Visita Iglesia and the Way of the Cross
During Lent, we observe a Catholic tradition of visiting various churches to recite and meditate on the Way of the Cross, a practice more popularly known as Visita Iglesia. We normally visit seven churches and recite two stations of the cross in each church, although there were years when we covered more tha seven churches.
Visita Iglesia is not just a religious experience. It also provides a historical and cultural perspective esepcially if you are visiting old churches.
In today's post. l list combinations of Churches you may want to consider during your Visita Iglesia this Maundy Thursday. Have a good day!
Visita Iglesia on Foot
If you live in one of the neighborhoods around the Old Manila area, you can just walk around these set of churches. Of course, make sure you have a good pair of walking shoes, umbrella or hats, drinking water, hand towels and an extra shirt or two. You can cover at least seven of these churches within one day. Watch out and observe the various Hijos de Nazarenos doing their Visita Iglesias in these churches during Maundy Thursday. These churches are:
- The Twin Churches of Bustillos: Our Lady of Loreto Church and The Church of St Anthony de Padua
- Basilica Minore De San Sebastian at San Sebastian
- Abbey of Our Lady of Monserrat Church at San Beda
- St. Jude the Thaddeus Shrine near Malacañang
- National Shrime of St Michael and the Archangels near Malacañang
- The Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene at Quaipo
- FEU Chapel at the FEU Campus
- Santisimo Rosario Parish Church at the University of Santo Tomas
- San Agustin Church – Immaculate Conception Parish
- Manila Cathedral – Basilica of the Immaculate Concepcion
- Sta Cruz Church at Sta Cruz, Manila
- Minor Basilica of San Lorenzo Ruiz – the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish more popularly known as the Binondo Church
The Pasig-Mandaluyong Churches
These are the set of churches near our place of residence. After visitng our Parish Church, San Antonio Abad, the route and set of churches to visit are largely determined by the availability of parking spaces near the church grounds. But we normally select from among the following churches, chapels and oratories:
- San Antonio Abad Church at Stella Maris Avenue, Maybunga, Pasig
- Sta Clara de Montefalco Church at C Raymundo, Caniogan, Pasig
- Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Pasig
- Sto Rosario de Pasig, Ortigas Ave. Extension, Rosario Pasig.
- Holy Family Chapel, East Capitol Drive, Kapitolyo, Pasig
- Sancta Maria Stella Orientes Oratory, at UA&P, Pearl Drive, Ortigas Center, Pasig
- St Francis of Asissi Church, at Shaw Boulevard near EDSA Shangrila Hotel and Mall
- EDSA Shrine, EDSA cor Ortigas Ave.
- Sanctuario de San Jose, Buffalo cor Duke Sts., East Greenhills
- Mary the Queen Church at Madison St., Greenhills West
The C5-Katipunan-Roxas Boulevard Set:
These are churches located along the a strecth starting with the UP Chapel in Diliman to the Shrine of St Therese at Newport City in Pasay, then to churches along the Roxas Boulevard all the way to Tondo as the end point. It is a combination of modern and heritage churches. You start out with the UP Chapel which showcases the works of various national artist and end at the Church of the Sto Nino of Tondo where various old-time residents of Tondo go back every January to attend its feast. The list are as follows:
- UP Chapel/Church of the Holy Sacrifice (UP Diliman, QC)
- Sta Maria de la Strada Church, along Katipunan near the entrance gate to La Vista Subdivision
- Church of the Gesu, in Ateneo de Manila University
- Sta Clara Monastery Church, Katipunan Avenue
- St. Padre Pio Chapel in Libis
- Christ the King Church at Greenmeadows
- Shrine of St Therese, Doctor of the Church,right across the main entrace of NAIA III
- National Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual help – Baclaran Church, along Roxas Blvd
- Church of Jesus the Way the Turth and the Light, near Mall of Asia
- Church of Our Lady of Remedies – Malate Church at MH del Pilar, Malate
- Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Senora de Guia, – Ermita Church in Ermita, Manila
- Sto Nino de Tondo Church, Tondo
The East Road Churches of Laguna and Rizal:
If you have a whole day to spare and do not mind driving around the towns of the lake's shorelines, you may want to try the various churches around the Laguna lake. You have 3 options on where to start the drive tracing the twons around the lake (1) the SLEX-Calamba route; (2) the Taytay-Angono route; or, (3)start with Antipolo Church (which is strictly not within the East Road), drive to Teresa and then Morong. In our case, we avoided the traffic at the Angono stretch and took the Antipolo Church as our first stop. From early morning to around 8pm during one Maundy Thrusday, we managed to visit the following churches:
- Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, Antipolo
- St Jerome Parish Church, Morong
- Our Lady of Candelaria Parish Church, Mabitac
- St Peter of Alcantara Parish Church, Pakil
- St James the Apostle Parish Church of Paete
- St Gregory the Great Parish Church of Majayjay
- St John the Baptist Church of Liliw
And here are pictures of these Laguna-Rizal churches in Maundy Thursday, 2010
1, Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Church of Antipolo
