The Archdiocese of Capiz is a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

metropolitan archdiocese A metropolis, metropolitanate or metropolitan diocese is an episcopal see whose bishop is the metropolitan bishop or archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces. Eastern Ortho ...

the

Catholic Church in the Philippines As part of the worldwide Catholic Church, the Catholic Church in the Philippines (), or the Philippine Catholic Church or Philippine Roman Catholic Church, is part of the world's largest Christian church under the spiritual leadership of the P ...

. The archdiocese covers the entire province of

Capiz Capiz (), officially the Province of Capiz (Capiznon language, Capiznon/Hiligaynon language, Hiligaynon: ''Kapuoran sang Capiz''; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the central part of the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines ...

on the island of

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and a total population of 4,542,926, as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City of Il ...

in the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...

, central

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and has its see in

Roxas City Roxas (, ), officially the City of Roxas (Capiznon language, Capiznon/; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Capiz, Philippines. According to the 2 ...

. As an ecclesiastical province, it also encompasses the

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

sees of

Kalibo Kalibo, officially the Municipality of Kalibo (Aklanon language, Aklanon: ''Banwa it Kalibo''; Hiligaynon language, Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Kalibo''; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, ...

, which oversees the province of

Aklan Aklan, officially the Province of Aklan, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. Its capital and largest town is Kalibo. The province is situated in the northwest portion of Panay, Panay Islan ...

, and

Romblon Romblon (, , ), officially the Province of Romblon, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. Its main components include Romblon, an archipelagic municipality of the same name that also serves as the provi ...

, which oversees the province of the

same name ''Same Name'' is an American reality television series in which an average person swaps lives with a celebrity of the same first and last name. It premiered on July 24, 2011 on CBS. The series received low ratings, and CBS pulled it after four-ep ...

. Its current archbishop is Victor Barnuevo Bendico, who was installed on May 3, 2023.

History

The tumultuous situation that the Philippine Catholic church had experienced in the aftermath of the

Philippine Revolution The Philippine Revolution ( or ; or ) was a war of independence waged by the revolutionary organization Katipunan against the Spanish Empire from 1896 to 1898. It was the culmination of the 333-year History of the Philippines (1565–1898), ...

and the American occupation prompted the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

to issue the Apostolic Constitution ''Quae Mari Sinico'' in 1902. This document, apart from encouraging the gradual transition of ecclesiastical leadership to the Filipino secular clergy, also proposed the formation of new dioceses in Lipa, Zamboanga, Tuguegarao, and Capiz. However, as ''Quae Mari Sinico'' does not have a consistorial decree on the proposed new dioceses, they remained in the jurisdiction of their mother dioceses; in the case of Capiz, it remained under the

Archdiocese of Jaro The Archdiocese of Jaro (; ; ; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines. Its episcopal see is at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, also the National Shrine of ...

. Decades after the ''Quae Mari Sinico'', the Diocese of Capiz was eventually formed on 27 January 1951 by virtue of the Apostolic Constitution ''Ex supremi apostolatus''. The new diocese was carved from the territory of the Archdiocese of Jaro, and covered the whole civil provinces of

(which included

until 1956) and

. Two dioceses were eventually created from its territory: the Diocese of Romblon (19 December 1974) and the Diocese of Kalibo (17 January 1976). On 17 January 1976,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

elevated the bishopric to the rank of an archdiocese through his Papal Bull ''Nimium Patens'' which turned it into an ecclesiastical province. The dioceses of

and

became its

s. The archdiocese retained the name ''Capiz'' since its establishment predates the renaming of the municipality where it sits into Roxas City (11 April 1951).

Coat of arms

The silver crescent on the blue background symbolizes the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

, titular of the cathedral. The twins (''kapid'' in Visayan) suggest the name of the territory of the diocese, the province of

. The gold background indicates the unique honor accruing to the province from the fact that the highest men in Church and State at the time when the

became a republic were both from Capiz: the Gabriel M. Reyes then-

Archbishop of Manila The Archdiocese of Manila (; ; ) is the archdiocese of the Latin Church, Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in the Philippines, Catholic Church in Metro Manila, Catholic Church in the Philippines, Philippines, encompassing the cities of Manila, ...

and

Manuel Roxas Manuel Acuña Roxas (; January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of the Philippines from 1946 until his death in 1948. He served briefly as the third and last President of the ...

, the first

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Third Philippine Republic Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

. Hence, the twin at the dexter side holds a patriarchal cross, insignia of an archbishop, while the one at the sinister side holds a sheathed ancient ceremonial sword of command.

Suffragan dioceses

* Diocese of Romblon * Diocese of Kalibo

List of Ordinaries

Bishops

Archbishops

Auxiliary Bishops

Affiliated bishops

Jaime Sin Jaime Cardinal Lachica Sin, ( zh, t=辛海梅, 辛海棉, poj=Sin Hái-mûi, Sin Hái-mî; August 31, 1928 – June 21, 2005), commonly and also formally known as Cardinal Sin, was the 30th Catholic Archbishop of Manila and the third cardina ...

, first rector of St. Pius X Seminary (1957–1967);

Archbishop of Jaro The Archdiocese of Jaro (; ; ; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines. Its episcopal see is at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, also the National Shrine of ...

(1972–1974);

(1974–2003) * Warlito I. Cajandig, appointed Apostolic Vicar of Calapan in 1989 * Vicente Navarra, first Bishop of Kabankalan (1987–2001); Bishop of Bacolod (2001–2016) * Victor B. Bendico, appointed Bishop of Baguio in 2017 to 2023; Later he was appointed Archbishop of Capiz in 2023 *

Jose Advincula José Lázaro Fuerte Advíncula Jr. (born March 30, 1952) is a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church and a professed member of the Dominican Order, who became 33rd Archbishop of Manila in 2021. He became a cardinal in November 2020. He previ ...

, Bishop of San Carlos (2001–2011); Archbishop of Capiz (2011–2021); appointed

in 2021Gomes, R. (2021, March 25). Pope appoints new Archbishop in Manila. Vatican News. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-03/pope-frncis-appoints-new-archbishop-manila-philippines-advincula.html

Administered Schools

* St. Pius X Seminary (Roxas City) * Sancta Maria, Mater et Regina, Seminarium (Roxas City) *Colegio De La Purisima Concepcion

Gallery

References

Catholic HierarchyCBCP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capiz

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

Christian organizations established in 1951 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Religion in Capiz Roxas City 1951 establishments in the Philippines