of the mendicant orders in the administration of the natives. He was
bishop in Manila, and thought that he ought not to allow the religious
so much freedom in the office that they were administering. He tried to
restrict them in many ways, and refused to concede much. The religious,
however, did not do less than to answer by pointing to the bulls of
the supreme pontiffs (called forth many times at the instance of the
Catholic sovereigns of Espana), and other _motus proprios_--all made
for the furtherance of good administration, and that the faith might
be propagated throughout the new kingdoms of their domains. The bishop
denied to the ministers everything pertaining to jurisdiction and
power; for he imagined that we could not grant dispensation in that
second degree for marriages, or exercise any judicial act of those
which recently--that is, ordinarily--they exercise over the newly
converted. This occasioned a great contention, and even scandal; for as
the country was new, and there was no other learning than that of his
Lordship--which doubtless was very great, and authorized by his dignity
and person--and that of our fathers, some said "yes," and others "no,"
some that they could, others that they could not. Thus everything
was in confusion, not only among Ours, but throughout the islands.

The father provincial was like a drowning man in this matter, and was
obliged to give attention to so grave a necessity as the present. As he
could devise no remedy here, he resolved to go to Espana, in order to
settle the whole matter. The bishop, who wished only to do the proper
thing, was glad of the voyage. He wrote some letters to religious of
the province of Mejico, whom he thoroughly trusted and believed in. He
set his doubts before them, and the arguments on which he grounded his
position, in order that the controversy might be settled amicably;
and that the province of Mejico, as the mother of this province,
might correct what his Lordship considered as excesses.

The father provincial left Manila and reached Nueva Espana. He left
his vicar in the Filipinas, namely father Fray Francisco Manrique. He
pursued his voyage, and reached Espana in safety, where he despatched
his business very favorably--both in the Roman court, where Gregory
XIII was governing the Church of God; and in the court of Espana,
where he obtained very favorable decrees from his Majesty, Felipe
II, our king and sovereign. The latter approved everythi