SAN ROQUE Cathedral Church Story.

[Reen-Oath]

SAN ROQUE CATHEDRAL CHURCH​

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The San Roque Cathedral, simply known as Caloocan Cathedral, is now the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kalookan. It began as a small chapel in 1765 in an area called Libis Aromahan (Sitio de Espinas) when the Parochial Vicar of Santo Niño de Tondo Parish, Rev. Fr. Manuel Vanquero. gave the community two statues, that of San Roque and the Nuestra Señora de la Nieva, believed to have been brought by Augustinian Recollects from Talavera, Spain.

On April 8, 1815, the Archbishop of Manila, Most Rev. Antonio de Zulaivar, elevated the vicariate into its own full-fledged parish, separating San Roque Parish from that of Santo Niño de Tondo. Rev. Fr. Manuel de San Miguel was its first parish priest.

This also marked the transfer of the church building from Libis Aromahan to Paltok, the church’s present site. In 1819, Rev. Fr. Vicente de San Francisco Xavier initiated the construction of a bigger church, which was completed in the administration of Rev. Fr. Cipriano Garcia.

San Roque Parish also played a historic role during the Revolution against the Spanish regime, the American rule, and later on, the Japanese occupation. The parish’s churchyard served as a meeting place for members of the Katipunan who marched to Balintawak and launched their attacks against the guardia civil. On February 10, 1899, at the peak of the Filipino–American Revolution, the church was partly destroyed by US forces who were after General Antonio Luna who had sought refuge inside the church. After Caloocan’s capture, the Americans used the whole area as a field hospital. In 1900, the regiment of Col. Frederick Funston made the church the headquarters of its cavalry and used its grounds as their stables.

In 1914, Rev. Fr. Victor Raymundo initiated the reconstruction of the church, along with the Cofradía de Sagrado de Corazon de Jesus. The parish priests who succeeded Fr. Raymundo continued the task of revitalizing and improving the old building: Fr. Eusebio Carreon put black and white tiles along the aisles in 1934, Fr. Pedro Abad renovated the façade in 1947 while Msgr. Pedro Vicedo built additional wings on both sides of the church in 1962.

The church steadily fell into a state of disrepair in later years, leading Rev. Msgr. Augurio Juta to plan a major revamp and reconstruction for a bigger church in 1977. It was only in the mid–1980, however, in the tenure of Rev. Msgr. Boanerges Lechuga, that the renovations and restorations were completed.

The altar table of the cathedral contains two Holy Relics: a relic from the bone of San Roque, a gift from Pope Francis for the 200 year Anniversary of the Parish, brought out for public veneration in a vigil in preparation for the dedication of the cathedral the next day, and another one from the Chapel of the Holy Relics in Cebu which was gifted on August 13, 2017.

The church and the City of Calookan celebrate the feast day of San Roque, or Saint Roch of Montpellier, their patron saint, whose aid is invoked against plagues and pestilence, on August 16 of every year.

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