be sufficiently noticed later.]In the beginning, the provinces of América were founded entirely in accordance with the regular institutes of communal houses and convents, with a great number of conventuals; they did not need to take these from the provinces of España, as they could choose plenty from the country. On the contrary in Filipinas we have no more than the convents of Manila, Cebú, and Guadalupe as communal convents—although only the convent of Manila preserves that character; while the others, more than seventy-four in number, are only missions where one single religious lives, and, in a very few, two ministers, according to the size of the village and the ability of the province. The latter is wont often to consist of as many priests as missions, until reënforcements of religious come from España; and if that reënforcement is very slow, then there are generally more missions than religious as priests. What I say here of our order is the same of all the others. It is not so in América, Perú, and Nueva España, where the convents are established totally independent of the missions. They have plenty of religious, and those who belong to the land itself, so that they do not have to send to España for them. Those convents have their incomes by which they are sustained, so that they do not need any of the fees of the missions; and consequently, the orders who wished to retain some missions subject to the ordinary could do so very easily, by assigning some religious to that mission who knew the language ofthose villages. Such religious are presented to the vice-patron, who presents them to the bishop. The latter examines them, and gives them the collation of the curacy in regular appointment. They administer that office in subjection to the priors of the convents, and to their visitation and correction in matters concerning the order; and in subjection to the bishops, who hold jurisdiction and visitation over them in regard to any transgressions in their office as curas. Those religious are maintained perpetually in their offices, and the chapters cannot change them to other convents; for they cannot leave their curacies without the intervention of the vice-patron and bishop, who are very loth to change them because of the investigations demanded by the presentation, examination, and collation. Those religious (who are very few) having been dedicated to that office of curas, the others, who consist of almost all the religious of the province who are exempt from that occupation, hold their chapters and change their priors according to the constitutions of the order.It is not so in these Filipinas, where, as I have said, there are so few religious. Supposing that the plan of Don Juan de Palafox were to be inaugurated, and that all the religious submitted to receive the canonical collation of the curacies in proprietary appointment, the conservation and continued supply of religious would cease. The chapters would cease, for they could not remove the religious from the villages where they were acting as proprietary curas; and it would be necessary to keep them where they had their parishes. Very great difficulties would ensue from that. The province would cease to sendprocurators to España to bring back religious; and if the generous motive of coming as apostolic missionaries ceased, they would leave their provinces and fatherland—all the more because of being subject to the bishops, a burden so far from the exemption of the regulars that we watch so carefully. That subjection would have to be not only to the bishop but also to the ecclesiastical governors of a vacant see. There have been so many of the latter in these islands, that in Manila they had them for fourteen years; and in Cebú, Cagayán, and Camarines, for twenty years. The provincials would have nothing left but that name, and would not have entire control over their subordinates. The above and many other representations were made to Archbishop Don Millán de Poblete, and they availed so well with him that he suspended his resolve. The same things were represented to Don Diego Camacho, and these same reasons moved the gentlemen of the royal Council of the Indias to moderate that subjection—leaving it only in the visitation, with the limitations already mentioned, thus enjoining perpetual silence, in regard to erecting the missions into curacies, and to allowing the orders to abandon the ministries of those missions.Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]The archbishop having put aside his doubt in regard to undertaking the visitation of the regulars, dedicated himself, as a true prelate, to his other obligations. The first one was the building of the cathedral, because of the ruin that occurred in it on the fatal night of St. Andrew in the year 1645; the church of the girls’ school of Santa Isabel was being used as a cathedral. He placed his shoulders very earnestly to that so chief obligation, although thepoverty of the times made it difficult for him. He set about collecting materials, and the order of our father St. Augustine lent him the lime-kilns of Birabira, where the best and strongest lime of all the islands is made. The pious and Catholic governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, was the one who conquered the greatest difficulties by collecting a generous alms from the citizens of Manila, and by giving his aid to the archbishop. The building was commenced, and, after the trenches for the foundations had been made, the archbishop clad himself in his pontifical garments and on the twentieth of April, 1654, blessed the first stone, which was carried by General Don Pedro de Mendiola. The master-of-camp, Don Pedro de Almonte, carried on a rich tray a bronze plate with the inscription of the erection of the church. Captain Don Nicolás Sarmiento carried on another tray five silver coins, and Captain Diego Castellanos a box of lead. All went in procession to the place where the stone was to be placed, and the governor and archbishop set it in position, while the litanies were being chanted. In a hollow already made in the stone were placed the plate and coins. The inscription on the plate is as follows:“While Innocent X was governing the Church, King Felipe IV the Españas, and Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, the Filipinas Islands, this stone for the building of this holy cathedral—its titular being the Conception, and its patron St. Andrew the apostle—was placed in position by Don Miguel de Poblete, metropolitan archbishop, April 20, 1654.”The building of that cathedral proceeded, as the time, which was very full of troubles, allowed; accordinglyit lasted for many years, two or three years having passed without any work; and its dedication services were held on September 8, 1671. It is of Doric architecture and has three naves, and is very strong, as it is built of heavy stone. It has a reredos of the finest sculpture in these islands. It was completed by Archbishop Don Diego Camacho y Ávila, who built a very beautiful high tower that contains some very fine bells.39He also built the sacristy and other parts which were wanting for the completion of the cathedral, and adorned it with a quantity of wrought silver and very rich ornaments and lamps, which he sent from Guadalajara, for he was not forgetful of his first spouse.Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
CHAPTER XIThe archbishop tries to visit the missions of the religious, but suspends that effort, and builds the cathedral of Manila.The archbishop, Don Miguel Millán y Poblete, came here with the firm determination to pursue the plans of Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, bishop of La Puebla de los Ángeles, who had consecrated him. Those plans had caused great disturbances in Nueva España because of their novelty, and had divided that country into the two divisions of Palafoxistas and Palancas,34who were no less mischievous than the Guelphs and Ghibelines in the time ofFederico Barbarroja [i.e., Frederick Barbarossa] when determinations issued forth to combat with understandings. Don Juan de Palafox tried to reduce the ministries of the missions (which the orders had possessed in Nueva España since the conquest) to regularly-appointed curacies with canonical institution and collation, so that they could be administered by ordinary jurisdiction, to the suppression of the delegated jurisdiction. This was done in order that the ecclesiastical hierarchy might be one whole in its proportionate parts; and that the episcopal dignity might possess entire dominion over the shepherds of its sheep, by visiting them and sitting in judgment on their excesses in the office of parish priests, which they exercised by virtue of the concession of St. Pius V and other worthy pontiffs. His great perseverance obtained that in the form established at present among the orders, who desired to retain some ministries of the missions—leaving others, because that subjection to the bishops did not seem to them to be in harmony with the institutes of the orders. I shall not mention the disturbances and scandals that the common enemy of souls compassed during that time for the ruin of many—which filled the world with gloom, and gave perfidious heretics the opportunity to blaspheme against the Catholic priests—for they are very well known.The archbishops of Manila tried to establish that kind of ecclesiastical hierarchy in Filipinas, but as he was so holy, and only desired to promote the greater honor and glory of God (Qui cogitationempacis et non aflictionis habet)35he found considerable inconveniences and even impossibilities in effecting what he was attempting. For Don Juan de Palafox had a great plenty of secular priests who were very suitable in learning and virtue for choosing and presenting for the missions, which the orders were abandoning, because they refused to submit to the rigor of the canonical collation in the appointments to the missions. But the archbishop found a great lack of secular priests in these islands, for scarcely are there enough in this country to fill the choir of the cathedral of Manila, with prebendaries and chaplains for the royal chapel, and some few curacies which the clergy hold in this archbishopric. For the Spaniards in this country multiply but slowly, and very few of their sons apply themselves to following the ecclesiastical life, either secular or regular. That is so true that the orders could not maintain themselves if it were not for the continual missions that are brought from the kingdoms of España. Thus, the clergy is composed of the sons of the Spaniards of this country, and with these is maintained a cabildo in this cathedral of Manila, so distinguished that it might belong to one of the first churches of España; for most of them are doctors in sacred theology, after having graduated first as masters of arts. He who has the least degree is a master. All of them are very learned and of known virtue, which is a cause for admiration, as they live so far from reward that one rarely passes from the sphere of the dignities of the said cabildo. For although some have attained the episcopal dignity, these are very few—as, for instance, this year theirdean, Doctor Don Domingo de Valencia, was promoted to the bishopric of Camarines,36but at such an age that he cannot obtain the dignity for a long time. However, in order to comply with his obligation, and to give the orders an incentive to represent in judicial form what they had to allege, the archbishop resolved to place the visitation in execution. He began with the mission at Binondoc, outside the walls of the city of Manila, belonging to the religious of St. Dominic, who immediately abandoned that mission; and the same was done by the other orders, who left the missions in their control in the hands of the governor as vice-patron. The latter referred the consultative vote on a so great and weighty matter to the Audiencia in the royal assembly. It was thoroughly discussed by the auditors of the Audiencia, who were all very eminent jurisconsults; and they, recognizing the impossibility of placing in execution in these islands what Don Juan de Palafox had established in Nueva España, as the system in vogue in these regions is very different, despatched a royal prohibition to the archbishop, ordering him to hold his right in reserve, and to suspend what he had begun until the royal and supreme Council of the Indias should be informed, and should take suitable measures. The archbishop was notified by the first and the second royal prohibition; and he obeyed it, and suspended the visitation, after making his protests. From that time the orders found him a most loving father and protector. He referred the case to the royal Council; the orders also [did thesame], by the authority which they gave to the most reverend father master Fray Juan Polanco of the Order of Preachers, the procurator of the province of Santo Rosario at court. All the orders renounced the missions in their charge. The president [of the Council] was the count of Peñaranda, Don Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, a minister of great talent and experience in very difficult negotiations, as he showed in the peace of Nimega,37where he was the plenipotentiary of Don Felipe IV. That most erudite senate having examined the matter, and having penetrated like lynxes the most hidden difficulties, imposed silence for the time being on that innovation.The perverse spirit of discord which had in charge the incitement of that litigation in which the prince of darkness profited by a great number of scandals, discords, and tumults, was suspended and remained as if asleep for forty-four years—until it awakened, in the year 1697, because of our sins. Archbishop Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila,38a native of Badajoz and former magistral canon of that holy church, and fellow of the chief college at Cuenca in Salamanca, came to these islands [in that year]. He was a great prelate, and very vigilant in his pastoral office. He died later (the year of 1712) as bishop of Guadalajara and was well remembered for his zealand integrity. [Here follows an account of the attempt of Archbishop Camacho to enforce the visitation of the regulars, which we omit in this place, as it will be sufficiently noticed later.]In the beginning, the provinces of América were founded entirely in accordance with the regular institutes of communal houses and convents, with a great number of conventuals; they did not need to take these from the provinces of España, as they could choose plenty from the country. On the contrary in Filipinas we have no more than the convents of Manila, Cebú, and Guadalupe as communal convents—although only the convent of Manila preserves that character; while the others, more than seventy-four in number, are only missions where one single religious lives, and, in a very few, two ministers, according to the size of the village and the ability of the province. The latter is wont often to consist of as many priests as missions, until reënforcements of religious come from España; and if that reënforcement is very slow, then there are generally more missions than religious as priests. What I say here of our order is the same of all the others. It is not so in América, Perú, and Nueva España, where the convents are established totally independent of the missions. They have plenty of religious, and those who belong to the land itself, so that they do not have to send to España for them. Those convents have their incomes by which they are sustained, so that they do not need any of the fees of the missions; and consequently, the orders who wished to retain some missions subject to the ordinary could do so very easily, by assigning some religious to that mission who knew the language ofthose villages. Such religious are presented to the vice-patron, who presents them to the bishop. The latter examines them, and gives them the collation of the curacy in regular appointment. They administer that office in subjection to the priors of the convents, and to their visitation and correction in matters concerning the order; and in subjection to the bishops, who hold jurisdiction and visitation over them in regard to any transgressions in their office as curas. Those religious are maintained perpetually in their offices, and the chapters cannot change them to other convents; for they cannot leave their curacies without the intervention of the vice-patron and bishop, who are very loth to change them because of the investigations demanded by the presentation, examination, and collation. Those religious (who are very few) having been dedicated to that office of curas, the others, who consist of almost all the religious of the province who are exempt from that occupation, hold their chapters and change their priors according to the constitutions of the order.It is not so in these Filipinas, where, as I have said, there are so few religious. Supposing that the plan of Don Juan de Palafox were to be inaugurated, and that all the religious submitted to receive the canonical collation of the curacies in proprietary appointment, the conservation and continued supply of religious would cease. The chapters would cease, for they could not remove the religious from the villages where they were acting as proprietary curas; and it would be necessary to keep them where they had their parishes. Very great difficulties would ensue from that. The province would cease to sendprocurators to España to bring back religious; and if the generous motive of coming as apostolic missionaries ceased, they would leave their provinces and fatherland—all the more because of being subject to the bishops, a burden so far from the exemption of the regulars that we watch so carefully. That subjection would have to be not only to the bishop but also to the ecclesiastical governors of a vacant see. There have been so many of the latter in these islands, that in Manila they had them for fourteen years; and in Cebú, Cagayán, and Camarines, for twenty years. The provincials would have nothing left but that name, and would not have entire control over their subordinates. The above and many other representations were made to Archbishop Don Millán de Poblete, and they availed so well with him that he suspended his resolve. The same things were represented to Don Diego Camacho, and these same reasons moved the gentlemen of the royal Council of the Indias to moderate that subjection—leaving it only in the visitation, with the limitations already mentioned, thus enjoining perpetual silence, in regard to erecting the missions into curacies, and to allowing the orders to abandon the ministries of those missions.Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]The archbishop having put aside his doubt in regard to undertaking the visitation of the regulars, dedicated himself, as a true prelate, to his other obligations. The first one was the building of the cathedral, because of the ruin that occurred in it on the fatal night of St. Andrew in the year 1645; the church of the girls’ school of Santa Isabel was being used as a cathedral. He placed his shoulders very earnestly to that so chief obligation, although thepoverty of the times made it difficult for him. He set about collecting materials, and the order of our father St. Augustine lent him the lime-kilns of Birabira, where the best and strongest lime of all the islands is made. The pious and Catholic governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, was the one who conquered the greatest difficulties by collecting a generous alms from the citizens of Manila, and by giving his aid to the archbishop. The building was commenced, and, after the trenches for the foundations had been made, the archbishop clad himself in his pontifical garments and on the twentieth of April, 1654, blessed the first stone, which was carried by General Don Pedro de Mendiola. The master-of-camp, Don Pedro de Almonte, carried on a rich tray a bronze plate with the inscription of the erection of the church. Captain Don Nicolás Sarmiento carried on another tray five silver coins, and Captain Diego Castellanos a box of lead. All went in procession to the place where the stone was to be placed, and the governor and archbishop set it in position, while the litanies were being chanted. In a hollow already made in the stone were placed the plate and coins. The inscription on the plate is as follows:“While Innocent X was governing the Church, King Felipe IV the Españas, and Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, the Filipinas Islands, this stone for the building of this holy cathedral—its titular being the Conception, and its patron St. Andrew the apostle—was placed in position by Don Miguel de Poblete, metropolitan archbishop, April 20, 1654.”The building of that cathedral proceeded, as the time, which was very full of troubles, allowed; accordinglyit lasted for many years, two or three years having passed without any work; and its dedication services were held on September 8, 1671. It is of Doric architecture and has three naves, and is very strong, as it is built of heavy stone. It has a reredos of the finest sculpture in these islands. It was completed by Archbishop Don Diego Camacho y Ávila, who built a very beautiful high tower that contains some very fine bells.39He also built the sacristy and other parts which were wanting for the completion of the cathedral, and adorned it with a quantity of wrought silver and very rich ornaments and lamps, which he sent from Guadalajara, for he was not forgetful of his first spouse.Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
CHAPTER XIThe archbishop tries to visit the missions of the religious, but suspends that effort, and builds the cathedral of Manila.The archbishop, Don Miguel Millán y Poblete, came here with the firm determination to pursue the plans of Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, bishop of La Puebla de los Ángeles, who had consecrated him. Those plans had caused great disturbances in Nueva España because of their novelty, and had divided that country into the two divisions of Palafoxistas and Palancas,34who were no less mischievous than the Guelphs and Ghibelines in the time ofFederico Barbarroja [i.e., Frederick Barbarossa] when determinations issued forth to combat with understandings. Don Juan de Palafox tried to reduce the ministries of the missions (which the orders had possessed in Nueva España since the conquest) to regularly-appointed curacies with canonical institution and collation, so that they could be administered by ordinary jurisdiction, to the suppression of the delegated jurisdiction. This was done in order that the ecclesiastical hierarchy might be one whole in its proportionate parts; and that the episcopal dignity might possess entire dominion over the shepherds of its sheep, by visiting them and sitting in judgment on their excesses in the office of parish priests, which they exercised by virtue of the concession of St. Pius V and other worthy pontiffs. His great perseverance obtained that in the form established at present among the orders, who desired to retain some ministries of the missions—leaving others, because that subjection to the bishops did not seem to them to be in harmony with the institutes of the orders. I shall not mention the disturbances and scandals that the common enemy of souls compassed during that time for the ruin of many—which filled the world with gloom, and gave perfidious heretics the opportunity to blaspheme against the Catholic priests—for they are very well known.The archbishops of Manila tried to establish that kind of ecclesiastical hierarchy in Filipinas, but as he was so holy, and only desired to promote the greater honor and glory of God (Qui cogitationempacis et non aflictionis habet)35he found considerable inconveniences and even impossibilities in effecting what he was attempting. For Don Juan de Palafox had a great plenty of secular priests who were very suitable in learning and virtue for choosing and presenting for the missions, which the orders were abandoning, because they refused to submit to the rigor of the canonical collation in the appointments to the missions. But the archbishop found a great lack of secular priests in these islands, for scarcely are there enough in this country to fill the choir of the cathedral of Manila, with prebendaries and chaplains for the royal chapel, and some few curacies which the clergy hold in this archbishopric. For the Spaniards in this country multiply but slowly, and very few of their sons apply themselves to following the ecclesiastical life, either secular or regular. That is so true that the orders could not maintain themselves if it were not for the continual missions that are brought from the kingdoms of España. Thus, the clergy is composed of the sons of the Spaniards of this country, and with these is maintained a cabildo in this cathedral of Manila, so distinguished that it might belong to one of the first churches of España; for most of them are doctors in sacred theology, after having graduated first as masters of arts. He who has the least degree is a master. All of them are very learned and of known virtue, which is a cause for admiration, as they live so far from reward that one rarely passes from the sphere of the dignities of the said cabildo. For although some have attained the episcopal dignity, these are very few—as, for instance, this year theirdean, Doctor Don Domingo de Valencia, was promoted to the bishopric of Camarines,36but at such an age that he cannot obtain the dignity for a long time. However, in order to comply with his obligation, and to give the orders an incentive to represent in judicial form what they had to allege, the archbishop resolved to place the visitation in execution. He began with the mission at Binondoc, outside the walls of the city of Manila, belonging to the religious of St. Dominic, who immediately abandoned that mission; and the same was done by the other orders, who left the missions in their control in the hands of the governor as vice-patron. The latter referred the consultative vote on a so great and weighty matter to the Audiencia in the royal assembly. It was thoroughly discussed by the auditors of the Audiencia, who were all very eminent jurisconsults; and they, recognizing the impossibility of placing in execution in these islands what Don Juan de Palafox had established in Nueva España, as the system in vogue in these regions is very different, despatched a royal prohibition to the archbishop, ordering him to hold his right in reserve, and to suspend what he had begun until the royal and supreme Council of the Indias should be informed, and should take suitable measures. The archbishop was notified by the first and the second royal prohibition; and he obeyed it, and suspended the visitation, after making his protests. From that time the orders found him a most loving father and protector. He referred the case to the royal Council; the orders also [did thesame], by the authority which they gave to the most reverend father master Fray Juan Polanco of the Order of Preachers, the procurator of the province of Santo Rosario at court. All the orders renounced the missions in their charge. The president [of the Council] was the count of Peñaranda, Don Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, a minister of great talent and experience in very difficult negotiations, as he showed in the peace of Nimega,37where he was the plenipotentiary of Don Felipe IV. That most erudite senate having examined the matter, and having penetrated like lynxes the most hidden difficulties, imposed silence for the time being on that innovation.The perverse spirit of discord which had in charge the incitement of that litigation in which the prince of darkness profited by a great number of scandals, discords, and tumults, was suspended and remained as if asleep for forty-four years—until it awakened, in the year 1697, because of our sins. Archbishop Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila,38a native of Badajoz and former magistral canon of that holy church, and fellow of the chief college at Cuenca in Salamanca, came to these islands [in that year]. He was a great prelate, and very vigilant in his pastoral office. He died later (the year of 1712) as bishop of Guadalajara and was well remembered for his zealand integrity. [Here follows an account of the attempt of Archbishop Camacho to enforce the visitation of the regulars, which we omit in this place, as it will be sufficiently noticed later.]In the beginning, the provinces of América were founded entirely in accordance with the regular institutes of communal houses and convents, with a great number of conventuals; they did not need to take these from the provinces of España, as they could choose plenty from the country. On the contrary in Filipinas we have no more than the convents of Manila, Cebú, and Guadalupe as communal convents—although only the convent of Manila preserves that character; while the others, more than seventy-four in number, are only missions where one single religious lives, and, in a very few, two ministers, according to the size of the village and the ability of the province. The latter is wont often to consist of as many priests as missions, until reënforcements of religious come from España; and if that reënforcement is very slow, then there are generally more missions than religious as priests. What I say here of our order is the same of all the others. It is not so in América, Perú, and Nueva España, where the convents are established totally independent of the missions. They have plenty of religious, and those who belong to the land itself, so that they do not have to send to España for them. Those convents have their incomes by which they are sustained, so that they do not need any of the fees of the missions; and consequently, the orders who wished to retain some missions subject to the ordinary could do so very easily, by assigning some religious to that mission who knew the language ofthose villages. Such religious are presented to the vice-patron, who presents them to the bishop. The latter examines them, and gives them the collation of the curacy in regular appointment. They administer that office in subjection to the priors of the convents, and to their visitation and correction in matters concerning the order; and in subjection to the bishops, who hold jurisdiction and visitation over them in regard to any transgressions in their office as curas. Those religious are maintained perpetually in their offices, and the chapters cannot change them to other convents; for they cannot leave their curacies without the intervention of the vice-patron and bishop, who are very loth to change them because of the investigations demanded by the presentation, examination, and collation. Those religious (who are very few) having been dedicated to that office of curas, the others, who consist of almost all the religious of the province who are exempt from that occupation, hold their chapters and change their priors according to the constitutions of the order.It is not so in these Filipinas, where, as I have said, there are so few religious. Supposing that the plan of Don Juan de Palafox were to be inaugurated, and that all the religious submitted to receive the canonical collation of the curacies in proprietary appointment, the conservation and continued supply of religious would cease. The chapters would cease, for they could not remove the religious from the villages where they were acting as proprietary curas; and it would be necessary to keep them where they had their parishes. Very great difficulties would ensue from that. The province would cease to sendprocurators to España to bring back religious; and if the generous motive of coming as apostolic missionaries ceased, they would leave their provinces and fatherland—all the more because of being subject to the bishops, a burden so far from the exemption of the regulars that we watch so carefully. That subjection would have to be not only to the bishop but also to the ecclesiastical governors of a vacant see. There have been so many of the latter in these islands, that in Manila they had them for fourteen years; and in Cebú, Cagayán, and Camarines, for twenty years. The provincials would have nothing left but that name, and would not have entire control over their subordinates. The above and many other representations were made to Archbishop Don Millán de Poblete, and they availed so well with him that he suspended his resolve. The same things were represented to Don Diego Camacho, and these same reasons moved the gentlemen of the royal Council of the Indias to moderate that subjection—leaving it only in the visitation, with the limitations already mentioned, thus enjoining perpetual silence, in regard to erecting the missions into curacies, and to allowing the orders to abandon the ministries of those missions.Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]The archbishop having put aside his doubt in regard to undertaking the visitation of the regulars, dedicated himself, as a true prelate, to his other obligations. The first one was the building of the cathedral, because of the ruin that occurred in it on the fatal night of St. Andrew in the year 1645; the church of the girls’ school of Santa Isabel was being used as a cathedral. He placed his shoulders very earnestly to that so chief obligation, although thepoverty of the times made it difficult for him. He set about collecting materials, and the order of our father St. Augustine lent him the lime-kilns of Birabira, where the best and strongest lime of all the islands is made. The pious and Catholic governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, was the one who conquered the greatest difficulties by collecting a generous alms from the citizens of Manila, and by giving his aid to the archbishop. The building was commenced, and, after the trenches for the foundations had been made, the archbishop clad himself in his pontifical garments and on the twentieth of April, 1654, blessed the first stone, which was carried by General Don Pedro de Mendiola. The master-of-camp, Don Pedro de Almonte, carried on a rich tray a bronze plate with the inscription of the erection of the church. Captain Don Nicolás Sarmiento carried on another tray five silver coins, and Captain Diego Castellanos a box of lead. All went in procession to the place where the stone was to be placed, and the governor and archbishop set it in position, while the litanies were being chanted. In a hollow already made in the stone were placed the plate and coins. The inscription on the plate is as follows:“While Innocent X was governing the Church, King Felipe IV the Españas, and Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, the Filipinas Islands, this stone for the building of this holy cathedral—its titular being the Conception, and its patron St. Andrew the apostle—was placed in position by Don Miguel de Poblete, metropolitan archbishop, April 20, 1654.”The building of that cathedral proceeded, as the time, which was very full of troubles, allowed; accordinglyit lasted for many years, two or three years having passed without any work; and its dedication services were held on September 8, 1671. It is of Doric architecture and has three naves, and is very strong, as it is built of heavy stone. It has a reredos of the finest sculpture in these islands. It was completed by Archbishop Don Diego Camacho y Ávila, who built a very beautiful high tower that contains some very fine bells.39He also built the sacristy and other parts which were wanting for the completion of the cathedral, and adorned it with a quantity of wrought silver and very rich ornaments and lamps, which he sent from Guadalajara, for he was not forgetful of his first spouse.Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
CHAPTER XIThe archbishop tries to visit the missions of the religious, but suspends that effort, and builds the cathedral of Manila.The archbishop, Don Miguel Millán y Poblete, came here with the firm determination to pursue the plans of Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, bishop of La Puebla de los Ángeles, who had consecrated him. Those plans had caused great disturbances in Nueva España because of their novelty, and had divided that country into the two divisions of Palafoxistas and Palancas,34who were no less mischievous than the Guelphs and Ghibelines in the time ofFederico Barbarroja [i.e., Frederick Barbarossa] when determinations issued forth to combat with understandings. Don Juan de Palafox tried to reduce the ministries of the missions (which the orders had possessed in Nueva España since the conquest) to regularly-appointed curacies with canonical institution and collation, so that they could be administered by ordinary jurisdiction, to the suppression of the delegated jurisdiction. This was done in order that the ecclesiastical hierarchy might be one whole in its proportionate parts; and that the episcopal dignity might possess entire dominion over the shepherds of its sheep, by visiting them and sitting in judgment on their excesses in the office of parish priests, which they exercised by virtue of the concession of St. Pius V and other worthy pontiffs. His great perseverance obtained that in the form established at present among the orders, who desired to retain some ministries of the missions—leaving others, because that subjection to the bishops did not seem to them to be in harmony with the institutes of the orders. I shall not mention the disturbances and scandals that the common enemy of souls compassed during that time for the ruin of many—which filled the world with gloom, and gave perfidious heretics the opportunity to blaspheme against the Catholic priests—for they are very well known.The archbishops of Manila tried to establish that kind of ecclesiastical hierarchy in Filipinas, but as he was so holy, and only desired to promote the greater honor and glory of God (Qui cogitationempacis et non aflictionis habet)35he found considerable inconveniences and even impossibilities in effecting what he was attempting. For Don Juan de Palafox had a great plenty of secular priests who were very suitable in learning and virtue for choosing and presenting for the missions, which the orders were abandoning, because they refused to submit to the rigor of the canonical collation in the appointments to the missions. But the archbishop found a great lack of secular priests in these islands, for scarcely are there enough in this country to fill the choir of the cathedral of Manila, with prebendaries and chaplains for the royal chapel, and some few curacies which the clergy hold in this archbishopric. For the Spaniards in this country multiply but slowly, and very few of their sons apply themselves to following the ecclesiastical life, either secular or regular. That is so true that the orders could not maintain themselves if it were not for the continual missions that are brought from the kingdoms of España. Thus, the clergy is composed of the sons of the Spaniards of this country, and with these is maintained a cabildo in this cathedral of Manila, so distinguished that it might belong to one of the first churches of España; for most of them are doctors in sacred theology, after having graduated first as masters of arts. He who has the least degree is a master. All of them are very learned and of known virtue, which is a cause for admiration, as they live so far from reward that one rarely passes from the sphere of the dignities of the said cabildo. For although some have attained the episcopal dignity, these are very few—as, for instance, this year theirdean, Doctor Don Domingo de Valencia, was promoted to the bishopric of Camarines,36but at such an age that he cannot obtain the dignity for a long time. However, in order to comply with his obligation, and to give the orders an incentive to represent in judicial form what they had to allege, the archbishop resolved to place the visitation in execution. He began with the mission at Binondoc, outside the walls of the city of Manila, belonging to the religious of St. Dominic, who immediately abandoned that mission; and the same was done by the other orders, who left the missions in their control in the hands of the governor as vice-patron. The latter referred the consultative vote on a so great and weighty matter to the Audiencia in the royal assembly. It was thoroughly discussed by the auditors of the Audiencia, who were all very eminent jurisconsults; and they, recognizing the impossibility of placing in execution in these islands what Don Juan de Palafox had established in Nueva España, as the system in vogue in these regions is very different, despatched a royal prohibition to the archbishop, ordering him to hold his right in reserve, and to suspend what he had begun until the royal and supreme Council of the Indias should be informed, and should take suitable measures. The archbishop was notified by the first and the second royal prohibition; and he obeyed it, and suspended the visitation, after making his protests. From that time the orders found him a most loving father and protector. He referred the case to the royal Council; the orders also [did thesame], by the authority which they gave to the most reverend father master Fray Juan Polanco of the Order of Preachers, the procurator of the province of Santo Rosario at court. All the orders renounced the missions in their charge. The president [of the Council] was the count of Peñaranda, Don Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, a minister of great talent and experience in very difficult negotiations, as he showed in the peace of Nimega,37where he was the plenipotentiary of Don Felipe IV. That most erudite senate having examined the matter, and having penetrated like lynxes the most hidden difficulties, imposed silence for the time being on that innovation.The perverse spirit of discord which had in charge the incitement of that litigation in which the prince of darkness profited by a great number of scandals, discords, and tumults, was suspended and remained as if asleep for forty-four years—until it awakened, in the year 1697, because of our sins. Archbishop Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila,38a native of Badajoz and former magistral canon of that holy church, and fellow of the chief college at Cuenca in Salamanca, came to these islands [in that year]. He was a great prelate, and very vigilant in his pastoral office. He died later (the year of 1712) as bishop of Guadalajara and was well remembered for his zealand integrity. [Here follows an account of the attempt of Archbishop Camacho to enforce the visitation of the regulars, which we omit in this place, as it will be sufficiently noticed later.]In the beginning, the provinces of América were founded entirely in accordance with the regular institutes of communal houses and convents, with a great number of conventuals; they did not need to take these from the provinces of España, as they could choose plenty from the country. On the contrary in Filipinas we have no more than the convents of Manila, Cebú, and Guadalupe as communal convents—although only the convent of Manila preserves that character; while the others, more than seventy-four in number, are only missions where one single religious lives, and, in a very few, two ministers, according to the size of the village and the ability of the province. The latter is wont often to consist of as many priests as missions, until reënforcements of religious come from España; and if that reënforcement is very slow, then there are generally more missions than religious as priests. What I say here of our order is the same of all the others. It is not so in América, Perú, and Nueva España, where the convents are established totally independent of the missions. They have plenty of religious, and those who belong to the land itself, so that they do not have to send to España for them. Those convents have their incomes by which they are sustained, so that they do not need any of the fees of the missions; and consequently, the orders who wished to retain some missions subject to the ordinary could do so very easily, by assigning some religious to that mission who knew the language ofthose villages. Such religious are presented to the vice-patron, who presents them to the bishop. The latter examines them, and gives them the collation of the curacy in regular appointment. They administer that office in subjection to the priors of the convents, and to their visitation and correction in matters concerning the order; and in subjection to the bishops, who hold jurisdiction and visitation over them in regard to any transgressions in their office as curas. Those religious are maintained perpetually in their offices, and the chapters cannot change them to other convents; for they cannot leave their curacies without the intervention of the vice-patron and bishop, who are very loth to change them because of the investigations demanded by the presentation, examination, and collation. Those religious (who are very few) having been dedicated to that office of curas, the others, who consist of almost all the religious of the province who are exempt from that occupation, hold their chapters and change their priors according to the constitutions of the order.It is not so in these Filipinas, where, as I have said, there are so few religious. Supposing that the plan of Don Juan de Palafox were to be inaugurated, and that all the religious submitted to receive the canonical collation of the curacies in proprietary appointment, the conservation and continued supply of religious would cease. The chapters would cease, for they could not remove the religious from the villages where they were acting as proprietary curas; and it would be necessary to keep them where they had their parishes. Very great difficulties would ensue from that. The province would cease to sendprocurators to España to bring back religious; and if the generous motive of coming as apostolic missionaries ceased, they would leave their provinces and fatherland—all the more because of being subject to the bishops, a burden so far from the exemption of the regulars that we watch so carefully. That subjection would have to be not only to the bishop but also to the ecclesiastical governors of a vacant see. There have been so many of the latter in these islands, that in Manila they had them for fourteen years; and in Cebú, Cagayán, and Camarines, for twenty years. The provincials would have nothing left but that name, and would not have entire control over their subordinates. The above and many other representations were made to Archbishop Don Millán de Poblete, and they availed so well with him that he suspended his resolve. The same things were represented to Don Diego Camacho, and these same reasons moved the gentlemen of the royal Council of the Indias to moderate that subjection—leaving it only in the visitation, with the limitations already mentioned, thus enjoining perpetual silence, in regard to erecting the missions into curacies, and to allowing the orders to abandon the ministries of those missions.Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]The archbishop having put aside his doubt in regard to undertaking the visitation of the regulars, dedicated himself, as a true prelate, to his other obligations. The first one was the building of the cathedral, because of the ruin that occurred in it on the fatal night of St. Andrew in the year 1645; the church of the girls’ school of Santa Isabel was being used as a cathedral. He placed his shoulders very earnestly to that so chief obligation, although thepoverty of the times made it difficult for him. He set about collecting materials, and the order of our father St. Augustine lent him the lime-kilns of Birabira, where the best and strongest lime of all the islands is made. The pious and Catholic governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, was the one who conquered the greatest difficulties by collecting a generous alms from the citizens of Manila, and by giving his aid to the archbishop. The building was commenced, and, after the trenches for the foundations had been made, the archbishop clad himself in his pontifical garments and on the twentieth of April, 1654, blessed the first stone, which was carried by General Don Pedro de Mendiola. The master-of-camp, Don Pedro de Almonte, carried on a rich tray a bronze plate with the inscription of the erection of the church. Captain Don Nicolás Sarmiento carried on another tray five silver coins, and Captain Diego Castellanos a box of lead. All went in procession to the place where the stone was to be placed, and the governor and archbishop set it in position, while the litanies were being chanted. In a hollow already made in the stone were placed the plate and coins. The inscription on the plate is as follows:“While Innocent X was governing the Church, King Felipe IV the Españas, and Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, the Filipinas Islands, this stone for the building of this holy cathedral—its titular being the Conception, and its patron St. Andrew the apostle—was placed in position by Don Miguel de Poblete, metropolitan archbishop, April 20, 1654.”The building of that cathedral proceeded, as the time, which was very full of troubles, allowed; accordinglyit lasted for many years, two or three years having passed without any work; and its dedication services were held on September 8, 1671. It is of Doric architecture and has three naves, and is very strong, as it is built of heavy stone. It has a reredos of the finest sculpture in these islands. It was completed by Archbishop Don Diego Camacho y Ávila, who built a very beautiful high tower that contains some very fine bells.39He also built the sacristy and other parts which were wanting for the completion of the cathedral, and adorned it with a quantity of wrought silver and very rich ornaments and lamps, which he sent from Guadalajara, for he was not forgetful of his first spouse.Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
CHAPTER XIThe archbishop tries to visit the missions of the religious, but suspends that effort, and builds the cathedral of Manila.The archbishop, Don Miguel Millán y Poblete, came here with the firm determination to pursue the plans of Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, bishop of La Puebla de los Ángeles, who had consecrated him. Those plans had caused great disturbances in Nueva España because of their novelty, and had divided that country into the two divisions of Palafoxistas and Palancas,34who were no less mischievous than the Guelphs and Ghibelines in the time ofFederico Barbarroja [i.e., Frederick Barbarossa] when determinations issued forth to combat with understandings. Don Juan de Palafox tried to reduce the ministries of the missions (which the orders had possessed in Nueva España since the conquest) to regularly-appointed curacies with canonical institution and collation, so that they could be administered by ordinary jurisdiction, to the suppression of the delegated jurisdiction. This was done in order that the ecclesiastical hierarchy might be one whole in its proportionate parts; and that the episcopal dignity might possess entire dominion over the shepherds of its sheep, by visiting them and sitting in judgment on their excesses in the office of parish priests, which they exercised by virtue of the concession of St. Pius V and other worthy pontiffs. His great perseverance obtained that in the form established at present among the orders, who desired to retain some ministries of the missions—leaving others, because that subjection to the bishops did not seem to them to be in harmony with the institutes of the orders. I shall not mention the disturbances and scandals that the common enemy of souls compassed during that time for the ruin of many—which filled the world with gloom, and gave perfidious heretics the opportunity to blaspheme against the Catholic priests—for they are very well known.The archbishops of Manila tried to establish that kind of ecclesiastical hierarchy in Filipinas, but as he was so holy, and only desired to promote the greater honor and glory of God (Qui cogitationempacis et non aflictionis habet)35he found considerable inconveniences and even impossibilities in effecting what he was attempting. For Don Juan de Palafox had a great plenty of secular priests who were very suitable in learning and virtue for choosing and presenting for the missions, which the orders were abandoning, because they refused to submit to the rigor of the canonical collation in the appointments to the missions. But the archbishop found a great lack of secular priests in these islands, for scarcely are there enough in this country to fill the choir of the cathedral of Manila, with prebendaries and chaplains for the royal chapel, and some few curacies which the clergy hold in this archbishopric. For the Spaniards in this country multiply but slowly, and very few of their sons apply themselves to following the ecclesiastical life, either secular or regular. That is so true that the orders could not maintain themselves if it were not for the continual missions that are brought from the kingdoms of España. Thus, the clergy is composed of the sons of the Spaniards of this country, and with these is maintained a cabildo in this cathedral of Manila, so distinguished that it might belong to one of the first churches of España; for most of them are doctors in sacred theology, after having graduated first as masters of arts. He who has the least degree is a master. All of them are very learned and of known virtue, which is a cause for admiration, as they live so far from reward that one rarely passes from the sphere of the dignities of the said cabildo. For although some have attained the episcopal dignity, these are very few—as, for instance, this year theirdean, Doctor Don Domingo de Valencia, was promoted to the bishopric of Camarines,36but at such an age that he cannot obtain the dignity for a long time. However, in order to comply with his obligation, and to give the orders an incentive to represent in judicial form what they had to allege, the archbishop resolved to place the visitation in execution. He began with the mission at Binondoc, outside the walls of the city of Manila, belonging to the religious of St. Dominic, who immediately abandoned that mission; and the same was done by the other orders, who left the missions in their control in the hands of the governor as vice-patron. The latter referred the consultative vote on a so great and weighty matter to the Audiencia in the royal assembly. It was thoroughly discussed by the auditors of the Audiencia, who were all very eminent jurisconsults; and they, recognizing the impossibility of placing in execution in these islands what Don Juan de Palafox had established in Nueva España, as the system in vogue in these regions is very different, despatched a royal prohibition to the archbishop, ordering him to hold his right in reserve, and to suspend what he had begun until the royal and supreme Council of the Indias should be informed, and should take suitable measures. The archbishop was notified by the first and the second royal prohibition; and he obeyed it, and suspended the visitation, after making his protests. From that time the orders found him a most loving father and protector. He referred the case to the royal Council; the orders also [did thesame], by the authority which they gave to the most reverend father master Fray Juan Polanco of the Order of Preachers, the procurator of the province of Santo Rosario at court. All the orders renounced the missions in their charge. The president [of the Council] was the count of Peñaranda, Don Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, a minister of great talent and experience in very difficult negotiations, as he showed in the peace of Nimega,37where he was the plenipotentiary of Don Felipe IV. That most erudite senate having examined the matter, and having penetrated like lynxes the most hidden difficulties, imposed silence for the time being on that innovation.The perverse spirit of discord which had in charge the incitement of that litigation in which the prince of darkness profited by a great number of scandals, discords, and tumults, was suspended and remained as if asleep for forty-four years—until it awakened, in the year 1697, because of our sins. Archbishop Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila,38a native of Badajoz and former magistral canon of that holy church, and fellow of the chief college at Cuenca in Salamanca, came to these islands [in that year]. He was a great prelate, and very vigilant in his pastoral office. He died later (the year of 1712) as bishop of Guadalajara and was well remembered for his zealand integrity. [Here follows an account of the attempt of Archbishop Camacho to enforce the visitation of the regulars, which we omit in this place, as it will be sufficiently noticed later.]In the beginning, the provinces of América were founded entirely in accordance with the regular institutes of communal houses and convents, with a great number of conventuals; they did not need to take these from the provinces of España, as they could choose plenty from the country. On the contrary in Filipinas we have no more than the convents of Manila, Cebú, and Guadalupe as communal convents—although only the convent of Manila preserves that character; while the others, more than seventy-four in number, are only missions where one single religious lives, and, in a very few, two ministers, according to the size of the village and the ability of the province. The latter is wont often to consist of as many priests as missions, until reënforcements of religious come from España; and if that reënforcement is very slow, then there are generally more missions than religious as priests. What I say here of our order is the same of all the others. It is not so in América, Perú, and Nueva España, where the convents are established totally independent of the missions. They have plenty of religious, and those who belong to the land itself, so that they do not have to send to España for them. Those convents have their incomes by which they are sustained, so that they do not need any of the fees of the missions; and consequently, the orders who wished to retain some missions subject to the ordinary could do so very easily, by assigning some religious to that mission who knew the language ofthose villages. Such religious are presented to the vice-patron, who presents them to the bishop. The latter examines them, and gives them the collation of the curacy in regular appointment. They administer that office in subjection to the priors of the convents, and to their visitation and correction in matters concerning the order; and in subjection to the bishops, who hold jurisdiction and visitation over them in regard to any transgressions in their office as curas. Those religious are maintained perpetually in their offices, and the chapters cannot change them to other convents; for they cannot leave their curacies without the intervention of the vice-patron and bishop, who are very loth to change them because of the investigations demanded by the presentation, examination, and collation. Those religious (who are very few) having been dedicated to that office of curas, the others, who consist of almost all the religious of the province who are exempt from that occupation, hold their chapters and change their priors according to the constitutions of the order.It is not so in these Filipinas, where, as I have said, there are so few religious. Supposing that the plan of Don Juan de Palafox were to be inaugurated, and that all the religious submitted to receive the canonical collation of the curacies in proprietary appointment, the conservation and continued supply of religious would cease. The chapters would cease, for they could not remove the religious from the villages where they were acting as proprietary curas; and it would be necessary to keep them where they had their parishes. Very great difficulties would ensue from that. The province would cease to sendprocurators to España to bring back religious; and if the generous motive of coming as apostolic missionaries ceased, they would leave their provinces and fatherland—all the more because of being subject to the bishops, a burden so far from the exemption of the regulars that we watch so carefully. That subjection would have to be not only to the bishop but also to the ecclesiastical governors of a vacant see. There have been so many of the latter in these islands, that in Manila they had them for fourteen years; and in Cebú, Cagayán, and Camarines, for twenty years. The provincials would have nothing left but that name, and would not have entire control over their subordinates. The above and many other representations were made to Archbishop Don Millán de Poblete, and they availed so well with him that he suspended his resolve. The same things were represented to Don Diego Camacho, and these same reasons moved the gentlemen of the royal Council of the Indias to moderate that subjection—leaving it only in the visitation, with the limitations already mentioned, thus enjoining perpetual silence, in regard to erecting the missions into curacies, and to allowing the orders to abandon the ministries of those missions.Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]The archbishop having put aside his doubt in regard to undertaking the visitation of the regulars, dedicated himself, as a true prelate, to his other obligations. The first one was the building of the cathedral, because of the ruin that occurred in it on the fatal night of St. Andrew in the year 1645; the church of the girls’ school of Santa Isabel was being used as a cathedral. He placed his shoulders very earnestly to that so chief obligation, although thepoverty of the times made it difficult for him. He set about collecting materials, and the order of our father St. Augustine lent him the lime-kilns of Birabira, where the best and strongest lime of all the islands is made. The pious and Catholic governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, was the one who conquered the greatest difficulties by collecting a generous alms from the citizens of Manila, and by giving his aid to the archbishop. The building was commenced, and, after the trenches for the foundations had been made, the archbishop clad himself in his pontifical garments and on the twentieth of April, 1654, blessed the first stone, which was carried by General Don Pedro de Mendiola. The master-of-camp, Don Pedro de Almonte, carried on a rich tray a bronze plate with the inscription of the erection of the church. Captain Don Nicolás Sarmiento carried on another tray five silver coins, and Captain Diego Castellanos a box of lead. All went in procession to the place where the stone was to be placed, and the governor and archbishop set it in position, while the litanies were being chanted. In a hollow already made in the stone were placed the plate and coins. The inscription on the plate is as follows:“While Innocent X was governing the Church, King Felipe IV the Españas, and Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, the Filipinas Islands, this stone for the building of this holy cathedral—its titular being the Conception, and its patron St. Andrew the apostle—was placed in position by Don Miguel de Poblete, metropolitan archbishop, April 20, 1654.”The building of that cathedral proceeded, as the time, which was very full of troubles, allowed; accordinglyit lasted for many years, two or three years having passed without any work; and its dedication services were held on September 8, 1671. It is of Doric architecture and has three naves, and is very strong, as it is built of heavy stone. It has a reredos of the finest sculpture in these islands. It was completed by Archbishop Don Diego Camacho y Ávila, who built a very beautiful high tower that contains some very fine bells.39He also built the sacristy and other parts which were wanting for the completion of the cathedral, and adorned it with a quantity of wrought silver and very rich ornaments and lamps, which he sent from Guadalajara, for he was not forgetful of his first spouse.Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
CHAPTER XIThe archbishop tries to visit the missions of the religious, but suspends that effort, and builds the cathedral of Manila.
The archbishop tries to visit the missions of the religious, but suspends that effort, and builds the cathedral of Manila.
The archbishop tries to visit the missions of the religious, but suspends that effort, and builds the cathedral of Manila.
The archbishop, Don Miguel Millán y Poblete, came here with the firm determination to pursue the plans of Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, bishop of La Puebla de los Ángeles, who had consecrated him. Those plans had caused great disturbances in Nueva España because of their novelty, and had divided that country into the two divisions of Palafoxistas and Palancas,34who were no less mischievous than the Guelphs and Ghibelines in the time ofFederico Barbarroja [i.e., Frederick Barbarossa] when determinations issued forth to combat with understandings. Don Juan de Palafox tried to reduce the ministries of the missions (which the orders had possessed in Nueva España since the conquest) to regularly-appointed curacies with canonical institution and collation, so that they could be administered by ordinary jurisdiction, to the suppression of the delegated jurisdiction. This was done in order that the ecclesiastical hierarchy might be one whole in its proportionate parts; and that the episcopal dignity might possess entire dominion over the shepherds of its sheep, by visiting them and sitting in judgment on their excesses in the office of parish priests, which they exercised by virtue of the concession of St. Pius V and other worthy pontiffs. His great perseverance obtained that in the form established at present among the orders, who desired to retain some ministries of the missions—leaving others, because that subjection to the bishops did not seem to them to be in harmony with the institutes of the orders. I shall not mention the disturbances and scandals that the common enemy of souls compassed during that time for the ruin of many—which filled the world with gloom, and gave perfidious heretics the opportunity to blaspheme against the Catholic priests—for they are very well known.The archbishops of Manila tried to establish that kind of ecclesiastical hierarchy in Filipinas, but as he was so holy, and only desired to promote the greater honor and glory of God (Qui cogitationempacis et non aflictionis habet)35he found considerable inconveniences and even impossibilities in effecting what he was attempting. For Don Juan de Palafox had a great plenty of secular priests who were very suitable in learning and virtue for choosing and presenting for the missions, which the orders were abandoning, because they refused to submit to the rigor of the canonical collation in the appointments to the missions. But the archbishop found a great lack of secular priests in these islands, for scarcely are there enough in this country to fill the choir of the cathedral of Manila, with prebendaries and chaplains for the royal chapel, and some few curacies which the clergy hold in this archbishopric. For the Spaniards in this country multiply but slowly, and very few of their sons apply themselves to following the ecclesiastical life, either secular or regular. That is so true that the orders could not maintain themselves if it were not for the continual missions that are brought from the kingdoms of España. Thus, the clergy is composed of the sons of the Spaniards of this country, and with these is maintained a cabildo in this cathedral of Manila, so distinguished that it might belong to one of the first churches of España; for most of them are doctors in sacred theology, after having graduated first as masters of arts. He who has the least degree is a master. All of them are very learned and of known virtue, which is a cause for admiration, as they live so far from reward that one rarely passes from the sphere of the dignities of the said cabildo. For although some have attained the episcopal dignity, these are very few—as, for instance, this year theirdean, Doctor Don Domingo de Valencia, was promoted to the bishopric of Camarines,36but at such an age that he cannot obtain the dignity for a long time. However, in order to comply with his obligation, and to give the orders an incentive to represent in judicial form what they had to allege, the archbishop resolved to place the visitation in execution. He began with the mission at Binondoc, outside the walls of the city of Manila, belonging to the religious of St. Dominic, who immediately abandoned that mission; and the same was done by the other orders, who left the missions in their control in the hands of the governor as vice-patron. The latter referred the consultative vote on a so great and weighty matter to the Audiencia in the royal assembly. It was thoroughly discussed by the auditors of the Audiencia, who were all very eminent jurisconsults; and they, recognizing the impossibility of placing in execution in these islands what Don Juan de Palafox had established in Nueva España, as the system in vogue in these regions is very different, despatched a royal prohibition to the archbishop, ordering him to hold his right in reserve, and to suspend what he had begun until the royal and supreme Council of the Indias should be informed, and should take suitable measures. The archbishop was notified by the first and the second royal prohibition; and he obeyed it, and suspended the visitation, after making his protests. From that time the orders found him a most loving father and protector. He referred the case to the royal Council; the orders also [did thesame], by the authority which they gave to the most reverend father master Fray Juan Polanco of the Order of Preachers, the procurator of the province of Santo Rosario at court. All the orders renounced the missions in their charge. The president [of the Council] was the count of Peñaranda, Don Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, a minister of great talent and experience in very difficult negotiations, as he showed in the peace of Nimega,37where he was the plenipotentiary of Don Felipe IV. That most erudite senate having examined the matter, and having penetrated like lynxes the most hidden difficulties, imposed silence for the time being on that innovation.The perverse spirit of discord which had in charge the incitement of that litigation in which the prince of darkness profited by a great number of scandals, discords, and tumults, was suspended and remained as if asleep for forty-four years—until it awakened, in the year 1697, because of our sins. Archbishop Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila,38a native of Badajoz and former magistral canon of that holy church, and fellow of the chief college at Cuenca in Salamanca, came to these islands [in that year]. He was a great prelate, and very vigilant in his pastoral office. He died later (the year of 1712) as bishop of Guadalajara and was well remembered for his zealand integrity. [Here follows an account of the attempt of Archbishop Camacho to enforce the visitation of the regulars, which we omit in this place, as it will be sufficiently noticed later.]In the beginning, the provinces of América were founded entirely in accordance with the regular institutes of communal houses and convents, with a great number of conventuals; they did not need to take these from the provinces of España, as they could choose plenty from the country. On the contrary in Filipinas we have no more than the convents of Manila, Cebú, and Guadalupe as communal convents—although only the convent of Manila preserves that character; while the others, more than seventy-four in number, are only missions where one single religious lives, and, in a very few, two ministers, according to the size of the village and the ability of the province. The latter is wont often to consist of as many priests as missions, until reënforcements of religious come from España; and if that reënforcement is very slow, then there are generally more missions than religious as priests. What I say here of our order is the same of all the others. It is not so in América, Perú, and Nueva España, where the convents are established totally independent of the missions. They have plenty of religious, and those who belong to the land itself, so that they do not have to send to España for them. Those convents have their incomes by which they are sustained, so that they do not need any of the fees of the missions; and consequently, the orders who wished to retain some missions subject to the ordinary could do so very easily, by assigning some religious to that mission who knew the language ofthose villages. Such religious are presented to the vice-patron, who presents them to the bishop. The latter examines them, and gives them the collation of the curacy in regular appointment. They administer that office in subjection to the priors of the convents, and to their visitation and correction in matters concerning the order; and in subjection to the bishops, who hold jurisdiction and visitation over them in regard to any transgressions in their office as curas. Those religious are maintained perpetually in their offices, and the chapters cannot change them to other convents; for they cannot leave their curacies without the intervention of the vice-patron and bishop, who are very loth to change them because of the investigations demanded by the presentation, examination, and collation. Those religious (who are very few) having been dedicated to that office of curas, the others, who consist of almost all the religious of the province who are exempt from that occupation, hold their chapters and change their priors according to the constitutions of the order.It is not so in these Filipinas, where, as I have said, there are so few religious. Supposing that the plan of Don Juan de Palafox were to be inaugurated, and that all the religious submitted to receive the canonical collation of the curacies in proprietary appointment, the conservation and continued supply of religious would cease. The chapters would cease, for they could not remove the religious from the villages where they were acting as proprietary curas; and it would be necessary to keep them where they had their parishes. Very great difficulties would ensue from that. The province would cease to sendprocurators to España to bring back religious; and if the generous motive of coming as apostolic missionaries ceased, they would leave their provinces and fatherland—all the more because of being subject to the bishops, a burden so far from the exemption of the regulars that we watch so carefully. That subjection would have to be not only to the bishop but also to the ecclesiastical governors of a vacant see. There have been so many of the latter in these islands, that in Manila they had them for fourteen years; and in Cebú, Cagayán, and Camarines, for twenty years. The provincials would have nothing left but that name, and would not have entire control over their subordinates. The above and many other representations were made to Archbishop Don Millán de Poblete, and they availed so well with him that he suspended his resolve. The same things were represented to Don Diego Camacho, and these same reasons moved the gentlemen of the royal Council of the Indias to moderate that subjection—leaving it only in the visitation, with the limitations already mentioned, thus enjoining perpetual silence, in regard to erecting the missions into curacies, and to allowing the orders to abandon the ministries of those missions.Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]The archbishop having put aside his doubt in regard to undertaking the visitation of the regulars, dedicated himself, as a true prelate, to his other obligations. The first one was the building of the cathedral, because of the ruin that occurred in it on the fatal night of St. Andrew in the year 1645; the church of the girls’ school of Santa Isabel was being used as a cathedral. He placed his shoulders very earnestly to that so chief obligation, although thepoverty of the times made it difficult for him. He set about collecting materials, and the order of our father St. Augustine lent him the lime-kilns of Birabira, where the best and strongest lime of all the islands is made. The pious and Catholic governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, was the one who conquered the greatest difficulties by collecting a generous alms from the citizens of Manila, and by giving his aid to the archbishop. The building was commenced, and, after the trenches for the foundations had been made, the archbishop clad himself in his pontifical garments and on the twentieth of April, 1654, blessed the first stone, which was carried by General Don Pedro de Mendiola. The master-of-camp, Don Pedro de Almonte, carried on a rich tray a bronze plate with the inscription of the erection of the church. Captain Don Nicolás Sarmiento carried on another tray five silver coins, and Captain Diego Castellanos a box of lead. All went in procession to the place where the stone was to be placed, and the governor and archbishop set it in position, while the litanies were being chanted. In a hollow already made in the stone were placed the plate and coins. The inscription on the plate is as follows:“While Innocent X was governing the Church, King Felipe IV the Españas, and Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, the Filipinas Islands, this stone for the building of this holy cathedral—its titular being the Conception, and its patron St. Andrew the apostle—was placed in position by Don Miguel de Poblete, metropolitan archbishop, April 20, 1654.”The building of that cathedral proceeded, as the time, which was very full of troubles, allowed; accordinglyit lasted for many years, two or three years having passed without any work; and its dedication services were held on September 8, 1671. It is of Doric architecture and has three naves, and is very strong, as it is built of heavy stone. It has a reredos of the finest sculpture in these islands. It was completed by Archbishop Don Diego Camacho y Ávila, who built a very beautiful high tower that contains some very fine bells.39He also built the sacristy and other parts which were wanting for the completion of the cathedral, and adorned it with a quantity of wrought silver and very rich ornaments and lamps, which he sent from Guadalajara, for he was not forgetful of his first spouse.Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
The archbishop, Don Miguel Millán y Poblete, came here with the firm determination to pursue the plans of Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, bishop of La Puebla de los Ángeles, who had consecrated him. Those plans had caused great disturbances in Nueva España because of their novelty, and had divided that country into the two divisions of Palafoxistas and Palancas,34who were no less mischievous than the Guelphs and Ghibelines in the time ofFederico Barbarroja [i.e., Frederick Barbarossa] when determinations issued forth to combat with understandings. Don Juan de Palafox tried to reduce the ministries of the missions (which the orders had possessed in Nueva España since the conquest) to regularly-appointed curacies with canonical institution and collation, so that they could be administered by ordinary jurisdiction, to the suppression of the delegated jurisdiction. This was done in order that the ecclesiastical hierarchy might be one whole in its proportionate parts; and that the episcopal dignity might possess entire dominion over the shepherds of its sheep, by visiting them and sitting in judgment on their excesses in the office of parish priests, which they exercised by virtue of the concession of St. Pius V and other worthy pontiffs. His great perseverance obtained that in the form established at present among the orders, who desired to retain some ministries of the missions—leaving others, because that subjection to the bishops did not seem to them to be in harmony with the institutes of the orders. I shall not mention the disturbances and scandals that the common enemy of souls compassed during that time for the ruin of many—which filled the world with gloom, and gave perfidious heretics the opportunity to blaspheme against the Catholic priests—for they are very well known.
The archbishops of Manila tried to establish that kind of ecclesiastical hierarchy in Filipinas, but as he was so holy, and only desired to promote the greater honor and glory of God (Qui cogitationempacis et non aflictionis habet)35he found considerable inconveniences and even impossibilities in effecting what he was attempting. For Don Juan de Palafox had a great plenty of secular priests who were very suitable in learning and virtue for choosing and presenting for the missions, which the orders were abandoning, because they refused to submit to the rigor of the canonical collation in the appointments to the missions. But the archbishop found a great lack of secular priests in these islands, for scarcely are there enough in this country to fill the choir of the cathedral of Manila, with prebendaries and chaplains for the royal chapel, and some few curacies which the clergy hold in this archbishopric. For the Spaniards in this country multiply but slowly, and very few of their sons apply themselves to following the ecclesiastical life, either secular or regular. That is so true that the orders could not maintain themselves if it were not for the continual missions that are brought from the kingdoms of España. Thus, the clergy is composed of the sons of the Spaniards of this country, and with these is maintained a cabildo in this cathedral of Manila, so distinguished that it might belong to one of the first churches of España; for most of them are doctors in sacred theology, after having graduated first as masters of arts. He who has the least degree is a master. All of them are very learned and of known virtue, which is a cause for admiration, as they live so far from reward that one rarely passes from the sphere of the dignities of the said cabildo. For although some have attained the episcopal dignity, these are very few—as, for instance, this year theirdean, Doctor Don Domingo de Valencia, was promoted to the bishopric of Camarines,36but at such an age that he cannot obtain the dignity for a long time. However, in order to comply with his obligation, and to give the orders an incentive to represent in judicial form what they had to allege, the archbishop resolved to place the visitation in execution. He began with the mission at Binondoc, outside the walls of the city of Manila, belonging to the religious of St. Dominic, who immediately abandoned that mission; and the same was done by the other orders, who left the missions in their control in the hands of the governor as vice-patron. The latter referred the consultative vote on a so great and weighty matter to the Audiencia in the royal assembly. It was thoroughly discussed by the auditors of the Audiencia, who were all very eminent jurisconsults; and they, recognizing the impossibility of placing in execution in these islands what Don Juan de Palafox had established in Nueva España, as the system in vogue in these regions is very different, despatched a royal prohibition to the archbishop, ordering him to hold his right in reserve, and to suspend what he had begun until the royal and supreme Council of the Indias should be informed, and should take suitable measures. The archbishop was notified by the first and the second royal prohibition; and he obeyed it, and suspended the visitation, after making his protests. From that time the orders found him a most loving father and protector. He referred the case to the royal Council; the orders also [did thesame], by the authority which they gave to the most reverend father master Fray Juan Polanco of the Order of Preachers, the procurator of the province of Santo Rosario at court. All the orders renounced the missions in their charge. The president [of the Council] was the count of Peñaranda, Don Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, a minister of great talent and experience in very difficult negotiations, as he showed in the peace of Nimega,37where he was the plenipotentiary of Don Felipe IV. That most erudite senate having examined the matter, and having penetrated like lynxes the most hidden difficulties, imposed silence for the time being on that innovation.
The perverse spirit of discord which had in charge the incitement of that litigation in which the prince of darkness profited by a great number of scandals, discords, and tumults, was suspended and remained as if asleep for forty-four years—until it awakened, in the year 1697, because of our sins. Archbishop Doctor Don Diego Camacho y Avila,38a native of Badajoz and former magistral canon of that holy church, and fellow of the chief college at Cuenca in Salamanca, came to these islands [in that year]. He was a great prelate, and very vigilant in his pastoral office. He died later (the year of 1712) as bishop of Guadalajara and was well remembered for his zealand integrity. [Here follows an account of the attempt of Archbishop Camacho to enforce the visitation of the regulars, which we omit in this place, as it will be sufficiently noticed later.]
In the beginning, the provinces of América were founded entirely in accordance with the regular institutes of communal houses and convents, with a great number of conventuals; they did not need to take these from the provinces of España, as they could choose plenty from the country. On the contrary in Filipinas we have no more than the convents of Manila, Cebú, and Guadalupe as communal convents—although only the convent of Manila preserves that character; while the others, more than seventy-four in number, are only missions where one single religious lives, and, in a very few, two ministers, according to the size of the village and the ability of the province. The latter is wont often to consist of as many priests as missions, until reënforcements of religious come from España; and if that reënforcement is very slow, then there are generally more missions than religious as priests. What I say here of our order is the same of all the others. It is not so in América, Perú, and Nueva España, where the convents are established totally independent of the missions. They have plenty of religious, and those who belong to the land itself, so that they do not have to send to España for them. Those convents have their incomes by which they are sustained, so that they do not need any of the fees of the missions; and consequently, the orders who wished to retain some missions subject to the ordinary could do so very easily, by assigning some religious to that mission who knew the language ofthose villages. Such religious are presented to the vice-patron, who presents them to the bishop. The latter examines them, and gives them the collation of the curacy in regular appointment. They administer that office in subjection to the priors of the convents, and to their visitation and correction in matters concerning the order; and in subjection to the bishops, who hold jurisdiction and visitation over them in regard to any transgressions in their office as curas. Those religious are maintained perpetually in their offices, and the chapters cannot change them to other convents; for they cannot leave their curacies without the intervention of the vice-patron and bishop, who are very loth to change them because of the investigations demanded by the presentation, examination, and collation. Those religious (who are very few) having been dedicated to that office of curas, the others, who consist of almost all the religious of the province who are exempt from that occupation, hold their chapters and change their priors according to the constitutions of the order.
It is not so in these Filipinas, where, as I have said, there are so few religious. Supposing that the plan of Don Juan de Palafox were to be inaugurated, and that all the religious submitted to receive the canonical collation of the curacies in proprietary appointment, the conservation and continued supply of religious would cease. The chapters would cease, for they could not remove the religious from the villages where they were acting as proprietary curas; and it would be necessary to keep them where they had their parishes. Very great difficulties would ensue from that. The province would cease to sendprocurators to España to bring back religious; and if the generous motive of coming as apostolic missionaries ceased, they would leave their provinces and fatherland—all the more because of being subject to the bishops, a burden so far from the exemption of the regulars that we watch so carefully. That subjection would have to be not only to the bishop but also to the ecclesiastical governors of a vacant see. There have been so many of the latter in these islands, that in Manila they had them for fourteen years; and in Cebú, Cagayán, and Camarines, for twenty years. The provincials would have nothing left but that name, and would not have entire control over their subordinates. The above and many other representations were made to Archbishop Don Millán de Poblete, and they availed so well with him that he suspended his resolve. The same things were represented to Don Diego Camacho, and these same reasons moved the gentlemen of the royal Council of the Indias to moderate that subjection—leaving it only in the visitation, with the limitations already mentioned, thus enjoining perpetual silence, in regard to erecting the missions into curacies, and to allowing the orders to abandon the ministries of those missions.
Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
Plan of Manila Cathedral prior to 1750
[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
The archbishop having put aside his doubt in regard to undertaking the visitation of the regulars, dedicated himself, as a true prelate, to his other obligations. The first one was the building of the cathedral, because of the ruin that occurred in it on the fatal night of St. Andrew in the year 1645; the church of the girls’ school of Santa Isabel was being used as a cathedral. He placed his shoulders very earnestly to that so chief obligation, although thepoverty of the times made it difficult for him. He set about collecting materials, and the order of our father St. Augustine lent him the lime-kilns of Birabira, where the best and strongest lime of all the islands is made. The pious and Catholic governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, was the one who conquered the greatest difficulties by collecting a generous alms from the citizens of Manila, and by giving his aid to the archbishop. The building was commenced, and, after the trenches for the foundations had been made, the archbishop clad himself in his pontifical garments and on the twentieth of April, 1654, blessed the first stone, which was carried by General Don Pedro de Mendiola. The master-of-camp, Don Pedro de Almonte, carried on a rich tray a bronze plate with the inscription of the erection of the church. Captain Don Nicolás Sarmiento carried on another tray five silver coins, and Captain Diego Castellanos a box of lead. All went in procession to the place where the stone was to be placed, and the governor and archbishop set it in position, while the litanies were being chanted. In a hollow already made in the stone were placed the plate and coins. The inscription on the plate is as follows:
“While Innocent X was governing the Church, King Felipe IV the Españas, and Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava, the Filipinas Islands, this stone for the building of this holy cathedral—its titular being the Conception, and its patron St. Andrew the apostle—was placed in position by Don Miguel de Poblete, metropolitan archbishop, April 20, 1654.”
The building of that cathedral proceeded, as the time, which was very full of troubles, allowed; accordinglyit lasted for many years, two or three years having passed without any work; and its dedication services were held on September 8, 1671. It is of Doric architecture and has three naves, and is very strong, as it is built of heavy stone. It has a reredos of the finest sculpture in these islands. It was completed by Archbishop Don Diego Camacho y Ávila, who built a very beautiful high tower that contains some very fine bells.39He also built the sacristy and other parts which were wanting for the completion of the cathedral, and adorned it with a quantity of wrought silver and very rich ornaments and lamps, which he sent from Guadalajara, for he was not forgetful of his first spouse.
Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
Plan of Manila Cathedral, showing the new structure building in 1754
[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]