Juan de Plasencia

Juan de Plasencia
Born	Early 16th century Plasencia, Extremadura, Spain
Died	1590 Lilio, Laguna, Captaincy General of the Philippines
Nationality	Spanish
Known for	Friar of the Franciscan Order in the Philippines

Juan de Plasencia (Spanish: Juan de Plasencia) was a Spanish friar of the Franciscan Order.

He spent most of his missionary life in the Philippines, where he founded numerous towns in Luzon and authored several religious and linguistic books, most notably, the Doctrina Cristiana (Christian Doctrine), the first book ever printed in the Philippines.

Juan de Plasencia was born in the early 16th century as Juan Portocarrero in Plasencia, in the region of Extremadura, Spain. He was one of the seven children of Pedro Portocarrero, a captain of a Spanish schooner.

Juan de Plasencia grew up during the period known as the Siglo de Oro, a Golden Age when arts and literature flourished in many parts of Spain, among them his native Extremadura. 0 It is not well known when or where he first entered the Order of the Franciscans. Some scholars point at the Convento de Villanueva de la Serena, in Plasencia, while others speculate that he might have traveled to Italy and joined a Convent there, at a time when a large part of Italy was under Spanish rule.

He is believed to have arrived to the Philippines in 1578, after a stopover in Mexico. As soon as he arrived, he joined forces with another missionary, Fray Diego de Oropesa, and they both started preaching around Laguna de Bay and Tayabas, Quezon, in Quezon Province, where he founded several towns.

During the following years they are also credited with the foundation of a large number of towns in the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal, such as Tayabas, Caliraya, Lucban, Mahjayjay, Nagcarlan, Lilio(Liliw), Pila, Santa Cruz, Lumban, Pangil, Siniloan, Morong, Antipolo, Taytay, and Meycauayan.

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