 |
| Statue of Fr. Pedro Dandan at Parañaque Cathedral. The little girl is his great-great grand niece |
The late 1800s were a volatile time in the Philippines, when the movement for independence from Spain gained momentum. Some in the clergy supported independence and a few priests, along with the others, were deported to the Marianas by the Spaniards for their political views.
One of them was Father Pedro Dandan y Masangkay. He was exiled to Guam in 1872 along with nine other priests, sailing on the Flores de María. It is not certain how long he stayed on Guam but it seems those sentenced with him in 1872 were pardoned in 1874, so he conceivably returned to the Philippines around that time. However, one of the other priests exiled with him, Father Miguel de Lasa, stayed on Guam for a while and served as priest in Guam and Saipan, so who knows about Father Dandan?
We know that Father Dandan was back in the Philippines by the 1880s where he continued to be involved in independence efforts until his mysterious death in 1897 while the country was in the midst of revolution and Father Dandan was a wanted man in the eyes of the Spanish government.
No comments:
Post a Comment