San Agustin Parish Church (Bay, Laguna)

Bay Church
Saint Augustine Parish Church
Simbahan at Parokya ni San Agustin (Filipino)
Church facade in 2019
Bay Church Location in Laguna Bay Church Location in Luzon Bay Church Location in the Philippines
14°10′49″N 121°17′04″E
Location	Bay, Laguna
Country	Philippines
Denomination	Roman Catholic
History
Former name(s)	Iglesia y Convento de Bay
Status	Parish church
Founded	1571
Founder(s)	Martin de Rada
Dedication	Augustine of Hippo
Consecrated	1580 (as Parish)
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Iglesia y Convento de Bay
Designated	1572
Architectural type	Church building
Style	Colonial Baroque
Groundbreaking	1572
Completed	1737
Specifications
Materials	Bricks, gravel, limestone
Administration
Province	Manila
Archdiocese	Manila
Diocese	San Pablo
Deanery	Immaculate Conception
Clergy
Priest(s)	Licerio S. Taguilaso
Assistant priest(s)	Jeshreel C. Gonzales

Saint Augustine Parish Church is the only Augustinian Roman Catholic church in Bay, Laguna, in the Philippines. It is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of San Pablo. The church was first administered by Augustinian friars and later transferred to the Franciscans.

History

Church NHI historical marker installed in 1985

San Agustin Parish Church is historically considered as the oldest Roman Catholic church in the Province of Laguna upon the early conquest and establishment of La Laguna.

The first church of Bay was constructed made of light material of bamboo and nipa by the first-ever Catholic missionaries in Laguna, the Augustinian friars of Provincia del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus. It was built along the shore of Laguna Lake (now Brgy. San Agustin.) The town church itself was under supervision of prior provincial itself no other than Martin de Rada (de Herada in some documents) under the patronage of the order's major patron saint, Augustine of Hippo, in 1571. It became a parish on April 30, 1578. In the 18th century, the ecclesiastical administration of Bay was transferred to the Order of Franciscan Minors (OFM), with Domingo Martorel as its new parish priest on November 23, 1737. From the original site along the lake, the church was transferred to its present site later known as poblacion, or town center. In 1804, a structure made of bricks and wood was built under the supervision of Geronimo Hervas. Construction of the church continued until the tenure of Pedro Moya in 1864.

When the most devastating earthquakes in the Philippines struck in 1880, the Luzon earthquake, the church suffered some damage, including to the church's roof. The earthquake also led to a number of fatalities among the townspeople.

When the regular clergy (missionaries) abandoned the Philippines in 1898–1899 due to the Philippine Revolution against Spain and in 1899-1903 due to the Philippine–American War, the Bay church and convent were administered by the secular clergy of the Archdiocese of Manila. The church was also heavily damaged during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and the Second World War from 1942 to 1945. When peacetime came in 1953, the church was gradually rebuilt by Alejandro Vermorel. When the Archdiocese of Lipa was created, the church was transferred to the newly created archdiocese as of April 16, 1967. In 1980s the canonical administration of Bay Church was again transferred to the newly created Diocese of San Pablo.

Gallery

• 
  Church interior in 2013
• 
  Parochial office
• 
  Liceo de Bay

Bibliography

• Huerta, Felix de (1865). Estado geográfico, topográfico, estadístico, histórico-religioso. Binondo: Imprenta de M. Sanchez y Ca.
• Historical Markers: Regions I–IV and CAR. Manila: National Historical Institute (Philippines). 1993. p. 42. ISBN 9715380611.

External links

• Media related to Saint Augustine Parish Church of Bay at Wikimedia Commons
• Social Communications Page of San Agustin Parish on Facebook