rs that had been lopped off from the Church; and that by their
shrewdness and political methods they were insinuating themselves
into everything. Of the judge-conservator he said that one would
believe him a canon of London rather than of the cathedral of Manila;
that the Jesuits had made him a pope or popelet, and that through
him they had undertaken to give them [i.e., the other orders] pap;
[67] that he was a gambler, and that he had lost some thousands of
pesos, which I know is not the case. Of the governor, the preacher
said that he was a Pilate, and even much worse; since Pilate had
refused to intervene in the death of Christ, while the governor was
trying to take part in the controversies with the archbishop; he also
compared him to Herod. He talked very venomously about an auditor,
and, although he did not name him, it was just as if he had done so,
for one could plainly infer of whom he was speaking. He characterized
him as unjust and vicious, and all without other foundation than his
having declared that the judge-conservator was legal, contrary to
what the fathers of St. Dominic claimed. The muttering and commotion
among the audience were very marked. It is a fact that many of us
think that the preacher had no other aim or motive than to disturb and
rouse the crowd so that there should be an uprising, as there had been
in Nueva Espana. And as I have already begun this matter of sermons,
and so that I may not afterward interrupt the thread of my discourse,
I shall say somewhat here to your Grace of the many disorders that
have happened in this direction.

On the day of St. Lucy, December 13, in the convent of the
Recollects of St. Augustine, father Fray Andres del Spiritu Santo
preached. I was present, and his whole sermon was a satire against the
judge-conservator, the fathers of the Society, and the governor. He
said many evil things of them, all of which I do not remember
in detail, except that he said, by mistake, of the fathers of the
Society that they were Hippocrates; and then, immediately correcting
himself, that they were hypocrites and arrogant fellows, and that it
was the Society not of Jesus, but of the devil. He characterized the
judge-conservator as a vicious fellow. The same father preached on
the afternoon of Palm Sunday, in his convent. He said of the governor
that he was not setting [a good] example in having founded the royal
chapel in the palace, where he hears preaching, because he does no