St. Michael the Archangel Church

ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL CHURCH

The hilltop Church of St. Michael the Archangel was said to have been built in the 17th century by Fr. Cristóbal Miralles.  It was burned and looted of its treasures on Corpus Christi Day during a slave raid in 1663. In 1845, it was repaired by Fr. Domingo de Madrid who also built a bell tower, a stone and coral convent, and a cemetery with a small chapel within.  It was damaged by a storm in 1880.  In 1894, Fr. Vicente Gutiérrez replaced the church roof with galvanized iron.

The convent, adjacent to the church, was the headquarters and hospital of the U.S. 9th Infantry around the time of the attack on Company “C” in Balangiga. A month later, the convent became the headquarters and hospital of a battalion of U.S. Marines under the command of Maj. Littleton W.T. Waller, which was attached to the Sixth Separate Brigade under Brig.-Gen. Jacob H. Smith. This Marine battalion was tasked with turning southern Samar into a “howling wilderness.”  During the Liberation, it was used as an evacuation center by Leyteños.