Historical and biographical review of some of the main figures of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of Augustinian Recollects from its foundation to the present day.
There was a saying used at times by the friars in the Philippines to refer to their beginnings in the country: “From the time of Fray Juan de San Jerónimo…”
Juridically, he did not belong to the Province of Saint Nicholas since he was no longer in the Philippines when the Province was established. However, being the central character of the first Augustinian Recollection, he played a significant role in the Philippine enterprise by leading the first religious mission.
He once belonged to the Hieronymites (Order of Saint Jerome) but sought admission to the Augustinian Recollection at the Convent of Talavera de la Reina in 1593. He was already an ordained priest, but he made his novitiate and professed the vows as an Augustinian Recollect on 12 September 1594.
As a newly professed, he already performed a key role as a pacifier among the factions in the pioneering Recollection. He negotiated in Rome for a somewhat speedy process in acquiring a pontifical document that allowed the celebration of the first Provincial Chapter (Valladolid, 2 June 1602). He was elected as the first prior provincial during a triennium of establishments and great expansion.
It was not surprising that Philip III, who recognized his value, wanted to make him the bishop of Chiapas in Mexico. But Fray Juan knew how to manoeuvre and instead he obtained from the Spanish monarch the authorization to open a Recollect mission in the Philippines at the end of his triennial term.
The capitular delegates approved the project in a unanimous decision and entrusted its implementation to Fray Juan who had initiated that plan and had brought about the negotiations at the royal court.
In early May 1605, Fray Juan assembled the volunteers in Sevilla and on 12 July they embarked at Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cadiz en route to Mexico and the Philippines. The pioneers disembarked at Cebu City in the Visayas on 12 May 1606 and towards the end of May they finally reached Manila.
Without setting aside their life of prayer and their community life, they devoted themselves with exemplary endeavour to the evangelization task. But Fray Juan did not enjoy good health and the harshness of the tropical climate caused serious illnesses in him.
Furthermore, as it was urgent to have more personnel, he decided to return to Spain in order to regain his health and to search for more missionaries. He embarked in 1610 and took the Portuguese route: Philippines, India, Cape of Good Hope, Lisbon. Fray Juan’s crucial voyage did not go very far: he died whilst traversing the Strait of Hormuz in present-day Iran.
