Sire:

In the city of Cáceres there is a hospital where the religious of
St. Francis attend with much charity to the treatment of the sick,
Spaniards as well as natives. It is very poor, and on the verge
of ruin. May your Majesty be pleased to extend to it some alms,
to erect another building for it, and provide it with some income,
that it may aid in the maintenance of the sick who are being treated
in it, particularly the natives, who suffer great want on account of
having no income. The city furnishes very little to the aid of the
said hospital, because the citizens are few and poor. Accordingly,
I know of no other remedy but to have recourse to your Majesty, that,
as you are so Catholic a king and a patron of all the churches and
hospitals of these islands, you may supply this need, and give them
the aid which may appear most fitting to your Majesty, particularly in
the case of this hospital, which suffers such dire need. Although I am
desirous of alleviating this, I cannot, as I also am poor. Accordingly
I beg and beseech your Majesty to have pity upon it and aid it, and
give it what your Majesty may judge sufficient. It seems to me that
your Majesty might order the governor of these islands to assign some
of the Indians from vacant encomiendas, to apply to this purpose,
and give to this hospital to aid it. In this your Majesty will do a
great service to our Lord, and a very gracious favor and good to the
said hospital, and to me who am seeking this in its name. As it is
a work of such piety and service for our Lord, I have dared to make
this request. May He protect your Majesty many happy years, for the
good of His church. Manila, the twentieth of July, of the year one
thousand six hundred and eleven.

_Fray Pedro Arce_, bishop-elect of Nueva Cáceres.