a
distance. All their care is to be Christians, and to be initiated in
baptism. In these fifteen days in which we have instructed them in
the rudiments of the Christian faith, there have been baptized more
than two hundred and fifty adults. There remain forty catechumens,
for the rest will be baptized after our return.

"An old man, a chief who is held in high honor, and who has hitherto
been obstinate, has at last told me that he is ready to bow his
head to baptism. He is all white-haired and decrepit, so that he
can scarcely combine word with word. Since he is unable to come to
church, I am compelled to go to his house. I will baptize him, with
another man of advanced age, as early as possible. It seems to me no
small evidence that they have been predestinated, that both of them
have waited so long, and that they now begin to glow with so great
a desire for baptism."

With regard to another mission, Father Gabriel Sanchez writes that the
archdeacon of Zebu, who holds a benefice in Tana, went to the island
of Bohol, twelve leagues distant, to ask our superior for a father
skilled in the language, to preach the gospel to his tribe. Father
Gabriel was sent, and in one month heard four hundred confessions,
and offered to many the sacred body of the Lord. He also baptized
eighty small children and some larger ones. The custom was there
introduced of having boys march in procession in the public streets,
and chant the Christian belief. The same thing has been done in the
church, so greatly to the delight of the people that even the chiefs
of the tribe think it small honor to them if they are not sometimes
examined in the same belief.

The Indian wife of a local governor was bedridden, and one night began
to suffer so intensely that she was entirely deprived of the power of
speech. A father of the Society was called, who found her entirely
speechless. And since she had not confessed her sins, although she
tried to do so, the father began to recite the holy gospel, and to
sprinkle her with holy water; and when this was done she collected
her strength and, after pronouncing the name of Jesus, said, "Have
mercy upon me!" Then, in the presence of many, she desired to confess;
and after less than a quarter of an hour she arose from her bed, so
well and whole that the father would not listen to her, but directed
her to come to church on the following day to make her confession,
which she did. The same thing happened to the sa