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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-6/capul-church.webp" alt="Capul Chruch" />
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(The present-day Capul fortress and Church)
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Capul belongs to a cluster of islands (Dalupiri [San Antonio], Destacado [San Vicente], Naranjo) on the San Bernardino strait, the gateway toward the Pacific Ocean, through which the Acapulco galleon sailed. Because of its strategic location, a lighthouse was constructed on the highest peak on the island. The lighthouse completed in the 20th century is still functional.


One etiological legend has it that Capul is a corruption of A-Capul-co. Long time ago, it is said the galleons would dock at the island to provision itself with sweet and fresh water that gushed from an underground stream in a sitio south of the población. A sailor whiled his time by carving the name "Acapulco" on a rock. In time, the letters a, c, and o abraded and left behind the letters "capul", hence the town name.


But from old, the townspeople called their island "Abac". They spoke a distinct language, not the Waray of Samar or the Cebuano of western Leyte, or the Bicol of the Bondoc peninsula, but a language whose closest relation is found in the islands south of Zamboanga. The people call their language "Abacnon". It is probable that the inhabitants of Capul descended from migrants from the south who used the island as base of operation for slaving raids, or as oral tradition in the island suggests a refuge from those fleeing an abusive sultan in Mindnaao.


The Jesuits may have reached the island in 1610. This is the earliest date when there is evidence that the Jesuits were working in Capul.


In 1616, A church was built, probably a provisional one of wood and thatch. Capul at one time was considered an important house so that had as its visita Calbayog on Samar's western coast. Capul was a strategically important mission, although its population was never very big, 884 souls says Huerta in 1844.

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Heritage sites
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The church of Capul is dedicated to St. Ignatius Loyola and is surrounded by a square fort with bulwarks of dissimilar designs. Both Jesuit sources and Huerta claim that the stone church traces back to the Jesuits but its date of completion is unknown. So too is the date of the fortress.


In 1768, Certainly, the fortress or parts of it had been standing by this year, for it is reported that Fr. Juan Esandi, the last Jesuit priest of Capul, was killed on its ramparts by slave raiders. He never read the order of expulsion because when word reached Capul, Esandi was already dead.


In October 1768, Capul fell under the responsibility of the Franciscans who assigned Fray Joaquín Martínez as the first pastor.


In 1781, Fray Mariano Valero repaired the church and built a bell tower. A tribunal of stone and a school of primera enseñanza were established by the Franciscans.


On November 18, 1869, Capul was created a parish in conformity to the episcopal decree of September 12, 1864. There were subsequent repairs on the church, for the townspeople still remember an altar in the neo-Gothic style.


In 1898, The Franciscans opened a lateral gate along the fort’s walls, and embellished this with the Franciscan emblem.


In 1947, the neo-Gothic altar was apparently destroyed when a typhoon hit the church.


In c. 1987, The church suffered destruction when a strong typhoon ripped the roof, ceiling, and part of the convento. The church was subsequently repaired but is pretty much an empty shell, save for a very new altar and renovated sanctuary.


In 1988, The baptistry to the gospel side of the nave, the sacristy behind the sanctuary and the convento’s second floor above it, needed repairs. The old choir loft was removed during the repair of the single-naved church.


The Capul façade is Spartan, its only articulation are engaged pilasters and a split pediment around the central door. Since the church façade forms part of the defensive wall, artistic decorations may have been deemed unnecessary and so were omitted. Much of the fortification, including the bastions remain. On the northeast bastion an iron cannon is still mounted. From this bastion has a clear view of Samar. Near the church complex is a small chapel, probably a mortuary chapel. On the slope of a hill south of the church complex is a watchtower of rubble.



Reference: http://www.admu.edu.ph/

The Capul (Northern Samar) Heritage