Alcala Church

The town of Alcala was originally one of the biggest sitios of Bayambang. It was separated civilly from its mother, Bayambang, by the Royal Decree No. 682 of the Spanish Government dated September 20, 1875. It was comprised by the barrios of Dangla, Namalutan, Ba-ong, Baguiyao, Cupi, Bacud and Bitulao. It was first called “Dabgla”, a vernacular name of a medicinal shrub, which was then in abundance in the locality. This name was changed, however, into Alcala in honor of the then incumbent Spanish Governor of Pangasinan who was a native of Alcala, Spain.

Alcala was ceated as an independent parish by another Royal Decree of the Spanish Government dated January 4, 1881, and was given the name, Parish of the Holy Cross. The Dominicans accepted it as a House of the Order on November of 1881 and made Rev. Fr. Eduardo Saamaniego, O.P., the first parish priest on February 21, 1882.

Fr. Samaniego started the construction of the convent. Fr. Revilla continued it, and Fr. Casamitjana finished it. This same Parish priest placed the foundation of the first parish church and his successor completed it. The first church was destroyed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All Churches in Pangasinan

PARISH OF ST. JOSEPH ALAMINOS 1766 This town, with the original name of Sarapsap, was founded in 1766 by the Augustinian Recollects. The first church of the town built in 1770 was burned to-Gether with the convent and the tribunal by a fire that razed the town in 1814. The First parish priest of the town was Fr. Toribio Raymundo (1778-1815). In 1875 the name Alaminos was adopted in ho or of the Spanish Governor General, who visited the town. Between the years 1837-1849, Fr. Manuel Busquete, the Recollectos parish priest started the construction of the present church and the convent of Alaminos. Fr. Jose Tornos (1849-1878) continued the work. Fr. Victoriano Vereciano (1879-1893) changed the nipa roofing and installed the wooden flooring. He also painted the church. Fr. Toribio Macazo (1998-1926) established the INSTITUTE OF SAN JOSE in the town, Fr, Tomas Changco (1926-1915) improved the church tower, donated three bells and roofed the church with galvanized iron. PARISH OF ST. ...
Read more

Mangaldan Church

Mangaldan owns the distinction as the third town in Pangasinan to be founded by the Dominican missionaries. As early as 1591, Mangaldan already existed as a Spanish encomienda. Its foundation as a town is attributed to Blessed Juan Martinez de Santo Domingo, a former missionary of Pangasinan who died a martry’s death in Japan on March 19, 1618. Mangaldan started as a “visita” of Calasiao and it remained as such until the Dominicans created it as an independent vicariate under the patronage of St. Thomas Aquinas on June 2, 1600. It is said that of all the people of Pangasinan, the Mangaldanes were the most difficult to convert. The greatest enemy of the missionaries in the town was a certain man named Casipit who tried to force them out of the town and even attempted to kill some of them. Yet, when he was converted by the first apostle, Fr. Pedro Soto, he became the principal propagator of the Faith. He contributed a great sum of money for the construction of the first church. In the se...
Read more