author
Juan Serrano
1715–1754
A little-known Augustinian friar whose surviving work opens a window onto early Tagalog religious writing in the Spanish colonial Philippines. His best-known text is a Tagalog version of a novena to Saint Augustine, preserved through later printings and digital archives.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Very little biographical information about this author could be confirmed from reliable sources found here. Catalog and ebook records identify him as Juan Serrano (1715–1754) and connect him with a Tagalog devotional work dedicated to Saint Augustine.
The work most clearly linked to him is Novena sa Maloualhating Ama,t, Doctor at Ilao nang Santa Iglesia na si San Agustin. Project Gutenberg’s text states that it was translated into Tagalog by Fr. Juan Serrano, and the wording identifies him as a preacher in the Augustinian order. The edition now circulating online was printed in 1887, which suggests his writing continued to be valued and reprinted long after his lifetime.
Although details about his life remain scarce, Serrano’s surviving publication is still meaningful. It reflects the role of Spanish missionary writers in shaping early printed religious literature in Tagalog, and it offers modern readers a glimpse of how Catholic devotion was adapted for local language communities.