COLLADO, DIEGO. - Dominican, born at Miaja-das (Spain), died in a shipwreck in 1641. Having arrived in the Philippines in 1611, in 1619 he was sent to Japan, where he endured persecution. Appointed superior of the mission, he traveled through various provinces to comfort the faithful. He also wrote several works on the Chinese and Japanese languages.
Since some claimed that the mendicant orders did not have the faculty to evangelize Japan, Fr. C. set out for Rome to present the matter to the Holy See. The dispute was resolved with the bull Ex debito (22 Feb. 1633) of Urban VIII, which granted to all religious orders and institutes, including the Society of Jesus, the faculty to preach the Gospel in China, Japan, and the adjacent islands, provinces, and regions, as well as in the kingdoms of India. Departing again for the Philippines in 1637, he was assigned to Cagayán, where he devoted himself fully to sacred ministry. Returning from Cagayán to Manila, the ship capsized; though he could have saved himself, being an excellent swimmer, he remained on board to comfort the other shipwrecked and perished with them near Cabicungam.