A Critical Review of General History of the Discalced Augustinian Fathers

Acts of Recollection in Caragha, Butuan, Calamianes and Cuyo, and

Cagaiang.

GD Perry A. Huang

HISTORY 1 READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

February 21, 2024

 This volume documents the ecclesiastical missions of an Augustinian

Recollect in the Philippines islands in an effort to document, explore and study

the “primitive” societies, establish a Catholic hold and influence on the

indigenous inhabitants, and as well as to convert the local population.

It started in 1605, where among the many religious men that embarked on the

mission and discalcing, Fray Andrés De San Nicolas and Fray Luis de Jesús,

(Historia general de los religiosos descalzos del orden de San Avgvstin -

Madrid, 1664 & 1681), and Fray Juan de la Concepción (Historia general de

Philipinas - Manila, 1788) served as the basis for the document. By the mid

17th century, the mission was dissolved due to religious and political orders.

A particular highlight of their mission was their task of venturing the South;

towards the Mindanao island of the colony. In 1621 after the Papal favor and

confirmation to proceed, their expedition took them to the provinces of Caraga,

Butuan, Calamianes and Cuyo, and Cagaiang.

Their journey has lead the missionaries to document the local inhabitants and

their lands; a scribe has recorded that mostly of the population were colored

and as blacks where they resided on the virtually impenetrable mountains and

underneath the thick tree lines. They were mostly naked, with only clothes to

cover the groin for the men and along with the chest for the women. They

hunted small to medium sized animals. Although mostly passive, brutes and

savages in the population had as well been observed where they committed

hostile acts around their camps.

Moreover, the province of Caraga and its inhabitants had already been

subdued by the Spanish military in 1609, and an attempted revolt in 1613

halted. In 1622, by the time the recollects arrived they were granted the

permission to carry the gospel and make many converts, including the

indigenous’ chief. Traces of a once flourishing Christian mission had also

been noted within province.

Following these events another mission was charted on their proximity of the

Cagayan River, where it lead to the provinces of Calamianes and Cuyo.

These conversions where mostly scattered village by village. A supernatural

account had been made that some sort of demon or “ancient spirit” attempted

to make the them flee the region and the country.

The Cagayan River, proved to had been expansive has lead the recollect

party to the border province before the break to abundant waters; Butuan. The

settlers were hospitable and were more “civilized” than the other villages,

where they attributed, to the, now abandoned evangelical law, that was due to

the absence of the ministers, and had been recalled that it was a success

from the then Christian activities that had influenced traders and traffic.

As their mission widened, they had been brought to the shores and were now

in the territory of Cagaiang, described to have a more docile inhabitants and

where led by the chief Salangsang, that remains as instrumental to the

previous Christian conquest of the island.

To conclude, the recollect and their three primary mission where to (1) locate

and compare the then present sea dwellers from the first voyage of Magellan,

(2) follow the decree of “reduction”, with religion as a tool to reduce sizes of

scattered villages into unified towns; to follow the system of one flag, one god,

and (3) usurp the lands of the indigenous for Spanish capitalistic interests had

been labeled a success. These recordings were then served as further

documentations and verification for indigenous religious, societal, and

anthropological activities.
 REFERENCES

Blair, E. H. n.d. “The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898: Explorations by Early

Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and

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Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious

Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European

Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century, Volume XXI, 1624.”

Www.gutenberg.org. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16203/16203-h/16203-

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“The Augustinian Recollects in the Philippines: From Birth to Bohol.” n.d.

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https://recoletos.ph/2018/08/16/the-augustinian-recollects-in-the-philippines-

from-birth-to-bohol/.

Abella, Domingo. 1959. “Episcopal Succession in the Philippines.” Philippine

Studies 7, no. 4: 435–47. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42719470

“Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History |

WorldCat.org.” n.d. Search.worldcat.org.

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