In the following chart can be seen the revenues assigned to the parish clergy of the cathedral of Cebú, and the expenses for worship assigned to the same.
Chart showing the revenues of the clerical cathedral of Cebú, and their distribution for the services of divine worship
The college seminary of San Carlos, which is located in the city of Santo Niño de Cebú—the capital of the island of its name and of those called Visayas, and the residence of the most excellent and illustrious bishop, to whose authority and vigilance are submitted all matters relating to the spiritual part—has about eighteen or twenty pupils, counting seminarists and collegiates. In that institution are taught grammatical studies [minimos], syntax, philosophy, and moral theology, whose respective chairs are in charge of learned and industrious professors. The territory of the civil provinces which form this bishopric is divided into twenty-four outside districts for its better ecclesiastical administration, eighteen of which are in charge of the parish priests of the following villages: in the province of Negros, those of Jimamailan and Siquijor; in the island of Cebú, there is one in the city of that name, and the rest in Danao, Barilis, Siquijor, and Dimiao; in Caraga, that of Bacuag; in the island of Leyte, that of Jilongos or Hilongos, and that of Burauen or Buraven—the first on the western coast, and the second on the eastern; in the province of Iloilo, that of Tigbauan (which also belongs to the province of Antique), and that of Mandurreao in the province of Capiz, that of Manga or Banga, and that of Mandalay or Mandalag; in the province of Nisamis, that of Cagayan; and in the Marianas Islands, some three hundred leguas distant, those of Agaña, Agat, and Rota. In this number are lacking those of the provinces of Nueva-Guipúzcoa, Calamianes, and Samar, which can all be thus calculated: at one parish in the first province, as it is of modern creation and thinly populated; three in the second, as it is composed of various islands; and some two in the last. This is a total of twenty-four vicariates or outside districts. The ecclesiastics, both secular and regular, appointed to discharge these duties, exercise, in addition to the functions peculiar to their ministry, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the villages assigned to their respective outside districts, which are immediately subordinate to the vicar-general of the diocese, who is the provisor of the same. It is to be noted, in regard to this ecclesiastical division, that it is found to be subject to continual alterations, in regard both to the number of ecclesiastical vicariates, and to the curas who discharge these duties.
The considerable extent of this bishopric, which is the largest in the Filipinas Islands—whose provinces are widely separated from one another, some of those provinces even being composed of numerous islets as its separate parts—has given occasion for various petitions proposing the division of this bishopric into two parts, as a matter of greater advantage to the Church and to the State. Apropos of this, the bishop of Cebú, Don Fray Santos Gomez Marañon, declared in a respectful representation which he addressed to his Majesty, King Don Fernando VII, under date of Cebú, August 25, 1831, the following, which we copy:
“Sire:
“The bishop of Cebú, in order to relieve his conscience, finds it necessary to relate to your Majesty with the greatest frankness, that it appears necessary for the greater service of God, the welfare of souls, and [the service] of your royal person, to divide into two bishoprics this so extensive and scattered diocese of Visayas—in whose innumerable islands there are, in his judgment, more than one million of Christian souls, notwithstanding that the census of the past year shows no more than 858,510 souls. In addition to this there are a multitude of infidels, whom it would not be difficult to civilize and convert, were there two bishops among them who could take care of their conversion in an efficient manner; for one bishop alone has too much to look after in the conservation of so many Christians, without other duties. There are three provinces in the island of Panay alone, in which there are 54 parishes and many annexed villages, who have at least 378,970 souls, besides the heathen. If there were a permanent bishop in that island, their number would quickly be duplicated.
“The prelate could easily visit and confirm the distant provinces of Calamianes and Zamboanga (whither no bishop has as yet gone, because of their great distance from Cebú, and because it is necessary to consume several months [in such a trip] by reason of the monsoons, thus neglecting other things which require attention) from his see, which could be established in the well-populated village of Jaro.[7] The islands of Tablas, Sibuyan, Romblon, and Banton, and the western part of the island of Negros, would belong also to this new bishopric, and Christianity would be considerably increased. The bishop of Cebú would not on that account remain with nothing to do; for besides the island of this name, those of Bojol or Bohol, Leyte, Samar, the laborious island of Surigao, Misamis, and the eastern part of the island of Negros (where a mission is already established), and various other smaller islands remain. Thus he retains charge of at least 434,846 souls, besides an infinite number of heathen.
“The bishop of Cebú is addressing his king and sovereign with all sincerity and frankness; and he can say no less to your Majesty than that it is impossible for one bishop alone to visit and confirm his people, and to discharge his other pastoral duties, in all the numerous and intricate islands of Visayas, which have been in his charge until the present—especially in the so distant Marianas Islands, which have no communication with Cebú. Those islands ought to be assigned to the archbishopric of Manila, with which capital is their only communication. Even in this case, authority ought to be conceded to their ecclesiastical superior, with chrism consecrated by the archbishop, over all the Christians who live there.
“As soon as the writer was consecrated in Manila, he set out to visit his bishopric. I visited the island of Romblon, and the three provinces of the island of Panay, confirming in those islands 102,636 persons; the island of Negros and half of Cebú, in which two districts 1 confirmed 23,800, as I inform your Majesty by a separate letter. I have employed one-half year in this first visit, without the loss of a second of time, taking advantage of the good season.