MANGALDAN BECOMES A PARISH
The year 1600 is particularly significant in the annals of Mangaldan's evangelization for it marks the birth of the town as a new Vicariate in the province. At the close of the 16th century, even before Fr. Soto's death, the Christian community in the place, where once idolatry and error reigned supreme, had grown to a proportion so great that it was ready to become as independent parish. The Dominicans were aware of this encouraging result of their missionary endeavors. So, in their sixth Provincial Chapter, held at the Santo Domingo Convent in Manila on June 2, 1600, they accepted Mangaldan as a separate Vicariate under the aegis of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. The pertinent Act of the Provincial Chapter reads:
In Domo Sancto Thoma de Aquino de Mangaldan (quam nunc acceptamus dividentes eam a domo S. Pauli de Calasiao) instituimus et de novo cramus ni Vacrium R. P. Petrum de Ledesma et ibi eum assignamus declarantes praedictum vicarium habere vocem et ibi assignamus Fr. Tomas Castellar.
Until then, the Dominican House and the administration of Mangaldan had remained under the care of the Dominican missionaries at the mother House in Calasiao to which Mangaldan was, for several years, attached as a "visita". In the words of the Dominican Historian, Fr. Joaquin Fonseca, the creation of Mangaldan into a new vicariate was a veritable proof of the headway that the Dominicans were forging for the Faith among the Pangasinenses who once clung to idolatry, resisted the impulse of grace and refused to listen to the apostolic voice of the missionary.
(En 1600... ) la casa y administracion de Mangaldan que hasta entones se habia mirado como visita y Anejo del pueblo de Calasiao, fue separada y erigida en vicaria... Esta disposicion es una prueba de los progresos que nuestros misoneros hacian entre los Pangasinenses tan tenaces en un tiempo ed resistir a las inspiraciones de la gracia y apostolica voz del missionero.
As a new parish, more precisely, a mission parish, Mangaldan was given by the same Provincial Chapter of 1600 its first vicar in the person of Fr. Pedro de Ledesma who was given an assistant, Fr. Tomas Castellar. The fact that Fr. Ledesma was given an assistant could mean that at the time of its creation as a vicariate Mangaldan had, at least, a population of 600 Christian souls. This conclusion finds its support in a provison of the First Synod of Manila in 1582 which concluded that "the spiritual care of more than 600 souls could not, in fact, in 1591, beentrusted to only one pastor." As a matter of fact, in 1591, statistics show that Mangaldan had 800 "tributantes" or a population of about 3,2000.
As a new vicariate, Mangaldan fell within the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Nueva Segovia (residing then at the episcopal See in Lal-loc, a small town along the Rio Grande of Cagayan) who had jurisdiction over the provinces of Northern Luzon. However, it has to be noted here that Mangaldan was, at that stage, only a "mission-parish" as per the classification of the Laws of the Indies. It remained as such until 1776 when the parochial system was introduced by Archbishop Basilio Sancho de Santa y Rufina and was eventually adopted by the different dioceses of the Philippines. This means that, as a mission-parish at the time of its separation from Calasiao up to 1776, or until the term of Fr. Jose Quiros (1770-1781), Mangaldan was not subject to the Royal Patronage and to canonical or diocesan visitation.
Taken from the "Mangaldan: 1600-1898" by Rev. Fr. Rafael S. Magno. Maramba Press. Dagupan City. 1981. pp.25-27.
THE FOUNDATION OF MANGALDAN AS A TOWN (1602-1604)
It was in the course of the expansion of the Dominicans’ missionary activities in Pangasinan that Mangaldan was founded. Almost immediately after Binalatongan, the Dominicans founded Gabon (the present Calasiao) which, together with Binalatongan, was accepted by the first Dominican Provincial Chapter as a vicariate on June 10, 1588 under the patronage of St. Dominic. The town of Mangaldan that we know today formed a part of this town as a “visita” and so Mangaldan became the third town in Pangasinan to receive the light of Faith from the hands of the Dominican missionaries. Like Binalatongan, it subsequently became a center wherefrom the Dominicans spread the Faith among its neighboring towns – Manaoag, San Jacinto and San Fabian. (9-10)
The foundation of Mangaldan as a town is attributed to Juan de Santo Domingo (+1619) who after serving as a missionary in Pangasinan, went to Japan where he died a martyr’s death. However, the exact date of the town’s foundation remains very uncertain. It can be deduced from the testimonies of historical documents that its foundation came shortly after the Dominican Provincial Chapter of June 2, 1600 which accepted the Dominican House in Mangaldan.
It could not be on or much less, earlier than this date for the simple reason that Fr. Juan de Santo Domingo arrived in the Philippines only on April 31, 1602. And yet, it could not be later than 1605 because Fr. Mariano Rodriguez, OP, who wrote a history of Manaoag, claims that when the Dominican accepted the mission of Santa Monica from the Augustinians on this year, “ the great town of Mangaldan was already founded”.
(Mangaldan:1600-1898. Rev. Fr. Rafael S. Magno, Jr. Maramba Press. Dagupan City. 1981. pp. 11-12)
