Madrid is the birthplace of the Augustinian Recollect Luis Cabello. He was born in the Spanish capital on August 26, 1858, the son of Pedro Cabello and Francisca FrancƩs. Soon after, at the age of 16, he entered the novitiate of the Augustinian Recollects, and a year later, on September 13, 1875, he made his profession and joined this religious order.
He had a Bachelor of Arts degree and studied the ecclesiastical career in the three colleges that the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Augustinian Recollects had at that time in Spain: Monteagudo and Marcilla in Navarre and San MillƔn de la Cogolla in La Rioja.
On October 1, 1881, he embarked in Barcelona for the mission of his religious Province in the Philippines, like the vast majority of the Recollect religious of that time, who had assumed their vital mission in the Philippines from the time of initial formation.
At the age of 24, on June 21, 1882, he was ordained a priest in Manila. The day before, he already knew his next assignment: the diocesan seminary of Vigan, a city located on the west side of the large island of Luzon, in the Iliocos Sur region. He would collaborate in the formation of the diocesan clergy by mentoring local vocations. On the 24th, he disembarked at the port of Solamague to begin his new task.
It was thirteen years, equivalent to the entire time the Augustinian Recollects were managing and teaching at the Vigan seminary, until May 1895. These were years of great dedication, of unconditional support for the local Church, which they helped to grow and have a vigor and strength that lasts to this day.
Given his knowledge of the Ilocano dialect, after completing his service at the seminary he was sent as parish priest to San Antonio (Zambales), where he remained until 1898, the year in which he was arrested by the United States Army and imprisoned by the rebels during the Philippine Revolution, who kept him in captivity.
Released on November 26, 1899, on March 15 of the following year he began his return to Spain, but with his health completely compromised, so with a special permit he would live for seven years with his family in Madrid until he recovered physically and emotionally from the ordeal.
In 1907, Luis rejoined the community in the newly formed Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova. He spent time in the community of SigĆ¼enza (Guadalajara) before becoming one of the first formators of the new religious of that Province in the recently inaugurated formation houses of Berlanga de Duero (Soria) and Villaviciosa de OdĆ³n (Madrid).
His health already weakened by age, he spent his last days in the community of Lucena (Cordoba), where he died on January 31, 1926.
