This was a continuation of our Visita Iglesia which started in Isabela, and in Cagayan, we visited eight churches. Christianity in Cagayan traces its beginnings to the late 16th century, when Spanish expeditions moved northward into the Cagayan Valley and established missions along the banks of the Cagayan River. Early evangelization was first attempted by Augustinian friars, but it was the Dominicans who sustained the work from the 1580s onward, founding missions and organizing communities into towns centered on churches and plazas. Through these efforts, indigenous groups such as the Ibanag and Itawes were introduced to Roman Catholicism, with Lal-lo, then known as Nueva Segovia.

I visited six churches in Isabela as part of our yearly Visita Iglesia this Maundy Thursday, and this year we completed fourteen churches across Isabela and Cagayan. Christianity in Isabela was established during the Spanish colonial period through the evangelization of the Cagayan Valley beginning in the late 16th century, led by Dominican missionaries who organized indigenous communities into pueblos centered on churches. Key areas such as Tumauini, Ilagan, and Cauayan became important ecclesiastical centers, and by the time Isabela was created as a province in 1856, Catholicism was already firmly established