Fray Antonio de Los Ángeles was the first known Catholic missionary to write an account of Chamorro/CHamoru life. De los Ángeles was a Franciscan friar on his way from Acapulco, Mexico to the Philippines in 1596 when his ship, the San Pablo, stopped at Guam.
Fray Antonio de Los Ángeles Read Post »
Father Luís de Medina (1637 – 1670) was the first Jesuit martyr of the Marianas. He was born on 3 February 1637 in Málaga, Spain.
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Father Diego Luis de San Vitores (1627 – 1672), a member of the religious order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), brought Christianity to the Chamorro/CHamoru people in 1668. He was killed in Tumon, Guam 2 April 1672 just a little less than four years after his arrival, a death that he welcomed because he would be considered a martyr in his efforts to spread Christianity.
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Father Aniceto Ibáñez del Carmen (1828 – 1892) is an important fixture in the history of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects in the Marianas. He was vicar provincial and curate of the Hagåtña parish and served in the Marianas from 1852 to 1892, though it is recorded that he left his assignment in the Marianas for a period of 10 years to serve in the Philippines, Spain, and Yap.
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Father Don Ciriaco de Espiritu Santo (abt 1780 – 1849), a Filipino, spent 34 years in the Marianas, particularly Guam, from 1815 to 1849. Del Espiritu Santo arrived in Guam from the Philippines along with Father don Ygnacio Ladilao de Mojica in 1819.
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In 1889, when the unified Spanish Province was divided, a separate jurisdiction was created specifically for the Capuchin missionaries in the Carolines called the District Nullius, headquartered in Madrid and under the direct supervision of the supreme Capuchin superior in Rome.
The second religious order of Catholic missionaries, who were given responsibility for the Marianas mission in 1769, were the Augustinian Recollect friars. The Recollects were in the past sometimes called the Discalced Augustinians.
Augustinian Recollects Read Post »
History will remember Maga’låhi Matå’pang from Tomhom (Tumon) as the man responsible for murdering Father Diego Luís de San Vitores, the Spanish Jesuit priest who brought Christianity to the Mariana Islands. Matå’pang’s significance, however, has changed over the centuries as Chamorro/CHamorus and their understanding of historical events has changed.
Matå’pang: Matapang Read Post »
