Saints of Resistance: Devotions in the Philippines under Early Spanish Rule

Saints of Resistance is the first non-religious study focused on the dynamic life of saints and their devotees in the Spanish Philippines from the sixteenth through the early part of the eighteenth century. It offers an in-depth analysis of the origins and development of the beliefs and rituals surrounding some of the most popular saints in the Philippines during the period of early Spanish rule, namely, Santo Niño de Cebu, Our Lady of Caysasay, Our Lady of the Rosary La Naval, and Our Lady of Antipolo. This study recovers the voices of colonized Philippine subjects as well as those of Spaniards who, through veneration of miraculous saints, projected and relieved their grievances, anxieties, and histories of communal suffering. Based on critical readings of primary sources, it traces how individuals and their communities refashioned iconographic devotions to the Holy Child and to Mary by often introducing non-Catholic elements to their cults, derived from pre-Hispanic, animistic, or Chinese traditions. This book ultimately reveals how Philippine natives, Chinese migrants, and Spaniards reshaped the imported devotions as expressions of dissidence, resistance, and survival.