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Saint Paul Metropolitan Cathedral, Vigan City

St. Paul’s Metropolitan Cathedral was built by the Augustinian clergy around 1790 and like the St. William’s Cathedral, it has features a design intended to minimize earthquake damage that was referred to as “earthquake baroque”.  Furthermore, it also features the Neo-Gothic and pseudo Romanesque motifs. There are brass communion handrails copied from China, complete with Chinese characters scribbled by its makers.

In the south of the cathedral lies the eight-sided bell tower used as a safety measure of the church. It was said to be built separately so that in any event of an earthquake, it would not topple into the church. The design said to have a Chinese Feng Shui influences. Lies inside the church is a tombstone of the great Ilocano poet Leona Florentino.

It is also in this church where Vigan’s Beloved late Governor Floro Crisologo was gunned down while he knelt on a pew inside the Cathedral in 1970.

 

 I do not own the pictures I just searched them in the internet . . . thanks:)

Narcavan Church. Narcavan, Ilocos Sur

Narvacan was discovered by a Spanish expeditionary force sent from Vigan by the military officer and navigator, Captain Juan de Salcedo. The Spanish expeditionary force was shipwrecked along the town's coast. When they were being rescued by the natives, the Spaniards asked the natives what was the name of their place. The resident's leader replied in an Ilocano dialect by asking the Spaniards "Nalbakan?" (Are you shipwrecked?). The Spaniards thought this to be the answer to their question, and from then on the place was referred to as Narvacan.

Salcedo befriended the small tribe of indigenous valley peoples that resided in the area while Spanish families established a township in 1576. As part of the modern township, a Roman Catholic parish was established by the Augustinian religious order on 25 April 1587. The Narvacan parish would become one of the first Roman Catholic parishes in present-day Ilocos Sur.

Narvacan was organized under the traditions of the royal government of Spain. The Habsburg royal family served as the heads of state which in turn appointed Santiago de Vera as President of the Royal Audiencia – governor over the region in which Narvacan was situated. In 1589, Governor Vera appointed Nicolas de Figueroa as the first Encomendero de Narvacan – principal administrator of the town and its neighbors in the encomienda system. His role eventually evolved into the office of alcalde.

 I do not own the pictures I just searched them in the internet . . . thanks:)

 

St. John of Sahugan Church. Candon, Ilocos Sur

St. John of Sahagun was built in 1695 by Father Pedro Bravo. It was damaged by an earthquake in 1707 but was rebuilt in 1709. The Church has a baroque-style facade. The four-storey octagonal belltower has an alternating open and blind apertures, a balustrade and is topped by a campanille. 

 I do not own the pictures I just searched them in the internet . . . thanks:)

Nuestra Señora dela Asuncion Church. Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur

The Santa Maria Church is a great attraction to both the traveler and the faithful in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur. It is not only a reminiscent of the four centuries of Spanish domination of that area but also a unique structure with a diversified architectural design and built of heavy stones and mortar.

Like many of its sister churches in the Ilocos Region, the Santa Maria Church is of lesser proportion, flamboyant in scale and less stunning in the facade and expresses a tightness of space. It shows also a simplified and primitive form of architectural design.

The Church of Santa Maria is a reductable structure. In form and utility, it is built to resemble a travelin or fortin which usually form an important part of the stonewall fortresses used for the protection of the early Spanish settlements against enemy attacks. It was built on top of a hill not only as a look-out and breastwork but later as a religious center during the early administration of the region by both the friars and soldiers of Spain.

The influx of the settlers after the full conquest of the Ilocos Region by the Spaniards greatly increased the population of Santa Maria. Besides economic progress, evangelical missions were expanded. The town’s proximity to the interior settlements which were the targets of the earlier evangelical missionaries made Santa Maria as the center of both the religious and commercial activities. In 1567, Santa Maria was a mere visita of Narvacan; and independent ministry in 1760; and in 1767, it was once again a well- organized township. It had its own minister.

According to the legend, before the Santa Maria Church was built on its present site, the Virgin Mary was enshrined in a distant place, Bulala. It usually happened that the Virgin Mary disappeared from her place of enthronement only to be found perched on a guava tree that grew where the present chapel of the Santa Maria Church is located. This story is believed by many of the people which had led them to erect the church in its present site.

In 1810, a bell tower was built beside the church.

It was furnished a bell in 1811. After it was remodeled in 1863, its foundation must have gradually settled down making the imposing structure slightly leaning or tilting as it appears today.

Partly blocking the frontal view of the facade of Santa Maria Church is the convent. It is accessible from the Church by a structural bridge built over what might have been a deep channel or ditch. In the early days of the colonization, the convent was the seat of the ecclesiastical administration besides serving as a “ home or retreat house of the silvery haired or aged ministers of God upon their retirements or after coming from their arduous and hazardous evangelical labors in the hinterlands.

The builders of the Santa Maria Church must have conceived of making the church last for many years. The long 81 spaces in length and 16 meters in width.

The grand three flight stairway approaches the church doorway and two others behind the edifice- one along the space leading to the cemetery below and from the stairway that approaches the eastern side, a sweeping view of the plain and the town of Santa Maria is beheld. A narrow roadway leads up to the church door and used only by some very special church goers in their stylist vehicles.

A cemetery abandoned and evergreen with brush and weeds lies at the foot of the hill and connected with the church by an old and worn-out but impressive stairway now unused and all in ruins. It is perhaps the limitation of the space on top of the hill that brought about the constricted layout and construction of the Santa Maria Church.

The one-nave church, heavily reinforced by massive buttresses from the exterior is severely plain and the low side, its solidity is relieved only by the lateral buttresses, somehow break up the walls into regular sequence of alternating masses, creating a simple rhythmic movement

Bantay Church or Sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de La Caridad. Bantay, Ilocos Sur

The Parish of Bantay, Ilocos Sur was founded in 1593 and was named Saint Augustine de Hippo, the Doctor of Grace, as the Patron Saint by the Augustinian friars who established it. Fr. Montoya was the first parish priest with Fr. Geronimo Cavero as his assistant. In a report by Bishop Domingo de Soria, O.P. on August 15, 1613, the population of Bantay was 4,000 souls under the care of three priests. Vigan was only 2,000 souls. This is explained by three facts that by then, Bantay parish was very extensive. The following parishes were originally its “visitas” - Magsingal separated in 1676; Santo Domingo separated in 1742; San Ildefonso separated in 1769; San Vicente separated in 1795; and Santa in 1795. One of the three ministers of the Gospel for the Bantay Area was Father Francisco Lopez, a great Augustinian Philologist with the help of Pebro Bucaneg, the blind genius of the Ilocano tongue took parts in the translation of the “Catechism” which was originally written by Robert Cardinal Bellarmine.

The translated catechism was approved from the convent of Bantay in 1616. The book in the Malayan script and Spanish alphabet was first published in 1621. The Bellarmine catechism was the first book in Ilocano to be printed and its influence on the morality, culture and language of the entire Ilocos is immeasurable. Up to this day, we Ilocanos still say all the Common prayers as Fr. Lopez and Bucaneg translated them. Fr. Mariano in his History of the Works of the Religious Orders in the Philippines said that the old church was in the form of a cross (con crucero) but it was rebuilt almost completely by Fathers Eduardo Navarro and Lisardo Villanueva.

The ruins of the section that would form the arms of the across are still standing. In 1660, Andres Malong, of Pangasinan, revolted against Spanish and proclaimed himself king of the province. He bestowed the title of Conde to Pedro Gumapos of Agoo and sent him with 3,000 men to invade Ilocos and Cagayan. In the army of Gumapos was a great number of Calanasans, head-hunting Tinguians, and Aetas from the wilds of Zambales. These savages came killing pillaging and burning until Badoc, Ilocos Norte. Juan Manzano, a lieutenant of Gumapos, attacked Bantay on January 22, 1661, leaving 800 dead I the area.

 

He buried everything. Only one tiled house and the church with its convent were left standing. The old novena of Our Lady of Charity expressly says that the church was saved through intervention. The Zambales repeatedly tried to set fire to the church at least three times, but it would not burn through the cogoon roofing was very dry. Terrified as such an inexplicable phenomenon, the Calanasans finally fled. This incident, Rev. Fr. Pedro Murillo has written in his book,Historia de Filipinas de la Campania de Jesus. They burned Bantay, and though they set fire times to the church, It was delivered by Nuestra Señora de la Caridad through her special protection. At the end of the last century, we find the church roofed with split bamboo and nipa. The late most Rev. Alfredo Versoza roofed it with galvanized iron. He was the parish priest of Bantay. In April 15, 1945, during the battle for liberation of Ilocos Sur, three big incendiary bombs hit the Church and convent but not one of them exploded. Fifty meter away from the buildings five others exploded with great force. Because of the concussions, the roof put on by Bishop Versoza was indirectly knocked down. Even the convent, the altars and the pulpits crashed down. Rev. Jose Brillantes y Bello made a temporary chapel, using the fallen roofing for its roof and walls. It served for five years. The church with new roofing was raised higher to allow the construction of the tall Gothic design of the interior. It is a monument to the sacrifices of the any devotees of our Lady of Charity from Bantay, Vigan and other parishes of Nueva Segovia, under the supervision of Fr. Brillantes and Most Rev. Santiago C. Sancho. The church that was damaged during the World War II was reconstructed in 1950. The restored façade is of neo-gothic design mixed with pseudo-Romanesque materials and elements.Its grandiose afforded a reminiscent of the old Spanish architecture using indigenous materials which are bucks and slime. The picturesque belfry sits on a hilltop overlooking a vivid vast green pastureland and the mountain view of the province of Abra. It was used as a watcher tower for invading enemy forces during world war I and II because of its strategic location.

The Bantay Church and bell tower are monumental witnesses to various atrocities, uprising and others. In the preparation of the Silver Jubilee of the Canonical Coronation of our Lady of Charity January 10, 1981, the sorry state of the church building cried for some repairs. The renovation included repair of the roof. The accumulated rust had been patched, and a protective coat of paint had been laid on, repair of the façade- a thick crust of moss and lichen had been cleared away, the bricks had been resurfaced and a layer of paint had been applied to maintain its architectural design, restoration of the lateral turrets – deep cracks and wide gaps have been refilled, the demolished superstructures had been restored, refurbishing the intrerior, peeled off plastering had been patched, the walls had been repainted, ad a marbleized altar has been erected, repair of the belfry, the blackening layer of moss and the dense overgrowth of weeds have been cleared away, knocked off portions of the cornice and frieze have been restored,pock mocks and cracks have been patched and the bricks have been resurfaced. Numerous improvements were made in the church, convent and bell tower. Inside the church particularly in the altar, golden mouldings were placed that signifies the Golden Canonical Coronation Anniversary of our Lady of Charity. Chandeliers were changed to the design of the old ones made by Rev. Brillantes Bello. Landscaping in front of the church and convent made the parish beautiful. Construction of comfort rooms for the parishioners and visitors. The second floor of the convent had a face lift especially stairs, landing with its new sofa, the kitchen modernized and the two (2) ruined rooms had been restored including the old rooms. The floor area of the template had been expanded and flowering plants have been planted on the plant boxes around it. These improvements were made possible through the initiative of Fr. Felecisimo Ferrer, Parish Priest and Fr. Constantino Atinaja, Assistant Parish Priest.

 

 

 I do not own the pictures I just searched them in the internet . . . thanks:)