Note 2 — And in Neighboring Provinces and Realms, From July, 1618, to the Present Date in 1619

In China, within recent years, a very severe persecution of Christians broke out; and on account of the enmity of a mandarin, who was the cause of this storm, four fathers were ejected from the residences of Sanguin and Paquin [i.e., Pekin]. One of them was Father Diego Pantoja,2 a native of Toledo, a noted religious, one of the most noted men who have been in China, and one who has learned most of the Chinese letters, sciences, and language. Upon reaching Page 196Macan from his exile, this father passed from this to a better life. There still remained in China eight fathers of our Society. These, with some others, are cultivating the vineyard of the Lord, maintaining in the faith those already converted, and bringing into it others, who, forsaking the false belief of idolatry, receive the water of holy baptism. In short, these fathers are promulgating the holy gospel. They write that they found, in one of the many provinces of that extensive realm, a people who worship the holy cross, and who are called Christians—although they are so only in name, for they are in truth heathen. They also found a synagogue of more than twelve thousand jews who live under the law of Moses.3