The hospital Order of St. John of God obtained permission from the king in 1627 to send ten religious to Manila. In 1656, the board of La Misericordia made those fathers a present of their old hospital. The king approved that gift, but the hospital has fallen many times. In 1726, the archbishop undertook to reestablish it, and to rebuild it again on new foundations; and that has been executed. That hospital is a vast and elegant building. The church is beautiful. The wards for the sick are large, and filled with very comfortable beds, and there are plenty of religious. Those fathers are very useful in Manila, for they are very charitable to the sick. The Spaniards of Manila and its environs send their domestics there when they are sick; and they are given especial care, and treated gratis. Those fathers are, beyond doubt, the most useful in Manila; but, in spite of that, they are poor and often in want. They live only on alms, and without the Confraternity of La Misericordia that house would find it hard to subsist. I shall make here only one reflection, which the love for humanity tears from me. The Confraternity of La Misericordia have amassed immense wealth, but they scatter and spend it on the unfortunate who are in need: the State itself has often found aid there. The religious orders also have their treasures, but I have been assured that no one benefits by them; and that, on the contrary, like those treasures of the Igolotes, their treasures only increase each year. Also the _Histoire Espagnole_ [_i.e._, "_Spanish History_"], that tells of the employment made by La Misericordia of its charitable contributions, is silent as to what the religious orders do with theirs. The discalced Franciscans went to Manila in 1577. They are allied to the Capuchins. [86] Their convent is superb and immense. They generally have thirty religious, besides fifty others who are nearly religious and who fill a like number of curacies in the archbishopric of Manila. Inside the convent enclosure is to be seen a fine chapel, where the holy sacrament is continually kept. That chapel is intended for the exercises of the tertiaries. Outside the walls of Manila, and a gunshot from that city, stands the hospital of San Lazaro; the Franciscan religious have charge of its temporal and spiritual administration. That hospital is for lepers, many of whom are seen in Manila. The Spanish call that disease _el mal lazaro_. [87] Article Twelve Of the bishops of the Philippines suffragan to Manila; and of the general number of Christian souls in those islands.