Saint Gregory the Great Cathedral Parish, commonly known as Legazpi Cathedral and locally as Albay 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 ...

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 ...

dedicated to

Saint Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...

in the Old Albay District of the city of Legazpi,

Albay Albay (IPA: ), officially the Province of Albay (; ; Baybayin, ᜎᜎᜏᜒᜄᜈ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜀᜎ᜔ᜊᜌ᜔), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Bicol Region of the Philippines, mostly on the southeastern part of the isla ...

, in the

Bicol region The Bicol Region, designated as Region V, is an administrative region of the Philippines. It comprises six Provinces of the Philippines, provinces, four on the Bicol Peninsula (the luzon#Southeastern Luzon, southeastern end of Luzon): Albay, Ca ...

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 ...

. It is the seat of the

Diocese of Legazpi The Diocese of Legazpi (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Dioecesis Legazpiensis'') is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church. It constitutes the entire province of Albay in the Philippines. The diocese was erected in 1951, carved f ...

. In 2018, a

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

of the

National Historical Commission of the Philippines The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP; ) is a government agency of the Philippines. Its mission is "the promotion of Philippine history and cultural heritage through research, dissemination, conservation, sites management ...

was unveiled at the cathedral.

History

Katedral ng Albay NHCP historical marker

The

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

of Legazpi today was initially a

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

called ''Sawangan'', which at present corresponds to the location of the Legazpi Port. The mission in the area, the ''Mission de San Gregorio Magno de Sawangan'', was founded by the

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 ...

s in 1587 as a ''visita'' of Cagsaua. Its first church of nipa and lumber was constructed which was placed under the

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of Saint Gregory the Great, the

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

from 590 to 604 CE. In 1616, it became a full pledged

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

and was called ''Albay''. It was reconstructed with

wood plank A plank is timber that is flat, elongated, and rectangular with parallel faces that are higher and longer than wide. Used primarily in carpentry, planks are critical in the construction of ships, houses, bridges, and many other structures. Plank ...

s in 1635 which was razed by fire in 1754. The first stone church was built under Fr. Pedro Romero in 1834 which was charred again during the Philippine-American War in 1900. In 1945, parts of the church were damaged during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and was subsequently repaired under Fr. Nicanor Belleza. In 1951, it became the seat and cathedral of the Legazpi Diocese upon its foundation from the territories of Diocese of Nueva Caceres.

Gallery

File:Legazpi Cathedral inside (Rizal Street, Legazpi, Albay; 04-17-2023).jpg, Church interior in 2023 File:Legazpi Church Side.JPG, Side entrances of the cathedral File:Legazpi Cathedral entrance.jpg, Archway at the cathedral's vicinity File:Legazpi Church Sides.JPG, The cathedral's lateral wall details

References

External links

* * {{Roman Catholic Diocese of Legazpi Roman Catholic churches in Albay Baroque church buildings in the Philippines Marked Historical Structures of the Philippines Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Philippines 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Legazpi, Albay Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Legazpi