The Apostolic Benediction. 233 



services to religion, yon desire to see the Christian faith preached 

 and projDagated in the new world among the nations of those 

 countries recently discovered by our most dear son in Christ, 

 Charles, emperor-elect of the Spains, etc., and Catholic king. 

 Not content Math having sent your brethren and religions to 

 those new nations, you wish to go to them in person, and like 

 God's holy apostles devote your whole strength to infusing into 

 their minds the truth of the gospel, and extending the limits 

 of Christendom to those distant regions by means of the most 

 holy sign of the cross. You are now preparing yourself for 

 your apostolate and are on the point of taking your departure. 

 We pray God to bless your holy dispositions and the zeal Avhich 

 impels you to so salutary a work, upon which we congratulate 

 you exceedingly. We exhort you to persevere with hope and 

 confidence in this undertaking, which you have chosen to direct 

 in person. We pray Almighty God, who inspires you with so 

 much zeal, to aid you with His heavenly light that you may the 

 more easily induce those nations now lying in darkness to ac- 

 cept the truth. We give you our apostolic benediction, in the 

 name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. 

 After the example of Jesus Christ our Savior, we send you, as 

 He sent His apostles, to conc|uer for heaven, which will be your 

 reward, those countries and nations in the name of the same 

 Jesus Christ our Lord. 



Given at Rome, the 7th of June, 1526, in the third year of our 

 pontificate. 



17. 



1003. Letter from Pope Clement VII to Charles V of Spain,dated 

 October 19, 1532, authorizing missionaries to be sent to America. 



(Translation.) 



To our dearest son in Christ, Charles, ever august emperor of 



the Romans : 



Our dearest son in Christ, health, etc. You have recently made 

 known to us that by the blessing of the Lord you have subjected 

 to your authority some other islands of the new world and a 

 savage people living therein unacquainted with the name of our 

 Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the orthodox faith, and that, 

 unal>le to provide for the salvation of tlie souls of the natives 



:il— Nat. Grog. Mag , vol.. V, 1S03. 



