Volume 38 — CONDITION OF THE CLERGY OF THE PHILIPPINES
Reading edition
He represented that the bishopric of Nueva Caceres had been vacant for about thirty-one years; and that he who had last been presented (on September 30, 1672) had not obtained the bulls from his Holiness.
That the bishopric of Cebu had not had any bishop who was regularly appointed and who took possession, for about nineteen years, when Don Fray Juan Lopez assumed that post in 1666; that the latter had been promoted to the bishopric of Manila; that Don Diego de Aguilar was presented in 1672, a Dominican of the age of sixty years, but had not yet, at that date (1674), obtained the bulls (although he had accepted the dignity)—without doubt, because he was old and lived in Mejico.
That the archbishopric of Manila, the one which had been vacant the least time (since the death of Don Miguel de Poblete in 1668), had been given to Don Fray Juan Lopez, bishop of Cebu, whose bulls could not arrive until 1674—six years of vacancy.
That the governors were interested in having vacancies; for they filled the posts provisionally, and for that reason they were slow in giving information of a vacancy.
That the incomes of the bishops were scant, and were collected at the will of the governors, who paid them poorly, and curtailed them. Therefore arrangements should be made to let the bishops themselves collect their dues from the tributes, as these were paid in.
That the cost of the bulls ought to be paid from the royal treasury.
That appointments ought to be given to persons not over forty years of age.
That they should be given to Dominican friars, who would obtain the bulls without any delay.
That the third part of the income of the vacancies should be given to the persons appointed, in order to pay for the bulls.
That the power of exiling bishops should be taken from the governors and Audiencia.
That three auxiliary bishops should be appointed, who should succeed, according to their seniority, [in case of vacancies] in the archbishopric and bishoprics, and should begin to govern immediately.
The father procurator, Fray Pedro del Cosio, set forth those claims, but no one took any notice of them. The memorial was presented to the Council, October 26, 1674. Having been investigated by the fiscal—whom, as well as the other persons who intervened in it, Father Cosio visited—it was examined in the Council, March 11, 1675, and gave rise to the following resolutions:
That the governors of Filipinas should report promptly to the Council the vacancies of the bishoprics, under penalty of a fine of two thousand pesos.
That the archbishop of Manila should appoint governors ad interim in the vacancies of the three bishoprics of Filipinas; and his Holiness should be petitioned for despatches, so that in such case the ecclesiastical spiritual authority should be exercised by the consecrated bishops left.
That the royal officials of Mejico should remit on separate account what was owing to the archbishop and cabildo of Manila, without the governor and royal officials of Filipinas having any part in it.
That the Audiencia alone could proceed, in accordance with law, against the ecclesiastics, and not the governor by himself alone.
That the archbishop should report the amount of the tithes of the islands, in each of the three bishoprics, in order to erect cathedrals and establish cabildos.
That the royal officials of Manila should report the amount of the third part of the [incomes of the] last vacancies of the bishoprics.