completed the sea-voyage he would suffer so from the infirmities of his years that when he reached the Philippinas he would not be able to learn the language of the natives, or to be anything but a hindrance. These arguments would have made him lay aside his purpose, if devotion to that holy image had not at that time brought to that country father Fray Antonio de Arcediano, one of the most useful of those who had enlisted on this enterprise, who did not wish to undertake it without having first received the blessing of this Lady. On account of the learning and well-known virtue and prudence of father Fray Antonio, father Fray Pedro consulted with him, telling him the state of affairs with reference to his being called to this mission, and the arguments which caused him to refrain, or by which the other fathers kept him back. Father Fray Antonio listened to the arguments and considered them, and answered as follows: "If we were going to a province already established and formed, these would be good arguments, but since it is still to be founded, they are not. It is certain that it will be ill-established if it be entirely composed of youths, however able and religious." He accordingly judged that it would be very necessary to have among the pioneers of the order there some gray-haired men, men well experienced in the practice of virtue; since for the foundation of the province which was, as they asserted, to have the rigor of the first fathers of our order, it was clear that old religious, careful observers of the rules, men of tried virtue, were of greater value than youths of good principles. Hence he regarded his going as settled, and took great pleasure that it was so. Hereupon the good old man determined to go, and did so; and both on the voyages and in the islands he served his companions as a great example of religious devotion, sedateness, and patience. He was always firm under the difficulties to which we have referred, and on the first mission to the heathen he was one of those sent to Bataan. Here his kindness and gentleness were such as to gain the good-will of the Indians. To attract the older ones, he began with the children, established a school of reading and writing, and taught both to the little ones. Those who were a little older he taught to sing, that, performing the office of angels, they might praise the Lord in the church. He was so desirous of the salvation of souls that when the deacon went to catechize, or to baptize the sick, he went also and accompanied him--choosing this labor for himself to relieve his companions of it, for he regarded them as more useful than he, because they learned the language better. His age was so great and the labor so heavy that walking through the water produced an affection of the bowels. The severity of the disease was such that, unable longer to withstand it, he was day and night in continual pain. They took him to Manila to the Franciscan convent (ours being not yet built), where