Note 1 — Chapter XX

Francisco de Mesina was born in Messina, Sicily, in 1614; at the age of fifteen he became a Jesuit novice, and in 1643 came to the Philippines. He acted as minister at the college of Manila during one year, and then went to Camboja with a Spanish expedition who built a ship there, ministering to the Spaniards, and to the natives of the country. For two years he was rector of Silang, and more than twenty years minister to the Chinese at Santa Cruz, near Manila, becoming very proficient in their language. He was three years provincial, and was sent to Macan and Camboja by the governor “on affairs of the royal service;” and he died at Santa Cruz, October 12, 1682. (Murillo Velarde, Hist. Philipinas, fol. 354.)