30. VISITA IGLESIA IN THE FORMER MORONG PROVINCE

VISITA IGLESIA IN THE FORMER MORONG PROVINCE

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

14 April 2017

I decided that one of my Holy Week rites this year would be a visita iglesia in the area of Calabarzon (Region IV-A). I have tried various traditional customs and tradition practiced by Catholics in the country. During my elementary and high schools years, we would normally go home to Isabela after our ten-months stay studying in the metropolis. Since our ancestral house is very near the Independent Church of Filipino Christians (an independent Christian denomination in the form of a national church), we would hear the loud sound of the pasyon (or pabasa), a Philippine epic narrative of the life of Jesus Christ focused on his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Since the pabasa is uninterrupted, the faithful would normally prepare arroz caldo (congee) or lugaw (plain congee) and normally we would be around to taste the sumptuous meal sprinkled with strips of native chicken. The Good Friday Station of the Cross procession of the San Andres Catholic Church was a very hot and tedious experience making me feel under my toes the penitensya Catholics wish to endure during the Mahal na Araw. A distant relative, Kuya Resty (Restituto) Talimada, has been carrying the cross for over a decade now. I also experienced twice the “washing of the feet” rites where the parish priest (Fr. Manuel Tomines & Fr. Jhong Mendoza) re-enacted Jesus Christ washing the feet of the Apostles on Maunday Thursday.

In 1994, weeks after undergoing an appendectomy, I climbed, together with my maternal photojournalist uncle, the andesitic Mount Banahaw (2,170 meters) on a Maundy Thursday. The three-peaked volcano complex is located between the provinces of Laguna and Quezon and is considered a holy mountain by pilgrims. On April 1, I reached and bathed at the Crystalino and Suplina Falls on a Good Friday and decided not to push through the climb for the Durungawan (the peak) because of the steep terrain. On Easter Sunday, we descended via Dolores town. 

On April 18, 2014, Good Friday, I visited the San Pedro de Cutud Lenten Rites in the City of San Fernando in Pampanga together with my siblings Kuya Philip and Pamela. After witnessing penitents nailed on the cross, we visited my classmate in the University of Makati, City Councilor Rose Calimlim, whose house was right behind the “calvary”. We went home with my sister’s Montero full of blood stains brought about by the mandurugo (flagellates) whipping and lashing their bodies, locally known as magdarame or magsalibatbat, along the major road leading to Barangay San Pedro.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I did our visita iglesia on single motor bike in the City of Manila visiting old Spanish architecture Catholic Churches in the Capital. This year, we decided to go, see and pray in all major Catholic parishes in the province of Rizal, formerly known as Distrito Politico-Militar de Morong plus the old Church of the defunct pueblo of Boso Boso, now part of Antipolo City.

On our first day yesterday, we were able to visit eleven parishes, which include: St. Rose of Lima Parish in Teresa, St. Jerome Parish in Morong, St. Joseph Parish in Baras, St. Ildefonsus of Toledo Parish in Tanay, St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Pililla, St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Jala Jala, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish in Cardona, St. Ursula Parish in Binangonan, St. Clement Parish in Angono St. John the Baptist Parish in Taytay, and the Our Lady of Light Parish in Cainta. We continued our visita today and reached the parishes of: Diocesan Shrine and Nuestra Señora de Aranzazu in San Mateo, Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Our Lady of Annunciation in Boso Boso, Antipolo City and our last stop at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (also known as Our Lady of Peace and National Shrine of Good Voyage) also in Antipolo City. A total of fourteen Catholic edifices, plus the seat of the Diocese, were the sites of our 2017 Lenten practice.

In the Philippines, the Visita Iglesia is a general practice to visit seven churches either on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday and recite the Stations of the Cross. The pious and able would double the number of churches to fourteen, while the sick and elderly usually visit only one or a handful. Until the 1970s, people recited all fourteen stations in every church, but the more recent form is to pray two stations per church. The more devout would carry a cross to each church, while others consider the ritual an opportunity for sightseeing. An offering is usually made at each church and to the poor as a form of almsgiving. To accommodate the faithful, many Catholic churches during Holy Week remain open until midnight.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has set up "Visita Iglesia Online" to let Filipinos overseas and the sick perform the rite, as well as hear recordings of the Pasyon. While traditionally done on Maundy Thursday, after the Mass of the Last Supper, it is now common to perform Visita Iglesia on any day during Holy Week. In 2010, the first Bisikleta Iglesia (a pun on the Filipino word for "bicycle") was organized, where those performing the visita would cycle along a route stopping at seven churches.

Holy Week in the Philippines or Mahal na Araw or Semana Santa in Spanish is a significant religious observance for the Roman Catholic majority and most Protestant groups and is also filled with local taboos and customs which differ in the different provinces of the country. I remember our elders would always ask us to avoid excessive noisemaking and prohibit us to bath after three o’clock in the afternoon of Good Friday for Jesus Christ is said to have died at that hour.

On the lighter side, the ritual mourning and generally somber mood attached to this day gave rise to the Tagalog idiom "Mukhâ kang Biyernes Santo." Literally translating to "You look like Good Friday," it refers to a sad person's demeanor resembling that of the suffering Jesus Christ.

Filipinos have different ways of observing Lent but what matters most at the end is the person’s intentions and sincerity. Lent is the time to remember and reflect on the passion of Jesus Christ, his suffering, death and resurrection to pay for our sins.