the king of Espana of a people who had not sworn their obedience. The mission of the Recollect fathers to the island of Bohol was to continue the tasks of the Jesuit fathers; to preach the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Jesuits did; and to present themselves to the observation of those natives in their apostolic and religious bearing, as worthy imitators of so zealous priests. They also had the thorny task of inculcating habits of gratitude and obedience in discontented minds; and of reducing a considerable number of rebels to the payment of the royal tribute, who had already begun a struggle, with some pretensions to triumph. The hope of religion and society in the discalced Augustinians, in the difficult circumstances through which the island of Bohol was passing when they took charge of its administration, was that peace would be extended to the remotest corners of its territory, so that the religious beginnings would have an efficacious influence on the misguided multitude, and Spanish authority would completely dominate men and things which had been separated from its beneficent influence. Facts are demonstrating with the greatest clearness that the Recollects attained abundantly the end of all their aspirations. At present we are experiencing that the reality exceeds the hopes that could animate them when they entered on their task. The universal harmony that this province enjoys in the present century, and the state of prosperity in which all the natives live, as well as the growth of population, and the increase of culture, religious fervor, and instruction that they enjoy--all this speaks very loudly in favor of the preaching of the Recollects in Bohol. These considerations also demonstrate with the greatest clearness that, even if the Recollects were not its conquistadors, they are without dispute the instruments employed by Providence for its political and religious advancement; and that they are with all propriety the pacifiers and restorers of the beginnings of Christian society in that island, which was in confusion until that time. As soon as they entered, a relation of sympathy was established between them and their proteges, as hidden as it was intimate, by virtue of which they were enabled to direct all their individual forces to the attempt at perfection and the improvements that they had planned. As they always directed these successfully, and were always obeyed with promptness, they were enabled to realize the material and intellectual transformation of that district newly entrusted to their care. There are at present thirty-three parishes in this province, according to the preceding relation. In each one of them has been erected a Catholic temple, sufficient in itself alone to give glory to the hand that has directed it. In all of those parishes there is a parish house--more or less elegant, but always sufficiently solid and suitable--which is teaching to the present generation (and the future one also)