St. Ferdinand Cathedral

St. Ferdinand Cathedral
Photo by: Jeff Baylosis

The St. Ferdinand Cathedral in Lucena City is a common sight and almost a common meet-up place in the city. Located at the heart of Lucena City’s Poblacion(city proper), lots of people pass by the Patio of St. Ferdinand Cathedral everyday. Those with Catholic faith may have gone inside to pray and pay reverence while those with different faiths simply pass by the church grounds.

 

But do you know that the Cathedral is more than a hundred years old?

 

St. Ferdinand Parish was founded by Fr. Mariano Granja, the first Parish priest of Lucena, way back March 1, 1881 then the construction of the church itself started in 1882 and was finished by 1884. Unfortunately, the first church building was destroyed by fire in May 24, 1887 so another church building was rebuilt in its place in November 1887.

 

It was Monsignor Alfredo Verzosa, then Bishop of Lipa, who paved way for having a diocese here in Lucena when he built a minor seminary in 1942. This seminary became the foundation of building the Diocese of Lucena. On March 28, 1950, Pope Pius XII issued a bull Quo Aeternae Dominici Gregis establishing the Diocese of Lucena and was expedited on May 20, 1950. And finally on September 8, 1950, the Diocese of Lucena was canonically erected.

 

To date, the St. Ferdinand Cathedral had undergone a lot of renovations and improvements but still maintaining its altar’s artistic beauty and also additional buildings were added like the Bishop Alfredo Ma. Obviar Bldg. and the Edificio de San Fernando Bldg., where a mini-concert was held last July 12, 2012, featuring the International Singer/Songwriter, David Pomeranz.

 

To get there:

You can easily find St. Ferdinand Cathedral along Quezon Avenue in Lucena City, very near the two popular fast food chains. Almost all of the passenger jeepneys pass this street, so it won’t be hard for you to find it. 🙂

 


Sources:
Lucena Cathedral. Retrieved from http://www.waypoints.ph/detail_gen.php?wpt=lucena
Diocese of Lucena. Retrieved from http://www.cbcponline.net/jurisdictions/lucena.html
Saint Ferdinand Cathedral. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rafaelrey/sandbox

Author: Lucenahin

is an online magazine dedicated to everything Lucenahin. Browse our collection of articles and learn more about people, places, events, and interests in Lucena City.

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