In the town of Quiapo, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of June, one thousand six hundred and twenty-two, the illustrious lord Don Fray Miguel Garcia Serrano, archbishop of the Philipinas, member of his Majesty’s council, etc., declared that he ordered—­and he did so order—­that that notification that his illustrious Lordship ordered to be made and that he made, to the superiors of the religious orders—­namely, the order mentioned in the act of the twenty-second of this month, which was made on account of the visitation of Dilao—­be filed with the [records of the] said visitation, which is to be begun on this said day, of the said mission and ministry of Dilao.  Thus did he decree and order.

Fray Miguel, archbishop.

Before me: 

Licentiate Alonso Ramirez

Very reverend fathers in Christ, the provincials of the holy orders of these Philipinas Islands:  Being obliged to carry out the ordinance and mandate of the holy council of Trent and the decrees of his Majesty in regard to the examination and visitation which I have to make of the religious who are administering the missions of natives in my diocese, I deemed it advisable, in order to attain my object better, to inform your Paternities of it before beginning it—­so that, understanding the matter, it might be facilitated and observed by your Paternities with the good-will and exactness that are proper, and which you have always displayed in obeying and observing the mandates of the holy apostolic see and those of his Majesty.

As your Paternities know, chapter 11 of the 25th session of the holy council of Trent, De regularibus et monialibus, rules and orders that the religious who exercise the duties of curas of souls be immediately subject as regards such duties, and in everything that pertains to the administration of sacraments, to the jurisdiction, visit, and correction of the bishop in whose diocese they administer; and that no one, though he be amovilibis ad nutum, may exercise the said duty of cura without first having obtained the consent of, and been examined by, the bishop or his vicar, etc.  Both the bishops and the superiors of the religious, and the religious themselves, are strictly ordered to observe and fulfil the above, as ordered by article 22 following, notwithstanding any privileges, regulations, rules, customs, and rights, and others non obstantibus, etc.

This decree then, of the holy council of Trent, has two parts—­one in which it is ordered that the said religious be immediately subject in regard to curas, and in all that pertains to the administration of sacraments, to the jurisdiction, visit, and correction of the bishops; and the other that, before being admitted to the said duty, they must obtain the consent of, and be examined by, the bishops or their vicars.  There has never been any innovation in the first; for, although the second part had the innovation that appears