Catholicism was introduced to the archipelago now known as the Philippines through the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan – who though from Portugal, represented and was financed by Spain in his historic circumnavigation of the globe in the early 16^th century. Magellan’s expedition made first landfall in the Philippines March 16^th 1521 – in the midst of the Lenten season (Brewer 2004). On April 7^th of the same year, his expedition made their way to Cebu and within two weeks of its arrival, 800 Filipinos had been baptized as Christians (Brewer 2004). Though initially successful, Magellan’s efforts at conversion were not appreciated by some inhabitants of the islands. Very shortly after his success at the conversion of the original 800, Magellan was killed during a retreat from the wrath of angry Filipinos from the island of Matan on April 27^th. But, the Spanish efforts of colonization and conversion of the Philippines would eventually be successful despite the early martyrdom of Magellan.

 

          Today, the Philippines are Asia’s only majority Christian country – with 90% of those Christians being Catholics. Before colonization, Filipinos practiced a variety of Animist religions, whose influence shows itself today in the uniquely Filipino variety of Catholicism practiced by most of the islanders. Fr. Jose S. Arcilla  - a Filipino member of the Jesuit order and a scholar - states that,  “It is known that Spain did not abrogate native traditions if they did not go against the natural or divine law” (Arcilla 1972, 413). Though pre-contact Filipino cultures and traditions were certainly destroyed and condemned, there was some wiggle room given by the Spanish overlords – resulting in a uniquely Filipino expression of Catholicism. Quoting Arcilla again; “traditional principles of Christian morality…began to color the Filipino ways, began to be the inspiration and the basis of Filipino values” (Arcilla 1972, 416).