Two years later the same author published at Madrid an account [18]
of the miracles performed by the Rosary of the Virgin, in which he
included a list of "Of some writers of the Order of St. Dominic who
were living in this year 1612," and gave the same information as above,
adding only that the printing took place in Bataan.

Diego Aduarte, [19] whose history of the Dominican province of the
Philippines is one of the best contemporary ones written, bears out
these statements of which he was most probably the source. Aduarte came
to the islands in company with his close friend Blancas de San José
in 1595, went back to Spain as procurator of his order in 1607, and
returned to Manila in 1628, staying in the Orient until his death in
1636. His history was continued and edited after his death by a fellow
Dominican, Domingo Gonçalez, who had it printed in 1640. Summarizing
the life and accomplishments of Blancas de San José, Aduarte wrote:


"So he was sent to Bataan, which is near there [Manila],
where he learned the language of the Indians, called Tagalog,
which is the most common in this country and is used among the
Indians for many leagues around the city. So rapid was his
study of the language that he began to preach in it within
three months, and could teach it to others in six.... And
believing that he was the instrument needed to bring the holy
gospel to the Indians, he spared no pains to investigate the
fitness of their words, the way to use them, and all the rest
so that he could succeed in mastering it.... He wrote many
books of devotion for them, and since there was no printing
in these islands, and no one who understood it or who was