The Philippines: Arsenal of Faith, Deposit of Christianity in the East

The story of the Philippines is the story of the Church’s “most successful missionary effort in
Asia” (Bokenkotter, 2005). Like the proverbial grain of the mustard seed sown in fertile earth,
the growth and development of the Church and the Philippines were the fruits of the labors of
missionary friars, sustained by an indigenous clergy, and made vibrant by a faithful people.
Jesuit historian Fr. John Schumacher writes: “Whether one is a believing Catholic or not, the
development of the Filipino nation cannot be understood without a knowledge of the major,
often decisive role that the Church has played, well or ill, in that process, and continues to play.”

I. Spain conquers the Philippines with the Cross of Christ

Catholicism came to the Philippines with the European discovery of the archipelago. The
explorer Ferdinand Magellan set foot on the islands in 1521 and planted the cross on the island
of Cebu, cradle of Christianity in the Philippines. There, he spearheaded the conversion of Rajah
Humabon and his consort Harah Amihan, who took the baptismal names Carlos and Juana (after
the Spanish king and queen mother). This happened within weeks of the offering of the first
Mass in the islands by Fr. Pedro de Valderrama, chaplain of the voyage, on March 31, 1521.
Magellan had named the islands the “Archipelago of St. Lazarus.” On the day he first sighted
land (March 16, 1521), it was a Saturday, the eve of Passion Sunday, when in the old Roman
liturgy, the gospel was the resurrection of St. Lazarus. The name that stuck however was “Las
Islas Filipinas” (the Philippine Islands), given by Ruy Lopez de Villalobos who headed one of
the follow-up expeditions after the death of Magellan in the hands of the natives in the Battle of
Mactan.

The evangelization of the Philippines began with the arrival of the conquistador Miguel Lopez de
Legazpi in Cebu on April 27, 1565. The natives fled and burned their homes, but in one hut was
recovered the image of the Santo Niño, the Child Jesus. It was Magellan’s baptismal gift to
Queen Juana, and today the object of the largest Christian devotion in the country. Legazpi
called the first Spanish settlement the “City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus,” the feast attached
to the devotion to the Holy Child.
The Augustinian friars who came with Legazpi, led by Fray Andres de Urnadeta, built a church
and convent in honor of the Santo Niño in Cebu. In 1571 they went with Legazpi as he
conquered Manila and turned the then bustling Muslim settlement into the walled capital
(Intramuros) of the new Spanish colony. For 13 years the Augustinians were alone in the
missionary effort. The Franciscans arrived in 1578, followed by the Jesuits in 1581. The
Dominican mission arrived in 1587. But the first Dominican to land on the islands was Fray
Domingo de Salazar, who accompanied the Jesuits six years earlier and took possession of the
newly established Diocese of Manila as first bishop. The See of Manila was a suffragan to
Mexico until August 14, 1595 when it was elevated to an archdiocese, with the dioceses of Cebu,
Nueva Segovia and Caceres (Naga) as suffragans.

The choice of Salazar as first bishop was propitious. Salazar was a disciple of Bartolome de las
Casas, who defended the Amerindians from the abuses of the Spanish colonizers. Salazar was
bent on doing the same in the Indies. The legitimacy of the conquest was a question that vexed
the young colony, and was addressed precisely by the Synod of Manila convoked by Salazar in
1582. The Synod Fathers concluded that Spain must exercise political dominion over the
Philippines to fulfill its primary duty of evangelization, as commissioned by the Pope. Salazar’s
synod, more importantly, condemned slavery and resolved to spread the Gospel using the native
languages, a key decision that preserved the local tongues.

As expected, Salazar encountered stiff opposition and had to go to Spain to personally plead for
the rights of the natives before the royal court. Upon his death the struggle was continued by a
fellow Dominican, Fray Miguel de Benavides, who pointed out that tributes had been collected
unjustly from unbelievers. Spain must make restitution, he argued, and obtain a just title to the
Philippine islands. This can be done only if the natives submit freely to the colonizers.
The Catholic king acceded. The victorious Benavides returned to the Philippines, now the bishop
of Nueva Segovia, and himself oversaw the gatherings in which Filipinos voluntarily agreed to
be the Spanish king’s subjects. This was the reply of one Filipino to the question of ratification:
“We answer that we want the king of Spain to be also our king and ruler because he has sent
Spaniards to free us from the tyranny and domination of our own rulers, and also because he has
sent us missionary fathers to help us against the Spaniards, ready to defend us against them.”

Planting of the First Cross by Vicente Manansala

 First Mass at Limasawa by Carlos Botong Francisco

Introduction of the First Christian Image by Carlos Botong Francisco

Domingo de Salazar, OP, First bishop of Manila

 Conquista de las Islas Filipinas (Fray Gaspar de San Agustin, Madrid, 1698)

Stamps commemorating the 4th Centennial of the Evangelization of the Philippines 1965
II.  A Church established by missionary zeal
“The conquest of the Philippines,” the Dominican historian Fr. Lucio Gutierrez explains, “was
due fundamentally not to the sword of the conquistador but to the cross of the missionary … it
was the missionaries’ zeal and charity that brought the Filipinos into the fold of the Church.”
This was because Spain’s military presence in its 333-year rule was “relatively insignificant.”
Gutierrez quotes the Viceroy of Mexico who remarked: “In every friar the king of Spain had in
the Philippines a captain general and an entire army.”
At the time of their arrival, the missionaries had the benefit of drawing from the experience of
the conquest and evangelization of the Americas. The Synod of Manila reminded
the encomenderos that their right to collect tribute carried a dual responsibility: administration of
justice and preaching of the faith. In each encomienda there must be a missionary. Later on the
Spaniards carried out a system of reduction. They had found the in Philippines, unlike in the
Americas, scattered villages (barangays) where extended families lived together under a datu,
the chieftain. To facilitate catechism, Filipinos had to be bajo la campana (under the sound of
the bell). Today, the plan of the town plaza survives—town hall, market, school, and church. The
Dominicans introduced the printing press in the islands, publishing the first book, the Doctrina
Christiana, in 1593. The contents of the basic doctrine – the Our Father, Hail Mary, the Credo,
the articles of faith – were usually recited before Sunday Mass. The norm for Confession and
Holy Communion was once a year, during Easter season.

Missionaries corrected the initial practice of mass baptism and ensured that Filipinos underwent
pre- and post-baptismal catechesis. Conversions started with the datus, called fiscales by the
missionaries, who were tasked to spread the faith among their people. Evangelization made use
of the existing structures, and engaged in true inculturation by retaining native practices while
rejecting pagan ways. Drama, dance, and music accompanied the observances of religious feasts.
An enduring Filipino devotion is the Misa de Aguinaldo, novena (“gift”) Masses held at dawn in
preparation for the Nativity of the Lord. The Pasyong Mahal of Gaspar Aquino de Belen, first
published in Tagalog in 1703, is a permanent pious practice during the Holy Week of the Lord’s
Passion.
The friars were not just church-builders. With the help of the natives they built roads and
bridges, replaced primitive farming with the wheel and the plow, constructed large-scale
irrigation, and brought in new crops like tobacco, coffee, and cocoa. The opening of hospitals,
asylums, and orphanages showed a concern for material, not just spiritual, welfare. The
Franciscan Juan Clemente started in 1578 what became the San Juan de Dios and San Lazaro
hospitals, two well-known social institutions. The Hospicio de San Jose traces its beginnings to
1778. Today the Daughters of Charity continue to operate the welfare institution at Isla de la
Convalescencia, the island in the middle of Pasig River where the patients of San Juan de Dios
used to convalesce. 

Education was an important component of evangelization. As soon as they arrived, the

Augustinians and Franciscans put up schools for basic education. In 1595, the Jesuits opened a
college that became the Universidad de San Ignacio in the Walled City. The oldest existing
university, not just in the Philippines but also in Asia, is the Royal and Pontifical University of
Santo Tomas, founded in 1611 by the Dominicans upon the bequest by Fray Benavides of his
library and a seed fund of P1,500. For women, the Colegio de Santa Potenciana (later merged
into the Colegio de Santa Isabel, now one of the oldest schools for girls in the world), was
founded by the royal decrees of 1593 and 1594. It was followed by the Colegio de Santa Rosa
(1750) and the La Concordia (1868). In Cebu City, the Colegio-Seminario de San Carlos opened
in 1783.
At the close of Spanish colonial rule, no less than the Americans testified to the fruits of the
labors of the Church and its intrepid missionaries. “In no other part of the world,” writes the
military chaplain of the American army in 1899, “is Christian charity more flourishing and more
wide spread than in the Philippines; the hospitals, the maternity houses, the arts and trade schools
and other like institutions would bring honor to any nation.”

Doctrina Christiana, printed in 1593 Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde’s

map of the Philippines (1744)
DG
Ddd

Fr. Manuel Blanco, who published Floras de Filipinas, a marvel in Philippine lithography (1850)

\
 The old campus of the University of Santo Tomas in Intramuros (Jonathan Best)

III. Spiritual life flourishes among Filipinos

By the close of the 17th century the faith had blossomed in full as Filipinos yearned for a deeper
religious life. Historian Schumacher considers this the “golden age” in the life of the Philippine
Church, as it saw the emergence of the beaterios (mystical communities of the lay folk as
described by writer Nick Joaquin), and the Filipino clergy.
The Monasterio de Santa Clara had been in existence in the Walled City since 1621. But it did
not admit native women. Under the spiritual care of the Dominicans, five beatas lived together in
a private home, praying the Rosary and doing mental prayers and spiritual exercises. Upon
reaching 15 beatas, corresponding to the 15 Mysteries, the Beaterio de Santa Catalina was
founded on July 26, 1696, with Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo as prioress. Construction at
the convent later drew the ire of the governor-general, and soon the beatas clashed with the
archbishop, who wanted to assert his authority. The beatas went to Santa Potenciana in exile.
After negotiations, the archbishop had a change of heart and allowed the beatas to return. Mother
Francisca brought back 16 beatas and agreed to observe the rules of enclosure.

San Lorenzo Ruiz and companion martyrs

Offering the Mass with Japanese
Christians (San Miguel Corp.)
Beaterio de la Compania in Intramuros

The next harvest was literally at the churchyard garden of the Augustinian Recollects. The
Bulakeña sisters Dionisia and Cecilia Rosa Talangpaz sought a life dedicated to the Eucharist
and the Lady of Mt. Carmel. The Recollects of San Sebastian Church obliged and gave them the
habit of the mantelatas of the Augustinian Third Order on July 16, 1725. The sisters and two
other beatas lived in prayer in a nipa house at the Recollect garden. Problems arose when more
young women sought admission into new beaterio, forcing the Recollect prior to shut it down.
Appeals softened the heart of the prior, and the beatas got back their habits and the nipa house.
The Beaterio de San Sebastian finally gained royal recognition in 1756, but not before
encountering opposition from government and religious authorities.
The Chinese mestiza Ignacia del Espiritu Santo was among those turned away at Santa Clara.
Her initial plan was to join the Beaterio de Santa Catalina. Instead, Mother Ignacia ended up
founding the Beaterio de la Compañia under Jesuit spiritual direction as she began to attract
more followers. The beaterio, restricted by its directress to indias and Chinese mestizas, gained
archdiocesan approval in 1732. It is said to be the first Filipino community to elect its officials
through secret ballot. The perseverance of Mother Ignacia and her successors led to the
beaterio’s establishment, more than a century and a half later, as the first indigenous foundation
in the Philippines to become a religious congregation, known today as the Religious of the
Virgin Mary.

The confraternities, sodalities, and other religious associations also played a significant role in
the religious and social life of Filipinos. The Santa Mesa de la Misericordia, formed in 1593,
took the lead in the corporal works of mercy, its hooded members seeking alms for the poor. The
brotherhood helped the poor, the orphans, and deserving students. It buried the poor, the
abandoned, and criminals who had been executed. The Jesuits founded the Congregacion
Mariana, or the Sodality of Our Lady, exhorting members to a deeper Christian life. The
Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, founded by the Dominicans in 1590, produced Lorenzo Ruiz,
the escribano of Binondo Church who fled with the Dominican missionaries to Japan to escape a
false charge. In 1637, he was martyred by the Tokugawa shogunate for refusing to renounce his
faith. Three hundred years later, he was canonized as the first Filipino saint. San Lorenzo would
rather die a “thousand deaths” than deny the Savior.

Another layperson, Pedro Calungsod, died a martyr in 1672, four years after he went with Fr.
Diego Luis San Vitores and other Jesuits to evangelize the Chamorros in Guam. The young
Calungsod was struck by a spear in the chest while protecting Padre Diego from two native
attackers. Rumor had spread that the Jesuits’ baptismal water was poisoned, turning the
Chamorros against the missionaries. Nearly three-and-a-half centuries later, Calungsod, the
proto-martyr of the Visayas, was proclaimed a saint.
That the first two saints produced by the Philippines were laypersons is no coincidence.
Schumacher writes: “The religious life introduced by the missionaries was not a diluted version
of European Christianity … Not mere individual conversions were sought for, but rather the
creation of a Christian community.”
Pope Francis prays before a mosaic of St Pedro Calungsod in St Peter’s (Nov 21, 2013)
IV. A Filipino clergy emerges
The friars were not without defects. By the 18th century, the parishes had become too dependent
on the missionary orders, stunting the development of native priests. The bishops at first
attempted to break the hold of the friars by asserting their visitation rights over the parishes. The
friars, of course, resisted another layer of authority and wanted to be answerable solely to their
religious superiors. They threatened repeatedly to abandon their parishes and the bishops backed
out. The dispute over “secularization,” which initially took on a racial overtone, became a
nationalist cause.

According to the Dominican historian Fr. Lucio Gutierrez, the first native Filipino to be ordained
to the priesthood was Agustin Tabuyo of Cagayan (1621), followed by Miguel Jeronimo of
Pampanga (1653). The Jesuit historian Fr. John Schumacher, however, contends it is doubtful if
Tabuyo and Jeronimo were indeed natives. The “first definitely known Indio priest” was
Francisco Baluyot, ordained in December 1698, according to Schumacher. Ordinations were few
and far between as the Jesuit and Dominican colleges produced few candidates, and these were
Philippine-born Spaniards. Moreover, the policy in Spanish America of not ordaining natives
was carried over to the East Indies. By 1768, the Archbishop of Manila, Basilio Sancho y Santas
Justa y Rufina, was confident enough to insist on the visitation and secularization of the parishes.
In 1773, he built the Seminary of San Carlos on the site of the University of San Ignacio, which
had been abandoned due to the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1768. Sancho proceeded posthaste to
train and ordain secular priests, as he needed them to take over the parishes and at the same time
replace the expelled Jesuits.

The wave of secularization failed. It bred enmity; for one, the takeover from the Augustinians in
Pampanga, led by Governor-General Simon de Anda himself, turned violent. Secular priests
proved to be ill-prepared and poorly trained to take over the parishes. In 1787 the colonial
government petitioned the king to put an end to secularization. It continued, however, with the
number of missionaries sent to the islands by the friar orders dwindling as a result of the
imposition of diocesan visitation. It did not help that the friars became denouncers of Spanish
officials, causing the latter’s resentment. Government intervention in clerical posts also
intensified, with Spain stretching the limits of the Patronato Real, the age-old papal concession
of religious affairs to the king in exchange for material support to the missionary campaign.
Religious fervor of the friars waned. Worse, discipline was relaxed. 
Many in the secular clergy eventually proved worthy of their vocation, and began to fight for
their rights to take back the parishes. The cause was led by Fr. Pedro Pelaez, an outstanding
priest and academic who raised funds to send a representative to Madrid, wrote pamphlets in
favor of secularization, and petitioned the Queen of Spain for support. He was succeeded by his
protege Fr. Jose Burgos, the most brilliant student ever to come out of the portals of the
University of Santo Tomas. Another secular, Fr. Mariano Gomez, did not possess the same
credentials, but was nonetheless an excellent organizer.

Fr. Jose Burgos (right) and Frs. Jacinto Zamora and Mariano Gomez, executed in 1872

The return of the Jesuits in 1859, nearly a century after their expulsion over political controversy
in Europe, exacerbated the situation. The Jesuits got back their Mindanao parishes from the
Recollects, who had to be reassigned elsewhere. The Filipino clergy felt deprived. In Cavite,
secular priests were evicted in favor of the Recollects and Dominicans. Pelaez, vicar capitular of
the Manila archdiocese, was himself overruled when he appointed a secular to Antipolo. The
post went to a Spanish Recollect. The Spanish government had become suspicious of native
clergy given the experiences of Mexico and Peru whose revolutions were led by secular priests.
At age 28, Padre Burgos rose to the rectorship of Manila Cathedral and captured public attention
when he countered a series of newspaper articles by a Franciscan belittling the secular clergy.
Prior to that, an anonymous manifiesto extolling the virtues of Filipino priests, widely attributed
to Burgos, circulated in Manila. The story of Burgos ended in the garrote vil. He, along with
Fathers Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, was implicated in the Cavite mutiny of 1872. As there was
no evidence except hearsay, the “Gomburza” priests remained in good standing, and the
archbishop refused to have them defrocked. The bells tolled for the priestly triumvirate.
Enmities worsened when the Spanish curate of Tondo, Fr. Mariano Gil, uncovered the
revolutionary plans of the secret movement Katipunan in 1896. The execution of the nationalist
Jose Rizal further heightened the fervor of the revolutionaries. Before his death, Rizal went back
to the faith with the help of the Jesuits.
 Manila Cathedral and Plaza Mayor, 1852 (Pacto de Sangre)

At the height of the Philippine Revolution in 1898, there were 967 parishes and missions, more
than 800 of which were under the religious orders. The revolution took a heavy toll on the friars.
Around 400 of them were captured and many were killed. Among the captives was Jose Hevia
Campomanes, Dominican bishop of Nueva Segovia, who tried to escape via Aparri along with
70 Augustinians, three Dominican priests, and eight Dominican sisters.

The arrival of the Americans marked the end of the Patronato Real and for the first time, the
Vatican’s direct intervention in the affairs of the Philippine Church. American bishops and the
Holy See’s apostolic delegates supported the Filipino clergy. In 1905, the highly qualified
Bikolano cleric Jorge Barlin was appointed bishop of Caceres, becoming the first Filipino to rise
to the episcopate. Barlin proved very capable and loyal, dealing a blow to the schismatic Iglesia
Filipinia Independiente by resisting its recruitment efforts and winning a court battle over church
property. Pope Leo XIII himself called for a greater role for Filipino priests in the Apostolic
Constitution Quae mari Sinico in 1902. The Pontiff carved out new dioceses and urged bishops
to open seminaries to train more young Filipinos for the priesthood. “As experience has clearly
shown that in every part of the world a native clergy is of great utility, let the Bishops procure
with all diligence that the number of native priests be increased…”

Bishops of the Philippines in 1937

V.  A missionary Church for Asia and the world
Pope Leo XIII’s Apostolic Constitution Quae mari Sinico breathed a new vitality into the
Philippine Church in the American era. For nearly three centuries, the Philippines only had one
archdiocese and three dioceses. The Diocese of Jaro was carved out of Cebu in 1865. Quae mari
Sinico created the dioceses of Lipa, Tuguegarao, Capiz, and Zamboanga. The early 20th century
however was a period of myriad challenges amid changes brought by the new dispensation. The
Church had to contend with the arrival of Protestant missionaries and the Aglipayan schism. The
big dispute with the Americans was the ownership of friar lands, which the Holy See decided to
dispose of. Only affluent Filipinos, however, benefitted from the sale.
Four Americans replaced the Spanish bishops, and with the departure of many friars, non-
Spanish religious orders started pouring in: the Redemptorists (1905), St. Joseph’s Missionary
Society (1906), Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1907), Missionaries of the
Sacred Heart (1908), the Society of the Divine Word (1908), and the Christian Brothers (1911).
The Americans established the first council of the Knights of Columbus, the lay fraternal and
charitable organization, in the Walled City of Intramuros in 1905.

33rd International Eucharistic Congress (Feb. 3-7, 1937)

In a sign of its growing importance in the Universal Church, the Philippines became the first
country in Asia to host the International Eucharistic Congress in 1937. The theme, “The
Eucharistic Apostolate in the Mission,” emphasized the evangelization of the Far East.
The war emergency prompted the bishops of the Philippines to form the Catholic Welfare
Organization in 1945. Soon it became the official organization of the Church hierarchy, and in
1968, it became the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, tasked to promote
solidarity in the Philippine Church, formulate joint pastoral policies and programs, promote the
pastoral thrusts of the Universal Church, assume responsibilities as evangelizer in relation to the
people and with the civil authority in particular, and foster relations with other episcopal
conferences. Church leaders closed ranks against moves of the state seen as hostile to Catholic
education.
In 1960, Rufino Jiao Santos of Pampanga became the first Filipino cleric to be elevated to the
College of Cardinals. Santos, one of the active fathers of the Second Vatican Council, was a
builder, leaving as his legacy the establishment of Catholic Charities, St. Paul’s Hospital, and
more importantly, Radio Veritas Asia—the short-wave station that brought the Word of God to
the world’s largest but least Christian continent. The reconstruction of the Manila Cathedral,
which was destroyed by World War II, in 1958 was symbolic of efforts to rebuild the Philippine
Church. Vatican II ushered in an era of change, most visibly in the liturgical life of the Church.

Reconstruction of the Manila Cathedral, 1954-1958

Blessing of Manila Cathedral Bell (Dec. 7, 1958) Rufino Cardinal Santos

The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines heralded another period of renewal, with the
Philippine Church resolving to be a community of Christ’s disciples and a “Church of the Poor.”
The council, convened in 1991, also called for integral evangelization and holistic spirituality.
The push for social justice had prompted the hierarchy, led by Jaime Cardinal Sin, to support the
popular revolt that toppled the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.

Cardinal Sin gives Holy Communion to Mother Teresa (Noli Yamsuan, Scenes of Sin)
 Jaime Cardinal Sin prays before the remains of Ninoy Aquino

Today, the Philippines has a total of 86 archdioceses, dioceses, prelatures, and apostolic
vicariates, with over 80 million faithful. The Philippine Church looks forward to 2021 on the
500th year of the arrival Christianity in the Philippines, grateful for triumphs as well as
tribulations, but more so for standing the test of time as an ever-faithful people of God.