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fury of the winds and waves, it was soon evident how great difficulty there must be in giving prompt aid to the sick--especially as the distance of the parish church was so great that many parishioners lived half a legua from it. On this account the burials also were solemnized with extreme inconvenience, and without the processional order which is the custom of the church. Besides this, it caused great confusion that the Spaniard who was owner of the house should belong to the said parish, and the servants, whether Indians or negroes, to that of the territory in which they happened to be. The Spaniards also were ashamed of having a parish church so poor and in so wretched a condition, for it was only a shelter of bamboos covered with nipa. For these reasons the parishioners had at various times asked that they might be joined to the parishes in which they lived; and now, on the occasion of a controversy which arose between the said cura and another parish priest over the question, to which of them belonged [the interment of] a deceased person, the Spaniards publicly appeared before the ordinary, asking that he would assign the parish churches according to the territories, in accordance with the custom throughout the church. When this request was considered by his illustrious Lordship, he gave information of it, and a copy of the petition, to the vice-patron, to whom this matter pertained by law. The governor showed this to the fiscal of his Majesty, who approved the desired change; and with this decision the governor decreed that the parishes should be divided according to the territories. He gave commission for this to his illustrious Lordship, who divided and allotted the parishes in the suburbs of Manila, with the system and order which are observed to this day declaring that to each parish church belonged all the persons who dwelt in its territory, whether Spaniards, Indians, or negroes. Notwithstanding that this arrangement was in every way so judicious, and had been made by the order of the vice-patron, with the approval and advice of the auditor fiscal, the former cura of the Spaniards considered it an injury and injustice, casting the blame for it all on his illustrious Lordship; and, making common cause with the clergy, he continued to disturb and disquiet their minds, until finally the cabildo arrogated to itself authority, interposing a letter to his illustrious Lordship that was very offensive to his dign
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