The Augustinian Province of Sto. Niño de Cebu, based in

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 964,169 people, making ...

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, is a geographical and administrative

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of the religious

Order of St. Augustine The Order of Saint Augustine (), abbreviated OSA, is a mendicant religious order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were following the Rule of Saint Augustin ...

. The Province is actively involved in education, parish administration, mission work and formation of candidates for religious life. It has worked on joint missions with other Augustinian provinces, namely, the

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n Province in

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, the

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Province in

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, and the Provinces of Villanova (

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and

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. In keeping with its goal to become a missionary Province, it has begun sending friars overseas to help in apostolic and pastoral ministries.

History

The first group of Augustinians, under the leadership of the Venerable Andres Urdaneta, came to the Philippines in 1565 from Spain through

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as the pioneers in the

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's task of

evangelization Evangelism, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as persona ...

in that part of the globe. Originally establishing themselves in Cebu, these missionaries soon expanded their apostolic activities to the neighboring towns and islands and later to almost all the other principal regions of the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

. On March 7, 1575, the then Prior General of the Order, Fr. Tadeo de Perusa, decreed the creation of a new Augustinian Province in the Philippines under the title ''Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas'' – Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines. During the Spanish colonial times in the Philippines, they founded almost three hundred towns and churches from 1565 to 1898. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines decided to shift its missionary activities to newer territories, such as

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, and

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. As a logical consequence of this move, the seat of the Province was transferred from

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. The Augustinian presence in the country was then reduced to a minimum. To compensate for this loss of manpower, the remaining Augustinians intensified the recruitment and formation of Filipino candidates. And as the number of the latter increased and their preparedness adequately established, the idea of creating a new Province came to be seriously considered. Plans for the organization of such a Province began in 1974 when the Regional Assembly of the Philippine Augustinian Vicariate asked for the creation of a Vice-Province in the islands. Though the plan was not realized, it was again revived by a group of Filipino Augustinians at a meeting in the

Basilica Minore del Santo Niño In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East ...

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

on April 29, 1981. The plan this time was for the creation of a new Province. The move to create a new Province, which would be called the Province of Sto. Niño de Cebu-Philippines, was officially endorsed by the Regional Assembly of the Augustinian Vicariate of the Philippines at the closing of its sessions on August 19, 1981, in the Monastery of San Agustin, Intramuros, Manila, and by the Provincial Chapter of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines, held in

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on July 17, 1982. The proposal was overwhelmingly approved by the members of the 174th General Chapter held in Rome on September 15, 1983, and the new province was canonically established on December 25, 1983.

Formation of the province

The province was officially formed on September 13, 1983, inside the Istituto Patristico Augustinianum in

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during the 174th General Chapter of the Augustinian Order, where ninety-three delegates approved the creation of the first indigenous Augustinian province in

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after over 400 years of control by Spanish religious leaders. The Province of Sto. Niño de Cebu gained autonomy from the mother province, the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines, which is based in

. The first Prior Provincial was Rev. Fr. Eusebio B. Berdon, OSA, who later became an assistant Prior General of the Order in Rome. Initially, the Province had thirty-six friars and religious brothers and sixty-one aspirants, novices, postulants and theology students.Anita D. Bellosillo: ''Fr. Eusebio Berdon: His Brethren's Choice,'' Inauguration of the Augustinian Province of Sto. Niño de Cebu, Philippines, Yuhum La Defensa Press, Iloilo City, 1984

Houses

Institutions, or ''houses,'' owned by the Province, include the following: *

, also called the ''Basilica of Sto. Niño de Cebú'', where the image of the

Santo Niño de Cebú The Señor Santo Niño de Cebú is a Catholic title of the Child Jesus associated with a religious image of the Christ Child widely venerated as miraculous by Roman Catholicism in the Philippines, Filipino Catholics. It is the oldest Christian ...

is kept. *

University of San Agustin The University of San Agustin – Iloilo, also known as UniSAg or San Ag, is a private Roman Catholic institution in Iloilo City, Philippines. It is operated by the Augustinian Province of Santo Niño de Cebu, Philippines, belonging to the Orde ...

Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region of the Philippines, located on the southeastern coast of th ...

. * University of San Agustin Extension Campus at Sambag, Jaro, Iloilo City. *

Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod Colegio San Agustin – Bacolod, also referred to by its acronym CSA-B, is a private, Catholic coeducational basic and higher education institution run by the Augustinian Province of Santo Niño de Cebu, Philippines of the Order of Saint Augus ...

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.
San Jose Parochial School and Parish in Plaza Libertad
Iloilo City. * Colegio San Agustin-Biñan in Biñan, Laguna. * Colegio San Agustin - Mati in Davao Oriental * San Agustin Seminary - Monasterio de Guadalupe or Guadalupe Monastery in Makati. * San Agustin Center of Studies in

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. * Augustinian Novitiate and Prayer House in Talisay City,

.
Sto. Niño de Cebu Parish
Lower Mohon, Talisay City, Cebu
Our Mother of Pepetual Help Parish
Socorro, Surigao del Norte
St. Lawrence the Deacon Parish
Bagacay, Sorsogon
Sto. Niño Spirituality Center
Consolacion, Cebu
Sto. Niño Pilgrim Center
Cebu City (Provincialate Community)
Sta. Ana Sub-Parish
Burgos, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte * St. Augustine of Hippo Quasi-parish, Saguday, Quirino

External links

Official Website of the Augustinians in the Philippines

Official Website of the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño
*
Augustinians in Australia

Augustinians in Britain

Augustinians in Midwest - USA

Augustinian presence in the United Nations

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Augustinian Province of Sto. Nino de Cebu, Philippines Christian organizations established in 1983 Province of Sto. Nino Catholic Church in the Philippines

History

Formation of the province

Houses

See also

External links

Footnotes