re
of one secular priest, and this arrangement is maintained until 1680,
when the Recollects (although somewhat unwillingly on their part)
again accept the ministry of those islands. In November of 1680
three religious are sent there, the possession of the Recollects is
given royal confirmation in 1682, and in 1684 the arrival of a new
mission allows them to assign other workers to the field. There are
plenty of hardships to suffer, but the fruit is great. New missions
are established, and by 1715 the number of Christians has risen from
4,500 in 1680 to 18,600; and in 1735 Calamianes and Romblon contain
21,076 Christians. Certain missionaries are named and praised for
their work. Incidentally an interesting description is given of the
training of the native children for the service of the Church, by which
our author refutes the charge that the religious have many servants.

Notwithstanding their efforts, several times all but successful,
the Recollects are unable to extend their evangelization to the
great empire of China, as is related in chapter ii of decade x. The
succeeding chapter tells of the Recollect missions sent from Spain
to the Philippines during the three decades covered by this history
(1661-1690). The first leaves Spain in 1660 under the leadership
of Eugenio de los Santos, and consists of twenty choristers and two
lay-brothers. One of the entire number reaches Manila in 1662, and
fourteen others the following year. The second mission is in charge
of Christobal de Santa Monica, who has been appointed procurator in
1663. All of that mission of twenty-four religious which sets sail
in 1666 reaches Manila in 1667, except two who remain in Mexico. The
third mission is collected in 1675 by Juan de la Madre de Dios, who
takes the twenty-six religious composing it to Mexico, but there hands
them over to another religious while he himself returns to Spain. They
reach the islands in 1676. In 1680, Cristobal de Santa Monica is sent
to Spain as procurator, reaching his destination in 1681. In 1683,
he sails from Cadiz with a mission consisting of nineteen fathers,
nineteen choristers, and five lay-brothers. All of that number, except
one who dies at sea and two who desert at Puerto Rico and return home,
reach the Philippines in April, 1684, and are distributed among the
convents. The general chapter of 1684 held in Spain elects definitors
and discreets for the Philippine province.

Most of chapter v of decade x tr