or any form of material contribution to the community as required by the rules of the Tertiary order. The state of affairs polarized the recollects into two groups whom we may call the "pros" and the "contras." The pros were of the opinion that they should receive as many deserving applicants as possible with or without a dowry and trust in Divine Providence for the sustenance of the beaterio. The contras, on the other hand, ever mindful of their onerous obligations at present and in the future, recommended banning further admission to the community. The temperamental prior, however, exasperated by the unexpected crisis, resolved the issue impulsively by demanding back the habits he had bestowed on the Talangpaz sisters and their four companions, ordering them to vacate the house in the convent garden immediately and, despite the beata's tearful entreaties, demolishing the house with his own hands with the same zeal as he had it built earlier. The forlorn sisters rented back their old nipa hut near the church and resumed their religious life even as they mourned the loss of their treasured habit of mantelatas. Many of the Recolelcts, including the contras, commiserated with them but most especially their confessor, fray Juan, who gave them the strong support they needed in their desolation. "Father, they intimated to fray Juan, it is clear that God and the Most Holy virgin have deigned to test us and purify our souls in the crucible of sorrows. But we are so determined in our endeavor that we find more courage to suffer each day. We are like mustard seeds, which have been pressed and nearly crused. From these shall emerge a sapling which, as the father prior will surely witness, shall grow into a big tree under whose shade the birds will build their nests and sing their canticles to God." The quotations here come from an eyewitness account of their lives by Fray Benito Gomez de San Pablo, OAR. Strong in hope and gifted with sibyllic vision like earlier Filipino priestesses and beatas, the sisters also sought out the prior himself to assure him with these predictive words: "Fray Diego, please bear with us. Now you spurn us and send us away, but you can be certain that later, you will be pleased to receive us back and grant us the holy habit again, and not only the two of us but