Monday, September 01, 2008 Oro archdiocese celebrates Diamond Jubilee By Terry D.C. Betonio Contributor
SEVENTY-FIVE years of teaching and spreading the word of God. And 75 more years are not enough to further relay to the Christian faith how good and loving God is.
The Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro is celebrating its Diamond Jubilee as a diocese this year.
What better way to reminisce those 75 years of faithful service than showing them off in photographs - preserved all these years.
Last August 26, a photo exhibit dubbed Paghanduraw (reminisce) opened at the Second Level of Limketkai Center with no less than the Papal Nuncio, Most Rev. Edward Joseph Adams, as special guest.
On display at the exhibit were about 90 photographs - majority of which are in black-and-white taken in the year 1910s.
The photos showed the evolution of the Church of Cagayan de Oro from a diocese to an archdiocese, and how the first bishop, Fr. James Thomas Gibbons Hayes, S.J., molded the people of Cagayan de Oro into the Christian believers that they are now.
Fr. Hayes was born in New York and was known as a man of missionary spirit. He spoke Visayan fluently. He had served as assistant in Talisayan, Misamis Oriental and as parish priest of Cagayan de Oro. He was appointed by Pope Pius XI as the first bishop of the diocese of Cagayan de Oro on January 30, 1933.
Bishop Hayes was later appointed as archbishop when Cagayan de Oro was elevated from a diocese to an archdiocese on June 29, 1951 by Pope Pius XII.
Through the efforts of Archbishop Hayes, he founded the Lourdes Academy for Girls (now called Lourdes College), the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartes, Maria Reyna Hospital and the Carmelite Monastery.
He also founded San Jose de Mindanao Seminary and Ateneo de Cagayan with the help of religious women.
One photograph in the exhibit showed the joint Baccalaureate Mass of the first graduates of Ateneo de Cagayan and Lourdes Academy, held at the St. Augustine Cathedral in the 1930s.
Also on display at the exhibit were photographs of the first communicants from Barangay Macabalan in Cagayan de Oro and Catarman in Camiguin, taken in the 1950s; the re-redos and vaulted ceiling of the sanctuary of St. Augustine Cathedral before World War II; and the ruins of the Cathedral and the Archbishop's Palace after World War II.
Japanese troops were believed to have occupied the Archbishop's Palace at the height of the war.
One photograph also showed the ruins of the Cathedral after being bombed by the Americans in 1945. While viewing the photograph, the Papal Nuncio, who is an American, was overheard as saying, "That was bad."
Also shown were black-and-white photographs of the parish church in Barangay Lumbia that was made of sawali walls taken in 1921; the Our Lady of Candelaria in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental as it appeared in 1916; the old Our Lady of Snows Parish in Tagnipa (now named El Salvador City); the makeshift St. John the Baptist Parish Church in Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental; the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental; the St. Francis Xavier church in Initao, Misamis Oriental as it appeared in 1944 to 1945; and the San Nicolas Church of Mambajao in Camiguin as it appeared in 1935.
Also shown were photographs of the archbishops who succeeded Archbishop Hayes, namely Archbishop Patrick Cronin, Archbishop Jesus Tuquib and Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, the present archbishop of the archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro.
Aside from priceless photographs, other mementos on display at the exhibit were an aspersory (a container for holding water) and aspergillium (a wooden material with a hole used for sprinkling the water) that was kept by the Immaculate Concepcion Parish in Jasaan, Misamis Oriental; a corn stone mill (galingan) from the Mother of Perpetual Help Parish in Baliwagan, Misamis Oriental; a Roman Mass sacramentary written in Latin from the St. Alphonsus Rodriguez Parish in Balingoan, Misamis Oriental; and a 400-year-old statue of the Birhen sa Kota sa Cagayan which is believed to be miraculous.
Accounts showed that four times the St. Augustine Cathedral was destroyed, including the bombs dropped by American planes during World War II, but the miraculous statue "stood still, untarnished amidst the rubbles."
It was also said there were many occasions of healing from deadly ailments, miraculous interventions and sightings that were attributed to the Virgin of the Fort of Cagayan (Birhen sa Kota sa Cagayan).
Dozens of stories and experiences more accompany these priceless photographs and mementos for everyone to literally reminisce - as what the exhibit hopes to realize.
The stories that accompany the passing years captured in photos have sacramental value to modern-day Catholics, considered not just an ordinary witness to the growth of the Church but also signs of all the graces the Church receive.
Paghanduraw is not only about the recollection of memories. It is also making present the passing of the Lord in the 75 years and more of His Church that has withstood the test of time and struggles.
