St. Michael the Archangel Parish - Clarin, Bohol

Michael the Archangel Parish was originally named Virgin of the Holy Rosary Parish created in 1922 per Er****on Decree promulgated by Archbishop Juan P. At the time of its creation, the entire province of Bohol was, then, under the administrative jurisdiction of the Archdioceses of Cebu ( the Diocese of Tagbilaran was created only on November 1941 ). Prominent lay leaders instrumental in the creat

ion of the Parish were Juan Zafra, Estanislao Sanchez, Nicodemes Tunday, Nazario Lerias, Ambrosio Salera and his wife, Mrs. Nicolasa Toro ( nee Piezas ), Ciriaco Lumen, Antonio Infiesto ( popularly known as Tenientee OYONG. Prior to the creation of the parish the patroness of Kan-ugong ( former name of Clarin) was Virgin of the Holy Rosary whose feast month is October. Because the people of Kan-ugong were, by tradition, generally known as "diwatahans" or believers in " diwata ", a kind of superstitious belief that invokes the power of the " ingkantos " and the " agtas ", the local lay leaders clamored for a change of parish's patroness. They opted for St. Michael the Archangel who has the power to dispel and conquer the forces of evil. Two years afer its creation, the parish adopted St. Michael the Archangel as its patron replacing the Virgin of the Holy Rosary which subsequently was relegated to the status of second patroness. Benito Lozano, a full-blooded Spaniard from Barcelona, Spain and a missionary priest of the Recollect Order brought an
ivory image of St. Michael the Archangel upon his return here in the Philippines from a vacation on his homeland. Sometime in 1984, during the time of Rev. Pablito Labado as parish priest, an unidentified person engaged in buy-and-sell of artifact/antiques offered to buy the image for 30,000.00. His offer was turned down for a reason that the image was not for sale. Shortly thereafter, the same image was stolen.