The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 36]

I 58

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[Vol. 36

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 Espafa and Periu, 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the said privileges having been revoked (for they are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 i655,
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
I705, 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