Today In The Past

Today, October 19, 1852, the Spanish Queen issues a royal decree authorizing the return of the Jesuits to the Philippines to handle the missions in Mindanao and Jolo.

Historical account shows that hundreds of Spanish missionaries labored and died to build up a Christian nation in the Far East.

The early Spanish missionaries of the different religious orders (the Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans and Recolects) were the pioneer builders of Christian Philippines.

The third missionary order which arrived in Manila in September, 1581, was the Jesuit Society. After that year more and more Jesuits, imbued with the apostolic zeal of St. Francis Xavier, came to the Philippines.

At the time of the banishment of the Jesuits from the Philippines in 1768, they numbered 158, administering 209,527 souls in 93 towns.

Upon their return from exile in 1859 they resumed their missionary work in the Archipelago, and by 1893 they had totaled 132 taking charge of 33 towns and 223 visitas (missions) with an aggregate population of 200,184 souls.

In 1972, the Spanish Jesuits were replaced by the American Jesuit belonging to the Maryland-New York Province.

In that year there were 176 Jesuits in the Philippines, of whom 46 were Filipinos, 53 Americans and 77 Spaniards.

The Jesuit Society contributed 28 martyrs to the cause of Christianity in the Philippines, Malaysia and Oceania.