Church of Saint Mary the Virgin (Sagada)

Church of Saint Mary the Virgin
Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is located in Luzon
Church of Saint Mary the Virgin
Church of Saint Mary the Virgin
Location in Luzon
Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is located in Philippines
Church of Saint Mary the Virgin
Church of Saint Mary the Virgin
Location in the Philippines
17°05′01″N 120°54′08″E / 17.08366°N 120.90216°E / 17.08366; 120.90216
LocationSagada, Mountain Province
CountryPhilippines
DenominationEpiscopal
ChurchmanshipAnglican (Protestant Episcopal)
History
DedicationMary, mother of Jesus
Architecture
Years built1904
Administration
DioceseNorthern Philippines
Clergy
RectorFr. Constancio Na-oy

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is the main Episcopal church in Sagada, Mountain Province, Philippines.[1]

It was built in 1904 by American missionaries under the auspices of the Episcopal Church in the United States (Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America) led by Rev. John Staunton when the Philippines was opened to American Protestant missions after the country was ceded to the United States from Spain in 1898.[2][3] In 1918 the Rev Albert Frost was appointed as Staunton's assistant.[4][5]

St Mary's, Sagada was notoriously Anglo-Catholic under Fr Staunton's leadership, but Frost introduced a number of new devotions: the proper observance of Candlemas and Corpus Christi, May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary, June devotions in honour of the Sacred Heart, November intercessions for the Holy Souls, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament as a regular feature of Sunday worship.[6]

In 1918 Bishop Charles Brent was translated to a diocese in New York, and jurisdiction of the Philippines was transferred to Bishop Graves of Shanghai.[7] Graves undertook a visitation in November 1918, and held that the singing of hymns before the Reserved Sacrament and the statue of the Virgin were illegal. He issued a directive, prohibiting such veneration.[8] Despite threats to resign, Staunton and Frost remained in post, and the practices of Sagada continued.[9] However, the appointment of Brent's successor, Frank Mosher, led to a final row: in September 1924 the Bishop invited the Chaplain of Brent School to open the communion rail to non-Episcopalians.[10] Staunton declared this to be a "Pan-Protestant virus", and both he and Frost resigned at the end of 1924.[11]

In 1983 during the Marcos dictatorship, refugees fleeing the Beew massacre (in which the 623rd Philippine Constabulary burned down Sitio Beew in Tuba, Abra, claiming that they were "rebel sympathizers") were forced to take refuge in the Church of the St. Mary, where they were given succor by Fr. Paul Sagayo Jr. until they could finally be aided by Atty Pablo Sanidad of the Free Legal Assistance Group and journalist Isidoro Chammag of the Bulletin Today.[12]: 197-198 

American historian William Henry Scott was buried in its grounds on October 10, 1993.[13]

The church is subsequently a member of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Anglicanism in the Philippines".
  2. ^ Bautista, Debb (7 September 2018). "Sagada venture". Sun Star Baguio. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  3. ^ "10 of the most beautiful churches in the Philippines". ABS-CBN News. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Church Times: "Fr Bede Frost, O.S.B.", 12 May 1961, p 19". Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  5. ^ "Project Canterbury: Cable Clerical Index". Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  6. ^ Scott, William Henry, "Staunton of Sagada", Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church (XXXI, 4: December 1962), p 17.
  7. ^ Scott, William Henry, "Staunton of Sagada", Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church (XXXI, 4: December 1962), p 22.
  8. ^ Scott, William Henry, "Staunton of Sagada", Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church (XXXI, 4: December 1962), p 22.
  9. ^ Scott, William Henry, "Staunton of Sagada", Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church (XXXI, 4: December 1962), p 22.
  10. ^ Scott, William Henry, "Staunton of Sagada", Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church (XXXI, 4: December 1962), p 25.
  11. ^ Scott, William Henry, "Staunton of Sagada", Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church (XXXI, 4: December 1962), p 25.
  12. ^ Panaglagip: The North Remembers – Martial Law Stories of Struggle and Survival Edited by Joanna K. Cariño and Luchie B. Maranan.
  13. ^ Jesus T. Peralta (2001). Reflections on Philippine Culture and Society: Festschrift in Honor of William Henry Scott. Ateneo de Manila University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-971-550-368-6. Retrieved September 14, 2019.


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