Anything Under the Sun
Mill Hill Missionaries (5)
The language barrier was solved by the MHM priests by learning the Hiligaynon as well as the Kinaray-a dialects. Before being sent to their assignments, the missionaries were required to undergo tutorship under Fr. Alfred Josef Fink in Arevalo.
The language barrier
Fr. Fink was a teacher of classical languages (Latin and Greek) in the Theology College in Bixner. While in Arevalo, he translated Historia Sagrada (Sacred History) into Hiligaynon with the assistance of the Avanceña sisters (Jovita and Ramona) of the Colegio de Santa Ana in Molo. Fr. Fink also helped Fr. Foller to compose the prayer book Katilingban. These two books were best sellers for many years even after the war.
There was Fr. Mathias Hubertus Booner who continued the Cabuhi sang Banwa - a publication of the Diocese of Jaro when its founder and editor Fr. Gabriel Reyes became Bishop of Cebu (later first Filipino Archbishop). This monthly publication is considered as the first community newspaper in the country.
Fr. Henry Peter Saxer translated the Austrian catechism to Hiligaynon, wrote a collection of lives of saints and two booklets - Enthronement of the Sacred Heart and Ang Masunsun nga Pangalawat. He had been parish priest of Pontevedra, Negros Occidental, Pandan and Culasi of Antique and of Arevalo.
But the most famous of them all was Fr. John Kaufmann who continued editing Cabuhi sang Banua after Fr. Booner. Also a teacher of classical languages in Bixner, he had been a parish priest of Sibalom, San Pedro and Patnongon, all in Antique and in Igbaras, Iloilo.
For ten years, Fr. Kaufmann wrote his famous 10,000-word Hilgaynon-English Dictionary in San Pedro. He also translated into Hiligaynon the New Testament and wrote Hiligaynon Grammar.