Centennial Celebration in Bontoc

Bontoc was the host of the 100 Years of Celebration with the CICM in the Apostolic Vicariate of Bontoc-Lagawe from December 12-15, centering on the theme "Remembering, Rerooting, Revitalizing". CICM is a Latin acronym which, in English, stands for Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. For better or worse, the CICM have greatly contributed to what we are now as a people. Our faith and our education came mostly from their work and contributions to us for a hundred years.

A little bit of history: the CICMs were the first missionaries to come to Bontoc in 1907. They were the first Roman Catholic order to successfully establish mission stations in the whole of the Cordillera region, particularly within the tribal groups collectively known as the Igorots. CICM was established in Belgium and was mainly composed of priests and brothers who hail from Belgium and Ireland, and only opened their order to other nationalities in the mid 20th century. Why am I saying this? It is to point out that these first missionaries who came to Bontoc were Belgians and were later called “Belgian Fathers”. They were young men priests and brothers who stayed among our people, and subsequently were helped by their female counterpart order, the Immaculate Heart of Mary (ICM). Old men and women have fond memories of these priests and sisters, some of whom died and were buried here. The CICM and ICM have since left the region and handed over the responsibility to the native or diocesan priests and sisters.

Here are some photos of the event (videos in another post later):