The San Ignacio de Loyola Parish Church ( Spanish: ''Iglesia Parroquial de San Ignacio de Loyola''), commonly known as Capul Church or Fuerza de Capul, is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

fortress church in the municipality of

Capul, Northern Samar Capul, officially the Municipality of Capul ( war, Bungto han Capul; tl, Bayan ng Capul), is a 5th class island municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 12,323 people. A l ...

, Philippines within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Catarman. It was first established as a mission station by the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s in 1596 under the advocacy of Saint

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, Society of Jesus, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spain, Spanish Catholic ...

. The church was declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines.

History

Capul was first established as a mission station by the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s in 1596.According to Javellana, the Jesuits may have reached the island in 1610. The date 1596 comes from the marker of the

National Historical Commission of the Philippines The National Historical Commission of the Philippines ( fil, Pambansang Komisyong Pangkasaysayan ng Pilipinas, abbreviated NHCP) is a government agency of the Philippines. Its mission is "the promotion of Philippine history and cultural herita ...

. The first church made of nipa and hardwood was dedicated to Saint

. Moro attacks from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

destroyed the church. A new church made of stone, along with a fortress, was built to protect the town from Moro invasion in the 1600s. Father Juan Isandi,Also spelled as Esandi. last Jesuit priest to Capul, died during the Moro attacks in 1768. After the Jesuits were expelled in the country, the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

s later supervised Capul in 1768 with Father Joaquín Martínez as the first Franciscan priest there. The church was again destroyed by the Moro and Father Mariano Valera supervised the reconstruction of the third church and construction of the high

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

in 1781. On 8 November 1864, Capul was elevated as a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

by the Bishop of Cebu.The marker of the

states that Capul was elevated as a parish on 8 November 1864. Javellana states that Capul was elevated as a parish on 18 November 1869 in conformity of an episcopal decree dated 12 September 1864

Architecture

The church is an example of a Spanish fortress church. It is surrounded by strong stone walls and

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

s of dissimilar designs. Father Valero designed the church with a cross-shaped wall made of stone, similar to

Intramuros Intramuros (Latin for "inside the walls") is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila. Present-day I ...

. When Moro attacked the town, the people of Capul would take refuge inside the church. The bell tower is located on the left side of the church. A stone watchtower on a huge rock is located near the church complex. A small chapel, probably a mortuary chapel, can also be found inside the complex. Its facade is simple as it forms a defensive wall.

Pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s and a split

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

around the central door only adorn the facade. A typhoon destroyed the church's neo-gothic altar in 1947 and in 1987, another typhoon caused extensive damage when it ripped off the roof and ceiling. The church was afterwards repaired but is virtually an empty shell. The storm also destroyed the church's

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

Historical and cultural declarations

A historical marker was installed to Capul Church on 5 August 2011. It was also declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines in 2014.

Notes

References

{{National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines, state=collapsed Fortified church buildings Roman Catholic churches in Northern Samar Marked Historical Structures of the Philippines National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines Spanish Colonial architecture in the Philippines