Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila - History

History

The original Diocese of Manila was canonically erected on 6 February 1579 encompassing all of the Spanish colonies in Asia and originally was a suffragan of Mexico. Over the course of Philippine history and the growth of Catholicism in the region, the Archdiocese of Manila had carved new dioceses from its territory.

On 14 August 1595, Pope Clement VIII raised the diocese to the status of an archdiocese and created three new dioceses as suffragan to Manila: Nueva Caceres, Nueva Segovia, and Cebu. With the creation of these new dioceses, the territory of the Archdiocese was reduced to the city of Manila and the ten civil provinces in proximity to it, namely: Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Bataan, Zambales, and Mindoro.

The province of Mindoro was established as an independent diocese on 10 April 1910 by virtue of a Decretum Consistoriale executed by Pope Pius X, implementing the Bull “Quae Mari Sinico” of Pope Leo XIII. Also on that date saw the creation of the Diocese of Lipa (now known as the Archdiocese of Lipa) which had jurisdiction over the provinces of Batangas, Quezon Province, Marinduque and some parts of Masbate.

Eighteen years later, on 19 May 1928, Pope Pius XI established the Diocese of Lingayen, dividing Manila and Nueva Segovia. In this division 26 parishes were separated from Manila. He also named Our Lady of Guadalupe a patroness of the Filipino people in 1938.

In September 1942, Pope Pius XII declared on a Papal Bull Impositi Nobis the Immaculate Conception as the Principal Patroness of the Philippines, along with SS Pudentiana and Rose of Lima as secondary patrons.

On 11 December 1948, the Apostolic Constitution, “Probe noscitur” further divided the Archdiocese of Manila by separating the northern part of the Archdiocese and establishing it as the Diocese of San Fernando. On 25 November 1961, the Archdiocese of Manila was again partitioned. The civil provinces of Bulacan in the north and Cavite in the south were separated from the Archdiocese, the northern part becoming the Diocese of Malolos and towards the south the Diocese of Imus.

Blessed Pope John Paul II declared the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception a Minor Basilica in 1982 through a Motu Proprio.

Fifteen towns and two barangay from eastern Rizal were excised on 24 January 1983 to form the Diocese of Antipolo.

In 2002, two more dioceses were carved out of the Archdiocese: the Diocese of Novaliches in the north and the Diocese of Parañaque in the south, which also comprised the cities of Las Piñas and Muntinlupa.

In 2003, by the recommendation of Cardinal Jaime Sin and by papal decree, the Archdiocese was further partitioned to form three new dioceses: the Dioceses of Cubao, Caloocan and Pasig.