José Torrubia

José Torrubia was born in 1698 in Spain, professed his vows as priest and as a Franciscan in 1714. He volunteered for missionary service in the Philippines, arriving there in 1721. His talents were recognized early and he moved rapidly into significant positions, most notably in 1734 when he was picked to represent the Philippine Franciscans in Spain and Rome.[1]

After almost a decade in Spain, he had become embroiled with the Philippine Franciscans over disputed interpretations of his instructions as their representative.[2]

He went to Mexico with Spanish Franciscans destined for the Philippines, but intuiting that his welcome there would be uncertain but probably hostile, he joined a Mexican group of Franciscans in 1745. The disputes engendered a small mountain of paper as the parties tried to convince the Spanish king, Charles III and the Pope, Benedict XIV of the validity of their competing claims and charges. At one point Torrubia was jailed in Cuba, but ultimately Spanish royal officials, ecclesiastical authorities, and even the Franciscans in Spain and Rome absolved him of all fault and dismissed the charges brought by the Philippine Franciscans. He went on to hold important positions in Rome, dying there in 1761 with a significant body of published work to his credit.[3]

References
  1. Eusebio Gómez Platero, O.F.M., Catálogo biográfico de los Religiosos Franciscanos de la Provincia de San Gregorio Magno de Filipinas desde 1577 en que llegaron los primeros a Manila hasta los de nuestros días (Manila: Colegio de Santo Tomás, 1880), 404-05; Félix de Huerta, O.F.M., Estado geográfico, estadístico, histórico-religioso, de la santa y apostólica Provincia de San Gregorio Magno, de religiosos Menores descalzos de la regular y más estrecha Observancia de N. S. P. S. Francisco en las islas Filipinas (Binondo: M. Sánchez, 1865 (2d ed.), 537-38.
  2. Lorenzo Pérez, O.F.M., “Fr. José Torrubia, Procurador de la Provincia de San Gregorio de Filipinas,” Archivo Ibero-Americano, 36:111 (July–September 1933), 321-64. Odilo Gómez Parente, O.F.M., in the introduction to José Torrubia, O.F.M., Crónica de la Provincia Franciscana de Santa Cruz de la Española y Caracas (Caracas: Academia Nacional de la Historia, 1972), which in turn is a section of Torrubia’s portion (v. 9) of the Crónica General de la Orden Franciscana.
  3. The essay “What We Know about the Life of P. José Torrubia, O.F.M., lists more than thirty-seven published and unpublished items to Torrubia’s credit as a writer. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxkYmNyZXNlYXJjaGluc3RpdHV0ZXxneDo3YzdjMzZjMjgyNzM4N2Vh , 4-11.
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