Archdiocese of Jaro

(Our Lady of Candles) perched atop the facade of Jaro Cathedral in Jaro, Iloilo City. It is the first marian statue canonically crowned personal without a papal legate by a pope and saint in the Philippines and Asia when John Paul II visited the Philippine islands in 1981, elevating her as the official patron of Western Visayas and Romblon. The precursor of the Archdiocese of Jaro dates back when it was founded in 1587 as a parish by the Spanish colonists. The diocese of Jaro whose patron saint is Elizabeth of Hungary was officially and formally established by virtue of the Papal bull "Qui Ab Initio" of Pope Pius IX, issued in Rome on May 27, 1865. On October 10, 1867, the decree took effect and Jaro was made an Episcopal See, according to the document signed by D. Gregorio Meliton Martinez, then archbishop of Manila and executor-delegate of the decree. It is worth noting that this "decretum executorium" was also signed by Jose Burgos, Pro-Secretary, a secular priest who became one of the outstanding martyr-heroes of the country. Jaro was carved out from the then Diocese of Cebu and became a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Manila. Its territories at creation comprised the islands of Panay, (now composed of the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique and Aklan), Guimaras, Negros (now the twin provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental), Romblon and Palawan, as well as the provinces of Cotabato, Zamboanga, Davao and Sulu of Mindanao. Mariano Cuartero became its first bishop on April 25, 1868. In the 20th century the diocese was further divided to form new ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Zamboanga was made a separate diocese in 1910, while Palawan was made an apostolic prelature in the same year; then Bacolod in 1933, Capiz in 1951 and finally the Prelature of San Jose, Antique in 1962 as suffragans. Concurrently with the elevation of Jaro to an archdiocese, the first Filipino bishop, Jose Maria Cuenco, was raised to the rank of metropolitan archbishop, thereby making him the first archbishop of Jaro. On January 17, 1976, Pope Paul VI elevated Capiz to the rank of archdiocese, with the dioceses of Romblon and Kalibo as its suffragans. The Archdiocese of Jaro was left with the dioceses of Bacolod (which eventually was divided into three dioceses: Bacolod, San Carlos, and Kabankalan) and San Jose de Antique as its suffragans. On February 20, 1981, Pope John Paul II visited the archdiocese and crowned the image of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria at the facade of Jaro Cathedral, the first Marian image crowned personally without a papal legate by a pope. ==Coat of arms==