Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese turns 50

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – Papal Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto will preside over a Mass this morning at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist here for the golden anniversary celebration of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, in a text message sent to The STAR yesterday, said 40 bishops and 200 priests are coming for the celebration.

“May our praise and thanksgiving strengthen our communion and may this communion make us surge forth to share the faith so that the world may believe,” he said. 

Msgr. Oliver Mendoza of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan’s media office said the Diocese of Lingayen was created on May 19, 1928 with Bishop Cesar Maria Guerrero as the first bishop.

It was renamed the Diocese of Lingayen-Dagupan on Feb. 11, 1954 due to the destruction of the Lingayen Cathedral during the Second World War.

On Feb. 16, 1963, it was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese with the late Archbishop Mariano Madriaga as its first archbishop.