The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 21 of 55 - 1624 - Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century.

James Alexander Robertson, Emma Helen Blair, Edward Gaylord Bourne

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• Publié par: theyl
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 20
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume
XXI, 1624, by Various
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Title: The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXI, 1624
Explorations By Early Navigators, Descriptions Of The
Islands And Their Peoples, Their History And Records Of
The Catholic Missions, As Related In Contemporaneous Books
And Manuscripts, Showing The Political, Economic, Commercial
And Religious Conditions Of Those Islands From Their
Earliest Relations With European Nations To The Close Of
The Nineteenth Century
Author: Various
Editor: Emma Helen Blair
Release Date: July 4, 2005 [EBook #16203]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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The Philippine Islands, 1493–
1898
Explorations by early navigators,
descriptions of the islands and their
peoples, their history and records of the
catholic missions, as related in
contemporaneous books and manuscripts,
showing the political, economic,
commercial and religious conditions of
those islands from their earliest relations
with European nations to the close of the
nineteenth century,Volume XXI, 1624
Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and
James Alexander Robertson with historical
introduction and additional notes by Edward
Gaylord Bourne.
[1]
Contents of Volume XXI
Preface 9
Documents of 1624
Ecclesiastical affairs of the Philippines. Miguel García
Serrano, and others; 1574–1624 19
Conflict between civil and religious authorities in Manila.
[Unsigned and undated; 1624?] 79
Seminary for Japanese missionaries. Alvaro de Messa y Lugo,
and others; Manila, July 23–August 5 84
Extract from letter to Felipe IV. Miguel García Serrano;
Manila, August 15 95
Royal orders regarding the religious. Felipe IV; Madrid,
August–December 98
Early Recollect missions in the Philippines. Andrés de San Nicolas,
Luis de Jesús, and Juan de la Concepción. (Extracts from their
respective works, covering the history of the missions to the year
1624.) 111
Bibliographical Data 319
[2]
Illustrations
Title-page of Historia general de los religiosos descalzos ... del gran
padre ... San Augustin, by Andres de San Nicolas (Madrid, 1664);
photographic facsimile from copy in library of Edward E. Ayer,
Chicago. 109
Title-pages (the first engraved) to Historia general de los religiosos
descalzos ... del gran padre ... San Augustin, by Luis de Jesús,
Augustinian Recollect (Madrid, 1681); photographic facsimiles from
copy in library of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. 187, 189
Title-page of volume iv of Historia general de Philipinas, by Juan de
la Concepción, Augustinian Recollect (Manila, 1788); photographic
facsimile from copy in library of Harvard University. 261
[3]
PrefaceThis volume, dated 1624, is entirely devoted to religious matters,
ecclesiastical or missionary in their scope. The current documents for that
year are concerned with conflicts between the diocesan authorities and the
religious orders, and between the civil and religious authorities in Manila;
the defeat by the Audiencia of the late Governor Fajardo’s attempt to found
a seminary for the training of Japanese missionaries to be sent to labor in
their own country; and efforts by the Spanish government to check the
assumptions of the religious orders. Then follows a historical account of the
early Recollect missions in the islands, down to the year 1624, compiled
from the works of Andrés San Nicolas, Luis de Jesús, and Juan de la
Concepción.
A document entitled “Ecclesiastical affairs in the Philippines” contains
letters, decrees, etc., bearing on this subject, dated from 1574 to 1624.
Instructions to Gomez Perez Dasmariñas (1574) jealously restrict to the
crown or its officials all exercise of the royal patronage; and give minute
details of the course to be pursued by the governor and the provincials of
the religious orders in matters where that right is involved. This is followed
by various official documents issued in the controversy between
Archbishop Serrano and the religious orders (1622–24) regarding the right
claimed for archbishop and bishops to exercise the same jurisdiction and
[4]authority over the religious of the orders, when charged with the care of
souls, as over the secular clergy. Serrano fortifies his position by various
royal decrees and papal bulls. These documents show that much laxity has
prevailed in selecting missionaries for the Indians, some of these teachers
not even knowing the language of the natives to whom they minister; also
that the friars claim even greater authority over their parishioners than that
exercised by the archbishop and bishops in whose dioceses their missions
are located. On June 20, 1622, the archbishop begins his official visit in the
parish of Dilao (near Manila); and his edict announcing this calls upon the
people of the parish to bring to him any complaints or information that they
may have regarding any fault, illegal act, or neglect of duty in their cura or
parish priest. Fray Alonso de Valdemoro was then in charge of the Dilao
mission; refusing to obey the archbishop’s commands, he is
excommunicated by the latter, and sentenced to imprisonment in a
monastery. But the Audiencia refuse to support the archbishop, who
accordingly writes a letter to the king complaining of the resistance made
by the friars. Felipe IV, in a decree dated August 14, 1622, orders that the
missions in the Philippines shall be subject to the provisions of another
decree (issued June 22 of the same year) promulgated for the missions in
Nueva España. This provides that the same procedure be followed therein
as in the missions of Peru; that the missions remain in charge of the orders,
but that hereafter the religious be not placed in charge of missions; that they
shall be subject to the archbishop in matters pertaining to the churches and
the care of souls, but that anything relating to the personal character of such
[5]priest shall be privately referred to his superior in the order, who shall try
and correct him.
An unsigned and undated document (1624?) gives an interesting account of
a conflict between the civil and religious authorities in Manila over the
question of a criminal’s right to asylum in a church. It is decided, at least for
the time, in favor of the ecclesiastical authorities.
At the death of Governor Fajardo (July 11, 1624) the Audiencia take
charge of the government. One of their first measures is to revoke the grant
made not long before by Fajardo of certain monopolies to a seminary
founded by him for educating Christian Japanese to go as ordainedmissionaries to their own country. The members of the Audiencia claim
that this was an ill-timed act, in view of the persecution of Christians in
Japan, and the edicts of its ruler expelling Spaniards from his realm, and
forbidding his subjects to trade with them. Moreover, the seminary building
is being erected in a place selected in violation of a royal decree, and which
has been arbitrarily seized from its owners; and the monopolies granted are
a grievance and injury to many persons, especially to the Indians who
reside near Manila. The Audiencia accordingly revoke these, and order that
the seminary building be demolished; and they issue a royal decree in
accordance with this decision.
In a letter dated August 15, 1624, Archbishop Serrano advises the king
either to give more power and authority to the Audiencia, or to suppress it.
In the latter part of the same year the king issues some decrees affecting the
religious in the islands. The first (dated August 30) cites earlier decrees
[6]regulating the privileges and jurisdiction of the religious, and orders that
these be strictly observed. In a letter to the archbishop of Manila (dated
October 8), Felipe gives some directions regarding the religious orders. A
letter (dated November 27) to the Dominican provincial enumerates various
abuses practiced toward the Indians by the friars of that order, and directs
him to see that these be corrected.
An interesting chapter of ecclesiastical history is provided in the accounts
of the early Recollect missions in the islands. These are selected from the
printed works here named: Historia general de los religiosos descalzos del
orden de San Avgvstin, by Andrés de San Nicolas (Madrid, 1664), and the
second part of the same work, by Luis de Jesús (Madrid, 1681); and
Historia general de Philipinas, by Juan de la Concepción (Manila, 1788).
From all these books we select, as has been already announced, only such
portions as closely concern our subject, and such as contain information of
special value, or which is otherwise not accessible.
From San Nicolas’s work we take his account of the foundation of t