number he was able to supply the missions which now were suffering
for the need of workers. He was able to add new strength to the house
at Manila, so that the choir could be assured--which is, as one might
say, the fort of the province, where prayer is offered to God day and
night for the needs of the province. There they gather those who find
that they have but little strength in the ministry, where with some
more rest they can attend to the profit of their own souls. Our father
Fray Miguel García, considering that our father Fray Diego de Guevara
had visited the provinces so slowly, did not choose to cause more
trouble to the convents, or to spend more on his visits. Consequently,
he was not excessive in this matter, but very mild.

In the intermediary chapter held in Manila within two years, as had
been determined in the full chapter, it appeared that the province
complained about the [term of the] chapter being lengthened one
year. They advanced not a few reasons in support of this complaint,
and so many that it was ordered that that measure be revoked, and
the chapter meeting be assigned for the next year of 1614. It was to
be held in the house of Guadalupe, a place very suitable, in their
opinion, for the chapter meetings, as it was not very far from Manila,
so that they could supply their needs; and it allowed them to escape
annoyances and importunities of the laymen.

This [intermediary] chapter considered that many religious were dying,
and that, since the father priors always came to vote, some house
must necessarily remain empty, and be entrusted to the fiscals of
the villages. This appeared full of inconveniences, both temporally
and spiritually, which it is not right to express, since they are so
apparent. And even were there nothing else than the great danger of
many persons dying without holy baptism, and others without confession,