Carta pastoral sobre la necesidad, y utilidad de los sacramentos de penitencia, y comunion, y la obligacion, que tienen los fieles de recivirlos por precepto de la Iglesia. La qual dirige a sus amados hijos, ovejas de su cargo, especialmente Indios naturales, y Mestizos su pastor, padre, y prelado el illmo. y rmo PHILIPPINES. Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina, Basilio (1728-1788)

Bound in full red morocco by Bernard Middleton in Spanish colonial style, ornamental gilt borders and spine, upper board with contrasting leather title label lettered in gilt; silk lined end-papers. Very rare. Newberry and Duke only in the U.S. Printed on rice paper. Title page with woodcut arms of the Archbishop of Manila, cross at head of text, decorative initial. A good copy, the paper bright and with broad margins, the majority of the text clean but with several marginal restorations to the opening leaves and some slim worm tracks, mostly confined to the margins but entering the text (affecting a few letters but with no loss of sense) on the opening leaves and final leaf. First edition of the pastoral letter, written to address Filipinos reluctance to make confession, addressed especially to indigenous Filipinos ("especialmente Indios naturales, y Mestizos") by the Archbishop of Manila, Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina, whose program of church reform in the Philippines included the filling of vacant parishes with native secular priests. The work was printed on the press which was run by the Jesuits - the fourth printing press in the Philippines. The press was requisitioned by Santa Justa when he established the Real Seminario de San Carlos in the former Colegio San José (the Jesuits having been expelled from the Philippines in 1768), thus making it the fifth printing press in the Islands. The printer, the Indigenous Filipino Pedro Ignacio Advíncula, also worked as an engraver. Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina was the fifteenth Archbishop of Manila, an office he held from 1766 to 1787. As part of his responsibilities, he was required to make a visitation to the Philippines, a responsibility that he undertook eagerly, with the intention of instituting reform. Yet it brought him into conflict with the provincial government and the clergy. "It was a thankless mission, for it had a threefold purpose: pastoral, to consolidate episcopal jurisdiction among the regular clergy, and to gradually transfer parishes to the native secular clergy. The resistance of the regular clergy is understandable, as it meant relinquishing gains achieved with enormous sacrifices, handing them over to the indigenous people, and accepting the Crown's interference in their domestic affairs."[ Una misión ingrata, pues tenía un triple fin: pastoral, afianzar la jurisdicción episcopal entre los regulares y traspasar pausadamente las parroquias al clero secular nativo. Se comprende la resistencia regular, pues suponía renunciar a conquistas logradas con enormes sacrificios, entregárselas a los indígenas y aceptar la injerencia de la Corona en sus asuntos domésticos." ("Basilio Tomás Sancho Herrando", in Real Academia de la Historia online.) He quickly attempted to enforce his right of episcopal visitation in all parishes of his see, a right that had been granted in the papal bull of Benedict XIV. Initially only the Dominican parishes were willing to comply. Members of the other religious orders sent letters of complaint to Madrid concerning what they perceived to be interference by the Archbishop in the affairs of their parishes; Santa Justa retaliated with his own counter-complaints. With the arrival of the new governor, Simón de Anda y Salazar, Santa Justa received the backing he required to fill all vacant parishes with native secular priests, a task made easier with the withdrawal of the Augustinians and Jesuits from the parishes. Title page translation: "Pastoral Letter on the Necessity and Usefulness of the Sacraments of Penance and Communion, and the Obligation of the Faithful to Receive Them by Precept of the Church. Addressed to Her Beloved Children, the Sheep of Her Charge, Especially the Indigenous and Mestizos, by Their Pastor, Father, and Prelate.". FIRST EDITION, printed on the former Jesuit press.