Philippine History: 500 Years of Christianity And What?

(Pope Francis celebrating the mass for the 

500th year of Christianity in the Philippines 

at St. Peter's Basilica on March 14, 2021)

As my family was attending online the mass Pope Francis was celebrating to commemorate the 500th year anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippine archipelago, a thought came to mind.

On March 16, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan and his men landed in the group of islands that were later named Philippines, after a Spanish monarch. With him was a cross that he brought from Spain. Upon his arrival, he befriended and converted into Christianity one chieftain, his wife and the whole tribe.

And that's probably where Magellan's european arrogance got him into trouble. He thought, with all his shiny, sharp blades and spears, he and his men could overpower any of these local tribes he'd encounter in the islands.

He was wrong. Deadly wrong. A few weeks after he set foot in the islands, Magellan was dead on April 27, 1521, from poisoned spears of the men of the rival chieftain, Lapu-Lapu. Those 'inferior' weapons were probably made from bamboo and local wood. His men scurried away defeated and left without bothering to recover his body, some parts of which must have decorated Lapu-Lapu's front porch.

But Magellan's legacy lives on in the Philippines, having been recognized as the bearer of Christianity, and for the centuries that followed, Catholic friars from Spain came to convert more indios and spread the Catholic faith with some teaching the locals a few agricultural innovations.

That was 500 years ago today, and what have Christianity done for us?

Visits from from three popes, Paul IV, Saint John Paul II, and Pope Francis.

Two saints, San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod.

And based on what's happening around the country, it would probably need more generations to achieve the real way to live a life based on His teachings.

For me, those first 500 years gave me my faith and a character that was molded by lessons of virtues from my Catholic education, which will guide me until the end of my days. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see what the generations would be like at the end of the next 500. 😃

So, if you're a Filipino, what have 500 years of Christianity done for you?😎

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

In 2019, late last year before everything was turned upside down by this pandemic, our local parish church held a procession to celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

The short procession started from a chapel in a barangay hall and meandered through a few streets under the afternoon sun, and finally made its way to the church. Our parish priest held the Holy Sacrament while riding a moving vehicle as residents waited along the road with lighted candles and quiet veneration.

Along with members of parish organizations, parishioners joined the procession and later attended the Holy Mass to celebrate the feast.🕐

This year, in this pandemic, the celebration will be confined within the church to follow the Covid-19 restrictions with limited number of parishioners in attendance. 👪

Although it would have been more meaningful that a recorrida was held where the Holy Sacrament and the parish priest rode open van as it roamed the city where residents along the route might again light candles to honor the Sovereignty of Christ as King of the Universe and to pray for His intercession in these difficult times.🙏  This was done by other parishes to celebrate the feast. 👌

The Feast of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to celebrate the Jubilee Year and the 16th centenary of the Council of Nicaea. It was also to remind the dictators of the world at that time (Mussolini, Stalin and Hitler) that Christ was the only Sovereign King. ♔

Perhaps, this should also remind today's leaders and public servants that truth, honesty, and integrity should govern their lives and work ethics, and not greed and corruption. 🏠 

These photos are from the 2019 'Christ, the King' procession of the Our Lady of Victory Parish in the Diocese of Bacolod, Philippines.🇵🇭

Korea's Myeongdong Cathedral: The Silhouette of a Religion

Right in the middle of the most popular tourist district in Seoul, South Korea, is the center of the Korea Roman Catholic faith: Myeongdong Cathedral. Saint John Paul II and Pope Francis had celebrated Holy Masses here when they visited the country. Although the Cathedral is busiest during Sundays, international tourists also crowd this place during weekdays as it is a tourist attraction as it is a place of worship. Completed in 1898 in Gothic Revival architecture, this place of worship has seen persecution and celebration of the Catholic faith in Korea for more than a century.

While the Myeongdong Cathedral presents a different kind of beauty during daytime, at night, it shares with every visitor a different kind of serene presence. As it sits on a hill, a visitor attending an evening mass must first climb the steps going up as if to ascend closer to the heavens. And while looking up, one is captivated by the Cathedral’s appearance with its steeple pointing to the skies as if showing the faithful the only way to the Father.  

Everyone taking the steps going up is slowly treated to the beauty of the cathedral whose architecture is illuminated by rays of light coming from its base and to the image of the Cathedral standing in the dark like a beacon of faith, unwavering and strong amidst the years of Catholic persecution in the past and the challenges in the Korean Peninsula in the present. Both Catholics and tourists who walk up to the hill always find themselves taking photographs of the Cathedral at night as it looks more imposing after dark than it is during the day.

And as one slowly walks into the Cathedral after opening its creaking wooden doors on the side, one immediately finds the place airy and peaceful, especially after the evening mass when, one by one, parishioners quietly leave. Joining the other few souls who stay behind, you’d only hear occasional footsteps that echo within the walls and in silence, what you’d hear are your supplications for yourself and others as well as your profession of faith and devotion.

I always wish that most churches still open their doors at night even after the last mass as the solitude and silence offered by a church, bereft of the noise of the city and the today’s distractions of daily living, provide one with an atmosphere of intimate communication with God and with one’s self. For in these times of violence, greed and misguided philosophy, divine succor, and guidance from above are what we need the most.

As I left Myeongdong Cathedral, I traced my steps down the hill on my way back to my earthly existence, I turned back for one last look and gazed up to this house of prayer and sanctuary of faith now etched in the dark by shadows and light, transforming it, not just into another admirable piece of grand architecture, but as a silhouette of a religion, knowing that until my next visit, I will again find peace, strength, and divine guidance within its walls.

Santiago de Compostela: Saint James and The Field of Stars

In the autumn of 2015, an hour after I arrived alone by train at the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, I got lost trying to find my way around the old city in search of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. 

Instead of finding the Cathedral, I found myself resting under a shed that sat on a hill overlooking a small park with the buildings of the old city in the horizon. It was late in the afternoon and yet I decided to stay and just quietly sat on the ledge. As the evening came, one by one, the stars over this pilgrim city, named after Saint James, the Great, revealed themselves.

‘Compostela’ came from the Latin words ‘campus stellae’, meaning ‘a field of stars’. And as I sat there gazing up the Galician night sky on a spot I claimed my own, I wondered whether the millions of other pilgrims that came before me during the past millennium had gazed at the same campus stellae and felt the same serenity, peace, and humility for being in the resting place of one of Jesus’ apostles.

St. James, the Great was the brother of St. John, the Evangelist, both sons of Zebedee and Mary Salome. And along with St. Peter and St. John, St. James, the Great (sometimes known as St. James, the Elder) was there during Christ’s agony in the Garden of Getsemane and His Transfiguration, two of the most important moments of His life.

According to traditional belief, St. James, the Great traveled to Romania Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal) to preach the Gospel. There, he encountered difficulty and disheartenment. But on January 2, 40 CE, as he was praying at the banks of the Ebor River in Caesaraugusta (present-day Zaragoza), the Virgin Mary, accompanied by angels, appeared to him on a pillar to console and encourage him, and told him to return to Jerusalem. This apparition of the Virgin was the first known mystical occurrence of bilocation, a phenomenon where a person is in two places at the same time. The Virgin Mary was still on Earth and living in Jerusalem in Judaea when she appeared before St. James in Caesaraugusta. And on that spot where she appeared now stands the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar or the Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Zaragoza, Spain.

After his return to Jerusalem, in 43 CE, St. James was beheaded upon orders of Herod Agrippa, the king of Judaea at that time. According to the Acts of the Apostles, St. James, the Great was the first apostle to be martyred. After his death, his own apostles brought his body on a boat back to the Iberian Peninsula and buried him in a tomb in the area what is now Compostela in Galicia, Spain.

For centuries, his tomb was forgotten and neglected during the persecution of Christians. But in 814 CE, a hermit, who, upon seeing strange lights at night over a forest in Galicia, went to investigate and discovered a tomb. The lights over the forest might have been stars that guided the hermit. This gave the spiritual meaning to the Latin words ‘campus stellae’, which then gave Compostela its name.

A bishop informed King Alfonso II of this miracle. The monarch, who was said to have been the first ever pilgrim to St. James’ tomb, ordered the construction of a chapel over the sacred site, and over the succeeding centuries, construction and destruction of the church happened under different rulers. But in 1075, during the reign of Alfonso VI, the cathedral, which stands until today, started to take shape and the word about this holy site in Compostela spread across Europe. 

In the same year, it became an episcopal see and the church was elevated into a cathedral. In 1100, Pope Urban II made it an archiepiscopal see. And finally, in 1211, the Cathedral was consecrated in the presence of Alfonso IX.

Although the stories and sacred traditions about Santiago de Compostela are renowned and legendary, it is the individual journeys of each pilgrim that makes it special. It's not just a trip to a holy site to venerate the Apostle's resting place but a journey in search of one's faith or one's self. Each of the millions of pilgrims who traveled the network of European roads on foot, on a bike, or on a horse leading to Santiago de Compostela has a special story. Daily arrivals of pilgrims number to about 600 during spring and increase to a thousand during summer months.

A lady from England whom I met in Santiago told me she was not a Catholic but did the pilgrimage, popularly known as The Way of St. James or El Camino de Santiago in Spanish, because she did not know what to do with her life. And during her journey on foot from another Spanish city, she realized her life's meaning and was even tearful when I asked her what she learned about herself. 

Veit, a guy from Dortmund, Germany, biked for 2,000 kilometers and set up camp with Mihai, a guy from Ireland, in a spot next to the shed where I rested. Veit told me that kindness is still humanity's greatest trait as, during his two-month road trip, strangers gave him food, helped him repair a busted tire, and provided him with a place to sleep without asking anything in return. They both invited me to share in their simple dinner as they sat on the grass by their tent. As the people that visited Santiago de Compostela are pilgrims and not tourists, the energy of the place is spiritual. Faith, not sightseeing, brought everyone to this old city. 

On my visit to the Cathedral the day after I got lost, I joined the pilgrims in the traditional embracing of the golden statue of St. James behind the Cathedral's altar while chatting with an elder Spanish lady who told me more about the legend as we queued. 

After that, I went down to his crypt below the Cathedral and knelt before his tomb to say a prayer of thanksgiving, forgiveness, and peace. Learning its history, I realized the monarchs who constructed this place were my namesake. They might have provided the money, materials, and workers to build the cathedral, but it's the love, the faith, and the kindness of the pilgrims that, over the centuries, have provided inspiration and strength to everyone's journey to Santiago de Compostela.💗

(The silhouette of the Cathedral of 

Santiago de Compostela)