The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Volume 21 of 55. Unknown
is In tanta rerum, etc., and which father Fray Manuel Rodriguez inserted in the book that he published concerning the privileges of the orders,8 in number 38 of those of that same supreme pontiff.
Although it is true that it is stated in the memorial which the Order of St. Francis in Nueva España presented regarding the substance of the privileges of the mendicant orders in the Yndias, at the provincial council that was convened in Mexico in the year 1585, at the instance of the same council (as is mentioned by father Fray Juan Baptista, of the said order, in the second part of his book of advice for confessors), that the said revocation had no effect, because the cardinal protectors of the orders immediately appealed from it, asking his Holiness to suspend the said motu proprio and that it be not promulgated; and that his Holiness agreed to it, and that, accordingly, no account was taken of it—it appears that no attention must be paid to that, for the said memorial has no further proof or authority than the certification of Father Master Veracruz, who was in Sevilla when the motu proprio of Gregory XIII was issued, and because Father Manuel Rodriguez, of the same Order of St. Francis, affirms the contrary—who some years later, while residing in Salamanca, where there was more notice of it than in the Yndias, published his books of “questions concerning the regulars,” as appears in article 7, question 8, of the first volume,9 as well as in other places. With the same agrees father Fray Alonso de Vega, in his conclusion, chapter 62, case 4, Questio de confessione, and it appears by the declarations of the holy congregation of the cardinals, which Marcilla reports in article 20, of section 25, de regularibus, and in article 15, of section 13, de reformatione,10 besides others, by which it is manifest that it is a privilege that his Majesty obtained for what he then judged advisable for the proper government of the churches of the Yndias, and the greater increase of their Christianity. It ought not, nor can it, be understood to be to the prejudice of the privileges that the holy apostolic see has conceded to the kings of España for the same purpose, such as that of Alexander VI, in his bull of the concession or confirmation of the Indias, as follows: Hortamur vos quamplurimum … et infra sit—insuper mandamus vobis in virtute sanctae obedientiae (sicut etiam pollicemini) et non dubitamus pro vestra maxima devotione et regia magnanimitate vos esse facturos, ad terras firmas et insulis praedictas, viros probos....11
And Adrian VI, in his Omnimodo, as follows: Dum tamen sint tales sufficientiae … and of the right of the royal patronage.12
And since it is now his Majesty’s will that the fitness and approval of the said religious in regard to curas must be to the satisfaction of the bishops, which he says to be thus advisable for the discharge of his royal conscience and that of the said bishops, it is clear that we are bound to fulfil it as a command of the holy apostolic see.
The above is in respect to the mandates of his Holiness. Coming to that which is ordered in this regard by the decrees of his Majesty, it appears that his Majesty having despatched his royal decree on the sixth of December, 1585, that if there were any capable clergy they should be preferred, in the benefices and missions of the Indians to the religious who held them, and who should have held them, by virtue of another royal decree of May twenty-five, of five hundred and eighty-five, his Majesty gave notice to the Order of St. Francis, of Nueva España, that he had ordered the suspension for the time being of the execution of this decree; and that the said missions be held, as hitherto, by the orders and religious; that there be no innovation in the manner of presentation and appointment; that the bishops in their own persons (these are the words of the royal decree), without committing it to any others, shall visit the churches of the missions, where the said religious may be, and in the missions inspect the most holy sacrament, the baptismal font, the building of the said churches, and the service of divine worship; and that they also visit the religious who should reside in the said missions, and correct them in matters concerning curas.
That royal decree is in the book of advice to confessors of Indians which father Fray Juan Baptista, of the Order of St. Francis, published in Mexico, in the year six hundred; it is on folio 380. On folio 259, it contains what the provincials of the orders of St. Dominic, St. Francis, and St. Augustine, of the province of Mexico, answered to it on the twenty-eighth of November, of the said year, 585. That answer was to accept the said missions non ex votis charitatis, but with the obligation of in se et justitia; and in regard to being visited, they say that, inasmuch as the obstacles of their disturbance and relaxation of discipline were always to be found, which induced the apostolic see to exempt them from the visits of the ordinaries—which obstacles would be more and greater in the Yndias, if authority were given for it—they would not refuse the reverence, respect, and submission due to the bishops, as prelates and shepherds of the Church of God. They said that they were under greater obligations to them than to any one else, and would respect them and receive them into their convents with proper reverence, as they had always done; and that, obeying what his Majesty ordered, they would be very glad to have them visit in their churches the most holy sacrament, the baptismal font, and what concerns it; but in all matters outside the above-mentioned, they petitioned his Majesty not to give the bishops authority or entrance, for that would mean the perpetual disquiet and ruin of their order.
But as for that which the said orders of Nueva España declared in that reply, namely, that the obstacles of disturbance and relaxed discipline were bound to follow the visits of the bishops, for which the apostolic see was induced to exempt them from their jurisdiction; nevertheless, it will be considered that a very different reason will be found to prevail in this case in respect to which, as regards religious from whom visits are exempted, they have their special rules and regulations, which are peculiar to each order. Both for that reason, and because their institute, life, and government is of the cloister, and they have no administration, dominion, and jurisdiction over persons of the world, it was most advisable to give them superiors who had been reared in the same life, customs, and rules of religion, since, moreover, their profession was simply that of religious.
But the ministry of the care of souls that the religious exercise is not of the cloister, nor does it depend on their special rule or institute; nor in regard to such are they at all different from the secular curas, both touching the religious ministers themselves, and touching the persons who are ministered to, whose spiritual government is in charge of the bishops.
And since it is a fact that the religious who accepts an executorship is obliged to give a strict account of it to the bishop—nor does he fulfil his duty by giving it to his superior, if it is a matter with which the deceased entrusted him, who made election and a confidant of him—with very much greater reason ought an account of the administration of the souls that are immediately in charge of the same bishop be given to him; and although in proof of that many other arguments might be adduced, none will be so effective and so conclusive as to consider that while there were, as is true, so many so aged, learned, grave, and holy religious of all the orders present in the holy council of Trent, who propounded as many difficulties and obstacles as they could offer, yet the holy council decreed and ordered as we have seen.
In conformity with that, notwithstanding the said reply which the orders of Nueva España gave to the decree of his Majesty, the orders of his Majesty in regard to the said visits seem to have been obeyed, for ten years after another royal decree was despatched, which the said father, Fray Juan Baptista, mentions on folio 396 of the said book, as follows:
“The King. Reverend father in Christ, bishop of the city of Antequera, of the valley of Huajaca, of Nueva España, and member of my council: Inasmuch as I have heard that the religious who reside in those regions, busied in the instruction and conversion of the Indians, give out that it is a cause of great disquiet and uneasiness to them for you to send to visit them, in regard to curacies, by clerics or religious of other orders; and as it is advisable to avoid all occasions that may divert them from their chief end, especially since (as they say) it is contrary to their institutes, and is the occasion of their living disconsolate, and that they are molested: I request and charge you that when you are unable to visit in person the missions of that bishopric—in accordance with the order in my decree of June first, one thousand five hundred and eighty-five,
Gregory XIV, in his brief
“And lest the rules and resolutions made for the said bishop [
“Moreover, whenever that bishop, at the advice of the said congregation, shall have reserved any case for himself, according to what shall have appeared expedient for the nature of the times, persons, and affairs, no secular priest nor a member of any religious order or congregation shall, under pretext of any privilege or indult (even though apostolic), excepting the bishop himself, or by his express license and command, be authorized, or dare or presume to grant absolution in any manner in cases so reserved, during the said reservation, under penalty of being suspended from the ministry of the mass and from the confession of the faithful, incurring that penalty by the very act.
“Moreover, we enjoin and order that bishop that, since it is the special duty of the bishop to minister to his own sheep and to visit them in person, he shall visit the flock entrusted to him, the religious of the Christian instruction, and those missions, in his own person or in that of his vicar-general in spiritual things, or at least in the persons of other very grave men, and not at all by simple and unskilled clergy, ignorant of letters, and of no judgment.
“And inasmuch as some of the inhabitants of those islands, and members of the above-mentioned orders, eager to see new things, and wandering or passing from one district to another, abandon those newly converted and baptized; and inasmuch as such persons cause the latter at times to revert to idolatry, which is greatly to be deplored; and inasmuch as many others who otherwise would acknowledge the faith and accede to baptism neglect it on account of the lack of ministers, or remain in infidelity; and inasmuch as the religious themselves, ignorant even of the languages of those districts, are despised, to the shame of their orders, and render more difficult the conversion of the Indians: We, desirous of checking this evil by an opportune remedy, strictly forbid and prohibit all and singular, of whatever religious order, and all others whomsoever who are engaged in the conversion of the infidels and the teaching of Christian doctrine, under penalty of excommunication, not to dare or presume to go from a pacified to an unpacified land, except by the express license and command of their bishop and of the religious superiors, given in writing.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the seal of the fisherman, April xviii, MDXCI, in the first year of our pontificate.”
See Pastells’s
Tomo i of his
Probably contained in his
See the bulls concerning the Indias granted by Alexander VI, in Vol. I of this series, pp. 97–114. The bull here referred to is the
This bull was dated May 9, 1522, and begins