The election as provincial of father Fray Baltasar Fort, the martyrdom of the holy Leon, and events in the province. In April, 1608, the electors, assembled in the convent of Sancto Domingo at Manila, chose as provincial father Fray Baltasar Fort, minister of the holy gospel in the province of Pangasinan. He was by habit and profession a son of the convent of San Estevan at Salamanca, and adopted into that of the Preachers in Valencia, his native land, whence he came to this province in the year 1602. He was at this time prior of the convent. He was of a character such that all necessary qualities for so high an office were united in him; and hence his election was very agreeable to all, both religious and lay, because he was greatly loved and reverenced by all--not only of his own religious order, but also of the others. In this chapter were accepted the houses which had been newly formed in Japon, Pangasinan, and Nueva Segovia, an account of which has been given in the two preceding chapters. What had been at other times ordained and commanded was recalled to mind--namely, that in our conversations we should speak constantly of God, a subject which is never exhausted, is never wearisome to a good man, is edifying to all, and keeps the religious in the fulfilment of the obligations that belong to their estate. [At this time the fathers who were laboring for the good of the natives of Japon had a joyful day in seeing the martyrdom of a person who had been brought to the faith, instructed, and baptized by their ministry; and in whom the faith had struck so deep roots that he yielded fruit an hundred fold, according to the gospel, by suffering martyrdom within four months after becoming a Christian. Having been baptized on July 22, 1608, he was decapitated for his confession of faith on the seventeenth of November in the same year, in the kingdom of Satzuma, his native country. There were laws of the emperor, and also of the actual king of that region, that no soldier or person of rank should be baptized, since it was believed that the strength of these persons would be weakened if they gave up their obligations to those deities from whom victory was expected. In spite of this law, many soldiers and persons of rank were baptized, among them Xichiyemon, a youth of high rank. He received baptism from the hands of father Fray Joseph de San Jacintho, who warned him of the tumult which his baptism would arouse, and of the destruction of his soul which would follow if he were to renounce his baptism. He was so determined and courageous that the father baptized him by the name of Leon. His devotion was such that his conversion could not long be hidden; and, when it was known, the valiant Leon was obliged to resist the supplications of his superior officers, his friends, and his relatives, who represented to him the shame which he would bring upon his family if he should die by the hands of the executioner. This is a thing above measure infamous in