Extant Artifacts from the First One Hundred Fifty Years of the Dominicans in the Philippines (1587-1750)

Abstract

In commemorating anniversaries of institutions, it is always good to recognize the tangible aspects that were produced by these institutions. The objects or buildings award a certain rootedness of an institution in the place it has worked in. Thus, the present study was made in line with the 50th anniversary of the Dominican Province of the Philippines and the 500th anniversary of the coming of Christianity to the Philippines. The compiling of examples for this article was done chiefly by sifting through historic accounts, whether archival or published, and the correlation of the data with the succession of parish priests; with the appearance—and disappearance—of the mission from the Acts of the Dominican chapters; and with the extant artworks themselves or their context within edifices. In most cases, the times of manufacture can only be gauged in numbers of decades, being framed within the building of a church that could continue from one century to the next. Artifacts that are confidently dated, such as the the Binalatoca bell of Camalaniugan (1595), or the ivory pieces in Salamanca (1686), are valuable benchmarks.