25/05/2023
History
From the CBCP website: Batangas was originally called Balayan, with Taal as its first capital. In 1754 the capital was moved to Batangas, its capital today. Historically, Batangas is known as the birth place of Apolinario Mabini, a Filipino hero known as the "Sublime Paralytic" who became Secretary of State of the First Philippine Republic. The last Filipino general to surrender to Americans in the Philippine American War, Miguel Malvar, was also from this province.
The Diocese of Lipa was created on April 10, 1910, separating it from that of Manila. Its titular is St. Joseph the Patriarch and its secondary patron is the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception.
The diocese then covered the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Marinduque and Mindoro, with the late Archbishop Joseph Petrelli as the first bishop. He was faced with a monumental task because the diocese was large and there was but a handful of priests.
Then Bishop Petrelli invited different religious congregations to come to his diocese and help minister to the spiritual needs of the faithful. He also conceived the building of a seminary in the diocese. In June l914 a diocesan seminary was built in Bauan, which was later transferred to San Pablo in Laguna. This initiative of the first bishop was continued by the next bishop, the late Alfredo Verzosa, who served a long term from 1916 to 1950. He invited priests from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to help in the administration of the new seminary.
In 1950 then Archbishop Rufino Santos took over the diocese. Described as a financial administrator of great acumen, the archbishop later turned cardinal applied for bank loans to help construct some buildings. This way he continued the construction work of the Cathedral of Lipa and built a major seminary beside it.
With the departure of Cardinal Santos for the Archdiocese of Manila came a young bishop, Bishop Alejandro Olalia, who stayed with the diocese from 1953 to 1973. It was during his term that the Diocese of Lipa, on June 20, 1972, became the tenth Archdiocese and Ecclesiastical Province by order of the Holy Father, Pope Paul VI. This same order elevated Bishop Olalia to the rank of archbishop on August 15, 1972.
Archbishop Olalia died in 1973 and was replaced by Archbishop Ricardo Vidal who stayed with the diocese until 1981. During his incumbency, Archbishop Vidal organized the Pastoral Council, and initiated the construction of the Lipa Archdiocesan Formation Center. He succeeded as Cebu archbishop in 1982, a post he holds until now. In 1985 he was elevated to cardinal.
Archbishop Vidal was replaced in 1981 by Bishop Mariano Gaviola who stayed with the diocese from 1981 to 1993. He was at the helm of the archdiocese as it celebrated its 75th anniversary on March 19, 1993, when the reins of the archdiocese were again transferred, this time to Bishop Gaudencio Rosales, a native of Batangas City. He was ordained priest in Lipa in 1958, became Auxiliary Bishop of Manila in 1974, served as bishop in Malaybalay in 1982, and on December 30, 1992 he was elected Archbishop of Lipa. In 2003 he was appointed as Manila archbishop and in 2006 was made cardinal.
As the Archdiocese of Lipa changed hands over the years, changes too were happening to its territorial jurisdiction over certain areas. These were proud moments for the archdiocese, when a number of provinces had acquired the capability to stand on their own. Thus in 1936 Mindoro was separated and became the Apostolic Prelature of Calapan. In 1950 Lucena became a diocese of its own, and also in 1950 the Prelature of Infanta was created, comprising the northern part of Quezon Province, Polilio and Aurora, Laguna's turn came next and became a separate diocese in 1967, that of San Pablo. The Diocese of Boac in Marinduque was created in 1977 and that of Gumaca in 1984. Both dioceses were part of the Diocese of Lucena before their establishment. In 1983 the new Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose in Occidental Mindoro was created.
Today the Archdiocese of Lipa is for the province of Batangas alone. But the population has multiplied many times over. The archdiocese is divided into 7 vicariates, each headed by a vicar forane. Except for the parishes in Vicariate IV which are run by the Oblates of St. Joseph, all other parishes are run by the diocesan clergy.
On August 18, 1995, after much review, and meetings presided over by Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales himself, the archdiocese's vision was conceived: "A people of God called by the Father in Jesus Christ to be communities of totally developed human persons in the world, witnessing to the Kingdom of God by living the Paschal Mystery in the power of the Holy Spirit."
The archdiocese is currently preparing for the April 2008 launch of their three-year centennial celebration as a diocese. Lipa archdiocese's centennial anniversary is on April 10, 2010.
Source: https://www.ucanews.com/directory/dioceses/philippines-lipa/430
