INSTRUCTIONS TO THE SECULAR CLERGY

1. Retirement and abstraction [from the world]; the priests shall not

enter any house except to administer the sacraments, or to perform

some function proper to one who has the care of souls.

2. They shall explain the Christian doctrine and the gospel, using

at least half of the time for this holy exercise in the Castilian

language.

3. They shall visit, both afternoon and morning the schools for boys,

which our curas shall be under obligation to promote in their villages

with every endeavor; and, if it be possible, the schools for girls.

4. [They shall pay] all respect and courtesy to the governors of

their villages and the officials of justice, not allowing the latter

to remove their caps when in the presence of the priests, and much

less to serve them at the table--warning them that they must not leave

their wands or insignia of justice on the stairs or in any other place,

but always and everywhere carry these with them.

5. They shall not meddle with elections; and the affection and

reverence of the people will be won if they attend solely to the

welfare of souls and give personal advice.

6. They shall promote peace among their parishioners by all means;

and shall exhort them to shun idleness and cultivate their lands.

7. They shall strive to banish the sport of cock-fighting, not sparing

any effort for this, and the same with drunkenness.

8. They shall not allow the dalagas [i.e., young girls] or any woman

to clean the church; the sacristans must perform this duty.

9. Any cura who shall not attend to the adornment and cleanliness of

his church will be punished with the utmost severity.

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 50 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century · 第 95 / 108 题