Palgan, Danah Mae B.

BSN – 2C WIT CUL (7:00 – 8:30 PM) ThF December 05, 2019

THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY IN BOHOL

The first preachers of Bohol. The mission of Bohol was opened at the request of Doña Catalina
de Bolaño, the mother of the encomendero of the island, Pedro Gamboa, who was then a minor. The
Fathers Juan de Torres and Gabriel Sanchez of the Society of Jesus were the first preachers of Bohol.
They arrived in the island on November 17, 1595, and very soon established the catholic religion in
Baclayon and later to the rest of the island. The Spaniards entered the island with much confidence and
consolation on learning that its people like those in the neighboring island of Cebu, did not practice
polygamy. [CITATION Chi90 \l 13321 ]

The start of the missionary work. They started their missionary work in Baclayon. Within only
eight months, they gained the village and with the help of the people, a church was built. Encouraged by
their success in Baclayon, the priest decided to extend their missions in Lobos which was an island
village where the fishing folk of the seashore exchanged their catch for the sugar cane, sweet potatoes
and bananas of the highland clans. This trading was done chiefly by women. As in Baclayon, Father
Torres was able to gain the confidence and friendship of the natives. He sat with them and showed them
knives, scissors, and needles and explained to the natives that he wanted to build a church. The
Boholanos agreed to it and immediately chose a place where to build it. About three thousand souls
were instructed and catechized until 1601, a church and convent was built by the people. These
churches still stand to the present and are carefully preserved and kept in good condition. Induced to
cooperate in the actual construction of their churches, the Boholanos could not fail to see these edifices
as effective symbols of Spanish authority in matters both worldly and spiritual. [CITATION Chi90 \l 13321
]

From loboc, Fr. Torres went to Talibon. In this village, there were already some Christians and a
church had been built by a Spanish prospector of gold. When Father Torres celebrated his first mass,
both the Christians and Pagans were invited. The Jesuit missionaries in Bohol found it easy to persuade
the Datos of the island to muster their clan, pick out a town site and have the people build their easily
contructed houses around the churches. However, they found it hard to let the people stay there for
they were continually melting away. One reason for this was an epidemic which used to attack the
villagers. In 1601, when an epidemic of influenza ravaged the island, the missionaries were compelled to
establish hospitals to care for the sick where they were.[CITATION Chi90 \l 13321 ]

The stage as religious vehicle. The first attempt to use the stage as religious vehicle was made in
1598 when a play, supposedly written by one Vicente Puche, a Spaniard, was staged in Cebu in honor of
its first bishop, Fr. Pedro de Agusto. Another play on Santa Barbara was staged in Bohol in 1609 and it
was this play that was allegedly responsible for the conversion of the Boholanos to Christianity. Another
method used by the Jesuits in converting the natives was the establishment of boarding school for the
natives. In 1605, a boarding school was established in Loboc, and supported from the stipends received
by Bohol missionaries. By April 1606, there were sixteen boys in the school, all of them from the leading
families of the island. (Retana 1898)
 The baptism of Sikatuna. In many places of the island, the people were baptized in large number
and among them was Catunao (Sikatuna) and his wife. It was Fr. Sanchez who discovered that the chief
who was a friend of Legazpi was still alive. The chief was then already very old and so was his wife. Chief
Catunao was already seated for he could no longer walk but he lived for 250 years. Both consented to be
instructed and baptized. Fr. Chirino related that the chief was satisfied of being baptized that during the
remaining year of his life, he was continually repeating with much delight, “Jesus Mary”. Before he died,
the old patriarch set all his slaves at liberty and willed the Bohol mission one of his coconut grooves.
Several others became docile sons of the Catholic church. They attended baptismal services concluded
by embracing newly baptized persons giving thanks. There was an instance which showed the native’s
strong devotion of the new faith. A pestilence, attended by pains in the stomach and head had attacked
the people. It was so fatal that the entire villages were depopulated. But the Christians, in order to their
faith took holy water, as medicine and were healed, so that none of them died. [ CITATION Tir75 \l
13321 ]

Additional Information. Through force labor, the natives gathered coral stones from the sea and
used egg white to cement the structural gaps to build a big cathedral church. Word has it (From the
Traveler on Foot), that this is the reason the pastry “broa” is so popular in the province as they had to
make use of the egg left over after the construction- the egg yolk, a “broa” mainstay. The heritage
church which was built like a military fort at the back was named after Our Lady of the Immaculate
Conception. It was used most effectively as a sentry to spy on marauding Moros from Mindanao -and
allowed the residents to go to the Baclayon mountains to escape a massive pillage historically dated
October 16, 1600. The Boholanos have been a welcoming people. Not only did Datu Sikatuna place the
red carpet for Admiral Juan Miguel de Legazpi, the Jesuits and the Recollects found a peaceful, obedient
flock in Boholanos. It had Christianity sank into the consciousness of the folks that Bohol is known to be
a province with the most number of Catholic priests and nuns. The fact that the two major revolts in
Bohol, namely, those of Dagohoy and Tamblot had religious footings exemplify rather than diminish the
importance of the Christian fate in the lives of the Boholanos. They took their religion seriously. The
Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary, a diocesan seminary, owned by the Tagbilaran diocese had
produced about 446 priests and nine bishops to date (2016). This Christian bias has been extended to
the successful forays of religious schools by the S. Sp. S. and the SVDs through the (then) College of the
Holy Spirit/St Joseph College and the (now) the Holy Name University which has expanded into a
modern hospital. Today, Bohol has about 1.3 million inhabitants, easily 90% of who are Roman Catholics
and Christians. The main patron saint of the diocese is St Joseph the Carpenter, thus the city fiesta falls
on May 1, Labor Day, a national holiday. [ CITATION The16 \l 13321 ]

Bibliography
Chirino, Pedro. Relacion de las Islas Filipinas y de los que Trabajado Los Padres de la Compania de Jesus. 2nd Edition. Manila, 1890.

Retana, Wenceslao. Noticias Historico-Bibliograficas de El Testro En Filipinas. 1898.

The Bohol Chronicle. November 6, 2016. https://www.boholchronicle.com.ph/2016/11/06/75-years-of-christianity/ (accessed December 2,

2019).

Tirol, Lumin. History of Bohol (Pre-Hispanic up to 1972). Vol. 1. Manila, 1975.