Aside from the founding of towns and parishes, the Franciscans also dedicated themselves to the establishment of institutions of charity such as the San Juan de Dios Hospital (1580), Naga Hospital of San Diego (1586), Hospital of the Holy Waters in Los Baños (1592), and San Lazaro Hospital – the first leprosarium in the Far East (1580). The Franciscans also excelled in the field of languages. Fray Pedro de San Buenaventura, composed the first Spanish-Tagalog dictionary (Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala) that was published in Pila, Laguna in 1613. The Bicolano-Spanish dictionary printed in 1745 was authored by Fray Marcos Lisboa. The authorship of the first book printed in the Philippines in 1593, the Doctrina Christiana, was attributed to Fray Juan de Plasencia. Fray Juan de Oliver wrote the first catechism on the 10 commandments in Tagalog. The first water system in Manila and free loan banks (Montes de Piedad) were established through the efforts of Fray Felix Huerta, OFM.  

 In the ensuing years, the Spanish Franciscans labored energetically in many places in the country. Since their arrival until the end of the Spanish rule in 1898, the Franciscans were able to establish and/or administer 207 towns/parishes in the following areas: Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, Quezon Province, Aurora, Isabela, Cavite, Batangas, Bataan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Nueva Ecija, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, Burias Island, Marinduque, Mindoro, Samar, Nueva Vizcaya, and Leyte. ​Aside from the founding of towns and parishes, the Franciscans also dedicated themselves to the establishment of institutions of charity such as the San Juan de Dios Hospital (1580), Naga Hospital of San Diego (1586), Hospital of the Holy Waters in Los Baños (1592), and San Lazaro Hospital – the first leprosarium in the Far East (1580).