xcept Ceuta, on the African coast. The news of the separation
of Portugal from Spain reached Manila in the following year. The
Gov.-General at that time--Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera--at once
sent out an expedition of picked men under Juan Claudio with orders
to take Macao,--a Portuguese settlement at the mouth of the Canton
River, about 40 miles west of Hongkong. The attempt miserably failed,
and the blue-and-white ensign continued to wave unscathed over the
little territory. The Governor of Macao, who was willing to yield,
was denounced a traitor to Portugal, and killed by the populace. Juan
Claudio, who was taken prisoner, was generously liberated by favour
of the Portuguese Viceroy of Goa, and returned to Manila to relate
his defeat. [37]

The Convent of Santa Clara was founded in Manila in 1621 by Geronima
de la Asuncion, who, three years afterwards, was expelled from the
management by the friars because she refused to admit reforms in the
conventual regulations. The General Council subsequently restored
her to the matronship for 20 years. Public opinion was at this
time vividly aroused against the superiors of the convents, who,
it was alleged, made serious inroads on society by inveigling the
marriageable young women into taking the veil and to live unnatural
lives. The public demanded that there should be a fixed limit to
the number of nuns admitted. An ecclesiastic of high degree made
strenuous efforts to rescue three nuns who had just been admitted,
but the abbess persistently refused to surrender them until her
excommunication was published on the walls of the nunnery.

In 1750 a certain Mother Cecilia, who had been in the nunnery of Santa
Catalina since she was 16 years of age, fell in love with a Spaniard
who lived opposite, named Francisco Antonio de Figueroa, and begged
to be relieved of her vows and have her liberty restored to her. The
Archbishop was willing to grant her request, which was, however,
stoutly opposed by the Dominican friars. On appeal being made to the
Governor, as viceregal patron, he ordered her to be set at liberty. The
friars nevertheless defied the Governor, who, to sustain his authority,
was compelled to order the troops to be placed under arms, and the
commanding officer of the artillery to hold the cannons in readiness
to fire when and where necessary. In view of these preparations, the
friars allowed the nun to leave her confinement, and she was lodged in
the College of Santa