6,052 pages of Philippine history

LITTLE do we know about the man who has written, so far, the longest history of the Philippines. Fr. Juan de la Concepción was born in Madrid in 1724, joined the Order of the Augustinian Recollects in 1740 and arrived in the Philippines in 1752. He was first assigned as a missionary in a parish in Iba, Zambales in order to learn the language of the region. The ecclesiastical positions he was assigned to indicate he was clearly a man with strong inclination for study and reading. He taught theology in the convent of Manila and later, was named chronicler of the Recollect Province. He was also secretary of the Bishop of Nueva Segovia (Vigan), Fray Juan Ruiz de San Agustín, also a Recollect, to whom he dedicated his magnum opus. After his health deteriorated, he retired to the convent of Cavite in 1786 where he passed away a few months later. Apart from his Historia General de Philipinas (General History of the Philippines), he translated the whole Bible into Spanish and also wrote a very interesting account of the British siege of Manila in 1762 whose whereabouts I would like to know.

His Historia General de Philipinas was published posthumously in 1788 and 1792. The whole work consists of 14 volumes or 6,052 pages (I have discounted 740 pages of indexes). The first volumes were printed by a Filipino, Agustín de la Rosa y Balagtas, in the printing press of the seminary, which was inherited from the Jesuits after they were kicked out. Volumes 6 to 14 were printed in the Franciscan printing press of Our Lady of Loreto Parish in Sampaloc by another hardworking Filipino, Balthasar Mariano, a lay brother. These cover the history of the Philippines from the circumnavigation of Magellan-Elcano until 1759 during the government of Pedro Manuel de Arandía Santisteban.