fortunate in meeting soon after his arrival Miguel de Talavera, [76]
who had come with his parents on the expedition of Legazpi. Miguel,
then quite young, became in a manner of speaking the disciple of
Plasencia, and while the father taught him Latin, he in turn taught
Plasencia the elements of Tagalog which he had picked up. For two years
Plasencia ministered in the provinces of Tayabas, Laguna, and Bulacan
where he used and perfected his knowledge of the native language. On
May 20, 1579, when the provincial Pedro de Alfaro left for China,
he named Plasencia acting provincial during his absence. A reference
to the earliest linguistic writings of the Franciscans occurs in an
account by Santa Inés of the chapter meeting held in the Convent of
Los Angeles in July 1580, which was presided over by Plasencia:


"The third and last thing that was determined in this chapter
was that a grammar and dictionary of the Tagalog language
should be made and a translation of the Doctrina Christiana
completed. And since Fr. Juan de Plasencia, the president of
this same chapter, excelled all in the language, he was given
this responsibility, and he accepted it, and immediately set to
work. And then after great study, much lack of sleep and care,
together with fervent prayers and other spiritual duties,
of not little importance in the good profit of such work,
he reduced the language to a grammar, made a catechism,
a very full dictionary, and various translations." [77]


But the most important record of his writings is contained in
the description of the Synod called by Bishop Salazar in 1582. In
March, 1581, Domingo de Salazar, the first Bishop of Manila and the