Segovia. It is a beautiful stone building. It is forty brazas
long by fifteen wide, and five high. It has three principal doors,
corresponding to the three naves of its structure. Along the two side
aisles it has eight chapels on each side [of the church], with two
sacristies--one for Spaniards, and the other for the natives of this
country. The capacity of its choir is fifty-two. Its stalls are of
red wood. The steeple is high and beautiful, and has fourteen bells--a
larger number and larger in size than the old bells, and lately cast
anew--and has upper works of wood, which are not used. The church is
under the personal care and watchful management of the archbishop of
Manila who is now governing. The houses of the ecclesiastical cabildo
are contiguous to the church. [51]

515. Gregory XIII was the one who erected that first parochial church
into a cathedral, by his bull given at Roma in the seventh year of his
pontificate, namely, in that of 1578, at the petition of our Phelipe
II, king of the Espanas. He assigned it twenty-seven prebendaries of
whom the king appoints those who are necessary. They consist of five
dignitaries--dean, archdeacon, precentor, schoolmaster, and treasurer;
three canons (the fourth having been suppressed by the Inquisition,
as has been done throughout the Indias); and two whole and two half
racioneros, by virtue of a royal decree given in Valladolid, June 2,
1604, countersigned by Juan de Ybarra, the king's secretary. With
the above, and two curas, sacristans, master-of-ceremonies, verger,
etc., this church is very distinguished and well served, and the choir
is quite crowded at all canonical hours. At its first erection, the
advocacy of the most pure Conception was bestowed upon this church,
and it has been preserved up to the present time.

516. The archbishops of Manila receive the salary of 5,000 pesos of
common gold, by virtue of his Majesty's decree given at Madrid, May 28,
1680; the dean, 600 pesos, by virtue of royal presentation; the four
dignitaries of this holy church--namely, archdeacon, schoolmaster,
precentor, and treasurer--each receive 500 pesos, for the same reason;
the three canons--namely, the doctoral, the magistral, and he of
grace--each 400 pesos, for the same reason; the two racioneros,
each 300 pesos, for the same reason; the two medio-racioneros, each
200 pesos, for the same reason; the master-of-ceremonies, 200 pesos,
by a royal decree dated February 22, 1724; the