chapter iii

treats of the seventh general chapter of the order, which was held in Alcalá de Henares in 1663. Sections ii and iii narrate the life of Fray Juan de San Antonio, an ex-provincial of the Philippines. Born of a noble family in Granada, he early showed great precocity and attained proficiency in his studies while very young. Being strongly called to the religious life he entered the Recollect convent at Granada, September 13, 1617, at the age of twenty and professed the following year. After a short course in theology he went to Mexico in 1619, whence after another course in theology in that city he was sent to Manila, where he was ordained priest after a third theological course, in 1621. The following year found him master of novitiates in Manila convent. Although his parents obtained permission for him to return to Spain, in 1624, he preferred to remain in the field which he had chosen. That same year he was prior of the convent of Igaquet and was later occupied in many missions, especially in Calamianes. In 1635 he was elected definitor, and desirous of preaching the gospel in Japan, made two attempts to penetrate that empire, both of which were failures, the second time sickness not even allowing him to leave the Philippines. He was elected prior of Manila convent in 1638 and after his three years' term worked again in the missions of Calamianes and composed two hooks in the language of that district, one of moral sermons and the other an explanation of the catechism. In 1644 he was elected provincial almost by acclamation. His term was a busy one, and a number of churches and convents were erected during it. During the disastrous earthquake of 1645, he rendered distinct service. He began the repair of the Recollect church and convent of Manila, which had been partially destroyed by the earthquake. At the end of his term he retired to his cell in Manila, but became implicated in some way with the civil-religious troubles that rose during the governorship of Diego Faxardo, and he was arrested in 1651 and sent to Marivelez. With the change of government, he returned to Manila, and then retired to the Cavite convent, where he died from an illness in January 1663. He was pure minded and austere in his devotions. The fourth and last section of this chapter narrates the life of a Recollect who died in 1663 at the convent of Zaragoza, Spain.]

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