City of Cebu, the Philippines' first city (Part 2)
The first entry of the book of Fr. Felipe Redondo (written in 1887) illustrates how Legaspi came to Cebu:
"1. Fr. Gaspar de San Agustin, in this "Conquista temporal y spiritual de las Islas Filipinas" (Temporal and spiritual conquest of the Philippine Islands), states that on Friday, April 27, 1565, the troops of the new conquerors, whose General and Governor of His Majesty of all that would be conquered, was the very noble gentleman, Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, arrived in Cebu; he brought with him, to give him counsel and doctrine as well as to administer the Holy Sacraments, six members of the Augustinian religious order; the Prior and Prelate of all, Fr. Andres de Urdaneta; Frs. Martina de Rada, Diego de Herrera, Andres de Aguirre, Lorenzo Jimenez and Pedro de Gamboa. Fr. Lorenzo Jimenez, who had been chosen for this great enterprise, met his death shortly before embarking at the Port of Natividad in 1564.
"After the capture of Cebu, the General thought that it was necessary first of all to erect a fort as the best defense, he thus conferred with his captains, officials of His Majesty and principal persons in his camp."
The report continues:
"The fortunate discovery of such sacred treasure (image of Santo Niño), everyone hoped, would be celebrated every year on the day the Divine Child was found, on the 28th April 1565. It was decreed that the new settlement would be called Villa de San Miguel since the founding took place on May 8, the date on which the Church celebrates the apparition of San Miguel in Mount Gargano, and also because the General was known by that name."
The annotation of the entry gives us more details of the arrival:
"On April 28, 1565, feast day of the glorious martyr San Vidal, Legaspi took Cebu by force while about two thousand men of Tupas, chieftain of Cebu and son of Hamabar, who was king when Magallanes arrived in Cebu on April 7, 1521, were poised to stop him; on the 27th of the same month of the year, Magallanes was killed in Mactan fighting for the cause of Hamabar."
The annotation continues:
"Fr. Gaspar states that King Tupas was baptized on the third Sunday of Lent, March 21, at the age of 60, and received the name of Don Felipe, with Legaspi standing as godfather, his son, 25 years old, was baptized and given the name Carlos, with Juan de Salcedo standing as his godfather; on the same day, many other important personalities were baptized." (End of the series)
- Latest
