Felix Huerta, O.F.M., was a Spanish

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

, scholar and missionary to the Philippines during the 19th century, when it was still a colony of Spain. He is best known for authoring a history of local Catholic

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es which is now a critical tool for Philippine historians. He was also the founder of

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

's Monte de Piedad Savings and Mortgage Bank, and was instrumental in the establishment of Manila's first water system.

As historical chronicler

Huerta is best known today as the author of ''Estado geográfico, topográfico, estadístico, histórico-religioso de la santa y apostólica provincia de San Gregorio Magno'' ("Geographical, topographical, statistical, historical and religious state of the holy and apostolic province of St. Gregory the Great"), a record of the histories of Franciscan missions which is now a primary resource for local histories of

Philippine municipalities A municipality is a local government unit (LGU) in the Philippines. It is distinct from ''city'', which is a different category of local government unit. Provinces of the Philippines are divided into cities and municipalities, which in turn, ...

As founder of the Monte de Piedad Bank

Another of Huerta's achievements was establishing what later became the

's Monte de Piedad Savings and Mortgage Bank, with the intent of providing a savings bank for Manila's poor which would charge moderate interest rates. This had been ordered by the Spanish government around 1860, but the order had not been carried out. With the backing of the

Archbishop of Manila The Archdiocese of Manila (; ; ) is the archdiocese of the Latin Church, Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in the Philippines, Catholic Church in Metro Manila, Catholic Church in the Philippines, Philippines, encompassing the cities of Manila, ...

and the Spanish colonial government, Huerta opened the bank on August 2, 1882. Committed to the service of the poor, any monies over the amount of the initial debt received in auctioning unredeemed items would be given to the debtor or his heirs. In 1859, having been assigned as administrator of

San Lazaro Hospital The San Lazaro Hospital (SLH) is a tertiary health facility in Manila, Philippines. It is a referral facility for communicable diseases and is one of the retained special tertiary hospital of the Department of Health and is funded by subsid ...

for

lepers Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

, Huerta worked hard to have the hospital reconstructed instead of being closed due to its deteriorating conditions.

As proponent of Manila's first water system

In his search through financial documents during this effort, Huerta discovered the existence of a previously forgotten fund bequeathed by General Francisco Carriedo y Peredo (November 7, 1690 – September 1743), a native of

Santander, Spain Santander ( , ; ) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. It has a population of 172,000 (2017). It is a port city located in the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Cantab ...

, who had been stationed in Manila as an officer of the Spanish Navy. He had left monies for the creation of the first water system in Manila. Huerta pursued this project as well, and as a result the municipal water system, with 153 hydrants, was inaugurated on August 23, 1882.

Felix Huertas Street

Felix Huertas Street
was named after Huerta.

References

Spanish Friars Minor 19th-century Filipino Roman Catholic priests Year of death missing Year of birth missing Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries 19th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests Spanish people in the colonial Philippines {{Philippines-bio-stub