[1] Torres Vargas was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to a prosperous family.

His father, Garcia de la Torre, was a Sergeant Mayor in the Spanish Army who died while fighting alongside Captain Juan de Amézqueta against Captain Balduino Enrico (Boudewijn Hendricksz), leader of the Dutch armada, who attempted to invade the island, in the Battle of San Juan of 1625.

[2] Torres Vargas studied and graduated from the University of Salamanca in Spain where he earned his degree in Theology and Canon law.

Son: un cordero blanco con su banderilla colorada, sobre un libro, y todo sobre una isla verde, que es la de Puerto Rico, y por los lados una F y una I, que quiere decir Fernando e Isabel, los Reyes Católicos que se las dieron, y hoy se conservan en el estandarte real, que es de damasco anaranjado, con que se ganó la ciudad" ("coat of arms given to Puerto Rico by the Catholic Monarchs in the year 1511 when a vecino (roughly "freeman") named Pedro Moreno was Procurator.

They are: a white lamb with its red flag, on top of a book, and everything above a green island, which is Puerto Rico...which is an orange damask, with which the city was won").