Doctrina Cristiana

The ''Doctrina Christiana'' ('Christian Doctrine') were two early books on the catechism of the Catholic Church, both published 1593 in Manila, Philippines. These are two of the earliest printed books in the Philippines.

* The ''Doctrina Christiana en letra y lengua China'' (1593-1605)'','' by Fray Juan Cobo and Fray Miguel de Benavides, printed by the Sangley Chinese printer Keng Yong.
* The ''Doctrina Christiana en lengua española y tagala'' (1593), by Fray Juan de Plasencia.

The latter, Doctrina Christiana en Lengua Española y Tagala (Christian Doctrine in Spanish and Tagalog), Manila, 1593, was inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register – Asia and the Pacific in 2024.

Title

The ''Doctrina Christiana en lengua española y tagala'' written in Early Modern Spanish and Classical Tagalog with the Latin and Baybayin script.

Original Spanish title:

In English:

In Tagalog (Filipino):

The ''Doctrina Christiana'' ''en letra y lengua china'' written in Early Manila Hokkien Chinese in Chinese characters () with some Early Modern Spanish in Latin script.

Original Spanish title:

In English:

History

There is some controversy about which of the versions is the first printed book in Spanish Philippines, with some scholars believing the first to be the Chinese-language version titled ''Doctrina Christiana en letra y lengua China, compuesta por los padres ministros de los Sangleyes, de la Orden de Sancto Domingo. Con licencia, por Keng yong, china, en el parian de Manila''. The controversy about the dates of publication has generated a temporal window ranging between 1590 and 1593, depending on the scholar. The Chinese printer Keng Yong has been the object of much attention, but there is not much conclusive information about him. Concerning the authorship, there is agreement that Juan Cobo and Miguel de Benavides y Añoza, along with their Sangley Chinese collaborators, created this catechism.

One of the earliest references to both versions comes from Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, the seventh Spanish governor-general of the Philippines, who wrote a letter to Philip II of Spain on June 20, 1593, that read:

Missionary fathers placed the ''Doctrina'' among the books necessary to have in print in foreign lands. As such, the Filipino book is similar to one printed in Mexico in 1539 in Spanish and local Mexican vernacular, followed by Saint Francis Xavier’s ''Doutrina Christão'' in Malay printed by the Jesuit press at Goa in 1557. Another ''Doctrina'' was printed in Spanish and the native languages at Lima in 1584.

According to Piet Van der Loon (1966) though, the above letter is more likely referring to the Tagalog Doctrina and the ''Rectificación y Mejora de Principios Naturales'' 天主教真傳實錄 also by Fr. Juan Cobo, published on 1593 in Manila, while the Hokkien Chinese Doctrina was left undated, but believed to have been published from a temporal window ranging between 1593 to 1605 before the death of Fr. Miguel de Benavides, who is ascribed as one of its authors.

Extant print copies

As for the Tagalog Doctrina, apart from the copy in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, there are no other known copies in existence today. Both the quality of the paper, age, natural agents and disasters such as earthquakes and fires all contributed to the disappearance of most printed copies. The only known existing copies of early Philippine books are those sent to Europe during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, which may lie uncatalogued in some library.

Such was the case for the copy sent to Philip II of Spain by the Governor-General Dasmariñas in 1593. This is believed to be the same copy that reappeared in 1946 in the possession of a Parisian bookseller and collector who specialised in Pacific imprints. William H. Schab, a New York City dealer, purchased the book and took it to the United States, where he resold it to Lessing J. Rosenwald, who in turn presented it to the Library of Congress where it remains today.

The only known surviving copy of the Chinese version is stored at Biblioteca Vaticana, as Jesús Gayo Aragón indicated in this 1951 edition of the text. Sometimes though, this Doctrina in Chinese has been confused with the ''Rectificación y Mejora de Principios Naturales'' (天主教真傳實錄), by Juan Cobo, published posthumously in 1593, Manila. The only extant copy of this last book is in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid. It was republished in a trilingual edition by Fidel Villarroel in 1986. Villarroel, Fidel, O.P., ed. ''Pien Cheng-chiao Chen-ch’uan Shih-lu'' 辯正教真傳實錄, ''Rectificación y Mejora de Principios Naturales'' (天主教真傳實錄). By Juan Cobo. Manila: University of Santo Tomas, 1986.

Contents

The title literally means "The Teachings of Christianity", and thus the primary goal of the book was to propagate Christian teaching across the Philippine archipelago. The book consists of 38 leaves and 74 pages of text in Spanish, Tagalog transliterated into roman letters, and Tagalog in its original Tagalog baybayin (sulat Tagalog) script, under a woodcut of Saint Dominic, with the verso originally blank, although in contemporary versions bears the manuscript inscription, "Tassada en dos reales", signed Juan de Cuellar.

After a syllabary comes the basic prayers: the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, Credo, and the Salve Regina. Following these are Articles of Faith, the Ten Commandments, Commandments of the Holy Church, Sacraments of the Holy Church, Seven Mortal Sins, Fourteen Works of Charity, the Confiteor and a brief Catechism.

Characteristics

The book was printed on paper made from mulberry. The size of the volume, which is unbound, is , although individual leaves vary somewhat due to chipping. Some of the leaves have become separated from their complements, but enough remain in the original stitching to indicate that the book was originally made up in four gatherings, the first of twelve leaves, the second of ten, the third of ten, and the fourth of six. Although the book is of the size called quarto, the method of printing must have been page by page, so it is doubtful that each sheet was folded twice in the usual quarto manner, but more probable that it was printed four pages to a sheet of paper approximately , which was folded once.

The volume was printed using the xylographic technique, printing each page of text from one hand carved woodblock. Vertical lines long the inner margins of some pages were made by the inked edge of the block, and the grain of the wood appears as striations throughout the printed areas.

See also

* Catechism for Filipino Catholics, the 20th-century successor to the ''Doctrina Christiana''
*Christianity in the Philippines
*Roman Catholicism in the Philippines
*List of Memory of the World Documentary Heritage in the Philippines

References

External links

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Doctrina Christiana: The First Book Printed in the Philippines
available at Filipiniana.net
''Doctrina Christiana''
From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Division
at the Library of Congress

{{Roman Catholicism in the Philippines

Philippine books
Spanish-language books
Tagalog language
1593 books
Chinese-language books
Southern Min-language works