The postcard shows the Sta. Maria Church in Ilocos Sur. Of all the Catholic churches in the Ilocos, the sanctuary of Sta. Maria Church (Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion) has the most beautiful location. Majestically situated on top of a hill, it overlooks the town, the blue sea and the verdant fields nearby. A stone stairway sweeps up to the entrance of the church.
Sta. Maria Church Postcard
The church's facade is not very impressive. More eyecatching is the unique position of the tower. The tower of this church is erected at about the midpoint of the longitudinal axis of the nave. It is also a little bit tilted. The bell tower, detached from the main facade, has 3 stacked octagonal horizontal cross sections of decreasing diameter.
SOURCES:
The Church and the Convent - Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur Wikipedia Entry
Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion
San Agustin Church is a Roman Catholic church under the auspices of The Order of St. Augustine, located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila. Completed by 1607, it is the oldest church currently standing in the Philippines. In 1993, San Agustin Church was one of four Philippine churches constructed during during the Spanish colonial period designated by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, under the classification "Baroque Churches of the Philippines".
San Agustin Church Postcard 1
The present structure is actually the third Augustinian church erected on the site. The first San Agustin Church was made of bamboo and nipa. It was completed in 1571, but destroyed by fire in December 1574 during the attempted invasion of Manila by the forces of Limahong. A second church made of wood was constructed but was destroyed in February 1583, in a fire that started when a candle set ablaze the drapes of the funeral bier during the interment of the Spanish Governor-General Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa.
San Agustin Church Postcard 2
The Augustinians decided to rebuild the church using stone, and to construct as well an adjacent monastery. Construction began in 1586, from the design of Juan Macias. The structure was built using hewn adobe stones quarried from Meycauayan, Binangonan and San Mateo, Rizal. The church was formally declared as completed on January 19, 1607, and named St. Paul of Manila.
San Agustin Church Postcard 3
San Agustin Church was looted by the British forces which occupied Manila in 1762 during the Seven Years' War. It withstood major earthquakes that struck Manila in 1645, 1754, 1852, 1863, and 1880. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II, San Agustin Church was turned into a concentration camp for prisoners. The church itself survived the bombardment of Intramuros by American and Filipino forces with only its roof destroyed, the only one of the seven churches in the walled city to remain standing. The adjacent monastery however was totally destroyed.
San Agustin Church Postcard 4
San Agustín Church measures 67.15 meters long and 24.93 meters wide. It is said that the design was derived from Augustinian churches built in Mexico, and is almost an exact copy of Puebla Cathedral in Puebla, Mexico. The facade is unassuming and even criticized as "lacking grace and charm", but it has notable baroque touches, especially the ornate carvings on its wooden doors. The church courtyard is graced by several granite sculptures of lions, which had been gifted by Chinese converts to Catholicism.
San Agustin Church Wooden Doors Postcard
The church contains the tomb of Spanish conquistadors Miguel López de Legazpi, Juan de Salcedo and Martín de Goiti, as well as several early Spanish Governors-General and archbishops. Their bones are buried in a communal vault near the main altar. The painter Juan Luna, and the statesmen Pedro A. Paterno and Trinidad Pardo de Tavera are among the hundreds of laypersons whose remains are also housed within the church.
San Agustin Church Postcard 5
The church interior is in the form of a Latin cross. The church has 14 side chapels and a trompe-l'oeil ceiling painted in 1875 by Italian artists Cesare Alberoni and Giovanni Dibella. Up in the choir loft are hand-carved 17th-century seats of molave, a beautiful tropical hardwood.
Inside the San Agustin Church Postcard
San Agustin Church also hosts an image of Our Lady of Consolation (Nuestra Senora de Consolacion y Correa), which was canonically crowned by Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jaime Sin in 2000.
Side Altar, San Agustin Church Postcard
St. Augustine Church (most popularly known as "Paoay Church") was built in 1694 commissioned by the Augustinian friars led by Fr. Antonio Estavillo. The Church was completed in 1710 and rededicated in 1896. The Paoay Church was declared a national treasure by then President Ferdinand Marcos and is included in the UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Paoay Church Postcard 1
Paoay Church is probably the best-known “earthquake Baroque” church in the Philippines. Construction of the church started in 1704 and was completed in 1894 by the Augustinian friars led by Fr. Antonio Estavillo. Paoay Church was built of baked bricks, coral rocks, salbot (tree sap) and lumber. Large coral stones were used for the lower level while bricks were used for the upper levels of the church. The walls are 1.67 meters thick and are supported by 24 carved and massive buttresses.
Paoay Church Postcard 2
The Church is a unique combination of Gothic, Baroque and Oriental designs. The lower part of the facade was made of stuccoed brick while the upper facaed is made of coral blocks. Local materials were said to be made of mixing sand, lime, sugarcane juice and then boiling the mixture with mangeao (salbot) leaves, leather and rice straw for two nights.
Paoay Church Postcard 3
Huge buttresses (earthquake Baroque), perhaps unmatched throughout the archipelago, give ballast to the massive walls of the church. All in all, they number 24 - eleven on each side, and two at the rear - each projecting five and half paces from the wall and with a two-pace thickness. Stairways of varying slopes are attached to both side walls. At the rear wall is the gable that stands in memory of one time stylized Chinese clouds.
Paoay Church Postcard 4
Its belltower, which is detached from its main building, is made of coral stone and was used by the Katipuneros as an observation post in 1896 and again by Filipino soldiers during World War II. Earthquakes damaged portions of the church in 1865 and 1885.
Paoay Church Postcard 5
The Church takes pride in possessing a marble main altar and four side altars of classical Baroque influence. An improvised sacristy is at the side of the main altar for the old sacristy, which is at the rear of the altar, has been badly dilapidated by the forces of nature. Windows, currently of modern influence, enshrine stained glass.
Paoay Church Postcard 6
Construction of the present Miagao Church (Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Church) was started on a Saturday, the town's market day, in December 1786, half a century after the founding of the Miagao parish. It was declared as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Baroque Churches of the Philippines" in 1993.
Miag-ao Church Postcard 1
The town's first church building was constructed in Ubos by Nicolas Pangkug, first capitan of the town. The church was completed three years before the first Spanish priest came in 1734, but this was burned by the Muslim pirates in 1741. The second church was constructed under the leadership of Parish Priest Fray Fernando Camporedondo (1746-1747). This church was also burned and looted by the pirates. They decided to build a third church in Tacas where the townsfolk have a commanding view of the mouth of the Miagao river, the usual route followed by the pirates in entering the town. This church still stands after defying elements and catastrophies for two centuries.
Miag-ao Church Postcard 2
The blocks of stones used in the construction of the church were quarried at Sitio Tubog in nearby San Joaquin town and in the mountains of the town of Igbaras. In baroque-romanesque style, the church sinks six (6) meters deep into the ground with walls one-and-a-half (1 1/2) meters thick and buttresses thrice thicker in size.
Miag-ao Church Postcard 3
Its artistic facade is decorated witha relief sculpture of St. Christopher carrying the Christ child amidst coconut, papaya and guava shrubs. A large stone image of St. Thomas of Villanova, parish patron saint, dominates the center. Carved life-size statues of the Pope and St. Henry with their coat-of-arms above them flank the main entrance. Supporting the facade are the twin belfries, one towering two-storeys and the other three-storeys high.
Miag-ao Church Postcard 4
According to an old Philippine legend, the coconut tree was the only bequest from a loving mother to her two children, a tree which sustained them for life. On the church's facade the coconut tree appears as the "tree of life" to which St. Christopher carrying the Child Jesus on his shoulder is clinging to. The lesser facades feature the daily life of Miagaowanons during the time. Also depicted are other native flora and fauna, as well as native dress.
Miag-ao Church during a Fiesta Postcard 5
Like any other foreign influences, the architecture of many colonial churches has undergone the process of indigenization. This process is carried out by incorporating the prevailing Hispano-American and Medieval Sapnish architecture with local as well as Muslim and Chinese touches.
SOURCE:
History of the Miagao Catholic Church
After the international UNESCO site postcards, I will be showing my collection of the Philippine UNESCO sites. First would be the Baroque Churches of the Philippines which is the official designation to a collection of four Spanish-era churches in the Philippines, upon its inscription to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993. The collection is composed of the following:
* Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Church in Miag-ao, Iloilo
* St. Agustine Church in Paoay, Ilocos Norte
* San Agustin Church in Manila
* Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur
These churches have been at the forefront of Philippine history, not just in furthering Christianity in the archipelago, but in serving as the political backbone of Spanish colonial rule, when Church and State was regarded as one. The unique architecture of the churches didn't just reflect the adaptation of Spanish/Latin American architecture to the local environment (including the fusion with Chinese motifs), but also of the Church's political influence.
Sta. Maria Church Buttresses
These churches had been subject to attacks by local revolts and rebellions, hence, most had the appearance of a fortress, rather than just serving as mere religious structures. This is especially noteworthy in the case of Santa Maria Church, located on top of a hill, serving as a citadel during times of crisis. Miag-ao Church also withstood the occasional attacks of Muslims from the south.
Paoay Church Butresses
Further, the location of the Philippines along the Pacific Ring of Fire called for the emphasis on the buttresses and foundations of these churches, with some being seriously damaged, but eventually rebuilt after an earthquake. The most imposing of these buttresses could be found in Paoay Church, while the true testament of this architecture could be seen in San Agustin Church, Manila, the only structure in Intramuros to survive World War II. Hence, the unique architectural style became known as Earthquake Baroque.
SOURCE:Baroque Churches of the Philippines Wikipedia Entry
Sta. Maria Church Postcard
