The Territorial Prelature of Infanta is a Roman Catholic territorial prelature located in the municipality of Infanta, Quezon, in the ecclesiastical province of Lipa in the Philippines. It was established on April 25, 1950 by the papal bull "Precibus annuentes" taking a portion of the then-Diocese of Lipa. In 1953, some municipalities in the civil province of Isabela was added into it. However, it was taken again by the Diocese of Tuguegarao on August 16, 1955. Originally, the prelature was a suffragan of the Metropolitan See of Manila but was transferred to the Ecclesiastical Province of Lipa on June 20, 1972. The two main divisions of the prelature is based on the two geographical units that comprises it: the province of Quezon and the province of Aurora. Furthermore, it is governed by the prelate through four vicariates that covers (1) the parishes of Real, Infanta, and Nakar, (2) the parishes of the Polillo Group of Islands, (3) parishes within Central Aurora province, and (4) parishes in the span of Northern Aurora.

Erection

The prelature was erected by Pius XII on April 25, 1950 carving it from the Diocese of Lipa. Its territory included the islands of Polillo and the northern part of the province of Quezon. At this time, the province of Aurora is a sub-province of Quezon. The boundaries of the prelature was defined to reach the Diocese of Tuguegarao to the north; to the west, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, and Rizal; the Pacific Ocean is the eastern boundary; while the common boundaries of Infanta and Mauban is in the south. Upon the erection of the See of Infanta, Bishop Rufino Jiao Santos (later Archbishop of Manila and a cardinal) was appointed Apostolic Administrator. A year later, on July 11, 1951, Rev. Fr. Patrick Harmon Shanley, OCD, Vicar Provincial of the Order of Discalced Carmelites in the Philippine Islands, was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Prelature of Infanta.

Prelates

[[File:Prelature of infanta coat of arms JSTOR version.svg|thumb|right|Former Coat of arms of Prelature of Infanta. Bishop Mariano Madriaga blazoned the arms with this: "On chief, red, a daisy. On a silver fess a blue lozenge with the gold fleur-de-lys of the Bourbon dynasty. At base a seascape with a coconut tree from a green knoll on the dexter side. "The daisy is the symbol of the innocence of the Holy Child, the new titular of the principal church of the prelature after it was rebuilt almost entirely. Its former patron saint was St. Mark the Evangelist, now the secondary patron saint of the prelature. "Infanta" was the official title of the Royal Princess of Spain. The lozenge-form of the Bourbon arms may have been used by the Infanta of Spain in whose honor the town (now the seat of the prelature) was named because the heraldic shield for ladies is lozenge-formed. The seascapewith the coconut tree on a knoll symbolizes the coconut-clad province which is the territory of the prelature." ]]The Prelature of Infanta was first administered as a mission of the Order of Discalced Carmelites. Its apostolic administrators and bishops were members of the religious order until 2015. These include Bishop Patrick Shanley, OCD, Fr. Joseph Flanery, OCD, Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen, OCD, and Bishop Rolando Tirona, OCD.

Parishes

Vicariate of Infant Jesus and Saint Mark Vicariate of Saint Joseph Vicariate of San Luis Obipso Vicariate of Saint Anthony of Padua

Sources