1. Introduction: “Navigare necesse est”

Always in mission, Navigare necesse est (it is necessary to sail): could they be the same thing? That is why the mission is represented by a boat that ploughs the seas. That is why navigators study the stars: the North Star that points out the direction and captivates their dreams.

The phrase is attributed by the historian Plutarch to Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, the Roman general who was Julius Caesar’s rival, in circumstances that left no room for doubts or delays:

Navigare necesse est; vivere non est [Sailing is essential; living is not].

Over time, this saying has become a symbol of heroic endeavours and a source of inspiration for great ideals, including commercial ventures, undertaken by those who are willing to sacrifice their lives. It became the motto of the medieval Hanseatic League and has been adopted by numerous personalities, organizations, and initiatives throughout the centuries.

Spiritual life is not exempt from a vision like this one. On the contrary, it is often seen as a voyage with sails unfurled by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigating storms and perils until reaching the safe port of Heaven.

The symbolism of sailing holds both individual and collective significance. The spirit of Saint Augustine (354-430) has been cruising the seas of history, incarnated in his followers, in his children. In 1256, it began a new voyage, adapted to the medieval world as an institution with statutes laid down by the Church, under the name of the Order of Saint Augustine.

Three centuries later, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) set new directions and inspired aspirations for a more perfect life, lofty ambitions, and greater conquests, both in the realm of the spirit and geography. It enforced the motto of Emperor Charles V: Plus ultra, “Further beyond,” beyond the borders of Europe.

Within the Order of Saint Augustine, reforms emerged that embodied this new spirit, yearning for greater perfection. They surged forth in the whole Church, not only in Spain; and not only among the Augustinians, but in all the religious Orders as well.

The aspirations of the Spanish Augustinians were welcomed in the Chapter of the Province of Castile that took place in Toledo in the early days of December 1588. Thus, the Recollect Movement was born, and a few months later, it had its first convent which was assigned to it by the mother Province in Talavera de la Reina in Toledo. This was followed by the Convent of Portillo (1590) and Nava del Rey (1591), both located in the province of Valladolid. More would follow in rapid succession, reaching a total of around thirty in the 17^th century.

However, it was necessary to go Plus ultra “further beyond”; it was a period not only of lying idle, through contemplation, in the infinite ocean of the knowledge of God. The convents were inland, and many of its dwellers continued to keep themselves within the same physical horizon as always.

But others were fully aware that they were living in the age of navigators, discoverers, conquistadors. They intensely lived the urgency of the Gospel mandate: “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation” (Mk 16, 15).

They were well aware that the world had been restructured and for that reason, it was time to sail, physically as well. From the ports of Sevilla and Cadiz, ships had been sailing out to traverse the world for decades carrying soldiers, merchants, and colonists in search of riches, glory, titles, and a better future. The religious, who keenly felt the sting of reform, could not but dream of missionary expeditions.

The allure of these distant lands was both numerous and urgent. However, due to a lack of personnel and other pressing needs, they were initially unable to accept the invitation. It wasn’t until the end of 1603 that they presented their availability to the king.

Philip III accepted their offer and assigned them the Philippines as their mission field. By April 1605, the only Recollect Province at the time convened in Chapter and unanimously ratified the project, considering it a great service to God (Chronicles or History of the Order I, 397-399).

The implementation was entrusted to Fray Juan de San Jerónimo, its chief advocate. He did not waste time. In early May, he grouped together his confreres in Sevilla and on 12 July, they embarked at Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz en route to Mexico and Manila. They would dock at the bay of the Philippine capital towards the end of May 1606.

Henceforth, what would later be known as the Province of San Nicholas de Tolentine never ceased to cross the sea. The Galleon of the Indies, or the Manila Galleon, had been for centuries the umbilical cord of the Philippine missions, bringing personnel who were volunteers from the convents of Spain.

For obvious reasons, the word “hospice” does not have the meaning we attribute to it today. In ecclesiastical terminology, it referred to a house intended to accommodate transient religious. For this purpose, the Hospice of Saint Nicholas in Mexico was established as a mandatory halfway residence for the journey from Spain to the Philippines.

The Acapulco-Manila galleon customarily made a voyage once a year; therefore, the missionaries sojourned in Mexico for five, six months, or more, from the time they arrived in Veracruz from Spain until their departure for the Philippines. At the Hospice, they were assured of accommodation and the seclusion that their way of life required.

The first Recollect missions temporarily resided in Augustinian convents. In 1620, Blessed Francisco de Jesús spent seven months waiting on Mexican soil; five confreres stayed with the Augustinian confreres of Malinalco and Ocuilan (State of Mexico).

That same year, 1620, King Philip III ordered the viceroy of New Spain, or Mexico, to provide adequate accommodation for the Recollects. Initially, they were housed in a large and rambling house, devoid of comfort, located on the northern periphery of the city. In 1637, they acquired their own residence, on the outskirts, subject to the canonical restrictions imposed upon it.

In 1660, they succeeded in moving to a house bequeathed by a last will and testament, situated on Tacuba Street in the central district. On that site, the present-day edifice was constructed between 1683 and 1685. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the old Tacuba Street became Hospicio de San Nicolás Street. In the 19th century, it was further renamed Republic of Guatemala Street.

At the beginning of 1828, years after the Revolution and Independence of Mexico, the Recollect hospice closed its doors. Those were turbulent times following the Revolution and Independence of Mexico when the rapid sale of the building was allowed, albeit with great difficulty. Moreover, new routes between Europe and the Philippines, faster and cheaper, became available, and they did not necessarily require crossing the Atlantic.

The presence of the Augustinian Recollects did not shine anew until 27 June 1941, when they returned to Mexico to stay permanently.

The building had been declared a historical monument in 1932. Since then, it has served as the College of Economists, the Embassy of the Dominican Republic, a school for children of employees of the presidential palace, and more…

As soon as they arrived in Manila, the main concern of the Augustinian Recollects was to organize community life. They immediately founded their first convent outside the walls of the capital, in the area known as Bagumbayan. Two years later, in 1608, they entered the Walled City of Manila. There their convent would be founded at the port city of Cavite in 1616 near the capital. San Sebastian Convent was established in 1621 in a district of Manila.

The convent of Intramuros, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, served as the administrative seat and consistently housed the largest community, ranging from twenty to thirty religious. Other convents had a capacity for around eight religious, which was the minimum number required by the statutes.

Stable communities had already been established in the main urban centres of their new territory. But they did not come for that; they continued to feel the call of the mission, even more pressing. There was a need to set sail, especially because they were the last to arrive in the Philippines, in the wake of the Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits.

Not long after they arrived, they made the first attempts to evangelise in territories not far from Manila, in the current provinces of Bataan and Zambales. In that same year, three religious were dispatched there, spreading their remarkable missionary work.

Despite the challenging conditions, including the unhealthy environment, scarce food, and fierce reputation of the native inhabitants, they crossed rivers, climbed mountains, and gathered the natives to teach them the Christian doctrines and avoid constant skirmishes. Three missionaries died young, but their successors, such as Rodrigo de San Miguel and Andrés del Espíritu Santo, successfully pacified the region and evangelized the people, resulting in the establishment of over ten towns.

It was a rehearsal, of course. The scarce available resources at that time did not allow for anything else. They would have to wait, impatiently, three lustrums.

In 1620, they finally felt ready to implement the Lord’s mandate: Duc in altum [Put out into the deep] (Lk 5, 4). They approached the bishop of Cebu, offering their services to work in his vast diocese, which encompassed the entire southern half of the archipelago. The bishop gladly accepted their offer, and the Recollects established their base of operations in the city of Cebu (1621).

When the Augustinian Recollect religious were on the verge of constituting themselves into an autonomous province, they began their missionary deployment in the archipelago. They cut loose and put out into the deep in order to evangelize and bring civilization to those remote and godforsaken areas, exposed to the incursions of pirates.

To borrow a phrase from the modern Filipino writer Nick Joaquin:

“They specialized in jungle missions. They tirelessly laboured in the wilds of Zambales, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Mindoro, and Palawan”.

Their voyages did not confine them to the seas of Philippines where they sailed over a period of four hundred years. They further extended their routes to Japan, China, and America, navigating through the Amazon and its tributaries.

However, this was not just physical navigation; it served as a metaphor for life, depicting human journeys and a sense of history. As Saint Augustine envisioned, every man is a sailor attracted in different ways to the solid ground of the happy life, which was no other thing but the life with God (Cf. On Happiness 1, 3).

NEXT PAGE: 2. 17th Century: The Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine

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TABLE OF CONTENT
History of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine:
‘Always in mission’

• History of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine: ‘Always in Mission’
• 1. Introduction: “Navigare necesse est”
• 2. 17th Century: The Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine
• 3. 18th Century: The Philippines, Land of Heroic Deeds
• 4. 19th Century: The Philippines, Zenith, and Collapse
• 5. 20th Century until Vatican II: Breakthrough
• 6. 20th Century after Vatican II: High Seas Swell
• 7. 21st Century: Facing the Future
• 8. Epilogue: Living the present with passion and embracing the future with hope