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

I57

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
I734, 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