Quiapo Church
If you're at the fountain facing Sta. Cruz Church, just walk on the street at the left side of this church, going to Quiapo Church. I can say, one of the famous
Catholic churches in the country is the Quiapo Church or the Minor Basilica of
the Black Nazarene, canonically known as Saint John the Baptist Parish. It is
famous because I always see it on tv during the parade of the said miraculous
“Black Nazarene.”
The first structure of this
church was made of bamboo and nipa palm, built by the Franciscan Missionaries.
But in 1574, the pirates lead by Limahong, destroyed and burned the church. In
1588, Fr. Antonio de Nombella, a Franciscan friar, founded this church and
declared it as the Parish of St. John the Baptist. It was again burned in 1603
and took over by the “Society of Jesus” or the Jesuits. In 1686, the full
construction was started initiated by Gov. Gen.
Santiago de Vera.
In 1762, the English attempted to
destroy this church. But later, it was destroyed by an earthquake and then caught
by fire. Donations and contributions were collected for the constructions of
the new church. The structure that we are seeing today was planned by the Filipino
National Artist, Architect Juan Nakpil in 1933. But it was enlarged and the
design of the walls were changed by Architect Jose Maria Zaragoza in 1984.
Today, this church has a Baroque
designs, the facade has columns on both sides and the two bell towers are well
decorated. At lot of renovations were made on the structure, but the facade and
the dome retained with the classic design.
During our stay in this church,
there was a sermon and a lot of devotees were there, so we left this church,
crossing the highway and rode a jeepney going to University of St. Thomas to
visit the old church in their campus. It was unsuccessful, because the guards
didn’t allow us to enter the gate, but according to them, the mass will be held
at 5PM. It was still 4PM that time and we don’t want to wait for an hour, so we crossed the
highway rode a jeepney going to, click here: San Sebastian Church.
More photos and information about this travel, click here: 9 Old Churches in Metro Manila
