History of the Mariana Islands

Histoire des isles Marianes (History of the Mariana Islands), was published in Paris in 1700 with authorship attributed to French Jesuit priest Charles Le Gobien, S.J. It provides a detailed glimpse into a tumultuous and critically significant period in the history of the Mariana Islands and the CHamoru people--the period commonly referred to as the CHamoru-Spanish Wars. It includes detailed accounts of the first 30 years of the Jesuit mission in the Marinas. It also features speeches by CHamoru chiefs, including the famous speech by Maga’låhi Hurao that is etched onto the wall at the entrance of the Guam Museum.

Using research conducted in several national and international archives in Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, and at the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center in Guam, Alexandre Coello de la Rosa produced this English translation of the first Spanish edition of Le Gobien’s text. This present edition also stems from a manuscript preserved in the Arxiu de la Companyia de Jesus a Catalunya archive in Barcelona, with authorship attributed to Spanish Jesuit priest Luis de Morales, S.J., who had been part of the Jesuit mission to the Marianas in the late 1600s. Thus, this text calls into question Le Gobien’s authorship. This edition opens with an in-depth introduction analyzing the context of the publication’s history, as well as its significance over time. The book also features annotated notes that expand the narrative by providing details about the history of the Jesuit mission in the Marianas.

Luis de Morales, S.J. (Author)
Luis de Morales, S.J. (1641-1716) entered the Society of Jesus on August 28, 1658. After studying theology in Salamanca and taking his scholastic vows, he joined a group of missionaries to go to the Philippines, departing on March 23, 1662. He arrived in Guam on June 16, 1668, and soon after he witnessed the first martyrdoms of Jesuits and their assistants. In July 1671, he left the Marianas aboard the galleon Nuestra Señora del Socorro to finish his studies in the Philippines. His superiors had asked him to learn Tagalog, and when he completed his formation, he was sent to the missions of Yndang and Maragondong, depending on the mission of Silang, near Manila. On February 2, 1676, Morales professed the four vows. That same year, he was appointed rector of the Antipolo residence, which was some five leagues east of the capital city. He remained in this post until June 14, 1678. In 1682, Morales was appointed as provincial procurator of the Philippines (1682-87). On August 14, 1685, he reached Seville, burdened with letters, recommendations, and memorials that he had to deliver to various people, including the benefactors of the Marianas mission in the Spanish court, Duchess of Aveiro and the Queen Regent. Before returning to the New Spain, Morales went to Rome to participate in the thirteenth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (June 21, 1687 - September 7, 1687) in which Father Thyrsus González de Santalla was elected Superior General of the Society (1687-1705). Established in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (1690-1697), Morales continued to adamantly defend the conservation of the Jesuits’ Philippine missions, including the Marianas. From 1699 to 1703, he served as provincial of the Philippines, being appointed as rector of the College of Manila. He died in Manila on June 14, 1716, at the age of 75.

Charles Le Gobien, S.J. (Author)
Charles Le Gobien, S.J. (1653-1708) entered the Society of Jesus on November 25, 1671. He taught rhetoric and humanities in various Jesuit schools in France, including at the College of Tours and the Royal College of Alençon before transferring to Paris. Hoping to elicit interest in the Asian mission, he published in 1697 the Lettres sur les progrez de la religion a la Chine (Paris: Antoine Lambin). This text was followed a year later by the Histoire de l’edit de l’Empereur de la Chine en faveur de la religion Chrétienne avec un éclaircissement sur les honneurs que les Chinois rendent a, Confucius et aux morts (Paris: J. Anisson). Moreover, as part of his campaign to generate support for the Society’s evangelizing efforts across East Asia, Le Gobien published the Histoire des Isles Marianes nouvellement converties à la religion chrétienne in Paris in 1700. Finally, sometime after the publication of this book, Father Le Gobien edited the Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, an anthology of letters sent by French Jesuit missionaries to their provincial in Paris, with the purpose of replying to the Jansenist attacks and ＂edifying＂ European Jesuits. In 1706, Father Le Gobien was named procurator of the Franco-Chinese Province, but this task was cut short by his death in Paris on March 5, 1708, at the age of 55.

Alexandre Coello de la Rosa (Editor)
Alexandre Coello de la Rosa (Barcelona, 1968) received his Ph.D. in History from Stony Brook, USA (August, 2001). He is (co)editor-in-chief of the journal Illes i Imperis and is currenly doing research at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Department of Humanities. He is a member of the research group Ethnographies, Cultural Encounters and Religious Missions in the Liberian World (ECERM-UPF) at the same University and ＂Conseguidores＂ procuradores jesuitas y circuitos artísticos alternativos en el mundo hispánico (ProJesArt-UAM) at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, as well as an associate member of the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC) at the University of Guam. He specializes in colonial Latin American history, the ecclesiastical history of Peru and the Philippines, historical anthropology, and chronicles of the Indies. Some of his recent publications include (co-edited with David Atienza), Scars of Faith. Jesuit Letters from the Mariana Islands (1668-1684) (Institute of Jesuit Sources. Boston College, 2020) and (co-edited with Joao V. Melo), The Jesuit Encounters with Islam in the Asia-Pacific (Brill, 2023).