THE Archdiocese of Manila has been blessed not only with great leaders, but also with extraordinary laypeople, said the Manila Cathedral rector in a Mass celebrating the 430th anniversary of the establishment of Manila as an archdiocese on Thursday, Aug. 14.
In his homily at the Manila Cathedral, Fr. Rolando Dela Cruz said the laity, not just the clergy, should be a reason to be grateful.
“We have been blessed with good and great laypeople. We have been blessed with you,” Dela Cruz said.
Dela Cruz paid tribute to the former bishops and archbishops of Manila, from Domingo de Salazar to Cardinal Jose Advincula, who, he said, were all hardworking and had a great zeal in serving the faithful.
Pope Clement VIII elevated the Diocese of Manila to a metropolitan archdiocese through a papal brief in 1595, establishing the first archdiocese in the Philippines.
The pope also made three dioceses, Nueva Segovia (Vigan), Caceres (Naga), and Cebu, all suffragan to Manila.
Before becoming a separate archdiocese, Manila was a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Mexico, which covered all Spanish colonies in Asia.
Manila’s first bishop was a Dominican, Domingo de Salazar, O.P.
The third bishop of Manila, Archbishop Miguel de Benavides, O.P., founded the University of Santo Tomas in 1611.
There have been six Dominican prelates or members of the Dominican fraternity assigned to the Archdiocese of Manila, including Bishops Juan Lopez Galvan, O.P., Felipe Fernandez de Pardo, O.P., Juan Antonio Zulaibar, O.P., Bernardino Nozaleda, O.P., and the incumbent, Cardinal Jose Advincula, O.P., a UST alumnus and a member of the Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic.
The Archdiocese of Manila now serves as the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province of the same name, encompassing five suffragan dioceses located in the National Capital Region: Cubao, Novaliches, Kalookan, Parañaque, and Pasig.
It also covers four dioceses in surrounding provinces: the Diocese of Imus in Cavite, the Diocese of Antipolo in Rizal, the Diocese of Malolos in Bulacan, and the Diocese of San Pablo in Laguna.
Headed by an archbishop, an archdiocese is a larger territory than a diocese, and usually covers a large metropolitan area or population. A.G.C. Mansineros
