in 1824 he published a translation of the bible in vernacular spanish which had been entrusted to him by the spanish kings carlos iv and fernando vii. this caused some criticism as both he and his father had become associated with jansenism and he had to retire to a monastery for some time. on 1 may 1834 he was ordained as the bishop of astorga and in the following year he met william harris rule from gibraltar as they both shared a common interest in distributing the bible in people's first languages. torres amat had had difficulty publishing his translation and he had relied on money from anglicans in london.