Saint Nicholas of Tolentine in Capas, Tarlac, Philippines – Footprints of the Province of Saint Nicholas in History

Capas is a municipality located in the Province of Tarlac, in the central area of Luzon Island, where the capital of the country is located and one of the main ones of the Archipelago, located in the north of the country. Currently Capas has just under 130,000 inhabitants.

The rivers that cross Capas (Bulsa, Moriones and St. Lucy) come entirely from the foothills of the Pinatubo mountain and volcano. The municipality is divided into 20 neighborhoods (barangay in its local denomination), some with clearly Spanish names, such as Aranguren, Bueno, Cristo Rey, Dolores, O´Donnell, Santa Juliana, Santa Lucia, Santa Rita, Santo Domingo, Santo Rosario, Patrimonio.

Evangelization

The beginning of the evangelization of Capas began through some peripheral missions in the Zambales Mountains by the Augustinians of Pampanga and the Dominicans of Pangasinan. Both missionary communities visited the foothills of the mountains located between the two provinces, including the Capas region.

Some popular accounts place Capas as the oldest village in the Tarlac province, independent of Pampanga since 1710. However, it was in 1712 that the city´s proper evangelization could be established.

On that date three Augustinian Recollects, from Zambales province, began their missions. Two of these protomissions were located in the present jurisdiction of Capas, specifically in Alupay and Panipan, on the banks of the O´Donnell River.

An 1800 document cites the beginnings of the present-day village of Capas in 1763, as a dormant settlement between the Cutcut River and its current site, in the ancient sites known as Pagbatuan and Gudya (now the village of Santo Rosario). It was mentioned that Capas was the result of the migration of the natives of Pangasinan due to the Spanish-British War.

At first there was only one Augustinian Recollect assigned exclusively to the Capas area. He was Friar Francisco of Saint Monica, a natural of Ilueca, Zaragoza, Spain. He served in Capas from 1777 to 1779. After he finished his mission, for 25 years no other religious was appointed to this mission.

Some of the Augustinian Recollects assigned later were Friar Pedro Manchado of Saint Rita (1805–1806), Friar Ignacio Serrano of the Conception (1806–1807) and even Friar José Aranguren himself (1831–1834), who would later become the first Archbishop of the Order, at its headquarters in Manila, and in whose honor one of today´s neighborhoods was named.

In the memory of the town of Capas was rooted as part of its history Friar Juan Pérez of Saint Lucy, who was in Capas from September 13, 1845 until his death on June 30, 1864, a victim of the cholera epidemic that ravaged the city. During his presence in Capas, in May 1850, the waters of the Pinatubo flooded the city. He therefore undertook the task of moving the main urban center to its current site. In 1857 he founded the village and the church of Patling, which was renamed O´Donnell in 1861.

Other Augustinian Recollect missionaries who were assigned to Capas later were Friar Miguel García (1864–1880), Friar Nicasio Rodeles (1888–1890) and Friar Félix Pérez (1880–1888 and 1890–1898).

The beginning of the Philippine Revolution in 1898 ended the presence of the Spanish missionaries of Capas, replaced by Filipino secular priests.

Church of St. Nicholas of Tolentine

Although the first Catholic Church in Capas was erected canonically in 1776, the current Diocesan Shrine of St. Nicholas of Tolentine was built 200 years later, in 1976. Like many other churches in that region, the previous churches succumbed to the passage of time and were rebuilt again and again or renovated.

On April 14, 2018, the parish church was elevated to Diocesan Shrine. On the same day, a First Class Relic of Saint Nicholas was enthroned in the Shrine, sent from Rome. In Capas as well as in the rest of the Philippines he is known as the saint of the star, patron saint of the souls in purgatory, also as Apung Kulas.

The current shrine has a simple facade, a dome and a bell tower located a few meters away from the church. In front of the church there is an image of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine and it has a large Pastoral Center, all these buildings linked by gardens and trees.

Next to the Shrine is the Dominican College of Tarlac, formerly known as the St. Nicholas Academy, established in 1947.

Known for some tragedies

Capas is located exactly 33 kilometers from the crater of the Pinatubo volcano, famous for its great eruption on June 1991, easy to remember for those who saw that tragedy live on television, as well as for the global consequences of the eruption.

Until that day the Pinatubo was an inactive volcano for 500 years. During the multi-day eruption it threw into the atmosphere a column of ash 34 km high, which opened like an umbrella in a cloud 400 km wide. As the eruption coincided with the rains of typhoon Yunya, cemented mud collapsed on everything below, creating images as tragic as it was spectacular.

It was the second largest volcanic cataclysm of the 20th century and directly caused 700 fatalities and affected half a million people who then lived around it. But also the ash thrown into the atmosphere produced a drop in the overall temperature of 0.5 degrees Celsius.

Another historical fact puts Capas on the map: it was the final destination of Bataan´s famous Death March in World War II, involving in April 1942, 76,000 prisoners (64,000 Filipinos and 12,000 Americans) captured by the Japanese.

Battered and hungry, they had to walk 101 kilometers from the south of the Bataán peninsula to Camp O´Donnell, in Capas. The march was classified as a war crime. The prisoners did not receive food for the first three days and only drank the water they found in puddles. Those who couldn´t stand the march were executed. Between 7,000 and 10,000 prisoners died of malnutrition, disease or abuse.

In Capas there is a monument and a National Shrine dedicated to the victims of this war tragedy. There is also O´Donnell Base, now in the hands of the Philippine Army and previously held by the Americans and, during the Great March, by the Japanese.