May 30 is both the patronal and town fiesta of Ilagan, Isabela.

The patron is St. Ferdinand of Castille, and he will be honored with Novena Masses on May 21-29. Prayers to the saint will begin at 4:30 p.m., and Mass is at 5:15 p.m. The theme focus is, “To live a life of service for the glory of God.”

Mammangi Festival (Corn Festival, corn being the main agricultural produce of the municipality) is usually celebrated with pomp and pageantry. The church celebration, however, is much simpler, with focus on service and prayer. Since there is no proper novena prayer to St. Ferdinand, Fr. Edmundo “June” Castañeda, the parish priest,  made one, including a Litany.  The prayers and reflection for each day of the novena is  based on the story of the life of St. Ferdinand, King of Castille and Leon. Fr. June patterned it after the novena and Litany to St. Ignatius of Loyola. He was intrigued by the fact that both men were holy, despite being royal Spanish soldiers.

The role of young people

This year, however, emphasis is being given to the role of young people in leading the novena prayers to St. Ferdinand. At the end of the novena, the statue of St. Ferdinand will be brought in a procession around the center of the old town of Ilagan after the 5:15 p.m. Mass on May 29.

On fiesta day, the Thanksgiving Mass will be at 9 a.m., presided by Ilagan Bishop Joseph A. Nacua, OFM Cap, and concelebrated by the clergy of the diocese. On May 31, the traditional sagala Mass which concludes the Flores De Mayo devotion to Mary—that is, Our Lady of the Visitation, the patroness of the Diocese of Ilagan—will be celebrated at 4 p.m., to be followed by the procession of Santa Cruzan.

St. Ferdinand Parish

I visited St. Ferdinand Parish in Ilagan for the first time on April 22, Sunday, to attend the 4 p.m. Mass. I was with my friend Ali Rich Garcia and our hosts Aurora Lazo and Zeny Zicherelli. The church is impressive, with very high ceiling and walls made of bricks. And the parish  church has an interesting history.

There was no Ilagan at the beginning of Spanish rule in the Cagayan Valley. But there was the village of Bolo, which became a Spanish settlement in 1619. A Spanish map of 1625 had the village of Bolo occupying the place where the town of Ilagan is today. This showed  that the Bolo of old became the Ilagan of today.

With the rebellion of the natives of Bolo against the Spanish rule in 1621, Bolo and its neighboring villages ceased to exist. Founded under the previous name of Bolo in 1619, it was re-established in 1678 with the name Ilagan and was accepted as an ecclesiastical mission by the Dominican Provincial Chapter of March 4, 1686.

In 1678, Fr. Pedro Jimenez, OP, founded Ilagan as a visita of Itugod (which is the present Lenson, a few kilometers west of the present town of Gamu),  seat of the parish, where a fort was constructed by the Spanish soldiers and missionaries to make conquests of pagan lands.

Itugod later declined in importance. From being the parish center of the missions, it was reduced to a mere visita of Ilagan by the Dominican Chapter of 1704 with Fr. Fernando de la Mota, OP, as parish priest.

Construction of church

Although Fr. Pedro Jimenez, OP, founded Ilagan in 1678, it was around 1696 and 1700 that Fr. Miguel Matos, OP, built the church of stone and bricks. A typhoon in 1866 destroyed the roof of the church. Desiring to make the church bigger, Fr. Pablo Almazan, OP, demolished the solid walls of the church, which, unfortunately, was never built. The walls of the church today are of modern make.

The solid belfry, which exists up to this day, was started by Fr. Pedro San Pedro, OP, in 1777, and finished by Fr. Joaquin Sancho, OP, in 1783. Fr. Luis built the Sacristy in 1829, while Fr. Isidro Martinena, OP, built the cemetery of San Vicente in 1892, which is still being used to this day.

As a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao, the Diocese of Ilagan, comprising the whole province of Isabela, was erected on Jan. 31, 1979. The titular head of the Diocese of Ilagan is St. Ferdinand of Castille, whose feast day is celebrated on May 30.

Today, the Cathedral Parish of St. Ferdinand comprises 54 barangays. Although the seat of the parish is still the 1870 Church in Centro Ilagan, a new and bigger Cathedral Church (and Bishops’ Residence) was built recently in Upi, Gamu, Isabela.

(Information from the book of Fr. Pedro Salgado, OP, “The Church of Isabela,” Vol. 1)

Pilgrimage to Eastern Europe

Fr. Archie Cortez, SRC, Prior of the Servants of the Risen Christ, based in the Monasterio de Tarlac in San José, Tarlac, will lead pilgrims to Eastern Europe on Aug. 13-Sept. 1, beginning with a visit to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Karlovy Vary, the most beautiful spa town in the heart of Europe.

Then, they proceed to Prague where Holy Mass will be celebrated at the Church of Our Lady of the Victorious, where the miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague is enshrined.

Other highlights of the Eastern Europe pilgrimage covering the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Poland and Germany are the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Cracow; the Shrine of the Black Madonna  and Swienta Lipka in Poland;  the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Bratislava; St. Stephen Church in Budapest, which houses Hungary’s most sacred relic, the mummified hand of St. Stephen; and St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as  a cantor.

For more info, call Sally Maddatu, mobile 0906-2395166 or 0908-5015267.

Plenary indulgence

Archbishop Ramon Arguelles will officiate the concelebrated Mass celebrating the decree of Pope Benedict XXVI, declaring that a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay in Labac, Taal, will gain a plenary indulgence for pilgrims. Mass is on June 3, Sunday, 8 a.m., in Labac.

Meanwhile, the devotees of Servant of God Fr. Patrick Peyton will mark his 20th death anniversary on June 4, Monday, 12 noon, with Mass at the Family Rosary Crusade Chapel in 141 B. Gonzales St., Varsity Hills, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. Fr. Peyton died June 3, 1992.