Domingo de Salazar

The Most Reverend Domingo de Salazar O.P.
Bishop of Manila
Portrait from the Manila Cathedral
Province	Manila
See	Manila
Installed	February 6, 1579
Term ended	December 4, 1594
Predecessor	None
Successor	Ignacio Santibáñez, O.F.M.
Personal details
Born	c. 1512 Labastida, Crown of Castile
Died	December 4, 1594 (aged 81–82) Madrid, Crown of Castile
Denomination	Catholic

Domingo de Salazar (1512 – December 4, 1594) was a Catholic Dominican prelate who served as the first Bishop of Manila (1579–1594), which was then newly-annexed to the Spanish Empire.

Biography

Domingo de Salazar was born in La Rioja, Spain. At the age of 15, his family sent him to study at the University of Salamanca, wherein the university was the most important cultural and intellectual center of Spain and one of the famous in the entire European continent. At the University of Salamanca, Salazar was profoundly influenced by the philosopher and theologian Francisco de Vitoria, wherein many of the solutions that Salazar tried to offer when it came to the theological and juridicial problems in the Philippines, were inspired by Vitoria. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Canon Law in the year 1532 and afterwards obtained his Bachelor of Civil Laws in 1539. There was no concrete evidence to point the idea that Salazar actually enrolled in the classes taught by Vitoria, but he supported the cause of Vitoria, the humanitarian and Christian ideas with regards to the conquest and evangelization of the Americas.

Salazar was also involved in the Spanish expedition in the modern-day US state of Florida from 1558 until 1561. After leaving Mexico City to Florida, Salazar, along with Pedro de Feria and Domingo de la Anunciación, wrote a letter to King Philip II that all laws enacted for the new discoveries and conquest had to be fulfilled by the participants in the expedition so that abuses against the natives would be avoided and there must be enough provisions that should be given to the expeditionaries for at least a period of time, so that robberies against the locals would be avoided.

On February 6, 1579, he was selected by the King of Spain and confirmed by Pope Gregory XIII as the first Bishop of Manila. He arrived in Manila on September 17, 1581. He strongly opposed enslaving the indigenous people of the Philippines. He served as Bishop of Manila until his death on December 4, 1594, aged 82.

External links and additional sources

• Cheney, David M. "Archdiocese of Manila". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved March 25, 2018. (for Chronology of Bishops) ^{[self-published]}
• Chow, Gabriel. "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Manila". GCatholic.org. Retrieved March 25, 2018. (for Chronology of Bishops) ^{[self-published]}
• Domingo de Salazar profile, newadvent.org; accessed October 12, 2016.

Catholic Church titles
New title	Bishop of Manila 1581–1594	Succeeded by Ignacio Santibáñez

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Domingo de Salazar — Born in La Rioja, in the village of La Bastida on the banks of the Ebro, 1512; died in Madrid, 4 December, 1594. He entered the Dominican monastery of San Esteban, Salamanca. Sent to Mexico, where he received the degree of Master in Theology, he was appointed to the professor's chair. His ambition to evangelize the heathen was granted and he devoted himself to the conversion of the natives in the Province of Guajaca. He was characterized here by the same zeal for defending the rights of the Indians that he manifested later in an heroic degree in the Philippines. Salazar was next transferred to Florida, where he passed many years in toil and privation. From Florida he was recalled to Mexico to be prior of his convent and vice-provincial of his order. After forty years of missionary life, he was sent to Madrid on important business connected with the Mexican mission. Political enemies tried to thwart his work and succeeded in having him thrown into prison when he sought audience of the king. It was then that his presence in Madrid was brought to the attention of Philip, who proposed his name to the pope as Bishop of the Philippines. Salazar was loath to accept the dignity; but his missionary spirit prevailed. As he wrote later: "One of the reasons which made me accept this bishopric was the fact that these Islands are near China... For a long time I have had the conversion of that kingdom at heart, and with that thought I came to these Islands". He set out for his see via Acapulco, taking with him twenty Dominicans, twelve of whom died before reaching Mexico; of the remainder only one was able to continue the journey to the Philippines. Salazar arrived in Manila in 1581. He espoused the cause of the Filipino with a fearlessness that won for him the titles of the "intrepid Salazar", "the Las Casas of the Philippines". He held a synod of the clergy, which was later confirmed by the pope, erected a cathedral, regulated the internal affairs of the diocese, opened a college, and established a hospital. In his charity to the poor he even pledged his pectoral cross to relieve their necessities. Old age did not lessen his zeal. He was almost eighty when he set out for Spain to plead in person the cause of the natives with the king. His mission was successful; various abuses were corrected, three new dioceses were created, and Manila was elevated to a metropolitan see with Salazar as its first archbishop. He died before receiving the Bull of his appointment and was buried in the Church of Santo Tom·s, Madrid. His tomb bears this inscription: "Hic jacet D. Fr. Dominicus de Salazar Ordinis PrÊdicatorum, Philippinarum Episcopus, doctrina clarus verus religiosÊ vitÊ sectator, suarum ovium piissimus Pastor, pauperum Pater, et ipse vere pauper. Obiit 4 die Decembris anno 1594."

Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands (Cleveland, 1903); Ferrando, Historia de los PP. DomÌnicos en las Islas Filipinas (Madrid, 1870); Moreno, Historia de la Santa Iglesia Metropolitana de Filipinas (Manila, 1877).