Philippine E-Journals

A Survey of Documentary Source in the Archives of the University of Santo Tomas from 1619-1899

Maria Eloisa Parco-de Castro

Discipline: Philippine History

 

Abstract:

When the Dominicans arrived in 1581, they first touched land in Cavite Puerto before they entered Manila. This was the beginning of their involvement in Cavite Province. Much of the Dominican presence, however, would be concentrated in the Puerto which they occupied continuously from 1619, when they established the Convento de San Telmo, until the end of Spanish rule in these islands in 1899. it was not until the mid-19th century that they would be actively engaged in other parts of Cavite when they would be actively engaged in other parts of Cavite when they would take over some of the towns and parishes in the upland towns of Indang, Naic, Mendez, and the lowland town of Rosario. All of these areas, except for the Puerto, would fall into the revolutionaries’ control in 1896 and this lasted until the Pact of Biak-na-Bato in December 1897. As peace was eventually reestablished, so did Dominican administration of their haciendas and parishes. With the renewal of hostilities in 1898, all of them would be permanently lost, except for the Convento de San Telmo. It survived the Philippine Revolution, only to be totally obliterated in the Second World War.