AGURTO, PEDRO de. — Augustinian, first bishop of Cebú in the Philippines, born in Mexico at an unknown date. After entering the Order, in 1553 he enrolled at the University of Mexico. In 1584 he became provincial of his Order, and at the Third Council of Mexico (1585) he participated as a theological consultant. He had a perfect command of the Aztec and Tarascan languages. In 1595 he was elected bishop of Cebú; he died on 14 October 1608.
In the debate over whether or not to admit Indians to the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, A. took the side of the indigenous people, and in 1573 he published a treatise to demonstrate the thesis of the propriety of their admission to the Eucharist and Extreme Unction.
BIBL.: Streit, Bibl., 1, pp. 50-51; IV, p. 361; M. Cuevas, Historia de la Iglesia en Mexico, II, Tlalpan, (Mexico) 1922, p. 431 and passim; R. Ricard, La conquête spirituelle du Mexique, Paris 1933.