Chapter XLIX

Churches and colleges of Manila

Royal chapel

543. Inside the walls of the city of Manila, and at the extreme northeast by north section of it, stands the royal chapel, which has the title of Nuestra Senora de la Encarnacion [_i.e._, our Lady of the Incarnation], and contains the most holy sacrament. It is a very elegant structure, and was founded by Governor Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera. It is used for the chapel functions of the royal Audiencia, for the spiritual administration of the royal hospital for the soldiers of the army, and for their burial. For this last purpose, the chaplains go without any subordination to the parish church, wearing the cope, and with cross carried high, through the public streets to the said royal hospital for the bodies of the deceased soldiers, which they carry with all manner of solemnity to the royal chapel, where they are buried. For the above, and so that they may serve in the chaplaincies of the galleons in this line, and for the divine worship of the said chapel, the chapel has its chief chaplain, and a number of royal chaplains, sacristans, and other ministers, who serve it with great decorum and pomp. This is a rich church, and is beautifully adorned with altars, reredoses, pulpit, and sacristy; it has choir, organ, and a goodly band of singers; and rich ornaments, and sacred vessels of silver and gold--and, in particular, a monstrance of pure gold, valued at eleven thousand ducados.

Royal hospital

544. Not very far from this royal chapel, and more toward the center of the city, is the said royal hospital, for the soldiers of the Manila camp. It has its own chaplain, manager, physician, surgeon, apothecary, and all the other necessary provisions.

Royal seminary-college of San Phelipe

545. His Majesty asked Don Fausto Cruzat y Gongora, governor of these islands, by a royal decree of November 28, 1697, to inform him whether there was or was not a seminary-college for boys in Manila, for the service of his cathedral church; and that, in case there were not, he should set about its foundation and building. He was to advise his Majesty of the expenses necessary for it, and for its necessary maintenance. The governor reported; and, by another royal decree of April 28, 1702, the piety of his Catholic Majesty decided upon the foundation of a royal college in the city of Manila, which should be a seminary for eight seminarists. The sum necessary for its building and maintenance was to be appropriated from the funds accumulating from vacancies in the bishoprics of these islands, and from the tithes; and, if necessary, from the funds of the royal treasury. All was to be done with the advice of the archbishop of Manila, and his Majesty was to be informed of all that was done. Everything was carried out by the governor and master-of-camp, Don Domingo de Zabalburu; and, with the approval of his Excellency the archbishop, Don Diego Camacho y Avila, the plans for the building of the seminary were begun with all possible energy. By a general meeting of the treasury tribunal, held May 22, 1705, four thousand pesos were appropriated to General Don Miguel de Elorriaga for the encouragement of this enterprise.

546. With the arrival at these islands of the patriarch of Antiochia, Cardinal Don Carlos Thomas Millard de Tournon, [56] in the year 1704, and with the stay of the abbot Don Juan Baptista Sidoti [57] in the islands, until he went to Japon, that work was strengthened by various alms, which the said Sidoti went about collecting for it, until he succeeded in giving it a stone foundation one vara high. The seminary was called San Clemente, in honor of the pope. [58] Then writing to Madrid and to Roma the progress that had been made--namely, that the seminary was already in operation, and that the number of the seminarists exceeded twenty, and attributing that glory to the said gentlemen and to their efforts, it was advised that the said cardinal should select those persons whom he thought proper for master and rector. Pontifical commission was assigned him for that, and in fact, in the year 1707, the licentiate Don Gabriel de Isturis was appointed rector, and the bachelor Don Hypolito del Rio as master of the seminarists. On November 28 of that year, the first eight seminarists were received by the governor of these islands, Don Domingo de Zabalburu. The archbishop and governor of these islands helped in all these plans, and, in addition to the above alms, contributions were made from the revenues of the royal treasury.

547. Having been informed of all this news, the apostolic nuncio at the court of Espana presented himself before the Catholic Majesty in the name of the pope (who had been informed by the archbishop and the governor of Manila), asking that his Majesty would deign to consider as valid the said foundation in the aforesaid form in the city of Manila--since it meant glory to his crown to have a seminary in these islands, from which so many advantages would follow for the spread of the Catholic faith in Japon, and China, and among other barbarous peoples, by rearing subjects in the said seminary in virtue and learning as evangelical ministers, of whom there was so much need. That was to be without any expense to the royal treasury, since some of its seminarists were supported with alms, and some with the revenues that belonged to their own houses.

548. His Majesty consulted his royal Council of the Indias. From their examination of the matter a royal decree resulted, dated at Madrid, March 3, 1710, and countersigned by his Majesty's secretary, Don Felix de la Cruz Ahedo, and with the rubrics of five members of the Council of the Indias. In it his Majesty manifests his just anger at such innovations and prejudicial proceedings through the agency of foreigners, when his Majesty had ordained it so long beforehand; and that, with what had been done, there should be given room for such progress to be attributed in the Roman court to the active diligence of foreigners, when his Catholic zeal had sent, at the cost of his royal treasury, and maintained in these parts the great number of learned regular missionaries [who are there] for the conversion [of the heathen], and the propagation of the holy gospel. He was angry also because this news had come to his royal ears by other vehicles than his vassals and ministers, and that foreigners had been allowed in these islands without his royal consent.

549. Therefore, in the said royal order, his Majesty commands that all the foreign seminarists be taken out of the said seminary, and that only the eight before decided upon be left, since those were his vassals. He allows at the most, sixteen boarders, and all those shall enter only by permission of the governor of these islands, as the vice-patron; and the building of the said seminary which his Majesty had before ordered shall be promoted. If there should be persons, who in good faith would have aided the new seminary with buildings, incomes, and other gifts, it is asked that they consent to apply these on the building of the seminary intended and ordered by his Majesty. In case that they do not agree to that, the just price of whatever can be useful for this desirable end shall be paid to them; and what is useless shall be restored to its owners, except such buildings as may not be necessary, which shall be immediately demolished.

550. By virtue of the royal decree to the royal Audiencia, and those decrees which accompanied it for the archbishop and governor of Manila, the building which (as above stated) was already begun was demolished, and today it is used as the summer palace of the governors; and all the orders expressed in the said decrees were carried out. On May 6, 1712, the course of arts was inaugurated in the royal seminary of San Phelipe (for thus did his Majesty order it to be called, and that the name of San Clemente be erased), with the bachelor Don Bartholome Caravallo, presbyter, as master. He was appointed by decree of the superior government, during the governorship of the count of Lizarraga, Don Martin de Ursua. Doctor Don Francisco Fermin de Vivar was appointed master of theology on July 5, 1714. At his death, the master Don Ignacio Mariano Garcia, who is at present doctor in theology, canon of this holy church, and rector of the said royal college, succeeded to the office. After that time, they began to have public theological theses there, with the help of the communities of Manila. Still later, esteeming it advisable for the royal treasury, the offices of master of arts and theology were suspended, and only that of master of grammar is preserved. The seminarists who may choose to continue their scholastic studies, go to the university of Santo Thomas to hear lecturers there. That is the present course; and the said seminarists, after being present at the service of the cathedral church--their first duty--go to the university of Santo Thomas for the ordinary lectures which are given to them.

Royal professorships

551. In the year 1717, his Majesty (may God preserve him) sent three professors to the city of Manila, with suitable salaries, to erect and conduct three professorships--of canons, institutes, and laws: these were in fact, erected and conducted in this city, in one of its most notable and roomy houses. In the year 1724, because of the promotion by the king of Don Julian de Velasco, one of the professors, to the royal Audiencia of Mexico, and as there were no suitable persons [for these chairs] the royal Audiencia of these islands communicated that fact to his Majesty on June 10, 1726, as well as the small results and increased expenses that were experienced from those professorships. Therefore, the royal Audiencia had made provision, while awaiting a new royal order, for maintaining the two professorships, with the same two lecturers who held them. However, there was some change, the professorship of canons being given to the very reverend father Pedro Murillo Velarde, of the holy Society of Jesus; while the place where the lectures were given was changed to the college of San Ignacio, of the same Society, where its provincial generously assigned a room for the exercise [of these lectureships] and for literary functions. In view of that, the king ordained, by his decree of July 26, 1730, the suspension of everything enacted therein by that Audiencia--doing away, for the time being, with the foundation of the royal university; and saving the royal treasury more than ten thousand pesos per annum, which had been fruitlessly spent. Now, very recently, his Majesty, by a decree dated San Lorenzo, October 23, 1733, has determined that there shall be a chair of canons and another of institutes in the college of San Ignacio; and he also determines that there shall be the same at the university of Santo Thomas. Such is the present condition of the king's professorships, until a new order is given.

Royal seminary of Santa Potenciana

552. The royal seminary of Santa Potenciana was built in Manila, where it is situated, in the year 1591. At that time Don Fray Domingo de Salazar was bishop, and he aided it with his alms; while the governor of the islands was Gomez Perez Dasmarinas. It was established in some houses and on a plot of ground given for that purpose by Captain Luis de Vibanco, factor of the royal treasury. There also was built the church with the title of St. Andrew the apostle, the patron saint of Manila. That church is thought to be [on the site of] the ancient chapel of St. Andrew which, as appears, was in that same spot, according to several papers which I have seen of the year 1580. The seminary has been, and is, used for orphan girls, the daughters of Spanish parents, to give them good education and rearing. It is under the royal patronage; and his Majesty takes care of the maintenance of the seminarists, and helps them as far as may be necessary. Some pupils, some servants, and even some reformed women are received also. For the last named, Licentiate Don Francisco Gomez de Arellano, archdeacon of Manila, and provisor of this archbishopric, built a separate room. He furnished the reredos of the principal altar, and gave several other alms and support for the purpose of changing that seminary to a monastery of nuns; but he was unable to attain his purpose, for God cut short the thread of his life. They have their own chaplain, their rectoress, and their portress; and they live safely retired and with holy mode of life.

Royal brotherhood of the Santa Misericordia

553. The royal brotherhood of the Santa Misericordia of the city of Manila is composed of the members of the most prominent families of Manila. They have their overseer, twelve deputies, and a secretary, who form their executive board, besides other officers for their necessary transaction of business. They were established in imitation of the one which was erected in Lisboa, in the year 1498, by the most serene queen of Portugal--Dona Leonor, at that time the widow of Don Juan the Second, who had died in the year 1495 as appears in all the Portuguese histories. Their founder was a Trinitarian religious of praiseworthy life, one Fray Miguel de Contreras. The Misericordia of Manila is due to the pious and fervent efforts of that venerable servant of God. Father Juan Fernandez de Leon, a secular priest, a native of Gibra-Leon, in the county of Niebla in Andalucia, at the time when this archbishopric was governed by the very reverend father Fray Christoval de Salvatierra, [59] of the Order of Preachers, and the Philipinas Islands by Don Luis Gomez [_sic_: error for _Perez_] Dasmarinas. This holy brotherhood was established April 16, 1594, with the liberal alms of all the nobility of Manila, and the above-named governor was appointed its first overseer. The three who cooperated for its establishment and the formation of its constitution, were Father Pereyra, of the holy Society of Jesus, father Fray Marcos de Lisboa, a Franciscan, and Don Christoval Giral, all three of them Portuguese. In the church of the Society of Jesus at Manila met the most reverend father Fray Christoval de Salvatierra, the venerable dean Don Diego Basquez de Mercado, and the said venerable Juan Fernandez de Leon; the venerable fathers Antonio Sedeno and Raymundo de Prado, of the holy Society of Jesus; the venerable fathers Fray Agustin de Tordesillas, Fray Marcos de Lisboa, Fray Alonso Munoz, and Fray Juan Bautista, of this seraphic [_i.e._, Franciscan] province; together with the magistrates, regidors, and superior officers of the army of the city, and other persons of education and talents, both ecclesiastics and laymen.

554. Thus erected, and in accordance with its erection, the Santa Misericordia remained with the temporal management, and our province with the spiritual management, of the hospital, which from that time began to be called the Misericordia [_i.e._, "House of Mercy"] of the Franciscan fathers--which before had been cared for by the venerable Leon and our venerable Fray Juan Clemente; and the erection of the said hospital in proper shape was considered.

555. They built a church with the title of "Presentacion de Nuestra Senora" [_i.e._, "Presentation of our Lady"], and a house and seminary with that of Santa Isabel, in order to rear Spanish orphan girls with thorough instruction in Christian doctrine and with good morals. It had a rectoress to care for and govern it, and a portress. Thence the girls go out with dowries sufficient for the estate [of marriage] to which they naturally tend, for which purpose the holy Misericordia appropriates sixteen thousand pesos. The girls who study there, who all the time are supported with whatever is necessary, number about sixty, besides some pupils, six slave girls, and other servants. For their expenses and those of their chaplains ten thousand seven hundred pesos are appropriated. It is a seminary of so great reputation and honor that, although it has been used from its beginning as a refuge for girls--the daughters of poor Spaniards, whom the brothers obtain from various houses and from Santa Potenciana--the best citizens of the community do not hesitate today to send their daughters there. Thence they go out to assume the state of matrimony, or as nuns of St. Clare. Their church is very capacious, of beautiful architecture, and very richly adorned. It was used as the cathedral (as above stated) until the year 1662, when the cabildo took possession of its new church.

556. Not only does this brotherhood have in charge today the support of this girls' seminary, and of the hospital of the Misericordia (although the latter is at present under the charge of the hospital order), but there is no class of persons which does not experience the charity of this holy house, through the generous alms that its executive board distributes. If the royal Misericordia of Lisboa boasts that 30,000 ducados of private alms and other sums, which are spent nearly every year for the redemption of captives, were distributed in one year, there is not a year that this great charitable institution does not spend 70,000 pesos in various purposes of charity, such as those already mentioned--poor Spaniards who are unwilling to ask alms, and prisoners, and masses for the blessed souls--so that it is estimated that this holy house has given 3,448,506 pesos in alms from the year 1599 until that of 1726. That sum has been produced by the pious bequests that have been left for charitable purposes by the inhabitants of Manila. To this should be added the advances that have been made to the general fund of these islands, in cases of extreme necessity and invasions by the enemy, in the years 1646, 650, 653, 663 to 668, and to that of 1735. The total, according to an accurate computation, amounts to 1,069,099 pesos.

557. The Misericordia takes care of the financial affairs of twenty-nine collative and of ten laical chaplaincies; and, in the royal college of San Joseph, of two fellowships.

558. It is governed by its own special rules, and their observance imposes the obligation of mortal sin. It has remarkable and venerated reliquaries. It enjoys many privileges from the supreme pontiffs, and innumerable indulgences. It is under the immediate royal protection by a royal decree of his Majesty, dated Sevilla, March 25, 1733, countersigned by Don Miguel de Villanueva, the king's secretary. Concession was granted in that decree to place the royal arms in their church and college; to go out as a corporation on Holy Thursday to make the round of the stations; and entire credit is to be given in all the tribunals to the instruments of the secretary of the executive board.

Other charitable institutions

559. There are other charitable institutions in Manila in emulation of that of the holy Misericordia, although not so wealthy: in the cathedral church, in the seraphic tertiary order of the convent of Manila, in that of the convent of Dilao, in [the convent of] St. Dominic, in their convent of Binondoc, in their beaterio, in the convent of the calced Augustinian fathers, in that of the discalced Augustinians, and in that of the Society. All of them serve as a refuge for the poor; for from them is obtained money in proportion to good securities, and on pledges of gold and silver, at moderate rates of interest, for the trade of merchants, with which the poor Spaniards engage in business and increase their wealth. Their returns are used for the various charities purposed by the founders who placed their money there--such as divine worship; alms for the orders; dowries for poor Spanish, Indian, and mestiza girls, and for those of the Cavite shore; alms for the self-respecting poor; hospitals and prisons; and suffrages for the blessed souls in purgatory--which are perennial.

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