Likewise, by the same authority, we assign to the maintenance fund of our said church of most holy Mary, all and singular the tithes of one parishioner of the same church and of all other churches of the whole city and diocese, provided, however, that the said parishioner be not the first [in rank] or the elder, or wealthier member of our cathedral church and the other churches of our said diocese, but the second after the first.
Moreover we wish and ordain that, in our said cathedral church, besides feast days, whereon only one mass is said solemnly, daily two masses be celebrated at the hour of tierce [hora tertiarum], whereof on the first Friday of each month one [mass] (the first) shall be an anniversary for the sovereigns of Spain, past, present, and to come. On Saturdays, however, the said mass shall be celebrated in honor of the glorious Virgin, for the safety and health of the said sovereigns respectively. On the first Monday of each month the same mass shall be celebrated solemnly for all the souls dwelling in purgatory. On other days, however, the said first mass may be celebrated according to the wish and intention of any one wishing to endow it, and the said bishops and chapter may receive for the celebration of the same mass any endowment offered them by any person whatsoever. The second mass, however, celebrated at the hour of tierce, according to the fashion of the Roman Church, is to be of the feast of the feria[9] that whoever celebrates the chief mass besides the usual share [distributionem] assigned, or to be assigned, to all taking part in that mass, gains a threefold stipend more than by celebrating at any other hour; the deacon also is to receive a double stipend; and the subdeacon a single. And whoever shall not have been present at the chief mass, is not to gain the tertia and sexta[10] of that day, unless he have been away for reasonable and just cause, and with leave of the dean, or whoever presided in choir at the time; and herein we charge the conscience both of him who seeks leave [to be away] and of him who grants it. And whoso likewise has been present at matins and lauds shall gain a stipend threefold greater than at any other hour of the day, besides the stipend for prime, even though he were not present at it. We wish also, and by the aforesaid authority decree that whoever was absent [from choir] at the first vespers, or procession, or the chief mass of any feast of first class, or was absent from the matins of Christmas or Easter, shall lose the whole stipend of that day, even though he were present at the other hours. Moreover, we ordain that chapter be held twice a week, namely, on the third feria and the sixth; that on the third feria current business matters be treated therein; while on the sixth feria nothing else be treated of than the correction and emendation of faults [morum], and of whatever appertains to the due celebration of divine worship and the safeguarding of the decorum of clerics in and through all things both in Church and outside. On all other days chapter is forbidden, unless a case of emergency should warrant it. But hereby we wish not that the jurisdiction of ourselves or our successors relative to the correction and punishment of the said canons and of other persons of our cathedral church should in any way be hampered. On the contrary, in accordance with the chapter rules of the decree of the Council of Trent, we reserve all jurisdiction, correction, and punishment whatsoever of the said persons to ourselves and our successors.
Likewise, by the same authority, we resolve and ordain that, in order that any cleric of our said church and diocese having first tonsure enjoy [his] privilege, he must carry the clerical tonsure[11] of the size of one silver real [regalis] of the usual money of Spain; his hair at the back of the head shall he wear clipped with scissors [scisirra] only for two fingers’ breadth below the ears; he shall go decently appareled, namely, with a cloak, or mantilla, or robe, commonly styled loba, or a closed or open mantle reaching to the ground, not however of red or yellow, but of some quiet color, which is to be used not only for the outside clothing, but for the inner also.
Moreover, we determine and ordain that in choir, at the altar, in processions, and on all other occasions relating to divine and church worship, the ritual and ordo[12] to be used in our cathedral and in all the parish churches of our diocese is to be the one held and followed by holy Roman Church. And, by the same authority, we declare and decree that, in the interest of good government and the adornment of our cathedral and parish churches, we and our successors are empowered and enabled freely and lawfully to employ and transplant the praiseworthy and approved uses, fashions, and customs of other churches, the Mexican especially, to which we and our church are subject by metropolitan law.
Moreover, the divine office, of both daytime and night, at mass, as well as in the hours in choir and outside must always follow the custom and use of the Roman Church.
Moreover all the households, inhabitants, settlers, and residents, inside the aforesaid city as well as in the suburbs thereof, at the present time or hereafter inhabitants or dwellers therein, we depute and assign as parishioners of our same cathedral church, which we have erected forever in honor of the most blessed Virgin, until such time as a division of parishes may conveniently be made by us or our successors; and to it by parish law all the aforesaid shall pay their tithes and first fruits and make their offerings, and from the rector or rectors of the same church they shall all of them receive all the sacraments.
While, moreover, to the same rector or rectors, we grant and bestow the power of conferring the aforesaid sacraments to their said parishioners, to the parishioners themselves, we likewise give leave to receive the same sacraments from the said rectors.
And whereas change of circumstances calls for new arrangements, by the said apostolic authority we reserve for ourselves and our successors, for the time being, the fullest, free, and absolute power and authority, in all the aforesaid [arrangements], and relative to the same, to commend, correct, change, restrict, and enlarge and in the future even to establish and ordain otherwise. Let our successors however employ wisely this free and absolute power, and be always mindful of the warning of the Apostle that power has been given to prelates by God for edification and not for ruin. In order that in any changes they may essay in the aforesaid, they move not rashly and without wisdom, nor through mere self will, nor through hatred or partiality, but to the honor of God alone and Church and the spread and advantage of the commonwealth, let them first sift the matter thoroughly with the advice of skilled and Godfearing counselors, that they pass not the bounds set by our fathers: “Pass not,” saith the wise man, “beyond the ancient bounds which thy fathers have set.”[13]
For sin lieth not in one’s passing beyond the bounds, but in the motive [causa] for one’s thus passing beyond, that it be done, namely, not through caprice but through necessity. Accordingly, since in the present erection all matters have been established and ordained by us, who therein have not followed our own fancy but the views of the Fathers, hence the things which we have decreed and ordained are to be held and kept and worshiped as so many oracles of the Fathers, nor, therefore, to be changed or altered without great advantage and necessity. In virtue then of our letters, and by the apostolic authority granted to us therein, which in this regard we are employing in the best way, manner, and form in our power, we erect, establish, create, do, dispose, and ordain all and singular the above together with all and singular the things needed and opportune thereto, notwithstanding all things whatsoever to the contrary, those things especially which in his apostolic letters our said most holy master wished not to conflict with what therein was inserted. Wherefore, to all and singular, who are present or will be of no matter what state, rank, order, preëminence, or condition they be, we hereby intimate, insinuate, and convey and bring to their knowledge, all and singular, those things. Moreover, we wish and through these presents by the aforesaid authority we command all and singular the above, in virtue of holy obedience that they observe and cause to be observed, all and singular, the things as by us established. In faith and testimony whereof, of all and singular the foregoing, we have ordered and had these present letters or present public instrument, with our common seal attached, drawn up, and written and published by the notary public as below. Given at Manila, in the Island of Luzon, the twenty-first of the month of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and eighty-one.
Brother Domingo, bishop of the Philippines.