Parish Church of San Roque of LemeryParish Church of San Roque of Lemery is a Registered Property, Municipality of Lemery, Batangas located at Lemery, Batangas, Region IV-A.
The town of Lemery was founded in 1862 during the administration of Governor General Jose Lemery. Jose Cabrera was it's first Gobernadorcillo. Others were Miguel Agoncillo, Eleno Aniversario, Basilio Gatachalian, Mariano Generoso, Perpetuo Ilustre, Mariano Marella, Juan Medina, Brigido Morales, Ramon M. Mitra, Ramon Noble, Victoriano Noble, Agapito Panganiban, and Pioquinto Reyes. Lemery was annexed to the municipality of Taal in 1904. Again became a municipality in 1907 with Perpetuo de Joya as Municipal President. The eruption of nearby Taal volcano in January 1911 killed hundreds of its inhabitants. Occupied by the Japanese imperial army in 1942, One third of the town was burnt by enemy artillery when it was liberated by the Americans aided by Filipino Guerillas on 6 March 1945.
But in February 1862, then-Governor General Jose Lemery initiated the division of the town of Taal into three towns: Taal, San Luis and San Genaro. Because of this ordinance, the locals expressed their desire to revive its previous moniker: Lemery, and replace its patron saint to be San Roque. These turns of events would not have been possible without the arduous fortitude of Candida Cesario Valenzuela, Manuel Cabrera, Policarpio Mariño and Domingo Agoncillo. Meanwhile, Jose Cabrera beame the first Gobernadorcillo (mayor) of the newly created town. In June of the same year, both petitions were received and enacted by the Governor General. Two months later, he was replaced.
Six years after Lemery town earned its independence from Taal, it was declared as a parish on May 12, 1868 by then Archbishop of Manila, Archbishop Gregorio Meliton Martinez (1815-1881). The first parish priest, Fray Jose Martin, OSA, challenged by the growing parish, started building the church edifice using hewn stones. In 1879, his successor, Fray Federico Cortazar, OSA, wanted a bigger structure which became a reality sometime in 1882 when the parish was yet under another Cortazar: Fray Raymundo Cortazar, who also built the parish rectory and the public cemetery. The parish priest of Taal, Fray Agapito Aparicio, even admired the church of San Roque; and was quoted as saying: ”May it serve as a model for many towns."
For economic considerations, Lemery was again annexed to its mother-town, Taal in 1904. But in 1907, by virtue of Executive Order 1549 of the Philippine Civil Commission, it finally regained its independence which the Lemerefios enjoy until today.
The church of San Roque, specifically its facade, was appallingly damaged during the Second World War, circa 1940s. The subsequent renovations during the time of Fr. Antonio Javan, Jr. (1977) and Fr. Armando Lubis (2011), without resurgence of the earlier structure of two imposing bell towers, were not simply influenced by the contractors’ bent for modern design, but were also largely conditioned by the softness of Lemery's foundation: sandy soil. In fact, this explains why to date there are only few three-story buildings in Lemery.