Iglesia de San Dionisio Areopagita de Umatac
The village of Umatac (Humåtak), next to the bay where the tradition places the arrival of Magallanes to Guam in 1521, has no Marian church: its Catholic parish, one of the oldest of the Mariana islands, is dedicated to San Dionisio Areopagita, the first bishop of Athens converted by St. Paul. We say this with honesty, and with gratitude for more than three centuries of faith in this corner of the Pacific.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The first church of San Dionisio began on 12 November 1680 - the same day that a typhoon hit the island and took the cut wood to the sea - and was still finished on 15 February 1681. Faith could be more than the storm.
- Few parishes have been reborn so many times: burned in 1684, shot down by typhoons and the earthquakes of 1779, 1849, 1862 and 1902, it was rebuilt over and over again, in wood and in coral and lime masonry. Its ruins of 1862 are preserved next to the present temple and are listed in the National Register of Historical Places of the United States since August 30, 1974.
- The current church was raised by the Spanish cappuccinos between 1937 and 1939 under Father Bernabé de Cáseda, on the site of the former residence of the Spanish governor; restored, it was again dedicated on 11 February 2001.
- Umatac was a port of call of the Galeon of Manila and the heart of the Spanish Guam; on this same coast he preached the first evangelization of the Marianas. Every year, at the end of October, the village honors its patron San Dionisio with its parish feast.
San Dionisio de Umatac
In Magallanes Bay, little Umatac keeps one of Guam's oldest parishes: San Dionisio Areopagita, founded in 1680-1681, destroyed by typhoons and earthquakes and always rebuilt. It is not Marian invocation, and we say so; but in her history of fidelity, the Mother has never failed her Pacific children.
) Santa Maria, Estrella del Mar, keeps the faithful of Umatac as you have kept them three centuries.
Is the advocation of the Virgin Mary of your people missing?
Si no encuentras la advocación mariana de tu ciudad o pueblo, cuéntanosla: la investigaremos para ubicarla y darla a conocer en este mapa del amor de la Madre por el mundo.
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