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Matamoros, Manuel

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Mateer, Joseph, D.D.

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a Spanish Protestant, was born October 8, 1835, at Lepe, in the province of Huelva. In 1850 he entered the military school at Toledo, but the life of the soldiers which he witnessed there caused such a dislike for a military career that he left the school and went to Malaga, where his mother was then residing. On a visit to Gibraltar he casually attended a service held by Francisco de Paula Ruet (q.v.), who impressed him so deeply that Matamorose bought a New Test., which convinced him of the errors of Romanism. Through Ruet, Matamoros came into relations with a committee in Edinburgh, and later, with one in Paris, which prosecuted the evangelization of Spain. He went, under commission of the latter, to Granada, Seville, and Barcelona (1860). At Granada he became acquainted with Jose Alhama, a hat-maker, who had been converted through the instrumentality of an American tract, and was preaching the gospel. When arrested letters were found on his person from Matamoros, Morin, Carrasco, and Gonzalez, all of whom were likewise imprisoned. Two years Matamoros was kept at Granada awaiting his trial. Through the influence of a deputation of the Evangelical Alliance, and the efforts of queen Elizabeth of Prussia, Matamoros was released, May 28, 1863, on condition that he should leave the country. He went on a visit to England, where he was cordially welcomed, and afterwards to Lausanne, where he attended the theological seminary. On a visit to Pau, in southern France, he made the acquaintance of an American lady, whom he induced to establish there a Spanish school. Returning to Lausanne in May 1866, he died just a few days before the time set for his ordination, July 31, and two years before his country was opened to Protestant missions (1868). His name will not be forgotten beside that of Ruet, Carrasco, Alhama, and other evangelists in Spain. See Lichtenberger, Encyclop. des Sciences Religieuses, s.v.; Plitt- Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s.v. (B.P.)