Maasin City Cathedral: Standing with it's Beautiful History and Architecture

The parish of Maasin can be considered one of the oldest parishes in the country. Long before the parish was designated its Patroness, different missionary groups began to arrive. First to come were the Jesuits who stayed from 1700 to 1768. The Augustinians succeeded the Jesuits until 1843, after which the Franciscans took over and continued the missionary task until 1896.

It was believed that the church was established in the year 1771, during the time of the Augustinians. Existing books of baptism so far on record, however, showed the years 1793 onwards. The records before 1793, it may be deduced, might have been destroyed by inevitable events or circumstances
Of the three missionary groups- Jesuits, Agustinians, Franciscans- the Franciscans received the credit as the one responsible in choosing Our Lady of Assumption as the patroness of the parish. Since the feast day of the selected Patroness fell on August 15, it was also considered as the date for the town fiesta. No records are available as to the year the very first town fiesta was held, but since the Franciscans, who arrived in 1843, were credited in designating the Patroness of Maasin, it is safe to say that the maiden town fiesta might have been on August 15, 1844. (The minicxipal government, however, has fixed the date of the first town fiesta by the turn of the century, on August 15, 1900, during the threshold of the American occupation.)

When the Franciscans left, the parish was placed under the diocesan priests of Cebu. Then from 1920 up to 1930s, it was under the Diocese of Calbayog, and sometime from the decade of 30s until 1968, under the Diocese of Palo. In 1968, the parish became the Cathedral Seat of the Diocese of Maasin which covers all the municipalities of Southern Leyte provinve, including the towns of MAtalom, Bato, Hilongos, Hindang, Inopacan and Baybay of province of Leyte. It ranks as the Cathedral Parish of the diocese.