History Of The Filipino People..pdf
Vanina Mazzillo
Thank you for your comment about the blog on the Philippines. The central idea of the blog is to inform researchers about materials on Catholicism in the Philippines available at the Library of Congress, particularly in the Asian Division. The title of the blog is about this topic; it is not a title of any book.
Again, thank you for your comment. Please visit our blog often for new and interesting blogs on the Asian Division collections. Also, please help us spread the news about our website to your students and colleagues in Vietnam.
Is your blog or article limited only on how Catholic religion arrived in the Philippine archipelago? Can I request your good office sir, to please make an article that narrates and exposes the wrong doings of the priests and Spanish Authority which led to social upheaval and heroism of Jose Rizal which made him to become national hero of Philippines. So that the whole world may know how the Spanish authorities and the Catholic priests took advantage the ignorance and illiteracy of our ancestors by using Christianity (Catholism) as a tool or covering for their real intentions. Thanks in advance
Peace. Sincere thanks to Anchi Ho for writing this article and to Hong Ta-Moore of the Southeast Asia reference librarian, Asian Division for publishing it in his blog. It is rather unfortunate that the history of the Church in the Philippines has been given a sweeping negative judgment in the last paragraph of this article, based mostly on the novels of Rizal that used a literary genre based on history but presenting it in a negative, one-sided and even sarcastic way. This year we are celebrating the 5th Centenary of the Coming of Christianity with the first baptisms in 1521, but the colonization and evangelization of the archipelago started in 1565, 44 years later. There are articles and books being prepared to present the hard work of the missionaries in the early decades when they established schools, hospitals, infrastructures like roads, bridges, irrigation, etc., as well as churches, preserved the native languages, helped the natives in agriculture, etc., etc. I wish your sources would visit the rich archives of the first religious Orders (Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans and others), and discover a very different picture. My best to your work and many blessings this Easter.
Thanks for your comments and interest in the 4 Corners of the World blog. To clarify, the author of this post is Hong Ta-Moore. Please continue to follow us and feel free to contact us for reference assistance through Ask A Librarian.
Thank you for your query. While the historical record on the expedition headed by Magellan that circumnavigated the globe (1519-1522) suggests that attempts to convert the local population on islands that are now part of the Philippines met with some success (if success is measured by outward signs of acceptance of Catholicism), it is probably hard to attribute the eventual spread of Catholicism in the Philippines to just the efforts of members of the Magellan expedition. The introduction of Catholicism and the conversion of local populations of the Philippines took place over a number of years, and had to take onboard local contexts.
Thank you for your questions on how Spanish missionaries spread Christianity in the Philippines. To my knowledge, religious orders (Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans), made up not only of Spaniards but also Catholic priests from other parts of the Spanish empire and the larger Catholic world, played a big part in spreading Catholicism in the Philippines. They started missions, hospitals, schools, colleges, and printing presses as part of their efforts to engage local populations. They also worked closely with local populations and their leaders. Given the relatively small number of priests in the Philippines in the 16th-18th centuries, especially outside centers of power like Manila, Catholicism was interpreted and spread by local intermediaries. To learn more about how local interests shaped conversion to Catholicism, please see the following blogs:
In your readings, have you encountered if what was used by the spaniards during worship ceremonies as substitute to things from nature. Since filipinos worship things from nature,what was used by the Spaniards to susbtitute those?
Thank you for your query. Responses to Catholicism in the Philippines varied depending on time and place. In thinking about how the people of the Philippines interacted with Catholicism, one might consider exploring the historical record left by local societies as well as colonial agents. To learn more about resources on this topic at the Library of Congress, please contact Asian Division reference staff using this link:
Thank you for your question. Spanish missionaries were amongst the first to bring Catholicism to what is now the Philippines because they were part of the earliest expeditions to Asia sponsored by Spain, which was a Catholic kingdom. Having said that, a number of Catholic missionaries who went to the Philippines were not Spaniards but from other parts of the Spanish empire and the larger Catholic world. They, along with Spanish priests, spread Catholicism throughout the Philippines, under the aegis of the Spanish empire. To learn more about resources connected to Catholicism in the Philippines, please contact Asian Division reference staff using this link: //ask.loc.gov/asia/.
A possible way to provide an educated guess on your query is to look at religious texts and Bibles used by Catholic missionaries in the early 1500s. To learn more about the history of Catholic missions and missionary texts in the Philippines, please write reference staff at
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