The first
missionaries in what is now the province of
Nueva Ecija were the
Augustinians who also founded the
parishes of
Carranglan,
Pantabangan and Puncan, of which San Jose was initially part of. San Jose was originally known as
Kabaritan which is an
Ilocano term for a "place abundant of
barit", a type of
rattan plant. It was a barrio of Puncan and then of
Lupao, before becoming an independent town in 1894, and was renamed
San Jose in honor of its patron saint,
Joseph. Until 1928, San Jose was under the jurisdiction of the
Diocese of Nueva Segovia before becoming part of the Diocese of Lingayen, later
Lingayen–Dagupan, which was established in the same year. Under Lingayen–Dagupan, the church was administered by the
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart after
World War II. San Jose was then annexed to the
Diocese of Cabanatuan when the diocese, then comprising the entire province of Nueva Ecija, was founded in 1963. In 1984, the church became the cathedral of the
Diocese of San Jose whose territory comprises the northern half of the province. In 1997, the remodeling of the old cathedral church was started under then San Jose Bishop
Leo Drona. It was finished in 2006 and was reconsecrated by then Lingayen–Dagupan Archbishop
Oscar Cruz on March 20 of the same year. The
reredos or retablo of the cathedral are works of
Kapampangan artist Willy Layug, who also worked on the cathedrals of
Dagupan,
Bacolod, and
Urdaneta. ==Gallery==