Vatican grants indulgence for indigenous church in Ilocos Sur

The Vatican has granted an indigenous church in the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia with one-year plenary indulgence as it celebrates its 25th year as a parish.

The year-long indulgence at the St. Anthony of Padua Church in Sugpon, Ilocos Sur started last Feb. 11 and will end on the same date next year.

Citing the decree from Apostolic Penitentiary, Nueva Segovia chancellor Fr. Ian Paul Filart said that the normal conditions must be met to attain indulgence.

This means, he said, that Catholics are to make pilgrimages to the church in Sugpon, sacramentally confess their sins, receive communion, and pray for the Pope’s intentions.

The decree also exhorts the faithful to pray for poor souls in purgatory, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and for the defense of the institutions of human life, concluding it with the Lord’s Prayer.

The Profession of Faith and the invocations of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Anthony of Padua are also to be prayed, Filart added.

Hundreds of pilgrims from the entire archdiocese are expected to flock to Sugpon for the Jubilee Year.

The fifth class municipality is among the interior towns of Ilocos Sur, situated along its boundary with La Union.

With a population of around 4,500, it is among the towns inhabited by indigenous communities who speak Kankanaey and Ilocano.

The town was originally under the care of missionaries from the “Congregatio Immaculatis Cordis Mariae” (CICM) and was handed over to the pastoral care of the diocesan clergy in 1995 following its erection as a parish.

Sugpon parish was also among the parishes established during the incumbency of the then Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, now a retired cardinal, who regarded the indigenous peoples as among his pastoral priorities.

St. Anthony of Padua parish priest Fr. Rosmel Cairel said the decree manifests the love and special place of the people from the peripheries in the heart of Pope Francis.

Cairel added that he is disposed to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance, to prepare the people in the reception of the indulgence.

On the jubilee day on June 13, the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, another plenary indulgence is to be granted through the blessing of the Mass which will be imparted by Archbishop Marlo Peralta of Nueva Segovia, by mandate of the faculty extended by the Apostolic Penitentiary to him.