Part 31

Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera

THE HOSPITALS AND HOSPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Letter to the king from Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera

Sire:

1. Your Majesty was pleased to entrust to my predecessor, Don Juan Niño de Tabora, as he was the person who had the matter in hand, the regulation of the comfort of the hospitals, the care of treating the sick, both soldiers and citizens, and the administration of the revenues of the said hospitals, so that the expenditures would be well employed and your Majesty's treasury have some relief.

2. The first thing which I heard on my arrival in this government was this [matter of the hospitals], in which I have found that your Majesty spends more money than you ought to spend; and, in the endeavor to apply a suitable remedy, I ordered the royal officials to note on their pay-rolls that the soldiers must give two reals from each month's pay, and the sailors four--as is done in the States of Flandes with the royal hospital of your Majesty's army, where the soldiers give one real from each month's pay, and the officers, higher and lower, according to their pay. This amounts to more than seven thousand pesos per year, as your Majesty will have seen by the certifications which I enclose.

3. The religious of the Order of St. Francis--to whose brothers the government and several of your Majesty's decrees have entrusted for some years back the duty of nurses in these hospitals, and to their religious priests that of chaplains therein--have both [brothers and priests] contrived to make an ill use of the orders of your Majesty and of the government; for besides the comforts that are brought from Castilla at so heavy an expense to the treasury of your Majesty, such as wines, raisins, almonds, and quince preserves, and other things which are not found here, and are indispensable for the hospitals--and although these things and the medicines were delivered to the steward and apothecary, the said officials did what the religious ordered them; and, to keep the devotees of religion contented, dispersed and spent many of those things outside of the hospitals. I made the steward whom I found in the hospital of the Spaniards settle his accounts, which were in very bad condition; but it will cost him his property. I appointed a new steward to whom all the aforesaid articles which came from Nueva España were delivered, on his responsibility and account. This man asked for the keys to the pantries, in order to keep them, but the religious refused; consequently, I was obliged to issue strict order that the keys be given up. The provincial of that order gave way to anger, saying that the taking the keys of the pantries to keep them was to his discredit. With the devotion which I have always had toward that order, and my love for its religious, I requested the said provincial to charge himself with, or have given to some religious, the said articles, with the obligation to give account of his expense at the end of the year to the person whom I should order to do that. He replied that I could not do that, according to his rule; nor could he subject himself to give account of anything; the steward, however, continues to exercise his duty and care.

4. Various decrees of their Majesties, your holy father and your prudent grandfather, order that a convalescent ward be made in the royal hospital of the Spaniards. Since my predecessors did not carry out this plan, I began it with two thousand pesos, of which a governor of the Sangleys of the Parián made your Majesty a gracious gift. It was advisable to have this ward pass through certain small cells which the brothers and religious chaplain had in the said hospital. I courteously requested the provincial to withdraw them to his convent while the said ward was being built; but he refused to do so. I again requested him to remove the most holy sacrament--which was deposited in a ward under the principal one of the infirmary and exposed to indecency, because the filth and water from the sick, fell from above--to a place above, where mass was said to the said sick. He also refused to do that; on the other hand, he went to the archbishop, who began a suit before the ordinary. Although the royal Audiencia (the said archbishop refusing to give the regimental chaplain-in-chief permission to administer the holy sacraments to the soldiers and others, and refusing to give it, and [the chaplain] having appealed to royal aid from the fuerza), declared that he should do what I had asked, the archbishop, nevertheless, refused to give the said permission--until that, after he had been exiled from these kingdoms for having refused to obey the decrees of your Majesty (as I shall recount in another letter), the bishop of Camarines, who came by act of the royal Audiencia to govern during his absence, granted to the said chaplain-in-chief the said permission to administer the sacraments. For these and many other reasons, of which I shall give your Majesty an account, I made the said religious leave the royal hospital of the Spaniards, and the regimental chaplain-in-chief ministers to the sick for the present, until a chapel is finished (which I ordered to be built in which to bury the soldiers), and quarters [for them], at the expense of their pay, which they have graciously given, without any expense to the treasury of your Majesty. And when the said chaplain-in-chief shall go to exercise his duty in the said chapel, another chaplain shall be appointed for the said royal hospital. Sire, the reasons which have existed for changing the religious of this hospital are those which your Majesty will please have examined in the papers which I herewith enclose. At the same time, I petition your Majesty, with all humility, to be pleased to grant permission to the brothers of [St.] John of God to come to serve in these hospitals in place of the same discalced religious, and at their own petition--because of the disorderly acts that the brothers must have committed in visiting private houses in the city in the quality of surgeons, and in methods from which, they tell me, proceeded the relaxation of the order, as well as other things that deserve correction. For many reasons concerning the service of God and of your Majesty, it has been, and is, advisable that these hospitals be administered by the brothers of [St.] John of God, and that the Order of St. Francis attend to their ministries and the observance of their rule. In case that your Majesty finds it unadvisable that the said brothers of [St.] John of God come to these islands, will you be pleased to have the holy sacraments administered by seculars, the revenue put in charge of laymen, and several of the very aged alférezes, who have served long enough and now cannot bear arms, act as nurses--as they are doing at present with great willingness and promptness, in order not to lose the accommodations of the hospital by negligence and poor service. Only the said hospitals of this city and of the port of Cavite I have withdrawn from the power of the religious of St. Francis of this city, for the reasons aforesaid, and because of the opposition which the religious have made to your Majesty's governor, in their desire to make themselves lords and masters of your royal hospitals; since neither by reason of their rule, nor by their own will, nor by anything else can they be proprietors. There was no hospital at the port of Cavite; but on account of the donations which some persons have given to your Majesty, I have ordered a house to be prepared where the governors lived when they went to that port, and an excellent hospital has been made there. In it five hundred sailors, three or four hundred convicts belonging to the galleys, slaves of your Majesty, the common seamen of the galleons, and the calkers and carpenters of the said port--in all two thousand odd persons--receive medical treatment. Since this hospital has been created anew (for a barracks which was used for a hospital has fallen), the religious do not claim it in ownership, as they do the hospital of this city. The alms given by the sailors for the said hospital amount to three thousand pesos per year. With what the calkers, carpenters, and other workmen who receive pay will give, and a small cattle-farm that it owns, with some more that can be obtained from some encomienda when it falls vacant, the said hospital will be sustained without any expense to your Majesty's treasury. And in order that that of Manila may do the same, an excellent cattle-farm costing eight thousand pesos has been bought at the advice of the treasury council with the money contributed for it. With those ranches that it had, and the three pesos per year from each soldier, and an encomienda of one thousand three hundred tributes which has been granted to the convalescent ward in the name of your Majesty, in virtue of your royal decree despatched to Governor Gomez Perez Das mariñas (and I petition your Majesty to be pleased to confirm to it the encomienda of the village of Macabebe, in the province of Pampanga)--with all the above and other things which I shall endeavor to secure for it, I shall relieve your Majesty's royal treasury from expense. The expense which I have made in only the said hospital in ten months, without its being possible to avoid it, amounts in money to seven thousand pesos for the aforesaid, and more than that amount in kind. Since your Majesty has so many encomiendas here, it is right that we relieve the treasury of this expense; and we shall put to rights many things which I confess to your Majesty have never been regulated until now. With it the hospitals of the natives, that of Los Baños, that of Camarines, and others, I have left to the religious until your Majesty orders what is your pleasure. But it is not advisable that they should administer them, but the brothers of [St.] John of God, or secular priests and lay stewards. This is the truth, as I assure your Majesty as your vassal and minister, whereby I discharge my conscience of all that shall be placed on it; and, if opportunity offer, I shall give a detailed account and one to the royal Council of the Yndias. May our Lord preserve the Catholic person of your Majesty, as is necessary to Christendom. Manila, the last of June, 1636.

Sire, your Majesty's vassal kisses your feet,

Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera

Comments of the Council

In regard to the deductions [from their pay] that are levied on the soldiers and sailors, since it is with their good-will, as is supposed, his having introduced this plan is approved.

Since that aid amounts to seven thousand pesos annually, and since not only the soldiers are treated in the hospital, but other citizens; if this is so, it seems that it will be necessary that the cost of the hospital be not entirely charged to the soldiers, but that the others contribute their share, whereby the deductions [from the pay] of the soldiers will be less and less felt.

That in regard to passing to the Yndias it has not been considered as very advisable that the brothers of [St.] John of God go; but that in its general aspect the matter is being considered, and he will be advised of what shall be resolved.

That in regard to placing alférezes on half-pay as nurses, it is not advisable; nor do such men proceed with the charity that is necessary, and that such ministry requires.

That in regard to the hospital which has been established in Cavite, by taking the house of the governor, it is not approved, and that is another innovation of which he must give account; for, although the work is good in itself, it has the inconvenience that when the governors go to that port, they have no house in which to lodge, and that they will have a motive for building one. Consequently, he shall not go ahead with that undertaking. To apply some encomienda for that hospital of Cavite appears advisable, and he is permitted to assign it an encomienda of about five hundred ducados of income. Let him advise of what he does in this, and whether the quantity is sufficient, in respect to the expense, and considering the aids which he mentions in his letter, which will be made voluntarily by the contributors.

In regard to the cattle-farm which has been bought for the hospital of Manila with the money from the gifts, see whether the royal officials or any other persons write of this; and, if they do not write, have him told that if it is money donated as a gift to his Majesty, that expenditure is not approved; for he was not authorized to make it, and has rather exceeded his authority, and it will be necessary to restore the money to his Majesty. But if it is a gift made as an alms by citizens, that will be well; and it is expected that he will have it administered as is advisable.

Let information be asked separately on all the points of this letter from the archbishop, Audiencia, royal officials, and the superior of the Order of St. Francis.

Write to the governor not to make any innovation.

Governor's act regarding convalescent ward

Don Sebastian Urtado de Corcuera, knight of the Habit of Alcantara, governor and captain-general of these Philipinas Islands and president of the royal Audiencia herein, etc. Inasmuch as by a clause of a letter from his Majesty dated San Martin de la Vega, April twenty-nine, one thousand five hundred and seventy-seven, directed to the governor of these islands, it is ordered that, as it is so fitting and necessary, as he has been informed, a convalescent ward be established where the poor soldiers who served in these islands may be cared for and entertained when convalescing after having left their treatment in the hospital; and that he shall maintain and supply it by assigning one thousand Indians as an aid to the support of the hospital, or as shall seem best to him. That, as is well known, has not been done; and no effort has been made to fulfil the royal will in so many years, although this enterprise is so useful to the community. On the contrary, it has been the cause of many wrongs, as experience demonstrates; for, by not having had the said convalescent ward, so many soldiers, sailors, and other poor wretches have died by reason of lacking care and comfort when they recover from their illness. And great disorders have been and are caused with such sick when they leave the said hospital with little health and strength--some returning to their own houses, and some to those of others, where because of the little or no comfort, and the poor and injurious food, with wine, tobacco, buyo, and other similar things, and the continual temptations to associate with women of evil life, they relapse, so that their sickness has no cure. These having been examined by me and certified to me, in order to check these evils, and to comply with what his Majesty ordered so many years ago but which has not been done, and as it is so pious a work in itself, and for the service of our Lord and the good of the community: I have resolved to establish a convalescent ward near the royal hospital for the Spaniards of this city of Manila. And [it shall be] incorporated with the same [hospital] because there is no other place where it can be established--so that in it may be treated, entertained, and entirely cured, the sick of the hospital. These, without leaving the hospital, may pass from the sick wards to the convalescent ward, where they will be treated and entertained as well as possible from the proceeds of one thousand two hundred tributes of encomienda, which I have assigned and given to the said ward in his Majesty's name in the province of Pampanga, in the encomienda of Macabebe, which became vacant because of the end and death of Don Nicolas de Rivera, who possessed it for the last generation. The building of the said room and ward has been begun for more than two months; and the foundations are laid in some parts by order of Captain Santiago de Gastelu, citizen and regidor of this city. I entrust its work to him, as he is a competent person. He has represented to me that, in order that he may continue the work to the completion that is required, and with the divisions and pantries that are necessary for its service, it is advisable that he tear down a small old house, with some cells, that are built close to the said work in the said hospital. There live the discalced fathers of St. Francis, who have attended and attend to the hospital. The men cannot continue further with the work because the said old work is in the way, and because it is necessary to make the foundations alike all over. As the said religious are there, he could not begin to tear it down; while there was no place where the said religious could be accommodated in the said hospital because of its small capacity; nor was there room for the physician, surgeon, barber, steward, and apothecary, who are the persons who must live within. And likewise the house where the apothecary-shop is located, and where the apothecary and steward live, he must tear down in order to proceed with the said work. Likewise he must do the same and tear down the church of the hospital in order to make there a low living-room and an infirmary, where the soldiers of the Pampanga nation who fall sick in this camp of Manila may be treated and cared for, as they have no other place for it. A church is not necessary in the said hospital, because another one for the infantry is being built, as quickly as possible, next to the royal palace in the Plaza de Armas, where all those who die in the said hospital will be carried for burial. To say mass, confess, and console the sick in the hospital, they will be attended by the regimental chaplain, to whom it properly belongs. His Majesty has assigned a special pay for that here. Consequently, the said religious can be dispensed with and are not necessary, since they neither confess those who go there, nor attend to anything else that is important. Therefore, the father-provincial of the Order of St. Francis shall withdraw the religious (both priests and lay-brothers) who are in the said hospital; and shall take them to his convent, since it is within the walls of the city, and is capacious enough for them and for many others. There they will live with all comfort, care, and shelter, as is fitting, as it is advisable for the service of God and the welfare of the community that the work and quarters be continued where the said convalescents and soldiers of the Pampanga nation may be treated. By this act he ordered the said Captain Santiago de Gastelu that the work be immediately proceeded with, tearing down the said room and church and all else that seemed necessary for the said purpose, as quickly as possible, since he has been given money for the said work and building. In order that the aforesaid might be done, the said captain Santiago de Gastelu shall be notified. By this act, accordingly, he issued this command, and signed it. The government secretary, or another public or royal notary, will notify the aforesaid, and the said father provincial, so that what is ordered by this act may be fulfilled. Manila, March five, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.

Sevastian Hurtado de Corcuera Francisco de Ortega

Notification. In the city of Manila, on the eighth day of the month of March, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, I, the notary, read and notified the order and act of this paper, as is contained therein, to Captain Santiago de Gastelu, regidor of this city, in his own person. He said that he heard it; and I attest the same.

Alonso Mendez de Almada, royal notary of mines and registers.

Notification. In the town of San Palo, on the tenth of March, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, I, the notary, read and notified the said act and order of this paper, as is contained therein, to father Fray Jeronimo del Espiritu Santo, provincial of the order of the discalced religious of St. Francis of these islands. He said that he heard it, and that he would talk with the said governor concerning the matter. I attest the same, witnesses being Alférez Diego Salgado Colmenero and Matheo Mexia.

Alonso Menez de Almada, royal notary of mines and registers.

Collated with the originals, which are in possession of Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, governor and captain-general of these islands and president of the royal Audiencia herein, and to which I refer. In order that this might be evident, I gave the present, authorizing it in public form at his petition, and gave it the authentication which takes the place of law. As witnesses at its examination, copying, correcting, and collation were Simon Delgado, Jhoan Correa, and Francisco Gomez, here present.

In testimony of law, I have affixed my seal: