Saint Joseph Cathedral Parish, commonly known as Romblon 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 ...

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 ...

town, in the province of

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 ...

. One of the province's known landmarks, it is the seat of the Diocese of Romblon and was declared a National Cultural Treasure in 2001 by the

National Museum of the Philippines The National Museum of the Philippines () is an umbrella government organization that oversees a number of national museums in the Philippines, including Ethnography, ethnographic, Anthropology, anthropological, Archaeology, archaeological, an ...

History

In 1631, the Christian community in Romblon island where the cathedral stands today was formally organized. The island faced the same fate with the adjacent Tablas,

Sibuyan Sibuyan is a crescent-shaped island, the second largest in an archipelago comprising Romblon, Romblon Province, Philippines. Located in the namesake Sibuyan Sea, it has an area of and has a total population of 62,815, as of the 2020 census. Th ...

and nearby

Marinduque Marinduque (; ), officially the Province of Marinduque, is an island province in the Philippines located in Southwestern Tagalog Region or Mimaropa, formerly designated as Region IV-B. Its capital is the municipality of Boac, the most popul ...

, having been frequented by Moro raiders from the south. When the Portuguese

Recollect The Franciscan Recollects () were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects devoted their lives to an extra emphasis on prayer, penance, and spiritual reflecti ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

Agustin de San Pedro from Cagayan de Misamis in

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

was transferred to Romblon in 1644, he immediately spearheaded the construction of the Romblon's church and

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

due to the said raid attacks. Also because of the attacks, he trained the natives to defend themselves with military armaments and ordered constructions of structures that fortified the island, earning him the moniker "". Constructions of the Fuerza San Andres and Fuerza Santiago overlooking the town in 1644, Banton's church and convent including its perimeter walls, and the fortress at Banton's hills, were all under his helm. The church's rear side was placed against the mountainside for stability while the front of the bay inlet facing the town was constructed with a continuous wall-gate for protection. The first decades of the 18th century saw most of the constructions that comprise the cathedral today. In 1726, the was built, alongside the two smaller retablos facing each other at the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

. Another level of the belfry was added in the following year, 1727. Romblon received a replica image of the famed Cebu Santo Niño and enshrined it in the church in 1728. The church and its parts were damaged caused by typhoons in 1780 and 1829, which were all rebuilt and reconstructed throughout the 19th century. In 1974, the church of Romblon became a cathedral when the Diocese of Romblon was founded. In 1992, the cathedral-enshrined image of went missing and was returned to Romblon in 2013. The cathedral was installed with its National Cultural Treasure marker in 2013 even though it was designated as such in 2001. On May 27, 2023, a "tragic" fire engulfed the Cathedral's L-shaped convent, parish office and

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

, "except for the old stone pillars", Bishop Narciso Villaver Abellana said. It served as a

repository Repository may refer to: Archives and online databases * Content repository, a database with an associated set of data management tools, allowing application-independent access to the content * Disciplinary repository (or subject repository), an ...

-temporary museum of religious treasures, including canonical books, records and antique wooden statues of Spanish-era Christian saints.

Gallery

File:National Cultural Treasure marker of Romblon Cathedral.jpg, National Cultural Treasure marker File:Romblon Cathedral 2.jpg, Archways at the cathedral's facade File:Convent of Romblon Cathedral.jpg, Romblon Cathedral

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

File:Romblon Poblacion 08.jpg, The cathedral's

File:St. Joseph Cathedral 19.JPG,

Buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es at the cathedral's lateral wall File:St. Joseph Cathedral 02.JPG, Laminated image of Sto. Niño de Romblon that was lost for almost 22 years File:Romblon Poblacion 04.jpg, The cathedral's

choir loft A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church (building), church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the Sanctuary#Sanctuary as area a ...

References

External links

* * {{National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines Roman Catholic churches in Romblon Marked Historical Structures of the Philippines Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Philippines 1635 establishments in the Spanish Empire 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 Baroque church buildings in the Philippines Fortified church buildings Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Romblon Jubilee churches in the Philippines