for in uniting the villages, their people have been so
thoroughly converted to the Lord that I know not what to say, except
that the Lord, who created and redeemed them, has been pleased to call
them with so special a vocation. Of the people in those reductions
there have been newly baptized in the last four months more than
two thousand souls, and it seems to me that, if we had fathers,
the whole island would be converted in one month. I am filled with
devotion when I see people who are practically savages come from the
mountains, and on their knees ask for baptism, and children as well,
like angels, who have already learned the prayers, although I know not
who are their teachers. Today, for instance, one of them came down,
a child about ten years old, whom I had never before seen; and yet
he knew the catechism and the questions, and was most eager to be
baptized. Catolonas, or priestesses, also come to us, and have given
so many proofs of their holy desire that we have not been able to
deny them baptism. Truly, my father, I am living in great consolation
and joy; for here in these regions there is nothing more to be desired
than that we may faithfully serve our Lord, and that all the people may
be brought into the presence of His Divine Majesty. On Sunday we had
in the church of Loboc six or seven hundred souls, which is the usual
attendance. If your Reverence could see in the early mornings nearly
a hundred children from the mountains, boys and girls but recently
baptized, march with praises to God in a procession along the bank
of this river, singing the doctrine with angelic voices that seem
to come from heaven, I verily believe that your Reverence would be
moved to devout tears, at seeing how God has brought them down from
these mountains and dragons' caves that they may praise and glorify
Him. During the last few days there were baptized in Dita five hundred
more souls, so that in this mission of Bohol there are now more than
three thousand Christians. At the beginning, we had eight hundred, and
now, with the blessing of God and the mercy that He has shown them,
two thousand three hundred have been baptised. Since God decrees it,
may St Peter bless it. Amen."

In another letter he writes: "For days I have been toiling alone;
and when I depart from a village, a considerable time passes before I
return to it. But it is evident that the spiritual benefit of those
poor people acquits me for this delay, in order that