The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Ed. by Blair and Robertson

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Title: The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XIII., 1604-1605

Author: Ed. by Blair and Robertson

Release Date: February 26, 2005 [EBook #15184]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, 1493-1898, ***

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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 XIII, 1604-1605

 Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson
  with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord
                                Bourne.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XIII

    Preface 9
    Relación de las Islas Filipinas (concluded) Pedro Chirino, S.J.;
    Roma, 1604 2
    Documents of 1604

            Letters to Felipe III. Pedro de Acuña; Manila, July 15
            and 19 221
            Decrees regarding religious orders. Felipe III, and others;
            Valladolid, February-July 246
            Grant to the Jesuit seminary at Cebú. Pedro Chirino;
            [undated; 1604?] 251
            Decree regulating commerce with Nueva España. Felipe III;
            Valladolid, December 31 256

Documents of 1605

            Complaints against the Chinese. Miguel de Benavides,
            and others; Manila, February 3-9 271
            Letter from a Chinese official to Acuña. Chincheo,
            March 287
            Letters from Augustinian friars to Felipe III. Estevan
            Carillo, and others; Manila, May 4-June 20 292
            Letter to Felipe III. Antonio de Ribera Maldonado; Manila,
            June 28 307

Bibliographical Data 317

ILLUSTRATIONS

    Autograph signature of Pedro Chirino, S.J.; photographic facsimile
    from MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla 215
    Autograph signatures of Pedro de Acuña and members of the
    Audiencia; photographic facsimile from MS. in Archivo general de
    Indias, Sevilla 243

PREFACE

The larger part of the present volume is occupied with the Relacion of the Jesuit Chirino, begun in Vol. XII, and here concluded. In this work is recorded the progress of the Jesuit missions up to the year 1602, by which time they have been established not only in Luzón and Cebú, but in Bohol, Leyte, Negros, Samar, and northern Mindanao. The arrival of the visitor García in 1599 results in new vigor and more thorough organization in the missions, and the numbers of those baptized in each rapidly increase. The missionaries are able to uproot idolatry in many places, and greatly check its practice in others. Everywhere they introduce, with great acceptance and edification among the natives, the practice of flagellation—"the procession of blood." Religious confraternities are formed among the converts, greatly aiding the labors of the fathers; and the latter open schools for boys, among both the Spaniards and the Indians. In time of pestilence they minister to the sick and the dying; and they gain great influence among all classes. They secure the good-will of hostile natives, quell a threatened revolt among those of Leyte, and reclaim certain outlaws and bandits. The Spaniards also receive their ministrations, especially in Manila; the fathers adjust dissensions and family quarrels, and reform several dissolute persons. The college at Manila prospers, and enlarges its curriculum. The labors of the Jesuits effect certain important changes in social conditions among the natives. Usury, unjust enslavement, and polygamy are greatly lessened, and sometimes entirely abolished, among the Indians in the mission districts; and most notable of these results, the fathers have much success in gathering not only their own converts, but even many of the wild and savage mountaineers, into villages under their personal care and supervision.

A new monastic order, the Augustinian Recollects, is permitted to send missionaries to the islands. Little of importance occurs there in 1604; but among the Spaniards there is much fear of an invasion by the Chinese, in revenge for the late slaughter of their countrymen in Luzón. Yet the cupidity or laxity of the officials has permitted the number of Chinese resident in the islands to increase beyond proper limits; and the archbishop of Manila endeavors to secure strict enforcement of the laws against this dangerous immigration. The leading officials of the Augustinian order complain (1605) of their provincial as unscrupulous and overbearing, and ask for relief and the suitable adjustment of the affairs of their province.

Chirino's narrative of the Jesuit missions (here concluded) narrates events from 1598 onward. In June of that year Father Vera goes to obtain more missionaries from Europe. In Mexico he meets orders from the general of the Jesuit order that Diego García shall go with a reënforcement of laborers to the Philippines. In Manila, during that year, the Jesuits meet much success in their ministries—especially in the confessional, in public preaching, and in various benevolent works. They also accomplish much in private affairs, reconciling enemies, preventing lawsuits, and checking licentious conduct. The annals continue with the progress of the Antipolo mission during 1598. The mountain-dwellers continue to come to the mission, of whom many are baptized—among these some of the heathen priests. Among the converts are formed confraternities which most efficiently aid the labors of the missionaries. The people have given up their pagan practices, and display great piety and devotion as Christians.

At Cebú the bishop has greatly favored the Jesuits, who have opened a school for his clergy and the sons of some citizens. Their labors are chiefly among the Visayan natives and the Chinese, and meet much success. The writer relates some instances of especial virtue and piety among these converts; there, as in missions elsewhere, the women are distinguished in those respects. No less important are the labors of the Jesuits among the Spaniards of Cebú, among whom they exercise great influence, even