[555] J. T. Medina, El Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion en las Islas Filipinas, pp. 16, 28-9 (Santiago de Chile, 1899).
[556] Medina, op. cit., pp. 17-28, 30-1, 36-8, 141-51.
[557] Instruccion que han de guardar los Comisarios, n. 16, 17, 18, 30.
[558] Medina, op. cit., pp. 178-9, 181-2.
[559] Ibidem, pp. 38-9.
[560] Medina, op. cit., pp. 42-3.
We have seen above (p. 243) that, in the list of cases of solicitation pending before the Mexican tribunal in the years 1622-3-4, there were seven from Manila. Of these, as we chance to learn from other documents, three, Fray Domingo Fernández, Fray Melchor de Manzano and Fray Martin de la Anunciacion, were all denounced, by different women, on March 31, 1622, to Fray Miguel de San Jacinto, commissioner for the province of New Segovia. As that day was the Thursday after Easter, this was probably the result of confessing to a rigid confessor who refused absolution until denunciation should be made. Another one was Padre Pedro Ramírez, S. J., denounced to the Manila commissioner, Fray Domingo González, Aug. 16, 1622.
The comparative infrequency of Jesuit culprits may perhaps be partially explained by a remarkable precaution adopted by the Society. A deposition under oath, Jan. 20, 1625, made in the Philippines by Padre Baltasar de Silva, states that experienced and trustworthy women, whom they called syndics, were employed to confess to Jesuits and tempt them to a certain point. The result was reported to the rector and if one was found to respond to the advances, he was transferred to some other place before he reached the point of himself soliciting. The Order looked with aversion on the requirement of denunciation to the Inquisition and took this method of averting it. In Manila, about 1605, one of these syndics was Doña Mariana Garvi, who was succeeded by Doña María Marmolejo.—MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.
[561] Medina, op. cit., pp. 48-50.
[562] Medina, op. cit., pp. 53-4.