As part of the yearlong tercentennial commemoration of the Santa Mónica Parish in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, many parishioners gathered March 3 at a site believed to be the location of the old church of Sarrat to pray for the dead and seek healing of memories.
Historical documents, terrain studies and historians suggest that the present-day Sarrat town center was not the original población when the town was founded in 1724.
Records indicate that Old Sarrat Población was located next to San Nicolás on the southern bank of the Padsán River, the longest in Ilocos Norte. The current población, situated on the river’s northern bank, was established in the second quarter of the 19th century following a bloody revolt on March 3, 1815.
“The parishioners gathered at the Nagrebcan Archeological Site to pray for the forgotten dead and ask for healing,” said Fr. Ericson Josué, parish priest of Santa Mónica Parish.
The Sarrat Revolt of 1815 was the bloodiest of the Ilocano uprisings in the early 19th century. The unrest prompted Spanish authorities to create another province in northern Ilocos by dividing the old province of Ilocos into Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte in 1818 for better control of the local population.
During the uprising, numerous wealthy residents of Old Sarrat were massacred, including a 3-month-old infant. A wealthy woman was brutally killed and dismembered by native rebels, who hung parts of her body on the church door. The revolt ended with the town being burned to the ground.
“This gruesome episode,” Josué said, “needs prayers of reparation and healing.”
A decade ago, archeologists from the National Museum of the Philippines discovered the foundations of a church and religious artifacts in Nagrebcan, also known as Barangay Santa Mónica, now part of San Nicolás. The discovery confirmed that the site was once home to an ancient village. The Ilocano word “Nagrebcan” means “vanquished” or “utterly destroyed.”
In 1890, 19th-century author Isabelo de los Reyes wrote that after Sarrat was razed, its residents relocated the village to a nearby site. Present-day Sarrat Población is about three kilometers from Nagrebcan, across the Padsán River.
Josué also noted that the decree establishing Ilocos Norte mentions Sarrat as the designated capital of the newly formed province. The decree includes a note referring to the town as “nuevamente titulado San Miguel de Concuníg” (newly named San Miguel de Concuníg). The new población, which was given the name San Miguel, is located at the foot of Mt. Cuníg.
As parish celebrates its Tercentennial Year, Josué said the grace dispensed by the Apostolic Penitentiary extends to the souls of the deceased faithful.
He added that the commemoration and prayer gathering in Nagrebcan was an act of love for Sarrat’s ancestors and a form of reparation for past transgressions.
