ABSTRACT
{[f. 537] Duarte de Melo told me in Baçaim that, when he was coming from the kingdom in the year 1585 in the admiral ship Santiago, the captain-in-chief of which was Fernâo de Mendonça, which was lost on the shoals of India, when they were travelling through Cafraria and most of his companions had died, among them four fathers of the Society, as All Saints’ Day dawned he felt so weak that he turned to Father Péro Martinez, who was coming as provincial of the Society and later was bishop of Japan, and said to him, ‘My friend, remain in peace, for it seems that it is God’s will to take me to Him.’ Although he too was weak, he rose with renewed spirit and strength and said to him, ‘You are not going to die now. God will take you safely home to see your wife and children, and you will enter your fortress in Diu, and in your first year our Society’s house will be founded there.’ That is what happened, and from here the fathers of the Society went on to Ethiopia, and in their time there were four: Father Francisco Antonio, Father Luiz d’Azevedo, Father Antonio Fernandez, and Father Lourenço Romano. Baçaim, 4th December 1624.
