It is curious that Diaz does not mention this; but he states (Conquistas, p. 385) something omitted here—that Archbishop García Serrano interfered in like manner with the judge-executor of 1629 in this case, García de León. Diaz may hav
1
As Gregory died in 1623, the despatch of this letter must have been long delayed at Rome or en route.
2
See chapter xlii of Medina’s history of the Augustinian order, in Vol. XXIV of this series; also Diaz’s Conquistas, pp. 384–386.
3
This was the archdeacon Alonso García de Leon.
4
Pedro de Arce (himself an Augustinian), who twice filled vacancies in the archiepiscopal see of Manila.
5
It is curious that Diaz does not mention this; but he states (Conquistas, p. 385) something omitted here—that Archbishop García Serrano interfered in like manner with the judge-executor of 1629 in this case, García de León. Diaz may have given wrong names and dates for the one incident.
6
This was the new archdeacon, Andrés Arias Xirón (Diaz’s Conquistas, p. 385).
7
Presumably Pedro de Ribadeneira, a Spaniard of Toledo; he was provincial of Castilla, and assistant to the general of the order. About 1635 he was sent by Felipe IV as his ambassador to the duke of Modena and the republic of Lucca; afterward he was named by the king bishop of Cotrone (the ancient Crotona), Italy, but declined this honor. He died on August 20, 1643; and left various writings.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
8
There is frequent mention in canon law of alternativa decrees by the Holy See—a device in the interests of fairness, applied in the conferral of benefices and church offices, in order to do away with discords and displays of partisanship. Thereby in elections the preferments, etc., were to go to the opposite party, according at times, to very singular rules, applicable, for instance, according to the month wherein the said benefice fell vacant. The usage of the “alternation” was introduced in the time of Pope Martin V. (A.D. 1417–1431.)
The text of the present document concerns the extension of the alternativa rules to the Augustinians in the Philippine Islands, by force of which the offices in the order (distributed in provincial chapters every four years) were to be conferred one term on religious born in Spain, and the next on religious born in the Indias. The latter were known as Creoles (crioli)—thus in the Constitutions of the order, of 1685, where reference is made to decrees of Gregory XV, dated November 29, 1621 (confirmed by Urban VIII in 1628), with regard to elections of the brethren in Mechoacan, in Mexico. As the alternativa held in Mexico and South America—in fact, in Spanish colonies everywhere—these same papal decrees were presumably observed in all those colonies. Later, in Mexico, the statutes of the Augustinians required that in provincial chapters religious of Spanish blood should be chosen alternately with those of Indian, in the election of provincials, definitors, priors, and other officers; but this plan did not operate very satisfactorily.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
9
The name (Latin, regio pontis), of a ward in the city of Rome.
10
So in MS., but an improbable name; more likely to be Pacheco.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
11
Diaz here says (Conquistas, p. 385): “The fathers from the provinces of España interposed an appeal from the fuerza [committed] by this act, saying that the said judge had not authority to postpone the matter, but only to execute [the decree]; and from this proceeded continual disputes until the time for the chapter-meeting.”
12
The prior general of the Augustinians in 1634, the date of this bull, was Jerome de Rigoliis, of Corneto, elected May 18, 1630; he died (out of office, however) seven years later, in June, 1637, at the age of seventy and upwards. In 1636 (May 10), his successor in the generalship, Hippolytus dei Monti, was elected.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
13
Castel Gandolpho, a beautiful place in the Alban Hills, was the summer resort of the supreme pontiffs.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
14
i.e., “should the petition be grounded on fact.”
15
i.e., “because the said fathers are not qualified in sufficient number,” and “in the distribution of the said offices.”
16
In the manuscript that we follow the letter of March 31 is given second, while that of April 5 is given first; we have arranged them chronologically.
17
Garo: probably the same as garita; a fortified outpost?
18
The translation of this passage seems to be, “If God fights against a city, he who guards it watches in vain.” The difficulty lies in ”a custodierit,” which we translate as “fights against.”
19
Sulu, the chief island of the group of that name, has an area of 333 square miles. It contains numerous mountains, some of them nearly 3,000 feet high; and their slopes are covered with magnificent forests. Of the ancient town of Sulu (the residence of the “sultan”), on the southern shore, hardly a trace remains; the present town of that name was built by the Spaniards in 1878, and is modern in style. See U. S. Gazetteer of Philippines, pp. 842–850.
20
“Four groups having different customs may be distinguished among the inhabitants of the archipelago: the Guīmbajanos, or inhabitants of the mountains, who are the indigenes; the Malay and
