EVANGELIZATION OF THE F. — During the first discovery of the F. by Fernão Magalhães in 1521, some natives of the Island of Samar were baptized; but the true missionary activity began only after Miguel Lopez de Legazpi had definitively occupied the archipelago in 1565.
The well-known navigator and cosmographer Andrés de Urdaneta (1498–1568), of the Hermits of S. Augustine, had accompanied Legazpi’s Spanish fleet with four other Augustinians, and thus the missionary work began on the Island of Cebú; from 1571 onward it continued on that of Luzon, at Manila, and in 1569 a religious province was erected there. The Franciscans followed in 1577, with their own province from 1586; the Dominicans in 1579, with their own province from 1592; the Jesuits in 1579, with a vice-province from 1594 and a province from 1606; and finally the Augustinian Recollects in 1606, who formed their province in 1622. In 1578 the diocese of Manila was erected, whose first bishop was Francisco Domingo de Salazar (1512–94); in 1595 it was raised to a metropolitan see, with three suffragans: Nueva Segovia, Nueva Cáceres and Cebú. In the succeeding centuries the five religious Orders competed in the conversion of the natives, seeking to gather the inhabitants scattered throughout the region into central stations, founding villages (pueblos), and building numerous roads and bridges. They published dictionaries, grammars and catechisms in the various indigenous languages (cf. Bibliotheca missionum, IV, which lists various publications in the Tagaloc, Zambala, Ilingota, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Bicol, Cebuana and Cinere languages). From the earliest beginnings the missionaries also devoted themselves to the conversion of the Chinese (Sangleyes), who lived in large numbers in Manila and its suburbs; later, from the F., Spanish, Franciscan, Dominican and Augustinian missions were founded in China, Japan and Indochina. They also established many schools, where the parish priest was ordinarily the teacher. In 1605 the Dominicans founded the College of N. Signora del Rosario, later of S. Thomas, and from 1645 a royal and pontifical university, which still exists. The Jesuit University, on the other hand, founded in 1621, was closed in 1767 with the expulsion of the Fathers of the mission. In the 18th century a large part of the population had been won to the Christian faith. From the census of Fr. Juan J. Delgado (Historia general sacro-profana, politica y natural de las Islas del Poniente llamados Filipinas [Manila 1892]) it appears that in 1750 there were 569 pueblos with 904,116 Christians, not counting children under seven years of age. Of these pueblos, 142, with 147,269 souls, were served by the indigenous secular clergy; the others were entrusted to the Spanish religious. From 1744 the Jesuits had begun the difficult mission among the Mohammedan Moros of Jolo and Mindanao, which was abandoned after their expulsion from the F. in 1767. At the same time the struggle against the other religious began; in the parishes they were replaced by indigenous secular priests, for the most part native and poorly prepared. Consequently, the Spanish government restored the religious to their parishes and, during the 19th century, kept the indigenous secular clergy in secondary positions. During the same century the friars continued their beneficial work both in the parishes and in the evangelization and stabilization of the tribes that were still pagan. From 1859 the Jesuits were able to resume their scientific activity and their missions in Mindanao. From 1862 the Lazarists took charge of directing the diocesan seminaries. In 1865 the diocese of Jaro was erected. Toward the end of the 19th century the greater part of the population was Catholic, with the exception of some mountain tribes and the Moros. The statistics of 1885 (Estado general de los pueblos del arzobispado de Manila y de los Obispados sufraganeros de Nueva Cáceres, Nueva Segovia, Cebú y Jaro, formado por el M. R. Arzobispo de Manila [Manila 1886]) give 2,830,860 Christians, with 1,311 Spanish religious and 840 secular priests, for the most part indigenous. In 1896 a revolution broke out, during which not a few priests were killed. After the Spanish-American War, in 1898, the F. passed under American rule. The Spanish friars for the most part left the archipelago, and the Spanish bishops resigned; after negotiations with the Holy See, they were replaced by Americans.
In 1902, through the apostolic letters of Leo XIII (Quae mari sinico), the ecclesiastical hierarchy was reorganized, four new dioceses were created (although their implementation took place only in 1910), and an apostolic delegation was erected. In 1907 a provincial council was held at Manila, promulgated in 1910. The introduction of irreligious schools for the Americans, the invasion of Protestant sects, and the schism of the priest Gregorio Aglipay beginning in 1902 (who in 1906 was condemned to restore the ecclesiastical property of the Catholics) had disastrous consequences for the Church, as did the shortage of priests. The tireless efforts of the apostolic delegate Ambrogio Agius O.S.B. (1856–1911) succeeded in introducing new congregations into the country: the Fathers of Mill Hill, of Scheut, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Fathers of Steyl and the Redemptorists. After the First World War there also arrived the American Jesuits, the Fathers of Maryknoll, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Fathers of S. Columban and of the Seminary of Québec; the apostolate among the tribes that still remained pagan was resumed: the Fathers of Scheut among the Irogoti in the northern mountains of Luzon, and the Fathers of Steyl in the province of Abra. Yet the shortage of clergy is still great today, since the population has increased from 7,635,426 in 1903 to 19,013,628 at present, of whom 15,554,641 are Catholics, 1,581,417 Aglipayans, 419,982 Protestants, 761,790 Mohammedans and 712,579 pagans or persons without religion (according to the official census of 1948). There are only 1,870 priests, of whom 1,140 are indigenous secular priests (according to the Annuario pontificio 1950).
Ecclesiastical organization: Metrop.: Manila (diocese in 1578, archdiocese in 1595), with suffragans: Lingayen (1928), Lipa (1910), Nueva Cáceres (1595), Nueva Segovia (1595), San Fernando (1948), Tuguegarao (1910). Metrop.: Name of Jesus or Cebú (diocese in 1595, archdiocese in 1594), with suffragans: Bacolod (1932), Cagayan (1933), Calbayog (1910), Jaro or Santa Elisabetta (1865), Palo (1937), Surigao (1939), Tagbilaran (1941), Zamboanga (1910). There are also one apostolic vicariate: Montagnosa (apostolic prefecture in 1932, apostolic vicariate in 1948), and two apostolic prefectures: Mindoro (1936) and Palawan (1910).
