Parish of St. Agustin (Dumangas, Iloilo)
May 30, 2009 by
chucha
Filed under
Churches, Eastern Iloilo
The town was formerly called Araut. Dumangas was made parish in 1569 and in 1572 under the leadership of Fr. Juan de Alva, the construction for their church started. Until the end of the Spanish rule, their Church gained a wide popularity as a vital center of religious activities in Iloilo.
Fr. Juan Medina in 1617 built a wooden church in the new town. However, this church was burnt with the convent in 1528 during the time of Fr. Tomas Morales, another church and convent was built thereafter. On the other hand, on a Saturday, March 15, 1687 the almost 60-year old convent was turned into ashes taking along 2,000 canvass of rice stored in the camarin.
It was Fr. Juan Aguado in 1759 who proclaimed St. Agustin as the patron saint of Dumangas. He defended the town in a very famous legend. In 1777, Fr. Agustin Casan reconstructed the old citadel bounded by stone walls and high watch towers. It was destroyed by a strong density earthquake in 1787. Over 1,000 years later, in 1887, Fr. Fernando Llorente (famous Augustinian Friar for his engineering skills) began the construction of the present church. It was through force labor with the bricks locally manufactured and white coral stones were taken from nearby seashores to as far as Antique.
It was finished during the incumbency of Fr. Rafael Murillo in 1895, burnt down during the Fil-Am war in the 1900s and once again in 1946, Fr. Ramon Pampona started another set of reconstructions. Serious restoration works started in 1983 under Fr. Santiago and on the same year, a national landmark was given by the National Historic Institute through the efforts of Congressman Narciso Monfort. This Gothic Byzantine Church is said to be the first stone church of Panay.
The predominant design is gothic with flame-like arches of the main entrance and windows. The rectangular opening of the pediment distracts from the main motif. The windows are flanked by slender Corinthian columns.
Location : Dumangas, Iloilo
Feast Day : May 5 (Municipal Foundation Day)
(1 votes,5.00)
Loading ...
QFDaniel on Mon, 11th Jan 2010 11:15 am
Actually,good post. thx
JP on Sat, 13th Mar 2010 10:54 pm
May 5 is not the foundation day of Dumangas. It was made the town fiesta when the people decided to move the original town fiesta from August 28 (Feast of St. Augustine: Death), a month known to be a lean month, to May 5 (feast of the conversion of St. Augustine). To this date, Dumagas celebrates its Municipal Fiesta on May 5, its patronal Fiesta on August 28, birth anniversary of local hero Col. Quintin Salas with associated Haw-as Festival.
Maria Antonnietta Duenas Ibarra RN, MSN- MHA on Tue, 23rd Mar 2010 6:24 am
To all Dumanganeous and visitor of this site,
I am a proud product of the town of Dumangas. The picture of the church reminded me of my younger days of climbing the terrace on top of the church. We hope more picture can be published to show the improvement of our coastal town and still number 1.
JP on Tue, 27th Jul 2010 10:26 am
I would like to suggest to update to the latest photo of the church. This church was recently funded generously by the National Historical Institute for its preservation, repair and improvements. Improvements begun early this year which included removal of the hanging plants, improvements on the interior columns and brick walls, and the most striking change on the look of the church’s facade. I heard constructions will continue later on september with further proposed improvements like construction of the choir loft and tiling of the church floor.
This gothic byzantine church is not the first stone church in Panay island, but still the ruins of the first stone church in Panay are found in Barangay Ermita, Dumangas (the original location of the town before it was moved near the Dumangas river). The ruins of the first stone church in Panay are housed in a triangular-shaped chapel up in the hills of barangay ermita and now a NHI site.