hey were all freed from error, and became
more devoted than ever to our true and well-grounded Catholic religion.

"I cannot refrain from relating an incident that has just befallen us,
as it was a source of great consolation to me. As soon as our people
learned that your Reverence had ordered us to go to Sebu, fearful
lest we might not speedily return, they all repaired to us to make
their confessions, with such fervor that it seemed like the season
of Lent. Those who had not received baptism came also, with like
earnestness seeking that holy sacrament. Thus, by way of farewell,
we made a goodly number of Christians." The account of Father Alonso
de Umanes ends here.

Father Gabriel Sanchez, in another letter to the father-visitor, writes
thus: "Glory be to our Lord, Christianity in this island is receiving
much increase. They all frequent the most holy sacraments with great
fervor at Christmas, Epiphany, and other leading feasts. So many were
the confessions and the communions that it seemed to me like Holy
Week. They possess great confidence and faith, and through the most
holy sacraments and the sacramental offices they are sure to receive
(and his Majesty does bestow upon them even in temporal affairs)
most signal favors. An old woman, a good Christian, was so reduced by
sickness, and brought so near to death, that she no longer possessed
her senses, or power of speech; in short, there was no hope that she
would live. The sacrament of extreme unction was administered to her,
and at once she began to improve, and at last regained entire health. A
few days ago they brought to us a sick man, so tormented and harassed
by a severe malady that he could not even raise his head; he therefore
made his confession while reclining, and with great difficulty. But,
as soon as he had ended it, he began to feel better, with the result
that in two days he came to the church to render thanks to our Lord
for the mercy that he had received, which he attributed to the holy
sacrament of penance. A few days ago a child of four years--not
realizing, as he was so little, what he was doing--waded into the
sea, and, despite the haste with which he was taken from the water,
was almost drowned. They brought him in haste to our house, that we
might repeat the gospel over him, for they had no hope of preserving
his life by natural means. When they brought him to us he showed
almost no sign of respiration, his face was black, and his stomach
mu