CANAL, JOSÉ de la. – Augustinian historian, born in Uceda (Santander) on 11 January 1768 and died in Madrid on 17 April 1845. He first taught philosophy and then theology in Burgos, Salamanca, and Toledo; in 1804 he was transferred to Madrid so that he could continue the España Sagrada, of which he published, with his confrere Merino, volumes XLIII and XLIV (Madrid 1819 and 1826), and on his own volumes XLV and XLVI (ibid. 1832 and 1836), leaving volume XLVII unfinished, which was subsequently published by Sainz de Baranda (ibid. 1850). He also wrote devotional books and translated others from French. He declined the bishopric of Gerona three times and died as president of the Academy of History.
BIBL.: G. de Santiago Vela, Ensayo de una biblioteca iberoamericana de la Orden de s. Agustín, I, Madrid 1913, pp. 570–95; J. Rius Serra, Corispondencia epistolar entre don R. de Olisinellas y el p. J. de la C., in Analecta Sacra Torresconencia, 18 (1945), pp. 189–217; L. Battle y Prats, Fray J. de la C., ibid., pp. 219–23. David Gutiérrez