03/08/2024
Let's start our count down ENRILEÑOS!!
The Parish of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves of the town of Enrile, Cagayan, used to be part of the La Irraya area (middle Cagayan area). It was one of the barrios of the then pueblo of Tuguegarao founded on May 9, 1604 under the patronage of St. Peter the Apostle. The inhabitants of the area described by the first bishop of Nueva Segovia, Diego Aduarte, OP as “fierce and cause constant alarm and war-like disturbances.” Several uprisings sporadically sprouted all over the Valley, especially in the La Irraya that missionary work is made very difficult.
In 1724, the Provincial of the Dominicans during his regular visit proposed to the missionaries the er****on of chapels in the barrios with their respective patrons. Cabug (Enrile’s old name as a barrio of Tuguegarao) was put under the patronage of Nuestra Señora de las Caldas (Our Lady of the Hot Springs) and a chapel was built in her honor.
According to Fr. Julian Malumbres, OP in his Historia de Cagayan, Cabug came from the word “Caffut” which means to put an end to a thing. It was named so because it was the limit of Tuguegarao in the southwest. Another name origin story is that the names comes from "Cabugag" or in short Cabug, the local term for hunchback for the first settler was said to be a man with this deformity. The name "Cabug" is engraved on the town's first church bell which is still found in the steeple. No other interpretations occur to them as of the writing of the historia.
In the drawing of lots to choose the patrons for the barrios of Tuguegarao in 1724, there was an insistence to make Nuestra Señora de las Caldas the patroness of Libag. In several draws however, Cabug always came out victorious. According to Fr. Francisco Rojano, OP, a picture of that image had been miraculous in Libag and had attracted devotees from beyond the barrio, even prior to the drawing of lots, hence the insistence.
Eventually in the hope that the temperament of the people be cooler, popular tradition has renamed the patron Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Our Lady of Snows), the name the parish takes on up to this day. The feast is observed on August 5 for Nuestra Señora de las Nieves and August 6 for Nuestra Señora de las Caldas.
It was separated from Tugeuagrao in September 9,1849 by a decree constituting it a separate civil town and parish. It received its name, Enrile, in honor of Governor-General Don Pascual Enrile y Alcedo, who was governor in 1830-35 and is credited to many public works. Its first parish priest was Fr. Co**ha, OP. The separation of Enrile from Tuguegarao led to a change of its patron saint which is the Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Our Lady of Snows)
Fr. Pedro Alcantara, OP started the construction of a spacious stone church with iron roofs and a sacristy with baldosas (tiles) and adobe walls and also the convent of mud for the first story and the rest of the building with bricks, iron and tiled roofs. His successors down to Fr. Francisco Bueno, OP did much in construction and repairs because of frequent typhoons and earthquakes. The church, sacristy and rectory were completed by 1877.
The church was razed by a fire at the end of Spanish rule, and subsequently rebuilt by Fr. Francisco Bueno, OP with the help of Don Vicente de Guzman, the first lawyer of Cagayan and its representative to the Malolos Congress. Don Vicente’s son would later become the second provincial governor of Cagayan and its first representative to the Philippine National Assembly. It survived the Second World War but unfortunately, what the war has spared an earthquake destroyed. Its façade was heavily damaged in the 1949 earthquake and subsequently rebuilt.
Since the arrival of Nuestra Senora de las Caldas in 1724, the evangelization in the land of Enrile started and the Church remains to be the foundation of many Enrileños in faith and resilience. The Church itself stands as a shining beacon of hope for many far and wide, and her maternal care and intercession in her children.
Her children celebrate the 300 years of Christianity in the land of Enrile since the arrival of Nuestra Señora de las Caldas in 1724 and the 175 Years of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves as being the patroness of Enrileños since the separation of Enrile from Tuguegarao in 1849.
In celebrating 300 years of evangelization in the town of Enrile, the people of Enrile renovated the Church with the installation of a new retablo mayor and retablos menor. They also renovated the newly refurbished interior and a new design of the facade of the Church by the guidance and wisdom of the former Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Emil Christopher Coballes. By accomplishing this mission, H.E. Most Rev. Ricardo Lingan Baccay, D.D. the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao presided over the Solemn Dedication of the Church and Altar of Our Lady of Snows Parish.
