yet remains. The present cathedral of San Sebastian in Bacolod was built from 1876-1885, but the parish has been present since 1788. Up until 1802, the parish had no resident priest and was put under a secular clergy, then under the parish of Bago, and then under Binalbagan. Finally, in 1807, Fr. Leon Pedro was designated as the regular parish priest of the very simple church back then – a quaint structure made of nipa, hardwood and bamboo.
The church in its current state and location is the ultimate proof of the people of Bacolod’s perseverance and unfaltering faith in their goal of establishing a structure befitting the title “House of God.” Among the many remarkable people who took the brave and necessary steps into turning San Sebastian Cathedral to the way it is now is Fr. Julian Gonzaga. During his appointment as parish priest in 1817, he spearheaded the establishment of a church in the current location of San Sebastian Cathedral, as he endeavored to attain not only the spiritual growth of the people, but also of utilizing the lands of Bacolod for agriculture and industry. Beginning in 1825 up until his death in 1836, he bought coral stones from Guimaras using his personal stipend to fulfill his dream of building a stone church in place of the one made of nipa, wood and metal roofing.
The parish was once again returned to the hands of a secular clergy until the Augustinian Recollects took over in 1871. Fr. Mauricio Ferrero, the first Recollect parish priest of Bacolod, had an agreement with the governor, Ramon Pastor. Governor Pastor recognized the engineering and architectural skills of Fr. Ferrero and so he asked the friar to design and supervise the construction of the Provincial prison. In exchange, the governor designated the prisoners to work in the construction of the stone church. And so the building of the grandest church in the province commenced in 1876 through the labor of the prisoners. It went on for nine years until the completion of the church in 1885.
The impressive coral-stone church still stands in Bacolod in its proud majesty. However, buried silently in the roots of the history of this church lies the humble beginnings, as depicted by the man who painstakingly collected coral stones from a neighboring island, and the patient hardwork of the prisoners who made use of these stones, and brought up a church that ultimately befits the title, “House of God.”
