The first group of Augustinians, originating from Spain and Mexico under the leadership of the Venerable Fray Andres de Urdaneta, arrived in the Philippines in 1565 as pioneers in the Church’s task of evangelization in this part of the globe. Originally establishing themselves in Cebu, the “City of Sto. Niño,”[1] which is located in the heart of the country, these missionaries soon expanded their apostolic activities to the neighboring towns and islands and, a little later, to almost all the other principal regions of the archipelago.
To further nourish and kindle their missionary zeal and fervor, the Prior General then of the Order, Tadeo da Perusa, decreed on March 7, 1575, the creation of a new Augustinian Province in the Philippines under the title: Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines (Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas).
Words will never suffice to describe the missionary endeavors undertaken, trials and difficulties encountered, joys and glory experienced by those great apostles of the gospel and our revered predecessors. To all these, no better testimony could be found than the almost three hundred towns and churches they founded, the conversions of many, the publications and other cultural enrichments they made from 1565 to 1898.
At the turn of the 20thcentury, however, for several reasons the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines decided to shift its missionary activities to newer territories, like China and South America. As a logical consequence of this move the seat of the Province was transferred from Manila to Madrid. The Augustinian presence then in the country was reduced to the minimum.
To fill this “Augustinian vacuum”, the remaining Augustinians intensified the recruitment and formation of Filipino candidates. And as the number of the latter increased and their preparedness adequately established, the idea of creating a new Province came to be seriously considered.
The coming into existence of such a new Province dawned in 1974 when the Regional Assembly of the Philippine Augustinian Vicariate asked for the creation of a Vice-Province in the country. Though the plan fizzled out, it was again revived by a group of Filipino Augustinians at a meeting in the Basilica of Sto Niño on April 29, 1981. The plan this time was for the creation of the new Province. It was then believed that a new Province would not only inject additional life to the spirit of Filipino Augustinians because of the challenge and the great responsibility which such a move offers, but also a new Province would become a sign of the solid growth of the Augustinian spirit and ideals in the Philippine native soil and in the Filipino heart.
The move to create a new Province, which would be called the Province of Sto. Niño de Cebu – Philippines, was officially endorsed by the Regional Assembly of the Augustinian Vicariate of the Philippines at the closing of its sessions on August 19, 1981, in the Monastery of San Agustin, Intramuros, Manila, and by the Provincial Chapter of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines, held in Valladolid, Spain, on July 17, 1982. Such proposal was overwhelmingly approved by the members of the 174th General Chapter held in Rome on September 13, 1983, and the new Province was canonically erected on December 25, 1983.[2]
On January 15, 1984, the Feast of Sto. Niño de Cebu, the new Province was solemnly inaugurated with a solemn high mass presided by the Very Rev. Fr. Martin Nolan, OSA, Prior General of the Order, in the Basilica del Sto. Niño de Cebu. Others present were: Fr. Julian Centeno, OSA, Asst. General; Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, D.D., Archbishop of Cebu; friars of the old and new Provinces headed by their Prior Provincials, Fr. Pedro Rubio, OSA and Fr. Eusebio Berdon, OSA, respectively; the Asia Pacific Augustinian Conference (APAC) representatives; some Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation, headed by their Superior General, Mo. Leontina Castillo, OSA; other religious from different Religious Institutes; civil authorities; and members of different Augustinian organizations.
As agreed upon in a Memorandum of Agreement, the new Province took possession of the following houses: Basilica del Sto. Niño (Cebu, 1565), University of San Agustin (Iloilo, 1904), Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod (Negros Occidental, 1962), San Jose Parish (Iloilo, 1868), Guadalupe Monastery (Makati, 1601) and the still-being-constructed then, San Agustin Center of Studies (Quezon City, 1984); while Convento de San Agustin (Manila) and Colegio San Agustin (Makati) remained with the Mother Province.
The upsurge of enthusiasm among the members of the new Province very soon led to the establishing in 1985 of additional communities: the Sto. Niño Parish in Mohon, Talisay, Cebu and the Colegio San Agustin and Sto. Niño Parish in Biñan, Laguna. In 1987, the Province accepted the offer of the Bishop of San Pablo diocese to administer the Mother of Good Counsel (formerly St. Jerome Emiliani) Parish in Chrysanthemum Village, San Pedro, Laguna.
The new Province kept on growing. The Augustinian Novitiate and Prayer House Community was established in 1989 in Mohon, Talisay City, Cebu and the Pilgrim Center in 1992 in Cebu City, which houses the Provincialate Community.
Meanwhile, the Province accepted the joint mission which later became a collaboration with the Australian Province in South Korea (1993), a collaboration with the Dutch Province in Indonesia (1998), with the Villanova Province in South Africa (2002) and with the Vicariate of Japan (2003), and extended assistance in terms of personnel to the General Curia. A local mission was also accepted (ad experimentum in 2001 and definitively in 2004) in the island of Socorro, Surigao del Norte. A new quasi-parish of St. Lawrence the Deacon has been entrusted to the care of the Province in 2005 in Gubat, Sorsogon. And to further expand the Province’s presence in Mindanao, the University of San Agustin initiated its extension campus in Mati, Davao Oriental (2007)].
Other events worthy to be noted are: the transfer of the seat of the Province from San Agustin Center of Studies (SACS) in Quezon City to Basilica del Sto. Niño in Cebu City in 1990; the construction in 1990 of the Sto. Niño Pilgrim Center in Cebu City and its approval by the General Curia in February 1992 as a religious residence for the Provincialate Community; the eventual transfer of the seat of the Province from the Basilica del Sto. Niño to the Pilgrim Center in August 1993; and the construction in 1995 of the College Seminary in the SACS compound in Quezon City. The latter, aside from being a residence of our college philosophy students, also houses the St. Thomas Villanova Institute (affiliated to the University of San Agustin), which offers a government-recognized philosophy course.
Additional buildings constructed worthy to be noted are the chapel of the University of San Agustin high school campus in Sambag, Jaro, Iloilo (2000), to mark the celebration of the Jubilee Year, the Sto. Niño Friary in Mohon, Talisay City (2004), the new parish church under the patronage of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Socorro, Surigao del Norte (2004), and the Sto. Niño Spirituality Center in Consolacion, Cebu (2008).
Eventually, new houses were canonically created, namely: Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish Community in Socorro, Surigao del Norte (September 11, 2006), Gubat Augustinian Community in Sorsogon (February 17, 2007), Sto. Niño Spirituality Center in Consolacion, Cebu (February 5, 2010) and San Agustin-Mati Community in Davao Oriental (December 13, 2010), thus making the total number of communities of the Province to fifteen (15).
The province continued expanding its pastoral involvement with the acceptance of the Parish of Sta. Ana in Burgos, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte and the acquisition of the Retreat House in Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental which was renamed into Centro Sant’ Agostino-Benedicto. Likewise, the Archdiocese of Cebu had authorized the presence of the Province in Kinatarcan Island, Sta. Fe, Cebu and for our friars to officiate sacraments at the Immaculate Conception Chapel, which is located in the Province’s property. The latest addition to the Province’s missionary activities is the acceptance of a chapel but now a full-pledged parish of St. Augustine of Hippo in Saguday, Quirino.
[1] In honor of the widely venerated image of the Holy Child Jesus or Sto. Niño, which was discovered by one of Legaspi’s men on the shores of Cebu on April 28, 1565, Philip II of Spain conferred the name Villa del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus on Cebu City in 1571. It is to this sacred image of the Holy Child, which had become the central object of devotion of the first baptized Filipinos, that the Filipino Augustinians entrust the care and protection of their newly created Province. Just as the devotion to the Holy Child was instrumental in the spread of the Cath olic Faith in the islands, so also it is hoped that it will be instrumental in the spread and growth of the Augustinian spirit and ideals among the descendants of those first Filipino Christians.
[2] See copy of the decree of creation in the Appendix.
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