Group III

- Formalejo
- De Villa
- Gle
- Nieva
- Paredog

SUMMARY OF PHELAN’S HISPANIZATION OF PHILIPPINES

This chapter described the arrival of the Spanish missionaries in the archipelago
and their interactions with the people of the Philippines.Through their complex contacts
with the episcopacy and civil authority, the regular clergy of the Spanish Church played
a vital part in the blending of the cultures of the Philippines and Spain.

The newly established Church of the Indies was placed under the control of the
Spanish Crown, which assigned regular clergy the task of converting people to
Christianity. Compared to secular clergy who constituted parish clergy in established
Christian communities, regular clergy had higher standards of discipline and asceticism,
making them better equipped for missionary activity. The establishment of religious
orders in the nation was made possible by the Spanish mission of evangelizing and
converting the Filipino people to Catholicism. The Filipino people interact with different
friar orders from Legazpi's arrival in 1565 until the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. These religious orders included the Augustinians, Franciscans,
AugustinianRecollects, Dominicans, and Jesuits. Of the enumerated orders, the
Augustinians and the Franciscans were the earliest to arrive thus cementing their
foothold in Manila and the other Luzon areas. Two issues were at stake. One was
tenure of benefices by the regulars. The other was the claim of the bishops to supervise
the conduct of regulars in their role as parish clergy, like the right of ecclesiastical
visitation.

Because of the particular circumstances, religious resistance to visitation in the

Philippines was ineffective. Regular priests had a unique position, and secular priests
often did not speak Philippine languages. The previous arrangement was reintroduced
as a result of religious people quitting their parishes or threatening to do so. Because
regulars' authority was crucial to Spanish hegemony, civil authorities were hesitant to
remove them from their benefices. Religious fear episcopal visitation could threaten
their unity and obedience to superiors, as regular parish priests would be subject to
conflicting orders from the bishop and provincial superior, and the obligation to present
candidates for vacant benefices.
 The religious argument argues that the conversion of all mountain peoples to
pagan beliefs is still ongoing in the Philippines, with the exception of the maritime
peoples. The claim made by missionary orders was that Filipinos were not yet prepared
to serve as secular clergy. The episcopacy and secular clergy acknowledged the
religious argument, but the suffragan sees of Cagayan, Camarines, and Cebu were
missionary fields with limited secular priests and regulars. Efforts to enforce episcopal
visitation were limited to Manila, with the secular clergy seeking metropolitan see
benefits and regulars. Religious refused to compromise. The regulars objected to
seeing the archbishops, claiming that their parish responsibilities required investigation
by an external authority. In 1697, Archbishop Camacho's inquiry revealed anomalies like
excessive fees, inadequate catechism indoctrination, refusal to perform last rites,
baptism delays, and undue pressure to collect alms from parishioners. An inquest
conducted in 1593 revealed profitable mercantile operations and repeated violations of
clerical celibacy, which led to the demoralization of the Augustinian Order, which is the
source of the episcopal argument that regulars couldn't discipline themselves. There
were two factions among the Augustinians: peninsular and Creole. Friar Lorenzo de
Leon's administration saw the Creole faction seize power. The provincial superior was
accused of acting like a "public merchant" and failing to take disciplinary action against
some of his subordinates' misdeeds, ranging from several amorous adventures to the
wholesale theft of church property.

The Augustinian crisis in 1655 was attributed to the order's extensive

commitments, holding more parishes than any other religious community. The order was
the first to come to the islands, with five Augustinian friars accompanying the original
expedition. As a result, the Augustinians acquired many parishes in Tagalog and
Pampangan, requiring the importation of Mexican Creoles. The Castilian and Creole
friars' feud, despite the latter's victory, remained unresolved due to the decentralized
nature of their government, where provincial superiors and definitors were reluctant to
take action. The Jesuits were often exempted from ill-discipline charges due to their
selective personnel, rigorous training, and highly centralized government. Rome
appointed provincial superiors, unlike mendicant orders where they elected their
superiors. However, maintaining discipline was a serious challenge, as noted by Alcina,
who expelled 14 Jesuits from the Society during his time in the Bisayas in the
mid-seventeenth century. The Jesuits in Bisayan faced financial difficulties due to their
beeswax trade, which was used to cover the deficit of their missions. However, this led
to a decline in morale and a focus on administration over Christianizing the Bisayans.
Alcina urged for a re-dedication to missionary enthusiasm.

The Augustinians faced a disciplinary crisis similar to the one that demoralized
other mendicant orders. Salvador Gomez de Espinosa, a member of the Audiencia,
reported widespread abuses among all regular orders, including the Augustinians. His
"Discurso parenetico" was suppressed and destroyed due to political concerns.
Although abuses among all orders cannot be ignored, they should not be exaggerated.
Infractions of the vow of poverty, where clergy profited from their elevated status, may
not have caused outrage among Filipinos, but their mercantile activities discouraged
their fellow clergymen. During the Middle Ages, maintaining ecclesiastical discipline was
a significant challenge for the Church. Monastic and conventual orders sought to
address this by living together in communities, which helped maintain high standards of
asceticism. However, communal controls were not always effective, and the majority of
religious were scattered across the Philippines, with only the strong-willed and inflexibly
dedicated maintaining their calling. This led to some going astray, but more did not.
Finally, Spain's attempts to transform religion encountered difficulties and obstacles.
Nonetheless, the gains made in the Philippines by religious conquest were made
possible by their resourcefulness and knowledge from their colonies in Mexico and
Peru.