The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898/Volume 1/Papal Bull, Eximiæ

PAPAL BULL, EXIMIÆ

November 16, 1501

 

Source: See Bibliographical Data at end of this volume.

Translation: By Rev. Thomas Cooke Middleton, O.S.A.

BULL, EXIMIÆ—NOVEMBER 16, 1501

Alexander, bishop, servant of the servants of God: to the Catholic sovereigns of Spain—Ferdinand the king, dearest son in Christ, and to Elizabeth [Isabella] the queen, dearest daughter in Christ, health and Apostolic blessing. The sincerity of your great devotion and the unswerving faith with which you honor us and the Roman Church merit, and not unworthily, that your wishes, especially those relating to the spread of the Catholic faith, and the overthrow of infidel and barbarous nations, should be freely and promptly granted. Indeed, on your behalf, a petition recently laid before us set forth that, impelled by pious devotion for the spread of the Catholic faith, you greatly desire—inasmuch as quite recently, and not without great expense and effort on your part, you began and from day to day continue to do more toward the capture and recovery of the islands and regions of the Indies, to the end that in those lands wherever any accursed belief obtains, the Most High should be worshiped and revered; and inasmuch as for the recovery of the islands and regions aforesaid, it will be incumbent upon you to incur heavy expenses and undergo great perils, it is expedient that for the conservation and maintenance of the said islands, after their capture and recovery by you, and for the defraying of the expenses necessary for the conservation and maintenance of the same,—you should be empowered to exact and levy tithes^[1] on the inhabitants of the aforesaid islands and dwellers therein for the time being. On this account we have been humbly petitioned on your behalf to deign through our apostolic graciousness to make in the premises suitable provision for you and your state. Therefore yearning most eagerly for the spread and increase of that same faith particularly in our own days, we commend in the Lord your loving and praiseworthy purpose, and being favorably disposed thereto we hereby through our apostolic power in virtue of these presents do as a special favor grant to you and your successors for the time being that in the aforesaid islands after their capture and recovery (as observed) you may receive a tithe from the inhabitants thereof and the dwellers therein for the time being, and levy the same freely and lawfully, providing after dioceses shall there be established (whereon we charge your consciences as well as your successors'), you first from your own and their estate shall really and effectively devise a sufficient revenue for the establishment of churches in those islands through you and your aforesaid successors, whereby the incumbents of the same and their administrators may support themselves suitably, carry on the necessary work of those churches for the time being, as well as celebrate rightly the divine worship of Almighty God, and fulfil all diocesan requirements. The Lateran Council, other apostolic constitutions and ordinances or other decrees, to the contrary notwithstanding. Let no one then infringe this our grant, nor dare with rashness to contravene its provisions. But should any one presume to set it at naught, let him recognize that he has thereby incurred the displeasure of Almighty God, and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, in the year of the incarnation of our Lord one thousand five hundred and one, the sixteenth day of November, the tenth year of our Pontificate.

[The signatures and authorizations follow.]

1. Ordinarily the tithes in each diocese were divided into four equal parts—of which one was set aside for the bishop, and one for the chapter. Then the other two were divided into nine portions (novenii), whereof one and one-half were for the fabrica of the church (the corporate body who administered its temporalities, consisting of the cura and churchwardens), four for the parrocos (parish priests) and lower clergy, one and one-half for the hospitals, and two for the King—all but this last being variable. See Baluffi's America en tempo Spagnuola (Ancona, 1844), ii, p. 41.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O. S. A.