CHAPTER XIV.
Acting on the advice of the Protector, Cardinal di Pietro, who having brought to a successful conclusion the Concordat between Portugal and the Holy See, was contemplating his departure for Rome, it was decided by the Superiors, in 1855, to purchase the country house with the vineyard attached, called Quinta de Ponte, which His Eminence for several years had rented. The limited accommodation afforded at Palma, would not permit of the whole College being at one time transported to the country, and it was thought that it would conduce to the health of the students if, by the acquiring of larger premises, they could all have the benefit of a sojourn in the country during the summer months. It was hoped, also, that it would prove a good investment of the money spent in the purchase; and it was considered that any outlay upon property belonging to the College would be preferable to spending money on the property of others, as had been hitherto done at Palma. The wisdom of this purchase was at once illustrated in a manner, so remarkable as to make it appear to have been a special interposition of Divine Providence in favour of the College, for in this very year Lisbon was visited by a virulent outbreak of yellow fever. It was confined principally to the lower and less cleanly portions of the city which bordered on the river and, fortunately, never passed beyond the boundaries; and thus the students, who on this occasion spent the entire year in their new house at Luz, were preserved from the danger of contagion.
About this time, 1856, the finances of the College became the source of considerable anxiety to the Superiors. It was found that they were no longer adequate
