Benavides, Miguel de
BENAVIDES, MIGUEL DE
Dominican missionary and archbishop of Manila; b. Carrión de los Condes (Palencia), Spain, 1552; d. Manila, June 26, 1605, or July 26, 1607. Benavides studied under D. Bañez and taught at Valladolid. In 1586 he sailed for Manila, where he and his companions established the Dominican province of the Most Holy Rosary. He was the first of the missionaries to learn the Chinese language in order to instruct the Chinese living in Manila. In 1589 he went to China but was imprisoned there and later expelled. He was sent to Madrid in 1590 to act as procurator for the Dominican province of the Philippines and to carry on important negotiations with the Royal Council for the Indies. In 1595 he was named bishop of New Segovia in the Philippines and in 1597 became archbishop of Manila. Zealous for learning, he founded the Colegio de Santo Tomás in Manila, which later became a university.
Bibliography: j. quÉtif and j. echard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum (New York 1959) 2:363–364. r. streit and j. dindinger, Bibliotheca missionum (Freiburg 1916) 4: 358–359. j. ferrando and j. fonseca, eds., Historia de los PP. Domenicos en las islas Filipinas (Madrid 1870–72). r. d. ferreres, Enciclopedia de la Religión Católica 1:1402.
[p. k. meagher]