First mass in Cagayan

A. Paulita Roa .

TO my dear readers of “Past Speaks,” please know that I will bid you adieu for now because I am running for city councilor in the 2nd District of Cagayan de Oro this coming 2019 elections.

Please know that my decision to run came as a big surprise to many but not for me because I am just following the footsteps of my late father, Pio I. Roa, who served the city as a councilor and then as vice mayor for 22 years. As chairman of the committee on education, he founded the City Night School that later became the Cagayan de Oro City National High School. It was for those who would like to finish their high school education. Most of the beneficiaries were house helpers and those doing odd jobs at daytime, and the tuition was quite low. Later, several barangays here and elsewhere in Mindanao copied the concept.

Way before him was his grandfather and namesake, Pio Roa y Alcala who was among the first elected officials of the Misamis Province under the 1898 Aguinaldo Revolutionary Government.

For many decades, there were many Roas who served our beloved city and Misamis Oriental with distinction like  Manuel Roa Corrales, Tirso Roa Neri, Toribio Roa Chaves, Juan Roa y Valdeconcha, Tecla Roa Cosin and Pedro Roa y Racines, whose grandson and namesake is the legendary Pedro “Oloy” Roa.

The call to run for an elective position and to be a sulogoon sa lungsod or a public servant is very much a part of the Roa generational DNA. And so, I am running for I would like to make a positive difference to our city in the Roa tradition of being a sulogoon sa lungsod and part of my platform is to promote the knowledge and appreciation of our history and culture for this will enrich our sense of identity as Kagay-anons and in turn, help make our beloved city great again.

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Many are unaware of the historical fact that in 1622, two Recollect priests who were the first Spaniards to enter the Cagaiang (now Cagayan) territory also did another historical first – when they celebrated the first mass here. This was recorded in a Recollect journal by Fray Luis de Jesus, ORSA and was printed in 1681 in Madrid.It is written in 16th century Spanish and I already gave the long title of this journal in my previous column.

However, there is an English translation of this and it was done by two prominent American historiographers and translators namely Emma Helena Blair and James Alexander Robertson. This Recollect journal is included in their monumental work titled, “The Philippine Islands, 1493 – 1898” along with other  Spanish documents that were all translated to English. Commonly known as “Blair and Robertson” by scholars and researchers, this is a collection that consists of 55 volumes and it provide important and valuable sources of our history. This six year collaborative work was started in 1903.

Let me quote a portion of Fray Luis de Jesus’ journal that is found in Volume 21, pages 231 to 233 of the “The Philippine Islands, 1493 – 1898” by Blair and Robertson:

Preaching of Ours in the river of Cagaiang

“Let us leave those islands for a moment and return to Mindanao, where Ours were fervently attending to their ministry. After having put Christianity on the best footing possible along the shores of Butuan, they went forty leguas farther on by the sea, to look for another river called Cagaiang, as they had been told that its inhabitants were a people more docile than the other inhabitants, in order to enlighten them with the light of the gospel. The lord of that land was an Indian named Salangsang. He lived on a steep and inaccessible rock, which is a peninsula called Himologan. It had no other approaches or mode of ascent than certain ladders made of rattans (bexucos), which resemble strong osiers. When those were removed it was fortified and protected from invasions of enemies. The customs of those people are like those related of the inhabitants of Caraghas. The path opened for that undertaking was that Dona Magdalena Bacuya, a Christian Indian woman (the grandmother of the above mentioned Indian, Salangsang), being moved by zeal for the honor of God, and compassion of the blindness of those people, went to see her grandson. Although with difficulty, she succeeded in gaining admittance for our ministers, who were at that time staying at the island of Camigui without being able to accomplish that which they wished. Finally, fathers Fray Juan de San Nicolas and Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios arrived there (at Himologan), and found the chief in the presence of five hundred Indians who lived in that place. That site, perched on its summit, was a very agreeable residence capacious enough for that people to live in a house resembling a cloister, so large that they lived in it with their families. These had communication on the inside, while it was strongly enclosed on the outside. In the middle of it was the diwatahan or temple dedicated to the devil. It was a little house and dirty, as was he who was worshipped there. The prince received the ministers with some show of affection, for he gave them a little buffet on the cheek, as a sign that he received them as friends.

“Those people wondered at seeing those ministers in their lands, and joked about them, taking them for madmen, since they entered without weapons or other defense, to seek their death. But as those fathers had God on their side, whose cause they were serving, His sovereign Majesty ordained that the chief, showing them kindness, should give them a small corner in his house, so that they might live securely, although very uncomfortably. For no one gave them anything, and, in order to live, they had to go fishing and to carry wood and water on their backs. They suffered considerably from that, but in joy and gladness, for they were serving the Lord, to whom they were attempting to offer those barbarous people by means of the preaching of the faith.

“The fathers obtained permission to celebrate the holy mystery of the mass, although it had to be done outside that rock, the dwelling – place of the Indians.They selected the shore of a small river near the sea. There with their own hands they raised an oratory and an altar, where they celebrated mass with great labor, because they had to carry on their shoulders all the things necessary for the work, without any one aiding them. Then they went up and locked themselves in their little lodging, which served them as cell and choir, going out only to discuss with the leading Indians the knowledge of the true God.By that good example, they steadily gained great love, and the people presented to them some food.”

The narrative is the first written account about Cagayan and the people that lived in Himologan. It is loaded with many interesting historical data that I would like to point out, but for now, let us focus on the site of the first mass in Cagayan. It is written that said mass was celebrated outside of Himologan, on a site selected by the two priests – by a small river near the sea. It must have been a beautiful and pleasant place for they deemed it worthy to build a small “chapel” with an altar where they said the holy mass.

Where is this place now? That area by a small river near the sea, which perhaps, was not far from Himologan. It is best that we look at the size and landscape of 16th century Cagaiang territory for possible clues of this important historical site.

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As a graduate student in archaeology at the University of the Philippines, I have been taught about the importance of landscapes. An aspect of the study of landscapes is to consider the fact that they hold vital clues to ancient historical events that may have been lost in time. In this case, we are looking for a landscape that has a small river near the sea where the first mass in Cagayan was said in 1622. More importantly, this site should be within the ancient territory of Cagaiang and not just in the present land area of Cagayan de Oro City.

Another crucial factor that should not be overlooked is that the site must not be far from Himolugan. Why so? Because Fray Juan de San Nicolas and Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios, being new in the place, were not foolhardy to venture farther in to the wilderness just to say mass. The spot that they chose must give them a sense of security and perhaps, it was a shouting distance away from Datu Salangsang and his men if they encounter any danger and needed help.So this is an added feature to that landscape where the first mass was said. And where is Himolugan?

A series of articles titled “Is this the Ancient Settlement of Cagayan de Oro?” by historian Mabel B. Nacasas came out in this paper in April 2010. Nacasas was born and raised at the foot of Molugan hill that is along Macajalar Bay. She belongs to the prominent Bombeo Clan that lived in the Opol and El Salvador area for several generations. Her articles dealt mainly on why Molugan is the site of the ancient Himolugan settlement. She presented her study on the etymology of the place names “Himolugan and Molugan and the oral traditions of her people.Then, she compared the Molugan landscape with the 1622 Himolugan landscape as described in the Recollect journal of the two priests. The English translation of this journal is found in The Philippine Islands, 1493 – 1898, Vol. 21 by Emma Helena Blair and James Alexander Robertson.

But what caught my attention was about the Karib Creek of her childhood. Nacasas described the Karib (as what the locals call it) as a “small river near the Macajalar Bay and is not far from the Molugan Hill”! She believes that the area besides the Karib was where the first mass was said.Who can argue with that? This clearly has the three landscape features that comprised that historic spot that we are looking for.

However, there are others who think that Himolugan is located on the site where the St. Agustine Metropolitan Cathedral now stands since it is situated on a small promontory by the river. But early Spanish colonial documents show that it was sometime after the first visit of the two Recollect priests to Himolugan that they were able to persuade Salangsang and his people to move to the site in today’s Cathedral and Gaston Park area.Though the new area was by the river, it was by no means a small body of water it was rather a wide and deep one with swift currents and at that time, infested with crocodiles. A fortified settlement was built there according to the design of Fray Agustin de San Pedro, an architect and warrior priest, who later became known as the legendary El Padre Capitan.This new settlement was named Cagaiang and sometimes Cagaian. Down through the centuries, the place flourished and has become the bustling metropolis of northern Mindanao – Cagayan de Oro City.

Unless another area that has the three landscape features mentioned above, will be discovered between El Salvador City and Barangay Agusan, suffice to say that for now, it is the land near the Karib Creek that is located along the bay and in the shadow of Molugan Hill, that is THE place where the historic first mass was said in Cagayan in 1622.