VOICE FROM THE SOUTH
Fr. Emeterio Barcelon, SJ
Europe had lost its Roman Catholic Empire. The German princes earned their independence, the priests who wanted to get married became Protestant and did so, the theologians who had their scholastic theology now had only the Bible as the rule of faith if they turned Protestant, and the rural folk could read the Bible in their own vernacular because of the printing press, and the primacy of the Pope was questioned. This was a sad day of the Church. But the Holy Spirit was with her. There arose vigorous congregations and individuals who championed her cause. There were the Capuchins, a reformed Franciscan, the Theatines a branch of the Oratorians, the Barnabites and the Somachi, and the most successful were the Jesuits with Cardinal Belarmine in the forefront. This all culminated in the Council of Trent that defined the faith and its practices. It was the reformation of the Mass that lasted till 1960s. But the big reform was the training of priests and forcing the bishops to stay in their dioceses.
The Reformation was so successful that it became rigid. Then came the problem of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. The Church had settled on a very conservative position that it could not be wrong to say that the earth revolved around the sun.
The Council of Trent established the Church for the next 400 years. There were no more non-resident bishops, there were seminaries established, and no changes could be made in the Misari (Mass) Romano. It was the Roman Mass all over the world spoken in Latin. It was only in the 1960s with the Vatican II that the mass could be said in the vernacular. It was also the time of the great missionary effort, Philip II of Spain insisted on the Apostolate in the far flung Islands named after him. It took six months to reach these Islands from Europe but Philip made a sacrifice. The French Jesuits braved the tortures of the Irquis in Canada who ate their livers because they admired their bravery. They now have the Indian Catholic communities in Canada and partly in upper United States. And in the Philippines you have 90% of the 3% Catholics that constitute 2% of the Catholics in Asia .
Not to be dismissed lightly are the Catholics of Goa. Unlike the British and Protugese who did not care. There is a story that when the Protestant Dutch conquered Indonesia, the Spaniards made a task force to recapture and brought half-breed Catholics back to the Philippines. These half-breeds where settled in Zamboanga, Cavite,Tarnate, and Ermita. This was the start of the Zabakano language .
The Filipinos have two saints both martyrs but were not killed by the natives, it seems that by temperament , the Filipinos were brave but did not kill because of faith. There is a huge work ahead of conquering.