Dipolog Cathedral ( ceb, Katedral sa Dipolog, fil, Katedral ng Dipolog), canonically recognized as the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral Parish ( ceb, Katedral sa Balaang Birhen sa Santo Rosario, fil, Parokyang Katedral ng Mahal na Birhen ng Kasanto-santuhang Rosaryo), 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 ...

located at Barangay Estaka,

Dipolog City Dipolog, officially the City of Dipolog ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dipolog; Subanen: ''Gembagel G'benwa Dipuleg/Bagbenwa Dipuleg''; Chavacano: ''Ciudad de Dipolog''; fil, Lungsod ng Dipolog), is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province o ...

Zamboanga del Norte Zamboanga del Norte ( Cebuano: ''Amihanang Zamboanga''; Subanon: ''Utara Sembwangan''; tl, Hilagang Zamboanga), officially the Province of Zamboanga del Norte, is a province in the Philippines situated within the Zamboanga Peninsula region in M ...

. The

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 ...

is the seat of the

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

. It is situated in the city of

Dipolog Dipolog, officially the City of Dipolog ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dipolog; Subanen: ''Gembagel G'benwa Dipuleg/Bagbenwa Dipuleg''; Chavacano: ''Ciudad de Dipolog''; fil, Lungsod ng Dipolog), is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province ...

, the capital city of the

Philippine province In the Philippines, provinces ( fil, lalawigan) are one of its primary political and administrative divisions. There are 82 provinces at present, which are further subdivided into component cities and municipalities. The local government unit ...

, some south of

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

History

Dipolog was formerly a ''

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

'' of

Dapitan Dapitan, officially the City of Dapitan ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dapitan; Subanon: ''Gembagel G'benwa Dapitan/Bagbenwa Dapitan cbk, Ciudad de Dapitan''), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines. According to ...

. In April 1894, the construction of the

of Dipolog was begun while the first

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

within the completed church was held in June 1894. 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 Dipolog was founded on June 30, 1896 with Fr. Esteban Yepes, a

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

, serving as its first parish priest. The first church

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 ...

of Dipolog was designed by

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national he ...

while he was exiled in Dapitan. The features of the church are its

wooden Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...

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 ...

, wooden

bas relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

of the four Evangelists, massive

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

stone walls, and

reredo A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for e ...

s, among others. In 1913, Dipolog formally became a separate town from Dapitan. The church became a cathedral when the

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

was canonically founded in 1967. Reforms brought by the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

changed the church's reredo into a simple one with vertical design and a central

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 ...

being added to the

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

. In 1986, the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

's main

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s were removed under the helm of Msgr. Salvador Mora. As part of centennial anniversary of Dipolog's parish foundation in 1996, the cathedral's main reredo was restored with carved

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

under Msgr. Esteban Gaudicos. Bishop Jose Manguiran, Dipolog's second bishop, led the cathedral interior renovation in 2007, the original walls restoration in 2008, and the 2009 renovation of the façade. Then Manila cardinal-archbishop

Gaudencio Rosales Gaudencio Borbón Rosales (born August 10, 1932) is a Roman Catholic Cardinal who was Archbishop of Manila, succeeding Jaime Sin in 2003, and succeeded by Luis Antonio Tagle in 2011. Being the Metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Ma ...

led the blessing of the renovated façade in May 2009.

Present day

In 2021, the cathedral was designated as one of the 500 Jubilee Churches as part of the activities for the quincentennial of Philippine Christianity.

References

External links

* Facebook pag

* {{Dipolog Dipolog Buildings and structures in Dipolog Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Philippines Spanish Colonial architecture in the Philippines 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines Roman Catholic churches in Zamboanga del Norte