diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

The Dominicans had foreseen this quite clearly by 1868. They realizedthey would soon be expelled not only from Spain, but also from thePhilippines. Against this eventuality, they decided on an, extreme plan:survive in pagan lands by totally pouring themselves out hi their task tospread the Catholic faith. For this, the British economic emporium inHongkong was the key factor. There they planned to invest their funds inorder to be able to survive even with no other resources from their othermissions in Vietnam, China, or Formosa. They had to sell what they owned inthe Philippines, namely, the estates which had supported their houses offormation in Spain, their priests toiling in the missions, the social andeducational institutions in the Philippines, etc. They felt these institutionswould be secularized and the properties supporting them expropriated. Theyalso knew the tenants and lease-holders in their lands could create each dayproblems for them. They decided, therefore, to sell them, invest the returns inprojects that could bring them the greatest profits according to acceptedcapitalist practices.The first effort along this line was entrusted to Reixach, a trader beforebecoming a friar, according to Raimondi. The latter believed the"Dominicans in Manila would have a capital of more than 400,000 escudosinvested in loans at 12%" interest rate. As is usual in polemical writing, thisreport must have been exaggerated, but it could have some kernel of truth."9Raimondi's concealments were of another type. It was a question ofdiscretion regarding certaip economic projects which implied, not theviolation of religious poverty, but its proper interpretation in the newcircumstances imposed by a society strongly controlled by economic factors.He was moved by an unusual "shame" laudable in itself perhaps, but withoutaccepting its corresponding responsibilities.In this dispute, the Italians had political power, the Spaniards economic.And the latter lost. The Procurator of the Propagation in Hongkong becamethe Bishop of Hongkong, but the Dominican Procurator was recalled toManila. His replacement faced the same situation. The Dominican chapel inHongkong was closed to the public because Raimondi had convinced theCardinal Prefect of the Propagation in Rome the Portuguese would have inthe Spaniards the defenders of their Patronato real and, later, the formerNuntio expelled from Spain wrote the projected Iberian Union would berealized."° With this, the. Dominican plan to pour themselves out in the otherforeign missions fell through.Volonteri was a witness to all this. But he was unaware the economicprojects of Reixach who went about his business in his own carriage-43