In 1855 he began his monastic training as an Augustinian novitiate in Valladolid.
From 1859 to 1877 he served the convent associated with the Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu City, Philippines.
[2] In 1877 he moved to Manila to lead the work on the third edition Francisco Manuel Blanco's Flora de Filipinas until 1883 .
After being taken prisoner during the Philippine Revolution he was shot 3 times on October 31, 1898 but survived and was able to seek safety in Iloilo.
[1][4] In recognition of his botanical scholarship he was appointed as a corresponding academic of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences (Spanish: Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales).