TORAL, Francisco de, Mexican R. C. bishop, born in Ubeda, Spain, in 1502: died in Mexico, 20 April, 1571. He received his education at Seville, and when nineteen years old became a Franciscan friar. In 1525 he went to Santo Domingo, and later he was sent to New Spain, where he learned Aztec and the difficult Totonaca language, and became professor of Indian dialects in the convent of his order at Mexico. After years of labor he invented a new method of teaching the Indian dialects, and afforded aid to the conquerors. Later he was sent to Yucatan, where he founded large and prosperous missions and gained the Confidence of the Indians to such an extent that he became their legislator. He was appointed in 1549 superior of the convent of Tecamachalco, assisted in the general assembly of the Franciscan order at Salamanca in 1553, returning to Mexico in the following year with thirty-six new missionaries, and was appointed provincial of the province of Tlaxcala. Early in 1562 he was made first bishop of Yucatan, and being consecrated at Mexico, 15 August, 1562, fixed his residence at Merida. During the following years he did much to improve and organize his diocese, founded benevolent institutions for the benefit of the Indians, and built at Merida a cathedral, a seminary, and a hospital. In 1565 he assisted at Mexico in the synod of the Mexican bishops under Archbishop Montufar. He died suddenlvin Mexico (luring a journey that he undertook" to confer with the archbishop. Toral's works include "Arte y Vocabulario de la lengua Tot onaca" (Salamanca, 1553) and "Tratado de la lengua Mexicana" (1554). The "Cartas de Indias," a recent state publication, contains letters and memoirs of Bishop Toral.