Jesuits in the Philippines

Yesterday, July 31, the feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, I read up for a column on Jesuits in Philippine history. Founded in 1540, the Society of Jesus began after Ignatius of Loyola and six friends formed a group called the Companions of Jesus, in Spanish “Compañia de Jesus.” Since then, the society has grown into an international congregation best known for its educational work: the Gregorian University in Rome, Georgetown University in Washington, Fordham in New York, and in the Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University, Ateneo de Davao, Ateneo de Iloilo, Ateneo de Naga, Ateneo de Zamboanga, plus Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro.

From its foundation in 1859 as a high school in Intramuros, the Ateneo Municipal de Manila has since evolved into the present Ateneo de Manila University, located in Loyola Heights, one of the last green corridors of Quezon City aside from University of the Philippines Diliman and Balara. In Loyola Heights, south along Katipunan, we have gated communities named after Jesuits and their university. First, St. Ignatius Village across Camp Aguinaldo, understandable since Ignatius is the patron saint of soldiers, having been a knight before his conversion. Second, Xavierville, named after St. Francis Xavier, famous for his attempt to evangelize Asia. Third, Blue Ridge, referring to the Ateneo school color. Moving further southward along Ortigas Avenue, you will hit Greenhills, which refers to the colors of La Salle, the rival school. Yet, a tinge of blue lies tucked away in the heart of Greenhills, the Jesuit-run Xavier School.

Unlike the other religious orders that arrived in the Philippines in the early days of Spanish colonization: Augustinians in 1565, Franciscans in 1578, Dominicans in 1587, and Augustinian Recollects in 1606, the Jesuits reckon two arrival dates: 1581 and 1859. Three of the four original Jesuits sent from Mexico arrived in the Philippines in 1581: Fr. Antonio Sedeño, Fr. Alonso Sanchez, and Bro. Nicolas Gallardo. Gaspar Suarez de Toledo, the fourth, died during the voyage to Manila. I presume Father Sanchez, Father Sedeño, and Brother Gallardo streets in Makati refer to these first Jesuits. Metro Manila has two other streets named after Jesuits: Padre [Federico] Faura in Ermita, named after the director of the Manila Observatory, and H[oracio] V. de la Costa in Makati, named after an eminent historian.

The second arrival date, 1859, refers to the return of the Jesuits after they were expelled from the Philippines in 1768 by order of Carlos III. When I first visited the Austrian National Library in 1995, I was shown a handful of early Philippine imprints, 17th- and 18th-century books published in Manila. When I inquired how these books ended up in Vienna, I was told that they probably came from the Jesuit library in Manila following their expulsion. The rest of the library is presumed to be in Russia. Unlike the other crowned heads of Europe, Catherine the Great gave the Jesuits refuge. She saw beyond their cassocks, men of science and the arts, useful to her empire. That is a lead I hope to follow up some day.

Over the years, I have come across early historical works on the Jesuits in the Philippines: Pedro Chirino, S.J. “Relacion de las islas Filipinas” (1604); Francisco Colin, S.J. “Labor Evangelica” (1663); Francisco Ignacio Alcina, S.J. “Historia natural del sitio, fertilidad y calidad de las Islas e Indios de Bisayas” (1668); and Pedro Murillo Velarde, S.J. who made the famous map and wrote “Historia de la provincia de Filipinas de la compañia de jesus. Segunda parte, que comprehendos los progresos de esta provincia desde el año de 1616,1716” (1749). The only one I have not physically handled is Alcina’s, which is in manuscript and preserved in Spain. While most of the above have been translated from the original Spanish, these are not attractive to general readers who are best referred to H.V. de la Costa’s “The Jesuits in the Philippines 1581-1768” (Harvard University Press, 1961). Due to administrative work, his second volume on the Jesuits from 1859 to the 20th century was not completed.

Reading De la Costa, I realized how he effortlessly worked decades of primary source research into a readable book of solid scholarship. Sample this. After the Jesuits landed in Sorsogon in 1581, they made their way to Manila:

“Along the length of the Camarines peninsula, across the southern tip of the Sierra Madre mountains, and down to the Lake of Bai. Once they reached the lake, they could in reasonable comfort go by boat up to Manila, since the lake waters empty into Manila Bay through the Pasig River, which flows past the city. But getting to the lake was much less comfortable, for, since there were neither mounts nor roads, they had to do it modo apostolico, that is to say, on foot. Moreover, it was now the rainy season, and so flooded fields and swollen fords compelled them to travel modo apostolico in an added Petrine sense; if not, like trusting Peter, by walking on the water, at least by wading through it up to the waistline, like Peter of little faith.”