Fray Gaspar de Villarroel, another writer already referred to, was born in Quito about 1587, of parents who were extremely poor, but who are said to have descended from a noble family. His father was a lawyer, and for a certain period was a judge in Cuzco. While his son was still young, he removed from Quito to Lima in order that the lad might have the advantage of instruction. In Lima he lived in extreme poverty, but continued his studies. [Sidenote: Villarroel in Spain] The zeal of the father to attain a higher degree of education stimulated the son to pay special attention to his own cultivation. Like many others of his time, who would be scholars, Villarroel entered the Church and assumed the habit of St. Augustine. This was in 1607-1608, and after this event he turned with new energy to studies in letters and theology. Later he received the degree of doctor. After a few years his attainments warranted him in becoming a candidate for a professorship that was vacant in the university at Lima. His rival, Pedro de Ortega Sotomayor, was successful, but Villarroel’s candidacy made his merits so well known that he was elected prior at Cuzco. This office he held until his departure for Spain, a journey that he made by way of Buenos-Aires. [Sidenote: _Semana Santa_] Born and educated in America, Villarroel was unknown in Spain, where there existed a strong prejudice against all creoles, against their intellectual attainments, and their fitness for positions in the public service. To allay this prejudice with reference to himself was one of the purposes of this journey; and he took with him a manuscript for the first volume of a work to be entitled _Semana santa, tratado de los comentarios, dificultades y discursos literates y místicos sobre los Evangelios de la Cuaresma_. This he caused to be published in Lisbon in 1631 with an adulatory dedication to the king. This work was a commentary and an interpretation of passages from the Bible, involving much that appears frivolous, sterile, and commonplace, when considered from the viewpoint reached after these intervening three hundred years. A second volume was published in Madrid in 1632, and a third and last volume in Seville in 1634; in 1626 he published a commentary on the Book of Judges. This was written in Latin, and contained an abundance of extracts from the Scriptures and from the Fathers of the Church. [Sidenote: Appreciation by the court]