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.
Both were Recollect missionaries in the Philippines and were also writers. We speak of Fray Juan Romero de la Concepción (1724-1786) and Fray José Exarch de la Concepción (1702-1757).
Juan was born in Madrid, and he took his vows at the convent of that city in 1740, although he volunteered for the Philippines while he was a conventual in Toledo. He arrived in Manila in 1752, after a three-year sojourn in Mexico.
José was a native of Cinctorres in Castellón, where he was born in 1702, and he took his vows in Barcelona in 1721. He volunteered for the Philippines in 1723 while he was a conventual in Zuera (Zaragoza).
Juan was an intellectual; he served as a professor in Intramuros for many years and was the chronicler of the Province from at least 1761 to 1782.
José was more of an administrator. He was only 24 years old when he was elected procurator general a year after his ordination. He led the Province three times and was also named chronicler on several occasions.
Fray Juan was undoubtedly the most prolific and significant writer of the 18th century. His Historia General de Filipinas [General History of the Philippines], published between 1788 and 1792 in 14 volumes, was for a century and a half the most detailed and reliable history of the Philippines. Consulting it even today is useful and often necessary.
Apart from his administrative skills, Fray José was brilliant in the pulpit and in writing. He reorganized the administration and the archive. He stood up in defence of the life and reputation of his fellow religious with numerous reports and requests to the King and to the government in Manila and wrote the Reseña histórica [Historical Survey] of the activities of the Province from its beginnings until 1750, which remains unsurpassed even today.
The works of both Recollects did not share the same fate. The Province printed Fray Juan’s Historia, but its distribution was very limited, and many copies were stored at San Nicolas Convent in Intramuros. After several decades, the confreres were given a copy each, as mandated by a provincial. Thus, its fourteen volumes travelled to various corners of America in the wake of the Philippine Revolution.
In contrast, Fray José’s Historical Survey remained unpublished, although it was kept safe in different archives. The best-preserved copy, notable for the maps included, is found at the British Museum in London; another is at the Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain, and a third at the Historical Archive of the Province in Marcilla, Navarre. This last copy was published in instalments in the Bulletin of the Province of Saint Nicholas between 1915 and 1944.
