VENEGAS, Miguel (vay-nay'-gas), Mexican author, born in Puebla, 4 October, 1680; died near the city of Mexico in 1764. He entered the Society of Jesus at Tepozothm on 30 August, 1700, was a professor of Latin and rhetoric in 1708, and of moral theology in 1714, and was subsequently a missionary among the Indians of Mexico and California. He rendered important services to his order in the administration of the latter country, and collected a large number of documents on its history, geography, and on the lives of its missionaries. At length he was forced by feeble health to live in retirement, and spent the remainder of his life on the estate of Chicomocelo in literary occupations and the practice of religious exercises. He wrote many works, among them: " Hymnus in laudem B. Mariae Virginis de Guadalupe," in Latin and in Spanish (Mexico, 1765); " Manual de Parrocos para administrar los Sacramentos a Indios y Espanoles " (1768) ; '" Templo mistico de la Gracia, delineado en la admirable vida y virtudes herdicas del Ven. P. Juan Bautista Zappa, misionero de la Nueva Espana" (Barcelona, 1754) ; and " Vida admirable del P. Juan Maria Salvatierra, Conquistador de Californias" (Mexico, 1755). The work on which his reputation rests is " Noticia de la California y su Conquista temporal y espiritual hasta el tiempo presente" (3 vols., Madrid, 1757). It is full of details on the manners of the Indian tribes and the lives of the missionaries. He availed himself of the manuscripts of his predecessors and contemporaries, and the interest the work excited is shown by the fact that it was translated into the principal modern languages. The English translation bears the title " Natural and Civil History of California" (2 vols., London, 1759). The French and Dutch translations were made from the English, and do not give the author's name. His life was written by Salvador Granada (Mexico, 1765).