After an enjoyable and successful year as an assistant priest in New Plymouth, N.Z., he felt that God wanted him to become a missionary. In his youth he excelled at rugby and cricket, and later studied for the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Wellington. Hours earlier he had been abducted from his convento and taken over the mountains to Paete.įrank or Vernon (to his friends) was born in Johnsonville, Wellington, New Zealand, on May 22, 1910. Francis Vernon Douglas, parish priest of Pililla, Rizal, some 50 kms away. No one knew who he was, or where he came from. He was tied to a lamppost and made to endure the hot tropical sun throughout the day. Caucasian CaptiveĪ day before the fiesta, Japanese soldiers arrived in a truck with a tall, unknown Caucasian in custody dressed in a white cassock. For several days, some 250 men were interrogated and tortured, deprived of sleep and mercilessly beaten until they gave information or died. The Japanese were seeking out guerrillas and their collaborators who were carrying on a resistance in the woods of nearby hills. All males from fourteen upwards were rounded up and incarcerated in the centuries-old parish church, famous for its beautiful woodcarvings and paintings. It was cordoned off and no one was allowed to leave. However, the peace and tranquility of the town, crowded with visitors, was abruptly interrupted when the Japanese Imperial Army decided to zone off the area. On July 25, 1943, as usual the people were eagerly looking forward to their annual fiesta in honor of St. Founded as a Christian settlement around 1580, its inhabitants are famous for their woodcarving skills. Paete is a quiet country town nestled between the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains and Laguna de Bay, about 115 kms from Manila. Douglas was tortured and is thought to have died near Paete, Laguna, in July 1943. John Keenan, a Columban missionary from Ireland, tells us about it.įr. Francis Vernon Douglas at the hands of the Japanese Military Police in the Philippines during World War II is one story that must not be forgotten. We are republishing this article, which first appeared in Misyon in the January-February 2001 issue, in conjunction with Fr Pat O’Shea’s article Shaken and Stirred in this issue.Īs a new century and a new millennium begins, Pope John Paul II is anxious that the lives and deaths of those who suffered and died heroically in the service of others be recorded and documented. The Philippines is battling a renewed surge in infections, including those of the new and more transmissible variants, prompting the government to tighten existing curbs in the capital and nearby provinces.Ĭoronavirus cases and deaths in the Philippines totalled 721,892 and 13,170, the second highest in Southeast Asia, with infections reported in the past nine days accounting for a tenth of the total.Columban Fr John Keenan first came to the Philippines in 1966 and is currently chaplain at Centro Escolar University, Manila. Peter Parish in Quezon City, candles were attached to empty pews to represent parishioners taking part in Palm Sunday celebrations outside the church or online. Religious gatherings will be banned from Monday until Easter to comply with stricter quarantine restrictions the Philippine government reimposed in the capital and nearby provinces to slow the sharp rise in COVID-19 infections.Ībout 80% of people in the Philippines are Catholic.Īt the St. I hope our (living) conditions will get better, especially since there are a growing number of people going hungry," Stephane Silva said after attending mass.
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