Meycauayan means “a place full of bamboo” in the Castilian language (Spanish). The foundation of this town is dated 1578 to 1579, in which epoch they stretched out to the apostolic work of Fray Juan de Plasencia and Fray Diego de Oropesa[1].
The old Train Station in Meycauayan
Both part of the 1st Franciscan mission that arrived the Philippines on the first day of July, 1577.[2] Meycauayan was formerly the head of the province, and was situated like ½ league more to the east over a small hill. [3]The Church under the patronage of N.S. P. San Francisco de Asis, was at first made of bamboo and nipa, which was ruined by the typhoon in 1588.[4]
The Church of San Francisco De Asis was rebuilt in the 1950s after the original structure was ravaged by fire in 1949.
A request was made to rebuilt the church, and on November 16, 1588, Dr. Santiago de Vera, made justified by such request, instantly dispatch Secretary Gaspar de Azebo to Christoval de Asquera, Mayor of the Province of Meycauayan.[5] By the order of San Pedro Bautista, it was transferred to a place called Lagolo, by R. P. Fr. Antonio de Nombela, Minister of the town.[6]
The carvings on the main portal were patterned after the Main Door of San Agustin Church in Intramuros. It is a Donation of the Ramirez during the 1980s.
As an early Spanish town Meycauayan was also known as Mecabayan.[7] In 1591 its status was Encomienda.[8] “La encomienda de Mecabayan”, that is of, Menor de la Rea(Captain Don Martin de la Rea) had seven hundred tributes, which are two thousand eight hundred people.[9]
The Church Interior
In the “Relación de las encomiendas existentes en Filipinas el 3 de mayo de 1591[10]Includes: Dilao, Zapa y Pandaca, Mecabayan, Taitay, Pila, Mahaihai, Lumban, Panquil, Millarrit, Minalaua, Ynguinan, Linaguan, Nabua. ... In a report of Philippine encomiendas on June 20, 1591, Meycauayan was included in the encomiendas of the province of Pampanga. “Spanish Governor Gomez Perez Dasmarinas reported to the King of Spain that La Pampanga's encomiendas were Bataan, Betis y Lubao, Macabebe, Candava, Apalit, Calumpit, Malolos, Binto, Guiguinto, Caluya (Balagtas), Bulacan and Mecabayan (Meycauayan).
San Francisco de Asis
The encomiendas of La Pampanga at that time had eighteen thousand six hundred and eighty whole tributes.”
Lagolo proved inhospitable at the time, so the town center again transferred to what is now known as Barangay Poblacion, where the Parish Church of St. Francis of Assisi still stands.In the year 1668 the church was transferred by R. P. Nicolas Santiago to the place it now occupied. [11]It is made of simple material but strong, With 60 yard long and 12 ½ wide.
The Church Dome was a later addition to the structure built in the 1950s
Meycauayan was then one of the largest municipalities in Bulacan. The towns of San Jose Del Monte, Bocaue, Marilao, Valenzuela, Obando, Santa Maria, Balagtas and Pandi were once part of the political jurisdiction of the town.
With the 2 centuries old bell of Meycauayan
During the Spanish colonization in the Philippines, the Spanish authorities tapped Meycauayan's adobe (volcanic tuff rocks) reserves which were used for building stone houses and fortifications in and out of town. Majority of the adobe rocks that were used in building the walls of Intramuros, Manila's "old walled city", were imported from Meycauayan.
[1] R.P. Felix de Huerta, Estado de la Provincia de San Gregorio Magno. Imprenta de N. Sanchez, Binondo Manila 1865 p 71
[2] Fr. Jesus Galindo OFM, Commemorative book, “400 years (1578-1978) Franciscans in the Philippines, , (San Miguel Manila. 1979) P. 13
[5] El P. Fr. Juan Francisco de S. Antonio, Chronicas de la Apostolica Provincia de S. Gregorio, Papa. El Magno…. Sampaloc, Extra-muros de la Ciudad de Manila , 1741 P. 31
[8] James Alexander Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803: explorations, Volume 55 A. H. Clark company, 1909, p. 569
[9] Wenceslao Emilio Retana, Archivo del bibliófilo filipino: recopilación de documentos históricos, científicos, literarios y políticos, y estudios bibliográficos, Volume 4. Impr. de la viuda de M. Minuesa de los Rios, 1898 P. 51
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