book i of the Recopilación), alcaldes-mayor are ordered not to allow
any usurpation of their office. All measures advocated by the father ministers in behalf of the Indians, spiritually and temporally, shall be presented to the alcaldes-mayor and other justices in a respectful manner, and shall receive respectful consideration, so that the Indians may receive a good example thereby, and pay the proper respect to each one. If the alcaldes are unable to check attempted usurpation, they shall report the same to the superior government, which will take the necessary measures. The father ministers shall, on their side, present grievances against the alcaldes and other justices who do not attend sufficiently to their recommendations for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Indians, to their superiors, if they do not wish to do so directly to the government, who shall take the matter up with the proper authorities. Observance of this ordinance is urged on the secular and regular superiors.]
86. [Alcaldes-mayor must treat the gobernadorcillos with all the respect due their office, such as never allowing them to stand, in their houses or other places. Also gobernadorcillos shall be punished if they do not fulfil their duties with honor, and properly.]
87. [Alcaldes are also ordered to see that the gobernadorcillos are treated respectfully by the father ministers, "and shall not allow the latter to lash, punish, or maltreat them, nor leave them standing, or cause them to leave the baton at the street-door when they go to see the father curas or missionaries, as this is contrary to the honor and respect of justice. Neither shall they allow them to serve the plates in the masses of said fathers, as ministers of justice ought not to be employed in that service, or others like it, which are suitable only for servants." All ecclesiastical superiors are ordered to charge all their subjects not to violate these regulations, and all the gobernadorcillos and officers of justice shall be notified that they are not to remain standing before the father ministers; that they are to go to visit them without leaving the baton of justice behind; not to serve at the masses; and not to leave the territory of their respective villages, even under pretext of accompanying the father minister, the alcalde, or any other person--under penalty of loss of their post, disqualification from holding any office of justice in the future, and two months' imprisonment.]
88. [On their part the alcaldes, while preserving the necessary respect toward justice, must maintain due respect for the priestly office, and seek always to promote good relations with the father ministers.]
89. [Arandía's ordinance, no. 10, ordering alcaldes and justices to treat with the father ministers only in writing and to visit them only when accompanied, is repealed, as it is contrary to law lxv, título xiv, book i, of the Recopilación. The ecclesiastical superiors shall do their utmost to restrain their subjects within the bounds of moderation. Frequent visits between the alcaldes, gobernadorcillos, and other justices, and the father ministers are recommended. In this intercourse, however, the gobernadorcillos shall be ruled in temporal affairs by the orders and commands of the alcaldes-mayor, but are to maintain due respect to the father ministers--who shall not meddle with matters of secular government, but shall take the measures advisable for the spiritual welfare of the Indians.]
90. [Ecclesiastical superiors shall be requested to order their subjects to preach frequently to the Indians concerning their obligation of paying the tribute, and the indulgences that they obtain by taking the bull of the holy Crusade, in view of the many troubles arising from the lack of instruction in these two points "so important for their salvation, so in accordance with the intention of our Catholic monarch, and suitable to the zeal of good ministers of instruction, and of faithful vassals of his Majesty."]
91. The sumptuousness of the buildings, the churches, and houses of the missionaries, mistakenly called convents, is one of the burdens which the Indians unjustly suffer, and which, according to a very laudable opinion, contributes greatly to their desolation. Moreover, since it is apparent by the experience of the past war, what harm said buildings have occasioned, as they serve as shelter and defense to enemies, it is declared that buildings of stone and tile shall not be permitted in the provinces where there is danger of enemies, but only those of boards and nipa; [126] and where it is considered advisable by the superior government to permit them, a fixed rule shall be given, ordering that the houses of the missionary ministers be of moderate style, and in harmony with the plan which must be sent to each alcalde-mayor--with orders to demolish those which shall be built new without the necessary licenses, in case that they exceed the limits of the said plan. [This is in harmony with the royal decree, dated Madrid, June 18, 1767. The terms of ordinance 67 shall be observed until other regulations are provided.]
92. [While there is great excess in the sumptuousness of the houses of the missionaries, there is a corresponding degree of ruin and dilapidation in the royal buildings throughout the islands. Many are in so poor condition that they are unfit for habitation, and travelers and alcaldes-mayor are caused great hardship in their journeys through the villages. Often it is impossible for the latter to visit their jurisdiction for the lack of royal buildings; and, because of trouble with the missionaries, they cannot live in the convents. Still more disagreeable is it for ministers of the royal Audiencia to exercise their commissions in the provinces, for it is not in harmony with their dignity or good for their health for them to lodge in places unsuitable for habitation; while law lxxxix, título xvi, book ii, forbids them to take lodging in the convents. In consequence of this it is ordered that all villages, especially the capitals of the provinces, erect suitable royal buildings, in accordance with plans that will be issued by the superior government. These shall be kept in repair, and in them the gobernadorcillos shall hold their courts and shall have their prisons.]
93. [According to old ordinance 52 (q.v., ante, pp. 223, 224), and to Arandia's ordinance, no. 17, it is strictly ordered that the alcaldes-mayor request the father ministers to exert themselves, so far as it concerns them, to establish schoolmasters in all villages, who shall teach the Indians to read and write in Spanish, and the Christian doctrine and other prayers, in accordance with the royal decree of June 5, 1574. The pay of the masters shall be one peso and one cavan of rice per month, but may be increased at the option of the alcaldes-mayor; and it shall be paid from the communal treasuries of the villages (see no. 25 of the present ordinances). If the masters do not teach and instruct the Indians in Spanish, they shall make restitution of all the pay that they have received, be incapacitated from all employment in the islands, and punished at the will of the alcaldes-mayor. This matter shall constitute a factor in the visits of the alcaldes-mayor, and if any persons oppose the teaching of Spanish, they shall be proceeded against according to law. Neglect on the part of the alcaldes shall incur punishment in proportion to its degree. As yet but little zeal has been shown in this matter, and there has been a total lack of observance of law xviii, título i, book vi, of the Recopilación, which is in harmony with many royal decrees.]
94. [The visitas or chapels in villages, besides being unnecessary for divine worship, which is to be held in the churches where the Indians can attend, are a burden on the Indians, by reason of the expenses incurred in their building and repairs, and the increase of feast days (although there should only be the three permitted by the government), fees, and alms, which must be paid to the curas and missionaries. Consequently, alcaldes-mayor are ordered, at the time of their visit, to report to the superior government all the visitas in their jurisdictions where the sacrifice of the mass is celebrated; with what authority and license they are established; the distance from each visita to the church of the village; the advantages derived from them; the expenses, fees, and alms contributed by the natives; and all other matters connected with them. No visita shall be established without the sanction of the superior government.]
All the above sections contained in this royal ordinance shall be observed and complied with by the governors, alcaldes-mayor, and corregidors of the provinces of these islands, and by each of the persons mentioned therein--with warning that, if they do not execute them, they shall be punished according to the penalties imposed in them. Given in the city of Manila, and the royal hall of the assembly thereof, February 26, 1768.
Don Jose Raon Francisco Enriquez de Villa Corta Manuel Galvan Y Ventura
Registered, José Raon (seal)
By the grand chancellor, José Raon
[Then follows the short statement of the government secretary, Ramon de Orendain, who had the ordinances written down at the order of the Audiencia. This is succeeded by an act of the Audiencia, dated February 26, 1768, enjoining strict observance of these ordinances which were ordered to be formulated by royal decrees of December 4 and 23, 1760. Those decrees ordered the revision of the ordinances of Governor Arandía. In order that all persons may not plead ignorance of them, they were ordered to be registered in both accountancies, and in the government secretary's office, and copies were to be sent to each alcalde-mayor, corregidor, and justice. [127] These copies were to be translated into the native languages of the different jurisdictions, and the archives of each village was to have a copy. Other copies were ordered to be sent to the bishops and the father provincials of the several orders, so that they might order obedience on the part of their subjects, who are not to meddle in governmental matters. Last is the attestation of Orendain as to the accuracy of the copy, which bears date Manila, June 14, 1768, and which was sent to the castellan of the port of Cavite.]
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE SECULAR CLERGY
1. Retirement and abstraction [from the world]; the priests shall not enter any house except to administer the sacraments, or to perform some function proper to one who has the care of souls.
2. They shall explain the Christian doctrine and the gospel, using at least half of the time for this holy exercise in the Castilian language.
3. They shall visit, both afternoon and morning the schools for boys, which our curas shall be under obligation to promote in their villages with every endeavor; and, if it be possible, the schools for girls.
4. [They shall pay] all respect and courtesy to the governors of their villages and the officials of justice, not allowing the latter to remove their caps when in the presence of the priests, and much less to serve them at the table--warning them that they must not leave their wands or insignia of justice on the stairs or in any other place, but always and everywhere carry these with them.
5. They shall not meddle with elections; and the affection and reverence of the people will be won if they attend solely to the welfare of souls and give personal advice.
6. They shall promote peace among their parishioners by all means; and shall exhort them to shun idleness and cultivate their lands.
7. They shall strive to banish the sport of cock-fighting, not sparing any effort for this, and the same with drunkenness.
8. They shall not allow the dalagas [i.e., young girls] or any woman to clean the church; the sacristans must perform this duty.
9. Any cura who shall not attend to the adornment and cleanliness of his church will be punished with the utmost severity.
10. No woman shall enter the clergyman's house.
11. The priests shall spend the day in prayer and study, after having celebrated mass and divine service.
12. The conferences on moral subjects and on the church rubrics [128] shall be inviolably observed.
13. They shall conform, without any exception, to the tariff in the exaction of parochial fees; but if the parishioner shall be poor, the cura shall not for that reason neglect the administration of the sacraments, the burial ceremonies, etc.
14. They shall proceed to remove the abuses in [furnishing] cross and candlesticks of wood for the poor man, and of silver for him who pays the fees.
15. They shall immediately propose, in a kind and gentle manner, the [formation of] settlements [for their people], and shall expatiate to their parishioners on the advantages which will result to them from living in a settled community and village.
16. Games of cards are prohibited to our curas, even among themselves.
17. They shall be careful to reside in their respective villages; and they shall leave these only for conferences or for hearing one another's confessions, when they have [in charge] no sick person in danger; but under no pretext shall they pass the night outside their own parishes.
18. On all occasions they shall wear their long robes.
19. Each priest shall forthwith prepare a book, in which these our decrees shall be written--as well as those which we shall again issue in person, or which our provisor and vicar-general shall enact; or measures which shall be taken by our vicar forane, [129] as the one who keeps all things in his view.
20. Even within the house they shall go dressed and shod through the day; and any one who shall descend to saying mass in a tipsy condition [con la turca], or shall take his seat in the confessional without collar and cassock, shall undergo severe penalties.
21. In every respect they shall render obedience to our vicar forane.
22. Finally, mindful of the duties of their ministry, and of the very exact account which God will demand from them for the souls of every one of their parishioners, they shall instruct their people, by deed and by word, until the true idea of Christian life is formed in them--stimulating in them love and obedience to our Catholic monarch, who has conferred upon them so great benefits and loves them with a father's tenderness, and to the venerable ministers who govern them in the name of God and of so great a king. At the archiepiscopal palace in Manila, on the twenty-fifth of October in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one. [130]
THE EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS,
1768-1769
[This subject is one of profound and far-reaching significance in history, especially that of Europe; but the exigencies of our limited space forbid us to do more than suggest some of the more important aspects of this matter, and to furnish references to historical works in which it is treated at length. Our chief attention is necessarily given to the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Philippines, which will concern us mainly with the facts of the case; and for this we must have recourse largely to Montero y Vidal's account of it as given in his Historia de Filipinas, ii, chapters v-vii. (Ferrando says nothing about the banishment of the Jesuits, save in a few incidental allusions which we have cited in previous notes.) To this relation we add a few contemporaneous documents, and other matter from various historical writers, presenting as far as available actual facts, and the views of both sides, impartially.]
The expulsion from the Spanish dominions
"The controversy between the Catholic nations and the court of Rome in regard to the limits of the right of jurisdiction of the State and of the spiritual authority of the Church goes back to an early date. The clergy, who in the Middle Ages possessed both moral and intellectual supremacy, held España in perpetual tutelage; and so greatly abused their power that the journals of the early Cortes record numerous petitions, constantly set aside, now in regard to ecclesiastical amortization, now about the creation of the religious orders; exemptions and privileges for the clergy, multiplication of benefices, and concessions to foreigners; excessive imposts claimed in Roma for favors and dispensations; and innumerable abuses introduced in the discipline of the Spanish church. Until the clamor of battle ceased and the national unity was realized, the sovereigns did not preoccupy themselves with recovering the prerogatives of the royal power, and the Catholic monarchs [i.e., Fernando and Isabel] were the first who undertook to maintain with care the so-called regalías [131] [i.e., prerogatives] of the crown." [From that time many controversies arose between the courts of Madrid and Rome, and even their diplomatic intercourse ceased entirely at times. A concordat was formed in 1737,] "which, instead of settling the pending disputes, deferred them until January 11, 1753, at which time the royal right of patronage was decided in favor of the kings of España; and questions referring to pensions and other claims of the Roman curia were settled by the conveyance of 23,066,660 reals, which the Marqués de la Ensenada delivered in Roma before the concordat was signed. Carlos III, who as king of the two Sicilies had had a similar controversy with the court of Roma, and had in 1741 secured the solemnization of a concordat, found the principal disputes terminated in España; but he could not prevent time and circumstances from originating others, which were settled in due time." [With this controversy between Church and State, the Jesuits were necessarily as well as of choice involved. "During two centuries, and under different aspects, two diverse principles came into open opposition: the principle of authority, essential in the Catholic Church, which was the banner of the Society of Jesus; and the principle of rebellion against the past, proclaimed by Protestantism, converted afterward into the encyclopedistic philosophy, and still later taking the form of a social, religious, and political disintegration. To the propaganda of false ideas which was causing so much corruption among the youth, the Society of Jesus opposed solid and Christian education, the defense of its doctrine, and the preaching and example of its members." Carlos III had come from Italy with a dislike to the Jesuits, and with various opinions which were more radical than those then current in España; and the influence of French philosophy and political thought in that country (see note 4, ante, pp. 25-27) enabled him to secure advisers who were willing to second his ideas--although at first he made the mistake of appointing too many foreigners in his cabinet. The king and his ministers formed plans of reform for the country which have made Danvila call him "the first revolutionary monarch of España." It became evident that these plans could not be made effectual unless the influence of the Jesuits against them could be neutralized. That order had been expelled from Portugal and all her dominions, by decree of January 12, 1759; and it was suppressed in France by Louis XV in November, 1764. Permission to settle in Spain and Naples was denied to the French exiles by Carlos III. In March, 1766, a popular uprising took place in Madrid, directed against one of Carlos III's ministers (Leopold de Gregorio, Marqués de Squilace, a Sicilian by birth) who, besides the prejudice against him as a foreigner, had made himself unpopular by certain sumptuary regulations; it resulted in his banishment from Spain. Soon afterward, the king found it necessary to make changes in his ministry. The presidency of the Council of Castilla was conferred upon Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Conde de Aranda, an Aragonese noble; and five new places therein were created, making twelve in all. All these councilors were Spaniards, and five of them were archbishops and bishops. [132] "After the Madrid riot, everywhere resounded complaints against the court and its nobles, the priests and the friars, and especially against the Jesuits," the last-named being accused by many of having incited the riot. "The appointment of Aranda was praised, as taking from an ecclesiastic the custody of the royal prerogatives." The disturbance quieted, the royal Council took measures to ascertain, through a secret investigation, the causes of this uprising; and their conclusion is thus stated in a letter sent by order of the king to the government of Naples, June 23, 1767:] "The result of all [the evidence] was, that the Jesuits were either the principal or the only inciters [of the riot]; they stirred up the flames on every side, roused aversion in the minds of all classes of people, and detached them from their affection and subordination to the government. The Jesuits printed and scattered about papers and writings that were seditious, and opposed to the royal authority and to the sovereignty and its legitimate rights; they preached against Portugal and France in their sermons to the public, and in the parlors of the nunneries, insinuating themselves to confess and direct the nuns without authority and against the wills of the superiors of the convents; even in the cloisters of the religious women, the Jesuits instilled, by their lectures and conversations, pernicious ideas and unworthy suspicions against the religious belief of the king and his ministers; and both before and after the tumult they threatened calamities and tragedies. They complained of all the decrees that were issued, on account of the [government] offices and dignities not devolving on their partisans and the followers of their school; they murmured against all the measures of the government, because they had no part in these, as being opposed to their ideas and their advantage. Their perverse [ideas of] moral practice in España and the Indias, the laxity of their morals, their sordid commerce, their intrigues, their cunning schemes, and, finally, everything that has been written or published by those whom the Society fancies to be its rivals and enemies: all these have been verified, and found convincing, with facts and instances of the present time (and which cannot be denied), without the necessity of resorting to the many and enormous excesses of former times or of foreign countries. [133] Their hatred to the house of Bourbon, and their aversion to the 'family compact,' [134] their partiality to the English, and their desire that the latter should subdue France; the greater satisfaction and confidence which they feel toward Protestant princes, preferring these to the Catholics; and other designs of theirs that are abominable, and contrary to the spirit of religion, of honor, and of humanity: these have been proved to us by many and irrefutable means, which their own acts and writings have furnished to us. Time and paper would fail me if I tried to specify to your Excellency the facts and proofs of the many charges which have accumulated against them." [Finally--as a result partly of this investigation, and partly of the growing alarm and distrust felt against the Jesuits, especially as they were securing new privileges from the Holy See--Carlos III issued decrees dated at El Pardo, February 27, 1767, for the banishment of the Jesuits from Spain and the Indias. "The instructions for the measures to be taken by the persons commissioned to carry out the banishment of the Jesuits in España and the Indias, and to take possession of their goods and estates; [135] the information as to their colleges, residences, and missions in the Western Indias, the Filipinas islands, and the kingdoms of the Indias; and the circular letter of Conde de Aranda to the viceroys and governors of the Indias providing for what they might decide for themselves, without asking any questions: this bears the date of March 1." On March 12 this decision was known in Rome; and four days later despatches from Aranda gave fuller details, and included a copy of a royal decree which charged him to "display to the other religious orders the confidence, satisfaction, and esteem which they merited for their fidelity and doctrine, their observance of the monastic life, their exemplary service of the Church, their creditable instruction, and their withdrawal from the affairs of government as being alien to and remote from the ascetic and monastic life." On March 20, Aranda determined to appoint April 3 as the date on which this expulsion of the Jesuits should go into effect; and on the thirty-first Carlos III wrote a letter to Pope Clement XIII, stating that he found it necessary to expel the Jesuits from his dominions, and would send them to the States of the Church, to be under the direction of his Holiness as the father of the faithful. The Spanish ambassador at Rome, to whom this letter was sent for delivery to the pope, was also notified that all the expelled Jesuits would be pensioned, as long as they remained outside of the Spanish territories, at the following rate: to the ordained priests, 100 pesos annually; to the laymen, 90 pesos; and to all, a half-year's salary in advance. [136] The pope was overcome with grief at this news, and in reply (April 16) remonstrated with the king against this measure, protesting that the Jesuit order was innocent of disloyal or evil acts, and urging the king to suspend the execution of the decrees against them. This of course had no effect, and the pope refused to receive the banished Jesuits into his territory, hoping thus to compel Carlos to take other steps; but the latter sent the exiles to Corsica instead. On January 23, 1776, Pius VI directed the nuncios in the Catholic countries to enforce the law of silence in regard to the extinction of the Jesuit order--a measure especially directed against the publication of libels and satires, which at that time abounded in the larger cities, and were often indecent and infamous. In that year, also, harmony was restored between the Holy See and the Catholic powers.]
[The above general account of the causes leading to the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Spanish domains is obtained from various places in the account furnished by Danvila y Collado in his Reinado de Carlos III, t. ii, iii, to which the reader is referred as being probably the most full, accurate, and scholarly account now available of this important historical episode. He uses a great variety of material, obtained largely from the original documents in the Spanish archives, which he cites directly (and often in full), with careful references to his sources; and, although his sympathies are with the Jesuit order, which he thinks was unjustly maligned, he is evidently too thorough a scholar to suppress or distort the facts in the case. The following outline of his work in regard to this subject will give the reader an idea of his thoroughness therein, and of the places where one may find special information on various aspects of the subject. Tomo ii: