Augustinians in the Philippines: Provinces of Santo Niño de Cebu

HISTORY

 Between 1500 and 1750

 Christianity was the first religion to spread during the period between 1500 and 1750.

 There are two reasons why did this happen.

 First reason was the energy unleashed by the Reformation and the Counter-
Reformation. In particular, much Catholic missionary work grew out of the
Counter-Reformation. Religious Orders were dedicated to making converts to
Catholicism.

 The second major reason for the spread of Christianity was the Age of
Exploration. 

 Augustinians have served continuously in the Philippines since the year 1565, and have made a
great contribution to the history of that nation.

 September 24, 1559

 King Philip of Spain wrote a letter to Andres de Urdaneta, a former captain in his father’s
service and later an Augustinian friar, asking him to take part in the expedition which was
to sail from Mexico“to discover the islands of the setting of the sun.”

 The King added: “according to the great knowledge which you say you have about the
things of that land, and understanding as you do about navigation, and being a good
cosmographer, it would be of great importance that you should set out in those aforesaid
ships, to see what you may discover for your expedition and for the service of our Lord.”

 With this letter, the king sent another to the Provincial of the Augustinians in Mexico
informing him of the content of the letter to Urdaneta. The king also expressed his wish
that the Provincial send other Augustinians along with Urdaneta, that they might start
Christianizing the islands that they would discover.

 Augustinians first landed in the Philippines from Mexico.

 The Augustinian priest and navigator, Andrés de Urdaneta O.S.A. discovered the sailing route for
returning from the Philippines to Mexico in 1565.

 27th April 1565

 Andrés de Urdaneta and four other Augustinians landed at Cebú in the Philippines.

 These men were Diego de Herrera O.S.A., Martin de Rada O.S.A., Andrés de Aguirre

O.S.A. and Pedro de Gamboa O.S.A.

 May 5, 1565

 They began the construction of the first foundation which the missionaries dedicated to
the Child Jesus, in honor of the statue of our Saviour which Pigaffeta, the historian of
 Magellan’s expedition, had given to the ruler of Cebu and his wife in 1521, and which the
Augustinians found upon their arrival. 

 They at once began a very successful apostolate. The first houses of the Augustinians
were established at Cebú in 1565, and at Manila in 1571.

 Meanwhile, hardships brought about by lack of food, harsh living conditions and probing attacks
mounted by the Portuguese from the Moluccas forced Legazpi to set sail for Panay island, where
he replenished his supplies and planned for a definitive voyage to Luzon that would eventually
lead to over 300 years of Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines with the establishment
of Manila.

 June 24, 1571

 Manila became capital of the new Spanish colony.

 In Luzon, the Augustinians embarked upon the evangelization of native settlements and
subsequently built churches in Calumpit, Malolos, Hagonoy, Bigaa, Guiguinto and Quingua in
the province of Bulacan and in Lubao, Betis, Macabebe, Bacolor, San Fernando and Apalit in
province of Pampanga.

 7th March 1575

 The Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in the Philippines was founded by the
Prior General, Tadeo de Perusa O.S.A., and centred on these four Augustinians in the
expedition that under Spanish royal patronage had come from Mexico in April 1565.

 Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas or The Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

 These four Augustinians and those that followed them were charged with the evangelisation of
the Philippines.

 One of them, Martin de Rada O.S.A., was the first Provincial, and has also been called the father
of evangelisation in the Philippines.

 Up to 1578 the Augustinians were the only missionaries in the Islands. By the end of the 16th
century they had established some 54 houses in six Islands: Cebu, Panay, Luzon, Mindoro,
Masbate, and Leyte. Later, in 1594, some of those houses were handed over to other Orders.

 Since then, the Augustinians worked in the evangelization of the Filipinos in Ilocos, La Union,
Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Metro Manila and Batangas in Luzon, in Panay Island and Southern
Cebu. In the 18th century they began their missionary work among the people of the Mountain
Province, Abra and Nueva Ecija.

 After being the first priests to serve in the Philippines, the Augustinians continued to be foremost
in making the area Christian. They built hundreds of churches and towns, blending Spanish and
local elements of culture into forms characteristically Filipino even to the present times.

 Augustinians made an invaluable contribution to the material and cultural progress in the country.
They helped revolutionize the cultivation of the agricultural products of the country and
introduced from America and Asia; wheat, sugar, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, and
various fruits. They directed the building of churches, schools, roads, channels for irrigation and
organized the towns.
  The Augustinians wrote grammars and dictionaries in Tagalong, Capampangan, Ilocano,
Hiligaynon and Cebuano as well as doctrinal and devotional books about history, where they
recorded the life and traditions of the Filipinos at the arrival of the Spaniards, books about flora
and medicinal plants of the land.

 As part of their social involvement with the people, the Augustinians established the Hospital de
Lazaro for lepers in 1814 and the Casa de Asilo in 1860 persons with cholera in the town of
Laoag, Ilocos Norte and another Hospital Candaba, Pampanga in 1605.

 By 1600 this Philippines Province had 50 houses on six Philippine islands. It also established the
Hospicio de Santo Tomas de Villanueva in Mexico, where the Philippines-bound Augustinians
from Spain awaited a ship across the Pacific to the Philippines.

 By 1600 this Philippines Province had 50 houses on six Philippine islands. It also established the
Hospicio de Santo Tomas de Villanueva in Mexico, where the Philippines-bound Augustinians
from Spain awaited a ship across the Pacific to the Philippines.

 By 1776 the Philippines Province had 28 houses, mainly in the Philippines, and 165 missionary
sub-centres called doctrinas.

 In 1882 there was a great epidemic of cholera in Manila and environs and many people died
living many children orphaned. Augustinians built an orphanage in the district of San Marcelino,
Manila to give shelter and education to those children. Later the orphaned girls were housed in
Mandaluyong under the Augustinians Sisters and the boys, first in the Guadalupe Monastery
Makati and in 1890 at Malabon in those days part of Bulacan where Schools of Arts and Trades
was established (destroyed in 1899).

 According to a report published in March 1898, the Province had under its care 2,377,743
Filipinos, 234 parishes and missions, 22 regions or missionary districts, and a total of 618
Augustinian priests, brothers, novices and professed. Members of the Order had founded over
300 towns and built over 300 churches in the Philippines.

PROVINCE OF CEBU FOUNDED IN 1984

 As previously explained, the revolution in 1896 and its aftermath caused 284 Spanish-born

Augustinians to leave the Philippines, leaving only thirty-eight Augustinians in the country by
1900.

 With an increase in local vocations, the number of Augustinians in the Philippines increased. In
1974 the Augustinian Vicariate of the Philippines (i.e., the administrative unit in the of the
Province of the Holy Name of Jesus, based in Madrid) asked that the Vicariate be elevated to the
status of a Vice-Province.

 By 1980 the Vicariate had built itself up to 59 members in the Philippines, of whom 29 were
Filipino by birth, eleven Spaniards who had become Filipinos by naturalization, three more in the
process of naturalization, 14 Spaniards and two men from India.

 Although the idea of 1974 had faded, it was revived by a group of Filipino Augustinians who met
in Cebú on 29th April 1981.
  With the encouraging support of their superiors, this led to the asking for a new Philippines-
based Augustinian Province.

 It was believed that the creation of a new and separate Province would not only inject additional
life in the spirit of Filipino Augustinians but also be a sign of the solid growth of the Augustinian
spirit and ideals in the Philippine native soil and in the Filipino heart.

 The proposal was officially endorsed at a regional assembly of the Vicariate on 19 th August 1981.

 After approval by an Augustinian General Chapter, the new Province of the Holy Child Jesus of
Cebú was officially inaugurated at a ceremony in Cebú on the feast of the Santo Niño, 15th
January 1984.

 In 2004 the Augustinian Province of Cebú celebrated its twentieth year of existence. There were
then 85 members in final vows.

 In 2004 there were 19 simply professed, 16 novices, and 69 pre-novices or aspirants and
postulants. 

Forty-one of the solemnly professed are below 40 years of age, and only 15 are above 50. There
are 12 houses, including the mission on Socorro Island.

 There is involvement of members of the  actual involvement of some members of the Cebú
Province in Augustinian ministries in Australia,Canada, Korea, Indonesia, Japan and South
Africa.

 This has enhanced the "mission consciousness" and the spirit of collaboration among the
members of the Cebú Province.

 The Province of Cebú has requested that the possibility of its assuming responsibility for a
mission be explored.

 In its formation program for men wishing to join the Order of St Augustine, the Cebú Province
maintains two formation houses in Metro Manila at Quezon City and Viejho Guadalupe, and a
novitiate at Mohon in Cebu. 

 The Cebú Province celebrated its 7th Ordinary Provincial Chapter on 11th-15th February 2007, at

which Fr Eusebio Berdon O.S.A., an Assistant General emeritus, was installed as Provincial. 

 When his term on the General Council ended last September, he was replaced by another member
of the Cebú, Fr Rommel Par O.S.A., who immediately before his election was between 2003 and
2007 the President and Rector of the Colegio San Agustin at Biñan, not far from Manila.  

HOUSES OWNED BY THE PROVINCE

Institutions, or houses, owned by the Province, include the following:

 Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, also called the Basilica of Sto. Niño de Cebu, where the image of
the Santo Niño de Cebú is kept.
 University of San Agustin in Iloilo City.
 University of San Agustin Extension Campus at Sambag, Jaro, Iloilo City.
 Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod in Bacolod City.
 San Jose Parochial School and Parish in Plaza Libertad, Iloilo City.
 Colegio San Agustin-Biñan in Biñan, Laguna.
 Colegio San Agustin – Mati in Davao
 Guadalupe Monastery in Makati City.
 San Agustin Center of Studies (San Agustin Major Seminary)/ San Agustin Center of
Studies in Quezon City.
 Augustinian Novitiate and Prayer House in Talisay City, Cebu Province.
 Sto. Niño de Cebu Parish, Lower Mohon, Talisay City, Cebu
 University of San Agustin (Mati-Davao Oriental Campus) / UC
 Our Mother of Pepetual Help Parish, Socorro, Surigao del Norte
 St. Lawrence the Deacon Parish, Bagacay, Sorsogon
 Sto. Niño Spirituality Center, Consolacion,Cebu
 Sto. Niño Pilgrim Center, Cebu City (Provincialate Community)
 Sta. Ana Sub-Parish, Burgos, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte