Sire:
We, the provincial and definitors of the province of Sant Gregorio of the Philipinas Islands of the order of the discalced religious of our seraphic Father St. Francis, your Majesty’s loyal vassals and humble chaplains, declare that this province has been signally injured and aggrieved, with great detriment to its general credit and good name, and the opinion of all our order, and in particular that of the said province, by Licentiate Hieronimo del Gaspi Chabarria, Doctor Don Albaro de Mesa y Lugo, and Doctor Don Antonio Rodriguez de Villegas, auditors of your royal Audiencia of these islands, by reason of their having granted your royal aid to Fray Francisco Ximenez, an Observantine religious. The latter came to this province with a commission granted by the father commissary-general of our order in Nueva España, ordering us to receive him—although he ought not to be received, as it was in violation of the general rule of government in our order; and in violation of a brief of his Holiness, Gregory Thirteenth. Moreover, such action tends to the destruction of the discalced religious, and of the reform and common welfare of this province, and of the conversions in these new kingdoms of your Majesty—especially when the said auditors compel this province to receive him in your royal name, making an ill use of your name and of the royal authority, and insulting it—and he does that, who, under pretext of such name, practices injustices and extortions, and who does not observe the terms of laws and ordinances; and much more, when they are practiced against an order and province that your Majesty has always esteemed and esteems so highly. Thus, nominally by your royal authority, we have suffered great violence and scandals, and it is certain that had this occurred nearer to your Majesty’s pious eyes, a most signal and exemplary chastisement would have followed. But in these so remote regions, where redress arrives late, it is usual, and almost necessary for us chaplains of your Majesty and the orders to suffer these extortions; and if they did not result in detriment to virtue and to the public welfare, by bearing them patiently we would not lose, but rather gain much.
Therefore we petition and supplicate your Majesty to examine this cause with your own eyes, and provide redress for the injuries received—annulling these acts of violence and rebuking your said auditors, so that it may serve them as a correction, and others as an example and warning; and so that the ministers of the gospel and the orders in these islands may not be annoyed or injured by the evil example furnished to the newly converted, whereby they would esteem the ecclesiastical estate and divine worship less. For such is not the will of your Majesty. In this respect, there is in these regions a great deficiency in all your officials; consequently the ecclesiastical class need to have your Majesty renew your decrees that give injunctions to your agents. By so doing your Majesty will render a great service to His Divine Majesty, favor to all of us, and good to these new plants. May God our Lord preserve your Majesty for years, as we desire, and augment your happy state, as we your least and unworthy chaplains desire, etc. Given in this convent of your Majesty, Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, Manila, in 1621.
Fray Pedro de San Pablo, minister provincial.
Fray Agustin de Tordesillas, [MS. uncertain][7] and definitor.
Fray Andres del Sacremento, definitor.
Fray Antonio de Nombela, definitor.
Fray Christoval de Santa Ana,[8] definitor.
[1] Pedro de San Pablo made his profession in the Franciscan province of San José, and in 1606 went to the Philippines, where he was appointed conventual preacher of Naga. In 1609 he went to Manila as preacher, and at the same time had charge of Santa Ana de Sepa. October 29, 1611, he was elected definitor, and in 1616 minister of Santa Ana de Sepa once more. He became provincial August 3, 1619, and held that office until March 15, 1622, when he embarked for Mexico, but died at sea. See Huerta’s Estado.
[2] Spanish, descalces; literally, “barefootedness;” a term applied to monastic organizations whose members are not permitted to wear shoes.
[3] A reference to I Cor. i, 12, and possibly to iii, 22.
[4] Huerta says of Sotelo (p. 393): “As the preparations for his journey to Japan were not made so promptly as he desired, he retired to our convent of San Francisco del Monte, where he occupied himself in the practice of all kinds of virtues until the year 1622, when he succeeded in reaching Japan.” Fuerza here apparently refers to ecclesiastical interference with Sotelo’s plans, to which reference has been several times made in preceding volumes.
[5] Andres del Sacramento was a native of a small village in the valley of Sayago. He made profession in the province of San Pablo, and reached the Philippines in 1611. In October of that year he was assigned to the village of Ligmauan, whence he went to Tacboan. At the chapter held August 3, 1619, he was elected definitor. He afterward ministered at Manila, Minalabag, Polangui, and again at Minalabag. He became provincial November 18, 1628, and held that office until January 17, 1632. In that time he projected and partly executed the opening of a navigable canal from Nueva Cáceres to the port of Pasacao. After 1632 he ministered in several villages, and was elected provincial for the second time September 16, 1639, holding the office until January 17, 1643. He died in the convent at Manila in 1644. See Huerta’s Estado.