Volume 22 — Letter from the Sisters of St. Clare to Felipe IV
Reading edition
Jesus, Mary
Our rule declares that we may not solicit the property of those who enter to become nuns, and we are not to be careful of aught else than their virtues; but that if any one of these wishes to give some alms of her own freewill, we may receive it, as from any other person. Consequently, having observed faithfully this rule—I mean, in not desiring or striving for any more than the said benefit (and we exercise great care in this)—our Lord moves hearts, so that one woman alone has given us fourteen thousand pesos. With that the work on the convent is progressing. Other women who are about to make profession say that they will give the same amount that they would give their husbands if they married; and that, since God is their spouse, they wish to give it to Him so that a convent capable of sustaining many nuns may be built, so that they may serve his Majesty. Some have as their dowry only the spiritual wealth that the rule requires. Consequently, there are liable to be many orphan girls who serve God, daughters and granddaughters of conquistadors, who are calling aloud, and they refuse to allow them to enter. It is a pity to see so pious [97] desires disappointed. I petition your Majesty to send me a royal decree that no limit shall be set to the number of nuns that the convent may contain. The rule does not limit the number, nor does any other convent throughout all these kingdoms. The city is very rich, and food so cheap that fourteen libras of beef cost one real; another real buys eight libras of fish; six libras of sugar, one real; and fowls, salt pork, and all other things in the same proportion; of salt alone, they have given us, on this last arrival of the ships, three hundred and seventy baras [i.e., bahars]; also a goodly supply of wine for the mass; and linen, which is very cheap.
Consequently we, these least important vassals of your Majesty, do not need human aid, but the divine. That aid we have entreated from the royal favor, so that no restriction be laid on the nuns that the convent shall contain. It is a great pity to see how they hinder the souls who serve God in so great perfection as those women who are here, the natives of these kingdoms. I consider beyond any doubt that they will be most devoted servants of God, who works marvels in all those whom He shrives, and all set themselves to observe the warnings of the gospel. An infinite number of little girls and older orphans come weeping, with their widowed mothers, begging us for the love of God to give them the habit. Since the king, our sovereign, sent them so great a spiritual and temporal consolation, and since their parents gained it for them by conquering this country at the cost of their own lives, we all are so bounden. Beseeching our Lord to prosper your royal Majesty, spiritually and temporally, with infinite increase; and may He subject to the royal power of your royal [98] Majesty all empires and kingdoms that He has created for the greater honor, glory, and increase of the faithful, and the exaltation of the holy Catholic faith. Manila, July 31. Given in this convent of La Concepcion of the discalced nuns of St. Clare, in the year 1626.
The most humble vassals of your royal and sacred Majesty,
abbess, and her sisters,
Ana de Christo Bicaria Leonor [de] San Francisco Leonor de Sant Buena Bentura Lüysa de Jesús Magdalena de Christo Juana de San Antonio Maria de los Angeles Maria Magdalena Ana de Jesus Ana de Christo Bicaria [99]