This entire clause appears inserted in the brief, after the relation which is made therein of the brief which his Holiness Gregory XV issued in favor of the alternate elections--which is the one which his Holiness [Urban VIII] revoked by the said letters, as appears by them. We presented this brief to the archbishop of Manila, to whom its execution came committed, with the cognizance of the clause _si preces veritate nitantur_; [14] and with the said brief the attorneys for our cause presented three certified statements by the provincial and definitory of this province, drawn from its books, and sworn to and signed by all. In one of these statements is contained the number of the religious in this province who took the habit and made profession in the kingdoms of Espana. Of these there are ninety-three, among whom are two youths graduated in theology; ten lecturers in arts and theology; thirty preachers who completed their studies in the realms and universities of Espana, and in that country received their diplomas as preachers; and twenty-four preachers who came to these islands before they completed their studies, and received that title in these provinces. In another statement is contained the number of the religious in this province who have taken the habit in the Indias; these are thirty-three. Six of them should be excluded: two of these are of Portuguese nationality, sons of the Congregation of Yndia--who, by a decree of his Majesty, and the decision of a full definitory of this province, are commanded to return to their own congregation. Two others are prevented from saying mass--one by old age, and the other by having been insane more than fifteen years. Another is of Japanese nationality; and the sixth is a mestizo, son of a Portuguese father and a Japanese mother. At the foot of this memorandum is a declaration by the definitory that there are other persons on the list therein who are disqualified, legally and by our constitutions, from holding offices in our holy order--whom, if it should be necessary, they will make known. In the third certificate is contained the number of offices that this province furnishes; there are eighty-four of these, in which must be counted the sixty-six convents of the order which are residences of ministers, and three others which are communities. The archbishop accepted these certified statements, and commanded, by an act which he issued officially, that the two religious who acted as attorneys for the religious who had taken the habit in the Indias should be notified of these statements; and that when they had examined and understood the papers, they must declare under oath whether these were authentic and legal, and if they had anything to add to them. After the said attorneys had examined and understood them, they declared that the statements were accurate and truthful; and likewise, by a juridical act of his Lordship, the same notification was made to