The Battle of Manila, 1945. II World War.

Seventy years ago, in February of 1945, the 337-year old history of Saint Nicholas Intramuros in Manila was crushed under the weight of bombs. It was the mother house of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, the missionary province of the Order of Augustinian Recollects.

Neither earthquakes nor typhoons nor revolutions succeeded in destroying San Nicolas convent in Intramuros. What dealt it the final, unexpected and perhaps avoidable blow, was precisely the act of liberating Manila from the Japanese occupation on the part of the Allied troops of the Far East.

The Japanese finished off with human community, the Americans with its physical constructs.

6.1. The war, at its most horrorible

We have just mentioned memorable and supremely festive events, such as the Eucharistic Congress or the episcopal ordination of Monsignor Ochoa. An atmosphere of happiness reigned in Manila then.

In 1937, the mission of Kweiteh and all religious in China were living in agonizing days on account of the Chinese-Japanese war. To make matters worse, in 1941 the Pacific War broke out, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese air force. And on 2 January 1942, the troops of the Empire of the Rising Sun entered Manila with the same attitudes of domination, wanton violence and unfettered oppression that characterized all their occupations.

Those were three dark years of detentions and inspections until the Americans were able to reorganize and retake the Philippines one island after another, eventually stationing themselves at the gates of Manila early in 1945. The date marking the turning point was 3 February.

On that day, the US forces liberated the University of Santo Tomas, took position at the north side of the Pasig river, and started bombing Intramuros, at the other side of the river.

At the American side, the Augustinian Recollects had the house of San Sebastian, with its singular Gothic church built entirely of iron. The prior provincial and majority of the San Nicolas community hied there for shelter. Several were about to arrive, some even had their luggage ready … but they failed to arrive on time.

Faced with the American bombing, the Japanese reacted by concentrating the inhabitants of Intramuros in a few points they could control and they spent the whole of 7 February setting everything on fire. American bombing and air raids went on unabated but the imperial forces would not surrender. Their anger and desperation led them to take it against the hostages. The number of victims of the Japanese in Intramuros is estimated at 10,000 persons, killed in any imaginable way: bayoneted, burnt, crushed…

With the Spaniards they had formed a separate group of 125 persons. Among them were 52 religious, six of whom were Augustinian Recollects. They conducted them to several air raid shelters and packed them in. Later, howling with laughter, they lobbed grenades through the windows, which they had plugged to prevent any escape. And, indeed, very few lived to tell the tell, none of them Recollect.

The city was devastated. Amidst thousands of American bombs and Japanese fires, the shells of its buildings were hardly left standing. The panoramic pictures showing it would horrify anybody. This was true for our landmark convent and church of San Nicolas de Tolentine. There is no need for words.

6.2. The martyrs of Intramuros

The six Augustinian Recollects massacred by the Japanese troops have become the “martyrs of Intramuros”; they can also personify all the rest who lived through the calamity of that war, and any other war for that matter. They are the following:

Fray Mariano Alegria. Prior of the community since May of 1941. He was one of the pillars of the China mission, forming part of the pioneering group in 1924. A very active person, he was at the same time a lover of the community and of the friars individually. He deemed it his duty as prior to remain in the convent as long as possible.

Fray Hernan Biurrun. He was elected three times as administrator of the goods of the Province. From 1934, he resided at San Nicolas. He was a good preacher and an excellent musician and singer.

Fray Pedro Crespo. He resided in Intramuros in his last years, recovering from malaria that had wasted his health. He made himself useful any way he could.

Fray Ildefonso Vesga. Although not enjoying good health, he functioned as sacristan. Thanks to him, many ornaments and sacred vessels were saved, which he hid in the pantheon.

Fray Juan Machicote. This non-clerical brother who had been a model sacristan had undergone a complicated surgery that left him very sickly. He volunteered to accompany Fr. Alegria in keeping house.

Fray Angel Peña. He had also been a missionary in China. Lately, this lay brother had been in charge of the kitchen in Intramuros.

6.3. And the victors raze it all

However, reconstruction of San Nicolas convent would have been possible, if expensive. Except that the demolition squads of the American army completed the destruction by razing it all to the ground.

Witnesses who were able to get there in April of the fateful 1945 saw intact the walls of the convent, the columns of the cloister, and the structure of the infirmary. But the American army promptly arrived with its heavy equipment and leveled everything.

Well, not everything, for the tower of San Nicolas, as well as its facade and its walls still remained standing for several years. The little that was salvageable was reused, as was the case with several bells, which were distributed to churches in the provinces.

The biggest bell remained, that of the center of the tower. It was known as The Bomb. American cooperation was sought to bring it down, but no solution could be found. Not long after, utilizing bamboo scaffolding, a group of thieves carted it away.

For almost 15 years, the church and convent of San Nicolas remained thus, mute sentinels of a desert of ruins, vegetation and huts. The tower of Intramuros, svelte and stripped, was exposed to the lustful eyes of ransackers and speculators.

On 19 October 1954, the venerated remains that had been kept in the pantheon of the old Mother House were transferred to the church of San Sebastian. It would seem to be the final farewell, although it did not turn out that way: four years later, the Provincial Chapter still decided to make of San Nicolas a residence for religious.

6.4. The legacy of Intramuros: higher education of the Filipino people

True, there remained some money from the compensation for damages by the Japanese and American governments. Plus the amount that was raised from sale of the lot to Manila Bulletin, a newspaper of national coverage, which established there its central office and where it continues to this day.

After the disasters of the World War, the Philippines woke to a new epoch; so did the Augustinian Recollects, who now resolutely decided to engage in the educational apostolate. The funds raised from the sale of Intramuros were used for the purchase of the University Negros Occidental – Recoletos, in the year 1962 [photo]. To a degree, UNO-R of Bacolod is the heritage Intramuros to the Order.

Apart from this, there remains only the sad testimony of three slabs. One marks an absence, the spot where the convent of San Nicolas stood. The two others are kept in funeral chapels: that of San Agustin convent recalls the names of all the religious killed during the Battle of Manila; and that of San Sebastian certifies the transfer, on 19 October 1954, of the remains of the pantheon of Intramuros.

Let this memory that we conclude here serve as a modicum of homage and reparation.

NEXT PAGE: 7. Bonus: some prominent residents of Intramuros


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