Preamble

To leave one’s homeland and go to places remote, wild, deprived of many comforts of life—in order to turn to the path of truth people still wandering in the darkness of ignorance, and to enlighten with the light of the Gospel those who have not yet seen this saving light—is a work truly holy and equal to that of the Apostles. Blessed is he whom the Lord shall choose and set upon such a ministry; but doubly blessed is he who labors with all zeal, sincerity, and love in the work of conversion and enlightenment, bearing the toils and sorrows encountered in the field of his service—for his reward is great in heaven! But woe to him who is called and set to preach the Gospel, and does not preach it; and worse still to him who, having traversed land and sea in order to convert others, makes those he converts into sons of Gehenna, twofold more than himself.