Note 1 — Events in Filipinas, 1630–32

In all the most opulent kingdoms, provinces, and cities of the Catholic monarchy of your Majesty, the most remote, the most separated, and the most distant from the royal presence of its king and sovereign is the metropolitan cathedral church of this archipelago of islands without number. Consequently, its cabildo is poorer, more needy, and more liable to be forgotten than any other; for in order to set forth its afflictions and poverty, it even has neither feet, whereby it may go to cast itself at the feet of your Majesty, nor hands for the solicitude and works that the demand alone would require. One effort only we can make easily, and that has been made for many years; that is, to write, petitioning, importuning, urging, and informing your Majesty of the most important things, not to our especial advantage. And well do we know that your Majesty is not so wealthy that you can be liberal in proportion to your greatness; but only in the points most necessary and important to the Divine service and worship, and to your Majesty’s honor and glory, at whose expense it flourishes throughout Christendom—especially in this city, fortified post, and empire of almost all the nations discovered and known; for in that it equals Roma, and the cities of most commerce in the whole world. That is the reason that has always moved us to urge and petition your Majesty, representing the following points. [In the margin: “July 30, 1625.1 Reply to the cabildo, encouraging them; and tell them that what they say in their letter will receive care and attention, without particularizing the paragraphs or the things that they say.”]