Note 2 — CONCILIAR SEMINARIES

“By virtue of the fact that, with the order of the fiscal of civil affairs, all the objections and obstacles which have been imposed in behalf of the regular parish priests and devout provincials of the religious orders in a meeting of other persons, to exact the payment of three per cent of their stipends for the conciliar seminaries; and by the royal decree of June first, ninety-nine, the door is shut to all contradiction in so far as it declares that it must be paid by the missionaries of the Order of St. Francis,2 and that the exaction shall be in money and not in kind, with warning that in the city where there are no seminaries, the collection shall also be made, and its result deposited in the cathedrals in a chest with three keys, which shall be held by the vice-patron, the bishop of the diocese, and another member of the cabildo: I have just resolved in consequence of the definitive statement of my assessor-general that the superior decree of November twenty-five, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, shall have its total and due effect. That decree was communicated on the same date to the diocesans of Cebú, Nueva Cáceres and Nueva Segovia, the venerable dean and cabildo of this holy church, the provisor of the archbishopric, and the devout provincials of the orders of St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Augustine, and the Recollects. It is modified to the effect that the above three per cent shall be collected generally, not only in this capital and the bishoprics of Cebú and Nueva Cáceres, but also in that of Nueva Segovia, which had been excluded before. It must be established immediately, and the sum derived from it must be deposited in the above-mentioned chest with three keys, according to the terms of the above-mentioned royal decree of June first, ninety-nine. It must be satisfied with money and not in kind; and for that purpose, the necessary official letters shall be sent with insertion of this decree to the bishops, the venerable dean and cabildo, and the provisor of Cebú in vacant see, and the devout provincials, this superior government expecting that by reason of all the abovesaid fundamentals other difficulties will cease to be offered in the future.”