Cabanatuan Cathedral

Cabanatuan Cathedral, officially known as the Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish Cathedral (Filipino: Parokyang Katedral ni San Nikolas ng Tolentino ), is the eccelesiastical seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cabanatuan in the Philippines.

Cabanatuan Cathedral
Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish Cathedral
Parokyang Katedral ni San Nikolas ng Tolentino
Cabanatuan Cathedral in 2019
Cabanatuan Cathedral
Location in the Philippines
15°29′21″N 120°57′51″E
LocationCabanatuan, Nueva Ecija
Country Philippines
DenominationRoman Catholic
History
StatusCathedral
Founded1700
DedicationSaint Nicholas of Tolentino
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architectural typeChurch
StyleNeoclassical (2019)
Completed1866, 1891, 1975
Demolished1880, 1934, 1972
Administration
ArchdioceseLingayen-Dagupan
DioceseCabanatuan
Clergy
Bishop(s)Sofronio A. Bancud

It is located at the downtown area of Cabanatuan in the Nueva Ecija province. The cathedral's convent was briefly the seat of power of the President of the First Philippine Republic, Emilio Aguinaldo in 1899. It was destroyed by an earthquake, burned, and rebuilt several times before becoming the seat of the bishop upon the creation of the diocese in 1963.

The cathedral and the Plaza Lucero at its front, is nationally and historically known as the death place of Filipino general Antonio Luna.

History

After the parishes of Gapan in 1595 and Santor in 1636, the Augustinian priests founded the Cabanatuan church in 1700 as a visita of Gapan. By 1732, it only had 700 parishioners. The parish administration was transferred to secular priests in 1866, and in the same year, the first stone church and convent buildings were constructed under the leadership of Fr. Jose de la Fuente. The said buldings were destroyed by the earthquake of 18 July 1880 and were reconstructed under the helm of Fr. Mariano Rivas in 1891.

During the Philippine–American War, the cathedral's convent shortly served as the capital of the Philippines where Antonio Luna and his aide-de-camp, Francisco Román, were killed by the members of the Kawit Battalion on 5 June 1899.[1] In 1934, the church was razed by fire wherein only its lateral walls were spared. Nine years after the canonical foundation of the Diocese, the church, and its adjacent former College of the Immaculate Conception building, was charred again in 28 September 1972. Three years later, in 22 November 1975, the church reconstruction was finished under Msgr. Pacifico Araullo. It was dedicated by then Bishop Vicente Reyes and then Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, Bruno Torpigliani.[2]

References
  1. Jose, Vivencio (1991). The Rise and Fall of Antonio Luna (reprint ed.). Solar Publishing Corporation. ISBN 9711707004.
  2. "St. Nicholas Of Tolentine Parish Cathedral / Historic Cabanatuan Cathedral". Facebook. Diocese of Cabanatuan. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
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