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All You Need to Know About Batangas Churches for Visita Iglesia
There are some 300 churches within the province of Batangas. Every city and municipality that was a significant population center during the Spanish times still has at least one church over a century old that remains standing today. And many devotees include the Batangas churches for Visita Iglesia in their Holy Week pilgrimage.
Like the rest of the country, Batangas suffered terrible typhoons and earthquakes. And because of its proximity to Taal Volcano, it experienced more than its fair share of earth-shattering convulsions. The worst of these paroxysms forced entire towns to migrate away from the volcano, away from the shores of Taal Lake (then called Bombon), and resettle inland.
Such occurrences also dictated the architecture and construction materials of churches. Those established in the 1500s to 1600s and rebuilt in the 1700s to 1800s forsook the masonry arches employed in earlier structures. Their walls grew thicker, braced by massive buttresses, and their towers erected with immense substructures.
READ MORE: Sculpted illusions at the Basilica Minor of Immaculate Conception in Batangas
The Restoration Challenges of Batangas’ Churches
Despite such defensive measures, virtually all churches in Batangas built before the 20th century have required major repairs or reconstruction. These restorations were due to the earth’s upheavals and the bombardment by Japanese and American forces during World War II.
Because they underwent much repair work and ‘enhancements’ over the decades, it is a challenge to determine which alterations are an authentic part of our cultural heritage. There has not been a restoration effort in the region that can claim to have restored a church to its original state. Truth be told, every post-war renovation effort in Batangas compromised the integrity of the churches’ architectural and interior design. The churches of Batangas are chockfull of Romanesque, Baroque, Neo-classical, Gothic and Rococo elements. Yet they sit cheek-by-jowl with 21st century Filipino adornments of the horror vacui persuasion.
A Journey of Faith and Heritage
Still, the tradition of Visita Iglesia, of visiting seven or fourteen churches to say prayers at each for a special intention, is one that should be encouraged enthusiastically amongst young and old. There is nothing like walking down the aisle of an old church, staring up at its ceiling, running one’s fingers along its cracks and peering through layers of time to contemplate one’s history and heritage.
Exploring the Batangas churches for Visita Iglesia can be a profound journey through history and faith. Ancient churches echo with the muttered prayers and cries of joy and sorrow of our ancestors. Their forebears laid stone upon stone with blood sweat and tears. We don’t need our bastions of history remodeled, renovated or revamped. One need not be a religious person to go on Visita Iglesia, or to say an invocation for the lords and patrons of our heritage churches to become reverential defenders instead of re-writers of the nation’s patrimony.
This article first appeared in BluPrint Vol 1 2014. Edits made for Bluprint.ph.
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