Tomorrow, February 3, the Parish of Cabuyao will be celebrating the 332nd Birthday of the first Filipino Parish Priest in our country and of our parish in Cabuyao and the master builder and architect of the second church of the town, Fray Blas De Sta. Rosa... The photo above is the second church of Cabuyao, built by the bachiller after the first church, built in 1639, was flooded due to endless water coming down from the mountains of Sierra Madre in 1665.... It was inaugurated on the 26th of January, 1771.... TERCENTENARY OF THE INSTALLATION OF THE FIRST FILIPINO PARISH PRIEST: Bachiller Don Blas de Sta. Rosa (1703) Dr. Luciano P.R. Santiago The surname of Padre Blas was very typical of those of early Filipinos who adopted saint’s names as patronymics. This practice would later wreak havoc on colonial records and impel the Governor General Don Narciso Claveria to prohibit the assumption of saints’ names in his decree on the systemization of Filipino patronymics in 1849. (It should be noted that Spanish friars also carried saints’ names, but these they took only upon investiture.) Sta.Rosa de Lima, the first saint of the New World, became very popular in the Islands after her canonization in 1671 when she was declared patron saint of the Americas and the Philippines. Henceforth, her name was used extensively both as first name for girls and as surname. This is borne out by examining any 18th century baptismal book of a Philippine parish. Available records indicate that Blas de Sta. Rosa was most probably born on February 3, 1678 (Feast of San Blas), or a few years after the canonization of Sta. Rosa. (1) The Bachiller Sta. Rosa graduated from the University of Sto. Tomas in 1692 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was one of the earliest native graduates of the venerable institution. Since the first Indios to be admitted to the Manila colleges, except Letran, were Pampangos, it is very likely that Sta. Rosa originated from Pampanga. Sta. Rosa was also apparently a relative of another Pampango priest, Bachiller Don Gregorio de Sta. Rosa y Ramos, one of the Filipino priests ordained by Archbishop Cuesta in 1723. (2) Manila Archbishop Diego Camacho y Avila (1697-1706), founder of the Filipino clergy, ordained Sta. Rosa together with Br. Don Alfonzo Baluio y Garzia, another Pampango, on the ember days after Pentecost in May or June of 1703. On September 7, the same day that Baluio was proclaimed missionary of Abra de Vigan, Sta. Rosa was appointed proprietary parish priest of San Policarpio de Tabuco (now Cabuyao, Laguna). Thus, he became the first Filipino Indio pastor not only in the archdiocese of Manila but in the entire Philippines. The extensive parish of Tabuco had just been divided by the archbishop on December 9, 1702 into two curacies: that of Tabuco proper, which included the Dominican Hacienda of San Juan Bautista de Calamba, and the new parish of San Pedro de Tunazan which encompassed the town of Binan. By competitive examinations, Sta. Rosa had won the now somewhat reduced parish of Tabuco, while the Spanish Maestro Don Protazio Cabezas later obtained the curacy of Tunazan on May 2, 1704. The latter was to become vicar general (1717-1741) and then bishop of Cebu (1741-1752) and a staunch supporter of Filipino priests. (3) A few months after the arrival of Archbishop Francisco de la Cuesta of the Order of St. Hieronymus, Camacho’s successor, Sta. Rosa fell ill and was still convalescing in November 1707 according to a report of Mro. Cabezas, who had been appointed vicar forane of Laguna. The following year, in line with Cuesta’s notion that indio priests ordained by Camacho were incompetent and unworthy, the suspicious prelate through his secretary ordered Cabezas to conduct a secret investigation on the life and labors of the first brown pastor of the archdiocese. There were reports, apparently coming from friars of surrounding estancias (ranches), that he was negligent in celebrating The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and that he lived outside his parish. Without waiting, however, for the results of the inquiry, Cuesta, evidently assuming the charges to be true, went ahead and wrote his now famous letter to the king dated June 20, 1708 denouncing the incompetence and unworthiness of his predecessor’s native ordinees. Four days later, his vicar forane, Mro. Cabezas, filed a glowing report on Sta. Rosa to the archdiocesan secretary vouching for the Indio priest’s integrity and diligence! Citing witnesses, including Don Juan Ruiz Ximenes, the Spanish administrator of the Hacienda of Calamba, Cabezas affirmed that Sta. Rosa said Masses regularly for his parishioners, including on feasts marked with “two crosses” and Saturdays, which even his Spanish predecessors were not wont to do for many years before him. The only exception was when he was incapacitated by illness. He had a house on his farm, which was, however, no farther from his church than Bi

"Freemasonry is the practice of every social and moral virtue; it is a way of life worth living but which requires self-discipline." On a sunny week day afternoon in early May of this year, brethren of Bagumbayan Lodge No. 4, led by the Worshipful Master Mike Villaruel and his officers, came to pay a visit and rekindle their ties with their oldest living brother, ninety-seven (97) year-old PGM Damaso C. Tria. Bro. Damaso still lives in his humble abode at South Lawin, Philam Village, Quezon City. It is a quaint old house he built in the late 50’s for his brooding family, reminiscent of the architecture of the early sixties, and certainly a home well lived in the warmth of familial bliss. Striking as he is, PGM Damaso Tria is sprite and healthy, with no major difficulties ailing him. Upon seeing the brethren, he extended his welcome arms and shook hands with WM Mike and the rest of the officers, together with the petitioners present. It was a long overdue visit, as we saw the misty eyed brother smiling and overjoyed to welcome his brothers. Though certainly young by his standards, he treated the brethren like peers of the same age and readily rambled with stories of his days in the lodge. His wife, Paz, indeed, frequently commented that he had more time for the lodge than he had at home. His earliest recollection of the Freemasonry was in high school when he was still in Bataan. He watched a funeral procession for a public school supervisor who passed away somewhere in the Visayas, and he was brought to his resting place by men in white aprons. When he asked his mother, he was told that they were brother freemasons from the Visayas. But he was to avoid them, for they were enemies of the church and belonged to a secret society. It was with this impression that mothers used to scold their children: “maldito, cabron, mason !” Nonetheless, he thought that they must be good men, for they brought to rest the remains of a fellow mason. It was this impression that was to influence him 20 years later, and for the rest of his life. Years later he graduated from UP as a scholar and became a Mechanical Engineer. His first job was with L.M. Hausman & Co., a company providing boilers and industrial equipment for manufacturing. Louis Hausman, his boss, and other American businessmen he dealt with as a professional were also masons. However his deep impression of the masons since his childhood reinforced his desire to become one. In August 1949, he applied at the Bagumbayan Lodge No. 4, and on November 29, 1949, he was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. There started his long and fruitful journey as a freemason. Later, he served as Master of two other lodges - Rafael Palma Lodge No. 147, in Quezon City, of which he was a dual member, and Lodge Perla del Oriente No. 1034 of the Scottish Constitution. In the Grand Lodge he also made his services available. He was appointed Junior Grand Lecturer in 1966. Two years later he was elected Junior Grand Warden, then Senior Grand Warden in 1969, and Deputy Grand Master in 1970. Finally in 1971 he was elevated to the Grand Oriental Chair.