When the steamer Labuan arrived in Davao on March 9, 1899, to fetch the remaining Jesuits who were ordered to leave town on orders of the head of the congregation in Manila, it had just come from the Pacific coastal missions of Mindanao for the...
The late Jesuit historian Fr. Jose Arcilla, in his preface to the six-volume ‘Jesuit Missionary Letters from Mindanao,’ wrote: ‘One of the problems the Jesuits to contend with was the strong influence of the Muslims. Being strategically located, they were a force to reckon with. Occupying...
The mission of Caraga was established by Fr. Pablo Pastells, SJ, and Fr. Juan Terricabras, SJ, who earlier substituted for Fr. Gregorio Parache, SJ, in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur. Fr. Pastells left his Surigao assignment on October 4, 1876 and arrived at Cateel on November 1....
The mission to attract pagans to Catholicism was hampered by realities on the ground. The natives of Samal, for instance, opposed the plan to pay tribute to the Church. Invoking the 1848 promise made by Don Jose Oyanguren exempting them from tithes, they left the...
A week before Christmas, a daily Mass in honor of the Virgin Mother was held in the parish of Caraga but with a moderate number of people in attendance. On the last day of the vigil of Christmas, a simple Belen was set up outside...
The unrest brewing in the district of Caraga (Tandag) in the first decades of the 17th century, quickly spread to Davao Oriental. To the village chiefs of Baganga, mistrust towards the Spanish authorities was mounting. They volunteered to join forces with Gonzalo Portillo, the new...
Aside from their ecclesial duties, Spanish missionaries were mandated to follow certain obligations, administrative in nature, covered by edicts issued by the Royal Crown. In fact, accounts of clerics becoming founders of pueblos are well chronicled. In Davao region, many of the colonial names assigned by...
Religious events such as fiestas have largely been unchanged in the last 150 years. The fan-fare that usually attends the annual feast in honor of a patron saint remains, and this is due to the fact that over a century of dynamic practices has become...
Davao’s 1848 conquest in the hands of the Spanish-led expedition was a turning point to the history of Catholicism in Davao. The significance of this event betrays the expectation of a region to be forever subjugated and controlled by colonial grip. Two key facets, however,...
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...