BRIEF
HISTORICAL
PROFILE
1581
The parish was founded by the Augustinian missionaries (Order of St. Augustine - O.S.A.) serving as one of the first mission stations in the conglomerate of towns that formed the present province of Bulacan. According to Gaspar de San Agustin, O.S.A’s “Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas”, the convent of Hagonoy was first dedicated to “La Concepcion de la Nuestra Señora”. Later on, the records of the Augustinian records show that the parish of Hagonoy was dedicated under the advocacy of St. Anne, Mother of the Virgin Mary. It is the second oldest Annesian parish in the country until the 1700’s after the Franciscan Sta. Ana Church in Manila changed its titular patroness to Our Lady of the Abandoned.
Fray Diego Ordoñez de Vivar, O.S.A., who is know for having established the Augustinian missions from Western Bulacan to Southern Pampanga served as the first minister of Hagonoy as noted in the private meetings of the Augustinian Chapter based in Tondo on January 17 and September 21, 1582 respectively. According to the records, the site of the parish was still in the original site of Quinabalon (from the Kapampangan word "balu" which meant "well known" ~ which was then a part of the pueblo of Calumpit). However, due to a fire that razed the parish and convent to the ground, traces of records from Vivar and his succeeding ministers can no longer be retrieved.
1747
The parish was once again erected in the site of Quinabaluan, now named Sta. Monica in honor of the mother of the father founder of the Order. It was razed to the ground once more on a fire on August 12, 1748. However the records have been kept with the first Libro de Bautismo (Baptismal Register) in 1731.
1748
The parish was rebuilt by Fray Eusebio Polo, O.S.A., but now in the current site, which according to records was a higher ground than the previous area. At the back of the church’s present site, the Augustinian friars would traverse until they reached other parts of Bulacan and Pampanga. Hence this small creek was called “Sapang Pari”.
1752
Under Fray Buenaventura Roldan, O.S.A. the church was completed in 1752, though it was rebuilt time and again under Fray Juan Coronado, O.S.A. from 1815-1836 and Fray Manuel Alvarez, O.S.A. in 1862.
1841
Fray Manuel Alvarez, O.S.A., as the longest-serving parish priest in the parish’s history, commissioned an image of St. Anne and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now known locally as “La Verdedara”, this antique image in the record currently enshrined in the retablo mayor of the parish. This is according to the parish’s catalog or “Cargo y Data” as noted by Bulacan Cultural Heritage Chairman Fr. Vicente B. Lina, Jr.
After being damaged by an earthquake, the parish church was once again renovated under the tenure of Fray Ignacion Manzanares, O.S.A.
1871
At the peak of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, the last Augustinian curate of Hagonoy, Fray Emilio Bulliz, O.S.A. left the parish. From there, secular priests took over, under the succeeding tenure of Fr. Clemente Garcia.
1898
1901
A priest from Bulakan town, Fr. (later on Msgr.) Mariano V. Sevilla was appointed as the first official Filipino curate. During his tenure, a series of developments came about. Upon his suggestion, the names of the barrios of Hagonoy were changed to the names of saints for the people to imitate their example. As the translator of the May Flower devotion in Italy in 1865 through the “Dalit kay Maria,” the vernacular for Flores de Mayo, based on Italy’s “Misa de Maggio”, he introduced the devotion to Hagonoy. Hagonoy since has been one of the vibrant centers of the Flores de Mayo devotion in the country. The rise in priestly and religious vocation were also noted during this time due to the encouragement of Filipino parish priests from the tenures of Msgr. Sevilla, Fr. Celestino Rodriqguez who accompanied the people during the Japanese invasion and founded the parochial school, Fr. Exequiel Morales and Fr. Arsenio Nicdao, the first Hagonoeño parish priest of the community
1970's
The further enhancement of the church was held after the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council under a Hagonoeño parish priest, Msgr. Jose B. Aguinaldo. The priests’ association of Hagonoy was formally organized in 1971 and a priests’ cemetery was formed at the back of the church. According to Fr. Pedro G. Galende, O.S.A.’s reference “Angels in Stone: The Augustinian Churches in the Philippines”, the “façade is pierced with 5 windows: three semicircular arched ones and two rectangular ones on the first level. A porte-cochere with a balustraded top mars the view of the bottom part of the façade. Much of the design of the façade has been changed after the 1970s renovation. The façade now sports three arched entrances, all featuring hardwood doors carved with great details. Tuscan capitals were incorporated into the four pilasters and were now capped off with huge images of Augustinian saints. A rose window and a tableau of Saint Anne and the Virgin Mary were also added into the center of the pediment. The entire façade is capped off with a cross held by two cherubs. To the left of the church rises the six-level rectangular bell tower.”
1989
Through the next decade, Msgr. Aguinaldo worked for the further enhancement of the church and the promotion of the devotion to St. Anne. The parish received an official first class relic of St. Anne from the Basilic of St. Anne in Beaupre, Quebec, Canada. It has been venerated in the shrine every Tuesday, which is considered as the day in honor of the patroness. The Confraternity of St. Anne or "Kapatiran ni Sta. Ana" was also introduced and was registered as an affiliate of the international Archconfraternity of St. Anne. Brought by these efforts, Malolos Bishop Cirilo R. Almario, Jr. decreed the Parish of St. Anne as a Diocesan Shrine on June 30, 1989.
1991
With Bishop Almario’s recommendation as Bishop of Malolos, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) officially decreed that the shrine was now declared a National Shrine on July 21, 1991. The shrine was officially elevated on October 29, 1991.
2000
Upon Aguinaldo’s retirement in 1991 he was succeeded by Msgr. Macario R. Manahan whose tenure was spent in developing the shrine and forming more ecclesiastical organizations.
2010
After the brief tenure of Fr. Reynaldo Mutuc, Msgr. Luciano C. Balagtas, P.C. was chosen to hold the reins of the shrine for a decade. Renovations and developments have been made during this time, especially with the expansion of the parochial school to different campuses.
2020
The national shrine council was formed by the authority of Msgr. Balagtas and a formal set of shrine statutes have formed in order to update the shrine’s obligations in accord with the changes in the administration of shrines in the New Evangelization.
THE NATIONAL SHRINE & PARISH OF ST. ANNE, HAGONOY, BULACAN:
A Brief Historical Profile
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by: Kendrick Ivan Panganiban, M.A. Theo., M.A. Past. Min.
REFERENCES:
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Aguinaldo, Msgr. Jose B. Ika-400 Bantayog ng Simbahan. Hagonoy: Parish of St. Anne. 1981.
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Blair, Emma Helen, Robertson, James Alexander, eds. Philippine Islands: 1493-1898. with notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne. Vol. VIII: 1591-1593. OH: The Arthur H. Clarke Co., 1903.
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Order of St. Augustine – Province of the Holy Name of Jesus. Libro de Gobierno dela Provinica del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas. Valladolid and Madrid: Augustinian Archives. Libro I. fol. 40v.
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___________________. Libro de Gobierno dela Provinicia del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas. Valladolid and Madrid: Augustinian Archives. Libro V. fol. 95, 96, 138.
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Galende, Rev. Fr. Pedro G. O.S.A, Angels in Stone: Augustinian Churches in the Philippines. Manila: San Agustin Museum, 1996.
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Jose, Regalado Trota. Curas de Almas: A preliminary listing of parishes and parish priests in the 19th century Philippines based on the Guias de Forasteros, 1834 – 1898,Vol. 2: Curatos A-J. Manila: UST Publishing House, 2008.
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Parroquia de Santa Ana, Hagonoy, Bulacan. Libro Primero de Prothocolo de los Bauptizados en esta Yglesia de Sra. Sta. Ana del Pueblo de Hagonoy en el que fe contienen los Bauptismos des el Año 1731 (1731).
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San Agustin, P. Gaspar de, O.S.A. Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas: 1565-1615. Bi-lingual Edition, trans. Luis Mañeru. Manila: San Agustin Museum, 1998.