EVANGELIZATION OF THE PHILIPPINES. — During the first discovery of the Philippines 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 noted navigator and cosmographer Andrés de Urdaneta (1498-1568), of the Augustinian Hermits, accompanied the Spanish fleet of Legazpi with four other Augustinians, and thus began the missionary work on the island of Cebú; from 1571 it extended to 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, its first bishop being Francisco Domingo de Salazar (1572-94); 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 vied with one another in the conversion of the natives, striving to gather the scattered inhabitants into central stations, founding villages (pueblos) and constructing numerous roads and bridges. They published dictionaries, grammars, and catechisms in the various native languages (cf. Bibliotheca missionum, IV, which lists various publications in the Tagalog, Zambal, Lingayen, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Bicol, Cebuano, and Chinese languages). From the very beginning the missionaries also devoted themselves to the conversion of the Chinese (Sangleyes) who dwelt in great numbers in Manila and its suburbs, and later the Spanish, Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian missions in China, Japan, and Indochina were founded from the Philippines. They also established many schools, where the parish priest was usually the teacher. In 1605 the Dominicans founded the College of Our Lady of the Rosary, later of St. Thomas, and from 1645 a royal and pontifical university, which still exists. The Jesuit university, founded in 1621, was closed in 1767 with the expulsion of the Fathers from the mission.
In the 18th century a large part of the population had been brought to the Christian faith. From the census of Fr. Juan J. Delgado (Historia general sacro-profana, política y natural de las Islas del Poniente llamadas Filipinas [Manila 1892]) it appears that in 1730 there were 569 pueblos with 904,116 Christians, not counting children under seven years of age. Of these pueblos, 142 with 1,479,269 souls were served by the indigenous secular clergy, the rest by 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 Philippines in 1767. At the same time began the struggle against the other religious, who in the parishes were replaced by indigenous secular priests, many of whom were unworthy and poorly prepared. As a result 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 beneficent work both in the parishes and in the evangelization and stabilization of the still pagan tribes. From 1859 the Jesuits were able to resume their scientific activity and the missions in Mindanao. From 1862 the Vincentians took over the direction of the diocesan seminaries. In 1865 the diocese of Jaro was erected. Toward the end of the 19th century the great majority of the population was Catholic, with the exception of some mountain tribes and the Moros. The statistics of 1885 (Fondo general de los pueblos del arzobispado de Manila y de los Obispados sufragáneos de Nueva Cáceres, Nueva Segovia, Cebú y Jaro, formado por el M. R. Arzobispo de Manila [Manila 1886]) give 5,839,860 Christians with 131 Spanish religious and 840 secular priests, for the most part indigenous.
In 1869 a revolution broke out, during which not a few priests were killed. After the Spanish-American War the Philippines passed in 1898 under American rule. The Spanish friars largely left the archipelago, and the Spanish bishops, after negotiations with the Holy See, resigned and were replaced by Americans.
In 1902, through the apostolic letter of Leo XIII *Quae mari sinico*, the ecclesiastical hierarchy was reorganized, four new dioceses were created (though the actual execution took place only in 1907), and an apostolic delegation was erected. In 1907 a provincial council was held in Manila, promulgated in 1910. The introduction of religious schools for Americans, the invasion of Protestant sects, and the schism of the priest Gregorio Aglipay from 1902 (who in 1906 was condemned to restore the ecclesiastical goods of the Catholics) had disastrous consequences for the Church, as well as the shortage of priests. The untiring efforts of the apostolic delegate Ambrose Agius, O.S.B. (1856-1911), succeeded in introducing new congregations into the country: the Mill Hill Fathers, the Scheut Fathers, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Steyl Fathers, and the Redemptorists. After World War I, American Jesuits, the Maryknoll Fathers, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Columbans, and the Quebec Seminary also arrived; the apostolate among the still pagan tribes was resumed: the Scheut Fathers among the Igorots in the northern mountains of Luzon, the Steyl Fathers in the province of Abra. Yet there is still a great scarcity of clergy, the population having increased from 7,635,426 in 1903 to 10,013,628 at present, of whom 15,554,641 are Catholics, 1,581,417 Aglipayans, 419,982 Protestants, 761,790 Mohammedans, and 712,579 pagans or without religion (according to the official census of 1948). There are only 1,870 priests, of whom 1,140 are indigenous seculars (according to the Pontifical Yearbook 1950).
Ecclesiastical organization: Metropolitan sees: Manila (diocese in 1578, archdiocese in 1595) with suffragans: Lingayen (1928), Lipa (1912), Nueva Cáceres (1595), Nueva Segovia (1595), San Fernando (1948), Tuguegarao (1910). Metropolitan see: Name of Jesus or Cebú (diocese in 1595, archdiocese in 1934) with suffragans: Bacolod (1932), Cagayan (1933), Calbayog (1910), Jaro or Santa Elisabetta (1865), Palo (1937), Surigao (1939), Tagbilaran (1941), Zamboanga (1910). There are also an apostolic vicariate: Mountain Province (apostolic prefecture in 1932, apostolic vicariate in 1948) and apostolic prefectures: Mindoro (1936) and Palawan (1910).