The Imus Cathedral (Our Lady Of The Pillar Parish)
One of the churches that we visited during the Visita Iglesia is the Our Lady of Pillar Parish or more commonly known as the Imus Cathedral. It is the seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Imus, the diocese that has jurisdiction of all the Catholic parishes in Cavite. The parish is under the patronage of two, the Our Lady of The Pillar and Saint John The Baptist. The town Fiesta is celebrated every October 12 in which part of it is the traditional dance procession called Caracol (similar to the Caracol dance done in nearby towns such as the Our Lady of The Most Holy Rosary Church in Rosario Cavite and also The feast of Our Lady of Porta vaga in Cavite City.
The cathedral was declared a structure of historical significance with the placing of a historical marker by then National Historical Institute of the Philippines on November 13, 2006. The parish of Imus started as a chapel-of-ease in Brgy. Toclong, a sub-parish (visita) of Cavite Viejo (now Kawit, Cavite). It became a parish in 1795 after Imus became an independent municipality. The parish was under the order of the Augustinian Recollects with Francisco de Santiago, O.A.R., its first assigned priest. The façade of Imus Cathedral (the first pic) was probably designed after the fifth incarnation of the Manila Cathedral.
The Cathedral’s nave. On April 29, 1962, the Diocese of Imus was formally erected and established with the Imus Cathedral as the seat of the bishop of Cavite, with the Our Lady of the Pillar, its titular patroness. The first leader of the diocese and bishop of Cavite is Msgr. Artemio Casas, originally from Meycauayan, Bulacan. The current Bishop of Imus is the Most Rev. Reynaldo G. Evangelista, O.F.S., D.D. who was appointed by Pope Francis on April 8, 2013, his first pontifical appointment in the Philippines. He replaced Bishop Luis Tagle after his installation as the Archbishop of Manila in December 12, 2011.
The main altar of the Cathedral.
The Mother,The Queen, and The Patroness of the Diocese of Imus Canonically crowed last December 3,2012. Our Lady of the Pillar is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary for her claimed miraculous appearance in Zaragoza, Spain at the time of the emergence of Christianity. The apparition of Our Lady of the Pillar is a widely accepted sacred tradition.Popes from earliest times issued Papal Bulls attesting to the authenticity of the shrine and the appearance of the Virgin Mary. The image of the patroness of the Imus Cathedral, Our Lady of the Pillar of Imus, was canonically crowned by Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.
