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Around the middle of 1571,
six years after Legazpi's arrival, the first Spanish expedition to
Pangasinan was made by the Maestre de Campo Martin de Goiti, Advancing
northwards after conquering Pampanga, he placed many towns along his route
under Spanish sovereignty until he reached the Gulf of Lingayen. On May 20
of the following year, another expedition was sent to Pangasinan, this
time under the command of no less than Capitan Juan de Salcedo, Legazpi's
valiant grandnephew, who, after surveying its shares, placed almost the
entire territory under Spanish rule.
Pangasinan[1], or Caboloan[2],
as it was known then embraced a territory which included the northern half
of Zambales, the northern half of Tarlac, the northern half of Nueva Ecija,
the southern half of Nueva Vizcaya and the greater part of La Union. With
this vast territory, one can hardly expect the conquest and pacification
of Pangasinan in so short a time. In fact, it was not until the term of
acting Governor General Diego de Ronquillo (1583-1584) that a relative
pacification of the province was achieved.
Although the pacification of Pangasinan became an accomplished fact only
in later years, the work of evangelization in the province had begun much
earlier. As early as 1575, we find a handful of Augustinians who were
laboriously trying to preach the faith among the early Pangasinenses. The
Spaniards marched out slowly according to their schedule of expansion, but
the early arrival of these missionaries was occasioned only by a very
important event. This was a military expedition in hot pursuit of Lim-Ahonq
or Lim Feng.
This notorious Chinese corsair is said to have had the bold illusion of
seizing the Philippines and make it its kingdom. So, in early November
1574, he set out from Mariveles with a powerful squadron of 62 battleships
and 3,000 men and a great number of women with whom he hoped to found the
capital of his imagined kingdom. He attacked Manila twice but every time,
he was repelled by the Spanish forces. Failing in his sieges, Limahong
left Manila Bay and retreated northward until he and his party reached an
island near the mouth of the Agno River (between what is now Salasa and
Lingayen) where he established his headquarters and began to rule the
province in tyranny. The Spanish authorities knowing the intentions of
Limahong organized an expedition to pursue and destroy him. This
expedition under the command of Juan de Salcedo, accompanied by his
lieutenants Pedro de Chaves and Gabriel de Rivera, set out from Manila
with 250 Spaniards and 2,250 Filipinos. Having surprised Limahong's
armada, they captured one of the fortresses which he had built. For four
months, Limahong was beleaguered but during this time, he secretly built
some boats by which he managed to escape with some of his soldiers,
passing through a section of the Agno called Banaoang which flowed through
Souguian, and all the way out into the open sea. Since then, Limahong was
never heard of again. The Spaniards set up garrison in Lingayen to avert
future attacks on Luzon.
Accompanying the forces under Juan Salcedo were some Augustinian
missionaries, among them was the famous Martin de Rada and Pedro Holgado.
As soon as Limahong was suppressed, these missionaries took the
opportunity to spread the Faith in the province. Thus, they became the
first wave of apostles who attempted the conversion of Pangasinan. Upon
disembarking on Pangasinan soil, they erected a small chapel on the bank
of the Toboang creek, not far from the place which the present town of San
lsidro (Labrador) now occupies. It was the very first house of Christian
worship to be built on the land of a people who had known no religion but
paganism with all its idolatry and superstitious beliefs. Very unhappy
indeed, due to the resistance that the idolatrous natives offered to an
attempt of conversion, the Augustinians were unable to make much headway
for the Faith. After establishing the missions of Lingayen, Bagnotan (now
Dagupan) and Santa Monica (now Manaoag), they left Pangasinan ¬with heavy
hearts and proceeded to the Ilocos provinces.
After the Augustinians, a group of secular priests whose history is not
recorded came to convert the Pangasinenses. Some Franciscan friars,
notably Fr. Juan Bautista Pisaro and Sebastian de Baeza also attempted to
evangelize the province. Their efforts were all futile. Unable to
withstand the ferocious Pangasinan like their Augustinians predecessors,
they abandoned this “barren and ungrateful land”.
To the Dominicans belong the glory and the honor of converting Pangasinan
where they stayed until the early years of the Revolution in 1898. Like
the parable in the Gospel, it was they who watered the tiny mustard seed
of Faith which their predecessors had sown and watched it grow into a
mighty tree. The province indeed is to be counted among the many places
which were set on fire by the “torch” which has always characterized the
mission of their founder St, Dominic. The first Dominican missionaries who
came to Pangasinan were Fathers Bernardo de Santa Catalina (who acted as
the superior of the small group), Gregorio Ochoa, Juan de Castro; Pedro de
Soto, Marcos de San Antonio and Juan de la Cruz. Arriving in the province
in September 1587, they established themselves in Binalatongan where they
were first accommodated in a humble but "made of branches and leaves"
which the then Spanish encomendero of Binalatongan named Jimenez del Pino
had provided them. In this place they lost no time in erecting a small
chapel which they placed under the patronage of St. Dominic; Binalatongan
then became the center wherefrom the light of Faith rose like a blazing
sun over Pangasinan, dispelling the darkness of idolatry and error. As the
Dominicans embarked on their noble task of conversion, they did not find
the situation any better than what their predecessors did but after three
years of initial difficulties, resistance of the natives eventually broke
down in the face of constant prayer and the good example set by the
friars. The first small group of converts eventually though slowly swelled
into a mass conversion of people who rushed to the redeeming waters of
Baptism. So thorough was the work of conversion that towns and parishes
emerged successively and within a few years; almost the entire population
had come to embrace the Faith. By the year 1612, they were already at
least 10,000 baptized Christians in Pangasinan.
The wrath of men and the rage of nature did not deter the intrepid
Dominicans to resettle and found one town after another; Binalatongan (now
San Carlos in 1588; Gabon (now Calasiao) in 1588; Mangaldan in 1600;
Manaoag in 1608; Lingayen in 1614; Bayambang in 1619; Binmaley in 1627;
San Jacinto in 1643; Malasique in 1677; San Bartalome de Agno in 1688;
Asingan in 1698; San Fabian in 1718; Salasa in 1720; Maliong-liong in
1739; Santa Barbara in 1743; Labrador in 1755; Pandayocan (now Villasis)
in 1763; Aguilar in 1810; Mangatarem in 1837; Sual in 1837, Binalonan in
1841; Tayug in 1841; San Nicolas in 1849; Urbiztundo in 1855; Urdaneta in
1863; San Manuel in 1878; Pozorrubio in 1881; Alcala in 1881; Santa Maria
in 1890 and Alava (now Sison) in 1896. Meanwhile, the western towns of
Pangasinan which formed a part of the Zambales mission were administered
by the Augustinian Recollects. Already from 1609, we could trace: their
missionary activities in Bolinao, Alaminos, Bani; Dasol; Anda, Burgos, and
Infanta respectively according to the date of their founding.
The union of Church and State in general and the Patronato Real in
particular greatly helped in the propagation of the Faith during the
Spanish period. As the process of evangelization went on for almost four
centuries, the Christian community in the province continued to grow and
to flourish. In 1898, when the Dominicans gave up the work of the church
in Pangasinan there were 293,111 souls under the care of 35 priests
distri¬buted over 29 towns. After the Revolution, the native clergy took
over the care of the vacated parishes: Owing to the scarcity of priests
however, many parishes were without resident pastors and in many cases a
pastor took care of the spiritual needs of several parishes at the same
time. After the independence from Spain a strong spirit of nationalism
prevailed which gave rise to criticism; prejudices and false accusations
against the friars and the Spanish regime as a whole by Filipinos who were
totally ignorant of history. The rank and file of the clergy was not
spared by this passion so much so that several of them wanted to be
independent even from Rome. This led to the founding of the Philippine
Independent Church by a Filipino priest, Gregorio Aglipay, from Ilocos
Norte who attracted many followers including some from Pangasinan.
Since the Spanish regime, all the parishes of Pangasinan fell within the
jurisdiction of the Bishop of Nueva Segovia who had jurisdiction over the
whole of northern Luzon. Up to 1776 when the parochial system was adopted
in the Philippines, they were not subject to canonical visitation as
provided for by the Laws of the Indies. And they were not parishes in the
actual sense of the word but vicariates. They were mission parishes
ad¬ministered by the Vicars of the Dominican Provincial, On May 19, 1928,
the Diocese of Lingayen (comprising the whole civil province of
Pangasinan, 11 towns of Tarlac and 10 towns of Nueva Ecija, and 3 towns of
Zambales) was separated from the mother diocese. The first bishop of the
new diocese was the Most Rev: Cesar Maria Guerrero. He was shortly
succeeded by the Most Rev. Mariano Madriaga. Since 1928, the episcopal
seat of the new diocese was Lingayen.
But on May 11, 1954, it was moved to Dagupan because of the destruction
wrought by World War II. It took only 25 years for Pangasinan to become an
Archdiocese. On February 16, 1963, Pope Paul VI reconstituted the diocese
of Lingayen into an archdiocese comprising the whole civil province of
Pangasinan. The towns from Tarlac and Nueva Ecija were returned to their
respective civil provinces to form two independent dioceses each as
suffragans of the new Metropolitan See. The Most Rev. Mariano Madriaga was
eventually elevated to the rank of Archbishop. In 1970, the diocese of La
Union was created and separated from Nueva Segovia becoming another
suffragan of the now Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. After governing the
diocese for more than 35 years, Msgr. Madriaga was succeeded by the Most
Rev. Federico Limon. On January 12, 1985, the western part of Pangasinan
was made into the Diocese of Alaminos, and the eastern part, the Diocese
of Urdaneta, both dioceses becoming suffragans of Lingayen-Dagupan along
with the dioceses of Cabanatuan, San Jose (Nueva Ecija) and San Fernando,
La Union. On July 15, 1991, a new Archbishop was appointed in the person
of Mpst Reverend Oscar V. Cruz, JCD.
There are 26 parishes in the Archdiocese served by 106 priests; 12
religious brothers and 33 religious sisters. Catholic institutions include
2 seminaries: a college and a minor, 27 Catholic schools, a Lay Formation
Center; a social action center, a Caritas center, a Biblical Center, a
Family and Life Center, a youth center, and a catechetical center. A
printing press is also located conveniently in the college seminary.
Pastoral activities are concentrated on worship; catholic education; youth
apostolate, social action and pastoral work with the family A noteworthy
innovation is the attention given to worship. The archdiocese is achieving
progress in making the liturgy the framework of worship. Devotions remain
popular but adequate success has been achieved to integrate these with
liturgy. Thus, devotions to saints, who are local favorites, have been
weaned off the novena syndrome and integrated with the celebration of the
mass.
On social action, Archbishop Oscar V Cruz established the Caritas Dagupan,
the primary objective of which is to help the poor of Christ help
thernselves through livelihood and health projects, The Archdiocesan
Commission on Social Action and Allied Services ini¬tiates programs that
encourage entrepreneurship among the rural communities, The Commission
grants financial assistance *to rural folks so they can put up small-scale
industries, or organize cooperatives to eventually improve their standard
of living.
Since Archbishop Cruz assumed office; one of his main preoccupations has
been the formulation of an Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan. After much
reflection and deliberation, the Plan was finally finished. The
Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan is based on the integrated advisory
observations made by the clergy and the laity who had been constantly
consulted by the Archbishop on the matter.
The plan is on a short term basis of three years, after which evaluations
are made necessary adjustments adopted, and then the renewed Pastoral Plan
is launched for another three years. Subsequently the plan will go through
the same evaluation; adoptive and renewal processes.
The plan itself starts with the situation of broken and sinful
unbelievers; ignorant and indifferent, notwithstanding the call to be
healed, to be whole, to be holy, to be believers. The Vision is the Living
Body of Christ through a witnessing; worshipping; serving and evangelizing
community. And mission is renewed and intensive evangelization; renewed
and intense living of gospel values; development of the spirit, charisms
and capabilities of the presbyterium; promotion, encouragement and
maximization of the ecclesial participation of the laity.
In line with the above programs have been devised to particularize the
mission component of the Plan. In particular these programs involve the,
clergy, the laity, and the community apostolates.
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[1] Also known then as Feng-chia-shih-lan.
[2] An ancient kingdom called Luyag na Kaboloan existed
in Pangasinan before the Spanish conquest that began on the 15th century.
Princess Urduja, a legendary woman warrior, is believed to have ruled in
Pangasinan around the 14th century. The maritime trade network that once
flourished in ancient Southeast Asia connected Pangasinan to other parts
of Southeast Asia and China
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