“Moreover, whenever that bishop, at the advice of the said congregation, shall have reserved any case for himself, according to what shall have appeared expedient for the nature of the times, persons, and affairs, no secular priest nor a member of any religious order or congregation shall, under pretext of any privilege or indult (even though apostolic), excepting the bishop himself, or by his express license and command, be authorized, or dare or presume to grant absolution in any manner in cases so reserved, during the said reservation, under penalty of being suspended from the ministry of the mass and from the confession of the faithful, incurring that penalty by the very act.
“Moreover, we enjoin and order that bishop that, since it is the special duty of the bishop to minister to his own sheep and to visit them in person, he shall visit the flock entrusted to him, the religious of the Christian instruction, and those missions, in his own person or in that of his vicar-general in spiritual things, or at least in the persons of other very grave men, and not at all by simple and unskilled clergy, ignorant of letters, and of no judgment.
“And inasmuch as some of the inhabitants of those islands, and members of the above-mentioned orders, eager to see new things, and wandering or passing from one district to another, abandon those newly converted and baptized; and inasmuch as such persons cause the latter at times to revert to idolatry, which is greatly to be deplored; and inasmuch as many others who otherwise would acknowledge the faith and accede to baptism neglect it on account of the lack of ministers, or remain in infidelity; and inasmuch as the religious themselves, ignorant even of the languages of those districts, are despised, to the shame of their orders, and render more difficult the conversion of the Indians: We, desirous of checking this evil by an opportune remedy, strictly forbid and prohibit all and singular, of whatever religious order, and all others whomsoever who are engaged in the conversion of the infidels and the teaching of Christian doctrine, under penalty of excommunication, not to dare or presume to go from a pacified to an unpacified land, except by the express license and command of their bishop and of the religious superiors, given in writing.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the seal of the fisherman, April xviii, MDXCI, in the first year of our pontificate.”
See Pastells’s Colin, ut supra, iii, p. 679.
[9] Tomo i of his Questiones regulares et canonicæ was published at Salamanca in 1598; another edition, in four volumes, was issued some years later.
[10] Probably contained in his Epitome, o compendio de la Suma (Madrid, 1610).
[11] See the bulls concerning the Indias granted by Alexander VI, in Vol. I of this series, pp. 97–114. The bull here referred to is the Inter cætera of May 4, 1493.
[12] This bull was dated May 9, 1522, and begins Omnimodo exponi nobis; it grants authority to the friars of the mendicant orders to go to the Indias, after securing permission from their king or from his royal council. See Pastells’s Colin, ut supra, iii, p. 677.
[13] See this decree ante, note 6.