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_Ana de Christo Bicaria_

PETITION FOR AID TO THE SEMINARY OF SAN JUAN DE LETRAN

Sire:

Brother Juan Geronimo Guerrero, [24] who has charge of the seminary of
Sant Juan de Letran for orphan boys in the city of Manila, declares
that in consideration of the general welfare of the said children,
and their education and teaching, your Majesty was pleased to order
Don Fernando de Silva, governor of those islands, by your royal decree
of July 16, 623, to aid the said seminary with some taxes, so that
the boys in it might be reared and supported. But, as no taxes were
found, the said royal decree has had no effect; and to this day not
more than the small sum of three hundred pesos has been assigned to the
seminary--an amount so small that it does not suffice to provide shoes
for the boys who are now there. The number there is daily increasing,
and the expenses incurred are very considerable and the alms but
little. With what they have they cannot be supported. In order that
so pious a work may continue, and so that those orphan boys may be
suitably assisted with the necessaries of life, and not be ruined:

He petitions your Majesty that, favoring by your sovereign mercy a work
so greatly to the service of our Lord, you will be pleased to order
that some encomienda of Indians, or a pension from those that shall
be allotted, may be set aside for the said seminary--or in any other
manner which your Majesty pleases, and for the period that your royal
will deems best. [I ask this] because from it will follow considerable
profit for your royal service; for the boys reared there incline to
become soldiers, and up to the present time forty of them have gone out
to serve your Majesty in that employ, while five have become friars,
and twelve are studying. And, in order that they may learn the art of
navigation, will your Majesty be pleased to command an examined pilot
to come to the said seminary to teach it to them. Will your Majesty
also be pleased to order that, inasmuch as there are many children
of Spaniards among the Indian women of these islands, conceived by
the latter, these children may be taken from them and brought to be
reared in the said seminary, so that they may not become idolaters
like the Indian women, when they are grown. Our Lord will be served
by that, and will receive especial blessing and favor.

[_Endorsed:_ "The seminary of Sant Juan de Letran for orphan boys in
the city of Manila."]

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