Note 15 — THE EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS, 1768–1769

In Política de España en Filipinas, 1894, pp. 175, 176, Retana describes a collection of documents which he had recently acquired, relating to the expulsion of the Jesuits from the islands. Among these were the official expedientes, and a series which contained the inventories of all the property which the Jesuits possessed. The list of the papers and letters found in the college of San Ignacio formed a folio volume of more than 600 pages. (There was also a list of all the books which the Jesuits kept for sale. Among these were more than 200 copies of Noceda’s Diccionario, the first edition, of which copies are now considered exceedingly rare. “In this inventory appear books of which I believe not a single copy is now in existence.”) The collection thus acquired by Retana contained original letters from Anda and Santa Justa to Conde de Aranda, and others by the Jesuit Clain, Camacho, Raón, Anda, Basco, and other noted persons. At the time, according to Montero y Vidal (Hist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 222) this collection, which contained more than 20,000 folios, was deposited in the Colegio de Agustinos at Valladolid. ↑