In February 1906, 120 years ago, eight brave missionaries arrived in the Philippines after a long steamship journey from Brixen in Tirol. Fr Julius Verbrugge, Fr Benedict Pundleider, Fr Maximilian Abler, Fr Walter Cain, Fr James Cleven, Fr Bernard Creemers, Fr John Foller and Fr Anthony Smale were the first group from the Mill Hill Missionaries to begin and establish missionary work there. They stepped into an unfamiliar land, facing harsh weather, uncertainty, and a chaotic political situation filled with unrest, yet they pressed on with determination to build their mission from the ground up.
Over the following months, the missionaries made slow but steady progress in their new surroundings. They worked hard to learn the local dialect, get to know the area, and gradually fit in with everyday customs, all while carefully preparing how best to guide and support the Church in what was often a complicated local situation. After several months of language study, they were assigned to different mission areas, especially in the provinces of Antique and Iloilo, where they set about rekindling and strengthening the faith for many years to come. As time went on, more missionaries arrived in the Philippines, and their work spread further, reaching wider communities, including those in Negros Occidental and the province of Iloilo.
Like St Joseph, patron of the Mill Hill Missionaries, generations of missionaries have worked quietly in many places, often for years, giving all they had — even their lives — for the sake of the Gospel. Today, an international team of Mill Hill Missionaries continues this long story of service in the provinces of Antique, Iloilo, and Palawan, carrying on a mission first begun 120 years ago. Walking side by side with local communities, they journey with people through all kinds of struggles, reaching those others cannot reach, and helping restore dignity to those who have been rejected or forgotten.
