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. 24]

1630-1634] BULL CONCERNING MISSIONS

271

without fail to have these present letters observed in
their provinces, cities, dioceses, chapters, and jurisdictions, besides whenever requested by the religious
of the said orders to have and see that the same be
published solemnly,"9 notwithstanding to the contrary any interdict, prohibitions, letters, or other
premises of our said predecessors, nor any apostolic
or synodal decree, be the same issued in provincial
or general council, no matter whether embodied in
special or general constitutions and ordinances (even
in those granted to the Society of Jesus and the other
said orders, provinces and regions); no matter
whether confirmed by apostolic pledge or otherwise
by statute, custom, privilege, or apostolic indult and
letters, even those granted by the pontiffs in the
fulness of their power, be the same general or special
- all which, in so far as they conflict with these our
present letters, prohibition, and interdict, wherefore
they are to be considered as having been duly expressed and inserted therein, we hereby desire and
command shall be invoked in favor of no one, no
matter of what order, even though of the Society
of Jesus, but be held as null and void. And since it
would be difficult to have these present letters exhibited and published in all places, we desire that
to all copies of them (even in print), whenever the
99 From this point to nearly the end of the bull, I have found
it necessary to simplify the phraseology considerably, while carefully preserving the sense. The passage in question, while not
hard to understand in Latin, would be, if translated literally,
almost unintelligible in English - a long, wordy repetition of
revocatory and annulling clauses, for many of which there is no
precise and brief equivalent in English. Nor is the Latin itself
elegant; and a few words and phrases can only be guessed atthese, however, not affecting the real sense, or involving any
matter of importance.- REv. T. C. MIDDLETON, translator.