Pampanga church keeps treasures in digital form

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—How did Roman Catholic churches in Pampanga appear in 1790? What are the entries in a Bacolor baptismal book dated 1680 and widely believed to be the oldest in the Philippines? How exactly did early Kapampangans live their faith?

The answers, and many more glimpses of the past, can be found in the digital collection of Spanish-era documents and photographs in the care of the Archdiocesan Archives of San Fernando (AASF) in Pampanga.

Consisting of more than 15,000 digital pages and ready for browsing after Holy Week at the University of the Assumption (UA) in the City of San Fernando and at the Holy Angel University in Angeles City, the AASF is a big contribution to scholarship and spread of Kapampangan culture and history, Archbishop Paciano Aniceto said at the launch on March 20.

The hard copy of the collection bears his official seal through molten wax.

For the live testing, the 75-year-old Aniceto, who does not own and avoids using mobile phones, sat down before a computer, clicked the mouse a few times and shortly gained access to the files of Candaba, the neighbor of his hometown Sta. Ana. As he realized, taking along a translator or refreshing your basic handle of the Spanish language can help you cover more topics.

First in PH

In digitizing portions of the AASF, the Archdiocese of San Fernando became the first archdiocese in the Philippines to go digital in preserving its archives, Prof. Regalado Trota Jose, head of the committee on archives of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), said during the launch.

“You have provided the lead,” Jose said. The first congregation to have digitized its archives is the Order of Augustinian Recollects in Manila, he said.

The Pampanga initiative had its roots as early as 1979 when then Archbishop Oscar Cruz established the archdiocesan museum and in 1983, and the AASF with the help of Jose and the late Benedictine nun Paz Katigbak. Kept at the Mater Boni seminary, the archives had been inaccessible to the public.

The digitization work took a year and four months to finish on a grant from the NCCA, and guidance from the Archdiocesan Commission on Church Heritage chaired by Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David.

More documents

The original materials or microfilms have been obtained from Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila Archives, National Archives of the Philippines, Luther Parker Collection of the National Library of the Philippines, Venancio Q. Samson Collection and Filipinas Heritage Library Collection.

The AASF has more than 200,000 original, handwritten pages in its possession that are waiting to be digitized, David said.

A catalog has been printed for an orderly search and access.

Much of the materials, he said, captured the history of Christianity in Pampanga since 1572 when Augustinian friars evangelized in Betis and Lubao; 1579 when Pampanga was placed under the suffragan of Manila, then a diocese of Mexico; and 1595 when Pampanga remained among the 10 provinces under the Archdiocese of Manila.

The materials also gave a glimpse of the creation of the Diocese of San Fernando in 1948 and the formation of the Archdiocese of San Fernando in 1975 when the dioceses of Tarlac, Balanga and Iba were placed under it.

“We want to foster greater understanding of Pampanga heritage and culture,” said David on why the project was undertaken. “These are treasures.”

“Modern technology secured these for future generations,” said Auxiliary Bishop Roberto Mallari, UA president and who was assigned to set up the Center of Kapampangan Church Heritage.

This was appropriate, Mallari said, because the province produced many church pioneers.

They include Rufino Cardinal Santos (first Filipino cardinal), Don Diego Guinto (first native founder of perpetual pious trust funds or capellañas), Don Miguel Jeronimo de Morales (first native priest), Sor Bibiana Zapanta (first missionary nun sent to help evangelize Mindanao) and Sor Asuncion Ventura (first native to found an orphanage).