Pax ChristianaThe Christianization of the

Philippines

Table of Contents

Three periods of Christianization

The Beginning of Missionary Works in the Philippines

The Religious Orders

Missionary Works

Catechism

Christian Education

Women Schools

Beaterio de la Compaia de Jesus

Filipinization of Catholicism

Christianization of the Philippines

Three periods of Christianization:1565 1578Preparatory and exploratory period

1578 1609Golden age of missionary works

17th centuryDecline of missionary morale

The Beginning of Missionary Works in the Philippines

One of Spains main goals was to Christianize the people of thearchipelago.

Also, Spain wanted to utilize the geographical location of thePhilippines to trade with China and Japan and to spread Christianityto those advanced civilizations.

The Holy See gave Spain the administration of Roman CatholicChurches in the West and East Indies colonies.

The Religious Orders

After the success of Legazpi in the Philippines, different religiousorders started coming to evangelize and convert native Filipinos toChristianity. Augustinians (1565)

Franciscans (1578)

Jesuits (1581)

Dominicans (1587)

Recollects (1606)

Augustinians

Order of St. Augustine (OrdoSancti Augustini, O.S.A.)

Founded by St. Augustine ofHippo and follows the Ruleof St. Augustine.

The Augustinians were thefirst Christian missionaries toarrive in the Philippines.

The first houses of theAugustinians wereestablished at Cebu, in 1565,and at Manila, in 1571.

Augustinians (cont.)

The historic Province of the Most Holy Nameof Jesus of the Philippines of the Order of St.Augustine was officially formed on December31, 1575 as an offshoot of the establishmentof the first permanent Spanish settlements.San Agustn Church and Monastery in Manilabecame the center of Augustinian efforts toevangelize the Philippines.Father Herrera O.S.A. wrote a poetical life ofJesus in the Tagalog language in 1639.

Franciscans

Orders of Friars Minor (Ordo FratrumMinorum, O.F.M.)

Founded by St. Francis of Assisi.

The first 15 Franciscans arrived in thePhilippines in 1578, the secondreligious order to come to the country.

Upon their arrival, they weretemporarily housed in the Augustinianconvent in Intramuros.

Franciscans (cont.)

On August 2, after moving into their own place the previous day, theyblessed their first church dedicated to the Nuestra Seora de losAngeles (Our Lady of the Angels).

The Franciscans evangelized a big part of Luzon and the Visayas.

They have founded several hospitals as early as 1580 like the SanJuan de Dios Hospital and San Lazaro Leprosarium.

Jesuits

Society of Jesus (Societas Iesu, S.J.)

Founded by St. Ignatius of Loyolain 1534.

Jesuits motto: Ad Majorem DeiGloriam (For the Greater Glory ofGod).

In 1581 the first Jesuits from theProvince of Mexico arrived in thePhilippines.

The mission was headed by Fr.Antonio Sedeo S.J., as Superior.

In 1601, the residential Colegio deSan Jose, attached to the College ofManila opened on August 25.

Dominicans

Order of Preachers (OrdoPraedicatorum, O.P.) Founded by St. Dominic ofGuzman. Dominican Motto: Laudare,Benedicere, Praedicare (To praise,to bless and to preach). The Order was founded for two

purposes: preaching and thesalvation of souls. Two Dominicans arrived in Manila

in 1581. Among them wasDomingo de Salazar, appointedfirst bishop of Manila in 1579, andCristbal de Salvatierra.

Dominicans (Cont.)

But the first regular Dominican mission, consisting of fifteen members,arrived in Manila on July 25, 1587.

They took charge of the evangelization of the Chinese at the Parian andmade the Philippines as a base for missionary works in Asia particularly inChina.

They were responsible for bringing the printing press as part of theirmissionary works in the archipelago.

Also, they advocated and defended the rights of the natives against Spanishoppression.

Recollects

Order of Augustinian Recollects(O.A.R.)

They are a reformist offshoot fromthe Augustinian hermit friars andfollow the Augustinian Rule.

The first contingent, consisting of 13Recollects (one died at sea), arrivedin Cebu in 1606 before proceedingto Manila where they establishedtheir convent in Bagumbayan.

In 1622, Pope Gregory XV declaresthe Recollects a congregation andthe Philippines formed one of fourseparate provinces under thepatronage of St. Nicholas ofTolentine.

Missionary Works

The Spanish missionaries zealously evangelized thenative Filipinos.But missionary works were slow since the

missionaries are outnumbered and suffering fromillnesses and hostility among natives. They demonized the old practices such as nature

worship, and the anitos. This resulted the destruction of thousands of anitos

and the indigenous religion itself.Because of their missionary works, the babaylans

were displaced in the community and lost all theirreligious functions.

Missionary Works (cont.)

Missionaries usually educated the children, so thattheir parents can be convinced to convert intoChristianity.

Baptisms were viewed by the natives as a curerather than a religious act. This is why many nativesdecided to undergo baptism.

The liturgy also played a part of their missionaryworks. The most probable reason was the MozarabicRites, wherein the Bible was translated into Arabicand the liturgy was celebrated in Arabic.

Catechism

In 1593, the Tagalog Doctrina Christiana, a book based on CardinalRobert Bellarmine's catechism, came out.

It was published just a couple of months after the first bookpublished in the Philippines, the Chinese version of DoctrinaChristiana, was released later.

The first part of the book presents the set of sounds and symbols ofthe old writing system - baybayin.

It is followed by the texts of the prayers The Our Father, Hail Mary,The Creed, Hail Holy Queen, and the basic teachings of the Christianfaith in Spanish, old Tagalog, and baybayin texts.

Doctrina Christiana, en

lengua espaola y tagala, cor

regida por los Religiosos de

las ordenes Impressa con

licencia, en S. gabriel. de la

orden de. S. Domigo

En Manila. 1593

Christian Education

Four Rs: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Religion.

Schools, colleges, and universities were founded for thenatives to become a good Christian.

The youths were given priorities in education, especially themen, to train them as gobernadorcillos and cabeza debarangays.

Foundations of Catholic Schools

1596 Colegio de Nios of was founded by the Jesuits as part of theColegio de Manila.

1589 Colegio Maximo de San Ignacio was founded by the Jesuits. It will later become a university in 1621.

1620 The Seminario de Nios Huerfanos de San Pedro y San Pablo

was founded for orphaned Spanish children.

1640 After 20 years, the Seminario de Nios Huerfanos de San Pedro ySan Pablo will become Colegio de San Juan de Letran, the oldestsecondary school in the Philippines, and administered by theDominicans.

Foundations of Catholic Schools (cont.)

1599Colegio de San Ildefonso was founded in Cebu by the

Jesuits. It is currently considered as the oldest existing school

in the Philippines under the name University of SanCarlos.

1611Colegio de Nuestra Seora del Santisimo Rosario

was founded upon the wish of Archbishop Miguel deBenavides. It is the oldest university in the Philippines under the

name University of Santo Tomas.

Women Schools

1589 Colegio de Santa Potenciana, the first women school, was founded.

1632 Colegio de Santa Isabel was founded.

It is currently the oldest school in the Philippines.

1750 The Colegio de Santa Rosa was founded by Madre Paula de la Santissima

Trinidad.

This was first a beaterio or an orphanage.

Beaterio de la Compaia de Jesus

Founded in 1684 by a Filipina, Venerable Mother Ignaciadel Espritu Santo. In 1732, Pedro Jos Manuel Martnez de Arizala, O.F.M.,

then Archbishop of Manila, approved the Rules then inuse among the beatas. Rey Fernando IV granted proteccion civil to the

Congregation on November 25, 1755, a petition formallysent by Archbishop Arizala to the king, two months beforethe death of Mother Ignacia. Today, it is called the Congregation of the Sisters of theReligious of the Virgin Mary (RVM). It is the first Filipino congregation for religious women in

the Philippines.

Filipinization of Catholicism

The Roman Catholicism became infused with localpractices leading to the so-called Filipinization of RomanCatholicism.

Local religious practices of the natives did not completelyeradicated, some of them were emulated in Catholicpractices.

This is because native Filipinos do not have a solid grasp ofCatholic doctrines while Spanish missionaries decided notto interfere too much of the local practices.

Native superstitions still persisted even today.

Despite Christianization, local practices and Christianitylived in coexistence and solidarity.