LETTER OF CONGRATULATION
TO THE BISHOP, CLERGY, AND PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES
Venerable brother and beloved son, health and apostolic blessing.
The lofty works of divine power, that in the earthly realm take place not by human but by heavenly means, very often are wont to display themselves from the very outset; while matters that through divine wisdom as leader and mistress tend to a spiritual end, the health that is of our souls, in the meanwhile lie unrecognized, or, if unveiled, seem of such trivial import as not to be viewed in their grandeur even by the keenest of minds, until aroused thereto chiefly by the splendor of their results. This, as oftentimes before, has happened now at this very time in the conversion to gospel truth of the New World, of both the Indias, and especially of the Philippine Islands. Wherefore we are uplifted in great wonder at the most bountiful results wrought therein secretly by divine wisdom, from the first discovery of those countries. Previously we had learned of this, in truth, from the letters of many persons and from report; now however, that the divine goodness has raised our insignificance to the summit of apostolic dignity, we have heard it also from the ambassador,
