l services, and religious instruction. Little has been done in
opening the Igorrote mines--a task which Fajardo is warned to push
forward. He has sent troops and supplies safely to Ternate. He is
having much trouble in regard to the residencia of his predecessor,
the late Juan de Silva; and complains of the shelter and countenance
given to Auditor Messa by the Dominicans. Fajardo recounts various
matters of government and his procedure therein; also the annoyances
and hindrances which he experiences from the friars. He commends,
however, the Jesuits and their work, suggesting that more of them
should be sent to the islands. He is perplexed and hindered by the
lack of soldiers, but is doing his best with his small forces. The
Council orders the viceroy of Nueva Espana to send every year to
Filipinas all the reenforcements in his power.

The archbishop of Manila sends to the king (July 30, 1621) an
account of ecclesiastical and some other affairs in his diocese. He
asks permission to hold an ecclesiastical council, and to hold the
feast of Corpus Christi at some other and more convenient date than
it has on the calendar. He complains of the poverty of the Manila
cathedral, and asks for aid; also of the governor's failure to consult
him regarding appointments to prebends, and of the incapacity for
canonical offices of certain royal appointees. Serrano commends the
members of his chapter, some of them individually and by name. The
two colleges in Manila are training so many students that they
cannot find positions in the church, and the archbishop is greatly
pained by their consequent poverty and humiliation. He asks for more
competent bishops to be sent to the islands; and for authority to be
given to religious ministers there to grant absolution for certain
impediments to marriage which render divorces among the natives too
easy. The friars who have charge of instructing the natives ought to
be subject to inspection by the bishops, and thus various abuses would
be corrected. Affairs in Japan are in great confusion, on account of
the persecution of the Christians; and Serrano recommends that Fray
Sotelo be not allowed to go thither as bishop of Japan. He details a
controversy that has arisen between the Jesuits and the Dominicans in
Manila over the refusal of confession to the dying Juan de Messa; the
archbishop is obliged to call an ecclesiastical council to settle the
matter, and they decide in favor of the Jesuits. Trou