Archbishop of Manila

“ The Archbishop is a man of a high order of capacity, and his influence has been great. His position is a trying one, for it would be quite impossible for him to remain in Manila if the insurgents should become the masters of the situation. The claim of hostile natives that the Spanish priests have an influence in matters of state that make them a ruling class is one that they urge when expressing their resolve that the Friars must go. The Spanish policy, especially in the municipal governments, has been to magnify the office of the priests in political functions. ”

“ As a rule, there are no difficulties at all in the other bishoprics; for, as the livings there are almost always filled by religious, the curas easily [214] allow themselves to be visited by a person of their own class. It is true that, since the governors have not as yet taken sides with them, the archbishops have always been the weaker party.
Monsieur Arandia, of whom I have already spoken, a man fit to govern a state, would have doubtless put an end to it had he lived. Don Manuel Antonio Roxo was appointed archbishop of Manila under his government. ”

“ Don Pedro de Arce, bishop of Cibu, declares that his predecessor, Don Pedro de Agurto, first bishop of that province, appointed and named canons and dignidades, although without any stipend, to serve in his cathedral church, without your Majesty’s order. By his death the said canons and dignidades claimed the right to govern in the vacant see of the said bishopric; while the archbishop of Manila also claimed the right to place a government there himself. ”

“ That was injured and enslaved, the moment when it was subject to the hindrance of not being able to alter anything without a fresh intervention of the orders, and of being obliged to temporize with them so much as your Lordship indicates; for the person and dignity of the archbishop of Manila are of great importance, and his feelings of anger should be of less duration, so that he should not be compelled to chide the quarrels of others with his crozier. ”

“ The rich were seeking more expensive ceremonies in order to outshine the other well-to-do people of their neighborhood. The real grievance was, however, not the cost, but the fact that political discriminations were made so that those who were out of favor with the government were likewise deprived of church privileges. The reform of Archbishop Santo y Rufino has importance only because it gave the people of the provinces what Manila had long possessed—a knowledge of the rivalry between the secular and the regular clergy. ”

“ During all the time while Archbishop Don Fray Hernando Guerrero governed the church of Manila, he was exercising echoes of the etymology of his name in the contentions that he had with Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera;18 and had there not been a prelate in the church of Manila so zealous and vigilant in matters of ecclesiastical immunity, it would have been involved in other and greater difficulties. The archbishop commenced the visitation of his diocese as soon as he became free from the late storms ”

“ VACANT SEE.—Ecclesiastical cabildo governs the archbishopric.
SANTISIMA TRINIDAD MARTINEZ DE ARRIZALA, PEDRO DE, O.S.F.—Native of Madrid; auditor of Quito; counselor of the Indies; becomes Franciscan; consecrated as archbishop of Manila in Spain; makes public entry into Manila, Aug. 27, 1747; in Spain obtains decree ordering the expulsion of the Chinese settled in the islands, but does not present it, because of the representations of the bishop of Nueva Segovia, Arrechedera, then governor ad interim, and whose order, the Dominican, has charge of the Chinese ”

“ But those whom we can consider as exceptions to the rule, never reach the top rank of their equals in other countries. This lack is not attributed to the professors, for they were always picked men, and in the university of Manila, the present bishop of Oviedo, Señor Vigil, his Excellency, the lately deceased Cardinal Ceferino, the archbishop of Manila, Father Nozaleda, the illustrious Father Orias, and very many other Dominican fathers who were the honor of their order, of their country, and of all the monastic orders, shone pre-eminently for their learning. ”

“ Each would come away feeling that his Grace was a much maligned man. To-day, among the American officials in both army and navy, no man is more respected than the Archbishop of Manila. In my estimation, there are two reasons for the impression which has gone abroad concerning the Church here. Aguinaldo, knowing in his cunning that there were many Parkhursts in America, thought lying about the Church would be an excellent way to gain the sympathy of Americans. I have been all over the country, and find no poverty anywhere. ”

“ The Archbishop is a greater man than the Governor-General, and as he passes through the streets in his carriage drawn by four white horses, every head is bared. There are 4,000 priests in Manila alone. ”

“ He commends, however, the Jesuits and their work, suggesting that more of them should be sent to the islands. He is perplexed and hindered by the lack of soldiers, but [12] is doing his best with his small forces. The Council orders the viceroy of Nueva España to send every year to Filipinas all the reenforcements in his power.
The archbishop of Manila sends to the king (July 30, 1621) an account of ecclesiastical and some other affairs in his diocese. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In attempting to enforce his visitation of the regulars who act as curas, Camacho makes such official visits in some of the Indian villages near Manila, and issues decrees affecting such parishes; two specimens of these are given. After censuring the prevalent ignorance of Christian doctrine among the native parishioners, the archbishop strictly charges the ministers who are over them to give their people regular and thorough instruction in the faith ”

“ The two colleges in Manila are training so many students that they cannot find positions in the church, and the archbishop is greatly pained by their consequent poverty and humiliation. He asks for more competent bishops to be sent to the islands; and for authority to be given to religious ministers there to grant absolution for certain impediments to marriage which render divorces among the natives too easy. The friars who have charge of instructing the natives ought to be subject to inspection by the bishops, and thus various abuses would be corrected. ”

“ We had religious there of pure virtue, who were imitating the virtues of the dwellers in the desert. From those missions went forth our father Fray Bartolomé de la Santísima Trinidad, son of the convent of Madrid. He lived much retired from intercourse with men; and when he was elected provincial, in the year one thousand seven hundred and [311] one—at which time all said that he was a person unknown in Manila—Archbishop Camacho uttered these words: “The election of the discalced Augustinians has been and is, properly, an election by God and by the Holy Spirit.” ”

“ On this day, it was published that all acts by the royal Council in favor of the archbishop, the governor, and the Dominicans were approved; that the auditors were suspended; that the ex-governor was fined two thousand pesos; that all were summoned to Nueva España—where they must await their sentence, in the place that had been selected, twenty leguas distant from Mejico; and, until a ship was ready, they were all banished from Manila to the same places where the archbishop and the other Dominican religious had been confined. ”

“ Fajardo is sent to Spain, but dies on the voyage; his favorite Venegas dies in prison, and all his property is confiscated. The new governor and archbishop do all in their power to remedy the sad condition in which they find Manila. The latter, however, attempts to enforce the right of episcopal visitation of the friars in charge of parishes, whereupon those posts are abandoned by the religious orders. The matter is referred to the Audiencia, who enjoin the archbishop to suspend the visitation in such cases until the Council of the Indias can take action on the question ”

“ Notice should be taken of the reprimand which through the influence of the reverend archbishop was given to the religious orders by your royal court of Manila, composed of four officials who are young men; it is perhaps the most angry and contemptuous which has been offered to religious in a Catholic tribunal. In regard to the decrees which were issued regarding this particular, by the bishop the delegate of his Holiness, it appears that by a royal decree the five provincials, the rectors of the colleges of Santo Tomas and San Jose, and two other religious, all grave persons, were summoned ”

“ The governor,2 however, with his rank as royal vice-patron, protected the regulars in their privileges, and ordered Father Alfaro to exercise the said office alone. Afterward, when the suffragan bishoprics were created, and that of Manila was erected to the dignity of a metropolitan, with the archiepiscopal hierarchy, the appointment of provisors was regulated.
The spiritual administration of any of the bishoprics that fall vacant devolves upon the metropolitan archbishop, and the latter is the one empowered to appoint a provisor or capitular vicar. ”

“ Accordingly, he did so on the fall of Manila, and received enthusiastic support from ecclesiastics, officials, and natives.26 The archbishop has, on the contrary, endeavored to influence the prelates, religious, and natives to submit to the British, so that one might imagine that he has lost his wits. He has written Anda to retire to Manila and leave the government of the provinces to the enemy, but the English will be entirely wiped out if they do not relinquish their ideas, for they cannot settle themselves firmly in the islands. ”

“ If the latter do not obey, the affair may reach the point where two ecclesiastical prelates mutually excommunicate each other, and [the colony] is menaced with an interdict and the cessation of divine worship. This is not discussing an imaginary thing, but is relating that which has just occurred in Manila in a like case—where, in order to prevent the regulars from withdrawing from their curacies, [the archbishop] imposed on the provincials the penalties of excommunication and a fine of 2,000 pesos ”

“ God is a Father of pity, and attends to His children (and more to His servants) when they find themselves most in need of Him. He was received in the convent of Manila by many people, for all revered him as a servant of God, loved him as a father, and respected him as a true prelate.
On the twenty-second of April, 1602, the chapter was convened in the house at Manila. Father Fray Pedro Arce, who is now bishop of the city of Santisimo Nombre de Jesús, and who has twice governed the archbishopric of Manila, was elected in it. ”

“ That form of appointing governors for the vacancies of the bishops was usurped many years in these islands—although there has been sufficient opposition from the bishops at such an innovation and corruption—until the provision suitable to so essential a matter was made in the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, and in our own times a decree was received from the queen mother, [199] that the archbishops alone should appoint rulers for the bishoprics, but the cabildo of Manila [should do this] when the see is vacant. ”

“ For many years the bishopric of Camarines has had no prelate; for, although your Majesty has appointed many, no one comes here. That must be [227] because they hear how wretched a post it is. Your Majesty could abolish that bishopric by adding the half of it to that of Cebu, which is very conveniently located for this purpose, and the other half to this archbishopric of Manila, which does not have too great a district; and by that means would save that salary, and avoid many animosities that he who shall arrive from España to occupy that bishopric must surely encounter. ”

“ Controversies arise between the various orders, and within that of St Francis, which are settled [10] by the intervention of the bishop and governor. Reports made by the orders show that over half a million of the natives are receiving religious instruction; but the bishop deprecates the favorite missionary policy of gathering the converts into “reductions,” and advises that all the missions should be placed under the supervision of the bishops. The foreign population of Manila still increases beyond the safety-line, and spasmodic efforts are made to restrict it ”

“ Consequently, the administration of the missions could not be cared for, as is already seen, when affairs are going to the prejudice of the Catholic faith. In order to prove the aforesaid, we must take it for granted that each religious causes an expense of practically one thousand pesos from the time he leaves his convent in España until he sets foot in Manila—about one-half of which is paid from the royal treasury, while the remainder is supplied by the order. ”

“ I have nothing with which to employ them, since the ministries are all managed by the religious. The poor ecclesiastics have only eight benefices of Indians to administer, besides two Spanish curacies—namely that of this city, which is administered by two parish priests [curas] ; and that of Santiago, outside the walls—and one other which has in charge the Indians and slaves of Manila. Within the last few days two ecclesiastics, theologues, competed for a sacristy in the benefice of Nuestra Señora de Guia, which has a salary of only ninety pesos. ”