as now among these others. These confraternities have rendered
Christianity in those regions most glorious, and for their good deeds
are so highly esteemed that he is not considered a person of worth
who is not received into one of them. On two special occasions they
made processions, in excellent order, and with great solemnity and
concourse of the people, and attended mass and preaching; and very
many frequented the communion. One of these was at the foundation
of a confraternity; the other was occasioned by a plague of locusts
which had been devastating all those islands for two years. In order
to obtain from God a remedy for this evil, they chose the most holy
Virgin Mary as their intercessor, and made a vow to celebrate the feast
of her most pure conception, and to give on that occasion liberal alms
as aid for the marriages of the poor and the orphans. They fulfilled
their promises, and our Lord received their humble tokens of service
and showed them that He was well pleased, by turning aside the locusts
from their crops, and giving them that year very abundant harvests. All
the people of the village have now directed to the church that recourse
and dependence which they formerly exercised toward the ministers of
the devil; and, consequently, when they experience any ill, however
trifling it maybe, they summon the father to hear their confessions,
or to have the gospel recited to them. Hardly a day passes, while their
sickness lasts, when they do not cause themselves to be conveyed to
the church, at the time of mass; and when that is ended they approach
the priest, to have him recite the gospel and sprinkle them with holy
water. Sometimes there are so many of them that, when the priest has
done this for them, he is compelled to wait until they go away before
he can leave the altar. They also carry first to the church whatever
grain or seeds they are about to sow, to have these blessed, in return
for which they offer the priest the first-fruits of their harvests.