Resumen de Los Frailes Menores en la isla de Samar (Filipinas) en el siglo XVIII. Documentos para su historia.
CAYETANO SÁNCHEZ FUERTES, OFM. – Los Frayles Menores en la isla de Samar (Filipinas) en el siglo XVIII. Documentos para su historia (119-193) When the Society of Jesus was forced to leave the Philippines in 1768, the local St Gregory Province of Friars Minor took over the former Jesuit missions on the island of Samar. The article quotes from sources which highlight the short preparatory phase of this new Franciscan mission and especially publishes, in extenso, three early mission reports dating from 1775 and 1778. These documents give an overview of some of the major problems the Franciscan missionaries had to face: the lack of financial support by governmental sources; the availability of suitable spiritual literature in the local languages; the organization of the defense against attacking pirates; the grouping of the non-sedentary population in villages in order to provide social and pastoral services; heterodoxy and the lack of solid Christian instruction; the difficult collaboration with local authorities.
