Roman Catholic Diocese of Alaminos

Diocese of Alaminos Dioecesis Alaminensis Diosis na Alaminos Diocesis ti Alaminos
Coat of arms
Location
Country	Philippines
Territory	Western part of Pangasinan
Ecclesiastical province	Lingayen-Dagupan
Metropolitan	Lingayen-Dagupan
Statistics
Area	2,449 km2 (946 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2012) 660,000 545,000 (82.6%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	12 January 1985
Cathedral	Cathedral-Parish of St. Joseph the Patriarch
Patron saint	St. Joseph the Patriarch
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Ricardo Lingan Baccay
Metropolitan Archbishop	Socrates B. Villegas
Emeritus Bishops	Jesus Aputen Cabrera
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Alaminos (Latin: Dioecesis Alaminensis) is a Roman Rite diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.

The diocese was created and erected, January 12, 1985, and comprises 14 municipalities in the western part of the province of Pangasinan. The diocese has experience no jurisdictional changes, and is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.

The current bishop is Bishop Ricardo Lingan Baccay who succeeded Bishop Marlo Mendoza Peralta after his appointment as Metropolitan Archbishop of Nueva Segovia.

Ordinaries

• Jesus Aputen Cabrera: 22 Apr 1985 Appointed - 1 Jul 2007 Resigned

• Marlo Mendoza Peralta: 1 Jul 2007 Succeeded - 30 December 2013 Appointed Archbishop of Nueva Segovia

• Ricardo Lingan Baccay: 20 Feb 2016 Appointed - Present

Vicariates

History of the Cathedral

Cathedral-Parish of St. Joseph the Patriarch, Alaminos City

2012 Easter Sunday Mass (Main Altar)

In the past the Alaminos City had various names (San Jose de Soyang, San Jose de Casborran, Sarapsap) and underwent several transfers and locations except, for a gap of half a century, the Recollects stayed at Alaminos since its foundation in 1610 until the Philippine Revolution of 1896. A great fire reduced the town into ashes and it was thereafter renamed Sarapsap. The actual name was taken after Governor General Juan de Alaminos who visited it in 1872.

Among other edifices constructed by Recollects is the majestic cathedral dedicated to Saint Joseph. Father Manuel Bosquete who was at the helm of the San Jose de Casborran mission from 1838–1849 started the construction of the divine temple. His successor Father Jose Tornos, who was proficient in Pangasinense, inaugurated it in 1857. This Recollect minister who took over the parochial administration in 1849 remained in Alaminos for almost thirty years and endowed the church with the best ornaments. Father Tornos died in 1878 and was buried in the future cathedral. At the church pavement one can view his tombstone in Spanish.

Father Patricio Marcellan writes in 1879: "The present church and parochial house are made of brick manufactured in the same town. The first oven for brick-making making was built under the supervision of Father Manuel Bosquete, the first Recollect parish priest of this town [sic], and the edifices are the tallest and most spacious in the province, which draws naturally any visitor's attention." The church still attracts attention up to this day, already as a cathedral since its erection of Alaminos Diocese in 1985. Alaminos is not a big city in terms of population, with only about 75,000 inhabitants. But the faithful can boast of the structure of their cathedral—spacious, majestic and well-proportioned—and equally stable belfry made of bricks.

External links

• www.dioceseofalaminos.org
• catholic-hierarchy-diocese of alaminos
• cbcponline.org - diocese of alaminos
• Catholic Church in the Philippines
• philippine islands

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roman Catholic Diocese of Alaminos.

The Clergy of the Diocese of Alaminos with Bishop Baccay at St. Joseph Cathedral Parish

Coordinates: 16°09′19″N 119°58′44″E / 16.1553°N 119.9790°E / 16.1553; 119.9790