_ 219 _ As it was most important for him to have a command of the Portuguese language, both spoken and written, on the advice of the Captain, whom he consulted, a choirboy went every day to give him a lesson in his house. They were youths, inclined to boyish games. Because they enjoyed these, they would sometimes abandon the boredom of the lessons and start to play with crosses(A) which the Christian arranged. It was a different game, certainly, from the one Ishmael taught Issac, but very appropriate to what Issac should have taught Ishmael. Even at that age, the effects of Divine Grace and pagan unbelief can be observed. The brother-in-law came in at the right moment one day and, finding them engaged in this game, reacted sternly, throwing the cross on the ground. At this Bifatima interpolated, saying that one should not take such persons too seriously. She bent down and picked up the cross and placed it in the youth’s hand. Miraculously at that moment, the virtue of the divine herb in which the bread had been steeped entered through the youth’s hand and into his heart, leaving a secret wound; so that from that moment on he felt Bifatima in his being. When the sharp poison passed through the slave’s stomach, the very accident he had suffered suggested the (A) Apparently bread for the Holy Communion, marked with crosses [Translator’s note].
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