722. That resignation was handed to the fiscal, and in view of it, in order that the most suitable provision might be made, with full knowledge, he asked that writs be made out—first, to show how many secular clergy were in the four bishoprics; second, so that the officials of the royal treasury might attest the amount of the stipends paid to the religious employed in the missions, and third, so that the provincials might send the names of their subordinates employed in the missions. That was ordered by a decree of May 10 in the said year 1655. It resulted that, in all, 254 religious were occupied in 252 missions; that the royal treasury only paid stipends corresponding to 141 missionaries; and that there were only 59 suitable secular priests in all the islands. The fiscal, seeing that according to the report the procedure that had been taken could not be maintained, in order to obviate the inconveniences that would ensue to the natives and inhabitants of those dominions if the religious were withdrawn from the villages, petitioned on January 4, 1656, that without innovation the orders be maintained in the missions, until it should be proved that there was a sufficient supply of secular priests to take care of them; and that they be assisted with the usual emoluments. He asked and charged the reverend fathers-provincial to look after the spiritual administration with their accustomed zeal. The royal Audiencia having so ordered in toto by an act of February 17, the holy orders returned very willingly to apply their shoulders to the work. Those acts were sent to the royal Council of the Indias. The cause having been discussed there, in view of the reports of the governor (which were throughout favorable to the orders), and of the manifestos presented by the orders in justification of their rights, the documents were approved on October 23, 1666, and the result was to make no innovation in what had been decided, and it does not appear that any other decree was enacted against the observance and practice that the religious have always maintained in those islands. Therefore the archbishop, having claimed that the appointments for the missions devolved on him by the form of canonical collation in cases where his Majesty did not make use of the privilege which belonged to him as patron; and endeavoring by that means to deprive the orders of the right which they possess of making those appointments without the intervention of his Excellency: the royal Council by a decree of September 26, 1687, ordered that the matter be continued in the form in which it had been administered until then, and that no change be permitted.
723. Shortly after the archbishop of Manila, Don Diego Camacho, making use of the most powerful means, attempted to subject the religious to his approbation, visitation, and correction in officio officiando. For that purpose he had recourse to his Holiness, to whom in the year 1697, he represented that there were many religious in the islands employed in more than seven hundred parishes, who had refused and were refusing to receive the visitation and correction of the diocesans; and he asked that they be compelled to receive such visitation. Upon seeing that, his Holiness Clement XI decided (January 30, 1705) that the right of visiting the parochial regulars belonged to the said archbishop and other bishops; but he made no mention of the other points which had been referred to him, and which were also under dispute. This appears from the brief despatched in this regard. This brief having been presented in the Council of the Indias, it appears that it was confirmed on April 22 of the same year. The said archbishop ordered it to be executed (October 26, 1707) with the most strenuous efforts; but he encountered in this such dissensions and disturbances that it is considered advisable to omit the relation thereof. It was necessary to resign the ministries once more, the superiors [of the orders] protesting that they would never agree to such a subjection, and that the archbishop could make appointments to the curacies as he wished. By that means his Excellency was so balked that, the cause having been fully proved, the evidence received, and the proofs adduced by both parties, the petition introduced by the orders was allowed on March 30, 1708; and it was ordered that the necessary official statements be given them. The authority of the governor was interposed extra-judicially, and he ordered that the religious should occupy the abandoned curacies, and that there should be no change. The archbishop himself, who had put forward that claim, was obliged to confess that he could not put it into practice.
724. It was sufficiently clear by that alone that the holy orders have more than enough reason for the independence from the bishops that they enjoy in their parochial ministry. For if they did not have in their primitive being the causes and motives for the apostolic privileges which exempted them, even from that of the ordinaries, it would not have been possible for them to maintain themselves so long with that prerogative which could not subsist in the kingdoms of América. But, since there are some persons who, as their understanding is on a par with their bodily senses, register events on the surface only without going within for the reasons (from which the report has been originated and spread through Europa, that the orders of Philipinas have seized all the authority without other reason than because they wish it so), I am compelled to vindicate them from so atrocious a calumny by making known some of the reasons why they have made (as they still do) so strong a resistance to this subjection. I shall first discuss all the orders in common, and then our reformed branch in particular. But I give warning that I do not intend to transform my history into formal charges. Adequate apologetic writings, founded on law, have been scattered through those holy families to demonstrate the exemption that attends them. Quite recently, in the former year 1734, a formal statement was presented in the royal Council by twenty-three graduates of the famous University of Salamanca (confirmed by eight who are not regulars) in which their testimonies agree in affirming that the religious act according to the dictates of conscience in administering the curacies without subjecting themselves to the bishops. Some add that they are bound in conscience to resist this subjection, as it is an imposition on the regular religious. Therefore, I shall treat that matter simply as an historian, taking for granted the right which, according to various apostolic privileges, supports them in not subjecting themselves to the bishops; and, in case the latter attempt this, in abandoning the ministries.
§ II
Some of the arguments that support the orders in Philipinas in not submitting to the visitation of the ordinaries in regard to the ministries.
725. That various supreme pontiffs, especially St. Pius V, conceded to the regulars of the Indias the privilege of obtaining their ministries with complete independence from the bishops, no one is so bold as to deny. The motive for that concession was the lack of secular priests in those countries. Consequently, the question (or doubt) as to whether that indult is or is not to be observed is not one of law, but one of pure fact. Its solution depends on ascertaining whether there are in those regions a sufficient number of clergy suitable to serve their parishes and exercise the care of souls. For, in case there are, it is not denied that that duty belongs to the seculars; for it is the peculiar duty of the religious to devote themselves to God in the retirement of their cloisters. If, on this hypothesis, the regulars should desire or be permitted to take charge of the said spiritual administration, they ought to submit to the bishops in officio officiando for then the cause of that indult would not exist. The fact of the exemption having ceased for the great part in the kingdoms of Nueva España and Perú, did not arise from the said privileges having been revoked (for they are not, especially that of St. Pius V) but only and necessarily because the impelling cause for conceding such exemption did not actually exist. For, in those kingdoms, the number of secular ecclesiastics increased so greatly that enough of them were found to administer the holy sacraments to their inhabitants. Since the motive has ceased, the privilege cannot endure. Now then, I suppose that there are more than two millions of people in the Philipinas Islands who confess the name of Christ, through the influence of the fervent zeal of the religious. In the year 1655, as was stated in the preceding paragraph, for two hundred and fifty-two missions in charge of the orders there were only fifty-nine secular priests. In 1705, when that subjection was attempted so earnestly by Archbishop Don Diego Camacho, the parishes were extended by his deposition to the number of more than seven hundred. For those parishes, according to the certification of the secretary of that prelate, only sixty-seven secular priests were found in his diocese; and of those only ten were suitable for administering the missions, as the rest were occupied in the duties of necessary residence. At present, the number of seculars is not much greater nor will it ever be—partly because those of Europa do not have any inducement to go to those islands, and partly because, since the Spaniards there are so few, there cannot be many persons sprung from these kingdoms who rise to the priesthood; further, because the Indians are generally unfit for that holy ministry. In view of all the above, who does not see that the orders avail themselves of their right in resisting the burden of the visitation which the bishops are trying to impose on them?
726. Nor does it avail the opposition that Pope Clement XI determined and declared, at the petition of the said archbishop, on January 30, 1705, “that the right of visiting the regulars in what concerns the care of souls and the administration of the holy sacraments belongs to the archbishop of Manila and the other bishops of the Philipinas Islands.” For besides the defects of misrepresentation and surreptitious measures [obrepcion y subrepcion] which were then made manifest, contained in that brief, the said pontifical declaration, whether it be conceived as a law, as an order, or as a sentence, cannot fail to be appealed from. This is what the orders did, appealing to his Holiness, alleging before the archbishop who put the brief into execution the motives which, according to law, they rightfully had for resisting that visitation. In order to establish the truth that the religious had many arguments in their favor, it is not necessary to adduce other proof than what results from the fact that the said archbishop, who was the person most interested, desisted from the execution of the brief. Other diocesans of the islands who, notwithstanding the above-cited brief, have tolerated and tolerate the exemption of the orders for no other reason than the actual scarcity of secular priests, have authorized that procedure. Therefore, they practically admit that the indult of St. Pius remains in force, and that the mandate of Clement XI is impossible whenever the religious abandon the curacies.
727. Besides, the same fact that the said metropolitan did not put into execution the above-cited brief of Clement XI as its nature and authority demanded, gave one to understand either that it was notoriously surreptitious, or especially grievous and productive of some scandal, or of irreparable injury to the Catholic religion; for only through such motives can the mandates of the pope be suspended. If the first be correct, it is an implied or virtual declaration that the said order is null and void; therefore, the regulars can legally proceed with the administration of the missions without subjecting themselves to the ordinaries, making use of their former privileges. If the second or third—his illustrious Lordship having offered in that same act in which he provided for the suspension of the brief, to inform the pope of the predominant reasons that determined him to supersede the said brief—in the meantime, until the said information shall reach him, and the effect that is produced by it on his Holiness’s mind shall be made known to the religious, the fact that they avail themselves of their privileges in the administration of the parishes cannot be imputed to them as guilt. The reason for that is, that they cannot believe that that prelate will neglect to inform his Holiness of the motives why he did not proceed with the execution [of the brief]. The fact that the Roman court has not made any new provision in regard to that matter shows that, just as in virtue of the allegations of the regulars the said archbishop found it necessary not to carry his pretension farther, so likewise the supreme pontiff has tacitly approved and has left the religious with the exemption that they enjoyed before the above-mentioned brief. Therefore, in regard to either law, they will safely be able to proceed with the administration of the churches in their charge without the intervention of the bishops.
728. Much less can the said brief of Clement XI stand in regard to the decree that “the regulars cannot resign from the missions or parishes under penalty of censures, loss of benefices, and other arbitrary penalties.” For this clause alone is sufficient to persuade one that the representations that were made to obtain that decision from the pope were not ruled by truth. For had his Holiness well understood all the circumstances, how could he have issued an order from which would follow the inference of injuries terrible and irremediable to the holy orders? If those religious, in so far as they are curas, were to become subject to the bishops, they would not hold their curacies as a reward after serving his Majesty so much, but would regard their position as lower than that of those who remain free from responsibility in their communities. For the latter have no other obligation than to obey their superior or his two subordinates, so that there can never be any contrariety in the orders or any doubt for the religious of what he is to do; while the former, after all their anxiety, have to study very carefully over obeying their legitimate superiors and in keeping the bishops content (which, as will be said, would both be impossible things), whence must originate many disturbances and much restlessness. And if it is intolerable that he who serves his king with faithfulness be not rewarded, the order would be inverted on this occasion; for after so much labor they could only succeed in multiplying subjections, and be less free in their ministries. The orders would receive as their reward the abolition of the exemption which the holy see conceded to them as a recompense for the noble fruits which they have gathered in the universal Church by their virtue and holiness—preserving it fresh and beautiful by watering it with the blood of so many martyrs, by which they made it illustrious; and increasing it with new worlds, provinces, and millions of children whom they have subjected to it, of which the histories are full. They will be obliged to place in the curacies those who solicit them the most urgently, importuning by means from which the more retiring and the more worthy shrink. They will expose their religious to danger even after they have well fulfilled the obligations of their ministries, in case that they are not to the liking of the ordinary—besides many other annoyances which will inevitably come upon the regulars. And if the orders have no other means to avoid that and the rest which will be stated below than to resign their missions, how could the benign pontiff oblige them to stay therein if he knew those circumstances fully?
729. It cannot be denied that the office of parish priest even with the exemption from the ordinary is altogether accessory, and a heavy responsibility superadded to the religious estate. For in order that they might administer in the said form, an apostolic dispensation has been necessary which is founded on grave reasons—and that with attention to only what the religious estate demands from him who has entered it, according to what is taught by common law and the doctrine of the saints. If that method of administering with exemption from the ordinary is changed, and the regular who has charge of a parish should as such become subject to the correction and visitation of the ordinary, and in other respects to the heads of his order, it is certain that it would be an innovation so great that they would be quite changed in their respect for public opinion, and in their mode of life; and the religious would be like a man cleft in two, those in some houses being subject to one superior and those in others to another, all of different hierarchies, and with the dangerous consequences that will be stated. Will the piety of the pope bind the religious to so great a cross?