Note 67 — Chapter XX

Regarding the bulls of the Crusade (for which see VOL. XXVIII, pp. 113–115), the following information is furnished by Rev. Dr. William A. Jones, O.S.A., president of the college of San Agustín, Havana: “So far as I know, there was no special decree suppressing the privileges of the Bula Cruzada. As I understand it from those who are well informed, the original privileges contained in the Bula Cruzada were exclusively bestowed upon Spanish subjects, and as a consequence, followed the Spanish flag. The moment the sovereignty of Spain ceased over this island [Cuba], so ceased also the meaning of the Bula Cruzada for these rebels to the old dynasty. But some Cubans continued to adopt the privileges of the Latin American Council which had recently been held in Rome (about five years ago), in virtue of which the privileges regarding fasts and abstinence are almost identical with the old Bula; those privileges were afterward confirmed, and we follow the rules of the Council. As for the Philippines, I infer that the Bula ceased there as soon as the Spanish sovereignty ended.”

An Augustinian father who has recently come to Villanova from the Philippines states that in those islands they have dispensations for fasts and abstinence, the same as before the revolution; but he could not state the precise date of those dispensations.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

A decree of Leo XIII, April 22, 1899, grants the Cuban bishops authority for ten years to grant dispensations from fasting and abstinence.