by Robert W. Haight; the fifth,
by Emma Helen Blair.

THE NUNS OF ST. CLARE AT MANILA

_Petition of their procurator_

Sire:

Fray Miguel Perez, discalced Recollect of the Order of St. Francis,
procurator and vicar for the nuns of the convent of St. Clare of
the city of Manila, in virtue of the authority which he holds from
the said convent (which he presents) says that, as is apparent from
the said authority, Captain Gaspar Mendez and other devout persons,
who have served and serve your Majesty in military affairs in the
Philipinas Islands, have done the same to the said convent for the
building of it and of the church, by giving them seven thousand ducados
in warrants for what your Majesty owes them from their pay. That has
served as an aid in their building. Having petitioned your Majesty to
grant favor to the said convent by ordering the royal officials to
pay the said warrants, by a decree of the Council of April sixteen
(which he presents), it was decreed that he should present the
warrants and declare whence they proceeded. As he has declared in
the same memorial that they proceed from the pay of soldiers, those
warrants, as they are unnecessary here, have not been brought. Hence,
since that money is to be used for a work so holy, he is confident
that your Majesty will grant them the favor whom they entreat, and
which they will receive as a special kindness from your Majesty.

Further, he says that your Majesty has ordered the viceroy of Nueva
Spana and the royal officials there that, in consideration of the
poverty which the discalced Recollect fathers in Philipinas profess
in accordance with their rule (as they cannot possess incomes), there
be given to them annually from the royal treasury what is necessary
for their sackcloth, medicines, breviaries, missals, and other things,
as is now given to them every year. The said order has a procurator in
Mexico who is urging that those articles be sent every year. Inasmuch
as the nuns of the said convent of St. Clare have no income, because
they profess the first rule of St. Clare, and in their case is found
the same cause and reason [for the royal bounty] as in the discalced
fathers, and some others, they petition your Majesty to have the
royal officials of Mexico give them annually what is necessary for
sackcloth, breviaries, missals, wine, and oil; and that also the
governor of Philipinas be ordered to give to the said convents the
medicines