years, so they planned to cut the thread of life for him—­by means of poison, since this would not betray them.  They gave it to him more than eight times in his food and drink—­in his chocolate, and even in the wine with which he was consecrated.  The poison was ground glass, and it resulted in eruptions over his entire body and in illness for several days, but it did not produce death.  When the conspirators saw that their attempts so far had been unsuccessful, four of them planned to kill him with their own hands.  The affair was so public that not only was the conspiracy noised about among the friars but also among the laity of Manila.  Thus it came to the ears of the provincial himself, who had not lived as prudently as he should have done for the safety of his person.  After this, he was very careful about his food and drink; he locked himself in at night, and entrusted the key of the apartment to only a few.  He ordered one, who was the author of the treason (and he was the one that was suspected), that in virtue of his [the provincial’s] holy precept, he should not come into the convent of Manila, but that he should prepare to embark for Nueva Espana where they should take from him the cowl.  Thereupon this individual, Fray Juan de Ocadiz—­who was a native of Madrid, a priest, and one of long service in his order—­formed an agreement with three others, all young men about twenty years of age, who had been ordained to preach.  These were Fray Juan de Quintana and Fray Andres Encinas (both natives of Manila), and Fray Ignacio de Alcaraz, born in Nueva Espana in a place near Acapulco, called I think, Quatulco.  Fray Ignacio was companion and secretary to this provincial, and so he had the opportunity of making a key to the apartment, by first making an impression of the key in wax.  On the thirty-first of July, 617, the day of our Father Ignacio, at eleven o’clock at night, the four opened the door of the provincial’s apartment with the key that had been prepared for the purpose.  The provincial heard the noise immediately, and suspecting what it might be, rose from the bed, and went shouting to meet them.  At this juncture the three evangelists repented of what had been begun, and talked of withdrawing from it.  But Fray Juan de Ocadiz, bolder than the rest, since he had already begun the work, told them that if they deserted he would have to stab them.  Thereupon all four together attacked the provincial, threw him upon the bed, and held his mouth.  The three evangelists held his arms and legs firmly, and Fray Juan de Ocadiz, putting his knees upon his stomach, choked with his hands.  While the friar was choking him, the provincial begged for confession.  Fray Juan said, “Father, repent of your sins, and in token of this clasp my hand.”  The provincial took his hand, and the murderer absolved him, adding, “Trust, Father, in our Lord, who will pardon your sins.”  Upon this he seized his throat, and finished choking him.  Then with diabolical