rank, already
advanced in years, whom our Lord has inspired with zeal for winning
souls and for the conversion of her people. She devotes herself to
persuading, preparing, and catechizing the Indians for holy baptism;
and whenever we visit that doctrina, she has a troop collected,
and well instructed, for us to baptize. In this place I baptized
twelve adults, and four or five younger persons. In all the other
villages the people are very well disposed, and a great harvest will
be continually gathered, with the help of our Lord."

In the measure of this fervor does our Lord correspondingly bestow
upon them visits and spiritual consolations, most liberally accorded
by His Divine Majesty to these His new faithful. Of these we have
already given some general account, and now I will relate in detail
one case, only, in the words of Father Francisco de Otaco, who wrote
from Tinagon, before he departed thence to be superior in Dulac:
"There came today from Catubig a Christian Indian, a youth of
about sixteen years, to hear mass and make his confession; it was
a long and toilsome journey. He showed much candor and goodness,
and special affection for the things of Christianity, speaking of
them with intelligence and appreciation. He related to me an incident
that had befallen him, which had been the cause of that interest and
intelligence. He was sick, and, fearing that the hour of death was
already at hand, he charged a companion of his to place at the head
of his bed, at the last hour, a cross and some lighted candles. His
end approached, so near that all regarded him as one already dead,
and his companion fulfilled the charge that had been given him. Then,
he said, he became as one who dreams, although it seemed to him to
be more than dreaming, and even quite different. There appeared at
his right side a father of the Society, holding in his hand a rosary
of our Lady: upon his head he bore a diadem of golden brightness and
a halo of the same splendor encompassed his breast. The apparition,
calling him by name in affectionate terms, said to him: 'Turn this
way, my son, to the right side, which is that of the elect, and count
these beads. Thou wert to die of this sickness; but, because thou art a
Christian, our Lord has been pleased to give thee life and health; but
it is only that thou mayest be a good Christian, always remembering
our Lord, living in prayer and carefully guarding thyself from
every sin--that is, from all tha