Christianity was first brought to the Philippine islands by Spanish missionaries and settlers, who arrived in waves

beginning in the early 16th century in Cebu by way of colonization. Compared to the Spanish colonial period, when
Christianity was recognized as the state religion, the faith today is practiced in the context of a secular state. In
2020, it was estimated that 85.7 million Filipinos, or roughly 78.8% of the population, profess the Catholic faith.

Christian History of the Philippines

The Christian history of the Philippines began in 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan landed on the island of Cebu just
before Easter. Though he was Portuguese, Magellan was sailing on behalf of the Spanish crown on a journey that
began two years earlier in Spain. The goal of Magellan’s mission was to find an alternate route to the Spice Islands
by sailing west. The Spice Islands were a small group of islands to the northeast of Indonesia and the southeast of
the Philippines. They were known for being the largest producers of nutmeg, clove, mace, and pepper in the world.
On a map today, the Spice Islands are known as the Moluccas.

There was a thriving trade in spices and other goods in the Far East for centuries before European ships arrived.
Spices were bought with Chinese silks, Indian cottons, Arabian coffee, and African ivory. While these spices were
available in Europe, the prices were super high because they had to be shipped by land through many traders. Each
trader made a profit, and by the time the spices arrived in Europe, they could cost a thousand times more than the
original price paid in the Spice Islands. The Portuguese and Spanish saw their global explorations primarily as
commercial ventures — finding ways to increase the supply and lower the price of goods such as spices. But, these
two empires also saw a religious calling for their trans-oceanic journeys.

Initially, Magellan seemed successful in the dual tasks of commerce and evangelism. The first local chief he met,
Humabon, received the Gospel and became a Christian. According to tradition, Humabon’s grandson had suffered
with an untreatable fever for several years, but after he was baptized, he was cured within days. As word of this
miracle spread, openness to the Gospel also spread throughout Humabon’s people. In the end, over 2,000 locals
from the surrounding villages of Cebu – just to the south of me — converted to Christianity.

But then, a powerful chief named Lapu Lapu said “Enough,” and rejected Christianity for he and his people.
Magellan did the unwise thing and visited the chief with a small band of armed Spaniards. Magellan’s men were
outnumbered and defeated, and Magellan was killed in the battle. Soon after, Humabon, the first Filipino convert,
renounced his Christian faith and turned against the remaining Spaniards in his village. Those who survived fled the
island of Cebu and the first attempt at sharing the Gospel in the Philippines was over.

A few decades after Magellan, the Spanish once again returned to the Philippine islands. However, this time their
expedition was led by a military captain turned Augustinian monk, Andres de Urdaneta. When Urdaneta joined the
Spanish fleet in Mexico in 1565, he insisted on traveling to the Philippines as a missionary, not a soldier. Urdaneta
was quickly viewed as a “protector of the Indians” for his compassionate treatment of the Filipino natives. Five
other monks of the Augustinian order joined Urdaneta, starting a Catholic missionary presence in the Philippine
islands that would last for three centuries.

The initial spread of Christianity in the Philippine islands was slow. With very few Catholic settlers or parish priests
in the new Spanish colony, the work of evangelizing the locals fell to the missionary orders. The Catholic Church
divided responsibility for the various islands among the Augustinians, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits. Manila,
the Spanish colonial capital on the island of Luzon, was declared an open city, where all Catholic orders could work
and serve