QUINTANA, Agustin (kin-tah'-nah), Mexican
missionary, born in Oaxaca about 1660; died there in 1734. He entered the order
of preachers in his native city in 1688, and was soon sent to the missions of
the Mije Indians. After twenty-eight years of labor he was appointed superior of
the convent of Zaashila, but he retired later, on account of failing health, to
the main convent of Oaxaca, where he wrote several books in the Mije language.
As they were the first that had been printed, he made several visits to Puebla,
notwithstanding his sickness, to teach the printers how to make new letters.
His chief work is "Institución Cristiana, que contiene el
Arte de la Lengua Mije y los Tratados de la Santisima Trinidad, de la Creación
del Mundo, y la Redención por Jesucristo" (Puebla, 1729).
Edited Appletons Encyclopedia by John Looby, Copyright © 2001
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