Thus, what the ecclesiastical estate receives from the king and from
the Indians, for only the spiritual administration of the latter,
amounts to the sum of four hundred and thirty-two thousand, six hundred
and twenty-nine pesos, six tomins, without including what is produced
by the chaplaincies founded in the churches of some ministries,
or by the confraternities--which are worth much, on account of
duplicated offerings, since in them are enrolled not only the living
but the dead. Nor [does it include] the wax for novenaries, masses,
and other services which through devotion are offered by the Indians
and mestizos; or the offerings at the sanctuaries, to which in all
the provinces many people repair with wax and offerings for masses;
or the sure revenue [from the charge] of fifteen pesos for every feast
of the numberless visitas and chapels which are in all the villages
(more than those which are celebrated in the principal churches);
or the amounts received, at the burials, from the distinction of
the silver from the wooden cross--so that, although in a certain
village there may not be a silver cross, there are two of wood, and
one of them is distinguished from the other by the amount of the fees
[imposed for its use].
Nor have there been included in the said item the five hundred pesos
which are annually paid from the royal treasury to the convents
of Manila in order that they may support one or two religious who
are versed in the dialects of the provinces; or the alms which
they receive from the charitable foundations [obras pías] of the
Misericordia, and from those which have been founded in each order;
or the proceeds from the leasing of their lands acquired by donations,
chaplaincies, and legacies; or the premium or interest from the funds
of the confraternities, etc.
Likewise should be added the fees for burials, which, although they
belong to the fabricas of the churches, are received by the curas
and ministers of the doctrinas, and they are not willing to render
account of these to the vice-patronship.
Besides that which is for the spiritual administration, the religious
orders in these islands receive enormous amounts of money every year
from the proceeds of the houses, mills, ranches, and other properties
which they possess, here and in México; for they collect some rents
that are exorbitant for the cultivated lands, exacting more than
twenty per cent of the actual value of the said lands.