Out of the Silence, the Men of Naujan Speak: Tagalog Texts from the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

From Naujan on the island Mindoro in the seventeenth-century Spanish Philippines emerged two petitions written in Tagalog and addressed to the archbishop of Manila, asking for the continued presence of Jesuits replacing the secular priests assigned there. A close examination of the texts points to the resident Jesuit as the force behind these petitions. The article argues that, apart from refracting the conflict between the regular and secular clergy over the control of parishes, these documents recognize the agency of the men who signed it. Also explored are the question of the documents’ survival and the rewriting of history using materials in indigenous languages.

Keywords: historiography • indigenous language • Mindoro •
mendicant orders • missions