NURT SVD, Vol. 148, No. 2, 2020, p. 8-26. ISSN 1233-9717

Jerzy Skrabania SVD1 [email protected] Kölner Hochschule für Katholische Theologie (khkt.-St. Augustin) Köln-Sankt Augustin

The Philippines under the Spanish and American Colonisation (1565-1912). A historical-political-religious Development. Part 1

Citation: Skrabania J., 2020, The Philippines under the Spanish and Ameri­ can Colonisation (1565-1912). A historical-political-religious development, Part I, Nurt SVD, Vol. 148, No. 2, p. 8-26.

Abstract The article presents a historical-political-religious development of the Filipino society as well as State - Church relation, towards independence. It descripted first the methods of the Spanish colonisation and Christianisation (as a Catholi­ cism or from Catholic standpoint). For almost 330 years they ruled over the islands; the Spanish colonial government was supported by loyal colonial Church (Spanish bishops and religious). The consequences of such colonial rule were growing national identity, nationalism, revolution towards political and religious independence. This process was exploited by Americans who used it for them; thus, it began a new colonisation - an American one - till 1946. In historiography the American colonisation is known as Americanisation, which meant the introduction of religious freedom as well as pure and true Christianity, secular education and free press and Protestantization of the islands (propagating the Protestant denominations) and the separation of Church and State.

Keywords: Spanish Colonialism, Philippines, Colonial Church, native clergy, American Protestantism.

1 Doctor of theology, born 1957, Professor of Church History at the Cologne University for Catholic Theology (khkt. - St. Augustin). THE PHILIPPINES UNDER THE SPANISH AND.. 9 Streszczenie Artykuł przedstawia historyczno-polityczno-religijny rozwój społeczeń­ stwa filipińskiego, jak również zaistniałą relację Państwo-Kościół - wynika­ jące z procesów dążących do niepodległości. Najpierw opisano metody hisz­ pańskiej kolonizacji i chrystianizacji (katolicyzm rzymski). Przez prawie 330 lat Hiszpanie rządzili wyspami poprzez rząd kolonialny, który był wspierany przez lojalny Kościół kolonialny (hiszpańscy biskupi i zakonnicy). Konsekwen­ cją takich rządów było niezadowolenie przejawiające się wzrostem filipińskiej tożsamości narodowej (nacjonalizm, zapędy rewolucyjne) dążącej do niezależ­ ności zarówno politycznej, jak i religijnej. Ambicje Filipińczyków wykorzystali Amerykanie dla swych wojskowo-gospodarczych preferencji. Tak rozpoczęła się nowa, trwająca do 1946 roku amerykańska kolonizacja wysp. W historiogra­ fii kolonizacja amerykańska nazwana została „amerykanizacją": wprowadze­ nie wolności religijnej, świeckiej edukacji, wolnej prasy, głoszenie „czystego i prawdziwego chrześcijaństwa", czyli „protestantyzację" wysp wraz z oddzie­ leniem Państwa od Kościoła.

Słowa kluczowe: hiszpańska kolonizacja, Filipiny, Kościół kolonialny, ducho­ wieństwo miejscowe, amerykański protestantyzm.

Introduction

Exactly 500 years ago - April 1521 - the Europeans, members of the Spanish expedition under its captain Ferdinand Magellan, who were looking for a western route to the Spice Islands (Moluccas) and trade for spices, reached the island of Cebu. While being in the island they tried to bring the natives under the Spanish rule und to Christianize them but without success. Later the Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos during his 1542-1546 expedition named the islands after Crown Prince Philip (later King Philip II) of Spain. In eight years (1565­ 1573), the Spaniards led by M. Legazpi conquered almost the entire Philippine Archipelago, except for some parts of the islands of Mind­ anao and Sulu. Then, for almost 330 years, they ruled over the islands and the Spanish colonial government was supported by its loyal colo­ nial Church (Spanish bishops and religious friars). After some years of independence (1899-1901), the islands became a colony again, this time an American one - till 1946. The article: The Philippines under the Spanish and American Colo­ nisation: A historical-political-religious development - will be published in two parts. 10 Jerzy Skrabania SVD

The first part will be issued with the two first chapters, namely: 1. The Spanish Establishment in the Philippines - and 2. The First Contact with Christianity through Spanish Friars. The other two chapters: 3. The Filipino National Identity: A Call for Independence - and 4. The American Annexation and its consequences, will be available in the next following issue of "Nurt SVD".

1. The Spanish Colonisation of the Philippines

Under the Habsburg rule - Charles I (1616-1556) and Philip II (1556­ 1598) - Spain grew in power and became one of the first military superpowers. The 16th Century was the Spanish golden age - siglo de oro - the time when literature, art, philosophy and theology flourished (Madrigal, 1988, p. 5-9). The conviction of Spain's greatness inspired Spaniards to conquer lands for the glory of their country and God. Spain was then described as the country where the sun never set, while with its ideological and religious background she conquered and colo­ nised (Montalban, 1930, p. 122), becoming rich plundering the subju­ gated lands2, and conducting the overseas trade (Bernad, 1972, p. 24-25; Schreurs, 1987, p. 30; Fernandez, 1979, p. 10-12)3. The Spanish empire served two majesties: The Divine and the royal ones. Such concept was the foundations for the unity of the Church and the state, the altar and the throne - one organisation, which de la Costa described as "the civilising Church" or "the missionary

2 Montalban gives the reasons of expedition: „Gold oder Seelen? [...] Gold und Silber, Perlen und Edelsteine und drittens Gewürze waren die Stoffe, welche die Spanier immer in erster Linie suchten, in Amerika sowohl als auf den Phi­ lippinen und den Inseln der Südsee". Translation: Gold or souls? [...] Gold and silver, pearls and precious stones, and thirdly spices were the materials that the Spaniards always sought first and foremost, in America as well as in the Philip­ pines and the islands of the South Seas [my own translation]. 3 Spain, having control over the commerce with America, still wanted to have trade with China, too, in particular with the Moluccas Islands, which since 1512 belonged to Portugal. In spite of the Treaty of Saragossa (1529), which drew a demarcation line on the Pacific Ocean between Spain and Portugal, Spain tried to discover the route to the spice islands from the west side through the many expeditions of Magellan (1519), Loaisa (1523), Saavedra (1527), Villalo- bosa (1542) and Legazpi (1565). When King Philip II became the ruler of Por­ tugal, after 1580, there was a free trade with islands Tidor and Ternate (now a part of Indonesia). t h e philippines u n d e r t h e s p a n is h a n d .. 11 state" (Costa, 1964, p. 58). Colonisation was part of the expansion of the theocratic state evangelising outwardly. The empire emphasised the idea that emerged during the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula: all the Spanish - both lay and clergy - are required to Christianise the whole world. The empire's objective was fulfilled through three trends in the political-ecclesiastical tradition: 1) Non-ecclesiastical mission of civilisation: the order of Span­ ish culture and morality has to be imposed onto the New World; this view was represented by Juan Gines de Sepulveda. 2) Essentially ecclesiastical and jurisdictional concept of conquest: it was defended by such theologians as Francisco de Vitoria and Bartolome de la Casas, who cautiously debated the natural law of the indigenous population, the origins and the nature of the Spanish rule. 3) Spanish messianism: Spanish rule was the fulfilment of the prophecy of the apocalypse on the preparation for the descent of Jesus Christ and the Last Judgement. The trend was represented by a Fran­ ciscan Geronimo de Mendieta. Inspired by this visions, Spanish friars devoted their whole lives as the frontier missionaries preaching the presented ideas. The empire supported the objective of the Kingdom of Heaven as the ultimate prerogative, where the New World existed under the Spanish rule and the religious orders supported the vision, from which they drew their strength. It all happened in the situation where the Church and the state depended on each other. In the Spanish colonial system sacrum and profanum were so interweaved that they could hardly be separated. Spanish Reconquista confirmed the opinion that the orthodox faith was a political as well as religious matter and a substantial factor integrating the state. Heresy and apostasy from the faith were treated as a crime of both political and religious character (Kumor, 1978, p. 172-173)4. Spanish kings made sure that they were fully in control of the Church in the colonies. In the early 16th Century, the Spanish crown received papal recognition of its right to supervise directly all the religious matters in the New World, with the exception of the issues of the Church doctrine and discipline. The dependence of the Church on the crown had its sources in the royal religious patronage - patronato real - granted to the Span­ ish kings by the Apostolic See (Schumacher, 1987, p. 10)5. The first 4 In 1478 the Spanish Inquisition was founded with the task to watch for the purity of faith and one religion in the state. 5 The Patronato included the so-called pase regio, by with all communications be­ 12 Jerzy Skrabania SVD document granting the right of patronage was the already-mentioned Bull Inter Caetera6 of 1493 issued by Pope Alexander VI. (Vera, 1970, p. 1; Rzepkowski, 1992, p. 211-212; Glazik, 1980, p. 576-577). Pope Julius II finally removed all the ambiguities as to the nominations of bish­ ops in the colonies with the Bull Universalis Ecclesiae regemini of 1508 and concurrently endowed Spanish kings with the right of patronage (Schumacher, 1987, p. 8-9; Schreurs, 1987, p. 7)7. The privileges of royal patronage endowed the crown with great­ er authority in the colonies than in Spain. The right to nominate almost all the Episcopal offices, abbeys and benefices in Spain and colonies received from the pope was defendedby the king with all rigour (Schumacher, 1987, p. 9; Costa, 1968b, p. 85-86)8. In their struggle with the popes over the jurisdiction and supervision of the Church, the kings, aware of the ways of human tween the Church in the Indies and Rome was forbidden unless first approved by the Royal Council of the Indies. 6 In reality there were three documents. The first gave Spain the dominion of the lands discovered by Christopher Columbus and those to be discovered which had not fallen into the jurisdiction of any other Christian sovereign, with the commerce monopoly and an obligation of promoting the spread of Christianity in the new lands: "[...] we order you in virtue of holy obedience to dispatch to the designated main lands and islands virtuous and God-fearing men endowed with learning, experience, and skill, to instruct the natives and inhabitants in the Catholic faith and to install in them sound morals". The second document draws a line of demarcation from the north to the south pole, 100 leagues west of the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands: "[...] all lands discovered on the far side of the line were to belong to Spain, all lying on the other side of the line were to belong to Portugal". The third document (Eximiae devotionia sinceritas) granted a national monopoly of missionary work in specified regions, thereby laying the basis for Patronato Real de Indias (taking responsibilities and rights of spreading the Catholic faith). 7 Responsibility for mission work implied corresponding rights in the ecclesias­ tical sphere and these were given to the Spanish crown in the Bull. To the duty of supporting the clergy, churches, and dioceses was added the right to found dioceses and to name all benefice-holders, even bishops. This document brings under the complete control of the Spanish crown the Church in the Indies. Creates the Spanish Patronato Real. 8 On June 1st, 1574 King Philip II issued a decree in which he extended the Patronato „Let no secular person, cleric, order, congregation [...] dare to intrude into matters touching this patronage. [...] And our viceroys, audiencias and royal justices are to proceed with rigour against those who fail to observe most strictly our right of patronage". A proof of it could be a case from 1702 whereas King Philip V ordered to pull down a seminary building St. Clemens in Manila because he was informed to late about it. t h e philippines u n d e r t h e s p a n is h a n d .. 13 psychology, endowed the Church with earthly goods and various privileges and protected the clergy with immunities (with special privileges). Thus, it is easy to understand that the clergy supported the king in return for his favours, nominations, privileges and offices and not Rome (Apostolic See). At that time many clergymen became royal councillors and the Church became the extension of the royal rule and political supervision of the colonies. In fact, it was a national Church, distant from the Gospel teaching and functioning within the orbit of the Council of the West Indies9 rather than that of the Apos­ tolic See, with which it was connected with weak links (Schumacher, 1987, p. 10-11). The power of the Spanish empire in the 16th Century lay in its colonial institutions which enabled direct supervision of the new subjects: the colonial Church, the colonial bureaucracy (audi­ encia) and the encomienda10 (Rzepkowski, 1992, p. 136; Costa, 1967, p. 13, 31-32). The threat to the Church, which became the subject of the impe­ rial policy of the state, was recognised and acknowledged in the very early stages of colonisation. Long before colonisation of the Philippines some Spanish clergymen, e.g. Dominicans Francisco de Vitoria and Bartolome de Las Casas (Rzepkowski, 1992, p. 264, 430; Aragon, 1968, p. 3-5), contested the right of the Spanish crown to sovereignty over the New World11. Political and ecclesiastical disputes, which form the background of the conquest of the Philippines, initiated by the Law of Burgos of 1512, led to issuing a decree promulgated by King Philip II, which regulated the relations between the Indians and the Span­

9 The Spanish crown held absolute power over the Indies and the Council of the Indies was the administrative and advisory body for those overseas realms. It was established in 1524 by Charles V. to administer „the Indies," Spain's name for its territories (the Americas and the Philippines). 10 Encomienda was not a land grant, but the right to collect tribute and to de­ mand labour from natives within a certain territory. An encomendero had to look after the natives, to keep order and law as well as promote the catholic faith. The audiencia was both the supreme judicial body and the advisory coun­ cil to the viceroy or governor, who was its president. 11 De Vitoria was stressing that the papal concessions about the religious re­ sponsibility in America given the Spanish kings didn't give them rights to secu­ lar rule over any native people because the pope himself was only the ruler in spiritual matters, and not in secular. Las Casas meant that the crown has a secu­ lar authority over the Indios, given by the Holy See, but this authority didn't take their sovereignty and superior authority already performed through Indios over themselves according to the natural and international law. 14 Jerzy skrabania sVD ish, and defined the legal grounds of Spanish rule12. The laws sent on June 1st, 1574 to the islands emphasised that the primary role of clergy was teaching Indians the Christian doctrine and converting them to the Catholic faith (Shiels, 1961, p. 6-7; Hanke, 1949, p. 24). The existing conviction of the mission to gain souls for Jesus and the Church increased the missionary zeal and inspired thousands to join the religious orders (clergy) with the objective of going for the mission to preach the Catholic faith to the non-Christians. The revival of monastic life inspired more conscious faith in the society, its defence against the Reformation and Protestantism on the grounds of theol­ ogy and politics. The Spanish representing such ideology saw them­ selves as the instrument of God carrying out the messianic mission of converting and redeeming the conquered New World (Phelan, 1956, p. 11-13; Phelan, 1959, p. 4-6). In return for the privileges and the right of patronage, the Spanish kings accepted the responsibility and the burden of preaching the Christian faith with all its consequences: protection, defence, building, maintaining and furnishing churches. In reality it meant that ships carried both the troops and the missionar­ ies, who were looked after by the king himself. Such was the type and the form of the Church established by the Spanish in the Philippines. It was a colonial Church, dependent on and subordinated to the objec­ tives of the Spanish crown. The king controlled and ruled the Church through the Council of the West Indies (Schumacher, 1987, p. 8-10). The conquest conditioned the missions; the missions were followed by the conquest according to the model: "a sword in the one hand, the cross in the other" (Costa, 1964, p. 20). In each case it looked more or less in this way: after invading an area, in most cases a village, the troops read out the order which required the local people to convert to Christianity and accept the sovereignty of the Spanish king; the

12 The Laws of Burgos ordered that the tithes must be redonated to the Ameri­ can bishops. They regulated the procedure of ecclesiastical courts, the manner and time of worship, and rules for lay and clerical behaviour, even to causes of excommunication and the lifting of the same. The encomenderos' many respon­ sibilities were spelled out in great detail. They were to bring together the Indi­ ans in villages near the Spaniards, in the new houses specially built for them. The old dwellings of the Indians were to be burned, so that they might lose the longing to return to them, although in the removal violence should not be used but much gentleness. The laws provided that the encomenderos were to pay par­ ticular attention to the religious instruction of their charges, churches were to be constructed and properly equipped with images and ornaments. Indians to be taught the creed, prayer, and how to confess. They were obligated to attend the funeral, bearing a cross. THE PHILIPPINES UNDER THE SPANISH AND.. 15 refusal of doing so was threatened with severe punishment. Paying tribute was also demanded. Those who refused it lost freedom or life and their settlement was plundered or burnt. The conquerors were given the land as the royal fief (the property or fee granted to a vassal for his maintenance by his lord in return for service) called encomienda and had the right to force the Indians to work on it. The missionar­ ies accompanying the soldiers accepted such course of events as they were "the children of their times" and that is how they understood the preaching of the faith and conversion of the non-Christians. Religious zeal of the missionaries overlooked the fact that the connection between preaching Christian faith and Spanish colonisation by definition contradicted the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was Ferdinand Magellan13, the commander of the 1519/21 expedition, and not the priest Pedro Valderrama accompanying it, who gave the sermon to chief Radscha Humabon and the people on Cebu Island on April 7th, 1921 (Schreurs, 1987, p. 8-11; Phelan, 1980, p. 23-24). Then - as described by the chronicler Antonio Pigafetta - Magellan ordered to celebrate the Holy Mass14 (Schreurs, 1987, p. 10-12; Molina, 1960a, p. 36-37). In a short time almost the whole settlement, ca. 800 "Indios", was baptised; in this way the island of Cebu has adopted Christianity and it was subjected to the Spanish king, who in return took it under protection (Pigefetta, 1968, p. 147). When the village refused to pay homage and deliver the tribute, it was burnt down. This act of violence caused tribal fight­ ing and uprising against Spain. In these battles Magellan was killed by Lapulapu - the chief of the next island of Mactan (Pigefetta, 1968, p. 163; Meier, 2018, p. 133-134). On September 24th 1559 King Philip II sent a letter from Valladolid to Don Luis de Velasco, the viceroy of New Spain (Mexico), in which he ordered him to equip and send an expedition to discover and colonise the so-called western islands situated west of Moluccas (Montalban, 1930, p. 1-3; Fernandez, 1979, p. 13). They were the object of Spanish desire as they had gold, were situated near the Spice Islands

13 Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese sailor in the service of the Spanish crown. He led an expedition in order to look for spice islands, Moluccas as well as to discover new territories for Spain and Church. On March 21st, 1521 he arrived in Cebu island, where he entered into an agreement with chieftain Radscha Humaban and began the Christianisation. One month later he was killed by neighbouring chiefs, who didn't accept Spanish rule. 14 There are two options where the first Holy Mass was celebrated on March 31, 1521. Molina means that it was on Cebu Island, Schreurs prefers a village Mazaua, near Butuan, on the Caranga seacoast, on the Mindanao Island. 16 Jerzy skrabania sVD and conducted trade with China. Preaching the Christian faith was the least reason for the expedition. After many years of preparation, a well-equipped fleet of five ships and 380 men set off from Mexico and in March 1565 reached the Philippine islands (Montalban, 1930, p. 67; Bernad, 1972, p. 23). The commander of the expedition was Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who financed the expedition from his own means, and, in return for that, received many privileges in the discovered islands. He was the person initiating actual conquest and settlement of the archipelago (Cushner, 1962, p. 164-165). When Legazpi reached the island of Cebu on April 27th, 1565, he was met with resistance of the local population. Following an easy conquest of the city, as the people and their chief Tupas fled into the mountains, and the negotiations based on peace, friendship and trade. Legazpi took the city with the island into possession and submitted under the royal rule15. Within three years the people and the chief accepted Christianity. Due to the economic development and growth of the settle­ ment, Legazpi endowed Cebu, recognised as a Spanish city, with the municipal rights on January 1st, 1571 (Molina, 1960a, p. 59-60). The king, satisfied with the results of the expedition ordered to continue the colonisation16. Legazpi directed the conquest to the north, conquered the islands of Panay, Mindoro and eventually reached Maynila "the place of water lilies", a trade centre situated in Luzon, the biggest island of the archipelago. It was a city ruled by three chiefs: Matanda, Lacandula and the most important of them, Soliman17. After Soliman's death following his defeat, Legazpi moved there the seat of the governor general and on June 24th, 1571 confirmed the munici­ pal rights of Maynila (now Manila) as a Spanish city (Corpuz, 1989a, p. 49-50; Costa, 1964, p. 19; Costa, 1967, p. 31-32). Manila and Cebu became the centres sending troops accompanied by missionaries for further conquest and mission work.

15 A legend tells that in one of burnt houses a Spanish soldier found a statue of Jesus Child, which was probably given to the wife of chieftain Humabon by Magellan himself. Legazpi seeing in this event a good sign, settled down in this place. He dedicated the town Cebu under the protection of Blessed Child Jesus and build a church consecrated Santo Nino (Child Jesus), which is today a basilica. 16 When Cebu was conquered by Legazpi, he settled down there and sent in June 1565 a delegation of Felipe Salcedo and Fr. Andres de Urdaneta to Mexico and Spain, asking for new instructions. Answer came one year later. 17 The chieftains were related to each other and to the sultans of Borneo and Sulu islands. They were Moslem and were engaged in trade with China. t h e Ph il i p p i n e s u n d e r t h e s p a n is h a n d .. 17

Arrival of the Spanish caused enormous changes in the social life of the archipelago. The members of the expedition, who wanted to become rich quickly, were sometimes responsible for exploitation, cruelty, plundering, murder and other forms of injustice. New lords, equipped with indispensable powers, raised tribute18 with all severity. All forms of protest were suppressed with brutal power. All unculti­ vated land was taken over by the Spanish crown. The remaining land was divided into administrative units subject to royal supervision (encomienda, which was a public office in the territory assigned to it) in order to execute the tribute from the local people and transfer it to the Spanish colonial government (Agoncillo, 1969, p. 39; Constantino, 1975, p. 43). A royal instruction forced every male inhabitant between 19 and 60 years of age to pay a set amount of annual levy (8 reales). Not more than a quarter of it was allowed to be kept by a new Spanish lord - encomendero, the second quarter was to be given to a missionary, and the rest - to the Spanish Crown19. In 1572 Legazpi shared 143 encomiendas between his companions (Constantino, 1975, p. 46). Theoretically, the encomendero took over the duty of protecting the local people through guaranteeing internal and external peace and the duty of supporting the missionaries in their work. Another form of exploitation was a hazienda. Meritorious colo­ nial officials received land from the crown as a donation. Lands could also be purchased from the crown. The indigenous population living on the lands lost the ownership. In most cases they remained there, living and working as hired hands for small retribution (Constantino, 1975, p. 49). Despite the royal ban, the local people were forced to physical labour. Forced labour was called polo. Men between 19 and 60 years of age were forced to work 40 days a year performing various tasks, e. g. building houses, ships or cultivating land (Constantino, 1975, p. 51-52). This forced and hardly ever paid work led to impoverishment and ruin of the rural population20.

18 In 1574 King Philip II named Don Gonzalo de Penalosa the governor of the Philippines for lifetime and gave him permission to collect tribute in different ways. 19 An encomendero did not own the land inhabited by his Indios. He and his heirs could hold the encomienda for only two lifetimes, after which reverted back to the Crown. 20 This Law was instituted in 1580 and reduced to fifteen days per year only in 1884. Indians were not paid for this work, so the village has to care for them, 18 Jerzy Skrabania SVD

An additional form of colonisation was reduction. Thousands of small villages dispersed on the coast escaped Spanish administrative supervision and mission work. Thus, a model that worked in South America was unsuccessfully transferred onto the Philippine soil. Local population from the mini-villages was transferred to bigger settle­ ments called reductions. It was a brutal intervention into the social and cultural life of those small communities of farmers, fishermen and hunters. Out of necessity and under supervision they had to live close to the fields. Trying to resettle the population at all costs the Spanish resorted sometimes to promises, gifts and sometimes to mere violence (Constantino, 1975, p. 60-61).

2. The First Contact with Christianity through Friars

All the mission work and establishing of the Church in the Philip­ pines was the creation of the friars. Only they were able to perform the task. They travelled as frontier missionaries, preaching the Gospel, teaching Christian religion and administering sacraments. Where it was possible, they set up mission stations called doctrina, built chapels and churches together with the other buildings helpful in the mission work: convents, schools and hospitals. Religious orders in the Philip­ pines acquired their personnel almost exclusively in Spain and Mexico. Missionaries designed for work in the Philippines were transported at the king's expense (Costa, 1968a, p. 45)21. The trip from Seville to Vera Cruz and from Acapulco to Manila lasted two years and required a lot of bravery and self-denial. After arrival in the islands the friars were sent to the parishes formed from the mission stations or to the mission stations themselves and received from the government or the encomendero 100 Pesos and about 250 bowls of rice with some wine and oil for the altar service (Costa, 1968a, p. 45). The first to arrive with Legazpi's expedition were 5 Augustinians (Schreurs, 1987, p. 30; Fernandez, 1979, p. 19-20)22. Their task was preaching and foretelling the Gospel of Jesus Christ, inducing love and obedience towards the giving them four Peso pro month. Fr. Pedro de San Pablo in 1620 wrote about it to the Spanish King. 21 The travelling expenses for a missionary was about 900 dollars, if you take one dollar from 1968. 22 Five religious men came with him to the archipelago: O. Andres de Urdaneta (superior), Martin de Rada, Andres de Aguirre, Diego de Herrera and Pedro de Gamboa. t h e Ph il i p p i n e s u n d e r t h e s p a n is h a n d .. 19

Catholic Church, appealing to relinquish the non-Christian faith as the fallacious teachings of Satan and teaching the respect to the rights of the Spanish crown. At the end of the same year three fathers - Martin de Rada, Diego de Herrera and Pedro Gamboa - began systematic preach­ ing of the Gospel on the island Cebu23. It resulted in the baptism of the chief Tupas and his sons (Phelan, 1980, p. 26; Vera, 1970, p. 5). For the first thirteen years the Augustinians were present only in the islands. Other religious orders started coming and working on evangelisation of the indigenous people only after the Spanish rule became stronger. In 1578 Franciscans came, three years later Jesuits, in 1587 Dominicans and in 1606 Augustinians-Recollects. Each religious order received a defined area of the country in order to rule out disputes and rivalry. In the decree of 1594, the king wrote to governor Dasmarines: "I order you and the bishop of these islands, to divide the provinces between the religious orders, so that where there are Augustinians there would be no Franciscans, where there are Jesuits, there would be no Domini­ cans, so that every province has its own order" (Schumacher, 1987, p. 17). Together with the decree mentioned above, 100 friars were sent to the Philippines: 40 Augustinians, 24 Dominicans, 18 Franciscans and 18 Jesuits. As early as in 1598 most of the islands were divided between the religious orders (Schumacher, 1987, p. 17). In 1579 the diocese in Manila was established, subordinate to the Mexican Metropolis See, with its first Bishop Domingo de Salazar (Aragon, 1968, p. 18; Fernan­ dez, 1979, p. 29)24. At that time all the institutions of the social service charac­ teristic for the Spanish America were established: hospitals, schools, orphanages. When in 1595 it was realised that the Philippine Church was organised and self-sufficient, it was decided that an independent Church province would be created in order to meet the pastoral needs - The communication with Mexico was difficult because of the distance (about 3 000 miles). The seat of the Archbishop's Metropolitan was established in Manila with three suffragan bishoprics: in Cebu, Nueva Segovia and Nueva Cacares (Schumacher, 1987, p. 18-21; Costa, 1968a, p. 47). Together with the letter to the pope requesting their confirma­ tion, the king wrote to the governor how to divide the expenses for

23 They learned the Visayan language in five months. 24 Salazar was a member of the Dominican. He was a disciple of Bartolomeo de Las Casas (an America's missionary) and Fransisco de Vitoria (a theology profes­ sor in Salamanca). Both of them defended the rights of the Indios against the co­ lonial exploitation. Salazar at the age of 78 travelled in 1593 to Spain to lay before the king the needs of the Church. He died there one year later. 20 Jerzy skrabania sVD constructing the churches: "convents and churches, which are to be built, should be built partially from our financial resources, partially from the means of the Spanish living there and the local people" (Schu­ macher, 1987, p. 20). Interested in the state of education of the indigenous people and worried about its slight effects, king Charles II ordered in 1686 that all the inhabitants of the islands should learn Spanish and religion (Schumacher, 1987, p. 152). Higher level education was organised in Manila, first for the youth of Spanish descent. Worth mentioning are the Jesuit male colleges: St. Ignatius, San Jose; the Dominican: St. Thomas and San Juan de Letran. The college of St. Thomas granted academic titles from 1680s, which was confirmed by Pope Innocent X and King Philip IV granting the college the status of a papal and royal university (Report, 1901, p. 100; Schumacher, 1987, p. 147)25. Also in the south of the country, in Cebu, the St. Ignatious college was established26. Female youth attended St. Potenciana (1594) and St. Isabel (1636) in Manila. The education of indigenous youth was also considered. In the time of governor Dasmarinas, a separate male department was established within the Manila College (St. Ignatius) That the youth should learned the Spanish culture and language (Schumacher, 1987, p. 149). From the 17th Century the indigenous people were allowed higher education in San Juan de Letran and San Jose27 and at the end of the 18th Century all the schools were open for the Filipino youth (Schumacher, 1987, p. 150)28. The Friars fought for the justice and Christian conditions of life for the conquered people from the very first day of their presence in the islands. They condemned the corruption and exploitation, opposed the payment of increased tribute as well as forced labour and slavery. They questioned the right to conquer and Spanish sovereignty in the 25 Already in 1583 Bishop Salazar asked the king to open a college. In Manila there were opened four colleges: St. Ignatius (1595), San Jose (1601), St. Thomas (1611) and San Juan de Letran. Archbishop Miguel Serrano asked the king to give to St. Thomas and St. Ignatius the university status. 26 Now it is a University of San Carlos, which first was establish in 1595 as a primary school for boys only, next as a St. Ignatius college. In 17th century was renamed to San Carlos Borromeo's college. In 1947 it became University. Author of this article was working at it in 1988-91. 27 First, they would study only as a working student, but since 1665 they paid already a tuition fee. 28 In the twenties of the eighteen century there were opened on two universi­ ties colleges of Law (St. Ignatius and St. Thomas). At the end of the eighteen century the Filipino natives could study in all schools, but separated. THE PHILIPPINES UNDER THE SPANISH AND.. 21

Philippines (Schumacher, 1987, p. 22, 26). Faced with the corruption of power and the cases of law-breaking, the friars always took the side of the indigenous people, which is substantiated by numerous letters written by the missionaries to the king29. Bishop Salazar was an advo­ cate and an ally of the Filipinos (Gutierres, 1971, p. 219-302; Gutierres, 1985, p. 62-79). Faced with poverty and injustice, the new bishop called up a synod in Manila to cope with these issues, specially supporting the natives (Gutierres, 1990, p. 195-232). The synod debated for four years, from 1582 onward (Schumacher, 1979, p. 289-311). The following issues were discussed: salary for work, freedom of indigenous people, and acquisition of earthly goods. During the synod the Church did not interfere with the stately matters, still the discussed issues and conclusions were sent to the king as the protector of Catholic missions (Gutierres, 1986, p. 259-261). During the synod the missionaries were on the side of their people and their mission task. The indigenous population, especially in the initial period, definitely felt protected by the friars, both against the Spanish rulers and local chiefs30. The inhabitants of the islands, trusting the Christian faith and seeing the benevolent and just attitude of the friars, accepted the new religion, which is substantiated by numerous conversions and baptisms. Missionaries, interested in close relations with the people, learnt local languages and showed their interest in local customs. The attitude of Bishop Salazar deserves praise. At the age of 78 he went to Spain once again to discuss with the king all the problems relevant to the Spanish rule (Schumacher, 1987, p. 35-36). The trip and the meetings resulted in the decree of 1597 stating that the Filipinos had the right to choose the Spanish king as their lord and the tribute - unjustly collected - had to be returned31. It could be pointed out that, if the Filipinos actually

29 Fr. Rada, the Augustinians Provincial, wrote in a frank letter to the Viceroy of Mexico about the illegitimacy of Spanish temporal sovereignty over the Philip­ pines. Fr. Andres Cabchela wrote to the king in 1574 about the injustices of the conquest and exploitation in the encomiendas. The Indio was to pay a tribute of one maes or two and one half reales (a silver peso was made up of eight reales) and not more. 30 It is apparent from the complaint of a delegation of Filipino principals (pre- Hispanic datus or chiefs) who approached Bishop Salazar in 1582 that the mayors also demanded or took much more from the Filipinos, with disastrous results for the existing social structure. He sent in 1582 a memorial to the king about a just dealing with the natives. 31 Salazar proposed to the King that there are only two titles on which his Maj­ esty can base himself to have truly and rightfully become temporal lord of 22 Jerzy skrabania sVD accepted Spanish rule, they did so only thanks to the influence of the religious orders - the defenders of justice and law (Aragon, 1986, p. 15-16; Schumacher, 1987, p. 35). Even though there is no doubt as to the sincerity and zeal of the first missionaries in the pastoral and missionary service, in the early 17th century moral decline and lack of missionary enthusiasm may be noticed with the missionaries. Great demand for the clergy in the newly discovered lands was responsible for the fact that people without proper schooling and preparation, oriented mostly towards carrier and income rather than honest mission work were consecrated 32 (Constantino, 1975, p. 67-68). Bishop Miguel de Benavides wrote in his letter to the king about "lack of love towards the Indians in some friars, because they leave the mission stations which are not solvent" (Schumacher 1987, p. 66-68). He accused the Jesuits of stealing the land; he wrote that the Jesuits, in a small Indio village called Quiapo, had taken from the natives their lands and inheritance, even to their very houses and asked the king to send an inspector to investigate the matters (Schumacher, 1987, p. 67). A little earlier the governor Dasmarinas asked the king to inter­ vene as the friars became enslaving the local people. He wrote to the king in 1592 that the religious will abandon the villages if their power over the Indians is taken away. The Indians recognise no other king than the father of the doctrine, and are more attentive to his commands than to those of the governor. Therefore, the friars make use of them by the hundreds, as slaves, in their rowing, works and services (Constan­ tino, 1975, p. 77). Governor Corcuera asked the king in a letter of 1636 to decrease the number of the friars in order to prevent the impover­ ishment of the indigenous people and to stop the corruption through more effective control. He wrote: "the friars had reduced the natives to virtual slavery by forcing by bandala and by paying higher jura stole. Therefore, they live in concubinage, bury their departed in woods or under the houses" (Constantino, 1975, p. 77; Schumacher, 1987, p. 68). More persistent was the juridical struggle of the bishops with the religious orders over the right of canonical visitation (inspection). Its consequences cast a shadow on the later development of the Phil­ ippine Church. According to the canonical law the diocesan clergy should replace the friars when the latter established and developed these islands: the first, by title of election; the second, by title of just war. 32 He was the third Archbishop of Manila. He previously served as the first Bish­ op of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia, and was the founder of the University of Santo Tomas in the City of Manila. t h e philippines u n d e r t h e s p a n is h a n d .. 23 a self-sufficient parish organisation. However, the religious orders were not prepared to hand over the parishes, where they had laboured so hard, often in remote and isolated areas. The religious considered the Philippines a mission land until January 1900. The grounds for claiming the right of exemption from the epis­ copal jurisdiction by the religious orders was the bull Exponi nobis by Pope Hadrian VI in 1522 called Omnímoda. Under certain conditions it granted the religious working in the West Indies special rights and privileges of the Apostolic See. It allowed them to administer the sacra­ ments and perform other duties of parish priests without the accept­ ance of a local bishop. How wide were the rights granted by the bull is revealed by the statement: "they have our full powers (omniam auctori- tatem nostram) - both in internal and external forum - these mentioned above (religious superiors) or their delegates [...] in order to convert the hereby mentioned Indians, to keep them and develop in the Catholic faith and keep them in obedience to the Holy Roman Church [...] the power is hereby transferred even to the actions which are performed by a bishop, but which do not require episcopal consecration" (Schu­ macher 1987, p. 124; Costa, 1968a, p. 48). At that time the Council of Trent (1545-1563) established the morale and the discipline of the Catholic Church. It strengthened the position of an ordinary in controlling a diocese and subjected to his supervision all the Church activities, administration and priestly work. In this way the friars in a diocese were directly subjected to the jurisdic­ tion and inspection of a diocesan ordinary; without his consent no-one could be nominated as a parish priest and conduct any religious work (Jedin, 1978, p. 100-101). When Spain introduced the resolutions of the Council, a conflict arose as they did not take into account the condi­ tions of mission work, so different from those in Europe. To remedy that, Pope Pius V, requested by Philip II, issued the Bull Exponi nobis, from March 23rd, 1567 which again authorised the missionary religious orders in the West Indies to perform the religious and parish work, but this time with a supplement requiring the parish priests to subject themselves to the episcopal visitation (Schumacher, 1987, p. 126, 130-131; Costa, 1968a, p. 48). Yet, the religious in the Philippines ignored the resolutions of the Council of Trent and obeyed not the bishop but their own superi­ ors. The privilege of exempting them from episcopal visitation and the 24 Jerzy Skrabania SVD right of working as parish priests was theoretically revoked and nulli­ fied by consecutive papal and royal decisions33. The bishops, who tried to inspect and execute their authority, in the same way as the civilian administration, realised their helplessness in confrontation with the religious. Friars objected to any efforts aiming at curbing their inde­ pendence (Fernandez, 1979, p. 109-111). As it was stated by Horacio de la Costa, "they rejected all criticism with a simple but effective state­ ment: either they will be left alone in their religious and parish work or they will leave the Philippine mission and leave the Church without priests" (Costa, 1968a, p. 80-81). They saw episcopal visitation as an attempt to curb their freedom and priestly independence (Fernandez, 1979, p. 114). Another negative evidence concerning the religious were their enormous latifundia, which were sometimes acquired illegally. The colonial authorities were unable to verify the legality of their acquisitions34, as the friars were aware that they were irreplaceable in strengthening the Spanish rule and order, even as far as to check the list of parishioners on Sunday Mass; those missing were punished. (Constantino, 1975, p. 79; Corpuz, 1989b, 129-130; Schwager, 1914, p. 118). It is substantiated in a boastful utterance of a friar: "If the king sends the troops, the Indians will escape into the mountains and forests. But if I shut the church door, I will have them at my feet in 24 hours" (Constantino, 1975, p. 77). To sum up, we may conclude that the friars were not always seen as helpers and supporters, and with time they lost much of the original amiability. The Spanish government believed that only one element in the islands could really be depended upon to preserve Span­ ish sovereignty: the friars. They were the real masters of the Filipinos; they became more powerful and more influential. The Combining of profane, civil reign and Church authority always resulted in resistance and mutiny. As a rule, the Filipinos were very religious and their muti­ nies and uprisings were not directed against the essence of the Chris­ tian faith but against the foreign rule, social and economic exploitation, against lawlessness and ignorance of their humanity, and against treat­ ment as the second-class Christians.

33 There were the royal decrees from the years: 1585, 1624 and 1629. They did not bring any effects. No one could break the power of the religious orders. 34 In 1697 Juan Sierra came to the island. He was to check if the lands owned by the religious orders were legitimately purchased. The orders did not agree to it and did not show any documents. t h e Ph il i p p i n e s u n d e r t h e s p a n is h a n d .. 25

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