75 NA KA TUIG!
Fr. Jose Alan F. Pulgo
It was on February 6, 1579 that the Holy See erected the Diocese of Manila as a suffragan diocese of Mexico. It was undeniable that the Philippine District had a wide area of coverage and very far from Mexico, the Metropolitan See. The first bishop of Manila, Fray Domingo Salazar OP find it difficult to his functions as Bishop of the Philippine Islands and at the same time a Suffragan Bishop of Mexico. Fortunately after some time, King Philip II instructed his ambassador in Rome to propose to the Holy Father to elevate Manila into a Metropolitan See. The proposal was approved by Pope Clement VIII in the Papal Bull entitled “Super Speula Ecclesiae, “ together with the three suffragan diocese of Nueva Segovia (Province of Cagayan), Nueva Caceres and Cebu. Practically, the whole island of Mindanao became part of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Cebu.
The diocese of Cebu, of the first four diocese on the Philippines was the most extensive and the most taxing in her ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It included the Visayan Islands, Mindanao and the Marianas Islands. Because of the vast area of this jurisdiction, the Bishop could rarely make his periodic visitations. The Marianas Islands were even deprived of Episcopal visitation. It was practically a failure since this is one of the important functions of a Bishop’s office due to the vastness of the territory and the difficulty of travel at that time.
To address this dilemma, the Bishop proposed that the Diocese of Cebu would be divided into two but it falls into the deaf ears of the Ecclesiastical authorities. The division happened practically after two centuries and after incessant requests and difficulties. The Bishop of Cebu obtained a government decree from Spain dated January 17, 1865 creating the diocese of Jaro. According to the articles of the decree, the new diocese would include the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, Calamianes islands, Negros, Zamboanga and Nueva Guipozcoa (Davao provinces) in Mindanao. Officially, this was made into a diocese by virtue of a papal bull of Pope Pius IX on May 27, 1865. Cagayan de Oro remained part of Cebu.
In 1594, King Phip II partitioned the Philippines into missionary districts because of the emergence of the Missionaries from the different religious orders. The Visayas and Mindana were given to the jurisdiction of the Jesuits. They came directly to Mindanao but with the withdrawal of the government due to threats of Moro raids, they had forego the missions. Consequently, the Bishop of Cebu wrote a decree to assign the Recollects in Mindanao on March 1, 1621. They were known to be evangelizing in Butuan, Tandag, Lanao, Surigao etc. and founded the towns of Cagayan de Oro and Camiguin. In 1624, the Jesuits returned to Mindanao.
The presence of the Recollects in Mindanao created a tension with the Jesuits aggravated by the issue of religious jurisdiction. To resolve the problem, Governor General Fernando Tello, established the territorial boundaries of religious ministries in Mindnao on February 26, 1624. This was done by the drawing up a territorial line from Punta Sulauan (Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental) to Cape San Agustin in Southeastern Mindanao. The area west to this line was assigned to the Jesuits, while the eastern side was left to the Recollects.
The Jesuits established their mission stations but unfortunately, they were expelled in in 1768 from the Philippines. As a consequence, Mindanao was turned over to the Recollects. They founded the parishes and labored hard in evangelizing the Catholic faith to the natives. The Society of Jesus was restored in 1814. In 1859, a Royal Decree was issued to the Jesuits to take over all parishes under the charge of the Recollects. Thus, all the parishes under the Recollect’s care were handed over the Jesuits. On April 10, 1910, forty five years after the creation of the Diocese of Jaro and after so many trials and struggles experienced by the missionaries in establishing the Church in Mindanao, Zamboanga was created as the first ecclesiastical Diocese in Mindanao. Twenty Five years later, in 1933, Cagayan de Oro was also raised to a diocese in Northern Mindanao. Since that time until 1983, there were additional 17 ecclesiastical territories in Mindanao-Sulu formed by the Vatican.
On January 20, 1933, Pope Pius XI in a Papal Bull “Ad maius religionis” divided Mindanao into the Diocese of Zamboanga and the newly created Diocese of Cagayan de oro, of which Father James Thomas Gibbons Hayes, SJ, was appointed as the first Bishop. Hence, exactly 75 years ago, the Diocese of Cagayan de Oro was founded with the grace of God. The original territory, in 1933, included the provinces of Surigao, Agusan, Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Lanao and the island of Camiguin.
In 1938, the first Columban missionaries arrived in Cagayan de Oro as a response to the Bishop’s invitation. They served the diocese with utmost generosity and dedication. However, in 1939 the provinces of Surigao and Agusan were constituted into a separate diocese (later subdivided into the 3 dioceses of Surigao, Butuan and Tandag. In 1951, Misamis Occidental and Lanao were made a separate prelature (later also subdivided into the Diocese of Ozamis and the prelatures of Iligan and Marawe, now dioceses). In 1969, the province of Bukidnon was made a separate prelature, now a diocese, with its seat in Malaybalay. As a result of these divisions, the present territory of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro includes only the provinces of Misamis Oriental and Camiguin.
It was on June 29, 1951 (that) Pope Pius XII, elevated the Diocese of Cagayan de Oro into an Archdiocese in Papal Bull entitled “Quo in Philippina republica,” the first Metropolitan See in Mindanao with Bishop Hayes also the first Archbishop.
