Note 19 — Chapter XXXII
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“This [Dominican] province had already (in 1745) reported to his Majesty that the beaterio of Santa Cathalina was maintained in the form of observance provided by the royal decrees of February 17, 1716 and September 10, 1732; that it contained the fifteen religious which it ought to have according to the arrangements of its founder; that they observed the three vows of religious, according to the enactment of St. Pius V, issued on 28 [sic] in 1566; and that, although there had never been the slightest question raised on this point, some uncertainties were beginning to present themselves regarding the nature of their vows, and even whether dispensation from these could be granted by the archbishop of Manila.” Accordingly, the Dominicans requested the royal decision on these matters; the king therefore decreed (June 20, 1747) that a committee formed of the governor, the archbishop, and the Dominican provincial, should carefully examine into the best method of carrying out the previous decrees. They did so, and, when their deliberations were laid before the royal fiscal, he demanded that the vows taken by these beatas be declared opposed to his Majesty’s will. Sister Cecilia, as soon as she was placed in Santa Potenciana, divested herself of the religious habit, claiming that her profession was null—a claim which was irregular, “because the five years had already passed which the laws and justice allow for proceedings of this sort.” When the papal delegate disallowed the appeal of the Dominicans from the archbishop’s attempted control of this case, they appealed to the Audiencia for protection from the fuerza exerted by the latter; but that court declined to interfere, saying that there was no fuerza committed. The archbishop then pronounced a definitive sentence in favor of Cecilia, and set her at liberty; she then married Figueroa, and they went to Nueva España. The Spanish government took no further notice of her case, save to refuse to the Dominicans permission to lay it before the Holy See. (Ferrando, iv, pp. 548–551) ↑