masses during that year of 1636; for one was lacking in the cathedral,
from which arose certain troubles. The cabildo resisted him, refused
to obey the act for the appointment of one, and denied that the
archbishop had authority and jurisdiction for it. As an argument
that he did not possess it, they declared that he had not presented
the confirmation of his Holiness and the pallium, and the year in
which he had taken oath to present it had passed. That caused the
archbishop considerable anxiety, for the cabildo presented itself
in the [Audiencia] session with a plea of fuerza, and the matter was
declared against the archbishop. Various opinions were given in this
matter by the universities and by erudite persons; and consequently,
that suit lasted a long time, until, at the arrival of the ships from
Nueva Espana, the pallium and the bulls of confirmation came to the
archbishop. New disturbances were feared, in case the contrary should
happen, and the method adopted for adjusting this matter was that the
archbishop jointly with the cabildo should appoint the collector of
the contributions for the masses, and that is still observed in the
cathedral of Manila.

The archbishop had scarcely gotten out of that matter when he found
himself involved in another of no less importance; for the governor,
Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, wished to appoint a governor to
the bishopric of Camarines, because of the death of its bishop, Don
Fray Francisco Zamudio. That thrust gave the archbishop considerable
anxiety, as he had experienced fully the despotic disposition of
the governor. But he could do no less than oppose it, as it was a
matter which concerned the ecclesiastical authority and the spiritual
jurisdiction; and the archbishops have always made the appointment
in the vacancies that have occurred in these islands, as it pertains
to them by their right as metropolitans. The governor threw himself
with all his might into what he had commenced, and gave the bishop to
understand that that occasion for dispute would end worse than the
past; and he continued to arrange matters in so high-handed a way,
that the archbishop feared what the governor threatened. But God
permitted that that controversy be settled by the interposition
of zealous and influential persons, who mollified the governor;
and it was settled that the archbishop should name three subjects,
so that the governor might appoint one of them. For that purpose
the archb