San Fabian : "the Crusading Pope"

Lying on a broad plain with expansion opportunities, Angio could have been a most ideal site but to forewarn villagers of Moro raids and invasions, and to develop the town into a city and port of entry.

On order of the stern Governor Fernando Manuel de Bustamante, the seat of the town was transferred to its present location near the seashore Thick-walled fortifications and a lookout tower along the coast was built for security of its inhabitants from Moro depredations.

In anticipations of its conversion into a city, the town was divided into blocks with wide streets named after the town's historical personalities. Vessels of varied makes coming from Ilocos, Zambales, Manila and even the neighboring countries made port calls at the town through "Sinsendukel" or "Ilog na Bahley" river now shallowed by erosion and narrowed by illegally built fishponds.

Made the center of missionary work, the Dominican Order erected a church and a big convent through forced labor. The convent served partly as sanatorium for ailing members of the Order. Its healthful climate, abundant supply of drinking water, and cheap fresh fish made San Fabian and ideal hospital area for missionaries besides a convenient stop-over of travelling bishops to and from Vigan to Manila during the Spanish regime.

With boundaries originally embracing the town of Sison (formerly called Alava) and part of Sto. Tomas (La Union) for over 200 years, San Fabian was founded by the Dominican friars naming it after the crusading Pope St. Fabian.#