[The greater the virtue, the more widely it spreads its fragrance; and so it was with the founders of this province. "Father Fray Thomas de Jesus speaks thus of them in his book Stimulus Missionum, part iv, chap, vii: 'At this day among the brethren of St. Dominic--who are making their way throughout the whole world, and especially throughout the Philippine Islands, to preach the gospel to the heathen--we have found that in no other place does the observance of the rule of the order flourish as it does in those islands; for the vesture that they wear is rougher, their food is more sparing, and their devotion to prayer is greater, and they voluntarily exercise themselves in all the practices of a life of greater severity and perfection.' In the same way speaks of this province the master Fray Domingo Gravina in the book entitled, Vox Turturis, part ii, chap. xxiii, ad fin., where he says: 'The province of the Rosary, which includes the Philippine Islands and the empires of Japan and of the Chinas and other kingdoms, is most celebrated for its sanctity. So accurately does it observe the constitutions of the order that the primitive fervor of the order seems to glow in it, as it did in the days of our father St. Dominic. And hence it results that not only by their word but by their example, the people of Pangasinan, Gayan, and other places in the islands of Luzon have been aroused, and have enlisted under the banner of Christ; while in the extensive empire of Japan, the kingdoms of Satzuma, Figen, and Fingo have been, through their preaching and their works, glorified with the water of holy baptism.' Thus far Gravina." The most complete and accurate statement of our entire purpose has been made by the father master Fray Baltasar Nabarrete. He writes to this province a letter of eulogy and religious congratulation. He rejoices that the Dominican order, transplanted to a sterile and mountainous country, begins to bear most glorious fruit of celestial life. He celebrates the spirit and fervor of the few brethren who undertook this honorable enterprise at the beginning, and who put in the field an army in which every soldier was fit to be a captain. He congratulates them that the heathen Indian should have recognized their divine power; he bears witness to the impression produced by the letters sent back home. He praises the frequency of their prayers. He compares their delight in their spiritual children to that which God may have in His own son. He glorifies their devotion in going forth to a life of affliction in distant countries; and declares that their love of God should shine forth, however efforts might be made to hide it; and that, in the power of their devotion, they will be able to do all things. He glorifies the martyrdoms that they have suffered, assuring them that for every martyr there will be a hundred more. He feels that dark clouds are arising over the order in Europe; and expresses