Alonso de Saavedra Pedro Munoz de Herrera

citizens of Manila, in witness of the truth whereof I have affixed my seal.

Pedro Hurtado Desquibel, clerk of the court.

[Endorsed:  “Testimonial concerning the reception of the seal and the establishment of the royal Audiencia.”]

Letters from the Archbishop of Manila to Felipe II

Sire: 

It pleased our Lord that three years after the time when I left Madrid I should arrive at these islands, where I came at the command of your Majesty, with many hardships and so broken in health and strength that I hardly had the vigor to undertake such arduous duties as confront me, which are worthy of much remedy.  I shall try to gather up my strength until such time as your Majesty can appoint such a person as is fitted for this place.

I remember, Sire, that at my departure your Majesty said you were confident that I would take a load off your royal conscience.  Surely, Sire, if, as I wish, I should find affairs in favorable condition, I would, sparing no labor to myself, strive to serve your Majesty so heartily that none of your Majesty’s servants would have the better of me.  But everything here is so run down that many years of life and very strong arms are necessary to put affairs into even a reasonable condition.  It is only a month since I came to this city of Manila, and so I cannot give your Majesty an account in detail of the many things which must be remedied.  But there are going to your court father Fray Diego de Soria, a Dominican, and a man of much holiness, learning, and very exemplary life, who has had much experience for many years in the affairs of this country, and to whom your Majesty should listen; and likewise father Fray Marcello [11] of the Order of our Father St. Francis, who will give a full account of everything; for it is zeal for the honor of God and the service of your Majesty, and the desire for the remedy of these islands, which alone bring them through so many dangers by land and by sea.  But all I have been able to learn in this little time is that everything is like a clock out of order, and even in such condition that nothing will go into its right place unless the powerful hand of your Majesty be placed upon it.

In the first place your Majesty has here a cathedral and metropolitan church, and there is not a village church in Castilla so ill served, so lacking in ornament as this—­to such an extent that although the quality of the ornaments is inferior, there are so few that they have not even the necessary colors for the feast-days, although they are in a place where silks are so cheap, as they are here. [12] Thus it is with all the rest, and it seems as if ecclesiastics had never lived in this country.  It is served by four secular clergy alone, to whom your Majesty orders a salary paid.  The rest, although they