AGOSTINO DA CORUÑA

AGOSTINO da CORUÑA. - Born in La Coruña in 1510, died in 1590. He became an Augustinian in 1525 and in 1533 went as a missionary to Mexico, where he worked among the Indians of Chilapa and Tlapa for more than twenty years; he then became professor of theology at the University of Mexico and provincial of his Order. Together with the provincials of the Dominicans and Franciscans, he went to Spain (1562) to plead the cause of the Indians. He was later appointed bishop of Popayán. He wrote a history of his mission: *Relación historica de la Conquista espiritual de Chilapa y Tlapa*.

BIBL.: Streit, Bibl., II, p. 181; R. Ricard, *La Conquête spirituelle du Mexique, Essai sur l'apostolat et les méthodes missionnaires des Ordres Mendiantis en Nouvelle-Espagne de 1523-24 à 1573*, Paris 1933. Roberto Ricard