fera invaserit, fames aut sitis aut frigus afflixerit, vel per maria praecipiti navigatione properantem tempestas ac procella submerserit spectat militem suum Christus ubicunque pugnantem, et persecutionis causa pro nominis sui honore morienti praemium reddit quod daturum se in resurectione promisit. Nec minor est martyrii gloria non publica et [non] inter multos perisse cum pereundi causa sit propter Christum perire. Sufficit ad testimoniam martyrii fui [sc. fuisse] testis ille qui probat martyres et coronat._ [23] This is sufficient for a letter, although other testimonials of the saints could be adduced, which show that the institution of martyrdom made by Christ our Lord was not the narrow thing of which certain scholastics speak. Father Teofilo Raynaudo [24] of our Society, in the book that he published, _De martyrio per pestem_, in the year 1630, proves in a very learned and wise manner that those who die through the exercise of the works of charity with the sufferers of the pest are really and truly, and can be called, martyrs. And clearly it is not less to give one's life than to exercise spiritual works of charity, for one's neighbors. Hence we ought to endure in this particular, for Christ our Lord, _in bonitate et liberalitate_, [25] and since for other lesser works--as leaving father and mother, or positions, etc., for Him--Christ our Lord chose to give as a reward so much in this life, and afterward eternal life, as He said through St. Mark, in the 10th chapter: _Centies tantum in tempore hoc et in saeculo futuro vitam aeternam_. [26] The most heroic and lofty work was necessarily the giving of one's life for the same cause; and that loss will not give, to him who serves, another reward here, but the reward of eternal life is reserved for the world to come, and with a special diadem. Then may we be consoled, my fathers, in our missions and voyages, if we lose our lives therein in the service of Christ for the preaching of His holy gospel; since according to His royal promise He always maintains it assured, and brighter is the crown. I do not say this in order that we should publish our martyrs, or that we should so talk with those outside (for it is better for us to limit ourselves in that direction), but for our consolation and assurance, I am persuaded that after this pilgrimage we shall recognize that glory in some or many of the fathers of this province who have preceded us--as in the case of the fortunate father Juan Dominico Bilancio, who died a captive of the Mahometan [king of] Jolo, the harsh treatment and sufferings of his captivity being the cause of his death; and Father Juan de las Missas, [who perished] at the hands of the hostile Camucones; besides other fathers. I regard it as superfluous to expatiate further on this, or to attempt to spur on those who are running so gloriously. Therefore I conclude with the words, which the glorious bishop and martyr, St. Cyprian, wrote