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