18, 1570. Your Lordship and reverend devout servant, the Bishop of Aleria He established himself in precarious and humble dwellings and started immediately the visitation of the whole Diocese, entailing great and severe sacrifices, to bring to all the Word of God "like a beneficial rain that the good Lord sends on a field for long time arid and destroyed." By the end of August he was able to hold a synod with 150 priests present to set up rules and regulations. The synod became an annual event of three days. Albert Grozio, the Bishop's secretary wrote: "He took advantage of these days to live heart to heart with his priests who were invited, if they wanted, to live with him at his own expenses. He ate with them, talked with each one of them, and was generous in his charity. To instruct them he used to create cases of conscience, going over liturgical formulas, dogmatic or moral principles, and counciliar and ecclesiastical documents. At the end of the synod most of the priests had to face a most arduous trip back home, so he used to prepare for them and their laity, abundant provisions, giving them horses, wine, or whatever could be useful for the trip." With the passing years he provided his clergy with various booklets of instructions including a simplified edition of the Roman catechism so much praised by St. Francis de Sales. In the following years he often changed residence to be able to have a good knowledge of his people. He founded a seminary in Bastia, and he dedicated himself to all, in spite of his sickness, like malaria and high fever, which few times brought him to the point of death. He transferred his see to escape the malaria-ridden swamplands around Aléria to Cervione, where, in 1578, he built the Cathedrale St-Erasme. The factional enmity, the famines, and droughts very much tested Alexander's charity. The pacification of vendettas was a significant part of his pastoral activity. One individual made an attempt on his life. Due to his efforts to end the violence, the people called him "The Angel of Peace". From letters written when Sauli was appointed a bishop, it seems that Borromeo thought that he would be wasted in Corsica, and tried on various occasions to have him transferred back to his province, always crashing against Sauli's humility, who wanted to "leave his