M1305: Paco Cemetery Postcard

Postcard Size: 4"x5.5"
Postcard Type: View card
Printed by: JMC Press, Inc., Quezon City
Purchased at Goodwill Bookstore

The postcard shows the oval mortuary chapel dedicated to St. Pancratius inside Paco Park. Also seen in the postcard is a raised fountain which aligns with the gate and the nave of the domed chapel. In the evening, the fountain is lit by multi-colored lights, creating a dancing rainbow.

Pancratius (or Pancras) was one of the early Christian martyrs from around 300 A.D. Legend says he was an orphan who was killed at the age of fourteen for embracing the faith. He is considered the patron of children, against false witness, and headaches. His feast day is celebrated on May 12th.

The back of the postcard reads:

Paco Cemetery, located in Manila, Philippines.
One of the oldest cemeteries of the Spanish colonial era.

M1305: Paco Cemetery Postcard

Paco Park, located where Padre Faura and General Luna Streets come together, was once a municipal cemetery for the elite families of Manila during the Spanish era. The cemetery was built in the late 1700s but was completed several decades later. It was also used to inter the victims of the cholera epidemic of 1822.

The cemetery is circular in shape, with an inner circular fort that was the original cemetery and with the niches that were placed or located within the hollow walls. As the population continued to grow, a second outer wall was built with the thick adobe walls were hollowed as niches and the top of the walls were made into pathways for promenades.
The cemetery was once the burial place of some notables including the national hero, José Rizal, and the three martyred priests of the Philippine independence movement. Today, the Spanish Governor-General Solano is the only known luminary still buried in the chapel.

Internment was stopped in 1912 and it was restored and transformed into a national park in 1966.
SOURCES:
Paco Park Wikipedia Entry
Paco Cemetery Park, Manila - Oasis in Stone
Visiting Paco Park