Roman Catholic Diocese of Malolos - History

History

The Diocese of Malolos was created on November 25, 1961. On March 11, 1962, the Malolos Cathedral became the site of the formal canonical installation of the first resident bishop of Malolos, Most Reverend Manuel del Rosario, D.D. For Malolos, it was a new chapter in its already fabled history. It was the late Pope John XXIII who created the Diocese of Malolos as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Manila. In the celebration, Bishop del Rosario was installed by Archbishop Salvatore Siino, then papal nuncio to the Philippines.

In Guiguinto, Bulacan town, the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary soon got under construction. The seminary, considered the nucleus potential of the diocese, has become the alma mater of some fifty priests who have now assumed responsible positions in the diocese and its 73 parishes. The seminary has grown to include new buildings for a college seminary, a formation institute, and hopefully, in due time, a theology school.

A few years later two auxiliary bishops were assigned to Malolos: Most Reverend Leopoldo Arcaira who arrived in 1966, then Most Reverend Ricardo Vidal. When Monsignor Vidal was elevated to the position of archbishop and was assigned to Lipa, Pope Paul VI gave Malolos a young and energetic prelate, Most Reverend Cirilo R. Almario became the bishop of Malolos from December 15, 1977 up to January 20, 1996.

The third bishop is the former auxiliary bishop of Manila, Most Rev. Rolando Tria Tirona, OCD, a Carmelite Discalced. He started his episcopacy on the December, 1996. He was later transferred in June 2003 to the Prelature of Infanta to replace another Carmelite Discalced prelate, Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen, OCD.

The current bishop is a priest from the Diocese of Gumaca in Quezon, Most Rev. Jose Francisco Oliveros, DD. He took the office on May 14, 2004.

The pomp and pageantry that accompanied the installation of the First Bishop of Malolos was repeated in a celebration in 1987 to mark the silver jubilee of the diocese. All roads led to Malolos that day.

The Diocese of Malolos comprises the entire civil province of Bulacan and the city of Valenzuela in Metro Manila. Its titular patron is the Immaculate Conception whose feast is celebrated December 8. The population covered by the diocese is 1,650,000 of which 85 per cent are Catholics.

Malolos is the capital of Bulacan Province which lies in the Central Plains of Luzon, or Region III. Bulacan is bounded by Nueva Ecija on the north, Aurora (Dingalan) on the northeast, Quezon (General Nakar) on the east, Rizal (Rodriguez) on the southeast, Metro Manila (Valenzuela City, Malabon City, Navotas City, Caloocan City and Quezon City) on the south, Manila Bay on the southwest, and Pampanga on the west. The province of Bulacan is rich in rice, in fruits and in fishpond production. Other products are sugar and corn. In poultry raising the town of Sta. Maria is known as the "egg nest" of the country.

Historically, Bulacan, together with other Central Luzon provinces, was among the first to take up arms against Spanish authorities. It played an important role in the Philippine Revolution of 1896. When the capital of the new Republic was moved from Bacoor in Cavite to Malolos in Bulacan, the First Revolutionary Congress met at the Barasoain Church, a landmark in Philippine history, to draft the first constitution of the First Philippine Republic. And on January 21, 1899 Emilio Aguinaldo, the first president of the First Philippine Republic, promulgated what is now known as the Malolos Constitution. It was the first important Filipino document to come out of people's representation.

In June and July 1987, Bishop Cirilo Almario convened the First Diocesan Synod of Malolos. It had for its theme - "To Prepare for the Lord a Perfect People." Together with the priests and the Christian faithful of the province the Synod formulated its own vision-mission statement. To fulfill its mission, a restructuring of the diocesan organization was called for in line with the spirit of Vatican II.