and twenty-two, his Excellency, Don Fray Miguel García y Serrano,
archbishop of these Philipinas Islands, member of his Majesty's
council, etc., declared that, inasmuch as the eleventh chapter
of the twenty-fifth session of the holy council of Trent rules and
orders that the religious who exercise the duties of curas of souls be
immediately subject, in regard to such duties and in all that pertains
to the administration of the sacraments, to the jurisdiction, visit,
and correction of the bishop in whose diocese they minister; and that
no one, even though he be _admovibilis ad nutum_, can exercise the
said office of cura without having obtained beforehand the consent
and examination of the bishop or his vicar, etc., [4] which is
ordered to be strictly observed and obeyed, both by the bishops and
the superiors of the religious, and by the religious themselves, by
the twenty-second chapter following, notwithstanding any privileges,
constitutions, rules, customs, rights, and others _non obstantibus_,
etc.; besides which, his Holiness Gregory Fourteenth, by his brief
which was obtained at the instance of his Majesty, under date of Roma,
April 18, one thousand five hundred and ninety-one, charges and orders
the archbishop of these islands to visit the missions and the religious
in them. [5]

All of the above is ordered to be observed and obeyed in these islands
by decrees of his Majesty, under date of June first, five hundred
and eighty-five; December twenty-one, five hundred and ninety-five;
and November fourteen, one thousand six hundred and three. [6]
In conformity with these decrees, his most illustrious Lordship,
wishing to observe what his Holiness and his Majesty have ordered,
as it is a matter very advisable and necessary for the service of God
our Lord and that of his Majesty, and the welfare and increase of the
conversion, teaching, and instruction of the natives of these islands,