|150x150px Bauan is formerly a barrio part of
Taal. The
Augustinian church of Bauan was founded as a
visita (small chapel without a resident priest) in 1590 on the slopes of
Mount Macolod, along
Taal Lake's southern shore. The resident priest of Taal, Father Diego de Avila would visit periodically and attend to the spiritual needs of the settlement. Six years after the establishment of the ecclesiastical mission of Bauan, a giant cross made of
anubing was found in a Diñgin (a place of worship) near the town of
Alitagtag. In 1790, Castro y Amoedo found a Tagalog document in the Bauan Cathedral Archives, signed by
25 Indio elders, stating the cross was made around 1595, as protection from ghosts surrounding the Tolo fountain. Subsequent miracles were associated with this cross. On May 3, the tall cross was brought to the Chapel of Alitagtag. A golden sun, with a human face, and radiating rays was added, while the devout would cut away pieces of the cross to make
talisman replicas. The elders also thought the cross protected the town from pestilence, locusts, drought, volcanic eruptions, and
Moro pirates.
Mabini in 1918,
Tingloy in 1955, and
San Pascual in 1969. In March 2019, the Black Nazarene visited the church to help funds for rebuilding after the church was damaged in the 2017 Batangas earthquakes. ==Geography==