Note 31 — EARLY FRANCISCAN MISSIONS

Blas de la Madre de Dios was born in Lisboa, Portugal, and was early sent by his parents to engage in the Indian trade. He settled in the city of Malaca, where, after contributing all his possessions to charity, he took the habit in 1582. In 1585 he went to the Philippines, where having learned the language, he was assigned to the village of Morong. Thence he went to the village of Pila, and helped establish the village of Guilinguiling (1600), and was later in that of Palilla. In the chapter of May 14, 1605, he was elected definitor and minister of Meycauayan, and was later assigned to the village of Paete. October 29, 1611, he was elected provincial, and during his term the villages of Daet, Bactas, and Paracale were established. He was the first provincial to visit the province of Ituy, where he suffered many hardships. At the end of his provincialate he was assigned to the village of Lumbang. In 1618 he went to Mexico whence he returned to Manila in 1621, going the same year to the village of Mabitac. March 15, 1622, he was elected vicar-provincial, but in June of that same year went to the village of Santa Cruz de Potac. He went to the village of Pangil in June, 1625, whence he retired sick to Pila, where he died September 7, 1626. He left a number of writings, among them a treatise on the flora of the Philippines, the first one to be written. See Huerta, pp. 448, 449.