Diego de la Anunciacion, born in 1565, made his profession in the Recollect convent at Madrid, in 1597; and held several high positions in his order before he entered the Philippine mission. He was superior of the convent at Bagunbayan, and afterward prior. After some years he returned to Spain, where he spent the rest of his life, dying December 13, 1625.
[6] Rodrigo de Agandum Moriz (in religion, Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel) was born in Valladolid—or, according to some authorities, in Orio of Guipuzcoa—in 1584, and entered the discalced Augustinian order at the age of fourteen years. Joining the Philippine mission in 1606, he ministered to the natives in various districts of Luzón with great acceptance, employing his poetical talents in teaching the Christian faith to the Indians. In 1614 he went to Spain for more missionaries, returning to the islands in 1617–18. Again voyaging to Europe (1622), he went, via India and Persia, to Rome, where he arrived in 1626. Declining the pope’s offer to make him a bishop and patriarch in the Indias, he planned a mission to Chaldea; but he died at Orio, while en route to Madrid, December 26, 1626. He left several manuscript works, mainly historical, among which was Historia general de las islas accidentales á la Asia adyacentes, llamadas Philipinas; this was published in Documentos inéditos para la historia de España, tomos lxxviii and lxxix (Madrid, 1882), but it was apparently left unfinished by the author, the part that is extant treating mainly of the early explorations by Magalhães and Villalobos, and of the history of the Moluccas.
In the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla, is the following letter from Felipe IV to a brother of Fray Rodrigo:
“The King. It has been learned in the Council of the Indias that father Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel, a discalced Augustinian religious, who is said to be a brother of your Grace, brought from the Yndias a general history of the Filipinas Islands, compiled with great care, as, in order to write it, he had examined the archives and authentic memoirs of those regions; that it has been lately our Lord’s pleasure to take father Fray Rodrigo, who has died in Vizcaya; and that your Grace was given two of his books, especially the above history. And inasmuch as that work would be very important for what is written on the general history of the said islands by order of his Majesty, the matter having been discussed with the father provincial of the said order, in which the latter has declared that the said history is in possession of your Grace; the Council has directed me to write to your Grace, in its name, that it would be greatly to the service of his Majesty for your Grace to send me the said history for the said purpose. And if your Grace wish remuneration for it, or that it be returned after having used it for the said purpose, your Grace will advise me of what you desire in this matter, so that those gentlemen may know it, and so that the advisable measures may be taken. May God preserve your Grace, as I desire. Madrid, May seventeen, one thousand six hundred and twenty-seven.
Antonio Gonzalez de Legardo
On the receipt of this letter, I beg your Grace to advise me immediately, for the Council anxiously awaits a reply because of the history.” (Pressmark: “est. 139, caj. 1, leg. 15.”)
[7] Andrés del Espíritu Santo was born at Valladolid in 1585, and made his profession at Portillo in 1601. Entering the Philippine mission, he began his labors with the natives in the province of Zambales, where he was very successful. In 1609, and again in 1615, he was chosen vicar-provincial. Afterward going to Spain for more missionaries, he returned to the islands in 1622, and four years later became provincial, as again in 1632. The rest of his life was spent at Manila, where he died in 1658.
[8] A city between Vera Cruz and Mexico City, more commonly known as Puebla; it was founded about 1530, and became the seat of the diocese in 1550, and soon was a flourishing agricultural and manufacturing center.
[9] Instituto: constitution, or rules of observance, adopted by the order.
[10] “Now I shall die happy.”