s Holiness, Pius Fifth,
in order that they might not be visited in matters touching curas
and ministers of souls; and that the bishops had no jurisdiction
over their ministries. I began, in fulfilment of the aforesaid,
the visitation on the twenty-fourth of the past month of June, at a
ministry in charge of the Order of St. Francis, in the suburbs of
Manila. Proceeding to the visit, I found so much resistance from
the religious missionaries, both on reading the edict, and when I
happened to request them to open the sacristy in order to inspect the
casket of the most holy sacrament, that it was necessary to order that
under censure, and that was not sufficient to make them agree to my
request. Accordingly, I declared and announced that the minister of
that mission was excommunicated. For the time being I contented myself
with that effort, with which, in order to avoid scandal, I returned
home, with the intention of asking aid from this royal Audiencia.

But the said minister regarded the ecclesiastical censures and his
prelate as of so little moment, that his subsequent action was just
as if he had not been excommunicated and denounced. In a general
procession that this cathedral made to the chapel of Nuestra Senora
de Guia, for the happy arrival of the ships that we were awaiting
from Nueva Espana, in which were the royal Audiencia, cabildo, city,
and orders--all aware of the event of the previous day, for even the
most secret thing is known in a city so small--all were universally
scandalized. Consequently, my provisor, in order to avoid that scandal,
was obliged to order the said minister to leave the procession, and not
to furnish the bad example that he was setting by showing contempt for
ecclesiastical censures. As he refused to leave, the provisor removed
him from the procession, ordering the fiscal of this archbishopric
to follow him until he ejected him from the procession. As it was a
matter that concerns, and is dependent on, the visit, all the orders
were so angry over it that, speaking through the mouth of the Order of
St. Francis, they elected as judge conservator a friar of St. Dominic,
the rector of this college of Manila, in order to avoid any further
attempts in the said visit to the ministries of the orders. The judge
conservator, without informing me of any apostolic letter or brief of
his Holiness pertaining to the said conservatorship, posted decrees
next day in the churches and public places, decla