“ The Jolo Moros practiced the greatest cruelties on those men; they also pillaged and burned the convents of Cúyo, Romblón, and Marivélez. The Chinese occasioned a great fire in the convent of San Sebastian de Calumpán, and the Dutch another in the convent of Cigayán. All those unfortunate events kept that holy province harassed to the utmost; but their fervor did not cool one whit. On the contrary, the fire of their zeal always mounted high and blazed more brightly the more they were oppressed by misfortunes, as it was a flame that never knew other paths. ”

“ For it is sufficient to consider that, if serious men of learning and virtue subject themselves to the ordinary in order to minister in a doctrina, it may happen that they will be punished for a slight omission or neglect, perhaps one that they could not avoid—such as not being able to arrive in time to hear the confession of a dying person or to give him the holy oil; or to baptize a new-born infant. It is possible that this fear alone would make some refuse the ministries of the islands with such a risk. For although the ordinary cannot punish them as religious, he can punish them as curas ”

“ The city of Manila and its environs were full of slaves. The Butuán chiefs who were the mirror of fidelity, suffered processes, exiles, and imprisonments; and although they were able to win back honor, it was after all their property had been lost. Some heedless individuals blame the superior officials with what their inferiors have done, and the excesses and abuses of others are considered to be done by the influence of the superiors. But the uprightness and honesty of the royal Audiencia of Manila can be seen in what they did. ”

“ Then if in that time, when the islands contained most Spaniards, there were no secular priests, how can there be any today when there are not 60 citizens in all the islands, while the number of priests is steadily growing less in America, where the Spanish settlements are large and populous and are continually increasing?
So great is the lack of the secular clergy that they cannot even take care of the missions in their charge. For there is no district belonging to the seculars, especially outside of the island of Manila, that does not need two or three priests ”

“ It is learned from some mandarins of Great China who were converted to our holy faith because they saw in all the ministers of it for many years a conformity of morals that was regulated to natural law, that they prudently conclude therefrom that the law which taught such actions could not be other than true. If the Chinese and Japanese who live in those islands should see the evangelical ministers acting against all natural dictates, they would come to a contrary conclusion, for they have no greater arguments for belief than those which come through their eyes. ”

“ How can one wonder that they follow the example of those who abandoned the missions joyfully, rather than of those who now live sorrowfully because they adopted the new method? The fact is, that no one can take it ill that each one procures what he thinks best so long as he uses means that are not unlawful in order to get it. This is what the religious are doing in the present case, taking care that no detriment follows to their [170] estate and profession. For, before the souls of others, one ought to watch over his own. ”

“ The ordinary and the governor, as the father and the master, may correct and punish the faults of their inferiors without the least wound to their honor; and must a provincial do so by dis-accrediting his subordinate with the heads of the community? If it is decided that the superior do not tell the kind of crime, but that he asseverate in general terms that there is cause to remove the religious from that place, the trouble is not avoided. ”

“ Rarely is it that one leaves his alcaldeship without having paid many fines. The Filipinos make the greatest ado, as is natural, over those triumphs against authority, but authority loses decorum and moral force. All this comes from the bad system established, for, since the governor from the moment that he becomes a merchant, must be a bad governor and a usurer and tyrant, the government of Manila is predisposed against his acts, and declares itself the protector of the Filipinos. ”

“ At present, the number of seculars is not much greater nor will it ever be—partly because those of Europa do not have any inducement to go to those islands, and partly because, since the Spaniards there are so few, there cannot be many persons sprung from these kingdoms who rise to the priesthood; further, because the Indians are generally unfit for that holy ministry. In view of all the above, who does not see that the orders avail themselves of their right in resisting the burden of the visitation which the bishops are trying to impose on them? ”

“ For if those heathen and Moro nations, who have before their eyes the conduct of the Christians, come to observe it as not at all in accord with right, not only among the secular clergy but among the regulars—who are by their profession teachers of the law and are bound to furnish a good example as the rule of their observance—what would they think, or what notion would they form of it? ”

“ If a secular priest to whom the curacy has been given permanently by canonical institution can resign it, and the law does not therefor disqualify him, why cannot the regulars make that same resignation in order not to live with the risks from having so many superiors? The regulars are not curas for justice, but for charity, and they have taken charge of the missions for lack of other ministers. They do not administer them through right of proprietorship, but are removable at will. Consequently, they can be deprived of those missions even though they live like saints. ”

“ But for some years the governors who have come from España have desired that the parish priests should keep to their houses and say mass and preach and not meddle with the temporal government; without taking heed that in a whole province there is no other Spaniard [288] who governs than the alcalde-mayor himself, who generally comes from Europa and goes without reflection to take his charge without any knowledge whatever of the country or knowing even a single word of its language. ”

“ In the first place the religious’s definitorio may assign him also to a house with a vote, all of which have ministries in the Filipinas; and an ambitious man may by the exercise of skill, and by influence, intercessions, and presents deprive him of the place, and perhaps may impute to him faults and defects that he does not possess in order to attain his purpose better and to justify his action. That can not fail to be a cause for sorrow, and more so to one who has no foundation in the islands, but who is rather disgusted at being there ”

“ Accordingly the commerce of this city is extensive, rich, and unusually profitable; for it is carried on by all these Chinese and their ships, with those of all the islands above mentioned and of Tunquin, Cochinchina, Camboja, and Sian—four separate kingdoms, which lie opposite these islands on the continent of Great China—and of the gulfs and the numberless kingdoms of Eastern India, Persia, Bengala, and Ceilan, when there are no wars; and of the empire and kingdoms of Xapon. The diversity of the peoples, therefore, who are seen in Manila and its environs is the greatest in the world ”

“ Fourth, because there are things more to be wondered at than to be followed. Although the religious orders are alike, we see that, while the Church is also one and the same, one person elects one condition which the other does not adopt. From the same order some go to the Indias, and others do not go. Then why cannot the same thing happen in regard to being parish priests subject to the ordinary? Let the histories of the Indias be read. All of them consider earnestly whether the religious are to be curas of souls, and much more whether they are to be curas of justice. ”

“ The criminal ought always to inspire public scorn and horror, but from the instant in which he is seen on the scaffold, the aversion of people becomes calm, and he is converted into an unfortunate fellow and an object of compassion. ”

“ Many of their Indian missions which formerly rendered two religious indispensable, have now but one. In the great island of Mindanao, nearly one-half of the civilized villages are without a minister, and consequently many people die without the sacraments. It is necessary for one minister to attend to one, two, three, or four villages which are very distant from one another, when each village needs its own priests. They do not hesitate, for all that, to go in the fleets when opportunity offers, in the capacity of chaplains, and in the shipyards where galleons are built. ”

“ After all that we have set forth, one can well say that the department of the administration of justice is what needs the most prompt and speedy reform. From that, then, it is obvious that all the alcaldes-mayor ought to be jurisconsults. The custom of allowing governors to trade is not suitable for the age in which we live, surely, although there are some who do not abuse their position, and today there are some who can be presented as models of honor and nobility, especially Don Juan Castilla who governs in Samar, and Don Francisco Gutierrez de los Rios in Laguna. ”

“ One becomes accustomed to the idea that a government post offers the opportunity of making money and nothing else. The moment that one has obtained office, he believes that he has a right to make money, without considering the means to any extent; while he who is careless of his own interests and busies himself in the progress of the province, like Señor Peñaranda, is ridiculed and called a fool. ”

“ In the village of Linao, Mindanao, a revolt occurs (1651) among the natives, which is related in detail; it arises from an order issued by Governor Faxardo requisitioning from each of the islands a number of native carpenters for the government service at Manila. A Manobo chief, named Dabáo, fans the flame of discontent among the converted natives of Linao, and by a stratagem brings conspirators into the fort, who kill nearly all the Spaniards. Troops are sent to that region who punish severely even the natives who surrender; and the people, although overawed, are filled with resentment. ”

“ In the year 654 I gave an account to your Majesty of all the kingdoms and islands in the neighborhood of these. In some of them your Majesty has garrisons and government, as in that of Terrenate; others are governed by their own native kings; and in all there are an infinite number of Christians. But all of them are lacking in ecclesiastical jurisdiction and spiritual administration, because priests have to come to them from Goa; and on account of the want that they have suffered, they find themselves in need of ministers. ”

“ Finally, they are infidels, and belie in everything, by the way in which they live, that small portion that nature gives them as rational beings. Among so great a rabble, but one village is known where some people are seen far from human intercourse. They are a race much inclined to war, which they are almost always waging against the Indians of the seacoast. There lived Dabáo,2 who had become as it were a petty king, without other right than that of his great strength, or other jurisdiction than that of his great cunning. ”

“ For not only does everything necessary for life come to us from China—as wheat, cloth, and earthenware—but it is the Sangleys who carry on all the crafts, and who with their traffic maintain the fortunes of the citizens (without those other products of vineyards and olive-groves that are furnished in the industries carried on [260] in Nueva España) from the merchandise of China, having secured in their hands the entire commerce of these islands, since that of Yndia and Japon failed. ”

“ The sick are the ones who suffer the greatest inconveniences; [124] and they generally have sick people, since the religious of the missions in their charge come, when ill, to this convent to be treated. Consequently, this city is constrained to petition your Majesty, with all due humility, to be pleased to order that 250 pesos and 250 fanegas of rice be annually contributed to them on the account of the royal treasury of your Majesty—which amount was given them as a stipend for four ordained religious (although there are always more) —as well as 150 pesos for medicines. ”

“ Much less can the said brief of Clement XI stand in regard to the decree that “the regulars cannot resign from the missions or parishes under penalty of censures, loss of benefices, and other arbitrary penalties.” For this clause alone is sufficient to persuade one that the representations that were made to obtain that decision from the pope were not ruled by truth. For had his Holiness well understood all the circumstances, how could he have issued an order from which would follow the inference of injuries terrible and irremediable to the holy orders? ”

“ If his Majesty has been pleased to give privileges to the citizens of those islands with the honorable title of hidalgos and nobles—the munificence of his Majesty supplying what birth denied to many, a privilege not conceded to any others of the Yndias—as a reward for having been willing to become citizens in regions so remote from their fatherland without any other service, in order that by such kindness others might be encouraged to do the same, not less do the regulars merit some special privilege and reward from your Majesty, and the welfare of the souls of the natives. ”