t offends the sight of God.' Having
in a long discourse given him other profitable counsels, the figure
disappeared; and the sick man regained his consciousness, as if he had
been resuscitated (for all thought him really dead), and with sudden
energy began to speak. He asked for food, and soon felt much better,
to the astonishment of all who were present. These, terrified at such
a change, inquired from him its cause, and he related to them the above
occurrence--attributing his recovery to the singular mercy of our Lord,
and to the fact that he was a Christian; and he often related the
affair with no little benefit to his hearers. Having heard him speak,
for some time, so well and so affectionately concerning our Lord and
the observance of His holy commandments, I praised his discourse and
meritorious sentiments. He answered that it was no cause for surprise,
since all those things had been taught him in the aforesaid vision,
and had remained deeply impressed upon his mind."

The loss of some vessels, and in them of two of the fathers of the
Society. Chapter LXIV.

Among other calamities and troubles which our Lord has been pleased
to send upon these islands in the form of loss of life, property,
and ships, one was the destruction of two large ships (a flagship and
an almiranta) which, in the previous year, six hundred, set out for
Nueva Espana with cargoes of very rich merchandise. These vessels,
after having sailed the seas for eight months, with violent storms,
and encountered great dangers, and after having lost many men through
hunger, pest, accidents, and the billows of the sea (which washed
them from the vessel itself), were driven back and stranded--or rather
dashed to pieces--on the shores of the Ladrones and the Catanduanes,
where they were destroyed. But few persons were able to escape,
who only served, like the servants of Job, to carry the news of the
disaster--which, following upon many other losses and misfortunes
of war, was keenly felt and bitterly lamented. In one of these
vessels, named "San Geronimo," went Father Pero Lopez de la Parra,
a professed member of our Society, who after this long voyage and
another, even longer, of thirty-seven years in the religious life,
finally came to port, as we believe, in the Fortunate Land, toward
which he was making his main voyage with good works. In Nueva Espana
he taught the arts and theology, and was one of the first founders
[of missions] who went thi