Note 2 — Chapter VI

Fray Juan de San Jerónimo was born at Malagón, Spain; he became a priest, and when already in middle life entered the discalced Augustinian order at Talavera, in 1593, making his profession in the following year. He soon attained high standing in this new order, and was the envoy sent to Rome to negotiate its separation from the regular Augustinians and secure approval for its constitution. In 1602 he was elected its first provincial, and under his rule the order flourished and spread in Spain. He was nominated to the bishopric of Chiapa, in Nueva España, but declined this honor that he might devote himself to foreign missions. Arriving at the Philippines in 1606, he organized there his mission, built a convent at Bagunbayan, and undertook the conversion of the natives in the province of Zambales. The convent expanded into a college, but its buildings were demolished in 1644. Being soon afterward rebuilt, it lasted until the eighteenth century, when it was again torn down. San Jerónimo had charge of it during two years; but, his health being much enfeebled, he set out on the return to Spain. When in sight of Ormuz, he died, in 1610. See account of his life in San Nicolás’s Historia, pp. 469, 470; and in Provincia de S. Nicolás de Tolentino (Manila, 1879), pp. 20–23.