Roman Catholic Diocese of Calbayog

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Diocese of Calbayog

Dioecesis Calbayogana

Diyosesis han Calbayog
Catholic
Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral Calbayog (Jose Avelino Avenue, Calbayog, Samar; 04-27-2023).jpg
Coat of arms of the Diocese of Calbayog.svg
Coat of arms
Location
CountryFlag of the Philippines.svg Philippines
Territory Western Samar
Ecclesiastical province Palo
Metropolitan Palo
Statistics
Area5,069 km2 (1,957 sq mi)
Population
  • Total
  • Catholics
  • (as of 2021)
  • 802,000
  • 753,748 [1]  (94%)
Parishes46
Information
Denomination Catholic
Sui iuris church Latin Church
Rite Roman Rite
EstablishedApril 10, 1910
Cathedral Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul
Patron saints Peter and Paul
Secular priests 71
Current leadership
Pope Leo XIV
Bishop Isabelo C. Abarquez
Metropolitan Archbishop John F. Du
Vicar GeneralNiceas Abejuela
Former coat of arms of the Diocese of Calbayog, depicting actual wounds instead of gout-de-sang. Coat of arms of the Diocese of Calbayog (1950).svg
Former coat of arms of the Diocese of Calbayog, depicting actual wounds instead of gout-de-sang.

The Diocese of Calbayog is a Latin Catholic ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. It is named after its episcopal see, Calbayog, a city on the western side of the province of Samar in the Philippines.

Contents

History

Samar and Leyte, two civil provinces in the Visayan group of the Philippines, which include the islands of Balicuatro, Batac, Biliran, Capul, Daram, Homonhon, Leyte, Manicani, Panaon, Samar and several smaller islands, once made up the diocese of Calbayog, now a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Palo. The diocesan Calbayog has a cathedral dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul.

The Diocese of Calbayog is the local church comprising the civil territorial jurisdiction of western Samar Island. The island, the third largest in the Philippines, is composed of three provinces: Northern Samar with Catarman as capital, Eastern Samar with Borongan as capital, and the Samar Province with Catbalogan as the capital. The City of Calbayog is where the Cathedral of the diocese has been located since its ecclesiastical foundation on April 10, 1910, by Pope Pius X. The new diocese was before made up of the whole Samar and Leyte islands.

On April 28, 1934, Pope Pius XI promulgated an apostolic constitution with the incipit Romanorum Pontificum semper, separating the dioceses of Cebu, Calbayog, Jaro, Bacolod, Zamboanga, and Cagayan de Oro from the ecclesiastical province of Manila. The same constitution elevated the diocese of Cebu into an archdiocese while placing all the newly separated dioceses under a new ecclesiastical province with Cebu as the new metropolitan see. [2]

Subsequently, Palo was ceded from Calbayog as a separate diocese in 1937, Borongan in 1965, and Catarman in 1975. The historical vicissitudes of the Diocese of Calbayog cannot be fully appreciated apart from the history of the early evangelical works of the first missionaries who came to Samar. The first Jesuit missionaries reached Leyte and Samar in 1595, the islands subsequently forming part of the Diocese of Cebu until erected into a separate diocese on 10 April 1910. The first bishop was Pablo Singzon de la Anunciacion.

It was transferred to the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Palo, which was promoted to a Metropolitan Archdiocese on November 15, 1982.

Local Ordinaries

NoNameIn officeCoat of arms
1.Pablo Singzon de la Anunciacion12 April 1910 Appointed - 9 Aug. 1920 Died
2.Sofronio Hacbang y Gaborni22 Feb. 1923 Appointed - 3 April 1937 Died Coat of arms of Sofronio Hacbang y Gaborni.svg
3.Miguel Acebedo y Flores6 Dec 1937 Appointed - 25 July 1958 Died Coat of arms of Miguel Acebedo y Flores.svg
4. Manuel P. Del Rosario25 July 1958 Succeeded - 11 Dec. 1961 Appointed, Bishop of Malolos Coat of arms of Manuel Platon Del Rosario (Calbayog).svg
5.Cipriano Urgel y Villahermosa †22 Mar 1962 Appointed - 12 April 1973 Appointed, Bishop of Palo Coat of arms of Cipriano Urgel y Villahermosa (Calbayog).svg
6.Ricardo Pido Tancinco †8 March 1974 Appointed - 21 April 1979 Resigned
7.Sincero Barcenilla Lucero †10 Dec. 1979 Appointed - 11 Oct. 1984 Resigned Coat of arms of Sincero Barcenilla Lucero as Bishop of Calbayog.svg
8.Maximiano Tuazon Cruz20 Dec. 1994 Appointed - 13 Jan. 1999 Retired Coat of arms of Maximiano Tuazon Cruz as Bishop of Calbayog.svg
9. Jose Serofia Palma 13 Jan 1999 Appointed - 18 March 2006 Appointed, Archbishop of Palo Coat of arms of Jose Serofia Palma as Bishop of Calbayog.svg
10. Isabelo Caiban Abarquez 5 Jan. 2007 Appointed - present Coat of arms of Isabelo Caiban Abarquez.svg

Sources and references

References

  1. "Calbayog (Catholic Diocese)". gcatholic.org. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
  2. Pope Pius XI, Apostolic Constitution separating some dioceses from the ecclesiastical province of Manila to form the new ecclesiastical province of Cebu Romanorum Pontificum semper (28 April 1934), Acta Apostolicae Sedis 27 (1935), pp.263-264. PROVINCIA ECCLESIASTICA MANILANA DISMEMBRATIO ET NOVA CAEBUANA PROVINCIA ERIGITUR.

12°04′00″N124°35′42″E / 12.0666°N 124.5950°E / 12.0666; 124.5950