St. Michael Parish Hagonoy Taguig 4.63

THE PARISH

The Parish of St. Michael covers two Barangay, that is Hagonoy and San Miguel. Hagonoy, according to its popular origin, coined its name from a tree called “hagonoy” which is rampant on that place. Barangay Hagonoy used to be a trading site among Chinese itinerants. This can be evidenced by the artifacts and antique materials dug from the placelike porcelain plates, bowl, glasses and cups with Chines chaacters carved in each item which believed to have dated back to the time of Emperor Ming prior to the coming of Spaniards in the Philippines

During the Spanish occupation Hagonoy took its development under the care and guidance of St. Michael, whose image was placed in the chapel of Barangay. This chapel used to belong to the Parish of St. Anne, the mother Parish of Taguig. Not until the year 1990, Barangay Hagonoy was formally established as a parish on April 1 with Fr. Estanislao “Stan” Soria as the first parish priest.

THE PATRON SAINT

St. Michael the Archangel is the Patron Saint of Hagonoy and San Miguel. Its image is quite different from the usual which portrays St. Michael fighting Lucifer. The Statue instead presents St. Michael in a victorious feat carrying banner of triumph over the devil. According to the parishioners, this is a picture of triumphant St. Michael, usually garbed in red. Sometimes, the people addressed him as “Poong Miguel”, “Poong Ige” or “Po Ige”.

During World War II, St. Michael According to some people, defended and protected the Hagonoy townsfolk who were held captives by the Japanese. He presented himself as a small boy wearing a red shirt and pants to the American soldier, and led the latter to the site where captives are kept. This eventually marked the victory over the Japanese when all prisoners were released and all enemies were defeated.

The feast of St. Michael is celebrated twice in the Barangay. First is on May 8 which people term as Popular feast because it is the day in which St. Michael appeared at Mt. Gargano in Italy way back in the 5th Century. Hence, this is also a harvesting season of the Barangay where people attributed its bountiful reward to the saint. The second feast, moreover, is on September 29 called the Liturgical feast, according to the Roman Calendar of the Church.