Diocese of Boac

Diocese of Boac Dioecesis Boacensis Diyosesis ng Boac
Coat of arms of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boac
Location
Country	Philippines
Territory	Marinduque
Ecclesiastical province	Lipa
Metropolitan	Lipa
Statistics
Area	959 km2 (370 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2012) 253,000 221,062 (87.4%)
Parishes	14
Churches	14
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	2 April 1977
Cathedral	Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Boac, Marinduque
Secular priests	35
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Marcelino Antonio M. Maralit Jr.
Metropolitan Archbishop	Gilbert Garcera
Vicar General	Ramon M. Magdurulang
Map
Map of Marinduque showing the location of Boac
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Boac (Lat: Dioecesis Boacensis) is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. It has jurisdiction over the province of Marinduque.

Created suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lipa, separating from the Mother Diocese of Lucena on 2 April 1977, the Diocese of Boac comprises the whole civil province of Marinduque. It has a total area of 959.2 square kilometres (370.3 sq mi). In his book Historico Religioso Estado Geografico, 1865, Fr. Felix de Huerta says that the first apostle to Marinduque was the Franciscan Missionary Fray Estevan Cruz, who planted the first cross in 1579 that paved the way for the evangelization of the people. The first “visita” was established in 1580 and it was called “Monserrat de Marinduque” (now Boac) with Fray Alonzo Banol as its minister. In 1609 two other “visitas” were instituted, “San Juan de Marinduque” (now Sta. Cruz) and San Bernardo de Marinduque (now Gasan) with Fray Pedro de Talavera and Fray Juan Rosado as their first pastors, respectively. Later on, the Franciscans ceded the administration of the island to the Archbishop of Manila in 1613.

The Jesuits in the Philippines 1581-1768, a book written by Fr. Horacio de la Costa, states that Archbishop Miguel Garcia Serrano of Manila entrusted the island of Marinduque to the care of the Society of Jesus in 1621. The Jesuits stayed in the province and founded the town of Boac on 8 December 1622 and later on the towns of Sta. Cruz and Gasan. By virtue of a Spanish royal decree dated 19 May 1864, the Augusti-nian Recollect Fathers took over the spiritual administration of Boac in exchange for the curacies they left behind to the hands of the Jesuit missionaries in Mindanao.

Before the creation of the Diocese of Lipa by St. Pius X, the island of Marinduque, since 14 August 1595 till 10 April 1910, belonged to Archdiocese of Manila. When the Diocese of Lucena was created on 20 August 1950, Marinduque became a part of her. On 2 April 1977, by virtue of the apostolic bull “Cum Tempore Maturare” issued by Pope Paul VI, Marinduque was created as an independent diocese, called Diocese of Boac.

On 10 May 1978, carried by the effect of the Papal bull, the Diocese of Boac was canonically erected according to the Decretum Executorium signed by Most. Rev. Bruno Torpigliani, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines. Most Rev. Rafael M. Lim, the former Bishop of Laoag since 1971 and a native of Boac, was appointed on 26 January 1978 by Paul VI as the first Bishop of the new diocese.