Guindulman Bohol in Recollect Annals

63 Guindulman, Bohol in Augustinian Recollect Annals and in other Historical Sources The first mention ever of Guindulman in historical records is in the 14th volume of Historia general de Filipinas, written by Juan de la Concepción OAR (1724-1786) and published posthumously in 1788-1792: Bernardo Sanote declared that he and other leaders in Mount Tambungan1 where they had resided for fear of the former fathers [Jesuits] because of the fact that such inconvenience no longer existed, wanted to return to the service of God and the monarch of Spain and if it would please the Governor to grant them pardon and have mercy on them and permit them to set up a town in the area near Guindulman Bay [underline mine], in order to fulfill their obligations as Christians, as they had requested their spiritual father Fray Pedro [de Santa Bárbara, OAR].2 The context of this ancient text is as follows: The great Boholano patriot Francisco Dagohoy could count in the late 1760s on four allies and leaders and thousands of followers in the huge rebellion that had stricken and plagued the Visayan island since 1744. Eight thousand tributes continued to rebel against the Spanish monarch and his civil authorities in Bohol. The leaders were Ignacio Arañez, Pedro Baguio3, Bernardo Sanote and Ligaon who was in his mountain stronghold in Talibon and Inabanga with over five thousand people.4 The eight Augustinian Recollects, headed by their vicar provincial Pedro de Santa Bárbara, arrived in July 1768 to take possession of nine parishes after the last Jesuits had been expelled from Bohol upon orders of the Spanish King Charles III. The Recollect vicar provincial of Bohol climbed not long after the mountain stronghold at Magtangtang to negotiate personally with the Boholano patriot. The Recollect was allowed by Dagohoy to baptize children, solemnize marriages of amancebados5 and hear confessions as sign 1 Tumbangan in another source. 2 JUAN DE LA CONCEPCIÓN, Historia general de Filipinas XIV (Manila 1792) 96. Quoted by Gregorio OCHOA, Historia general de la Orden de Agustinos Recoletos VIII: 1755-1796 (Zaragoza 1928) 595. 3 Pedro Baguio later sailed with his followers to safety in Maasin, Leyte. 4 Ibid., 102, the author writes 1,000 tributes or five to six thousand souls. 5 The Spanish for “those living in sin,” or cohabiting or living together without the sacrament of matrimony. of the leader’s good faith and willing to return to the fold of Christianity. To set up towns for the rebel followers and families was discussed and approved, but its implementation would unfortunately take place only after the capitulation in 1829. The site of Guindulman had been one of the those negotiated for future towns in 1769 and this would become a reality in 1788. Dagohoy had demanded the pullout of the Spanish troop detachments from Jagna, Loay, Loon, Maribojoc, and Malibago.6 He saw no need for the Spanish civil government to station them under the new dispensation and to avoid future belligerent acts against each other. The troops in Inabanga and Talibon would remain in their post account of the obvious risks as well as the security of tribute-collectors. The Recollect Pedro de Santa Bárbara then travelled to Cebu and relayed the results of his personal negotiation with Dagohoy to the Spanish alcalde mayor Don Pedro Vargas who adamantly denied this last demand for troop pullouts.7 And so, the rebellion continued until 1829, eighty-five years after it had begun. In the meantime, the Boholano patriot had passed away around the year 1782.8 Guindulman, a town and parish carved out of Jagna The parish of Our Lady of Consolation in the town of Guindulman was created by the Recollect missionaries in 1788, as revealed by the Recollect town chronicler Father Bernardo Aráiz in his 1916 Historia de Guindulman, Bohol narrative. The Mother of Jesus invoked as Our Lady of Consolation or Comforter of the Afflicted has been the patroness of the Order of Augustinian Recollects who traditionally celebrate her liturgical feast every 4th day of September. This special advocacy of the Mother of Christ—typical devotion of the Marian spirituality and tradition of the Augustinian family the world over—is one sole solid proof of the Augustinian Recollect origin of the new parish. Guindulman was still a visita or mission station of the parish matrix Jagna during the Jesuit administration. Its parish priest Padre Bernardo Aráiz who chronicled the Guindulman history in 1916 recorded that this curacy was separated from its 6 It was likewise called Malabago located in the northern part of present-day Cortes. 7 JUAN DE LA CONCEPCIÓN, Historia general XIV, 104. 8 The death of Dagohoy was mentioned in a letter written by Bishop Mateo JoaQuín Rubio de Arévalo of Cebu. See his Carta a Francisco Díaz Durana, Cebú, 31 julio 1782, ARCHIVO HISTÓRICO PROVINCIAL DE MARCILLA, NAVARRA, ESPAÑA[APM], Legajo (Bundle) 66, Folder 1, f. 2. matrix Jagna on 20 February 1788, but without a resident cura párroco.9 The 60-year-old Padre Gaspar Bellido de San Fulgencio, parish priest of the Parish of Saint Michael the Archangel of Jagna, concurrently administered the Marian Parish of Our Lady of Consolation of Guindulman. Padre Gaspar Bellido received the Libro de nupcias10 on 31 December 178911 from the Recollect prior provincial Joaquín Encabo de la Virgen de Sopetrán.12 His provincial secretary Pedro de San Antonio accompanied the future Cebu bishop in his canonical visit of Guidulman parish. The traditional practice of a prior provincial during his canonical visit13 to a new parish belonging to the Recollect jurisdiction was to personally hand over the four official books to the parish priest. The fifth was the typically Recollect Libro de cosas notables.14 The prior provincial or the vicar provincial examined the contents of the five books during his triennial visit and affixed his signature on the page with the reported events, and attested to by the provincial secretary. The name of Padre Gaspar Bellido appeared likewise in the Book oF Necrology and Book oF Baptisms.15 Padre Gaspar ended his pastoral ministry in the parish of Our Lady of Consolation in 1797. We must take note that by this time some rebel returnees and their families had already settled in Guindulman. The increase of tributes and concomitant growth of population was a strong reason for creation of the new town and parish. 9 The manuscript is titled Historia de la Parroquia de Guindulman, APM Legajo 67, Folder 2, f. 234v. 10 Libro de Nupcias, the canonical Book of Marriages. 11 See Bernardo ARÁIZ, A History oF Guindulman (1788-1916), 5, of this book. 12 Father Joaquín Encabo would be elevated to the episcopal see of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in Cebu and was its local ordinary in 1808-1818. See 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) 312-317. 13 The canonical visit is the regular visit which is mandated by the OAR Constitutions and conducted at least twice during the triennial term by prior provincial with his provincial secretary in parishes or religious communities under the Recollect jurisdiction in order to check the official books, to personally talk with each religious, among others activities. 14 Libro de cosas notables is the Book of Noteworthy Events, which the superior gave to the parish priest with a special directive to write the significant events in his curacy for posterity. 15 Bernardo ARÁIZ, A History oF Guindulman (1788-1916) 6. The Libro de Bautismos refers to the canonical Book of Baptisms; the Libro de Casamientos to the canonical Book of Marriages. On 7 May 1797, Padre Antonio Fernández de San Agustín took possession of the parish of Our Lady of Consolation of Guindulman, as he himself indicated in the official parish Book oF Income and Expenditures.16 He was therefore the first resident priest of Guindulman. Chroniclers unanimously inform us that Guindulman was bordered by its three visitas which were later established as towns and parishes. In the north, it is bordered by Candijay (created in 1854), in the south by Duero (1863) and in the east by Anda (1885). The pioneering Augustinian Recollect Padre Antonio Fernández de San Agustín worked diligently for the continued increase of the tributes and population of Guindulman. The Spanish missionary was only 27 years old when he was assigned by his superiors in Manila as the first parish priest of Guindulman. Hence, Padre Fernández was definitely a young minister, very eager to fulfill his priestly ministry for God Almighty.17 In his service to the community of over a thousand believers, he was an energetic and indefatigable minister who labored to disseminate the Gospel of Salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The young Recollect minister then began with the construction of the first parochial church and bell-tower, believed to be made of stone. The finished church of Guindulman was a very solid edifice suited for the worship of God and veneration of the beloved patroness of the parish—Our Lady of Consolation. As in other Recollect parishes in the Island of Bohol, the parishioners were earnestly motivated by their parish priest to cooperate in the construction of their own church. Furthermore, the cleanliness and tidiness of such ecclesiastical edifices was observed by the parishioners. The divine temple dedicated to the Mother of God was large enough to accommodate the increasing Christian population. More parish priests diligently took part in spreading the Gospel of Christ and imparting the ways of civilization to the Guindulmanons.

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