d so that it may not break. I grieve over this, that it is
said in the order, so that at times some reasonable recreation may
be allowed; but in that which touches the essential aspects of it,
it does not seem right that it be lost, for never have I seen that
what is once lost in point of religion is regained. It appeared,
therefore, easier to our father St. Ignatius to found a new order
than to reform an old one, where its members were already used to
such and such a manner of life. It is a hard thing, when established,
to reduce them to a greater degree of virtue. And since those men
must remain in the same order, it is always an impossible thing to
reduce them to that which they have never observed....

Father Fray Pedro de Arce, who was chosen at this elevation, was such
a person that, were I to praise him, I think, that my tongue would
do him an injury, for another pen and another language must tell his
virtues. He came to this province as a lay brother. He was ordained
here and completed his studies, and always gave signs of what he was
to become; for his modesty, his charity, his devotion, even while a
brother, appeared so conspicuous, and were increasing in such a manner,
that not only were the islands full of his good name and great virtues,
but they even came to the ears of Felipe III, who presented him for
the bishopric of Santisimo Nombre de Jesus. While in this country,
the decree of the year 1610 was sent him, which caused the holy man
considerable vexation, so that he did not know what to do; for it
seemed a grievous thing for him to abandon the quietness of his cell,
and to exchange it for the majesty of a bishop, to which he was not
inclined. Accordingly, he resigned the bishopric into the hands of
the father master Fray Pedro Solier, [4] who was provincial at that
time. The latter considered that if he [_i.e._, Fray Pedro] were to
accept it honor would come to the order, advantage to the city of
Santisimo Nombre de Jesus, and service to his Majesty, the king our
sovereign, who having heard of the holiness of the person in question,
was considering himself as very well served in that the father should
accept it. Consequently, when he returned to the holy superior--whom
he supplicated on his knees, with the decree in his hand, to allow him
not to accept it--the provincial ordered Fray Pedro, by his obedience,
to comply with his Majesty's commands, and to render him thanks for
it, and that he would do the