MONTERO DE ESPINOSA, DR. FERNANDO.--Native of Búrgos; becomes secular priest; doctor of theology in Salamanca University, and holds other offices; first palace cura of Felipe IV, when royal chapel was erected into a parish church; a noted preacher; administrator of the hospital outside of Toledo; presented as bishop of Nueva Segovia in 1642; consecrated in Mexico in 1643; May 20, 1644, while on way to islands, receives presentation as archbishop; embarks at Acapulco, in March, 1645; arrives at the port of Lampon, at the end of July of that year; sets out for Manila, but dies at Pila, in Laguna de Bay, of fever; funeral celebrated on day he was to have made his public entrance into Manila; 45 years old; buried beside Benavides, but his remains afterward removed to the sagrario of the curas by Archbishop Poblete. VACANT SEE.--Ecclesiastical cabildo governs; although it is agreed that the different members of the cabildo shall govern by months, the dean obtains the upper hand through connivance with the governor's favorite Venegas, and a vicar general is elected. In this period occurs the Jesuit-Dominican contest as to priority of colleges; the Franciscans are disturbed by interior dissensions; while the cabildo itself is racked by internal dissensions; the royal decree ordering St. Michael the Archangel to be published as patron of the islands is put into force. POBLETE, DR. MIGUEL DE.--Secular priest; born in Mexico, in 1603; a professor in the university; occupies some of the best ecclesiastical posts in Nueva España; resigns the bishopric of Nicaragua in 1644; the decree of his presentation as archbishop of Manila, dated May, 1648; keeps decree hid for more than a month before showing it; consecrated at the archiepiscopal palace at Mexico, Sept. 9, 1650; reaches Cavite, July. 22, 1653, with Governor Manrique de Lara; latter requests him to go ashore first and bless the country, on account of the troubles of the former archbishop; makes solemn entry, July 24; at Lent of 1654 the brief of Innocent X (Aug. 7, 1649), giving benediction and absolution to the land placed in force; tries to enforce episcopal visit of regulars, who oppose him strongly, and resign their curacies, compelling the archbishop to restore them for want of seculars to put in their place; quarrels with Governor Salcedo, who refuses to pay the ecclesiastical stipends, whereupon the cabildo is suspended for the time being, and Poblete tries to borrow 2,000 pesos with which to satisfy the most pressing needs of the cabildo; trouble over the appointment to the office of dean of the cabildo, which falls vacant; rebuilds cathedral, laying the first stone, April 20, 1654; begs alms for cathedral, and applies to it 22,000 pesos, which has been contributed to it by the inhabitants of Manila; dies on the day of the Conception, Dec. 8, 1667; orders body not embalmed, but his orders disregarded; buried (governor participating in obsequies), Dec.