petition your Majesty to be pleased to have an answer written
to me regarding the matters of this letter that require a reply. For
since some of them concern the common welfare of the ministry, others
the special welfare of this church, and others that of this city,
I shall necessarily be forced to repeat them on all occasions until
I am certain that they have come to the notice of that royal Council
of your Majesty--whose very Catholic person may our Lord preserve
for the welfare of your kingdoms with the increase of many others,
as we your humble chaplains desire. Manila, July 30, 1621.

_Fray Miguel Garcia Serrano_,
archbishop of Manila.

[_Endorsed_: "Seen and decreed within. In the Council, September
30, 622."]

[The bull mentioned in the first part of the above letter follows:]

_Copy well and faithfully drawn of the bull in which his Holiness
concedes that the feast of Corpus Christi in Eastern Yndia and the
regions subject to the crown of Portugal, be anticipated or transferred
to another and more suitable day, besides other favors and privileges._

Antonius, by the divine mercy cardinal priest of the holy _Quatuor
Coronati_, [11] to the illustrious the most serene king of Portugale
and Algarbes, health in the Lord. According to the pledge of loyalty
enjoined upon us by the apostolic see, we willingly charge ourselves
with those matters whereby divine worship may everywhere be advanced,
the devotion of the faithful of Christ increased, and fitting regard
paid to the safety of their souls in the Lord.

In truth, the petition presented to us not long ago concerning your
interests stated that, since in the regions of the Indias, Ethiopia,
Arabia, and Persia (through favor of the divine clemency lately brought
under our rule), by reason of the difference of the seasons in those
countries, the day whereon the solemn feast of the sacrament of Corpus
Christi is celebrated, falls, according to ordinance of the universal
Church, in the winter time, wherefore it cannot be celebrated at that
season with due ceremonies and solemnity--[the faithful] are desirous
that the same feast be transferred to some other season outside of
winter, that it may be kept more fittingly and with greater honor.

Moreover, since the said countries are very far away from your kingdom
of Portugal, the cities and towns and provinces therein being also
at great distances from one another, it is therefore difficult for
any Catholic prel