Nor is it right, by the same mode of argument as that of the reverend archbishop, that the religious orders should not further make evident the importance of their justice and of their labors. This prelate greatly resented that the reverend bishop, the delegate and judge of his Holiness for cases of appeals, should go to Manila and exercise his functions, issuing various acts; and the said reverend archbishop also took steps to have the delegate depart immediately from his archbishopric, and said (and wrote to Europa) that the religious orders were trying to keep the delegate there as their judge-conservator. It is here where his own argument presses: either the procedure of the reverend archbishop was just, or it was not. If it were just, what did it matter that he had before him a judge with authority from the pope, and must deliver to this judge the documents which he demanded, so that as a judge so superior he might confirm them, and make a report on them with commendations? If the archbishop’s conduct were not just, as little just was it that he should go beyond his obligation, in order to obstruct rightful jurisdiction.
The reverend archbishop also refused to the religious orders all the copies of documents and the attested statements which they asked from him in regard to the visitation which he planned and began, but from which he desisted. If what the reverend archbishop did and decreed was just, what mattered it that he should command the said copies and statements to be given to parties so eminent and worthy of respect as were five religious provinces? If it were not just, why were these decrees made and executed?
Another argument of which the reverend archbishop avails himself is, to say that if the regulars who are parish priests do not submit to his visitation and jurisdiction, he will finally be a [mere] bishop de anillo.[33] Answer is made, first, that even if this were the case (which, however, it is not), the reverend archbishop would not have any reason to complain in this particular, as, according to the law, no wrong is done to him who, before entering on any negotiation, acquaints himself with it and determines it beforehand.[34] For while he was yet in España he knew that the regulars in Filipinas were not parish priests by title, nor subject as such to the ordinary; and if with this knowledge he decided to go to Manila in order to be its metropolitan archbishop he ought to take for granted what has been proved by experience, and not wonder that the regulars, convinced by so effective arguments, are, constrained by these, giving up the native curacies, in order not to be ministers of instruction at so much risk. Nor will any one grant that reason countenances the reverend archbishop more in trying to secure the extension of his authority than it does the religious in maintaining themselves as much as possible in what they had professed.
Answer is made, second: that, not by commission but by his own proper jurisdiction, the reverend archbishop can administer confirmations throughout his archbishopric; act as judge of all matrimonial cases among the Indians, and those affecting the rest of his flock, in the same manner and the same cases as he could if secular priests were the curas over them; and ordain priests and consecrate oils—with many other things. The exemption of the regulars does not hinder these, nor can a bishop who is only titular exercise these functions merely through his own choice; and thus the reverend archbishop does not come to be such a prelate.
And, finally, according to Christian maxims the religious ought to measure the choice of a new form of life, not by the question whether the reverend archbishop has or has not more or less under his jurisdiction, but by other and loftier principles, which concern salvation and the means [to attain it], which they have already chosen, by rule and vows, in order to attain with these that final end. And the religious of Filipinas declare that if his Reverence the archbishop refuses to live [in those islands] and be their prelate, because he has not all the authority that he desires, they refuse the said form of [serving as] parish priests, in order to avoid the controversies and perils here stated, so as to live in the quiet of their profession and by means of it to secure more peaceably their eternal salvation.
If the reverend archbishop shall urge the precedents of some religious orders in America in regard to the said matter, the religious orders of Filipinas state further, besides what is said above, that those who gave up the mission villages in America furnish a more effective example than do those who remained in those posts subject to the ordinary. They also add that for this case more to the purpose are the precedents of all the reverend archbishops and bishops of Filipinas—of no one of whom it is known, it should be said, that he was an archbishop or bishop de anillo. Many of them were entirely satisfied at seeing the good work that was wrought in their flocks by the religious orders, and thanked them and greatly honored them; and even though some few of them desired what the present reverend archbishop is attempting to secure, yet on hearing the arguments of the regulars the prelates contented themselves with informing the Council—without that body changing the former mode, or the prelates breaking forth in violence as has been seen in this present time. Then, even if the reverend archbishop is somewhat influenced by precedents of certain religious orders in America, it seems as if he ought to be convinced by those of his predecessors and the others who were suffragan bishops in those islands.
The third argument is, that as the regulars who are parish priests are not under his jurisdiction, he cannot feed his sheep as it behooves him to do, or give account of them to God, with due certainty; accordingly he claims that the regulars of Filipinas should be compelled not to leave their flocks, and should be forced under his jurisdiction. Answer is made, first, that the reverend archbishop can, whenever it shall please him, apply himself to an inspection of the Indian villages, even those that are furthest from Manila, and view the aspect of his flock—who will be greatly edified to see that an archbishop undergoes the inconveniences of small boats, and traverses dangerous tracts of sea and land, for their spiritual good, as the provincials do. Then if he will have taken the trouble to learn some languages, as the religious have done, in order to dispense to them the divine word, to hear their confessions, give them communion, and the sacrament of confirmation, and the rest that they require: then he can obtain information about the religious and the spiritual state of the villages, give such commands to the Indians as he shall please, and confer with the ministers on all that concerns the salvation of souls; and not only can he, but he has the right to do so. It cannot be doubted that this would be a rich nourishment [to his flock], and that these actions of an archbishop are compatible with his not having jurisdiction over the regulars; and it would be a great pity if all this, which is so proper for a prelate, should fail simply because the regular in his curacy remains with the exemption which the Apostolic See has granted to him.
In view of these actions which he can perform, the reverend archbishop will attach less importance to his not visiting judicially the regular who is a parish priest because the latter remains outside of his jurisdiction; but it may well be believed that the regular keeps the sacrament, the holy oils, and the baptismal font in decent condition; that there are registers of baptisms, burials, and marriages; that the Christian doctrine is explained to all the people together, and to the children separately, as also to the larger boys and girls, and all at different times; that not only in times of sickness and of danger of death, but in health and safety, the sacraments are administered to those who ask for them; and that other things are done which are proper for the ministers who are curas. These functions, as they have a public interest in themselves for the whole village, are known throughout it; and even if any detail should be neglected, the reverend archbishop may well believe that neither the provincial nor the other responsible officials of the provinces who are designated to watch, make decisions, punish, or reward, for the general good, will wish to be censured for it.
The reverend archbishop does not doubt that in the church of God the holy religious orders form a very numerous assembly, and that their sons, every one, are the sheep of the supreme shepherd, the pope, who has exempted them from the [jurisdiction of the] ordinaries, unburdening his own conscience, and trusting to the vigilance of the generals, and other superiors—to whom, as to the guardians of souls, he has handed over those of the individuals [who form] the rest [of the order]. It has not occurred to any one that on account of this exemption the popes cannot feed the universal flock, or appear with safety before the tribunal of God; and experience has shown the extraordinary benefits which have resulted from it to the church and to the religious orders themselves. Why, then, where the vicars of Christ are secure, will not an archbishop be so too?
On account of merely the expectation of a great harvest in the Indias many popes conferred on the regulars the authority to be parish priests, with complete independence from the ordinaries, rendering null and void whatever the latter might do in opposition to this privilege. No one has said that by this the supreme pontiffs placed the ordinaries in danger of rendering their accounts to God unsatisfactorily, or hindered them from feeding and edifying their flocks; and the result itself has given testimony, with the great success of the propagation of the gospel, how successful has been that method of having the regulars as curas, seeing that the hope of a harvest has now grown to be its actual possession, and realms so extensive have been conquered. And therefore the reverend archbishop of Manila might have had confidence in commands so sovereign—especially in that of Pius V, whose brief is now in full force in Filipinas, as on the first day when it was issued; and even the motive therefor, since there is so great a deficiency of secular priests that, if the regulars should be lacking, the faith would perish in islands so widespread, and the people would be as much heathens and idolaters as before.