ADUARTE, DIEGO FRANCISCO

Dominican chronicler and bishop in the Philippines; b. Zaragoza, Spain, 1569; d. Nueva Segovia, 1636. He took the Dominican habit in 1586 and made his profession in the order the next year in Alcalá de Henares. He was already a priest when he went to the Philippines in 1594. In Manila he taught Christianity to the Chinese residents. From there his missionary zeal took him to Cambodia, Canton, Malacca, and Cochin China, where he underwent many hardships and met only failures for his efforts. He was convinced of the need for more missionaries in the Far East and made trips to Spain in 1603 and in 1607 to get them. On the second trip he went to France and got two missionary expeditions sent out. He himself prepared a third group and accompanied it as far as Mexico; he then returned to Spain for a fourth expedition, which he led to Manila. He was named bishop of Nueva Segovia in 1632 and governed wisely and charitably. He died a holy death. His body was found incorrupt, even though it had been buried in such damp soil that the casket was full of water. His chief work was Historia de la Provincia del Santo Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores en Filipinas, Japón y China, 2 v. (Manila 1640; Zaragoza, Spain 1693). It was reprinted with many additions in 1742, 1783, and 1870–72. In 1962 an edition containing a biography and bibliography of the author was published in Madrid.

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