Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila

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New Coat of Arms of the Archdiocese of Manila

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (popularly known as Archdiocese of Manila, formerly known as Diocese of Manila) is a particular church or diocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. It is also considered as the primal see of the country.

History

The original Diocese of Manila was canonically erected on 6 February 1579 encompassing all of the Spanish colonies in Asia. It was a suffragan of Mexico. The diocese was elevated to an archdiocese on 14 August 1595. Over the course of Philippines history and the growth of Catholicism in the region, the Archdiocese of Manila 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. The territory of the Archdiocese was reduced to the city of Manila and the ten civil provinces near it: Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Bataan, Zambales, and Mindoro.

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

On 19 May 1928, Pope Pius XI established the Diocese of Lingayen, dividing Manila and Nueva Segovia. 26 parishes were then separated from Manila.

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 divided. Bulacan in the north and Cavite in the south were separated from the archdiocese. Bulacan became the Diocese of Malolos and Cavite became the Diocese of Imus.

On 24 January 1983, the eastern part of Rizal was removed from the Archdiocese of Manila. 15 towns and two barangays were also removed to form the Diocese of Antipolo.

In 2002, two more dioceses were removed to form the Diocese of Novaliches and the Diocese of Parañaque.

In 2003, upon the recommendation of the late cardinal Jaime Cardinal Sin and by papal decree by John Paul II, the Archdiocese was further subdivided to form three new Dioceses: Diocese of Cubao, Diocese of Kalookan, and Diocese of Pasig.

Territorial jurisdiction

The Archdiocese of Manila is presently made up of seven cities: Manila, Makati, Pasay, Mandaluyong, Pasig (excluding Santolan and Rosario District), Quezon City (excluding Northern part from Tandang Sora Avenue and Mactan), Kalookan and five municipalities, namely, San Juan, Taguig, Pateros, Malabon and Navotas. With a land area of 315.26 square kilometers, it is bounded by the Diocese of Malolos (Bulacan) in the north; Diocese of Antipolo (Rizal) in the east; Diocese of Imus (Cavite) and San Pablo (Laguna) in the south; and the Manila Bay in the west.

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The Manila Cathedral

Archbishop of Manila

The Archbishop of Manila's episcopal see is located in the Manila Cathedral, under the patronage of the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception. The Archbishop of Manila is also the metropolitan bishop of several suffragan archdioceses and dioceses. He is also the Primate of the Philippines.

After having been served by a single residential bishop, 19 Archbishops of Manila appointed from Spain served the archdiocese. In 1903, the Archdiocese of Manila received its first archbishop from the United States as appointed by the Holy See. Following the leadership of Archbishop Jeremiah James Harty from St. Louis, Missouri, an Irishman was appointed in succession. On 6 September 6 1916, Michael J. O'Doherty was received by the Filipinos.

Archbishop O'Doherty led the Roman Catholic Church of the Philippines in its most difficult times. Filipinos had seen years of petitioning for independence from the United States and then the Japanese attacked Manila on 8 December 1941. The Philippines would become subject to the brutality of Japanese soldiers during World War II through 1945. Finally, the Philippines gained its independence with Archbishop O'Doherty leading the nation through spiritual thanksgiving.

When Archbishop O'Doherty died, the Vatican chose the first Filipino to become Archbishop of Manila. Fr. Gabriel Reyes was already serving as Coadjutor Archbishop of Manila before being raised to the position. His successor, Archbishop (later, Cardinal) Rufino Jiao Santos, became the first Filipino to become a Cardinal in consistory.

Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin became the most recognized Archbishop of Manila worldwide when he challenged the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. Becoming only the third Filipino cardinal created in consistory, Archbishop Sin was credited as one of the architects of the People Power movement that forced the dictator into exile.

Currently, the Archbishop of Manila is Jose Advincula.

Ordinaries

List of Archbishops of Manila

No.		Name	From	Until
1		Domingo de Salazar, O.P.	February 6, 1579	December 4, 1594
2		Ignacio Santibáñez, O.F.M.	August 30, 1595	August 14, 1598
3		Miguel de Benavides, O.P.	October 7, 1602	July 26, 1605
4		Diego Vázquez de Mercado	May 28, 1608	June 12, 1616
5		Miguel García Serrano, O.S.A.	February 12, 1618	June 14, 1629
6		Hernando Guerrero, O.S.A.	January 9, 1634	July 1, 1641
7		Fernando Montero Espinosa	February 5, 1646	1648
8		Miguel de Poblete Casasola	January 21, 1649	December 8, 1667
9		Juan López Galván, O.P.	November 14, 1672	February 12, 1674
10		Felipe Fernández de Pardo, O.P.	October 28, 1681	December 31, 1689
11		Diego Camacho y Ávila	August 19, 1696	January 14, 1704
12		Francisco de la Cuesta, O.S.H.	August 12, 1707	September 27, 1723
13		Carlos Bermúdez de Castro y González	November 20, 1724	November 13, 1729
14		Juan Ángel Rodríguez, O.S.T.	May 18, 1731	June 24, 1742
15		Pedro de la Santísima Trinidad Martínez de Arizala, O.F.M.	February 3, 1744	May 28, 1755
16		Manuel Rojo del Río y Vieyra	December 19, 1757	January 30, 1764
17		Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa, S.P.	April 14, 1766	December 15, 1787
18	110px	Juan Antonio Orbigo de Gallego, O.F.M.	December 15, 1788	May 17, 1797
19	110px	Juan Antonio Zulaibar, O.P.	March 26, 1804	March 4, 1824
20		Hilarión Díez, O.S.A.	July 3, 1826	May 7, 1829
21		José Seguí, O.S.A.	July 5, 1830	July 4, 1845
22	110px	José Aranguren, O.R.S.A.	January 19, 1846	April 18, 1861
23		Gregorio Melitón Martínez Santa Cruz	December 23, 1861	September 30, 1875
24		Pedro Payo y Piñeiro, O.P.	January 28, 1876	January 1, 1889
25		Bernardino Nozaleda y Villa, O.P.	May 27, 1889	February 4, 1902
26		Jeremiah James Harty	June 6, 1903	May 16, 1916 (Transferred to Diocese of Omaha)
27		Michael J. O'Doherty	September 6, 1916	October 13, 1949 (Died in office)
28		Gabriel Reyes	October 13, 1949	October 15, 1952 (Died in office)
29		Rufino Santos	February 10, 1953	September 3, 1973 (Died in office)
30		Jaime Cardinal Sin	March 19, 1974	September 15, 2003 (Retired)
31		Gaudencio Rosales	November 21, 2003	October 13, 2011 (Retired)
32		Luis Antonio Tagle	December 12, 2011	February 9, 2020 (Appointed as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples)
33	110px	Jose Advincula	June 24, 2021	Present

Coadjutor Archbishops

• Romualdo J. Ballesteros, O.P. (1845-1846)
• Gabriel M. Reyes (1949-1952)

Auxiliary Bishops

• Ginés Barrientos, O.P. (1680–1698)
• Jose Maria Segui Molas, O.S.A. (1829–1830), appointed 21st Archbishop of Manila
• William Finnemann, S.V.D. (1929–1936), appointed Prefect of Mindoro
• Cesar Maria Guerrero y Gutierrez (1937–1949), appointed Bishop of San Fernando
• Rufino Jiao Santos (1947–1953), appointed as 29th Archbishop; made Cardinal by John XXIII in 1960
• Vicente Posada Reyes (1950–1961), appointed Bishop of Borongan
• Hernando Izquierdo Antiporda (1954–1975)
• Pedro Bantigue y Natividad (1961–1967), appointed Bishop of San Pablo
• Bienvenido M. Lopez (1966–1995)
• Artemio G. Casas (1968–1974), appointed Archbishop of Jaro
• Amado Paulino y Hernandez (1969–1985)
• Gaudencio Borbon Rosales (1974–1982), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Malaybalay; later appointed as 31st Archbishop; made Cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2005
• Oscar Valero Cruz (1976–1978), appointed Archbishop of San Fernando
• Protacio G. Gungon (1977–1983), appointed Bishop of Antipolo
• Leonardo Legaspi, O.P. (1977–1984), appointed Archbishop of Caceres (Nueva Caceres)
• Manuel C. Sobreviñas (1979–1993), appointed Bishop of Imus
• Gabriel V. Reyes (1981–1992), appointed Bishop of Kalibo
• Teodoro J. Buhain, Jr. (1983–2003)
• Teodoro Bacani (1984–2002) appointed Bishop of Novaliches
• Leoncio L. Lat (1985–1992)
• Ramon Arguelles (1993–1995), appointed Military Ordinary of the Philippines
• Crisostomo A. Yalung (1994–2001), appointed Bishop of Antipolo
• Rolando Joven Tria Tirona, O.C.D. (1994–1996), appointed Bishop of Malolos
• Jesse E. Mercado (1997–2002), appointed Bishop of Parañaque
• Socrates B. Villegas (2001–2004), appointed Bishop of Balanga
• Bernardino C. Cortez (2004–2014), appointed Prelate of Infanta
• Broderick S. Pabillo (2006–2021) appointed Vicar Apostolic of Taytay

Assets

The Archdiocese of Manila is considered to be the richest in the Philippines and one of the richest archdioceses in the world. It has a considerable number of real estate holdings located in Metro Manila and financial interests in some institutions, even after the division of its territories in the past few years. For one, the archdiocese owns 8.5% of Bank of the Philippine Islands, the Philippines' second largest bank and has shares in San Miguel Corporation, Southeast Asia's largest food and beverage company. The archdiocese also owns schools, hostels, charitable institutions, and a travel agency.

Statistics

The Archdiocese of Manila has registered a total of 3,673,000 baptized Catholics. The faithful are served by the archdiocese's 640 secular priests (271 diocesan and 369 religious priests) under 87 parishes.

Formation of priests

The archdiocese operates San Carlos Seminary, which is responsible for the formation of future priests for the archdiocese and for its suffragan dioceses. Located in a sprawling complex in Makati City, it has collegiate- and theologate-level formation houses as well as formation houses for Filipino-Chinese future priests and a center for adult vocations. The seminary offers civil and ecclesiastical degrees in philosophy, theology, and pastoral ministry.

The archdiocese also operates Our Lady of Guadalupe Minor Seminary, a seminary for young men in the secondary school level. It is located a few blocks away from San Carlos Seminary.

Other major seminaries that serve the spiritual and pastoral needs of the archdiocese include the San Jose Seminary (under the administration of the Jesuits, located within the Ateneo de Manila University complex) and the UST Central Seminary, the Royal and Pontifical Interdiocesan Seminary of the Philippines, (under the administration of the Order of Preachers, located within the University of Santo Tomas campus).

Apostolic Nunciature

The official residence of the Papal Nuncio to the Philippines is located within the archdiocese, although the nuncio is not subject to the authority of the archbishop. The present papal nuncio is The Most Reverend Archbishop Charles John Brown.

References

• “History”. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila. (Accessed on 10 December 2021).
• “Archbishops of Manila”. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila. (Accessed on 10 December 2021).
• Gregory XIII, Pope, 1502-1585. "Bull for erection of the Diocese and Cathedral Church of Manila." In The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, translated from the originals, edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson. Cleveland, Ohio: A.H. Clark Company, 1903-9. Vol. 4, 1576-82. Pp. 119-124.