Parish of San Antonio de Abott (Tubungan, Iloilo)
August 25, 2009 by
chucha
Filed under
Western Iloilo
Feast Day: January 17
History: A Dominican, Ensayo II felt there was a necessity to build a permanent church upon the foundation of the parish in 1810. It was an Augustinian priest, however, Fr. Luis Toro who was commissioned to undertake the construction. In order to build the church, slabs and tiles cut out of rocks and stones found on hills and rivers. They bought the marble tiles for the floor from the city. Like other churches during the Spanish era, parishioners from the poblacion and barangay were forces to work in building the church.
After four full years of hard work, the main parts of the church were finally completed in 1814 under the incumbency of Fr. Serapio Gonzalez.
A story of martyrdom also happened inside the 1810 church. It was in 1873 when a parish priest, Rev. Fr. Isidro Badrena whose desire to spread catholic faith is strong that he sacrificed his life and died a martyr’s death at Sitio Balabago, Batga, Tubungan in the hands of the Babylans led by Ramos while holding the rites of the latter. The priest was buried inside the old church.
It was in 1900, when a Filipino priest from St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary became the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Felix Gedican. But only a decade later, he was replaced with Fr. John Janssen when the parish was turned over to the Mill Hill Missionaries.
The 1810 church was burned down by the USAFEE to prevent the Japanese army from using it as a garrison when the World War II broke out in 1942.
After the war in 1947, Fr. Andrew Jacobs built a bamboo church with salvaged galvanized iron roof inside the burned old church. However, in the 1948 earthquake, the church and the convent were destroyed. He built a new bamboo church fronting the ruins of the convent.
It was replaced with a wooden semi-permanent construction during the incumbency of Rev. Fr. Luiz Zotz in 1951. He donated much of his personal money for the construction. In 1958, the belfry was constructed and was finished two years later. Rev. Fr. Andres Sagra was able to continue several other renovations for the improvement and the restoration the grandeur that was once standing in the vast space in the middle of the plaza.
(2 votes,5.00)
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