Within the first few years several more Augustinian fathers63 arrived whose linguistic accomplishments are briefly noted by the historians, but while these men were certainly pioneersin the speaking of Tagalog and Chinese, they are not recorded as having written in the language. According to Cano,64 the first Tagalog grammar was written by Agustin de Alburquerque, and Retana65 considered him one of the possible authors of the present Doctrina.
This friar reached the Philippines in 1571, accompaniedRada on his second expedition to China in 1576, was elected provincial in 1578, and died in 1580. However, there is no earlyrecord saying that Alburquerque wrote any linguistic work. The statement was not made until the 19th century, and in contradictionJuan de Medina, who wrote in 1630, said that Juan de Quiñones
―made a grammar and lexicon of the Tagal language, which wasthe first to make a start in the rules of its mode of speech.‖66 Furthermore, in the official acts67 of the Augustinian province we find that on August 20, 1578 Alburquerque as provincial of the order commissioned Quiñonesto write a grammar, dictionary and confessionary in the Tagalog language. The conclusions of Santiago de Vela68 are that it is doubtful that Alburquerque wrote any linguistic works, and if he did they were liable to have been rough preliminarystudies69 upon which the texts of Quiñones were based. In view of the lack of positive contemporary evidence70 we believe that Alburquerque [22]may be eliminated except as the instigator of such works, and we return again to Juan de Quiñones.
In so far as Quiñones71 was the author of a grammar and dictionary claimed to have been printed at Manila in 1581, we have shown what various writershave said, and though we must conclude that the work was probably not printed, it is certain that he wrote in the Tagaloglanguage.
Agustin Maria de Castro72 said, although no earlier writers support it, that Quiñones actually presented a grammar, dictionary and Doctrina in Tagalogat the Synod of 1582 for its approval.
Our total information about this Augustinian linguist boils down to these essentials:that he did write a grammar and dictionary of Tagalog about 1578–81, which may have been the earliest written in the Philippines;that he may have presented these and a Doctrina at the Synod of 1582
which approved Juan de Plasencia‘s works; that thereis no concrete evidence that any of these works were printed; and that Quiñones‘ works which were extant in manuscript in1593 might have been consulted in the preparation of the present Doctrina.
Another member of the Order of St. Augustine who might have been able to participate in the editing of the 1593 Doctrinaswas Diego Muñoz. Muñoz came to the islands in 1578, and died in 1594. Of him San Agustin writes:
―Moreover in this year [1581] the ministry for the Sangleys was founded in the convent of Tondo, and P.
Fr. Diego Muñoz wasnamed as its special minister. He devoted particular zeal to the study of the Chinese language, and preached in it with muchelegance. And all the Sangleys who were going to be baptized, and there were many, had recourse to this ministry, and theteaching was continued with much vigilance and care. And there never lacked a religious of our order to apply himself to suchholy work, from the time we came to this land, as our original records of the province prove.‖73
To him is also attributed74 a volume of manuscript panegyric sermons in Tagalog, and because of this and his work at Tondo he may [23]have been consulted by the Dominicans. We also mention Lorenzo de León,75 who arrived in 1582, spent twelve years in the provinces, wrote a book called the Estrella del mar in Tagalog, and died in 1623, and might also have helped.
The Franciscans
Although the first Franciscans did not arrive in the Philippines until June 24, 1577, the writings of the linguists of thatorder are more fully recorded. Among the earliest was Juan de Plasencia who, the Franciscans claim, wrote the first Tagaloggrammar. He was fortunate in meeting soon after his arrival Miguel de Talavera,76 who had come with his parents on the expedition of Legazpi. Miguel, then quite young, became in a manner of speaking thedisciple of Plasencia, and while the father taught him Latin, he in turn taught Plasencia the elements of Tagalog which hehad picked up. For two years Plasencia ministered in the provinces of Tayabas, Laguna, and Bulacan where he used and perfectedhis knowledge of the native language. On May 20, 1579, when the provincial Pedro de Alfaro left for China, he named Plasenciaacting provincial during his absence. A reference to the earliest linguistic writings of the Franciscans occurs in an accountby Santa Inés of the chapter meeting held in the Convent of Los Angeles in July 1580, which was presided over by Plasencia:
―The third and last thing that was determined in this chapter was that a grammar and dictionary of the Tagalog language shouldbe made and a translation of the Doctrina Christiana completed. And since Fr.
Juan de Plasencia, the president of this samechapter, excelled all in the language, he was given this responsibility, and he accepted it, and immediately set to work.And then after great study, much lack of sleep and care, together with fervent prayers and other spiritual duties, of notlittle importance in the good profit of such work, he reduced the language to a grammar, made a catechism, a very full dictionary,and various translations.‖77
But the most important record of his writings is contained in the description of the Synod called by Bishop Salazar in 1582.In March, 1581, [24]Domingo de Salazar, the first Bishop of Manila and the Philippines, had arrived. The problems which faced him were manifold,particularly those of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the treatment of the natives by government administrators, and the meansby which the gospel could best be spread. A synod was called to resolve these points. One matter of the utmost importancewas the approval of standard Tagalog texts, and Juan de la Concepcion gives the following account of what transpired in thisconnection:
―His excellency presided at the meetings. At them the most learned topics were discussed and the most learned persons werepresent—the Dominican father Salvatierra, the most outstanding scholars among the Augustinians and Franciscans, the Jesuitfathers Sedeño and Sanchez, and the Licentiate Don Diego Vasquez de Mercado as dean of the new cathedral. At this conventionor diocesan synod it was discussed whether the Indians were to be ministered to in their native language, or if they wouldbe obliged to learn Spanish, and it was decided to instruct them in their native tongue. The divine office, the Doctrina Christiana,which Father Fr. Juan de Plasencia had translated into the Tagalog language, was approved.
His work, the Arte y Vocabuldrio Tagalo, was judged most useful because of the ease by which it permitted an understanding and thorough knowledge of so foreign alanguage.‖78
The already quoted account of Santa Inés continues with a similar description of the Synod, and says that when the problemof teaching the natives was brought up only Plasencia could resolve it.
―Since, having seen his catechism and the translation which he had made in Tagalog of the grammar and dictionary, those whowere at the Synod and understood anything of the language could do nothing but admire the fitness of the terms, their efficacyand strength. And they said that, without the particular help of heaven, it seemed impossible that in so short a time andwith so few years in the country he could have done such excellent work. And then, having approved them, they ordered thatvarious copies be made, particularly of the translation of the Doctrina, so that with them and with no other would the ministersteach the Indians, and so it was approved, in order that there might be uniformity in all parts of the Tagalog country. Thistranslation is that which has come down to this day, except that it is more polished.‖79
It must have been shortly after the handbooks of Plasencia received the seal of ecclesiastical approval that Salazar wrotethe King speaking of the [25]action taken, and got back in answer the cedula, quoted before, giving the Bishop and Audiencia the right of censorship oversuch works.
The question of chronological precedence80 between Quiñones and Plasencia is not important, for the specific approval of Plasencia‘s texts by the Synod, attended byQuiñones himself, shows that Plasencia‘s books were accepted, and in conformity with the ruling of the Synod would have beenthe only texts allowed to be used generally in the Philippines.
Another reference to writers in the native tongues in an anonymous manuscript of 1649
introduces the names of other linguists:
―The first missionaries left many writings in the Tagalog and Bicol languages, the best of which are those left by FathersFray Juan de Oliver, Fray Juan de Plasencia, Fray Miguel de Talavera, Fray Diego de la Asuncion, and Fray Gerónimo Monte.Mention is here made of the above fathers because they were the first masters of the Tagalog language, and since their writingsare so common and so well received by all the orders. They have not been printed, because they are voluminous, and there areno arrangements in this kingdom for printing so much.‖81
Miguel de Talavera we have spoken of before. That he helped Plasencia in the compilation of his earliest works in Tagalogis clear, and to him in part must be attributed the miracle of the production by Plasencia of the texts ―in so short a timeand with so few years in the country.‖
Martínez says specifically that Talavera ―was the first interpreter among our priests,and greatly helped Fr. Juan de Plasencia in the composition of the Arte y Vocabulario.‖82 Juan de Oliver was in somewhat the same relationship to Plasencia, but instead of helping with the initial attempts, he carriedon from where Plasencia left off. Oliver came to the Philippines on the same expedition which brought Bishop Salazar in 1581.According to Huerta83 he worked in various Tagalog villages, and mastered the Tagalog and Bicol languages, in which he wrote twenty-two works,which Huerta lists. Of these three are of particular interest to us. The first entry says that he ―corrected the Tagalog grammarwritten by Fr. Juan de Plasencia, and added the adverbs and particles;‖84 the second that ―he [26]perfected and augmented the Spanish-Tagalog dictionary, written by the said Fr. Juan de Plasencia;‖ and the sixteenth listsa Catecismo de doctrina Cristiana esplicado.
Several authors, attempting to establish the priority of Quiñones‘ dictionary, question the existence of one by Plasenciaat the Synod of 1582 in the face of his own statement in 1585 that he ―was then making a dictionary.‖85 To us there seems to be no inconsistency, if Plasencia in 1585 was referring to a revision, unquestionably made with hisknowledge and help, by Juan de Oliver. In short, it is reasonable to assume that Plasencia, burdened with administrative dutiesfrom 1583 to 1586, during which time he was custodian of his order, secured the aid of Oliver in reediting and continuinghis linguistic studies. Plasencia died in 1590.
The other two Franciscans listed by the anonymous historian of 1649 are elsewhere recorded as having written various worksin Tagalog. To both Diego de la Asuncion86 and Gerónimo Montes y Escamillo87 were attributed grammars and dictionaries, and the latter also wrote a Devotional tagalog, said to have been printed at Manila in 1610. In speaking of these early linguistic texts, it is not necessary to believethat each was a completely original work, but rather that they were based upon a recognized model, which was at first theTalavera-Plasencia-Oliver text, and that the individual missionaries used their experience in the field to produce, as itwere, new editions.
That this was the case is borne out by the notes of Pablo Rojo to his bibliography of Plasencia wherespeaking of the grammar and dictionary he says that ―perfected by other missionaries, they have been the base for such grammarsand dictionaries of Tagalog as have been written, but in the form in which they came from the hands of their author, theyhave not come down to us.‖88
More important still is Rojo‘s statement89 that he found a portion of Plasencia‘s Doctrina which had been believed lost, and from which he quotes the Pater Noster.Since he does not say where the manuscript was or how it was known to be [27]Plasencia‘s text, we cannot put too much reliance on the statement, but the text as there printed, while similar to that ofthe present Doctrina, is not identical.
The Jesuits
Before passing on to the Dominicans we shall mention briefly the linguists of the Society of Jesus. In the early days therewere not many Jesuits in the Philippines. However, there were some linguists among them, chiefly of the Visayan tongue, inwhich they are said to have printed a Doctrina90 as early as 1610. Limiting ourselves to a note of those who knew Chinese and Tagalog, we find that the first mentioned byChirino as an outstanding master of one of these was Francisco Almerique, who arrived with Santiago de Vera in 1583. Shortlythereafter he ―began the study of the Chinese language in his zeal to aid in the conversion of the many Chinese who came toManila and whom we in the Philippines call Sangleys.‖91 And Colin says ―his principal occupation was with the Tagalog Indians, being the first of the Company to learn their language.‖92 Nothing further is said of his accomplishments in these languages, but his knowledge would have been available in 1593, forhe was then still active in the islands.
Chirino himself landed at Manila in 1590 shortly after Dasmariñas, and went almost immediately to Taytay where he learnedTagalog and was joined in 1592 by Martin Henriquez.
At the time Juan de Oliver was preaching in that district, and it is exceedinglyprobable that he helped the newcomers with the language, for Chirino speaks of him in terms of highest praise.
Henriquez ―learnedthe language in three months and in six wrote a catechism in it, a confessionary, and a book of sermons for all the gospelsof the year in the said idiom,‖93 but he died on February 3, 1593 at Taytay. How thoroughly Chirino himself had grasped the fundamentals of Tagalog is evidentfrom his three chapters94 on the language and letters [28]of the natives in which he prints the Ave Maria in Tagalog and reproduces the Tagalog alphabet—its first appearance in a Europeanpublication. But Chirino, who remained in the provinces until 1595, would have mentioned his participation and that of Henriquezin the Doctrina of 1593, so we record them as possible but not probable consultants.
The Dominicans
Had Aduarte written that the first books printed at Manila were two Doctrinas issued by the Dominicans at San Gabriel in 1593,and given some details of their production, we could conclude our study with a quotation from him, but nowhere does he mentionthem. In fact, his inference was that the first book was that printed for Blancas de San José, and yet we know that this Doctrinapreceded anything that Blancas de San José could have written, since he did not come to the Philippines until 1595. We canassume, as Retana did, that by printing Aduarte meant printing from movable type, but this does not explain away the factthat Aduarte, who recorded in detail events of far less significance, did not speak of the Doctrinas at all. The best—
andit is a most unsatisfactory best—that we can do is ascribe the omission to the frailty of man, and record that there is nonotice of the Dominican Doctrina of 1593 in the most complete contemporary Dominican history of the Philippines.
The first members of the Order of St. Dominic95 to land in the Philippines were Bishop Salazar and his assistant, Christoval de Salvatierra. But they were fully occupiedwith the administration of the bishopric and could not devote themselves to regular missionary work. It was not until July25, 1587 that working Dominican missionaries came. Then fifteen96 under the leadership of Juan de Castro arrived, and established the first Dominican province97 of the Philippines and China, thus consummating the hope expressed as early as 1579.98[29]
In consultation with the other orders it was decided that the Dominicans should be given the ministry of the territories ofPangasinan and Bataan, which had theretofore been spiritually exploited by few priests. Almost immediately, on September 15,1587, the vicariate of Bataan was founded and settled. In speaking of it, Aduarte stressed the importance of a knowledge ofthe language of the natives, which there would have been Tagalog, to the success of the mission.
Domingo de Nieva, one ofthe four members of the mission, learned it rapidly and well, and soon began to preach to the Indians in their own tongue.His aptitude for languages and its usefulness to the Dominicans must have been very great, for Aduarte in listing the priestswho originally volunteered in Spain makes few comments about individuals, but of Nieva he remarks that he
―was afterwardsof great importance because of the great ease and skill with which he learned languages, whether Indian or Chinese.‖99 Unfortunately Nieva was only a deacon, and so could not hear confession, a fact which was greatly deplored, because duringthat first year no other priest mastered the language sufficiently well to do it, but in September 1588 he reached the requisiteage and was ordained. About that time the friars in Bataan—one had died and another was ailing—were joined by Juan de la Cruz,―who, being young, succeeded very well with the language,‖100 and also succeeded in surviving the climate.
Early in 1588 Juan Cobo101 arrived from Mexico. Shortly thereafter, on June 12, 1588, the Dominican chapter held its first convocation. It elected Juande Castro the first provincial, adopted the general ordinances102 already made in Mexico, gave the convent at Manila the title of priory, and designated as parts of the province four vicariates.Of primary importance was the appointment then of Juan Cobo to the mission for the Chinese.
From the very earliest days of the Spanish occupation of Manila, the governors had had trouble with the Chinese and Sangleys.103 These people [30]had long conducted a profitable trade between China and the Philippines, and many had settled permanently near Manila, whileothers stayed there regularly between trading voyages. The Chinese merchants were in full control of the shops of the city,and so monopolized retail trade that the early governors legislated104 against them to give the Spaniards a chance to establish themselves in business. In 1588 there were as many as seven thousandof them in and around Manila.
No one had objected to the Pangasinan and Bataan assignments, but when it was suggested that the Dominicans also assume theresponsibility for the ministry over the Chinese and Sangleys in the suburbs of Manila, the Augustinians vehemently resentedwhat they considered an invasion of their prior rights. Aduarte omits any account of a disagreement, merely saying that sincethe Chinese had had no one to minister to them the Dominicans assumed that responsibility, but in a letter105 from the Licentiate Gaspar de Ayala to Philip II, dated from Manila, July 15, 1589, full details of the squabble are given.From this source we learn that the Augustinians had a convent in the village of Tondo in the Chinese district. There theyhad ministered to the natives in their own language, but had rather neglected their Chinese-speaking parishioners. Consequentlyafter the arrival of the Dominicans the Audiencia passed an ordinance requiring that the Bishop appoint ministers of one orderto administer to the Chinese in their own language within thirty days. To meet the deadline the Augustinians began to studyChinese at breakneck speed, but when the Bishop came to Tondo to hear one of the friars, who was supposed to know the language,preach in it, there was some trouble as a result of which the Augustinian would not, or indeed could not, preach. Naturally,when it was decided to award the territory to the Dominicans, the Augustinians accused the Bishop of favoritism towards hisown order.
The whole situation is best described in the report on the Chinese made by Salazar to the King on June 24, 1590:[31]
―When I arrived in this land, I found that in a village called Tondo—which is not far from this city, there being a riverbetween—lived many Sangleys, of whom some were Christians, but the larger part infidels.
In this city were also some shopskept by Sangleys, who lived here in order to sell the goods which they kept here year by year. These Sangleys were scatteredamong the Spaniards, with no specific place assigned to them, until Don Gonzalo Ronquillo allotted them a place to live in,and to be used as a silk-market (which is here called Parián), of four large buildings. Here, many shops were opened, commerce increased, and more Sangleys came to this city.... WhenI came, all the Sangleys were almost forgotten, and relegated to a corner. No thought was taken for their conversion, becauseno one knew their language or undertook to learn it on account of its great difficulty; and because the religious who livedhere were too busy with the natives of these islands. Although the Augustinian religious had charge of the Sangleys of Tondo,they did not minister to or instruct them in their own language, but in that of the natives or this land; thus the SangleyChristians living here, were Christians only in name, knowing no more of Christianity than if they had never accepted it....Then I appealed to all religious orders to appoint some one of their religious to learn the language and take charge of theSangleys. Although all of them showed a desire to do so, and some even began to learn it, yet no one succeeded; and the Sangleysfound themselves with no one to instruct them and take up their conversion with the necessary earnestness, until, in the yeareighty-seven, God brought to these islands the religious of St. Dominic.‖106
So we find, as the Dominicans undertook their mission, a large settlement of Chinese, including both a settled and a floatingpopulation, concentrated in the Parián, across the Pasig river from the main city of Manila.
The dominating figure of the Chinese mission from the time of his arrival in the Philippines was Juan Cobo. In a letter, writtenby him from the Parián of Manila, July 13, 1589, probably to ecclesiastical authorities in Mexico, he gives an account ofthe early days of the mission:
―The Order took a site next to this Parián, since there was not a single house between Santo Domingo and the Parián. And becauseof this opportunity the Order presently charged itself with the Chinese, both Christians and infidels. And upon P. Fr. Miguelde Benavides and P. Fr. Juan Maldonado was imposed the responsibility for the care of the Chinese and for learning their language.P. Fr. Miguel was less occupied with other matters than Fr. Juan Maldonado, so that he progressed in the language enough tobegin to catechize in it. This was the first year the Order was in Manila.[32]
―Presently in the second year when I came, the Order moved P. Fr. Miguel and myself into another separate house at the otheredge of the Parián. So that there stood between Santo Domingo and San Gabriel, which is the name of this church of the Chinese,the whole of the Parián of the Sangleys. And there a poor little church was built under the protection of San Gabriel, towhom it fell by lot, and a poor house where we two lived. We entered into it at the beginning of September 1588. This wasthe first church for the Chinese built, and we believe that there is today not another parish church [for the Chinese] butthat.... And P. Fr. Miguel catechized them and preached to them in their Chinese language, and taught the doctrine in it.I myself did not yet know the language, but the Lord has been served, so that in a short time I progressed in it.‖107
The account of Aduarte is not so accurate in some details, but it supplies others not mentioned by Cobo. The first missionwhich Benavides and Maldonado (or de San Pedro Martyr as he was later known) built was near the village of Tondo, in a newsettlement specially founded for Christian Chinese, called Baybay, and it was named for Our Lady of the Purification. Thesecond mission which was established by Benavides and Cobo was at first a palm-leaf hut. The name of San Gabriel was decidedupon by making lots with the names of various saints on them and then drawing. San Gabriel came out three times in a row,and ―all were persuaded that the Lord was pleased to have the patronage belong to this holy archangel.‖ Soon, because of thegood works of the fathers who established a hospital there for the care of the sick and poor, the demands upon the hut becameso great that a larger building was planned. At first it was to have been erected on the site of the hut, but the inhabitantsprotested that a stone building so near native houses might do them great damage in the event of an earthquake, so the friarswent to the other side of the river, and there built a temporary building of wood which was later completed in stone. It washere then that the Doctrina was printed, in the Church of San Gabriel, near the Parián of Manila, at the edge of the Chinesesettlement.
Under the care of Benavides and Cobo the mission flourished, and the two fathers became increasingly proficient in the Chineselanguage. When [33]the provincial Juan de Castro began making preparations for an inspection tour of his Chinese vicariate in 1590, he choseas his companion Miguel de Benavides. The account of the events leading up to this expedition is given in the already quotedletter of Salazar on the Chinese:
―Of the Dominican religious who came to these islands, four are engaged in ministering to the Sangleys.
Two of these fourofficiate in the Church of San Gabriel, which, together with the house where the religious live, stands close to the Parián.Another church with its house is on the promontory of Baybay, near Tondo—which a river divides, separating it from Manila.Two of the four have learned the language of the Sangleys so well, and one of these two how to write also (which is the mostdifficult part of the language), that the Sangleys wonder at their knowledge.... After due consideration of the matter, theDominican fathers and myself decided that it was necessary to go to China.... Thus we decided upon the departure, sendingat present no more than two religious: Fray Miguel de Benavides, who was the first to learn the language of the Sangleys;and Father Juan de Castro, who came as vicar of the religious and who was made provincial here. We preferred these two, asone is well acquainted with the language, and the other is much loved and esteemed by the Sangleys on account of his venerablegray locks and blessed old age; and we know that in that land old people are much respected and revered.‖108
They sailed on May 22, 1590, but Juan de Castro before he left appointed Cobo acting superior of the province with full authorityduring his absence, and in the latter‘s place as head of the Chinese mission sent Juan de San Pedro Martyr.
There is no doubt but that at this time Benavides and Cobo were the two outstanding Chinese linguists among the Spaniardsin the Philippines. To Benavides has been attributed109 a Chinese dictionary, and Schilling110 uses the already quoted letter of Cobo to prove that he also wrote a Doctrina in Chinese, but, granting that such works werewritten by him, there is no evidence that they were written in Chinese characters, and not in Chinese transliterated intoroman letters. The available evidence points to the fact that Cobo was the only one who could then write in Chinese characters.Salazar in his above quoted letter had said that ―one of these two [have learned] how to write also,‖ and in the same letterhe continued, [34]―Fray Juan Cobo, the Dominican religious—who, as I have said before, knows the language of the Sangleys and their writing,and who is most esteemed by them—is sending to Your Majesty a book, one of a number brought to him from China.‖111 Further witness to Cobo‘s amazing knowledge of Chinese writing is given by Aduarte:
―He knew three thousand Chinese characters, each different from all the rest, for the Chinese have no definite number of lettersnor alphabet.... He translated a number [of Chinese books]; for like those of Seneca, though they are the work of heathens,they contain many profound sayings like ours. He taught astrology to some of them whom he found capable of learning; and tobring them by all means to their salvation also taught them some trades that are necessary among Spaniards, but which, notbeing used by the Chinese, they did not know—such as painting images, binding books, cutting and sewing clothes, and suchthings—doing all to win men to God.‖112
Finally, as a more definite proof that Cobo could have been the author of the Chinese Doctrina of 1593, we have the record113 of a Catecismo de la Doctrina Cristiana en Lengua China written by him, as well as many other works in Chinese.
In May 1590, then, the most accomplished Sinologist yet to work in the Philippines was in charge of the Dominican province.―His first act,‖ wrote Aduarte, ―was to strengthen the ministry to the Chinese by appointing to it Father Domingo de Nieva,a priest of great virtue and very able—which was tremendously important there—and one who best mastered that language, aswell as that of the Indians in which he had had experience; and he worked in both of them, and wrote much to the great advantageof those who came after him.‖114 It is surprising that no previous writer has emphasized the presence of Domingo de Nieva, whose proficiency in Tagalog wehave already noted, at San Gabriel during the years when the printing of the Doctrinas must have been planned and executed.His works are cited by Fernández,115 and after giving a summary of his career, Aduarte added:[35]
―He wrote much in the language of the Indians and other things in the language of the Chinese for whom he had printed in theirlanguage and characters a memorial upon the Christian life, with other brief tracts of prayer and meditation, in preparationfor the holy sacraments, of confession and the sacred communion. He was an enemy of sloth, and so worked much in Chinese,in which he wrote a practically new