2. Our Lady of the Atonement Cathedral, better known as Baguio
Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located at Cathedral Loop adjacent
to Session Road in Baguio, the Philippines, and is the see of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Baguio. Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the
title of our Lady Atonement, its distinctive pink exterior, twin spires and
stained glass windows make it popular tourist attraction in Baguio. It served as
an evacuation center under the Japanese Occupation during the Second World
War..
3. History
In 1907, a Catholic mission chapel, dedicated to St. Patrick, was established by
Belgian missionaries from the Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae. The site
where the cathedral currently stands was a hill referred to as a Kampo by the Ibaloi
people. Construction of the cathedral itself began in 1920 under the leadership of
the parish priest, Rev Florimond Carlu, who renamed the hill Mount Mary. The
building was completed and consecrated in 1936. It was dedicated to Our Lady of
Atonement.
During the Second World War, the cathedral was an evacuation center and it
withstood the carpet-bombing of Baguio by Allied forces during liberation on
March 15 1945. The remains of the thousands that had died in the bombardment
are interred within the cathedral precinct.
6. History
Along with the boom of the sugar industry of the Philippines especially centered in
Iloilo, several churches and schools are constructed in Jaro. The present cathedral
structure was finished in 1874 by the first Bishop of Jaro, Mariano Cuartero , O.P. It
was destroyed by the January 1948 Lady Caycay earthquake and later repaired in
1956 by the first Archbishop of Jaro, Jose Maria Cuenco. The Marian image of Our
Lady of the Candles also has the distinction of being canonically crowned by the
late Pope and Saint John Paul II during his visit to Iloilo City on February 21, 1981,
making it as the only Marian figure to be given such stature in the Philippines. The
journalist, national hero, and co-founder of the Propaganda Movement Graciano
Lopez Jaena was baptized in the Cathedral on December 20, 1856. The Natinal
Historical Institute of the Philippines declared the Jaro Cathedral a historical
landmark in 1976.
9. History
A small village inhabited by Malayans called Magsungay was placed under the
protection of St. Sebastian by early Christian missionaries during the 1700s. This
village was later to be known as San Sebastian De Magsungay and was put under the
governance of Bernardo de los Santos, the village’s first gobernadorcillo. Due to
widespread Moro pirate attacks, the people of Magsungay moved to a new settlement
upon the hilly terrain called bakolod, the precursor of the modern-day city of
Bacolod. In 1806, Fr. Leon Pedro was appointed as its parish priest. Years later, Fr.
Gonzaga, a young priest from Barcelona, would envision the construction of the San
Sebastian Church.
