Historical and biographical review of some of the main figures of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of Augustinian Recollects from its foundation to the present day.
Diego Cera (1762-1832) epitomized the many clergymen who skilfully combined their religious fervour with a concern for the material welfare of the people. His initiatives were numerous and diverse, yet he is most remembered as an organ builder.
In 1793, he completed the first piano ever crafted in the Archipelago in Manila, which was presented as a gift to the Queen of Spain. The subsequent year, he constructed an impressive pipe organ for the Church of Saint Nicholas in Intramuros. From 1802 to 1813, he worked on two additional pipe organs for the cathedral and the church of Saint Augustine.
However, it was in 1824 that he completed his magnum opus, an organ constructed almost entirely of bamboo. He meticulously selected and cured the bamboo canes by burying them along the shores of his parish in Las Piñas.
By 1925, the bamboo organ had retained 953 pipes, 832 made of bamboo and 121 of metal. It underwent restoration in Bonn, Germany, between 1973 and 1975. Since then, the town of Las Piñas has held an annual Baroque music festival, which has consistently attracted distinguished figures from the world of contemporary music.
The construction of similar pipe organs in Argao, Cebu, and Baclayon, Bohol, from 1814 to 1824, is credited to Fray Diego. Reports indicate that he established a school: his pupils, Filipino organ builders, created similar organs for the Bohol parishes of Dimiao, Loay, Loboc, and Loon between 1830 and 1850. Subsequently, another was built for the parish of Santo Tomas in Batangas.
