A contentious ‘rivalry’

Rivalry between religious congregations, if you will, was a quarrelsome subject between the Recollects and the Jesuits (Society of Jesus). This competition started decades before the Recollects were given jurisdiction of northeastern Mindanao. This enmity is palpable in written accounts, particularly in the last half of the eighteenth century.

In 1753, the Recollect Provincial wrote their Vicar General in Spain about the secret intention of the Jesuits to persuade authorities to assign the entire Recollect territory in Mindanao to them. The Jesuit procurators who went to Rome were informed of the lobbying in Madrid. Eventually though, in 1767, this rivalry was curtailed when King Carlos III expelled the Jesuits from Spain and her dominions.

The following year, the Jesuits were also expelled from the Philippines, which prompted the Bishop of Cebu to accede to the request of the Recollects to take over the pastoral care of the Mindanao parishes that were once under Jesuit supervision. In 1773, Pope Clemens XIV officially abolished the Jesuit order. It was not until 1814 that Pope Pius VII, after being briefed of the continuing underground activities of the expelled order, restored the society to its previous assignments. But it was only in 1868 that the Jesuits reclaimed their presence in Mindanao.

The suppression of the society is attributed to two factors: their closeness to the Pope and the authority of the bishop of Rome over religious and political affairs obtaining in sovereign nations. The suppression actually started in 1759 after the papacy acceded to the anti-Jesuit demands. This led to the expulsion of the Jesuits in various European countries and outside domains.

While the Jesuits were suppressed, there were positive developments going on in Davao Oriental. On May 6, 1790, a royal decree was issued for the resettlement, by attraction and Christianization, and the repopulation of Caraga, Baganga and adjacent areas. Missionary records show that in the last part of the eighteenth century, Bislig, then comprising the barrios of Hinatuan, Cateel, Baganga, and Caraga, was served by a lone Recollect priest and had 420 tributes.

In the absence of the Jesuits from Mindanao, the Recollects braved the odds.

‘The Recollects’ ecclesial engagements,’ according to a commentary, ‘were subjected to Moro piratical raids; capture, kidnap and killing of priests; robbery, captivity, slavery, and carnage; and the difficulties of maintaining the missions they formed. Some of the Recollects… left behind indelible feats of courage in the repulse of the marauders. two of them were Fray Benito de San Jose, curate of Cateel, and Fray Valero de San Agustin of Caraga.’

The Recollects linked to Davao would eventually be highlighted in 1848 after the conquest of Davao by Don Jose Oyanguren y Cruz. Based on a revised list dated July 1, 2021, furnished to us by Fr. Emilio Edgardo A. Quilaton, OAR, the Recollect archivist and historian, citing Francisco Sadaba del Carmen’s ‘Catalogo d los Religiosos Agustinos Recolectos de la Provincia de San Nicolas de Tolentino de las Islas Filipinas desde el año 1606, en que llego la primera mission a Manila, hasta nuestros dias’ (1906), the list of Recollect parish priests assigned in Davao follows:

Fray Francisco Lopez de San Antonio de Padua (1848-49); Fray Miguel Magallon de San Crispin (1849-53); Fray Nicolas Gonzales de San Vicente Ferrer (1854-55); Fray Toribio Sanchez de San Nicolas de Tolentino (1857-58); Fray Celedonio Pardo de San Nicolas (1858-60); and Fray Francisco Lenguas de la Reina de los Angeles (1864-68). (Antonio V. Figueroa)