We are a missionary fraternity of friars from the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) living in oneness of mind and heart intent upon God and ministering in several parishes, chaplaincies, schools, and museums in the Philippines, Spain, and China. The Augustinian Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines (PHM) is a circumscription of the Roman Catholic Order of Saint Augustine (Augusti
nian/Austin Friars). The Augustinian friars were the first missionaries who systematically evangelised the Philippines after their arrival in the archipelago on 13 February 1565, and in Cebu on 27/28 April 1565. A missionary province of the Philippines was established in 1567 by the friars, and on 7 March 1575, this missionary province was officially 'founded' and affiliated to the Augustinian Order as the Provincia Agustiniana Sinarum (Augustinian Province of China). This name was used until 1581 when it was changed to the name, Provincia Agustiniana del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas (Augustinian Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines), in honour of Sto. Throughout the years, more than 2,300 Augustinian missionaries have dedicated themselves to apostolic, social, and cultural labour in the Philippines, China and Japan. They built towns, schools, roads, and churches such as the Church of Saint Augustine in Cebu, which is now known as the Basilica Minore of Sto. Niño de Cebu, and the Church of the Conversion of Saint Paul, which is now known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation - San Agustin Church Intramuros, which became the Province's provincial sede from 1575 until 1901. The friars also excelled in publishing books for the locals, as well as in the study of medicinal plants, history, and architecture. By the year 1898, there were 316 Augustinians in the Philippines administering over a hundred and fifty parishes and mission areas. However, at the end of the Spanish colonial rule in 1898, many friars departed the country. Some fled to assist in the Portuguese Augustinian mission in Macau, while some were assigned to the other mission stations of the Province of the Philippines in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Spain. In 1901, the provincial sede of the Provincia Agustiniana del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas was transferred from the Casa Provincial de los PP. Agustinos Filipinos in Manila to the Augustinian convent in Calle del General Diaz Porlier 2, Madrid, then at the Residencia de San Benito in Calle de Columela 12, Madrid, Spain. In 1926, the provincial sede went back to the Philippines after the Residence at Calle Columela 12, Madrid was given to the New Province of Spain. It stayed with Manila until the Second World War. In the 1970s, the provincial sede was moved to the Casa Provincial de Fray Andres de Urdaneta in Manuel Uribe, Madrid, Spain. The Provincial Archives of the Province was housed in the Convento of Manila until the Revolution of 1898. It was moved to the Real Colegio Seminario de los PP. Agustinos (Agustinos Filipinos; Los Filipinos) in Valladolid, Spain. Other archival records that stayed in Manila were moved to Valladolid in 1935. What was eventually left in the Philippines was a new entity called the Augustinian Vicariate of the Philippines. The Vicariate of the Philippines, which was still under the Province of the Philippines now based in Spain, oversaw the remaining ministries of the Spanish friars in the archipelago and aimed to preserve the history and culture of the Province of the Philippines in the islands. In 1904, the Colegio de San Agustin de Iloilo (presently the University of San Agustin) was established through the help of some friars from the Province of Villanova in the United States. Recruitment of Filipinos to the Augustinian religious life was also intensified to fill in the vacuum that the Spanish friars have left in the country. As the number of Filipinos 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 Vicariate of the Philippines 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 Cebu on 29 April 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 (OSA Cebu) was officially endorsed by the Regional Assembly of the Augustinian Vicariate of the Philippines at the closing of its sessions on 19 August 1981, in the Monastery of San Agustin, Intramuros, Manila, and by the Provincial Chapter of the Province of the Philippines, held in Valladolid, Spain on 17 July 1982. The proposal was approved by the members of the 174th General Chapter held in Rome on 15 September 1983, and the new province was canonically established on 25 December 1983. Meanwhile, to keep its historical and cultural presence in the country, the Province of the Philippines created a new circumscription called the Augustinian Vicariate of the Orient (OSA Orient) on 04 February 1982 to oversee the remaining Spanish missions in Manila and Makati, as well as its foreign missions and houses in China and India. The new circumscription of the Province of the Philippines reflected a new mission and a new direction that the friars of the Vicariate were to take: the expansion of the presence of the Order outside the Philippines. An internal agreement was also agreed upon by the two circumscriptions, OSA Orient and OSA Cebu, that the former would not accept new formands for a period of fifteen years so that the latter might be able to grow their number. The Provincia Agustiniana del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas was formally merged with three other Spanish Augustinian Provinces during the 186th Ordinary General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine in Rome on 16 September 2019 to create a unified Provincia Agustiniana de San Juan de Sahagun, a move which aims to restore the Augustinian Order in Spain, which has been in decline prior to the decision. As an effect to this unification, OSA Orient, which was until 2019 a circumscription under the old province of the Philippines, was elevated into a new province, taking the name of its mother province, Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas, or the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines, to preserve the history, mission, direction, and culture of the old Province of the Philippines. The province, under the leadership of its first Prior Provincial, the Very Reverend Fray Dante Morabe Bendoy, O.S.A., was inaugurated on 23 February 2022 at the historic San Agustin Church in Intramuros. The friars of the Augustinian Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines minister to the following churches, schools, and museum:
Archdiocesan Shrine of N.S. de la Consolacion Y Correa - San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila, Philippines,
Santo Nino de BASECO Parish in BASECO Compound, Port Area, Manila, Philippines,
Saint Peter Parish in Lubuagan, Kalinga, Philippines,
Our Lady of Sorrows Parish - Diocesan Shrine of the Holy Cross in Batalay, Bato, Catanduanes, Philippines,
Seminario San Agustin in Intramuros, Manila, Philippines,
Colegio San Agustin in Makati City, Philippines,
Colegio San Agustin in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines,
San Agustin Museum and Cultural Centre in Intramuros, Manila, Philippines, and
Catholic Church 1 in Changde, China. Other Augustinian parishes and schools in the Philippines not mentioned above are under the administration of the Augustinian Province of Cebu. The friars are also involved in other special ministries such as justice, peace and integrity of creation initiatives, and hospital and school chaplaincy. There are also friars of the Province who are working as missionaries in Hawaii and in several Augustinian communities in Spain that used to belong to the Provincia Agustiniana del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas, particularly in:
Parroquia de San Agustin y Real Colegio-Seminario de los PP. Agustinos in Paseo de Filipinos, Valladolid, Spain,
Parroquia de Nuestra Madre del Buen Consejo in Gran Via de San Marcos, León, Spain,
Parròquia de Sant Agustí in Barcelona, Spain,
Parroquia de Nuestra Madre de la Consolacion in Calle de Pintor Miro, Mostoles, Spain, and
Parroquia de San José de la Montaña in San Jose, Bilbao, Spain
