contains letters, decrees, etc., bearing on this subject, dated from
1574 to 1624. Instructions to Gomez Perez Dasmariñas (1574) jealously
restrict to the crown or its officials all exercise of the royal
patronage; and give minute details of the course to be pursued by
the governor and the provincials of the religious orders in matters
where that right is involved. This is followed by various official
documents issued in the controversy between Archbishop Serrano and the
religious orders (1622-24) regarding the right claimed for archbishop
and bishops to exercise the same jurisdiction and authority over the
religious of the orders, when charged with the care of souls, as over
the secular clergy. Serrano fortifies his position by various royal
decrees and papal bulls. These documents show that much laxity has
prevailed in selecting missionaries for the Indians, some of these
teachers not even knowing the language of the natives to whom they
minister; also that the friars claim even greater authority over
their parishioners than that exercised by the archbishop and bishops
in whose dioceses their missions are located. On June 20, 1622, the
archbishop begins his official visit in the parish of Dilao (near
Manila); and his edict announcing this calls upon the people of the
parish to bring to him any complaints or information that they may
have regarding any fault, illegal act, or neglect of duty in their
cura or parish priest. Fray Alonso de Valdemoro was then in charge
of the Dilao mission; refusing to obey the archbishop's commands,
he is excommunicated by the latter, and sentenced to imprisonment in
a monastery. But the Audiencia refuse to support the archbishop, who
accordingly writes a letter to the king complaining of the resistance
made by the friars. Felipe IV, in a decree dated August 14, 1622,
orders that the missions in the Philippines shall be subject to
the provisions of another decree (issued June 22 of the same year)
promulgated for the missions in Nueva España. This provides that