Parish of St. Thomas of Villanova (Alimodian, Iloilo)

July 8, 2009 by chucha
Filed under Churches, Western Iloilo

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Alimodian Catholic Church

Alimodian became an independent parish from Oton in October of 1574. A few months later, a house of worship made of cogon, bamboos and logs was established. In 1784, a new church made of briks and rocks plastered with lime was built under the leadership of Fr. Francisco Monasterio and was partially damaged by the earthquake in 1787.

The cornerstone of the new and permanent church was laid on the 5^th of December in 1859 amidst a lavish religious ceremony with the singing of Te Deun, Laudamus Litania de San Marcos, ringing of church bells and signing of documents of church and town officials. Coins (1 sicualohon (P0.6 ¼), 1 sicapaton (P0.12 ¼), 1 capatihon (P0.25), 1 salapion (P0.50) 1 pisoson (P1.00), a gold necklace and documents were burried on the church’s proposed main entrance. The visitors then were brought in the home of Capitan Timoteo Amarra. On December of 1864, five years later, the church was formally opened. In a tri-square form, a convent same size as the church occupy the north to south and winding westward was started immediately and completed in 1868.

the statue of st. john the baptist pouring water over christ's head inside the baptistery

This house of worship is another product of force labor. A quota was given to the cabeza de barangay or face lashing or palmeta. They gathered tabla from Camando (now a part of Leon) which is more or less 25 kilometers away. Labor was not paid and laborers were to bring their own food. Even women and children were employed in gathering lime stones and turning them into lime. (Lime is produced by roasting white stones in improvised oven for nine days and nights pouring cold water over them to cool then pounded to produce lime powder). It was mixed with clay and stomped with human feet or by carabao and shaped into rectangles or squares and burned in the kiln. Walls, roofs and floors of the church were made of tisa.

A stampede brought by an unidentified intensity earthquake that shook the building caused injury to many people on Sunday morning of the 20^th of June 1869.

The installation of new bells made of bronze of silver alloy was done on February 17, 1877. The bells were made from a foundry in La Villa de Arevalo a year before by Juan Reyes. In order to get the bells to Alimodian, two pairs of bull carts were arranged side by side while residents form a queue on the streets offering Spanish coins to settle the hauling expenses.

Hundreds of men were utilized to pull the bells using a big cable up to the belfry. One man died in the process when the cable snapped. The largest bell weigh about 1.5 tons, it was said that a man named Pino placed the largest bell on its place. Each bells had names inscribed on its surface such as: San Agustin, Sta. Monica, Ma. Consolacion de Leonisa, Sto. Tomas de Villanueva and San Ignacio de Loyola.

The roof made of bricks and limes were changed into galvanized iron in February 13, 1882. Five years later, on the same day in 1887, an earthquake rocked the building that caused the statue of San Agustin to fall from its niche over the main entrance of the church.

During the World War II, the convent became the refuge of wealthy families from the city. However, when the Japanese landed in Oton, people fled to the mountains, leaving the whole town bare and a magnet to thieves and robbers. In the fear that the church will be used as storage of supplies and hiding place of the enemy, the Civil Government ordered it to be burned. The only remnants of the old church were the base and walls made of tabla and bricks. Luckily two saints were saved from ashes: Sto. Tomas de Villanueva was saved by Tomas Claveria and Santo Entiero by Antonio Allonar.

Post-war damage claims brought new improvement to the church in 1946. Pews were donated and two side altars were roofed with nipa. But on the dawn of January 28, 1948, the infamous earthquake “Lady Kaykay” shook the whole island of Panay causing the major portion of the church, convent and two-thirds of the belfry to topple down, bringing all the bells except the largest one to the ground.

the old face of Alimodian Catholic Church

A temporary church was built on the southern part of the ruins and beside it is a convent made of wood, bamboo and nipa. After the assurance of the engineer of the safety of the façade, the parishioners decided to contribute and pool their resources to put up a permanent church — roof made of galvanized iron, cemented arches and iron bars reinforcement, and walls plastered with cement. Fr. Juan Nacawili modified the main and side altars while the walls behind the main altar were changed into hallow blocks. Mr. Manuel Alegrado donated new communion rails and a pulpit made of marble. The church was open for public worship in 1951. The next year, the ‘Caballeros de San Jose’ fixed the remains of the belfry and installed the bells.

the beautiful landscape beside the church

In the present, a huge concrete figure of Our Lady of Lourdes stands on the convent ruins, a triple arched concrete canopy broken with a bass relief of an Augustinian Emblem stood life-size images of St. Peter, St. Joseph and at the center, St. Thomas of Villanova. The walls and buttresses of this house of God reveal a robust baroque architecture.

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