Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Arce, Manuel

ARCE, Manuel, Mexican priest, b. in Aguascalientes, 5 April, 1725; d. in Bologna, Italy, 28 June, 1785. He was a Jesuit, was distinguished for his learning, and was in succession rector of the colleges belonging to his order in Puebla, Zacatecas, and Guadalajara, and then took charge of the Jesuit missions among the Chichimecan Indians. When Charles III. of Spain expelled the Jesuits from his dominions, 25 June, 1767, Father Arce went to Bologna, Italy, and, with funds furnished mostly by other Jesuits belonging to rich Mexican families, he founded a benevolent institution for the old and needy, called the Hospital for Septuagenarians. There he personally attended to everything concerning the care of the inmates, even to cleaning their rooms and cooking their food, until his death.