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Philippine Quarterly of Culture & Society
23 (1995):151-195
PART I
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152 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
Filipino nuns praying the rosary at the forefront of the People's Peaceful Revolt
in 1986. (Photo by Mr. Pete Reyes.)
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 153
Two Filipino nuns praying over a slain security guard after a bank robbery in Manila.
(Phil. Daily Inquirer 25 April 1995.)
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154 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
The old edifices of two (Sta. Catalina and R.V.M.) of the three endur?
ing local congregations and three (Sta. Clara, Daughters of Charity and
Assumption) of the four international congregations were totally destroyed
in the Second World War.
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 155
hanging roots, mighty limbs and awesome canopy. Its mystique is magni?
fied when it is located near a cave or a boulder. For the catolonan or the
babaylan, it was the natural cathedral, the center of the universe, the place
of encounter with the gods. Here the priestesses danced themselves gradu?
ally into a frenzied trance. And in this state, the catolonan was called taro
taro, literally meaning "voices," for it was believed that at this point, the
ancestral spirits were speaking inside her. When a catolonan held the gift
of prophecy, she was named masidhi ("the fervent one"). As remuneration
for their services, the ministers received a good part of the offerings of
food, wine, clothing and gold, the quality and quantity of which depended
on the social status of the supplicant. Thus, the priestesses filled a very
prestigious as well as lucrative role in society.3
The women ministers were married and had children. To love their
husbands and children was, for them, not in conflict with their calling.
They usually belonged to priestly families, which formed part of the nobil?
ity. Since they were attached to their families, they did not develop the
concept of hermitism (there is no original word for hermit in the Philippine
languages) or of a spiritual family or religious congregation. Wang Ta
yuan, the author of Tai-i-chin lueh (Brief Description of Island Barbarians;
1350 A.D.) made the following observations on the women of Mait in the
Philippines.4
"The people value fidelity... If the woman is bereft of her husband, she
shaves off her hair and, fasting for seven days, remains in bed with her
dead husband; most of them near the point of death. If she survives the
seven-day ordeal, the relatives advise her to take food and drink. Then she
may live on. In that case too, the widow never again marries in her life.
Some of them even go so far as to throw themselves into the funeral pyre
of their husbands to burn themselves to death."
"In Ma-li-lu (Manila),... the native custom values faithfulness. If a na?
tive chief dies, his widow never remarries a common man, but may choose
as her new husband a descendant of native chiefs of another country whose
family standing is equal to that of the deceased. If such a candidate is not
to be found, she shaves off her hair and devotes her remaining years to
chanting sutras." These observations obviously applied to priestesses as
well.
The younger functionaries trained by apprenticeship to a senior priest?
ess, who was usually a relative or friend whom they succeeded upon her
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156 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
death. The babaylan was laid to rest in a branch of the balete tree where
she had officiated in many a ceremony. It followed that priestly ances?
tresses were worshipped more assiduously than others, and the anitos
which represented them were probably the ones made of wood from hal?
lowed trees or gold or other precious materials. The oldest Marian image
in the Philippines, Nuestra Senora de Guia (Our Lady of Guidance) in Er
mita, Manila, was apparently venerated as the anito of a priestess by an?
cient Manilenos. Upon exploration of the city in 1571, a soldier of the
conquistador, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, chanced upon the black statue en?
shrined on a pandan bush surrounded by ardent devotees near the shores of
Manila Bay. Soon the Spaniards too were astonished by her miracles and
thus they declared her "Protectress of the Galleons" and "Patroness of the
August and Ever Loyal City."5 It is possible that in the beginning the Fili?
pinos thought that the dark images of the Blessed Virgin May were the
anitos of paramount priestesses. This may explain the immense popularity
of the black Virgins of Ermita and Santa Ana, Manila (Our Lady of the
Abandoned), Antipolo and Penafrancia in Bikol.
The earliest eyewitness account of babaylan rituals is that of Pigafetta,
Magellan's scribe, in Ceb? in 1521. The Jesuit chronicler. Padre Francisco
Colin (1663), on the other hand, cited with awe a babaylan of Bohol who,
"with a voice choked with emotion," predicted the captivity of her people
by foreigners sometime before the advent of the white conquistadors. Re?
ports of amazing activities such as these led the missionaries to conclude
that the native ministers were possessed by the devil and hence, they were
promptly condemned and outlawed 6
It is obvious that the western monastic values of solitude, common life
which excluded one's family, male hierarchy, obedience, poverty, and celi?
bacy (except among widows), were almost entirely alien concepts to
priestesses and native women in general, which they had to adapt to with
the coming of Christianity. If ever in the future the Catholic Church would
revise her laws banning the ordination of women (which is not an Article
of Faith), this would certainly not be a novel idea in the collective mem?
ory-trace of the Filipinos.
Just as the priestesses favored the balete tree, the Spanish missionaries
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 157
became fascinated with it. In particular, the Jesuit writer, Padre Pedro
Chirino (1603) perceived one of the deepest Christian symbols in the peri?
odic renewal of its foliage. "A large balete stands in the inner court of our
house in Manila, near the regular entrance. In the year 1602, in the month
of April or May, I saw it all withered, with its leaves falling. Thinking that
it was dying, I was greatly grieved, for I did not wish to lose so fine a tree.
My sorrow was increased when I saw it the next day almost without a leaf.
But on the third day I beheld it covered with new leaves, tender and beau?
tiful, at which I was as rejoiced as I had previously been saddened; for it is
in truth a beautiful tree. In this I saw represented, as in a picture, the truth
of the Resurrection."7
Chirino learned of the Japanese art of bonsai which transformed the
balete into a miniature masterpiece worthy of adorning the altar of God.
Unwittingly, the process symbolized the transformation, whether sponta?
neous or forcible, of the catolonans and the babaylans into "exemplary
Christians." Chirino himself provides an account of the conversion of a
group of catolonans* The "band of worthless women" of San Juan del
Monte de Taytay (now part of Rizal Province) was led by a priestess who
was related to "the most prominent families" of the village. The catolonans
still held sway in the place at the turn of the 16th to the 17th century. In
defiance of the missionaries, the dominant priestess, who possessed a gold
anito, continued to perform healing rituals together with her assistants.
When found out, she refused to give up her idol by concealing it ingenu?
ously in an old bamboo pole in her house. Only after several attempts to
look into every hole and corner of the house did the zealous missionary
succeed in finding the precious anito. Whereupon he divested it of its gold
"for the service of the church" and consigned the rest to the fire!
"The demon was so insulted and hurt at this trick that, not being able to
wreak any other vengeance, he began (accompanied by many others) the
following night to torment the poor catolonan with visions and cruel
threats. Already undeceived as to the weakness of her idol, she sought for
conversion, and, hating the demon, begged for mercy. With the help of a
cross which was given her as a defense, although the terror continued, the
threats were not put in execution; and finally the demon abandoned her as
she had him. On one of the feastdays, all their errors were publicly refuted
in the church, and the priestesses remained convinced, repentant and rec?
onciled - by the authority of the bishop. They all betook themselves to a
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158 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
place where, removed from temptations, they could not relapse into their
evil ways. They were placed in charge of devout and Christian persons, in
whose company they lead Christian and exemplary lives."
A more drastic process of converting or suppressing the catolonans
was employed by the Franciscans in Laguna in 1596.9 "Fray Diego del
Villar, recently arrived in the Philippines, was appointed guardian of San
Francisco de Lumb?n... It happened that while there was an interment of a
native in the church, a quarrel ensued between the members of the family
of the dead and a catolonan or priestess of the devil... who was paid for the
purpose of asking the anito or idol to cure the sick man. But as he died,
they asked her to return the money that was given to her. The father guard?
ian was not able to understand a word of what was going on, so he scolded
the fiscal who in the belief that the guardian understood everything that
was said in the argument, to excuse himself replied: 'Father, that woman is
a wicked catolonan who has been punished by (other friars), and who yet
continues in her practices'. Upon listening to the fiscal, the father guardian
started inquiring if there were more catolonans and found out that there
were many of them in the town. He, thus, made it a point to eradicate these
cursed beings from the people of God... and with firm decision, he initiated
a series of moves, even at the risk of his life, to eliminate the wicked seed.
"He learned and discovered all the women in the town who were dedi?
cated to these idolatrous rites, also many artifacts, anitos and anting
antings, figures and images of these idols, with a hundred and sixty-three
evil names, some of them covered with gold leaves and others with silver,
and some encrusted with rings, stones or sticks, more esteemed and cared
for than their own selves. From these women, he took all the instruments
and artifacts and gathering them in the patio of the church ordered every?
thing burned. On another day, he ordered one of these women to be
whipped and the others to be unmasked, all the while destroying all the
places where they used to hold their idolatries, isolating them in a secluded
place, and that they should be dressed in yellow so that they will be imme?
diately recognized, also exposing to the town their sins, witcheries and
frauds. Some of these catolonans appealed to the governor-general in Ma?
nila and to the bishop with their complaint. The case was endorsed to a
dignitary of the cathedral, who upon listening to the complaint, ordered
that everything should continue as decided by the guardian..
"At this point, Fray Juan de Garrovillas, the provincial, who was on his
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 159
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160 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 161
Babaylanism
ticed in isolated towns in the Visay^as and in Luzon, some of them still un?
der the aegis of women ministers. 4
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162 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
from Calumpit, Bulac?n (the matrix of both Baliuag and Quingu?). More?
over, both Calumpit and Malolos (adjacent to each other) have barrios still
named Balite and another barangay of Calumpit, Gatbuca, is already men?
tioned in the earliest dated document (900 A.D.) in Philippine history - the
inscribed copper plate recently found in Laguna. There is reason to believe
that this region was a prehispanic religious center under the influence of a
group of priestesses from selected clans like the Talangpazes. The matri?
archs of this venerable clan may well have been catolonans who officiated
at spiritual rites held under a sacred banyan or on a hallowed rock - the
meaning of Talangpaz. Indeed, when put together, these pieces of evidence
offer a direct link between the priestesses and the beatas since two blood
sisters surnamed Talangpaz of Calumpit, Bulac?n, founded one of the
three enduring Philippine beaterios in the 18th century: the Beaterio de
San Sebasti?n de Calumpang, now the Congregation of the Augustinian
Recollect Sisters.16
A volcano rich in myths in the Bikol region is Mount ?sog. Curiously,
as noted earlier, there are still several barrios all over the archipelago bear?
ing the name "Bayog." None is called "Babaylan" but a few have names
probably derived from it such as "Babalayan," "Bayl?n," or "Baylanan."
There are also a few "Bali?n." At least two are known as "Anito." Not sur?
prisingly, the most common tree name of a town or barangay in the Philip?
pines is "Balete" and the most common name of an inanimate object,
"Bat?" with its various attributes such as "Poong Bat?" ("Sacred Stone"),
"Malaking Bat?" ("Boulder") and "Puting Bat?"
17 ("White Rock"), the fa
vorite haunts of Bathala and his priestesses.
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN
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164 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
The major religious orders of the Catholic Church had three branches
which were also called "orders." The monks or friars constituted the first
order; the nuns, the second: and affiliated laypersons, the third. The lay
women of the third order were generally known as hermanas (sisters) but
the more deeply involved ones were called beatas ("blessed women") with
the additional appellation, terciarias (tertiaries) or mantelatas ("veiled
women"). The general term for a male member of the third order was her
mano (brother). As a rule, Filipinos were not deemed fit for admission to
the first two orders. They were allowed to join only the third order.18
Members of the first two orders were required to live a common life,
wear their distinctive habit at all times and profess the solemn vows of
poverty, chastity and obedience. The third order consisted of three types of
members which also represented the development of their religious com?
mitment from personal and familial to collective sanctification; or from the
biological family to the spiritual family.19 The higher the rank of the order,
the greater were supposed to be the opportunities for divine blessing. But,
in reality, there was no direct correlation between the level of order one
belonged to and the degree of one's blessedness. This was basically an or?
ganizational classification.
The first type of tertiary was the secular member who still lived with
his or her family. The second type lived by himself or herself like a hermit.
Both types might don the religious habit in public only with the permission
of the order and the local bishop, and were not bound by any vows. The
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 165
third type pertained only to the beatas who lived in a community called
"beaterio," wore her habit at all times or for church services and took sim?
ple vows. (Solemn vows render contrary acts both illicit and invalid
whereas simple vows make contrary acts illicit but not invalid. For exam?
ple, the marriage of a religious with simple vows is illicit but not invalid.)
There is no exact English translation of the word beaterio because this was
not a popular institution in the English-speaking world. In Germany and
the Netherlands, the beatas were called beguines, their community, be
guinage; and their male counterparts, beghards. There was no beaterio for
men in the Hispanic world.20
While the nuns of the second order engaged almost entirely in contem?
plation, the beatas of the third order in the Philippines involved themselves
in both contemplation and action, the latter being typically in the form of
education of girls of all social classes, but especially orphaned and poor
girls. In the 19th century, however, some of the colegio-beaterios, like Sta.
Catalina and Sta. Rosa, became fashionable schools for the native women
elite. Frequently, the beatas also gave refuge to orphans and aged women
and nursed the sick in the hospitals. However, they firmly drew the line
when Church and government officials tried to turn their house into a re?
formatory for "incontinent women" because the latter tended to disrupt the
serenity of the community. The beatas were not always successful in this
regard.21
Not all beatas belonged to a third order. Since the Society of Jesus was
forbidden to establish a second or third order, the beatas they assisted were
housed in a diocesan institution, which was also designated a beaterio. Par?
ishes administered by secular priests, like those by the Jesuits, did not have
a third order. By canon law, a beaterio was not a religious congregation
unlike a monastery or a nunnery. For that matter, a beata was not a monja
or nun.22 As we shall see, however, in spirit and practice, a beaterio was a
true religious congregation. The Philippine institution of the beaterio was
the Filipino adaptation of Western monasticism.
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166 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
This was the imperial realm in which Church and State were united, and
the monarch was the patron of the Church. His Majesty prohibited all the
Philippine beaterios from being religious houses or congregations. This
was the unique predicament of Philippine beaterios from which they suf?
fered much during the colonial period. Neither in Spain nor in Latin Amer?
ica were beaterios treated in this manner. The basic assumption in the
Spanish court was that Filipino women, including criollas (Spanish
women born and raised in the Islands), were neither worthy nor competent
to form religious communities. What the archbishop of Manila, Fray Fe?
lipe Pardo, O.P., as well as all the superiors of religious orders in the capi?
tal, reported to the king in 1680 regarding native priests no doubt also
reflected his thinking about the native beatas. (The prelate was then oppos?
ing the royal decree of 1677 ordering the establishment of a native semi?
nary in the Philippines.) "The archbishop stated the little inclination that
the Indians have for theological and moral studies, and that there was the
additional difficulty of their evil customs, their vices, and their pre-con
ceived ideas - which made it necessary to treat them as children even
when they were fifty or sixty years old. He considered even the sons of
Spaniards, born in the Islands, unsuitable for priests, since they were
reared by Indian or slave women, because of their defective training and
23
education in youth."
Although the religious orders or the prelate founded or recognized the
beaterios in the Philippines, they often disagreed with each other on who
had the right of jurisdiction over these foundations. Thus, the beatas had to
contend with three entities, united nominally yet fiercely independent of
each other and often with conflicting views on the nature of the beaterios:
1) the governor-general as the king's representative, who had the preroga?
tive of whether or not to implement the royal decrees; 2) the ordinary or
bishop of the diocese; and 3) the provincial of the religious order which
supervised the beatas' community. With charismatic zeal and determina?
tion, the beatas struggled as the "little sisters" in a male-dominated world.
In effect, the Philippine beatas were neither nuns nor beatas in the offi?
cial sense nor lay women in their spiritual way of life but somewhere in be?
tween. They presented the paradox of being "semi-nuns" or "semi-beatas"
who were not allowed to be regular nuns or beatas because of their race.
There is no denying the sad fact that they were victims of discrimination
and power play between the local prelate and the religious orders and the
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 167
government officials. But the beatas made the most spiritually of what was
made available to them. Some widowed criollas, recognizing the native
beaterios' unitive life, preferred to join them. Most of the beaterios' prob?
lems with the Church and state authorities arose from the ambiguity of
their official status which they could not help because it was imposed upon
them by the prevailing policies of these same authorities.
Filipinos later began to apply the term "beata" to any woman who lived
a saintly life. In the vernacular languages, the word which evolved for both
nun and beata is "madre" (the counterpart of "pare" or "padre " the word
for priest). Both are addressed as "Sor," or for the senior nun, prioress or
superior, "madre." The term "monja" is still reserved for a nun of a con?
templative order.
Knowing the previous religious role of Filipino women before the
Conquest, the Spanish missionaries apparently reached out to them and
their children comparatively more than to the men, who seemed less in?
clined to religious matters. As early as 1609, the Jesuit writer Padre Chir
ino reports: "(The Filipinos') love for books is so great that, not satisfied
with those printed in their language written by religious men, with the ser?
mons they hear, and with bible histories, lives of saints, prayers and sacred
poetry composed by themselves, there is hardly any - much less a woman
- who does not have one or more books in their language and script writ?
ten by themselves, a thing unknown among neophytes in any other nation
....I can bear witness to this because I was charged with the examination
of books this year, 1609, by the treasurer of the metropolitan see and vicar
general of the archdiocese who ordered these books to be censored in order
? 24
that what was erroneous might be corrected." The native women's spiri?
tual role and energy seemed to have been harnessed and redirected to the
new religion.
The most fervent among the early women converts eventually learned
of the third order and applied for admission to it. In the beginning, most of
them were evidently beatas of the first type, that is, those who lived with
their families. This was a necessary part of the religious transition of the
family-centered culture of the Philippines from the Pre-Christian to the
Christian Age. It is reflected in the catalogue of native women founders of
capellamas or chaplaincies, whether married, widowed or single, from the
17th to the 18th century. (Capel/an/as de misas were pious trust funds es?
tablished for the support of priests.) In 1605 alone, seventeen native
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168 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
women, together with their husbands, and only three widowed or single
women donated cape llamas in the province of Pampanga. Though they
were probably regarded as beatas, it was not clear if they had been for?
mally admitted as members of the third order.25
Some married or widowed beatas entered the realm of religious folk?
lore as well. Capitana Ines of Antipolo, for instance, was the wife or
widow of the mayor (addressed as "capitan") of the hilly town, which is
the pilgrimage center to Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage since 1632.
Brimming with compassion, the "holy and renowned" capitana assisted
the sick and the poor during her lifetime. Thus, to her sickbed, the Black
Virgin of Antipolo, disguised as a beggar, came to nurse and comfort her.
A picture of this event used to hang in the Jesuit convent of the parish be?
fore its utter destruction in the last war. In his novel, Noli Me l?ngere
(1887), Rizal describes a carving of the same scene by the famous sculptor
Arevalo in the house of Capitan Tiago in Binondo, Manila 26
As the 17th century progressed, more and more Filipino beatas began
to live like ermitanas (hermits). They broke their seclusion at intervals to
assist the missionaries in their evangelical endeavor as well as to engage in
corporal works of mercy. The friars were so proud and appreciative of
these beatas terciarias that they included their spiritual biographies in their
chronicles. They were the fist group of Filipinos to be eulogized with pub?
lished biographies.
A typical appraisal of the early Filipino beatas was offered by the Rec?
ollect historian, Fray Luis de Jesus, O.A.R., in 1681: (Our missionaries)
had the special glory of numbering among those whom they directed some
privileged women endowed with the gifts of heaven and raised by the
Spirit of God to a height of Christian perfection which confounds our luke
warmness in His service."27
Religious Metamorphosis
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 169
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170 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
dalena, the name of the repentant saint, was a frequently recurring name
among Filipino beatas. One of the beaterios founded by a Filipina in the
19th century was called "La Magdalena."
Aberrations
To be sure, the transition process from priestess to beata was not com?
pletely smooth. But the scandals were the exceptions rather than the rule.
As early as 1601, "certain beatas" (it was not specified if they were Span?
ish or Filipinas) were denounced by the Holy Office of the Inquisition in
Manila together with Fray Andres de Cordoba and Fray Francisco de Santa
Maria. It was alleged that the two friars solicited sexual favors from them
in the confessional, to which they gave in. A similar case occurred in 1665
involving a Tagalog beata, Luisa de los Reyes, who lived across the street
from the Jesuit College in Intramuros. The Inquisition accused her and two
Jesuits, Padres Francisco Manuel Fernandez and Javier Riquelme of Illu
minism. Padre Fernandez claimed that the native beata had died several
times but God had revived her each time so that she would continue to suf?
fer for the souls in Purgatory. The priest likened Luisa's holiness to that of
St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena and St. Agnes. He denied any
sexual feelings when he kissed, embraced and made passes at her. Padre
Riquelme corroborated his brethren's testimony adding that God resusci?
tated Luisa "so that the said Padre Fernandez would enjoy her spirit." Al?
though the beata appeared more to be the victim than the culprit, she was
the one prosecuted by the Holy Office whereas the Jesuits' cases were sus?
pended "owing to their activity in the islands."31
Even when the Manila beaterios had been well established by the mid?
dle of the 18th century, some native beatas continued to serve in isolated
mission parishes. One such was the Dominican tertiary Rosa de Santa
Maria (1744-92) of Bambang, Ituy (now Nueva Vizcaya). The daughter of
Datu Sumirang and his Christian wife, Ana Ingangaron, Rosa was baptized
when the first mass was celebrated in her village in 1747. Marrying at 17,
she became the teacher for girls in the mission because of her great apti?
tude for learning and teaching. Devoted to a vain lifestyle, she suddenly
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 171
went through a spiritual change at the age of 29. Henceforth, she led a very
saintly life and the Dominicans rewarded her with the tertiary habit in
1790. During a famine in her region two years later, she offered her life to
God so that He might spare her people. She was eulogized in the Acts of
the provincial chapter of the Order of Preachers in 1794.32
In the 19th century, there was a decline in the status of "hermanas" of
the Venerable Orden Tercera (V.O.T.) of the different religious orders. Ri
zal presents their caricature in his novel Noli Me l?ngere (1887) as gossip?
ing and superstitious women, whose religious devotion was mechanical
and competitive. The people called them "Manangff (a contraction of Her
mana) rather than "beata," which term, as already noted, was reserved for
the more authentic or saintly type.33
After the establishment of the five great religious orders for men in the
Philippines: the Augustinians (1565), the Franciscans (1578), the Domini?
cans (1582) and the Recollects (1606) as well as the Society of Jesus
(1581), it was a matter of course for the Spanish government to organize
the first monastery for women in the capital. But before this could be real?
ized, pending royal and ecclesiastical red tape, the first religious commu?
nity for women in the Philippines came not from Spain or Mexico, which
administered the colony, but from nearby Japan.
The first beaterio in Asia, which was also the very first Catholic relig?
ious house set up by Asians, had been founded in Kyoto, the ancient capi?
tal of Japan, in 1602 by Sor Julia Nayto (1560-1627). Daughter of the
daimyo of Yagi, she was a widow and former Buddhist nun. Assisting her
in the foundation was the Italian Jesuit missionary, Father Organtino
Soldi-Gnecchi (1530-1609). As a result of the brutal persecution in 1614
during the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu, more than 300 Japanese Christians
were banished to Manila led by Don Justo Takayama Ukon (1552-1615),
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172 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
daimyo of Akashi, and Dr. Joan Nay to (Nay to Yukiyasu Tokuan) (1551
1626), former daimyo of Kameyama and brother of Sor Julia. It was Dr.
Nayto who had brought Sor Julia into the Catholic faith, which culminated
in her baptism in Kyoto in 1587.34
Sharing the sufferings of the exiled group were fifteen noble beatas of
Miyako (Kyoto), headed by the prioress, Sor Julia. Eight other members of
the beaterio are known by name: Sor Maria, Princess of Iga (1583-1635),
the co-foundress; Sor Madalena Nakajima (died 1620), first cousin of the
Naytos; Sor Mencia Otomo (1564-1641), daughter of the daimyo of
Bungo; Sor Maria Muni (d. 1640); Sor Maria Tsutsui, daughter of the
daimyo of Ueno; Sor Maria Park (1572-1636), the first Korean beata; Sor
Lucia de la Cruz (1580-1656); and Sor Tecla Ignazia (d. 1656), daughter
of Sor Maria Muni.35
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 173
Filipinos and Spaniards, his funeral rites were held with solemnity and
pomp. The beatas of Miyako kept vigil over his mortal remains in the
church of San Miguel and the following day, in the church of Santa Ana of
the Jesuits in Intramuros, where he was laid to rest near the high altar. A
public inquiry for the beatification of Takayama, the first in the Philip?
pines, followed in 1630, in which the surviving beatas came forward as
witnesses. No series of events since the Conquest stirred the mind and soul
of the ancient city more profoundly.37
Nayto's Lineage
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174 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
third and last prioress of the house. Famed for their saintly lives, which
their Jesuit confessors compelled them to put into writing, the last two
beatas shared the same sepulcher in the church of the Jesuit College of San
Ignazio in the walled city.40
The beatas' collective epitaph may be taken from Ephesians 2:19: "So
you are no longer strangers or foreign visitors: you are citizens with all the
saints, and part of God's household."
Sor Julia, the other beatas and the Nayto family were buried at the old
San Miguel Church. On the feast of St. Andrew, patron and titular of Ma?
nila, 30 November 1645, a monstrous earthquake toppled the Jesuit temple
and convent to the ground. The destruction was witnessed by the last two
Japanese beatas, Sor Luzia and Sor Tecla. The sacred structures were later
rebuilt by the Society of Jesus.41
In 1779, the San Miguel church was demolished again after "profana?
tion proceedings according to the rites of our Holy Mother Church." Over
the objections of the pastor, principal.es and ordinary citizens of San
Miguel, the archbishop of Manila had ordered the parish in 1777 to merge
with that of nearby San Fernando de Dilao (now Paco), which was the
older Japanese settlement. The parish priest of Dilao was instructed to "ex?
hume and transfer" the tombs in the church and cemetery of San Miguel to
those of Dilao. A long list of the treasured images, ornaments and other
properties of the parish was also turned over to that of Dilao. The church
of Paco had been severely damaged by the earthquakes of 1863 and 1880
and totally destroyed both during the Philippine-American War and World
War II. The ashes of the Japanese beatas and the Naytos now form part of
the foundation of the modern church of Paco reconstructed after the last
war. The old site of the San Miguel church, where the beatas used to wor?
ship, is renamed Isla de Provisor and now hosts a power plant of the
energy-strapped city of Manila 42
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 175
Early Ventures
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178 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
Cruz near the town of Cubas (4) Sor Maria Madalena de la Cruz (1575
1653), vicaress; and (5) Sor Madalena de Christo; from the Monastery of
La Columna in Sevilla, (6) Sor Luysa de Jesus, novice and (7) Sor Maria
de la Trinidad (who unfortunately died at sea). In Sevilla, the Franciscan
provincial commanded Mother Jer?nima to pose for a full-sized portrait by
a budding artist named Diego Velasquez (1599-1660), who later turned out
to be one of the greatest Spanish masters. Velasquez painted not one but
two pictures of hers, which now hang at the Prado Museum in Madrid. In
Mexico City, they were joined by two more nuns from the Monastery of
the Visitation: (8) Sor Leonor de Sanct Buenaventura and (9) Sor Maria de
los Angeles.45
After more than a year and three months of voyage on a galleon, the
religious pioneers arrived in Manila on 5 August 1621. Dona Ana de Vera,
the childless widow of the Master of Camp Don Pedro Chaves had deeded
to them her two houses in the walled city, which became the site of the
Royal Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of the Barefoot Nuns of
Saint Clare. It was called Monastery of Santa Clara for short. True to their
vow of poverty, the nuns returned the additional donation of Dona Ana in
the form of a ranch in Sampaloc with cows and horses and land for cultiva?
tion. They also turned down another house offered by Dona Maria de Jesus
as well as other donations of money and material things they did not
need.46
Within two months after its inauguration, the monastery attracted 20
Spanish maidens, and they vanished from view of the outside world. The
deprived bachelors of Manila lodged a formal complaint against the insti?
tution with Church and state authorities. The latter tried to restrict the num?
ber of applicants but Mother Jer?nima protested the move. She appealed
directly to the king, who ruled in her favor. On the other hand, in view of
the deteriorating health of some of the nuns, the Franciscan provincial tried
to pressure her to mitigate and adapt the monastic rules to the tropics. But
this too she resisted and she was eventually upheld by the general of the
Order in Rome. Notwithstanding her personal victory, she did not hesitate
to modify the strict statutes when she realized the havoc they wreaked on
the members of the congregation 47
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 179
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180 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
and the local beatas, in particular. The former was contemplative and iso?
lated from the community whereas the latter combined contemplation and
interaction with the outside world. The former seemed impossible for them
to attain whereas the latter was more accessible to them, especially to Fili?
pino beatas who had been enrolled in the third order. As noted earlier, until
now, in Filipino, the particular word for a contemplative nun is "monja"
(Spanish for nun) whereas the world for a "regular" nun is "madre."
At some point in their simultaneous existence in the city of Manila and
its environs, the beatas of Miyako almost certainly met with the contem?
plative nuns of Santa Clara, who arrived in the seventh year of their exile.
This apparently reinforced their decision not to accept any new members
so as to give way to the new foundation in their host country. Furthermore,
the monastery was definitely not adverse to admitting Japanese applicants
in contrast to native beatas. As cited earlier, Sor Luzia de San Juan, niece
of the foundress of the beaterio and daughter of Dr. Nayto, was invested
with the habit of Poor Clares by Mother Jer?nima herself just before the
close of 1628. But she died seven months later the following year 49
The foundress of Santa Clara followed to the next life at the age of 75
on 22 October 1630. Her spiritual daughters petitioned the archbishop at
once to initiate the inquiry for her beatification, which was approved in the
beginning of the following year. The same process had just been started
for Justo Takayama in 1630. For three years (1631-33), the ecclesiastical
tribunal was also busy gathering materials about Mother Jer?nima's heroic
life and labors through intensive interviews of witnesses. Reflecting her
vast spiritual influence, a procession of witnesses of various racial back?
grounds (Spaniards, Indios, Chinese and mestizos) from all walks of life
participated
i r :>0 from as far as the provinces of Pampanga, Bata?n and Bu
lacan.
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 181
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182 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 183
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184 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
were made to degort the accused to Mexico but by 1668, the case had not
been terminated.
The monastery became the wealthiest religious house for women in the
Philippines during the Spanish Regime. They were conferred the en
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 185
On 6 May 1691, a royal decree was issued in Madrid ordering the pro?
motion of "Indios mestizos" to the priesthood and admission of mestizas
into the monasteries for nuns. This was provided for in the Recopilaci?n
de los Leyes de las Indias in the seventh law, title seven, book one. In
compliance with the decree, the Monastery of Santa Clara apparently
opened its doors to the first Spanish mestiza nuns. Two of them were
blood sisters, named Sor Maria de Santa Thereza and Sor Nicolasa de San
Augustin. They were the sisters of Bachiller Don Juan Chris?stomo, one of
the first Filipino secular priests, who was ordained in 1705.62
"Purity of Blood"
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186 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
EPILOGUE
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 187
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research for this article was made possible through part of grant
no. 88-1-037 of the Toyota Foundation International Division, Tokyo, Ja?
pan, for which the author is very thankful.
I would also like to express my deep gratitude to the following Filipino
nuns who provided me with primary sources regarding their respective
congregations: Sor Rosa de San Antonio, OSC, Abbess (Monasterio de
Sta. Clara); Sor Ma. Luisa Henson and Sor Ma. Caridad Brana, OP (Do?
minican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena); the late Sor Ma. Pureza
Jimenez, RVM (Religious of the Virgin Mary); Sor Eufemia Lauzon, Sor
Josefa Borces, and Sor Brigida, ARS (Augustinian Recollect Sisters); Sor
Teodomira Elorde, DC (Daughters of Charity); Sor Jesus Sobrevinas, Sor
Joaquina de la Sgda. Familia and Sor Genoveva de la Virgen, OSA
(Augustinian Sisters of O.L. of Consolation); and Mothers Maria Angela
Ansaldo and Margarita Amistoso, RA (Religious of the Assumption).
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188 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 189
1892 Cong, of the Rel. of the M. Maria del Perpetuo Socorro Adcs
Assumption (fd. 1839)
ABBREVIATIONS USED
Adcs - Archdiocese
Aug. - Augustinian
CM - Congregation of the Mission
Cong. - Congregation
DC - Daughters of Charity
Des - Diocese
disappr. - disapproved
Dom. - Dominican
exting. - extinguished
fd. - founded
Fr. - Father
inaug. - inaugurated
M. - Mother
OAR - Order of Augustinian Recollects
OFM - Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans)
O.L. -Our Lady
OP - Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
OSA - Order of St. Augustine
Ree. - Recolect
Rel. - Religious
Sis. - Sisters
SJ - Society of Jesus
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190 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
ENDNOTES
James Frazer. The Golden Bough. A Study in Magic & Religion. (London: MacMil
lan, 1955) 12 vols. 1:379; 3:53; 6:256; 9:260; 10:5.
4Ibid.; QTen Ching-Ho. The Chinese Community in the 16th Century Phils. (Tokyo:
Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, 1968). pp. 7-10.
7BR. 12:214-215.
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 191
16Ibid.; BR. 42: 93; Censo de las Isias Filipinos, 1903. (Wash., DC: Oficina del
Censo, 1905) 4 Tomos. 2: 157-158; The National Library (TNL). "Province of Bulac?n.
Barrio of Talampas." Historical Data Papers (HDP). MSS 1954. 20: 32-38; Archives of
the Archdiocese of Manila (AAM). "Ano de 1758. Fundacion de la Capellania de los Prin?
cipals del Barrio Talampas del Pueblo de Baliuag." Capellanias de Misas (CM) 1833-44
B; Antoon Postma. "The Laguna Copper Plate Inscription." National Museum Papers. 2
(1991): 1-25; Panganiban. Diksyimario. p. 216; Comelec. "Resolution no. 2758." (The old
barrio Catolonaa as recorded by the Spaniards, is now called Catulinan.)
17Ibid.; BR 35: 59 & 99; 40: 117, 313 & 314; Realubit. Bikols. pp. 125 & 150.
18S. Hartdegen. "Third Orders." New Catholic Encyclopedia (NCE). (Wash., DC:
Catholic Univ. of America, 1967) 14: 93-96; G.J. Reinmann. "Canon Law of Third Orders
Secular." NCE 14: 96-97; Ma. Rita Ferraris, RVM. The Beaterios for native Women in
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192 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
Colonial Philippines. (Manila: RVM, 1987) pp. 61-128; Nick Joaquin. "The Beatas of
17th Century Manila." Phil. Free Press (9 Dec. 1967) pp. 6-7, 127-132 & 185-191; John
Schumacher, SJ. "Early Filipino Jesuits: 1593-1930." Phil. Studies 29 (1981): 271-308.
28
Francisco Gainza. OP. Milicia de Jesucristo, Manual de los Hermanosy Hermanas
de la Tercera Orden de la Penitencia de Sto. Domingo. (Manila: UST, 1859) pp. 275-280;
de Jesus. Historia General. 2: 296-297 & 371-372, 4: 35 & 404, trans, in BR 35: 88, 36:
109-112, 41: 99 & 195-196; Schreurs. Caraga. pp. 183-187, 188, 190 & 191.
29Ibid. pp. 111, 112, 115, & 182; Pedro Murillo Velarde. Historia de la Provincia de
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 193
Philipinas de la Compania de Jesus. (Manila, 1749) trans, in BR 44: 104; "Early Francis?
can Missions, (1649)." in BR 35: 298-299; Domingo Martinez, OFM. Compendio
Hist?rico de la Apost?lica Provincia de San Gregorio de Phil. (Madrid, 1756) p. 319.
3 Barlos Quirino & Abraham Lay go. Regesto Gui?n Cat?logo de los Documentos
Existentes en Mexico Sobre Filipinos. (Manila: Comite de Amistad Filipino-Mexicana,
1965) p. 109; Jose Toribio Medina. El Tribunal delSto. Oficio de la Inquisici?n en las Is?
ias Filipinos. (Santiago de Chile: Medina, 1899) pp. 59-60; Henry Charles Lea. The Inqui?
sition in the Spanish Dependencies. (New York: MacMillan, 1908) pp. 304-305.
34Colin. Labor Evangelica. (Madrid, 1663). pp. 750-795; M. Steichen. Les Daimyo
Chretiennes (1549-1650). (Hong Kong: Soc. de Missions Etrangeres, 1904) pp. 250, 292,
353, 357, 359 & 438; Manila-Yagi Society. "Joan Nayto Tadatoshi & Julia Naito." MSS.
1987 (Phil. National Library Pennanent Exhibit).
35Ibid.
36Ibid.
37
Johannes Laures, SJ. Studies on Takayama Ukon. (Hong Kong: Institute Portugues,
1953) pp. 23, 24 & 54-56; Ernie de Pedro. "Lord Takayama, The Christian Daimyo." ?ni
tas. 63 (1990): 490-495.
38
Colin. Labor Evangelica. pp. 750-753; Steichen. Daimyo. p. 359; Laures. Studies.
pp. 72-79; Archives of the Archdiocese of Manila (AAM). Libro de Gobiemo Eccle
sidstico (LGE) (1656-74). Docs. 215, 759 & 864; LGE (1697-1706) f. 136; UST Alumni
Association. UST Graduate Listing (1611-1971). (Manila: UST, 1972) p. 1-A; BR 39:
292; AAM. Cartas escriptas al Dr. Dn. Francisco de la Cuesta, Abpo. de Manila (2 Feb.
1711); Luciano P.R. Santiago. "Paring Dilao: The Last Two Japanese Mestizo Priests in
the Archdiocese of Manila." Phil. Sacra. 24 (1989): 295-301; AGI. "Plan y elevaci?n de
la Casa 6 Monasterio con su Iglesia con el titulo de Sta. Rosa de Lima (1787)." Fi I. 1048.
39
Martinez. Compendio Hist?rico. pp. 198-200.
41 Ibid.; Rene Javellana, SJ. Wood and Stone for God's Greater Glory. (Quezon City:
Ateneo, 1991) p. 198.
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194 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
44Pedro Ruano, OFM. Jer?niina de la Asuncion. (Quezon City: Mon. de Sta. Clara,
1991) pp. 26-30.
47Ibid.; Luciano P.R. Santiago. "Dona Jer?niina: A Cave in Search of a Saint." Filipi?
nos Journal. 4 (1982): 109-111.
48
Ibid.; Juan de la Conception, OAR. Historia General de Filipinos. (Manila, 1788)
5: 5-7; Perez. Compendio. p. 19; Fernandez. History, p. 72.
4Q
Martinez. Compendio. pp. 198-200.
51Luciano P.R. Santiago. "Sor Marta de San Bernardo: The first Filipino Nun."
tas. 64(1991): 568-574.
^2
" Ibid.; Martinez. Compendio. pp. 222-224; Eusebio G?mez Platero, OFM. Catdlogo
Biogr?fico de los Religiosos Franciscanos. (Manila: UST, 1880) p. 202; "Early Francis
canMissions (1649)." BR 35: 298-299.
53lbid.
54Ibid.; Manuel Texeira, SJ. "Os Franciscanos em Macau." Espana en Extremo Ori?
ente 1578-1978. (Madrid: Archivo Ibero-Americano, 1979) pp. 377-405.
55Ibid.
56Martinez. Compendio. pp. 224-228 & 319; Gomez Platero. Catdlogo. pp. 236-237;
Jose V. Torres. "The Filipinization of the Order of Poor Clares." POCS 21 (1993) 17-24.
57Ibid.
" Francisco Combes, SJ. Historia de las Isias de Mindanao, Jol? y sus adyacentes.
(Madrid, 1665) ed. W.E. Retana & P. Pastells. (Madrid, 1897) pp. 36-37.
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RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 195
59
AGI. "Ano de 1699. Autos de Testamentaria seguidos por la Mesa y diputados de la
Sta. Misericordia de Manila sobre los bienes q. dej? Don Bartolome Thenorio." MSS. 2
Tomos. 1: 14-17v ("Ano de 1652. Testamento y codicilio de la Madre Maria de San
Anttonio.") Fil. 72; W.H. Scott. Slavery in the Spanish Philippines. (Manila: De La Salle,
1991).
60AGI. Fil. 9, doc. 75; Archivo Gral, de la Naci?n (Mexico). Ramo de la Inquisition,
tomo 614, doc. 1 cited in Zaide. Pageant. 1: 481; Quirino & Laygo. Regesto Guion. p.
152.
64Henry T. Ellis, RN. Hong Kong to Manila and the Lakes of Luzon, the Phil. Isles in
the year 1856. (London: Smith. Elder, 1859) pp. 247-263.
65Nick Joaquin. Mary in the Phil. (Manila: L.M. Santos. 1982) p. 40; Rizal. The So?
cial Cancer, pp. 47-49. Rizal's heroine in this novel is christened Maria Clara because her
mother, after having been childless for six years, conceived after dancing in Obando. At
the age of 13, Maria Clara enters the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina as an interna (live-in stu?
dent) for the next seven years. Being a Spanish mestiza (her father turns out to be a Fran?
ciscan friar), she is later admitted as a nun to the Monasterio de Sta. Clara. Although
fictional, she is the most famous Clare in Philippine history.
66Monasterio de Sta. Clara. Libro de Profesiones. (Sigh XX) no. 5; "A Brief History
of the Monasterio de Sta. Clara." MS (Quezon City, ca. 1975); Libro de Difuntas (1945
presente) pp. 56-57. (All courtesy of the Mother Abbess, Sor Rosa de San Antonio, OSC.)
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