Roman Catholic Diocese of Calbayog

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

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, make up the diocese of Calbayog, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Manila. The diocesan seat 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 side of Samar Island. The island, the third largest in the Philippines, is composed of three provinces: the Province of Northern Samar with Catarman as capital, the Province of Eastern Samar with Borongan as capital, and the Province of Samar (in the West) with Catbalogan as the capital. The City of Calbayog, the lone city in the Province of Samar and of the entire Samar Island, is where the Cathedral of the diocese is located since its ecclesiastical foundation on April 10, 1910 by Pope Pius X. The new Diocese was comprised then of the whole Samar and Leyte islands separate from the Archdiocese of Cebu. 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 labors of the first missionaries who came to the island of 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 the Rt. Rev. 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.

Seminaries

• The Seminario de San Vicente de Paul
• St. Joseph Seminary - Tacloban city

Parishes

• St. Bartholomewthe Apostle - Catbalogan City
• Sts. Peter and Paul - Paranas
• St Michael De Archangel - Basey
• St. Michael the Archangel - Gandara
• St. Francis of Assisi - Tarangnan
• Our Lady of Annunciation - Calbiga
• Our Lady of Nativity - Calbayog
• St. Rose of Lima - Villareal
• Sta. Rita De Cascia - Sta. Rita
• San Pasual Baylon - Jiabong
• St. Anthony De Padua - Zumarraga
• Holy Infant - Oquendo, Calbayog City
• St. Michael De Archangel - San Sebastian
• Santiago Apostol - Sta. Margarita
• St. Vicente Ferrer - Tinambacan, Calbayog City
• Holy Infant Jesus - Santo Niño
• Holy Infant - Daram
• St. James the Apostle - Talalora
• Our Lady of Sorrows - Pinabacdao
• Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception - Motiong
• St. Joseph the Apostle - Osmeña, Marabut
• St. Joseph the Worker - Hinabangan
• St. Francis of Assisi - Silanga, Catbalogan City
• Most Holy Trinity - Trinidad, Calbayog City
• St. Isidore the Farmer - San Jorge
• Sto. Niño - Pagsangjan
• San Isidore the Farmer - Matuguinao
• Sacred Heart of Jesus - Almagro
• St. Anthony of Padua - Brgy Bagacay-Consolabao, Hinabangan
• St. Joseph the Worker - Brgy San Policarpio, Calbayog City
• Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary - Ubanon Dist, Catbalogan
• St.peter and paul cathedral-calbayog city

Ordinaries

1. Most Rev. Pablo Singzon de la Anunciacion,D.D. † (12 Apr 1910 Appointed - 9 Aug 1920 Died)
2. Most Rev. Sofronio Hacbang y Gaborni, D.D. † (22 Feb 1923 Appointed - 3 Apr 1937 Died)
3. Most Rev. Miguel Acebedo y Flores, D.D. † (16 Dec 1937 Appointed - 25 Jul 1958 Died)
4. Most Rev. Manuel P. Del Rosario, D.D. † (25 Jul 1958 Succeeded - 11 Dec 1961 Appointed, Bishop of Malolos)
5. Most Rev. Cipriano Urgel y Villahermosa, D.D. † (22 Mar 1962 Appointed - 12 Apr 1973 Appointed, Bishop of Palo)
6. Most Rev. Ricardo Pido Tancinco, D.D. (8 Mar 1974 Appointed - 21 Apr 1979 Resigned)
7. Most Rev. Sincero Barcenilla Lucero, D.D. † (10 Dec 1979 Appointed - 11 Oct 1984 Resigned)
8. Most Rev. Maximiano Tuazon Cruz, D.D. (20 Dec 1994 Appointed - 13 Jan 1999 Retired)
9. Most Rev. Jose S. Palma, D.D. (13 Jan 1999 Appointed - 18 Mar 2006 Appointed, Archbishop of Palo)
10. Most Rev. Isabelo Caiban Abarquez, D.D. (5 Jan 2007 Appointed - )

Sources and references

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.  Sámar and Leyte
• GCatholic.org

External links

• diocesan website, in English