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| 150 Years of Jesuit Presence in the Philippines: 1859-2009 |
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In 1860, the interior of many islands were as primitive as when Magellan first reached Limasawa in 1521, and Spain felt its farthest colony needed, not costly military forces, but the Jesuits. The military could conquer, but only missionaries could win the people’s hearts. They were not disappointed. Manila had a primary school for Spanish residents, the Escuela pia, but lack of funds hampered its program. The Jesuits’ arrival brightened their day – and they pressured the city council to pressure the Governor to pressure the Jesuits and charge them with floundering school. Of course, the Jesuit Superior, Fr. Jose Fernandez Cuevas, demurred. He could not change their instructions to evangelize the unbaptized mountain tribes in Mindanao and the adjacent islands. Yet he also saw the need for a good school in Manila. He thought the young did not receive any religious instruction, one wrote hinting that the Jesuits should accept the school, and the Jesuits could provide education to those who aspired neither to the priesthood nor to a career in law. More than the Escuela, the Jesuits could provide an academic program that would include the theory and practice of the Christian religion, the rules of etiquette and good upbringing, emphasize Catholic doctrine and a style of life expected from a practicing Catholic. Unwittingly, perhaps, Fr. Cuevas left a door open by hinting that if the Governor General assumed all responsibility for the change, and put everything in writing, they might agree and take over the Escuela pia. The Governor grabbed the chance and accepted all responsibilities for all this actions. And on 10 December 1859, the school, renamed “Escuela municipal” since the city government subsidized it, opened with only 10 pupils. A month later, 120 boys reported for classes; the following March, 55 more, and; at the end of the first school year in August, 210 boys were divided into two elementary classes. Just a week after the new school had opened, an editorial appeared in the Boletin Oficial de Filipinas. The Jesuit method of teaching could not be better, it read. It “combines clarity with depth of thought and … delightful explanations. “ New to Manila, the Jesuits did not disappoint the people, whose hearts they had quickly won. The Spanish Crown wanted the Jesuits to win also the hearts of the tribes in Mindanao. And Fr. Fernandez soon sailed down to Mindanao to locate a site for a mission. He found none in the south of the island, but he thought northern Mindanao, where Islam had not penetrated, would be the best choice. Meantime, military operations against the Maguindanao Muslims were coming to an end, and, before sailing away, the new commanding officer asked Jesuit missionaries to go with him, in order to consolidate the military victories. As in the case with the school, the government, not the Jesuits, decided what they should do. Not unusual actually, for St. Ignatius, their founder, never hesitated to send his followers wherever, whenever higher authorities saw they were needed. By 1877, the Jesuit missions dotted the entire island of Mindanao. Before they came, there was yet no study of the local fauna and flora, there were no grammars or dictionaries of the local idioms, hardly any decent overland roads linked the coastal trading centers. But, as accurately described by a Jesuit, the Mindanao missions “humanized in order to Christianize the people.” The people learned to line in permanent communities, practice sedentary agriculture, and, perhaps more importantly, they had accepted the principle of authority and duties and rights of life in society. As sociologists tell us, they learned to exchange mutual social services, without which community life would be impossible, a carpenter, for example, who builds a house receives food supplies in return, the soldier who fights for the community shares in the harvest of the farmer, etc. Then the Bonifacio uprising of 1896 and the arrivals of the Americans three years later cut everything short. To a man, the Jesuits wanted to stay at their missions, but political uncertainty forced the Jesuit Mission Superior to recall them to Manila, until things changed for the better. And in 1900, they were back at their former stations – not all, for some had returned sick to Spain, a few had died, with no replacements to take over. This left the field open for the well-financed American Protestant proselytizers and the addicts of the schismatic Aglipay. But the Catholics remained loyal to Christ and His Church, and they waited for the return of the priests. The gobernadorcillo, for example of Veruela in upper Agusan wrote the Mission Superior the “people here sincerely desire that the same missionaries return, so that the people become law-abiding. They have agreed to contribute five pesos to purchase one priest (ug nagsabut na magaamot sila sa caliman piso, cay ipalit sa usa ca Padre).” In 1900, the new American government refused to continue the subsidy for the “Ateneo Municipal De Manila,” so called when it became a secondary school. The Jesuits refused to give up and continued with private funds, and remained the school “Ateneo de Manila,” the name it has carried since then. Rizal best describes the education it offered him. He had begun schooling still a young child, still stammering in Castilian, his mind “partly developed and almost without any refinement” in his feelings. But constant discipline, a thousand corrections from a dedicated teacher, self-analysis, and cultivating poetry and rhetoric “had elevated my feelings, and the [classical] authors showed me a new path I could take.” Not only Rizal, but all who had the privilege of spending their youth at the Ateneo. A list is easy to draw up – the leaders of the Philippine revolution (the Luna brothers), Gregorio del Pilar, etc., for which reason the Jesuits were once tagged as the brains of the anti-Spanish upheaval); the Ateneo cadets, who refused to obey President Quezon, who disbanded all ROTC units when the Japanese bombs fell in 1941, but stayed together, fought the Japanese as a unit in Bataan, and impressed everyone when at sundown they came together to recite the Rosary to the Blessed Virgin; Manuel Colayco, a fighter through ideas that found form in the pre-war Catholic Commonweal, and which proved to be the flesh and blood of the Philippine Church subtly persecuted by its many secret enemies (Freemasonry, for example); the pioneers of the Philippine film industry, sports, and other forms of recreation; and the uncounted leaders of industry, economics, politics, law, etc., all of them on their own, striving to do everything until there is nothing left to give, and be “men and women for others.” In 150 years of Jesuit presence, there have been a number of heroes who transformed Philippines society. We know only the few, who outshine the lesser lights left in the wake of great comets of history, not originators, but capable of finishing what others have started. None is unimportant. They are all stars that beautify with their multiply brilliance the comet’s tail. There is much to thank God for. In St. Ignatius’ words, we thank the Lord who has given us the chance to be able to offer Him greater love, service and glory.
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The more than 300 men of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus serve in five universities, numerous schools for basic education, two diocesan major seminaries, three urban and five rural parishes... (READ MORE)
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The Windhover Online The Windhover - December 2009 150 Years of Jesuit Presence in the Philippines: 1859-2009
The Windhover Online The Windhover - December 2009 150 Years of Jesuit Presence in the Philippines: 1859-2009
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