On the fourth day of August in the year 1677, dedicated to our glorious patriarch St. Dominic, a royal decree was received in Manila in which our Catholic monarch Don Carlos II appointed for archbishop of Manila father Fray Felipe Pardo--who that year had completed his second provincialate and now was filling the post of commissary of the Holy Office. In the latter office he had given, before this second provincialate, such proofs of good judgment that report of his abilities had reached Madrid; and these alone, without any other backing, had procured for him so high a dignity. The choice of him [as bishop] was received in this community with universal acclamation and applause, on account of the esteem that was merited by his abilities, accredited by the experience that all had of his success and discretion in government--not only in the two provincialates which he had obtained, but also, as I have indicated, in the commissariat of the Inquisition; all therefore confidently expected in him a prelate discreet and accomplished in all respects. Our father Fray Felipe Pardo alone, distrustful of his suitability for that office--either on account of his sixty-seven years of age, or in view of the difficulty of the task--was greatly perplexed about accepting it. Indeed, it was necessary at the end of two months, to make requisition on him, in accordance with the rules established by the councils regarding immediate acceptance by those thus appointed, under penalty of the appointment being annulled, and the see being again declared vacant. [He finally accepts (November 11 of that year) the dignity of archbishop, and by special decree of the king enters on his duties before being consecrated (which occurs on October 28, 1681), "the first archbishop who has governed this archbishopric without being consecrated, and the first who has been consecrated in these islands." Having spent thirty years in that country, he has much knowledge of it and of its moral and social conditions, and much experience in ecclesiastical government. "He was very learned in theology, whether speculative or practical, moral or scholastic; and very expert in the despatch of business." He is aided in his duties by Fray Raymundo Berart, very learned in canon and civil law, who has left great opportunities of advancement in Espana "to come to this poor province, to serve in the ministry of souls--as he actually learned the Tagal language, and spent some time in ministering to the Indians in the district of Batan."]