"An old man, a chief who is held in high honor, and who has hitherto been obstinate, has at last told me that he is ready to bow his head to baptism. He is all white-haired and decrepit, so that he can scarcely combine word with word. Since he is unable to come to church, I am compelled to go to his house. I will baptize him, with another man of advanced age, as early as possible. It seems to me no small evidence that they have been predestinated, that both of them have waited so long, and that they now begin to glow with so great a desire for baptism."
With regard to another mission, Father Gabriel Sanchez writes that the archdeacon of Zebu, who holds a benefice in Tana, went to the island of Bohol, twelve leagues distant, to ask our superior for a father skilled in the language, to preach the gospel to his tribe. Father Gabriel was sent, and in one month heard four hundred confessions, and offered to many the sacred body of the Lord. He also baptized eighty small children and some larger ones. The custom was there introduced of having boys march in procession in the public streets, and chant the Christian belief. The same thing has been done in the church, so greatly to the delight of the people that even the chiefs of the tribe think it small honor to them if they are not sometimes examined in the same belief.
The Indian wife of a local governor was bedridden, and one night began to suffer so intensely that she was entirely deprived of the power of speech. A father of the Society was called, who found her entirely speechless. And since she had not confessed her sins, although she tried to do so, the father began to recite the holy gospel, and to sprinkle her with holy water; and when this was done she collected her strength and, after pronouncing the name of Jesus, said, "Have mercy upon me!" Then, in the presence of many, she desired to confess; and after less than a quarter of an hour she arose from her bed, so well and whole that the father would not listen to her, but directed her to come to church on the following day to make her confession, which she did. The same thing happened to the same father in the case of two other sick persons, whom by the recitation of the gospel and by the sprinkling of holy water he restored to sense and health, so that they were able to confess their sins. Further, on two different days having gone to two children near to death, and deprived of the power of speech, with the same antidote of the gospel and of holy water, he restored both to their former health, so that one of them went so far as to jump suddenly out of his bed and return to his boyish sports.
The same priest also went, for the sake of hearing confession, to a man who lived a league and a half from the town, whose body was so weakened and torn by sickness that he could not bear to be touched or to be turned from one side to the other. When his confession had been heard and the gospel had been recited, the father went away on Saturday of that week. On the following Sunday, when the father asked how the sick man was, he was told that he had been restored to health, and had gone out to an island in order to get by hunting what was necessary for his food. One night, while the daughters of one of the chiefs were chanting the heads of the Christian law, they looked up from a sort of portico and saw a crucifix in the sky, with a kind of crown on the head, rough but beautiful, and with the whole body and breast plainly visible. It shone like the sun, and went up to heaven until it reached the sphere of the moon; as soon as it had reached that it vanished. The sight of this vision caused the spectators as much joy as its disappearance did sorrow. The father commanded that the whole thing be recounted in church, in the presence of many, by those very persons who had seen it; although, as that tribe is very simple and modest, they showed great fear and shame in telling the story. Afterwards it was learned that the same crucifix had appeared in another place two leagues away. This vision ought to be recognized as of greater value because it befell persons of exceeding virtue, who are persevering in their pristine habits of holy living.
Residence of Samar
Since the inhabitants of this island are scattered along an extended coast-line of the sea, it was necessary to send six of the fathers for the greater part of last year to cultivate it, with the results which might be expected from such missions. We learned from the letters of Ours that the people of this island who live along the coast have begun to offer their names in order to receive the Christian religion, and that all the chiefs have already been purified by holy baptism. The duty of visiting fourteen places rests upon this residence. In this year three thousand six hundred and eighty persons, for the most part adults, have been joined to the spouse of Christ through the holy waters of baptism. In one tiny island, which had not been visited for two years, two of Ours who had been sent thither on mission were received by the whole tribe with such delight that, all the way from the beach of the sea to the church of the place, they adorned all the roads with green branches; and then they were led to the church by a procession of boys and girls singing the Christian teaching with joyous voices. And when Ours asked to have placed on the lists the names of those who desired to receive baptism, they answered that there was no need of a list, that they all wished to become Christians. The old men—who are generally more perverse than the rest, and are unwilling to learn the Christian teaching—brought forward no other ground for the baptism which they so much desired than that their old age promised them no long life. Thus all by the divine grace were made children of God, and inheritors of eternal life.
The news that these had thus been added to Christ soon moved other islands also to desire our fathers. On one of these islands, within fifteen days one hundred and sixty adults and five children forsook the dark wilderness of infidelity for the light of the gospel. Among them was one old woman one hundred and thirty years of age—blind, deaf, incapable of motion; for, wherever she was carried, there she remained like an unmoving stone. Afterward in other places there were baptized five hundred adults and two infants. When they returned on a second mission, after an interval of three months, eight hundred and thirty-seven were baptized, and from the most of these their concubines were taken away. Besides this, in other places many were plunged into the same waters, the total number reaching three thousand six hundred and eighty.
Residence of Dulac
The most ample fruit has resulted from the Christian teaching among the people of Dulac, [43] given by the seven men of our Society. The foundations of a boys' school have been laid. In it thirty are imbued with good morals and solid virtues, and give their aid to Ours in explaining the catechism to the more ignorant people and those of the lower order, and that with happy results; for whenever Ours go where these pupils have exerted their diligence, they find all the people well prepared to receive baptism.
To the old Christians and some of the more intelligent adults familiar sermons are delivered on the life of Christ and those of the saints, and on the manner of profitably receiving communion, and notable results are evident. On account of these pious exercises and the uprightness of life shown by these converts, the Christian religion is ordinarily held in such high esteem that few remain who do not desire to be initiated into it by baptism. In Advent and at the feast of the Nativity we baptized more than seven hundred persons. We have baptized in all, from last year to the present date, two thousand and twenty, or more.