United States or Saint Pierre and Miquelon ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Therefore the said province, and the said Fray Francisco de Villalva in its name, have recourse to the kindness and fervent zeal of your Majesty, with which you have always striven for the preservation and propagation of the Catholic faith; and prostrate at your royal feet he entreats that your Majesty will be pleased to take pity on so many souls and the conversions for which the religious of St.
Fray Francisco de Villalva of the Order of Preachers, and procurator-general (in virtue of powers which he presents) of the province of Santo Rosario, which the said order has in the Filipinas Islands, declares: That, as is well known, the religious of his order in the said islands have converted to the Catholic faith, and now have in their charge, the provinces of Cagayan, Pangasinan, Mandayas, part of Tagalos, Zambales, and the island of Babuyanes in which territory there is diversity of languages, and a great number of convents provided with ministers for the instruction of the Indian natives; from this labor always has been and still is gathered the spiritual harvest which is well known. Moreover, those fathers have made extensive conquests in various parts of those kingdoms, founding many churches as they actually are maintaining public worship at this very time in the vast empire of Great China. There they are suffering immense hardships and persecutions, shedding their blood in the violent acts committed by tyranny, in order to plant there the Christian faith and religion; for this cause, and in its defense, seventy-eight religious have given their lives as martyrs in that province, leaving the church made illustrious by this triumph. And besides this, they have in the city of Manila their principal convent, which continually maintains the practices of hearing confessions, preaching, and giving consolation in the sicknesses and trials of the citizens, with great comfort to all. They have also the college of Santo Tom
Word Of The Day