Coronel, Juan
CORONEL, JUAN
Franciscan missionary and linguist; b. Torija, Alcarria, Spain, 1569; d. Mérida, Yucatán, 1651. He studied humanities at the University of Alcalá de Henares and joined the Franciscan Order (1584). His biographers agree that he went to Yucatán prior to his ordination, but differ about the date of his arrival, placing it between 1580 and 1601. He mastered the Mayan language rapidly and taught it for many years. One of his pupils was the Franciscan historian Diego López de cogolludo. Coronel was guardian of the convent of Ticax, Yucatán, and definitor in his province. Of his work Arte en lengua de Maya (Mexico 1620) only one volume is extant. In addition he wrote Discursos predicables, con otras diversas materias Espirituales de la doctrina Xtna., y los Artículos de la Fe (Mexico 1620) and Doctrina christiana, en lengua Maya (Mexico 1620). His linguistic publications were a revision of the work of his predecessors Villalpando, Landa, Solana, and Ciudad Real.
Bibliography: j. m. beristain de souza, Biblioteca hispano americana septentrional, 5 v. in 2 (3d ed. Mexico City 1947). marcellino da civezza, Saggio di bibliografia geografica storica etnografica sanfrancescana (Prato 1879). e. b. adams, A Bio-Bibliography of Franciscan Authors in Colonial Central America (Washington 1953).
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