Augustinian Recollects in Cavite Province Since 1616
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The Augustinian Recollects in Cavite Province since 1616 Prologue Why choose Cavite Puerto? Why set up an Augustinian Recollect convent and church in Cavite Puerto where other religious orders had already established their own churches and convents?1 In 1681, Augustinian Recollect historian Luis de Jesús reveals to us in his Historia general de la Orden de los Agustinos Recoletos the reasons why: The convent of Cabite [sic] seemed necessary, and they [Recollects] did not deceive themselves, for, although only two leguas distant from Manila, it is of considerable consequence for the conversion of souls, as Cabite is a port where men of not a few Asian nations assemble for the saKe of its commerce which is remarKable. Hence that place comes to be the largest one in the Philippine Islands after the said metropolis, and all the sailors live there to be near its traffic and trade.2 In 1616, by apostolic and royal authority, the Augustinian Recollects who arrived in the Philippines ten years before, founded their convent and church in Puerto de Cavite and put it under the spiritual patronage of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino.3 In 1879, Patricio Marcellán declared the need of the Augustinian Recollects to have convents of observance in most important population centers in the archipelago to accommodate religious saddled with the tasks of preaching, and at the same time such house might serve as base for the accomplishment of the plan [of preaching the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments. The convent of Cavite […] an exact place for great trade and multitude of foreigners, so that the friars 1 Regalado TROTA JOSE. The Eight Churches of Cavite Puerto (1586-1800), in Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 15 (1987) 311-351. 2 LUIS DE JESUS, Early Recollect Missions, in Emma BLAIR and James ROBERTSON, The Philippine Islands 1493-1898, XXI, 182-183. 3 Patricio MARCELLÁN, La Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentino de Agustinos Descalzos de la Congregación de España e Indias (Manila 1879) 77. could do a lot of benefit for needy souls through their virtuous example and indefatigable zeal. 4 Convent and Church of San Nicolás in Cavite Puerto (1616) The Cavite convent and church of San Nicolás de Tolentino was a sturdy structure made of mampostería [rubblework], equipped with ten individual rooms for conventuals. It had a church suitable for liturgical services. It was a fine convent with a community of friars whose “virtuous example and indefatigable zeal” attracted both merchants and affluent foreigners who entered the Spanish colony. Cavite’s magnificent port, enriched by Mother Nature and by its proximity to the colonial capital of Manila, made it a haven of refuge and port of entry and exit of all galleons and ships that entered or sailed from the Philippines. Cavite Puerto was the only shipyard in colonial times. The Spanish citizens from the Peninsula comprised the majority in the city’s population, a fact that made it feel superior to other adjoining towns. The construction or the refurbishment of the two Augustinian Recollect convents in Manila—San Juan Bautista de Bagumbayan in what is now Luneta or Rizal Park (1606) and San Nicolás in the Walled City or Intramuros (1608)—had preceded the canonical establishment of the church and convent in the provincial capital of Cavite. The first superior of the Recollects in the Philippines at first refused the petition of the people of Cavite Puerto for lack of personnel and funds. Due to their persistent demand, however, Fray Juan de San Jerónimo acceded to their request. The residents of Cavite Puerto themselves defrayed the expenses for the construction of the Convent and Church of San Nicolás, whose religious patronage was changed to that of Saint Monica in the twentieth century, were constructed very shortly. There was no parish management for the Recollect pioneers of San Nicolás Convent and Church but still they rendered important religious services and administration of the sacraments to the faithful. They heard confessions and preached the Word of God to them to increase their piety. They further introduced the popular devotions to the Augustinian Saint Rita of Cascia whose novena and feast on May 22 were celebrated with utmost solemnity and multitude of devotees5 and 4 MARCELLÁN, 77; JOSÉ DE LA CONCEPCIÓN, Reseña histórica de nuestra Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentino desde su origen hasta el año 1750, in BPSN 152 (1923) 132. 5 Licinio RUIZ, Sinopsis histórica de la Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentino de las Islas Filipinas de la Orden de Agustinos Descalzos I (Manila 1925) 110. to Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo.6 In 1725, they set up the Cofradía de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno [Confraternity of Our Father Jesus of Nazareth, popularly known as the Black Nazarene], whose original image was brought to Manila by the Augustinian Recollects themselves, which had been introduced in 1709 at San Nicolás Church by Don Pascual Bautista and other Caviteño devotees of the BlacK Nazarene.7 The first superior of Cavite Puerto was Fray Andrés del Espíritu Santo, at that time vicar provincial of the Augustinian Recollects in colonial Philippines. He belonged to the first group of Recollect missionaries of 1606. In 1607, Fr. Andrés had founded the mission of Masinloc in Zambales. In 1609, he assisted his confrere Fr. Jerónimo de Cristo in the foundation of another Zambales mission named Bolinao, now part of western Pangasinan. At San Nicolás Convent and Church in Cavite Puerto, there was always a resident Recollect priest proficient in Spanish and Tagalog to preach the Word of God in the two languages to Spanish, mestizo and native residents of the port capital.8 During the British invasion and occupation of Manila in the 1760s, the Cavite convent temporarily housed the offices of the prior provincial and his council who had escaped from Intramuros. Both convent and church survived natural calamities until the Spanish-American War of 1898. At the inception of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the invading United States warships bombarded Cavite Puerto. The American forces obliterated ecclesiastical structures in the Spanish naval base and rendered thus San Nicolás Church totally useless for divine worship. The Augustinian Recollect priests saw the impossibility of rehabilitating both church and convent completely. In 1910, the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino decided to hand the church and convent over to the female counterparts—the Congregation of the Augustinian Recollect Missionaries—for their usufruct. The religious sisters then opened a school for children and established soon after a dormitory for young women who took up courses in nearby government schools, while living “isolated from mundane noise.”9 San Pedro Apóstol Parish of Cavite Puerto (1871) 6 Angel MARTÍNEZ CUESTA, Historia de los agustinos recoletos. I: Desde los orígenes hasta el siglo XIX (Madrid 1995) 331. 7 MARCELLÁN, 77. 8 MARTÍNEZ CUESTA I, 363. 9 RUIZ I, 111. The Parish of San Pedro Apóstol in Cavite Puerto was under the administration of the diocesan clergy from the 1760s to 1871. The secular clergy had earlier taken over San Pedro Apóstol Parish from the Jesuits who were expelled from the Philippines in 1768. In exchange for the parishes in Mindanao that were ceded to the Society of Jesus, who had returned from exile, the vacant San Pedro Apóstol Parish was ceded by the Archdiocese of Manila to the Augustinian Recollects in 1871.10 The first Recollect parish priest of San Pedro Apóstol Parish was the 25-year-old Fray Casto Nájera (1846-1876) who ministered to 2,422 residents until 11 May 1873 when he resigned and was transferred later to Salinas (Cavite) parish.11 The iconic Chamorro lexicographer Fray Aniceto Ibáñez, parish priest in the Marianas in 1852-1876, who wrote a Chamorro grammar book and Chamorro-Spanish, Spanish-Chamorro dictionary, was named parish priest of Cavite Puerto in 1878-1882 and again in 1885.12 Fray Isidoro Liberal administered the parish in 1882-1884.13 Fray Francisco Castillo managed it from December 1887 to October 1895 and constructed its kumbento.14 The San Pedro Apóstol church had not withstood the 1863 tremors. Thus masses and liturgical services tooK place at San Juan de Dios Church and nearby churches.15 There were 573 tribute-payers, 384 Spaniards and Spanish mestizos in the parish in 1879. In 1897 the population was 1,428 under Fray Fernando Mayandía. On 8 October 1897, he was appointed by the archbishop as vicar forane and ecclesiastical judge of the Cavite North District comprising Cavite Puerto, San Roque, Rosario, San Francisco de Malabón, Cavite Viejo, Bacoor, Imus, Pérez-Dasmariñas, Silang and Amadeo.16 He sent a letter to the prior provincial in Manila and asked for his approval to proceed 10 MARCELLÁN, 79; FIDEL DE BLAS, Labor evangélica de los padres agustinos recoletos en las Islas Filipinas (Zaragoza 1910) 41; RUIZ II, 247; Ángel MARTÍNEZ CUESTA, Historia de los agustinos recoletos II: El Siglo XIX (Madrid 2015) 810. 11 Francisco SÁDABA, Catálogo de los Religiosos Agustinos Recoletos de la Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentino de Filipinas desde el año 1606, en que llegó la primera misión a Manila, hasta nuestros días (Madrid 1906) 534. 12 SÁDABA, 457-459, MARCELLÁN, 79. 13 SÁDABA, 456. 14 Ibid., 618. 15 MARCELLÁN, 79. 16 ARCHIVO HISTÓRICO PROVINCIAL DE MARCILLA, NAVARRA, ESPAÑA. PROVINCIA DE SAN NICOLÁS DE TOLENTINO. Legajo 48, Número 3 Legajo 48: Cavite, Número 6, 096r, El p. Fernando Mayandía se nombra vicario foráneo (9 octubre 1897). with the mandatory oath-taKing. Father Mayandía was the last parish priest of the Royal Patronage Regime of San Pedro Apóstol Parish. Hacienda de San Juan Bautista of Imus (1666-1898) The landed estate which later came to be known as Hacienda de San Juan Bautista de Imus was acquired by the Augustinian Recollects in the 17th century.