Philippine Progress Prior to 1898 Part 11

The conquest might better be called a conversion for the cross did much more to establish and maintain Spain's authority than the sword. And the new religion formed a bond of union, perhaps the only one which could have brought together such diverse elements.

Spanish catholicism was not merely a Spanish church, the church was Spain. There was therefore no humiliation over subjugation, rather exultation in having found salvation.

The people were seafaring folk with the st.u.r.diness such a life gives. Their chiefs were their captains, and, in waters that are the home of the typhoon, leadership, if in no other way than by the survival of the fittest, came to the most capable.

Women held high position, for with their husband so much away not only the household but all the family affairs were under their control, a condition still notable. Thus the home influence in which the children grew up was not that of the Orient, a shut-in Zenana with, for the child's first model, a mother who had been a slave and now as mistress was a tyrant, but the youth of the Philippines earlier saw the real world and had training from mothers who knew its ways.

There were gradations of rank, but people were constantly falling from the higher to the lower so that these had ambitious persons among them seeking to regain their former estate and arousing ambition among their fellows. And the condition of even the lowest was not hopeless. So well ordered was society that even slaves had rights and knew them; had too the civic courage to stand up for them against their masters. Witness the story of the surprise of the Spaniards who heard slaves saying to their masters, "What is there in it for me in this?", when orders were given them.

Nor should it be thought that the wholesale conversion betrayed weakness of character. The islands had had a nature religion, the belief of an artistic people, that their G.o.ds would delight in and frequent the most beautiful spots. Then came the religion of Mahomet with a system which reason readily recognized as superior, but before it was fairly established there arrived another religion which not only commended itself to reason but appealed to the artistic sense, both in larger measure than either of its predecessors.

Those who had felt exalted in the glory of the tropical sun, found comfort in the moonbeams' softer radiance, had sought the leafy recesses of the forest for reflection and were soothed and sustained by the musical murmurs of mountain cascades found greater comfort and a higher gratification in the rites and ceremonies of a church which has ever been the patron of art and consecrates all that is beautiful in music, painting and sculpture to adorn its sanctuaries and dignify its worship.

THE FRIAR DOMINATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

By "Plaridel" (Marcelo H. del Pilar).

Three centuries have pa.s.sed since the blood of Legaspi and of Sikatuna mingled in a cup of which both partook in token of eternal friendship, thus ratifying their oaths to fuse thenceforward into a single ideal the aspiration of Spain and the Philippines. But the pa.s.sage of time, instead of making firmer this fusion, has only strengthened the predominance of the religious orders who have turned the islands into a colony exploited by friars.

No one is ignorant of the rebellion of the friars against the highest political and religious authorities of the archipelago; nor is anyone ignorant of the violent death of some, the coercion exercised on others and the vexations visited upon all those who in governing the country have dared to place the interests of the motherland of the Catholic religion before the convents.

The immunity of those implicated and the predominance of the rebellious elements compel the unhappy belief that Spain has already abdicated the sovereignty in favor of Philippine friarism.

So it is worth while to dissipate this erroneous impression. Sad is it to think that the planning of Charles V and Philip II, the efforts of Magellan and Elcano, the sufferings of Villalobos, the prudence and the valor of Legaspi, the sacrifices of Salcedo, Lavezares, Goiti, and the others, only served as a stepping-stone for enthroning the friar orders.

The Filipino people are pa.s.sing in these moments through an interesting period. Already they have manifested their aversion to the friars, and I believe the time has come to draw attention to the aspirations which palpitate in their bosoms.

On the one hand their future and on the other the att.i.tude of China, j.a.pan and other nations which from Europe and Asia have fixed their gaze on the map of Oceanica, offer to the thoughtful man problems of deep seriousness which perhaps may be resolved in time to forestall and smooth out future difficulties.

Luna's palette has revived the recollection of the "Blood Compact"

between Legaspi and Sikatuna, and the Filipino cannot view without regret the powerful intervention of the friar interests which, blocking every tendency toward fraternity between Spain and the Philippines, are creating a difficult situation by increasing the former's unfriendliness and the latter's burdens. For this they rely on the difference of language between the governing and the governed cla.s.ses; and to maintain that difference, to impede popular instruction and to prevent at all cost that the people and their government shall come to understand each other is the best way to maintain them in perpetual antagonism.

How far this plan has already gone can be estimated by a.n.a.lyzing the relations of the friarocracy with the official inst.i.tution which makes up the organization of the towns of the Philippines. As everywhere else, in the Philippines the relation of residents to the munic.i.p.al officers is of the utmost importance. The petty governor, or chief of the village, in each locality const.i.tutes the channel of communication and the agency for carrying out the ideas of the government, and according to the activity or inertness of this element the plan of the higher authorities works out effectively or suffers sad shipwreck.

The parish priest has no vote in these elections, but controls them because in his hands is the veto power. In forwarding the returns for the ratification of the election result, the parish priest makes two reports: one is public in character and is limited to setting forth the grade of instruction of the candidate in the official language; the other is confidential and under no restrictions whatever.

The candidate who has no legal impediment, unless he is of the priest's following, will turn out disqualified in some other way, thanks to the confidential report. He will be anti-Spanish, an agitator (filibustero), separatist, and if this report cannot be controverted the candidate of the town meeting will be thrown out. The parish priest, in the final result, is master of the situation.

In carrying on their munic.i.p.al duties, the local authorities are dependent upon the parish priest. For a report on the conduct of a resident, a hundred of the princ.i.p.al men are not enough; the vital point is having the "O. K." of the parish priest. In turning in the tax rolls of the neighborhood, his signature is necessary. For the calling to the colors of the young men to whom the lot has fallen to serve as soldiers, the parish priest's "approved;" to validate accounts and other official doc.u.ments, the parish priest's "approved;"

in everything and for everything there is demanded as the essential requisite the approval of the parish priest.

In exchange there exists no corrective provision which regulates the conditions under which the parish priest may grant or withhold this approval. He grants or withholds it according to his own free will or as he is directed by his ecclesiastical superiors. The chief local authority is the only one on whom falls this burden of regularizing his acts with the indispensable approval of the parish priest. If the parish priest refuses it, then the chief incurs the discipline of his superiors.

Manifold are the functions of the chief local authority in the Philippines. Aside from his judicial duties, he has charge of the administration, of the tax collecting, of the port, etc., and, given the dependence upon the parish priest in which he finds himself, it is not to be wondered at that the latter controls even to the official correspondence, in fact retaining the right to authorize its transmission.

Orders from above are complied with when it so pleases the Most Reverend Parish Priest. If the higher authority attempts to impose and require energetic compliance with his commands, the parish priest communicates it to one of the superiors of his order, and this obtains the overthrowing of the official. For it he has an argument incontrovertible and of magic effect, to wit, that it endangers the national indivisibility. If it is an effort to open a road and the parish priest doesn't want it, then it endangers the national indivisibility. Or if the public health requires that dead bodies should not be taken into the church, still it is no reason,--it would imperil the national indivisibility.

And in everything, the same tendency.

ARCHBISHOP MARTINEZ'S SECRET DEFENSE OF HIS FILIPINO CLERGY

(Translated from a copy obtained from the Manila Executive Bureau Archives)

Your Serene Highness: The undersigned archbishop respectfully addresses your highness, impelled by a true love of country as well as from a sense of the duty inc.u.mbent upon him of working for the tranquillity of his archdiocese. Frequently has it been disturbed and altered by the turning over of the curacies of the secular clergy which some years since were granted to the friar orders. This has been the cause of an antagonism between the two branches of the clergy each time more marked, and is taking a turn which sooner or later can become untoward for our beloved Spain.

Merely to fix the time of the beginning of this antagonism do I mention the royal decree of July 8th, 1826, by which there were restored to the religious communities the curacies in charge of the secular clergy since the second period of the governorship of Don Simon de Anda y Salazar. Just as this measure, as the native priests had those parishes for over half a century and considered them then theirs, they felt it a great hardship each time when, on the death or transfer of one of their number, a friar was put in to replace him. On the death of the parish priest of San Simon, in this present year, the last of the provisions of said royal order was carried out.

One may cite, as another cause contributing to the growing antagonism, the royal order of March 9th, 1849, which takes away from the secular clergy and gives to the friars seven more parishes in Cavite, namely: Bacoor, Cavite Viejo, and Silang to the Recollect Augustinians; and Santa Cruz and San Francisco de Malabon, Naic and Indan to the Dominicans. By reason of their having become vacant five of these have already been turned over.

But what brought the antagonism to a crisis and filled the native priesthood with indignation was the royal order of September 10th, 1861, to which and to its results the subscriber has in mind especially to call the exalted attention of your Highness.

Article 13 of the royal decree of July 30th, 1859 (relative to the establishment of a government for Mindanao), arranged that the Jesuit priests should take charge of the parishes and religious duties of that island then held and attended to by the Recollect Friars of the Province of San Nicolas de Tolentino. It thus became necessary to have some workable plan for carrying the arrangement into effect, and the above mentioned royal order of September 10th was given for this purpose, besides indemnifying the Recollects by a.s.signing to their administration curacies in Cavite Province or elsewhere (in the archdiocese of Manila according to a later provision) which had been under the native clergy. The circ.u.mstances under which this royal decree was issued deserve careful examination. In the first place, there was then no archbishop, a condition under which the sacred canons enjoin and counsel prudence, when no innovation of any kind shall be introduced; secondly the opinion of the customary ecclesiastical authority was not asked, though here on matters of much less importance numerous endors.e.m.e.nts are the rule; thirdly, your Highness is already aware how the priest nominated to the mitre of Manila knew nothing of the anomalous ecclesiastical administration nor of the usages and customs (the reason why he would have renounced such a heavy responsibility and only did accept after strong urging) and so there had to elapse considerable time before he could learn enough of the matter to cause him to complain of it. The foregoing facts are respectfully submitted to Your Highness.

When, toward the close of May, 1862, the writer took possession of his archbishopric, he found the native clergy extraordinarily excited and on every hand was urged to request the revocation of the September 10th royal order aforesaid. Unconvinced by pet.i.tions and appeals, rather, then in his heart persuaded that the Supreme Government could give him good and sufficient reason for taking so serious a step, the archbishop was disposed to comply as he has complied, cheerfully and to the letter. If he courteously declined to award the Antipolo curacy to the Recollects, it was because he understood this was a request not warranted by the royal order, and he could not have been far out of the way when the State Council formally upheld his judgment as appears in the royal order of May 19th where the formula used is "Having listened to the State Council," one indicating action against their advice. Moreover now, after long residence in the country, with some knowledge of the church conditions and of its running and of affairs and persons, each time I see with greater clearness that the complaints of the native clergy are not without foundation, that there ought to be some effort to conform the royal order of September 10th, 1861, to the rules of propriety and equity, and that if one observes its results, one must conclude that it does not conform entirely to those of wise policy. Briefly I shall explain these a.s.sertions.

The Supreme Government was within its rights in entrusting to the recognized zeal of the Jesuit Fathers the curacies and missions of Mindanao, the law on the Royal Patronship in the code of the Indies authorizing such action. Worthy, too, of praise is it that there should be recognition of the Recollect Fathers' services and compensation for the loss of their Mindanao religious establishments, because, although many of these were founded by the early Jesuit Fathers, yet the Recollects were then in possession of them and had made them theirs by right of prescription. But if it had been taken into account that likewise the native priests' services merited appreciation (for under unfavorable vicissitudes they have always borne themselves as faithful subjects of Spain and in the parochial ministry as coadjutors, theirs is even the hardest part of the charge), then by no means would so deserving a cla.s.s have been wronged to reward any other, and there would have been sought some gentler and equitable way of carrying out the wishes of the Government. The very diocese of Cebu, within whose borders at that time belonged the island of Mindanao, in fact offered no obstacle since it would have been only justice to have not compensated the Recollects with the parishes of other friars, for to them had been previously granted all the curacies of the Island of Negros, which belonged to the native clergy, for want of persons of that cla.s.s.

The curacies of the aforesaid diocese were two hundred and thirty-seven, of which forty-eight belonged to the secular clergy. The scant resources of Cebu's theological seminary, its lack of professors and the students' ignorance of the Spanish language, knowledge of which is indispensable in the study of Latin and moral theology, not only prevented the preparation of a sufficient number of priests for the control of the above-mentioned parishes, but also detracted from the success of those needed as coadjutors to aid the parish priests in the administration of the sacraments and the care of the sick. That seminary rightly should be called a college because the natives go to it for the purpose of learning Spanish, and most of them leave when they only have half learned the language. Suffice it to say that there have been, and still are within the former boundaries of the Bishopric of Cebu towns (not compact but confined to distant and scattered barriers) seventeen thousand and more souls where the spiritual administration rests on a single friar priest, usually advanced in years, too. For this reason it cannot be doubted that its zealous prelate would have welcomed the a.s.sistance of twenty-seven friars who could have taken charge of that number of parishes, because manifestly this would have improved the parochial administration, and still there would have been left him twenty-one curacies with which to reward those coadjutors who were distinguished among their scanty number for virtue, learning, and hard work.

Though the Archdiocese of Manila lacked ministers to attend to all the spiritual necessities of the faithful (for the force scarcely suffices under normal conditions to respond to the most urgent calls), nevertheless it formed a striking contrast in this matter to the Diocese of Cebu.

The Archbishopric had at the time approximately one million four hundred thousand inhabitants, with one hundred and ninety-one parishes served by both cla.s.ses of clergy. Deduct from this number a.s.signed to the secular clergy those which had to be returned by order of the Royal Decree of 1826, those which the Royal Order of 1849 commanded to be given the Recollects and the Dominicans, and the twenty-seven which, by the order of September 10th, 1861, the parishes and missions they had had to surrender to the Jesuits in Mindanao, and there are only twelve left to reward deserving coadjutors. The priests of this cla.s.s, comparing them with those of Cebu, are very numerous, for there are not four cases where coadjutors are not provided on the scale of one for parishes of 4,000, two for 8,000, three for 12,000, and so on up to Taal, which has seven coadjutors. But let us continue the comparison of the two dioceses.

Though the diocese of Cebu has few who understand the Spanish language, there are many in Manila and adjacent provinces who speak it; and in contrast to the limited facilities of the Cebu seminary, the archdiocese has the University of Sto. Tomas and the colleges of San Juan de Letran and of San Jose, where numerous students are studying Latin, philosophy, theology and the sacred canons. Nor should one omit the seminary of San Carlos in spite of the fact that, because of difficulties elsewhere enumerated, it is not of a standard commensurate with the importance of the capital of the Philippine Archipelago, a land conquered and held by Spain primarily for religious reasons. Do not the foregoing facts prove that the losses suffered by the Recollects should be compensated with curacies in the diocese of Cebu, and not with those of Manila?

The spirit inspiring the Royal Order of September 10th, 1861, seems no more in conformity with policy and equity, when the native priests compare the missions and curacies relinquished by the Recollects with those they received in exchange in this Archbishopric. If Your Highness will have the goodness to glance over the accompanying table, perhaps you may agree with them and also may observe, as they do, that if to the term "indemnization" (which should only mean making good the actual loss) there is to be given the broader meaning that the present result suggests, then there will be many who will want to be damaged in order to get back ten-fold the value of what they lose.

It is worthy of especial note that, despite the Antipolo parish having few parishioners, such is the devotion on the part of the towns toward the image of the Virgin venerated there, so great are the crowds who from even more remote provinces during the month of May repair to this celebrated shrine, and so many and so large are the largesses for ma.s.ses ordered that this is considered the pearl of the curacies, one of the fattest parishes in all the Archipelago. So it is not at all to be wondered at that the secular clergy have especially regretted its loss, and there is good reason for a.s.serting that the Royal Order of May 19th, 1864, is far from harmonizing with the order of September 10th, 1861.

Besides the facts above set forth, which have created and continued antagonism and animosity between the secular and regular clergy, it is necessary to add another for your Highness' better understanding of the discontent of the native priests.

To fill a vacancy in the curacy of San Rafael, Bulacan Province, occasioned by the death of its parish priest, seventy days' notice was given of a compet.i.tion, the time expiring February 17th, 1868. The examinations were held in the manner prescribed by Pope Benedict XIV on the 21, 22 and 23rd, and seventeen candidates presented themselves. Their papers were already graded and the highest three eligibles selected to be certified to the Vice Royal Patron on March 2nd, but the day previous the Diocesan prelate received a communication from him transmitting a brief by the Provincial of the Augustinian arguing that the said curacy should be adjudged theirs.

I at once replied begging the Vice Royal Patron not to disturb the course of the compet.i.tion because the secular clergy were already in possession of the curacy and the candidates had acquired a right to it by the holding of the compet.i.tion while the objection had not been made at the proper time. This was to be without prejudice to later going fully into the claim raised by the Reverend Provincial, which turned upon the question of ownership. The reply denied this just pet.i.tion on the ground that would prejudice the question grievously, conferring the right to possession with the t.i.tle of ownership. I made clearly apparent the error which had been incurred, and received a reply that "the Vice Royal Patron was not in the habit of changing a decision once it had been decreed."