Mr. Lallave’s Little Books

At one time it was not allowed to have a Bible or read one if you lived in the Philippines. The Spaniard rulers said reading the Bible was wrong. They thought it was subversive and revolutionary.

Bibles in Spanish were given out to people in the Philippines under cover of darkness in 1828. One of these Bibles was given to a priest in Pangasinan by a British Ship Captain. This priest had the name of Nicolas Manrique Alonso Lallave.

Mr. Lallave had already been thinking about renouncing his priestly vows. He had some questions about the teachings in the Roman Catholic Church at the time, and he was looking for answers. When he began to read this Spanish Bible secretly given to him he was convicted by what he read. His teaching began to change as he shared the message of grace through faith in Christ. When this was found out, Lallave was exiled to Spain.

While in Spain, Lallave was married and had 7 children. He became a pastor there, but he just kept thinking about the people in Pangasinan who would not know the truth of the Bible. He began translating the gospel of Luke and decided to deliver the little books himself.

When he and his friend arrived on the ship with the little books of the Bible they were confiscated! Lallave became ill in Manila (or was he poisoned!?) and he died, while his friend was imprisoned. Was there any hope for the people of Pangasinan?

When his friend was released, he collected the little books of the Bible and dropped off the crates in Singapore. Here they were stored for 10 years waiting to be read by the people of Pangasinan. Finally, when the Philippines became free some people from the Bible Society delivered the little books of the Bible to Pangasinan. They could read God’s Word for the first time in their own language, Pangalato. Even though Lallave was not alive to see the people receive his translation of God’s Word, he will hopefully see them in heaven because of the grace of God.

Isaiah 55.11 “[My Word] will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

This is my summary of the story I heard in our Asian History class. “Mr. Lallave’s Little Books” is a children’s book about M. A. Lallave written by the professor of our class, Dr. Anne Kwantes. It was published by OMF, if you would like to buy one. This is a true story that can be verified historically.