ABSTRACT
Five members of the Society came to Ethiopia with Father Patriarch Dom Andre de Oviedo, and they arrived on 19th March 1557, as we said above in chapter 5: Father Manoel Fernandez, the mission superior, Father Gonçalo Gualdamez, and Brothers Gonçalo Cardoso, Antonio Fernandez and Francisco Lopez, whom the father patriarch later ordained to say Mass. Four of them were Portuguese and Father Gualdamez Spanish. They were all {[f. 360v]} truly apostolic and generous with their lives and spent them on the bodily service and spiritual good of others with such great charity and zeal for the salvation of souls that, in order to help in this, they never shirked any work or feared any danger, however great it might be. The reward for this was not totally reserved for the next life, because the more generous they were towards others in what they did, the more Our Lord revealed Himself to them by sharing out His divine spirit with a generous hand and filling their souls with <[f. 309/299]> heroic virtues and such greatness of heart and confidence amidst the greatest dangers as they might have had after the best successes. Therefore, even though the yoke and burden that they bore was heavy, it became very easy and light for them. During their tribulations they also remembered those words with which Saint Paul consoled himself during his own and heartened the people of Corinth, saying that what is at present a momentary and light burden of tribulation later yields an immense weight of glory, 2 Corinthians 4.1
