Baclayon Church - When the Jesuits
first came in the Philippines, they have the objective of spreading Christianity.
Together with it, is the plan of building churches everywhere in order to have a visible
and concrete structure where they can conveniently utilize to preach Christianity.
The first religious who arrived in Baclayon were Fr. Juan de Torres and Fr.
Gabriel Sanchez. In connection with the above mentioned plan, they utilize some 200
natives to build the Baclayon church in 1595. Corals from the seashore of Baclayon
were extracted and cut into blocks and piled one after the other with lots of egg
whites to stick them together and harden. The construction was finally finished in
1727 while it was created as Parish of the Immaculate Concepcion in 1717. The
paintings in the altar and the ceilings are visual evidence of the church's
antiquity.
With the Spaniards' authoritative characteristic, an uncanny dungeon
was reserved for natives who violate the Roman Catholic laws. This is an evidence of
extreme measures of discipline imposed upon the natives to suppress their pagan ways
of living.
Beside the church is a museum where old-century relics are preserved.
At present the museum is visited by numerous villagers and tourists.
The townspeople celebrate the feast in honor of the Immaculate Conception
every 8th of December. |