In view of the aforesaid, and considering that the Audiencia gave no support to the archbishop, so that he might prosecute the said visit that he had begun, he insisted no further on it.  But “so that the aforesaid might be apparent to his Majesty, and that the latter might provide what relief he pleased, the archbishop ordered—­and he did so order—­a testimony to be sent to the royal Council of the Yndias of all that had been done, and that the briefs mentioned in this act be sent also ... "

At the same time he wrote the following letter to his Majesty:]

Sire.

Finding myself obliged, both by the holy council of Trent and a brief of his Holiness Gregory Fourteenth, and by the restraining decrees of your Majesty, in regard to the visiting of the religious missionaries by the bishops—­respecting curacies, and that they do not exercise such office without being examined beforehand in the language of the natives that they administer—­I determined to carry out so holy mandates, from which so many blessings must result to the service of God and that of your Majesty.  Accordingly, having declared my purpose to the superiors of the said orders, three months before beginning the said visit, by means of a letter or notification which I gave them, in which I cited the passages of the said holy council, the brief of his Holiness, and the decrees of your Majesty, they responded to me orally, saying that they had an indult from his Holiness, Pius Fifth, in order that they might not be visited in matters touching curas and ministers of souls; and that the bishops had no jurisdiction over their ministries.  I began, in fulfilment of the aforesaid, the visitation on the twenty-fourth of the past month of June, at a ministry in charge of the Order of St. Francis, in the suburbs of Manila.  Proceeding to the visit, I found so much resistance from the religious missionaries, both on reading the edict, and when I happened to request them to open the sacristy in order to inspect the casket of the most holy sacrament, that it was necessary to order that under censure, and that was not sufficient to make them agree to my request.  Accordingly, I declared and announced that the minister of that mission was excommunicated.  For the time being I contented myself with that effort, with which, in order to avoid scandal, I returned home, with the intention of asking aid from this royal Audiencia.

But the said minister regarded the ecclesiastical censures and his prelate as of so little moment, that his subsequent action was just as if he had not been excommunicated and denounced.  In a general procession that this cathedral made to the chapel of Nuestra Senora de Guia, for the happy arrival of the ships that we were awaiting from Nueva Espana, in which were the royal Audiencia, cabildo, city, and orders—­all aware of the event of the previous day, for even the most secret thing is known in a city so small—­all were universally scandalized.  Consequently, my