Fray Julian Bermejo: El Parrocco Capitan
Most of you know some Filipino heroes, Jose Rizal, Andres
Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo and Apolinario Mabini. But unfortunately, they were
Masonic in nature. Rizal wrote many Anti-Catholic pamphlets but later
reconciled to the Church before his execution, Bonifacio killed Catholic
priests and before his execution and did not repent of his sins, Aguinaldo
still kept Catholic traditions even if he was a Freemason and fought against
the Spaniards.
But not all fought against Spain, some even fought for Spain
or their colonial power, take for example the heroes of Pernambuco who fought
against the Dutch invaders in the 1600s before Brazil gained independence from
Portugal.
And not only were Filipino heroes brown skins, some even had
white skins. These include the Angels of Bataan who were American nurses who
tended to wounded Filipinos during the Second World War, and there is Father
Julian Bermejo, the Anti-Muslim hero of Southern Cebu who fought against Moro
invasion in what is now the towns of Bolhoon, Oslob, Argao and Dalaguete.
He was born in 1777 in Pardillo, Spain. Not known is about
his early life but on July 25, 1793, as the Terror of the French Revolution
struck Europe, Bermejo professed his vows as an Augustinian friar.
He sailed for the Philippines in December 1795 and arrived
in Manila the following November. He finished his religious studies at the
Monastery of San Pablo, known today as the San Agustin, in Intramuros, Manila.
He then later in the early 1800s sailed for the Augustinian
convent (Santo Nino) in Cebu where he learned the Cebuano language, because it
was easy for the friars at the time to teach in the native language.
On October 9, 1802, Fr. Bermejo took over the parish of
Boljoon. The church was still unfinished when he got into town. The previous
structure was razed in a devastating raid in 1782.
In that raid “Bolhoon was reduced to ashes almost in its
totality, with the parish house and church plundered and set on fire, saving
only some sacred clothes and the image of the Patrocinio del Santisima Virgen,
the titular patroness of the town.”
Bermejo, according to Gerschwiler, “was a man of enormous
valiant willpower, a leader with great talent and industriousness.” Beyond the
spiritual needs of his parishioners, “he worked with immense personal energy
and dedication for their material welfare and their safety and defense.”
To protect the town, Bermejo set up defensive structures. He
built “a fort around the church complex that formed a quadrangle, reinforced in
its four angles by bulwarks.”
The El Gran Baluarte that you see today was finished in
1808. The ground level was a store room for weapons and held a prison cell
while the upper level, which serves as belfry today, was armed with cannons.
Bermejo also had a baluarte built on Crag or the top of Ili Rock.
Gerschwiler wrote that baluartes had been built even before
Bermejo came south, but these were individual fortifications that were
ineffective against the raiders. Bermejo’s innovation was to set up a system
that connected various watchtowers in different locations into a defensive
network and the organization of local militias to fight the pirate raiders.
Gerschwiler said Bermejo’s Moro-fighting network consisted
of:
A fort around the church complex for shelter and refuge,
equipped with bulwarks.
An organized stretch of bulwarks built within viewing
distance from each other and manned with sentinels, over a total distance of 96
km from Santander in the south to Carcar in the north. The sentinels
communicated with each other by telegraphic flags and Budyong shells.
An organized inter-island grid of overlooking watchtowers,
linking the sentries of Boljoon, Liloan and Samboan with the islands of Bohol,
Negros and Siquijor.
A fleet of barangayanes or fast-moving oared sailboats
manned with armed townspeople, designed to pursue and attack Moro pancos. These
boats also performed surveillance at sea while they pursue their enemies.
A barangayan was powered by oars but also had sails, making
it swift and maneuverable. “The combination of oars and sails, when skillfully
sailed, provided great combat agility.”
A standard boat could accommodate 50 warriors and had two
levels. The lower level provided space for the oarsmen while overhead was an
elevated platform for the fighters.
Barangayanes were deployed and manned, under Bermejo’s
direction, in all the major towns along the southeastern coast of Cebu and
later all over the Visayas, Gerschwiler wrote.
In a way, the people of Bolhoon were similar to that of the
Spanish Reconquista and that of the Vendee decades earlier.
In 1812 or 1813, a battle took place between the Muslims and
the Cebuano Christians. It started with the Muslim leader Gorandin raiding the
town. The Christians led by Father Bermejo and Feliciano Mendez met them up
near Sumilon island, in which Gorandin was defeated. His head was captured as a
trophy.
Had Gorandin won, Cebu could have been now Muslim and its
old Spanish churches converted into mosques.
I can compare the resistance of the Cebuano Christians in Bolhoon
to that of the War in the Vendee in 1793. Both fought for their Catholic faith
and were persecuted. Vendee fought against the Masonic French Revolution while
Bolhoon, the Vendee of the East, fought against Islam.
By 1833, Bermejo’s defensive system had covered Mindoro,
Panay, Romblon, Masbate, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Samar, Leyte and
Surigao.
“Boatbuilding had become a flourishing industry in Bolhoon.
A great number of barangayanes were built and sold to other islands and
divisions,” Gerschwiler wrote.
The Moro raids dwindled. It ended when Spaniards brought in
steamships that could outsail even the fastest pancos.
On February 16, 1848, Governor-General Narciso Claveria led
an attack staged via steamships on the Moro stronghold of Balanguingui. When
they were victorious, they made “a several-hours stop” in Oslob, where they
were received by Fr. Bermejo and town officials. It was “one of the last
highlights of Fr. Bermejo’s eventful life,” Gerschwiler said.
Father Bermejo served also served as the parish priest of
Bolhoon for many terms until 1848. He also served as the Prior of the Santo
Nino Church from 1825 until the 1830s.
He died on April 30, 1851 at 74 in the Santo Nino Church.
Based on my analysis, I can see Father Bermejo as a model
for those Catholics who not only fight against Islam like John of Austria in
Lepanto, but also against the tyranny of Vatican II. Fray Bermejo was a very
staunch Catholic who celebrated the Traditional Mass and was very militant.
Now, after Vatican II, the very same enemies of Fray Bermejo are being praised
by the authorities that call themselves ‘’Catholic’’. For example, many ‘’Catholics’’
are doing inter-religious dialogue with the Muslims especially that of Paul VI
gave the Ottoman flag captured by the Catholics in Lepanto back to the Muslims,
John Paul II invoking John the Baptist to protect Islam, and that of Francis who
praises Islam and allows Muslim migrants to destroy Europe. If Fray Bermejo
were to see want Francis doing dialogue with Muslims, I am sure he would denounce
Francis from the pulpit and most likely be excommunicated from the Vatican II
religion.
What would Fray Bermejo do if he were to see this? Francis
kisses an imam’s hand in Indonesia
The El Gran Baluarte of Bolhoon. This was created by Fray
Bermejo to stop Muslim attacks on Christian villages.
Sources:
https://www.mycebu.ph/article/fr-julian-bermejo-oslob/
