Archdiocese Of Capiz 3.87

Capiz comes from the word “KAPIS” that means in the local language a “mollusk.” The natives of the Province are called “Capizeños” or “Capiznons.” In 1566 the Spanish Augustinians led by Fray Martin de Rada evangelized the town of Panay, the first Christian town in the Island, along the banks of its river. From 1569 until 1571 the first Spanish governor-general Miguel Lopez de Legazpi made the same town his second Spanish settlement, before proceeding to Manila. There were fifteen (15) parishes founded by the Augustinians in the province of Capiz: Panay (1581), Dumarao (1581), Dumalag (1596), Mambusao (1607), which was under the Recollects in 1758-1793; Roxas City, formerly Capiz (1707), Sigma (1744), Panitan (1806), Dao (1836), Ivisan (1840), Loctugan (1848), Pilar (1865), Cuartero (1872), Tapaz (1874), Pontevedra (1878), and Maayon (1893). There was a steady of growth of Christian converts in the province from its initial Most-Rev.-Manuel-Yap,-D.Devangelization until the end of the Spanish Period in 1898.