The Saint Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral Parish ( es, Catedral Parroquial de Santa Catalina de Alejandria), better known as Dumaguete Cathedral, 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 ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

and

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

Dumaguete Dumaguete, officially the City of Dumaguete ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dumaguete; fil, Lungsod ng Dumaguete), is a 3rd income class component city and the capital of the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a p ...

Negros Oriental Negros Oriental ( ceb, Sidlakang Negros; tl, Silangang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Oriental, is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Dumaguete. It occupies the southeaste ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The cathedral is the seat of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Dumaguete The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dumaguete (Latin: ''Dioecesis Dumaguetensis''; Filipino: ''Diyosesis ng Dumaguete''; Cebuano: ''Diyosesis sa Dumaguete;'' Spanish: ''Diócesis de Dumaguete'') is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic ...

and is considered as the island's oldest stone church having been completed in 1776.

History

When the

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 ...

of Dumaguete (then a

pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

) was founded in

1620 Events January–June * February 4 – Prince Bethlen Gabor signs a peace treaty with Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor. * May 17 – The first merry-go-round is seen at a fair (Philippapolis, Turkey). * June 3 – The ...

, its jurisdiction covered

Negros Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

's southeastern part and the island of

Siquijor Siquijor ( , ), officially the Province of Siquijor ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Siquijor; tl, Lalawigan ng Siquijor), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. Its capital is the municipality also named Siquijor ...

. Eight

secular priest In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogr ...

s initially served in the parish until

1645 Events January–March * January 3 – The Long Parliament adopts the ''Directory for Public Worship'' in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, replacing the Book of Common Prayer (1559). Holy Days (other than Sundays) are not ...

, with the first being Fr. Juan de Roa y Herrera. When Fr. Jose Fernandez de Septien served as the Dumaguete's

parish priest 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 ...

, the

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

church was constructed from 1754 to 1776. Also, it was under Fr. Septien's leadership when the four

watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

s at each corner of the church's lot were constructed which primarily aimed to drive away the Moros ransacking the community from the south. Dumaguete Church and Belfry in 1891

After Fr. Septien's tenure as a parish priest in 1776, 18 more had served in Dumaguete until the arrival of the first

Recollect The Recollects (french: Récollets) were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects took vows of poverty and devoted their lives to prayer, penance, and spirit ...

friar to serve in the town in 1855. Between the said years, additional constructions include the church's

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

, and the annex that connected the church itself to the old

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 ...

. A

firecracker A firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental t ...

-caused blaze during the town ''fiesta'' of 1846 charred the entire church's wooden

ceiling A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room. It is not generally considered a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the roof structure or the floor of a story above. Ceilings ...

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

s, some of the pews, religious articles and the church organ. The said fire spared the connected convent after the people hurdled to put the fire out immediately. Fr. Antonio Moreno added sacred vestments and articles when he was the parish priest from 1859 to 1866. It was also during Fr. Moreno's time when the church was furnished with

galvanized Galvanization or galvanizing ( also spelled galvanisation or galvanising) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerged ...

roofing in consonance with the construction of the local children's

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

made with stone. The full

renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...

of the church's

flooring Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface ...

with fine wood and the addition of a

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 ...

on one of the watchtowers came under the helm of Fr. Juan Felix de Encarnacion from 1867 to 1879. In 1885, when Fr. Mariano Bernad is the parish priest, the

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

was finished, and the following year, two side altars were dedicated to the Virgen de Consolacion and

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

. The whole church interior was also fully-painted and adorned with embellishments and an organ from

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

was acquired in 1891. In 1898, the Recollects left when the revolution broke out prior to the war, leaving the seculars again in-charge of the parish. The Recollects returned in 1909 and one of the watchtowers was installed again with a belfry. The church of Dumaguete became a cathedral when its eponymous diocese was founded in 1955. At present, the cathedral and the lone surviving watchtower-belfry at its southeastern side, are two of the most known landmarks of Dumaguete and Negros Oriental.

Gallery

File:Campanario de Dumaguete - 1.jpg, The Dumaguete Watchtower, also known as the ''Campanario'' File:St.Catherine of Alexandria Church, Dumaguete City.jpg, The cathedral's interior File:Dumaguete Cathedral.jpg,

Jose Rizal Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...

monument in front of the cathedral File:Phils Dumaguete City Church.JPG, Grotto and praying area at the base of the bell tower

References

External links

* Facebook pag

*{{commons category inline, Dumaguete Cathedral Buildings and structures in Dumaguete Spanish Colonial architecture in the Philippines Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Philippines 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines 1620 establishments in the Spanish Empire 1776 establishments in the Spanish Empire Baroque architecture in the Philippines Dumaguete