In fulfilment of your Majesty's commands and of the obligation that rests upon us as your Majesty's loyal vassals and humble chaplains, we have every year rendered account to your Majesty of the progress made by this province of Philipinas of our father St. Augustine; and [have told you] how the religious of the province--whom your Majesty has sent to these regions, at the cost of his royal estate, for the conversion of these peoples and the direction of those who are converted--are and have been occupied, with the utmost solicitude, in fulfilling their obligations and your Majesty's command by gathering rich fruits, both spiritual and temporal. It is now eight years, [1] Sire, since this province received a brief from his Holiness Gregory Fifteenth of blessed memory, that was obtained improperly, through the efforts of the religious who are in this province who are born in these regions. In it his Holiness ordained that all the elections among the said religious, from that of provincial to that of the most petty official, should be shared between the religious of these regions and those who have come from Espana at your Majesty's cost. The execution of this decree was impossible, because the number of the said religious who were born in these regions was much less than that of the offices which, it was ordained, must be conferred upon them. On this account, appeal was made to his Holiness, who was more clearly informed [about the matter]. Nevertheless, these letters have caused great commotions in the order itself and in the community; for many persons in the colony, on account of being kindred of the religious of this country, and many others who, like those religious, were born here, have taken up the cause as their own--thinking that they are thus defending their native land. This is a difficulty that may give rise to many others; and these provinces have during all this time suffered many anxieties and losses, as will appear from the reports which we are sending to your Majesty with this letter. This year it pleased our Lord that another brief should come, from his Holiness Urban Eighth, which revoked the former brief of Gregory Fifteenth. It was sent to the archbishop of this city of Manila, so that he might--as the truth of the allegations made in Rome by the father-general of our holy order was evident--annul the former brief, and leave the elections of this province in the liberty which our constitutions provide, without any discrimination between nationalities. We gave many thanks to our Lord for the favor that He had granted us; for, with this second brief, we promised ourselves the peace and quiet that are necessary in order that we all may more freely occupy ourselves in our Lord's service, and in fulfilling the purpose for which your Majesty was pleased to send us to these lands. But such was not the case; for the archbishop was angry (according to what we can understand of the matter)