_ 190 _ this undertaking because it was greatly to serve God and himself, and there was no other Order in India willing to remain there. The Jesuit Fathers had been there for some years but because of the intolerable heat and cold they and returned to India, and the Dominican Fathers had done the same after being there for six or seven years. If the Province would accept this undertaking in order that it should not be abandoned, he would consider himself well served by myself and the Order. In view of the King’s wishes and the eagerness with which he discussed the idea, there was a meeting of definitors, and although the matter seemed extremely difficult seeing that two Orders of such zeal, virtue and learning had turned back from it, zeal for the service of God and the King was more powerful with the Province than fear of the cold and the heat and the harshness of Ormuz. So it was agreed to accept the undertaking, which was done, and in the same year twelve friars chosen for their learning, experience, zeal and virtue were sent to Ormuz. One of these was the Bishop of Fez, who now serves and helps me in the holy church here. From that time onwards friars of the order of St Augustine have lived in the convent they began to build when they arrived there and which is now complete and perfect, and so far they have not left
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