The Immaculate Conception Cathedral Parish (), commonly referred to as Boac Cathedral, is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

and

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

in the

town center A town centre is the commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train or bus st ...

Boac, Marinduque Boac, officially the Municipality of Boac (), is a Municipalities of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, province of Marinduque, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 57,283 people, ...

, in the

Mimaropa Mimaropa (officially stylized in all caps), officially the Southwestern Tagalog Region (), is an administrative region in the Philippines. The name is an acronym combination of its constituent provinces: Mindoro (divided into Occidental Mindo ...

region of the

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 ...

. The seat of the Diocese of Boac, the cathedral today is surrounded by its likewise centuries-old

defensive walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls with to ...

, and was declared a

Philippine 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 ...

Important Cultural Property (ICP) in 2018 by the

national museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

of the country. At present, the Cathedral houses the Sacred Heart Pastoral Center (Bishop's residence) as well as the Diocesan Shrine of ''Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa'' within its compound. In 2021, the cathedral was designated as a jubilee church of the Diocese of Boac during the celebration of the 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines.

History

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

missionary, Fray Estevan Ortiz, planted the first cross on Marinduque island in 1579. ''Monserrat de Marinduque'', the first ''visita'', (now Boac), was established with Fray Alonzo Banol as its minister a year later in 1580. The Franciscans ceded the administration of the island in 1618 to the

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, ...

Miguel García Serrano Miguel García Serrano, O.S.A. (1569 – June 14, 1629) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (1618–1629) and the Bishop of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia (1616–1618). ''(in L ...

, who then entrusted the island to the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

. In 1621, the Jesuits assumed the spiritual administration of the island. The church was constructed facing east with its rear overlooking the lower town, called ''labak'' by the natives, in 1756. It was seen to serve as a refuge of the townspeople against pirate attacks prevalent in the era, in addition to its purpose as a place for worship when it was finally built in 1792. Local accounts include that once, when the townspeople were being attacked by Moro pirates, while taking refuge within the church's walls, they prayed fervently to their patroness, the Immaculate Conception, for salvation from the attack. Oral tradition also holds that while the natives were being killed, they are all praying when a supposed apparition of Mary with outstretched hands drove away the intruders. This event led to the devotion to ''Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa'' (Our Lady of Prompt Succor) as their patroness's new title. In 1899, the flag for the revolution in the Philippines brought by Canuto Vargas was blessed in the cathedral. in 1958, the venerated image of ''Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa'' was canonically crowned and is considered as the patroness of the province. The historical marker installed at the cathedral states that a Boac parish priest named Saturnino Trinidad helped Colonel Maximo Abad surrender to the Americans under H.H. Bandholtz. File:Biglang-Awa ng Boac.jpg, Image of ''Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa'', enshrined at the cathedral compound File:Interior of Boac Cathedral, Marinduque.jpg, Cathedral interior in 2013 File:Intramuros_Grand_Marian_Procession_Manila_17.jpg, Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa, Grand Marian Procession

Current Clergy

* Parish Priest: Rev. Fr. Ian Retardo * Parochial Vicars: Rev. Fr. Tito Amodia, Rev Fr. Fabio Fiegalan, Rev Fr. Reynel Sajul, Rev.Fr. Louise Riego * Resident Priests: Rev. Fr. Bienvenido Marticio, Rev. Fr. Isagani Milambiling

Parish Priests

Diocesan Shrine of Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa

The Diocesan Shrine of Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa was established on May 10, 2008 (the feast day of her

canonical coronation A canonical coronation () is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a formal decree of a papal bull, in which the pope bestows the pontifical right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureola, aureole to an image of ...

) by then-Bishop of Boac Reynaldo Evangelista and

Cardinal Ricardo Vidal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

, Archbishop of Cebu. The Shrine promotes the devotion to ''Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa'', the patron saint of the Diocese of Boac. It has mass every day, and a special healing mass is held every 11th of the month in the shrine. The shrine is also involved in a first saturday marian procession with the Cathedral. Rectors of the Shrine of Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa * Rev. Fr. Pepito Perilla (2008-2010) * Rev. Fr. Renato Sapungan (2010-2015) * Rev. Fr. Senen Milambiling (2015-2019) * Rev. Fr. Eulogio Mangui (2019-2022) * Rev. Fr. Ian Retardo (2022-present)

References

External links

* * {{Roman Catholic Diocese of Boac Buildings and structures in Marinduque Marked Historical Structures of the Philippines Spanish Colonial architecture in the Philippines Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Philippines 1792 establishments in the Spanish Empire 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines Fortified church buildings Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boac