Note 5 — Preface

Antonio Sedeño was born at San Clemente, in 1532 or 1535. In his youth he was a soldier and military engineer, but entered the Jesuit order in 1558 or 1559. After his ordination he went (1568) to Florida as a missionary, and in 1572 to New Spain. The rest of his life was spent in the Philippines, where he not only held high official positions in his order, but introduced among the Filipino natives many industries and manufactures, opened the [25n] first school in the island, founded colleges, and engaged in many other labors for the benefit of both the Spanish and the natives. He died September 2, 1595. See notice of his life in Sommervogel’s Bibliothèque; and Algué’s Archipiélago filipino, i, p. 251 (translated in Report of U.S. Philippine Commission, 1900, iv, p. 99).