MANILA, Philippines - In 1565, more than three decades after Ferdinand Magellan met his death in Mactan, the conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in Cebu with five Augustinian priests: Fray Andres de Urdaneta, his navigator Martin de Rada, Diego de Herrera, Andres de Aguirre, and Pedro de Gamboa, a lay brother. If these names sound familiar it is because you have seen them in Makati City - Urdaneta Village and streets like Rada, Gamboa in Legazpi Village. Urdaneta and Aguirre were sent back to Spain via Mexico with a letter from Legazpi that they were supposed to personally hand to the King of Spain.
Martin de Rada stayed in Cebu, continued with the mass baptisms begun by Magellan and was regaled at how the natives looked like ''very eager monkeys,'' monos deseosisimos, in Spanish. Diego de Herrera was elected by his companions head of the Provincia del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus. Soon after, he left for Mexico in search for recruits, found only two missionaries and returned to Cebu with them in 1570.
As you know, Legazpi went to Manila in June, 1571, and after six months, six more Augustinians arrived.
The Franciscans arrived in Manila in 1578, the second missionary group to find their way to this archipelago. They were a mendicant order, known for their strict spiritual exercises, love for learning, and solitude. However, challenges of the new exotic environment drew them out of their Spartan cells. The Franciscans were the first to study Tagalog grammar and vocabulary and to translate the catechism into the vernacular. After this pioneering and invaluable work was approved by the Manila Synod of 1582, it was used by all religious orders in the evangelization of the natives.
The first group of Franciscans was composed of Pedro de Alfaro, Juan de Plasencia, Juan de Ayora, Agustin de Tordesillas, Diego de Oropesa, Esteban Ortiz, Bartolome Ruiz, Pablo de Jesus, Juan de Porras, Francisco de Santa Maria, Sebastian de Baeza, Juan Bautista Pizzaro, Pedro de Munique, Alonso de Jesus, and a lay brother, Juan Clemente. Many of the streets in Salcedo Village are named (or were named) after these early missionaries. I thought the U-shaped street where I live was named after the papal treaty that divided the world between Spain and Portugal. I was wrong. (same source, Fr. R. de la Rosa's book). gemma601@yahoo.com
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