The Roman Catholic Diocese of Calbayog is an ecclesiastical territory of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

named after its

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

, Calbayog, a city on the western side of the province of

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

in the

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 ...

History

Samar and Leyte, two civil provinces in the

Visayan Visayans (Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group, ...

group of the Philippines, which include the islands of Balicuatro,

Batac Batac, officially the City of Batac ( ilo, Siudad ti Batac; fil, Lungsod ng Batac), is a 5th class component city in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 55,484 people. Etymology The ...

Biliran Biliran, officially the Province of Biliran ( Waray-Waray: ''Probinsya han Biliran''; ceb, Lalawigan sa Biliran; tl, Lalawigan ng Biliran), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region (Region VIII). Biliran is ...

Capul 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 li ...

, Daram,

Homonhon Homonhon Island is an island in the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines, on the east side of Leyte Gulf. The long island is part of the municipality of Guiuan, encompassing eight barangays: Bitaugan, Cagusu-an, Canawayon, Casuguran, Culasi, ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

Manicani Manicani is a small island in the Leyte Gulf, Philippines. The local governing body is the municipality of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Guiuan of Eastern Samar province. Its 3,000 residents live in four barangays: San Jose, Banaag, Hamorawon and Buenavi ...

, Panaon,

and several smaller islands, once made up the diocese of Calbayog, now a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

of the Metropolitan

Archdiocese of Palo The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palo is a large administrative diocese of the Catholic Church in the town of Palo in Leyte province, Philippines. It was formed as a diocese on the 28th of November, 1937, and became an archdiocese in 1982, with C ...

. The diocesan Calbayog has a

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 ...

dedicated to

Saints Peter and Paul Peter and Paul may refer to: * Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle considered together ** Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June in the Catholic liturgical calendar ** St. Peter and St. Paul's Church (disambiguation) * ''Peter and Paul'' (film), 1 ...

. 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 Northern Samar ( war, Amihanan Samar/Norte san Samar; tl, Hilagang Samar), officially the Province of Northern Samar, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas Regions of the Philippines, regio ...

with Catarman as capital,

Eastern Samar Eastern Samar (Waray-Waray: ''Sinirangan Samar''; tl, Silangang Samar), officially the Province of Eastern Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Borongan. Eastern Samar occupies ...

with

Borongan Borongan, officially the City of Borongan ( Waray: ''Siyudad han Borongan''; fil, Lungsod ng Borongan), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

as capital and the

Samar Province Samar, officially the Province of Samar ( war, Probinsya han Samar; tl, Lalawigan ng Samar), formerly named as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Catbalogan. It is b ...

with Catbalogan as the capital. The City of Calbayog is where the Cathedral of the diocese is located since its ecclesiastical foundation on April 10, 1910, by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

. The new Diocese was before made of the whole Samar and Leyte islands. On April 28, 1934,

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

promulgated an apostolic constitution with the incipit ''Romanorum Pontificum semper'' separating the dioceses of

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 ...

, Calbayog, Jaro,

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bacolod; fil, Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Western Visayas, Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occidenta ...

, Zamboanga and

Cagayan de Oro Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan ( ilo, Probinsia ti Cagayan; ibg, Provinsiya na Cagayan; itv, Provinsiya ya Cagayan; fil, Lalawigan ng Cagayan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Cagayan Valley region, covering ...

from the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

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

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

of the

, which was promoted to a

Metropolitan Archdiocese A metropolis religious jurisdiction, or a metropolitan archdiocese, is an episcopal see whose bishop is the metropolitan bishop or archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces. ...

on November 15, 1982.

Local Ordinaries

Sources and references

*
Sámar and Leyte

References

External links

diocesan website, in English
{{authority control Calbayog Calbayog Religion in Samar (province) Calbayog