Letter written by his Majesty to the venerable and devout father provincial of the Order of St. Dominic of the Philipinas Islands
(Copied faithfully from the original.)
The King. To the venerable and devout father provincial of the Order of St. Dominic of the Philipinas Islands. From different reports which I have received, I have learned of the disturbance and disquiet caused among the religious of that province by the division of it that was made by virtue of letters obtained from the general of the order by Fray Diego Collado, and by the aid given him for the purpose by Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, my governor and captain-general of these islands. I desired that the said briefs should not be executed, since they were not approved by my royal Council of the Indias; and hence, looking rather to the conformity of the religious with the rule of the order, and to the quiet of that province, and perceiving that the said division must cause some relaxation therein, I have commanded my said governor and captain-general of these islands, and my royal Audiencia, to suspend the said brief and all other briefs brought by the said Fray Diego Collado, without permitting them to be executed. And I have commanded that the division of the provinces which has been made shall be annulled, and that they shall return to the condition in which they were before the said division. I accordingly request and direct you to attend to it, on your part, that these said provinces shall be placed in the state in which they were before Collado to España immediately. That this may have effect, I have in a letter of this day commanded my said governor to have him provided with passage. You will inform me at the first opportunity of what you shall have done in execution of what I thus request of you. Dated at Madrid, February first, in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-seven.
I the King
By command of our lord the king:
Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon