I shall give your Reverence an account in this letter, although very briefly, of what happened in these islands after your Reverence left them; for many are writing long relations of special matters. The father rector of the college of Manila, Francisco Colin, [101] arrived at Manila at the end of July, and was received with great rejoicing by all in general, both by the inmates of the house and by outsiders and by the orders; and throughout the year he has had the same acceptance. He has aided the governor by his counsel; but he who has shown the greatest joy and happiness is the archbishop, who is receiving much help from him. His Excellency has been notably won over, and has shown us extraordinary favors. He gave us the mission of Quiapo, which we had so much desired because of its nearness to Santa Cruz. He continued the Tuesday sermons during Lent in our house, and honored our church on the day when the indulgence of the seven altars was published. On that day he dined in our refectory, and on all occasions has shown himself truly a father to us. On account of the said indulgence, the number of people who come to our church has greatly increased. Father Marcelo Mastril, he of the miracle of our father St. Francis Xavier, arrived here with four other Italian fathers, on the day of our father St. Ignatius, 1636, in a galliot, aboard which was a knight of the Order of Christ, who came as captain-general of Macan; he brought, as his auditor, another knight of the same habit. The matter occurred as I shall relate. Two galleons left Goa for Macan. In the second was that Polish father, the relative of the king of Polonia [_i.e._, Poland]. While passing through the strait of Sincapura, they met three Dutch vessels. The ship of the captain-general of Macan took to the sea, and taking the best direction, escaped the Dutch vessels; and the first land that they struck was the mouth of this bay. The other ship was captured by the Dutch. Two days later another galliot arrived from Cochin, carrying a Portuguese father named Figueredo, [102] en route to Maluco. When that ship passed, the Dutch had already left. One would not believe the joy with which Father Marcelo was received; for the miracle had already become known, as I had brought many of the pamphlets from Madrid. [103] All looked at him as at a man brought back to life; all were eager to learn of the miraculous occurrence from his own mouth; and in order to satisfy the whole city, he preached on the day of our father St. Francis Xavier, in our church at Manila. Many people were there. He preached very eloquently, and called forth tears from the audience at the narration of the miracle. The devotion of the people toward the saint has been greatly increased. They have all copied his pictures from a painting which the father had painted in Portugal, and which he says greatly resembles the pilgrim figure in which he saw the saint. The Portuguese