In the name of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and in honor of Mary ever-virgin, who, under the advocacy [45] of her most holy rosary, is proposed and accepted as patroness of the work which will be declared below, inasmuch as she is also patroness of the Order of Preachers of the patriarch St. Dominic, established in these Filipinas Islands and the kingdom of China; and to his honor and glory and that of the consecrated doctor [46] of the holy Church, Saint Thomas Aquinas, by whose intercessions, protection, and aid the work described in this writing will have a good beginning and means, and proceed from good to better forever without end:  by virtue of which, I, father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina, [47] religious of the said order, and commissary-general of the Holy Office in these islands, as executor of the most illustrious and reverend archbishop of this city of Manila in the islands, Don Fray Miguel de Benavides, now defunct, and [as the one] to whom his Lordship communicated the application of the remainder of his properties for the work and foundation which will be hereunder declared—­as appears from his last will and testament, which he signed in this said city of Manila before Francisco de Alanis, former notary-public in this city, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of July of the former year one thousand six hundred and five; and the clause treating of this matter, copied, corrected and collated with the said will signed by the said notary, is of the following tenor: 

Item:  His most reverend Lordship said and declared that he made—­and he did so make—­while still in life, a complete and irrevocable gift of all the remainder of his properties for a pious enterprise.  He has conferred and communicated in regard to the same with the said fathers—­namely, the prior of Santo Domingo, Fray Domingo de Nieva, [48] and Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina, commissary of the Holy Office.  In this charitable work all his properties remaining are to be applied and distributed, in what manner and form they ordain and consider advisable, in accordance with his communication and resolution in regard to it.  For this work he said that he gave—­and he did so give—­all the remainder of his properties gratuitously; and the institution was immediately and henceforth to be constituted the holder and possessor of them.  He transferred to them [i.e., the above fathers] his rights and power of disposal [in the property].  This is the work of which mention was made above.

And I, the said father commissary as executor of another bequest of properties, which Pablo Rodriguez de Araujo and Andres de Hermosa, defunct, left to my distribution and discretion, in accordance with the terms of their wills—­that of the said Pablo Rodriguez de Araujo appears to have been signed in this city before Francisco de Valencia, notary-public, on the sixteenth day of the month of February, of the former year six hundred and six; and that of the said Hermosa before