Cathedral celebrates 412th anniversary today

Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal will officiate a Holy Mass at 10 a.m. today to celebrate the 412th founding anniversary of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral as a diocese.

Msgr. Cayetano Gelbolingo also announced that a novena in honor of the feast of Mary Queen of the Visayas will begin today until the 22nd.

Cebu Cathedral is one of three dioceses created in 1595, the other two being Nueva Segovia (Ilocos Sur) and Nueva Caceres (Camarines Sur). It was raised to the status of an archdiocese in 1934 with the dioceses of Calbayog (Western Samar), Jaro (Iloilo), Zamboanga, Bacolod (Negros Occidental), and Cagayan de Oro (Misamis Oriental) as suffragans.

The Cebu Cathedral took about a century to complete because of frequent interruptions.

During the Spanish period, Cebu had the most extensive territory because Guam and the Marianas fell under its jurisdiction. Only in 1898, because of the Treaty of Paris, did Cebu lose these territories.

Despite its age and status, Cebu did not have a cathedral for many decades. The first church was built in 1595 of wood, bamboo and thatch. Although stone walls were added, it was in a sorry state according to a 1667 report of Bishop Juan Lopez to the King of Spain.

To remedy this, Bp. Diego de Aguilar began a new church but was unable to finish the structure. Instead of completing what had been started, his successor Bp. Miguel Bayot began a new structure. Again he was not able to accomplish much. Bp. Sebastian de Foronda found the building too small and inappropriate, calling it a “barn”. Again work was discontinued.

In 1719, military engineer Juan de Ciscara was commissioned to design the cathedral. He opted for a cruciform design with short transepts.

He placed the altar mayor at the crossing, reserved the apse for the altar de pardon, and placed the choir stalls for the cathedral canon in the nave. Work on the construction was suspended when funds were diverted to military campaigns against slave raiders. Construction in 1734 was interrupted four years later, and resumed in 1741 under Bp. Protacio Cabezas.

The facade was completed in 1786 and in 1811 the cathedral was blessed. The completed cathedral departed from Ciscara’s plans. It was renovated in 1829 and 1836 when Bp. Santos Marañon, who designed other churches in Cebu, designed and built the bell tower.

The cathedral was improved in 1886, during the incumbency of Bp. Juan Gorordo, and in 1939. Damaged during World War II, architect Jose Zaragosa rebuilt the cathedral in 1959. The cathedral’s interior was renovated recently. — Jasmin R. Uy/MEEV