diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

26. Loc. cit., 242.27. Loc. cit., 244-245.28. Loc. cit., 247.29. Loc. cit., 250.30. Wealth, together with corruption, ignorance, pride, disdain for theFilipinos, and the violation of celibacy, is one of the complaints Rizal morefrequently airs against the Franciscans. For example, he repeats the charge inNoll me tangere and El Filibusterismo, as well as in Los Sucesos de las IslasFilipinas, 346, n. 2. Against Morga's observation about the Dominicans andthe Franciscans, unlike what was happening in the case of the other religiousorders, as the Augustinians, the Jesuits, etc., Rizal notcs: "This could be truein Morga's time, but it seems that since then, these oidert changed, becausetoday they own property ...." Rizal knew the subject well. He had studied theprimitive legislation of the Dominicans and investigated their comfortableeconomic situation in Hongkong, but I do not know if he did the same aboutthe Franciscans. It is understood these owned not a single centimo inHongkong when Rizal passed by that English colony in 1888, and he doesnot, as a matter of fact, mention them when speaking of Dominicans andAugustinians. As for the Franciscan properties, these were limited only totheir convents in Manila and in San Francisco del Monte, then aninhospitable and unhealthy location a few kilometers outside the city Ii. e.,Intramuros today]. Nonetheless, the Franciscans do not seem to have had areputation of being poor, as Felix Huerta himself admits: Archivo FranciscoIbero-Oriental (formerly Archivo de Pastrana), 248/4-2. Why? In reality, as acorporation they could not have been in an enviable fmancial position in1898, when the Philippines fell. They were unable to pay the fare of themissionaries expelled from the country, and to obtain the needed funds theywere forced to toy with the idea of selling the convent of San Francisco inIntramuros which housed the Provincial curia. No other order found itself insuch financial penury. It is, possible Rizal may have known the bankruptcy ofthe most powerful corporation in the Philippines, Russel and Sturgis, whenhe was still studying in Manila. Among its creditors were, besides others, theProcurator of the Franciscans and a certain number of pastors of the sameOrder, a scandal to the residents of Manila which was denounced by theFranciscans themselves: AFIO, 2297, 4-2. Still, Rizal was perfectly awarethe economic clout of the Franciscans was minimal compared with thatenjoyed by the Dominicans, Augustinians, Recollects, Jesuits, etc.290