[ConcepciÓn has the following in regard to this seminary and its founding, in chapter xiii, vol. viii.]
12. Another matter even more delicate, and which irritated even more the just annoyance of our monarch Phelipe Fifth, was that in which SeÑor Tournon took part with even greater ardor, and the results of which fell heavily upon the governor and the archbishop. April twenty-eight, one thousand seven hundred and two, a royal decree was sent to this government, in which was mentioned the receipt of a letter from Don Juan Fausto Cruzat y Gongora, dated June thirteen, seven hundred, in observance of a royal despatch of ninety-seven, which ordered him to report as to whether there was a college seminary in the metropolitan church of Manila, and in case there was none, what its foundation and maintenance would cost. In the above-mentioned letter, Don Fausto reported that such a foundation was unnecessary. However, his Majesty, with a spirit of liberality and zeal, resolved upon the foundation with the number of eight seminarists for the time being. Its foundation and maintenance were to be paid from the ecclesiastical incomes. The decree ordered that, after conferring with the archbishop, the account of its cost should be made and the necessary means should be applied for that purpose from what was yielded by the vacant bishoprics. The amount that could be realized from the tithes was also to be ascertained, and [it was to be stated] whether they met the necessary expenses. For it was his royal intention that they should be preferred rather than that it should be at the cost of his royal treasury and estate. The king relied on the governor’s carefulness and accurate direction that he would treat discreetly and economically concerning such expenses, which must be made with all the advisable benefit and saving. Whatever he did, and what result it had, was to be reported promptly. Another royal despatch was sent to the archbishop. In it his Majesty orders and resolves that, inasmuch as the sacred canons and pontifical briefs provide for a seminary for young men in all the cathedral churches, in order that they may become proficient in the sciences, and apply themselves to and assist in divine worship, therefore in fulfilment of them, his Majesty having been informed that there was no such seminary in Manila, he desired one to be founded from his royal treasury in the metropolitan church. For the time being it was to have eight seminarists, and the decree goes on to repeat the orders communicated to the king’s governor for that purpose. These despatches gave advice of the preceding reports of the government to the effect that no such seminary was necessary, as well as of that of the archbishop who was of the opinion that the cost should be met from the pensioned curacies, in proportion to their ecclesiastical allowances. His Majesty determined that the foundation and maintenance should be met not from the pensions of the curas, as such was not stipulated by the Council of Trent, but from the ecclesiastical incomes which the crown enjoys, by virtue of pontifical bulls, the balance being supplied from his royal treasury. Inasmuch as his immunity might be prejudiced, his Majesty advised his governor of the communication with the reverend archbishop, thus avoiding disturbances and litigations in regard to the net amounts [liquidus] with the assignment in the ecclesiastical effects, such resolution being merely informative and not executive. The execution is charged only upon the governor, as is immediately inferred from what the royal despatch says: “You shall give me information of what you shall do, and its result.” The decree addressed to the archbishop does not say this, from which it is evidently deduced that his Majesty’s wish is that the communication to the archbishop is merely economic, in regard to the savings of the royal treasury, and authoritative, in the application of such ecclesiastical properties, so far as may be necessary.
13. The amount of the tithes and vacancies was, in fact, ascertained in the execution of the decree with the aid of his Excellency, Don Diego Camacho. It was found that the tithes, as a general rule, are not collected in these islands; and that those which are received regularly from some estates, do not exceed the sum of four hundred pesos per annum, and they are received by the cathedral church through a concession. The vacancies not proceeding from the products of curacies, could only be in the allowances with which his Majesty aids the bishops for their suitable support from the effects of his royal patrimony, exempt from the obligations by which the tithes, as ecclesiastical incomes, are accompanied, because of vacancies, and are to be converted into benefit for the new prelate, church, and pious uses. However, investigation was made of the vacancies of such stipends, and it was found uniformly in the certifications of the royal officials that they were converted as though they were tithes; and that they were applied to the holy church for its building fund, and for the aid of the archbishops and bishops who had come to these islands, as an aid in the pontifical expenses, and to furnish their household furniture and other things in a fitting manner. Only one vacancy of one of the bishoprics was then found without pay warrant, but its warrant was expected immediately. And although this and the subsequent vacancies were obtained in three payments, those payments were already applied to the expenses of the professors, both those which came from the royal treasury and those of the church fund, and maintenance of such college seminary, which necessarily became perpetual without redintegration being made in whole or in part.
14. The conditions of the first foundation were changed, very much against the intention of his Majesty, by the arrival at Manila of the patriarch, Don Carlos Thomas Maillard de Tournon. The right reverend Camacho came to terms with that gentleman, who took a hand in that college, and altered its foundation, by increasing it with foreign seminarists without the intervention of the vice-patron. Several alms which had been collected were applied to the maintenance of seventy-two collegiates who were to be of all nationalities. A new and showy building was provided for on a site opposite the archiepiscopal palace. For this enterprise was also applied a portion of certain alms which had been collected by Abbot Sidoti, amounting to twelve thousand pesos, which were given into the care of the financial board of the Misericordia, in order that they might yield a suitable return, and their products in the investments realized were applied by the said abbot to various pious purposes, one of them being that of the seventy-two seminarists. His consideration for the apostolic visitor and patriarch, and for the powers promulgated for all by the Apostolic See, reprehensibly restrained SeÑor ZabalburÙ in the performance of his duties.
15. This was aided by seeing the archbishop so greatly in harmony with the patriarch. This fact also intimidated the royal Audiencia, so that they passed the matter by with most criminal carelessness in so peculiar and irregular proceedings, and the rights so suitably belonging to the monarch were violated very shamefully. With such condescension, the archbishop passed to the remarkable audacity of influencing SeÑor Tournon, to report by common consent all that had been done to his Holiness, so that the latter might approve the excesses independently of the royal patronage in the increase of teachers because of the lack which he considered in the education of the collegiates, and apply for their salaries the various alms which he had gathered, and for the maintenance of seventy-two seminarists who were to be of all nationalities, and for the new building. The government and the royal Audiencia were so remiss, that such information came to his Majesty’s ears through the nuncio of his Holiness who resided in his court, to whom the patriarch and the archbishop had communicated it. His Majesty wondered that his governor ZabalburÙ had not informed him of so weighty an innovation in the progress of the seminary, and that he had not given information regarding the observance of the royal decrees, in which his [i.e., the king’s] watchful zeal had proposed the foundation of the seminary college.
16. So angry was the court against the right reverend prelate SeÑor Camacho, where his connivance with the patriarch was so displeasing, that he was removed from this metropolitan see to the bishopric of Guadalaxara in Nueva EspaÑa. He went thither in the year one thousand seven hundred and six, to take possession of his government. He was a zealous and charitable archbishop. From the due salary of his predecessor, SeÑor Poblete, from various alms given by the king, and from those given by pious private persons, his zealous diligence got together more than forty thousand pesos. He spent them in this holy church of Manila in its decoration and ornament. He gilded the reredos, beautified the choir, enriched the sacristy with chalices and ornaments, and as well built the excellent steeple from its foundations, and other things. More than twenty thousand pesos were pledged in these expenses and in various alms. He was a vigilant shepherd, and if the violent controversies above mentioned which he had with the regulars occurred, he can very easily be excused in what did not exceed the authority and dignity of his office. He promoted the missions of Paynaan and San Isidro, where he went in person to induce the Aetas or Negritos to become converted. [Other facts concerning the life of Camacho follow.]3
18. No arbitrary measures were taken. His Majesty gave place to the anger that had been conceived, and the representation of the nuncio was examined in the royal and supreme Council. His royal Majesty having been informed concerning the matter, resolved in his royal despatch that the admission of foreign persons into these islands for such a purpose was an unexpected innovation, and to whose active diligence the Roman court might attribute the progress of the conversions. In that his royal zeal might be seen to be corrected, since his principal consideration in his Catholic zeal, was to send and to maintain at so great cost, a great number of ministers chosen from the orders which had been established in these islands. What had been permitted by Governor ZabalburÙ was to the great violation of the obligation and fulfilment of such a purpose, and the displeasure with which his Majesty viewed the fact that so offensive an act had been allowed against his royal service in the excessive number of seminarists was harshly manifested; as was the fact that foreigners who were not his vassals had been received in said college, and admitted without his royal and express license; and the fact that he had heard that great innovation and those prejudicial proceedings through other mediums than those of his ministers and vassals: thus having altered the conditions which he had resolved should be made so long before.
19. His Majesty orders and commands his [i.e., ZabalburÚ’s] successor in the government, Count de Lizaraga, as soon as he received this despatch, and without the slightest delay, to immediately remove all the foreign seminarists from such seminary; while of those who should be his own vassals, all those in excess of the number of eight, whom he had preferred, and for whose support the calculation had been made, by deciding with the necessary teachers upon the suitable allowance, if they desired to enter as boarders, they could not exceed the number of sixteen. [This was done] in order to avoid the troubles that might result if the privilege of admission were extended farther, in a territory where there were so few Spanish inhabitants, where it was necessary for the natives to apply themselves to the cultivation of the soil, and the industries of the community. It was to be noted that no one could enter without the permission of the vice-patron, to whose activity he charges the especial care, and orders him to aid by all means possible the progress and conclusion of the seminary, which he had founded, in order that it might subsist in the manner and according to the laws established, without transgressing those laws in any manner. He was to arrange with the persons who with good faith assisted in the said building fund, with incomes, edifices, and other things, which they applied liberally, in order that they might condescend to apply the whole to what his Majesty had ordered to be erected. In case they did not agree thereto, the just price was to be paid them, of whatever should be considered useful to the said seminary, while what might be considered useless was to be returned to its owners, in the best and most fitting form, except the buildings, which were to be necessarily destroyed. His Majesty insists that he be informed as quickly as possible, because of its great importance, of the observance of his resolution. For the same purpose, he orders the same of his royal Audiencia, by a despatch of the same day, and orders that decree to be read annually at the opening [of the seminary] in January (as is done), in order that it might be exactly observed and in order to avoid such intrusions, to the great prejudice of the supreme rights and privileges.
20. In fulfilment of that royal decree, the investigation of the alms gathered by Abbot Sidoti was made. The application of those alms, by virtue of the conditions of the pious foundations, could not be used for the support of the eight seminarists, who were appointed at his Majesty’s account; nor to aid the expenses of the royal treasury in the new building of the college on the site of the houses sequestered from [the property of] Licentiate Don Manuel Suarez de Olivera. The inhabitants who had contributed to the building fund and incomes with their alms were asked that such be allowed to be freely applied to the college ordered to be erected by his Majesty. In such an innovation, greater expenses were incurred by the royal treasury on the site opposite to the archiepiscopal palace and solicited by the governor and archbishop, because the purchase and expense of timber and its haulage were effected at a cost of four thousand pesos which were paid on the account of the royal treasury to General Don Miguel de Eloriaga so that they might be spent with the intervention of the said abbot. That is evident in the records of the account of said general presented and sworn to, in regard to such expenses, with an attestation from the said Sidoti that it was true. Thus that was a superfluous expense on the royal treasury. For although a portion of the timber bought for that money was used for the addition to the new building on the site next the sequestered house of Licentiate Suarez, in order to give greater extension to the college, very little of it was useful, and did not amount, together with that which was sold, to two thousand pesos in value. The remainder was lost with the purchased and abandoned site which was used for nothing. That could have been built with four thousand pesos if the building attempted opposite the archiepiscopal palace had been left out of the question. In that the cost to the royal treasury was about six thousand pesos, the annual maintenance aggregating one thousand two hundred pesos, without noting the necessary expenses for physician, apothecary, and other things, plus two hundred pesos for two professors in philosophy and theology.
21. His Majesty also resolved to order and command his governor, as soon as he received that despatch, to order and take measures, as was most advisable and efficacious, to suppress the name of San Clemente which had been given to the seminary by the abbot, and to change it into that of San Phelipe, in order that no remembrance might be left of the sinister reports of which his Holiness had been informed to the discredit of the royal and earnest zeal in providing measures for the advance of religion, without giving the slightest motive for so peculiar and special influences. The fitting measures for the change of name were really taken, and that fact was recorded in the books of the accountancy and of the said college. The archbishop, dean, and cabildo were informed thereof, in order that they might properly observe it.
[As punishment for his omission, Governor ZabalburÚ was dismissed, although his term was already ended, as were also the auditors. The governor was a just man, but his intimacy with the Jesuits caused him to be distrusted.]
[Chapter xiv contains the following in regard to this seminary.]
2. During his government [i.e., of the new archbishop, Fray Francisco de la Cuesta, of the Order of San Geronimo] arrived the resolution regarding the seminary college of San Phelipe. Its erection was entrusted to his Excellency, SeÑor Cuesta. He having made the foundation, proceeded to draw up its rules, which being milder for the seminarists, corrected those of the most illustrious Camacho. However, most of them were not in accord with the royal patronage, and its rights. His Excellency incurred the inadvertence of prescribing in the second of his rules that the escutcheon of the royal arms should be placed on a prominent spot, while in the interior or in any other part of the said seminary, were also to be placed the arms of the archbishop. In doing so, he said that he was in accord with the second law of the first book and twenty-third tÍtulo of the RecopilaciÓn 4 of these kingdoms. That would be allowable if the seminary had been founded at his cost or at the cost pro rata given by his prebendaries and others who are mentioned in the Council of Trent. In that he claimed the right of private patronage, reserving for his Majesty only the universal patronage. That was a surprising resolution, since the archbishop himself confessed that the seminary had been founded at the expense of the royal treasury, while the placing of escutcheons and arms signifies one’s private expenses and special zeal; when his Majesty, without any controversy, is the sole founder. Therefore its foundation was purely lay, and in such concept, beyond any question the universal and private patronage belonged to his Majesty, as it was founded at the expense of his royal patrimony. Still more harmful were the fourth and fourteenth rules, in which it is declared that the nomination and election of the collegiates is at the disposition of the ordinary, after conferring and obtaining the opinion of the prebendaries; as is also their expulsion in the case of incorrigibles, after their rector has informed the ordinary of such: although that nomination and expulsion belonged very properly (and exclusively) to his Majesty, as its foundation was not couched in the terms mentioned by the Council of Trent. To him could only pertain by delivery and by royal disposition their spiritual government, because of the greater care in investigating and restraining their morals. The error of his Excellency was notable in this regard, for although the governor petitioned that he be given possession of such seminary, in the name of his dignity and of his church he declares that the appointment of rector, administrator, and master is in the first place, a right of the superior government by virtue of the laws of the royal patronage, and that he deign to make provision of such posts in persons justified and qualified as most fitting. For being univocal and in accord with the doctrine, founded on laws, the naming and disposition of the collegiates ought also to be private.
3. No measures were taken for the time being to revise the rules, especially the ones mentioned, conforming them to the royal patronage. The practice continued of the ordinary giving the despatches and titles in his provision, until the report of SeÑor Cuesta to the government asking that the two professors of philosophy and theology might be removed, as he considered such chairs unprofitable. He represented that as a charge on his conscience, asking that fruitless expenses might not be continued for the royal treasury, thus opposing the two professors at that time. The matter was given to his Majesty’s fiscal for examination, at that time SeÑor Vedoya. His reply was that those professorships ought to be suppressed because of the reasons alleged; namely, because they were costly to maintain and of none effect. Thereupon, his Majesty’s fiscal reported the special measure of the royal decree of foundation, which provides that no one shall enter the said college without the express license of the vice-patron; that the rules cited were harmful to the universal and private patronage, and that with the opinion of the assessor, an express clause should be added to the above-mentioned fourth rule, by which in order to be admitted into the seminary, the collegiates were to be presented to the vice-patron, and the permission petitioned which is provided by the royal decree. The government in accord with that opinion, and with that of the assessor of the same tenor, informed the archbishop of the measure. The latter replied that from the time of the receipt of the decree, no nomination had been made, or any election of collegiate or boarder of those who had been admitted, as no advice of such circumstance of license for entrance into said college had been given. In answer to his reply the fiscal insisted with strong reasons that the royal patronage, both universal and special, be put into due practice, without allowing errors in the appropriation of the appointments and approvals in the entrance of collegiate seminarists. To the ordinary was alone left, by virtue of his trust from his Majesty, the government and administration of the collegiates, for the greater security in the investigation of their qualifications and morals. That was done, and the royal patronage was left in power.
[See also the fuller account given by San Antonio, in VOL. XXVIII, pp. 117–123; ConcepciÓn’s Historia, x, pp. 170–184; and Martinez de ZÚÑiga’s Historia, pp. 518, 519. ConcepciÓn says that the king resolved, January 27, 1714, upon the erection of three chairs, for laws, canons, and institute, respectively, to be appointed by competitive examination. These were for the purpose of educating the natives for the cathedral dignities. The despatch concerning this matter was received in Manila, in August, 1717. With the decree of July 26, 1730, the seminary virtually came to an end.]
