Friars

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John L. Belford

President Roosevelt was distressed by Father John J. Wynne’s published letter regarding the friars in the Philippines. The letter put Roosevelt in a “warlike” mood but he would like to avoid a public fight. In terms of the friars, much has been made of them being loyal to the United States. However, their loyalty is entirely based on the fact that American authorities are the only thing stopping Filipinos from taking violent reprisals against the friars.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-31

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Crane

President Roosevelt has been surprised at the Catholic hostility to a settlement of the friars matter in the Philippines. However, Filipino Catholics and American Catholics familiar with the Philippines support the administration’s actions. Negotiations with the Holy See are ongoing to determine what will be done with the friars and their land. Roosevelt insists that fair play and religious freedom are guiding all of his actions regarding the friars and the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-31

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John D. Crimmins

President Roosevelt thanks John D. Crimmins for the volume on St. Patrick’s Day. Roosevelt wishes that Martin could tell others his experiences regarding the Filipino friar question.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-08-07

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Dunn

President Roosevelt would like to meet Major Crane’s objections on the friar issue but finds his attitude “fantastic in its injustice.” Roosevelt believes his administration is in the right on the issue and is properly responding to the wishes of the Filipino Catholics.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-08-04

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John Ireland

President Roosevelt has been annoyed at the attacks from leading Catholics and Catholic societies. Roosevelt thanks Archbishop Ireland for his “admirable interview and speech.” The attacks most likely refer to the ongoing negotiations regarding the purchase of the friar’s lands in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt goes over the promotion and retirement of several military officers. Roosevelt has also met with John D. Crimmins and his son, a former Rough Rider, both of whom support the administration’s efforts on the friars question in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-22

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Comerford

President Roosevelt explains that the administration is seeking to purchase the friars’ lands in the Philippines in response to the hostility of the Filipino Catholics and parish priests towards the friars. The friars are not required to leave the Philippines, and religious freedom will be protected just as it is in the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-22

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to James D. Fox

President Roosevelt defends his administration’s actions towards the “Spanish friars” of the Philippines as a response to the near unanimous rejection of the friars by the Catholic Filipinos and parish priests.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-21

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John H. Magruder

President Roosevelt is preparing an answer on the friar question for several Catholic religious societies and will send a copy to John H. Magruder as a response to his letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-18

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root

President Roosevelt encloses letters he wrote to Josephine Shaw Lowell and to William Comerford. Roosevelt has been surprised at the negative reaction towards the negotiations to remove the friars from the Philippines and sell their lands. The friars are very unpopular in the Philippines, but the administration is finding it difficult to show that the negotiations are at the request of the Filipino Catholics. Roosevelt suggests that Secretary of War Root speak with Archbishop John Ireland on the issue and that Vice General of the Philippines Luke E. Wright collect statements from leading Catholics that support expelling the friars.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-16

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Eugene A. Philbin

President Roosevelt intends to appoint a Catholic to the Philippine Commission when a vacancy occurs. Roosevelt also explains that the movement against the friars in the Philippines is entirely driven by Filipinos and the United States is simply attempting to meet the wishes of the Catholic population.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-16

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Eugene A. Philbin

President Roosevelt defends his administration’s attempts to settle the friar question in the Philippines. Roosevelt claims that the friars are very unpopular even among the Catholic Filipinos and that William H. Taft’s negotiations in Rome were meant to satisfy Catholic Filipinos and church authorities. The administration was unprepared for the adverse reaction of Catholics outside the Philippines and Roosevelt has been surprised at the spreading of many rumors regarding his intentions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-12

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to St. Clair McKelway

President Roosevelt will go over St. Clair McKelway’s note with Secretary of War Elihu Root and Governor General William H. Taft. Taft wants to go straight to Rome to settle the friar question. Roosevelt considers the negotiations to be businesslike in character and not diplomatic.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-04-01

Letter from Luke E. Wright to Theodore Roosevelt

Luke E. Wright responds to the allegations of Bishop Rooker about the violation of rights of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. Rooker claims that the Federal Party is at the root of the Aglipayan movement and that Governor Taft and his colleagues are “merely puppets in the hands of the Federal Party,” with the result that “a large amount of church property has been seized and is now withheld.” Wright disputes these allegations by explaining the origin of the Federal Party and analyzing the relations between different religious and political groups in the Philippines. Wright notes that the continued discussion about independence has made the situation in the Philippines more difficult.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-15

Exhibit “A”

Correspondence between James Francis Smith, Secretary of Public Instruction in the Philippines, and Bishop Frederick Zadok Rooker, the Bishop of Jaro, regarding concerns over the use of a certain textbook in public schools.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-11

Letter from John Ireland to Theodore Roosevelt

Archbishop Ireland writes to President Roosevelt about the political process of completing the contract for the Friars’ land settlement in the Philippines. Ireland states that the only positive report of the process, besides his own, has come from the Apostolic Delegate Giovanni Guidi. The Friars and bishops are conveying contradictory, or negative information to the Vatican’s Secretary of State. Ireland requests that Governor Taft write to the Vatican and discuss how the effort is proceeding to support what the Apostolic Delegate and the Archbishop have reported.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-31

Letter from Lyman Abbott to Theodore Roosevelt

Lyman Abbott offers to join Governor Taft and other American officials in Rome to assist in the negotiations with the Vatican regarding the “friar land problem in the Philippines.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-05-10

How our government adjusted the Philippine church problem

A full-page newspaper article about the “church problem” in the Philippines. The problem of anti-church sentiment among Flipinos, particularly against friars, was already existing and inherited by the United States government. Secretary of War William H. Taft, formerly Governor-General of the Philippines, takes a commission to The Holy See to seek solutions to these problems in common interest. Issues of land ownership and the establishment of a school system are negotiated successfully by Taft’s commission in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-22

Summary of letter from John Thomas McDonough

Judge Thomas McDonough reflects on his first three months in the Philippines. He is surprised at the “remarkable progress” and shares his thoughts on the friars’ question. McDonough is struggling with what to do with the land of the friars and the friars themselves.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-07-04

No reason for outcry

Newspaper article that relates Archbishop Ireland’s views on negotiations concerning the friars question in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902