The book, printed in Gothic letters and Tagalog1 characters on paper made from the paper mulberry, now browned and brittle with age, consists of thirty-eight leaves, comprising a title-page as above, under a woodcut2 of St. Dominic, with the verso originally blank, but in this copy bearing the contemporary manuscript inscription, Tassada en dos rreales, signed Juan de Cuellar; and seventy-four pages of text in Spanish, Tagalog transliterated into roman letters, and Tagalog in Tagalog characters. The size of the volume, which is unbound, is 9⅛ by 7 inches, [4]although individual leaves vary somewhat due to chipping. Some of the leaves have become separated from their complements, but enough remain in the original stitching to indicate that the book was originally made up in four gatherings, the first of twelve leaves, the second of ten, the third of ten, and the fourth of six. Although the book is of the size called quarto, the method of printing must have been page by page, so it is doubtful that each sheet was folded twice in the usual quarto manner, but more probable that it was printed four pages to a sheet of paper approximately 9⅛ by 14 inches, which was folded once.
The volume is printed throughout by the xylographic method, that is to say, each page of text is printed from one wood-block which was carved by hand. Along the inner margins of some pages are vertical lines which were made by the inked edge of the block, and the grain of the wood has caused striations to appear in the printed portions throughout. The unevenness of the impression indicates that the pages were printed in some primitive manner without the help of a conventional press.
.”3
Because the Doctrina Christiana, which may well be translated “The Teachings of Christianity,” contains the basic elements of the religion which the missionaries were trying to spread among the unbaptized in the remote regions of the world, it was the most useful handbook they had. A summary of the contents of the present edition shows the fundamental character of the work. After a syllabary comes the Pater Noster, the primary and most popular prayer of Christianity. Then follow the Ave Maria, Credo, Salve Regina, Articles of Faith, Ten Commandments, Commandments of the Holy Church, Sacraments of the Holy Church, Seven Mortal Sins, Fourteen Works of Charity, Confession and Catechism. Here in a small compass is presented the simplest, most easily learned and most essential tenets of the Catholic Church.
We have then a book, the Doctrina Christiana, in Spanish and Tagalog, corrected by priests of more than one order—and this is important in tracing the authorship of the work—and printed by the xylographic method with license at Manila at the Dominican Church of San Gabriel in 1593. So much we get from the title, and in itself it is a fairly complete story, but from the date of its issue until the present time that very fundamental information has not been completely recorded.
Domingo de Nieva was a native of one of the three towns of Villoria in Castilla, and professed in the Dominican convent of San Pablo at Valladolid. On going to the Philippines he was sent first to the mission of Bataan, where his labors were uninterrupted and severe. He became fluent in the Tagál language, after which he was assigned to the Chinese mission near Manila; and he composed and published several devotional treatises in both those languages. He was elected prior of Manila, but before his three years in that office were finished, he was sent as procurator to Madrid. He died at sea, at the end of 1606 or the beginning of 1607, after having spent nineteen years in the Philippines.” See Reseña biográfica, part i, pp.108-110
De Nieva and fellow Dominicans Bernardo de Santa Catalina and the third archbishop of Manila, Monsignor Miguel de Benavidez, OP, founded the Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario (College of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary) on 28 April 1611 in the Parian, (Intramuros walled city) district of Manila, home to a large number of Chinese converts. The school was later renamed the Colegio de Santo Tomas, in honor of the Dominican theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas. Currently the oldest surviving institution of higher learning in Asia, the College was given the authority to grant academic degrees in 1624, and then raised to the rank of a university in 1645.
De Nieva was deeply involved in early Philippine printing technology. Xylography, the art of wood block printing imported from China, was thriving in the Chinese community of Binondo (formerly Minondok), in central Manila. Of note is the community of mestizos, the children of Chinese and Filipina’s, some of whom were printers by trade. When De Nieva and the other Dominican fathers came to the Philippines in 16th century they met one such person, Geng Yong, who they converted and baptized as Juan de Vera. De Vera later assisted de Nieva and Fr. Francisco Blancas de San Juan in printing the first book in the Philippines, the Spanish-Tagalog (Baybayin) Doctrina Christiana in 1604.
A brief biographical note and printing history may be found in Fr. Albert Chan's entry on de Nieva's Chinese catechism of 1606, the Memorial de la vida christiana en lengua china. [Citation]
5.2.1. Catecismo de la Doctrina Cristiana (1581?)[40] The task of translating the Christian doctrines in Tagalog evidently fell into the hands of Juan de Plasencia. The chronicler Santa In_s referred to that decision in the chapter held in 1580, presided by Plasencia himself in lieu of the Custos Pedro de Alfaro:
"The third and last thing that was determined in this chapter was that a grammar and a dictionary of the Tagalog language should be made and a translation of the Doctrina Christiana completed. And since Fr. Juan de Plasencia, the president of this same chapter, excelled all in the language, he was given this responsibility, and he accepted it, and immediately set to work. And then after great study, much lack of sleep and care, together with fervent prayers and other spiritual duties, of not little importance in the good profit of such work, he reduced the language to a grammar, made a catechism, a very full dictionary, and various translations."[41] La Llave also mentioned that "he composed the Doctrina christiana in their language, and the Catecismo of the faith, which were entitled Togsohan (sic); and during the Provincial Synod called by the first bishop (Salazar) with the prelates of the religious and ministers, it was approved. Until at present, it is still being used but already with some modifications."[42] In 1593 a book bearing the title Doctrina Christiana en lengua espa_ola y tagala... was printed xylographically for the first time in the Philippines.[43] Although it was not mentioned in the printed book "historians are now agreed that Plasencia was the author of the text that appears in this Doctrina."[44] It was the same catechetical guide approved during the synod of 1582. As a matter of fact, in that Manila Synod presided by Bishop Salazar, the historian Juan de la Concepcion gives an account of what has transpired: "His excellency presided at the meetings... At this convention or diocesan synod it was discussed whether the Indians were to be ministered to in their native language, or if they would be obliged to learn Spanish, and it was decided to instruct them in their native tonque. The divine office, the Doctrina Christiana, which Father Fr. Juan de Plasencia had translated into the Tagalog language, was approved. His work, the Arte y Doctrina Christiana proved most useful because of the ease by which it permitted an understanding and thorough knowledge of so foreign a language."[45] This Doctrina of 1593 which was taught to the Filipinos from the time of its printing and thereon was quite dogmatic although reduced to its essential minimum.[46] It included the following: a syllabary (phonetics), the Pater Noster, the Ave Maria, the Credo, the Salve Maria, the Articles of Faith, Ten Commandments, Commandments of the Holy Church, the Sacraments, Seven Mortal Sins, Fourteen Works of Charity, the Act of Contrition and Catechism consisting of thirty-three questions and answers, all in Spanish and Tagalog and transliterated into the pre-hispanic Filipino Syllabary Alphabets.[47] Here in a small compass is prospected the simplest, most easily learned and most essential tenets of the Catholic Church. When the Jesuits took over the parish of Silang, Cavite, from the Franciscans in 1601, they found out that the teaching of catechism, aside from a established school for the children (the escuela), had already been introduced by their predecessors.[48] John Phelan maintains that this Doctrina closely followed the Nahuatl catechisms previously compiled for the Mexican Indians.[49] This only shows then, as mentioned already earlier, the method used by the missionaries in the Philippines was practically the same as the one used in the evangelization of the Americas. xy·log·ra·phy (z-lgr-f)
n.
1. Wood engraving, especially of an early period.
2. The art of printing texts or illustrations, sometimes with color, from woodblocks, as distinct from typography.
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Nuestra Señora Del Rosario
Nuestra Señora Del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary) has a dimension of 57.1 x 47 centimeters. Also known as The Predecessor Del Rosario is a rendition of Mary and Jesus by the Predecessor Fausto Quiotan. The image is captured exposing the holy rosary to devotees. It defines the early intents at naturalistic art that Quiotan achieved. It is notable for the self-consciously vertical approach to saintly figures.