Those of the secular priests are divided into twelve benefices, among which are the three above-mentioned, namely, Manila, Bagumbaya, and Cavite. Altogether, twenty thousand souls of the said natives are ministered to.
Order of St. Augustine. The Order of St. Augustine has thirty-two convents, all of which contain together fifty-six priests, who minister to ninety thousand souls.
Order of St. Francis. The Order of St. Francis has thirty-eight convents of guardianías[3] and presidencies, in which are forty-seven priests, who all together minister to forty-eight thousand four hundred souls.
[Order of St. Dominic.] The Order of St. Dominic has three convents. They minister to three thousand souls and have five religious. The rest of their religious are stationed in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia. In the province of Pangasinan, the Order of St. Dominic has ten convents, with sixteen priests, who minister to twenty-five thousand souls.[4]
The Society of Jesus. The Society of Jesus has three residences, with eight priests, who minister to ten thousand six hundred souls.
Augustinian Recollects. The religious of the Augustinian Recollects have three convents with six priests, who minister to eight thousand souls.
Consequently the number of souls of the natives alone, who are cared for in the territory of this archbishopric of Manila, amounts to two hundred and one thousand six hundred.[5]
Method of administration and direction of the villages and missions. The benefices of secular priests, and the convents and residences of religious, above mentioned, are directed and instructed as follows. Some have only one village; while for others—the most common—besides the capital or principal village, there are two, three, four, or five small villages, and in some even more, all of which attend the church of the capital, when they are near it and in a place suitable for that—which is generally the case, as the distance is short, and can be traversed by waterways of lakes and rivers. But when the distance is great, in the said villages (or in some of them) there are churches where the priests go to celebrate mass, on holy days and other days, from the capitals when there are two or more priests; and they teach and administer the sacraments. But when there is only one priest, as in the benefices of the seculars and some of the orders, he says one mass in his capital, and another in another village or visita of his district where all or almost all of the people of it are gathered. In some districts, inasmuch as the distance is considerable, the minister lives two or three months in one village of his district and two or three in another, and in this way goes the round of his benefice.
The orders have their distinct districts assigned in provinces, and thus by their contiguity those of each order are a mutual aid among themselves.
Although it is impossible to deny that the natives would be better instructed and would live in more orderly ways if the small villages were to be reduced to the capital, making one or two settlements of each benefice, they consider it such an affliction to leave their little houses where they were born and have been reared, their fields, and their other comforts of life, that it could only be attained with difficulty, and little fruit would result therefrom. Thus has the experience of assembling the people into communities in Nueva España proved, and so has what little of it has been attempted here. However, in the visit that I shall make in this archbishopric, I shall try to reduce them to as few settlements as possible.