A great Filipino book on the arrival of Christianity

IT might seem odd to be writing a review of a book that was published 36 years ago, but the fortune of books is quite often unforeseeable, and the existence of this one needs to be brought to the attention of readers with some kind of intellectual curiosity or love for history. It has been repeated over and over again that both the history of the first circumnavigation and Legazpi's conquest should be narrated with a Filipino perspective, but that narrative already existed, and I am appalled by the fact that, as far as I can tell, nobody has mentioned this book.

And this occurs despite the fact that the book was highly praised at the time of its publication. A renowned Jesuit historian of the Philippines claimed then that "the book is solidly based on primary, if published, sources, as bibliography and notes indicate. Sitoy has worked diligently to reconstruct the story not only of Christianization, but of the Spanish conquest in whose context it took place. His analysis of the documentation is generally careful and sound," adding that "in his efforts to put evangelization in its context, the author has given such detail on the early voyages and settlement that he has indeed written the best general history of that period." That praise is all the more precious when we consider that Fr. Schumacher was, at times, a merciless book reviewer.