A HISTORY OF THE FIVE (5) PARISH
CHURCHES OF DOLORES
By Msgr Lope C. Robredillo
Although the pueblo
of Dolores was founded (not on August 31, 1863 as has been wrongly celebrated
by the municipal government in 2019; I have a photocopy of the founding document
from an archives in Madrid, Spain, to prove this; but) by a Royal Decree on
April 5, 1864, its parochial status independent from Tubig (Taft), came into
being, for lack of Franciscan personnel, only on April 19, 1878 by authority of
Friar Benito Romero de Madredijos. Bishop of Cebu. Its present parochial church, constructed in
1960, is located in the poblacion,
but it has four predecessors. A
once-over at each of these may be in order.
The
Original Stone Church in Bacod. It should be recalled that one
of the ancient towns on Eastern Samar, contemporaneous with Borongan and Tubig,
was Bacod, which once stood on the northern bank of Dolores river, more than a
kilometer from its mouth. It was here
that the Jesuits from the mission center in Tinago (now part of Tarangnan,
Samar) and later on in Palapag used to visit in their evangelization work that
started in 1596. Through the efforts of these missionaries, the town was
founded and the people of Bacod were able to build a church and a convento of stone (iglesia e convento de piedra) in the 1600s. Though there is no surviving description of
it, it can be surmised that its design and actual size must have been similar
to the old church of either Tubig or Sulat, and it was obviously the oldest
stone church in Eastern Samar, much older than either that of Guiuan or that of
Borongan.
When the Sumoroy rebellion started in
Palapag in 1649, one of the towns that joined it was Bacod whose insurgents
burned both the stone church and the convento. After the rebellion, the town was suppressed
and put under interdict. No wonder, the
people of Dolores used to say that the bungto
was cursed (gin-maldicion), although,
in technical language, what they meant was probably that the town was placed
under interdict. In the minds of old
people, the curse was effective because, later on, the whole bungto (town) was eaten up by the river
through floods and had to be abandoned. Old folks likewise attribute the frequent
conflagration of the town to that curse. By 1800s, it was counted a sitio of Carolina to which many of its
inhabitants transferred. It had a capilla made of wood and nipa. Today,
the remains of these structures are now part of the Dolores river bed. That is why, if the inhabitants living along
Dolores river and Can-avid river had to attend religious celebrations, they had
to go to the parish church of Tubig.
The
Second Stone Church in Paric. When the Franciscans replaced the Jesuit
missionaries in 1768, they started developing a village this time not along the
Dolores river but along Can-avid river.
The village was called
Paric. The
barrio was located on the southern bank of Can-avid river, in what is now the barrio of Canteros. It had jurisdiction over the villages that
dotted both rivers. Eventually, it became large that documents of 1839, for
example, listed it among the pueblos of Samar with its own gobernadorcillo, even if it was not formally recognized as such.
After Father Manuel Valverde became the
parish priest of Tubig, he replaced the old capilla
of wood and nipa by building a church of stone masonry in 1831, initially at
his own expense. His efforts resulted in
the rise of a church of coral stone and lime with nipa roofing, measuring 30 ft high, 39 ft wide, and 120 ft long. The parish church was dedicated to St Joachim
the Patriarch. As of 1885, the wall of
the façade had a crack due to
an earthquake.
The first priest to have conducted regular service to this church was
Father Gil Martinez beginning 1871, although he seems to have been officially
appointed Pastor of both Tubig and Paric in 1875. After Paric was separated from Tubig in 1878
as an independent parish by Bishop de Madredijos of Cebu, its first parish
priest, Fr Jose del Olmo, continued making improvements on the church.
The
Third Stone Church and the Wooden Church in Dolores. In 1886, on account of the danger that the town
might be swallowed up by the Ulot river because of the constant erosion of the
river bank, Father Vicente Carmona, parish priest, together with the town officials
that included Carlos
Robredillo (gobernadorcillo,
1885-1887), Leoperto Planesniles (teniente
primero) and Martin Irasga (teniente
segundo), petitioned Emilio Terrero y Perinat, Governor-General (1885-1888),
to transfer the poblacion from Paric
to a barrio named Dolores, located
near the northern portion of the mouth of Dolores river. When the petition was approved, the ecclesial
and civil authorities transferred the poblacion
in 1887 (not in 1888, as sometimes asserted).
One of the first projects of the parishioners was to replace the wood and
nipa chapel of Dolores with a stone church to match the change of its status
from barrio to poblacion. At that time, the entire land of the church also
included the area where the town plaza and municipal buildings now stand.
From 1889 to 1893, Father Carmona,
according to Valentin Marin, “built a very special church in whose construction all the
modern advances compatible with the conditions in which most of the towns are
found have been used. The church offers a very
pleasant appearance and its construction has made use of choice lumber, with
foundations up to a height of one and a half meters of masonry.” When Revolution broke out, Father Isidro Calonge left the parish. Though it became vacant, still, from time to
time, a priest would come to say mass in the church until 1903 when Father
Felix Minaya was appointed as parish administrator. Unfortunately, in 1905, a number of Pulajanes, headed by Cenecio Lazarra of
Oras, set the church on fire. The remains
of this burnt church still exist, just adjacent to
the house of the Balicat
family, not far from the present rectory (convento). Later, the faithful, with the help of the
Franciscan parish priests, erected a church of light materials, with a bell
tower in the middle of the façade. Except for the arched aperture at the
belfry, the façade, entire of wood, had no windows. In early 50s, the church of
wood and galvanized iron was already
exhibiting wear and tear and, in the judgment of many, it could no longer
withstand strong typhoons that often visited upon the town.
Fifth Church: The Present Concrete Church
in Dolores. When he became the parish priest of Dolores in 1955, Father Francisco
Tizon, a diocesan parish priest from Catbalogan, Samar, broached the idea of
constructing a concrete church.
Supported by the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC), he met with the members
on June 28, 1959 to plan out the project.
A committee, called Dolores Church Construction Committee (DCCC), was
created to manage the implementation of the plan. The committee was
composed of 42 members,
each representing an organization—civic or religious—in the parish. Chair was Mr Valentin Villacarillo, who was
the owner of the San Joaquin Lumber Mills.
From
among the models presented, the Committee chose the design that was estimated
to cost P120,000—a staggering amount at that time! The services of Architect Ester Su and Engr. Epimaco
Galero, both of Butuan City, were enlisted.
The perspective of the church was prominently displayed for the
parishioners to see. (By the way, one
who has been to the Cathedral of Butuan City, or has seen its pictures on Facebook,
would not be surprised why the parish church of Dolores looks like a replicate
of that Cathedral.) To finance the
project, various efforts were made—pledges, donations, etc. When a modest sum was generated, the
groundbreaking and cornerstone laying were held on March 6, 1960.
Construction
started the following day. The technical
assistance of Mr Restituto Arago, master carpenter, was sought, while local
carpenters and ordinary laborers rendered their services free of charge. Those that could not give cash hauled gravel
and sand as their share. Families took
turns in serving lunch and snacks to the volunteer workers. Various civil and religious organizations
vied with one another for fund raising—through
popularity contests, raffle
draws, solicitation of palay, and
others. At the end of the first year,
the concrete walls around the whole structure were finished, and work on other
parts continued, with shifts of volunteer laborers working under the direction
of a few paid professional carpenters.
During
the parish and town fiesta of August 16, 1965, the construction of the edifice
was almost through, except for the finishing touches and ornamentations. The main altar, donated by the Picardo
Family, though finished in 1965, was blessed by the Most Rev Godofredo Pedernal,
Bishop of Borongan, on March 13, 1973. This
altar table was originally located at the third and last level of the
sanctuary, standing where
the Blessed Sacrament is now housed. But in keeping with the liturgical changes of
Vatican II, it was moved down by Father Tizon to the second level in 1969,
where it presently placed. The finishing touches—ceiling, glass for the upper
and lower windows, shutters for the front and side doors, marbling of the
center aisle—were completed in 1975. Father Tizon hired the services of Catbalogan
workers for the precast ornamentations, like the cornice and other ornate molding
designs, both inside and outside the building. During the incumbency of Father Conrado
Balagapo (1978-1981), the entire floor of the nave was covered with tiles
through the contributions of the parishioners.
On the silver anniversary of its construction, the parish church was
blessed by the Most Rev Nestor Cariño, Bishop of Borongan, on August 16, 1985.
As it
looked in 1985, the original Church of St Joachim in Dolores
was 56.5 ft. wide,
133.5 ft. long and 29.41 ft. high and had two levels, each side having 10
arched windows, while each side of the ground level had eight windows and two arched
doors, each of which separated by a pier.
At the center of the second level of the façade is a classic circular
decorative, with decorative blocks below it, on the front wall, which is flanked
by two high flat buttresses that extend from the first to the second levels,
each bearing a semi-detached long cross.
In front of the main door is a squarish projecting portico, with
moldings and cornices. The main part of
the façade is itself flanked by squarish structures, both having three parallel
long slender arched windows with fixed glasses.
The one of the left was intended as a baptistery, the one on the right
as a sacristy. From the sacristy rises
the high squarish bell tower that has two parallel long windows of fixed
colored and smoked glasses. The belfry
has three stories, the top most having two open Romanesque windows on each of
the four sides. Like the pediment that
has a cross on top, the belfry likewise has a cross standing at the pinnacle.
Under Father Anacleto Asebias, Jr.
(1985-1988), the entire structure,
both inside and outside, was repainted. He
enclosed the now reduced land of the church with a fence of concrete and steel,
save the boundary with the houses on San Jose Street. He installed the image of St Joachim beneath
the classic circular decorative on the front wall. In 1993, a concrete image of St Joachim was
placed in front of the church, thanks to Congressman Wilmar Lucero who was the hermano mayor that year. In 1987, Father Asebias continued the
construction of the choir loft that was started by Father Tizon but
discontinued on account of new liturgical rules. He used as railings of the loft the communion
rail that was removed in keeping with the liturgical changes of the Vatican II.
When Msgr Crescente Japzon became the pastor
(1996-2001), several
improvement were made. A garage was put up adjacent to the
sacristy near the sanctuary. The ground that separates the church from the rectory,
and the stretch from the gate that leads to the rectory were concreted. The trees growing beside the church were
enclosed in concrete boxes, and concrete benches were made for churchgoers who
could not be accommodate inside the church especially on Sundays. A tennis court was constructed in 1998 on the
vacant lot opposite the Municipal Community Hospital through the assistance of
the family of Mr & Mrs Leovigildo Geli and Mr & Mrs Ceferino Coles.
Msgr Japzon restored the main altar of
marble to its place on the second level after it had been moved to the first
level by his predecessor to accommodate the liturgy of the
neo-catechumenate. He converted the 6 windows
on either side of the first level into doors with iron grills, through the
donation of certain families. A concrete
wall was raised behind the
church, and the sacristy was improved. The choir loft also underwent a facelift, and
the stairs leading to the choir loft and the stairs of the belfry were made
concrete. A new set of images of the
Stations of the Cross replaced the old one, and mounted on the pillars of the
nave. On top of the cornice of both the sacristy and baptistery of the façade,
he placed balustrade railings. The room on the ground floor of the belfry,
which originally served as sacristy for Sunday Mass during the time of Father
Tizon, was expanded and converted into an air-conditioned adoration chapel in
2000 by Msgr Japzon. Most of these
projects came from sponsors of town fiestas and feasts of saints of devotion. In 2002, however, the adoration chapel was closed.
By 2007, it became obvious that the parish
church needed general repairs and repainting, since it was in state of
deterioration after 45 years. In fact,
the leaks made it necessary for some churchgoers to use umbrella to avoid
getting wet. Congressman & Mrs
Marcelino Libanan (neé Elda Ellado) came to the rescue. As hermano
mayor of the parish and town
fiesta of 2008, in commemoration of their 25th
wedding anniversary, they replaced the entire roofing with new GI sheets,
repaired the ceiling, restored the cornice, some parts of which have fallen to
the floor and replaced the broken window glasses. They also made changes on the sanctuary by
putting a structure behind the chair of the celebrant that now serves as
pedestal for floral decoration, and by narrowing the space between the back
wall of the church and the concrete divider that encloses the wooden-chalice
housing the tabernacle and the images of St Joachim and those of Jesus and
Mary. Finally, they had the entire
exterior and interior of the church painted.
The Congressman and wife spent P2 million for the entire project,
largely of restoration.
Seven years after the major repairs done by
the Libanans, Father Philip Campomanes (2015-to date) had the exterior
repainted and, in 2017, its interior. At
the sanctuary, new moldings were placed on the pedestals
where the image of St
Joachim and the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart were mounted. The pedestals of the side altars that flanked
the main altar were also provided with moldings in 2015. He installed a new
wiring system to the entire building, purchased a new sound system, including
new
speakers and mixer. Also in 2017,
heavy industrial fans were set up to replace the old ones. The pews were repaired and re-varnished in
2018, financed by the hermano mayor
of the Santo Niño, and once again in 2019. The DOMARA, an organization of
Doloresnons in Metro Manila, donated 6 chandeliers. The hermano mayor of de Belen
of 2019 purchased a new amplifier. In the same year, through the contribution
of the parishioners, a new fence of concrete and steel to enclose the rectory was
constructed to replace the one old one done under Father Asebias, but this
time, a steel gate that leads to the rectory has been provided for security reasons. In 2020, a new cabinet was added in the
sacristy.
