Chapter II (1)

The attempt is made in Philipinas to subject the religious who are parish priests to the visitation of the bishops.

§ I

Relation of the practice that has always been followed in the spiritual administration of the islands; and what happened when the attempt was made to change it.

Year 1656

[In 1654 the first mutterings of the storm caused by the visitation of the regulars by the bishops break in the Philippines. The dates of the arrival of the various orders are given; and the narrative continues:]

719.... Those holy orders, each one doing its share, declared pitiless war against paganism, and achieved signal victories in that war, destroying the idols of Belial and planting solidly the health-giving sign of the cross; so that whatever is conquered in the islands is due to their fervent zeal. For they planted the faith, and watered that land with blood so that it might produce fruit abundantly; and God was the cause of so wonderful an increase. The system that they have always followed in the spiritual administration of the missions and villages which they have formed at the cost of their sweat is the same as that observed in América in the beginning by various apostolic privileges. In the provincial chapters held by each order, they appoint as superiors of the houses established in the villages of Indians who are already converted, those religious who are fit to exercise the office of cura by their learning, their morals, and other qualities. The same is also done in regard to the residences of the active missions, where those thus appointed continue the preaching to and conversion of the heathen, with very perceptible progress. Both the former and the latter exercise the ministries to which they are destined, without need of other approbation than that of the definitors--who entrust to these heads of houses the administration of the sacraments and the spiritual cultivation of those souls, in the respective territory where the convent is located, a superior being elected for each convent. This is done independently of the bishops. Likewise the definitors of each order in their meetings appoint various of the most learned and experienced men, to whom is entrusted and delegated the faculty of giving dispensation in regard to the obstacles of marriage, and the exercise of other favors and privileges contained in the pontifical briefs. Those powers are never exercised if the diocesans are intra duas dietas, [31] without their permission and approbation; and always this is done [only] in cases of evident necessity.

720. The provincials visit their provinces annually; and the said religious not only in what concerns their profession and regular observance, but also in what relates to their activities as curas. The diocesan prelates appoint their outside vicars for those territories which are in charge of the orders. They almost always avail themselves of those same religious for that, because of the great lack of secular priests. The religious submit to the visitation of the diocesan in matters touching the erection of chaplaincies, charitable works, the inspection of wills, and confraternities that are not exempt. They resist only what includes the violation of their privileges granted by the supreme pontiffs to the said holy orders for the purpose of the propagation of the faith in regions so distant. Such privileges, although not used in other parts of the Indias, ought to be maintained in Philipinas, for reasons that will be stated below. This is what has been observed from the discovery of the said islands until the present time; and the contrary has not been ordered by the king as patron, by the royal Council of the Indias, or by the apostolic see, although they have had full knowledge of the cause. This method has been practiced, both before and since the Council of Trent; and there has been no change in it--not even since the year 1652, when special provision regarding it was made for Nueva España and Perú; and it was ordered that the missionary religious of those provinces should receive collation and canonical institution from the ordinaries of those countries, in order to continue their exercise as curas; and that consequently they must submit to the visitation and correction of the bishops in officio officiando et quoad curam animarum. [32] But however thoroughly that was placed in execution in those kingdoms, it could not be carried out in the Philipinas Islands; for there even the reasons which influenced the exemption of the regulars are in force.

721. It is true that the bishops have always made the strongest efforts to subject the parish priests who are religious to their jurisdiction; but they have never been able to succeed in it, for the religious are unwilling to accept the charge with that burden. The first bishop of Manila and of all the islands, Don Fray Domingo de Salazar, tried to establish that subjection. The Observantine Augustinian fathers and the Franciscans made use of the means which prudence dictated, in order to quiet their scrupulous consciences. Seeing that nothing [else] was sufficient, they resigned their missions before the governor, as vice-patron, protesting that they would care for the conversion of the heathen, but that they could not keep the parochial administration of those who were converted, without the enjoyment of all their privileges. Therefore, his Excellency was forced to desist from his attempt, as he had no seculars to whom to entrust that administration. In 1654, the attempt was made to establish in Philipinas the practice recently adopted in the kingdoms of Perú and Nueva España by petition of the fiscal of the royal Audiencia. That body ordered that plan to be carried out, by a decree of October 22; and since the chapters of the two provinces of the order, the calced and discalced, were to be held in April of 55, that decree was communicated to them, with the warning that if they were not obedient they would be deprived of their missions, and the missionaries of the emoluments which had been assigned them for their suitable support. All the orders opposed that change, following logical methods in their defense, and averse to seeing the necessity of abandoning their missions. But at last, as there was no other way, the venerable fathers-provincial were reduced to handing over to the governor and bishops all the ministries in their charge, so that, as the former was the vice-patron and the latter were the ordinaries, they might appoint whomever they wished to the curacies.

722. That resignation was handed to the fiscal, and in view of it, in order that the most suitable provision might be made, with full knowledge, he asked that writs be made out--first, to show how many secular clergy were in the four bishoprics; second, so that the officials of the royal treasury might attest the amount of the stipends paid to the religious employed in the missions, and third, so that the provincials might send the names of their subordinates employed in the missions. That was ordered by a decree of May 10 in the said year 1655. It resulted that, in all, 254 religious were occupied in 252 missions; that the royal treasury only paid stipends corresponding to 141 missionaries; and that there were only 59 suitable secular priests in all the islands. The fiscal, seeing that according to the report the procedure that had been taken could not be maintained, in order to obviate the inconveniences that would ensue to the natives and inhabitants of those dominions if the religious were withdrawn from the villages, petitioned on January 4, 1656, that without innovation the orders be maintained in the missions, until it should be proved that there was a sufficient supply of secular priests to take care of them; and that they be assisted with the usual emoluments. He asked and charged the reverend fathers-provincial to look after the spiritual administration with their accustomed zeal. The royal Audiencia having so ordered in toto by an act of February 17, the holy orders returned very willingly to apply their shoulders to the work. Those acts were sent to the royal Council of the Indias. The cause having been discussed there, in view of the reports of the governor (which were throughout favorable to the orders), and of the manifestos presented by the orders in justification of their rights, the documents were approved on October 23, 1666, and the result was to make no innovation in what had been decided, and it does not appear that any other decree was enacted against the observance and practice that the religious have always maintained in those islands. Therefore the archbishop, having claimed that the appointments for the missions devolved on him by the form of canonical collation in cases where his Majesty did not make use of the privilege which belonged to him as patron; and endeavoring by that means to deprive the orders of the right which they possess of making those appointments without the intervention of his Excellency: the royal Council by a decree of September 26, 1687, ordered that the matter be continued in the form in which it had been administered until then, and that no change be permitted.

723. Shortly after the archbishop of Manila, Don Diego Camacho, making use of the most powerful means, attempted to subject the religious to his approbation, visitation, and correction in officio officiando. For that purpose he had recourse to his Holiness, to whom in the year 1697, he represented that there were many religious in the islands employed in more than seven hundred parishes, who had refused and were refusing to receive the visitation and correction of the diocesans; and he asked that they be compelled to receive such visitation. Upon seeing that, his Holiness Clement XI decided (January 30, 1705) that the right of visiting the parochial regulars belonged to the said archbishop and other bishops; but he made no mention of the other points which had been referred to him, and which were also under dispute. This appears from the brief despatched in this regard. This brief having been presented in the Council of the Indias, it appears that it was confirmed on April 22 of the same year. The said archbishop ordered it to be executed (October 26, 1707) with the most strenuous efforts; but he encountered in this such dissensions and disturbances that it is considered advisable to omit the relation thereof. It was necessary to resign the ministries once more, the superiors [of the orders] protesting that they would never agree to such a subjection, and that the archbishop could make appointments to the curacies as he wished. By that means his Excellency was so balked that, the cause having been fully proved, the evidence received, and the proofs adduced by both parties, the petition introduced by the orders was allowed on March 30, 1708; and it was ordered that the necessary official statements be given them. The authority of the governor was interposed extra-judicially, and he ordered that the religious should occupy the abandoned curacies, and that there should be no change. The archbishop himself, who had put forward that claim, was obliged to confess that he could not put it into practice.

724. It was sufficiently clear by that alone that the holy orders have more than enough reason for the independence from the bishops that they enjoy in their parochial ministry. For if they did not have in their primitive being the causes and motives for the apostolic privileges which exempted them, even from that of the ordinaries, it would not have been possible for them to maintain themselves so long with that prerogative which could not subsist in the kingdoms of América. But, since there are some persons who, as their understanding is on a par with their bodily senses, register events on the surface only without going within for the reasons (from which the report has been originated and spread through Europa, that the orders of Philipinas have seized all the authority without other reason than because they wish it so), I am compelled to vindicate them from so atrocious a calumny by making known some of the reasons why they have made (as they still do) so strong a resistance to this subjection. I shall first discuss all the orders in common, and then our reformed branch in particular. But I give warning that I do not intend to transform my history into formal charges. Adequate apologetic writings, founded on law, have been scattered through those holy families to demonstrate the exemption that attends them. Quite recently, in the former year 1734, a formal statement was presented in the royal Council by twenty-three graduates of the famous University of Salamanca (confirmed by eight who are not regulars) in which their testimonies agree in affirming that the religious act according to the dictates of conscience in administering the curacies without subjecting themselves to the bishops. Some add that they are bound in conscience to resist this subjection, as it is an imposition on the regular religious. Therefore, I shall treat that matter simply as an historian, taking for granted the right which, according to various apostolic privileges, supports them in not subjecting themselves to the bishops; and, in case the latter attempt this, in abandoning the ministries.

§ II

Some of the arguments that support the orders in Philipinas in not submitting to the visitation of the ordinaries in regard to the ministries.

725. That various supreme pontiffs, especially St. Pius V, conceded to the regulars of the Indias the privilege of obtaining their ministries with complete independence from the bishops, no one is so bold as to deny. The motive for that concession was the lack of secular priests in those countries. Consequently, the question (or doubt) as to whether that indult is or is not to be observed is not one of law, but one of pure fact. Its solution depends on ascertaining whether there are in those regions a sufficient number of clergy suitable to serve their parishes and exercise the care of souls. For, in case there are, it is not denied that that duty belongs to the seculars; for it is the peculiar duty of the religious to devote themselves to God in the retirement of their cloisters. If, on this hypothesis, the regulars should desire or be permitted to take charge of the said spiritual administration, they ought to submit to the bishops in officio officiando for then the cause of that indult would not exist. The fact of the exemption having ceased for the great part in the kingdoms of Nueva España and Perú, did not arise from the said privileges having been revoked (for they are not, especially that of St. Pius V) but only and necessarily because the impelling cause for conceding such exemption did not actually exist. For, in those kingdoms, the number of secular ecclesiastics increased so greatly that enough of them were found to administer the holy sacraments to their inhabitants. Since the motive has ceased, the privilege cannot endure. Now then, I suppose that there are more than two millions of people in the Philipinas Islands who confess the name of Christ, through the influence of the fervent zeal of the religious. In the year 1655, as was stated in the preceding paragraph, for two hundred and fifty-two missions in charge of the orders there were only fifty-nine secular priests. In 1705, when that subjection was attempted so earnestly by Archbishop Don Diego Camacho, the parishes were extended by his deposition to the number of more than seven hundred. For those parishes, according to the certification of the secretary of that prelate, only sixty-seven secular priests were found in his diocese; and of those only ten were suitable for administering the missions, as the rest were occupied in the duties of necessary residence. 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?

726. Nor does it avail the opposition that Pope Clement XI determined and declared, at the petition of the said archbishop, on January 30, 1705, "that the right of visiting the regulars in what concerns the care of souls and the administration of the holy sacraments belongs to the archbishop of Manila and the other bishops of the Philipinas Islands." For besides the defects of misrepresentation and surreptitious measures [obrepcion y subrepcion] which were then made manifest, contained in that brief, the said pontifical declaration, whether it be conceived as a law, as an order, or as a sentence, cannot fail to be appealed from. This is what the orders did, appealing to his Holiness, alleging before the archbishop who put the brief into execution the motives which, according to law, they rightfully had for resisting that visitation. In order to establish the truth that the religious had many arguments in their favor, it is not necessary to adduce other proof than what results from the fact that the said archbishop, who was the person most interested, desisted from the execution of the brief. Other diocesans of the islands who, notwithstanding the above-cited brief, have tolerated and tolerate the exemption of the orders for no other reason than the actual scarcity of secular priests, have authorized that procedure. Therefore, they practically admit that the indult of St. Pius remains in force, and that the mandate of Clement XI is impossible whenever the religious abandon the curacies.

727. Besides, the same fact that the said metropolitan did not put into execution the above-cited brief of Clement XI as its nature and authority demanded, gave one to understand either that it was notoriously surreptitious, or especially grievous and productive of some scandal, or of irreparable injury to the Catholic religion; for only through such motives can the mandates of the pope be suspended. If the first be correct, it is an implied or virtual declaration that the said order is null and void; therefore, the regulars can legally proceed with the administration of the missions without subjecting themselves to the ordinaries, making use of their former privileges. If the second or third--his illustrious Lordship having offered in that same act in which he provided for the suspension of the brief, to inform the pope of the predominant reasons that determined him to supersede the said brief--in the meantime, until the said information shall reach him, and the effect that is produced by it on his Holiness's mind shall be made known to the religious, the fact that they avail themselves of their privileges in the administration of the parishes cannot be imputed to them as guilt. The reason for that is, that they cannot believe that that prelate will neglect to inform his Holiness of the motives why he did not proceed with the execution [of the brief]. The fact that the Roman court has not made any new provision in regard to that matter shows that, just as in virtue of the allegations of the regulars the said archbishop found it necessary not to carry his pretension farther, so likewise the supreme pontiff has tacitly approved and has left the religious with the exemption that they enjoyed before the above-mentioned brief. Therefore, in regard to either law, they will safely be able to proceed with the administration of the churches in their charge without the intervention of the bishops.

728. 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 those religious, in so far as they are curas, were to become subject to the bishops, they would not hold their curacies as a reward after serving his Majesty so much, but would regard their position as lower than that of those who remain free from responsibility in their communities. For the latter have no other obligation than to obey their superior or his two subordinates, so that there can never be any contrariety in the orders or any doubt for the religious of what he is to do; while the former, after all their anxiety, have to study very carefully over obeying their legitimate superiors and in keeping the bishops content (which, as will be said, would both be impossible things), whence must originate many disturbances and much restlessness. And if it is intolerable that he who serves his king with faithfulness be not rewarded, the order would be inverted on this occasion; for after so much labor they could only succeed in multiplying subjections, and be less free in their ministries. The orders would receive as their reward the abolition of the exemption which the holy see conceded to them as a recompense for the noble fruits which they have gathered in the universal Church by their virtue and holiness--preserving it fresh and beautiful by watering it with the blood of so many martyrs, by which they made it illustrious; and increasing it with new worlds, provinces, and millions of children whom they have subjected to it, of which the histories are full. They will be obliged to place in the curacies those who solicit them the most urgently, importuning by means from which the more retiring and the more worthy shrink. They will expose their religious to danger even after they have well fulfilled the obligations of their ministries, in case that they are not to the liking of the ordinary--besides many other annoyances which will inevitably come upon the regulars. And if the orders have no other means to avoid that and the rest which will be stated below than to resign their missions, how could the benign pontiff oblige them to stay therein if he knew those circumstances fully?

729. It cannot be denied that the office of parish priest even with the exemption from the ordinary is altogether accessory, and a heavy responsibility superadded to the religious estate. For in order that they might administer in the said form, an apostolic dispensation has been necessary which is founded on grave reasons--and that with attention to only what the religious estate demands from him who has entered it, according to what is taught by common law and the doctrine of the saints. If that method of administering with exemption from the ordinary is changed, and the regular who has charge of a parish should as such become subject to the correction and visitation of the ordinary, and in other respects to the heads of his order, it is certain that it would be an innovation so great that they would be quite changed in their respect for public opinion, and in their mode of life; and the religious would be like a man cleft in two, those in some houses being subject to one superior and those in others to another, all of different hierarchies, and with the dangerous consequences that will be stated. Will the piety of the pope bind the religious to so great a cross?

730. Let us suppose (as is feasible) that the bishop were to become displeased with any order, or with any missionary. In such case he could maintain or remove the missionary against the will of his provincial by very specious pretexts. If necessary, he could even threaten the latter with censures, in order to make him submit to his authority. How fecund a source of perdition and total ruin that would be for the orders, any one can conceive; but only those who have experience in those islands could perfectly comprehend it. Let the regulars of América tell how they have to tolerate it through compulsion. If a religious is found lacking, and the offense has the appearance on one side of belonging to morals and life and on the other to the office of cura, the poor missionary is left in the sane position as those goods which the law styles mostrencos [i.e., goods which have no known owner], and shall belong to the first one who seizes them; and even he is in much worse condition, because of the contests that must necessarily ensue. For, if the provincial commences to form a process and it comes afterward to the notice of the ordinary, the latter will issue an act--and, if it should be necessary, a censure--ordering the said provincial to quash the entire process, to deliver it to him, and to desist from the cause by saying that he alone has the power to try it. The provincial appeals to the judge delegated by his Holiness and he, as he has entire jurisdiction of the case, commands the ordinary with the warning of censure to leave the cause alone and deliver up the acts. The latter not obeying, the matter may be carried to such an extreme that two ecclesiastical prelates excommunicate each other, and threaten each other with interdict and the cessation of divine service. This is not fancy, for that has happened in like case in Manila. That is the greatest danger since, because of the great distance, redress moves with very dilatory steps. But in the meanwhile the suits concerning the religious are proceeding from tribunal to tribunal, contrary to the clearly expressed privileges of his exemption.

731. But let us suppose that the regular parish priest is unworthy to persevere in his mission because of secret sins, and that, even if he remain in it, he may run some risk of his salvation. The provincial learns of the matter secretly. In such a case, justice requires two things--one, the punishment of the guilty person; and the other, that the delinquent shall not lose his reputation by the declaration of his fault. Charity urges him to remove his subordinate from danger. If that regular administers without canonical institution and subjection to the ordinary, everything will be settled very easily, and justice and charity will be satisfied without any infamy to the criminal or any dishonor to the order. But if he is subject to the ordinary, the provincial cannot remove him by his own authority; but he must have recourse to the ordinary himself, and to the vice-patron, and then those two agree on the removal. In that case, what can the provincial say to them? If he should say that he will impart to them in all secrecy the [nature of the] crime of his subject, that means is harsh and less safe. 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. First, they may think that he speaks thus in order to go ahead with his oldtime custom; second, because even though the cause of removing him be not a fault, it can easily be alleged to be one, and the fact that he does not offer more explanation in that case comes to be the same as manifesting its gravity by his silence. Finally, honor is very delicate and is lessened by rumor and suspicion. Since God made the religious exempt from the secular judges, and the apostolic see exempted them from the ordinaries, the religious, when they have not professed as curas, will find themselves without courage to assume that charge with so many dangers and burdens. And will the apostolic see force them to that?

732. The fact that common law decides that the regular parish priest, as such, is subject to the visit of the ordinary furnishes no argument against my statement. For, leaving aside the fact that the supreme pontiff may abolish such a law--as in fact was done by Pius V, after the holy Council of Trent, while Urban VIII confirmed this action afterward; and various statements of the most eminent cardinals favor this when there is a lack of secular priests as happens in the Philipinas--it is answered that common law which orders such subjection is only in point when they wish to persevere in being parish priests; but does not order that they be so under compulsion. 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. Is it possible that when the will of another is sufficient to remove them from their curacies, their own volition will not suffice with the knowledge of the dangers which will follow from such a charge? Further, is the regular incapable of being a proper parish priest, or is he not? If he is, why, if the secular cura is perpetual--so that, if he does not become unworthy, neither the ordinary nor the vice-patron can remove him--will not the regular also remain a cura, supposing the incumbrance of collation and canonical institution? Why does that institution give all favorable things to the secular and deprive the regular of all relief? It imposes upon the regular the duty of feeding the sheep. It binds him to the territory, so that the provincial cannot remove him without the consent of the vice-patron and of the ordinary. He loses in great measure the privilege of the exemption, and with those duties does not have the comfort of being secure in his curacy, for he does not hold it for life. Neither is he master of the emoluments which the parish yields, unless it be imagined that he be dispensed from his vow of poverty. Consequently, he only gets the burdens by reason of the collation, and nothing to his advantage. If it be said that he is not capable of being a parish priest, why the pledge in this new form of administration?

733. Those who are striving for the subjection of the regulars as parish priests generally oppose the fact that that form of administration has been introduced into América, and that therefore it might serve as an example for the Philipinas Islands. But that argument is not convincing, and contains many remarkable disparities. First, because there are plenty of secular priests in Peru and Nueva España; therefore the bishops rightly compelled the religious either to abandon the administration of the parishes, or to submit to the visitation. For the motive of the privilege of St. Pius V was lacking, not by any revocation that he made of it, but because its force had ceased, its object not being realized. Second, because no one will say that the orders of América were obliged to remain in the charge of souls, with the insupportable burden of the visitations. On the contrary, they agreed to it willingly in order not to abandon the parishes. The fact that they consented to it there is no proof that they have to do the same in Philipinas. Third, because the experience of what happened in Mexico and Perú in regard to the diminution of strict observance by the regulars, which originated beyond doubt from that subjection, ought to open the eyes of the superiors of orders in Philipinas to prevent such harm in their houses. This is not to cast blame on those who are now enjoying the curacies in this manner in the said kingdoms; we ought to consider them all as very excellent religious. But it is an undoubted fact that, with the practice by which the missions are maintained, in a manner almost perpetual, the provincials not being able to dispose of their subordinates with complete liberty, that oldtime strict observance which was planted in those provinces at their first erection has been greatly obscured. Human nature is easily inclined to what promotes liberty; and as St. Bernard teaches, the same ones who love retirement because of their austere training in the rigors of the order from childhood, when they come to taste the life that is not so well regulated, desire, procure, and solicit it. Nothing of that has been seen hitherto in Philipinas, where, however much they have the parishes in charge, the holy orders flourish in the most strict observance--for no other reason than that, if a religious sins, the remedy is quite near at hand since it is administered solely by the head of the order.

734. 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. Resolutions of entire provinces will be found on the question whether they should abandon the missions; generals and illustrious men of the same orders will be found who approved it; and the reader will find bitter complaints for having admitted such a burden, recognizing it as the seminary of interminable discords. For, if those on the mainland, seeing a furious hurricane on the sea which is dashing the ships to pieces and endangering the lives of those who are sailing, fear to embark, how much should the regulars in Philipinas take warning from the new practice in América? 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 estate and profession. For, before the souls of others, one ought to watch over his own. Let it not be (as says St. Paul) that we, preaching to others, behold ourselves in the irreparable danger of becoming reprobates.

735. Fifth, because the provinces of Philipinas are not, nor can they be, like those of América, but are as distinct as they are separate. The latter include, besides the ministries, many community convents where there are plenty of religious, who greatly exceed the parish priests in number. The former have but one convent apiece in Manila, which enjoys an adequate community as do the convents of Europa. The other houses are located in the villages of the Indians where those who have charge of the spiritual administration live, and there is no more community at times than the head of the house alone; and at the most he has one or two associates, if they are considered necessary for the exercise of the duties of the mission. Since that is true, an undeniable inconvenience will follow, namely: if they are subjected to the visitation and correction of the bishops all can call themselves not regulars--those outside, because they are parish priests; and those of Manila, because they have to go to take the places of the others in case of absence, sickness, or death. They cannot be excused from that by either the actual definitors of the outgoing provincials, and all to have to be employed if there is a lack of ministers. Since the provinces are composed of them almost entirely, and the consent of the ordinary and the vice-patron would be necessary for their removal, there would be some provinces which would have the name of religious government and in reality would be under the secular government, dependent on those two wills, to which they would make no vow of obedience. It is a fact that it would be a real change which those religious would have to endure, from free and unhindered evangelical ministers to seculars bound in justice to the care of souls. Can it be considered ill that they resist so great a transformation, and leave the missions if they find no other way?

736. Sixth, and last, because in América the practice of presenting three religious for each mission in the form ordered by the king can be easily observed, as there are many religious. But that presentation is mortally impossible in Philipinas because of the great scarcity of religious. For although the orders make the most painstaking efforts to get them from España, they succeed in this with difficulty. For lack of workers, they are often obliged to entrust the administration of many villages to one person, and sometimes to abandon districts in toto. Then how can three be presented for each ministry when there is scarcely one for each mission? Besides, since there are so many languages, there is no order which does not minister in four or five languages; and although all of them apply themselves to the study of the languages, few attain them so perfectly that they can explain entirely the height of the mysteries of our holy faith; and since there are so many missions, what order can present three times the number of ministers who will worthily serve the missions? Let us suppose a case also where there would be a sufficient number of capable religious. On that account there would be no assurance of better results; for of the three who would be presented, it is possible that the least capable would be chosen, as there would be no accurate information of his being less competent. That would be known better within his own order, where by continual intercourse it is learned who is most suitable for the ministry. Besides that, there might be a religious whom it would be proper to retire because of his demerits, but by virtue of the fact that the prelates have to present three religious for each mission, they are obliged to include him in the presentation for the sole purpose of completing the number. Who will prevent a froward one from slandering the electors, discrediting the worthy, and gaining the favor of friends and relatives by putting forth all his efforts to attain the desired liberty in order to escape from the observance and the cloister? Oh, beginning so full of troubles! If one had to describe all the troubles, it would be necessary to use much paper. Let the above suffice, so that it may be recognized that the reason why the holy orders resist subjection to the bishops is not so much for the sake of preserving their authority, as because they see the grave dangers that must ensue for them. Finally, they exercise their right in that, of which no one can complain, for they are doing wrong to no one.

§ III

Continuation of the matter of the preceding section, with especial bearing on our discalced Recollect branch.

737. The reasons thus far advanced touch all the orders in common. Let us now pass on to speak of our own in particular. There is no doubt that St. Pius V conceded the above-mentioned exemption to the regulars because they were employed in the conversion of the Indians, and so that they might proceed in their apostolic missions. That reason is clearly expressed in the bull; consequently, whenever it is found to exist, the orders ought to be maintained in the possession of that grace so long as it is not annulled by express revocation. Hence it is that, until the present, the bishops have not attempted to subject the missionaries who are laboring to allure the heathen to our holy faith and withdraw them from the darkness of their infidelity; for in order to effect those ends they acknowledge in its force the privilege of St. Pius V. I agree then that all the missions held by our holy reformed branch in the said islands ought to be considered as active missions, where the religious, although as parish priests they minister spiritually to those already converted, exercise also the arduous employ of missionaries, as the villages are surrounded by infidels, whose conversion they secure by the most diligent efforts. Therefore, the parishes of our jurisdiction ought to be considered not as villages of converts [doctrinas] already formed, where the only care is to administer the holy sacraments, but as new conquests where the flock of Christ is continually increased by apostolic attempts.

738. There are at present one hundred and five villages (besides those called active missions, which do not enter into this account) at present in the charge of our holy discalced branch, and they lie in more than twenty islands. In the principal island of Luzón, where the city of Manila is located, the order administers fifteen villages; in that of Mindanao, the second in size, thirty-four; in that of Parágua and others of the Calamianes, twelve; in that of Mindóro, twenty-four; in that of Romblón and its outlying islands, eleven; and in that of Masbáte and its intermediate islands, nine. It is seldom that one of those villages has no infidel inhabitants; and the religious are kept quite busy in converting them. For beginning with the island of Luzón and the mountains of Zambáles, the villages of Marivélez, Cabcáben, Móron, and Bagác are surrounded by blacks who are there called "de Monte" [i.e., "of the mountain"] [33] who are being constantly converted to our holy faith, for they are of a very peaceful disposition. Súbic is a new conquest, where various Indians are settling who wander about and are forgotten by the Christianity of those districts. The settlements that follow from that point to Bolináo are so near to the black Zambals and Aetas that, when the latter revolt, one cannot go there without running great risk of his life. But when peace makes them tractable, some souls are obtained for God. The villages of Uguit and Babáyan, which have recently been founded in this century with the converted blacks and wild Indians, [Zimarrónes] clearly attest that fact. In Mindanao the territory conquered by our religious, namely, the district of Cagayáng and the province of Carágha, ought to be considered as the rose among the thorns, oppressed by Moros, Mindanáos, and Malanáos, and by infidel Tagabalóyes and Manóbos. Of those peoples, the former keep the evangelical ministers in continual fear, because of their persecutions; the latter keep us in a perpetual mission for converting them to our holy Catholic faith. As proof of the great and continual advance of Christianity there, it suffices to state that at the end of the last century the tributes which those who have been subdued paid to the king did not equal the expenses occasioned to the royal treasury by the maintenance of the said province; in the year 1720, the expenses and collections were equal; but now the royal income exceeds the expenses necessary for conservation. [34] Since the expenses have not decreased--for there is always the same number of infantry forces in the presidios of Tándag, Catél, and Lináo, to which all the expense is reduced--it is inferred that the royal tributes have increased, and consequently the number of Christians.

739. There are so many heathen in the islands of Calamiánes, especially in the island of Parágua, that at least one hundred heathens will be found for each Christian. In the island of Mindóro only the coasts are conquered, and heathen fill all the interior of the island. The same success as I said was obtained in the province of Carágha has also been secured in the above two provinces; although a very notable decrease of Christianity has taken place in them because of the invasions of the Moros of which I shall speak later. The island of Zibuyán, whose mountains are peopled by infidels--who, as they are exceedingly obstinate in regard to conversion, give us considerable anxiety, although some converts are obtained among them--is located in the Romblón district. The island of Mæstre de Campo, formerly peopled by Indians who were almost all apostates from religion, has now in great part embraced the faith through the efforts of the religious, who scarcely ten years ago founded a new village peopled by families of the said Indians. It is not many years since the wild Indians [Zimarrónes] were feared in the island of Masbáte but these are now so few, through the persuasions of the religious, that one can cross the island without danger. The villages have increased greatly with the people who have been reduced to a Christian life and civilization. The village of Camasóso is a new colony peopled by that before indomitable people; and the same has happened in the island of Burías. Now then, I ask, since this is so (and it is a fact, and one that can be proved whenever necessary), in what are these ministries or curacies different from those in Nueva España and Perú, when St. Pius V conceded the exemption of the regulars? What difference is there between those missions or parishes and those founded in the Philipinas Islands when they began to be subject to the crown of España? There appears to be no difference. If the privilege conceded to the religious in América with those circumstances was considered justifiable, and was also observed in the said islands at the beginning, our discalced religious will proceed quite conformably with right in resisting any change with all their strength, as long as their individual parish priests are also, as stated, engaged as missionaries.

740. More force is given to this argument if one considers that, even in carrying on missions in infidel lands, our religious could not suffer greater hardships than those which they endure in the said ministries. That it may be seen that this is not imagination, I shall give a rough outline of what happened recently from the year 1720 until the present. I shall do it as briefly as possible, for those regrettable tragedies will occasion great extension to this history in due time. It is well known that our villages are the most exposed to the invasions of the Moros; consequently, they always serve as the theater of war and as the object of disasters. In the said year, then, they attacked the province of Calamiánes with a powerful fleet. Landing on the island of Linacapán they burned the village, convent, and church; outraged the sacred images; and killed with lance-thrusts the venerable father, Fray Manuel de Jesus Maria, a native of Lupiana in Alcarria--while another religious who was there was able to escape miraculously, at the cost of incredible hardships that he suffered, by hiding in the mountain. In the year 1721 they did the same thing in the village and island of La-Agutáya, [35] and in Manàol, which is located in the island of Mindóro. The evangelical ministers fled thence in a small boat and thus saved their lives, although after very prolonged hardships; and from there they took refuge in the mountains, in order to endure, without other relief than that of God, the discomforts that one can imagine. In the year 1722 the Moros landed on the island of Cúyo, and although they could not take the redoubt, for the Indians (captained by our religious) defended it bravely, one can imagine what the latter suffered in a siege so immeasurably prolonged. In the year 23, the Moros bordering on the province of Carágha besieged the presidio of Catél. Father Fray Benito de San Joseph, son of Casál de Cáceres in Estremadura, who, as its minister, undertook to attend to its defense, was left so exhausted from the fatigues of war in which no relief came, that after the retreat of the Moros, he lived but little longer; for he gave up his soul to God amid the plaudits of victory. Almost at the same time, in the island of Camiguín, the religious were compelled to hide in the mountains, where they were besieged by many fears. In Parágua, they killed father Fray Juan de la Purificacion (a native of Atéa in the kingdom of Aragon) with an insidious poison. The invasions of the said Mahometans were continual until the year 30 through Calamiánes and other districts; for, although they were not seen in large fleets, a great number of pirates were never lacking, and they caused those persecuted ministers repeated troubles. But in the above-mentioned year they had the boldness to assault the presidio of Taytáy [36] with such swiftness and fury that two of the three religious who were there succeeded by great good luck, and without any preparation, in retiring afoot to the mountains; while the other, only saving the chalices and ciborium, retired to the redoubt where he suffered the hardships of the siege.