About the Jesuits in Mindanao

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Based on various articles by:  Fr. Miguel Bernad, SJ, Fr. Jose Arcilla, SJ, Fr. Francisco Demetrio, SJ, Fr. Luis Pacquing, SJ, Fr. Thomas O’Shaughnessy, SJ, Fr. Thomas Cannon, SJ

THE BEGINNINGS

• 1595 – Spanish Army Captain Rodriguez  de Figueroa led an anti-Muslim expedition against the Maguindanaos in Pulangi River with Fr. Juan del Carpio, serving as chaplain, and Bro.  Pedro Gutierrez; Fr. del Carpio died on August 11, 1596 becoming the first Jesuit missionary to give his life in the Christianization in Mindanao.
• 1596 – The first mission was established in Butuan with Fr. Valerio de Ledesma; followed later by Father Manuel Martinez.
• September 8, 1597 – The first church in Butuan was solemnly inaugurated with pomp and splendor. Fr. Valerio de Ledesma baptized one Diego Inongan, later captured by Moro pirates and brought to Sirongan in Buayan (Cotabato) and found there later by Fr. Melchor Hurtado, who himself had been captured by Moros in Dulag, Leyte, and       brought to the same place in 1603.
• 1602 – Fr. Pascual de Acuña  arrived in Dapitan as the chaplain of the Spanish expeditionary squadron assigned to convert the natives there.
• 1605 – Fr. Melchor Hurtado, formerly a captive in Dulag, Leyte, was sent as an envoy by the Spanish colonial government to make a peace treaty with the Datu of Buayan which included the cessation of all raids and the return of all Christian captives.
• 1622 – Recoletos arrived in Eastern Mindanao: first in Tandag, and expanded shortly to Higaquit,  Butuan, Linao, Siarbo, Cagayan, Bislig and Mambajao. Later, they went towards the west and scouted Iligan, Bayuc, Layauan (Oroquieta), Langaran (Plaridel), and even Lake Lanao (inhabited by Muslims). Northeastern Mindanao was ceded by the Jesuits to the Recoletos for lack of men.

EXPANSION

• February 6, 1624 – Governor General Fernando Tello made a demarcation line extending from Punta Sulawan (Misamis Oriental) to Cape San Agustin (Davao Oriental). East of the Demarcation Line was entrusted to the Recoletos, and west to the Jesuits.
• 1631 – The Dapitan mission was permanently established; later missions were founded in Bayuc, Dipolog, Lubungan, Misamis.
• April 6, 1635 – A squadron led by Spanish Army Captain Juan de Chavez landed in Zamboanga with Fr. Melchor de Vera and Fr. Pedro Gutierrez (the first Rector of the Dapitan church; also known for his works among the Subanen and Lutao tribes and his travels to Basilan and Jolo to help enslaved Christian captives).
• June 23, 1635 – The first stone of Fort Pilar in Zamboanga was laid by Fr. Melchor de Vera, a priest-engineer. Originally called Real Fuerza de San José or Royal Fort of Saint Joseph, the laying of its cornerstone now marks the founding of Zamboanga as a city.
• 1635 – Governor General Fajardo sent Fr. Alejandro Lopez (Rector of Zamboanga) to negotiate peace treaties with Sultan Kudarat. 
• December 11, 1635 – Two Jesuits were killed by Muslims in separate incidents, Fr. Andres De Zamora in Buwayan, Maguindanao, and Fr. Francisco Mendoza in an area between Iligan and Dansalan. They were the first missionary martyrs in Mindanao.
• 1639 – The Iligan Mission was permanently established and followed later in Initao.
• 1643 – Fr. Francesco Palliola, an Italian Jesuit, was assigned to work among the Subanen tribes in Ponot, Zamboanga, but lost his life in 1648 at the hands of a murderous baptized tribesman. 
• 1655 – Governor General Manrique de Lara sent Alejandro Lopez and Juan Montiel on another peace mission to Sultan Kudarat. Peace was however elusive and uneasy. Feeling distrust because of the differences of their faiths, the strongman killed the unsuspecting Jesuit and his companion.

CONSOLIDATION, EXPULSION AND RESTORATION

• The churches and settlements in Mindanao were laid out the same way as in other places in the Philippines.
• 1754 – Height of the Muslim raids. Fr. Francisco Ducos of the Iligan mission led an attack on Panguil Bay, which the Muslims used as a base for their violent pillaging.
• Seiges of Lubungan (Katipunan in Zamboanga del Norte), Tandag.
• Expansion towards the South of Mindanao by both Jesuits in the Western Part and Recoletos in the Eastern Part.
• Expansion towards the interior reaches of Agusan and Bukidnon.
• 1768 – When the Royal Order by King Charles III suppressing the Society of Jesus arrived in Manila on 17 May 1768, the Jesuits had to leave Mindanao. The parishes under their care: Zamboanga, Dapitan, Bayog, Lubungan, Dipolog, Iligan, Initao,  Ilaya, and Misamis, were taken over by the Recoletos and the diocesan  clergy of Cebu.
• 1832-1857 – Repeated requests for Jesuits to return to the Philippines after the Restoration. In 1832, Bishop Santos Gomez Marañon O.S.A. of Cebu requested King Ferdinand VII of Spain for Jesuits in his diocese; but the Jesuits did not have enough personnel. In 1857 Bishop Romualdo Jimeno Ballesteros, O.P. of Cebu made another request to Queen Isabella II for Jesuits to minister to the districts of Bislig, Davao, Pollok and the provinces of Zamboanga and Basilan Island. This time, the Jesuits were ready.
• July 30, 1859 – A royal decree was made to let the Jesuits take over the Missions in Mindanao from the Recoletos. 
• In 1861, the Jesuits led by Fr. Jose Ignacio Guerrico established the mission in Tamontaca among the Tiruray, but inside Muslim territory. In 1862, they re-take Isabela de Basilan (Fr. Francisco Ceballos) and established St. Ignatius Church of Tetuan (Fr. Ramon Barua, then Fr. Domingo Bove in 1863). In 1865, Fr. Francisco Javier Martin Luengo took over Tetuan as Rector. In 1868, Fr. Bove, Fr. Mateo Gisbert (known for his works with the Bagobos of Mt. Apo) with Fr. Ramon Pamies, and Bro. Antonio Gairolas returned to Davao and established new missions in Sigaboy (1870), Mati (1875),  Peña Plata (1896), Manay (1897). 
• 1867 – Fr. Jacinto Juanmarti was sent to revive the Subanen mission. In 1874, he was assigned to the Tamontaka where he worked for 24 years until his death in 1897.
• 1875 and onwards – In varying times and places of assignment, the Jesuits took over Dapitan, Surigao, Bislig, Butuan, Bunauan, Balingasag, Sumilao and the surrounding       areas of these missions. They were Fr.  Francisco Javier Martin Luengo (Dapitan and Surigao), Fr. Gregorio Parache (first superior of Balingsag mission), Fr. Saturnino Urios  (Apostle of Agusan), Fr. Eusebio Barrado (resident priest of Sumilao and explorer of downstream Pulangi), Fr. Domingo Bove (from Tetuan, to Davao and later Bunuan), Fr. Raimundo Peruga (Tagoloan), Fr. Juan Bautista Heras (Jasaan), Fr. Jaime Plana (Apostle of the Mamanwa),  and in the company of Fr. Jose Canudas (Balingasag), Fr. Juan Terricabras (Talisayan), Fr. Francisco Chorro  (Balingsag), Br. Juan Costa (the Balingasag  brickmaker). Cagayan and Opol however remained with the Recoletos through the 1900’s. 
• 1876 and onwards – Fr. Francisco Baranera went to Jolo as chaplain of the Spanish army during its final conquest under Spanish rule. In 1877, the mission in Jolo was established by Fr. Isidro Batllo and Br. Figuerola, joined later by Fr. Juan Carreras and Br. Antonio Gairolas. Because of injury from an attack by Moros, Fr. Batllo and Carreras were replaced by Fr. Federico Vila and Fr. Juan Quintana.

CRISIS AFTER THE REVOLUTION

• Intense anti-friar feeling – Although the Jesuits were perceived by the people as different from the friars, it still happened that all the Jesuits were recalled to Manila by 1898. They were able to return to Mindanao starting in 1900.
• Reopening the missions was marked with several new challenges: the lack of funds because there was no more Patronato Real to draw from, the lack of manpower because there were no more new arrivals of Spanish Jesuits and those around were aging, the threats due to the anti-Spanish, nationalist sentiments, and the perceived protestant threat represented by the establishment of Silliman University in 1901.
• Many mission properties were pillaged; even chapel fixtures were not spared. Upon their return, they also saw that Protestantism had taken root and some of their chapels were taken over by the Aglipayans and other religious groups.

RECONSTRUCTION

• From 1900 to 1921, the Spanish Jesuits held the fort waiting for the Americans who started taking over the stations in 1921.
• The turnover was completed in 1929. In the first 30 years of the century, the Jesuits were both reactivating and adding new stations.
• The 1930’s was marked by a series of turnovers of sub-regions of the island to other religious priests as well as the continuation of new stations being set up in the regions still in the area of responsibility of the Jesuits. The Sacred Heart Missionaries tool over the Surigao region in 1908 and the adjacent region of Agusan in 1935. In 1937, the Davao region  was turned over to the P.M.E.’s, although the Jesuits would later return in 1948 to establish Ateneo de Davao. After adding three more stations in Misamis Occidental in the early 1930’s (Clarin in 1931, Tangub in 1932, Plaridel in 1932), the Jesuits turned over Misamis Occidental to the Columban fathers (SSC) in 1938-9. The Oblates (O.M.I.) took over Cotabato and Sulu in 1939.
• Reconstruction of Hierarchy:  Zamboanga (1910), Cagayan (1933), Surigao (1939)
• By 1939, the turnovers allowed the Jesuits to concentrate their resources on the remaining areas of Basilan, the Zamboanga peninsula, Lanao region, Bukidnon, and Misamis Oriental.