The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 09 of 55: 1593-1597; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 09 of 55: 1593-1597; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
Since there is nothing which will have so much influence over all
affairs as the care that you are to exercise, I charge you with rigor
that those new plants be instructed in the teachings of the gospel and
of Christianity by the ecclesiastics whom I have sent, and am sending,
for that purpose, with so great trouble and expense; and in civil and
moral matters, by the temporal ministers, protecting them so that they
may receive good treatment, and maintaining them in peace and justice,
so that their labors may be satisfied. Therefore a most important means
will be the care that you and the prelates are to observe in having
divine worship celebrated with the greatest devotion and solemnity
possible, at least on Easter and the holy days that the church is
accustomed to solemnize and observe. You shall have especial care that
the places of worship are kept in order and well served, and all this
with due propriety, especially the cathedral church, inasmuch as it is
the principal and archiepiscopal church, whose example must induce the
same results in the other churches. Inasmuch as I was informed that
things were quite to the contrary; and that the said church, besides
being poorly roofed with wood and straw, was not properly served; and
that it needed and lacked what it should have--a thing to which the
former governors should not have consented--I charged your predecessor,
Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, strictly that, immediately upon his arrival
at the islands, he should have the said church rebuilt. I assigned
for this work the sum of twelve thousand ducados in three parts: one
from my royal exchequer, another from the encomenderos, and the third
from the Indians. These said twelve thousand ducados were to be spent
on the said building within four years, at the rate of three thousand
ducados annually. In order that it might be done more easily, I gave
an anticipatory order for two thousand ducados on the account of my
third, on the treasury of Nueva España, whence the said Gomez Perez
took them. Notwithstanding that he wrote to me in his last letters
that the work was nearing completion, and although I think it ought to
be finished now, yet, because it is in the gaze of so many enemies,
idolaters, and Mahometans, it is advisable that they should see, not
only that there is no lack in this matter, but also that the church
shall be an example of the solemnity of the divine ecclesiastical
ceremonies, that should arouse and persuade them to enter the fold of
the church. As soon as you shall have arrived at that country, you
shall inspect the said church, and find out whether the building is
finished. If there is anything wanting, you shall finish it. Likewise
you shall see that it is provided with ornaments, chalices, crosses,
and other things pertaining to its service, so that it may be fully
provided with the articles for the celebration of divine worship,
with the authority, pomp, and propriety suitable to the edification
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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