Commission on Church Cultural Heritage and Patrimony, Bacolod

12/05/2021

01/04/2021

@10 A. M. today!!! 💕 💕

Prepare to see seven of Negros Occidental's heritage churches.

11/03/2021

VISITA IGLESIA

According to popular sources, the custom can be traced even to the times of the apostles when the early Christians visited significant places connected to the Passion of Jesus Christ. The holy sites were actually associated with scriptural events. When the Christians were given the freedom to practice their faith in the 4th century, pious observants started a new trend of visiting seven particular churches in Rome, namely: the Basilicas of ST. PETER, ST. JOHN LATERAN. ST . PAUL OUTSIDE THE WALLS, ST. MARY MAJOR, ST. LAWRENCE, SHRINE OF THE HOLY CROSS, and ST. SEBASTIAN OUTSIDE THE WALLS - by the Catacombs.

It was later on adopted by the faithful who thought that they would gain some graces when they do the visitation. In the 14th century, Pope Boniface VIII declared the first Holy Year or Jubilee Year in Rome so the faithful took it as an opportunity to gain indulgences. It was also the same Pope who encouraged the faithful to visit seven churches in Rome to gain a special indulgence granted by the Vatican.

ST. PHILIP NERI further expanded the devotion in 1552 when he encouraged the faithful to specifically visit the seven churches we mentioned above on the evening of Holy Thursday, after the Maaof the Lord's Supper, where in all churches all over the world, the Blessed Sacrament is reposed on another altar other than the tabernacle. Today, the VISITA IGLESIA (Visit to the Church) is part of the tradition of Holy Thursday as well as the other dayd of Holy Week and the season of Lent.

As a Catholic devotion here in the Philippines, the Visita Iglesia was patterned after the original custom in Europe of visiting the Blessed Sacrament in the altar of repose. According to noble tradition, the increase in number of churches to be visited owed to the fact that in the pre-war Intramuros, there were several churches close to each other.
The practice of visiting any seven churches also acquired a penitential character here in the Philippines. Some devotees visit the churches barefoot. A few others would carry a cross in imitation of Jesus as they visit different churches. But the infirm and the weak and most others use their vehicles to facilitate and probably to hasten up the completion of their devotion. Perhaps, some few others take the opportunity for sightseeing.
There is no official prayer prescribed by the Catholic Church for the Church Visitation on Holy Thursday, Some would recite the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be, while others opt to recite the Stations of the Cross. And still some others read the account of the Passion of Christ by John. Others go to a church and spend a moment of silence or in personal prayer, in front of the Altar Repose. Some would recite the prayer "O Sacrament Most Holy" or the Divine Praises. Still some others recite two Stations of the Cross on each church so that they could complete the traditional seven churches and the 14 Stations as well.
Accordingly, the pious devotees would double the number of churches they visit. Until in the 70's, people recited the Stations of the Cross in each church.

(taken from the Visita Iglesia -Guide, Reflections and Prayers by: Rev. Fr. A***n Josef M. Ocheda, OAR)

05/03/2021

PADRE MAURICIO FERRERO (FATHER -BUILDER OF BACOLOD CITY)

A native of Arnedo La Rioja in Spain, Father Mauricio Ferrero de la Virgen de Vico was born on September 22, 1844. He professed the monastic vows on June 30 1863. In Calahorra, La Rioja, he received his presbyteral ordination on december 1866. He arrived in Manila in June 15, 1868 and a month after, he was assigned to Agutaya in the Calamianes Islands as companero of the parish priest. He became the parish priest of Culion in September 1868-May 1870.

On May 2, 1870, he was dispatched to Valladolid in Negros Island to learn Hiligaynon dialect. He was then assigned to Bacolod and took possession of it as parish priest on december 23,1871.

He was appointed as Vicar Forane on May 7, 1888 and became the vicar provincial of Southern Negros on June 25,1888. He published his Proyecto de Missiones in June 1889, it contains the detailed plans for the economic, social, political, and spiritual development of Bacolod and Negros Island, in the provincial chapter of 1894 he was elected Prior of the theology house in Marcilla, Navarra and travelled back to Spain for his new assignment.
At the end of his term, he returned to Bacolod as a Parish Priest.
He was again named Vicar Provincial of Southern Negros Occidental on March 26, 1898 and Vicar Forane in April 1, 1898. During the Philippine Revolution in Negros, he was confined to the kumbento and could not leave the town, not unlike his conferes Fr. Fernando Cuenca in Talisay. He was later moved to Himamaylan and joined his imprisoned conferes in jail in Bacolod.

They returned in bacolod on February 1902 and stayed in his beloved town . It was on December 30, 1909 when he turned over the parish to his successor and townmate Fr. francisco Vega de la virgen de Vico. Fr. Mauricio served the parish of the capital of Negros Occidental for a total of 33 years, long enough to be deemed as the "FATHER OF BACOLOD CITY" on account of his evangelization efforts and various infrastructure projects that last till today.

05/03/2021

The Interior of the SAN SEBASTIAN CATHEDRAL 2021

History of Construction and renovation of the interior.

1876 - Foundation of the Church
1879 - Blessing of the Church
1933 - Became a Cathedral
1938 - First Renovation by Bishop Casimiro Lladoc
1958 - Second Renovation by Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich.
and Bishop Manuel Yap.
1968 - Third renovation by Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich.
and Rev. Fr. Antonio Santes.
1974 - Fourth Renovation by Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich.
and Rev Fr. Vicente Salgado.