Haughty Women Made Santa Cruz

Like Pagsanjan, Santa Cruz was once a part of Lumban. Folk tales say that the arrogance of three devout sisters made Santa Cruz to secede from its mother town.

The tale says that during the heydays of Franciscan missionary activities in Lumban, three beautiful and wealthy sisters supported their mission. Residents and clerics show high regards to the women.

The women lived on the banks of a river snaking along the eastern shore of Laguna de Bay, far from the church.

The sisters were so pious they went to church every morning to hear mass. However, because of the remoteness of their home to the church, the sisters frequently arrived late. The road, if one can call it a road, leading to the church was difficult. It passed through a dark and thorny bamboo grove. During rainy days, the pathway becomes tricky and slippery, and when the water of the lake rises, the river near their house overflowed.

Often, the Cura Parocco and parishioners would often wait for them before they could begin the mass.

“Enough is enough.” The priest grew tired of waiting. The Parishioners chattered thus one day, they held the mass without the women. This angered the sisters. With their influence and wealth, they filed a petition to break away from the town of Lumban. The Spanish colonial government approved the petition and the secession took effect in 1602.

Local folks built a provisional church for the women. While digging the foundation, workers discovered wooden cross. This gave a name to the new pueblo− Santa Cruz. (Others claim that the name “Santa Cruz” came from the big wooden cross that marked the boundary of the village and the town proper across the river, which bear the same name.)

A year later, Franciscan priest Padre Antonio de la Llave supervised the construction of a big church made of bricks and heavy adobe. Franciscan missionaries dedicated the church to the Blessed virgin of the Immaculate Concepcion.

Construction continued in 1672, expanding the church and giving it the shape of a cross. Padre Miguel Persiva managed the construction.

Santa Cruz was an agricultural community known for its coconuts and abundant rice harvests. In 1858, the seat of the Spanish colonial provincial government moved to Santa Cruz from Pagsanjan, which remained there until the present time.