Spanish Jesuits were sent in 1921 to work in the Caroline, Mariana and Marshall Islands as replacements for the previous German missionaries. They and others worked in the region until they were imprisoned and eventually executed in 1944. After the war the mission fell to the care of American Jesuits. The above cinderella showing the martyrdom of Diego Luis de San Vitores, SJ was issued presumably in the 1920s or 1930s.Blessed Diego Luís de San Vitores (1627–1672) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary who founded the first Catholic church on the island of Guam. He is responsible for establishing the Spanish presence in the Mariana Islands. A son of a nobleman, he was baptized Diégo Jeronimo de San Vitores y Alonso de Maluendo. His parents attempted to persuade him to pursue a military career, but San Vitores instead chose to pursue his religious interests. In 1640, he entered the Jesuit novitiate and was ordained a priest in 1651. Believing his calling was to serve as a missionary to non-Christians, San Vitores was granted his request and assigned to a mission in the Philippines.
While in Mexico en route to Guam, San Vitores had difficulty encouraging the Spanish viceroy to fund his mission. However, in 1668, Padre Diego Luis de San Vitores set sail from Acapulco to Guam. San Vitores named the Chamorro archipelago, "Islas Marianas" (Mariana Islands) in honor of the Queen Regent of Spain, Maria Ana of Austria, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The missionary landed on Guam in the village of Hagåtña and was greeted by Chief Kepuha. Kepuha's family donated land to establish the first Catholic mission on Guam. On February 2, 1669 Padre San Vitores established the first Catholic church in Hagåtña and dedicated it to the sweet name of Mary, "Dulce Nombre de Maria." After Chief Kepuha's death in 1669, Spanish missionary and Chamorro nobility relations worsened and the Chamorro-Spanish War began in 1671 led by Chief Hurao. After several attacks on the Spanish mission, a peace was negotiated. Though San Vitores chose to emulate Saint Francis Xavier, who did not use soldiers in his missionary efforts in India, as his model priest, he recognized that a military presence would be necessary to protect the priests serving Guam. In 1672, San Vitores ordered churches built in four villages, including Merizo. Later that year, Chamorro resistance increased, led by makahnas and kakahnas (indigenous priests and priestesses) from the Chamorri (upper caste) who would lose their leadership position and status under a Roman Catholic mission organization and male-dominated Spanish society.
The assassination of Padre San Vitores in 1672 by Mata'pang and Hirao. On 2 April 1672, Mata'pang and Hirao killed San Vitores and his Visayan assistant, St. Pedro Calungsod. San Vitores had baptized Mata'pang's newborn daughter without the chief's permission; Mata'pang's wife consented to the baptism according to some accounts. Some records state that Mata'pang had believed holy water used in baptism had caused the recent deaths of babies due to European diseases.
The death of the Spanish mission leader led to Spanish army reprisals against Chamorro chiefs who had decided to defend their homeland from Spanish subjugation. Bounties were offered for these chiefs' decapitated heads and many were hunted down. Under Spanish military governors, Chamorros who were anti-Spanish were massacred in their villages. European plague and warfare eventually contributed to the defeat of the Chamorros. The Chamorro-Spanish Wars lasted more than 25 years. More
