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]

1649-1666] RECOLLECT MISSIONS, 1646-60

I53

lars to whom to entrust that administration. In
I654, the attempt was made to establish in Philipinas
the practice recently adopted in the kingdoms of
Peru and Nueva Espafia 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 o1 in the said year I655. It resulted that, in all,
254 religious were occupied in 252 missions; that the
royal treasury only paid stipends corresponding to