St. Jerome Parish Church

St. Jerome Parish Church (also known as Morong Church) is a Roman Catholic church located in Morong, Rizal, Philippines. It was built under forced labor during the Spanish colonization in the country, where men, women, and even children had to dig stones from a hill called Kay Ngaya; lime from the stones of the mountain Kay Maputi; and sand and gravel from Morong River.HistoryThe town of Morong traces its origins to the pioneering work of the Franciscans Juan de Plasencia and Diego de Oropesa. Both were responsible for starting most of the lake town mission in 1578. They constructed chapels (visitas) attached to a bigger settlement to allow religious and civil administration. Later, this settlement was converted into Pueblo de Morong and was made the provincial capital of the Franciscan Order at that time. Baras, Tanay, Pililia, Cardona, Binangonan and Teresa were the visitas under Pueblo de Morong.Fr. Plasencia was well known for his mastery of Tagalog and is credited with compiling a dictionary of the vernacular and writing a draft of a catechism which is later used for composing the Doctrina Christiana (1593), the first book printed in the Philippines.It was not until 1586, that Morong had a friar named Fr. Blas de la Madre de Dios assigned as first minister of the pueblo. He constructed a wooden church on the south bank of the river but was burned down together with a large part of the pueblo in 1612. After three years, a new church was built of stone and mortar on elevated ground at the opposite bank of Morong River which ensured the its safety from floods and fires. It measured 42 varas long by 12 varas wide, had a single nave with semi-circular apse, built under the direction of Chinese master craftsmen.The church, dedicated to St. Jerome, was completed in 1620. The church had remained substantially unchanged until 1850-53, when Fr. Maximo Rico commissioned Bartolome Palatino, a native of Paete, to renovate the facade and build a bell tower.