ade known, and the
archdeacon lauded it in various letters, being most grateful to God
and to the Society for this service that we had rendered him. We
gave him therein no little aid in carrying his burden of the many
souls which are under his care, alone as he is, without any other
assistance or instruction than ours. But Father Gabriel Sanchez, with
his accustomed plainness, has written a more detailed account of some
particular cases, while making a report of his labors to the superiors,
as is the custom among us. In a letter to the father-visitor, dated
in November of the year one thousand six hundred, he writes thus:

"The archdeacon of Sebu, who holds the benefice of Tanai--a venerable
and meritorious man, as your Reverence well knows--went in person to
the island of Bohol, twelve leguas away, to beseech Father Alonso de
Umanes, our superior, to send, for God's love, a father to teach his
people the law of God, since he himself did not know their language. I
was chosen, and it pleased our Lord to give us a good foothold in
the island; on the very first day we found all the people gathered
on the beach, awaiting us with music and other tokens of joy. We went
to the church, and there I began to address them and discuss our holy
faith. At the first or second sermon, your Reverence might have seen
almost all the people suddenly changed. Indeed, as they had not before
had any minister who could address them in their own language, they had
not, as I learned, been able to form any conception of the things of
God. When the light penetrated their souls, they were astonished; and,
full of joy, they began to ask one another, 'What is this?' They gazed
on me (poor wretch that I am), as on one descended from heaven. As the
greater number of those who assembled there were Christians, but had
not made their confession nor did they even know _si Spiritus Sanctus
est_, I discussed with them the remedy of confession, explaining its
purpose, and arousing their affection for it. Within one month about
four hundred persons made their confessions, with the utmost sorrow
for their sins; and many received communion, with such devotion that
to behold them inspired a like emotion. I baptized about eighty,
most of them infants, although there were a few adults. We instituted
the procession of children which, in our doctrinas, is wont to march
through the streets. We began, too, in the church to give instruction
and ask questions, which so p