From a wealthy family, he entered the Dominican Order in 1743 atMálaga, Spain, teaching philosophy during 1751–1756, theology, 1756–1758, and Holy Scriptures, 1758–1761. He moved toCádiz, the seafaring gate of trade to the American Spanish Empire and earned a doctorate of divinity in nearbyJerez de la Frontera in 1767 He became a prior to sieges of the Dominican Order inMálaga,Almería,Cabra,Ciudad Real andDoña Mencía, training teachers of Christianity, dictionary editors and administrative tutors in aboriginal American Indian languages, North and South America, after the middle of the 16th Century.
Difficulties on theIsland of Hispaniola around 1798 led him to move the supposed remains of seafarer and discovererChristopher Columbus toLa Habana,Cuba, being kept at the Convent of San Juan de Letrán. Portillo was proposed by the Spanish Crown to the Roman Pope in 1798 as a Bishop ofTrujillo,Peru, but instead Portillo becameArchbishop of Bogotá, a much higher position. Del Portillo y Torres died in 1804, aged around 75.
A Turbulent time: the French Revolution and the Greater Caribbean By David Barry Gaspar, David Patrick Geggus, Indiana University Press, 1997;ISBN0-253-33247-8.
Los Dominicos y el Nuevo Mundo, siglos XVIII-XIX: actas del IVo Congreso ... By José Barrado Barquilla; Editorial San Esteban, 1995;ISBN84-87557-76-7.
Rasgos biográficos de dominicanos célebres By José Gabriel García; Editora del Caribe, 1971.
The Dominican Republic: a national history By Frank Moya Pons; Markus Wiener Publishers, 1998;ISBN1-55876-192-6.
Cuba: economía y sociedad, Volume 9 By Leví Marrero; Editorial San Juan, 1985;ISBN84-359-0128-9.
History of Colombia By Jesús María Henao, Gerardo Arrubla, James Fred Rippy; The University of North Carolina Press, 1938.
Cuban convents in the age of Enlightened Reform, 1761-1807 By John James Clune; University Press of Florida, 2008;ISBN0-8130-3217-2.
Historia ecclesiastica, Part 4 By Juan Manuel Pacheco;Ediciones Lerner, 1971.
Historia eclesiástica de la Arquidiócesis de Santo Domingo ..., Volume 3 By Américo Lugo; Editora de Santo Domingo, 1979.
Haïti 1804—lumières et ténébres: impact et résonances d'une révolution By Léon-François Hoffmann, Frauke Gewecke, Ulrich Fleischmann; Iberoamericana Editorial, 2008;ISBN84-8489-371-5.
