Two decades after the Americans took over the district of Davao, which also meant the entry, four years later, of American Protestant preachers, the existing Roman Catholic parishes organized by the Spanish missionaries remained in the hands of Jesuits.
The Cartas y Noticias Edificantes de la Provincia de Aragon Año 1919, a summary of Jesuit letters and good news, provides contemporaneous accounts of present-day life in Davao Oriental. Fr. Jose Grimal, S.J., the parish priest of Cateel, in his May 19, 1919, letter addressed to the Mission Superior in Manila, wrote that life in town was ‘so
monotonous and without accidents that can get someone's attention, that one does not really feel inspired to take up the pen and not be able to interest others by telling them new things.’
In yet another letter dated May 22, 1919, written while in Cateel, he wrote that during this time the entire Caraga jurisdiction had only three houses, namely: the parish priest’s residence at Caraga, and the two other structures—one each–in Baganga and Cateel.
Records show that about this time the town of Caraga, with control over the missions in the town of Manay and Mati, was assigned a priest to handle the spiritual needs of various reductions or settlements.
On top of this, there were Moro settlements to visit and proselytized, which he described as ‘either under government supervision or not.’
Cateel parish, with about 6,000 Christian, Mandaya, and Manobo censused population, separated from the Baganga mission only in November 1914. Meanwhile, the parishes of
Baganga and Caraga, comparatively smaller than Cateel, was the youngest parish and similar in size to the missions of Manay and Mati.
Fr. Grimal’s Caraga house of worship is actually the San Salvador del Mundo Church built in 1877 by the Jesuits after they took over the spiritual direction of the town in 1871 from the Recollects. It was completed in 1884 and dedicated to Christ, the Holy Savior of the World.
Made from limestone blocks, hardwood, and corals, the church looks like a fort, with its front door inscribed with a Christian symbol. Inside it is the decrepit retablos and artifacts dating to the early Spanish colonial period. The other church features include the centuries-old giant seashells used as holy-water vessels and a colonial-era baptismal font that has since been archived.
Other interesting relics and objects in the church are the 1802 church bell, an antique San Isidro Labrador image, and the old baptismal registry. On July 16, 2012, the church was declared a historical site by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. The oldest in southern Mindanao, it survived the December 4, 2012, onslaught of super-
typhoon ‘Pablo.’ In 2021, the Diocese of Mati and the Ateneo de Davao University signed a memorandum of understanding to digitize the parish’s old records or books of registry covering sixteen volumes and involving close to 2,500 oversized pages containing info and details of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, death registrations, and books of
financial accounts.
Fr. Grimal’s narratives also included events outside his range. He reported that the parish house and church in Mati, like the convent and church of Manay, were dilapidated, and the structures were made from wood and their roofs from the tin. In contrast, the church and convent of Caraga were in the best condition due to the kind of woods used,
which was similar to Baganga.
He noted that the Cateel church measured two by fifteen meters, rather bigger than those in the towns of Baganga and Caraga. He described its roof as rusted and wanted repair while its posts, made from the best wood, had nipa walls, like the convent, and sand floor. Each mission owned a convent and a church, defined as small and built from nipa, by the entire village.
