[8] Jerónimo Paredes was a native of Castilla and professed in the convent of Pamplona. He was prior of Ternate (1621–25), at the cession of that island to the Portuguese Augustinians. On returning to Manila he labored in Pampanga, in the villages of Pórac (1629), Apálit (1632), Macabebe (1633), Guagua (1635), Aráyat (1638), and México (1645). He presided at the provincial chapter of 1651, and had before been visitor, prior of Santo Niño (1644), and definitor (1647). His death in 1651 was universally bewailed. See Pérez’s Catálogo, p. 93. [↑]
[9] Andrés de Fuentes, a religious of the province of Castilla, was a notable orator, and the zealous minister of Calumpit in 1632. He was procurator-general in 1635, minister of Barbarán in 1636, and preacher-general in 1638. This last year he went to Malate, but afterward ministered in San Pablo de los Montes (1641), Taal (1644), Tondo (1645), Lipa (1650), and again in Malate (1653). His death occurred in 1653. See Pérez’s Catálogo, p. 106. [↑]
[10] Pedro Valenzuela was a native of Castilla la Vieja, where he professed. After going to the Philippines he was assigned to the villages of Bangui (1624), Santa Cruz (1627 and 1632), Narvacán (1630), Purao (1636), and Dingras (1641). He was elected definitor in 1647, and was appointed visitor of the Ilocan provinces by Diego Ordás, meeting his death at the hands of the Zambals while attending to the duties of the visitation. See Pérez’s Catálogo, p. 100. [↑]
[11] Gaspar López, a native of Castilla, an eminent orator, and a missionary in Tambobong (1630), Pórac(1633), Sesmoan (1635), Santor (1638), Apálit (1639), Gapán (1641), México (1644), Macabebe (1645), and Bacolór (1653), was definitor in 1644–47, and died at Bacolór (1655). See Pérez’s Catálogo, pp. 106, 107. [↑]
[12] Tomás de Villanueva was a native of Villanueva de los Infantes and professed in the Burgos convent. Having been assigned to the Bisayas Islands, he labored in Carcar (1627), Baong (1632), Tigbauan (1633–35), Jaro (1636), Barbarán (1638, 1641, 1659, 1662), Panay (1644, 1656), and Mambúsao (1671), and Candon and Dingras in Ilocos (1650–53). He died in 1674 so poor that his burial expenses were defrayed by his parishioners. He was visitor and master of novitiates in 1647, and prior of Guadalupe in 1657. See Pérez’s Catálogo, p. 95. [↑]
[13] Martin García professed in the convent of Arenas in 1629 and arrived in the Philippines June 29, 1635. He became preacher and confessor in Manila whence he went to Santa Cruz in Ilocos in 1641. In 1647 he was appointed procurator-general, but without assuming that office, sailed for Spain May 18, 1647, with appointment as commissary-procurator. His death occurred in Madrid in 1649. See Pérez’s Catálogo, p. 110. [↑]
[14] Juan de Borja, a native of Osuna, professed in that city. He became fluent in the Bisayan tongue, and labored in the missions of Mambúsao (1640, 1659), Barbarán (1644, 1656), Otón (1645), and Batan (1653); being prior of the convent of Santo Niño (1657), definitor (1659), president of the chapter (1662), and prior of the convent of Guadalupe (1665). In 1665 he commissioned the founding of the Augustinian hospice for the Philippines in Mexico, known as Santo Tomás de Villanueva, of which he was superior until his death in 1683. He wrote a religious treatise in the Bisayan language, while many of his letters were preserved by the order. See Pérez’s Catálogo, p. 112.
The hospice was actually founded in 1667, under the advocacy of the Santo Limosnero of Valencia [i.e., “the charitable saint of Valencia”—alluding to St. Thomas of Villanueva; he was bishop of Valencia, and died in 1555]; it was used by the Augustinians until it was confiscated by the Mexicans at the time of their revolution, in 1818. See Pérez, ut supra, note. [↑]
[15] See VOL. XXXVI, note 33. See also Revue des deux Mondes for 1869, vol. 81, article “L’Archipel des Philippines” (pp. 932–964), by Edmond Plauchut. On pp. 937–939, is described an incident illustrating the “unsubduable passion for liberty” of the Negritos. An infant of three was once captured by the Spaniards, who was about to be buried alive by his mother as she was impeded in her flight by reason of her child. This Negrito, being taken to Manila, was adopted by an American and baptized Pedrito. In due time the young savage was taken to Europe and America by his adopted father, and learned to speak Spanish, French, and English, returning after two years of travel. About two years after his return, Pedrito disappeared, and joined his own wandering tribesmen. He was seen later by a Prussian naturalist, a relative of the famous Humboldt, who ascended the mountain of Marivélez, and who talked with the “reclaimed” Negrito. This occurred in 1860. [↑]
[16] The master-of-camp, Manuel Estacio Venegas (see ante, note 50), who was a relative of the Recollect friar Juan de San Antonio. See Montero y Vidal’s Hist. de Filipinas, i, p. 265. [↑]