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Pre-Baptismal Instruction and the Administration of Baptism in the Philippines during the Sixteenth Century*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

John Leddy Phelan*
Affiliation:
Néwberry Library, Chicago, Illinois

Extract

Magellan’s abortive attempts to introduce baptism among the natives of the island of Cebu during the month of April of 1521 and the more successful efforts of the Spanish missionaries to preach the Gospel following the arrival of the Legazpi-Urdaneta expedition at Cebu on February 13, 1565 occurred during the initial and the culminating chapters respectively of the “spiritual conquest” of those native peoples of America and the Far East who were to enter the orbit of Spanish culture. During April of 1521, as Magellan was transforming himself into a lay missionary, Hernán Cortés was making the final preparations for the siege of Tenochtitlán. Its successful issue on August 13, 1521 laid the foundation not only of the Spanish Empire in the New World, but also it provided the Spaniards with the base of operations from which eventually they could extend their power to the Philippines. It was Cortés’ conquest of the Aztec Confederation in 1521 which enabled the Catholic missionaries of Spain to undertake one of the most extensive expansions in the history of the Christian Church. In 1565 the Spanish Church for its Philippine enterprise was able to draw upon a vast storehouse of missionary experience acquired in both North and South America. Magellan’s apostolic labors, ill-starred and brief though they were, exemplify many of the permanent features of the Spanish missionary enterprise. The Magellan episode also illustrates how his successors after 1565 did in fact profit from the Circumnavigator’s errors of judgment and tactics.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1955

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Footnotes

*

The author, John Leddy Phelan, is a Fellow in Philippine Studies at the Newberry Library where he is doing research on a book dealing with the “spiritual conquest” of the Philippines, 1565–1648. In THE AMERICAS, X (January, 1954), 354, there is a notice about the Philippine Studies Program which is being subsidized by the Carnegie Foundation.

References

1 For a stimulating evaluation of the Spanish-Portuguese missionary achievement overseas see Latourette, Kenneth Scott, A History of the Expansion of Christianity (7 vols.; New York and London, 1937–1945), III, 210.Google Scholar

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3 Pigafetta, Antonio, Magellan’s Voyage Around The World. The original text of the Ambrosian MS with English translation, notes, etc. by Robertson, James Alexander (3 vols.; Cleveland, 1906), I, 153.Google Scholar

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8 Ibid.

9 For a sixteenth-century description of the ritual of the sacrament of baptism see Focher, Juan O. F. M., Itinerarium Catholicitm proficiscentium ad infideles convertendos (Seville, 1574), pp. 9498.Google Scholar

10 For recent accounts of Magellan’s missionary activities see: Zaide, Gregorio, Philippine Political and Cultural History (2 vols.; Manila, 1949), I, 113119 Google Scholar and Parr, Charles McKew, So Noble a Captain, The Life and Times of Ferdinand Magellan (New York, 1953), pp. 341362.Google Scholar

11 Grijalva, Juan de O. S. A., Crónica de la orden de N. P. S. Augustin en las provincias de Nueva España (Mexico, 1624), pp. 120121 Google Scholar. The first Augustinian mission to the Philippines was under the jurisdiction of the Mexican province. Grijalva’s text is the most circumstantial and reliable Augustinian source we have for the initial period of the missionary enterprise in the Philippines.

12 For an authoritative account of the Mexican missionary background see Ricard, Robert, La “conquête spirituelle” du Mexique, essai sur l’apostolat et les méthodes missionnaires des ordres mendiants en Nouvelle Espagne de 1523 á 1512 (Paris, 1933), pp. 103116.Google Scholar

13 Grijalva, , op. cit., p. 124 Google Scholar. Medina, Juan de O. S. A., Historia de los sucesos de la orden de n. gran p. S. Agustín de estas filipinas published in the Biblioteca histórica filipina (4 vols.; Manila, 1892–1893), IV, 5354.Google Scholar

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16 One of the early baptisms, which made a favorable impression on the natives, was the conversion of an aged invalid who recovered his health after being baptized. A trusted friend of the Augustinians, he spent the last years of his life as a porter in their convent in Cebu. Grijalva, , op. cit., p. 125.Google Scholar

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21 Many natives had been paying tribute for as long as twenty-five years without receiving any religious instruction. “Memorial general de todos estados de las islas filipinas para su Magestad: Manila, June 26, 1586” in Pablo Pastells’ edition of Colin, Francisco S. J., Labor evangélica (3 vols.; Barcelona, 1900–1902), I, 434.Google Scholar

22 Simpson, Lesley Byrd , The Encomienda in New Spain (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1950), pp. 3234 Google Scholar. I have encountered no mention of baptisms administered by Philippine encomenderos, but some may have been performed. Lay baptism in cases of urgency was a time-honored practice of the Church. The Jesuits in their Visayan missions taught their trusted native assistants, the fiscales, how to administer the sacrament in case of an emergency. Colin, , op. cit., II, 409, 411.Google Scholar

23 Memoria de una junta que se hizo á manera de concilio el año de 1582 para dar asiento á las cosas tocantes al aumento de la fé y justificación de las conquistas hechas y que adelante se hiciesen por los Españoles” in Morales, Valentín Marín y O. P., Ensayo de una síntesis de los trabajos realizados por las corporaciones religiosas españolas de Filipinas (2 vols.; Manila, 1901), I, 326 Google Scholar. For rather convincing argument about the date of this document, which has been challenged by Pérez, Lorenzo O. F. M., see Aragón, Jesús Gayo O. P., Ideas jurídico-teológicas de los religiosos de Filipinas en el siglo XVI sobre la conquista de las islas (Manila, 1950), pp. 5960 Google Scholar, note 17.

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25 Ibid., pp. 322323, 328 Google Scholar. “Cedula Regulating the Foundation of Monasteries,” Aranjuez, May 13, 1579 in Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., IV, 141143 Google Scholar; “Memorial del Obispo de las Filipinas, en que se contienen las cosas que el muy R. Padre Alonso Sanchez …, que en nombre de toda esta republica va á tratar el remedio de ella con Su Magestad …,” in Colin, , op. cit., I, 445451 Google Scholar. For Salazar’s 1591 indictment of the encomenderos see Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., VII, 268276.Google Scholar

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid., pp. 447–449. As late as 1602 Pedro Chirino, then Jesuit representative at the Courts of Madrid and Rome, vainly attempted to arrange that only natives of the royal encomiendas be assigned to the Jesuit missions. The royal treasury had a better reputation for meeting its obligations than the private encomiendas. Colin, , op. cit., II, 329.Google Scholar

28 Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., XI, 272273; XIV, 155, 194; XXIX, 69 Google Scholar. Wine for the Mass usually came from Mexico or Goa. Carrillo, Hierónimo de Bañuelos y, “Relation of the Philippine Islands” in ibid., XXLX, 6869.Google Scholar

29 Colin, , op. cit., II, 12.Google Scholar

30 Ribadeneyra, Marcello de O. F. M., Historia de las islas del archipiélago… (Barcelona, 1601), p. 32 Google Scholar. This rare work is perhaps the most illuminating source we have for the history of the early Franciscan missions in the Far East.

31 Governor Sande to Philip II, Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., IV, 84.Google Scholar

32 Augustin, San, op. cit., p. 29.Google Scholar

33 Ibid., p. 350.Google Scholar

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35 Ibid., pp. 7172.Google Scholar

36 Ibid., pp. 149150.Google Scholar

37 Grijalva, , op. cit., p. 130 Google Scholar; Medina, , op. cit., p. 63 Google Scholar; Aduarte, , op. cit., pp. 7172 Google Scholar; Chirino, Pedro S. J., Relación de las islas Filipinas (Manila, 1890)Google Scholar, the first edition was published in Rome in 1604; Colin, , op. cit., II, 394.Google Scholar

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40 Zaide’s conclusion about the baptism of Tupas creates a somewhat misleading impression. “Following the example of their king and prince, the Cebuans readily discarded their native religion and embraced Christianity.” To use Churchillian language, Tupas’ conversion was not the beginning of the end of passive opposition of the Cebuans to the friars, but it represents only the end of the beginning of opposition. Zaide, , op. cit., I, 147.Google Scholar

41 Herrera to Philip II, Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., III, 72.Google Scholar

42 Jesús, Pablo de O. F. M., to Gregory, XIII: Manila, July 14, 1580 in ibid., XXXIV, 316324 Google Scholar; Herrera, Diego de O. S. A., “Augustinian Memoranda,” ibid., pp. 278279 Google Scholar; Rada, Martín de O. S. A., to Enriquez, Viceroy: Manila, June 30, 1574 in ibid., p. 291.Google Scholar

43 Letter of Jesús, Pablo de O. F. M., in Archivo ibero-americano, III (July-October, 1916), p. 402 Google Scholar. The letter has no date, but it was written while its author was custodian of the Franciscan mission in the islands (1580–1583). I suggest that 1583 is a plausible date in view of the fact that he wrote Pope Gregory in 1590 that not much progress had been accomplished until the arrival of the Franciscans (1578).

44 The figure of 250,000 baptisms is contained in the report from the Manila community that Alonso Sánchez, S. J., carried to Spain in 1586. Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., VI, 185186 Google Scholar. The 250,000 figure may be a somewhat optimistic estimate based on anticipated baptisms for the following years. The Manila colony through its envoy, Sánchez, petitioned for a whole series of concessions from the Crown. The bigger the spiritual harvest of which the new colony could boast, the more generous might be Philip II. Sánchez’s figure of 250,000 could be reduced to 200,000 without being false to the achievements of the missionaries. Grijalva claims 146,400 natives under the care of the Augustinians as of 1586. This figure may be accurate not only because of the general reliability of its author but also because this figure is demographically plausible and in conformity with the number of friars then in the Philippines (96) and the methods employed in pre-baptismal instruction. Grijalva, , op. cit., pp. 167, 171, 194, 205 Google Scholar. If the Grijalva figure is accepted, then it is highly improbable the Franciscans had baptized 110,000. There is substantial evidence to indicate that the Franciscans had baptized not more than 30,000 by 1586. See the following footnote.

45 Ortega, Francisco de O. S. A., “Report Concerning the Philippines” in Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., IX, 95119 Google Scholar. Gonzaga’s figure of 300,000 baptisms for the Franciscans as of 1586 must be ascribed to a misquotation or a misprint, probably a scribe’s error. Gonzaga’s Philippine informant meant 30,000, not 300,000. Gonzaga, Francisco O. F. M., De origine seraphicae religionis (Rome, 1587), I, 352 Google Scholar. In 1597 the Franciscans reported 60,892 natives under their care. Alcalá, Marcos de O. F. M., Chronica de la santa provìncia de San Joseph de los religiosos descalzos (Madrid, 1736), pp. 6874 Google Scholar. The first edition was published in Madrid, 1616. An increase from 30,000 in 1586 to around 60,000 in 1597 dovetails with the over-all expansion of the missionary enterprise during these years. A decrease in the same period from 300,000 to 60,892 is sheer fantasy divorced from the demographic realities of the time. The Archbishop of Manila reported to the King in 1622 that the Franciscans were then administering to 93,400 souls—an increase of about 30,000 between 1597 and 1622 which is about the same ratio that occurred between 1586 and 1597. Archbishop Miguel Garcia Serrano to the King, Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., XX, 229236.Google Scholar

46 Governor Sande to the King: Manila, June 7, 1576 in ibid., IV, 87. For the 1586 figure see ibid., VII, 29–51.

47 Ortega, , ibid., IX, 95119 Google Scholar. For the Jesuits see Colin, , op. cit., II, 10.Google Scholar

48 Pigafetta, , op. cit., I, 161.Google Scholar

49 Ibid.

50 Ibid.

51 Grijalva, , op. cit., pp. 393394 Google Scholar; Aduarte, , I, 146 Google Scholar; Ribadeneyra, , op. cit., pp. 6065 Google Scholar; Chirino, , op. cit., pp. 114115, 153, 175, 184, 185 Google Scholar; Colin, , op. cit., II, 134, 157, 383.Google Scholar

52 Ibid., II, 151.

53 Ibid., II, 134.

54 Chirino, , op. cit., p. 184 Google Scholar; Colin, , op. cit., II, 151.Google Scholar

55 Ibid., pp. 150, 387388 Google Scholar; Chirino, , op. cit., pp. 181182.Google Scholar

56 For a few particular examples see ibid., pp. 125126, 396397.Google Scholar

57 Pigafetta, , op. cit., p. 141.Google Scholar

58 Chirino, , op. cit., p. 233.Google Scholar

59 Augustín, San, op. cit., p. 354.Google Scholar

60 Chirino, , op. cit., p. 187.Google Scholar

61 Colin, , op. cit., II, 310, 384 Google Scholar; Chirino, , op. cit., p. 232.Google Scholar

62 In 1591 the Bishop and the prelates of the missionary orders wrote the Governor, “As the inhabitants of many of these islands have received baptism without the aforesaid solicitude [adequate pre-baptismal instruction], many sacrileges have been committed; and as a result many and great misfortunes have ensued, which we can now clearly discern and yet poorly remedy.” Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., VII, 297.Google Scholar

63 Aduarte, , op. cit., I, 6170.Google Scholar

64 For cases of pseudo-Christians in Mexico see Ricard, , op. cit., p. 110.Google Scholar

65 Velarde, Pedro Murillo S. J., Historia de la provincia de Philipinas de la compañía de Jesús (Manila, 1749), p. 76.Google Scholar

66 Colin, , op. cit., I, 503511.Google Scholar

67 Archbishop Benavides, a Dominican himself, praised the Franciscans and the Dominicans for their ascetic fervor and their missionary zeal, but he accused those Orders of being the worst offenders in abandoning isolated and unrewarding missions after a period of a few years. Archbishop Benavides, O. P., to Philip III: July 6, 1603 in Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., XII, 117121 Google Scholar. See also Chirino, , op. cit., pp. 40, 146 Google Scholar; Colin, , op. cit., II, 127.Google Scholar

68 The Jesuits were progressive in their teaching methods but not to the point of fostering co-education. The boys and girls were taught separately. Chirino, , op. cit., pp. 184, 185, 231 Google Scholar. Colin, , op. cit., II, 399, 409, 411.Google Scholar

69 Chirino and Colin say that it usually took about ten days to complete pre-baptismal instruction. Chirino, , op. cit., p. 185 Google Scholar; Colin, , op. cit., II, 409, 411 Google Scholar. Marcos de Alcalá writes it took the Franciscans about fifteen days to indoctrinate the natives. Alcalá, Marcos de, op. cit., pp. 5960.Google Scholar

70 Archbishop Benavides had nothing but praise for Jesuit pedagogical methods. He was, however, somewhat less enthusiastic about their alleged habit of acquiring by devious means landed property belonging to the natives. See Blair, and Robertson, , op. cit., XII, 117121; XIV, 329; XVII, 151152; XXIX, 183184 Google Scholar. For the indoctrination methods of the other Orders see: Alcalá, Marcos de, op. cit., p. 59 Google Scholar; Ribadeneyra, , op. cit., pp. 6567 Google Scholar; Aduarte, , op. cit., I, 76.Google Scholar

71 Chirino, , op. cit., p. 40 Google Scholar; Colin, , op. cit., II, 127, 399, 394, 302, 303, 406.Google Scholar

72 Chirino, , op. cit., pp. 146, 153, 180, 184, 187.Google Scholar

73 Ibid., p. 157 Google Scholar; Colin, , op. cit., II, 214.Google Scholar