Note 1 — Events in Filipinas, 1636–37

Francisco Colin was born at Ripoll, of a prominent Catalonian family, in July, 1592. At the age of thirteen he was sent to Barcelona for his education; he there entered the Jesuit order, February 14, 1607. After his ordination he spent several years in preaching, in Gerona, Cardona, and other places; and afterward was an instructor in the college at Zaragoza. Desiring to labor among the heathen, he entered the Philippine missions, arriving at Manila June 28, 1626. About that time, the Jesuits attempted to found missions in Formosa and Jolo, to which task Colin was assigned; but, these proving abortive, he remained at Manila, occupying a chair in the Jesuit college, and acting as confessor to Governor Niño de Tavora. After the latter’s death, Colin became rector of the college, and soon afterward was sent (1634) to the new mission of Mindoro, where he spent three years. Recalled to Manila, he was rector of the college until he was chosen (1639) provincial of the islands—an office which he held a second time, according to Pastelle. The latter years of his life were spent in literary work, preaching to the Indians, and religious exercises; he died on May 6, 1660. Among his writings the most important is his Labor evangélica (Madrid, 1663), part of which will be presented in subsequent volumes of this series. See sketches of Colin’s life in Murillo Velarde’s Hist. Philipinas, fol. 259–267; and Pastells’s edition of Labor evangélica (Barcelona, 1904), pp. 225–230.