Introduction of Catholicism to the Philippines

After the “discovery” of the Philippines by Magellan in 1521, Spain officially set out to colonise the Archipelago in 1565. It did so by focusing on converting the population to Christianity. Today, the Philippines is around 78% Catholic, with many religious festivals, such as the Feast of the Jesus Nazareno, being central to public life.

 

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Filipino belief system largely consisted of a pantheon of gods, spirits, and other creatures. Some parts of the population were also Buddhist and practicing Islamists. The latter was especially prominent in the Southern Islands. Neither Spain nor American efforts were able to completely remove Islam from these islands, with the Moro National Liberation Front resisting even the Government of Ferdinand Marcos in 1972 and only subsiding activities after the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 1996.

While not fully removed, Islam was largely contained, and with the arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in 1565, Spain started the conversion of the local population to Christianity. Having learned from its exploits in Latin America, it did so largely peacefully. Inspired by Bartolome de las Casas, it had changed its attitude towards native populations.

As such, the religious system that the conquistadors and priests imported was not one of total religious dominance. Instead, they built a Church on the foundation of native religions that existed. They did not destroy the existing religions but rather brought in a more powerful God. 

The friars of the Catholic Church proceeded to divvy up the island by its orders of Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, and other Jesuits. Each deployed different strategies however, together, they proved to be hugely successful in their conversions as large swaths of Filipinos adopted Catholicism relatively quickly. 

Some of these strategies they employed were:

1. Mass Baptism - with initialising large numbers of Filipinos at once they helped foster communal feelings and integration.
2. Reduccion policies - in areas with scattered settlements, the Spanish resettled the Filipinos into larger towns both for conversion practices and as protection from slavers. 
3. Learning local customs and languages - Spanish friars had to learn local languages and customs as such many of the masses were held in native languages rather than Latin which further helped their relations with the Filipino community.
4. Adaptation of Christianity to the local religious context - proven very successful in other colonies, this adaptation helped to keep the relations peaceful and made integration into Catholicism very simple. 

These successful practices resulted in the conversion of the majority of Filipinos to Christianity. The legacy of the Spanish conquest and colonial rule of the Philippines is one still felt today. Christianity plays a huge role in everyday life, with a plethora of religious icons, festivals, and even laws. Native scripts and religious practices were largely removed, yet some were successfully blended with European Catholic practices. While there have been many efforts to nationalize the Roman Catholic Church to be more Filipino as well as Protestant missionizing successes, the Philippines today largely remain Catholic.