oversy that I ordered them by a decree to
put an end to both contentions. Both orders agreeing to dispute in
my presence, I assigned judges from my cabildo, and from the orders
of St. Augustine and St. Francis, and learned persons of the city,
to be present at the disputation, and consider the arguments on each
side. This was done, and the result was that, having assembled the
other day, all the judges declared, _nemine discrepante_ [_i.e._,
"no one dissenting"], that the opinion of the Society was pious and
reasonable, and could be followed. The reverend Dominican fathers
greatly resented this decision, and tried to carry their point by
persuading the people to accept their conclusions. I thought it a
matter of scandal to condemn ministers, in an affair of the sacraments,
by asserting that they were committing sacrilege. I issued a censure,
and ordered that no one should agree to their conclusions, and that the
Dominicans should not hold them. Upon this second decree they elected
a judge-conservator who accepted the office, but did not continue
in it; so the cause was suspended, and the parties intended to have
recourse to Roma regarding the case. At this juncture the ritual of
our very holy father Paul V, with a bull of his Holiness, dated Roma,
June 17, 1614, came to my hands, in which they order absolution to
such a penitent, who asks for confession after losing his power of
speech, if he shall give signs, in person or through others, of his
desire. Upon seeing the said ritual, I ordered it to be published,
and it was done on the day of Sts. Peter and Paul, in our church of
Manila, this year of 621. A judicial record was made of all of this
matter, and authentic papers with the arguments of each party. That
alone is being sent to your Majesty as a report, in order to inform
you of everything, as is my duty. [_Marginal note_: "Seen."]

The Order of St. Francis in these islands is discalced. There
is generally a visitor from the commissaries, who is sent by
the commissary-general of Nueva Espana, who must be of the same
discalced. This year one came, who was not received by the provincial
and his definitors because he did not come in the way required by the
rules and privileges of this their province. Although the Audiencia
tried to admit the one from Nueva Espana, matters came to such a pass
and so menacing a condition that by way of authority, and in order
to avoid scandals, Don Alonso Faxardo, governor of these isl