A group of papers regarding the hospitals of Manila is dated July–August, 1636. Governor Corcuera writes to the king regarding the conduct of these institutions. The expenses therein are too great; and Corcuera has levied an assessment on the pay of the officers and soldiers, to aid the hospital fund. He finds mismanagement in the royal hospitals, and dismisses from their charge the Franciscan brothers who have administered their affairs. He recommends that they be placed in the care of the hospital order of St. John of God, and of secular officials. He has established a hospital at Cavite, supported mainly by assessments on the sailors and workmen there; and a convalescent ward in the hospital for Spaniards at Manila. Then follow the comments on Corcuera’s suggestions, made by the royal Council, approving some, and criticising others; the act issued by the governor for the establishment of the aforesaid convalescent ward, to which he assigns an encomienda of Indians; and a statement of the amounts contributed for the hospital fund by each of the companies and garrisons in the islands, with official attestations, etc.
May, 1905.
Documents of 1636
The nuns of St. Clare at Manila. Miguel Perez, O.S.F., and others; 1635–36.
Relation of 1635–36. [Unsigned; Manila?]; June.
Letters to Felipe IV. Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera; June 30.
Letter to Father Felipe de Cardenas. Cristobal de Lara, S.J.; July 3.
Letter to Felipe IV. Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera; July 11.
Hospitals and hospital contributions. Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, and others; July–August.
Sources: All but two of these documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla. The second and fourth are from MSS. in the Academia Real de la Historia, Madrid.
Translations: The first, third, and sixth are translated by James A. Robertson; the second and fourth, by Robert W. Haight; the fifth, by Emma Helen Blair.
The Nuns of St. Clare at Manila
Petition of their procurator
Sire:
Fray Miguel Perez, discalced Recollect of the Order of St. Francis, procurator and vicar for the nuns of the convent of St. Clare of the city of Manila, in virtue of the authority which he holds from the said convent (which he presents) says that, as is apparent from the said authority, Captain Gaspar Mendez and other devout persons, who have served and serve your Majesty in military affairs in the Philipinas Islands, have done the same to the said convent for the building of it and of the church, by giving them seven thousand ducados in warrants for what your Majesty owes them from their pay. That has served as an aid in their building. Having petitioned your Majesty to grant favor to the said convent by ordering the royal officials to pay the said warrants, by a decree of the Council of April sixteen (which he presents), it was decreed that he should present the warrants and declare whence they proceeded. As he has declared in the same memorial that they proceed from the pay of soldiers, those warrants, as they are unnecessary here, have not been brought. Hence, since that money is to be used for a work so holy, he is confident that your Majesty will grant them the favor whom they entreat, and which they will receive as a special kindness from your Majesty.
Further, he says that your Majesty has ordered the viceroy of Nueva Spaña and the royal officials there that, in consideration of the poverty which the discalced Recollect fathers in Philipinas profess in accordance with their rule (as they cannot possess incomes), there be given to them annually from the royal treasury what is necessary for their sackcloth, medicines, breviaries, missals, and other things, as is now given to them every year. The said order has a procurator in Mexico who is urging that those articles be sent every year. Inasmuch as the nuns of the said convent of St. Clare have no income, because they profess the first rule of St. Clare, and in their case is found the same cause and reason [for the royal bounty] as in the discalced fathers, and some others, they petition your Majesty to have the royal officials of Mexico give them annually what is necessary for sackcloth, breviaries, missals, wine, and oil; and that also the governor of Philipinas be ordered to give to the said convents the medicines that may be needed, from the royal hospital which your Majesty has in the city of Manila. Thereby will they receive a very generous alms, and your Majesty, as patron (as is the case) of that convent, ought to concede them that favor, since they are so poor.
[Endorsed: “June 13, 636. Have the warrants here mentioned paid in the subsidy allotted to those sisters, and let it be paid in their sacristy and place. In regard to the alms that they request, have the governor notified to aid those nuns with all manner of care and attention; and, as they are so needy, to aid them with goods and spare articles that shall not be taken from his Majesty’s treasury.” “I received the authorization.
Petition of the abbess
Sire:
The abbess and nuns of the convent of St. Clare of the city of Manila declare that his Majesty, King Don Phelipe Second, ordered that convent to be founded, and your Majesty is patron of it. That convent, following the rule of the glorious St. Francis, has no income, but is sustained by the alms given to it by devout persons. Benefactors of the said convent—among them Captain Gaspar Mendes, treasurer of the said convent—have given certain pay-warrants which amount to about six or seven thousand pesos, in order that with it the said nuns may attend to some necessary works in the said house (and especially in the church), of which they are greatly in need. In consideration of that, the said abbess petitions and beseeches your Majesty, since this is so proper a work, to order the governor and royal officials to pay the said warrants above mentioned, for the said purpose; and those nuns will receive that as a special alms from your Majesty’s royal hand.
[Endorsed: “April 16, 636. Let her present the warrants of which she speaks, and let her declare whence they proceed.”]
Don Juan Grau, who is the person who is attending to this matter, declares that, according to the knowledge of it which he possesses, these warrants have not been sent to him; and that those which are cited in the memorial were given by soldiers from their pay, and by other persons which proceed from the same source. They have done it in their zeal to see so holy a work progress, as the need of those nuns is so great, and their institute so poor, since they cannot possess incomes. Consequently, they live solely on the alms given to them by devout persons.
Letter from the nuns
Sire:
His Catholic Majesty the king our sovereign, your Majesty’s father (who is in the enjoyment of Paradise), gave us permission to come here to found a convent of the first rule of our mother St. Clare in these islands. Upon our arrival at this city we founded a convent, and have continued to receive in it the daughters of citizens, conquistadors, and old settlers, many of them very poor. By that method, God our Lord has aided them with so perfect an estate as is that of the religious life. We, as founders, rear these girls and teach them to observe and follow our rule, so that, if we nuns who come from España pass away, they may teach the same to, and cause it to be observed by, those who shall take the habit hereafter. God has been pleased to cause all those who have taken the habit to flourish in virtue—so greatly that they furnish an example to the old nuns—who are now all daughters of our mother St. Geronima, whom they follow closely, imitating her in devotion and penances. We inform your Majesty of this, as we have heard that you will rejoice greatly, as one who knows and has information of the great results that God has obtained from our coming, and which He is continuing to obtain through the new foundation [we refer to those of our number] who went to train nuns, who left this