Parish of St. Martin (Dumalag, Capiz)
An indication that the first church and convent were constructed between 1600 and 1720, a record of an exemption of payment for the rent was found in Manila.
Fr. Agustin Duran in 1883 constructed the present church which was a reconstruction of the previous one that was damaged.
Between 1866 and 1881, Fr. Angel Abasolo build or rebuilt the present church. The construction began with a fund of P300.00 and the expenses reached up to P50,000.00 by 1873. However, the church and convent were both destryoyed in 1875.
Measuring 70 meters long and 18 meters wide, the church is made of yellow sandstone. It has a front door and two side doors, massive buttresses supported six arched windows between columns reaching up to the roof.
The façade wall is decorated with small pilasters. At the left side of the church is a 5-story bell tower. The five bells found inside the belfry was brought by Fr. Ledesma Perez in 1881.
The interior resembles the pattern of a Latin cross. It had been retouched considerably and in the process, the magnificant paintings of Fr. Juan Carlos peeled off.
Rising up to the rectangular pediment are six rectangular pilasters that initiated a vertical movement and stressed by a slender, tapering six story octagonal bell-tower which offers elegance to the otheriwse dull surface façade.
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Loading ...Sta. Monica Parish (Pan-ay, Capiz)
The famous Baroque Church of Pan-ay Capiz was probably built around 1700 and reconstructed in 1714 and 1875.
According to Fr. Lopez, the population of Pan-ay alone could not possibly afford the building until an agreement with the alcalde mayor made it possible with a donation of P288.00 from the community treasury.
Another reconstruction took place under the incumbency of Fr. Miguel Murguia in 1744. The church was heavily damaged due to a typhoon on January 17, 1875 and again renovated in 1884 by Fr. Jose.
The citadel , a big structure made of sandstone, measuring up to 70 meters long and 25 meters wide by 18 meters high. It follows the pattern of the latin cross with a large central altar and four lateral ones, each of which has a gorgeously decorated and retables made of hardwood covered with gold, it is adorned with a variety of polychromed statues of high artistic quality.
Artisans as far from Manila, according to the clapards, designed the Baroque decorations, settin the main altar in silver. Jose Bergamo or Sarhento Itak, the town’s greatest sculptor, did most of the retablos, bass relief and other religious images. The church was completed in 1771.
Unlike its elaborate Baroque interior, the exterior is simply embellished with pillars and horizontal ledges with life-size statues of the Augustinian saints St. Thomas de Villanova and Monica flanked in a niche. The five-story belfry is the house of the very large bell cast in the 19th century from the donation of 70-sack coins of the townfolk. It measures seven feet in diameter, five feet in height and weighs 10,400 kilograms. The people of the town referred to it Dakong Lingganay or Big Bell.
The bell was cast by Don Juan Reina who settled in JM Basa St, Iloilo City sinnce 1898 and established his blacksmith and casting shop. Fr. Jose Beloso sent for him when the belfry was being constructed. With a few basic tools, Reina set up a temporary shop at the foot of the town and hurried up with the casting of the bell. The moment the bell was tried during the Angelus, the sound was too loud that it could be heard in every nearby town. After he was paid by the parish priest, he returned to Iloilo. The bell cracked in a month’s time. From that time, the bell sounded more like a frying pan than a bell. The priest summoned the blacksmith furiously and demanded he should recast the bell for free. Don Juan, who had the temper of a baturro (countrymen from Aragon) would have none if it. No less stubborn, Fr. Beloso, appealed to Bishop Cuartero, after a heated discussion with the blacksmith, sent a circular to all priests in the island, prohibitng them fron contracting any job to Don Juan.
In the very strange manner, the deadlock was broken. Bishop Cuartero would spend long sleepless nights duue to a chronic toothache. Iron ically, the only dentist who could help him is no less than Don Juan, the blacksmith. He was sent for and the bishop meekly submitted himself to have his tooth pulled out.
The blacksmith was delighted in this great opportunity. As he got ready to apply the hook, he asked the bishop in genuine insolence, “Your excellency, is there any job for a bell caster?” and came the reply of the bishop, “Of course Don Juan, there is.” A big pull and the tooth went out. After this moment, it was not longer difficult for the blacksmith to find work.
The insciption in the bells states: Soy la voz de Dios que Ilevarey ensalzare desde el principio hasta el fin de este pueblo de Panay para que los fieles de Jesus vengan e esta casa de Dion a recibit las gracias celestiales (I am God’s voice which I shall echo and praise from one end to the other of the town of Panay, so that the faithful followers of Christ may may come to this house of God to receive heavenly graces.) The bell was cast in this town by Don Juan Reina to the glory of God and the Virgin Consolation while Fr. Jose Beloso was the parish priest of the town of Panay, 21st of December, 1878. Another bell reads: Josepus (sic) Beloso fecit and laudem Sanetissimi Tritatos, B.M. Consolationis Huius oppido de Panay patrona et advocada. Anno domini 1867. It weights 183 arrobas. The small bell dated 1721.
The typhoon of March 5, 1874 destroyed the roof of the church and another typhoon in January 1875 toppled the transept. It was repaired by Fr. Lesmes Perez in 1895. On the other thand, the destroyed convent was never been rebuilt.
The fortress have been called an excellent example of the Filipino Colonial Baroque style that has blended well with the neo-classic influence. The imposing façade is massive and solid in appearance, with the blending of its lines and volume. Shallow paired pilasters with narrow groobes in between divide the façade into rectangular carving portraying the Agustinian emblem. The second level has an ornate niche and a rose window complemented by a relief sculpture at the center of the pediment above it. The vertical movement of the pilasters counterfoiled by the sharp projectibf architrave and curvelinear indulation of the pediment. The dark open spaces of the entrance and the windows create a closer relationship between light and shadow. The finials shaped as pineapple on the top most part of the pediment wall add to the local exotic color of the church. The neoclassic look blends excellently with the Baroque influences.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Parish of Immaculate Concepcion Metropolitan Cathedral (Roxas City)
A typhoon struck Capiz in January 4, 1698 and destroyed a primitive church together with its convent. It was hard, according to the priest, to rebuilt a new one because the townfolk were not used to working. Luckily, the minister of Capiz, Fr. Domingo Horbegozo started building the church in 1728 – the same year when the convent was freed from paying rent to the St. Augustine Monastery. The construction was going on until 1732. It was on 1876 when the parish was finally finished and blessed. The Second World War cost much damage to it and wasn’t repaired until 1954. There was a noticable change when Capiz was canonically erected as a Diocese. It took its name from the town of Capiz which was the capital of the Province of Capiz, a year later the capital was made into a city and subsequently changed its name to Roxas City, in honor of Capiz most prominent son, the late President Manuel Roxas.
Pope Leo XII envisioned the creation of the Diocese of Capiz as early as 1902, but the vision was turned into reality until July 16, 1951 almost 50 years later in accordance with the Apostolic Letter “Ex Supremi Apostolatus” of Pope Pius XII on January 27, 1951.
The only blue church in the whole island of Panay stands in front of the river in the middle of a moderately-busy city.
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